AVAA TVOIDUNIIT HHL THE LITURGICAL YEAR ABBOT PROSPER GUERANGER, O.S.B. TIME AFTER PENTECOST BOOK VI ‘TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY THE BENEDCTINES 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 Lorero PUBLICATIONS The Liturgical Year 15 Volume Set ISBN: 1-930278-03-9 Volume XV — Time After Pentecost Book VI ISBN: 1-930278-18-7 Printed in the Czech Republic by Newton Design&Print Ltd (www.newtondp.co.uk) PREFACE ‘HE LITURGICAL YEAR, begun sixty years ago, is at length completed. The five hundred thousand volumes that have passed through the press before the conclusion of the work bear ample testimony to its popularity. Our Lord seems to have imparted to it a large share of the blessings merited by Dom Guéranger’s great labours for the Church. In the most filial devotedness to this holy Church, in absolute obedience to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, we fulfil the duty that would have been so gratifying to our illustrious Father, and declare once more that we unreservedly submit all and every the fifteen volumes of this work to the representative of God on earth. To praise, to condemn, to reprove, all that the sovereign See of Peter praises, condemns, and reproves, will ever be, according to the tenour of its Constitutions, the cherished maxim of the Benedictine Congregation of France. We have yet another duty to fulfil with regard to our readers: to thamk them for their prayers, which have enabled us, in angustia temporum, to bring to its term the task imposed upon us by obedience twentyfive years ago. In return we promise, as in justice v vi PREFACE bound, of them ever to remember them before God. We beg not to cease from affording us their valued assistance, until the day when we shall be united with the Church triumphant, in the measure it has been granted us to identify ourselves with her on earth in prayer and in love. - Fr.L.F, OS.B. SoLEsSMES, November 22, 1900, CONTENTS curren 1. On hearing Mass during the Time after Pents- racE IL On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feusts during the Time after Pentecost . . . III. On the Office of Pentecost . PROPER November November 1.—FEAST Compline . . during the Time OF THE OF ALL SAINTS p.m Vespers . . . . . . . Second Nocturn . . . . . . . . . SAINTS Sewnd Vapu'l Vespers of the Dead . 2.—ALL Sours’ Day Matins of the Dead First Nocturn . after . Third Nocturn . Lauds . Mass of the Dead The Absolution . November 3 —Taixp DAY WiTHIN THE OCTAVE OF ALL SAINTS . . . . . Mass of the Holy Relics . . . Vespers of the Holy Relis . . Same Day.—SaNt Hussat, Bishop and Confessor November 4—SAINT CrARLES, Bishop and Confessor . . Commemoration of Saints Vitalis and Agrivii . viii CONTENTS racE November 5.—F1rTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ALL November 6.—SixTE DAY SaINTS WITHIN THE OCTAVE . . . . OF ALL . . November November November . . . . SamNts . 7.—SEVENTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF ALL 8.—OCTAVE DAY Commemoration . . . SAINTS OF ALL SAINTS . . . Four the of . . Crowned DEDICATION OF CHURCHES . . . SewndVespen. Lo November 10 —SAINT ANDREW AVELLINO, Confessor 237 Commemoration of Saints Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha, Martyrs . November November November November November November 190 203 210 211 214 222 229 . le!t Vespers 184 198 Commemoration of Saint Theodore, ertyr THE 179 197 9.—DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF SAINT SAVIOUR . . 242 243 Commemoration of Saint Mennas, Martyr . 256 12.—SAINT MARTIN I, Pope and Martyr . 257 13 —SaINT DiDAcUS, Confessor . . . 262 14.—SAINT JosaPHAT, Bishop and Martyr 266 15—SAINT GERTRUDE, Virgin . . . 274 17.—SAINT GREGORY THAUMATURGUS, Bishop and Confessor . _ . . . 283 11.—SAINT MARTIN, November 18.—DEDICATION Bishop and Confessor . OF THE BASILICAS OF SAINTS PETER AND PAuL, Apostles . . 288 November 19.—SAINT EvizaBeTH OF HUNGARY, Duchess of Thuringia . . E 295 Commemoration of Saint Pontian, Martyr . 302 November 20 —SAINT FELIX OF VALOIS, Confessor November 21.—PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED Mary November 22.—SAINT CCILIA, . . . . Virgin and Martyr . VIRGIN . . . . 303 307 316 CONTENTS ix racs November 23.—SANT CLEMENT I, Pope and Martyr . 33t November 24.—SAINT JonN oF THE CRoss, Confessor . 341 . 349 Commemoration of Saint Felicitas, Martyr . 340 Commemoration Martyr . of . Saint Chrysogonus, . . . November 25.—SAINT CATHARINE, Virgin and Martyr November 26, —SAINT SYLVESTER, Abbot Commemoration of . Saint Peter andria, Bishop and Martyr November 29.—Vigil of St. Andrew. Martyr « . SAINT November 30.—SAINT ANDREW, Apostle . of Alax— 3 SATURNINUS, . . . . . 350 357 . 360 . 362 . 364 LSOOH.INHd Y414V IWIL TIME AFTER CHAPTER ON PENTECOST THE FIRST HEARING MASS, DURING THE AFTER PENTECOST TIME N the Sundays, if the Mass at which the faithful assist be the parochial, or, as it is often called, the public Mass, two solemn rites precede it, and they are full of instruction and blessing: the Asperges, or sprinkling of the holy water, and the procession. During the Asperges, you should unite with the intentions which the Church has in this ceremony, so venerable by its antiquity : you which is needed for wherein God Himself and earth so closely should pray for that purity of heart, worthily assisting at the mysteries becomes present and unites heaven together. ANTIPHON OF THE ASPERGES Asperges me, Domine, hysThou shalt sprinkle me with sopo, et mundabor; lavabis hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be me, et super nivem dealba- cleansed; thou shalt wash me, bor. and I shall be made whiter than snow. Ps. Miserere mei, Deus, se- _ Ps. Have mercy on me, O cundum magnam misericor- God, according to thy great diam tuam. mercy. X. Gloria Patri, &24& NT. Asperges me, &c. Y. Oltende! nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam; K Gl_tl)_;y, &s‘;ul ikl & NT. Thou t sprinkle, &c. Y. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy. K. Et salutare tuum da no- ulv. And grant us thy salvabis. on. 3 4 TIME AFTER PENTECOST ¥. O Lord, hear my prayer. ¥. Domine, exaudi orationem meam. Ry. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. ¥. Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo. ullv. And let my cry come unto OREMUS LET US PRAY Exaudi nos, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, zterne Deus: et mittere ignerls sanctam angelum tuum de calis, qui custodiat, foveat, protegat, visitet, atque defendat, omnes habitantes in hoc habitaculo. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. ee. Y. The Lord be with you. K. And with thy spirit. Graciously hear us, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: and vouchsafe to send thy holy angel from heaven, who ‘may keep, cherish, protect, visit, anddefend all whoare assembled in this place. Through Christ our Lord. K. Amen. The procession, which in many churches immediately precedes a solemn Mass, is a prelude to the great act which is about to be accomplished. It originated from the monastic practice of going through the cloisters every Sunday chanting certain appointed responsories; while the hebdomadarian went through all the conventual places, blessing each of them. But see, Christians, the Sacrifice begins| The priest is at the foot of the altar; God is attentive, the angels are in adoration, the whole Church is united with the priest, whose priesthood and action are those of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Let us make the sign of the cross with him. THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 5 In nomine Patris, ct Filii, et In the name of the Father, Spiritus Sancti. Amen. and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. ¥. Introibo ad altarc Dei. 1 unite myself, O my God, Ry. Ad Deum qui lztificat ju- with thy holy Church, who thrills with joy at the approach ventutem meam. of Jesus Christ thy Son, who is the true altar. Like her, I beseech thee to deJudica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non fend me against the malice of sancta; ab homine iniquo et do- the enemies of my salvation. loso erue me. Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo It is in thee I have put my mea: quare me repulisti? et hope; yet do I feel sad and quare tristis incedo, dum affligit troubled at being in the midst me inimicus? of the snares which are set for me. Emitte lucem tuam ct veritaSend me, then, him who is tem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt the light and the truth; it is he et adduxerunt in montem san- will open the way to thy holy ctum tuum, et in tabernacula mount, to thy heavenly tabertua. nacle. Et introlbo ad altare Dei: ad He is the Mediator and the Deum qui latificat juventutem living altar; I will draw nigh to meam. him and be filled with joy. Confitebor tibi in cithara, When he shall have come, I Deus, Deus meus: quare tristis vill sing in my gladness. Be es anima mea? et quare contur- not sad, O my soull why bas me ? wouldst thou be troubled? Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc Hope in him, who will soon confitebor illi: salutare vultus show himself unto thee as thy mei, et Deus meus. Saviour and thy God. Gloria Patr, et Filio, et SplGlory be to the Father, and to ritui Sancto. the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Sicut erat in principlo, et As it was in the beginning, is nunc, et semper, et in szcula now, and ever shall be, world seculorum. Amen. without end. Amen. ¥. Introibo ad altare Dei. Tam to go to thealtarof God, . K. Ad Deum qui letificat and feel the presence of him who juventutem meam. desires to give me a new life | This my hope comes not from ¥. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini. any merits of my own, but from R. Qui fecit czlum et ter- the all-powerful help of my ram. Creator. 6 TIME AFTER PENTECOST 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 tuis, mercy on thee, and, forgiving perducat te ad vitam @ternam. thy sins, bring thee to everlasting life. The priest having answered Amen, make your confession, saying with a contrite spirit: Confiteor Deo omaipotentl, beate Marlz semper Virgini, beatoMichaeliarchangelo, beato Joanni Baptistw, sanctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus sanctis, et tibi, pater, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem archangelum, beatum Joannem Baptistam, sanctos apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes sanctos, et te, pater, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. 1 confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed; through my fault, through my fault, through my most _grievous fault. Therefore I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and thee, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me. Receive with gratitude the paternal wish of the priest, who says to you: Misereatur vestri omnipotens May almighty God be merciDeus, et dimissis peccatis ve- ful to you, and, forgiving your THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 7 stris, perducat vos ad vitam sins, bring you to everlasting life. @ternam. ) K. Amen. K.May Amen. the almighty and merciIndulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum no- ful Lord grant us pardon, absostrorum tribuat nobis omnipo- lution, and remission of oursins. tens et misericors Dominus. K. Amen. R/. Amen. Invoke the divine assistance, that you may approach to Jesus Christ. ¥. O God, it needs but one ¥. Deus, tu conversus vivificabis nos. look of thine to give us life. . Et plebs tua laetabitur in K. And thy people shall te. rejoice in thee. ¥. Ostende nobis, Domine, ¥. Show us, O Lord, thy misericordiam tuam. mercy. . Et salutare tuum da nobis. K. And give us to know and love the Saviour whom thou hast sent unto us. ¥. Domine, exaudi oratio¥. O Lord, hear my prayer. nem meam. K. And let my cry come unto Ry. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. thee. The priest here leaves you to ascend but first he salutes you: to the altar; ¥. The Lord be with you. ¥. Dominus vobiscum. Answer him with reverence: ®y. Et cum spiritu tuo. He ascends the steps, Ry. And with thy spirit. and comes to holies. Ask, both for him from sin: and OREMUS LET US PRAY Aufer a nobis, quzsumus Domine, iniquitates nostras; ut ad Sancta sanctorum puris merea- mur mentibus introire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. yourself, the Holy of deliverance 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. 8 TIME When the the relics of Oramus te, rita sanctorum priest kisses the altar out of reverence for the martyrs which are there, say: Domine, per me- _ Generous soldiers of Jesus tuorum, quorum Christ, who have mingled your reliquiz hic sunt, AFTER ct omnium PENTECOST 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 sanctorum: ut indulgere digneris omnia peccata mea. Amen. 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 isa solemn open- ing anthem, in which the Church, at the very commence- ment of the holy Sacrifice, gives expression to the sentiments which fill her heart. It is followed by nine exclamations, which are even more earnest, for they ask for mercy. Inaddressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing round the altar of heaven, one and the same as this before which you are kneeling. Kyrle eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Christe eleison. Christe eleison. 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 | THE Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison, ORDINARY OF THE MASS 9 To the Holy Ghost : Lord, have mercy on us | Lord, have mercy on us | Lord, have mercy on us | Then, mingling his voice with that of the heavenly host, the priest intones the sublime canticle of Bethle- hem, which announces glory to God, and peace to men. Instructed by the revelations of God, the Church continues in her own words the hymn of the angels. THE ANGELIC Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntatis. Laudamus te: benedicimus te: adoramus te: glorificamus te: gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex calestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine, Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Def, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Quisedesad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen, HYMN 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. 0 Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our humble prayer. Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy onus. For thou aone 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. I0 TIME Then Church follows formally AFTER the Collect expresses PENTECOST or Prayer, to the divine in which Majesty the the special intentions she has in the Mass which is being celebrated. You may unite in this prayer, by reciting with the priest the Collects which you will find in their proper places; but on no account omit to join with the server of the Mass in answering Amen. After this comes the Epistle, which is, generally, a portion of one or other of the Epistles of the apostles, or a passage from some book of the Old Testament. While it is being read, give thanks to God, who, not satisfied with having spoken to us at sundry times by His messengers, deigned at last to speak to us by His well- beloved Son.! The Gradual is an intermediate formula of prayer between the Epistle and the Gospel. Most frequently, it again brings before us the sentiments already expressed in the Introit. Read it devoutly, that so you may more and more enter into the spirit of the mystery proposed to you this day by the Church. The song of praise, the Alleluia, is next heard. Let us, while it is being said, unite with the holy angels, who are, for all eternity, making heaven resound with that song, which we on earth are permitted to attempt. It is now time for the Gospel to be read. The Gospel is the written word; our hearing it will prepare us for the Word, who is our Victim and our Food. If it be a High Mass, the deacon prepares to fulfil his noble office, that of announcing the good tidings of salvation. He prays God to cleanse his heart and lips. Then, kneeling before the priest, he asks a blessing; and, having received it, at once goes to the place where he is to sing the Gospel. 1 Heb. 1,2 THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS I 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 Isaiz prophete calculo mundasti ignito; ita me tua grata miseratione dignare mundare, ut sanctum Evangelium tuum digne valeam nuntiare. Per 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. Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen, Amen. Dominus sit in corde meo, et Grant to thy ministers thy in labiis meis: ut digne et com- grace that they may (flthfu‘!xl}' petenter annuntiem Evange- explain thy law; that so al, liumsuum: In nomine Patris, et both esmm and flock, may be Filll, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. united to thee for ever. Amen. You will stand during the Gospel, as though you were awaiting the orders of your Lord; at the commencement, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, lips, and breast; and then listen to every word of the priest or deacon. Let your heart be ready and obedient. ‘ While my Beloved was speaking,’ says the bride in the Canticle, If you have not such love ‘ my soul melted withinme.’* 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 Gredo, 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 upum Deum, Pa1 believe fn one God, the trem omnipotentem, factorem Father almighty, maker of cali et tefra, visibiliam omni- heaven and earth, and of all um et invisibilium. things visible and invisible. 1 Cant.v.6 *1 Kings iil, 10, 12 TIME AFTER Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, Et ex Patre natum ante omnia szcula, Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patr, r quem omnia facta sunt, S.i propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, descendit de calis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto, ex Maria Virgine; BT HOMO FACTUS EsT. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in czlum; sedet dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos; non erit finis, cujus regni Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre_Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filo 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 venturl swculi. Amen. PENTECOST And in one Lord the only-begotten Jesus Christ, Son of God. And born of the Father before all ages; God of God; light of light; true God of true God. otten, consub- made; not stantial with the Father; by whom all things were made. ‘Who for us men, salvation, heaven. came And and for our became incar- down from nate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: AND WAS MADE MAN. He was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suffer- ed,and wasburied. And thethird day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And he s to_come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall b no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who pro- ceedeth the Son. from Who the Father and r with the Fatherand the Son is adored and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy Catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. The priest and the people should, by this time, have their heartsready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass, which is called the Oblation, and immed:ately follows that which was named the Mass of Catechumens, on account of its being formerly the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had a right to be present. See, then, dear Christians | bread and wine are about THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 13 to be offered to God, as being the noblest of inanimate creatures, since they are made for the nourishment of man; and even that is only a poor material image of what they are destined to become in our Christian Sacrifice. Their substance will soon give place to God Himself, and of themselves nothing will remain but the appearances. Happy creatures, thus to yield up their own being, that God may take its place! We, too, are to undergo a like transformation, when, as the apostle expresses it, ‘ that which is mortal will be swallowed up by life.’* Until that happy change shall be realized, let us offer ourselves to God as often as we see the bread and wine presented to Him in the holy Sacrifice; and let us glorify Him, who, by assuming our human nature, has made us * partakers of the divine nature.’? The priest again turns to the people with the usual salutation, as though he would warn them to redouble their attention. Let 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, wterne 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 proomnibus circumstantibus, sed et pro omnibus fidelibus christianis vivis atque defunctis; ut mihi et illis proficiat ad salutem in vitam mternam. Amen. When 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. the priest puts the wine into the chalice, and then mingles with it a drop of water, let your thoughts 225t Peteri. 4, 13Cor.v.4 14 TIME AFTER PENTECOST turn to the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which is the source of our hope and our salvation, and say: Deus, qui humanz substan- tiz dignitatem mirabiliter condidisti, et mirabilius reformasti: da nobis per hujus aquz et vini mysterium, ejus divinitatis esse consortes, qui humanitatis nostra fieri dignatus est parti Jesus Chflmu Filius tuus, minus noster: qui tecam vivit etn{mt in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia szcula szculorum. Amen. O Lord Jesus, who art the true vine, and whose Blood, like agenerouswine, has been poured forth under the pressure of the cross! thou hast deigned tounite thy divine nature to our weak humanity, which is signified by this drop of water. Oh, come and make us partakers of thy divinity, by Showing thyself t6 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 divina Majestatis tuz, pro nostra et totius mundi salute, cum odore suavitatis ascendat. Amen. Graciously accept these gits, Osovereign Creator of all things. Let them be fitted for the divine transformation, which will make them, from being mere offerings of created things, the- instrument of the world’s salvation. After having thus held up the sacred gifts towards heaven, the priest bows down; let us, also, humble our- selves, and say: In spiritu_humilitatis, et in animo contrito, suscipiamur a te, Domine: ct sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi, Domine eus. Though daring, as we do, to approach thy altar, O Lord, we cannot forget that we are ners. Have mercy on us, and delay not to send us thy Son, who'is our saving Host. Let us next invoke the Holy Ghost, whose operation is about to produce on the altar the presence of the Son of God, as it did in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the divine mystery of the Incarnation. THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 15 Veni, Sanctificator omnipoCome, O divine Spirit, make tens wmterne Deus, et benedic fruitful the offering which is hoc sacrificium tuo sancto no- upon the altar, and produce in mini_ praparatum. ourheartshim whom they desire. If it be a High Mass, the priest, before proceeding any further with the Sacrifice, takes the thurible a second time, after blessing the incense in these words: Per intercessionem beati Michaelisarchangeli, stantisa 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, standingat 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. ThroughChristour Lord. Amen. He then censes first the bread and wine which have just been offered, and then the altar itself; hereby invit- ing the faithful to make their prayer, which is signified by the incense, more and more fervent, solemn moment approaches. St. John incense he beheld burning on the altar in up of the ‘prayers of the saints’; let us those prayers, and with all the ardour of us say with the priest: Incensum istud, a te benedictum, ascendat ad te, Domil et descendat super nos misericordia tua. Dirigatur, Domine, oratio measicut incensum in conspectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum. Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et ostium ~ circumstantiz labiis meis; ut non declinet cor meum inverba malitiz, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis. the nearer the tells us that the heaven is made take a share in holy desires let 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 sul amoris, et flammam @ternz caritatis. Amen. May the Lord enkindle in us the fire of his love, and the flame of eternal charity. Amen. 16 TIME AFTER PENTECOST But the thought of his own unworthiness becomes more intense than ever in the heart of the priest. The public confession which he made at the foot of the altar is not enough; he would now at the altar itself express to the people, in the language of a solenn 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 ma1, too, would wash my hands, nus meas: et circumdabo altare O Lord, and become like unto those who are innocent, that so tuum, Domine. Ut ‘audiam vocem laudis; et I may be worthy to come near enarrem universa mirabilia tua. thy altar, and hear thy sacred Domine, dilexi decorem do- canticles, and then go and promus tuz, et locum habitationis claim to the world the wonders gloriz tuz. of thy goodness. I love the Ne perdas cum Impiis, Deus, beauty of thy house, which thou animam meam, et cum viris art about to make the dwellingsanguinum vitam meam. place of thy glory. Leave me In quorum manibus iniquita- not, O God, in the midstof them tes sunt: dextera eorum repleta th:lt are enemies both to thee est_muneribus. and me. Thy mercy having sepaEgo autem in innocentia mea Tated me fiom them, 1 entered ingressus sum: redime me, et on the path of innocence and miserere mei. was restored to thy grace; but Pes meus stetit In directo: in have pity on my weakness still; ecclesiis benedicam te, Domine. redeem me yet more, thou who Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spi- hast so mercifully brought me ritui Sancto. back to the right path. In Sicut erat in principio, et the midst of these thy faithful nunc, et semper, et in szcula - people, I give thee thanks. szculorum. Amen. Glory the be to the Father, and to Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 17 The priest, taking encouragement from the act of humility he has just made, returns to the middle of the altar, and bows down full of respectful awe, begging of God to receive graciously the Sacrifice which is about to be offered to Him, and expresses the intentions for which it is offered. Let us do the same. Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offcrimus ob memoriam Passionis, Resurrectionis et Ascensionis Jesu Christi Dominf nostri: et in honorem beatz Marisemper Virginis, et beati Joannis Baptista, 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 calis, quorum_memoriam agimus in terris. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. O holy Trinity, graclously accept thesacrifice we have begun. We offer it in remembrance of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesns 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 awalting 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 peopls; 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 frates: ut meum ac vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fiat apud Deum Patrem omnipotentem. _ Brethren, pray that my Sacri~fice, which is yours also, may be acceptable to God, ouralmighty Father. This request made, he turns again to the altar, and you will see his face no more until our Lord Himself shall have come down from heaven upon that same altar. 18 TIME AFTER PENTECOST 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 Ecclesiz suz sanctz. _ 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 immedi- ately 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 szcula seculorum. 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: K. Habemus ad Dominum. Goxz We have them fixed on And when he adds: ¥. Gratias agamus Domino _ ¥. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. Deo nostro. THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 19 Answer him with all the earnestness of your soul: Ry. It is meet and just. Ry. Dignum et justum est. Then the priest: THE PREFACE Vere dignum et justum est, 2quum et salutare, nos tibisem‘per et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, @terne Deus: per Christum Do‘minum nostrum. Per quem majestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt Potestates; Cali_calorumque Virtutes ac beata Seraphim, socia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes: 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; 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, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Dominus Deus sabaoth | of hosts | Heaven and earth are full of Pleni sunt cali et terra gloria tua. thy glory. " Hosanna in excelsis | Hosanna in the highest | Benedictus qui venit in nomiBlessed be the Saviour who is coming to us in the name of the ne Domini. Lord who sends him. Hosanna in excelsis | Hosanna be to him in the highest | After these words commences the Canon, that mys- terious prayer, in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the altar all is silence. Tt was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, ‘ in the 20 TIME PENTECOST AFTER 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 respectfully fix our eyes on what the priest does in the holy place. THE CANON OF THE MASS In this mysterious colloquy with the great God of heaven and earth, the first prayer of the sacrificing priest is for the Catholic Church, his and our mother. Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus, uti accepta habeas et benedicas hzc dona, hzc munera, hzc sancta sacrificia illibata; in primis_qua 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 Catholicz et apostolica fidei cultoribus. 0 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 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, famulo- rum famularumque tuarum N. et N., et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio: pro quibus tibi offerimus, vel qui tibi offer- unt hoc sacrificium laudis’ pro se suisque omnibus, pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro Permit me, O God, to inter- cede with thee for special blessings upon those for whom thou kzm( that I hav.e'l-lKecilal obligation to 3 to them the (mof this dil!’rll)n}; Sacrifice, which is offered unto theein the name of all mankind. Visit them by thy grace, pardon 1 Wisd, xvili 4, 15 THE ORDINARY spe salutis et incolumitatis suz; tibique reddunt vota sua @terno Deo vivo et vero. OF THE MASS 21 them their sins, grant them the blessings of this present life and of that which is eternal. Here let us commemorate the saints; they are that portion of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which is called the Church triumphant. Communicantes, et memor- iam venerantes, in primis glorios® semper Virginis Marie, Genitricis Del et Domini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beatorum apostolorum ac_martyrum tuorum, Petri et Pauli, Andrez, Jacobi, Joannis, Thom=, JaCobi, Philippl, Bartholomzi, Matthal, Simonis, et Thaddi: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriani, Laurenti, Chrysogoni, Joannis et Pauli, Cosma et Damiani, et omnium sanctorum tuorum: quorum meritis precibusque concedas, ut in omnibus protectionis tuz muniamur auxilio. dem Christum strum. Amen. Per Dominum eum- no- But the offering of this Sacrifice, O my God, does not unite us with those only of our brethren who are still in this transient life of trial: it brings us closer to those also who are already in ion 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. Hane igitur oblationem serVouchsafe, O God, to a vitutis nostra, sed et cuncte the offering which this thine familiz tuz, quasumus, Domi- assembled family presents to ne, ut placatus accipias: dies- thee as the homage of its most TIME 22 AFTER que nostros in tua pace disponas, atque ab ®terna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum jubeas grege numerari. nominum Per Christum strum. Amen. Quam oblationem tu, Deus, in omnibus, qumsumus, benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, ratlonabilem, acceptabilemgue facere digneris: ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filif tui Domini nostrl Jesu Christi. PENTECOST happy servitude. In return, give us peace, save us from thy wrath, and number us among thy elect, through him who is coming to us—thy Som, our Saviour. Yea, Lord, thisis the moment ‘when this bread is to become his sacred Body, which is our f00d; and this wine is to be changed into his Blood, which is our drink. Ah! delay no longer, but bring us into the presence of this divine Son, our Saviour ! And here the priest ceases to act as man; he now be- comes more than a mere minister of the Church. His word becomes that of Jesus Christ, with its power and efficacy. Prostrate yourself in profound adoration, for the Emmanuel—that is, * God with us’—is coming upon our altar. Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit panem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas: et elevatis oculis in czlum, ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, deditque discipulis suls, dicens: Accipite, et manducate ex hoc omnes. HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM. What, O God of heaven and earth, my Jesus, the long-expected Messias, what else can I do at this solemn moment, but adore thee in silence, as my sovereign Master, and open to thee my whole heart, as to its dearest King? Come, then, O Lord Jesus, come | The divine Lamb is now lying on our altar! Glory and love be to Him for ever | But he has come that He may be immolated. Hence the priest, who is the minister of the designs of the Most High, immediately pronounces over the chalice the sacred words which follow, that will produce the great mystical immolation, by the separation of the Victim’s Body and Blood. ~After those words, the substances of both bread and wine have ceased to exist; the species alone are left, veiling, as it were, the Body and Blood of our Redeemer, lest fear THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 23 should keep us from a mystery, which God gives us for the very purpose of infusing confidence into our hearts. While the priest is pronouncing those words, let us associate ourselves to the angels, who tremblingly gaze upon this deepest of wonders. Simili modo postquam cenatum est, acciplens et hunc praclarum 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 MEL NOVI ET ETERNI TESTAMENTI, MYSTERIUM FIDEI; QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MULTIS EFFUNDETUR IN REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. Hac quotiescumquefeceritis, in mei memoriam facietis. 0 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 beat Passionis, nec non et ab Inferis Resurrectionis, sed et in calos glorios Ascensionis: offerimus praclarz Majestati tuz de tuis donis ac datis, Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam: Panem sanctum vitz zterne, et Calicem salutis perpetuzz. Supra quze propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris: et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium Pa- Father of infinite holiness, the Host so long expected is here beforethee! Behold this thy eternal Son, who suffered a bitter Passion, rose again with glory from the grave, and ascended triumphantly into heaven. He is thy Son; but he is also our Host, Host pure and spotless, our meat and drink of everlasting life. Heretofore thou acceptedst the sacrifice of the innocent lambs offered unto thee by Abel; and the sacrifice which Abraham made thee 6f his son 24 TIME AFTER triarcha nostri Abrahz, et quod tibi obtulitsummus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificlum, immaculatam Hostiam. PENTECOST Isaac, who, though immolated, yet lived; and lastly the sacrifice, which Melchisedech pre- sented to thee, of bread and wine. Receive our Sacrifice, which surpasses all those others. It is the Lamb of whom all others could be but figures; it is the Victim; it is the Body of thy Son, who is the Bread of undying life, lg 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, omni- potens Deus, jube hac perferri per manus sanctl ang tul in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divine Majestatis tuz: ut quotquot ex hac altaris particitione, sacrosanctum Filii tul B:rpnl et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione celesti et gratia repleamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Nor is the moment 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 partakers of the Body and Blood of the august Victim from whom flow every grace and blessing. 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 paating captives there. Let us pray expressly for those among them who have a claim upon our suffrages. Memento etiam, Domine, fa- mulorum famularumque tua- rum N. et N., qui nos pracesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormi- unt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Do~ of Dear Jesus! let the happiness this thy visit extend to every rtion of thy Church. Thy e gladdens the elect in the holy city; even our mortal eyes THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 25 mine, et omnibus in Christo can sec thee beneath the veil of quiescentibus, locum refrigerii our delighted faith; ah ! hide lucis, et pacis, ut indulgeas, de not thyself from those brethren precamur. Per eumdem Chri- of ours, who are imprisoned in stum Dominum nostrum. Amen. the abode of expiation. Be thou refreshment to them in their flames, light in their darkness, and peace in their agonies of torment. This duty of charity fulfilled, let us pray for ourselves, sinners, alas ! and who profit so little by the visit which our Saviour pays us. Let us, together with the priest, strike our breast, saying: Nobis quoque peccatoribus Alas | we are poor sinners, O 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, Feli- citate, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnete, Cacilia, Anastasia, et omnibus sanctis tuis: intra quoTum nos consortium, non sti- Christum nostrum. mator meriti, sed veni®, quasumus, largitor admitte; per Dominum Per quem hac omnia, Domine, semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis et prastas nobis; per ipsum et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis honor et gloria. 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 ail thy saints. Grant us, by their intercession, grace in this world, and glory eternal in the next: which we ask of thee, ir. the name of our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son. It is by him thou bestowest upon us thy blessings of life and sanctification : and by him also, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, may honour and glory be to thee | While saying the last of these words the priest has taken up the sacred Host, which was upon the altar; he has held it over the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the divine Victim, in order to show that He is now immortal. Then raising up both chalice and Host, 26 TIME AFTER PENTECOST he offers to God the noblest and most perfect homage which the divine Majesty could receive. The This sublime and mysterious rite ends the Canon. 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 szcula szculorum. For ever and ever. Answer him with faith, and in a sentiment of union with your holy mother the Church: Amen. Amen | T 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 invit- ing us all to join in it; he says: OREMUS is 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 calis, QurFather, whoartinheaven, sanctificetur nomen tuum: ad- hallowed be thy name: thy veniat regnum tuum fiat volun- kingdom come: thy will be done tas tua sicut in clo et in terra. on earth asit isin heaven. Give Panem nostrum quotidianum us this day our daily bread: THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 27 da nobis hodie: et dimitte no- and forgive us our trespasses, bis debita nostra, sicut et nos as we forgive them that tresdimittimus debitoribus nostris: pass against us, and lead us not etnenosinducasintentationem. into temptation. Let us answer with a deep feeling of our misery: Sed libera nos a malo. But deliver us from evil. The priest falls once more into the silence of the holy mysteries. His first word is an affectionate Amen to your last petition—deliver us from evil—on which he forms his own next prayer: and could he pray for anything more needed ? Evil surrounds us everywhere; and the Lamb on our altar has been sent to expiateit and to deliver us from it. Libera nos, qusumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, prateritis, praesentibus’et futuris: et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine Del Genitrice Maria, cum beatis apostolis tuis Petroet Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus sanctis, da_propitius pacem in diebus nostris: ut ope misericordiz tuz adjutl, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni_ perturbatione securi. Per eumdem Domioum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus. How many, O Lord, are the evils which besetus! Evils past, which are the wounds left on the soul by her sins, which strengthen her wicked propensities. Evils present—that is, the sins now, at this very time, upon our soul; the weakness of this poor soul, and the temptations which molest her. There are, also, future evils—that is, the chastisement which our sins deserve from the hand of thy justice. In presence of this Host of our salvation, we beseech thee, O Lord, to deliver us from all these evils, and to accept in our favour the intercession of 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 szculorum. Ry Amen. World without end. R. Amen. 28 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Then he says: Pax Domini sit semper vobisMay the peace of our Lord be ever with you. cum. To this paternal wish reply: R. Et cum spiritu tuo. K. 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: Hzec commixtio et consecratio Corporis et Sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, fiat accipientibus nobis in vitam wternam. Amen. Glory be to thee, O Saviour of the world, who didst in thy Passion permit thy precious Blood to be separated from thy sacred Body, afterwards uniting them again together by thy divine power. Offer now your prayers to the ever-living Lamb, whom St. John saw on the altar of heaven, ‘ standing though slain ’:? say to this your Lord and King, who has taken upon Himself all our iniquities in order to wash them away by His Blood: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest ‘mundi, miserere nobis. away the sins of the world, have mercy on us | Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mundi, miserere nobis. mercy on us! Lamb of God, who takest Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata away the sins of the world, give mundi, dona nobis pacem. us peace. Peace is the grand object of our Saviour’s coming into the world: He is the Prince of peace.” The divine Sacra- 1 Apoc. v. 6. Isin 6 THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 29 ment of the Eucharist ought, therefore, to be the mystery of peace and the bond of Catholic unity; for, as the apostle says, ‘ all we who partake of one Bread are all one bread and one body.”* It is on this account that the priest, now that he is on the point of receiving, in Communion, the sacred Host, prays that fraternal peace may be preserved in the Church, and more especially in this portion of it, which is assembled around the altar. Pray with him, and for the same blessing : Domine Jesu Christe, quidixisti apostolis tuis: Pacem relinquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis: ne respicias peccata mea, sed fidem Ecclesia tuz: camque secundum voluntatem tuam pacificare et coadunare digneris. Quivivis et regnas Deus, per omnia secula seculorum. Amen. Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thine apostles, ‘ My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: regard not my sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant her that peace and unity which is according to thy will. Who livest and reignest God, for ever and ever. Amen. If it be a High Mass, the priest here gives the kiss of peace to the deacon, who gives it to the subdeacon, and he to thechoir. 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 éx 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 inhmrere mandatis, et a te nunquam separari permittas: Qui cum eodem Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivis et regnas Deus in sacula szculorum. 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 Body and Blood iniquities, thy and most sacred from all mine from all evils; and make me always adhere to Lh% 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. 11 Corx.1. TIME 30 AFTER PENTECOST If you are going to Communion at this Mass, say the following prayer; otherwise, prepare yourself for a spiritual Communion : Perceptio Corporls tui, Domine Jesu Christe, quod ego indignus sumere prasumo, 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 szcula seculorum. Amen. When the priest Let not the participation of thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to reccive, 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 Teignest God, for ever and cver. takes the Host Amen. into his hands, order to receive it in Communion, say: Panem calestem accipiam, ct nomen Domini invocabo. in Come, my dear Jesus, come ! ‘When he strikes his breast, confessing his unworthi- ness, say thrice with him these words, and in the same dispositions as the centurion of the Gospel, who first used them: Domine, non sum dignus ut 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 ! 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. xii. 70. THE ORDINARY OF THE 31 MASS I give thee, O Jesus, this Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam heart of mine, that thou mayst in vitam mternam. Amen. dwell in it, and what thou wilt. do with me Then the priest takes the chalice, in thanksgiving, and says: Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quée 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 tome? Iwil take the chalice of salvation and will call upon the name of the Lord. Praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be delivered from mine enemies. But if you are to make a sacramental Communion, you should, at this moment of the priest’s receiving the precious Blood, again adore the God who is coming to you, and keep to your prayer: ‘ Come, Lord Jesus, come ! If you are going to communicate only spiritually, again adore your divine Master, and say to Him: Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam xternam. Amen. I unite myself to thee, my beloved Jesus | do thou unite thyself to me, and never let us be separated. It is here that you must approach to the altar, if you are going to Communion. The Communion being finished, while the priest is purifying the chalice the first time, say: Quod ore sumpsimus, Domi‘Thou hast visited me, O God, ne, pura mente capiamus; et de in these days of my pilgrimage: munere temporali fiat nobis re- give me grace to treasure up medium sempiternum. the fruits of this visit, for my future eternity. While the priest is purifying the chalice the second time, say: Corpus tuum, Domine, quod ~ Be thou for ever blessed, O sumpsi, et Sanguis quem potavi, my Saviour, for having admeto the sacred mystery adhsreat visceribus meis: ef mitted 32 TIME AFTER prasta ut in me non remaneat scelerum macula, quem pura et sancta refecerunt Sacramenta. Qui vivis et regnas in szcula szculorum. Amen. PENTECOST 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, greet- ing them with the usual salutation; and then recites the prayer, called the Postcommunion, tinuation of the thanksgiving. also, and thank God which is the con- You will join him here 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 immense says: to the people; favour he and full of joy at the they have been receiving, he The Lord be with you. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. and, Answer him: And with thy spirit. The deacon, or (if it be not a High Mass) the priest himself, then says: Ite, missa est. K. Deo gratias. Go, the Mass is finished. Ry. Thanks be to God. The priest makes a last prayer, before giving you his blessing; pray with him: Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas, obsequium servitutis mezw; et raesta ut sacrificium, quod ocuis tuz Majestatis indignus obtuli, tibi sit acceptabile, mihique et omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli sit, te miserante, propitia- Eternal thanks be to thee, O adorable Trinity, for the mercy thou hast shown to me, in permitting me to assist at this divine Sacrifice. Pardon me the negligence and coldness wherewith 1 have received so THE bile. Per nostrum. ORDINARY Christum Dominum Amen. OF THE MASS 33 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 _ May the almighty God, Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiri- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, tus Sanctus. bless you | K. Amen. K. 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 flesk 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. 7. Et cum spiritu tuo. Initium THE ¥. The Lord be with you. R7. And with thy spirit. LAST GOSPEL sancti Evangelii sc- The beginning of the holy cundum Joannem. Gospel according to John. Cap. I Ch.I. vita eratlux hominum; et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrz eam Inhim was life, and the life was In principio erat Verbum, et In the beginning was the Verbum erat apud Deum, et De- Word, and the Word was with us erat Verbum. Hoc erat in God, and the Word was God. principio apud Deum. Omnia The same was in the beginning rer i&mm facta sunt: et sine with God. All things were made pso factum est nihil; quod fa- by him, and without him was ctum est, in ipso vita erat, et made nothing that was made. non comprehenderunt. Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joannes, testimonium, ut Hic venit in testimonium perhiberet de lumine, ut omnes crederent per illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium per- hiberet de lumine. Erat lux 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, TIME 34 AFTER vera, qua illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum. In mundo erat, et mundus_per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis 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 ES’ et habitavit in nobis: et vi mus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratiz et veritatis, Ry. Deo gratias. PENTECOST but was to give testimony of the light. That was the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was madeby 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 hisglory, as it were the glory of the OnlyBegotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. K. Thanks be to God. 33 VESPERS CHAPTER THE SECOND ON THE OFFICE OF VESPERS, FOR SUNDAYS AND FEASTS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST 'HE Office of Vespers, or Evensong, of the five following psalms. For some of these psalms are changed for priate to the day; we here give those for consists firstly certain feasts others approSunday. After the Pater and Ave have been said in secret, the Church commences this Hour with her favourite supplication: ¥. Deus, inadjutorium meum ¥. Incline unto my aid, O intende. God. 7. Domine, ad adjuvandam K. O Lord, make haste to me festina. help me. Glory be to the Father, and to Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritni Sancto. the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in secula now, and ever shall be, world seculorum. Amen. Alleluia. without end. Amen. Alleluia. ANT. Dixit Dominus. AnT. The Lord said. The first psalm is a prophecy of the future glory of the Messias. The Son of David shall sit on the right hand of the heavenly Father. He is King; Son of Man, and Son of God. Him, but He will crush them. He is priest; He is His enemies will attack He will be humbled; but this voluntary humiliation will lead Him to the highest glory. PSALM 109 Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis. The Lord said to my Lord, his Son: Sit thou at my right hand, and reign with me. 36 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Until, on the day of thy last Donec ponam inimicos tuos: coming, T make thy enemies thy scabellum pedum tuorum. footstool. O Christ! the Lord thy Father Virgam virtutis tuz emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: from medio inimicorum tuorum. thence rule thou in the midst of thy enemies. Tecum principium in die virWith thee is the principality tutis tu in splendoribus san- in the day of thy strength, in ctorum: ex utero ante lucifethe brightness of the saints: rum genui te. For the Father hath said to thee: From the womb before the daystar I begot thee. Juravit Dominus, et non peeThe Lord hath sworn, and he nifebit eum: Tu es Sacerdos in will not repent: he hatk said, ®ternum sccundum ordinem speaking 1o thee, the God-Man: Thou art a Pricst for ever, Melchisedech. according to the order cf Melchisedech. Therefore, O Father, the Lord, Dominus a dextris tuis: confregit in dic irz suz reges. thy Son, is at thy right hand: he hath broken kings in the day of his wrath. Judicabit in nationibus, jmHe shall also judge among naplébit ruinas: conquassabitcapi- tions: in that terrible coming, he shall fill the ruins of the world: ta in terra multorum. . he shall crush the heads in the land of many. De torrente in via bibet : proHe cometh now in humility: pterea exaltabit caput. he shall drink in the way of the torrent of sufferings: therefore, shall he lift up the head. ANT. Dixit Dominus Domino ANT. The Lord said to my meo: Sede a dextris meis. 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. VESPERS PSALM storum et congregatione. Magna opera Domini: exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus. Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus: et justitia ejus manet in saculum sweculi. Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus: escam dedit timentibus se. Memor erit in seculum testamenti sui: virtutem erum 37 II0 1 will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: in the council of the just,and in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all_his wills. His work is praise and magnificence: and his justice continueth for ever and ever. He hath madea 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 suorum annuntiabitpopulo suo. show forth to his people the Ut det illis hereditatem Gentium: opera manuum ejus veritas et judicium. Fidelia omnia mandata ejus, confirmata in saculum szculi: facta in veritate et zquitate. Redemptionem misit populo suo: mandavit in ternum testamentum suum. Sanctum et terribile nomen 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 fhereby commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Tntellectus bonus omnibus faA good understanding to all cientibus eum: laudatio ejus that doit: his praise continueth manet in seculam szculi. for ever and ever. ANT. Magna opera Domini: AxT. Great are the works of exquisita in omnes voluntates the Lord: sought out according ejus. to all his wills. ANT. Qui timet Dominum. ANT. Lord. He that feareth the 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. 38 TIME AFTER PENTECOST PSALM III Beatus vir qui timet Domi- num: nimis. in mandatis ejus volet Blessed is the man that fear- eth the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments. Potens in terra erit semen His sced shall be mighty upon ejus: generatio rectorum bene- carth; the generation of the dicetur. righteous shall be blessed. Gloria et divitizin domo cjus: Glory and wealth shall be in et justitia ejus manet in szcu- his house; and his justice reIum szculi. maineth for ever and ever. Exortum est in tenebris luTo the righteous a light is men rectis: misericors et mise- risen up in darkness; he is rator et justus. Jucundus homo, qui miseretur et commodat, disponet sermones suos in judicio: quia in aternum non commovebitur. In memoria mterna erit j stus: ab auditione mala non timebit. Paratum cor ejus sperare in Domino, confirmatum est cor cjus: non commovebitur donec despiciat inimicos suos. Dispersit, dedit pauperibus; justitia ejus manet in swculum saculi: cornu ejus exaltabiturin gloria. Peccator videbit et irascetur, dentibussuis fremet et tabesce desiderium peccatorum peribit. merciful, and compassionate, and just. Acceptable is the man_that showeth mercy and lendeth; he shall order his very words with judgment: because he shall not be moved for ever. The just shall be in everlast- ing remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord; his heart is 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 tceth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish. ANT. Qui timet Dominum, in ANT. He that feareth the Lord ‘mandatis ejus cupit nimis. shall delight exceedingly in his ANT. Sit nomen Domini. commandments. ANT. May the Lord. name of the 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. VESPERS PSALM Laudate, pueri, Dominum: laudate nomen Domi Sit nomen Domini benedictum: ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum. A solis ortu usque ad occasum: laudabile nomen Domini. Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus: et super calos gloria ejus. Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster quiin altis habitat: et humilia respicit in calo ct 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 letantem. ANT. Sit nomen Domini benedictum in szcula. ANT. Deus autem noster. 39 I1I2 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. ho maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children. ANT. May the name of the Lord be for ever blessed. Ant. But our God. The fifth psalm, 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 II3 In exitu Israel de ZEgypto: When Israel went out of domus Jacob de populo bar- Egypt, the house of Jacob from baro. a barbarous people. Facta est Judea sanctificatio Judea was made his sancejus: Israel potestas ejus. tuary, Israel his dominion. 40 TIME AFTER 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 rétrorsum ? Montes exsultastis sicut arietes: et colles sicut agni ovium? A facie Domini mota est ter- ra: a facie Dei Jacob. PENTECOST The sca 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 hke 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 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 calo: omnia quacumque voluit fecit. Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum: opera manuum hominum. Os habent, et non loquentur: oculos habent, et non videbunt. ‘Aureshabent, 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 e t omnes qui confidunt in eis. Domus Tsrael speravit in Domino: adjutor eorum et protector eorum est. Domus Aaron speravit in Domino: adjutor eorum et prote- hoped in the Lord: he is their ctor eorum est. helper and their protector. Qui timent Dominum, speraThey that feared the Lord verunt in Domino: adjutor eo- have hoped in the Lord: he is rum et protector eorum est. their helper and their protector. 41 The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath blessed the house of Israel: hehath blessed the house VESPERS Dominus et benedixit Bencdixit dixit domui memor fuit nostri: nobis. domul Israel: beneAaron. of Aaron. He hath blessed all that fear Benedixit omnibus qui timent Dominum: pusillis cum majori- the Lord, both little and great. bus. Adjiciat Dominus super vos: May the Lord add blessings super vos, ct super filios vestros. upon you: upon you, and upon your children. Benedicti vos a Domino: qui Blessed be you of the Lord, fecit czlum et terram. who made heaven and earth. Calum cali Domino: terram The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has autem dedit filiis hominum. given to the children of men. Non mortui laudabunt te, The dead shall not praise thee, Domine: neque omnes qui de- 0 Lord: nor any of them that scendunt in infernum. go down to hell. Sed nos qui vivimus, benediBut we that live bless the cimus Domino: ex hoc nunc et Lord: from this time now and usque in szculum. for ever. ANT. Deus autem noster in ANT. But our God is in calo: omnia quacumque voluit heaven: he hath done all things fecit. ‘whatsoever he would. After these five psalms, a short lesson from the holy Scriptures is read. 1t is called Capitulum, because it is always very short. CAPITULUM (2 Cor.1.) Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini _nostri Jesu Christi, Pater misericordiarum et Deus totius consolationis, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra. . Deo gratias. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comfortethus inall our tribulations. K. Thanks be to God. Then follows the hymn. We here give the one for Sundays, which was composed by St. Gregory the Great. It sings of creation, and celebrates the praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, the lght. 42 TIME AFTER Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens: Primordiis lucis nova, Mundi parans originem. Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari pracipis: 1llabitur tetrum chaos, Audi preces cum fletibus. Ne ‘mens gravata crimine Vitz sit exsul munere: Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat. Caleste pulset ostium, Vitale tollat premium: Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum. PENTECOST HYMN! Praesta Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito Regnans per omne szculum. Amen. O infinitely good Creator of the light! by thee was p.oduced the light of day, providing thus the world's beginning with the beginningof the new-madelight. Thou biddest us call the time, from morn till eve, day; this day is over; dark night comes on— oh ! hear our tearful prayers. Let not our soul, weighed down by crime, misspend thy gift of life, and, forgetting what is eternal, be earth-tied by her sins. Oh ! may we strive to enter our heavenly home, and bear away the prize of life: may we shun what would injure us, and cleanse our soul from her defilements. Most merciful Father! and thou his Only-Begotten Son, co-equal with him, reigning for ever with the holy Paraclete ! grant this our prayer. Amen. The versicle which follows the hymn, and which we here give, is that of the Sunday: those for the feasts are given in their proper places. ¥. Dirigatur, Domine, oratio ¥. May my prayer, O Lord, mea. ascend. Ry, Sicut incensum in conspeK. Like incense in thy sight. ctu tuo. 1 According to the monastic rite, it is as follows : Ry ércve. Quam magnificata sunt. _ Ne mens gravata crimine * Opera tua, Domine. Quam Vit sit exsul munere, . Omnia in Sapienta Opera. Dum nil perenne cogitat, Gloria Patr, etc. Quam. Seseque culpis illigat. Lucis Creator optime, Calorum pulset inti Lucem dierum proferens; Vitale tollat pramiu Primordiis lucis nova: Vitemus omne noxiur Mundi parans originem. Purgemus omne pessimum. vesperi Prasia Pate pisime Dicm vocari pracipis, Patrique compar Unice, Tetrum chaos Cum Spiriu Paraclito Regnans per omne szculum. Amen VESPERS 43 Then is said the Magnificat antiphon, which is to be found in the proper. After this, the Church sings the canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in which are celebrated 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, ing. OUR at Lauds, is that of the morn- LADY’S CANTICLE (St. Luke i.) Magnificat: anima mea Dominum. Et exsultavit spiritus meus: in Deo salutari meo. Quia respexit humilitatem ancillz suz: 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 cum. Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui. Deposuit potentes de sede: et exaltavit humiles. Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes. Suscepit Israel puerum suum: recordatus mmnpo:rdxa suz. Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros: Abrabam et semini ejus in szcula. My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my sgairit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generation: to them that fear him. He hath shown might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart, ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hu: with good things: and the ri 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. 44 TIME AFTER The Magnificat antiphon PENTECOST is then repeated. The Prayer, or Collect, is given in the proper of each feast. ¥. Benedicamus Domino. ¥. Let us bless the Lord. . Deo gratias. . Thanks be to God. . Fidelium anim per mi- May the souls of the faithsericordiam Del requiescant in_ful departed, through the mercy pace. of God, rest in peace. K. Amen. R. Amen. 4 COMPLINE CHAPTER ON THE THIRD THE OFFICE OF COMPLINE, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST HIS Office, which concludes the day, commences by a warning of the dangers of the night: then immediately follows the public confession of our sins, as a powerful means of propitiating the divine justice, and obtaining God’s help, now that we are going to spend so many hours in the unconscious, and therefore dangerous, state of sleep, which is also such an image of death. The lector, addressing the priest, says to him: Jube, domne, benedicere. Pray, father, give me thy blessing. The priest answers: Noctem quietam et finem perMay the almighty Lord grant fectum concedat nobis Dominus us a quict night and a perfect omnipotens. K. Amen. end. K. Amen. The lector then reads these words, Epistle of St. Peter: from the first Fratres: Sobrii estote, et vigilate; quia adversarius vester Brethren, be soberand watch; for your adversary the devil, as cui resistite fortes in fide. Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis. whom resist ye, strong in faith. But thou, O Lord, have mercy diabolus, tamquam leo rugiens, circuit quarens quem devoret: a roaring lion, goeth about, secking whom he may devour: on us. TIME 46 AFTER The choir answers: R. Deo gratias. Then the priest: ¥. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini. The choir: Ry. Qui fecit czlum et terram. PENTECOST Ry, Thanks be to God. ¥. Our help is in the name of the Lord. K. Who hath made heaven and carth. Then the Lord’s Prayer is rccited, in secret; after which the priest says the Confiteor, and, when he has finished, the choir repeats it. The priest, having pronounced absolution, says: the general form of ¥. Converte nos, Deus, salu¥. Convert us, O God, our taris noster. Saviour. Ry. Et averte iram tvpm a K. And turn away thine anger nobis. from us. ¥. Deus, in adjutorium me¥. Incline unto my aid, O um intende. God. Ry. Domine, ad adjuvandum K. O Lord, make haste to me festina. help me. Gloria_Patri, etc. Glory, etc. ANT. Miserere. 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 When I called upon him, the Deus justitiz mez: in tribula- God of my justice heard me: tione dilatasti mihi. when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me. Miserere mei: et exaudi oraHave mercy on me: and hear tionem meam. my prayer. Fili hominum, usquequo 0 ye sons of men how long gravi corde: ut quid diligitis will ye be dull of heart? why do COMPLINE vanitatem et queritis mendaclum ? Etscitote quoniam mirificavit Dominus sanctum suum : Dominus exaudiet me cum clamavero ad eum. Trascimini et nolite peccare: qua dicitis in cordibus vestr in_cubilibus vestris compun mini. Sacrificate sacrificium_ justit, et speratein Domino: multi dicunt: Quis ostendit nobis bona? Signatum est super nos lu‘men vultus tui Domine: dedisti lztitiam in corde meo. A fructu frumenti, vini et olei sui: multiplicati sunt. In pace in idipsam: dormiam et requiescam. Quoniam tu, Domine, singulariter in spe: constituisti me. 47 you love vanity, and seek after Iying ? Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy One wonderful: the Lord will hear me, when 1 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 slcep, and T will rest. For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope. The second psalm gives the motives of the just man’s confidence, even during the dangers of the night. There is no smare neglected by the demons; but the good angels watch over us with brotherly solicitude. Then, we have God Himself speaking and promising to send us a Saviour. PSALM QO Qui habitat in adjutorioaltisHe that dwelleth in the aid simi: in protectione Dei cali of the Most High, shall abide commorabitur. under the protection of the God of heaven. Dicet Domino, Susceptor He shall say unto the Lord: meus es tu et refugium meum: Thou art my protector, and my Deus meus, sperabo in eum. refuge: my God, in him will 1 trust. Quoniam ipse liberavit me For he hath delivered me de laqueo venantium: et a ver- from the snare of the hunters: and trom the sharp word. bo aspero. 48 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi : He will overshadow thee with et 'sub pennis ¢jus sperabis. his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust. His truth shall compass thee Scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus: non timebis a timore no- with a shield: thou shalt not cturno. be afraid of the terror of the night. A sagitta volante in die, a Of the arrow that flieth in negotio perambulante in tene- the day: of the business that bris:_ab incursu, et demonio walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday meridiano. devil. Cadent a latere tuo mille, et A thousand shall fall at thy decem millia a dextris tuis: ad side, and ten thousand at thy te autem non appropinquabit. right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Verumtamen oculis tuis conBut thou shalt consider with siderabis: et retributionem pec- thine eyes: and shalt see the recatorum videbis. ward of the wicked. Quoniam tu es, Domine, spes Because fhow hast said: Thou, mea: Altissimum posuisti refu- O Lord. art my hope: thou ginm tuum. hast made the Most High thy refuge. Non accedet ad te malum: et There shall no evil come unto flagellum non appropinquabit thee, nor shall the scourge come tabernaculo tuo. near thy dwelling. Quoniam angelis suis manFor he hath given his angels davit de te: ut custodiant te in charge over thee: to keep thee omnibus viis tuis. in all thy ways. In manibus portabunt te: ne In their hands they shall bear forte offendas ad lapidem pe- thee up: lest thou dash thy foot dem tuum. against a stone. Super aspidem et basiliscam Thou shalt walk upon the asp ambulabis: et conculcabis leo- and basilisk: and thou shalt nem et draconem. trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Quoniam in me speravit, libeGod will say of thee: Because rabo eum: protegam eum, quo- he hoped in me, I will deliver niam cognovit nomen meum. him: I will protect him, because he hath known my name. Clamabit ad me, et ego exauHe will cry unto me, and I diam eum: cum ipso sum in will hear him: I am with him in tribulatione; eripiam eum, et tribulation, I will deliver him, glorificabo eum. and I will glorify him. Longitudine diernm replebo 1 will ill him with length of eum: et ostendam illi salutare days: and I will show him my meum. salvation. 4 COMPLINE The third psalm invites the servants of God to persevere with fervour in the prayers they offer during the night. The faithful should say this psalm in a spirit of gratitude to God, for raising up in the Church adorers of His holy name, whose grand vocation is to lift up their hands, day and night, for the safety of Israel. On such prayers depend the happiness and the destinies of the world. PSALM 133 Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum: omnes servi Domini. Qui statis in domo Domini: in atriis domus Dei nostri. In noctibus extollite manus vestras in sancta: et benedicite Dominum, Benedicat te Dominus ex Sion: qui fecit clum et terram. ANT. Miserere mihi, Domine, et exaudi orationem meam. Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut pro tua clementia Sis prasul et custodia. Procul recedant somnia, HYMN? Et noctium phantasmata; Hostemque nostrum comprime, Ne polluantur corpora. Behold | now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. In the nights Lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord. Say to Isracl: 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. Before the closingof 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. 1 According to the monastic rite, as follows : e lucs anteterminum, erum Creator, poscimus, Ut solita clementia Sis prassul ad custodiam. Procul recedant somnia Et noctium phantasmata ; NGHostepollaaaeus tram corpocar comprime, Fater omnipotens, Pg:.Jesuin Ciristum | tecum n, Spits. Amen. TIME 50 AFTER PENTECOST Most merciful Father, and thou his only-begotten Son, coequal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Paraclete, grant this our prayer ! Amen. Prasta, Pater plissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne szculum. Amen. CAPITULUM (Jeremias Tu autem in nobis es, Domine, et nomen sanctum tuum invocatum est super nos: ne derelinquas nos, Domine Deus noster. Ry. 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. K. Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege nos. ANT. Salva nos. The canticle of the xiv.) But thou art in us, O Lord, and thy holy name hath been invoked upon us: forsakeus not, 0 Lord our God. R 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. K. Protect us under the shadow of thy wings. ANT. Save us. 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 Cant.v.a. COMPLINE 51 CANTICLE OF SIMEON (St. Luke it.) Nune 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 tuw Israel. Gloria. ANT. Salva nos, Domine, vigilantes: custodi nos dormientes, ut vigilemus cum Christo, et re«quiescamus 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: peoples. before the face of all A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Glory, etc. ANT. Save us, O Lord, while awake sleep, that we may watch with Christ and rest in peace. OREMUS, LET US PRAY. Visita, quasumus, 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 Domimum nostram Jesum Christum lium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia szcula szculorum. . Amen. . Benedicamus Domino. et custodiat nos omnipotens et misericors Domi- nus, beseech thee, O Lord, this house and family, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy: let thy holy angels dwell herein, who may keep us in peace, and may thy blessing be always upon us. Through esus Christ our Lord, thy n, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. . And with thy q;i::d 1;. Et cum spiritu tuo. Benedicat we . Amen. . The Lord be with you. . Dominus vobiscum. K. Deo gratias. Visit, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus . Let us bless the . . Thanks be to God. May the almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless and preserve us. R. Amen. 52 TIME AFTER ANTHEM TO THE Salve Regina, Mater misericordiz. Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Eve. Ad suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, il Ios 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. K. Ut digni eficiamur promissionibus Christl. OREMUS, Omnipotenssempiterne Deus, qui_gloriosz Virginis Matris Mariz corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante praeparasti: da ut cujus commemoratione letamur, ejus pia intercessione ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eumdum Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. PENTECOST BLESSED VIRGIN Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy. Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping, in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate | thine eyes of mercy towards us; And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary | ¥. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. Ty. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. LET US PRAY. O almighty and everlasting God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost didst prepare the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother, to become the worthy habitation of thy Son: grant that we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death, by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice. Through the same Christ our Lord. K. Amen. COMPLINE ¥. Divinum auxilium mane- at semper nobiscum. R. Amen. 53 ¥. May the divine assistance remain always with us. K. Amen.! Then, in secret, Pater, Ave, and Credo. 1 In the monastic rite this response is as follows : Ry. Etcum fratribus nostrisabsentibus. Amen. R7. And with our absent brethren Amen. spueg o aadoagk PROPER Proper OF SAINTS vf NOVEMBER FEAST OF ALL I saw a great mullitude which 57 Baintz I SAINTS no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: and they cried with a loud voice, saying : Salvation to our God I* IME is no more; it is the human race cternally saved that is thus presented in vision to the prophet of Patmos. Our life of struggle and suffering on earth is, then, to have an end. Our long-lost race is to fill up the angelic ranks thinned by Satan’s revolt; and, uniting in the gratitude of the redeemed of the Lamb, the faithful spirits will sing with us: ‘ Thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever !’ And this shall be the end, as the apostle says;? the end of death and suffering; the end of history and of its re- volutions, which will then be explained. The old enemy, hurled down with his followers into the abyss, will live on only to witness his own eternal defeat. The Son of man, the Saviour of the world, will have delivered the kingdom to God His Father; and Ged, the last end of creation and of redemption, will be all in all.* Long before the seer of the Apocalypse, Isaias sang: “ I'saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated, and His train filled the temple. And the Seraphim cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of His glory.”> The train and 58 TIME AFTER PENTECOST fringes of God’s vesture are the elect, who are the adorn- ment of the Word, the splendour of the Father. since the Word has espoused our human nature, For, that nature is His glory, as He is the glory of God. The bride herself is clothed with the justifications of the saints; and when this glittering robe is perfected, the signal will be given for theend of time. This feast announces the evergrowing nearness of the eternal nuptials; for on it we annually celebrate the progress of the bride’s preparation. Blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb I' Blessed are we all, who have received in Baptism the nuptial robe of holy charity, which entitles us to a seat at the heavenly banquet! Let us prepare ourselves for the unspeakable destiny reserved for us by love. To this end are directed all the labours of this life: toils, struggles, sufferings for God’s sake, all adorn with priceless jewels the garment of grace, the clothing of the elect. Blessed are they that mourn ! They that have gone before us wept as they turned the furrows and cast in the seed; but now their triumphant joy overflows upon us as an anticipated glory in this valley of tears. Without waiting for the dawn of eternity, the present solemnity gives us to enter by hope into the land of light, whither our fathers have followed Jesus, the divine forerunner. Do not the thorns of suffering lose their sharpness at the sight of the eternal joys into which they are to blossom ? Does not the happiness of the dear departed cause a heavenly sweetness to mingle with our sorrow ? Let us hearken to the chants of deliverance sung by those for whom we weep; ‘little and great,’ this is the feast of them all, as it will one day be ours. At this season, when cold and darkness prevail, Nature herself, stripping off her last adornments, seems to be preparing the world for the passage of the human race into the heavenly country. ~Let us, then, sing with the psalmist: “ I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet as yet stand only in thy outer courts; but we see thy building ever 1 Apoc. xix. 5. St. Matt. v. 5. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 59 going on, O Jerusalem, city of peace, compacted together in concord and love. To thee do the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, praising the name of the Lord; thy vacant seats are being filled up. May all good things be for them that love thee, O Jerusalem; may peace be in thy strength, and abundance in thy towers. For the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, who are already thy inhabitants, I take pleasure in thee; because of the Lord our God, whose dwelling thou art, I have placed in thee all my desire.’* FIRST VESPERS The bells ring out as joyously as on the brightest days. They announce the great solemnity of the closing cycle: the feast which shows us time stamped with the impress of eternity, and God taking possession of the declining year and gathering in its harvest. At the sound of their triumphant and harmonious peals, the Church, prostrate and fasting since morning, raises her brow to the light. Guided by St. John, she penetrates the secrets of heaven; and the words of the beloved disciple, uttered by her lips, assume a tone of incomparable enthusiasm. This feast is truly the triumph of her motherhood; for the great crowd of the blessed before the throne of the Lamb are the sons and daughters she alone has given to the Lord. 1. ANT. Vidi turbam magnam, quam dinumerare nemo poterat, ex omnibus gentibus, stantes ante thronum. 1. Ant. I saw agreat multitude which no man could number, of all nations, standing before the throne. Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 35. Beside her own glorified sons the Church beholds the angels, with their magnificent ritual and their prostrate adoration. Her heart is enraptured at the scene, and shehdfcribfi it to those who are still militant on earth her. with ! Ps. cxx. TIME 60 AFTER 2. ANT. Et omnes angeli stabant in circuitu throni, et ceciderunt in conspectu throni in facies suas, et adoraverunt Deum. PENTECOST 2. ANT. And all stood round about and they fell down throne upon their adored God. the angels the throne, before the faces, and Ps. Confitebor tibi, Domine, page 37. But the uninterrupted homage and chants of the heavenly princes are not the only glory rendered to the Most High in His eternal temple. As, even in the midst of a numerous choir, a mother can distinguish the voice of her child, so the Church exults to hear the family she has brought up for her Spouse joining in the heavenly concert and celebrating the Lamb, whose Blood has purchased them the kingdom of God. 3. ANT. Redemisti nos, Dominc Deus, in sanguine tuo ex omni tribu, et lingua, et populo, et natione, et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum. 3. ANT. O Lord God, thou hast redeemed us in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue; and people, and nation, and hast made us a kingdom o our Ps. Beatus vir, page 38. This is the true joy, the ineffable consolation of this day; and the exiled Church cannot refrain from sending up a burning appeal to the saints to praise the Lord, if possible, with still greater zeal. ‘ Be happy, all of you, and sing to Him,’ she cries out from this valley of tears, borrowing the words of Tobias in the land of his captivity. 4. AnT. Benedicite Dominum 4. ANT. Bless ye the Lord, all omnes electi ejus: agite dies Ltiti, et confitemini ilki. his elect, keep days of joy, and give glory to him. Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39. To praise God unceasingly is the lot of the saints, Israel’s goodly inheritance in the true Sion. The Church, in her transport, wearies not of extolling this glorious lot, this better part, privilege of a few on earth, but enjoyed by all in heaven. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 5. Ant. Hymnus omnibus sanctis ejus: fiiis Israel, populo appropinquanti sibi: gloria hac est omnibus sanctis ejus. PSALM 61 5. ANT. A hymn to all his saints; to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him: this glory is to all his saints. II6 O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. Quoniam confirmata est super For his mercy is confirmed nos misericordia ejus: et veri- upon us: and the truth of the tas Domini manet in ater- Lord remaineth for ever. num. Laudate Dominum, laudate eum, omnes omnes No power can lessen the glory of the holy city, or diminish the number of its happy inhabitants, which was fixed before all ages in the counsels of the Most High. Although the world is only too deserving of wrath, it can not be consumed until it has furnished heaven with the last of the elect. This is expressed in a lively manner by the capitulum, taken from the Apocalypse. CAPITULUM (Apoc. vid.) Ecce ego Joannes vidi alteLo, I John saw another angel rum angelum ascendentem ab ascending from the rising of the ortu solis, habentem signum sun, having the sign of the liv- Dei vivi: et clamavit voce magna quatuor angelis, quibus datum est nocere terra ef mari, dicens: Nolite nocere terr et mari, neque arboribus, quoadusque signemus servos Dei nostri in frontibus eorum. ing 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 ser- vants of our God in their foreheads. Rabanus Maurus, abbot of Fulda and archbishop of Mayence, is supposed to be the author of the following hymn. The perfidious nation, whose expulsion from Christian lands is prayed for, was in the ninth century the race of infidel Normans, who filled the empire with slaughter and ruin under Charlemagne’s weak successors. The striking conversion of these savage destroyers was the answer of the saints. May they ever hear the TIME 62 AFTER PENTECOST Church’s prayers in a like manner, enlighten those who persecute her without knowing her, and make of them her firmest supporters. Placare, Christe, servulis, ibus Patris clementiam u ad tribunal gratiz Patrona Virgo postulat. Et vos beata, per novem Distincta gyros, agmina, Antiqua cum prasentibus, Futura damna pellite. Apostoli cum_vatibus, Apud severum Judicem, Veris reorum fletibus Exposcite indulgentiam. Vos purpurati martyres, HYMN O Christ, be propitious to thy servants, for whom thy Virgin Mother stands as advocate before_the throne of grace, imploring the Father’s mercy. Ninefold circle of blessed choirs, drive far from us all evils, past, present, and to come. Apostles and prophets, plead before the terrible Judge, and, for the unfeigned tears of us poor sinners, obtain our pardon. Ye rs crimson-clad, ye confessors ~ with snow-white Vos candidati premio Confessionis, exsules wreaths, call us from exile into our fatherland. Vocate nos in patriam. Chorea casta virginum, Spotless choirs of virgins and ye who from the desert have Et quos eremus incolas Transmisit astris, calitum sped beyond the stars, give us Locate nos in sedibus. a place among your heavenly thrones. Auferte gentem perfidam Drive the perfidious race far Credentium de finibus, from Christian lands, that we Ut unus omnes unicum may all be gathered by one Ovile nos pastor regat. pastor into the one fold. Deo Patri sit gloria, Glory be to God the Father, Natoque Patris unico, and to his only Son, together Sancto simul Paraclito, with the holy Paraclete, through In sempiterna szcula. everlasting ages. Amen. Amen. ¥. Laetamini in Domino, et ¥. Be glad in the Lord, and exsultate, justi. rejoice, ye just. Ry. Etgloriamini, omnes recti Ry. And glory, all ye right of corde. heart. All the choirs of angels, all the ranks of the saints, receive, in the Magnificat antiphon, the homage of the Church’s prayer; and all will join in praising the Queen of heaven and earth, by singing her own glorious canticle. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS ANTIPHON 63 OF THE MAGNIFICAT Angeli, Archangeli, Throni et Dominationes, Principatus et Potestates, Virtutes czlorum, Cherubim atque Seraphim, Patriarche et Prophetz, sancti legis Doctores, Apostoli, omnes Christi Martyres, sancti Confessores, Virgines Domini, Anachorit, Sanctique omnes, intercedite pro nobis. Ye Angels and Archangels, Thrones _and _Dominations, Principalities and Powers, Virtues of the heavens, Cherubim and Seraphim, Patriarchs and Prophets, holy Doctors of the law, Apostles, all ye Martyrs of Christ, holy Coniessors, Virgins of the Lord, Anchorets, and all ye Saints, make intercession for us. The Canticle Magnificat, page 43. PRAYER Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui nos omnium sanctorum tuorum merita sub una tribuisti celebritate venerari: quasumus; ut desideratam nobis tuz propitiationis abundantiam, multiplicatis _intercessoribus largiaris, Per Dominum. 