25 APRIL – THE GREATER LITANIES

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

This day is honoured in the Liturgy by what is called Saint Mark’s Procession. The term, however,is not a correct one, inasmuch as a Procession was a privilege peculiar to the twenty-fifth of April previously to the institution of our Evangelist’s feast, which, even so late as the sixth century, had no fixed day in the Roman Church. The real name of this Procession is The Greater Litanies. The word Litany means Supplication, and is applied to the religious rite of singing certain chants while proceeding from place to place, and this in order to propitiate Heaven. The two Greek words Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy on us) were also called Litany, as likewise were the invocations which were afterwards added to that cry for mercy, and which now form a Liturgical prayer used by the Church on certain solemn occasions.

The Greater Litanies (or Processions) are so called to distinguish them from the Minor Litanies, that is, Processions of less importance as far as the solemnity and concourse of the faithful were concerned. We gather from an expression of Saint Gregory the Great that it was an ancient custom in the Roman Church to celebrate, once each year, a Greater Litany at which all the Clergy and people assisted. This holy Pontiff chose the twenty-fifth of April as the fixed day for this Procession and appointed the Basilica of Saint Peter as the Station.

Several writers on the Liturgy have erroneously confounded this institution with the Processions prescribed by Saint Gregory for times of public calamity. It existed long before his time, and all that he had to do with it was the fixing it to the twenty-fifth of April. It is quite independent of the feast of Saint Mark which was instituted at a much later period. If the twenty-fifth of April occur during Easter Week, the Procession takes place on that day (unless it be Easter Sunday) but the feast of the Evangelist is not kept till after the Octave.

The question naturally presents itself — why did Saint Gregory choose the twenty-fifth of April for a Procession and Station in which everything reminds us of compunction and penance, and which would seem so out of keeping with the joyous Season of Easter? The first to give a satisfactory answer to this difficulty was Canon Moretti, a learned Liturgiologist of [the eighteenth] century. In a dissertation of great erudition he proves that in the fifth, and probably even in the fourth, century, the twenty-fifth of April was observed at Rome as a day of great solemnity. The faithful went on that day to the Basilica of Saint Peter in order to celebrate the anniversary of the first entrance of the Prince of the Apostles into Rome, upon which he thus conferred the inalienable privilege of being the Capital of Christendom. It is from that day that we count the twenty-five years, two months and some days that Saint Peter reigned as Bishop of Rome. The Sacramentary of Saint Leo gives us the Mass of this Solemnity, which afterwards ceased to be kept. Saint Gregory, to whom we are mainly indebted for the arrangement of the Roman Liturgy, was anxious to perpetuate the memory of a day which gave to Rome her grandest glory. He, therefore, ordained that the Church of Saint Peter should be the Station of the Great Litany, which was always to be celebrated on that auspicious day. The twenty-fifth of April comes so frequently during the Octave of Easter that it could not be kept as a feast, properly so called, in honour of Saint Peter’s entrance into Rome. Saint Gregory, therefore, adopted the only means left of commemorating the great event.

But there was a striking contrast resulting from this institution, of which the holy Pontiff was fully aware, but which he could not avoid: it was the contrast between the joys of Paschal Time, and the penitential sentiments with which the faithful should assist at the Procession and Station of the Great Litany. Laden as we are with the manifold graces of this holy Season and elated with our Paschal joys, we must sober our gladness by reflecting on the motives which led the Church to cast this hour of shadow over our Easter sunshine. After all, we are sinners, with much to be sorry for, and much to fear. We have to avert those scourges which are due to the crimes of mankind. We have, by humbling ourselves and invoking the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints, to obtain the health of our bodies and the preservation of the fruits of the Earth. We have to offer atonement to Divine justice for our own and the world’s pride, sinful indulgences and insubordination. Let us enter into ourselves, and humbly confess that our own share in exciting God’s indignation is great. And our poor prayers, united with those of our holy Mother the Church, will obtain mercy for the guilty, and for ourselves who are of the number.

A day, then, like this, of reparation to God’s offended Majesty, would naturally suggest the necessity of joining some exterior penance to the interior dispositions of contrition which filled the hearts of Christians. Abstinence from flesh meat has always been observed on this day at Rome, and when the Roman Liturgy was established in France by Pepin and Charlemagne, the Great Litany of the twenty-fifth of April was, of course, celebrated and the abstinence kept by the faithful of that country. A Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 836 enjoined the additional obligation of resting from servile work on this day: the same enactment is found in the Capitularia of Charles the Bald. As regards Fasting — properly so called — being contrary to the spirit of Paschal Time, it would seem never to have been observed on this day, at least not generally. Amalarius, who lived in the ninth cntury, asserts that it was not then practised even in Rome.

During the Procession, the Litany of the Saints is sung, followed by several Versicles and Prayers. The Mass of the Station is celebrated in the Lenten Rite, that is, without the Gloria in excelsis, and in purple vestments. We have inserted the Litany of the Saints in the following volume, for the Rogation Days.

We take this opportunity of protesting against the negligence of Christians on this subject. Even persons who have the reputation of being spiritual, think nothing of being absent from the Litanies said on Saint Mark’s and the Rogation Days. One would have thought that when the Holy See took from these Days the obligation of Abstinence, the faithful would be so much the more earnest to join in the duty still left — the duty of Prayer. The people’s presence at the Litanies is taken for granted and it is simply absurd that a religious rite of public reparation should be one from which almost all should keep away. We suppose that these Christians will acknowledge the importance of the petitions made in the Litanies, but God is not obliged to hear them in favour of such as ought to make them and yet do not. This is one of the many instances which might be brought forward of the strange delusions into which private and isolated devotion are apt to degenerate. When Saint Charles Borromeo first took possession of his See of Milan, he found this negligence among his people, and that they left the clergy to go through the Litanies of the twenty-fifth of April by themselves. He assisted at them himself, and walked bare-footed in the Procession. The people soon followed the sainted Pastor’s example.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Syracuse, the holy martyrs Evodius, Hermogenes and Callistus.

At Antioch, St. Stephen, bishop and martyr, who suffered much from the heretics opposed to the Council of Chalcedon and was precipitated into the river Orontes in the time of the emperor Zeno.

In the same city, the Saints Philo and Agathopodes, deacons.

At Alexandria, the bishop St. Anian, a disciple of the Evangelist St. Mark, and his successor in the episcopate. With a great renown for virtue, he rested in the Lord.

At Lobbes, the birthday of St. Erminus, bishop and confessor.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

25 APRIL – SAINT MARK (Evangelist)

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Cycle of holy mother Church brings before us today the Lion, who, together with the Man, the Ox and the Eagle, stands before the Throne of God (Ezechiel i. 10). It was on this day that Mark ascended from Earth to Heaven, radiant with his triple aureola of Evangelist, Apostle and Martyr.

As the preaching made to Israel had its four great representatives Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel, so likewise would God have the New Covenant to be embodied in the four Gospels which were to make known to the world the life and teachings of His divine Son. The Holy Fathers tell us that the Gospels are like the four streams which watered the Garden of pleasure (Genesis ii. 10) and that this Garden was a figure of the future Church. The first of the Evangelists — the first to register the actions and words of our Redeemer — is Matthew, whose star will rise in September. The second is Mark, whose brightness gladdens us today. The third is Luke, whose rays will shine upon us in October. The fourth is John, whom we have already seen in Bethlehem at the crib of our Emmanuel.

Mark was the beloved disciple of Peter. He was the brilliant satellite of the Sun of the Church. He wrote his Gospel at Rome under the eyes of the Prince of the Apostles. The Church was already in possession of the history given by Matthew, but the faithful of Rome wished their own Apostle to narrate what he had witnessed. Peter refused to write it himself, but he bade his disciple take up his pen, and the Holy Ghost guided the hand of the new Evangelist. Mark follows the account given by Matthew. He abridges it, and yet he occasionally adds a word or an incident which plainly prove to us that Peter, who had seen and heard all, was his living and venerated authority. One would have almost expected that the new Evangelist would pass over in silence the history of his master’s fall, or, at least, have said as little as possible about it, but no — the Gospel written by Mark is more detailed on Peter’s denial than is that of Matthew. And as we read it we cannot help feeling that the tears elicited by Jesus’ look when in the house of Caiphas were flowing down the Apostle’s cheeks, as he described the sad event. Mark’s work being finished, Peter examined it and gave it his sanction. The several Churches joyfully received this second account of the mysteries of the world’s redemption, and the name of Mark was made known throughout the whole Earth.

