31 MAY – SAINT PETRONILLA (Virgin)

Petronilla is said to have been a spiritual daughter of Saint Peter, who took her with him to Rome where she became paralysed. Simon Magus having asked him why, if he could perform miracles, he allowed his daughter to remain infirm, Saint Peter answered that “It was expedient for her.” Then he added, “Nevertheless, to show the power of God, she will rise from her bed and walk.” Then he called her, and she rose and was restored to her full health. An officer who greatly admired her beauty sent soldiers to her to ask her to be his wife, but she replied: “If he wants me to marry him, let him not send rough soldiers to woo me, but respectable matrons, and give me time to make up my mind.” But before Flaccus could obtain matrons to convey his offer, Petronilla died.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Though the Church makes but a simple commemoration of this illustrious virgin in the office of this day, we will not fail to offer her the homage of our devout veneration. On the twelfth of this month, we kept the feast of the noble virgin and martyr, Flavia Domitilla: it is probable that Aurelia Petronilla was also of the imperial family of the Flavians. The early traditions of the Church speak of her as being the spiritual daughter of the Prince of the Apostles, and though she did not like Domitilla lay down her life for the Faith, yet she offered to Jesus that next richest gift — her virginity. The same venerable authorities tell us also that a Roman Patrician by name Flaccus, having asked her in marriage, she requested three days for consideration during which she confidently besought the aid of her Divine Spouse. Flaccus presented himself on the third day, but found the palace in mourning and her family busy in preparing the funeral obsequies of the young virgin, who had taken her flight to Heaven, as a dove that is startled by an intruder’s approach.

In the eighth century the holy Pope Paul I had the body of Petronilla taken from the Cemetery of Domitilla on the Via Ardeatina. Her relics were found in a marble sarcophagus, the lid of which was adorned at each corner with a dolphin. The Pope had them enshrined in a little church which he built near the south side of the Vatican Basilica. This Church was destroyed in the sixteenth century in consequence of the alterations needed for the building of the new Basilica of Saint Peter, and the relics of Saint Petronilla were translated to one of its altars On the west side. It was but just that she should await her glorious Resurrection under the shadow of the great Apostle who had initiated her in the Faith and prepared her for her eternal nuptials with the Lamb.

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Your triumph, Petronilla, is one of our Easter joys! We lovingly venerate your blessed memory. You disdained the pleasures and honours of the world, and your virginal name is one of the first on the list of the Church of Rome, which was your mother. Aid her now by your prayers. Protect those who seek your intercession, and teach us how to celebrate with holy enthusiasm the Solemnities that are soon to gladden us.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Aquileia, the holy martyrs Cantius, Cantian and Cantianilla. For their attachment to the Christian faith they were condemned to capital punishment with their tutor Protus in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

At Torres in Sardinia, St. Crescentian, martyr.

At Comana in Pontus, in the time of the emperor Antoninus, St. Hermias, a soldier. Being miraculously delivered from many horrible torments, he converted his executioner to Christ and made him partaker of the crown which he himself obtained first by having his head struck off with the sword.

At Verona, St. Lupicinus, bishop.

At Rome, St. Paschasius, deacon and confessor, who is mentioned by Pope St. Gregory.

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

Thanks be to God.

31 MAY – SATURDAY AFTER THE ASCENSION

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Jesus, then, the Man who dwelt on the Earth and was perfect in all holiness, has ascended into Heaven. This earth, accursed of God as it was, has produced the fairest fruit of Heaven, and Heaven, with its gates shut against our race, has had to open them for the entrance of a Son of Adam. It is the mystery of the Ascension, but it is only a part, and it imports us to know the mystery in its fullness. Let us give ear to the Apostle of the Gentiles: “God who is rich in mercy, through His exceeding charity with which He loved us even when we were dead in sin, has quickened us together with Christ; and has raised us up together with Him, and has made us sit in the heavenly places together with Him” (Ephesians ii. 4-6). We have celebrated the Pasch of our Saviour’s Resurrection as our own Resurrection. We must, agreeably to the Apostle’s teaching celebrate also His Ascension as our own. Let us weigh well the expression: God has made us sit in the heavenly places together with Christ. So, then, in the Ascension, it is not Jesus only who ascends into Heaven. We ascend there with Him: it is not He only that is enthroned there in glory. We are enthroned through and together with Him.

That we may the better understand this truth, let us remember that the Son of God did not assume our human nature with a view to the exclusive glorification of the flesh which he united to His own Divine Person. He came to be our Head. We, consequently, are His Members, and where He is, we also are to be; at least, such is His intention as He implied at the Last Supper when He said: “Father! I will that where I am, they also whom you have given me may be with me, that they may see my glory which you have given me” (John xvii. 24). And what is the glory given to Him by His Father? Let us hearken to the Royal Prophet, who, speaking of the future Ascension, says: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit you at my right hand” (Psalms cix. 1) It is, then, on the very throne of the Eternal Father, it is at His right hand, that we will see Him whom the Apostle calls our fore-runner (Hebrews vi. 20). We will be united with this Jesus, as Members to our Head. So that His glory will be ours, we will be kings. With His Kingship He would make us partake of all that He Himself has, for He tells us that we are His joint-heirs (Romans viii. 17).

From this, it follows that the august mystery of the Ascension, which began on the day of Jesus’ entering into Heaven, is to be continued, and will continue, until His mystical body has received its completion by the ascension of the last of the elect. Look at that countless host of holy souls who were the earliest companions of His triumph: foremost are our First Parents, then the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and the Just of every generation!... They had been imprisoned in Limbo, but He liberated them, gave them of His own brightness, and made them His partners in the glory of His Ascension. They were His trophy. They formed His court as He passed from Earth to Heaven. Well did we exclaim in the words of holy David: “Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth! Sing ye to the Lord; Sing ye to God, who mounts above the Heaven of heavens, towards the East” (Psalm lxviii. 33, 34). The angels were ready to receive our Emmanuel, and then began that sublime dialogue which the Royal Psalmist was permitted to hear and prophesy. The glad countless legion of the holy souls who escorted the Divine Conqueror cried out to the guardians of the heavenly Jerusalem: “Lift up your gates, ye Princes! Be ye lifted up, eternal gates! and the King of glory will enter in.” The faithful Angels replied: “Who is this King of glory? It is the Lord, responded the elect of earth: it is the Lord who is strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle.” Well might they say this of our Jesus, who had vanquished Satan, Death and Hell, and brought themselves to the City’s Gate as a sample of His stupendous conquest. The Angels repeated their question. The Saints re-echoed their reply: the Eternal Gates were thrown open, and the King and His Courtiers entered into Heaven.

The Gates, then, are opened to receive our Redeemer, and opened He would have them remain for us to follow Him. Admirable Ascension! Oh let us linger in its contemplation. Jesus inaugurates the grand mystery by His own entrance into Heaven, and then perpetuates it by the Ascension of His elect of each successive generation. There is a ceaseless procession up to Heaven, for some happy souls are ever finishing their purification in Purgatory, while some still happier ones are winging their rapid flight direct from this earthly vale of sorrows. Hail, then, glorious Mystery! Fruit of the flowers of so many mysteries! Term, fulfilment, perfection of our Creator’s decree! Alas! You had a long interruption by Adam’s sin, but Jesus’ triumph restored your reign on Earth, and this Earth will live in your beauty and grace till that word will be uttered by the Angel: “Time will be no more!” (Apocalypse x. 6) Mystery, of joy and hope, be you accomplished in me!”

Permit us, then, Jesus, to apply to ourselves what you said to your Apostles: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John xiv. 2). This has been your aim in all you have done for us: you came into this world to open Heaven for us. Your holy Spouse, the Church, bids us fix our eyes on Heaven. She points to its opened gates and shows us the bright track through which is passing up, from Earth, an unbroken line of souls. We are still in exile, but the eye of our faith sees you in that land above, you “the Son of Man” throned at the right hand of “the Ancient of days” (Daniel vii. 13). How are we to reach you, dear Jesus? We cannot, as you did, ascend by our own power: you must needs fulfil your promise, and our desire, of “drawing us to yourself” (John xii. 32). It was the object after which your Blessed Mother also sighed when you left her on Earth. She longed for the blissful hour of your taking her to yourself and awaited your call with faith, labouring meanwhile for your glory, and living with you, though not seeing you. Give us to imitate the faith and love of this your Mother, that so we may apply to ourselves those words of your Apostle: “We are already saved, by hope” (Romans viii. 24). Yes, we will be so if you send us, according to your promise, the Holy Spirit whom we so ardently desire to receive, for He is to confirm within us all that your mysteries have produced in our souls. He is to be to us a pledge of our future glorious ascension.

30 MAY – SAINT FELIX I (Pope and Martyr)

Felix, a Roman by birth, and son of Constantius, governed the Church during the reign of the emperor Aurelian. He decreed that the Mass should be celebrated upon the shrines and tombs of the martyrs. He held two ordinations in the month of December and made 9 priests, 5 deacons and 5 bishops. He was crowned with martyrdom, and was buried on the Via Aurelia in a Basilica which he himself had built and dedicated. He ruled 2 years, 4 months and 29 days.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The holy Popes of the primitive ages of the Church abound during these last days of our Paschal Season. Today we have Felix I, a martyr of the persecution under Aurelian in the third century. His Acts have been lost, with the exception of this one detail: that he proclaimed the dogma of the Incarnation with admirable precision in a Letter addressed to the Church of Alexandria, a passage of which was read, with much applause, at the two Ecumenical Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. We also learn from a law he passed for these troubled times of the Church, that this holy Pontiff was zealous in procuring for the martyrs the honour that is due to them. He decreed that the Holy Sacrifice should be offered up on their tombs. The Church has kept up a remnant of this law by requiring that all altars, whether fixed or portable, must have amongst the relics that are placed in them a portion of some belonging to the martyrs.