0 almighty, cverlasting God, who hast granted us to venerate in one solemnity the merits of all thy saints, we beseech thee, that as our intercessors are multiplied, thou wouldst bestow upon us the desired abun- dance of thy mercy. our Lord. Through ‘When Rome had completed the conquest of the world, she dedicated to all the gods, in token of her gratitude, the Pantheon, the most durable monument of her power. But when she herself had been conquered by Christ, and invested by Him with the empire over souls, she withdrew her homage from vain idols and offered it to the martyrs; for they, praying for her as she slew them, had rendered her truly eternal. To the martyrs, then, and to Mary their Queen, she consecrated for ever, on the morrow of her merciful chastisement, the now purified Pantheon. ‘ Come forth from your dwellings, ye saints of God, hasten to the place prepared for you." For three centuries the catacombs were the resting-place of our Lord’s athletes, when they were borne from the arena. These ! Pontificale Rom. Ant. in Eccl. Dedi 64 TIME AFTER PENTECOST valiant warriors deserved the honours of a triumph far better than did the great victors of old. In 312, however, Rome, disarmed but not yet changed in heart, was not at all disposed to applaud the men who had conquered the gods of Olympus and of the Capitol. While the Cross surmounted her ramparts, the white-robed army still lay entrenched in the subterranean crypts that surrounded the city like so many outworks. Three centuries more were granted to Rome, that she might make satisfaction to God's justice, and take full cognizance of the salvation reserved for her by His mercy. In 609 the patient work of grace was completed; the Sovereign Pontiff Boniface IV uttered the word for the sacred crypts to yield up their treasures. It was a solemn moment, a forerunner of that wherein the angel’s trumpet-call shall sound over the sepulchres of the world.! The successor of St. Peter, in all his apostolic majesty and surrounded by an immense crowd, presented himself at the entrance of the catacombs. He was attended by eighteen chariots magni- ficently adorned for the conveyance of the martyrs. The ancient triumphal way opened before the saints; the sons of the Quirites sang in their honour: ‘ You shall come with joy and proceed with gladness; for behold, the mountains and the hills exult, awaiting you with joy. Arise, ye saints of God, come forth from your hiding- places; enter into Rome, which is now the holy city; bless the Roman people following you to the temple of the false gods, which is now dedicated as your own church, there to adore together with you the majesty of the Lord.” Thus, after six centuries of persecution and destruction, the martyrs had the last word; and it was a word of bless- ing, a signal of grace for the great city hitherto drunk with the blood of Christians. More than rehabilitated by the reception she was giving to the witnesses of Christ, she was now not merely Rome, but the new Sion, the privileged city of the Lord. She now burned before the saints the incense they had refused to offer to her idols; 1 Sequence Dies ir. 2 ¢/ Pontificale Rom. Ant. in Fccl. Dedicat. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 65 their blood had flowed before the very altar on which she now invited them to rest, since the usurpers had been hurled back into the abyss. It was a happy inspiration that induced her, when she dedicated to the holy martyrs the temple built by Marcus Agrippa and restored by Severus Augustus, to leave upon its pediment the names of its original constructors and the title they had given it; for then only did the famous monument truly merit its name, when Christian Rome could apply to the new inhabitants of the Pantheon those words of the psalm: ‘I have said, you are gods’* May 13 was the day of their triumphant installation. Every dedication on earth reminds the Church, as she herself tells us, of the assembly of the saints, the living stones of the eternal dwelling which God is building for Himself in heaven.? It is not astonishing, then, that the dedication of Agrippa’s Pantheon, under the above-men- tioned circumstances, should have originated the feast of to-day.® Its anniversary, recalling the memory of the martyrs collectively, satisfied the Church’s desire of honouring year by year all her blessed sons who had died for the Lord; for, at an early date it became impossible to celebrate each of them on the day of his glorious death. In the age of peace there was added to the cultus of the martyrs that of the other just, who daily sanctified themselves in all the paths of heroism opened out to Christian courage. The thought of uniting these with the former in one common solemnity, which would supply for the unavoidable omission of many of them, followed naturally upon the initiative given by Boniface IV. In 732, in the first half of that eighth century which was such a grand age for the Chu.rch GregoryIII dedicated, at St. Peter’s on the Vatican, an oratory in honour ‘of the Saviour, of His blessed Mother, of the holy apostles, of all the holy martyrs, confessors, and perfect just, who repose throughout the world."¢ A dedication under so extensive a title did not, it is true, imply the establish- 1 Py. luxad 6, 3 Gollecta o die Dedications Alaris; Postcomm. Auniv. Dedic. Becl 3 Martyrolog. ad hanc diem. o Pouitbe n Gregora i1 66 TIME AFTER PENTECOST ment of our feast of All Saints by the illustrious pontiff; yet from this period it began to be celebrated by divers churches, and that, too, on November 1, as is attested, with regard to England, by Venerable Bede’s martyrology and the pontifical of Egbert of York. Itwas far, however, from being universal, when in the year 835 Louis le Débonnaire, at the request of Gregory IV, and with the consent of all the bishops of his realm, made its celebration obligatory by law. This decree was welcomed by the whole Church and adopted as her own, says Ado, with reverence and love.* The councils of Spain and Gaul, as early as the sixth century,® mention a custom then existing, of sanctifying the commencement of November by three days of penance and litanies, like the Rogation days which precede the feast of our Lord’s Ascension. The fast on the Vigil of All Saints is the only remaining vestige of this custom of our forefathers, who, after the institution of the feast, advanced the triduum of penance, so as to make it a preparation for the solemnity itself. *Let our devotion be complete,’ is the recommendation of a contemporaneous author; ‘let us prepare ourselves for this most holy solemnity by three days of fasting, prayer, and almsdeeds." ‘When extended to the entire world, the feast became complete; it was made equal to the greatest solemnities, and widened its horizon till it reached the infinite, embracing uncreated as well as created sanctity. Itsobject was now, not only Mary and the martyrs; not only all the just children of Adam; but, moreover, the nine choirs of angels, and above all the Holy Trinity itself, God who is allin all, the King of kings—that is, ofy thesaints, the God of gods in Sion. Hear how the Church awakes her children on this day: ‘ Come let us adore the Lord, the King of kings, for He is the crown of all the saints.’* Such was the invitation addressed by our Lord Himself to St. Mechtilde, the chantress of Helfta, the privileged one 1 Apo, Martyrol. 2 Condil. Gerund. an. 517, can. 3; Logdun. 11. an. s67, can.1. o the fenst, e 1T an s + T cpom Ak i FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 67 of His divine Heart: ‘ Praise Me, for that I am the crown of all the saints.” The virgin then beheld all the beauty of the elect and their glory drawing increase from the Blood of Christ, and resplendent with the virtues practised by Him; and, responding to our Lord’s appeal, she praised with all her might the blissful and ever-adorable Trinity, for deigning to be to the saints their diadem and their admirable dignity.! Dante, too, describes Beatrice in the highest heaven forming her crown of the reflection of the eternal rays. * Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ sang the inhabitants of paradise with one voice. “ I seemed,” says the sublime poet, ‘ to behold a smile of the universe. The kingdom of bliss, with all its people both old and new, turned look and love all towards one point. O triple light, which shining in a single star dost so delight them, look down upon our tempests !’* In many churches the ancient Office of the feast, up to the sixteenth century, had this peculiarity, that at the Nocturns the first antiphon, the first blessing, the first lesson, and the first responsory, treated of the blessed Trinity; the second of these respective pieces spoke of our Lady, the third of the angels, the fourth of the patri- archs and prophets, the fifth of the apostles, the sixth of the martyrs, the seventh of the confessors, the eighth of the virgins, the ninth of all the saints. On this account the first lesson, contrary to the custom of the rest of the year, was given to the highest dignitary of the choir, and the first responsory to the first cantors. The rest followed in order down to the children, one of whom sang the lesson of the virgins, and five others, clothed in white and holding lighted tapers in their hands in memory of the five wise virgins, sang the eighth responsory before the Lady-altar. The ninth lesson and responsory were again chanted by priests. All, or nearly all, these customs have been successively modified; but the arrangement of the responsories remains the same. ! Liber Specialis Gratie, p. 3 Dawrs, Paradiso, xevily wish oxi. TIME AFTER 68 PENTECOST Our readers will be glad to find here the primitive antiphons and responsories referred to in the visions of saints, who show us each order of the blessed in heaven taking part, during this sacred night, in the prayers and thanksgivings of earth. The following texts are found alike in the breviaries of Aberdeen and Salisbury. ANTIPHONS 1. ANT. Adesto, Deus umus omnipotens, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus. 2. An. Sicat lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias. 3. AnT. Landemus Dominum uem laudant Angeli, quem Cherubim et Seraphim Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus proclamant. 4. ANT. Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major Joanne Baptista. 5. ANT. Estote fortes in bello et pugnate cum antiquo serpente, et accipietis regnum aternum, alleluia. 6. ANT. Isti sunt sancti qui pro Dei amore minas hominum contempserunt; sancti martyres in regnum zternum exsultant cum angelis: o quam pretiosa_est mors sanctorum, qui assidue assistunt ante Dominum, et ab invicem non sunt separati. 7. Awt. Sint lumbi vestri racincti, et lucernz ardentes n_manibus vestris, et vos si- miles hominibus exspectantibus dominum suum, quando revertatur a nuptii 8. ANT. Virgines sancta Dei, orate pro nobis, ut scelerum veniam per vos accipere mereamur. 1. ANT. Be propitious to us, 0 God, who art One and Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 2. ANT. As the lily among thorns, 50 is my beloved among the daughters. 3. ANT. Let us praise the Lord, whom the Angels praise, whom Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy. 4. ANT. Among those born of women, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. 5. ANT. Bé valiant in war, and fight with the old serpent, and you shall receive an eternal kingdom, alleluia. 6. ANT. These are the holy ones, who for the love of God despised the threats of men; the holy martyrs now rejoice with the angels in the eternal kingdom. Oh, how precious is the death of the saints, who continually stand before the Lord, and are not separated from one another. 7. ANT. Let your loins be girt, and lamps buming in your hands: and you yourselves like to men who wait for their Lord, when he shall return from the wedding. 8. ANT. Holy virgins of God, pray for us, that through you we may deserve to obtain pardon of our crimes. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 69 9. Ant. Sing praise to our nostro, omnes sancti ejus, et qui God, all his saints, and you that timetis Deum, pusilli et magni, fear the Lord, little and great, regnavit Dominus for the Lord our God almighty quoniam Deus noster omnipotens: gau- hath reigned: let us rejoice and deamus et exsultemus, et de- exult, and give glory to him. 9. ANT. Laudem dicite Deo mus gloriam ei. RESPONSORIES 1. K. Summ Trinitati, simplici Deo, una divinitas, zqualis gloria, comterna majestas, Patri Prolique Sanctoque Flamini:* Qui totum subdit suis orbem legibus. ¥. Prastet nobis gratiam deitas beata Patrisac Nati pariterque Spiritus almi, *Qui totum subdit suis orbem legibus. 2. Ry. Felix namque es, sacra 0 Maria, et omni laude dignissima: *Quia_ex te ortus est Sol justitiz, Christus Deus noster. ¥. Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu, sentiant omnes tuum levamen, quicumque celebrant tuamsolemnitatem,*Quia. 3. K. Te sanctum Dominum in excelsis laudant omnes Angeli, dicentes: * Te decet. t Laus et honor Domine. Y. Cherubim quoque ac Seraphim Sanctus proclamant, et omnis calicus ordo dicens. *Te decet. Gloria Patri. 1 Laus. 4. Ry. Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major Joanne Baptista: * Qui viam Domino Ppreparavit in eremo. ¥. Fuit homo missus a Deo cui nomen Joannes erat. * Qui viam. 1. K. To the most high Trin- ity, to the invisible God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be one divinity, equal glory, co-eternal majesty. * Who subjects the whole world to his laws. ¥. May the blessed Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and likewise of the Holy S grant us grace. * Who subjects the whole world to his laws. 2. K. Happy art thou, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise: * For from thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God. ¥. Pray for the people, plead for the clergy, intercede for the devout female sex, let all experience thy aid who celebrate thy solemnity. * For from thee. 3.Ry. Thee, holy Lord, all the Angels praise on high, saying:* To thee beseemeth. 1 Praise and honour, O Lord. Y. The Cherubim also and the Seraphim cry out, Holy; and every heavenly rank, saying: % To thee beseemeth. Glory be to the Father. t Praise and honour. 4. B Among those born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: *Who prepared the way for the Lord in the desert. Y. There was a man sent from God, whose name was Jobn. * Who prepared. 70 TIME AFTER 5. R. Cives apostolorum et domestici Dei advenerunt hodie: * Portantes facem et illuminantes patriam, dare pacer gentibus et liberare populum Domini. ¥. Audite preces supplicum vitz @tern poscentes pramia, qui fertis in dextris manipulos justitiz, quique gaudentesadvenistis hodie. * Portantes. 6.Ry. O constantia martyrum laudabilis: o caritas inextinguibilis: o patientia invincibilis, qua, licet inter pressuras perse. quentium visa sit despicabilis:* Invenietur in laudem et gloriam et honorem t Iu tempore retributionis. ¥. Nobis crgo_ petimus_piis subveniant meritis, honorificati a Patrequi est in czlis. * Invenietur. Gloria. 1 In tempore. 7. Ry. Sint lumbi vestri pracincti, et lucerna ardentes in manibus vestris: * Et vos similes hominibus cxspectantibus dominum suum, quando revertatur a nuptiis. ¥. Vigilate ergo, quia nescitis' qua hora Dominus vester venturus sit. * Et vos. 8. R Audivi vocem de calo venientem: Venite omnes virgines sapientissimz: * Oleum recondite in_ vasis_vestris, dum Sponsus advenerit. ¥. Media nocte clamor factus est: FEcce Sponsus venit. * Oleum. PENTECOST 5. B. The fellow-citizens of the Apostles and the servants of God have come before us today: * Bearing a torch and enlightening our fatherland, to give peace to the nations, and to deliver the people of the Lord. ¥. Hear the prayers of suppliants imploring the rewards of eternal life, O ye who bear in your hands the sheaves of justice, and who come to-day Tejoicing. * Bearing. 6. K. O praiseworthy constancy of the martyrs; O inextinguishable charity; O invincible patience | although under the tortures of the persecutors it appeared despicable, * It shall be Jound worthy of praiss anad glory and honour, 1 In the time of retribution. Y. Therefore we pray that they may assist us with their blessed merits now that they are honoured by the Father who is in heaven. * It shallbe found. Glory be to the Father. t In the time. 7. . Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your bands. * And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding. ¥. Watch ye therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come. * And you yourselves. 8.Ry. I heard a voice coming from heaven: Come all ye most wise virgins; * Keep oil ready in your vessels, for when the Spouse shall come. Y. At midnight there was a ‘cry made: Behold the Bridegroom cometh. * Keep FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 9. K. Concede nobis, Domi- ne, quzsumus, veniam delictorum: et intercedentibus sanctis quorum hodie solemnia celebramus: *Talemnobis tribuedevotionem. t Ut ad eorum pervenire mereamur societatem. ¥. Adjuvent nos eorum merita, quos propria impediunt scelera; excuset intercessio accusat quos actio: et qui cis tribuisti_ calestis palmam triumphi, nobis veniam non deneges peccati. * Talem. Gloria. { Ut ad. The 7T 9. R.. Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, the pardon of our sins; and through the intercession of thy saints whose solemnity we celebrate to-day: * Bestow upon us so great a devotion, That we may deserve to be admitted into their company. ¥. May their merits assist us, who are hindered by our own crimes; may their intercession excuse us, who are accused by our own deeds; and thou who hast bestowed on them the palm of heavenly victory, refuse not to us the pardon of our sins. *Bestow upon us. Glory be the Father. } That we may. Greeks honour with us, on one common solem- nity, ‘ all the saints of all the countries on earth, of Asia, Libya, and Europe, of north and south.”* But, whereas the West celebrates at the close of the year a feast which represents the gathering of the harvest into our heavenly Father’s granary, the East keeps it on the first Sunday after Pentecost, in that springtime of the Church, when, under the action of the Holy Ghost, sanctity was everywhere beginning to blossom.? We find it thus as early as the fourth century; for it was on this first Sunday after Pentecost, which with us Latins is now the feast of the most holy Trinity, that St. John Chrysostom pronounced his discourse in honour of ‘ all the martyrs, who have suffered throughout the world.’s In the West also, as we have seen, the origin of All Saints’ feast was this general commemoration of the martyrs. This latter was placed by some Eastern churches on the Friday within the octave of Easter.4 It wasa happy thought thus to associate the confession of Christ’s witnesses with the victory over death won by Him, whose divine confession before Pontius Pilate had been an 1 Pentecostarion, in Dominica Sanctoram omnium. 2 Lrow. PriLosopH. Oratio xv. 1o universs terre Sanctos universos. 3 Cuxvs, Opera il 711, + Calendaria Syrorum et Chaldsorum. TIME 72 AFTER PENTECOST example and a support to them in presence of their executioners. Indeed, Rome herself had had the same inspiration, when she made her solemn commemoration of the martyrs in the beginning of May; and she still reserves to the martyrs and apostles the honour of having a special Office for the whole of Paschal Time. We borrow the following passages from the Greek Office for the ‘ Sunday of All Saints.” IN MAGNO Discipuli Domini, organa Spiritus, ubique per orbem sparserunt divini semina nuntii: e quibus germinati martyres supplicant pro animabus no- stris. Ecclesiz fulcimentum, Evan- gelii perfectio, martyrum divinus chorus, Salvatoris verba vos implestis. Porte etenim inferi Ecclesiz inhiantes a vo- bis obseratz sunt; libamenta idolorum exsiccavit sanguinis effusio vestri; plenitudinem credentium immolati Ti- stis; angelis admirandi, coronati statis ante Deum: quem sine fine deprecemini pro animabus nostris. Venite, fideles universi: solemnem Sanctorum omnium memoriam celebremus, in psalmis et hymnis et canticis spiritualibus: ecce nobis adest, locuetia secum ferens carismata. taque clamemus dicentes: Salvete, prophetarum ceetus. qui adventum Christi mundo nuntiastis, ea qua procul sunt tamuam prope videntes. Salvete, Spostolorum chorus, sagenam mittentes in nationes, piscatores hominum. Salvete, martyrum exercitus, e finibus terrz VESPERTINO ‘The disciples of the Lord, the instruments of the Spirit, scattered throughout the world the seed of the divine word : whence sprang the'martyrs who intercede for our souls. Support of the Church, perfection of the Gospel, O Godlike choir of martyrs, ye fulfilled the words of our Saviour. For the gates of hell wide yawning against the Church ye have closed and bolted; by the shedding of your blood ye dried up the libations of the idols; your immolation gave birth to the fullness of believers. O admiration of the angels, ye stand crowned before God; beseech him unceasingly for our souls. Come, all ye faithful; let us celebrate with psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles the solemnity of all the saints: behold it comes, bringing us the richest gifts. Therefore let us cry out and say: Hail, company of prophets, who announced to the world the coming of Christ, seeing things afar off as though they were at hand. Hail, choir of apostles, fishers of men, casting your net among the nations. ~ Hail, army of martyrs, brought together from the FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 73 ends of the earth into one faith: ye endured for that faith intolerastis et pugnz coronam juries and torments, and gloripraclare tulistis. Salvete, ously won your laurels in the mellarium patrum, qui cor- contest. Hail, honey-laden hive poribus ascesi maceratis et pas- of the fathers; who having sionibus carnis _mortificatis, macerated your bodies with mentem amore divino quasi austerities, and mortified the pennis sublevastis, czlum us- passions of the flesh, raised que pervolantes, et lztantes our mind with divine love, a8 cum ‘angelis fruimini szculis it were on wings, soaring even beatis. Ast, o prophete, apo- to heaven, where rejoicing with stoli, martyresque cum ascetis, the angels ye possess a blessed qui ‘vos coromavit instanter eternity. And now, O proorate ut salvet nos ab inimicis phets, O apostles, O martyrs and ;am visibilibus quam invisibili- ascetics, earnestly implore him us. who has crowned you to save us from our enemies both visible and invisible. Salvete, sancti justique; salHail, ye saints and just ones; vete, laudabilis* feminarum hail, praiseworthy choir of holy chorus. Pro mundo apud women. Intercede with Christ Christum intercedite; principi for the world ; that he may give det victoriam contra barbaros to our prince victory over the atque animabus nostris ma- barbarians and to our souls his gnam misericordiam. great mercy. MASS Ancient documents referring to this day inform us that on the Calends of November the same eagerness was shown as at Christmas to assist at the holy Sacrifice.! However general the feast was, or rather because of its universality, was it not the special joy of every one, and the honour of Christian families ? “Taking a holy pride in the persons whose virtues they handed down to pos- terity, they considered the heavenly glory of their ancestors, who had perhaps been unknown in the world, to be a higher nobility than any earthly dignity. Faith was lively in those days; and Christians seized the opportunity of this feast to make amends for the neglect, voluntary or involuntary, suffered during the year by the blessed inscribed on the general Calendar. 3 Lectiones antiqus Breviarii Romani ad hanc dicm. TIME AFTER PENTECOST 74 In the famous Bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, by which he established the feast of Corpus Christi, Urban IV mentions this as one of the motives that had led to the prior institution of All Saints’;* and expresses a hope that the new solemnity may in like manner compensate for the distractions and coldness of the rest of the year towards this divine Sacrament, wherein He resides who is the crown and glory of all saints.? The Introit antiphon resembles that of our Lady’s Assumption day. This feast is indeed a sequel to Mary's triumph. Asour Lord’s Ascension called for His Mother’s Assumption, both required for their completion the universal glorification of the human race which provides heaven with its King and Queen. Joy, then, on earth, which continues thus magnificently togiveits fruit! Joy among the angels, who see their vacant thrones filled up ! Joy, says the Verse, to all the blessed who are receiving the congratulations of heaven and earth | \ INTROIT Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore sanctorum omnium: de quorum solemnitate gaudent angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei. Ps. Exsultate, justi, in Domino: rectos decet collaudatio. Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus. | Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honourof all thesaints: at whose solemnity the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God. _ Ps. Rejoice in the Lord, ye just: praise becometh the upright. ' Glory be to the Father. Let us al. But we sinners, who are still in exile, have always and everywhere need of mercy. To-day we may well hope for it, since so many are interceding for us. If the prayer of one saint is powerful, what must be the united suffrages of all heaven | COLLECT Omnipotens sempiternc DeO almighty, everlasting God, us, qui nos omnium sanctorum who hast granted us to venertuorum merita sub una tribui- ate in one solemnity the merits 1 Hittror. Ordo Rom. 2 Cap. * Si Dominum," De Reliquiis et Veneratione Sanctorum. Clementi . 16, FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 75 sti celebritate venerari: quasu- of all thy saints; we beseech mus, ut desideratam nobis tuz thee, that as our intercessors propitiationis abundantiam, are multiplied, thou wouldst _intercessoribus bestow upon us the desired multiplicatis abundance of thy mercy. largiaris. Per Dominum. Through our Lord. EPISTLE Lecto libri Apocalypsis beati Joannis Apostoli. Cap. vii. Indiebusillis: Eccecgo Joannes vidi alterum angelum ascendentem ab ortu solis, habentem signum Dei vivi: et clamavit voce magna quatuor angelis quibus datum est nocere terr et mari, dicens: Nolite nocere terra et mari, neque arboribus quoadusque signemus servos Dei nostri in frontibus eorum. Et audivi numerum signatorum, centum quadraginta quatuor millia signati, ex omni tribu filioram Israel. Ex tribu Juda duodecim millia signaf Ex tribu Ruben duodecim m lia signati. Ex tribu Gad du decim millia signati. Ex tribu Aser duodecim milliasignati. Ex tribu Nephthali duodecim millia signati, Ex tribu_ Manasse_duodecim millia_signati. Ex tribu Simeon duodecim millia signati. Ex tribu Levi duodecim millia_signati. Ex tribu Issachar duodecim millia signati, Ex tribu Zabulon duodecim millia signati. Ex tribu_Joseph duodecim millia signati, Ex tribu Benjamin duodecim millia signati. = Post hzc vidi tarbam magnam, quam dinumerare nemo poterat ex omnibus gentibus, et tri bubus, et populis, et linguis: Lesson from the Book of the Apocalypse of blessed John the Apostle. Chap. vii. In those days, Behold 1, John, sawanother angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God. ~And he cried with a loud voice to the fourangels, 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. And I heard the number of them that werc signed: an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were twelve thousand sigied: of the tribe of Ruben twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Aser twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Nephthali twelve thousand signed of the tribe of Manasses twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand signed : of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Zabulon twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand signed : of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand signed. After this I saw TIME 76 AFTER stantes ante thronum, et in conspectu Agni, amicti stolis albis, et palm in manibus eorum; et clamabant voce magna, dicentes: Salus Deo nostro, qui sedet super thronum, et Agno. Et omnes angeli stabant in circuitu throni et seniorum et quatuor animalium: et ceciderunt in conspectu throni in facies suas, et adoraverunt Deum, dicentes: Amen. Benedictio et claritas et sapientia et gratiarum actio, honor et virtus et fortitudo Deo nostro, in szcula szculorum. Amen. PENTECOST a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in_sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands; and they cried with a loud voice saying: Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and_adored God saying: Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen. At the time of his birth, the Man-God, through the instrumentality of Casar Augustus, took a census of the world; it was fitting that on the eve of the Redemption the statistics of the human race should be officially registered. And now it is time to make a fresh enrolment, and to enter in the Book of Life the results of the work of Redemption. “ Wherefore this numbering of the world at the time of our Lord’s birth,” says St. Gregory in one of the Christmas homilies, * save for this manifest reason, that He was appearing in the Flesh, who is to enregister the elect in eternity ?’* But, many having withdrawn themselves by their own fault from the benefit of the first enrolment, which included all men in the ranks of those to be redeemed, there was need of a second and definitive registration, which should cancel the names of the guilty. ‘Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and with the just let them not be written;'?such are the words of the psalmist, quoted by St. Gregory in the above-mentioned homily. 4 Lectio vil. in Nocte Natal. Domini ; ex Homil. vili. in Ev. # P Ixvi,35. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 77 To-day, however, the Church is too full of joy to think of any but the elect; they alone take part in the glorious close of human history described in the Epistle. Indeed, they alone are reckoned before God; the reprobate are but the waste of a world where sanctity alone responds to the Creator’s advances, to the ventures of His infinite love. Let our souls be supple to receive the divine stamp, which is to render us conformable to the image of the only-begotten Son, and mark us out as God’s coin. Whoever is unwilling to receive the divine impress will inevitably be marked with the ‘ character of the beast ’;! and when the angels come to make the final settlement, every coin unfit to bear the divine stamp will fall into the furnace where the dross will burn eternally. Let us then, as the Gradual recommends, live in fear; not that of the slave, who dreads punishment; but that filial fear, which is anxious never to displease Him from whom are all good things, and whose kindness deserves all our love in return. Without losing aught of their beatitude, or diminishing their love, the angelic Powers and all the saints in heaven prostrate with a holy trembling beneath the gaze of God’s awful majesty.* GRADUAL Timete Dominum, omnes san- cti ejus: quoniam nihil deest timentibus eum. Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. ¥. Inquirentes autem Domi- _¥. Butthey thatseekthe Lord num non deficient omni bono. shalinotbedeprivedofany good. Alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia, alleluia. ¥. Venite ad me, omnes qui __¥. Comeuntome, all you that laboratis et onerati estis, et ego labour, and are heavy laden, and reficiam vos. Alleluia. I will refresh you. ~Allelufa. ‘GOSPEL Sequentia sancti Evangeli se- Sequel of the Boly Gospel accundum Matthzum. cording to St. Cap. v. Inillo tempore: Videns Jesus turbas, ascendit in montem, 1 Apoc, xiil. 16. et Chap. v. Matthew. At that time, Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a # ¢/, Prafat. Miss, 78 TIME AFTER PENTECOST cum sedisset, accesserunt ad mountain: and when he was set eum discipuli ejus, et aperiens down his disciples came unto o0s suum, docebat cos, dicens: him. And opening his mouth, Beati pauperes spiritu: quo- he taught them saying: Blessed niam ipsorum est regnum celo- are the poor in spirit; for theirs rum. Beati mites: quoniam is the kingdom of hcaven. ipsi possidebunt terram. Be- Blessed are the meek; for they ati qui lugent: quoniam ipsi shall possess the land.” Blessed consolabuntur. Beati qui esu- are they that mourn; for they riunt et sitiunt justitiam: quo- shall be comforted. Blessed niam ipsi saturabuntur. Be- are they that hunger and thirst ati misericordes: quoniam ip- after justice; for they shall have si misericordiam consequentur. their fill. Blessed are the Beati mundo corde: quoniam merciful; for they shall obtair: ipsi Deum videbunt. Beati pa- mercy. Blessed arc the clean cifici: quoniam filii Dei voca- of heart; for they shall see God. buntur. Beati qui persecutio- Blessed ‘arc the peacemakers: nem patiuntur propter justi- for they shall be called the chittiam: quoniam ipsorum est re- dren of God. Blessed are t] gnum czlorum. Beati estis cum that suffer persecution for jus ‘maledixerint vobis, et persecuti tice’ sake; for theirs is the kingvos fuerint, et dixerint omne dom of heaven. Blessed are ye malum adversum vos menti- when they shall revile you, and entes, propter me: gaudete et persecute you, and speak all exsultate, quoniam merces thatis evil against you, untruly, vestra copiosa est in calis. for my sake: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. Earth is so near to heaven to-day that the one thought which fills all hearts is happiness. The Friend, the Bride- groom, the divine Brother of Adam’s children, comes sits down among them, and talks of blessedness: ‘ and Come to Me all you that labour and suffer,’ sang the Alleluia- verse, that sweet echo from our fatherland reminding us withal of our exile. And immediately in the Gospel appears the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour. Let uslisten to Him, teaching us the ways of blessed hope, the holy delights which are at once an assurance and a foretaste of the perfect bliss of heaven. On Sinai Jehovah held the Jew at a distance, giving him precepts under pain of death. On the summit of this other mountain where the Son of God is seated how differently the Law of love is promulgated | In the new Testament, the cight beatitudes have taken the place FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 79 occupied in the old by the Decalogue graven on stone. Not that the beatitides repeal the commandments; but their superabundant justice goes far beyond all prescriptions. It is from His Heart that Jesus brought them forth in order to imprint them, more lastingly than on stone, in the hearts of His people. They are the portrait of the Son of man, the summary of our Redeemer’s life. Look then, and do ‘ according to the pattern that was shown thee in the mount.” Poverty was the first mark of our God in Bethlehem; and who ever appeared so meek as Mary’s Child 7 Who wept for more noble causes than He in His crib, where He was already expiating our sins and appeasing His Father ? They that hunger after justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers: where, save in Him, will they find the incomparable ideal, never attained yet ever imitable? And by His death He became the leader of all those who are persecuted for justice’ sake. In this the highest beatitude on earth the Incarnate Word takes delight, returning upon it, detailing it, and closing with it in to-day’s Gospel as with a song of ecstasy. The Church has never had any other ideal ; she has ever walked in the footsteps of her Spouse, and her history throughout the ages has been but the prolonged echo of the Beatitudes. Let us also understand; that we may be blessed both in this world and in the next, let us follow our Lord and the Church. The evangelical beatitudes raise man above torments, above death itself, which disturbs not the peace of the just, but consummates it. Such is the burden of the Offertory chant, taken from the Book of Wisdom. OFFERTORY Justorum animeinmanu Dei sunt: et non tangetillos tormentum maliti: visi sunt oculisinsipientium mori, illi autem sunt in pace, alleluia. The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of malice shall not touch them: in the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, but they are in peace, alleluia. 1 Exod, xxv. 40. 8o TIME AFTER PENTECOST As the Secret explains, the Sacrifice in which we are allowed to take part, glorifies God, honours the saints, and renders the divine goodness propitious to us. SECRET Munera tibi, Domine, nostrz We offer to thee, O Lord, the devotionis offerimus: quz et gifts of our devotion; and may ro cunctorum tibi grata sint they be pleasing to thee in onore justorum, et nobis salu- honour of the just, and be made taria, te miserante, reddantur. salutary to us by thy mercy. Through our Lord. Per Dominum. The Communion antiphon, like an echo of the Gospel, repeats the last three Beatitudes, referring them, and rightly, to nourished. the divine Sacrament whereby they are COMMUNION Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt: beati paci fici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur: beati qui persecutionem patiuntur _propter _justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum calorum. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God: blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God: blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ salke, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In the Postcommunion the Church asks as the fruit of this feast that her children may always honour the saints and ever benefit by their favour with God. POSTCOMMUNION Da, quasumus, Domine, fidelibus populis, omnium sanctorum semper veneratione Lztari: et eorum perpetua supplicatione muniri. Per Dominum. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy faithful people, ever to rejoice in the veneration of all the saints, and to be defended by their perpetual supplication. Through. SECOND VESPERS The second Vespers are the same as the first, except m, the versicle, and the M: agnificat antiphon. the last m, which is as follows, puts upon the lips of the The FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 81 saints a beautiful summary of their life of faith and suf- fering here on earth, and of their eternal gratitude and praise in heaven. PSALM II5 Credidi, propter quod locutus 1 have believed, therefore sum: ego autem humiliatus sum haveI spoken: but I have been nimis. humbled exceedingly. Ego dixi in sxcessu meo: 1 said in my excess: Every Omnis homo mendax. man is a liar. Quid retribuam Domino: pro ‘What shall I render to the omnibus quae retribuit mihi ? Lord, for all the things that he Calicem salutaris accipiam: et nomen Domini invocabo. hath rendered to me ? I will take the chalice of sal- vation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord. 1 will pay my vows to the Vota mea Domino_reddam coram omni populo ejus: pre- Lord before all his people: tiosa in Domini mors recious in the sight of the Lord 18 the death of his saints. sanctorum ejus. O Lord, for I am thy servant: O Domine, quia ego servus tuus: ego servus tuus, et filius I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. ancille tuz. Thou hast broken my bonds: Dirupisti vincula mea: tibi 1 will sacrifice to thee the sacrisacrificabo hostiam laudi fice of praise, and I will call nomen Domini invocabo. Vota mea Domino reddam in conspectu omnis populi ejus: in atriis domus Domini, in me- dio tui, Jerusalem. Y. Exsultabunt gloria, Ry. Latabuntur suis, upon the name of the Lord. 1 will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people; in the courts of the in ‘house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem | V. The saints shall rejoice in in cubilibus ""é”'n.y shall be joyful in sancti ANTIPHON OF their beds. THE MAGNIFICAT O quam gloriosum est reOh ! how glorious is the kinggoum in quo cum Christo dom, where all the saints rejoice gaudent omnes sancti, amicti stolis albis sequuntur Agnum quocamaue ierit. with Christ; clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth | This anti] , which expresses at once an uns ;peakable delight and a patient longing, closes the solemnity of 82 TIME AFTER the Saints. But PENTECOST the Church’s day is not yet ended. Scarcely has she given the last salute to her glorious sons disappearing in their white robes in the train of the Lamb, when an innumerable crowd of suffering souls surrounds her at the gate of heaven; and to these she at once lends her voice and heart. The glittering vestments, which reminded her of the snowy garments of the blessed, are changed for the colour of mourning; the ornaments and flowers disappear from the altar; the organ is hushed; the bells ring a plaintive knell. Without any transition, the Vespe{s of All Saints are followed by the Vespers of the Dead. VESPERS OF THE DEAD No human science or eloquence could ever reach the depth of teaching, the power of soul-stirring supplication contained in the Office of the Dead. This intimate knowledge of the secrets of the other world, and of the way to win the Heart of her Spouse, belongs to the bride alone; and she alone, the true mother of men, is able with exquisite tact to console the orphans and the bereaved, by shortening the painful purification of those who have passed away. Dilexi: this first song of the holy souls is all love; as the Credidi, the last psalm sung by the heavenly citizens on this feast, recalled their faith, and the trials they have endured on earth. We have just remarked that there is no transition between the two solemnities. What need of any? The suffering souls and the blessed, both are the captives of love; love gives them their dignity, and is their imperishable treasure. In the case of the blessed, faith having given place to the vision of God, their love is highest bliss; but to the suffering souls, imprisoned in darkness by sins not yet expiated, love is the source of inexpressible pain. However, they are now free from the anxieties of this world, the perils of hell; they are confirmed in grace, and can never sin again; they are full of 1 If the morrow of All Saintsbe a Sunday the Commemoration of the Dead transferred to the Monday. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 83 gratitude towards God who has saved them in His mercy, and in His justice is purifying them to make them worthy of Himself. They are in a state of absolute and perfect resignation and of calm expectancy, called by holy Church a ‘ sleep of peace.” ANT. Placebo Domino in reANT. T will please the Lord in the land of the living. gione vivorum. PSALM Dilexi, quoniam exaudiet Dominus: vocem orationis mez. Quia inclinavit anrem suam mihi: et in diebus meis invocabo. Circumdederunt me dolores mortis: et pericula inferni invenerunt me. Tribulationem et dolorem inveni: et nomen Domini invocavi. O Domine, libera animam meam: misericors Dominus et justus, et Deus noster miseretur. Custodiens parvulos Dominus: humiliatus sum, et liberavit me. Convertere anima mea in requiem tuam: quia Dominus benefecit tibi. Quia eripuit animam meam de morte: oculos meos a lacrimis, pedes meos a lapsu. _Placebo Domino: in regione vivorum. II4 1 have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, and in my days I will call upon him. The sorrows of death have compassed me; and the perils of hell have found me. 1 met with trouble and sorrow; and I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul: the Lord is merciful and just: and our God sheweth mercy. The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was humbled, and he delivered me. Return, O my soul, into thy rest: for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee. For he hath delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. T will please the Lord in the land of the living. Instead of the usual doxology the Church makes, at the end of every psalm, a fervent prayer for the departed. Requiem wternam dona eis, Eternal rest give unto them, Domine. 0 Lord. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. And let perpetual light shine upon them. _AnT. Placebo Domino in reAnt. I will please the Lord gione vivorum, in'the land of the living. 1 Canon Missz. 84 TIME AFTER PENTECOST The soul in purgatory, separated from the body which weighed her down and distracted her by a thousand vain preoccupations, is now entirely absorbed by the one desire of becoming at length perfectly pleasing to God. Towards this end her whole energy is directed ; and so too is the force of the torments for whose violence she is so grateful. Purgatory is a crucible where the dross of sin is burnt away, until every debt is cancelled. When its flames have effaced every stain and every wrinkle that marred the soul's beauty, then she flees away to her Spouse, truly a blessed one and sure of offering no obstacle to the complacent love of her Lord. Yet towhat asad length her exile is prolonged ! True, she is united by charity to the inhabitants of heaven: but the fire which torments her is of the same nature as that of hell; her abode is nigh to that of the damned; she must endure the proximity of the infernal Cedar, and of those haters of all peace, the detestable demons, who at- tacked her unceasingly during her mortal life with their assaults and their snares, and who still with deceitful tongue accuse her before the throne of God. Presently we shall hear the Church imploring: ‘ From the gate of hell deliver her !’ ANT. Hei mihi, Domine, quia incolatus meus prolongatus est. PSALM Ad Dominum cum tribularer clamavi: et exaudivit me. Domine, libera animam meam a labiis iniquis: et a lingua dolosa. Quid detur tibi aut quid apponatur tibi: ad linguam dolosam ? Sagitta potentis acutwe: cum carbonibus desolatoriis. Heu mihi, quia incolatus me us prolongatus est: habitavi cum habitantibus Cedar: multum incola fuit anima mea. ANT. Woe is me, O Lord, that my sojourning is prolonged. IIQ In my trouble I cried to the Lord; and he heard me. 0 Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee: to a deceitful tongue ? The sharp arrows of the mighty: with coals that lay waste. Woe is me that my sojourningis prolonged | I have dwelt withtheinhabitants of Cedar; my soul hath been long a sojourner. FEAST 85 OF ALL SAINTS Cum his, qui oderunt pacem, eram pacificus: cum loquebar illis, impugnabant me gratis. Requiem mternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Aw. Hel mihi, Domine, quia incolatus meus prolongatus est. _ With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them, they fought against me without cause. _ Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. Woe is me, O Lord, that my sojourning is prolonged. Yet the soul faints not; lifting up her eyes to the moun- tains, she feels that she can rely upon her Lord, and that she is abandoned neither by heaven, which is expecting her arrival, nor by her mother the Church on earth. Although purgatory, where justice and peace meet and embrace, is so near the region of endless weeping, it is still accessible to the angels. These august messengers comfort the soul with divine communications: while the blessed in heaven and the just on earth assist her with their prayers and suffrages. She is well assured that sin, the only real evil, can never touch her. ANT. Dominus custodit te ab omni malo: custodiat animam tuam Dominus. PSALM Levavi oculos meos in mon- tes: unde veniet auxilium mihi. Auxilium meum a Domino: ' ANT. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. I20 I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains: from help shall come to me. whence My help is from the Lord: who made heaven and earth. May he not suffer thy foot qui fecit czlum et terram. Non det in commotionem pedem tuum: neque dormitet qui to be moved: neither let him custodit te. slumber that keepeth thee. Ecce non_dormitabit neque Behold, he shall neither slumdormict: qui custodit Israel. bernorsleep: thatkeepeth Israel, Dominus custodit te, DomiThe Lord is thy keeper, the nus protectio tua: super ma- Lord is thy protection: upon num dexteram tuam. thy right i Per diem sol non uret te: neThe sun sh.nllm not b;’;n n::: que luna per noctem. day: nor the moon ight. Dominus custodit te ab omni P Lord thee from malo: custodiat animam tuam nll“:vu:mnymlmdhtpthy Dominus, soul. 86 TIME AFTER PENTECOST _ May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out: from henceforth, now and for ever. _ Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. i And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. The Lord keepeth thee AnT. Dominus custodit te ab omni malo: custodiat animam from all evil: may the Lord tuam Dominus. keep thy soul. Dominus custodiat introitum tuum, et exitum tuum: ex hoc nunc, et usque in seculum. Requiem wternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Christian usage has appropriated Psalm 129 as the peculiar prayer for the dead; it is a cry of anguish mingled with hope. The destitute condition of the holy souls is well calculated to touch our hearts. Though not yet in heaven, they no longer belong to earth, and have conseuently lost those privileges whereby God compensates us ?or the dangers which surround us in our passage through this world of trial. Their perfect acts of love, of hope, of faith, and of resignation, have no merit. Such unspeakable sufferings, accepted with their dispositions, would earn for us areward equal to that of a thousand martyrs; yet to these souls they profit nothing, for all eternity, beyond the mere payment of the penalty exacted by the just Judge. Besides their inability to merit, they can no longer satisfy God’s justice by offering Him an equivalent such as He can accept. Their powerlessness to help themselves is more absolute than that of the paralytic of the pool of Bethsaida:! the saving waters are left behind on earth, together with the holy Sacrifice, the Sacraments, and the use of the all-powerful keys entrusted to the Church. The Church, however, albeit she has no longer any jurisdiction over these poor souls, still feels towards them all a mother’s tenderness; nor has she lost her credit with the Spouse. She makes their prayer her own. Opening the treasure she has inherited from the plentiful redemption of the Lord, she makes an offering from her dowry to Him who gave it her, begging in return the deliverance of the captives, or at least an alleviation of their suffer1 St Joho v. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 87 Thus, all rights being duly respected, abundant mercy penetrates into the kingdom of inexorable justice. ings. A~r. Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: Domine, quis sustinebit ? PSALM De profundis clamavi ad te, Dominc: Domine, exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tu intendentes: in vocem deprecationis mez. Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: Domine, quis sustinebit ? Quia apud te propitiatio est: et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine. Sustinuit anima mea in verbo cjus: speravit anima mea in Domino. A custodia matutina usque ad noctem : speret Israel in Domino. Quia apud Dominum misericordia: et copiosa apud cum redemptio. Et ipse redimet lsrael: cx omnibus iniquitatibus ejus. Requiem @ternam: dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua: luceat eis. ANT. Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: Domine, quis sustinebit ? ANt If thou, O Lord, wilt mark _iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it ? 129 Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive: to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities! Lord, who shall stand it ? Tor with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on_his word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even until night: let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord: And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. 1f thou, O Lord, wilt ‘mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it? I will praise Thee for Thou hast heard me. The Church’s prayer is never in vain. The last psalm utters her gratitude and that of the souls freed, by the Office we are now saying, from the abyss, or drawn nearer to heaven. The Church has prayed, and in answer to her prayer many who were captives this morning make their entrance into everlasting light on the evening of this beautiful feast; 88 TIME AFTER PENTECOST and they enhance its joy and glory at its close. Let our hearts and our thoughts follow these new saints; they smile upon us, they thank us their brethren and children, as they ascend all radiant from the land of shadows singing: In the sight of angels I will sing to Thee, O Lovd; I will adore in Thy holy temple.—No; despise the works of His hands. ANT. Operamanuum tuarum, Domine, ne despicias. PSALM Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo: quoniam audisti verba oris mei. In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi: adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitebor nomini tuo. Super misericordia tua ct veritate tua: quoniam magnificasti super omne, nomen sanctum tuum. In quacumque die invocavero te, exaudi me: multiplicabis in anima mea virtutem. Confiteantur tibi, Domine, omnes reges terr@: quia audierunt omnia verba oris tui. Et_cantent in viis Domini: quoniam magna est gloria Domini. Quoniam excelsus Dominus, et humilia respicit: ct alta a longe cognoscit. Si ambulavero in medio tribulationis, vivificabis me: et super iram inimicorum meorum extendisti manum tuam, et salvum me fecit dextera tua. Dominus retribuet pro me: Domine, misericordia tua in szculum: opera manuum tuarum ne despicias. the Lord does not ANT. Despise not, O Lord, the works of thy hands. 137 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast _heard the words of my mouth. 1 will sing praise to thee in the sight of angels: I will worship towards thy holy temple, and T will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all. In what day soever Ishall call upon thee, hear me: thou shalt multiply strength in my soul. May all the kings of the earth give glory to thee, O Lord; for they have heard all the words of thy mouth. And let them sing in theways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord. For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he knoweth afar off. 1f I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my encmies, and thy right hand hath saved me. “The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord. endureth for cver: O despise not the works of thy hands. FEAST 89 OF ALL SAINTS Fternal rest give unto them, Lord. i ) And let perpetual light shine Et lux perpetua luceat eis. upon them. AnT. Opera manuum tuarum, _ ANT. Despise not, O Lord, Domine, ne despicias. the works of thy hands. Requiem aternam dona cis, Domine. And now from heaven itself, as if sent to us by the dear newly delivered souls, comes this intimation of their happiness:* Ry. Beati mortui quiin Domino moriuntur. ¥. 1 heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Ry. Blessed are the dead that dic in the Lord. The whole of this wonderful liturgical drama, whicu has been represented before us, points to the fulfilment of our Lord’s promise,? which the Church repeats in the following antiphon: ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT Omne quod dat mihi Pater, ad me veniet: et eum qui venit ad me, non ejiciam foras. All that my Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will not cast out. But as in this world every grace from Jesus comes to us through Mary, so in the next world it is through her that deliverance and all good things are obtained. The Mother of God is queen over all whom her Son has re- deemed. Thus the revelations of thesaints tell us that she is truly the queen of purgatory: whether she graciously sends the angels of her guard to represent her there, or deigns herself, the beautiful dawn of eternal day, to enter its gloomy precincts, and shed upon its flames the abundant dew of morning. ‘ Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field, or can the cold waters, that gush out and run down, be taken away?? We must understand, then, why we sing the Magnificat in the Office of the Dead; it is the loyal homage to Mary of the 1 Apoc. xiv. 13. # St. Jobn vi. 37. 3 Jerem. xviil. 14. 90 TIME AFTER PENTECOST souls that are entering heaven, and the sweet hope of those still detained in the region of expiation. The Canticle Magnificat, page 43, concluding with Requiem @ternam etc. After the repetition of the antiphon all kneel, and the priest begins the Lord’s Prayer. Pater noster. Our Father. The rest is said in silence as far as this conclusion, which is followed by the versicles and prayer that close the Vespers of the Dead. ¥. Et ne nos inducas in ten¥. And lead us not into temptation. tationem. /. But deliver us from evil. Ry. Sed libera nos a malo. ¥. A porta inferi. Y. From the gate of hell. K. Deliver their souls, O Ry. Erue, Domine, animas eorum. Lord. ¥. Requiescant in pace. Y. May they rest in peace. R. Amen. Ry. Amen. ¥. Domine, exaudi orationem ¥. O Lord, hear my prayer. meam. Ry. Andlet my cry come unto Ry. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. thee. ¥. Dominus vobiscum. ¥. The Loxd be with you. Ry. And with thy spirit. Ry. Et cum spiritu tuo. PRAYER Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor et Redemptor, animabus famulorum famularimque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et renas cum Deo Patre in unitate piritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sacula seculorum. R. Amen. ¥. Requiem wternam dona eis, Domine. Ry. Et lux perpetua luceat ¥. Requiescant in pace. R. Amen. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, give to the souls of thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins; that by pious supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen. ¥. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. K. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ¥. May they rest in peace. . Amen. FEAST OF ALL SAINTS 91 Let us offer our Lady this touching supplication, which for a long time many churches addressed to her for the dead. It was composed in the fourteenth century, by John IV de Langoueznou, abbot of Landevenec, inspired by his tender love for Mary. PROSE Languentibus in purgatorio, Qui purgantur ardore nimio, Et torquentur gravi supplicio, Subveniat tua compassio: O Maria | Fons es patens qui culpas abluis, Omnes juvas et nullum respuis: Manum tuam extende mortuis, Qui sub_peenis languent continuis: O Maria | Ad te pie suspirant mortui, Cupientes de peenis erui, Et adesse tuo conspectui, ZEternisque gaudiis perfrui: O Maria | Gementibus Mater accelera, Pietatis ostende viscera: Tllos Jesus per sua vulnera Ut sanare dignetur impetra: O Maria | Tu vera spes ad te clamantium: Ad te clamat turba sodalium, Pro fratribus ut places Filium, Et caleste det eis premium: O Maria | Fac lacrima quas bona respicis, Quas fundimusad pedes Judicis, lox exstinguant vim mz vindicis, Ut jungantur choris angelicis: O Maria | To the sufferers in purgatory, whom the burning flame is cleansing and sharp pains are tormenting, may thy compassion bring assistance, O Mary | Fount accessible to all and washing away their sins, thou aidest all, despisest none: to the dead who languish in unceasing tortures, stretch forth thy hand, O Mary | How lovinglydo thedeparted souls sigh towards thee, yearning to be delivered from their sufferings and to be admitted to the sight of thee in the enjoyment of eternal bliss, O Mary | Hear their groans, and hasten,O Mother, to show the love of thy heart; obtain of Jesus that he would deign to heal them through his own wounds, O Mary | Thou art the true hope of them that call upon thee: lo ! united multitudes cry to thee for their brethren, that thou wouldst appease thy Son, and obtain for them the heavenly reward, O Mary | In thy goodness, cause the tears thou seest us shed before the feet of the Judge, to extinguish speedily the fiames of the avenging fire, that the dear souls may join the angelic choirs, O Mary | 92 TIME AFTER Et cum fiet stricta discussio, In tremendo Dei judicio, Judicanti supplica Filio, Ut cum sanctis sit nobis portio: O Maria | Amen. PENTECOST _Andwhen the strict examination shall take place at God's terrible judgment, oh, then implore thy Son, the Judge, that we may share the inheritance of the saints, O Mary | Amen. Truly this day is grand and beautiful. Earth, midway between heaven and purgatory, has united them together. The wonderful mystery of the communion of saints is revealed in all its fullness. Theimmense family of the sons of God is shown to be one in love, while distinct in its three states of beatitude, trial, and purifying expiation: the trialand expiation being but temporary, the beatitude eternal. Itis the fitting completion of the teaching given us through the entire year; and every day within the octave we shall see the light increase. Meanwhile, every soul is recollected, pondering over the dearest and noblest memories. On leaving the house of God, let our thoughts linger lovingly upon those who have the best claim to them. It is the feast of our beloved dead. Let us hear their suppliant voices in the plaintive tones that, from belfry to belfry throughout the Christian world, are ushering in this dark November night. This evening or to-morrow they will expect us to visit them at the tombs where their mortal remains rest in peace. Let us pray for them; and let us also pray to them: we need never be afraid to speak to them of the interests that were dear to them before God. For God loves them; and, as His justice keeps them in an utter inability to help themselves, He makes amends to His goodness by hearing them all the more willingly on behalf of others. ALL SOULS’ 93 DAY NOVEMBER 2 ALL £ SOULS' DAY E will not have you ignorant, brethren, concern- ing them that are asleep, that you be not sorrow- ful, even asothers who have no hope.’* The Church to-day has the same desire as the apostle thus expressed to the first Christians. The truth concerning the dead not only proves admirably the union between God’s justice and His goodness; it also inspires a charitable pity which the hardest heart cannot resist, and at the same time offers to the mourners the sweetest consolation. If faith teaches us the existence of a purgatory where our loved ones may be detained by unexpiated sin, it is also of faith that we are able to assist them;?and theology assures us that their more or less speedy deliverance lies in our power. Let us call to mind a few principles which throw light on this doctrine. Everysin causes a twofold injury to the sinner: it stains his soul, and renders him liable to punishment. Venial sin, which displeases God, requires a temporal expiation. Mortal sin deforms the soul, and makes the guilty man an abomination to God: its punishment cannot be anything less than eternal banishment, unless the sinner, in this life, prevent the final and irrevocable sen- tence. But even then the remission of the guilt, though it revokes the sentence of damnation, does not cancel the whole debt. Although an extraordinary overflow of grace upon the prodigal may sometimes, as is always the case with regard to Baptism and martyrdom, bury every remnant and vestige of sin in the abyss of divine oblivion; yet is it the ordinary rule that for every fault satisfaction must be made in the next. to God’s justice, either in this world or On the other hand, every supernatural act of virtue 1 Thess. iv. 13. 2 Conc. Trid, Sess. xxv. 94 TIME AFTER PENTECOST brings a double profit to the just man: it merits for his soul a fresh degree of grace; and it makes satisfaction for past faults, in exact proportion to the value, in God's sight, of that labour, privation, or trial accepted, or that voluntary suffering endured, by one of the members of His beloved Son. Now, whereas merit is a personal acquisition and cannot be transferred to others, satisfaction may be vicarious; God is willing to accept it in payment of another’s debt, whether the recipient of the boon be in this world or in the next, provided only that he be united by grace to the mystical Body of our Lord, which is one in charity. This is a consequence of the mystery of the communion of saints, as Suarez explains in his treatise on suffrages. Appealing to the authority of the greatest and most ancient princes of science, and discussing the objections and restrictions since proposed by others, the illustrious theologian does not hesitate to formulate this conclusion, with regard to the suffering souls in particular: ‘I believe that this satisfaction of the living for the dead is a matter of simple justice, and that it is infallibly accepted with its full value, and according to the intention of him who applies it. Thus, for in- stance, if the satisfaction I make would, if kept for my- self, avail me in strict justice for the remission of four degrees of purgatory, it will remit exactly the same amount to the soul for whom I choose to offer it.’* We well know how the Church seconds the goodwill of her children. By the practice of Indulgences, she places at their charitable disposal the inexhaustible treasure accumulated, from age to age, by the super- abundant satisfactions of the saints, added to those of the martyrs, and united to those of our blessed Lady and the infinite residue of our Lord’s sufferings. These remissions of punishment she grants to the living by her own direct power; but she nearly always approves of and permits their application to the dead by way of suffrage— that is to say, in the manner in which, as we have seen, each of the faithful may offer to God who accepts it, for 1 *Esse simpliciter de justitia. 2 Suanez, De Suffragiis, Sectio vi. ALL SOULS’ another, DAY 95 the suffrage or succour! of his own satisfac- tions. Such is the doctrine of Suarez, who adds that an Indulgence ceded to the dead loses nothing either of the security or of the value it would have had for ourselves who are still militant.? Now, Indulgences under every form are continually coming in our way. Let us make use of our treasures, and exercise mercy towards the poor suffering souls. Is any condition more pitiable than theirs ? So great is their anguish, that no distress on earth can approach to it; and withal so nobly endured, that not a murmur breaks the silence of that ‘ river of fire, which in its im- perceptible current bears them on little by little to the ocean of paradise.”® All heaven cannot help them, for there is no merit to be gained there. God Himself, though most merciful, owes it to His justice not to deliver them until they have paid the whole debt that they carried with them beyond the world of trial. The debt was contracted perhaps through our fault, and in our company; and it is to us they turn for help, to us who are still dreaming of nothing but pleasure, while they are burning, and we could so easily shorten their torments! ‘ Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me."* ‘Whether it be that purgatory is now more than ever overflowing with the multitudes daily sent thither through the worldliness of the age, or that the last and universal judgment is approaching—the Holy Ghost is no longer satisfied with keeping up the zeal of ancient confraternities devoted to the service of the departed. He raises up new associations, and even religious families, whose one aim is to promote, by every possible means, the deliverance or the solace of the suffering souls. In this kind of redemption of captives there are likewise to be found 1 ‘Est enim suffragium, ut sumitur ex D. Thoma et aliis in 4 d. 45, suxilium quoddam, quod unus fidelis preebet alteri ad obtinendum remissionem panz temporali, vl aliud hujusmodi,' Suavez, De Sufragis in Procmio. 2 De Indulgentiis, Disput. li f. Sect. iit. . & Mox. GaY, Christian ob xix. 1. Life and Virues Of Charity towards the Charch, il 96 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Christians, who at their own risk offer to take upon them- selves the chains of their brethren, by utterly forgoing, for this purpose, not only all their own satisfactions, but even the suffrages which may be offered for them after death: an heroic act of charity, which must not be lightly undertaken, but which the Church approves;! for it eatly glorifies our Lord, and in return for the risk in- curred of a temporary delay of beatitude, merits for its author a greater nearness to God, both by grace here below and in glory in heaven. If the suffrages of the simple faithful are of such value, of how much more are those of the whole Church, in the solemnity of public prayer, and the oblation of the awful Sacrifice, wherein God Himself makes satisfaction to God for every sin ! From the very beginning the Church has always prayed for the dead, as did even the Synagogue before her.? As she honoured with thanksgiving the anniversaries of her martyred sons, so she celebrated with supplications the memory of her other children, who might not yet be in heaven. In the sacred mysteries she daily uttered the names of both, for this twofold purpose of praise and prayer. As in each particular church it was impossible to name all the blessed of the entire world, a common mention was made of them all; and in like manner, after the recommendations peculiar to each place and day, a general commemoration was made of all the dead. Thus, as St. Augustine remarks, those who had no relatives and friends on earth were henceforth not deprived of suffrages; for, to make up for their abandonment, they had the tender compassion of the common mother.® The Church having always followed the same method with regard to the commemoration of the blessed and that of the departed, it might be expected that the estab- lishment of All Saints’ feast, in the ninth century, would soon lead to the solemn commemoration of All Souls. In 998, according to the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gem! Propagated in the eighteenth century by the Regular Clerks Theatines, and with spiritual favours by the Sovereign Pontiffs Benedict X111, Pius VI, and Pius 1X. * 2 Mach. xii. 46. 3 AuG, De cura pro mortuis, iv. o7 ALL SOULS’ DAY bloux,! St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, instituted it in all the monasteries under his crosier, to be celebrated in perpetuity on the morrow of All Saints. In certain visions, recorded in his life,? Odilo and his monks had been denounced by the demons as the most indefatigable helpers of the holy souls, and most formidable to the powers of hell; and this institution was the saint’s retaliation. The world applauded the decree; Rome adopted it; and it became the law of the whole Latin Church. The Greeks make a general commemoration of the dead on the eve of our Sexagesima Sunday, which with them is called Apocreos, or Carnival, and on which they cele- brate the second coming of our Lord. They give the name of ‘ Saturday of All Souls’ to this day, as well as to the eve of Pentecost, when they again pray solemnly for the departed. MATINS OF THE DEAD As early as the ninth century, Amalarius remarked the similarity between the Dirge and the Office which commemorates the death of our Lord.® There is the same lack of hymns, doxologies, absolutions, and blessings; the same suppression of the customary introduction: Domine, labia mea aperies, Deus in adjutorium meum intende. There is this difference, however: that the Office of Holy Week has no Invitatory, while that of the Dead either always kept it or long ago taken it up again. has This Invitatory, like the first psalm of Vespers, is a song of love and hope: ‘ Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.” Beyond the tomb, as well as on this side of it, all men are living in the sight of Him who is one day to raise them up again. In the language of the Church, the graveyard is the ‘ cemetery '—that is, the dormitory where her children sleep; and they theinselves are defuncti, labourers who have finished their task and are awaiting their recompense. ! Ad hunc annum. 2 Pere. Dam.; JOTSALD, ii. 13 4+ 3 AMALAR, De ecclesiast. Offici 98 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Rome has been better inspired than some other churches, where the antiphon chosen as refrain to the joyous Venite exsultemus was: Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis; dolores inferni circumdederunt me.* Were we to make an historical study of the Office of the Dead— which, however, is beyond the limits of the present work —we should find innumerable instances of such variations, always to the advantage of the mother-church. INVITATORY Regem cui omnia vivunt:* Come, let us adore the King, Venite, adoremus. to whom all things live. PSALM 04 Come, let us praise the Lord Venite, exsultemus Domino, jubilemus Deo salutari nostro: with joy, let us joyfully sing to proccupemus faciem ejus in God our Saviour: let us come confessione, et in psalmis jubi- before his presencewith thankslemus ei. giving, and make a joyful noise to him with psalms. Regem cui omnia vivunt:* Come, let us adore the King, Venite, adoremus. to whom all things live. Quoniam_Deus magnus DoFor the Lord is a great God, minus, et Rex magnus super and a great King aboveall gods: omnes deos: quoniam non re- because the Lord repels not his pellet Dominus_plebem suam, people, for in his hand are all quia in manu ejus sunt omnes the ends of the earth: and he fines terra, et altitudines monbeholds the heights of the tium ipse conspicit. mountains. Venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore. Quoniam ipsius est mare, et For thesea is his, and he made ipse fecit illud,et aridam funda- it, and his hands formed the dry verunt manus ejus: venite, ado- land: come, let us adore, and remus, et procidamus ante De- fall down before God: let us um: ploremus coram Domino, weep before the Lord that made qui fecit nos, quia ipse est Do- us: for he is the Lord our God: minus Deus noster: nos autem and we are his people, and the populus ejus, et oves pascuz sheep of his pasture. ejus. Regem cui omnia vivunt: * Come, let us adore the King, Venite, adoremus. to whom all things live. Hodie si vocem ejus audieriTo-day, if you shall hear his tis, nolite obdurare corda ve- voice, harden not your hearts; stra, sicut in exacerbatione as in the provocation, accord” 1 “The groans of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me." ALL SOULS’ secundum diem tentationis in deserto: ubi tentaverunt me patres vestri, probaverunt, et viderunt opera mea. Venite, adoremus. Quadraginta annis proximus fui’ generationi huic, et dixi: Semper hi errant corde: ipsi vero non cognoverunt vias meas, quibus juravi in ira mea, si introibunt in requiem meam. Regem cui omnia vivunt: * Venite, adoremus. Requiem wternam-dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Venite, adoremus. Regem cui omnia vivunt: * Venite, adoremus. DAY 9 ing to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved, and saw my works. Come, let us adore. Forty years was I nigh to this generation, and said, they always err in heart; and these men have not known my ways, to whom I swore in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live. Eternal rest give unto them, OLord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Come, let us adore. Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live. This opening of the Office shows us what prominence the Church gives to thanksgiving and praise in her prayers for the dead. FIRST NOCTURN The first psalm expresses the overflowing gratitude and praise of the soul escaped from the snares of sinners, at that first dawn of her eternally secured salvation, when she took her place among the holy ones in purgatory. With what confidence she entrusts to our Lord the care of directing her along the painful and purifying way, which is to lead her to the very entrance of God’s house ! ANt. Dirige, Domine Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam. AN, Direct, O Lord my God my Way in thy sight. PSALM 5 Verba Domine: meum. mea auribus percipe, intellige clamorem Intende voci orationis mez: Rex meus et Deus meus. Give ear, O Lord, to my words: understand my cry. Hearken to the voice of my prayer: O my King and my 100 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Quoniam ad te orabo: DomiFor to thee will I pray: O ne, mane exaudies vocem Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice. meam. Mane astabo tibi et videbo: In the morning I will stand by quoniam non Deus volens ini- thee, and will see: because thou Quitatem tu es. art not a God that willest iniquity. Neque habitabit juxta te Neither shall the wicked malignus: neque permanebunt dwell near thee: nor shall the injusti ante oculos tuos. unjust abide before thy eyes. Odisti omnes qui operantur Thou hatest all the workers iniquitatem: perdes omnes qui of iniquity: thou wilt destroy loquuntur mendacium. all that speak a lie. Virum sanguinum et dolosum The bloody and the deceitful abominabitur Dominus: _ego man the Lord will abhor: but autem in multitudine miseri- as for me, in the multitude of thy mercy, cordiz tuz. 1 will come into thy house: T Introibo in domum tuam: adorabo ad templum sanctum will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear. tuum in timore tuo. Domine, deduc me in justitia Conduct me, O Lord, in thy tua: propter inimicos meos diri- justice: because of my enemies, ge in conspectu tuo viam meam. direct my way in thy sight. Quoniam non est in ore eoFor there is no truth in their rum veritas: cor eorum vanum mouth: their heart is vain. est. Their throat is an open sepulSepulchrum patens est guttur eorum, linguis suis dolose age- chre, they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: judge them, O bant: judica illos Deus. God. Decidant a cogitationibus t them fall from their desuis: secundum multitudinem vices: according to the multiimpletatum eorum expelle eos: tude of their wickedness cast quoniam irritaverunt te Do- them out: for they have promine. voked thee, O Lord. Et letentur omnes qui speBut let all them be glad that rant in te: in @ternum exsulta- hope in thee: they shail rejoice bunt, et habitabis in eis. for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. Et gloriabuntur in te omnes, And all they that love thy qui diligunt nomen tuum: quo- name shall glory in thee, for niam tu benedices justo. thou wilt bless the just. Domine,ut scuto bonzvolunO Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy goodtatis tu: coronasti nos. will. Requiem aternam: dona eis, Eternal rest give unto them, Domine. O Lord. Et lux perpetua: luceat eis. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ALL SOULS’ Anr. Dirige, Domine Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam. DAY 101 ANT. Direct, O Lord my God, my way in thy sight. The soul has been heard: the time of mercy being at an end, justice has laid hold of her. Under the terrible grasp of this her new guide, and placed in the irresistible light of God’s infinite purity, which lays open her most secret recesses, the flaws in her virtues and every remaining trace of ancient stains, the poor soul feels all her strength fail her. Trembling, she beseeches God not to confound her in His wrath with those cursed for ever, whose proximity increases her torment. But her suppli- cation and her fear are still full of love: Lord, save me; for there is none in death that will be mindful of praising thee. This psalm is the first of the seven penitentials. ANT. Convertere, Domine, et ANT. Turn, O Lord, and deeripe animam meam: quoniam liver my soul; for there is no non est in morte qui memor sit one in death that is mindful of tui. thee. PSALM 6 O Lord, rebuke me not in thy Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me: neque in ira tua corri- indignation, nor chastise me in pias me. Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum: sana me, Domine, quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea. Et anima mea turbata est valde: sed tu, Domine, usquequo? Convertere, Domine, et eripe animam meam: salvum me fac propter misericordiam tuam. Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui: in inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi? Laboravi in gemitu meo, lavabo per singulas noctes lectum meum: lacrymis meis stratum ‘meum rigabo. Turbatus est a furore oculus meus: inveteravi inter omnes inimicos meos. thy wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak : heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. And my soul is troubled exceedingly: but thou, O Lord, how long ? Tumn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercy’s sake. For there is no one in death that is mindful of thee, and who shall confess to thee in hell ? T have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears. My eye is troubled through indignation: I have grown old amongst all my enemies. 102 TIME AFTER Discedite a_me omnes qui operamini iniquitatem: quoniam_exaudivit Dominus vocem fletus mei. Exaudivit Dominus deprecationem meam : Dominus orationem meam suscepit. Erubescant, et conturbentur vehementer omnes inimici mei: convertantur et erubescant valde velociter. Requiem @ternam: dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua: luceat eis. ANT. Convertere, Domine, et eripe animam meam: quoniam non est {n morte, qui memor sit tui. PENTECOST Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication: the Lord hath received my prayer. Letallmyenemiesbeashamed, and be very much troubled: let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul: for there is no one in death that is mindful of thee. In the following psalm, David accused by his enemies cries to the Lord against their calumnies. The fear which causes the soul in purgatory to prostrate with a holy trembling before God'’s justice has no more shaken her hope than her love; nay, she trusts to the very sen- tence of her Judge, and to the help sought from Him, that she may be able to cope with the infernal lion, who pursues her with his roaring in the midst of her poverty and desolation. AnT. Nequando rapiat ut leo ANT. Lest at any time the animam meam, dum mon est enemy seize upon my soul like qui redimat, neque qui salvum a lion, while there is no one to faciat. redeem me, nor to save. PSALM 7 Domine Deus meus, in te speO Lord my God, in thee have ravi: salvum me fac ex omni- 1 put my trust: save me from bus persequentibus me, et li- all them that persecute me, and bera me. deliver me. Nequando rapiat ut leo aniLest at any time he seize upmam meam: dum non est qui on my soul like a lion: while redimat, neque qui salvum fa- there is no one to redeem me, ciat. nor to save. Domine Deus meus, si feci 0 Lord my God, if 1 have istud: si est iniquitas in mani- done this thing: if there be inibus meis. quity in my hands. ALL SOULS’ Si reddidi _retribuentibus mihi mala: decidam merito ab inimicis meis inanis. Persequatur inimicus animam meam, et comprehendat, et conculcet in terra vitam meam: et gloriam meam in pulverem deducat. Exsurge, Domine, In ira tua: et exaltare in finibus inimicorum meorum. Et exsurge, Domine Deus meus, in pracepto quod mandasti: et synagoga populorum circumdabit te. Et_propter hanc in_altum regredere: Dominus judicat populos. Judica_me, Domine, secundum justitiam meam: et secundum innocentiam meam super me. Consumetur nequitia peccatorum, et diriges justum: scrutans corda et renes Deus. Justum adjutorium meum a Domino: qui salvos facit rectos corde. Deus judex justus, fortls et patiens: numquid Irascitur per singulos dies ? Nisi conversi fueritis, gladium suum vibrabit: arcum suum tetendit et paravit illum. Et in eo paravit vasa mortis: sagittas suas ardentibus effecit. Ecce parturiit injustitiam: concepit dolorem, et peperit iniquitatem. Lacum aperuit et eflodit eum: et incidit in foveam quam fecit. DAY 103 If T have rendered to them that repaid me evils: let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies. Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and_tread down my life on the earth: and bring down my glory to dust. Rise up,0Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders of my enemies. And arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded : andacongregation of people shall surround thee. And for their sakes return thou on high: the Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice: and according to my innocence in me. The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought; and thou shalt direct the just: the searcher of hearts and relns is God. Just 18 my help from the Lofd: who saveth the upright of heart. God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day ? Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword: he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. And fn it he hath p the instruments of death: he hath made ready his arrows for them that burn. Behold he hath been in labour with injustice: he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. He hath opened a pit and dug it: and he is fallen into the hole he made. 104 TIME AFTER Convertetur dolor ejus in caput ejus: et in verticem ipsius iniquitas ejus descendet. Confitebor Domino secundum justitiam ejus: et psallam nomini Domini altissimi. Requiem @ternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. ANT. Nequando rapiat ut leo animam meam, dum non est qui redimat, neque qui salvum faciat. Y. A porta inferi. Ry. Erue, Domine, animas eorum. PENTECOST His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown. I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord most high. _ Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. Lest at any time the enemy seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save. ¥. From the gate of hell. K. Deliver their souls, O Lord. After this cry has escaped from the maternal heart of the Church, the whole assembly prays in silence, offering to God the Lord’s Prayer for the departed, who are struggling with the powers of hell. And now, from the midst of this recollected silence, rises the single voice of the lector. He receives no benediction, for he is speaking in the name of the holy souls, who have no longer the same right as we have to ask a blessing from the Church. He borrows the accents of the afflicted Job, in order to relate their overwhelming sufferings, their invincible faith, their sublime prayer. As in the ancient tragedy, the choir intervenes after each lesson with a responsory, whose melody is marvellously in keeping with these echoes from beyond the tomb. At one time it is man taking up the words of the dead and making them his own, or supporting their prayer with his own supplications; at another, terrified at God’s rigour towards souls that are so dear to Him, and that are sure of loving Him eternally, he trembles for himself a sinner, whose judgment is still uncertain. According to St. Antoninus and Demochares, quoted by Gavanti,* some of these admirable responsories were ! De Officio Defunct. DAY ALL SOULS’ 105 composed by Maurice de Sully, the bishop of Paris who began to build the cathedral of Notre Dame; the greater number, however, were already to be found in earlier Gregorian manuscripts. LESSON (Job Parce mihi, Domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei. Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum ? Aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum ? Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum. Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me_ut glutiam salivam meam ? Peccavi, quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum ? quare posuist me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis ? Cur non tollis peccatum meum, ct quare non aufers iniquitatem meam ? ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam: et si mane me quasieris, non subsistam. I vii.) Spare me, O Lord, for my daysarenothing. What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him ? or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? Thou visi est him early in the morning, and thou provest him suddenly. How long wik thou notspare me, nor suffer me to swallow down my spittle? 