24 MAY – SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

  Dom Prosper Guéranger:

On this day which is sacred to Mary let us open the holy Gospel according to Saint John. There, in the second chapter we find these words: “There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there” (John ii. 1). The sacred text goes on to say that Jesus also and His disciples were among the guests, but the Holy Spirit, who guided the Evangelist’s hand, would have him first make mention of Mary. It was to teach us that this our Blessed Mother extends her protection to those who enter on the married life with worthy dispositions, that is, with such dispositions as to draw down upon themselves the blessing of her divine Son.

Marriage is a sacred state, for it was instituted by God. The first marriage was celebrated in the earthly Paradise between Adam and Eve when yet they were innocent. It was God Himself who dictated the conditions of marriage. Unity was to be its very basis. In other words, the wife was to have but one husband, the husband was to have but one wife. It was the type of a still more glorious unity, which was not to be revealed till a later period. The Mystery of Unity typified by marriage being part of the Christian Revelation, we deem it a duty to put it before our readers by the following considerations.

The Angels were all created at one and the same time: but the members of the human race were to be born, each indeed from their respective parents, but yet so as that Adam and Eve were to be the common parents to whom all were to owe their origin. Such was our Creator’s design, and marriage was the means He selected for its fulfilment. An immense multitude of the Angels having fallen, the places destined for them in Heaven were to be filled up by the elect of Earth. Again, it was marriage that was to provide these citizens for Heaven. Hence, God blessed marriage at the very commencement of the world, and with a blessing which was to be permanent for, as the Church teaches us in the Liturgy, “it was not recalled, either by the punishment inflicted on original sin, or by the sentence which destroyed the world by the deluge” (Missale Romanum. Praefatio Super Sponsam).

Even before this second great chastisement came upon the Earth, “all flesh had corrupted its way” (Genesis vi. 12). Marriage had fallen from the elevated dignity given to it by the Creator. The end for which He instituted it was forgotten. It was debased into a mere sensual gratification. It lost the sacred Unity, which was its glory. Polygamy and Divorce destroyed its primitive character, and two frightful evils ensued: family ties were at an end, and woman’s position was degraded into that of a being which must minister to man’s passions. The lesson intended to be conveyed by the Deluge was soon lost sight of. The world again became depraved, so much so indeed, that when the Mosaic Law came with its reforms, it had not power to restore to marriage the dignity of its first institution.

To effect this it was requisite that God Himself should descend upon the Earth. When the miseries of humanity had reached their height, the Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, assumed our human nature and dwelt amongst us. He called Himself the Bridegroom (Matthew ix. 15). The Prophets and the Canticle of Canticles had foretold that He would take to Himself a Spouse from among mortals. This Spouse is the Church, that is, the human race purified by Baptism and enriched with supernatural gifts. As a dowry, He gave her His own Precious Blood and Merits, and then united her to Himself forever. This Spouse is One: He affectionately calls her His Only One (Canticles vi. 8). On her part, she has no other but Him. Here we have revealed to us the divine type on which Marriage was formed, and which, as the Apostle teaches us, derives its holiness and dignity from its resemblance to the union existing between Christ and His Church (Ephesians v. 32). The two unions are for the same end, and bear a mutual relation to each other. Jesus loves His Church with the tenderest affection, but His Church is the issue of human marriage, for it is marriage that provides the Church with her Children, and thus perpetuates her existence upon the earth. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that Jesus restored marriage to its primitive condition, and that He honours it as being His powerful aid in the accomplishment of His designs.

We have already seen on the second Sunday after the Epiphany how He selected the Nuptial Feast at Cana as the occasion of His working His first public miracle. By His accepting the invitation to assist, in company with his Blessed Mother, at the marriage, it is evident that He wished to honour, by His divine presence, the sacred engagement which was to unite the two spouses. It is evident that He intended to renew, in their persons, the ancient Blessing given in Paradise. Having, by His miracle at Cana, proved himself to be truly the Son of God, He began His public life and preaching. His object being to reform fallen man to the noble end for which he had been created, He frequently made marriage the subject of His instructions. He spoke of its being divinely instituted on the basis of unity. He authoritatively repeated the command given at its first institution: “They will be two in one flesh” (Matthew xix. 5; Genesis i. 24), two, and only two. Speaking of the indissolubility of the marriage tie, He told His hearers that no power on earth, not even the unfaithfulness, however criminal, of the husband or wife, could sever the bond. These were his words: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew xi. 6). Thus did He restore marriage to its normal state. Thus did He abrogate the degrading liberty, or more correctly, the libertinism, of polygamy and divorce — those sad proofs of the hardness of man’s heart (Matthew xi. 8) and of the need he had of a Redeemer. Thus did the New Law bring back to Marriage its primal blessing and make it, once more, a holy state, which so far from its being an obstacle, is a means to virtue, and peoples both Earth and Heaven with Elect.

But our Risen Jesus would do more than repair the injuries brought upon Marriage by human frailty. He raised to the dignity of a Sacrament the solemn and irrevocable contract by which a man and woman take each other for husband and wife. The moment that two Christians are thus irrevocably united, a Sacramental grace descends upon them and cements their union, which there and then becomes a sacred thing. The Apostle, speaking of Christian Marriage, says: “It is a great Sacrament; but I speak in Christ, and in the Church” (Ephesians v. 32) The meaning of these words is that marriage is the type of the union which exists between Christ and His Spouse the Church. There is one and the same object and end in the two Unions — in that of Christ with the Church, and in that of the Husband with his Wife: this object, this end, is to people Heaven with Elect. Hence it is, that the Holy Ghost puts his Divine seal on both these unions.

But the grace of the seventh Sacrament does more than cement the indissoluble union of husband and wife. It gives them every help they stand in need of for the fulfillment of their sacred mission. First of all, it infuses into their hearts a mutual love which is strong as death, and which many waters cannot quench (Canticles viii. 6, 7), so long as they make religion the ruling principle of their lives. This love is mingled with a sentiment of chaste respect, which serves as a check upon evil concupiscence. It is a love, which time, far from impairing, makes purer and stauncher. It is a love calm like that which is found in Heaven. When sacrifices are to be made, it makes them almost without an effort, and is intensified by the making.

The sacramental grace also fits the husband and wife for the great duty of educating their children. It gives them an untiring devotedness for their welfare, an affectionate patience with their faults, a supernatural discernment for treating them according to their age and dispositions, a ceaseless remembrance of these dear ones being created for Heaven and, finally, a deep-rooted sentiment of their belonging to God more truly than to the parents through whom he gave them life.

Thus was the married state transformed by the grace of the Sacrament of Matrimony. The Christian Law restored to it the dignity of which the vile egotism of pagan passion had deprived it. After so long a period of degradation, mankind was again brought to the knowledge of what marriage really is, namely, Love surrounded by Sacrifice, and Sacrifice prompted and aided by Love. Truly, a Sacrament was needed for the bringing about such a change as this! The change came, and admirable indeed it was. Two centuries had not elapsed since the promulgation of the Gospel, and paganism was still powerful. And yet we find a writer of those days giving the following description of a Christian husband and wife:

“How shall I find words to describe the happiness of a marriage whose tie is formed by the hands of the Church, which is confirmed by the sacred Oblation, sealed by the Blessing, proclaimed by the Angels, and ratified by the Heavenly Father? How wonderful a yoke is that which is taken up by two of the faithful united together in the same hope, in the same law, in the same duty! They have the same God for their Father, they serve the same Master, they are two in one flesh, they are one heart and soul. They pray together, they prostrate together, they fast together. They instruct each other, they exhort each other, they encourage each other. You see them together in the Church, and at the Holy Table. They share in each other’s trials, persecutions and joys. There are no secrets between them, no such thing as shunning each other, or being wearied of each other’s company. They have not to hide from each other, in order to visit the sick or the needy. Their alms excite no disputes. They approve of each other’s sacrifices. They interfere not with each other’s practices of piety. They have no need to make the sign of the Cross stealthily, " neither are they afraid to give way, in each other’s presence, to feelings of love and gratitude for their God. They sing together the Psalms and Canticles, and if there be any rivalry between them, it is which of them will best sing the praises of God. Oh! These are the marriages which gladden the eyes and ears of Christ. These are the marriages to which He imparts His blessing of Peace. He has said that He would be where two are united together. Therefore, He is in such a house as the one we are describing, and the enemy of man is not there” (Tertullian, Ad uxorem. Lib. ii., cap. ix.)