* * * * *

You, O holy Pontiff, imitated your Divine Master in His death, for you gave your life for your sheep. Like Him, too, you are to rise from your tomb and your happy soul will be reunited to its body which suffered death in testimony of the truth you proclaimed at Rome. Jesus is the first-born of the dead (Apocalypse i. 5). You followed Him in His Passion, you will follow Him in His Resurrection. Your body was laid in those venerable vaults which the piety of early Christians honoured with the appellation of Cemeteries, a word which signifies a place in which to sleep. You, O Felix, will awaken on that great day on which the Pasch is to receive its last and perfect fulfilment: pray that we also may then share with you in that happy Resurrection. Obtain for us that we may be faithful to the graces received in this year’s Easter, and prepare us for the visit of the Holy Ghost who is soon to descend upon us, that he may give stability to the work that has been achieved in our souls by our merciful Saviour.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYOLOGY:

At Torres in Sardinia, the holy martyrs Gabinus and Crispulus.

At Antioch, the Saints Sycus and Palatinus who endured many torments for the name of Christ.

At Ravenna, St. Exuperantius, bishop and confessor.

At Pavia, St. Anastasius, bishop.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the Saints Basil and his wife Emmelia, parents of St. Basil the Great, who lived in exile in the fastnesses of Pontus during the reign of Galerius Maximian, and after the persecution rested in peace, leaving their children the heirs of their virtues.

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

Thanks be to God.

30 MAY – SAINT FERDINAND III OF CASTILE (King and Confessor)

Ferdinand was born in about 1201 to King Alfonso IX of León and his second wife Queen Berenguela of Castile, at the Monastery of Valparaíso (Peleas de Arriba, now the Province of Zamora). He showed so much prudence in his youth that his mother resigned her kingdom in his favour. Ferdinand had all the virtues becoming to a king: magnanimity, clemency, justice and zeal for Catholic faith and worship, which he ardently defended and propagated. Ferdinand forbade heretics to settle in his kingdom and he built, endowed and dedicated churches in Cordova, Jaen, Seville and other cities rescued from the Moors. He restored the Cathedrals of Toledo, Burgos and other cities. He also he levied powerful armies in the kingdom of Castile and Leon and each year engaged in battles with the Saracens.

Ferdinand secured victory by the prayers he offered up to God. He used to chastise his body with disciplines and a rough hair-shirt, with the intention of rendering God propitious. By so doing he gained extraordinary victories over the mighty armies of the Moors, and, after taking possession of Jaen, Cordova and Murcia, and making a tributary of the kingdom of Granada, he restored many cities to the Christian religion and to Spain. He led his victorious standard before Seville, the capital of Baeza, being, as it is related, urged thereto by Saint Isidore, who had formerly been bishop of that city, and who appeared to him in a vision. Ferdinand was miraculously aided during that siege: the Muslims had stretched an iron chain across the Guadalquiver to block up the passage but there arose a violent wind, and one of the royal ships was, by the king's order, sent against the chain, which broke with so much violence that it was carried far beyond, and bore down a bridge of boats. The Moors lost all hope and the city surrendered. Ferdinand attributed all these victories to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose image he always had in his camp, and honoured it with much devotion.

Having taken Seville, Ferdinand’s first thoughts were directed to religion. He immediately caused the mosque of the Saracens to be purified and dedicated as a Christian church, having provided it with an archiepiscopal See, richly endowed, as also with a well-appointed college of Canons and dignitaries. He built several other churches and monasteries in Seville. While engaged in these holy works, he was preparing to pass over to Africa to crush the Muslim empire but before he could do so he died. When death approached he fastened a cord round his neck, prostrated on the ground, and, shedding abundant tears, adored the Blessed Sacrament which was brought to him as Viaticum. Having received it in admirable dispositions of reverence, humility and faith, he slept in the Lord in 1252. His body, which remained incorrupt for many centuries is buried in the Cathedral Church of Seville.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

During the Season consecrated to the mystery of our Emmanuel’s birth we saw standing near His crib the Blessed Emperor Charlemagne. Crowned with the imperial diadem, and with a sword in his hand, he seemed to be watching over the babe whose first worshippers were shepherds. And now, near the glorious sepulchre, which was first visited by Magdalene and her companions, we perceive a King — Ferdinand the Victorious —wearing a crown and keeping guard with his valiant sword —the terror of the Saracen.

Catholic Spain is personified in her Ferdinand. His mother Berengera was sister to Blanche the mother of Saint Louis of France. In order to form “the Catholic Kingdom,” there was needed one of our Lord’s Apostles — Saint James the Great; there was needed a formidable trial —the Saracen invasion which deluged the Peninsula; there was needed a chivalrous resistance, which lasted eight hundred years, and by which Spain regained her glory and her freedom. Saint Ferdinand is the worthy representative of the brave heroes who drove out the Moors from their fatherland and made her what she is: but he had the virtues of a saint, as well as the courage of a soldier.

His life was one of exploits, and each was a victory. Cordova, the city of the Caliphs, was conquered by this warrior Saint. At once, its Alhambra ceased to be a palace of Mahometan effeminacy and crime. Its splendid Mosque was consecrated to the Divine Service, and afterwards became the Cathedral of the city. The followers of Mahomet had robbed the Church of Saint James at Compostella of its bells, and had them brought in triumph to Cordova. Ferdinand ordered them to be carried there again, on the backs of the Moors.

After a siege of 16 months, Seville also fell into Ferdinand’s hands. Its fortifications consisted of a double wall, with 166 towers. The Christian army was weak in numbers. The Saracens fought with incredible courage, and had the advantages of position and tact on their part, but the Crescent was to be eclipsed by the Cross. Ferdinand gave the Saracens a month to evacuate the city and territory. Three hundred thousand withdrew to Xeres, and a hundred thousand passed over into Africa. The brave Moorish General, when taking his last look at the city, wept and said to his officers: “None but a Saint could, with such a small force, have made himself master of so strong and well-manned a place.”

We will not enumerate the other victories gained by our Saint. The Moors foresaw that the result would be their total expulsion from the Peninsula. But this was not all that Ferdinand aimed at: he even intended to invade Africa, and thus crush the Muslim power forever. The noble project was prevented by his death, which took place in the fifty-third year of his age.

He always looked on himself as the humble instrument of God’s designs, and zealously laboured to accomplish them. Though most austere towards himself, he was a father in his compassion for his people, and was one day heard to say: “I am more afraid of the curse of one poor woman, than of all the Saracen armies together.” He richly endowed the churches which he built in Spain. His devotion to the Holy Mother of God was most tender, and he used to call her his Lady: in return, Mary procured him victory in all his battles, and kept away all pestilence and famine from the country during his entire reign, which, as the contemporary chroniclers observe, was an evident miracle, considering the circumstances of the age and period. The whole life of our Saint was a series of happiness and success, whereas, the life of that other admirable King, Saint Louis of France, was one of almost uninterrupted misfortune, as though God would give to the world, in these two Saints a model of courage in adversity, and an example of humility in prosperity. They form unitedly a complete picture of what human life is, regenerated as it has now been by our Jesus, in whom we adore both the humiliations of the Cross and the glories of the Resurrection. What happy times were those, when God chose kings by which to teach mankind such sublime lessons!

One feels curious to know how such a man, such a King as Ferdinand, would take death when it came upon him. When it came, he was in his fifty-fourth year. The time approached for his receiving the Holy Viaticum. As soon as the priest entered the room with the Blessed Sacrament, the holy King got out of bed, prostrated himself in adoration and, humbly putting a cord round his neck, received the Sacred Host. This done, and feeling that he was on the verge of eternity, he ordered his attendants to remove from him every sign of royalty, and called his sons round his bed. Addressing himself to the eldest, who was Alphonsus the Good, he entrusted him with the care of his brothers, and reminded him of the duties he owed to his subjects and soldiers. He then added these words: “My son, you see what armies, and possessions, and subjects, you have, more than any other Christian king: make a proper use of these advantages, and, having the power, be and do good. You are now master of the country which the Moors took in times past from King Rodriguez. If you keep the kingdom in the state in which I now leave it to you, you will be as I have been, a good king, which you will not be, if you allow any portion of it to be lost.”

As his end drew near, the dying King was favoured with an apparition from Heaven. He thanked God for granting him that consolation, and then asked for the blessed candle. But before taking it in his hand, he raised up his eyes to Heaven and said: “You, O Lord, have given me the kingdom which I should not otherwise have had. You have given me more honour and power than I deserved: receive my thanks! I give you back this kingdom, which I have increased as far as I was able. I also commend my soul into your hands!" He then asked pardon of the by-standers, begging them to overlook any offence that he might have committed against them. The whole court was present and, with tears, asked the Saint to forgive them. The holy King then took the blessed candle into his hands, and raising it up towards heaven, said: “Lord Jesus Christ! My Redeemer! Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I return to the earth. Lord, receive my soul! and, through the merits of your most holy Passion, deign to admit it among those of your servants!” Having said this, he gave back the candle and asked the bishops and priests who were present to recite the Litanies, which being ended, he bade them sing the Te Deum. When the Hymn was finished, he bowed down his head, closed his eyes, and calmly expired.

Thus died those men whose glorious works were the result of their Faith, and who looked on themselves as only sent into this world that they might serve Christ and labour to propagate His kingdom. It was they that gave Europe its highest glory: they made the Gospel its first law, and based its Constitution on the Canons of the Church. It is now governed by a very different standard. It is paying dearly for the change, and is being drifted rapidly to dissolution and ruin.