1 have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? Why hast thou set me dpposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself: Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold, now I shall sleep in the dust, and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be. R. Credo quod Redemptor R. 1 believe that my Remeus vivit, et in novissimo die deemer liveth, and that in the de terra surrecturus sum: * Et last day I shall rise from the in carne mea videbo Deum, earth. * And in my flesh I Salvatorem meum. shall see God my Saviour. ¥. Whom I myself shall see, Y. Quem visurus sum ego ipse, et non alius: et oculi mei and not another, and my eyes conspecturi sunt. * Et. shall behold. * And in my. LESSON (Job Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore; repletur multis miseriis. Qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra, et numquam in 2 x4v.) Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries. Who like a flower, cometh forth and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow TIME 106 eodem statu AFTER permanet. Et dignum ducis super hujuscemodi aperire oculos tuos, ct adducere eum_tecum in judiclum 7 Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine ? Nonne tu qui solus es? Breves dies hominis sunt, numerus mensium ejus apud te est: constituisti terminos ejus, qui pratertri non poterunt. Recede paululum ab o, ut quiescat, donec optata veniat, sicut mercenari, dies ejus. Ry. Qui Lazarum resuscitasti a monumento fetidum: * Tu eis, Domine, dona requiem, et locum indulgentia. ¥. Qui venturus es judicare vivos et mortuos, et szculum per ignem. * Tu. PENTECOST and never same state. continueth in the And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such a one, and_to bring him into judgment with thee ? Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed ? Is it not thou who only art? The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his ‘bounds which canrot be L Depart a little from him, that he may rest, until his wished- fod day come, as that of the hireling. R. Thou who didst raise Lazarus fetid from the grave. * Thou, O Lord, give them rest, and a place of pardon. ¥. Who art to come to judge theliving and the dead, and the world by fire. * Thou. LESSON 3 (Job Pelli me, consumptis carnibus, adhasit 0s meum, et derelicta sunt tantummodo labia circa dentes meos. Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei, quia manus Domini tetigit me. Quare persequimini me sicut Devs, et carnibus mels saturamini? Quis mibi tribuat ut scribantur sermones mei ? quis mihi det ut exarentur in libro stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel celte sculpantur in silice ? Scio enim quod Redemptor meus vivit, et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum: et rursum circumdabor pelle mea, et in carne mea videbo Deum meum. Quem visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt, et xi%.) The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth. Have ity on me, have pity on me, at east you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me. Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh? Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book, with an iron pen, and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone ? For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth; and 1 shall be clothed again with ALL SOULS’ DAY 107 non alius: reposita est hac spes my skin, and in my flesh I shall mea in sinu meo. see my God. Whom I myselt shall see, and my cyes shall behold, and not another: this my hbpe is laid up in my bosom. K. O Lord, when thou shalt /. Domine, quando veneris judicare terram, ubi me abscon- come to judge the earth, where dam a vultu ire tuz? * Quia shall T hide mysel from the face of thy wrath? * For I have peccavi nimis in vita mea. sinned exceedingly in my life. ¥. Commissa mea pavesco, et ¥. 1dread my misdeeds and ante te erubesco: dum veneris blush before thee: do not conjudicare, noli me condemnae. demn me, when thou shalt come to judge. * For I have. a. . Requiem @mternam dona ¥. Eternal rest giveunto them, eis, Domine: et lux perpetua O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. * For L. Iuceat eis. * Quia. SECOND NOCTURN Our astonishment at finding the following antiphon in the Office of the Dead might elicit from the dear souls the reply: ‘I have meat to eat which you know not.” And being just and holy, they might add with our Lord: ‘ My meat is to do the will of My Father.” Seen from such a height in the light of our antiphon, what a place of pasture is purgatory! O Lord, who guidest me, who by Thy grace deignest to be with me in the midst of this shadow of death; Thy rod, by striking me, comforts me; my resignation to Thy justice is the 0il which flows from my head, and anointing all my members, strengthens them for battle; my heart, thirsting for submission, has found its {nebriating cup. St. John Chrysostom informs us that in his time this psalm was chanted at Christian funerals, together with the Dilexi, our first psalm of Vespers. Ant. In loco pascuz ibi me collocavit. PSALM Awr. Ina place of pasture, he hath set me there. 22 Dominus regit me, et nihil The Lord ruleth me, and I mihi deerit: in loco pascuz ibi shall want nothing: he hath set me collocavit. me in a place of pasture. 108 TIME AFTER PENTECOST He hath brought me up on Super aquam refectionis educavit me: animam meam con- the water of refreshment: he hath converted my soul. wvertit. He hath led me in the paths Deduxit me super semitas justitiz: propter nomen suum. of justice : for his own name's sake. ‘ For though I should walk in Nam, et si ambulavero in medio umbra mortis, non timebo the midst of the shadow Of mala: quoniam tu mecum es. death, I will fear no evils: for thou art with me. Virga tua, et baculus tuus: Thy rod and thy staff: they have comforted me. ipsa me consolata sunt. Thou hast prepared a table Parasti in conspectu meo mensam: adversus eos qui tri- before me: against them that bulant me. afflict me. Impinguasti in oleo caput Thou hast anointed my head meum: et calix meus inebrians with oil: and my chalice which quam praclarus est | inebriateth me, how goodly is it | Et misericordia_tua subseAnd thy mercy will follow omnibus diebus me: all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the mini: in longitudinem dierum. house of the Lord: unto length of days. Eternal rest give unto them, Requiem zternam dona eis, 0 Lord. Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. And let perpetual light shine upon them. Anr. In loco pascu ibi me AnT. Ina place of pasture, he collocavit. hath set me there. The sins of my youth and my ignorances, remember not, O Lord. Would to God that we now examined our conscience as seriously as we shall be forced to do in the place of expiation, in order to repair our present negligence in that respect | Ignorance, which is now considered so excusable, will be a sad thing for those whose neglect to seek instruction has darkened their faith, lulled their hope to sleep, cooled their love, and falsified on a thousand points their Christian life. Then, too, must be “fa.id. to the last farthing, the debts of penance accumulated by so many sins, which have been forgiven, it is true, as to the guilt, perhaps long ago, and as long ago le;tirel;[: forgotten. O God, see my abjection and my our ALL SOULS’ DAY 109 ANT. Delicta juventutis mew, AN, The sins of my youth et ignorantias meas ne memine- and my ignorances remember not, O Lord. ris, Domine. PSALM 24 To thee, O Lord, have I lifted Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te up my soul: in thee, O my God, confido, non erubescam. T put my trust, let me not be ashamed. Neque irrideant me inimici Neither let my enemies laugh ‘mei: etenim universi qui susti- at me: for none of them that nent te non confundentur. hope in thee shall be confounded. Confundantur omnes iniqua Let them all be confounded: agentes: supervacue. that act unjust things without cause. Vias tuas, Domine, demonstra Shew, O Lord, thy ways to mihi: et semitas tuas edoce me. me: and teach me thy paths. Dirige me in veritate tua, et Direct me in thy truth, and doce me: quia tu es Deus salva- teach me: for thou art God my tor meus, et te sustinui tota die. saviour, and on thee have I waited all the day long. Remember, O Lord, thy Reminiscere miserationum tuarum, Domine: et misericor- bowels of compassion: and thy diarum tuarum, quz a szculo mercies that are from the beginning of the world. sunt. Delicta juventutis mew: et Thesiasof my youth: and my ignorantias meas ne memineris. ignorances, do not remember. According to thy mercy TeSecundum misericordiam tuam memento mei tu: propter ‘member thou me: for thy goodbonitatem tuam, Domine. ness’ sake, O Lord. The Lord is sweet and rightDulcis et rectus Dominus: propter hoc legem dabit delin- cous: therefore he will give a quentibus in via. law o sinners in the way. He will guide the mild in Diriget mansuetos in judicio: judgment: he will teach the docebit mites vias suas. meek his ways. Universe vie Domini miseri“All the ways of the Lord are cordia et veritas: requirentibus mercy-and truth: to them that testamentum ejus, et testimo- seck after his covenant and his nia ejus. testimonies. Propter nomen tuum, DoFor thy name’s sake, O Lord, mine, propitiaberispeccatomeo: thou wilt pardon my sin: for it multum est enim. is great, Quis st homo qui timet Do‘Who is the man that feareth ‘minum ? legem statuit ei in via, theLord? He hath appointed quam elegit. him a law in the way he hath chosen. 110 TIME AFTER Anima ejus in bonis demorabitur: et semen ejus hareditabit terram. Firmamentum est Dominus timentibus eum: et testamentum ipsius, ut manifestetur illis. Oculi mei semper ad Dominum: quoniam ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos. Respice in me et miserere mei: quia unicus et pauper sum ego. ‘Tribulationes cordis mei multiplicatz sunt: de necessitatibus meis erue me. Vide humilitatem meam, et laborem meum: et dimitte universa delicta mea. Respiceinimicos meos, quoniam multiplicati sunt: et odio iniquo oderunt me. ustodi animam meam, et erue me: non erubescam, quoniam speravi in te. Innocentes et recti adhaese- runt mihi: guia sustinui te. Domine. Et lux perpetua Inceat cis. ANT. Delicta juventutis mez, et ignorantias meas ne memineris, Domine. PENTECOST His soul shall dwell in good things: and his seed shall inherit the land. The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: and his covenant shall be made manifest to them. My eyes are ever towards the Lord: for he shall plack my feet out of the snare. Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me: for I am alone and poor. ‘The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities. See my abjection and my labour: and forgive me all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are multiplied: and have hated me with unjust hatred. Keep thou my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, for I have hoped in thee. The innocent and the upright have adhered to me: because I have waited on thee. Deliver Israel, O God: from all his tribulations. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. The sins of my youth and my ignorances remember not, O Lord. On Good Friday Psalm 26 was sung, to express the unfailing confidence of the Messias throughout His Pas- sion. It was repeated at the Matins of the morrow, to announce His approaching deliverance; and on this latter occasion it was accompanied by the very antiphon we are now about to sing. As the dwellers in limbo on the great Saturday when our Saviour was among them, so the souls in purgatory unite themselves to their divine Head ALL SOULS’ DAY in His expectation of a return to light and life. I Their prayer, which the Church also makes her own, is such as may well touch the Heart of our Lord. ANT. Credo videre bona Do- mini in terra viventium. ANT. I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. PSALM 26 Dominus illuminatio mea, et salus mea: quem timebo ? Dominus protector vite mez: a quo trepidabo 2 Dum appropiant super me nocent: t edant carnes meas. Qui tribulant me inimici mei: ipsi infirmati sunt et ceciderunt. Si consistant adversum me castra: non timebit cor meum. Siexsurgat adversum me pralium: in hoc ego sperabo. Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram: ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitz mea. Ut videam voluptatem Domini: et visitem templum ejus. Quoniam abscondit me in tabernaculo suo: in die malorum protexit mein abscondito tabernaculi sui. In petra exaltavit me: et nunc exaltavit caput meum super inimicos meos, Circuivi et immolavi in tabernaculo ejus hostiam vociferationis: cantabo et psalmum dicam Domino. Exaudi, Domine, vocem meam qua_ clamavi ad te: miserere me, et exaudi me. The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid ? ‘Whilst the wicked draw near against me: to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me: have themselves been weakened, and have fallen. If armies in camp should stand together against me: my heart shall not fear, If a battle should rise up against me: in this will I be confident. One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that 1 may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, That I may see the delight of the Lord: and may visit his temple, or he hath hidden me in his tabernacle: in the day of evils he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle. He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies. 1 have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: 1 will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me, and hear me. 112 TIME AFTER PENTECOST My heart hath said to thee, my face hath sought thee out: thy face,O Lord, willI still seek. Turn not away thy face from me: decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper: forsake me not, do not thou despise me, 0O God my Saviour. Formy fatherand my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up. Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way: and guide me in the right path, because of my enemies. Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me: because unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity hath lied to itself. Credo videre bona Domini: 1 believe to see the good in terra viventium. things of the Lord: in the land of the living. Exspecta Dominum, viriliter ExpeLord, manful ctdoti ely; age: et confortetur cor tuum, et and let thy heart fake courage, sustine Dominum. and wait thou for the Lord. Requiem wternam dona eis, Eternal rest give unto them, Domine. 0 Lord. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. Credo videre bona DoANT. I believe I shall see the mini in terra viventium. good things of the Lord in the Iand of the living. ¥. Collocet eos Dominus ¥. May the Lord place them cum principibus. with the princes. R. Cum principibus populi Ry. With the princes of his sui. people. Tibi dixit cor meum, exquisiVit te facies mea: faciém tuam, Domine, requiram. Ne avertas faciem tuam a me: ne declines in ira a servo tuo. Adjutor meus esto: ne derelinquas me, neque despicias me, Deus salutaris meus. Quoniam pater meus et mater mea dereliquerunt me: Dominus autem assumpsit me. Legem pone mihi, Domine, in via tua: etdirige meinsemitam rectam propter inimicos meos. Ne tradideris me in animas tribulantium me: quoniam insurrexerunt in me testes iniqui, et mentita est iniquitas sibi. The choir having echoed in the versicle the desire of the holy souls, the Pater noster is once more recited in secret. LESSON 4 Ex libro sancti Augustini Epi- From St. Augustine, Bishop: scopi de Cura pro mortuis On Care to be had for the gerenda. Dead. (Cap. i et i) (Chardi., i) The care of funeral, bestowal Curatio funeris, conditio sepultur, pompa exsequiarum, insepulture, pomp of obsequies, 113 are more for comfort of the living, than for help to the dead. Yet it follows not that the bodies of the departed are to be despised and flung aside, and above all of just and faithful men, which bodies as organs and vessels to all good works their spirit hath holily used. For if a father’s garment and ring, and whatever such like, is the more dear to those whom they leave behind, the greater their aftection i§ to wards their parents, in no wise are the bodies themselves to be spurned, which truly we wear in more familiar and close conjunction than any of our putting on. For these pertain not to ornament or aid which is applied from without, but to the very nature of man. Whence also the funerals of the just men of old were with dutiful piety cared for, and their obsequies celebrated and Sepulture provided: and themselves while living did_touching burial or even translation of their bodies give charge to their sons. Ry. Remember me, O God, because my life is but wind: * nor may thesight of man behold me. . Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. * Nor may. ALL SOULS’ DAY magis suit vivorum solatia, quam subsidia mortuorum. Nec ideo tamen contemnenda et abjicienda sunt corpora defunctorum, maximeque justorum ac fidelium, quibus tamquam organis et vasis ad omnia bona opera sancte usus est spiritus. Si enim paterna vestis et annulus, ac si quid hujusmodi, tanto carius est posteris, quanto erga parentes major affectus; nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt corpora, quz utique multo familiarius atque conjunctius quam qualibet indumenta_ gestamus. Hac enim non ad ornamentum vel adjutorium, quod adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent. Unde et antiquorum justorum funera officiosa pietate curata sunt, et exsequiz celebrate, et sepultura provisa: ipsique, cum viverent, de sepeliendis vel etiam transferendis suis corporibus filiis mandaverunt. Ry. Memento mei, Deus, quia ventus est vita mea: * Nec aspiciat me visus hominis. ¥. De profundisclamavi adte. Domine: Domine, exaudi vocem meam: * Nec aspiciat. LESSON 5 Cap. iv. Recordantis et precantis affectus cum defunctis fideli- Ch. iv. And when this affection is exhibited to the departed by faithbus carissimis exhibetur, eum ful men who were most dear to prodesse non dubium est iis, them, there is no doubt that it qui cum in corpore viverent, profits them who while living talia sibi post hanc vitam pro- in the body merited that such Verum etsi things shonld profit them after desse meruerunt. 114 TIME AFTER aliqua necessitas vel humari corpora, vel in sacris locis humari nulla data facultate permittat, non sunt pratermittendz supplicationes pro tibus mortuorum; quas_faci endas pro omnibus in christi ana et catholica societate defunctis, etiam tacitis eorum nominibus, sub generali com‘memoratione suscepit Ecclesia; ut quibus ad ista desunt parentes, aut fili , aut quicumque cognati vel amici, ab una eisexhibeantur pia matre communi. Si autem deessent istz supplicationes, qua fiunt recta fide ac pietate pro mortuis, puto quod nihil prodesset spiritibus corum, quamlibet in locis sanctis exanima corpora ponerentur, Ry. Hei mihi, Domine, quia peccavi nimis in vita mea: Quid faciam miser ? ubi fugiam, ni ad te, Deus meus? * mei, dum veneris in novissimo e. ¥. Anima mea turbata est wvalde; sed tu, Domine, succurre ei. * Miserere. PENTECOST this life. But even if some necessity should through absence of all facility not allow bodies to be interred, or in sa- cred places interred, yet should there be no pretermitting of supplications for the spirits of the dead: which supplications, that they shouls made for all in Chmtun Catholic even fellowship without and departed, mentioning of their names, under a general commemoration, the Church hath charged herself withal; to the intent that they which lack, for these offices, parents or sons or whatever kindred or friends, may have the same afforded unto them by the one pious mother which is common to all. But if there were lack of these supplications, which are made with rightfaithand piety for the dead, I account that it should not a whit profit their spirits, ‘howsoeverin holy places the life- less bodies should be deposited. R.. Woe is me, O Lord, be- cause I have sinned exceedingly in my life: O wretch, what shail 1 o, whither shall I fly, but to thee, my God ? * Have mercy on mewhen thou comest at the l-t;:r day. houbled soul s but_thou, ity ogrxe;' succourit. * Have mercy. LESSON 6 Cap. svits. Ch. xviti. Quae cum ita sint, non exis Which things being o, let ns ‘memus ad mortuos, pro quibus not think that to the dead, for curam gerimus, pervenire, nisi whom we have a care, anythi quod pro eis sive altaris, sive reaches save what by sacrifices orationum, sive eleemosynarum eitherof the altar, or of prayers. sacrificiis solemniter supplica or of alms, we solemnly supplimus: quamvis non pro quibus cate: although not to all f ALL SOULS’ funt, omnibus prosint; sed iis tantum pro quibus, dum vivunt, comparatur ut prosint. Sed quia non discernimus qui sint, oportet ea pro regeneratis omnibus facere ut nullus eorum pretermittatur, ad quos hazc beneficia possint et debeant pervenire. Melius enim supercrunt ista eis, quibus nec obsunt nec prosunt; quam_eis deerunt quibus prosunt. Diligentius tamen facit hac quisque pro necessariis suis, quo pro illo fiat similiter a suis. Corpori autem humando quidquid impenditur, non est prasidium salutis, sed humanitatis officium, secundum _affectum, quo nemo umquam carnem suam odio habet. Unde oportet ut quam potest pro carne proximi curam gerat, cum ille inde recesserit, qui gerebat. Et si haec faciunt qui carnis resurrectionem non credunt, quanto magis debent facere qui credunt; ut corpori mortuo, sed tamen resurrecturo et in zternitate_mansuro, impenstm ejusmodi officium sit etiam quodammodo ejusdem fidei testimonium ! Ry. Ne recorderis peccata mea, Domine. * Dum veneris judicare s@culum per ignem. ¥. Dirige, Domine Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam. * Dum, * ¥. Requiem Dum. aternam efe. 115 DAY whom they are done be they profitable, but to them only by whom while they live it is obtained that they should be profitable. But forasmuch as we discern not who these be, it is meet to do them for all re- generate persons, that none of themmay be passed by to whom these benefits may and ought to reach. For better it is that these things shall be superfiuously done to them whom they neither hinder nor help, than lacking to them whom they help. More diligently, however, doth each man these things for his own near and dear friends in order that they may be likewise done unto him by his. But as for the burying of the body, whatever is bestowed on thatisnoaid of salvation but an office of humanity, according to that affection by which ‘no man ever hateth his own flesh.” Whence it is fitting that he take what care he is able for the flesh of his neighbour, when he is gone that bare it. And if they do these things who believe not the resurrection of the flesh, how much more are they beholden to do the same who do believe; that so, an office of this kind bestowed upona body dead, but yet to rise again and 0 remain to eternity, may also be in some sort a testimony of the same faith | R. Remember not my sins, O Lord, * when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. ¥. Direct, O Lord my God, my way in thy sight. * When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. Y. Eternal rest efc. * When TIME 116 AFTER PENTECOST THIRD NOCTURN As the purifying expiation goes on, the darkness that surrounds the soul is gradually dissipated, and glory be- ginstodawn. Psalm 39, which we also sang at the death of our Saviour, contains lively expressions of sorrow as It also shows how sufwell as the most ardent prayer. fering leads to closer union with the divine Liberator, whose Blood extinguished the flames of all the ancient holocausts. It is full of thanksgiving, of admiration for God on account of His goodness, and of the desire of praising Him and seeing Him praised by all. Yes: be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: but let all that seck thee rejoice and be glad in thee, and let them say always: The Lord be magnified. ANT. Be pleased, O Lord, to Ant. Complaceat tibi, Domine, ut eripias me: Domine, deliver me: look down, O Lord, to help me. ad adjuvandum me respice. PSALM 39 With expectation 1 have Exspectans exspectavi Domiwaited for the Lord: and he num: et intendit mihi. was attentive to me. And he heard my prayers: Et exaudivit preces meas: et eduxit me de lacu miserie, et and brought me out of the pit of misery, and the mire of dregs. de luto facis. Etstatuitsuper petram pedes And he set my feet upon a meos: et direxit gressus meos. rock: and directed my steps. Et immisit in 0s meum canAnd he put a new canticle ticum novum: carmen Deo into my mouth: a song to our God. nostro. Videbunt multi et timebunt: Many shallsee, and shall fear: et sperabunt in Domino. and they shall hope in the Lord. Beatus vir, cujus est nomen Blessed is the man, whose Domini spes’ ejus: et non re- trust is in the name of the Lord: spexit in vanifates et insanias and who hath not had regard to vanities and lying follies. falsas. Thou hast multiplied thy Multa fecisti tu, Domine Deus ‘meus, mirabilia tua: et cogitati- wonderful works, O Lord my onibus tuis non est qui similis God: and in thy thoughts sit tibi. there is none like to thee. Annuntiavi, et locutus sum: I have declared and I have multiplicati sunt super nume- spoken: they are multiplied rum. above number. ALL SOULS’ Sacrificium et oblationem noluisti: aures autem perfecisti mihi. Holocaustum et pro peccato non postulasti: tunc dixi, Eccc venio. In capite libri scriptum cst de me ut facerem voluntatem tuam: Deus meus volui, et legem tuam in medio cordis mei. Annuntiavi justitiam tuam in ecclesia magna: ecce labia mea non prohibebo, Domine, tu scisti. Justitiam _tuam non abscondi in corde meo: veritatem tuam et salutare tuum dixi. Non abscondi misericordiam tuam et veritatem tuam: a concilio multo. Tu autem, Domine, ne longe facias miserationes tuas a me: misericordia tua et veritas tua semper susceperunt me. Quoniam circumdederunt me mala quorum non est numerus: comprehenderunt me iniquitates mew, et non potui ut viderem. Multiplicata sunt super capillos capitis mei: et cor meum dereliquit me. Complaceat tibi, Domine, ut eruas me: Domine, ad adjuvandum me respice. Confundantur et revereantur simul, qui quzerunt animam meam: ut auferant eam. Convertantur retrorsum et revereantur: qui volunt mihi mala. Ferant confestim confusionem suam: qui dicunt mihi, Euge, euge. Exsultent et letentur super te omnes quarentes te: et dicant semper, Magnificetur Dominus; qui diligunt salutare tuum. DAY 117 sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: but thou hast perfected ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require: then said 1, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart. 1 have declared thy justice in a great church: lo, I will not restrain my lips; O Lord, thou knowest it. Thavenot hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. T have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth: from a great_council. Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercics from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me. For evils without number have surrounded me: my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: look down, O Lord, to help me. Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul: to take it away. Let them be turned backward, and be ashamed: that desire evils to me. Let them immediately bear their_confusion: that say to ‘me, "Tis well, 'tis well. Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always, The Lord be magnified. 118 TIME AFTER Ego autem mendicus sum, et pauper: Dominus sollicitus est mei. Adjutor meus, et protector meus tu es: Deus meus ne tardaveris. Requiem @ternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Axt. Complaceat tibi Domine, ut eripias me: Domine, ad adjuvandum me respice. PENTECOST But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. Ant. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: look down, O Lord, to help me. ‘We have just been saying: I am a beggar and poor, the Lord is careful for me; and the following psalm declares: Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor. Among all the noble sentiments that reign in purgatory, there could not be wanting that of gratitude towards those who have a thought for the too often neglected dead. How odious is this indifference for the de- parted, especially in those men of their peace who ate their bread in happier days, and in whom they so vainly hoped and confided! But hear how humbly and sweetly they pray for the benefactor, whom they themselves perhaps ignored or even despised in the time of worldly prosperity and who now assists them in their need: May the Lord make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. on his bed of sorrow ! May the Lord help him when he is Anr. Sana, Domine, animam meam, quia peccavi tibi. Axt. Heal my soul, O Lord, for I have sinned against thee. PSALM 40 Beatus qui intelligit superBlessed is the man that egenum et pauperem: in die understandeth concerning_the mala liberabit eam Dominus. needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day. Dominus conservet eum et The Lord preserve him and vivificet eum; et beatum faciat give him life, and make him eum in terra: et non tradat blessed upon the earth; and eum in animam inimicorum deliver him not up to the will ejus. of his enemies. ALL SOULS’ Dominus opem ferat illi super lectum do sum stratum infirmitate ejus. Ego dixi: Domine, miserere mei: sana animam meam quia peccavi tibi Inimici mei dixerunt mala mihi: Quando morietur, et peribit nomen ejus ? Et si ingrediebatur ut videret, vana loquebatur: cor ejus congregavit iniquitatem sibi. Egrediebatur foras: et loquebatur in idipsum. Adversum me susurrabant omues inimici mei: adversum me cogitabant mala mihi. Verbum iniquum constituerunt adversum me: numquid qui dormit, non adjiciat ut resurgat ? Etenim homo pacis me, in quo speravi: qui edebat panes meos, magnificavit super me supplantationem. u autem, Domine, miserere mei, et resuscita me: et retribuam eis. In hoc cognovi, quoniam voluisti me: quoniam non gaudebit inimicus meus super me. Me autem propter innocentiam suscepisti: et confirmasti me in conspectu tuo in mternum. Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel a saculo, et usque in szculum: fiat, fiat. Requiem ternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. ANT. Sana, Domine, animam meam, quia peccavi tibi. DAY 119 The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness. I said: O Lord be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. My enemies have spoken cvils against me: when shall he die, and his name perish And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. Hewent out: nd spoke to the same purpose. All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils to me. They determined against me an unjust word: Shall he that sleepeth rise again no more ? For even the man of my peace in whom I trusted: who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me. But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them. By this I know that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me. But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast established me in thy sight for ever. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity: 50 be it, 80 be it. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. AT. Heal my soul, O Lord, for T have sinned against thee. 120 TIME AFTER PENTECOST “ I believe,” says St. Catharine of Genoa, ‘ that no hap- piness can be compared with that of a soul in purgatory, except that of the saints in paradise. And this happiness increases in proportion as the rust of sin is consumed away by the fire, enabling the soul to reflect, more and more clearly, the rays of the true sun, which is God. The suffering, however, does not diminish. On the contrary, it is love kept back from its object which causes the pain; and consequently the suffering is greater according as God has made the soul capable of a greater perfection of love.”! But let us listen to the soul herself expressing her anguish; no mortal tongue, were it even that of the great theologian of purgatory, could give a similar utterance to such sublime sentiments. How the Church, in her psalms and her liturgy, surpasses even the most saintly and learned of her children ! ANT. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Domini ? ANT. My soul hath thirsted after the living God: when shall T come and appear before the face of the Lord ? PSALM 41 As the hart panteth aiter the fountains of water: so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God: when shall I come, and appear before the face of God ? My tears have been my bread day and night: whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God? These things I remembered and poured out my soul in me: for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. With the voice of joy and praise: the noise of one feasting. } “Treatise on Purgatory. Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum: ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei 7 Fuerunt mihi lacrymz mez panes die ac nocte: dum dicitur mihi_quotidie: Ubi est Deus tuus ? Hac recordatussum, et effudi in me animam meam: quoniam transibo in locum tabernaculi admirabilis, usque ad domum Dei. In voce exsultationis, et confessionis: sonus epulantis. ALL SOULS’ Quare tristis es anima mea ? ct quare conturbas me ? Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus. Ad meipsum anima mea conturbata est: propterea memor ero tui de terra Jordanis, et Hermoniim a monte modico. Abyssus abyssum invocat: in voce cataractarum tuarum. Omnia excelsa tua, et fluctus tui: super me transierunt. In die mandavit Dominus misericordiam suam: et nocte canticum ejus. Apud_me oratio Deo vite mez: dicam Deo, Susceptor meus es. Quare oblitus es mei? ct quare contristatus incedo, dum affligit me inimicus ? Dum confringuntur ossa mea: exprobraverunt mihi qui tribulant me inimici m Dum dicunt mihi per singulos dies: Ubi est Deus tuus ? quare tristis es anima mea ? et quare conturbas me ? Spera in Deo, quoniam ad- huc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus. Requiem wmternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. AT. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: quando veniam, ct apparebo ante faciem Domini ? ¥. Ne tradas bestiis animas confitentes tibi. . Et animas pauperum tuorum ne obliviscaris in finem. DAY 121 Why art thou sad, O my soul: and why dost thou trouble me ? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salva- tion of my countenance, and my God. My soul is troubled within myself: therefore will I remem- ber thee, from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little hill. Deep calleth on deep: at the noise of thy flood-gates. All thy heights and thy billows: have passed over me. In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy: and a canticle to him in the night. With me is prayer to the God of my life: I will say to God, Thou art my support. ‘Why hast thou forgotten me? and why go I mourning, whilst my enemy afflicteth me ? ‘Whilst my bones are broken: my enemies who trouble me have reproached me. Whilst they say to me day by day: Where is thy God ? Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why dost thou dis- quiet me ? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. My soul hath thirsted after the living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of the Lord ? ¥. Deliver not to beasts the souls that praise thee. K. And the souls of thy forget not to the end. e T 122 TIME AFTER The poor, for whom PENTECOST the versicle makes such earnest supplication, are, as before, the suffering souls. After the silent recitation of the Pater noster by the choir, the Doctor of the Gentiles sets before us the consoling doctrine of the resurrection of the body. LESSON 7 De Epistola prima beati Pauli From the first Epistle of Saint Apostoli ad Corinthios. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians. Cap. . 12-22. Ch. xv. 12-22. Si Christus pradicatur quod 1 Christ be preached that he resurrexit a mortuis, quomodo arose again from the dead, how quidam dicunt in vobis quo- do some among you say, that niam resurrectio mortuorum there is no resurrection of the nonest ? Siautem resurrectio dead? But if there be no mortuorum non_est, neque resurrection of the dead, then Christus resurrexit. Si autem Christ is not risen again. And Christus non resurrexit, inanis if Christ be not risen again, est ergo pradicatio nostra, ina- then is our preaching vain, and nis est et fides vestra. Inveniyour faith is also vain. Yea, mur autem et falsi testes Dei: and we are found false witnesses quoniam testimonium diximus of God: because we have given adversus_Deum, quod susci- testimony against God, that he taverit Christum, quem non hath raised up Christ; whom he suscitavit, si mortui non resurhath not raised up, if the dead gunt. Nam, si mortui non re- rise not again. For if the dead surgunt, neque Christus resur- rise not again, neither is Christ rexit. Quod si Christus non risen again. And if Christ be resurrexit, vana est fides vestra: not risen again, your faith is adhuc enim estis in_peccatis vain, for you are yet in your vestris. Ergo et qui dormi- sins. Then they also that are erunt in Christo perierunt. Si fallen asleep in Christ, are in hac vita tantum in Christo perished. If in this life only sperantes sumus, miserabi we have hope in Christ, we ores sumus omnibus hominibus. are of all men most miserNunc autem Christus resurable. But now Christ is risen rexit a mortuis, primitiz dormi- from the dead, the firstfruits entium: quoniam quidem per of them that sleep: for by a hominem mors, et per homi- man came death and by a man nem resurrectic mortuorum. the resurrection of the dead. Et sicut in Adam omnes mori- And as in Adam all die, 50 also untur, ita et in Christo omnes in Christ all shall be made alive. vivificabuntur. Ry. Peccantem me quotidie, Ry. The fear of death troubles et non me panitentem, timor me: sinning daily and not re- ALL SOULS’ mortis conturbat me: * Quia in inferno nulla est redemptio, miserere mei, Deus, et Salva me. ¥.Deus,in nomine tuosalvum me fac, et in virtute tua libera me. * Quia. Cap. #v. 35-44. penting: * Because in hell there is no redemption, have mercy on me, O God, and save me. ¥. 0 God, in thy name save me, and in thy strength deliver me. * Becausc. LESSON 8 Sed dicet aliquis: Quomodo resurgunt mortui ? qualive corpore venient ? Insipiens, tu quod seminas non vivificatur, nisi_prius moriatur. Et quod seminas, non corpus, quod futurum est, seminas; sed nudum granum, ut puta tritici, aut alicujus ceterorum. Deus autem dat illi corpus sicut vult: et unicuique seminum proprium corpus. Non omnis caro, eadem caro: sed alia quidem hominum, alia vero pecorum, alia volucrum, alia autem piscium. Et corpora calestia, et corpora terrestria: sed alia quidem calestium gloria, alia autem terrestrium: alia claritas solis, alia claritas lunz, et alia claritas stellarum. Stella enim a stella differt in claritate: sic et resurrectio mortuorum. Seminatur in corruptione, surget in incorruptione. Seminatur in ignobilitate, surget in gloria. Seminatur in infirmitate, surget in_virtute. Seminatur corpus animale, surget corpus spiritale. 123 DAY Ch. x0. 35-44. But some man will say: How do the dead rise again ? or with what manner of body shall they come? Senseless man, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be; but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest. But God giveth it a body as he will: and to every seed its proper body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but one is the flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, another of fishes. And there are bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial: but one is the glory of the celestial, and another of the terrestrial. One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon another the glory os tae stars. For star differeth from star in glory: 5o also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. It is Sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power. natural body, spiritual body. It is sown a it shall rise a . Domine, secundum actum R. Judge me not, O Lord, meum noli me judicare: nihil according to my deeds, for I dignum in conspectu tuo have done nothing worthy in thy egi: ideo deprecor majestatem sight: therefore I beseech th tuam: * Ut tu, Deus, deleas majesty: * That thou, O God, iniquitatem meam. mayest blot out my iniquity. 124 TIME AFTER PENTECOST ¥. Amplivs lava me, DoY. Wash me, O Lord, yet mine, ab injustitia mea, et a more from my injustice, and delicto meo munda me. * Uttu. cleanse me from my sin. * That. LESSON g Cap. #v. 51-58. Ecce mysterium vobis dico: Omnes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur. In momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba: canet enim tuba, et mortui resurgent incorrupti: et nos immutabimur. Oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere _incorruptionem: et mortale hoc induere immortalitatern. Cum autem mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem, tunc fiet sermo, qui scriptus est: Absorpta est mors in victoria. Ubi est, mors, victoria tua? ubi est, mors, stimulus tuus ? Stimulus autem mortis peccatum est: virtus vero peccati lex. Deo autem gratias, ui dedit nobis victoriam per ominum _nostrum Jesum Christum. _Itaque, fratres mei dilecti, stabiles estote et immobiles: abundantes in opere Domini” semper, scientes quod labor vester non est inanis in Domino. Ch. xv. 51-58. Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall all indeed rise again: ‘but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory ? O death, where is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. thanks be to God, who But hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and unmovable; always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labouris not in vain in the Lord. R. Deliver me, O Lord, from K. Libera me, Domine, de morte @terna in die illa tremeneternal death, in that dreadful da: * Quando cwli movendi sunt day, * When the heavens and et terra. * Dum veneris judi- the earth are to be moved: care seculum per ignem. * When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. ¥. Tremens factus sum ego, f. 1 tremble and do fear, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, when the examination is to be, atque ventura ira. * Quando. and thy wrath to come. * When Y. Dies illa, dies ire, calami- tatis et miseri, dies magna et amara valde. * Dum. the heavens. V. That day is the day of anger, of calamity, l:l!d of misery, a great day, and v bitter. * When thayn 2/ ALL SOULS’ DAY 125 ¥. Eternal rest efc. Ry. Deliver me to the first ¥ ¥. Requiem xternam efc. ®. Libera me usque ad primum Y. LAUDS The Lauds for the Dead commence, like the ferial Office throughout the year, with Psalm 50, which David composed after his sin, and in which he gives the liveliest expression to his humble repentance. The Church makes use of it whenever she wishes to implore the mercy of God; and of all the canticles of the prophet-king, this one is the most familiar to Christians. In the place of expiation it seems to rise naturally to their lips. ANT. Exsultabunt ossa humiliata. Domino ANT. The bones that have been humbled shall rejoice in the Lord. PSALM 50 Miserere mei Deus: secunHave mercy on me, O God: dum magnam misericordiam according to thy great mercy. tuam. Et secundum multitudinem And according to the multimiserationum tuarum: dele ini- tude of thy tender mercies: blot quitatem meam. out my iniquity. Amplius lava me ab iniquiWash me yet more from my tate mea: et a peccato meo iniquity: and cleanse me from munda me. my sin. Quoniam iniquitatem meam For I know my iniquity: and ego cognosco: et peccatum me- my sin is always before me. um contra me est semper. Tibi soli vi et malum To thee only have I sinned, coram te feci: ut justificeris in and have done evil before sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum thee: that thou mayst be justijudicaris. fied in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art judged. Ecce enim in iniquitatibus For behold I was conceived conceptus sum: et in peccatis in iniquities: and in sins did my concepit me mater mea. mother conceive me. Ecce enim veritatem dilexiFor behold thou hast loved sti: incerta et occulta sapientiz truth; the uncertain and hidden tua manifestasti mihi. things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me. 126 TIME AFTER Aperges me hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor. Auditui meo dabis gaudium et Letitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata. Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele. Cor mundum crea in me Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis. Ne projicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me. Redde mihi lztitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me. Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur. Libera me de sanguinibus Deus, Deus salutis mez sultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam. Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis. Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum et hu- miliatum, Deus, non despicies. Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut zdificentur muri Jerusajem. Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiz, oblationes et holocausta: tuncimponent super altare tuum vitulos, Requiem zternam: dona eis, Domine. PENTECOST Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed : thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. To my hearing thou shalt give joyand gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice. Turn away thy face from my sins: and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels. Cast me not away from thy face: and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation: and strengthen me with a perfect spirit. T will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee. Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice. O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise. For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion: that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. Et ei s. lux 127 And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. The bones that have been humbled shall rejoice in the Lord. ALL SOULS’ DAY perpetua ANT. Exsultabunt ossa humiliata. luceat Domino The prolonged prayer of the faithful in union with their mother the Church is beginning to show its effects upon the departed. The time is growing shorter, the distance is dwindling, the land of promise begins to appear on the horizon. About to set out from Babylon, the captive tribes celebrate the sweet vision of their fatherland, with its fresh waters, its blessed hills, its fertile valleys; the happy Siom, the true Jerusalem, where God is praised as He deserves to be praised. Awt. Exaudi, Domine,oratioAwr. Hear my prayer, O nem meam: ad te omnis caro Lord: all flesh shall come to veniet. thee. PSALM 64 Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion: et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam: ad te omnis caro veniet. Verba iniquorum pravaluerunt super nos: et impietatibus nostris tu propitiaberis. Beatus quem elegisti et assumpsisti: inhabitabit in atriis tuis, Replebimur in bonis domus tuz: sanctum est templum tuum, mirabile in zquitate. Exaudi nos Deus salutaris noster: spes omnium finium terr, et in mari longe. Praeparans montes in virtute tua, accinctus potentia: qui conturbas profundum maris, sonum fluctuum ejus. A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem. O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee. The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: and thou wilt pardon our transgressions. Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy house: holy is thy temple, wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our Saviour: who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off. Thou who preparest mountains _in_thy strength, being girded with power: who troublest the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves. 128 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Turbabuntur Gentes, et tiThe Gentiles shall be mebunt qui habitant terminos troubled, and they that dwell a signis tuis: cxitus matutini et in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at thy signs: thou vespere dclectabis. shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful. Visitasti terram, et inebriasti Thou hast visited the earth, eam: multiplicasti locupletare and hast plentifully watered it: thou hast many ways eneam. riched it. Flumen Dei repletum est The river of God is filled with aquis, parasti cibum illorum: water, thou hast prepared their quoniam ita est praeparatio cjus. food: for so is its preparation Rivos ejus inebria, multiplica Fillup plentifully the streams genimina ejus: * in stillicidiis thereof, multiply its fruits: it ejus lztabitur germinans. shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. Benedices coronz anni_beThou shalt bless the crown nignitatis tuz: * et campi tui of the year of thy goodness: replebuntur ubertate. and thy fields shall be filled with plenty. Pinguescent speciosa deserti The beautiful places of the * et exsultatione colles accin- wilderness shall grow fat: and gentur. the hills shall be girded abont with joy. Induti sunt arietes ovium, The rams of the flock are et valles abundabunt frumen’ clothed, and the vales shall to: * clamabunt, etenim hy- abound with corn: they shall mnum dicent. shout, yea, they shall sing a hymn. Requiem mternam * dona eis, Eternal rest give unto them, Domine. 0 Lord. “Et lux perpetua * luceat And let perpetual light shine eis. upon them. Ant. Exaudi, Domine, oraANt. Hear my prayer, O tionem meam: ad te omnis caro Lord: all flesh shall come to veniet. thee. It is dawn in purgatory; and therefore the Church here inserts the usual third psalm of her morning Office on earth. It is the expression of the Christian’s love and confidence, as he raises his heart to God at daybreak. ANT. Me suscepit dextera tua, Domine. ANT. Thy right hand, Lord, hath received me. O ALL SOULS’ DAY 129 PSALM 62 do 1 0 God, my God: to thee watch at break of day. For thee my soul hath thirsted: for thee my flesh, O how many ways | In'a desert land, and where there i6 no way, and no water: 50 in the sanctuary have I come tutem tuam et gloriam tuam. to thee, to see thy power and thy glory. Quoniam melior_est miseFor thy mercy is better than ricordia tua super vitas: * labia lives: thee my lips shall praise. mea laudabunt te. Sic_benedicam te in vita Thus will I bless thee all' my mea: * et in nomine tuo levabo life long: and in thy name I manus meas. will lift up my hands. Sicut adipe et pinguedine Let my soul be filled with repleatur anima mea: *et labi marrow and fatness: and my exaultationis landabit os meu fiwuth shall praise with joyfill Si memor fui tui super P;l T have remembered thee stratum meum, in matutinis upon my bed, I will meditate meditabor in te: * quia fuisti on thee in the morning: because thou hast been my adjutor meus. helper. And I will rejoice under the Et in velamento alarum tuarum exsultabo; _adhaeit covert of thy wings; my soul Deus Deus meus: * ad te de luce vigilo. Sitivit in_te anima mea: * quam multipliciter tibi caro mea. In terra deserta, et invia, et inaquosa: * sic in sancto apparui tibi, ut viderem vir- anima mea post te: * me suit dextera tua. hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me. But they have sought my soul in vain, they shall go into the lower parts of the earth: psi vero in vanum quasierunt_animam meam; intry bunt in inferiora terr: * tradentur in manus gladii, partes they shall be delivered into the vulplum erunt. hands of the sword, they shall be_the ons of foxes. Rex vero letabitur in Deo, But the king shall rejolce audabuntur omnes qui jurant in God: all the{ishlll be praised in eo: * quia obstructum est os that tlhw‘e.uby him: })eu.uu flt‘l;e loquentium iniqua. mw sto) of them that Requiem aternam * dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua * luceat eis. ANT. Me tua, Domine. suscepit dextera ek vicked Hings *PBtemal rest give unto O Lord. them, And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANt. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath received me. 130 TIME PENTECOST AFTER Holy Saturday, which the Man-God spent in limbo, is the great day for the faithful departed. The Church, therefore, as she daily sings a canticle at this point in her morning Lauds, puts to-day upon the lips of her suffering children the canticle of Ezechias. On the great Saturday it expressed the words of Christ praying for His speedy deliverance. It is also accompanied by the same antiphon as on that occasion. ANT. From the gate of hell ANT. A porta inferi erue, deliver my soul, O Lord. Domine, animam meam. CANTICLE Ego dixi: In dimidio dierum meorum: * vadam ad portas inferi. Quaesivi residuum annorum meorum: * dixi: Non videbo Dominum Deum in terra viventium. Non aspiciam hominem ultra: * et habitatorem quietis. Generatio mea ablata est, et convoluta est a me: * quasi tabernaculum pastorum. Pracisa est velut a_texente vita mea: dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me: * de mane usque ad vesperam finies me. Sperabam usque ad mame: * quasi leo sic contrivit omnia 0ssa mea. De mane usque ad vesperam finies me: * sicut pullus_hirundinis sic clamabo, meditabor ut columba. Attenuati sunt oculi mei: * suspicientes in excelsum. Domine, vim patior, responde pro me: * quid dicam, aut quid respondebit mihi, cum ipse fecerit ? OF EZECHIAS Isaid: In the midst of my days: 1 shall go to the gates of hell. 1 sought for the residue of my years: I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall more: nor rest. behold man the inhabitant no of My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me: as a shepherd’s tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst 1 was yet but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me. T hoped till morning: as a lion so hath he broken all my bones. From morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me: I will cry like a young swallow, T will meditate like a dove. My eyes are weakened: looking upward. Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me: what shall T say, or what shall he answer me, yhereas he himself hath dons it 131 I will recount to thee all my years: in the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, If man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, thou shalt correct me and make me to live: behold, in peace is my bitterness most bitter. But thou hast delivered my soul, that it should not perish: thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit look for thy truth, The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make thy truth known to the children. 0O Lord, save me: and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. From the gate of hell deliver my soul, O Lord. ALL SOULS’ Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos: * in amaritudine corripies me, et vivificabis me: * ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima. Tu autem eruisti animam meam ut non periret: * projecisti post tergum tuum omnia Ppeccata mea. Quia_non infernus confitebitur tibi, neque mors laudabit te: * non exspectabunt qui descendunt in lacum veritatem tuam. Vivens vivens ipse confitebitur tibi, sicut et ego hodie: * pater filiis notam faciet veritatem tuam. et Domine, psalmos salvum nostros me fa cantabi- maus cunctis diebus vitz nostre in domo Domini. Requiem zternam * dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua * luceat eis. ANT. A porta inferi erue, Domine, animam meam. DAY Let every spirit; everything that breathes, the Lord! In purgatory love is overflowing, becomes the sole occupation, for heaven is at praise praise hand. Absolute self-forgetfulness characterizes the close of the painful purification. Had the soul to remain still longer in the expiatory fire, it would not hurt her, since she has no longer any stain or rust for the flame to consume, but is full of God, incapable of any other sentiment than the desire of His glory. ANT.: Omnis spiritus landet Dominum. ANT. Let every spirit praise the Lord. 132 TIME AFTER PSALM Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus: * laudate eum in firmamento virtutis ejus. Laudate eum in virtutibus ejus: * laudate enm secundum multitudinem magnitudinis ejus. Laudate eum in sono tubz: * laudate eum in psalterio et cithara. Laudate cum in tympano et choro: * laudate eum in chordis et organo. Laudate cum in_cymbalis benesonantibus, laudate eum in cymbalis jubilationis: * omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. Requiem zternam * dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua * luceat eis. ANT. Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. PENTECOST 150 Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power. Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praiseye him according to the multitude of his greatness. Praise him with sound of trumpet; praise him with psaltery and harp. Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs. Praise him on high-sounding cymbals, praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Eternal rest give unto them, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. ANT. Let every spirit praise nlods | Again, as at the close of Vespers, the cry of joy contained in the versicle comes down to us from heaven. ¥. Audivi vocem de calo dicentem mihi. K. Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur. ¥. I heard a voice from heaven saying to me. 7. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And in the canticle of Zachary, the Church, together with all the souls delivered or comforted by her liturgical suffrages, thanks the Lord God of Israel who has visited and redeemed His people. We too return thanks, for our beloved dead, to Him who is the resurrection and the life, and who never abandons, even in death, those who believed in Him during their earthly sojourn. Ant. Ego sum resurrcctio et vita: qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet: et omnis qui vivit et credit i non morietur in @ternum, AnT. I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. ALL SOULS’ CANTICLE Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel: * quia visitavit, et fecit redemptionem plebis su. Et erexit cornu salutis nobis: * in domo David pueri sui, Sicut locutus est per os san- ctorum: * qui a sculo sunt, prophetarum ejus. Salutem ex inimicis nostris: * et de manu omnium, qui oderunt nos. Ad faciendam misericordiam cum patribus nostris: * et memorari testamenti sui sancti. Jusjurandum, quod juravit ad’ Abraham patrem nostrum: * daturum se nobis. Ut sine timore, de manu inimicorum nostrorum liberati: * serviamus illi. DAY 133 OF ZACHARY Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us: in the house of David his servant. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets: who are from the beginning. Salvation from our enemies: and from the hand of all that hate us. To perform mercy to our fathers: and to remember his holy testament. ‘The oath which he swore to Abraham our father: that he would grant to us. That being delivered from the hand of our enmemies: we may serve him without fear. In holiness and_justice before him: all our days. In sanctitate, et justitia coram ipso: * omnibus diebus iEt tu puer, prophetaheta Altiss! AltissiAnd thou, child, shalt be mi vocaberis: ¢ praibia enim called the prophet of the Highante faciem Domini parare vias est: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare ejus. Ad dandam scientiam salutis plebi ejus: * in remissionem peccatorum _eorum. Per viscera misericordia Dei nostri: * in quibus visitavit nos, oriens ex ulto. Tlluminare his, qui in tenebris, et in umbra mortis sedent : dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis. Requiem @ternam * dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua * luceat eis. his ways. To give knowledge of salvation to his people: unto the remission of their sins. Through the bowels of the mercy of our God: in which the Orient from on high hath visited us. To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. 134 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Ant. I am the resurrection vita: qui credit in me, etiam si and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, mortuus fuerit, vivet: et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non shall live: and every one that morietur in @ternum. liveth and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. ANT. Ego sum resurrectio et The priest commences, and the recites, kneeling, the Lord’s Prayer. Pater noster. Our whole assembly Father. The rest is said in silence as far as this conclusion, which is followed by the versicles and prayer that close the Office of the Dead. ¥. And lead us not into ¥. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. temptation. K. But deliver us from evil. . Sed libera nos a malo. _ A porta inferi. ¥. From the gate of hell. R. Erue, Domine, animas K. Deliver their souls, O eorum. Lord. ¥. Requiescant in pace. ¥. May they rest in peace. . Amen. K. Amen. . Domine, exaudi orationem ¥. O Lord, hear my prayer. meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te R And let my cry come veniat. unto thee. ¥. Dominus vobiscum. ¥. The Lord be with you. R. Et cum spiritu tuo. K. And with thy spirit. PRAYER Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor et Redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui_vivis et regnas cum Deo Pafre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia szcula szculorum. . Amen. . Requiem aternam dona eis, Domine. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of the faithful, give to the souls of thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins; that by pious supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always desired. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Gl'alm one God, world without end. . Amen. . Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. ALL SOULS’ 'R Et lux perpetua luceat eis. ¥. Requiescant in pace. R. Amen. DAY R. shine ¥. K. 135 And let perpetual light upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. MASS OF THE DEAD Formerly the Roman Church on this day doubled her task of service to the divine Majesty. The Commemora- tion of the Dead did not distract her from the saints, and the Office of the second day within the Octave preceded the Dirge. She now recites only the Office of the Dead. At the day Hours, as well as at Matins and Lauds, the hymn and the Deus in adjutorium are suppressed; the ordinary psalms are concluded with Reguiem aternam; and the Collect for the Dead is said at the close. has, moreover, extended to the universal Church She a privilege already existing in Spain, which allows each priest to offer three Masses for the Dead. The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed ends at None; but Cluny, up to the last century, had the custom of celebrating second Vespers. As to the obligation of resting from servile works on All Souls’ day, it was of semi-precept in England, the more necessary works being permitted; in some places the obligation lasted only till mid-day; in others assistance at Mass was alone enjoined. For some time, Paris kept November 2 as a Feast of obligation; in 1673 the command to observe it until mid-day was retained in the statutes by the Archbishop Francis de Harlay. The precept no longer xists, even at Rome. The remark of Amalarius, quoted above, with regard to the Office of the Dead, is no less applicable to the Mass. Not to mention the suppression of the Gloria #n excelsis and of the Alleluia, the priest omits the psalm Judica me at the foot of the altar, as in Passiontide. As on Good Friday, he is clothed in black vestments; most of the blessings are omitted, as also the kiss of peace, and the various marks of honour shown to the celebrant; the altar is thurified but once; and the TIME 136 AFTER PENTECOST singing of the Gospel is done as on that great day—viz., the deacon receives no blessing from the celebrant, lights and incense are not used, and the priest does not kiss the sacred text. So closely, even in death, does the Church draw her children to Him whose members they are. The Introit antiphon is the same earnest supplication which takes the place of every doxology throughout the Office, and which was suggested by a passage in the fourth Book of Esdras.! The verse is taken from the second psalm of Lauds. INTROIT Requiem @ternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Ps. Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem: exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. Ps. A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion; and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem: O hear my prayer; all flesh shall come to thee. Eternal rest efc. In the Collect, mother Church makes her own the prayer of the suffering souls; she presents it to her Spouse, God made Man, calling Him by His titles of Creator and Redeemer; for these titles remind Him of all He has done for these souls, and invite Him perfect His work. COLLECT Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor et Redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum _remissionem cunctorum_tribue peccatorum: ut indulgentiam, quam _semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omniaszculaszculorum. Amen. to 0 God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, give to the souls of thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins: that by pious supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always desired. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. 1 4 Esdr. ii. 34, 35 ALL SOULS’ DAY 137 EPISTLE Lectio Epistole beati Pauli Apostoli ad Corinthios. Fratres: vobis I. Cap. xv. dico: Ecce Omnes resurgemus, sed immutabimur. In in ictu oculi, in tuba; canet enim quidem omnes momento, novissima tuba, et mortui resurgent incorrupti: et nos immutabimur. Oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem : et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem. Cum autem mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem, tunc fiet sermo, qui scriptus est: Absorpta est mors in victoria. Ubi est, ctoria tua? Ubi stimulus tuus ? mors, virtus vero peccati vi- est, mors, Stimulus autem mortis peccatum lex. Epistle of the of St. Paul the Apostle to the Co- rinthians. mysterium non Lesson est: Deo autem gratias, qui dedit nobis victoriam per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum., 1. Chap. #v. Brethren, behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, io the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the' trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is_swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory ? O death, where is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. While the soul is supplying in purgatory for the insufficiency of her expiations, the body she has quitted returns to the earth in virtue of the sentence pronounced against Adam and his race from the beginning of the world. But, with regard to the body as well as the soul, justice is full of love; its claims are a prelude to the glory which awaits the whole man. The humiliation of the tomb is the just punishment of original sin; but in this return of man to the earth from whence he sprang, St. Paul would have us recognize the sowing necessary for the transformation of the seed, which is destined to live again under very different conditions. For ‘flesh 138 TIME AFTER PENTECOST and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God’;! neither can corruptible members aspire to immortality. The body of the Christian, which St. Ignatius of Antioch calls the wheat of Christ, is cast into the tomb, as it were into the furrow, there to leave its own corrup- tion, the form of the first Adam with its heaviness and infirmity; but by the power of the new Adam reforming it to His own likeness, it shall spring up all heavenly and spiritualized, agile, impassible, and glorious. Blessed be He, who willed to die for us in ordell' to destroy death and to make His own victory ours In the Gradual, the Church continues to pray for the deliverance of the departed souls. GRADUAL Requiem wmternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. In memoria wterna erit justus: ab auditione mala non timebit. _ Eternal rest give to them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. ¥. The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing. TRACT Absolve, Domine, animas omnium fidelium_defunctorum ab_omni vinculo delictorum. ¥. Et gratia tua illis succurrente, mereantur evadere judicium ultionis. ¥. Et lucis mterna beatitudine perfrui. Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from every bond of sins. Y. And by the help of thy grace may they be enabled to escape the judgment of punishment. Y. And enjoy the happiness of light eternal. The Church, as we shall see, did not formerly exclude from the funerals of her children it expressed the happiness she felt a holy death had secured heaven although his expiation might not But the adaptation of the liturgy 1 Cor. xv. 0. the joyful Alleluia; at the thought that to the new elect, yet be completed. for the dead to the 139 ALL SOULS’ DAY rites of Holy Week having altered this ancient custom, it would seem that the Sequence, originally a festive sequel to the Alleluia, ought also to be excluded from the Requiem Mass. Rome, however, has made a welcome exception to the traditional rule, in favour of the remarkable poem of Thomas de Celano. This and the Stabat Mater of Fra Jacopone have won renown for the Franciscan lyre. The Dies ire was first sung in Italy in the fourteenth century; and in two centuries more had spread to the entire Church. it SEQUENCE The day of wrath, that awful day, shall reduce the world to ashes, as David and the Sibyl prophesied.t Quantus tremor est futurus, ow great will be the terQuando Judex est venturus, ror, when the Judge shall come Cuncta stricte discussurus. to examine all things rigorously | The trumpet, with astoundTuba mirum spargens sonum ing blast, echoing over the Per sepulchra regionum, sepulchres of the whole world, Coget omries ante thronum. shall summon all before the throne. Mors stupebit et natura, Death and nature will stand aghast, when the creature shall Cum resurget creatura, rise_again, to answer before Judicanti responsura. his Judge. Liber scriptus proferetur The written book shall be In quo totum continetur, brought forth, containing all Unde mundus judicetur. for which the world must be judged. Judex ergo cum sedebit, When, therefore, the Judge Quidquid latet, apparebit: shall be seated, whatsoever is Nil inultum remancolt. hidden shall be brought to Dies ir, dies illa, Solvet seclum in favilla, Teste David cum Sibylla. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus ? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix justus sit securus ? ? An allasion to the celebrated light; nought shall remain unpunished. ‘What then shall I, unhay man, allege? Whom lhm invoke as protector? when even the just shall hardly secure. oracle of the Erythroan Sibyl, Augusine in bis Cie fc‘wnoflwu..a -p? Toe il oo verses give in Greek formala : Jesus Chria, , Son of God, Saviour, be oF e TIME AFTER 140 Rex tremenda majestatis, { salvandos salvas gratis, iva me, fons pietatis. Recordare, O King of awful majesty, who of thy free gift savest them that are to be saved, save me O fount of mercy ! Remember, O loving Jesus, *twas for my sake thou camest Jesu pie, 0d sum causa tuz vie: e me perdas illa die. on earth: let me not, then, be zrens me, sedisti lassus: lemisti, crucem passus: Juste Judex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis. Ingemisco, tamquam reus; Culpa rubet vultus meus: Supplicanti parce, Deu: Qui Mariam absol Et latronem exaudist], Mihi quoque spem dedisti. mez non sunt gn: Sed tu bonus fac benigne Ne perenni cremer igne. Inter oves locum prasta, Et ab hadis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra. Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis: Voca me cum benedictis. Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis, Gere curam mei finis. Lacrymosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus: Huic ergo parce, Deus. Pie Jesu Domine, Dona ¢is requiem. Amen. lost on that day. Seeking thou weary; me thou satest redeemedst me by dying on the cross: let not such suffering be all in valn. O righteous Awarder of punishment, grant me the gift of pardon before the reckoning-day. 1 groan as one guilty, while ‘Tantus labor non sit cassus. Preces PENTECOST 1 blush for my sins: ol | spare thy suppliant, my God ! di- Thou didst absolve Mary Magdalen, and didst hear the prayer of the thief: to me, then, thou hast also given hope. My prayers deserve not to be heard; but thou art good: grant, in thy kindness, that I may not burn in the unquenchable fire. Give me a place among thy sheep, separating me from the goats and right hand. setting me on thy When the reprobate, covered with confusion, shall have been sentenced to the cruel flames, call me with the blessed. Prostrate in supplication I implore thee, with a heart contrite as though crushed to ashes; oh | have a care of my last hour | A mournful day that day ghall be, when shall arise from the dust Guilty man, that he may be judged; spare him, then, O God! O tender Lord Jesus, give them eternal rest. ~ Amen. ALL SOULS’ 141 DAY GOSPEL Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. Cap. v. In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus turbis Judzorum: Amen, amen dico vobis, quia venit hora, et nunc est, quando mortui audient vocem Filii Dei: et qui audierint, vivent. Sicut enim Pater habet vitam in semetipso: sic dedit et Filio habere vitam in semetipso: et potestatem dedit ei judicium facere, quia Filius hominis est. Nolite mirari hoc, quia venit hora, in qua omnes, qui in monumentis sunt, audient vocem Filii Dei: et procedent, qui bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem vitz: qui vero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem judicii. Purgatory is not eternal. Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. John. Chap. v. At that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews, Amen, amen, 1 say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, 5o he hath given to the Son also to have life in himself: and he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. Wonder not at this, for the hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. Its duration varies ac- cording to the sentence pronounced at each particular judgment. It may be prolonged for centuries in the case of the more guilty souls, or of those who, being excluded from the Catholic communion, are deprived of the suffrages of the Church, although by the divine mercy they have escaped hell. But the end of the world, which will be also the end of time, will close for ever the place of temporary expiation. God will know how to reconcile His justice and His goodness in the purification of the last members of the human race, and to supply by the intensity of the expiatory suffering what may be wanting in duration. But, whereas a favourablesentence at the particular judgment admits of eternal beatitude being suspended and postponed, and leaves the bodies of the elect to the same fate as those 142 of TIME the reprobate; sentence, whether solute, pletely. AFTER and will at be PENTECOST the universal judgment, every for heaven or for hell, will be abexecuted immediately and com- Let us, then, live in expectation of the solemn hour, when ‘ the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.’! delay, He that is to come will come, and will not as the Doctor of the Gentiles reminds us; His arrival will be sudden, as that of a thief, we are told, not only by St. Paul, but also by the prince of the apostles and the beloved disciple; and these in turn are but echoing the words of our Lord Himself: ‘ As lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Let us enter into the sentiments contained in the beautiful Offertory. Although the poor suffering souls are sure of their eternal blessedness, yet they entered upon this road to heaven at a moment of utmost peril: the supreme effort of the devil in his last assault, and the agony of the judgment. The Church, therefore, extending her prayer to every stage of this painful way, does not forget its opening. Nor is she afraid of being too late; for, to God, who sees all times at one glance, this day’s supplication was present at the moment of the dread passage, and obtained assistance for the straitened souls. This same prayer follows them also in their struggles with the powers of hell, when God permits these, according to the revelations of the saints, to be the ministers of His justice in the place of expiation. At this solemn moment, when the Church is offering her gifts for the tremendous and all-powerful Sacrifice, let us redouble our prayers for the faithful departed. Let us implore their deliverance from the jaws of the infernal lion. Let us obtain from the glorious Archangel, whom God has set over paradise and appointed to lead souls the light, to promised to Abraham. 1 St. John thither,? that he would bear them up to life, to God, who is Himself the reward all believers in the person of their father v. 25. 2 Ant. et Resp. in festo S. Michaelis. ALL SOULS’ DAY 43 OFFERTORY Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriz, libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de peenis inferni, et de profundo lacu: libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum: sed signifer sanctus Michael ~repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam: * Quam olim Abrahz promisisti et semini ejus. ¥. Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus: tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus: fac eas, Domine, de morte transire’ ad vitam. * Quam olim. 0 Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit: deliver them from the mouth of the lion, that hell may not swallow them up, and they may not fall into darkness, but may the holy standard-bearer Michael introduce them to the holy light; * Which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed. ¥. We offer to thee, O Lord, sacrifices and prayers: do thou receive them in behalf of those souls whom we commemorate this day. Grant them, O Lord, to pass from death to life; * Which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed. The holy souls had the gift of faith, and did the works of faith, while on earth; their eternal reward is therefore secured, and God mercifully accepts the offerings we make for them, as the Secret implies. SECRET Hostias, quzsumus, Domine, Mercifully look down upon quas tibi pro animabus famu- this sacrifice which we offer to lorum famularumque tuarum thee for the souls of thy serofterimus, propitiatus intende: vants, O Lord, we beseech ut, quibus fidei christianz meri- thee; that to those to whom tum contulisti, dones et premi- thou didst grant the merit of um. Per Dominum. Christian faith thou mayst also grant its reward. Throngh our Lord. The following Preface, formerly used in certain places, was approved for the whole Church in 1919, PREFACE It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we tibi semper et ubique gra- should always and in all places Vere dignum et justum est, mquum et salutare, nos 144 TIME AFTER tias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, mterne Deus, per Christum’ Dominum nostrum. In quo nobis spes beatz resurrectionis effulsit: ut quos contristat certa moriendi conditio, eosdem consoletur futura immortalitatis promissio. Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur; et dissoluta ferrestris hujus incolatus domo, mterna in_calis habitatio comparatur. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangeli cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia calestis exercitus, hymnum gloriz tuz canimus, sine fine dicentes: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, etc. PENTECOST give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, through Christ our Lord. In whom the hope of a blessed resurrection hath shone upon us: that those whom the certainty of dying afflicteth, the promise of future immortality may console. For the life of thy faithful, O Lord, is altered, not taken away: and when the abode of this earthly sojourn is dissolved, an eternal dwelling is prepared in heaven. And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominations, and with all the host of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn to thy glory, saying without ceasing: Holy, holy, holy, etc. At the Agnus Del, instead of asking as usual for peace for the living, we pray that the dead may have eternal rest. Agnus Dei, qui_tollis pecLamb of God, who takest cata mundi, dona eis requiem. away the sins of the world, give them rest. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest mundi, dona’eis requiem. away the sins of the world, give them rest. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest mundi, dona eis requiem sempi- away the sins of the world, give ternam. Like them eternal rest. myriad silent snowflakes falling earthward on a winter’s day, the delivered souls, white and lovely, are mounting heavenward at this hour, when the Church, the whole Blood of supplications, sacred pours world over over, concluding the expiatory redemption. Strong in her flames the long the power given to our prayer by our participation in the divine mysteries, let us say with her in the Communion anti- phon: ALL SOULS’ 145 DAY COMMUNION Lux wmterna luceat eis, DoMay light eternal shine upon mine, * Cum sanctis tuis in them, O Lord: * With thy sternum, quia pius es. saints for ever, because thou art merciful. ¥. Eternal rest give to them, ¥. Requiem wmternam dona'els, Domine: et lux perpetua O Lord; and let perpetual luceat els. * Cum sanctis. light shine upon them. * With thy salnts. Such, however, is the impenetrable and adorable mystery of God’s justice, which baffles all human conception, that for some souls the expiation must still be prolonged. The Church, then, without growing weary or losing hope, prolongs her prayer also in the Postcommunion. Moreover, at every Hour of the daily Divine Office, and at every Mass offered throughout the year, the faithful departed are remembered by their mother. POSTCOMMUNION Animabus, quasumus, DoWe beseech thee, O Lord, mine, famuloum famularum, - that the prayer of thy supbenefit the souls que tuarum oratio proficiat pliants may supplicantium: ut eas et a of thy servants; that thou peccatis omnibus exuas, et tuz maystdeliverthem from all their Tedemptionis facias esse partl- sins, and make them partakers cipes. Qui vivis. of thy redemption. Who livest. In Masses in which the Gloria in excelsis is omitted, Benedicamus Domino is said instead of Ite missa est, but in Masses for the dead the following petition is substituted: Requiescant in pace. Reagiese May they rest in peace. K. Amen. THE ABSOLUTION After Mass, the clergy preceded by the cross range themselves round the catafalque, which is placed in the nave of the church, to represent the dead, at the very TIME 146 AFTER PENTECOST spot where their bodies once rested before the altar of God. The cantors intone the ninth responsory of Matins it is followed by the prayers said at the conclusion of the Office, during the singing of which the priest honours the dead with holy water and incense, as on each one’s funeral day. This rite is called Absolution from the prayer Absolve, the one most frequently used, although, as to-day, the Collect of the Mass may be chosen instead, or some other prayer according to circumstances. RESPONSORY Libera me, Domine, de morte @terna, in die illa tremenda: * Quando czli movendi sunt et terra: * Dum veneris judicare szculum perignem. ¥. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira. * Quando. Y. Dies illa, dies ire, calamitatis et miseriz, dies magna et amara valde. * Dum wveneris. . Requiem wternam dona’ eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat efs. V. Libera me, usque ad primum V. Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison. Pater noster, prosequitur. guod secreto ¥. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. . Sed libera nos a malo. . . A porta inferi. R. Erue, Domine, animas eorum. Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death, in that dreadfulday, * When the heavens and earth are to be moved, * When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. Y. I tremble and do fear, when che examination is to be and thy wrath to come. * When the heavens and the earth are to be moved. Y. That day is the day of anger, of calamity, and o misery, a great day, and very bitter, * When thou shalt come 'to judge the world by fire. ¥. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. ¥. Deliver me, as far as the first ¥ Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Our Father, the fest silently. ¥. And lead us not into temptation. . But deliver us from evil. . From the gate of hell. K. Deliver their souls, O Lord. 147 ALL SOULS’ DAY ¥. Requiescant in pace. . Amen. . Domine, exaudi orationem meam. R. Et clamor meus ad te venlat, ¥. Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo. Y. May they rest in peace. R. Amen. ¥. O Lord, hear my prayer. K. And unto thee. let m 2 come ¥. The Lord be with you. K. And with thy spirit. PRAYER Absolve, quasumus, Domine, animas famulorum famularumue tuarum ab omni vinculo elictorum : ut in resurrectionis gloria, inter sanctos et electos tuos resuscitati respirent. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. ¥. Requiem zternam dona eis, Do . _R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. ¥. Requiescant in pace. K. Amen. Absolve, we beseech thee, O Lord, the souls of thy vants from every chain of si that rising again in the glory of thy resurrection, they may enjoy a new life amongst th: saints and elect. Through Christ our Lord. Ry Amen. ¥. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord. Ry. ‘And let perpetual light shine upon them. ¥. May they rest in peace, R. Amen. The missal of Marmoutier offers us the following Sequence wherewith to honour the saints, whose octave is celebrated side by side with the Commemoration of the Dead. SEQUENCE Ut sequamur pari zelo That we with equal real Sanctorum vestigia, may tread the f ts of Nobis horum vitam, mores the saints, the Church proProponit Ecclesia, poses to our contemplation their life and actions. Offert nobis tria: rosam, She offers us the rose, the Violam et lilium, violet, and the lily: emblems Ut ostendat nobis viam Ad celeste bravium. Rosa signat martyres Per colorem ribeum Confessores viola Per florem purpureum. of the trigle ‘way leading to the heavenly reward. The rose by its ruby colour signifies the martyrs; the violet's pu rple flower the con- fessors. 