Volume 14: Time After Pentecost (Part V)

--- PAGE 001 --- THE

LITURGICAL YEAR

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--- PAGE 004 --- THE

LITURGICAL YEAR

ABBOT PROSPER GUERANGER, O.S.B.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

BOOK V

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY THE BENEDCTINES OF STANBROOK ABBEY

JUBILEE YEAR 2000 LIMITED EDITION

9

LORETO

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

--- PAGE 005 --- LORETO PUBLICATIONS

The Liturgical Year 15 Volume Set ISBN: 1-930278-03-9 Volume XIV — Time After Pentecost Book V ISBN: 1-930278-17-9

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

--- PAGE 006 --- CHAP. I.—On hearing Mass, ric the Time after Pentecost, . 1

Cnmar. |]. Of the Office of Vouiets oe Sie and Feasts, during the Time after

Pentecost, . : 31 Cmar. |ll.—Of the Office of Comgiline, Suing the Time after Pentecost, . 48

PROPER OF THE SAINTS

August —23.—SAiNT PHILIP BENIZI, Confessor, . 57

August 24. —SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, Apostle, . 63

August 25.—SaINt Louis, King of France, Con- fessor, : 69

August 26.—SAINT ZEPHYRINUS, Pope and Martyr, 82

fessor, . 84 August — 28.—SAINT AUGUSTINE, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, . 92 Commemoration of Saint Hermes, Mar. n + e 107 August — 29.—TrnE DECOLLATION OF Samer Jon THE BarTIST, . 108 Commemoration of Saint Sabin, Mar- m . 113 August 30.—SAINT ROSE oF Tawa, Virgin, 3 . 116 Commemoration of -Saints Felix and Adauctus, Martyrs, . ~ 122

August 31,—SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS, Gon:

--- PAGE 007 --- vi CONTENTS

September 1.—SAINT GILES, Abbot, Commemoration of the Twelve Broth- ers, Martyrs, ; . September 2.—SA1NT STEPHEN, King of Hangery, “onfessor, . September 5.—SAINT LAURENCE JU STINIAN, Bishop and Confessor, September 8.—THE NATIVITY OF THE Bressep Ym- GIN Many, . First Vespers, : . Mass, = : $ . Second Vespers, : . Commemoration of Saint Gorgorus Martyr, Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity.— Feast OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF "-— Mass, : ; : : Vespers, ~ September 9.—SEcoND DAY WITHIN THE Octave OF THE NATIVITY, September 10.—SAINT NICHOLAS OF TouenTivo, Con- fessor, September 11.—Fourtnn Dav WITHIN THE OCTAVE Or THE NATIVITY, Commemoration of Saints Protus and Hyacinth, Martyrs, September 12.—F1¥TH Dav WITHIN THE Octave or THE NATIVITY, September 13.—SI1XxTH DAY WITHIN THE OcrAvE or THE NATIVITY, September 14.— THE EXALTATION OF THE Hoy Cross, September 15.—THE OCTAVE Dav oF THE NATIVITY, Commemoration of Saint Disometas, Martyr, . . Third Sunday of September.—FEAST OF THE Savax DoLovms or THE BLESSED VIR- GIN MARY, . . . ;

128 182

133 139

146 151 158 166

167

171 174 179

181 184 187

188 191 193

196 203

205 208

210 218

--- PAGE 008 --- September 16.—SAINT CorNELIUS, Pope and Martyr, and SAINT Seu, "€ and Martyr, Commemoration ot Saints Eupheni, Lucy and Geminian, September 17.—STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCIS, At Bingen, in the Diocese of Mayence,— Saint Hildegarde, Virgin, . September 18.—SAINT JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO, Con- fessor, September 19.—SAINT JANUARIUS, Bishop and Martyr, AND HIS COMPANIONS, September 20.—SAINT EUSTACE AND HIS COMPANIONS,

Martyrs, September 21.—SAINT Mrrmsw, Apostle and Evan-

gelist, September 22. —SAINT THOMAS oF VrxaxOva, Bishop and Confessor, Commemoration of Saint Mausloo end his Companions, Martyrs, . $ September 23.—8SA1NT Linus, Pope and Martyr, " Commemoration of Saint Thecla, kem and Martyr, A September 24.—O0Ur LADY OF RANSOM, September 26.—BAINT CyYPRIAN, Martyr, and SAINT JusTINA, Virgin and Martyr, . September 27.—SAINTS Cosmas AND Damian, Martyrs, September 28.—SAINT WENCESLAS, Duke and Martyr, September 29.—DEDICATION Or SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, September 30.—SAINT JEROME, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, : First Sunday of October.—FEAsT OF THE Mosr Hour Rosary, . . . October — 1.—SaiNT REMIGIUS, Bishop and Confes- sor, Apostle of the Franks, . , October ~~ 2.—THE HoLY GUARDIAN ANGELS, s October ~~ 4.—SaiNT FRANCIS, Confessor, . .

LI

221

228

. 229

234 236 241 244 248 252

256 257

258 261

266 268 273 277 284

295 298

316 324

--- PAGE 009 --- October

October October

October October

October October

October October October October October

October October

October October

October October October

October 3.—Sa4iNT TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS,

October 11.—THE MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED

October 17.—SAINT MARGARET — Atacoqor,

October ( Last Sunday of).—FEAST OF On Lomb Jesus Curist THE KiNo

wae

461

468

473

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--- PAGE 012 --- CHAPTER THE FIRST

ON HEARING MASS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

-

ON the Sundays, if the Mass at which the faithful assist be 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 vhe 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, Thousbaltsprinkle me with
hyssopo, et mundabor ; la- hyssop,O Lord, and I shall be vabis me, et super nivem cleansed; thou shalt wash me

dealbabor. and I sball be made whiter than snow.

Ps. Miserere mei, Deus, Ps. Have mercy on me, O secundum magnam miseri- God, according to thy great cordiam tuam. mercy.

V. Gloria Patri, &c. Y. Glory, &c.

ANT. Asperges me, &c. ANT. Thou shalt sprinkle

me, &c. 1

--- PAGE 013 --- ¥. Ostende nobis, Domi- ne, misericordiam tuam. R. Et salutare tuum da
nobis. ¥. Domine, exaudi ora-
tionem meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te
veniat. . Dominus vobiscum.
. Et cum spiritu tuo.

OREMUS.

Exaudi nos, Domine san-
cte, Pater omnipotens, seter- ne Deus: et mittere digneris
sanctum angelum tuum de coelis, qui custodiat, foveat,

rotegat, visitet atque de-

endat omnes habitantes in hoc habitaculo. Per Chri- stum Dominum nostrum.

R. Amen.

The procession, which

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

.W. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy.

R. And grant us thy sal-
vation.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

ER. And let my cry come unto thee.

¥. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

LET US PRAY.

Graciously hear us, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eter- nal God: and vouchsafe to send thy holy angel from heaven, who may keep, cher- ish, protect, visit, and defend all who are assembled in this pe: Through Christ our

rd.

R. Amen.

in many churches imme-

diately precedes a solemn Mass, is a prelude to the great act which is about to be accomplished. It originated from the practice used in monasteries, of going through the cloisters, every Sunday, chanting certain appointed responsories; during which time the hebdomadarian went through all the conventual places, blessing each of them. The practice is still in use.

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,

--- PAGE 014 --- THE ORDINARY

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

Y. Introibo ad altare Dei. R. Ad Deum qui latificat
juventutem meam.

Judica me, Deus, et dis-
cerne causam meam de gente non sancta ; ab homine ini- quo et doloso erue me.

Quia tu es, Deus, forti-
tudo mea: quare me repu- listi et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus?

Emitte lucem tuam et ve- ritatem tuam: ipsa me de- duxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua.

Et introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum qui letificat ju- ventutem meam.

Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus: quare
tristis es anima mea! et quare conturbas me 1

Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salu- tare vultus mei, et Deus
meus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, ef Spiritui sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in szcula seculorum, Amen.

OF THE MASS

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

Iunite myself, O my God, with thy holy Church, who thrills with joy at the ap- ps of Jesus Christ thy

on, who is the true altar.

Like her, I beseech thee to defend me against the mace of the enemies of my salva- tion.

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

Send me, then, him who is light and truth: it is he who will open to us the way to thy holy mount, to thy hea- venly tabernacle.

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

Having seen him, I will sing in my gladness. Be not sad, O my soul! Why wouldst thou be troubled 1

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

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

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

(3)

--- PAGE 015 --- 4 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

. Introibo ad altare Dei. I am going to the altar of

. Ad Deum qui letificat God; there I shall feel the juventutem meam. presence of him who desires to give me a new life.

Y.A jutorium nostrum in his my hope comes not to

nomine Domini. me asthinking that Thavean B. Qui fecit colum et merits, but because of the all- terram. powerful help of my Creator.

The thought of being about to appear before his God excites in the soul of the priest a lively senti- ment of compunction, He cannot go further in the holy sacrifice without confessing, and publicly, that he 18 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 :

Deus, et dimissis peccatis
tuis, perducat te vitam seternam.

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

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

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatee Maris semper Virgini, beato Michaeli arcbangelo, beato Joanni Baptiste, san- ctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus sanctis, et tibi, pater, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima cul Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Vir- ginem, beatum Michaelem

I confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the arch- angel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to thee, father, Re I rp* rugs ie ingly 1n thought, word, an eig - mine my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

--- PAGE 016 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

archangelum, beatum Joan- nem Baptistam, sanctos apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes sanctos, et te, pater, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

Receive with gratitude priest, who says to you:

Misereatur vestri omnipo- tens Deus, et dimissis pecca-
tis vestris, perducat vos ad vitam sternam.

BR. Amen.

Indulgentiam, absolutio- nem, et remissionem pecca- torum nostrorum tribuat nobis omnipotens et miseri- cors Dominus.

R. Amen.

b

T I Log Dons ever Virgin, blessed Michael the archangel, bles- sed John the Baptist,the holy a es Peter and Paul, and 1 the saints, and thee, fa- ther, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

the paternal wish of the

May almighty God be merciful to you, and, for- giving your sins, bring you to everlasting life.

R. Amen.
May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us par-

don, absolution, and remis- sion of our sins.

R. Amen.

Invoke the divine assistance, that you may

approach to Jesus Christ.

Y. Deus, tu conversus vi-
vificabis nos. . R. Et plebs tua letabitur

in te.

¥. Ostende nobis, Domine,
misericordiam tuam.

R. Et salutare tuum da
nobis.

. ¥. Domine, exaudi ora-
tionem meam.

R. Et clamor meus ad te
veniat.

Y. OGod, it needs but one look of thine to give us life.

R. And thy people shall
rejoice in thee.

W. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy.

E. And give us to know and love the Saviour whom thou hast sent unto us.

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 : ¥. Dominus vobiscum.

¥. The Lord be with you.

--- PAGE 017 --- TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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. ance from sin:

OREMUS.

Aufer a nobis, quzesumus Domine, iniquitates nostras;
ut ad Sancta sanctorum puris mereamur mentibus introire. Per Christum Dominum no- strum. Amen.

Ask, both for him and for yourself, deliver-

LET US PRAY.

Take from our hearts, O Lord, all those sins, which make us unworthy to appear in thy presence. We ho 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
merita sanctorum tuorum, quorum reliquiz hic sunt, et omnium sanctorum: ut in- dulgere digneris omnia pec- cata mea. Amen.

Generous soldiers of Jesus Christ, who have mingled your own blood with his, in- tercede for us, that our sins may be forgiven: that so we ry like you, approach unto

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

Ab illo benedicaris, in eujus 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

--- PAGE 018 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 7

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 still, for they ask for mercy. In addressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing around the altar of heaven, one and the same with this before which you are kneeling.

To the Father :

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

To the Son :

Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us!

To the Holy Ghost:

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

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison. Christe eleison. Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

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 bymn of the angels.

THE ANGELIC HYMN

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonz voluntatis.

Laudamus te: benedici- mus te: adoramus te: glori- ficamus te: gratias agimus tibi propter magnam glori- am tuam.

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.

2

--- PAGE 019 --- 8 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Domine Deus, Rex ccele-
stis, 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 no- stram.

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.

The priest then turns

O Lord God, heavedly King, God the Father al-

mighty.

6 Du Jesus Christ, the M nero Son.

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

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

Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our bumble 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, to- gether with the Holy Ghost, art most high, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

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 re- citing with the priest the Collects which you will find in their proper places: but on no account omit y; join with the server of the Mass in answering

men.

After this comes the Epistle, which is generally a portion of one or other of tbe Epistles of the apostles, or & passage from some Book of the old Testament. While it is being read, give thanks to that God who, not satisfied with having spoken to us at sundry

--- PAGE 020 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 9

times by His messengers, deigned at last to speak unto us by His well-beloved Son.!

The Gradual is a formula of prayer intermediate between the Epistle and the Gospel. Most fre- quently, it again brings before us the sentiments already expressed in the Introit. Read it devoutly, that so you may enter more and more 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.

The time is now come 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, meanwiiile, 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.

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

Munda cor meum ac la- bia mea, omnipotens Deus,
qui Jabia Isai prophets calculo mundasti ignito; ita me tua grata miseratione dignare mundare, ut san- ctum Evangelium tuum di-

e valeam nuntiare. Per

hristum Dominum no- strum. 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 Lo Jesus Christ, Amen.

' Heb. i. 2.

--- PAGE 021 --- 10

Dominus sit in corde meo,
et in labiis meis: ut digne et competenter annuntiem Evangelium suum: In no-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Grant to thy ministers thy race, that they may faith- ully explain thy law ; that 80 all, both pastors and flock,

mine Patris, et Filii, et Spi-

n may be united to thee for ritus sancti. Amen.

ever. Amen.

You will stand during the Gospel, out of respect for the word of God, and as though you were awaiting the orders of your divine Master. 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 speak- ing,' 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 un- belief did not comprehend. Let us, then, say with the Catholic Church, our mother:

THE NICENE CREED

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, fa- ctorem coeli et terrse, visibi- lium omnium et invisibi- lium.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia szcula, Deum de Deo, lumen de

! Cant. v. 6.

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

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

* 1 Kings, iii. 10.

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

lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et pro-

ternostram salutem, descen- it de ccelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu sancto, ex Maria Virgine; ET HOMO FACTUS EST. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio

ilato, passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas Et ascendit in coelum ; sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judi- care vivos et mortuos; cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem,

ui ex Patre Filioque proce-

it Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur, et conglori- ficatur; qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, san- ctam, Catholicam, et aposto- licam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum Baptisma in remissio- nem peccatorum. Et exspe- cto resurrectionem mortuo- rum, et vitam venturi szculi. Amen.

11

God of true God. Begotten, notmade;consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men,and for our salvation, came down from heaven. Aud became incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; AND WAS MADE MAN. He was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suf- fered, 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 s' ll be no end.

Anc 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 glori- fied; who spoke by the pro-

hets. And one, holy, Catho- ic, and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins. And I ex- pect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The priest and the people should now have their bearts ready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass; it is called the Oblation, and immediately follows that which was named the Mass of the catechumens, on account of its being, formerly, the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had

permission to be present.

--- PAGE 023 --- 12 TIME AFTER PENTECOST See, then, dear Christians! Bread and wine are about to be offered to God, as being the noblest of inanimate creatures, since they are intended to serve as 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 them- selves 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 us read the Offertory with him, and when he offers the Host to God, let us unite with him in saying:

Suscipe, sancte Pater, All that we have, O Lord,

omnipotens, sterne Deus,
hanc immaculatam hostiam, quam v io indignus famulus tuus offero tibi, Deo meo vivo et vero, pro innumera- bilibus peccatis et offensio- nibus et negligentiis meis, et pro omnibus circumstan- tibus, sed et pro omnibus fidelibus Christianis vivis atque defunctis; ut mihi et illis proficiat ad salutem in

12 Cor. v. 4.

comes from thee, and belongs to thee; it is just, therefore, tbat we return it unto thee. But how wonderful art thou in the inventions of thy im- mense 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

?*2 St. Peter, i. 4.

--- PAGE 024 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 13

long to live by thee, and to cease to live their own life of self.

vitam zternam. Amen.

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 Incar- nation, which is the source of our hope and our

salvation, and say:

Deus, qui humans sub-
stantizz dignitatem mirabi- liter condidisti et mirabi- lius reformasti: da nobis per hujus aquse et vini myste- rium, ejus divinitatis esse consortes, qui humanitatis nostre fieri dignatus est articeps, Jesus Christus,

ilius tuus, Dominus 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 a generous wine, has been poured forth under the

ressure of the cross! thou

ast deigned to unite th divine nature to our w humanity, which is signified by this drop of water. Oh! come and make us ers of m 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 de- precantes clementiam: ut in conspectu divinse Majestatis tus, 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 forthedivine transformation, which will make them from being mere offerings of cre- ated things, the instrument of the world's salvation.

After having thus held up the sacred gifts towards

--- PAGE 025 --- 14

heaven, the

ourselves, and say:

In spiritu humilitatis, et in animo contrito, suscipia- mur a te, Domine: et sic fiat
sacrificium nostrum in con- spectu tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi, Domine Deus.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

riest bows down: let us, also, humble

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 opera-

tion 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:

Veni, Sanctificator, omni- potens sterne Deus, et be-
nedic hoc sacrificium tuo sancto nomini przeparatum.

Come, O divine Spirit, make fruitful the offerin, which is upon the altar, an produce in our hearts him whom they desire.

If it be a High Mass, the priest, before proceed- ing further with the sacrifice, takes the thurible a second time, after blessing the incense in these

words:

Per intercessionem beati Michaelis archangeli, stantis a déxtris 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 Michaelthearchangel, standing at the right hand of the altarof 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 fragrant incense, more

--- PAGE 026 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 15 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 con- spectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vesper- tinum. Pone, Domine, custo-
diam ori meo, et ostium cir- cumstantize labiis meis; ut non declinet cor meum in verba malitiz, ad excusan- das excusationes in pecca- tis.

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 Domi- nus ignem sui amoris, et flammam sterne caritatis. Amen.

Maythe 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 his heart. The public confession made by him at the foot of the altar does not satisfy the earnestness of his compunction. He would now at the altar itself express before 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

--- PAGE 027 --- 16 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 bim these verses of the psalm :

PSALM 25.

Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas ; et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine.

' Ut audiam vocem laudis; et enarrem universa mira- bilia tua.

Domine, dilexi decorem
domus tus, et locum habi- tationis gloriz tus.

Ne perdas cum impiis, Deus, animam meam, et cum
virissanguinum vitam meam.

In quorum manibus iniqui- tates sunt: dextera eorum repleta est muneribus.

o 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.

Bicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in szecula Bsculorum. Amen.

L too, would wash my hands, O Lord, and become like unto those who are in- nocent, that so I may be wor- thy to approach 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; às it was in the Mem ning, 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, full of respectful awe, bows down, begging of God to receive graciously the sacrifice which is about to be offered to Him, and expresses

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

the intentions for which the same,

Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offerimus ob memoriam Pas- sionis, Resurrectionis, et Ascensionis Jesu Christi Do- mini nostri: et in honorem beat Mariz semper Virgi- nis, et beati Joannis Bap- tistz, et sanctorum aposto- lorum Petri et Pauli, et istorum, et omnium sancto- rum: ut illis proficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem: et illi pro nobis intercedere — dignentur in colis, quorum memoriam agimus in terris. Per eum- dem Christum Dominuin

17

it is offered. Let us do

O holy Trinity, graciously accept the sacrifice we have begun. We offerit in remem- brance of the Passion, Resur- rection, 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 martyrs whose relics lie here under our altar awaiting their resurrection, and the saints whose memory we this day celebrate. In- crease the glory they are en- joying, and receive the pray-

nostrum. Amen. ers they address to thee for us.

The priest again turns to the people; it is for the last time before the sacred mysteries areaccomplished. 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:

Orabe, fratres: ut meum Brethren, pray that my
ac vestrum sacrificium ac- sacrifice, which is yours also, ceptabile fiat apud Deum may be acceptable to God, Patrem omnipotentem. our almighty Father.

Scarcely has he uttered the first words than 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 :

--- PAGE 029 --- 18

Suscipiat Dominus sacri-
ficium de manibus tuis, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad utilitatem quoque nostram totiusque Ecclesie sue sancta».

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 through- out 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 secula sacu- lorum,

For ever and ever. In the same feeling, answer your Amen! Then he continues :

Dominus vobiscum.

s Et cum spiritu tuo. . Sursum corda!

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
V. Lift up your hearts!

Let your response be sincere : E. Habemus ad Domi- x We have them fixed on num. God. And when be adds:

W. Gratias agamus Domi- — Y. Let us give thanks to no Deo nostro. the Lord our God.

--- PAGE 030 --- THE ORDINATY OF THE MASS

19

Answer him with all the earnestness of your soul:

R. Dignum et justum est.

R. It is meet and just.

Then the priest :

THE PRKFACE For Sundays

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater
omnipotens, zterne Deus;
qui cum unigenito Filio tuo et Spiritu sancto, unus es Deus, unus es Dominus.
Non in unius singularitate Personz, sed in unius Trini- tate substantiz. Quod enim de tua gloria, revelante te credimus, hoc de Filio tuo, hoc de Spiritu sancto, sine differentia discretionis sen- timus, ut in confessione vere sempiterneque Dei- tatis, et in Personis pro- prietas, et in essentia unitas, et in majestate adoretur squalitas. Quam laudant angeli atque archangeli, cherubim quoque ac sera- phim, qui non cessant cla- mare quotidie, una voce dicentes:

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, who, with thy only-begotten Son and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord, not in the singleness of one Person, but in the Trinity of one sub- stance. For that which, by thy revelation, we believe of thy glory, the same do we believe of thy Son, the same also of the Holy Ghost, with- out any difference or distinc- tion, that in the confession of the trueand eternal Godhead, distinction in Persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty, may be adored. Which the angels and arch- angels praise, the cherubim also and the seraphim, who cease not to cry out daily, saying with one voice:

For Week-days

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gra- tias agere: Domine sancte,
Pater omnipotens, zterne Deus; per Christum Domi-

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 ;

--- PAGE 031 --- 20

num nostrum. Per quem majestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Domina- tiones, tremunt Potestates ; Colli cclorumque Virtutes, ac beata Seraphim, socia exsultatione — concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras vo- ces, ut admitti jubeas de- precamur, supplici confes- sione dicentes:

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 com- mon jubilee, glorify it. To- gether with whom, we be- seech 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 ! of
Pleni sunt cceli et terra

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God hosts!

Heaven and earth are full

gloria tua. of thy glory. Hosanna in excelsis ! Hosanna in the highest! Deuedictus qui venit in 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 !

nomine Domini.

Hosanna in excelsis !

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.” Let a profound respect stay all distractions, and keep our senses in submission to the soul. Let us re- spectfully fix our eyes on what the priest does in the holy place.

* Wisd. xviii. 14, 15.

--- PAGE 032 --- Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum no- atrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus, uti accepta habeas et benedicas hsec dona, hec munera, hec sancta sacrificia illibata; in primis quee tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta Catholica ; quam pa- cificare, custodire, adunare, et regere digneris toto orbe terrarum, una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N. et Anti- stite noetro N., et omnibus | orthodoxis, atque catholica et apostolic fidei cultoribus.

THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

THE OANON OF THE MASS

aven and earth, the first prayer of the sacrificing riest is for the Catholic Church, his and our mother,

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,

t thou wouldst remove all those hindrances which op- pose her during her pilgrim- age 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 ortho- dox children of the Catholic, apostolic, Roman Church. Here pray, together with the priest, for those whose interests should be dearest to you.

Memento, Domine, famu-
lorum famularumque tua- rum N. et N., et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota de- votio: pro quibus tibi offeri- mus, vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis pro se suisque omnibus, pro re- demptione animarum sua-

) rum, pro spe salutis et inco- lumitatis suze; tibique red- dunt vota sua sterno Deo vivo et vero.

Permit me, O God, to in- tercede with thee for special blessings upon those for whóm thou knowest that I have a special obligation to

ray: *** Apply to them the fruits of this divine sa- crifice, which is offered unto thee in the name of all man- kind. Visit them by thy grace, pardon them their sins grant them the Maing 0 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.

--- PAGE 033 --- 22

Communicantes, et memo- riam venerantes, in primis gloriosz semper Virginis Ma- ria, Genitricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beatorum apostolorum ac martyrum tuorum, Petri et Pauli, Andrez, Jacobi, Joan- nis, Thomz, Jacobi, Philippi, Bartholomzei, Matthzei, Simo- nis et Thadd=i: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriani, Laurentii, Chryso- goni, Joannis et Pauli, Cos- ma et Damiani, et omnium sanctorum tuorum: quorum meritis precibusque conce- das, ut in omnibus protectio- nis tue muniamur auxilio. Per eumdem Christum Domi- num nostrum. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

But the offering of t sacrifice, O my God, not unite us with those o: of our brethren who are 8 in this transient life of tria it brings us closer to those also who are already in pos- session of heaven. "Therefore itis that we wish to honour by it the memory of the glo- rious and ever Virgin Mary, of whom Jesus was born to us ; of the apostles, confes- sors, virgins, and of all the saints; that they may assist us, by their powerful inter- cession, to be worthy of this thy visit, and of contemplat- ing 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.

Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostre, sed et cunctee familie tuz, quassu- mus, Domine, ut placatus
accipias: diesque nostros in tua pace disponas, atque ab zeterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum ju- beas grege numerari. er Christum Dominum no- strum. Amen.

Vouchsafe, O God, to ac- cept the offering, which this thine assembled family pre- sents to thee as the homage of its most happy servitude. In return, give us peace, save us from thy wrath, and number us among thine elect, through him who is coming to us—thy Son, our Saviour!

--- PAGE 034 --- THE ORDINARY OF THK MASS 23

Quam oblationem tu, Deus,
in omnibus, qusesumus, nedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilem- que facere digneris: ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat dile- ctissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

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. Ab! 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 & 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 patere- tur, accepit panem in san- ctas ac venerabiles manus suas: et elevatis oculis in colum, ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fre-

it, deditque discipulis suis,

icens: Accipite, et mandu- cate ex hoc omnes, Hoc EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM.

The divine Lamb is

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 !

now lyiog on our altar!

Glory and love be to Him for ever! But, He is 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 folow, which 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

lood of our Redeemer, lest fear should keep us from a mystery, which God gives us for the very purpose

3

--- PAGE 035 --- 24

of infusing confidence into our hearts.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

While the

priest is pronouncing those words, let us ass.ciate ourselves to the angels, who tremblingly gaze upon

this deepest wonder.

Simili modo postquam cce- natum est, accipieps et hunc preclarum calicem in san- ctas ac venerabiles manus suas: item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, deditque discipu- lis suis dicens: Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic EST ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI, NOVI ET ATERNI TESTA- MENTI: MYSTERIUM FIDEI: QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MUL- TIS EFFUNDETUR IN REMIS- SIONEM PECCATORUM. Hzc quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis.

The priest is now face to face with God.

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.

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, Domi- ne, nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta, ejusdem Christi Filii tui Domini nostri tam beatz Passionis, nec non et ab inferis Resurrectionis, sed et in coelos gloriose Ascen- sionis: offerimus przclarz Majestati tuse de tuis donis ac datis Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam : Panem san- ctum vite ®terna, et Cali- cem salutis perpetu:.

Supra qus propitio ac se- reno vultu respicere digne-

Father of infinite holiness! the Host so long expected is here before thee. Behold this thine eternal Son, who suf- fered & bitter Passion, rose again with glory from the grave, and ascended trium- phantly 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

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

ris: etaccepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium Patriarcha nostri Abrahz, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium, X immaculatam hostiam.

25

lambs offered unto thee bt Abel: and the sacrifice whic!

Abraham made thee of his son Isaac, who, though im- molated, 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 fizures; 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, om- nipotens Deus, jube hzc per-

ferri per manus sancti angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divine Majesta- tis tuze: ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione, sacro- sanctum Fili tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione coelesti et gratia repleamur. Per eum- dem Christum Dominum no- strum. 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 accom- plished the great mystery of thy glory and our salvation. Vouchsafe to make us par- takers 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, there- fore, 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

--- PAGE 037 --- 26

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 praecesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus
in Christo quiescentibus, lo- cum refrigerii, lucis et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Per eumdem Christum Do- minum nostrum. Amen.

Dear Jesus! let the happi- ness of this thy visit extend to every portion of thy Church. Thy face 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 our- selves, sinners, alas! 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 spe- rantibus, partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis apostolis et martyribus; cum Joanne, Stephano, Mathia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcel- lino, Petro, Felicitate, Per- petua, Agatha, Lucia, Agne- te, Cecilia, Anastasia, et om- nibus sanctis tuis ; intra quo- rum nos consortium, non zstimator meriti, sed veniz, quaesumus, largitor admitte; per Christum Dominum no- strum. Per quem hac om-

Alas! we are poor sinners, O God of all sanctity! yet do we hope that thine infinite mercy will grant us to share thy kingdom; not indeed b: reason of our works, whic deserve little else than pun- ishment, but because of the merits of this sacrifice, which we are offering unto thee.

.Remember, too, the merits

of thy holy apostles, of th holy martyrs, of thy holy oe ns, and of all thy saints. irant us, by their interces- sion, grace in this world, and glory eternal in the next: which we ask of thee, in the

--- PAGE 038 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 91

nia, Domine, semper bona
creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis, et przstas nobis;

r ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo, Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spi- ritus sancti, omnis honor et gloria.

name of our Lord Jesus Christ, s 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 glo: be to thee ! id

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 express- ing their desire that his supplications be granted:

Per omnia szcula szculo- rum,

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 mys- tery which has just been ac- complished. I unite myself to the offering which has been made, and to the peti- tions 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 beard, when He Himself who drew it up for us is in

--- PAGE 039 --- 28 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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

Praeceptis salutaribus mo- niti, et divina institutione formati, audemus dicere:

LET US PRAY 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 colis, sanctificetur nomen tuum: adveniat regnum tu- um: fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da no- bis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus no- stris: 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 18 in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that tres- pass 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 deliver us from it. Libera nos, qusesumus, How many,O Lord, are the Domine, ab omnibus malis, evils which beset us! Evils
preteritis, praesentibus et past, which are the wounds futuris: et intercedente bea- left on the soul by her sins, ta et gloriosa semper Virgi- and which strengthen her ne Dei Genitrice Maria, cam wicked propensities. Evils beatis apostolis tuis Petro present, that is, the sins now,

--- PAGE 040 --- THE ORDINARY OF TIIE MASS

et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus sanctis, da propi- tius pacem in diebus no- stris: ut ope misericordize tug adjuti, et a peccato si- mus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. Per eumdem Dominum no- strum Jesum Christum Fi- lium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus.

29

at this very time, upon our soul;the weaknessofthispoor 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 de- liver usfrom all these evils, and to accept in our favour the intercession of Mary 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 szcula szculo- rum. B. Amen.

World without end. B. Amen.

Then he says:

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

May the peace of our Lord be ever with you.

To this paternal wish reply :

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

R. And with thy spirit.

The mystery is drawing to à 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 Hisresurrection. To this end, he reverently breaks the sacred Host; and, having divided it into three

--- PAGE 041 --- 30 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

parts, he puts one into the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the immortal Victim. Do you adore, and say:

Hsc commixtio et conse- —— Glory be to thee, Saviour cratio Corporis et Sanguinis of the world! who didst, in Domini nostri Jesu Christi, thy Passion, permit thy pre- fiat accipientibus nobis in cious Blood to be separated vitam eternam. Amen. from thy sacred Body, after-

wards uniting them again to- gether by thy divine power.

Offer now your prayer 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 pec- — Lamb of God, who takest cata mundi, miserere nobis. away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us!

Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec- Lamb of God, who takest cata mundi,miserere nobis. away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us!

Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec- Lamb of God, who takest cata mundi, dona nobis pa- away the sins of the world, cem. give us peace !

Peace is the grand object of our Saviour's coming into the world: He is the ‘Prince of peace’ 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'? 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.

' Apoc. v. 6. Is, ix. 6. 31 Cor: x. 17.

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

Domine Jesu Christe, qui
dixisti apostolis tuis: Pacem relinquo vobis: pacem meam do vobis: ne respicias pec- cata mea, sed fidem Eccle- Bie tuse: eamque secundum voluntatem tuam pacificare et coadunare digneris. Qui vivis et regnas Deus, per
omnia secula seculorum. Amen,

31

Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thine apostles, ‘My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: re- gard 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 sub- deacon, 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 inhzrere mandatis, et à te nunquam separari permittas. Qui cum eodem Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivis et regnas, Deus,
in ssecula seculorum. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who accord- ing to the willof 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 al- ways adhere to thy com- mandments, and never suffer me to beseparated 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 for a spiritual

Perceptio Corporis tui, Do- mine Jesu Christe, quod ego

rayer; otherwise, prepare yourself mmunion :

Let not the participation of thy Body, O Lord Jesus

--- PAGE 043 --- 32

indignus sumere presumo, non mihi proveniat in judi- cium 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, De- us, per omnia secula szxcu- lorum. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Christ, which I, though un- worthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and "condemnation; but through thy mercy, may it be a safe- guard 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 coelestem accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo.

Come, my dear Jesus, come !

When he strikes his breast, confessing his un- worthiness, 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!Iam 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

is abode within you;

and again say to Him with the bride: * Come, Lord

Jesus, come !'!

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:

" Apoc. xxii. 20,

--- PAGE 044 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam szternam, Amen.

33

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 qus retribuit mihi? Calicem salutaris ac- cipiam, et nomen Domini in- vocabo. 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 saved from mine enemies.

But if jou are to make a sacramental Communion,

you shou

d at this moment of the priest's receiving

the precious Blood, again adore the God who 1s

comin Lord Jesus, come !*

to you, and keep to your prayer: ‘Come,

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

is Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat ani- mam meam in vitam ster- nam. Amen.

Iunite 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, and while the priest is purifying the chalice the first time, say :

Quod ore sumpsimus, Do- mine, pura mente capiamus; et de munere temporali fiat nobis remedium sempiter- num.

Thou hast visited me, O God, in these days of my pil- grimage: give me grace to treasure up the fruits of this visit, and to make it tell upon my eternity.

--- PAGE 045 --- 34

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

While the priest is purifying the chalice the

second time, say:

Corpus tuum, Domine,
quod sumpsi, et Sanguis, quem potavi, adheereat vis- ceribus meis: et przsta ut in me non remaneat scele- rum macula, quem pura et sancta refecerunt Sacramen- ta. Qui vivis et regnas in

Be thou for ever blessed, O my Saviour, for havin admitted me fr Ve Me "1 mystery of thy Body an Blood. May my heart and senses preserve, by thy grace, the purity thou hast im-

pus to them, and may I thus rendered less un- worthy of thy divine visit.

The priest, having read the anthem called the Communion, which is the first part of his thanks-

iving for the favour just received from God, whereby

e has renewed His divine presence among us, turns to the people, greeting them with the usual saluta- tion; and then recites the prayer, called the Post- communion, wbich is the continuation of the thanksgiving. You will join him here also, and thank God for the nnspeakable 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.

&szcula seculorum. Amen.

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. R. Deo gratias.

Go, the Mass is finished. E. Thanks be to God.

The priest makes a last prayer before giving you his blessing; pray with him:

--- PAGE 046 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

Placeat tibi, sancta Tri- nitas, obsequium servitutis mez, et presta ut sacrifi- cium, quod oculis tuz& Ma- jestatis indignus obtuli, tibi sit acceptabile, mihique, et omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli, sit, te miserante, pro- pitiabile. Per Christum Do- minum nostrum. Amen.

35

Eternal thanks be to thee, O adorable Trinity, for the mercy thou hast shown to me, in permitting me to as- sist at this divine sacrifice. Pardon me the negligence and coldness wherewith I have received so great a fa- vour; and deign to confirm the blessing which thy minis- ter 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.

. Àmen.

May the Mighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless you!

R. 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.

¥. The Lord be with you. R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

R. And with thy spirit.

THE LAST GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii se- The beginning of the holy
cundum Joannem. Gospel mooning to John.

In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was

with God, and the Word was

, . Cap. I In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc

erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia peripsum facta sunt; et sine ipso factum est nihi

God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,

--- PAGE 047 --- 36

quod factum est; in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum ; et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebre eam non comprehenderunt. Fuit ho- mo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joannes. Hic venit in testimonium, ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine, ut om- nes crederent per illum, Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimo- nium perhiberet de lumine. Erat lux vera, que illuminat omnem hominem venientem inhunc mundum. In mun- do erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, e& mundus eum non cognovit. In propria venit, et sui eum non recepe- runt. Quotquot autem re- ceperunt eum, dedit eis po- testatem filios Dei fieri, his qui credunt in nomine ejus: qui non ex sanguinibus, ne- que ex voluntate carnis, ne-

ue ex voluntate viri, sed ex De. nati sunt. ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, et habi- tavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratiz et veritatis.

R. Deo gratias.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

end without him was made nothingthat 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 mightbelievethrough 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 un- to his own, and his own re- ceived 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 bis 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. E. Thanks be to God. --- PAGE 048 --- VESPERS 37

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, which are more appropriate to those occasions.

After the Pater and Ave have been said in secret, the Church commences this Hour with her favourite supplication :

VW. Deus, in adjutorium ¥. Incline unto my aid, O meum intende. God. E. Domine, ad adjuvan- 1. O Lord, make haste to

dum me festina. help me.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, e& ^ Glory be to the Father, and

Spirit"; sancto. tothe Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Sicut erat in principio, et — As it was in the beginning, nunc, et semper, et in s®- is now, and ever 1 cula seculorum. Amen. world without end. Amen.

Alluluia. 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 highest glory.

--- PAGE 049 --- 38

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

PSALM 109

Dixit Dominus Domino
meo: * Sede a dextris meis.

Donec ponam inimicos tuos: * scabellum pedum tuorum. .

Virgam virtutis tue emit- tet Dominus ex Sion: * do-
minare in medio inimicorum tuorum.

Tecum principium in die virtutis tuz in splendoribus sanctorum: * ex utero ante luciferum genui te.

"«ravit Dominus, et non
peenitebit eum: * Tu es Sa- cerdos in zternum secun- dum ordinem Melchisedech.

Dominus a dextris tuis : *
confregit in die ire suze re- ges.

Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas : * conquas- sabit capita in terra multo- rum.

De torrente in via bibet : * propterea exaltabit caput.

AxT. Dixit Dominus Do-
mino meo: sede a dextris meis.

ANT. Magna opera Domini.

The Lord said to my Lord, Lis Son: Sit thou at my right hand, and reign with me.

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

O Christ! the Lord thy Father wil send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: from thence rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.

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 worab before the day-star I begot thee.

'The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent : Ae hath said, speaking to thee the God- Man; Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech,

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

He shall also judge among nations: in that terrible com- ing, he shall fill the ruins of the world: he shall crush the heads in the land of many.

He cometh now in humility: he shall drink in the way of the torrent of suffering: 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

--- PAGE 050 ---

VESPERS

39

of God to His people, the promised covenant, the

redemption, 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.

PSALM 110

Confitebor tibi, Domine,
in toto corde meo: * in con- silio justorum et congrega- tione.

Magna opera Domini: * exquisita in omnes volunta- tes ejus.

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

Memoriam fecit mirabi- lium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus : * escam
dedit timentibus se.

Memor erit in seculum testamenti sui: * virtutem operum suorum annuntia- bit populo suo.

Ut det illis hereditatem Gentium: * opera manuum ejus veritas et judicium.

Fidelia omnia mandata ejus, confirmata iu scu- lum szculi: facta in veri- tate et @quitate.

ltedemptionem misit po- pulo suo: * mandavit in S$ternum testamentum su- um.

Sanctum et terribile no- men ejus: * initium sapien- tiz timor Domini.

Intellectus bonus omni-

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

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

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

He Lath made a remem- brance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord : he hath given tood 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 Ais Church,the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of his handsaretruth 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 commanded his covenant for ever.

Holy and terrible is his name : the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

A good understanding to all

4

--- PAGE 051 --- 40

bus facientibus eum : * lau- datio ejus manet in szcu- lum szculi,

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

ANT. Qui timet Dominum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

that do it: his praise con- tinueth for ever and ever.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out accord- ing to all his wills.

ANT. 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 coniing. It tells us, likewise, of the confusion of the sinner who shall have despised the mysteries of God's love

towards mankind.

PSALM 111

Beatus vir qui timet Do- minum: * in mandatis ejus volet nimis.

Potens in terra erit semen ejus:* generatio rectorum benedicetur.

Gloria et divitie in domo ejus: et justitia ejus ma- net in szeculum szeculi.

Exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis: * misericors et miserator, et justus.

Jucundus homo, qui mise- retur et commodat, disponet sermones suos in judicio: * quia in zternum non com- movebitur.

In memoria zterna erit justus: * ab auditione mala non timebit.

Paratum cor ejus sperare in Domino, confirmatum est cor ejus : * non commovebi- tur donec despiciat inimicos 8uos.

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.

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 remaineth 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 words with judgment: because he shall not be moved for ever.

The just shall be in ever- lasting remembrance : he shall not fear the evil hearing. . His heart is ready to hope in th^ Lord; his heart is strengthened : he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies,

--- PAGE 052 ---

VESPERS

Dispersit dedit pauperi- bus, justitia ejus manet in seculum smculi: * cornu ejus exaltabitur in gloria.

Peccator videbit, et irasce- tur, dentibus suis fremet et tabescet: * desiderium pec- catorum peribit.

ANT. Qui timet Dominum

in mandatis ejus cupit nimis.

ANT. Sit nomen Domini.

41

He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor ; his justice remaineth 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 sha'l perish.

ANT. He that feareth the Lord delighteth exceedingly in his commandments.

ri May the name of the

rd.

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 Hig own Son.

PSALM 112

Sit nomen Domini bene- dictum: *ex hoc nunc et usque in szeculum.

solis ortu usque ad oc- casum: * laudabile nomen Domini.

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

Quis sicut Dominus Deus
noster qui in altis habitat : * et humilia respicit in colo et in terra 1 .

Suscitans a terra inopem: * et de stercore erigens pau- perem:

Ut collocet eum cum prin- cipibus: * cum principibus populi sui.

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 looketh down on the jov thingsin heaven and ineartht

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

That he may place him with princes: with theprinces of his people.

--- PAGE 053 --- 43 TIME AFTER PENTECOST qu babitare facit sterilem Who maketh a barren wo- in domo: * matrem filiorum man 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.

]zttantem. uu ANT. Sit nomen Domini benedictum in &zxcula. ANT. Deus autem noster.

The fifth psalm, In exitu, recounts the prodigies witnessed 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 113

In exitu Israel de /Egyp- to: * domus Jacob de populo barbaro.

Facta est Judza sanctifi- catio ejus: * Israel potestas ejus.

Mare vidit et fugit: * Jor- danis conversus est retror- sum.

Montes exsultaverunt ut arietes: * et colles sicut agni ovium.

Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti: * et tu, Jordanis. quia conversus es retror- sum?

Montes exsultastis sicut arietes: * et colles sicut agni ovium 1

A facie Domini mota est terra : * a facie Dei Jacob.

Qui convertit petram in stagna aquarum : * et rupem in fontes aquarum.

Non nobis, Domine, non

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

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

The sea saw and tled ; Jor- dan was turned back.

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

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

Ye mountains that ye skip- ped 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 pools of water, and the stony hills into fountains of waters.

Not to us, O Lord, not to

--- PAGE 054 ---

VESPERS

nobis: * sed nomini tuo da gloriam. . .

Super misericordia tua, et veritate tua : * nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus
eorum 1?

Deus autem noster in
colo: * omnia quecumque voluit fecit.

Simulacra gentium ar- gentum et aurum: * opera manuum hominum.

Os habent, et non loquen- tur: * oculos habent, et non videbunt.

Aures habent, et non au- dient: * nares habent, et non odorabunt.

Manus habent, et non pal- pabunt; pedes habent, et non ambulabunt: * non cla- mabunt in gutture suo.

Similes illis fiant qui fa- ciunt ea. * et omnes qui confidunt in eis.

Domus Israel speravit in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Domus Aaron speravit in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Qui timent Dominum, speraverunt in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Dominus memor fuit no-
stri: * et benedixit nobis.

Benedixit domui Israel: * benedixit domui Aaron.

Benedixit omnibus qui ti- ment Dominum: * pusillis cum majoribus.

Adjiciat Dominus super

43

us: but to thy name give glory.

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

But our God is in heaven : he hath done all things what- soever he would.

The idols of the Gentiles are silverand 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, aud smell not.

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

Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as trust in them.

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

The house of Aaron hath hoped in the Lord: heistheir helper and their protector.

hey that fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their pro- tector.

The Lord hath been mind- ful of us, and hath blessed us.

He hath blessed the house of Israel: he hath blessed the house of Aarou.

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

great. May the Lord add blessings

--- PAGE 055 --- 44

vos: * super vos, et super filios vestros.

Benedicti vos a Domino: * qui fecit coelum et terram.

clum coli Domino: * terram autem dedit filiis hominum.

Non mortui laudabunt te, Domine: * neque omnes qui
descendunt in infernum.

Sed nos qui vivimus, be- nedicimus Domino: * ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum.

ANT. Deus autem noster in

coelo: omnia quaecumque volu- it, fecit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.

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

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

After these five psalms, a short lesson from the holy Scriptures is read.

It is called Capitulum, or

Little Chapter, because it is always very short. Those for the several festivals are given in the proper

of each.

CAPITULUM

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

R. Deo gratias.

Then follows the hymn. _ It was composed by St. Gregory the lt sings of creation, and celebrates the

for Sundays. Great.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.

R. Thanks be to God.

We here give the one

praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, viz., the light.

--- PAGE 056 ---

VESPERS

45

HYMN *

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

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

Audi preces cum fletibus,

Ne mens gravata crimine, Vita sit exsul munere : Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat.

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

Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne szculum.

Amen.

O infinitely good Creator of the M: by thee was pro- duced the light of day, pro- vidingthus the world's begin- ning with the beginning of the new-made light.

Thou biddest us call the time from morn till eve day; this day is over; dark night comes on : oh ! hear our tear- ful prayers.

Let not our soul, weighed down by crime, mis-spend thy gift of life: and, forgettin what is eternal, be earth-tie 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 defilements.

Most merciful Father! and thou, his only-begotten Son, coequal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Para- clete, grant this our prayer.

Amen.

* According to the monastic rite, it is as follows :—

R. breve. Quam magnificata
sunt. * Opera tua, onolse- Quam.

Y. Omnia in sapientia feci- Bti. * Opera. Gloria Patri, &c. Quam.

Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens ; Primordiis lucis nove,

Mundi parans originem.

Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari pracipis,

Tetrum chaos illabitur, Audi preces cum fletibus,

Ne mens gravata crimine, Vite sit exsul munere, Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat.

Ceelorum pulset intimum, Vitale tollat premium : Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum.

Presta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito. Regnans per omne seculum.

Amen.

--- PAGE 057 --- 416 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The versicle which follows the hymn, and which veve here give, is that of the Sunday: those for the Ísensts are given in their proper places.

| W. Dirigatur, Domine, VW. Maymy prayer, O Lord,

caratio mea. ascend, — — . ] R. Sicut incensum in R. Like incense in thy oronspectu tuo. sight.

' Then is said the Magnificat antiphon, which is to bre found in the proper. After this, the Church snings the canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in which
gere celebrated the divine maternity aud all its con- scequent blessings. This exquisite canticle is an esssential part of the Office of Vespers. It is the ewening incense, just as the canticle Benedictus, at Imauds, is that of the morning.

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

1 Magnificat: * anima mea
Ioominum; 1 Et exsultavit spiritus me- v8: * in Deo salutari meo. ( Quia respexit humilita- trem ancille sue: * ecce : einim ex hoc beatam me di- cnent omnes generationes. € Quia fecit mihi magna qui :ptotens est: * et sanctum nromen ejus. I Et misericordia ejus a : porogenie in progenies: * ti- : maentibus eum. I Fecit potentiam in bra- : Cihio suo: * dispersit super- bsos mente cordis sui.

I Deposuit potentes de se (de: * et exaltavit humiles.

My soul doth magnify the lol id

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Because hehath regarded the humility of his bandmaid: for behold from henceforth all ge- nerations shall call meblessed

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

And his mercy is from ge- neration unto generation: to them that fear him.

He hath showed might in his arm: he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble.

--- PAGE 058 ---

VESPERS

Esurientes implevit bo- nis : * et divites dimisit ina- nes,

Suscepit Israel puerum suum: * recordatus miseri- cordiz sus.

Sicut locutus est ad pa- tres nostros: * Abraham et semini ejus in s:zecula.

47

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

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

As hespoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his see 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 anima per misericordiam Dei requie- scant in pace.

R. Amen.

V. Let us bless the Lord.
; Thanks be to God.

W. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

R. Amen.

--- PAGE 059 --- 48 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

CHAPTER THE THIRD

ON THE OFFICE OF COMPLINE DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Tris Office, which concludes the day, commences by a warning of the dangers of the night: then imme- diately 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 there- fore 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 thy bless- ing. The priest answers:

Noctem quietam et finem perfectum concedat nobis Dominus omnipotens.

R. Amen.

May the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.

R. 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 quarens quem devoret: cui resistite fortes in fide. Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.

Brethren, be sober and watch ; because your adver- sary the devil, like 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:

R. Deo gratias.

B. Thanks be to God.

--- PAGE 060 --- COMPLINE

49

Then the priest :

V. Adjutorium nostrum
in nomine Domini.

Y. Ourbelp is in the name of the Lord.

The choir:

R. Qui fecit colum et
terram.

R. 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, baviog pronounced the general form

of absolution, says :

Y. Converte nos, Deus,
salutaris noster.

R. Et averte iram tuam
a nobis.

Deus, in adjutorium

meum intende.

R. Domine, ad adjuvan-
dum me festina.

Gloria Patri, &c.

ANT. Miserere,

V. Convert us, O God, our
Saviour. R. And turn away thine
anger from us. . Incline unto my aid, O

od.

R. O Lord, make haste to
help me.

Glory, &c.

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 tribulatione — dilatasti mihi.

Miserere mei: * et exaudi orationem meam.

Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde: * ut quid dili- gitis vanitatem, et queritis mendacium 1

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

Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.

O ye sons of men, how lon will you be dull of heart d ios d o you love vanity, and seek after lying 1

--- PAGE 061 --- 50

Et scitote quoniam miri- ficavit Dominus sanctum
suum: * Dominus exaudiet
me, cum clamavero ad eum.

Irascimini et nolite pec- care: * qua dicitis in cor- dibus vestris, in cubilibus vestris compungimini.

Sacrificate sacrificium justi- tie, et sperate in Domino: * multi dicunt: Quis osten- dit nobis bona ?

Signatum est super nos Jumen vultus tui Domine:
* dedisti lztitiam in corde

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

In pace in idipsum: * dormiam et requiescam.

Quoniam tu, Domine, sin-
gulariter in spe: * constitu- isti me.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy Ove won- derful: 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 jus- tice, and trust in the Lord : many say, Who showeth us good things?

The light of thy counte- nance, 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 Church has introduced here the first six verses

of psalm xxx. because they contain the prayer which our Saviour made when dying: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit !—words so beautifully appropriate to this Office of the close of

Khe. Gay: PSALM 30*

In te, Domine, speravi,
non confundar in &ternum: * in justitia tua libera me.

Inclina ad me aurem tu- am : * accelera ut eruas me.

Esto mihi in Deum pro- tectorem, et in domum re- fugii: * ut salvum me fa- cias —

Quoniam fortitudo mea,

In thee, O Lord, bave I hoped, let me never be con- founded: deliver me in thy justice.

Bow down thine ear to me: make haste to deliver me.

Be thou unto me a God, a protector, aud a house of re- tuge, to save me.

For thou art my strength,

* In accordance with the decrees of Pope Pius X. the second psalm, consisting of a portion of Psalm zzz, is omitted.

--- PAGE 062 --- COMPLINE

et refugium meum es tu: * et propter nomen tuum deduces me, et enutries me.

Educes me de laqueo hoc quem absconderunt mihi: * quoniam tu es protector meus.

In manus tuas commen- do spiritum meum: * re- demisti me, Domine, Deus
veritatis.

The third psalm gives

51

and my refuge: and for thy name's sake, thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.

Into thy bands I commend myspirit: thouhast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

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 cceli commorabitur.

Dicet Domino: Susceptor meus es tu, et refugium meum: * Deus meus, spe-
rabo in eum.

Quoniam ipse liberavit me de laqueo venantium: * et a verbo aspero.

Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus spetabis.

Bcuto circumdabit te ve- ritas ejus: * non timebis a timore nocturno :

A sagitta volante in die, a negotio perambulante in tenebris: * ab incursu, et dzmonio meridiano.

Cadent a latere tuo mille,

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 hisshoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.

Histruth shall compassthee 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. Athousand shall fall at thy

--- PAGE 063 --- 52

et decem millia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquabit. . . erumtamen oculis tuis considerabis : * et retribu- tionem peccatorum videbis. Quoniam tu es, Domine,
spes mea: * Altissimum po- suisti refugium tuum.

Non accedet ad te malum: * et flagellum non appro- pinquabit tabernaculo tuo.

Quoniam angelis suis mandavit de te: * ut custo- diant te in omnibus viis tuis.

In manibus portabunt te: * ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.

Super aspidem et basili- scum ambulabis: * et con- culcabis leonem et draco- nem.

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 re-

lebo eum: * et ostendam illi salutare meum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

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 un- to 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: Be- cause 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 fourth psalm invites the servants of God to persevere, with fervour, in the prayers they offer

during the might.

The faithful should say this

psalm in a spirit of gratitude to God, for raising up

night, for the safety of Israel. On such prayers

depend the happiness and the destinies of the world.

--- PAGE 064 --- COMPLINE

53

PSALM 133

Ecce nunc benedicite Do- minum : * omnes servi Do- mini.

Qui statis in domo Domi- ni: * in atriis domus Dei nostri.

In noctibus extollite ma- nus vestras in sancta: * et benedicite Dominum.

Benedicat te Dominus ex
Sion: * qui fecit ccelum et terram.

Ant. Miserere mihi, Do- mine, 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 tothe holy places, and bless ye the Lord.

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

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

HYMN*

Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut pro tua clementia,

Sis przsul et custodia.

Procul recedant somnia, Et noctium phantasmata ; Hostemque nostrum com-

prime, Ne polluantur corpora.

Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito Regnans per omne szculum,

Amen.

Before the closing of the light, we beseech thee, Crea- tor of all things! that, in thy clemency, thou be our pro- tector and our guard.

May the dreams and phan- toms 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, coequal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Para- clete, grant this our prayer!

Amen.

* According to the monastic rite, as follows :—-

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

Procul recedant somnia Et noctium phantasmata ;

Hostemque nostrum comprime, Ne polluantur corpora.

Presta, Pater omnipotens, Per Jesum Christum Dominum, Qui tecum in perpetuum Regnat cum sancto Spiritu.

Amen.

--- PAGE 065 --- 54

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

CAPITULUM

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

R. In manus tuas, Domi-
ne : * Commendo spiritum menm. In manus tuas.

W. Redemisti nos, Domi- ne Deus veritatis. * Com-
mendo.

Gloria. In manus tuas.

W. Custodi nos, Domine,
ut pupillam oculi.

3 Sub umbra alarum tu- arum protege nos,

But thou art in ug, O Lord, and thy holy name hath been

invoked upon us: forsake us not, O Lord our God.

R. Into thy bands,O Lord:*
I commend my spirit. Into thy bands.

V. Thou hast redeemed us,
O Lord God of truth. * I commend.

Glory. Into thy hands.

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

R. Protect us under the
shadow of thy wings.

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.”

CANTICLE OF SIMEON

Nunc dimittis servum — Now dost thou dismiss thy tuum, Domine: * secundum servant, O Lord, according to

verbum tuum in pace.

Quia viderunt oculi mei: * salutare tuum,

Quod parasti: * ante fa- ciem omnium populorum.

Lumen ad revelationem

thy word, in peace.

ause mine eyes have

seen thy salvation.

Which thou hast prepared: before the face of all peoples. A light to the revelation of

! Cant, v. 9.

--- PAGE 066 --- COMPLINE

Gentium : * et gloriam ple- bis tuz Israel.

Gloria. .

AxT. Salva nos, Domine,
vigilantes: custodi nos dor- mientes, ut vigilemus cum Christo, et requiescamus in pace.

OREMUS

Visita, quzesumus, Domi- ne, 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 no- strum Jesum Christum Fi- lium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnis sz-
cula seculorum. R. 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.

R. Amen.

55

the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Glory, &c.

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

LET US PRAY

Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this house and family, anddrivefar from it all snares of the enemy : let thy holy angels dwell therein, 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. R. Amen.

W. The Lord be with you.

B. And with thy spirit.

VW. Let us bless the Lord.

R. Thanks be to God.

May the almighty and mer- ciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless and pre- serve us.

B. Amen.

ANTHEM TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

Salve Regina, Mater mi- sericordis.

Vita, dulcedo, et spes no- stra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Ev».

Ad te suspiramus, gemen- tes et flentes in hac lacry- marum valle,

Eia, ergo, advocata no-

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy.

Our life, our sweetness, and our hope, all hail !

To thee we cry, poor ban- ished children of Eve ;

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

Turn, then, most gracious

5

--- PAGE 067 --- 56

stra, 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.

W. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.

R. Ut digni efficiamur
promissionibus Christi.

OREMUS

Omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, qui gloriose Virginis
Matris Marie corpus et ani- mam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici merere- tur, Spiritu sancto co-ope- rante, preeparasti: da ut cujus commemoratione ]lze- tamur, ejus pia intercessione ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eumdem Christum Do- minum nostrum. RB. Amen.

¥. Divinum auxilium ma- neat semper nobiscum. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

advocate! thine eyes of mercy towards us ;

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

O merciful,

O kind,

O sweet Virgin Mary !

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

R. 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- parp the body and soul of

fary, 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 gra- cious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

W. May the divine assist- ance remain always with us.

R. Amen.*

Then, in secret, Pater, Ave, and Credo.

* In the monastic rite this response is as follows: —

Ry. Et cum fratribus nostris absentibus. Amen.

HN. Aud with our absent brethren. Amen.

--- PAGE 068 --- PROPER OF SAINTS

Avcvusr 23 SAINT PHILIP BENIZI

CONFESSOR

Our Lady is now reigning in heaven. ller triumph over death cost her no labour; and yet it was through suffering that she like Jesus entered into her glory. We too cannot attain eternal happiness otherwise than did the Son and the Mother. Let us keep in mind the sweet joys we have been tasting during the past week; but let us not forget that our own jour- ney to heaven is not yet completed. ‘Why stand ye looking up into heaven?’ said the angels to the disciples on Ascension day, in the name of the Lord who had gone up in a cloud ; for the disciples, who had for an instant beheld the threshold of heaven, could not resign themselves to turn their eyes once more down to this valley of exile. Mary, in her turn, sends us a message to-day from the bright land whither we are to follow her, and where we shall surround her after having in the sorrows of exile merited to form her court: without distracting us from her, the apostle of her dolours, Philip Benizi, reminds us of our true condition of strangers and pilgrims upon earth. (97)

--- PAGE 069 --- 58 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Combats without, fears within:! such for the most part was Philip's life, as it was also the history of his native city of Florence; of Italy too, and indeed of the whole Christian world, in the thirteenth century. At the time of his birth, the city of flowers seemed a new Eden for the blossoms of sanctity that flourished there; nevertheless it was a prey to bloody factions, to the assaults of heresy, and to the extremity of every misery. Never is hell so near us as when heaven manifests itself with greatest intensity ; this was clearly seen in that age, when the serpent’s head came in closest contact with the heel of the woman. The old enemy, by creating new sects, had shaken the faith in the very centre of the provinces sur- rounding the eternal city. While in the east, Islam was driving back the last crusaders, in the west the

apacy was struggling with the empire, which Frederick II had made as a fief of satan. Through- out Christendom social union was undone, faith had grown weak, and love cold ; but the old enemy was soon to discover the power of the reaction heaven was preparing for the relief of the aged world. Then it was that our Lady presented to her angered Son Dominic and Francis, that, by uniting science with self-abnegation, they might counterbalance the ignorance and luxury of the world ; then, too, Philip Benizi, the Servite of the Mother of God, received from her the mission of preaching through Italy, France, and Germany, the unspeakable sufferings whereby she became the co-redemptress of the hu- man race.

Philippus ex nobili Beni- Philip was born at Florence tiorum familia Florentie of the noble family of the Be-

natus, future sanctitatis nizi, and from his very cradle jam inde ab incunabulis in- gave signs of his future sanc-

1 2 Cor. vii. 5.

--- PAGE 070 --- SAINT PHILIP BENIZI

dicium prebuit. Vix enim quintum statis mensem in- gressus, linguam in voces mirifice solvit, hortatusque fuit matrem, ut Deiparw servis eleemosynam imper- tiret. Adolescens, dum Pa- risiis litterarum studia cum pietatis ardore conjungerot, plurimos ad ccelestis patria: desiderium inflaminavit. Reversus in patriam, et sin- gulari visione a beatissima Virgine in Servorum suorum familiam nuper institutam vocatus, in Senarii montis antrum concessit, ubi aspe- ram quidem jugi corporis castigatione, sed Christi Domini cruciatuum medita- tione suavem vitam duxit: indeque per universam pene Europam, magnamque Asi partem, quam evangelicis proedicationibus obivit, soda- litia septem dolorum Dei Matris instituit, suumque ordinem eximio virtutum exemplo propagavit.

Divine caritatis ct catho- lice fidei dilitand:e ardore vehementer accensus, sui Ordinis generalis reluctans atque invitus renuntiatus, fratres ad predicandum
Christi Evangelium in Scy- thiam misit; ipse vero plu- rimas Itali: urbes concur- sans, gliscentes in eis civium discordias composuit; mu].

59

tity. When he was scarcely five months old he received the power of speech by a miracle, und exhorted his mother to bestow an alms on the ser- vants of the Mother of God. As a youth, he pursued his studies at Paris, where he was remarkable for his ardent pi- ety, and enkindled in many hearts a longing for our heav- enly fatherland. After his return home he had a won- derful vision in which he was called by the blessed Virgin to join the newly-founded Or- der of the Servites. He there- fore retired into a cave on Mount Senario, and there led an austere and penetential life, sweetened by meditation on the sufferings of our Lord. Afterwards he travelled over nearly all Europe and great part of Asia, preaching the Gospel and instituting every- where the sodality of the sev- en dolours of the Mother of God, while he propagated his Order by the wonderful ex- ample of his virtues.

He was consumed with love of (tod and zeal for the propa- gation of the Catholic faith. In spite of his refusals and resist- ance he was chosen general of his Order. He sent some of his brethren to preach the Gospel in Scythia, while he himself journeyed from city to city of Italy repressing civil dissen- sions, and recalling many to

--- PAGE 071 --- 60

tasque ad Romani Pontificis obedientiam revocavit; ni- hilque de studio alien: sa- lutis omittens, perdifissimos homines e vitiorum caeno ad panitentiam ac Jesu Christi amorem perduxit. Oratione summopere addi- ctus, sepe in extasim rapi visus est. Virginitatem ve- ro adeo coluit, ut ad extre- mum usque spiritum volun- tariis ac durissimis suppli- ciis illibatam custodierit. Effloruit in eo jugiter sin- gularis erga pauperes mise- ricordia, sed pracipne cum apud Camilianum agri Se- nensis vicum leproso nudo eleemosynam petenti pro- priam, qua indutus erat, ve- stem fuit elargitus: qua ille contectus, statim a lepra mundatus est. Cujus mi- raculi cum longe lateque fa- ma manasset, nonnulli ex Cardinalibus, qui Viterbi- um, Clemente quarto vita functo, pro successore de- ligendo convenerant, in Phi- lippum, cujus coelestem eti- am prudentiam perspectam habebant, intenderunt. Quo comperto vir Dci, ne forte pastoralis regiminis onus subire cogeretur, apud Tu- niatum montem tamdiu de- lituit, donec Gregorius de- cimus Pontifex Maximus fuerit renuntiatus: ubi bal- neis, qua etiam hodie sancti Philippi vocantur, virtutem

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the obedience of the Roman Pontiff. His unremitting zeal for the salvation of souls won the most abandoned sinners from the depths of vice to a life of penance and to the true love of Jesus Christ. Ie was very much given to prayer and was often seen rapt in ecstasy. He loved and honour- ed holy virginity, and pre- served it unspotted to the end of his life by means of the greatest, voluntary austerities.

He was ramarkable for his love and pity for the poor. On one occasion when a poor leper begged an alms of him, at Camegliano a village near Siena, he gave him his own garment, which the beggar had no sooner put on than his leprosy was cleansed. The fame of this miracle having spread far and wide, some of the Cardinals who were as- sembled at Viterbo for the election of a successor to Cle- ment IV, then lately dead, thought of choosing Philip, as they were aware of his heav- enly prudence. On learning this, the man of God, fearing lest he should be forced to take upon himself the pastoral of- fice hid himself at Montami- ata until after the election of Pope Gregory X. By his prayers he obtained for the baths of that place, which still bear his name, the virtue of healing the sick. At length, --- PAGE 072 --- SAINT PHILIP BENIZI

sanandi morbos suis preci- bus impetravit. Denique Tuderti, anno millesimo du- centesimo octogesinio quinto in Christi Domini e cruce pendentis amplexu, quem suum appellabat — librum, sanctissime ex hac vita mi- gravit. Ad ejus tumulum caci visum, claudi gressum, mortui vitam receperunt. Quibus aliisque plurimis ful-

61

in the year 1285, he died a

anost holy death at Todi, while

in the aet of kissing the image of his crucified Lord, which he used to call his book. The blind and lune were healed at his tomb, and tho dead were brought back to life. His name having become illustri- ous by these and many other miracles, Pope (Clement X. enrolled him among the saints.

gentem signis Clemens deci- mus Pontifex Maximus san- ctorum numero adscripsit.

‘Philip, draw near, and join thyself to this chariot." ! When the world was smiling on thy youth and offering thee renown and pleasures, thou didst receive this invitation from Mary. She was seated in a golden chariot which signified the religious life; a mourning mantle wrapped her round; a dove was fluttering about her head; a lion and a lamb were drawing her chariot over precipices from whose depths were heard the groans of hell It was a prophetic vision: thou wast to traverse the earth accompanied by the Mother of sorrows; and this world, which hell had already everywhere undermined, was to have no dangers for thee; for gentleness and strength were to be thy guides, and simplicity thy inspirer. Dlessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.?

But this gentle virtue was to avail thee chiefly against heaven itself; heaven, which wrestles with the mighty, and which had in store for thee the ter- rible trial of an utter abandonment, such as had made even the God-Mau tremble. After years of prayer and labour and heroic devotedness, for thy reward thou wast apparently rejected by God and disowned

LActs viii. 29, 28t. Matth. v. 4.

--- PAGE 073 --- 62 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

by the Church, while imminent ruin threatened all those whom Mary had confided to thee. Iu spite of her promises, the existence of thy sons the Servites was assailed by no less an authority than that of two

eneral Councils, whose resolutions the vicar of Christ

ad determined to confirm. Our Lady gave thee to drink of the chalice of her sufferings. Thou didst not live to see the triumph of a cause which was hers as well as thine; but as the ancient patriarchs saluted from afar the accomplishment of the promises, so death could not shake thy calm and resigned con- fidence. Thou didst leave thy daughter Juliana Falconieri to obtain by her prayers before the face of the Lord, what thou couldst not gain from the powers of this world.

The highest power on earth was once all but laid at thy feet; the Church, remembering the humility wherewith thou didst flee from the tiara, begs thee to obtain for us that we may despise the prosperity of the world and seek heavenly goods alone;! deign to hear her prayer. But the faithful have not forgot- ten that thou wert a physician of the body before becoming a healer of souls; they have great confi- dence in the water and bread blessed by thy sons on this feast, in memory of the miraculous favours grant- ed to their father: graciously regard the faith of the pope and reward the special honour paid to thee

y Christian physicians. Now that the mysterious chariot, shown thee at the beginning, has become the triumphal ear whereon thou accompaniest our Lady in her entrance into heaven, teach us so to condole, like thee, with her sorrows, that we may deserve to be partakers with thee in her eternal glory.

! Collect of the day.

--- PAGE 074 --- Avcust 24 SAINT BARTHOLOMEW

APOSTLE

A witness of the Son of God, one of the princes who announced His glory to the nations, lights up this day with his apostolic flame. While his breth- ren of the sacred college followed the human race into all the lands whither the migration of nations had led it, Bartholomew appeared as the herald of the Lord at the very starting point, the mountains of Armenia, whence the sons of Noe spread over the earth. There had the figurative Ark rested; hu- manity, everywhere else a wanderer, was there seated in stillness, remembering the dove with its olive branch, and awaiting the consummation of the alli- ance signified by the rainbow which had there for the first time glittered in the clouds. Behold, blessed tidings awake in those valleys the echoes of ancient traditions: tidings of peace, making the universal deluge of sin subside before the Wood of salvation. The serenity announced by the dove of old, was now far outdone. Love was to take the place of punish- ment. The ambassador of heaven showed God to the sons of Adam, as the most beautiful of their own brethren. The noble heights whence formerly flowed the rivers of paradise, were about to see the renewal of the covenant annulled in Eden, and the celebra- tion, amid the joy of heaven and earth, of the divine nuptials so long expected, the union of the Word with regenerated humanity.

(63)

--- PAGE 075 --- 64 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Personally, what was this apostle whose ministry borrowed such solemnity from the scene of his apos- . tolic labours? Under the name or surname of Bartholomew,' the only mark of recognition given him by the first three Gospels, are we to see, as many have thought, that Nathaniel, whose presentation to Jesus by Philip forms so sweet a scene in St. John’s Gospel ¥? A man full of uprightness, innocence, and simplicity, who was worthy to have had the dove for his precursor, and for whom the Man-God had choice graces and caresses from the very beginning.

Be this as it may, the lot which fell to our saint among the twelve, points to the special confidence of the divine Heart; the heroism of the terrible martyr- dom which sealed his apostolate reveals his fidelity ; the dignity preserved by the nation he grafted on Christ, in all the countries where it has been trans- planted, witnesses to the excellence of the sap first infused into its branches. When, two centuries and a half later, Gregory the Illuminator so successfully cultivated the soil of Armenia, he did but quicken the seed sown by the apostle, which the trials never wanting to that generous land had retarded for a time, but could not stifle.

How strangely sad, that evil men, nurtured in the turmoil of endless invasions, should have been able to rouse and perpetuate a mistrust of Rome among a race whom wars and tortures and dispersion could not tear from the love of Christ our Saviour! Yet, thanks be to God! the movement towards return, more than once begun and then abandoned, seems now to be steadily advancing ; the chosen sons of this illustrious nation are labouring perseveringly for so desirable a union, by dispelling the prejudices of her people; by revealing to our lauds the treasures of

! Bon of Tholmai. ? St. John i. 45-51.

--- PAGE 076 --- SAINT BARTHOLOMEW 65

her literature so truly Christian, and the magnifi- cences of her liturgy ; and above all by praying and devoting themselves to the monastic state under the standard of the father of western monks.! Together with these holders of the true national tradition, let us pray to Bartholomew their apostle ; to the disciple Thaddeus? who also shared in the first evangeliza- tion; to Ripsima the heroie virgin, who from the Roman territory led her thirty-five companions to the conquest of a new land; and to all the martyrs whose blood cemented the building upon the only foundation set by our Lord. Like these great fore- runners, may the leader of the second apostolate, Gregory the Illuminator, who wished to * see Peter’ in the person of St. Sylvester and receive the blessing of the Roman Pontiff, may the holy kings the patri- archs and doctors of Armenia, become once more her chosen guides, and lead her back entirely and irrevocably to the one fold of the one Shepherd ! We learn from Eusebius? and from St. Jerome; that before going to Armenia, his final destination, St. Bartholomew evaugelized the Indies, where Pan- teenus a century later found a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel in i characters, left there by him. St. Denis records a profound saying of the glorious apostle, which he thus quotes and comments: * The blessed Bartholomew says of theology, that it is at once abundant and succinot; of the Gospel, that it is vast in extent and at the same time concise; thus excellently giving us to understand that the benefi- cent Cause of all beings reveals or manifests Himself by many words or by few, or even without any words at all, as being beyond and above all language or thought. For Ile is above all by Ilis superior essence; ! Mekhitarists, Armenii monks of St. Benedict.

? Que of the seventy-two. 3 Hist. Eccl. Lib. v.c.1. * De Script. Lccl. c, xxxvi.

--- PAGE 077 --- 66

and they alone reach Him in His truth, without the veils wherewith He surrounds Himself, who, passing beyond matter and spirit, and rising above the summit of the holiest heights, leave behind them all reflexions and echoes of God, all the language of heaven, to enter into the darkness wherein He dwelleth, as the Scripture says, who is above all.'!

The city of Rome celebrates the feast of St. Bar- tholomew to-morrow, as do also the Greeks who commemorate on August 25 a translation of the apostle’s relies. It is owing, in fact, to the various translations of his holy body and to the difficulty of ascertaining the date of his martyrdom that different days have been adopted for his feast by different Churches, both in the east and in the west. The twenty-fourth of this month, consecrated by the use of most of the Latin Churches, is the day assigned in the most ancient martyrologies, including that of St. Jerome. In the thirteenth century Innocent III], having been consulted as to the divergence, answered that local custom was to be observed.?

The Church gives us the following notice of the apostle of Armenia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Bartholomeus apostolus, Galilaus, cum in Indiam citeriorem, quie ei in orbis terrarum sortitione ad pra- dicandum Jesu Christi Evan- gelium obvenerat, progres- sus esset, adventum Domini Jesu juxta sancti Matthizi Evangelium illis gentibus praedicavit. Sed cum in ea provincia plurimos ad Je-

The apostle Bartholomew was a native of Galilee. It fell io his lot to preach the Gospel in hither India; and he an- nounced to those nations the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of St. Matthew. But after converting many souls to Jesus Christ in that province and undergoing much labour and

! Dion. De inystica theolog. c. i. $. 3. 3 Decrotal. lib. iii. tit. xlvi, c. 2.Consilium.

--- PAGE 078 --- SAINT BARTHOLOMEW

sum Christum convertisset, multos labores calamitates- que perpessus, venit in ma- jorem Armeniam.

Ibi Polymium regem et conjugem ejus, ac pr:eterea duodecim civitates ad Chri- stianum fidem perduxit. Que res in eum magnam invidi- am concitavit illius gentis sacerdotum. Nam usque adeo Astyagem Polymii re- gis fratrem in apostolum incenderunt, ut is vivo Bar- tholomso pellem crudeliter detrahi jusserit, ac caput abscindi: quo iu martyrio animam Deo reddidit.

Ejus corpus Albani, que est urbs majoris Armeni, ubi is passus fuerat, sepul- ium est: quod postea ad Li- param insulam delatum, inde Beneventum translatum est: postremo Romam ab Othone tertio imperatore portatum, in Tiberis insula, in ecclesia ejus nomine Deo dicata, col- locatum fuit. Agitur autem Romw dies festus octavo Kalendas Septembris, et per octo consequentes dies illa basilica magna populi fre- quentia celebratur.

67

suffering, he went into eastern Armenia.

Here he converted to the Christian faith the king Po- lymius and his queen and twelve cities. This caused the pagan priests of that nation to be exceedingly jealous of him, and they stirred up As- tyages the brother of king Polymius against the apostle, 80 that he commanded him to be flayed alive and finally be- headed. In this cruel mar- tyrdom he gave up his soul to God.

His body was buried at Al- banapolis, the town of enstern Armenia where he was martyr- ed; but it was afterwards taken to the island of Lispari, and thence to Beneventum. Finally it wastranslated *o Rome by the emperor Otho III and placed on the island of the Tiber in a church dedicated to God under hisinvocation. His feast is kept at Rome on the eighth of the Kalends of September, and during the eight following days that basilica is much fre- quented by the faithful.

On this day of thy feast, O holy apostle, the Church prays for grace to love what thou didst

believe and to preach what thou didst teach.!

Not

that the bride of the Son of God could ever fail either in faith or in love; but she knows only too well that,

! Collect of the day.

--- PAGE 079 --- 68 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

though her Head is ever in the light, and her heart ever united to the Spouse in the holy Spirit who sanctifies her, nevertheless her several members, the

articular churches of which she is composed, may detach themselves from their centre of life and wan- der away in darkness. O thou who didst choose our west as the place of thy rest; thou whose precious relics Rome glories in possessing, bring back to Peter the nations thou didst evangelize; fulfil the now reviving hopes of universal union; second the efforts made by the vicar of the Man-God to gather again under the shepherd’s crook those scattered flocks whose pastures have become parehed by schism. May thine own Armenia be the first to complete a return which she began long ago; may she trust the mother-Church and no more follow the sowers of discord. All being reunited, may we together enjoy the treasures of our concordant traditions, and go to God, even at the cost of being despoiled of all things, by the course so grand and yet so simple taught us by thy example and by thy sublime theology.

--- PAGE 080 --- Avcvsr 25 ST. LOUIS, KING OF FRANCE

CONFESSOR

Ir was his Christian faith that made Louis IX so

at a prince. ‘You that are the judges of the earth, think of the Lord in goodness, and seek Him in simplicity of heart.'' Eternal Wisdom, in giving this precept to kings, rejoiced with divine foreknow- ledge among the lilies of France, where this great saint was to shine with so bright a lustre. Subject and prince are bound to God by a common law, for all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out. Far from being less responsible to the divine authority than his subjects, the prince is answerable for every one of them as well as for him- self. The aim and object of creation is that God be glorified by the return of all creatures to their Au- thor, in the manner and measure that He wills. Therefore, since God has called man to a participation in His own divine life, and has made the earth to be to him but a place of passage, mere natural justice and the present order of things are not sufficient for him. Kings must recognize that the object of their civil sovereignty, not being the last end of all things, is, like themselves, under the direction and absolute rule of that higher end, before which they are but as sub- jects. Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand: a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.

\Wisd. i». bid. vii. 6. — 3 Ibid. vi. 2, 9. (69)

--- PAGE 081 --- 70 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Thus did the divine goodness give merciful warnings under the ancient Covenant.

But not satisfied with giving repeated admoni- tions, Wisdom came down Son bor heavenly throne. Henceforth the world belongs to her by a twofold title. By the right of her divine origin, she held the principality in the brightness of the saints, before the rising of the day star; she now reigns by right of conquest over the redeemed world. Before her com- ing in the flesh, it was already from her that kings received their power, and that equity which directs its exercise. Jesus, the Son of Man, whose Blood paid the ransom of the world, is now, by the contract of the sacred nuptials which united Him to our na- ture, the only source of power and of all true justice. And pow, once more, O ye kings, understand: says the psalmist; receive instruction, you that judge the earth.!

‘It is Christ who speaks:' says St. Augustine. * Now that I am king in the name of God My Father, be not sad, as though you were thereby deprived of some good you possessed ; but rather acknowledging that it is good for you to be subject to Him who gives you security in the light, serve this Lord of all with fear, and rejoice unto Him.'?

It is the Church that continues, in the name of our ascended Lord, to give to kings this security which comes from the light: the Church who, without tres- passing upon the authority of princes, is nevertheless their superior as mother of nations, as judge of con- sciences, as the only guide of the human race jour- neying towards its last end. Let us listen to the sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII, speaking with the pre- cision and power which characterize his infallible teaching: * As there are on earth two great societies:

! Psalm ii, 10. 2S. Aug. Enarrat, in Ps. ii.

--- PAGE 082 --- SAINT LOUIS 71

the one civil, whose immediate end is to procure the temporal and earthly well-being of the human race; the other religious, whose aim is to lead men to the eternal happiness for which they were created: so also God has divided the government of the world between two powers. Each of these is supreme in its kind ; each is bounded by definite limits drawn in conformity with its nature and its peculiar end. Jesus Christ, the founder of the Church, willed that they should be distinct from one another, and that both should be free from trammels in the accomplish- ment of their respective missions; yet with this provision, that in those matters which appertain to the jurisdiction and judgment of both, though on different grounds, the power which is concerned with temporal interests, must depend, as is fitting, on that

wer which watches over eternalinterests. Finally, both being subject to the eternal and to the natural Law, they must in such a manner mutually agree in what concerns the order and government of each, as to form a relationship comparable to the union of soul and body in man.'

In the sphere of eternal interests, to which no one may be indifferent, princes are bound to hold not only themselves but their people also in subjection to God and to His Church. For ‘since men united by the bonds of a common society depend on God no less than individuals, associations whether political or private cannot, without orime, behave as if God did not exist, nor put away religion as something foreign to them, nor dispense themselves from ob- serving, in that religion, the rules according to which God has declared that He wills to be honoured. Consequently, the heads of the State are bound, as such, to keep holy the name of God, make it one of of their principal duties to protect religion by the authority of the laws, and not command or ordain

6

--- PAGE 083 --- 72 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

anything contrary to its integrity.'!

t % now "urs to St. uds explanation of the text of thé Psalm: * How do kings serve the "Lord with fear, except by forbidding and punishing with a religious severity all acts contrary to the commands of the Lord? In his twofold character as man and as prince, the king must serve God: as man, he serves Him by the fidelity of his life; as king, by py | or maintaining laws which com- mand good and forbid evil. He must act like Eze- chias and Josias, destroying the temples of the false gods and the high places that had been constructed contrary to the command of the Lord ; like the king of Ninive obliging his city to appease the Lord; like Darius giving up the idol to Danicl to be broken, and casting Daniel's enemies to the lions; like Nabu- chodonosor forbidding blasphemy throughout his kingdom by a terrible law. It is thus that kings serve the Lord as kings, viz: when they do in His service those things which only kings can do.'?

In all this teaching we are not losing sight of to-day’s feast; for we may say of Louis IX as an epitome of his life: He made a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him and keep His command- ments; and cause them to be kept by all'* God was his end, faith was his guide: herein lies the whole secret of his government as well as of his sanctity. As a Christian he was a servant of Christ, as a prince he was Christ’s lientenant; the aspirations of the Christian and those of the prince did not divide his ‘soul ; this unity was his strength, as it is now his glory. He now reigns in heaven with Christ, who

! (Qf. Epist. Encycl. ad Episcopos Galli, Nohilissima Gallorum gens, 8 Febr. 1884,— Encycl. Zmmortale Dei, de civitatum constitu- tione Christiana, 1 Nov. 1885,— Encycl. dreanwm divine sapientie,

de matrimonio Christiano, 10 Feb. 1880. 3 Aug. ad Boniface, Ep. 185. *2 Paralip. xxxiv. 21-33.

--- PAGE 084 --- SAINT LOUIS 73

alone reigned in him and by him on earth. If then your delight be in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, love wisdom, that you may reign for ever.!

Louis was anointed king at Rheims on the first Sunday of Advent 1226; and he laid to heart for his whole life the words of that day's Introit: * To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust!” He was only twelve years old ; but our Lord had given him the surest safeguard of his youth, in the person of his mother, that noble daugh- ter of Spain, whose coming into France, says William de Nangis, was the arrival of all good things? The premature death of her husband Louis VIII left Blanche of Castille to cope with a most formidable conspiracy. The great vassals, whose power had been reduced during the preceding reigns, promised them- selves that they would profit of the minority of the new prince, in order to regain the rights they had enjoyed under the ancient feudal system to the detri- ment of the unity of government. In order to remove this mother, who stood up single-handed between the weakness of the heir to the throne and their ambi- tion, the barons, everywhere in revolt, joined hands with the Albigensian heretics; and made an alliance with the son of John Lackland, Henry III, who was endeavouring to recover the possessions in France lost by his father in punishment for the murder of prince Arthur. Strong in her son’s right and in the protection of Pope Gregory IX, Blanche held out: and she, whom the traitors to their country called the foreigner in order to palliate their crime, saved France by her prudence and her brave firmness. After nine years of regency, she hauded over the nation to its king, more united and more powerful than ever since the days of Charlemagne.

t'Wiad. yi. 22, * Gest y. Ludovici.

--- PAGE 085 --- 74 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

We cannot here give the history of an entire reign ; but, honour to whom honour is due: Louis, in order to become the glory of heaven and éarth on this day, had but to walk in the footsteps of Blanche, the son had but to remember the precepts of his gom - " d

ere was a simplicity in our saint’s life, which wnhanesd ith greatness and heroism. One would have said he did not experience the difficulty that others feel, though far removed from the throne, in fulfilling those words of our Lord: Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.! Yet who was greater than this humble king, making more account of his Baptism at Poissy than of his anointing at Rheims; saying his Hours, fasting, scourging himself like his friends the Friars Preachers and Minors; ever treating with respect those whom he regarded as God's privileged ones, priests, religious, the suffering and the poor? The great men of our days may smile at him for being more grieved at losing his breviary than at being taken captive by the Saracens. But how have they behaved in the like extremity ? Never was the enemy heard to say of any of them: * You are our captive, and one would say we were rather your prisoners.” They did not check the fierce greed and bloodthirstiness of their gaolers, nor dictate terms of

as proudly as if they had been the couquerors,

e country, brought into peril by them, has not come out of the trial more glorious. It is peculiar to the admirable reign of St. Louis, that disasters made him not only a hero but a saint; and that France gained for centuries in the east, where her king had been captive, a greater renown than any victory could have won for her.

! Matt. xviii. 3.

--- PAGE 086 --- SAINT LOUIS 75

The humility of holy kings is not forgetfulness of the great office they fulfil in God's namo; their ab- negation could not consist iu giving up rights which are also duties, any more than charity could cast out justice, or love of peace could oppose the virtues of the warrior. St. Louis, without an army, felt him- self superior as a Christian to the victorious infidel, and treated him accordingly; moreover the - west discovered very early, and more and more as his sanctity increased with his years, that this king, who m his nights in prayer, and his days in serving the poor, was not the man to yield to anyone the prerogatives of the crown. *' There is but one king in France, said the judge of Vincennes rescinding & sentence of Charles of Anjou; and the barons at the castle of Belléme, and the English at Taillebourg, were already aware of it; so was Frederick II who, threatening to crush the Church and seeking aid from the Freuch, received this answer: * The kingdom of France is not so weak as to suffer itself to be driven by your spurs.’

Louis's death was like his life, simple and great. God called him to Himself in the midst of sorrowful and critical circumstances, far from his own country, in that African land where he had before suffered so much ; these trials were sanctifying thorns, remind- ing the prince of his most cherished jewel, the sacred crown of thorns which he had added to the treasures of France. Moved by the hope of converting the king of Tunis to the Christian faith, it was rather as an apostle than a soldier that he had landed on that shore where his last struggle awaited him. ‘I chal- lenge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His lieutenant Louis king of France;' such was the sublime provocation hurled against the infidel city, and it was worthy of the close of such a life.

--- PAGE 087 --- 76 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Six centuries later, Tunis was to see the sons of those same Franks unwittingly following up the challen of the saintly king, at the invitation of all the holy ones resting in the now Christian land of ancient Carthage.

The Christian army, victorious i» every battle, was decimated by a terrible plague. Surrounded by the dead and dying, and himself attacked with the contagion, Louis called to him his eldest son, who was to succeed him as Philip III, and gave him his last instructions:

* Dear son, the first thing I admonish thee is that thou set thy heart to love God, for without that nothing else is of any worth. Beware of doing what displeases God, that is to say mortal sin; yea rather oughtest thou to suffer all manner of torments. If God send thee adversity, receive it in patience, and

ive thanks for it to our Lord, and think that thou Bast done Him ill service. If He give thee prosperity, thank Him humbly for the same and be not the worse, either by pride or in any other manner, for that very thing that ought to make thee better; for we must not use God's gifts against Himself. Have a kind and pitiful heart towards the poor and the unfortunate, and comfort and assist them as much as thou canst. Keep up the good customs of thy king- dom, and put down all bad ones. Love all that is good and hate all that is evil of any sort. Suffer no ill word about God or our Lady or the saints to be spoken in thy presence, that thou dost not straightway punish. In the administering of justice be loyal to thy subjects, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left; but help the right, and take the part of the poor until the whole truth be cleared up. Honour and love all ecclesiastical persons, aud take care that they be not deprived of the gifts and alms that thy predecessors way have giveu them. — Dear son, I al- --- PAGE 088 --- SAINT LOUIS 77

monish thee that thou be ever devoted to the Church of Rome, and to the sovereign Bishop our father, that is the Pope, and that thou bear him reverence and honour as thou oughtest to do to thy spiritual father. Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land; especially to the best of thy power

ut down all wicked oaths and heresy. Fair son, I give thee all the blessings that a good father can give to a son; may the blessed Trinity and all the saints guard thee and protect thee from all evils; may God give thee grace to do His will always, and may He be honoured by thee, and may thou and I after this mortal life be together in His company and praise Him without end.'!

‘When the good king,’ continues Joinville, ‘ had instructed his son my lord Philip, his illness began to increase greatly; he asked for the Sacraments of holy Church, and received them in a sound mind and right understanding, as was quite evident; for when they were anointing him and saying the seven Psalms, he took his own part in reciting. I have heard my lord the Count d'Alencon his son relate, that when he drew nigh to death, he called the saints to aid and sucoour him, and in particular my lord St. James, saying his prayer visd: begins: Esto Domine; that is to say: O God, be the sanctifier and guardian of thy people. Then he called to his aid my lord St. Denis of France, saying his prayer, which is as much as to say: Sire God, grant that we may despise the prosperity of this world, and may fear no adversity! And I heard from my lord d'Alencon (whom God absolve), that his father next invoked Madame St. Genevieve. After this the holy king had bimself laid on a bed strewn with ashes, and placing his hands upon his breast and looking

! Geoffrey de Beaulieu ; Queen Margaret's Confessor ; William de Nangis ; Joinville.

--- PAGE 089 --- 78

towards heaven, he

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ve up his soul to his Creator,

at the same hour wherein the Son of God died on the cross for the salvation of the world.’

Let us read the short notice consecrated by the Church to her valiant eldest son.

Ludovicus nonus Gallic rex, duodecim annos natus, patre amisso, et in Blanche matris sanctissima discipli- na educatus, cum jam vige- simuin annum in regno age- ret, in morbum incidit: quo tempore cogitavit de recu- peranda possessione .Jeroso- lymorum. Quamobrem ubi convaluisset, vexillum ab episcopo Parisiensi accepit: deinde mare cum ingenti exercitu trajiciens, primo prelio Saracenos fugavit. Sed cum ex pestilentia ma- gna militum multitudo pe- riisset, victus ipse captusque est.

Rebus postea cum Sara- cenis compositis, liber rex exercitusque dimittitur. Quinque annis in Oriente commoratus, plurimos chri- stianos a barbarorum servi- tute redemit, multos etiam infideles ad Christi fidem convertit; preterea aliquot christianorum urbes refecit suis sumptibus. [Interim mater ejus migrat e vita: quare domum redire cogi- tur, ubi totum se dedit pietatis officiis.

Multa :edificavit mona- steria, et pauperum hospitia:

Louis IX, king of France, having lost his father when he was only twelve years old, was educated in a most holy manner by his mother Blanche. When he had reigned for twenty years he fell ill and it was then he conceived the idea of regaining possession of Je- rusalem. On his recovery therefore he received the great standard from the bishop of Paris and crossed the sea with a large army. In a first en- gagement he repulsed the Sa- racens; but a great number of his men being struck down by pestilence, he was conquered and made prisoner.

A treaty was then made with the Saracens, and the king and his army were set at liberty. Louis spent five years in the east. He delivered many Christian captives, con- verted many of the infidels to the faith of Christ, and also rebuilt several Christian towns out of his own resources. Meanwhile his mother died, and on this account he was obliged to return home, where lie devoted himself entirely to good works.

He built many monasteries and hospitals for the poor; he

--- PAGE 090 --- SAINT LOUIS

beneficentia egentes suble- vabat: frequens visebat sgrotos, quibus ipse non solum suis sumptibus omnia suppeditabat, sed etiam, que opus erant, manibus ministrabat. ^ Vestitu vul- gari utebatur, cilicio ac je- junio corpus assidue afflige- bat. Sed cum iterum trans- misisset, bellum Saracenis illaturus, jamque castra in eorum conspectu posuisset, pestilentia decessit in illa oratione: Introibo in do- mum tuam; adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitebor nomini tuo. Ejus corpus postea Lutetiam Pa- risiorum translatum est, quod in celebri sancti Dio- nysii templo asservatur et colitur : caput vero in sacra ade sancte Capelle. Ipse clarus miraculis a Bonifacio Papa octavo in sanctorum numerum est relatus.

79

assisted those in need and fre- quently visited the sick, sup- plying all their necessities at his own expense and even serving them with his own hands. He dressed in a simple manner and subdued his body by continual fasting and wear- ing a hair-cloth. He crossed over to Africa a second time to fight with the Saracens, and had pitched his camp in sight of them when he was struck down by a pestilence and died while saying this prayer: ‘I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple and I will confess to thy name.’ His body was afterwards translated to Paris and is honourably preserved in the celebrated church of St. Denis; but the head is in the Suinte-Chapelle. He was cele- brated for miracles, and Pope Boniface VIII enrolled his name among the saints.

Jerusalem, the true Sion, at length opens her gates

to thee, O Louis, who for her sake didst give up thy treasures and thy life. Irom the eternal throne whereon the Son of God gives thee to share His own honours and power, ever promote the king- dom of God on earth; be zealous for the faith; be a strong arm to our mother the Church. Thanks to thee, the infidel east, though it adores not Christ, at least respects His adorers, having but one name for Christian and Frank. For this reason our pre- sent rulers would remain protectors of Christianity in those lands, while they persecute it at home; a contradiction no less fatal to the country than op-

--- PAGE 091 --- 80 TIME AFTER PENTECOST pe to its traditions of liberty, and its reputation or honour and honesty. How can they be said to know our traditions and our history, or to under- stand the national interests, who misunderstand the God of Clovis, of Charlemagne, and of St. Louis? In that Egypt, the scene of thy labours, what has now become of the patrimony of glorious influenoe which has been held by thy nation for centuries? Thy descendants are no longer here to defend us against these men who use the country for their own purposes and exile those who have been the makers of it. But how terrible are the judgments of the Lord! Thou thyself hast said: ‘I would rather a stranger than my own son should rule my Fore and kingdom, if my son is to rule amiss.'! Thirty ears after the Crusade of Tunis, an unworthy prince, hilip IV thy second successor, outraged the Vicar of Christ. Straightway he was rejected by heaven, and his direct male line became extinct. The withered bough was replaced by another branch, though still from the same root. But the nation had to suffer for its kings, and to expiate the crime of Anagni: the judgment of God allowed a terrible war to be brought about through the political indiscretion of the same Philip the Fair,’ a prince as discreditable to the State as to the Church and to his own family. Then for a hundred years the country seemed to be on the brink of destruction; until by a wonderful proe of God over the land, the Maid of Orleans, lessed Joan of Aro, rescued the lily of France from the clutches of the English leopard. Other faulte alas! were to compromise still further, and then, twice over, to wither up or break the 1 Joinville, put 1. ? By marrying his daughter Isabella to Edward II of England; which marriage after the death of Philip's three sons Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IX, without male issue,

furnished the plea for Isabella's son Edward III to pretend to the crowa of France.

--- PAGE 092 --- SAINT LOUIS 81

branches of the royal tree. Long did thy personal merits outweigh before God the scandalous immo- rality, which our princes had made their family mark, their odious privilege: a shame, which was transmitted by the expiring Valois to the Bourbons; which had to be expiated, but not effaced, by the blood of the just Louis XVI; and which so many illustrious exiles are still expiating in lowliness and sorrow in a foreign land. ould that thou couldst at least recognize these thy remaining sons by their imitation of thy virtues! For it is only by striving to win back this spiritual inheritance, that they can hope that God will one day restore them the other.

or God, who commands us to obey at all times the power actuaiiy established, is ever the master of nations and the unchangeable disposer of their changeable destinies. Then every one of thy des- cendants, taught fe sad experience, will be bound to remember, O uis, thy last recommendation: * Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land ; especially, to the best of thy power, put down all wicked oaths and heresy.’

--- PAGE 093 --- 82 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Avucusr 26 SAINT ZEPHYRINUS

POPE AND MARTYR

Zepuyrinus was the first Pontiff to be buried in the celebrated crypt where the Popes of the third century came after their combat to sleep their last sleep. The catacomb which thus succeeded the Vatican cemetery in the honour of sheltering the vicars of Christ, had been opened thirty years before by the virgin martyr Cscilia. As, when at the point of death, she had consecrated her palace into a church, so now from her tomb she caused her family burial- place to pass into the hands of the Church. This

ift of the Crecilii was the inauguration, in the very ace of the pagan government, of common Church property officially recognized by the State. Zephy- rinus entrusted the administration of the new ceme- tery to the person who ranked next to himself in the Roman Church, viz: the archdeacon Callixtus. The holy Pontiff witnessed the growth of heresy concern- ing the Unity of God and the Trinity of the divine Persons; without the help of the special vocabulary, which was later on to fix even the very terms of theological teaching, he knew how to silence both the Sabellians to whom the Trinity was but a name, and the precursors of Arius, who revenged themselves by reviling him.

Zephyrinus Romanus Se- Zephyrinus, a Roman by vero imperatore ad regen- birth, was chosen to govern the

1 PAilosophumcut, Lib. ix.

--- PAGE 094 --- SAINT ZEPHYRINUS

dam Ecclesiam assuipptus, sancivit, ut qui ordinandi essent, opportuno tempore et multis presentibus cleri- cis et laicis, de more sacris initiarentur; doctique ac spectate vite homines ad id officii munus deligerentur. Decrevit preterea, ut rem divinam facienti episcopo sacerdotes omnes astarent. Idem instituit ut patriar- cha, primas, metropolitanus &dversus episcopum non fe- rant sententiam, nisi apo- stolica auctoritate fulti. Vi- xit in pontificatu annos de- cem et octo, dies decem et octo. Habuit ordinationes quatuor mense decembri, quibus creavit presbyteros tredecim, diaconos septem, episcopos per diversa loca tredecim. Antonino impe- ratore martyrio coronatus est, et sepultus via Appia prope ccemeterium Callisti, septimo calendas septem- bris.

83

Church during the reign of the emperor Severus. He or- dained that, according to cus- iom, Holy Orders should be conferred on candidates at a fitting time and in presence of many both clergy and laity; and also that learned and worthy men should be chosen for that dignity. Moreover he decreed that when the bishop was offering the holy Sacri- fice, he should be assisted by all the priests. He also or- dained that neither patriarch, nor primate, nor metropolitan might condemn a bishop with- out the authority of the apos- tolic See. His pontificate last- ed eighteen years and eighteen days. In four ordinations which he held in the month of December, he ordained thir- teen priests, seven deacons, and thirteen bishops for divers places. He was crowned by martyrdom under the emperor Antoninus, and was buried on the Appian Way, near the cemetery of Callixtus, on the seventh of the Calends of Sep- tember.

Victor I was the Pontiff of the Pasch; and thou also, his successor, wast devoured by the zeal of God's house, to maintain and increase the regularity, the dignity, and the splendour of the divine worship on earth. In heaven the court of the Conqueror of death gained, during thy pontificate, many noble members, such as Irenmus, Perpetua, and the count- less martyrs who triumphed in the persecution of

--- PAGE 095 --- 84 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Septimus Severus. In the midst of dangerous snares thou wast the divinely assisted guardian of the truth, whom our Lord had promised to llis Church. Thy fidelity was rewarded by the increasing advancement of the bride of Jesus, and by the definitive establish- ment of her foothold upon the world which she is to gain over wholly to her Spouse. We shall meet thee again in October, in company with Callixtus, who is now thy deacon, but will then, in his turn, be vicar of the Man-God. To-day give us thy paternal bless- ing; and make us ever true sons of St. Peter.

Avcust 27 SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS

CONFESSOR

* To thee is the poor man left: thou wilt be a helper to the orphan.'! Proud Venice has already seen these words realized in her noble son Jerome Amilian : to-day they indicate the sanctity of another illustri- ous person descended from the first princes of Na- varre, but of still higher rank in the kingdom of oharity.

God, who waters the trees of the field as well as the cedars of Libanus, because it is He that planted them all,takes care also of the little birds that do

3 Pg. ix. 14.

--- PAGE 096 --- SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS 8b

not gather into barns: will He then forget the child, who is of much more value than the birds of the air? Or will He give him corporal nourishment, and neglect the soul hungering for the bread of the knowledge of salvation, which strengthens the heart of man? In the sixteenth century one might have been tempted to think our heavenly Father's granaries were empty. True, the holy Spirit soon raised up new saints; but the reviving charity was insufficient for the number of the destitute; how many poor ohildren, especially, were without schools, deprived of the most elementary education which is indispensable to the fulfilment of their obligations, and to their nobility as children of God: and there was no one to break to them the bread of knowledge! More fortunate than so many other countries over- run with heresy, Spain was at her apogee, enjoying the hundredfold promised to those who seek first the kingdom of God. She seemed to have become our Lord's inexhaustible resource. A little while ago she had given Ignatius Loyola to the world ; she had just enriched heaven by the precious death of Teresa of Avila, when the Holy Ghost drew once more from her abundance to add to the riches of the capital of the Christian world, and to supply the wants of the little ones in God’s Church.

The descendant of the Calasanz of Petralta de la Sal was already the admired apostle of Aragon, Catalonia, and Castille, when he enrd a mysterious voice speaking to his soul: ‘Go to Rome; go forth from the land of thy birth; soon shall appear to thee, in her heavenly beauty, the companion destined for thee, holy poverty, who now calls thee to taste of her austere delights; go, without knowing whither I am leading thee; I will make thee the father of an immense family ; I will show thee all that thou must suffer for My name’s sake.’

--- PAGE 097 --- 86 TIMR AFTER PENTECOST

Forty years of blind fidelity, in unconscious sano- tity, had prepared the elect of heaven for his sublime vocation. * What can be greater, asks St. John Chrysostom, * than to direct the souls and form the characters of children? Indeed I consider him

ter than any painter or sculptor, who knows ow to fashion the souls of the young. Joseph understood the dignity of his mission: during the remaining fifty-two years of his life he, according to the recommendations of the holy Doctor, considered nothing mean or despicable in the service of the little ones ; nothing cost him dear if only it enabled him, by the teaching of letters, to infuse into the innumerable children who came to him the fear of the Lord. From St. Pantaleon, his residence, the Pious schools soon covered the whole of Italy, spread into Sicily and Spain, and were eagerly sought by kings and people in Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, and the northern countries.

Eternal Wisdom associated Calasanctius to her own work of salvation on earth. She rewarded him for his labours as she generally does her privileged ones, by giving him a strong conflict, that he might overcome, and know that wisdom is mightier than all 2 It is a conflict like that of Jacob at the ford of Jaboo which represents the last obstacle to the entrance into the promised land, when all the pleasures and goods of the world have been sent on before by absolute renouncement; it is a conflict by night, wherein nature fails and becomes lame; but it is followed by the rising of the sun, and sets the combatant at the entrance of eternal day; it is a conflict with God hand to hand, under the appearance, it is true, of a man or of an angel ; but it matters little under what form God chooses to hide Himself, provided it takes

1 Homilia diei, ex Chyrs. in Matth, lx. ? Wisd. x. 12,

--- PAGE 098 --- 87

nothing from His sovereign dominion. ‘Why dost thou ask my name?’ said the wrestler to Jacob; ‘thine shall be henceforth Israel, strong against God.'!

Our readers may consult the historians of Saint Joseph Calasanctius for the details of the trials which made him a prodigy of fortitude, as the Church calls him.? Through the calumnies of false brethren the saint was deposed, and the Order reduced to the condition of a secular congregation. It was not until after his death that it was re-established, first by Alexander VII, and then by Clement IX, as a Regular Order with solemn vows. In his great work on the Canonization of saints, Benedict V speaks at length on this subject, delighting in the pert he had taken in the process of the servant of

od, first as consistorial advocate, then as promoter of the faith, and lastly as Cardinal giving his vote in favour of the cause. We shall see in the lessons that it was he also that beatified him.

Let us now read the life of the founaer of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Pióus Schools of the Mother of God.

SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS

Josephus Calasanctius a Matre Dei, Petralte in Ara- gonia nobili genere natus, a teneris annis future in pu-

'eros caritatis et eorum in- stitutionis indicia prebuit. Nam adhuc parvulus eos ad se convocatos in mysteriis fidei et sacris precibus eru- diebat. Humanis divinis- que litteris egregie doctus, cum studiis theologicis Va- lenti& operam daret, nobilis potentisque feminsw illece-

Joseph Calasanctius of the Mother of God was born of a noble family of Petralta in Aragon, and from his earliest years gave signs of his future love for children and their education. For, when still a little child, he would gather other children round him and would teach them the myste- ries of faith and holy prayer. After having received a good education in the liberal arts and divinity, he went through

32nd lesson of the second Nocturn,

7

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bris fortiter superatis, vir- ginitatem quam Deo vove- rat, inoffensam insigni vi- ctoria servavit. Sacerdos ex voto factus, a compluribus episcopis in Castelle Nova, Aragonis, et Catalaunig re- gnis in partem laboris asci- tus, exspectationem omni- um vicit, pravis ubique moribus emendatis, ecclesi- astica disciplina restituta, inimicitiis cruentisque fa- ctionibus mirifice exstinctis. At colesti visione et Dei voce frequenter admonitus, Romam profectus est.

In urbe summa vite aspe- ritate, vigiliis et jejuniis corpus affligens, in orationi- bus et coelestium rerum con- templatione dies noctesque versabatur, septem ejusdem Urbis ecclesias singulis fere noctibus obire solitus: quem inde morém complures an- nos servavit. Dato piis so- dalitatibus nomine, mirum quanto ardore pauperes, in- firmos potissimum, aut car- ceribus detentos eleemosynis omnique pietatis officio sub- levaret. Lue Urbem de- populante, una cum sancto Camillo, tento fuit actus

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

his theological studies at Va- lencia. Here he courageously overcame the seductions of a noble and powerful lady, and by a remarkable victory pre- served unspotted his virginity wbich he had already vowed to God. He became a priest in fulfilment of a vow; and several bishops of New Cas- tille, Aragon, and Catalonia availed themselves of his as- sistance. He surpassed all their expectations, corrected evil living throughout the kingdom, restored ecclesiasti- cal discipline, and was mar- vellously successful in putting an end to enmities and bloody factions. But urged by a heavenly vision, and after having been several times called by God, he went to Rome.

Here he led a life of great austerity; fasting and watch- ing, spending whole days and nights in heavenly contempla- tion, and visiting the seven basilicas of the city almost every night. This last custom he observed for many years. He enrolled himself in pious associations, and with won- derful charity devoted himself to aiding and consoling the poor with alms and other works of mercy, especially those who were sick or im- prisoned. When the plague was raging in Rome, he joined St. Camillus, and not content

--- PAGE 100 --- SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS

impetu caritatis, ut preter subsidia ®grotis pauperibus large collata, ipsa etiam de- functorum cadavera suis humeris tumulanda trans- ferret. Verum cum divini- tus accepisset, se ad infor- mandos intelligenti ac pie- tatis spiritu adolescentulos, precipue pauperes, desti- nari, Ordinem Clericoruin regularium pauperum Ma- tris Dei scholarum piarum fundavit, qui peculiarem curam circa puerorum eru- ditionem ex proprio insti- tuto profiterentur: ipsum- que Ordinem a Clemente octavo, a Paulo quinto, ali- isque summis Pontificibus magnopere probatum, brevi tempore per plurimas Euro- pee provincias et regna mi- rabiliter propagavit. In hoc autem tot labores perpessus est, ac tot srumnas invicto animo toleravit, ut omnium voce miraculum fortitudinis, et sancti Jobi exemplum diceretur.

Quamvis Ordini universo preeesset, totisque viribus ad animarum salutem incum-

beret, numquam tamen in-

termisit pueros, presertim pauperiores, erudire, quo- rum scholas verrere, eosque domum comitari consuevit. In eo summe patientis et humilitatis munere, valetu- dine etiam infirma, duos et quinquagints annos perse

89

in his ardent zeal, with be- stowing lavish care upon the sick poor, he even carried the dead to the grave on his own shoulders. But having been divinely admonished that he was called to educate children, especially those of the poor, in piety and learning, he founded the Order of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools, who are specially destined to devote themselves to the instruction of youth. This Order was highly approved by Clement VIII., Paul V., and others of the Roman Pontiffs, and in a wonderfully short space of time it spread through many of the kingdoms of Europe. But in this undertaking Jo- seph had to undergo many sufferings and labours, and he endured them all with so much constancy, that every one proclaimed him a miracle of patience and another Job.

Though burdened with the government of the whole Or- der, he nevertheless devoted himself to saving souls, and moreover never gave over teaching children, especially those of the poorerclass. He would sweep their schools and take them to their homes him- self. For fifty-two years he persevered in this work, though it called upon him to

--- PAGE 101 --- 90

veravit: dignus propterea, quem crebris Deus miracu-
lis coram discipulis illu- straret, et cui beatissima Virgo cum puero Jesu, illis orantibus benedicente, ap- pareret. Amplissimis inte- rim dignitatibus repudia- tis, prophetia, abdita cordi. um et absentia cognoscendi donis et miraculis clarus, Deiparse Virginis, quam sin- gulari pietate et ipse ab in- fantia coluit, et suis maxi- me commendavit, aliorum- que codlitum frequenti ap- paritione — dignatus, cum obitus sui diem, et Ordinis tunc prope eversi restitu- tionem atque incrementum pra:nuntiasset, secundum et nonagesimum annum agens, Roma obdormivit in Domi- no, octavo calendas septem- bris, auno inillesimo sexcen- tesimo quadragesimo octavo. Ejus cor et lingua post sw- culum integra et incorrupta reperta sunt. [Ipse vero multis post obitum quoque signis a Deo illustratus, pri- mum a Benedicto decimo quarto beatorum cultu deco- ratus fuit, ac deinde a Cle- mente decimo tertio inter sanctos solemniter ost rela- tus.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

practise the greatest patience and humility, and although he suffered from weak health. God rewarded him by honour- ing him with many miracles in the presence of his disci- ples; and the blessed Virgin appeared to him with the In- fant Jesus who blessed his children while they were pray- ing. He refused the highest dignities, but he was made il- lustrious by the gifts of pro- phecy, of reading the secrets of hearts, and of knowing what was going on in his absence. He was favoured with fre- quent apparitions of the citi- zens of heaven, particularly of the Virgin Mother of God, whom he had loved and hon- oured most especially from his infancy, and whose cultus he had most strongly recom- mended to his disciples. He foretold the day of his death aud the restoration and propa- gation of his Order, which was then almost destroyed, and in his ninety-second year he fell asleep in our Lord, av Rome, on the eighth of the Calends of September, in the year 1648. A century later, his heart and tongue wero found whole and incorrupt. God honoured him by many miracles after his death. Benedict XIV. grant- ed him the henours of the blessed, and Clement XIII. solemnly enrolled him among ihe saints,

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The Lord hath heard the desires of the poor,! by making thee the depositary of His love, and putting on thy lips the words He Himself was the first to utter: ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me.'? How many owe, and will yet owe, their eternal hap- piness to thee, O Joseph, because thou and thy sons

ave preserved in them the divine likeness received in Baptism, man's only title to heaven! Be thou blessed for having justified the confidence Jesus

laced in thee by entrusting to thy care those frail fittle beings, who are the objects of His divine pre- dilection. Be thou blessed for having still further corresponded to that confidence of our Lord, when He suffered thee, like Job, to be persecuted by satan, and with yet more cruel surprises than those of the just Idumsan. Must not God be able to count unfailingly upon those who are His? Is it not fitting that, amidst the defections of this miserable world, He should be able to show His angels what grace can do in our poor nature, and how far His adorable will can be carried out in His saints ?

The reward of thy sufferings, which thy unwaver- ing confidence expected from the Mother of God, came at the divinely appointed hour. O Joseph, now that the Pious Schools have been long ago re-established, bless the disciples whom even our age continues to give thee; obtain for them, and for the countless scholars they train to Christian science, the blessing of the Infant Jesus. Give thy spirit and thy courage to all who devote their labours and their life to the edueation of the young; raise us all to the level of the teaching sl fy S thy heroic life.

1 Offertory from I's. ix. 17. 2 Communion from St. Mark x. 14.

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Avcvusr 28

SAINT AUGUSTINE BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

To-pay Augustine, the greatest and the humblest of the Doctors, is hailed Pelo where his conversion caused greater joy than that of any other sinner; and celebrated by the Church, who is enlightened by his writings as to the power, the value, and the gratuitousness of divine grace.

Since that wonderful, heavenly conversation at Ostia,! God had completed His triumph in the son of Monica's tears and of Ambrose’s holiness. Faraway from the great cities where pleasure had seduced him, the form or rhetorician now cared only to nourish his soul with the simplicity of the Scriptures, in silence and solitnde. But grace, after breaking the double chain that bound his mind and his heart, was to have a still greater dominion over him ; the pontifical con- secration was to consummate Augustine’s union with that divine Wisdom, whom alone he declared he loved * for her own sole sake, caring neither for rest nor life save on her aocount.'? From this height, to which the divine mercy had raised him, let us hear him pouring out his heart:

* Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and yet so new! Too late have I loved Thee! And behold Thou wast within me, and I, having wandered out of myself, sought Thee everywhere without. . . . I questioned the earth, and she answered me: “I am ! Seo life of St. Monica, May 4, l'asclial time Vol II. 2 Soliloq. i. 22.

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not the one thou seekest”; and all the creatures of earth made the same reply. I questioned the sea and its abysses and all the living things therein, and they answered: “ We are not thy God; seek above us.” I questioned the restless winds; and all the air with its inhabitants replied: **Anaximenes is mistaken, I am not God." I questioned the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they said: “ We are not the God whom thou seekest." And I said to all these things that stand without at the gates of my senses: * Ye have all confessed concerning my God that ye are not He, tell me now something about Him." And they all eried with one great voice: *Tt is He that made us" I questioned them with my desires, and they answered by their beauty.— Let the air and the waters and the earth be silent! Let man keep silence in his own soul! Let him pass beyond his own thought; for beyond all language of men or of angels, Ie, of whom creatures speak, makes Himself heard; where signs and images and figurative visions cease, there eternal Wisdom reveals Herself. . . . Thou didst call and cry so loud that my deaf ears could hear Thee; Thou didst shine so brightly that my blind eyes could see Thee; Thy fragrauce exhilarated me, and it is after Thee that I aspire; having tasted Thee I hunger and thirst; Thou hast touched me and thrilled me, and I burn to be in Thy peaceful rest. "When I shall be united to Thee with my whole being, then will my sorrows and labours cease.'!

