30 APRIL – SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA (Virgin and Doctor of the Church)

 

Catherine, a virgin of Siena, was born of pious parents. She asked for and obtained the Dominican habit, such as it is worn by the Sisters of Penance. Her abstinence was extraordinary and her manner of living most mortified. She was once known to have fasted without receiving anything but the Blessed Sacrament from Ash Wednesday to Ascension Day. She had very frequent contests with the wicked spirits who attacked her in various ways. She suffered much from fever and other bodily ailments. Her reputation for sanctity was so great that there were brought to her from all parts persons who were sick or tormented by the devil. She, in the name of Christ, healed such as were afflicted with malady or fever and drove the devils from the bodies of them that were possessed.

Being once at Pisa on a Sunday, and having received the Bread of Heaven, Catherine was rapt in an ecstasy. She saw our crucified Lord approaching to her. He was encircled with a great light, and from His five wounds there came rays which fell upon the five corresponding parts of Catherine’s body. Being aware of the favour bestowed on her, she besought our Lord that the stigmata might not be visible. The rays immediately changed from the colour of blood into one of gold, and passed, under the form of a bright light, to the hands, feet and heart of the Saint. So violent was the pain left by the wounds that it seemed to her as though she must soon have died, had not God diminished it. Thus our most loving Lord added favour to favour by permitting her to feel the smart of the wounds, and yet removing their appearance. The servant of God related what had happened to her to Raymund, her confessor. Hence, when the devotion of the faithful gave a representation of this miracle, they painted, on the pictures of Saint Catherine, bright rays coming from the five stigmata she had received.

Her learning was not acquired but infused. Theologians proposed to her the most difficult questions of divinity and received satisfactory answers. No one ever approached her who did not go away a better man. She reconciled many that were at deadly enmity with one another. She visited Pope Gregory XI who was then at Avignon in order to bring about the reconciliation of the Florentines who were under an interdict on account of their having formed a league against the Holy See. She told the Pontiff that there had been revealed to her the vow which he, Gregory, had made of going to Rome — a vow which was known to God alone. It was through her entreaty that the Pope began to plan measures for taking possession of his See of Rome, which he did soon after. Such was the esteem in which she was held by Gregory, and by Urban VI, his successor, that she was sent by them on several embassies. At length, after a life spent in the exercise of the sublimest virtues and after gaining great reputation on account of her prophecies and many miracles, she passed hence to her divine Spouse when she was about 33 years old. She was canonised by Pius II.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Dominican Order which yesterday presented a rose to our Risen Jesus now offers Him a lily of surpassing beauty. Catherine of Siena follows Peter the Martyr: it is a co-incidence willed by Providence to give fresh beauty to this season of grandest Mysteries. Our Divine King deserves everything we can offer Him, and our hearts are never so eager to give Him every possible tribute of homage as during these last days of his sojourn among us. See how nature is all flower and fragrance at this loveliest of her seasons! The spiritual world harmonises with the visible and now yields her noblest and richest works in honour of her Lord, the author of Grace. How grand is the Saint whose feast comes gladdening us today! She is one of the most favoured of the holy Spouses of the Incarnate Word. She was His, wholly and unreservedly, almost from her very childhood. Though thus consecrated to Him by the vow of holy virginity, she had a mission given to her by divine Providence which required her living in the world. But God would have her to be one of the glories of the religious state. He therefore inspired her to join the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Accordingly, she wore the habit and fervently practised, during her whole life, the holy exercises of a Tertiary.

From the very commencement there was a something heavenly about this admirable servant of God which we fancy existing in an angel who had been sent from Heaven to live in a human body. Her longing after God gave one an idea of the vehemence with which the Blessed embrace the Sovereign Good on their first entrance into Heaven. In vain did the body threaten to impede the soaring of this earthly seraph. She subdued it by penance and made it obedient to the spirit. Her body seemed to be transformed so as to have no life of its own but only that of the soul. The Blessed Sacrament was frequently the only food she took for weeks together. So complete was her union with Christ that she received the impress of the sacred stigmata and, with them, the most excruciating pain.

And yet, in the midst of all these supernatural favours, Catherine felt the keenest interest in the necessities of others. Her zeal for their spiritual advantage was intense, while her compassion for them, in their corporal sufferings was that of a most loving mother. God had given her the gift of miracles, and she was lavish in using it for the benefit of her fellow-creatures. Sickness and death itself were obedient to her command, and the prodigies witnessed at the beginning of the Church were again wrought by the humble Saint of Siena.

Her communings with God began when she was quite a child, and her ecstasies were almost without interruption. She frequently saw our Risen Jesus who never left her without having honoured her, either with a great consolation, or with a heavy cross. A profound knowledge of the mysteries of our holy faith was another of the extraordinary graces bestowed on her. So eminent, indeed, was the heavenly wisdom granted her by God that she who had received no education used to dictate the most sublime writings in which she treats of spiritual things with a clearness and eloquence which human genius could never attain to, and with a certain indescribable unction which no reader can resist.

But God would not permit such a treasure as this to lie buried in a little town of Italy. The saints are the supports of the Church, and though their influence be generally hidden, yet, at times, it is open and visible, and men then learn what the instruments are which God uses for imparting blessings to a world that would seem to deserve little else besides chastisement. The great question at the close of the fourteenth century was the restoring to the Holy City the privilege of its having within its walls the Vicar of Christ who, for 60 years, had been absent from his See. One saintly soul, by merits and prayers, known to Heaven alone, might have brought about this happy event after which the whole Church was longing, but God would have it done by a visible agency and in the most public manner. In the name of the widowed Rome — in the name of her own and the Church’s Spouse — Catherine crossed the Alps and sought an interview with the Pontiff who had not so much as seen Rome. The Prophetess respectfully reminded him of his duty, and in proof of her mission being from God, she tells him of a secret which was known to himself alone. Gregory XI could no longer resist, and the Eternal City welcomed its Pastor and Father. But at the Pontiff’s death a frightful schism, the forerunner of greater evils to follow, broke out in the Church. Catherine, even to her last hour, was untiring in her endeavours to quell the storm. Having lived the same number of years as our Saviour had done, she breathed forth her most pure soul into the hands of her God, and went to continue in Heaven her ministry of intercession for the Church she had loved so much on Earth, and for souls redeemed in the precious Blood of her Divine Spouse.