148 TIME AFTER Virginalem candidatum Attestatur lilium: Per hoc ergo sequi Deum Nos oportet trivium. Nos mactet ut martyres Vera patientia, Confessores faciat Jugis abstinentia. Nos conservet virgines Jugis castimonia, Aut lapsos aliquando Firma continentia. Adjuvent nos sancti quorum Colimus sollemnia, Ut horum prece possimus Assequi czlestia. Amen, PENTECOST The lily proclaims the lover of virginity: by these three ways, then, must we follow our God. Let true patience make us suffer as martyrs; and by continual abstinence let us be confessors. May constant purity preserve us virgins; but if any have fallen, courageous continence will save them. May the saints, whose feast we celebrate, come to our assistance; that by their intercession we may be enabled to attain the heights of heaven. Amen. THIRD DAY WITHIN NOVEMBER THIRD DAY 149 THE OCTAVE 3 WITHIN THE - ALL SAINTS OCTAVE OF AD we angels’ eyes, we should see the earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow, and, ever since, the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labour and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom | And what a harvest for heaven, when the Sun of justice, suddenly darting forth His rays, shall cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for gloryl No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the laying of the precious grain in the earth. But the Church is not content to be always sowing. Sometimes, as though impatient of delay, she raises from the ground the chosen seed she had sown therein. Her infallible discernment preserves her from error; and, disengaging from the soil the immortal germ, she forestalls the glory of the future. She encloses the treasure in gold or precious stuffs, carries it in triumph, invites the multitudes to come and reverence it; or she raises new temples to the name of the blessed one, and assigns him the highest honour of reposing under the altar, whereon she offers to God the tremendous Sacrifice. ‘ Let your charity understand,’ explains St. Augustine:! ‘it is not to Stephen we raise an altar in this place; but of Stephen’s relics we make an altar to God. God loves these altars; and if you ask the reason: ‘‘ Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”? In obedience to God the invisible soul has quitted its visible dwelling. But God preserves this ¥ AuG. Sermo cecxviii. de Stephano Mart. V. dwelling; He * Ps. exv. 15, is 150 TIME AFTER PENTECOST glorified by the honour we pay to this lifeless flesh; and, clothing it with the might of His divinity, He gives it the power of working miracles.’! Hence the origin of pilgrimages to the shrines of the saints. “Christian people,” says St. Gregory of Nyssa, ‘ wherefore are you assembled here? A tomb has no attractions; nay, the sight of its contents inspires horror. Yet, see what eagerness to approach this sepulchre! So great an object of desire is it, that a little of the dust from around it is esteemed a gift of great price. As to beholding the remains it conceals, that is a rare favour and an enviable one, as those can testify who enjoy the privilege: they embrace the holy body as though it were yet alive, they press their lips and their eyes upon it, shedding tears of love and devotion. What emperor ever received such honour ?'? “Emperors |’ rejoins St. John Chrysostom; as the porters at their gates, such have they become with regard to poor fishermen. The son of the great Constantine deemed he could not pay a higher honour to his father, than to procure him a place of sepulture in the porch of the fisherman of Galilee.”® And again, concluding his commentary on St. Paul's admirable Epistle to the Romans, the golden-mouthed Doctor exclaims: ‘ And now, who will grant me to prostrate myself at Paul’s sepulchre, to contemplate the ashes of that body which, suffering for us, filled up what was wanting of the sufferings of Christ ? The dust of that mouth which spoke boldly before kings, and, showing what Paul was, revealed the Lord of Paul? The dust of that heart, truly the heart of the world, more lofty than the heavens, more vast than the universe, as much the heart of Christ as of Paul, and wherein might read the book of grace graven by the Holy be Spirit ? Oh! that I might see the remains of the hands which wrote those Epistles; of the eyes which were struck with blindness and recovered their sight for our salvation; 1 AuG. Sermo celxxy. de Vincentio Mart. 11, 3 GruG. Nyss, de Theodoro Mast. 3 Cunrvs. in Epist. I1. ad Cor. Hom. xxvi. THIRD DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 151 of the feet which traversed the whole earth! Yes; I would fain contemplate the tomb where repose these instruments of justice and of light, these members of Christ, this temple of the Holy Ghost. O venerable body, which, together with that of Peter, protects Rome more securely than all ramparts |'* In spite of such teachings as these, the heretics of the sixteenth century profaned the tombs of the saints, under pretext of bringing us back to the doctrine of our forefathers. In contradiction to these strange reformers, the Council of Trent expressed the unanimous testimony of tradition in the following definition, which sets forth the theological reasons of the honour paid by the Church to the relics of saints: ‘ Veneration ought to be shown by the faithful to the bodies of the martyrs and other saints, who live with Jesus Christ. For they were His living members and the temples of the Holy Ghost; He will raise them up again to eternal life and glory; and through them God grants many blessings to mankind. Therefore, those who say that the relics of the saints are not worthy of veneration, that it is useless for the faithful to honour them, that it is vain to visit the memorials or monuments of the saints in order to obtain thelr aid, are absolutely to be condemned; and, as they have already been long ago condemned,*® the Church now condemns them once more.’ Considering the unequal distribution of relics throughout the world, Rome has not fixed one universal feast for the essentially local cultus of these precious remains. She leaves the particular churches free to consult their own convenience, reserving it to herself to bless and sanction the choice of each. 1 Cnrvs. in Epist. ad Rom. # Conc, Nie. 1 . cap. vil. Hom. xxxii. # Conc: Trid. Sess. xxv. De invocatione, veneratione, et reliquiis sanctorum. 152 TIME AFTER PENTECOST MASS OF THE HOLY RELICS As the feast of the holy relics is in many places celebrated on the Sunday within the octave of All Saints, we here give the Mass and Vespers most commonly used. The liturgical formule are, however, not less variable than the date of the feast. The Introit, borrowed from Psalm 33, tells us of God’s solicitude for His own, in death as in life. Whatever may become of the just under trial and persecution, their bones shall be gathered together again on the last day at the voice of the Son of man. INTROIT Multze tribulationes justorum, et de his omnibus liberavit eos Dominus: Dominus custodit omnfa ossa eorum: unum ex his non conteretur. Ps. Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore: semper laus €jus in ore meo. Gloria Patri. Multe. Many were the afflictions of the just, and out of all these the Lord delivered them: the Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken, Ps. I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Glory be to the Father. Many were. The miracles wrought by these dry bones prove, says St. Augustine, that shey are not really dead.! Let our faith in the future resurrection be thereby increased; and let us pray with the Church in her Collect that we too, at the appointed time, may partake in the glory of which their wonder-working power is the pledge. COLLECT Auge in nobis, Domine, _Increase within us, O Lord, resurrectionis fidem, qui in the faith of the resurrection, sanctorum tuorum ~ reliquiis thou who workest wonders in mirabilia operaris: et facnosim- the relics of thy saints: and mortalis glorie participes, cujus make us partakers of immortal in eorum cineribus pignora glory, of whichwe venerate the veneramur. Per Dominum. pledgesin theirashes. Through, The occurring Sunday and the octave of All Saints are commemorated by their respective Collects. ! AuG. Sermo cccxix. de Stephano Mart, VI THIRD DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 153 EPISTLE Lectio libri Sapientiz. Lesson from the Book of Ecchi. liv. Hi viri misericordiz sunt, quorum pietates non defuerunt: cum semine eorum permanent bona, hreditas sancta nepotes eorum, et in testamentis stetit semen eorum: et filii eorum propter illos usque in mternum manent: semen eorum, et gloria eorum non derelinquetur. Corpora ipsorum in pace sepulta sunt, et nomen eorum vivit in generationem et generationem. Sapientiam ipsorum narrent li, et laudem eorum nuntiet Ecclesia. Ecclus. xliv. These were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed. Good things continue with their seed, their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath stood in the covenants: and their children for their sakes remain for ever: their seed and their glory shall not be forsaken. Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation Wisdom. and generation. Let the ple shew forth their wisdom, and the Church declare their praise. Our ancestors looked upon holy relics as their greatest riches, the treasure by excellence of their cities. ‘Dew of heaven and fatness of the earth,’ the blessings of this world and of the next, seemed to distil from the bodies of the saints. Their presence was a check to hostile armies, as well as to the legions of hell; it guarded morals, fostered faith, and encouraged prayer in the heart of cities, to which they attracted as great crowds as now flock to our centres of Yleasure. And with what vigilance was cherished the blesséd deposit, the loss whereof would have been considered the greatest of public calamities | ‘I have here, my brethren,’ says Cardinal Pie, ‘ to unfold to you a marvellous design of the God whom Scripture calls wonderful in His saints. The Lord Jesus, who said to His disciples: “ Go ye and teach: cuntes ergo docete,” frequently takes pleasure in sending them forth again after their death; and He makes use of their apostolate from beyond the tomb, to carry the blessings of grace to other nations besides those whom they evangelized in life. “I have appointed you,” He 154 TIME AFTER PENTECOST said, “ that you should go and should bring forth fruit: Posui vos ut eatis et fructum afferatis.”” In obedience to this command the saints, even after having reached the blessed term of their mortal pilgrimage, consent to become wayfarers once more. Had I leisure to recount to you all the posthumous wanderings of our illustrious pontiffs and thaumaturgi—for instance, the repeated journeys of our own Hilary and Martin during more than ten centuries—I should, though captivating your attention by narratives full of interest, run the risk of wearying you by the length of my discourse.” The Gradual and its verse, taken from the psalms, extol the future glory feebly imaged by that which here surrounds the blessed on their couches of honour. GRADUAL Exsultabunt sancti in gloria: lztabuntur in cubilibus suis. Y. Cantate Domino canticum novum: Jaus ejus in ecclesia sanctorum. Alleluia, alleluia. Y. Justi epulentur, et exsultent in conspectu Dei: et delectentur in latitia. Alle nia. The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds. ¥. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the church of the saints. Alleluia, alleluia. ¥. Let the just feast and rejoice before God, and be delighted "withgladuess. ~Alleufa. GOSPEL Sequentla sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam. Cap. vi. In illo tempore: Descendens Jesus de monte, stetit in loco campestri, et turba discipulorum ejus, et multitudo copiosa plebis ab omni Judza et Jerusalem, et maritima, et Tyri, et Sidonis, qui venerant, ut audirent eum, et sanarentur a languoribus Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke. Chap. vi. At that time, Jesus coming down from the mountain stood in a pany very from lem, Tyre plain place, and the comof his disciples, and a great multitude of people all Judea and.Jerusaand the sea-coast both of and Sidon, who were come to hear him, and to be 1 Caroinar Pix, Discourse pronounced at the translation of the . relics of Latuin. THIRD DAY WITHIN suis. Et qui vexabantur a spiritibus immundis, curabantur. Et omnis turba quarebat eum tangere: quia virtus de illo exibat, et sanabat omnes. Et ipse, elevatis oculis in discipulos suos, dicebat: Beati pauperes: quia vestrum est regoum Dei. Beati, qui nunc esuritis: quia saturabimini. Beati, qui nunc fletis: quia ridebitis. Beati eritis cum vos oderint homines, et cum separaverint vos, et exprobraverint, et ejecerint nomen vestrum famquam malum, propter Filium hominis. Gaudete in illa die, et exsultate: ecce enim merces in calo. vestra multa est THE OCTAVE 155 healed of their diseases. And they that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the multitude sought to touch him, for virtue went out from him, and healed all. And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples, said: Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed shall ‘you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake: be glad in that day and rejoice, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. ‘ Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do’* Our Lord was speaking of His saints and disciples, who would believe in Him so fully as to place their earthly happiness in poverty, hunger, mourning, and persecution. His word was to be accomplished in them during life; but frequently it was to be still more manifested after death, in the power retained by their relics of driving away demons, healing all diseases, and obtaining every grace. It is not only from the narrow province of Judea, but from the coasts of the entire world, that multitudes now flock to hear the saints in the silent eloquence of their tombs, and to experience the virtue that goes out from them. St. Paulinus of Nola thus speaks in his poems: ‘ God, in His goodness, has willed that the saints should be distributed among the nations, so that their aid might never be wanting to us weak mortals. If He has given the principal cities to the greatest saints for their residence, the grace with which they are endowed for St. Joha xiv. 12, 156 TIME AFTER PENTECOST our sake is not confined to the places where their entire bodies rest; where there are but small portions there is the same power, and God thus gives testimony to their credit in heaven. From the hol deposit the sacred ashes are scattered abroad, and become the seeds of life: let but the least drop be taken from the spring, and {t is itself a source producing rivers of grace and of ove.’t Let us, then, honour our Lord in His saints; for it is from Him, as the Offertory tells us, that all their power originates. OFFERTORY Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis: Deus Israél ipse dabit virtu- God is wonderfulin his saints: the God of Israel is he who will benedictus Deus. people: luia. tem et fortitudinem plebi suz, give power and streagth to his Alleluia. blessed be God. Alle- ‘Who ever adored the martyrs, or mistook a man for God?’ asked St. Jerome, in his defence of the homage paid to sacred relics.* And the Church shows, in her Secret, that the cultus of these venerable ashes is rendered to the saints themselves; while the saints’ own power is but a power of intercession before the Father of the divine Victim who wrought our salvation. SECRET Imploramus, Domine, clementiam tuam: ut sanctorum tuorum quorum reliquias veneramur, sufiragantibus meritis, hostia quam _offerimus nostrorum sit expiatio delictorum. Per Dominum. We implore thy mercy, O Lord, that by the suffrage of the merits of thy saints, whose relics we venerate, the sacrifice which we offer may be the expiation of our sins. Through our Lord. Then follow the commemorations as above. ‘ He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood,” said the Man-God, * wallmsehxmupmthelastday" 1 PavLin. Poem. xix., xxvii 3 Hizrow, contra Vigilantium., 2 St. Joba vi. ss. 157 THE OCTAVE WITHIN DAY THIRD Holy Communion, which places in our bodies the germ of a glorious immortality, justifies the object of this feast, and explains its joy. COMMUNION Gaudete justi in Domino: rectos decet collaudatio. Rejoice in the Lord, ye just: praise becometh the upright. How could we better conclude our prayers of to-day than by expressing our desire of living eternally with the blessed, who have been gladdening us with the presence of their holy relics] This the Church does in the Postcommunion. POSTCOMMUNION Multiplica super nos, quasu- mus, Domine, per hzc sancta que sumpsimus, misericordiam tuam: ut sicut in tworum solemnitate sanctorum, quorum reliquias colimus, pia devotione lztamur, ita eorum - Multiply thy mercy upon us, we beseech thee, O Lord, by these holy mysteries which we have received; that as we rejoice with pious devotion in the solemnity of thy saints, whose relics we venerate, 50 by a societate, te largiente, thy bounty we may enjoy their amur. Per Dominum. euni;lhdiellommp. Through our A Then the commemorations as before; and at the end of the Mass the Gospel of the Sunday is read, instead of that of St. John. VESPERS OF THE HOLY RELICS The Vespers are those of the Common for many martyrs, Prayer. 1. ANT. with the Collect Isti sunt sancti, of to-day’s Mass for the 1. ANT. These are the saints qui’ pro testamento Dei sua who yielded their bodies for corpora tradiderunt, et in God's” covenant, and washed sanguine las suas. Agni laverunt sto- their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 35. 158 PENTECOST TIME AFTER 2. ANT. The saints by faith 2. AnT. Sancti per fidem vicerunt regna, operati sunt conquered kingdoms, wrought justitiam, adepti sunt repro- justice, and gained the promises. Ps. Confitebor tibi Domine, page 37. 3. ANT. The youth of the 3. ANT. Sanctorum velut aquile juventus renovabitur: saints shall be renewed like florebunt sicut lilium in civi- that of the eagle: they shall flourish as the lily in the city tate Domini. of the Lord. ‘missiones. Ps. Beatus vir, page 38. 4. ANT. God shall wipe away 4. ANT. Absterget Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis san- all tears from the eyes of the ctorum: et jam non eritamplius saints: and now there shall be neque luctus, neque clamor, no more mourning, nor crying, sed nec ullus dolor: quoniam nor any sorrow: for the former things are passed away. priora transierunt. Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39. 5. ANT. In coelestibus re5. ANT. The dwelling of the gnis sanctorum habitatio est, saints is in the kingdom of et in mternum requies eorum. heaven, and their rest shall be eternal. Ps. Credidi, page 81. CAPITULUM (Wisdom Justorum anime in manu Dei sunt, et non tanget illos tormentum mortis. Visi sunt oculis insipientium mori: illi autem sunt in pace. #ii.) The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: but they are in peace. HYMN Sanctorum meritis inclyta gaudia socii, gestaque Pangamus fortia: Gliscens fert animus promee cantibus Victorum genus optimum. Let us together celebrate the glorlous delights merited by the saints, and their heroic deeds: for the mind exnlts to proclaim in song these the noblest of conquerors. THIRD Hi sunt, quos DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE fatue mun- dus abhorruit ; Hunc fructu vacuum, floribus aridum Contempsere tui nominis assecle Jesu Rex bone calitum. Hi pro te furias, atque minas truces Calcarunt_hominum, szvaque verbera: His cessit lacerans fortiter ungula, Nec carpsit penetralia. 159 These are they whom the world in its folly abhorred; while they, the faithful followers of thy name, O Jesus, merciful King of the heavenly citizens, despised the world as barren and devoid of fruits and flowers. For thy sake they scorned the rage of men, their savage threats and cruel stripes: the fiercely rending hook, vanquished by their courage, left the brave heart untouched. Like sheep they are slaughdentium: tered by the sword: mot a Non murmur resonat, non murmur, not a_complaint esquerimonia; capes them; but with unSed corde impavido mens bene qualling heart, the soul, conscious of right, preserves its conscia Conservat patientiam. patience. What volce, what tongue Quz vox, quz poterit lingua retexere, could relate the rewards thou Quz tu martyribus munera preparest for the martyrs ? praparas ? or adomed with the purple Rubri nam fluido sanguine of their own blood, they bind fulgidis their brows with victory's Cingunt tempora laureis. glittering laurels. We beseech thee, O supreme Te summa, o Deitas, unumque and only God, that thou poscimus, Ut culpas abigas, noxia sub- wouldst cleanse away our sins, trahas, remove all evils, and grant Des pacem famulis, ut tibi peace to thy servants, that they may sing glory to thee gloriam for all ages to come. Annorum in seriem canant. Amen, Amen. Y. The saints shall rejoice ¥. Exsultabunt sancti in gloria. in glory. Ry. Latabuntur fn cubiliK. They shall be joyful in bus suis. their beds. Caduntur gladiis more ANTIPHON Gaudent sanctorum, stigla sunt bi- OF THE MAGNIFICAT The souls of the saints, who qui Christi ve- have followed the footsteps secuti: et quia of Christ, rejoice in heaven: in calis animz TIME AFTER PENTECOST 160 pro ejus amore sanguinem and because for his sake they e suum fuderunt, ideo cum shed their blood, thereforthey Christo exsultant sine fine. exult with Christ for ever. The Canticle Magnificat, page 43. The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, page 151. Then follow the commemorations of the Sunday and of the octave. In some churches, the hymn for this feast following, composed by Claud Santeiiil, who be confounded with John Baptist Santeiiil of The compositions of the former are superior his brother in unction and simplicity, as well orthodoxy. HYMN O vos unanimes Christiadum chori, Sanctorum tumulos et cineres patrum, Charas exuvias, pignora calitum Latis dicite cantibus. Calo quando piis ®qua laboribus Felices_animz gaudia possident, Peenarum sociis debita redditur Hic laus et decus ossibus. Passim_sparsa Deus, polliciti memor Custos, ne pereant, pignora colligit: Electosque suls providus aggerit Aptandos lapides locis. in et reliquias, et tuB Aras ipse Deus consecrat hostia: Conjungensque suis se caput artubus, Hos secum simul immolat. is the must not St. Victor. to those of as by their O choirs of Christians, one in heart, celebrate in songs of joy the tombs of the saints and the ashes of our fathers; dear relics, pledges left us by the heavenly citizens. While their happy souls possess in heaven joys proportioned to their loving toils on earth, here below meet praise and honour are rendered to their bodies, sharers anon in their sufferings. Mindful of his promise, God, their kind protector, gathers these scattered pledges, lest they perish; and lovingly collects his chosen stones to fit them for their places. Yea, God, who is himself our Victim, consecrates these relics and tombs into for himself; the divine altars Head unites with these his members, and immolates with himself. them together THIRD DAY WITHIN Vos, quorum cineres supplicibus pia, Tutum prasidium, plebs colit osculis, Si vos nostra movent, subsidium boni Vestris ferte clientibus. Ut cum nostra novis splendida dotibus Surget juncta choris spirituum caro, Indivisa Trias sit Deus omnia Nobis semper in omnibus. Amen. 161 THE OCTAVE O ye, whose ashes the pious people looks upon as its secure defence, and honours with suppliant kisses; if our troubles touch your hearts, bring aid, in your goodness, to your cients. So that when our flesh, re- splendent with new gifts, shall rise again and be united with the choirs of spirits, God, the indivisible Trinity, may be to us for ever all in all. Amen. We next give the beautiful formula from the Roman pontifical for the blessing of shrines and reliquaries. PREFACE Vere dignum et justum est, ®quum et salutare, nos tibi semper, et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, wmterne Deus inmstimabilis, Deus ineffabilis, Deus misericordiarum, et totius consolationis. Qui’ Moysi famulo tuo pracepisti, ut juxta exemplar quod ei in monte demonstrasti, arcam de lignis imputribilibus construeret, et eam auro mundissimo circumdaret, in quaurna aurea manna ceelesti plena, cum tabulis testamenti digito majestatis tuz conscriptis, in testimonium futurisgenerationibus servari deberet. Quique nostrissaculis eadem sacratius intelligenda manifestasti, dum corpus unici Filii tui, opere Spiritus Sancti de incorrupta Virgine conceptum, et anima rationali vivificatum, omni plenitudine divinitatis replesti: It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal, inestimable God, ineffable God, God of mercies and of all consolation. Who didst command thy servant Moses to construct, according to the pattern thou didst show him in the mount, an ark of incorruptible wood, and to cover it all over with purest gold, that therein might be preserved, as a testimony to future generations, the golden urn full of heavenly manna, with the tables of the Covenant written by the finger of thy Majesty. In our ages thou didst make known how these same things are to be more mystically understood, when thou didst fill with all the plenitude of the Divinity the Body of thine only Son, conceived of the most pure Virgin by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and quickened with a rational soul. TIME AFTER PENTECOST 162 Te suppliciter imploramus, omnipotens Deus, Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ex quo omnis paternitas in czlo et in terra nominatur; ut hzc vascula sanctorum tuorum pignoribus. preparata, eisdem sanctis tuis intercedentibus, calesti benedictione perfundere digneris, quatenus qui horum patrocinia. requirunt, ipsis intercedentibus cuncta sibiadversantia, teadju- vante, superare, et omnia commode profutura, abundantia largitatis tuz mereantur invenire. Et sicut illi, te Domine inspirante, spiritualium nequitiarum versutias cavere, et humanitus exquisita tormenta non solum contemnere, sed etiam penitus evincere, Christo Do- mino confortante, potuerunt; ita ipsorum merita veneranti- bus, et reliquias humiliter amplectentibus, contra diabo- lum, et angelos ejus, contra fulmina et tempestates, contra grandines, et varias pestes, contra corruptum aerem, et mortes hominum, vel animalium, contra fures et latrones, sive gentium incursiones, contra malas bestias, et serpentium, ac reptantium diversissimas formas, contra malorum hominum adinventiones pessimas, eorumdem sanctorum tuorum precibus _complacatus, dexte- ram invicte potentiz tuz ad depulsionem nocivorum et largitater proficuorum semper et ubique propitius extende. We suppliantly beseech thee, O almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all paternity in heaven and on earthisnamed; that thou wouldst deign to imbue with thy heavenly blessing, through the intercession of thy saints, these vessels prepared fo receive their sacred remains; so that those who have recourse to their patronage may, through their intercession and by thine assistance, merit to overcome all adversities, and to obtain all that is_useful and profitable from the abundance of thy bounty. And as these thy saints, O Lord, by the inspiration of thy grace, were able to avoid the snares of the spirits of wickedness, and in the strength of Christ our Lord not only to despise but entirely to triumph over the most cruel tortures from the.hands of men: even so, that those who venerate their merits and humbly embrace their relics may be protected against the devil and his angels, against lightnings and tem: pests, against hail and all sorts of plagues, against unhealthy atmosphere and _mortalities among men and cattle, against thieves and assassins, against invasions of nations, against wild_beasts and serpents and the innumerable Linds of reptiles, and against the most wicked designs of evil men— do thou, being appeased by the prayers of the same thy saints, mercifully stretch forth, alwaysandeverywhere, theright hand of thine invincible power, to drive away all that is evil, and to shed abroad all benefits. THIRD DAY WITHIN Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, ‘qui tecum vivit et renat in unitate ejusdem Spiritus Eancti Deus, per omtia secula szculorum. Amen. THE OCTAVE 163 Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Hols Ghost, God. world without end. Amen. Lastly, not to forget our dear dead on any of the days of this octave, let us end with this ancient and tender supplication, used by the churches of Séez, le Mans, Angers, and Rennes, of the departed. for the Commemoration SEQUENCE De profundis clamantes geFrom the depths crying out mimus we groan, and groaning we Et gemendo preces effundimus: pour forth our prayer: hear Exaudi nos, Domine. us, O Lord. Pitifully have Miserere misertus miseris, pity on the pitiable, O thou Qui Salvator et Salus diceris, who art called the Saviour and Competente munere. Salvation, and thy function corresponds to thy name. Sicut cervus ad fontes proAs the hart speeds to the perat, fountains, so does the soul Sic anima ad te desiderat, yearn after_thee, O fount of Fons misericordiz. mercy; wash us with the waFontis hujus aquis nos abluas, ters of this fountain, and deal Nec secundum culpas retri- not with us according to our sins, O God of pardon. buas, Deus indulgenti. Mark not the measure of Nec mensuram observes sceour crimes, and count not the lerum, Nec culparum numeres nume- number of our sins, but make rum, way for indulgence. Guilty Sed da locum veni as we are, it is not judgment Non est opus reis judici we need; but we are afflicted: Sed afflictis detur remissio, grant us forgiveness by the Dono tuz gratie. free gift of thy grace. Tu dixisti: Vos qui laboribus Thou hast said: All ye that Pressi estis, atque oneribus, are heavily laden with labours Ego vos reficiam. and with burdens, I will reEcce ad te pressi confugimus, frésh you. Behold how opA te solo refici petimus, pressed we flee to thee; from Per tuam clementiam. thee alone we seek refreshment, through thine own clemency. AFTER TIME 164 PENTECOST Nec facturam tuam despicias, ~ Oh| despise not the work of thy hands; but look tenSed clamantem pius respicias, Dans reis remedia. derly upon the suppliant, and Qui venturuses Judex omnium, give healing remedies to the guilty. Thou, who art to Animabus cunctis fidelium Des terna gaudia. come as Judge of all, grant to Amen. all the souls of the faithful everlasting joys. Amen. SAME SAINT BISHOP AND DAY HUBERT CONFESSOR RoME, wishing to admit as few interruptions as possible into the present great octave, gives but a brief notice of St. Hubert in the martyrology. should imitate her reserve. It is fitting that we Were we, however, to omit all mention of him, Christian huntsmen, so faithful in proclaiming their glorious patron, would not forgive us. It is right also to satisfy popular piety, and the gratitude of numberless clients saved from hydrophobia and led to the feet of the saint by a tradition of a thousand years’ standing. A few words suffice to recount his life. After the mysterious stag had revealed Christ to him, he became, from a hunter of wild animals, a hunter of souls; and merited to be called the apostle of Ardenne, whose hounds. St. forests had often echoed He Lambert; became and the to the baying of disciple transferring from and successor Maestricht his of both the relics of the holy martyr-bishop and the episcopal See, he raised Liége from an obscure village to a great town. His blessed death took place on May 30, 727; and on November 3, 743, his precious remains were taken up for the first time, which led to the celebration of his feast on this day. In the following century, the Abbey of Andain was put in possession of the sacred deposit, and took from him the name of St. Hubert, as did likewise the town which sprang up around and soon became SAINT HUBERT a centre for pilgrimages. Two orders of 165 knighthood were established in honour of St. Hubert; the first perished with the fall of the Bourbons, its last chiefs; the other still exists, and the kings of Bavaria are its Grand-Masters. ANTIPHONS! Ave, decus confessorum; ave, consors angelorum: nobis prasens tripudium da, sit perenne gaudium; prece tua Deo grata sanos salva, @gros sana. ¥. Justum deduxit Dominus per vias rectas. K. Dei. Et ostendit illi regnum Hail, glory of confessors, hail, companion of give us present joy, may become eternal bi thy prayer, well-pleasing to God. save the healthy, heal the sick. ¥. The Lord hath led the just man through righteous ways . And shewn him the kingdom of God. PRAYER Propitiare, quasumus, Domine, nobis famulis tuis per sancti Huberti confessoris_tui atque pontificis merita gloriosa ut ejus pia intercessione ab omnibus "semper protegamur adversis. Per Dominum. Be propitious, we beseech thee, O Lord, to us thy servants, through the glorious ‘merits of St. Hubert thy confessor and bishop, that by his loving _intercessionwe may ever be versities. ‘l‘hmugh ot Lord, Office of the abbey of St. Scholastica of Juvigny-les-Dames, where a tooth o1, SHabert was ept. TIME AFTER 166 PENTECOST NOVEMBER 4 SAINT CHARLES BISHOP AND CONFESSOR MILITAS. gold, upon Thisword already stood, crowned with his family escutcheon,® when Charles was born at the castle of Arona. It had been said of the Borromeos that they knew nothing of humility, except to bear it on their coat of arms: but the time had now come when the mysterious device was to be justified by the most illustrious scion of that noble family, and when, at the zenith of his greatness, a Borromeo would learn to void his heart of self, in order that God might fill it. Far, however, from abjuring the high-mindedness of his race, the humble saint was the most intrepid of them all, while his enterprises were to eclipse the noble exploits of a long line of ancestors: one more proof that humility never debases. Charles was scarcely twenty-two years of age when Pius IV, his maternal uncle, called him to the difficult post of Secretary of State, shortly afterwards created him Cardinal and archbishop of Milan, and seemed to take pleasure in heaping honours and responsibilities The late Pontiff, Paul 1V, on his young shoulders. had been ill-requited for placing a similar confidence in his nephews the Caraffas, who ended their days upon the scaffold. His successor, on the contrary, as the event testified, was actuated by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, not by the dictates of flesh and blood. Sixty years of that fatal century had already elapsed, while the evils consequent on Luther’s revolt were ever increasing, and the Church was daily threatened with some new danger. The Protestants had just imposed upon the Catholics of Germany the treaty of Passau, 1 On a chief argent the word HUMILITAS sable, crowned or. SAINT CHARLES 167 which completed the triumph of the fanatics, and secured to them equality and liberty. The abdication of Charles V in despair left the empire to his brother Ferdinand ; while Spain, with its immense dominions in both hemispheres, fell to his son Philip II. Ferdinand I inaugurated the custom of dispensing with Rome, by crowning himself with the diadem which St. Leo III had placed upon the brow of Charlemagne; and Philip, enclosing Italy by taking Naples in the south and Milan in the north, seemed to many to be threatening the independence of Rome herself. England, reconciled for a brief period under Mary Tudor, was replunged by Elizabeth mto the schism which continues to the present day. Boy kings succeeded one another on the throne of St. Louis, and the regency of Catharine de Medici involved France in the wars of religion. Such was the political situation which the minister of Pius IV had to cope with, and to utilize to the best of his power for the interests of the Holy See and of the Church. Charles did not hesitate. With faith to supply for his want of experience, he understood that to the torrent of errors which threatened to deluge the world Rome must first of all oppose, as an embankment, that undivided truth of which she is the guardian. He saw how, in contest with a heresy which claimed the name of Reformation while it let loose every passion, the Church might take occasion from the struggle to strengthen her discipline, elevate the morals of her children, and manifest to the eyes of all her indefectible sanctity. This thought had already, under Paul IIT and Julius III, led to the convocation of the Council of Trent, and inspired its dogmatic definitions and reformatory decrees. But the Council, twice interrupted, had not completed its work, which was still under dispute. It had now been suspended for eight years, and the difficulties in the way of its resumption continued to increase on account of the quarrelsome pretensions of princes. The Cardinal-nephew bent all his efforts to surmount the obstacles. He devoted day and night to 168 TIME AFTER PENTECOST the work, imbuing with his views the Sovereign Pontiff himself, inspiring with his zeal the nuncios at the various courts, vying in skill and firmness with diplomatic ministers in order to overcome the prejudices or the ill-will of monarchs. And when, after two years of these difficult negotiations, the Fathers of Trent gathered together once more, Charles was the providence and the tutelary angel of this august assembly. To him it owed its material organization, its political security, the complete independence of its deliberations, and their thenceforward uninterrupted continuity. Himself detained at Rome, he was the intermediary between the Pope and the Council. The presiding legates soon gave him their full confidence, as is proved from the pontifical archives; to him, as to the ablest counsellor and most reliable support, they daily had recourse in their solicitudes and anxieties. ‘ For her (wisdom’s) sake,’ says the Wise Man, ‘I shall have glory among the multitude, and honour with the ancients, though I be young . . . and the faces of princes shall wonder at me. They shall wait for me when I hold my peace, and they shall look upon me when I speak, and if I talk much they shall lay their hands on their mouths.” Such was truly the case with St. Charles, at this critical moment of the world’s history. No wonder that divine Wisdom, to whom he listened with such docility, and who inspired him so copiously, rendered his name immortal in the memory of a grateful posterity. In his Defence of the too famous Declaration, Bossuet, speaking of the Council of Trent, which owed its completion to St. Charles, says that it brought the Church back to the purity of her origin as far as the iniquity of the times would permit.? And when the (Ecumenical sessions at the Vatican were opened, the bishop of Poitiers, the future Cardinal Pie, spoke of ‘ that Council of Trent, which deserved, more truly even than that of ! Wisd, viii. 10-12. * Gallia orthodoxa, Pars T11, Lib. xi. cap. 13 vii cap. 4o. SAINT CHARLES Nicza, to be called the great Council; 169 that Council, concerning which we may confidently assert that since the creation of the world no assembly of men has succeeded in introducing among mankind such great perfection; that Council whereof it has been said that, as a tree of life, it has for ever restored to the Church the vigour of her youth. More than three centuries have elapsed since its labours were completed, and its healing and strengthening virtue is still felt.”* “The Council of Trent is perpetuated in the Church by means of the Roman Congregations charged with its continual application, and with ensuring obedience to the pontifical constitutions which have followed and completed it.’* Charles suggested the measures adopted for this end by Pius IV, and approved and developed by succeeding pontiffs. He caused the liturgical books to be revised, and the Roman catechism to be compiled. But first, and in all things, he was himself the living model of the renewed discipline, and thus acquired the right to exercise his zeal for or against others. Rome, initiated by him in the salutary reform of which it was fitting she should set the first example, was in a few months completely transformed. The three churches now dedicated to St. Charles within her walls,® and the numerous altars which bear his name in other sanctuaries of the holy city, are the testimony of her enduring gratitude. His administration, however, and his sojourn in Rome, lasted only during the six years of Pius IV’s pontificate. On the death of that Pope, in spite of the entreaties of Pius V, whose election was due chiefly to his exertions, Charles set out for Milan, which called for the presence ofits Archbishop. Fornigha century the great Lombard city had scarcely known its pastors save by name; and this abandonment had delivered it, like S0 many others * Discourse pronounced at Rome, in the church of St. Andrew della Valle, Japuary 14, 1870 ¥ 2 Yo Prttorsl strucion on occasion of the spproaching Council. of Bordeaux, 50, at the Catinari, one of the St most beautiful in Rome ; the Corso, which possesses his beart; St. Chavies at the four fountains.St. Charles - 170 TIME AFTER PENTECOST at that period, to the wolf that ‘ catcheth and scattereth the sheep.’ Our saint understood far otherwise the responsibility of the cure of souls. He gave himself entirely to this duty, without care for himself, without a thought for the judgments of men, without fear of the powerful. His maxim was ‘ To treat of the interests of Jesus Christ in the spirit of Jesus Christ ’;! his programme the ordinances of Trent. Charles’s episcopate was the carrying out of the great Council; its living form; the model of its practical application in the whole Church; and the proof of its efficiency, demonstrating that it sufficed for every reform, and could, of itself alone, sanctify both pastor and flock. We would gladly have given more than a passing notice of these Acts of the Church of Milan, which have been lovingly collected by faithful hands, and which show our saint in so grand a light. Herein, after the six_provincial councils and eleven diocesan synods over which he presided, follows the inexhaustible series of general or special mandates dictated by his zeal; pastoral letters, the most remarkable of which is the sublime Memorial written after the plague in Milan; instructions upon the holy liturgy, upon the tenure of churches, upon preaching, upon the administration of the Sacraments, and notably the celebrated instruction to confessors; ordinances concerning the- archiepiscopal court, the chancellorship, canonical visitations; regulations for the archbishop’s domestic family, and his vicars and officials of all ranks, for the parish priests and their meetings in conference (a custom introduced by him), for the Oblates he had founded, the seminaries, schools, and confraternities; edicts and decrees, and lastly various tables, and complete forms of administrative acts, so drawn up that nothing remains but to insert names and dates. It is a true pastoral encyclopzdia, which, in its magnificent amplitude, would appear to be the work of a long life; yet St. Charles died at the early age of forty- six; and, moreover, all this was written in the midst of 1 Acta Eccl. Mediolaneasis, Oratio habita in Concil, prov. vi. 171 SAINT CHARLES trials and combats sufficient to have been his sole preoccupation. But it is time to listen to the Church’s account of him. Carolus, Mediolani nobili Borromzorum familia natus, quanta futurus esset sanctitate conspicuus, divina lux super parientis matris cubiculum noctu coruscans prasignavit. A pueritia clericali _militiz adscriptus, abbatia postmodum insignitus, patrem” admonuit, ne reditus in rem familiarem converterentur: quorum ipse nactus administrationem, quidquid supererat, expendebat in pauperes. Adolescens liberalibus_disciplinis Papiz operam dedit. Castitatem adeo coluit, ut impudicas_etiam mulieres ad labefactandam ejus pudicitiam pluries immissas invicta constantia fugaverit. Vigesimum tertium tatis annum agens, a Pio Quarto ejus avunculoin sacrum Cardinalium collegium cooptatus, insigni pietatis ac virtutum omnium splendore praluxit. Mox ab eodem Mediolanensis archi episcopus creatus, in eo plurimam operam adhibuit, ut juxta sacrosanctum Tridentinum concilium, quod ejus potissimum sollicitudine jam tum fuerat absolutum, ecclesiam sibi commissam componeret: atque ut depravatos plebis suz mores reformaret, preeter iteratam sapius synodorum celebrationem, seipsum eximie sanctitatis prabuit exemplar. In profligandis hareticis e partibus Rhatorum et Helvetiorum, quorum plurimos ad Christianam fidem convertit, maxime laboravit. Charles was born at Milan, of the noble family of Borro- meo. His future pre-eminent sanctity was foreshown by a heavenly light shining at night over born. the room where he was He was enrolled in his boyhood in the ranks of the clergy, and soon provided with an abbey; but he warned his father not to turn its revenues to private use; and as soon as its administration was entrust- ed to him, he spent all the surplus income on the As a youth he pumaJ his He liberal studies at Pavia. had the greatest love for holy chastity; and several times put to flight, with the greatest firmness, some shameless women sent to tempt him. In the twenty-third year of his age, his uncle Pius IV created him Cardinal; and he adorned that dignity by his great piety and remarkable virtues. Be- ing soon afterwards made archbishop of Milan, he laboured strenuously to carry diocese, out, in his whole the decrees of the Council of Trent, which had just been concluded mainly through his exertions. To reform the evil customs of his people he held many synods, and moreover was ever himself a perfect also He of virtue. model the laboured much to heretics from Switzerland and the country of the Grisons, and converted many of them to the true faith. 172 TIME AFTER Hujus viri caritas pracipue enituit, cum Uritano principatu vendito, pretium universum ad quadraginta aureorum millia, una die in pauperes erogavit. Nec minore _pietate viginti millia, qua sibi fuerant legata, distribuit. Ecclesiasticos proventus, quibus ab avunculo copiose fuerat cumulatus, dimisit, nonnullis retentis, quibus ad proprios usus et egenorum necessitates utebatur. Quo tempore pestis Mediolani grassabatur, domesticam supellectilem, ne relicto sibi lectulo, in eosdem alendos contulit, e nuda in posterum tabula discumlaborue morbo bens; antes sedulo invisens, paterno reficiebat affectu, et Ecclesiz sacramenta propriis ipse manibus_administrans, mirum in modum solabatur: humillimis interim precibus reconciliator accedens, publica supplicatione indicta, fune sibi collum alligato, nudis pedibus, etiam offendiculo cruentatis, crucem bajulans, semetipsum 0 peccatis populi hostiam_offerens, divinam _indignationem avertere satagebat. Ecclesiastice libertatis fuit acerrimus propugnator. _Disciplina vero restituendz sollicitus, a seditiosis, dum orationi insisteret, tormenti bellici laxata rota, igneo globulo percussus, divina illzsus. PENTECOST The charity of this holy man was strikingly exhibited, when he sold the principality of Oria, and in one day distributed the price, amounting to about forty thousand gold pieces, among the poor. no less another generosity occasion, he, With on distributed twenty thousand gold picces left him as a legacy. He resigned the many ecclesiastical benefices which his uncle had bestowed upon him, except a few which he retained for his own necessities and for relieving the poor. When the plague was raging in Milan, he gave up the furniture of his house, even his bed, for the support of the poor, and thenceforward always slept on a bare board. He visited the plague-stricken with unwearied zeal, assisted them with fatherly affection, and, administering to them with his own hands the Sacraments of the Church, singularly consoled them. Meanwhile he approached to God in humble prayer as a_mediator for his people; he ordered public supEllications to be made, and imself walked in the processions, with a rope round his neck, his feet bare and bleed- ing from the stones, and carrying a cross; and thus offering virtute servatur himself asa victim for thesinsof the people, he endeavoured to turnaway theangerof God. He strenuously defended the liberty of the Church, and was most zealous in restoring discipline, For this reason some seditious persons fired upon him while he was engaged in prayer, but by the divine power he was preserved unharmed. SAINT CHARLES 173 Abstinentia fuit admirabili: His abstinence was wonderjejunabat sepissime, pane tan- ful: he very often fasted on tum et aqua, solis quandoque bread and water, and somelupinis contentus. Nocturnis times took only a little pulse. vigiliis, asperrimo cilicio, as- He subdued his body by nightsiduis flagellis corpus domabat. watchings, a rough hair shirt, Humilitatis ac mansuetudinis studiosissimus fuit. Orationem ac verbi Dei pradicationem, occupatus curisslice gravissimi t, numquam intermisit. Maultas ecclesias, monasteria, collegia adificavit. Plura scripsit, ad episcoporum prasertim instructionem utilissima: cujus etiam opera parochorum catechismus prodiit. Demum insolitudinem Varalli_ montis, ubi sculptis imaginibus Dominica passionis mysteria ad vivum reprasentantur, secessit; ibique, diebus aliquot voluntaria_castigatione asperam, sed Christi dolorum meditationibus suavem vitam ducens, in febrim incidit. Mediolanum reversus, ingravescente morbo, cinere ac cilicio coopertus, et oculis in crucifixi imaginem defixis, migravit in calum, atatis anno quadragesimo septimo, Domini vero millesimo_quingentesimo octogesimo quarto, tertio nonas Novembris. Quem miraculis claum Paulus Quintus Pontifex Maximus in sanctorum numerum retulit, and frequent disciplines. He was a great lover of humility and meekness. Even when occupied by weighty business, he never omitted his prayer or preaching. He built many churches, monasteries, and colleges. He wrote many works of great value especially for the on of bishops , and it fastracti was through his care that the catechism for parish priests was drawnup. At leng he th retired to a solitary place on Mount Varallo, where the mysteries of our Lord's Passion are sculptured in a_lifelike manner, and there, after spending some days in severe bodily mortifications sweetened by meditation on Christ’s sufierings, he was seized by a fever. He returned to Milan; but the illness growing much worse, he was covered with sackcloth and ashes, and with his eyes fixed on the crucifix he passed to heaven, in the forty-seventh year of his age, on the third of the Nones of November, in the year of our Lord 1584. He was illustrated by miracles, and was enrolled amongthesaintsby PopePaul V Successor of Ambrose, thou didst inherit his zeal for the house of God; thy action also was powerful in the Church; and though separated in time by a thousand years, your names are now united in one common glory. May your prayers also mingle before the throne of God for us in these times of decadence; and may your power in heaven obtain for us pastors worthy to continue, or TIME 174 PENTECOST AFTER if need be to renew, your work on earth. How obviously applicable to both of you were those words of Holy Writ : < €Vhat manner of man the ruler of the city is, such also are they that dwell therein’* And again: ‘I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness; and My people shall be filled with My good things, saith the Lord.’? Rightly didst thou say, O Charles: ‘ Never did Israel hear a more awful threat than this: Lex peribit a sacerdote® Priests are divine instruments, upon whom depends the welfare of the world; their abundance the riches of all, their default is the ruin of nations.’ is And when, from the midst of thy priests convoked in synod, thou didst pass to the venerable assembly of seventeen bishops thy suffragans, thy language became, if possible, still more vehement: angered Judge say to us: If My Church, why have you pretended to be shepherds suffered it to stray ? Salt of ‘ Let us fear lest the you were the closed your of the flock, the earth, you enlighteners of eyes? If you why have you have lost your savour. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men ? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues ?’S But, by the grace of God blessing thy zeal for the amendment of both sheep and lambs, thou couldst add, O Charles: ‘ Province of Milan, take heart again. Behold, thy fathers have come to thee, and are assembled once more for the purpose of remedying thy ills. They have no other care than to see thee bring forth the fruits O:f salva‘tian; and for this end they multiply their united efforts.” ? Jerem, xxxi. 14. , hAc‘“ .!E"' :I.h.lll:;‘i];lxén the heart of 'lhzlprilit " and ta ECcl. Mediolan, Constitutiones et reguli societat = “Cancio I. ad clerum, in sysod, gieeccs. x xi. ¢ In concil. prov. vi. # Gratio habita in concil. prov. *halarum doctine christianm, Cap 111 i SAINT CHARLES 175 ‘ My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.’* Such is the aspiration of the Bride, which will cease only in heaven: and synods, visitations, reformation, decrees concerning preaching and government and ministry, were, in thy eyes, but the manifestation of this one desire of the Church, the expression of the mother’s cry as she brings forth her children.? Deign, O blessed pontiff, to restore in all places the love of holy discipline, wherein the pastoral solicitude that rendered thee so glorious® found the secret of its marvellous fecundity. It may be sufficient for the simple faithful merely to know that among the treasures of the Church there exists, side by side with her doctrine and Sacraments, an incomparable code, the work of ages, an object of legitimate pride to all her sons, whose divine privileges it protects. But the priest, entirely devoted to the Church, cannot serve her usefully without that profound and persevering study which will give him the understanding of her laws in detail. But clergy and laity alike must beseech God that the miseries of the times may not impede-the meeting of our venerated superiors in the councils and synods prescribed at Trent,4 and so grandly carried out by thee, O Charles, who didst prove by experience their value for the salvation of the world. May heaven, for thy sake, hear our prayer; and then we shall be able to say with thee® to the Church: ‘ O tender mother, let thy voice cease from weeping . . . for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord; and thy sons shall return out of the land of the enemy. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things.’® Let us offer our homage to two martyrs, whose memory was celebrated on this day even before that of St. Charles. Vitalis the slave and Agricola his master, combating together in the glorious arena, proved 3 Gall iv. x 5. ¢ Sessio xxiv. de Reformatione, cap. 11 3+ Concio 1 . ad clerum, i n synod. diacces. i, # Conclo 1.ad clerumm, 1n syaod. e £ Gollect of the feast” ¢ Joream, xxi 16, 14 176 TIME AFTER PENTECOST that social inequality counts for nothing with regard to heaven’s nobility. St. Bologna, where they bodies and celebrated following his example, common homage. Ambrose, when sojourning at had suffered, discovered their their triumph.! The Church, has ever associated them in one PRAYER Prasta, quasumus, omnipotens Deus, ut, qui sanctorum martyrum’ tuorum Vitalis et Agricole solemnia colimus, eorum apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur. Per Dominum. Grant, we beseech thee, al- mighty God, that celebrating the festival ‘of thy holy martyrs Vitalis and Agricola, we may be assisted by their intercession with thee. Through our Lord. Returning to the octave of All Saints’, let us say the following Sequence composed by Notker, and formerly sung in Germany on the day of the feast. SEQUENCE All ye holy Seraphim, CheOmnes sancti Seraphim, Cherubim, rubim, Throni quoque Dominatio- . Thrones also and Dominanesque, tions, Principatus, Potestates, VirPrincipalities, Powers, Virtutes, tues, Archangeli, Angeli, vos decet Archangels, Angels, to you Iaus et honores. beseemeth praise and honour. Ordines novem spirituum Ye nine choirs of blessed beatorum, spirits, Whom charity has stablishQuos in Dei laudibus fired in God's praises, mavit caritas, Nos fragiles homines firmate Make us frail mortals as stable, by your prayers: precibus : Ut spiritales pravitates veSo that by your assistance, stro juvamine vincentes for- resolutely overcoming the spic 1its of wickedness, titer, Nunc et in mvum vestris We may be worthy to take simus digni sollemniis inte- part, both now and for ever, resse sacris. in your sacred solemnities. ‘e whom the grace of God Vos quos Dei gratia vinenabled to conquer the things cere terrea, of earth, 1 Aur. Lib de Exhort. Virginitat. L. SAINT CHARLES Et polo: Vos angelis soclos patriarch, fecit esse propheta, apostoli, confessores, martyres, ‘monachi, virgines, Et viduarum sanctarum omniumque _placentium populus supremo Domino, Nos adjutorium perenniter foveat, ut vestrum, In die poscimus vestrorum. Amen. 177 And associated with Ye patriarchs, prophets, angelsin heaven; apostles, confessors, the martyrs, monks, virgins, Assembly of holy widows, and of all who have been pleasing to the sovereign Lord, nunc et May your assistance, now protegat, and ever, cherish and protect us, gaudiorum As we pray on this day of your joys. Amen. ‘We gather from the euchology or ritual of the Greeks a few samples of their prayers for the dead. IN OFFICIO EXSEQUIARUM Venite, extremum vale, Deo Come, let us bid a last faregratias agentes, defuncto di- well to the deceased, giving camus. Tl Dominus requiem thanks to God. Let us pray conferat, precemur. that the Lord may give him Qualis vita nostra est? Flosculus, vapor, matutinus ros vere. Adeste igitur et sepulcracircumlustremus. Ubi is venustas? Ubi ventus ? Ubiillalumina ? Ubi carnis species ? Cuncta velut feenum apparuerunt, dissipata sunt cuncta. Venite et Christo cum lacrymis procidamus. Salva sperantes in te, Mater solis occasum nescientis; Dei_genitrix, optimum tuum natum precibus tuis interpella, precamur, ut ei qui hinc migravit, det requiem, ubi justorum anim quiescunt: divinorum bonorum in aulis justorum haredem illum constitue, in memoria wterna, o immaculata, rest. ‘What flower, morning is our life? a vapour, dew. A Come, little truly a then, and let us go round about the graves. Where is the beauty ofthebody ? Whereisyouth ? Where now are those eyes? ‘Where that comeliness of form? All appeared as grass, all are now withered. Come, and let us with tears prostrate before Christ. O Mother of the sun that knows no setting, save them that trust in thee. Mother of God, we beseech thee, entreat thy ‘most loving Son to give unto him, who has left us, rest where the souls of the just Establish him, O 'im- maculate one, heir of divine possessions, and let him be in everlasting remembrance. 178 TIME AFTER Christus verus Deus noster qui a_mortuis surrexit, intercessionibus illibate suz Matris et omnium sanctorum, servi sui vita functi animam in justorum tabernaculis collocet; in Abraham sinibus reclinet, justis annumeret; nostrique misereatur ut bonus et clemens. Amen. PENTECOST May Christ who rose from the dead, our true God, moved by the intercession of his spotless Mother and of all the saints, place the soul of his d servant in the tabernacles of the just; may he lay him to rest in the bosom of him Abraham, numbering among the just; and may he, who is both good and kind, have mercy upon us. Amen. Zterna tibi sit memoria, May thy memory be etersemper beande et jugi animo nal, O our brother; thou shalt recolende frater noster. be for ever blessed, and shalt ever be cherished in our hearts. Gloria Deo cui ita complacuit. Glory be to God, who hath 5o willed | FIFTH DAY WITHIN NOVEMBER FIFTH ¢ DAY THE OCTAVE 179 5 WITHIN THE ALL SAINTS OCTAVE AND the Spirit and the bride say: Come! that heareth, let him say: Come! ... OF And he Surely I come quickly: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” While we honour the Church triumphant with our chants, and succour the Church suffering with our prayers, let us also turn our thoughts to the Church militant, during these days when the closing cycle presents her to us as about to complete her work on earth. Now the Church is our model; but especially at the close of our pilgrimage ought we to make her attitude our own. The above-cited dialogue, which will terminate the world’s history, shows clearly the sentiments wherewith the Holy Spirit inspires her in preparation for the final hour. As the sufferings of the dying man break the last ties that bound him to the life of the senses ; so the last social convulsions, however violently they may shake the Church, will eventually disengage her from the trammels of a world which she will no longer be able to save from ruin. Free, therefore, to give herself up to her desires which had been pent up for ages and kept under control by so many labours, she will have but one word to utter: ‘Come!’ And in the universal destruction, when the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall hide her light, and the powers of heaven shall be moved, she will rejoice, knowing that in the midst of that awful night the cry will be heard: ‘ Behold the Bridegroom cometh | Let him that heareth, let every one of us say also: ‘Come !’ If we love our Lord, if we would be recognized as members of His dear Church, let us be worthy of that 1 Apoc. xxil. 17, 70. 180 TIME beautiful title; AFTER PENTECOST let us see all things with the Church’s eyes; let us appreciate all things, and especially death, according to her heart; let us look upon the last passage, both for our dear ones and for ourselves, as the entrance into the eternal nuptial feast. We know well that if anyone sincerely desires our Lord, our Lord will not be wanting to him. Even if, after this life, we have yet some debts to pay, if some adornment be wanting to our wedding garment ere we can take our place at the heavenly banquet; the blessed passage, nevertheless, places all the just, at once and entirely, in a state of impeccability, and in the secure possession of eternal love. Such, as we shall have occasion to see, were the sentiments of our forefathers. Many churches in France, Switzerland, and England, used formerly to sing the following Sequence in honour of the saints. SEQUENCE Christo inclyto candida To Christ the all-glorious Nostra canunt melodiam ag- our white-robed choirs sing mina, melody, giving praise to all Laudes omnibus dantia the saints on this their sacred Sanctis par hzc sacrata fe- festival. stalia. First let our voice name Mariam primum vox sonet nostra, Mary, through whom was Per quam nobis vitz sunt data given to us the gift of life. praemia. O Queen, who art both Mother Regina, quz es mater et casta, and Virgin, through thy Son Solve nostra per Filium tu- cancel our sins. um peccata. lorum concio tota. May the whole assembly of Et archangelorum turba in- angels, and the glorious mulclyta titude of archangels, cleanse Nostra diluant jam peccata, away our sins, and prepare us Parando supera czli gau- for the supernal delights of dia. heaven. Tu propheta, praco, luO thou, who wast prophet, cerna, and herald, and lamp, yea and Atque plus quam propheta, more than a prophet, make us In lucida nos pone via, all pure and set us in the path Mundans nostra corpora. of light. FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 181 Prince of apostles, together Apostolorum princeps Atque cuncta with all thy colleagues, strengthen the hearts of thy people Juncta caterva, Jam corrobora in true doctrine. Vera in doctrina Plebis pectora. Stephane gloriose, Glorious Stephen, _ glittering in thy crown; mighty arRutilans in corona, Sanctorumque martyrum my of holy martyrs; give us Turma valida, brave hearts and strong bodies, that the darts of our holy Fortia date corda, faith may duly vanquish the Corpora zque firma, Sacra ut hostem vincant enemy. Rite spicula. Martine inclyte Tllustrious Martin, and all Et prasulum omnis caterva, the band of holy pontifis, kindly receive this Suscipe nunc pia day our Modo nostra clemens precata. filial prayers. Regina virginum ~ permaO peerless Queen of virgins, thou art a Mother and yet xima, Tu Mater es incorrupta, spotless, a Maiden and yet Virgo et gravida; fruitful; chastity is sacred to our Lord; preserve our souls Sacrata Domino est castitas: Nostras serva animas and bodies pure. Mundaque corpora. Monachorum veneranda sufMay the venerable sufirages of the monks, and may the fragia Omniumque sanctorum contu- assembly of all the saints by bernia their prayers, rule our times, Per precata assidua and lead us to the true and Nostra gubernent tempora, supernal joys of heaven. Nosque ducant ad superna Polorum vera gaudia. Subjungant pium agmina Let the ranks of the redeemed Amen redempta. add a fervent Amen. The hym n Mozarabic for the Vespers Office is taken from Cathemerinon of Prudentius. HYMN Deus ignee fons animarum, Duo qui socias elementa: Vivum simul, ac moribundum, Hominem, Pater effigiasti. of the Dead the tenth song in the in the O God, thou fiery source of living beings, who, uniting two elements in one, the mortal and the immortal, didst fashion man, O our Father. 182 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Both are thine, and thou art their Ruler; their union is linked to thee; and while they live and cleave together, both spirit and flesh serve thee. But when they are rent asunder, dissolution and death come upon man; the dry carth receives his body, while the swift spirit flees to heaven. “Tis the Iot of all created things to fail and grow old at last, for compound beings to be dissolved, for the union of dissimilar elements to be unknit. Therefore is so great care bestowed upon the sepulchres; therefore are the last honours paid to these lifeless limbs, and the funeral pomp does them homage. Such is the provident piety exercised by Christ's disciples, believing that all which now lies wrapt in icy slumber shall suddenly spring to life again. Whoever, then, in loving piety, shall cover with earth the corpses that lic unburied does in his piety a kindly deed to Christ himself the Omnipotent. Since the common law admonishes us that all groan under the same fate, it behoves us to mourn, in a stranger's death, the loss of one of our kin. Sequimur tua dicta, ReWe follow therefore thy demptor, words, . O Redeemer, when, Quibus atra’ e morte trium- triumphing over dismal death, thou didst bid the thief, thy phans, Tua per vestigia mandas fellow-crucified, to tread in thy Socium crucis ire latronem. footprints. Patet ecce fidelibus ampli Lo! now the shining path Via lucida jam paradisi; that leads to the broad land of Licet et nemus illud adire Eden lies open to thy faithHomini, quod ademerat an- ful; and man may again enter guis. that beautiful garden, of which the serpent had despoiled him Tua sunt, tua Rector utraue: Tibi copula jungitur horum; Tibi, dum vegetata cohzrent, Spiritus simul et caro servit. Rescissa sed ista seorsum, Solvunt hominem, perimuntHumusque;excipit arida corpus, Anime rapit aura liquorem. Quia cuncta creata necesse est Labefacta senescere tandem, Compactaque dissociari, Et dissona texta retexi. Hinc maxima cura sepulchris Impenditur: hinc resolutos Honor ultimus accipit artus, Et funeris ambitus ornat. Hoc provida Christi colarum Pietas studet, utpote credens Fore protinus omnia viva, Qua nunc gelidus sopor urget. Qui jacta cadavera passim Miserans tegit aggere terr: Opus exhibet ille benignum Christo pius omnipotenti. Quia lex eadem monet omnes Gemitum dare sorte sub una, Cognataque funera nobis Aliena in morte dolere. FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 183 There, O best of guides | we Tllic precor, optime Ductor, Famulam tibi pracipe mentem pray thee, bid the soul, thy Genitali in sede sacrari, handmaid be made holy in the Quam liquerat exsul, et errans. place of her creation, which she had quitted as an exile and a wanderer. Animas, non immemor ob Wherefore be mindful, O God, hoc, of the souls, whose memory we Quarum memores sumus ipsi, cherish; let them, we beseech Deus, sorde rogamus piatas, thee, be cleansed from all stain, and escape the fires of hell. Erebi rogis fac alienas. Sit honor tibi, fons pietatis: Honour to thee, O fount of Laus, gloria, summa potestas mercy | Praise, glory, sovereign power, to the Father, to Patri, Genito, sive Domino the Son, to the Lord who rules Orbis Regi; qui Deus unus. Amen, the world, one only God. Amen. TIME AFTER 184 PENTECOST NOVEMBER SIXTH DAY 6 WITHIN THE ALL SAINTS OCTAVE OF 'HOU art my portion, O Lord, Alleluia, in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia.—Bring forth my soul out of prison, to confess to Thy Name; in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia.—Glory and honour be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen: in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia.” Such is the ssaYenmg o chant for the departed, in the Mozarabic mi With the Greeks, in like manner, no word is of more frequent recurrence in the Office of the Dead than the Alleluia.? Moreover, both Greece and Spain are but observing what was once a general practice throughout the Church. St. Jerome tells us how, at the death of Fabiola, all the Roman people assembled, the chant of psalms echoed on all sides, and the sublime Alleluia filled the temples till it shook their gilded roofs.* Two centuries later, the story of St. Radegonde’s funeral, written by her daughter Baudonivia, proves that, if submissive tears were not forbidden to the survivors and might at times even flow abundantly, the custom in Gaul was, nevertheless, the same as that of Rome.* And again, with regard to a later period, the Manuscript of Rheims quoted by Dom Hugh Ménard in his notes on the Gregorian Sacramentary® prescribes as a ! tin Missa defunctorum Officium (seu Introitus).’ ‘Tu es portio mea, Domine, alleluia, in terra viventium, alleluia, alleluia. V. Educ de carcere animam meam ad confitendum nomini tuo in terra viventium, aileluia, alleluia, Gloria. et bonor cto, in siecula seculorum, amen : in terra viventinm, alleluia, alleluia.’ 3 Goar, Nota 64 ad Officium Exsequiarum in Euchologio. Patri, et Filio, et S 3 Hierow. ad Oceanum. De morte Fabiole. ¢ BAupoNvia, Vita Radegundis, 28. * Nota 680, = prelude to Psalm In relates that, the exitu burial 185 THE OCTAVE SIXTH DAY WITHIN prayers the Israel dz Zgypto, chanting with of Alleluia the as antiphon. When St. Anthony buried in the desert the body of St. Paul the first hermit, the biographer of the latter in accordance with Christian tradition, Anthony sang hymns as well as psalms.! Such was actually the universal Christian tradition, identical in all lands. St. John Chrysostom remarks the same fact, and explains it thus: * Tell me, are they not conquerors, the dead whom we carry in procession with shining torches and the singing of hymns? Yes; we praise God and give Him thanks; for He crowns the departed one; He has put an end to his labour; and He keeps him near Himself, free from all fear. Seek no other explanation for t}:ese hymns and psalms: they are an expression of joy.’ St. Dionysius speaks in the same strain, in his book on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. After alluding to the joy of the dying Christian as he sees approaching the end of his struggle and an eternal security, he adds: ‘ The relatives of the deceased, his friends in God and in holiness, proclaim him blessed for having conquered at last; and they address their songs of thanksgiving to the heavenly Author of the victory. Praying that themselves may obtain a similar lot, they bear him to the hierarch, the distributor of the holy crowns, to whom it belongs to perform the sacred rites prescribed with regard to those who have slept in the Lord.” To-morrow we will give some examples of these last honours paid by the Church to her children. Certain churches borrow the following stanzas from the tenth song of the Cathemerinon, which gave us yesterday the Mozarabic hymn for the dead. 186 TIME AFTER PENTECOST HYMN Jam meesta quiesce querela, Cease Lacrymas suspendite matres, Nullus sua pignora plangat: Mors hac reparatio vitz est. Quidnam sibi saxa cavata, Quid pulchra volunt monumenta, Res quod nisi creditur illis Non mortua, sed data somno ? Nam quod requiescere corpus Vacuum sine mente videmus, Spatium breve restat ut alti Repetat collegia sensus. Venient cito szcula cum jam Socius calor ossa revisat, Animataque sanguine Vivo Habitacula pristina gestet. Qua pigra cadavera pridem Tumulis putrefacta jacebant, Volucres rapientur in auras Animas comitata priores. Sic semina sicca virescunt Jam mortua, jamque sepulta: Qua reddita cespite ab imo Veteres meditantur aristas. Nunc suscipe terra fovendum, Gremioque hunc concipe molli: Hominis tibi membra sequestro, Generosa et fragmina credo. Anime fuit hzc domus olim, Factoris ab ore creatz; Fervens habitavit in Istis Sapientia principe Christo. ‘Tu depositum tege corpus: Non immemor ille requiret Sua munera fictor et auctor Propriique @nigmata vultus, now each com- sad plaint; ye mothers, check your tears; let no man mourn the pledges he has given: for this death is the restoration of life. What mean these sculptured marbles, and these fair monuments, save that what is committed to them is not dead, but laid to sleep ? For this body, which we see lying lifeless, yet a little while and it will seek once more the companionship of the spirit that has fled on high. Quickly shall the time come, when friendly life shall make these cold embers glow; and, animating them with circling blood, shall take back her for- mer dwelling. The motionless corpses, that have lain corrupting in their graves, shall be caught up in- to the swift air, united to the same souls as before. Even thus do the dry seeds, dead and buried, become green blades; and, springing up from the sward, re the former ears. Receive now, O earth, this deposit into thy care, and cherish it in thy tender bosom: 'tis the form of a man I place in thee, noble remains I entrust to thee. This was once the home a spirit breathed mouth of its from Creator; of the Christ ruled these members, and his holy wisdom dwelt therein. hen shelter the body con- t fided to thee: hewhomadeiwill not forget it, but will ask back the gifts he had given, and the likenessof his own countenance. SIXTH DAY WITHIN Veniant modo tempora justa Cum spem Deus impleat omnem, Reddas patefacta necesse est Qualem tibi trado figuram. Amen. The following responsory THE OCTAVE 187 Soon the promised time will come, when God shall full all hope; then thou must needs open thy bosom, and restore this form such as I give it thee. Amen. is the last of the third Nocturn in the short Office of the Dead per annum. After it we give an ancient prayer, found in the Ambrosian rite, and appropriated to deceased benefactors and relatives.! RESPONSORY Ry. Libera me, Domine, de viis inferni, qui portas @reas confregisti: et visitasti infernum, et dedisti eis lumen, ut viderent te. * Qui erant in peenis tenebrarum. ¥. Clamantes et dicentes: Advenisti, Redemptor noster. * Qui erant. ¥. Requiem aternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. * Qui erant. 7. Deliver me, O Lord, from the ways of hell, who hast broken the brazen gates, and hast visited hell, and hast given light to them, that they might behold thee. * Who were in the pains of darkness. ¥. Crying, and saying: Thou art come, O our Redeemer. * Who were. ¥. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. * Who were. PRAYER Deus vita viventium, spes morientium, salus omnium in te sperantium, prasta propitius, ut anime famulorum famularumque tuarum a nostra mortalitatis tenebris absolutz in perpetua cum sanctis tuis luce letentur. Per Dominum. O God, the life of the living, the hope of the dying, the vation of all that trust in thee, mercifully grant that the souls of thy servants and handmaids, delivered from the darkness of our mortality, may rejoice with thy saints in perpetusl light. ~ Through our rd. The following Prose by Adam of St. Victor, though often assigned to other feasts, was sung in several places to celebrate all the saints. ! Oratio super sindonem, in Missa quotidiana pro defunctis fratribus, sororibas, propinquis et benefactoribus. 188 TIME AFTER Supernz matris gaudia Reprasentet Ecclesta: Dum festa colit annua, Suspiret ad perpetua. PENTECOST SEQUENCE In hac valle miseriz Mater succurrat filiz: Hic calestes excubia Nobiscum stent in acie. Mundus, caro, demonia Diversa movent pralia: Incursu tot phantasmatum Turbatur cordis sabbatum. Dies festos cognatio Simul hzc habet odio, Certatque pari feedere Pacem de terra tollere. Confusa sunt hic omnia, Spes, metus, maror, gaudium: hora vel dimidia Fit in calo silentium. Quam felix illa civitas In qua jugis solemnitas | Et quam jocunda curia, Qua cura prorsus nescia | the Let Church earth on commemorate the joys of her mother the Church in heaven: and while she celebrates an- nual feasts, let her sigh for those which are eternal. May the mother assist her daughter in this valley of sorrows: and may our heavenly guardians be at our side in the battle. The world, the the devils wage many terrors, and flesh, their several the heart’s warfares; at the onslaught of s0o mAnflu' ity is disturbed. this brood detests our feast-days, and with united force endeavours to drive peace from the earth. Here all is confusion; hope, fear, sadness, joy are com- mingled: in heaven, scarce half an bour is silence kept. Oh | how happy is that city, where there is unceasing tivity | and how joyful is that assembly where care is utterly unknown | Nec languor hic, nec senium, No sickness there, nor old Nec fraus, nec terror hostium, age; no deceit, nor terror of Sed una vox lztantium Et unus ardor cordium. Tllic cives angelici Sub hierarchia triplici, Trin gaudent et simplici Se Monarchiz subjici. o Mirantur, nec deficiunt, n il um quem prospiciunt: quntux'? nec E.wh iunt, Quo frui magis sitiunt. Iilic patres dispositi Pro dignitate meriti, Semota jam caligine Lumen vident in lumine, foes; but all one voice of joyful souls, and all one burning love of hearts. There the angelic citizens in their triple hierarchy rejoice to be subject to a Monarch ‘who is both One and Three. They admire, and faint not in contemplating, the God up- on whom they gaze; they enjoy him, and are not satiated, for theenjoy bringsment newthirst. There are our fathers, rank- ;"fi ;owrding to their merit; arkness is now dispelled, and in God's light they see light. SIXTH DAY WITHIN Hi sancti quorum hodie Celebrantur solemnia Jam revelata facie Regem cernunt in gloria. Tllic Regina virginum, Transcendens culmen ordinum, Excuset apud Dominum Nostrorum lapsus criminum. Nos ad sanctorum gloriam, Per ipsorum suffragi Post presentem miseriam Christi perducat gratia. Amen. 189 THE OCTAVE These saints, whose solem- nity is celebrated to-day, behold with unveiled face the King in his glory. There is the Queen of virgins, far above the highest choirs; may she, before the Lord, excuse our guilty falls. And after this present misery, may the grace of Christ, through the intercession of the saints, lead us to the same glory i Amen. 190 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER SEVENTH DAY 7 WITHIN THE ALL SAINTS OCTAVE OF GREAT mystery,” says St. John Chrysostom, ‘is accomplished in our dead. A mystery of praise and of joy, when, summoned by the King of kings, the soul goes to meet her Lord, accompanied by angels sent from heaven for the purpose! And thou—dost- thou lament?' When the bridegroom to whom thou hast given thy daughter carries her to a far country, thou dost not complain, provided he makes her happy; although her absence is a grief to thee, the sadness is tempered. And now, because it is not a man, a fellow-slave, but the Lord 0 Himself that claims one of thy family, is thy grief to be without measure ? I do not forbid thee to shed a tear; weep, but be not disconsolate even as others who have no hope.? -And be ready also to return thanks, as is meet; honouring thereby thy dead, as well as glorifying God, and thus giving them magnificent obsequies.” With such sentiments were our fathers inspired, in those farewells of the primitive liturgy, which contrasted so strangely with the sad pomp of pagans, and ‘which made the funeral train resemble a bridal procession. First, loving hands respectfully washed the body, which had been sanctified by the waters of Baptism and the holy oil, and so often honoured by the visit of our Lord in His blessed Sacrament. It was then clothed in the robes of honour in which it had served its divine Spouse ; and, like Him in the tomb, it was surrounded with fragrant spices. Often the sacred Host Itself was laid upon the breast after the holy Sacrifice of thanksgiving and propitiation. Thus, during an admirable succession of prayers and triumphant chants, amid clouds of incense and numberless torches, the body was carried to the place 1 Curvs. in Acta ap. Homi 2 1 Theis. iv. 1a. 3 Cuxvs, Homilia de Dor ) 2. SEVENTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 191 of rest, where Christian burial was to associate it to the last mystery of our Saviour’s mortal career. There, as over the garden of Golgotha on the great Saturday, the naked cross, despoiled of its divine Burden, looked down upon the graves, where the Man-God in His mystic members still awaited the hour of resurrection. At Rome, and indeed in all the Latin Churches, in the Middle Ages, there were sung, during the procession to the tomb and the burial, seven celebrated antiphons, whose touching inspiration, perpetuated in the In Payadisum and the Subvenite, is in complete harmony with the sentiments we have just alluded to. The first, Aperite mihi portas justitie, formed the refrain to Psalm 117, Confitemini Domino, and enhanced its accents of victory. Itis from this psalm that the Church borrows the verse she so unceasingly repeats on the Solemnity of solemnities: Hec dies quam fecit Dominus : exsultemus et letemur in ea (This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein). But we cannot do better than give the entire series of antiphons, indicating the psalmswhich they accompanied. The last psalm and the canticle Benedictus are still used; as also the responsory Subvenite and the antiphon In Paradisum, which according to the present ritual are sung, the former on entering the church, the latter on leaving it. 1. ANT. Aperite mihi portas justitiz, ingressus in eas confitebor Domino. 1. ANT. Opento me the gates of justice: I will go in to them, and give praise to the Lord. Ps. 117, Confitemini Domino 2. Ant. Ingrediat in locum tabernaculi_admirabilis, usque ad domum Dei. quoniam bonus. 2. AnT. I shall go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, Ps. 41, Quemadmodum desiderat cervus. 3. ANT. Hee requies mea in 3. ANT. This is my rest for szculum saculi, hic habitabo ever and ever: here will 1 quoniam elegi eam. dwell, for T have chosen it. Ps. 131, Memento Domine David. 192 TIME AFTER PENTECOST 4. ANT. Thou hast formed me, O Lord, of the earth, and me: Redemptor meus, resu- with flesh thou hast clothed scita me in novissimo die. me: O my Redeemer, raise me up on the last day. 4. ANT. De terra plasmasti ‘me, Domine, et carne induisti Ps. 138, Domine probasti me. 5. ANT. Non intres in judi5. ANT. Enter not into judgcium cum servo tuo, Domine, ment with thy servant, O Lord: quia non justificabitur in con- for in thy sight no man living spectu tuo omnis vivens. shall be justified. Ps. 142, Domine exaudi orationem 6. ANT. Omnis spiritus lau- det Dominum. 6. ANT. Let praise the Lord Ps. 148, Laudate Dominum 7. ANT. Ego sum resurrectio et vita: qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet: et omnis qui vivit et credit in ‘me, non morietur in zternum. meam. every spirit de celis. 7. ANT. T am the resurrection, and the Ife: he that believeth in me, though he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Cant. Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel. In some places the following antiphon was sung at the conclusion. Lato animo pergo ad te, suscipe me, Domine; quia de terra plasmasti me, spiritus de czlo introivit in me jussu tuo, veni ut commendes terra corpus_meum: animam quam dedisti, suscipe illam Deus. RESPONSORY AND With a joyful heart I come to thee, receive me, O Lord; since of the earth thou didst form me, and a spirit from heaven entered into me by thy command, come and commit my body to the earth, and the soul which thou gavest receive, 0 my God. ANTIPHON RITUAL FROM THE ROMAN Ry. Subvenite, sancti Dei, Ry. Come to his assistance, occurrite, angeli Domini: * all ye saints of God; meet Suscipientes animam ejus: him, all ye angels of the Lord, * Offerentes eam in conspectu * Receiving his soul, * Pre. Altissimi. senting it in the sight of the Most High. SEVENTH DAY WITHIN ¥. Suscipiat te Christus qui vocavit te, et in sinum Abraha angeli deducant te. * Suscipientes. ¥. Requiem aternam dona ci, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat ei. * Offerentes. ANT. In paradisum deducant te angeli: in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere ternam habeas requiem. THE OCTAVE 193 ¥. May Christ receive thee, who has called thee, and may the angels conduct thee into Abraham's bosom. * Receiving his soul. ¥. Eternal rest give unto him, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. * Presenting it in the sight of the Most High. ANT. May the angels conduct thee into paradise: may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming, and lead thee into the holy city of Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive thee, and mayst thou have eternal rest with Lazarus, who was formerly poor. For the consolation of mothers, as well as in homage to the paradise of which their children are the graceful flowers, we will to-day commemorate, with St. Ephrem, the little ones snatched in their innocence from this land of miseries. CANON Amabilis puer quem gratia in utero matris formavit, ut vidit lucem, ut insiliit acerba mors, et @stu infestiore quam solis esse solet, vernantis floris folia decussit, caulem arefecit, ramos siccavit. Obitum flere tuum vereor, qui didici te a filio Regis ad supernz lucis adyta fuisse deductum. Natura quidem tuo, fili, fato illacrymari cogit: ego vero dum recogito te ad regionem beatz lucis translatum, cavendum mihi video ne Regis aula profano polluatur Xxxvi' The lovely child, whom grace formed in his mother’s womb, no sooner saw the light, than cruel death rushed upon him, and with a heat more burning than the sun'’s, struck off the leaves of this spring flower, withered _its stem, and scorched its branches. 