To the end of his life Augustine never oeased to fight for the truth against all the heresies then in- vented by the father of lies; in his ever repeated victories, we know not which to admire most: his knowledge of the holy Scriptures, his powerful logie,

! Confess. Lib, ix and x. passim.

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or his eloquence. We see too that divine charity which, while inflexibly upholding every iota of God’s rights, is full of ineffable compassion for the unhappy beings who do not understand those rights.

«Let those be hard upon you who do not know what labour it is to reach the truth and turn away from error. Let those be hard upou you, who know not how rare a thing it is, and how much it costs, to overcome the false images of the senses and to dwell in peace of soul. Let those be hard upon you, who know not with what difficulty man’s mental eye is healed so as to be able to en upon the Sun of justice ; who know not through what sighs and groans one attains to some little knowledge of God. Let those, finally, be hard upon you, who bave never known seduction like that whereby you are deceived.

. As for me, who have been tossed about by the vain imaginations of which my mind was in search, and who have shared your misery and so lon deplored ii, I could not by any means be hars to you.'!

hese touching words were addressed to the dis- ciples of Manes, who were hemmed in on all sides even by the laws of the pagan emperors. How fearful is the misery of our fallen race, when the darkness of hell can overpower the loftiest intellects! Au- gustine, the formidable opponent of heresy, was, for nine years morer the convinced disciple and ardent apostle of Manicheism. This heresy was a strange variety of Gnostic dualism, which, to explain the existence of evil, made a god of evil itself; and which owed its prolonged influence to the pleasure taken in it by satan’s pride.

Augustine sustained also a prolonged though more local struggle against the Donatists, whose teaching

1 B. Aug. contra epist. Manichei quam vocant fundamenti, 2-3.

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was based on a principle as false as the fact from which it professed to originate. This fact, which on the petitions presented by the Donatists themselves was juridically proved to be false, was that Csecilia- nus, primate of Africa in 311, had received episcopal consecration from a ¢raditor, i.e. one who had deliv- ered up the sacred Books in time of persecution. No one, argued the Donatists, could communicate with a sinner, without himself ceasing to form part of the flock of Christ ; therefore, as the bishops of the rest of the world had continued to communicate with Cacilianus and his successors, the Donatists alone were now the Church. This groundless schism was established among most of the inhabitants of Roman Africa, with its four hundred and ten bishops, and its troops of Cireumcellions ever ready to commit murders and violence upon the Catholies on the roads or in isolated houses. The greater part of our saiut’s time was occupied in trying to bring back these lost sheep.

We must not imagine him studying at his ease, in the peace of a quiet episcopal city chosen as if for the purpose by Providence, and there writing those precious works whose fruits the whole world has enjoyed even to our days. "There is no fecundity on earth without sufferings and trials, known sometimes to men, sometimes to God alone. When the writings of the saints awaken in us pious thoughts and gene- rous resolutions, we must not be satisfied, as we might in the case of profane books, with admiring the genius of the authors, but think with gratitude of the price they paid for the supernatural good

roduced in our souls. Before Augustine's arrival

in Hippo, the Donatists were so great a majority of

the population, that, as he himself informs us, they

could even forbid anyone to bake bread for Catholics.! 1 Contra litteras Petiliani, i. 184.

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"When the saint died, things were very different ; but the pastor, who had made it his first duty to save, even in spite of themselves, the souls confided to him, had been obliged to spend his days and nights in this great es and had more than once run the risk of martyrdom.! The leaders of the schismatics, fearing the force of his reasoning even more than his eloquence, refused all intercourse with Lim; they declared that to put Augustine to death would be a praiseworthy action, which would merit for the per- petrator the remission of his sins.?

‘Pray for us,” he said at the beginning of his episcopate, ‘ pray for us who live in so precarious a state, as it were between the teeth of furious wolves. These wandering sheep, obstinate sheep, are offended because we run after them, as if their wandering made them cease to be ours.— Why dost thou call us? they say; why dost thou pursue us?—But the very reason of our cries and our anguish is that they are running to their ruin.—If I am lost, if I die, what is it to thee? what dost thou want with me? —What I want is to call thee back from thy wan- dering ; what I desire is to snatch thee from death. —But what if I will to wander ? what if I will to be lost P—Thou willest to wander? thou willest to be lost? How much more earnestly do I wish it not! Yea, I dare to say it, I am importunate; for I hear the Apostle saying: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season.”’® In season, when they are willing; out of season, when they are un- villin ing. Yes then, I am importunate: thou willest to perish, I will it not. And He wills it not, who threatened the shepherds saying: “That which was driven away you have not brought again, neither

1 Possidius, vita Augustini. 13. 3 Ibid. 10. — 32 Tim. iv. 2.

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have you sought that which was lost."! Am I to fear thee more than Him? I fear thee not; the tribunal of Donatus cannot take the place of Christ’s judgment seat, before which we must all appear.

hether thou will it or not, I shall call back the wandering sheep, I shall seek the lost sheep. The thorns may tear me ; but however narrow the open- ing may be, it shall not check my pursuit; I will beat every bush, as long as the Lord gives me strength; so only I can get to thee wherever thou strivest to perish.'?

Driven into their last trenches by such uncon- querable charity, the Donatists replied by massacring cleries and faithful, since they could not touch Au-

ustine himself. The bishop implored the imperial Judges not to infliet mutilation or death upon the murderers lest the triumph of the martyrs should be sullied by such a vengeance. Such mildness was certainly worthy of the Church; but it was destined to be one day brought forward against her in con- trast to certain other facts of her history, by a school of liberalism that can grant rights and even pre- eminence to error. Augustine acknowledges his first idea to have been that constraint should not be used to bring any one into the unity of Christ; he believed that preaching and free discussion should be the only arms employed for the conversion of heretics. But on the consideration of what was taking place before his eyes, the very logio of his charity brought him over to the opinion of his more ‘ancient colleagues in the episcopate.®

* Who,' he says, ‘could love us more than God does? Nevertheless God makes use of fear in order to save us, although He teaches us with sweetness. When the Father of the family wanted guests for

! Ezech. xxxiv. 4. 78. Aug. sermon xlvi, 14. ? Epistole, passim,

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His banquet, did He not send His servants to the highways and hedges, to compel all they met to come in? This banquet is the unity of Christ’s body. If, then, the divine goodness has willed that, at the fitting time, the faith of Christian kings should recognize this power of the Church, let the heretics brought back from the by-ways, and schis- matics forced into their enclosures, consider not the constraint they suffer, but the banquet of the Lord to which they would not otherwise have attained. Does not the shepherd sometimes use threats and sometimes blows, to win back to the master’s fold the sheep that have been enticed out of it? Severity that springs from love is preferable to deceitful gentleness. He who binds the delirious man, and wakes up the sleeper from his lethargy, molests them both, but for their good. If a house were on the point of falling, and our cries could not induce those within to come out, would it not be cruelty not to save them by force in spite of themselves ? and that, even if we could snatch only one from death, because the rest, seeing it, obstinately hastened their own destruction: as the Donatists do, who in their mad- ness commit suicide to obtain the crown of martyr- dom. No one can become good in spite of himself; nevertheless, the rigorous laws, of which they com- plain, bring deliverance not only to individuals, but to whole cities, by freeing them from the bonds of notruth and causing them to see the truth, which the violence or the deceits of the schismatics had hidden from their eyes. Far from complaining, their gratitude is now boundless and their joy com- plete ; their feasts and their chants are unceasing."! Meanwhile the justice of heaven was falling upon the queen of nations; Rome, after the triumph of

! Epistola, passim.

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of the cross, had not profited of God's merciful delay ; now she was expiating, under the hand of Alaric, the blood of the saints which she had shed before her idols. ‘Go out from her my people"! At this eignal the city was evacuated. The roads were all lined with barltirians; and happy was the fugitive who could succeed in reaching the sea, there to entrust to the frailest skiff the honour of his family and the remains of his fortune. Like a bright beacon shining through the storms, Augustine, by his reputation, attracted to the African coast the best of the unfor- tunates; his varied correspondence shows us the new links then formed by God, between the bishop of Hippo and so many noble exiles. At one time he would send, as far as Nola in Campania, charming messages, mingled with learned questions and lumi- nous answers, to greet his ‘dear lords and veneialle brethren, Paulinus and Therasia, his fellow disciples in the school of our Lord Jesus. Again it was to Carthage, or even nearer home, that his letters were directed, to console, instruct, and fortify Albina, Melania, and Pinianus, but especially Proba and Juliana, the illustrious grandmother and mother of & still more illustrious daughter, the virgin Deme- trias, the greatest in the Roman world for nobility and wealth, and Augustine's dear conquest to the heavenly Spouse. ‘Oh! who," he wrote on hearing of her consecration to our Lord, ‘could worthily express the glory added this day to the family of the Anicii? For years, it has ennobled the world by the consuls its sons, but now it gives virgins to Christ! Let others imitate Demetrias; whosoever ambitions the glory of this illustrious family, let him take holiness for his portion!'? Augustine’s desire was magnificently realized, when, less than a century

! Apoc. xviii. 4. 2 Epist. cl, c£. clxxix,

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later, the gens Anicia gave to the world Scholastica and Benedict, who were to lead into intimate famili- arity and union with God so many souls eager for true nobility.

When Rome fell, the shock was felt throughout the

rovinces and even beyond. Augustine tells us how ks. a descendant of the ancient Numidians, groaned and wept in his almost inconsolable grief ;! so great, even in her decadence, was the universal esteem and love for the queen city, through the secret action of Him who was holding out to her new and higher destinies. Meanwhile the terrible crisis furnished the occasion for Augustine’s most important writings. The City of God was an answer to the still numerous partisans of idolatry, who attributed the misfortunes of the empire to the suppression of the false gods. In this great work he refutes, in the most complete and masterly way, the theology and also the philo- sophy of Roman and Grecian paganism; he then proceeds to set forth the origin, the history, and the end of the two cities, the earthly, and the heavenly, which divide the world between them, and which are founded upon ‘two opposite loves: the love of self even to the despising of God, and the love of God even to the despising of self.”? But Augustine's greatest triumph was that which earned for him the title of the Doctor of grace. His favourite prayer: Da quod jubes, et jube quod cis? offended the pride of a certain British monk, whom the events of the year 410 had led into Africa This was Pelagius, who taught that nature, all-powerful for good, was quite capable of working out salvation, and that Adam's sin injured himself alone, and was not passed down to his posterity. We can well un-

! De urbis excidio, 3. * De ciritate Dei contra paganos xiv, xxviii.

3 Lord give me grace to do what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. * De dono perstrerantie, 53.

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derstand Augustine, who owed so much to the divine mercy, feeling so strong an aversion for a system whose authors seemed to say to God: * Thou madest us men, but it is we that justify ourselves.’

In this new campaign no injuries were spared to the former convert; but they were his joy and his hope. He had already said, with regard to similar arguments adduced by other adversaries: ‘Catholics, my beloved brethren, one flock of the one Shepherd, I care not how the enemy may insult the watch-dog of the fold; it is not for my own defence, but for yours, that I must bark. Yet I must needs tell this enemy that, as to my former wanderings and errors, I condemn them, as every one else does; I can but see therein the glory of Him who has delivered me from myself. hen I hear my former life brought forward, no matter with what intention it is done, I am not so ungrateful as to be afflicted thereat; for the more they : up my misery, the more I praise my physician." !

While he made so little account of himself, his reputation was spreading throughout the world, by reason of the victory he had won for grace. * Honour to you,' wrote the aged St. Jerome from Bethlehem ; *honour to the man whom the raging winds have not been able to overthrow! ... Continue to be of good courage. The whole world celebrates your praises; the Catholies venerate and admire you as the restorer of the ancient faith. But what is a mark of still greater glory, all the heretics hate you. They honour me, too, with their hatred. Not being able to strike us with the sword, they kill us in desire.'?

These lines reveal the intrepid combatant with whom we shall make acquaintance in September,

! Contra litteras Petsliani, iii, 11. * Hieron. epist. cxli, al. lxxx.

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and who, soon after writing them, was laid to rest in the sacred cave near which he had taken refuge. Augustine had yet some years to continue the good fight, to complete the exposition of Catholic doctrine in contradiction to some even holy persons, who were inclined to think that at least the beginning of sal- vation, the desire of faith, did not require the special assistance of God. This was semi-pelagianism. A century later (529) the second Council of Orange, approved by Rome and hailed by the whole Church, closed the struggle, taking its definitions from the writings of the ‘bishop of Hippo. Augustine bim- self, however, thus concluded his last work: ‘Let those who read these things give thanks to God, if they understand them; if not, let them pray to the teacher of our souls, to him whose shining produces knowledge and understanding. Do they think that Terr? Let them reflect again and again, lest perhaps they themselves be mistaken. As for me, when the readers of my works instruct and correct me, I see therein the goodness of God ; yea, I ask it as a favour, especially of the learned ones in the Church, if by chance this book should fall into their hands, and they deign to take notice of what I write.”

ut let us return to the privileged people of Hippo, won over by Augustine's devotedness, even more than by his admirable discourses. His door was open to every comer; and he was ever ready to listen to the requests, the sorrows, and the disputes of his chil- dren. Sometimes, at the instance of other churches, and even of councils, requiring of Augustine a more active pursuit of works of general interest, an agree- ment was made between the flock and the pastor, that on certain days of the week no one should interrupt him. But the convention could not last

! Ds dono perssverantie, 68.

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long. Whoever wished could claim the attention of this loving and humble shepherd, beside whora the little ones especially knew well that they would never meet with a refusal. As an instance of this we may mention the fortunate child, who wishing to enter into correspondence with the bishop, but not daring to take the initiative, received from him the touching letter which may be seen in his works.!

Besides all his other glories, our seint was the institutor of monastic life in Roman Africa, by the monasteries he founded, and in which he lived before he became bishop. He was a legislator by his letter to the virgins of Hippo, which became the rule whereon so many servants and handmaids of our Lord have formed their religious life. Lastly, to-

ether with the cleries of his church who lived with

im a common life of absolute poverty, he was the example and the head of the great family of Regular Canons. But we must close these already lengthy pages which will be completed by the narrative of the holy liturgy.

Let us, then, read this authentic account. Inde- pendently of the present feast, the Church, in her martyrology, makes special mention of Augustine's conversion on the fifth of May.

Augustinus, Tagaste in Augustine was born at Ta- Africa honestis parentibus guste? in Africa of noble pa- natus, ac puer docilitate in- rents. As a child he was so geuii :equales longe super- apt in learning that in a short aus, brevi omnibus doctri- time he far surpassed in know- na untecelluit. Adolesceus, ledge all those of his own age. dum esset Carthagine, in When he was a young man Manichworum hwresim in- he went to Carthage where he cidit. Postea Romam pro- fell into the Manichwan here-

! Epist. celxvi, al. cxxxil. Angustinus Florentine pucll«. ?Souk-Arhas, in Algeria, 25 leagues to the south of Bona, the ancient Hippo.

8

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fectus, inde Mediolanum missus ut rhetoricam doce- ret, cum ibi frequens Am- brosii episcopi esset auditor, ejus opera incensus studio catholic: fidei, annos natus triginta tres ab ipso bapti- zatur. Reversus in Africam, cum religione vite sancti- moniam conjungens, a Va- lerio note sanctitatis epi- scopo Hipponensi presbyter factus est. Quo tempore familiam instituit religioso- rum, quibuscum victu com- muni eodemque cultu utens, eos ad apostolice vite do- ctrineque disciplinam dili- gentissime erudiebat. Sed cum vigeret Manichaorum haeresis, vehementius in il- lam invehi coepit, Fortuna- tamque haresiarcham con- futavit.

Hac Augustini pietate commotus Valerius, euim

adjutorem adhibuit episco- palis officii. Nihil illo fuit humilius, nihil continentius. Lectus ac vestitus modera- tus, vulgaris mensa, quam semper sacra vel lectione vel disputatione condiebat. Tanta benignitate fuit in pauperes, ut, cum non essel ulia facultas, sacra vasa frangeret ad eoruin inopiam sustentandam. Feminarum, et in eis sororis, el. fratris filie, contuberuium fumilia-

avotled

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Sy. Later on, he journeyed to Rome, and was sent thence to Milan to teach rhetoric. Hav- ing frequently listened to the teaching of Ambrose the bish- op, he was through his influ- ence inflamed with a desire of the Catholic faith and was baptized by him at the age of thirty-three. On his return to Africa, as his holy life was in keeping with his religion, Vale- rius the bishop, who was then renowned for his sanctity, or- dained him priest. It was at this time that he founded a re- ligious community with whom he lived, sharing their food, and dress, and training them with the utmost care in the rulesofapostolic lifeand teach- ing. The Manichwan heresy was then growing very strong: he opposed it with great vig- our and refuted one of its leaders named Fortunatus. Valerius perceiving Augus- line's great piety made him his coadjutor in the bishopric. He was always most humble and most temperate. His clothing and his bed were of the simplest kind: he kept a frugal table, which was always seasoned by reading or holy conversation, Such was his loving kindness to the poor, that when he had no other re- source, he broke up the sacred vessels, for their relief. He all intercourse and conversation — with — women,

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ritatemque vitavit: quip- pe qui diceret, etsi propin- que mulieres suspect: non essent, tamen que ad eas ventitarent, posse suspicio- nem efficere. Nullum finem fecit predicandi Dei ver- bum, nisi gravi morbo op- pressus. Hiereticos perpe- tuo insectatus et coram et scriptis, ac nullo loco pas- sus consistere, Africum a Manicheorum, Donatista- rum, Pelagianorum, alio- rumque preterea hzretico- rum errore magna ex parte liberavit.

Tam multa pie, subtiliter et copiose scripsit, ut chri- stianam doctrinam maxime illustrarit. Quem in primis secuti sunt, qui postea theo- logicam disciplinam via et ratione tradiderunt. Wan- dalis Africam bello vastan- tibus, et Hipponem tertium jam mensem obsidentibus, in febrim incidit. Itaque cum discessum e vita sibi instare intelligeret, psalmos David, qui ad peenitentiam pertinent, in conspectu posi- ios profusis lacrimis lege- bat. Solebat autem dicere neminem, etsi nullius scele- ris sibi conscius esset, com- mittere debere, ut sine pos- nitentia migraret e vita. Ergo sensibus integris, in oratione defixus, astantibus fratribus, quos ad caritatem, pietatem, virtutesque omnes

105

even with his sister and his niece, for he used to say that though such near relatives could not give rise to any suspicion, yet might the wom- en who came to visit them. Never, except when seriously ill, did he omit preaching the word of God. He pursued heretics unremittingly both in public disputations and in his writings, never allowing them to take foothold anywhere; and by these means he almost entirely freed Africa from the Manichees, Donatjsts and other heretics.

His numerous works are full of piety, deep wisdom and eloquence, and throw the greatest light on Christian doctrine, so that he is the great master and guide of all those who later on reduced theo- logical teaching to method. While the Vandals were de- vastating Africa, and Hippo had been besieged by them for three months, Augustine was seized with a fever. When he perceived that his death was at hand, he had the peni- tential psalms of David placed before him, and used to read them with an abundance of tears. He was accustomed to say that no one, even though not conscious to himself of any sin, ought to be presumptuous enough to die without repen- tance. He was in full posses- sion of his faculties and inteuc

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erat adhortatus, migravit in colum. Vixit annos sep- tuaginta sex, in episcopatu ad triginta sex. Cujus cor- pus primum in Sardiniam delatum, deinde a Luit- prando, Longobardorum re- ge, magno pretio redem- ptum, Ticinum translatum est, ibique honorifice condi- tum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

on prayer to the end. After exhorting his brethren who were around him, to charity, piety and the practice of every virtue, he passed to heaven, having lived seventy-six years, and thirty-six as bishop. His body was first of all taken to Sardinia, afterwards Luit- prand, king of the Lombards, translated it to Pavia, where

it was honourably entombed.

What a death was thine, O Augustine, receiving on thy humble couch nought but news of disasters and ruin! Thy Africa was perishing at the hands of the barbarians, in punishment of those nameless crimes of the ancient world, in which she had so large a share. Together with Genseric, Arius tri- umphed over that land, which nevertheless, thanks to thee, was to produce, for yet a hundred years, admirable martyrs for the Consubstantiality of the Word. When Delisarius restored her to the Roman world, God seemed to be offering her, for the mar- tyrs’ sake, au opportunity of returning to her former prosperity; but the inexperienced Byzantines, pre- oceupied with their theological quarrels and political intrigues, knew not how to raise her up, nor to proteet her agaiust an invasion more terrible than the first; and the torrent of Mussulman infidelity soon swept all before it.

At length, after twelve centuries, the cross re- appeared in those places, where the very names of so many flourishing ehurches had perished. May the nation on which thy country is now dependent, show that it is proud of this honour, and understand its consequent obligations!

During all that long night which overhung thy native land, thy influence did not cease. "l'hrough-

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out the entire world, thy immortal works were en- lightening the minds of men and arousing their love, In the basilicas served by thy sons and imitators, the splendour of divine worship, the pomp of the cere- monies, the perfection of the sacred melodies, kept up in the hearts of the people the same supernatural enthusiasm which took possession of thine own, when for the first time in our west, St. Ambrose instituted the alternate chanting of the psalms and sacred bymns.! Throughout all ages the perfect life, in its many different ways of exercising the double precept of charity, draws from the waters of thy fountains. Continue to illumine the Church with thine incomparable light. Bless the numerous reli- gious families which claim thine illustrious patron- age. Assist us all, by obtaining for us the spirit of love and of penance, of confidence and of humility, which befits the redeemed soul. Give us to know the weakness of our nature and its unworthiness since the fall, and at the same time the boundless good- ness of our God, the superabundance of His Redemp- tion, the all-powerfulness of His grace. May we all, like thee, not only recognize the truth, but be able loyally and practically to say to God: ‘Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is ill at ease till it rest in Thee.’?

According to the most ancient monuments of the Roman Church,’ another saint has always been honoured on this same day, viz: llermes, a Roman magistrate, who hore witness to Christ under Trajan. The crypt constructed, less than half a century after the death of the apostles, to receive this martyr’s relics, is remarkable for its majestic and ample pro- portions not usually found in the subterranean ceme- teries. It was his sister 'I'heodorn, who received

1 Aug. confess. ix. ? Ibid. i. 3 Culendarium Bucherii. --- PAGE 119 --- 108 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

from Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, the venerable chains of St. Peter.

PRAYER

Deus, qui beatum Herme- O God, who didst strengthen
iem, martyrem tuum, vir- blessed Hermes, thy martyr, tute constaniiw in passione with the virtue of constancy roborasti: ex ejus nobis imi- in suffering: grant us in imita- tatione tribue, pro amore tion of him to despise worldly tuo prospera mundi despi- prosperity for the love of thee, cere, et nulla ejus adversa and not to fear any of its ad- formidare. Der Dominum. versity. Through our Lord, &c.

Avcvsr 29 THE DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

* AT that time, Herod sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: “Tt is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Now Herodias laid snares for him, and was desirous to put him to death, und ould not. For Herod feared John, know- ing him to be a just and holy man, and kept him, and when he heard him did many things; and he heard him willingly. Aud when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the prinoes, and tribunes, and chief men of Galilee. And when the daughter of the sume Ilerodius had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with Liu, the king said to

--- PAGE 120 --- DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 109

the damsel: * Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee.” And he swore to her, ** Whatsoever thou shalt ask, I will give thee; though it be the half of my kingdom.” Who, when she was gone out, said to her mother: * What shall I ask?" But she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying, “I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Baptist.” And the king was struck sad ; yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her; but sending an executioner he commanded that his head should be brought in & dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. "Which his disciples hearing, came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb."!

Thus died the greatest of ¢ them that are born of women: without witnesses, the prisoner of a petty tyrant, the vietim of the vilest of passions, the wages of a dancing girl! Rather than keep silence in the presence of crime, although there were no hope of converting the sinner, or give up his liberty, even when in chains: the herald of the Word made flesh was ready to die. How beautiful, as St. John Chry- sostom reruarks, is this liberty of speech, when it is truly the liberty of God's Word, when it is an echo of heaven's language! Then, indeed, it is a stum- bling-block to tyranny, the safe-guard of the world and of God's rights, the bulwark of a nation's honour as well as of its temporal and eternal interests. Death has no power over it. To the weak murderer of John the Baptist, and to all who would imitate

! Gospel of the feast, St. Mark vi. 17-29.

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him to the end of time, a thousand tongues, instead of one, repeat in all languages and in all places: * It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife."

* O great and admirable mystery !” cries out Saint Augustine. ‘He must increase, but I must decrease, said John, said the voice which personified all the voices that had gone before announcing the Father's ‘Word Incarnate in His Christ. Every word, in that it signifies something, in that it is an idea, an internal word, is independent of the number of syllables, of the various letters and sounds; it remains unchange- able in the heart that conceives it, however numerous may be the words that en it outward existence, the voices that utter it, the languages, Greek, Latin and the rest, into which it may be translated. To him who knows the word, expressions and voices are useless. "The prophets were voices, the apostles were voices ; voices are in the psalms, voices in the Gospel. But let the Word come, the Word who was in the beginning, the Word who was with God, the Word who was God ; when we shall see Him as He is, shall we hear the Gospel repeated? Shall we listen to the prophets? Shall we read the Epistles of the apostles ? "The voice fails where the Word increases. . . . Not that in Himself the Word can either di- minish or increase. But He is said to grow in us, when we grow in Him. To him, then, who draws near to Christ, to him who makes progress in the contemplation of wisdom, words are of little use; of necessity they tend to fail altogether. Thus the ministry of the voice falls short in proportion as the soul progresses towards the Word; it is thus that Christ must increase and John decrease. The same is indicated by the decollation of John, and the exaltation of Christ upon the cross; as it had already been shown by their birthdays: for, from the birth

--- PAGE 122 --- DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 111

of John the days begin to shorten, and from the birth of our Lord they begin to grow longer.'!

The holy doctor here gives a useful lesson to those who guide souls along the path to perfection. If, from the very begiuning, they must respectfully observe the movements of grace in each of them, in order to second the Holy Ghost, and not to supplant Him; so also, in proportion as these souls advance, the directors must be careful not to impede the Word by the abundance of their own speech. Moreover, they must discreetly respect the ever-growing power- lessness of those souls to express what our Lord is working in them. Ilappy to have led the bride to the Bridegroom, let them learn to say with John: * He must increase, but I must decrease.’

The sacred cycle itself seems to convey to us too a similar lesson; for, during the following days, we shall see its teaching as it were tempered down, by the fewness of the feasts, and the disappearance of great solemnities until November. The school of the holy liturgy aims at adapting the soul, more surely and more fully than could any other school, to the interior teaching of the Spouse. Like John, the Church would be glad to let God alone speak always, if that were possible here below; at least, towards the end of the way, she loves to moderate her voice, and sometimes even to keep silence, in order to give her children an opportunity of showing that the know how to listen inwardly to Him, who is bot her and their sole love. Let those who interpret her thought, first understand it well. The friend of the Bridegroom, who, until the nuptial-day, walked before Him, now stands and listens; and the voice of the Bridegroom, which silences his own, fills him

1 Aug Sermon cclxxxviii, Zn Natali S.J. Bapt. IT. De voce et verbo.

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with immense joy: ‘This my joy therefore is ful- filled,’ said the precursor.!

Thus the feast of the Decollation of St. John may be considered as one of the landmarks of the liturgical

ear. With the Greeks it is a holiday of obligation. fe great antiquity in the Latin Church is evidenced by the mention made of it in the martyrology called St. Jerome's, and by the place it occupies in the Gela- sian and Gregorian sacramentaries. The precursor’s blessed death took place about the feast of the Pasch; but, that it might be more freely celebrated, this day was chosen, whereon his sacred head was dis- covered at Emesa.

The vengeance of God fell heavily upon Herod Antipas. Josephus relates how he was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudi- ated in order to follow his wicked passions; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John.? He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul, where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her dancing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors, that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death.

From Macherontis, beyond the Jordan, where their master had suffered martyrdom, John’s disciples carried his body to Sebaste (Samaria), out of the territory of Antipas; it was necessary to save it from the profanations of Herodias, who had not spared his august head. The wretched woman did not

1 St. John iii. 29. ? Joseph. Zntiquit. Jud. xviii. 6. 3 Pseudo- Dexter, chronicon, adiann. Christi 31; Niceph. Call. i. xx.

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think her vengeance complete, till she had pierced with a hairpin the tongue that had not feared to utter her shame; and that face, which for seven centuries the church of Amiens has offered to the veneration of the world, still bears traces of the violence inflicted by her in her malicious triumph. In the reign of Julian the Apostate, the pagans wished to complete the work of this unworthy de- scendant of the Machabees,! by opening the saint's tomb at Sebaste, in order to burn and scatter his remains. But the empty sepulchre continued to be a terror to the demons, as St. Paula attested with deep emotion a few years later. Moreover, some of the precious relics were saved, and dispersed through- out the east. Later on, especially at the time of the Crusades, they were brought into the west, where many churches glory in possessing them.

Let us greet the noble martyr Sabina, whose triumph completes the glories of this day. The very ancient church of St. Sabina on the Aventine is one of the gems of the eternal city. It shared with St. Sixtus the Old the bonour of sheltering Saint Dominic and his first children.

PRAYER

DEus, qui inter cetera po- — 0 Gon, who among other mi- tenti& tus» miracula, etiam racles of thy power, hast grant- in sexu fragili victoriam ed even to the weaker sex the martyrii contulisti:*concede victory of martyrdom, grant, propitius; ut qui beatis Sa- — we beseech thee, that we who bing martyris tue natalitia celobrate the festival of thy colimus, per ejus ad te ex- blessed martyr Sabina, may empla gradiamur. Per Do- walk to thee by her example. minum. Through our Lord, &c.

! By her grand-mother, Mariamne, grand-daughter of Hyrcanus,

--- PAGE 125 --- 114 Let us return to the

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Precursor, and make our

own the following formule found in the Gregorian sacramentary for the feast of the Decollation.

PRAYER

Sancti Joannis Baptist et martyris tui, Domine,
quaesumus, veneranda festi- vitas, salutaris auxilii nobis prestet effectum. Per Do- minum.

SUPER

Munera tibi, Domine, pro
sancti martyris tui Joannis Baptiste passione deferi- mus, qui dum finitur in ter- ris, factus est coelesti sede perpetuus; quasumus, ut ejus obtentu nobis profici- ant ad salutem. Per Do- minum.

We bescech thee, O Lord, that the venerable festival of St. John Baptist, thy precur- sor and martyr, may procure for us the effect of salutary help. Who livest &c.

OBLATA

We present our offerings to thee, O Lord, in honour of the passion of thy holy martyr John Baptist, who, closing his life on earth began to live eternally in heaven; we be- seech thee, that by his inter- cession these gifts may profit us unto salvation. Through our Lord.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gra- tias agere, Domine. sancte,
Pater omnipotens, :eterne Deus: Qui precursorem Fi-
lii tui tanto munere ditasti, ut pro veritatis pricconio capite plecteretur: Et qui Christum aqua baptizave- rat, ab ipso in Spiritu bap- tizatus, pro eodem proprio sanguine tingeretur. Pru- co quippe veritatis, quse Christus est, Herodem a fraternis thalamis prohiben-

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salva- tion, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, 0 holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: who didst enrich the Precursor of thy Son with so great a grace, that he was beheaded for proclaiming the truth: and he who had baptized Christ with water, was bap- tized by Christ in the Spirit, and for his sake was washed in his own blood. For having, as a herald of the truth which is Christ, forbidden Herod to

--- PAGE 126 --- DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 115

do, carceris obscuritate de- truditur, ubi solius divini- tatis tue lumine frueretur. Deinde capitalem sententi- am subiit, et ad inferna Dominum prewcursurus de- scendit. Et quem in mundo digito demonstravit, ad in- feros pretiosa morte pree- cessit. Et ideo cum angelis.

keep his brother's wife, he was cast into a dark prison, where he enjoyed no light but that of thy divinity. Afterwards lie endured the punishment of death, and went down to limbo us the precursor of the Lord, preceding thither, by his pre- cious death, him whom on earth he had pointed out with the finger. And therefore with the angels.

BENEDICTIO

Deus, qui nos beati Joan-
nis Baptiste concedit sole- mnia frequentare, tribuat vobis et eadem devotis men- tibus celebrare, et sug bene- dictionis dona percipere.

Jy. Amen.

Et qui pro legis ejus prz- conio carceralibus est retru- sus in tenebris, intercessione sua a tenebrosorum operum vos liberet incentivis.

Rr. Amen.

Et qui pro veritate, quie Deus est, caput non est
cunctatus amittere, suo in- terventu ad caput nostrum, quod Christus est, vos faciat pervenire.

Ty. Amen.

Quod ipse prwstare digne-

r.

May God, who permitteth us to keep the solemnity of blessed John Baptist, grant you to celebrate it with devout minds, and to receive the gifts of his blessing.

W. Amen.

And may he, who for pro- claiming the law of God was shut up in a darksome prison, deliver you from the influence of the works of darkness.

Jy. Amen.

And through the interces- sion of him who hesitated not to give his head for the truth which is God, may we attain unto Christ our head. I. Amen. Which may he deign to grant, who reigneth for ever.

AD COMPLENDUM

Conferat nobis, Domine,
sancti Joannis utrumque solemnitas: ut et magnifica

May the solemnity of Saint John procure for us, O Lord, that we may both worthily

--- PAGE 127 --- 116 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

sacramenta que sumpsi- venerate the magnificent mys-

mus, digne veneremur, et teries we have received, and

nobis salutaria sentiamus. also experience their salutary

Per Dominum. effect within us. Through our Lord.

Avcvusr 30 SAINT ROSE OF LIMA VIRGIN

Tue fragrance of holiness is wafted to-day across the dark ocean, renewing the youth of the old world, and winning for the new the good will of heaven and earth.

A century before the birth of St. Rose, Spain, having cast out the crescent from her own territory, received as u reward the mission of planting the cross on the distant shores of America. Neither heroes nor apostles were wanting in the Catholic kingdom for the great work; but there was also, unhappily, no lack of adventurers, who, in their thirst for gold, became the scourge of the poor Indians, instead of leading them to the trne God. The speedy decadence of the illustrious nation that had triumplied over the Moors, was soon to prove how far a people, prevented with the greatest blessings, may yet be answerable for erimes committed by its individual representa- tives. It is well known how the empire of the Incas in Peru came to an end. In spite of the indignant protestations of the missionaries: in spite of orders received from the mother country: in a few years, Pizarro and his companions bad exterminated one third of the inhabitants of these flourishing regions;

--- PAGE 128 --- SAINT ROSE OF LIMA 117

another third perished miserably under a slavery worse than death; the rest fled to the mountains, carrying with them a hatred of the invaders, and too often of the Gospel as well, which in their eyes was responsible for atrocities committed by Christians. Avarice opened the door to all vices in the souls of the oonquerors, without, however, destroying their lively faith. Lima, founded at the foot of the Cor- dilleras, as metropolis of the subjugated provinces, seemed as if built upon the triple concupiscence. Before the close of the century, a new Jonas, Saint Francis Solano, came to threaten this new Ninive with the anger of God.

But mercy had already been beforehand with wrath; ‘justice and peace had met’,! in the soul of a child, who was ready, in her insatiable love, to suffer every expiation. Here we should like to pause and contemplate the virgin of Peru, in her self-forgetful heroism, in her pure and candid gracefuluess: Rose, who was all sweetne:s to those who approached her, &nd who kept to herself the secret of the thorns without which no rose can grow on earth. This child of predilection was prevented from her infancy with miraculous gifts and favours. The flowers re- cognized her as their queen; and at her desire they would blossom out of season. At her invitation, the plants joyfully waved their leaves; the trees bent down their branches; all nature exulted; even the insects formed themselves into choirs; the birds vied with her in celebrating the praises of their common Maker. She herself, playing upon the names of her parents, Gaspard Flores and Maria Oliva, would sing: *O my Jesus, how beautiful Thou art among the olives and the flowers, and Thou dost not dis- dain Thy Rose!’

lS, Ixxaiv. 1I.

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Eternal Wisdom has, from the beginning, delight- ed to play in the world." Clement X relates, in the Bull of canonization, how one day when Rose was very ill, the Infant Jesus appeared and deigned to play with her; teaching her in a manner suitable to her tender age, the value and the advantages of suffering. He then left her full of joy, and endowed with a life-long love of the cross. Holy Church will tell us in the legend how far the saint carried out, in her rigorous penance, the lesson thus divinely taught. In the superhuman agonies of her last ill- ness, when someone exhorted her to courage, she replied: ‘All I ask of my Spouse is, that He will not cease to burn me with the most scorching heat, till I become a ripe fruit that He will deign to cull from this earth for His heavenly table.” To those who were astonished at her confidence and her assu- rance of going straight to heaven, she gave this answer which well expresses her character: ‘I have & Spouse who can do all that is greatest, and who ossesses all that is rarest, aud am I to expect only ttle things from Him?’ And her confidence was rewarded. She was but thirty-one years of age, when, at midnight ou the feast of St. Bartholomew in the year 1617, she heard the cry: ‘ Behold the Bridegroom cometh!’ In Lima, in all Peru, and indeed throughout America, prodigies of conversion and miracles signalized the death of the humble virgin, hitherto so little known. * It has been juridi- cally proved,’ said the Sovereign Pontiff, ‘that, since the discovery of Peru, no missionary has been known . to obtain so universal a movement of repentance.’ Five years later, for the further sanctification of Lima, there was established in its midst the monas- tery of St. Catharine of Siena, also called ltose's

! Prov. viii. 30, 31. ? Bull of Canonization.

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119

monastery, because she was in the eyes of God its true foundress and mother. ller prayers had obtained its erection, which she had also predicted ; she had designed the plan, pointed out the future religious, and named the first superior, whom she one day pro- phetically endowed with her own spirit in a mysterious

embrace.

. Let us read the Church's beautiful account of her

life.

Primus America Meridio- nalis flos sanctitatis, virgo Rosa, christianis parentibus Lim: progenita, mox ab incunabulis claruit futur: sanctimonie indiciis. Nam vultus infantis mirabiliter in rose effigiem transfiguratus, huic nomini occasionem de- dit: cui postea Virgo Dei- para cognomen adjecit, ju- bens vocari deinceps Rosam a sancta Maria. Quinquen- nis votum perpetua virgini- tatis emisit. Adultior, ne a parentibus ad nuptias coge- retur, clam sibimet venu- stissimam capitis cwsariem prescidit. Jejuniis supra humanum modum addi- cta, integras Quadragesimas iransegit, pane abstinens, ac dietim solis quinque granu- lis mali citrini victitans.

Habitu tertii Ordinis san- cti Dominici assumpto, pri- stinas vite austeritates du- plicavit: oblongo asperrimo-

The first flower of sanctity that blossomed in South Ame- rica, the virgin Rose was born of Christian parents at Lima. From her very cradle she gave clear signs of her future holi- ness. Her baby face appeared one day changed in a wonder- ful way into the image of a rose, and from this circum- stance she was called Rose. Later on the Virgin Mother of God gave her also her own name, bidding her to be called thenceforward Rose of St. Mary. At five years of age she made a vow of perpetual vir- ginity, and when she grew older, fearing her parents would compel her to marry, she secretly cut off her hair which was very beautiful. Her fasts exceeded the strength of human nature. She would pass whole Lents without eating bread, living on five grains of a citron a day.

She took the habit of the third Order of St. Dominic and after that redoubled her aus- terities. Her long and rough

9

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que cilicio sparsim minuscu- las acus innexuit: sub velo coronam densis aculeis in- trorsus obarmatam interdiu noctuque gestavit. Sancte Catharine Senensis ardua premens vestigia, catena ferrea, triplici nexu circum- ducta, lumbos cinxit. Lectu- lum sibi e truncis nodosis composuit, horumque vacuas commissuras fragminibus testarum implevit. Cellulam sibi angustissimam struxit in extremo horti angulo, ubi cclestium ^ contemplationi dedita, crebris disciplinis, inedia, vigiliis, corpusculum extenuans, at spiritu vege- tata, larvas demonum, fre- quenti certamine victrix, impavide protrivit ac super- avit.

ZEgritudinum tormentis, domesticorum insultibus, linguarum morsibus dire agitata, nondum satis pro merito se affligi querebatur. Per quindecim annos ad plusculas horas desolatione spiritus et ariditate miser- rime contabescens, forti ani- mo tulit agones omni morte amariores. — Exinde coepit supernis abundare deliciis, illustrari visionibus, colli- quescere seraphicis ardori- bus. Angelo tutelari, sancte Catharing Senensis, Virgini Deipar inter assiduas appa- ritiones mire familiaris, a Christo has voces audire

11ME AFTER PENTECOST

hair-shirt was armed with steel points, and day and night she wore under her veil a crown studded inside with sharp nails. Following the arduous example of St. Catharine of Siena, she wound an iron chain three times round her waist, and made herself a bed of the knotty trunks of trees, filling up the vacant spaces between them with potsherds. She built herself a narrow little cell in a distant corner of the garden, and there devoted herself to the contemplation of heavenly things, subduing her feeble body by iron disciplines, fast- ing and watching. Thus she grew strong in spirit, and con- tinually overcame the devils, spurning and dispelling their deceits.

Though she suffered greatly from severe illnesses, from the insults offered her by her fa- mily and from unkind tongues, yet shé would say that she was not treated so badly as she de- served. During fifteen years, she suffered for several hours à day a terrible desolation and dryness of spirit; but she bore this suffering, worse than death itself, with undaunted courage. After that period, she was giv- en an abundance of heavenly delights, she was honoured with visions, and felt her heart melt- ing with seraphic love. Her angel-guardian, St. Catharine of Siena and our Lady used

--- PAGE 132 --- SAINT ROSE OF LIMA 121

meruit: Rosa cordis mei, tu often to appear to her with mihi sponsa esto. Denique wonderful familiarity. — She Sponsi hujus paradiso feli- was privileged to hear these citer invectam, plurimisque words from our Lord: ‘Rose of ante et post obitum miracu- my heart, be thou my bride.’ lis coruscam, Clemens de- At length she was happily in- cimus Pontifex Maximus troduced into the paradise of sanctarum virginum cata- this her Spouse, and being logo ritu solemni adscripsit. famous for miracles both be- fore and after her death, Pope Clement. X. solemnly enrolled ler among the holy virgins.

Patroness of Peru, ever watch over the interests of thy fatherland. Respond to its people's confi- dence in thee by warding off from them the calami- ties of even this present life: the earthquakes which spread terror through the land, and political con- vulsions such as have already so severely tried its recently gained independence. Extend thy guardian- ship to the neighbouring young republics; for they too love and honour thee. Hide from them, and from thy native land, the Utopian mirages which rise from the old world. Preserve them from the rash impulses and illusions, to which their youth is liable. Guard them against the poisonous teachings of condemned sects, lest their hitherto lively faith should be corrupted. Lastly, O thou our Lord’s beloved Rose, smile upon the whole Church, who is enraptured to-day at the sight of thy heavenly beauty. Like her, we all desire to ‘run in the fra- grancy of thy sweetness’!

Teach us to let ourselves be prevented, like thee, by the dew of b aven. Show us how to respond to the advances of the divine sculptor, who one day al- lowed thee to see Him making over to His loved ones the different virtues in the form of blocks of choice

! Collect of the feast.

--- PAGE 133 --- 122 TIME AFTER PENTECUST

marble, which He expects them to polish with their tears, and to fasbion with the chisel of penance. A bove all, fill us with love and confidence. All that the material sun accomplishes in the vast universe, causing the flowers to bloom, ripening the fruits, forming pearls in the depth of the ocean, and pre- cious stones in the heart of the mountains; all this, thou didst say, thy divine Spouse effected in the boundless capacity of thy soul, causing it to bring forth every variety of riches, beauty and joy, warmth and life. May we profit, even as thou didst, of the coming of the Sun of-justiee into our hearts in the Sacrament of union; may we lay open our whole being to the intluence of His blessed light; and may we become, in every place, the good odour of Christ.

The holy martyrs Felix and Adauctus won their alms in the reign of Diocletian. Their tomb, which ies close to that of the Apostle of the Gentiles, is

adorned by one of the beautiful epitaphs of Pope Saint Damasus. Let us address to (God the prayer, where- in the Church implores their powerful protection.

COLLECT

MAJESTATEM tuam, Do- Wk suppliantly beseech thy mine, supplices exoramus: Majesty, O Lord, that as thou ut, sicut nos jugiter sancto- dost ever rejoice us by the rum tuorum commemora- commemoration of thy saints, tione lastificas, ita semper so thou wouldst always de- supplicatione defendas. Per fend us by their supplication. Dominum. Through our Lord etc.

--- PAGE 134 --- Avgust 31 SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS

CONFESSOR

Avousr oloses as it began, with a feast of deliverance ; as though that were the divine seal set by eternal Wisdom upon this month—the month when holy Church makes the works and ways of divine Wisdom the special object of her contemplation.

Upon the fall of our first parents and their expul- sion from paradise, the Word and Wisdom of God, that is, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, began the great work of our deliverance—that mag- nilicent work of human redemption which, by an all-gracious, eternal decree of the three divine Per- sons, was to be wrought out by the Son of God in our flesh. And as that blessed Saviour, in His in- finite wisdom, made spontaneous choice of sorrows, of sufferings, and of death on a cross, as the best means of our redemption, so has He always allotted to His best loved friends, the kind of life which Ile had deliberately chosen for Himself, that is, the way of the cross. And the nearest and dearest to Him were those who were predestined, like llis blessed Mother, the Mater Dolorosa, t» have the honour of being most like Himself, the Man of sorrows. Hence the toils and trials of the greatest saints; hence the great deliverances wrought by them, and their heroic victories over the world and over the spirits of wicked- ness in the high places.

On the feasts of St. Raymund of Pegnafort and St. Peter Nolasco, we saw something of the origin

(123)

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of the illustrious Order, to which Raymund Nonna- tus added such glory. Soon the august foundress herself, our Lady of Mercy, will come in person to receive the expression of the world’s gratitude for so many benefits.

The following legend recounts the

peculiar merits of our saint of to-day.

Raymundus, Nonnatus cognomento dictus quia preter communem natura legem e mortus matris dis- secto latere in lucem edu- ctus fuit, Portelli in Cata- launia piis et nobilibus pa- rentibus ortus, ab ipsa infan- tia futur sanctitatis indicia dedit. Nam puerilia. oble- ctamenta, mundique illece- bras respuens, ita pietati operam dabat, ut omnes in puero adultam virtutem ad- mirarentur. Crescente vero etate, litterarum studiis in- cubuit: sed mox jubente patre vitam ruri agens, sa- cellum sancti Nicolai in Portelli finibus situm crebro adibat, ut sacram Deipar:e imaginem, quie in eo sum- ma fidelium veneratione eti- am nunc colitur, visitaret. Ibi effusus in preces, ipsam Dei parentem, ut se in fili- um adoptare viamque salu- tis ac scientiam sanctorum edocere dignaretur, enixe deprecabatur.

Nec defuit votis ejus be- nignissima Virgo. Ab ipsa

Raymund, surnamed Nonna- tus,! on account of his having been brought into the world in an unusual manner after the death of his mother, was of a pious and noble family of Por- telli in Catalonia. From his very infancy he showed signs of his future holiness; for, despising childish amusements and the attractions of the world, he applied himself to the practice of piety so that all wondered at his virtue, which far surpassed his age. As he grew older he began his stu- dies; but after a short time he returned at his father's com- mand to live in the country. He frequently visited the cha- pel of St. Nicholas, near Por- telli, in order to venerate in it a holy image of the Mother of God, which is still much hon- oured by the faithful. There he would pour out his prayers, begging God's holy Mother to adopt him for her son and to deign to teach him the way of salvation and the science of the saints.

The most benign Virgin heard his prayer, and gave him

1 "That is, not born.

--- PAGE 136 --- SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS

enim intellexit gratissimum sibi fore, si religionem sub titulo de Mercede, seu de Misericordia redeinptionis captivorum, ea su;erente nuper fuudatin, ingrelere- tur. Qua monitione. per- cepta, Barcinonem statin profectus, illud tam prwecel- lentis erga proximum cari- tatis institutum | amplexus est. Regulari igitur militiv adscriptus, virginitatem, quam pridem beate Virgiui consecraverat, perpetuo co- luit, ceterisque virtutibus enituit, caritate privsertim erga christianos, qui sub po- testate paganorum iniserain in captivitate vitam «dege- bant. Hos ut redimeret, in Africam missus cum jam multos a servitute liberas- set, ne, consumpta pecunia, aliis item in proximo abne- gande fidei discrimine con- stitutis deesset, se ipsuin pignori dedit; sed cum ar- dentissimo salutis anima- rum desiderio succensus, plures mahometanos suis concionibus ad Christum converteret, in arctun cu- stodiam a barbaris conjectus, variisque suppliciis crucia- tus, mox labiis perforatis et sera ferrea clausis, crudele martyrium diu sustinuit.

Ob hzc et alia fortiter

125

to understand that it would greatly please her if he entered the religious Order lately founded by her inspiration, under tlie name of the Order of * Ransom, or of Mercy for the redemption of captives.” Upon this Raymund at once set out for Barcelona, there to em- brace that institute so full of brotherly charity. Thus en- rolled in the army of holy re- ligion, he persevered in per- petual virginity, which he had already consecrated to the blessed Virgin. He excelled also in every other virtue, most especially in charity towards those Christians who were living in misery, as slaves of the pagans. He was sent to Africa to redeem them, and freed many from slavery. But when he had exhausted his money, rather than abandon others who were in danger of losing their faith, he gave himself up to the barbarians as a pledge for their ransom. Burning with a most ardent desire for the salvation of souls, he converted several Mahometans to Christ hy his preaching. On this account he was thrown into a close prison, and after many tor- tures his lips were pierced through and fastened together with an iron padlock, which cruel martyrdom he endured for a long time.

This and his other noble

--- PAGE 137 --- 126

gesta, sanctitatis ejus fama longe lateque diffusa est. Qua permotus Gregorius nonus, in amplissimum sancte Romans Ecclesise cardinalium collegium Ray- mundum adsctipsit: sed vir Dei in ea dignitate ab omni pompa abhorrens, religiosse humilitatis tenacissimus semper fuit. Romam vero pergens, statim ac Cardo- nam pervenit, extremo mor- bo confectus, ecclesiasticis sacramentis tnuniri summis precibus postulavit. Cum- que morbus ingravesceret, et sacerdos diutius tardaret, angelorum ministerio, sub specie religiosorum sui Or- dinis apparentium, salutari viatico refectus fuit. Quo sumpto, et gratiis Deo per- actis, migravit ad Dominum Dominica ultima Augusti, anno millesimo ducentesimo «quadragesimo. Mortui cor- pus, cum circa locum sepul- ture contentio orta esset, aree inclusum, et mule ceca: impositum, ad sacel- lum sancti Nicolai Dei nutu delatum fuit, ut ibi tumu- laretur, ubi prima jecerat sanctioris vite fundamenta. Illic constructo sui Ordinis coenobio, a confluentibus vo- ti causa ex universa Cata- launia fidelibus populis ho- noratur, variis miraculis et Bignis gloriosus,

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

deeds spread the fame of his sanctity far and near, so that Gregory IX. determined to enrol him in the august college of the cardinals of the holy Roman Church. When raised io that dignity the man of God shrank from all pomp and clung always to religious humility. On his way to Rome, as soon as he reached Cardona, he was attacked by his last illness, and earnestly begged to be strengthened by the Sacraments of the Church. As his illness grew worse and the priest delayed to come, angels appeared, clothed in the religious habit of his Order,and refreshed bim with the saving Viaticum. Having received It he gave thanks to God, and passed to our Lord on the last Sunday of August in the year 1240. Contentions arose con- cerning the place where he should be buried; his coffin was therefore placed upon a blind mule and by the will of God it was taken to the chapel of St. Nicholas, that it might be buried in that place where he had first begun a more per- fect life. A convent of his Order was built on the spot, and there famous for many signs and miracles he is hon- oured by the concourse of all the faithful of Catalonia, who come there to fulfil their vows,

--- PAGE 138 --- SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS 127

To what a length, O illustrious saint, didst thou follow the counsel of the wise man! * The bands of wisdom,’ says he, ‘are a healthful binding.’ And, not satisfied with putting ‘thy feet into her fetters and thy neck into her chains,'? in the joy of thy love thou didst offer thy lips to the dreadful padlock, not mentioned by the son of Sirach. But what a reward is thine, now that this Wisdom of the Father, whose twofold precept of charity thou didst so fully carry out, inebriates thee with the torrent of eternal delights, adorning thy brow with the glory and grace which radiate ori her own beauty! We would fain be for ever with thee near that throne of light; teach us, then, how to walk, in this world, by the beautiful ways sand peaceable paths of Wisdom. Deliver our souls, if they be still captive in sin; break the chains of our self-love, and give us instead those blessed bands of Wisdom which are humility, abnegation, self-forgetfulness, love of our brethren for God's sake, love of God for His own sake.

! Ecclus. vi. 31. ? Ibid. 25.

--- PAGE 139 --- 128 TIME AFTER PFNTECOST

SEPTEMBER 1

AnnoT

“A sIMPLE and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil':' euch is the description of the just man in the lessons of the night Office for the time; and it is the portrait of tlie holy monk whom the Church offers us to-day for our adwiration, our imita- tion, and our devotion. Flleeiug from men in order to find God, he quitted his native land, where his rank, and still more his virtues, prevented him from being unknown. He wandered from the coasts of Greece to the borders of the lthone, and stopped at length in the forests of Septimania, where he seemed to have pe his desired solitude. There for three years he

elt in & cave hidden among the brambles, spend- ing his time in giving thanks to God and praying for the salvation of the people? He lived on herbs and water, until our Lord sent him a hind to nourish him with her milk. But his little friend was soon to betray him. One day, hard pressed by the hounds, she fled in terror to the saint, followed by the royal huntsmen. Safe with her protector her fears were calmed; but an arrow, aimed at her, pierced Saint Giles's hand, which was never afterwards healed; for he refused to have it dressed, in order that he might bear the pain of it for the rest of his life. But a greater trial awaited him: his retreat having

! Job i. 8. 3 Acta S. Egidii.

--- PAGE 140 --- SAINT GILES 129

been thus discovered, a monastery soon rose upon the spot, and he was forced to me its abbot ; moreover he worked so many miracles that crowds came to see him. Farewell to the silence and oblivion of his beloved forest !

After the death of the servant of God, the place became more and more frequented. From north and east and south pilgrims poured in, to offer up their prayers and fulfil their vows at the tomb of one, who soon became known as one of the most helpful saints in heaven.! Among the crowds came Pontiffs? and kings? But the most numerous classes of visitors to the holy relics were soldiers and little children, the former equipped for the crusades, the latter borne in their mothers’ arms; all confiding in the humble, gentle monk who, at the risk of his life. calmed the terror of the poor little hind; all im-

loring hia assistance against the fear which even the bow may feel in the hour of battle, or the fright that disturbs the little one in his cradle. St. Giles's ranked as one of the three great pilgrimages of the west ; the other two being Rome and Compostello.

Over the relies of the saint was raised a colossal church, which has been described as ‘the most per- fect type of the Byzantine style when at the height of its splendour.” Around it & town of thirty

1 8t. Giles is the only confessor in the group of fourteen saints known as helpers, whose names are given in ancient missals in the following order: George, Blase, Erasmus, Pantaleon, Vitus, Christopher, GiLes, Achatus or Acathins, Denis, Cyriacus, Eustace, Catharine, Margaret, and Barbara. He was even reckoned among the Jive priviteged saints, viz. Denis, George, Christopher, Blase, and GiLzs, honoured in a more special manner in certain places.

* Urban II, who consecrated the altar of the basilica where the holy body rested, Gelasius II, Callistus IL,"Innocent IT; Clement IV was born at St. Giles's; Julius II had held the abbey in commendam.

3 Boleslas III of Poland, and St. Louis of France.

* Mérimée, Notes d'un voyage dans le midi de la France.

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thousand households has sprung up, where formerly there was but a desert. The most illustrious of the powerful Counts of Toulouse gave the preference over his other titles to the one he held from this noble city; he would be known to posterity as Raymund of St. Giles. A hundred years later, Raymund VI. did penance at the threshold of the celebrated basilica, for A connivance with heresy ; our saint, who had just given hospitality to Peter of Castelnau for his last resting-place, opened his gates for the reconcilia- tion of the martyr's presumed murderer.

We should never end, were we to enumerate the churches, parishes, abbeys, and altars consecrated to St. Giles, in all parts of Christendom, which are so many souroes of grace, and new centres for pilgrim- ages. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Bavaria, Poland, rival France in this respect. Ne land is second to no country in the world; she has one hundred and forty-six sanctuaries dedicated to the pious monk, and even the established church continues to honour him.

Let us hasten to give the short legend that remains to the holy abbot since the sixteenth century, when his feast ceased to be celebrated with nine lessons. Most of his precious relics are preserved in the rich treasury of the church of Saint-Sernin at Toulouse; Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, which had been obliged to give them up in order to save them from the sacrilegious hands of the armed heretics, had, in 1865, the conso- lation of discovering his original tomb.

JEgidius Atheniensis, re- Giles was an Athenian, of gim stirpis, a prima mtate royal race, who from his child- divinis litteris et caritatis hood applied himself so ear- officiis ita deditus fuit, ut nestly to the study of divine nihil preterea curare vide- thingsand to works of charity, retur. (taque parentibus that he seemed to care for no- mortuis, totum patrimoni- thing else. On his parents'

--- PAGE 142 --- SAINT GILES

um in pauperes erogavit: quin etiam tunicam exuit ut egrotum egentem tege- ret; qua ille indutus statim convaluit. Sed multis de- inceps clarior miraculis, ti- mens sui nominis celebrita- tem, Arelitem ad beatum Cesarium contendit: a quo post biennium discedens, secessit in eremum, ubi diu- tius herbarum radicibus et cerv; lacte, qua statis ad eum horis veniebat, admira- bili sanctitate vixit, Qua cerva, insequentibus quo- dam die canibus regiis, cum in antrum ZEgidii refugis- set, Gallie regem impulit, ut ab eo summis precibus peteret, ut iin loco speluncse monasterium exstrui pate- retur. Cujus administratio- nem, flagitante rege, invi- tus suscepit: eoque munere aliquot annis prudenter pie- que gesto, migravit in coe- lum.

‘Go to my servant . . .

131

death he distributed his whole fortune among the poor; even stripping himself of his own garment in order to clothe a poor sick man, who was cured as soon as he put it on. Many other miracles soon made his name so famous, that for fear of renown he fled to St. Caesa- rius at Arles. After two years Giles departed thence and re- tired into a desert, where he lived a life of wonderful holi- ness: his only food being the roots of herbs and the milk of a hind who came -to him at fixed times. One day the hind being pursued by the royal huntsmen took refuge in his cave. Upon this dis- covery of the holy man, the king of France begged Giles to allow a monastery to be built on the site of the cave. At the king's desire he was obliged, against his will, to undertake the government of this monastery; and after having, for several years, dis- charged that office with much piety and prudence, he passed away to heaven. and offer for yourselves a

holocaust: and my servant . . . shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to

you.”! This word 1s unceasingly fulfilled,

blessed

Giles, in the innumerable sanctuaries where thou art honoured. Make use of thy prerogatives for our benefit ;hear our prayers, for the glory of Him who

1 Job xlii. 8.

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has crowned thy humility. In return for the beau- tiful peace thou didst ever preserve in thy soul, thou now je power over the countless troubles which disturb our miserable existence, from the cradle even to the tomb. Thou aidest mothers to drive away from their babes the nightly phantoms raised by the enemy of the innocents; thou preservest the little ones from the terrible maladies to which childhood is liable. Thou watchest over the youth, to secure his good morals; and givest him the fear of God, which will make him a courageous and upright man. Thou makest him brave and culm in the midst of dangers, whether in thunderstorms or on the field of battle. Above all, thou preservest thy client from the most cowardly of all fears, that of human res- pect ; and from the saddest kind of shame, that which would withhold him from ackowledging his sins in the sacred tribunal of Penance. The cares and disappointments of middle life do not disturb the peace of him who trusts in thee; old age has no anxious future for him; he falls into his last sleep, in the bosom of God, as in infancy he fell asleep in his mother's arms. Deigu to accept us among thy devout clients, and disappoint us not in our ex- peotations.

Beneventum offers to our homage twelve brothers martyrs, natives of Africa, who suffered in divers laces, but whose bodies she glories in possessing. t us unite in the prayer which the Church offers to God, in honour of this admirable group of heroes.

COLLECT

FRATERNA nos, Domine, May the fraternal crown of
martyrum tuorum corona thy martyrs rejoice us, O leetificet: qua et fidei nostre Lord, and may it procure for

--- PAGE 144 --- SAINT STEPHEN 133

prebeat incrementa virtu- our faith increase of virtue, ium, et multiplici nos suf- and console us with multiplied fragio consoletur. Per Do- intercession. Through our minum. Lord, etc.

We must not omit to mention briefly that with the Greeks this day is the first of the Calendar; they celebrate it as a feast, called of the Indiction, or of the new year.

SEPTEMBER 2

CO FESSOR

*Ovr of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong eame forth sweetness.! The people with teeth of steel, grinding the nations, gives itself up as food to him, to whom was said: “Kill and eat;" ? the mouth of the Huns, formerly vomiting foam and rage, now distils the honey of charity. Such, O Christ, are thy miracles; such are Thy works, O our God!'? Thus does Baronius, on reaching in his history the year of Christ 1000, hail the arrival of the Hungarian deputies, who came to offer to the Roman Church the suzerainty of their land, and beseech the Vicar of Christ to confer the title of king upon their duke Stephen.

We are carried back in thought a century earlier, when, led by Arpadus, the son of Almutz, under the

! Judges xiv. 14. ? St. Peter, in the vision at Joppe, which significd the assimilation of the Gentiles by the Church. 3 Baron. dunal. eccles. Silvestri 11. an. 2, Christs 1000,

--- PAGE 145 --- 134 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

banner of the hawk, the Magyars came down from the mountains of Transylvania into the plains watered by the Theiss and the Danube. Attila seemed to live again in those sons of his race, who poured like a torrent over Germany, Gaul, and Italy. But the empire of the Huns over reconquered Pannonia was to be lasting only on condition of its ceasing to be the scourge of God, and becoming the rampart of His Church. In this world, while it is not yet time for eternal justice, the iustruments of God's anger are soon broken uuless they are amenable to love. Five centuries earlier, Attila in person was rushing like an overflowing river upon the capital of the world, when he was met by the sovereign Pontiff. The Hungarian chronicles record the following message as having been tben received from heaven by the universal devastator: *llearken to the command of the Lord God Jesus Christ. Thy pride shall not be suffered to enter into the holy city where lie the bodies of My apostles. Return. Later on a descen- dant of thine will come to Rome with humility ; and I will cause him there to receive a crown that shall last for ever.'! Attila thereupon recrossed the Alps, and had only just time to reach the Danube before he died. In the days of St. Stephen the heavenly

romise was fulfilled. Let the reader not be aston- ished that we do not discuss its authenticity. Le- gendary or not, as to the forms with which national traditions have clothed it, there is nothing in this divine engagement which the historian need reject ; it is in accordance with the rules of God's Providence, which governs history. God never forgets a service ; nor does apostolic gratefulness wear out with years: the debt of gratitude which Leo the Great contracted,

! Chartuicius, Cronica Hungurorum, De victoria Agu ile regis.

--- PAGE 146 --- SAINT STEPHEN 135

Sylvester II. paid at the appointed time. From that tomb respected by the plunderer, a virtue came forth, changing the avenger into an apostle. The crown, placed on the brow of Attila’s successor by Peter’s successor, was destined to be his as long as he should be preceded by the cross, that other mark of honour conferred upon him. Like the Holy Empire, to which Hungary was to be later on united without however being absorbed by it, the Hungarian monarchy was founded upon Peter; for his sake it subsisted, and he alone, under God, was the safe- guard of its future.

Let not the sad forebodings of the present hour make us forget the marvellous power shown on this feast by the Lamb the Ruler of the earth.! Scarcely had the blood shed by the sous of Arpadus disappeared from the streets of the cities; scarcely had the smoke of burning ruins and the dust of crumbling walls been scattered ; when their fierce energy, tempered like a choice blade in the waters of the sacred font, became the defence of Christianity in the east. A new sort of invasion began ; the holiness sprung from Stephen

ut forth numerous branches, which, shedding their eautiful blossoms over the whole earth, filled all lands with perfumes of the Spouse.

Let us read the history of the apostolic king, as given in the book of holy Church.

Stephanus in Hungarian Stephen introduced into Christi fidem et regium no- Hungary both the faith of men invexit. Regia corona Christ and the regal dignity. a Romano Pontifice impe- Ile obtained his royal crown trata, ejusque jussu in re- from the Roman Pontiff; and, gem inunctus, resnum Sedi having been, by his command, apostolice obtulit. Varia anointed king, offered his pietatis domicilia Rome, kingdom to the apostolic See.

! [aaias xvi. 1. 10

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Jerosolymis, Constantino- poli; in Hungaria archie- piscopatum Strigoniensem, episcopatus decem, admira- bili religione et munificen- tia fundavit. Par in pau- peres amor et liberalitas, quos veluti Christum ipsum complectens, neminem a se msrentum ac vacuum um- quam dimisit; quin ad eo- rum inopiam sublevandam amplissimis facultatibus ero- gatis, domesticam quoque supellectilem — eximia — be- nignitate frequenter distri- buit: suis insuper manibus lavare pauperum pedes, no- ctu solus et ignotts noso- comia frequentare, decum- bentibus inservire, ac cetera caritatis officia exhibere con- suevit: quarum virtutum merito illius dextera, reso- luto cetero corpore, incor- rupta permansit.

Orandi studio noctes pene totas ducebat insomnes, at- que in colestium rerum contemplatione defixus, in- terdum extra sensus raptus, sublimis in aera ferri visus fuit. Perduellinm conspi- rationes, ac validorum ho- stium impetus, miro prorsus modo, non semel orationis presidio evitavit. — Susce- ptum ex Ghisella Bavarica, saucti Henrici imperatoris sorori, quam sibi maítrimo-

TIME AFIER PENTECOST

He built several houses of charity at Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople; and with a wonderfully munificent spi- rit of religion, he founded the &rchiepiscopal See of Gran and ten other bishoprics. His love for the poor was equalled only by his generosity towards them; for, seeing in them Christ himself, he never sent anyone away sad or empty- handed. So great indeed was his charity, that, to relieve their necessities, after expend- ing large sums of money, he often bestowed upon them his household goods. It was his custom to wash the feet of the poor with his own hands, and to visit the hospitals at night, alone and unknown, serving the sick and showing them every charity. As a reward for these good deeds his right hand remained incorrupt after death, when the rest of his body had returned to dust. He was much given to prayer: and would spend al- most entire nights without sleep, rapt in heavenly con- templation; at times he was seeu ravished out of his senses, and raised in the air. By the help of prayer, he more than once escaped in a wonderful manner from treasonable con- spiracies and from the attacks of powerful enemies. Having married Ghisella of Bavaria, sister of the emperor St. Hen-

--- PAGE 148 --- SAINT STEPHEN

nio junxerat, Emericum fi- lium tanta morum discipli- na, talique pietate enutrivit, quantum ejus postea san- ctitas declaravit. Regni ve- ro negotia ita disposuit, ut accitis undique prudentissi- mis et sanctissimis viris, ni- hil umquam sine illorum consilio moliretur. Humil- limis interim precibus in ci- nere et cilicio Deum depre- cans, ut universum Hunga- rie regnum, antequam e vita migraret, catholicum videre mereretur. Vere pro- pter ingens dilatand:;e fidei studium, illius gentis apo- stolus nuncupatus, facta a Romana Pontifice ipsi poste- risque regibus preferenda crucis potestate.

Dei Genitricem, quam ardentissime — venerabatur, amplissimo in ejus honorem constructo templo, Hunga- rie Patronem instituit, ab eadem vicissim Virgine re- ceptus in colum ipso suc Assumptionis die, quem Hungari, e sancti regis in- stituto, magna Doming di- em appellant. Sacrum ejus corpus suavissimo fragrans odore, liquore ccelesti sca- tens, inter multa et varia miracula, Romani Pontificis jussu nobiliorem in 1ocum translatum est, atque hono- rificentius conditum. Ejus autem festum luuoceuuus

137

ry, he had by her a son Eme- ric, whom he brought up in such regularity and piety as to form him into a saint. He summoned wise and holy men from all parts to aid him in the government of his king- dom, and undertook nothing without their advice. In sack- cloth and ashes, he besought God with most humble prayer, that he might not depart this life without seeing the whole kingdom of Hungary Catholic. So great indeed was his zeal for the propagation of the faith, that he was called the apostle of his nation, and he received from the Roman Pon- tiff, both for himself and for his successors, the privilege of having the cross borne before them.

He had the most ardent de- votion towards the Mother of God, in whose honour he built a magnificent church, solemn- ly declaring her patroness of Hungary. Inreturn the bless- ed Virgin received him into heaven on the very day of her Assumption, which the Hun- garians, by tue appointment of their holy king, call ‘the day of the great Lady.’ His sacred body, exhaling a most fragrant odour and distilling a heavenly liquour, was, by order of the Roman Pontiff, translated, amidst many and divers miracles, to a more worthy resting-place, and

--- PAGE 149 --- 138

undecimus Pontifex Maxi- mus quarto nonas septem- bris, ob insignem victoriam ab exercitu Leopoldi primi Romanorum electi impera- toris et Hungaris; regis ea- dem die in Bude expugna- tione, ope divina, e Turcis reportatam, celebrandum in- stituit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

buried with greater honour. Pope Innocent XI. command- ed his feast to be celebrated on the fourth of the Nones of September; on which day, Leopold I. emperor elect of the Romans and king of Hun- gary, had, by the divine assis- tance, gained a remarkable victory over the Turks at the

siege of Buda.

Apostle and king, protect thy people, assist the Church, succour us all. At the close of that tenth century, when anarchy had penetrated even into the sanctuary, hope sprang up once more on the day whereon the holy Spirit, the Creator and Renovator, chose thy race, in all its native vigour, to renew the youth of the world. Satan, who thought that the papaoy was humiliated once for all, trembled with rage when he saw new labourers coming to Peter, as to the only foundation on which it is possible to build. The proudest family that had ever caused the empire of Romulus to shake, asked of Rome the right to be counted among the nations of the west. ow true it is that the gates of hell shail never prevail against the rock, against the Church founded thereon, against the holy city prepared on the top of mountains to draw all nations to itself! Iu vain had the storm stirred up the very mire of the torrents of the abyss: it was the hour when God lifted up His hand, as the prophet says, towards the far-off lands, and kings came bringing to the ever holy bride those unknown sons whom they themselves had educated for her.!

No, the Lord confoundeth not them that wait for Him. And therefore we will hope, even against hope, in the future of the noble nation established by thee

1. Cf, 1saias xlix. 12-23.

--- PAGE 150 --- SAINT LAURENCE JUSTINIAN 139

upon the apostolic strength. A people justly proud of i 80 many irreproachable heroes, could not allow itself to be long led astray by a false liberty kept up by Jewish gold, and extolled by all the enemies of the country’s traditions. Martin watches together with thee over the land of his birth; and the sove- reign of Hungary, the august Queen of heaven, will not suffer her loyal subjects to listen to the proposals of the infernal spirit.

SEPTEMBER § SAINT LAURENCE JUSTINIAN BISHOP AND CONFESSOR

‘Come, all ye who are drawn by the desire of un- changeable good, and who seek it in vain in this passing world; I will tell you what heaven has done for me. Like you, I once sought with feve- rish eagerness; and this exterior world could not satisfy my burning desire. But, by the divine grace, which fed my anguish, at length she, whose name I then knew not, appeared to me, more beauti- ful than the sun, sweeter than balm. As she ap- proached, how gentle was her countenance, how peace-inspiring her voice, saying to me: “O thou, whose youth 1s all full of the love wherewith I in- gpire thee, why dost thou thus pour out thy heart? he peace thou seekest by so many different ways, is with me; thy desire shall be amply fulfilled, I romise thee, if only thou wilt take me for thy Pride.” I acknowledge that at these words my heart failed, my soul was all pierced with the dart

--- PAGE 151 --- 140 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of her love. As I wished to know her name, her dignity, her origin, she told me she was called the

isdom of God; and that, at first invisible in the bosom of the Father, she had taken of a mother a visible nature, in order to be more easily loved. Then, with great delight, I gave my consent; and she, kissing me, departed full of joy. Ever since then, the flame of her love has been growing with- in me, absorbing all my thoughts. Her delights endure for ever; she is my well-beloved bride, n inseparable companion. Through her, the once sought is now the cause of my joy. Hear me then, all of you: go to her in like manner; for ehe makes it her happiness to reject no one.’!

Let us read the qe of him, who in the fore-

going lines has given us

Laurentius, ex illustri Justinianorum ramilia Ve- netis natus, eximiam vel puer morum gravitatem pra se tulit. Exacta inter pieta- tis officia adolescentia, ad castum Verbi et anim con- nubium a divina Sapientia invitatus, de religiose vite instituto capessendo delibe- rarecopit. Nove itaque mi- litie clam proludens, preter alias corporis afflictationes, super nudos cubabat asseres, sedensque velut arbiter hinc inter seculi blandimenta, paratasque a matre nuptias, illinc claustrales inter auste- ritates, oculis in Christi pa- lientis crucem conversis: Tu, inquit, es Domine spes

e key to his life.

Laurence was born at Ve- nice of the illustrious family of the Justiniani, and while still a child was remarkable for the seriousness of his cha- racter. He spent his youth in exercises of piety, and then being attracted by divine Wis- dom to the chaste espousals of the Word and the soul, he be- gan to think of embracing a religious state. Asa prelude to this new warfare, he secretly undertook many bodily auste- rities, such as sleeping upon bare boards. Sitting, as it were, as judge, he placed the pleasures of the world and the marriage prepared for him by his mother on the one hand, and on the other the austeri-

! Laurent. Justinian. Fasciculus amoris, cap. xvi.

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mea: ibi posuisti certissi- mum refugium tuum: ad canonicorum sancti Georgii in Alga congregationem con- volavit: ubi novis excogi- tatis cruciatibus acrius in seipsum, veluti in hostem infensissimum, — instaurans bellum, nullam adeo sibi oblectationem — indulgolaat, ut ne in domesticum um- quam hortum, nec in pater- nam quidem domum, nisi cum morienti matri extre- ma pietatis officia siccis ocu- lis persolvit, exinde intra- verit. Par erat obedientix, mansuetudinis, ac priccipue humilitatis studium, cum abjectissima quaque coeno- bii munia sibi ultro desu- meret, celeberrima per ur- bis loca, non tam victum quam ludibria emendicaret, illatasque contumelias ac calumnias immotus ac si- lens perferret: assidue pra- sertim orationis subsidio, qua sepe per mentis exces- sum rapiebatur in Deum; tantoque cor ejus :stuabat ardore, ut nutantes etiam sodales ad perseverantiam ac Jesu Christi amorem in- flammaret.

Ab Eugenio quarto pa- irie episcopus designatus, quem magna contentione

141

ties of thecloister; then casting his eyes on an image of Christ crucified, he said: ‘Thou, O Lord, art my hope: there thou hast placed thy most secure refuge,' and he betook himself to the congregation of Canons of St. George in Alga. Here he invented fresh torments, and waged war with even more vehemence than before, against himself, as if against his great- est enemy. No far from allow- ing himself the least gratifica- tion, lie would never set foot in the garden belonging to his family norin his paternal home, except when withont a tear he performed the last offices of piety towards hisdying mother. He was equally zealous in the practice of obedience, meek- ness, and especially of humility. He would choose of his own accord the humblest duties of the monastery, and begged his bread in the most crowded parts of the town, seeking ra- ther mockery than alms. He bore insults and calumnies unmoved and in silence. His great support was assiduous prayer, wherein he was often rapt in God in ecstasy. The love of God burnt so brightly in his heart that it kindled a like ardour in the hearts of his companions and encouraged them to perseverance. Eugenius IV. appointed him bishop of his native city. He made great efforts to decline

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honorem detrectaverat, ma- jori gessit cum laude. Nam consueta vivendi ratione ni- hil admodum immutata, paupertatem quam semper coluerat, in mensa, supel- lectili ac lecto perpetuo re- tinuit. Modicam domi ale- bat familiam, quod gran- dem alteram sibi esse dice- ret, pauperes Christi signi- ficans. Quacumque adire- tur hora, presto omnibus erat, paterna omnes caritate allevabat, non renuens vel sre se alieno gravare, illo- rum ne inopiz deesset. Ro- gatus qua spe id faceret: Domini mei, qui pro me dis- solvere facile poterit, re- spondebat. Spem autem non confundere divina Provi- dentia submissis inopinato subsidiis jugiter declarabat. Plura virginum monasteria construxit, quas etiam ad perfectioris vite rationem sua vigilantia composuit. Matronis a s&»culi pompis et ornatus vanitate revocandis, ecclesiastice discipline ac moribus reformandis maxi- mopere studuit; dignus sane qui ab eodem Eugenio glo- ria et decus presulum co- ram cardinalibus vocaretur, et qui a Nicolao quinto ejus successore, translato e Gradensi civitate titulo, pri- mus Venetiarum patriarcha renuntiaretur.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the dignity, but when obliged io accept it, he so discharged its obligations as to win the praise of all. He changed no- thing of his former manner of life, practising holy poverty, as he had ever done, in what regarded his table, his bed, and his furniture. He kept but few persons in his house or service, for he used to say that he had another large family, meaning Christ's poor. Every one had free access to him at any hour; he helped and consoled all with fatherly charity, even burden- ing himself with debts in order io relieve the necessitous. When he was asked on whose help he counted in such cases, he answered: *On my Lord's help, and he can easily pay for me. And divine Providence always justified his confidence by sending him help in the most unexpected manner. He built many monasteries for nuns, whom he trained with great vigilance to the life of perfection. He devoted him- self zealously to withdrawing the ladies of Venice from worldly pomp and vanity of dress, and to the reformation of ecclesiastical discipline and Christian morals. Thus he truly deserved the title of ‘honour and glory of prelates,’ which Eugenius IV. applied to him in presence of the cardi- nals. Nicholas V. the next Pope, translated the Patri-

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Lacrimarum dono insi- gnitus, omnipotenti Deo placationis hostiam quotidie offerebat. Quod cum ali- quando nocte Domiuicse Na- tivitatis perageret, Christum Jesum sub pulcherrimi in- fantis specie videre prome- ruit; tantumque in eo erat commissi gregis presidium, ut coelitus aliquando acce- ptum fuerit, pontificis sui in- tercessione ac meritis ste- tisse rempublicam. Pro- phetie spiritu afflatus, plu- ra humane cognitioni pror- sus impervia prdixit: morbos ac damones suis precibus sepe fugavit: li- bros etiam ccelestem doctri- nam ac pietatem spirantes, grammatice pene rudis, conscripsit. Denique cum lethalem incidisset in mor- bum, et commodiorem do- mestici lectum seni atque wgro pararent, aversatus ejusmodi delicias, tamquam a durissima morientis Do- mini sui cruce plus nimio abhorrentes, consueto in stramine se jussit deponi, et finem vite suz adventare prenoscens, sublatus in cce- lum oculis: Venio, inquit, ad te, o bone Jesu; ac die octava januarii obdormivit in Domino. Pretiosam ejus mortem testati sunt angelici

143

archate from the See of Grado to that of Venice, and pro- claimed him first, Patriarch. He was honoured with the gift of tears, and daily offered to almighty God the Victim of propitiation. Once when saying Mass on the night of our Lord's Nativity he saw Christ Jesus under the form of a most beautiful Infant. Great was his care for the flock entrusted to him ; and on one occasion it was revealed by heaven that Venice owed its safety to its pontiff's pray- ers and merits. Filled with the spirit of prophecy, he fore- told many events which no human mind could have fore- seen; while his prayers often put the devils to flight and healed diseases. Though he had made but little study of letters, he wrote books full of heavenly doctrine and piety. When his last illness came on, his servants prepared a more comfortable bed for him on account of his sickness and old age; but he, shrinking from such a luxury which was too unlike his Lord's hard death-bed, the cross, bade them lay him on his usual couch. Knowing the end of his life had come, he raised his eyes to heaven, and saying ‘I come to thee, O good Jesus!' he fell asleep in the Lord on the eighth of January. The holiness of his death was at-

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concentus, a Carthusianis quibusdam monachis auditi, et sacrum cadaver per duos ultra menses inhumatum, suavi fragrans odore, et ru- bescente facie, integrum at- que incorruptum, ac nova post mortem patrata mira- cula: — quibus permotus Alexander octavus Pontifex maximus eum sanctorum numero adscripsit. Inno- centius vero duodecimus quintam septembris diem, qua vir sanctus ad pontifi- ciam primo cathedram fue- rat evectus, celebrando illi- us festo assignavit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

tested by angelic harmonies heard by several Carthusian monks; as also by the state of his body, which during the two months that it lay un- buried, remained whole and incorrupt, of a lively colour and breathing a sweet fra- grance. Other miracles, worked after his death, also gave proof of his sanctity ; on which account, Pope Alexander VIII. enrolled him among the saints. Innocent XII. assigned for his feast the fifth of September, on which day the holy man had been raised to the pontifical dignity.

*O Wisdom, who sittest on Thy lofty throne; O

Word, by whom all things were made, be propitious to me, in this manifestation of the secrets of Thy holy love! Such, O Laurence, was thy prayer, when, fearing to be responsible for the hidden talent, if thou shouldst keep to thyself what might profit others, thou didst resolve to make known august mysteries. We thank thee for having given us to Share in these heavenly secrets. By the reading of thy devout works, and by thy intercession with God, draw ue to the heights of holiness, like the purified flame which can m mount upwards. Man falls from his inborn nobility if he seeks rest in aught save Him to whose image he is made. All things here below are reflections of God's eternal beauty; they teach us to love Him, and help us to sing our love. What delights were thine, on those lofty summits

1 De casto connubio Verbi et anime. Proemium. ? Ibid, cap. i. & xxv,

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of charity so nigh to heaven, which are to be reached by the paths of truth; i.e. the virtues. It is indeed thy own portrait thou drawest, when thou sayest of the soul admitted to ineffable intimacy with the Wisdom of the Father: * All things are profitable to her; which way soever she turns, she perceives but the gleams of love. Sights and sounds, sweetnesses and perfumes, delicate viande, concerts of earth, brightness of the skies: all that she hears, all that she sees in the whole of nature, is a nuptial harmony, the beauty of the banquet wherein the Word has espoused her'! Oh! may we walk, like thee, by the light of God,live in desire and in union, love ever more and more, that ever more and more we may be loved!

1 De casto connubio Verbi et anime, cap. xxv.

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SEPTEMBER 8

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

‘LT us celebrate the Nativity of the Jug M let us adore her Son, Christ our Lord.'! Such is the invitation addressed to us to-day by the Church. Let us hearken to her call; let us enter into her over- flowing joy. The Bridegroom is at hand, for His throne is now set up on earth ; yet a little while, and He will ap in the diadem of our human nature, wherewith His Mother is to crown Him on the day of the joy of His heart, and of ours. To-day, as on the lorious Assumption, the sacred Canticle is heard ;? but this time it belongs more to earth than to heaven. Truly a better paradise than the first is given us at this hour. Eden, fear no more that man will endeavour to enter thee; thy Cherubim may leave the gates and return to heaven. What are thy beautiful fruits to us, since we cannot touch them without dying? Death is now for those who will not eat of the fruit so soon to appear amid the flowers of the virgin earth to which our God has led us. Hail, new world, far surpassing in magnificence the first creation! Hail blessed haven, where we find a calm after so many storms! Aurora dawns; the rainbow glitters in the heavens; the dove comes forth; the ark rests upon the earth, offering new destinies to the world. The haven, the aurora, the

!Invitatory of the feast. ? Lessens of the 1st Nocturn.

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rainbow, the dove, the ark of salvation, the paradise of the heavenly Adam, the creation whereof the former was but a shadow: all this art thou, sweet Mt in whom already dwell all grace, all truth, all life.

Thou art the little cloud, which the father of pro- phets in the suppliant anguish of his soul awaited; and thou bringest refreshment to the parched earth. Under the weakness of thy fragile form, appears the Mother of fair love and of holy hope. Thou art that other light cloud of exquisite fragrance, which our desert sends up to heaven. In the incomparable humility of thy soul, which knows not itself, the angels, standing like armed warriors around thy eradle, recognize their Queen.

O Tower of the true David; citadel withstanding the first shock of satan's attack, and breaking all his power ; true Sion, founded on the holy mountains, the highest summits of virtue; temple and palace, feebly foreshadowed by those of Solomon; house built by eternal Wisdom for herself: the faultless lines of thy fair architecture were planned from all eternity. Together with Emmanuel, who predestined thee for His home of delights, thou art thyself, O blessed child, the crowning point of creation, the divine ideal fully realized on earth. Let us, then, understand the Church, when, even on this day, she proclaims thy divine maternity, and unites in her chants of praise the birth of Emmanuel and thine own. He who, being Son of God by essence, willed to be also Son of man, had, before all other designs, decreed that He would have a Mother. Such, consequently, was the primordial, absolute character of that title of mother, that, in the eternal decree, it was one with the very being of the chosen creature, the motive and cause of her existence, as well as the

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source of all her perfections natural and supernatural. ‘We too, then, must recognize thee as Mother, even from thy very cradle, and must celebrate thy birth- day by adoring thy Son our Lord.

nasmuch as it embraces all the brethren of the Man-God, thy blessed maternity sheds its rays upon all time, both before aud after this happy day. * God is our king before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.'! ‘The midst of the earth,’ says the Abbot of Clairvaux, *admirably represents Mary. Mary is the centre of the universe, the ark of God, the cause of creation, the business of ages. Towards her turn the inhabitants of heaven and the dwellers in the place of expiation, the men that have gone before us, and we that are now living, those who are to follow us, our children’s children and their descendants. Those in heaven look to her to have their ranks filled up; those in purgatory look for their deliverance; the men of the first ages, that they may be found faithful prophets; those who come after, that they may obtain eternal happiness. Mother of God, Queen of heaven, Sovereign of the world, all generations shall call thee blessed, for thou hast brought forth life and glory for all. In thee the angels ever find their joy, the just find grace, sinners pardon ; in thee, and by thee, and from thee, the merciful hand of the Almighty has reformed the first creation.’?

Andrew of Crete calls this day a solemnity of entrance, a feast of beginning, whose end is the union of the Word with our flesh; a virginal feast, full of joy and confidence for all? ‘All ye nations, come hither,’ cries St. John Damascene ; ‘ come every race and every tongue, every age and every dignity,

1 Psalm lxxiii. 12. ? Bern. In festo Pentecost, Sermon ii. 4. 3 Oratio i, in Nativit. Deipar«. i.

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let us joyfully celebrate the birthday of the world’s gladness’! ‘It is the beginning of salvation, the origin of every feast, says St. Peter Damian ; ' for behold! the Mother of the Bridegroom is born. With good reason does the whole world rejoice to-day; and the Churoh, beside herself, bids her choirs sing wedding songs.’?

Not only do the Doctors of east and west use similar language in praise of Mary's birth, but moreover the Latin and Greek Churohes sing, each in its own tongue, the same beautiful formula, to close the office of the feast: ‘Thy birth O Virgin Mother of God, bong joy to the whole hc 75 for out of thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God: who, tig off the curse, hath bestowed blessing; and defeating death, hath given us life everlasting.' 3

This union of Rome and Byzantium in the cele- bration of to-day's festival, dates back as far as the seventh century at least;* beyond that we oannot speak with anything like certitude, nor is it known when the feast was first instituted. It is supposed to have originated at Angers, towards the year 430, by an apparition of our Lady to the holy bishop Maurillus in the fields of Marillais; and hence the name of Notre Dame Angevine often given to the feast. In the eleventh century Chartres, the city of Mary, claims for its own Fulbert, together with Robert the Pious, a principal share in the spreading of the glorious solemnity throughout France. It is well known how intimate the bishop was with the king; and how the latter himself set to music the three admirable responsories composed by F'ulbert, wherein he celebrates the rising of the mysterious \ In. Natal. B. M. Homilia 1. ? Sermon xlv, in Nativit. B. M. F. 3 'l'rope of the diswissal in utroque. Vexpertono ; Magniticat Ant. of 2ud Yespers. ! Laer Pontific. in Sergio L.

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star that was to give birth to the Sun; the branch springing from the rod of Jesse, and producing the divine Flower whereon the holy Spirit was to rest; and the merciful power which caused Mary to blos- som in Jud:ea like the rose on the thorn.!

In the year 1245, in the third session of the first Council of Lyons, (the same session which deposed Frederick II. from the empire), Innocent IV. es- tablished for the whole Church, not the feast which was already kept everywhere, but the Octave of the Nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary.? It was the accomplishment of a vow made by him and the other Cardinals during the Church’s widowhood, which through the intrigues of the crafty emperor, lasted nineteen months after the death of Celestine IV., and which was brought to a close by the election of Sinibaldo Fieschi under the name of Innocent.

In 1377, the great Pope Gregory XI., who broke the chains of captivity in Avignon, wished to add & vigil to the solemuity of our Lady's birthday. But whether he merely expressed a desire to this effect, as did his successor Urban VI. with regard to a fast on the eve of the Visitation, or whether for some other reason, the intentions of the holy Pope were carried out for only a very short time during the years of trouble that followed his death.

Together with the Church, let us ask, as the fruit of this sweet feast, for that peace which seems to flee ever farther and farther from our unhappy times. Our Lady was born during the second of the three periods of universal peace wherewith the reign of Augustus was blest, the last of which ushered in the Prince of peace Himself.

The temple of Janus is closed; in the eternal city a mysterious fountain of oil has sprung up from the

VER. Solem justitie, — Stirps Jesse viryain produxit, Ad nutum Domim. ? Mansi, xxiii, 612,

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spot where the first sanctuary of the Mother of God is one day to be built; signs and portents are mul- tiplied ; the whole world is in expectation; the poet has sung: ‘Behold the last age, foretold by the Sybil, is at hand; behold the great series of new worlds is beginning ; behold the Virgin !'!

In Judea, the sceptre has been taken away from Juda; but the usurper of his power, Herod the Idumman, is hastening to complete the splendid restoration, which will enable the second temple worthily to receive within its walls the Ark of the new Covenant.

It is the sabbatical month, the first of the civil ear, the seventh of the sacred cycle; the month of isri whieh begins the repose of each seventh year,

and in which is announced the holy year of Jubilee; the most joyous of months, with its solemn Neome- nia celebrated with trumpets and singing, its feast of tabernacles, and the commemoration of the com- pletion of Solomon's temple.

In the heavens, the sun, in his passage through the zodiae, has left the sign of Leo and entered. that of Virgo. On earth, two obscure descendants of David, Joachim and Anne, are thanking God for having blessed their long-barren union.

FIRST VESPERS

The psalms, capitulum, and hymn, are the same as on the other feasts of our Lady. "The antiphons and versiele celebrate the birth of the noblest of Eve's daughters, which brings honour to our raoe, gives to God a Mother, and to us an advocate whose prayers are never rejected.

1 Virg. Eclog. iv. Pollio. II

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1. ANT. Nativitas glorio- sme Virginis Marie ex semi- ne Abrah®, orte de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

1. ANT. This is the Nativity of the glorious Virgin Mary, of the seed of Abraham, born of the tribe of Juda, of the noble race of David.

Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.

2. ANT. Nativitas est ho- die sancte Marie Virginis, cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

2. ANT. To-day is the birth- day of the holy Virgin Mary, whose glorious life is the light of all the Churches.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.

3. ANT. Regali ex proge- nie Maria exorta refulget: cujus precibus nos adjuvari mente et spiritu devotissime poscimus.

3. ANT. Mary, born of a royal race, is illustrious: the aid of her prayers we most devoutly crave with heart and mind.

Psarw« 121

Leetatus sum in his que dicta sunt mihi: In domum Domini ibimus.

Stantes erant pedes no- stri: in atriis tuis, Jerusa- lem.

Jerusalem que ®dificatur ut civitas: cujus participatio ejus in idipsum.

Illuc enim ascenderunt tribus, tribus Domini: testi- monium Israel ad confiten- dum nomini Domini.

Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio: sedes super do- mum David.

Rogate que ad pacem sunt Jerusalem: et abun-

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.

Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem! Our heart loves and confides in thee, 0 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

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dantia diligentibus te.

Fiat pax in virtute tua: et abundantia in turribus tuis.

Propter fratres meos et
proximos meos: loquebar pacem de te.

Propter domum Domini Dei nostri: quiesivi bona tibi.

4. AT. Corde et animo

Christo canamus gloriam, in hae sacra solemnitate

peace of Jerusalem: and may abundance be on them that love thee, O Church of our God!

The voice ef Mary: Let peice be in thy strength, O thon nem Sion! and abundance in thy towers.

I. « danghter of Israel, for the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, spoke peace of thee.

jecause of the house of the Lord our God, 1 have sought good things for thee.

4. Awr. With heart and mind let us sing glory to Christ, on this sacred solem-

precelso — Genitricis Dei nity of Mary, the most high Marie. Mother of God. Psarw« 126. Nisi Dominus adifica- Unless the Lord build the
verit domum: in vanum house, they labour in vain that

laboraverunt qui zdificant eam.

Nisi Dominus custodierit
civitatem : frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.

Vanum est vobis ante lu- cem surgere : surgite post- quam sederitis, qui mandu- catis panem doloris.

Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum: ecce hereditas Domini, filii, merces, fructus ventris.

Sicut sagitte in manu potentis: ita filii excus- sorum.

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 ye 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.

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Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis : non confundetur cum lo- quetur inimicis suis in porta.

5. ANT. Cum jucunditate Nativitatem beate Marie celebremus, ut ipsa pro no- bis intercedat ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies at the gute.

5. ANT. Let us celebrate with joy the birth of blessed Mary; that she may intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.

PsaLm 147.

Lauda Jerusalem Domi- num: lauda Deum tuum, Sion.

Quoniam confortavit se- ras portarum tuarum: be- nedixit filiis tuis in te.

Qui posuit fines tuos pa- cem: et adipe frumenti satiat te.

Qui emittit eloquium su- um terre: velociter currit sermo ejus.

Qui dat nivem sicut la- nam: nebulam sicut cine- rem spargit.

Mittiterystallum suam sic- ut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris ejus quis sustinebit ?

Emittet Verbum suum et liquefaciet ea: flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aque.

Qui annuntiat Verbum suum Jacob: justitias, et judicia sua Israel.

Non fecit taliter omni

Praise the Lord, O Mary, thou true Jerusalem: O Mary O Sion erer holy, praise thy God.

Because he hath strength- ened against sin 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: bis Spirit shall breathe, and the waters shall run.

Who declareth his Word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.

Until these our days, he hath

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nationi: et judicia sua

non manifestavit eis.

155

not done in like manner to every nation; and his judg- ments he hath not made mani- fest to them.

CAPITULUM

Ecclus. zzvi.

Ab initio et ante sscula creata sum, et usque ad fu- iturum seculum non desi- nam, et in habitatione san- cta coram ipso ministravi.

From the beginning and before the world was I created, and unto the world tq come 1 shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling-place I have ministered before him.

HYMN

Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper Virgo, Felix coeli porta.

Sumens illud Ave, Gabrielis ore,

Funda nos in pace, Mutans Eve nomen.

Solve vincla reis, Profer lumen cecis, 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 presta puram, Iter para tutum,

Ut, videntes Jesum, Semper colletemur. Hail, star of the Sea! Bless- ed Mother of God, yet ever a Virgin! O happy gate of heaven!

Thou that didst receive the ve from Gabriel's lips, con- firn us in peace, and so let Eva be changed into an 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.

O incomparable Virgin, and meekest of the meek, obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins, and make us meek and chaste.

Obtain us purity of life, and a safe pilgrimage; that we may be united with thee in the blissful vision of Jesus.

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Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo decus, Spiritui sancto, Tribus honor unus.

Amen.

Y. Nativitas est hodie sancte Marie Virginis.

Er. Cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

ANTIPHON OF

Gloriose Virginis Marie ortum dignissimum recola- mus, que et Genitricis di- gnitatem obtinuit, et virgi- nalem pudicitiam non ami- sit.

THE

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Praise be to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus, and to the Holy Ghost: to the Three one self-samo praise.

Amen.

Y. To-day is the birthday of the holy Virgin Mary.

It. Whose glorious life is the light of all the churches.

MAGNIFICAT

Let us celebrate the most honourable birth of the glori- ous Virgin Mary, who obtained the dignity of a mother with- out prejudice to her virginal purity.

The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, page 158.

An illustrious martyr watches with the angels over the cradle of the Mother of God. On earth, he was an officer of the guards in the court of an emperor: in heaven he holds the same title under the Queen of the universe. Nicomedia was the scene of -Adrian’s combat; but his body was taken thence first to Byzantium, and afterwards to the eter- nal city. Having on this day received the precious relics, Rome knew how to unite with her homage to Mary the honour due to the heroic soldier. In the seventh century,! St. Adrian’s church was appointed a8 the starting-place for the solemn litany or proces- sion, which went from the Forum to St. Mary Major, on this feast of the Nativity, and afterwards on those of the Annunciation and Assumption.

The Acts of St. Adrian’s martyrdom are now re- oognized as incontestable. The part played therein by his young wife Natalia, lends them a charm of

Liber pontsf. in Sergio I.

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heroic sweetness. Unknown to her pagan husband, she had been a Christian from infancy. When she heard that Adrian had been converted by witnessing the constancy of the confessors, and in the fervour of his generosity had asked to share their captivity, she hastened to him in a transport of joy, and, kissing his chains, cried out: ‘Blessed art thou, m

lord Adrian.” During the days which followed, suc

admirable scenes took place between the two spouses, as the greatest geniuses of antiquity never invented in their fictions Though she was left free by the gaolers, Natalia would not quit her husband’s side, now that he was far more glorious in her eyes than he had ever been in fighting under Czesar’s standard. Sitting at his feet in the prison, or accompanying him to the pretorium, she had no thought but to keep up the neophyte, under the pressure of the tortures, to the height of his vocation to martyrdom ; bidding him have no solicitule about earthly things. Upon herself, about to be left alone though scarcely more than a child, she made no reflection; except that, on the eve of the sacrifice, she let fall these words: * Remember thy co-operatrix in martyrdom ; pray that I may die with thee, that other women may learn how to behave towards their husbands, on seeing thy love for me. At length the hour had come. Maintaining, in the simplicity of her pure heart, a fidelity whose heroism did not destroy its exquisite tenderness, she herself placed upon the anvil, whereon they were to be crushed, the feet of him she loved alone in this world. And as after this awful torture the martyr was still breathing, he stretched out his hand to Natalia, that she might offer it to the executioner to be cut off. Then he died ; and remembering the prayer of his faithful companion, he soon ealled her after him to heaven.

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Our Emmanuel, on the night of His birth, gave a share in Ilis honours to the holy widow Anastasia; so now, with sweet motherly thoughtfulness, the Virgin of virgins inspired the Church to associate with the joys of this happy birthday the glorification of the heroic spouse of St. Natalia.

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MASS

Tae Church intones the beautiful song of Pruden- tius to the Mother of God; for, like the Most High, she looks upon Mary as already Mother, since such she has been by predestination from all eternity. Our Lady answers the Church's greeting, by the song of the bride, the psalm of the epithalamium, which no one else could ever sing as she can even from this her first day.

INTROIT

Salve, sancta parens, eni- xa puerpera Regem; qui colum terramque regit in secula seculorum.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Salve.

Hail, holy parent, who didst bring forth the King: who rules heaven and earth for ever and ever.

Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father, etc. Hail.

The liturgy here leaves the historical order of events, to follow that of the annual cycle, which

began with the weeks of Advent. Thus, in the Collect we pray that the mystery of to-day may develop in us the work of sanctification and peace begun at Bethlehem.

COLLECT

Famulis tuis, quesumus Domine, coelestis

We beseech thee, O Lord,

gratie to bestow on thy servants the

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munus impertire: ut, qui- bus beatae Virginis partus exstitit salutis exordium, Nativitatis ejus votiva so- lemnitas pacis tribuat incre- mentum. Per Dominum.

gift of heavenly grace; that for those to whom the blessed Virgin's maternity was the beginning of salvation, the votive solemnity of her Na- tivity may procure increase of peace. "Through etc.

In private Masses, after the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion of the feast, a commemoration is

made of St. Adrian.

PRAYER

Prasta, quaesumus, omni- potens Deus: ut, qui beati
Adriani, martyris tui, nata- litia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of blessed Adrian thy martyr, may by his intercession be strength- ened in the love of thy name. Through.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientiz.

Prov. cap. viii.

Dominus possedit me in
initio viarum suarum, ante- quam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab zterno ordi- nata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret. Non- dum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram: nec- dum fontes aquarum eru- perant: necdum montes gravi mole constiterant: ante colles ego parturiebar. Adhuc terram non fecerat, et flumina et cardines orbis terre. Quando preeparabat coelos, aderam: quando cer-

ta lege, et gyro vallabat

Lesson from the Book of

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old be. fore the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived: neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out; the mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present;

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abyssos: quando sethera fir- mabat sursum, et librabat fontes aquarum: quando circumdabat mari terminum suum, et legem ponebat aquis ne transirent fines suos: quando appendebat fundamenta terriv. Cum co eram cuncta componens: et dilectabar per singulos dies, luderis coram co omni tempore, ludens in orbe ter- rarum: ct delici:o. mea: esse cum filiis hominum. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui custodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere eam. Beatus homo qui au- dit me, et qui vigilat ad fo- res meas quotidie, et obser- vat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vi- tam, et hauriet salutem a Dornino.

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when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the deep: when he established the sky above, and poised the foun- tains of wacers: when he com- passed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters, that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth: I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times, playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear me. Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear in- struction and be wise, and re. fuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

When princes are born, we prognosticate their

future greatness by recalling the glory of their an- cestors. The Church does in like manner to-day. The Gospel will recount the temporal genealogy of Messias, which is also the genealogy of her, who was born for the very purpose of giving birth to Him. But first, this passage from the Book of Proverbs sets before us the divine origin of the Son and of the Mother. It is of both that eternal Wisdom says: ‘Before the hills I was brought forth: when He prepared the heavens, I was present.’

ur weak human nature, subject to time, can conceive of things only according to the series of

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NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 161

their progressive evolutions; but God sees them inde- pendently of time, which He rules with His eternity ; He sees them in the order of mutual dependence in which He has placed them with a view to the mani- festation of His glory. With God, the beginning and the principle of every work is the purpose for which it is done. Now the Most High acts outside Himself solely to reveal Himself, by His Word made Flesh and become the Sou of a created Mother as He is the Son of the Creator. The God-Man as end, Mary as the means: such is the object of the eternal decrees, the purpose of the world’s existence, the fundamental conception, with regard to which all else is but accessory and dependent.

O Lady, who dost deign to call us also thy children, it is well for us that thy goodness is equal to thy greatness! Happy is the human race for having waited and watched for thee during so many long ages, and for having found thee at length; for with thee is salvation and life.

In the Gradual the Church again sings of Mary’s virginal and divine maternity; for this is the day which gave us the Mother of God.

GRADUAL

Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria, que sine tactu pudoris inventa es mater Salvatoris.

Y. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, sin tua se clausit viscera fa- ctus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia. y. Felix es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni laude di-

Thou art blessed and vene- rable, O Virgin Mary, who without any violation of puri- ty, wert found the Mother of our Saviour.

- Y. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world is unable to contain, being made man, enclosed himself in thy womb.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Thou art happy, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy

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gnissima: quia ex te ortus est Sol justitie, Christus Deusnoster. Alleluia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of all praise, because from thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God. Alleluia,

GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii
secundum Matthaum. Cap. i.

Liber generationis Jesu Christi filii David, filii Abra- ham. Abraham genuit Isaac. Isaac autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Judam et fratres ejus. Judas autem
genuit Phares, et Zaram de Thamar. Phares autem ge- nuit Esron. Esron autem genuit Aram. Aram autem genuit Aminadab. Amina- dab autem genuit Naasson. Naasson autem genuit Sal- mon. Salmon autem genuit Booz de Rahab. Booz autem genuit Obed ex Ruth. Obed autem genuit Jesse. Jesse autem genuit David regem. David autem rex genuit Sa- lomonem, ex ea quse fuit Urie .Salomon autem genu- it Roboam. Roboam autem genuit Abiam. Abias autem genuit Asa. Asa autem ge- nuit Josaphat. Josaphat au- tem genuit J oram. Joram au- tem genuit Oziam. Oziasau- tem genuit Joatham. Joa- tham autem genuit Achaz. Acbaz autem genuit Ezechi- am. Ezechias autem genuit Manassen. Manasses autem genuit Amon. Amon autem

The beginning of the holy Gos- pel according to St. Matthew. Ch. i.

Thebook of thegeneration of Jesus Christ, tlie Sonof David, the soi of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren; and Judas be- got Pharesand Zara of Thamar; and Phares begot Esron; and Esron begot Aram; and Aram begot Aminadab; and Amina- dab begot Naasson; and Naas- son begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Booz of Rahab; and Booz begot Obed of Rath; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her who bad been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begot Roboun; and Roboam begot Abia; and Abia begot Asa; and Asa begot Josaphat; aud Josaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Ozias; and Ozias begot Joatham; and Joatham begot Achaz; and Achaz be- got Ezechias; and Ezechias begot Manasses; and Manas- ses begot Amon; and Amon begot Josias; and Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Baby. lon. And after the transmi-

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genuit Josiam. Josias autem genuit Jechoniam, et fratres
ejus in transmigratione Ba- bylonis. Et post transmigra- tionem Babylonis: Jechonias genuit Salathiel. Salathiel autem — genuit Zororabel. Zorobabel autem genuit Abiud. Abiud autem genu- it Eliacim. Eliacim autem genuit Azor. Azor autem genuit Sadoc. Sadoc autem genuit Achim. Achim au- tem genuit Eliud. Eliud autem genuit Eleazar. Ele-

163

gration of Babylon Jechonias begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zoroba- bel begot Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliacim; and Eliacim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Elea- zar; and Eleazar begot Ma- than; and Mathan bogot Ja- cob; and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. azar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Joseph, virum Marie, de qua na- tus est Jesus, qui vocatur Christus.

MARY of whom was born Jesus: these words con- tain the whole mystery of our Lady, the title which expresses her whole being according to both nature and grace; for, Jesus, who was to be born of Mary, to be made of a woman,! was from the beginning the hidden reason of all creation, to be manifested in the fulness of time. This was God's great work, of which the prophet said in ecstasy: *O Lord, Thy work, . . . in the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known; ... the holy One shall come from the shady mountain.?. .. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of Hiseternity.'? This mountain, from whence the holy One, the Eternal, the Ruler of the world, is to come, is the blessed Virgin Mary,! whom the power of the Most High

1 Gal. iv. 4. ? Justa lxx. ? Habacuc iii. 2-6,

* Andr, Cret. Oratio in Annunt. Deipara.

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will overshadow, and who, at her very birth, is set far above all the heights of earth and of heaven.

The days, then, are accomplished. Ever since the hour when the eternal Trinity came forth from their repose to create heaven and earth, all the generations of heaven and earth have been in labour to bring forth the day which is to give a Mother to the Son of God. Parallel with the direct line from Abraham apnd David to the Messias all human genealogies have been preparing for Mary the generation of adoptive sons whom Jesus is to make His brethren.

With the Church, let us congratulate our Lady on this her sublime maternity, which embraces all creatures together with the Creator.

OFFERTORY

Beata es, Virgo Maria, qua omnium portasti Crea- lorem: yenuisti qui te fecit, et in seternum permanes virgo.

Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst bear the Creator of all things: thou didst bring forth him who made thee, and thou remain- est for ever a virgin.

May this maternity, and the virginity which it sealed, draw us ever nearer to the Son of Mary and the Son of God ; may they unite us in greater purity to the Sacrifice prepared on the altar.

SECRET

Unigeniti tui, Domine,
nobis succurrat humanitas: ut, qui natus de Virgine, -Matris integritatem non mi- nuit, sed sacravit, in Nati- vitatis ejus solemniis, no- stris nos piaculis exuens, oblationem nostram tibi fa- ciat acceptam Jesus Chri-

May the humanity of thy only-begotten Son be our suc- cour, O Lord; that Jesus Christ our Lord, who, when born of a Virgin, did not di- minish, but consecrated the integrity of his Mother, may on this solemnity of her Na- tivity deliver us from our sins,

1 Joan. Damasc. in Natal. B. M. Homilia i.

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Qui

stus Dominus noster.
tecum.

165

and make our oblation accept- able to thee.

Who liveth.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. ADRIAN

Muneribus nostris, qu:e-

Receive our offerings and

sumus Domine, precibusque prayers, O Lord, we bescech

susceptis; et c«elestibus nos munda mysteriis, et clemen- ter exaudi.

Per Dominum. hear us.

thee; and purify us by heaven-

ly mysteries, and mercifully

Through our Lord.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, equuin et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratius agere: Domine sancte, Pater
omnipotens, :eterne Deus:
Et te in Nativitate beati Marie semper Virginis col- laudare, benedicere, et prz- dicare. Qu:e et Unigenitum tuum sancti Spiritus obum- bratione concepit, et virgini- tatis gloria permanente, lu- men wxternu mundo effudit, Jesum Christum Dominuin nostrum. Per quem Maje- statem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tre- munt Potestates; cceli coe- lorumque Virtutes, ac beata Seraphim, socia exsultatione concelebrant. €um: quibus. et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas deprecamur, supplici confessione dicentes: San- ctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

Itistruly 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: and that we should praise, bless, and glori- fy thee on the Nativity of the blessed Mary ever a Virgiu. Who by the overshadowing of the Holy (Ghost conceived thine only-begotten Son, and, the glory of her virginity still remaining, brought forth the eternal light to the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. By whom the Angels praise thy Majesty, the Dominations adore it, the Powers tremble before it, the Heavens, the heavenly Virtues, and blessed Seraphim, with common jubi- lee glorify it. Together with whom we beseech thee that we may be admitted to join our humble voices saying: Holy! Holy! Holy!

When we receive our Lord in holy Communion, let us not forget that we owe His coming to the blessed

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child who was born on this day nineteen centuries ago.

COMMUNION

Beata viscera Mari» Vir- ginis, qua portaverunt zeter- ni Patris Filium.

Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the eternal Father.

May the annual return of the beautiful feast never be without fruit in our souls; and may the adorable mysteries it has led us to receive, deliver us from

evils both temporal and eternal.

This is what we

ask for in the Postcommunion,

POSTCOMMUNION

Sumpsimus, Domine, ce-
lebritatis annu: votiva sa- cramenia: praesta, quesu- mus; ut et temporalis vitae nobis remedia priebeant et sterne. Per Dominum.

We have received, O Lord, the votive mysteries of this annual celebration; grant, we beseech thee, that they may confer upon us remedies for time and eternity. Through our Lord.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. ADRIAN

Da, quissumus, Domine
Deus noster: ut, sicut tuo-
rum commemoratione san- ctorum temporali gratula- mur officio; ita perpetuo lamtemur aspectu. Per Do- minum.

Grant we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that as in com- memorating thy saints, we rejoice in a temporal festival; so we may exult in beholding them for eternity. "Through our Lord.

SECOND VESPERS

The antiphons, psalms, capitulum, hymn, and ver- sicle are the same as at First Vespers, pago 152.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAQGN!FÍCAT

Nativitas tua, Dei Geni- trix Virgo, gacdium anrun-

Thy birth, C Virgin Mother of Cod, brought joy to thc

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tiavit universo mundo: ex whole world: for out of thee te enim ortus est Sol justi- arose the Sun of justice, Christ tie, Christus Deus noster: our God: who, taking off the qui solvens maledictionem, curse, hath bestowed blessing; dedit benedictionem, et con- and, defeating death, hath fundens mortem, donavit given us life everlasting. nobis vitam sempiternam.

After the Collect of the feast, a commemoration is made of a holy martyr, whom the Church associ- ates in the honours paid to our Lady on the second day of her earthly life. Gorgonius was chamberlain of the emperor Diocletian, The ‘saints of Cesar's household,” whose greetings St. Paul sent to the Philippians, had, ever since then, been increasing in numbers. Eusebius shows that before the last perse- cution they were in great favour with the emperors; such preference was shown them, that they were exempted from all participation in public rites in order that they might accept the government of the provinces. In the palace, their wives, children, and servants, were allowed full liberty to practise and

rofess their faith; so much so, that the court of

icomedia formed as it were a little church around the empress Prisca and her daughter Valeria, who were then Christians, but who, unhappily, did not persevere.’

It required all the craft of Galerius to make Dio- cletian publish the bloody edicts of the year 303 against the religion of such devoted men, whom he loved, says Eusebius, as his own sons. But once the gate of martyrdom was opened, and Casar had be- come Nero once more, the officers of the palace surpassed in glory all the other heroes of Christ illustrious for their courage throughout the empire, and even beyond its limits. Chief among these

1 Euseb. Hist. eccl. vii, 1. * Lactant. De mort. persecut. xv.

I2

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valiant men, the historian mentions Peter, Dorotheus, and Gorgonius. The relics of the last-named were afterwards translated to Rome; it is on this account that he has a place in the Roman calendar, where he has the honour of being in the cortége of the

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Mother of God.

COMMEMORATION OF 8T. GORGONIUS MARTYR

ANT. Iste sanctus pro le- ge Dei sui certavit usque ad mortem, et a verbis impio- rum non timuit: fundatus enim erat supra firmam pe- tram.

Y. Gloria et honore co- ronasti eum, Domine.

Hr. Et constituisti eum super opera manuum tua- rum.

ANT. This saint fought, even to death, for the law of his God, and feared not the words of the wicked; for he was founded upon a firm rock.

Y. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, O Lord.

Jv. And hast set him over the works of thy hands.

PRAYER

Sanctus tuus, Domine,
Gorgonius sua nos interces- sione lztificet: et pia faciat solemnitate gaudere. Per Dominum.