Our Risen Jesus who took her to her eternal reward during the Season of Easter granted her, while she was living on Earth, a favour which we mention here as being appropriate to the mystery we are now celebrating. He, one day, appeared to her, having with Him His Blessed Mother. Mary Magdalene, she that announced the Resurrection to the Apostles, accompanied the Son and the Mother. Catherine’s heart was overpowered with emotion at this visit. After looking for some time upon Jesus and his holy Mother, her eyes rested on Magdalene whose happiness she both saw and envied. Jesus spoke these words to her: “My beloved! I give her to you to be your mother. Address yourself to her, henceforth, with all confidence. I give her special charge of you.” From that day forward Catherine had the most filial love for Magdalene, and called her by no other name than that of Mother.

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Holy Church, filled as she now is with the joy of her Jesus’ Resurrection, addresses herself to you, O Catherine, who follows the Lamb wherever He goes (Apocalypse xiv. 4). Living in this exile where it is only at intervals that she enjoys His presence, she says to you: “Have you seen Him, whom my soul loves? (Canticles iii. 3). You are His Spouse, so is she. But there are no veils, no separation, for you: whereas, for her, the enjoyment is at rare and brief periods and, even so, there are clouds that dim the lovely Light. What a life was yours, O Catherine, uniting in itself the keenest compassion for the sufferings of Jesus, and an intense happiness by the share He gave you of His glorified life. We might take you as our guide both to the mournful mysteries of Calvary, and to the glad splendours of the Resurrection. It is these second that we are now respectfully celebrating: oh speak to us of our Risen Jesus. Is it not He that gave you the nuptial ring with its matchless diamond set amid four precious gems? The bright rays which gleam from your stigmata tell us that when He espoused you to Himself, you saw Him all resplendent with the beauty of His glorious wounds.

Daughter of Magdalene, like her, you are a messenger of the Resurrection, and when your last Pasch comes — the Pasch of your thirty-third year — you go to Heaven, to keep it for eternity. O zealous lover of souls! love them more than ever, now that you are in the palace of the King, our God. We too are in the Pasch in the New Life. Intercede for us that the life of Jesus may never die within us but may go on, strengthening its power and growth, by our loving Him with an ardour like your own. Get us, great Saint, something of the filial devotedness you had for holy Mother Church, and which prompted you to do such glorious things! Her sorrows and her joys were yours, for there can be no love for Jesus where there is none for His Spouse. And is it not through her that He gives us all His gifts? Oh, yes, we too wish to love this Mother of ours. We will never be ashamed to own ourselves as her children! We will defend her against her enemies. We will do everything that lies in our power to win others to acknowledge, love and be devoted to her.

Our God used you as His instrument, O humble Virgin, for bringing back the Roman Pontiff to his See. You were stronger than the powers of this Earth which would fain have prolonged an absence disastrous to the Church. The relics of Peter in the Vatican, of Paul on the Ostian Way, of Lawrence and Sebastian, of Caecilia and Agnes, exulted in their glorious tombs when Gregory entered with triumph into the Holy City. It was through you, O Catherine, that a ruinous captivity of seventy years’ duration was brought, on that day, to a close, and that Rome recovered her glory and her life.

Pray for unhappy Italy, which was so dear to you, and which is so justly proud of its Saint of Siena. Impiety and heresy are now permitted to run wild through the land. The name of your Spouse is blasphemed. The people are taught to love error and to hate what they had hitherto venerated. The Church is insulted and robbed. Faith has long since been weakened, but now its very existence is imperilled. Intercede for your unfortunate country, dear Saint!Oh surely it is time to come to her assistance and rescue her from the hands of her enemies. Delay not, but calm the storm which seems to threaten a universal wreck!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Lambesa in Numidia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Marian, lector, and James, deacon. The former, after having successfully endured vexations for the confession of Christ in the persecution of Decius, was again arrested with his illustrious companion, and both being subjected to severe and cruel torments during which they were twice miraculously comforted from heaven, finally fell by the sword with many others.

At Saintes, blessed Eutropius, bishop and martyr, who was consecrated bishop and sent to Gaul by St. Clement. After preaching for many years he had his skull crushed for bearing testimony to Christ and thus gained a victory by his death.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Amator, priest, Peter, monk, and Lewis.

At Novara, the martyrdom of the holy priest Lawrence, and some boys, whom he was educating.

At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Aphrodisius, priest, and thirty others.

At Ephesus, St. Maximus, martyr, who was crowned in the persecution of Decius.

At Fermo in the Marches of Ancona, St. Sophia, virgin and martyr.

At Naples in Campania, St. Severus, bishop, who, among other prodigies, raised for a short time a dead man from the grave, in order to convict of falsehood the lying creditor of a widow and her children.

At Evorea in Epirus, St. Donatus, a bishop, who was eminent for sanctity in the time of the emperor Theodosius.

At London in England, St. Erconwald, a bishop celebrated for many miracles.

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

Thanks be to God.