1 dare not lament thy death, for T have heard that the King's Son has led thee into the inner courts of heavenly light. Nature indeed forces me, my child, to weep over thy fate: but when I think of thee carried {nto the region of blessed light, I see I must 1S, Erurmu Svar, Funebres canoues, ap. Assemani, 194 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Iuctu, tum ipse arguar audax beware of dishonouring the et impudens, qui Letitiz régiam King's court by my profane atratus et lacrymans intra- grief; moreover, I should be verim. Quin ergo meliore con- accused of being bold and silic puram hostiam offeram, impertinent, if I entered the et ad hilaritatem animum palace of joy weeping and clad in mourning weeds. Therecomponam. Tui quidem cantus, care puer, meas ante mulcebant aures, meque vehementer delectarunt; suave melos quod olim fundebas memoria adhuc retineo, et verba recordor. Quamquam dum cor illa repetit, mens ad superum evolat choros, et audit admirabunda calites tecum canentes triumphale carmen Hosanna. Pars tua, Domine, sunt parvuli pueri; hisce sedes in czlo super astra dabis. Illos pro nobis, oro, statue deprecatores; puras quippe scimus esse puerorum preces. Quin ergo te summis effe- ram landibus, qui jubes tuis tales convivas assidere mensis. Nostrz Reparator salutis in oculis conspectuque populi amplexatus est pueros, eisque benedixit, quo hujus wtatis ritatem et innocentiam sii placere demonstraret. Vere omni laude dignus est, cui innocentes pueros ,apud se habere placuit. fore 1 will take a better way, and, offering a spotless victim, I will turn my soul to joyfulness. Thy songs, indeed, beloved boy, were once so welcome to my ears, and delighted me exceedingly; the sweet sounds thou didst utter and thy pretty But prattle I well remember. while the heart recalls them, the mind soars to the choirs of angels, and listens entranced to the heavenly citizens singing with thee the triumphant song Hosanna. The little children, O Lord, are thine own portion; and to them thou wilt give thrones, beyond the stars. Set them before thee, I pray, as our intercessors, for we know children’s prayers are pure. that ‘Why, then, should I not extol thee with highest praises, who commandest such guests to be seated at thy table ? In the presence of the people, my Redeemer and Saviour embraced children and blessed them, in order to show how pleasing to him are the purity and innocence of that age. Truly is he worthy of all praise, who loves to be surrounded by innocent little ones. He, in whom justice is seat- Vidit ille, in quo tamquam in sua sede considet justi- ed as on her own throne, sees tia, hominum iniquitates ultra that the sins of men have inomnem increvisse modum, et creased beyond all measure; pessumdata innocentia ubi- that all innocence is crushed SEVENTH DAY WITHIN que regnare contumaciam in perversa nitentium. _Delectum puerorum agmen, misso apparitore ad se accersivit, et in deliciarum wternarum sede locavit, Parvuli, quasi lilia de deserta et inculta regione revulsa, in ameenissimi horti areis iterato panguntur; et quasi margarita inseruntur diademati; inde ad celeste regnum evecti, sine fine laudant suz felicitatis Auctorem. Porro cuinam jucundum non sit, parvulos videre czlo do- natos ? aut quisnam_plangat eorum obitum, quod tensos ubique vitiorum laqueos evaserint ? favente contingat Utinam tua, Domine, gratia, habere talem finem, mihi beato eorum potiri convictu. et out, THE OCTAVE and that 195 everywhere reigns the insolence of them that contend for evil. He has therefore sent his officer to gather the band of children and lead them to himself, where he has placed them in the abode of eternal delights. The little ones, like lilies uprooted from this desert and uncultivated land, are planted again in the flower-beds of the most lovely garden; like pearls they are set in our Lord’s diadem; caught up from earth to the heavenly kingdom, they unceasingly praise the Author of their happiness. Who, then, would not rejoice at seeing heaven thus given tobabes? Or who would bewail their death, since they have escaped from the snares of vices everywhere spread out? May it please thee, O Lord, that by thy grace a similar end may be my lot, and I may be admitted to a share in their blessed life. Praise and glory be to God Laus sit et gloria Optimo, Maximo, qui pueros terris ab- the supremely Good and Great, stulit et calo dedit, qui par- who has taken the children vulos hujus vitz @rumnis eri- from earth and given them to puit et in celestem et beatam heaven; who has snatched the domum transtulit, atque in little. ones from the miseries illam jucundissimam securita- of this life and taken them to a heavenly and blessed home, tem asseruit. and has established them in that most happy security. CANON Perfecta tibi, Domine Deus noster, jam est laus ex ore infantium et lactentium; pueri quippe sunt, qui modo quasi agni simplices in horto deliciaram pubescunt, Gabrielem XLIV O Lord our God, thy praise is now perfected out of the mouths of babes and sucklings; these children, who now like simple lambs grow up in the garden of delights, follow- 106 TIME AFTER Archangelum electi hujus gregis ductorem sequentes. Incolunt terram nefaniis scelerum vestigiis usquequaque expiatam; ejus autem quz maledicto subjecta fuit, ne meminere quidem. Veniet tandem sanctissimus ille dies, quando eorum cadavera vocem Filii Dei audient, et e tumulis cum tripudio exsilient; contra inimica virtutis voluptas frontem submittet rubore suffusa, quod illorum mentes perturbare nequiverit. Paucos hic quidem vixere dies, paradisus excepit in zvum sempiternum victuros: unde ipsorum parentes abesse se dolent, eoque ocyus pervenire desiderant. PENTECOST ing the Archangel Gabriel, the guide of this chosen fiock. They dwell in a land entirely free from all traces of wicked crime; but of that other, which’ was subjected to the curse, they have not so much as the remembrance. At length that most holy day will come, when their bodies shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and exultingly spring from their tombs; while self-indulgence, the enemy of virtue, will hang down her head, being covered with confusion because she could not disturb their souls. They lived but few days on earth, paradise received them to live for eternal ages: wherefore their parents mourn that they themselves are still far off from that land, and long to reach it with all speed. Let us conclude with a prayer taken from the rites of the Latin Church for the burial of infants. PRAYER Omnipotens et mitissime Deus, qui omnibus parvulis renatis fonte baptismatis dum migrant a saculo, sine ullis eorum meritis, vitam _illico largiris @ternam, sicut animz hujus_parvuli hodie credimus te fecisse: fac nos, quasumus, Domine, per _intercessionem beate Mariz semper virginis, et omnium sanctorum tuorum, hic purificatis tibi mentibus famulari, et in paradiso cum beatis parvulis perenniter sociarl. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. O almighty and most merciful God, who vouchsafest to all children baptized, departing this world, eternal without any merit of theirs, as we believe thou hast done this day to the soul of this child: grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, by the intercession of the blessed Mary, ever a virgin, and of all thy saints, to serve thee here with pure minds, and to be united hereafter with thy blessed children in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. K. Amen. OCTAVE DAY OF ALL SAINTS 197 NOVEMBER 8 OCTAVE DAY OF ALL SAINTS OW could we more appropriately conclude the teachings of this octave than by quoting the words used by the Church herself in to-day’sliturgy ? ‘Strangers as we are and pilgrims on the earth, let us fix our hearts and our thoughts on the day which will give to each of us a home, and restore us to paradise. Who, that is on a voyage, would not hasten to return to his country | Who, that is on the way home, would not eagerly desire a favourable wind, that he might the sooner embrace his dear ones! Parents, brothers, children, friends in multitudes impatiently await us in our heavenly fatherla.nd blessed crowd | already secure of their own eternal g piness, they are solicitous about our salvation. What joy for them and for us, when at length we see them and they may embrace us| “How great the delight of that heavenly kingdom: no more fear of death; but eternal and supreme happiness| Let all our earnest desires tend to this: that we may be united with the saints, that together with them we may possess Christ.’? These enthusiastic words, borrowed from St. Cyprian’s beautiful book ‘On the Mortality,’ are used by the Church in her second Nocturn; and in the third she gives us the strong language of St. Augustine, consoling the faithful, who are obliged still to remain in exile, b reminding them of the great beatitude of this earth; the beatitude of those who are persecuted and cursed by the world. To suffer gladly for Christ is the Chnstuns glory, the invisible beauty which wins for his soul the 1 S. Crerian, De Mortalitate, xxvi. 198 TIME AFTER PENTECOST good pleasure of God, and procures him a great reward in heaven.! ‘ He that hurteth, let him hurt still,” says our Lord; “and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be justified still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still. Behold I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”? Patience, then, Christians | Patience, all who are now despised, ‘ for time is short ; the fashion of this world passeth away !'? It is in the light of our Baptism that we must look upon those foolish men who think themselves strong because they are violent; who call themselves wise, because pleasure is their only law. When the Man-God, ‘ with the spirit of His mouth,” shall take vengeance on Satan their leader, their lot will be the indignant sentence heard by the prophet of Patmos: ‘ Without are dogs, murderers, everyone that loveth and maketh a lie.” Meanwhile the whole creation, which they made the unwilling slave of their corruption, will answer to their disgraceful fall by a triumphant song of deliverance. Itself will be transformed into new heavens and a new earth. It will partake of the glory of the children of God, delivered like itself, and will be worthy to contain the new Jerusalem, the holy city, where in our flesh we shall see God; and where, seated at the right hand of the Father in the Person of Jesus Christ, our glorified {:u}:m ride. nature will enjoy for ever the honours of a Let us go in spirit to Rome, and direct our steps towards the ancient church, on the Ceelian Hill, which bears the name of the Four Crowned are few saints whose acts have been “by a superficial criticism ignorant science,” such as that of the sixteenth, 1S, Auc.De Sermone Domini in monte, lib. i, cap- v. 3 1 Cor. vii. 29, 31, Martyrs. There more disparaged of archzological seventeenth, and 2 Apoc. xxii. 1113, + Apoc. xxil, 15. OCTAVE DAY OF ALL SAINTS 199 eighteenth centuries. But now ‘the history and traditions relating to the august monument on the Ccelian have been restored to honour by learned men and antiquaries, whom no one could accuse of superstition, or of a blind credulity with regard to medizval legends.’? Such is the unanswerable decision of the Commandant de Rossi. Let us, then, with the holy liturgy, offer our homage and prayers to the titular saints of this venerable church, who once held offices of trust in the empire; and let us not forget those other martyrs, the five sculptors, who, like the former, preferred death to infidelity and now share the glory of their tomb. PRAYER Prasta, quzsumus omnipotens Deus: ut, qui gloriosos martyres fortes in sua confessione cognovimus, pios apud te in nostra intercessione sentiamus, Per Dominum. Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we, who know thy glorious martyrs to have been strong in their confession of thee, may experience their _compassion by their interceding for us with thee. Through our Lord. Let us honour all the saints by a Sequence long sung on this octave day by the church of Seville. SEQUENCE To the honopr of our SaAd honorem Salvatoris, Intus corde, voce foris, viour, let this assembly sing, Concinat hac concio; both with the inward music of the heart, and with the outDulcis erit melodia ward sound of the voice; sweet Si concordent ista tria: Cor, os, operatio. will be the melody if these three be of one accord: heart, lips, and action. Admirandus est in sanctis God is wonderful in his Suis Deus; sed cum tantis saints; but since at the last Tandem bonis satiat, he satisfies them with such Cur dum spirant in hac vita good things, wherefore, while Vix respirant, eos ita they live this life, are they Flagellat et cruciat ? scarce able to breathe, he so scourges and torments them ? 1 Dz Rosst, Bulletin, 185, 200 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Is it, O Christ, that thou dost lovingly hate them, since thou judgest well that they should suffer in S0 many ways, Et attritos in tormentis and permittest them often to ‘Swpe sinis et consentis be crushed under tortures and Dire neci subjici ? subjected to a cruel death ? Sed non odit, sed explorat Nay, he hates them not, Quo affectu quis laborat but seeks to know with how much love each one labours in In ejus obsequio; Amat cunctos, probat tamen his service; he loves them all, Per sudorem et certamen yet he proves, by the toil and the strife, how great is their Quanta sit devotio. devotedness. For they strive against the Certant enim contra mundum, Hostem nequam et immundum, world, the wicked unclean foe, the vices of the flesh; 'tis Carnis quoque vitia; chiefly by this manly constanHac imprimis confessores ue formant mores cy that confessors and martyrs Virili constantia. form themselves to virtue. Est certamen speciale The special combat for the Quod confligit capitale martyr is that which gives him i supplicium; the stroke of death; but for the confessor the executioner Sed interdum confessori is wanting; he must choose the Litor deest in litori Carnis optans gaudium. struggle against the pleasures of the fiesh. Ob amorem ergo Christi *Tis therefore for the love of Certant illi, certant isti, Christ that strive the former Tam mares quam femina: and the latter, whether men Qui plus sudat in agone or women; and he that labours Plus mercedis et coronz most in the strife, carries off Refert pro certamine. a higher prize, a brighter crown for his combat. Omnes Deo sunt elect Al are elected by God: may Velit Deus horum flecti God allow himself to be moved Meritis et precibus, by their merits and prayers. Ut quum dies erit dira that when the terrible day Non nos sua subdat ira shall come, he may not in his Tartari tortoribus. wrath hand us over to the infernal torturers. Sed hunc nostra laudet lyra But rather may our lyre be Cum cazlorum civibus. permitted to praise him in the Amen. company of the heavenly citizens. Amen. Numquid, Christe, pie odis Quos diversis peenz modis Dignum ducis affici, Let us next pray for our dear departed ones. The missals of several churches furnish us with this earnest supplication. OCTAVE DAY OF ALL SAINTS SEQUENCE De profundis exclamantes Audi, Christe, nostras voces In celesti curia: Pro defunctis fidelibus Orat nunc mater omnibus, Te supplex Ecclesia. Fiant ergo intendentes Ut audiant tuz aures Vocis hac suffragia: Vox hac orat, Rex glori, Fidelibus ut hodie Concedas remedia. Peccatores quamvis simus, Sustinere nec possimus, Si observes vitia: Fiat tamen salutaris Qua offertur nunc a nobis Pro defunctis hostia. Hzc quam Patri obtulisti Offerimus et nos ipsi Sit eis propitia Propitius esto eis Solve vincla, Jesu, reis In tua potentia. Propter legem quam dedisti, Te sustinent quos fecisti: ‘Averte supplicia: Te sustinent, eruantur; In te sperant, educantur Ad cali palatia. In te sperant, in te credunt; Ad te tendunt et suspirant De facis miseria: In te die, in te nocte, In te mane et vespere Sit eis fiducia. Sit apud te quem rogamus, Pro qua tibi supplicamus, Pietatis copia: Ut redimas eas, Christe, Supplex rogat ccetus fste, Ab omni nequitia. 201 As we cry out from the depths, hear, O Christ, our voices from thy heavenly court: mother Church now suppliantly implores thee for all the faithful departed Let, then, thine ears be attentive to hear her prayerful voice: this voice that calls on thee, O King of glory, to grant this day some relief to the faithful. Although we are sinners and unable to endure if thou consider our vices: still, let the victim now offered by us avail for the dead. See, we offer the same as thou didst offer to the Father: may it be a succour to them; yea, be thou propitious to them, and in thy might, O Jesus loose the bonds of the guilty. Because of the law which thon hast given, the creatures thou hast made wait for thee; turn away the punishment; they wait for thee, may they be delivered; they trust in thee, lead them forth to the heavenly dwellings. In thee they trust, in thee they believe, towards thes they yearn and sigh from their awful depth of misery; in thee by day, in thee by night, in thee at morn and evening be their sure confidence. With thee, we implore, be that abundant mercy for which we pray; that thou wouldst redeem them, O Christ, from all evil, this suppliant crowd beseeches thee. 202 TIME AFTER Reginarum imperatrix, Tua roget te genitrix Fiat horum impetratrix, Qu rogamus, Maria. Bone Jesu Rex gloriz, Omnes sancti pracipue Te rogantes sint hodie Pro eorum venia. Qui per crucem exaltatus Peccatorum es misertus, Audi preces queis devotus Ad te clamat noster ceetus Cum misericordia. Per te vincla confringantur, Portz mortis destruantur, Diaboli confundantur, Et anima consequantur Sempiterna gaudia. Amen. PENTECOST Let the Queen of queens, thy Mother, intercede; may Mary obtain for us what we ask. O good Jesus, King of glory, let all thy saints ask pardon for them, especially on this day. O thou who, raised_upon the cross, didst take pity on sinners, mercifully hear the prayers wherewith our assembly cries to thee. By thee may all bonds be broken, the gates of death destroyed, the devils put to confusion, and souls obtain possession of never-ending joys. Amen. DEDICATION OF SAINT SAVIOUR'S NOVEMBER 203 g DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA SAINT SAVIOUR OF N the fourth century of our era, the cessation of per- secution seemed to give the world a foretaste of its future entrance into eternal peace. ‘Glory to the Almighty ! Glory to the Redeemer of our souls I" wrote Eusebius at the opening of the tenth and last book of his History. Himself a witness of the triumph, he describes the admirable spectacle everywhere displayed by the dedication of the new sanctuaries. In city after city the bishops assembled, and crowds flocked together. From nation tonation the goodwill of mutual charity, of common faith, and of recollected joy, so harmonized all hearts that the unity of Christ’s Body was clearly manifested in these multitudes animated by the same inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It was the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies: the living city of the living God, where all, whatever their age or sex, praise together the Author of all good things. How solemn were then the rites of the Church! The complete perfection therein displayed by the pontiffs, the enthusiasm of the psalmody, the inspired readings, the celebration of the ineffable mysteries, formed a divine pageantry.! Constantine had placed the imperial treasure at the disposal of the bishops; and he himself stimulated their zeal for what he called in his edicts the work of the churches.2 Rome, the place of his victory by the cross, the capital of the now Christian world, was the first to benefit by the prince’s munificence. In a series of dedications, to the glory of the holy apostles and martyrs, Sylvester, the pontiff of peace, took possession of the eternal city in the name of the true God. 1 Euses. Hist. eccl. x. 14, 3 15'd. De vita Constantini, i. 4, 46. TIME AFTER 204 PENTECOST To-day is the birthday of the mother and mistress of churches, called ‘ of our Saviour, Aula Dei (God’s palace), the golden basilica’; it is a new Sinai,' whence the apostolic oracles and so many Councils have made known to the world the law of salvation. No wonder this feast is celebrated by the whole world. Although the Popes for centuries have ceased to dwell in the Lateran palace, the basilica still holds the first rank. Itis as true now, as it was in the time of St. Peter Damian, to say that ‘ as our Saviour is the Head of the elect, so the church which bears His name is the head of all churches; those of St. Peter and St. Paul, on its right and left, are the two arms with which this sovereign and universal church embraces the whole earth, saving all those who desire salvation, cherishing and protecting them in its maternal bosom.”? And St. Peter Damian applied conjointly to our Saviour and His basilica the words of the prophet Zacharias: ‘ Behold a Man, the Orient is his name: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne.’® It is still at the Lateran basilica that the Roman pontiffs take official possession of their See. There each year, in the name of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, the episcopal functions are performed—viz., the blessing of the holy Oils on Maundy Thursday, and on Holy Saturday the blessing of the font, solemn Baptism and Confirmation, and the general Ordination. Could the eat poet of the age of triumph, Prudentius, return to ife in these our days, he might still say: ‘ The Roman people hasten in eager crowds to the Lateran, whence they return marked with the sacred sign, with the royal chrism. And are we yet to doubt that Rome is conse- crated to thee, O Christ?™ Let us now read the liturgical history of this day. 1 Inscriptio vetus olim in apside majori. 3 PeTx. Dau. Epist. lib, il 1. 1,13, PRubawt, lib, i, contra Symmachum, s86-588. DEDICATION OF SAINT SAVIOUR'S Ritus quos in_consecrandis ecclesiis et _altaribus Romana servat Ecclesia, beatus Silvester Papa primus instituit. Nam etsi jam ab apostolorum tempore ‘loca fuerunt Deo dicata, que a quibusdam oratoria, ab alils ecclesie dicebantur, ubi collect fiebant per unam sabbati, et Christianus populus orare, Dei verbum audire, et Eucharistiam sumere solitus erat: non tamen illa adeo solemni ritu consecrabantur, nec in eis adhuc in titalum erectum erat altare, quod chrismate delibutum, Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui altare, hostia et sacerdos noster est, figuram exprimeret. Sed ubi Constantinus imperator per baptismi sacramentum sanitatem salutemque consecutus est, tum primum lege ab eo lata concessum est toto orbe terrarum, Christiani ut ecclesias adificarent: quos ille non solum_edicto, sed_etiam exemplo ad sacram zdificationem est cohortatus. Nam et in suo Lateranensi palatio ecclesiam Salvatori dedicavit, et ei continentem basilicam nomine sancti Joannis Baptistz condidit, eo loco quo ipse, baptizatus a sancto Silvestro, ab infidelitatis lepra mundatus est: quam idem pontifex consecravit quinto Idus Novembris: cujus consecrationis memoria_celebratur hodierno die, quo primum Romz publice ecclesia consecrata est, et imago Salvatoris in pariete depicta populo Romano apparuit. 205 The rites observed by the Roman Church in consecrating churches and altars were instituted by the blessed Pope Sylvester. For although from apostolic times churches were dedicated to God, and called by some oratories, by others churches; and in them the Christian people assembled on the first day of the week, and were wont there to pray, to hear the word of God, and to receive the holy Eucharist; yet hitherto they were never 50 solemnly consecrated, nor was an altar erected in them, anointed with chrism, to represent and signify our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our altar, our victim, ‘and our priest. But when the emperor Constantine had received health of body and soul by the sacrament of baptism, he promulgated a law to the whole world, allowing the Christians to build churches; and he encouraged them in this work by his own example as well as by this edict. Thus, in his Lateran palace he dedicated a church to our Saviour; and founded the adjoining baptistery in honour of St. John Baptist, on the very spot where he himself had been baptized by St. Sylvester and cleansed from the leprosy of infidelity. The pontifi consecrated it on the fifth of the Ides of November; and we celebrate the memory thereof on this same day, whereon for the first time a church was publicly dedicated in Rome, and there apared before the eyes of the oman people an image of our Saviour depicted on the wall. 206 TIME AFTER Quod si beatus Silvester postea in consecratione altaris principis apostolorum decrevit, ut deinceps nisi ex lapide altaria non zdificarentur, tamen basilice Lateranensis ~ altare fuit e ligno erectum: quod mirum non est. Nam cum a sancto Petro usque ad Silvestrum, propter persecutiones, pontifices certo loco consistere non possent: quocumque €os necessitas compulisset, sive in cryptas, sive in cameteria, sive in wdes piorum, super illo_altari ligneo ad arce similitudinem concavo, sacra faciebant. Quo altari Sanctus Silvester, reddita Ecclesi pace, honoris causa principis apostolorum, qui in illo sacrificasse dicitur, et reliquorum pontificum, qui usque ad id tempus ad mysteria conficienda eo usi fuerant, in Lateranensi prima ecclesia collocato, sancivit ne quisquam in eo, prater Romanum Pontificem, Missam deinceps celebraret. Eamdem ecclesiam incendiis, vastatio bus, terrz insuper motibus disjectam eversamque, ac sedula Summorum Pontificum cura reparatam, nova postmodum molitione restitutam, Benedictus decimus tertius Pontifex Maximus Ordinis Pradica torum, die vigesima octava aprilis anni millesimi septingentesimi vigesimi_sexti, ritu solemni _consecravit, ejusque celebritatis memoriam hac die recolendam statuit. Quod autem Pius nonus perficiendum censuerat, Leo decimus tertius, cellam maximam vetustate fatiscentem, ingenti molitione producendam laxandamque curavit, vetus musivam, multis PENTECOST Although later om, when consecrating the altar of the prince of the apostles, blessed Sylvester decreed that thence- forward all altars should be built of stone; yet the altar of the Lateran basilica was of wood. This, however, is not surprising. For, from the time of St. Peter down to Syl- vester, persecution prevented the dpontifls from having any fixed abode; so that they offered the holy Sacrifice either in crypts or cemeteries. or in the houses of the faithful, as necessity compelled them, up- altar, wooden on the said which was hollow like a chest. When peace was granted to the Church, Sylvester placed this altar in the first church, the Lateran; and in honour of the prince of the apostles, who is said to have offered the holy Sacrifice upon it, and of the other pontifis who had used it up to that time, he decreed that no one should celebrate Mass upon it except This Pontiff. Roman the church, having been injured and half ruined in consequence of fires, hostile invasions, and earthquakes, was several times repaired by the care of the Popes. After a new restoration Pope Benedict XIIL, a Dominican, solemnly consecrated it, on the twenty-eighth day of April in the year 1726, and ordered tion thereof the commemorato be celebrated threatening to fall through on this present day. The great works undertaken by Pius IX have been happily completed by Leo XIII—to wit, the principal apse, which was DEDICATION OF SAINT SAVIOUR’S jam antea partibus instauratum, ad antiquum exemplar restitui et in novam absidem, opere cultuque magnifico exornatam, transferri, aulam transversam laqueari et contignatione refectis expoliri jussit, anno millesimo octingentesimo octuagesimo quarto, sacrario, =de canonicorum perpetuaque ad baptisterium Constantinianum porticu adjectis. 207 age, has been very much cnlarged; the ancient mosaic, already partially restored at different times, has been reconstructed on the old model, and trapsferred to the new apse, which is handsomely and richly decorated; the roof and woodwork of the transepts have been renewed and ornamented. Moreover, a sacristy and a house for the canons have been added, as well as a portico connecting these buildings with Constantine’s baptistery. The whole work was completed in the year 1884. So many details might seem superfluous to the profane. But, just as the Pope is to all of us our first and our own pastor, so his church of the Lateran is our own church; whatever concerns it cannot, or at least should not, be a matter of indifference to the faithful. Let us take our inspirations regarding it from the following beautiful formule, given us by the Roman pontifical in the dedication ceremony. To no church could they be better applied than to this. ANTIPHONS AND Ry. Fundata est domus Domini super verticem montium, et exaltata est super omnes colles, et venient ad eam omnes gentes. * Et dicent: Gloria tibi, Domine. ¥. Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione, portantes manipulos suos. * Et dicent. R. Tu, Domine universo-. rum, qui nullam habes indigentiam, voluisti templum toum fieri in nobis, * Conserva domum istam _immaculatam in zternum, Domine. RESPONSORIES Ry. The house of the Lord is founded upon the summit of mountains, and raised up above all hills, and all nations shall come to her. * And they shall say: Glory be to thee, O Lord. ¥. Coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves. * And they shall say: %. Thou, O Lord of all things, who hast no need, hast willed that this thy temple should be in the midst of us. * Preserve this house spotless for ever, O Lord. 208 TIME AFTER ¥. Tu elegisti, Domine, domum istam ad invocandum nomen tuum in ea; yt esset domus orationis, et obsecrationis populo tuo. * Conserva. ANT. Pax wterna ab Zterno huic domui. Pax perennis, Verbum Patris, sit pax huic domui. Pacem pius Consolator huic prastet domui. est ANT. locus hic aliud, O quam iste: porta cali. vere metuendus nisi domus ANT. Hzc mini firmiter non est Dei, et est domus Doadificata: bene fundata est supra firmam petram. ANT. Vidit Jacob scalam, summitas ejus” czlos tangebat, et descendentes ange- los, et dixit: Vere locus iste sanctus est. R. Hzc est Jerusalem civitas illa magna calestis, ornata tamquam sponsa Agni. * Quoniam tabernaculum facta est, alleluia. ¥. Portz ejus non claudentur per diem, nox enim non erit in ea. * Quoniam. R. Platez tuz Jerusalem, sternentur auro mundo, alleluia, et cantabitur in te canticum letitiz, alleluia. * Et per omnes vicos tuos dicetur ab universis, alleluia, alleluia. ¥. Luce splendida_fulgebis: et ‘omnes fines terre adorabunt te. * Et per omnes. Anz. Circumdate Sion, et complectimini eam, narrate in turribus ejus. PENTECOST ¥. Thou, O Lord, hast chosen this house, that thy name may be invoked in it: that it may be a house of prayer and supplication for thy people. * Preserve. ANT. Peace eternal from the Eternal be to this house | May the unending Peace, the Word of the Father, be peace to this house | Peace may the loving Consoler grant unto this house. ANT. Oh, how awful is this place | truly it is maught else but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. ANt. This is the house of the Lord, strongly built: it is firmly founded on the solid rock. ANT. Jacob beheld a ladder, the top whereof touched the heavens; and angels coming down; and he said: Truly this ‘place is holy. R. This is Jerusalem, the great and heavenly city, adorned as the bride of the Lamb. * For she has become the true tabernacle, alleluia. Y. Her gates shall not be closed by day, and there shall be no night in her. * For she has become. K. Thy streets, O Jerusalem, shall be paved with pure gold, alleluia, and there shall be sung in thee the canticle of joy, alleluia. * And all along thy streets every onme shall say: alleluia, alleluia. ¥. Thou shalt shine with a glorious light; and all the ends of the earth shall worship thee. * And all along. ANT. Surround Sion and encompass her, tell ye her wonders in her towers. DEDICATION OF SAINT SAVIOUR'S Y. Magnus Dominus et laudabilis nimis, in civitate Dei nostri, in monte sancto ejus. R.. Induit te Dominus tunica jucunditatis, et imposuit tibi coronam. * Et ornavit te ornamentis sanctis. ¥. Luce splendida fulgebis, et omnes fines terrz adorabunt coram te. * Et ornavit te. V. Nationes ex longinquo ad te venient, et munera deferentes adorabunt Dominum; et terram tuam in sanctificatione habebunt, et nomen magnum invocabunt in te. * Et omavif ¥. Benedicti erunt, qui te mdificaverunt; tu autem letaberis in filiis tuis, quoniam omnes benedicentur et congregabunturad Dominum. *Et omnavit te. 209 ¥. Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. R. The Lord hath clad thee with a garment of joy, and hath set a crown on thy head. * And he hath adorned thee with holy ornaments. ¥. Thou shalt shine with a glorious light, and all the ends of the earth shall worship before thee. *And he hath adorned. ¥. Nations from afar shall come to thee, and bringing gifts shall adore the Lord; and they shall esteem thy land as holy, and shall call upon the great name in thee. *#'And he hath adorned. ¥. Blessed shall they be that build thee up; but thou shalt rejoice in thy children, because theyshall be all blessed, and shall be gathered together to the Lord. * And he hath adorned. PRAYER Omnipotens __sempiterne Deus, qui per Filium tuum, angularem scilicet _lapidem, duos ex diverso venientes, ex circumeisione et praputio parietes, duosque greges ovium sub uno eodemque pastore unisti; da famulis tuis_per hazc nostra devotionis officia, indissolubile vinculum charitatis, ut nulla divisione mentium, nullaque perversitatis varietate sequestrentur, quos sub unius regimine pastoris unus grex continet, uniusque te custode ovilis septa concludunt. Per Dominum. O almighty, etemal God, who through thy Son, the Corner-stone, hast joined the two walls coming from opposite directions, to wit, from the circumcision and the uncircumcision, and hast united the two flocks of sheep under the one same pastor; give to thy servants, through these functions of our devotion, the indissoIuble bond of charity, so that no division of opinions, no sort of perverse disagreement, may separate those, who are all one flock under the guidance of one shepherd, and are enclosed in one fold under thy protection. Through the same Lord. 210 TIME AFTER PENTECOST On this day is commemorated the great martyr Theodore of Amasea, a conscript soldier, who was bumt alive. His praises have been celebrated by St. Gregory of Nyssa; he is honoured in Rome at the foot of the Palatine, and had three churches dedicated to his E;mehin Constantinople. Let us say with the Latin urch: PRAYER Deus, qui nos beati Theodori martyris tui confessione gloriosa circumdas et protegis. prasta nobis ex ejus imitatione proficere, et oratione fulciri, Per Dominum. O God, who dost encompass and protect us by the glorious confession of blessed Theodore thy martyr; grant us by his example to improve, and by his prayer to be supported. Through our Lord. DEDICATION THE 211 OF CHURCHES DEDICATION OF CHURCHES* DOM UM Dei decet sanctitudo : Sponsum ejus Christum adoremus in ea. Such is the Invitatory antiphon, which sums up the liturgical thought of the day: ‘ Holiness becometh the house of God: let us adore therein Christ her Spouse.” What is this mystery of a house that is at the same time a bride ? Our churches are holy because they belong to God, and on account of the celebration of the holy Sacrifice therein, and the prayer and praise offered to the divine Guest who dwells there. More truly than the figurative tabernacle or the ancient temple, they are separated solemnly and for ever by their dedication from all the dwellings of men, and exalted far above all earthly palaces. Still, notwithstanding the magnificent rites performed within them on the day they were consecrated to Ged, notwithstanding the holy oil with which their walls remain for ever impregnated, they themselves are devoid of feeling and life. What else, then, can be meant, that the solemn function of the annual feast that commemorates it, to the material building, but rise sublime realities? The principal but dedication, and the do not point merely to living and more glory of the noble edifice will be to symbolize those great realities. Under the shelter of its roof the human race will be initiated into ineffable secrets, the mystery whereof will be consummated in another world in the noonday light of heaven. Let us listen to some doctrine on this subject. 1 In France the feast of the dedication of all consecrated churches, excey cathedrals, is celebrated on November 6, the external solemnity being kept on t! Sunday following. The dedication of cathedrals is kept throughout the diocese on the anniversary o the dedication lself, Tn’ Ireland,this Teas'is celebraied on October 23, We have thought it well to insert the teaching here given, in the place g:@fi e it in the original work, inasmuch as each of our consecrated churches in , thee numbers of which i T ohappily riow increasing, has the priv leg of ey sba. peiviegy o 212 TIME AFTER PENTECOST God has but one sanctuary truly worthy of Him— viz., His own divine life; the tabernacle with which He is said to surround Himself when He bends the heavens; though impenetrable darkness to the eyes of mortals, it is the inaccessible light wherein dwells in glory the ever-tranquil Trinity.! And yet, O God most high, this same divine life, which cannot be contained by the heavens, much less by the earth, Thou deignest to communicate to our souls, and thereby to make man a partaker in the divine nature. Henceforth there is no reason why the holy Trinity should not reside in him, just as in the highest heavens. Thus, from the beginning, Thou couldst lay it down as the law of the newly created world, and couldst declare to the abyss, to the earth, to the heavens, that it would be Thy delight to dwell with the children of men. When, therefore, the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, making Him the son of Adam, in order that in man might ‘dwell all the fullness of the Godhead corporally.”? From that day forward earth has had the advantage over heaven. Every Christian has participation in Christ; and having become the temple of the Holy Ghost, ‘bears God in his body.”* This ‘ temple of God,’ says the apostle, ‘ is holy, which you are’¢; the temple is the individual Christian; it is also the Christian assembly. ‘Whereas Christ calls the whole human race to participate in His own fullness, the human race in its turn completes Christ. It is bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, one body with Him, and, together with Him, the one victim which is to burn eternally with the fire of love upon the altar of heaven. At the same time, Christ is the Corner-stone on which other living stones, all the predestined, are built up by the apostolic architects into the holy temple of the Lord. Thus the Church is the bride, and by and with Christ she is the house of God. She is such already in this world, where in labour and 1 G/, Ps. xvii. 5 Col. i, i St 4 < TRy, DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 213 suffering the clect stones are chiselled, and are laid successively in the places assigned them by the divine plan. She is such in the happiness of heaven, where the eternal temple is being constructed of every soul that ascends from earth; until, when completed by the acquisition of our immortal bodies, it will be consecrated by the great High-Priest on the day of the incomparable dedication, the close of time. Then will the world, redeemed and sanctified, be solemnly restored to the Father who gaveit His only-begotten Son, and God will be all in all. Then it will appear that the Church was truly the archetype shown beforehand on the mount,! whereof every other sanctuary, built by the hands of men, could be but the figure and the shadow. Then will be realized the vision of St. John: ‘I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God.”? It was fitting, then, that this feast should illuminate the closing cycle with the first rays of eternity. It is by one of the seven angels having phials full of the seven last plagues that the bride in her rich apparel was shown to the evangelist; let the hope of contemplating her in her glory be a comfort to us too in these evil days. The expectation of her approaching appearance will animate the courage of the just during the final combats. But let us, the children of the Church, already praise our mother. Let this day so dear to her heart be to us one of the greatest solemnities; for it commemorates both her birth from the side of the heavenly Adam, and the sacred consecration which entitles her to the good pleasure of the Father, to the love of the Son, and to the bountiful gifts of the Holy Ghost. ! Exod. xxvi 30 2 Apoc. xxi.3, 3. TIME 214 AFTER PENTECOST FIRST VESPERS When, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the churches seemed of France good restored were to their holy use, it to the Holy See to establish a general Dedication feast, instead of the local solemnity hitherto observed by each church on the actual anniversary of its consecration. The feast was still to have the honours of a double of second class, which proved that it had lost nothing of its importance in the eyes of Rome. Its being permanently fixed on a Sunday secured to the people the benefit of annually receiving the sublime teaching in which our fathers took such delight. And the choice of this particular Sunday, immediately after the octave of All Saints, made this solemnity as it were the completion of the other, and the crowning of the entire year. The following Office and Mass are those of the Common of the Dedication per annum. We shall have them again, in this same month, on the Dedications of the Lateran basilica of our Saviour, and of the basilicas of St. Peter on the Vatican and St. Paul on the Ostian Way. The Church, about to sing in Psalm 109 the eternal priesthood of Christ, is seized with an overpowering sentiment of the holiness of this house of the Lord, where she has assembled her children, and in which the great Sacrifice is offered to God. The first antiphon is taken from Psalm g2, which it accompanies at Lauds. 1. ANT. Domum mine, decet tuam, sanctitudo longitudinem dierum. Do- in 1. ANT. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days. Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 35. Yes, this house is holy: the ‘ house of prayer’ is the name given to it by all nations. This name had been foretold by Isaias, as our Lord Himself reminded the buyers and sellers in the temple. DEDICATION 2. ANT. Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur. OF CHURCHES 215 2. ANT. My house shall be called the house of prayer. Ps. Confitebor tibi Domine, page 37. House of God ! how the Church loves to repeat it ! And now it reminds her of the Gospel text, where our Lord compares the man who hears His word and does it to one who builds his house upon a rock. We begin to perceive the connexion in the Church’s mind between the faithful soul and the sacred building whose stability she is praising. 3. ANT. Hac est domus Domini firmiter zdificata, bene fundata est supra firmam petram. 3. ANT. This is the house of the Lord, strongly built, it is T;(rmly founded on the solid rock. Ps. Beatus vir, page 38. The chants rise in enthusiasm; the fourth antiphon repeats, as if in ecstasy, the expressions of the third. Without any doubt the Church is no longer thinking of these walls which are one day to crumble; the solid rock elect. is Christ, the house 4. ANT. Bene fundata est domus Domini supra firmam petram. is the assembly of the 4. Ant. Firmly founded is the house of the Lord, upon the solid rock. Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39. Caught up beyond this world, the Church in her admiration addresses the glorious dwelling which the Lord her Spouse is building in heaven entirely of precious stones, the living gems which are to form the towers of the new Sion. 5. ANT. Lapides pretiosi omnes muri tui, et turres Jerusalem gemmis zdificabuntur. 5. ANT. All thy walls shall be of precious stones, and the towers of Jerusalem shall be built of jewels. 216 TIME AFTER PSALM Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum : * lauda Deum tuum, Sion. Quoniam confortavit seras portarum tuarum: * benedixit fliis tuis in te. Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: * et adipe frumenti satiat te. Qui_emittit _eloquium suum terrz * velociter currit sermo ejus. Qui dat nivem sicut lana * nebulam sicut cinerem spargit. Mittit crystallum suam sicut buccellas: * ante faciem frigoris ejus quis sustinebit ? Emittet verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea: * flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aqua. Qui annuntiat verbum suum Jacob: * justitias, et judicia sua Israel. Non fecit taliter omni nationi: * et judicia sua non ‘manifestavit eis. PENTECOST 147 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion. Because he hath strengthened 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. Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly. Who giveth snow like wool: he scattereth mists like ashes. He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold ? He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run. Who declareth his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel. He hath not dome in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not ‘made manifest to them. But this new Sion is the Church herself; for who but she is the bride ? And in the capitulum St. John shows us this holy city, coming down from heaven, adomned as a bride for her bridegroom. CAPITULUM (Apoc. xxi.) Vidi civitatem sanctam JeruI saw the holy city, the new salem novam descendentem de Jerusalem, coming down out of czlo a Deo, paratam sicut heaven from God, preparedasa sponsam ornatam viro suo. bride adorned for her husband. The seventh century, it will be remembered, witnessed the solemn dedication of the Pantheon, which gave rise to the feast of All Saints. It is to the same century we DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 217 are indebted for the beautiful composition, from which the hymns of Vespers and Lauds are taken. We will give the whole of it farther on, in its primitive text. HYMN Jerusalem, heavenly city, blessed vision of peace | Built of living stones, thou risest to the very stars; and like a bride art circled round with thousand, thousand angels. Oh! how happily art thou espoused ! Dowered with the Father's glory, and the grace of thy Spouse shed over thee, most lovely queen united to Christ the King: resplendent ity of heaven His margaritis emicant, hy gates, glittering with Patentque cunctis ostia: s, are open to all; thither Virtute namque praevia is led whosoever follows virtue, Mortalis illuc ducitur; and who, urged by the love of Amore Christi percitus Christ, endures torments. Tormenta quisquis sustinet. Scalpri salubris ictibus, After the strokes of the salutary chisel, and many a Et tunsione plurima, Fabri polita malleo blow, the stones, polished by Hanc saxa molem construunt, the workman’s hammer, raise up this stately pile; and being Aptisque juncta nexibus Locantur in fastigio well fitted together, are placed in the highest summit. Decu +Pareatt ucbitum Be everywhere due honour Sit usquequaque Altissimo, paid to the most high Father, Natoque Patris unico, and to that Father's only Son, Et inclyto Paraclito, and to the glorious Paraclete; Cui laus, potestas, gloria to whom be praise, power, and ZEterna sit per szcula. glory, through everlasting ages. Amen. Amen. ¥. Hac est domus Domini ¥. This is the house of the firmiter adificata. Lord, strongly built. K. Bene fundata est supra R. It is firmly founded on firmam petram. the solid rock. Calestis urbs Jerusalem, Beata pacis visio, @ celsa de viventibus is ad astra tolleris, Sponsaque ritu cingeris Mille angelorum millibus. O sorte nupta prospera, Dotata Patris gloria, Respersa Sponsi gratia, Regina formosissima, Christo jugata Principi, Caeli corusca civitas. When Jehovah Solomon dedicated the temple, he reminded of His former promises concerning the place He would choose for His name to dwell in. Our churches 218 TIME AFTER PENTECOST are far superior to the ancient temple, for they have in them more than the name of the Lord; moreover, every Christian is now the dwelling-place of God. How much more excellently such is Mary, the predestined tabernacle, sanctified and dedicated from the first moment of her existence to the God who was to take Flesh in her and thus begin to dwell among us! Let us return thanks, both for her and for ourselves, by singing her heavenly canticle. ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT Sanctificavit Dominus tabernaculum suum: quia hzc est domus Dei, in qua invocabitur nomen ejus, de quo scriptum est: Et erit nomen meum ibi, dicit Dominus. The Lord hath sanctified his tabernacle: for this is the house of God, in which his name shall be invoked, whereof it is written: And my name shall be there, saith the Lord. The Canticle Magnificat, page 43. PRAYER Deus, qui nobis per singulos annos hujus sancti templi tui consecrationis reparas diem, et sacris semper mysterils reprasentas incolumes: exaudi preces populi tui, et prasta; ut quisquis hoc templum beneficia petiturus _ingreditur, cuncta se impetrasse latetur. Per Dominum. 0 God, who dost renew to us every year the day of the consecration of this thy holy temple, and dost ever bring us again in safety to the holy mysteries, graciously hear the prayers of thy people, and grant that whoever enters this temple to implore blessings may rejoice in having obtained all his requests. Through our Lord. The name of ‘ church ’* given to the Christian temple signifies the assembly of the baptized. The sanctification of the elect in its successive phases is the soul and inspiration of that most solemn of liturgical functions, the dedication of a church. First of all, the temple with its bare walls and closed doors represents the human race created by God, and yet robbed of His presence ever since the original sin. But the heirs of the promise have not yielded to despair; DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 219 they have fasted, they have prayed through the night; morning finds them sending up to God the supplication of the penitential psalms, the inspired expression of David’s chastisement and repentance. At early dawn there appears under the tent, where the exiles are praying,! the Word our Saviour. He is represented by the pontiff vesting in the sacred robes, as He clothed Himself with our flesh.? The God-Man joins His brethren in their prayer; then, leading them to the still closed temple, He there prostrates with them and redoubles His supplications. Then around the noble edifice, unconscious of its destinies, begins the patient strategy, wherewith the grace of God, and the ministers of that grace, undertake the siege of abandoned souls. Thrice the pontiff goes around the whole building, and thrice he attempts to force open those obstinately closed doors ; but his storming consists of prayers to heaven, his force is but the merciful and respectful persuasion of human liberty. ‘ Open, O ye gates, and the King of glory shall enter in.” At length the unbeliever yields; an entrance is gained into the temple: ‘ Peace eternal to this house, in the name of the Eternal I’ All is not yet finished, however; far from it: this is but the commencement; the still profane edifice must be made into a dwelling worthy of God. The pontiff, now within, continues to pray. His thoughts are intent upon the human race, symbolized by this futurechurch. He knows that in its fallen state ignorance is its first evil. Accordingly he rises; and, on two lines of ashes running transversely from end to end of the temple and crossing in the centre of the nave, he traces with his episcopal crozier the Greek and Latin alphabets, the elements of the two principal languages® in which Scripture and tradition are preserved. They are traced with the pastoral staff, on ashes, and on the ) Sub temtorio amte fores Ecclesia consecrande parato. 2 SiMEoN THESSALONIC. Pontificale Rom. De templo et ejus consecratione, cii. » REMIG. ANTISSIODORENS:S, tractatus de Dedicat. Ecclesie ; 1v0 CARNOTENSIS, Sermo iv. de Sacramentis Dedicat.; D& Rossi, Bulletin, 1881. 220 TIME AFTER PENTECOST cross; because sacred science comes to us from doctrinal authority, because it is understood only by the humble, and because it is all summed up in Jesus crucified. Like the catechumen, the human race now enlightened requires, together with the temple, to be purified. The pontiff makes use of the loftiest Christian symbolism, in order to perfect the element of this purification which he has so much at heart: he mingles water and wine, ashes and salt, figures of the humanity and the divinity, of the death and the resurrection of our Saviour. As Christ preceded us in the waters of Baptism at the Jordan, the aspersions are begun at the altar and continued through the whole building.! Originally, at this point in the function, not only the interior and the pavement of the temple, but also the exterior of the walls, and in some places even the roof,? were inundated with the sanctifying shower which drives away demons, gives this dwelling to God, and prepares it for.the reception of fresh favours. In the order of the work of salvation, water is followed by oil, which confers on the Christian, in the second Sacrament, the perfection of his supernatural being; and which also makes kings, priests, and pontiffs. For all these reasons, the holy oil now flows copiously over the altar, which represents Christ our Head, Pontiff, and King, that it may afterwards, like the water, find its way to the walls of the entire church. Truly is this temple henceforth worthy of the name of church; for thus baptized and consecrated, with the God-Man, by water and the Holy Ghost, the stones of which it is buiit represent perfectly the faithful,® who are bound together and to the divine Corner-Stone by the imperishable cement of love. ‘ Praise the Lord, Sion I O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O The sacred chants which, since the beginning 3 Sincmon THESSALON. wbi swpre, cvil. 5 B per culmina. templi. Ordo 1V, in Dedicat. apud Martine, ex Pontifc. S ihaale Rom: Ant. . Lagi s, adad wnctionem parictum. PGSR L, arkdes pretic parictum DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 221 of the solemn function, have not ceased to enhance its sublime developments, now redouble in enthusiasm; and rising to the full height of the mystery, they hail the church, now so intimately associated to the altar as the bride of the Lamb.! From this altar ascend clouds of incense, which, mounting to the roof and stealing down the nave, impregnate the whole temple with the perfumes of the Spouse. And now the subdeacons come forward, presenting for the pontiff’s blessing the gifts made to the bride on this great day, and thedvesture she has prepared for herself and for the Lord. In the early Middle Ages, it was only at this point? that took place the triumphant translation of the relics destined to be placed in the altar, after having remained all this time in the tent outside, as it were in exile. In the East this ceremony is still the conclusion of the Dedication rites.® ‘I go to prepare a place for you,’ said our Lord, ‘and when I have prepared it, I will come again, and will take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” In the Greek Church, the pontiff lays the holy relics on the sacred disc (corresponding to our paten), and carries them raised above his head, “ honouring equally with the venerable mysteries these precious remains, because the apostle said of the faithful: You are the body of Christ and His members.’ In the West, up to the thirteenth century and even later, the sacred Body of our Lord Himself in the holy Evucharist was sealed up in the altar with the relics of the saints. It was the ‘ Church united to the Redeemer, the bride to the Bridegroom,” says St. Peter Damian ;3 it was the final consummation, the passage from time to eternity. 3 * ¢ * By Hac et Jerosalem, ibid i, Antission, k6 smpra; Ordines veterum apud Martine. Eucholog. Ordo et Officium Dedicationis Templi. Siuzon THESSALON. wbi swpra, cxvi. PaTr. DAMIAN., Sermo lxxii. in Dedicat. iv. 222 TIME AFTER PENTECOST MASS Filled with the thought of the day when she became the object of the divine predilection, the Church renews her youth, and puts on her richest ornaments; she robes herself in white as a bride. As at the moment when she was ennobled for ever by the outpouring of the holy chrism, the twelve torches, symbols of apostolic light, shine from her consecrated walls above the twelve crosses which testify her right to the favours of heaven. Our churches are to the angels the borderland between heaven and earth; hence the Introit repeats the words uttered by Jacob on awaking from his vision of the mysterious ladder, with its heavenly messengers ascending and descending. The verse, taken from Psalm 83, celebrates at once the earthly and the heavenly temple. ‘ I this the kingdom thou didst promise me, father ?’ asked Clovis dazzled, as he entered for the first time the church of St. Mary at Rheims. ‘ No,” replied Remigius, ‘ it is the entrance of the way that will lead thee thither.” INTROIT Terribilis est locus iste: hic domus Dei est, et porta celi, et vocabitur Ps. nacula tum: anima Gloria aula Dei. Terrible is this place: it is the house of God, and the gate of heaven; and shall be called the court of God. Quam dilecta taberPs. How lovely are thy tua, Domine virtu- tabernacles, O Lord of hosts | concupiscit, et deficit My soul longeth and fainteth mea in atria Domini. for the courts of the Lord. Patri. Terribilis. Glory be to the Father. Terrible is this place. The Holy See, while extending this feast to churches not consecrated, has not thought fit to make any alteration in the Collect. Whether we consider these churches as participating in the privilege of their respective cathedrals; or prefer to look at the dedication in its universal sense as explained above, whereby each DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 223 sacred building is but the symbol of one august temple the same in all places: thanks are due to him who enables us this year again to taste the joys of so great a solemnity. Life prolonged and health preserved, are benefits of God which we ought to recognize; and to thank Him for them in His house is to dispose Him to hear us when we come to ask Him for all other blessings, corporal or spiritual, in this place where He deigns to listen to all the petitions of His people. COLLECT Deus, qui nobis per singulos annos hujus sancti templi tui consecrationis reparas diem, et sacris semper mysteriis reprasentas incolumes: exaudi preces populi tui, et praesta; ut quisquis hoc templum beneficia petiturus ingreditur, cuncta se impetrasse lmtetur. Per Dominum. O God, who dost renew to us every year the day of the consecration of this thy holy temple, and dost ever bring us again in safety to the holy mysteries, graclously hear the prayers of thy people, and grant that whoever enters this temple to implore blessings may rejoice in having obtained all his requests. Through our Lord. EPISTLE Lectio libri Apocalypsis beati Joannis Apostoli. Cap. xxi. In diebus fllis: Vidi sanctam civitatem Jerusalem novam descendentem de cwlo a Deo, paratam sicut sponsam ornatam viro suo. Et audivi vocem magnam de throno dicentem: Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, et habitabit cum efs. Et fpsi populus ejus erunt, et ipse Deus cum eis erit eorum Deus: et absterget Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis eorum: et mors ultra non erit, neque Iuctus, Lesson from the Book of the Apocalypse of blessed John the Apostle. Chap. xxi. In those days: I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And 1 heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men; and he will dwell with them: and they shall be his people, and God himself with them shall be their Cod: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and no more, nor death shall be mourning, nor 224 TIME AFTER neque clamor, neque dolor erit ultra, quia prima abierunt. Et dixit qui sedebat in throno: Ecce nova facio omnia. PENTECOST crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne said: Behold, T make all things new. We must not forget that all the Church in heaven belong, though Church on earth, who is even now all truly a bride, and as such attracting her dwells among us. The prophets grandeurs of the invisibly, to the beautiful and holy, God, who through of Israel used the same expressions as does here the beloved disciple, when they announced that the unfaithful Sion was to be superseded, even on earth, by a new Jerusalem: ‘ Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be in remembrance. . . . And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.! And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.2 Jerusalem, city of God, give glory to the Lord for thy good things, and bless the God eternal, that He may rebuild His tabernacle in thee. . . . Thou shalt shine with a glorious light : and all the ends of the earth shall worship thee. Nations from afar shall come to thee, and shall bring gifts, and shall adore the Lord in thee. . . . The gates of Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire and of emerald, and all the walls thereof round about of precious stones. All its streets shall be paved with white and clean stones: and Alleluia shall be sung in its streets.”® To-day, then, let us congratulate the Church militant no less than the triumphant; let us renew our veneration for her, our devotedness, and our love. ‘ Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolation: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory.”¢ Thus sang 1 Isa. Ixy.17, 19. + Tob.ati ? Jer. xud. 3. e DEDICATION 225 OF CHURCHES the prince of prophets, who had seen, in the vision of the far future, the house of the Lord prepared on the top of mountains, and above the hills among the Gentiles. In proud Ninive, which held Israel captive, the old Tobias echoed his words, declaring himself blessed in the hope that one of his seed might live to contemplate the glory of the new Sion: and he added: ‘ They shall be cursed that shall despise thee: and they shall be condemned that shall blaspheme thee: and blessed shall they be that shall build thee up. . . . Blessed are all they that love thee, and that rejoice in thy peace.” And let us also conclude with him: * Blessed be the Lord who hath f;,xaltcd it, and may He reign over it for ever and ever. The ineffable sentiments which fill the soul of holy Church find vent, in the Gradual, in one of the most admirable of all the Gregorian melodies. verse is taken from Psalm 137. The Alleluia GRADUAL Locus est, iste a inestimabile Deo sacramen- tum, | ensibilis est. Y. Deus, cui adstat gelorum chorus, exaudi ces servorum tuorum. Alleluia, factus an- pre- s place made by God, an invaluable mystery, it is without ¥.0 God, before whom stands the choir of angels, graciously hear the prayers of thy servants. Alleluia, alleluia. was alleluia. ¥. Adorabo ad templum ¥. 1 will worship towards thy holy temple; aad T will sanctum tuum, et confitebor nomini tuo. Alleluta. fi::i glory to thy name. Aleluia. GOSPEL Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam. In_illo sus richo. Jesus Et Sequel of the holy Gospel ac- cording to St. Luke. Chap. zix. Cap. xix. tempore: I perambulabat ecce vir Je- e At that time, Jesus entering in walked through Jericho. And behold thm ‘was a man * Tob. xill. 226 TIME AFTER Zachzus: et hic princeps erat publicanorum, ‘et ipse dives: et quarebat videre Jesum, quis esset: et non poterat pra turba, quia statura pusillus erat, Et pracurrens ascendit in arborem sycomorum ut videret eum: quia inde erat transiturus. Et cum venisset ad locum, suspiciens Jesus vidit illum, et dixit ad eum: Zachwme, festinans descende: quia hodie in domo tua oportet me manere. Et festinans descendit, et excepit illum gaudens. Et cum viderent omnes, murmurabant, dicentes, quod ad hominem peccatorem divertisset. Stans autem Zachzvs, diit ad Dominum: Ecce dimidium bonorum meorum, Domine, do pauperibus: et si quid aliquem defraudavi, reddo quadruplum. Ait Jesus ad eum: Quia hodie salus domui huic facta est: eo quod et ipse filius sit Abrahz. Venit enim Filius hominis quarere, et salvum facere, quod perierat. PENTECOST named Zachzus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich; and he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and he could not. for the crowd, because he was of low stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore-tree that he might see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up he saw him, and said to him: Zachzus, make haste and come down, for this day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, say- ing that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was & sinner. But Zachmus_standing said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to him: This day is salvation come to this house; because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. In the Mass which follows the dedication of their churches, the Greeks sing the passage of the Gospel where Jesus says to Simon Bar-Jona: ‘ Thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” It is a fitting conclusion to the symbolical lessons of so great a day; and one certainly not less relished by us because of the schism which originated it. Let us hail this apostolic rock, the fixing of which in our West proves that the Latin races are predestined to remain for ever the quarry that will furnish the noblest materials for the eternal temple. Nevertheless it is from other texts DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 227 of the sacred Volume that our fathers chose the Gospel reading for to-day. The comparison drawn by our Lord between the faithful soul and the man who built his house upon a rock determined the choice of some churches; and as we have seen, it has inspired more than one antiphon and verse in the Office. Rome, however, preferred the passage in St. Luke, where Jesus invites Himself to the house of Zachzus. The house which our Lord deigned to make His own, and that not merely for a day, was the publican himself, so despised by the Synagogue; it was all we the Gentiles, of whom, as St. Ambrose says in the Night Office, he was the figure.! Zachzus, lowly of origin and poor in merits like the nations, as the holy doctor explains, merited to see our Lord, whom His own people would not receive. He, then, who had neither the prophets nor the Law to raise him above earth and enable him to see the Saviour, ran before; he ran to the sycamore, that is to the cross,2 by which Jesus, leaving the Jews, had to pass in order to go to the Gentiles. From the height attained by his humility, he beheld the Wisdom of God.? He heard the Lord saying to this proud and ungrateful multitude: ‘ Behold your house shall be left to you desolate;’ while to him, despite the pharisaical murmurs of fallen Israel, rose the sweet voice that invited him to supplant the firstborn in the honour of receiving his God into his house. And surely, if the house of the man who hears the words of Jesus and does them is proof against winds and waves, being built upon a rock: what dwelling could be more secure than the heart of this representative of the disinherited nations, so magnificently repairing the pastLa.rrA‘iI Ianticipating o generously the very counsels of our Lo The Offertory is taken from a passage in the first Book of Paralipomenon, where David thanks God for festi, ex Ampr. in Luc. viil, infra Oct.,ex Bro.in Luc. v. 4 dici infra Oct.,'ex GreG. Moral. xxvii. 27. 228 TIME AFTER PENTECOST having allowed him to gather the treasures necessary for the building of the temple. The Church makes his words her own, while she offers on the altar not only her gifts, but also herself and her children, to be united in one same Sacrifice with the Lord her Spouse, and to form with Him the true temple of God. ‘All things are Thine,’ said the prophet-king; ‘ and we have given Thee what we received of Thy hand. . . . I know, my God, that Thou provest hearts and lovest simplicity.” OFFERTORY Domine Deus, in simplicitate cordis mei letus obtuli universa: et populum tuum, qui repertus est, vidi cum ' ingenti gaudio: Deus Israel, custodi hanc voluntatem. Alleluia. O Lord God, in the simplicity of my heart I have joyfully offered all these things; and I have seen with great joy th le which are presoht: O 'God of Toracl, Reep this will. _ Alleluia. When the Dedication feast is not that of the church in which the Mass is being said, the words in parenthesis in the Secret are omitted. SECRET Annue, quesumus, Domine, ~ Favourably incline to our precibus nostris: (ut quicumque intra templi hujus, cujus anniversarium dedicationis diem celebramus, ambitum continemur, plena tibi, atque perfecta corporis et animz devotione placeamus;) ut, dum hwc vota prasentia reddimus, ad @terna_premia, te adjuvante, pervenire mereamur. Per Dominum. prayers, O Lord, we beseech thee: (and grant that all we who are gathered within the walls of this temple, the anniversary day of whose dedication we are celebrating, may be pleasing to thee by complete and perfect devotion of body and soul;) so that while we offer these our present vows, we may by thy assistance deserve to arrive at eternal rewards. Through. Prayer said in a consecrated church has a very special efficacy, as the Communion antiphon assures us on the strength of God’s own words, declaring His house to be 13 Paralip. xxix. 14, 17. DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 229 a house of prayer. And therein, adds the Church on her own authority, is verified this other divine word: ‘ Every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.’! COMMUNION Domus mea, domus orationis vocabitur, _dicit Dominus: in ea omnis qui petit accipit: et qui quarit invenit, et pulsanti aperietur. The Postcommunion My house shall be called the house of prayer, saith the Lord: every one that asketh therein receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. gathers into one last aspiration the sentiments which fill the holy Church on this great feast, while it beautifully expresses the manifold mystery of the day. POSTCOMMUNION O God, who preparest o fapidibus ternum Majestati living and chosen stones an tuz preparas habitaculum, eternal habitation for thy auxiliare populo tuo suppli- Majesty, assist thy suppliant canti, ut quod Ecclesiz tuz geople that what nefits thy corporalibus proficit _spatiis, hurch by corporal space may spiritualibus amplificetur aug- be enlarged by spiritual inmentis. Per Dominum. crease: Through our Lord. Deus, qui de vivis et electis SECONT™ VESPERS The second Vespers are the same as the first, excepting only the versicle and the Magnificat antiphon. ¥. Holiness becometh thy decet sanctitudo. house, O Lord. ®. Inlongitudinem dierum. K. Unto length of days. ¥. Domum tuam, Domine, ANTIPHON OF O quam metuendus est lo- cus iste: aliud, porta czli. _vere mon domus est Dei, hic et THE MAGNIFICAT Oh, how awful is this place | Truly it is no other than the houuo(God and the gate of heaven. 1 St. Luke xi. 10. 230 This TIME feast, abundant as themes AFTER might for PENTECOST be expected, Christian poetry. has furnished The hymns of the Office in their original form, which we now give, were composed, as we have already said, in the seventh century. HYMN Jerusalem, blessed city, called Dicta pacis visio, the vision of peace! She is Qua construitur in calis built up in heaven of living Vivis ex lapidibus, stones, and surrounded by Et angelis coronata, angels, as a bride by her cortege. Ut sponsata comite. "Tis the new Sion coming Nova veniens e cazlo, down from heaven, adorned g:pfiali thalamo for her nuptials, that as a @parata, ut sponsata bride she may be united to her Copuletur ‘Domino: Lord. Her streets and walls Platem et muri ejus Ex auro purissimo. are all of purest gold. Her ever open gates are Portze nitent margaritis Adytis patentibus; glittering with pearls; and whosoever suffers in this world Et virtute meritorum for the Name of Christ, finds Illuc introducitur entrance there in virtue of his Omnis, qui ob Christi nomen merits. Hic in mundo premitur. The stones, polished by the Tunsionibus, pressuris, blows of affliction, are fitted Expoliti lapides, to their places by the builder's Suis coaptantur locis hand: they are fixed to rePer manus artificis, Disponuntur_permansuri main for ever in the hallowed Sacris dificiis. pile. 5 Christ the corner-stone was Angularis fundamentum sent to be the foundation, Lapis Christus missus est, Qui parietum compage bound in both joints of the walls; whom Sion _received In utroque nectitur, and became holy, in whom Quem Sion sancta suscepit, Tn quo credens permanet. believing she endures for ever. Omnis illa Deo sacra All this beloved city, conEt dilecta civitas, secrated to God, is full of melodies; in praise and joyful Plena modulis, in laude, Et canore jubllo, song she fervently extols her Trinum Deum unicumque One and Trine. Cum fervore pradicat. ‘Hoc in templo, summe Deus, In this temple, O most high Exoratus adveni; God, be present when thou Et clementi bonitate art called upon; and in thy Precum vota suscipe; merciful goodness receive our Urbs Jerusalem beata, DEDICATION Largam benedictionem Hic infunde jugiter. Hic promereantur omnes Petita acquirere, Et adepta possidere: Cum sanctis perenniter Paradisum introire, Translati in requiem. Sloria et bonor Deo squequaque altissimo, Una Patsi, Filogue, Inclyto Paraclito, Cui laus est et potestas Per mterna szcula. Amen. OF CHURCHES suppliant vows; 231 here pour out ever thy copious benedictions. Here may all merit to obtain what they request, and to keep what they have obtained: so that, when taken into their rest, they may enter paradise for ever with the saints. Glory and honour be in all places” to God most high: equally to the Father, and to the Son, and to the glorious Paraclete, to whom _belong praise and power through everlasting ages. Amen. The following Sequence magnificently celebrates the sublime mystery of the Dedication, as understood by our forefathers. It has been sung in our churches ever since the thirteenth century, and has been considered worthy to be attributed to Adam of St. Victor. We have thought it necessary to give the text most generally used at present. SEQUENCE Let the daughters of Jerusalem and Sion, and all the Melos pangant jugis ltitie: assembly of the faithful peoAlleluia. ple, sing a sweet song of neverending joy: Alleluia. Christus enim, norma justiti, For Christ, the pattern of Matrem nostram desponsat holiness, this day doth wed hodie, our mother, holy Church, Quam de lacu traxit miseri, whom he hath drawn from the Ecclesiam. abyss of misery. Hanc, sanguinis et aquz muWhile hanging on the tree nere, of the cross, the God made Dum penderet in crucis ar- Man brought her forth from his own side, giving her the De proprio’ produxit latere blood and water for her dower. Deus homo. Formaretur ut sic Ecclesia, That thus was to be formed Figuratur in prima femina, the holy Church, was preQua de costis Adz est edita, figured in the first of womanMater Heva. kind, our mother Eve, produced from Adam's side. Jerusalem et Sion filiz, Ccetus omnis fidelis curiz, 232 TIME AFTER Heva fuit noverca posteris: Hac est mater electi generis, Vit parens, asylum miseris, Et tutela. Hzc est cymba qua tuti vehimur, Hoc ovile quo tecti condimur, Hzc columna qua firmi nitimur Veritatis. O solemnis festum Quo unitur siz, latitiz, Christus Eccle- In quo nostra salutis nuptiz Celebrantur | Justis inde solvuntur premia, Lapsis autem donatur veni Et sanctorum augentur gaudia ‘Angelorum. Ab aterno fons sapientiz, Intuitu solius gratiz, Sic praevidit in rerum serie Hac futura. Christus jungens nos suis nuptiis, Recreatos veris delicils, Interesse faciat gaudiis Electorum. ~ Amen. PENTECOST Eve was a cruel stepmother to her posterity; but this one is the mother of the chosen race, parent of life, a refuge to the wretched, and theic shelter. This is the bark wherein we safely sail, this the sheepfold that shelters and protects us, this the pillar of truth whereon we lean securely. O feast of solemn joy! whereon Christ is united to the Church, whereon the nuptials of our salvation are celebrated | Rewards this day are given to the just, and pardon is bestowed upon the fallen; yea, and the joys of the holy angels are increased. From all eternity the Fount of Wisdom, regardless of aught save his free grace alone, foresaw and arranged in due course these happy events, May Christ, uniting us in his own nuptials, and recreating us with true delights, admit us to share in the eternal joys of his elect. Amen. Let us now hear what blessings the bride implores, on the day of their consecration, for these churches, in each of which she sees an image of herself. If we remember that the Church’s prayer is always heard, this Preface from the pontifical will show us what great benefits await our humble supplications. PREFACE ZEterne Deus, adesto precibus nostris, adesto sacramentis, adesto etiam piis famulorum tuorum laboribus, nobisque misericordiam tuam poscentibus, Descendat quo- O eternal God, be propitious to our prayers, be propitious to our sacred rites, be propitious to the pious labours of thy servants, as we implore thy mercy. Upon this church, DEDICATION OF CHURCHES 233 que in hanc ecclesiam tuam, which we though unworthy quam sub invocatione sancti consecrate under the invocanominis tui, in honorem san- tion of thy holy name, unto ctz crucis, in qua _comter- the honour of the holy cross nus tibi Filius tuus Dominus noster Jesus Christus pro redemptione mundi pati dignatus est, et memoriam sancti tui N. nos indigni consecramus, Spiritus Sanctus tuus, septiformis_ gratia_ubertate undans: ut quotiescumque in hac domo tua sanctum nomen tuum fuerit invocatum, eorum, qui te invocaverint, a te pio Domino preces exaudiantur. O beata et sancta Trinitas, quez omnia purificas, omnia mundas, et omnia perornas. O beata majestas Dei, quz cuncta imples, cuncta contines, cuncta disponis. O beata et sancta manus Dei, quz omnia sanctificas, omnia benedicis, omnia locupletas. O Sancte sanctorum Deus, tuam clementiam humillima_devotione deposcimus, ut banc ecclesiam tuam, per nostrz humilitatis famulatum, in honorem sancte et victoriosissime crucis, et memoriam sancti tui N. purificare, benedicere, et consecrare, perpetua sanctificationis tuz ubertate digneris. Hicquoque_sacerdotes sacrificiatibi laudis offerant. Hic fideles populi vota persolvant. Hic peccatorum onera solvantur, fidelesque lapsi reparentur. whereon thy coeternal our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to suffer for the redemption of the world, and in memory of thy saint N. thy Holy Spirit descend, overflowing with the abundance of that, his mine, domo tua‘gpirihla Sancti sevenfold whensoever grace; thy so holy name is invoked in this house, thou, O Lord, in thy goodness mayst hear the prayers them that call on thee. of O blessed and holy Trinity, that purifiest all things, clean: sest all things, adornest all things. O blessed Majesty of God, that fillest all things, containest all things, orderest all things. O blessed and holy hand of God, that sancti- fiest all things, blessest all things, enrichest all things. O God, Holy of holies, with most humble devotion we im- plore thy mercy that thou wouldst delgn, through the ministry of our lowliness, to purify, “bless, and consecrate, by the everlasting abundance of thy sacred gifts, this thy church, unto the honour of the holy and triumphant cross, and the memory of thy saint N. Here also may thy priests offer to thee the ice of glnise. Here may the faith1 perform their vows. Here may the burdens of sinners be have quasumus, Do- (here is named the titwlar of the church), may undone, In hac ergo, Son, and the faithful who fallen be restored to E"We therefore bescech thee, O Lord, in this thy house, by 234 TIME AFTER gratia mgroti sanentur; infirmi recuperentur; claudi curentur; leprosi mundentur; caci illu’ minentur; dzmonia ejiciantur. Cunctorum hic debilium incommoda, te, Domine, annuente, pellantur, omniumque vincula peccatorum absolvantur. Ut omnes qui hoc templum beneficia juste deprecaturi ingrediuntur cuncta se impetrasse lztentur; ut concessa misericordia, quam precantur, perpetuo miserationis tuz munere glorientur. Per eumdem Dominum. PENTECOST the grace of thy Holy Spirit, may the sick be healed, the infitm restored to_strength, the lame cured, the lepers cleansed, the blind enlightened, demons cast out. May all miseries and weaknesses be driven away, by thy favour, O Lord, and the bonds of all sins be loosed. Thus may all who enter this temple for the purpose of rightly asking thy benefits rejoice to find all their petitions granted; so that, having obtained the mercy they sought, they may glory in the eternal munificence of thy tender compassion. Through the same Lord. We will conclude with these beautiful formulz from the Ambrosian liturgy, where the Dedication is celebrated on the third Sunday of October, and gives its name, post Dedicationem, to the last Sundays of the sacred cycle. PREFACE Per Christum Dominum noIt is just to return thanks strum. Qui eminentiam pote- to thee, O eternal God, through statisaccepte tradidit Ecclesiz, Christ our Lord. Who dequam pro honore percepto et livered to the Church the reginam constituit, et sponsam. eminent power he had received Cujus sublimitati universa sub- from thee, and, on account of jecit; ad cujus judicium con- that honour, constituted her sentire jussit e czlo. Hac est queen and bride. To her mater omnium viventium, fili- sovereignty he subjected all orum numero facta sublimior: things, and ordered her judgquz_per Spiritum Sanctum ment to be ratified in heaven. quotidie Deo filios procreat; cu- She is the mother of all the jus palmitibus mundus omnis living, and her glory is enimpletus est: qua propagines hanced by the number of her suas ligno bajulante suspen- children: for daily by the sas erigit ad regna calorum. Holy Spirit she brings forth Hzc est civitas illa, sublimis sons to God. The whole world jugo montis erecta, perspicua is filled with her branches: cunctis, et omnibus clara; cu- and suspending her shoots on jus conditor, et inhabitator est the tree that supports her, she idem Dominus noster Jesus raises them up to the kingdom DEDICATION Christus Filius tuus. Quem una tecum omnipotens Pater. OF CHURCHES 235 of heaven. She is the city built on the summit of the lofty mountain, visible to all, well known to all; whose builder_and indweller is the same_Jesus Christ our Lord thy Son, whom together with thee, O almighty Father, the angels praise. PRAYER Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam, Unigeniti tui sponsam vocare dignatus es, ut, qua habet gratiam per fidei devotionem, haberet etiam ex nomine pieta” tem: da, ut omnis hac plebs, nomini tuo serviens, hujus vocabuli consortio digna esse mereatur. Per eumdem Dominum. 0 God, who hast deigned to call the Church the bride of thine only-begotten Son; that as she has found favour by the devotion of her faith, so she might also obtain love by reason_of her name: grant that all this people subb to fuy sama sy be found worthy to share with her so glorious an appellation. Through the same Lord. ‘I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.’! May this word remain with us as a lingering fragrance of the great solemnity. Thy house, O God, is our church, unspeakably beautiful with the splendour of the divine mysteries Compared with her, what was the tabernacle that sheltered the Ark of the Covenant of Sinai? And yet the thought of it filled the heart of David in the desert, and made him faint like the stag panting after the fountains of water. Let us learn from our fathers, who lived in the ages of expectation, how to love the courts of the Lord. Christian | the exile which afflicted David can never be your fate; for in Baptism you became the san of God. Let this Dedication day remind you of the consecration which took you from yourself to make you the temple of the Holy Ghost; to give you to Christ, * together with whom your life is henceforth hidden in 1 Peoxxv. 8 236 the sweet TIME and AFTER PENTECOST fruitful secrecy of the Father's Face. Learn to render to the blessed Trinity in your soul a homage worthy of His presence. Lastly, baptized and consecrated soul, remember that you are not alone at the banquet of God’s love; that divine charity which unites you to Christ the Spouse must link you to His members, and fit you, a living stone, to the other stones; preparing you here below for your future place in the structure of the heavenly sanctuary. Learn to adapt yourself to the living Church; t;: vibrate in ;lmison with 1:he great bride; ctising for eternity, where your one hap y occupation g?fl be to glorify, w};th her, }(,Sod the F:&{r, thgaSon, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. SAINT ANDREW AVELLINO NOVEMBER SAINT 237 10 ANDREW AVELLINO CONFESSOR N the sixteenth century, in reply to the reproach of exhaustion hurled against the Church, the Holy Ghost raised from her soil an abundant harvest of sanctity. Andrew was one of His most worthy co-operators in the work of holy reformation and supernatural renaissance which then took place. Eternal Wisdom had as usual suffered Satan to go before, for his own greater shame, cloaking his evil works under the grand names of renaissance and reform. It was nine years since St. Cajetan had departed this world, leaving it strengthened by his labours and all embalmed with the fragrance of his virtues; the former bishop of Theate, his companion and collaborator in founding the first Regular Clerks, was now governing the Church under the name of Paul IV; when in 1556 God bestowed upon the Theatines, in the person of our saint, an heir to the supernatural gifts, the heroic sanctity, and the zeal for the sanctuary, that had characterized their father. Andrew was the friend and support of the great bishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo, whose glory in heaven he went to share on this day. His pious writings are still used in the Church. He himself formed some admirable disciples, such as Laurence Scupoli, author of the well-known work so prized by the bishop of Geneva, the Spiritual Combat.* Nothing his life. need be added i L R, to the following history of Yo i e e ot 11t is clear and ve i i i cighteen years, and | never read it without profit.’—S. FRANCIS pE SaLRS: Spiritwal Lettirs. 238 TIME AFTER Andreas Avellinus, dictus antea Lancellottus, apud Castrum Novum Lucaniz pagum natus, inter ipsa infantiz primordia, futurz sanctitatis non obscura prabuit indicia. Adolescens ad litteras addiscendas terna e domo egressus, ubricam illius ztatis semiinter bonarum artium ita peregit, ut sapientie initium, quod est timor Domini, ob oculos potissimum habere numquam _ pratermiserit. Cum egregia proinde forma eximium castitatis studium conjunxit, quo impudicas s@pe mulierum insidias elusit, interdum etiam apertam vim propulsavit. Clericali militiz jampridem adscriptus, Neapolim_se contulit, ut legaIibus disciplinis vacaret, ibique jurisprudentiz lauream adeptus, atque interea ad sacerdotalem dignitatem evectus, causarum patrocinia in foro dumtaxat ecclesiastico, proque privatis quibusdam _personis, juxta sacrorum canonum sanctiones agere coepit. Verum cum aliquando inter causam agendam leve ei mendacium excidisset, mox vero fortuita Scripturarum lesacrarum ctione in illa verba_incidisset: Os, quod mentitur, occidit animam; tanto ejus cul- pe dolore ac panitentia correptus est, ut statim ab ejus- modi vit instituto sibi recedendum esse duxerit. Itaque, abdicatis forensibus curis, se totum divino cultui sacrisque ministeriis mancipavit. Cumque ecclesiastic virtutis exemplis emineret, sanctimonialium regimini a tunc exsistente archiepiscopo Neapolitano pra- PENTECOST Andrew Avellino, formerly called Lancelot, was born at Castro Nuovo in Lucania; and, while still an infant, gave evident signs of future holiness. He left his father’s house to study the liberal arts; in the pursuit of which he passed so blamelessly through the slippery age of youth, as ever to keep before his_eyes the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wis- dom. Of a comely appear- ance, he was so great a lover of holy purity that he was able to escape snares laid for his chastity by shameless women, and even to repel open attacks. After being made a cleric, he went to Naples to study law, and there took his degree. Meanwhile he was promoted to the priesthood; after which he began to plead, but only in the ecclesiastical court and for private individuals, in accordance with the prescriptions of Canon Law. Once, however, when pleading a cause, a slight untruth escaped him; and happening soon after, in reading the holy Scripture, to come upon these words: The mouth that belieth killeth the soul, he conceived so great a sorrow and repentance for his fault, that he determined at once to abandon that kind of life. He therefore left the bar, and devoted himself entirely to the divine service and the sacred ministry. As he was eminent in priestly virtues, the archbishop of Naples con- fided to him the direction of certain_muns. this office he In discharging incurred the SAINT ANDREW AVELLINO 239 fectus fuit. Quo in munere cum pravorum hominum odia subiisset, primo quidem intentat sibi necis periculum declinavit; mox vero per sicarium tribus in facie acceptis vulneribus, injuriz atrocitatem quo animo pertulit. Tum perfectioris vite desiderio flagrans, ut inter Clericos regulares adscriberetur, suppl citer postulavit, votique compos factus, ob ingentem, quo @stuabat, crucis amorem, ut sibi Andrew nomen imponeretur, precibus impetravit. Arctioris itaque vitz curriculum alacri studio ingres- hatred of some evil men, who attempted his life. He escaped their first assault; but soon afterwards one of the assassins gave him three wounds in the face: an injury which he bore unmoved. Desirous of a more perfect life, he humbly begged to be admitted among the Regular Clerks; and on obtaining his request, he asked to be called by the name of Andrew, on actount of his ardent love of the cross. exercitationes incubuit, ad quas the practice of the virtues, going so far as to bind him- sus, in eas maxime sese arduis etiam virtutis emissis votis obstrinxit, altero scilicet suz ipsius voluntati jugiter obsistendi, altero vero in via christiana perfectionis semper ulterius progrediendi. Regularis disciplin cultor assiduus, et in ea promovenda, cum aliis praesset, studiosissimus fuit. Quidquid ab instituti sui officii et regule prescripto supererat temporis, orationi et animarum_saluti tribuebat, In confessionibus excipiendis mira ejus pietas et prudentia enituit: vicos et oppida Neapoli finitima evangelicis ministeriis magno cum animarum lucro frequens lustrabat. Quam _ardentem erga proximos sancti viri caritatem signis_etiam Dominus illustravit. Cum enim intempesta nocte ab audita @gri confessione domum rediret, ac pluvie ventorumque vis pralucentem facem exstinxisset, non solum ipse cum sociis inter effusissimos imbres nihil He ecarnestly devoted him- self to the stricter manner life he had embraced, and of to self thereto by two most difficult vows—viz., never to do his own will, and ever to ad- vance in Christian perfection. He had the greatest respect for religious discipline, and zealously promoted it when he 'was superior. Whatever time remained over after the discharge of his duties and the prescriptions of the rule, he devoted to prayer and the salvation of souls. He was noted for his piety and prudence in hearing confessions. He frequently visited the towns and villages near Naples, exercising the apostolic ministry with much profit to souls. Our Lord was pleased to show by miracles how great was this holy man’s love of his neighbour. As he was once returning home late at night from hearing a sick man’s confession, a violent storm of wind and rain put out the light that was carried before him; but neither 240 TIME AFTER madefactus est; verum etiam, inusitato splendore e suo corpore mirabiliter emicante, sociis inter densissimas tenebras iter monstravit. Abstinentia et patientia, nec non abjectione atque odio sui summore prastitit. Necem fratris lio illatam imperturbato animo tulit, ac suos ab omni ulciscendi cupiditate compescuit, imo etiam pro interfectoribus opem et misericordiam judicum imploravit. Pluribus in locis Clericorum regularium Ordinem propagavit, eorumque domicilia Mediolani et Placenti instituit. Illius operam sanctus Carolus Borromazus, et Paulus de Aretio Clericus regularis, Cardinales, quibus erat acceptissimus, in _pastoralis muneris curis adhibuerunt. Deiparam Virginem singulari amore et cultu prosequebatur. Angelorum colloquio perfrui meruit, quos, cum divinas laudes persolveret, e regione concinentes se audisse testatus est. Denique post heroica virtutum_exempla, prophetie quoque dono illustris, quo et secreta cordium, et absentia, et futura prospexit, annis gra. vis et laboribus fractus, ad aram celebraturus in_verbis fllis tertio repetitis: Introibo ad altare Dei, repentino apoplexiz morbo _correptus est; mox sacramentis rite munitus, placidissime inter suos animam eflavit. Ejus corpus Neapoli in ecclesia sancti Pauli ad hzc usque tempora eo frequentissimo populi concursu colitur, quo fuit elatum. Illum PENTECOST he nor his companions were wet by the pouring rain; and, moreover, a_wonderful light shining from his body enabled them to find their way through the darkness. His abstinence and patience were extraordinary, as also his humility and hatred of self. He bore the assassination of his nephew with unrufled _tranquillity, withheld his family from seeking revenge, and even implored the judges to grant mercy and protection to the murderers. He propagated the Order of the Regular Clerks in many places, and founded houses for them in Milan and Piacenza. The Cardinals Charles Borromeo and Paul of Arezzo, a Regular Clerk, bore him great affection, and availed themselves of his assistance in the discharge of their pastoral office. The Virgin Mother of God he honoured with a very special love and worship. He was permitted to converse with the angels; and affirmed that when saying the Divine Office, he heard them singing with him as if in choir. At length, after giving heroic examples of virtue, and becoming illustrious for his gift of prophecy, whereby he knew the secrets of hearts, and distant and future events, he was worn out with old age and broken down with labours. As he was at the foot of the altar about to say Mass, he thrice repeated the words: I will go in to the altar of God, and fell down struck with apoplexy. After being strengthened by the Sacraments of the Church, he SAINT ANDREW denique insignibus in vita et tqmomm miraculis clarum lemens undecimus Pontifex sanritu solemni Maximus ctorum catalogo adscripsit. 