May thy holy Gorgonius rejoice us, O Lord, by his in- tercession, and cause us to be joyful on his pious festival. Through our Lord.

In honour of our sweet Lady's birth, let us sing

the beautiful responsories composed by Fulbert of Chartres and Robert the Pious. France first adopted them, and the whole of Europe soon followed her

example.

RESPONSORIES

Ry. Solem justitie Regem paritura supremum: © Stel- la Maria maris hodie pro- cessit ad ortum.

y. Cernere divinum lu-

HK. In order to bring forth the sun of justice, the sove- reign King: 9 Mary, the star of the sea, to-day arose in the heavens.

Y. Rejoice, ye faithful, to

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men gaudetefideles. — Stel- la Maria maris hodie pro- cessit ad ortum.

Ry. Stirps Jesse virgam produxit, virgaque florem: 9 Et super hunc florem re- quiescit Spiritus almus.

Y. Virgo Dei Genitrix virga est, flos Filius ejus. * Et super hunc florem re- quiescit Spiritus almus.

E. Ad nutum Domini nostrum ditantis honorem: © Sicut spina rosam, genuit Judea Mariam.

y. Ut vitium virtus ope- riret, gratia culpam. © Si- cut spina rosam, genuit Ju- dea Mariam.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. © Sicut spina rosam, genuit Judza Mariam.

behold the divine light. © Mary, the star of the sea, today arose in the henvens.

Jv. The rod of Jesse pro- duced a branch, and the branch a flower: ? And upon the flower rests the Spirit of love.

Y. The Virgin Mother of God is the branch, the flower is her Son. ? And upon the flower rests the Spirit of love.

|y. At the will of the Lord enriching us with honour: © Mary sprang from Judaea as the rose from the thorn.

Y. That vice might be over- come by virtue, and sin by grace. ° Mary sprang from Judsa as the rose from the thorn.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

? Mary sprang.

At length, O Mary, our earth possesses thee!

Thy birth reveals to it the secret of its destiny, the secret of that love which called it from nothingness, that it might become the palace of the God who dwelt above the heavens. But what a mystery, that poor, weak humanity, inferior to the angels by nature, should be chosen to give to the angels their King and their Queen! Their King they will soon adore, a new-born Babe in thine arms; their Queen they reverence to-day, admiring thee in thy cradle as only angels can admire. In the beginning these morning stars, these noble spirits, contemplated the manifestations of almighty power, and praised the Most High; yet never did their eager gaze discover

--- PAGE 181 --- 170 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

such a marvel as that which delights their eyes at this hour: God, more purely imaged under a cor- poreal veil, under the fragile form of an infant one day old, than in all the strength and all the beauty of their nine angelic choirs; God, so captivated by such weakness united, by His grace, to such love, that He made it the culminating point of His work by determining to manifest His fon therein !

Queen of angels, thou art our Queen also; accept us as thy liegemen. On this day, when the first movement of thy holy soul was towards God, and the first smile of thy bis eyes was for thy happy parente, may holy Anne allow us to kneel and kiss thy little hand, already filled with the divine boun- ties of whieh thou art the predestined dispenser. And now, grow up, sweet little one! Let thy feet be strengthened to crush the serpent, and thy arms to carry the treasure of the world! Angels and men, the whole of nature, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all are awaiting the solemn moment, when Gabriel may fly down from heaven to hail thee full of grace, and bring thee the message of eternal love.

--- PAGE 182 --- SUNDAY WITHIN TILE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY 171

FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF MARY

‘And the Virgin's name was Mary.! Let us speak a little about this name, which signifies star of the sea, and which so well befits the Virgin Mother. Rightly is she likened to a star: for as a star emits its ray without being dimmed so the Virgin brought forth her Son without receiving any injury; the ray takes nought from the brightness of the star, nor the Son from His Mother's integrity. ‘This is the noble star risen out of Jacob, whose ray illu- mines the whole world, whose splendour shines in the heavens, penetrates the abyss, and, traversing the whole earth, gives warmth rather to souls than to bodies, cherishing virtues, withering vices. Mery, I say, is that bright and incomparable star, whom we need to see raised above this vast sea, shining by her merits, and giving us light by her na

Oh! whosoever thou art that seest thyself, amid the tides of this world, tossed about by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, turn not thine eyes away from the shining of this star if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If squalls of temptations arise, or thou fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. lf thou art tossed by the waves of pride ór ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call

! St. Luke, i. 27.

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upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of thy soul, turn thine eyes towards Mary. If, troubled by the enormity of thy crimes, ashamed of thy guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, thou beginnest to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her be ever on thy lips, ever in thy heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life. Following her, thou strayest not ; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not ; upheld by her, thou fallest not ; shielded by her, thou fearest not ; guided by her, thou growest not weary ; favoured by her, thou reachest the goal And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: And the Virgin's name was Mary.'! Thus speaks the devout St. Bernard, in the name of the Church. But his pious explanation does not exhaust the meanings of thi blessed name of Mary. St. Peter Chrysologus adds in this same night Office: *Mary in Hebrew signifies lady or sovereign: and truly the authority of her Son, who is the Lord of the world, constituted her Queen, both in faot and in name, from her very birth.'?

Our Lapy: such is the title which befits her in every way, as that of Our Lorp beseems her Son; it is the doctrinal basis of that worship of Ayperdulia which belongs to her alone. She is alow her Son, whom she adores as we do; but above all God’s servants, both angels and men, inasmuch as she is His Mother. At the name of Jesus every knee is bent ; at the name of Mary every head is bowed.

1 Lessons of the 2nd nocturn of the feast, ez Bernard. Homil. ii. super Missus est. 3 Peter Chrys. Sermon cxlii, de Annuntiat, Homily of the 3rd Nocturn.

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And although the former is the only name whereby we may be saved; yet, as the Son can never be separated from His Mother, heaven unites their two names in its hymns of praise, earth in its confidence, hell in its fear and hatred.

It was therefore in the order of divine Providence that devotion to the most holy name of Mary should spread simultaneously with the cultus of the adorable name of Jesus, of which St. Bernadin of Siena was the apostle in the fifteenth century. In 1513 the Church of Cuenca in Spain was the first to celebrate, with the approbation of the holy See, a special feast in honour of the name of Mary, while the Franciscan Order had not yet succeeded in obtaining a like privilege for the adorable name of Jesus. The reason of this is that the memory of that sacred name included in the feast of the Circumcision, seemed to the prudence of the Pontiffs to suffice. From the same motive we find the feast of the most holy name of Mary extended to the universal Church in the year 1683, and that of the most holy name of Jesus not until 1721.

Our Lady justifies her beautiful title by partaking in the warlike exploits of the King of kings her Son. The city of Vienna having been delivered by her, contrary to all hope, from the power of the Crescent, the venerable Innocent XI. made this feast the memorial of universal gratitude to the liberatrix of the west. But we shall speak more explicitly of this glorious deliverance on September 12, the day on which it occurred. :

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MASS

In the Introit let us, with the Church, greet the sweet infant whose name foretells her power ; all the rich and the great ones, kings, pontiffs, seraphim, shall entreat her smile; but the virgins are to form her own blessed train, singing the canticle they

alone can sing.

INTROIT

Vultum tuum depreca- buntur omnes divites ple- bis: adducentur Regi vir- gines post eam: proximi ejus adducentur tibi in lLe- titia et exsultatione.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Vultum tuum.

All the rich among the peo- ple shall entreat thy counte- nance: after her shall virgins be brought to the King: her neighbours shall be brought to thee in gladness and re- joicing.

Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father, &c. All the rich.

The name of Mary, which is the joy of angels and the terror of demons, protects man against countless

evils, and supports him on his way to heaven.

May

the Church's prayer, in the Collect, obtain for us the grace to profit fully of so great a help.

COLLECT

Concede, qusesumus, om- nipotens Deus: ut fideles
tuj, qui sub sanctissim:e Virginis Mariw nomine et protectione lowtantur, ejus pia intercessione, a cunctis malis liberentur in terris, et ad gaudia eterna pervenire mereantur in colis. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, al- mighty God, that thy faithful, who rejoice under the name and protection of the most holy Virgin Mary, may, by her pious intercession, be de- livered from all evils on earth, and deserve to arrive at eter- nal joys in heaven. Through our Lord.

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A commemoration is then made of the occurring

Sunday.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientize

Ecclus. xxiv.

Ego quasi vitis fructifica- vi suavitatem odoris: et flo- res mei, fructus honoris et honestatis. Ego mater pul- chre dilectionis, et timoris, et agnitionis, et sancte spei. In me gratia omnis vie et veritatis, in me omnis spes vite et virtutis. Transite ad me, omnes qui concupi- scitis me, et a generationi- bus meig implemini: spiri- tus enim meus super mel dulcis, et hereditas mea su- per mel et favum. Memo- ria mea in generationes sz- culorum. Qui edunt me, &dhuc esurient, et qui bi- bunt me, adhuc sitient. Qui audit me non confun- detur: et qui operantur in me, non peccabunt. Qui elucidant me, vitam ster- nam habebunt.

Lesson from the Book of

Ecclus. xxiv.

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way, and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me; all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits; for my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded, and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

All the delight of heaven, all the hopes of earth,

are centred on the cradle where Mary sleeps, while her heart is watching before God. Wisdom praises her own self ; by the blessed daughter of Anne and Joachim, the loving preference shown by that divine Wisdom from the Aria of the world, is already justified ; for ever more it will be her delight to be with the children of men. The chosen vine, the vine of

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the Peaceful One is before us, announcing, by its fra- grant blossom, the divine grape, whose juice, pressed out in the wine-press of the cross, will give fruitfulness to every soul, and will inebriate earth and heaven.

The Church returns, in the Gradual, to Mary’s ey privilege, her virginal maternity, which gave o

d to the world.

GRADUAL

Benedicta et veneralilis es, Virgo Maria: que sine tactu pudoris inventa es mater Salvatoris.

Y. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, in tua se clausit viscera, factus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti: Dei Genitrix, intercede pro no-

Thou art blessed und vene- rable, O Virgin Mary: who without prejudice to purity wert found the Mother of our Saviour.

Y. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world can- not contain, confined himself in thy womb when he was made man.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. After child-birth thou didst remain a pure virgin: O Mother of God, intercede for

bis. Alleluia. us. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Cap. i.

In illo tempore: Missus est angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitatem Galiles, cui no- men Nazareth, ad Virginem desponsatam viro, cui no- men erat Joseph, de domo David: et nomen Virginis Maria. Et ingressus ange- lus ad eam dixit: Ave, gra- tia plena; Dominus tecum:
benedicta tu in mulieribus.

Ch. i.

At that time: the angel Ga- briel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called Naza- reth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. Who

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Qus cum andisset, turbata est in sermone ejus: et cogi- tabat qualis esset ista salu- tatio. Et ait angelus ei: Ne timeas, Maria: invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum. Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium: et vocabis no- men ejus Jesum. Hic erit magnus: et Filius Altissimi vocabitur. Et dabit illi Do- minus Deus sedem David
patris ejus: et regnabit in domo Jacob in seternum; et regni ejus non erit finis. Dixit autem Maria ad an- gelum: Quomodo fiet istud? quoniam virum non co- gnosco. Et respondens an- gelus, dixit ei: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te; et virtus Altissimi obumbra- bit tibi. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vo- cabitur Filius Dei. Et ecce Elisabeth cognata tua: et ipsa concepit filium in se- nectute sua. Et hic mensis sextus est illi, que vocatur sterilis: quia non erit im- possibile apud Deum omne verbum. Dixit autem Ma- ria: Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

having beard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salu- tation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the an- gel answering, said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall over- shadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the hand- maid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.

This is the most solemn embassy ever recorded in the history of angels or of men; it shows us how Mary is what her name signifies, Mistress of the world.

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The highest interests of the human race, past, present, and to come, of the heavenly hierarchy, and of God Himself, are here at stake; and the transaction is carried on between the Most High and the Virgin of Nazareth alone, as having exclusive right, the Um to propose, the other to accept, both to conclude. The angel is but a messenger ; man, too, stands in wait- ing ; Mary enters into a contract with the Creator, in the name of angels and of men, as in her own name; in the name of the entire world, which she represents, and over which she reigns supreme.

Hail, then, to our Queen on her birthday ! all hail to Mary! May she herself, in the holy Sacrifice, present our offerings to God for her people.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

OFFERTOR £

Ave, Maria, gratia plena: Dominus tecum: benedicta
tu in mulieribus, et bene- dictus fructus ventris tui.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Let us pray that the intercession of our Lady, and the divine mercy, may remove every obstacle to the efficacy of the Sacrifice which is prepared on the altar.

SECRET

Tua, Domine, propitia-
tione, et beatz Marie sem- per Virginis intercessione, ad perpetuam atque preaesen- tem hsc oblatio nobis pro- ficiat prosperitatem et pa- cem. Per Dominum.

Through thy mercy, O Lord, and by the intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin, may this oblation procure for us present and perpetual pros- perity and peace. Through &c.

Then tho commemoration of the Sunday.

The Preface is the same as for the eighth of Sep- tember, except that for the words * in Nativitate, on

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the Nativity’, are substituted * in Festivitate, on the festival’ of the blessed Mary. Inebriated with the divine mysteries, let us cone atulate the august vine, which just now in the pistle promised us this rich wine.

COMMUNION

The Postcommunion proclaims the universality of Mary’s patronage; may our Lord grant us always to experience it.

POSTCOMMUNION

Sumptis, Domine, salutis Having received, O Lord,
nostre subsidiis: da quiesu- these helps to our salvation: mus, beate Mari» semper grant, we beseech thee, that Virginis patrociniis nos ubi- we may be ever protected by que protegi, in cujus vene- the patronage of blessed Mary, ratione hic tus obtulimus ever Virgin, in whose honour majestati. Per Dominum. — wé havq made these offerings

to thy majesty. Through &c.

The Posteommunion of the occurring Sunday is then added; and the Gospel of the said Sunday is read at the end of the Mass, instead of that of St. John.

VESPERS

1. ANT. Dum esset Rex 1. ANT. While the king was in accubitu suo, nardus mea on his couch, my spikenard dedit odorem suavitatis, yielded a sweet odour.

Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.

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2. ANT. Leva ejus sub 2. ANT. His left hand is capite meo, et dextera illius under my head, and his right amplexabitur me. shall embrace me.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.

3. ANT. Nigra sum, sed 3. Ant. I am black but formosa, filie Jerusalem: beautiful, O daughters of Je- ideo dilexit me Rex, et in- rusalem: therefore the king troduxit me in cubiculum loved me, and brought me

suum. into his chamber. Ps. Leetatus sum, page 152. 4. ANT. Jam hiems tran- 4. AuT. Now the winter is siit: imber abiit, et recessit: past, the rain is over and gone; surge amica mea, et veni. arise, my love, and come.

Ps. Nisi Dominus, page 153.
5. ANT. Speciosa facta es 5. ANT. Thou art beautiful et suavis in deliciis tuis, and sweet in thy delights, O sancta Dei Genitrix. holy Mother of God.

Ps. Lauda Jerusalem, page 154.

The capitulum and hymn as on page 155.

Y. Dignare me laudare Y. Grant me to praise thee,

te, Virgo sacrata. O holy Virgin. E. Da mihi virtutem con- Rr. Give mestrength against tra hostes tuos. thy enemies.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Beatam me dicent omnes All generations shall call generationes, quia ancillam me blessed, for God has looked humilem respexit Deus. on his humble handmaid.

The Prayer as on page 174. Then is made a commemoration of the Sunday.

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O Mary, we say to thee with thy faithful client, St. Anselm of Canterbury: ‘By the name of thy beloved Son, grant us ever to keep the memory of thine own sweetest name; may it be the delicious food of our souls; may it be with us in danger; may it be with us in anguish ; may it be to us the beginning of all joy !’!

SEPTEMBER 9

SECOND DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY

Ler Us make man to Our image and likeness? * And God made man; He modelled him,” says Ter- tullian, ‘to the image of God, i.e. of Christ. Won- derful deed, to fashion this slime of the earth! God seems to be absorbed in it; He makes it the work of His hand and of His heart; counsel, wisdom, provi- dence, and above all love, trace the lines. As He forms each lineament of this clay, He has in mind Christ who is to become man. This slime of the earth, stamped with the image of the Christ to come, is not only God's work, it is also His pledge.'?

These words were spoken concerning our first parent, Adam ; but how much more truly do they apply to the Mother of the Man-God, during these days when He who is to be born of her watches over her growth! As God, He now places in her pro- visionally what He wills to take from her hereafter. For, as Man, He will receive from her, together with

! Anselm. Oratio xlix, aj. xlviii. ? Gen. i. 26. ? Tertull. De resurrect. carnis vi.

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His sacred Body, everything that children naturally inherit from their parents: such dispositions and ualities as arise from the physical complexion ; eatures, ways, habits acquired by imitation or by early education. Such is the ineffable condescension of Him who, knowing all things by infused science, condescends to pass like us through the apprentice- ship of life. Jesus is to have no earthly father; He will therefore receive more from His Mother than could any other son. In return, no creature could be so like to Jesus in the order of grace, as she whom He thus deigns to resemble in the order of nature; and our heavenly Father loves every creature in proportion to the degree of that creature’s con- formity to the image of His divine Son. How exceedingly, then, O Mary, art thou loved! Already in thy sweet features we discern the nobility of the King's daughter, whose glory is from within, hidden beneath the golden fringes and variety of ornaments that deck her; for the manifold gifts of the holy Spirit enhance the grace and beauty that crown thee in thy very cradle. Together with Andrew of Crete, speaking on this day, we thus salute thee: ‘Hail, mediatrix of the law of grace; seal of the ancient and of the new Alliance; luminous fulfilment of all prophecy; summary of revealed truth; living, immaculate book of God the Word, wherein, without writing or characters, the Word God its Author may be daily read! Hail, first-fruits of our regeneration ; term of the divine promises and predictions; sanc- tuary promised by God to His own glory ; liberatrix foretold to the nations !'!

The Greeks make to-day a special commemoration ! Andr. Cret. In Nativit. Deipare, Oratio iv. .

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of our Lady’s holy parents. Mensa repeated in a thousand ways the

Already yesterday the ratitude

all creatures owe to them. We select the following passages from among many.

MENSIS SEPTEMBRIS, DIE VIII

Exsultet coelum, letetur terra; quippe Dei colum, sponsa Dei, partu in terra edita est. Sterilis infantem Mariam ex repromissione lactat, gaudetque pro partu Joachim: Mihi, inquiens, virgà nata est, ex qua ger- minavit flos Christus ex ra- dice David.

Exaudisti, Domine, pre-
ces meas, Anna dicat, mihi hodie fructum eam prabens, qui ex cunctis generationi- bus atque feminis prefinita est intemerata Mater tua.

Eva hodie damnatione ab- soluta est, Adam item abso- lutus ab antiqua maledi- ctione, clamans in tua nati- vitate, immaculata: In te sumus a morte redempti.

Audio David tibi conci- nentem: Adducentur virgi- nes post te, adducentur in templum Regis; ipseque, €onserta cum eo voce, Regis filiam celebro canticis.

Steriles, anims infecun- ds, adeste festinanter; nam Anna multa nunc prole gau- det. Matres, choros ducite cum Matre Dei.

Let heaven exult and earth rejoice, for God's own heaven, his bride, is this day born on earth. According to promise, the barren mother suckles her infant Mary; Joachim rejoices in his daughter, saying: Mine is the branch whereon is to blossom Christ the flower, of the root of David.

Now may Anne say: Thou hast heard, O Lord, my pray- er, giving me this day as fruit, the Virgin chosen among all women and of all generations to be thy spotless Mother.

Eve's sentence is cancelled to-day; and Adam, released from the ancient curse, cries out at thy birth, O immaculate one: In thee we are redeemed from death.

I hear David singing to thee: Virgins shall be brought after thee, they shall be brought into the temple of the King. And I, uniting my voice with his, celebrate thee in my songs, O daughter of the King!

Come, hasten, all ye barren and fruitless souls; for Anne is now the joyful mother of

many children. And ye mothers lead the choirs with the Mother of God.

13

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Res stupenda: fons vite de sterili nascitur. Gaude, Joachim: non enim tui si- milis inter patres, per quem data est nobis virgo Deui suscipiens, tabernaculum di- vinitatis, mons sanctus.

Exsultate, populi: lucis thalamus e ventre prodiit; porta orientalis, hodie geni- ta, ingressum magni pre- stolatur sacerdotis, ad salu- tem animarum nostrarum.

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O prodigy! the fount of life springs from one that was sterile. Rejoice, O Joachim, for among all fathers there is none like unto thee, by whom was given to us the Virgin Mother of God, the tabernacle of the Divinity, the holy mountain.

Exult, O ye people: the nuptial chamber of the light has come forth from her mcther's womb; to-day is born the eastern gate which will soon give entrance to the great High-Priest, for the salvation of our souls.

SepTEMBER 10

SAINT NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO CONFESSOR

To-pay the infant Mary smiles upon the lily offered her in her cradle by the representative of a great Order. The hermits of St. Augustine were being

uped and organized by the Vicar of Christ, when Nieholas was admitted into their family, of which he was soon to become the thaumaturgus. When he died, in 1305, the Roman Pontiffs were beginning their exile at Avignon ; and his canonization, deferred for nearly a century and a half through the troubles of the period, marked the close of the lamentable dissensions which followed that exile.

Peace so long lost ; peace, of which even the wisest

--- PAGE 196 --- SAINT NICHOLAS TOLENTINO 185 despaired—such was the ardent prayer, the solemn adjuration of Eugenius IV, when, towards the close of his laborious pontificate, he committed the cause of the Church to the humble servant of God placed by him upon her altars. According to the testimony of Sixtus V, the obtaining of this peace was the greatest of Nicholas's miracles; a miracle which moved the latter Pontiff to order the celebration of the saint’s feast as a double, at a time when days of that rank were much rarer on the calendar than now.

Let us read the legend, which is as simple as the

saint’s life itself.

Nicolaus, '"l'olentinas, a diuturno illius civitatis do- micilio appellatus, in oppido sancti Angeli in Piceno est natus piis parentibus: qui liberorum desiderio Barium voti causa profecti, ibique a sancto Nicolao de futura prole confirmati, quem susce- perunt filium de illius no- mine appellarunt. Is ab infantia multarum virtutum, sed abstinentie in primis specimen dedit. Nam anno vix septimo, beatum ipsum Nicolaum imitatus, com- plures hebdomade dies jeju- nare ccpit, eamque postea consuetudinem retinuit, solo pane contentus.

Adulta state jam clericali

militis adscriptus, et canoni-

cus factus, cum quodam die concionatorem: Ordinis Ere- mitarum sancti Augustini de mundi contemptu dicen- tem audisset, eo sermone

Nicholas, called of Tolen- tino as he lived a long time in that city, was born at the town of St. Angelo in the Marches of Ancona. His pious parents, desirous of having children, went to Bari in ful- filment of a vow. There they were assured by St. Nicholas that they should have a son; whom they therefore called by that saint's name. From his infancy he was admirable for his virtues, especially for his abstinence; for, when only seven years old he began, in imitation of St. Nicholas, to fast several days a week; which custom he afterwards kept up, contenting himself with bread and water.

While still young he was enrolled in the ranks of the clergy and made a canon; but one day, hearing a sermon on contempt of the world preached by one the hermits of Saint Augustine, he was so struck

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inflammatus, statim eumdem Ordinem est ingressus. In quo tam exactam religiose vite rationem coluit, ut aspero vestitu, verberibus et ferrea catena corpus domans, aique a carne et omni fere obsonio abstinens, caritate, humilitate, patien- tia, ceterisque virtutibus aliis preeluceret.

Orandi assiduum studi- um, quamvis sstans insi- diis varie vexatus, et flagel- lis interdum ceesus, non in- termittebat. Demum sex ante obitum mensibus, sin- gulis: noctibus angelicum concentum audivit, cujus suavitate cum jam paradisi gaudia pregustaret, crebro illud apostoli repetebat: Cupio dissolvi, et esse cum Christo. Denique obitus sui diem fratribus predixit, qui fuit quarto idus septembris. Miraculis multis etiam post mortem claruit, quibus rite et ordine cognitis, ab Euge- nio Papa quarto in sancto- rum numerum est relatus.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

by it that he immediately joined that Order. As a reli- gious he led a perfect life; subduing his body by rough garments, disciplines, and iron chains; abstaining from meat and almost every kind of nourishment; and showing a bright example to others by his charity, humility, patience, and other virtues.

Very great was his love of prayer, in which he never re- laxed, although satan troubled him in various ways and at limes scourged him severely. For six months before his death he heard every night the songs of the angels: a foretaste of heavenly delights which caused him frequently io repeat that saying of the apostle: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. He foretold to his brethren the day of his death, which was the fourth of the Ides of Sep- tember. Both before and after death he was famous for miracles; which having been duly proved, he was enrolled among the saints by Pope Eugenius IV.

Good and faithful servant, thou hast entered into the joy of thy Lord. He has broken thy bonds; and from heaven, where thou art now reigning, thou repeatest to us those words which determined the sanotity of thy life on earth: *Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. For the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof! How

1 St. John, ii. 16, 17.

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much a man thus forgetful of earth can do for his fel- low-men, is evinced by the gift thou didst receive of solaoing all the miseries around thee, and succouring the souls in purgatory. The successor of St. Peter was not deceived, when, in ranking thee among the saints, he counted on thy power in heaven to brin back society from its long continued state of dis- turbance to the paths of peace. May that word of the beloved disciple which thou hast just echoed to us, sink into our souls as a seed of salvation, and there yield the fruits that it produced in thee: detachment from all temporal things and a longing for eternal realities; that humble simplicity of the soul’s eye which makes life a peaceful journey towards God; and lastly, that purity, which made thee the friend of angels and the favourite of Mary.

SepreMmBER 11 FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY

* Dimitte me, jam enim ascendit aurora; let me for it is break of day;’! such were the words which put an end to the struggle between the angel and the patriarch on the banks of the torrent. Blessed dawn which triumphed over God Himself! How long had been that night, during which the human race had been struggling by its supplications and tears!? Ever since the fall, the angel of justice had been guarding the entrance to the true land of pro- mise; at every turn he was to be found, resisting in

! Gen. xxx, 26. ?: (f. Osee, xii, 4.

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his inexorable vengeance poor, wandering, outcast man. How is it, then, that the inflexible has now ielded ? That spiritual being, so superior to our weak, ite nature, why is he the first to speak of closing the struggle, and to own himself vanquished? It is because, as with God so with the angel, light is strength. Now our earth, hitherto buried in deepest night, has suddenly reflected back to heaven brighter splendours than ever Cherubim shed down upon the ominations and Virtues and Powers and Principali- ties, beside whom, a while ago, man was so very little. It is because at length in the glimmering dawn, which already subdues him, the angel of jus- tice foresees the Sun Himself, the Sun of justice, who, rising from the bosom of the human race, is to make Himself answerable for it. Man is no longer a pa- riah compared with the angel; he is Israel, ‘the strong against God.” To come to terms with him is no longer derogatory to the angelic dignity; to yield to him is no humiliation: the day is breaking. Blessed be thou, whose radiant innocence thus raises up to the throne of God our proscribed race. ‘With the angels for allies instead of adversaries, we are henceforth one great army, of which thou art the Queen. Our Lady shares her honours to-day with two bro- thers, whose martyrdom, under Valerian, raised them from servile condition to the highest rank of hea- ven’s nobility. Their bodies were first laid in the cemetery of St. Hermes: but Protus had already been honoured within the walls of the eternal city for more than a thousand years, when, in 1845, the discovery of Hyacinth’s bones in his primitive tomb, opened & new era in the history of the catacombs and of Christian archaeology.

--- PAGE 200 --- FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCT. OF THE NATIVITY 189

PRAYER

Beatorum martyrum tuo- rum Proti et Hyacinthi nos, Domine, foveat pretiosacon-
fessio, et pia jugiter inter- cessio tueatur. Per Domi- num.

May the precious confession of thy blessed martyrs Protus and Hyacinth animate us, O Lord, and may their pious intercession ever defend us. Through our Lord.

The abbey of St. Gall in the tenth century fur- nishes us with the following ancient sequence in

honour of Mary’s birth.

SEQUENCE

Ecce solemnis diéi cana- mus festa,

Qua sseculo processit gem- ma potens et nobilis Maria.

Regalibus exorta paren- telis theotochos inclita.

Hoc egressura de germi- ne Jesse tempore prisco predicta est virgula.

Et flos ex ejus radice pro- cedens turbida mundi ab- solveret crimina.

Istam venturam veterum parentum lingue prophetiis plene testabantur ccelitus ac precinuerant alma ora- cula.

Qua virgo manens pari- iura foret unico more filium spiritualiter conceptum, qui contraderet mundo remedia.

Qus Davidis genita stirpe

Let us hail with song the festivity of this solemn day

Which ushered into the world the noble, queenly pearl, Mary.

The illustrious Mother of God, born of a royal stock.

In ancient times it was fore- told that this little branch should spring from the rod of Jesse,

And that the Flower pro- ceeding from its root should put an end to the darksome crimes of earth.

The prophetic tongues of her remote ancestors testified in heaven's name to her future coming, and propitious oracles sang her praises of old.

Alone of all women she was to remain ever a virgin, whilst bringing forth a Son spiritu- ally conceived, who was to heal the world.

She is honoured with a noble

--- PAGE 201 --- 190

clara generosi nominis fert insignia.

Salomonis creditur hsc propinqua, sed majore prg- dita sapientia.

Hec de regibus generis clari sumpsit primordia.

Et hsec eadem regis seter- ni mater castissima.

Ejus qui ante tempora fuerat atque secula.

Qui angelos et homines junxerat pace placida.

lllius nobis adesse cuncti precemur auxilia,

Per quem tam gravis de- structa paci concessit dis- cordia.

Illius hec nobis acquirat Genitrix sanctam quain so- nant gaudia.

Atque suum nobis placa- tum faciat natum per cuncta ssecula.

Ille nobis cuneta ut de- mittat pleniter delicta,

Et sterne clemens tribuat ornarier corona.

O nunc ccelorum domina, famulorum vocibus mota, qus& deposcunt aure suscipe benigna,

Et nos tuo munimine tue- aris sedule, donec nosmet regna dones scandere su-

perna.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

name, being sprung of the il- lustrious race of David.

She is descended from Solo- mon, but she far surpasses him in wisdom.

Born of the glorious lineage of kings,

She is herself the most pure Mother of the eternal King,

Who was before all times and ages;

Who had united angels and men in tranquil peace.

Then let us all implore him to come to our assistance;

Through whom such terrible discord was destroyed and gave place to peace.

May his Mother obtain this for us, whom our joyous songs proclaim holy.

And may she render her Son for ever propitious to us;

So that he may grant us full remission of our sins,

And give us in his mercy to be adorned with the eternal crown.

O thou who now art heaven's Queen, touched by the prayers of thy servants, receive their petitions with a kindly ear,

And assiduously shield us with thy protection, until thou bringest us too into the heav- enly kingdom.

--- PAGE 202 --- SEPTEMBER 12 FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THR NATIVITY

* Wo is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array ?’! Such is thy growth, O Mary! Not the holiest life, were it even of patriarchal dura- tion, will ever attain the degree of progress made under the influence of divine power jo the soul of the most pure Virgin, in these few days elapsed since her coming on earth. First, there is the progress of her intellect: not subject to the obscurity which envelopes the minds of all men at their entrance into the world, it is a faithful mirror, into which the Word of God pours floods of that light which is also life Then the progress of love in that heart of the Virgin and the Mother, wherein the holy Spirit already delights to awake such ineffable harmonies, and to dig still deeper depths. Lastly, the progress of that vietorious power, which made satan tremble at the moment of the Immaculate Conception, and which has constituted Mary the incomparable Queen of the hosts of the Lord.

Two glorious triumphs, two victories won under the protection of our Lady, have rendered this pre- sent day illustrious in the annals of the Church and of history.

Manicheism, revived under a variety of names, had established itself in the south of France, whenoe it hoped to spread its reign of shameless excess. But

! Cant. vi. 9.

(191)

--- PAGE 203 --- 192 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Dominio appeared with Mary’s rosary for the defence of the people. On September 12, 1213, Simon de Montfort and the crusaders of the faith, one against forty, crushed the Albigensian army at Muret. This was in the pontificate of Innocent III.

Nearly five centuries later, the Turks, who hai more than once caused the west to tremble, again

ured down upon Christendom. Vienna, worn out and dismantled, abandoned by its emperor, was sur- rounded by 300,000 infidels. But another great Pope, Innocent XI, again confided to Mary the defence of the baptized nations. Sobieski, mounting his charger on the feast of our Lady’s Assumption, hastened from Poland by forced marches. On the Sunday within the octave of the Nativity, September 12, 1688, Vienna was delivered ; and then began for the Osmanlis that series of defeats which ended in the treaties of Carlowitz and Passarowitz, and the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire. The feast of the most holy name of Mary inscribed on the calendar of the universal Church, was the homage of the world’s gratitude to Mary, our Lady and Queen.

As a supplement to the ancient sequence given yesterday, we choose for to-day a hymn of the same period, to celebrate the blessed birth which brought

peace and honour to the world.

SEQUENCE

Nitesce jam virguncula, sweet; grow verdant, thou

--- PAGE 204 --- SIXTH DAY WITHIN THE OCT. OF THE NATIVITY

Florem latura nobilem, Christum Deum et homi- nem. Natalis tui annua En colimus solemnia, Quo stirpe electissima Mundo fulsisti genita.

Per. te sumus, terrigeng Simulque jam cceligenz, Pacati pace nobili More inestimabili.

Hinc Trinitati gloria Sit semper ac victoria, In unitate solida,

Per seculorum szcula.

Amen.

193

tender little branch; for thou wilt bear the noble flower, Christ, both God and man. Lo! we are celebrating the annual solemnity of thy birth, the day whereon, sprung from a most choice root, thou didst begin to shine upon our earth. We who are earth-born, yet now are citizens of heaven too, have been through thee, in wondrous wise, set at peace by an honourable treaty. Glory then and victory be ever to the Trinity, in undi- vided Unity, through ever- lasting ages. Amen.

SEPTEMBER 13

SIXTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY

How beautiful are thy first steps, O prince's daughter! Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army.! Blessed child, continue to grow in grace; may thy course be prosperous; may thy royalty be strengthened and established. But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up, to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon: * Rejoioe O Virgin Mary; thou alone hast destroyed all here- sies throughout the world.'?

Heresy, satan's denial of what God affirms by His

1 Cant. vii. 1, 2, ? First antiphon of the third nocturn of the feast.

--- PAGE 205 --- 194 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Christ, this is the great struggle, or rather the only one, which sums up history. God having created the world for the sole purpose of uniting it to Him- self by His Word made l'lesh; the enemy of God and of the world, in order to break the bond of this mysterious love, attacks by turns the Divinity and the Humanity of Christ the Mediator. Dut all his lies are in vain: Jesus is Man, for He is born of a Mother, like every one of us; He is God, for He alone is born of a Virgin. The Man-God, who, according to Simeon's prophecy, is a sign of contradiction to the sons of perdition, has llimself a sign, for unpre- judiced eyes, viz: a Virgin-Mother: ‘The Lord Him- self,’ said the prophet, ‘shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and His name shall be called Emmannel:! God with us.’

In the second of the celebrated conferences held with Manes in 277 by the holy bishop Archelaus, the heresiarch having «denied that Christ was born of Mary, Archelaus replied: *If such be the case, if He was not born, then obviously IIe did not suffer, for to suffer is impossible to one not born. If He did not suffer, no mention can be made of the cross; do away with the cross, and Jesus cannot have risen from the dead. But if Jesus be not risen, no one else can rise again; and if there is no resurrection, there can be no judgment. In that case there is no use in keeping the commandments of God: Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.? Such is the corollary to thy argument. Confess, on the other hand, that our Lord was born of Mary, and thence will follow the passion, the resurrection, and the judgment; then the whole of Scripture is saved. No, this is no vain question; for, as the whole Law and the Prophets are contained in the two precepts

1 Isaias. vii. 14 2 1 Cor. xv. 32.

--- PAGE 206 --- SIXTH DAY WITHIN THE OCT. OF THE NATIVI1Y — 195 of charity, so all our hope depends on the mother- hood of the blessed Virgin.'!

Tbe Chureh of Milan, which celebrates the most holy name of Mary on September 11, sings on that day the following beautiful Preface, so perfectly in harmony with the sentiments inspired by this bright

octave.

PREFACE

Vere quia dignum tibi gratias agere, mterne Deus.
Qui beatissimam Mariam virginem Unigeniti tui geni- tricem esse voluisti: quo- niam nec alia Deum mater decebat, quam virgo; nec virginem alius filius, quam Deus. Sicut autem divine
Majestati tue in nomine Jesu omne genu flectitur coelestium, terrestiurm et in- fernorum; sic audito Marie nomine, inclinantes se coeli, terra procumbens, trepi- dantesinferi tuam in Virgine Matre adorandam omnipo- tentiam confitentur. Et ideo cum angelis.

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, O eternal God. Who didst will that the most blessed Virgin Mary slould be the Mother of thy only-begotten Son: for it was not fitting that God's Mother should be other than a Virgin, nor thai a vir- gin's Son should be other than God. As, at the name of Je- sus, every knee in heaven, on earth, and in hell, bends be- fore thy divine Majesty; so, on hearing the name of Mary, the heavens bow down, earth prostrates, hell trembles, con- fessing thine adorable omni- potence in the Virgin-Mother. And therefore with the angels.

On the day of the Nativity itself, the Preface in the Ambrosian rite is as follows:

PREFACE

Vere quia dignum tibi gratias agere, eterne Deus.
Recensemus enim precla- rissime Nativitatis diem,

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, O eternal God. For we are celebrating the day of a most illustrious birth, when

1 dota disputationis Archelai, xlix.

--- PAGE 207 --- 196

quo gloriosissima Dei Geni- trix, intemerata Virgo Ma- ria, stella corusca et admi- rabilis, mundo effulsit. Qua nobis perennis vita: januam quam Eva in paradiso clau- serat, reseravit: nosque de tenebris ad lucis antiques gaudia revocavit. Per eum- dem.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the most glorious Mother of God, the spotless Virgin Mary, the bright and wonderful star, shone upon the world. It is she who has opened to us again the gate of everlasting life, which Eve had closed in paradise: and has brought us back from darkness to the joys of the ancient light. Through

the same Jesus Christ.

SrPTEMBER 14

THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

‘TaroucH thee the precious cross is honoured and ome throughout the world?! Thus did Saint Cyril of Alexandria apostrophize our Lady on the morrow of that great day, which saw her divine maternity vindicated at Ephesus. Eternal Wisdom has willed that the octave of Mary’s birth should be honoured by the celebration of this feast of the triumph of the holy cross. The cross indeed is the standard of God’s armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the cross that she crushes the serpent’s head, and wins so many victories over error, and over the enemies of the Christian name.

¢ By this sign thou shalt conquer.” Satan had been suffered to try his strength against the Church by persecution and tortures; but his time was drawing

! Cyrill. Alex, Hom. iv. Ephesi habita,

--- PAGE 208 --- THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY cross 197

to an end. By the edict of Sardica, which emanci- pated the Christians, Galerius, when about to die, acknowledged the powerlessness of hell. Now was the time for Christ to take the offensive, and for His cross to prevail. Towards the close of the year 311, & Roman army lay at the foot of the Alps, preparing to pass from Gaul into Italy. Constantine, its com- mander, thought only of revenging himself for an injury received from Maxentius, his political rival; but his soldiers, as unsuspecting as their chief, already belonged henceforward to the Lord of hosts. The Son of the Most High, having become, as Son of Mary, king of this world, was about to reveal Himself to His first lieutenant, and, at the same time, to discover to His first army the standard that was to go before it. Above the legions, in a cloudless sky, the cross, proscribed for three long centuries, suddenly shone forth; all eyes beheld it, making the western sun, as it were, its footstool, and surrounded with these words in characters of fire: IN Hoc viNcE: by this be thou conqueror! A few months later, October 27, 312, all the idols of Rome stood aghast to behold, approaching along the Flaminian Way, beyond the bridge Milvius, the Labarum with its sacred mono- gram, now become the standard of the imperial armies. On the morrow was fought the decisive battle, which opened the gates of the eternal city to Christ, the only God, the everlasting King. * Hail, O cross, formidable to all enemies, bulwark of the Church, strength of princes; hail in thy triumph! The sacred Wood still lay hidden in the earth, yet it appeared in the heavens announcing victory ; and an emperor, become Christian, raised it up from the bowels of the earth.'' Thus sang the Greek Church yesterday, in preparation for the joys

1 dp. Grac. Mene, in profesto Braltationis.

--- PAGE 209 --- 198 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of to-day; for the east, which has not our peculiar feast of May 3, celebrates on this one solemnity both the overthrow of idolatry by the sign of salvation revealed to Constantine and his army, and the dis- covery of the holy cross a few years later in the cistern of Golgotha.

But another celebration, the memory of which is fixed by the Mesnology on September 13, was added in the year 335 to the happy recollections of this day; namely, the dedication of the basilicas raised by Constantine on Mount Calvary and over the holy sepulehre, after the precious discoveries made by his mother St. Helena. In the very same century that witnessed all these events, a pious pilgrim, thought to be St. Silvia, sister of ltufinus the minister of Theodosius and Arcadius, attested that the anniver- sary of this dedication was celebrated with the same solemnity as Easter and the Epiphany. There was an immense concourse of bishops, clerics, monks, and seculars of both sexes, from every province ; and the reason, she says, is that the ‘ cross was found on this day’; which motive had led to the choice of the same day for the primitive consecration, so that the two joys might be united into one.

Through not being aware of the nearness of the dedication of the Anastasia, or church of the Resur- rection, to the feast of the holy cross, many have misunderstood the discourse pronounced on this feast by Sophronius the holy patriarch of Jerusalem. “It is the feast of the cross; who would not exult? It is the triumph of the Resurrection ; who would not be full of joy? Formerly, the cross led to the Resur- rection ; now it is the Resurrection that introduces us to the cross. Resurrection and cross: trophies of our salvation!!! And the pontiff then developed the

1 Sophron. in ezaitat. venerande crucis.

--- PAGE 210 --- THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY cross 199

instructions resulting from this connexion.

It appears to have been about the same time that the west also began to unite in a certain manner these two great mysteries; leaving to September 14 the other memories of the holy cross, the Latin Churches introduced into Paschal Time a special feast of the finding of the Wood of redemption. In compensation, the present solemnity acquired a new lustre to its character of triumph by the contempo- raneous events which, as we shall see, form the

rinoipal subject of the historical legend in the man liturgy.

A century earlier, St. Benedict had appointed this day for the commencement of the period of penance known as the monastic Lent,! which continues till the opening of Lent proper, when the whole Chris- tian army joins the ranks of the cloister in the campaign of fasting and abstinence. ‘The cross,’ says St. Sophronius, ‘is brought before our minds; who will not crucify himself? The true worshipper of the sacred Wood is he who carries out his worship in his deeds.’?

The following is the legend we have already alluded to.

Chosroas Persarum rex, About the end of the reign extremis Phoce imperii of the emperor Phocas, Chos- temporibus, ZEgypto et roes king of the Persians in- Africa occupata, ac Jeroso- vaded Egypt and Africa. He lyma capta, multisque ibi then took possession of Jeru- ceesis Christianorum milli- salem; and after massacring bus, Christi Domini crucem, there many thousand Chris- quam Helena in monte Cal- tians, he carried away into varie collocarat, in Persi- Persia the cross of our Lord dem abstulit. Itaque He- Jesus Christ, which Helena raclius, qui Phocse succes- had placed upon Mount Cal-

1 8. P. Benedicti Reg. zhi. * Sophron. ubi supra. 14

--- PAGE 211 --- 200

serat, multis belli incom- modis et calamitatibus af- fectus, pacem petebat, quam a Chosroa victoriis insolente ne iniquis quidem conditio- nibus impetrare poterat. Quare in summo discrimine se assiduis jejuniis et ora- tionibus exercens, opem a Deo vehementer implorabat: cujus monitu exercitu com- parato, signa cum hoste contulit, ac tres duces Chos- roe cum tribus exercitibus superavit.

Quibus cladibus fractus Chosroas, in fuga, qua tra- jicere Tigrim parabat, Me- darsen fiilium socium regni designat. Sed eam contu- meliam cum Siroes Chosroe ‘major natu filius ferret atro- citer, patri simul ac fratri necem machinatur: quam paulo post utrique ex fuga retracto attulit, regnumque ab Heraclio impetravit, qui- busdam acceptis conditioni- bus, quarum ex prima fuit, ut crucem Christi Domini restitueret. Ergo crux, qua- tuordecim annis postquam venerat in potestatem Per- sarum, recepta est: quam rediens Jerosolymam Hera- clius solemni celebritate suis humeris retulit in eum montem, quo eam Salvator

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

vary. Phocas was succeeded in the empire by Heraclius; who, after enduring many losses and misfortunes in the course of the war, sued for peace, but was unable to ob- tain it even upon disadvanta- geous terms, so elated was Chosroes by his victories. . In this perilous situation he ap- plied himself to prayer and fasting, and earnestly im- plored God's assistance. Then, admonished from heaven, he raised an army, marched against the enemy, and de- feated three of Chosroes' generals with their armies. Subdued by these disasters Chosroes took to flight; and, when about to cross the river Tigris, named his son Medar- ses his associate in tho king- dom. But his eldest son Si- roes, bitterly resenting this insult, plotted the murder of his father and brother. He soon afterwards overtook them in flight, and put them both to death. Siroes then had him- self recognized as king by He- raclius, on certain conditions, the first of which was to re- store the cross of our Lord. Thus, fourteen years after it had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the cross was recovered; and on his return to Jerusalem, Heraclius, with great pomp, bore it back on his own shoulders to the moun-

--- PAGE 212 --- THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY cross 201

tulerat.

Quod factum illustri mi- raculo commendatum est. Nam Heraclius, ut erat au- ro et gemmis ornatus, insi- stere coactus est in porta, que ad Calvarie montem ducebat. Quo enim magis progredi conabatur, eo ma- gis retineri videbatur. Cum- que ea re et ipse Heraclius, et reliqui omnes obstupes- cerent: Zacharias, Jerosoly- morum antistes, Vide, in- quit, imperator, ne isto tri- umphali ornatu, in cruce ferenda parum Jesu Christi paupertatem et humilitatem imitere. Tum Heraclius ab- jecto amplissimo vestitu, detractisque calceis, ac ple- beio amictu indutus, reli- quum vig facile confecit, et in eodem Calvariz loco cru- cem statuit, unde fuerat a Persis asportata. Itaque Exaltationis sanctae crucis solemnitas, qua hac die quotannis celebrabatur, illu- strior haberi coepit ob ejus rei memoriam, quod ibidem fuerit reposita ab Heraclio, ubi Salvatori primum fuerat constituta.

tain whither our Saviour had carried it.

This event was signalized bya remarkable miracle. He- raclius, attired as he was in robes adorned with gold and precious stones was forced to stand still at tbe gate which led to Mount Calvary. The more he endeavoured to ad. vance, the more he seemed fixed to the spot. Heraclius himself and all the people were astounded; but Zacha- rias, the bishop of Jerusalem, said: Consider, O emperor, how little thou imitatest the poverty and humility of Jesus Christ, by carrying the cross clad in triumphal robes. He- raclius thereupon laid aside his magnificent apparel, and barefoot, clothed in mean at- tire, he easily completed the rest of the way, and replaced the cross in the same place on Mount Calvary, whence it had been carried off by the Persians. From this event, the feast of the Exaltation of the holy cross, which was celebrated yearly on this day, gained fresh lustre, in memory of the cross being replaced by Heraclius on the spot where it had first been set up for our Saviour.

The victory thus chronicled in the sacred books of the Church, was not, O cross, thy last triumph; nor

were the Persians thy latest enemies.

At the very

time of the defeat of these fire-worshippers, the

--- PAGE 213 --- 202 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

prince of darkness was raising up a new standard, the orescent. By the permission of God, whose ensign thou art, and who, having come on earth to struggle like us, flees not before any foe, Islam also was about to try its strength against thee: a two- fold power, the sword and the seduction of the

assions. But here again, alike in the secret combats

tween the soul and satan, as in the great battles reoorded in history, the final success was due to the weakness and folly of Calvary.

Thou, O cross, wert the rallying-standard of all Europe in those saored expeditions which borrowed from thee their beautiful title of crusades, and which exalted the Christian name in the east. While on the one hand thou wert thus warding off degradation and ruin, on the other thou wert preparing the con- quest of new continents; so that it 1s by thee that our west remains at the head of nations. Through thee, the warriors in those glorious campaigns are inscribed on the first pages of the golden book of nobility. And now the new orders of chivalry, which olaim to hold among their ranks the élite of the human race, look upon thee as the highest mark of merit and honour. ja is the continuation of to-day’s mystery, the exaltation, even in our times of deca- dence, of the holy cross, which in past ages was the standard of the legions, and glittered on the diadems of emperors and kings.

It is true, men have appeared in France, who have made it their aim to overthrow the sacred sign, wheresoever our fathers had honoured it. This in- vasion of the servants of Pilate into the country of the crusaders was inexplicable, until it was discovered that they were in Jewish pay. These, as St. Leo says of the Jews in to-day’s Office, see in the instrument

--- PAGE 214 --- THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY 203

of salvation nothing but their own crime ;! and their guilty conscience makes them hire, to pull down the oly cross, the very men whom they formerly paid to set it up. The coalition of such enemies is but one more homage to thee! O adorable cross, our glory and our love here on earth, save us on the day when thou shalt appear in the heavens, when the Son of Man, seated in His majesty, is to judge the world !

SerreMBER 16

THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY

‘Praise and glory be to thee, O holy Trinity, who hast brought us all to this day’s solemnity. Praise be to thee also, O holy Mother of God, sceptre of the orthodox faith: through thee the cross triumphs, and man is called back to heaven ; through thee the idols are overthrown, and the nations are brought to repen- tance.’? Such words as these, which the Church borrows from her doctors to close the bright octave, were doubtless sung in prophecy by the angels around the new-born babe Mary. And such, in the light of the ages since elapsed, must needs be our answer to the question so often repeated at the cradle side: What shall this child be ?

The doctrine lately laid down so magisterially by the infallible successor of St. Peter, is this: Since the days of her mortal life, when Mary was, even in this

! Homily of the 3rd nocturn ex Leon. Serm. viii. de Passione. 3 Lessons of the 2nd nocturn, ec Cyrill. Alex. Hom. iv. Ephesi.

--- PAGE 215 --- 204 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

world, truly the Mother of the Church, the Queen of the apostles and their mistress with regard to the divine oracles; but especially since she has received in heaven an almost infinite power for dispensing the fruits of redemption: the mighty helper of the Christian people, the restorer of the world, has not ceased to prove herself the impregnable rampart 5f the Church, the solid foundation of the faith, the fountain springing from God, whence the rivers of divine Wisdom pour out their pure waters, sweeping away heresy from all places.!

ay so glorious a past give us confidence for the future. ‘It is by Mary,’ says the blessed Grignon de Montfort, ‘that the salvation of the world has begun, and it is by Mary that it must be consum- mated. Being the way by which Jesus Christ came to us the first time, she will also be the way by which He will come the second time, though not in the same manner. Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church; in might, against the enemies of God, idolaters, schismatics, Mahometans, Jews, and souls hardened in impiety, who shall rise in terrible revolt against God, to seduce all those who shall be contrary to them, and make them fall by promises and threats; and finally, she must shine forth in

, in order to animate and sustain the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who shall do battle for His interests. Mary must be terrible as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times. It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go

! Leo xiii. Encycl. ddjutricem populi Christiani, Sept. 5, 1895.

--- PAGE 216 --- THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY 205

on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God, pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent: I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed.

God has never made or formed but one enmity ; but it is an irreconcilable one: it is between Mary, His worthy Mother, and the devil; between the ohildren and servants of the blessed Virgin and the children and instruments of Lucifer. Satan fears Mary not only more than all angels and men, but in some sense more than God Himself. It is not that the anger, the hatred, and the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the blessed Virgin, for the perfections of Mary are limited ; but it is because satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by a little and humble handmaid of God, and her humility humbles him more than the divine power. The devils fear one of her sighs for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her menaces against them more than all other torments.’ A holy priest named Nicomedes is honoured to- day. The virgin martyr St. Felicula, whose body he had buried, obtained for him in return the palm of martyrdom. Let us, together with the Church, implore his protection.

PRAYER

Adesto, Domine, populo Attend to thy people, O
tuo: ut beati Nicomedis Lord, that having recourse to martyris tui merita preclara the splendid merits of blessed

! Treatise on the true devotion to the blessed Virgin. Translated by Father Faber,

--- PAGE 217 --- 206

suscipiens, ad impetrandam misericordiam tuam semper ejus patrociniis adjuvetur. Per Dominum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Nicomedes, thy martyr, they may ever be assisted by his patronage for obtaining thy mercy. Through &c.

Let us sing to Mary on her birthday feast this graceful sequence of the fourteenth century.

SEQUENCE

Nativitas Marice Virginis Quse nos lavit a labe crimi-

nis Celebratur hodie, Dies est letitie: De radice Jesse propaginis Hanc eduxit Sol veri lumi- nis Manu Sapientis, Templum sus gratis. Stella nova noviter oritur Cujus ortu mors nostra mo- ritur, Eve lapsus jam restituitur In Maria: Ut aurora surgens progre- ditur, Sicut luna pulchra describi-

tur, Super cunctas ut sol eligitur Virgo pia. Virgo Mater et virgo unica, Virga fumi sed aromatica, In te coeli mundique fabrica Gloriatur: Te signarunt ora prophetica, Tibi canit Salomon cantica Canticorum, te vox angelica Protestatur.

Verbum Patris processu lemporis,

The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, who cleansed us from the stain of our crimes, is cele- brated to-day: it a day of joy! This is the branch pro- duced from the root of Jesse by the Sun of true light; she is the handiwork of Wisdom, the temple of divine grace.

A new star newly rises, at whose rising our death dies; the fall of Eve is now repaired in Mary. The gentle Virgin comes forth as the rising au- rora; appearing beautiful as the moon, chosen above all maidens as the sun outshines the stars.

Virgin-Mother and Virgin without peer, pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, both heaven and earth are justly proud of thee. Thee did the ancient seers prophesy; to thee sang Solomon his Song of songs; the angel's voice thy greatness did proclaim.

In course of time, the heaven- ly Fathers Word, in thy

--- PAGE 218 --- THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY 207

Intra tui secretum corporis, In te totum et totum deforis Simul fuit: Fructus virens arentis ar- boris, Christus, gigas immensi ro- boris, Nos a nexu funesti pignoris Eripuit. Condoluit humano generi Virginalis filius uteri, Accingantur senes et pueri Ad laudem Virginis: Qui poterat de nobis con- queri Pro peccato parentum veteri, Mediator voluit fieri Dei et hominis.

O Maria, dulce commercium Intra tuum celasti gremium, Quo salutis reis remedium Indulgetur: O vera spes et verum gau- dium, Fac post vite presentis stadium, Ut optatum in ccelis bravium Nobis detur. Amen.

chaste body took up his abode, at once wholly within, wholly without. Christ, the fair fruit of an unwatered tree, the giant of immeasurable strength, has freed us from the bond of the fatal pledge.

The Son of a Virgin Mother has taken pity on the human race: then let old men and children be prompt to praise the Virgin. He who might well have spoken against us for that ancient sin of our first parents, chose to become the mediator between God and man.

How sweet, O Mary, was the secret commerce carried on within thy bosom, whereby the remedy of salvation was mercifully given to the guilty! O our true joy and most as- sured hope, grant that, after the course of this present life, we may obtain in heaven the reward we so desire. Amen.

--- PAGE 219 --- 208 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

THIRD SUNDAY OF SEPTEMBER

FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

“0 ALL ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow !?! Is this, then, the first cry of that sweet babe, whose coming brought such pure joy to our earth? Is the standard of suffering to be so soon unfurled pver the cradle of such lovely innocence? Yet the heart of mother Church has not deceived her; this feast, coming at such a time, is ever the answer to that question of the expeotant human race: What shall this child be?

e Saviour to come is not only the reason of

's existence, He is also her exemplar in all things. It is as His Mother that the blessed Virgin came, and therefore as the * Mother of sorrows'; for the God, whose future birth was the very cause of her own birth, is to be in this world *a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity.? * To whom shall I compare thee?" sings the prophet of lamen- tations: *O Virgin...great as the sea is thy de- struection.? On the mountain of the sacrifice, as Mother she gave her Son, as bride she offered herself together with Him; by her sufferings both as bride and as Mother, she was the co-redemptress of the human race. This teaching and these recollections were deeply engraved on our hearts on that other feast of our Lady’s dolours which immediately pre- ceded Holy Week.

! Lam. i. 12. ? Isaias, liii. 3. 3 Lam. ii. 13.

--- PAGE 220 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS 209

Christ dieth now no more: and our Lady' suffer- ings are over. Nevertheless the Passion of Christ is continued in His elect, in His Church, against which hell vents the rage it cannot exercise against Himself. To this Passion of Christ's mystical body, of which she is also Mother, Mary still contributes her compassion ; how often have her venerated images attested the fact, by miraculously shedding tears! This explains the Church’s departure from liturgical custom, by celebrating two feasts, in different seasons, under one same title.

On perusing the register of the apostolic decrees concerning sacred rites, the reader is astonished to find a long and unusual interruption lasting from March 20, 1809 to September 18, 1814, at which latter date is entered the decree instituting on this

resent Sunday a second Commemoration of our re Dolours. 1809-1814, five sorrowful years, during which the government of Christendom was suspended ; years of blood which beheld the Man- God agonizing once more in the person of His captive Vicar. But the Mother of sorrows was still stand- ing beneath the cross, offering to God the Church’s sufferings; and when the trial was over, Pius VII, knowing well whence the mercy had come, dedicated this day to Mary as a fresh memorial of the day of Calvary.

Even in the seventeenth century, the Servites had the privilege of possessing this second feast, which they celebrated as a double of the second class, with a vigil and an octave. It is from them that the Church has borrowed the Office and Mass. This honour and privilege was due to the Order established by our Lady to honour her sufferings and to spread devotion to them. Philip Benizi, heir to the seven

1 Gardellini, Decreta authentica Congr. Sacr. Rit.

--- PAGE 221 --- 210 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

holy Founders, propagated the flame kindled by them on the heights of Monte Senario; thanks to the zeal of his sons and successors, the devotion to the Seven Dolours of the blessed Virgin Mary, once their family property, is now the treasure of the whole world.

he prophecy of the aged Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the divine Child in Jerusalem, the carrying of the cross, the Crucifixion, the taking down from the cross, and the burial of Jesus: these are the seven mysteries into which are grouped the well-nigh infinite sufferings which made our Lady the Queen of martyrs, the first and loveliest rose in the garden of the Spouse. Let us take to heart the recommendation from the Book of Tobias which the Church reads during this week in the Office of the time: Thou shalt honour thy mother: for thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered in giving thee birth.!

MASS

The daily Sacrifice, though surrounded with all the pomps of the liturgy, is substantially the same as that of Calvary. But the only assistants at the foot of the cross were, as our Introit points out, one man, and a few women weeping around the Mother of sorrows. "The Gospel will repeat this Introit, and even its verse which, contrary to custom, is not taken from the Psalms.

INTROIT

Stabant juxta crucem There stood by the cross of Jesu Mater ejus, et soror Jesus his Mother, and his Matris ejus Maria Cleophe, Mother's sister Mary of Cleo- et Salome, et Maria Magda- phas, and Salome, and Mary lene. Magdalene.

! Tobias, iv. 3, 14.

--- PAGE 222 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS

Y. Mulier, ecce filius tu- us, dixit Jesus: ad discipu- lum autem: Ecce mater tua.

211

Y. Woman, behold thy son, said Jesus; to the disciple however, Behold thy mother.

Gloria Patri. Stabant. Glory be. There stood.

The honouring of our Lady's Dolours does not distract our thoughts from the one Victim of salva- tion. On the contrary, its immediate result, as the Collect shows, is to cause the Passion of our Saviour to bear fruit in our souls.

COLLECT

Deus, in cujus passione,
secundum Simeonis prophe- tiam, dulcissimam animam gloriose Virginis et Matris Marise doloris gladius per- transivit: concede propitius; ut qui dolores ejus veneran- do recolimus, passionis tus effectum felicem consequa- mur. Qui vivis.

O God, in whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of sorrow pierced the most sweet soul of the glorious Mary, Mother and Virgin: grant in thy mercy, that we who call to mind her sorrows with vene- ration, may obtain the happy effect of thy Passion. Who livest &c.

Then is added the Collect of the ocourring Sunday.

EPISTLE

Benedixit te Dominus in
virtute sua, quia per te ad nihilum redegit inimicos nostros. Benedicta es tu, filia, à Domino Deo excelso, pre omnibus mulieribus su- per terram. Benedictus Do- minus, qui creavit coelum et terram: quia hodie no- men tuum ita magnificavit,

The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, because he hath so mag- nified thy name this day, that

--- PAGE 223 --- 212

ut non recedat laus tua de ore hominum, qui memores fuerint virtutis Domini in sternum, pro quibus non pepercisti anim:e tux pro- pter angustias, et tribulatio-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men, who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever; for that thou last not spared thy life by reason of the distress and tri- bulation of thy people, but

nem generis tui, sed subve- nisti ruine ante conspectum Dei nostri.

hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.

Oh the greatness of our Judith among all crea- tures! ‘God,’ says the pious and profound Father Faber, *vouchsafed to select the very things about Him which are most incommunicable, and in a most mysteriously real way communicate them to her. See how He had already mixed her up with the eternal designs of creation, making her almost a partial cause and partis] model of it. Our Lady's co-operation in the redemption of the world gives us a fresh view of her magnificence. Neither the Immaculate Conception nor the Assumption will give us a higher idea of Mary’s exaltation than the title of co-redemptress. Her dolours were not neces- sary for the redemption of the world, but in the counsels of God they were inseparable from it. They belong to the integrity of the divine plan. Are not Mary’s mysteries Jesus’ mysteries, and His mysteries hers ? The truth appears to be, that all the mys- teries of Jesus and Mary were in God’s design as one mystery. Jesus Himself was Mary’s sorrow, seven times repeated, aggravated sevenfold. Durin the hours of Be Tain the offering of Jesus an the offering of Mary were tied in one. They kept pace together ; they were made of the same materials; they were perfumed with kindred fragrance; they were lighted with the same fire; they were offered with kindred dispositions. The two things were one simultaneous oblation, interwoven each moment

'

--- PAGE 224 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS 213

through the thickly crowded mysteries of that dread time, unto the eternal Father, out of two sinless hearts, that were the hearts of Son and Mother, for the sins of a guilty world which fell on them contrary to their merits, but according to their own free will.'! Let us mingle our tears with Mary’s, in union with the sufferings of the great Victim. In propor- tion as we do this during life we shall rejoice in heaven with the Son and the Mother; if our Lady is now, as we sing in the Alleluia verse, Queen of heaven and mistress of the world, is there one among all the elect who can recall sufferings comparable to hers ?

After the Gradual follows the Stabat Mater, the

touching Complaint attributed to the Franoiscan, blessed Semone de Todi.

GRADUAL

Dolorosa et lacrymabilis es Virgo Maria, stans juxta crucem Domini Jesu Filii tui Redemptoris.

Y. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, hoc crucis fert supplicium, auctor vite factus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Stabat sancta Maria, coli Regina, et mundi Do- mina, juxta crucem Domini nostri Jesu Christi dolorosa.

Thou art sorrowful and worthy of tears, O Virgin Mary, standing near the cross of the Lord Jesus, thy Son, our Redeemer.

Y. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world doth not contain, beareth this pun- ishment of the cross, he the author of life being made man.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Holy Mary, the Queen of heaven, and mistress of the world, stood by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, full of sadness.

SEQUENCE

Stabat Mater dolorosa Juxta crucem lacrymosa, Dum pendebat Filius.

Near the cross, whilst on it

hung her Son, the sorrowing Mother stood and wept.

! Fans, Tho Foot of the Cross, ix. 1, 2.

--- PAGE 225 --- 214

Cujus animam gementem, Contristatam, et dolentem, Pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflicta Fuit illa benedicta Mater Unigeniti!

Qus moerebat, et dolebat, Pia mater, dum videbat Nati poenas inclyti.

Quis est homo qui non

fleret, Matrem Christi si videret In tanto supplicio? Quis non posset contri- stari, Christi Matrem contemplari Dolentem cum Filio?

Pro peccatis suz gentis Vidit Jesum in tormentis, Et flagellis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem Natum Moriendo desolatum, Dum emisit spiritum.

Eia, Mater, fons amoris, Me sentire vim doloris Fac ut tecum lugeam.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum, Ut sibi complaceam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas Cordi meo valide.

Tui nati vulnerati, Tam dignati pro me pati, Poenas mecum divide.

Fac me tecum pie flere, Crucifixo condolere, Donec ego vixero.

Juxta crucem tecum stare,

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

A sword pierced her soul, that sighed, and mourned, and grieved.

Oh! how sad, and how af- flicted, was that blessed Mother of an only Son!

The loving Mother sorrowed and mourned at seeing her divine Son suffer.

Who is there that would not weep to see Jesus' Mother in such suffering?

Who is there that could con- template the Mother and the Son in sorrow, and not join his own with theirs?

Mary saw her Jesus tor- mented and scourged for the sins of his people.

She saw her sweet Child abandoned by all,as he breathed forth his soul and died.

Ah, Mother, fount of love, make me feel the force of sor- row; make me weep with thee!

Make this heart of mine burn with the love of Jesus my God, that so I may content his heart.

Do this, O holy Mother! deeply stamp the wounds of the Crucified upon my heart.

Let me share with thee the sufferings of thy Son, for it is for me he graciously deigned to be wounded and to suffer.

Make me lovingly weep with thee: make me compassionate with thee our crucified Jesus, as long as life shall last.

This is my desire: to stand

--- PAGE 226 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS

Et me tibi sociare In planctu desidero.

Virgo virginum preclara, Mihi jam non sis amara: Fac me tecum plangere.

Fac ut portem Christi

mortem, Passiohis fac consortem, Et plagas recolere.

Fac me plagis vulnerari, Fac me cruce inebriari,

Et cruore Filii.

Flammis ne urar succen- sus, Per te, Virgo, sim defensus, In die judicii. Christe, cum sit hinc ex- ire, Da per Matrem me venire Ad palmam victoriz. Quando corpus morietur, Fac ut anime donetur Paradisi gloria. Amen.

215

nigh the cross with thee, and be a sharer in thy grief.

Peerless Virgin of virgins! be not displeased at my pray- er: make me weep with thee.

Make me to carry the death of Jesus; make me a partner of his Passion, an adorer of his wounds.

Make me to be wounded with his wounds; make me to be inebriated with the cross and the Blood of thy Son.

And that I may not suffer the eternal flames, let me be defended by thee, O Virgin, on the day of judgment!

O Jesus! when my hour of death comes, let me, by thy Mothers aid, come to my crown of victory.

And when my body dies, oh! give to my soul the re- ward of heaven's glory.

Amen.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii
secundum Joannem.

In illo tempore: Stabant juxtd crucem Jesu Mater ejus, et soror Matris ejus Maria Cleoph®, et Maria Magdalene. Cum vidisset ergo Jesus Matrem, et dis- cipulum stantem quem dili- gebat, dicit Matri sum: Mulier, ecce filius tuus. Deinde dicit discipulo: Ecce mater tua. Et ex illa hora

Sequel of the holy Gospel ac- cording to John. Ch. ziz.

At that time, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his Mother, and his Mother's sister Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Mag- dalene. When Jesus there- fore had seen his Mother and the disciple standing, whom he loved, he saith to his Mo- ther, Woman, behold thy Son. After that he saith to the disciple, Behold thy Mother.

15

--- PAGE 227 --- 216 1IME AFTER PENTECOST

accepit eam discipulus in And from that hour the dis- sua. ciple took her to his own.

* Woman, behold thy son.—My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ Such are the words of Jesus on the cross. Has He, then, no longer a Father in heaven, a Mother on earth? Oh! mystery of jus- tice, and still more of love! God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son for it, so far as to lay upon Him, instead of upon sinful men, the curse our sins deserved ; and our Lady too, in her sublime union with the Father, did not spare, but offered in like manner for us all, this same Son of her virginity. If on this head we belong to the eternal Father, we belong henceforth to Mary also; each has bought us at a great price: the exchange of an only Son for sons of adoption.

It is at the foot of the cross that our Lady truly became the Queen of mercy. At the foot of the altar, where the renewal of the great Sacrifice is preparing, let us commend ourselves to her omnipo- tent influence over the Heart of her divine Son.

OFFERTORY

Recordare, Virgo Mater Be mindful, O Virgin Mo- Dei, dum steteris in con- ther of God, when thou stand- spectu Domini, ut loquaris estin the sight of the Lord, pro nobis bona, et ut aver- to speak good things for us, tat indignationem suam a that he may turn away his nobis. anger from us.

How many holy souls, in the course of , have come to keep faithful company with the Mother of sorrows! Their intercession united with Mary's is a strength to the Church; and we hope to obtain Fwd the effect of the merits of our Saviour’s d

--- PAGE 228 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS 217

SECRET

Offerimus tibi preces et We offer to thee prayers hostias, Domine Jesu Chri- and sacrifices, O Lord Jesus
ste, humiliter supplicantes: Christ, humbly beseeching, ut, qui transfixionem dul- that we who pray in remem- cissimi spiritus beate Marie brance of the transfixion of Matris tue precibus recen- the most sweet soul of blessed semus; suo, suorumque sub Mary thy Mother, by the mul- crucesanctorum consortium, tiplied and pious intercession multiplicato piissimo inter- of her and her holy compani- ventu, meritis mortis tug, ons under the cross, may have meritum cum beatis habea- a reward with the blessed, by mus. Qui vivis. the merits of thy death. Who

livest.

A commemoration is then made of the Sunday.

The Preface is the same as on September 8, page 165, except that for * in Nativitate, on the Nativity,' is substituted ‘in Transfizione, on the Transfixion’ of the blessed Mary ever Virgin.

So great, it has been said, was Mary's grief on Calvary, that, had it been divided among all creatures capable of suffering, it would have caused them all to die instantly.! It was our Lady's wonderful peace, maintained by perfect acquiescence and the total abandonment of her whole being to God, that alone was able to sustain in her the Tite which the Holy Ghost was preserving for the Church's sake. May our participation in the sacred mysteries give us that peace of God which passeth all understanding, and which keepeth minds and hearts in Christ Jesus !

COMMUNION

B. V. in gloria, art 11. 0. 2.

--- PAGE 229 --- 218

sub cruce Domini.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

martydom beneath the cross

of our Lord.

As the Postcommunion points out, the loving memory of our Mother's sorrows will powerfully assist us to find all good things in the holy Sacrifice

of the altar.

POSTCOMMUNION

Sacrificia, quse sumpsi- mus, Domine Jesu Christe,
transfixionem Matris tue et Virginis devote celebran- tes, nobis impetrent apud clementiam tuam omnis boni salutaris effectum. Qui vivis.

O Lord Jesus Christ, may the sacrifices of which we have partaken, in the devout cele- bration of the transfixion of thy Virgin Mother, obtain for us of thy clemeucy the effect of every salutary good. Who livest &c.

The Postcommunion of the occurring Bunday is added, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of the Mass instead of the usual passage from St. John.

VESPERS

The first and fifth antiphons of Vespers are taken from the Canticle of canticles, the three intermediate ones from Isaias, and that of the Magnificat from
Job; the capitulum is from Jeremias.

1, ANT. Quo abiit dile- ctus tuus, o pulcherrima mulierum ? quo declinavit dilectus tuus, et quseremus eum tecum?

1. ANT. Whither is thy be- loved gone, O thou most beau- tiful among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?

Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.

2. ANT. Recedite a me, amare fliebo, nolite incum- bere, ut consolemini me.

2. ANT. Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me.

Ps, Laudate pueri, page 41.

--- PAGE 230 --- FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS 219

3. ANT. Non est ei spe- 3. ANT. There is no beauty cies, neque decor, et vidi- in him, nor comeliness: and mus eum, et non erat ad- we have seen him, and there spectus. was no sightliness.

Ps. Liotatus sum, page 152.

4. ANT. A planta pedis 4. Aw. From the soie of usque ad verticem capitis, the foot unto the top of the non est in eo sanitas. head, there is no soundness in

him.

Ps. Nisi Dominus, page 153.

5. ANT. Fulcite me flori- 5. AwT. Stay me up with bus, stipate me malis, quia flowers, compass me about amore langueo. with apples, because I lan-

guish with love.

Ps. Lauda Jerusalem, page 154.

CAPITULUM

Cui comparabo te? vel To what shall I compare cui assimilabo te filia Jeru- thee? or to what shall I liken salem? cui exzquabo te, et thee, O daughter of Jerusa- consolabor te virgo filia Si- lem? to what shall I equal on? magna est velut mare thee, that I may comfort thee,

contritio tua. O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction. HYMN O quot undis lacrymarum, Oh! in what floods of tears, Quo dolore volvitur, in what an abyss of sorrow Luctuosa de cruento is she whelmed, that Virgin Dum, revulsum stipite, Mother, as mourning she be- Cernit ulnis incubantem holds her Son taken down Virgo Mater Filium! from the blood-stained tree and laid in her arms! Os suave, mite pectus, That lovely mouth, that Et latus dulcissimum, gentle breast, that side most

Dexteramque vulneratam, ^ sweet; that right hand all

--- PAGE 231 --- 220

Et sinistram sauciam, Et rubras cruore plantas Agra tingit lacrymis.

Centiesque milliesque Stringit arctis nexibus Pectus illud, et lacertos, Illa figit vulnera:

Sicque tota colliquescit In doloris osculis.

Eia Mater, obsecramus Per tuas has lacrymas, Filiique triste funus, Vulnerumque purpuram, Hunc tui cordis dolorem Conde nostris cordibus.

Esto Patri, Filioque,

Et cogvo Flamini,

Esto summa Trinitati Sempiterna gloria,

Et perennis laus, honorque Hoc, et omni szculo.

Amen.

Y. Regina martyrum, ora pro nobis.

Ej. Que juxta crucem Jesu constitisti.

ANTIPHON OF

Oppressit me dolor, et fa- cies mea intumuit a fletu, et palpebre mee caligaverunt.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

pierced, and the left band wounded too, those feet all rosy with his blood: the deso- late Mother bathes them with her tears.

A hundred and a thousand times she locks in loving em- brace that breast and those arms, and kisses their wounds; and thus she melts away in sorrowful caresses.

O Mother, we beseech thee, by these thy tears by the cruel death of thy Son, and by his empurpled wounds, plant deep in our hearts this anguish of thine own.

To the Father and to the Son and to the coequal Spirit, io the most high Trinity, be everlasting glory, unending praise and honour, now and for evermore.

Amen.

Y. Pray for us, O Queen of martyrs. Er. Who didst stand by the cross of Jesus.

THE MAGNIFICAT

My sorrow hath oppressed me, my face is swollen with NE, and my eyelids are

im.

The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass page 211. Then is made & commemoration of the Sunday.

--- PAGE 232 --- SEPTEMRER 16

SAINT CORNELIUS POPE AND MARTYR AND SAINT CYPRIAN BISHOI AND MARTYR

TurmE is a peculiar beauty in the meeting of these two saints upon the sacred cycle. Cyprian, in a famous dispute, was once opposed to the apostolic See: eternal Wisdom now offers him to the homage of the world, in company with one of the most illus- trious successors of St. Peter.

Cornelius was, by birth, of the highest nobility; witness his tomb, lately discovered in the family crypt, surrounded by the most honorable names in the patrician ranks. The elevation of a descendant of the Seipios to the sovereign pontificate linked the

ast grandeurs of ltome to her future greatness. Pectin, who ‘would more easily have suffered a com-

titor in his empire than a bishop in Rome,’? bad just issued the edict for the seventh general per- secution. But the Caesar bestowed upon the world's capital by a village of Pannonia, could not stay the destinies of the eternal city. Beside this bloodthirsty emperor, and others like him, whose fathers were known in the city only as slaves or conquered enemies, the true Roman, the descendant of the Cornelii, might be digi pre by his native simpli- city, by the calmness of his strength of soul, by the intrepid firmness belonging to his race, wherewith

! On the question of the validity of Baptism conferred by heretics, 3 Cyprian. Epist. x. ad Antonianum, ix.

(221)

--- PAGE 233 --- 222 TIME APTER PENTECOST

he first triumphed over the usurper, who was soon to surrender to the Goths on the borders of the Danube.! And yet, O holy Pontiff, thou art even

eater by the humility which Cyprian, thy illustrious friend, admired in thee, and by that * purity of thy virginal soul,” through which, according to him, thou didst become the elect of God and of His Christ.?

At thy side, how great is Cyprian himself! What & path of light is traced across the heavens of holy Church by this convert of the priest Ceecilius! In the. generosity of his soul, when once conquered to Christ, he relinquished honours and riches, his family inheri- tance, and the glory acquired in the field of eloquence. All marvelled to see in him, as his historian says, the harvest gathered before the seed was sown.! By a justifiable exception, he became a pontiff while yet a neophyte. During the ten years of his episcopate, all men, not only in Carthage and Africa, but in the whole world, had their eyes fixed upon him; the pagans crying: Cyprian to the lions! the Christians awaiting but his word of command in order to obey. Those ten years represent one of the most troubled periods of history. In the empire, anarchy was rife; the frontiers were the scene of repeated invasions; pestilence was raging everywhere: in the Church, a long peace, which had lulled men’s souls to sleep, was followed by the persecutions of Decius, Gallus, and Valerian. The first of these, suddenly burstin like a thunderstorm, caused the fall of many ; whic evil, in its turn, led to schisms, on account of the too great indulgence of some, and the excessive rigour of others, towards the lapsed. Who, then, was to teach repentance to the fallen,* the truth to the heretics, unity to the schismatics,’

1 Cyprian. Epist. x. ad dntonianum, viii. ix. 2 [5id. viii. 3 Pontius Diac. De vita et puss. Cypr. ii. * Cypr. De lapsis. 5 De unitate Lcclosia.

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and to the sons of God prayer and peace?! Who was to bring back the ik oec to the rules of a holy life?* Who was to turn back against the Gentiles their blasphemous sophisms?? Under the sword of death, who would speak of future happiness, and bring consolation to souls ?* Who would teach them mercy, patience,’ and the secret of changing the venom of envy into the sweetness of salvation?’ ‘Who would assist the martyrs to rise to the height of their divine vocation? o would uphold the confessors under torture, in prison, in exile? Who would preserve the survivors of martyrdom from the dangers of their regained liberty ?* :

Cyprian, ever ready, seemed in his incomparable calmness to defy the powers of earth and of hell. Never had a flock a surer hand to defend it under a sudden attack, and to put to flight the wild boar of the forest. And how proud the shepherd was of the dignity of that Christian family, which God had entrusted to his guidance and protection! Love for the Church was, so to say, the distinguishing feature of the bishop of Carthage. In his immortal letters to his * most brave and most happy brethren,” confessors of Christ, and the honour of the Church, he exclaims: * Oh! truly blessed is our mother the Church, whom the divine condescension has so honoured, who is made illustrious in our days by the glorious blood of the triumphant martyrs ; formerly white by the good works of our brethren, she is now adorned with purple from the veins of her heroes; among her flowers, neither roses nor lilies are wanting.'?

! De oratione Dominica. * De habitu virginis. 3 Lib. ad Deme- trianum and De idolorum vanitate. — * De mortalitate. — 5 De opere et eleemosynis. $ De bono patientve. .7 De zelo et livore. 8 De exhortatione martyrii and Epistole ud confessorcs. — ? Epist. viii. Ad martyres et confessores.

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Unfortunately this very love, this legitimate, though falsely applied, jealousy for the noble bride of our Saviour, led Cyprian to err on the serious question of the validity of heretical baptism. * The only one, he said, ‘alone possesses the keys, the power of the Spouse; we are defending her honour, when we repudiate the polluted water of the heretics.” He was forgetting that although, through our Lord’s merciful liberality, the most indispensable of the Sacraments does not lose its virtue when administered by a stranger, or even by an enemy of the Church, nevertheless it derives its fecundity, even then, from and through the bride; being valid only through union with what she herself does. How true it is, that neither holiness nor learning confers upon man that gift of infallibility, which was promised by our Lord to none but the successor of St. Peter. It was, perhaps, as a demonstration of this truth, that God suffered this passing cloud to darken so lofty an intellect as Cyprian’s. The danger could not be serious, or the error lasting, in one whose ruling thought is expressed in these words: * He that keeps not the unity of the Church, does he think to keep the faith? He that abandons the See of Peter whereon the Church is founded, can he flatter himself that he is still in the Church ?'?

Great in his life, Cyprian was still greater in death. Valerian had gre orders for the extermination of the principal clergy; and in Rome, Sixtus II, fol- lowed by Laurence, had led the way to martyrdom. Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, was then holding his assizes at Utica, and commanded Thascius Cyprian to be brought before him. But the bishop would not allow ‘the honour of his Church to be mutilated,’ by dying at a distance from his episcopal

1 Epist. ad Jubaianum, i. xi. ? De unitate Ecclesie, iv.

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oity. He therefore waited till the proconsul had returned to Carthage, and then delivered himself up by making a publio entrance into the town.

In the house which served for a few hours as his prison, Uyprian, calm and unmoved, gathered his friends and family for the last time round his table. The Christians hastened from all parts to spend the night with their pastor and father. "Thus, while he yet lived, they kept the first, vigil of his future feast. When, in the morning, he was led before the pro- consul, they offered him an arm-chair draped like a bishop's seat. It was indeed the beginning of an episcopal function, the pontiff’s own peculiar office being to give his life for the Church, in union with the eternal High-Priest. The interrogatory was short, for there was no hope of shaking his constanoy ; and the judge pronounced sentence that Thasoius Cyprian must die by the sword. On the way to the place of execution, the soldiers formed a guard of honour to the bishop, who advanced calmly, sur- rounded by his clergy as on days of solemnity. Deep emotion stirred the immense crowd of friends and enemies who had assembled to assist at the sacrifice. The hour had come. The pontiff prayed prostrate upon the ground ; then rising, he ordered twenty-five gold pieces to be given to the executioner, and, taking off his tunic, handed it to the deacons. He himself tied the bandage over his eyes; a priest, assisted by a subdeacon, bound his hands; while the people spread linen cloths around him to receive his blood. Not until the bishop himself had given the word of command, did the trembling exeoutioner lower his sword. In the evening, the faithful came with torches and with hymns to bury Cyprian. It was September 14, in the year 258.

! Epist. ultima, lxxxiii. 4d clerum et plebem.

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Let us read first the lines consecrated by the holy liturgy to the Bishop of Rome.

Cornelius Romanus, Gallo et Volusiano imperatoribus pontificatum gerens, cum Lucina, femina sanctissima, corpora apostolorum Petri et Pauli e catacumbis in op- portuniorem locum transtu- lit: ac Pauli corpus Lucina in suo predio via Ostiensi, prope eum locum, ubi fuerat gladio percussus, collocavit: Cornelius principis aposto- lorum corpus non longe inde, ubi crucifixus fuerat, repo- suit. Quod cum ad impera- tores delatum esset, et Pon- tifice auctore multos fieri Christianos, mittitur is in exilium ad Centum cellas: ubi eum sanctus Cyprianus episcopus Carthaginensis per litteras est consolatus.

Hoc autem christians ca- ritatis officium cum frequens alter alteri persolveret, de- teriorem in partem id accipi- entes imperatores, accersi- tum Romam Cornelium, tamquam de majestate reum plumbatis cedi, raptumque ad Martis simulacrum ei sacrificare jubent. Quam impietatem cum ille detesta- retur, ei caput abscissum est decimo octavo calendas Octobris: cujus corpus beata Lucina clericis adjutoribus

Cornelius, a Roman by birth, was sovereign Pontiff during the reign of the emperors Gallus and Volusianus. In con- cert with a holy lady named Lucina, he translated the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul from the catacombs to a more honourable resting place. St. Paul's body was entombed by Lucina on an estate of hers on the Ostian Way, close to the spot where he had been be- headed; while Cornelius laid the body of the Prince of the apostles near the place of his crucifixion. When this became known to the emperors, and they were moreover informed that, by the advice of the Pon- tiff, many became Christians, Cornelius was exiled to Cen- iumcelle, where Cyprian, bis- hop of Carthage, wrote to him io console him.

The frequency of this Chris- tian and charitable intercourse between the two saints gave great displeasure to the em- perors; and accordingly, Cor- nelius was summoned to Rome, : where, as if guilty of treason, he was beaten with scourges tipped with lead. He was next dragged before an image of Mars, and commanded to sacri- fice to it; but indignantly re- fusing to commit such an act of impiety, he was beheaded on the eighteenth of the Calends

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humavit in arenaria pradii sui prope ccemeterium Calli- sti. Vixit in pontificatu annos circiter duos.

227

of October. The blessed Lu- cina, aided by some clerics, buried his body in a sandpit on her estate, near to the cemetery of Callixtus. His pontificate lasted about two years.

The Church borrows from St. Jerome her eulogy

on St. Cyprian.

Ex libro sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri de Scriptori- bus ecclesiasticis.

Cyprianus Afer, primum gloriose rhetoricam docuit: exinde, suadente presbytero Cecilio, a quo et cogno- mentum sortitus est, Chri- tianus factus, omnem sub- stantiam suam pauperibus erogavit. Ac post non mul- ium temporis electus in presbyterum, etiam episco- pus Carthaginensis consti- tutus est. Hujus ingenii superfluum est indicem tex- ere, cum sole clariora sint ejus opera. Passus est sub Valeriano et Gallieno prin- cipibus, persecutione octava, eodem die quo Roma Cor- nelius, sed non eodem anno.

From the book of St. Jerome, priest, on Ecclesiastical writers.

Cyprian was a native of Af- rica, and at first taught rhe- torie there with great ap- plause. The priest Cacilius, from whom he adopted his surname, having persuaded him to become a Christian. he thereupon distributed all his goods among the poor. Not long afterwards, having been made priest, he was chosen bishop of Carthage. It would be useless to enlarge upon his genius, since his works out- shine the sun. He suffered under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, in the eighth persecution, on the same day as Cornelius was martyred at Rome, but not in the same year.

Holy Pontiffs, united now in glory as you once

were by friendship and in martyrdom, preserve with- in us the fruit of your example and doctrine. Your life teaches us to despise honours and fortune for Christ’s sake, and to give to the Church all our de- votedness, of which the world is unworthy. May

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this be understood by those countless descendants of noble races, who are led astray by a misguided society. May they learn from you gloriously to confound the impious conspiracy that seeks to exterminate them in shameful oblivion and enforced idleness. If their fathers deserved well of mankind, they themselves may now enter upon a higher career of usefulness, where decadence is unknown, and the fruit once pro- duced is everlasting. Remind the lowly as well as the great in the city of God, that peace and war alike have flowers to orown the soldier of Christ: the white wreath of good works is offered to those who cannot aspire to the rosy diadem of martyrdom.!

Watch, O Dosen over thy Church of Carthage, now at length renewing her youth. And do thou, O Cornelius, restore to Rome her glorious past. Put down the foreigner from her throne; for the mistress of the world must obey no ruler but the Vicar of the King of kings. May her speedy de- liverance be the signal to her people for a complete renovation, which cannot now be far distant, unless the end of the world be approaching.

The fourth (Ecumenical Council was held at Chal- eedon in the church of St. Euphemia; beside the tomb of this holy virgin, the impious Eutyches was condemned, and the twofold nature of the God-Man was vindicated. The ‘great martyr’ seems to have shown a predilection for the study of sacred dootrine: the faculty of pc d in Paris chose her for its special patroness, and the ancient Sorbonne treasured with singular veneration a notable portion of her blessed relics. Let us recommend ourselves to her

1 Cypr. Epist, viii. Ad martyres ot confessores.

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prayers, and to those of the holy widow Lucy and the noble Geminian, whom the Church associates

with her.

PRAYER

Presta, Domine, precibus
nostris cum exsultatione proventum: ut sanctorum martyrum Euphemizm, Lu- ci@ et Geminiani, quorum diem passionis annua devo- tione recolimus, etiam fidei

Grant, O Lord, a joyful issue to our prayers, that we may imitate the constancy in faith of the holy martyrs Eu- phemia, Lucy, and Geminian, the day of whose sufferings we commemorate with annual

constantiam — subsequamur.

devotion. Through. Per Dominum.

SEPTEMBER 17

THE STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCS

Tre great patriarch of Assisi will soon appear a second time in the holy liturgy, and we shall praise God for the marvels wrought in him by divine grace. The subject of to-day’s feast, while a personal glory to St. Francis, is of greater importance for its mys- tical signification.

The Man-God still lives in the Church by the continual reproduction of His mysteries in this His bride, making her a faithful copy of Himself. In the thirteenth century, while the charity of the many had grown cold, the divine fire burned with redoubled ardour in the hearts of a chosen few. It was the hour of the Church’s passion ; the beginning of that

! Collect of the feast.

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series of social defections, with their train of denials, treasons, and derisions, which ended in the proscrip- tion we now witness. The cross had been exalted before the eyes of the world: the bride was now to be nailed thereto with her divine Spouse, after having stood with Him in the pretorium exposed to the insults and blows of the multitude.

Like an artist selecting a precious marble, the holy Spirit chose the flesh of the Assisian seraph as the medium for the expression of His divine thought. He thereby manifested to the world the special direction He intended to give to the sanctity of souls ; He offered to heaven a first and complete model of the new work He was meditating, viz: the perfect union, upon the very cross, of the mystical body with ite divine Head. Francis was the first to be chosen for this honour: but others were to follow; and hence- forward, here and there through the world, the stig- mata of our blessed Lord will ever be visible in the Church.

Let us read in this light the admirable history of the event, composed by the seraphic doctor in honour of his holy father St. Francis.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Fidelis revera famulus et minister Christi Franciscus, biennio antequam spiritum redderet colo, cum in loco excelso seorsum, qui mons Alvernie dicitur, quadra- genarium ad honorem Arch- angeli Michaelis jejunium inchoasset, superna contcm- plationis dulcedine abun- dantius solito superfusus, ac coelestium desideriorum ardentiori flamma succen- sus, supernarum coepit im- Two years before the faith- ful servant and minister of Christ, Francis, gave up his spirit to God, he retired alone into a high place, which is called Mount Alvernia, and began a forty days' fast in houour of the Archangel St. Michael The sweetness of heavenly contemplation was poured out on him more abun- dantly than usual, till, burn- ing with the flame of celestial desires, he began to feel an

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missionum cumulatius do- na sentire. Dum igitur se- raphicis desideriorum ardo- ribus sursum ageretur in Deum, et affectus compas. siva teneritudine in eum transformaretur, cui ex ca- ritate nimia crucifigi com- placuit: quodam mane cir- ca festum Exaltationis san- ctw crucis, in latere montis orans, vidit. quasi speciem unius Seraphim sex alas tam fulgidas quam ignitas habentem de coelorum sub- limitate descendere: qui vo- latu celerrimo ad aeris lo- cum viro Dei propinquum perveniens, non solum ala- tus, sed et crucifixus appa- ruit: manus quidem et pe- des habens extensos, et cru- ci affixos, alas vero sic miro modo hinc inde dispositas, ut duas super caput erige- ret, duas ad volandum ex- tenderet, duabus vero reli- quis totum corpus circum- plectendo velaret. Hoc vi- dens, vehementer obstupuit, mixtumque dolori gaudium mens ejus incurrit, dum et in gratioso ejus aspectu sibi tam mirabiliter quam fani- liariter apparentis excessi- vam quamdam concipiebat leetitiam, et dira conspecta crucis affixio ipsius animam compassivi «doloris gladio pertransivit.

Intellexit quidem illo do- cente interius, qui et appa-

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increasing overflow of these divine favours. While the seraphic ardour of his desires thus raised him up to God, and the tenderness of his love and compassion was trans- forming him into Christ the crucified Victim of excessive love; one morning about the feast of the Exaltation of holy cross, as he was praying on the mountain-side, he saw what appeared to be a Seraph, with six shining and fiery wings, coming down from heaven. The vision flew swift- ly through the air and ap- proached the man of God, who then perceived that it was not only winged, but also cru- cified; for the hands and feet were stretched out and fasten- ed to a cross; while the wings were arranged in a wondrous manner, two being raised above the head, two out- stretched in flight, and the re- maining two crossed over and veiling the whole body. As he gazed, Francis was much astonished, and his soul was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. The gracious aspect of him, who appeared in so wonderful and loving a man- ner, rejoiced him exceedingly, while the sight of his cruel crucifixion pierced his heart with a sword of sorrowing compassion.

He, who appeared outward- ly to Francis, taught him in-

16

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rebat exterius: quod licet passionis infirmitas cum im- mortalitate spiritus sera- phici nullatenus conveniret, ideo tamen hujusmodi visio suis fuerat presentata con- spectibus; ut amicus ipse Christi prenosceret, se non per martyrium carnis, sed per incendium mentis totum in Christi Jesu crucifixi ex- pressam similitudinem trans- formandum. Disparens ita- que visio post arcanum ac familiare colloquium men- tem ipsius seraphico interius inflammavit ardore; carnem vero Crucifixo conformi ex- terius insignivit effigie, tam- quam si ad ignis liquefacti- vam virtutem preambulam sigillativa quedam esset im- pressio subsecuta. Statim namque in manibus et pedi- bus ejus apparere coeperunt signa clavorum, ipsorum ca- pitibus in inferiori parte manuum et superiori pedum apparentibus, et eorum acu- minibus exsistentibus ex ad- verso. Dextrum qnoque la- tus quasi lancea transfixum rubra cicatrice obductum erat: quod ssepe sanguinem sacrum effundens, tunicam et femoralia respergebat. Postquam igitur novus homo Franciscus novo et stupendo miraculo claruit, cum singulari privilegio re- trouctis s:eculis non concesso jnsignitus apparuit, sacris

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

wardly that, although weak- ness and suffering are incom- patible with the immortal life of a seraph, yet this vision had been shown to him to the end that he, Christ's lover, might learn how his whole being was to be transformed into a living image of Christ crucified, not by martyrdom of the flesh, but by the burn- ing ardour of his soul. After a mysterious and familiar col- loquy, the vision disappeared, leaving the saint's mind burn- ing with seraphic ardour, and his flesh impressed with an exact image of the Crucified, as though, after the melting power of that fire, it had next been stamped with a seal. For immediately the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, their heads showing in the palms of his hands and the upper part of his feet, and their points visible on the other side. "There was also a red scar on his right side, as if'it had been wounded by a lance, and from which blood often flowed staining his tunic and underclothing.

Francis, now a new man, honoured by this new and amazing miracle, and, by a hitherto unheard of privilege, adorned with the sacred stig- mata, came down from the

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videlicet stigmatibus deco- ratus, descendit de monte secum ferens Crucifixi effi- giem, non in tabulis lapideis vel ligneis manu figuratam artificis, sed in carneis mem- bris descriptam digito Dei vivi: quoniam sacramentum regis seraphicus vir abscon- dere bonum esse optime norat, secreti regalis con- scius, signacula illa sacra pro viribus occultabat. Ve- rum quia Dei est ad glori- am suam magna revelare, que facit Dominus ipse, qui
signacula illa secrete im- presserat, miracula qusedam aperte per ipsa monstravit, ut illorum occulta et mira vis stigmatum, manifesta pateret claritate signorum. Porro rem admirabilem ac tantopere testatam, atque in pontificiis diplomatibus prze- cipuis laudibus et favoribus exaltatam, Benedictus Papa undecimus anniversaria so- lemnitate celebrari voluit: quam postea Paulus quintus Pontifex maximus, ut corda fidelium in Christi crucifixi accenderentur amorem, ad universam Ecclesiam pro- pagavit.

233

mountain bearing with him the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but en- graved upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. The seraphic man well knew that it is good to hide the secret of the king; wherefore, having been thus admitted into his king's confidence, he strove, as far as in him lay, to conceal the sacred marks. But it be- longs to God to reveal the great things which he himself has done; and hence, after impres- sing those signs upon Francisin secret, he publicly worked mi- racles by means of them, re- vealing the hidden and won- drous power of the stigmata by the signs wrought through them. Pope Benedict XI willed that this wonderful event, which is so well attest- ed and in pontifical diplomas has been honoured with the greatest praises and favours, should be celebrated by a yearly solemnity. Afterwards, Pope Paul V, wishing the hearts of all the faithful to be enkindled with the love of Christ crucified, extended the feast to the whole Church.

OF SAINT FRANCIS

Standard-bearer of Christ and of His Church, we would fain, with the apostle and with thee, glory in

nothing save the cross

of our Lord Jesus. We

would fain bear in our souls the sacred stigmata, which adorned thy holy body. To him whose whole ambition is to return love for love, every suffering is

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a gain, persecution has no terrors; for the effect of persecutions and sufferings is to assimilate him, together with his mother the Church, to Christ persecuted, scourged, and crucified.

It is with our whole hearts that we pray, with the Church: * O Lord Jesus Christ, who, when the world was growing cold, didst renew the sacred marks of Thy Passion in the flesh of the most blessed Francis, to inflame our hearts with the fire of Thy love; mercifully grant, that by his merits and prayers we may always carry the cross, and bring forth worth fruits of penance. Who livest and reignest wit God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.'!

At Bingen, in the diocese of Mayence, Saint Hilde- garde, virgin. Let us salute the ‘great prophetess of the new Testament.'? What St. Banaras iuflu- ence over his contemporaries was in the first half of the twelfth century, that in the second half was Hildegarde’s, when the humble virgin became the oracle of popes and emperors, of princes and prelates. Multitudes from far and near flocked to Mount St. Rupert, where the doubts of ordinary life were solved, and the questions of doctors answered. At length, by God’s command, Hildegarde went forth from her monastery to administer to all alike, monks, clerics, and laymen, the word of correction and salvation.

The Spirit indeed breatheth where He will To the massy pillars that support His royal palace, God preferred the poor little feather floating in the air, and blown about, at Ilis pleasure, hither and thither

! Collect of the feast. ? Martyrology on this day . 3 Vita 8. Gerlaci coeva. * St. John iii. 8.

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in the light! In spite of labours, sicknesses, and trials, the holy abbess lived to the advanced age of eighty-two, ‘in the shadow of the living light.’? Her precious relics are now at Eibingen. The writings handed down to us from the pen of this illiterate virgin,? are a series of sublime visions, embracing the whole range of contemporary science, physical and theological, from the creation of the world to its final consummation. May Hildegarde deign to send us an interpreter of her works and an historian of her life such as they merit !

PRAYER

Deus, qui beatam Hilde- O God, who didst adorn thy gardem virginem tuam, do- blessed virgin Hildegarde with nis ccelestibus decorasti: heavenly gifts: grant, we be- tribue, quesumus: ut ejus seech thee, that walking in vestigiis et documentis in- her footsteps and according to sistentes, a przsentis hujus her teachings, we may deserve seculi caligine ad lucem to pass from the darkness of tuam delectabilem transire this world into thy lovely light. mereamur. Per Dominum. Through our Lord.

! Hildegard. Epist. ad Eugenium Pontificem. ? Guibert. Vita Hildegardis, iv. 3 Scivias ; Lib. Vite meritorum; Lib. Divinorum operum ; etc.

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SEPTEMBER 18

CONFESSOR

‘WHILE, in France, the rising spirit of Jansenism was driving God from the hearts of the people, a humble son of St. Francis, in southern Italy, was showing how easily love may span the distance between earth and heaven. ‘ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself,'! said our Lord ; and time has proved it to bethe most universal of His prophecies. On the feast of the holy cross, we wit- nessed its truth, even in the domain of social and political claims. We shall experience it in our very bodies on the great day, when we shall be taken up in the olouds to meet Christ, into the air? But Joseph of Cupertino had experience of it without waiting for the resurrection: innumerable witnesses have borne testimony to his life of continual ecstasies, wherein he was frequently seen raised high in the air. And these facts took place in what men are pleased to call the noonday of history.

Let us read the account of him given by holy Church.

Josephus a Cupertino, op- pido in Salentinis dicecesis Neritonensis, anno reparate salutis millesimo sexcen- tesimo tertio, piis ibidem parentibus ortus, Deique amore preeventus, pueritiam

1 St. John xii. 32. ,

Joseph was born of pious pa- rents at Cupertino, a town of the Salentines in the diocese of Nardo, in the year of sal. vation one thousand six hun-

.dred and three. Prevented

with the love of God, he spent ? 1 Thess, iv. 16.

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atque adolescentiam summa cum simplicitate morumque innocentia transegit. A diu- turno molestoque morbo patientissime tolerato, Dei- para Virginis ope liberatus, se totum pietatis operibus &c excolendis virtutibus de- dit: utque Deo ad majora vocanti se intimius conjun- geret, Ordini seraphico no- men dare constituit. Post varios eventus voti tandem compos factus, apud Mino- res Conventuales in coeno- bio Cryptule, inter laicos primum ob litterarum im- peritiam, deinde inter cleri- cos divina dispositione con- numeratus est. Sacerdotio post solemnia vota initiatus, perfectius sibi vite institu- tum proposuit. Quamobrem mundanis quibuscumque af- fectibus, terrenisque rebus pene ad vitam necessariis il- lico a se abdicatis, ciliciis, flagellis, catenis, omni de- mum asperitatum ac poena- rum genere corpus afflixit: spiritum vero sancte ora- tionis altissimeque contem- plationis assiduitate dulciter enutrivit. Hinc factum est, ut caritas Dei, que jam erat in ejus corde a prima setate diffusa, miro planeque sin- gulari modo in dies coru- scaverit.

237

his boyhood and youth in the greatest simplicity and inno- cence. The Virgin Mother of God delivered him from a long and painful malady, which he had borne with the greatest patience; whereupon he de- voted himself entirely to works of piety and the practice of virtue. But God called him to something higher; and in order to attain to closer union with him, Joseph determined to enter the Seraphic Order. After several trials he obtained his desire, and was admitted among the Minor Conventuals in the convent called Grotella, first asa lay-brother, on account of his lack of learning; but afterwards, God so disposing, he was raised to the rank of a cleric. After making his sol- emn vows he was ordained priest, and began a new life of greater perfection. Utterly re- nouncing all earthly affections and everything of this world almost to the very necessaries of life, he afflicted his body with hairshirts, chains, disci- plines, and every kind of aus- terity and penance; while he assiduously nourished his spirit with the sweetness of holy prayer, and the highest con- templation. By this means, the love of God, which had been poured out in his heart from his childhood, daily in- creased in & most wonderful manner.

--- PAGE 249 --- 238

Eluxit preecipue ardentis- sima ejus caritas in extasi- bus ad Deum suavissimis, stupendisque raptibus, qui- bus frequenter afficiebatur. Mirum autem, quod aliena- to a sensibus animo statim ab extasi eum revocabat sola obedientia. Hanc quippe virtutem eximio studio pro- sequebatur, dicere solitus, se ab ea veluti cecum cir- cumduci, et mori potius velle quam non obedire. Pauper- tatem vero seraphici patri- arche ita smulatus est, ut morti proximus prelato suo asserere vere potuerit, se nihil habere, quod more reli- giosorum resignaret. Itaque mundo sibique mortuus, vitam Jesu manifestabat in carne sua, quiz dum in ali- quibus ex turpitudine ob- sccenum flagitium sentiebat, prodigiosum de se efflabat odorem, indicium nitidissi- meeillius puritatis, quam, im- mundo spiritu vehementis- simis tentationibus frustra obnubilare diu conante, ser- vavit illesam, tum arcta sensuum custodia, tum jugi corporis maceratione; tum denique speciali protectione purissim:s — Virginis Mariz, quam matrem suam appellare consuevit, ac veluti Matrem dulcissimam intimo cordis affectu venerebatur, eamque ab aliis venerari exoptabat, ut cum ejusdem patrocinio, TIME AFTER PRNTECOST

His burning charity shone forth most remarkably in the sweet ecstasies which raised his soul to God, and the won- derful raptures he frequently experienced. Yet, marvellous io tell, however rapt he was in God, obedience would iia- mediately recall him to the use of his senses. He was exceed- ingly zealous in the practice of obedience; and used to say that he was led by it like a blind man, and that he would rather die than disobey. He emulated the poverty of the seraphic patriarch to such a degree, that on his deathbed he could truthfully tell his su- perior he had nothing which, according to custom, he could relinquish. Thus dead to the world and to himself Joseph showed forth in his flesh the life of Jesus. While in others he perceived the vice of im- purity by an evil odour, his own body exhaled a most sweet fragrance, a sign of the spot- less purity which he preserved unsullied in spite of long and violent temptations from the devil. This victory he gained by strict custody of his senses, by continual mortification of the body, and especially by the protection of the most pure Virgin Mary, whom he called his Mother, and whom he ve- nerated with tenderest affec- tion as the sweetest of mothers, desiring to see her venerated

--- PAGE 250 --- SAINT JOSEPH CUPERTINO

sicut ipse aiebat, omnia bona consequerentur.

Hsc beati Josephi sollici- tudo a sua erga proximos caritate prodibat: tanto enim animarum zelo exardebat, ut omnium salutem modisomni- bus instantissime procura- ret. Extendens pariter cari- tatem suam in proximum sive pauperem, sive infir- mum, sive quacumque alia tribulatione vexatum, quan- tum in ipso erat, illum re- creabat. Nec alieni erant ab ejus caritate, qui objurgati- onibus, probris, omnisque generis injuriis ipsum appe- terent; nam eadem patientia, mansuetudine, vultusque hi- laritate talia excipiebat, qua iot inter ac tantas vicissi- tudines resplenduit, dum vel moderatorum Ordinis, vel sacr:e Inquisitionis jussu hac illac errare versarique coa- ctus est. Quamquam vero populi non solum, sed viri principes eximiam ejus san- ctitatem et superna chari- smata admirarentur, ea ni- hilominus erat bumilitate, ut magnum se peccatorem reputans Deum enixe de- precaretur, ut sua ab eo il- lustria dona removeret, ho- mines vero exoraret, ut in eum locum mortuum ejus corpus injicerent, ubi me- moria sui esset, prorsus ob- litterata. At Deus, qui po-
nit humiles in sublime, qui-

239

by others, that they might, said he, together with her pa- tronage gain all good things. Blessed Joseph's solicitude in this respect sprang from his love for his neighbour, for he was consumed with zeal for souls, urging him to seek the salvation of all. His love em- braced the poor, the sick, and all in affliction, whom he com- forted as far as lay in his pow- er, not excluding those who pursued him with reproaches and insults, and every kind of injury. He bore all this with the same patience, sweetness, and cheerfulness of counte- nance as were remarked in him when he was obliged fre- quently to change his resi- dence, by the command of the superiors of his Order, or of the holy Inquisition. People and princes admired his won- derful holiness and heavenly gifts; yet, such was his hu- mility, that, thinking himself a great sinner, he earnestly besought God to remove from him his admirable gifts: while he begged men ‘to cast his body after death in a place where his memory might ut- terly perish. But God, who exalts the humble, and who had richly adorned his servant during life with heavenly wis- dom, prophecy, the reading of hearts, the grace of healing, and other gifts, also rendered his death precious and his se- pulchre glorious. Joseph died

--- PAGE 251 --- 240

que servum suum, dum vi- veret, ccelesti sapientia, pro- phetia, cordium perscruta- tione, curationum gratia, ceterisque donis cumulatis- sime exornaverat, ejus quo- que mortem iis, quibus ipse antea preedixerat, loco ac tempore, anno statis sue sexagesimo primo, Auximi in Piceno pretiosam reddi- dit, sepulchrumque glorio- sum. Illum denique etiam

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

at the place and time he had foretold, namely, at Osimo in Picenum, in the sixty-first year of his age. He was fa- mous for miracles after his death; and was enrolled among the blessed by Benedict XIV and among the saints by Cle- ment XIII. Clement XIV, who was of the same Order, extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

post obitum miraculis coru- scantem Benedictus quar- tusdecimus beatorum, Cle- mens tertiusdecimus sancto- rum fastis adscripsit. Ejus autem Ofticium et Missam Clemens quartusdecimus ejusdem Ordinis ad univer- sam Ecclesiam extendit.

While praising God for the marvellous gifts He bestowed on thee, we acknowledge that thy virtues were yet more wonderful. Otherwise thy ecstasies would be regarded with suspicion by the Church, who usually witholds her judgment until long after the world has begun to admire and applaud. Obedience, patience, and charity, increasing under trial, were in- contestable guarantees for the divine authorship of these saryés. which the enemy is sometimes permit- ted to mimic to a certain extent. Satan may raise a Simon Magus into the air: he cannot make a humble man. O worthy son of the seraph of Assisi, may we, after thy example, be raised up, not into the air, but into those regions of true light, where far above the earth and its passions, our life, like thine, may be hidden with Christ in God!!

! Collect and proper antiphons of the feast. Col. iii, 3,

--- PAGE 252 --- SEPTEMBER 19

SAINT JANUARIUS BISHOP AND MARTYR AND HIS COMPANIONS MARTYRS

JawvARIUS is ever preaching the Gospel to every oreature; for his miraculous pee perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples; there they will behold the martyr's blood, when placed near his head which was out off sixteen hun- dred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. No; miracles are not lacking in the Church at the present day. True, God cannot subject Himself to the fanciful require- ments of those proud men, who would dictate to Him the conditions of the prodigies they must needs wit- ness ere they will bow before His infinite Majesty. Nevertheless, His intervention in interrupting the laws of nature framed by Him and by Him alone to be suspended, has never yet failed the man of good faith in any period of history. At present there is less dearth than ever of such manifestations.

The following is the legend concerning St. Janu- arius and the sharers in his glorious martyrdom.

Januarius, Beneventi epi- During the persecution of scopus, Diocletiano et Maxi- the Christians underDiocletian miano in christianos ssevi- and Maximian, Januarius, bi- entibus, ad Timotheum shop of Beneventum, was Campanie presidem ob brought before Timothy, pre- christiansfideiprofessionem sidentof Campania, at Nola, for Nolam perducitur. Ibiejus the profession of the Christian constantia varie tentata, in faith. There his constancy

(241)

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ardentem fornacem conje- ctus, ita illeesus evasit, ut ne vestimentum aut capillum quidem flamma violaverit. Hinc prsses accensus ira- cundia, martyris corpus im- perat usque eo distrahi, quo- &d nervorum compages ar- tuumque solvantur. Festus interea ejus diaconus, et De- siderius lector comprehensi, vinctique, una cum episcopo ante rhedam presidis Pu- teolos pertrahuntur, et in eumdem carcerem, in quo Sosius Misenas, et Proculus Puteolanus diaconus, Euty- ches et Acutius laici ad be- stias damnati detinebantur, simul conjiciuntur.

Postero die omnes in am- phitheatro feris objecti sunt: qua naturalis oblite ferita- tis, ad Januarii pedes se prostravere. Id Timotheus magicis cantionibus tribu- ens, cum sententiam capitis in Christi martyres pronun- tiasset, oculis repente captus, orante mox beato Januario, lumen recepit: quo mira- culo hominum millia fere quinque Christi fidem susce- perunt. Verum ingratus ju- dex nihilo placatior factus beneficio, sed conversione tante multitudinis actus in rabiem; veritus maxime principum decreta, sanctum episcopum cum sociis gladio

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was tried in various ways. He was cast into a burning fur- nace, but escaped unhurt, not even his garments or a hair of his head being injured by the flames. This enraged the president, who commanded the martyr's body to be sostretched that all his joints and nerves were displaced. Meanwhile Festus his deacon, and Deside- rius a lector, were seized, load- ed with chains, and dragged, together with the bishop, be- fore the president's chariot to Pozzuolo. There they were cast into a dungeon, where they found the deacons Sosius of Misenum and Proculus of Poz- zuolo, with Eutyches and Acu- lius laymen all condemned to be thrown to wild beasts,

The following day they were all exposed in the amphi- theatre; but the beasts, for- getting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of Janua- rius. Timothy, attributing this to magical arts, condemned the martyrs of Christ to be be- headed; but as he was pro- nouncing the sentence, he was suddenly struck blind. How- ever, at the prayer of Janua- riushe soon recovered his sight; on account of which miracle, about five thousand men em- braced the faith. The ungrate- ful judge was in no way sof- tened by the benefit conferred upon him, on the contrary, he was enraged by 80 many con;

--- PAGE 254 --- SAINT JANUARIUS AND COMPANIONS MM 243

percuti jussit.

Horum corpora finitimz urbes, pro suo qureque stu- dio certum sibi patronum ex iis apud Deum adoptandi, sepeliendi curarunt. Ja- nuarii corpus Neapolitani divino admonitu extulere: quod primo Beneventum, inde ad monasterium Mon- tis Virginis, postremo Nea- polim translatum, et in ma- jori ecclesia conditum, mul- tis miraculis claruit. Sed illud in primis memoran- dum, quod erumpentes olim e monte Vesuvio flamma- rum globos, nec vicinis mo- do, sed longinquis etiam re- gionibus vastitatis metum afferentes, extinxit. Pre- clarum illum quoque quod ejus sanguis, qui in ampulla vitrea concretus asservatur, cum in conspectu capitis ejusdem martyris ponitur, admirandum in modum col- liquefieri et ebullire, perinde atque recens effusus, ad hec usque tempora cernitur.

versions; and, fearing the em- peror's edicts, he ordered the holy bishop and his compani- ons to be beheaded. 8

Eager to secure, each for itself, a patron before God among these holy martyrs, the neighbouring towns provided burial places for their bodies. In obedience to a warning from heaven, the Neapolitans took the body of St. Januarius, and placed it first at Beneventum, then in the monastery of Mon- te Vergine, and finally in the principal church at Naples, where it became illustrious for many miracles. One of the most remarkable of these was the extinction of a fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius, when the terrible flames threat- ened with destruction not only the neighbourhood but even distant parts. Another re- markable miracle is seen even to the present day, namely: when the martyr's blood, which is preserved congealed in a glass vial, is brought in pre- sence of his head, it liquefies and boils up in a wonderful manner, as if it had been but recently shed.