Matthew begins his Gospel with the human genealogy of the Son of God, and has thus realised the prophetic type of the Man. Mark fulfils that of the Lion, for he commences with the preaching of John the Baptist, whose office as precursor of the Messiah had been foretold by Isaias where he spoke of the Voice of one crying in the wilderness — as the Lion that makes the desert echo with his roar. Mark having written his Gospel, was next to labour as an Apostle. Peter sent him first to Aquileia, where he founded an important Church: but this was not enough for an Evangelist. When the time designed by God came and Egypt — the source of countless errors — was to receive the truth, and the haughty and noisy Alexandria was to be raised to the dignity of the second Church of Christendom — the second See of Peter — Mark was sent by his master to effect this great work. By his preaching the word of salvation took root, grew up and produced fruit in that most infidel of nations. And the authority of Peter was thus marked, though in different degrees, in the three great Cities of the Empire: Rome, Alexandria and Antioch.

Saint Mark may be called the first founder of the monastic life by his instituting, in Alexandria itself, what were called the Therapeutes. To him, also, may be justly attributed, the origin of that celebrated Christian school of Alexandria, which was so flourishing even in the second century. But glorious as were these works of Peter’s disciple, the Evangelist and Apostle Mark was also to receive the dignity of martyr. The success of his preaching excited against him the fury of the idolators. They were keeping a feast in honour of Serapis, and this gave them an opportunity which they were not likely to lose. They seized Mark, treated him most cruelly and cast him into prison. It was there that our Risen Lord appeared to him during the night and addressed him in these words, which afterwards formed the Arms of the Republic of Venice: “Peace be to you, Mark, my Evangelist!” To which the disciple answered “Lord,” for such were his feelings of delight and gratitude that he could say but that one word as it was with Magdalene when she saw Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection. On the following day Mark was put to death by the pagans. He had fulfilled his mission on Earth and Heaven opened to receive the Lion who was to occupy near the throne of the Ancient of days the place allotted to him as shown to the Prophet of Patmos in his sublime vision (Apocalypse iv.).

In the ninth century the West was enriched with the relics of Saint Mark. They were taken to Venice, and under the protection of the sacred Lion, there began for that city a long period of glory. Faith in so great a Patron achieved wonders, and from the midst of islets and lagoons there sprang into existence a city of beauty and power. Byzantine art raised up the imposing and gorgeous Church which was the palladium of the Queen of the Seas, and the new Republic stamped its coinage with the Lion of Saint Mark. Happy would it have been for Venice, had she persevered in her loyalty to Rome and in the ancient severity of her morals!

* * * * *

You, O Mark, are the mystic Lion which with the Man, the Ox and the Eagle are yoked to the chariot on which the King of kings pursues His triumphant course through the Earth. Ezechiel, the Prophet of the Ancient Testament, and John, the Prophet of the New Law, saw you standing near the Throne of Jehovah. How magnificent is your glory! You are the historian of the Word made Flesh, and you publish to all generations His claims to the love and adoration of mankind. The Church reveres your writings and bids us receive them as inspired by the Holy Ghost. It was you that on the glad Day of Easter announced to us the Resurrection of our Lord: pray for us, O holy Evangelist, that this divine Mystery may work its effects within us, and that our hearts, like your own, may be firm in their love of our Risen Jesus, that so we may faithfully follow Him in that New Life which He gave us by His Resurrection. Ask Him to give us His Peace, as He did to His Apostles when He showed Himself to them in the Cenacle, and as He did to yourself when He appeared to you in your prison. You were the beloved disciple of Peter. Rome was honoured by your presence: pray for the successor of Peter, your master. Pray for the Church of Rome against which the wildest storm is now venting its fury. Pray to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah: He seems to sleep, and yet we know that He has but to show Himself, and the victory is gained.

Apostle of Egypt, what has become of your flourishing Church of Alexandria, Peter’s second See, the hallowed scene of your martyrdom? Its very ruins have perished. The scorching blast of heresy made Egypt a waste, and God, in His anger, let loose upon her the torrent of Mahometanism. [Fourteen] centuries have passed since then, and she is still a slave to error and tyranny: is it to be thus with her till the coming of the Judge? May we not hope that the great movement now preparing may be the dawn of her conversion? Pray, we beseech you, for the countries you so zealously evangelised, but whose deserts are now the image of her loss of Faith. And can Venice be forgotten by you, her dearest Patron? Her glory is fallen, it may be forever, but her people still call themselves yours, as did the Venetians of old. Let her not swerve from the Faith. Bless her with prosperity.

25 APRIL – SATURDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Saturday brings us back to Mary. Let us again contemplate her prerogatives and yet, while so doing, let us still keep our thoughts on holy Church, which has been the subject of our meditations during this week. Let us today consider the relations existing between Mary and the Church: they will make us the better understand these two Mothers of mankind.

Before taking possession of the Church, which was to be proclaimed before all nations on the day of Pentecost, the Man-God made a worthy prelude to this kingly possession by uniting himself with Her, who is so deservedly styled the Mother and representative of the human race. This was Mary. Of the family of David, Abraham and Sem. Immaculate from the first moment of her existence, as were our First Parents when they came from their Creator’s hands, and destined for the grandest honour which could be conferred on a mere creature. Mary was, during her sojourn here on earth, the inheritance and co-operatrix of the Incarnate Word: she was the Mother of all the living (Genesis iii. 20). She, in her single person, was what the Church, collectively, has been from the day of its foundation. Her office of Mother of God surpasses all her other glories. Still, we must not overlook, but, on the contrary, admire and love them. Mary was the first creature that fully corresponded with the intentions which induced the Son of God to come down from Heaven. He found in her the most lively faith, the firmest hope and the most fervent love. Never had human nature, perfected by grace, offered to God an object so worthy of His acceptance. Before celebrating his union with the human race as its Shepherd, Jesus was the Shepherd of this single sheep whose merits and dignity surpass those of the rest of mankind, even supposing it to have been always, and in all things, faithful to its God.

Mary, therefore, represented the Christian Church, before it existed in itself. The Son of God found in her, not only a Mother, but the faithful worshipper of His Divinity from the first moment of His Incarnation. We saw on Holy Saturday how Mary’s faith withstood the test of Calvary and the tomb, and how this faith which never faltered kept alive on the earth the light which was never to be quenched, and which was soon to be confided to the collective Church whose mission was to win over all nations to the Divine Shepherd. It was not Jesus’ will that His Blessed Mother should exercise a visible and outward apostolate, save in a limited degree. Besides, He was not to leave her here till the end of time. But, just in the same way as from the day of His Ascension Hhe made his Church co-operate with Him in all that He does for His elect, so likewise did He will, during His mortal life, that Mary should have her share in all the works done by Him for our salvation. She, whose formal consent had been required before the Eternal Word took Flesh in her womb, was present, as we have already seen, at the foot of the Cross, in order that she, as a creature, might offer Him, who offered Himself as God, our Redeemer. The Mother’s sacrifice blended with that of the Son, and this raised her up to a degree of merit which the human mind could never calculate. Thus it is, though in a less perfect manner, the Church unites herself in unity of oblation with her Divine Spouse in the Sacrifice of the Altar. It was to be on the day of Pentecost that the Church’s maternity would be proclaimed to the world. Mary was invested with the office of Mother of men as Jesus was hanging upon His Cross. When His side was opened with the spear that the Church born from the Water and Blood of Redemption might come forth, Mary was there to receive into her arms this future mother, whom she had hitherto so fully represented.