30 APRIL – TUESDAY IN THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The third Sacrament — the Holy Eucharist — is so intimately connected with our Redeemer’s Passion that its institution could not be deferred till the Resurrection had taken place. On Maundy Thursday we honoured the solemn act by which our Jesus prepared for the morrow’s sacrifice by instituting the mystery of His Body and Blood, which are really immolated in the Eucharistic Supper. The Apostles were not only admitted, as all future generations were to be, to partake of the Divine Food, which gives life to the world, (John vi. 33) but they moreover received power from Jesus, the Priest forever (cix. 4), to do what He Himself had just done. The great Mystery was inaugurated. The new Priesthood was instituted, and now that Jesus is rise n from the dead, He makes known to His Apostles the whole importance of the gift bestowed on mankind at the Last Supper. He bids them begin the exercise of the sublime power conferred on them as soon as the Holy Ghost, by descending on the Earth, will give to the Church the signal for her using the prerogatives with which she has been endowed. And, finally, He teaches how they are to perform this special function of their Priesthood.

At the Last Supper the Apostles were still carnal minded men. They were taken up with the sad event that was about to happen, and overcome with grief at their Divine Master’s telling them that that was the last Pasch He was to keep with them. They were not, therefore, in a fit state to appreciate what it was that Jesus had done for them, when He uttered those words: “Take and eat; this is my Body — Drink all of this, for this is my Blood.” Still less did they understand the greatness of the power they received, of doing what their Lord Himself had just done in their presence. Now that Jesus is risen from the grave, He unfolds all these mysteries to them. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was not instituted during these days, but it was made known, explained and glorified by its Divine Institute: and this circumstance gives a fresh lustre to the sacred season we are now going through.

Of all the Sacraments, there is not one that can be compared, in dignity, to that of the Eucharist. The others give grace. This gives us the very Author of grace. The others are only Sacraments. This is both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice. We will endeavour to explain it in all its magnificence, when we come to the bright feast of Corpus Christi. Let us for the present, pay the tribute of our loving adorations to our Jesus, the Living Bread, that gives life to the world. Let us acknowledge His immense love for His Sheep. He seems to be on the point of leaving them that He may return to His Father, and yet His love retains Him among them by means of this august Mystery in which He is truly though invisibly present.

29 APRIL – SAINT PETER (Martyr)

Peter was born at Verona of parents who were infected with the heresy of the Manichees. But he himself, almost from his very infancy, fought against heresies. When he was seven years old he was one day asked by an uncle, who was a heretic, what they taught him at the school he went to. He answered that they taught him the Symbol of the Christian Faith. His father and uncle did all they could, both by promises and threats, to shake the firmness of his faith, but all to no purpose. When old enough, he went to Bologna in order to prosecute his studies. While there he was called by the Holy Ghost to a life of perfection, and obeyed the call by entering into the Order of Saint Dominic. Great were his virtues as a religious man. So careful was he to keep both body and soul from whatever could sully their purity, that his conscience never accused him of committing a mortal sin.

He mortified his body by fasting and watching, and applied his mind to the contemplation of heavenly things. He laboured incessantly for the salvation of souls and was gifted with a special grace for refuting heretics. He was so earnest when preaching that people used to go in crowds to hear him and numerous were the conversions that ensued. The ardour of his faith was such that he wished he might die for it, and earnestly begged that favour from God. His death, which he foretold a short time before in one of his sermons, was inflicted on him by the heretics. While returning from Como to Milan in the discharge of the duties of the holy Inquisition, he was attacked by a wicked assassin who struck him twice on the head with a sword. The Symbol of Faith which he had confessed with manly courage when but a child, he now began to recite with his dying lips, and having received another wound in his side, he went to receive a martyr’s palm in Heaven in 1252. Numerous miracles attested his sanctity. He was canonised by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The hero deputed this day by the Church to greet our Risen Lord was so valiant in the Good Fight that martyrdom is part of his name. He is known as Peter the Martyr, so that we cannot speak of him without raising the echo of victory. He was put to death by heretics and is the grand tribute paid to our Redeemer by the thirteenth century. Never was there a triumph hailed with greater enthusiasm than this. The martyrdom of Saint Thomas of Canterbury excited the admiration of the faithful of the preceding century, for nothing was so dear to our forefathers as the Liberty of the Church. The martyrdom of Saint Peter was celebrated with a like intensity of praise and joy. Let us hearken to the fervid eloquence of the great Pontiff, Innocent IV, who thus begins the Bull of the martyr’s canonisation:

“The truth of the Christian Faith, manifested, as it has been, by great and frequent miracles, is now beautified by the new merit of a new Saint. Lo! a combatant of these our own times comes, bringing us new and great and triumphant signs. The voice of his blood shed (for Christ) is heard, and the fame of his martyrdom is trumpeted through the world. The land is not silent that sweats with his blood. The country that produced so noble warrior resounds with his praise. Yes, the very sword that did the deed of parricide proclaims his glory... Mother Church has great reason to rejoice, and abundant matter for gladness. She has cause to sing a new canticle to the Lord, and a hymn of fervent praise to her God: the Christian people has cause to give forth devout songs to its Creator. A sweet fruit, gathered in the garden of Faith, has been set upon the table of the Eternal King: a grape-bunch, taken from the vineyard of the Church, has filled the royal cup with new wine... The flourishing Order of Preachers has produced a red rose whose sweetness is most grateful to the King, and from the Church here on Earth there has been taken a stone which, after being cut and polished, has deserved a place of honour in the temple of Heaven.”

Such was the language wherewith the supreme Pontiff spoke of the new martyr, and the people responded by celebrating his feast with extraordinary devotion. It was kept as were the ancient festivals, that is, all servile work was forbidden upon it. The Churches served by the Fathers of the Dominican Order were crowded on his feast, and the faithful took little branches with them that they might be blessed in memory of the Triumph of Peter the Martyr. This custom is still observed, and the branches blessed by the Dominicans on this day are venerated as being a protection to the houses where they are kept.

