7 NOVEMBER – FERIA

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“A great mystery” says Saint John Chrysostom, “is accomplished in our dead. A mystery of praise and of joy, when, summoned by the King of kings, the soul goes to meet her Lord, accompanied by Angels sent from Heaven for the purpose! And you lament? When the bridegroom, to whom you have given your daughter, carries her to a far country, you do not complain, provided he makes her happy. Although her absence is a grief to you, the sadness is tempered. And now, because it is not a man, a fellow-slave, but the Lord Himself that claims one of your family, is your grief to be without measure? I do not forbid you to shed a tear. Weep, but be not disconsolate even as others who have no hope (1 Thessalonians iv. 12) And be ready also to return thanks as is meet, honouring thereby your dead, as well as glorifying God, and thus giving them magnificent obsequies.”

With such sentiments were our fathers inspired, in those farewells of the primitive liturgy, which contrasted so strangely with the sad pomp of pagans and which made the funeral train resemble a bridal procession. First, loving hands respectfully washed the body, which had been sanctified by the waters of Baptism and the holy oil, and so often honoured by the visit of our Lord in his blessed Sacrament. It was then clothed in the robes of honour in which it had served its divine Spouse, and, like Him in the tomb, it was surrounded with fragrant spices. Often the sacred Host itself was laid upon the breast after the holy sacrifice of thanksgiving and propitiation. Thus, during an admirable succession of prayers and triumphant chants, amid clouds of incense and numberless torches, the body was carried to the place of rest where Christian burial was to associate it to the last mystery of our Saviour’s mortal career. There, as over the garden of Golgotha on the great Saturday, the naked Cross, despoiled of its divine Burden, looked down upon the graves where the Man-God in His mystic members still awaited the hour of resurrection.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Padua, the demise of St. Prosdocimus, first bishop of that city, who was ordained bishop by the blessed Apostle St. Peter, and sent there to preach the word of God, where, celebrated for many virtues and prodigies, he happily ended his life.

At Perugia, St. Herculanus, bishop and martyr.

The same day, St. Amaranthus, martyr, who was buried in the city of Albi, after the termination of combats faithfully sustained, but lives in eternal glory.

At Melitine in Armenia, the martyrdom of the Saints Hieron, Meander, Hesychius and thirty others, who were crowned in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Lysias.

At Amphipolis in Macedonia, the holy martyrs Auctus, Taurio and Thessalonica.

At Ancyra, the passion of the Saints Melasippus, Anthony and Carina, under Julian the Apostate.

At Cologne, St. Engelbertus, bishop, who did not hesitate to suffer martyrdom in defence of ecclesiastical liberties, and for obedience to the Roman Church.

At Alexandria, blessed Achillas, a bishop renowned for erudition, faith and purity of life.

In Friesland, the decease of St. Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht, who was consecrated bishop by the blessed Pope Sergius, and preached the Gospel in Friesland and Denmark.

At Metz, St. Eufus, bishop and confessor.

At Strasburg, St. Florentius, bishop.

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

Thanks be to God.

6 NOVEMBER – FERIA

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“You are my portion, O Lord, Alleluia, in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia. Bring forth my soul out of prison, to confess to your Name; in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia. Glory and honour be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen: in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia.”

Such is the opening chant for the departed, in the Mozarabic Missal. With the Greeks, in like manner, no word is of more frequent recurrence in the Office of the Dead, than the Alleluia. Moreover, both Greece and Spain are but observing what was once a general practice throughout the Church. Saint Jerome tells us how, at the death of Fabiola, all the Roman people assembled, the chant of psalms echoed on all sides, and the sublime Alleluia filled the temples till it shook their gilded roofs. Two centuries later, the story of Saint Radegonde’s funeral written by her daughter Baudonivia proves that if submissive tears were not forbidden to the survivors and might at times even flow abundantly, the custom in Gaul was, nevertheless, the same as that of Rome. And again with regard to a later period, the Manuscript of Rheims quoted by Dom Hugh Menard in his notes on the Gregorian Saoramentary prescribes as a prelude to the burial prayers the chanting of the Psalm In ezitu Israel de Aegypto, with Alleluia as Antiphon.