In a few days we will behold Mary in the Cenacle. The Holy Ghost will enrich her with new gifts, and we will have to study her mission in the early Church. Let us close the considerations we have been making today by drawing a parallel between our two Mothers, who, though one is so far above the other in dignity, are nevertheless closely united to each other. Our heavenly Mother, who is also the Mother of Jesus, is ever assisting our earthly Mother, the Church, with heavenly aid. Mary exercises over her, in each of her existences — Militant, Suffering or Triumphant — an influence of power and love. She procures to the Church the victories she wins. She enables her to go through the tribulations and trials which beset her path. The children of one are children of the other. Both have a share in giving us spiritual birth —one, the “Mother of Divine Grace,” by her all-powerful prayers. The other, by the Word of God and Holy Baptism. If, when we depart this life, our admission to the beatific vision is to be retarded on account of our sins, and our souls are to descend to the abode of Purgatory, the suffrages of our earthly Mother will follow us and alleviate or shorten our sufferings. But our heavenly Mother will do still more for us during that period of expiation, so awful and yet so just. In heaven the elect are rejoiced at the sight of the Church Triumphant, though she be still Militant on earth, and who can describe the joy these happy children must feel at seeing the glory of the Mother that begot them in Christ? But with how much gladder ecstasy must not these same citizens of heaven gaze upon Mary, that other Mother of theirs, who was their Star on the stormy sea of life, who never ceased to watch over them with most loving care, who procured them countless aids to salvation, and who, when they entered heaven, received them into those same maternal arms, which heretofore carried the Divine Fruit of her womb — that First-Born (Luke ii. 7) whose Brothers and Joint-Heirs we are all called to be!

24 APRIL – SAINT FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN (Martyr)

Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen, a town of Swabia. His parents were of a respectable family called Rey. He was remarkable, even when a child, for his extraordinary gifts both of nature and grace. Blessed with talent of a high order and trained to virtue by an excellent education, he received at Friburg the well merited honours of Doctor in Philosophy and in Civil and Canon Law, at the same time that, in the school of Christ, he strove to attain the height of perfection by the assiduous practice of all virtues. Being requested to accompany several noblemen in their travels through various countries of Europe, he lost no opportunity of encouraging them, both by word and example, to lead a life of Christian piety. In these travels, he moreover mortified the desires of the flesh by frequent austerities. And such was the mastery he gained over himself, that in the midst of all the trouble and excitement, he was never seen to lose his temper in the slightest degree. He was a strenuous upholder of law and justice, and, after his return to Germany he acquired considerable reputation as an advocate. But finding that this profession was replete with danger, he resolved to enter on the path that would best lead him to eternal salvation. Thus enlightened by the divine call, he shortly afterwards asked to be admitted into the Seraphic Order among the Capuchin Friars Minors. His pious wish being granted, he, from the very commencement of his Noviciate, showed how thoroughly he despised the world and himself. And when with spiritual joy, he had offered to God the vows of solemn profession, his regular observance was such as to make him the admiration and a model to all around him.

He devoted himself to prayer and to sacred studies, as also to preaching, for which he had a special grace, and by which he not only converted Catholics from a life of wickedness to one of virtue, but he also drew heretics to a knowledge of the truth. He was appointed superior in several convents of his Order and fulfilled his office with admirable prudence, justice, meekness, discretion and humility. His zeal for strict poverty was so great that he would allow nothing to be in the convent which was not absolutely necessary. He practised severe fasting, watching and disciplines, out of holy hatred against himself, whereas his love towards others was that of a mother for her children. A contagious fever having broken out among the Austrian soldiers causing frightful mortality, he devoted his whole energies to untiring acts of charity in favour of the sick, whose sufferings were extreme. So admirable was he, both in advice and action, in settling disputes and relieving everyone in trouble or trial, that he won for himself the name of the Father of his country. He was extremely devout to the Virgin Mother of God and a zealous promoter of the Rosary. He besought of God, through the intercession of this Blessed Mother firstly, and then through that of all the Saints, that he might be allowed to shed his blood and lay down his life for the Catholic faith.

This ardent desire was increased by the daily and devout celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. And, at length, by the wonderful providence of God, this valiant soldier of Christ was placed at the head of the missions recently established among the Grisons by the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith. Fidelis undertook this arduous task with a ready and cheerful heart, and laboured in it with such earnestness that he converted many heretics to the true Faith and inspired the hope that the whole of that people would be reconciled to the Church and to Christ. He had the gift of prophecy and frequently predicted the calamities that were to befall the Grisons, as also his own death by the hands of the heretics. Being fully aware of the plot laid against him, he prepared himself for the combat, and on the twenty-fourth day of April in 1622, he repaired to the church of a place called Sevis. To there had the heretics, on the previous day, invited him to come and preach, pretending that they wished to be converted. While he was preaching, he was interrupted by their clamours. They rushed on him, cruelly struck and wounded him even to death. He suffered it with courage and joy, thus consecrating by his blood the first-fruits of the martyrs of the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith. His name was rendered illustrious by many miracles, especially at Coire and Weltkirchen, where his relics are kept and honoured with exceeding great veneration of the people.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Our Risen Lord would have around Him a bright phalanx of Martyrs. Its privileged members belong to the different centuries of the Church’s existence. Its ranks open today to give welcome to a brave combatant who won his palm, not in a contest with paganism — as those did whose feasts we have thus far kept — but in defending his mother, the Church, against her own rebellious children. They were heretics that slew this day’s Martyr, and the century that was honoured with his triumph was the seventeenth. Fidelis was worthy of his beautiful name. Neither difficulty nor menace could make him fail in his duty. During his whole life he had but the glory and service of his divine Lord in view. And when the time came for him to face the fatal danger, he did so calmly but fearlessly, as behoved a disciple of that Jesus who went forth to meet his enemies. Honour, then, be today to the brave son of Saint Francis! Truly is he worthy of his seraphic Patriarch who confronted the Saracens and was a Martyr in desire!

Protestantism was established and rooted by the shedding of torrents of blood. And yet Protestants count it as a great crime that, here and there, the children of the true Church made an armed resistance against them. The heresy of the sixteenth century was the cruel and untiring persecutor of men, whose only crime was their adhesion to the old Faith — the Faith that had civilised the world. The so-called Reformation proclaimed liberty in matters of religion and massacred Catholics who exercised this liberty and prayed and believed as their ancestors bad done for long ages before Luther and Calvin were born. A Catholic who gives heretics credit for sincerity when they talk about religious toleration proves that he knows nothing of either the past or the present. There is a fatal instinct in error which leads it to hate the Truth. And the True Church, by its unchangeableness, is a perpetual reproach to them that refuse to be her children. Heresy starts with an attempt to annihilate them that remain faithful. When it has grown tired of open persecution, it vents its spleen in insults and calumnies. And when these do not produce the desired effect, hypocrisy comes in with its assurances of friendly forbearance. The history of Protestant Europe, during the last [five] centuries, confirms these statements. It also justifies us in honouring those courageous servants of God who, during that same period, have died for the ancient Faith.

* * * * *

How truly could you, O Fidelis, say with the Apostle: “I have finished my course!” (2 Timothy iv. 7). Yes, your death was even more beautiful than your life, holy as that was. How admirable the calmness with which you received death! How grand the joy with which you welcomed the blows of your enemies — yours, because they were those of the Church! Your dying prayer, like Stephen’s, was for them, for the Catholic, while he hates heresy, must love the heretics who put him to death. Pray, O holy Martyr, for the children of the Church. Obtain for them an appreciation of the value of Faith, and of the favour of God bestowed on them when He made them members of the true Church. May they be on their guard against the many false doctrines which are now current through the world. May they not be shaken by the scandals which abound in this our age of effeminacy and pride. It is Faith that is to bring us to our Risen Jesus, and He urges us to it by the words He addressed to Thomas: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed” (John xx. 29). Of this number we wish to be, and therefore is it that we cling to the Church, the sovereign mistress of Faith. We wish to believe her, and not Human Reason, which has neither the power to fathom the Word of God, nor the right to sit in judgement over it. Jesus has willed that this holy Faith should come down to us bearing on itself the strengthening testimony of the martyrs, and each age has had its martyrs. Glory to you, Fidelis, who won your palm by combating the errors of the pretended Reformation! Take a martyr’s revenge and pray without ceasing to our Jesus that He would bring all heretics back to the Faith and to union with the Church. They are our brethren by Baptism. Pray for them that they may return to the Fold, and that we may one day celebrate with them the true Paschal Banquet in which the Lamb of God gives Himself to be our food, not figuratively, as in the Old Law, but really and truly, as becomes the New Covenant.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Sabas, a military officer, who bravely confessed Christ before the judge when he was accused of visiting the Christians in prison. For this he was burned with torches and thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch out of which he came uninjured. Seventy men were converted to Christ at the sight of this miracle, and as they all remained unshaken in the confession of the faith, they were put to the sword. Sabas, however, terminated his martyrdom by being cast into the river.