How are we to account for all this fervent devotion of the people towards Saint Peter? It was because he died in defence of the Faith, and nothing was so dear to the Christians of those days as Faith. Peter had received the charge to take up all the heretics who, at that time, were causing great disturbance and scandal in the country round about Milan. They were called Cathari but in reality were Manicheans. Their teachings were detestable, and their lives of the most immoral kind. Peter fulfilled his duty with a firmness and equity which soon secured him the hatred of the heretics, and when he fell a victim to his holy courage a cry of admiration and gratitude was heard throughout Christendom. Nothing could be more devoid of truth than the accusations brought by the enemies of the Church and their indiscreet abettors, against the measures formerly decreed by the public law of Catholic nations, in order to foil the efforts made by evil-minded men to injure the true Faith. In those times no tribunal was so popular as that whose office it was to protect theFaith, and to put down all them that attacked it.

It was to the Order of Saint Dominic that this office was mainly entrusted, and well may they be proud of the honour of having so long held one so beneficial to the salvation of mankind. How many of its members have met with a glorious death in the exercise of their stern duty! Saint Peter is the first of the martyrs given by the Order for this holy cause: his name, however, heads a long list of others who were his brethren in religion, his successors in the defence of the Faith, and his followers to martyrdom. The coercive measures that were once, and successfully, used to defend the Faithful from heretical teachers have long since ceased to be used. But for us Catholics, our judge ent of them must surely be that of the Church. She bids us today honour as a martyr one of her Saints who was put to death while resisting the wolves that threatened the sheep of Christ’s fold. Should we not be guilty of disrespect to our Mother if we dared to condemn what she so highly approves? Far, then, be from us that cowardly truckling to the spirit of the age which would make us ashamed of the courageous efforts made by our forefathers for the preservation of the Faith! Far from us that childish readiness to believe the calumnies of Protestants against an institution which they naturally detest! Far from us that deplorable confusion of ideas which puts truth and error on an equality and, from the fact that error can have no rights, concludes that truth can claim none!

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The victory was yours, Peter, and your zeal for the defence of holy Faith was rewarded. You ardently desired to shed your blood for the holiest of causes and by such a sacrifice to confirm the faithful of Christ in their religion. Our Lord satisfied your desire. He would even have your martyrdom be in the festive season of the Resurrection of our Divine Lamb that His glory might add lustre to the beauty of your holocaust. When the death-blow fell upon your venerable head and your generous blood was flowing from the wounds, you wrote on the ground the first words of the Creed for whose holy truth you were giving your life.

Protector of the Christian people, what other motive had you, in all your labours, but charity? What else but a desire to defend the weak from danger induced you not only to preach against error, but to drive its teachers from the flock? How many simple souls who were receiving divine truth from the teaching of the Church have been deceived by the lying sophistry of heretical doctrine, and have lost the Faith? Surely the Church would do her utmost to ward off such dangers from her children: she would do all she could to defend them from enemies who were bent on destroying the glorious inheritance which had been handed down to them by millions of martyrs! She knew the strange tendency that often exists in the heart of fallen man to love error, whereas Truth, though of itself unchanging, is not sure of its remaining firmly in the mind, unless it be defended by learning or by faith. As to learning, there are but few who possess it. And as to faith, error is ever conspiring against and, of course, with the appearance of truth. In the Christian Ages it would have been deemed not only criminal, but absurd, to grant to error the liberty which is due only to truth. And they that were in authority considered it a duty to keep the weak from danger by removing from them all occasions of a fall — just as the father of a family keeps his children from coming in contact with wicked companions who could easily impose on their inexperience and lead them to evil under the name of good.

Obtain for us, O holy Martyr, a keen appreciation of the precious gift of Faith — that element which keeps us in the way of salvation. May we zealously do everything that lies in our power to preserve it, both in ourselves and in them that are under our care. The love of this holy Faith has grown cold in so many hearts, and frequent intercourse with heretics or free-thinkers has made them think and speak of matters of Faith in a very loose way. Pray for them, O Peter, that they may recover that fearless love of the Truths of Religion which should be one of the chief traits of the Christian character. If they be living in a country where the modern system is introduced of treating all religions alike, that is, of giving equal rights to error and to truth, let them be all the more courageous in professing the truth and detesting the errors opposed to the truth. Pray for us, O holy Martyr, that there may be kindled within us an ardent love of that Faith without which, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews xi. 6). Pray that we may become all earnestness in this duty which is of vital importance to salvation, that thus our Faith may daily gain strength within us, till at length we will merit to see in Heaven what we have believed unhesitatingly on Earth.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Paphos in Cyprus, St. Tychicus, a disciple of the blessed Apostle St. Paul, who called him in his epistles most dear brother, faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord.

At Cirtha in Numidia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Agapius and Secundinus, bishops, who, after a long exile in that city, added to the glory of their priesthood the crown of martyrdom. They suffered in the persecution of Valerian during which the enraged Gentiles made every effort to shake the faith of the just. In their company suffered Æmilian, soldier, Tertulla and Antonia, consecrated virgins, and a woman with her twin children.

The same day, seven robbers, who, being converted to Christ by St. Jason, attained to eternal life by martyrdom.

At Brescia, St. Paulinus, bishop and confessor.

In the monastery of Cluny, the abbot St. Hugh.

In the monastery of Molesmes, St. Robert, first abbot of the Cistercians.

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

Thanks be to God.

29 APRIL – MONDAY IN THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Jesus bestows an inestimable gift upon His Apostles, and from this gift there proceed two Sacraments. On the sixth day of the Creation, the Divine Word infused his breath into Man, whose body he had formed out of the slime of the earth, and immediately this body was animated by a soul, bearing upon it the image of God. On the evening of the day of His Resurrection, the same Divine Word, then made visible in the flesh He had assumed, suddenly appeared in the midst of His Apostles, and said to them: “Peace be to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” (John xx. 21) Then breathing on them, He added in a tone of command: “Receive the Holy Ghost!” (John xx. 22)

What is this breath which is not given to all men but only to a few chosen ones? Jesus Himself explains it by the words He speaks: this breath imparts the Holy Ghost to them that receive it. The Holy Ghost is given to the Apostles because they are sent by Jesus, as Jesus is sent by the Father. The Apostles, then, receive this Divine Spirit, in order that they may communicate him to men, just as they themselves have had him given to them by Jesus. The Church’s tradition fills up the brief account of the Gospel. Two Sacraments, as we have already stated, take their origin from this act of our Risen Jesus who, afterwards, instructed His Apostles as to the rites wherewith each of the two was to be administered.