When Saint Anthony buried in the desert the body of Saint Paul the first hermit, the biographer of the latter relates that, in accordance with Christian tradition, Anthony sang hymns as well as psalms. Such was actually the universal Christian tradition, identical in all lands. Saint John Chrysostom remarks the same fact and explains it thus: “Tell me, are they not conquerors, the dead whom we carry in procession with shining torches and the singing of hymns? Yes, we praise God and give Him thanks, for He crowns the departed one. He has put an end to his labour and He keeps him near Himself, free from all fear. Seek no other explanation for these hymns and psalms: they are an expression of joy.”

Saint Dionysius speaks in the same strain in his book on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. After alluding to the joy of the dying Christian as he sees approaching the end of his struggle and an eternal security, he adds: “The relatives of the deceased, his friends in God and in holiness, proclaim him blessed for having conquered at last. And they address their songs of thanksgiving to the heavenly Author of the victory. Praying that themselves may obtain a similar lot, they bear him to the hierarch the distributor of the holy crowns, to whom it belongs to perform the sacred rites prescribed with regard to those who have slept in the Lord.”

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Tunis, in Africa, the birthday of St. Felix, martyr, who, having confessed Christ, was sent to prison, his execution being deferred. But the next day he was found dead, as is related by St. Augustine, in his exposition of a psalm to the people on the feast of the saint.

At Theopolis, ten holy martyrs, who are reported to have been put to death by the Saracens.

At Barcelona, St. Severus, bishop and martyr, who had his head pierced with a nail, and thus received the crown of martyrdom for the faith.

In Phrygia, St. Atticus.

At Berg, the departure from this life of St. Winoc, abbot, who was renowned for virtues and miracles, and for a long time served his brethren, even those who were subject to him.

At Fundi in Campania, St. Felix, monk.

At Limoges in Aquitaine, St. Leonard, confessor, a disciple of the blessed bishop Remigius, who was born of a noble family, and chose to lead a solitary life. He was celebrated for holiness and miracles, but his miraculous gift shone particularly in the deliverance of captives.

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

Thanks be to God.

5 NOVEMBER – THE HOLY RELICS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Had we Angels’ eyes we should see the Earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow and ever since the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labour and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for Heaven when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth His rays, will cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the laying  of the precious grain in the Earth.

But the Church is not content to be always sowing. Sometimes, as though impatient of delay, she raises from the ground the chosen seed she had sown in it. Her infallible discernment preserves her from error and, disengaging from the soil the immortal germ, she forestalls the glory of the future. She encloses the treasure in gold or precious stuffs, carries it in triumph, invites the multitudes to come and reverence it. Or she raises new temples to the name of the blessed one, and assigns him the highest honour of reposing under the Altar on which she offers to God the tremendous Sacrifice.

“Let your charity understand,” explains Saint Augustine: “it is not to Stephen we raise an altar in this place, but of Stephen’s relics we make an altar to God. God loves these altars, and if you ask the reason: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’ (Psalm cxv. 15). In obedience to God the invisible soul has quitted its visible dwelling. But God preserves this dwelling. He is glorified by the honour we pay to this lifeless flesh and, clothing it with the might of His divinity, he gives it the power of working miracles.” Hence the origin of pilgrimages to the shrines of the Saints. “Christian people,” says Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “wherefore are you assembled here? A tomb has no attractions. Nay, the sight of its contents inspires horror. Yet, see what eagerness to approach this sepulchre! So great an object of desire is it that a little of the dust from around it is esteemed a gift of great price. As to beholding the remains it conceals, that is a rare favour, and an enviable one, as those can testify who enjoy the privilege: they embrace the holy body as though it were yet alive, they press their lips and their eyes upon it, shedding tears of love and devotion. What emperor ever received such honour?”