* * * * *

BY delivering your people from the yoke of the Infidel, you, O Ferdinand, imitated our Risen Jesus who rescued us from death and restored us to the life we had lost. Your conquests were not like those of this world’s conquerors, who have no other aim than the satisfying their own and their peoples’ pride. Your ambition was to deliver your people from an oppression which had weighed heavily on them for long ages. Your object was to save them from the danger of apostasy, which they incurred by being under the Moorish yoke. Champion of Christ! It was for His dear sake you laid siege to the Saracen cities. His banner was yours, and your first anxiety was to spread His kingdom. He, in return, blessed you in all your your battles, and made you ever victorious.

Your mission, Ferdinand, was to form for our God a nation which has been honoured by holy Church above all others with the glorious name of the “Catholic Kingdom.” Happy Spain which by her perseverance and courage broke the Mussulman yoke, that still weighs down the other countries which it made its prey! Happy Spain which repelled the invasion of Protestantism and by this preserved the Faith, which both saves souls and constitutes a nation’s strongest power! Pray for your country, O saintly King! False doctrines and treacherous influences are now rife within her, and many of her children have been led astray. Never permit her to injure, by cowardly compromise, that holy Faith which has been her grandest glory and safeguard. Frustrate the secret plots which are working to undermine her Catholicity. Keep up within her her old hatred of heresy, and maintain her in the rank she holds among Catholic nations. Unity in faith and worship may still save her from the abyss into which so many other countries have fallen. O holy King! Save once more the land that God entrusted to your keeping, and which you restored to Him with such humble gratitude when you were about to change your earthly for a heavenly crown. You are still her beloved protector. Hasten then to her aid!

29 MAY – SAINT MARY MAGDALENE OF PAZZI (Virgin)

Caterina de' Pazzi was born into a noble family in 1566. At the age of 16 she entered the Carmelite Convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Florence and took the name Maria Magdalena. There she became a model of every virtue. Such was her purity that she ignored everything opposed to it. She received a command from God (which she fulfilled) of fasting on bread and water for five years, except on Sundays on which she might partake of a Lenten diet.

 

She mortified her body by a hair-shirt, discipline, cold, abstinence, watching, want and every kind of suffering. Such was the ardour of divine love that burned within her that, not being able to bear the heat, she was obliged to temper it by applying cold water to her breast. She was frequently in a state of rapture, and the wonderful ecstasies she had were almost daily. In these states she was permitted to penetrate into heavenly mysteries, and was favoured by God with extraordinary graces. Thus strengthened, she had to endure a long combat with the princes of darkness, and aridity and desolation of spirit, abandonment by all creatures, and various temptations: God so willed it that she might become a model of invincible patience and profound humility.

She was remarkable for her charity towards others. She would often sit up all night, doing the work of the Sisters or in waiting on the sick whose sores she sometimes healed by sucking their wounds. She wept bitterly over the perdition of infidels and sinners, and offered to suffer every sort of torment so that they might be saved.

Several years before her death she heroically besought Jesus to take from her the heavenly delights with which He favoured her, and was frequently heard saying, “To suffer, not to die.” Worn out by a long and painful illness, she died on the twenty-fifth of May in 1607 at the age of 41. Many miracles having been wrought by her merits, both before and after death, she was beatified by Pope Urban VIII and was canonised in 1669 by Pope Clement IX.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Our Paschal Calendar gives us three illustrious virgins of the beautiful Italy. We have already kept the feast of the valiant Catherine of Siena. In a few days we will be honouring the memory of Angela de Merici, surrounded by her school-children. Today it is the fair lily of Florence, Magdalene de Pazzi, who embalms the whole Church with the fragrance of her name and intercession. She was the loving imitatrix of our Crucified Jesus. Was it not just that she should have some share in the joy of His Resurrection?

Magdalene de Pazzi was one of the brightest ornaments of the Order of Carmel, by her angelic purity, and by the ardour of her love for God. Like Saint Philip Neri, she was one of the grandest manifestations of the Divine Charity that is found in the true Church. Magdalene in her peaceful cloister, and Philip in his active labours for the salvation of souls — both made it their ambition to satisfy that desire expressed by our Jesus when He said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled” (Luke xii. 49).The life of this Spouse of Christ was one continued miracle. Her ecstasies and raptures were almost of every-day occurrence. The lights given to her regarding the mysteries were extraordinary, and in order to prepare her for those sublime communications, God would have her go through the severest trials of the spiritual life. She triumphed over them all and, her love having found its nourishment in them, she could not be happy without suffering, for nothing else seemed to satisfy the longings of the love that burned within her. At the same time, her heart was filled to overflowing with charity for her neighbour: she would have saved all mankind, and her charity to all, even for their temporal well-being, was something heroic. God blessed Florence on her account, and as to the city itself, she so endeared herself to its people by her admirable virtues that devotion to her, even to this day, which is more than [three] hundred years since her death, is as fervent as ever it was.

One of the most striking proofs of the divine origin and holiness of the Church is to be found in such privileged souls as Magdalene de Pazzi, on whom we see the mysteries of our salvation acting with such direct influence. “God so loved the world, as to give it His Only Begotten Son” (John iii. 16), and this Son of God deigns to love some of His creatures with such special affection, and to lavish on them such extraordinary favours, that all men may have some idea of the love with which His Sacred Heart is inflamed for this world, which He redeemed at the price of His Blood. Happy those Christians that appreciate and relish these instances of Jesus’ special love! Happy they that can give Him thanks for bestowing such gifts on some of our fellow-creatures! They have the true light, whereas they that have an unpleasant feeling at hearing of such things, and are angry at the thought that there can be an intimacy between God and any soul of which they are not worthy — this class of people prove that there is a great deal of darkness mixed up with their faith.

* * * * *

Your life here below, O Magdalene, resembled that of an Angel who was sent by God to assume our weak and fallen nature, and be subject to its laws. Your soul was ceaselessly aspiring to a life which was all heavenly, and your Jesus was ever giving you that thirst of love which can only be quenched at the waters of life everlasting. A heavenly light revealed to you such admirable mysteries, such treasures of truth and beauty, that your heart —unequal to the sweetness thus given to it by the Holy Ghost, sought relief in sacrifice and suffering. It seemed to you, as though there was but one way of making God a return for His favours — the annihilation of self. Seraphic lover of our God, how are we to imitate you? What is our love, when we compare it to yours? And yet, we can imitate you. The year of the Church’s Liturgy was your very life. Each of its Seasons did its work in you, and brought you new light and love. The divine Babe of Bethlehem, the bleeding Victim of the Cross, the glorious Conqueror of Death, the Holy Ghost radiant with His seven gifts — each of these great realities enraptured you and your soul, renewed by the annual succession of the mysteries, was transformed into Him who, that He might win our hearts, gives these sublime celebrations to His Church. Your love of souls was great during your sojourn here. It is more ardent now that you are in possession of the Sovereign Good. Obtain for us, Magdalene, light to see the riches which enraptured you, and love to love the treasures which enamoured you. O riches! Treasures! Is it possible that they are ours too?

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Aurelia, the birthday of St. Restitutus, martyr.

At Iconium, a town of Isauria, in the time of the emperor Aurelian, the martyrdom of the Saints Conon and his son, a child twelve years of age, who were laid on a grate over burning coals sprinkled with oil, were racked and exposed to the fire and finally, having their hands crushed with a mallet, they breathed their last.

The same day, in the time of the emperor Honorius, the birthday of the holy martyrs Sisinius, Martyrius and Alexander who were persecuted by the Gentiles of Anaunia and obtained the crown of martyrdom, as is related by Paulinus in the Life of St. Ambrose.

At Caesarea Philippi, the holy martyrs Theodosia, mother of the martyr St. Procopius, and twelve other noble matrons, who ended their life by decapitation in the persecution of Diocletian.

In Umbria, the passion of fifteen hundred and twenty-five holy martyrs.

At Treves, blessed Maximus, bishop and confessor, who received with honour the patriarch St. Athanasius banished by the Arian persecutors.

At Verona, St. Maximus, bishop.

At Arcanum, in Campania, St. Eleutherius, confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

28 MAY – SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY (Bishop and Confessor)

 

Augustine was a monk of the Monastery of Saint Andrew in Rome where also he discharged the office of Prior with much piety and prudence. He was taken from that Monastery by Saint Gregory the Great and sent by him, with about forty monks of the same Monastery, into Britain. Thus would Gregory carry out by his disciples the conversion of that country to Christ, a project which he at first resolved to effect himself. They had not advanced far on their journey when they got frightened at the difficulty of such an enterprise, but Gregory encouraged them by letters which he sent to Augustine whom he appointed as their Abbot, and gave him letters of introduction to the kings of the Franks, and to the bishops of Gaul. Whereupon Augustine and his monks pursued their journey with haste. He visited the tomb of Saint Martin at Tours. Having reached the town of Pont-de-Cé not far from Angers, he was badly treated by its inhabitants and was compelled to spend the night in the open air. Having struck the ground with his staff, a fountain miraculously sprang up and on that spot a church was afterwards built and called after his name.

Having procured interpreters from the Franks, he proceeded to England and landed at the isle of Thanet. He entered the country carrying, as a standard, a silver cross and a painting representing our Saviour. Thus did he present himself before Ethelbert, the king of Kent, who readily provided the heralds of the Gospel with a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, and gave them leave to preach in his kingdom. There was, close at hand, an oratory which had been built in honour of Saint Martin when the Romans had possession of Britain. It was in this oratory that his queen Bertha (who was a Christian, as being of the nation of the Franks) was wont to pray. Augustine, therefore, entered into Canterbury with solemn religious ceremony, amid the chanting of psalms and litanies. He took up his abode, for some time, near to the said oratory and there, together with his monks, led an apostolic life. Such manner of living, conjointly with the heavenly doctrine that was preached and confirmed by many miracles, so reconciled the islanders that many of them were induced to embrace the Christian Faith. The king himself was also converted, and Augustine baptised him and a very great number of his people.