At Lyons, in France, during the persecution of Verus, the birthday of St. Alexander, martyr. After being imprisoned, he was so lacerated by the cruelty of those who scourged him that his ribs and the interior of his body were exposed to view. Then he was fastened to the gibbet of the cross, on which he yielded up his blessed soul. Thirty four others who suffered with him are commemorated on other days.

The same day, during the persecution of Diocletian, the holy martyrs Eusebius, Neon, Leontius, Longinus and four others, were slain with the sword after enduring great torments.

In England, the demise of St. Mellitus, bishop. Being sent there by St. Gregory, he converted to the faith the East Saxons and their king.

At Elvira in Spain, St. Gregory, bishop and confessor.

At Brescia, St. Honorius, bishop.

In Ireland, St. Egbert, priest and monk, a man of admirable humility and continence.

At Rheims, the holy virgins Bona and Doda.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

24 APRIL – FRIDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Church of Jesus that was promised by Him to the Earth during the days of His mortal life, that earnest forth from His sacred Side when wounded by the spear on the Cross, that was organised and perfected by Him during the last days of His sojourn here below— we lovingly greet you as our Mother. You are the Spouse of our Redeemer, and it is through you that we were born to Him. It is you that gave us life by Baptism. It is you that gives us the Word which enlightens us. It is you that ministers to us the helps by which we are led through our earthly pilgrimage to Heaven. It is you that governs us in the spiritual order by your holy ordinances. Under your maternal care, we are safe. We have nothing to fear. What can error do against us? You are the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy iii. 15).

What effect can the revolutions of our earthly habitation have upon us? We know, that if everything else should fail us, you will ever be with us. It was during these very days which precede the Ascension that our Lord Jesus said to his Apostles, and through them, to their successors: “Behold! I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew xxviii. 20). What a promise of duration was not this! If we consult the history of these last [two thousand] years, it will tell us that this promise has never once been broken. The gates of Hell have risen up against you innumerable times, but they have never prevailed against you, no, not for one single moment! And thus it is, Church, that being founded on Christ your Spouse, you give us a share in your own divine immutability! Established as we are in you there is not a truth which the eye of our faith cannot see. There is not a blessing which, despite our weakness, we may not make our own. There is no object shown us by hope, which we may not attain. You hold us in your arms, and from the height to which you raise us, we see the mysteries of time and the secrets of eternity. Our eye admiringly follows you, whether we consider you as Militant on earth, Suffering in your dear ones who are in the temporary state of expiation, or Triumphant in Heaven. You are with us in our exile, and already are you, in millions of your children, heiress of the eternal kingdom. Keep us near us, nay, within you, O you our Mother, who are the beloved Spouse of our Lord! To whom shall we go but to you? Is it not to you, and to you alone, that He has entrusted the words of eternal life?

How much they are to be pitied, O Church, who do not know you! And yet, if they are seeking God with all their heart they will one day know you. How much they are to be pitied, who once knew you, and afterwards, in their pride and ingratitude, denied you! And yet, no one ever fell into such misery unless he first voluntarily shut his eyes against the light that was within him. How much they are to be pitied who know you and still live enjoying what you give your children, and who yet take side with your enemies in insulting and betraying you! They are men whose character is shallowness of mind. They speak their opinions as though they were oracles. They have contracted the flippant effrontery of our age, and to hear them speak of you one would suppose that they look on you as a human institution which they may approve or blame according to their humour. Instead of revering whatever you have taught regarding yourself and your rights, instead of revering what you have ordained, regulated and practised, these Catholics, whose sympathies are all with your enemies, would have you conform your teachings and conduct with the so-called Progress of the times. The whole world is given to you as your inheritance, and yet these insolent children would have you be content with what they think proper to assign to you. You, the Mother of mankind, must be under their wise care! It is from them, you must, henceforth, learn how best to fulfil your mission! Godless men, adorers of what they called the rights of man, dared, a century back, to expel you from political life which up till then you had kept in harmony with its Divine Master. These men have left disciples who would have you withdraw from everything that regards the outward world, and look on as a mere stranger. You must no longer exercise the rights given you by the Son of God over both soul and body. This royalty of yours is out of date, and you must be satisfied to enjoy the liberty which in virtue of the law of Progress, is granted alike to error and to truth. The wise and powerful ones of this world are discussing the question of dethroning, now after a thousand years’ reign, the Vicar of your Spouse, and instead of resenting such a project with holy indignation as tending to the destruction of the last bulwark of Christendom, there are many among us who approve of it, and this on principles which are, it is true, in favour with rationalistic politicians, but which are formally condemned by your teachings, your acts, nay, by your very existence. How short sighted are such Catholics as these who hope to make you acceptable to the world by giving you the semblance of a human institution! The world is too shrewd: it knows you to be essentially supernatural, and this is what it can never tolerate.

Wiser and more Christian by far are they, who detesting such profane theories, have, like devoted Machabees, drawn the sword against your enemies, Church of Christ! And even in an age like this, when faith has grown weak, have so well understood their Christian duty as to die in your defence and, by so dying, to win the crown of martyrdom. Yes, it is our duty to confess you: to disguise you, is to belie you. You are one of the articles of our Creed: “I believe in the holy Catholic Church.” You have been known these [two thousand] years, and will men now pretend that you must conform to the world’s capricious views? This cannot be. Jesus made you be like Himself, a sign of contradiction (Luke ii. 34), and as such we must receive you. We must listen to your protestations against false principles and practices, and not attempt to remodel you. Only God has power to give His Church a form other than that He has already given her.

Blessed are they who share your lot, dear Church of our Redeemer! In these un-Christian times you are unpopular. You were so in ages long gone by when men could not become your children, save at the risk of being despised. It is the same now, and we are resolved to espouse your cause. We confess you to be our Mother, inaccessible to the changes of this world. Whether honoured or persecuted, you continue your mission here below. Thus will it be until the time comes when this earth, which was created to be your kingdom, will see you ascend to Heaven and flee from a world which will deserve the severest chastisements of God’s anger, because of its having despised and rejected you.

23 APRIL – SAINT GEORGE (Martyr)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Clad in his bright coat of mail, mounted on his warsteed and spearing the dragon with his lance — George, the intrepid champion of our Risen Jesus, comes gladdening us today with his feast. From the East where he is known as The great Martyr, devotion to Saint George soon spread in the Western Church, and our Christian armies have always loved and honoured him as one of their dearest Patrons. His martyrdom took place in Paschal Time and thus he stands before us as the Guardian of the glorious Sepulchre, just as Stephen, the Proto-martyr, watches near the crib of the Infant God.

The Roman Liturgy gives no Lessons on the life of Saint George, but in their stead reads to us a passage from Saint Cyprian on the sufferings of the Martyrs. This derogation from the general rule dates from the fifth century. At a celebrated Council held in Rome in 490, Pope Saint Gelasius drew up, for the guidance of the Faithful, a list of books which might or might not be read without danger. Among the number of those that were to be avoided he mentioned the “Acts of Saint George” as having been compiled by one, who besides being an ignorant man, was also a heretic. In the East, however, there were other “Acts” of the holy Martyr, totally different from those current in Rome, but they were not known in that City. The cultus of Saint George lost nothing, in the Holy City by this absence of a true Legend. From a very early period a church was built in his honour. It was one of those that were selected as Stations, and gave a Title to a Cardinal. It exists to this day, and is called Saint George in Velabro (the Veil of Gold). Still the Liturgy of today’s feast, by the exclusion of the Saint’s Life from the Office, perpetuates the remembrance of the severe Canon of Gelasius.