What a picture! And how great must be the Sacrament which can bring about such results as this! Here is the secret of the world’s regeneration: it was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who created the beautiful existence of a Christian family and implanted it on our earth. Long ages passed, and this was the type which, in spite of human frailty, was the only one acknowledged either by the consciences of individuals or by the public laws of nations. But the pagan element — which may be repressed, but which never dies — strove to regain what it had lost and, at length, the time came, when it succeeded in falsifying, in the majority of Christian countries, the notion of marriage. Faith teaches us, that this contract now become a Sacrament comes under the jurisdiction of the Church in what regards the bond, which constitutes its very essence: but the modern world looks on the Church as a power incompatible with the progress of liberty and enlightenment, and therefore the State takes the Church’s place, as often as it is deemed good for society! — and marriage has been debased into a civil act. The immediate consequence of this has been that the State can legalise divorce and therefore paganise society. The influence exercised over the world by the long predominance of the Christian spirit has not been entirely removed by this iniquitous secularisation of marriage. Still, from the principles laid down by our modern governments we have this logical and practical result: that a marriage may be indissoluble and sacramental in the eyes of the Church, and null in the eyes of the civil power. And again, a marriage held to be legal by the State, may be counted as invalid by the Church, and therefore not binding on the conscience. The rupture between Church and State is therefore consummated.

And yet, that which Christ has appointed cannot be effaced by man. What Jesus has instituted is to last to the end of time. Therefore, let Christians fear not: let them continue to receive from their mother, the Church, the doctrine of the Sacraments. Let them continue to look on marriage as a divine institution, such as we have been describing it to be, and thus they may save society and re-Christianise it — or, if that cannot be, they will save their own and their children’s souls.

The close of this week, and these reflections on the divine Sacrament of Matrimony, lead us to think of you, dear Mother of Jesus! The Marriage-feast at Cana which was honoured by your presence and blessing, is one of the great facts of the holy Gospel. Why, O the purest of Virgins, who would have refused the dignity of being Mother of God had it called for the sacrifice of the Treasure already conferred on you — why were you present at these Nuptials, if not to teach a sublime lesson? This lesson is, that holy and perfect continence is a state far superior to that of marriage. It is a lesson which exercises an immense influence on the married life, inasmuch as it secures to it its Christian dignity and happiness. Who, then, could have been more appropriately chosen by God than you, to bless a union which is so holy in itself, and instituted for such a sublime end? Shield it with your protection now more than ever, for the world’s laws have legislated for its ruin, and sensualism has destroyed in thousands of Christians the sense of right and wrong. There are exceptions: there are some who receive this sacrament with the holiest of dispositions. Upon these, O Mary, lavish your blessing. They are the inheritance of your divine Son. They are the salt of the earth, to keep it from universal corruption. They are the pledge of a better future. They are your children, sweet Mother! Then watch over them, add to their number, that so the world may not perish.

23 MAY – FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

We have reverently followed our Redeemer in His institution of the Sacramental helps by which man is placed and kept in the state of sanctifying grace, from his first entrance into this life to his leaving it for the eternal enjoyment of the beatific vision. We must now speak of that sublime Sacrament which was instituted by Jesus as the source whence mankind is to receive the other Sacraments.

This Sacrament is Holy Orders, and it is so called because of its being conferred in several distinct degrees upon those who receive it. As in Heaven the Angels are arranged in different ranks according as they have been endowed with a greater or less degree of light and power, in such wise, that they who are higher act upon those that are lower: so is it in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. There is order in the several ranks, and the higher act upon the lower by the communication of light and power. It is this that constitutes the hierarchy of the Church. Hierarchy means Sacred Government. It comprises three degrees: the Episcopate, Priesthood, and Diaconate, in which last are included the Orders below it. This is called the Hierarchy of Order, to distinguish it from the Hierarchy of Jurisdiction. This second, which is entrusted with the government of the Church, is composed of the Pope, of the Bishops, and of the inferior Clergy to whom the Pope and Bishops delegate a part of their power of government. We have already seen how this hierarchy takes its origin from that sovereign act by which our Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of men, gave to Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of God. The Hierarchy of Order is intimately connected with the first, and its object is the sanctification of men by the administering to them the treasures of grace confided to its keeping. As we have already said, Jesus appeared to His Apostles on the day of His Resurrection, and said to them: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” (John xx. 21).

Now the Father sent His Son that He might be the Shepherd of men, and we have heard Jesus bidding Peter to feed His lambs and His sheep. The Father sent His Son that He might be the Teacher of men, and we have seen Jesus entrusting to His Apostles the truths which were to be proposed to us as the object of our faith. But the Father sent the Son that He might also be the High Priest of men. Jesus must therefore leave this same Priesthood on earth, that it may be continued among us to the end of time. Now, what is a Priest? He is the mediator between heaven and earth. He reconciles man to his God by offering a Sacrifice that gives infinite honour to God and atones for man’s sin. He cleanses the sinner’s conscience and makes him a just man. He, in a word, unites man to his God by the mysteries of which he is the dispenser.

Jesus exercised all these functions of Priest, agreeably to the mission given Him by the Father, but the Father would have them to be continued, even after His Son should have ascended into Heaven. For this it was necessary that Jesus should communicate His Priestly character by a special Sacrament to a few chosen men, just as by Baptism He conferred on all His faithful the dignity of being His members. Here again it will be the Holy Ghost that will act, and in each stage or degree of the Sacrament. It was by His divine operation that the Incarnate Word entered into Mary’s womb. It is His action that will imprint on the souls of them that are presented the Priestly character of this same Jesus our Lord. Hence, after using the words just cited, Jesus breathed on His Apostles and said to them: “Receive the Holy Ghost!” hereby showing, that it is by a special infusion of Him who is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, that men are fitted for being sent by the Son, as the Son was sent by the Father.

And yet, the Apostles and their successors are to confer this Sacrament, not by a breath — that is the prerogative of the Word, the author of life — but by the imposition of hands. It is at the solemn moment of the imposition of the Bishop’s hands over them who are to be ordained that the Holy Ghost comes down upon them. Thus will be transmitted the heavenly gift from generation to generation. It will be conferred in its several degrees, according to the will of the Hierarch, by and with whom the Holy Ghost acts. So that when Jesus comes on the last day to judge the world, He will find on Earth the sacred character which He conferred on His Apostles when He gave them the Holy Ghost.

Let us attentively and devoutly contemplate the mystic ladder of the Hierarchy established by our Jesus, by which we might ascend to Heaven. At the very summit is the Episcopate, holding in itself the plenitude of Holy Orders, and having the power to produce other Pontiffs, and Priests, and Deacons. He holds the Keys of which our Lord speaks when He says: “Whatever you will bind upon Earth, will be bound also in Heaven, and whatever you will loose on Earth, will be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew xviii. 18). He can administer all the Sacraments. The consecration of the Chrism and Holy Oils belongs to his office. He can not only bless, he can also consecrate.

Next comes the Priest, who truly looks upon the Bishop as his spiritual Father, seeing that it was by the imposition of the Bishop’s hands that he received the dignity and character of Priesthood. The Priest, however, does not possess the plenitude of Jesus’ Priesthood. His hands, though most holy, have not the power to produce other Priests. He blesses, but he does not consecrate. He must look to the Bishop for holy Chrism, for he himself cannot make it. Notwithstanding this, his dignity is great, for he has power to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and his offering is the same as that of the Bishop. He forgives the sins of those whom the Bishop has put under his care. The solemn administration of Baptism is entrusted to him when the Bishop himself does not perform it. And as to Extreme Unction, it is essentially a Priest’s function.

The next lower Order is that of Deacon, who is, as the Greek name implies, the servant of the Priest. Not having the Priesthood, he cannot offer Sacrifice, nor remit sins, nor give Extreme Unction to the dying but he assists and serves the Priest at the Altar, and stands by his side during the solemn moment of Consecration. He reads the holy Gospel from the ambo to the people. The Blessed Sacrament is entrusted to his care and, failing a Priest, he is He has the power of offering up the holy Sacrifice, allowed to distribute it to the faithful. In similar circumstances, he could solemnly administer Baptism. He has also the power of preaching the word of God to the people.