On one Christmas Day, he baptised upwards of 10,000 English in a river at York. And it is related that those among them who were suffering any malady received bodily health, as well as their spiritual regeneration. Meanwhile, the man of God Augustine received a command from Gregory to go and receive Episcopal ordination in Gaul, at the hands of Virgilius, the Bishop of Arles. On his return he established his See at Canterbury in the Church of our Saviour which he had built, and he kept there some of the monks to be his fellow-labourers. He also built in the suburbs the Monastery of Saint Peter which was afterwards called “Saint Augustine’s.” When Gregory heard of the conversion of the Angli which was told to him by the two monks Laurence and Peter whom Augustine had sent to Rome, he wrote letters of congratulation to Augustine. He gave him power to arrange all that concerned the Church in England and to wear the Pallium. In the same letters he admonished him to be on his guard against priding himself on the miracles which God enabled him to work for the salvation of souls, but which pride would turn to the injury of him that worked them.

Having thus put in order the affairs of the Church in England, Augustine held a Council with the Bishops and Doctors of the ancient Britons who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the keeping of Easter, and other rites. And in order to refute, by miracles, these men whom the Apostolic See had often authoritatively admonished, but to no purpose, Augustine, in proof of the truth of his assertions, restored sight to a blind man in their presence. But on their refusing to yield even after witnessing the miracle, Augustine, with prophetic warning, told them of the punishment that awaited them. At length, after having laboured so long for Christ and appointed Laurence as his successor, he took his departure for Heaven on the seventh of the Calends of June (May 26th) and was buried in the Monastery of Saint Peter which became the burying place of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and of several kings. The Churches of England honoured him with great devotion. They decreed that each year, his feast should be kept as a day of rest, and that his Name should be inserted in the Litany of the Saints immediately after that of Saint Gregory, together with whom Augustine has ever been honoured by the English as their Apostle and the propagator of the Benedictine Order in their country.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Four hundred years had scarcely elapsed since the glorious death of Eleutherius when a second Apostle of Britain ascended from this world, and on this same day to the abode of eternal bliss. We cannot but be struck at this circumstance of our two Apostles’ names appearing thus together on the Calendar: it shows us that God has His own special reasons in fixing the day for the death of each one among us. We have more than once noticed these providential coincidences which form one of the chief characteristics of the Liturgical Cycle. What a beautiful sight is this which is brought before us today, of this first Archbishop of Canterbury who, after honouring on this day the saintly memory of the holy Pontiff from whom England first received the Gospel, himself ascended into Heaven and shared with Eleutherius the eternity of Heaven’s joy! Who would not acknowledge in this a pledge of the predilection with which Heaven has favoured this country which, after centuries of fidelity to the Truth, has now, for [five] hundred years, been an enemy to her own truest glory!

The work begun by Eleutherius had been almost entirely destroyed by the invasion of the Saxons and Angli so that a new mission, a new preaching of the Gospel, had become a necessity. It was Rome that again supplied the want. Saint Gregory the Great was the originator of the great design. Had it been permitted him, he would have taken upon himself the fatigues of this Apostolate to our country. He was deeply impressed with the idea that he was to be the spiritual Father of those poor islanders, some of whom he had seen exposed in the market-place of Rome that they might be sold as slaves. Not being allowed to undertake the work himself, he looked around him for men whom he might send as Apostles to our island. He found them in the Benedictine monastery where he himself had spent several years of his life. There started from Rome forty monks, with Augustine at their head, and they entered England under the standard of the Cross. Thus the new race, that then peopled the island received the Faith as the Britains had previously done from the hands of a Pope, and monks were their teachers in the science of salvation. The word of Augustine and his companions fructified in this privileged soil. It, of course, took him some time before he could provide the whole nation with instruction, but neither Rome nor the Benedictines abandoned the work thus begun. The few remnants that were still left of the ancient British Christianity joined the new converts and England merited to be called, for long ages, the “Island of Saints.”

The history of Saint Augustine’s apostolate in England is of a thrilling interest. The landing of the Roman missionaries and their marching through the country to the chant of the Litany, the willing and almost kind welcome given them by king Ethelbert, the influence exercised by his queen Bertha (who was French and Catholic) in the establishment of the Faith among the Saxons, the baptism of ten thousand neophytes on Christmas Day and in the bed of a river, the foundation of the metropolitan See of Canterbury, one of the most illustrious Churches of Christendom by the holiness and noble doings of its Archbishops: yes, all these admirable episodes of England’s conversion are eloquent proofs of God’s predilection of our dear land. Augustine’s peaceful and gentle character, together with his love of contemplation amid his arduous missionary labours, gives an additional charm to this magnificent page of the Church’s history. But, who can help feeling sad at the thought that a country favoured, as ours has been, with such graces, should have apostatised from the Faith? Have repaid with hatred that Rome which made her Christian? And have persecuted, with unheard-of cruelties, the Benedictine Order to which she owed so much of her glory?

* * * * *

O Jesus, our Risen Lord! You are the Life of Nations, as you are the Life of our souls. You bid them know and love and serve you, for they have been given to you for your inheritance, and at your own appointed time each of them is made your possession (Psalm ii. 8). Our own dear country was one of the earliest to be called and, when on your Cross, you looked with mercy on this far island of the West. In the second Age of your Church you sent to her the heralds of your Gospel, and again in the Sixth, Augustine, your Apostle, commissioned by Gregory, your Vicar, came to teach the way of Truth to the new pagan race that had made itself the owner of this highly favoured land. How glorious, dear Jesus, was your reign in our fatherland! You gave her Bishops, Doctors, Kings, Monks and Virgins whose virtues and works made the whole world speak of her as the “Island of Saints,” and it is to Augustine, your disciple and herald, that you would have us attribute the chief part of the honour of so grand a conquest. Long indeed was your reign over this people whose faith was lauded throughout the whole world. But, alas, an evil hour came and England rebelled against you. She would not have you to reign over her (Luke xix. 14). By her influence she led other nations astray. She hated you in your Vicar. She repudiated the greater part of the truths you have revealed to men. She put out the light of Faith and substituted in its place the principle of Private Judgement which made her the slave of countless false doctrines. In the mad rage of her heresy, she trampled beneath her feet and burned the relics of the Saints who were her grandest glory. She annihilated the Monastic Order to which she owed her knowledge of the Christian Faith. She was drunk with the blood of the Martyrs. She encouraged apostasy and punished adhesion to the ancient Faith as the greatest of crimes.

She, by a just judgement of God, has become a worshipper of material prosperity. Her wealth, her fleet, and her colonies —these are her idols and she would awe the rest of the world by the power they give her. But the Lord will, in His own time, overthrow this Colossus of power and riches and as it was in times past when the mightiest of kingdoms was destroyed by a stone which struck it on its feet of clay (Daniel ii. 35), wo will people be amazed when the time of retribution comes to find how easily the greatest of modern nations was conquered and humbled. England no longer forms a part of your kingdom, O Jesus! She separated herself from it by breaking the bond that had held her so long in union with your Church. You have patiently waited for her return, yet she returns not. Her prosperity is a scandal to the weak, so that her own best and most devoted children feel that her chastisement will be one of the severest that your Justice can inflict. Meanwhile, your mercy, O Jesus, is winning over thousands of her people to the Truth, and their love of it seems fervent in proportion to their having been so long deprived of its beautiful light. You have created a new people in her very midst, and each year the number is increasing. Cease not your merciful workings that thus these faithful ones may once more draw down upon our country the blessing she forfeited when she rebelled against your Church.

Your mission, then, O holy Apostle Augustine, is not yet over. The number of the Elect is not filled up and our Lord is gleaning some of these from amid the tares that cover the land of your loving labours. May your intercession obtain for her children those graces which enlighten the mind and convert the heart. May it remove their prejudices and give them to see that the Spouse of Jesus is but One, as He Himself calls her (Canticles vi. 8), that the Faith of Gregory and Augustine are still the Faith of the Catholic Church at this day, and that [five] hundred years’ possession could never give heresy any claim to a country which was led astray by seduction and violence, and which has retained so many traces of its ancient and deep-rooted Catholicity.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the holy martyrs Simitrius, priest, and twenty two others, who suffered under Antoninus Pius.

At Athens, during the persecution of Hadrian, the birthday of blessed Quadratus, a disciple of the Apostles, who collected through his zealous exertions the faithful dispersed by terror, and presented to the emperor an excellent apology of the Christian religion, worthy of an apostle.

At Vienne, St. Zachary, bishop and martyr, who suffered under Trajan.

In Africa, St. Quadratus, martyr, on whose festival St. Augustine preached a sermon.

At Todi, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felicissimus, Heraclius and Paulinus.

In the territory of Auxerre, the passion of St. Priscus, martyr, with a great multitude of Christians.

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

Thanks be to God.

28 MAY – ROGATION WEDNESDAY

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

During these three days we seem to have forgotten that the time of separation is close upon us, but no — the thought of our coming trial has often presented itself, and the humble supplications we have been presenting to Heaven, in union with holy Church, have prepared us to celebrate the last mystery achieved by our Emmanuel on Earth. The Disciples are all assembled in Jerusalem. They are grouped around the Blessed Mother, in the Cenacle, awaiting the hour when their divine Master is to appear to them for the last time. Recollected and silent, they are reflecting upon all the kindness and condescension He has been lavishing on them during the last forty days. They are ruminating on the instructions they have received from His sacred lips. They know Him so well now! They know in very deed that He came out from the Father (John xvii. 8) As to what regards themselves, they have learned from Him what their mission is: they have to go, ignorant men as they are, and teach all nations (Matthew xxviii. 19), but, sad thought! He is about to leave them. Yet a little while and they will not see Him (John xvi. 16).