The first of these two Sacraments is Confirmation, for whose institution we will return our humble thanks today. The other is Holy Orders, which we will explain further on in the week: both of them belong, in their administration, to the Episcopal character, which is the source from which flow the gifts conferred on the Apostles for man’s sanctification. Such is the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation that until such time as we have received it, we cannot be considered as perfect Christians. It is true that, by virtue of our Baptism, we are Children of God, Members of Christ and His Church, but as Christians we are Soldiers: we have to Confess our faith, sometimes before tyrants, and even to the shedding of our blood. Sometimes before the world whose false seductive maxims are the occasion of so many apostasies. Sometimes against Satan and his wicked angels, whose power is so justly feared by the servants of Christ. The seal of the Holy Ghost confers on us a degree of strength which Baptism does not give. Baptism made us citizens of the Church. Confirmation makes us Soldiers of God and of His Christ.

Again, it is true, that we can fight and conquer with the armour of Baptism. Such is God’s will, who knows that the Sacrament which perfects the Christian is often-times an impossibility, but woe to them that neglect to receive the completion of their Baptism! Hence, after administering the Sacrament of regeneration on Holy Saturday, the Bishop at once proceeded to give the Holy Ghost to all those who had been just born in the Son, and had been adopted by the Father. Yes, Confirmation is administered by a Bishop, it is for him to say to the baptised: “Receive the Holy Ghost!” It was just that this Divine Spirit should be thus honoured. Even when, in cases of necessity, a Priest is delegated by the Pope to administer this Sacrament, he cannot validly do so except on the condition of his using Chrism consecrated by a Bishop: and thus, the Episcopal power is always uppermost in the conferring of the Holy Ghost.

What a solemn moment is that, in which the Spirit of Power, who strengthened the Apostles, descends on the Neophytes kneeling before the Bishop! The Pontiff stretches his hands over them. He pours out upon them the Spirit he has received in order to his communicating him to others and, that he may give all possible solemnity to the gift he is about to bestow, he cites the words of Isaias, which prophesy the descent of the Spirit on the Branch that was to spring up from the Root of Jesse — a prophecy which was fulfilled in our Jesus when He received Baptism in the river Jordan from the hands of Saint John the Baptist: “O Almighty and Eternal God, who has vouchsafed to regenerate these your servants by water and the Holy Ghost: send forth from heaven upon them your seven-fold Spirit, the Holy Paraclete: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of counsel and fortitude; the Spirit of knowledge and godliness; fill them with the Spirit of your fear, and sign them with the sign of the Cross of Christ.” Then is brought the sacred Chrism, of whose virtue we heard so much on Maundy Thursday. Confirmation was anciently called the Sacrament of Chrism — of Chrism in which dwells the power of the Holy Ghost. The Pontiff anoints with it the foreheads of the Neophytes, and, at that same instant, the Holy Ghost imprints on their souls the sign of a perfect Christian. They are confirmed, and forever. Let them but listen to the voice of the Sacrament which is now within them, and no trial, no danger, can master them. The holy Oil with which the Cross has been signed on their forehead has imparted to them that firmness of adamant which was given to the Prophet Ezechiel, and enabled him to withstand all his enemies (Ezechiel iii. 9).

To a Christian strength is salvation, for man’s life on earth is a warfare (Job vii. 1) Glory, then, be to our Risen Jesus who, foreseeing the attacks that would be made against us, has armed us for the battle and in this admirable Sacrament of Confirmation has given us the Divine Spirit who proceeds from Himself and the Father, that we might be strong and invincible! Let us thank Him, with all our hearts, for His having thus completed the grace already given us in Baptism. The Father who so graciously adopted us has delivered up his Only-Begotten Son for us. The Son gives us the Spirit that He may dwell within us — oh how wonderful a creature is Man, who is so loved by the Trinity! And yet Man is a sinner, and unfaithful creature and, but too frequently, all these graces are rendered fruitless by his negligence or malice! Let us, at least, be faithful by keeping ourselves closely united to the Holy Church, and by devoutly celebrating with her the mysteries of God’s goodness which the Liturgical Year brings successively before us.

28 APRIL – SAINT VITALIS (Martyr)

Vitalis was a soldier and the father of Saints Gervasius and Protasius. Coming one day into Ravenna in company with the judge Paulinus, there was being led to execution, for his having confessed the Christian faith, a certain Ursicinus, a physician. Vitalis observing that his courage was somewhat staggered by the tortures, cried out to him: “Ursicinus! You that are a physician, and cure other men, take heed lest you wound yourself with the dart of eternal death!” Encouraged by these words Ursicinus bravely suffered martyrdom. Whereupon, Paulinus was very angry and ordered Vitalis to be seized, tortured on the rack and then thrown into a deep pit where he was to be buried alive by stones being thrown upon him. This done, one of the priests of Apollo who had excited Paulinus against Vitalis was possessed by a devil and began shouting these words: “O Vitalis, Martyr of Christ, you burn me beyond endurance!” Mad with the inward burning, he threw himself into a river.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

There are few martyrs of the West whose names are more celebrated than those of Saints Gervasius and Protasius. The veneration in which they are held by the Roman Church has led her to honour the memory of their father who also won the palm under the persecution of Nero. She has chosen for his feast the glad Season of Easter. The account given by the Liturgy upon Saint Vitalis is short, but we can gather from the few circumstances related what fine characters these primitive Christians were who received the crown of martyrdom under the first of all the Persecutions, the one that numbers, among its choicest victims, the two Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.

