“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 fatherland. Blessed crowd! already secure of their own eternal happiness, 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 Saint Cyprian’s beautiful book, On Mortality, are used by the Church in her second Nocturn, and in the third she gives us the strong language of Saint Augustine, consoling the faithful, who are obliged still to remain in exile, by 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 Christian’s glory, the invisible beauty which wins for his soul the good pleasure of God, and procures him a great reward in Heaven.
“He that hurts, 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. 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” (Apocalypse xxii. 11‒13). Patience, then, Christians. Patience, all who are now despised, for time is short. The fashion of this world passes away! (1 Corinthians vii. 29‒31). 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, will take vengeance on Satan their leader, their lot will be the indignant sentence heard by the Prophet of Patmos: “Without are dogs, murderers, every one that loves and makes a lie” (Apocalypse xxii. 15). 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 a Heaven 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 will see God, and where, seated at the right hand of the Father in the Person of Jesus Christ, our glorified human nature will enjoy for ever the honours of a bride.
Let us go in spirit to Rome, and direct our steps towards the ancient church on the Coelian Hill which bears the name of the Four crowned Martyrs. There are few Saints whose Acts have been more disparaged by a superficial criticism ignorant of “archaeological science,” such as that of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. But now “the history and traditions relating to the august monument on the Coelian 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 medieval 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 (see below), who like the former preferred death to infidelity, and now share the glory of their tomb.On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
The Octave of All Saints.
At Rome, on the Via Labicana, three miles from the city, the martyrdom of the Saints Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorian, Castorius and Simplicius, who were first sent to prison, then scourged with whips set with metal, and as they could not be made to forsake the faith of Christ, Diocletian ordered them to be thrown into the river .
At Rome, St. Deusdedit, pope, whose merit was so great that he cured a leper by kissing him.
At Bremen, St. Willehad, first bishop of that city, who, in conjunction with St. Boniface, whose disciple he was, spread the Gospel in Friesland and Saxony.
At Soissons in France, St. Godfrey, bishop of Amiens, a man of great holiness.
At Verdun, St. Maurus, bishop and confessor.
At Tours, St. Clarus, priest, whose epitaph was written by St. Paulinus.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