“Emperors!” rejoins Saint John Chrysostom, “as the porters at their gates, such have they become with regard to poor fishers. The son of the great Constantine deemed he could not pay a higher honour to his father than to procure him a place of sepulture in the porch of the fisherman of Galilee.” And again, concluding his commentary on Saint Paul’s admirable Epistle to the Romans, the golden-mouthed Doctor exclaims: “And now, who will grant me to prostrate myself at Paul’s sepulchre, to contemplate the ashes of that body which,  suffering for us, filled up what was wanting of the sufferings of Christ? The dust of that mouth  which spoke boldly before kings and, showing what Paul was, revealed the Lord of Paul? The dust of that heart, truly the heart of the world, more lofty than the heavens, more vast than the universe, as much the heart of Christ as of Paul, and in which might be read the book of grace, graven by the Holy Spirit? Oh I that I might see the remains of the hands which wrote those Epistles, of  the eyes which were struck with blindness and recovered their sight for our salvation, of the feet which traversed the whole earth! Yes, I would fain contemplate the tomb where repose these instruments of justice and of light, these members of Christ, this temple of the Holy Ghost. O venerable body, which, together with that of Peter, protect Rome more securely than all ramparts!”

In spite of such teachings as these, the heretics of the sixteenth century profaned the tombs of the Saints under pretext of bringing us back to the doctrine of our forefathers. In contradiction to these strange reformers, the Council of Trent expressed the unanimous testimony of Tradition in the following definition which sets forth the theological reasons of the honour paid by the Church to the relics of Saints:

“Veneration ought to be shown by the faithful to the bodies of the Martyrs and other Saints who live with Jesus Christ. For they were His living members and the temples of the Holy Ghost. He will raise them up again to eternal life and glory, and through them God grants many blessings to mankind. Therefore, those who say that the relics of the Saints are not worthy of veneration, that it is useless for the faithful to honour them, that it is vain to visit the memorials or monuments of the Saints in order to obtain their aid, are absolutely to be condemned, And, as they have already been long ago condemned, the Church now condemns them once more.”

Our ancestors looked upon holy relics as their greatest riches, the treasure by excellence of their cities. Dew of Heaven and fatness of the Earth, the blessings of this world and of the next seemed to distill from the bodies of the Saints. Their presence was a check to hostile armies, as well as to the legions of Hell. It guarded morals, fostered faith, and encouraged prayer in the heart of cities, to which they attracted as great crowds as now flock to our centres of pleasure. And with what vigilance was cherished the blessed deposit, the loss of which would have been considered the greatest of public calamities! “I have here, my brethren,” says Cardinal Pie, “to unfold to you a marvellous desire of the God whom Scripture calls wonderful in His Saints. The Lord Jesus who said to his disciples: ‘Go ye and teach,’ euntes ergo docete, frequently takes pleasure in sending them forth again after their death, and He makes use of their apostolate from beyond the tomb to carry the blessings of grace to other nations besides those whom they evangelised in life. ‘I have appointed you,’ He said, ‘that you should go and should bring forth fruit:’ Posui cosut eatis et fructum atferatis. In obedience to this command, the Saints, even after having reached  the blessed term of their mortal pilgrimage, consent to become wayfarers once more. Had I leisure to recount to you all the posthumous wanderings of our illustrious pontiffs and thaumaturgi, for instance the repeated journeys of our own Hilary and Martin during more than ten centuries, I should, though captivating your attention by narratives full of interest, run the risk of wearying you by the length of my discourse.”

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

St. Zachary, priest and prophet, father of St. John the Baptist.

Also St. Elizabeth, mother of the same most holy precursor.