O holy martyrs, and thou especially, O Januarius, the leader no less by thy courage than by thy pon-

tifical di ing for

ity, your present glory increases our long- eaven; your past combats animate us to

fight the good fight ; your continual miracles confirm us in the faith. Praise and gratitude are therefore due to you on this day of your triumph ; and we pay

--- PAGE 255 --- 244 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

this our debt in the joy of our hearts. In return, extend to us the protection, of which the fortunate cities placed under your powerful patronage are so justly proud. Defend those faithful towns against the assaults of the evil one. In compensation for the falling away of society at large, offer to Christ our King the growing faith of all who pay you honour.

SerTEMBER 20

SAINT EUSTACE AND HIS COMPANIONS

MARTYRS

Tuz twentieth of September marks one of the sad- dest events in history. At the height of her power, in the glorious days of Pepin and Charlemagne, the eldest daughter of the Church had crowned her mother ; and the Church, in the person of her Head, reigned in reality, as well as by right, until, a thou- sand years later, satan took advantage of the fallen state of France to despoil Peter of the patrimon which ensured his independence. The holy cross 1s still shedding its rays upon us!

To-day a group of martyrs, and this time a whole family, father, mother, and sons, take up their posi- tion around the standard of salvation. While the antiquity of their cultus in both east and west rests on the Poet authority, the details of their life are extremely vague. Could Placid the tribune, whose exploits are recorded by Josephus in his Wars of the

--- PAGE 256 --- SAINT EUSTACE AND COMPANIONS MM 245

Jews,! be the same as the Eustace we are celebrating to-day ? Does the genealogy of our saint connect him with the Octavia family, from which Augustus sprang? Again are we to recognize as his direot descendant the noble Tertullus, who confided to St. Benedict his son Placid, the favourite ohild of the holy patriarch, and the proto-martyr of the Benediotine Order?? Subiaco long possessed the mountain designated by ancient tradition as the site of the apparition of the mysterious stag; Tertullus may have bequeathed it to the monastery, as his son's patrimony. But we have not space enough to do more than record the fact that these questions have been raised.?

There could hardly be a more touching legend than that of our martyrs.

Eustachius, qui et Placi- Eustace, otherwise called

dus, genere, opibus et mili- tari gloria inter Romanos insignis, sub Trajano im- peratore magistri militum titulum meruit. Cum vero sese aliquando in venatione exerceret, ac fugientem mi- re magnitudinis cervum in- sequeretur, vidit repente inter consistentis fere cor- nua excelsam atque fulgen- tem Christi Domini e cruce pendentis imaginem, cujus voce ad immortalis vite prze- dam invitatus, una cum uxo- re Theopista, ac duobus parvulis filis Agapito et Theopisto, Christianz mili- tie nomen dedit.

Placid, was a Roman, illustri- ous for his birth, wealth, and military renown, so that under the emperor Trajan he became general of the army. Once while hunting, he was chasing a stag of remarkable size, which suddenly halted, and showed him between its horns a large and bright image of Christ our Lord hanging upon the cross and inviting him to make everlasting life the object of his pursuit. Thereupon to- gether with his wife Theopista and his two little sons Agapi- tus and Theopistus, he entered the ranks of the Christian warfare.

! Joseph. De bello Jud. iii. 3, 4, 13; iv. 2; v. 3. 3 Greg. Dial. ii. 3. ? Kircher Historia Bustochio- Mariana, P. ii, iii,

--- PAGE 257 --- 246 Mox ad visionis pristine locum, sicut ei Dominus pr:e-
ceperat, regressus, illum prenuntiantem audivit, quanta sibi deinceps pro ejus gloria perferenda essent. Quocirca incredibiles cala- mitates mira patientia per- pessus, breviinsummam ege- statem redactus est. Cum- que clam se subducere coge- retur, in itinere conjugem primum, deinde etiam libe- ros sibi miserabiliter ereptos ingemuit. Tantis obvolu- tus @rumnis, in regione lon- ginqua villicum agens, longo tempore delituit, donec coe- lesti voce recreatus, ac nova occasione a Trajano conqui- situs, iteruin bello prifici- tur.

Tlla in expeditione, liberis simul cum uxore insperato receptis, victor urbem in- genti omnium gratulatione ingreditur. Sed paulo post inanibus diis pro parta vi- ctoria sacrificare — jussus, constantissime renuit. Cum- que variis artibus ad Christi fidem ejurandam frustra tentaretur, una cum uxore et liberis leonibus objicitur. Horum mansuetudine con- citatus imperator, :eneum in iaurum subjectis flammis candentem eos immitti ju- bet, ubi divinis in laudibus

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Some time afterwarls he returned to the place of the vision, in obedience to the command of our Lord, from whom he there heard how much he was to suffer for God's glory. He underwent, with wonderful patience, such in- credible losses that in a short time he was reduced to the utmost need, and was obliged to retire privately. On the way he had the unhappiness to see first his wife, and then his two sons taken from him. Over- whelmed by all these misfor- tunes, he lived for a long time unknown, in a distant country, as a farm bailiff; until at length a voice from heaven comforted him; and soon af- ter, a fresh occasion of war arising, Trajan had him sougnt out and again placed at the head of the army.

During the expedition, he unexpectedly found his wife and children again. He re- turned to Rome in triumph amidst universal congratula- tions; but was soon command- ed to offer sacrifice to the false gods in thanksgiving for his victory. On his firm refusal, every art was tried to make him renounce the faith of Christ, but in vain. Ile was then, with his wife and sons, thrown to the lions. But the beasts showed nothing but gentleness; whereupon the emporer, in a rage, command-

--- PAGE 258 --- SAINT EUSTACE AND COMPANIONS MM 247

consummato martyrio, duo- ed the martyrs to be shut up decimo calendis Octobris in a brazen bull heated by a ad sempiternam felicitatem fire underneath it. There, convolarunt. Quorum il- singing the praises of God, lesa corpora religiose a fi- they consummated their sacri- delibus sepulta, postinodum fice, and took their flight to eter- ad ecclesiam, eorum nomine nal happiness on the twelfth of erectam, honorifice trans- the kalends of October. Their lata sunt. bodies were found intact, and reverently buried by the faith- ful, but were afterwards trans- lated with honour to a church erected to their names.

Our trials are light compared with yours, O blessed martyrs! Obtain for us the grace not to betray the confidence of our Lord, when He calls us to suffer for Him in this world. It is thus we must win the

lory of heaven. How can we triumph with the God of armies, unless we have marched under His standard ? Now, that standard is the cross. The Church knows it, and therefore she is not troubled even by the greatest calamities. She knows, foo, that her Spouse is watching over her, even when He seems to sleep; and she looks to the protection of such of her sons as are already glorified. And yet, O martyrs, for how many years has the sorrowful shadow of a sacrilegious invasion hung over the day of your triumph! Rome honoured you with so much love! Make vengeance on the audacity of hell, and deliver the holy city !

17

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SkpTEMBER 21

SAINT MATTHEW

APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

‘Trae book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.” ! The Eagle and the Lion have already risen in the heavens of the hol liturgy ; to-day we salute the Man; and next mont the Ox will appear, to complete the number of the four living creatures, who draw the chariot of God through the world,! and surround His throne in heaven. These mysterious beings, with their six seraph-wings, are ever gazing with their innumerable eyes upon the Lamb who stands upon the throne as it were slain; and they rest not day and night, saying: ‘ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. St. John beheld them giving to the elect the signal to praise their Creator and Redeemer; and when all created beings in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, have adoringly proclaimed that the Lamb, who was slain, is worthy of power and divinity and glory and empire for ever, it is they that add to the world's homage the seal of their testimony, saying: Amen, 80 it is !?

Great and singular, then, is the glory of the evan- gelists. The name of Matthew signifies one who is given. He gave himself when, at the word of Jesus * follow Me’, he rose up and followed Him; but far

! St. Matt. i. 1. 3 Ezech. i. 3 Apoc. iv, v.

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eater was the gift he received from God in return.

he Most High, who looks down from heaven upon the low things of earth, loves to choose the humble for the princes of His people. Levi, occupied in a

rofession that was hated by the Jews and despised b the Gentiles, belonged to the lowest rank of society ; but still more humble was he in heart, when, laying aside the delicate reserve shown in his regard by the other evangelists, he opeuly placed his former iguominious title beside the glorious one of apostle. By so doing, he published the magnificent mercy of Him, who had come to heal the sick not the healthy, and to call not the just but siuners. For thus exalting the abundance of God's grace, he merited its superabundance: Matthew was called to be the first evangelist. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost he wrote, with that inimitable simplicity which speaks straight to the heart, the Gospel of the Messias expected by Israel, and announced by the prophets; of the Messias the teacher and Saviour of lis people, the descendant of its kings, and Ilimself the King of the daughter of Sion; of the Messias who had come not to destroy the Law, but to bring it to its full completion in an everlasting, universal covenant.

In his simple-hearted gratitude, Levi made a feast for his divine Benefactor. It was at this banquet that Jesus, defending lis disciple as well as Himself, a to those who pretended to be scandalized: ‘Can the children of the Bridegroom mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.'! Clement of Alexandria bears witness to the apostle's subsequent austerity ; assuring us that he lived on nothing but vegetables and wild fruits? The legend will tell us

! St. Matt. ix. 15. 2 Clan. Alex. Paddy. ii. 1.

--- PAGE 261 --- 250

moreover of his zeal for the Master who had so sweetly touched his heart, and of his fidelity in preserving for Him souls inebriated with the * wine springing forth virgins.'! This fidelity, indeed, cost him his life: his martyrdom was in defence and confirmation of the duties and rights of holy virginity. To the end of time the Church, in consecrating her virgins, will make use of the beautiful blessing pronounced by him over the Ethiopian princess, which the blood of the apostle and evangelist has imbued with a peculiar virtue.?

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The Church gives us this short account of a life better known to God than to men.

Mattheus, qui et Levi, apostolus et evangelista, Ca- pharnai cum ad telonium sederet, a Christo vocatus, statim secutus est ipsum: quem etiam cum reliquis discipulis convivio excepit. Post Christi resurrectionem, antequam in provinciam proficisceretur, que ei ad predicandum obtigerat, pri- mus in Jud:ea, propter eos qui ex circumcisione credi- derant, Evangelium Jesu Christi Hebraice scripsit. Mox in Ethiopiam profe- ctus, Evangelium predica- vit, ac predicationem multis miraculis confirmavit.

Illo igitur in primis mi- raculo, quo regis filiam a mortuis excitavit, regem pa- irem, et uxorem ejus, cum universa provincia ad Chri- ! Zach. ix. 17.

Matthew, also named Levi, was an apostle and evangelist. He was sitting in the custom- house at Capharnaum when called by Christ, whom he im- mediately followed; and then made a feast for him and his disciples. After the resurrec- tion of Christ, and before set- ting out for the province which it was his lot to evangelize, Matthew was the first to write the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote it in Hebrew, for the sake of those of the circumci- sion, who had been converted. Soon after, he went into Ethio- pia, where he preached the Gos- pel, and confirmed his teaching by many miracles.

One of the greatest of these was his raising to life the king's daughter, whereby he convert- ed the king and his wife, and the whole country. After the

2 Pontificale rom. De benedict. et consecrat. virginum : Dews plasmator corporum, afflator animarum.

--- PAGE 262 --- SAINT MATTHEW APOSTLE

sti fidem convertit. Rege mortuo, Hirtacus, ejus suc- cessor, cum Iphigeniam, re- giam filiam, vellet sibi dari in matrimonium, Matthe- um, cujus opera illa virgini- tatem Deo voverat, et in sancio proposito persevera- bat, ad altare mysterium celebrantem jussit occidi. Qui undecimo calendas Oc- tobris munus apostolicum martyrii gloria cumulavit. Cujus corpus Salernum translatum, ac postmodum in ecclesia ejus nomine de- dicata, Gregorio septimo summo Pontifice conditum, ibidem magno hominum con- cursu ac pietate colitur.

251

king's death, his daughter Iphigenia was demanded in marriage by his successor Hir- tacus, who, finding that through Matthew's exhortation she had vowed her virginity to God and now persevered in her holy resolution, ordered the apostle io be put to death, as he was celebrating the holy myste- ries at the altar. Thus on the eleventh of the Kalends of October, he crowned his apos- tolate with the glory of mar- iyrdom. His body was trans- lated to Salerno; and in the time of Pope Gregory VII it was laid in a church dedicated in his name, where it is piously honoured by a great concourae of people.

How pleasing must thy humility have been to our

Lord; that humility which has raised thee so high in the kingdom of heavert, and which made thee, on earth, the confidant of Incarnate Wisdom. The Son of God, who hides His secrets from the wise and prudent and reveals them to little ones, renovated thy soul by intimacy with Himself, and filled it with the new wine of His heavenly doctrine. So fully didst thou understand His love, that He chose thee to be the first historian of his life on earth. The Man-God revealed Himself through thee to the Church. She has inherited thy g/orious teaching as she calls it in her Secret ; for the Synagogue refused to understand both the divine Master and the prophets His heralds. There is one teaching, indeed, which not all, even of the elect, can understand and receive; just as in heaven not all follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, nor can all sing the new cauticle reserved to

--- PAGE 263 --- 252 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

those whose love here on earth has been undivided. O evangelist of holy virginity, and martyr for its sake! watch over the choicest portion of our Lord's flock. Tlemember also, O Levi, all those for whom, as thou tellest us, the Emmanuel received His beau- tiful name of Saviour. The whole redeemed world honours thee and implores thy assistance. Thou hast recorded for us the admirable sermon on the mountain: by the path of virtue there traced out, lead us to that kingdom of heaven, which is the ever-recurring theme of thy inspired writing.

SepreMBER 22 SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA

BISHOP AND CONFESSOR

In 1517 a cruel blow fell upon the great Augustinian family; Luther, one of its members, raised the cry of revolt which was to be echoed for centuries by every passion. But the illustrious Order, which had unwit- tingly nurtured this child of evil, was none the less acceptable to God ; and He deigned, before long, to demonstrate this, for the consolation of institutes whose very excellence exposes unworthy subjects to more dangerous falls. It was at the First Vespers of All Saints that Luther broached, at Wittenburg, his famous theses against indulgences and the autho- rity of the Roman Pontiff; within a month, on November 25 of the same year, Thomas of Villanova pronounced his vows at Salamanca, and filled up the place left vacant by the heresiarch. Amid the storms of social disorder, and the noise of the world’s

--- PAGE 264 --- SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA

253

disturbances, the glory rendered by one saint to the 'ever-tranquil Trinity, outweighs all the insults and

blasphemies of hell.

Let us bear all this in mind as we read the

following lessons.

Thomas in oppido Fontis- plani Toletanz dicceseos in Hispania natus anno Domi- ni millesimo quadringentesi- mo octogesimo octavo, ab optimis parentibus ineunte vita pietatem et singularem in pauperes misericordiam accepit: cujus adhuc puer complura dedit exempla; sed illud in primis nobile, quod ut nudos operiret, pro- priis vestibus non semel se- ipsum exuit. Exacta pue- ritia, Compluto, quo missus fuerat, ut alumnus in col- legio majori sancti Ilde- phonsi litteris operam daret, patris obitu revocatus, uni- versam hereditatem egenis virginibus alendis dicavit; eodemque statim reversus est, et, sacre theologis cursu confecto, adeo doctrina ex- celluit, ut in eadem Univer- sitate cathedram ascendere jussus, philosophicas, theo- logicasque qusstiones mira- biliter explanaverit; inte- rim assiduis precibus scienti- am sanctorum, et rectam vi- te morumque normam a Domino vehementissime po- stulans. Quare divino in- gtinctu eremitarum sancti

Thomas was born at Fu- enllana, a town in the diocese of Toledo in Spain, in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and eighty eight. From his earliest youth, his excellent parents instilled into him piety and extraordinary charity to the poor. Of this virtue he gave, while still a child, many proofs, among the most remarkable of which was his more than once taking off his own garments to clothe the naked. As a youth, he was sent to Alcala to study hu- manities in the great college of St. Ildephonsus. He was recalled home by the death of his father; whereupon he de- voted his whole fortune to the support of destitute virgins, and then returned to Alcala. Having completed his course of theology, he was promoted for his eminent learning to a chair in the University, and taught philosophy and theo- logy with wonderful success. Meanwhile he besought God, with assiduous prayers, to teach him the science of the saints, and a virtuous rule of life and conduct. He was therefore divinely inspired to --- PAGE 265 --- 254

Augustini amplexus est in- stitutum.

Religionem professus, om- nibus religiosi hominis vir- tutibus et ornamentis excel- luit, humilitate, patientia, continentia, sed ardentissima caritate summe conspicuus: inter varios et assiduos la- bores orationi rerumque di- vinarum meditationi invicto Spiritu seraper intentus. Predicandi onus, utpote sanctimonia et doctrina pree- stans, subire jussus, ccelesti aspirante gratia, innumera- biles e vitiorum coeno in viam salutis eduxit. Re- gendis deinde fratribus ad- motus, prudentiam, s&quita- tem et mansuetudinem pari sedulitate ac severitate con- junxit: adeo ut priscam sui Ordinis disciplinam multis in locis vel firmaverit, vel restituerit.

Granatensis archiepisco- pus designatus, mira humi- litate et constantia insigne munus rejecit. Verum non multo post Valentinam ec- clesiam superiorum auctori- tate coactus, gubernandam suscepit: quam annis ferme undecim ita rexit, ut san- ctissimi et vigilantissimi pastoris partes expleverit. Ceterum consueta vivendi ratione nihil admodum im- mutata, inexplebili caritati multo magis indulsit, cum

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

embrace the institute of the hermits of St. Augustine. After his profession, he ex- celled in all virtues which should adorn a religious man: humility, patience, continency; but he was especially remark- able for ardent charity. In the midst of his many and varied labours, his unconquered spirit was ever intent on prayer and meditation of divine things. On account of his reputation forlearning and holiness, he was commanded to undertake the duty of preaching, and, by the assistance of heavenly grace, he led countless souls from the mire of vice to the way of salvation. In the gov- ernment of the brethren, to which he was next appointed, he so united prudence, equity, and sweetness, to zeal and se- verity, that in many places he restored or confirmed the ancient discipline of his Order. ‘When elected to the arch- bishopric of Granada, he re- jected that high dignity with wonderful firmness and humi- lity. But not long after, he was obliged by his superiors to undertake the government of the Church of Valentia, which he ruled for about eleven years as a most holy and vigilant pas- tor. He changed nothing of his former manner of life; but gave free scope to hisinsatiable charity, and distributed the rich revenues of his church

--- PAGE 266 --- BAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA

amplos ecclesie redditus in egenos dispersit, ne lectulo quidem sibi relicto: nam eum, in quo decumbebat, cum in colum evocaretur, &b eodem commodatum ha- buit,cui paulo ante eleemo- syne loco donaverat. Ob- dormivit in Domino sexto idus Septembris, annos na- tus octo et sexaginta. Ser- vi sui sanctitatem adhuc vi- ventis, et exinde post mor- tem, miraculis Deus testa-
tam voluit; presertim, cum horreum, frumento paupe- ribus distributo, penitus va- cuum, repente plenum in- ventum est, et cum ad ejus sepulehrum puer mortuus revixit. Quibus aliisque non paucis fulgentem signis Alexander septimus Ponti- fex maximus sanctorum nu- mero adscripsit, atque ejus memoriam quarto decimo calendas Octobris celebrari mandavit.

255

among the needy, keeping not 80 much as a bed for himself. For the bed on which he was lying when called to heaven, was lent to him by the person to whom he had shortly before given it in alms. He fell asleep in our Lord on the sixth of the Ides of September, at the age ofsixty-eight. God was pleased to bear witness to his servant's holiness by miracles both dur- ing life.and after death. A barn which was almost empty, the corn having been distributed to the poor, was by his interces- sion suddenly filled; and a dead child was restored to life at his tomb. These and many other miracles having ren- dered his name illustrious, Pope Alexander VII enrolled him among the saints, and commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourteenth of the Kalends of October.

Thy name, as well as thy justice, shall remain for

ever, O Thomas, because thou hast distributed and iven to the poor;! all the church of the saints shall pipes thy alms? Teach us to show mercy to our brethren, so that, by thy prayers, we may obtain for ourselves the mercy of God. Thou hast great power with the Queen of heaven, whose praises thou didst love to celebrate, and whose birthday on earth was thy birthday in heaven. Give us an ever increasing knowledge of her, and an ever growing love.

1 Ps, cxi. 9; Magnificat ant. * Ecclus. xxxi. 11. Benedictus ant.

--- PAGE 267 --- 256 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Thou art the glory of Spain; watch over thy country, over thy church of Valencia, and over the Order adorned with such saints as Nicholas of To- lentino, John of San Facundo, and thyself. Bless the religious women who have inherited thy charity, and who, for well-nigh threo centuries, have caused thy name, and that of thy father St. Augustine, to be held in veneration. May the preachers of the divine word throughout the world profit by the writings thou hast fortunately left us, monuments of that eloquence which made thee the oracle of princes, the light of the poor, and the mouth-piece of the Holy Ghost.!

At Sion in Valais, at a place called Agaunum, the birthday of the holy martyrs Maurice, Exuperius, Can- didus, Victor, Innocent, and Vitalis, with their com- panions of the Theban legion, who were massacred under Mazimian for the name of Christ, and filled the whole world with the renown of their martyrdom? Let us unite with Rome in paying honour to these valiant soldiers, the glorious patrons of Christian armies as well as of numerous churches. * Emperor,’ said they, ‘we are thy soldiers, but we are also the servants of God. To Him we took our first oaths; if we break them, how canst thou trust us to keep our oaths to thee?'* No command, no discipline can overrule our baptismal engagements. Every soldier is bound, in honour and in conscience, to obey the Lord of hosts rather than all human commanders, who are but His subalterns.

PRAYER

this day. 3 Eucher. ad Sylvium.

--- PAGE 268 --- SAINT LINUS

potens Deus: ut sanctorum
martyrum tuorum Mauritii et sociorum ejus nos letifi- cet festiva solemnitas; ut quorum suffragiis nitimur, eorum natalitiis gloriemur. Per Dominum.

257

almighty God, that the fes- tive solemnity of thy holy martyrs, Maurice and his companions, may give us joy, that we may glory in their festival on whose help we rely. Through our Lord.

SEPTEMRER 23 SAINT LINUS

POPE AND MARTYR

Tue lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity; just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. Let us leave the learned to discuss certain points in the following short legend; as for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast, and pay our loving veneration to the humble

and

gentle Pontiff, who was the first laid to rest

beside St. Peter in the Vatican crypts.

Linus Pontifex, Volater- ris in Etruria natus, primus post Petrum gubernavit Ec- clesiam. Cujus tanta fides et sanctitas fuit, ut non so- lum demones ejiceret, sed etiam mortuos revocaret ad vitam. Scripsit res gestas beati Petri, et ea maxime que ab illo acta sunt contra

Pope Linus was born at Vol- terra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed St. Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great, that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Si.

--- PAGE 269 --- 258

Simonem Magum. Sancivit ne qua mulier, nisi velato capite, in ecclesiam introiret. Huic Pontifici caput ampu- tatum est ob constantiam christiane fidei, jussu Sa- turnini impii et ingratissimi consularis, cujus filiam a demonum vexatione libera- verat. Sepultus est in Vati- cano prope sepulchrum prin- cipis apostolorum, nono ca- lendas Octobris. Sedit an- nos undecim, menses duos, dies viginti tres, creatis bis mense Decembri episcopis quindecim, presbyteris de- cem et octo.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

mon sagus. He decreed that nowoman should entera church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-con- sul, whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the se- pulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Kalends of October. He gov- erned the Church eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated fifteen bishops and eighteen priests.

Simon Barjona was invested with the sovereign

pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all; thou, O blessed Pontiff, didst receive in secret,

et none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the

ingdom of heaven. In thy person began the reign of pure faith ; henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: * feed my lambs,” nevertheless acknowledges the con- tinuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by thy prayers, that the shadows of earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience; and that hereafter we may merit, with thee, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.

‘While honouring the first successor of St. Peter, Rome commemorates the protomartyr of the female

--- PAGE 270 --- SAINT THECLA 259

sex. Together with holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon Thecla by the fathers of east and west. When the martyr pontiff Methodius gave his ‘Banquet of virgins’ to the Church, about the end of the third century, it is on the brow of the virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of the crowns distributed at the banquet of the Spouse. And justly so; for had not Theola been trained by Paul, who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science? Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge; her magnanimity of

urpose was equalled by her courage; while, strong in the virginal purity of her soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts, and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple martyrdom.

A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has teken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry. When the feast is over, and the virgins rise to give thanks to the Lord, Thecla leads’ the chorus, singing: * For thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.

I have fled from the bitter pleasures of mortals, and the luxurious delights of life and its love; under Thy life-giving arms I desire to be protected, and to gaze for ever on Thy beauty, O blessed One.

For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.

I have contemned union with mortal man; I have left my golden home for Thee, O King ; I have come in undefiled robes, that I may enter with Thee into Thy happy bridal chamber.

For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep nM pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.

--- PAGE 271 --- 260

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the ser- pent, and triumphed over the flaming fire and the attacks of wild beasts, I await Thee from heaven.

For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure;

and with burning lamp I come to meet

hee.

Through love of Thee, O Word, 1 have forgotten the land of my birth; I have forgotten the virgins my companions, and even the desire of mother and of kindred ; for Thou, O Christ, art all things to me.

For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure;

and with burning lamp I come to meet T

hee.'!

PRAYER

Da, queesumus, . omnipo- tens Deus: ut qui beate
'Thecle virginis et martyris ius natalitia colimus, et annua solemnitate — lewte- mur, et tante fidei profici- amus exemplo. Per Do- minum.

Grant, we beseech thee, al- mighty God, that we, who celebrate the festival of bless- ed Thecla, thy virgin and mar- tyr, may rejoice in her annual solemnity, and make progress by the example of such great faith. Through our Lord.

! Method. Conviv. dec. virg. vii, viii, xi.

--- PAGE 272 --- SEPTEMBER 24 OUR LADY OF RANSOM

Tae Office of the time gives us, at the close of September, the Books of Judith and Esther. These heroio women were figures of Mary, whose birthday is the honour of this month, and who comes at once to bring assistanoe to the world.

“Adonai, Lord God, great and admirable, who hast wrought salvation by the hand of a woman:’! the Church thus introduces the history of the heroine, who delivered Bethulia by the sword, whereas Mar- dochai’s niece rescued her people from death by her winsomeness and her intercession. The Queen of heaven, in her peerless perfeotion, outshines them both, in gentleness, in valour, and in beauty. To- day's feast is a memorial of the strength she puts forth for the deliverance of her people.

Finding their power crushed in Spain, and in the east checked by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the Saracens, in the twelfth century, became whole- sale pirates, and scoured the seas to obtain slaves for the African markets. We shudder to think of the numberless victims, of every age, sex, and condition, suddenly carried off from the coasts of Christian lands, or captured on the high seas, and condemned to the dis of the harem or the miseries of the bagnio. Here, nevertheless, in many an obsoure prison, were enacted scenes of heroism worthy to compare with those witnessed in the early persecu-

! Magnificat ant. 1st Vesp. 4th Sunday of September.
(261)

--- PAGE 273 --- 262 TIME APTER PENTECOST

tions; here was a new field for Christian charity; new horizons opened out for heroic self-devotion. Is not the spiritual good thence arising a sufficient reason for the permission of temporal ilis? With- out this permission, heaven would have for ever lacked a portion of its beauty.

When, in 1696, Innocent XII extended this feast to the whole Church, he afforded the world an opportunity of ie cerva, ne gratitude by a testi- mony as universal as the benefit received.

Differing from the Order of holy Trinity, which had been already twenty years in existence, the Order of Meroy was founded as it were in the very face of the Moors; and hence it originally numbered more knights than clerks among its members. It was called the royal, military, and religious Order of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives. The clerics were charged with the celebration of the Divine Office in the commandaries; the knights guarded the coasts, and undertook the perilous en- terprise of ransoming Christian captives. St. Peter Nolasco was the first Commander or Grand Master of the Order; when his relics were discovered, he was found armed with sword and cuirass. In the following lines the Church gives us her thoughts upon facts which we have already learnt.!

Quo tempore major feli- ciorque Hispaniarum pars diro Saracenorum opprime- batur jugo, innumerique fideles sub immani servitu- te, maximo cum periculo christiane fidei abjurande ammitendeque salutis ster- ne, infeliciter detinebantur,

At the time when the Sara- cen yoke oppressed the larger and more fertile part of Spain, and great numbers of the faith- ful were detained in cruel ser- vitude, at the great risk of denying the Christian faith and losing their eternal salva- tion, the most blessed Queen

! On the feasts of St. l'eter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Pegua-

fort, January 31 and 23.

--- PAGE 274 --- OUR LADY

beatissima coelorum Regina, tot tantisque benigniter oc- currens malis, nimiam cari- tatem suam in iis redimendis ostendit, Nam sancto Petro Nolasco, pietate et opibus florenti, qui sanctis vacans meditationibus jugiter animo recogitabat qua ratione tot Christianorum s&rumnis sub Maurorum captivitate de- gentium succurri posset, ipsamet beatissima Virgo se- rena fronte se conspiciendam dedit, et acceptissimum sibi ac unigenito suo Filio fore dixit, si suum in honorem institueretur Ordo religioso- rum, quibus cura incumberet captivos e Turcarum tyran- nide liberandi. Qua coelesti visione vir Dei recreatus, mirum est, quo caritatis ardore flagrare coeperit, hoc unum servans in corde suo, ut ipse, ac instituenda ab eo religio maximam illam cari- tatem sedulo exercerent, ut quisque animam suam pone- ret pro amicis et proximis guis.

Ea ipsa nocte eadem Vir- go sanctissima beato Ray- mundo de Pennafort, et Jacobo Aragoni regi appa- ruit, idipsum de religiosis instituendis admonens, sua- densque, ut opem pro con- structione tanti operis fer- rent. Petrus autem statim ad Raymundi pedes, qui ipsi erat a sacris confessio-

263

OF RANSOM

of heaven graciously came to remedy all these great evils, and showed her exceeding charity in redeeming her chil- dren. She appeared with beaming countenance to Peter Nolasco, a man conspicuous for wealth and piety, who in his holy meditations was ever striving to devise some means of helping the innumerable Christians living in misery as captives of the Moors. She told him it would be very pleasing to her and her only- begotten Son, if a religious Order were instituted in her honour, whose members should devote themselves to deliver- ing captives from Turkish tyranny. Animated by this heavenly vision, the man of God was inflamed with burn- ing love, having but one de- sire at heart, viz: that both he and the Order he was to found, might be devoted to the exercise of that highest charity, the laying down of life for one's friends and neighbours.

That same night, the most holy Virgin appeared also to blessed Raymund of Pegna- fort, and to James king of Aragon, telling them of her wish to have the Order insti- tuted, and exhorting them to lend their aid to so great an undertaking. Meanwhile Pe- ter hastened to relate the whole matter to Raymund,

18

--- PAGE 275 --- 264

nibus, advolans, ei rem om- nem aperuit: quem etiam coelitus instructum reperit, ejusque directioni se humil- lime subjecit. At superve- niens Jacobus rex, quam et ipse acceperat a beatissima Virgine, revelationem exse- qui statuit. Unde collatis inter se consiliis, et consen- tientibus animis, in hono- rem ejusdem Virginis Ma- tris Ordinem instituere ag- gressi sunt, sub invocatione sancte Marie de Mercede Redemptionis captivorum. Die igitur decima Augu- sti anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo decimo octavo, rex idem Jacobus eam in- stitutionem jampridem ab lisdem sanctis viris conce- ptam exsequi statuit, sodali- bus quarto voto adstrictis, manendi in pignus sub pa- ganorum potestate, si pro christianorum liberatione opus fuerit. Quibus rex ipse arma sua regia in pe- ctore deferre concessit, et a Gregorio nono illud tam precellentis erga proximum caritatis institutum et reli- gionem confirmari curavit. Sed et ipse Deus per Virgi-
nem Matrem incrementum dedit, ut talis institutio ce- lerius ac felicius totum per orbem divulgaretur, sanctis- que viris floruerit caritate ac pietate insignibus, qui eleemosynas a Christi fide-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

who was his confessor; and finding it had been already re- vealed to him from heaven, submitted humbly to his direc- lion. King James nextarrived, fully resolved to carry out the instructions he also had re- ceived from the blessed Virgin. Having therefore taken coun- sel together and being all of one mind, they set about insti- tuting an Order in honour of the Virgin Mother, under the invocation of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of cap- tives.

On the tenth of August, in the year of our Lord one 'thousand two hundred and eighteen, king James put into execution what the two holy men had planned. The mem-

*bers of the Order bound them-

selves by a fourth vow to re- main, when necessary, as se- curities in the power of the pagans, in order to deliver Christians. The king granted them licence to bear his royal arms upon their breast, and obtained from Gregory IX the confirmation of this reli- gious institute distinguished by such eminent brotherly charity. God himself gave increase to the work, through his Virgin Mother; so that the Order spread rapidly and prosperously over the whole world, Tt soon reckoned many holy men remarkable for their charity and piety who col-

--- PAGE 276 --- OUR LADY OF RANSOM

libus collectas in pretium redemptionis suorum proxi- morum expenderent, seque ipsos interdum darent in re- demptionem multorum. Ut autem tanti beneficii et in- stitutionis debit: Deo et Virgini Matri referanturgra- tie, Sedes apostolica hanc peculiarem festivititem ce- lebrari, et Officiuin recitari indulsit, cum alia fere in-

265

lected alms from Christ's faithful, to be spent in re- deeming their brethren; and sometimes gave themselves up as ransom for many others. In order that due thanks might be rendered to God and his Virgin Mother for the benefit of such an institution, the apostolic See allowed this special feast and Office to be celebrated, and also granted

numera eidem Ordini privi- innumerable other privileges legia pariter contulisset. to the Order.

Blessed be thou, O Mary, the honour and the joy of thy people! On the day of thy glorious As- sumption, thou didst take possession of thy queenly dignity for our sake; and the annals of the human race are a record of thy merciful interventions. ‘The captives whose chains thou hast broken, and whom thou hast set free from the degrading yoke of the Saracens, may be reckoned by millions. We are still rejoicing in the recollection of thy dear birth- day ; and thy smile is sufficient to dry our tears and chase away the clouds of grief. And yet, what sorrows there are still upon the earth, where thou thyself didst drink such long draughts from the cu of suffering! Sorrows are sanctifying and benefici to some; but there are other and unprofitable griofs, springing from social injustice: the drudgery of the factory, or the tyranny of the strong over the weak, may be worse than slavery in Algiers or Tunis. Thou alone, O Mary, canst break the inextricable chains, in which the cunning prince of darkness entangles the dupes he has deceived by the high- sounding names of equality and liberty. Show thy- self a Queen, by coming to the rescue. The whole

--- PAGE 277 --- 266 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

earth, the entire human race, cries out to thee, in the words of Mardochai: ' Speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death!’

SEPTEMBER 26

* WnosoEVvER ye be, that are seduced by the mysteries of the demons, none of you can equal the zeal I once had for these false gods, nor my researches into their secrets, nor the vain power they had communicated to me, to me Cyprian, who from my infancy was given up to the service of the dragon in the citadel of Minerva. Learn from me the deceitfulness of their illusions. A virgin has proved to me that their power is but smoke. The king of the demons was arrested at the door of a mere child, and could not cross the threshold. He who promises so much is a liar. A woman makes sport of the boaster who vaunted he could shake heaven and earth. The roaring lion becomes a startled gnat, before the Chris- tian virgin Justina.’

Cyprianus primum magus, Cyprian, who was first a ma- postea martyr, cum Justi- gician and afterwards a mar- nam, christianam virginem, tyr, attempted, by charms and quam juvenis quidam arden- spells, to make Justina, a Chris- ter amabat, cantionibus ac tian virgin, consent to the pas- veneficiis ad ejus libidinis sion of a certain young man.

1 Esther xv. 3. ? Confessio Cypriani Antiocheni, 1. 2.

--- PAGE 278 --- SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA

assensum allicere conaretur, demonem consuluit, quanam id re consequi posset. Cui demon respondit, nullam il- li artem processuram adver- sus eos qui vere Christum colerent. Quo responso com- motus Cyprianus, vehemen- ter dolere ccepit vite supe- rioris institutum. Itaque re- lictis magicis artibus, se to- tum ad Christi Domini fidem convertit. Quam ob causam una cum virgine Justina comprehensus est, et ambo colaphis flagellisque csi sunt: mox in carcerem con- jecti,si forte sententiam com- mutarent. Verum inde post- ea emissi, cum in christiana religione constantissimi re- perirentur, in sartaginem plenam ferventis picis, adi- pis et cere injecti sunt. De- mum Nicomediz securi feri- untur. Quorum projecta corpora, cum sex dies inhu- mata jacuissent, noctu qui- dam nautz clam ea in navem imposita Romam portave- runt: ac primum in predio Rufine nobilis femins se- pulta sunt: postea translata in urbem, in basilica Con- stantiniana condita sunt pro- pe baptisterium.

207

He consulted the devil as to the best way to succeed, and was told in reply that no art would be of any service to him against the true disciples of Christ. This answer made so great an impression on Cyprian, that, grieving bitterly over his for- mer manner of life, he aban- doned his magical arts, and was completely converted to the faith of Christ our Lord. Ac- cused of being a Christian, he was seized together with the virgin Justina, and they were both severely scourged. They were then thrown into prison to see if they would change their mind; but on being taken out, as they remained firm in the Christian religion, they were cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, fat, and wax. Finally they were beheaded at Nicomedia. Their bodies were left six days unburied; after which some sailorscarried them secretly by night to their ship, and conveyed them to Rome. They were first buried on the estate of a noble lady named Rufina, but afterwards were translated into the city and laid in Constantine's basilica, near the baptistery.

He who sought to ruin thee is now, O virgin, th trophy of victory ; and for thee, O Cyprian, the pui of crime turned aside into the way of salvation. May you together triumph over satan in this age,

--- PAGE 279 --- 268 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

when spirit-dealing is seducing so many faltering, faithless souls. Teach Christians, after your example, to arm themselves, against this and every other danger, with the sign of the cross; then will the enemy be forced to say again: ‘I saw a terrible sign and I trembled ; I beheld the sign of the Crucified, and my strength melted like wax.'!

SEPTEMBER 27

* Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the Most High hath created him. For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king. The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. The Most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. "Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the Most High hath

iven knowledge to men, that He may be honoured in jM wonders. By these Le shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. For the peace of God is over the face of the earth. My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and He shall ya thee. Turn away from sin and

! deta Cypriani et Justine,

--- PAGE 280 --- SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN 269

order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary. For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands: and they shall beseech the Lord, that He would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their oonversation.'! These words of the Wise Man are appropriate for this feast. The Church obeying the inspired injunction, honours the medical profession in the persons of Cosmas and Damian, who not only, like many others,” sanctified themselves in that career; but, far beyond all others, demonstrated to the world how grand a part the physician may play in Christian society.

Cosmas and Damian had been Christians from their childhood. The study of Hippocrates and Galen develo their love of God, whose invisible perfections they admired reflected in the magni- ficences of creation, and especially in the human body His palace and His temple. To them, science was a hymn of praise to their Creator, and the exer- oise of their art a sacred ministry; they served God in His suffering members, and watched over His hu- man sanctuary, to preserve it from injury or to re-

air its ruins. Such a life of religious charity was fittingly crowned by the perfeot sacrifice of martyrdom.

East and west vied with each other in paying hom- age to the Anargyres as our saints were called on account of their receiving no fees for their services. Numerous churches were dedicated to them. The emperor Justinian embellished and fortified the ob- scure town of Cyrus out of reverence for their sacred

1 Ecclus. xxxviii. 1-14. * Dom A. M. Fournier, Notices sur les saints inédecins. 3 Without fees,

--- PAGE 281 --- 270 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

relics there preserved; and about the same time, Pope Felix IV built a church in their honour in the Roman Forum, thus substituting the memory of the twin martyrs for that of the less happy brothers Romulus and Remus. Not long before this, St. Benedict had dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian his first monastery at Subiaco, now known as St. Scholastica’s. But Rome rendered the highest of all honours to the holy Arabian brethren, by placing their names, in preference to so many thousands of her own heroes, in the solemn litanies and on the sacred dyptichs of the Mass. In the middle ages the physicians and surgeons banded together into confraternities, whose object was the sanctification of the members by common prayer, charity towards the destitute, and the ac- complishment of all the duties of their important vocation for the greater glory of God and the greater

ood of suffering humanity. The Society of Saints uke, Cosmas, and Damian has now undertaken in France the renewal of these happy traditions.

The following is the Churoh's account of the two

brothers.

Cosmas et Damianus, fra- tres Arabes, in /Egea urbi nati, nobiles medici, im- peratoribus Diocletiano et Maximiano, non magis me- dicing scientia quam Christi virtute, morbis etiam insa- nabilibus medebantur. Quo- rum religionem cum Lysias prefectus cognovisset, ad- duci eos ad se jubet, ac de vivendi instituto et de fi- dei professione interrogatos, cum se et Christianos esse, et Christianam fidem esse ad

The brothers Cosmas and Damian were Arabiansof noble extraction, born in the town of Age. They were physicians; and during the reign of Dio- cletian and Maximian, healed even incurable maladies by Christ's assistance rather than by their knowledge of medi- cine. The prefect Lysias, being informed of their religion, or- dered them to be brought be- fore him, and questioned them on their faith and their man- ner of life. They openly de-

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salutem necessariam, libere preedicarent, deos venerari imperat; et si id recusent, minatur cruciatus et necem acerbissimam.

Verum ut se frustra hec illis proponere intelligit: Colligate, inquit, manus et pedes istorum, eosque ex- quisitis torquete suppliciis. Quibus jussa exsequentibus, nihilominus Cosmas et Da- mianus in sententia per- sistebant. Quare ut erant vincti, in profundum mare jaciuntur: unde cum salvi ac soluti essent, egressi, ma- gicis artibus prwfectus fa- ctum assignans, in carcerem tradit, ac postridie eductos, in ardentem rogum injici jubet: ubi cum ab ipsis flamma refugeret, varie et crudeliter tortos securi per- cuti voluit. Itaque in Jesu Christi confessione martyrii palmam acceperunt.

271

clared that they were Chris- tians, and that the Christian faith is necessary to salvation; whereupon Lysias commanded them to adore the gods, threat- ening them, if they refused, with torture and a cruel death. But as the prefect saw his threats were in vain: 'Bind their hands and feet,’ he cried, *and torture them with the utmost cruelty.” His com- mands were executed, but Cosmas and Damian remained firm. They were then thrown, chained as they were, into the sea, but came out safe and loosed from their bonds. The prefect attributing this to ma- gical arts ordered them to prison. The next day, he commanded them to be led forth and thrown on a burn- ing pile, but the flame refused to touch them. Finally, after several other cruel tortures, they were beheaded; and thus confessing Jesus Christ, they won the palm of martyrdom.

In you, O illustrious brethren, was fulfilled this

saying of the Wise Man: The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised.”! The great ones, in whose sight rs are exalted, are the prinoes of the heavenly

ierarchies, witnessing to-day the homage paid to you by the Church militant. The glory that surrounds your heads is the glory of God Himself, of that boun-

--- PAGE 283 --- 272 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

tiful King, who rewards your former disinterestedness by bestowing upon you His own blessed life.

In the bosom of divine love, your charity cannot wax cold; help us, then, and heal the sick who oon- fidently implore your assistance. Preserve the health of God's children, so that they may fulfil their obli- eue in the world, and may Surgery bear the

ight yoke of the Churoh's precepts. Bless those phy- sicians who are faithful to their baptism, and who Seek your aid ; and increase the number of such.

See how the study of medicine now so often leads astray into the paths of materialism and fatalism, to the great detriment of science and humanity. It is false to assert that simple nature is the explanation of suffering and death; and unfortunate are those whose physicians regard them as mere flesh and blood. Even the pagan school took a loftier view than that; and it was surely a higher ideal that inspired you to exercise your art with such religious reverence. By the virtue of your glorious death, O witnesses to the Lord, obtain for our sickly society a return to the faith, to the remembrance of God, and to that piety which is profitable to all things and to all men, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

! ] Tim. iv. 8.

--- PAGE 284 --- SEPTEMBER 28 SAINT WENCESLAS

DUKE AND MARTYR

W xNczsLAs recalls to us the entrance into the Church of a warlike nation, the Czechs, the most indomitable of the Slavonic tribes, which had penetrated into the very midst of Germany. It is wéll known, with what bitterness and active energy this nation upholds its social claims, as though its struggle for existence in the early days of its history had made it proof against every trial. The faith of its apostles and martyrs, the ltoman faith, will be the safeguard, as it is the bond of union, of the countries subject to the crown of St. Wenceslas. Heresy, whether it be the native Hussite, or the ‘reform’ imported from Germany, can but lead the people to eternal ruin; may they never yield to the advances and seductions of schism! Wenceslas the martyr, grandson of the holy martyr Ludmilla, and great-uncle of the monk- bishop and martyr Adalbert, invites his faithful subjects to follow him in the only path where they may find honour and security both for this w ord and for the next.

Let us now read the legend of holy Church. The conversion of Bohemia dates from the latter part of the ninth century, when St. Methodius baptized St. Ludmilla and her husband Borziwoi the first Christian duke of the line of Premislas. The pagan reaction, during which St. Wenceslas gained the palm of m om, was but shortlived.

(278)

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Wenceslaus Bohemis dux, Wratislao patre Christiano, Drahomira matre gentili na- tus, ab avia Ludmilla femi- na sanctissima, pie educatus, omni virtutum genere in- signis, summo studio virgini- tatem per omnem vitam servavit illibatam. Mater per nefariam Ludmille ne- cem regni administrationem assecuta, impie cum juniore filio Boleslao vivens, conci- tavit in se procerum indigna- tionem: quare tyrannici et impii regiminis pertesi, ut- riusque excusso jugo, Wen- ceslaum in urbe Pragensi regem salutarunt.

Ille regnum pietate magis quam imperio regens, or- phanis, viduis, egenis tanta caritate subvenit, ut propriis humeris aliquando ligna in- digentibus noctu compor- tarii, pauperibus humandis frequenter adfuerit, captivos liberarit, carceribus detentos nocte intempesta visitarit, pecuniis et consilio sspis- sime consolatus. Miti animo princeps vehementer dole- bat quempiam, etsi reum, morti adjudicari. Summa religione sacerdotes venera- tus, suis manibus triticum serebat, et vinum exprime- bat, quibus in Miss® sacri- ficio uterentur. Nocte nudis pedibus super nivem et gla-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Wenceslas, duke of Bohe- mia, was born of a Christian father, Wratislas, and a pagan mother, Drahomira. Brought up in piety by the holy woman Ludmilla his grandmother, he was adorned with every virtue and with the utmost ca"e pre- served his virginity unspotted throughout hislife. His moth. er, having murdered Ludmilla, seized the reins of govern- ment; but her wicked life, and that of her younger son Boleslas excited the indigna- tion of the nobles. These, wearied of a tyrannical and impious rule, threw off the yoke of both mother and son, and proclaimed Wenceslas king at Prague.

He ruled his kingdom rather by kindness than authority. He succoured orphans, wi- dows, and all the poor with the greatest charity, some- times even carrying wood on his shoulders, by night, to those in need of it. He fre- quently assisted at the fune- rals of poor persons, liberated captives, and often visited the prisoners during the night, assisting them with gifts and advice. It caused greaí sor- row to his tender heart to con- demn even the guilty to death. He had the greatest reverence for priests; and with his own hands he would sow the corn and prepare the wine to be used in the sacrifice of the

--- PAGE 286 --- SAINT WENCESLAS

ciem circuebat ecclesias, san- guinea et terram calefaci- entia post se relinquens vestigia.

Angelos habuit sui cor- poris custodes. Cum enim ad singulare certamen ad- versus Radislaum, ducem Curimensem, eo fine acce- deret, ut suorum saluti pro- spiceret, visi sunt angeli arma ministrasse, et dixisse adversario, Ne ferias. Per- territus hostis, venerabun- dus procidens veniam ex- oravit. Cum in Germaniam profectus esset, imperator, conspectis duobus angelis aurea cruce ad se acceden- tem ornantibus, e solio pro- siliens brachiis excepit, re- giis insignibus decoravit, eique sancti Viti brachium donavit. Nihilominus im- pius frater, matre hortante, convivio exceptum, et postea in ecclesia orantem, parate Bibi mortis prescium, adhi- bitis sceleris comitibus, in- terfecit. Sanguis per pa- rietes aspersus adhuc con- Spicitur: et, Deo vindice, matrem inhumanam terra absorbuit; interfectores va- riis modis misere perierunt.

276

Mass. At night he used to go the round of the churches barefoot, through ice and snow, while his bloodstained footprints warmed the ground.

The angels formed his body-guard. In order to spare the lives of his soldiers, he undertook to fight in single combat with Radislas, duke of Gurima ; but when the latter saw angels arming Wenceslas, and heard them forbidding him to strike, he was terrified and fell at the saint's feet begging his forgiveness. On one occa- sion, when he had gone to Ger- many, the emperor, at his ap- proach, saw two angels adorn- ing him with a golden cross; whereupon, rising from his throne, he embraced the saint, bestowed on him the regal in- signia, and presented him with the arm of St. Vitus. Never- theless, instigated by their mother, his wicked brother in- vited him to a banquet, and then, together with some ac- complices, killed him as he was praying in the church, aware of the death that awaited him. His blood is still to be seen sprinkled on the walls. God avenged his saint; the earth swallowed up the inhuman mother, and the murderers perished miserably in various ways.

Thou didst win thy crown, O holy martyr, in the ohurch of Saints Cosmas and Damian, whither their

--- PAGE 287 --- 276 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

feast had attracted thee.! As thou didst honour them, we now in turn honour thee. "We are also hailing the approach of that other solemnity, which thou didst greet with thy last words at the fratricidal banquet: “In honour of the Archangel Michael let us drink this cup, and let us beseech him to lead our souls into the peace of eternal happiness’? What a sub- lime abe when thou wast already grasping the chalice of blood! O Wenceslas, fire us with that intrepid valour, which is ever lumble and gentle, simple as God to whom it tends, calm as the angels on whom it relies. Succour the Church in these unfortunate times; the whole Church honours thee, she has a right to expect thy assistance. But espe- eially cherish for her the nation of which thou art the honour; as long as it remains faithful to thy blessed memory, and looks to thy patronage in its earthly combats, its wandering from the truth will not be without return.

! Christian de Scala, son of the fratricide Boleslas the cruel, and nephew of the saint; he became a monk, and wrote the lives of St. Wenceslas and St. Ludmilla. 2 Ibid.

--- PAGE 288 --- SEPTEMBER 29

DEDICATION OF SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

Tue glorious Archangel appears to-day at the head of the heavenly army: There was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. In the sixth century, the dedication of the churches of St. Michael on doute Gargano and in the Roman Circus increased the celebrity of this day, which had however been long before consecrated by Rome to the memory of all the heavenly Virtues.

The east commemorates on the sixth of September an apparition of the victorious Prince at Chone? in Phrygia; while the eighth of November is their solemnity of the angels, corresponding to our feast of to-day, and bearing the title: *Synaxis of Saint Michael prince of the heavenly host, and of the other spiritual Powers. Although the term synazis is usually applied only to religious assemblies here on earth, we are informed that in this instance it also signifies the gathering of the faithful angels at the ery of their chief, and their union eternally sealed by their viotory.?

Who, then, are these heavenly Powers, whose mysterious combat heads the first page of history ? Their existence is attested by the traditions of all nations as well as by the authority of holy Soripture.

! Apoc. xii. 7. The ancient Coloss. 3 Menolog. Basilii, (271)

--- PAGE 289 --- 278 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

If we consult the Church, she teaches us that in the beginning God created simultaneously two natures, the spiritual and the corporal, and afterwards man who is composed of both.! The scale of nature de- scends by gradation from beings made to the likeness of God, to the very confines of nothingness; and by the same degrees the creature mounts upwards to his Creator. God is infinite being, infinite intelligence, infinite love. The creature is for ever finite: but man, endowed with a reasoning intellect, and the angel, with an intuitive grasp of truth, are ever, by a continual process of purification, widening the bounds of their imperfect nature, in order to reach, by increase of light, the perfection of greater love.

God alone is simple with that unchangeable produo- tive simplicity, which is absolute perfection excluding the possibility of progress; He is pure Act, in whom substance, power, and operation are one thing. The angel, pir entirely independent of matter, is yet subjeot to the natural weakness necessary to a oreated being ; he is not absolutely simple, for in him action is distinot from power, and power from essenoe? How much greater is the weakness of man's oompo- site nature, unable to carry on the operations of the intelleot without the aid of the senses !

‘Compared with ours, says one of the most en- lightened brethren of the angelic doctor, * how calm and how luminous is the knowledge of pure spirits ! They are not doomed to the intricate discoursings of our reason, which runs after the truth, composes and analyzes, and laboriously draws conclusions from premisses. They instantaneously apprehend the whole compass of primary truths. Their intuition is so prompt, so lively, so penetrating, that it is 1 Concil. Lateran. iv. cap. Firmiter. * Thom. Aquín. Summ. Theol. i. q. liv. art. 1-3.

--- PAGE 290 --- SAINT MICHAEL 279

impossible for them to be surprised, as we are, into error. If they deceive themselves, it must be of their own will. The perfection of their will is equal to the perfection of their intellect. They know not what it is to be disturbed by the violence of appetites. Their love is without emotion; and their hatred of evil id as calm and as wisely tempered as their love. A will so free can know no perplexity as to its aims, no inconstanoy in its resolutions. Whereas with us long and anxious meditation is necessary before we make a decision, it is the property of the angels to determine by a single act the object of their choice. God proposed to them, as He does to us, infinite beatitude in the vision of His own Essence; and to fit thom for so great an end, He endowed them with grace at the same time as He gave them being. In one instant they said Yes or No; in one instant they freely and deliberately decided their own fate.''

Let us not be envious. By nature the angel is superior to us; but, to which of the angels hath He said at any time, ‘Thou art My Son?'? The only- begotten Son of God did not take to Himself the angelic nature. When on earth, He acknowledged the temporary subordination of humanity to those pure spirits, and deigned to receive from them, even as do His brethren in the flesh, the announcements of the divine will? and help and strength. But *God hath not subjected unto angels the world to come,” says the apostle.’ How can we understand this attraction of God towards what is feeblest ? We can only worship it in humble, loving faith. It was Lucifer’s stumbling-block on the day of the great battle in heaven. But the faithful angels

! Monsabré 15th Conference, Lent 1875. 2 Hob. i. 5; ex Ps. ii. 7. * Dionys. Areop. De c«lesti hierarchia, iv. 4; ez Matt. ii. 13-15, 19-21. * St. Luke xxii. 43. 5 Hob. ii. 6.

I9

--- PAGE 291 --- 280 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

prostrated themselves in joyous adoration at the feet of the Infant-God foreshown to them enthroned on Mary's knee, and then rose up to sing: *Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will’

O Christ, my Christ as St. Denis calls Thee, the Church to-day delightedly proclaims Thee the beauty of the holy angels? Thou, the God-Man, art the lofty height whence purity, light, and love flow dowu upon the triple hierarchy of the nine choirs. Thou art the supreme Hierarch, the centre of worlds, con- troller of the deifying mysteries at the eternal feast.

Flaming Seraphim, glittering Cherubim, steadfast Thrones, court of honour to the Most High, and possessed of the noblest inheritance: according to the Areopagite, ye receive your justice, your splendour, and your hurning love by direct communication from our Lord:? and through you, all grace overflows from Him upon the holy city.

Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; sovereign dis- posers, prime movers, and rulers of the universe: in whose name do ye govern the world? Doubtless in His whose inheritance it is; in the name of the King of glory, the Man-God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of hosts.

Angels, Archangels, and Principalities; heaven's messengers, ambassadors, and overseers here below: are ye not also, as the apostle says, ministers of the salvation wrought on earth by Jesus, the heavenly High- Priest ?

e also, through this same Jesus, O most holy Trinity, glorify ''hee, together with the three princely hierarchies, which surround Thy Majesty with their nine immaterial rings as with a many-ciroled rampart.

1 Di . De celesti hierarchia, ii. 5. E A 3 (mde p? aupra, vit 2. — HIER ane

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To tend to Thee, and to draw all things to Thee, is their common law. Purification, illumination, union: by these three ways in succession, or simultaneously, are these noble beings attracted to God, and by the same they attract those who strive to emulate them. Sublime spirits, it is with your gaze ever fixed on high that ye influence those below and around you. Draw plentifully, both for yourselves and for us, from the central fires of the Divinity ; purify us from more than the involuntary infirmities of nature; enlighten us; kindle us with your heavenly flames. For the same reason that satan hates us, ye love us: protect the race of the Word made Flesh against the common enemy. So guard us, that we may hereafter be worthy to occupy among you the places left vacant by the victims of pride.

Adam of St. Victor thus sings the fullness of to-day's mystery.

SEQUENCE

Laus jocunda, laus decora, zens: our praise will be pleas-

Quando laudi concanora ing and beautiful, if the pu-

Puritas est cordium. rity of our hearts be in accord therewith.

Michaelem cuncti laudent, Let all praise Michael; let

Nec ab hujus se defraudent none deprive himself of this

Diei lxtitia: day's joy. O happy day! Felix dies qua sanctorum whereon the solemn victory Recensetur angelorum of the holy angels is recorded.

Solemnis victoria.

Draco vetus exturbatur The old dragon is cast out, Et draconis effugatur and all his hostile legions put

Inimica legio: to flight: the disturber is him-

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Exturbatus est turbator

Et projectus accusator A coeli fastigio.

Sub tutela Michaelis

Pax in terra, pax in coelis, Laus et jubilatio:

Cum sit potens hic virtute,

Pro communi stans salute, Triumphat in prelio.

Suggestor sceleris, Pulsus a superis, Per hujus aeris Oberrat spatia: Dolis invigilat, Virus insibilat, Sed hunc annihilat Praesens custodia. Tres distincte hierarchise Jugi vacant theorize Jugique psallentio: Nec obsistit theoria Sive jugis harmonia Jugi ministerio.

O quam mira caritatis Est superne civitatis Ter terna distinctio: Qus nos amat et tuetur, Ut ex nobis restauretur Ejus diminutio. Sicut sunt hominum Divisz gratis, Sic erunt ordinum Distinctze glorie Justis in premio: Solis est alia Quam luna dignitas, Stellarum varia Relucit claritas: Sic resurrectio. Vetus homo novitati, Be terrenus puritati

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

self disturbed, the accuser is hurled down from the height of heaven.

Under Michael's protection there is peace on earth, peace in heaven, praise and exulta- tion; for he, mighty and va- lorous, stands for the safety of all and triumphs in the battle.

Banished from heaven, the originator of sin wanders through the air: he watches to lay his snares, and insinu- ates his poison; but the guar- dian band of angels reduces his power to nought.

The three distinct hierar- chies are ever occupied in contemplation and unending song; nor does their contem- plation nor their ceaseless harmony interrupt their con- tinual ministry.

Oh! in the heavenly city how wondrous is the charity of the three tripled choirs; they love us and defend us, and hope to see their ranks filled up by us.

As among men there are divers graces upon earth, so in the heavenly reward the just will receive divers degrees of glory; other is the excellence of the sun, other that of the moon, and various the bright- ness of the stars; so shall be the resurrection.

. Let the old man be brought into conformity with the new,

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Conformet celestium: Corqualis his futurus, Licet nondum plene purus,

Spe presumat premium.

Ut ab ipsis adjuvemur,

Hos devote veneremur Instantes obsequio: Deo nos conciliat Angelisque sociat Sincera devotio.

De secretis reticentes Interim coelestibus, Erigamus puras mentes In ccelum cum manibus: Ut superna nos dignetur Cohreredes curia, Et divina collaudetur Ab utrisque gratia.

Capiti sit gloria Membrisque concordia. Amen.

the earthly to the purity of the heavenly citizens; he is one day to be equal to them, and though not yet wholly pure, let him in hope look for- ward to the prize.

That we may be assisted by these blessed spirits, let us devoutly venerate them and be untiring in our homage; sincere devotion reconciles to God and unites us with the angels.

Meanwhile let us be silent as to the secrets of heaven, and lift up pure minds and spotless hands on high:

Thus may the most high senate recognize us as coheirs; and may the divine grace be praised alike by angels and men.

To our divine Head be glo- ry and among his members union. Amen.

--- PAGE 295 --- 284 TIME AFTER PENTECUST

SepTEMBER 30

PRIEST CONFESSOR AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

‘I know not Vitalis, I reject Meletius, I pass by Paulinus;! he that cleaveth to the Chair of Peter, he is mine.? Thus, about the year 376, when the whole east was disturbed by the competitions for the episcopal Bee of Antioch, wrote an unknown monk to Pope St. Damasus. It was St. Jerome, a native of Dalmatia, who implored * light for his soul redeemed by the Blood of our Lord.’ Far from Stridonium, his semi-barbarous native lace, whose austerity and vigour he never lost; far bon Rome, where the study of literature and philo- sophy had not had sufficient ascendency to withhold him from the seductions of pleasure ; the fear of God's judgments had led him into the desert of Chalois. ere, under a burning sky, in the company of wild beasts, he for four years tormented his body with fearful macerations; and then, as a yet more effica- cious remedy, and certainly a more meritorious mortification for one passionately fond of classical beauties, he sacrificed his ciceronian tastes to the study of the Hebrew language. Such an undertakin was far more laborious then than in our days d lexicons and grammars and scientific works of every description. Many a time was Jerome discouraged and almost in despair. But he had learnt the truth

! Hieron. Epist. xv. al. lvii. ed Damas. ?. Epiat. xvi, al. lviii. 3 [bid.

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of the maxim he afterwards inculeated to others: ‘Love the science of the Scriptures, and you will not love the vices of the flesh." So he took up his Hebrew alphabet again, and continued to spell those ‘hissing and panting syllables’? until he had so mastered them as even to spoil his pronunciation of Letin. For the rest of his life, all the energy of his spirited nature was spent upon thislabour.

God amply repaid the homage thus rendered to His sacred word: Jerome hoped to obtain by his toil the eure of his moral sickness; he moreover attained the lofty holiness that we now admirein him. Other heroes of the desert remain unknown: Jerome was one of those to whom it is said: * You are the salt of the earth ; you are the light of the world’; and God willed that in due time this light should be set upon & candlestick that it might shine to all that are in the house.

The once brilliant student returned to Rome an altered man ; for his holiness, learning, and humility, he was declared by all to be worthy of the episcopal dignity. Pope Damasus, the virgin doctor of the virgin Church,” commissioned him to answer, in his name, the consultations sent from east and west ;®? and caused him to begin, by the revision of the Latin new Testament upon the original Greek text, those great scriptural works, which have immortalized his name and entitled him to the undying gratitude of the Christian world. Meanwhile Helvidius dared to call in question the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God: Jerome’s refutation revealed that talent for

! Epist. cxxv. al. iv. ad Rusticum. 2 Ibid. 3 Bpist. xxix, al. cxxx. ad Marcellam. * Epist. cviii. al. xxvii, ad Eustochium.

5 St. Matt. v. 13, 14, 15. 5 Hieron. Epist. xlv. al. xcix. ad Asellam. 7 Epist. xlviii. al. 1. ad Pammachium,

8 Epist. oxxiii. al. xi. ad Ageruchiam,

--- PAGE 297 --- 286 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

polemics, of which Jovinian, Vigilentius, Pelagius, and others, were also to feel the force. Mary rewarded him for thus avenging her honour, by bringing to him & number of holy souls, whom he was to lead in the paths of virtue, and instruct in the mysteries of holy Scripture.

ere was a phenomenon inexplicable to the infidel historian: at the very time when the Rome of the Casars was perishing, suddenly around this Dalma- tian were gathered the fairest names of ancient Rome. They were thought to have died out, when the lower classes made themselves supreme; but at the critical moment, when Rome was to rise again purified from the flames kindled by the barbarians, they reappeared to claim their birthright and refound the city for its true eternal destiny. The combat was of a new kind ; but they were at the head of the army that was to save the world. Four centuries earlier, the apostle had said there were not many wise, and powerful, and noble; Jerome declared that, in his day, they were numerous, * numerous among the monks.'!

The monastic army in the west was, at its origin, chiefly recruited from the patricians, whose character of ancient grandeur it ever afterwards retained; its ranks included noble virgins and widows; and some- times husband and wife would enlist together. Marcella was the first to inaugurate the monastio life at Rome, in her palace on the Aventine. She obtained St. Jerome's direction for her privileged community; but after his departure, she herself was consulted by all, as an oracle, on the difficulties of holy Scripture? She was joined in her retreat by Furia, Fabiola, and Paula, worthy descendants of Camillus, of the Fabii, and of the Scipios. But the

1 Epist. lxvi. al. xxvi. ad Pammachium. ? Epist. cxxvii. al. xvi. ad Princ.

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old enemy could ill brook such losses to his power: Jerome must be forced to leave Rome.

A pretext was soon found for raising a storm. The Tete on Virginity addressed to St. Paula's daughter Eustochium, and written in Jerome's fear- less and pointed style, evoked the animosity of false monks, foolish virgins, and unworthy clerics.! In vaim did the prudent Marcella predict the tempest: Jerome would make bold to write what others dared to practise. But he had not reckoned on the death of Pope Damasus at that very juncture; an event for which the ignorant and the envious had been waiting, in order to give full vent to their stifled hatred Driven away by the storm, the lover of justice returned to the desert; not this time to Chalcis, but to the peaceful Bethlehem, whither the sweet recollection of our Saviour’s infancy attracted the strong athlete. Paula and her daughter soon followed him, in order not to forgo the lessons they prized above all else in the world; their presence was a consolation to him in his exile, and an enoou- ragement to continue his labours. All honour to these valiant women! To their fidelity, their thirst for knowledge, their pious importunities, the world is indebted for a priceless treasure, viz: the authentic translation? of the sacred Books, which was necessi- tated by the imperfections of the old Italic Version and its numberless variations, as also by the fact that the Jews were accusing the Church of falsifying the Scripture.’ ‘Paula and Eustochium, may the labours of my poor life be pleasing to you, useful to the Church,

1 Epist. xxii. ad Eustochium, de custodia virginitatis.

2 Epist. xxvii. al. cxx. «d Marcellum. 3 Pref. versionis Didymi da Spiritu S«ncto ; Epist. xlv. al. xcix. ad Ascllam.

3 Conc, Trid. Sess. iv.

5 Hier. Pref. in 4saiam, ad Paulam et Eustochium,

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and worthy of posterity ; as for contemporaries, I care but little for their judgment.'! So said the holy solitary ; yet he feli the envious attacks of his bitter enemies more keenly than he would own to himself. * Handmaids of Christ,” he said, ‘shield me with the buckler of your prayers from those who malign me.’? Every book he translated brought upon him fresh criticisms, and those not only from enemies. There were the timid, who were alarmed for the authority of the Septuagint, so sacred both to the Synagogue and to the Church ;* there were the possessors of precious manuscripts, written on purple vellum and adorned with splendid uncials, and with letters of silver and gold, all which would now lose their value. * Well, let them keep their precious metal, and leave us our poor papers,’* cried Jerome exasperated. * And yet, it is you,” he said to the fair inspirers of his works, * who force me to endure all this folly and all these injuries; to put an end to the evil, it were better you enjoined silence on me.'* But neither the mother nor the daughter would hear of such a thing, and Jerome yielded to constraint. Finding that the text of his first revision of the Psalter upon the Greek Septuagint ® had become corrupted through careless transcriptions, they induced him to under- take a second.’ his version is inserted in our present yog together with his translation of the other Books of the old Testament from Hebrew or Chal- daic.® In all these works the saint appealed to Paula and Eustochium as guarantees of his exactitude, and

ged them to collate his translations word for word with the original.?

1 Pref. in Daniel. 3 Pref. in Reg. 3 Aug. ad Hieron. Epist. lvi al. 1xxxvi. * Hier. Pref. in Job. ad easdem. 5 Pref. in Jerem. 5 Psalt. rom. 7 Psalt. gall. Hier. Pref. in Psalmos. * Except Baruch, Wisdom,

Ecclesiasticus, Machabees, and a few fragments, retained from the old Italic. ? Hier. Pref. in Esther.

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All his old friends in Rome took part in this learned intercourse. Jerome refused to nome the light of his knowledge, and pleasantly excused him- self for giving one half of the human race a preference over the other: ‘Principia, my daughter in Jesus Christ, I know that some find fault with me for writing to women; let me say, then, to these detractors: If men questioned me on the Scripture, they should receive my answers.’ !

There was great joy in the monasteries at Bethle- hem when news arrived that another Paula was born in Rome. Eustochium's brother had married Lata, the Christian daughter of the pagan pontiff Albinus. They had vowed their child to God before her birth ; and now they rejoiced to hear her lisp into the ear of the priest of Jupiter the Christian Alleluia. On hearing of her grandmother beyond the seas, and of her aunt consecrated to God, the little one would beg to go and join them. ‘Send her,” wrote Jerome delightedly, , 1 will be her master and foster-father; I will carry her on my old shoulders; I will help her lisping lips to form her words; and I shall be prouder than Aristotle; for he indeed educated a king of Macedon, but I shall be preparing for Christ a handmaid, a bride, a queen predestin to a throne in heavon.'? The child was, in fact, sent to Bethle- hem, where she was destined to solace the last hours of the aged saint, and to assume, while yet very young, the responsibility of carrying on the work of

er holy relatives.

But Jerome had still more to suffer, before leaving this world. The elder Paula was the first to be called away, singing: ‘I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the

1 Epist. lxv. al. cxl. ad Principi m. 3 Epiat. cvii. al. vii. ad Letam.

--- PAGE 301 --- 290 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

tabernacles of sinners.'' So great a langour then took possession of St. Jerome, that it seemed his end was Eimer i; d Eustochium, though broken- hearted, repressed her tears, and implored him to live and fulfil his promises to her mother. He there- fore aroused himself, finished his translations, and took up again his commentaries on the text. He had completed Isaias, and was engaged upon Ezechiel, when the most awful calamity of those times came upon the world: * Rome is fallen; the light of the earth is xtinguished; in that one city the whole universe has perished. What can we do, but hold our peace and think upon the dead ?’

He had, however, to think about the living also, for numberless fugitives, destitute of all things, made their way to the holy places; and the uncompromis- ing wrestler was all tenderness to these unfortunates. Loving the practice of the holy Scripture no less than its teaching, he spent his days in discharging the duties of hospitality. In spite of his failing sight, he gave the night hours to his dear studies, Sheela he forgot the troubles of the day, and rejoiced to fulfil the desires of the spiritual daughter God had given him. The prefaces to his fourteen books on Ezechiel bear witness to the share taken by the virgin of Christ in this work undertaken despite the misfortunes of the times, his own infirmities, and his last controversies with heretics.’

Heresy seemed indeed to be profiting of the troubled state of the world, to rise up with renewed audacity. The Pelagians, supported b bishop John of Jerusalem, assembled one night with torches and swords, and set fire to the monastery o1 St. Jerome, and to that of the sacred virgins then governed by

1 Ps, Ixxxüi. 11. Hier. Epist. cviil. al. xxvii. «d Eustochium.

2 Epist. xcix. al. xxxi. ad Theophilum, * Pref. in Josue, Jud. et Ruth. — * Comment. in Isaiam, — ? Comment. in Ezech. i. Prolog.

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291

Eustochium. Manfully seconded by her niece Paula the younger, the saint rallied her terrified daugh- ters, and they escaped together through the midst of the flames. But the anxiety of that terrible night was too much for her already exhausted strength. Jerome laid her to rest beside her mother, near the crib of the Infant God ; and leaving his commentary on Jeremias unfinished, he prepared himself to die. The following is the liturgical account of his life.

Hieronymus, Eusebii fili- us, Stridone in Dalmatia Constantio imperatore na- tus, Romse adolescens est baptizatus, et in liberalibus disciplinis a Donato et aliis viris doctissimis eruditus. Tum discendi studio Galli- am peragravit: ubi pios ali- quot, et in divinis litteris eruditos viros coluit, mul- tosque sacros libros:sua ma- nu descripsit. Mox se in Greciam conferens, philo- sophia et eloquentia instru- ctus, summorum theologo- rum consuetudine floruit: in primis vero Gregorio Nazianzeno Constantinopoli operam dedit: quo doctore se sacras litteras didicisse profitetur. Tum religionis causa visit Christi Domini incunabula, totamque lustra- vit Palestinam: quam pere- grinationem, adhibitis He- breorum eruditissimis, ad sacre Scripture intelligen- tiam sibi multum profuisse testatur.

Jerome, son of Eusebius, was born at Stridonium in Dalmatia, during the reign of the emperor Constantius. He was baptized at Rome while still young, and was instructed in the liberal arts by Donatus and other learned men. His love of knowledge led him to travel in Gaul, where he made the acquaintance of several pious men learned in divinity, and copied many sacred books with his own hand. He then proceeded to Greece, to study eloquence and philosophy. Here he won the friendship of some great theologians; in particular of Gregory Nazian- zen, under whom he studied at Constantinople, and whom he calls his master in sacred learning. Drawn by religious motives, he visited the crib of Christ our Lord, and the whole of Palestine; and he tells us that this pilgrimage, made in the company of some learned Jews, was of the greatest ser- vice to him for the under- standing of holy Scripture.

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Deinde secessit in vastam Syrie — solitudinem: — ubi quadriennium in lectione di- vinorum librorum, co:lestis: que beatitudinis contempla. tione consumpsit, assidua se abstinentia, vi lacrymarum, et corporis afflictatione dis- crucians. Presbyter a Pau- lino episcopo Antiochi» fa- ctus, Romam decontroversiis quorumdam episcoporum cum Paulino et Epiphanio ad Damasum Pontificem pro- fectus, ejus ecclesiasticis epistolis scribendis adjutor fuit. Verum cum pristine solitudinis desiderio tenere- tur, in Palzstinam reversus, Bethlehem ad Christi Do- mini praesepe in monasterio, quod a Paula Romana extru- ctum erat, coolestem quam- dam vitse rationem instituit: et quamquam varie morbis doloribusque tentaretur, ta- men corporis incommoda piis laboribus et perpetua lectione ac scriptione super- abat.

Tamquam ad oraculum, ex omnibus terre partibus, ad ipsum divine Scripture queestiones explicandg re- ferebantur. Illum Dama- sus Pontifex, illum sanctus Augustinus de locis Scri- pture difficillimis spe con- suluit, propter ejus singu- larem doctrinam, et lingux non solum Latin et Grace, sed Hebraice etiam et Chal-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

After this Jerome retired into the lonely desert of Syria, where he spent four yeara in reading the holy Scripture, and in the contemplation of heavenly beatitude, afflicting his body by abstinence, weep- ing, and every kind of pen- ance. He was ordained priest by Paulinus, bishop of An- tioch; in whose company and that of Epiphanius, he came to Rome, to settle the disputes that had arisen between cer- tain bishops. Here Pope Da- masus engaged him to assist in writing his ecclesiastical letters. But yearning for his former solitude, he returned to Palestine, and settled at Bethlehem in a monastery built by the Roman lady Pau- la, near our Lord's crib. Here he led a heavenly life; and though much afflicted with sickness and sufferings he devoted himself, in spite of his bodily weakness, to works of piety and to ceaseless study and writing.

From all parts of the world he was referred to as an oracle for the decision of questions concerning the sacred Scrip- tures. Pope Damasus and St. Augustine often consulted him on difficult passages of holy Writ, on account of his remarkable learning and his knowledge not only of Latin and Greek but also of Hebrew and Chaldaic. According to

--- PAGE 304 --- SAINT JEROME 293

daicee intelligentiam: et quod omnes pene scriptores, ejusdem Augustini testi- monio, legerat. Hereticos acerrimis scriptis exagita- vit: piorum et catholicorum patrocinium semper susce- pit. Vetus Testamentum ex Hebrvo convertit: no- vum, jussu Damasi, Gri- c fidei reddidit, magna etiam ex parte explicavit. Multa prgterea Latine red- didit scripta doctorum viro- rum, et ipse aliis proprii in- genii monumentis Christia- nam disciplinam illustravit. Qui ad sunmam senectu- tem perveniens, sanctitate et doctrina illustris, Honorio imperatore migravit in coe- lum. Cujus corpus ad Beth- lehem sepultum, postea Ro- mam in basilicam. sanctie Mari» ad Prwcsepe transla- tum est.

St. Augustine, he had read almost every author. In his writings he severely censured heretics; but always lent his support to faithful Catholics. He translated the old Testa- inent from the Hebrew; and at the command. of Pope Da- masus, revised the new Tes- tament, collating it with the Greek; he also commented the greater part of holy Scripture. Besides this, he translated into Latin the writings of many learned men, and enriched Christian science with other works from his own pen. At length, having reached extreme old age, and being renowned for learning and holiness, he passed to heaven in the reign of Honorius. His body was buried at Bethlehem; but was afterwards translated to Rome und laid in the basilica of St. Mary ad Presepe.

Thou completest, O illustrious saint, the brilliant

constellation of doctors in the heavens of holy Church. The latest stars are now rising on the sacred cycle ; the dawn of the eternal day is at hand; the Sun of justice will soon shine down upon the valley of Judgment. O model of penance, teach us that holy fear, which restrains from sin, or repairs its ravages ; guide us along the rugged path of expiation. The: torian of great monks,! thyself a monk and father of the solitaries attracted like thee to Bethlehem by the sweetness of the divine Infant, keep up the spirit of labour and prayer in the monastic Order, of which

! St. Paul the Hermit, St, Hilarion, St. Malchus,

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several families have adopted thy name. Scourge of heretics, attach us firmly to the Roman faith. Watoh- ful guardian of Christ’s flock, protect us against wolves, and preserve us from hirelings. Avenger of Mary’s honour, obtain for our sinful world that the angelic virtue may flourish more and more.

O Jerome, thy special glory is a participation in the power of the Lamb to open the mysterious Book ; the key of David was given to thee to unclose the many seals of holy Scripture and to show us Jesus concealed beneath the letter.! The Church, therefore, sings thy praises to-day, and presents thee to her chil- dren as the official interpreter of the inspired writings ‘which guide her to her eternal destiny ^ Accept her homage and the gratitude of her sons. May our Lord, by thy intercession, renew in us the respect aud love due to His divine word. May thy merits obtain for the world other holy doctors, and learned interpreters of the sacred Books. But let them bear in mind the spirit of reverence and prayer with which they must hear the voice of God in order to understand. God will have His word obeyed, not discussed ; although, among the various interpretations of which that divine word is susceptible, it is lawful, under the guidance of the Church, to seek out the true one; and it is praise-worthy to be ever sounding the depths of beauty hidden in that august doctrine. Happy is he who follows thy footsteps in these holy studies ! Thou didst say: ‘To live in the midst of such trea- sures, to be wholly engrossed in them, to know and to seek nothing else, is it not to dwell already more in heaven than on earth? Let us learn in time that science which will endure for ever.’?

! Hier. Epist. liii. al. ciii. ad Paulinum. ? Ibid.

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FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY Ir is customary with men of the world to balance their accounts at the end of the year, and ascertain their profits. The Church is now preparing to do the same. We shall soon see her solemnly numbering her elect, taking an inventory of her holy relics, visiting the tombs of those who sleep in the Lord, and counting the sanctuaries, both new and old, that have been consecrated to her divine Spouse. But to-day's reckoning is a more solemn one, the profits more considerable: she opens her balance-sheet with the gain accruing to our Lady from the mysteries which compose the cycle. Christmas, the cross, the triumph of Jesus, these produce the holiness of us all; but before and above all, the holiness of Mary. The diadem which the Church thus offers first to the august Sovereign of the world, is rightly composed of the triple crown of these sanctifying mysteries, the causes of her joy, of her sorrow, and of her glory. The joyful mysteries recall the Annunciation, the Visitation, the ‘Birth of Jesus, Mary's Purification, and the Finding of our Lord in the temple. The sorrowful mysteries bring before us the Agony of our blessed Lid, His being scourged, and crowned . with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the Crucifixion. While, in the glorious mysteries, we contemplate the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour, Pentecost, and the Assumption and Coro- nation of the Mother of God. . Such is Mary's rosary ;

(295)

20

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a new and fruitful vine, which began to blossom at Gabriel’s salutation, and whose fragrant garlands form a link between earth and heaven.

In its present form, the rosary was made known to the world by St. Dominio at the time of the struggles with the Albigensians, that social war of such 1ll-omen for the Church. The rosary was then of more avail than armed forces against the power of satan; it is now the Church’s last resource. It would seem that, the ancient forms of social prayer being no longer relished by the people, the holy Spirit has willed by this easy and ready summary of the liturgy to maintain, in the isolated devotion of these wb. py times, the essential of that life of prayer, faith, and Christian virtue, which the publio celebration of the Divine Office formerly kept up among the nations. Before the thirteenth century, popular piety was already familiar with what was called the psalter of the laity, that is, the angelical salutation repeated one hundred and fifty times; it was the distribution of these Hail Marys into decades, each devoted to the consideration of a particular mystery, that constituted the rosary. Such was the divine expedient, simple as the eternal Wisdom that conceived it, and far-reaching in its effects ; for while it led wandering man to the Queen of Mercy, it obviated ignorance which is the food of heresy, and taught him to find once more ‘the paths consecrated by the Blood of the Man-(iod, and by the tears of His Mother.'!

Thus speaks the great Pontiff who, in the univer- | sal sorrow of these days, has again pointed out the means of salvation more than once experienced by our fathers. Leo XIII, in his encyclicals, has con- seerated the present month to this devotion so dear to

' Leo. xiii, Epist eneycl. Magne Dci Afatris, de Rosario Mariali, Sept. 8, 1592.

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heaven; he has honoured our Lady in her litanies with a new title, Queen of the most holy rosary ;' and he has given the final development to the solemnity of this day, by raising it to the rank of a second class feast, and by enriching it with a proper Office explaining its permanent object? Besides all this, the feast is a memorial of glorious victories, which do honour to the Christian name.

Soliman II, the greatest of the Sultans, taking advantage of the confusion caused in the west by Luther, had filled the sixteenth century with terror by his exploits. He left to his son, Selim II, the prospect of being able at length to carry out the ambition of his race: to subjugate Rome and Vienna, the Pope and the emperor, to the power of the crescent. The Turkish fleet had already mastered the greater part of the Mediterranean, and was threatening Italy, when, on October 7, 1571, it came into action, in the Gulf of Lepanto, with the pontifical galleys supported by the fleets of Spain and Venice. It was Sunday ; throughout the world the confrater- nities of the rosary were engaged in their work of intercession. Supernaturally enlightened, St. Pius V watched from the Vatican the battle undertaken by the leader he had chosen, Don John of Austria,

ainst the three hundred vessels of Islam. The illustrious Pontiff, whose life’s work was now com- pleted, did not survive to celebrate the anniversary of the triumph; but he perpetuated the memory of it by an annual commemoration of our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, altered this title to our Lady of the rosary, and appointed the first Sunday of October for the new feast, authorizing its celebration in those churches which possessed an altar under that invocation,

! Litter Salutaris Dec. 24, 1583, * Decret, Sept. 11, 1887, Aug. 5, 1885.

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A century and a half later, this limited concession was made general. As Innocent XI, in memory of the deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski, had extended the feast of the most holy name of Mary to the whole Church; so, in 1716, Clement XI inscribed the feast of the rosary on the universal calendar, in gratitude for the victory gained by Prince Eugene at Peterwardein, on August 5, under the auspices of our Lady of the snow. This victory was followed by the raising of the siege of Corfu, and completed a year later by the taking of Belgrade.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

MASS

The joys experienced on the other feasts of the Mother of God, are all gathered up and resumed in this one, for us, for the angels, and for our Lady herself. Like the angels, then, let us offer, together with Mary, the homage of our just delight to the Son of God, her Son, her King and ours.

INTROLT

Gaudeamus omnes in Do- mino, diem festum celebran- tes sub honore beate Marie Virginis: de cujus solemni- tate gaudent angeli, et col- laudant Filium Dei.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego operi mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus.

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, on whose solem- nity 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, &c. Let us all.

The mysteries of the Son and of the Mother are

our instruction and our hope.

The Church prays in

the Collect that they inay also be our rule of life and our pledge of eternal happiness.

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299

COLLECT

Deus, cujus Unigenitus
per vitam, mortem, et re- surrectionem | suam nobis salutis @ternz premia com- paravit: concede qussu- mus; ut hec mysteria san- ctissimo beate Marie Vir- ginis rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequa- mur. Per eundem Domi- num.

O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, procured for us the rewards of eternal salva- tion; grant, we beseech thee, that commemorating these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and possess what they promise. Through the same Lord &c.

Then is made a commemoration of the occurring

Sunday.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientis.

Prov. cap. viii.

Dominus possedit me in
initio viarum suarum ante- quam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab eterno ordi- nata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret, Non- dum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Bea- ti qui cnstodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere eam. Beatus homo qui audit me, et qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie, et ob- servat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino.

Lesson from the Book of

Prov. ch. viii.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old be- fore the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruc- tion and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

Our Lady's mysteries are before all time in God's

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sight, like those of her divine Son; like these they will endure for all eternity; like them they rule the ages, which circle round the Word and Mary, pre- paring for both in the days of figures, perpetuating their presence by the incessant glorification of the most Du Trinity, in whose name all Christians are baptized. Now the rosary honours all this series of mysteries; to-day’s feast is a | ag back upon the oycle as it draws to its close. From these mysteries, from this view of them, we must draw the conclusion formulated by our Lady herself in this passage from Proverbs, which the Church applies to her: ‘Now therefore, my children, consider my ways; imitate me, that you may find happiness. Blessed is he that watcheth at her gate! Let us pray to her, rosary in hand, considering her at the same time, meditating on her life and le greatness, and watch- ing, were it but for a quarter of an hour, at the entrance to the palace of this incomparable Queen. The more faithful we are, the more assured will be our salvation and our progress in true life.

In the Gradual, let us congratulate the Queen of the holy rosary on her perfect life, all truth, and justice, and meekness, which won her the love of the supreme King. In the Alleluia verse, let us pro- elaim the nobility of her race, unequalled in the whole world.

TIME AFTER PKENTECOST

GRADUAL

Propter veritatem et man- suetudinem, et justitiam, et deducet te mirabiliter dex- tera tua.

Y. Audi filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam: quia concupivit Rex speciem tuam.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Because of truth and meek- ness and justice: and th right hand shall lead thee marvellously.

V. Hearken, O daughter,
and see, and incline thine ear, for the king hath greatly de- sired thy beauty,

Alleiuia, alleluia.

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Y. Solemnitas gloriose ¥. It is a festival of the Virginis Marie ex semine glorious Virgin Mary of the Abrahe, orte de tribu Ju- seed of Abraham; sprung from da, clara ex stirpe David. thetribe of Juda, from David's Alleluia. renowned lineage. Alleluia.

The Gospel is the same as on the feast of the most holy name of Mary (page 176). ‘At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God, into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.’ Blessed art thou among women, repeated Elizabeth a few days later, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. These two salutations, with the name of Mary added to the angel's greeting and the name of Jesus to Elizabeth’s, constituted the Ave Maria in the time of St. Dominie, the promulgator of the rosary. The

rayer, * Holy Mary Mother of God’ which now so Deaatifully completes the formula of praise, received the sanction of the Church in the sixteenth century. No better Gospel could, then, have been chosen for to-day, for it gives tbe original text of the rosary, and describes the first of its mysteries.

All grace, all light, all life, are to be found in our Lady; by her holy rosary she, as we sing in the Offertory, has multiplied flowers and fruits in the garden of the Church. Every offering acceptable to God, comes from Mary, with and by Jesus.

OFFERTORY

In me gratia omnis vie In me is all grace of the way et veritatis; in me omnis aud of truth: in me is all hope spes vite et virtutis: ego of life and of virtue: I have quasi rosa plantata super flowered forth like a rose plant- rivos aquarum) fructificavi. ed by the brooks of water,

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As the Secret tells us, the rosary, piously medi- tated, prepares us for the Sacrifice of the altar, that supereminent and august memorial of the mysteries which it imprints in the heart and mind of the

SECRET

Fac nos, quesumus Do- mine, his muneribus offe- rendis convenienter aptari: et per sanctissimi rosarii mysteria sic vitam, passio- nem, et gloriam Unigeniti tui recolere, ut ejus digni promissionibus — efficiamur. Qui tecum.

Do thou, we beseech thee, O Lord, render us fit suitably to offer up these gifts: and by means of the mysteries of the most holy rosary, so to cali back to mind the life, the Passion, and the glory of thine only-begotten Son, as to be made worthy of his promises: Who with thee liveth and reigneth &c.

Then a commemoration of the Sunday.

The Preface as on September 8, substituting ‘in solemnitate, on the solemnity,” for ‘in Nativitate, on the Nativity,” of the blessed Virgin Mary.

After the sacred banquet, our soul must not re-

main barren.

The fragrance of virtue's flowers must

embalm all that surrounds us, and prove to the Spouse that His visit has not been made in vain.

COMMUNION

Florete flores quasi lili- um, et date odorem, et fron- dete in gratiam, collaudate canticuni, et benedicite Do- minum in operibus suis.

Flower ye forth like the lily, and yield ye a sweet smell, and bring forth leaves in grace: sound forth a canticle of praise, and bless ye the Lord in his works.

In the Posteommunion, the Church prays that our

Lady may, by her intercession, second the effeots of this Sacrifice, and.of the mysteries in which she

played so great a part.

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POSTCOMMUNION

Sanctissime ^ Genitricis — We beseech thee, O Lord, lus, cujus rosarium celebra- to help us through the prayers mus, quesumus Domine, of thy most holy Mother, the
precibus adjuvemur: ut et feast of whose rosary we are mysteriorum, quae colimus, celebrating: that we may both virtus percipiatur, et sacra- experience the virtue of the mentorum, que sumpsimus, mysteries on which we medi- obtineatur effectus. Qui tate, and also obtain the effect vivis. of the Sacrament which we have received. Who livest and reignest &c.

Then is added the Postcommunion of the Sunday, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of the Mass.

VESPERS

A few days ago, the Church borrowed from the Servites of Mary her Office of the Seven Dolours; to-day she seeks her responsories, hymns, and anti- phons from the noble family which claims the rosary as its birthright. The Christian world owes a new debt of gratitude to the sons of St. Dominic for enriching it with these beautiful liturgical formule. But as the Use of the Friars Preachers gives but one antiphon for the psalms in the Vespers of the saints, the following antiphons have been added for the Roman rite. The hymn, which so gracefully and yet concisely resumes the triple series of the mysteries, is the fourth of the entire Office: the first celebrates, at first Vespers, the joyful mysteries; the second, at Matins, the sorrowful; the third, at Lauds, the glo- rious. ' From these mysteries let us gather roses, and weave garlands for the Mother of fair love.’

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1. ANT. Que est ista, spe- 1. ANT. Who is this, beau- ciosa sicut columba, quasi tiful as a dove, like a rose rosa plantata super rivos planted by the brooks of

aquarum? water? Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.
2. ANT. Virgo potens, si- 2. ANT. It is the mighty

cut turris'David; mille cly- Virgin, like the tower of Da- pei pendent ex ea, omnis vid; & thousand bucklers hang

armatura fortium. upon it, all the armour of valiant men. Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.

3. ANT. Ave Maria, gra- 3. ANT. Hail Mary, full of tia plena, Dominus tecum, grace, the Lord is with thee, benedicta tu in mulieribus. blessed art thou among wo-

men.

Ps. Lsetatus sum, page 152.

4. ANT. Benedixit te Do- — 4. ANT. The Lord hath minus in virtute tua, quia blessed thee by his power, be- per te ad nihilum redegit cause by thee he hath brought inimicos nostros. our enemies to nought.

Ps. Nisi Dominus, page 153.

5. ANT. Viderunt eam fi- 5. ANT. The daughters of lie Sion vernantem in flo- Sion saw her adorned with the ribus rosarum, et beatissi- flowers of roses, and declared mam preedicaverunt. her most blessed.

Ps. Lauda Jerusalem, page 154.

CAPITULUM

In me gratia omnis vie In me is all grace of the et veritatis, in me omnis way and of the truth, in me spes vite et virtutis: ego is all hope of life and of vir- quasi rosa plantata super tue; I have flowered forth like rivos aquarum fructificavi. wipes planted by the brooks

of water.

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305

HYMN

Te gestientem gaudiis, Te sauciam doloribus, Te jugi amictam gloria, O Virgo Mater pangimus.

Ave redundans gaudio Dum concipis, dum visitas, Et edis, offers, invenis, Mater beata, Filium.

Ave dolens, et intimo In corde agonem, verbera, Spinas, crucemque Filii Perpessa, princeps marty- rum.

Ave, in triumphis Filii, In ignibus Paracliti, In regni honore et lumine, Regina fulgens gloria.

Venite gentes, carpite Ex his rosas mysteriis, Et pulchri amoris inclyte Matri coronas nectite.

Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu, In sempiterna secula. Amen.

Y. Regina sacratissimi rosarii, ora pro nobis.

Jv. Ut digni efficiamur pro:nissionibus Christi.

Thee exulting with joy, thee wounded with the sword of sorrow, thee girt with ever- lasting glory, we sing, O Vir- gin Mother.

Hail, overflowing with glad- ness, when thou conceivest; when thou visitest thy cousin ; when thou bringest forth thy Son, offerest him to God, find- est him in the temple, O happy Mother!

Hail, in thy bitter sorrow, when thou didst suffer in thy inmost heart the agony, the scourging, the thorns, and the cross of thy Son, O first of martyrs!

Hail, O Queen refulgent with glory in the triumphs of thy Son, in’ the fires of the Paraclete, in the honour and splendour of thy queenliness.

Come, O ye nations, gather roses from these mysteries, and wreathe therewith gar- lands for the Mother of fair love.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus born of the Virgin; together with the Father and the holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

Y. Queen of the most holy rosary, pray for us,

KR. That we may be made worthy of the promises of

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ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Beata Mater et intacta Blessed Mother and unspot- Virgo, gloriosa Regina mun- ted Virgin, glorious Queen of di, sentiant omnes tuum ju- the world, may all experience vamen quicumque celebrant thine aid, who celebrate thy tuam sanctissimi rosarii so- solemnity of the most holy lemnitatem. rosary.

The Prayer as on page 299. Then is made a commemoration of the Sunday.

OcroBer 1 SAINT REMIGIUS BISHOP AND CONFESSOR APOSTLE OF THE FRANKS

Scarcery had two centuries elapsed since the triumph of the cross over Roman idolatry, when satan began to ery victory once more. While Eutychianism was erowned at Byzantium in the person of Anastasius the silent, Arianism was rife in the west. Through- out the whole ancient territory of the empire, heresy was supreme, and almost everywhere was persecutin the Church, who had now none but the vanquishe for her sons.

‘But fear not; rather rejoice,” says Baronius at this point of his Annals; ‘it is divine Wisdom still delighting to play in the world. The thoughts of men count for little before Him who holds the light in His hands, to hide it when He pleases, and, when He wills, to bring it forth again. The darkness, that now covers the earth, marks the hour when the dawn is about to break in the hearts of the Franks,

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and the Catholic faith is to shine there in all its lory.’!

Little known in our days is such a manner of writing history; yet this was the view taken by the first historian of the Church, and the greatest. On such a feast as this we could not do better than repeat summarily his account of the Franks. ‘How,’ says he, ‘can we help admiring the Providence which i never wanting to the Church? From the midst of tribes still pagan, on the morrow of the irremediable fall of the empire, God forms to Himself a new people, raises unto Himself a prince: against these must break the rising tide of heretics and barbarians. Such, in truth, appeared in the course of ages the divine mission of the Frankish kings.

What energy has faith to uphold kingdoms; and what fatal power has heresy to uproot every plant that is not set by our heavenly Father! In proof hereof, see how the principalities of the Goths, Van- dals, Heruli, Alani, Suevi, and Gepidi have utterly disappeared ; while the Franks behold their little spot of earth blessedly fertilized, and encroaching far upon the surrounding territories.”

Henceforth appeared the might of the Franks, when preceded to battle by the cross. Hitherto obscure and struggling for existence, they were now everywhere victorious. They had only had to ac- knowledge Christ, in order to reach the highest summit of glory, honour, and renown. In so ipis I say nothing but what is known to the whole world. If they have been more favoured than other nations, it is because they were supereminent in faith, and incomparable in piety, so that they were more eager

1 Baron. Annal. eccl. ad amm. 499, xv; the year 496 is now universally recognized as the date of the Baptism of Clovis, 2 Ibid. ad ann. 484, cxxxv,

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to defend the Church than to protect their own frontiers."

Moreover, a privilege unique and truly admirable was theirs: never did the sins of kings bring upon this people, as upon so many others, subjection to a foreign yoke. The promise of the Psalm? would seem to have been renewed in favour of this nation: If his children forsake My law . . . and keep not My commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod . . . but My mercy I will not take away from him.’3

All honour, then, to the saintly pontiff, who merit- ed to be the instrument of such heavenly benefits ! According to the expression of the holy Pope Hormis- das, * Remigius converted the nation, and baptized Clovis, in the midst of prodigies similar to those of the apostolic age.’* The prayers of Clotilde, the labours of Genevieve, the penances of the monks who peopled the forests of Gaul, had doubtless a great share in a conversion which brought such joy to the angels. Did space allow, we might relate how it was also prepared by the great bishops of the fifth century, Germanus of Auxerre, Xm of Troyes, Anian of Orleans, Hilary of Arles, Mamertus and Avitus of Vienne, Sidonius Apollinaris, and so many others who, in that age of darkness, held up the Church to the light of day, and commanded the respect of the barbarians. Remigius, contemporary and survivor of most of them, and their rival in eloquence, nobility, and holiness, seemed to personify them all on that Christmas night forestalled by so many desires, and

rayers and sufferings. In the baptistery of Saint ins at Rheims, the Frankish nation was born to God ; as heretofore on the banks of Jordan, the dove

1 Baron. Annal. eccl. ad ann. 514, xxiii. * |'s. Ixxxviii. 31-34. 3 Baron. Annal. eccl. «d «nn. 514, xxvii. 5 Hormisd. Epist. 1, ad Jtemigiun.

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was again seen over the waters, honouring this time, not the Baptism of Jesus, but that of the Churoh's eldest daughter; it brought a gift from heaven, the holy vial containing the chrism which was to anoint the French kings in future ages into ‘the most worthy of all the kings of the earth.”

Two churches in the city of Rheims claim the honour of these glorious souvenirs: the grand church of our Lady, aud the venerable basilica where Re- migius lay, with the vial of chrism at his feet, and guarded by the twelve peers surrounding his splendid mausoleum. This church of 8t. Remigius bore the name of caput Francie? head of all France, until those days of October 1793, when, from its desecrated pulpit was proclaimed the word that the days of darkness were at an end; when the holy ampulla was broken, and the relics of the apostle of France were thrown into a common grave. ?

After an episcopate of seventy-four years, the longest ever recorded in history, Remigius took his flight to heaven on January 13, the anniversary of his episcopal oonsecration and also of his birth. Yet in the same century, the first of October was chosen for his feast; this being the day whereon his relics were first translated to & more honourable place, in the midst of miracles such as those which had graced his life. 74e translation of St. Remigius is the name still given to this day by the church of Rheims, which, by a special privilege, celebrates on the Octave

! Matth. Paris. ad ann. 1257 : Archiepiscopus Remenais qui regem Francorum calests consecrat. chrismate (quapropter rex Francorum regum tur dignissimus) est ium Francie parium primus et excellentissimus.

* Mabillon. Annal. benedict. xlvii. 30: Hploma Gerberge regina.

JThey were, however, afterwards discovered and authentically page rset and are, to this day, an object of the greatest veneration to pilgrims.

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

day of the Epiphany the principal festival of its

porn patron.

We borrow the following lessons

m the Office of that day.

Remigius, qui et Reme- dius, Lauduni natus est, parentibus nobilibus, ZEmi- lio et sancta Cilinia state jam provectis, et gratia apud suos nominatissimis. Ortum ejus pradixerat soli- tarius quid. m czecus, nomine Montanus, qui et visum post- ea recepit, admoto ad oculos lacte quo infans Remigius alebatur. Studiis et oratio- nibus primos impendebat annos futurus Francorum apostolus, secessum colens ; quo magis hominum fre- quentiam fugere conabatur, eo notior toti provincie fie- bat. Annos natus duos et viginti, post transitum Ben- nadii archiepiscopi Remen- Bis, ob seniles in adolescentia mores, ad sedem Remensem omnium votis raptus, potius quam electus fuit. Onus episcopale effugere cupiens, divinis monitis suscipere co- gitur. Abepiscopis provin- cie consecratus, se tam- quam veteranuin gessit in regimine Ecclesi: sure. — Vir eloquens, potens in Scriptu- ris, exemplum erat fideli- um. Quodore docebat, im- plebat opere. Grege suo summo labore ac vigilantia mysteriis fidei imbuto, et disciplina in clero constitu-

Remigius, also called Re- medius, was born at Laon, of noble parents by name ZEmi- lius and St. Celinia. They were far advanced in age, and renowned among their own people for their virtue, when the birth of this child was foretold to them by a blind hermit named Montanus; who afterwards recovered his sight, by applying to his eyes some of the milk wherewith the in- fant Remigius was nourished. The future apostle of the Franks devoted his youth to prayer and study in retire- ment ; but the more he shrank from the company of men, the more his fame spread through- out the province. On the death of Bennadius, archbishop of Rheims, Remigius, who though but twenty-two years of age had the mature character of an old man, was unanimously elected, or rather forcibly in- stalled as archbishop. He en- deavoured to escape the burden of the episcopate, but was ob- liged by thecommand of God to submit. Having been conse- crated by the bishops of the province, he governed his church with the wisdom of an experienced veteran. He was eloquent, learned in the Scrip- tures; and a pattern to his

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ta, regnum Christi in Bel- gio promovendum suscepit ; populis ad fidem conversis, novos episcopatus iustituit: Teruan:, ubi sanctum An- timundum; Atrebatis, ubi sanctum Vedastum; Lau- duni, ubi sanctum Genebal- dum prefecit.

Clodovei et Francorum animi cultui pagano adhuc dediti movebantur stupen- dis Remigii operibus, que ubique vulgabantur. Cum autem Clodoveus, Gallorum victor, Alemannos Tolbiaci, invocato Christi nomine, debellasset, Remigium ad se evocatum, de religione Chri- stiana disserentem libenter audiit. Et instanti Remigio ut fidem profiteretur, cum respondisset, vereri se ne per populum sibi non liceret: id ubi rescivit populus, sta- tim acclamavit: Mortales deos abigimus, pie rex: et Deum quem Remigius pre- dicat immortalem, sequi pa- rati sumus, Tum Remigius jejunia secundum Ecclesise morem illis indixit, et regem quem fidei documentis co- ram sancta Clotilde regina imbuerag, baptizavit ipso die Natalis Domini, his eum

311

people, fulfilling in deed what he taught by word. He care- fully and laboriously instruct- ed his own flock in the mys- teries of faith, and established discipline among his clergy. Then he undertook to spread the kingdom of Christ in Bel- gium; and having converted ihe people to the faith, he founded several new bishoprics and appointed them pastors: at Terouanne St. Antimund or Aumont, at Arras St. Vedast, and at Laon St. Genebald. The wonderful works of Re- migius, being divulged far and wide, filled with astonishment the minds of Clovis and his still pagan Franks. When Clovis, who had already conquered the Gauls, triumphed over the Ale- manni also at the battle of Tol- biac by the invocation of the name of Christ; he sent for Remigius, and willingly lis- tened to his explanation of the Christian doctrine. Remigius urged the king to embrace the faith, but he replied that he feared the opposition of his people. When this was report- ed to the Franks, they cried out with one voice: ‘We re- nounce morial gods, O pious king, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remi- -gius preaches.” Then the bishop

imposed a fast upon them, ac- cording to the custom of the Church, and having in the pre- sence of the queen St. Clotilde,

2I

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verbis allocutus: Mitis, depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod incendisti; in- cende quod adorasti. Bap- tizatum sacro inunxit chri- smate, cum signaculo crucis Christi. De exercitu autem ejus ter mille et amplius baptismo initiati sunt: si- mul et Albofledis Clodovei soror, que cum paulo post de vivis decessisset, regem per litteras consolatus est Remigius. Lanthildis quo- que altera soror regis, ab Ariana hsresi revocata, sa- cro chrismate inuncta est, et Ecclesie reconciliata.

Eximia fuit ipsius erga pauperes liberalitas, et cle- mentia in poenitentes sin- gularis: neque enim, in- quiebat, nos posuit Domi- nus ad iracundiam, sed ad hominum curam. Arianuim episcopum in synodo, divina virtute mutum reddidit; ei- que per nutus veniam pos- centi, vocem his verbis re-

stituit: In nomine Domini:

nostri Jesu Christi, si sic de eo recte sentis, loquere; et de illo sicut catholica credit Ecclesia, confitere. Rece- pto ille vocis usu, credere se et in eadem fide moriturum pollicitus est. Sub finem vite oculorum usu orbatus est Remigius, quem tamen

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

completed the king's religious instruction, he baptized him on the day of our Lord's Nativity, addressing him in these words: *Bow down tby head in meek- ness, O Sicambrian; adore what thou hast hitherto burnt, burn what thou hast adored.” After the Baptism, he anointed him with holy chrism with the sign of the cross of Christ. More than three thousand of the army were baptized, as also Albofleda Clovis's sister, who died soon after; upon which occasion Remigius wrote to console the king. His other sis- ter, Lanthilda, was reclaimed from the Arian heresy, anoint- ed with sacred chrism, and re- conciled to the Church. Remigius was exceedingly liberal to the poor and merci- ful towards sinners. *God has not placed us here,” he would say, ‘to exercise wrath, but to take care of men." During a council, he once by divine power struck an Arian bishop with dumbness, until he begged forgiveness by signs, when he restored him his speech with these words: ‘In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if thou holdest the right belief con- cerning him, speak, and con- fess the faith of the Catholic Church.” The bishop recover- ing his voice, protested that he believed, and would die in that faith, Towards the end of his life Remigius lost his

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paulo ante mortem recupe- ravit. Transitus diem non ignorans, finitis Missarum solemniis, plebe sacro Chri- sti corpore confirmata; vale- faciens clero et populo, dans singulis picem in osculo oris Domini, plenus dierum et operum ex hac vita de- cessit idibus Januarii, anno itatis nonagesimo sexto, post Christum quingentesi- mo trigesimo tertio. Se- pultus est in @dicula sancti Christophori; et mortuus sicut et vivus claruit mira- culis.

313

sight, but recovered it shortly hefore his death. Knowing the day of his departure, he cele- brated Mass, and fortified his flock with the sacred Body of Christ. Then he bade his cler- zy and people farewell, giving to each one the kis of our Lord's peace; and full of days and good works, he departed this life on the Idesof January, in the year of our Lord five hundred and thirty-three, be- ing ninety-six years old. He was buried in the oratory of St. Christopher; and as in life, so also after death, he was fa- mous for miracles.

This is a fitting occasion to bring forward the beautiful formnla rightly called the Prayer of the Franks, which dates from the first ages of the

monarohy.!

PRAYER

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui ad instrumentum
divinissim:w tu: voluntatis per orbem, et ad gladium et propugnaculum Ecclesizx sancte tue, Francorum im- perium constituisti: . coelesti lumine, quesumus, filios Francorum supplicantes semper et ubique priveni: ut ea que agenda sunt ad regnum tuum in hoc mun- do efficiendum videant, et ad implenda quie viderint

Almighty, eternal God, who didst establish the empire of the Frauks to be, throughout the world, the instrument of thy divine will, and the sword and bulwark of thy holy Church: ever and in all places prevent, we beseech thee, with thy heavenly light, the sup- pliant sons of the Franks; so that they may both see what they ought to do to promote thy kingdom in this world, and, in order to fulfil what

! Vitra. Hist. de S. Léger, Introduct. p. xxii, xxiii.

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charitate et fortitudine per- they have seen, may continu- severanter convalescant. ally increase in charity and in valour.

St. Leo IX said to his contemporaries, and we echo his words, concerning the land of France: ‘Be it known to your charity that you must solemnly cele- brate the feast of the blessed Remigius; for if to others he is not an apostle, he is such with regard to you at least. Pay such honour, then, to your apostle and father, that you may merit, according to the divine promise, to live long upon the earth, and, by his prayers, may obtain possession of eternal beati- tude.” When he thus spoke, the sovereign Pontiff had just consecrated thy church, then for the third time rebuilt with the magnificence required by the growing devotion of the people. The nine centuries since elapsed have augmented thy claims to the gratitude of a nation, into which thou didst infuse such vigorous life, that no other has equalled it in duration. Accept our thanks, O thou who wast as a new Sylvester to a new Constantine.

Glory be to our Lord, who showed forth His wonders in thee! Remembering those gestes of God accomplished in all climes by her sons the Franks, the Obunel recognizes the legitimacy of applying to thee? the beautiful words which announced the Messias: * Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb. . . And He said:... Behold I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.' Truly it was a day of salvation, that Christmas day, whereon our Lord was pleased to bless thy labours and grant the desires of thy long episcopate. By the holy faith thou taughtest, thou wast then the

1 Leon. it. Epist. xvii. — ? Lect. 1 Noct. in proprio Remensi ct aliis.

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‘covenant of the people, the new people composed of the conquerors and the conquered in that land of France, which, when once itself raised up, soon restored to God the inheritance that had been de- stroyed. O true Church, the one only bride, captive and destitute, behold Remigius rises to say to thy sons that are bound: * Come forth’, and to them that are in darkness: ‘Show yourselves’! From north and south, from beyond the sea, behold they come in multitudes: all these are come to thee. Therefore, ive praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice O earth, use the Lord hath comforted His people; after a whole century of heresy and barbarity, God has once more demonstrated that they shall not be con- founded that wait for Him.!

Our confidence in God will again be rewarded if thou, O Remigius, deign to present to our Lord the pue of the Franks who have remained faithful in

onouring thy memory. The renegades sold over to satan may tyranaize for a time over the deluded crowd; but they are not the nation. A day will oome when Christ, who is ever King, will say to the angels of His guard those words of His lieutenant Clovis: ‘It displeases me that these Goths possess the good land of France; expel them, for it belongs to us.’?

! Teaias xlix. ? Greg. Turon. Histor. Fronc. ii. 37 ; Hincmar. Vita 8. Remigii, li.

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()croBER 2 THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

AvrnovcH the solemnity of September 29 celebrates the praises of all the nine glorious choirs, yet the pety of the faithful, in the latter ages, desired to

ave & special day consecrated to the Guardian Angels. Savini churches having taken the initiative, and kept the feast under various rites and on different days, Paul V (1608) authorized its celebration ad libitum. Clement X (1670) established it by precept as a feast of double rite! on October 2, the first free day after Michaelmas, on which it thus remains in some way dependent.

It is of faith, on the testimony of the Seriptures and of unanimous tradition, that God commits to llis angels the guardianship of men, who are called to eontemplate Him together with these blessed spirits in their common fatherland. Catholic theology teaches that this protection is extended to every member of the human race, without any distinction of just and sinners, infidels and baptized. To ward off dangers; to upholl man in his struggle against the demons; to awaken in him holy thoughts; to prevent him from sinning, and even, at times, to chastise him ; to pray for him, and present his prayers to God: such is the office of the Guardian Angel. So special is his mission, that one angel does not undertake the guardianship of several persons simul- taneously ; so diligent is his care, that he follows

! It has beon a greater double since 1883.

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his ward from the first day to the last of his mortal existence, receiving the soul as it quits this life, and bearing it from the feet of the sovereign Judge to the place it has merited in heaven, or to its tem- porary sojourn in the place of expiation and purifi- cation.

It is from the lowest of the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels are for the most part selected. God reserves to the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones the honour of forming His own immediate court. The Dominations, from the steps of His throne, preside over the government of the universe; the Virtues watch over the course of nature's laws, the preservation of species, and the movements of the heavens; the Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its great social bodies, the nations and the churches, are confided to the Prin- cipalities; while the Archaugcels, who preside over smaller communities, seem also to have the office of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God, together with the love and light which come down even to us from the first and highest hierarchy. O the depths of the wisdom of God! Thus, then, the admirable distribution of offices among the choirs of heavenly spirits terminates in the function com- mitted to the lowest rank, the guardianship of man, for whom the universe subsists. Such is the teaching of the School;! and the apostle, in like manner, says: ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation ?'?

But God, magnificent as He is towards the whole human race, honours in a special manner the princes of His people, those who are most favoured by His

! Suarez. De Angelis, lib. vi. cap. xviii. 5. ? Tob. i, 14.

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, or who rule the earth in His name; the saints testify, that a supereminent perfection, or a higher mission in Church or State, ensures to the individual the assistance of a superior spirit, without the angel that was first deputed being necessarily removed from his charge. Moreover, with regard to the work of salvation, the Guardian Angel has no fear of being left alone at his post; at his request, and at God's command, the troops of his blessed companions, who fill heaven and earth, are ever ready to lend him their aid. These noble spirits, acting under the eye of God whose love they desire to second by all possible means, have secret alliances between them, which sometimes induce between their clients, even on earth, unions the mystery whereof will be revealed in the light of eternity.

‘How profound a mystery,” says Origen, ‘is the apportioning of souls to the angels destined for their guardians! It is a divine secret, part of the universal economy centred in the Man-God. Nor is it without ineffable order that the minisfries of earth, the many departments of nature, are allotted to the heavenly Virtues; fountains and rivers, winds and forests, plants, living creatures of land and sea, whose various functions harmonize to- gether by the angels directing them all to a common end.’!

Again, on these words ot Jeremias: [ow long shall the land mourn?? Origen, supported by the authority of his translator St. Jerome, continues:? ‘It is through each one of us that the earth rejoices or mourns; and not only the earth, but water, fire, air, all the elements; by which name we must here understand not insensible matter, but the angels who are set over all things on earth. "There is an

! Origen. in Josue, IIom. xxiii. ? Jerem. xii. 4. 3 Origen. in Jerem. Hom. x. juvta Hieron. viii.

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angel of the land, who, with his companious, mourns over our crimes. There is an angel of the waters to whom are applied the words of the psalm: The waters saw Thee, and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled; great was the noise of the waters; the clouds sent out a sound, for Thy arrows pass.’!