These are the three degrees of the Hierarchy of order. They correspond, as the great Saint Denis teaches, with the three degrees whereby man attains to union with God: namely, purification, illumination and perfection. The Deacon prepares the Catechumen and the sinner, by instructing them in the word of God, which will purify their minds from error, and incite them to the repentance of their sins and to a desire of being freed from them. The Priest enlightens these same by the illumination of holy Baptism, by the remission of their sins, and by admitting them to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Bishop pours out upon them the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and raises them, by their seeing his own super-eminent prerogatives, to union with Christ. Such is the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It is the essential means established for the salvation of mankind, the channel through which God has ordained that the infinite graces of the Incarnation should flow upon the earth, and the medium by which is perpetuated among us the presence and action of our Redeemer.

Let us give thanks to our Jesus for this unspeakable blessing. Let us honour the Priesthood of the New Law: it is Jesus who inaugurated it in His own person, and who afterwards entrusted it to men chosen by Him for continuing the mission given to Him by His Father. The Sacraments are the true life of the world. But who are the ministers of these Sacraments? The Priests of the Church. Let us pray for those who are in Holy Orders, for their responsibilities are great, their dignity is divine, and yet they themselves are but men. They are not a tribe or a caste, as were the Priests in the Old Law, but they are taken from every race and family. Finally, a Priest, though inferior to the Angels by nature, is, by the office he holds, superior to these blessed Spirits.

22 MAY – THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

By the first four Sacraments our Saviour provided for the several spiritual necessities of man during this mortal life. Baptism gives him spiritual birth, Confirmation arms him for the battle, the Eucharist is his food, Penance is his cure. But the last moment of life — that most important and terrible of all, and on which depends eternity — does it not seem to require a special sacramental aid?

Could it be that our Redeemer, after so lovingly supplying us with a Sacrament to meet our other wants, would leave us unprovided when we are dying, that is, when we are passing from this to another life and are weighed down with bodily and mental sufferings? No: he has provided a Sacrament for the Dying. The grace of Redemption puts on a new form that it may visit and fortify us in our last struggle.

Even before His Passion He gave us some idea of the Sacrament He intended to institute for the help of the dying. When He sent His disciples before Him, that they might prepare the people for His preaching, He commanded them to anoint the sick with oil: they did so, and the result was the cure of them that were thus anointed (Mark vi. 13). But after His Resurrection, when our Redeemer was preparing the dowry of His Church, He gave her a Sacrament with which this Mother was to administer special grace and consolation to her children when in danger of death.

Oil is the symbol of strength: hence, the wrestlers of old used it as a means for acquiring activity and nerve. Our Saviour chose it as the matter of the Sacrament of Confirmation by which our souls, after being regenerated by Baptism, are strengthened for their future combats. The hour of death is a combat, but one so terrible that it stands apart by itself. It is then that Satan, seeing how the long-coveted prey is soon to be beyond his reach, redoubles his efforts to make it his own forever. The dying Christian, standing as he does on the brink of eternity, is exposed to two temptations: presumption and despair. In a few moments he will be before the Judge, whose sentence is irrevocable. The remnants of sin are still upon him, and clog his soul. How will he comport himself in that last combat on which depends the final success of all the previous ones of his life?

Is not this an occasion for a special Sacrament by which our Jesus may provide his combatant with the help so urgently needed? Yes, and here again it is oil. The first anointing was that of Confirmation, and it gave strength: and the last, or as it is called, Extreme Unction, is equally rich in power: it is the last application made to mankind of the Redeemer’s blood, “which flows in such abundance with this holy oil” (Bossuet, Oraison funebre de Madame Henriette).

Let us consider the effects of Extreme Unction, of which the Apostle Saint James speaks to us in his Epistle. What he there tells us, he had received from Jesus’ own lips. First of all, this Sacrament brings forgiveness of sins (James v. 15), forgiveness of those sins which the conscience, however diligent it may have been in its examination, had overlooked and which, nevertheless, injure the soul: and forgiveness of those remnants of sin, which continue after the guilt of sin has been remitted, like wounds which, though cured, are not quite closed and keep the patient weak. The holy oil anoints each of the senses, each has been the source of sin. Each now receives its special purification. These doors, which, up to this moment had been open to the world, are now closed, so that the soul can be all intent upon eternal things. Let the enemy come now, if he will. His attacks can do no harm. He expected to find his adversary the poor earthly-minded creature of old on whom he had inflicted hundreds of wounds, but lo! he finds a soldier of Christ, vigorous and brave. It is Extreme Unction that has worked the change.

But the effects of this Sacrament do not stop here. Though primarily instituted for imparting strength to the soul, yet has it the power of restoring health to the body. We learn this from the same Apostle Saint James. His words are these: “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up” (James v. 14, 15). The sacred formula which accompanies each anointing in this Sacrament has therefore the power of restoring bodily health, at the same time that it drives away the remnants of sin, which is the chief cause of all man’s miseries, whether of soul or body. Such is the interpretation put by the Church on the words of Saint James, and we have continual proofs that our Divine Master has not forgotten the promise of two-fold efficacy which He gave to this Sacrament. Hence it is, that after having anointed the several senses of the sick person, the priest addresses God in earnest prayer, that he would restore strength of body to him or her whose soul has received the efficacy of the heavenly remedy.

Nay, the Church looks upon the restoration to bodily health as so truly a Sacramental effect of Extreme Unction, that she does not consider as miracles, properly so called, the cures produced by its administration. Let us, then, offer to the Conqueror of Death the homage of our thanks for this fresh proof of His compassionate love. He would Himself experience all our miseries, not excepting even death or the agony that precedes it. When on His Cross, and enduring every anguish, as though he were a poor dying sinner and not the Saint of Saints, He thought of our deaths and mercifully blessed our last agony with an outpouring of His Precious Blood. This was the origin of the beautiful Sacrament of Extreme Unction which He gave to his Church after His Resurrection, and for which we offer Him today our humble thanks.

17 MAY – SATURDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Saturday brings us once more to the dear Mother of our Jesus. Last Saturday, when closing our week’s considerations upon the establishment of the Church, we reverently drew a parallel between these two Mothers — Mary and the Church. During the present week we have been considering how our Saviour confided His Doctrine, that is, the object of our Faith, to His Apostles: let us devote this last day to a loving remembrance of the dogmas which Jesus revealed to them regarding the dignity and office of Her, whom he chose for his own and our Mother.

Holy Church teaches us several truths concerning Mary, and these truths are the object of our faith on the same ground as the other articles contained in the Catholic Creed. Now they could not be the object of our faith, except inasmuch as they were revealed by the lips of our Divine Lord Himself. The Church of our days has received them from the Church of past ages, just as this last named received them from the Apostles to whom Jesus first confided them. There has been no new revelation since our Saviour’s Ascension. Consequently, the manifestation of all the dogmas transmitted to the Church and promulgated by her to the world, dates from the teaching given by Jesus to His Apostles. It is on this account that we believe them with theological faith, a faith which can only be given to truths directly revealed by God to man.

How beautiful is the affection here shown by the Son of God to His Mother! He revealed to His Apostles the impenetrable secrets of the Divine Essence, the Trinity in Unity, the eternal generation of the Word in the Father’s bosom, the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, the union of the two Natures in one Person in the Incarnate Word, the Redemption of the world by the Blood of the Man-God, the restoring of fallen man and the elevating him to a supernatural state by grace. But this same Jesus also reveals the prerogative of His dearest Mother, and we are to believe them, and with the same Faith, as we do the dogmas which relate to God Himself! Jesus, the Wisdom of the Father, the Conqueror of death, has revealed to us Mary’s dignity with the same lips that taught us what He Himself is we believe the two revelations with equal faith, because He spoke both.