At Terracina in Campania, the birthday of the holy martyrs, Felix, priest, and Eusebius, monk. The latter having buried the holy martyrs Julian and Caesarius, and converted to the faith of Christ many who the priest St. Felix baptised, was arrested with him, and both being led to the tribunal of the judge who could not succeed in intimidating them, they were shut up in prison, and as they refused to offer sacrifice, were beheaded that same night.

At Emesa in Phoenicia, during the persecution of Decius, the holy martyrs Galation, and Epistemis, his wife, who were scourged, had their hands, feet and tongue severed from their bodies, and finally consummated their martyrdom by decapitation.

Also the holy martyrs Domninus, Theotimus, Philotheus, Silvanus and their companions, under the emperor Maximinus.

At Milan, St. Magnus, bishop and confessor.

At Brescia, St. Dominator, bishop.

At Treves, St. Fibitius, who was made bishop of that city while filling the office of abbot.

At Orleans in France, St. Laetus, priest and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 NOVEMBER – SAINTS VITALIS AND AGRICOLA (Martyrs)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us offer our homage to two Martyrs whose memory was celebrated on this day even before that of Saint Charles. Vitalis the slave and Agricola his master, combating together in the glorious arena proved that social inequality counts for nothing with regard to Heaven’s nobility. Saint Ambrose, when sojourning at Bologna where they had suffered, discovered their bodies and celebrated their triumph. The Church, following his example, has ever associated them in one common homage.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of the Saints Philologus and Patrobas, disciples of the blessed Apostle St. Paul.

At Autun, St. Proculus, martyr.

In Vexin in the north of France, St. Clarus, priest and martyr.

At Ephesus, St. Porphyry, martyr, under the emperor Aurelian.

At Myra in Lycia, the holy martyrs Nicander, bishop, and Hermas, priest, under the governor Libanius.

The same day, the birthday of St. Pierius, priest of Alexandria, who, being deeply versed in the sacred Scriptures, leading a very pure life, and freed from all impediments in order to apply to Christian philosophy, taught the people with great renown, and published various treatises, under the emperors Carus and Diocletian, when Theonas governed the church of Alexandria. After the persecution, he spent the remainder of his life at Rome where he rested in peace.

At Rhodez in France, blessed Amantius, bishop, whose life was resplendent with sanctity and miracles.

In Bithynia, St. Joannicius, abbot.

At Alba-Begale in Hungary, the demise of St. Emeric, confessor, son of St. Stephen, king of Hungary.

In the monastery of Cerfroid, in the diocese of Meaux, St. Felix de Valois, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Bedemption of Captives. His feast is celebrated on the twentieth of this month by order of Pope Innocent XI.

At Treves, St. Modesta, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 NOVEMBER – SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO (Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church)

 

Charles was born at Milan, of the noble family of Borromeo. His future pre-eminent sanctity was fore-shown by a heavenly light shining at night over the room where he was born. He was enrolled in his boyhood in the ranks of the clergy and soon provided with an Abbey, but he warned his father not to tum its revenues to private use. and as soon as its administration was entrusted to him, he spent all the surplus income on the poor. As a youth he pursued his liberal studies at Pavia. He had the greatest love for holy chastity and several times put to flight, with the greatest firmness, some shameless women sent to tempt him. At the age of 23 his uncle Pope Pius IV created him a Cardinal and he adorned that dignity by his great piety and remarkable virtues. Being soon afterwards made Archbishop of Milan, he laboured strenuously to carry out in his whole diocese the decrees of the Council of Trent which had just been concluded mainly through his exertions. To reform the evil customs of his people he held many synods, and moreover was ever himself a perfect model of virtue. He also laboured much to expel the heretics from Switzerland and the country of the Grisons, and converted many of them to the true faith.