The Bollandists were in possession of several copies of the forbidden “Acts.” They found them replete with absurd stories, and, of course, they rejected them. Father Papebroke has given us other and genuine “Acts” written in Greek and quoted by Saint Andrew of Crete. They bring out the admirable character of our martyr who held an important post in the Roman army during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. He was one of the first victims of the Great Persecution, and suffered death at Nicomedia. Alexandra, the Emperor’s wife, was so impressed at witnessing the Saint’s courage that she professed herself a Christian and shared the crown of martyrdom with the brave soldier of Christ.

As we have already said, devotion to Saint George dates from a very early period. Saint Gregory of Tours gives us several proofs of its having taken root in Gaul. Saint Clotilde had a singular confidence to the holy Martyr, and dedicated to him the Church of her dear Abbey of Chelles. But this devotion became more general and more fervent during the Crusades when the Christian armies witnessed the veneration in which Saint George was held by the Eastern Church, and heard the wonderful things that were told of his protection on the field of battle. The Byzantine historians have recorded several remarkable instances of the kind, and the Crusaders returned to their respective countries publishing their own experience of the victories gained through the Saint’s intercession. The Republic of Genoa chose him for its Patron, and Venice honoured him as its special Protector after Saint Mark. But nowhere was Saint George so enthusiastically loved as in England. Not only was it decreed in a Council held at Oxford in 1222 that the feast of the Great Martyr should be observed as one of Obligation, not only was devotion to the valiant Soldier of Christ encouraged throughout Great Britain by the first Norman Kings — but there are documents anterior to the invasion of William the Conqueror which prove that Saint George was invoked as the special Patron of England even so far back as the ninth century. Edward III did but express the sentiment of the country when he put the Order of the Garter, which he instituted in 1330, under the patronage of the Warrior Saint. In Germany, King Frederic III founded the Order of Saint George in 1468.

Saint George is usually represented as killing a Dragon. And where the representation is complete, there is also given the figure of a Princess whom the Saint thus saves from being devoured by the monster. This favourite subject of both sacred and profane Art is purely symbolical and is of Byzantine origin. It signifies the victory won over the devil by the Martyr’s courageous profession of faith. The Princess represents Alexandra who was converted by witnessing the Saint’s heroic patience under his sufferings. Neither the “Acts” of Saint George nor the Hymns of the Greek Liturgy allude to the Martyr having slain a Dragon and rescued a Princess. It was not till after the fourteenth century that this fable was known in the West, and it arose from the putting a material interpretation on the emblems wherewith the Greeks honoured Saint George, and which were introduced among us by the Crusaders.

* * * * *

You, George, are the glorious type of a Christian soldier. While serving under an earthly monarch you did not forget your duty to the King of Heaven. You shed your blood for the faith of Christ and He, in return, appointed you Protector of Christian armies. Be their defender in battle and bless with victory them that fight in a just cause. Protect them under the shadow of your standard. Cover them with your shield. Make them the terror of their enemies. Our Lord is the God of Hosts and He frequently uses war as the instrument of his designs, both of justice and mercy. They alone win true victory who have Heaven on their side, and these, when on the battlefield, seem to the world to be doing the work of man whereas it is the work of God they are furthering. Hence are they more generous, because more religious, than other men. The sacrifices they have to make, and the dangers they have to face, teach them unselfishness. What wonder, then, that soldiers have given so many Martyrs to the Church!

But there is another warfare in which we Christians are all enlisted, and of which Saint Paul speaks when he says: “Labour as a good soldier of Christ, for no man is crowned save he that strives lawfully” (2 Timothy ii. 5). That we have thus to strive and fight during our life the same Apostle assures us of it in these words: “Take to you the Armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the Breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the Shield of Faith, with which you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take to you the Helmet of the hope of salvation, and the Sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians vi. 13, 17). We, then, are soldiers, as you were, holy Martyr! Before ascending into Heaven our divine Leader wishes to review His troops. Present us to Him. He has loaded us with honours notwithstanding our past disloyalties. We must, henceforth, prove ourselves worthy of our position. In the Paschal Communion which we have received we have a pledge of victory. How can we ever be so base as to permit ourselves to be conquered? Watch over us, O sainted warrior! Let your prayers and example encourage us to fight against the dragon of Hell. He dreads the armour we wear, for it is Jesus Himself that prepared it for us, and tempered it in His own Precious Blood: oh that like you we may present it to Him whole and entire when He calls us to our eternal rest.

There was a time when the whole Christian world loved and honoured your memory with enthusiastic joy. But now, alas, this devotion has grown cold, and your feast passes by unnoticed by thousands. O holy Martyr, avenge this ingratitude by imitating your Divine King who makes His sun to rise on both good and bad. Take pity on this world, perverted as it is by false doctrines, and tormented at this very time by the most terrible scourges. Have compassion on your dear England which has been seduced by the Dragon of Hell, and by him made the instrument for effecting his plots against the Lord and His Christ. Take up your spear as of old. Give the Monster battle and emancipate the Isle of Saints from his slavish yoke. Heaven and Earth join in this great prayer. In the name of our Risen Jesus, aid your own and once devoted people to a glorious resurrection!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Valence in France, the holy martyrs Felix, priest, Fortunatus and Achilleus, deacons, who were sent there to preach the word of God by blessed Irenseus, bishop of Lyons, and converted the greater portion of that city to the faith of Christ. These martyrs were cast into prison by the commander Cornelius, were a long time scourged, had their legs crushed, were bound to wheels in motion, and stifled with smoke while stretched on the rack, and finally died by the sword.

In Prussia, the birthday of St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague, and martyr, who preached the Gospel to the Poles and Hungarians.

At Milan, St. Marolus, bishop and confessor.

At Toul in France, St. Gerard, bishop of that city.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

23 APRIL – THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

This Church, founded and maintained by Christ, is it nothing more than a society of minds that know, and of hearts that love, the truths revealed to it by heaven? Have we adequately defined it when we call it “a spiritual society”? No, most assuredly, for we are told that it was to spread, and actually has been spread, throughout the whole world. Now, how could such progress and conquest have taken place if the spiritual society founded by our Redeemer had not also been exterior and visible? On earth souls cannot hold inter-communication without the bodies. “Faith comes by hearing,” says the Apostle, “and how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans x. 17, 24).

When, therefore, our Risen Jesus says to His Apostles: “Go, teach all nations,” (Matthew xxviii. 19), He distinctly implies that the word of God will be heard, that it will resound throughout the world, and that its sound will be heard both by them that obey, and by them that reject, the teaching of his ministers. Has this word a right to circulate thus freely independently of any permission from earthly powers? Yes, for the Son of God has said: “Go, teach all nations!” He must be obeyed. The word of God cannot be fettered (2 Timothy ii. 9).

The word, then, the exterior word is free, and being free it obtains numerous disciples. Will these disciples live isolated? Will they not rather group around their apostle, the better to profit by his teaching? Will they not look on one another as brethren and members of the same family? And if so, they must hold their assemblies. Thus, the new people is brought before the notice of the world. It was necessary that this should be, for if this people which is to attract all others to itself be not visible, how can it do its work?

But the people thus assembled must have their buildings, their temples. Therefore do they erect houses of preaching and prayer. The stranger — that is, he who is not a Christian — seeing these new places of worship, asks: “What means all this? From where come these people who pray aloof from their fellow-citizens? Would not one be inclined to say, that we have a nation within the nation?” The stranger is right: there is a nation within the nation, and it will continue to be so until the whole nation itself have passed into the ranks of this new people.