* * * * *

Sin is the enemy of the soul. It throws her back again into that death from which Jesus had drawn her by His Resurrection. To preserve one of your brethren from this misery, you, Vitalis, bravely raised cry of zealous warning to him in the midst of his torments, and your words awakened him to self-possession and courage. Show this same fraternal charity to us. We are living with the Life of our Risen Jesus but the enemy is bent on robbing us of this life. He will seek to intimidate us. He will lay all manner of snares with which to deceive us. He will give us battle, and this untiringly. Pray then for us, holy Martyr, that we may be on our guard, and that the mystery of the Pasch may be fully accomplished within us, now and forever.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

St. Paul of the Cross, a man remarkable for innocence of life and the spirit of penance, and Founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Consumed with a burning love for Christ crucified, illustrious by his heavenly gifts and the working of miracles, and blessed with a perfect and finished virtue, he went to his repose in the Lord.

At Milan, the martyr St. Valeria who was the wife of St. Vitalis.

At Atinor, St. Mark, who being made bishop by the blessed Apostle St. Peter, was the first to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of that region, and received the crown of martyrdom in the persecution of Domitian under the governor Maximus.

At Alexandria, the martyrdom of the virgin St. Theodora. For refusing to sacrifice to idols, she was led to a place of debauchery, but a Christian named Didymus, through the admirable Providence of God, delivered her by quickly exchanging garments with her. He was afterwards decapitated and crowned with her in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Eustratius.

The same day, the saints Aphrodisius, Caralippus, Agapius and Eusebius, martyrs.

In Pannonia, St. Pollio, martyr, under the emperor Diocletian.

At Prusa in Bithynia, the holy martyrs Patritius, bishop, Acatius, Menander and Polyenus.

At Tarrazona in Spain, St. Prudentius, bishop and martyr.

At Pelino in Abruzzo, St. Pamphilus, bishop of Valva, illustrious by his charity towards the poor, and the gift of miracles. His body was buried at Solmona.

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

Thanks be to God.

28 APRIL – SAINT PAUL OF THE CROSS (Confessor)

In 1725 Paolo Francesco Danei (1694–1775) visited Rome and obtained the permission of Pope Benedict XIII to form the Congregation of the Passion. In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV approved its rules and in 1769 Pope Clement XIV confirmed the rules and approved the Congregation, which is popularly known as the ‘Passionists’ and whose main object is “to keep alive forever in the hearts and minds of the faithful a memory of the Passion of our Lord.” Pope Clement XIV gave the Basilica of Saints Paul and John in Rome, and its adjacent house, to the Congregation. Paolo Francesco Danei, who was beatified in 1852 and was canonised in 1867, is known to the world as Saint Paul of the Cross.

The Passionists wear a black habit, with a belt of leather and Rosary beads around the waist. On their black cloak and on the left breast is a white heart, three nails, and the words JESU CHRISTI PASSIO crowned with a cross. The Congregation of the Passion is a mendicant order, which has no endowments or property, either in private or in common, other than their houses and the land attached to each. They depend on their labours and on the charity of Catholic people. Members take the usual three religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and the purpose of the order is the sanctification of its members, and the sanctification of others, to be achieved by practising and promoting devotion to the Passion of Our Lord.

28 APRIL – FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Our Jesus has organised His Church and confided to His Apostles the sacred deposit of the truths which are to form the object of our faith. We must now follow Him in another work, of equal importance to the world, and to which He gives His divine attention during these forty days: it is the institution of the Sacraments. It is not enough that we believe. We must, moreover, be made just, that is, we must bear on us the likeness of God’s holiness. We must receive, we must have incorporated within us, that great fruit of the Redemption which is called Grace, that thus being made living members of our divine Head, we may be made joint-heirs with Him of the Kingdom of heaven. Now, it is by means of the Sacraments that Jesus is to produce in us this wondrous work of our justification. He applies to us the merits of His Incarnation and Sacrifice but He applies them by certain means which He Himself, in His power and wisdom, has instituted.

Being the sovereign Master of His own gifts, He can select what means He pleases by which to convey grace to us. All we have to do is to conform to His wishes. Thus, each of the Sacraments is a law so that it is in vain that we hope for a Sacrament to produce its effects, unless we fulfil the conditions specified by our Redeemer. And here, at once, we cannot but admire that infinite goodness which has so mercifully blended two such widely distinct operations in one and the same act, namely, on the one side, the humble submission of man, and, on the other, the munificent generosity of God.

We were showing, a few days back how the Church, though a spiritual society, is also visible and exterior, because man, for whose sake the Church was formed, is a being composed of body and soul. When instituting the Sacraments our Lord assigned to each an essential rite, and this rite is outward and sensible. He made the Flesh, which He had united to His Divine Person, become the instrument of our salvation by His Passion and Death on the Cross. He redeemed us by shedding His Blood for us. So is it in the Sacraments: He follows the same mysterious plan, taking physical things as His auxiliaries in effecting the work of our justification. He raises them to a supernatural state, and makes them the faithful and all-powerful conductors of His grace, even to the most intimate depths of our soul. It is the continuation of the mystery of the Incarnation, the object of which is to raise us, by visible things, to the knowledge of things invisible. Thus is broken the pride of Satan. He despised man because he is not purely a spirit, but is spirit and matter unitedly, and he refused to pay adoration to the Word made Flesh.

Moreover, the Sacraments, being visible signs, are an additional bond of union between the members of the Church: we say additional, because these members have the two other strong links of union — submission to Peter and to the Pastors sent by him, and profession of the same faith. The Holy Ghost tells us in the Sacred Volume that a threefold cord is not easily broken (Ecclesiasticus iv. 12.). Now, we have such a one, and it keeps us in the glorious unity of the Church: — Hierarchy, Dogma and Sacraments, all contribute to make us One Body. Everywhere, from north to south, and from east to west, the Sacraments testify to the fraternity that exists amongst us. By them we know each other, no matter in what part of the globe we may be, and by the same we are known by heretics and infidels. These divine Sacraments are the same in every country, however much the liturgical formulae of their administration may differ. They are the same in the graces they produce, they are the same in the signs by which grace is produced, in a word, they are the same in all the essentials.