241 AVELLINO peacefully expired in the midst of his brethren. His body was buried at Naples in the church of St. Paul, and is honoured even to this day by as great a concourse of people asattended the he interment. had been Finally, illustrious as for miracles both in life and after among Pope death, he was solemnly enrolled the Clement XI. saints by How sweet and yet how strong were the ways of eternal Wisdom in thy regard, O blessed Andrew, when a slight fault into which thou wast surprised became the starting-point of thy splendid sanctity! ‘The mouth that belieth killeth the soul. Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands.’! ou didst read these words of divine Wisdom and fully understand them. The aim of life then ap, to thee very different, in the light of the vows thou wast inspired to make, ever to turn away from thyself and ever to draw nearer to the Sovereign Good. With holy Church in her Collect, we glorify our Lord for having disposed such admsrable ascensions in thy heart. This daily progress led thee on ‘ from virtue to virtue,” till thou dost now ° behold the God of gods in Sion.” Thy ‘heart and thy flesh rejoiced in the living God ’; thy soul, absorbed in the love of His hallowed courts, fainted at the thought thereof. No wonder it was at the foot of God’s altar that thy life failed thee, and thou didst enter on the passage to His blessed home. With what joy thou wast welcomed into the eternal choirs, by those who had been on earth thy ic associates in the divine praise ! Be not unmindful of the world’s homage. Deign to respond to the confidence of Naples and Sicily, which commend themselves to thy powerful patronage. Bless the pious family of Regular Clerks tines, in union 1 Wisd i 13, 18 242 TIME AFTER PENTECOST with St. Cajetan thy father and theirs. Obtain for us all a share in the blessings so largely bestowed on thee. May the vain pleasures found in the ‘tabernacles of sinners * never seduce us; but may we prefer the humility of God’s house to all worldly pomp. If, like thee, we ‘ love truth and mercy,” our Lord will give to us, as He gave to thee, ‘ grace and glory.’ Calling t6 mind the circumstances of thy blessed end, Christians honour thee as a protector against sudden and unprovided death: be our guardian at that last moment; let the innocence of our life, or at least our repentance, prepare for us a happy exit; and may we, like thee, breathe out our last sigh in hope and love. Rome invites us to-day to honour with her a group of martyrs, the protectors and the treasure of her great hospital of the Holy Ghost, where they rest under the high altar. The church of St. Augustine, close to the ancient stational church of St. Tryphon, also possesses a portion of the latter’s precious remains. PRAYER Grant us, we beseech thee, 0 Lord, to keep the festival of Tryphonis, Respicii, et Nym- thy holy martyrs, Tryphon, ph® semper festa sectari: Respicius, and Nympha; by whose suffrages may we exquorum suffragiis protectionis Per perience the gifts of thy prosentiamus, dona tue tection. Through our Lord. Dominum. Fac nos, qusumus, Domine, sanctorum martyrum tuorum 1 G Pa i, SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS 243 NOVEMBER II SAINT MARTIN BISHOP AND CONFESSOR 'HREE thousand six hundred and sixty churches dedicated to St. Martin in France alone,! and wellnigh as many in the rest of the world, bear witness to the immense popularity of the great thaumaturgus. In the country, on the mountains, and in the depth of forests; trees, rocks, and fountains, objects of superstitious worship to our pagan ancestors, received, and in many places still retain, the name of him who snatched them from the dominion of the powers of darkness to restore them to the true God. For the vanquished idols, Roman, Celtic, or German, Christ substituted their conqueror, the humble soldier, in the grateful memory of the people. Martin’s mission was to complete the destruction of paganism, which had been driven from the towns by the martyrs but remained up to his time master of the vast territories removed from the influence of the cities. While on the one hand he was honoured with God’s favours, on the other he was pursued by hell with implacable hatred. At the very outset he had to encounter Satan, who said to him: ‘ I will beset thy path at every turn ’;? and he kept his word. He has kept it to this very day: century after century, he has been workin, ruin around the glorious tomb which once attracts the whole world to Tours: in the sixteenth, he delivered to the flames, by the hands of the Huguenots, the venerable remains of the protector of France; by the nineteenth, he had brought men to such a height of folly, as themselves to destroy, in time of peace, the to the dioceses may be seen in the Appendix to * Saint * SuuniT. Seves, 244 TIME splendid AFTER basilica which PENTECOST was the pride and the riches of their city. The gratitude of Christ and the rage of Satan, made known by such signs, reveal sufficiently the incomparable labours of the pontiff, apostle, and monk, St. Martin. A monk indeed he was, both in desire and in reality, to the last day of his life. ‘From earliest infancy he sighed after the service of God. He became a catechumen at the age of ten, and at twelve he wished to retire to the desert; all his thoughts were engaged on monasteries and churches. A soldier at fifteen years of age, he so lived as even then to be taken for a monk.! After a first trial of religious life in Italy, he was brought by St. Hilary to this solitude of Ligugé, which, thanks to him, became the cradle of monastic life in Gaul. To say the truth, Martin, during the whole course of his life, felt like a stranger everywhere else except at Ligugé. A monk by attraction, he had been forced to be a soldier, and it needed violence to make him a bishop: and even then he never relinquished his monastic habits. He responded to the dignity of a bishop, says his historian, without declining from the rule and life of a monk.* At first he constructed for himself a cell near his church of Tours; and soon afterwards built, at a little distance from the town, a second Ligugé, under the name of Marmoutier, or the great monastery.” The holy liturgy refers to St. Hilary the honour of the wonderful virtues displayed by Martin.* What were the holy bishop’s reasons for leading his heaven-sent disciple by ways then so little known in the West he has left us to learn from the most legitimate heir of his doctrine as well as of his eloquence. ‘It has ever been,’ says Cardinal Pie, ‘ the ruling idea of all the saints that, side by side with the ordinary ministry of the pastors, v s ut, jam illo tempore, non miles sed monschus putaretur. Surrir. Seves. ita,i, » Ita implebat episcopidignitatem, ut non tamen propoitum monachi vitutemque desereret. S Cimsnear, i, Homily pronounced on accasion of the eetablishment of the Nmnhx “,‘Io 35, ¢ Hilarium secutus est dostors profecic, quaatum eju Benedictine Order at Liguy porten et deciaravit. T oo &Fari, Noct. 11 Lo 0 SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS 245 obliged by their functions to live in the midst of the world, the Church has need of a militia, separated from the world and enrolled under the standard of evangelical perfection, living in self-renunciation and obedience, and carrying on day and night the noble and incomparable function of public prayer. The most illustrious pontiffs and the greatest doctors have thought that the secular clergy themselves could never be better fitted for spreading and making popular the pure doctrines of the Gospel, than if they could be prepared for their pastoral office by living either a monastic life, or one as nearly as possible resembling it. Read the lives of the greatest bishops both in East and West, in the times immediately preceding or following the peace of the Church, as well as in the Middle Ages: they have all, either themselves at some time professed the monastic life, or lived in continual contact with those who professed it. Hilary, the great Hilary, had, with his experienced and unerring glance, perceived the need; he had seen the place that should be occupied by the monastic Order in Christendom, and by the regular clergy in the Church. In the midst of his struggles, his combats, his exile, when he witnessed with his own eyes the importance of the monasteries in the East, he earnestly desired the time when, returning to Gaul, he might at length lay the foundations of the religious life at home. Providence was not long in sending him what was needful for such an enterprise: a disciple worthy of the master, a monk worthy of the bishop.’? On another occasion, comparing St. Martin, his predecessors, and St. Hilary himself, in their common apostolate of Gaul, the illustrious Cardinal says: ‘ Far be it from me to undervalue all the vitality and power already possessed by the religion of Jesus Christ i our divers provinces, thanks to the preaching of the first apostles, martyrs, and bishops, who may be counted back in a long line almost to the day of Calvary. Still I fear not to say it: the popular apostle of Gaul, who CARDINAL PiE, bi supra. 246 TIME AFTER PENTECOST converted the country parts, until then almost entirely pagan, the founder of national Christianity, was principally St. Martin. And how s it that he, above so many other great bishops and servants of God, holds such preeminence in the apostolate? Are we to place Martin above his master Hilary ? With regard to doctrine, certainly not; and as to zeal, courage, holiness, it is not for me to say which was greater, the master’s or the disciple’s. But what I can say is, that Hilary was chiefly a teacher, and Martin was chiefly a thaumaturgus. Now, for the conversion of the people the thaumaturgus is more powerful than the teacher; and consequently, in the memory and worship of the people, the teacher is eclipsed and effaced by the thaumaturgus. ‘ Nowadays there is much talk about the necessity of reasoning in order to persuade men as to the reality of divine things: but that is forgetting Scripture and history; nay, more, it is degenerating. God has not deemed it consistent with His majesty to reason with us. He has spoken; He has said what is and what is not; and as He exacts faith in His word, He has sanctioned His word. But how has He sanctioned it ? After the manner of God, not of man; by works, not by reasons: non in sermone, sed in virtute, not by the arguments of a humanly persuasive philosophy: non in persuasibilibus humane sapientie verbis, but by displaying a power altogether divine: sed in ostensione spiritus et virtutis. And wherefore ? For this profound reason: Ut fides non sit in sapientia hominum, sed in virtute Dei, that faith may not rest upon the wisdom of man, but upon the power of God.! But now men will not have it so: they tell us that in Jesus Christ the theurgist wrongs the moralist; that miracles are a blemish in so sublime an ideal. But they cannot reverse this order; they cannot abolish the Gospel, nor history. Begging the pardon of the learned men of our age and their obsequious followers: not only did Christ work miracles, but He established the Faith upon the foundation of miracles. 11 Corii 4 SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS 247 And the same Christ—not to confirm His own miracles, which are the support of all others; but out of com- passion for us, who are so prone to forgetfulness, and who are more impressed by what we see than by what we hear—the same Jesus Christ has placed in His Church, and that for all time, the power of working miracles. Our age has seen some, and will see yet more. The fourth century witnessed in particular those of St. Martin. ‘ The working of wonders seemed mere play to him; all nature obeyed him; the animals were subject to him. ““Alas!” cried the saint one day: “ the very serpents listen to me, and men refuse to hear me.” Men, however, often did hear him. The whole of Gaul heard him ; not only Aquitaine, but also Celtic and Belgic Gaul. Who could resist words enforced by so many prodigies ? In all these provinces he overthrew the idols one after another, reduced the statues to powder, burnt or demolished all the temples, destroyed the sacred groves and all the haunts of idolatry. Was it lawful ? you may ask. If I study the legislation of Constantine and Constantius, perhaps it was. But this I know: Martin, eaten up with zeal for the house of the Lord, was obeying none but the Spirit of God. And I must add that against the fury of the pagan population Martin’s only arms were the miracles he wrought, the visible assistance of angels sometimes granted him, and, above all, the prayers and tears he poured out before God, when the hard-heartedness of the people resisted the power of his words and of his wonders. With these means Martin changed the face of the country. Where he found scarcely a Christian on his arrival, he left scarcely an infidel at his departure. The temples of the idols were immediately replaced by temples of the true God; for, says Sulpicius Severus, as soon as he had destroyed the homes of superstition, he built churches and monasteries. It is thus that all Europe is covered with sanctuaries bearing the name of St. Martin.”? 1 Canonear. Pis, Sermor d_in the cathedral of Tours, on the Sunda; 2/ following the patronal feast of St. Martin, November 14, 1853. 248 TIME AFTER PENTECOST His beneficial actions, did not cease with his death; they alone explain the uninterrupted concourse of people to his holy tomb. His numerous feasts in the year, the Deposition or Natalis, the Ordination, Subvention, and Reversion, did not wi the piety of the faithful. Kept everywhere as a holiday of obligation,® and bringing with it the brief return of bright weather known as St. Martin’s summer, November 11 rivalled St. John’s day in the rejoicings it occasioned in Latin Christendom. Martin was the joy of all, and the helper of all. St. Gregory of Tours does not hesitate to call his blessed predecessor the °special patron of the whole world’ ;* whilst monks and clerics, soldiers, knights, travellers and innkeepers on account of his long journeys, charitable associations of every kind in memory of the cloak of Amiens, have never ceased to claim their peculiar right to the great pontiff's benevolence. Hungary, the generous land which gave him to us without exhausting its own provision for the future, rightly reckons him among its most powerful protectors. But to France he was a father: in the same manner as he laboured for the unity of the faith in that land, he presided also over the formation of national unity; and he watches over its continuance. As the pilgrimage of Tours preceded that of Compostella in the Church, the cloak of St. Martin® led the Frankish armies to battle even before the oriflamme of St. Denis. ‘How,’ said Clovis, ‘ can we hope for victory, if we offend blessed Martin 24 Let us read the account given by holy Church, who lingers lovingly over the last moments of her illustrious son, worthy as they are of all admiration. 1 Concil, Mogunt. an. 813, can. xxxvi, 2 Gaxo. Tux. De miracls S. Martini, 1V. in Prolog. + Whaterer may have been the garment designated by this chage, it gave to the oratory of the kings of France the name of cAapelle, chapel, which bas since passed into common use. Et ubi erit spes victoriz, si beatus Martious offenditur? Grzc. Tux, Historia Francorum, 1I. 37. SAINT MARTIN Martinus, Sabariz in Pannonia natus, cum decimum attigisset annum, invitis parentibus ad Ecclesiam confugiens, in catechumenorum numerum Quindecim adscribi annos voluit. natus in 249 OF TOURS Martin was born at Sabaria in Pannonia. old he fled inst his When ten years to the cl}!ul’cly ents’ will, ane had himself enrolled among the catechumens. At the age of fifteen he became a soldier, militiam profectus, primum and served in the army first in Constantii, deinde Juliani of Constantius and afterwards exercitu_militavit. Qui cum of Julian. On one occasion, nihil haberet prater arma, et when a poor naked man at vestimentum quo tegebatur, Amiens begged an alms of Ambiani, pauperi ac nudo him in the name of Chrisy, ab eo petenti, ut Christi no- having nothing but his armour mine sibi eleemosynam tri- and clothing, he gave him half bueret, partem chlamydis de- of his military cloak. The dit. Cui sequenti nocte Chri- following night Christ appeared stusdimidiatailla veste indutus to him clad in that half-cloak, apparuit, hanc mittens vo- and said: Martin, while yet cem: Martinus catechumenus a catechuymen, has clothed me with this garment. Decem et octo annos cum At eighteen years of age he haberet, baptizatus est. Quare was baptized; and abandoning relicta militari vita, ad Hilahis military career, betook rium Pictaviensem episcopum himself to Hilary, bishop of se contulit, a quo in acolyPoitlers, by whom he was thorum numerum redactus est. made acolyte. Later on, havPost factus episcopus Turonen- ing become bishop of Tours, sis monasterium @dificavit, ubi he built a monastery, where hac me veste contexit. cum octoginta monachis san- he lived for some holy manner, time in a ctissime aliquamdiu vixit. Qui cum postea ad Candacensem vicum su dicecesis in gravem most in com- pulo tuo sum necessarius, non recuso laborem. words, prayed to God in this pany with eighty monks. He was seized with a violent fever febrim incidisset, assidua Deum at Cande, a village in his oratione precabatur, ut se ex diocese; and he earnestly beillo mortali carcere liberaret. sought ‘God to free him from Quem audientes discipuli, sic the prisop of the body. His rogabant: Cur nos pater de- disciples hearing, asked him seris? cui nos miseros dereFather, why dost thou abanlinquis 7 Quorum voce com- don us ? or to whom dost thou motus Martinus, ita Deum leave us in our desolation? orabat: Domine, si adhuc po- Martin, touched by their Sed cum eum in illa vehementi febre supinum orantem viderent discipuli, sup- ‘manner: O Lo‘x;d if I 1n'nllt‘:l.l necessary to thy people, not refuse the labour. T lo ‘When his disciples saw him ing on his ek, they TIME AFTER 250 pliciter ab eo PENTECOST ut besought him to turn over for cruenta art thou What exclaimed: doing here, thou cruel beast ? petierunt, converso corpore _tantisper, a little while, that he might dum remitteret morbi vis, get some rest and relief. But pronus conquiesceret. Quibus Martin answered: Suffer me Martinus, Sinite me, inquit, to gaze on heaven rather than calum potius, quam terram earth, that my spirit, which is aspicere, ut suo jam itinere about to depart, may be diiturus ad Dominum spiritus rected on its way to our Lord. dirigatur. Instante jam morte, As death drew nigh, he saw viso humani generis hoste: the enemy of mankind, and Quid, inquit, bestia ? nihil astas, in me funeste reperies. Ea in voce, unum et octoginta annos natus, animam Deo reddidit: quam angelorum chorus excepit, eosque divinas canentes laudes multi, in primisque sanctus Seve- thou wilt find no evil in me. While uttering these words he gave up his soul to God, at the age of eighty-one. He was received by a choir of angels, whom many, and in rinus Coloniensis episcopus, au- particular St. Severinus, bishop of Cologne, heard singing the praises of God. ‘We here give the beautiful antiphons of Vespers. The first five are composed of passages from the letter of Sulpicius Severus to Bassula, in which he relates the saint’s death, thus completing the book he had written of the Life of St. Martin while the holy bishop was still dierunt. on earth. ANTIPHONS Dixerunt discipuli ad beatom Martinum: Cur nos pater nos desolatos relinquis ? Invadent enim gregem tuum lupi rapaces. Domine, si adhuc populo The disciples said to blessed Martin: Why, father, dost thou abandon us ? or to whom dost thou leave us in our desolation? For ravening wolves will rush upon thy flock. Lord, if I am still n tuo sum necessarius, non re- to thy people, I do not refuse cuso laborem: fiat voluntas the labour: may thy will be tua. done. O virum ineffabilem, nec O man beyond all praise ! labore victum, nec morte vin- neither conquered by labour, cendum, qui nec mori timuit, nor conquerable by death} nec vivere recusavit | who neither feared to die, nor refused to live. Oculis ac manibus in_caEver intent with eyes and um semper intentus, invi- hands raised to heaven, he SAINT 251 never relaxed from prayer his invincible spirit, alleluia. Martin is received with joy in Abraham’s bosom: Martin, here poor and humble, enters heaven rich, and is honoured with celestial hymns. O blessed man, whose soul is now in_possession of paradise! Wherefore the angels exult, the archangels rejoice, the choir of the saints proclaims his glory, the virgins MARTIN ctum ab oratione spiritum non relaxabat, alleluia. Martinus Abraha sinu letus excipitur: Martinus, hic pauper et modicus, celum dives ingreditur, hymnis calestibus honoratur. O beatum virum, cujus anima paradisum possidet: unde exsultant angeli, letantur archangeli, chorus sanctorum proclamat, turba vitginum invitat: Mane nobiscum OF TOURS in zternum. crowd O beatum pontificem, qui totis visceribus diligebat Christum Regem, et non formidabat imperii principatum: o sanctissima anima, quam etsi gladius persecutoris non abstulit, palmam tamen martyrii non amisit. O blessed pontiff, who, with his whole inmost being loved Christ the King and feared not the power of the mighty | O mostholy soul, which, though not snatched away by the sword of the persecutor, did not forgo the palm of martyrdom ! around him saying: Remain with us for ever. St. Odo of Cluny, one of the most illustrious and devout clients of St. Martin, composed the following hymn in his honour. The faithful will find in their Ves; books, in the Common of the saints, the more ancient hymn, Iste Confessor; it is somewhat altered from the original, which was intended to celebrate the miracles wrought at the tomb of this the first saint not a martyr to be honoured by the whole Church. HYMN Rex Christe, Martini decus, Hic laus tua, tu illius: Tu nos in hunc te colere, Quin ipsum in te tribue. Qui das per orbis cardines, Quod gemma fulget presulum; Da quos premunt culpa graves, Solvat per ingens meritum. O Christ our King, Martin's glory, he is thy praise, and thou art his: suffer us to honour thee in him—yea, him in thee. and Thou who causest this jewel of pontifis to shine throughout the world; grant that through his exceeding great merit he may deliver us who are oppressed by the weight of our sins. 252 TIME AFTER En pauper hic et modicus Calum dives ingreditur; Cali cohortes obviant, Linguz, tribus, gentes ovant. Ut vita, fulget transitus, Calis et arvo splendidus; Gaudere cunctis pium est, Cunctis salus sit hzc dies. PENTECOST Poor earth, and humble here on lo! now he enters hea- ven abounding in riches; the celestial hosts come forth to meet him, and all tongues, tribes, and nations celebrate his triumph | His death, like his life, was resplendent with light, a glory to earth and to heaven; to rejoice thereat is the duty of all; may this day be to all a day of salvation. O Martin, equal to the apostles, succour us who kee, thy feast; look upon us, thou who wast willing alike to live for thy disciples or to die. Martine, par apostolis, Festum colentes tu fove; Qui vivere discipulis Vis, aut mori, nos respice. Do now what thou didst Fac nunc quod olim gesseras, heretofore: make pontiffs illusTu prasules clarifica, trious in virtue, increase the Auge decus Ecclesie, glory of the Church, and frusFraudes relide Satan. trate the wiles of Satan. Qui ter chaos evisceras, Thrice didst thou despoil Mersos reatu suscita: the abyss of its prey: raise up Diviseras ut chlamydem, now those that are burizd in sin. As once thou didst share Nos indue justitiam. thy mantle with another. othe us with the garb of holiness. Remembering what was once thy special glory, succour the Ut specialis gloriz Quondam recorderis tuz, Monastico nunc Ordin Jam pene lapso, subveni. Sit Trinitati gloria, Martinus ut confessus est; Cujus fidem per opera In nos et ipse roboret. Amen. monastic Order now well nigh extinct. Glorybe to the Holy Trinity, whom ~ Martin confessed by his life; may he obtain that our faith in that mystery he confirmed by works. Amen. Adam of St. Victor has consecrated to the holy bishop of Tours one of his most enthusiastic pieces. SEQUENCE Gaude Sion, qua diem recolis, ‘Qua Martinus,comparapostolis, Mundum vincens, calicolis Coronatur. junctus Rejoice, O Sion, celebrating the day whereon Martin, equal to the apostles, conquering the world, is crowned among the heavenly citizens. SAINT MARTIN Hic Martinus, pauper et modicus, Servus prudens, fidelis villicus, Calo dives, civis angelicus Sublimatur. Hic Martinus, jam catechu‘menus Nudum_vestit, et nocte protinus In sequenti, hac veste Dominus Est indutus. Hic Martinus, spernens mim, Tnimicis inermis obviam Ire parat, baptismi gratiam ‘Assecutus. Hic Martinus, dum offert hostiam, Intus ardet per Dei gratiam: Supersedens apparet etiam Globus ignis. Hic Martinus, qui calum reserat, Mari praeest et terris imperat, Morbos sanat et monstra superat, Vir insignis. Hic Martinus nec mori timuit, Nec vivendi laborem respuit, Sicque Dei se totum tribuit Voluntati. Hic Martinus, qui nulli nocuit, Hic Martinus, qui cunctis profuit, Hic Martinus, qui trine placuit Majestati. Hic Martinus, struit, qui fana de- i gentiles ad fidem imbuit, t de quibus eos instituit, Operatur. Hic Martinus, qui tribus mor- tuis Meritis dat vitam. pracipuis: Nunc momentis Deum continuis Contemplatur. OF TOURS 253 This is Martin, poor and humble, the prudent servant, the faithful steward; now rich, he is throned on high in heaven, a fellow-citizen of the angels. This is Martin, who, yet a catechumen, clothes the naked, and straightway the next night the Lord himself is with that garment. covered This is Martin, who, despising the army, 'is ready to go unarmed and face the foe; for now he has obtained the grace of baptism. This is Martin, who, while he offers the holy Victim, is all on fire within, through the grace of God, and lo| a fiery globe appears resting above his head. This is Martin, who opens heaven, gives orders to the sea, commands the earth, heals diseases, and vanquishes monsters: incomparable man | This is Martin, who neither feared to die, nor refused to live and labour, thus abandot himself entirely to the willof God. This is Martin, who never injured any; this is Martin, who was good and kind to all} this is Martin, who was well- pleasing to the majestic Tri- nity. is Martin, who de- stroys the tgxgm temples, who initiates the nations to the faith, and what he teaches them does first himself. This is Martin, who by his singular dead men merits raises three to life; he now beholds God for ever without intermission. 254 TIME AFTER PENTECOST O Martin, illustrious pastor, O Martine, pastor egregie, O soldier in the heavenly O calestis consors militz, ranks, defend us from the fury Nos a lupi defendas rabie of the ravening wolf. Szvientis. O Martin, act once more as O Martine, fac nunc quod thou didst of old; offer to God gesseras, Deo preces pro nobis offeras, thy prayers for us; be mindEsto memor, quam numquam ful of thine own nation and deseras, forsake it never. Amen. Tuz gentis. Amen. O holy Martin, have compassion on our depth of misery | A winter more severe than that which caused thee to divide thy cloak now rages over the world; many gerish in theicy night brought on by the extinction of faith and the cooling of charity. Come to the aid of those unfortunate souls whose torpor prevents them from asking assistance. Wait not for them to pray; but forestall them for the love of Christ in whose name the poor man of Amiens implored thee, whereas they scarcely know how to utter it. And yet their nakedness is worse than the beggar’s, stripped as they are of the garment of grace, which their fathers received from thee and handed down to posterity. How lamentable, above all, has become the destitution of France, which thou didst once enrich with the blessings of heaven, and where thy benefits have been requited with such injuries! Deign to consider, however, that our days have seen the beginning of reparation, close by thy holy tomb restored to our filial veneration. Look upon the piety of those grand Christians whose hearts were able, like the generosity of the multitude, to rise to the height of the greatest projects; see the pilgrims, however reduced their numbers, now taking once more the road to Tours, traversed so often by people and kings in better days of our history. Has that history of the brightest days of the Church, of the reign of Christ as King, come to an end, O Martin ? Let the enemy imagine he has already sealed our tomb: but the story of thy miracles tells us that thou canst raise up even the dead. Was not the catechumen of Ligugé SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS 255 snatched from the land of the living, when thou didst call him back to life and Baptism? Supposing that, like him, we were already among those whom the Lord remembereth no more, the man or the country that has Martin for protector and father need never yield to despair. If thou deign to bear us in mind, the angels will come and say again to the supreme Judge: ‘ This is the man, this is the nation, for whom Martin prays,’ and they will be commanded to draw us out of the dark regions where dwell the people without glory, and to restore us to Martin, and to our noble destinies.* Thy zeal, however, for the advancement of God’s kingdom knew no limits. Inspire, then, strengthen, and multiply the apostles all over the world, who, like thee, are driving out the remnants of infidelity. Restore Christian Europe, which still honours thy name, to the unity so unhappily dissolved by schism and heresy. In spite of the many efforts to the contrary, maintain thy noble fatherland in its post of honour, and in its traditions of brave fidelity. May thy devout clients in all lands experience that thy right arm still suffices to protect those who implore thee. In heaven to-day, as the Church sings, the angels are full of joy, the saints proclaim thy glory, the virgins surround thee saying: ‘ Remain with us for ever.”* Is not this the continuation of what thy life was here on earth, when thou and the virgins vied with each other in showing mutual veneration; when Mary their Queen, accompanied by Thecla and Agnes, loved to spend long hours with thee in thy cell at Marmoutier, which thus became,says thy historian, like the dwellings of the angels ?* Imltatmg their brothers and sisters in heaven, virgins and monks, clergy and pontiffs turn to thee, never fearing that their numbers will cause any one of them to receive less; knowing that thy life is a light sufficient to enlighten all; and that one glance from Martin will secure to them the blessings of the Lord. 1 SuLnir. Sevaw. Vita, vii. At2d Magnificat,in 1 Vg oL S8 ¥ Suieir. Seven. Dislog. 1. o 256 TIME AFTER PENTECOST The soldier Mennas was a native of Egypt, and after his martyrdom became the protector of Alexandria. It is not a rare thing to find, even at this date, phials formerly brought by pilgrims to be filled with oil from the lamp burning before his tomb. the Church: PRAYER Prasta, quasumus, omnipo- tens Deus: ut qui beati Menne martyris tui natalitia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum. Let us say with Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that we who gelebrate the festival of blessed Mennas thy martyr, may hia. interodssion.b sfl”’en:’: thened in the love of thy name. Throour ugh Lord. SAINT MARTIN POPE AND MARTYR NOVEMBER 257 12 SAINT MARTIN POPE AND MARTYR I HILE the concourse of pilgrims to the sepulchre of the bishop of Tours induced his third successor, Perpetuus, to raise over his precious remains the basilica in which so many prodigies were to be wrought all through the Middle Ages, Rome herself was dedicating to St. Martin one of her noblest churches, uniting with him as joint titular her own illustrious pontiff and confessor Sylvester. Adorned with this twofold glory, St. Martin-on-the-Hill worthily inaugurated in the eternal city the cultus of confessors side by side with that of the martyrs. But another honour awaited the venerable sanctuary. Beside the wonder-working apostle and the pontiff of peace, both vanquishers of idolatry who had escaped the sword only through the conversion of the persecutors, the last of the martyrpopes, also Martin by name, came to seek a restingplace, long after the pagan persecutions had ceased. ‘ Martin I,’ says Baronius, ‘ fared better than any of his predecessors since the time of Constantine. Found worthy to suffer more than all of them for the name of Jesus Christ, he had the good fortune to find a Decius and a Diocletian in a baptized prince.’* The emperor thus stigmatized by the great annalist was Constans II. From his grandfather Heraclius, who at least had given the world a few years of glory, he inherited nothing but the Byzantine pretension of imposing his dogmatic edicts upon the Church. Like the Ecthesis of Heraclius, the Type of Constans aimed at silencing the Catholics in their struggle with the Monothelites. St. Leo II, on June 28, has already 1 Barox, Ad ana. 651. TIME AFTER PENTECOST 258 initiated us into these contests concerning the integrity of the two Could the said that appearance natures, divine and human, in the Man-God. Church, without protesting, allow it to be her Spouse had taken from Adam a mere of humanity, a half-formed nature without a will, such as the new sectaries imagined ? More clear-sighted than Honorius, Martin I understood the danger, and knew how to repair the past while securing the future. Scarcely had he ascended the apostolic throne, when he gathered, in the Church of one of the most beautiful assemblies ever our Saviour, held there. mountain; ‘Sound soldiers of the trumpet, God, cry out awake! Thus upon from the its very opening did the Lateran Council of 649 repair the fatal silence and avenge the Church’s honour. On reading its splendid and ample definitions, which present to the world the Son of the Virgin Mother in all His adorable integrity, we are reminded of the solemn declaration in the pratorium on the great Friday: ‘ Behold the Man !’ only that this time it was proclaimed in triumph and by those who loved Him. Truly, O God our Saviour, Thou art the most complete, the most perfect, the most beautiful of the sons of men. What a solace to the mind, to see the imperial lucubrations returned, with the qualification of * wicked ’ and ‘ impious,”? to the Byzantine Casar, who held the defenceless pontiff at his mercy in still dependent Martin I, like St. Paul, could take the Church Rome! of God to witness® that he had not neglected his duty of enlightening the flock; he could remind the pastors of the price at which Christ had purchased the sheep committed to their care: he himself was ready for everything. His martyrdom was to secure the final triumph, of which the sixth general Council and St. Leo II were destined to gather the fruits. The Greeks celebrate on April 13 the feast of this glorious Pope, whom they call a ‘ coryphzus of divine’ 1 Couclusion of the openiog discourse, Mawst, x. 870. 3 Impissimams ecthesim, seelerasm fypum: Cavon xvil. MaNst, x. 158, e oty promlatiots ol b g AN 1S SAINT MARTIN POPE AND MARTYR 259 dogm: as, the honour of, Peter's See, the pontiff who maintained the Church unshaken on the divine Rock.? Rome gives the following brief notice of him in her liturgy. Martinus, Tuderti in Um- bria natus, initio pontificatus, et litteris et legationibus missis operam dedit, ut Paulum_Constantinopolitanum patriarcham a nefaria haresi ad catholice fidei veritatem revocaret. Qui Constante imperatore haretico fretus, eo amenti® progressus fuerat, ut Sedis apostolice legatos varie in insulas relegarit. Quo ejus scelere commotus Pontifex, coacto Roma concilio centum quinque episcoporum, eum condemnavit. Quz causa fuit Constanti mittendi in Italiam Olympium exarchum, ut Martinum Pontificem - interficiendum, aut ad se perducendum’ curaret. Igitur Olympius Romam_veniens lictori 'mandat, ut Pontificem, dum in basilica sanctz Marie ad Missarum solemnia celebraret, occideret. Quod ubi lictor aggreditur, cacus repente factus est. Constanti autem imperatori ex eo tempore multz calamitates inciderunt: quibus nihilo melior factus, Theodo- rum Calliopam ad Urbem mittens, imperat ut Pontifici Martin was born at Todi in Umbria. Upon ascending the pontifical throne, he strove by letters and embassies to_recall Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, from his_wicked heresy to the true Catholic faith. But, supported by the heretical emperor Constans, Paul was so carried away as to exile the legates of the Apostolic See to various islands. The Pope, indignant at this outrage, summoned a council of one hundred and five bishops at Rome, in which he condemned Paul. Upon this Constans sent the exarch Olympius into_ Italy, with orders either to kill Pope Martin or else to bring him to the emperof. Olympius, on reaching Rome, charged a lictor to assassinate the Pope as he was celebrating Mass in St. Mary's-at-the-Crib. But the man, attempting to do so, was suddenly struck blind. From that time many ca- lamities befell the emperor Constans, which, however, made him no better; and he sent ‘Theodore Calliopus to Rome to seize the Pope. By his manus_injiciat. A quo per deceitful dealing Martin was fraudem captus Martinus, et arrested and led prisoner Constantinopolim perductus, to Constantinople. Thence he deinde in Chersonesum rele- ‘was banished into the Chersogatus, ibi ob catholicam fidem nesus; where, on the eve of 13 Aprilis. TIME AFTER 260 @rumnis confectus, pridie idus Novembris rus cessit miraculis. pus Romam que sanctorum tum, Cujus postea nomine mensem unum, Prafuit cla- cor- transla- in ecclesia conditum Martini sex. e vita _Silvestri est, et dedicata erat. Ecclesiz annos dies sex, viginti Habuitordinationesduas mense Decembri, quibus creavit presbyteros undecim, diaconos quinque, episcopos per diversa loca triginta tres. PENTECOST the Ides of November, he died worn out by his sufferings for the Catholic faith, and not without the glory of miracles. His body was afterwards translated to Rome, and placed in the church dedicated to Saints Sylvester and Martin, He governed the church six years, one month, and twenty-six days. He held two ordinations in the month of December, and ordained eleven priests, five deacons, and thirty-three bishops for divers places. * If it is just that the human race should honour its members in proportion as it has been honoured by them, thou, O holy pontiff, deservest a glorious memory. For not only were thy wonderful virtues such as cause the very powers of heaven to admire our earth, but thou didst likewise compel Satan to humble himself before our human nature. Deified entirely in the Person of God the Son, it is through thee that it was fully recognized as such, in spite of contradictions, in spite of the powerful ones of this world leaguing with the spirits of wickedness to overcloud this incomparable nobility of the sons of Adam. How comes it that man is ever ready to join hands with Satan for his own destruction? But, Lucifer himself was at first his own only enemy; and surely his folly is more difficult to explain than that of the frail creature he strives to draw after him along the path of pride which led him to perdition. It is pride that made him the prince of folly and the father of lies. His intellect, though the loftiest in heaven, was not proof against self-love, which induced him to take complacency in his created nothingness, to ‘ detain the truth of God in injustice,’! and to prefer darkness to the light. Thus it is that men, following Satan’s example and dishonouring God to exalt themselves, ‘become vain in their * Rom. i. 18. SAINT MARTIN POPE AND MARTYR 261 thoughts,” till such a darkness comes over their mind and heart and senses, as strikes with astonishment the soul that remains simple and upright in its humility. Protect us, then, O holy pontiff ! keep up in us the understanding of God’s gift. May we never deserve the reproach of the psalmist: ‘Man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.? May eternal ‘Wisdom, to whose alliance we are called, never have the grief of seeing us prefer death. At the same time, teach us that, for the honour of God as well as of man, the integrity of our Lord’s Incarnation does not require the authentication of politicians, nor the approbation of the would-be wise; for it is of this mystery the apostle says, that we must believe it with the heart in order to become just, and confess it with the mouth in order to be saved.® Spare the Church the sorrow of ever again finding herself in such a situation as that from which thy heroic martyrdom was alone able to deliver her. 1 Rom.i. at. * P xlviii. 13. ¥ Rom. x.10 262 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER I3 SAINT DIDACUS ' CONFESSOR HUMBLE lay-brother, Didacus of St. Nicholas, is A welcomed to-day by his father St. Francis into the company of Bernardine of Siena and John Capistran, whoreceded him by a few years to heaven. The two latter left Italy and the whole of Europe still echoing with their voices, the one making peace between cities in the name of the Lord Jesus, the other urging on the Christian hosts to battle with the victorious Crescent. The age which they contributed so powerfully to save from the results of the great schism and to restore to time, flocked to the source of salvation; its Christian destinies knew little of Didacus but his unbounded charity. It was the year of the great Jubilee, 1450. Rome having become once more, practically as well as theoretically, the holy city in the eyes of the nations, not even the most terrible scourges could keep her children at a distance. From every quarter of the globe, crowds, urged by the evils of the work of ruin was retarded by seventy years. and Satan’s Men doubtless attributed but a very small share of such results to the humble brother, who was spending himself in the Ara Celi, in the service of the plaguestricken: especially if they compared him with his brethren, the great Franciscan apostles. And yet the Church pays to Didacus to-day the very same honours as we have seen her pay to Bemardine and John Capistran. What is this but asserting that before God heroic acts of hidden virtue are not inferior to the noble deeds that dazzle the world, if, proceeding from the same ardent love, they produce in the soul the same increase of divine charity? The pontificate of Nicholas V, which witnessed the 263 SAINT DIDACUS imposing concourse of people to the tombs of the apostles in 1450, was also, and still is, justly admired for the new impetus given to the culture of letters and the arts in Rome; for it belongs to the Church to adorn herself, for the honour of her Spouse, with all that men rightly deem great and beautiful. Nevertheless, who is there now of all the humanists, as the learned men of that age were called, who would not prefer the glory of the poor unlettered Friar Minor to that which vainly held out to them the hope of immortality ? In the fifteenth century, as at all other times, God chose the foolish and the weak to confound the wise and the strong. The Gospel is always in the right. Let us read the luminous life of this unlearned man, as given in the book of holy Church. Didacus Hispanus, ex oppido_sancti Nicolai de Portu dicecesis Hispalensis, ab ineunte wtate pii sub sacerdotis disciplina, sanctioris vite solitaria in ecclesia, tyrocinium exercuit. Deinde ut firmius Deo se conjungeret, in conventu de Arizzafa fratrum Minorum (quos Observantes vocant) sancti Francisci regulam in statu laicali professus est. Magna ibi alacritate humilis obedientiz et regularisobservantiz jugum subiens, contemplationi_in primis deditus, mira Del luce perfundebatur, adeo ut de rebus calestibus, litterarum expers, mirandum in modum et plane divinitus logueretur. Didacus' was a Spaniard born at the little town of Nicholas de Porto in the di cese of Seville, From his early youth he began the prac- tice of a perfect life, under the guidance of a pious priest in a solitary church. Then, in order to bind himself more closely to God, he made pro- fession of the Rule of St. Francis, in the convent of the Ob- servantine Friars Minor at Arizzafa. There he bore the yoke of humble obedience and regular observance with great alacrity; and devoted himself especially to contemplation, in which he received wonderful lights from God, so that, il- literate as he was, he spoke of heavenly things in an admirable manner, evidently by a divine gift. He was sent to the Canary Isles to govern the brethren Canariis in insulis, ubi fratribus sui Ordinis prafuit, multa perpessus, martyrii of his Order; and thete he had @stuans desiderio, plures in- much to suffer. He was burn1 This name is merely a Latin form of the Spanish Diego—i.¢. James. 264 TIME AFTER fideles verbo et exemplo ad Christi fidem convertit. Romam veniens anno_ jubil Pontifice, quinto Nicolao ®grotorum curz in conventu Atz Cali destinatus, eo caritatis affectu munus hoc exercuit, ut Urbe annoniz inopia laborante, @grotis tamen, quorum aliquando ulcera etiap lambendo abstergebat, nihil penitus necessarium defecerit. Eximia quoque fides et gratia curationum in eo eluxit, cum lampadis, que collucebat ante imaginem beatissime Dei Genitricis, quam summa devotione colebat, oleo @gros inungens, signo crucis impresso, multorum morbos mirabiliter sanaverit. PENTECOST ing with the desire of martyr- dom; and by his words and example he converted many infidels to the faith of Christ. Coming to Rome in the Jubilee year, in the Pontificate of Nicholas V, he was entrusted with the care of the sick in the convent of Ara Celi. With such loving charity did he ac- quit himself of this duty, that the sick wanted for nothing even during a famine in the city; he also sometimes cleansed 'their ulcers by sucking them. He was remarkable for his great faith and his gift of healing; for by signing the cross upon the sick with oil from a lamp burning before an image of the Mother of God, to whom he had the greatest devotion, he miracuTously cured many of them. Demum Compluti finem sibi Af length, when at Alcala, vite adesse intelligens, lacera et obsoleta indutus tunica, conjectis in crucem oculis, singulari devotione illis verbis ex sacro hymno pronuntiatis: Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens’ pondera, qua fuisti digna portare Regem czlorum et Dominum, animam Deo reddidit, pridie idus Novembris, anno Domini supra millesimum _quadringentesimo sexagesimo tertio. Ejus corPuUS cum menses non paucos (ut pio confluentium desiderio fleret satis) insepultum mansisset, quasl jam incorruptionem induerit, odorem suavissimum effiavit. Illum multis et illustribus miraculis clarum_Sixtus quintus Pontifex Maximus sanctorum numero adscripsit. he understood that the end of his life was at hand. an old torn tunic, Clad in with his eyes fixed on the cross, he devoutly pronounced these words of the sacred hymn: O sweet wood, sweet are thy nails, and sweet thy burden: thou wast worthy to bear the King and Lord "of heaven! He then gave up his soul to God on the day before the Ides of November, in the year of our Lord 1463, His body was left unburied for several months, in order to satisfy the pious devotion of the already clothed numbers who came to see it; and, as though tality, odour. with it exhaled He immor- a sweet was renowned for many striking miracles, and was enrolled among the saints by Pope Sixtus V. SAINT DIDACUS 265 ‘O almighty, everlasting God, who by an admirable order dost choose the weak things of the world that thou mayst confound whatever is strong; mercifully grant to our lowliness that, by the pious prayers of blessed Didacus Thy confessor, we may be made worthy to be exalted to everlasting glory in heaven.’* Such is the prayer addressed to God by the Church at all the liturgical Hours on this thy feast, O Didacus. Second her supplications; for thou art in high favour with Him whom thou didst follow so lovingly along the way of humility and voluntary poverty. A royal road indeed, since it brought thee to a throne which far outshines all earthly thrones. Even here below thou dost far surpass in renown many of thy contemporaries, who are now as forgotten as they were once illustrious. Sanctity alone merits crowns that endure through all ages of time and for all eternity; for God is the final awarder, as He is the supreme reason, of all glory, just as in Him lies the principle of all true happiness both for this world and for the next. May we all, after thine example and by thine assistance, learn this by our own blessed experience ! Collect of the feast. 266 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER 14 SAINT JOSAPHAT BISHOP AND MARTYR OSAPHAT KUNCEWICZ, contemporary with St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul, might have been taken for a Greek monk of the eleventh century or an ascetic of the Thebaid. A stranger to the intellectual culture of the West, he knew only the liturgical books and sacred texts used in his own church; as a priest, an archimandrite, a reformer of his Order of St. Basil, and lastly as archbishop, he combated all his life the consequences of the schism of Photius, and closed the struggle by culling the palm of martyrdom. Yet all this took place in the heart of Europe, in the countries then subject to Catholic Poland, during the reign of the most pious of its kings. How is this mystery to be explained ? Immediately after the Mongolian invasions Poland received into her arms, rather than conquered, the Ruthenian nation—that is to say, the Slavs of the Greek rite from the Dnieper and the Dwina, who had formed around their capital and religious metropolis, Kiev, the nucleus of the power now known as Russia. Had she granted a participation in her own national life to these brethren separated from, but not enemies to, the Roman unity, who came to her full of confidence in her strength and her justice, Poland would have secured the triumph of the Catholic cause, and her own dominion throughout Slavonia. The union of the newcomers with the Roman pontiff, which a little more political insight and religious zeal might have brought about in the fourteenth century, was not concluded until 1595. This was the union of Brzesc. By the compact signed in this little town of Lithuania, the metropolitan SAINT JOSAPHAT 267 of Kiev and the other Greek bishops declared that they returned to the communion of the holy Apostolic See. Being the spiritual superiors of half the nation, they thus completed the union of the three peoples, Ruthenian, Lithuanian, and Polish, then subject to Sigismund III. Now, a religious reform, even if decreed by a council, does not become a reality until men of God, true apostles and if need be martyrs, come forward to consummate it. This was the vocation of St. Josaphat, the apostle and martyr of the Union of Brzesc. What he did not himself carry out was completed by his disciples. A century of glory was secured to the nation, and its political ruin was delayed for two hundred years. But Poland left in a state of humiliating inferiority the clergy and people of the Graco-Slavonic rite, who had taken shelter in her bosom; her politicians never admitted practically that Christians of the Greek rite could be true Catholics on an equality with their Latin brethren. Soon, however, the Latin Poles were engaged in deadly combat with the Muscovites, and we know how the former were vanquished. Historians lay down the causes of Poland’s defeat; but they usually forget the principal one, which rendered it irremediable—viz., the almost total destruction of the Union of Brzesc, the forced return to schism of the immense majority of the Ruthenians whom St. Josaphat had brought into the Catholic Church. The consummation of this execrable work contributed, far more than political circumstances or military triumphs, to establish Russia’s victory. Poland, reduced to nine or ten million Latins, could no longer struggle against her former rival now become her stern ruler. The power of the Slavs separated from Catholic unity is on the increase. Young nations, emancipated from the Mussulman yoke, have formed in the Balkan Peninsula. Fidelity to the Grzco-Slavonian rite, identified in their eyes with their nationality and with Christianity, was alone able to save these peoples from being stamped out by the Turkish forces. Victorious TIME AFTER 268 over the universal enemy, PENTECOST they cannot forget whence came their safety: the moral and religious direction.of these resuscitated nations belongs accordingly to Russia. Profiting by these advantages with consummate skill and energy, she continues to develop her influence in the East. In Asia her progress is still more prodigious. The Tsar, who at the end of the eighteenth century ruled over thirty million men, now governs one hundred and twenty-five millions; and by the normal increase of an exceptionally prolific population, the empire, within another half-century, will reckon more than two hundred millions of subjects. Unhappily for Russia and for the Church, this power is guided at present by blind prejudice. Not only is Russia separated from Catholic unity, but political interest and the recollection of ancient strifes convince her that her greatness depends upon the triumph of what she calls Orthodoxy, which is simply the Photian schism. Yet the Roman Church, ever devoted and generous, opens wide her arms to welcome back her wandering daughter; forgetting the injuries she has received, she asks but to be greeted with the name of mother. Let this word be uttered, and a whole sad past will be effaced. Russia becoming Catholic would mean an end to Islamism, and the definitive triumph of the Cross upon the Bosphorus, without any danger to Europe; the Christian empire in the East restored with a glory and a power hitherto unknown ; Asia evangelized, not by a few poor isolated priests, but with the help of an authority greater than that of Charlemagne; and lastly, the Slavonic race brought into unity of faith and aspirations, for its own greater glory. This transformation will be the greatest event of the centu\}y that shall see its accomplishment ; it will change the face of the world. Is there any foundation for such hopes ? Come what may, St. Josaphat will always be the patron and model of future apostles of the Union in Russia and in the whole Graco-Slavonic world. By his birth, education, SAINT JOSAPHAT 269 and studies, by the bent of his piety and all his habits of life, he resembled far more the Russian monks of the present day than the Latin prelates of his own time. He always desired the ancient liturgy of his Church to be preserved entire; and even to his last breath he carried it out lovingly, without the least alteration or diminu- tion, just as the first apostles of the Christian faith had brought it from Constantinople to Kiev. May prejudices born. of ignorance be obliterated; and then, despised though his name now is in Russia, St. Josaphat will no sooner be known than he will be loved and invoked by the Russians themselves. Our Graco-Slavonian brethren cannot much longer turn a deaf ear to the invitations of the Sovereign Pontiff. Let us hope, then, that the day will come, and that before very long, when the wall of separation will crumble away for ever, and the same hymn of thanksgiving will echo at once under the dome of St. Peter’s and the cupolas of Kiev and of St. Petersburg.? ‘We cannot presume to add anything to these authoritative words; the details will be filled up by the liturgical Legend. Josaphat Kuncewitius nobilibus et catholicis parentibus Vladimiriz in Volhinia natus, cum puerulus matrem de Christi passione loquentem audiret, jaculo a latere imaginis Jesu crucifixi immisso, vulnus in corde suscepit. Dei i census, adeo orationi ali que piis operibus instare ccepi ut provectioribus adolescen bus exemplo et admirationi esset. Vicennis inter claustrales sancti Basilil alumnos monasticam regulam professus, mirum quos in evangelica Josaphat Kuncewicz was bom of noble Catholic parents at Viadimir in Volhynia. When a child, as he was listening to his_ mother telling him about the Passion of Christ, a dart issued from the image of Jesus crucified and wounded him in the heart. Set on fire with the love of God, he began to devote himself with such zeal to prayer and other works of piety, that he was the admiration and the ‘model of his older companions. At the age of twenty he became a monk under the Rule 1 R. R.Dow A, Guérin, * Un apStre de I'union des Eglises au 1% sidcle, saint Josaphat,” Preface, passim. 270 TIME AFTER riectione progressus fecerit. udis pedibus, _frigidissima licet saviente 'regionis hieme, incedebat: cames numvam, vinum nonnisi ex obedicntia sdhibuit, aspernmoque cilicio ad obitum usque corpus afflixit. Castitatis florem, quem ab adolescentia Virgini Deiparz voverat, inviolatum servavit. Virtutis doctrinzque ejus brevi sic fama percrebuit, ut quamvis junior, Bytenii monasterio praefectus sit; mox Vilnensis archimandrita, ac demum archiepiscopus Polocensis, invitus quidem, sed Catholicis gestientibus, fuerit renuntiatus. Hac dignitate auctus, nihil de priori vivendi ratione remittens, nonnisi divinum cultum et creditarum sibi ovium salutem cordi habuit. Catholicz unitatis ac veritatis strenuus propugnator, totis viribus adlaboravit ut schismaticos hzreticosque ad communionem cum beati Petri _sede reduceret. Summum Pontificem ejusque potestatis plenitudinem ab impudentissimis impiorum calumniis et erroribus, qua concionibus, qua scriptis pietate ac doctrina refertis defendere numquam _destitit. Episcopalem jurisdictionem et Ecclesiz bona a laicis usurpata vindicavit. Incredibile dictu est quot hezreticos in sinum matris Ecclesiz revocaverit. Unionis vero Graca Ecclesi® cum Latina Josaphatum promotorem exstitisse praclaris- PENTECOST of St. Basil, and made wonQerful progress in evangelical perfection. He went barefoot even in the severe winter of that country; he never ate meat, drank wine only when obliged by obedience, and wore a rough hair-shirt until his death. The flower of his chastity, which he had vowed in eafly youth to the Virgin Mother of God. he preserved unspotted. He soon became so renowned for virtue and learning, that in spite of his youth he was made superior of the monastery of Byten; soon afterwards he became archimandrite of Vilna; and lastly, much against his will, but to the great joy of Catholics, he was chosén archbishop of Polotsk. In this dignity he relaxed nothing of his former manner of life; and had nothing so much at heart as the divine service and the salvation of the sheep entrusted to him. He energetically defended Catholic faith and unity, and laboured to the utmost of his power to bring back schismatics and heretics to communion with the See of blessed Peter. The Sovereign Pontiff and the plenitude of his power he never ceased to defend. both by preaching and by writings full of piety and learning, against the most shameless calumnies and errors of the wicked. He vindicated episcopal rights, and restored _ecclesiastical possessions which had been seized by laymen. Incredible was the number of heretics he won back to the bosom of mother SAINT JOSAPHAT mum, etiam pontificia oracula Ad hac, et diserte testantur. templi Dei decori instaurando, et sacrarum virginum exstruendis adibus, aliisque piis operibus juvandis, mensz suz proventus ultro_erogavit. In ‘Ppauperes adeo effusus, ut cum olim inopiz cujusdam vidua sublevande nihil occurreret, episcopale pallium, seu Omophorion, oppignorari jusserit. 271 Church; and the words of the Popes bear witness how greatly he promoted Greek and the union of the Latin churches. His revenues were entirely expended in restoring the beauty of God’s house, in building dwellings for consecrated virgins, and in other pious works. So bountiful was he to the poor, that, on one occasion, having nothing wherewith to supply the needs of a certain widow, he ordered his Omophorion, or episcopal pallium, to be pawned. Tot catholice fidei increThe great progress made by menta perditissimorum homi- the Catholic faith so stirred num adeo excitaverunt odia, up the hatred of wicked men ut, conspiratione inita, Christi against the soldier of Christ, athletam ad necem quarerent; that they determined to put quam sibi imminere ipse in suo him to death. He knew what ad populum sermone pranunti- was threatening him; and avit. Cum itaque Vitepscum foretold it when preaching to pastoralis visitationis gratia the people. As he was makprofectus esset, illi archiepi- ing his pastoral visitation at scopales invadunt zdes; obvios Vitebsk, the murderers broke quosque feriunt ac cedunt. into his house, striking and Tum ' vir mitissimus quaren- wounding all whom they tibus sponte occurrit, eosque found. Josaphat meekly went amice compellans, Filioli, in- to meet them, and accosted quit, quare familiares meos them kindly, saying: My litcaditis? Si quid contra_me tle children, why do you strike habetis, ecce adsum. Hinc my servants? If you have impetu facto, eum verberi- any complaint against me, bus contundunt, telis con- here I am. Hereupon they fodiunt, ac demum immani rushed on him, overwhelmed securi necatum, in flumen him with blows, pierced him projiciunt; die duodecima No- with their spears, and at length vembris anni sexcentesimi despatched him with an axe vicesimi tertii supra mille- and threw his body into the simum, mtatis ejus quadra- river. This took place on the gesimi tertii. Corpus mirabili twelith of November, 1623, in luce circumfusum, ex imo the forty-third year of his age. fluminis alveo elatum _est. His body, surrounded with a Sanguis martyris miraculous light, was rescued ipsia in primis profuit, qui fere from fi;od‘waters, Th;l maromnes capitis damnati, ejurato tyr's won a blessing schismate suum scelus’ dete- fiyr:t of all for his murderers; 272 TIME AFTER stati sunt. Cum tantus prasul plurimis _post obitum _coruscaret miraculis, eum Urbanus octavus Pontifex Maximus beatorum honoribus decoravit. Pius nonus tertio calendas Julias anni millesimi octingentesimi sexagesimi_septimi, cum sacularia apostolorum principum _ solemnia celebrarentur, coram patrum Cardinalium senatu, simulque astanti‘bus fere quingentis, patriarchis, metropolitis et episcopis cujuscumque ritus, qui ex toto terrarum orbe _convenerant, unitatis hunc ecclesiasticz assertorem, primum ex orientalibus, solemni ritu in Vaticana basilica sanctorum ordini accensuit. Cujus Officium ac Missam Leo decimus tertius Summus Pontifex ad universam extendit Ecclesiam. PENTECOST for, being condemned to death, they nearly all abjured their schism and repented of their crime. As the death of this great bishop was followed by many miracles, Pope Urban VIII granted him the honours of beatification. On the third of the Calends of July, 1867, when celebrating the centenary of the princes of the apostles, Pius IX in the Vatican basilica, in presence of the College of Cardinals, and of about five hundred patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops of every rite, assembled from all parts of the world, solemnly enrolled among the saints this great defender of the Church’s unity, who was the first Oriental to be thus honoured. Pope Leo XIII extended his Mass and Office to the universal Church. “Stir up, O Lord, we beseech Thee, in Thy Church the Spirit wherewith the blessed Josaphat Thy martyr and pontiff was filled."* Thus prays our mother to-day; and the Gospel likewise points to her desire of obtaining pastors like to thee, O holy bishop ! The sacred text s of the false shepherd, who flees at first sight of the wolf; but the homily which explains it in the night Office brands equally with the title of hireling the keeper who, though he does not flee, suffers the enemy unresisted to work havoc in the fold. May the divine Shepherd, whom thou didst imitate unto the end even unto laying down thy life for the sheep, live again in all those whom He calls, like Peter, to exercise a greater love. Apostle of unity, second the designs of the Sovereign Pontiff, calling back his scattered sheep to the one fold. The Guardian Angels of the Slavonic race applauded thy combats: thy blood ought to produce other heroes; 1 Collect of the feast. SAINT JOSAPHAT 273 the graces won by the shedding of that blood still uphold the admirable population of the humble and the poor of Ruthenia in resisting the all-powerful schism; while, on the confines of that land of martyrs, hope springs up anew with the revival of the great Basilian Order of which thou wast the glory. May these graces overflow upon the children of the persecutors; may the present state of peace be the prelude to a full development of the light, and lead them back, in their turn, to that Rome which holds for them the promises both of time and of eternity. 274 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER SAINT 15 GERTRUDE VIRGIN® HE school which is founded upon the rule of the great patriarch of the monks of the West began with St. Gregory the Great. Such was the independent action of the Holy Spirit who guided it that in it women have prophesied as well as men. It is enough to mention St. Hildegarde and St. Gertrude, with whom we may fitly associate St. Mechtilde and St. Frances of Rome. Anyone who has tried modern methods will find, on making acquaintance with these ancient writers, that he is breathing another atmosphere, and is urged onward by a gentle authority which is never felt, but which allows no rest. He will not find that subtlety, that keen and learned analysis, he has met with elsewhere, and which rather weary than aid the soul. The pious and learned Father Faber has brought out, with his characteristic sagacity, the advantages of that form of spirituality which gives the soul breadth and liberty, and so produces in many persons effects which some modern methods fail of producing: ‘ No one,’ says he, ‘can be at all acquainted with the old-fashioned Benedictine school of spiritual writers, without perceiving and admiring the beautiful liberty of spirit which pervades and possesses their whole mind. It is just what we should expect from an Order of such matured traditions. St. Gertrude'is a fair specimen of them. She is thoroughly Benedictine. . . . A spirit of breadth, a spirit of liberty, that is the Catholic spirit; and it was eminently the badge of the old Benedictine ascetics. 1 As our Right Reverend Fatber and Master, Dom Guéranger, has treated this subj eatirely his. (For the Enxli;h, we have made use of the well-known translation by the Rev. T. A. Pope, of the Oratory, Birmingham, 1863 in_his edition of the Exercises of St. Gertrude, the following pages are beautiful 275 SAINT GERTRUDE Modern writers for the most part have tightened things, and have lost by it instead of gaining. By frightening people they have lessened devotion in extent; and by overstraining it they have lowered it in In any case there are many ways, is good which brings men back to God conversion of heart. But we are sure degree.’* and every way by a thorough that those who may be led to commit themselves to the guidance of a saint of the old school will not lose their time; and that if they meet with less philosophy and less psychology on their way, they will be subdued by the simplicity and authority of her language, and be moved and melted as they contrast their own souls with that of their saintly guide. And this blessed revolution will take place in almost every soul that follows St. Gertrude in the week of Exercises she proposes to them, if only they really desire to draw yet more closely the ties which unite them to God, if their intention be fixed aright and their souls truly recollected in God. We may almost venture to assure such persons that they will come forth from th- se Exercises transformed in their whole being. They will return to them again and again with everincreasing pleasure; for they will have no discouraging memory of fatigue, nor of the slightest constraint laid upon their liberty of spirit. They will feel confounded, indeed, to be admitted so near the inmost heart of so great a saint; but they will also feel that they have been created for the same end as that saint, and that they must bestir themselves, and quit all easy, dangerous ways, which lead to perdition. And if we be asked whence comes that wonderful influence which our saint exercises over all who listen to her, our answer would be: from her surpassing holiness. She does not prove the possibility of spiritual movement and advance; she moves and advances. A blessed soul, sent down from heaven to dwell a while with men, and speaking the language of the heavenly country in this land of exile, would doubtless utterly transform those 1 VAl for Jesus.' TIME 276 AFTER PENTECOST who heard its speech. Now St. Gertrude was admitted to such familiar converse with the Son of God, that her words have just the accent of such a soul; and this is why they have been and are like winged arrows, which pierce and wound all within their range. The under- standing is enlarged and enlightened by her pure and elevated doctrine, and yet St. Gertrude never lectures nor preaches; the heart is touched and melted, and yet St. Gertrude speaks only to God; the soul judges itself, condemns itself, renews itself by compunction, and yet St. Gertrude has made no effort to move or convict it. And if we ask what is the source of the special blessing attached to the language of St. Gertrude, the answer is, that it blesses because it is so impregnated with the divine Word, not only with the revelations which St. Gertrude received from her heavenly Spouse, but with the sacred Scriptures and the liturgy of the Church. This holy daughter of the cloister drank in light and life day by day from the sources of all true contemplation, from the very fountain of living waters which gushes forth from the psalms and the inspired words of the divine Office. Her every sentence shows how exclusively her soul was nourished with this heavenly food. She so lived in the liturgy of the Church that we continually find in her revelations that the Saviour discloses to her the mysteries of heaven, and the Mother of God and the saints hold converse with her on some antiphon, or response, or introit, which the saint is singing with delight, and of which she is striving to feel all the force and the sweetness. Hence that unceasing flow of unaffected poetry which seems to have become quite natural to her, and that hallowed enthusiasm which raises the literary beauty of her writings almost to the height of mystical inspiration. This child of the thirteenth century, buried in a monastery of Suabia, preceded Dante in the paths of spiritual poetry. Sometimes her soul breaks forth into tender and touching elegy; sometimes the fire which consumes her bursts forth in transports of fervour; SAINT GERTRUDE 277 sometimes her feelings clothe themselves quite instinctively in a dramatic form ; sometimes she stops short in her sublimest flights, and she who almost rivals the seraphim descends to earth, but only to prepare herself for a still higher flight. It is as though there had been an unending struggle between the humility which held her prostrate in the dust and the aspirations of her soul, panting after Jesus, who was drawing her, and who had lavished on her such exceeding love. In our of their those of Germany Spain. opinion the writings of indescribable beauty St. Teresa. Nay, we is not unfrequently The St. Gertrude lose nothing even when placed bsxde think that the saint of superior to her sister of latter, full of impetuous ardour, has not, it is true, the tinge of pensive melancholy which colours the writings of the former; but St. Gertrude knew Latin so well, and was so profoundly versed in the letter and the spirit of the holy Scriptures, that we do not hesitate to pronounce her style superior in richness and in force to that of St. Teresa. Still we pray the reader not to be frightened at the thought of being placed under the guidance of a seraph, when his conscience tells him that he has still so much to do in the purgative way, before he can venture to enter upon paths which may never open to him on earth. Let him simply listen to St. Gertrude, let him fix his eye upon her, and have faith in the end she proposes to him. When the holy Church puts in our mouths the language of the psalms, she knows full well that that language is often far beyond the feelings of our soul; but if we wish to bring ourselves up to the level of these divine hymns, our best method is certainly to repeat them frequently in faith and humility, and await the transformation they will assuredly effect. St. Gertrude detaches us gently from ourselves, and brings us to Jesus by going before us herself, and by drawing us after her, though at a great distance. She goes straight to the heart of her divine Spouse, and she might well do so; but will it not be an inestimable blessing if she bring us to TIME AFTER 278 PENTECOST His feet like Magdalen, penitent and transformed by love? Even when she writes for her sisters only, let us not suppose that these exquisite pages are useless to those of us who are living in the midst of the world. The religious life, when expounded by such an interpreter, is a spectacle as instructive as it is striking. Need we say that the practice of the precepts of the Gospel becomes more easy to those who have well pondered and admired the practice of its counsels ? What is the ‘ Imitation of Christ > but a book written by a monk for the use of monks; and yet who is not familiar with its teaching? How many seculars delight in the writings of St. Teresa | and yet the holy Carmelite makes the religious life the one theme of her teaching. We will not now speak of her wonderful style of expression. We are so unused to the decided and elevated language of the ages of faith that some readers. accustomed to modern books only, may be startled, and even pained, by St. Gertrude. But what is the remedy for this inconvenience ? the language of that antique If we have unlearnec piety which fashioned saints, surely our best way is to learn it again as soon as we can; and St. Gertrude will give us wonderful help in doing so. The list of the devoted admirers of her writings would be long and imposing. But there is an authority far higher still—that of the Church herself. That mother of the faithful, ever guided by the Holy Ghost, has in her holy liturgy set her seal upon St. Gertrude. The saint herself, and the spirit which animated her, are there for ever recommended and glorified in the eyes of all Christians, in virtue of the solemn judgment contained in the Office of her festival.! The life of Gertrude the Great, as she has merited to be distinguished among the saints of the same name, was humble and obscure (1256-1302). At five years of age she entered the Abbey of Helfta near Eisleben, 1 Do GuERANGER, * Excrcises of St. Gertrude ' (1865), Preface. 279 SAINT GERTRUDE and there she remained * hidden in the secret of God’s face.’! For several centuries, by an error which has also found its way into the Legend of the feast, she was confounded with the Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, who governed the monastery during our saint’s lifetime and was herself favoured with divine gifts. It was not until Gertrude’s sublime Revelations, contained in the five books of the ‘ Legatus Divinz Pietatis’ (or Legate of Divine Love) had at length been published, that in 1677 her name was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. In the following century (1738) Clement XII ordered her feast to be celebrated, as a double, by the whole Church. The West Indies chose her as patroness; and a town in New Mexico bears her name. In order to furnish the faithful with an expression of their piety towards St. Gertrude, we offer them the following beautiful hymn, antiphon, and collect, taken from the Benedictine Breviary. HYMN Gertrudis, arca Numinis, Sponsoque juncta virginum, Da nuptialis pangere Castos amores feederis. Quadrima Christo nubilis In Claustra prompte convolas; Spretoque nutricis sinu, Sponsi requiris oscula. Candentis instar lilii Odore mulces sidera; Et virginali calitum Regem decore pertrahis. _Qui vivit in sinu Patris Cinctus perenni gloria, Amanter, ut sponsus, tua, Recumbit inter ubera. O Gertrude, shrine of the Divinity, united to the Spouse of virgins; grant us to celebrate the chaste love of thy espousals. Scarcely hadst thou completed thy fourth year when thou wast espoused to Christ, and didst flee to the shelter of the cloister. Thou didst put from thee the breast of thy nurse, and_seek the divine kiss of thy Spouse. Like a fair spotless lily thou dost give forth a perfume which gladdens heaven; and the splendour of thy virgin beauty draweth to thee the King of saints. Hewhodwelleth in the bosom of the Father, surrounded with everlasting’ glory, deigns to take his repose in thy love. 1 Ps. xex. an. 280 TIME AFTER Amore Christum vulneras; Hic te vicissim vulnerat, Tuoque cordi propria Inurnit alte stigmata. O singularis charitas, O mira commutatio; Hic corde respirat tuo: Tu vivis hujus spiritu. Te, sponse Jesu, virginum Beata laudent agmina ; Patri, simul Paraclito, Par sit per zvum gloria. Amen. PENTECOST Thou woundest Jesus with love; and he woundeth thee in return, and deeply graveth on thy heart the marks of his sacred Passion. 0 peerless love, O wondrous interchange; he it is who breatheth in thy heart and thy life hangeth on the breath of his mouth. Let the blessed choirs of virgins_sing thy praise, O Jesus, Spouse of virgins; and equal glory be ascribed to Fatherand to Paraclete. Amen. ANTIPHON O dignissima Christi sponsa, 0O imost worthy spouse of quam lux prophetiz illustra- Christ, on whom the prophetic vit, zelus apostolicus inflam- light hath shone, whose heart an mavit, laurea virginum_coro- apostolic zeal inflamed, whose navit, divini amoris dium consummavit. incen- head the wreath of virgins hath crowned, whom the glow- ing fireof divine love consumed. PRAYER Deus, qui in purissimo corde beate Gertrudis virginis tuz jucundam tibi habitationem praparasti; ejus meritis et inteccessione cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge; ut digna divine majestatis tuz habitatio effici mereatur. Christum Amen. Dominum Per nostrum. 0 God, who hast prepared for thyseif a dwelling-place of delights in the most pure heart of the blessed virgin Gertrude; deign, we beseech thee, through her merits and _intercession, to wipe away all stains from our hearts, that they may become meet abodes of thy divine majesty. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O revealer of the Sacred Heart, what better prayer could we offer in thine honour than to say with thee to the Son of the Blessed Virgin: ‘O thou my soul’s calm untroubled light! O dawn of morning, soft gleaming with thy beautoeus light, become in me the perfect day. O my Love, who dost not only enlighten but deify, come unto me in all Thy SAINT GERTRUDE might; come and gently melt my whole being. 281 May all that is of me be destroyed utterly; may I wholly pass into Thee, so that I may no more find myself in time, but may be already and most intimately united to Thee for all eternity. “Thou hast first loved me; it is Thou who hast chosen me, and not I who have first chosen Thee. Thou art He who of His own accord runneth towards His thirsting creature; and on Thy kingly brow gleams the fair splendour of the everlasting light. Show me Thy countenance, and let me gaze upon Thy beauty. How mild and full of charms is that face, all radiant with the rosy light of the dawn of the divine Sun! How can the spark live and glow far from the fire that gave Or how can the drop of water abide far from it being ? the spring from whence it was taken ? O compassionate Love, why hast Thou loved a creature so defiled and so covered with shame, but that Thou hast willed to render it all fair in Thee ? O Thou delicate flower of the Virgin Mary, Thy goodness and Thy tender mercy have won and ravished my heart. O Love, my glorious noontide, to take my rest in Thee gladly would I die a thousand deaths. ‘ O Charity, O Love, at the hour of my death Thou wilt sustain me with Thy words, more gladdening far than choicest wine. Thou wilt then be my way, my unobstructed way, that I may wander no more nor stray. Thou wilt aid me then, O Love, Thou queen of heaven; Thou wilt clear my way before me to those fair and fertile pastures hidden in the divine wilderness, and my soul shall be inebriate with bliss; for there shall I see the face of the Lamb, my Spouse and my God. O Love, who art God, Thou art my best beloved possession. Without Thee neither earth nor heaven could excite in me one hope, nor draw forth one desire: vouchsafe to effect and perfect within me that union which Thou Thyself desirest: may it be the end, the crown, and consummation of my being. In the countenance of my God Thy light bea.meth soft and fair as the evening 282 TIME AFTER PENTECOST star. O Thou fair and solemn Evening, let me see Thy ray when my eye shall close in death. ‘O dread Love, Thou moment let much-loved the sacred Evening-tide, flame, which at that burneth evermore in Thy divine Essence consume all the stains of my mortal life. O Thou my calm and peaceful Evening, when the evening-tide of my life shall come give me to sleep in Thee in tranquil sleep, and to taste that blissful rest which Thou hast prepared in Thyself for them that love Thee. With Thy serene, enchanting look vouchsafe to order all things and prepare all things for my everlasting espousal. O Love, be Thou unto me an eventide so bright and calm, that my ravished soul may bid a loving farewell to its body, and return to God who gave it, and rest in peace beneath Thy beloved shadow I’ 1 From Exercise V., ' To enkindle in the soul the love of God. SAINT GREGORY THAUMATURGUS NOVEMBER SAINT GREGORY BISHOP AND 283 17 THAUMATURGUS CONFESSOR OSES, ‘instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty in his words and in his deeds,’t retired into the desert: Gregory, adorned with the best gifts of birth and nature, brilliant in rhetoric, rich in every science, hid himself from men in the flower of his youth, and hastened to offer to God in solitude the holocaust best pleasing to the Lord. Each was the hope of his race; yet each turned away to lose himself in the contemplation of heavenly mysteries. Meanwhile the yoke of Pharaoh lay heavy upon Israel; meanwhile souls were perishing, whom one of Gregorys burning words might have snatched from the empire of idolatry: was not such flight, then, desertion ? Is it for man to proclaim himself a saviour, when Jesus did not arrogate that title to Himself? And when evil was rife all around, did the Carpenter of Nazareth do wrong to remain in the shade for thirty years previous to His short period of ministry ? O ye teachers of our excited, fevered times, who dream of a new hierarchy among the virtues, and understand divine charity far otherwise than did our fathers: not those are of the race of Israel’s saviours whose ideas concerning social good differ from those of the world’s Redeemer. Gregory, like Moses, was of that blessed race. His friends and enemies agreed in saying that he resembled the Hebrew legislator in the exce.l]mce of his virtue, and in the spl lendour of the prodigies wrought by his word.* Both were actuated b the desire of knowing God, and manifesting Him to tfie men they were called 1 Acts vii. 22. 2 BasiL. De Spirita Sancto, xxix. 284 TIME AFTER PENTECOST to lead : the fullness of doctrine is the gift most necessary to the guides of the people, and their want of it the greatest penury. I AM WHO AM was the answer to Moses’ enquiry; and this sublime formula, confided to him from the midst of the burning bush, authenticated the mission which called him forth from the desert. ‘When Gregory was commanded by God to go out into the world, the blessed Virgin, of whom the burning bush was a figure, appeared before his dazzled eyes in the dark night when he was praying for light. And St. John, following the Mother of God, let fall from his lips this other formula completing the former for the disciples of the Law of love: ‘One only God, Father of the living Word, of that substantial and mighty Wisdom who is the eternal expression of Himself; the perfect principle of the only and perfect Son begotten by Him. One only Lord, sole-begotten of the Only One; God of God, efficacious Word, Wisdom embracing and containing the world, creative power of all creation, true Son of a true Father. One only Holy Spirit, holding of God His divine existence, revealed to men by the Son of whom He is the perfect likeness, life and life-giving, holy and imparting holiness. The perfect Trinity, immutable, inseparable in glory, in eternity, in dominion.’