How grand is nature viewed in this light! It is thus the ancients, more truthful as well as more poetical than our generation, always considered the universe. Their error lay in adoring these myster- ious powers, to the detriment of the only God, under whom they stoop that bear up the world.?

‘Air and earth and ocean, everything is full of angels, says St. Ambrose? ¢Kliseus, besieged by a whole army, felt no fear; for he beheld invisible cohorts assisting him. May the prophet open thine eyes also; may the enemy, he he legion, not terrify thee; thou thinkest thyself hemmed in, and thou art free: there are more with us than with them.'*

But let us return to our own specially-deputed angel, and meditate on this other testimony: ‘The o guardian of each one of us sleeps not, nor can he be deceived. Close thy door, and make the darkness of night; but retnember, thou art never alone; he has no need of daylight in order to see thy actions.” And who is it that speaks thus? Not a father of the Church, but a pagan, the slave philosopher Epictetus.*

In conclusion, let us listen to the Abbot of Clair- vaux, who here gives free rein to his eloquence: ‘In every place show respect to thy angel. Let gratitude for his benefits incite thee to honour his greatness. Love this thy future coheir, the guardian appointed ! Ps. Ixxvi. 17, 18. ?Jobix. 13. — 3 Ambr. in Psalm. cxviii, Sermon i.9, 11,12. *iv Kings vi. 10. 7 dp. Arrian. Diss, 1. 1,

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for thee by the Father during thy childhood. For tLough we are sons of God, we are as yet but chil- dren, and long and dangerous is our journey. But God 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 the basilisk ; and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Yes; where the road is smooth enough for a child, they will content themselves with guiding thee, and sustaining thy footsteps, as one does for children. But if trials threaten to surpass thy strength, they will bear thee up in their hands. Oh those hands of angels! "Thanks to them, what fearful straits we have passed through, as it were without thinking, and with no other impression left upon us, than that of a nightmare suddenly dispelled !’?

And in his commentary on the Canticle of canticles, St. Bernard thus describes the triumph of the angel: ‘One of the companions of the Spouse, sent from heaven to the chosen soul as mediator, on witnessing the mystery accomplished, how he exults, and says: * T give thee thanks, O God of majesty, for having granted the desire of her heart!" Now it was he that, as a persevering friend, had not ceased, on the way, to murmur into the soul’s ear: ** Delight in the Lord, and He will give thee the requests of thy heart;" and again: * Expect the Lord, and keep His way" ; and then: * If He make any delay, wait for Him, for He will surely come and will not tarry." Meanwhile he represented to our Lord the soul's desire, saying: ** As the hart panteth after the foun- tains of water, so this soul panteth after Thee, O God; have pity on her, hear her cries, and visit her in her desolation.” And now the faithful para-

! ['s, xc. 11-13. ? Bern. in Psalm. xc. Sermon xii.

--- PAGE 332 --- THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS 321 nymph, the confidant of ineffable secrets, is not jealous. He goes from the Spouse to the bride, offering desires, bringing back gifts; he incites the one, he appeases the other. Sometimes, even in this world, he brings them into each other’s presence, either by raising up the bride in ecstasy, or by bringing down the Bridegroom; for he is one of the household, and well known in the palace; and he fears no rebuff, for every dav he beholds the face of

the Father.'!

Let us unite with the Church, and offer to our Guardian angels this hymn of to-day's Vespers.

HYMN

Custodes hominum psal- limus angelos, Nature fragili quos Pater addidit Co:lestis. comites, insidian- tibus Ne succumberet, hostibus. Nam quod corruerit pro- ditor angelus, Concessis merito pulsus ho- noribus, Ardens invidia pellere niti- tur Quos coelo Deus advocat.
Huc custos igitur pervi- gil advola, Avertens patria de tibi cre- dita Tam morbos animi, quam requiescere Quidquid non sinit inco- las.

We celebrate the angels, guardians of men, whom our heavenly Father has given us as companions, lest our weak uature should be overcome by ihe snares of our enemies.

For because the traitorous angel fell, and was justly cast down from the honours he enjoyed, burning with envy he now endeavours to expel those whom God calls to heaven.

Fly hither, then, O ever- watchful guardian; ward off from the land committed to thy care as well diseases of soul, as all that threatens to disturb the peace of the in- habitants.

! Bernard. in Cat. Sermon xxxi.

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Sancte sit Triadi laus pia May loving praise be ever jugiter, io the holy Three, by whose Cujus perpetuo numine ma- eternal power is ruled this china triple world, heaven and earth Triplex hsec regitur, cujus and the abyss; and whose in omnia glory is supreme throughout Regnat gloria secula. all ages. Amen. Amen. Before the establishment of a special feast in honour

of the Guardian Angels, the following sequence was sung in certain churches on September 29.

SEQUENCE

Paranymphos summi Regis Defensores Christi gregis Vocemus suspiriis: Montes isti circa thronum Nuncupantur, juxta donum Quod habent pre aliis.

Coeli triplex hierarchia, Vigens sub una Sophia, Trino fruens lumine: Hiec perficit nos et purgat, Illuminat, ut resurgat Nostra mens a crimine.

Contemplantur dum acce- dunt, Cum mittuntur non rece- dunt, Intra Deum cursitant: Hostes arcent, justos re- gunt, Fovent pios quos protegunt, Desolatos visitant.

Cum sint isti jam beati, Nobis tamen deputati Nostras preces deferunt:

Ut ex ipsis integrari

Let us invoke with our de- sires the paranymphs of the most high King, the defenders of Christ's flock: these are called mountains, encircling the throne of God by a privi- lege all theirs.

These form the triple hier- archy of heaven, flourishing under the one divine Wisdom, and enjoying the threefold light; they perfect us, cleanse us, enlighten us, that our soul may rise from sin.

They draw ever nearer to God in contemplation; when sent to do his will, they de- part not from him, for their coming and going is all within God. They keep the enemy at bay, they guide the just, they assist and protect their loving clients, and console them when afflicted.

Though themselves already blessed, yet delegated to us, they carry our prayers to God: they abandon not the saints

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Possint, hisque sociari, on earth, but desire their com- Sanctos hic non deserunt. pany, that tbeir own ranks may be completed.

O quam cives hi felices, O happy citizens these!

Qui, dum explent suas vices, who, while fulfilling their of- Fruuntur perenniter: fices, lose not the joys of

Hos fidentes deprecemur, heaven: let us pray to them

Ut ab ipsis adjuvemur with confidence, that they may Apud Deum jugiter. ever assist us before God. Amen. Amen.

Blessed be ye, O holy angels, for that your charity is not wearied out by the crimes of men; among so many other benefits, we thank you for keeping the earth habitable, by deigning to dwell always therein. Solitude often weighs heavily upon the hearts of God's children, in the great towns, and in the paths of the world, where one meets only strangers or enemies; but if the number of the just grows loss, yours never diminishes. In the midst of the excited multitude, as well as in the desert, not a human being that has not beside him an angel, the repre- sentative of universal Providence over wicked and good alike. O blessed spirits! you and we have the same fatherland, the same thought, the same love; why should the confused noises of a frivolous crowd disturb the heavenly life we may lead even now with you? Does the tumult of public places hinder you from holding your choirs there, or prevent the Most High from hearing your harmonies? We also, beholding by faith the face of our heavenly Father, which you ever delightedly contemplate, we wish to sing in every place the praises of our Lord and to unite at all times our adorations with yours. "Thus, when our manners have become altogether angelic, the present life will be full of peace, and we shall be well prepared for eternity.

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OcronER 4

SAINT. FRANCIS

CONFESSOR

Axp I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.!

The sixth seal of the Book of destinies had just been opened before the eyes of the prophet of Patmos. It was a time of anguish, the hour for the wicked to cry to the mountains: * Fall upon us!’ The sun was darkened: an image of the Sun of justice eclipsed by the night of iniquity; the moon, the figure of the Church, appeared red as blood, through the evils that defiled the sanctuary; the stars fell from heaven, as the fig-tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind. Who would appease the Lamb, and retard the day of wrath? At the invitation of the saints and of the apostolic See, let us recognize the angel who won for the world a delay of the judg- ment; the angel with the impress of God upon a mortal body; the seraph with his sacred stigmata, the sight of which once more disarmed the justice of God. Dante thus sings of the elect of God, under whose leadership took place on earth as it were & repetition of the first and only Redemption:

! Apoc. vii. 2, 3.

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Between Tupino, and the wave that falls

From blest Ubaldo's chosen hill, there hangs Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold Are wafted thro' Perugia's eastern gate:

And Nocera with Gualdo, in its rear,

Mourn for their heavy yoke. Upon that side, Where it doth break its steepness most, arose

A sun upon the world, as duly this

From Ganges doth: therefore let none who speak Of that place say Ascesi; for its name

Were lamely so delivered; but the east,

To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled. He was not yet much distant from his rising, When his good influence 'gan to bless tho earth. A dame to whom none openeth pleasure's gate More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will, His stripling choice: and he did make her his, Before the spiritual court, by nuptial bonds,

And in his father's sight: from day to day

Then loved her more devoutly. She bereaved

Of her first husband, slighted and obscure, Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'ü | Without a single suitor, till he came.

o o o o o [LES

The lovers' titles—Poverty and Francis.

Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love, And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts, So much that venerable Bernard! first

Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace

So heavenly, ran, yet deemed his footing slow. O hidden riches! O prolific good!

Egidius bares him next, and next Sylvester, And follow, both, the Bridegroom: so the bride Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way The father and tbe master, with his spouse, And with that family, whom now the cord

Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart ‘Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son

Of Pietro Bernadone, and by men

In wondrous sort despised. But royally

! Bernard of Quintaval, the saint's first disciple.

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His hard intention he to Innocent’ Set forth; and from him first received the seal Of his religion.

2 [d o ~ o o

And when He had, thro' thirst of martyrdom, stood up In the proud Soldan's presence, and there preached Christ and his followers, but found the race Unripen'd for conversion; back once more Ee hasted, (not to intermit his toil,) And reap'd Ausonian lands. On the hard rock, "Twixt Arno and the Tiber, he from Christ Took the last signet, which his limbs two years Did carry. Then, the season come that he, Who to such good had «destin'd him, was pleased To advance him to the meed, which he had earned By his self-humbling; to his brotherhood, As their just heritage, he gave in charge Ei» dearest lady: and enjoined their love And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will'd Eti» goodly spirit should move forth, returning 'To its appointed kingdom; nor would have His body laid upon another bier.?

Francie took his flight, for his work was done; innumerable soule were now treading the paths oi penrace; the crose of Christ was set before the eyes oi the whole world ac the treasure of the Church, now that she was beginning her ascent of Calvary. Eow admirably had the sanctifying Spirit conducted thie work!

At the age of four-and-twenty, Francis, who was destined not to see his forty-sixth year, was the head of a party of gay youths, who filled Assisi day anc night with their songs. Full of the poetry of France (from which country he borrowed his name), he dreamed of nothing but worldly renown and knightly prowess. One night he beheld in a prophetio dream

! Innocent III. — ? Dante, Paradiso, canto xi; Cary's translation.

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a large assortment of arms and weapons. ‘For whom are all these?’ he inquired; and on hearing the answer: ‘ For thee aud thy soldiers, he hastened to join Gauthier de Brienne, who was at war with the Germans in the south of Italy. But God arrested him: in a series of manifestations, to which the youn man corresponded with all the generous ardour o his pure heart, our Lord revealed to him the object of his life’s labour, the standard he was to through the world, and the lady in whose service he was to win his spurs.

The Church, ever under attack, yet hitherto ever victorious, seemed about to sucoumb, so undermined were her walls by heresy, so broken by the battering- ram of the secular power; while, within the citad tho ancient faith was sinking under prolonged soan- dals, leaving the field open to the enterprises of traitors, and multiplying defections in a society already beginning to feel the torpor of death. Never- theless, it 1s written that the gates of hell shall not prevail Age et the Church. ‘Francis, seest thou not that My house is falling to decay? Go, then, and repair it for Me.'!

There was need of a sudden surprise to disconcert the enemy ; and of an energetio appeal, to rouse the sleepy garrison, and rally them around the too for-

otten ensign of Christians, the cross of Christ.

rancis was to be, in his very flesh, the standard of the Crucified. The sacred wounds already pierced his soul, and made his eyes two ceaseless fountains of tears: ‘I weep for the Passion of Jesus Christ my Master; nor shall I blush to go weeping all over the world.’ .

Avarice was the crying sin of the age; the hearts of men, too preoccupied with earthly affairs to have

1 Vita B. Francisci : Thom. Celan, i. 2; Tres Socii. i; Bonavent. ii. 22

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a desire of heaven, must be delivered from a Lavery which crushed out all noble thoughts, all love, devotedness. Holy poverty, the mother of that true liberty which disarms hell and laughs at tyrants, could alone achieve such a deliverance. Francis was taken with the beauty of poverty, in spite of the jeers and insults of the vulgar, and of his rejection y his own family; but his sublime folly was the salvation of his people, and he was blest by our heavenly Father, as a true brother of His eternal Son. As by nature the consubstantial Word receives His unbeginning Being from Him who begets Him eternally ; so within the holy Trinity, He has nothing appropriated to Himself but the title of Son, to the glory of the Father, in the holy Spirit who is their love. Such is God's destitution of all things, whereof nothing created could give an idea, but which is reflected in the Incarnate Word's sublime disappropriation in presence of that Father from whom He derived His all. Would it, then, be far wrong to consider the poverty chosen by St. Francis as no other than eternal Wisdom, offering herself, even under the old Law, to the human race, as bride, and as sister’? Once espoused in Mary's womb at the Incarnation, how great has been her fidelity! But whoever loves her, must become in Jesus like unto her.

* Lord Jesus,’ said Francis, ‘show me the paths of Thy well-beloved poverty. "Tis she that accompa- nied Thee from Thy Mother's womb to the crib in the stahle, and, on the waysides of the world, took care Thou shouldst not have where to lay Thy head. In the combat which concluded the war of our Redemption, poverty, adorned with all the privations

! Wisd. viii, 2. ? ['rov. vii. 4.

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which form her bridal attire, mounted with Thee upon the cross, which even Mary could not ascend. She followed Thee to Thy borrowed tomb; and, as Thou didst yield up Thy soul in her embrace, so in her arms Thou didst take it again in the glorious nakedness of the Resurrection; and together with her didst enter heaven, leaving to the earth all that was earthly. Oh! who would not love this queen of the world which she tramples under her feet, my lady and my love? Most poor Jesus, my sweet Master, have pity on me; without her I can taste no peace, and I die of desire.'!

God cannot turn a deaf ear to such entreaties. If He contends, it is in order to add fresh wounds of love, until, the ‘old man’ being destroyed, the new rises from the ruins, in all things conformed to the image of the heavenly Adam. Kighteen years later, after the prodigy on Mount Alvernia, Francis, im-

ressed with the divine seal of Christ’s wounds, san in heavenly language the sublime combat which made up his life:

* Love has cast me into a furnace, love has cast me into a furnace, I am cast into a furnace of love.

My new Bridegroom, the loving Lamb, gave me the nuptial ring; then having cast me into prison, He cleft my heart, and ny body fell to the ground.

Those arrows, propelled 2A love, struck me and set me on fire. From peace He made war, and I am dying of sweetness.

The darts rained so thick and fast, that I was all in an agony. Then I took a buckler, but the shafts were so swift that it shielded me no more; they mangled my whole body, so strong was the arm that shot them.

He shot them so powerfully, that I despaired of

3 Frano. Opusc. t. i. Oratio B. Patris pro obtinenda paupertate.

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parrying them; and to escape death, I cried with all my might: **'l'hou transgressest the laws of the camp.” But He ‘only set up & new instrument of war, which overwhelmed me with fresh blows.

So true was His aim, that He never missed. I was lying on the ground, unable to move my limbs. My whole body was broken, and I had no more sense than & man deceased ;

Deceased, not by a true death, but through excess of joy. Then regaining possession of my body, I felt 80 strong, that I could follow the guides who led me to the court of heaven.

Returning to myself, I took up arms, and I made war upon Christ; I rode into His territory, and meeting Him, I engaged Him at once, and took my revenge on Him. .

Having had my revenge, I made a treaty with Him; for from the beginning Christ had loved me with a true love. And now my heart has become capable of the consolations of Christ"!

Around the standard-bearer of Christ were already

athered those whom he called his knights of the Round Table? However captivating he may have been when his fellow-citizens proclaimed him the flower of their youth, and he presided at their feasts and games; Francis was much more attractive now in his life of self-renunciation. Secarcely ten years after his espousals with holy poverty, he had so well avenged her for having been so long despised, that she held full court in the midst of five thousand Friars Minor encamped under the walls of Assisi;® while Clare and her companions formed for her such a suite of honour as no empress could ever boast of.

1 In foco I’ amor mi mise Francisci, Opusc. t. iii. cant. ii. 3 Francisci, Opusc. t. iii. Collatio xvi. 3 Chapter oi Mats, May 26, 1219.

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The enthusiasm soon became so general, that Francis, in order to satisfy it without depopulating the State and the Church, gave to the world his Third Order; into which, led by Louis IX of France and Elizabeth of Hungary, entered countless multitudes of every nation, and tribe, and tongue. Thanks to the three seraphio Orders, as well as to the triple militia founded at the same time by Dominic de Guzman, devotedness to the Roman Church, and the spirit of penance and prayer, everywhere triumphed for a time over the anticipated rationalism, the luxury, and all the other pe which had been threatening the speedy ruin of the world.

The influence of the saints springs from their sanctity, as rays from the focus. No rich man ever possessed the earth to such a degree as this poor man, who, seeking God and depending absolutely upon His Providence, had regained the condition of dun in Eden. Thus, as he passed along, the flocks would welcome him ; the fishes would follow his boat in the water; the birds would gather round him, and joy- fully obey him. And why? Francis drew all things to himself because all things drew him to God.

With him there was no such thing as analyzing love, and making distinotions among those things which come from God and lead to God. To raise himself up to God, to compassionate with Christ, to be of service to his neighbour, to be in harmony with the whole universe like Adam when innocent, was for the seraphio father, says St. Bonaventure, one and the same impulse of that true piety which ruled his whole being.! The divine fire within him found fuel in sveything. No touch of the holy Spirit, whencesoever it came, did Francis let pass; so much he feared to frustrate the effect of a single grace.

! Bonavent. Legenda S, Francisci, viii.

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He did not despise the stream for not being the ocean ; and it was with an ‘unheard-of tenderness of devotion’, says his son and historian Bonaventure, that Francis relished God's goodness in creation, contemplated His supreme beauty in every created beauty, and heard the echo of heaven's harmonies in the concert of beings sprung like man himself from the only source of existence.! Hence it was by the sweet name of brothers and sisters that he invited all creatures to praise with him that well-beloved Lord, whose every trace on earth was the dear object of his love and contemplation.

Neither the progress nor the consummation of his holiness altered, in this respect, what would now be called his method of prayer. On hearing that his death was approachiug, and again a few minutes before he passed away,’ he sang, and would have others sing to him, his favourite canticle: * Praised be God, my Lord, for all creatures, and especially for our brother the sun, which gives us light, and 18 an image of Thee, my God! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon ; and for all the stars which He has created bright and beautiful in the heavens! ‘Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind; and for the air, and the clouds, and the fine weather, and all the seasons; for our sister the water, which is very useful, humble, precious, and pure; for our brother the fire, which is bright and strong; for our mother the earth, which bears us, and produces the fruits and the flowers. Be Thou praised, O my God, for those who pardon and who suffer for love of Thee! Be Thou praised for our sister the death of the body, whioh no living man can escape; unhappy is he who dies in mortal sin ; but happy 1s he whom death finds

! Bonavent. Legenda S. Francisci, viii, ix, x. ? Wadding, ad ann. 1226. xxii, xxxvii.

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conformed to Thy holy will! Praise and bless my Lord, give Him thanks, and serve Him in great bumility.'!

After having received the stigmata, Franois's life was an unspeakable martyrdom; in spite of which, he continued to travel through towns and villages, riding, like Jesus of whom he was so touching an image, upon & poor little ass; and everywhere he preached the cross, working miracles and wonders of

race. Assisi cherishes the memory of the blessing Keconedisd to it by its glorious son, when, gazing upon it for the last time from the beautiful plain that stretches at its feet, he exclaimed with tears: * Be thou blessed of the Lord, O city faithful to God, for in thee and by thee shall many souls be saved ! '?

The humble Portivncula, the cradle of the Order, where Clare too had exchanged the vain ornaments of the world for the poverty of the cross: St. Mary of the angels, which awakens in the pilgrim a feeling of the nearness of heaven, and where the Great Pardon of August 2 proves the pleasure our Lord still takes in it: this was the appointed place of Francis's death. He passed away on October 3, towards eight o'cloek in the evening; and although darkness had already set in, a flight of larks descend- ed, singing the rising in heaven of the new sun, which was mounting towards the Seraphim.?

Francis had chosen to be buried in the place of publie execution, called the Colle d'Inferno, near the west wall of his native city. But within two years, Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints, and changed the name of the hill into Colle del Paradiso. James the German built over the bare rock, where lies the Poor Man of Assisi, a two-storied ohuroh,

! Fraücisci, Opusc. t. iii. Canticum Jratrum solis. * Wadding, ad ann. 1226. xxv. 3 Ibid. xxxix.

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1IME AFTER PENTECOST

Te the genius of Giotto has made to outshine in

all the

rincely palaces on earth.

d: e Churoh's narrative, though short, will oom- plete these somewhat lengthy pages.

Franciscus, Assisii in Um- bria natus, patris exemplum secutus, a prima setate mer- caturam fecit. Qui quodam die pauperem, pro Christi amore flagitantem pecuni- am, cum preter consuetu- dinem repulisset, repente eo facto commotus, large ei misericordiam impertivit: et ex eo die Deo promisit se nemini unquam poscenti eleemosynam negaturum. Cum verum post in gravem morbum incidisset, ex eo aliquando confirmatus, coe- pit ardentius colere officia caritatis. Qua in exercita- tione tantum profecit, ut evangelice perfectionis cu- pidus, quidquid haberet pauperibus largiretur. Quod ferens iniquius pater, eum ad Assisinatem episcopum duxit, ut coram illo bonis cederet paternis: qui reje- ctis etiam vestibus, patri concessit omnia, illud sub- jungens, sibi in posterum majorem facultatem fore dicendi: Pater noster, qui es in coelis.

Cum autem illud ex Evan- gelio audisset: Nolite possi- dere aurum, neque argen-

Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria, and, after his fa- ther's example, followed from his youth a mercantile career. One day, contrary to his cus- tom, he repulsed a poor man who begged an alms of him for Christ's sake ; but, imme- diately repenting of what he had done, he bestowed a large bounty upon the beggar, and at the same time made a p"o- mise to God, never to refuse an alms to any one that asked him. After this he fell into a serious illness ; and on his recovery, devoted himself more eagerly than ever to works of charity, making such rapid progress in this virtue, that, desirous of attaining evangeli- cal perfection, he gave all he had to the poor. His father, angered at his proceedings, brought Francis before the bishop of Assisi, that, in his presence, he might formally renounce all claim to his patri- mony. The saint gave up all to his father, even stripping off his garments, that he might, he said, for the future, have more right to say: Our Father who art in heaven.

After hearing one day this passago of the Gospel: Do not possess gold nor silver, nor

--- PAGE 346 --- BAINT

tum, neque pecuniam in zo- nis vestris, non peram in via, neque duas tunicas, neque calceamenta: sibi eam regu- lam servandam propoeuit. Itaque detractis calceis, et una contentus tunica, cum duodecim socios adhibuis- set, Ordinem Minorum in- stituit. Quare Romam ve- nit, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo nono, ut sui Ordinis regula ab Aposto- lica Sede confirmaretur. Quem cum accedentem ad se Summus Pontifex Inno- centius Tertius rejecisset; quod in somnis postea sibi ille, quem repulerat, colla- bentem Lateranensem basi- licam suis humeris sustinore visus esset, conquisitum ac- cersiri jussit: benigneque accipiens, omnem ejus in- stitutorum rationem confir- mavit. Franciscus igitur, di- missis in omnes orbis terre fratribusad preesdican- um Christi Evangelium, ipse cupiens sibi aliquam dari martyrii occasionem, navigavit in Syriam: ubi a rege Soldano liberalissime tractatus, cum nihil profi- ceret, rediit in Italiam. Multis igitur exstructis su: familie domiciliis, se in solitadinem montis Alverni contulit: ubi quadraginta dierum, propter honorem sancti Michaelis archangeli, jejunio inchoato, festo die Exaltationis s&ncte Crucis

FRANCIS 835

money in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, he took it for his rule of life, laid aside his shoes and kept but one tunic. He gatbered together twelve disciples and founded the Order of the Minors. In the year of our salvation 1209 he went to Rome, to obtain the confirmation of his rule and Order from the apostolic See. Pope Innocent III at first refused to see him; but having in sleep beheld the man he had repulsed support- ing with his shoulders the Lateran basilica which was threatening to fall, he had him sought out and brought to him; and receiving him kindly confirmed the whole system of his institute. Francis then sent his brethren into ev part of the world to preac the Gospel. He himself, de- sirous of an opportunity of martyrdom, sailed into Syria; but the Soldan treated him most kindly; so that, unable to gain his end, he returned into Italy. He built many convents of his Order; and then retired into solitude on Mount Alver- nia; where he fasted forty days in honour of the Arch- angel St. Michael. On the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, he had a vision of

--- PAGE 347 --- 336

ei Seraphim crucifixi effigiem inter alas continens appa- ruit: qui ejus et manibus, et pedibus, etlateri vestigia cla- vorum impressit: que san- ctus Bonaventura, cum Ale- xandri quarti summi pontifi- cis prmdicationi interesset, narrasse Pontificem a se visa esse, litteris commendavit. His insignibus summi in eum Christi amoris maximam habebat omnium admiratio- nem. Ac biennio post gravi- ter egrotans, deferri voluit in ecclesiam sancte Marie angelorum, ut ubi gratie spiritum a Deo acceperat, ibi spiritum vite redderet. Eo in loco fratres ad pauperta-
tem ac patientiam, et sanctse Romana Ecclesiz fidem ser- vandam cohortatus, psal- mum illud pronuntians, Voce mea ad Dominum cla- mavi ; in eo versiculo, Me exspectant justi, donec re- tribuas mihi: efflavit ani- mam quarto nonas Octobris. Quem miraculis clarum Gre- gorius nonus Pontifex ma- ximus in sanctorum nume- rum adscripsit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

a seraph bearing between his wings the figure of the Cruci- fied, who impressed the sacred stigmata on his hands and feet and side. St. Bonaventure says he.heard Pope Alexander IV, wble preaching, relate how he had himself seen these wounds. Thesesignsof Christ's exceeding love for his servant excited universal wonder and admiration. Two years later, Francis grew very ill, and was carried, at his own request, into the church of St. Mary of the angels; that he might give up his mortal hfe to God, in the very place where he had commenced his life of grace. There, after exhorting the brethren te poverty and pa- tience, and the preservation of the faith of the holy Ro- man Church, he said the psalm: I cried to the Lord with my voice. When he reached the verse: The just wait for me, until thou reward me, he breathed forth his soul, on the fourth of the Nones of Octo- ber. He was renowned for miracles; and Pope Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints.

Mayst thou be blessed by every living soul, O thou whom our Saviour associated so closely with Himself

in tho work of Redemption.

The world, created by

God for Himself, subsists through the saints; for it is in them He finds His glory. At the time of thy birth the saints were few; the enemy of God and man was daily extending his darksome reign; and when society has entirely lost faith and charity,

--- PAGE 348 --- SAINT FRANCIS 337

light and heat, the human race must perish. Thou didst come to bring warmth to the wintry world, till the thirteenth century became like a spring time, rich in beautiful flowers; but alas! no summer was to follow in its wake. By thee the cross was forced upon men’s notice; not indeed, as heretofore, to be exalted in a permanent triumph, but to rally the elect in the face of the enemy, who would too soon afterwards regain the advantage. The Church lays aside the robe of glory, which beseemed her in the days of our Lord’s undisputed royalty ; together with thee, she treads barefoot the path of trials, which liken her to her divine Spouse suffering and dying for His Father's honour. Do thou thyself, and by thy sons, ever hold aloft before her the sacred ensign.

It is by identifying ourselves with Christ on the cross, that we shall find Him again in the splendours of His glory; for man, and God in man, cannot be separated ; and both, thou didst say, must be con- templated by every soul. Yet no otherwise than by effective compassion with our suffering Head can we find the way of divine union and the sweet fruits of love. If the soul suffers herself to be led by the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost, this Master of masters will conduct her by no other way, than that set forth by our Lord in the books of His humility, patience, and suffering.’

O Francis, cause the lessons of thy amiable and heroic simplicity to fructify in us. May thy chil- dren, to the great profit of the Church, increase in number and still more in sanctity ; and never spare themselves in teaching both by word and example, knowing, however, that the latter is of greater avail than the former? Raise them up again, with their former popularity, in that country of France which

! Francisci, Opusc. t. iii. Collatio xxiv. ? Ibid. Coll. xvii,

--- PAGE 349 --- 338 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

thou didst love on account of its generous aspirations, now stifled by the sordid vulgarity of money-makers. The whole religious state looks upon thee as one of its most illustrious fathers; come to its assistance in the trials of the present time. Friend of Dominio, and his companion under our Lady’s mantle, keep up between your two families the fraternal love which delights the angels. May the Benedictine Order never lose the affection which causes it to rejoice always on this day; and by thy benefits to it, strengthen the bonds knit once for all by the gift of the Portiuncula !!

OcroBEr 5

SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS

MARTYRS

Tae protomartyr of the Benedictine Order stands before us to-day in his strength and in his beauty. The empire had fallen, and the yoke of the Arian Goths lay vd upon Italy. Rome was no longer in the hands of the glorious races which had made her greatness; these, nevertheless, kept up their honourable traditions. They offered a great lesson, for future times of revolution, to other descendants of not less noble families: in lieu of the ensign of civic honour once committed to their fathers, the survivors of the old patrician ranks made it their duty to raise still higher the standard of true hero- ism, of those virtues which alone are everlasting.

1 A property of the Benedictines on Monte Soubazo, ceded by them to Francis, to be the cradle of the Order he was about to found,

--- PAGE 350 --- SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS 339

Thus Benedict of Nursia, fleeing into the desert, had rendered greater service than any mighty con- queror to Rome and her immortal destinies. The world soon discovered this fact; and then began, as St. Gregory tells us, the concourse of Roman nobles, bringing their children to the patriarch of monks, to be educated by him for almighty God.!

Plaoid was the eldest son of the patrician Tertullus. The excellent qualities early discovered in the child led his worthy father to offer to God, without delay, this dear first-fruit of his paternity. In those days, parente loved their children not for this ing world, but for eternity ; not for themselves, bat te our Lord. The faith of Tertullus was well rewarded when, twenty years later, not only his first-born, but also his two other sons and their sister, were crowned with martydom. This was not the first holocaust of the kind in that heroio family, if it be true that they were relatives by blood, and heirs of the goods as well as of the virtues, of the holy martyr Eustace, who had been immolated four oenturies earlier with his wife and sons.?

Among the children of promise enlisted by the vanquished nobles of the ancient empire in the new militia of the holy valley, Equitius brought to Subiaco his son Maurus, a boy sume years older than Placid. Henoeforth the names of Maurus and Placid became inseparable from that of Benedict; and the patriarch acquired a new glory from his two sons, so united and yet so different.

Equal in their love of their master and father, and themselves equally loved by him for their equal fidelity in good works, they experienced to the full that delight in virtue which makes its practice a second nature. However similar their zeal in using

! Gregor. Dialog. lib. ii. cap. 3. ? Beo above, Sept. 20,

--- PAGE 351 --- 340 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

‘the most strong and bright armour of obedience,’ in the service of Christ the King, it was wonderful to see the master accommodating himself to the age of his disciples; so Sapling himself to their differ- enoes of character, that there was nothing precipitate, nothing forced, in his education. It disciplined nature without crushing it, and followed the Holy Ghost without endeavouring to take the lead. In Maurus was especially reproduced Benedict’s austere vity ; in Placid his simplicity and sweetness. enediet took Maurus to witness the chastisement inflicted on the wandering monk, who could not stay at prayer; but Placid accompanied him to the moun- tain-top, where his prayer obtained a spring of water to deliver from danger and fatigue the brethren dwelling on the rocks above the Anio. But when, walking along tbe river-side, holding Placid by the hand and leaning upon Maurus, the legislator of monks explained to them the code of perfection they were afterwards to propagate, the angels knew not which most to admire: the candour of the one, winning the father's tenderest affection ; or the pre- eocious maturity of the other, meriting the holy triarch’s oonfidenoe, and already sharing his urden.

Who does not recollect the admirable scene of Maurus walking on the water and saving Placid from drowning ? Monastic traditions never weary of extol- ling the obedience of Maurus, Benedict's humility, and the sagacious simplicity of the child pronouncing sentence as judge of the prodigy.! Of such children the master Sond say from experience: ‘The Lord oftentimes revealeth that which is best, to him that is the younger? And we may well believe that the recollections of the holy valley prompted him, later

1 Gregor. Dialog. lib. ii. * S. Benedict. Reg. cap. iii.

--- PAGE 352 --- FAMVA ZMAVAL SUNY AD UVES AAA

on, to lay down in his rule this prescription: ‘In all places hiscere let not age be taken into account as regardeth order, neither let it be to the prejudice of anyone; for Samuel and Daniel, while yet chil- dren, were judges over the elders.'!

The following lessons, taken from the monastio breviary, will complete the account of Placid's life, and relate the manner of his death. In 1588, the discovery of the martyrs' relios at Messina confirmed the truth of their Acts. On this oocasion, Pope Sixtus V extended the celebration of their feast, under the rite of a simple, to the universal Ch «roh.

Placidus Romanus, Ter- tullo patre, ex nobilissima Aniciorum familia natus, puer Deo oblatus, et sancto Benedicto traditus, tanta morum integritate, et mona- stice vite institutis profecit, ut inter prsecipuos ejus discipulos numeraretur. In solitudine Sublacensi eidem sancto Benedicto fontem divinitus impetrandi adfuit. Adolescentulus ad haurien- dam aquam egressus, et in lacum prolapsus, ejusdem sancti patris imperio per Maurum monachum super aquas sicco pede currentein salvus mirabiliter extractus fuit. In Cassinum montem cum illo deinde veniens, an- num agens alterum et vige- simum mittitur in Siciliam, ut bona, et possessiones, quas pater ipsius monaste- rio Cassinensi donaverat, ab

! S. Benedict.

Placid, a Roman by birth and son of Tertullus, belonged to the noble family of the Anicii. Offered to God while still a child, he was entrusted to St. Benedict, and made such progress in sanctity and in the monastic life, as to be- come one of his principal dis- ciples. He was present when the holy father obtained from God by prayer a fountain of water in the solitude of Su- biaco. While still à boy, being sent one day to draw water, he fell into the lake, but was miraculously saved by the monk Maurus, who at the command of the holy father ran dry-shod over the water. Later on he accompanied St. Benedict to Monte Cassino. At the age of twenty-one, he was sent into Sicily, to de- fend, against certain covetous persons, the goods and lands

Rey. cap. lxiii.

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improba quorumdam cupi- ditate defenderet. Quo in itinere cum plurima, maxi- maque miracula fecisset, sanctitatis fama percelebris "Messanam venit, constructo- que non longe a portu in paterna possessione cceno- bio, monachis triginta con- gregatis, monasticam disci- plinam primus ea in insula propagavit.

Nihil eo placidius, nihil humilius erat: prudentia, gravitate, misericordia, ani- mique perpetua tranquilli- tate superabat omnes. In divinarum rerum contem- platione sepissime perno- ctabat, paululum sedens cum eum necessarius somnus op- pressissej. Silentii precipua cura: ubi autem loquendum esset, sermo omnis ad mundi despicientiam, ^ Christique imitationem accommodatus. Jejunium vero ita coluit, ut carne, omnique opere lacta- rio, totis annis abstineret; per Quadragesimam autem tertia, quintaque feria, et Dominica pane dumtaxat, frigidaque aqua contentus, esteros dies sine ullo cibo iraduceret. Vinum bibit numquam, cilicium perpe- tuo gestavit. Tot autem, tantisque Placidus miraculis coruscabat, ut non solum ex vicinis locis, sed ex Etruria et Africa sgroti ad eum ganitatis causa confluerent;

quamquam is ab insigni

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

which his father had given to Monte Cassino. On the way he performed so many great miracles, that he arrived at Messina with a reputation for sanctity. He built a monas- tery on his paternal estate, not far from the harbour, and gathered together thirty monks ; being thus the first to introduce the monastic life into the island.

Nothing could be more pla- cid or more humble than his behaviour ; while he surpassed everyone in prudence, gravi- iy, kindness, and unruffied tranquillity of mind. He of- ten spent whole nights in the contemplation of heavenly things, only sitting down for a short time when overpower- ed by the necessity of sleep. He was most zealous in ob- serving silence ; and when it was necessary to speak, the subjects of his conversation were the contempt of the world and the imitation of Christ. His fasts were most severe, and he abstained all the year round from flesh and every kind of milk-meat. In Lent he took only bread and water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays ; the rest of the week he passed without any food. He never drank wine, and al- ways wore a hairshirt. So numerous and so remarkable were the miracles he worked, that the sick came to him in crowds to be cured, not only

--- PAGE 354 --- SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS

quadam animi humilitate, miraculis quse faceret omni- bus, sancti Benedicti nomen, meritaque pretendere soli- tus erat.

Cum igitur sanctitatis ex- emplo et miraculorum ma- gnitudine rem christianam augeret, quinto anno post- quam in Siciliam venit, su- bita Sarracenorum irruptio- ne cum Eutychio et Victo- rino fratribus, Flaviaque so- rore virgine (qui forte per eos dies ad fratrem visen- dum Roma eo usque con- tenderant), nec non Donato, Fausto, Firmatoque diaco- no, monachisque triginta noctu psallens in ecclesia opprimitur. Ex quibus Do- natus capite illico cssus est: reliqui ante Manucham archipiratam ducti, cum se idolis cultum ullum adhibe- re constanter negarent, cz- si virgis, manibus pedibus- que vincti sine ullo cibo contruduntur in carcerem, &c insuper quotidie flagellis conciduntur. Sed divinitus sustentati, post multos dies rursus ad tyrannum addu- cuntur, atque in eadem fide constantes, iterum ac smpi- us affecti verberibus, nudi, capite demisso suspendun- tur, ingentique fumo ox eo- rum obruitur. Qui cum om- nium opinione mortui re- licti fuissent, postridie vivi, 843

from the neighbourhood, but also from Etruria and Africa. But Placid, in his great hu- mility, worked all his miracles in the name of St. Benedict, attributing them to his merits. His holy example and the wonders he wrought caused the Christian faith to spread rapidly. In the fifth year after his arrival in Sicily, the Sara- cens made a sudden incursion, and seized upon Placid and his thirty monks while they were singing the night Office in the church. At the same time were taken Eutychius and Victori- nus, Placid's brothers, and his sister the virgin Flavia, who had all come from Home to visit him; and also Dons Faustus, and the deacon Fir- matus. Donatus was beheaded on the spot. The rest were taken before Manucha, the chief of the pirates; and as they firmly refused to adore his idols, they were beaten with rods, and cast, bound hand and foot, into prison, without food. Every day they were beaten afresh, but God supported them. After many days, they were again led before the ty- rant; and as they still stood firm in the faith, they were again repeatedly beaten, then stript of their clothes, and hung, head downwards, over thick smoke to suffocate. They were left for dead, but the next day were found alive,

23

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sanatis mirabiliter vulneri- bus reperti sunt.

Deinde Flaviam virginem separatim tyrannus aggres- sus, cum nihil aut terrendo, 2ut pollicendo proficeret, ju- bet illam nudam pedibus alta ex trabe suspendi. Cui cum tyrannus insultans nuditatis turpitudinem exprobaret: Unus est, inquit virgo, ma- ris feminseque auctor condi- torque Deus; quare neque
sexus, neque nuditas hsec fraudi mihi apud illum fu- tura est, quippe quam pro ilius amore sustineo, qui mea causa non nudari solum, sed cruci etiam affigi voluit. Quo responso Manucha inci- tus, virginem fustibus cse- sam, subjectoque fumo ex- cruciatam lenonibus constu- prandam tradidit. "Virgine autem Deum deprecante, di- vinitus factum est, ut quot- quot eam attingere vellent, subito membrorum omnium dolore, stuporeque corripe- rentur. Postea Placidum virginis fratrem tyrannus invadit, eique idolorum va- nitatem arguenti os dentes- que lapidibus contundi, lin- guamque radicitus abscindi jubet. Sed cum nihilomi- nus ille avulsa lingua clare et expedite loqueretur, ipso miraculo magis furens bar- barus, Placidum cum soro- re, ac fratribus, immanibus anchorarum molarumque

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

and miraculously healed of their wounds.

The tyrant then addressed himself to the virgin Flavia apart. But finding he could gain .othing by threats or promises, he ordered her to be stript and hung by the feet from a high beam, insulting her meanwhile upon her na- kedness. But the virgin an- swered: Man and woman have the same author and Creator, God; hence neither my sex, nor this nakedness which I endure for love of him will be any disadvantage to me in his eyes, who for my sake chose not only to be stript, but also to be nailed to a cross. Manucha enraged at this re- ply ordered her to be beaten, and tortured with the smoke, and then handed her over to be dishonoured. At the vir- gin's prayer, God struck all who attempted to approach her, with sudden stiffness and pain in all their limbs. The iyrant next attacked Placid, the virgin's brother, who tried to convince him of the vanity of his idols; Manucha there- upon commanded his mouth and teeth to be broken with stones, and his tongue to be cut out by the root; but the martyr spoke as clearly and easily as before. The barba- rian grew more furious at this miracle, and commanded that Placid, with his sister and

--- PAGE 356 --- SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS

ponderibus obrui resupinos imperat. Cumque ex iis etiam tormentis integri eva- sissent, ad extremum ex una Placidi familia sex et triginta in portus Mamerti- ni littore, capitibus abscis- sis martyri palmam cum duce suo, et aliis etiam plu- ribus retulere, tertio nonas Octobris, anno salutis hu- man: quingentesimo trige- simo nono. Horum omnium corpora post aliquot deiude dies, Gordianus monachus ex eodem monasterio fuga elapsus, intacta cum repe- risset, cum lacrymis sepeli- vit. "Tyranni autem non multo post ultricibus meris undis absorpti crudelitatis sus poenas dederunt.

345

brethren should be crushed under an enormous weight of anchors and millstones; but even this torture was power- less to hurt them. Finally, thirty-six of Placid's family, with their leader, and several others, were beheaded on the shore near Messina, and gained the palm of martyrdom on the third of the Nones of October, in the year of salvation five hundred and thirty-nine. Gor- dian, a monk of that monas- tery, who had escaped by flight, found all their bodies entire after several days, and buried them with tears. Not long af- terwards the barbarians, in punishment of their crime, were swallowed up by the avenging waves of the sea.

‘Placid, my beloved son, why should I weep for

thee? Thou art taken from me, only that thou mayst belong to all men. I will give thanks for this sacrifice of the fruit of my heart, offered to almighty God.'! Thus, on hearing of this day's triumph, spoke Benediot, thy spiritual father, mingling tears with his joy. He did not survive thee long; yet long enough to complete, of his own accord, the sacrifice of separations, by sending into far-off France the companion of thy childhood, Maurus, who was des- tined not to rejoin thee in heaven for so many long years. Charity seeketh not her own interests; she finds them by forgetting self, and losing self in God. Placid had disappeared ; Maurus had been sent away ; Benediot was about to die: human prudence would

! Acta 8. Placidi et soc. cap. vii.

--- PAGE 357 --- 846 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

have believed the holy patriarch’s work in danger of perishing; whereas, at this critical moment, it strengthened its roots and extended its branches over the whole world. Unless the grain of wheat fallin into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.! As heretofore the blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians, it now produced a rich harvest of monks.

Blessed be thou, O Placid, far beyond thy native Italy, and Sicily the scene of thy combat. Blessed be thou for the numberless ears of corn, for the abundant harvest sprung from the choice grain that fell to the earth on this day: faith bids us see in thy immolation the secret of the success granted to the monastic mission of Maurus. Thus, despite the great diversity and the unequal length of your paths in life,

ou are ever united in the heart of your master and ther. At the appointed hour he did not hesitate before the holocaust our Lord required of him; where- fore, he now in heaven beholds the fulfilment of the hopes he had centred in his two beloved sons. eign, O Placid, to continue thy interest in the extension of Christ's reign upon earth, in the progress of the perfect life in the Church, in the diffusion throughout the world of the monastio family, whereof thou art the glory. Noviciates especially are confided to thee: remembering the blessed education thou wast privileged to receive, watch over the aspirants to the ‘better part’. To them above all is applied the Gospel saying: Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, that kingdom of heaven, which consists in the anti- cipated possession of God here on earth, in the life of union attained by the way of the counsels. May

1 Bt. John xii. 24, 25. ? Bt. Matt. xviii. 3.

--- PAGE 358 --- SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS 847

they reproduce before the angels thy humble and sweet mmplioity; and show their gratitude for the maternal solieitude of their holy Order by the same filial docility wherewith thou didst respond. to the holy legislator's special tenderness. May they, in spite of the world's opposition, inorease in numbers and in merit, for the honour of God!

The trials of the present must prepare the monastic Order, and indeed the whole religious state, for the trials of the future. It is around the monks that the martyrs of the last days will gather, as around thee assembled the Christians of Messina? and thy two brothers, and the heroic Flavia, so truly worthy to be doubly thy sister. May the chosen flock increase, and be ever united ; so as to be able to say with one voice to the persecutors both present and future: *Do what you mean to do; for we are all of one mind, one faith, one manner of life"!

1 deta S. Placidi et soc. cap. v.

--- PAGE 359 --- 348 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Ocroser 6 SAINT BRUNO CONFESSOR

Among the divers religious families, none is held in higher esteem by the Church than the Carthusian ; the prescriptions of the corpus juris determine that a person may pass from any other Order into this, with- out deterioration! And yet it is of all the least given to active works. Is not this a new, and not the least convincing, proof that outward zeal, how praiseworth

8oever, is not the only, or the principal thing in God's sight? The Church, in her fidelity, values all things according to the preferences of her divine Spouse. Now, our Lord esteems His elect not so much by the activity of their works, as by the hidden perfection of their lives; that perfection which is measured by the intensity of the divine life, and of which it is said: * Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect? Again it is said of this divine life: * You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.'* The Church, then, considering the solitude and' silenoe of the Carthusian, his abstinence even unto death, his freedom to attend to God through oomplete disengagement from the senses and from the world—sees therein the guarantee of a perfection which may indeed be met with elsewhere, but here ap to be far more secure. Henoe, though the field of labour is ever widening, though the neoeseity

1 Cap. Viam ambitiose, i. tit. viii. Eztrav. com. lib, iii. 3 Bt. Matt. v. 48. 3 Col. iii. 3. * Suarez. De Religione. ix. lib. ii. cap. iv. 6.

Bie... cu x.

--- PAGE 360 --- SAINT BRUNO 349

of warfare and struggle grows ever more urgent, she does not hesitate to shield with the protection of her her laws, and to encourage with the greatest favours, all who are called by grace to the life of the desert. The reason is not far to seek. In an age, when every effort to arrest the world in its headlong downward career seems vain, has not man greater need than ever to fall back upon God? The enemy is aware of it; and therefore the first law he imposes upon his votaries is, to forbid all access to the way of the counsels, and to stifle all life of adoration, expiation, and prayer. For he well knows that, though a nation may appear to be on the verge of its doom, there is yet hope for it as long as the best of its sons are prostrate before the Majesty of God.

Look at the history of the west in the eleventh century. If there ever was a time when it seemed urgent that the cloister, far from increasing the num- ber of its inmates, should send them forth to the last man, for the active service of the Church; it was surely the epoch when the flesh, victorious over the spirit, posted up its triumphs even in the sanctuary ; when, for each other's sake, Cesar and satan held the pastors of the people in bondage. Nevertheless, at that very time, not only Cluny became the strong- hold of Christianity, but Camaldoli, Vallombrosa, the charterhouse, and finally Citeaux, were founded and grew strong; so great was the demand even in the monastio ji itself, for still closer retreat, by souls athirst for immolation and penance. And yet, so far from complaining of being abandoned, the world reckoned among its most glorious deliverers Romuald, John Gualbert, Bruno, and Robert of Mo- lesmes, Moreover the century was t in the faith, and in that energy of faith which knew how to apply fire and steel to the festering wounds of hu-

--- PAGE 361 --- 350

manity ; great in the uprightness wherewith it re- oognized the necoessity of expiation for such crying evils. Society, represented by its choicest members before the feet of God, received new life from Him. This feast, then, is the world's homage to one of its test benefactors. The legend of the breviary is short; but the reader may learn more about our saint by having recourse to his works; his letters, breathing the fragrance of solitude, and written in the beautiful style known to the monks of that heroio age, and his commentaries on St. Paul and on the psalms, which are clear and concise, revealing at once his science and his love of Jesus and of the Church. According to the custom of the time, the breve de- positionis announcing his death was sent round from church to church, and returned covered with testi- monies of universal veneration. Nevertheless his disciples were more intent on imitating his holiness, than on having it recognized by the apostolio See. Four centuries after his death, Tus X without any process, on. the simple evidence of the cause, author- ized the Carthusians to pay publio honour to their father. A hundred years later, in 1622, Gregory X V extended his feast to the entire world. _ The following is the legend given in the holy

liturgy.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Bruno Carthusians reli- gionis institutor, Colonis Agrippine natus est. Ab ipsis incunabulis specimen future sanctitatis prefe- rens, morum gravitate pu- erilia illius statis, divina favente gratia, declinans adeo excelluit, ut jam inde monachorum pater viteque anachoreticee futurus in-

Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order, was born at Cologne, and from his very cradle gave great promise of future sanctity. Favoured by divine grace, the gravity of his character made him shun all childishness; so that, even at that age, one might have foreseen in him the future father of monks and restorer

--- PAGE 362 --- SATNT BRUNO

siaurator agnoscerotur. A parentibus genere ac virtute claris Lutetiam Parisiorum missus, tantum ibi in philo- sophie ac theologis studiis profecit, ut doctoris ac ma- i munus in utraque facultate sit adeptus: nec multo post, ob egregias ip- sius virtutes, ecclesie Rhe- mensis canonicatu politus.

Elapsis aliquot annis, cum sex aliis familiaribus mundo renuntians, sanctum Hugonem episcopum Gra- lianopolitanum adiit. Qui causa eorum adventus co- gnita, eosdemque intelligens esse, quos eadem nocte vel- uti septem stellas ad suos pedes corruentes in somnis viderat, montes suse dicece- sis asperrimos quos Carthu- sianos appellant, illis con- cessit. Illuc Bruno cum sociis, ipso Hugone comi- iante, secedens, cum per aliquot annos eremiticam vitam egisset, ab Urbano Secundo, qui ejusdem Bru- nonis discipulus fuerat, Ro- mam accersitur. Ejus con- silio ac doctrina Pontifex, in tot illis Ecclesie calami- telibos, per aliquot annos usus est, donec Bruno, re- cusato Rhegiensi archiepi- scopatu, discedendi faculta- tem obtinuit.

Igitur solitudinis amore eremum quamdam apud

351

of the anachoretical life. His parents, who were distin- guished for virtue and no- bility, sent him to Paris, where he made great progress in philosophy and theology, and took the degrees of doctor and master in both faculties. Boon after this, he was, for his remarkable virtue, ap- pointed to a canonry in the church of Rheims.

After some years, Bruno, with six of his friends, re- nounced the world, and betook himself to Hugh, bishop of Grenoble. On learning the cause of their coming, the bishop understood that they had been signified by the sev- en stars he had seen falling at his feet in his dream of the previous night. He therefore made over to them some wild mountains called the Char- treuse, belonging to his dio- cese, and himself conducted them thither. After having there led an eremitical life for several years; Bruno was sum- moned to Rome by Urban II who had been his disciple. In the great trials through which the Church was then passing, the - Pontiff gladly availed himself of the ssini's prudence and knowledge for some years, until Bruno, re- fusing the archbishopric of Hagetooblained leave toretire.

Attracted by the love of solitude the went to a desert}

--- PAGE 363 --- 852

Squillacum in Calabrie fini- bus petiit. Quo in loco, cum ipsum orantem Roge- rius comes Calabrie inter venandum, latrantibus ad illius speluncam canibus, reperisset, sanctitate — viri permotus, illum ac socios fovere ac colere impense ccpit. Nec liberalitas sine premio fuit. Cum enim idem Rogerius Capuam ob- sideret, eumque Sergius quidam excubiarum magi- ster prodere statuisset, Bruno adhuc in dicta eremo vivens, in somnis illi omnia aperi- ens, ab imminenti periculo comitem liberavit. Tandem virtutibus ac meritis plenus, nec sanctitate minus quam doctrine fama clarus, ob- dormivit in Domino, sepul- tusque est in monasterio sancti Stephani, ab ipso Rogerio constructo, ubi hac- tenus honorifice colitur.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

place near Squillace in Cala- bria. Count Roger of Calabria was one day hunting, when his dogs began to bark round the saint's cave. The Count en- tered and found Bruno at his prayers, and was so struck by his holiness, that thencefor- ward he greatly honoured him and his companions and sup- plied their wants. His gene- rosity met with its reward. A little later, when this same Count Roger was besieging Capua, and Sergius, an officer of his guard, had determined to betray him, Bruno, who was still living in his desert, ap- peared to the Count in sleep, revealed the whole treason to him, and thus saved him from imminent peril. At length, full of virtues and merits, and as renowned for holiness as for learning, Bruno fell asleep in our Lord, and was buried in the monastery of St. Stephen built by Count ltoger, whero he is greatly honoured to this day.

Bless, O Bruno, the grateful joy of God's children. With their whole hearts they us perii in the judg-

ment of their mother the Chure

, when, among the

beautiful, rich fruit-trees in our Lord's garden, she hides not her predilection for those whose silent shade attracts the preference of her divine Spouse. ‘Show me, O0 Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Thy companions! "l'hus speaks

! Cant. i. 6.

--- PAGE 364 --- SAINT BRUNO 353

the bride in the sacred Canticle. And hearing the divine answer extolling the better part, thou minglest thy voice with the song of our Lord and the Church, saying: *O solitude and silence of the desert ; hidden joy; good things unknown to the multitude, but known to the valiant! There are the young shoots of virtue carefully cultivated: there labour and rest are one and the same, and are nourished with fruits of paradise. There the eye acquires that look, which wounds the Bridegroom's heart, and that purity, which beholds God. There is Rachel in all her beauty, more loved by Jacob than Lia, although less fruitful; and her sons, Joseph and Benjamin, are their father’s favourites.'?

Thy sons cherish, in their hereditary peace, this privilege of the perfect even in these days of feverish excitement. Simple as themselves is the history of their Order; full of the supernatural, yet seeming to eschew the marvellous and the miraculous; while the heroism of all is so great, that very few stand out from the rest as remarkable for sanctity. Pre- serve this thine own spirit in thy children, O Bruno; and make us profit by their example. For their life silently preaches to the world the apostle’s doctrine: * Concerning spiritual things, ... I show unto you yet a more excellent way. H1 speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, . . . if I should have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, . . . and if I should dis- tribute all my goods to feed the poor, if I should deliver my body to be burned, and hav not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues

! Cant. iv. 9. 3 8t. Matt. v. 8. 3 Bruno, Epist. ad Radulphum.

--- PAGE 365 --- 354 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. Do not become children in sense; but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect.’!

OcroBER 7 SAINT MARK POPE AND CONFESSOR

AND SAINTS ERGIUS, BACCHUS, MARCELLUS AND APULEIUS, MARTYRS

Marx, successor to Sylvester the Pontiff of peace, has been honoured on this day from time immemo- rial. According to the testimony of St. Damasus, his virtues no less than his name recalled St. Mark the Evangelist. He occupied the supreme See only eight months; but in that short time, he followed up the recent triumph of the Church by wise organiza- tions. He built two new sanctuaries in Rome. He gave the pallium, of which this is the first mention in history, to the bishop of Ostia, to enhance his high privilege of being the appointed consecrator of the Roman Pontiffs.

This pontificate witnessed the awful death of Arius. Constantine had been deceived into ordering the reinstatement of this wicked man, who taught that the Word Incarnate was a mere creature. The heresiarch, followed by his partisans, was proceeding in triumph through the streets of Constantinople, intending to force open the doors of the basilica, where the faithful, with their bishop St. Alexander, were beseeching God, with fasting and tears, to avert

1 1 Cor. xii. xiii. xiv. ? De Rossi. Inscript. Christ. ii. 108.

--- PAGE 366 --- BATNT MARK POPE AND CONFESSOR 355

the profanation. Suddenly, seized with an igno- minious trembling, Arius was obliged to retire to a secret place, sies his flatterers soon afterwards found him stretched upon the floor with his bowels cast out. He had mented the death of a Judas, for having delivered up the Son of God to the disputes of the people, to the mockeries of the proud, to the contradictions of the pretorium.

Among the martyrs annually commemorated on this day, the names of Marcellus and Apuleius carry back the mind to apostolic times. They had been disciples of Simon Magus, but were convinced of his lying deceit by the miraoles of St. Peter, and shed their blood in testimony of their faith in the true God.

St. Sergius is regarded in the east as one of the most glorious witnesses to-our Lord. He suffered in the tenth and last perseoution, with his companion St. Bacchus, a soldier like himself of the Roman army in Syria. So illustrious became his sepulchre, that & city sprang up around it, which was called Sergiopolis, and me a metropolitan See. The west soon joined the east in honouring these hol martyrs, and a church was dedicated to them in Rome. BSaint-Serge at Angers, founded by Clovis IT, testifies to the veneration in which they were held by the Franks.

PRAYER

Exaudi, Domine, preces Hear, O Lord, our prayers;
nostras, et interveniente and appeased by the interces- beato Marco, confessore tuo sion of blessed Mark, thy con- atque pontifice, indulgen- fessor and bishop, grant us tiam nobis tribue placatus pardon and peace. Through et pacem. Per Dominum. our Lord.

--- PAGE 367 --- 356 TIME APTER PENTECOST

PRAYER

Sanctorum martyrum tu- May the blessed merits of orum nos, Domine, Sergii, thy holy martyrs, Sergius,
Bacchi, Marcelli et Apuleii Bacchus, Marcellus, and Apu- beata merita prosequantur: leius accompany us, O Lord, et tuo semper faciant amo- and make us ever fervent in re ferventes. Per Dominum. thy love. Through our Lord.

* Memor ero tui, Justina virgo. Y will ever bear thee in mind, O virgin Justina. This inscription Venice engraved on the coin of its republic, after the victory of Lepanto. On that day of triumph, the martyr, who had won her palm on October 7 fifteen centuries before, had united the power of her prayers with the strength of St. Mark's lion; and the duke- dom proclaimed Justina its second patron. But Lepanto is not her only claim upon the world's gratitude. In her native city, the sons of St Benedict had gathered round the tomb where lay her precious relics. The great movement initiated by the Vene- tian, Luigi Barbo (1408), began at St. Justina's monastery in Padua: the Order was rescued from the disastrous consequences of having secular abbots in commendam; and thus Monte Cassino itself was restored to some part of its ancient splendour.

Honour, then, to this day of salvation! And glory to her, through whose intercession the heavens have rained down their dew of consolation upon the earth !

PRAYER

Deus, qui nos annua bea- O God, who givest us joy by te Justinm virginis et mar- the annual solemnity of blessed iyris tu» solemnitate leti- Justina thy virgin and martyr; ficas: da, ut quam venera- grant that we may follow the mur officio, etiam pie con- example of her pious life, versationis sequamur exer- whom we venerate by this plo. Per Dominum. Office. Through our Lord.

--- PAGE 368 --- 357

On the same day, in the Romsn martyrology, the commemoration of our Lady of Victory, established under the circumstances mentioned on the first Sun- day of this month. Although the Virgin of virgins gave to the youthful martyr Justina a share in the triumph of Lepanto, nevertheless the chief honour of the day redounds to Mary herself. It behoves us, then, to renew our homage to the Queen of the holy rosary, on the exact anniversary of her deliverance of Christendom under that title. Let us do so by offering her the three hymns of her Office, which recall the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the rosary, and which are epitomized in that of second Vespers given on the feast.’

OUR LADY OF VICTORY

HYMN OF FIRST VESPERS

Coelestis aula nuntius, Arcana pandens Numinis, Plenam salutat gratia Dei Parentem Virginem.

Virgo propinquam san- guine Matrem Joannis visitat, Qui clausus alvo gestiens Adesse Christum nuntiat. Verbum, quod ante se- cula E mente Patris prodiit, E Matris alvo Virginis Mortalis infans nascitur. Templo puellus sistitur, Legique paret Legifer, Hic se ltedemptor paupere

The messenger of the heav- enly court, disclosing tk: hid- den mysteries of the Divinity, hails as full of grace the Vir- gin about to become Mother of God.

The Virgin visits her rela- tive, the mother of John, who, though yet a captive in the womb, leaps with joy announ- cing the presence of Christ.

The Word that before all ages had proceeded from the Father's Intellect, is born a mortal Babe of a Virgin Mother.

The little One is presented in the temple, the Legislator obeys the Law, the Redeemer

! The four hymns are of the eighteenth century. Though now

slightly modified, the three here given were composed b

Thomas

Ricchini, Master of the sacred l'alace, and that of second espers by

the Dominican Eustace Sirena.

--- PAGE 369 --- 858

Pretio redemptus immolat.

Quem jam dolebat per- ditum,

Mox leta Mater invenit Ignota doctis mentibus Edisserentem Filium.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu In sempiterna secula.

Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

offers himself in sacrifice, and is redeemed at a pauper's price.

And now the joyful Mother finds her Son, whom she had mourned as lost; finds him expounding to learned minds things unknown to them.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus born of the Virgin; together with the Father and the holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

HYMN OF MATINS

In monte Olivis consito Redemptor orans, procidit, Moceret, pavescit, deficit, Sudore manans sanguinis.

A proditore traditus Raptatur in poenas Deus,
Durisque vinctus nexibus

Intexta acutis sentibus, Corona contumelis, Squallenti amictum purpura, Regem coronat glories.

Molis crucem ter arduse, Sudans, anhelans, concidens, Ad montis usque verticem Gestare vi compellitur.

Confixus atro stipite Inter scelestos innocens, Orando pro tortoribus,

Exsanguis efflat spiritum.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu In sempiterna secula. Amen.

On the mount with olives planted, prostrate the Re- deemer prays; he grieves, he fears, he well-nigh faints, pouring forth a sweat of blood.

God, delivered up by a trai- tor, is dragged away to pun- ishment; bound with tight bonds, he bleeds beneath the cruel scourges.

A crown of ignominy, wo- ven of thorns, adorns the King of glory clothed with purple tatters.

Labouring, breathless, thrice falling beneath the heavy cross, he is compelled by force to bear it to the mountain-top.

Nailed to the awful gibbet, the Innocent hangs between two criminals; till, praying for his torturers, he yields up his Spirit with the last drop of his Blood.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus born of the Virgin; together Mica NE and the holy

p ugh everlasting ages. Amen.

--- PAGE 370 --- OUR LADY OF VICTORY

359

HYMN OF LAUDS

Jam morte victor obruta Ab inferis Christus redit, Fractisque culps vinculis, Coeli recludit limina.

Visus satis mortalibus Ascendit ad coelestia, Dextreque Patris assidet Consors paternse glorise.

Quem jam suis promise-

rat,

Sanctum daturus Spiritum, Linguis amoris igneis Moestis alumnis impluit.

Soluta carnis pondere Ad astra Virgo tollitur, Excepta cceli jubilo, Et angelorum canticis.

Bis sena cingunt sidera Alms parentis verticem: Throno propinqua Filii Cunctis creatis imperat.

Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu In sempiterna ssecula. Amen.

Death overthrown, Christ rises victorious from limbo, and breaking the bonds of sin, throws open heaven's gate.

Having appeared long enough to men, he ascends to the heavenly dwellings, and is enthroned at his Father's right hand, a partner in his glory. The holy Spirit, whom he had promised to give them, he sends down upon his sorrow- ing disciples in fiery tongues of love.

With her body set free from earthly weight, the Virgin is raised above the stars; she is welcomed with heaven's jubi- lant delight, and with the songs of angels.

Twelve stars now crown the lovely Mother's brow; and from her throne beside her Son, she reigns over all crea- tion.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus born of the Virgin ; together with the Father and the holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

--- PAGE 371 --- 360 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

OcroBER 8 SAINT BRIDGET WIDOW

*Wnuo, O Lord, has treated Thee thus?’ * They that despise Me and forget My love.” This was the first revelation of the Son of God to Bridget of Sweden. Francis of Assisi, raising before the world the standard of the cross, had announced that Christ was about to recommence the dolorous way ; not now in His own Person, but in the Church, who is flesh of His flesh. The truth of this declaration Bridget experienced from the very opening of that fatal fourteenth century, during which such innumerable disasters, the results of crime, fell at once upon the west.

Born in the year when Sciarra Colonna, a new Pilate’s servant, dared to strike the Vicar of Christ, Bridget's childhood was contemporaneous with those sad falls, which caused the Church to be despised by her enemies. There were no saints in Christendom comparable to the great ones of old ; in the preceding age the Latin races had exhausted their vitality in producing flowers; but where were the promised fruits? Ancient Europe had nought but afironts for the Word of God ; this feast, this apparition of Jesus in cold Scandinavia, seems to point to lis flight from the habitual centre of His predilection. Brid- get was ten years old, when the Man of sorrows sought a resting-place in her heart: and at that very time, the death of Clement V and the election of John XXII in a foreign land, fixed the papacy in its seventy years’ exile.

--- PAGE 372 --- SAINT BRIDGET 361

Rome meanwhile, widowed of her Pontiff, ap- red the most miserable of cities: ‘The ways of ion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast! Sacked by her own sons, she was daily losing some remnant of her ancient glory; her peblis roads were scenes of bloodshed ; solitude reigned amid the ruins of her crumbling basilicas; sheep grazed in St. Peter's and the Lateran. From the seven hills anarchy had spread throughout Italy, transforming the towns into haunts of brigands, and the oountry parts into deserts. France was doomed to expiate, in the horrors of a hundred years’ war, the captivity of the sovereign Pontiff. Unfortunately, the captivity was loved ; the court of Avignon did not mourn like the Hebrews by the rivers in Babylon; richer in gold than in virtues, it were well, had they not, for a long time, shaken the influence of the Holy See over the nations. The German empire and Louis of Bavaria could easily refuse obedience to the ward of the Valois; the Fratricelli accused the Pope of heresy; while, coun- tenanced by the doctors of the law, Marsillus of Padua attacked the very principle of the papacy. Benedict XII discouraged by the troubles of Italy, abandoned his design of returning to Rome; and built upon the rock of Doms the famous castle, at onee fortress and palace, which seemed to fix the residence of the Popes for ever on the banks of the Rhone. The misery of Rome, and the splendour of Avignon, reached their height under Clement VI who entered into a contract with Jane of Naples, Countess of Provence, securing to the Church the definitive possession of Avignon. At that time the apal oourt surpassed all others in luxury and world- xm God in His justice visited the nations with

! Lam. i. 4.

--- PAGE 373 --- 362 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the scourge of the black death; while in His meroy He sent warnings from heaven to Pope Clement:

* Arise; make peace between the kings of France and England; and go into Italy to preach the year of salvation, and to visit the x watered by the blood of saints. Consider how, in the past, thou hast provoked My anger, doing thy own will and not thy duty; and I have held My peace. But now my time is at hand. If thou wilt not obey, I shall require of thee an account of the unworthiness where- with thou hast pee through all the degrees by which I permitted thee to be exalted in glory. Thou wilt be answerable for all the avarice and ambition that have been rife in the Church in thy days. Thou couldst have done much towards a reformation, but being carnal-minded thou wouldst not. Repair the vn by zeal during the rest of thy life. Had not

y patience preserved thee, thou wouldst have fallen lower then any of thy predecessors. Question thy conscience, and thou wilt see that I speak the truth."!

This severe message, dictated by the Son of God to the prophetess Bridget of Sweden, came from that northern land where sanotity seemed to have taken refuge during the past half century. Though incur- EE such reproaches, the Pope still had great faith, and he accordingly received with generous courtesy the messengers from the princess of Nericia. But, though he promulgated the celebrated Jubilee of the half-century, Clement VI allowed the holy year to pass away without going himself to prostrate at the tombs of the apostles, to which he convoked the entire world. The patience of God was at an end. The judgment of that soul was revealed to Bridget ; she saw its terrible chastisement, which however was not eternal, and was tempered by hope?

! Birgett. Revelat. lib. vi. cap. lxiii. — ? //id. lib, iv. cap. cxliv.

--- PAGE 374 --- SAINT BRIDGET 363

Hitherto wholly engaged with the supernatural interests of her own country, Bridget suddenly found her mission embrace the whole world. In vain, by her prayers to God, by her warnings to prinoes, had the saint striven to avert from Sweden the trials that were to end in the union of Calmar. Neither Magnus II nor his oonsort Blanohe of Dampierre, took to heart the menaoes of their noble relative: * I saw the sun and the moon shining together in the heavens, until both having given their power to the dragon, the sky grew pale, reptiles filled the earth, the sun sank into the abyss, and the moon disap- peared, leaving no trace behind."!

The oriminal coldness of the south had been the oocasion of graoe for the north; but the latter in its turn did not profit by the time of its visitation: and Bridget quitted it for ever. She herself was a city of refuge to our Lord. Taking up her abode in Rome, she there, by her holiness, prepared the way for the return of Christ's vicar. There for twenty years she, as it were, personified the eternal city, enduring all its bitter sufferings, knowing all its moral mise- ries, presenting its tears and prayers to our Lord; continually visiting the tombs of the apostles and martyrs throughout the peninsula; and at the same time never oeasing to transmit to Pontiffs and kings the messages dictated to her by God.

At length the horizon appeared to be brightening: while the just and inflexible Innocent VI reformed the papal court, Albornoz was restoring peace in Italy. In 1367 Bridget had the great joy of reoeiving in the Vatican the blessing of Urban V. Unhappily, in three short years Urban quitted the threshold of the apostles to return to his native land; but, as Bridget foretold, he re-entered Avignon only to die.

! Birgett. Revelat. lib. viii. cap. xxxi.

--- PAGE 375 --- 364 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

He was succeeded by the nephew of Clement VI, Roger de Beaufort, under the name of Gregory XI, who was destined to put an end to the exile and break the chains of the Roman Pontiffs.

But Bridget’s hour had come. Another was to reap in joy what she had sown in tears; Catharine of Siena was to bring back to the holy city the vicar of our Lord. As to the valiant Scandinavian, who had never lost courage or faltered in faith through the failure of her missions, she was inspired by her divine Spouse to visit the holy places, the scenes of His Passion. It was on her return from this last pilgrimage, that, far from her native land, in that desolate Rome whose widowhood she had striven in vain to terminate, she was called to her heavenly reward. Her body was carried back to Scandinavia by her daughter St. Catharine of Sweden. It was laid in the yet unfinished monastery of Vadstena, mother-house of that projected Order of our Saviour, the foundations of which, like all the undertakings imposed by God upon Bridget, was not to be com-

leted until after her death. Twenty-five years jen she had received almost simultaneously the command to found, and the command to quit, this holy retreat; as though the Lord would give her a glimpse of its blessed peace, only to crucify her the more in the very different path into which He imme- diately led her. Such is God's severity towards His dear ones, and such His sovereign independence with NE idis to His gifts. In the same manner, He had owed the saint, in her early years, to be attracted by the beautiful lily of virginity, and had then sig- nified His will that the flower should not be hers. * When I cry,’ said the prophet, in a captivity figu- rative of that whereof Bridget felt all the bitterness, ‘when I cry and entreat, He hath shut out my prayer.

--- PAGE 376 --- SAINT BRIDGET 365 He hath shut up my ways with square stones, He hath turned my paths upside down.”?

Before reading the liturgical legend, let us call to mind that St. Bridget died on July 23, 1373; Octo- ber 8 is the anniversary of the first Mass celebrated in her honour by Pope Boniface IX on the day following her canonization.? Martin V confirmed the Acts of Doniface IX in her honour ; and approved her Revelations, which had been violently attacked in the Councils of Constance and Basle, only to come forth with a higher recommendation to the piety of the faithful. Many Indulgences are attached to the rosary which bears the saint’s name. These are now, by the favour of the apostolic See, frequently applied to ordinary rosaries; but it must be remembered that the true rosary of St. Bridget is composed of the Ave Maria recited sixty-three times, the Pater noster seven times, and the Credo seven times, in honour of the supposed number of our Laly’s years on earth, and of her joys and sorrows. It was also from a desire of honouring our Lady, that the saint vested in the abbess the superiority over the double monasteries in the Order of our Saviour.

Birgitta in Suecia illu- stribus et piis parentibus orta, sanetissime vixit. Cum adhuc im utero gestaretur, a naufragio propter eam mater eropta est. Decennis post auditum de passione Domini sermonem, sequenti nocte Jesum in crüce, re- centi sanguine perfusum, vidit, et de eadem passione secun loquentem. Quo ex tempore in ejusdem medi- tatione ita afficiebutur, ut

! Lam. iii. 8, 9.

Bridget was born in Swe- den of noble and pious parenta, and lel a most holy life. While she was yet unborn, her mother was saved from ship- wreck ‘or her sake. At ten years of age, Bridget heard a sermon on the Passion of our Lord; and the next night she saw Jesus on the cross, covered with fresh blood, and speak- ing to her about his Passion. Thenceforward meditation on that subject affected her to

2 October 7 and 8, 1391.

--- PAGE 377 --- de ea sine lacrimis cogitare deinceps numquam posset.

Ulfoni Nericie principi in matrimonium tradita, vi- rum ipsum ad pietatis offi- cia, tum optimis exemplis, tum efficacibus verbis ad- hortata est. In filiorum edu- catione piissima; pauperi- bus, et maxime infirmis, domo ad id muneris dicata, inserviebat quam diligentis- sime, illorum pedes solita lavare et osculari. Cum au- tem uns cum viro suo redi- ret Compostella, ubi sancti Jacobi apostoli sepulchrum visitaverant, et Atrebati Ul- fo graviter sgrotaret, san- ctus Dionysius Birgitte no- ctu spparuit, et de mariti salute aliisque de rebus, que future erant, premo- nuit.

Viro Cisterciensi mona- cho facto, et paulo post defuncto, Birgitta, audita Christi voce in somnis, ar- ctiorem vite formam est ag- gressa. Cui deinde arcana multa fuerunt divinitus re- velata. Monasterium Va- stanense sub regula sancti Salvatoris ab ipso Domino accepts, instituit. Romam Dei jussu venit, ubi pluri- mos ad amorem divinum vehementer accendit. Inde Jerosolymam petiit, et. ite- rum Romam. Qua ex pe- regrinatione cum in febrim

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

such a degree, that she could never think of our Lord's suf- ferings without tears.

She was given in marriage to Ulfo prince of Nericia; and won him, by example and per- suasion, to a life of piety. She devoted herself with maternal love to the education of her children. She was most zeal- ous in serving the poor, espe- cially the sick; and set apart a house for their reception, where she would often wash and kiss their feet. "Together with her husband, she went on pilgrimage to Compostella, to visit the tomb of the apostle St. James. On their return journey, Ulfo fell dangerously ill at Arras; but St. Dionysius, appearing to Bridget at night, foretold the restoration of her husband's health, and other future eventa.

Ulfo became a Cistercian monk, but died soon after- wards. Whereupon Bridget, having heard the voice of Christ calling her in a dream, em- braced a more austere manner of life. Many secrets were then revealed to her by God. She founded the monastery of Vad- stena under the 11le of our Saviour, which was given her by our Lord himself. At his command, she went to Rome, where she kindled the love of God in very many hearts. She made a pilgrimage to Jerusa- lem; but on her return to Rome

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incidisset, gravibus per an- she was attacked by fever, and num integrum afflictata suffered severely from sickness morbis, cumulata meritis, during a whole year. On the prenuntiato mortis die, mi- day she had foretold, she gravit in coelum. Corpus passed to heaven, laden with ejus ad Vastanense mona- merits. Her body was trans- sterium iranslatum est: et lated to her monastery of Vad- miraculis illustrem Bonifa- stena; and becoming illustri- cius nonus in sanctorum nu- ous for miracles, she was en- merum retulit. rolled among the saints by Boniface IX. O valiant woman! support of the Church in most unhappy times, mayst thou now be blest by all nations! When the earth, grown poor in virtue, no longer paid its debts to the Lord, thou wast the treasure discovered and brought from the uttermost coasts to supply for the indigenoe of many. Thou didst earn the good-will of heaven for the hitherto despised north. Then the holy Spirit was moved by the prayers of apostles and martyrs to lead thee to the land which their blood had not sufficed to render fruitful for the Spouse; thou didst appear as the merohant's ship bringing bread from afar to countries wasted and barren. At thy voioe, Rome took heart again; after thy example, she expiated the faults which had wrought her ruin; thy prayers &nd hers won back to her the heart of her Spouse and of His vicar.

Thine own portion was one of suffering and labour. When, to the joy of all, thy work was consummated, thou hadst already quitted this world. Thou didst resemble the heroes of the old Testament, salutin, from afar the promises that others were to see ful- filled, and acknowledging themselves to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Like them thou didst seek, not the fatherland thou hadst abandoned and whither thou couldst have returned, but the only

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true home which is heaven. Moreover God made it a glory to be called thy God.

on the eternal d where thine exile is at an end, preserve in us the fruit of thy example and teachings. Thy Order of our Saviour perpetuates them in the countries where it still exists though so much diminished ; may it revive at Vadstena in its

rimitive splendour! By it and its rivals in holiness, ur back Scandinavia to the faith, now so unhap- pily lost, of its apostle Anscharius, and of Eric and Olaf its martyr kings. Lastly, protect ltome, whose interests were so specially confided to thee by our Lord ; may she never again experience the terrible trial which cost thee a life-time of labour and suffering !

OctopEr 9 SAINT DIONYSIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND SAINTS RUSTICUS AND ELEUTHERIUS, MM

UsHerep in by Dridget the northern prophetess, Dionysius appears as the brightest star in that con- stellation of mystics, which illumines the close of the cycle with the first glimmers of eternal union. Soon we shall salute Teresa of Jesus, and her guide Peter of Alcantara; while from the shades of his Obscure night, John of the cross will rise in glory next month near to the great St. (Gertrude.

The Man-God began to do and to teach, gave us first example then doctrine; so too the Church, in her liturgical year, first sets before us the examples of the saints, and afterwards teaches us the rules of sanotity as formulated by these holy ones themselves. Strong iu the results she has obtained, she now

--- PAGE 380 --- SAINT DIONYSIUS AND COMPANIONS MM 369

seems to rest in the security gained by experience; and, as in the proper of the time, of which that of the saints is the faithful echo, she yields to her desire of seeing her children able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth. To know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge, that they may be filled unto all the fulness of God." Is not this the good work which the apostle prays may be perfected 1n us by that last day,? for which these weeks after Pente- cost are preparing us, viz: perfect justice, the fruit of love in its full development? But this development of love cannot be without the progress of the soul in all wisdom and spiritual understanding ;? and that approving of better things, of which St. Paul speaks, ean be acquired only by the imitation of the saints or the study of their works.

To-day the incomparable teacher Dionysius pre- sides over the assembly of the faithful. ith enst and west let us keep silence; for it behoveth the master to speak and teach, and it beseemeth the disciple to hold his peace and listen.?

Ber best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.* Every emanation of splendour overflowing from the divine goodness upon man, reacts in him as a principle of spiritual simplification and of heavenly union ; and by its own power leads him back towards the sove- reign unity and gone simplicity of the Father. For all things come from God, and return to God.

By the very fact that they exist, inanimate objects partake of God, who, by the sublimity of His Essenoe,

! Eph. iii. 18, 19. Epistle of the 16th Sunday after Pentecost. 2 Phil. i. 6-11. Epistle of the 22nd Sunday after I’entecost.

3 Col. i. 9-14. Epistle of the last Sunday after Pentecost.

* Phil. iii. 17. Epistle of the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

5 S. Benedict. Reg. vi. * St. James i, 17.

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is the being of all that is. Living things partake of His vi energy, which is superior to all life. Rational and intellectual creatures partake of His wisdom, which surpasses all reason and intelligence. The various beings approach nearer to the Divinity, in ion as they partake of It in more ways.

t is a general law, that divine graces are commu- nicated to the lower orders through the ministry of the higher.! The indivisible Trinity, who Divinity by nature, has established the hierarchy for the deification of all beings, whether rational or purely spiritual. For salvation is possible only to deified spirits? As deification is nothing else but the attainment of union with God, and resemblance to Him, the aim of the hierarchy is to assimilate and unite to God ;? first of all by the absolute retrench- ment of all that is contrary to His love; then by the knowledge of sacred truths; by participation in the simplicity of Him who is One, and by the nuptial banquet of the vision.*

The order of all hierarchy is therefore this: that some should be purified, and others should purify; that some should be enlightened, and others should enlighten ; that some ould be perfected, and others should work that perfection. Every function it imposes, tends to the twofold end of receiving and of giving purity, light, and perfect holiness.

Fhe frst Hirkiehy of blessed spirits receives the first influx of the virtues of Jesus the supreme initia- tor, and imitates Him in the highest manner. This first hierarchy is obeyed by the second, the second by the third, and the third by the hierarchy of men. And thus, by a divine harmony they rise, one by means of another, towards Him who is the beginning and the end of all beautiful order.

! Dionys. De cclesti hierarchia. i, iv, viii. 3 De ecclesiastica Merarchia. i, 3 De celest. Mer. iii. * De eccl, hier. i.

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As each hierarchy includes Powers of three different ranks, the same wonderful harmony exists between these several ranks. Moreover, in every intelligence, human or angelic, are to be found faculties oorres- ponding to the three orders of each hierarchy. It is by passing through these successive degrees, that spirits partake, according to their capacity, of purity, light, and unlimited perfection. For nothing is perfect in itself; nothing is incapable of further progress, save Him who is the primitive and infinite Tetocticat

The blessed inhabitants of heaven, who have nothing sensible or corporeal, God attracts and raises to divine things, not by exterior means; He causes the pure rays and intelligible splendours of His adorable will to shine within them. What is thus imparted to them directly and in unity, is transmit- ted to us as it were in fragments, under the multi- plicity of varied symbols: in the holy Scripture; in the figures wherein our hierarchy, adapting itself to

uman nature, shrouds for us the mystery of divine regeneration and all the other holy mysteries;? and again, in the harmony of the universe, which shows forth the im and footprints of the divine ideas.

Though all things speak of God to man, not one of them speaks aright. God is accessible to the understanding, to reason, to science; He is discerned by the sensibility, by thought, by the imagination ; in & word, He can be named; nevertheless He is incomprehensible, ineffable, nameless. Everything reveals Him to all men, and yet nothing manifests Him to anyone. Everything may be predicated of Him, as being the universal cause;? but as He is

1 De celesti hier. iii, vii, x. 3 De eccl. hier. i- vii. 3 De divinis nominibus, 1-xiii.

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beyond all expression, everything may be more truly denied of Him.!

Hence many, in their progress towards God, are not content with passing beyond the starting-point of exterior senses necessary to our nature, but rise beyond the manifold operations of reasoning and argumentation. As the senses are a hindrance, when the soul applies herself to intelligible things by the

ure understanding ; so the intellectual faculty itself tics useless when the divinized soul, sublimely ignorant, forgetful of all things, plunges herself in:o the abysses of unfathomable wisdom. The simple adhesion of the angelic natures to Him who surpasses all knowledge, has become the property of these souls; emulating the angels, they have attained the aim of all hierarchy, by becoming as entirely as possible united with God.

Guide of Christians in sacred wisdom, O Trinity, sovereignly good, lead us to that height, where all light is outshone by a darkness which coruscates in brilliant lightnings, and, though it can be neithe seen nor ped, inundates with the beauty of its fires the blessedly blinded spirits.” 3

Could we presume to add anything? As we have already remarked, the Church herself, at this season which prepares the world for the last coming of the Spouse, moderates her voice. Especially ought we to imitate her to-day, when the divinely inspired Areopagite, oppressed with the weight of his own powerlessness, cries out: ‘Our language is the more redundant in proportion as it is less pertinent to God. As man rises nearer to heaven, the glance he casts upon the spiritual world becomes simplified and his speech abridged; nigh to the summit, not only do

1 De mystica theologia, i-v. 2 De divinis nominibus, i, iv, vii, xiii. 3 De myst. theol. i. * On the Decollation of St. John the Baptist.

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words grow fewer, but all language, nay thought itself, at length fails. Formerly our discourse ex- panded in proportion to the height whence it descend- ed; as it ascends, it must equally diminish, until, arrived at the final term, it will altogether cease and be lost in the ineffable.’!

Meanwhile, Rome will tell us how the revealer of the heavenly hierarchies, coming from Athens into the west, watered with his generous blood the seed he sowed in the future capital of France. Enriched with his sacred body, the humble borough now known as Saint-Denis long surpassed in renown its neigh- bour Lutetia (Paris). France repaid her apostle’s devotedness by the glory wherewith she surrounded him ; it would seem as if, by a chivalrous inspiration, she had undertaken to compensate him for having abandoned his native country for her sake. Immense was the concourse of people to his holy tomb; aud still greater was the piety of the kings. The martyr's banner, the oriflamme, was their standard, Mountjoy St. Denys their battle-cry, in every clime whither victory led them. Asin life they never quitted the kingdom without entrusting it to the protector of France in his abbey, so at death they bequeathed to him their mortal remains. In spite of sacrilegious profanations, what a sublime spectacle will the holy necropolis preseut to the world on the last day, when, before the eyes of Adrian and his prefects, he whom they executed at Montmartre and condemned to infamy, will rise from his tomb escorted by three dynasties of monarchs proud to form, at the resur- rection, the court of him whom they deemed it an honour to surround in death. Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable !?

The account given by Rome of St. Dionysius and

! De mystica theologia, üi, ? P's, cxxxviii, 17.

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his com of the feast on October 3. Dionysius Atheniensis, unus ex Areopagitis judici- bus, vir fuit omni doctrine genere instructus. Qui cum adhuc in Gentilitatis errore versaretur, eo die quo Chri- stus Dominus cruci affixus
est, solem preter naturam defecisse animadvertens ex- clamasse traditur: Aut Deus
naturse patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvetur. Sed cum Paulus apostolus ve- niens Athenas, et in Are- opagun/ ductus rationem reddidisset ejus doctrine quam predicabat, affirmans Christum Dominum resur- rexisse, et mortuos omnes in vitam redituros esse: cum aliimulti, tum ipse Diony- sius in Christum credidit. Itaque et baptizatus est ab apostolo et Atheniensi- um ecclesie prefectus. Qui cum postea Romam venis- set, & Clemente Pontifice missus est in Galliam pre- dicandi Evangelii causa.
Quem Lutetiam usque Pa- risiorum Rusticus presby- ter, et Eleutherius diaconus prosecuti sunt: ubi a Fes- cennio prefecto, quod mul- tos ad christianam religio- nem convertisset, ipse cum sociis virgis ceesus eat: cum- que in prsdicatione chri- siianz fidei constantissime

ions, is the same as that in the Mensa k Church, though the latter keeps their

Dionysius, an Athenian, was one of the judges of the Are- opagus, and a man learned in every science. It is related of him that, on the day Christ our Lord was crucified, he, though still à pagan, on per- ceiving the unnatural eclipse of the sun, cried out: ' Either the God of nature is suffering, or the world is coming to an end.' Paul the apostle, com- ing to Athens, was brought before the Areopagus, to give an account of the doctrine he preached. He there proclaim- ed that Christ our Lord had risen from the tomb, and that the dead would all live again. Many thereupon believed in Christ, and among them Dio- nysius.

He was baptized by St. Paul, and appointed to gov- ern the Church of Athens. Later on he came to Rome; whence Pope Clement sent him to preach the Gospel in Gaul; Rusticus a priest, and Eleutherius a deacon, accom- panying him as far as Paris. As he converted many in that town to Christianity, Fescen- nius the prefect commanded him and his companions to be beaten with rods; but con- tinuing to preach the faith as zealously as before, they were placed on hot gridirons, and

--- PAGE 386 --- SAINT DIONYSIUS AND COMPANIONS MM 375 perseveraret, in craticulam subjecto igne injicitur, mul- tisque praeterea suppliciis una cum sociis cruciatur. Sed ea tormentorum ge- nera omnibus forti ac libenti animo perferentibus, Dio- nysius annum ageus supra centesimum, cum reliquis securi percutitur, septimo Idus octobris. De quo illud memorie proditum est, ab- scissum suum caput sustu- lisse, et progressum ad duo millia passuum in manibus gestasse. Libros scripsit ad- mirabiles, ac plane coele- stes, de divinis nominibus, de ccelesti et ecclesiastica

suffered several other tortures.

They all endured the tor- ments bravely and joyfully. Finally Dionysius, who was a hundred and one years old, was beheaded with his com- panions, on the seventh of the Ides of October. It is related of Dionysius, that after his decapitation, he took up his head and carried it in his hands for two miles He wrote some wonderful and iruly heavenly books on the divine names, on the celestial and the ecclesiastical hierar-

hierarchia, de mystica theo- logia, et alios quosdam.

Honour to thee on this day of thy triumph! Honour to the apostle of the Gentiles, who comes to meet thee, as his noble conquest, on the threshold of eternity. From early youth how thy soul yearned for that unknown God, whom the apostle at length revealed to the longing aspirations of thy grand, upright nature! To the darkness of polytheism, to the doubts of philosophy, to the vague glimmers of confused traditions, suddenly succeeded the light of truth ; and its triumph was complete. Thou, O Chris- tian Plato, didst enlarge the horizon of philosophy, and didst so rectify its formulas that in them truth eould be fittingly olothed. Thou, in thy turn, didst become an apostle; the distinction of Greek and barbarian, that law of the ancient world, was lost in the common origin assigned by St. Paul to all peoples ; to the eyes of thy faith, slaves and freemen were equal in that nobility which makes the human

chy, on mystical theology, and several others.

25

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race the race of God; while the charity, which over- flowed in thy heart, filled it with the immense pity of God Himself for the long ages of ignorance in which mankind had been plunged.

Thus in thy zeal, obeying the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, thou, like a cloud laden with the bless- ings of the Lord, didst bring fertility to the far west. The people of Gaul learnt from thee to seek God, to find Him, and to live in Him; and this new church had no reason to envy the earlier ones built on the foundations of prophets and apostles. O chosen stone,

ood for the foundations, so intimately united to the ng Dine that every construction thou upholdest becomes a holy temple of the Lord: the church of France built upon thee, is also the house of God.

O Dionysius, quicken again the divine seed thou didst sow. Restore to Paris and to France their traditions, now forgotten in the fever of gain and

leasure. Bring back Athens to the communion of rist’s vicar, the indispensable condition of union with our Lord. For every church under heaven obtain such pastors as thou didst describe in the following lines which reveal thyself: ‘ By the holy love which draws us to Him, Jesus calms the tem- pest of distracting cares; and recalling our souls to the unity of the divine life, He confirms us in the rmanent fruitfulness of this noble ministry. Soon, y the exercise of the sacred functions, we draw nigh to the angels, striving to set ourselves, like them, in the fixed state of unchangeable holiness. Thence, azing upon the divine splendours of the blessed § esus, and enriched with the profound knowledge of mystical contemplation, we become fitted to be our- selves consecrated in order that we may consecrate, to receive light in order to communicate it, to become perfect in order to lead others to perfeotion."! ! Dionys. De ecci. hier. i.

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CONFESSOR

Vanity of vanities and all is vanity.! No argument was needed to impress this truth upon the saint of to-day, when the coffin was opened which contained all that Spain had admired of youth and loveliness, and death suddenly revealed to him its awful reality. O ye beauties of all times, death alone never dies; it invites itself to your dances and pleasures, it assists at all your triumphs, it hears promises said to be eternal: and how quickly it can scatter your adorers! A few years, a few days, perhaps even less, and all your borrowed sweetness will be decay- ing in the tomb!

‘Enough of vain phantoms; enough of serving mortal kings; awaken, O my soul" Such was Francis Borgia’s reply to the teachings of death. The friend of Charles V, the great lord unequalled for nobility, fortune, and brilliant qualities, quitted the court as soon as possible. Ignatius, the soldier of the siege of Pampeluna, beheld at his feet the viceroy of Catalonia, bees to be proteoted against the honours which pursued bi even under the poor habit of a Jesuit, which was now his glory.

The Church relates his life in the following lines.

Franciscus Gandie dux Francis, fourth Duke of Gan- quartus, Joanne Borgia et dia, was the son of John Bor- 1 Eccles. i. 2.

(377)

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Joanna Aragonia Ferdinan- di Catholici nepte genitus, post puerilem statem in- ter domesticos mira inno- centia et, pietate transactam, in aula primum Caroli quin- ti Cesaris, mox in Catalau- nie administratione admi- rabilior fuit christians vir- tutis et vite austerioris exemplis. Ad Granatense sepulchrum Isabellam im- peratricem cum detulisset, in ejus vultu fcede commu- tato, mortalium omnium ca- ducitatem relegens, voto se adstrinxit, rebus omnibus, cum primum liceret, abje- ctis, regum Regi unice in- serviendi. Inde tantum vir- tutis incrementum fecit, ut inter negotiorum turbas re- ligiosse perfectionis simil- limam imaginem referens, miraculum principum ap-

pellaretur.

Mortua Eleonora de Ca- stro, conjuge, ingressus est Societatem Jesu, ut in ea lateret securius, et preclu- deret dignitatibus aditum, interposita voti religione: dignus, quem et viri princi- pes complures in amplecten- do severiori instituto fu- erint secuti, et Carolus quintus ipse in abdicando imperio hortatorem sibi, aut ducem exstitisse non diffite-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

gia and of Joanna of Aragon, grand-daughter of Ferdinand the Catholic. He passed his childhood, in his father's house, in wonderful innocence and pen but appeared still more

admirable when he showed himself a pattern of Christian virtue and austerity, first at the court of the emperor, Charles V, and afterwards as viceroy of Catalonia. He was charged to convey the body of the empress Isabella to her sepulchre at Granada. See- ing the horrible change in her features, he understood how fleeting are all earthly things, and vowed to renounce every- thing as soon as possible, and devote himself to the service of the King of kings. From that day forward he made such progress in virtue, that, in the midst of overwhelming occupations, his life was a faithful copy of religious per- fection, so that he was called the miracle of princes.

On the death of his wife Eleanora de Castro, he entered the Society of Jesus, that he might be therein more hid- den, on account of the vow which closes the door to eccle- siastical preferment. Many princes followed him in em- bracing a severe manner of life; and Charles V himself did not hesitate to acknow- ledge that his advice and ex- ample bad led him to abdicate

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retur. In eo arctioris vite studio Franciscus jejuniis, catenis ferreis, asperrimo cilicio, cruentis longisque verberationibus, somno bre- vissimo, corpus ad extremam usque maciem redegit: nullis preterea parcens laboribus ad sui victoriam et ad salu. tem animarum. Tot itaque instructus virtutibus, a san- cto Ignatio primum genera- lis commissarius in Hispa- niis, nec multo post przposi- tus generalis tertius a Socie- tate universa, licet invitus, eligitur. Quoin munere prin- cipibus ac summis Pontifici- bus prudentia ac morum san- ctitate apprime carus, preter complura vel condita vel au- cta ubique domicilia, socios in regnum Polonis, in insu- las Oceani, in Mexicanam et Peruanam provincias in- vexit: missis quoque in ali- as regiones apostolicis viris, qui praedicatione, sudoribus, sanguine, fidem catholicam Romanam propagarunt.

De se ita demisse sentie- bat, ut peccatoris nomen si- bi proprium faceret. Roma- nam purpuram, a summis Pontificibus sepius oblatam, invicta humilitatis constan- tia recusavit. Verrere sor- des, emendicare victum ostia- tim, gris ministrare in nosocomiis, mundi ac sui contemptor, in deliciis ha- buit. Singulis diebus multas

379

the throne. Francis devoted himself to the exercises of a penitential life, and macerated his body by fasting, iron chains, u rough hair-shirt, long and bloody disciplines, allowing himself very little sleep; while at the same time he spared no effort to conquer himself and to gain souls. His great vir- tue caused St. Ignatius to ap- point him commissary general for Spain; and soon after- wards, against his will, he was chosen by the whole Society third General of the Order. In this position his prudence and holiness endeared him both to Popes and to tempo- ral rulers. He founded and enlarged many houses of his Order, and introduced the So- ciety into Poland, the islands of the Atlantic, Mexico, and Peru, and sent apostolic men into other regions who spread the Catholic, Roman faith by their preaching, their labours, and their blood.

He had a most lowly opinion of himself, always calling him- self the sinner. This humility led him to persistently refuse the Roman purple, which was more than once offered him by the Pope. Filled with con- tempt for himself and the world, he delighted in sweep- ing away dirt, begging alms from door to door, and serv- ing the sick in the hospitals.

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continenter horas, frequen- ter octo, quandoque decem dabat ccelestium contempla- tioni. Centies quotidie de genu Deum adorabat. Num- quam a sacrificando absti- nuit, prodebatque sese divi- nus ardor, ejus vultu sacram Hostiam offerentis, aut con- cionantis interdum radiante. Sanctissimum Christi cor- pus in Eucharistia latens, ubi asservaretur, instinctu coelesti sentiebat. ^Cardi- nali Alexandrino, ad con- jungendos contra "Turcas christianos principes, legato comes additus a beato Pio quinto, arduum iter, fractis jam pene viribus, suscepit ex obedientia, in qua et vi- te cursum Rome, ut opta- rat, feliciter consummavit, anno setatis sug sexagesimo secundo, salutis vero mille- simo quingentesimo septua- gesimo secundo. A sancta Teresia, que ejus utebatur consiliis, vir sanctus, a Gre- gorio decimo tertio fidelis &dminister appellatus; de- mum a Clemente decimo, pluribus magnisque clarus i is, in sanctorum nu- merum est adscriptus.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

He devoted many hours every day to heavenly contemplation, spending sometimes eight or even ten hours in prayer, and genuflecting in adorationa hun- dred times in the day. He never omitted saying Mass: While he was offering the di- vine Victim, or preaching, the heavenly ardour which con- sumed him betrayed itself by the radiance of his counte- nance. He knew by a heavenly instinct where ihe most holy Body of Christ, hidden in the Eucharist, was kept. Saint Pius V appointed Francis com- panion to Cardinal Alessandri- no, in an embassy for uniting the Christian princes inst the Turks. Although his strength was almost exhausted, he undertook this journey in obedience; but on the way he happily closed his life, as he had wished, at Rome, in the sixty-second year of his age, and in the year of salvation 1572. By St. Teresa, who had often sought his advice, he was called a saint, and by Grego- ry XIII, a faithful servant of God. Finally, after many great miracles, he was canonized by Clement X.

*O Lord Jesus Christ, the pattern and reward of true go | we beseech Thee, that as Thou didst

make bl

Francis a glorious follower of Thee in

the contempt of worldly homour, so Thou wouldst grant us to be partakers of the same imitation and

--- PAGE 392 --- SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA $81

glory. Such is the prayer the Church offers through thee to her divine Spouse. She knows that the saints always have great power with God; but especially when they would obtain for their devout olients the virtues they themselves more particularly cultivated when on earth.

How precious is this prerogative in thy case, O Franois, for it concerns the virtue which attraots God's grace in this life, and wins such glory here- after! Since pride has hurled Lucifer into the abyss, and the self-abasement of the Son of God has led to His exaltation above the heavens, humility, whatever men may now say, has lost nothing of its inestimable value; it is still the indispensable foundation of every durable edifice, whether spiritual or social ; the basis, without which the other virtues, and even charity the queen of them all, could not subsist a single day. Trherefore, O Francis, obtain for us this humility ; thoroughly conviuce us of the vanity of this world's honours and false pleasures. May the holy Society, which thou after St. Ignatius didst render still more valuable to the Church, cherish this spirit of thine, so that it may deserve more and more

e esteem of heaven and the gratitude of earth.

! Collect of the day.

--- PAGE 393 --- 382 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Ocroper 13

SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR KING OF ENGLAND

Tris glorious saint was like a beautiful lily, crown- ing the ancient branch of the kings of Wessex. The times had progressed since that sixth century, when the pagan Cerdie and other pirate chiefs from the Nort a scattered with ruins the island of saints. Having accomplished their. mission of wrath, the Anglo-Saxons became instruments of grace to the land they had conquered. Evangelized by Rome, even as the Britons they had just chastised, they remembered, better than the latter, whence their salvation had come; a spring-tide blossoming of sanctity showed the pleasure God took once more in Albion, for the constant fidelity of the princes and ple of the heptarchy towards the See of Peter. is the year of our Lord 800, Egbert, a descendant of Cerdio, had gone on pilgrimage to Rome, when a deputation from the West Saxons offered him the crown, beside the tomb of the Prince of the apostles, at whose feet Charlemagne, at that very time, was restoring the empire. As Egbert united under one sceptre the power of the seven kingdoms, so Saint Edward, his last descendant, represents to-day in his own person the glorious holiness of them all. Nephew to 8t. Edward the martyr, our holy king is known to God and man by the beautiful title of the Confessor. The Church, in her account of his life, sets forth more particularly the virtues which won

--- PAGE 394 --- 383

him so glorious an appellation ; but we must remem- ber moreover that his =p of twenty-four years was one of the happiest England has ever known. Alfred the Great had no more illustrious imitator. The Danes, so long masters, now entirely subjugated within the kingdom, and without, held at bay by the noble attitude of the prince; Macbeth, the usurper of the Scotch throne, vanquished in a campaign that Bhakespeare has immortalized ; Sf. Edward's Laws, which remain to this day the basis of the British constitution ; the saint’s munificence towards all noble enterprises, while at the same time he diminished the taxes: all this proves with sufficient clearness, that the sweetness of virtue, which made him the intimate friend of St. John the beloved disciple, is not inoom- SAINT EDWARD

patible with the greatness of a monarch.

Eduardus, cognomento Confessor, nepos sancti Ed- uardi regis et martyris, Anglo-Saxonum regum -ul- timus, quem futurum regem Brithualdo viro sanctissimo in mentis excessu Dominus
demonstravit, decennis a Danis Angliam vastantibus queesitus ad necem: exsulare cogitur apud avunculum, Normannie ducem: ubi in mediis vitiorum illecebris talem se exhibuit integritate vite, morumque innocentia, ut omnibus admirationi esset, Eluxit in eo vel tum mira pietas in Deum ac res divinas, fuitque ingenio mi- tissimo, atque ab omni do- minandi cupiditate alieno. Cujus ea vox fertur, malle

Edward, surnamed the Con- fessor, nephew to St. Edward king and martyr, was the last king of the Anglo-Saxon race. Our Lord had revealed that he would one day be king, to a holy man named Brithwald. When Edward was ten years old, the Danes, who were de- vastating England, sought his life; he was therefore obliged to go into exile, to the court of his uncle the duke of Norman- dy. Amid the vices and temp- tations of the Norman court, he grew up pure and innocent, a subject of admiration to all. His pious devotion towards God and holy things was most remarkable. He was of a very gentle disposition, and so great a stranger to ambition that he

--- PAGE 395 --- 384

se regno carere, quod sine cede et sanguine obtineri

non possit.

Exstinctis mox tyrannis, qui fratribus suis vitam et regnum eripuerant, revoca- tur in patriam: ubi summis omnium votis et gratula- tione regno potitus, ad ho- stilium irarum delenda ve- stigia totum se convertit, a sacris exorsus ac Divorum templis: quorum alia a fun- damentis erexit, alia refecit, auxitque redditibus ac privi- legiis; in eam curam potis- simum intentus, ut reflore- sceret collapsa religio. Ab aule proceribus compulsum ad nuptias, constans est as- sertio scriptorum, cum vir- gine sponsa virginitatem in matrimonio servasse. Tan- tus in eo fuit in Christum amor et fides, ut illum ali- quando inter Missarum so- lemnia videre meruerit blan- do vultu et divina luce ful- gentem. Ob profusam cari- tatem, orphanorum et ege- norum pater passim diceba- tur, numquam letior, quam cum regios thesauros ex- hausisset in pauperes.

Prophetige dono illustris, de Anglie futuro statu mul- ta ccelitus prsevidit: et illud in primis memorabile quod Sweyni Danorum regis in mare demersi mortem, dum

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was wont to say he would ra. ther forgo the kingdom than take possession of it by vio- lence and bloodshed.

On the death of the tyrants who had murdered his brothers and seized their kingdom, he was recalled to his country, and ascended the throne to the greatest satisfaction and joy of all his subjects. He then ap- plied himself to remove all traces of the havoc wrought by the enemy. To begin at the sanctuary, he built many churches, and restored others, endowing them with rents and privileges; for he was very anxious to see religion, which had been neglected, flourish- ing again. All writers assert that, though compelled by his nobles to marry, both he and his bride preserved their vir- ginity intact. Such were his love of Christ and his faith, that he was one day permitted io see our Lord in the Mass, shining with heavenly light and smiling upon him. His lavish charity won him the name of the father of orphans and of the poor; and he was never so happy as when he had exhausted the royal trea. sury on their behalf.

He was honoured with the gift of prophecy, and foresaw much of England's future his- tory. A remarkable instance is, that when Sweyn, king of Denmark, was drowned in the

--- PAGE 396 --- SAINT

Angliam invadendi animo classem conscenderet, eodem quo accidit momento, divi- nitus intellexit. Joannem evangelistam mirifice coluit, nihil cuiquam, quod ejus nomine peteretur, negare solitus. Cui olim sub lacera veste suo nomine stipem ro- ganti, cum nummi deessent, detractum ex digito annu- lum porrexit, quem Divus non ita multo post Eduardo remisit, una cum nuntio secuture mortis. Quare rex, indictis pro se precibus, ipso ab evangelista predicto die, piissime obiit nonis vi- delicet Januarii, anno salu- tis millesimo — sexagesimo sexto. Quem, sequenti sa- culo, Alexander Papa tertius miraculis clarum sanctorum fastis adscripsit. At ejus memoriam Innocentius un- decimus Officio publico per universam Ecclesiam eo die celebrari precepit, quo annis ab obitu sex et triginta translatum ejus corpus in- corruptum, et suavem spi- rans odorem, repertum est.

885

EDWARD

very act of embarking on his fleet to invade England, Ed- ward was supernaturally aware of the event the very moment it happened. He had a special devotion to St. John the evan- gelist, and was accustomed never to refuse anything asked in his name. One day St. John appeared to him as a poor man begging an alms in this man- ner; the king, having no money about him, took off his ring and gave it to him. Soon after- wards the saint sent the ring back to Edward, with a mes- sage that his death war at hand. The king then ordered prayers to be said for himself; and died most piously on the day fore- told by St. John, the Nones of January, in the year of sal- vation 1066. In the following century Pope Alexander III enrolled him, famous for mi- racles, among the saints. Inno- cent XI ordered his memory to be celebrated by the whole Church with a public Office, on the day of his Translation, which took place thirty-six years after his death, his body being found incorrupt and ex- haling a sweet fragrance.

Thou representest on the sacred cycle the nation which Gregory the Great foresaw would rival the angels; so many holy kings, illustrious virgins, grand edd and great monks, who were its glory, now

form thy brilliant court.

Where are now the unwise

--- PAGE 397 --- 386 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in whose sight thou and thy race seemed to die?! History must be judged in the light of heaven. ‘While thou and thine reign there eternally, judgin

nations and ruling over peoples;? the dynasties o thy suecessors on earth, ever jealous of the Churoh, and long wandering in schism and heresy, have become extinot one after another, sterilized by God's wrath, and having none but that vain renown whereof no trace is found in the book of life. How much more noble and more durable, O Edward, were the fruits of thy holy virginity! Teach us to look upon the present vui as a preparation for another, an everlasting world; and to value human events by their eternal results. Our admiring worship seeks and finds thee in thy royal abbey of Westminster; aud we love to contemplate, by anticipation, thy glorious resurrection on the day of judgment, when all around thee so many false grandeurs will acknow- ledge their shame and their nothingness. Bless us, prostrate in pe or in reality beside thy tomb, where heresy, fearful of the result, would fain forbid our prayer. Offer to God the supplications rising to-day from all parts of the world, for the wandering sheep, whom the Shepherd's voice is now so earnestly calling baok to the one fold !

--- PAGE 398 --- OcroBer 14 SAINT CALLIXTUS I

POPE AND MARTYR

Hz was a sign of contradiotion in Israel. In his own time, Christians were ranged either around him or against him. The trouble excited by his mere name sixteen hundred years ago, was renewed in the middle of the nineteenth century by the discovery of a famous book, which gave an occasion to the sectaries of our own days to stand with those of old uguinst Callixtus and the Church. The book, entitled PuiLo- SOPHUMENA or refutation of heresies, was composed in the third century ; it represented Callixtus, whose life and character were painted in the darkest colours, as one of the worst corruptors of doctrine.

In that third century, however, the author of the Philosophumena, attacking the Pontiff he wished to supplant, and setting up in Rome, as he himself acknowledges, Chair against Chair, did but publish to the Church his own shame, by ranging himself among those very dissenters of whom his book pro- fessed to be the refutation and the history. e name of this first antipope has not oome down to us. But behold D Li psa ! The work of his envious

n, despised by his contemporaries, was to rea A the right moment to pais the dix bonus attention of a far-off posterity. The impartial criti- cism of these latter ages, setting aside the insinuations, took up the facts brought forward by the accuser;

(387)

--- PAGE 399 --- 388 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

and with the aid of science, disentangling the truth from among his falsehoods, rendered the most unex- ted testimony to his hated rival. Thus once more iniquity lied to itself;! and this word of to-day’s Gospel was verified: Nothing is covered that shall not be revealed ; nor hid that shall not be known. Let us listen to the greatest of Christian archao- logists, whose mind, so sure and so reserved, was overcome with enthusiasm on finding so much light springing from such a source. * All this,' said the Commandant de IRossi on studying the odious docu- ment, 'gives me clearly to understand why the accuser said ironically of Callixtus that he was reputed most admirable; why, though all knowledge of his acts was lost, his name has come down to us with such great veneration ; and lastly, why, in the third and fourth centuries when the memory of his govern- ment was still fresh, he was honoured more than any of his predecessors, or of his successors, since the of persecution. Callixtus ruled the Church when she was at the term of the first stage in her career, and was marching forward to new and greater triumphs. The Christian faith, hitherto embraced only by individuals, had then become the faith of families; and fathers made profession of it in their own and their children’s name. These families already formed. almost the majority in every town; - the religion of Christ was on the eve of becoming the public religion of the nation and the empire. How many new problems concerning Christian social rights, ecclesiastical law, and moral discipline, must have daily arisen in the Church, considering the greatness of her situation at the time, and the still ter future that was opening before her! Cal- tus solved all these doubts ; he drew up regulations

1 Psalm xxvi. 12. ? St. Matt. x. 26,

--- PAGE 400 --- SAINT CALLIXTUS 389

concerning the deposition of clerics; took the neces- sary measures against the deterring of catechumens from Baptism, and of sinners from repentance; and defined the notion of the Church, which St. Augus- tine was afterwards to develop.! In opposition to the civil laws, he asserted the Christian s right over his own conscience, and the Church's authority with regard to the marriage of the faithful. He knew no distinction of slave and freeman, great and lowly, noble and plebeian, iu that spiritual brotherhood that was undermining ltoman society, and softening its inbuman manners. For this reason, his name is so great at the present day ; for this reason, the voice of the envious, or of those who measured the times by the narrowness of their own proud mind, was lost in the cries of admiration, and was utterly despised.'? ‘We have not space to develop, as it deserves, this masterly exposition. We have already seen how, when the virgin martyr Cecilia yielded to the Popes the place of her first sepulture, Callixtus, then deacon of Zephyrinus, arranged the catacomb of the Csecilii for its new destiny. Venerable crypt, in which the State for the first time recognized the Church’s right to earthly possessions ; sanctuary, no less than necro- lis, wherein, before the triumph of the cross, hristian Rome laid up her treasures for the resur- rection-day. Our great martyr-Pontiff was deemed the most worthy to give his name to this the principal cemetery, although Providence had dione that he should never rest in it. Under the benevolent reign

1 Quo referendum aiebat apostoli verbum : * Tu quis es qui judicas servum alienum ?' — Atque etiam lolii parabolam, * Sinite zizania cre- acere cum tritico, id est, sinite peccatores in Ecclesia manere. Dicebat etiam Ecclesie instar arcam Noe fuisse, qua canes, lupi, corei, aliaque omnia pura et impura animantia comprehendebantur ; oportere autem item esse de Ecclesia. Vhilosophumena, lib. ix. de Callisto.

? De Rossi, Bullsttino, 1866, n. 1, 2, 5, 6.

--- PAGE 401 --- 390

of Alexander Severus, he met his death in the Trastes vere, in a sedition raised against him by the pagans. The cause of the tumult appears to have been his having obtained possession of the famous Taberna meritoria, from the floor of which, in the days of Augustus, a fountain of oil had sprung up and had flowed for a whole day. The Pontiff built a church on the spot, and dedicated it to the Mother of God; it is the basilica of St. Mary in Trastevere. Its ownership was contended for; and the case was referred to the emperor, who decided in favour of the Christians. e may attribute to the vengeance of his adversaries the saint’s violent death, which took place close to the edifice his firmness had secured to the Church. The mob threw him into a well, which is still to be seen in the church of St. Callixtus, a few paces from St. Mary's basilica. For fear of the sedition, the martyr's body was not carried to the Appian Way ; but was laid in a cemetery already opened on the Aurelian Way, where his tomb origi- nated a new historio centre of subterranean Rome.*

The following brief history was drawn up at a period, when the history of Callixtus was less Liwa than at present.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Callistus Romanus pre- fuit Ecclesie Antonino He- liogabalo imperatore. Con- stituit quatuor anni tempora, quibus jejunium ex aposto- lica traditione acceptum ab omnibus servaretur. 7Edifi- cavit basilicam sancte Marise trans Tiberim, et in via Ap- . pia vetus coemeterium am-

! Lamprid. in Alex. Severo, cap. xix.