Jesus said to His Apostles, and they, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, communicated His teaching to the Church: “Mary, my Mother, is a daughter of Adam and Eve, but the stain of original sin was not upon her. The decree that every human being should be conceived in sin was suspended in her regard. She was full of grace from the first moment of her Conception. Jeremias and John the Baptist were sanctified in their mother’s womb. Mary was Immaculate from the first moment of her existence.” Jesus also said to His Apostles, and commanded them to repeat His words to the Church: “Mary is truly Mother of God, and must be honoured as such by all creatures, for she truly conceived me and gave me birth, according to my human nature, which forms but one Person with my divine nature.” Jesus also said to His Apostles, and commanded them to repeat His words to the Church: “Mary, my Mother, conceived me in her chaste womb without ceasing to be a Virgin, and she gave me birth without her Virginity suffering any injury.”

Thus, Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which prepared her for her sublime office — her divine Maternity and her perpetual Virginity, are three dogmas of our faith which were revealed to the Apostles directly by our Lord. Holy Church merely repeats them after the Apostle, just as the Apostles repeated them after hearing them from their Divine Master.

But did not Jesus reveal other prerogatives of His august Mother, prerogatives which are consequences of the three magnificent gifts just mentioned? Let us ask the Church what she believes on this subject, and what she teaches, both by her doctrinal utterance, and by her equally infallible practice. Every development, which is produced in her by the action of the Holy Ghost, is based on the Word of God, which was spoken at the beginning. Thus, it is impossible to doubt but what our Saviour made known to His Apostles His intention of raising His Blessed Mother to the dignity of Queen of the universe, of Mediatrix of men, of Mother of grace, of Co-operatrix of our Redemption. Had she not, by the three unparalleled gifts just mentioned, already been raised above all other creatures? No, we cannot doubt it — these glories of the Mother of God were known, revered and loved by the Apostles. And we, who have received from the Church these same sublime and consoling truths, we, too, prize and love our knowledge. Should we not be offering violence to every noble feeling of our nature, were we to believe that Jesus ascended into Heaven without having made known to the world the glories of His Mother, whom He loved both as her Son and her God?

What must have been your sentiments, O Mary, you most humble of creatures, when Jesus unveiled your glories to the Disciples! They already reverenced you, but they could never have known the grand gifts bestowed on you by God, unless that God Himself had revealed them. What glorious things were said of you, City of God! (Psalms lxxxvi 3) If your humility was troubled when the Archangel called you full of grace and blessed among women, how must you not have shrunk from the homage paid you by the Apostles when they were first told that you were the Mother of God, the ever spotless Virgin, Immaculate from your very Conception! But no, Blessed Mother! You cannot shun the honours that are richly your due. The prophecy spoken by yourself in Zachary’s house must be fulfilled: All generations will call you Blessed! (Luke i. 48) The time is at hand: in a few days hence, the preaching of the Gospel will have commenced. Your name, your ministry, your glories are an essential part of the Creed which is to be carried throughout the world. Up to this time, you have been shrouded in a veil of mystery. That veil must now be drawn aside — Jesus will have it so — and you must be known as Mother of the God who, when He came to save us, disdained not to assume our human nature in your chaste womb. Dearest Mother! Queen of Angels and Men! Suffer us to unite our fervent homage with that which the Apostolic College gave you when Jesus first revealed to them your glories.

16 MAY – SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCEN (Martyr)

 

John was born at Nepomuk in Bohemia (from which he took the name of Nepomucen) and of parents who were advanced in years. His future sanctity was foretold by the appearance of bright rays miraculously shining over the house in which he was born. When an infant he was seized with a dangerous illness but was delivered from death by the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom his parents considered themselves indebted for his birth. He was blessed with an excellent disposition, and received a pious training in keeping with the indications given from Heaven. He spent his boyhood in the practice of religious exercises, among which it was his delight to be frequently at church and serve the priests when saying Mass. He went through the humanities at Zatek, and the higher studies at Prague, where he took his degrees in philosophy, theology and canon law. He was ordained a priest and being, by his proficiency in the science of the Saints, well fitted for gaining souls, he devoted himself entirely to preaching the word of God.

In consideration of the great fruits produced by his eloquence and piety which extirpated vice and brought sinners back to the way of salvation, John was made a Canon of the Metropolitan Church of Prague. Being afterwards chosen as preacher to King Wenceslaus IV, he so far succeeded that the king did many things through his advice and had a great regard for his virtue. He offered him several high dignities but John peremptorily refused to accept them, fearing that they would interfere with his preaching the divine word. He was entrusted with the distribution of the royal alms to the poor, and Queen Jane chose him as her own spiritual director. Wenceslaus having given himself up to vices which disgraced both his kingly and Christian character, and being displeased at the entreaties and counsels of his wife, he even dared to insist on John revealing to him the secrets, told to him as priest, by the queen in the sacrament of Penance. The minister of God courageously resisted the king’s impious request, and neither bribes, nor tortures, nor imprisonment, could make him yield.

Seeing that the king had got to such a pitch of rage that the laws of neither man nor God made him relent, the soldier of Christ plainly foretold in one of his sermons his own approaching death, and the calamities that were to befall the kingdom. He then set out for Buntzel, where is kept an image of the Blessed Virgin that has been venerated for centuries. There in in fervent prayer John implored Heaven to grant him the assistance he needed in order to fight the good fight. As he was returning home on the evening before the Vigil of the Ascension, the king, who was standing at the palace window, saw him and sent him word that he was to repair to the king. The king was more than ever urgent in his demand and threatened John with immediate drowning if he continued to refuse compliance. John was not to be conquered and showed the king that he was not afraid of his threats. By the King's orders John was thrown that same night into the river Moldau which flows through Prague, and he obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom. The sacrilegious crime, thus privately committed, was miraculously revealed, as was also the martyr’s great glory.

As as soon as life was extinct, and the corpse of John began to float down the stream, flaming torches were seen following on the surface of the water. The next morning the Canons went and took the body from the sand on which it lay, and heedless of the king’s displeasure, they had it carried with much solemnity to the Metropolitan Church, and gave it burial. The memory of this courageous priest became gradually most venerable, both by the miracles that were wrought, and by the devotion of the Faithful, of those especially whose good name is injured by evil report. After upwards of 300 years, a juridical examination was made of his body (which, during all that time, had lain under the ground) and his tongue was found to be incorrupt and as though it were that of a living man. Six years later on the tongue was shown to judges delegated by the Apostolic See when, by a fresh miracle, it immediately resumed the fullness of life and, from being of a brownish colour, it became perfectly red. These and other miracles having been authentically proved, John was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII on 19 March 1729 as the defender of the Sacramental Seal, and the first martyr who shed his blood for the maintenance of its holy secrecy.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

To the martyrs who were slain because they refused to adore false gods, to the Martyrs whose blood was shed by heretics, there is added today another brave soldier of Christ who won his crown in a very different sort of combat. The Sacrament of Penance by which sinners regain the Heaven they had lost claims John Nepomucen as its glorious defender. A holy secrecy shrouds the reconciliation made between God and the Penitent. This Sacramental secrecy deserved to have its martyr. When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance — that second Baptism in which the Blood of our Redeemer washes away the sins of the Christian soul — he willed that man should not be deterred from confessing his humiliations to his spiritual physician by the fear of their ever being revealed. How many hidden martyrdoms have there not been, during these [two thousand] years, for the maintenance of this secret which, while it gives security to the Penitent, exposes the Confessor to obloquy, injustice and even death! But the martyr we honour today was not one of these hidden sufferers. His testimony to the inviolability of the Sacramental Seal was public. He gave it amid cruel tortures. It cost him his life. All praise, then, to the brave and faithful priest!

Right worthy was he to hold in his hands the keys that open or shut the gate of Heaven! In this great fact of the observance of the Seal of Confession on which depends the salvation of millions of souls we have a permanent miracle. But there was one thing wanting to it —the glory of martyrdom. The holy priest of Prague gave it that glory, and he offers the fair palm to our Risen Jesus whom we have seen, during these days between His Resurrection and Ascension, mercifully instituting the Sacrament of Penance in which He communicates to men His own power of forgiving sin.