Our Risen Jesus would have the Sacraments be Seven. As, at the beginning, He stamped the Creation of the visible world with this sacred number, giving six days to work and one to rest — so, too, would He mark the great spiritual creation. He tells us in the Old Testament that Wisdom (that is, Himself — for He is the Eternal Wisdom of the Father), will build to Himself a House, which is the Church. And He adds that He will make it rest on seven pillars (Proverbs ix. 1) He gives us a type of this same Church in the Tabernacle built by Moses, and he orders a superb Candlestick, to be provided for the giving light, by day and night, to the holy place. But there were to be seven branches to the Candlestick, and on each branch were to be graven flowers and fruits (Exodus xxv. 37). When He raises His beloved Disciple to Heaven, He shows Himself to him surrounded by seven candlesticks, and holding seven stars in His right hand (Apocalypse i. 12, 16.) He appears to him as a Lamb, bearing seven horns (which are the symbol of strength), and having seven eyes (which signify His infinite wisdom) (Apocalypse v. 6) Near Him lies a Book in which is written the future of the world. The Book is sealed with seven seals, and none but the Lamb is able to loose them (Apocalypse v. 1, 5). The Disciple sees seven Spirits, burning like lamps, before the throne of God, (Apocalypse viii. 2) ready to do His biddings, and carry His word to the extremities of the earth.

Turning our eyes to the kingdom of Satan, we see him mimicking God’s work and setting up a seven of his own. Seven capital and deadly sins are the instruments by which he makes man his slave, and our Saviour tells us that when Satan has been defeated, and would regain a soul, he brings with him seven of the wickedest spirits of Hell. We read in the Gospel that Jesus drove seven devils out of Mary Magdalene. When God’s anger bursts upon the world immediately before the coming of the dread Judge, He will announce the approach of His chastisements by seven trumpets sounded by seven Angels, (Apocalypse iv. 5) and seven other Angels will then pour out upon the guilty earth seven vials filled with the wrath of God (Apocalypse xvi. 1).

We, therefore, who are resolved to make sure our election. Who desire to possess the grace of our Risen Jesus in this life, and to enjoy His vision in the next, oh! let us reverence and love this merciful Seven-fold, these admirable Sacraments! Under this sacred number, He has included all the varied riches of His grace. There is not a want or necessity, either of souls individually, or of society at large, for which our Redeemer has not provided by these seven sources of regeneration and life. He calls us from death to life by Baptism and Penance. He strengthens us in that supernatural life by Confirmation, the Eucharist and Extreme Unction. He secures to His Church both Ministry and increase by Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven Sacraments supply everything needed. Take one away, and you destroy the harmony. The Churches of the East — though severed, now for long ages, from Catholic unity — retain all seven: and when Protestantism broke the sacred number, it showed in this, as in all its other pretended reformations, that it was estranging itself from the spirit of the Christian Religion. No: the doctrine of the Sacraments is one that cannot be denied without denying the true Faith. If we would be members of God’s Church, we must receive this doctrine as coming from Him, who has a right to insist on our humble submission to His every word. It is to the soul which thus believes, that the Sacraments appear in all their divine beauty and power: we understand, because we believe. Credite, et intelligetis! It is the fulfilment of the text from Isaias, as rendered by the Septuagint: “Unless you believe, you will not understand! (Isaias vii. 9).

Let us confine our considerations for today to the first of the Sacraments — Baptism. It is during Paschal Time that we have it brought before us in all its glory. We remember how on Holy Saturday it filled the hearts of the Catechumens with joy, giving them a right to heaven. But the great Sacrament had had its preparations. On the feast of the Epiphany we adored our Emmanuel as we beheld Him descending into the river Jordan and, by this contact with His sacred Body, communicating to the element of water the power of purifying men’s souls from sin. The Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, rested on Jesus’ head, and, by His divine influence, gave fecundity to the life-giving element. The voice of the Eternal Father was heard in a cloud, announcing His adoption of all such as should receive Baptism. He adopted them in Jesus, His eternally well-beloved Son.

During His sojourn on Earth, our Redeemer thus explained the mystery of Baptism to Nicodemus, who was a ruler among the Jews, and a master in Israel: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (John iii. 5). Here, as in so many other instances, He foretells what He intends to do at a future time: He prepares us for the mystery by telling us that, as our first birth was not pure, He is preparing a second for us. that this second birth will be holy, and that water is to be the instrument of so great a grace. But, after His Resurrection our Emmanuel openly announced His having given to water the power of producing the sublime adoption to which mankind was invited by the Eternal Father. Speaking to His Apostles, He thus gives them the fundamental law of the Kingdom He had come from Heaven to establish: “Going, teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew xxviii. 19) This is the master-gift bestowed on the world by its Redeemer: salvation by water and the invocation of the Blessed Trinity, for He adds: “He that believes and is baptised will be saved” (Mark xvi. 16).

What a revelation was here! It told us of the infinite mercy with which our Creator loved us: it was the inauguration of the Sacraments by the announcement of the first of the Seven — of that one which, according to the expression of the Holy Fathers, is the Gate to the rest. Let us love this august mystery of Baptism to which we are indebted for the life of our souls, and for the indelible character which makes us members of our divine Head, Jesus. The holy King of France, Saint Louis, who was baptised in the humble village of Poissy, loved to sign himself “Louis of Poissy.” He looked upon the baptismal font as the mother who had given him a life incomparably superior to that which made him the son of an earthly monarch: she gave him to be the child of God, and heir to the kingdom of Heaven. We should imitate this saintly King.