The charity of Charles was strikingly exhibited when he sold the principality of Oria and in one day distributed the price, amounting to about 40,000 gold pieces among the poor. With no less generosity on another occasion he distributed 20,000 gold pieces left to him as a legacy. He resigned the many ecclesiastical benefices which his uncle had bestowed on him except a few which he retained for his own necessities and for relieving the poor. When the plague was raging in Milan Charles gave up the furniture of his house, even his bed, for the support of the poor, and thenceforward always slept on a bare board. He visited the plague-stricken with unwearied zeal, assisted them with fatherly affection, and, administering to them with his own hands the Sacraments of the Church, singularly consoled them. Meanwhile he approached to God in humble prayer as a mediator for his people. He ordered public supplications to be made, and himself walked in the processions with a rope round his neck, his feet bare and bleeding from the stones and carrying a cross. Thus offering himself as a victim for the sins of the people, he endeavoured to turn away the anger of God. He strenuously defended the liberty of the Church and was most zealous in restoring discipline. For this reason some seditious persons fired on him while he was engaged in prayer, but by the divine power he was preserved unharmed.

His abstinence was wonderful: he very often fasted on bread and water, and sometimes took only a little pulse. He subdued his body by night watchings, a rough hair-shirt and frequent disciplines. He was a great lover of humility and meekness. Even when occupied by weighty business, he never omitted his prayer or preaching. He built many churches, monasteries and colleges. He wrote many works of great value especially for the instruction of bishops, and it was through his care that the catechism for parish priests was drawn up. At length he retired to a solitary place on Mount Tarallo, where the mysteries of our Lord’s Passion are sculptured in a life-like manner, and there after spending some days in severe bodily mortifications sweetened by meditation on Christ’s sufferings, he was seized by a fever. He returned to Milan but the illness growing much worse, he was covered with sackcloth and ashes, and with his eyes fixed on the crucifix he passed to Heaven, in the forty-seventh year of his age, on the third of the Nones of November, in 1684. He was illustrated by miracles and was enrolled among the Saints by Pope Paul V.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

HUMILITAS. This word already stood, crowned with gold, on his family escutcheon, when Charles was born at the castle of Arona. It had been said of the Borromeos that they knew nothing of humility except to bear it on their coat of arms, but the time had now come when the mysterious device was to be justified by the most illustrious scion of that noble family and when, at the zenith of his greatness, a Borromeo would learn to void his heart of self in order that God might fill it. Far, however, from abjuring the high-mindedness of his race, the humble Saint was the most intrepid of them all, while his enterprises were to eclipse the noble exploits of a long line of ancestors. One more proof that humility never debases.

Charles was scarcely 22 years of age when Pius IV, his maternal uncle, called him to the difficult post of Secretary of State, shortly afterwards created him Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, and seemed to take pleasure in heaping honours and responsibilities on his young shoulders. The late Pontiff Paul IV had been ill requited for placing a similar confidence in his nephews, the Caraffas,who ended their days upon the scaffold. His successor, on the contrary, as the event testified, was actuated by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, not by the dictates of flesh and blood.

Sixty years of that fatal century had already elapsed while the evils consequent on Luther’s revolt were ever increasing, and the Church was daily threatened with some new danger. The Protestants had just imposed upon the Catholics of Germany the treaty of Passau, which completed the triumph of the fanatics, and secured to them equality and liberty. The abdication of Charles V in despair, left the empire to his brother Ferdinand, while Spain, with its immense dominions in both hemispheres, fell to his son Philip II. Ferdinand I inaugurated the custom of dispensing with Rome by crowning himself with the diadem which Saint Leo III had placed upon the brow of Charlemagne, and Philip, enclosing Italy by taking Naples in the South and Milan in the North, seemed to many to be threatening the independence of Rome herself. England, reconciled for a brief period under Mary Tudor, was replunged by Elizabeth into the schism which continues to the present day. Boy kings succeeded one another on the throne of Saint Louis, and the regency of Catherine de Medici involved France in the wars of religion.