Every society stands in need of laws. The Church therefore will not be long without giving outward proof of her internal government. There are her festivals, her solemnities, which denote a great people. Her ritual rules, forming a visible bond of union between the members of her society, and this not merely during the hours of divine service. There are commandments and orders made by the various degrees of the hierarchy, which are promulgated and claim obedience. There are institutions and corporations existing within the great society itself, and they add to her strength and beauty. In a word, there is everything that is needed, even penal laws against offending and refractory members.

But it does not suffice to the Church that she have places where her children can assemble together; provision must also be made for the support of her clergy, for the expenses attendant on the divine worship, for the necessities of her indigent members. Aided by the generosity of her children, she enters into possession of certain landed properties which become sacred by reason of their use, as also because of the superhuman dignity of her who owns them. Nay more, when the princes of this earth, tired of their vain efforts to stay the Church’s progress, will ask to be admitted as her children, a new necessity will arise from this: the supreme Pontiff can be no longer the subject of any temporal sovereign, and he himself must become King. The Christian world hails with joy this crowning of the work of Christ to whom all “power has been given in heaven and in earth,” (Matthew xxviii. 18) and who was one day to reign, with temporal power, in the person of his vicar.

Such is the Church: a spiritual, but, at the same time, an exterior and visible Society, just in the same way as man is spiritual because of his soul, and yet is material because of his body, which is an essential part of his being. The Christian, therefore, should love the Church such as God has made her: he should detest that false and hypocritical spiritualism which, with a view to subvert the work of Christ, would confine religion within the exclusively spiritual domain. We never can admit such a limitation. The Divine Word has assumed our flesh. He permitted His creature man to hear and see and handle Him, (John i. 1) and when He organised his Church on earth He made it speaking, visible and, so to say, palpable. We are a vast State. We have our King, our magistrates, our fellow-citizens, and we should be willing to lay down our lives for this supernatural country whose excellence is as far superior to that of our earthly country, as Heaven is better than the whole earth. Satan has an instinctive hatred for this country, which is to bring us to the Paradise from which he has been driven. He has used every means in his power to ruin it. He began by attacking the liberty of the word which is preached to men, and leads them to the Church. Did not his first agents forbid the Apostles to speak at all in the name of Jesus to any man? (Acts iv. 17, 18) The strategy was shrewd enough, and although it failed to arrest the progress of the Gospel, it has ever been resorted to by the enemy, even to this very day.

The powers of the world have always been jealous of the Christians assembling together. The jealousy began early, and has periodically manifested its fury during these [twenty] centuries. Frequently during a fit of persecution we have been obliged to flee to caves and forests, and seek the hours of night for our celebrations of the mysteries of light, and for our singing the praises of the Divine Sun of Justice. Our dearest churches, which had been erected by the piety of our ancestors, and were sacred by innumerable memories, how many times have they not been made ruins! Satan’s ambition is to efface every vestige of Christ’s kingdom on earth, for that kingdom is his defeat. The laws promulgated by the Church, and the communications of the pastors with one another and with the Sovereign Pontiff — these also have excited the most tyrannical jealousy. The right of self-government has been denied to the Church. Servile men have aided emperors and kings to fetter the Spouse of Christ. Her temporal possessions, too, have tempted the avarice of sovereigns. These possessions procured her independence. It was therefore considered necessary to rob her of them, that she might become the creature of the State. Wicked as the attempt was, and one which has brought the most terrible chastisements upon the countries where it was perpetrated, yet there is one more wicked still, which is even now being plotted, and aims at depriving of his Throne, venerable by its thousand years’ duration, the Pontiff who holds in his sacred hands the keys of the Kingdom of God. Meanwhile, the most detestable errors are being propagated. Among these we would mention one, which in spite of its impious absurdity, finds favour with thousands: we mean the doctrine that the Church should be purely spiritual, or, if it is to be a visible Church, that it should be an instrument in the hands of government for political purposes. Let us hold such doctrine in execration. Let us think of those countless martyrs who have shed their blood in order to the maintaining and securing to the Church of Christ her position as a society, visible, external, independent of every human power, in a word, complete in herself. It may be, that we are the last inheritors of the promise, and if so, it would be an additional reason for our proclaiming the rights of the Spouse of Christ, upon whom He has conferred the empire of the world, which only exists because of her, and will be destroyed as soon as it refuses her a resting place.

22 APRIL – WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

There is nothing on Earth so grand, nothing so exalted, as the Princes of the Church, the Pastors appointed by the Son of God who are to follow on, in unbroken succession, to the end of time. But let us not suppose that the subjects of this vast empire called the Church are devoid of dignity and greatness. The Christian People (in which both prince and beggar are equally subjects), is superior to every other, in intellectual and moral worth. It carries civilisation with it, wherever it goes, for it carries with it the true notion of God and of the supernatural end of man. Barbarism recedes. Pagan institutions, however ancient they may be, are forced to give way. Even Greece and Rome laid down their own to adopt the laws of the Christian Code — the Code which was based on the Gospel.

The Apostle Saint Peter, the universal Shepherd, into whose hands the Divine Shepherd placed the keys, thus describes the Flock entrusted to his care: “You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people, that you may declare his virtues, who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter ii. 9). So indeed it is. Divine truth is entrusted to this People, and its light can never be extinguished among them. When the teaching authority has, with its infallibility, to proclaim a solemn definition in doctrinal matters, it first appeals to the faith of the Christian People, and the sentence declares that to be the truth which has been believed “everywhere, always, and by all.” Amid the Christian People there exists that strangest phenomenon under Heaven, union of mind, by which there is one common faith amid nations the most opposite to each other in every other respect. Let them be as hostile to one another as you please — in matters of faith, in submission to their Pastors, they are all one and the same great family. The most admirable, at times the most heroic virtues are to be found amid this People, for Jesus has given it a large share of that element of holiness with which His grace has enriched human nature.

Observe, too, how affectionately it is protected and honoured by its Pastors. Every Pastor, no matter what may be his rank in the Church is bound in virtue of his office to lay down his life for his sheep, if called upon to do it. The sacrifice is not even counted as an act of heroism. It is a strict duty. Shame and curse upon the Pastor who flees through cowardice! The Redeemer stigmatises such an one with the name of Hireling. Hence it is that during these last [two thousand] years, there have been so many thousands of Pastors who have given their lives for their flocks. One or other of their names are to be found in every page of the Church’s history. The list is headed by Saint Peter who was crucified like His Divine Master. It continues down to the Bishops of Cochin-China, Tonkin, and the Korea, whose recent martyrdoms attest that the Pastor has not ceased to consider himself as a victim for his flock. Thus, before confiding His lambs and sheep to Peter, Jesus asks him if he have greater love than the rest. If Peter love his Master, he will love his Master’s lambs and sheep. He will love them even to the laying down his life for them. For this reason, after entrusting him with the care of the whole flock, our Saviour tells Peter that he is to die a martyr. Happy is that people whose rulers only exercise their authority on the condition of their being ready to die for these their Master’s sheep! If one of these should evince in his life the marks which denote sanctity, and this so far as to deserve to be proposed to the Faithful as a model and intercessor — you will see not only the Priest whose word calls down the Son of God upon the altar, not only the Bishop whose sacred hands wield the pastoral staff, but the very Vicar of Christ, humbly kneeling before the tomb or statue of the Servant of God, how poor or despised soever he or she may have been on this Earth.

The sacred Hierarchy testifies the same sentiments of respect for the sheep of Christ, on every occasion. Thus in a baptised babe that knows not how to utter a single word, that is not counted among the citizens of the State, that, like a tender flower, may perhaps have faded before the close of day — yet does the Pastor recognise in it a worthy member of the Body of Christ, the Church. He reverences it as a being that is enriched with gifts so sublime, as to be an object of Heaven’s love, and a source of blessing to all around it. When the Faithful are assembled in the House of God, and the sacred oblations and altar have been thurified, the Celebrant, as the representative of Christ, and any others of the Clergy who may be in the Sanctuary are also honoured with the same mysterious tribute of homage. But the Incense is to go beyond the Sanctuary. The Thurifer advances towards the People, and, in the name of the Church, gives them the same honour as that just given to the Pontiff and the Clergy, for the Faithful People are also members of Christ. Again: when the corpse of a Christian, even though he may have been the poorest of the poor, is carried into the House of God — observe what honour is paid to his mortal remains! On this occasion, also, the Incense is made to express the affectionate homage with which the Church honours the Christian character of her children. O Christian People! How truly may we say of you what Moses said of Israel: “There is no other nation so great as you!” (Deuteronomy iv. 7).