What a contrast between their sorrow and the smiling face of nature, which is decked out in her best, for she is going to celebrate the triumphant departure of her Creator! The earth is blooming with the freshness of her first-fruits, the meadows have put on their richest emerald, the air is perfumed with blossom and flower, and all this loveliness of Spring is due to the bright sun that shines on the earth to give her gladness and life, and is privileged to be, both by its kingly splendour and the successive phases of its influence upon our globe, the grand symbol of our Emmanuel’s passage through this world. Let us go back in thought to the dismal days of the winter solstice. The sun looked then so pallid. His triumph over night was slow and short. He rose and sank again, often without our seeing him. His light had a certain timid reserve about it, and his heat was, for weeks, too feeble to rescue nature from the grasp of frost. Such was our divine Sun of Justice, when first He came on earth. His rays made but little way in the world’s thick gloom. He kept His splendour in, lest men should be dazzled by too sudden a change from darkness to light. Like the material sun, He gained upon the world by slow advances, and even so, His progress was shrouded by many a cloud. His sojourn in the land of Egypt, His hidden life at Nazareth, were long periods of His being wholly lost sight of. But when the time came for Him to show Himself, His glory shone forth with all its magnificence on Galilee and Judea. He spoke as one having power (Matthew vii. 29). His works bore testimony to His being God (John x. 25), and the people hailed Him with the cry of “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

He was almost at the zenith of His glory when suddenly came the eclipse of His Passion and Death. For some hours His enemies flattered themselves that they had for ever put out His light. Vain hope! On the third day our divine Sun triumphed over this final obstruction, and now stands in the firmament, pouring out His light upon all creation, but warning us that His course is run. For He can never descend. There is no setting for Him, and here finishes the comparison between Himself and the orb of day. It is from heaven itself that he, our beautiful Orient is henceforth to enlighten and direct us, as Zachary foretold at the birth of the Baptist (Luke I. 79). The Royal Prophet, too, thus exultingly sang of Him: “He has rejoiced as a giant, to run the way: his going out is from the highest heaven, and his circuit even to the summit thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat” (Psalms xviii. 6, 7).

This Ascension which enthroned our Emmanuel as the eternal centre of light was, by His own decree, to take place on one of the days of the month which men call May, and which clothes, in its richest beauty, the creation of this same God, who, when He had made it, was pleased with it, and found it very good (Genesis i. 31) Sweet month of May! Not gloomy and cold like December, which brought us the humble joys of Bethlehem: not lowering and clouded like March, when the Lamb was sacrificed on Calvary — but buoyant with sunshine, and flowers, and life, and truly worthy to be offered, each year, to Mary, the Mother of God, for it is the month of her Jesus’ triumph.

JESUS, our Creator and Brother! Our eyes and heart have followed you from your first rising upon our world. We have celebrated, in the holy Liturgy, each of your giant steps. But our very seeing you thus ever growing in beauty and brightness told us that you must one day leave us, to go and take possession of the place that was alone worthy of you — the throne at the right hand of your Eternal Father. The splendour that has been on you since your Resurrection is not of this world. You can no longer abide among us. You have remained here below for these forty days only for the sake of consolidating your work, and tomorrow, the earth that has been blessed with your presence for three and thirty years, will be deprived of its privilege and joy. We rejoice at your approaching triumph, as did your Blessed Mother, your Disciples, Mary Magdalene and her companions, but we are sad at the thought of losing you — and you will forgive us. You were our Emmanuel, our God with us: henceforth you are to be our Sun, our King, reigning from the throne of Heaven, and we will no longer be able to hear you, nor see you, nor touch you, Word of Life! Still, dearest Jesus, we say to you with all our hearts: “Glory and love be to you, for you have treated us with infinite mercy! You owed nothing to us. We were unworthy of a single look from you, and yet you came down to this sinful earth, you have dwelt among us, you have hast paid our ransom by your Blood, you have re-established Peace between God and man. Oh, yes, it is most just that you should now return to Him that sent you (John xvi. 5). The Church, your Spouse, consents to her exile. She only thinks of what is most glorious to her Jesus, and she thus addresses you, in the words of the Canticle: “Flee away, O my Beloved! and be swift as the roe and as the young hart, and ascend to the mountains, where the flowers of heaven exhale their sweet fragrance!” (Canticles viii. 14) Can we, poor sinners as we are, refuse to imitate this loving resignation of her, who is your Spouse, and our Mother.

27 MAY – SAINT BEDE THE VENERABLE (Priest)

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould:

Bede was born in 672 or 673 near the place where Benedict Biscop soon afterwards founded the religious house of Wearmouth, perhaps in the parish of Monkton, which appears to have been one of the earliest endowments of the monastery. As soon as he had reached his seventh year, Bede was sent to Wearmouth, and then to Jarrow, to profit by the teaching of Biscop, from which period to his death he continued to be an inmate of the later monastery.

After the death of Benedict Biscop, Bede pursued his studies under his successor Ceolfrid and, at the age of nineteen, about 692, was admitted to deacon’s orders by Saint John of Beverley, then newly restored to his see of Hexham, and in his thirtieth year he was ordained to the priesthood by the same prelate. The early age at which Bede received holy orders shows that he was then already distinguishing himself by his learning and piety, and there can be little doubt that his fame was widely spread before the commencement of the eighth century. At that period, according to that account which has been generally received, Bede was invited to Rome by Pope Sergius I to advise with that pontiff on some difficult points of church discipline. The authority for this circumstance is a letter of the pope to Ceolfrid, expressing his wish to see Bede at Rome, which has been inserted by William of Malmesbury in his History of England. It seems, however, nearly certain that Bede did not go to Rome on this occasion, and reasons have been stated for supposing the whole story, as far as Bede was concerned in it, to be a misrepresentation. If Bede was invited, we may suppose that the death of the pope the same year in which the letter was sent released him from the labours of the journey.

The remainder of Bede’s life appears to have passed in the tranquillity of study. He clung through life to the dear retreat that was his home, and within its peaceful walls composed his numerous books. But occasionally he went forth to other religious houses for brief visits. In 733 he spent some days in the monastery of York in company with his friend, Archbishop Egbert, but he declined another invitation from the same prelate towards the close of 734 on the plea of ill health, in a letter still preserved. Bede was at this time labouring under an asthmatic complaint which shortly afterwards carried him from the scene of his mortal labours. It is evident from various passages of his works that his days and nights were divided between the studies and researches which he pursued to his last hour, and the instructions he gave to the six hundred monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow. An existence more completely occupied it would be difficult to imagine. Except during the course of his last illness, he had no assistant in his work. “I am my own secretary,” he said, “I dictate, I compose, I copy all myself.”

His greatest work, that most precious to Englishmen, is unquestionably his Ecclesiastical History of England, our chief, almost our only authority for the early history of Christianity in our island. He was urged to undertake this by Albinus, abbot of Saint Augustine’s, Canterbury. Albinus furnished him with memoranda of all that had happened in Kent and the neighbouring counties in the time of the missionaries sent by Saint Gregory. He even sent a priest to Rome to search the archives of the Roman Church, with the permission of Gregory II, for the letters of his predecessors and other documents relative to the mission to England. All the bishops of England also assisted in the work by transmitting to the author what information they could collect concerning the origin of the faith in their dioceses. The abbots of the most important monasteries also furnished their contingent.

This pleasant and glorious life was not, however, without a cloud. He excited the criticism of narrow spirits. They even went so far as to treat him as a heretic because he had in his Chronology combated the general opinion that the world would last only six thousand years. He grew pale with surprise and horror, as he says to one of his friends in an apologetic letter which he charges his correspondent to read to Wilfrid, bishop of York, who seems to have given a certain encouragement to the slander by suffering it to pass in his hearing unrebuked. If, however, he had some enemies, he had more friends. Among these, in the first rank, it is pleasant to find the Celtic monks of Lindisfarne. Bede asks that his name should be inscribed on the roll of monks in the monastery founded by Saint Aidan. He especially desired this favour in order that his soul after death might have a share in the Masses and prayers of that numerous community, as if he had been one of themselves.

The details of his last sickness and death have been revealed to us in minute detail by an eye-witness, the monk Cuthbert:

“Nearly a fortnight before Easter (17th April, 734) he was seized by an extreme weakness in consequence of his difficulty of breathing, but without great pain. He continued thus till the Ascension (26th May), always joyous and happy, giving thanks to God day and night, and even every hour of the night and day. He gave us our lessons daily, and employed the rest of his time in chanting psalms, and passed every night, after a short sleep, in joy and thanksgiving, but without closing his eyes. From the moment of awaking he resumed his prayers and praises to God, with his arms outstretched as a cross. O happy man! He sang sometimes texts from Saint Paul and other scriptures, sometimes lines in our own language, for he was very able in English poetry, to this effect: ‘None is wiser than him needeth, ere his departure, than to ponder ere the soul flits, what good, what evil it hath wrought, and how after death it will be judged.’

He also sang antiphons according to our ritual and his own, one of which is, ‘O glorious King, Lord of all power, who, triumphing this day, did ascend up above the heavens, leave us not orphans; but send down on us from the Father the Spirit of Truth which Thou hast promised. Hallelujah.’ And when he came to the words, ‘leave us not orphans,‘ he burst into tears, and continued weeping. But an hour after he rallied himself and began to repeat the antiphon he had begun. By turns we read, and by turns we wept — nay, we wept while we read. In such joy we passed the days of Lent, till the aforesaid day. He often repeated, ‘The Lord scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,’ and much more out of Scripture; as also this sentence from Saint Ambrose, ‘I have not lived so as to be ashamed to live among you, nor do I fear to die, for our God is gracious.’