* This was the message our saint was to communicate to his country, the creed that was to bear his name in the Church. By his faith in the most holy Trinity he was to remove mountains and set limits to the waves, to drive out Satan and eradicate infidelity from Pontus. When, towards the year 240, Gregory, then bishop, was on his way to Neocasarea, he saw on all sides the temples of idols, and stopped for the night at a famous sanctuary. In the moming all the gods had taken to flight and refused to come back; but the saint gave to the priest of the oracle a note thus worded: Gregory to Satan: Return.’ A more bitter defeat awaited the demons; forced to stay their precipitate retreat, they were compelled to witness 1 Grec. Nvss. Vita Greg. Thaumaturg. SAINT GREGORY 285 THAUMATURGUS the ruin of their empire over the souls they had abused. The priest was the first to give himself up to the bishop, and became his deacon; and soon, upon the ruins of the temples everywhere Christ, the only God. Happy overthrown, arose the Church was that Church, so firmly founded of that heresy was powerless against it in the following century, when so many others bowed before the storm of Arianism. On the testimony of St. Basil, the successors of St. Gregory, themselves eminent men, were as an adornment of precious stones, a crown of stars, to the Church of Neoczsarea. Now all these illustrious pontiffs, says he, considered it an honour to keep up the memory of their great predecessor; they would never suffer that any act, word, or movement other than his, in performing the iaft;red rites, should prevail over the traditions he had eft.? When Clement XII, as we have seen, established in the entire Church the feast of St. Gertrude the Great, he at first decreed that it should be kept on this day, on which it is still celebrated by the Order of St. Benedict. But as November 17 had been for long centuries assigned to St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, it seemed unfitting, said Benedict XIV, that he who moved mountains should himself be moved from his place by the holy virgin. Accordingly in 1739, the year following its institution, the feast of St. Gertrude was fixed on the fifteenth of this month.? Let us read the brief account maturgus given in the holy liturgy. of the great Thau- Gregorius Neocasarez Ponti Gregory, bishop of Neocaepiscopus sanctitate doctrina- sarea ini Pontus, was illusque illustris, signis vero ac trious for his holiness and miraculis multo illustrior, quo- learning, but still more for rum maultitudine atque pree- his miracles, which were so stantia Thaumaturgus appella- startling and so numerous that tus est, et sancti Basilii te- he was called the Thaumaturstimonio cum Moyse, prophetis gus; and, according to St. 1 Basit. De Spiritu Sancto, xxix, * Brwwict 1V, De cancnizat. SS., lib. i. cap. xli. 4o, 41. 286 TIME AFTER et apostolis comparatus; montem, qui ecclesiz zdificationem impediebat, oratione alio transtulit. Item paludem, inter fratres causam discordiarum, exsiccavit. Lycum fluvium, perniciose agros inundantem, defixo ad ripam, quo sustentabatur, baculo, qui statim virentem crevit in arborem, coercuit. ut postea ultra eum terminum non effluxerit Swpissime demones ex idolorum simulacris, atque ex hominum corporibus ejecit, multaque alia mirabiliter effecit, quibus innumerabiles homines traduxit ad Jesu Christi fidem, cum etiam’ prophetico spiritu futura praediceret. Qui migraturus e vita, cum quesisset quot in civitate Neocasariensi reliqui essent infideles, responsumque esset tantum esse septemdecim ; Deo gratias agens, Totidem inquit, erant fideles, cum coepi episcopatum. Plura scripsit, quibus etiam, non solum miraculis, Dei Ecclesiam illustravit. PENTECOST Basil, he was considered comparable to Moses, the prophets, and the apostles. By his prayer he removed a mountain, which was an obstacle to the building of a church. He also dried up a lake which was a cause of dissension between brothers. The river Lycus, which was inundating and devastating the fields, he restrained by fixing in the bank his stick, which immediately grew into a green tree, and served asa limit which the river henceforth never overpassed. He frequently expelled the devils from idols and from men’s bodies, and worked many other miracles, by means of which he led multitudes to He also the faith of Christ. foretold future events by the spirit of prophecy. When he was dying, he asked how many infidels remained in the city of Neocsarea; and on being informed that there were only seventeen, he gave thanks to God, and said: When I was made bishop, there were but seventeen believers. He wrote several works, by which, as well as by his miracles, he adomned the Church of God. O holy pontiff, thy faith, removing mountains and commanding the waves, was a justification of our Lord’s promise. Teach us in our turn to do honour to the Gospel, by never doubting of our Lord’s word and of the help He promises us against Satan, whom the Church points out to us to-day as the proud mountain that is to be cast into the sea;! and also a gainst the overflowing tide of our passions, and the enticements of the world, of which thy writings teach us the 1 Homil. ad Matut. ex Bxoa in Marc. SAINT GREGORY THAUMATURGUS 287 vanity.! Afterthe victorylet usnot forget that the succour came to us from heaven; preserve us from ingratitude, which thou didst so detest. We still possess the touching eulogy dictated by thy gratitude towards the illustrious master to whose teachings, under God, thou didst owe the glorious strength and splendour of thy faith. Here is a precious and practical lesson for all: while praising divine Providence in the man who was His predestined instrument in thy regard, thou didst not forget the homage due to the angel of God, who had preserved thee from falling into the abyss during the darkness of infidelity in which thy first years were spent ; that heavenly Guardian who, ever watchful in his active, enlightened, persevering devotedness, supplies for our insufficiencies, nourishes and instructs us, leads us by the hand, and secretly arranges for our souls those blessed circumstances and occasions, which transform our life and secure eternal happiness.? How can we sinful creatures sufficiently thank the Author of all good, the infinite Being who gives to man both the holy angels and the visible intermediaries of divine grace on earth ? But let us take courage, for we have as our Head His own Son, His Word who saved our souls, and who rules the universe. He alone, and that without effort, can render to His Father unceasing, eternal thanksgiving, for Himself and for us all, without risk of not knowing or of forgetting the least subject of gratitude, without fear of any imperfection in the manner or the magnitude of His praise. To Him, then, to the divine Word, we commit as thou didst, O Gregory, the care of perfecting the expression of our gratitude for the unspeakable kindness of our heavenly Father; for the Word is to us, as to thee, the only channel of piety, gratitude, and love.* May He give us in these days pastors who will imitate thy works; and may He raise up again the ancient churches of the East, which once received such light from thee | 1 Grxg, THAUMAT. Metaphrasis in Ecclesiasten Salomonis. * In Origenem oratio panegyrica. = bid. 288 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER 18 DEDICATION OF THE BASILICAS OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES UOD DUCE TE MUNDUS SURREXIT IN ASTRA TRIUM- PHANS, HANC CONSTANTINUS VICTOR TIBI CONDIDIT AULAM (Because the world under thy conduct has risen tn'umfi‘hant to the very heavens, Constantine the conbuilt thistemple in thy honour). This inscription queror has stood in letters of gold over the triumphal arch in the ancient Vatican basilica.! Never did the Roman genius frame a more magnificent utterance in so few words; never did the greatness of Simon Bar- Jona appear to such advantage on the seven hills. In 1506 the great arch, that had looked down upon twelve centuries of prostrate pilgrims, fell from old age, and the beautiful inscription perished. But Michael Angelo’s lofty dome points out to the city and the world the spot where sleeps the Galilzan fisherman, the successor of the Casars, the Vicar of Christ, the ruler of the destinies of Rome. The second glory of the eternal city is the tomb of St. Paul on the Ostian Way. Unlike that of St. Peter, which lies deep down in the Vatican crypt, this tomb is raised to the level of the floor by massive masonry, on which rests the great sarcophagus. This circumstance was ascertained in 1841, when the papal altar was reconstructed. It was evidently to obviate the consequences of inundations from the Tiber that the sarcophagus had thus been raised above the place where Lucina had first laid it The pilgrim certainly finds nothing to blame in this arrangement when, on looking through the small opening in the centre of the altar, his respectful glance falls upon the marble of the 1 Dz Rosst, ‘I ript, Christ,” t. i, 3 * See the Legend of St. Comelius, September 16. DEDICATION OF SAINT PETER'S 289 tomb, and he reads these imposing words traced in large characters of Constantine’s period: PAULO APOSTOLO ET MARTYRI (To Paul apostle and martyr).* Thus Christian Rome is protected on the north and south by these two citadels. Let us enter into the sentiments of our fathers, when they said of this privileged city: ‘ Peter the doorkeeper sets his holy dwelling at the entrance: who can deny that this city is like heaven ? At the other extremity, Paul from his temple guards the walls; Rome lies between the two: here then God dwelleth.’? The present feast therefore deserves to be more than a local solemnity; its extension to the universal Church is a subject for the world’s gratitude. Thanks to this feast we can all make together in spirit to-day the pilgrimage ad limina apostolorum,® which our ancestors performed with such fatigue and danger, yet never thought they purchased too dearly its holy joys and blessings. ‘ Heavenly mountains, glittering heights of the new Sion | There are the gates of our true country, the two lights of the immense world. There Paul’s voice is heard like thunder; there Peter withholds or hurls the bolt. The former opens the hearts of men, the latter opens heaven. Peter is the foundation-stone, Paul the architect of the temple where stands the altar by which God is propitiated. Both together form a single fountain, which peurs out its healing and refreshing waters.’ In the following lessons the Roman Church gives us her traditions concerning the two basilicas whose dedication feast we are celebrating. 1 Dom GuFRANGER, * Saint Cécile et la société romaine aux deux premiers sidcles," - vie * Jagitor ane foresfixtsacrasia P";‘ii Y P (Inscriptic the arces intar esse Fios inter Roma est: b sedet ergo Deus. sl Paslh locamdans st maros of Rome e the ity the: ga of their basilicas, where pilgrims used to which was called in the sixth cent: (D Raar, Tnscript. of St Betor) of dthe spastles'— * + Tothe threshol enterin prostrate beforeFoxtows¥.g. Miscellanes, T Venans, 290 TIME AFTER Ex locis sacris qua olim apud Christianos venerationem habuerunt, illa_celeberrima et frequentissima fuerunt, in quibus condita sanctorum corpora, vel aliquod martyrum vestigium aut monumentum esset. In quorum numero sanctorum locorum, in_ primis semper fuit insignis ea Vaticani pars, quam sancti Petri Confessionem appellabant. Nam eo Christiani ex omnibus orbis terrz partibus, tamquam ad fidei petram et Ecclesiz fundamentum convenientes, locum principis apostolorum sepulchro consecratum, summa. religione ac pietate venerabantur. Illuc Constantinus Magnus imperator octavo die post susceptum baptismum venit, depositoque diademate, et humi jacens, vim lacrimarum profudit: mox sumpto ligone ac bidente, terram eruit: indeque duodecim terra cophinis, honoris causa duodecim apostolorum, ablatis, ac loco basilicz principis apostolorum designato, ecclesiam adificavit. Quam sanctus Silvester Papa decimo quarto_calendas Decembris, eo modo quo Lateranensem ecclesiam quinto idus Novembris consecraverat, dedicavit: et in ea altare lapideum chrismate delibutum erexit; atque ex eo tempore sancivit, ne deinceps altaria nisi ex lapide fierent. Idem beatus ilvester basilicam sancti Pauli apostoli in via Ostiensi ab eodem Constantino imperatore magnificentissime 2dificatam dedicavit. Quas basilicas idem imperator multis pradiis attributis locupletavit, ac PENTECOST Among the holy places venerated of old by the Christians, those were the most honoured and most frequented in_ which the bodies of the saints were preserved, or some relic or memorial of the martyrs. Chief among these holy places has ever been that part of the Vatican hill which was called the Confession of St. Peter. Christians from _all parts of the world flocked thither, as to the rock of the faith and the foundation of the Church, and honoured with the greatest reverence and piety the spot hallowed by the Sepulchre of the prince of the apostles. Hither on the octave day of his baptism came the emperor Constantine the Great; and taking off his diadem, he prostrated on the ground with many tears. Then taking a hoe and mattock he broke up the earth, of which twelve basketfuls were taken away in honour of the twelve apostles; and on the site thus marked out he built the basilica of the prince of the apostles. Pope St. Sylvester dedicated it on the fourteenth of the Calends of December, just as he had consecrated the Lateran church on the fifth of the Ides of November. He erected in it a stone altar which he anointed with chrism, and decreed that thenceforward all altars should be made of stone. The same blessed Sylvester dedicated the basilica of St. Paul the apostle on the Ostian Way, also magnificently built by the emperor Constantine, who enriched both DEDICATION muneribus amplissimis exornavit. Porro Vaticanam basilicam vetustate jampridem collaben- tem, ac propterea multorum Pontificum pietate latius ac magnificentius a fundamentis erectam, Urbanus Octavus hac eadem recurrente die anni millesimi sexcentesimi vigesimi sexti, solemni ritu consecrawvit. Basilicam vero Ostien- sem, quum dira incendii vis, anno millesimo octingentesimo vigesimo tertio penitus consumpsisset, indefessa quatuor Pontificum cura splendidius quam antea erectam, et ab interitu veluti vindicatam, Pius Nonus auspicatissimam nactus occasionem qua dogma. de Immaculata beatz Marie Virginis Conceptione nuper ab ipso proclamatum, ingentem cardinalium 291 basilicas with many estates and rich gifts and ornaments. The Vatican basilica, however, began to decay through age; and was rebuilt from its foundations on a more extensive and magnificent scale, through the piety of several Pontiffs. It was solemnly dedicated by Urban VIII on this day in the year 1626. In the year 1823 the Ostian basilica was burnt to the ground ; but the ruins were repaired and it was rebuilt more splendidly than before, through the unwearied exertions of four Popes. Pius IX, seizing the auspicious occasion when his definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary had drawn an immense number of Cardinals and Bishops even from distant parts of the Catholic world to Rome, solemnly dedicated this basilica on the tenth of December, 1854, assisted and surrounded by this noble gathering of prelates; and he decreed that the anniversary commemoration should be celebrated on this day. OF SAINT PETER’S et _episcoporum numerum ex dissitis etiam catholici orbis regionibus Romam attraxerat, die decima Decembris anni mill octingentesimi quinquage quarti, tanta circumdatus purpuratorum patrum et antisti- tum corona solemniter dedicavit, ejusque celebritatis memoriam hac die recolendam decrevit. In honour of the holy apostles we gladly borrow from the libraries of our Anglican brethren the following Sequenc, sung four centureis ago by the venerable church of York. In sollemni memoria Apostlorum principis, Piz laudis harmonia Letis resonet canticis, SEQUENCE. On this solemn commemo- ratlon of the prince of the apostles, let the harmony of our loving praise resound in joyous canticles, 263 TIME AFTER Veneremur simul pari Dignum laude venerari Apostolum gentium Ut quos amor vita junxit, Nec mors ipsa post disjunxit Jungat et praconium. Horum laus est quod destructa Roman potentiz idolatria, Jam fundata et firmata Ibidem orbem gubernat Ecclesia. Fide Petri fundamentum Pauli tenet firmamentum Dogmate Ecclesia; Clavis huic potenti, Tlli cessit scientiz Juncta ad officia. Petro namque sub pastore Gratulatur et rectore Inter fluctus seculi; Pauli viget ex doctrina, Vit sumpta medicina Grex fidelis populi. Iste verbo instruit, Tlle czlum aperit Verbo vita credulis, Et quod unus praedicat Alter verum comprobat Crebris hoc miraculis. Hic Judzos, ille gentes Viam vite nescientes Ad salutem convocat; Ambo praesunt convocatis, Ambo certant desolatis, Hostis ne prevaleat. Contra summz potentia Consurgunt imperium, Unus crucis, alter ensis Perpessus supplicium. Sicque una urbe mortem Una die passi, sortem Ad justorum transmeant; ui malorum nos exsortes ua prece ‘et consortes Beatorum faciant. Amen. PENTECOST With him let us also honour the apostle of the Gentiles, worthy of equal praise; that those whom love united in life, and death itself did not sever, may together receive our homage. Their praise consists in this, that the idolatry of the Roman empire has been destroyed; and in that same Rome the Church has been founded and builtup,and rulesthe world. The Church is founded on Peter’s faith, and strengthened by Paul's teaching; one holds the key of authority, the other that of knowledge, both for the same work. With Peter for their shepherd and guide, the faithful people rejoice amid the billows of this world; while they grow strong and receive life-giving medicine from Paul's doctrine. Paul instructs them by his word, Peter opens heaven to believers in the word of life, and what the one preaches the other proves by many miracles. One calls the Jews to salvation, the other the Gentiles ignorant of the way of life; together they direct the called, together they strive lest the enemy should prevail against them. They stand against the highest power of the empire, and incur the penalty, one of the cross, the other of the sword, Thus they suffer death in the same city, on the same day, and together pass to the reward of the just; by their prayer may they deliver us from all evil, and make us companions of the blessed. Amen. DEDICATION OF SAINT PETER’S 293 To-day let us call to mind and complete the instructions we received on the general feast of the Dedication of churches; and let us conclude with the following Sequence, worthy of the pen of Adam of St. Victor, to whom it was long attributed. It sets forth, in all the figures once so well known, the great mystery of Christ’s union with the human race, which is expressed in the consecration of Christian temples. SEQUENCE Quam dilecta tabernacula Domini virtutum et atria | Quam electi Architecti, Tuta zdificia, Quz non movent Tmo fovent Ventus, flumen, pluvia ! Quam decora fundamenta Per concinna sacramenta Umbra przcurrentia | Latus Adz dormientis Evam fundit, in manentis Copul primordia. Arca ligno fabricata Noe servat, gubernata Mundi per diluvium. Prole sera tandem feeta Anus Sara ridet lta, Nostrum lactans gaudium. Servus bibit qui legatur Et camelus adaquatur Ex Rebecca hydria. Hac inaures et armillas Aptat sibi, ut per illas Virgo fiat congrua. Synagoga supplantatur A Jacob, dum devagatur Nimis freta littera. Liam lippam latent multa: Quibus Rachel videns fulta, Pari nubit feedere. How lovely are the taber- nacles and courts of the Lord of hosts | So firmly is the temple built Dy the incomparable architect, that wind and flood and rain instead of shaking strengthen it. Beauteous are its foundations, aptly prefigured by the mysteries of the time of shadows! While Adam slee Eve comes forth from his side, thefirsttypeofaneternal union. The ark, built of wood, preserves Noe, safely sailing through the deluge that destroys the world. Sara, advanced in years, laughs joyously to see herself a mother suckling the child whose name signifies our joy. The servant sent as ambassadordrinksfrom Rebecca’spitcher, and she waters his camels; then sheadorns herself withearrings and bracelets, that she may appearas beseems a virgin. The Synagogue, wandering away and trusting too much to theletter,issupplanted by Jacob. Many things lie hid from bleareyed Lia, which are a sf wyedkuhelthecleu-sighm give her equal rights. 294 TIME AFTER In bivio tegens nuda, Geminos parit ex Juda Thamar diu vidua. Hic Moyses a puella. Dum se lavat, in fiscella Reperitur scirpea. Hic mas agnus immolatur Quo Israel satiatur, Tinctus ejus sanguine; Hic transitur rubens unda, ZEgyptios sub profunda Obruens voragine. Hic est urna manna plena, Hic mandata legis dena, Sed in arca feederis. Hic sunt zdis ornamenta, Hic Aaron indumenta Qua praecedit poderis. Hic Urias viduatur, Bethsabee sublimatur, Sedis consors regiz. Hec regi varietate Vestis astat deauratz, Sicut regum filiz. Huc venit Austri regina, Salomonis quam divina Condit sapientia, Hzc est nigra sed formosa, Myrrhz et thuris fumosa, Virga pigmentaria. Haec futura Qu figura Nobis dies grati Jam in lecto Cum dilecto Quiescamus, Et psallamus: Adsunt enin nuptiz. Quarum tonat initium In tubis epulantium Et finis per psalterium. Sponsum millena millia na canunt melodia, Sine fine dicentia: Alleluia | Amen. PENTECOST Thamar, long a widow, veils herself on the highway, and gives twin sons to Juda. Moses, in a wicker'basket, is found by the maiden as she is bathing. The male lamb being immolated, the Israclites are fed therewith, and are marked with_its blood. They cross the Red Sea, whose rushing waves engulf the Egyptians. ‘Heres the urn fullof manna; here in the Arkof the Covenant are the ten commandments of the Law. Here are the ornaments of the temple; here the garments of Aaron, and first of them all the pontiff’s ephod. Bethsabee, widow of Urias, is raised as bride even to share the toyal throne, and stands before the king in robes of gold and all variety, even as the daughters of princes. Hither comes the queen of the south, whom Solomon instructs with his divine wisdom; though black, she is beautiful, breathing the fragrance of myrrh and incense and every perfume. These future_things foreshadowed thus in figures, the day of grace has revealed to us; let us rest in peace ‘with the Beloved and sing to him, for it is the nuptial-day. The feast was opened by the clang of trumpets, and closes with the psaltery. Millions of voices hail the Spouse with one same melody, repeating without end: AlleInia! Amen. SAINT ELIZABETH NOVEMBER SAINT 205 19 ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY DUCHESS OF THURINGIA LTHOUGH the blessed in heaven shine each with his own peculiar glory, God is pleased to group them in families, as He groups the stars in the material firmament. It is grace that presides over the arrangement of these constellations in the heaven of the saints; but sometimes it seems as if God wished to remind us that He is the sole Author of both grace and nature; and inviting them, in spite of the fall, to honour Him unitedly in His elect, He causes sanctity to become a glorious heirloom, handed down from generation to generation in the same family on earth. Among these races none can compare with that royal line which, beginning in ancient Pannonia, spread its branches over the world in the most flourishing days of Christendom: ‘ Rich in virtue and studying beautifulness,’ as Scripture says, it brought peace into all the royal houses of Europe with which it was allied; and the many names it has inscribed in the golden book of the blessed perpetuate its glory. Among these illustrious names, and surrounded by them as a diamond set in a circle of pearls, the greatest, in the esteem of the Church and of the people, is that of the amiable saint, who was ripe for heaven at the age of twenty-four years, and who ascended on this day into the company of Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislas. Eliza- beth was not inferior to them in manly virtues; but the simplicity of her loving soul added to the heroism of her race a sweetness, whose fragrance drew after her along the path of sanctity her daughter Gertrude of Thuringia, and her relatives HedW|ge of Silesia, Agnes of Bohemia, 1 Ecclus. xliv. 6. 296 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Margaret of Hungary, Cunigund of Poland, and Elizabeth of Portugal. All the poetry of those chivalrous times appears in the beautiful pages of contemporaneous writers, as they describe to us the innocent child, transplanted like a tender flower from the court of Hungary to that of Thuringia; and her life of devotedness there, with a bridegroom worthy to witness the ecstasies of her lofty but ingenuous piety and to defend her heroic virtue inst her slanderers. To the siewards who complained that during the absence of Duke Lewis she had, in spite of their remonstrances, exhausted the revenues upon the poor, he replied: ‘I desire that my Elizabeth be at liberty to act as she wishes, provided she leaves me Warteburg and Naumburg.’ Our Lord opened the landgrave’s eyes to see transformed into beautiful roses the provisions Elizabeth was carrying to the poor. Jesus crucified appeared in the leper she had taken into her own apartments that she might the better tend him. If it happened that illustrious visitors arrived unexpectedly, and the duchess having bestowed all her Jewels in alms was unable to adorn herself becomingly to do them honour, the angels so well supplied the deficiency that, according to the German chroniclers of the time, it seemed to the astonished guests that the queen of France herself could not have appeared more strikingly beautiful or more richly attired. Elizabeth indeed was never wanting to any of the obligations or requirements of her position as a wife and as a sovereign princess. As graciously simple in her virtues as she was affable to all, she could not understand the gloomy moroseness which some affected in their prayers and austerities. ‘ They look as if they wanted to frighten our Lord,” she would say, * whereas He loves the cheerful giver.’! The time soon came when she herself had to give generously without counting the cost. First there was the cruel separation from her husband, Duke Lewis, 1 MonTALEMBERT, * Histoire de sainte Elisabeth de Hongrie," ch. vii. SAINT ELIZABETH 297 on his departure for the crusade; then the heartrending scene when his death was announced to her, just as she was about to give birth to her fourth child; and thirdly the atrocious act of Henry Raspon, the landgrave’s unworthy brother, who, thinking this a good opportunity for seizing the deceased’s estates, drove out his widow and children and forbade anyone to give them hospitality. Then, in the very land where every misery had been succoured by her charity, Elizabeth was reduced to the necessity of begging, and not without many rebuffs, a little bread for her poor children, and of seeking shelter with them in a pigsty. On the return of the knights who had accompanied Duke Lewis to the Holy Land, justice was at length done to our saint. But Elizabeth, who had become the passionate lover of holy poverty, chose to remain among the poor. She was the first professed Tertiary of the Seraphic Order ; and the mantle sent by St. Francis to his very dear daughter became her only treasure. The path of perfect self-renunciation soon brought her to the threshold of heaven. She who, twenty years before, had been carried to her betrothed in a silver cradle and robed in silk and gold, now took her flight to God from a wretched hovel, her only garment being a patched gown. The minstrels, whose gay competitions had signalized the year of her birth, were no longer there; but the angels were heard singing, as they bore her up to heaven: ‘ The kingdom of this world have I despised for the love of Jesus Christ my Lord, whom I have seen, whom I have loved, in whom I have believed, whom I have tenderly loved.” Four years later, Elizabeth, now declared a saint by the Vicar of Christ, beheld all the nations of the holy Empire, with the emperor himself at their head, hastening to Marburg, where she lay at rest in the midst of the poor whose life she had imitated. Her holy body was committed to the care of the Teutonic Knights, who in return for the honour made Marburg one of the headquarters of their Order, and raised to her name the first 298 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Gothic church in Germany. Numerous miracles long attracted the Christian world to the spot. And now, though still standing, though still beautiful in its mourning, St. Elizabeth’s at Marburg knows its glorious titular only by name. And at Warteburg, where the dear saint went through the sweetest episodes of her life as a child and as a bride, the great memorial now shown to the traveller is the pulpit of an excommunicated friar, and the inkstain with which, in a fit of folly or drunkenness, he had soiled the wall, as he after wards endeavoured with his pen to profane and sully everything in the Church of God. It is time to read the liturgical history of the feast. Elisabeth Andrez regis Hungariz filia ab infantia Deum timere coepit: et crescens @tate, crevit etiam pietate. Ludovico Lantgravio Hassi@ et Thuringiz in _conjugem copulata, non minori_ cura quz Dei, quam qua viri sui erant, exsequebatur. Surgens enim nocturno tempore, orationi diu incumbebat; ac variis misericordiz officiis dedita, viduis, pupillis, @grotis, egentibus sedulo inserviebat; gravique fame urgente, domus suz frumenta liberaliter erogabat. Leprosos hospitio suscipiens, manus eorum et pedes osculabatur. Curandis autem et alendis pauperibus insigne xenodochium construxit. Defuncto conjuge, ut Deo liberius serviret, ~ depositis omnibus szcularis gloriz indumentis, vili tunicainduta est, atque ordinem Peenitentium sancti Francisci ingressa, patientiz et humilitatis virtute maxime enituit. Nam bonis omnibus _exuta, a propriis @dibus ejecta, ab omnibus Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew king of Hungary, feared God from her infancy, and increased in piety as she advanced in age. She was married to Lewis, landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, and devoted herself to_the service of God and of her husband. She used to rise in_the night and spend a long time in prayer; and, moreover, she devoted herself to works of mercy, diligently caring for widows and orphans, the sick and the poor. In time of famine she freely distributed her store of corn. She received lepers into her house, and kissed their hands and feet; she also built a splendid hospital, where the ‘poor might be fed and cared for. On the death of her husband, she, in order to serve God with greater freedom, laid aside all worldly orna: ments, clothed herself in a rough tunic, and entered the Order of Penance of St. Francis. She was very remarkable for her patience and humility. Being despoiled of all SAINT derelicta, contumelias, ELIZABETH irrisic nes, obtrectationes invicto animo toleravit, adeo ut summopere gauderet, se talia pro Deo pati. Ad infima quaque ministeria erga pauperes et @grotos se abjiciens, eis necessaria procurabat, solis oleribus et leguminibus pro suo victu contenta. Cum vero in his aliisque plurimis sanctis operibus vitam religiosissime transegisset, finis tandem suz peregrinationis advenit, quem domesticis suis ante pradixit. Cumque defixis in celum oculis divina contemplationi vacaret, a Deo mirabiliter recreata, et sacramentis refecta, obdormivit in Domino. Statimque plurima ad ejus tumulum miracula patrata sunt. Quibus auditis, et rite probatis, Gregorius nonussanctorum numero eam adscripsit. 299 her possessions and turned out of her own house and abandoned by all, she bore insults, mockeries, and reproaches with undaunted courage, rejoicing exceedingly to suffer thus for God's sake. She humbled herself by performing the lowest offices for the poor and sick, and procured them all they needed, contenting herself with herbs and vegetables for her only food. She was living in this holy manner, occupied with these and many other good works, when the end of her pilgrimage drew nigh, as she had foretold to her companions. She was absorbed in divine contemplation, with her eyes fixed on heaven; and after being wonderfully consoled by God, and strengthened with the Sacraments, she fell asleep in our Lord. Many miracles were immediately wrought at her tomb; and on their being duly proved, Gregory IX enrolled her among the saints. The following hymn in honour of St. Elizabeth was sung in Germany in the fourteenth century: Hymnum Deo vox jocunda Decantat Ecclesiz; Nam congaudet letabunda Sion mater fliz Ascendenti de profunda Convalle miseri. Quam regali stirpe natam In annis infantiz Vir accepit desponsatam Indolis eximiw, Semper tamen inspiratam Voto continentiz. HYMN The Church in joyous accents sings a hymn to God; Sion is in gladness, rejoicing with her daughter who ascends from the valley of misery, Bom of royal race, she s affianced while yet a babe; her husband finds her adorned with every gift and enamoured of purity. 300 TIME AFTER Fide, prole, sacramento Ratum hoc conjugium, Vero docet argumento Quod patrum calestium Vife sanctz succremento Attigit consortium. Lege carnis sic ligata. Non extinxit spiritum, Sed implevit fide rata Nec reliquit irritum Quod a Deo mens parata Gerebat propositum. Hac insignis, hac beata Pauperum nutritia Fastu mundi non elata Nec parentum gloria, In se carne trucidata Crucifixit vitia. Aquam eam dum rogavit Hostis innocentiz, Potum lacte perforavit Clavo peenitentiz, Et sic sese liberavit Virtus patientiz. Tandem viro destituta Munda mundum exuit, Christum mente jam induta Saccum cami consuit, Et in tempus hoc statuta Sic lampas emicuit. Veras censu paupertatis Redimens divitias De thesauro pietatis Fudit auri copias, Et multorum egestatis Supplevit inopias. Fecit opus fuso, cibi Quaerens alimoniam, Et vilescens ipsa sibi Sprevit ignominiam, Sciens soli, Christe, tibi Recte dari gloriam. PENTECOST Their union is hallowed by fidelity, fecundity, and the grace of the Sacrament; Elizabeth’s increasing holiness proves that she is being led to the company of her fathers in heaven. Though subject to the law of the flesh, her spirit was not quenched; faithful to her sacred engagements, she obeyed the inspirations her willing heart Teceived from God. She became the noble and blessed feeder of the poor; neither by worldly glory nor by her kingly origin was she clated, but she crucified the vices in her mortified fiesh. The enemy of innocence asked her for water, as Sisara asked Jahel ; she deceived him with milk, ‘and_transpiercing him with the nail of penance, she delivered herself by her virtue of patience. Bereaved of her husband, she abandoned the world, unsullied by its contact; and having alteady put on Christ interiorly, she now clothed her body with sackcloth, and, even in the time of her mortality, shome as a bright lamp. Buying true riches at the price of poverty, she poured out the golden treasures of her piety, and supplied the needs of innumerable poor. Working with her spindle she earned her daily bread; and, vile in her own eyes, she made light of shame, knowing that to_thee alone, O Christ, ‘honour is due. , SAINT ELIZABETH Gloria sit, Jesu bone, ‘Tibi nunc et jugiter, Qui certantes in agone Adjuvas fideliter, Et mercedem das coron® Vincenti viriiter. men. 301 Glory be to thee, O good esus, both now and for ever; or thou faithfully assistest them that fight the good fight, and rewardest the valiant victor with a crown. Amen. What a lesson thou leavest to the earth as thou mountest up to heaven, O blessed Elizabeth! We ask with the Church for ourselves and for all our brethren in the faith: may thy glorious prayers obtain from the God of mercy that our hearts may open to the light of thy life’s teaching, so that despising worldly prosperity we may rejoice in heavenly consolations.? The Gospel read in thy honour to-day tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like to a hidden treasure, and to a precious pearl; the wise and prudent man sells all he has, to obtain the treasure or the pearl.? Thou didst well understand this ‘ good traffic,” as the Epistle calls it,? and it became the good fortune of all around thee: of thy happy subjects, who received from thee succour and assistance for both soul and body; of thy noble husband, who found an honourable place among those princes who knew how to exchange a perishable diadem for an eternal crown; in a word, of all who belonged to thee. Thou wast their boast ; and several among them followed in thy footsteps along the heavenward path of selfrenunciation. How is it that others, in an age of destruction, could abjure their title of children of saints, and draw the people after them to deal so wantonly with the sweetest memorials and the noblest traditions? May our Lord restore to His Church and to thee the country where thou didst experience His love; may thy supplications, united with ours, revive the ancient faith in those branches of thy stock which are no longer nourished with that life-giving sap; and may the glorious trunk continue, in its faithful branches, to give saints to the world. ! Collect of the feast. + Qonpe, from St. Mase. xill # Epistle, Prov. xxxi. 18. 302 TIME AFTER PENTECOST The Church honours to-day a holy Pope, of the persecu- tion times, by name Pontian. Transported by order of the emperor Maximin to an island in the Mediterranean, he there suffered most cruel treatment, which eamned him the crown of martyrdom. His second successor, St. Fabian, translated his body to the cemetery of Callixtus. PRAYER Infirmitatem nostram respice omnipotens Deus: et quia pondus_propri actionis gravat, beati Pontiani martyris tui atque pontificis intercessio gloriosa nos protegat. Per Dominum. Have regard to our weakness, O almighty God: and since the weight of our own deeds is grievous to us, may the glorious intercession of blessed Pontian, thy martyr and bishop, protect us. Through our Lord. SAINT FELIX NOVEMBER SAINT 303 20 FELIX OF CONFESSOR VALOIS ELIX was called in his youth to dwell in the desert; and he thought to die there, forgotten by the world he had despised. But our Lord had decreed that his old age should yield fruit before men. It was one of those epochs which may be called turning-points in history. The first of the great active Orders was about to be raised up in the Church by St. John of Matha; others were soon to follow, called forth by the new requirements of the times. Eternal ‘Wisdom. who ‘ remaining in herself the same reneweth all things,”* would prove that sanctity also never changes, and that charity, though assuming different forms, is ever the same, having but one principle and one aim— God, loved for His own sake. Hence John of Matha was led by the holy Spirit to Felix of Valois, as a disciple to the master; and then, upon pure contemplation, personified by the anchorite living out his declining years in the depths of the forest, was grafted the intensely active life of the redeemer of captives. The desert of Cerfroid became the cradle, and remained the chief centre, of the Trinitarian Order. Let us read the Church’s history of the servant of God, remembering that it requires to be completed by that of his son and disciple (February 8). Felix, Hugo antea ex regali Valesiorum dictus, familia Felix, formerly called Hugh, was born in France, of the ortus in Gallia, ab ineunte royal family of the Valois, and sanctitatis of future sanctity and especi- poor. infant =tate non levia dedit future misericordia nam adhuc indicia, prasertim erga pauperes: infantulus, manu from his cradle gave promise ally of charity towards the 1 Wisd. vil. 27. While still an 304 TIME AFTER propria, ac si grandior esset, et judicii maturitate_polleret, nummos egenis distribuit. Jam grandiusculus, solebat ex appositis in_mensa dapibus ad ipsos mittere, et ferme eo, quod sapidius erat, obsonio, pauperculos pueros recreabat. _ Adolescens non semel vestibus se exspoliavit, ut inopes cooperiret. Ab avunculo Theobaldo, Xamphan et Blesii comite, vitam Teo mortis impetravit, pradicens hunc infamem hactenus sicarium, mox sanctissimis praditum moribus evasurum: veridicum testimonium monstravit eventus. Post exactam laudabiliter adolescentiam, coepit calestis contemplationis studio solitudinem cogitare; prius tamen voluit sacris initiari, ut omnem regni, a cujus successione jure legis Salic non longe distabat, ;pem sibi pracideret. Saceros factus, et prima Missa devotissime celebrata, non multo post in eremum secessit, ubi summa abstinentia victitans, dantia pascebatur. Ibi cum czlestium charismatum abun- sancto Joanne de Matha Parisiensi doctore, a quo ex divina inspiratione quasitus et inventus, per aliquot annos san- ctissime E: a vixit; angelum donec a Deo ambo admoniti mam_petierunt, specialem Summo regulam Pontifice impetraturi. vivendi Facta igitur Innocentio Papa tertio inter Missarum solemnia reve latione_religionis et instituti de redimendis captivis, ab ipso Pontifice, simul cum socio, PENTECOST he would distribute money to the needy with his own hand, as if he were grown up and had full use of reason. When somewhat older he used to send them meat from the table, and would choose what was daintiest for poor little children. When a_youth he more than once stripped himself of his own garments to clothe the poor. He obtained the life of a condemned criminal from his uncle Theobald, Count of Champagne and Blois; _foretelling that the, man, hitherto an _infamous murderer, would shortly become a saint; the truth of which prophecy was proved by the event. Having_spent his youth in the practice of virtue, he was induced by his love of heavenly contemplation to think of retiring into solitude. He determined, however, first to take Holy Orders, and thus cut off ail possibility of succeeding to the crown, of which he had some expectations on account of the Salic Law. After being ordained priest, and celebrating his first Mass with the greatest devotion, he retired into the desert, where he lived in the severest abstinence, but enjoying an abundance of heavenly gifts and graces. There he was joined by John of Matha, a Parisian doctor, who had been inspired by God to seek him; and they lived together in & most holy manner for some years. God then sent an angel, who bade them go to Rome and obtain a special rule of life from the Sovereign SAINT FELIX candidis vestibus bicolori cruce signatis induitur, ad eam for- 305 Pontifi. Pope Innocent III received, during solemn Mass, mam qua angelus indutus apparuit: et insuper voluit a triplicem colorem quo habitus tives; and he himself clothed Pontifex, ut nova religio juxta constat, sanctissima Trinitatis titulo decoraretur. revelation religious Order concerning to the be insti- tuted for the ransom of capFelix and John in a white habit with a red and blue cross, such as was worn b the angel who Moreover, the had Pontiff appea: deter- mined that on account of the three colours of the habit, the new mi Regula propria ex Pontificis Innocentii Sum- con- Order should bear the name of the most holy Trinity. Upon receiving the confirmation of their rule from Pope firmatione accepta, in dice- Innocent, Felix returned to cesi Meldensi apud locum, Cerfroid, in the diocese of qui Cervus Frigidus dicitur, Meaux, and enlarged the first primum ordinis paulo ante convent of the Order, which a se et socio exstructum he and his companion had ceenobium ampliavit, ubi reli- built there shortly before. giosam observantiam, et Re- There he caused religious obdemptionis institutum mirifice servance and the work of rancoluit, ac inde per alumnos som to flourish ; and he diliin alias provincias diligentissi- gently propagated the Order me propagavit. Illustrem hic by sending disciples into other a beata Virgine Matre favorem provinces. In this place he accepit: dormientibus siquidem was favoured with a remarkcunctis fratribus, et ad matutiable grace by the blessed Virnas preces in pervigilio Na- gin Mary. On the vigil of tivitatis Deiparz media n the Nativity of the Mother of cte recitandas, Deo sic dis- God, while the brethren, God ponente, non surgentibus, so disposing, remained_asleep Felix de more vigilans, et instead of rising at midnight horas praveniens, chorum in- for Matins, Felix, who was gressus, reperit beatam Vi watching according to his cusginem in medio chori habitu tom before the appointed hour, cruce ordinis insignito indutam, entered the church, and found ac celitibus sociatam. similiter Quibus indutis ixtas Felix, pracinente Deipara, laudes divinas_concinuit, riteque persolvit. Et quasi jam a the blessed Virgin in the middle of the choir, clad in the habit and cross of the Order, and surrounded by angels in terrestri ad calestem chorum evocaretur, instantis mortis the same attire. Felix joined them, and the Mother of God having intoned the Office, he ad caritatem erga pauperes et them even to the end. ab angelo certior factus, filios sang the divine praises with Then, 306 TIME AFTER captivos adhortans, animam Deo reddidit, tate ac meritis consummatus, anno post Christum natum ducentesimo duodecimo supra millesimum, sub eodem Pontifice Innocentio tertio. PENTECOST as if calling him from the choir of earth to that of heaven, an angel Informed him that his death was at hand. He exhorted his sons to love of the poor and of captives; and gave up his soul to God, full of days and of merits, in the year of our Lord 1212, in the pontificate of the said Tnnocent II1. Felix, happy lover of charity, teach us the worth, and also the nature, of this queen of virtues. It was she that attracted thee into solitude in pursuit of her divine Object; and when thou hadst learnt to find God in Himself, she showed Him to thee and taught thee to love Him in thy brethren. Is not this the secret which makes love become strong as death, and daring enough, as in the case of thy sons, to defy hell itself ? May this love inspire us with every sort of devotedness; may it ever remain the excellent portion of thy holy Order, leading it to adapt itself to every new requirement, in a society where the worst kind of slavery,under a thousand forms, reigns supreme. 307 PRESENTATION THE NOVEMBER 21 THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY BLESSED HE Presentation is one of the minor solemnities of our Lady, and was inscribed at a comparatively late date on the sacred Cycle; it seems to court the homage of our silent contemplation. The world, unknown to itself, is ruled by the secret prayers of the just; and the Queen of saints, in her hidden mysteries, wrought far more powerfully than the so-called great men whose noisy achievements fill the annals of the human race. The East had been celebrating for seven centuries at least! the entrance of the Mother of God into the temple of Jerusalem,® when in 1372 Gregory XI permitted it to be kept for the first time® by the Roman court at Avignon. Mary in return broke the chains of captivity that had bound the Papacy for seventy years; and soon the successor of St. Peter returned to Rome. The feast of the Visitation, as we saw on July 2, was in like manner inserted in the Western calendar to commemorate the re-establishment of unity after the schism which followed the exile. In 1373, following the example of the Sovereign Pontiff, Charles V of France introduced the feast of the Presentation into the chapel of his palace. By letters dated students desire November 10, 1374, to the masters of the college of Navarre, that it should be celebrated he expressed throughout and his the kingdom: ‘Charles, by the grace of God king of the Brria, Ansiects sacrs Spiclegio Slesmeasi parai, L. 275 * This is to be understood oaly of the feast properly 50 called ; for the marble of Berre reproduced by Le Blant in No. s4a & of * Inscriptions chrétiennes de la ule,” thatthe fact of Tized ind bonoured in e Wes in SheMary's A No. 433 in the templeof contury: “Sot Patd 72 le:the s work, - 308 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Franks, to our dearly beloved: health in Him who ceases not to honour His Mother on earth. Among other objects of our solicitude, of our daily care and diligent meditation, that which rightly occupies our first thoughts is, that the blessed Virgin and most holy Empress be honoured by us with very great love, and praised as becomes the veneration due to her. For it is our duty to glorify her; and we, who raise the eyes of our soul to her on high, know what an incomparable pro- tectress she is to all, how powerful a mediatrix with her blessed Son, for those who honour her with a pure heart. . . . Wherefore, wishing to excite our faithful people to solemnize the said feast, as we ourselves propose to do by God’s assistance every year of our life, we send this Office to your devotion, in order to increase your joy.'! Such was the language of princes in those days. Now, just at that very time the wise and pious king, following up the work begun at Brétigny by our Lady of Chartrefi. rescued France from its fallen and dismembered condition. In the State, then, as well as in the Church, at this moment so critical for both, our Lady in her Presentation commanded the storm, and the smile of the infant Mary dispersed the clouds. The new feast, enriched with Indulgences by Paul II, had gradually become general,? when St. Pius V, wishing to diminish the number of Offices on the universal calendar, included this one among his suppressions. But Sixtus V restored it to the Roman breviary in 1585, and shortly afterwards Clement VIII raised it to the rank of double major. Soon the clergy and regulars adopted the custom of renewing their holy vows on this day, whereon their Queen had opened before them 1 Lauwoy, *Hist avarre gymnasii,’ pars i lib.i. cap. 1o 2 From sources wi do oot come within the learned author’s scope it appears blo Domini cum esset trium ammorsm, it occurs in several monastic ul:ndll! of Saxon times, and, still under the title of Oblatio, in some of later date. ~ This is only one of many interesting facts illustrating the English movement of the tenth early eleventh centuries in its devotional aspect : a side of the question which I et spocal seadye T rametators wated THE PRESENTATION 309 the way that leads by sacrifice to the special love of our Lord. ‘ Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear, and forget thy people and thy father’s house; and the King shall greatly desire thy beauty.’ Thus, wording the wishes of the ‘ daughters of Tyre,” sang the Church of the expectation, on the summit of Mount Moriah; and penetrating the future with her inspired glance, she added: ‘ After her shall virgins be brought to the King, her neighbours shall be brought to thee; they shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing ; they shall be brought into the temple of the King.’ Hailed beforehand as ‘ beautiful above the sons of men,’ this King, the ‘ most mighty,’ makes on this day a prelude to His conquests; and even this beginning is wonderful. Through the graceful infant now mounting the temple steps He takes possession of that temple whose priests will hereafter vainly disown Him; for this child whom the temple welcomes to-day is His ‘ throne.” Already His fragrance precedes and announces Him in the Mother in whose bosom He is to be ‘anointed with the oil of gladness’ as the Christ among His brethren; already the angels hail her as the Queen whose fruitful virginity will give birth to all those consecrated souls who keep for the divine Spouse the ‘myrrh’ and the incense of their holocausts, those ‘ daughters of kings ’ who are to form her court of honour.! But our Lady’s Presentation also opens new horizons before the Church. On the Cycle of the saints, which is not so precisely limited as that of the Time, the mystery of Mary’s sojourn in the sanctuary of the Old Covenant is our best preparation for the approaching season of Advent. Mary, led to the temple in order to prepare in retirement, humility, and love for her incomparable destiny, had also the mission of perfecting at the foot of the figurative altar the prayer of the human race, of itself ineffectual to draw down the Saviour from heaven. She was, as St. Bernardine 1 Ps. xliv. 310 TIME AFTER PENTECOST of Siena says, the happy completion of all the waiting and supplication for the coming of the Son of God; in her, as in their culminating-point, all the desires of the saints who had preceded her found their consummation and their term.! Through her wonderful understanding of the Scriptures, and her conformity, daily and hourly, to the minutest teachings and prescriptions of the Mosaic ritual, Mary everywhere found anti) adored the Messias hidden under the letter; she united herself to Him, immolated herself with Him in each of the many victims sacrificed before her the eyes; and homage, thus she hitherto rendered vainly to the God expected, of of Sinai the Law understood, practised, and made to fructify, in all the fullness that beseemed its divine Legislator. Then could Jehovah truly say: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and return no more thither, but soak the earth and water it, and make it to spring: . . . so shall My word be . . . it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please.” Supplying thus for the deficiencies of the Gentiles as well as of the Synagogue, Mary beheld in the bride of the Canticle the Church of the future. In our name she addressed her supplications to Him whom she recognized as the Bridegroom, without, however, knowing that He was to be her own Son. Such yearnings of love, coming from her, were sufficient to obtain from the divine Word pardon for the infidelities of the past and the immorality into which the wandering world was plunging deeper and deéper.’ How well did this ark of the New Covenant replace that of the Jews, which had rished with the first temple! It was for her, though e knew it not, that Herod the Gentile had continued the construction of the second temple after it had remained desolate since the time of Zorobabel; for the temple, like the tabernacle before it, was but the home of the ark destined to be God’s throne; but greater was 1 BumnakpiN. SEN, Pro festivitatibus V. Marie, Sermoiv, 3 Isa. Iv. 10, 1. 3 Ovisr, * Vi intérieure de la trés saints Vierge, Préseatation.’ THE 311 PRESENTATION the glory of the second temple which sheltered the reality, than of the first which contained but the figure. The Greeks have chosen for the lessons of the feast the passages of Scripture which describe the carrying of the ark into the tabernacle of the desert,* and afterwards into the temple of Jerusalem.? The historical lesson relates the traditions concerning the oblation of the blessed Virgin by her holy parents to God in the temple at the age of three years, there to dwell until, after the lapse of twelve years, the mystery of our salvation was to be accomplished in her. In the sixth century the emperor Justinian built, in honour of the Presentation, a magnificent church on the southern part of the platform on which had formerly stood the temple and its annexes. It is now the mosque El-Aksa. The next century gives us the following strophes, which bear witness to the antiquity of the feast. DE B. VIRGINE IN Salvatoris templum maxime mundum, illa tanti @stimanda ovis et Virgo, sacra illa_arca thesaurum ~divin® _continens gloriz hodie adducitur in domum Domini; gratiam secum affert divini Spiritus, dumangeli Dei eam concelebrant: Ipsa palam est caleste tabernaculum. Dei_ineffabilium et sacrorum mysteriorum dum cerno in hac Virgine gratiam ostensam et aperte cumulatam, gaudeo, mec modos intelligere _valeo insolitos et dictu_difficiles, quibus electa illa immaculata, sola prastat super omnem 1 Exod.xl. creatu- TEMPLUM RECEPTA The cxceedingly pure te ple of the Saviour, the in timable sheep, the holy Virgin, the sacred ark containing the treasure of the divine majesty, is led_to-day into the house of the Lord; thither she brings the grace of the divine Spirit, while the angels of God sing her praises, saying: Truly she is the heavenly tabernacle. While I contemplate the grace of God's ineffable and sacred mysteries revealed in its plenitude in this Virgin, 1 am full of joy, and I cannot comprehend the wonderful and inexpressible way in which this chosen and immaculate Virgin surpasses all creatures * 3 Kings viii. 312 TIME AFTER ram, tam oculis quam mente perceptam; ideo faustis vocibus volens illi plaudere, peo vehementer animo stu- et elo- quio: audeo tamen eam pradicare, magnamque dicere. Ip- sa siquidem est caleste tabernaculum. Rerum opifex omnium et Dominus, conditor, ex ar- cana misericordia et sola clementia sua se ad nos inclinans, cum lapsum eum videret, quem propriis compegit manibus, misertus est, eumque restituere dignatus est, opere sublimiore, quippe bonus quum esset et misericors, semet exinanivit; propterea Mariam uti Virginem et immaculatam, ascivit sibi participem mysterii, quo genus nostrum sponte assumpsit: ipsa est caleste tabernaculum, Pro nobls igitur redemptor et Verbum in carne, cum vellet ostendi, tum Virginem in terram induxit, et novo adventu stupendoque incremento intemeratam illam honestavit; precibus enim hunc fructum concessit, eamque nuntio et praconio promisit justis Joachim et Anna: receptoque cum fide oraculo, parentes cum amore et Latitia voverunt, seillam Domino oblaturos esse: ipsa est caleste tabernaculum. Divino jam numine exorta alma Virgine, justi, prout spoponderant, eam creatori dandam adducebant in templum; leta ergo Anna palam excla: mavit, sacerdotem affata: Eccellam recipito et introduc ad inaccessa templi penetralia, et circumtuere eam: mearum enim precum hic fructus datus PENTECOST visible and invisible. Desiring then to applaud her with joyful voice, my thoughts and words fail me; yet I dare to proclaim her praises and exalt her, for she is the heavenly tabernacle. The Creator, Author, and Lord of all things, out of his incomprehensible mercy and compassion, bent down towards us, and seeing the creature he had made with his own hands fallen away, he in his pity deigned to restore it by a sublimer work than the creation; for he, 50 good and merciful, emptied himself; and in the mystery whereby he freely took on him our nature, he associated the immaculate Virgin Mary with himself: and she is the heavenly tabernacle. The Word of God, our Redeemer, willing to show himself for our sake in the flesh, brought the Virgin into this world, and honoured the coming of that spotless one with new and stupendous gifts; for he gave her as the fruit and reward of prayer, and promised and announced her to Joachim and Anne. Her parents believed the word, and with joyful love they vowed to offer her to the Lord: for she is the heavenly tabernacle. The lovely Virgin being born according to the divine decree, her holy parents led her to the temple, to fulfil their promise, and give her to her Creator. Anne in her joy thus cried out to the priest: Receive this child, lead her into the most secluded parts of the temple, surround her with all THE PRESENTATION est; hanc Deo auctori cum latitia et fide promisi dicandam: ipsa est caleste tabernaculum. 313 care; for she was given to me as the fruit of my prayers, and in the joyof my faith I promised todevotehertoGod her Creator: she is the heavenly tabernacle. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many churches used to sing on this day the following Prose, composed as an acrostic on the words, Ave Maria, benedico te, Amen (Hail Mary, 1 praise thee, Amen): SEQUENCE Altissima providente The Wisdom of God, with Cuncta rite disponente inscrutable providence, _disDei Sapientia poseth all ~things rightly: Vo nexu conjugatis oachim and Anne are united Joachim et Anna, gratis in wedlock, but their union is Juga sunt sterilia. sterile. Ex cordis affectu toto With all the heart’s affection Domino fideli voto they together bind themselves Se strinxerunt_pariter: by inviolable vow to the Lord: Mox si prolem illis dare that if he deign to give them Dignetur, hanc dedicare offspring, they without delay In templo perenniter. will consecrate it to him for everin the temple. Angelus apparuit A bright angel appears, and Lucidus qui docuit tells them their prayers are Exaudita vota: heard, and by the grace of the Regis summi gratia most high King, a daughter Ut his detur filia shall be given them, full of grace. Gratiosa tota. Holy even in her conception, In utero consecrata, she is bomn in a wondrous manMiro modo generata, ner, yetin a way more wondrous Gignet mirabilius | still will she give birth, reAltissimi Patris natum ‘maining a virgin, to the Son of Virgo manens, qui reatum the most high Father, when he Mundi tollet gratius. comes freely to cancel the guilt of the world. Benedicta virgo nata, She is born, then, that blessTemplo trima prasentata ed Virgin, and at the age of three years is presented in the Tt ter quinis gradibus: Erecta velox ascendit temple; swift and erect, adomned with her beautiful robe, Et uterque parens tendit Se ornando vestibus. she ascends the fifteen steps, beneath her parents’ gaze. 314 TIME AFTER Nova fulsit gloria Templum, dum eximia Virgo prasentatur: Edocta djvinitus, Visitata calitus, Angelis letatur. Dum ut nubant jubet multis Princeps puellis adultis, Primo virgo renuit: Ipsam namque devovere Parentes, ipsa manere Virgo voto statuit. Consultus Deus responsum Dat, ut virgo sumat sponsum, Quem pandet flos editus: Ostensus Joseph puellam Ad parentum duxit cellam, Nuptiis sollicitus. Tunc Gabriel ad virginem Ferens conceptus ordinem Delegatur; Erudita stat tacita, Verba qua sint insolita Meditatur. At cum ille tradidit Modum, virgo credidit, Sicque sacro flamine Mox Verbum concipitur, Et quod nusquam clauditur Conditur in virgine. Ecce virgo singulari Quanta laude sublimaris, Quanta fulges gloria: Nos ergo sic tuearis, Ut fructu, quo gloriaris, Fruamur in patria. Amen. PENTECOST The temple shines with a new glory, when this august Virgin is presented; there she is taught by God, is visited by the angels from heaven, and rejoices With them. When the chief priest Dids the maidens of adult age prepare for marriage, the Virgin at first refuses; for her parents have devoted her to God, and she herself has vowed to remain a virgin. God, being consulted, answers that the virgin shall take him for her spouse whom a miraculous flower shall designate; Joseph thus chosen weds the maiden and leads her to his home. Then Gabriel is sent to her, telling her how she is to become a mother; but the prudent Virgin stands silent, pondering over the strangeness of the message. But when he explains how this shall be, she believes him ; and thus by the holy Spirit the Word is conceived, and be whom no space can contain is in dthe Virgin's bosom. conceale O peerless maiden, how dost thou surpass all praise in thy dazzling _glory |~ Protect us now, that in our fatherland we may enjoy thy fruit, whereby thou art so honoured. Amen. ‘ Congratulate me, all ye that love the Lord, because when I was a little one I pleased the Most High.'! Such is the invitation thou addressest to us, O Mary, in the Office chanted in thy honour; and on what feast couldst thou do so more appropriately ? 1 Second responsory in the Common Office of our Lady. THE PRESENTATION 315 When, even more little in thy humility than by thy tender age, thou didst mount, in thy sweet purity, the steps of the temple, all heaven must have -owned that it was henceforth just for the Most High to take His delight in our earth. Having hitherto lived in retirement with thy blessed parents, this was thy first public act; it showed thee for a moment to the eyes of men, only to withdraw thee immediately into deeper obscurity. But as thou wast officially offered and presented to the Lord, He Himself doubtless, surrounded by the princes of His court, presented thee not less solemnly to those noble spirits as their Queen. In the fullness of the new light that then burst upon them, they understood at once thy incomparable greatness, the majesty of the temple where Jehovah was receiving a homage superior to that of their nine choirs, and the august prerogative of the Old Testament to have thee for its daughter, and to perfect, by its teachings and guidance during those twelve years, the formation of the Mother of God. Holy Church, however, declares that we can imitate thee, O Mary, in this mystery of thy Presentation, as in all others.! Deign to bless especially those privileged souls who, by the grace of their vocation, are even here below dwellers in the house of the Lord: may they be like that fruitful olive enriched by the holy Spirit, to which St. John Damascene compares thee.? But is not every Christian, by reason of his Baptism, an indweller and a member of the Church, God’s true sanctuary, prefigured by that of Moriah ? May we, through thy intercession, follow thee so closely in thy Presentation even here in the land of shadows, that we may deserve to be presented after thee to the Most High in the temple of His glory.? 1 Second lesson of the second nocturn. AMBR. de Vi 2 Finst lesson of the second nocturn. DAMASC. e Fi # Collect of the feast. ‘cthodoxa, iv. TIME 316 PENTECOST AFTER NOVEMBER 22 SAINT CAECILIA VIRGIN AND MARTYR ZECILIA united in her veins the blood of kings with that of Rome’s greatest heroes. At the time of the first preaching of the Gospel, more than one ancient patrician family had seen its direct line become extinct. But the adoptions and alliances, which under the Republic had knit more closely the great families by linking them all to the most illustrious among them, formed as it were a common fund of glory, which, even in the days of decline, was passed on intact to the survivors of the aristocracy. It has now been demonstrated by the undeniable witness of monuments that Christianity from the very beginning took possession of that glory, by adopting its heirs; and that by a wonderful disposition of divine Providence, the founders of the Rome of the Pontiffs were these last representatives of the Republic, thus preserved in order to give to the two phases of Roman history that powerful unity which is the distinguishing note of divine works. Heretofore bound together by the same patriotism, the Cornelii and the Zmilii, Sergii, alike Furii, heirs of Claudii, the Fabii, Pomponii, the Cecilii, Plautii, and Valerii, Acilii, eldest sons of the Gentile Church, strengthened the connections formed during the Republic and firmly established, even in the first and second centuries of Christianity, the new Roman society. In the same centuries, and under the influence of the religion preached by St. Peter and St. Paul, there came to be grafted on the ever vigorous trunk of the old aristocracy the best members of the new imperial and consular families, worthy by their truly Roman virtues, practised amid the general depravity, to reinforce the thinned ranks of 317 SAINT CZECILIA Rome’s founders, and to fill up, without too sudden a transition, the voids made by time in the true patrician houses. Thus was Rome working out her destiny; thus was the building up of the eternal city being accomplished by the very men who had formerly, by their blood or by their genius, established her strong and mighty on the seven hills. Cacilia, the lawful representative of this unparalleled aristocracy, the fairest flower of the old stem, was also the last. The second century was passing away; the third, which was to see the empire fall from the hands of Septimus Severus first to the Orientals and then to the barbarians from the banks of the Danube, offered small chance of preservation for the remnants of the ancient nobility. The true Roman society was henceforth at an end; for, save a few individual exceptions, there remained nothing more of Roman but the name: the vain adornment of freedmen and upstarts, who, under princes worthy of them, indulged their passions at the expense of those around them. Cecilia therefore appeared at the right moment, personifying with the utmost dignity the society that was about to disappear because its work was accomplished. In her strength and her beauty, adorned with the royal purple of martyrdom, she represents ancient Rome rising proud and glorious to the skies, before the upstart Cazsars who, by immolating her in their jealousy, unconsciously executed the divine plan. The blood of kings and heroes, flowing from her triple wound, is the libation of the old nobility to Christ the conqueror, to the Blessed Trinity the Ruler of nations; it is the final consecration, which reveals in its full extent the sublime vocation of the valiant races called to found the eternal Rome. But we must not think that to-day’s feast is meant to excite in us a merely theoretical and fruitless admiration. et e e e, b M quoted dirgetly from the Preface to his first * Histoire de sainte Cécile, vierge romaine et martyre." TIME AFTER PENTECOST 318 The Church recognizes and honours in St. Cacilia three characteristics, which, united together, distinguish her among all the blessed in heaven, and are a source of grace and an example to men. These three charac- teristics are, virginity, apostolic zeal, and the superhuman courage which enabled her to bear torture and death. Such is the threefold teaching conveyed by this one Christian life. In an age so blindly abandoned as ours to the worship of the senses, is it not time to protest, by the strong lessons of our faith, against a fascination which even the children of the promise can hardly resist ? Never since the fall of the Roman Empire have morals, and with them the family and society, been so seriously threatened. For long years literature, the arts, the comforts of life, have had but one aim : to propose physical enjoyment as the only end of man’s destiny. Society already counts an immense number of members who live entirely a life of the senses. Alas for the day when it will expect to save itself by relying on their energy ! The Roman Empire thus attempted several times to shake off the yoke of invasion: it fell, never to rise again. Yes, the family itself, the family especially, is menaced. It is time to think of defending itself against the legal divorce. recognition, or rather encouragement, of It can do so by one means alone: by reforming and regenerating itself according to the law of God, and becoming once more serious and Christian. Let marriage, with its chaste consequences, be held in honour; let it cease to be an amusement or a speculation; let fatherhood and motherhood be no longer a calculation, but an austere duty: and soon, through the family, the city and the nation will resume their dignity and their vigour. But marriage cannot be restored to this high level unless men appreciate the superior element, without which human nature is an ignoble ruin: this heavenly element is continence. True, all are not called to embrace it in the absolute sense; but all must do honour to it, SAINT CZECILIA under pain of being ‘delivered up,’ resses it, ‘ to a reprobate sense.’* that reveals to man 319 as the apostle It is continence the secret of his dignity, that braces his soul to every kind of devotedness, that purifies his heart and elevates his whole being. It is the culminating-point of moral beauty in the individual, and at the same time the great lever of human society. It is because the love of it became extinct that the ancient world fell to decay; but when the Son of the Virgin came on earth, He renewed and sanctioned this saving principle, and a new phase began in the destinies of the human race. The children of the Church, if they deserve the name, relish this doctrine, and are not astonished at it. The words of our Saviour and of His apostles have revealed all to them; and, at every page, the annals of the faith they profess set forth in action this fruitful virtue, of which all degrees of the Christian life, each in its measure, must partake. St. Cacilia is one example among others offered to their admiration. But the lesson she gives is a remarkable one, and has been celebrated in every age of Christianity. On how many occasions has Cecilia inspired virtue or sustained courage; how many weaknesses has the thought of her prevented or repaired ! Such power for good has God placed in His saints that they influence not only by the direct imitation of their heroic virtues, but also by the inductions which each of the faithful is able to draw from them for his own particular situation. The second characteristic offered for our consideration in the life of St. Cecilia is that ardent zeal, of which she is one of the most admirable models; and we doubt not that here too is a lesson calculated to produce useful impressions. Insensibility to evil for which we are not personally responsible, or from which we are not likely to suffer, is one of the features of the period. We acknowledge that all is going to ruin, and we look on at the universal destruction without ever thinking of holding 1 Rom, i. 28. 320 TIME AFTER PENTECOST out a helping hand to save a brother from the wreck. ‘Where should we now be, if the first Christians had had hearts as cold as ours ? If they had not been filled with that immense pity, that inexhaustible love, which forbade them to despair of a world, in the midst of which God had placed them to be the ‘salt of the earth’? Each one felt himself accountable beyond measure for the gift he had received. Freeman or slave, known or unknown, every man was the object of a boundless devotedness for these hearts filled with the charity of Christ. One has but to read the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles, to learn on what an immense scale the apostolate was carried on in those early days; and the ardour of that zeal remained long uncooled. Hence the pagans used to say: * See how they love one another !’ And how could they help loving one another ? For in the order of faith they were fathers and children. What maternal tenderness Cacilia felt for the souls of her brethren, from the mere fact that she was a Christian ! After her we might name a thousand others, in proof of the fact that the conquest of the world by Christianity and its deliverance from the yoke of pagan depravity are due to such acts of devotedness performed in a thousand places at once, and at length producing universal renovation. Let us imitate, in something at least, these examples to which we owe so much. Let us waste less of our time and eloquence in bewailing evils which are only too real. Let each one of us set to work, and gain one of his brethren: and soon the number of the faithful will surpass that of unbelievers. Without doubt, this zeal is not extinct; it still works in some, and its fruits rejoice and console the Church; but why does it slumber so profoundly in so many hearts which God had prepared to be its active centres ? The cause is unhappily to be traced to that general coldness, produced by effeminacy, which might be taken by itself alone as the type of the age; but we must add thereto another sentiment, proceeding from the same SAINT CZCILIA source, which would suffice, if of long 321 duration, to render the debasement of a nation incurable. This sentiment is fear; and it may be said to extend at present to its utmost limit. Men fear the loss of goods or position, fear the loss of comforts and ease, fear the loss of life. Needless to say, nothing can be more enervating, and consequently more dangerous to the world, than this humiliating preoccupation; but above all we must confess that it is anything but Christian. Have we forgotten that we are merely pilgrims on this earth ? And has the hope of future good died out of our hearts ? Cacilia will teach us how to rid ourselves of this sentiment of fear. In her days life was less secure than now. There certainly was then some reason to fear; and yet Christians were so courageous that the powerful pagans often trembled at the words of their victims. God knows what He has in store for us; but if fear does not soon make way for a sentiment more worthy of men and of Christians, all particular existences will be swallowed up in the political crisis. Come what may, it is time to learn our history over again. The lesson will not be lost if we come to understand this much: had the first Christians feared, they would have betrayed us, for the word of life would never have come down to us; if we fear, we shall betray future generations, for we are expected to transmit to them the deposit we have received from our fathers.* The Passio Sanctez Cacilie is marked in the most ancient calendars on September 16,* and took place, according to the primitive Acts, under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. The great feast of November 22, preceded by a vigil, was one of the most solemn on the Roman Cycle; it recalled the dedication of the chufrch raised on the site of that palace which had been sanctified by the blood of the descendant of the Metelli, and had been bequeathed by her when dying to bishop Urban, representative of Pope Eleutherius, This Urban having been later on confounded with the 1 Dom GUERANGES, wdi supra. * Martyrol. Hieron. 322 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Pope of the same name, who governed the Church in the time of Alexander Severus, the martyrdom of our saint was thought to have occurred half a century later, as we still read in the legend of the Office. It was most probably in the year 178 that Cacilia joined Valerian in heaven, whence, a few months before, the angel of the Lord had descended, bringing wreaths of lilies and roses to the two spouses. She was buried by Urban, just as she lay at the moment of death. In the beginning of the following century the family crypt was given by her relatives to the Roman church, and was set apart for the burial of the Popes. In the ninth century Paschal I found her surrounded by these venerable tombs, and brought her back in triumph on May 8, 822, to her house in the Trastevere, where she remains to this day. On October 20, 1599, in the course of the excavations required for the restoration of the basilica, Cacilia was once more brought forth to the admiring gaze of the city and of the world. She was clad in her robe of cloth of gold, on which traces of her virginal blood were still discernible; at her feet were some pieces of linen steeped in the purple of her martyrdom. Lying on her right side with her arms stretched before her, she seemed in a deep sleep. Her neck still bore the marks of the wounds inflicted by the executioner’s sword; her head, in a mysterious and touching position, was turned towards the bottom of the coffin. The body was in a state of perfect preservation; and the whole attitude, retained by a unique prodigy during so many centuries in all its grace and modesty, brought before the eyes with a striking truthfulness Cecilia breathing her last sigh stretched on the floor of the bath chamber. The spectators were carried back in thought day when the holy bishop sacred body in the eypress position chosen by the bride her soul into the arms of admired also the discretion to the Urban had enclosed the chest, without altering the of Christ to breathe forth her divine Spouse. They of Pope Paschal, who had SAINT CZECILIA 323 not disturbed the virgin's repose, but had preserved for posterity so magnificent a spectacle.! Cardinal Sfondrate, titular of St. Cacilia, who directed the works, found also in the chapel called of the bath the heating-stove and vents of the sudatorium, where the saint passed a day and a night in the midst of scalding vapours. Recent excavations have brought to light other objects belonging to the patrician home, which by their style belong to the early days of the Republic. Let us now read the liturgical history of the illustrious virgin and martyr. Cazcilia, virgo Romana, nobili genere nata, a prima mtate christiane fidei praceptis_instituta, virginitatem suam Deo vovit. Sed cum postea contra suam voluntatem data esset in_ matrimonium Valeriano, prima nuptiarum nocte hunc cum eo sermonem habuit: Ego, Valeriane, in angeli tutela sum, qui virginitatem meam custodit: quare me quid_in me committas, quo ira Dei in te concitetur. Quibus verbis commotus Valerianus, illam attingere non est ausus: quin etiam addidit, se in Christumcrediturum, si eum angelum videret. Cui Caecilia, cum sine baptismo negaret id fieri posse, incensus cupiditate videndi angelum, se baptizari velle respondit. Quare hortatu virginis ad Urbanum Papam, qui propter persecutionem in martyrum sepulchris via Appia_latebat, veniens, ab eo baptizatur. Cacilia, a Roman virgin of noble origin, was brought up from her infancy in the Christian faith, and vowed her virginity to God. Against her will, she was given in marriage to Valerian; but on the first night of the nuptials she thus addressed him: Valerian, I am under the care of an angel, who is the guardian of my virginity; wherefore beware of doing what might kindle God’s wrath against thee. Valerian moved by these words respected her wishes, and even said that he would believe in Christ if he could see the angel. On Cacilia telling him that this could not be unless he received baptism, he, being very desirous of seeing the angel, replied that he was willing to be baptized. Taking the virgin’s advice, he went to Pope Urban, who on account of the persecution was hiding among the tomba of the martyrs on the Appian Way, and by him he was baptized. Inde ad Caciliam reverThen returning to Cecilia, sus, orantem et cum ea anhe found her at prayer, and gelum divino splendore ful- beside her an angel shining 1 Dom GUERANGER, * Sainte Cécile et Ia société romaine.” 324 TIME AFTER gentem invenit. Quo aspectu obstupefactus, ut primum ex timore confirmatus est, Tiburtium fratrem suum accersit: qui a Caecilia Christi fide imbutus, et ab eodem Urbano baptizatus, ipse etiam ejusdem angeli, quem frater ejus viderat,’ aspectu dignatus est. Uterque autem paulo post Almachio prafecto constanter martyrium subiit. Qui mox Caciliam comprehendi imperat, ab eaque primum, ubi Tiburtii et Valeriani facultates sint, exquirit. Cui cum virgo omnia_{lloram pauperibus _distributa esse respondisset, eo furore concitatus est, ut eam in ipsius ades reductam, in balneo comburi jusserit. Quo in loco cum diem noctemque fta fuisset, ut ne flamma quidem illam attingeret; eo immissus est carnifex, qui ter securi ictam, cum caput abscindere non potuisset, semivivam reliquit. Illa _triduo t, decimo calendas Decemris ‘Alexandro imperatore duplici virginitatis et martyrii palma decorata, evolavit in calum. Cujus corpus ab ipso Urbano Papa in Callis terio sepultum est, in ejus adibus ecclesia ipsius_ Caciliz nomine consecrata. Ejus et Urbani_ac Lucii Pontificum, Tiburtii, Valeriani, et Maximi corpora a Paschali primo Pontifice inde translata in urbem, in eadem sanctz Caecilizecclesia condita sunt. PENTECOST with divine brightness. He was amazed at the sight; but as soon as he had recovered from his fear, he sought out his brother Tiburtius; who also was instructed by Cacilia in the faith of Christ, and after being baptized by Pope Urban was favoured like this brother withthe sightof the angel. Both of them shortly afterwards courageously suffered martyrdom under the prefect Almachius. This latter next commanded Cacilia to be apprehended, and commenced by asking her what had become of the property of Tiburtius and Valerian. The virgin answered that it had all been distributed among the poor; at which the prefect was so_enraged, that he commanded her to be led back to her own house, and put to death by the heat of the bath. When, after spending a day and a night there, she remained unhurt by the fire, an executioner wassent to despatch her; who, not being able with three strokes of the axe to cut off her head, left her half dead. Three days later, on the tenth of the Kalends of December, she took her flight to heaven, adorned with the double glory of virginity and martyrdom. It was in the reign of the emperor Alexander. Pope Urban buried her body in the cemetery of Callixtus; and her house was converted into a church and dedicated in her name. Paschal I translated her body into the city together with those of Popes Urban and Lucius, and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, and placed them allin this church of St. Caecilia. SAINT CACILIA 325 The antiphons and responsories for November 22 are all taken from the Acts of the saint, and are the same as were used in the time of St. Gregory. We choose such of them as will complete the foregomg history. The first responsory represents the vnrgm as singing in her heart to God amid the profane music of the nuptial feast. It was this silent melody, superior to all earthly concerts, that inspired the happy idea of picturing St. Cacilia as the queen of harmony, and proclaiming her patroness of the most attractive of arts. ANTIPHONS AND RESPONSORIES Ry. Cantantibus organis Cecilia' virgo in corde suo soli Domino _ decantabat, dicens: * Fiat, Domine, cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum, ut non confundar. ¥. Biduanis et triduanis jejuniis orans, commendabat Domino quod timebat. * Fiat. R. O beata Cacilia, que duos fratres convertisti, Almachium judicem superasti, * Urbanum episcopum in vultu angelico demonstrasti.t ¥. Quasi apis_argumentosa PR banum. ®. Virgo gloriosa semper Evangelium Christi gerebat in pectore, et non diebus neque noctibus vacabat, * A colloquiis divinis et oratione. ¥. Expansis manibus orabat ad Dominum, et cor ejus igne calesti ardebat. * A collo- quiis. K. Amid the harmony of musical instruments, the virgin Cacilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying: * Let my heart, O Lord, and my body be spotless, that I may not be confounded. ¥. During two days and three days of fasting and prayer, she commended to the Lord what she feared. * Let my heart. K. O blessed Cacilia, who didst convert the two brothers, and overcome the judge Almachius. * Urban the bishop of angelic countenance thou didst show to them.! ¥. As a busy bee thou didst serve the Lord. * Urban. K. The glorious virgin carried always the Gospel of Christ on her heart; and by day and by night she ceased not * From divine colloquies and prayer. ¥. With outstretched hands she prayed to the Lord, and her heart burned with a heavenly fire, * From divine. 