21 APRIL – SAINT ANSELM (Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

 

Anselm was born at Aosta, a town on the confines of Italy, of noble and Catholic parents, Gondolphe and Hermenberga. From his early childhood he gave great promise of future holiness and learning by his love of study and his longing after a life of perfection. The ardour of youth made him indulge for a while in worldly pleasures, but he speedily returned to his former virtuous life. And then, leaving his country and all that he possessed, he repaired to the Monastery of Bec, of the Order of Saint Benedict. There he made his religious profession under the Abbot Herluin, a most zealous lover of monastic discipline, and (Prior) Lanfranc, a man of great repute for learning. Such was the fervour of his piety, his application to study, and his desire to advance in virtue, that everyone held him in the highest veneration as a model of holiness and learning.

So mortified was he in eating and drinking, and so frequent were his fasts, that he seemed to have lost the sense of taste. He spent the day in the performance of monastic duties and in giving answers, both by word of mouth and by letters, to the several questions proposed to him concerning matters of religion. He passed a considerable portion of the time allotted to sleep in nourishing his soul with holy meditations, during which he shed abundant tears. Being made Prior of the Monastery, certain of his brethren were jealous at his promotion but he so far gained them over by charity, humility and prudence that their jealousy was changed into love both of their Prior and their God, to the great advantage of regular discipline.

At the death of the Abbot Anselm was chosen to succeed him, and reluctantly accepted the office. It was then that his reputation for learning and virtue began to spread far and wide, and secured him the respect of kings and bishops. Not only so, but even Gregory VII who, at that time, was suffering much from persecution, honoured him with his friendship and wrote to him letters full of affection begging of him to pray for him and the Church. At the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been his former master, Anselm was compelled, much against his own will, to accept the government of that See. William, king of England, the clergy and the people all urged him to it. He immediately set himself to reform the corrupt morals of the people.

By word and example, first, and then by his writings, and by the holding Councils, he succeeded in restoring ancient piety and ecclesiastical discipline. But it was not long before King William attempted, both by violence and threats, to interfere with the rights of the Church. Then did Anselm resist him with priestly courage, for which his property was confiscated and he himself banished from the country. He turned his steps towards Rome, where Pope Urban II received him with great marks of honour, and passed a high enconium upon him at the Council of Bari where Anselm proved against the Greeks, by innumerable quotations from the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers, that the Holy Ghost proceeds also from the Son.

After William’s death, Anselm was recalled to England by King Henry, William’s brother. Shortly after his return, he slept in the Lord. He was justly venerated on account of his miracles and his virtues. among which latter may be mentioned his great devotion to the Passion, and to the Holy Mother of Jesus. He moreover acquired a high reputation by his learning which he used in the defence of the Christian religion, and for the good of souls. He first set the example to those theologians who have followed the scholastic method in treating on the sacred sciences. The works he wrote prove that his wisdom was a gift bestowed on him by Heaven.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

A Monk, a Bishop, a Doctor of the Church — such was the Saint whose feast comes gladdening us on this twenty-first day of April. He was a Martyr, also, at least in desire, and we may add, in merit too, for he did enough to earn the glorious palm. When we think of Anselm, we picture to ourselves a man in whom are combined the humility and meekness of the cloister with the zeal and courage of the episcopal dignity: a man who was both a sage and a saint; a man whom it was impossible not to love and respect. He left his native country of Piedmont for the Monastery of Bec in France where he became a Benedictine monk. Being elected Superior, he realised in himself the type of an Abbot as drawn by Saint Benedict in his Rule: “He that is made Abbot,” says the holy Patriarch, “should study to give help rather than to give commands.” We read that the love entertained for Anselm by his brethren was beyond description. His whole time was devoted to them, either in giving them spiritual direction, or in communicating to them his own sublime knowledge of the sacred sciences. After governing them for several years, he was taken from them and compelled to accept the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a worthy successor of Augustine, Dunstan, Elphege and Lanfranc. And by his own noble example of courage he prepared the way for the glorious Martyr Thomas, who succeeded him in less than a century.

As Bishop, his whole life was spent in fighting for the Liberty of the Church. Though gentle as a lamb by nature he was all energy for this great cause. He used to say: “Christ would not have His Spouse be a slave. There is nothing in this world that God loves more than the Liberty of His Church.” There was a time when the Son of God allowed Himself to be fettered with bonds in order that He might loosen us from the chains of our sins, but now that He has risen in triumph from the dead, He wills that His Spouse should be, like Himself, free. She cannot otherwise exercise the ministry of salvation confided to her by her Divine Lord, and yet there is scarcely a single hundred years of her existence in which she has not had to fight for this holy Liberty. The rulers of this Earth, with a very few exceptions, have ever been jealous of her influence, and have sought to lessen it by every possible means. In our own times there are numbers of her children who do not even know that she has any rights or privileges. They would be at a loss to understand you if you told them that she is the Spouse of Christ, and therefore a Queen. They think it quite enough for her if she enjoy the same amount of Freedom and Toleration as the Sects she condemns, and they cannot see how, under such conditions as these, the Church is not the kingdom He wished her to be, but a mere slave. Saint Anselm would have abominated all such theories as these. So does every true Catholic. He is not driven into disloyalty to the Church by the high-sounding words Progress and Modern Society. He knows that there is nothing on Earth equal to the Church. And when he sees the world convulsed by revolutions he knows that all comes from the Church having been deprived of her rights. One of these is that she should not only be recognised in the secret of our conscience as the one only true Church, but that, as such, she should be publicly confessed and outwardly defended against every opposition or error. Jesus, her Divine Founder, promised to give her all nations as her inheritance. He kept his promise, and she was once the Queen and Mother of them all. But nowadays a new principle has been asserted, to the effect that the Church and all Sects must be on an equal footing as far as the protection of the State goes. The principle has been received with acclamation and hailed as a mighty Progress achieved by modern enlightenment. Even Catholics, whose previous services to religion had endeared them to our hearts and gained our confidence, have become warm defenders of the impious theory.

Trying as were the times when Saint Anselm governed the See of Canterbury, they were spared the humiliation of producing and ratifying such doctrine as this. The tyrannical interference of the Norman Kings was an evil far less injurious than the modern system which is subversive of the very idea of a Church. Open persecution would be a boon compared to the fashionable error of which we are speaking. A winter torrent brings desolation in its track, but in the summer when the flood is over nature brings back her verdure and flowers. The errors which now prevail are like a great sea that gradually sweeps over the whole Earth. And when the Church can find no spot whereon to rest, she will take her flight to Heaven, and men must expect the speedy Coming of the Judge.

Anselm was not only the zealous and heroic defender of the rights and privileges of the Church. He was also a light to men by his learning. The contemplation of revealed truths was his delight. He studied them in their bearings one upon the other, and his writings occupy a distinguished place in the treatises of Catholic Theology. God had blessed him with extraordinary talent. Amid all the troubles and anxieties and occupations of his various duties, he found time for study. Even when passing from place to place as an exile he was intent on the meditation of the Mysteries of Religion, thus preparing those sublime reflections which he has left us on the Articles of our Faith.

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O holy Pontiff Anselm! Beloved of God and men! The Church whose cause you so zealously defended on Earth celebrates, this day, your praise, and honours you as one of her dearest Saints. Your meekness, condescension and charity gave you a resemblance to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Like Him, you could truly say: “I know my sheep, and my sheep know me” (John x. 14). You watched over them day and night, lest the wolf should come and find them unprotected. Far from fleeing at his approach, you went forth to meet him, and nothing could induce you to yield to his sacrilegious tyranny. Heroic Champion of the Church’s Liberty! Protect it in these our days when there is not a country left where it is not insulted or ignored. Raise up in every place Pastors with a spirit of holy independence such as you had, that thus the faithful may take courage, and that every Christian may boldly and proudly confess that he himself is a member of the Church, and that the interests of this our spiritual Mother are far more deserving of our solicitude than those of the whole world besides.