Such was the political situation which the minister of Pius IV had to cope with, and to utilise to the best of his power for the interests of the Holy See and of the Church. Charles did not hesitate. With faith to supply for his want of experience, he understood that to the torrent of errors, which threatened to deluge the world, Rome must first of all oppose, as an embankment, that undivided truth of which she is the guardian. He saw how, in contest with a heresy which claimed the name of Reformation while it let loose every passion, the Church might take occasion from the struggle to strengthen her discipline, elevate the morals of her children, and manifest to the eyes of all her indefectible sanctity. This thought had already, under Paul III and Julius III led to the convocation of the Council of Trent, and inspired its dogmatic definitions and reformatory decrees. But the Council, twice interrupted, had not completed its work, which was still under dispute. It had now been suspended for eight years, and the difficulties in the way of its resumption continued to increase on account of the quarrelsome pretensions of princes. The Cardinal-nephew bent all his efforts to surmount the obstacles. He devoted day and night to the work, imbuing with his views the Sovereign Pontiff himself, inspiring with his zeal the nuncios at the various courts, vying in skill and firmness with diplomatic ministers in order to overcome the prejudices or the ill-will of monarchs.

And when, after two years of these difficult negotiations, the Fathers of Trent gathered together once more, Charles was the providence and the tutelary angel of this august assembly. To him it owed its material organisation, its political security, the complete independence of its deliberations and their thenceforward uninterrupted continuity. Himself detained at Rome, he was the intermediary between the Pope and the Council. The presiding legates soon gave him their full confidence, as is proved from the pontifical archives; to him, as to the ablest counsellor and most reliable support, they daily had recourse in their solicitudes and anxieties.

“For her (wisdom’s) sake, says the Wise Man, I will have glory among the multitude, and honour with the ancients, though I be young; ... and the faces of princes will wonder at me. They will wait for me when I hold my peace, and they will look on me when I speak, and if I talk much they will lay their hands on their mouths” (Wisdom viii. 10–12). Such was truly the case with Saint Charles at this critical moment of the world’s history. No wonder that divine Wisdom, to whom he listened with such docility, and who inspired him so copiously, rendered his name immortal in the memory of a grateful posterity.

In his Defence of the too famous Declaration, Bossuet, speaking of the Council of Trent which owed its completion to Saint Charles, says that it brought the Church back to the purity of her origin as far as the iniquity of the times would permit: and when the Ecumenical sessions at the Vatican were opened, the Bishop of Poitiers, the future Cardinal Pie, spoke of “that Council of Trent, which deserved, more truly even than that of Nicaea, to be called the great Council; that Council, concerning which we may confidently assert, that since the creation of the world no assembly of men has succeeded in introducing among mankind such great perfection; that Council of which it has been said that, as a tree of life, it has for ever restored to the Church the vigour of her youth. More than three centuries have elapsed since its labours were completed, and its healing and strengthening virtue is still felt. “The Council of Trent is perpetuated in the Church by means of the Roman Congregations charged with its continual application, and with ensuring obedience to the pontifical constitutions which have followed and completed it.” Charles suggested the measures adopted for this end by Pius IV and approved and developed by succeeding Pontiffs. He caused the Liturgical Books to be revised and the Roman Catechism to be compiled. But first, and in all things, he was himself the living model of the renewed discipline, and thus acquired the right to exercise his zeal for or against others. Rome, initiated by him in the salutary reform, of which it was fitting she should set the first example, was in a few months completely transformed. The three churches now dedicated to Saint Charles within her walls, and the numerous altars which bear his name in other sanctuaries of the holy City, are the testimony of her enduring gratitude.