Callixtus, a Roman by birth, ruled the Church in the time of the emperor Antoninus He- liogabalus. He instituted the Ember days, on which four times in the year, fasting, accor- ding to apostolic tradition, should be observed by all. He built the basilica of Saint Mary across the Tiber; and

? Histoire de sainte

Cécile. 1849 p. 5; Sainte Cécile et la société romaine auz deuz pri-

miera sicoles. 1874, p. 424.

--- PAGE 402 --- SAINT

pliavit, in quo multi sancti sacerdotes et martyres se- pulti sunt: unde ab eo Cal- listi coemeterium appellatur.

Ejusdem pietatisfuit, quod beati Calepodii presbyteri et martyris corpus jactatum in Tiberim conquiri diligenter curavit, et inventum honori- fice sepelivit. Palmatium consulari, Simplicium sena- toria dignitate — illustres, Felicem et Blandam, qui deinde omnes martyrium subiere, cum baptismo lu- strasset, missus est in carce- rem, ubi Privatum militem, ulceribus plenum, admirabi- liter sanitati restitutum, Christo adjunxit: pro quo idem, recens adhuc a fide .guscepta, plumbatis usque ad mortem cssus occubuit.

Sedit Callistusannosquin- que, mensem unum, dies duodecim. —Ordinationibus quinque mense Decembri, creavit presbyteros sexde- cim, diaconos quatuor, epi- scopos octo. Post longam famem crebrasque verbera- tiones, prazoeps jactus in puteum, atque ita martyrio coronatus sub Alexandro imperatore, illatus est in ccemeterium Calepodii, via Aurelia, tertio ab Urbe la pide, pridie idus octobris.

891

enlarged the cemetery on the Appian Way, in which many holy pontiffs and martyrs were buried; hence this cemetery is called by his name.

The body of the blessed Ca- lepodius, priest and martyr, having been thrown into the Tiber, Callixtus in his piety caused it to be diligently sought for, and when found io be honourably buried. He baptized Palmatius, Simpli- cius, Felix and Blanda, the first of whom was of consular and the others of senatorial rank; and who all afterwards suffered martyrdom. For this he was cast into prison, where he miraculously cured a sol- dier named Privatus, who was covered with ulcers; whom he also won over to Christ. Though so recently converted, Privatus died for the faith, being beaten to death with scourges tipped with lead.

Callixtus was Pope five years, one month, and twelve days. He held five ordina- tions in the month of Decem- ber, wherein he made sixteen priests, four deacons, and eight bishops. He was tortured for a long while by starvation and frequent scourgings, and fi- nally, by being thrown head- long into a well, was crowned with martyrdom under the emperor Alexander. His body was carried to the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Aure-

26

CALLIXTUS

--- PAGE 403 --- 392

Ejus postmodum corpus in basilicam sancte Marie trans Tiberim, ab ipso sdi- ficatam, delatum, sub ara majori, maxima veneratione colitur.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

lian Way, three miles from Rome, on the day before the Ides of October. It was after- wards translated into the basi- lica of St. Mary across the Ti- ber, which he himself had built,

&nd placed under the high al- tar, where it is honoured with great veneration.

The Holy Ghost, the protector of the Church, pre- ared thee, by suffering and humiliation, to beoome His chosen auxiliary. fou wast born a slave; Jew- rfidy soon spread snares beneath thy feet; and e still young thou wast condemned to the mines of Sardinia, for the name of our Lord. Thou wast a bond-slave, it is true, but not now for thy former master. And when delivered from the mines at the time appointed by Him who regulates circumstances according to His good pleasure, thou wast ennobled by the title of Confessor, which recommended thee to the maternal attention of the Church.

Such were thy merits and virtues, that Zephyrinue, entering upon the longest pontificate of the persecu- tion period, chose thee for the counsellor, support, and ooadjutor of his old age; and after the experience of those eighteen years, the Church elected thee for her supreme Pastor. At the hour of thy death, how pros- perous didst thou leave this bride of our Lord! All the nobility of ancient days, all the moral worth and intellectual eminence of the human race, seemed to be centred in her. Where was then the contempt of old, where the calumnies of a while ago? The world began to recognize in the Church the queen of the future. If the pagan state was yet to inflict cruel persecutions upon her, it would be from the conviction that it must gle desperately for its very existence. It even hesitated, and seemed, for the moment, more

ish e's

--- PAGE 404 --- SAINT CALLIXTUS 393

inclined to make a compact with the Christians.

Thou didst open to the Church new paths, full of

ril, but also of grandeur. From the absolute and or Non licet vos esse! of the lawyer-exeoutioners, thou wast the first to bring the empire to recognize officially, to a certain extent, the rights of the Chris- tian community. Through thee, Cweilia assured to them the power of assembling together, and making collections to honour their dead; thou didst conse- crate to Mary, fons olei, the first sanctuary legally acquired by the Christians in Rome; and thou wast rewarded for the act by martyrdom. Now, far from compromising the least of God’s rights in coming to terms with Ceesar, thou didst, at that very time, oppose the latter, asserting, as no other had yet done, the absolute independence of the Church with regard to marriage, which Christ had withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the civil power. Already, *would not one be inclined to say that we have a nation within the nation? Yes; and it will continue to .be so, until the whole nation itself have passed into the ranks of this new people.'?

Within the bosom of the Church thou hadst other cares. Doctrinal contests were at their height, and attacked the first of our mysteries: Sabellius, con- demned for his audacity in declaring that the real distinction of Persons in the most holy Trinity is incompatible with the unity of God, left the field open to another sect, who so separated the three divine Persons as to make them three Gods. Again, there was Montanus, whose disciples, enemies of the Sabellian theories even before Sabellius appeared, courted the favour of the holy See for their system of false mysticism and extravagant reformation.

1 It is not lawful for you to exist. 3 Paschal Time, vol. ii; Thursday of the third week after Easter.

--- PAGE 405 --- 894 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

But as an experienced pilot avoids the rocks and shoals, so between the subtilities of dogmatizers, the pretensions of rigorists, and the utopias of politicians, thou, under the infallible guidanoe of the holy Spirit, didst, with a sure hand, steer the bark of Peter towards its glorious destination. The more satan hates thee and pursues thee even to the present day, the more mayst thou be glorified for ever. Give thy blessing to us, who are thy sons and thy disciples.

OcroBer 15

SAINT TERESA

VIRGIN

* ArrHouGH the Church triumphant in heaven, and the Church mourning here on earth, appear to be completely separated,” says Bossuet on this feast, ‘they are nevertheless united by a sacred bond. This bond is charity, which is found in this land of exile as well as in our heavenly country; which rejoices the triumphant saints, and animates those still militant; which, descending from heaven to earth, and from angels to men, causes earth to become a heaven, and men to become angels. For, O holy Jerusalem, happy Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven, although the Church thy dear sister, who lives and combats here below, ventures not to compare herself with thee, she is not the less assured that a holy love unites her to thee. It is true that she is seeking, and thou possessest ;

--- PAGE 406 --- RAINT TERESA 395

that she labours, and thou art at rest ; that she hopes, and thou rejoicest. But among all these differences which separate the two so far asunder, there is this at least in common: that what the blessed spirits love, the same we mortals love. Jesus is their life, Jesus is our life; and amid their songs of rapture, and our sighs of sorrow, everywhere are heard to resound these words of the sacred Psalmist: It is good for me to adhere to my God."!

Of this sovereign good of the Church militant and triumphant, Teresa, in a time of decadence, was commissioned to remind the world, from the height of Carmel restored by her to its pristine beauty. After the cold night of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the example of her life possessed a power of irresistible attraction, which survives in her writings, drawing predestined souls after her in the footsteps of the divine Spouse.

It was not, however, by unknown ways, that the holy Spirit led Teresa; neither did she, the humble Teresa, make any innovations. Long before, the apostle had declared that the Christian’s conversation is in heaven; and we saw, a few days ago, how the Areopagite formulated the teaching of the first cen- tury. After him we might mention St. Ambrose, Bt. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and many other witnesses from all the churches. It has been said, and proved far more ably than we oould prove it, that ‘no state seems to have been more fully recognized by the fathers, than that of perfeot union, which is achieved in the highest contemplation ; and in reading their writings, we cannot help remarking the simplicity with which they treat of it; they seem to think it frequent, and

* Bossuet, l'anegyric on St. Teresa.

--- PAGE 407 --- 896 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

simply look upon it as the full development of the Christian life.'!

In this, as in all else, scholasticism followed the fathers. It asserted the doctrine concerning these summits of Christian life, even at a time when the weakness of faith in the people scarcely ever left full scope to divine charity, save in the obscurity of a few org ieu cloisters. In its own peculiar form, the teaching of the School was unfortunately not access- ible to all; and moreover the abnormal character of that troubled epoch affected even the mystics that still remained.

It was then that the virgin of Avila appeared in the Catholic kingdom. Wonderfully gifted by grace and by nature, she experienced the resistances of the latter, as well as the calls of God, and the purifying delays and progressive triumphs of love; the Holy Ghost, who intended her to be a mistress in the Church, led her, if one may so speak, by the classical way of the favours He reserves for the perfect. Having arrived at the mountain of God, she described the road by which she hed come, without any pre- tension but to obey him who commanded her in the name of the Lord? With oxquisite simplicity and unconsciousness of self, she related the works accom- plished for her Spouse ;* made over to her daughters the lessons of her own experience;* and described the many mansions of that castle of the human soul, in the centre of which, he that can reach it will find the holy Trinity residing as in an anticipated heaven.’ No more was needed: withdrawn from speculative abstractions and restored to its sublime simplicity, Christiam mysticism again attracted every mind;

! Spiritual Life and Prayer anc te holy Scripture and mona- stic tradition, ch. xix. (Translation by the Benedictines of Staubrook).

2 Life of the saint written by herself. * Book of the Foundations. + The Way of Perfection. ? The Interior Castle.

--- PAGE 408 --- SAINT TERESA 397

light reawakened love; the virtues flourished in the urch; and the baneful effects of heresy and its pretended reform were counteracted.

Doubtless Teresa invited no one to attempt, as presumptuously as vainly, to force an entrance into the uncommon paths. But if passive and infused union depends entirely upon God’s good pleasure, the union of effective and active conformity to the divine will, without which the other would be an illusion, may be attained with the help of ordinary grace, by every man of good will. Those who pos- sess it, ‘ have obtained,’ says the saint, * what it was lawful for them to wish for. This is the union I have all my life desired, and have always asked of our Lord ; it is also the easiest to understand, and the most secure.'!

She added however: ‘Beware of that excessive reserve, which certain persons have, and which they take for humility. If the king deigned to t you & favour, would it be humility to meet him with a refusal? And when the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth deigns to honour my soul with His visit, and comes to load me with graces, and to rejoice with me; should I prove myself humble if I would not answer Him, nor keep Him company, nor accept His gifts, but fled from His presence and left Him all alone? A strange sort of humility is that! Look upon Jesus Christ as a Father, a Brother, a Master, or a Spouse; and treat Him in one or other of these ways; He Himself will teach you which is the one that best pleases Him and that it behoves you to choose. And then, be not so simple as to make no use of it.'?

But it is said on all sides: * This way is beset with

! Interior Castle, 5th mansion. ? Way of Perfection, ch. xxix,

--- PAGE 409 --- 398 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

snares: such a soul was lost in it; such an one went astray ; and another, who ceased not to pray, could not escape a fall... See the inconceivable blindness of the world. It has no anxiety about those thousands of unfortunate creatures who, entirely strangers to the path of prayer, live in the most horrible excess; but if it happens, by a misfortune deplorable no doubt but very rare, that the tempter's artifices seduce a soul that prays, they take advantage of this to inspire others with the greatest terror, and to deter them from the holy practices of virtue. Is he not the victim of a most fatal error, who believes it necessary to abstain from doing good in order to avoid doing evil? You must rise above all these fears. Endeavour to keep your conscience alweys ure; strengthen yourself in humility ; tread under oot all earthly things ; be inflexible in the faith of our mother the holy Church; and doubt not, after that, that you are on the right road.'! It is too true that *when a soul finds not in herself that vigorous faith, and her transports of devotion do not strengthen her attachment to holy Church, she is in a way full of perils. The Spirit of God never inspires any- thing that is not conformable to holy Scripture; if there were the slightest divergence, that, of itself alone, would suffice to prove so evidently the action of the evil spirit, that, were the whole world to assure me it was the divine Spirit, I would never believe it.'? But the soul may escape so pe a danger by uestioning those who can enlighten her. * Every hristian must, when he is able, seek out a learned ide, and the more learned the better. Such a help

is still more necessary to persons given to prayer; and in the highest ‘states they have most need of it. I have always felt drawn to men eminent for doctrine.

! Way of Perfection, ch. xxii. ? Life, ch. xxv.

--- PAGE 410 --- SAINT TERESA 399

Some, I grant, may not have experimental know- ledge of spiritual ways; but if they have not an aversion for them, they do not ignore them ; and by the assistance of holy Scripture, of which they make a oonstant study, they always recognize the true signs of the good Spirit. The spirit of darkness has a strange dread of humble and virtuous science; he knows 1t will find him out, and thus his stratagems will turn to his own loss. ... I, an ignorant and useless creature, bless Thee, O Lord, for these faithful servants of Thine, who give us light.! I have no no more knowledge than virtue; I write by snatches, and even then with difficulty ; this prevents me from spinning, and I live in a poor house where I have no lack of occupations. The mere fact of being a woman and one so imperfect, is sufficient to make me lay down the pen.’? As thou wilt, O Teresa: deliver thy soul; pass beyond that, and with Magdalene, at the recollection of what thou callest thine infidelities, water with thy tears the feet of our Lord, recognize thyself in St. Augustine's confessions!? Yes; in those former relations with the world, although approved by obe- dienoce; in those conversations, which were honourable and virtuous: it was & fault in thee, who wast called to something higher, to withhold from God so many hours which He was inwardly urging thee to reserve for Him alone. And who knows whither thy soul might have been led, hadst thou continued longer thus to wound thy Spouse? But we, whose tepidity can see nothing in thy ‘ great sins’ but what would be perfection in many of us,* have a right to appre- ciate, as the Church does, both thy ife and thy writings; and to pray with her, on this joyful day of

1 Life, ch. xiii. ? Ibid. ch. x. ? Ibid. ix,

* Bolland. in Theres. 133.

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thy feast, that we may be nourished with thy heaven- ly doctrine and kindled with thy love of God.!

According to the word of the divine Canticle, in order to introduce Teresa into His most precious stores the Spouse had first to set charity in order in her soul. Having, therefore, claimed His just and sovereign rights, He at once-restored her to her neighbour, more devoted and more loving than before. The Seraph’s dart did not wither or deform her heart. At the highest summit of perfection she was destined to attain, in the very year of her blessed death, she wrote: ‘If you love me much, I love you equally, I assure you; and I like you to tell me the same. Oh! how true it is, that our nature inclines us to wish for return of love! It cannot be wrong, since our Lord Himself exacts a return from us. id is an advantage to resemble Him in something, were it only in this’? And elsewhere, speaking of her endless journeys in the service of her divine Spouse, she says: *It cost me the greatest pain when I had to part from my daughters and sisters. They are detached from everything else in the world, but God has not given them to be detached from me; He has perhaps done this for my greater trial, for neither; am I detached from them.'*

Grace never depreciates nature, which, like itself, is the Creator's work. It consecrates it, makes it healthy, fortifies it, harmonizes it, causes the full development of its faculties to becomo the first and most tangible homage, publiely offered by regene- rated man to Christ his Redeemer. Let any one read that literary master-piece, the Book of the Founda- tions, or the innumerable letters written by the seraphic mother amid the devouring activity of her

! Collect of the day. * To Mary of St. Joscph, prioress of Seville, Nov. 8, 1551. ? Foundations, ch. xxvii.

--- PAGE 412 --- SAINT TERESA 401

life; there he will see whether the heroism of faith and of all virtues, whether sanctity in its Fg mystical expression, was ever prejudicial—we will not say to Teresa’s constancy, devotedness, or energy— but to that intelligence, which nothing could discon- cert, swift, lively, and pleasant; to that even character, which shed its peaceful serenity on all around; to the delicate solicitude, the moderation, the exquisite tact, the amiable manners, the practical good sense, of this contemplative, whose pierced heart beat only by miracle, and whose motto was: ‘To suffer or to die.’

To the benefactor of a projected foundation she wrote: ‘Do not think, sir, that you will have to give only what you expect; I warn you of it. It is nothing to give money ; that does not cost us much. But when we find ourselves on the point of being stoned, you, and your son-in-law, and as many of us as have to do with this affair (as it nearly happened to us at the foundation of St. Joseph's at Avila), Oh! then will be the good time!'! Tt was on occasion of this same foundation at Toledo, whioh was in faot very stormy, that the saint said: ‘Teresa and three ducats are nothing; but God, Teresa, and three ducats, there you have everything.’

Teresa had to experience more than mere human privations: there came a time when God Himself

. seemed to fail her. Like Philip Benizi before her, and after her Joseph Calasanctius and Alphonsus Liguori, she saw herself, her daughters, and her sons, condemned and rejected in the name and by the authority of the Vicar of Christ. It was one of those occasions, long before prophesied, when it is given to the beast to make war with the saints and to overcome them. We have not space to relate all

1 To Alphonso Ramirez, Feb. 19, 1569. ? Apoc, xiii. 7,

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the sad ciroumstances;! and why should we do so? The old enemy had then one manner of aoting, which he repeated in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and will always repeat. In like manner, God has but one aim in permitting the evil, viz. to lead His chosen ones to that lofty summit of crucifying union, where He, who willed to be the first to taste the bitter dregs of the chalice, could say more truly and more painfully than any other: ‘My

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?'? The Church thus abridges the life of the reformer

of Carmel.

Teresia virgo nata est Abule in Hispania, paren- tibus tum genere, tum pie- tate preclaris. Ab iis divi- ni timoris lacte educata, ad- mirandum future sanctita- tis in tenerrima adhuc ztate specimen dedit. Nam cum sanctorum martyrum acta perlegeret, adeo in ejus me- ditatione sancti Spiritus ignis exarsit, ut domo aufu- giens, in Africam trajiceret, ubi vitam pro gloria Jesu Christi et animarum salute profunderet. A patruo re- vocata, ardens martyrii de- siderium eleemosynis aliis- que piis operibus compen- savit, jugibus lacrimis deplo- rans optimam sibi sortem fuisse prereptam. Mortua matre, cum a beatissima Virgine peteret, ut se ma- trem esse monstraret, pii

The virgin Teresa was born at Avila in Spain, of parents illustrious for nobility and vir- tue. She was brought up by them in the fear of God; and while still very young, she gave admirable promise of her fu- ture sanctity. While reading the acts of the holy martyrs, she was so enkindled with the fire of the holy Spirit, that she ran away from home, resolved to cross over to Africa, and there to lay down her life for the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls. She was brought back by her uncle; but her heart still burned with the desire of martyrdom, which she endeavoured to satisfy by alms-deeds and other works of piety, weeping continually to see herself deprived of that happy lot. On the death of her mother she begged the blessed

! Bee the saint's letters: to the prior of the Charterhouse at Seville,

Jan. 1579 ; etc.

? St. Matt. xxvii. 46.

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voti compos effecta est, semper perinde ac filia pa- irocinio Deiparse perfruens. Vigesimum statis annum agens, ad moniales sanctse Maris de Monte Carmelo se contulit: ibi per duodevi- ginti annos gravissimis mor- bis et variis tentationibus vexata, constantissime me- ruit in castris christians poenitentie, nullo refecta pabulo coelestium earum consolationum, quibus solet etiam in terris sanctitas abundare.

Angelicis ditata virtuti- bus, non modo propriam, sed publicam etiam salutem sollicita caritate curavit. Quare severiorem veterum Carmelitarum regulam, Deo afflante, et Pio quarto ap- probante, primum mulieri- bus, deinde viris observan- dam proposuit. Effloruit in eo consilio omnipotens mi- serentis Domini benedictio: nam duo supra triginta mo- nasteria inops virgo potuit sdificare, omnibus humanis destituta auxiliis, quinimo adversantibus plerumque sse- culi principibus. Infidelium et hereticorum tenebras perpetuis deflebat lacrimis, atque ad placandam divinse ultionis iram, voluntarios proprii corporis cruciatus Deo pro eorum salute dica- bat. Tanto autem divini

403

Virgin to be & mother to her; and she gained her request, for,

TERESA

. ever afterwards the Mother of

God cherished her as a daugh- ier. In the twentieth year of her age she joined the nuns of St. Mary of Mount Carmel; and spent eighteen years in that monastery, enduring se- vere illnesses and many trials. While she was thus coura- geously battling in the ranks of Christian penance, she was deprived of the support of heavenly consolations, in which the saints usually abound even on this earth.

She was adorned with an- gelic virtues; and her charity made her solicitous not for her own salvation alone, but for that of all mankind. Inspired by God, and with the approba- tion of Pius IV she restored the Carmelite rule to its primi- live severity, and caused it to be thus observed first by the women and then by the men. The all-powerful blessing of our merciful God was evident in this work; for, though des- titute of all human aid, and moreover opposed by many of the great ones of the world, ihe virgin was able, in her poverty, to build thirty-two monasteries. She wept con- tinually over the blindness of infidels and heretics, and of- fered to God the voluntary maceration of her body to ap- pense the divine anger, on their

--- PAGE 415 --- 404

amoris incendio cor ejus con- flagravit, ut merito viderit angelum ignito jaculo sibi precordia transverberan- tem, et audierit Christum data dextera dicentem sibi: Deinceps ut vera sponsa meum zelabis honorem. Eo consiliante, maxime arduum votum emisit, efficiendi sem- per quidquid perfectius esse intelliger~t. Multa coelestis sapientie documenta con- scripsit quibus fidelium mentes ad supernm patrie desiderium maxime exci- tantur.

Cum autem assidua ede- ret exempla virtutum, tam anxio castigandi corporis de- siderio wstuabat, ut quam- vis secus suaderent morbi quibus afflictabatur, corpus ciliciis, catenis, urticarum manipulis, aliisque asperri- mis flagellis sepe cruciaret, et aliquando inter spinas volutaret, sic Deum alloqui solita: Domine, aut pati, aut
mori: se semper miserrima morte pereuntem existi- mans, quamdiu a ccelesti seterne vite fonte abesset. Prophetie dono excelluit, eamque divinis charismati- bus tam liberaliter locuple- tabat Dominus, ut sepius
exclamans peteret beneficiis in se divinis modum impo- ni, nec tam celeri oblivione cul suarum memori- am aboleri. Intolerabili igi-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

behalf. Her heart burned like a furnace of divine love; so that once she saw an angel. piercing it with a fiery dart,

and heard Christ say to her, taking her hand in his: Hence- forward, as my true bride, thou shalt be zealous for mine honour. By our Lord's advice, she made the exceedingly dif- ficult vow, always to do what she conceived to be most per- fect. She wrote many works, full of divine wisdom, which arouse in the minds of the faithful the desire of their heavenly country.

Whereas Teresa was a pat- tern of every virtue, her de- sire of bodily mortification was most ardent; and in spite of the various maladies which afflicted her, she chastised her body with hairshirts and iron chains, scourged herself with sharp disciplines or with bun- dles of nettles, and sometimes rolled among thorns. She would often speak thus to God: O Lord, let me either suffer or die; for she considered that as long as she was absent from the fountain of life, she was dying daily and most miserably. She was remarkable for her gift of prophecy, and was enriched to such a degree by our Lord with his divine favours, that she would often beg him to set bounds to his gifts, and not to blot out the memory of her sins so speedily. Consumed by the

--- PAGE 416 --- SAINT

tur divini amoris incendio potius quam vi morbi, Albz cum discumberet, pranun- tiato suz mortis die, eccle- siasticis sacramentis muni- ta, alumnos ad pacem, cari- tatem et regularem obser. vantiam adhortata, sub co- lumba specie purissimum animam Deo reddidit, annos nata sexaginta septem, an- no millesimo quingentesimo octogesimo secundo, idibus Octobris, juxta calendarii Romani emendationem. Ei morienti adesse visus est in- ter angelorum agmina Chri- stus Jesus: et arbor arida cella proxima statim eflo- ruit. Ejus corpus usque ad hanc dien incorruptum, odo- rato liquore circumfusuim, pia veneratione colitur. Mi- raculis claruit ante et post obitum, eamque Gregorius decimus quintus in sancto- rum numerum retulit.

405

TERESA

irresistible fire of divine love rather than by disease, after receiving the last Sacraments, and exhorting her children to peace, charity, and religious observance, she expired at Al- ba, on the day she had fore- told; and her most pure soul was seen ascending to God in the form of a dove. She died at the age of sixty-seven, in the year 1582, on the Ides of October according to the cor- rected Roman calendar. Je- sus Christ was seen present at her death-bed, surrounded by angels; and a withered tree near her cell suddenly burst into blossom. Her body has remained incorrupt to the pre- sent day, distilling a fragrant liquor; and is honoured with pious veneration. She was made illustrious by miracles both before and after her death; and Gregory XV en- rolled her among the saints.

The Beloved, who revealed Himself to thee, O

Teresa, at death, thou hadst already found in the sufferings of this life. If anything could bring thee back to earth, it would be the desire of suffering yet more. “I am not surprised,” says Bossuet mi: A in thy honour on thy feast, ¢ that Jesus willed to die: He owed that sacrifice to His Father. But why was it necessary that He should spend His days, and

! In order to effect this correction, Gregory XITI had ordered that ten days of the year 1582 should be suppressed, and that the morrow of October 4 should be called the 15th of that month. 1t was during that historic night, between the 4th and 15th, that St. Teresa died.

? Apparition to Father Gratian.

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finally close them, in the midst of such great pains? It is because, being the Man of sorrows, as the prophet calls Him, He would live only to endure; or, to express it more forcibly by a beautiful word of Tertullian’s: He wished to be satiated, before dying, with the luxury of suffering: Saginari volu- plate patientie discessurus volebat.! What a strange expression! One would think, according to this father, that the whole life of our Saviour was a ban- quet, where all the dishes consisted of torments. A strange banquet in the eyes of men, but one which Jesus found to His taste! His death was sufficient for our salvation ; but death was not enough to satisfy His wonderful appetite for suffering for us. It was needful to add the scourges, and that blood-stained orown that pierced His head, and all the cruel apparatus of terrible tortures; and wherefore P Living only to endure, He wished to be satiated, before dying, with the luzury of suffering for us. In so far that upon His cross, seeing in the eternal decrees that there was nothing more for Him to suffer, * Ah!” said He, ** itis done, all is consummated ; let Us go forth, for there is nothing more to do in this world ;”” and immediately He gave up His soul to His Father.'? If such is the mind of Jesus our Saviour, must it not also be that of His bride, Teresa of Jesus? *She too wished to suffer or to die; and her love could not endure that any other cause should retard her death, save that whioh deferred the death of our Saviour.'* Let us warm our hearts at the sight of this great example. ‘If we are true Christians, we must desire to be ever with Jesus Christ. Now, where are we to find this loving Saviour of our souls? In what place

1 Tertull. De patientia, 3. * Bossuet, l'anegyric on St. Teresa. "3 Did. i uid

--- PAGE 418 --- SAINT TERESA 407

may we embrace Him? He is found in two places: in His glory and in His sufferings; on His throne and on His cross. We must, then, in order to be with Him, either embrace Him on His throne, which death enables us to do; or else share in His oross, and this we do by suffering; hence we must either suffer or die, if we would never be separated from our Lord. Let us suffer then, O Christians; let us suffer what it pleases God to send us: afflictions, sicknesses, the miseries of poverty, injuries, calum- nies; let us try to carry, with steadfast courage, that portion of His oross, with which He is pleased to honour us.'!

O thou, whom the Church proposes to her children as a mistress and mother in the paths of the spiritual life, teach us this strong and true Christianity. Perfection, doubtless, cannot be acquired in a day; and thou didst say: * We should be much to be pitied, if we could not seek and find God till we were dead to the world. God deliver us from those extremely spiritual people, who, without examination or discre- tion, would refer everything to perfect contempla- tion!’? But God deliver us also from those mistaken devotions, which thou didst call puerile and foolish, and which were 80 repugnant to the uprightness and dignity of thy generous soul!? "Thou desiredst no pr prayer, than that which would make thee grow in virtue. Convince us of the great principle in these matters, that ‘the prayer best made and most Pleasing to God, is that which leaves behind it the

results, proved by works; and not those sweet- nesses which end in nothing but our own satisfaotion."* He alone will be saved, who has kept the command-

! Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Teresa. ? To the Bishop of Avila, March 1577, one of the saint's most graceful letters. 3 Life, xiii. * To Father Gratian, Oct. 23, 1577.

27

--- PAGE 419 --- 408 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ments and fulfilled the law; and heaven, thy heaven O Teresa, is the reward of the virtues thou didst practise, not of the revelations and ecstasies where- with thou wast favoured.!

From the blessed abode where thy love feeds upon infinite happiness, as it was nourished on earth by sufferings, obtain that thy native Spain may carefully cherish, in these days of decadence, her beautiful title of the Catholic kingdom. Remember the part taken by France in determining thee to undertake the reform of Carmel? May thy sons be blessed with increase in members, in merit, and in holiness! In all the lands where the Holy Ghost has multiplied thy daughters, may their hallowed homes recall those *first dove-cotes of the blessed Virgin, where the Spouse delighted to show forth the miracles of His grace. ? To the triumph of the faith, and the support of its defenders, thou didst direot their prayers and fasts;* what an immense field now lies open to their zeal! With them and with thee, we ask of God *two things: first, that among so many men and so many religious, some may found having the neoessary qualities for usefully serving the cause of the Church, on the understanding that one perfect man can render more services than a great many who are not perfect. Secondly, that in the confliot our Lord may uphold them with His hand, enabling them to escape all dangers, and to close their ears to the songs of sirens... O God, have pity on so many perishing souls; stay the course of so many evils which afflict Christendom; and, without further de- lay, cause Thy light to shine in the midst of this darkness !'5

1 Apparition to the l'rioress of Veas. — * Way of Perfection, i, 3 Foundations, iv. * Way of Perfection, i. 3. ® Ibid.

--- PAGE 420 --- Ocroszn 17 SAINT HEDWIGE

WIDOW

AT the beginning of the thirteenth century, the plateaux of upper Asia poured down a fresh torrent of barbarians, more terrible than all their predecessors. The one fragile barrier, which the Grasco-Slavonian civilization could oppose to the Mongols, had been swept away by the first wave of the invasion; not one of the States formed under the protection of the Byzantine Church’ had any prospect for the future. But beyond this Ruthenia, which had fallen into dissolution before being conquered, the Roman Church had had time to form a brave and generous

ple: when the hour arrived, Poland was ready. Phe Mongols were already inundating Silesia, when, in the plains of Liegnitz, they found themselves confronted by an army of thirty thousand warriors, headed by the duke of Silesia, Henry the pious.! The enoounter was terrible; the vietory remained long undecided, until at length, by the odious treason of some Ruthenian princes, it turned in favour of the barbarians. Duke Henry and the flower of the Polish knighthood were left upon the battle-field. But their defeat was equal to a victory. The Mon- gols retired exhausted, for they had measured their strength with the soldiers of the Latin Christianity.

It is Poland’s happy lot, that at each decisive epoch in its history a saint appears to point out the

! April 8, 1241, (409)

--- PAGE 421 --- 410 TIMR APTER PENTECOST

road to the attainment of its glorious destiny. Over the battle-field of Liegnitz shines the gentle figure of St. Hedwige, mother of duke Henry the pious. She had retired, in her widowhood, into the Gister- cian monastery of Trebnitz founded by herself. Three years before the coming of the barbarians, she had had a revelation touching the future fate of her son. She offered her sacrifice in silence; and far from discouraging the young duke, she was the first to animate him to resistance.

The night following the battle, she awoke one of her companions, and said to her: * Demundis, know that I have lost my son. My beloved son has fled from me, like a bird on the wing; I shall never see my son again in this life Demundis endeavoured to console her ; no courier had arrived from the army, and her fears were vain. ‘It is but too true,’ replied the duchess, * but mention it to no one.’

Three days later the fatal news was confirmed. ‘It is the will of God,’ said Hedwige; * what God wills, and what pleases Him, must please us also.’ And rejoicing in the Lord: ‘I thank Thee, O my God,' said she, raising her hands and eyes to heaven, ‘for having given me such a son. He loved me all his life, always treated me with great respect, and never grieved me. I much desired to have him with me on earth, but I congratulate him with my whole soul, for that by the shedding of his blood he is united with Thee in heaven, with Thee his Creator. I recommend his soul to Thee, O Lord my God. No less an example was needed to sustain Poland under the new task it had just accepted.

At Liegnitz it had raised up again the sword of Christendom, fallen from the feeble hands of Ruthe- nia. It became henceforth as a watchful sentinel, ever ready to defend Europe against the barbarians.

--- PAGE 422 --- 411

Ninety-three times did the Tartars rush upon Chris- tendom, thirsting for blood and rapine: ninety-three times Poland repulsed them at the edge of the sword, or had the grief to see the country laid waste, the towns burnt down, the flower of the nation carried into captivity. By these sacrifices it bore the brunt of the invasion, and deadened the blow for the rest of Europe. As long as blood and tears and victims were required, Poland gave them unstintedly ; while the other European nations enjoyed the seourity

SAINT HEDWIGE

purchased by this continual immolation.!

This touching page will be completed by the Church’s story, where the part payed by the saintly duchess is so well. brought forward.

Hedwigis, regiis clara na- talibus, innocentia tamen vite longe clarior, sanctse Elisabethze filie regis Hun- garie matertera, Bertholdi et Agnetis Moravie mar- chionum filia, animi ab ine- unte state moderationem protulit. Adhuc enim pu- ellula puerilibus abstinuit, et duodennis Henrico Polo- nie duci a parentibus nu- ptui tradita, thalami fide sancte servata, prolem inde susceptam in Dei timore erudivit, Ut autem com- modius Deo vacaret, ex pari voto et consensu unanimi ad separationem thori virum induxit. Quo defuncto, ipsa in monasterio Trebnicensi, Deo, quem assiduis preci- bus exoraverat, inspirante,

Hedwige was illustrious for her royal descent, but still more so for the innocence of her life. She was maternal aunt to St. Elizabeth, the daughter of the king of Hungary; and her pa- vents were Berthold and Ag- nes, Marquis and Marchionees of Moravia. From childhood she was remarkable for her self-control, for at that tender age she refrained from all childish sports. At the age of twelve, her parents gave her in marri io Henry, duke of Poland. She was a faithful and holy wife and mother, and brought up her children in the fear of God. In order the more freely to attend to God, she persuaded her husband to make with her a mutual vow of con- tinency. After his death, she

! Dom Guépin, S. Josaphat et /'Eglise grecque unie en Pologne,

Introduction.

--- PAGE 423 --- 412

Cisterciensem devota sum- psit habitum; in eoque con- templationi intenta, divinis Officiis et Missarum sole- mniis a solis ortu ad meri- diem usque assidua assi- stens, antiquum humani ge- neris hostem fortis con- tempsit.

Szculi autem commercia, ni divina, vel animarum salutem attingerent, audire vel loqui non sustinuit. Prudentia in agendis sic emicuit, ut neque excessus esset in modo, nec error in ordine, comis alioqui, et mansueta in proximui. Grandem autem de se tri- umphum, jejuniis et vigi- liis, vestiumque asperitate austera carnem macerans, reportavit; hinc sublimiori- bus florens virtutibus chri- stianis, consiliorum gravi- tate, animique candore et quiete, in eximium religio- s® pietatis evasit exemplar: omnibus se ultro subjicere, aique viliora prs ceteris monialibus alacriter munia subire; pauperibus etiam flexo genu ministrare, le- prosorum pedes abluere et osculari, ipsi familiare erat, neque illorum ulcers sanie manantia sui victrix abhor- ruit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was inspired by God, whose guidance she had earnestly im- plored, to take the Cistercian habit; which she did with great devotion in the monastery of Trebnitz. Here she gave her- self up to divine contempla- lion, spending the whole time from sun-rise till noon in as- sisting at the Divine Office and the holy Sacrifice. The old enemy of mankind she ut- terly despised.

She would neither speak of worldly affairs nor hear them spoken of, unless they affected the interests of God or the sal- vation of souls. All her actions were governed by prudence, and it was impossible to find in them anything excessive or dis- orderly. She was full of gentle- ness and affability towards all. She triumphed completely over her flesh by afflicting it with fasting, watching, and rough garments. She was adorned moreover with the noblest Christian virtues; she was ex- ceedingly prudent in giving counsel; pure and tranquil in mind; so as to be a model of religious perfection. Yet she ever strove to place herself below all the nuns; eagerly choosing the lowest offices in the house. She would serve the poor, on her knees, and wash and kiss the feet of lep- ers, 80 far overcoming herself as not to be repulsed by their loathsome ulcers.

--- PAGE 424 --- BAINT

Mira fuit ejus patientia animique constantia; pre- cipue vero in morte Henrici ducis Silesi sui, quem ma- terne diligebat, filii, in bello a Tartaris ctesi, enituit: po- tius enim gratias Deo, quam filio lacrimas reddidit. Mi- raculorum denique gloria percrebuit; puerum enim demersum, et molendini ro- tis allisum et prorsus attri- tum, invocata, vite resti- tuit; aliaque prestitit; ut rite iis Clemens quartus probatis, sanctorum nume- ro eam adscripserit, ejusque festum in Polonia, ubi prz- cipua veneratione uti pa- irona colitur, die decima quinta Octobris celebrari concesserit; quod deinde ut decima septima in tota Ec- clesia fieret, Innocentius undecimus ampliavit.

413

HEDWIGR

Her patience and strength of soul were admirable; es- pecially at the death of her dearly-loved son, Henry duke of Silesia, who fell fighting against the Tartars; for she thought rather of giving thanks to God, than of weep- ing for her son. Miracles added to her renown. A child, that had fallen into a mill- stream and was bruised and crushed by the wheels, was immediately restored to life when the saint was invoked. Many other miracles wrought by her having been duly ex- amined, Clement IV enrolled her among the saints; and al- lowed her feast to be cele- brated on the fifteenth of Oc- tober, in Poland, where she is very greatly honoured as pa- troness of the country. Inno- cent XI extended her Office to the whole Church, fixing it on the seventeenth of October.

Daughter of Abraham according to faith, thou

didst imitate his heroism. Thy first reward was to find a worthy son in him thou offeredst to the Lord. Thy example is most welcome in this month, wherein the Church sets before us the death of Judas Macha- beus.! As glorious as his was the death of thy Henry ; but it was also a fruitful death. Of thy six children he alone, the Isaac offered and immolated to God, was permitted to propagate thy race. And yet what a posterity is thine, since all the royal families of Europe can claim to be of thy lineage! *I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make

! 3rd Sunday of October.

--- PAGE 425 --- 414 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee."! This promise, made to he father of the faithful, is fulfilled once more on thy behalf, O Hedwige. God never changes; He has no need to make a new engagement; a like fidelity in any age, earns from Him a like reward. Mayst thou be blest by all, O mother of nations! Extend over all thy powerful protection ; but above all others, by God's permission, may unfortunate Poland find by experience that thy patronage is never invoked in vain! OcroBer 18

SAINT LUKE EVANGELIST

Tue goodness and kindness of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men.? It would seem that the third aes et a disciple of St. Paul, had purposed set- ting forth this word of the doctor of the Gentiles; or may we not rather say, the apostle himself character- izes in this sentence the Gospel wherein his disciple portrays the Saviour prepared before the faoe of all peoples; a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of...lIsrael? St. Luke's Gospel, and the words quoted from St. Paul, were in faot written about the same time; and it is impossible to say whioh olaims priority.

Under the eye of Simon Peter, to whom the Father had revealed the Christ the Son of the living God, Mark had the honour of giving to the Church the

! Gen. xvii. 6. ? Tit. ii, 11; iid. 4, ? St. Luke ii.-31. 32,

--- PAGE 426 --- SAINT LUKE 415

Gospel of Jesus, the Son of God! Matthew had already drawn up for the Jews the Gospel of the Messias, Son of David, Son of Abraham.? After- wards, at the side of Paul, Luke wrote for the Gentiles the Gospel of Jesus, Son of Adam through Mary. As far as the genealogy of this First-born of His Mother may be reckoned back, so far shall extend the blessing He bestows on His brethren, b redeeming them from the curse inherited from their first father.

Jesus was truly one of ourselves, a Man conversing with men and living their life. He was seen on earth in the reign of Augustus; the prefect of the empire registered the birth of this new subject of Caesar in the city of His ancestors. He was bound in the swathing-bands of infancy; like all of his race, He was circumcised, offered to the Lord, aud redeemed according to the law of His nation. As a Child He obeyed His parents; He grew up under their eyes; He passed through the pro ive de- velopment of youth to the maturity of manhood. At every juncture, during His public life, He pros- trated in prayer to God the Creator of all ; He wept over His country; when His heart was wrung with anguish at sight of the morrow’s deadly torments, He was bathed with a sweat of blood ; and in that agony He did not disdain the assistance of an angel. Such appears, in the third Gospel, the humanity of God our Saviour.

How sweet too are His grace and goodness! Among all the children of men, He merited to be the expectation of nations and the Desired of them all: He who was conceived of a humble Virgin ; who was born in a stable with shepherds for His court, and choirs of angels singing in the darkness of night:

1 St. Mark i. 1, ? St. Matt. i, 1. * St. Luke iii. 38.

--- PAGE 427 --- 416 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

* Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will.” But earth had sung the prelude to the angelic harmonies ; the precursor, leaping with delight in his mother’s womb, had, as the Church says, made known the King still resting in llis bride-chamber. To this joy of the Bridegroom’s friend, the Virgin Mother had responded by the sweetest song that earth or heaven has ever heard. Then Zachary and Simeon completed the number of inspired canticles for the new people of God. All was song around the new-born Babe ; and Mary kept all the words in her heart, in order to transmit them to us through her own evangelist.

The divine Child grew in age and wisdom and grace before God and man; till His human beauty captivated men, and drew them with the cords of Adam to the love of God. He was ready to welcome the daughter of Tyre, the Gentile race that had become more than a rival of Sion. Let her not fear, the poor unfortunate one, of whom Magdalene was a figure; the pride of expiring Judaism may take scandal, but Sone will accept her tears and her perfumes; He will forgive her much because of her great love. Let the prodigal hope once more, when worn out with his long wanderings, in every way whither error has led the nations; the envious com- plaint of his elder brother Israel will not stay the outpourings of the sacred Heart, celebrating the return of the fugitive, restoring to him the dignity of sonship, placing again upon his finger the ring of the alliance first contracted in Eden with the whole human race. As for Juda, unhappy is he if he refuse to understand.

‘Woe to the rich man, who in his & ani neglects the poor Lazarus! The privileges of race no longer

! Vesper hymn for the feast of St. John Baptist.

--- PAGE 428 --- -~

SAINT LUKE 417

exist: of ten lepers cured in body, the stranger alone is healed in soul, because he alone believes in his deliverer and returns thanks. Of the Samaritan, the levite, and the priest, who appear on the road to Jericho, the first alone earns our Saviour’s commen- dation. The pharisee is strangely mistaken, when, in his arrogant prayer, he spurns the publican, who strikes his breast and cries for mercy. The Son of Man neither hears the prayers of the proud, nor heeds their indignation ; he invites Himself, in spite of their murmurs, to the house of Zacheus, bringing with Him salvation and joy, and declaring the pub- lican to be henceforth a true son of Abraham. So muoh goodness and such universal meroy close against Him the narrow hearts of His fellow-citizens; they will not have Him to reign over them; but eternal Wisdom finds the lost groat, and there is great joy before the angels in heaven. On the day of the sacred nuptials, the lowly and despised, and the repentant sinners, will sit down to the banquet pre- pared for others. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, . . . and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.!

O Jesus, thy evangelist has won our hearts. We love Thee for having taken pity on our misery. We Gentiles were in deeper debt than Jerusalem, and therefore we owe Thee greater love in return for Thy pardon. We love Thee because Thy choicest graces are for Magdalene, that is, for us who are sinners, and are nevertheless called to the better part. We love Thee because Thou canst not resist the tears of

! Bt. Luke iv. 25-27.

--- PAGE 429 --- 418 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

mothers; but restorest to them, as at Naim, their dead children. In the day of treason, and aban- donment, and denial, Thou didst forget Thine own injury to cast upon Peter that loving look, which caused him to weep bitterly. Thou turnedst away from Thyself the tears of those humble and true daughters of Jerusalem, who followed Thy painful footsteps up the heights of Calvary. Nailed to the cross, Thou didst implore pardon for Thy execu- tioners. At the last hour, as God Thou promisedst

aradise to the penitent thief, as Man Thou gavest bk Thy Soul to Thy Father. Truly from beginning to end of this third Gospel appears Thy goodness and kindness, O God our Saviour!

St. Luke completed his work by writing, in the same correct style as his Gospel, the history of the first days of Christianity, of the introduction of the Gentiles into the Church, and of the great labours of their own apostle Paul. According to tradition he was an artist, as well as a man of letters; and with a soul alive to all the most delicate inspirations, he consecrated his pencil to the holiest use, and handed down to us the features of the Mother of God. It was an illustration worthy of the Gospel which relates the divine Infancy; and it won for the artist a new title to the gratitude of those who never saw Jesus and Mary in the flesh. Hence St. Luke is the patron of Christian art; and also of the medical profession, for in the holy Scripture itself he is said to have been a physician, as we shall see from the breviary lessons. He had studied all the sciences in his native city Antioch; and the brilliant capital of the east had reason to be proud of its illustrious son.

The Church borrows from St. Jerome the histo- rical lessons of the feast. The just censure therein passed upon a certain apocryphal and romantic his- tory of St. Thecla, in no way derogates from the

--- PAGE 430 --- —

SAINT LUKE 419

universal veneration of east and west for the noble spiritus] daughter of St. Paul.

Ex libro sancti Hieronymi presbyteri de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis. Lugasmedicus Antiochen-

sis, ut ejus scripta indicant

greeci sermonis non ignarus, fuit sectator apostoli Pauli, et omnis peregrinationis ejus comes. Scripsit Evan- gelium, de quo idem Paulus:

Misimus, inquit, cum illo

fratrem, cujus laus est in

Evangelio per omnes eccle-

sias. Et ad Colossenses:

Salutat vos Lucas, medicus

carissimus Et ad Timo-

theum: Lucas est mecum solus. Aliud quoque edidit volumen egregium, quod titulo, Acta apostolorum, prenotatur: cujus historia usque ad biennium Romse commorantis Pauli pervenit,

id est, usque ad quartum

Neronis annum. Ex quo

intelligimus in eadem urbe

librum esse compositum.

Igitur periodos Pauli et Thecle, et totam baptizati leonis fabulam, inter apo- cryphas scripturas computa- mus. Quale enim est, ut individuus comes apostoli, inter ceteras ejus res, hoc solum ignoraverit? Sed et Tertullianus, vicinus eorum temporum, refert presbyte- rum quemdam in Asia ama-

From the book of St. Jerome, priest, on ecclesiastical writers.

Luke was a physician of Antioch, and, as is shown by his writings, was skilled in the Greektongue. He wasa disciple of the apostle Paul, and accom- panied him in all his journeys. He also wrote a Gospel; where- fore the same Paul says of him: We have sent also with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel through all the churches. And again to the Colossians: Luke the most dear physician saluteth you. And to Timothy: Only Luke is with me. He wrote an- other excellent work, called the Acts of the apostles, in which he relates the history of the Church, as far as Paul's two years' sojourn at Rome, that is to the fourth year of Nero. From this circumstance we infer that the book was written at Rome.

Conseqently we class the journeys of Paul and Thecla and the whole fable of the bap- tized lion, among apocryphal writings. For is it possible that the apostle's inseparable com- panion should know everything concerning him except this one thing? Moreover Tertullian, who lived near to those times, relates that a certain priest in

--- PAGE 431 --- 420

torem apostoli Pauli, con- victum a Joanne, quod auctor esset libri, et confessum se hoc Pauli amore fecisse, et ob id loco excidisse. Qui- dam suspicantur, quoties- cumque in epistolis suis Paulus dicit, Juxta Evan- gelium meum, de Luce significare volumine. Lucam autem non solum ab apostolo Paulo didicisse Evangelium, qui cum Do- mino in carne non fuerat, sed a ceteris apostolis: quod ipse quoque in principio sui voluminis declarat, dicens: Sicut tradiderunt nobis, qui & principio ipsi viderunt, et ministri fuerunt sermonis. Igitur Evangelium sicut audierat, scripsit: Acta vero apostolorum, sicut viderat ipse, composuit. Vixit octo- ginta et quatuor annos, uxorem non habens: sepul- tus est Constantinopoli, ad quam urbem vigesimo Con- stantini anno ossa ejus cum reliquiis Andres. apostoli translata sunt de Achaia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Asia, an admirer of Paul, was convicted by John of having written that book; which he confessed he had dome out of love for Paul, and was on that account deposed. Some are of opinion that whenever Paul in his epistles says: According to my Gospel, he means that of Luke.

Luke, however, was instruct- ed in the Gospel not only by the apostle Paul, who had never seen the Lord in the flesh, but also by the other apostles. This he declares in the begin- ning of his work, saying: Ac- cording as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word. He wrote his Gospel, then, from what he had heard, but the Acts of the apostles from what he had himself seen. He lived eighty-four years, and was never married. His body lies at Constantinople, whither it was translated from Achaia, together with the relics of St. Andrew the apostle, in the twentieth year of Constantine.

The symbolical Ox, reminding us of the figurative sacrifices, and announcing their abrogation, takes his place to-day, with the man, the lion, and the eagle, to complete the number of the four mystical creatures before the throne of God. O evangelist of the Gen- tiles, blessed be thou for having put an end to the long night of our captivity, and warmed our frozen hearts. Thou wast the confidant of the Mother of

--- PAGE 432 --- SAINT LUKE 421

God; and her happy influence left in thy soul that fragrance of virginity which pervaded thy whole life and breathes through thy writings. With discerning love and silent devotedness, thou didst assist the apostle of the Gentiles in his great work; and didst remain as faithful to him when abandoned or be- trayed, shipwrecked or imprisoned, as in the days of his prosperity. Rightly, then, does the Church in her Collect apply to thee the words spoken by Saint Paul of himaalf : In all things we suffer tribulation, are persecuted, are cast down, always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus; but this continual dying manifests the life of Jesus in our mortal flesh. Thy inspired pen taught us to love the Son of Man in His Gospel ; thy pencil portrayed Him for us in His Mother’s arms; and a third time thou revealedst Him to the world, by the reproduction of His holiness in thine own life.

Preserve in us the fruits of thy manifold teaching. Though Christian painters do well to pay thee special honour, and to learn from thee that the ideal of beauty resides in the Son of God and in His Mother, there is a yet more sublime art than that of lines and colours: the art of reproducing in ourselves the likeness of God. This we wish to Los perfectly in thy school; for we know from thy master St. Paul that conformity to the image of the Son of God can alone entitle the elect to predestination. Be thou the protector of the faithful physicians, who strive to walk in thy footsteps, and who, in their ministry of devotedness and charity, rely upon thy credit with the Author of life. Second their efforts to heal or to relieve suffering ; and inspire them with holy zeal, when they find their patients on the brink of eternity.

The world itself, in its deorepitude, now needs the

--- PAGE 433 --- 422 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

assistance of all who are able, by prayer or action, to come to its rescue. ‘The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth ?'! Thus spoke our Lord in the Gospel. But He also said that we ought always to pray and not to faint ;? adding, for the instruction of the Church both at this time and always, the parable of the widow, whose importunity prevailed upon the unjust judge to defend her cause. ‘And will not God revenge His elect, who cry to Him day and night; and will He have patience in their regard? I say to you that He will quickly revenge them.”

OcroszgR 19

SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA CONFESSOR

* O naPrY penance, which has won me such glory ! ' said the saint of to-day at the threshold of heaven. And on earth, Teresa of Jesus wrote of him: * Oh! what a perfect imitator of Jesus Christ God has just taken from us, by calling to his glory that blessed religious, Brother Peter of Alcantara! The world, they say, is no longer capable of such high perfection ; constitutions are weaker, and we are not now in the olden times. Here is a saint of the present day; yet his manly fervour equalled that of past ages; and he had a supreme disdain for everything earthly. But without going barefoot like him, or doing such sharp penance, there are very many ways in which we can practise contempt of the world, and which

1 St. Luke xviii. 8. ? Ibid. 1. * Ibid. 2-1.

--- PAGE 434 --- SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA 423

our Lord will teach us as soon as we have courage. ‘What great courage must the holy man I speak of have received from God, to keep up for forty-seven years the rigorous penance that all now know !

Of all hie mortifications, that which cost him most at the beginning was the overcoming of sleep; to effeot this he would remain continually on his knees, or else standing. The little repose he granted to nature he took sitting, with his head leaning against & piece of wood fixed to the wall; indeed, had he wished to lie down, he could not have done so, for his cell was only four feet and a half in length. During the course of all these years, he never put his hood up, however burning the sun might be, or however heavy the rain. He never used shoes or stockings. He wore no other clothing than a single garment of rough, coarse cloth; I found out, how- ever, that for twenty years he wore a hair-shirt made on plates of tin, which he never took off. His habit was as narrow as it could possibly be; and over it he put a short cloak of the same material; this he took off when it was very cold, and left the door and small window of his cell open fora while; then he shut them and put his cape on again, which he said was his manner of warming himself and giving his body a little better temperature. He umilir ate but once in three days; and when I showed some surprise at this, he said it was quite easy when one was accustomed to it. His poverty was extreme; and such was his mortification, that, as he acknowledged to me, he had, when young, spent three years in & house of his Order without Hu any one of the religious except by the sound of his voice; for he had never lifted up his eyes; so that, when called by the rule to any part of the house, he could find his way only by following the other brethren. He

28

--- PAGE 435 --- 424

observed the same custody of the eyes when on the roads. When I made his acquaintance, his body was 80 emaciated that it seemed to be formed of the roots of trees.’!

To this portrait of the Franciscan reformer drawn by the reformer of Carmel, the Church will add the history of his life. "Three illustrious and worthy families now form the first Order of St. Francis, known as the Conventuals, the Observantines, and the Capuchins. A pious emulation for more and more strict reform, brought about in the Observance itself, a subdivision into the Observantines proper, the Reformed, the Discalced or Alcantarines, and the Recollets. This division, which was historical rather than constitutional, no longer exists; for, on the feast of the patriarch of Assisi, October 4, 1897, the sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII thought fit to reunite

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the

at family of the Observance, which is hence-

forth known as the Order of Friars Minor?

Petrus, Alcantare in Hi- spania nobilibus parentibus natus, a teneris annis futu- ree sanctitatis indicia pre- buit. Decimo sexto statis anno ordinem Minorum in- gressus, se omnium virtu- tum exemplarexhibuit. Tum munus concionatoris ex obe- dientia exercens, innumeros a vitiis ad veram poeniteri- tiam traduxit. Primevum sancti Francisci institutum exactissiine reparare cupiens, ope divina fretus, et aposto- lica munitus auctoritate, an- gustissimum et pauperrimum cenobium juxta Petrosuin

! St. Teresa. Life, xxvii, XAx.

Peter was born of noble pa- rents at Alcantara in Spain, and from his earliest years gave promise of his future sanctity. At the age of sixteen, he en- tered the Order of Friars Mi- nor, in which he became an example of every virtue. He undertook by obedience the office of preaching, and led numberless sinners to sincere repentance. Jesirous of bring- ing back tlie Franciscan Order to its original strictness, he founded, by God's assistance and with the approbation of the apostolic See, 4 very poor little convent at Pedroso. The

* Constit. apost. Felicitute quadam.

--- PAGE 436 --- SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA

fundavit: quod vite genus asperrimum, ibi feliciter coe- ptum, per diversas Hispania provincias, usque ad Indias mirifice propagatum fuit. Sancte Teresi, cujus pro- baverat spiritum, in promo- venda Carmelitarum refor- matione adjutor fuit. Ipsa autem a Deo edocta, quod Petri nomine nihil quisquam peteret, quin protinus exau- diretur, ejus precibus se commendare, et ipsum adhuc viventem sanctum appellare consuevit.

Principum obsequia, qui ipsum velut oraculum con- sulebant, summa humilitate declinans, Carolo quinto imperatori a confessionibus esse recusavit. Paupertatis rigidissimus custos, una tu- nica, qua nulla deterior es- set, contentus erat. Puri- tatem ita coluit, ut a fratre, in extremo morbo sibi inser- viente, nec leviter quidem tangi passus sit. Corpus suum perpetuis vigiliis, je- juniis, flagellis, frigore, nu- ditate, atque omni genere asperitatum in servitutem redegit, cum quo pactum inierat, ne ullam in hoc s:e- culo ei requiem pr:eberet. Caritas Dei et proximi in ejus corde diffusa tautum quandoque excitabat incen- dium, ut e celle angustiis in apertum campum prosi- lire, aerisque refrigerio con-

425

austere manner of life, which he was there the first to lead, was afterwards spread in a wonderful manner throughout Spain and even into the Indies. He assisted St. Teresa, whose spirit he approved, in carrying out the reform of Carmel. And she having learned from God that whoever asked any- thing in Peter's name would be immediately heard, was wont to recommend herself to his prayers, and to call him a saint, while he was still living.

Peter was consulted as an oracle by princes; but he avoid- ed their honours with great humility, and refused to be- come confessor to the emperor Charles V. He was a most rigid observet of poverty, hav- ing but one tunic, and that the meanest possible. Such was his delicacy with regard to pu- rity, that he would not allow the brother, who waited on him in his last illness, even lightly to touch him, By perpetual watching, fasting, disciplines, cold, and nakedness, and every kind of austerity, he brought his body into subjection; hav- ing made a compact with it, never to give it any rest in this world. The love of God and of his neighbour was shed abroad in hisheart, and at times burned so ardently that he was obliged to escape from his narrow cell into the open, that the cold

--- PAGE 437 --- 426

ceptum ardorem temperare cogeretur.

Gratia ^ contemplationis admirabilis in eo fuit, qua cum assidue spiritus refice- retur, interdum accidit, ut ab omni cibo et potu pluri- bus diebus abstinuerit. In aera frequenter sublatus, miro fulgore coruscare vi- sus est. Rapidos fluvios sic- co pede trajecit. Fratres in
extrema penuria, ccelitus delata alimonia cibavit. Ba- culus ab ipso terre defixus, mox in viridem ficulneam excrevit. Cum noctu iter ageret, densa nive cadente, dirutam domum sine tecto ingressus est, eique nix in aere pendula pro tecto fuit, ne illius copia suffocaretur. Dono propheti:z :ac discre- tionis spirituum imbutum fuisse sancta Teresia testa- tur. Denique annum agens sexagesimum: tertium, hora qua przdixerat, migravit ad Dominum, mirabili visione, sanctorninque presentia confortatus. fhomento in colum ferri beata Teresia procul distans vidit; cui postea appareus dixit: O felix pwnitentia, qua tantam mihi promeruit gloriam! Post mortem ve- ro plurimis miraculis cla- ruit, et a Clémente nono sanctorum numero adscri- ptus est.

Quem eodem"

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

air might temper the heat that consumed him.

Admirable was his gift of contemplation. ^ Sometimes, while his spirit was nourished in this heavenly manner, he would pass several days with- out food or drink. He was of- ten raised in the air, and seen shining with wonderful bril- liancy. He passed dry-shod over the most rapid rivers. When his brethren were abso- lutely destitute, he obtained for them food from heaven. He fixed his staff in the earth, and it suddenly became a flour- ishing fig-tree. One night when he was journeying in a heavy snow-storin, he entered aruined house; but the snow, lest he should be suffocated by its dense flakes, hung in the air and formed a roof above him. He was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and discernment of spirits as St. Teresa testi- fies. At length, in his sixty- third year, he passed to our Lord at the hour he had fore- told, fortified by a wonderful vision and the presence of the saints. St. Teresa, who was at a great distance, saw him at that same moment carried to heaven. He afterwards ap- peared to her, saying: O hap- py penance, which has won me such great glory! He was ren- dered famous after death by many miracles, and was en- rolled among the saints by Clement IX.

--- PAGE 438 --- SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA 427

‘Such then is the end of that austere life, an eternity of glory!!! And how sweet were thy last words: *I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.' The time of reward had not yet come for the body, with which thou hadst made an agreement to give it no truce in this life, but to reserve its enjoyment for the next. But already the soul, on quitting it, had filled it with the light and the fragrance of the other world ; signifying to all that, the first part of the contract having been faithfully adhered to, the second should be carried out in like manner. Whereas, given over for its false delights to horrible torments, the flesh of the sinner will for ever cry vengeance against the soul that caused its loss; thy members, entering into the beatitude of thy happy soul, and completing its glory by their own splendour, will eternally declare

ow thy apparent harshness for a time was in reality wisdom and love.

Is it neccessary, indeed, to wait for the resurrec- tion, in order to discover that the part thou didst choose is incontestably the best? ho would dare to compare, not only unlawful pleasures, but even the permitted enjoyments of earth, with the holy delights of contemplation prepared, even in this world, for those who can relish them? If the are to be purchased by mortification of the flesh, 1t is because the flesh and the spirit are ever striving for the mastery; but a generous soul loves the struggle, for the flesh is honoured by it, and through it escapes a thousand dangers.

O thou who, according to our Lord’s promise, art never invoked in vain, if thou deign thyself to )resent our prayers to Him ; obtain for us that relish

or heavenly things, which causes an aversion for

1 St. Teresa. Life, xxvii. ? Ps. cxxi. 1,

--- PAGE 439 --- 428 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

those of earth. It is the petition made by the whole Church, through thy merits, to the God who bestowed on thee the gift of such wonderful penance and sublime contemplation.! The great family of Friars Minor cherishes the treasure of thy teaching and example; for the honour of thy holy Father Francis and the good of the Church, maintain in it the love of its austere traditions. Withdraw not thy precious protection from the Carmel of Teresa of Jesus; nay, extend it to the whole religious state, especially in these days of trial. Mayst thou at length lead back thy native Spain to the glorious heights, whence formerly she seemed to pour down fl of sanctity upon the world ; it is the condition of nations enno- bled by a more sublime vocation, that they canrot decline without the danger of falling below the level of those less favoured by the Most Thigh,

OcroBer 20

SAINT JOHN CANTIUS

CONFESSOR

KenTy, the humble village of Silesia which wit- nessed the birth of St. Jue. owes its celebrity entirely to him. The canonization of this holy priest, who in the fifteenth century had illustrated the university of Cracow by his virtues and science, was the last hope of expiring Poland. It took place in the year 1707. wo years earlier, it was at the request of this heroic nation that Clement XIII had issued the first decree sanctioning the celebration of the feast of the sacred Heart. When enrolling

1 Collect of the feast.

--- PAGE 440 --- SAINT JOHN CANTIUS

429

John Cantius among the saints, the magnanimous Pontiff expressed in moving terms the gratitude of the Church towards that unfortunate people; and rendered to it, before shamefully forgetful Europe, & supreme homage. Five years later Poland was

dismembered.

Joannes in oppido Kenty Cracoviensis dicecesis, a quo Cantii cognomen duxit, Stanislao et Anna piis et honestis parentibus natus, morum suavitate, innocen- tia, gravitate, ab ipsainfantia spem fecit maxime virtutis. In universitate Cracoviensi philosophie ac theologie primum auditor, tum per omnes academie gradus ascendendo professor ac doctor, sacra quam annis multis tradidit doctrina, mentes audientium non illu- strabat modo, sed et ad omnem pietatem inflamma- bat, simul docens scilicet et faciens. Sacerdos factus, nihil de litterarum studio remittens, studium auxit christian perfectionis. Ut- que passim offendi Deum maxime dolebat, sic eum gibi et populo placare oblato quotidie non sine multis lacrimis incruento sacrificio satagebat. Ilkusiensem pa- rochiam annis aliquot egre- gie administravit; sed ani- marum periculo commotus postea dimisit, ac postulunte John was born at Kenty, a town in the diocese of Cracow ; and hence his surname Cantius. His parents were pious and honorable persons, by name Stanislaus and Anna. From his very infancy, his sweet- ness of disposition, innocence, and gravity, gave promise of very great virtue. He studied philosophy and theology at the university of Cracow, and taking all his degrees pro- ceeded professor and doctor. He taught sacred science for many years, enlightening the minds of his pupils and en- kindling in them the flame of piety, no less by his deeds than by his words. When he was ordained priest, he relaxed nothing of his zeal for study, but increased his ardour for Christian perfection. Grieving exceedingly over the offences everywhere committed against God, he strove to make satis- faction on his own behalf and that of the people, by daily offering the unbloody Sacrifice with many tears. For several years he had charge of the parish of Ilkusi, which he ad-

! Bulla canonizationis.

--- PAGE 441 --- 430

academia ad pristinum do- cendi officium rediit.

Quidquid temporis ab stu- dio supererat, partim saluti proximorum, sacris preser- tim concionibus curande, partim orationi dabat, in qua coelestibus quandoque visionibus et colloquiis di- gnatus fertur. Christi vero passione sic afficiebatur, ut in ea contemplanda totas in- terdum noctes duceret in- somnes, ejusque causa me- lius recolendee Hierosoly- mam peregrinatus sit: ubi et martyrii desiderio fla- grans, Turcis ipsis Christum crucifixum predicare non dubitavit. Quater etiam ad apostolorum limina pedes, atque viaria onustus sarcina Romam venit, tum ut Se- dem apostolicam, cui maxi- me addictus fuit, honoraret, tum ut sui (sic enim aiebat) purgatorii poenas exposita illic quotidie peccatorum venia redimeret. Quo in itinere a latronibus olim spoliatus, et numquid habe- ret prseterea interrogatus, cum negasset, aureos dein- de aliquot suo insutos pal. lio recordatus, fugientibus hos etiam clamans obtulit latronibus: qui viri sancti candorem simul, et largita-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ministered in an exemplary manner; but fearing the re- sponsibility of the cure of souls, he resigned his post ; and, at the request of the university, resumed the professor's chair.

Whatever time remained over from his studies, he do- voted partly to the good of his neighbour, especially by holy preaching; partly to prayer, in which he is said to have been sometimes favoured with heavenly visions and commu- nications. He was so affected by the Passion of Christ, that he would spend whole nights without sleep in the contem- plation of it; and in order the better to cultivate this devo- tion, he undertook a pilgrim- ageto Jerusalem. While there, in his eagerness for martyrdom he boldly preached Christ cru- cified even to the Turks. Four times he went to Rome on foot, and carrying his own baggage, to visit the threshold of the apostles; in order to honour the apostolic See to which he was earnestly devoted, and also (as he himself used to say), to save himself from purgatory by means of the indulgences there daily to be gained. On one of these journeys he was robbed by brigands. When asked by them whether he had anything more, he replied in the negative; but afterwards remembering that he had some gold pieces sewn in his cloak,

--- PAGE 442 --- BAINT JOHN CANTIUS

tem admirati, etiam ablatos ultro reddidere. Aliens fa- me ne quis detraheret, de- scriptis beati Augustini ex- emplo in pariete versiculis, se aique alios perpetuo vo- luit admonitos. Famelicos de suo etiam obsonio satia- bat: nudos autem non em- ptis modo, sed detractis quo- que sibi vestibus et calceis operiebat, demisso ipso in- ierim usque ad terram pal- lio, ne domum nudipedes redire videretur.

Brevis illi somnus, atque humi; vestis, que nudita- tem, cibus, qui mortem dumtaxat, arceret. Virgina- lem pudicitiam, velut lilium inter spinas, aspero cilicio, flagellis atque jejuniis cu- stodivit. Quin et per annos ante obitum triginta circiter et quinque ab esu carnium perpetuo abstinuit. Tan- dem dierum juxta ac meri- iorum plenus, cum vicins, quam prssensit, moríi se diu diligenterque preparas- set, ne qua re amplius tene- retur, si quid domi super- erat, id omnino pauperibus distribuit. Tum Ecclesie sacramentis rite munitus, dissolvi jam cupiens, et esse

431

he called back the robbers, who had taken to flight, and offered them the money. As- tonished at the holy man’s sin- cerity and generosity, they res- tored all they had taken from him. After St. Augustine's example, he had verses in- scribed on the walls in his house, warning others, as well as himself, to respect the repu- tation of their neighbours. He fed the hungry from his own table; and clothed the naked not only with garments bought for the purpose, but even with his own clothes and shoes; on these occasions he would low- er his cloak to the ground, so as not to be seen walking home barefoot.

He took very little sleep, and that on the ground. His clothing was only sufficient to cover him, and his food to keep him alive. He preserved his virginal purity, like a lily among thorns, by using a rough hair-shirt, disciplines, and fast- ing; and for about thirty-five years before his death, he ab- stained entirely from flesh- meat. At length, full of days and of merits, he prepared him- self long and diligently for death, which he felt drawing near; and that nothing might be a hindrance to him, he dis- tributed all that remained in his house to the poor. Then, strengthened with the Sacra- ments of the Church, and de-

--- PAGE 443 --- 432

cum Christo, pridie Nativi- tatis ejus, in coelum evola- vit, miraculis ante et post mortem clarus. Mortuus ad proximam academim ec- clesiam sancte Anne dela- tus est, ibique honorifice se- pultus. Auctaque in dies populi veneratione ac fre- quentia inter primarios Po- lonie ac Lithuaniw patronos religiosissime colitur. No- visque coruscans miraculis, a Clemente decimo tertio Pontifice maximo decimo septimo calendas Augusti, anno millesimo septingente- simo sexagesimo septimo, solemni ritu sanctorum fa- stis adscriptus est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

siring to be with Christ, he passed to heaven on Christmas Eve. He worked many mira- cles both in life and after death. His body was carried to St. Anne's, the church of the university, and there ho- nourably interred. The peo- ple's veneration for the saint, and the crowds visiting his tomb, increased daily; and he is honoured as one of the chief patrons of Poland and Lithua- nia. As new miracles con- tinued to be wrought, Pope Clement XIII solemnly en- rolled him among the saints, on the seventeenth of the Kalends of August, in the year 1767.

The Church is ever saying to thee, and we repeat

it with the same unwavering hope: ‘O thou, who didst never refuse assistance to any one, take in hand the cause of thy native kingdom ; it is the desire of the Poles, thy fellow-countrymen, it is the prayer of even foreigners! The treason of which thy unhappy fatherland was the victim, has not ceased to press heavily upon disorganized Europe. How many other crushing weights have since been thrown into the balance of our Lord’s justice! O John, teach us at least not to add thereto our own personal faults. It is by following thee along the path of virtue, that we shall merit to obtain pardon from heaven,? and to hasten the hour of great atonements.

! Hymn of Matins. ? Collect.

--- PAGE 444 --- OcroBer 21

SAINT HILARION

ABBOT

‘Monks were unknown in Syria before St. Hilarion,’ says his historian St. Jerome. ‘He instituted the monastic life in that country, and was the master of those who embraced it. The Lord Jesus had His Anthony in Egypt and His Hilarion in Palestine, the former advanced in years, the latter still young.'! Now our Lord very soon raised this young man to such glory, that Anthony would say to the sick, who came to him from Syria attracted by the fame of his miracles: ‘ Why take the trouble to come so far, when you have near you my son Hilarion ?’? And yet Hilarion had spent only two months with An- thony ; after which the patriarch had said to him: * Persevere to the end, my son; and thy labour will win thee the delights of heaven.’ Then, giving 8 hair-shirt and a garment of skin to this boy of fifteen whom he was never to see again, he sent him back to sanctify the solitudes of his own country, while he himself retired farther into the desert.

The enemy of mankind, foreseeing a formidable adversary in this new solitary, waged a terrible war against him. Even the flesh, in spite of the young ascetic’s fasts, was satan's first accomplice. But without any pity for a body so frail and delicate, as

1 Hicron. in vita S Hilarionis, cap. ii. ? Ibid. iii. Ibid. i. ex greca versione.

(433)

--- PAGE 445 --- 434 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

his historian says, that any effort would have seemed sufficient to destroy it, Hilarion cried out indig- nantly: ‘Ass, I will see that thou kick no more; I will reduce thee by hunger, I will crush thee with burdens, I will make thee work in all weathers; thou shalt be so pinched with hunger, that thou wilt think no more of pleasure.’!

‘Vanquished in this quarter, the enemy found other allies, through whom he thought to drive Hilarion, by fear, back to the dwellings of men. But to the

robbers who fell upon his poor wicker hut, the saint.

said smiling: ‘He that is naked has no fear of thieves.” And they, touched by his great virtue, could not conceal their admiration, and promised to amend their lives.?

Then satan determined to come in person, as he had done to Anthony; but with no better suocess. No trouble oould disturb the serenity attained by that simple, holy soul. One day the demon entered into a camel and made it mad, so that it rushed upon the saint with horrible cries. But he only answered: *I am not afraid of thee; thou art always the same, whether thou come as a fox or a camel.’ And the huge beast fell down tamed at his feet.*

There was a harder trial yet to come from the most cunning artifice of the serpent. When Hilarion sought to hide himself from the immense concourse of people who besieged his poor cell, the enemy -maliciously published his fame far and wide, and brought to him overwhelming crowds from every land. In vain he quitted Syria and travelled the length and breadth of Egypt; in vain, pursued from desert to desert, he crossed the sea, and hoped to conceal himself in Sicily, in Dalmatia, in Cyprus. From the ship, which was making its way among

1 Hieron. Vita S. Hilarionis. ? Ibid. 3 Ibid. ii.

E

--- PAGE 446 --- BAINT HILARION 435

the Cyclades, he heard, in each island, the infernal spirits calling one another from the towns and vil- lages and running to the shores as he passed by. At Paphos, where he landed, the same concourse of demons brought to him multitudes of men ; until at length God took pity on lis servant, and discovered to him & place inaccessible to his fellow-men, where he had no company but legions of devils, who surrounded him day and night. Far from fearing, says his biographer, he took pleasure in the neigh- bourhood of his old antagonists whom he knew so well; and he lived there in great peace the last five

years before his death.!

The Church thus abridges St. Jerome's history of

Hilarion.

Hilarion, ortus Tabathe in Palestina ex parentibus infidelibus, Alexandriam missus studiorum causa, ibi morum et inbenii laude flo- ruit: ac Jesu Christi sus- cepta religione, in fide et caritate mirabiliter profecit. Frequens enim erat in ec- clesia, assiduus in jejunio et oratione: omnes volupta- tum illecebras et terrena- rum rerum cupiditates con- temnebat. Cum autem An- tonii nomen in ZEgypto ce- leberrimum esset, ejus vi- dendi studio in solitudinem contendit: apud quem duo- bus mensibus omnem ejus vite rationem didicit. Do- muin reversus, mortuis pa- rentibus, facultates suas

Hilarion was born of infidel parents at Abatha in Pales- line; and was sent to study at Alexandria, where he be- came famous for his talents and the purity of his morals. He embraced the Christian religion, and made wonderful progress in faith and charity. He was constantly in the church, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, and was full ‘of contempt for the en- ticements of pleasure and earthly desires. The fame of St. Anthony had then spread over all Egypt. Hilarion, de- sirous of seeing him, betook himself to the wilderness, and stayed two months with him learning his manner of life. He then returned home; but

! Hieron. Vita S IHilarionis, 3, 4, 5.

--- PAGE 447 --- 436

pauperibus dilargitus est: necdum quintum decimum annum egressus, rediit in solitudinem, ubi, exstructa exigua casa, que vix ip- sum caperet, humi cuba- bat. Nec vero saccum, quo semel amictus est, umquam aut lavit, aut mutavit, cum supervacaneum esse diceret, munditias in cilicio quee- rere.

In sanctarum litterarum lectione et meditatione mul- tus erat. Paucas ficus et suc- cum herbarum ad victum adhibebat; nec illis ante solis occasum vescebatur. Conti- nentia et humilitate fuit incredibili. Quibus aliisque virtutibus varias horribiles- que tentationes diaboli supe- ravit, et innumerabiles de- mones in multis orbis terre partibus ex hominum corpo- ribus ejecit. Qui octogesi- mum annum agens, multis sedificatis monasteriis, et cla- ris miraculis, in morbum incidit: cujus vicum extremo pene spiritu conflictaretur, dicebat : Egredere, quid times? egredere, anima mea, quid dubitas? septuaginta prope annis servisti Christo, et mortem times? Quibus in verbis spiritum exhalavit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

on the death of his parents he bestowed his goods upon the poor, and though only in his fifteenth year, returned to the deseri. He built himself a little cell scarcely large enough to hold him, and there he slept on the ground. He never changed or washed the sack-

‘cloth he wore, saying it was

superfluous to look for clean- liness in a hair-shirt.

He devoted himself to the reading and study of the holy Scripture. His food consisted of a few figs and the juice of herbs, which he never took before sunset. His mortifica- tion and humility were won- derful; and by means of these and other virtues he overcame many terrible temptations of the evil one, and cast innu- merable devils out of the pos- sessed in many parts of the world. He had built many mon- asteries, and was renowned for miracles, when he fell ill in the eightieth year of his age. In his last agony he exclaimed: Go forth, my soul, why dost thou fear? Go forth, why dost thou hesitate? Thou hast served Christ for nearly sev- enty years, and dost thou fear death? And with these words he expired. To be a Hilarion, and yet to fear death! If in the n wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry ?! O glorious saint, penetrate us with the

1 St. Luke, xxiii. 31.

--- PAGE 448 --- SAINT URSULA AND COMPANIONS 437

apprehension of God's judgments. Teach us that Christian fear does not banish love, but on the con- trary, clears the way and leads to it, and then acoom- panies it through life as an attentive and faithful

ardian. This holy fear was thy security at thy qe hour; may it protect us also along the path of life, and at death introduce us immediately into heaven !

St. Hilarion was one of the first confessors, if not the very first, to be honoured in the east with a publio cultus like the martyrs. In the west, the white- robed army led by Ursula adds to tho glory of the holy monk who has the first honours of this day.

n October 21,451, Cologne was made equal to the most illustrious cities by a spiritual glory. Criticism, and there is no lack of it, may dispute the circum- stances which brought together the legion of virgins; but the fact itself, that eleven thousand chosen souls were martyred by the Huns in recompense for their fidelity, is now acknowledged by true science. From the earth where so many noble victims lay concealed, they have more than once been brought to light by multitudes, bearing about them evidence of the vene- ration of those who had buried them; for instance, by a happy inspiration, the arrow that had set free the blessed soul, would be left, as a token of victory, fixed in the breast or forehead of the martyr.

St. Angela of Merici confided to the patronage of the glorious phalanx her spiritual daughters, and the numberless children whom they will continue till the end of time to educate in the fear of the Lord. The grave Sorbonne dedicated its church to the holy virgins as well as to the Mother of God ; and here, as in the universities of Coimbra and Vienna, an annual panegyric was pronounced in praise of them.

--- PAGE 449 --- 438

Portugal, enriched with some of their precious relics, carried their oultus into the Indies. And pious oonfraternities have been formed among the faithful for obtaining their assistance at the hour of death. Let us address to them these verses from a beautiful Office composed in their honour by the blessed Her-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

man, their most devout client.

AD COMPLETORIUM

O preclarge vos puelle, Nunc implete meum velle, Et dum mortis venit hora, Subvenite sine mora:

In tam gravi tempestate Me presentes defendate A demonum instantia.

Nulla vestrum ibi desit, Virgo Mater prima pr:esit, Si que mihi fex inhssit, Qus me sua labe lesit, Vestra prece procul fiat, Vos presentes hostis sciat, Et se confusum doleat.

O ye glorious virgins, fulfil now my desire, and when the hour of death arrives, hasten to my assistance: be present at that terrible moment, and defend me from the assault of the demons.

Let not one of you be then absent; come with the Virgin Mother at your head. If any remnant of sin still cling to me and soil me with ita stain, remove it by your prayer. Let the foe be aware of your presence, and bewail his own confusion.

Let us conclude with the Church’s own prayer.

PRAYER

Da nobis, quesumus Do- mine Deus noster: sancta-
rum virginum et martyrum tuarum Ursule et sociarum ejus palmas incessabili devo- tione venerari; ut quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum.

Grant u$, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with continual devotion the iriumphs of thy holy virgins and martyrs, Ursula and her companions; that what we caunot celebrate with worthy minds, we may at least attend with humble service. Through our Lord &c.

--- PAGE 450 --- OcroBEr 24

SAINT RAPHAEL

ARCHANGEL

Tue approach of the great solemnity, which will soon be shedding upon us all the splendours of heaven, seems to inspire the Church with a profound recol- lection. Except for the homage she must needs pay, on their own date, to the glorious apostles Simon and Jude, only a few feasts of simple rite break the silence of these last days of October. Our souls must be in conformity with the dispositions of our common mother. It will not, however, be out of keeping to give a thought to the great Archangel, honoured to-day by many particular churches.

The ministry fulfilled in our re by the heav- enly spirits is admirably set forth in the graceful scenes depicted in the history of Tobias. Rehearsing the good services of the guide and friend, whom he still called his brother Azarias, the younger Tobias said to his father: * Father, what wages shall we give him? or what can be worthy of his benefits? He conducted me and brought me safe again, he received the money of Gabelus, he caused me to have my wife, and he ohased from her the evil spirit, he gave joy to her parents, myself he delivered from being devoured by the fish, thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven, and we are filled with all good things through him.!

! Tob. xii. 2,3. (439) 29

--- PAGE 451 --- 440 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

And when father and son endeavoured, after the fashion of men, to return thanks to him who had rendered them such good service, the angel discoverea himself to them, in order to refer their gratitude to their supreme Benefactor. ‘Bless ye the God of heaven, give glory to Him in the sight of all that live, because He hath shewn His mercy to you. .. When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead . . . I offered thy prayer to the Lord. And because thou wast pro A to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. And now the Lord hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son’s wife from the devil. For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. . . Peace be to you, fear not; . . . bless ye Him and sing praises to Him.'!

We too will celebrate the blessings of heaven. For as surely as Tobias beheld with his bodily eyes the Archangel Raphael, we know by faith that the angel of the Lord accompanies us from the cradle to the tomb. Let us have the same trustful confidence in him. Then, along the path of life, more beset with perils than the road to the country of the Medes, we shall be in perfect safety ; all that happens to us will be for the best, because prepared by our Lord ; and, as though we were Muir in heaven, our angel will cause us to shed blessings upon all around us.

We will borrow from the Ambrosian breviary a hymn in honour of the bright Archangel. HYMN

Divine duetor, Raphael, O Raphael, divinely sent Hymnum benignus suscipe, guide, graciously receive the Quem noscanendosupplices, hymn we suppliants address Leetis sacramus vocibus. to thee with joyful voice.

! Tob. xii. 6-18.

--- PAGE 452 --- SAINT

Cursum salutis dirige,

Gressusque nostros promo- ve:

Ne quando aberrent devii,

Coeli relicto tramite.

Tu nos ab alto respice: Lucem micantem desuper, A Patre sancto luminum, Nostris refundas mentibus.

ZEgris medelam perfice, Cecisque noctem discute: Morbos fugando corporum, Dona vigorem cordibus.

Astans superno Judici, Causam perora criminum: Iramque mulce vindicem, Fidus rogator Numinis.

Magni resumptor prelii, Hostem superbum deprime: Contra rebelles spiritus Da robur, auge gratiam.

Deo Patri sit gloria, Ejusque soli Filio, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Et nunc, et in perpetuum. Amen.

441

Make straight for us the way of salvation, and forward our steps: lest at any time we wander astray, and turn from the path to heaven.

Look down upon us from on high; reflect into our souls the splendour shining from above, from the holy Father of lights.

Give perfect health to the sick, dispel the darkness of the blind: and while driving away diseases of the body, give spiritual strength to our souls.

Thou who standest before the sovereign Judge, plead for the pardon of our crimes: and as a trusty advocate ap- pease the avenging wrath of the Most High.

Renewer of the great battle, crush our proud enemy: a- gainst the rebel spirits give us strength, and increase our

grace.

To God the Father be glory, and to his only Son, together with the Paraclete Spirit, now and for evermore. Amen.

RAPHAEL

--- PAGE 453 --- 442 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Ocroser 25

SAINTS CHRYSANTHUS AND DARIA MARTYRS

CuRYSANTHUS was united, in his confession of our Lord, with her whom he had won to Christianity and to the love of the angelic virtue. Our fore- fathers had a great veneration for these two martyrs, who having lived together in holy virginity, were together buried alive in a sand-pit at Rome for refusing to honour the false gods. Dying like the seed in the earth, they yielded the fruit of martyrdom. On the anniversary day of their triumph, numbers of the faithful had gathered in the catacomb on the Salarian Way for the litur- gical Synaxis, when the pagans surprised them and walled up the entrance of the vault. Many years pro away. When the hour of victory had sounded or the Church, and the Christians discovered again the ‘way to the sacred crypt, a wonderful spectacle was presented to their gaze: before the tomb where reposed Chrysanthus and Daria, was grouped the family they had begotten to martyrdom. Each person was still in the attitude in which he had been overtaken by death. Beside the ministers of the altar, which was surrounded by men, women, and children, assistants at that most solemn of Masses, were to be seen the silver vessels of the Sacrifice: that Sacrifice in which the conquering Lamb had so closely united to llimself so many noble victims.

--- PAGE 454 --- 43

Pope Damasus adorned the venerable spot with monumental inscriptions. But no one to touch the holy bodies, or to alter any arrangement in that incomparable scene. The orypt was walled up again; but a narrow opening was left, so that the pilgrim could look into the august sanctuary, and animate his courage for the struggles of life by the contemplation of what had been required of his an- cestors 1n the faith during the ages of martyrdom.!

SAINTS CHRYSANTHUS AND DARIA

The following is the liturgical legend of the feast.

Chrysanthus et Daria con- juges, nobili genere nati, fide etiam clariores quam Daria, mariti opera, cum baptismo susceperat; Rome innumerabilem — hominum multitudinem, hxc mulie- rum, ille virorum, ad Chri- stum converterunt. Quare Celerinus przfectus com- prehensos tradidit Claudio tribuno: qui jussit a militi- bus Chrysanthum vinctum cruclatibus torqueri; sed vincula omnia resoluta sunt: mox compedes, in quos con- jectus fuerat, confracti.

Deinde bovis corio inclu- sum, in ardentissimo sole constituunt; tum pedibus ac manibus catena constri- ctis, in obscurum carcerem detrudunt: ubi solutis cate- nis, clarissima lux locum illustravit. Daria vero in

Chrysanthus and Daria were husband and wife, noble by birth, and still more by their faith, which Daria had received together with Baptism through her husband's persuasion. At Rome they converted an im- mense multitude to Christ, Daria instructing the women and Chrysanthus the men. On this account the prefect Cele- rinusarrested them,and handed them over to the tribune Clau- dius, who ordered his soldiers to bind Chrysanthus and put him to the torture. But all his bortds were loosed, and the fet- ters which were put upon him were broken.

They then wrapped him in the skin of an ox and exposed him to a burning sun; and next cast him, chained hand and foot, into a very dark dungeon; but his chains were broken, and the prison filled with a brilliant light. Daria was

! Greg. Turon. De gloria martyrum, i. 38.

--- PAGE 455 --- 444

lupanar compulss, leonis tutela, dum in oratione defixa est, a contumelia divinitus defensa est. Deni- que in arenariam, qus est via Salaria, uterque ductus, effossa terra, lapidibus ob- ruti, parem martyrii coro- nam adepti sunt.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

dragged to a place of infamy; but at her prayer God defend- ed her from insult by sending a lion to protect her. Finally, they were both led to the sand- pits on the Salarian Way, where they were thrown into a pit and covered with a heap of stones; and thus they together

won the crown of martyrdom.

I will give to My saints a place of honour in the kingdom of My Father, saith the Lord.! Thus sin the Church in your praise, O mart, And herse following up that word of her divine Bpouse, she made the Lateran basilica your earthly home, and assigned for your resting-place the most hallowed spot, the very Confession, upon which rests the high

tar of that first of all churches? It was a fitting recompense for your labours and sufferings in that oity of Rome, where you had shared in the preachin of the apostles, and like them had sealed the wo with your blood. Cease not to justify the confidence of the eternal city; render her faith, which is,ever pure, more and more fruitful; and as long as she is ruled by a stranger, maintain unaltered her devoted- ness to the Pontiff-king, whose presenoe makes her the capital of the world and the vestibule of heaven. But your holy relics have also, through Rome’s generosity, carried your protection abroad. Deign to second by your intercession the prayer we borrow from your devout clients of Munstereifel:? *O God, who in Thy Saints Chrysanthus and Daria didst enhance the honour of virginity by the consecration

1 1st antiphon of the 2nd nocturn for martyrs.

* S. Rit. Congr. 7 Aug. 1857, ad archiep. Colon.

¥ A monastery and town in the archdiocese of Cologne, which honour Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria us patrons.

--- PAGE 456 --- SAINT EVARISTUS 445

of martyrdom, grant that, assisted by their interces- sion, we may extinguish in ourselves the flame of vice, and may merit to become Thy temple, in the company of the pure in heart.’

Ocroszn 26 SAINT EVARISTUS POPE AND MARTYR

Tux beloved disciple had just received the long- promised visit of our Lord inviting him to heaven, when the Church, under Evaristus, completed the drawing up of the itinerary for her long pilgrimage to the end of time. The blessed period of the apos- tolio times was definitively closed; but the eternal city continued to augment her treasure of glory. Under this pontificate the virgin Domitilla, by her martyrdom, cemented the foundations of the new Jerusalem with the blood of the Flavii, who had des- troyed the old. Then Ignatius of Antioch brought to the * Church that presides in charity,' the testimony of his death; he was the wheat of Christ, and the teeth of the wild beasts in the coliseum satisfied his desire of beooming a most pure bread.! Evaristus Grecus ex Ju- Evaristus wasbornin Greece, deo patre, Trajano impe- of a Jewish father, and was ratore, pontificatum gessit. sovereign Pontiff during the Qui ecclesiarum titulos ur- reign of Trajan. He divided bis Rome presbyteris divi- the titles of the churches of sit, et ordinavit, ut septem Rome among the priests, and

! Ignat. Epist. ad Romanos,

--- PAGE 457 --- 446

diaconi episcopum custodi- rent, dum evangelicee pree- dicationis officio fungeretur. Idem constituit ex traditio- ne apostolica, ut matrimo- nium publice celebretur, et sacerdotis benedicio adhi- beatur. Prsefuit Ecclesiz annos novem, menses íres, presbyteris decem et se- ptem, diaconis duobus, epi- Scopis quindecim, quater mense Decembri ordinatis. Martyrio coronatus, prope sepulchrum principis apos- tolorum in Vaticano sepul- tus est, septimo calendas Novembris.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ordained that seven deacons should attend the bishop when preaching. He also decreed that, according to the tradi- tion of the apostles, matrimony should be celebrated publicly and blessed by a priest. He governed the Church nine years and three months. He held ordinations four times in the month of December, and ordained seventeen priests, two deacons, and fifteen bishops. He was crowned with martyr- dom, and buried near the tomb of the prince of the apostles on the seventh of the Kalends of November.

Thou art the first Pontiff to whom the Church was

entrusted after the departure of all those who had seen the Lord. The world could then say in all strictness: ‘If we have known Christ according to the flesh, now we know Him so no longer.” e Church was now more truly an exile; at that period, which was not without perils and anxieties, her in gave to thee the charge of teaching her to pursue alone her path of faith and hope and love. And thou didst not Netiny the confidence of our Lord. Earth owes thee, on this account, a special gratitude, O Evaristus ; and a special reward is doubles thine. "Watch still over Rome and the Church. Teach us that we must be ready not only to fast here on earth, but to be resigned to the absence of the Bridegroom when He hides Himself; and not the less to serve Him and love Him with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength, as long as the world endures, and He is pleased to leave us therein.

! 2 Cor, v. 16,

--- PAGE 458 --- Ocroszn 28

SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE APOSTLES

InsTEAD of thy fathers, sons are born to thee.! Thus does the Church, disowned by Israel, extol in her chants the apostolic fruitfulness which resides in her till the end of time. Yesterday she was already filled with that loving hope, which is never deceived, that the holy apostles Simon and Jude would anti- cipate their solemnity by shedding blessings upon her Such is the condition of her existence on earth, that she can remain here only as long as she continues to give children to our Lord; and therefore, in the Mass of October 27 she makes us read the passage of the Gospel where it is said: ‘I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit.’ The prn is painful, as the Epistle of the vigil ints out. In the name of the other branches, onoured like himself with the divine election, the apostle there recounts the labours, sufferings of every description, persecutions, revilings, denials,* at the cost of which the preacher of the Gospel purchases the right to call sons those whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus. Now, as St. Paul more than once 1 Gradual of the feast, from Ps. xliv. 17. ? Collect of the vigil.

3 Gospel of the vigil, 8t. John xv. 1-7. * Epistle of the vigil, lCoriv.9-1, ^ ' » Jbid, 15. E

(4r,

--- PAGE 459 --- 448 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

repeats, especially in the eee of the feast, this supernatural generation of the saints is nothing else but the mystical reproduction of the Son of God, who grows up in each of the elect from infancy to the measure of the perfect man.! However meagre in details be the history of these friotions apostles, we learn from their brief legend ow amply they contributed to this great work of generating sons of God. Without any repose, and even to the shedding of their blood, they * edified the body of Christ’; and the grateful Church thus prays to our Lord to-day: *O , who by means of Thy blessed apostles Simon and Jude hast granted us to come to the knowledge of Thy name; grant that we may celebrate their eternal glory by maki g progress in virtues, and improve by this celebration.'? Rt. Simon is represented in art with a saw, the instrument of his martyrdom. St. Jude’s square ints him out as an architect of the house of God. ^ Paul called himself by this name ;? and St. Jude, by his Catholic Epistle, has also a special right to be reckoned among our Lord’s principal workmen. But our apostle another nobility, far surpassing all earthly titles: being nephew, by his father Cleo- phas or Alpheus, to St. Joseph,* and legal cousin to the Man-God, Jude was one of those called by their compatriots the brethren of the carpenter’s Son. We may gather from St. John's Gospel another precious detail concerning him. In the admirable discourse at the close of the last Supper, our Lord said: *He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My 1 i : epi i 1 s d Gor lt jo cd igo: ex Euseb. Zt, enl. e 13 5 Together with James the Less, apostle, and first bishop of Jeru- salem, a certain Joseph less known, and Bimeon, second bishop of Jerusalem, all sons of Cleophas, and of our Lady's sister-in-law called in St. John's gospel Mary of Cleophas. St. Matt. xiii. 55.

--- PAGE 460 --- SAINTE SIMON AND JUDE 449

Father: and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.” Then Jude asked Him: * Lord, how is it, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us, and not to the world?’ And he received from Jesus this reply: ‘If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My word. And the word which you have heard is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me."!

Eoolesiastical history informs us that, towards the end of his reign, and when the persecution he had raised was at its height, Domitian caused te be brought to him from the east two grandsons of the apostle St. Jude. He had some misgivings with regard to these descendants of David’s royal line; for they represented the family of Christ Himself, whom His disciples declared to be king of the whole world. Domitian was able to assure himself that these two humble Jews could in no way endanger the empire; and that if they attributed to Christ sovereign power, it was a power not to be visibly exercised till the end of the world. The simple and : courageous language of these two men made such an impression on the emperor, that according to the historian Hegesippus from whom Eusebius borrowed the narrative, he gave orders for the persecution to be suspended.?

We have only to add to the following brief notice of our apostles, that the churches of St. Peter in Rome and Saint-Sernin at Toulouse dispute the

honour of possessing the greater part of their holy remains,

! St. John xiv. 21-24. ? Dom Guéranger, Sainte Cécile et la société romaine auz deuz premiers siécles, ez Euseb. Hiat. eccl. iii. 20,

--- PAGE 461 --- 450

Simon Chananreus qui et Zelotes, et Thaddeus qui et Judas Jacobi appellatur in Evangelio, unius ex ca- tholicis Epistolis scriptor, hic Mesopotamiam, ille 7E- gyptum evangelica predi- catione peragravit. Postea in Persidem convenientes, cum innumerabiles filios Jesu Christo peperissent, fi- demque in vastissimis illis regionibus et efferatis gen- tibus disseminassent, doctri- na et miraculis, ac denique glorioso martyrio, simul san- ctissimum Jesu Christi no- men illustrarunt.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Simon surnamed the Chana- anite and Zelotes, and Thad- deus the writer of one of the
Catholic Epistles, who is called also in the Gospel Jude the brother of James, preached the Gospel, the former in Egypt, the latter in Mesopotamia. They rejoined each other in Persia, where they begot nu- merous children to Jesus Christ, and spread the faith among the barbarous inhabi- tants of that vast region. By their teaching and miracles, and finally by a glorious martyr- dom, they both rendered great honour to the most holy name

of Jesus Christ.

‘I have chosen you ; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain.’! These words were addressed hy the Man-God to you, as to all the twelve, as the Church reminded us in her night Office? And yet, what remains now of the fruit of your labours in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, in Persia? Can our Lord and His Church be mistaken in their words, or in their appreciations? Certainly not ; and proof suffi- oient is, that, above the region of the senses, and beyond the domain of history, the power infused into the twelve subsists through all ages, and is active in every supernatural birth that develops the mystical body of our Lord and increases the Church. We, more truly than Tobias, are the children of saints ;? we are no longer strangers, but the family of God, . His house built upon the foundation of apostles and

! St. John xv. 16.

* Homily of the 3rd nocturn ez Aug. in Joan. lxxxvii. i

3 Tob. ii. 18.

--- PAGE 462 --- VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS 451

prophets, united by Jesus, the chief corner-stone.! All thanks be to you, O holy apostles, who in labour and sufferings procured us this blessing ; maintain in us the title and the rights of this precious adoption.

Great evils surround us; is there any hope left to the world? The confidence of thy devout clients proclaims thee, O Jude, the patron of desperate cases ; and for thee, () Simon, this is surely the time to prove thyself Zelotes, full of zeal. Deign, both of you, to hear the Church’s prayers; and aid her, with all your apostolic might, to reanimate faith, to rekindle charity, and to save the world.

OcroBer 31

VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS

LzT us prepare our souls for the graces heaven is about to shower upon the earth in return for its homage. To-morrow the Church will be so over- flowing with joy, that she will seem to be already in

ion of eternal happiness; but to-day she appears in the garb of penance, confessing that she is still an exile. Let us fast and pray with her; for are not we too pilgrims and strangers in this world, where all things are fleeting and hurry on to death? Year by year, as the great solemnity comes round, it has of, ha from among our former companions new saints, who bless our tears and smile upon our songs of hope. Year by year the appointed time draws nearer, when we ourselves, seated at the heavenly

! Eph. ii. 19, 20.

--- PAGE 463 --- 452

banquet, shall receive the homage of those who suo- ceed us, and hold out a helping hand to draw them after us to the home of everlasting happiness. Let us learn, from this very hour, to emancipate our souls; let us keep our hearts free, in the midst of the vain solicitudes and false pleasures of a strange land: the

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

exile has no care but his banishment, no joy but that which gives him a foretaste of his fatherland.

With these thoughts in mind, let us say with the Church the Collect of the vigil.

PRAYER

Domine Deus noster, mul-
tiplica super nos gratiam tuam: et, quorum prreveni- mus gloriosa solemnia, tri- bue subsequi in sancta pro- fessione letitiam. Per Do-

O Lord our God, multiply thy grace upon us; and grant us in our holy profession to follow the joy of those, whose glorious solemnity we antici- pate. Through our Lord.

minum.

Let us close this morth, as we opened it, by homage to Mary, Queen of the holy rosary, and Queen of all the saints. The ancient Dominican missals furnish us with a formula.

SEQUENCE

Virginalis hortuli Verni pubent surculi Et efflorent pulluli Fecunda propagine.

Gelu et hiems transeunt, Nix et imber abeunt, Rose in terra prodeunt E coelesti germine.

In the virginal garden, the young shoots of spring bud forth, and burst into blossom with fruitful abundance.

The frost and the winter have passed away, the snow and the rain are over; and roses spring up on earth from 2 heavenly seed.

--- PAGE 464 --- VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS

Rosa, radix lilii, Hc ex horto filii Toto cursu exsilii Collegit plantaria.

Justis ad letitiam, Reis ad justitiam, Electis ad gloriam Cunctis salutaria.

Que de coelis attulit Et de terris sustulit, Christus mundo contulit Contra mundum prelians.

Nos hic tectus frondibus, Vulneratis sentibus, Redimitis floribus,

Vocans, purgans, przemians.

A stirpis rosarie Gemmis, spinis, foliis, Affluentis patrise Fruemur deliciis,

Ubi satrix residet.

Atque hujus militis Laeta sodalitiis Triplicis hierarchise Ter trinis consortiis Imperatrix residet.

Salve nova triumphatrix Et triumphi reparatrix Artiqui certaminis.

Rursus minax s@vit ultor; Ni resistas, perit cultor Christiani nominis.

Ave Verbi domicilium, Sancti Spiritus sacrarium, Summi Patris filia.

453

The rose has produced a lily; during the whole time of her exile she gathered the produce of her Son's garden:

Joy for the just, and justi- fication for sinners, glory for the elect, salvation for all.

The gifts Christ brought from heaven, and the suffer. ings he endured on earth, he bestowed upon the world when he overcame the world.

He sheltered under the rose- tree's foliage, he was wounded by the thorns, he was crowned with its flowers; thus does he call us, purify us, reward us.

Because of the leaves and thorns and flowers of the rose, we shall enjoy the delights of that rich land, where she, the fair cultivator resides,

The empress, who joyfully presides over our militant com- panies, and over the nine choirs of the triple hierarchy.

Hail! thou, who by a new triumph dost repair the loss we sustained when the enemy triumphed in the first combat.

See how again he threatens fierce revenge; unless thou oppose him, every Christian must perish.

Hail, home of the Word, sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, daughter of the most high Father!

--- PAGE 465 --- 454 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Affer nobis juge auxilium, Sub discrimen vite varium Contra tela hostilia.

Ut coronent nos post prelium, Qus fert coeli viridarium Mixta rosis lilia. Amen.

In the various perils of this life, bring us unfailing assis- tance against the darts of the enemy.

May lilies intertwined with roses from the garden of heav- en, be our crown of victory after the combat. Amen.

--- PAGE 466 --- SUPPLEMENT

OCTOBER 3

VIRGIN

WONDER-WORKER as is the saint of to-day, fulfilling her dying prophecy, ““ After my death I will let fall a shower of roses,” she is her own greatest miracle. Her world-wide popularity, to which is united in most cases a devotion which has reorientated many a life, and in all has been a stimulus and an encourage- ment, is recognized to be phenomenal. It has been said with respect to doctrinal definitions that the faithful have a passive ''infallibility," whereby their need answers exactly to the definition; the same would seem to be true in the case of devotions and saints; they are given to us when and as they are needed.

In an age which worships visible efficiency which, even in the spiritual sphere, too often demands sub- stantial material results before it will revere and believe, the saint who has won hearts—and souls— as few indeed have done, is no great religious and social reformer nor, in her lifetime, an apostle carry- ing the truth to the ends of the earth; nor even a po upon whose words crowds have hung spell-

ound, nor & scholar gathering around his rostrum all that was best in the intellectual world of his day; (455) 30

--- PAGE 467 --- 456 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

but a girl who was unknown beyond a small circle of relatives and friends. She had received no special educational advantages; she lived her life in a quiet little Norman town to which few travellers found their way. Still a child in years, but mature already in the things of God, she entered the Carmel in the same town, an obscure convent of recent foundation, barren of the historical associations which cluster around many French Carmels. For ten years she lived a life made up for the most part of religious exercises and simple domestic duties; a life, to the average man or woman of the world, colourless and monotonous, in which of necessity talents were wasted and all chance of doing good service to the world forever forfeited. At twenty-four she died of con- sumption, but over the simple grave accorded to such as she were placed the mysterious words: “I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.”

Sig before her death, she, Teresa of the Child Jesus, always so humble and simple, had declared, among other startling prophetic sayings, that: All the world would love her. During the last two years of her life, in obedience to her Superiors, she had written in her scanty free time, on poor scraps of

aper, an account of her life, and for this, likewise, she oretold a strange success. To-day “ The Story of a Soul” has been translated into every civilized tongue; the literature which has gathered round the book and its writer would form a library, and Lisieux is one of the great pilgrimage centres of the world.

In her book the young Carmelite explained the theory and practice of her own spiritual life: her “little Way”; the “ Way of Spiritual Childhood "; and, when dying, she spoke with a strange solemnity and certainty of the mission awaiting her in the eternal future—to teach her “Way” to souls. Too often described as something new, it is, as two Sovereign

--- PAGE 468 --- SAINT TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS 457

Pontiffs have pointed out, but a return to the wa of the Gospels. Others have walked the same path to heaven before St. Teresa of Lisieux, but to her it has been given to show it once more to a self-sufficient, sophisticated world, and that in such wise that, to men of good will, it may be a sure and safe highway wherein even the foolish cannot err.

The Way of Spiritual Childhood stresses again that “love,” and not great outward achievement, is the fulfilling of the law; that it is character, not career, which counts; that since: for most souls sanctity, if achieved at all, must be achieved in a restricted sphere, the daily round of little duties, little sacrifices, common tasks and trials, all fulfilled and accepted

rfectly and for love, generous doing and suffering of the will of God, will provide all that is needful for the highest heroism. Beneath her childlike phrasing the saint has portrayed a life which calls for an un- flagging generosity and courage which, united with the humility and confidence of a little child, is heroic indeed. Benedict XV has called her way ‘ the secret of sanctity.”

And because she lived “a little one” she was “ pleasing to the Most High.” All the world had loved her; popular acclamation had soon declared her a saint, but the voice which alone can pronounce thereon was not long silent. Her cause was exempted from the years of delay normally required; Pope Benedict XV pronounced the Decree of Heroicity of her virtues, and by Pius XI, now happily reigning, she was both beatified and canonized at an interval of but two years, the first beatification and the first canonization of his pontificate. Two years later the Pope declared her the special patroness of all Catholic Foreign Mis- sions in the same rank as St. Francis Xavier.

The following lessons are assigned to the second Nocturn of her office. By special privilege of His Holiness Pius XI her feast is kept in her own convent

--- PAGE 469 --- 458 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

on September 30, the anniversary of her death. In the Carmelite Order it is celebrated on October 1, and elsewhere is transferred to October 3.

The Church relates her life in the following Lessons:

Teresia a Jesu Infante, Alensonii in Gallia, hon- estis parentibus, singulari et assidua erga Deum pie- tate conspicuis, orta est. Inde a prima state, divino Spiritu prsventa, religio- sam vitam agere cupie- bat. Serio autem promisit, se nihil Deo dcnegaturam, quod ipse ab ea petere vi- deretur: quam promission- em fideliter usque ad mor- tem servare sategit. Quinto setatis anno, matre amissa, Dei providentie se totam commissit sub vigilanti cus- todia amantissimi patris, sororumque natu majorum: quibus magistris, Teresia ad currendam perfectionis viam ut gigas exsultavit. Novennis virginibus ex Or- dine Sancti Benedicti Lexo- viis excolenda traditur, ibi- que in rerum divinarum cognitione excellere visa est. Decimo statis anno, arcanus et gravis. morbus eam diu cruciavit, a quo prout ipsa enarrat, ope beatissime — Virginis, qua eidem subridens apparuit, et quam, sub titulo Doming Nostre a Victoria, per. no- vendialia invocare studuit, divinitus fuit liberata. Tunc,

Teresa of the Child Jesus was born at Alengon, in France, of respectable parents noted for their singular and constant piéty. She was im- bued with the grace of the divine Spirit from earliest childhood and desired to lead the religious life. She made an earnest promise that she would deny God nothing which He seemed to ask of her, and strove to observe it faithfully until death. She lost her mother when she was only five years old and committed her- self wholly to divine providence, under the watchful care of her affectionate father and her elder sisters. Under such teachers Teresa exulted as a giant to run the way of per- fection. At the age of nine, sho was placed in the school of the Benedictine nuns at Li- sieux, whereshe was remarkable for her progress in the know- ledge of divine things. In her tenth year she suffered from a serious and mysterious illness, from which, as she herself re- lates, she was delivered by the Blessed Virgin, who appeared to her smiling, during a novena which she made to her under the title of our Lady of Vic. tories. Then, filled with an.

--- PAGE 470 --- SAINT TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS

angelico fervore repleta, ad sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur, se diligen- tissime preparare curavit.

Ut primitus cucharistico pane fuit refecta, insatia- bilem calestis hujus cibi famem haurire visa est: unde velut inspirata, Jesum rogabat, ut omnem mun- danam consolationem in amaritudinem sibi verteret. Inde tenerrimum in Chris- tum Dominum ct in Eccle- Siam amore exestuans, ni- hil antiquius habuit, quam Carmelitarum , Excalccator- um Ordinem ingredi, ut sui abnegatione, suisque sacri- ficiis, sacerdotibus, mission- ariis, totique Ecclesie opem afferret, ct innumeras ani- mas Christo Jesu lucrifa- ceret: quod jam morti prox- ima, apud Deum se factu- ram pollicita est. Propter setatis defectum, multas ad religiosam vitam amplec- tendam nacta est difficult- ates, quibus tamen incredi- bili animi fortitudine super- atis, quindecim annos na- ta, Lexoviensem Carmelum feliciter ingressa est. Ibi mirabiles Deus in Teresise
corde ascensiones disposuit, qua, Marie Virginis vitam absconditam imitata, quasi hortus irriguus, flores om- nium virtutum germinavit, precipue vero eximie in Deum et in proximum cari- tatis.

459

£dic fervour, she began to prepare herself with all care for that sacred banquet * where- in Christ is received.”

After her first communion she felt an insatiable hunger for this heavenly food and, as if by inspiration, besought Jesus to turn all earthly conso- lation to bitterness for her. She was filled with a tender and burning love for Christ and the Church, and desired with all her heart to enter the Order of Discalced Carmelites, in order by self-abnegation and self-sacrifice to help priests, missionaries, and the whole Church, and to gain innumer- able souls for Jesus Christ: all which, when at the point of death, she promised that she would obtain from God. Her extreme youth was the source of many difficulties for her entrance into religion, but she. overcame them by her incred- ible fortitude of soul, and en- tered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of fifteen. God dis- posed the heart of Teresa in a wonderful manner to ascend to Him by steps, and, imitating the hidden life of the Virgin Mary, she brought forth, like a well-watered garden, the flowers of all virtues, particu- larly charity towards God and ber neighbour.

--- PAGE 471 --- 460

Quo magis Altissimoe placeret, quum in Sacris Scripturis monitum illud legisset: Si quis est parvu- lus veniat ad me; parvula in spiritu esse voluit, et inde filiali fiducia Deo, tam- quam Patri amantissimo, se perpetuo tradidit. Hanc, spiritualis infantie viam, secundum Evangelii doc-
trinam, alios docuit, spe- ciatim novitias, quas ex obedientia ad religiosarum virtutum studium infor- mandas suscepit, atque ita apostolico zelo repleta, mundo, superbia inflato et vanitates diligenti, evangel- iege simplicitatis iter pate- fecit. Sponsus autem Jesus eam patiendi desiderio, tam in anima, quam in corpore, penitus inflammavit. In- super, Dei caritatem unde- quaque neglectam animad- vertens, summo dolore af- fecta, duobus ante obitum annis, Dei miserentis amori se victimam obtulit. Tunc, ut ipsa refert, celestis ignis flamma vulnerata est: unde caritate consumpta, in ec- stasim rapta, ferventissime ingeminans: Deus meus,
te diligo; viginti quatuor annos nata, die trigesima Septembris, anno millesimo octingentesimo nonagesimo septimo, ad Sponsum evo- lavit. Quod autem moriens promiserat, se perenhem rosarum pluviam in terram

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

She read in the Holy Scrip- ture the words: ' Whosoever is & little one, let him come to me," and desiring to please the Most High, determined to be a little one in spirit, and thus committed herself with child- like confidence to God as to & mostloving Father. This path of spiritual childhood, accord- ing to the Gospel, she taught to others, especially the novices, whose training in the religious virtues she undertook out of obedience; and thus she set the way of evangelical simplicity before a world full of pride and of the love of vanities. Her heavenly Spouse inspired her with the desire of suffering in soul and body. Moreover, see- ing that the love of God was almost everywhere neglected, she was filled with great, grief, and two years before her death offered herself as a victim to the love of the merciful God. Then, ‘as she herself relates, she was wounded by a flame of heavenly fire. At last, con- sumed by charity, rapt in ecs- tasy, and murmuring with all fervour the words: My God, I love thee, she passed to her heavenly Spouse on September 30, 1897, at the age of twenty- four. When dying she promised that she would let fall a cease- less shower of roses upon the earth, which promise she has actually fulfilled since her en- trance into heaven, and con- tinues still to fulfil by countless

--- PAGE 472 --- MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 461

demissuram, hoc in celum miracles. Therefore, Pope Pius recepta,innumeris miraculis XI enrolled her in the catalogue reapse adimplevit et in dies of blessed virgins on April 29, adimplet. Quare Piusunde- 1923, and two years later, cimus, Pontifex Maximus, after more wonderful miracles, die vigesima nona Aprilis proceeded on the sixteenth of anno millesimo nongente- the kalends of June (May 17), simo vigesimo tertio, eam to her solemn canonization. inter Beatas Virgines ad-

scripsit; quam, novis ful-

gentem prodigiis, biennio

post, jubileo maximo re-

currente, decimo sexto ka-

lendas junias, solemniter

Sanctorum fastis accensuit.