During these days he laboured to compose two works, besides his giving us our lessons and singing psalms. He was engaged on translating the Gospel of Saint John into the vulgar tongue for the benefit of the Church, and had got as far as the words, ‘But what are these among so many’ (S. John vi. 9), and he was also making some notes out of the book of Bishop Isidore; for he said, ‘I will not have my pupils read what is untrue, nor labour on what is profitless after my death.’ On the Tuesday before the Ascension his breath became much affected, and his feet swelled, but he passed all that day cheerfully and continued his dictation, saying, ‘Be quick with your writing, for I will not hold out much longer.’ So he spent the night awake giving thanks, and when morning broke, that is Wednesday, he ordered us to write with all speed what he had begun.

And there was one of us who said to him, ‘Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting. Will it trouble you if I ask a few questions?’ for the rest of us had gone to make the Rogation procession. He answered, ‘It is no trouble. Take your pen, and write fast.’ And when it came to the ninth hour he said to me, ‘There are some articles of value in my chest, as peppercorns, napkins and incense. Run quickly and bring the priests of the monastery to me, that I may distribute among them the gifts which God has bestowed on me.’ And when they were come he spoke to each of them in turn, and entreated them to pray and offer the Holy Sacrifice for his soul, which they all readily promised, but they were all weeping, for he said ‘You will see my face again no more in this life. It is time for me to return to Him who formed me out of nothing. The time of my dissolution is at hand. I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.’ Now when even came on, the boy above mentioned said, ‘Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written.’ He answered, ‘Then write it quickly now.’ Soon after the boy said, ‘It is finished. The sentence is now written.’ He replied, ‘It was well said, it is finished. Raise my old head in your arms, that I may look once more at the happy, holy place, where I was wont to pray, that sitting up in my bed I may call on my Father.’ And thus on the pavement of his little cell, singing ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ he breathed his last, as he uttered the name of the Holy Ghost, and so departed to the heavenly kingdom. All who were present thought they had never seen any one die with so much devotion, and in so peaceful a state of mind.”

The monastic sanctuary towards which the dying look of Bede was turned still remains in part, if we may believe the best archaeologists, in the recently restored parish church of Jarrow, which has been carefully renovated in honour of England’s first great historian, every relic of the ancient building as old as Bede being carefully preserved. An old oak chair is still shown, which the saint is pretended to have used. Like all the other saints of the period, without exception, he was canonised by popular veneration, tacitly approved by the Church. Many pilgrims came to Jarrow to visit his tomb. His relics were stolen in the ninth century and carried to Durham, where they were placed with those of Saint Cuthbert. They were an object of veneration to the faithful up to the general profanation under Henry VIII who pulled down the shrine and buried them with those of all the other holy apostles and martyrs of Northumbria.

Towards the ninth century Bede received the appellation of the Venerable, which has ever since been attached to his name. As a specimen of the fables by which his biography was gradually obscured, we may cite the legends invented to account for the origin of this latter title. According to one, the Anglo-Saxon scholars were on a visit to Rome, and there saw a gate of iron on which was inscribed the letters P.P.P., S.S.S., R.R.R., F.F.F., which no one was able to interpret. While Bede was attentively considering the inscription, a Roman who was passing by said to him rudely, “What see you there, English ox?” to which Bede replied, “I see your confusion,” and he immediately explained the character thus: Pater Patriae Perditus, Sapientia Secum Sublata, Ruet Regnum Romae, Ferro Flamma Fame. The Romans were astonished at the acuteness of their English visitor, and decreed that the title of Venerable should be thenceforth given to him.

According to another story, Bede, having become blind in his old age, was walking abroad with one of his disciples for a guide, when they arrived at an open place where there was a large heap of stones, and Bede’s companion persuaded his master to preach to the people who, as he pretended, were assembled to hear him. Bede delivered a moving discourse, and when he uttered the concluding words, “per saecula saeculorum,” to the great admiration of his disciple, the stones immediately cried out “Amen, Venerable Bede!” There is also a third legend on this subject which informs us that soon after Bede’s death, one of his disciples was appointed to compose an epitaph in Latin leonines, and carve it on his monument, and he began thus: Hac sunt in fossa Bedus ossa,” intending to introduce the word sancti or presbyteri; but as neither of these words would suit the metre, he left it blank and fell asleep. On awaking he found that an angel had completed the line, and that it stood thus: Hac sunt in fossa Bedus Venerabilis ossa.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of St. John, pope and martyr, who was called to Ravenna by the Arian king of Italy, Theodoric, and after languishing a long time in prison for the orthodox faith, terminated his life.

At Dorostorum in Mysia, in the time of the emperor Alexander, the martyrdom of blessed Julius, a veteran soldier in retirement who was arrested by the officials and presented to the governor Maximus. Having in his presence execrated the idols and confessed the name of Christ with the utmost constancy, he was condemned to capital punishment.

At Sora, in the time of the emperor Aurelian and the proconsul Agathius, St. Restituta, virgin and martyr, who overcame in a combat for the faith the violence of the demons, the caresses of her family and the cruelty of the executioners. Being finally beheaded with other Christians, she obtained the honour of martyrdom.

In the territory of Arras, St. Ranulph, martyr.

At Orange in France, St. Eutropius, a bishop, illustrious for virtues and miracles.

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

Thanks be to God.

27 MAY – ROGATION TUESDAY

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Let us think for a moment of the countless sins that are being committed day and night. Let us sue for mercy. In the days of Noah, all flesh had corrupted its way (Genesis vi. 12), but men thought not of asking for mercy. The flood came and destroyed them all (Genesis vii. 11), says our Saviour. Had they prayed, had they begged God’s pardon, the hand of His justice would have been stayed, and the flood-gates of heaven would not have been opened. The day is to come when, not water, as heretofore, but fire is suddenly to be kindled by the Divine wrath, and is to burn the whole earth. It will burn even the foundations of the mountains (Deuteronomy xxxii. 22). It will devour sinners, who will be resting then, as they were in the days of Noah, in a false security. Persecuted by her enemies, decimated by the martyrdom of her children, afflicted by numerous apostasies from the faith, and deprived of every human aid, the Church will know that the terrible chastisement is at hand, for prayer will then be as rare as faith.

Let us therefore pray that thus the day of wrath may be put off, the Christian life regain something of its ancient vigour, and the end of the world not be in our times. There are even yet Catholics in every part of the world, but their number has visibly decreased. Heresy is now in possession of whole countries that were once faithful to the Church. In others, where heresy has not triumphed, religious indifference has left the majority of men with nothing of Catholicity but the name, seeing that they neglect even their most essential obligations without remorse. Among many of those who fulfil the precepts of the Church, truths are diminished (Psalms xi. 2). The old honesty of Faith fas been superseded by loose ideas and half-formed convictions. A man is popular in proportion to the concessions he makes in favour of principles condemned by the Church. The sentiments and actions of the saints, the conduct and teaching of the Church, are taxed with exaggeration, and decried as being unsuited to the period. The search after comforts has become a serious study. The thirst for earthly goods is a noble passion. Independence is an idol to which everything must be sacrificed. Submission is a humiliation which must be got rid of, or, where that cannot be, it must not be publicly avowed. Finally, there is sensualism, which, like an impure atmosphere, so impregnates every class of society, that one would suppose there was a league formed to abolish the Cross of Christ from the minds of men.

What miseries must not follow from this systematic setting aside the conditions imposed by God upon His creatures? If the Gospel be the word of Infinite Truth, how can men oppose it without drawing down upon themselves the severest chastisements? Would that these chastisements might work the salvation of them that have provoked them! Let us humble ourselves before the sovereign holiness of our God, and confess our guilt. The sins of men are increasing both in number and in enormity. The picture we have just drawn is sad enough. What would it not be, had we added such abominations as these, which we purposely excluded: downright impiety, corrupt doctrines which are being actively propagated throughout the world, dealings with Satan which threaten to degrade our age to the level of pagan times, the conspiracy organised against order, justice and religion by secret societies? Oh, let us unite our prayer with that of holy Church, and say to our God: “From your wrath, deliver us, Lord!”

The Rogation Days were instituted for another end besides this of averting the Divine anger. We must beg our Heavenly Father to bless the fruits of the earth. We must beseech Him, with all the earnestness of public prayer, to give us our daily bread. “The eyes of all,” says the Psalmist, “hope in you, Lord, and you give them food in due season. You open your hand, and fill with blessing every living creature” (Psalms cxliv. 15, 16) In accordance with the consoling doctrine conveyed by these words, the Church prays to God that He would, this year, give to all living creatures on earth the food they stand in need of. She acknowledges that we are not worthy of the favour, for we are sinners: let us unite with her in this humble confession. But, at the same time, let us join her in beseeching our Lord to make mercy triumph over justice. How easily could He not frustrate the self-conceited hopes, and the clever systems of men! They own that all depends on the weather, and on whom does that depend? They cannot do without God! True, they seldom speak of Him, and He permits Himself to be forgotten by them: but “He neither sleeps nor slumbers, that hears Israel” (Psalms cxx. 4) He has but to withhold His blessing, and all their progress in agricultural science by which they boast to have made famine an impossibility, is of no effect. Some unknown disease comes upon a vegetable. it causes distress among the people, and endangers the social order of a world that has secularised itself from the Christian Law, and would at once perish, but for the mercy of the God it affects to ignore.