His administration, however, and his sojourn in Rome lasted only during the six years of Pius IV’s pontificate. On the death of that Pope, in spite of the entreaties of Pius V whose election was due chiefly to his exertions, Charles set out for Milan which called for the presence of its Archbishop. For near a century, the great Lombard city had scarcely known its pastors save by name, and this abandonment had delivered it, like so many others at that period, to the wolf that catches and scatters the sheep. Our Saint understood far otherwise the responsibility of the cure of souls. He gave himself entirely to this duty, without care for himself, without a thought for the judgements of men, without fear of the powerful. His maxim was to treat of the interests of Jesus Christ in the spirit of Jesus Christ, his programme, the ordinances of Trent. Charles’s episcopate was the carrying out of the great Council; its living form; the model of its practical application in the whole Church, and the proof of its efficiency, demonstrating that it sufficed for every reform and could, of itself alone, sanctify both pastor and flock.

We would gladly have given more than a passing notice of these Acts of the church of Milan which have been lovingly collected by faithful hands, and which show our Saint in such grand a light. Herein, after the six provincial councils and eleven diocesan synods over which he presided, follows the inexhaustible series of general or special mandates dictated by his zeal; pastoral letters, the most remarkable of which is the sublime Memorial written after the plague in Milan; instructions upon the holy Liturgy, upon the tenure of churches, upon preaching, upon the administration of the Sacraments, and notably the celebrated instruction to Confessors; ordinances concerning the archiepiscopal court, the chancellorship, canonical visitations; regulations for the archbishop’s domestic family, and his vicars and officials of all ranks, for the parish priests and their meetings in conference (a custom introduced by him), for the Oblates he had founded, the seminaries, schools, and confraternities; edicts and decrees; and lastly various tables, and complete forms of administrative acts, so drawn up that nothing remains but to insert names and dates. It is a true pastoral encyclopaedia, which, in its magnificent amplitude, would appear to be the work of a long life, yet Saint Charles died at the early age of 46, and moreover all this was written in the midst of trials and combats sufficient to have been his sole pre-occupation.

* * * * *

Successor of Ambrose, you inherited his zeal for the house of God. Your action also was powerful in the Church, and though separated in time by a thousand years, your names are now united in one common glory. May your prayers also mingle before the throne of God for us in these times of decadence, and may your power in heaven obtain for us pastors worthy to continue, or if need be to renew, your work on Earth. How obviously applicable to both of you were those words of Holy Writ: “What manner of man the ruler of the city is, such also are they that dwell in it” (Ecclesiastes x. 2) And again: “I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be filled with my good things, says the Lord” (Jeremias xxxi. 14). Rightly did you say, O Charles: “Never did Israel hear a more awful threat than this: Lex peribit a sacerdote. Priests are divine instruments, upon whom depends the welfare of the world. Their abundance is the riches of all, their default is the ruin of nations” (“The law will perish, will fail, will be silent, in the heart of the priest and on his lips. Ezechiel vii. 26). And when, from the midst of your priests convoked in synod, you passed to the venerable assembly of seventeen bishops your suffragans, your language became, if possible, still more vehement: “Let us fear lest the angered Judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of my Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savour. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were Apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?”

But, by the grace of God blessing your zeal for the amendment of both sheep and lambs, you could add, O Charles: “Province of Milan, take heart again. Behold, your fathers have come to you, and are assembled once more for the purpose of remedying your ills. They have no other care than to see you bring forth the fruits of salvation, and for this end they multiply their united efforts.” “My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians iv. 19). Such is the aspiration of the Bride, which will cease only in Heaven: and synods, visitations, reformation, decrees concerning preaching and government and ministry, were, in your eyes, but the manifestation of this one desire of the Church, the expression of the mother’s cry as she brings forth her children.

Deign, O blessed Pontiff, to restore in all places the love of holy discipline in which the pastoral solicitude that rendered you so glorious found the secret of its marvellous fecundity. It may be sufficient for the simple faithful merely to know that among the treasures of the Church there exists, side by side with her doctrine and Sacraments, an incomparable code, the work of ages, an object of legitimate pride to all her sons, whose divine privileges it protects. But the priest, entirely devoted to the Church, cannot serve her usefully without that profound and persevering study which will give him the understanding of her laws in detail. But clergy and laity alike must beseech God, that the miseries of the times may not impede the meeting of our venerated superiors in the councils and synods prescribed at Trent, and so grandly carried out by you, O Charles, who proved by experience their value for the salvation of the world. May Heaven, for your sake, hear our prayer, and then we will be able to say with you to the Church: “O tender mother, let your voice cease from weeping, for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord. And your sons will return out of the land of the enemy. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people will be filled with my good things” (Jeremias xxxi. 14, 16).