OcroBER 11

THE MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

IN the sixteenth century, even amidst their many divergences, the so-called Reformers in utterl rejecting all the honours paid by the Catholic Churc to the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the grounds that such veneration of the Mother detracted from the supreme worship due to her divine Son. Four centuries have more than sufficed to show the result of so doing: the Son has followed the Mother! The descendants of those who refused to Mary the title and rights of Theotokos—Mother of God—refuse to Jesus the title of Son of God in the traditional sense of the term. Many reject his Godhead altogether, placing him merely at the head of the line of great moral and social world-teachers; others still retain the word “divinity " with respect to him, but for them it is no longer synonymous with *' deity."

oly Scripture tells us that those who first came

--- PAGE 473 --- 462 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

to adore him who is Son of God and Son of Mary found him “ with Mary his Mother." At the scene of the first miracle at Cana, which marked the opening of his public life, “ the Mother of Jesus was there.” In the tremendous hour when all was consummated, when types and shadows gave place to the mighty reality, ' there stood by the cross of Jesus his Mother." And whe the little flock who were to be the nucleus of the Church of God awaited in prayer the coming of the Paraclete, who would tech them all truth, again it was in company with '* Mary the Mother of Jesus." Far from taking from the honour and love due to the Word Incarnate, devotion to Mary is a strong bulwark protecting the central doctrine. He is ever found with his Mother; where Mary is denied her rights, sooner or later Jesus is denied his; they stand or fall together. This was realized in the year 431 when, at the General Council of Ephesus, the Church condemned the Nestorian heresy, whereby the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, had taught that, since in Christ there are two persons, a divine and a human, ' Mary was mother only of the Man Christ, and therefore could not be called ©“ Mother of God." He therefore denied *' that wondrous and substantial union of the two natures which we call hypostatic.”

On the occasion of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius XI, issued the Borys] Luz Veritatis, recalling the history of the heresy and commenting thus upon the dogma of the hypostatic union: “ When once the doctrine of the hypostatic union is abandoned, whercon the dogmas of the Incarnation and of man's Redemption rest and stand firm, the whole foundation of the Catholic religion falls and comes to ruin. . . . When once this dogma of the truth is securely estab- lished, it is easy to gather from it that, by the mystery

--- PAGE 474 --- MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 463

of the Incarnation, the whole aggregate of men and of mundane things has been endowed with a dignity than which certainly nothing greater can be imagined, and surely grander than that to which it was raised by the work of creation.”

Proceeding to speak of the special dignity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pope emphasizes that, * because she brought forth the Redeemer of man- kind, she is also in a manner the most tender Mother of us all, whom Christ our Lord deigned to have as his brothers; wherefore we may confidently ehtrust to her all things that are ours, our joys, our troubles, our hopes; especially if more difficult times fall upon the Church—if faith fail because charity has grown cold, if private and public morals take a turn for the worse."

In this last connection we are reminded of another result of the loss of devotion to the Mother of God. Frequently and truly we hear and speak of the *' paganism " of the present age. The decay of faith has been followed inevitably by a decline in morality, and our elaborate and complex civilization is threatened with the dissolving agent which contributed in no small measure to the overthrow of the magnificent civilization of old Rome: namely, the loss of the domestic virtues, the disappearance of healthy, normal family life, consequent upon the abandonment of the Christian ideals of marriage and parenthood.

It is a truism that one of the greatest social effects of Christianity was to raise the status of womanhood. Her legal position in the Ancient World was little better than that of a slave, and although classical literature furnishes us with examples of women who, in pagan homes, yet enjoyed high honour and affection, such are few indeed, and but serve to prove the rule. Divorce, infanticide, general degradation of woman- hood, and not infrequently of childhood, were accepted

--- PAGE 475 --- 464 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

features of pagan social order. The ideal and model of the “ new woman " ‘of the Christian dispensation was the Mother of God. It was Mary, '' Mother of fair love," ** Madonna,” “our Lady," who ennobled the degenerate old civilization, just as she tamed the fierce barbarian peoples; she it was who inspired the ideals of the later chivalry. In Mary, all her sex was uplifted; in her motherhood all motherhood became blessed. Now again the world needs the hallowing influence of the Mother of God and of men, if “the life of the family, the beginning and the foundation of all human society " is to be preserved in all its nobility and its purity.

Desirous “ to mark the commemoration, and help to nourish the piety of clergy and people towards the

eat Mother of God,” His Holiness concludes the

ncyclical by establishing the new feast of the Divine Motherhood, to be celebrated on October 11 by the universal Church.

MASS

INTROIT

Ecce, Virgo concipiet, et Behold, a Virgin shall con- pariet Filium, et vocabitur ceive, and bear a Son, and his nomen ejus Emmanuel. name shall be called Em-

manuel.

Cantate Domino canticum Sing ye to the Lord a new novum, quia mirabilia fecit. canticle: because he hath done Gloria Patri. Ecce. wonderful things. Glory be to

the Father. Behold.

COLLECT

Deus, qui de beate Marise O God, who wast pleased that Virginis utero Verbum at the message of an angel, tuum, angelo nuntiante, thy Word should take flesh in carnem suscipere voluisti: the womb of the Blessed Virgin presta supplicibus tuis; ut, Mary: grant that we, thy sup- qui vere eam Genetricem pliants, who believe her to be

--- PAGE 476 --- MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 460

Dei credimus, ejus apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur. Per eumdem Dominum.

truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with thee. Through the same.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientis

Eccli. xxiv.

Ego quasi vitis fructifi- cavi suavitatem odoris: et flores mei fructus honoris et honestatis. Ego mater pul- chrae dilectionis et timoris et agnitionis et sancta spei. In me gratia omnis vise et veritatis: in me omnis spes vite et virtutis. Transite &d me, omnes qui concupis- citis me, et a generationibus meis implemini. Spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis, et hereditas mea super mel et favum. Memoria mea in generationes s@culorum. Qui edunt me adhuc esu- rient: et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. Qui audit me, non confundetur: et qui operantur in me non peccabunt. Qui elucidant me, vitam mternam habe- bunt.

Lesson from the book of

Ecclus. zziv.

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honours and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth: in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me: and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me shall yet hunger: and they that drink me shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me shall not be confounded: and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

GRADUAL

Egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet.

Y. Et requiescet super eum Spiritus Domini.

Alleluia, alleluia. Y. Vir- go Dei Genetrix, quem totus

There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his

root. Y. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Alleluia, alleluia. ¥.0 Virgin Mother of God, the world suf-

--- PAGE 477 --- 466

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

non capit orbis, in tua se ficeth not to contain him who,

clausit viscera factus homo. Alleluia.

made man, was shut up in thy womb. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii
secundum Lucam. Cap. $i.

In illo tempore: Cum re- dirent puer remansit Jesus in Jerusalem, et non cog- noverunt parentes ejus. Existimantes autem illum esse in comitatu, venerunt ter diei, ct requirebant eum inter cognatos et notos. Et non invenientes, regressi sunt in Jerusalem, requi- rentes eum. Et factum est, post triduum invenerunt il- lum in templo sedentem in medio doctorum, audien- tem illos et interrogantem eos. Stupebant nutem om- nes qui eum audiebant, super prudentia et respon- sis ejus. Et videntes ad- miratisunt. Et dixit mater ejus ad illum: Fili, quid fecisti nobis sic? ^ Ecce, pater tuus et ego dolentes quarebamus te. Et ait ad illos: Quid est, quod me quzrebatis? Nesciebatis quia in his que Patris mei supt, oportet me esse? Et ipsi non intellexerunt ver- bum, quod locutus est ad eos. Et descendit cum eis, et venit Nazareth: et erat subditus illis.

Sequel of the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Chap. ii.

At that time: When they returned, the child Jesus re- mained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey and sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaint- ance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem seek- ing him. And it came to pass that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sit- ting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing bim they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so tous? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them.

--- PAGE 478 --- MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 467

OFFERTORY

Cum eeset desponsata mater ejus Maria Joseph, inventa est in utero habens de Spiritu Sancto.

When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

SECRET

Tua, Domine, propitia-
tione, et beatze Marise sem- per Virginis, Unigeniti tui matris, intercessione, ad perpetuam atque presentem hzc oblatio nobis proficiat

prosperitatem et pacem. Per eumdem Dominum.

Through thy merciful for- giveness, O Lord, and through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, may this oblation avail us to the ensur- ing, now and always, of pros- perity and peace. Through the same.

Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Et te in festi-

vuate.

COMMUNION

Beata viscera Maris Vir- ginis, quz portaverunt ster- ni Patris Filium.

Blessed is the womb of Mary the Virgin, which bare the Son of the eternal Father.

POSTCOMMUNION

Hac nos communio, Do- mine, purget a crimine: et, intercedente beata Virgine Dei Genetrice Maria, cales- tis remedii faciat esse con- sortes. Per eumden Do- minum.

May this communion, O Lord, cleanse us from sin: and by the intercession of Blessed Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, may it unite us in him who is the heavenly healer of our souls. Through the same.

NorEÉ.—The Feast of SAINT HEDWIGE, Wripow, has been transferred from October 17 to OCTOBER 16.

--- PAGE 479 --- 468 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

OcTtoBER 17 ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE

VIRGIN

* AMONG the most striking proofs of the infinite love of our Redeemer is this, that, at 8 moment in which the love of the faithful was growing cold, the Divine Love proposed himself as the object of special venera- tion and worship, and the precious treasure of the Church was opened to enrich with indulgences the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. . . . In that Sacred Heart we must place all our hope, from that Heart ask and expect our salvation."!

The great devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI thus speaks, and which has been so marvellously extended in the Church since the seventeenth century, is no new devotion. Much research by Catholic scholars has established the fact that there was not one of the great older religious orders but had a tradition of such devotion and saintly souls in their ranks with whom it was associated. This is true of the children of St. Benedict (both of the ** Black monks " of the parent stem, and the later Cistercians), of the Carthusians, Dominicans, and Franciscans. St. Bonaventure's beautiful and tender phrases have supplied some of the lessons for the new office of the feast, whilst during the octave not only St. Bernard, but one of the greatest of the early Fathers, St. John Chrysostom, exhort us in turn concerning what has been so often described,

! Encycl. Miserentiseimus Redemptor,

--- PAGE 480 --- SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE 469

and even bitterly opposed, as a novelty unknown to primitive days.

The truth is that, in post-Reformation days, a new element in the devotion has been stressed. In the ages of faith, although the devotion was always, as now, closely connected with the Passion, yet it was exultant, glorious, triumphant Love which dominated it. After the rending of the seamless garment of the Church universal, with all its dire consequences, it was the element of reparation, of loving the Heart which had so loved men, but was so little loved in return, which was empha. ‘sed; and it is this aspect of the devotion which is thus urged upon the faithful by Pius XI: the duty of reparation for the offences, the insults, the contempt meted out to infinite Love, in our modern world which knows him not.

The saint of this day is neither the first nor the only soul to whom our Lord revealed the mystery of the Sacred Heart; but she was the one whom he chose as the special instrument of its propagation. He had taught it to others, but he did not command them to

reach it to the world or to work for its public cultus.

e did so command this simple Visitation nun of Paray-le-Monial, Margaret Mary Alacoque, in an age when Jansenism was chilling men's hearts, and sub- stituting for love of God a terrible fear, which kept them from the Sacraments and made them *' see the Judge severe e'en in the crucifix.”

Not that the devotion, even as formally and finally approved and propagated by the Church, depends qx the revelations, any more than that of Corpus

isti depends upon thse of Blessed Juliana of Cornillon. Revelations have only an accessory part in the institution of such feasts; what the Church Seeks is, what is useful for souls; and it suffices for her that a devotion is in itself good, and will make for the greater glory of God.

--- PAGE 481 --- 470 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The saint’s own story illustrates the effect of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, rightly practised. Like all souls specially called to a life of reparation and expiation, Margaret Mary knew much suffering. In her early life she and her beloved mother had much to endure from members of her family. She suffered from unjust constraint upon her actions, from mono- tony and unkindness. Her religious practices were hindered, partly by her family circumstances and partly by those of the times; she was over twenty-one before she was able to receive the sacrament of Con- firmation. Want of proper direction, and more unjust opposition, rendered her vocation a further source of suffering; and when, at last, the convent doors closed behind her, she found trials compared with which what had gone before seemed but trifling. Favoured at times, even from childhood, with extraordinary graces, she found herself at the very natural dis- advantage caused by such in a prudently-ruled religious house; the more so as the Visitandine spirit was of another sort. It seems ironical that, though she had entered an order in its first fervour, and a house fervent among the fervent, under successive superiors distinguished for their spirituality and their wisdom, she should have been long completely mis- understood, undervalued, and somewhat distrusted. The tendency to scruples, excessive timidity and trouble in spiritual matters, the lack of peace which we notice in the early years, vanished only when the great revelations began. . Under the influence of our Lord's own teaching, and the guidance he further gave her in his holy servant, Blessed Claude de la Colombiére, her character steadily developed. Her humility, ever great, became greater, so that she could walk safely in her mystic ways; her judgement and insight in spiritual things became sure. De- spondency vanished, and no trials could disturb her --- PAGE 482 --- SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE 471 peace or shake her confidence till, at the end, the religious of whom once her sisters had thought little stands revealed in her biographies a true and valiant lover.” Once pre-occupied with self, she became selfless, and all suffering became sweet; and after her has followed an unending procession of those who, again in the words of the great Encyclical of Pius XI, valiantly strive to make satisfaction to the Divine Heart for so many sins that are committed against it, who do not fear to offer themselves to Christ as victims . . . who not only hate sin and shun it as the greatest of evils, but offer themselves to the divine will, and use every means in their power to compensate for the offences committed against the divine Majesty by constant prayer, by voluntary mortifications, and by the patient acceptance of all the trials that may come upon them—in fact by living their whole lives in the spirit of reparation.

Margarita Maria Alaco- Margaret Mary Alacoque

que, in pago dicecesis Augus- todunensis honesto genere nata, jam inde a teneris annis future sanctitatis in- dicia prebuit. In Deipa- ram Virginem et in augus- tum Eucharistie sacrame- tum amore flagrans, adole- scentula Deo virginitatem devovit, id exoptans unice ut ad christianas virtutes vitam componeret. In de- liciis babebat prolixas preces rerumque cs&lestium con- templationem, sui contemp- tum, patientiam in adversis, corporis afflictationem, cari- tatem in proximos, prss- ertim egenos; summoque studio nitebatur ut sanc-

was born of a respectable fam- ily in a village in the diocese of Autun, and from her earliest years already gave signs of future holiness. Filled with burning love of the Virgin Mother of God and of the august mystery of the Euchar- ist, in her youth she dedicated her virginity to God and strove above all things to realize in her life the practice of Christian virtues. Her delight was to spend long hours in prayer and in the contemplation of heaven- ly things. She had a low estee,n of herself, was patient in adversity, practised bodily penance, and was charitable towards her neighbour, espec- 31

--- PAGE 483 --- 472

tissima divini Redemptoris exempla pro viribus referret.

Ordinem Visitationis in- gressa, statim religiosse vitse fulgore nitere ceepit. Altio- ris dono orationis a Deo est decorata, aliisque gratis muneribus et crebris visioni- bus. Harum celeberrima fuit cum ante Eucharistiam precanti Jesus semetipsum conspiciendum obtulit, et divinum Cor in aperto pec- tore flammis incensum ac spinis constrictum ostendit, precepitque ut, ob talem caritatem et ad ingratorum hominum injurias expian- das, illa publicum Cordi suo cultum, magnis pro- positis czelestis thesauri prze- miis, instituendum curaret. Cunctanti ex humilitate seque tante rei imparem profitenti amantissimus Sal- vator addit animum, simul- que eximia sanctitate virum, Claudium de la Colombiére, ducem et adjutorem de- signat; eamque spe fovet illius summ: utilitatis, que postea e divini Cordis cultu in Ecclesiam dimanavit.

Ut jussa Redemptoris impleret Margarita omni diligentia studebat. Nec

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ially towards the poor. She diligently strove by all means in her power to imitate the most holy example of the divine Redeemer.

Having entered the Order of the Visitation, her life became- at once a bright example to others. She was endowed by God in a high degree with the gift of prayer, together with other favours and frequent visions. Of these the most famous was when Jesus a ppear- ed to her whilst she was in prayer before the most holy Sacrament and, opening his breast, showed her his divine Heart enkindled by flames and encircled in a crown of thorns; and he bade her, in return for bis excessive love and in atone- ment for the insults of un- grateful men, to seek to have established the public venera- tion of his Heart, which he would enrich with the treasures of heavenly grace. When from humility she hesitated to under- take so great a task, the most loving Saviour encouraged her, at the same time pointing out Claude de la Colombiére, a man of great holiness, as her guide and helper. He also com- forted her with the assurance of the very great blessings which afterwards accrued to the Church from the worship of his divine Heart.

Margaret strove with all diligence to fulfil the Re- deemer’s command. Vexations

--- PAGE 484 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING 473

tamen illi defuere molestiz plures atque acres contume- lie ab iis qui eam vano mentis errori obnoxiam esse dictitabart. ^ Qus omnia sequo animo tulit, immo apponebat lucro, existimans se per opprobria et dolores hostiam Deo gratam fore, et majora ad propositum suum auxilia consecuturam. Religioss perfectionis laude florens et per seternarum rerum contemplationem in dies singulos cslesti sponso conjunctio, ad eum evo- lavit, anno setatis suse quad- ragesimo tertio, reparate salutis millesimo sexcente- simo nonagesimo. Miracu- lis insignem Benedictus de- cimus quintus Sanctis ad- scripsit: ejusque officium Pius undecimus Pontifex maximus ad universam Ec- clesiam extendit.

and even bitter insults were not wanting to her on the part of those who maintained that she was liable to mental de- lusions. She not only bore these troubles patiently, but even profited by them, deeming herself through suffering and reproach as a victim acceptable to God and taking them as a means of more easily furthering her purpose. Renowned for religious perfection and becom- ing daily more united to her heavenly Spouse by the con- templation of eternal things, she took flight to him in the forty-third year of her age, and in the year of restored salvation 1690. She became famous for miracles, and Bene- dict XV enrolled her name among those of the saints; and the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI extended her Office to the universal Church.

Last SuNDAY oF OCTOBER

FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING

Tee Kingdom of Heaven—Holy Church—is seen bringing forth out of her treasure ‘ things new and old." Although she can never add new dogmas to the deposit of Faith entrusted to her, as the ages go

--- PAGE 485 --- 474 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

by she is seen understanding more perfectly and ex- plaining more fully those treasures in her keeping. She is a living body, not a statue, and she can develop, though she can never change her nature. Hence, guided by the Holy Spirit of him who has promised to be with her not merely for a few centuries but unto the end of the world, she defines or emphasizes certain points of doctrine as she sees fit, considering the needs of the times. We have an example in the institution of the feast of the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, in the jubilee year 1925, and explained to the faithful in the Encyclical Quas Primas.

Christians have ever hailed our divine Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was as a King that the representatives of the Eastern world came to adore him in the manger; it was as a King, albeit not knowing what he did, that the official representa- tive of the Western world lifted him up upon the Cross. The patriarchs and prophets of the old dis- pensation foretold his royalty; he spoke constantly of his kingdom: when asked plainly whether he were in truth a king by the representative of Cesar, he acknowledged that such indeed he was, though of a kingdom not of this world.

* His Kingship is founded upon the ineffable hypo- static union. It is spiritual, and concerned with spiritual things. t is opposed to none other than to that of Satan, and to the powers of darkness. Christ is King over angels and men; King over men's hearts and wills; his Kingship demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice and, more a this, they must deny themselves and carry the cross."

Yet though his is a spiritual kingdom, opposed to no just earthly polity, ** it would be a grave error to say

--- PAGE 486 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING 475

that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. All men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society.”

To-day we sadly behold '' a world undone,” largely paganized in principles and outlook, and, in recent years, in one country even glorying in the name N n." At the best, governments mostly ignore God; and at the worst, Step fight against him, as we of to-day are witnessing in the Old World and in the New. Even the statesmen's well-meant efforts to find a remedy for present ills and, above all, to secure world peace, prove futile because, whereas peace is from Christ, and possible only in the Kingdom of Christ, his name is never mentioned throughout their deliberations or their documents. Christ is kept out of the State schools and seats of higher education; and the rising generations seem to be taught anything and everything save to know, love and serve him. Art and literature all too frequently reflect the same tend- encies.

And since the spirit of evil reigns inevitably wherever the spirit of Christ has ceased to reign, in public and in private men are flouting the moral laws of God, and some of the worst abominations of ancient paganism are becoming matters of every-day life. Moreover, be it remembered, modern paganism is worse than that of the ancient world, in that the former knows what it does as the latter did not. There is now an intense, positive hatred of Jesus Christ in the militant atheist, which differs in kind from the attitude of the fiercest Roman or Eastern persecutor: '* If I had not come and spoken to them . . . if I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would

--- PAGE 487 --- 476 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

not have sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.”

Ever as practical as she is supernatural, the Church is not content with merely deploring the evil, nor even with counteracting it by sound teaching. She would also make definite reparation to the divine majesty thus denied and defied; to him whose royalty is slighted and insulted. Something must be done by those who, in a measure, understand and love, in order to atone for those who do not. ''To repair the crime of lése-divinity, which denies God's rights over the human society whose author he is, we must exalt Jesus Christ as King over all individuals, families, and peoples. If his universal royalty be proclaimed and his reign in society recognized, one of the principal evils of the modern world—the secularizing of public and private life—will be attacked at its roots."? Hence we have the special exhortation of the Vicar of Christ, and the institution of the feast of this divine

Kingship. “To this end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honour of the Kingship

of Christ. For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion, far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any pronouncement, however weighty, of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few, and those the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year—in fact for ever. The Church’s teaching affects the mind primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart, and have a salutary effect upon the whole of man’s nature. . . . We have commanded its

1 John xv. 22, 24. 2 I Amour de Dieu et de la Croiz de Jesus, P. Garrigou-Lagrange,

0. P.

--- PAGE 488 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING 477

observance on a Sunday, in order that not only the clergy may perform their duty by saying Mass and reciting the Office, but that the laity too, free from their daily tasks, may in a spirit of holy joy give ample testimony of their obedience and subjection to Christ . . . that they may so order their lives as to be worthy, faithful, and obedient subjects of the Divine King.”

MASS

INTROIT

Dignus est Agnus qui occisus est, accipere virtu- tem, et divinitatem, et sa- pientiam, et fortitudinem, et honorem. Ipsi gloria et imperium in secula szcu- lorum.

Deus, judicium tuum
Regi da, et justitiam tuam Filio Regis. Gloria Patri. Dignus.

The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honour: to him be glory and empire for ever and ever.

Give to the King, O God, thy judgement, and to the King's Son thy justice. Glory be to the Father. The Lamb.

COLLECT

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui in dilecto Filio
tuo, universorum Rege, omnia instaurare voluisti: concede propitius; ut cunc- tse familise Gentium, peccati vulnere disgregate, ejus suavissimo subdantur im- perio: Qui tecum.

Almighty everlasting God, who in thy beloved Son, King of the whole world, didst will to restore all things: grant in thy mercy, that all kindreds of the nations, torn asunder by the wound of sin, may be sub- jected to the sweet yoke of his rule: Who liveth.

Commemoration is made of the occurring Sunday. 1 Encycl. Quas Primas.

--- PAGE 489 --- 478

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

EPISTLE

Lectio Epistole beati Pauli
Apostoli ad Colossenses.

Cap. i.

Fratres: Gratias agimus
Deo Patri, qui dignos nos fecit in partem sortis sanc- torum in lumine, qui eripuit nos de potestate tenebra- rum, et transtulit in regnum Filii dilectionis sus, in quo habemus redemptionem per sanguinem ejus, remission- em peccatorum. Qui est imago Dei invisibilis, pri- mogenitus omnis creaturz; quoniam in ipso condita sunt universa in ccelis et in terra, visibilia et invisibilia, sive throni, sive domina- tiones, sive principatus, sive potestates : omnia per ipsum et in ipso creata sunt: et ipse est ante omnes, et omnia in ipso constant. Et ipse est caput corporis Ec- clesim, qui est principium, primogenitus ex mortuis: ut sit in omnibus ipse pri- matum tenens; quia in ipso complacuit omnem pleni- tudinem habitare; et per eum reconciliare omnia, in ipsum, pacificans per san- guinem crucis ejus, sive qua in terris, sive qua in ccelis sunt, in Christo Jesu Domino nostro.

The reading of the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Colossians.

Chap. i.

Brethren: Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the re- mission of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; whether thrones, or dominations, or principali- ties or powers. All things were created by him and in him. And he is before all: and by hin all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may hold the primacy: because in him, it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell: and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things on earth and the things that are in heaven, in Jesus Christ our Lord. --- PAGE 490 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING

479

GRADUAL

Dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos orbis terrarum.

Y. Et adorabunt eum omnes reges terre; omnes gentes servient ei.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Potestas ejus, potes- tas eterna, que non aufere- tur: et regnum ejus quod non corrumpetur. Alleluia.

He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Y. And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. His power is an ever- lasting power, that shall not be taken away: and his king- dom that shall not be de- stroyed. Alleluia.

In votive Masses after Septuagesima, instead of the Alleluia and its ¥., there is said:

TRACT

Ipse invocabit me, Pater meus es tu: Deus meus, et
susceptor salutis mese.

Y. Et ego primogenitum ponam illum: excelsum pre regibus terrse.

Y. Et ponam in seculum sseculi semen ejus: et thro- num ejus sicut dies coeli.

He shall cry out to me: Thou art my Father, my God, and the support of my salvation.

Y. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.

Y. And I will make his seed to endure for evermore, and his throne as the days of heaven.

In Paschal time, omitting the Gradual, there is said: Alleluia, alleluia. Y. Potestas ejus, etc., as above;

then:

Alleluia. Y. Habet in vestimento et in femore suo scriptum: Rex regum, et Dominus dominantium. Al-
leluia.

Alleluia. Y. Hehath on his garment and on his thigh written: King of kings and Lord of lords. Alleluia.

--- PAGE 491 --- 480

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

GOSPEL

In illo tempore: Dixit Pilatus ad Jesum: Tu es Rex Judseorum ? Respon- dit Jesus: A temetipso hoc dicis, an alii dixerunt tibi de me? Respondit Pilatus: Numquid ego Judseus sum ? Gens tua, et pontifices tra- diderunt te mihi: quid fe- cisti? ^ Respondit Jesus: Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. Siexhocmun- do esset regnum meum, ministri mei utique decer- tarent ut non traderer Ju- diis: nunc autem regnum meum non est hinc. Dixit itaque ei Pilatus: Ergo Rex es tu? Respondit Jesus: Tu dicis quia Rex sum ego. Ego in hoc natus sum, et ad hoc veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati: omnis qui est ex veritate, audit vocem meam.

At that time: Pilate said to Jesus: Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thy- self, or have others told it thee of me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee up to me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered : My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou aking, then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

OFFERTORY

Postula a me, et dabo tibi Gentes hereditatem tu- am, et possessionem tuam terminos terre.

Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy in- heritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy

possession.

--- PAGE 492 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ‘THE KING 481

SECRET

Hostiam tibi, Domine,
humans reconciliationis of- ferimus: prseta qusesumus; ut quem saorificiis preeenti- bus immolamus, ipee cunctis gentibus unitatis et pacis dona concedat, Jesus Chris- tus, Filius tuus, Dominus
noster: Qui tecum.

We offer thee, O Lord, the victim of man's reconciliation; grant, we beseech thee, that he whom we immolate in these present sacrifices may himself bestow on all nations the gifts of unity and peace, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord: Who liveth.

Commemoration is made of the occurring Sunday.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gra- tias agere: Domine sancte,
Pater omnipotens, sterne Deus: Qui unigenitum Fi-
lium tuum, Dominum nos- trum Jesum Christum, Sa- cerdotem sternum et uni- versorum Regem, oleo ex- sultationis unxisti: ut, seip- sum in ara crucis hostiam immaculatam et pacificam offerens, redemptionis hu- mane sacramenta perage- ret: et suo subjectis imperio omnibus creaturis, sternum et universale regnum, im- mense tus traderet Majes- tati. Regnum veritatis et vitse: regnum sanctitatis et gratie: regnum justitis, amoris et pacis. Et ideo...

It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salva- tion, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting God: Who didst anoint with the oil of gladness thine only- begótten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, eternal priest and uni- versal King: that, offering him- self a spotless victim and peace- offering upon the altar of the Cross, he should complete the mysteries of man's redemption ; and all creatures having been subjected to his sway, should deliver to thy infinite majesty an eternal and universal king- dom; a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. And therefore. , .

--- PAGE 493 --- 482

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

COMMUNION

Sedebit Dominus Rex in
sternum: Dominus bene-
dicet populo suo in pace.

The Lord shall eit King for ever: the Lord will blees his people with peace.

POSTCOMMUNION

Immortalitatis alimoniam consecuti, qusesumus Do- mine: ut, qui sub Christi Regis vexillis militare gloria- mur, cum ipso, in coelesti sede, jugiter regnare possi- mus: Qui tecum.

Having received the food of immortality, we beseech thee, O Lord: that as we glory in fighting under the standard of Christ the King, so we may be able to reign with him in his heavenly abode: Who liveth.

Commemoration is made of the occurring Sunday, the Gospel of which is read at the end of Mass.

SECOND VESPERS

Pss. ciz, cz, cxi, cxii, exvi. ANT. 1. Pacificus vocabi-

tur, et thronus ejus erit

firmissimus in perpetuum.

ANT. 2. Regnum ejus reg- num sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient.

ANT. 3. Ecce Vir Oriens nomen ejus: sedebit et do- minabitur, et loquetur pa- cem Gentibus.

AwT. 4. Dominus judex
noster, Dominus legifer nos-
ter: Dominus Rex noster,
ipse salvabit nos.

ANT. 5. Ecce dedi te in lucem Gentium, ut sis salus mea usque ad extremum terrse.

Pss. ciz, cz, cxi, cxi, cavi.

AwT. 1. He shall be called the Peaceful One, and his throne shall be firmly es- tablished for ever.

ANT. 2. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him and obey him.

AwT. 3. Behold a Man, the Orient is his name; he shall sit and rule, and shall speak peace unto the Gentiles.

ANT. 4. The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver: the Lord is our King, he will save us.

ANT. 5. Behold, I have given thee for a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salva- tion unto the ends of the earth.

--- PAGE 494 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING 483

LITTLE CHAPTER

Col. 1.

Fratres: Gratias agimus Brethren: We give thanks
Deo Patri, qui dignos nos to God the Father, who hath fecit in partem sortis sanc- made us worthy to be partakers torum in lumine, qui eripuit of the lot of the saints in light: nos de potestate tenebra- who hath delivered us from rum, et transtulit in regnum the power of darkness, and

Filii delectionis sue. hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.

HYMN

Te, Christe, Regem Gentium, high throne,

Te mentium, Te cordium O Christ, our King ere time Unum fatemur arbitrum. began,

We kneel before thee, Lord,

to cwn Thy empire o'er the heart of man. Scelesta turba clamitat While bands of shameless men Regnare Christum nolumus: refuse Te nos ovantes omnium The homage due to Christ their Regem supremum dicimus. Lord, We own thee sovereign Lord of all. The King by heaven and earth adored. O Christe, Princeps Pacifer O Prince of peace, O Christ, Mentes rebelles subjice, subdue Tuoque amore devios Those rebel hearts, thy peace Ovile in unum congreya. restore; Into thy sheep-fold lead anew Thy scattered sheep, to stray no

more.

--- PAGE 495 --- 484 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Ad hoc cruenta ab arbore Pendes apertis brachiis, Diraque fossum cuspide Cor igne flagrans exhibes.

Ad hoc in aris abderis Vini dapisque imagine, Fundens salutem filiis Transveri crato pectore.

Te nationum Praesides Honore tollant publico, Colant magistri, judices, Leges et artes exprimant.

Submissa regum fulgeant Tibi dicata insignia:

Mitique sceptro patriam Domosque subde civium.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,

Qui sceptra mundi temperas, Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,

In sempiterna szcula. Amen.

Y. Multiplicabitur imperium.

Hy. Et pacis non erit

ejus

For this upon the tree of shame,

Thy *ody hung, with arms spread wide,

The spear revealed the heart of flame

That burned within thy sacred side.

For this our altars here are spread

With mystic feast of bread and wine,

Still thy redeeming blood is shed

From that sore-stricken heart of thine.

May heads of nations fear thy name

And spread thy honour through their lands,

Our nation's laws, our arts proclaim

The beauty of thy just com- mands.

Let kings the crown and sceptre hold

As pledge of thy supremacy;

And thou all lands, all tribes enfold

In one fair realm of charity.

Jesu, to thee be honour done,

Who rulest all in equity

With Father, Spirit, ever One,

From age to age eternally. Amen.

Y. His empire shall be mul- tiplied.

Ry. And there shall be no end of peace.

--- PAGE 496 --- FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING 485

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Habet in vestimento et in He hath on his garment and femore suo scriptum: Rex on his thigh written: King of regum, et Dominus domin- kings and Lord of lords. To antium. Ipsi gloria ev im- him be glory and empire, for perium, in ssecula smcu- ever and ever. lorum.

Commemoration is made of the occurring Sunday.

--- PAGE 497 ---

THE

LITURGICAL YEAR

This book has been scanned from a set I purchased from Loreto Publications under the condition that I post a notice stating that it came from Loreto Publications and that I have their permission. As far as I know the actual text is in the public domain with the possibility of some exceptions added by Loreto press. This book has a creative commons license that allows you to use it as long as this notice is attached. If you wish to post this set on your website you have to link back to www.theliturgicalyear.org so people download them from here. Unless the website is no longer functioning or you have my permission. If you are distributing this in any way or using outside of the U.S. you should check copyright laws before as they vary from country to country

THE

LITURGICAL YEAR

ABBOT PROSPER GUÉRANGER, O.S.B.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

BOOK V

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 XIV — Time After Pentecost Book V ISBN: 1-930278-17-9

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

CHAP. I.—On hearing Mass, during the Time after Pentecost, . . . 1

CHAP. II.—Of the Office of Vespers, on the Sundays and Feasts, during the Time after Pentecost, . . . 31

CHAP. III.—Of the Office of Compline, during the Time after Pentecost, . . . 48

PROPER OF THE SAINTS

August 23.—SAINT PHILIP BENIZI, Confessor, . . . 57

August 24.—SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, Apostle, . . . 63

August 25.—SAINT LOUIS, King of France, Confessor, . . . 69

August 26.—SAINT ZEPHYRINUS, Pope and Martyr, . . . 82

August 27.—SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, Confessor, . . . 84

August 28.—SAINT AUGUSTINE, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, . . . 92 Commemoration of Saint Hermes, Martyr, . . . 107

August 29.—THE DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN

August 30.—SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, Virgin, . . . 116 Commemoration of Saints Felix and Adauctus, Martyrs, . . . 122

August 31.—SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS, Confessor, . . . 128

September 1.—SAINT GILES, Abbot, . . . 128 Commemoration of the Twelve Brothers, Martyrs, . . . 132

September 2.—SAINT STEPHEN, King of Hungary, Confessor, . . . 133

September 5.—SAINT LAURENCE JUSTINIAN, Bishop

September 8.—THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, . . . 146 First Vespers, . . . 151 Mass, . . . 158 Second Vespers, . . . 166 Commemoration of Saint Gorgonius, Martyr, . . . 167

Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity.—FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF MARY, . . . 171 Mass, . . . 174 Vespers, . . . 179

September 9.—SECOND DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF

September 10.—SAINT NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO, Confessor, . . . 184

September 11.—FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE

September 12.—FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF

September 13.—SIXTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF

September 14.—THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS, . . . 196

September 15.—THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY, . . . 203 Commemoration of Saint Nicomedes, Martyr, . . . 205

Third Sunday of September.—FEAST OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, . . . 208 Mass, . . . 210 Vespers, . . . 218

September 16.—SAINT CORNELIUS, Pope and Martyr, and SAINT CYPRIAN, Bishop and Martyr, . . . 221 Commemoration of Saints Euphemia, Lucy, and Geminianus, . . . 228

September 17.—STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCIS, . . . 229 At Bingen, in the Diocese of Mayence,— Saint Hildegarde, Virgin, . . . 234

September 18.—SAINT JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO, Confessor, . . . 236

September 19.—SAINT JANUARIUS, Bishop and Martyr, AND HIS COMPANIONS, . . . 241

September 20.—SAINT EUSTACE AND HIS COMPANIONS,

September 21.—SAINT MATTHEW, Apostle and Evangelist, . . . 248

September 22.—SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, Bishop

September 23.—SAINT LINUS, Pope and Martyr, . . . 257 Commemoration of Saint Thecla, Virgin and Martyr, . . . 258

September 24.—OUR LADY OF RANSOM, . . . 261

September 26.—SAINT CYPRIAN, Martyr, and SAINT

September 27.—SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN, Martyrs, . . . 268

September 28.—SAINT WENCESLAS, Duke and Martyr, . . . 273

September 29.—DEDICATION OF SAINT MICHAEL THE

September 30.—SAINT JEROME, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, . . . 284

First Sunday of October.—FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY

October 1.—SAINT REMIGIUS, Bishop and Confessor, Apostle of the Franks, . . . 298

October 2.—THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS, . . . 316

October 4.—SAINT FRANCIS, Confessor, . . . 324

October 5.—SAINT PLACID AND HIS COMPANIONS,

October 6.—SAINT BRUNO, Confessor, . . . 348

October 7.—SAINT MARK, Pope and Confessor, and SAINTS SERGIUS, BACCHUS, MARCELLUS AND APULEIUS, Martyrs, . . . 354 Commemoration of Saint Justina, Virgin and Martyr, . . . 356 Commemoration of Our Lady of Victory, . . . 357

October 8.—SAINT BRIDGET, Widow, . . . 360

October 9.—SAINT DIONYSIUS, Bishop and Martyr, and SAINTS RUSTICUS AND ELEUTHERIUS, Martyrs, . . . 368

October 10.—SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA, Confessor, . . . 371

October 13.—SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, King

October 14.—SAINT CALLIXTUS I, Pope and Martyr, . . . 387

October 15.—SAINT TERESA, Virgin, . . . 394

October 17.—SAINT HEDWIG, Widow, . . . 409

October 18.—SAINT LUKE, Evangelist, . . . 414

October 19.—SAINT PETER OF ALCANTARA, Confessor, . . . 422

October 20.—SAINT JOHN CANTIUS, Confessor, . . . 428

October 21.—SAINT HILARION, Abbot, . . . 433 Commemoration of Saint Ursula and her Companions, Virgins and Martyrs, . . . 437

October 24.—SAINT RAPHAEL, Archangel, . . . 439

October 25.—SAINTS CHRYSANTHUS AND DARIA,

October 26.—SAINT EVARISTUS, Pope and Martyr, . . . 445

October 28.—SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, Apostles, . . . 447

October 31.—VIGIL OF ALL SAINTS, . . . 451

SUPPLEMENT

October 3.—SAINT TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS,

October 11.—THE MOTHERHOOD OF THE BLESSED

October 17.—SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE,

October (Last Sunday of).—FEAST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING

CHAPTER THE FIRST

ON HEARING MASS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ON the Sundays, if the Mass at which the faithful assist be 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, Thou shalt sprinkle me with
hyssopo, et mundabor; la- hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be vabis me, et super nivem cleansed; thou shalt wash me dealbabor. and I shall be made whiter than snow.

Ps. Miserere mei, Deus, Ps. Have mercy on me, O secundum magnam miseri- God, according to thy great cordiam tuam. mercy.

V. Gloria Patri, &c. V. Glory, &c.

Ant. Asperges me, &c. Ant. Thou shalt sprinkle me, &c.

V. Ostende nobis, Domi- V. Show us, O Lord, thy
ne, misericordiam tuam. mercy. R. Et salutare tuum da R. And grant us thy sal-
nobis. vation. V. Domine, exaudi ora- V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
tionem meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te R. And let my cry come
veniat. unto thee. V. Dominus vobiscum. V. The Lord be with you.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. R. And with thy spirit.

OREMUS. LET US PRAY.

Exaudi nos, Domine san- Graciously hear us, O holy
cte, Pater omnipotens, æter- Lord, Father almighty, eter-
ne Deus: et mittere digneris nal God: and vouchsafe to sanctum angelum tuum de send thy holy angel from cœlis, qui custodiat, foveat, heaven, who may keep, cher-
protegat, visitet atque de- ish, protect, visit, and defend fendat omnes habitantes in all who are assembled in this hoc habitaculo. Per Chri- place. Through Christ our stum Dominum nostrum. Lord.

R. Amen. 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 practice used in monasteries, of going through the cloisters, every Sunday, chanting certain appointed responsories; during which time the hebdomadarian went through all the conventual places, blessing each of them. The practice is still in use.

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

V. Introibo ad altare Dei. I unite myself, O my God,
R. Ad Deum qui lætificat with thy holy Church, who
juventutem meam. thrills with joy at the approach of Jesus Christ thy Son, who is the true altar.

Judica me, Deus, et dis- Like her, I beseech thee to cerne causam meam de gente defend me against the malice non sancta; ab homine ini- of the enemies of my salva- quo et doloso erue me. tion.

Quia tu es, Deus, forti- It is in thee that I have tudo mea: quare me repu- put my hope; yet do I feel listi et quare tristis incedo, sad and troubled at being in dum affligit me inimicus? the midst of the snares which are set for me.

Emitte lucem tuam et ve- Send me, then, him who is ritatem tuam: ipsa me de- light and truth: it is he who duxerunt et adduxerunt in will open to us the way to montem sanctum tuum, et thy holy mount, to thy hea- in tabernacula tua. venly tabernacle.

Et introibo ad altare Dei: He is the Mediator, and the ad Deum qui lætificat ju- living altar; I will draw nigh
ventutem meam. to him, and be filled with joy.

Confitebor tibi in cithara, Having seen him, I will Deus, Deus meus: quare sing in my gladness. Be not
tristis es anima mea? et sad, O my soul! Why wouldst quare conturbas me? thou be troubled?

Spera in Deo, quoniam Hope in him, who will soon adhuc confitebor illi: salu- show himself unto thee, as tare vultus mei, et Deus thy Saviour, and thy God. meus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Glory be to the Father, Spiritui sancto. and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

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

V. Introibo ad altare Dei. I am going to the altar of
R. Ad Deum qui lætificat God; there I shall feel the
juventutem meam. presence of him who desires to give me a new life.

V. Adjutorium nostrum in All my hope comes not to
nomine Domini. me from thinking that I have R. Qui fecit cœlum et any merits, but because of the all-
terram. 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 May almighty God have Deus, et dimissis peccatis mercy on thee, and, forgiving
tuis, perducat te ad vitam thy sins, bring thee to ever- æternam. lasting life.

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

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, I confess to almighty God, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, to blessed Mary ever Virgin,
beato Michaeli archangelo, to blessed Michael the arch- beato Joanni Baptistæ, san- angel, to blessed John the
ctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, Baptist, to the holy apostles omnibus sanctis, et tibi, Peter and Paul, to all the pater, quia peccavi nimis saints, and to thee, father, cogitatione, verbo et opere: that I have sinned exceed- mea culpa, mea culpa, mea ingly in thought, word, and maxima culpa. Ideo precor deed: through my fault, beatam Mariam semper Vir- through my fault, through ginem, beatum Michaelem my most grievous fault. archangelum, beatum Joan- Therefore I beseech blessed nem Baptistam, sanctos Mary ever Virgin, blessed apostolos Petrum et Paulum, Michael the archangel, bles- omnes sanctos, et te, pater, sed John the Baptist, the holy orare pro me ad Dominum apostles Peter and Paul, and Deum nostrum. all the saints, and thee, fa- ther, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

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

Misereatur vestri omnipo- May almighty God be tens Deus, et dimissis pecca- merciful to you, and, for- tis vestris, perducat vos ad giving your sins, bring you vitam æternam. to everlasting life.

R. Amen. R. Amen.

Indulgentiam, absolutio- May the almighty and nem, et remissionem pecca- merciful Lord grant us par- torum nostrorum tribuat don, absolution, and remis- nobis omnipotens et miseri- sion of our sins. cors Dominus.

R. Amen. R. Amen.

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

V. Deus, tu conversus vi- V. O God, it needs but one
vificabis nos. look of thine to give us life. R. Et plebs tua lætabitur R. And thy people shall
in te. rejoice in thee.

V. Ostende nobis, Domine, V. Show us, O Lord, thy
misericordiam tuam. mercy. R. Et salutare tuum da R. And give us to know
nobis. and love the Saviour whom thou hast sent unto us.

V. Domine, exaudi ora- V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
tionem meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te R. And let my cry come
veniat. unto thee.

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

℣. Dominus vobiscum.

℣. The Lord be with you.

Answer him with reverence:

℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.

℟. And with thy spirit.

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

OREMUS.

Aufer a nobis, quæsumus 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 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 still, for they ask for mercy. In addressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing around the altar of heaven, one and the same with this before which you are kneeling.

To the Father:

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

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

To the Son:

Christe eleison. Christe eleison. Christe eleison.

Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us!

To the Holy Ghost:

Kyrie eleison. 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 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 cœlestis, 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.

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 that God who, not satisfied with having spoken to us at sundry times by His messengers, deigned at last to speak unto us by His well-beloved Son.¹

The Gradual is a formula of prayer intermediate 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 enter more and more 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.

The time is now come 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, meanwhile, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

You will stand during the Gospel, out of respect for the word of God, and as though you were awaiting the orders of your divine Master. 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.' 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 cœli et terræ, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

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 cœlis. 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 cœlum; 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.

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

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 now have their hearts ready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass; it is called the Oblation, and immediately follows that which was named the Mass of the catechumens, on account of its being, formerly, the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had permission 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 intended to serve as 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 sharers 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.

¹ 2 Cor. v. 4.
² 2 St. Peter, i. 4.

¹ Heb. i. 2.
² Cant. v. 6.
³ 1 Kings, iii. 10.

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:

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 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 fragrant 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 his heart. The public confession made by him at the foot of the altar does not satisfy the earnestness of his compunction. He would now at the altar itself express before 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 approach 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, full of respectful awe, bows down, 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 cœlis, 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 martyrs 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.

Scarcely has he uttered the first words than 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!

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
℣. Lift up your hearts!

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.

Answer him with all the earnestness of your soul:

℟. Dignum et justum est.

℟. It is meet and just.

Then the priest:

THE PREFACE

For Sundays

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus; qui cum unigenito Filio tuo et Spiritu Sancto, unus es Deus, unus es Dominus. Non in unius singularitate Personæ, sed in unius Trinitate substantiæ. Quod enim de tua gloria, revelante te, credimus, hoc de Filio tuo, hoc de Spiritu Sancto, sine differentia discretionis sentimus, ut in confessione veræ sempiternæque Deitatis, et in Personis proprietas, et in essentia unitas, et in majestate adoretur æqualitas. Quam laudant angeli atque archangeli, cherubim quoque ac seraphim, qui non cessant clamare quotidie, una voce 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, who, with thy only-begotten Son and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord, not in the singleness of one Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For that which, by thy revelation, we believe of thy glory, the same do we believe of thy Son, the same also of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or distinction, that in the confession of the true and eternal Godhead, distinction in Persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty, may be adored. Which the angels and archangels praise, the cherubim also and the seraphim, who cease not to cry out daily, saying with one voice:

For Week-days

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; Cœli cœlorumque 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 cœli 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.

¹ Wisd. xviii. 14, 15.

THE CANON OF THE MASS

Having besought the common Father 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 blessing 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 the 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.

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.

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 thine elect, through him who is coming to us—thy Son, our Saviour!

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.

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 cœlum, 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 is 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, which 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 wonder.

Simili modo postquam cœnatum 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 cœlos 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.

Father of infinite holiness! the Host so long expected is here before thee. Behold this thine 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.

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.

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 cœlesti 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 portion of thy Church. Thy face 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! 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;

Alas! we are poor sinners, O God of all sanctity! 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!

Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo, Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus sancti, omnis honor et gloria.

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

Præceptis salutaribus moniti, et divina institutione formati, audemus dicere:

LET US PRAY

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 cœlis, sanctificetur nomen tuum: adveniat regnum tuum: fiat voluntas tua sicut in cœlo 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 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, and 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 Mary 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, 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 prayer 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:

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.

¹ Apoc. v. 6. ² Is. ix. 6. ³ 1 Cor. x. 17.

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 cœlestem 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!'¹

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.

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 saved 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, and 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, and to make it tell upon my 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 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 Post-communion, 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.

℟. Amen.

May the Mighty 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.

℣. The Lord be with you.

℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.

℟. And with thy spirit.

THE LAST GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.

The beginning of the holy Gospel according to John.

Cap. 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, which are more appropriate to those occasions.

After the Pater and Ave have been said in secret, the Church commences this Hour with her favourite supplication:

V. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.
R. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

V. Incline unto my aid, O God.
R. 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.

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

Alleluia.

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 highest glory.

PSALM 109

Dixit Dominus Domino meo: * Sede a dextris meis.

Donec ponam inimicos tuos: * scabellum pedum tuorum.

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

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.

The Lord said to my Lord, his Son: Sit thou at my right hand, and reign with me.

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 enemies.

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 to thee the God-Man: Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.

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

He shall also judge among nations: in that terrible coming, he shall fill the ruins of the world: he shall crush the heads in the land of many.

He cometh now in humility: he shall drink in the way of the torrent of suffering: therefore, shall he lift up the head.

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

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

ANT. Magna opera Domini.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord.

The following psalm commemorates the mercies of God to His people, the promised covenant, the redemption, 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.

PSALM 110

Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo: * in consilio justorum et congregatione.

Magna opera Domini: * exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.

Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus: * et justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.

Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus: * escam dedit timentibus se.

Memor erit in sæculum testamenti sui: * virtutem operum suorum annuntiabit populo suo.

Ut det illis hereditatem Gentium: * opera manuum ejus veritas et judicium.

Fidelia omnia mandata ejus, confirmata in sæculum sæculi: * facta in veritate et æquitate.

Redemptionem misit populo suo: * mandavit in æternum testamentum suum.

Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus: * initium sapientiæ timor Domini.

Intellectus bonus omnibus facientibus eum: * laudatio ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: in the counsel 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 magnificence: and his justice continueth 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 commanded his covenant for ever.

Holy and terrible is his name: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

A good understanding to all that do it: his praise continueth for ever and ever.

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

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

ANT. Qui timet Dominum.

ANT. 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.

PSALM 111

Beatus vir qui timet Dominum: * in mandatis ejus volet nimis.

Potens in terra erit semen ejus: * generatio rectorum benedicetur.

Gloria et divitiæ in domo ejus: * et justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.

Exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis: * misericors et miserator, et justus.

Jucundus homo, qui miseretur et commodat, disponet sermones suos in judicio: * quia in æternum non commovebitur.

In memoria æterna erit justus: * ab auditione mala non timebit.

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

Dispersit, dedit pauperibus, justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi: * cornu ejus exaltabitur in gloria.

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

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.

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 remaineth 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 words with judgment: because he shall not be moved for ever.

The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing.

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

He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his justice remaineth 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. Qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus cupit nimis.

ANT. He that feareth the Lord delighteth exceedingly in his commandments.

ANT. Sit nomen Domini.

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.

PSALM 112

Laudate, pueri, Dominum: * laudate nomen Domini.

Sit nomen Domini benedictum: * ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.

A solis ortu usque ad occasum: * laudabile nomen Domini.

Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus: * et super cœlos gloria ejus.

Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster qui in altis habitat: * et humilia respicit in cœlo et in terra?

Suscitans a terra inopem: * et de stercore erigens pauperem:

Ut collocet eum cum principibus: * cum principibus populi sui.

Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo: * matrem filiorum lætantem.

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 looketh 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 princes: with the princes of his people.

Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.

ANT. Sit nomen Domini benedictum in sæcula.

ANT. May the name of the Lord be for ever blessed.

ANT. Deus autem noster.

ANT. But our God.

The fifth psalm, In exitu, recounts the prodigies witnessed 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 113

In exitu Israel de Ægypto: * domus Jacob de populo barbaro.

Facta est Judæa sanctificatio ejus: * Israel potestas ejus.

Mare vidit et fugit: * Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.

Montes exsultaverunt ut arietes: * et colles sicut agni ovium.

Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti: * et tu, Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum?

Montes exsultastis sicut arietes: * et colles sicut agni ovium?

A facie Domini mota est terra: * a facie Dei Jacob.

Qui convertit petram in stagna aquarum: * et rupem in fontes aquarum.

Non nobis, Domine, non nobis: * sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Super misericordia tua, et veritate tua: * nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus eorum?

Deus autem noster in cœlo: * omnia quæcumque voluit fecit.

Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum: * opera manuum hominum.

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

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

Manus habent, et non palpabunt; pedes habent, et non ambulabunt: * non clamabunt in gutture suo.

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

Domus Israel speravit in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Domus Aaron speravit in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Qui timent Dominum, speraverunt in Domino: * adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.

Dominus memor fuit nostri: * et benedixit nobis.

Benedixit domui Israel: * benedixit domui Aaron.

Benedixit omnibus qui timent Dominum: * pusillis cum majoribus.

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

Benedicti vos a Domino: * qui fecit cœlum et terram.

Cœlum cœli Domino: * terram autem dedit filiis hominum.

Non mortui laudabunt te, Domine: * neque omnes qui descendunt in infernum.

Sed nos qui vivimus, benedicimus Domino: * ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.

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

Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

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 ye skipped 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 pools of water, and the stony hills 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 feel not: they have feet, and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat.

Let them that make them become 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.

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

They that fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.

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

He hath blessed the house of Israel: he hath 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 thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.

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

ANT. Deus autem noster in cœlo: omnia quæcumque voluit, fecit.

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

After these five psalms, a short lesson from the

holy Scriptures is read.

It is called Capitulum, or

Little Chapter, because it is always very short. Those for the several festivals are given in the proper

of each.

CAPITULUM

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

R. Deo gratias.

Then follows the hymn. It was composed by St. Gregory the Great. It sings of creation, and celebrates the

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.

R. Thanks be to God.

We here give the one

for Sundays.

praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, viz., the light.

HYMN *

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

Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari præcipis:
Illabitur tetrum chaos, Audi preces cum fletibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine, Vitæ sit exsul munere:
Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat.

Cæleste pulset ostium,
Vitale tollat præmium:
Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum.

Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne sæculum.

Amen.

O infinitely good Creator of the light: by thee was produced the light of day, providing thus the world's beginning with the beginning of the new-made light.

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, mis-spend 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 defilements.

Most merciful Father! and thou, his only-begotten Son, coequal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Paraclete, grant this our prayer.

Amen.

* According to the monastic rite, it is as follows:—

R. breve. Quam magnificata
sunt. * Opera tua, Domine.
Quam.

℣. Omnia in sapientia fecisti. * Opera. Gloria Patri, &c.
Quam.

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

Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari præcipis,
Tetrum chaos illabitur, Audi preces cum fletibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine, Vitæ sit exsul munere,
Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat.

Cælorum pulset intimum,
Vitale tollat præmium:
Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum.

Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne sæculum.

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.

℣. Dirigatur, Domine,
oratio mea. ℟. Sicut incensum in
conspectu tuo.

℣. May my prayer, O Lord,
ascend. ℟. Like incense in thy
sight.

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.

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 showed might in his arm: he hath dispersed the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble.

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.

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 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; because your adversary the devil, like 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, &c.

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, &c.

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 you 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 Church has introduced here the first six verses of psalm xxx, because they contain the prayer which our Saviour made when dying: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!—words so beautifully appropriate to this Office of the close of the day.

PSALM 30 *

In te, Domine, speravi,
non confundar in æternum:
* in justitia tua libera me.

Inclina ad me aurem tuam: * accelera ut eruas me.

Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, et in domum refugii: * ut salvum me facias.

Quoniam fortitudo mea,

In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.

Bow down thine ear to me: make haste to deliver me.

Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.

For thou art my strength,

* In accordance with the decrees of Pope Pius X, the second psalm, consisting of a portion of Psalm xxx, is omitted.

et refugium meum es tu: * et propter nomen tuum deduces me, et enutries me.

Educes me de laqueo hoc quem absconderunt mihi: * quoniam tu es protector meus.

In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum: * redemisti me, Domine, Deus
veritatis.

and my refuge: and for thy name's sake, thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.

Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

The third 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,

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

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.

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 fourth 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.

COMPLINE

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 cœlum 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.

HYMN*

Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut pro tua clementia, Sis præsul et custodia.

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, coequal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Paraclete, grant this our prayer!

Amen.

* 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.

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.

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

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. &c.

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, &c.

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 therein, 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 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 lacrymarum 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.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy.

Our life, our sweetness, and our hope, all hail!

To thee we cry, poor banished children of Eve;

To thee 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 merciful, O kind, O sweet Virgin Mary!

℣. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

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.

℣. Divinum auxilium maneat semper nobiscum.
℟. Amen.

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.

℣. May the divine assistance remain always with us.

℟. Amen.*

Then, in secret, Pater, Ave, and Credo.

* In the monastic rite this response is as follows:—

℟. Et cum fratribus nostris absentibus. Amen.

℟. And with our absent brethren. Amen.

¹ Cant. v. 2.

PROPER OF SAINTS

AUGUST 23

SAINT PHILIP BENIZI

CONFESSOR

Our Lady is now reigning in heaven. Her triumph over death cost her no labour; and yet it was through suffering that she like Jesus entered into her glory. We too cannot attain eternal happiness otherwise than did the Son and the Mother. Let us keep in mind the sweet joys we have been tasting during the past week; but let us not forget that our own journey to heaven is not yet completed. 'Why stand ye looking up into heaven?' said the angels to the disciples on Ascension day, in the name of the Lord who had gone up in a cloud; for the disciples, who had for an instant beheld the threshold of heaven, could not resign themselves to turn their eyes once more down to this valley of exile. Mary, in her turn, sends us a message to-day from the bright land whither we are to follow her, and where we shall surround her after having in the sorrows of exile merited to form her court: without distracting us from her, the apostle of her dolours, Philip Benizi, reminds us of our true condition of strangers and pilgrims upon earth.

Combats without, fears within:¹ such for the most part was Philip's life, as it was also the history of his native city of Florence; of Italy too, and indeed of the whole Christian world, in the thirteenth century. At the time of his birth, the city of flowers seemed a new Eden for the blossoms of sanctity that flourished there; nevertheless it was a prey to bloody factions, to the assaults of heresy, and to the extremity of every misery. Never is hell so near us as when heaven manifests itself with greatest intensity; this was clearly seen in that age, when the serpent's head came in closest contact with the heel of the woman. The old enemy, by creating new sects, had shaken the faith in the very centre of the provinces surrounding the eternal city. While in the east, Islam was driving back the last crusaders, in the west the papacy was struggling with the empire, which Frederick II had made as a fief of satan. Throughout Christendom social union was undone, faith had grown weak, and love cold; but the old enemy was soon to discover the power of the reaction heaven was preparing for the relief of the aged world. Then it was that our Lady presented to her angered Son Dominic and Francis, that, by uniting science with self-abnegation, they might counterbalance the ignorance and luxury of the world; then, too, Philip Benizi, the Servite of the Mother of God, received from her the mission of preaching through Italy, France, and Germany, the unspeakable sufferings whereby she became the co-redemptress of the human race.

Philippus ex nobili Benitiorum familia Florentiæ natus, futuræ sanctitatis jam inde ab incunabulis indicium præbuit. Vix enim quintum ætatis mensem ingressus, linguam in voces mirifice solvit, hortatusque fuit matrem, ut Deiparæ servis eleemosynam impertiret. Adolescens, dum Parisiis litterarum studia cum pietatis ardore conjungeret, plurimos ad cœlestis patriæ desiderium inflammavit. Reversus in patriam, et singulari visione a beatissima Virgine in Servorum suorum familiam nuper institutam vocatus, in Senarii montis antrum concessit, ubi asperam quidem jugi corporis castigatione, sed Christi Domini cruciatuum meditatione suavem vitam duxit: indeque per universam pene Europam, magnamque Asiæ partem, quam evangelicis prædicationibus obivit, sodalitia septem dolorum Dei Matris instituit, suumque ordinem eximio virtutum exemplo propagavit.

Philip was born at Florence of the noble family of the Benizi, and from his very cradle gave signs of his future sanctity. When he was scarcely five months old he received the power of speech by a miracle, and exhorted his mother to bestow an alms on the servants of the Mother of God. As a youth, he pursued his studies at Paris, where he was remarkable for his ardent piety, and enkindled in many hearts a longing for our heavenly fatherland. After his return home he had a wonderful vision in which he was called by the blessed Virgin to join the newly-founded Order of the Servites. He therefore retired into a cave on Mount Senario, and there led an austere and penitential life, sweetened by meditation on the sufferings of our Lord. Afterwards he travelled over nearly all Europe and great part of Asia, preaching the Gospel and instituting everywhere the sodality of the seven dolours of the Mother of God, while he propagated his Order by the wonderful example of his virtues.

Divinæ caritatis et catholicæ fidei dilatandæ ardore vehementer accensus, sui Ordinis generalis reluctans atque invitus renuntiatus, fratres ad prædicandum Christi Evangelium in Scythiam misit; ipse vero plurimas Italiæ urbes concursans, gliscentes in eis civium discordias composuit; multasque ad Romani Pontificis obedientiam revocavit; nihilque de studio alienæ salutis omittens, perditissimos homines e vitiorum cœno ad pœnitentiam ac Jesu Christi amorem perduxit. Oratione summopere addictus, sæpe in extasim rapi visus est. Virginitatem vero adeo coluit, ut ad extremum usque spiritum voluntariis ac durissimis suppliciis illibatam custodierit. Effloruit in eo jugiter singularis erga pauperes misericordia, sed præcipue cum apud Camilianum agri Senensis vicum leproso nudo eleemosynam petenti propriam, qua indutus erat, vestem fuit elargitus: qua ille contectus, statim a lepra mundatus est. Cujus miraculi cum longe lateque fama manasset, nonnulli ex Cardinalibus, qui Viterbium, Clemente quarto vita functo, pro successore deligendo convenerant, in Philippum, cujus cœlestem etiam prudentiam perspectam habebant, intenderunt. Quo comperto vir Dei, ne forte pastoralis regiminis onus subire cogeretur, apud Tuniatum montem tamdiu delituit, donec Gregorius decimus Pontifex Maximus fuerit renuntiatus: ubi balneis, quæ etiam hodie sancti Philippi vocantur, virtutem

He was consumed with love of God and zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. In spite of his refusals and resistance he was chosen general of his Order. He sent some of his brethren to preach the Gospel in Scythia, while he himself journeyed from city to city of Italy repressing civil dissensions, and recalling many to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff. His unremitting zeal for the salvation of souls won the most abandoned sinners from the depths of vice to a life of penance and to the true love of Jesus Christ. He was very much given to prayer and was often seen rapt in ecstasy. He loved and honoured holy virginity, and preserved it unspotted to the end of his life by means of the greatest, voluntary austerities.

He was remarkable for his love and pity for the poor. On one occasion when a poor leper begged an alms of him, at Camegliano a village near Siena, he gave him his own garment, which the beggar had no sooner put on than his leprosy was cleansed. The fame of this miracle having spread far and wide, some of the Cardinals who were assembled at Viterbo for the election of a successor to Clement IV, then lately dead, thought of choosing Philip, as they were aware of his heavenly prudence. On learning this, the man of God, fearing lest he should be forced to take upon himself the pastoral office, hid himself at Montamiata until after the election of Pope Gregory X. By his prayers he obtained for the baths of that place, which still bear his name, the virtue of healing the sick. At length,

¹ 2 Cor. vii. 5.

SAINT PHILIP BENIZI

sanandi morbos suis precibus impetravit. Denique Tuderti, anno millesimo ducentesimo octogesimo quinto in Christi Domini e cruce pendentis amplexu, quem suum appellabat librum, sanctissime ex hac vita migravit. Ad ejus tumulum cæci visum, claudi gressum, mortui vitam receperunt. Quibus aliisque plurimis fulgentem signis Clemens decimus Pontifex Maximus sanctorum numero adscripsit.

in the year 1285, he died a most holy death at Todi, while in the act of kissing the image of his crucified Lord, which he used to call his book. The blind and lame were healed at his tomb, and the dead were brought back to life. His name having become illustrious by these and many other miracles, Pope Clement X. enrolled him among the saints.

"Philip, draw near, and join thyself to this chariot."¹ When the world was smiling on thy youth and offering thee renown and pleasures, thou didst receive this invitation from Mary. She was seated in a golden chariot which signified the religious life; a mourning mantle wrapped her round; a dove was fluttering about her head; a lion and a lamb were drawing her chariot over precipices from whose depths were heard the groans of hell. It was a prophetic vision: thou wast to traverse the earth accompanied by the Mother of sorrows; and this world, which hell had already everywhere undermined, was to have no dangers for thee; for gentleness and strength were to be thy guides, and simplicity thy inspirer. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.²

But this gentle virtue was to avail thee chiefly against heaven itself; heaven, which wrestles with the mighty, and which had in store for thee the terrible trial of an utter abandonment, such as had made even the God-Man tremble. After years of prayer and labour and heroic devotedness, for thy reward thou wast apparently rejected by God and disowned by the Church, while imminent ruin threatened all those whom Mary had confided to thee. In spite of her promises, the existence of thy sons the Servites was assailed by no less an authority than that of two general Councils, whose resolutions the vicar of Christ had determined to confirm. Our Lady gave thee to drink of the chalice of her sufferings. Thou didst not live to see the triumph of a cause which was hers as well as thine; but as the ancient patriarchs saluted from afar the accomplishment of the promises, so death could not shake thy calm and resigned confidence. Thou didst leave thy daughter Juliana Falconieri to obtain by her prayers before the face of the Lord, what thou couldst not gain from the powers of this world.

The highest power on earth was once all but laid at thy feet; the Church, remembering the humility wherewith thou didst flee from the tiara, begs thee to obtain for us that we may despise the prosperity of the world and seek heavenly goods alone;¹ deign to hear her prayer. But the faithful have not forgotten that thou wert a physician of the body before becoming a healer of souls; they have great confidence in the water and bread blessed by thy sons on this feast, in memory of the miraculous favours granted to their father: graciously regard the faith of the people and reward the special honour paid to thee by Christian physicians. Now that the mysterious chariot, shown thee at the beginning, has become the triumphal car whereon thou accompaniest our Lady in her entrance into heaven, teach us so to condole, like thee, with her sorrows, that we may deserve to be partakers with thee in her eternal glory.

¹ Acts viii. 29. ² St. Matth. v. 4.

¹ Collect of the day.

SAINT BARTHOLOMEW

APOSTLE

August 24

A witness of the Son of God, one of the princes who announced His glory to the nations, lights up this day with his apostolic flame. While his brethren of the sacred college followed the human race into all the lands whither the migration of nations had led it, Bartholomew appeared as the herald of the Lord at the very starting point, the mountains of Armenia, whence the sons of Noe spread over the earth. There had the figurative Ark rested; humanity, everywhere else a wanderer, was there seated in stillness, remembering the dove with its olive branch, and awaiting the consummation of the alliance signified by the rainbow which had there for the first time glittered in the clouds. Behold, blessed tidings awake in those valleys the echoes of ancient traditions: tidings of peace, making the universal deluge of sin subside before the Wood of salvation. The serenity announced by the dove of old, was now far outdone. Love was to take the place of punishment. The ambassador of heaven showed God to the sons of Adam, as the most beautiful of their own brethren. The noble heights whence formerly flowed the rivers of paradise, were about to see the renewal of the covenant annulled in Eden, and the celebration, amid the joy of heaven and earth, of the divine nuptials so long expected, the union of the Word with regenerated humanity.

Personally, what was this apostle whose ministry borrowed such solemnity from the scene of his apostolic labours? Under the name or surname of Bartholomew,¹ the only mark of recognition given him by the first three Gospels, are we to see, as many have thought, that Nathaniel, whose presentation to Jesus by Philip forms so sweet a scene in St. John's Gospel²? A man full of uprightness, innocence, and simplicity, who was worthy to have had the dove for his precursor, and for whom the Man-God had choice graces and caresses from the very beginning.

Be this as it may, the lot which fell to our saint among the twelve, points to the special confidence of the divine Heart; the heroism of the terrible martyrdom which sealed his apostolate reveals his fidelity; the dignity preserved by the nation he grafted on Christ, in all the countries where it has been transplanted, witnesses to the excellence of the sap first infused into its branches. When, two centuries and a half later, Gregory the Illuminator so successfully cultivated the soil of Armenia, he did but quicken the seed sown by the apostle, which the trials never wanting to that generous land had retarded for a time, but could not stifle.

How strangely sad, that evil men, nurtured in the turmoil of endless invasions, should have been able to rouse and perpetuate a mistrust of Rome among a race whom wars and tortures and dispersion could not tear from the love of Christ our Saviour! Yet, thanks be to God! the movement towards return, more than once begun and then abandoned, seems now to be steadily advancing; the chosen sons of this illustrious nation are labouring perseveringly for so desirable a union, by dispelling the prejudices of her people; by revealing to our lands the treasures of her literature so truly Christian, and the magnificences of her liturgy; and above all by praying and devoting themselves to the monastic state under the standard of the father of western monks.¹ Together with these holders of the true national tradition, let us pray to Bartholomew their apostle; to the disciple Thaddeus² who also shared in the first evangelization; to Ripsima the heroic virgin, who from the Roman territory led her thirty-five companions to the conquest of a new land; and to all the martyrs whose blood cemented the building upon the only foundation set by our Lord. Like these great forerunners, may the leader of the second apostolate, Gregory the Illuminator, who wished to "see Peter" in the person of St. Sylvester and receive the blessing of the Roman Pontiff, may the holy kings the patriarchs and doctors of Armenia, become once more her chosen guides, and lead her back entirely and irrevocably to the one fold of the one Shepherd!

We learn from Eusebius³ and from St. Jerome⁴ that before going to Armenia, his final destination, St. Bartholomew evangelized the Indies, where Pantænus a century later found a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew characters, left there by him.

St. Denis records a profound saying of the glorious apostle, which he thus quotes and comments: "The blessed Bartholomew says of theology, that it is at once abundant and succinct; of the Gospel, that it is vast in extent and at the same time concise; thus excellently giving us to understand that the beneficent Cause of all beings reveals or manifests Himself by many words or by few, or even without any words at all, as being beyond and above all language or thought. For He is above all by His superior essence; and they alone reach Him in His truth, without the veils wherewith He surrounds Himself, who, passing beyond matter and spirit, and rising above the summit of the holiest heights, leave behind them all reflexions and echoes of God, all the language of heaven, to enter into the darkness wherein He dwelleth, as the Scripture says, who is above all."¹

The city of Rome celebrates the feast of St. Bartholomew to-morrow, as do also the Greeks who commemorate on August 25 a translation of the apostle's relics. It is owing, in fact, to the various translations of his holy body and to the difficulty of ascertaining the date of his martyrdom that different days have been adopted for his feast by different Churches, both in the east and in the west. The twenty-fourth of this month, consecrated by the use of most of the Latin Churches, is the day assigned in the most ancient martyrologies, including that of St. Jerome. In the thirteenth century Innocent III, having been consulted as to the divergence, answered that local custom was to be observed.²

The Church gives us the following notice of the apostle of Armenia.

Bartholomæus apostolus, Galilæus, cum in Indiam citeriorem, quæ ei in orbis terrarum sortitione ad prædicandum Jesu Christi Evangelium obvenerat, progressus esset, adventum Domini Jesu juxta sancti Matthæi Evangelium illis gentibus prædicavit. Sed cum in ea provincia plurimos ad Jesum Christum convertisset, multos labores calamitatesque perpessus, venit in majorem Armeniam.

The apostle Bartholomew was a native of Galilee. It fell to his lot to preach the Gospel in hither India; and he announced to those nations the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of St. Matthew. But after converting many souls to Jesus Christ in that province and undergoing much labour and suffering, he went into eastern Armenia.

Ibi Polymium regem et conjugem ejus, ac præterea duodecim civitates ad Christianum fidem perduxit. Quæ res in eum magnam invidiam concitavit illius gentis sacerdotum. Nam usque adeo Astyagem Polymii regis fratrem in apostolum incenderunt, ut is vivo Bartholomæo pellem crudeliter detrahi jusserit, ac caput abscindi: quo in martyrio animam Deo reddidit.

Here he converted to the Christian faith the king Polymius and his queen and twelve cities. This caused the pagan priests of that nation to be exceedingly jealous of him, and they stirred up Astyages the brother of king Polymius against the apostle, so that he commanded him to be flayed alive and finally beheaded. In this cruel martyrdom he gave up his soul to God.

Ejus corpus Albani, quæ est urbs majoris Armeniæ, ubi is passus fuerat, sepultum est: quod postea ad Liparam insulam delatum, inde Beneventum translatum est: postremo Romam ab Othone tertio imperatore portatum, in Tiberis insula, in ecclesia ejus nomine Deo dicata, collocatum fuit. Agitur autem Romæ dies festus octavo Kalendas Septembris, et per octo consequentes dies illa basilica magna populi frequentia celebratur.

His body was buried at Albanapolis, the town of eastern Armenia where he was martyred; but it was afterwards taken to the island of Lipari, and thence to Beneventum. Finally it was translated to Rome by the emperor Otho III and placed on the island of the Tiber in a church dedicated to God under his invocation. His feast is kept at Rome on the eighth of the Kalends of September, and during the eight following days that basilica is much frequented by the faithful.

¹ Son of Tholmai. ² St. John i. 45-51.

¹ Mekhitarists, Armenian monks of St. Benedict. ² One of the seventy-two. ³ Hist. Eccl. Lib. v. c. 1. ⁴ De Script. Eccl. c. xxxvi.

¹ Dion. De mystica theolog. c. i. §. 3. ² Decretal. lib. iii. tit. xlvi. c. 2. Consilium.

On this day of thy feast, O holy apostle, the Church prays for grace to love what thou didst believe and to preach what thou didst teach.¹ Not that the bride of the Son of God could ever fail either in faith or in love; but she knows only too well that, though her Head is ever in the light, and her heart ever united to the Spouse in the holy Spirit who sanctifies her, nevertheless her several members, the particular churches of which she is composed, may detach themselves from their centre of life and wander away in darkness. O thou who didst choose our west as the place of thy rest; thou whose precious relics Rome glories in possessing, bring back to Peter the nations thou didst evangelize; fulfil the now reviving hopes of universal union; second the efforts made by the vicar of the Man-God to gather again under the shepherd's crook those scattered flocks whose pastures have become parched by schism. May thine own Armenia be the first to complete a return which she began long ago; may she trust the mother-Church and no more follow the sowers of discord. All being reunited, may we together enjoy the treasures of our concordant traditions, and go to God, even at the cost of being despoiled of all things, by the course so grand and yet so simple taught us by thy example and by thy sublime theology.

¹ Collect of the day.

ST. LOUIS, KING OF FRANCE

CONFESSOR

August 25

It was his Christian faith that made Louis IX so great a prince. "You that are the judges of the earth, think of the Lord in goodness, and seek Him in simplicity of heart."¹ Eternal Wisdom, in giving this precept to kings, rejoiced with divine foreknowledge among the lilies of France, where this great saint was to shine with so bright a lustre.

Subject and prince are bound to God by a common law, for all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out. Far from being less responsible to the divine authority than his subjects, the prince is answerable for every one of them as well as for himself. The aim and object of creation is that God be glorified by the return of all creatures to their Author, in the manner and measure that He wills. Therefore, since God has called man to a participation in His own divine life, and has made the earth to be to him but a place of passage, mere natural justice and the present order of things are not sufficient for him. Kings must recognize that the object of their civil sovereignty, not being the last end of all things, is, like themselves, under the direction and absolute rule of that higher end, before which they are but as subjects. Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand: a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.

¹ Wisd. iv. ² Ibid. vii. 6. — ³ Ibid. vi. 2, 9.

Thus did the divine goodness give merciful warnings under the ancient Covenant.

But not satisfied with giving repeated admonitions, Wisdom came down from her heavenly throne. Henceforth the world belongs to her by a twofold title. By the right of her divine origin, she held the principality in the brightness of the saints, before the rising of the day star; she now reigns by right of conquest over the redeemed world. Before her coming in the flesh, it was already from her that kings received their power, and that equity which directs its exercise. Jesus, the Son of Man, whose Blood paid the ransom of the world, is now, by the contract of the sacred nuptials which united Him to our nature, the only source of power and of all true justice. And now, once more, O ye kings, understand: says the psalmist; receive instruction, you that judge the earth.¹

'It is Christ who speaks:' says St. Augustine. 'Now that I am king in the name of God My Father, be not sad, as though you were thereby deprived of some good you possessed; but rather acknowledging that it is good for you to be subject to Him who gives you security in the light, serve this Lord of all with fear, and rejoice unto Him.'²

It is the Church that continues, in the name of our ascended Lord, to give to kings this security which comes from the light: the Church who, without trespassing upon the authority of princes, is nevertheless their superior as mother of nations, as judge of consciences, as the only guide of the human race journeying towards its last end. Let us listen to the sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII, speaking with the precision and power which characterize his infallible teaching: 'As there are on earth two great societies:

¹ Psalm ii, 10. ² S. Aug. Enarrat. in Ps. ii.

the one civil, whose immediate end is to procure the temporal and earthly well-being of the human race; the other religious, whose aim is to lead men to the eternal happiness for which they were created: so also God has divided the government of the world between two powers. Each of these is supreme in its kind; each is bounded by definite limits drawn in conformity with its nature and its peculiar end. Jesus Christ, the founder of the Church, willed that they should be distinct from one another, and that both should be free from trammels in the accomplishment of their respective missions; yet with this provision, that in those matters which appertain to the jurisdiction and judgment of both, though on different grounds, the power which is concerned with temporal interests, must depend, as is fitting, on that power which watches over eternal interests. Finally, both being subject to the eternal and to the natural Law, they must in such a manner mutually agree in what concerns the order and government of each, as to form a relationship comparable to the union of soul and body in man.'

In the sphere of eternal interests, to which no one may be indifferent, princes are bound to hold not only themselves but their people also in subjection to God and to His Church. For 'since men united by the bonds of a common society depend on God no less than individuals, associations whether political or private cannot, without crime, behave as if God did not exist, nor put away religion as something foreign to them, nor dispense themselves from observing, in that religion, the rules according to which God has declared that He wills to be honoured. Consequently, the heads of the State are bound, as such, to keep holy the name of God, make it one of their principal duties to protect religion by the authority of the laws, and not command or ordain anything contrary to its integrity.'¹

Let us now turn to St. Augustine's explanation of the text of the Psalm: 'How do kings serve the Lord with fear, except by forbidding and punishing with a religious severity all acts contrary to the commands of the Lord? In his twofold character as man and as prince, the king must serve God: as man, he serves Him by the fidelity of his life; as king, by proposing or maintaining laws which command good and forbid evil. He must act like Ezechias and Josias, destroying the temples of the false gods and the high places that had been constructed contrary to the command of the Lord; like the king of Ninive obliging his city to appease the Lord; like Darius giving up the idol to Daniel to be broken, and casting Daniel's enemies to the lions; like Nabuchodonosor forbidding blasphemy throughout his kingdom by a terrible law. It is thus that kings serve the Lord as kings, viz: when they do in His service those things which only kings can do.'²

In all this teaching we are not losing sight of to-day's feast; for we may say of Louis IX as an epitome of his life: He made a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him and keep His commandments; and cause them to be kept by all.³ God was his end, faith was his guide: herein lies the whole secret of his government as well as of his sanctity. As a Christian he was a servant of Christ, as a prince he was Christ's lieutenant; the aspirations of the Christian and those of the prince did not divide his soul; this unity was his strength, as it is now his glory. He now reigns in heaven with Christ, who

¹ Cf. Epist. Encycl. ad Episcopos Galliæ, Nobilissima Gallorum gens, 8 Febr. 1884,— Encycl. Immortale Dei, de civitatum constitutione Christiana, 1 Nov. 1885,— Encycl. Arcanum divinæ sapientiæ, de matrimonio Christiano, 10 Feb. 1880.
² Aug. ad Boniface, Ep. 185. ³ 2 Paralip. xxxiv. 21-33.

alone reigned in him and by him on earth. If then your delight be in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, love wisdom, that you may reign for ever.¹

Louis was anointed king at Rheims on the first Sunday of Advent 1226; and he laid to heart for his whole life the words of that day's Introit: 'To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust!' He was only twelve years old; but our Lord had given him the surest safeguard of his youth, in the person of his mother, that noble daughter of Spain, whose coming into France, says William de Nangis, was the arrival of all good things.² The premature death of her husband Louis VIII left Blanche of Castille to cope with a most formidable conspiracy. The great vassals, whose power had been reduced during the preceding reigns, promised themselves that they would profit of the minority of the new prince, in order to regain the rights they had enjoyed under the ancient feudal system to the detriment of the unity of government. In order to remove this mother, who stood up single-handed between the weakness of the heir to the throne and their ambition, the barons, everywhere in revolt, joined hands with the Albigensian heretics; and made an alliance with the son of John Lackland, Henry III, who was endeavouring to recover the possessions in France lost by his father in punishment for the murder of prince Arthur. Strong in her son's right and in the protection of Pope Gregory IX, Blanche held out: and she, whom the traitors to their country called the foreigner in order to palliate their crime, saved France by her prudence and her brave firmness. After nine years of regency, she handed over the nation to its king, more united and more powerful than ever since the days of Charlemagne.

¹ Wisd. vi. 22. ² Gesta S. Ludovici.

We cannot here give the history of an entire reign; but, honour to whom honour is due: Louis, in order to become the glory of heaven and earth on this day, had but to walk in the footsteps of Blanche, the son had but to remember the precepts of his mother.

There was a simplicity in our saint's life, which enhanced its greatness and heroism. One would have said he did not experience the difficulty that others feel, though far removed from the throne, in fulfilling those words of our Lord: Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.¹ Yet who was greater than this humble king, making more account of his Baptism at Poissy than of his anointing at Rheims; saying his Hours, fasting, scourging himself like his friends the Friars Preachers and Minors; ever treating with respect those whom he regarded as God's privileged ones, priests, religious, the suffering and the poor? The great men of our days may smile at him for being more grieved at losing his breviary than at being taken captive by the Saracens. But how have they behaved in the like extremity? Never was the enemy heard to say of any of them: 'You are our captive, and one would say we were rather your prisoners.' They did not check the fierce greed and bloodthirstiness of their gaolers, nor dictate terms of peace as proudly as if they had been the conquerors, and the country, brought into peril by them, has not come out of the trial more glorious. It is peculiar to the admirable reign of St. Louis, that disasters made him not only a hero but a saint; and that France gained for centuries in the east, where her king had been captive, a greater renown than any victory could have won for her.

¹ Matt. xviii. 3.

The humility of holy kings is not forgetfulness of the great office they fulfil in God's name; their abnegation could not consist in giving up rights which are also duties, any more than charity could cast out justice, or love of peace could oppose the virtues of the warrior. St. Louis, without an army, felt himself superior as a Christian to the victorious infidel, and treated him accordingly; moreover the west discovered very early, and more and more as his sanctity increased with his years, that this king, who spent his nights in prayer, and his days in serving the poor, was not the man to yield to anyone the prerogatives of the crown. 'There is but one king in France,' said the judge of Vincennes rescinding a sentence of Charles of Anjou; and the barons at the castle of Bellême, and the English at Taillebourg, were already aware of it; so was Frederick II who, threatening to crush the Church and seeking aid from the French, received this answer: 'The kingdom of France is not so weak as to suffer itself to be driven by your spurs.'

Louis's death was like his life, simple and great. God called him to Himself in the midst of sorrowful and critical circumstances, far from his own country, in that African land where he had before suffered so much; these trials were sanctifying thorns, reminding the prince of his most cherished jewel, the sacred crown of thorns which he had added to the treasures of France. Moved by the hope of converting the king of Tunis to the Christian faith, it was rather as an apostle than a soldier that he had landed on that shore where his last struggle awaited him. 'I challenge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His lieutenant Louis king of France;' such was the sublime provocation hurled against the infidel city, and it was worthy of the close of such a life.

Six centuries later, Tunis was to see the sons of those same Franks unwittingly following up the challenge of the saintly king, at the invitation of all the holy ones resting in the now Christian land of ancient Carthage.

The Christian army, victorious in every battle, was decimated by a terrible plague. Surrounded by the dead and dying, and himself attacked with the contagion, Louis called to him his eldest son, who was to succeed him as Philip III, and gave him his last instructions:

'Dear son, the first thing I admonish thee is that thou set thy heart to love God, for without that nothing else is of any worth. Beware of doing what displeases God, that is to say mortal sin; yea rather oughtest thou to suffer all manner of torments. If God send thee adversity, receive it in patience, and give thanks for it to our Lord, and think that thou hast done Him ill service. If He give thee prosperity, thank Him humbly for the same and be not the worse, either by pride or in any other manner, for that very thing that ought to make thee better; for we must not use God's gifts against Himself. Have a kind and pitiful heart towards the poor and the unfortunate, and comfort and assist them as much as thou canst. Keep up the good customs of thy kingdom, and put down all bad ones. Love all that is good and hate all that is evil of any sort. Suffer no ill word about God or our Lady or the saints to be spoken in thy presence, that thou dost not straightway punish. In the administering of justice be loyal to thy subjects, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left; but help the right, and take the part of the poor until the whole truth be cleared up. Honour and love all ecclesiastical persons, and take care that they be not deprived of the gifts and alms that thy predecessors may have given them. — Dear son, I al-

monish thee that thou be ever devoted to the Church of Rome, and to the sovereign Bishop our father, that is the Pope, and that thou bear him reverence and honour as thou oughtest to do to thy spiritual father. Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land; especially to the best of thy power put down all wicked oaths and heresy. Fair son, I give thee all the blessings that a good father can give to a son; may the blessed Trinity and all the saints guard thee and protect thee from all evils; may God give thee grace to do His will always, and may He be honoured by thee, and may thou and I after this mortal life be together in His company and praise Him without end.'¹

'When the good king,' continues Joinville, 'had instructed his son my lord Philip, his illness began to increase greatly; he asked for the Sacraments of holy Church, and received them in a sound mind and right understanding, as was quite evident; for when they were anointing him and saying the seven Psalms, he took his own part in reciting. I have heard my lord the Count d'Alençon his son relate, that when he drew nigh to death, he called the saints to aid and succour him, and in particular my lord St. James, saying his prayer which begins: Esto Domine; that is to say: O God, be the sanctifier and guardian of thy people. Then he called to his aid my lord St. Denis of France, saying his prayer, which is as much as to say: Sire God, grant that we may despise the prosperity of this world, and may fear no adversity! And I heard from my lord d'Alençon (whom God absolve), that his father next invoked Madame St. Genevieve. After this the holy king had himself laid on a bed strewn with ashes, and placing his hands upon his breast and looking towards heaven, he gave up his soul to his Creator, at the same hour wherein the Son of God died on the cross for the salvation of the world.'

Let us read the short notice consecrated by the Church to her valiant eldest son.

Ludovicus nonus Galliæ rex, duodecim annos natus, patre amisso, et in Blanchæ matris sanctissimæ disciplina educatus, cum jam vigesimum annum in regno ageret, in morbum incidit: quo tempore cogitavit de recuperanda possessione Jerosolymorum. Quamobrem ubi convaluisset, vexillum ab episcopo Parisiensi accepit: deinde mare cum ingenti exercitu trajiciens, primo prælio Saracenos fugavit. Sed cum ex pestilentia magna militum multitudo periisset, victus ipse captusque est.

Louis IX, king of France, having lost his father when he was only twelve years old, was educated in a most holy manner by his mother Blanche. When he had reigned for twenty years he fell ill and it was then he conceived the idea of regaining possession of Jerusalem. On his recovery therefore he received the great standard from the bishop of Paris and crossed the sea with a large army. In a first engagement he repulsed the Saracens; but a great number of his men being struck down by pestilence, he was conquered and made prisoner.

Rebus postea cum Saracenis compositis, liber rex exercitusque dimittitur. Quinque annis in Oriente commoratus, plurimos christianos a barbarorum servitute redemit, multos etiam infideles ad Christi fidem convertit; præterea aliquot christianorum urbes refecit suis sumptibus. Interim mater ejus migrat e vita: quare domum redire cogitur, ubi totum se dedit pietatis officiis.

A treaty was then made with the Saracens, and the king and his army were set at liberty. Louis spent five years in the east. He delivered many Christian captives, converted many of the infidels to the faith of Christ, and also rebuilt several Christian towns out of his own resources. Meanwhile his mother died, and on this account he was obliged to return home, where he devoted himself entirely to good works.

Multa ædificavit monasteria, et pauperum hospitia; beneficentia egentes sublevabat: frequens visebat ægrotos, quibus ipse non solum suis sumptibus omnia suppeditabat, sed etiam, quæ opus erant, manibus ministrabat. Vestitu vulgari utebatur, cilicio ac jejunio corpus assidue affligebat. Sed cum iterum transmisisset, bellum Saracenis illaturus, jamque castra in eorum conspectu posuisset, pestilentia decessit in illa oratione: Introibo in domum tuam; adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitebor nomini tuo. Ejus corpus postea Lutetiam Parisiorum translatum est, quod in celebri sancti Dionysii templo asservatur et colitur: caput vero in sacra æde sanctæ Capellæ. Ipse clarus miraculis a Bonifacio Papa octavo in sanctorum numerum est relatus.

He built many monasteries and hospitals for the poor; he assisted those in need and frequently visited the sick, supplying all their necessities at his own expense and even serving them with his own hands. He dressed in a simple manner and subdued his body by continual fasting and wearing a hair-cloth. He crossed over to Africa a second time to fight with the Saracens, and had pitched his camp in sight of them when he was struck down by a pestilence and died while saying this prayer: 'I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple and I will confess to thy name.' His body was afterwards translated to Paris and is honourably preserved in the celebrated church of St. Denis; but the head is in the Sainte-Chapelle. He was celebrated for miracles, and Pope Boniface VIII enrolled his name among the saints.

Jerusalem, the true Sion, at length opens her gates to thee, O Louis, who for her sake didst give up thy treasures and thy life. From the eternal throne whereon the Son of God gives thee to share His own honours and power, ever promote the kingdom of God on earth; be zealous for the faith; be a strong arm to our mother the Church. Thanks to thee, the infidel east, though it adores not Christ, at least respects His adorers, having but one name for Christian and Frank. For this reason our present rulers would remain protectors of Christianity in those lands, while they persecute it at home; a contradiction no less fatal to the country than opposite to its traditions of liberty, and its reputation for honour and honesty. How can they be said to know our traditions and our history, or to understand the national interests, who misunderstand the God of Clovis, of Charlemagne, and of St. Louis? In that Egypt, the scene of thy labours, what has now become of the patrimony of glorious influence which has been held by thy nation for centuries? Thy descendants are no longer here to defend us against these men who use the country for their own purposes and exile those who have been the makers of it. But how terrible are the judgments of the Lord! Thou thyself hast said: 'I would rather a stranger than my own son should rule my France and kingdom, if my son is to rule amiss.'¹ Thirty years after the Crusade of Tunis, an unworthy prince, Philip IV thy second successor, outraged the Vicar of Christ. Straightway he was rejected by heaven, and his direct male line became extinct. The withered bough was replaced by another branch, though still from the same root. But the nation had to suffer for its kings, and to expiate the crime of Anagni: the judgment of God allowed a terrible war to be brought about through the political indiscretion of the same Philip the Fair,² a prince as discreditable to the State as to the Church and to his own family. Then for a hundred years the country seemed to be on the brink of destruction; until by a wonderful providence of God over the land, the Maid of Orleans, blessed Joan of Arc, rescued the lily of France from the clutches of the English leopard.

Other faults alas! were to compromise still further, and then, twice over, to wither up or break the branches of the royal tree. Long did thy personal merits outweigh before God the scandalous immorality, which our princes had made their family mark, their odious privilege: a shame, which was transmitted by the expiring Valois to the Bourbons; which had to be expiated, but not effaced, by the blood of the just Louis XVI; and which so many illustrious exiles are still expiating in lowliness and sorrow in a foreign land. Would that thou couldst at least recognize these thy remaining sons by their imitation of thy virtues! For it is only by striving to win back this spiritual inheritance, that they can hope that God will one day restore them the other.

For God, who commands us to obey at all times the power actually established, is ever the master of nations and the unchangeable disposer of their changeable destinies. Then every one of thy descendants, taught by sad experience, will be bound to remember, O Louis, thy last recommendation: 'Exert thyself that every vile sin be abolished from thy land; especially, to the best of thy power, put down all wicked oaths and heresy.'

¹ Geoffrey de Beaulieu; Queen Margaret's Confessor; William de Nangis; Joinville.

² By marrying his daughter Isabella to Edward II of England; which marriage after the death of Philip's three sons Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IX, without male issue, furnished the plea for Isabella's son Edward III to pretend to the crown of France.

AUGUST 26

SAINT ZEPHYRINUS

POPE AND MARTYR

Zephyrinus was the first Pontiff to be buried in the celebrated crypt where the Popes of the third century came after their combat to sleep their last sleep. The catacomb which thus succeeded the Vatican cemetery in the honour of sheltering the vicars of Christ, had been opened thirty years before by the virgin martyr Cæcilia. As, when at the point of death, she had consecrated her palace into a church, so now from her tomb she caused her family burial-place to pass into the hands of the Church. This gift of the Cæcilii was the inauguration, in the very face of the pagan government, of common Church property officially recognized by the State. Zephyrinus entrusted the administration of the new cemetery to the person who ranked next to himself in the Roman Church, viz: the archdeacon Callixtus. The holy Pontiff witnessed the growth of heresy concerning the Unity of God and the Trinity of the divine Persons; without the help of the special vocabulary, which was later on to fix even the very terms of theological teaching, he knew how to silence both the Sabellians to whom the Trinity was but a name, and the precursors of Arius, who revenged themselves by reviling him.¹

Zephyrinus Romanus Severo imperatore ad regendam Ecclesiam assumptus, sancivit, ut qui ordinandi essent, opportuno tempore et multis præsentibus clericis et laicis, de more sacris initiarentur; doctique ac spectatæ vitæ homines ad id officii munus deligerentur. Decrevit præterea, ut rem divinam facienti episcopo sacerdotes omnes astarent. Idem instituit ut patriarcha, primas, metropolitanus adversus episcopum non ferant sententiam, nisi apostolica auctoritate fulti. Vixit in pontificatu annos decem et octo, dies decem et octo. Habuit ordinationes quatuor mense decembri, quibus creavit presbyteros tredecim, diaconos septem, episcopos per diversa loca tredecim. Antonino imperatore martyrio coronatus est, et sepultus via Appia prope cœmeterium Callisti, septimo calendas septembris.

Zephyrinus, a Roman by birth, was chosen to govern the Church during the reign of the emperor Severus. He ordained that, according to custom, Holy Orders should be conferred on candidates at a fitting time and in presence of many both clergy and laity; and also that learned and worthy men should be chosen for that dignity. Moreover he decreed that when the bishop was offering the holy Sacrifice, he should be assisted by all the priests. He also ordained that neither patriarch, nor primate, nor metropolitan might condemn a bishop without the authority of the apostolic See. His pontificate lasted eighteen years and eighteen days. In four ordinations which he held in the month of December, he ordained thirteen priests, seven deacons, and thirteen bishops for divers places. He was crowned by martyrdom under the emperor Antoninus, and was buried on the Appian Way, near the cemetery of Callixtus, on the seventh of the Calends of September.

¹ *Philosophumena*, Lib. ix.

Victor I was the Pontiff of the Pasch; and thou also, his successor, wast devoured by the zeal of God's house, to maintain and increase the regularity, the dignity, and the splendour of the divine worship on earth. In heaven the court of the Conqueror of death gained, during thy pontificate, many noble members, such as Irenæus, Perpetua, and the countless martyrs who triumphed in the persecution of Septimus Severus. In the midst of dangerous snares thou wast the divinely assisted guardian of the truth, whom our Lord had promised to His Church. Thy fidelity was rewarded by the increasing advancement of the bride of Jesus, and by the definitive establishment of her foothold upon the world which she is to gain over wholly to her Spouse. We shall meet thee again in October, in company with Callixtus, who is now thy deacon, but will then, in his turn, be vicar of the Man-God. To-day give us thy paternal blessing; and make us ever true sons of St. Peter.

AUGUST 27

SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS

CONFESSOR

'To thee is the poor man left: thou wilt be a helper to the orphan.'¹ Proud Venice has already seen these words realized in her noble son Jerome Æmilian: to-day they indicate the sanctity of another illustrious person descended from the first princes of Navarre, but of still higher rank in the kingdom of charity.

God, who waters the trees of the field as well as the cedars of Libanus, because it is He that planted them all, takes care also of the little birds that do not gather into barns: will He then forget the child, who is of much more value than the birds of the air? Or will He give him corporal nourishment, and neglect the soul hungering for the bread of the knowledge of salvation, which strengthens the heart of man? In the sixteenth century one might have been tempted to think our heavenly Father's granaries were empty. True, the holy Spirit soon raised up new saints; but the reviving charity was insufficient for the number of the destitute; how many poor children, especially, were without schools, deprived of the most elementary education which is indispensable to the fulfilment of their obligations, and to their nobility as children of God: and there was no one to break to them the bread of knowledge!

¹ Ps. ix. 14.

More fortunate than so many other countries overrun with heresy, Spain was at her apogee, enjoying the hundredfold promised to those who seek first the kingdom of God. She seemed to have become our Lord's inexhaustible resource. A little while ago she had given Ignatius Loyola to the world; she had just enriched heaven by the precious death of Teresa of Avila, when the Holy Ghost drew once more from her abundance to add to the riches of the capital of the Christian world, and to supply the wants of the little ones in God's Church.

The descendant of the Calasanz of Petralta de la Sal was already the admired apostle of Aragon, Catalonia, and Castille, when he heard a mysterious voice speaking to his soul: 'Go to Rome; go forth from the land of thy birth; soon shall appear to thee, in her heavenly beauty, the companion destined for thee, holy poverty, who now calls thee to taste of her austere delights; go, without knowing whither I am leading thee; I will make thee the father of an immense family; I will show thee all that thou must suffer for My name's sake.'

Forty years of blind fidelity, in unconscious sanctity, had prepared the elect of heaven for his sublime vocation. 'What can be greater,' asks St. John Chrysostom, 'than to direct the souls and form the characters of children? Indeed I consider him greater than any painter or sculptor, who knows how to fashion the souls of the young.'¹ Joseph understood the dignity of his mission: during the remaining fifty-two years of his life he, according to the recommendations of the holy Doctor, considered nothing mean or despicable in the service of the little ones; nothing cost him dear if only it enabled him, by the teaching of letters, to infuse into the innumerable children who came to him the fear of the Lord. From St. Pantaleon, his residence, the Pious Schools soon covered the whole of Italy, spread into Sicily and Spain, and were eagerly sought by kings and people in Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, and the northern countries.

Eternal Wisdom associated Calasanctius to her own work of salvation on earth. She rewarded him for his labours as she generally does her privileged ones, by giving him a strong conflict, that he might overcome, and know that wisdom is mightier than all.² It is a conflict like that of Jacob at the ford of Jaboc, which represents the last obstacle to the entrance into the promised land, when all the pleasures and goods of the world have been sent on before by absolute renouncement; it is a conflict by night, wherein nature fails and becomes lame; but it is followed by the rising of the sun, and sets the combatant at the entrance of eternal day; it is a conflict with God hand to hand, under the appearance, it is true, of a man or of an angel; but it matters little under what form God chooses to hide Himself, provided it takes nothing from His sovereign dominion. 'Why dost thou ask my name?' said the wrestler to Jacob; 'thine shall be henceforth Israel, strong against God!'

¹ Homilia diei, ex Chrys. in Matth. lx. ² Wisd. x. 12.

Our readers may consult the historians of Saint Joseph Calasanctius for the details of the trials which made him a prodigy of fortitude, as the Church calls him.¹ Through the calumnies of false brethren the saint was deposed, and the Order reduced to the condition of a secular congregation. It was not until after his death that it was re-established, first by Alexander VII, and then by Clement IX, as a Regular Order with solemn vows. In his great work on the Canonization of saints, Benedict XIV speaks at length on this subject, delighting in the part he had taken in the process of the servant of God, first as consistorial advocate, then as promoter of the faith, and lastly as Cardinal giving his vote in favour of the cause. We shall see in the lessons that it was he also that beatified him.

¹ 2nd lesson of the second Nocturn.

Let us now read the life of the founder of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God.

SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS

Josephus Calasanctius a Matre Dei, Petraltæ in Aragonia nobili genere natus, a teneris annis futuræ in pueros caritatis et eorum institutionis indicia præbuit. Nam adhuc parvulus eos ad se convocatos in mysteriis fidei et sacris precibus erudiebat. Humanis divinisque litteris egregie doctus, cum studiis theologicis Valentiæ operam daret, nobilis potentisque feminæ illecebris fortiter superatis, virginitatem quam Deo voverat, inoffensam insigni victoria servavit. Sacerdos ex voto factus, a compluribus episcopis in Castellæ Novæ, Aragoniæ, et Catalauniæ regnis in partem laboris ascitus, exspectationem omnium vicit, pravis ubique moribus emendatis, ecclesiastica disciplina restituta, inimicitiis cruentisque factionibus mirifice exstinctis. At cœlesti visione et Dei voce frequenter admonitus, Romam profectus est.

Joseph Calasanctius of the Mother of God was born of a noble family of Petralta in Aragon, and from his earliest years gave signs of his future love for children and their education. For, when still a little child, he would gather other children round him and would teach them the mysteries of faith and holy prayer. After having received a good education in the liberal arts and divinity, he went through his theological studies at Valencia. Here he courageously overcame the seductions of a noble and powerful lady, and by a remarkable victory preserved unspotted his virginity which he had already vowed to God. He became a priest in fulfilment of a vow; and several bishops of New Castille, Aragon, and Catalonia availed themselves of his assistance. He surpassed all their expectations, corrected evil living throughout the kingdom, restored ecclesiastical discipline, and was marvellously successful in putting an end to enmities and bloody factions. But urged by a heavenly vision, and after having been several times called by God, he went to Rome.

In urbe summa vitæ asperitate, vigiliis et jejuniis corpus affligens, in orationibus et cœlestium rerum contemplatione dies noctesque versabatur, septem ejusdem Urbis ecclesias singulis fere noctibus obire solitus: quem inde morem complures annos servavit. Dato piis sodalitatibus nomine, mirum quanto ardore pauperes, infirmos potissimum, aut carceribus detentos eleemosynis omnique pietatis officio sublevaret. Lue Urbem depopulante, una cum sancto Camillo, tanto fuit actus impetu caritatis, ut præter subsidia ægrotis pauperibus large collata, ipsa etiam defunctorum cadavera suis humeris tumulanda transferret. Verum cum divinitus accepisset, se ad informandos intelligentiæ ac pietatis spiritu adolescentulos, præcipue pauperes, destinari, Ordinem Clericorum regularium pauperum Matris Dei scholarum piarum fundavit, qui peculiarem curam circa puerorum eruditionem ex proprio instituto profiterentur: ipsumque Ordinem a Clemente octavo, a Paulo quinto, aliisque summis Pontificibus magnopere probatum, brevi tempore per plurimas Europæ provincias et regna mirabiliter propagavit. In hoc autem tot labores perpessus est, ac tot ærumnas invicto animo toleravit, ut omnium voce miraculum fortitudinis, et sancti Jobi exemplum diceretur.

Here he led a life of great austerity; fasting and watching, spending whole days and nights in heavenly contemplation, and visiting the seven basilicas of the city almost every night. This last custom he observed for many years. He enrolled himself in pious associations, and with wonderful charity devoted himself to aiding and consoling the poor with alms and other works of mercy, especially those who were sick or imprisoned. When the plague was raging in Rome, he joined St. Camillus, and not content in his ardent zeal, with bestowing lavish care upon the sick poor, he even carried the dead to the grave on his own shoulders. But having been divinely admonished that he was called to educate children, especially those of the poor, in piety and learning, he founded the Order of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools, who are specially destined to devote themselves to the instruction of youth. This Order was highly approved by Clement VIII., Paul V., and others of the Roman Pontiffs, and in a wonderfully short space of time it spread through many of the kingdoms of Europe. But in this undertaking Joseph had to undergo many sufferings and labours, and he endured them all with so much constancy, that every one proclaimed him a miracle of patience and another Job.

Quamvis Ordini universo præesset, totisque viribus ad animarum salutem incumberet, numquam tamen intermisit pueros, præsertim pauperiores, erudire, quorum scholas verrere, eosque domum comitari consuevit. In eo summæ patientiæ et humilitatis munere, valetudine etiam infirma, duos et quinquaginta annos perseveravit: dignus propterea, quem crebris Deus miraculis coram discipulis illustraret, et cui beatissima Virgo cum puero Jesu, illis orantibus benedicente, appareret. Amplissimis interim dignitatibus repudiatis, prophetiæ, abdita cordium et absentia cognoscendi donis et miraculis clarus, Deiparæ Virginis, quam singulari pietate et ipse ab infantia coluit, et suis maxime commendavit, aliorumque cœlitum frequenti apparitione dignatus, cum obitus sui diem, et Ordinis tunc prope eversi restitutionem atque incrementum prænuntiasset, secundum et nonagesimum annum agens, Romæ obdormivit in Domino, octavo calendas septembris, anno millesimo sexcentesimo quadragesimo octavo. Ejus cor et lingua post sæculum integra et incorrupta reperta sunt. [Ipse vero multis post obitum quoque signis a Deo illustratus, primum a Benedicto decimo quarto beatorum cultu decoratus fuit, ac deinde a Clemente decimo tertio inter sanctos solemniter est relatus.]

Though burdened with the government of the whole Order, he nevertheless devoted himself to saving souls, and moreover never gave over teaching children, especially those of the poorer class. He would sweep their schools and take them to their homes himself. For fifty-two years he persevered in this work, though it called upon him to practise the greatest patience and humility, and although he suffered from weak health. God rewarded him by honouring him with many miracles in the presence of his disciples; and the blessed Virgin appeared to him with the Infant Jesus who blessed his children while they were praying. He refused the highest dignities, but he was made illustrious by the gifts of prophecy, of reading the secrets of hearts, and of knowing what was going on in his absence. He was favoured with frequent apparitions of the citizens of heaven, particularly of the Virgin Mother of God, whom he had loved and honoured most especially from his infancy, and whose cultus he had most strongly recommended to his disciples. He foretold the day of his death and the restoration and propagation of his Order, which was then almost destroyed, and in his ninety-second year he fell asleep in our Lord, at Rome, on the eighth of the Calends of September, in the year 1648. A century later, his heart and tongue were found whole and incorrupt. God honoured him by many miracles after his death. Benedict XIV. granted him the honours of the blessed, and Clement XIII. solemnly enrolled him among the saints.

The Lord hath heard the desires of the poor,¹ by making thee the depositary of His love, and putting on thy lips the words He Himself was the first to utter: 'Suffer the little children to come unto me.'² How many owe, and will yet owe, their eternal happiness to thee, O Joseph, because thou and thy sons have preserved in them the divine likeness received in Baptism, man's only title to heaven! Be thou blessed for having justified the confidence Jesus placed in thee by entrusting to thy care those frail little beings, who are the objects of His divine predilection. Be thou blessed for having still further corresponded to that confidence of our Lord, when He suffered thee, like Job, to be persecuted by Satan, and with yet more cruel surprises than those of the just Idumæan. Must not God be able to count unfailingly upon those who are His? Is it not fitting that, amidst the defections of this miserable world, He should be able to show His angels what grace can do in our poor nature, and how far His adorable will can be carried out in His saints?

The reward of thy sufferings, which thy unwavering confidence expected from the Mother of God, came at the divinely appointed hour. O Joseph, now that the Pious Schools have been long ago re-established, bless the disciples whom even our age continues to give thee; obtain for them, and for the countless scholars they train to Christian science, the blessing of the Infant Jesus. Give thy spirit and thy courage to all who devote their labours and their life to the education of the young; raise us all to the level of the teachings of thy heroic life.

¹ Offertory from Ps. ix. 17. ² Communion from St. Mark x. 14.

AUGUST 28

SAINT AUGUSTINE BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

To-day Augustine, the greatest and the humblest of the Doctors, is hailed above, where his conversion caused greater joy than that of any other sinner; and celebrated by the Church, who is enlightened by his writings as to the power, the value, and the gratuitousness of divine grace.

Since that wonderful, heavenly conversation at Ostia,¹ God had completed His triumph in the son of Monica's tears and of Ambrose's holiness. Far away from the great cities where pleasure had seduced him, the former rhetorician now cared only to nourish his soul with the simplicity of the Scriptures, in silence and solitude. But grace, after breaking the double chain that bound his mind and his heart, was to have a still greater dominion over him; the pontifical consecration was to consummate Augustine's union with that divine Wisdom, whom alone he declared he loved 'for her own sole sake, caring neither for rest nor life save on her account.'² From this height, to which the divine mercy had raised him, let us hear him pouring out his heart:

'Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and yet so new! Too late have I loved Thee! And behold Thou wast within me, and I, having wandered out of myself, sought Thee everywhere without. . . . I questioned the earth, and she answered me: "I am

¹ See life of St. Monica, May 4, Paschal time Vol II.
² Soliloq. i. 22.

not the one thou seekest"; and all the creatures of earth made the same reply. I questioned the sea and its abysses and all the living things therein, and they answered: "We are not thy God; seek above us." I questioned the restless winds; and all the air with its inhabitants replied: "Anaximenes is mistaken, I am not God." I questioned the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they said: "We are not the God whom thou seekest." And I said to all these things that stand without at the gates of my senses: "Ye have all confessed concerning my God that ye are not He, tell me now something about Him." And they all cried with one great voice: "It is He that made us." I questioned them with my desires, and they answered by their beauty.— Let the air and the waters and the earth be silent! Let man keep silence in his own soul! Let him pass beyond his own thought; for beyond all language of men or of angels, He, of whom creatures speak, makes Himself heard; where signs and images and figurative visions cease, there eternal Wisdom reveals Herself. . . . Thou didst call and cry so loud that my deaf ears could hear Thee; Thou didst shine so brightly that my blind eyes could see Thee; Thy fragrance exhilarated me, and it is after Thee that I aspire; having tasted Thee I hunger and thirst; Thou hast touched me and thrilled me, and I burn to be in Thy peaceful rest. "When I shall be united to Thee with my whole being, then will my sorrows and labours cease."¹

To the end of his life Augustine never ceased to fight for the truth against all the heresies then invented by the father of lies; in his ever repeated victories, we know not which to admire most: his knowledge of the holy Scriptures, his powerful logic, or his eloquence. We see too that divine charity which, while inflexibly upholding every iota of God's rights, is full of ineffable compassion for the unhappy beings who do not understand those rights.

"Let those be hard upon you who do not know what labour it is to reach the truth and turn away from error. Let those be hard upon you, who know not how rare a thing it is, and how much it costs, to overcome the false images of the senses and to dwell in peace of soul. Let those be hard upon you, who know not with what difficulty man's mental eye is healed so as to be able to gaze upon the Sun of justice; who know not through what sighs and groans one attains to some little knowledge of God. Let those, finally, be hard upon you, who have never known seduction like that whereby you are deceived. . . . As for me, who have been tossed about by the vain imaginations of which my mind was in search, and who have shared your misery and so long deplored it, I could not by any means be hard to you."¹

These touching words were addressed to the disciples of Manes, who were hemmed in on all sides even by the laws of the pagan emperors. How fearful is the misery of our fallen race, when the darkness of hell can overpower the loftiest intellects! Augustine, the formidable opponent of heresy, was, for nine years more, the convinced disciple and ardent apostle of Manicheism. This heresy was a strange variety of Gnostic dualism, which, to explain the existence of evil, made a god of evil itself; and which owed its prolonged influence to the pleasure taken in it by satan's pride.

Augustine sustained also a prolonged though more local struggle against the Donatists, whose teaching was based on a principle as false as the fact from which it professed to originate. This fact, which on the petitions presented by the Donatists themselves was juridically proved to be false, was that Cæcilianus, primate of Africa in 311, had received episcopal consecration from a traditor, i.e. one who had delivered up the sacred Books in time of persecution. No one, argued the Donatists, could communicate with a sinner, without himself ceasing to form part of the flock of Christ; therefore, as the bishops of the rest of the world had continued to communicate with Cæcilianus and his successors, the Donatists alone were now the Church. This groundless schism was established among most of the inhabitants of Roman Africa, with its four hundred and ten bishops, and its troops of Circumcellions ever ready to commit murders and violence upon the Catholics on the roads or in isolated houses. The greater part of our saint's time was occupied in trying to bring back these lost sheep.