* * * * *

How great, glorious Martyr, was the honour reserved for you by the Son of God when He chose you to be the one who was to attest, by laying down his life, the sacredness of the secret which protects the Sacrament of Penance! Other priests, as well as yourself, have bravely suffered persecution for the sake of the secrecy of the mystery of Reconciliation. But you were the one chosen by Heaven to give a solemn testimony of priestly discretion. Your sufferings were known to more than to Angels. Your martyrdom was a public one, and the faithful honour your courage as an eloquent proof of how truly our good Shepherd, Jesus, removes every difficulty that could deter the strayed sheep from returning to the fold.

We address ourselves to you, holy Martyr, on this the day of your triumph, and we beg of you to intercede for sinners. Admirable minister of the Sacrament of Penance, you see how many Christians there are who neglect to avail themselves of the means of salvation prepared for them by our Risen Saviour. Instead of laying hold of this “second plank after shipwreck,” they let themselves be carried on to the deep abyss by the tide of their sinful habits. There are thousands who have turned a deaf ear, even this Easter, to the call of holy Church who invited them, as an affectionate Mother, to approach the tribunal of mercy and Reconciliation. We beseech you, intercede for these blind, these unwary, these ungrateful men. Get them that grace which will lead them to the feet of the God of Mercy who is ever ready to grant pardon.

There are others, again, who go to Confession but who have not the dispositions requisite for receiving the grace of the Sacrament —the justification of their souls. Pray also for these that they may see the danger they thus incur of profaning the Blood of Christ. Obtain for all them who approach the holy tribunal an honest avowal of their sins and contrition of heart, that thus the life of our Risen Jesus may be imparted to them, and that they may never again lose it. By your powerful intercession, raise up zealous and faithful ministers of this great Sacrament of which you were the martyr. Draw down on their arduous labour the blessing of Heaven: then will the number of the children of God be increased and the grace of the Holy Ghost triumph in souls that have long been dead in sin.

Cast, too, an eye of compassion on your fatherland of Bohemia where there are so many faithful hearts that love and honour thee. Alas, there are tares which disfigure that portion of the Church. The enemy came, not many years after your glorious martyrdom and sowed the baneful weeds of heresy in your native land. The good seed claims your protection, but take pity also on the cockle, for even it may be turned by the True Faith, into wheat and be garnered into the House of our Heavenly Father.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Isauria, the birthday of the holy martyrs Aquillinus and Victorian.

At Auxerre, the passion of St. Peregrinus, first bishop of that city. He was sent into Gaul with other clerics by the blessed Pope Sixtus, and having accomplished his work of preaching the Gospel, he merited an everlasting crown by being condemned to capital punishment.

At Uzalis in Africa, the holy martyrs Felix and Gennadius.

In Palestine, the martyrdom of the holy monks massacred by the Saracens in the monastery of St. Sabas.

In Persia, the holy martyrs Audas, a bishop, seven priests, nine deacons and seven virgins who endured various kinds of torments under king Isdegerdes, and thus gloriously consummated their martyrdom.

At Amiens in France, the bishop St. Honoratus.

At Le Mans, St. Domnolus, bishop.

At Mirandola in Æmilia, St. Possidius, bishop of Calamae, discple of St. Augustine, and the writer of his glorious life.

At Troyes, St. Fidolus, confessor.

In Ireland, St. Brendan, abbot.

At Frejus, St. Maxima, virgin, who rested in peace with a reputation for many virtues.

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

 

Thanks be to God.

5 APRIL – SAINT VINCENT FERRER (Confessor)

 

Vincent was born at Valencia in Spain, of respectable parents. He showed the gravity of old age even when quite a child. Considering within himself, as far as his youthful mind knew it, the dangers of this dark world, he received the Habit in the Order of Preachers when he was eighteen years of age. After his solemn profession he diligently applied himself to sacred studies and gained, with much applause, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Shortly after this he obtained leave from his superiors to preach the word of God. He refuted the false doctrines of the Saracens, but with so much earnestness and success that he brought a great number of infidels to the faith of Christ and converted many thousand Christians from sin to repentance, and from vice to virtue. God had chosen him to teach the way of salvation to all nations, and tribes and tongues, as also to warn men of the coming of the last and dread Day of Judgement. He so preached that he struck terror into the minds of all his hearers and turned them from earthly affections to the love of God. His mode of life, while exercising this office of apostolic preaching, was as follows: he every day sang Mass early in the morning, delivered a sermon to the people, and, unless absolutely obliged to do otherwise, observed a strict fast.

Vincent gave holy and prudent advice to all who consulted him. He never ate flesh-meat or wore linen garments. He reconciled contending parties and restored peace among nations that were at variance. He zealously laboured to restore to, and maintain in, union the seamless garment of the Church which at that time was rent by a direful schism. He shone in every virtue. He was simple and humble, and treated his revilers and persecutors with meekness and affection. Many were the signs and miracles which God wrought through him, in confirmation of the holiness of his life and preaching. He very frequently restored the sick to health by placing his hands upon them. He drove out the unclean spirits from the bodies of such as were possessed. He gave hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, sight to the blind. He cured lepers and raised the dead to life. At length, worn out by old age and bodily infirmities, after travelling through many countries of Europe and reaping an abundant harvest of souls, this untiring herald of the Gospel terminated his preaching and life at Van in Brittany, in 1419. He was canonised by Pope Calixtus III.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Today, again, it is Catholic Spain that offers one of her sons to the Church that she may present him to the Christian world as a model and a patron. Vincent Ferrer, or, as he was called, the Angel of the Judgement, comes to us proclaiming the near approach of the Judge of the living and the dead. During his lifetime he traversed almost every country of Europe preaching this terrible truth, and the people of those times went from his sermons striking their breasts, crying out to God to have mercy upon them — in a word, converted. In these our days the thought of that awful Day when Jesus Christ will appear in the clouds of Heaven and judge mankind has not the same effect upon Christians. They believe in the Last Judgement because it is an Article of Faith. But, we repeat, the thought produces little impression. After long years of a sinful life, a special grace touches the heart and we witness a conversion. There are thousands thus converted, but the majority of them continue to lead an easy, comfortable life, seldom thinking on Hell and still less seldom on the Judgement with which God is to bring Time to an end.

It was not thus in the Christian Ages. Neither is it so now with those whose conversion is solid. Love is stronger in them than fear, and yet the fear of God’s Judgment is ever living within them and gives stability to the new life they have begun. Those Christians who have heavy debts with Divine Justice because of the sins of their past lives, and who, notwithstanding, make the time of Lent a season for evincing their cowardice and tepidity, sorely, such Christians as these must very rarely ask themselves what will become of them on that Day when the Sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens and when Jesus, not as Saviour, but as Judge, will separate the goats from the sheep. One would suppose that they have received a revelation from God that, on the Day of Judgement, all will be well with them. Let us be more prudent. Let us stand on our guard against the illusions of a proud, self-satisfied indifference. Let us secure to ourselves, by sincere repentance, the well-founded hope that on the terrible Day which has made the very Saints tremble we will hear these words of the Divine Judge addressed to us: “Come, blessed of my Father, possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!” (Matthew xxv. 34). Vincent Ferrer leaves the peaceful cell of his monastery that he may go and rouse men to the great truth they had forgotten — the Day of God’s inexorable justice. We have not heard his preachings, but, have we not the Gospel? Have we not the Church who, at the commencement of this Season of Penance, preached to us the terrible truth which Saint Vincent took as the subject of his instructions? Let us, therefore, prepare ourselves to appear before Him who will demand of us a strict account of those graces which He so profusely poured out upon us, and were the purchase of His Blood. Happy they that spend their Lents well, for they may hope for a favourable Judgement.

*****

How grand must have been your eloquence, Vincent, that could rouse men from their lethargy and give them to feel all the terrors of the awful Judgement. Our forefathers heard your preaching and returned to God, and were pardoned. We, too, were drowsy of spirit when, at the commencement of this holy Season, the Church awakened us to the work of our salvation by sprinkling our heads with ashes, and pronouncing over us the sentence of our God by which we are condemned to die. Yes, we are to die. We are to die soon, and a Judgement is to be held upon us, deciding our eternal lot, Then, at the moment fixed in the divine decrees, we will rise again in order that we may assist at the solemn and terrible Judgement. Our consciences will be laid open, our good and bad actions will be weighed, before the whole of mankind, after which the sentence already pronounced upon us in our particular Judgement will be made public. Sinners as we are, how will we be able to bear the eye of our Redeemer who will then be our inexorable Judge? How will we endure even the gaze of our fellow-creatures who will then behold every sin we have committed? But above all, which of the two sentences will be ours? Were the Judge to pronounce it at this very moment, would He place us among the Blessed of His Father, or among the Cursed? On His right, or on His left?