If, then, our Heavenly Father deigns this year to bless the fruits of the earth, we may say in all truth that He gives food to them that forget and blaspheme Him, as well as to them that make Him the great object of their thoughts and service. Men of no religion will profit of the blessing, but they will not acknowledge it to be His. They will proclaim louder than ever that nature’s laws are now so well regulated by modern science, that she cannot help going on well! God will be silent, and feed the men that thus insult Him. But why does He not speak? Why does He not make His wrath be felt? Because His Church has prayed, because He has found the ten just men (Genesis xviii. 32), that is the few for whose sake He mercifully consents to spare the world. He therefore permits the learned economists, whom He could so easily stultify to go on talking and writing. Thanks to this His patience, some of them will grow tired of their impious absurdity. An unexpected circumstance will open their eyes to the truth, and they will, one day, join us both in faith and prayer. Others will go deeper and deeper into blasphemy. They will go on to the last, defying God’s justice, and fulfilling in themselves that terrible saying of holy Scripture: “The Lord has made all things for Himself; the wicked also for the evil day” (Proverbs xvi. 4).

As to us, who glory in the simplicity of our faith, who acknowledge that we have all from God and nothing from ourselves, who confess that we are sinners and undeserving of His gifts — we will ask Him during these three days to give us the food we require. We will say to Him with holy Church: “That you vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the earth: We beseech you, hear us!” May He have pity on us in our necessities!

26 MAY – SAINT ELEUTHERIUS (Pope and Martyr)

Eleutherius was born at Nicopolis in Greece. He was a deacon of Pope Anicetus, and during the reign of the emperor Commodus was chosen to govern the Church. At the beginning of his pontificate he received letters from Lucius, king of the Britons, begging him to receive himself and his subjects among the Christians. Eleutherius sent into Britain Fugatius and Damian, two learned and holy men, through whose ministry the king and his people might receive the Faith. It was also during this pontificate that Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, went to Rome and was kindly received by Eleutherius. The Church of God was then enjoying great peace and calm and the Faith made progress throughout the whole world, but nowhere more than at Rome. Eleutherius governed the Church 15 years and 23 days. He thrice ordinations in December at which he made 12 priests, 8 deacons and 15 bishops. He was buried in the Vatican near the body of Saint Peter.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This twenty-sixth of May is also honoured by the memory of one of those early Pontiffs who, like Urban, were the foundations of the Church in the Age of Persecution. Eleutherius ascended the Papal throne in the very midst of the storm that was raised by Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. It was he that received the embassy that was sent to Rome by the Martyrs of Lyons and, at the head of them that were thus sent was the great Saint Irenaeus. This illustrious Church which was then so rich in martyrdom would offer its palms to Christian Rome in which, to use Saint Irenaeus’ own expression, it recognised “the highest sovereignty.” Peace, however, was soon restored to the Church and the remainder of Eleutherius’ pontificate was undisturbed. In the enjoyment of this peace, and with his name which signifies a freeman, this Pontiff is an image of our Risen Jesus, who, as the Psalmist says of him, is free among the dead (Psalm lxxxvii. 6).

The Church honours Saint Eleutherius as a martyr, as she does the other Popes who lived before Constantine and of whom almost all shed their blood in the Persecutions of the first three centuries. Sharing, as they did, in all the sufferings of the Church, governing it amid perils of every description, and seldom or never knowing what peace was — these three and thirty Pontiffs have every right to be considered as martyrs.

*****

Your name, O Eleutherius, is the name of every Christian that has risen with Christ. The Pasch has delivered us all, emancipated all, made us all freemen. Pray for us that we may ever preserve that glorious liberty of the children of God of which the Apostle speaks (Romans viii. 21). By it were we freed from the chains of sin which consigned us to death, from the slavery of Satan who would fain have robbed us of our Last End, and from the tyranny of the world which was deceiving us by its false maxims. The New Life given to us by our Pasch is one that is all of Heaven, where our Jesus is awaiting us in glory. To lose it would be to return to slavery.

Holy Pontiff, pray for us that when the Pasch of next year comes, it may find us in that happy liberty which is the fruit of our having been redeemed by Christ (Galatians iv. 31). There is another kind of liberty of which the world boasts and for the acquiring which it sets men at variance with men. It consists in avoiding as a crime, all subjection and dependence, and in recognising no authority except the one appointed by our own elections which we can remove as soon as we please. Deliver us, O holy Pontiff, from this false liberty which is so opposed to the Christian spirit of obedience, and is simply the triumph of human pride. In its frenzy it sheds torrents of blood, and with its pompous cant of what it calls the Rights of Man) it substitutes egoism for duty. It acknowledges no such thing as Truth, for it maintains that error has its sacred rights. It acknowledges no such thing as Good, for it has given up all pretension to preventing Evil. It puts God aside, for it refuses to recognise Him in those who govern. It puts upon man the yoke of brute force. It tyrannises over him by what it calls a “Majority” and it answers every complaint that he may make against injustice by the jargon of “Accomplished Facts.” No, this is not the liberty into which we are called by Christ, our Deliverer. We are free, as Saint Peter says, and yet make not liberty a cloak for malice (1 Peter ii. 16).

O holy Pontiff, show yourself still a Father to the world. During your peaceful reign your throne was near to that of the Caesars who governed the Seven Hilled City. They were the rulers of the world and yet your name was revered in every part of their Empire. While the material power held the sword suspended over your head, the faithful of various distant lands were flocking to Rome, there to venerate the tomb of Peter and pay homage to you his Successor. When Lucius sent ambassadors from his island, they turned not their steps to the emperor’s palace, but to your humble dwelling. They came to tell you that a people was called by divine grace to receive the Good Tidings and become a portion of the Christian family. The destinies of this people, which you were the first to evangelise, were to be great in the Church. The island of the Britains is a daughter of the Roman Church, and the attempts she is now making to disown her origin are useless. Have pity on her, O you that were her first Apostle! Bless the efforts which are being everywhere made to bring her back to unity with the Church. Remember the faith of Lucius and his people and show your paternal solicitude for a country which you led to the Faith.

26 MAY – SAINT PHILIP NERI (Confessor)

Philip Neri was born at Florence of pious and respectable parents. From his very childhood he gave evident promise of future sanctity. While yet a young man, he gave up an ample fortune which he inherited from an uncle, and went to Rome where he studied theology and philosophy, and devoted himself wholly to the service of Jesus. Such was his abstemiousness, that he frequently passed three days without eating anything. He spent much time in watching and prayer. He frequently made the visit of the Seven Churches of the City, and was in the habit of spending the night in the Cemetery of Calixtus in the contemplation of heavenly things. Being ordained priest out of obedience he devoted himself without reserve to the saving souls and, even to the last day of his life, he was assiduous in bearing confessions. He was the spiritual father of a countless number of souls, and in order to nourish them with the daily food of God’s word, with the frequency of the Sacraments, with application to prayer, and with other pious exercises, he instituted the Congregation of the Oratory.

He was ever languishing with the love of God with which he was wounded. Such was the ardour that glowed within him that, not being able to keep his heart within its place, his breast was miraculously enlarged by the breaking and expansion of two of his ribs. Sometimes, when celebrating Mass or in fervent prayer, he was seen to be raised up in the air and encircled with a bright light. He looked after the needy and the poor with an all-providing charity. He was once rewarded by a visit from an Angel who appeared to him in a beggar’s garb, and Philip gave him an alms. On another occasion, when carrying loaves to the poor, during the night he fell into a deep hole but was drawn forth by an Angel without having sustained any injury. So humble was he that he had an abiding dread of everything that savoured of honour, and he was most resolute in refusing every ecclesiastical dignity, though the highest offices were more than once offered to him.

He possessed the gift of prophecy, and could miraculously read the inmost thoughts of others’ souls. Throughout his whole life he preserved his chastity unsullied. He had also a supernatural power of distinguishing those who were chaste from those who were not so. He sometimes appeared to persons who were at a distance and assisted them in moments of danger. He restored to health many that were sick and at death’s door. He also restored a dead man to life. He was frequently favoured with apparitions of heavenly Spirits and of the Blessed Mother of God. He saw the souls of several persons ascending amid great brightness into Heaven. At length, being in his eightieth year, he slept in the Lord in 1595 on the eighth of the Calends of June (May 25th), the feast of Corpus Christi, after having said Mass with extraordinary spiritual joy, and at the very hour which he had foretold, which was shortly after midnight. The miracles with which he had been honoured being authentically proved, he was canonised by Pope Gregory XV.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

As we have already said, joy is the leading feature of the Paschal Season — a supernatural joy which springs from our delight at seeing the glorious triumph of our Emmanuel, and from the happiness we feel at our own being delivered from the bonds of death. This interior joy was the characteristic of the Saint whom we honour today. His heart was ever full of a jubilant enthusiasm for what regards God so that we could truly apply to him those words of Scripture: “A secure mind is like a continual feast” (Proverbs xv. 15). One of his latest disciples, the illustrious Father Faber, tells us in his beautiful treatise, Growth in Holiness, that cheerfulness is one of the chief means for advancing in Christian perfection. We will, therefore, welcome with gladness and veneration the benevolent and light-hearted Philip Neri, the Apostle of Rome, and one of the greatest Saints produced by the Church in the sixteenth century.

Love of God — but a love of the most ardent kind and one that communicated itself to all that came near him — was our Saint’s characteristic virtue. All the Saints loved God, for the love of God is the first and greatest of the Commandments: but Philip’s whole life was, in a special manner, the fulfilment of this divine precept. His entire existence seemed to be but one long transport of love for His Creator and, had it not been for a miracle of God’s power and goodness, this burning love would have soon put an end to his mortal career. He was in his twenty-ninth year when one day — it was within the Whitsun Octave — he was seized with such a vehemence of divine charity that two of his ribs broke, thus making room for the action of the heart to respond freely to the intensity of the soul’s love. The fracture was never made good. It caused a protrusion which was distinctly observable and, owing to this miraculous enlargement of the region of the heart, Philip was enabled to live fifty years more, during which time he loved his God with a fervour and strength which would do honour to one already in Heaven.