God had gifted you, Anselm, with that Christian philosophy which bows down to the teachings of Faith, and which, being thus purified by humility, is elevated to the intelligence of the sublimest truths. The Church, in acknowledgement of the benefits she derived from your learning has conferred on you the title of Doctor, which for a long time was confined to those great men who lived in the early Christian Ages, and whose writings are the reflex of the preaching of the Apostles. Your teaching has been deemed worthy of being numbered with that of the ancient Fathers, for it came from the same Divine Spirit, and was the result of prayer rather than of study. Obtain for us, holy Doctor, that “our faith,” like yours, “may seek understanding.” Nowadays there are many who blaspheme what they know not (Jude 10), but there are many also who know little or nothing of what they believe. Hence, a deplorable confusion of ideas, compromises made between truth and error, and the only true doctrines despised, scouted, or, at least, undefended. Pray to our heavenly Father, Anselm, that He would bless the world with holy and learned men who may teach the path of truth, and dispel the mists of error, that thus the children of the Church may not be led astray.

Look down with affection, O holy Pontiff, on the venerable Order which, when God called you from the vanities of the world, received you, made you one of her children, gave your soul its life, and to your mind the light of wisdom. She claims thy protection. You are a son of the great Patriarch Benedict. Forget not your brethren. Bless them in France, where you first embraced the monastic life. Bless them in England, where you were Primate, and yet still the humble monk. Pray for the two countries, for both are dear to you. Faith is weak in one, and heresy reigns supreme in the other. Beseech our Lord to show His mercy to both: He is all-powerful and He turns not a deaf ear to the prayers of His Saints. If, in His justice, He has decreed not to restore to these two countries their ancient Catholic Constitution, pray that at least the number of souls saved may be great, that conversions may be frequent, and that the labourers sent at the eleventh hour to the Vineyard may emulate the zeal of them that were the first called!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Persia, the birthday of St. Simeon, bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. He was arrested by order of Sapor, king of Persia, loaded with irons and presented to the iniquitous tribunals. As he refused to adore the sun and openly and courageously bore testimony to Jesus Christ, he was confined a long time in a dungeon with one hundred other confessors, among whom were bishops, priests and clerics of various ranks. Afterwards Usthazanes, the king’s foster-father, who had been converted from apostasy by Simeon, endured martyrdom with great constancy. The day after, which was the anniversary of Our Lord’s Passion, the companions of Simeon whom he had feelingly exhorted were beheaded before his eyes, after which he met the same fate. With him suffered also several distinguished men: Abdechalas and Ananias, his priests, with Pusicius, the chief of the royal artificers. This last having encouraged Ananias, who seemed to falter, died a cruel death, having his tongue drawn out through a perforation made in his neck. After him, his daughter who was a consecrated virgin was put to death.

At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Arator, priest, Fortunatus, Felix, Silvius and Vitalis who died in prison.

Also the Saints Apollo, Isacius and Crotates who suffered under Diocletian.

At Antioch, St. Anastasius Sinaita, bishop.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

21 APRIL – TUESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Church which our Risen Jesus is organising during these days, and which is to be spread throughout the whole world, is a true and complete society. It must, consequently, have within it a power to govern, and be able, by the obedience of its subjects, to maintain order and peace. As we have already seen, our Saviour supplied this want by establishing a Shepherd of both sheep and lambs, a Vicar of His own divine authority. Yet Peter, after all, is but a man and however sublime his authority, he cannot exercise it directly and personally over each member of the flock. The new society, has need therefore, of magistrates of a lower rank, who, as Bossuet so well expresses it, “are to be sheep with regard to Peter, and Shepherds with regard to the people.”

Jesus has provided for everything. He has chosen twelve men whom He calls His Apostles, and to them He is about to entrust the magistracy of His Church. By His having made Peter the head, and, as it were, His second self, He does not intend the rest of the Twelve to have no share in the great work He has come from heaven to achieve. Far from this, He destines them to be the pillars of the building of which He has already made Peter the foundation.

They are Twelve in number, as heretofore were the children of Jacob, for the ancient people was in everything a figure of the new. Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus gives them power to teach in every part of the world, and appoints them Pastors of the Faithful in every place wherever they may happen to be. They are all on an equality, save with regard to Peter, and the very fact of these wonderful depositories of Christ’s power being subject to Peter, is one of the clearest indications of the extraordinary authority committed to him by our Lord.

This unlimited delegation of pastoral power given to all the Twelve was intended as a means of the solemn promulgation of the Gospel, but it was to cease at their deaths save in the case of Peter, for his successor was alone to enjoy the apostolic power in its fullest extent. With this one exception, no lawful Pastor has ever been allowed to exercise an unlimited territorial authority. And yet, by creating the College of the Apostles, our Redeemer founded that sacred and venerable dignity which we call the Episcopacy. Although Bishops have not inherited either the universal jurisdiction, or the personal infallibility in teaching, of the Apostles, yet do they really hold, in the Church, the place of the Apostles.

Jesus puts into their hands, through the ministry of Peter’s successor, the keys of spiritual power, and these they use, that is, they therewith open and shut, throughout the whole extent of the territory placed under their jurisdiction. How magnificent is this Episcopal magistracy! See those thrones, on which are seated the Pontiffs of the whole Christian world! Leaning on their pastoral staff — the symbol of their power — they govern their respective flocks. Go where you will, you will find the Church, and a Bishop busily engaged in governing the flock entrusted to his charge. And when you reflect that all these Pastors are Brethren, that they all govern their flocks in the name of the same common Lord, and that all are united in obedience to one head, you will understand how the Church in which is exercised such an authority as this has everything that constitutes a complete society.

Under the Bishops, we find other subordinate magistrates in the Church. The reason of their being appointed is self-evident. Placed over a territory of greater or less extent, the Bishop stands in need of co-operators, who may represent his authority and exercise it in his name and under his orders, wherever he himself cannot personally do so. These are Priests, who have the care of souls. They correspond to the seventy-two Disciples chosen by our Saviour, and from whose number He selected the Twelve Apostles. Thus is completed the government of the Church. By means of this Hierarchy, everything works in the most admirable harmony: authority is derived from the one supreme Head, thence it flows to the Bishops, and these delegate it to the lower ranks of the Clergy.

We are now at the very season of the year when the spiritual jurisdiction which Jesus had promised to communicate to men, emanates from His own divine power. He thus solemnly confers it: “All power is given to one in heaven and in earth: going, therefore, teach all nations” (Matthew xxviii.18, 19). He communicates a portion of His own power to the Pastors of His Church: it is an emanation of His own authority in Heaven and on earth: and that we may have no doubts as to the source whence it flows, He says to them during these his last days on earth: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” (John xx. 21).

So that the Father has sent the Son, and the Son sends the Pastors of the Church: nor will this mission ever be interrupted, so long as the world lasts. Peter will ever institute the Bishops. The Bishops will ever delegate a portion of their own authority to the Priests who have the charge of souls. No human power will ever be able to intercept this transmission, or have power to set up as Pastors them that have not partaken of it. Caesar (we mean, mere temporal sovereignty), will govern the State, but he will not have power to create a single Pastor, for Caesar has no share in the sacred Hierarchy out of which the Church recognises but subjects. He may command, as King or Emperor, in temporal matters, but he must obey, and as submissively as the last and poorest of the Faithful, the Pastor who has to govern him in what regards his soul. There will be times when Caesar will be jealous of this superhuman power. He will strive to intercept it, but it will elude his grasp, for it is a purely spiritual power. At other times, he will despise and persecute them that are invested with this power. Nay, he will occasionally attempt to exercise it himself, but his efforts will be as vain as they will be wicked, for this power, which emanates from Christ, cannot be confiscated nor interrupted. It is the salvation of the world, and, on the Last Day the Church will have to restore it intact to Him who deigned to entrust it to her before ascending to His Father.