Our fathers were seized with fear when you, Vincent, put these questions to them. They did penance for their sins and, after receiving pardon from God their fears abated, and holy joy filled their souls. Angel of God’s Judgement! Pray for us that we may be moved to salutary fear. A few days hence and we will behold our Redeemer ascending the hill of Calvary with the heavy weight of His Cross upon him. We will hear Him thus speaking to the Daughters of Jerusalem: “Weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children: for if in the green wood they do these things, what will be done in the dry?” (Luke xxiii. 28, 31). Help us, Vincent, to profit of these words of warning. Our sins have reduced us to the condition of dry dead branches that are good for nothing but to burn in the fire of divine vengeance. Help us by your intercession to be once more united to Him who will give us life. Your zeal for souls was extreme. Take ours under your care and procure for them the grace of perfect reconciliation with our offended Judge. Pray, too, for Spain, the country that gave you life and faith, your religious profession and your priesthood. The dangers that are now threatening her require all your zeal and love. Exercise them in her favour and be her faithful protector.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Thessalonica, St. Irene, virgin, who was imprisoned for having concealed the sacred books contrary to the edict of Diocletian, was pierced with an arrow and consumed by fire by order of the governor Dulcetius under whom her sisters Agape and Chionia had previously suffered.

On the island of Lesbos, the sufferings of five holy martyrs.

The same day, St. Zeno, martyr, who was flayed alive, besmeared with pitch and then cast into the fire.

In Africa, the holy martyrs, who, in the persecution of the Arian king Genseric, were murdered in the church on Easter Sunday. The lector, while singing Alleluia at the stand, was pierced through the throat with an arrow.

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

Thanks be to God.

3 APRIL – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Taormina in Sicily, the bishop St. Pancratius, who sealed with a martyr’s blood the Gospel of Christ which the blessed Apostle St. Peter had sent him there to preach.

At Tomis in Scythia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Evagrius and Benignus.

At Thessalonica, the martyrdom of the holy virgins Agape and Chionia, under the emperor Diocletian. As they would not deny Christ, they were first detained in prison, then cast into the fire, but being untouched by the flames, they gave up their souls to their Creator while praying to Him.

At Tyre, the martyr St. Vulpian, who was sewn up in a sack with a serpent and a dog and drowned in the sea during the persecution of Maximian Galerius.

In the monastery of Medicion, in the East, the abbot St. Nicetas, who suffered much for the worship of holy images in the time of Leo the Armenian.

In England, St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, celebrated for holiness and glorious miracles. In the same country, St. Burgundofora, abbess and virgin.

At Palermo, St. Benedict, of St. Philadelphus, confessor, surnamed the Black, on account of his colour. He was of the Order of Friars Minor, and rested in the Lord on the third of April, with a reputation for miracles. Pope Pius VII placed him in the number of the saints.

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

Thanks be to God.

2 APRIL – SAINT FRANCIS OF PAOLA (Confessor)

Francis was born at Paula in Calabria. His parents, who were for a long time without children, obtained him from Heaven after having made a vow and prayed to Saint Francis. Then very young, being inflamed with the love of God, Francis withdrew into a desert where for six years he led an austere life, but one that was sweetened by heavenly contemplations. The fame of his virtues having spread abroad, many persons went to him out of a desire to be trained in virtue. Out of a motive of fraternal charity, he left his solitude, built a Church near Paula and there laid the foundation of his Order. He had a wonderful gift of preaching. He observed virginity during his whole life. Such was his love for humility that he called himself the last of all men, and would have his disciples named Minims. His dress was of the coarsest kind. He always walked barefooted and his bed was the ground. His abstinence was extraordinary: he ate only once in the day and not until after sunset. His food consisted of bread and water to which he scarcely ever added those viands which are permitted even in Lent. And this practice he would have kept up by his Religious under the obligation of a fourth vow. God bore witness to the holiness of His servant by many miracles, of which this is the most celebrated: that when he was rejected by the sailors, he and his companion passed over the straits of Sicily on his cloak, which he spread out on the water. He also prophesied many future events. King Louis XI France had a great desire to see the Saint and treated him with great respect. Having reached his ninety-first year, he died at Tours in 1507. His body, which was unburied for eleven days, so far from becoming corrupt, yielded a sweet fragrance. He was canonised by Pope Leo X.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The founder of a Religious Order, whose distinguishing characteristics were humility and penance comes before us to-day: it is Francis of Paula. Let us study his virtues and beg his intercession. His whole life was one of great innocence, and yet we find him embracing, from his earliest youth, mortifications which nowadays, would not be expected from the very worst sinners. How was it that he could do so much? And we, who have so often sinned, do so little? The claims of Divine Justice are as strong now as ever they were, for God never changes, nor can the offence we have committed against Him by our sins be pardoned unless we make atonement. The Saints punished themselves with life-long and austere penances for the slightest sins, and the Church can scarcely induce us to observe the law of Lent, though it is now reduced to the lowest degree of severity.

What is the cause of this want of the spirit of expiation and penance? It is that our Faith is weak, and our love of God is cold because our thoughts and affections are so set upon this present life that we seldom if ever consider things in the light of eternity? How many of us are like the King of France, who having obtained permission from the Pope that Saint Francis of Paula should come and live near him, threw himself at the Saint’s feet and besought him to obtain of God that he, the King, might have a long life! Louis XI had led a most wicked life, but his anxiety was, not to do penance for his sins, but to obtain, by the Saint’s prayers, a prolongation of a career which had been little better than a storing up wrath for the day of wrath. We, too, love this present life. We love it to excess. The laws of Fasting and Abstinence are broken not because the obeying them would endanger life or even seriously injure health, for where either of these is to be feared, the Church does not enforce her Lenten penances: but people dispense themselves from Fasting and Abstinence because the spirit of immortification renders every privation intolerable, and every interruption of an easy comfortable life insupportable. They have strength enough for any fatigue that business or pleasure calls for, but the moment there is question of observing those laws which the Church has instituted for the interest of the body as well as of the soul, all seems impossible. The conscience gets accustomed to these annual transgressions and ends by persuading the sinner that he may be saved without doing penance.

* * * * *

Apostle of penance! Your life was always that of a Saint and we are sinners: yet do we presume during these days to beg your powerful intercession in order to obtain of God that this holy Season may not pass without having produced within us a true spirit of penance which may give us a reasonable hope of receiving His pardon. We admire the wondrous works which filled your life — a life that resembled in duration that of the Patriarchs, and prolonged the privilege the world enjoyed of having such a Saint to teach and edify it. Now that you are enjoying in Heaven the fruits of your labours on Earth, think upon us and hearken to the prayers addressed to you by the faithful. Get us the spirit of compunction which will add earnestness to our works of penance. Bless and preserve the Order you have founded. Your holy relics have been destroyed by the fury of heretics. Avenge the injury thus offered to your name by praying for the conversion of heretics and sinners, and drawing down upon the world those heavenly graces which will revive among us the fervour of the Ages of Faith.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Caesarea in Palestine, during the persecution of Galerius Maximian, the birthday of the martyr St. Amphian, who, because he reproved the governor Urban for sacrificing to idols, was cruelly lacerated and, with his feet wrapped in a cloth saturated with oil, was set on fire. After these painful tortures, he was plunged into the sea. Thus through fire and water he reached everlasting repose.

In the same city, the passion of St. Theodosia, a virgin of Tyre, who, in the same persecution, for having publicly saluted the holy confessors as they stood before the tribunal and begged of them to remember her when they should be with God, was arrested and led to the governor Urban. By his order, her sides and breasts were lacerated to the very vitals and she was thrown into the sea.

At Lyons, St. Nizier, bishop of that city, renowned for his saintly life and miracles.

At Como, St. Abundius, bishop and confessor.

At Langres, St. Urban, bishop.