This Seraph in human flesh was a living answer to the insults heaped upon the Catholic Church by the so-called Reformation. Luther and Calvin had called this holy Church the harlot of Babylon, and yet she had at that very time such children as Teresa of Spain, and Philip Neri of Rome to offer to the admiration of mankind. But Protestantism cared little or nothing for piety or charity. Its great object was the throwing off the yoke of restraint. Under pretence of Religious Liberty, it persecuted them that adhered to the True Faith. It forced itself by violence where it could not enter by seduction. But as for leading men to love their God, this was what it never aimed at or thought of. The result was that, wherever it imposed its errors, devotedness was at an end — we mean that devotedness which leads man to make sacrifices for God or for his neighbour. A very long period of time elapsed after the Reformation before Protestantism ever gave a thought to the infidels who abounded in various parts of the globe: and if, later on, it organised what it calls its Missions, it chose a strange set of men to be the apostles of its Bible Societies. It has made a recent discovery — it has found out that the Catholic Church is prolific in Orders and Congregations devoted to works of charity. The discovery has excited it to emulation and, among its other imitations, it can now boast of having Protestant Sisters of Charity. To a certain point, success may encourage it to persevere in these tardy efforts, but anything like the devotedness of Catholic institutions is an impossibility for Protestantism, were it only for this reason — that its principles are opposed to the Evangelical Counsels which are the great sources of the spirit of sacrifice, and are prompted by a motive of the love of God.

Glory, then, to Philip Neri, one of the worthiest representatives of charity in the sixteenth century! It was owing to his zeal, that Rome and Christendom at large were replenished with a new life by the frequentation of the Sacraments and by the exercises of Catholic piety. His word, his very look, used to excite people to devotion. His memory is still held in deep veneration, especially in Rome, where his feast is kept with the greatest solemnity on this twenty-sixth day of May. He shares with Saints Peter and Paul the honour of being Patron of the Holy City. His Feast is there kept as a day of obligation. The Pope goes, with great solemnity, to the Church of Saint Mary in Vallicella and pays the debt of gratitude which the Holy See owes to the Saint who accomplished such great things for the glory of our Holy Mother the Church. Philip had the gift of miracles and, though seeking to be forgotten and despised, he was continually surrounded by people who besought him to pray for them, either in their temporal or spiritual concerns.

Death itself was obedient to his command, as in the case of the young prince Paul Massimo. The young Prince, when breathing his last, desired that Philip should be sent for in order that he might assist him to die happily. The Saint was saying Mass at the time. As soon as the Holy Sacrifice was over, he repaired to the palace but he was too late. He found the father, sister and the whole family in tears.

The young Prince had died after an illness of 65 days, which he had borne with most edifying patience. Philip fell upon his knees and after a fervent prayer he put his hand on the head of the corpse and called the Prince by his name. Thus awakened from the sleep of death, Paul opened his eyes and looking at Philip, said to him: “My Father!” He then added these words: “I only wished to go to Confession.” The assistants left the room and Philip remained alone with the Prince. After a few moments the family were called back and, in their presence, Paul began to speak to Philip regarding his mother and sister who had been taken from him by death and whom he loved with the tenderest affection. During the conversation, the Prince’s face regained all it had lost by sickness. His animation was that of one in perfect health. The Saint then asked him if he would wish to die again? “Oh yes" answered the Prince, “most willingly, for I should then see my mother and sister in Heaven.” “Take then,” said Philip, “take your departure for Heaven and pray to the Lord for me.” At these words, the young Prince expired once more and entered into the joys of eternal life, leaving his family to mourn his departure and venerate a Saint such as Philip.

He was almost continually visited by our Lord with raptures and ecstasies. He was gifted with the spirit of prophecy and could read the secrets of the conscience. His virtues were such as to draw souls to him by an irresistible charm. The youth of Rome, rich and poor, used to flock to him. Some he warned against danger, others he saved after they had fallen. The poor and sick were the object of his unceasing care. He seemed to be everywhere in the city by his works of zeal, which gave an impulse to piety that has never been forgotten. Philip was convinced that one of the principal means for maintaining the Christian spirit is the preaching the word of God: hence he was most anxious to provide the Faithful with apostolic men who would draw them to God by good and solid preaching. He established, under the name of The Oratory, an institution which still exists, and whose object is to encourage Christian piety among the people. By founding it, Philip aimed at securing the services, zeal and talent of priests who are not called to the religious life but who, by uniting their labours together, would produce great good to the souls of men.

Thus did he afford to priests, whose vocation does not lead them to the religious state, the great advantages of a common rule and mutual good example, which are such powerful aids both in the service of God, and in the exercise of pastoral duties. But the holy apostle was a man of too much faith not to have an esteem of the religious life as a state of perfection. He never lost an opportunity of encouraging a vocation to that holy state. The religious Orders were indebted to him for so many members, that his intimate friend and admirer, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, used playfully to compare him to a bell which calls others to Church yet never goes in itself! The awful crisis of the sixteenth century through which the Christian world had to pass, and which robbed the Catholic Church of so many provinces, was a source of keenest grief to Philip during the whole of his life. His heart bled at seeing so many thousand souls fall into the abyss of error and heresy. He took the deepest interest in the efforts that were made to reclaim those that had been led astray by the pretended Reformation. He kept a watchful eye on the tactics with which Protestantism sought to maintain its ground. The “Centuries of Magdeburg,” for example, suggested to his zeal a counterbalance of truth. The “Centuries” was a series of historical essays by which the Reformers sought to prove that the Roman Church had changed the ancient Faith and introduced superstitious practices in the place of those that were used in the early ages of Christianity.

A work like this, with its falsified quotations, its misrepresentation and, not infrequently its invention of facts was destined to do great injury, and Philip resolved to meet it by a work of profound erudition — a true history compiled from authentic sources. One of the fathers of his Oratory, Caesar Baronius, was just the man for such an undertaking, and Philip ordered him to take the field against the enemy. The Ecclesiastical Annals were the fruit of this happy thought, and Baronius himself, at the beginning of his Eighth Book, acknowledges that Philip was the originator of the work. It is easy for us, with the means which science now puts into our hands, to detect certain imperfections in the Annals. At the same time, it is acknowledged on all sides that they form by far the truest and finest History of the Church of the first twelve hundred years, which is as far as the learned Cardinal went. Heresy felt the injury it must needs sustain by such a History. The sickly and untrustworthy erudition of the Centuriators could not stand before an honest statement of facts, and we may safely assert that the progress of Protestantism was checked by the Annals of Baronius which showed that the Church was then, as she had ever been, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy iii. 15). Philip’s sanctity and Baronius’ learning secured the victory. Numerous conversions soon followed, consoling the Church for the losses she had sustained. And if, in these our own days, there are so many returning to the ancient Faith, it is but fair to attribute the movement, in part at least, to the success of the historical method begun by the Annals.

*****

Your whole life, O Philip, was one long act of love of Jesus. But it was also one untiring effort to make others know and love Him and thus secure the End for which they were created. You were the indefatigable Apostle of Rome for forty years, and no one could approach you without receiving something of the divine ardour that filled your heart. We too would fain receive of your fullness of devotion and therefore we pray you to teach us how to love our Risen Jesus. It is not enough that we adore Him and rejoice in His triumph. We must love Him, for He has permitted us to celebrate the various Mysteries of His life on Earth with a view to our seeing more and more clearly how deserving He is of our warmest love. It is love that will lead us to the full appreciation of His Resurrection — that bright Mystery which shows us all the riches of the Sacred Heart. The New Life, which he put on by rising from the tomb, teaches us, more eloquently than ever, how tenderly He loves us and how earnestly He importunes us to love Him in return. Pray for us, O Philip, that our heart and our flesh may rejoice in the Living God! (Psalm lxxxiii. 2). Now that we have relished the mystery of the Pasch, lead us to that of the Ascension. Prepare our souls to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and when the august mystery of the Eucharist beams on us with all its loveliness in the approaching Festival — the very day that ushered you into the unveiled vision of your Jesus — intercede for us that we may receive and relish that Living Bread which gives life to the world! (John vi. 33).

The sanctity that shone in you, O Philip, was marked by the impetuosity of your soul’s longing after her God, and all they that held intercourse with you quickly imbibed your spirit — which, in truth, is the only one that contents our Redeemer’s Heart. You had the talent of winning souls and leading them to perfection by the path of confidence and generosity. In this great work, your method consisted in having none, thus imitating the Apostles and ancient Fathers and trusting to the power of God’s own word. It was by you that the frequenting the Sacraments was restored — that surest indication of the Christian spirit. Pray for the faithful of our times, and come to the assistance of so many souls that are anxiously pursuing systems of spirituality which have been coined by the hands of men, and which but too frequently retard or even impede the intimate union of the creature with His Creator.

Your love of the Church, O Philip, was most fervent: there can be no true sanctity without it. Though your contemplation was of the sublimest kind, yet did it not make you lose sight of the cruel trials which this holy Spouse of Christ had to endure in those sad times. The successful efforts of heresy stimulated your zeal. Get us that keen sympathy for our holy Faith which will make us take an interest in all that concerns its progress. It is not enough for us that we save our own souls. We must, moreover, ardently desire and do our utmost to obtain the advancement of God’s kingdom on Earth, the extirpation of heresy, and the exaltation of our holy Mother the Church. If these are not our dispositions, how can we call ourselves children of God? May your example urge us to take to heart the sacred cause of our common Mother. Pray, too, for the Church Militant of which you were one of the bravest soldiers. Shield with your protection that Rome which loves you so devoutly because of the services which she received at your hands. You led her children to holiness during your mortal career. Bless her and defend her now that you are in Heaven.