We must not imagine him studying at his ease, in the peace of a quiet episcopal city chosen as if for the purpose by Providence, and there writing those precious works whose fruits the whole world has enjoyed even to our days. There is no fecundity on earth without sufferings and trials, known sometimes to men, sometimes to God alone. When the writings of the saints awaken in us pious thoughts and generous resolutions, we must not be satisfied, as we might in the case of profane books, with admiring the genius of the authors, but think with gratitude of the price they paid for the supernatural good produced in our souls. Before Augustine's arrival in Hippo, the Donatists were so great a majority of the population, that, as he himself informs us, they could even forbid anyone to bake bread for Catholics.¹

When the saint died, things were very different; but the pastor, who had made it his first duty to save, even in spite of themselves, the souls confided to him, had been obliged to spend his days and nights in this great work, and had more than once run the risk of martyrdom.¹ The leaders of the schismatics, fearing the force of his reasoning even more than his eloquence, refused all intercourse with him; they declared that to put Augustine to death would be a praiseworthy action, which would merit for the perpetrator the remission of his sins.²

"Pray for us," he said at the beginning of his episcopate, "pray for us who live in so precarious a state, as it were between the teeth of furious wolves. These wandering sheep, obstinate sheep, are offended because we run after them, as if their wandering made them cease to be ours.— Why dost thou call us? they say; why dost thou pursue us?—But the very reason of our cries and our anguish is that they are running to their ruin.—If I am lost, if I die, what is it to thee? what dost thou want with me?— What I want is to call thee back from thy wandering; what I desire is to snatch thee from death. —But what if I will to wander? what if I will to be lost?—Thou willest to wander? thou willest to be lost? How much more earnestly do I wish it not! Yea, I dare to say it, I am importunate; for I hear the Apostle saying: 'Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season.'³ In season, when they are willing; out of season, when they are unwilling. Yes then, I am importunate: thou willest to perish, I will it not. And He wills it not, who threatened the shepherds saying: 'That which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost.'¹ Am I to fear thee more than Him? I fear thee not; the tribunal of Donatus cannot take the place of Christ's judgment seat, before which we must all appear. Whether thou will it or not, I shall call back the wandering sheep, I shall seek the lost sheep. The thorns may tear me; but however narrow the opening may be, it shall not check my pursuit; I will beat every bush, as long as the Lord gives me strength; so only I can get to thee wherever thou strivest to perish."²

Driven into their last trenches by such unconquerable charity, the Donatists replied by massacring clerics and faithful, since they could not touch Augustine himself. The bishop implored the imperial judges not to inflict mutilation or death upon the murderers lest the triumph of the martyrs should be sullied by such a vengeance. Such mildness was certainly worthy of the Church; but it was destined to be one day brought forward against her in contrast to certain other facts of her history, by a school of liberalism that can grant rights and even pre-eminence to error. Augustine acknowledges his first idea to have been that constraint should not be used to bring any one into the unity of Christ; he believed that preaching and free discussion should be the only arms employed for the conversion of heretics. But on the consideration of what was taking place before his eyes, the very logic of his charity brought him over to the opinion of his more ancient colleagues in the episcopate.³

"Who," he says, "could love us more than God does? Nevertheless God makes use of fear in order to save us, although He teaches us with sweetness. When the Father of the family wanted guests for His banquet, did He not send His servants to the highways and hedges, to compel all they met to come in? This banquet is the unity of Christ's body. If, then, the divine goodness has willed that, at the fitting time, the faith of Christian kings should recognize this power of the Church, let the heretics brought back from the by-ways, and schismatics forced into their enclosures, consider not the constraint they suffer, but the banquet of the Lord to which they would not otherwise have attained. Does not the shepherd sometimes use threats and sometimes blows, to win back to the master's fold the sheep that have been enticed out of it? Severity that springs from love is preferable to deceitful gentleness. He who binds the delirious man, and wakes up the sleeper from his lethargy, molests them both, but for their good. If a house were on the point of falling, and our cries could not induce those within to come out, would it not be cruelty not to save them by force in spite of themselves? and that, even if we could snatch only one from death, because the rest, seeing it, obstinately hastened their own destruction: as the Donatists do, who in their madness commit suicide to obtain the crown of martyrdom. No one can become good in spite of himself; nevertheless, the rigorous laws, of which they complain, bring deliverance not only to individuals, but to whole cities, by freeing them from the bonds of untruth and causing them to see the truth, which the violence or the deceits of the schismatics had hidden from their eyes. Far from complaining, their gratitude is now boundless and their joy complete; their feasts and their chants are unceasing."¹

Meanwhile the justice of heaven was falling upon the queen of nations; Rome, after the triumph of the cross, had not profited of God's merciful delay; now she was expiating, under the hand of Alaric, the blood of the saints which she had shed before her idols. "Go out from her my people!"¹ At this signal the city was evacuated. The roads were all lined with barbarians; and happy was the fugitive who could succeed in reaching the sea, there to entrust to the frailest skiff the honour of his family and the remains of his fortune. Like a bright beacon shining through the storms, Augustine, by his reputation, attracted to the African coast the best of the unfortunates; his varied correspondence shows us the new links then formed by God, between the bishop of Hippo and so many noble exiles. At one time he would send, as far as Nola in Campania, charming messages, mingled with learned questions and luminous answers, to greet his "dear lords and venerable brethren, Paulinus and Therasia, his fellow disciples in the school of our Lord Jesus." Again it was to Carthage, or even nearer home, that his letters were directed, to console, instruct, and fortify Albina, Melania, and Pinianus, but especially Proba and Juliana, the illustrious grandmother and mother of a still more illustrious daughter, the virgin Demetrias, the greatest in the Roman world for nobility and wealth, and Augustine's dear conquest to the heavenly Spouse. "Oh! who," he wrote on hearing of her consecration to our Lord, "could worthily express the glory added this day to the family of the Anicii? For years, it has ennobled the world by the consuls its sons, but now it gives virgins to Christ! Let others imitate Demetrias; whosoever ambitions the glory of this illustrious family, let him take holiness for his portion!"² Augustine's desire was magnificently realized, when, less than a century later, the gens Anicia gave to the world Scholastica and Benedict, who were to lead into intimate familiarity and union with God so many souls eager for true nobility.

When Rome fell, the shock was felt throughout the provinces and even beyond. Augustine tells us how he, a descendant of the ancient Numidians, groaned and wept in his almost inconsolable grief;¹ so great, even in her decadence, was the universal esteem and love for the queen city, through the secret action of Him who was holding out to her new and higher destinies. Meanwhile the terrible crisis furnished the occasion for Augustine's most important writings. The City of God was an answer to the still numerous partisans of idolatry, who attributed the misfortunes of the empire to the suppression of the false gods. In this great work he refutes, in the most complete and masterly way, the theology and also the philosophy of Roman and Grecian paganism; he then proceeds to set forth the origin, the history, and the end of the two cities, the earthly, and the heavenly, which divide the world between them, and which are founded upon "two opposite loves: the love of self even to the despising of God, and the love of God even to the despising of self."²

¹ Confess. Lib. ix and x. passim.

¹ Contra litteras Petiliani, i. 184.

¹ Possidius, vita Augustini. 13. ² Ibid. 10. ³ 2 Tim. iv. 2.

¹ Ezech. xxxiv. 4. ² S. Aug. sermon xlvi, 14. ³ Epistolæ, passim.

¹ B. Aug. contra epist. Manichæi quam vocant fundamenti, 2-3.

¹ Epistolæ, passim.

¹ Apoc. xviii. 4. ² Epist. cl, cf. clxxix.

But Augustine's greatest triumph was that which earned for him the title of the Doctor of grace. His favourite prayer: Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis,³⁴ offended the pride of a certain British monk, whom the events of the year 410¹² had led into Africa. This was Pelagius, who taught that nature, all-powerful for good, was quite capable of working out salvation, and that Adam's sin injured himself alone, and was not passed down to his posterity. We can well understand Augustine, who owed so much to the divine mercy, feeling so strong an aversion for a system whose authors seemed to say to God: 'Thou madest us men, but it is we that justify ourselves.'

¹ De urbis excidio, 3. ² De civitate Dei contra paganos xiv, xxviii. ³ Lord give me grace to do what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. ⁴ De dono perseverantiæ, 53.

In this new campaign no injuries were spared to the former convert; but they were his joy and his hope. He had already said, with regard to similar arguments adduced by other adversaries: 'Catholics, my beloved brethren, one flock of the one Shepherd, I care not how the enemy may insult the watch-dog of the fold; it is not for my own defence, but for yours, that I must bark. Yet I must needs tell this enemy that, as to my former wanderings and errors, I condemn them, as every one else does; I can but see therein the glory of Him who has delivered me from myself. When I hear my former life brought forward, no matter with what intention it is done, I am not so ungrateful as to be afflicted thereat; for the more they bring up my misery, the more I praise my physician.'¹

While he made so little account of himself, his reputation was spreading throughout the world, by reason of the victory he had won for grace. 'Honour to you,' wrote the aged St. Jerome from Bethlehem; 'honour to the man whom the raging winds have not been able to overthrow! ... Continue to be of good courage. The whole world celebrates your praises; the Catholics venerate and admire you as the restorer of the ancient faith. But what is a mark of still greater glory, all the heretics hate you. They honour me, too, with their hatred. Not being able to strike us with the sword, they kill us in desire.'²

¹ Contra litteras Petiliani, iii, 11. ² Hieron. epist. cxli, al. lxxx.

These lines reveal the intrepid combatant with whom we shall make acquaintance in September, and who, soon after writing them, was laid to rest in the sacred cave near which he had taken refuge. Augustine had yet some years to continue the good fight, to complete the exposition of Catholic doctrine in contradiction to some even holy persons, who were inclined to think that at least the beginning of salvation, the desire of faith, did not require the special assistance of God. This was semi-pelagianism. A century later (529) the second Council of Orange, approved by Rome and hailed by the whole Church, closed the struggle, taking its definitions from the writings of the bishop of Hippo. Augustine himself, however, thus concluded his last work: 'Let those who read these things give thanks to God, if they understand them; if not, let them pray to the teacher of our souls, to him whose shining produces knowledge and understanding. Do they think that I err? Let them reflect again and again, lest perhaps they themselves be mistaken. As for me, when the readers of my works instruct and correct me, I see therein the goodness of God; yea, I ask it as a favour, especially of the learned ones in the Church, if by chance this book should fall into their hands, and they deign to take notice of what I write.'¹

¹ De dono perseverantiæ, 68.

But let us return to the privileged people of Hippo, won over by Augustine's devotedness, even more than by his admirable discourses. His door was open to every comer; and he was ever ready to listen to the requests, the sorrows, and the disputes of his children. Sometimes, at the instance of other churches, and even of councils, requiring of Augustine a more active pursuit of works of general interest, an agreement was made between the flock and the pastor, that on certain days of the week no one should interrupt him. But the convention could not last long. Whoever wished could claim the attention of this loving and humble shepherd, beside whom the little ones especially knew well that they would never meet with a refusal. As an instance of this we may mention the fortunate child, who wishing to enter into correspondence with the bishop, but not daring to take the initiative, received from him the touching letter which may be seen in his works.¹

¹ Epist. cclxvi, al. cxxxii. Augustinus Florentinæ puellæ.

Besides all his other glories, our saint was the institutor of monastic life in Roman Africa, by the monasteries he founded, and in which he lived before he became bishop. He was a legislator by his letter to the virgins of Hippo, which became the rule whereon so many servants and handmaids of our Lord have formed their religious life. Lastly, together with the clerics of his church who lived with him a common life of absolute poverty, he was the example and the head of the great family of Regular Canons. But we must close these already lengthy pages which will be completed by the narrative of the holy liturgy.

Let us, then, read this authentic account. Independently of the present feast, the Church, in her martyrology, makes special mention of Augustine's conversion on the fifth of May.

Augustinus, Tagastæ in Africa honestis parentibus natus, ac puer docilitate ingenii æquales longe superans, brevi omnibus doctrina antecelluit. Adolescens, dum esset Carthagine, in Manichæorum hæresim incidit. Postea Romam profectus, inde Mediolanum missus ut rhetoricam doceret, cum ibi frequens Ambrosii episcopi esset auditor, ejus opera incensus studio catholicæ fidei, annos natus triginta tres ab ipso baptizatur. Reversus in Africam, cum religione vitæ sanctimoniam conjungens, a Valerio notæ sanctitatis episcopo Hipponensi presbyter factus est. Quo tempore familiam instituit religiosorum, quibuscum victu communi eodemque cultu utens, eos ad apostolicæ vitæ doctrinæque disciplinam diligentissime erudiebat. Sed cum vigeret Manichæorum hæresis, vehementius in illam invehi cœpit, Fortunatumque hæresiarcham confutavit.

Augustine was born at Tagastæ² in Africa of noble parents. As a child he was so apt in learning that in a short time he far surpassed in knowledge all those of his own age. When he was a young man he went to Carthage where he fell into the Manichæan heresy. Later on, he journeyed to Rome, and was sent thence to Milan to teach rhetoric. Having frequently listened to the teaching of Ambrose the bishop, he was through his influence inflamed with a desire of the Catholic faith and was baptized by him at the age of thirty-three. On his return to Africa, as his holy life was in keeping with his religion, Valerius the bishop, who was then renowned for his sanctity, ordained him priest. It was at this time that he founded a religious community with whom he lived, sharing their food, and dress, and training them with the utmost care in the rules of apostolic life and teaching. The Manichæan heresy was then growing very strong: he opposed it with great vigour and refuted one of its leaders named Fortunatus.

² Souk-Arhas, in Algeria, 25 leagues to the south of Bona, the ancient Hippo.

Hac Augustini pietate commotus Valerius, eum adjutorem adhibuit episcopalis officii. Nihil illo fuit humilius, nihil continentius. Lectus ac vestitus moderatus, vulgaris mensa, quam semper sacra vel lectione vel disputatione condiebat. Tanta benignitate fuit in pauperes, ut, cum non esset ulla facultas, sacra vasa frangeret ad eorum inopiam sustentandam. Feminarum, et in eis sororis, et fratris filiæ, contubernium familiaritatemque vitavit: quippe qui diceret, etsi propinquæ mulieres suspectæ non essent, tamen quæ ad eas ventitarent, posse suspicionem efficere. Nullum finem fecit prædicandi Dei verbum, nisi gravi morbo oppressus. Hæreticos perpetuo insectatus et coram et scriptis, ac nullo loco passus consistere, Africam a Manichæorum, Donatistarum, Pelagianorum, aliorumque præterea hæreticorum errore magna ex parte liberavit.

Valerius perceiving Augustine's great piety made him his coadjutor in the bishopric. He was always most humble and most temperate. His clothing and his bed were of the simplest kind: he kept a frugal table, which was always seasoned by reading or holy conversation. Such was his loving kindness to the poor, that when he had no other resource, he broke up the sacred vessels, for their relief. He avoided all intercourse and conversation with women, even with his sister and his niece, for he used to say that though such near relatives could not give rise to any suspicion, yet might the women who came to visit them. Never, except when seriously ill, did he omit preaching the word of God. He pursued heretics unremittingly both in public disputations and in his writings, never allowing them to take foothold anywhere; and by these means he almost entirely freed Africa from the Manichees, Donatists and other heretics.

Tam multa pie, subtiliter et copiose scripsit, ut christianam doctrinam maxime illustrarit. Quem in primis secuti sunt, qui postea theologicam disciplinam via et ratione tradiderunt. Vandalis Africam bello vastantibus, et Hipponem tertium jam mensem obsidentibus, in febrim incidit. Itaque cum discessum e vita sibi instare intelligeret, psalmos David, qui ad pœnitentiam pertinent, in conspectu positos profusis lacrimis legebat. Solebat autem dicere neminem, etsi nullius sceleris sibi conscius esset, committere debere, ut sine pœnitentia migraret e vita. Ergo sensibus integris, in oratione defixus, astantibus fratribus, quos ad caritatem, pietatem, virtutesque omnes erat adhortatus, migravit in cælum. Vixit annos septuaginta sex, in episcopatu ad triginta sex. Cujus corpus primum in Sardiniam delatum, deinde a Luitprando, Longobardorum rege, magno pretio redemptum, Ticinum translatum est, ibique honorifice conditum.

His numerous works are full of piety, deep wisdom and eloquence, and throw the greatest light on Christian doctrine, so that he is the great master and guide of all those who later on reduced theological teaching to method. While the Vandals were devastating Africa, and Hippo had been besieged by them for three months, Augustine was seized with a fever. When he perceived that his death was at hand, he had the penitential psalms of David placed before him, and used to read them with an abundance of tears. He was accustomed to say that no one, even though not conscious to himself of any sin, ought to be presumptuous enough to die without repentance. He was in full possession of his faculties and intent on prayer to the end. After exhorting his brethren who were around him, to charity, piety and the practice of every virtue, he passed to heaven, having lived seventy-six years, and thirty-six as bishop. His body was first of all taken to Sardinia, afterwards Luitprand, king of the Lombards, translated it to Pavia, where it was honourably entombed.

What a death was thine, O Augustine, receiving on thy humble couch nought but news of disasters and ruin! Thy Africa was perishing at the hands of the barbarians, in punishment of those nameless crimes of the ancient world, in which she had so large a share. Together with Genseric, Arius triumphed over that land, which nevertheless, thanks to thee, was to produce, for yet a hundred years, admirable martyrs for the Consubstantiality of the Word. When Belisarius restored her to the Roman world, God seemed to be offering her, for the martyrs' sake, an opportunity of returning to her former prosperity; but the inexperienced Byzantines, preoccupied with their theological quarrels and political intrigues, knew not how to raise her up, nor to protect her against an invasion more terrible than the first; and the torrent of Mussulman infidelity soon swept all before it.

At length, after twelve centuries, the cross reappeared in those places, where the very names of so many flourishing churches had perished. May the nation on which thy country is now dependent, show that it is proud of this honour, and understand its consequent obligations!

During all that long night which overhung thy native land, thy influence did not cease. Throughout the entire world, thy immortal works were enlightening the minds of men and arousing their love. In the basilicas served by thy sons and imitators, the splendour of divine worship, the pomp of the ceremonies, the perfection of the sacred melodies, kept up in the hearts of the people the same supernatural enthusiasm which took possession of thine own, when for the first time in our west, St. Ambrose instituted the alternate chanting of the psalms and sacred hymns.¹ Throughout all ages the perfect life, in its many different ways of exercising the double precept of charity, draws from the waters of thy fountains. Continue to illumine the Church with thine incomparable light. Bless the numerous religious families which claim thine illustrious patronage. Assist us all, by obtaining for us the spirit of love and of penance, of confidence and of humility, which befits the redeemed soul. Give us to know the weakness of our nature and its unworthiness since the fall, and at the same time the boundless goodness of our God, the superabundance of His Redemption, the all-powerfulness of His grace. May we all, like thee, not only recognize the truth, but be able loyally and practically to say to God: 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is ill at ease till it rest in Thee.'²

According to the most ancient monuments of the Roman Church,³ another saint has always been honoured on this same day, viz: Hermes, a Roman magistrate, who bore witness to Christ under Trajan. The crypt constructed, less than half a century after the death of the apostles, to receive this martyr's relics, is remarkable for its majestic and ample proportions not usually found in the subterranean cemeteries. It was his sister Theodora, who received

¹ Aug. confess. ix. ² Ibid. i. ³ Calendarium Bucherii.

From Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, the venerable chains of St. Peter.

PRAYER

Deus, qui beatum Hermetem, martyrem tuum, virtute constantiæ in passione roborasti: ex ejus nobis imitatione tribue, pro amore tuo prospera mundi despicere, et nulla ejus adversa formidare. Per Dominum.

O God, who didst strengthen blessed Hermes, thy martyr, with the virtue of constancy in suffering: grant us in imitation of him to despise worldly prosperity for the love of thee, and not to fear any of its adversity. Through our Lord, &c.

AUGUST 29

THE DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

AT that time, Herod sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Now Herodias laid snares for him, and was desirous to put him to death, and could not. For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and kept him, and when he heard him did many things; and he heard him willingly. And when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the princes, and tribunes, and chief men of Galilee. And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with him, the king said to the damsel: "Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee." And he swore to her, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask, I will give thee; though it be the half of my kingdom." Who, when she was gone out, said to her mother: "What shall I ask?" But she said, "The head of John the Baptist." And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying, "I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Baptist." And the king was struck sad; yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her; but sending an executioner he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. "Which his disciples hearing, came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb."¹

Thus died the greatest of them that are born of women: without witnesses, the prisoner of a petty tyrant, the victim of the vilest of passions, the wages of a dancing girl! Rather than keep silence in the presence of crime, although there were no hope of converting the sinner, or give up his liberty, even when in chains: the herald of the Word made flesh was ready to die. How beautiful, as St. John Chrysostom remarks, is this liberty of speech, when it is truly the liberty of God's Word, when it is an echo of heaven's language! Then, indeed, it is a stumbling-block to tyranny, the safe-guard of the world and of God's rights, the bulwark of a nation's honour as well as of its temporal and eternal interests. Death has no power over it. To the weak murderer of John the Baptist, and to all who would imitate

¹ Gospel of the feast, St. Mark vi. 17-29.

him to the end of time, a thousand tongues, instead of one, repeat in all languages and in all places: "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife."

"O great and admirable mystery!" cries out Saint Augustine. "He must increase, but I must decrease," said John, said the voice which personified all the voices that had gone before announcing the Father's Word Incarnate in His Christ. Every word, in that it signifies something, in that it is an idea, an internal word, is independent of the number of syllables, of the various letters and sounds; it remains unchangeable in the heart that conceives it, however numerous may be the words that give it outward existence, the voices that utter it, the languages, Greek, Latin and the rest, into which it may be translated. To him who knows the word, expressions and voices are useless. The prophets were voices, the apostles were voices; voices are in the psalms, voices in the Gospel. But let the Word come, the Word who was in the beginning, the Word who was with God, the Word who was God; when we shall see Him as He is, shall we hear the Gospel repeated? Shall we listen to the prophets? Shall we read the Epistles of the apostles? The voice fails where the Word increases. . . . Not that in Himself the Word can either diminish or increase. But He is said to grow in us, when we grow in Him. To him, then, who draws near to Christ, to him who makes progress in the contemplation of wisdom, words are of little use; of necessity they tend to fail altogether. Thus the ministry of the voice falls short in proportion as the soul progresses towards the Word; it is thus that Christ must increase and John decrease. The same is indicated by the decollation of John, and the exaltation of Christ upon the cross; as it had already been shown by their birthdays: for, from the birth of John the days begin to shorten, and from the birth of our Lord they begin to grow longer."¹

The holy doctor here gives a useful lesson to those who guide souls along the path to perfection. If, from the very beginning, they must respectfully observe the movements of grace in each of them, in order to second the Holy Ghost, and not to supplant Him; so also, in proportion as these souls advance, the directors must be careful not to impede the Word by the abundance of their own speech. Moreover, they must discreetly respect the ever-growing powerlessness of those souls to express what our Lord is working in them. Happy to have led the bride to the Bridegroom, let them learn to say with John: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

The sacred cycle itself seems to convey to us too a similar lesson; for, during the following days, we shall see its teaching as it were tempered down, by the fewness of the feasts, and the disappearance of great solemnities until November. The school of the holy liturgy aims at adapting the soul, more surely and more fully than could any other school, to the interior teaching of the Spouse. Like John, the Church would be glad to let God alone speak always, if that were possible here below; at least, towards the end of the way, she loves to moderate her voice, and sometimes even to keep silence, in order to give her children an opportunity of showing that they know how to listen inwardly to Him, who is both her and their sole love. Let those who interpret her thought, first understand it well. The friend of the Bridegroom, who, until the nuptial-day, walked before Him, now stands and listens; and the voice of the Bridegroom, which silences his own, fills him

¹ Aug. Sermon cclxxxviii, In Natali S. J. Bapt. II. De voce et verbo.

with immense joy: "This my joy therefore is fulfilled," said the precursor.¹

Thus the feast of the Decollation of St. John may be considered as one of the landmarks of the liturgical year. With the Greeks it is a holiday of obligation. Its great antiquity in the Latin Church is evidenced by the mention made of it in the martyrology called St. Jerome's, and by the place it occupies in the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries. The precursor's blessed death took place about the feast of the Pasch; but, that it might be more freely celebrated, this day was chosen, whereon his sacred head was discovered at Emesa.

The vengeance of God fell heavily upon Herod Antipas. Josephus relates how he was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudiated in order to follow his wicked passions; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John.² He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul, where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her dancing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors, that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death.

From Macherontis, beyond the Jordan, where their master had suffered martyrdom, John's disciples carried his body to Sebaste (Samaria), out of the territory of Antipas; it was necessary to save it from the profanations of Herodias, who had not spared his august head. The wretched woman did not

¹ St. John iii. 29. ² Joseph. Antiquit. Jud. xviii. 6.
³ Pseudo-Dexter, chronicon, ad ann. Christi 31; Niceph. Call. i. xx.

think her vengeance complete, till she had pierced with a hairpin the tongue that had not feared to utter her shame; and that face, which for seven centuries the church of Amiens has offered to the veneration of the world, still bears traces of the violence inflicted by her in her malicious triumph. In the reign of Julian the Apostate, the pagans wished to complete the work of this unworthy descendant of the Machabees,¹ by opening the saint's tomb at Sebaste, in order to burn and scatter his remains. But the empty sepulchre continued to be a terror to the demons, as St. Paula attested with deep emotion a few years later. Moreover, some of the precious relics were saved, and dispersed throughout the east. Later on, especially at the time of the Crusades, they were brought into the west, where many churches glory in possessing them.

Let us greet the noble martyr Sabina, whose triumph completes the glories of this day. The very ancient church of St. Sabina on the Aventine is one of the gems of the eternal city. It shared with St. Sixtus the Old the honour of sheltering Saint Dominic and his first children.

PRAYER

Deus, qui inter cetera potentiæ tuæ miracula, etiam in sexu fragili victoriam martyrii contulisti: concede propitius; ut qui beatæ Sabinæ martyris tuæ natalitia colimus, per ejus ad te exempla gradiamur. Per Dominum.

O God, who among other miracles of thy power, hast granted even to the weaker sex the victory of martyrdom, grant, we beseech thee, that we who celebrate the festival of thy blessed martyr Sabina, may walk to thee by her example. Through our Lord, &c.

¹ By her grand-mother, Mariamne, grand-daughter of Hyrcanus.

Let us return to the Precursor, and make our own the following formulæ found in the Gregorian sacramentary for the feast of the Decollation.

PRAYER

Sancti Joannis Baptistæ et martyris tui, Domine, quæsumus, veneranda festivitas, salutaris auxilii nobis præstet effectum. Per Dominum.

We beseech thee, O Lord, that the venerable festival of St. John Baptist, thy precursor and martyr, may procure for us the effect of salutary help. Who livest &c.

SUPER OBLATA

Munera tibi, Domine, pro sancti martyris tui Joannis Baptistæ passione deferimus, qui dum finitur in terris, factus est cœlesti sede perpetuus; quæsumus, ut ejus obtentu nobis proficiant ad salutem. Per Dominum.

We present our offerings to thee, O Lord, in honour of the passion of thy holy martyr John Baptist, who, closing his life on earth began to live eternally in heaven; we beseech thee, that by his intercession these gifts may profit us unto salvation. Through our Lord.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus: Qui præcursorem Filii tui tanto munere ditasti, ut pro veritatis præconio capite plecteretur: Et qui Christum aqua baptizaverat, ab ipso in Spiritu baptizatus, pro eodem proprio sanguine tingeretur. Præco quippe veritatis, quæ Christus est, Herodem a fraternis thalamis prohibendo, carceris obscuritate detruditur, ubi solius divinitatis tuæ lumine frueretur. Deinde capitalem sententiam subiit, et ad inferna Dominum præcursurus descendit. Et quem in mundo digito demonstravit, ad inferos pretiosa morte præcessit. Et ideo cum angelis.

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: who didst enrich the Precursor of thy Son with so great a grace, that he was beheaded for proclaiming the truth: and he who had baptized Christ with water, was baptized by Christ in the Spirit, and for his sake was washed in his own blood. For having, as a herald of the truth which is Christ, forbidden Herod to keep his brother's wife, he was cast into a dark prison, where he enjoyed no light but that of thy divinity. Afterwards he endured the punishment of death, and went down to limbo as the precursor of the Lord, preceding thither, by his precious death, him whom on earth he had pointed out with the finger. And therefore with the angels.

BENEDICTIO

Deus, qui nos beati Joannis Baptistæ concedit solemnia frequentare, tribuat vobis et eadem devotis mentibus celebrare, et suæ benedictionis dona percipere.

℟. Amen.

Et qui pro legis ejus præconio carceralibus est retrusus in tenebris, intercessione sua a tenebrosorum operum vos liberet incentivis.

℟. Amen.

Et qui pro veritate, quæ Deus est, caput non est cunctatus amittere, suo interventu ad caput nostrum, quod Christus est, vos faciat pervenire.

℟. Amen.

Quod ipse præstare dignetur.

May God, who permitteth us to keep the solemnity of blessed John Baptist, grant you to celebrate it with devout minds, and to receive the gifts of his blessing.

℟. Amen.

And may he, who for proclaiming the law of God was shut up in a darksome prison, deliver you from the influence of the works of darkness.

℟. Amen.

And through the intercession of him who hesitated not to give his head for the truth which is God, may we attain unto Christ our head.

I. Amen. Which may he deign to grant, who reigneth for ever.

AD COMPLENDUM

Conferat nobis, Domine, sancti Joannis utrumque solemnitas: ut et magnifica sacramenta quæ sumpsimus, digne veneremur, et nobis salutaria sentiamus. Per Dominum.

May the solemnity of Saint John procure for us, O Lord, that we may both worthily venerate the magnificent mysteries we have received, and also experience their salutary effect within us. Through our Lord.

AUGUST 30

The fragrance of holiness is wafted to-day across the dark ocean, renewing the youth of the old world, and winning for the new the good will of heaven and earth.

A century before the birth of St. Rose, Spain, having cast out the crescent from her own territory, received as a reward the mission of planting the cross on the distant shores of America. Neither heroes nor apostles were wanting in the Catholic kingdom for the great work; but there was also, unhappily, no lack of adventurers, who, in their thirst for gold, became the scourge of the poor Indians, instead of leading them to the true God. The speedy decadence of the illustrious nation that had triumphed over the Moors, was soon to prove how far a people, prevented with the greatest blessings, may yet be answerable for crimes committed by its individual representatives. It is well known how the empire of the Incas in Peru came to an end. In spite of the indignant protestations of the missionaries; in spite of orders received from the mother country; in a few years, Pizarro and his companions had exterminated one third of the inhabitants of these flourishing regions; another third perished miserably under a slavery worse than death; the rest fled to the mountains, carrying with them a hatred of the invaders, and too often of the Gospel as well, which in their eyes was responsible for atrocities committed by Christians. Avarice opened the door to all vices in the souls of the conquerors, without, however, destroying their lively faith. Lima, founded at the foot of the Cordilleras, as metropolis of the subjugated provinces, seemed as if built upon the triple concupiscence. Before the close of the century, a new Jonas, Saint Francis Solano, came to threaten this new Ninive with the anger of God.

But mercy had already been beforehand with wrath; 'justice and peace had met',¹ in the soul of a child, who was ready, in her insatiable love, to suffer every expiation. Here we should like to pause and contemplate the virgin of Peru, in her self-forgetful heroism, in her pure and candid gracefulness: Rose, who was all sweetness to those who approached her, and who kept to herself the secret of the thorns without which no rose can grow on earth. This child of predilection was prevented from her infancy with miraculous gifts and favours. The flowers recognized her as their queen; and at her desire they would blossom out of season. At her invitation, the plants joyfully waved their leaves; the trees bent down their branches; all nature exulted; even the insects formed themselves into choirs; the birds vied with her in celebrating the praises of their common Maker. She herself, playing upon the names of her parents, Gaspard Flores and Maria Oliva, would sing: 'O my Jesus, how beautiful Thou art among the olives and the flowers, and Thou dost not disdain Thy Rose!'

¹ Ps. lxxxiv. 11.

Eternal Wisdom has, from the beginning, delighted to play in the world.² Clement X relates, in the Bull of canonization, how one day when Rose was very ill, the Infant Jesus appeared and deigned to play with her; teaching her in a manner suitable to her tender age, the value and the advantages of suffering. He then left her full of joy, and endowed with a life-long love of the cross. Holy Church will tell us in the legend how far the saint carried out, in her rigorous penance, the lesson thus divinely taught. In the superhuman agonies of her last illness, when someone exhorted her to courage, she replied: 'All I ask of my Spouse is, that He will not cease to burn me with the most scorching heat, till I become a ripe fruit that He will deign to cull from this earth for His heavenly table.' To those who were astonished at her confidence and her assurance of going straight to heaven, she gave this answer which well expresses her character: 'I have a Spouse who can do all that is greatest, and who possesses all that is rarest, and am I to expect only little things from Him?' And her confidence was rewarded. She was but thirty-one years of age, when, at midnight on the feast of St. Bartholomew in the year 1617, she heard the cry: 'Behold the Bridegroom cometh!' In Lima, in all Peru, and indeed throughout America, prodigies of conversion and miracles signalized the death of the humble virgin, hitherto so little known. 'It has been juridically proved,' said the Sovereign Pontiff, 'that, since the discovery of Peru, no missionary has been known to obtain so universal a movement of repentance.' Five years later, for the further sanctification of Lima, there was established in its midst the monastery of St. Catharine of Siena, also called Rose's

² Prov. viii. 30, 31.

monastery, because she was in the eyes of God its true foundress and mother. Her prayers had obtained its erection, which she had also predicted; she had designed the plan, pointed out the future religious, and named the first superior, whom she one day prophetically endowed with her own spirit in a mysterious embrace.

Let us read the Church's beautiful account of her life.

Primus Americæ Meridionalis flos sanctitatis, virgo Rosa, christianis parentibus Limæ progenita, mox ab incunabulis claruit futuræ sanctimoniæ indiciis. Nam vultus infantis mirabiliter in rosæ effigiem transfiguratus, huic nomini occasionem dedit: cui postea Virgo Deipara cognomen adjecit, jubens vocari deinceps Rosam a sancta Maria. Quinquennis votum perpetuæ virginitatis emisit. Adultior, ne a parentibus ad nuptias cogeretur, clam sibimet venustissimam capitis cæsariem præscidit. Jejuniis supra humanum modum addicta, integras Quadragesimas transegit, pane abstinens, ac dietim solis quinque granulis mali citrini victitans.

The first flower of sanctity that blossomed in South America, the virgin Rose was born of Christian parents at Lima. From her very cradle she gave clear signs of her future holiness. Her baby face appeared one day changed in a wonderful way into the image of a rose, and from this circumstance she was called Rose. Later on the Virgin Mother of God gave her also her own name, bidding her to be called thenceforward Rose of St. Mary. At five years of age she made a vow of perpetual virginity, and when she grew older, fearing her parents would compel her to marry, she secretly cut off her hair which was very beautiful. Her fasts exceeded the strength of human nature. She would pass whole Lents without eating bread, living on five grains of a citron a day.

Habitu tertii Ordinis sancti Dominici assumpto, pristinas vitæ austeritates duplicavit: oblongo asperrimoque cilicio sparsim minusculas acus innexuit: sub velo coronam densis aculeis introrsus obarmatam interdiu noctuque gestavit. Sanctæ Catharinæ Senensis ardua premens vestigia, catena ferrea, triplici nexu circumducta, lumbos cinxit. Lectulum sibi e truncis nodosis composuit, horumque vacuas commissuras fragminibus testarum implevit. Cellulam sibi angustissimam struxit in extremo horti angulo, ubi cœlestium contemplationi dedita, crebris disciplinis, inedia, vigiliis, corpusculum extenuans, at spiritu vegetata, larvas dæmonum, frequenti certamine victrix, impavide protrivit ac superavit.

She took the habit of the third Order of St. Dominic and after that redoubled her austerities. Her long and rough hair-shirt was armed with steel points, and day and night she wore under her veil a crown studded inside with sharp nails. Following the arduous example of St. Catharine of Siena, she wound an iron chain three times round her waist, and made herself a bed of the knotty trunks of trees, filling up the vacant spaces between them with potsherds. She built herself a narrow little cell in a distant corner of the garden, and there devoted herself to the contemplation of heavenly things, subduing her feeble body by iron disciplines, fasting and watching. Thus she grew strong in spirit, and continually overcame the devils, spurning and dispelling their deceits.

Ægritudinum tormentis, domesticorum insultibus, linguarum morsibus dire agitata, nondum satis pro merito se affligi querebatur. Per quindecim annos ad plusculas horas desolatione spiritus et ariditate miserrime contabescens, forti animo tulit agones omni morte amariores. — Exinde cœpit supernis abundare deliciis, illustrari visionibus, colliquescere seraphicis ardoribus. Angelo tutelari, sanctæ Catharinæ Senensis, Virgini Deiparæ inter assiduas apparitiones mire familiaris, a Christo has voces audire meruit: Rosa cordis mei, tu mihi sponsa esto. Denique Sponsi hujus paradiso feliciter invectam, plurimisque ante et post obitum miraculis coruscam, Clemens decimus Pontifex Maximus sanctarum virginum catalogo ritu solemni adscripsit.

Though she suffered greatly from severe illnesses, from the insults offered her by her family and from unkind tongues, yet she would say that she was not treated so badly as she deserved. During fifteen years, she suffered for several hours a day a terrible desolation and dryness of spirit; but she bore this suffering, worse than death itself, with undaunted courage. After that period, she was given an abundance of heavenly delights, she was honoured with visions, and felt her heart melting with seraphic love. Her angel-guardian, St. Catharine of Siena and our Lady used often to appear to her with wonderful familiarity. — She was privileged to hear these words from our Lord: 'Rose of my heart, be thou my bride.' At length she was happily introduced into the paradise of this her Spouse, and being famous for miracles both before and after her death, Pope Clement X. solemnly enrolled her among the holy virgins.

Patroness of Peru, ever watch over the interests of thy fatherland. Respond to its people's confidence in thee by warding off from them the calamities of even this present life: the earthquakes which spread terror through the land, and political convulsions such as have already so severely tried its recently gained independence. Extend thy guardianship to the neighbouring young republics; for they too love and honour thee. Hide from them, and from thy native land, the Utopian mirages which rise from the old world. Preserve them from the rash impulses and illusions, to which their youth is liable. Guard them against the poisonous teachings of condemned sects, lest their hitherto lively faith should be corrupted. Lastly, O thou our Lord's beloved Rose, smile upon the whole Church, who is enraptured to-day at the sight of thy heavenly beauty. Like her, we all desire to 'run in the fragrancy of thy sweetness'!¹

Teach us to let ourselves be prevented, like thee, by the dew of heaven. Show us how to respond to the advances of the divine sculptor, who one day allowed thee to see Him making over to His loved ones the different virtues in the form of blocks of choice marble, which He expects them to polish with their tears, and to fashion with the chisel of penance. Above all, fill us with love and confidence. All that the material sun accomplishes in the vast universe, causing the flowers to bloom, ripening the fruits, forming pearls in the depth of the ocean, and precious stones in the heart of the mountains; all this, thou didst say, thy divine Spouse effected in the boundless capacity of thy soul, causing it to bring forth every variety of riches, beauty and joy, warmth and life. May we profit, even as thou didst, of the coming of the Sun of justice into our hearts in the Sacrament of union; may we lay open our whole being to the influence of His blessed light; and may we become, in every place, the good odour of Christ.

¹ Collect of the feast.

The holy martyrs Felix and Adauctus won their palms in the reign of Diocletian. Their tomb, which lies close to that of the Apostle of the Gentiles, is adorned by one of the beautiful epitaphs of Pope Saint Damasus. Let us address to God the prayer, wherein the Church implores their powerful protection.

COLLECT

Majestatem tuam, Domine, supplices exoramus: ut, sicut nos jugiter sanctorum tuorum commemoratione lætificas, ita semper supplicatione defendas. Per Dominum.

We suppliantly beseech thy Majesty, O Lord, that as thou dost ever rejoice us by the commemoration of thy saints, so thou wouldst always defend us by their supplication. Through our Lord etc.

AUGUST 31

August closes as it began, with a feast of deliverance; as though that were the divine seal set by eternal Wisdom upon this month—the month when holy Church makes the works and ways of divine Wisdom the special object of her contemplation.

Upon the fall of our first parents and their expulsion from paradise, the Word and Wisdom of God, that is, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, began the great work of our deliverance—that magnificent work of human redemption which, by an all-gracious, eternal decree of the three divine Persons, was to be wrought out by the Son of God in our flesh. And as that blessed Saviour, in His infinite wisdom, made spontaneous choice of sorrows, of sufferings, and of death on a cross, as the best means of our redemption, so has He always allotted to His best loved friends, the kind of life which He had deliberately chosen for Himself, that is, the way of the cross. And the nearest and dearest to Him were those who were predestined, like His blessed Mother, the Mater Dolorosa, to have the honour of being most like Himself, the Man of sorrows. Hence the toils and trials of the greatest saints; hence the great deliverances wrought by them, and their heroic victories over the world and over the spirits of wickedness in the high places.

On the feasts of St. Raymund of Pegnafort and St. Peter Nolasco, we saw something of the origin of the illustrious Order, to which Raymund Nonnatus added such glory. Soon the august foundress herself, our Lady of Mercy, will come in person to receive the expression of the world's gratitude for so

many benefits.

The following legend recounts the peculiar merits of our saint of to-day.

Raymundus, Nonnatus cognomento dictus quia præter communem naturæ legem e mortuæ matris dissecto latere in lucem eductus fuit, Portelli in Catalaunia piis et nobilibus parentibus ortus, ab ipsa infantia futuræ sanctitatis indicia dedit. Nam puerilia oblectamenta, mundique illecebras respuens, ita pietati operam dabat, ut omnes in puero adultam virtutem admirarentur. Crescente vero ætate, litterarum studiis incubuit: sed mox jubente patre vitam ruri agens, sacellum sancti Nicolai in Portelli finibus situm crebro adibat, ut sacram Deiparæ imaginem, quæ in eo summa fidelium veneratione etiam nunc colitur, visitaret. Ibi effusus in preces, ipsam Dei parentem, ut se in filium adoptare viamque salutis ac scientiam sanctorum edocere dignaretur, enixe deprecabatur.

Nec defuit votis ejus benignissima Virgo. Ab ipsa

Raymund, surnamed Nonnatus,¹ on account of his having been brought into the world in an unusual manner after the death of his mother, was of a pious and noble family of Portelli in Catalonia. From his very infancy he showed signs of his future holiness; for, despising childish amusements and the attractions of the world, he applied himself to the practice of piety so that all wondered at his virtue, which far surpassed his age. As he grew older he began his studies; but after a short time he returned at his father's command to live in the country. He frequently visited the chapel of St. Nicholas, near Portelli, in order to venerate in it a holy image of the Mother of God, which is still much honoured by the faithful. There he would pour out his prayers, begging God's holy Mother to adopt him for her son and to deign to teach him the way of salvation and the science of the saints.

The most benign Virgin heard his prayer, and gave him

¹ That is, not born.

enim intellexit gratissimum sibi fore, si religionem sub titulo de Mercede, seu de Misericordia redemptionis captivorum, ea suggerente nuper fundatam, ingrederetur. Qua monitione percepta, Barcinonem statim profectus, illud tam præcellentis erga proximum caritatis institutum amplexus est. Regulari igitur militiæ adscriptus, virginitatem, quam pridem beatæ Virgini consecraverat, perpetuo coluit, ceterisque virtutibus enituit, caritate præsertim erga christianos, qui sub potestate paganorum miseram in captivitate vitam degebant. Hos ut redimeret, in Africam missus cum jam multos a servitute liberasset, ne, consumpta pecunia, aliis item in proximo abnegandæ fidei discrimine constitutis deesset, se ipsum pignori dedit; sed cum ardentissimo salutis animarum desiderio succensus, plures mahometanos suis concionibus ad Christum converteret, in arctam custodiam a barbaris conjectus, variisque suppliciis cruciatus, mox labiis perforatis et sera ferrea clausis, crudele martyrium diu sustinuit.

Ob hæc et alia fortiter

to understand that it would greatly please her if he entered the religious Order lately founded by her inspiration, under the name of the Order of Ransom, or of Mercy for the redemption of captives. Upon this Raymund at once set out for Barcelona, there to embrace that institute so full of brotherly charity. Thus enrolled in the army of holy religion, he persevered in perpetual virginity, which he had already consecrated to the blessed Virgin. He excelled also in every other virtue, most especially in charity towards those Christians who were living in misery, as slaves of the pagans. He was sent to Africa to redeem them, and freed many from slavery. But when he had exhausted his money, rather than abandon others who were in danger of losing their faith, he gave himself up to the barbarians as a pledge for their ransom. Burning with a most ardent desire for the salvation of souls, he converted several Mahometans to Christ by his preaching. On this account he was thrown into a close prison, and after many tortures his lips were pierced through and fastened together with an iron padlock, which cruel martyrdom he endured for a long time.

This and his other noble

gesta, sanctitatis ejus fama longe lateque diffusa est. Qua permotus Gregorius nonus, in amplissimum sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ cardinalium collegium Raymundum adscripsit: sed vir Dei in ea dignitate ab omni pompa abhorrens, religiosæ humilitatis tenacissimus semper fuit. Romam vero pergens, statim ac Cardonam pervenit, extremo morbo confectus, ecclesiasticis sacramentis muniri summis precibus postulavit. Cumque morbus ingravesceret, et sacerdos diutius tardaret, angelorum ministerio, sub specie religiosorum sui Ordinis apparentium, salutari viatico refectus fuit. Quo sumpto, et gratiis Deo peractis, migravit ad Dominum Dominica ultima Augusti, anno millesimo ducentesimo quadragesimo. Mortui corpus, cum circa locum sepulturæ contentio orta esset, arcæ inclusum, et mulæ cæcæ impositum, ad sacellum sancti Nicolai Dei nutu delatum fuit, ut ibi tumularetur, ubi prima jecerat sanctioris vitæ fundamenta. Illic constructo sui Ordinis cœnobio, a confluentibus voti causa ex universa Catalaunia fidelibus populis honoratur, variis miraculis et signis gloriosus.

deeds spread the fame of his sanctity far and near, so that Gregory IX. determined to enrol him in the august college of the cardinals of the holy Roman Church. When raised to that dignity the man of God shrank from all pomp and clung always to religious humility. On his way to Rome, as soon as he reached Cardona, he was attacked by his last illness, and earnestly begged to be strengthened by the Sacraments of the Church. As his illness grew worse and the priest delayed to come, angels appeared, clothed in the religious habit of his Order, and refreshed him with the saving Viaticum. Having received it he gave thanks to God, and passed to our Lord on the last Sunday of August in the year 1240. Contentions arose concerning the place where he should be buried; his coffin was therefore placed upon a blind mule and by the will of God it was taken to the chapel of St. Nicholas, that it might be buried in that place where he had first begun a more perfect life. A convent of his Order was built on the spot, and there famous for many signs and miracles he is honoured by the concourse of all the faithful of Catalonia, who come there to fulfil their vows.

To what a length, O illustrious saint, didst thou follow the counsel of the wise man! 'The bands of wisdom,' says he, 'are a healthful binding.' And, not satisfied with putting 'thy feet into her fetters and thy neck into her chains,'² in the joy of thy love thou didst offer thy lips to the dreadful padlock, not mentioned by the son of Sirach. But what a reward is thine, now that this Wisdom of the Father, whose twofold precept of charity thou didst so fully carry out, inebriates thee with the torrent of eternal delights, adorning thy brow with the glory and grace which radiate from her own beauty! We would fain be for ever with thee near that throne of light; teach us, then, how to walk, in this world, by the beautiful ways and peaceable paths of Wisdom. Deliver our souls, if they be still captive in sin; break the chains of our self-love, and give us instead those blessed bands of Wisdom which are humility, abnegation, self-forgetfulness, love of our brethren for God's sake, love of God for His own sake.

¹ Ecclus. vi. 31. ² Ibid. 25.

SEPTEMBER 1

SAINT GILES

ABBOT

'A simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil':¹ such is the description of the just man in the lessons of the night Office for the time; and it is the portrait of the holy monk whom the Church offers us to-day for our admiration, our imitation, and our devotion. Fleeing from men in order to find God, he quitted his native land, where his rank, and still more his virtues, prevented him from being unknown. He wandered from the coasts of Greece to the borders of the Rhone, and stopped at length in the forests of Septimania, where he seemed to have found his desired solitude. There for three years he dwelt in a cave hidden among the brambles, spending his time in giving thanks to God and praying for the salvation of the people.² He lived on herbs and water, until our Lord sent him a hind to nourish him with her milk. But his little friend was soon to betray him. One day, hard pressed by the hounds, she fled in terror to the saint, followed by the royal huntsmen. Safe with her protector her fears were calmed; but an arrow, aimed at her, pierced Saint Giles's hand, which was never afterwards healed; for he refused to have it dressed, in order that he might bear the pain of it for the rest of his life. But a greater trial awaited him: his retreat having

¹ Job i. 8. ² Acta S. Ægidii.

been thus discovered, a monastery soon rose upon the spot, and he was forced to be its abbot; moreover he worked so many miracles that crowds came to see him. Farewell to the silence and oblivion of his beloved forest!

After the death of the servant of God, the place became more and more frequented. From north and east and south pilgrims poured in, to offer up their prayers and fulfil their vows at the tomb of one, who soon became known as one of the most helpful saints in heaven.¹ Among the crowds came Pontiffs² and kings.³ But the most numerous classes of visitors to the holy relics were soldiers and little children, the former equipped for the crusades, the latter borne in their mothers' arms; all confiding in the humble, gentle monk who, at the risk of his life, calmed the terror of the poor little hind; all imploring his assistance against the fear which even the brave may feel in the hour of battle, or the fright that disturbs the little one in his cradle. St. Giles's ranked as one of the three great pilgrimages of the west; the other two being Rome and Compostello.

Over the relics of the saint was raised a colossal church, which has been described as 'the most perfect type of the Byzantine style when at the height of its splendour.'⁴ Around it a town of thirty

¹ St. Giles is the only confessor in the group of fourteen saints known as helpers, whose names are given in ancient missals in the following order: George, Blase, Erasmus, Pantaleon, Vitus, Christopher, Giles, Achatus or Acathius, Denis, Cyriacus, Eustace, Catharine, Margaret, and Barbara. He was even reckoned among the five privileged saints, viz. Denis, George, Christopher, Blase, and Giles, honoured in a more special manner in certain places.

² Urban II, who consecrated the altar of the basilica where the holy body rested, Gelasius II, Callistus II, Innocent II; Clement IV was born at St. Giles's; Julius II had held the abbey in commendam.

³ Boleslas III of Poland, and St. Louis of France.

⁴ Mérimée, Notes d'un voyage dans le midi de la France.

thousand households has sprung up, where formerly there was but a desert. The most illustrious of the powerful Counts of Toulouse gave the preference over his other titles to the one he held from this noble city; he would be known to posterity as Raymund of St. Giles. A hundred years later, Raymund VI. did penance at the threshold of the celebrated basilica, for his connivance with heresy; our saint, who had just given hospitality to Peter of Castelnau for his last resting-place, opened his gates for the reconciliation of the martyr's presumed murderer.

We should never end, were we to enumerate the churches, parishes, abbeys, and altars consecrated to St. Giles, in all parts of Christendom, which are so many sources of grace, and new centres for pilgrimages. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Bavaria, Poland, rival France in this respect. England is second to no country in the world; she has one hundred and forty-six sanctuaries dedicated to the pious monk, and even the established church continues to honour him.

Let us hasten to give the short legend that remains to the holy abbot since the sixteenth century, when his feast ceased to be celebrated with nine lessons. Most of his precious relics are preserved in the rich treasury of the church of Saint-Sernin at Toulouse; Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, which had been obliged to give them up in order to save them from the sacrilegious hands of the armed heretics, had, in 1865, the consolation of discovering his original tomb.

Ægidius Atheniensis, regiæ stirpis, a prima ætate divinis litteris et caritatis officiis ita deditus fuit, ut nihil præterea curare videretur. Itaque parentibus mortuis, totum patrimonium in pauperes erogavit: quin etiam tunicam exuit ut ægrotum egentem tegeret; qua ille indutus statim convaluit. Sed multis deinceps clarior miraculis, timens sui nominis celebritatem, Arelatem ad beatum Cæsarium contendit: a quo post biennium discedens, secessit in eremum, ubi diutius herbarum radicibus et cervæ lacte, quæ statis ad eum horis veniebat, admirabili sanctitate vixit. Qua cerva, insequentibus quodam die canibus regiis, cum in antrum Ægidii refugisset, Galliæ regem impulit, ut ab eo summis precibus peteret, ut in loco speluncæ monasterium exstrui pateretur. Cujus administrationem, flagitante rege, invitus suscepit: eoque munere aliquot annis prudenter pieque gesto, migravit in cœlum.

Giles was an Athenian, of royal race, who from his childhood applied himself so earnestly to the study of divine things and to works of charity, that he seemed to care for nothing else. On his parents' death he distributed his whole fortune among the poor; even stripping himself of his own garment in order to clothe a poor sick man, who was cured as soon as he put it on. Many other miracles soon made his name so famous, that for fear of renown he fled to St. Cæsarius at Arles. After two years Giles departed thence and retired into a desert, where he lived a life of wonderful holiness: his only food being the roots of herbs and the milk of a hind who came to him at fixed times. One day the hind being pursued by the royal huntsmen took refuge in his cave. Upon this discovery of the holy man, the king of France begged Giles to allow a monastery to be built on the site of the cave. At the king's desire he was obliged, against his will, to undertake the government of this monastery; and after having, for several years, discharged that office with much piety and prudence, he passed away to heaven.

'Go to my servant . . .

and offer for yourselves a holocaust: and my servant . . . shall pray for you: his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you."¹ This word is unceasingly fulfilled, blessed Giles, in the innumerable sanctuaries where thou art honoured. Make use of thy prerogatives for our benefit; hear our prayers, for the glory of Him who

¹ Job xlii. 8.

has crowned thy humility. In return for the beautiful peace thou didst ever preserve in thy soul, thou now je power over the countless troubles which disturb our miserable existence, from the cradle even to the tomb. Thou aidest mothers to drive away from their babes the nightly phantoms raised by the enemy of the innocents; thou preservest the little ones from the terrible maladies to which childhood is liable. Thou watchest over the youth, to secure his good morals; and givest him the fear of God, which will make him a courageous and upright man. Thou makest him brave and calm in the midst of dangers, whether in thunderstorms or on the field of battle. Above all, thou preservest thy client from the most cowardly of all fears, that of human respect; and from the saddest kind of shame, that which would withhold him from acknowledging his sins in the sacred tribunal of Penance. The cares and disappointments of middle life do not disturb the peace of him who trusts in thee; old age has no anxious future for him; he falls into his last sleep, in the bosom of God, as in infancy he fell asleep in his mother's arms. Deign to accept us among thy devout clients, and disappoint us not in our expectations.

Beneventum offers to our homage twelve brothers martyrs, natives of Africa, who suffered in divers places, but whose bodies she glories in possessing. Let us unite in the prayer which the Church offers to God, in honour of this admirable group of heroes.

COLLECT

Fraterna nos, Domine, martyrum tuorum corona lætificet: quæ et fidei nostræ præbeat 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 increase of virtue, and console us with multiplied intercession. Through our Lord, etc.

We must not omit to mention briefly that with the Greeks this day is the first of the Calendar; they celebrate it as a feast, called of the Indiction, or of the new year.

SEPTEMBER 2

SAINT STEPHEN KING OF HUNGARY

CONFESSOR

"Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness."¹ The people with teeth of steel, grinding the nations, gives itself up as food to him, to whom was said: "Kill and eat;"² the mouth of the Huns, formerly vomiting foam and rage, now distils the honey of charity. Such, O Christ, are thy miracles; such are Thy works, O our God!³ Thus does Baronius, on reaching in his history the year of Christ 1000, hail the arrival of the Hungarian deputies, who came to offer to the Roman Church the suzerainty of their land, and beseech the Vicar of Christ to confer the title of king upon their duke Stephen.

We are carried back in thought a century earlier, when, led by Arpadus, the son of Almutz, under the banner of the hawk, the Magyars came down from the mountains of Transylvania into the plains watered by the Theiss and the Danube. Attila seemed to live again in those sons of his race, who poured like a torrent over Germany, Gaul, and Italy. But the empire of the Huns over reconquered Pannonia was to be lasting only on condition of its ceasing to be the scourge of God, and becoming the rampart of His Church. In this world, while it is not yet time for eternal justice, the instruments of God's anger are soon broken unless they are amenable to love. Five centuries earlier, Attila in person was rushing like an overflowing river upon the capital of the world, when he was met by the sovereign Pontiff. The Hungarian chronicles record the following message as having been then received from heaven by the universal devastator: "Hearken to the command of the Lord God Jesus Christ. Thy pride shall not be suffered to enter into the holy city where lie the bodies of My apostles. Return. Later on a descendant of thine will come to Rome with humility; and I will cause him there to receive a crown that shall last for ever."¹ Attila thereupon recrossed the Alps, and had only just time to reach the Danube before he died. In the days of St. Stephen the heavenly promise was fulfilled. Let the reader not be astonished that we do not discuss its authenticity. Legendary or not, as to the forms with which national traditions have clothed it, there is nothing in this divine engagement which the historian need reject; it is in accordance with the rules of God's Providence, which governs history. God never forgets a service; nor does apostolic gratefulness wear out with years: the debt of gratitude which Leo the Great contracted,

¹ Judges xiv. 14. ² St. Peter, in the vision at Joppe, which signified the assimilation of the Gentiles by the Church. ³ Baron. Annal. eccles. Silvestri II. an. 2, Christi 1000.

¹ Chartuicius, Cronica Hungarorum, De victoria Aquilæ regis.

Sylvester II. paid at the appointed time. From that tomb respected by the plunderer, a virtue came forth, changing the avenger into an apostle. The crown, placed on the brow of Attila's successor by Peter's successor, was destined to be his as long as he should be preceded by the cross, that other mark of honour conferred upon him. Like the Holy Empire, to which Hungary was to be later on united without however being absorbed by it, the Hungarian monarchy was founded upon Peter; for his sake it subsisted, and he alone, under God, was the safeguard of its future.

Let not the sad forebodings of the present hour make us forget the marvellous power shown on this feast by the Lamb the Ruler of the earth.¹ Scarcely had the blood shed by the sons of Arpadus disappeared from the streets of the cities; scarcely had the smoke of burning ruins and the dust of crumbling walls been scattered; when their fierce energy, tempered like a choice blade in the waters of the sacred font, became the defence of Christianity in the east. A new sort of invasion began; the holiness sprung from Stephen put forth numerous branches, which, shedding their beautiful blossoms over the whole earth, filled all lands with perfumes of the Spouse.

Let us read the history of the apostolic king, as given in the book of holy Church.

Stephanus in Hungariam Christi fidem et regium nomen invexit. Regia corona a Romano Pontifice impetrata, ejusque jussu in regem inunctus, regnum Sedi apostolicæ obtulit. Varia pietatis domicilia Romæ, Jerosolymis, Constantinopoli; in Hungaria archiepiscopatum Strigoniensem, episcopatus decem, admirabili religione et munificentia fundavit. Par in pauperes amor et liberalitas, quos veluti Christum ipsum complectens, neminem a se mœrentem ac vacuum umquam dimisit; quin ad eorum inopiam sublevandam amplissimis facultatibus erogatis, domesticam quoque supellectilem eximia benignitate frequenter distribuit: suis insuper manibus lavare pauperum pedes, noctu solus et ignotus nosocomia frequentare, decumbentibus inservire, ac cetera caritatis officia exhibere consuevit: quarum virtutum merito illius dextera, resoluto cetero corpore, incorrupta permansit.

Stephen introduced into Hungary both the faith of Christ and the regal dignity. He obtained his royal crown from the Roman Pontiff; and, having been, by his command, anointed king, offered his kingdom to the apostolic See. He built several houses of charity at Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople; and with a wonderfully munificent spirit of religion, he founded the archiepiscopal See of Gran and ten other bishoprics. His love for the poor was equalled only by his generosity towards them; for, seeing in them Christ himself, he never sent anyone away sad or empty-handed. So great indeed was his charity, that, to relieve their necessities, after expending large sums of money, he often bestowed upon them his household goods. It was his custom to wash the feet of the poor with his own hands, and to visit the hospitals at night, alone and unknown, serving the sick and showing them every charity. As a reward for these good deeds his right hand remained incorrupt after death, when the rest of his body had returned to dust.

Orandi studio noctes pene totas ducebat insomnes, atque in cælestium rerum contemplatione defixus, interdum extra sensus raptus, sublimis in aera ferri visus fuit. Perduelium conspirationes, ac validorum hostium impetus, miro prorsus modo, non semel orationis præsidio evitavit. Susceptum ex Ghisella Bavarica, sancti Henrici imperatoris sorore, quam sibi matrimonio junxerat, Emericum filium tanta morum disciplina, talique pietate enutrivit, quantum ejus postea sanctitas declaravit. Regni vero negotia ita disposuit, ut accitis undique prudentissimis et sanctissimis viris, nihil umquam sine illorum consilio moliretur. Humillimis interim precibus in cinere et cilicio Deum deprecans, ut universum Hungariæ regnum, antequam e vita migraret, catholicum videre mereretur. Vere propter ingens dilatandæ fidei studium, illius gentis apostolus nuncupatus, facta a Romano Pontifice ipsi posterisque regibus præferendæ crucis potestate.

He was much given to prayer: and would spend almost entire nights without sleep, rapt in heavenly contemplation; at times he was seen ravished out of his senses, and raised in the air. By the help of prayer, he more than once escaped in a wonderful manner from treasonable conspiracies and from the attacks of powerful enemies. Having married Ghisella of Bavaria, sister of the emperor St. Henry, he had by her a son Emeric, whom he brought up in such regularity and piety as to form him into a saint. He summoned wise and holy men from all parts to aid him in the government of his kingdom, and undertook nothing without their advice. In sackcloth and ashes, he besought God with most humble prayer, that he might not depart this life without seeing the whole kingdom of Hungary Catholic. So great indeed was his zeal for the propagation of the faith, that he was called the apostle of his nation, and he received from the Roman Pontiff, both for himself and for his successors, the privilege of having the cross borne before them.

Dei Genitricem, quam ardentissime venerabatur, amplissimo in ejus honorem constructo templo, Hungariæ Patronam instituit, ab eadem vicissim Virgine receptus in cælum ipso suæ Assumptionis die, quem Hungari, e sancti regis instituto, magnæ Dominæ diem appellant. Sacrum ejus corpus suavissimo fragrans odore, liquore cælesti scatens, inter multa et varia miracula, Romani Pontificis jussu nobiliorem in locum translatum est, atque honorificentius conditum. Ejus autem festum Innocentius undecimus Pontifex Maximus quarto nonas septembris, ob insignem victoriam ab exercitu Leopoldi primi Romanorum electi imperatoris et Hungariæ regis eadem die in Budæ expugnatione, ope divina, e Turcis reportatam, celebrandum instituit.

He had the most ardent devotion towards the Mother of God, in whose honour he built a magnificent church, solemnly declaring her patroness of Hungary. In return the blessed Virgin received him into heaven on the very day of her Assumption, which the Hungarians, by the appointment of their holy king, call 'the day of the great Lady.' His sacred body, exhaling a most fragrant odour and distilling a heavenly liquor, was, by order of the Roman Pontiff, translated, amidst many and divers miracles, to a more worthy resting-place, and buried with greater honour. Pope Innocent XI. commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourth of the Nones of September; on which day, Leopold I. emperor elect of the Romans and king of Hungary, had, by the divine assistance, gained a remarkable victory over the Turks at the siege of Buda.

Apostle and king, protect thy people, assist the Church, succour us all. At the close of that tenth century, when anarchy had penetrated even into the sanctuary, hope sprang up once more on the day whereon the holy Spirit, the Creator and Renovator, chose thy race, in all its native vigour, to renew the youth of the world. Satan, who thought that the papacy was humiliated once for all, trembled with rage when he saw new labourers coming to Peter, as to the only foundation on which it is possible to build. The proudest family that had ever caused the empire of Romulus to shake, asked of Rome the right to be counted among the nations of the west. How true it is that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the rock, against the Church founded thereon, against the holy city prepared on the top of mountains to draw all nations to itself! In vain had the storm stirred up the very mire of the torrents of the abyss: it was the hour when God lifted up His hand, as the prophet says, towards the far-off lands, and kings came bringing to the ever holy bride those unknown sons whom they themselves had educated for her.¹

No, the Lord confoundeth not them that wait for Him. And therefore we will hope, even against hope, in the future of the noble nation established by thee upon the apostolic strength. A people justly proud of so many irreproachable heroes, could not allow itself to be long led astray by a false liberty kept up by Jewish gold, and extolled by all the enemies of the country's traditions. Martin watches together with thee over the land of his birth; and the sovereign of Hungary, the august Queen of heaven, will not suffer her loyal subjects to listen to the proposals of the infernal spirit.

¹ Isaias xvi. 1. 10.

¹ Cf. Isaias xlix. 12-23.

SEPTEMBER 5

SAINT LAURENCE JUSTINIAN

BISHOP AND CONFESSOR

'Come, all ye who are drawn by the desire of unchangeable good, and who seek it in vain in this passing world; I will tell you what heaven has done for me. Like you, I once sought with feverish eagerness; and this exterior world could not satisfy my burning desire. But, by the divine grace, which fed my anguish, at length she, whose name I then knew not, appeared to me, more beautiful than the sun, sweeter than balm. As she approached, how gentle was her countenance, how peace-inspiring her voice, saying to me: "O thou, whose youth is all full of the love wherewith I inspire thee, why dost thou thus pour out thy heart?

the peace thou seekest by so many different ways, is with me; thy desire shall be amply fulfilled, I promise thee, if only thou wilt take me for thy Bride." I acknowledge that at these words my heart failed, my soul was all pierced with the dart of her love. As I wished to know her name, her dignity, her origin, she told me she was called the Wisdom of God; and that, at first invisible in the bosom of the Father, she had taken of a mother a visible nature, in order to be more easily loved. Then, with great delight, I gave my consent; and she, kissing me, departed full of joy. Ever since then, the flame of her love has been growing with- in me, absorbing all my thoughts. Her delights endure for ever; she is my well-beloved bride, my inseparable companion. Through her, the cross once sought is now the cause of my joy. Hear me then, all of you: go to her in like manner; for she makes it her happiness to reject no one.'¹

Let us read the life of him, who in the foregoing lines has given us the key to his life.

Laurentius, ex illustri Justinianorum familia Venetiis natus, eximiam vel puer morum gravitatem præ se tulit. Exacta inter pietatis officia adolescentia, ad castum Verbi et animæ connubium a divina Sapientia invitatus, de religiosæ vitæ instituto capessendo deliberare cœpit. Novæ itaque militiæ clam proludens, præter alias corporis afflictationes, super nudos cubabat asseres, sedensque velut arbiter hinc inter sæculi blandimenta, paratasque a matre nuptias, illinc claustrales inter austeritates, oculis in Christi patientis crucem conversis: Tu, inquit, es Domine spes

Laurence was born at Venice of the illustrious family of the Justiniani, and while still a child was remarkable for the seriousness of his character. He spent his youth in exercises of piety, and then being attracted by divine Wisdom to the chaste espousals of the Word and the soul, he began to think of embracing a religious state. As a prelude to this new warfare, he secretly undertook many bodily austerities, such as sleeping upon bare boards. Sitting, as it were, as judge, he placed the pleasures of the world and the marriage prepared for him by his mother on the one hand, and on the other the austeri-

¹ Laurent. Justinian. Fasciculus amoris, cap. xvi.

mea: ibi posuisti certissimum refugium tuum: ad canonicorum sancti Georgii in Alga congregationem convolavit: ubi novis excogitatis cruciatibus acrius in seipsum, veluti in hostem infensissimum, instaurans bellum, nullam adeo sibi oblectationem indulgebat, ut ne in domesticum umquam hortum, nec in paternam quidem domum, nisi cum morienti matri extrema pietatis officia siccis oculis persolvit, exinde intraverit. Par erat obedientiæ, mansuetudinis, ac præcipue humilitatis studium, cum abjectissima quæque cœnobii munia sibi ultro desumeret, celeberrima per urbis loca, non tam victum quam ludibria emendicaret, illatasque contumelias ac calumnias immotus ac silens perferret: assidue præsertim orationis subsidio, qua sæpe per mentis excessum rapiebatur in Deum; tantoque cor ejus æstuabat ardore, ut nutantes etiam sodales ad perseverantiam ac Jesu Christi amorem inflammaret.

Ab Eugenio quarto patriæ episcopus designatus, quem magna contentione

ties of the cloister; then casting his eyes on an image of Christ crucified, he said: 'Thou, O Lord, art my hope: there thou hast placed thy most secure refuge,' and he betook himself to the congregation of Canons of St. George in Alga. Here he invented fresh torments, and waged war with even more vehemence than before, against himself, as if against his greatest enemy. Not far from allowing himself the least gratification, he would never set foot in the garden belonging to his family nor in his paternal home, except when without a tear he performed the last offices of piety towards his dying mother. He was equally zealous in the practice of obedience, meekness, and especially of humility. He would choose of his own accord the humblest duties of the monastery, and begged his bread in the most crowded parts of the town, seeking rather mockery than alms. He bore insults and calumnies unmoved and in silence. His great support was assiduous prayer, wherein he was often rapt in God in ecstasy. The love of God burnt so brightly in his heart that it kindled a like ardour in the hearts of his companions and encouraged them to perseverance.

Eugenius IV. appointed him bishop of his native city. He made great efforts to decline

honorem detrectaverat, majori gessit cum laude. Nam consueta vivendi ratione nihil admodum immutata, paupertatem quam semper coluerat, in mensa, supellectili ac lecto perpetuo retinuit. Modicam domi alebat familiam, quod grandem alteram sibi esse diceret, pauperes Christi significans. Quacumque adiretur hora, præsto omnibus erat, paterna omnes caritate allevabat, non renuens vel ære se alieno gravare, illorum ne inopiæ deesset. Rogatus qua spe id faceret: Domini mei, qui pro me dissolvere facile poterit, respondebat. Spem autem non confundere divina Providentia submissis inopinato subsidiis jugiter declarabat. Plura virginum monasteria construxit, quas etiam ad perfectioris vitæ rationem sua vigilantia composuit. Matronis a sæculi pompis et ornatus vanitate revocandis, ecclesiasticæ disciplinæ ac moribus reformandis maximopere studuit; dignus sane qui ab eodem Eugenio gloria et decus præsulum coram cardinalibus vocaretur, et qui a Nicolao quinto ejus successore, translato e Gradensi civitate titulo, primus Venetiarum patriarcha renuntiaretur.

the dignity, but when obliged to accept it, he so discharged its obligations as to win the praise of all. He changed nothing of his former manner of life, practising holy poverty, as he had ever done, in what regarded his table, his bed, and his furniture. He kept but few persons in his house or service, for he used to say that he had another large family, meaning Christ's poor. Every one had free access to him at any hour; he helped and consoled all with fatherly charity, even burdening himself with debts in order to relieve the necessitous. When he was asked on whose help he counted in such cases, he answered: 'On my Lord's help, and he can easily pay for me.' And divine Providence always justified his confidence by sending him help in the most unexpected manner. He built many monasteries for nuns, whom he trained with great vigilance to the life of perfection. He devoted himself zealously to withdrawing the ladies of Venice from worldly pomp and vanity of dress, and to the reformation of ecclesiastical discipline and Christian morals. Thus he truly deserved the title of 'honour and glory of prelates,' which Eugenius IV. applied to him in presence of the cardinals. Nicholas V. the next Pope, translated the Patri-

Lacrimarum dono insignitus, omnipotenti Deo placationis hostiam quotidie offerebat. Quod cum aliquando nocte Dominicæ Nativitatis perageret, Christum Jesum sub pulcherrimi infantis specie videre promeruit; tantumque in eo erat commissi gregis præsidium, ut cœlitus aliquando acceptum fuerit, pontificis sui intercessione ac meritis stetisse rempublicam. Prophetiæ spiritu afflatus, plura humanæ cognitioni prorsus impervia prædixit: morbos ac dæmones suis precibus sæpe fugavit: libros etiam cœlestem doctrinam ac pietatem spirantes, grammaticæ pene rudis, conscripsit. Denique cum lethalem incidisset in morbum, et commodiorem domestici lectum seni atque ægro pararent, aversatus ejusmodi delicias, tamquam a durissima morientis Domini sui cruce plus nimio abhorrentes, consueto in stramine se jussit deponi, et finem vitæ suæ adventare prænoscens, sublatus in cœlum oculis: Venio, inquit, ad te, o bone Jesu; ac die octava januarii obdormivit in Domino. Pretiosam ejus mortem testati sunt angelici

archate from the See of Grado to that of Venice, and proclaimed him first Patriarch.

He was honoured with the gift of tears, and daily offered to almighty God the Victim of propitiation. Once when saying Mass on the night of our Lord's Nativity he saw Christ Jesus under the form of a most beautiful Infant. Great was his care for the flock entrusted to him; and on one occasion it was revealed by heaven that Venice owed its safety to its pontiff's prayers and merits. Filled with the spirit of prophecy, he foretold many events which no human mind could have foreseen; while his prayers often put the devils to flight and healed diseases. Though he had made but little study of letters, he wrote books full of heavenly doctrine and piety. When his last illness came on, his servants prepared a more comfortable bed for him on account of his sickness and old age; but he, shrinking from such a luxury which was too unlike his Lord's hard death-bed, the cross, bade them lay him on his usual couch. Knowing the end of his life had come, he raised his eyes to heaven, and saying 'I come to thee, O good Jesus!' he fell asleep in the Lord on the eighth of January. The holiness of his death was at-

concentus, a Carthusianis quibusdam monachis auditi, et sacrum cadaver per duos ultra menses inhumatum, suavi fragrans odore, et rubescente facie, integrum atque incorruptum, ac nova post mortem patrata miracula: quibus permotus Alexander octavus Pontifex maximus eum sanctorum numero adscripsit. Innocentius vero duodecimus quintam septembris diem, qua vir sanctus ad pontificiam primo cathedram fuerat evectus, celebrando illius festo assignavit.

tested by angelic harmonies heard by several Carthusian monks; as also by the state of his body, which during the two months that it lay unburied, remained whole and incorrupt, of a lively colour and breathing a sweet fragrance. Other miracles, worked after his death, also gave proof of his sanctity; on which account, Pope Alexander VIII. enrolled him among the saints. Innocent XII. assigned for his feast the fifth of September, on which day the holy man had been raised to the pontifical dignity.

'O Wisdom, who sittest on Thy lofty throne; O Word, by whom all things were made, be propitious to me, in this manifestation of the secrets of Thy holy love!' Such, O Laurence, was thy prayer, when, fearing to be responsible for the hidden talent, if thou shouldst keep to thyself what might profit others, thou didst resolve to make known august mysteries. We thank thee for having given us to share in these heavenly secrets. By the reading of thy devout works, and by thy intercession with God, draw us to the heights of holiness, like the purified flame which can but mount upwards. Man falls from his inborn nobility if he seeks rest in aught save Him to whose image he is made. All things here below are reflections of God's eternal beauty; they teach us to love Him, and help us to sing our love. What delights were thine, on those lofty summits

¹ De casto connubio Verbi et animæ. Proœmium. ² Ibid, cap. i. & xxv.

of charity so nigh to heaven, which are to be reached by the paths of truth; i.e. the virtues. It is indeed thy own portrait thou drawest, when thou sayest of the soul admitted to ineffable intimacy with the Wisdom of the Father: 'All things are profitable to her; which way soever she turns, she perceives but the gleams of love. Sights and sounds, sweetnesses and perfumes, delicate viands, concerts of earth, brightness of the skies: all that she hears, all that she sees in the whole of nature, is a nuptial harmony, the beauty of the banquet wherein the Word has espoused her'!¹ Oh! may we walk, like thee, by the light of God, live in desire and in union, love ever more and more, that ever more and more we may be loved!

¹ De casto connubio Verbi et animæ, cap. xxv.

SEPTEMBER 8

THE NATIVITY

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

'Let us celebrate the Nativity of the Virgin Mary; let us adore her Son, Christ our Lord.'¹ Such is the invitation addressed to us to-day by the Church. Let us hearken to her call; let us enter into her overflowing joy. The Bridegroom is at hand, for His throne is now set up on earth; yet a little while, and He will appear in the diadem of our human nature, wherewith His Mother is to crown Him on the day of the joy of His heart, and of ours. To-day, as on the glorious Assumption, the sacred Canticle is heard;² but this time it belongs more to earth than to heaven. Truly a better paradise than the first is given us at this hour. Eden, fear no more that man will endeavour to enter thee; thy Cherubim may leave the gates and return to heaven. What are thy beautiful fruits to us, since we cannot touch them without dying? Death is now for those who will not eat of the fruit so soon to appear amid the flowers of the virgin earth to which our God has led us.

Hail, new world, far surpassing in magnificence the first creation! Hail blessed haven, where we find a calm after so many storms! Aurora dawns; the rainbow glitters in the heavens; the dove comes forth; the ark rests upon the earth, offering new destinies to the world. The haven, the aurora, the rainbow, the dove, the ark of salvation, the paradise of the heavenly Adam, the creation whereof the former was but a shadow: all this art thou, sweet child, in whom already dwell all grace, all truth, all life.

Thou art the little cloud, which the father of prophets in the suppliant anguish of his soul awaited; and thou bringest refreshment to the parched earth. Under the weakness of thy fragile form, appears the Mother of fair love and of holy hope. Thou art that other light cloud of exquisite fragrance, which our desert sends up to heaven. In the incomparable humility of thy soul, which knows not itself, the angels, standing like armed warriors around thy cradle, recognize their Queen.

O Tower of the true David; citadel withstanding the first shock of satan's attack, and breaking all his power; true Sion, founded on the holy mountains, the highest summits of virtue; temple and palace, feebly foreshadowed by those of Solomon; house built by eternal Wisdom for herself: the faultless lines of thy fair architecture were planned from all eternity. Together with Emmanuel, who predestined thee for His home of delights, thou art thyself, O blessed child, the crowning point of creation, the divine ideal fully realized on earth.

¹ Invitatory of the feast. ² Lessons of the 1st Nocturn.

Let us, then, understand the Church, when, even on this day, she proclaims thy divine maternity, and unites in her chants of praise the birth of Emmanuel and thine own. He who, being Son of God by essence, willed to be also Son of man, had, before all other designs, decreed that He would have a Mother. Such, consequently, was the primordial, absolute character of that title of mother, that, in the eternal decree, it was one with the very being of the chosen creature, the motive and cause of her existence, as well as the source of all her perfections natural and supernatural. We too, then, must recognize thee as Mother, even from thy very cradle, and must celebrate thy birthday by adoring thy Son our Lord.

Inasmuch as it embraces all the brethren of the Man-God, thy blessed maternity sheds its rays upon all time, both before and after this happy day. 'God is our king before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.'¹ 'The midst of the earth,' says the Abbot of Clairvaux, 'admirably represents Mary. Mary is the centre of the universe, the ark of God, the cause of creation, the business of ages. Towards her turn the inhabitants of heaven and the dwellers in the place of expiation, the men that have gone before us, and we that are now living, those who are to follow us, our children's children and their descendants. Those in heaven look to her to have their ranks filled up; those in purgatory look for their deliverance; the men of the first ages, that they may be found faithful prophets; those who come after, that they may obtain eternal happiness. Mother of God, Queen of heaven, Sovereign of the world, all generations shall call thee blessed, for thou hast brought forth life and glory for all. In thee the angels ever find their joy, the just find grace, sinners pardon; in thee, and by thee, and from thee, the merciful hand of the Almighty has reformed the first creation.'²

Andrew of Crete calls this day a solemnity of entrance, a feast of beginning, whose end is the union of the Word with our flesh; a virginal feast, full of joy and confidence for all.³ 'All ye nations, come hither,' cries St. John Damascene; 'come every race and every tongue, every age and every dignity, let us joyfully celebrate the birthday of the world's gladness'!¹ 'It is the beginning of salvation, the origin of every feast, says St. Peter Damian; for behold! the Mother of the Bridegroom is born. With good reason does the whole world rejoice to-day; and the Church, beside herself, bids her choirs sing wedding songs.'²

Not only do the Doctors of east and west use similar language in praise of Mary's birth, but moreover the Latin and Greek Churches sing, each in its own tongue, the same beautiful formula, to close the office of the feast: 'Thy birth O Virgin Mother of God, brought joy to the whole world; for out of thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God: who, taking off the curse, hath bestowed blessing; and defeating death, hath given us life everlasting.'³

This union of Rome and Byzantium in the celebration of to-day's festival, dates back as far as the seventh century at least;⁴ beyond that we cannot speak with anything like certitude, nor is it known when the feast was first instituted. It is supposed to have originated at Angers, towards the year 430, by an apparition of our Lady to the holy bishop Maurillus in the fields of Marillais; and hence the name of Notre Dame Angevine often given to the feast. In the eleventh century Chartres, the city of Mary, claims for its own Fulbert, together with Robert the Pious, a principal share in the spreading of the glorious solemnity throughout France. It is well known how intimate the bishop was with the king; and how the latter himself set to music the three admirable responsories composed by Fulbert, wherein he celebrates the rising of the mysterious star that was to give birth to the Sun; the branch springing from the rod of Jesse, and producing the divine Flower whereon the holy Spirit was to rest; and the merciful power which caused Mary to blossom in Judæa like the rose on the thorn.¹

In the year 1245, in the third session of the first Council of Lyons, (the same session which deposed Frederick II. from the empire), Innocent IV. established for the whole Church, not the feast which was already kept everywhere, but the Octave of the Nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary.² It was the accomplishment of a vow made by him and the other Cardinals during the Church's widowhood, which through the intrigues of the crafty emperor, lasted nineteen months after the death of Celestine IV., and which was brought to a close by the election of Sinibaldo Fieschi under the name of Innocent.

In 1377, the great Pope Gregory XI., who broke the chains of captivity in Avignon, wished to add a vigil to the solemnity of our Lady's birthday. But whether he merely expressed a desire to this effect, as did his successor Urban VI. with regard to a fast on the eve of the Visitation, or whether for some other reason, the intentions of the holy Pope were carried out for only a very short time during the years of trouble that followed his death.

Together with the Church, let us ask, as the fruit of this sweet feast, for that peace which seems to flee ever farther and farther from our unhappy times. Our Lady was born during the second of the three periods of universal peace wherewith the reign of Augustus was blest, the last of which ushered in the Prince of peace Himself.

The temple of Janus is closed; in the eternal city a mysterious fountain of oil has sprung up from the spot where the first sanctuary of the Mother of God is one day to be built; signs and portents are multiplied; the whole world is in expectation; the poet has sung: 'Behold the last age, foretold by the Sybil, is at hand; behold the great series of new worlds is beginning; behold the Virgin!'¹

In Judea, the sceptre has been taken away from Juda; but the usurper of his power, Herod the Idumæan, is hastening to complete the splendid
restoration, which will enable the second temple worthily to receive within its walls the Ark of the new Covenant.

It is the sabbatical month, the first of the civil year, the seventh of the sacred cycle; the month of Tisri which begins the repose of each seventh year, and in which is announced the holy year of Jubilee; the most joyous of months, with its solemn Neomenia celebrated with trumpets and singing, its feast of tabernacles, and the commemoration of the completion of Solomon's temple.

In the heavens, the sun, in his passage through the zodiac, has left the sign of Leo and entered that of Virgo. On earth, two obscure descendants of David, Joachim and Anne, are thanking God for having blessed their long-barren union.

FIRST VESPERS

The psalms, capitulum, and hymn, are the same as on the other feasts of our Lady. The antiphons and versicle celebrate the birth of the noblest of Eve's daughters, which brings honour to our race, gives to God a Mother, and to us an advocate whose prayers are never rejected.

1. Ant. Nativitas gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ ex semine Abrahæ, ortæ de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David.

1. Ant. This is the Nativity of the glorious Virgin Mary, of the seed of Abraham, born of the tribe of Juda, of the noble race of David.

Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.

2. Ant. Nativitas est hodie sanctæ Mariæ Virginis, cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

2. Ant. To-day is the birthday of the holy Virgin Mary, whose glorious life is the light of all the Churches.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.

3. Ant. Regali ex progenie Maria exorta refulget: cujus precibus nos adjuvari mente et spiritu devotissime poscimus.

3. Ant. Mary, born of a royal race, is illustrious: the aid of her prayers we most devoutly crave with heart and mind.

Psalm 121

Lætatus sum in his quæ dicta sunt mihi: In domum Domini ibimus.

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.

Stantes erant pedes nostri: in atriis tuis, Jerusalem.

Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem! Our heart loves and confides in thee, O Mary.

Jerusalem quæ ædificatur ut civitas: cujus participatio ejus in idipsum.

Mary is like to Jerusalem, that is built as a city: which is compact together.

Illuc enim ascenderunt tribus, tribus Domini: testimonium Israel ad confitendum nomini Domini.

For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio: sedes super domum David.

Because seats sat there in judgment: seats upon the house of David, and Mary is of a kingly race.

Rogate quæ ad pacem sunt Jerusalem: et abundantia diligentibus te.

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!

Fiat pax in virtute tua: et abundantia in turribus tuis.

The voice of Mary: Let peace be in thy strength, O thou new Sion! and abundance in thy towers.

Propter fratres meos et proximos meos: loquebar pacem de te.

I, a daughter of Israel, for the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, spoke peace of thee.

Propter domum Domini Dei nostri: quæsivi bona tibi.

Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.

4. Ant. Corde et animo Christo canamus gloriam, in hac sacra solemnitate præcelsæ Genitricis Dei Mariæ.

4. Ant. With heart and mind let us sing glory to Christ, on this sacred solemnity of Mary, the most high Mother of God.

Psalm 126.

Nisi Dominus ædificaverit domum: in vanum laboraverunt qui ædificant eam.

Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem: frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.

Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.

Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere: surgite postquam sederitis, qui manducatis panem doloris.

It is vain for you to rise before light; rise ye after ye have sitten, you that eat of the bread of sorrow.

Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum: ecce hereditas Domini, filii, merces, fructus ventris.

When he shall give sleep to his beloved: behold the inheritance of the Lord are children; the reward the fruit of the womb.

Sicut sagittæ in manu potentis: ita filii excussorum.

As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.

Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis: non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta.

Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies at the gate.

5. Ant. Cum jucunditate Nativitatem beatæ Mariæ celebremus, ut ipsa pro nobis intercedat ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

5. Ant. Let us celebrate with joy the birth of blessed Mary; that she may intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 147.

Lauda Jerusalem Dominum: lauda Deum tuum, Sion.

Praise the Lord, O Mary, thou true Jerusalem: O Mary, O Sion ever holy, praise thy God.

Quoniam confortavit seras portarum tuarum: benedixit filiis tuis in te.

Because he hath strengthened against sin the bolts of thy gates: he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: et adipe frumenti satiat te.

Who hath placed peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the fat of corn, with Jesus, who is the Bread of life.

Qui emittit eloquium suum terræ: velociter currit sermo ejus.

Who sendeth forth, by thee, his Word to the earth; his Word runneth swiftly.

Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: nebulam sicut cinerem spargit.

Who giveth snow like wool; scattereth mists like ashes.

Mittit crystallum suam sicut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris ejus quis sustinebit?

He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?

Emittet Verbum suum et liquefaciet ea: flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquæ.

He shall send forth his Word by Mary, and shall melt them: his Spirit shall breathe, and the waters shall run.

Qui annuntiat Verbum suum Jacob: justitias, et judicia sua Israel.

Who declareth his Word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.

Non fecit taliter omni nationi: et judicia sua non manifestavit eis.

Until these our days, he hath not done in like manner to every nation; and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them.

CAPITULUM

Ecclus. xxiv.

Ab initio et ante sæcula creata sum, et usque ad futurum sæculum non desinam, et in habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi.

From the beginning and before the world was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling-place I have ministered before him.

HYMN

Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper Virgo, Felix cœli porta.

Sumens illud Ave, Gabrielis ore, Funda nos in pace, Mutans Evæ nomen.

Solve vincla reis, Profer lumen cæcis,
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 præsta puram,
Iter para tutum, Ut, videntes Jesum, Semper collætemur.

¹ Psalm lxxiii. 12.
² Bern. In festo Pentecost, Sermon ii. 4.
³ Oratio i, in Nativit. Deiparæ. i.
¹ In Natal. B. M. Homilia i.
² Sermon xlv, in Nativit. B. M. V.
³ Trope of the dismissal in utroque Vespertino; Magnificat Ant. of 2nd Vespers.
⁴ Liber Pontific. in Sergio I.
¹ Virg. Eclog. iv. Pollio.
¹ RR. Solem justitiæ, — Stirps Jesse virgam produxit, — Ad nutum Domini.
² Mansi, xxiii, 612.

Hail, star of the Sea! Bless- ed Mother of God, yet ever a Virgin! O happy gate of heaven!

Thou that didst receive the ve from Gabriel's lips, con- firn us in peace, and so let Eva be changed into an 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.

O incomparable Virgin, and meekest of the meek, obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins, and make us meek and chaste.

Obtain us purity of life, and a safe pilgrimage; that we may be united with thee in the blissful vision of Jesus.

--- PAGE 167 --- 156

Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo decus, Spiritui sancto, Tribus honor unus.

Amen.

Y. Nativitas est hodie sancte Marie Virginis.

Er. Cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

ANTIPHON OF

Gloriose Virginis Marie ortum dignissimum recola- mus, que et Genitricis di- gnitatem obtinuit, et virgi- nalem pudicitiam non ami- sit.

THE

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Praise be to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus, and to the Holy Ghost: to the Three one self-samo praise.

Amen.

Y. To-day is the birthday of the holy Virgin Mary.

It. Whose glorious life is the light of all the churches.

MAGNIFICAT

Let us celebrate the most honourable birth of the glori- ous Virgin Mary, who obtained the dignity of a mother with- out prejudice to her virginal purity.

The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, page 158.

An illustrious martyr watches with the angels over the cradle of the Mother of God. On earth, he was an officer of the guards in the court of an emperor: in heaven he holds the same title under the Queen of the universe. Nicomedia was the scene of -Adrian’s combat; but his body was taken thence first to Byzantium, and afterwards to the eter- nal city. Having on this day received the precious relics, Rome knew how to unite with her homage to Mary the honour due to the heroic soldier. In the seventh century,! St. Adrian’s church was appointed a8 the starting-place for the solemn litany or proces- sion, which went from the Forum to St. Mary Major, on this feast of the Nativity, and afterwards on those of the Annunciation and Assumption.

The Acts of St. Adrian’s martyrdom are now re- oognized as incontestable. The part played therein by his young wife Natalia, lends them a charm of

Liber pontsf. in Sergio I.

--- PAGE 168 --- NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 157

heroic sweetness. Unknown to her pagan husband, she had been a Christian from infancy. When she heard that Adrian had been converted by witnessing the constancy of the confessors, and in the fervour of his generosity had asked to share their captivity, she hastened to him in a transport of joy, and, kissing his chains, cried out: ‘Blessed art thou, m

lord Adrian.” During the days which followed, suc

admirable scenes took place between the two spouses, as the greatest geniuses of antiquity never invented in their fictions Though she was left free by the gaolers, Natalia would not quit her husband’s side, now that he was far more glorious in her eyes than he had ever been in fighting under Czesar’s standard. Sitting at his feet in the prison, or accompanying him to the pretorium, she had no thought but to keep up the neophyte, under the pressure of the tortures, to the height of his vocation to martyrdom ; bidding him have no solicitule about earthly things. Upon herself, about to be left alone though scarcely more than a child, she made no reflection; except that, on the eve of the sacrifice, she let fall these words: * Remember thy co-operatrix in martyrdom ; pray that I may die with thee, that other women may learn how to behave towards their husbands, on seeing thy love for me. At length the hour had come. Maintaining, in the simplicity of her pure heart, a fidelity whose heroism did not destroy its exquisite tenderness, she herself placed upon the anvil, whereon they were to be crushed, the feet of him she loved alone in this world. And as after this awful torture the martyr was still breathing, he stretched out his hand to Natalia, that she might offer it to the executioner to be cut off. Then he died ; and remembering the prayer of his faithful companion, he soon ealled her after him to heaven.

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Our Emmanuel, on the night of His birth, gave a share in Ilis honours to the holy widow Anastasia; so now, with sweet motherly thoughtfulness, the Virgin of virgins inspired the Church to associate with the joys of this happy birthday the glorification of the heroic spouse of St. Natalia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

MASS

Tae Church intones the beautiful song of Pruden- tius to the Mother of God; for, like the Most High, she looks upon Mary as already Mother, since such she has been by predestination from all eternity. Our Lady answers the Church's greeting, by the song of the bride, the psalm of the epithalamium, which no one else could ever sing as she can even from this her first day.

INTROIT

Salve, sancta parens, eni- xa puerpera Regem; qui colum terramque regit in secula seculorum.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Salve.

Hail, holy parent, who didst bring forth the King: who rules heaven and earth for ever and ever.

Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father, etc. Hail.

The liturgy here leaves the historical order of events, to follow that of the annual cycle, which

began with the weeks of Advent. Thus, in the Collect we pray that the mystery of to-day may develop in us the work of sanctification and peace begun at Bethlehem.

COLLECT

Famulis tuis, quesumus Domine, coelestis

We beseech thee, O Lord,

gratie to bestow on thy servants the

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munus impertire: ut, qui- bus beatae Virginis partus exstitit salutis exordium, Nativitatis ejus votiva so- lemnitas pacis tribuat incre- mentum. Per Dominum.

gift of heavenly grace; that for those to whom the blessed Virgin's maternity was the beginning of salvation, the votive solemnity of her Na- tivity may procure increase of peace. "Through etc.

In private Masses, after the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion of the feast, a commemoration is

made of St. Adrian.

PRAYER

Prasta, quaesumus, omni- potens Deus: ut, qui beati
Adriani, martyris tui, nata- litia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of blessed Adrian thy martyr, may by his intercession be strength- ened in the love of thy name. Through.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientiz.

Prov. cap. viii.

Dominus possedit me in
initio viarum suarum, ante- quam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab zterno ordi- nata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret. Non- dum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram: nec- dum fontes aquarum eru- perant: necdum montes gravi mole constiterant: ante colles ego parturiebar. Adhuc terram non fecerat, et flumina et cardines orbis terre. Quando preeparabat coelos, aderam: quando cer-

ta lege, et gyro vallabat

Lesson from the Book of

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old be. fore the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived: neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out; the mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present;

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abyssos: quando sethera fir- mabat sursum, et librabat fontes aquarum: quando circumdabat mari terminum suum, et legem ponebat aquis ne transirent fines suos: quando appendebat fundamenta terriv. Cum co eram cuncta componens: et dilectabar per singulos dies, luderis coram co omni tempore, ludens in orbe ter- rarum: ct delici:o. mea: esse cum filiis hominum. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui custodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere eam. Beatus homo qui au- dit me, et qui vigilat ad fo- res meas quotidie, et obser- vat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vi- tam, et hauriet salutem a Dornino.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the deep: when he established the sky above, and poised the foun- tains of wacers: when he com- passed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters, that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth: I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times, playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear me. Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear in- struction and be wise, and re. fuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

When princes are born, we prognosticate their

future greatness by recalling the glory of their an- cestors. The Church does in like manner to-day. The Gospel will recount the temporal genealogy of Messias, which is also the genealogy of her, who was born for the very purpose of giving birth to Him. But first, this passage from the Book of Proverbs sets before us the divine origin of the Son and of the Mother. It is of both that eternal Wisdom says: ‘Before the hills I was brought forth: when He prepared the heavens, I was present.’

ur weak human nature, subject to time, can conceive of things only according to the series of

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NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 161

their progressive evolutions; but God sees them inde- pendently of time, which He rules with His eternity ; He sees them in the order of mutual dependence in which He has placed them with a view to the mani- festation of His glory. With God, the beginning and the principle of every work is the purpose for which it is done. Now the Most High acts outside Himself solely to reveal Himself, by His Word made Flesh and become the Sou of a created Mother as He is the Son of the Creator. The God-Man as end, Mary as the means: such is the object of the eternal decrees, the purpose of the world’s existence, the fundamental conception, with regard to which all else is but accessory and dependent.

O Lady, who dost deign to call us also thy children, it is well for us that thy goodness is equal to thy greatness! Happy is the human race for having waited and watched for thee during so many long ages, and for having found thee at length; for with thee is salvation and life.

In the Gradual the Church again sings of Mary’s virginal and divine maternity; for this is the day which gave us the Mother of God.

GRADUAL

Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria, que sine tactu pudoris inventa es mater Salvatoris.

Y. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, sin tua se clausit viscera fa- ctus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia. y. Felix es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni laude di-

Thou art blessed and vene- rable, O Virgin Mary, who without any violation of puri- ty, wert found the Mother of our Saviour.

- Y. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world is unable to contain, being made man, enclosed himself in thy womb.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Thou art happy, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy

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gnissima: quia ex te ortus est Sol justitie, Christus Deusnoster. Alleluia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of all praise, because from thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God. Alleluia,

GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii
secundum Matthaum. Cap. i.

Liber generationis Jesu Christi filii David, filii Abra- ham. Abraham genuit Isaac. Isaac autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Judam et fratres ejus. Judas autem
genuit Phares, et Zaram de Thamar. Phares autem ge- nuit Esron. Esron autem genuit Aram. Aram autem genuit Aminadab. Amina- dab autem genuit Naasson. Naasson autem genuit Sal- mon. Salmon autem genuit Booz de Rahab. Booz autem genuit Obed ex Ruth. Obed autem genuit Jesse. Jesse autem genuit David regem. David autem rex genuit Sa- lomonem, ex ea quse fuit Urie .Salomon autem genu- it Roboam. Roboam autem genuit Abiam. Abias autem genuit Asa. Asa autem ge- nuit Josaphat. Josaphat au- tem genuit J oram. Joram au- tem genuit Oziam. Oziasau- tem genuit Joatham. Joa- tham autem genuit Achaz. Acbaz autem genuit Ezechi- am. Ezechias autem genuit Manassen. Manasses autem genuit Amon. Amon autem

The beginning of the holy Gos- pel according to St. Matthew. Ch. i.

Thebook of thegeneration of Jesus Christ, tlie Sonof David, the soi of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren; and Judas be- got Pharesand Zara of Thamar; and Phares begot Esron; and Esron begot Aram; and Aram begot Aminadab; and Amina- dab begot Naasson; and Naas- son begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Booz of Rahab; and Booz begot Obed of Rath; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her who bad been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begot Roboun; and Roboam begot Abia; and Abia begot Asa; and Asa begot Josaphat; aud Josaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Ozias; and Ozias begot Joatham; and Joatham begot Achaz; and Achaz be- got Ezechias; and Ezechias begot Manasses; and Manas- ses begot Amon; and Amon begot Josias; and Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Baby. lon. And after the transmi-

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genuit Josiam. Josias autem genuit Jechoniam, et fratres
ejus in transmigratione Ba- bylonis. Et post transmigra- tionem Babylonis: Jechonias genuit Salathiel. Salathiel autem — genuit Zororabel. Zorobabel autem genuit Abiud. Abiud autem genu- it Eliacim. Eliacim autem genuit Azor. Azor autem genuit Sadoc. Sadoc autem genuit Achim. Achim au- tem genuit Eliud. Eliud autem genuit Eleazar. Ele-

163

gration of Babylon Jechonias begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zoroba- bel begot Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliacim; and Eliacim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Elea- zar; and Eleazar begot Ma- than; and Mathan bogot Ja- cob; and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Azar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Joseph, virum Mariæ, de qua natus est Jesus, qui vocatur
Christus.

MARY of whom was born Jesus: these words contain the whole mystery of our Lady, the title which expresses her whole being according to both nature and grace; for, Jesus, who was to be born of Mary, to be made of a woman,¹ was from the beginning the hidden reason of all creation, to be manifested in the fulness of time. This was God's great work, of which the prophet said in ecstasy: *O Lord, Thy work, . . . in the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known; ... the holy One shall come from the shady mountain.² ... The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of His eternity.³ This mountain, from whence the holy One, the Eternal, the Ruler of the world, is to come, is the blessed Virgin Mary,⁴ whom the power of the Most High will overshadow, and who, at her very birth, is set far above all the heights of earth and of heaven.

The days, then, are accomplished. Ever since the hour when the eternal Trinity came forth from their repose to create heaven and earth, all the generations of heaven and earth have been in labour to bring forth the day which is to give a Mother to the Son of God. Parallel with the direct line from Abraham and David to the Messias all human genealogies have been preparing for Mary the generation of adoptive sons whom Jesus is to make His brethren.

With the Church, let us congratulate our Lady on this her sublime maternity, which embraces all creatures together with the Creator.

OFFERTORY

Beata es, Virgo Maria, quæ omnium portasti Creatorem: genuisti qui te fecit, et in æternum permanes virgo.

Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst bear the Creator of all things: thou didst bring forth him who made thee, and thou remainest for ever a virgin.

May this maternity, and the virginity which it sealed, draw us ever nearer to the Son of Mary and the Son of God; may they unite us in greater purity to the Sacrifice prepared on the altar.

SECRET

Unigeniti tui, Domine, nobis succurrat humanitas: ut, qui natus de Virgine, Matris integritatem non minuit, sed sacravit, in Nativitatis ejus solemniis, nostris nos piaculis exuens, oblationem nostram tibi faciat acceptam Jesus Christus Dominus noster. Qui tecum.

May the humanity of thy only-begotten Son be our succour, O Lord; that Jesus Christ our Lord, who, when born of a Virgin, did not diminish, but consecrated the integrity of his Mother, may on this solemnity of her Nativity deliver us from our sins, and make our oblation acceptable to thee. Who liveth.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. ADRIAN

Muneribus nostris, quæsumus Domine, precibusque susceptis; et cælestibus nos munda mysteriis, et clementer exaudi. Per Dominum.

Receive our offerings and prayers, O Lord, we beseech thee; and purify us by heavenly mysteries, and mercifully hear us. Through our Lord.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus: Et te in Nativitate beatæ Mariæ semper Virginis collaudare, benedicere, et prædicare. Quæ et Unigenitum tuum sancti Spiritus obumbratione concepit, et virginitatis gloria permanente, lumen æternum mundo effudit, Jesum 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: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

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: and that we should praise, bless, and glorify thee on the Nativity of the blessed Mary ever a Virgin. Who by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost conceived thine only-begotten Son, and, the glory of her virginity still remaining, brought forth the eternal light to the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. By whom the Angels praise thy Majesty, the Dominations adore it, the Powers tremble before it, the Heavens, the heavenly Virtues, and blessed Seraphim, 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!

When we receive our Lord in holy Communion, let us not forget that we owe His coming to the blessed child who was born on this day nineteen centuries ago.

COMMUNION

Beata viscera Mariæ Virginis, quæ portaverunt æterni Patris Filium.

Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the eternal Father.

May the annual return of the beautiful feast never be without fruit in our souls; and may the adorable mysteries it has led us to receive, deliver us from evils both temporal and eternal. This is what we ask for in the Postcommunion.

POSTCOMMUNION

Sumpsimus, Domine, celebritatis annuæ votiva sacramenta: præsta, quæsumus; ut et temporalis vitæ nobis remedia præbeant et æternæ. Per Dominum.

We have received, O Lord, the votive mysteries of this annual celebration; grant, we beseech thee, that they may confer upon us remedies for time and eternity. Through our Lord.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. ADRIAN

Da, quæsumus, Domine Deus noster: ut, sicut tuorum commemoratione sanctorum temporali gratulamur officio; ita perpetuo lætemur aspectu. Per Dominum.

Grant we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that as in commemorating thy saints, we rejoice in a temporal festival; so we may exult in beholding them for eternity. Through our Lord.

SECOND VESPERS

The antiphons, psalms, capitulum, hymn, and versicle are the same as at First Vespers, page 152.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Nativitas tua, Dei Genitrix Virgo, gaudium annuntiavit universo mundo: ex te enim ortus est Sol justitiæ, Christus Deus noster: qui solvens maledictionem, dedit benedictionem, et confundens mortem, donavit nobis vitam sempiternam.

Thy birth, O Virgin Mother of God, brought joy to the whole world: for out of thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God: who, taking off the curse, hath bestowed blessing; and, defeating death, hath given us life everlasting.

After the Collect of the feast, a commemoration is made of a holy martyr, whom the Church associates in the honours paid to our Lady on the second day of her earthly life. Gorgonius was chamberlain of the emperor Diocletian. The 'saints of Cæsar's household,' whose greetings St. Paul sent to the Philippians, had, ever since then, been increasing in numbers. Eusebius shows that before the last persecution they were in great favour with the emperors; such preference was shown them, that they were exempted from all participation in public rites in order that they might accept the government of the provinces. In the palace, their wives, children, and servants, were allowed full liberty to practise and profess their faith; so much so, that the court of Nicomedia formed as it were a little church around the empress Prisca and her daughter Valeria, who were then Christians, but who, unhappily, did not persevere.¹

It required all the craft of Galerius to make Diocletian publish the bloody edicts of the year 303 against the religion of such devoted men, whom he loved, says Eusebius, as his own sons. But once the gate of martyrdom was opened, and Cæsar had become Nero once more, the officers of the palace surpassed in glory all the other heroes of Christ illustrious for their courage throughout the empire, and even beyond its limits. Chief among these valiant men, the historian mentions Peter, Dorotheus, and Gorgonius. The relics of the last-named were afterwards translated to Rome; it is on this account that he has a place in the Roman calendar, where he has the honour of being in the cortège of the Mother of God.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. GORGONIUS MARTYR

ANT. Iste sanctus pro lege Dei sui certavit usque ad mortem, et a verbis impiorum non timuit: fundatus enim erat supra firmam petram.

℣. Gloria et honore coronasti eum, Domine.

℟. Et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum.

ANT. This saint fought, even to death, for the law of his God, and feared not the words of the wicked; for he was founded upon a firm rock.

℣. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, O Lord.

℟. And hast set him over the works of thy hands.

PRAYER

Sanctus tuus, Domine, Gorgonius sua nos intercessione lætificet: et pia faciat solemnitate gaudere. Per Dominum.

May thy holy Gorgonius rejoice us, O Lord, by his intercession, and cause us to be joyful on his pious festival. Through our Lord.

In honour of our sweet Lady's birth, let us sing the beautiful responsories composed by Fulbert of Chartres and Robert the Pious. France first adopted them, and the whole of Europe soon followed her example.

RESPONSORIES

℟. Solem justitiæ Regem paritura supremum: ✶ Stella Maria maris hodie processit ad ortum.

℣. Cernere divinum lumen gaudete fideles. ✶ Stella Maria maris hodie processit ad ortum.

℟. Stirps Jesse virgam produxit, virgaque florem: ✶ Et super hunc florem requiescit Spiritus almus.

℣. Virgo Dei Genitrix virga est, flos Filius ejus. ✶ Et super hunc florem requiescit Spiritus almus.

℟. Ad nutum Domini nostrum ditantis honorem: ✶ Sicut spina rosam, genuit Judæa Mariam.

℣. Ut vitium virtus operiret, gratia culpam. ✶ Sicut spina rosam, genuit Judæa Mariam.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. ✶ Sicut spina rosam, genuit Judæa Mariam.

℟. In order to bring forth the sun of justice, the sovereign King: ✶ Mary, the star of the sea, to-day arose in the heavens.

℣. Rejoice, ye faithful, to behold the divine light. ✶ Mary, the star of the sea, to-day arose in the heavens.

℟. The rod of Jesse produced a branch, and the branch a flower: ✶ And upon the flower rests the Spirit of love.

℣. The Virgin Mother of God is the branch, the flower is her Son. ✶ And upon the flower rests the Spirit of love.

℟. At the will of the Lord enriching us with honour: ✶ Mary sprang from Judæa as the rose from the thorn.

℣. That vice might be overcome by virtue, and sin by grace. ✶ Mary sprang from Judæa as the rose from the thorn.

Glory be to the Father, &c. ✶ Mary sprang.

At length, O Mary, our earth possesses thee! Thy birth reveals to it the secret of its destiny, the secret of that love which called it from nothingness, that it might become the palace of the God who dwelt above the heavens. But what a mystery, that poor, weak humanity, inferior to the angels by nature, should be chosen to give to the angels their King and their Queen! Their King they will soon adore, a new-born Babe in thine arms; their Queen they reverence to-day, admiring thee in thy cradle as only angels can admire. In the beginning these morning stars, these noble spirits, contemplated the manifestations of almighty power, and praised the Most High; yet never did their eager gaze discover such a marvel as that which delights their eyes at this hour: God, more purely imaged under a corporeal veil, under the fragile form of an infant one day old, than in all the strength and all the beauty of their nine angelic choirs; God, so captivated by such weakness united, by His grace, to such love, that He made it the culminating point of His work by determining to manifest His Son therein!

Queen of angels, thou art our Queen also; accept us as thy liegemen. On this day, when the first movement of thy holy soul was towards God, and the first smile of thy blessed eyes was for thy happy parents, may holy Anne allow us to kneel and kiss thy little hand, already filled with the divine bounties of which thou art the predestined dispenser. And now, grow up, sweet little one! Let thy feet be strengthened to crush the serpent, and thy arms to carry the treasure of the world! Angels and men, the whole of nature, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all are awaiting the solemn moment, when Gabriel may fly down from heaven to hail thee full of grace, and bring thee the message of eternal love.

FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF MARY

'And the Virgin's name was Mary.'¹ Let us speak a little about this name, which signifies star of the sea, and which so well befits the Virgin Mother. Rightly is she likened to a star: for as a star emits its ray without being dimmed, so the Virgin brought forth her Son without receiving any injury; the ray takes nought from the brightness of the star, nor the Son from His Mother's integrity. This is the noble star risen out of Jacob, whose ray illumines the whole world, whose splendour shines in the heavens, penetrates the abyss, and, traversing the whole earth, gives warmth rather to souls than to bodies, cherishing virtues, withering vices. Mary, I say, is that bright and incomparable star, whom we need to see raised above this vast sea, shining by her merits, and giving us light by her example.

Oh! whosoever thou art that seest thyself, amid the tides of this world, tossed about by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, turn not thine eyes away from the shining of this star if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If squalls of temptations arise, or thou fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If thou art tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of thy soul, turn thine eyes towards Mary. If, troubled by the enormity of thy crimes, ashamed of thy guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, thou beginnest to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her be ever on thy lips, ever in thy heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life. Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favoured by her, thou reachest the goal. And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: And the Virgin's name was Mary.'¹

¹ St. Luke, i. 27.

Thus speaks the devout St. Bernard, in the name of the Church. But his pious explanation does not exhaust the meanings of this blessed name of Mary. St. Peter Chrysologus adds in this same night Office: 'Mary in Hebrew signifies lady or sovereign: and truly the authority of her Son, who is the Lord of the world, constituted her Queen, both in fact and in name, from her very birth.'

Our Lady: such is the title which befits her in every way, as that of Our Lord beseems her Son; it is the doctrinal basis of that worship of hyperdulia which belongs to her alone. She is below her Son, whom she adores as we do; but above all God's servants, both angels and men, inasmuch as she is His Mother. At the name of Jesus every knee is bent; at the name of Mary every head is bowed.

¹ Lessons of the 2nd nocturn of the feast, ex Bernard. Homil. ii.
super Missus est. ² Peter Chrys. Sermon cxlii, de Annuntiat, Homily of the 3rd Nocturn.

And although the former is the only name whereby we may be saved; yet, as the Son can never be separated from His Mother, heaven unites their two names in its hymns of praise, earth in its confidence, hell in its fear and hatred.

It was therefore in the order of divine Providence that devotion to the most holy name of Mary should spread simultaneously with the cultus of the adorable name of Jesus, of which St. Bernardin of Siena was the apostle in the fifteenth century. In 1513 the Church of Cuenca in Spain was the first to celebrate, with the approbation of the holy See, a special feast in honour of the name of Mary, while the Franciscan Order had not yet succeeded in obtaining a like privilege for the adorable name of Jesus. The reason of this is that the memory of that sacred name included in the feast of the Circumcision, seemed to the prudence of the Pontiffs to suffice. From the same motive we find the feast of the most holy name of Mary extended to the universal Church in the year 1683, and that of the most holy name of Jesus not until 1721.

Our Lady justifies her beautiful title by partaking in the warlike exploits of the King of kings her Son. The city of Vienna having been delivered by her, contrary to all hope, from the power of the Crescent, the venerable Innocent XI. made this feast the memorial of universal gratitude to the liberatrix of the west. But we shall speak more explicitly of this glorious deliverance on September 12, the day on which it occurred.

MASS

In the Introit let us, with the Church, greet the sweet infant whose name foretells her power; all the rich and the great ones, kings, pontiffs, seraphim, shall entreat her smile; but the virgins are to form her own blessed train, singing the canticle they alone can sing.

INTROIT

Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes divites plebis: adducentur Regi virgines post eam: proximæ ejus adducentur tibi in lætitia et exsultatione.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Vultum tuum.

All the rich among the people shall entreat thy countenance: after her shall virgins be brought to the King: her neighbours shall be brought to thee in gladness and rejoicing.

Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father, &c. All the rich.

The name of Mary, which is the joy of angels and the terror of demons, protects man against countless evils, and supports him on his way to heaven. May the Church's prayer, in the Collect, obtain for us the grace to profit fully of so great a help.

COLLECT

Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut fideles tui, qui sub sanctissimæ Virginis Mariæ nomine et protectione lætantur, ejus pia intercessione, a cunctis malis liberentur in terris, et ad gaudia æterna pervenire mereantur in cœlis. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that thy faithful, who rejoice under the name and protection of the most holy Virgin Mary, may, by her pious intercession, be delivered from all evils on earth, and deserve to arrive at eternal joys in heaven. Through our Lord.

A commemoration is then made of the occurring Sunday.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientiæ. Ecclus. xxiv.

Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris: et flores mei, fructus honoris et honestatis. Ego mater pulchræ dilectionis, et timoris, et agnitionis, et sanctæ spei. In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis, in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis. Transite ad me, omnes qui concupiscitis me, et a generationibus meis implemini: spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis, et hereditas mea super mel et favum. Memoria mea in generationes sæculorum. Qui edunt me, adhuc esurient, et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. Qui audit me non confundetur: et qui operantur in me, non peccabunt. Qui elucidant me, vitam æternam habebunt.

Lesson from the Book of Wisdom. Ecclus. xxiv.

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way, and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits; for my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded, and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

All the delight of heaven, all the hopes of earth, are centred on the cradle where Mary sleeps, while her heart is watching before God. Wisdom praises her own self; by the blessed daughter of Anne and Joachim, the loving preference shown by that divine Wisdom from the origin of the world, is already justified; for ever more it will be her delight to be with the children of men. The chosen vine, the vine of the Peaceful One is before us, announcing, by its fragrant blossom, the divine grape, whose juice, pressed out in the wine-press of the cross, will give fruitfulness to every soul, and will inebriate earth and heaven.

The Church returns, in the Gradual, to Mary's great privilege, her virginal maternity, which gave God to the world.

GRADUAL

Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria: quæ sine tactu pudoris inventa es mater Salvatoris.

℣. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, in tua se clausit viscera, factus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia.

℣. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti: Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis. Alleluia.

Thou art blessed and venerable, O Virgin Mary: who without prejudice to purity wert found the Mother of our Saviour.

℣. O Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world cannot contain, confined himself in thy womb when he was made man.

Alleluia, alleluia.

℣. After child-birth thou didst remain a pure virgin: O Mother of God, intercede for us. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam. Cap. i.

In illo tempore: Missus est angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitatem Galilææ, cui nomen Nazareth, ad Virginem desponsatam viro, cui nomen erat Joseph, de domo David: et nomen Virginis Maria. Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit: Ave, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus.

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke. Ch. i.

At that time: the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.

Quæ cum audisset, turbata est in sermone ejus: et cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio. Et ait angelus ei: Ne timeas, Maria: invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum. Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium: et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum. Hic erit magnus: et Filius Altissimi vocabitur. Et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris ejus: et regnabit in domo Jacob in æternum; et regni ejus non erit finis. Dixit autem Maria ad angelum: Quomodo fiet istud? quoniam virum non cognosco. Et respondens angelus, dixit ei: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te; et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Et ecce Elisabeth cognata tua: et ipsa concepit filium in senectute sua. Et hic mensis sextus est illi, quæ vocatur sterilis: quia non erit impossibile apud Deum omne verbum. Dixit autem Maria: Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.