In Palestine, the decease of St. Mary of Egypt, surnamed the Sinner.

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

Thanks be to God.

15 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the martyrdom of St. Longinus, the soldier who is said to have pierced our Lord’s side with a lance.

The same day, the birthday of St. Aristobulus, a disciple of the Apostles who terminated by martyrdom a life spent in preaching the Gospel.

At Thessalonica, St. Matrona, servant of a Jewess, who, worshipping Christ secretly, and stealing away daily to the church to pray, was detected by her mistress and subjected to many trials. Being at last beaten to death with heavy clubs, she gave up her pure soul to God in confessing Christ.

The same day, St. Menignus, a dyer, who suffered under Decius.

In Egypt, St. Meander, who, seeking diligently for the remains of the holy martyrs, merited to be made a martyr himself, under the emperor Diocletian.

At Cordova, St. Leocritia, virgin and martyr.

At Rome, the birthday of Pope St. Zachary, who governed the Church of God with great vigilance, and renowned for merits, rested in peace.

At Rieti, the bishop St. Probus, at whose death the martyrs Juvenal and Eleutherius were present.

At Rome, St. Speciosus, a monk, whose soul his brother saw carried up to heaven.

At Vienna in Austria, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, a professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, remarkable for his energy in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls. As he became illustrious by his virtues and miracles, Pope St. Pius X placed him in the Martyrology.

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

Thanks be to God.

12 MARCH – SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT (Pope and Doctor of the Church)

 

Gregory the Great, a Roman by birth, was son of the Senator Gordian. He applied early to the study of philosophy and was entrusted with the office of Praetor. After his father’s death he built six monasteries in Sicily, and a seventh, under the title of Saint Andrew, in his own house in Rome near the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, on the hill Scaurus. In this last named monastery he embraced the monastic life under the guidance of Hilarion and Maximian and was, later on, elected Abbot. Shortly afterwards he was created Cardinal-Deacon, and was sent by Pope Pelagius to Constantinople as Legate to confer with the Emperor Constantine. While there he achieved that celebrated victory over the Patriarch Eutychius who had written against the resurrection of the flesh, maintaining that it would not be a real one. Gregory so convinced him of his error that the Emperor threw his book into the fire. Eutychius himself fell ill not long after, and when he perceived his last hour had come, he took between his fingers the skin of his hand, and said before the many who were there: “I believe that we will all rise in this flesh.”

On his return to Rome, Gregory was chosen Pope by unanimous consent, for Pelagius had been carried off by the plague. He refused, as long as it was possible, the honour thus offered him. He disguised himself and hid himself in a cave, but he was discovered by a pillar of fire shining over the place, and was consecrated at Saint Peter’s. As Pontiff he was an example to his successors by his learning and holiness of life. He every day admitted pilgrims to his table, among whom he received, on one occasion, an Angel and, on another, the Lord of Angels, who wore the garb of a pilgrim. He charitably provided for the poor, both in and out of Rome, and kept a list of them. He re-established the Catholic faith in several places where it had fallen into decay. Thus, he put down the Donatists in Africa, and the Arians in Spain, and drove the Agnoites out of Alexandria. Gregory refused to give the pallium to Syagrius, Bishop of Autun, until he should have expelled the Neophyte heretics from Gaul. He induced the Goths to abandon the Arian heresy. He sent Augustine and other monks into Britain and, by these learned and saintly men, converted that island to the faith of Christ Jesus, so that Saint Bede called him the “Apostle of England.”

Gregory checked the haughty pretensions of John, the Patriarch of Constantinople who had arrogated to himself the title of “Bishop of the Universal Church.” He obliged the Emperor Mauritius to revoke the decree by which he had forbidden any soldier to become a monk. He enriched the Church with many most holy practices and laws. In a Council held at Saint Peter’s, he passed several decrees. Among these, the following may be mentioned: That in the Mass, the Kyrie eleison should be said nine times; that the Alleluia should always be said, except during the interval between Septuagesima and Easter; that these words should be inserted in the Canon: Diesque nostras in tua pace disponsas (And may you dispose our days in your peace). He increased the number of Processions (Litanies) and Stations, and completed the Office of the Church. He would have the four Councils, of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon, to be received with the same honour as the four Gospels. He allowed the Bishops of Sicily, who, according to the ancient custom of their Churches, used to visit Rome every three years, to make that visit once every fifth year. He wrote several books, and Peter the Deacon assures us that he frequently saw the Holy Ghost resting on the head of the Pontiff while he was dictating. It is a matter of wonder that with his incessant sickness and ill health he could have said, done, written and decreed as he did.

At length, after performing many miracles, Gregory was called to his reward in Heaven after a pontificate of 13 years, 6 months and 10 days. It was on the fourth of the Ides of March (March 12th), which the Greeks also observe as a great Feast, on account of this Pontiff’s extraordinary learning and virtue. His body was buried in the Basilica of Saint Peter near the Secretarium.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Among all the Pastors whom our Lord Jesus Christ has placed as His Vice-regents over the universal Church, there is not one whose merits and renown have surpassed those of the holy Pope whose feast we keep today. His name is Gregory, which signifies watchfulness. His surname is the Great, and he was in possession of that title when God sent the Seventh Gregory, the glorious Hildebrand, to govern His Church.

In recounting the glories of this illustrious Pontiff it is but natural we should begin with his zeal for the Services of the Church. The Roman Liturgy, which owes to him some of its finest Hymns, may be considered as his work, at least in the sense that it was he who collected together and classified the prayers and rites drawn up by his predecessors and reduced them to the form in which we now have them. He collected also the ancient chants of the Church and arranged them in accordance with the rules and requirements of the Divine Service. Hence it is that our sacred music is called the Gregorian Chant, which gives such solemnity to the Liturgy and inspires the soul with respect and devotion during the celebration of the great Mysteries of our Faith.

He is, then, the Apostle of the Liturgy, and this alone would have immortalised his name. But we must look for far greater things from such a Pontiff as Gregory. His name was added to the three who had hitherto been honoured as the great Doctors of the Latin Church. These three were Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome. Who else could be the fourth but Gregory? The Church found in his writings such evidence of his having been guided by the Holy Ghost, such a knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, such a clear appreciation of the Mysteries of Faith, and such unction and authority in his teachings, that she gladly welcomed him as a new guide for her children.

Such was the respect with which everything he wrote was treated, that his very Letters were preserved as so many precious treasures. This immense correspondence shows us that there was not a country, scarcely even a city, of the Christian world, on which the Pontiff had not his watchful eye steadily fixed: that there was not a question, however local or personal, which, if it interested religion, did not excite his zeal and arbitration as the Bishop of the universal Church. If certain writers of modern times had but taken the pains to glance at these Letters written by a Pope of the sixth century, they would never have asserted, as they have done, that the prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff are based on documents fabricated, as they say, two hundred years after the death of Gregory.

Throned on the Apostolic See, our Saint proved himself to be a rightful heir of the Apostles, not only as the representative and depository of their authority, but as a fellow-sharer in their mission of calling nations to the true faith. To whom does England owe her having been, for so many ages, the Island of Saints? To Gregory who, touched with compassion for those Angli of whom, as he playfully said, he would fain make Angeli, sent to their island the monk Augustine with forty companions, all of them, as was Gregory himself, children of Saint Benedict. The faith had been sown in this land as early as the second century, but it had been trodden down by the invasion of an infidel race. This time the seed fructified, and so rapidly that Gregory lived to see a plentiful harvest. It is beautiful to hear the aged Pontiff speaking with enthusiasm about the results of his English mission. He thus speaks in the twenty-seventh Book of his Morals: “Lo! the language of Britain, which could once mutter nothing save barbarous sounds, has long since begun to sing, in the divine praises, the Hebrew Alleluia! Lo! That swelling sea is now calm and saints walk on its waves. The tide of barbarians which the sword of earthly princes could not keep back, is now hemmed in at the simple bidding of God’s priests.”