1 Ma im virum, Urbanum womint, in quo est aspectus angelicws. words of Valerian to Tiburtius. Acts, 326 TIME . CilicioCacilia domabat, Deum AFTER membra gemitibus exorabat: * Tiburtium et Va- lerianum ad coronas vocabat. ¥. Hac est virgo sapicns, et una de numero prudentum. * Tiburtium. K. Domine Jesu Christe, pastor bone, seminator casti consilif, suscipe seminum fructus quos in Cacilia seminasti: * Cacilia famula tua quasi apis' tibi argumentosa deservit. Y. Nam sponsum, quem quasi leonem ferocem accepit, ad te uasi agnum mansuetissimum estinavit. * Cacilia. Gloria Patri. * Cecilia. ANT. Est secretum, Valeriane, quod tibi volo dicere: angelum Dei habeo amatorem, qui nimio zelo custodit corpus meum. ANT. Beata Cacilia dixit ad Tiburtium: Hodie te fateor meum cognatum, quia amor Dei te fecit esse contemptorem idolorum. ANT. Credimus Christum Filium Dei verum Deum esse, qui sibi talem elegit famulam. ANT. Dum_ aurora finem daret, Cacilia exclamavit, dicens: Eia milites Christi, abjicite opera tenebrarum, et induimini arma lucis. AnT. Triduanas a Domino poposci inducias, ut domum meam ecclesiam consecrarem. PENTECOST R. Cacilia subdued her flesh_ with haircloth, and_besought God with groanings. * Tiburtius and Valerian she called to their crowns. Y. This is a wise virgin, onc of those who are prudent. * Tiburtius. R. O Lord Jesus Christ, good Shepherd, Author of chaste resolutions, receive the fruits of the seed thou didst sow in Cacilia: * Cacilia thy handmaid serves thee like a busy bee.! ¥. For the spouse whom she had received like a fierce lion, she led to thee as a gentle lamb. * Cacilia. Glory be to the Father. * Cacilia. Anr. I have a secret, Valerian, which I wish to tell thee: I have an angel of God, who loves me, and with diligent zeal watches over my body. A, Blessed Cacilia _said to Tiburtius: To-day I acknowledge thee for my brother, because the love of God has made thee become a contemner of idols. ANT. We believe that Christ the Son of God, who chose for himself such a handmaid, is true God. ANT. As dawn was breaking into day, Cacilia cried out saying: Courage, soldiers of Christ, cast away the deeds of darkness, and put on the armour of light. ANT. Cacilia dying said : 1 have asked of the Lord three days’ delay, that I may consecrate my house into a church. ! The ancient legend had the word ovis, which recalls the text of Isaias : Zeo ef oors simul morabuntur (The lion and the sheep shall abide together) (Isa, SAINT CZCILIA The two following hymns Apostolic See in 1852: Terrena cessent organa, Cor @stuans Caciliz Caleste fundit canticum, Deoque totum jubilat. Dum nuptiali nobilis Domus resultat gaudio, Hzc sola tristis candido Gemit columba pectore. O Christe mi dulcissime, Cui me sacravit charitas, Serva pudoris integram, Averte labem corpore. Ovis leonem sedula. Agnum facit mitissimum : Hic fonte lotus mystico, Calo repente militat. were 327 approved by the HYMN Solyit Tiburtium soror Erroris a caligine; Factoque fratris asseclz Ad astra pandit semitam. Seges per illam plurima Superna replet horrea: Verbo potens, fit particeps Apostolorum glori. Delapsus arce siderum Illam tuetur angelus; Roszque mixte liliis Ambire crines gestiunt. Sertum rubens et candidum Affertur una conjugi, uem castitatis emulum zlestis ardor efficit. Te, sponse Jesu, virginum, Beata laudent]agmina; . Patrique cum Paraclito Par sit per @vum gloria. Amen. Hushed be the music of earth: Cacilia’s burning heart pours out the heavenly song she sings to her God alone. While the noble house resounds with the nuptial joy, this dove alone is sad, and her pure heart sighs out: O Christ, most sweet, to whom I am bound by love, preserve my purity of soul and body. The diligent sheep converts the lion into a meek lamb: and he, washed in the mystic font, begins at once to fight for the King of heaven. Sister now of Tiburtius, she frees him from darksome error, and bidding him follow his’ brother, points out the path to heaven. Through her efforts an abundant harvest fills the heavenly granaries; powerful in word, she shares the glory of the apostles. An angel comes down from the highest heavens to protect her; a rose and lily wreath entwines her flowing locks. ‘White and ruddy also is the crown brought to her spouse, whom heavenly love has led to emulate her purity. May the happy choirs of virgins praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse; to the Father and the Paracletebe equal and eternal glory. Amen. 328 TIME AFTER Nunc ad coronas pergite, Clamat suis Cacilia: Mox ipsa virgo sistitur Ad judicis pratorium. Minantis iram despicit, Et falsa ridet numin! Jam morte digna ducitur Puella culpa nescia. Inclusa perstat balneo: Ardent calore fornices, Ast urit intus virginem Divinus ignis fortior. Intaminatam barbarus Ter ense lictor percutit: Scelus tamen non perfici Christus moras dat martyri. Hora suprem proxima, Deo sacrandas devovet Zdes avitas, libera Volatque ad Agni nuptias. Salveto, corpus martyris, Diu sub antris abditum: Nova refulgens gloria Romz parenti redderis. Ne flos tenebris areat, Te Virgo servat virginum; Rubens cruoris purpura Stola micante cingeris. Dormi silenti marmore, Dum sede letus calica Indulget hymnis spiritus, Votisque dexter annuit. Te, sponse, Jesu, virginum Beata laudent agmina; Patrique cum Paraclito Par sit per zvum gloria. Amen. PENTECOST HYMN Now haste ye to your crowns, cries Cacilia to her brethren; and soon the virgin herself is led before the judge. She despises his _angry threats and laughs at his false gods; wherefore the innocent maiden is declared deserving of death. She remains long enclosed in the bath, while the furnace rages beneath; but stronger is the divine fire that burns in the virgin’s heart. Thrice does the barbarous lictor strike the innocent victim: he cannot accomplish his crime, for Christ has granted a delay to the martyr. As her last hour draws nigh, she devotes her ancestral mansion to God, then free she wings her flight to the nuptials of the Lamb. Hail | body of the martyr, long hidden in the sombre crypt; shining with a new glory, thou art restored to thy mother Rome. The Virgin of virgins watches over thee, lest thou fade as a flower in the darkness, while thou liest empurpled with the blood of thy martyrdom, and clad in thy golden robe. Sleep in_thy silent marble tomb, while thy spirit enthroned in heaven hymns its glad joy, and graciously reess. our prayer ceiv May the happy choirs of virgins praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse; to the Father and the Paraclete be equal and eternal glory. Amen. SAINT CZCILIA It would need the language of angels worthily 329 to celebrate thy greatness, O bride of Christ! and we have but the faltering, timid accents of mortals and sinners. O queen, who standest at the King’s right hand clad in the vesture of gold of which the psalmist sings, look down upon us with a favourable eye, and deign to accept this offering of our praise which we lay on the lowest step of thy lofty throne. We make bold to join thereto a prayer for the holy Church whose humble daughter thou wast heretofore, as now thou art her hope and her support. In the dark night of this present life the Bridegroom is long a-coming. In the midst of this solemn and mysterious silence He suffers the virgin to slumber till the cry shall announce His arrival. We honour the repose earned by thy victories, O Cecilia, but we know that thou dost not forget us, for the bride says in the Canticle: ‘ I sleep, and my heart watcheth.” The hour draws nigh when the Spouse is to appear, calling all who are His to gather ‘under the standard of His cross. Soon will the cry be heard: ‘ Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet Him.” Then, O Cecilia, thou wilt say to all Christians what thou saidst to the faithful band grouped around thee at the hour of thy combat: ‘ Soldiers of Christ ! Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.’* The Church daily pronounces thy name with love and confidence in the Canon of the Mass; and she looks for thy assistance, O Czcilia, knowing it will not fail her. Prepare a victory for her, by raising up the hearts of Christians to the realities, which they too often forget while they run after the vain shadows from which thou didst win Tiburtius. When the minds of men become once more fixed upon the thought of their eternal destiny, the salvation and peace of nations will be secured. Be thou for ever, O Czcilia, the delight of thy divine Spouse. Breathe eternally the heavenly fragrance of i Acta S, Caxiliz. 330 TIME AFTER PENTECOST His roses and lilies; and be unceasingly enraptured with the ineffable harmony of which He is the midst of thy glory thou wilt watch our last hour draws nigh, we beseech of thy heroic martyrdom, assist us Receive our soul into thy arms, and everlasting abode where the sight of joyest will give us to understand the of the apostolate, and of martyrdom.* the source. From over us; and, when thee, by the merits on our deathbed. bear it up to the the bliss thou envalue of virginity, 1 Dow GuéxaNGER, * Histoire e sainte Cécile, conclusion. 331 SAINT CLEMENT NOVEMBER SAINT POPE 23 CLEMENT AND I MARTYR! THE memory of St. Clement has been surrounded with a peculiar glory from the very beginning of the Roman Church. After the death of the apostles, he seems to eclipse Linus and Cletus, although these preceded him in the pontificate. We pass, as it were, naturally from Peter to Clement; and the East celebrates his memory with no less honour than the West. He was in truth the universal pontiff, and his acts as well as his writings are renowned throughout the entire Church. This widespread reputation caused numbers of apocryphal writings to be attributed to him, which, however, it is easy to distinguish from his own. But it is remarkable that all the falsifiers who have thought fit to put his name to their own works, or to invent stories concerning him, agree in declaring that he was of imperial descent. With only one exception, all the documents which attest Clement’s intervention in the affairs of distant churches have perished with time; but the one that remains shows us in full action the monarchical power of the bishop of Rome at that primitive epoch. The church of Corinth was disturbed with intestine quarrels caused by jealousy against certain pastors. These divisions, the germ of which had appeared even in St. Paul’s time, had destroyed all peace, and were causing scandal to the very pagans. The Corinthians at last felt the necessity of putting an end to a disorder which might be prejudicial to the extension of the Christian faith; and for this purpose it was requisite to seek assistance from outside. The apostles had all departed this life, 1 Don_GUARANGER, *Sainte Cécile et la société romaine’: ch. vii., *Saint Clémeat.” 332 TIME AFTER PENTECOST except St. John, who was still the light of the Church. It was no great distance from Corinth to Ephesus where the apostle resided: yet it was not to Ephesus but to Clement Rome that the church of Corinth turned. examined the case referred to his judgment by that church, and sent to Corinth five commissaries to reresent the Apostolic See. They were bearers of a letter, which St. Irenzus calls potentissimas hitteras.* It was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many churches as a sort of continuation of the canonical Scriptures. Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to St. Peter’s advice to pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself. These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: peace was re-established in the church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news. A century later, St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope St. Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards St. Clement for the service he had rendered. Brought up in the school of the apostles, Clement had retained their style and manner. These are visible in his two ‘Letters to Virgins,” which are mentioned by St. Epiphanius and St. Jerome, and were found in the eighteenth century translated into Syriac, in a manuscript brought from Aleppo.? As St. Cacilia reminded us yesterday, the principle of vowing chastity to God was, from the very beginning, one of the bases of Christianity, and one of the most effectual means for the transformation of the world. Christ Himself had praised the superior merit of this sacrifice; and St. Paul, comparing the two states of life, taught that the virgin is wholly taken up with our Lord, while the married } Contra bereses, ii. 3. avour of (1. Yoty 55still andremains, upheld. by the concordant. testimomes. of Enpbanioe Db Jerom (oo Foviosse o rey Lot 8¢ 2 Although modern critics have questioned the authenticity of the text believed & Mh% that :{ills.l Clement to virgins, 1?; fact :;oh:d‘ Kx: hboly Pope wrote in SAINT CLEMENT 333 woman, whatever her dignity, is divided.* Clement had to develop this doctrine, and he did so in these two letters. Anticipating those great doctors of Christian virginity, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustin, he developed the teachings of St. Peter and St. Paul on this important subject. ‘He or she,’ he says, ‘ who aspires to this higher life, must lead like the angels an existence all divine and heavenly. The virgin cuts herself off from the allurements of the senses; not only does she renounce the right to their even lawful use, but she aspires to that hope which God, who can never deceive, encourages by His promise, and which far surpasses the natural hope of posterity. In return for her generous sacrifice, her portion in heaven is the very happiness of the angels.” Thus spoke the disciple chosen by St. Peter to set his hand to the task of renovating Rome. It needed no less than this strong doctrine in order to combat the depraved manners of the Empire. Had Christianity been satisfied with inviting men to honour, as the philosophers had done, its efforts would have been to no purpose. Stoicism, by exciting great pride, could bring some men even to despise death; but it was utterly powerless against sensuality, which we must own to have been the strongest auxiliary to the tyranny of the Cesars. The ideal of chastity, thrown into the midst of that dissolute society, could alone arrest the ignominious torrent that threatened to submerge all human dignity. Happily for the world, Christian morality succeeded in gaining ground; and, its maxims being followed up by striking examples, it at length forced itself upon the public notice. Roman corruption was amazed to hear of virginity being held. in honour and practised by a great many followers of the new religion ; and that at a time when the greatest privileges and the most terrible chastisements could scarcely keep to their duty the six vestals upon whose fidelity depended the honour and the safety of the city. Vespasian and Titus 1 Cor, vii. 334 were TIME aware of AFTER PENTECOST the infringements upon their primary duty committed by these guardians of the Palladium; but they considered that the low level at which morals then stood forbade them to inflict the ancient penalties upon these traitresses. The time, however, was at hand, when the emperors, the senate, and all Rome, were to learn from the first Apology of St. Justin the marvels of purity concealed within that Babylon of iniquity. ‘Among us, in this city,” said the apologist, ‘ there are many men and women who have reached the age of sixty or seventy years; brought up from infancy under the law of Christ, they have persevered to this day in the state of virginity; and there is not a country where I could not point out many such.’ Athenagoras, in a memorial presented a few years later to Marcus Aurelius, was able to say in like manner: ‘ You will find among us 2 multitude of persons, both men and women, who have passed their life up to old age in the state of virginity, having no am(l;ition but to unite themselves more intimately to God.” Clement was predestined to the glory of martyrdom; he was banished to the Chersonesus, on the Black Sea. The Acts, which relate the details of his sufferings, are of very great antiquity; we shall not here enter into discussions concerning them. They tell us how Clement found in the peninsula a considerable number of Christians already transported there, and employed in working the rich and abundant marble quarries. The joy of these Christians on seeing Clement is easily conceived ; his zeal in propagating the faith in this far-off country, and the success of his apostolate, are no matter for surprise. The miracle of a fountain springing from the rock at Clement’s word, to quench the thirst of the confessors, is a fact analogous to hundreds of others related in the most authentic Acts of the saints. Lastly, the apparition of the mysterious lamb upon the mountain, marking with his foot the spot whence the water was to flow. carries back the mind to the earliest Christian SAINT CLEMENT 335 mosaics, on which may still be seen the symbol of the lamb standing on a green hillock. In the ninth century St. Cyril, apostle of the Slavs, discovered near Cherson the precious remains of the martyr-pontiff. Clement was brought back to Rome; and the great church which had hitherto, according to St. Jerome, ‘preserved the memory of his name,’? henceforth possessed a still richer treasure. The very memory, however, was of great value for science no less than for piety : on the testimony of ancient traditions, this church was built on the site of St. Clement’s old home in the region of Monte Ccelio, which we know from other sources to have been the quarter preferred by the Roman aristocracy of the period. Modern archzological investigations have discovered beneath the apse of the primitive basilica, and forming a sort of underground confession or crypt, the rooms of a private dwelling, the style and o naments of which are of the Flavian period.* It is time to read the liturgical account of the great Pope of the first century. Clemens Romanus, Faustini Clement was a Roman by filius, de regione Ceelii montis, discipulus_beati Petri, cujus meminit Paulus scribens ad Philippenses: Etiam rogo et te germane compar, adjuva illas quz mecum laboraverunt in Evangelio, cum Clemente et cateris adjutoribus meis, quorum_nomina sunt in libro vite. Hic septem Urbis regiones divisit septem notariis, singulas _singulis _attribuens, qui passiones martyrum et Tes ab eis gestas diligentissime conquisitas litteris mandarent. Multa scripsit et ipse accurate et salutariter, quibus christianam religionem illustravit. birth, son of Faustinus who dwelt in the region of Monte Ceelio. blessed tioned He was a disciple of Peter; by St. and is menPaul in his Epistle to the Philippians, in these words: I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have laboured with me in the Gos- pel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow-labourers, whose names He are in_the book of life. divided Rome into seven regions, appointing a notary for each, who was to ascertain andrecord withthegreatestcare the acts and sufferings of the martyrs. He wrote many useful and learned works, such as did honour to the Christian name. 1 Dom GuERANGER, wbi s vpra. 2 Himrow. de viris illustribus, xv. # Motooty, * St. Clement and his Basilica'; Dx Rosst, Bullet. 1863, 1870, etc. TIME 336 Cum autem AFTER doctrina ac vitz sanctitate multos ad Christi fidem converteret, a Trajano imperatore relegatus est trans solitudine mare urbis Ponticum Chersonz, in in qua duo millia Christianorum reperit, qui ab eodem Trajano condemnati fuerant. Qui cum in eruendis et secandis marmoribus aqua penuria laborarent, Clemens facta oratione, in vicinum collem ascendit, in cujus jugo vidit Agnum dextero pede fontem aqua dulcis, qui inde scatebat, attingentem; ubi omnes sitim expleverunt: eoque miraculo multi infideles ad Christi fidem conversi, Clementis etiam sanctitatem venerari cceperunt. Quibus concitatus Trajanus, misit illuc, qui Clementem, alligata_ad ejus collum anchora, in profundum dejicerent. Quod cum factum esset, Christianis ad littus orantibus, mare ad tria milliaria recessit: eoque illi accedentes, zdiculam marmoream in templi formam, et intus arcam lapideam, ubi martyris corpus conditum erat, et juxta illud anchoram, qua mersus fuerat, invenerunt. Quo miraculo incolz permoti, Christi fidem susceperunt. Ejus corpus postea Romam, Ni colao primo_Pontifice translatum, in ecclesia ipsius sancti Clementis conditum est. Ecclesia etiam in eo insulz loco, unde divinitus fons manarat, ejusdem nomine dedicata est. Vixit in pontificatu annos novem, menses sex, dies sex. Fecit ordinationes duas mense Decembri, quibus creavit pres- PENTECOST He converted many to the faith of Christ by his learning and holiness of life, and was on that account banished by the emperor Trajan to the desert of Cherson beyond the Black Sea. Here he found two thousand Christians, likewise banished by Trajan, who were employed in quarrying marble. Seeing them suffering from want of water, Clement betook himself to prayer, and then ascended a neighbouring hill, on the summit of which he saw a Lamb, pointing out with his tight foot a spring of sweet water. At this source they all quenched their thirst; and many infidels were converted by the miracle, and began to revere Clement as a saint. On hearing this Trajan was enraged, and sent officers with orders to cast Clement into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. After the execution of this sentence, as the Christians were praying on the shore, the sea began to recede for the distance of three miles; on approaching they found a small building of marble, in the form of a temple, wherein lay the martyr’s body in a stone coffin, and beside it the anchor with which he had been drowned. The inhabitants of the country were so astounded at the miracle, that they were led to embrace the Christian faith. The holy body was afterwards translated to Rome, under Pope Nicholas I, and deposited in the church of St. Clement. A church was also built and dedicated in his honour, on that spot in the SAINT CLEMENT 337 byteros decem, diaconos duos, island where the miraculous episcopos per diversa loca fountain had sprung up. He quindecim. held the pontificate nine years, six months, and six days. In two_ordinations in the month of December, he made ten riests, two deacons, and fifteen Bishops for divers places. The proper antiphons of St. Clement’s Office form a graceful collection, bearing evident signs of antiquity. ANTIPHONS Oremus omnes ad Dominum Jesum Christum, ut confessoribus suis fontis venam aperiat. Orante sancto Clemente, apparuit ei Agnus Dei. Non meis_meritis ad vos me misit Dominus, vestris coronis participem fieri. Vidi supra montem Agnum stantem, de sub cujus pede fons vivus emanat. De sub cujus pede fons vivus emanat, fluminis_impetus lztificat civitatem Dei. Omnes gentes per gyrum crediderunt Christo Domino. Cum iter ad mare cepisset, populus voce magna clamabaf Domine lum: et Jesu Christe, salva Clemens cum lacrymis dicebat: Suscipe Paterspiritum meum. Dedisti Domine habitacu- lum martyri tuo Clementi in mari, in modum templi marmorei angelicis manibus pra- paratum, iter prebens populo terr2, tua. ut enarrent mirabilia Let us all beseech our Lord Jesus Christ to discover a Source of water to his confessors. While holy Clement was praying, the Lamb of God appeared to him. Not through any merits of mine hath the Lord sent me to you to share your crowns. 1 saw upon the mountain the Lamb standing, from beneath whose feet sprang up a fount of living waters. From beneath his feet sprang up a, fount of living waters: the stream of the river ‘maketh glad the city of God. All the surrounding nations believed in Christ the Lord. ‘As he approached the sea, the people cried with a loud voice: Lord Jesus Christ, save him; and Clement weeping said ! Father, receive my spirit. Thou hast given, O Lord, to thy martyr Clement, a dwelling-place in the sea, & marble temple built by the hands of angels; and thou openest a way thither for the people of the earth, that they may tell thy wonderful works. 338 TIME AFTER PENTECOST We take the following beautiful formule Leonian sacramentary : from the PRAYER Omnipotens ~ sempiterne Deus, qui in omnium sanctorum tuorum es virtute mirabilis: da nobis in beati Clementis annua solemnitate letari, qui Fili tui martyr et pontifex, quod ministerio gessit, testimonio comprobavit, et quod pradicavit ore, firmavit exemplo. Per Dominum, O almighty, eternal God, whoart wonderful in the virtue of all thy saints, grant us to rejoice in the annual solemnity of blessed Clement, who, being the martyr and pontiff of thy Son, justified his ministry by his words, and corroborated his teaching by his example. Through our Lord. PREFACE Vere dignum Sancti CleIt is truly right that we mentis martyris tui natalitia should give thee thanks, while celebrantes, qui_cognationem celebrating the birthday of reliquit et patriam; et post holy Clement thy martyr, who odorem tui nominis terras abandoned his people and his mariaque transmittens, abne- country, and drawn by the gansque semetipsum, crucem sweet odour of thy name passed peregrinationis _assumpsit, ut over lands and seas; denying te per apostolorum tuorum himself, he took up the cross vestigia sequeretur. Cui_tu, of these wanderings, that he Domine, . . . beatissimi Petri might follow thee in the footmox _tradito discipulo, steps of thine apostles. He deinde magistri sui vicarium was first a disciple of blessed per ordinem subrogando, Ro- Peter, and afterwards his vicar man urbis, cujus propter te and successor; and thus didst despexerat dignitatem, tenere thou, O Lord, appoint him constituis principatum, proque to rule that city of Rome, transitoria claritate, calesti fa- whose dignities he had descis honore conspicuum. Pos- pised for thy sake, and instead tremo martyrii gloria sublima- of transitory honours thou tum, pro temporalibus gestis didst ennoble him with heaventefnam provehis ad coronam. ly dignity. Finally thou didst er. raise him to the glory of martyrdom, and reward his temporal labours with an eternal crown. ‘ The Lord saith: My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth: and thy gifts SAINT CLEMENT 339 shall be accepted upon my altar’* Thus does the Church open the chants of the great Sacrifice in thy honour, O holy pontiff! It was indeed a joy and a supreme consolation to her to experience that, after the departure of the apostles, the word did not fail; for of all the gifts left her by her divine Spouse at His Ascension into heaven, this was the most indispensable. In thy writings, the word continued to traverse the world, authoritative and respected, directing, pacifying, sanctifying the people, as fully and as surely as in the days of the apostles or of our Lord Himself. Clear and manifest, according thanks to thee, to His promise, till the end of the world. thus, in the earliest times, was the proof remains with that Jesus, His disciples Be thou blessed for having consoled our mother the Church. Thou didst understand, O Clement, that the great apostolic work, the diffusion of the Gospel among all nations, was not to be interrupted by the departure of the first labourers. Thou didst cause death and darkness to retreat farther and farther. All nations owe thee a deep debt of gratitude; but especially the French: for thou didst send thy messengers to Paris and its sister cities, crying in thy name: ‘Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall enlighten thee.”? But the labours of an apostolate attacked in every land by the prince of this world, and the cares of universal government, did not exhaust the zeal that fired thy apostolic soul. Be thou blessed for having reserved thy special teaching and solicitude for the best-loved portion of our Lord’s flock, for them that follow the Lamb on the mountain, where thou didst see Him, and whithersoever He goeth. Through thy prayers, may the imitators of Flavia Domitilla increase in number and still more in merit. May every Christian learn from the lesson of thy life that the nobility of this world is nothing compared with that which is won by the love of Christ. 1 Tntroit of the feast, from Isaias. 2 EBph.v. 14 340 TIME AFTER PENTECOST May the world, and its capital once given to God by the apostles and the Roman His undisputed kingdom. patricians, become once more On July 10 we honoured St. Felicitas, mother of the martyrs, giving a second and heavenly birth to her seven sons. But her own recompense was delayed for four long months. The Church has inscribed her name on the sacred diptychs; let us, then, again offer her our prayers and praises on this day, whereon the sword at Iength fulfilled her desires, and, in justification of her name, restored her to her sons in eternal felicity. ANTIPHON ANT. Date ei de fructu manuum suarum, et laudent eam in portis opera ejus. Diffusa est gratia in Iabi s tuis. K. Propterea benedixit te Deus in 2ternum. ANT. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. _ ¥. Grace is spread abroad in thy lips. F. Therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. PRAYER Prasta, quasumus, omnipotens Deus; ut, beatz Felicitatis martyris tue solemnia Tecensentes, meritis ipsius protegamur et precibus. Per Dominum. _ Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that celebrating the solemnity of blessed Felicitas thy martyr, we may be protected by her merits and prayers. Through our Lord. SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS NOVEMBER 341 24 SAINT JOHN OF THE CONFESSOR CROSS ET us go with the Church to Mount Carmel, and L offer our grateful homage to John of the Cross, who, following in the footsteps of Teresa of Jesus, opened a safe way to souls seeking God. The growing disinclination of the people for social prayer was threatening the irreparable destruction of piety, when in the sixteenth century the divine goodness raised up saints whose teaching and holiness responded to the needs of the new times. Doctrine does not change: the asceticism and mysticism of that age transmitted to the succeeding centuries the echo of those that had gone before. But their explanations were given in a more didactic way and analyzed more narrowly; their methods aimed at obviating the risk of illusion, to which souls were exposed by their isolated It is but just to recognize that under the devotion. ever-fruitful action of the Holy Ghost the psychology of supernatural states became more extended and more precise. The early Christians, praying with the Church, living daily and hourly the life of her liturgy, kept her stamp upon them in their personal relations with God. Thus it came about that, under the persevering and transipating in the forming influence of the Church, and Earucl graces of light and union, nad in all the blessings of that one beloved so pleasing to the Spouse, they assimilated her sanctity to themselves, without any further trouble but to follow their mother with docility and suffer themselves to be carried securely in her arms. Thus they applied to themselves the words of our Lord: ‘ Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into 342 TIME AFTER PENTECOST the kingdom of heaven.” We need not be surprised that there was not then, as now, the frequent and assiduous assistance of a particular director for each soul. Special guides are not so necessary to the members of a caravan or of an army; it is isolated travellers that stand in need of them; and even with these special guides, they can never have the same security as those who follow the caravan or the army. This was understood, in the course of the last few centuries, by the men of God who, taking their inspiration from the many different aptitudes of souls, became the leaders of schools, one, it is true, in aim, but differing in the methods they adopted for counteracting the dangers of individualism. In this campaign of restoration and salvation, where the worst enemy of all was illusion under a thousand forms, with its subtle roots and its endless wiles, John of the Cross was the living image of the Word of God, ‘ more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow ’; for he read, with unfailing glance, the very thoughts and intentions of hearts. Let us listen to his words. Though he belongs to modern times, he is evidently a son of the ancients. “ The soul,” he says, ‘is to attain to a certain sense, to a certain divine knowledge, most generous and full of sweetness, of all human and divine things which do not fall within the commonsense and natural perceptions of the soul; it views them with different eyes now, for the light and grace of the Holy Ghost differ from those of sense, the divine from the human.! The dark night through which the soul passes on its way to the divine light of the perfect union of the love of God—so far as it is in this life possible—requires for its explanation gfeater experience and light of knowledge than I possess. or so great are the trials, and so profound the darkness, spiritual as well as corporal, which souls must endure if 1 Complete works of ST. Joun or THE Coss, translated from the original Spanish by David Lewis, M.A", The Obscure Night of the Soul.” book i., chap, 1. SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS 343 they will attain to perfection, that no human knowledge can comprehend them, nor experience describe them.* ‘ The journey of the soul to the divine union is called night, for three reasons. The first is derived from the point from which the soul sets out, the privation of the desire of all pleasure in all the things of this world, by an entire detachment therefrom. This is as night for every desireand sense of man. Thesecond, from the road by which it travels—that is, faith; for faith is obscure, like night, to the intellect. The third, from the goal to which it tends, God, incomprehensible and infinite, who in this life is as night to the soul. We must pass through these three nights if we are to attain to the divine union with God. ‘They are foreshadowed in holy Scripture by the three nights which were to elapse, according to the command of the angel, between the betrothal and the marriage of the younger Tobias.? On the first night he was to burn the liver of the fish in the fire, which is the heart whose affections are set on the things of this world, and which, if it will enter on the road that leadeth unto God, must be burned up, and purified of all created things in the fire of this love. This purgation drives away the evil spirit, who has dominion over our soul because of our attachment to those pleasures which flow from temporal and corporeal things. ‘The second night, said the angel, thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy patriarchs, the fathers of the faith. The sou) having passed the first night, which is the privation of all sensible things, enters immediately into the second night, alone in pure faith, and by it alone directed; for faith is not subject to sense. ‘ The third night, said the angel, thou shalt obtain a blessing—that is, God, who in the second night of faith communicates Himself so secretly and so intimately to the soul. This is another night, inasmuch as this communication is more obscure than the others. When this night is over, which is the accomplishment of the com1 *The Ascent of Mount Carmel,' Prologue. ? Tob. vi. 18. 344 TIME AFTER PENTECOST munication of God in spirit, ordinarily effected when the soul is in great darkness, the union with the Bride, which is the Wisdom of God, immediately ensues.* * O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy will arid and constrained, and thy faculties in- capable of any interior act, be not grieved at this, but look upon it rather as a great good, for God is delivering thee from thyself, taking the matter out of thy hands; for however strenuously thou mayst exert thyself, thou wilt never do anything so faultlessly, so perfectly, and securely as now—because of the impurity and torpor of thy faculties—when God takes thee by the hand, guides thee safely in thy blindness, along a road and to an end thou knowest not, and whither thou couldst never travel guided by thine own eyes, and supported by thy own feet.’ We love to hear the saints describe the paths which they themselves have trodden, and of which, in reward for their fidelity, they are the recognized guides in the Church. Let us add that ‘ in sufferings of this kind, we must take care not to excite our Lord’s compassion before His work is completed. There can be no mistake about it, certain graces which God gives to the soul are not necessary for salvation, but they must be obtained at a price. If we were to make too many difficulties, it might happen that, to spare our weakness, our Lord would let us fall back into a lower way. This, to the eye of faith, would be a terrible and irreparable misfortune.” ‘ For the interests of holy Church-and the glory of God, it is more important that we are able to say that truly contemplative souls should be multiplied upon the earth. They are the hidden spring, the moving principle of everything that is for the glory of God, for the kingdom of His Son, and for the perfect fulfilment of His divine will. Vain would it be to multiply active works 1 ¢ The Ascent of Mount Carmel," Book i , chap. ii. 2 ¢ The Obscure Night of the Soul," Bool xvi. 2 yThe Spirtual Life and Prayer accoring toap. Holy Scripture and Monastic Tradition,” chap. xiv., Solesmes, 189g. Translated by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. SAINT JOHN and contrivances, yea, OF THE CROSS and even deeds 345 of sacrifice: all will be fruitless if the Church militant have not her saints to uphold her, saints still wayfarers (in via), which is the state in which the Master chose to redeem the world. Certain powers and a certain fruitfulness are inherent to the present life; it has in itself so few charms that it will not have been useless to show, as we have done, that it has also some advantages.’* The life of St. John of the Cross is thus related by holy Church, Joannes a Cruce, Fontiberi John of the Cross was born in~ Hispania_piis parentibus of pious parents at Hontiveros natus, a primis_annis certo in Spain. From his infancy innotuit, quam Deiparz Vir- it was evident how dear he gini futurus esset acceptus; would be to the Virgin Mother nam quinquennis in puteum of God, for at five years of lapsus, ejusdem Deiparz manu age, having fallen down a well, sublatus, incolumis _evasit. he was held up by our Lady Tanto autem patiendi desiderio in her arms, so that he susflagravit, ut novennis, spreto tained no injury. He had so molliori lecto, super sarmentis great a desire of suffering, that cubare consueverit. Adole- when he was but nine years old scens hospitio pauperum wgro- be discarded his soft bed and tantium Metymnz Campi fa- slept on faggots. As a young mulum sese addixit, quibus man, he devoted himself to magno caritatis ardore vilis- the service of the sick in the sima quzque complectens offi- hospital of Medina del Campo. cia, prasto aderat. Cujus ex- Here he shoved the ardour emplo excitati ceteri, eadem of his charity by undertaking caritatis munera ardentius obi- the vilest offices; and his bant. Verum ad altiora voca- example incited others to detus, beatw Mariz Virginis de vote themselves to the same Monte Carmelo institutum am- charitable deeds. But as God plexus est: ubi sacerdos ex called him still higher, he obedientia factus, _severioris entered the Order of the discipline et arctioris vitz blessed Virgin Mary of Mount cupidissimus, primitivam ordi- Carmel, where he was made nis regulam ex superioris licen- priest in obedience to his tia ita_professus est, ut, ob superiors; and in his ardour for jugem Dominicze passionis me- more severe discipline and a moriam, bello in se, tamquam more austere manner of life, in infensissimum hostem in- he obtained their leave to dicto, vigiliis, jejuniis, ferreis observe the primitive rule of 1 ‘The and Pra) and Monastic toby Holy It Spiritual chap. dthe Scripture Tradition," nedictines of Stanbrook. xix.,LifeSolesmes, 1699,, according Translate 346 TIME AFTER flagellis, omnique penarum genere, brevi carnem cum vitiis et concupiscentiis suis crucifixerit: dignus plane, qui a sancta Teresia inter puriores sanctioresque animas Eccle siam Dei id temporis illustrantes recenseretur. Singulari vitz austeritate, et omnium virtutum prasidio munitus, prz assidua rerum divinarum contemplatione, diutumas et mirabiles extases frequenter patiebatur: tantoque in Deum zstuabat amore, ut, cum divinus ignis sese intro_diutius continere non posset, foras erumpere, ejusque vultum irradiare visus sit. Proximorum saluti summopere intentus, tum in verbi Dei pradicatione, tum in sacramentorum administratione fuit assiduus. Hinc tot meritis auctus, strictiorisque discipline promovendz ardore vehementer accensus, sanctz Teresiz comes divinitus datus est, ut quam ipsa inter sorores primevam Carmeli ordinis observantiam instauraverat, eamdem et inter fratres, Joanne adjutore, restitueret. = Innumeros itaque una cum Dei famula in divino opere promovendo perpessus labores, canobia quz ejusdem sancta virginis cura per totam Hispaniam erecta fuerant, nullis vitz incommodis et periculis territus, singula perlustravit in_quibus aliisque quamplurimis ejus opera erectis, restauratam observantiam pro- PENTECOST the Order. Being ever mindful of our Lord's Passion, he declared war against himself as against his worst enemy; and by watchings, fasting, iron disciplines, and every kind of penance, he soon crucified his flesh with the vices and concupiscences; so that St. Teresa considered him worthy to be numbered among the holiest and purest souls then adorning God’s Church. Besides bis singular austerity of life, John was equipped for the spiritual combat with the armour of all the virtues. He devoted himself assiduously to the contemplation of divine things, in which he frequently rienced long and wonderful ecstasies; and his heart burned with such love of God that this divine fire could not be contained within, but would break forth and light up his countenance. He was exceedingly zealous for his neighbours’ salvation, and devoted himself to preaching the word of God and administering the Sacraments. Enriched with all these merits and kindled with the desire of promoting stricter discipline, he was given by God as a companion to St. Teresa, that as she had restored primitive observance among the sisters of the Order of Carmel, she might with John's help do the same among the brethren. In carrying out this divine work, he, together with that handmaid of God, underwent innumerable labours; and fearing neither sufferings nor dangers, he visited all the monasteries founded by the holy virgin in Spain, and himseif SAINT JOHN pagando, verbo et OF THE CROSS exemplo 347 erected others, propagating in all the restored observance and firmavit; ut merito primus post sanctam Teresiam Carme- strengthening it by his words litarum Excalceatorum ordinis and example. He has thus every right to be called, after professor et parens habeatur. St. Teresa, the first professed Virginitatem perpetuo coluit, impudentesque mulieres ejus pudicitiz insidiari conantes, non modo repulit, sed etiam Christo lucrifecit. In divinis explicandis arcanis zque ac_sancta Teresia, apostolicz sedis judicio, divinitus instructus, libros de mystica theologia calesti sapientia refertos conscripsit. Semel interrogatus a Christo, quid praemii pro tot Iaboribus posceret, respondit: Domine, pati, ct contemni pro te. Imperio in dzmones, quos e corporibus_szpe fugabat, discretione spirituum, prophetiz dono, miraculorum gloria celebratissimus, ea semper fuit humilitate, ut szpius a Domino flagitaverit eo loco mori, ubi omnibus esset ignotus. Voti compos factus, Ubedz_diro morbo, et in crure quinque plagis sanie manantibus, ad implendum patiendi _desiderium constantissime toleratis, Ecclesiz sacramentis pie_sancteque susceptis, in Christi cruxifixiamplexu, quem semper in corde atque ore habuerat, post illa verba: In manus tuas commendo spiritum ‘meum, obdormivit in Domino, die et hora a se pradictis, anno salutis millesimo quingentesimo nonagesimo primo, @tatis quadragesimo nono. and the father of the Discalced Carmelites. He preserved his virginity intact, and not only repulsed impudent women, who tried to ensnare him, but even gained them to Christ. The Holy See has declared that, like St. Teresa, he was divinely in- spired in explaining the hidden mysteries of God ; and he wrote books on mystical full of divine wisdom. theology, When asked one day by Christ what reward he desired for so man; labours, he replied: Lord, suiferings and contempt for thy sake! He his power was over renowned the for devils, whom he often cast out of the him. His prayer was granted; possessed; and also for the gifts of discernment of spirits and prophecy; while such was his humility that he often begged our Lord to let him die in a place where no one knew and after a cruel malady, and the patient endurance of five ulcers in his leg, sent him to satisfy his love of suffering, he at fell asleep in our Lord Ubeda, having received the Sacraments of the Church in the holiest dispositions, and embracing the image of Christ crucified whom he had ever had in his heart and on his lips. His last words were: Into thy hands 1 commend my spirit. tem ejus animam splen- ‘His death took place on the day didissimus Ignis " globus” ex- and at the hour he had forecepit: corpus vero suavissimum told, in the year of salvation TIME 348 AFTER odorem spiravit, quod etiamRum incorruptur Segovia honorifice colitur. Eum plurimis ante et post obitum fulgentem signis Benedictus decimus tertius, Pontifex Maximus, in sanctorum numerum retulit. PENTECOST 1501, the forty-ninth of his age. A brilliant globe of fire received his departing soul; while his body gave forth a is still most sweet perfume, and reverently preserved incorrupt at Segovia. As he was renowned for many miracles both before and after death, Pope Benedict XIII enrolled him among the saints. On Carmel’s height and on the mountains, in the plain and in the valleys, may there be an ever-increasing number of such souls as are able to reconcile earth to heaven, to draw down the blessings of God, and to avert His anger | We are all called to be saints: may we then, after thy example and through thy prayers, O John of the Cross, suffer the grace of God to work in us with all the plenitude of its purifying and deifying power. Then shall we be able one day to say with thee: ‘O divine Life, who never killest but to give life, as Thou never woundest but to heal; Thou hast wounded me, O divine hand | 'that Thou mayst heal me. Thou hast slain in me that which made me dead, and destitute of the life of God which I now live. O gentle, subtle touch, the Word, the Son of God, who, because of the pureness of Thy nature, dost penetrate subtilely the very substance of my soul, and touching it gently absorbest it wholly in divine ways of sweetness, not heard of in the land of Chanaan, nor seen in Theman.! O touch of the Word, so gentle, so wonderfully gentle to me; and yet Thou wert overthrowing the mountains and breakm the rocks in pieces in Horeb by the shadow of Thy power going before Thee, when Thou didst announce Thy presence to the prophet in the whistling of a gentle air. % O gentle air, how is it that Thou touchest so gently when Thou art so terrible and so strong ? ‘0 my God, and my life, they shall know Thee and behold Thee when Thou touchest them, who, making 1 Baruch i, 22. 4 3 Kings xix. 11, 12. SAINT CHRYSOGONUS, MARTYR 349 themselves strangers upon earth, shall purify themselves, because purity corresponds with purity. ~As in Thee there is nothing material, so the more profoundly dost Thou touch me, changing what in me is human into divine, according as Thy divine essence wherewith Thou touchest me is wholly unaffected by modes and manner, free from the husks of form and figure. Thou the more gently touchest, the more Thou art hidden in the purified souls of those who have made themselves strangers here, hidden from the face of all creatures, and whom Thou shalt hide in the secret of Thy face from the disturbance of men. Thou removest the soul far away from every other touch whatever, and makest it Thine own; Thou leavest behind Thee effects and impressions so pure, that the touch of everything else seems vile and low, the very sight offensive, affliction.” ‘and all relations therewith a deep Rome honours to-day one of her own illustrious sons, Chrysogonus, who gave his life for Christ at Aquileia in the reign of Diocletian. His splendid church in the Trastevere, which possesses his venerable head, was first built at the very time of the triumph of the Faith over idolatry. Chrysogonus instructed in that holy faith the blessed martyr Anastasia, whose memory is so touchingly united with that of our Saviour’s birth, the Aurora Mass on Christmas day having been from time immemorial celebrated in her church. The names of both Chrysogonus and his spiritual daughter are daily pronounced in the holy Sacrifice. PRAYER Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris: ut qui ex iniquitate nostra reos nos esse cognoscimus, beati Chrysogoni martyris tui intercessione liberemur. Per Dominum. _Attend, O Lord, to our supplications; that we who know ourselves to be guilty on account of our iniquities, may be delivered by the intercession of thy blessed martyr Chrysogonus. Through our Lord. 1 !The Living Flame of Love," stanza il., line 3, passim AFTER TIME 350 PENTECOST NOVEMBER 25 SAINT CATHARINE VIRGIN AND MARTYR ERTRUDE the Great, from her very infancy, felt a special attraction towards the glorious virgin Catharine. As she was desirous of knowing how great were her merits, our Lord showed her St. Catharine seated on a throne so lofty and so magnificent, that it seemed her glory was sufficient to have filled the courts of heaven had she been its sole queen; while from her crown a marvellous brightness was reflected on her devout clients.? It is well known how the Maid of Orleans, entrusted by St. Michael to the guidance of St. Catharine and St. Margaret, received aid and counsel from them during seven years; and how it was at Sainte-Catherine-de- Fierbois that she received her sword. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Crusaders of the West experienced the powerful assistance of the Alexandrian martyr; and on their return from the East they introduced and as observed her cultus, which soon became ex- tremely popular. An Order of knighthood was founded to protect the pilgrims visiting her holy body on Mount Sinai. Her feast was raised to the rank of first class, was a holiday of obligation by many churches. She was honoured as patroness by Christian gnnilosophers, scholars, orators, and attorneys. The ior advocate was called bastonier, because it was his privilege to carry her banner; while confraternities of young girls were formed under the invocation of St. Catharine, whose members vied with one another in their zeal for adorning her venerated image. She was classed among the helping saints, as being a wise counsellor ; and was claimed as patroness 1 Legatas divin pietatis, iv. 57. by various SAINT CATHARINE 351 associations merely on account of their experience of her powerful intercession with our Lord. Her betrothal with the divine Child, and other scenes from her legend, furnished Christian art with many beautiful inspirations. The holy and learned Baronius regretted that even in his day the Acts of the great Oriental martyr were open to discussion on certain points, which were eagerly seized upon by the extreme critics of the succeeding centuries in order to lessen popular devotion towards her.! There remains, however, this glory to Christian virginity, that in the person of St. Catharine it was honoured by pupils and masters and became the guiding spirit in the developrhent of human thought during the centuries illustrated by such brilliant suns of learning as Albert the Great, Thomas of Aquin, and Bonaventure. * Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." Methodius, thus speaks must have she o;xght wise.” a bishop and martyr of the third century, in his ‘ Banquet of Virgins ’: ‘ The virgin a very great love of sound doctrine; and to hold an honourable place among the Let us now read the abridged legend of St. Catharine in the book of holy Church. Catharina, nobilis virgo Alexandrina, a prima wtate studia liberalium artium cum fidei ardore conjungens, brevi ad eam sanctitatis et doctrinz perfectionem pervenit, ut decem et octo annos nata eruditissimum quemque superaret. Quz cum Maximini jussu multos propter christiane religionis professionem varie tormentis cruciatos, ad supplicium rapi videret, non dubitanter ipsum adiit Maximinum, eique nefariam immanitatem Catharine, a noble virgin of Alexandria, united from early youth the study of the liberal arts with an ardent faith; and attained in a short time to such a degree of holiness and science, that at the age of eighteen she surpassed the most learned men. Seeing many, at the command of Maximin, cruelly tortured and executed for professing the Christian religion, she went boldly to Maximin himself and reproached him for his ? Barow. Annal. ad ann. 307. 7 Matt.v. 8. MxTHoD. Conviv. Oratio. 1. 352 TIME AFTER objiciens, sapientissimis rationibus Christi fidem ad_salutem necessariam esse affirmavit. Cujus prudentiam Maximinus admiratus, retineri eam jubet, accersitis undique doctissimis hominibus, magnisque propositis pramiis, qui_convictam Catharinam a Christi fide ad idolorum cultum perduxissent. Quod contra accidit. Nam plures philosophi, qui ad eam coarguendam convenerant, vi ac subtilitate ejus disputationis tanto Jesu Christi amore sunt incensi, ut pro illo mori non dubitaverint. Quamobrem Maximinus blanditiis ac promissis Catharinam de sententia deducere aggreditur: verum id frustra fieri intelligens, verberibus _affectam, plumbatisque contusam, dies "undecim sine cibo ac potu inclusam tenet in carcere. Quo tempore Maximini uxor, et Porphyrius belli dux, visend= virginis causa carcerem ingressi, et ejusdem pradica: tione in Jesum Christum credentes, postea martyrio coronati sunt. Interim Catharina educitur e custodia, et rota expeditur, crebris et acutis prefixa gladiis, ut virginis corpns crudelissime dilaceraretur. Que machina brevi, Catharinz oratione, confracta est: eoque miraculo multi Christi fidem susceperunt. Ipse Maximinus in impietate et crudelitate obstinatior, Catharinam securi percuti imperat. Qua fortiter dato capite, ad PENTECOST impious cruclty, showing him by wise reasons that faith in Christ is necessary vation. for sal- Maximin, marvelling at her wisdom, caused her to be kept in custody. Then he summoned the most learned men from all parts, and promised a large reward to him that should refute Catharine’s argu- ments, and lead her from the faith of Christ to the worship of idols. But the result was contrary to his expectations. For many of the philosophers whot had assembled to refute her were, by the force and subtilty of her reasoning, so enkindled with love of Jesus Christ, that they were feady to die for him. Maximin next tried to seduce her by flatteries and promises; but seeing his labour lost, he caused be lashed, and torn her to with scotirges tipped with lead, and finally shut up in prison for eleven days without food or drink, During this interval, Maximin’s wife. and Porphyrius general of the army, going to see the virgin in_prison, were by her exhortations brought to believe in Jesus Christ, and were afterwards crowned with martyrdom. Meanwhile Catharine was brought out of prison, and a wheel was set up garnished with many sharp knives cruelly to rend the virgin’s body. But at Catharine’s prayer the wheel was speedily broken; by which miracle many were converted to the faith of Christ. Maximin only grew more obstinate in wickedness and cruelty, and SAINT CATHARINE 353 ordered Catharine to be betyrii premium evolavit, sep- headed. Offering her head timo calendas Decembris: cu- bravely to the sword, she took jus corpus ab angelis in Sina her flight to heaven, adorned Arabiz monte mirabiliter col- with the double crown of virlocatum est. ginity and martyrdom, on the seventh of the Kalends of December. Her body was miraculously carried away by angels and buried on Mount Sina in Arabia. duplicatum virginitatis et mar- To-day’s feast has inspired many liturgical compositions in the West. We will limit our selections to a sequence from the Gradual of St. Victor’s, and a beautiful and touching responsory still used by the Friars Preachers. Vox sonora nostrl chori Nostro sonet Conditori, Qui disponit omnia, Per quem dimicat imbers, Per quem datur et puellis De viris victoria; SEQUENCE Per quem plebs Alexandrina Feminz non feminina Stupuit ingenia, Quum beata Catharina Doctos vinceret doctrina, Ferrum patientia. Hzc ad gloriam parentum Pulchrum dedit ornamentum Morum privilegia, Clara per progenitores, Claruit per sacros mores Ampliori gratia. Florem teneri decoris, Lectionis et labori: ‘Attrivere studis Nam perlegit disciplinas Swmculares et divinas In adolescentia. Let the voices of our choir resound in_praise of our Creator, who disposes all things; by whom they fight who are unskilled in war, by whose power maidens triumph over men. Through him, the people of Alexandria stand amazed to see in blessed Catharine qualities that seem above her sex, when she vanquishes learned men by her science and the sword by her courage. To the glory of her race she adds the precious ornaments of incomparable virtue; and noble by birth, she becomes more noble still by grace and holy living. Tender is the flower of her beauty, yet she spares it neither labour nor study; and in early youth she masters earthly science and that which is of God. 354 TIME AFTER Vas electum, vas virtutum, Reputavit sicut lutum na transitoria, Et reduxit in contemptum Patris opes et parentum Larga patrimonia. Vasis oleum includens, Virgo sapiens et prudens Sponso pergit obvia, Ut, adventus ejus hora, Praeparata, sine mora Intret ad convivia. Sistitur imperatori, Cupiens pro Christo mori; ujus in prasentia uinquaginta sapientes SHuton readit ot lentes Virginis facundia. Carceris horrendi claustrum, Et rotarum triste plaustrum, Famemn et jejunia, Et quacumque fiunt ei, Sustinet amore Dei, Eadem ad omnia. Torta superat tortorem, Superat imperatorem Feminz constantia: Cruciatur imperator, Quia cedit cruciator, Nec valent supplicia. Tandem capite punitur, Et, dum morte mors finitur, Vita subit gaudia. Angelis mox fuit cure Dare corpus sepulturz Terra procul alia. Oleum ex ipsa manat Quod infirmos multos sanat Evidenti gratia. Bonum nobis dat unguentum, Si per suum interventum ostra sanet vitia. Gaudens ipsa videat De se prasens gaudia, Et futura prabeat, Qua dedit prasentia, Et hic nobis gaudeat, Tlli nos in gloria. ~ Amen. PENTECOST A chosen vessel full of virtue, she considers transitory goods asmire, contemning her father’s wealth and her ample patrimony. Filling her vessel with oil, as a wise and prudent virgin, she goes to meet the Spouse: that, ready at the hour of his coming, she may enter without delay to the feast. Longing to die for Christ, she is led before the emperor; and in his presence, by her eloquence, puts fifty philosophers to silence. For love of God she endures the horrors of the prison, the cruel wheel, hunger and want, and all her other sufferings: she remains unchanged through all. The tortured overcomes her torturer, a woman’s constancy triumphs over the emperor; yea, the emperor himseff is tormented, seeing both executionerand torments unavailing. At length she is beheaded, and by death ending death, enters into_the joys of life, while angels with all care bury her body in a far-off land. An oil flowing from her body, by a visible grace heals the sick; good indeed is the unction she gives us, if she heals our vices by her prayers. May she rejoice to see the joy she causes us; may she come; and who gives us present joys give likewise those to mayshe nowrejoi ceand with us, we with her in glory. Amen. SAINT CATHARINE 355 RESPONSORY Virgo flagellatur, crucianda fame religatur, carcere clausa manet, lux calica fusa refulget: * Fragrat odor dulcis, cantant czli agmina laudes. ¥. Sponsus amat sponsam, Salvator visitat illam. * Fragrat. Gloria_Patri, Spiritui Sancto. * Fragrat. et Filio, et ‘The virgin is scourged, loaded with chains, tormented with hunger; but while she remains shut up in prison a heavenly light shines around. * A sweet fragrance fills the air, and the hosts of heaven are there singing praises. Y. The Spouse loves his bride and visits her as a Saviour. * A sweet fragrance. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. * A sweet fragrance. O blessed Catharine, accept us as thy disciples. In thy person philosophy, true to its beautiful name, leads us to eternal Wisdom, truth leads to goodness, and science to Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. ‘O curious inquirers, who delight in idle, fruitless speculation,” exclaims the most eloquent of thy panegyrists, ‘ know that the brilliant light of science which enchants you is not intended merely to please your eyes, but to guide your steps and rule your conduct. Vain minds, that make such pompous display of your learning in order to win men’s praise, learn that this glorious talent has not been entrusted to you for your selfadvancement, but for the triumph of the truth. And you, cowardly, sordid souls, who use science as a means of gaining earthly goods, consider seriously that so divine a treasure is not meant to be traded with in so unworthy a manner; and that the only commerce it is concerned with is of a higher and sublimer kind—viz., the redemption of souls.’t Thus, O Catharine, thou didst employ thy science solely for the truth. Thou madest ‘the majesty of Jesus Christ so visible that His presence dissipated all 1 Bossua, * Panegyric on St. Catharine.’ TIME AFTER PENTECOST 356 the errors of philosophy, and the truths it had usurped acknowledged Him for their Master, or rather were gathered up in Him as in their centre. Let us learn from this holy example to bear witness to the truth and to make it triumph over the world, employing all our light of knowledge in the fulfilment of this duty. O holy truth | I owe thee the testimony of my words, of my life, of my blood: for the truth is God Himself.”* This, O magnanimous virgin, is the thought of holy Church, when she thus formulates her prayer for to-day: 0 God, who didst give the law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and didst wonderfully deposit in the same place the body of the blessed virgin and martyr Catharine by means of Thy holy angels; grant, we beseech Thee, that by her merits and intercession, we may be enabled to arrive at the mountain, which is Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee for ever and ever.? 1 BossusT, * Panegyric on St. Catharine.’ 2 Collect of the day. SAINT SYLVESTER NOVEMBER SAINT 357 26 SYLVESTER ABBOT OD often brings the world to those who flee from it, as Sylvester Gozzolini among others experienced. In the thirteenth century the world, all in admiration at the sanctity and the eloquence of the new Orders, seemed to have forgotten the monks and the desert. God, who never forgets, led His elect silently into solitude, and the wilderness began again to ‘ rejoice and flourish like the lily’; strength was restored to the ‘ weak hands and feeble knees’ of the sons of the cloister.! The austerities of olden days and the fervour of prolonged prayer were revived at Monte Fano, and extended into sixty other monasteries; the new religious family of the Sylvestrines was approved by Innocent IV in 1247. Though originated seven centuries after St. Benedict, and distinguished from the elder families by its blue habit, it claims the patriarch of Cassino for its legislator and father. Let us read the life of St. Sylvester, which was inserted in the breviary by Pope Leo XIII. Silvester, Auximi in Piceno nobili genere ortus, statim puerilem mtatem _litteris ac bonis moribus mirifice exornavit. Adolescens Bononiam ad studia jurisprudentiz missus a patre, cum sacris litteris a Deo monitus dedisset operam, parentis incurrit indignationem, quam quo, animo toto decennio pertulit. Ob egre- Sylvester was born of a noble family at Osimo in the Marches of Ancona, and in his boyhood was remarkable for his love of study and his good conduct. As a youth he was sent by his father to Bologna to study jurisprudence, but was admonished by God to devote himself to sacred learning. This incited his father 1 Isa. xxxv. 1, 3. 358 TIME AFTER giam ejus virtutem a_canonicis _cathedralis Auximanz ecclesiz socius honoris electus est; in quo munere populo orationibus, exemplo et concionibus opem tulit. Inter funus nobilis cujusdam defuncti, in aperto tumulo formosi viri_suique propingui deforme cadaver conspiciens: Ego, inquit, sum, quod hic fuit; quod hic est, ego ero. Et mox, peracto funere, illa sibi Do sibi occurrente sententia: Qui vult venire post me, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me, in_solitudinem majoris_perfectionis studio secessit, ibique vigiliis, orationibus jejuniisque deditus, crudas_tantum herbas in cibum szpius_adhibuit. Ut autem magis lateret homines, varias mutavit sedes; ac demum pervenit ad montem Fanum, locum, quamvis prope Fabrianum, eo tamen tempore desertum, ibique in honorem sanctissimi Patris Benedicti templum erexit, congregationisque. Silvestrinorum fundamenta. jecit, sub regula et habitu in visione sibi ab eodem Sancto ostensis. At invidens Satanas variis terroribus illius monachos turbare nitebatur, noctu monasterii januas hostiliterinvadens. Sed vir Dei hostis impetum ita repressit, ut monachi in sancto instituto magis confirmarentur, ac patris sanctitatem agnoscerent. Spiritu PENTECOST to anger, which Sylvester patiently endured for ten years. On account of his remarkable virtue, the canons of Osimo elected him an honorary member of their chapter, in which position he benefited the people by his prayers, his example, and his sermons. While assisting at the funeral of a nobleman, his relative, who had been remarkably handsome, he looked into the open coffin, and seeing the corpse all deformed, said to himself: What this man was, I am now; what he is now, I shall be hereafter. As soon as the funeral was over, reading these words of our Lord: If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, he retired into solitude in order to attain greater perfection; there he gave himself up to watching, ‘prayer, and fasting, often eating nothing but raw herbs. The better to conceal himself from men he frequently changed his place of abode; and at length settled at Monte Fano, which, though near to Fabriano, was at that time a desert. There he built a church in honour of the most holy father Benedict, and founded the Congregation of Sylvestrines, under the rule and habit shown him by St. Benedict in vision. Satan, roused to envy, strove in many ways to terrify his monks, making assaults by night at the monastery gates. But the man of God repressed the enemy’s attack with such vigour, that the monks, recognizing their father’s sanctity, were more and more confirmed SAINT SYLVESTER 359 prophetiz aliisque donis eni- in their holy purpose. Syltuit. Qua ut semper profunda vester was remarkable for humilitate conservavit, ita con- the spirit of prophecy and he guarded tra se d@monis invidiam conci- other gifts, which tavit, a quo praceps actus by deep humility. This so r scalas oratorii, et prope stirred up the devll's envy that interimendus, _prasentissimo he cast the saint headlong Virginis beneficio incolumitati down the oratory stairs and redditus est. Quod beneficium well nigh killed him, but the perpetua et singulari in illam blessed Virgin at once grapietate commendavit ad ulti- ciously restored him to health. In gratitude for this beneft, mum usque °vitz spiritum, quem fere nonagenarius, san- Sylvester showed her the tenctitate et miraculis clarus, Deo derest unfailing piety to the reddidit anno salutis millesimo end of his life. He dicd at ducentesimo sexagesimo sep- the age of about ninety years, timo, sexto calendas Decem- renowned for sanctity and bris. Ejus Officium ac Missam miracles, on_the sixth of the Leo decimus tertius Pontifex Kalends of December, in_the Maximus ad universam ex- year of salvation 1267. The Sovereign Pontifi Leo XIII tendit Ecclesiam. extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church. Death, by revealing to thee. O Sylvester, the vanity of noble birth and beauty, opened to thee the path of life. The frivolous world, deceived by the mirage of false pleasures, cannot understand the Gospel, which defers beatitude to another life and paves the way to it with renunciation, humility, and the cross. With the Church, we ask of our merciful God, in consideration of thy merits, the grace to despise, as thou didst, the fleeting joys of this world, that we may e with thee of true and eternal happiness. Deign to support our petition with thine own supplication. We beseech Him who has glorified thee to bless and multiply thy sons, to sustain them and the whole monastic Order, and every religious family, under the sufferings of the present time. O holy abbot, reward by new benefits the confidence of the Sovereign Pontiff, who in these sad days has extended thy cultus to the entire Church. 360 TIME AFTER PENTECOST Peter; successorof St. Theonas in the See of Alexandria, was, by his learning and holiness, the glory of Egypt and the light of the whole Church of God. Such was his courage under the terrible persecution raised by Maximian Galerius, that the example of his admirable patience strengthened a great many in Christian virtue. He was the first to cut off from the communion of the faithful, Arius, deacon of Alexandria, for favouring the schism of the Meletians. When Peter had been condemned to death by Maximian, the priests Achillas and Alexander came to him in prison to intercede for Arius; but the bishop answered that during the night Jesus had appeared to him with His garment torn, and on his asking the cause, had replied: “Arius has rent My garment, which is the Church.’ He then foretold that they two would succeed him in turn in the episcopate, and forbade them ever to receive Arius to communion, for he knew that he was dead to God. The truth of this prophecy was soon proved by the event. Peter was beheaded, and thus went to receive the crown of martyrdom on the sixth of the Kalends of December, in the twelfth year of his episcopate. Let us offer our homage and prayers to the great bishop whom the Church thus commemorates to-day. For a long time he went by the name of ‘ Peter the Martyr,” until in the thirteenth century another Peter martyr, himself illustrious among all, came to claim the title, leaving his glorious brother to be known as “ St. Peter of Alexandria.’ AnT. Iste sanctus pro lege Dei sui certavit usque ad mortem, et a verbis impiorum non timuit: fundatus enim erat supra firmam petram. Y. Gloria et homore coro- nasti eum Domine. K. Et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum. Ant. This saint fought even todeath 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 the works of thy hands. ? Legend of St. Peter of Alexandria in the Roman breviary. over SAINT PETER PRAYER Infirmitatem nostram respice, omnipotens Deus: et quia pondus_propriz actionis gravat, beati Petri martyris tul atque_pontificis, intercessio gloriosa nos protegat. Per Dominum. 361 Have regard to our weakness, O almighty God: and since the weight of our own deeds is grievous to us, may the glorious intercession of blessed Peter, thy martyr and bishop, protect us. Through. 362 TIME AFTER PENTECOST NOVEMBER VIGIL OF SAINT SAINT SATURNINUS, 29 ANDREW MARTYR HRISTMAS begins to glimmer on the horizon. The last Sunday after Pentecost has given us the closing instructions of the movable Cycle. Beginning with the twenty-seventh of this month, the present days belong in some years to the new Cycle, in others to the one which is ending. The last lesson from the Scripture of the Time' ends with the solemn declaration of the last of the prophets, announcing the approach of a new era: ‘From the rising of the sun even to the going down, My name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a clean oblation; for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.’? And in to-day’s Gospel we have St. John the Baptist echoing the words of Malachias, and joining the old and the new times together: ‘ Behold the Lamb of God I’ He points out to us the Messias close at hand. Andrew, brother of Peter, and another of John’s disciples, asked this Messias: ‘ Rabbi, where dwellest Thou ?* Jesus answered: ‘Come and see.’ And they went, continues the evangelist, and saw where He abode, and they stayed with Him that day.® Whereupon St. Augustine, speaking in the name of the Church on this vigil, says: ‘ Let us build Him a dwelling in our hearts, that He may come to us, and teach us, and live with us. Here is our Advent planned out for us. Let us put that blessed season under the protection } Saturday before the first Sunday in Advent 2 Malach. i. 11 3 Gospel of the vigil. + Homilyon the vigil. Ave. Tract. vii. in Joann. SAINT ANDREW 363 of the apostle of the cross, and also of the holy martyr Saturninus, whom the Church has honoured on this day from time immemorial. Quasumus, Deus: ut PRAYER beatus omnipotens _ We bescech thee, O almighty Andreas apostolus, cujus prevenimus festivitatem, tuum pro nobis imploret auxilium; ut a nostris reatibus absoluti, a cunctis etiam periculis eruamur. Per Dominum. God, that the blessed apostle Andrew, whose festival we anticipate, may implore thy help for us; that absolved from our sins, we may also be delivered from all dangers. Through our Lord. PRAYER Deus, qui nos beati Saturnini O God, who grantest us to martyris tui concedis natalitio rejoice in the festival of blessed perfrui: ejus nos tribue meritis Saturninus thy martyr, grant adjuvari. Per Dominum us to be assisted by his merits. Through our Lord. TIME AFTER PENTECOST 364 NOVEMBER 30 SAINT ANDREW APOSTLE HIS feast is destined each year to terminate with solemnity the Cycle which is at its close, or to add lustre to the new one which has just begun, It seems, indeed, fitting that the Christian year should begin and end with the cross, which has merited for us each of those years which it has pleased the divine goodness to grant us, and which is to appear on the last day in the clouds of heaven as the seal put on time. We should remember that St. Andrew is the apostle of the cross. To Peter Jesus has given firmness of faith; to John, warmth of love; the mission of Andrew is to represent the cross of his divine Master. Now it is by these three, faith, love, and the cross, that the Church renders herself worthy of her Spouse. Everything she has or is bears this threefold character. Hence it is that after the two apostles just named, there is none who holds such a prominent place in the universal liturgy as St. Andrew. But let us read the life of this glorious fisherman of the lake of Genesareth, who was afterwards to be the successor of Christ Himself, and the companion of Peter, on the tree of the cross. The Church compiled it from the ancient Acts of the martyrdom of the holy apostle drawn up by the priests of the Church of Patrz, which was founded by the saint. The authenticity of this venerable piece has been contested by Protestants, inasmuch as it makes mention of several things whxch would militate against them. Their sentiment has been adopted by several critics of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On the other hand, these Acts have been received by a far greater number of Catholic writers of eminence ; amongst whom may be mentioned the great SAINT ANDREW 365 Baronius, Labbe, Natalis Alexander, Gallandus, Lumper, Morcelli, etc. The churches, t0o, of both East and West, which have inserted these Acts in their respective Offices of St. Andrew, as is also St. authority, are of some Bernard, who has made them the groundwork of his three admirable sermons on St. Andrew. Andreas apostolus Bethsaide Andrew the apostle, born natus, qui est Galilewe vicus, at Bethsaida, a town of Galilee, frater Petri, discipulus Joannis was brother of Peter, and Baptist, quum eum de Christo disciple of John the Baptist. dicentem audisset: Ecce Agnus Having heard his master say, Dei, secutus Jesum, fratrem speaking of Christ: Behold quoque suum ad eumdem the Lamb of God | he followed perduxit. Quum postea una cum fratre piscaretur in mari Galile®, ambo a pratereunte Christo Domino ante alios apostolos vocati illis verbis: Venite post me, faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum: nullam interponentes moram, et relictis retibus secuti sunt eum. Jesus, and brought to him his brother also. When after- wards he was fishing with his brother in the sea of Galilee, they were Loth called, before any of the other apostles, our Lord, who passing by by said to them: Come after me; I will make you to be fishers Post cujus passionem et resurrectionem Andreas cum in Scythiam Europz, qua ei vincia ad Christi fidem isseminandam obtigerat, venisset, deinde Epirum ac of men. Without delay, they dicationi evangelica resistentem, liberrime increpavit quod persuaded many in that city left their him. nets and followed After the passion and resurrection, Andrew went to spread the faith of Christ in Scythia in Europe, which was Thraciam peragrasset, doctrina the province assigned to him; et miraculis innumerabiles hothen he travelled through mines ad Christum convertit. Epirus and Thrace, and by his Post Patras Achai profectus, teaching and miracles conet in ea urbe plurimis ad verted innumerable souls to veritatem evangelicam perdu- Christ. Afterwards, having ctis, ZEgeam proconsulem, pra- reached Patra in Achaia, he qui’ judex hominum haberi vellet, Christum Deum .omnium judicem a dmmonibus elusua non aguosceret. to embrace the truth of the Gospel. Finding that the proconsul Zgeas resisted the preaching most of freely the Gospel, upbraided he him for that he, who desired to be considered as a judge of men, should be so far deceived by devils as not to acknowledge C'hn'lllt to of all. be God, the Judge 366 TIME AFTER Tunc Zgeas iratus: Desine, inquit, Christum_jactare, cui similia verba nihil profuerunt, quominus a Judais crucifigeretur. Andream vero de Christo nihilominus _liberc pradicantem, quod pro salute humani generis se crucifigendum obtulisset, impia oratione interpellat, ac demum hortatur, ut sibi consulens, diis velit immolare. Cui Andreas: Ego omnipotenti Deo, qui unus et verus est, immolo quoti non taurorum carnes, nec hi corum sanguinem, sed immaculatum Agnum in altari, cujus camem posteaquam omnis populus credentium manducaverit, Agnus qui sacrificatus est, integer perseverat et vivus. Quamobrem ira accensus geas jubet eum in carcerem detrudi: unde populus Andream facile liberasset, nisi ipse sedasset multitudinem; vehementius rogans, ne se ad optatissimam martyrii _coronam properantem impedirent. Tgitur paulo post in tribunal productum, cum Zgeas crucis extollentem mysteria, sibique suam_impietatem exprobrantem diutius ferre non posset, in crucem_tolli, et Christi mortem imitari jussit. Adductus Andreas ad locum martyrii, cum crucem vidisset longe, exclamare capit: O bona crux, quz decorem ex membris Domini suscepisti, diu desiderata, sollicite amata, sine intermissione quasita, et ali- PENTECOST _Then /Egeas being angry said: Cease to boast of this Christ, whom such like words as these kept not from being crucified by the Jews. But finding that Andrew continued boldly preaching_that Christ had offéred himself to be crucified for the salvation of mankind, he interrupts him by an impious speech, and at length exhorts him fo look to his own interest and sacrifice to the gods. Andrew answered him: I offer up every day to almighty God, who is one and true, not the flesh of oxen, nor the blood of goats, but the spotless Lamb upon the altar; of whose flesh the whole mul” titude of the faithful eat, and the Lamb that is sacrificed remains whole and living. Whereupon ZEgeas being exceeding angry orders him to be thrust into prison, whence the people would easily have freed Andrew, had he not himself appeased the multitude, begging of them with most earnest entreaty that they would not keep him from the long-sought-for crown of martyrdom to which he was hastening. Not long after this, he was brought before the tribunal, where he began to extol the mystery of the Cross, and rebuke the judge for his impiety. ZEgeas, no longer able to contain_himself on hearing these words, ordered him to be hoisted on a cross, and so to die like Christ. Andrew having been brought to the place of execution, seeing the cross at some distance, began to cry out: O good cross, made beau- 367 tiful by the body of my Lord | 50 long desired, so anxiously loved, so unceasingly sought after, and now at last ready for my soul to enjoy | take me from amidst men, and restore me to my Master, that by thee he may receive me, who by thee redeemed me. He was therefore fastened to the cross, on which he hung alive two days, preaching without cessation the faith of Chris after which he passed to him, whose death he had so coveted, The priests and deacons of Achaia, who wrote his Passion, attest that all the things which they have recorded were heard and seen by them. His relics were first translated to Constantinople, under the emperor Constantine, and afterwards to Amalfi. During the Pontificate of Pius II the head was taken to Rome and placed in the basilica of St. Peter. SAINT ANDREW quando cupienti animo pra- parata: accipe me ab hominibus, et redde me magistro meo; ut per te me recipiat, qui per te me redemit. Itaque cruci affixus est: in qua biduum vivus pendens, et Christi fidem pradicare nunquam intermittens, ad eum migravit, cujus mortis similitudinem concupierat. Quz omnia presbyteri et diaconi Achaiz, qui ejus passionem scripserunt, se ita ut commemorata sunt, audisse et vidisse testantur. Ejus ossa primum Constantino imperatore Constantinopolim, deinde Amalphim translata sunt. Caput, Pio secundo Pontifice, Romam allatum, in basilica sancti Petri collocatum est. Nothing could be more exp: ressive than the language used by holy Church in praise of the apostle of the cross. First she employs the words of the Gospel which record the circumstances of his vocation; then she selects the most touching es from the Acts of his martyrdom, drawn up by the priests of Patre; and both are intermingled with 'apmpriate sentiments of her own. lO‘m- first selection | be from the responsories of atins. Ry. Cum perambularet Dominus juxta mare Galile, vidit Petrum et Andream retia mittentes in mare: et vocavit eos, dicens: * Venite post me, faclam vos fieri piscatores hominum. ¥. Erant enim piscatores, et ait illis: * Venite R. When the Lord was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Peter and Andrew casting nets into the sea, and he called them, saying: * Come after me, I will make you to be fishersof men. ¥ For they were fishers, and he saith to TIME AFTER PENTECOST 368 post me, faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum. K. Mox ut vocem Domini pradicantis audivit beatus Andreas, relictis retibus, quorum usu actuque vivebat, * Aterna vite secutus est przmia largientem. _¥. Hic est qui pro amore Christi pependit in cruce, et pro lege ejus sustinuit passionem. * Eterna vitz secutus est premia largientem. Ry. Doctor bonus, et amicus Dei Andreas duciturad crucem ; quam a longe aspiciens dixit: Salve, crux| * Suscipe discipulum ejus, qui pependit in te magister meus Christus. ¥. Salve, crux, qua in corpore Christidedicata es; et ex menmbris ejus tamquam margaritis ornata. * Suscipe discipulum ejus qui_pependit in te, magister meus Christus. K. Videns crucem Andreas exclamavit, dicens: O crux admirabilis| O crux desiderabiliyl O crux qu per totum mundum rutilas | * Suscipe discipulum Christi, ac per te me ipi i per te moriens qua decorem’ et pulchritudinem de membris Domini suscepisti. * Suscipe discipulum Christi, ac per te me recip qui per te moriens me redemit. Ry. Oravit sanctus Andreas, dum respiceret in calum, et voce magna clamavit et di: Tu es Deus meus, quem ne me patiaris ab implo judice I me, after *Come them: will make you to be fishers of men. as blessed R. As soon drew the heard An- of the voice Lord calling him, leaving his nets, by the use and working of he which lived, fol- * He lowed him who gives the reward of eternal life. ¥. This is he who, for the love of Christ, hung upon a cross, and for his law endured a pas- sion. * He followed him who gi‘ve: the reward of eternal life. R. Andrew, the good teacher, and the friend of God, is led to the cross; which, seeing afar off, he says: Hail, O cross| of him * Receive the disciple who hung upon thee, Christ, my master. ¥. Hail, O cross, which art consecrated by the body of Christ, and art adorned by his members as with pearls. * Receive the hung disciple of him who upon thee, Christ, my master. R. Andrew seeing the cross, cried out, saying: O admirable cross| O desirable cross! O cross which shinest throughRe* out the whole world| ceive the disciple of Christ, and by thee may he receive me, who dying by thee re- deemed me. ¥. O good cross, which art made fair and beau- tiful by the body of the Lord. * Receive the disciple of Christ, and by thee may he receive me, who dying by thee re- deemed me. K. Saint Andrew prayed, as he looked up to heaven, and voice cried out with a loud and said: Thou whom art my God, I have seen: suffer me SAINT ANDREW 369 deponi: * Quia virtutem san- not to be detached by the cte crucis agnovi. ¥. Tu es impious judge: * For I have power of the holy magister meus Christus, quem learnt the dilexi, quem cognovi, quem cross. ¥. Thou art the Christ, my master, whom I have loved, in ista voce exaudi me. * Quia whom 1 have known, whom I virtutem sanctze crucls agnovi. have confessed : graciously hear me in this one prayer. * For I bave learnt the power of the holy cross. confessus sum: tantummodo ANTIPHONS Salve crux pretiosa | suscip discipulum ejus, qui pependi in te, magister meus Chmtul Beatus -Andreas orabat, diSt Domiue, Rex: stemm loriz, susci] mn lentem B patible, o Radreas Christt famulus dignus Déi apostolus, germanus Petri, et in passione socius. Maximilla Christo amabilis, tulit corpus apostoli, optimo loco cum aromatibus sepelivit. Hail, O precious cross! receive the disciple of him, who hung master. upon thee, Christ, my The blessed Andrew prayed, saying: O Lord, Kingof eternal glory, receive me hanging on this gibbet. Andrew, the servant of Christ, the worthy apostle of God, the brother of Peter, and his companion in the cross. Maximilla, a woman dear to Chiist, took the body of the postle, and bnfled place. embalming it, it in a most honoured Thou, O Lord, didst plunge Qui persequebantur unum demersisti eos, Do in into hell them that persecuted informo, of in Bguo cruds dux thy just ome, and wast his just! fuistl; guide and helper on the wood of the cross. In order to avoid a lengthy repetition, we refer our readers to the Advent volume for the translation of the various liturgical pieces. God grants us to meet thee, O blessed Andrew, at the threshold of the mystic season of Advent, on which we are so soon to enter. When Jesus, our Messias, began His public life, thou hadst already become the obedient disciple of the: Precursor, who preached His coming; thou wast among the first of them who received the Son 370 TIME AFTER of Mary as the prophets. But secret from him thou didst bear esus. PENTECOST Messias foretold in the law and the thou couldst not keep the heavenly who was so dear to thee; to Peter, then, the good tidings, and didst lead him to J O blessed apostle | we also are longing for the Messias, the Saviour of our souls; since thou hast found Him, lead us also unto Him. We place under thy protection the holy period of expectation and preparation, which is to bring us to the day of our Saviour’s Nativity, that divine mystery in which He will manifest Himself to the world. Assist us to render ourselves worthy of seeing Him on that great night. The baptism of penance prepared thee to receive the grace of knowing the Word of life; pray for us that we may become truly penitent and may purify our hearts, during that holy time, and thus be able to behold Him, who has said: ‘ Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” Thou hast a special power of leading souls to Jesus, O glorious saint | for even he who was to be made the pastor of the whole flock was presented to the Messias by thee. By calling thee to Himself on this day, our Lord has given thee as the patron of Christians who, each year, seeking again that God in whom thou art now living, ray to thee to show them the way which leads to esus. Thou teachest us this way; it is that of fidelity, of fidelity even to the cross. In that way thou didst courageously walk: and because the cross leads to Jesus Christ, thou didst passionately love the cross. Pray for us, O holy apostle ! that we may begin to understand this love of the cross; and that having understood it, we may put it in practice. Thy brother says to us in his Epistle: ‘ Christ having sufferedin the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought.” Thy feast, O blessed Andrew | shows us thee as the living commentary of this doctrine. Because thy Master was crucified, thou wouldst also be crucified. From the high throne to which thou hast been raised by the cross, pray for us, SAINT ANDREW 37t that the cross may be unto us the expiation of the sins which are upon us, the quenching of the passions which burn within us, and the means of uniting us by love to Him, who, the cross. through HERE ENDETH love alone for us, was nailed to ‘THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST’ ‘THE LITURGICAL YEAR’ AND