But, observe the exceeding considerateness of our Risen Jesus when He instituted this the most indispensable of the Sacraments. He chose for its matter the commonest that could be, and the most easily to be had. Bread, wine and oil are not so plentiful as water, which is to be found in every place: God made it thus plentiful, that, when the appointed time came, the fount of regeneration might be within everyone’s reach. In His other Sacraments our Saviour would have Priests alone to be the ministers: not so with Baptism. Any one of the Faithful, whatever may be his or her condition, may administer Baptism. Nay more: an infidel can, by water and the invocation of the Blessed Trinity, confer on others the baptismal grace which he or she themselves do not possess, provided only that they really intend to do what holy Church does when she administers the sacrament of Baptism.

Nor is this all. An unbaptised man or woman may be dying, and no one near them to administer this Sacrament. They are on the brink of eternity, and there is no hand nigh them to pour the water of regeneration on them — our Saviour has lovingly provided for this necessity. Let this man or woman believe in Baptism. Let them desire it in all the sincerity of their souls. Let them entertain sentiments of compunction and love, such as are required of an adult when receiving Baptism — they are baptised in desire, and Heaven is open to them.

But what if it be a child, that has not come to the use of reason? Our Saviour’s words are plain: “He that believes and is baptised will be saved.” How, then, can this child be saved? The guilt of original sin is upon it, and it is incapable of making an act of faith? Fear not: the power of holy Baptism extends even so far as this. The faith of the Church will be imputed to this child, which the Church is about to adopt as her own: let water be but poured on the child in the name of the three Divine Persons, and it is a Christian forever. Baptised in the faith of the Church, this child now possesses (and, as we say, personally), Faith, Hope and Charity: the sacramental water has achieved this wondrous work. If the little innocent die, it goes straight to heaven.

These, Jesus, are the admirable effects of the first of your Sacraments. How truly does the Apostle say of you, that you will all men to be saved! (1 Timothy ii. 4) If this your will be in some without its fulfilment so that some children die without Baptism, it is because of the consequences which sin produces in the parents, and which your Justice is not bound to prevent. And yet, how frequently does not your mercy intervene and procure the grace of Regeneration for children who, naturally, would have been excluded! Thus, the water of Baptism has been poured upon countless babes who were dying in the arms of their pagan parents, and the Angels received these little ones into their choirs. Knowing this, dear Saviour, we are forced to exclaim with the Psalmist: “Let us that live bless the Lord!” (Psalm cxiii. 8).

Epistle – James i. 17‒21

Dearly beloved, every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration. For of His own will He has begotten us by the word of truth that we might be some beginning of His creatures. You know, my dearest brethren. Now let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man works not the justice of God. Wherefore, casting away all uncleanness and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The favours bestowed on the Christian people proceed from the goodness of our Heavenly Father. He is the source of everything in the order of nature and if, in the order of grace, we have become His children, it is because He sent us His Consubstantial Word — the Word of Truth — by which, by means of Baptism, we were made children of God. Hence, we ought to imitate, as far as our weakness will permit, the divine calm of our Father who is in Heaven. We ought to avoid that state of passionate excitement which savours of a terrestrial life, whereas ours should be of the Heaven to which God calls us. The Apostle bids us receive, with meekness, the Word, which makes us what we are. He tells us that this Word is a germ of salvation grafted into our souls: only let us put no obstacle to its growth, and we will be saved.

Gospel – John xvi. 5‒14

At that time Jesus said to His disciples, “I go to Him who sent me and none of you ask me, Where do you go? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go, for if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you, and when He has come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believed not in me; and of justice, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; and of judgment, because the Prince of this world is already judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now: but when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will teach you all truth, for He will not speak of Himself, but whatever things He will hear, He will speak, and the things that are to come He will show you. He will glorify me because He will receive of mine, and will show it to you.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Apostles were sad at hearing Jesus say to them: “I go.” Are not we so, too? We, who, thanks to the sacred Liturgy, have been in such close company with Him ever since the day of His birth at Bethlehem. Yet a few days, and He is to ascend into Heaven, and our year is to lose the charm it possessed of following, day by day, the actions and words of our Emmanuel. Still, He would have us moderate our sadness. He tells us that in His stead the Paraclete, the Comforter, is about to descend upon the earth and abide with us to the end of time, in order that He may give us light and strength. Let us make good use of these last hours with our Jesus: we will soon have to be preparing for the Divine Guest who is to take His place.

By these words, which were spoken shortly before His Passion, our Saviour does more than tell us of the coming of the Holy Ghost He also shows us how terrible this coming will be to them that have rejected the Messiah. His words are unusually mysterious: let us listen to the explanation given of them by Saint Augustine, the Doctor of Doctors: When the Holy Ghost is come, says our Lord, He will convince the world of sin because they believed not in me. How great must, indeed, be the responsibility of them that have been witnesses of Jesus’ wonderful works, and yet will not receive His teaching! Jerusalem will be told that the Holy Ghost has come down on the disciples, and she will receive the news with the same indifference as she did the miracles which proved Jesus to be her Messiah. The coming of the Holy Ghost will serve as a sort of signal of the destruction of the Deicide City. Jesus adds: “The Paraclete will convince the world of Justice, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer.” The Apostles, and they that believe their word, will be just and holy by faith: they will believe in Him that is gone to the Father, in Him whom they are to see no longer in this world. Jerusalem, on the contrary, will remember Him only to blaspheme Him: the holiness, the faith, the justice of them that will believe, will be her condemnation, and the Holy Ghost will leave her to her fate. Jesus continues: “The Paraclete will convince the world of Judgment, because the prince of this world is already judged.” They that follow not Christ Jesus, follow Satan: he is their prince, but his judgment is already pronounced. The Holy Ghost warns the followers of the world that their leader is already in eternal torments. Let them reflect well on this for, as Saint Augustine observes, “the pride of man has no right to reckon on indulgence. Let it but think of the Hell into which even the angels were cast because they were proud.”