During the fourteen years that this holy Pope held the place of Peter he was the object of the admiration of the Christian world, both in the East and West. His profound learning, his talent for administration, his position — all tended to make him beloved and respected. But who could describe the virtues of his great soul? — that contempt for the world and its riches which led him to seek obscurity in the cloister; that humility which made him flee the honours of the Papacy and hide himself in a cave where, at length, he was miraculously discovered and God Himself put into his hands the Keys of Heaven, which he was evidently worthy to hold because he feared the responsibility; that zeal for the whole flock of which he considered himself not the master, but the servant, so much so indeed that he assumed the title, which the Popes have ever since retained, of Servant of the Servants of God; that charity which took care of the poor throughout the whole world; that ceaseless solicitude which provided for every calamity, whether public or private; that unruffled sweetness of manner which he showed to all around him, in spite of the bodily sufferings which never left him during the whole period of his laborious pontificate; that firmness in defending the deposit of the Faith, and crushing error wherever it showed itself: in a word, that vigilance with regard to discipline which made itself felt for long ages after in the whole Church? All these services and glorious examples of virtue have endeared our Saint to the whole world, and will make his name be blessed by all future generations, even to the end of time.

*****

Father of the Christian people, Vicar of the charity, as well as of the authority, of Christ! O Gregory, vigilant Pastor! The Church which you have so faithfully loved and served turns to you with confidence. You cannot forget the flock which keeps up such an affectionate remembrance of you. Hear the prayer she offers you on this your solemnity. Protect and guide the Pontiff who now holds the place of Peter, as you did. Enlighten and encourage him in the difficulties with which he is beset. Bless the hierarchy of the Pastors which has received from you such magnificent teachings and such admirable examples. Assist it to maintain inviolate the sacred trust of Faith. Bless the efforts it is now making for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, without which, all is disorder and confusion. God chose you as the regulator of the Divine Service, the Holy Liturgy. Foster, by your blessing, the zeal which is now rising up among us for those holy traditions of prayer which have been so neglected. Teach us the long-forgotten secret that the best way of praying is to use the prayers of the Church. Unite all Churches in obedience to the Apostolic See, which is the ground and pillar of Faith and the fountain of Spiritual Authority. The terrible schism, which has separated the East from Catholic unity, began to show itself during your Pontificate.

Apostle of England, look down with affection on this island which has now rebelled from Rome and has become the resort of countless false religions. But now, after [five] centuries of apostasy from the true Faith, the hand of God’s mercy is pressing her to conversion. She is your own child in Christ Jesus: will you not aid her return to Him? Will thou not guide her, by your prayers, to come forth out of the darkness which still so thickly clouds her and follow the light which Heaven holds out to her? Oh if England were once more Catholic, who can tell the good she would do? For what country is there that can do grander things for the Propagation of the Faith? Pray for her, then. She may regain her glorious title of Isle of Saints, for she has you for her Apostle!

These are the days of salvation. Lent is upon us. Pray for the faithful who are now entering on their career of penance. Obtain for them compunction of heart, love of prayer and an appreciation of the Liturgy and its Mysteries. The solemn and devout Homilies which you addressed at this Season to the people of Rome are still read to us. May they sink into our hearts and fill them with fear of God’s Justice and hope in His Mercy, for His Justice and Mercy change not to suit the time. We are weak and timid, and this makes us count as harsh the laws of the Church which oblige us to fasting and abstinence. Get us brave hearts, brave with the spirit of mortification. Your holy life is an example to us, and your writings are our instruction. What we still want is to be made true Penitents, and this your intercession must do for us so that we may return, with the joy of a purified conscience, to the divine Alleluia which you have taught us to sing on Earth, and which we hope to chant together with you in Heaven.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Mamilian, martyr.

At Nicomedia, the passion of the blessed martyr Peter, chamberlain of the emperor Diocletian. For complaining openly of the atrocious torments inflicted on the martyrs, he was, by order of the emperor, first suspended and a long time scourged, then, salt and vinegar being rubbed into his wounds, he was burned on a grate over a slow fire. Thus did he become truly the heir of St. Peter’s name and faith.

In the same city, St. Egdunus, priest, and seven others who were strangled one by one, on successive days, to terrify those who remained.

At Constantinople, St. Theophanes, who gave up great wealth to embrace poverty in the monastic state. By Leo the Armenian he was kept in prison two years for the worship of holy images, then exiled in Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he breathed his last and wrought many miracles.

At Capua, St. Bernard, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

21 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian, the birthday of seventy-nine holy martyrs who deserved by various torments to receive an immortal crown for the confession of their faith.

At Adrumetum in Africa, during the persecution of the Vandals, the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus and sixteen others who were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Catholic faith.

At Scythopolis in Palestine, St. Severian, bishop and martyr.

At Damascus, St. Peter Mavimenus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness because he said to them, “Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Muhammed.”

At Ravenna, St. Maximian, bishop and confessor.

At Metz, St. Felix, bishop.

At Brescia, St. Paterius, bishop.

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

Thanks be to God.

18 FEBRUARY – SAINT SIMEON (Bishop and Martyr)

 

Simeon, the son of Cleophas (Matthew xiii. 55), was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem in 62 AD and was Saint James’ immediate successor in that See. In the reign of the Emperor Trajan he was accused to the Consul Atticus of being a Christian and a relation of Christ for, at this time, all they, that were of the House of David were seized. After having endured various tortures, Simeon was put to death by the same punishment which our Saviour suffered, and all the beholders were filled with astonishment to find how at his age (for he was 120 years old) he could go through the intense pains of crucifixion without showing a sign of fear or irresolution.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

How venerable our Saint of today, with his hundred and twenty years, and his episcopal dignity, and his Martyr-crown! He succeeded the Apostle Saint James in the See of Jerusalem. He had known Jesus and had been His disciple. He was related to Jesus, for he was of the House of David. His father was Cleophas, and his Mother that Mary whom the tie of kindred united so closely to the Blessed Mother of God that she has been called her sister. What grand titles these of Simeon who comes with all our other Martyrs of Septuagesima to inspirit us to penance! Such a veteran who had been a contemporary of the Saviour of the world and was a Pastor who could repeat to his flock the very lessons this Jesus had given him — such a Saint, we say, could never rejoin His Divine Master save by the path of martyrdom, and that martyrdom must be the Cross. Like Jesus, then, he dies on a Cross and his death, which happened in the year 106, closes the first period of the Christian Era or, as it is called, The Apostolic Age. Let us honour this venerable Pontiff whose name awakens within us the recollection of all that is dear to our Faith. Let us ask him to extend to us that fatherly love which nursed the Church of Jerusalem for so many long years. He will bless us from that throne which he won by the Cross, and will obtain for us the grace we so much need — the grace of conversion.

*****

Receive, most venerable Saint, the humble homage of our devotion. What is all human glory compared with yours! You were of the family of Christ. Your teaching was that which His divine lips had given you. Your charity for men was formed on the model of His Sacred Heart, and your death was the closest representation of His. We may not claim the honour you had of calling ourselves brothers of the Lord Jesus, but pray for us that we may be of those of whom He thus speaks: “Whoever will do the will of my Father that is in Heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew xii. 50). We have not, like you, received the doctrine of salvation from the very lips of Jesus, but we have it in all its purity by means of holy Tradition, of which you are one of the earliest links. Obtain for us a docility to this word of God, and pardon for our past disobedience. We have not to be nailed to a cross, as you were, but the world is thickly set with trials to which our Lord Himself gives the name of the Cross. These we must bear with patience, if we would have part with Jesus in His glory. Pray for us, O Simeon, that henceforth we may be more faithful; that we never more become rebels to our duty, and that we may repair the faults we have so often committed by infringing the law of our God.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Ostia, the holy martyrs Maximus and his brother Claudius, and Praepedigna, the wife of Claudius, with her two sons Alexander and Cutias, all of an illustrious family. By the order of Diocletian, they were apprehended and sent into exile. Afterwards being burned alive, they offered to God the sweet-smelling sacrifice of martyrdom. Their remains were cast into the river, but Christians found them and buried them near that city.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Lucius, Sylvanus, Rutulus, Classicus, Secundinus, Fructulus and Maximus.

At Constantinople, the holy bishop Flavian, who for having defended the Catholic faith at Ephesus, was buffeted and kicked by the partisans of the impious Dioscorus, and being banished, ended his life within three days.

At Toledo, St. Helladius, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.