3 NOVEMBER – SAINT HUBERT (Bishop and Confessor)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Rome, wishing to admit as few interruptions as possible into the present great Octave, gives but a brief notice of Saint Hubert in the Martyrology. It is fitting that we should imitate her reserve. Were we, however to omit all mention of him, Christian hunters, so faithful in proclaiming their glorious Patron, would not forgive us. It is right also to satisfy popular piety, and the gratitude of numberless clients saved from hydrophobia, and led to the feet of the Saint by a tradition of a thousand years standing.

A few words suffice to recount his life. After the mysterious stag had revealed Christ to him, he became, from a hunter of wild animals, a hunter of souls, and merited to be called the Apostle of Ardenne, whose forests had often echoed to the baying of his hounds. He became the disciple and successor of Saint Lambert, and transferring from Maastricht both the relics of the holy Martyr-Bishop and the Episcopal See, he raised Liège from an obscure village to a great town. His blessed death took place on May 30th 727, and on November 3rd 743, his precious remains were taken up for the first time, which led to the celebration of his feast on this day. In the following century, the Abbey of Andain was put in possession of the sacred deposit and took from him the name of Saint Hubert, as did likewise the town which sprang up around and soon became a centre for pilgrimages.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of St. Quartus, a disciple of the Apostles.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the holy martyrs Germanus, Theophilus, Caesarius and Vitalis, who became illustrious martyrs in the persecution of Decius.

At Saragossa, under Dacian, governor of Spain, innumerable holy martyrs who laid down their lives for Christ with admirable fervour.

At Viterbo, during the persecution of Maximian, the holy martyrs Valentine, priest, and Hilary, deacon. For attachment to the faith of Christ, they were cast into the river Tiber with a stone tied to them, but being miraculously rescued by an angel, they were beheaded and thus were crowned with the glory of martyrdom.

In England, St. Winefride, virgin and martyr.

In the monastery of Clairvaux, the decease of St. Malachy, bishop of Armagh in Ireland, who won renown in his own days for his many virtues, and whose life was written by the abbot St. Bernard.

At Vienne, St. Domnus, bishop and confessor.

Also the departure from this life of St. Pirminus, bishop of Meaux.

At Urgel in Spain, St. Hermengaudus, bishop.

At Rome, St. Sylvia, mother of Pope St. Gregory.

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

Thanks be to God.

3 NOVEMBER – TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY RESUMED)

Epistle – Romans xiii. 8‒10

Brethren, owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loves his neighbour has fulfilled the Law. For, “You must not commit adultery: You must not kill. You must not steal. You must not bear false witness. You must not covet.” And if there be any other commandment it is comprised in this word: “You must love your neighbour as yourself.” The love of our neighbour works no evil. Love, therefore, is the fulfilling of the Law.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

During this holy season when the very Son of God is giving so great a proof of His love for man, whose nature He has assumed — the Church is continually exhorting the faithful, in the words of the Apostle, to practise charity towards each other. The Emmanuel comes to us as our Lawgiver: now, He has resumed His whole Law in the precept of love. He is come in order to unite what sin had divided. Let us comply with His divine intentions and accomplish, with earnestness, the Law He has imposed on us.

Gospel – Matthew viii. 23‒27

At that time, when Jesus entered into the boat His disciples followed Him. And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him, and awakened Him, saying: “Lord, save us, we perish.” And Jesus said to them: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” Then rising up He commanded the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm. But the men wondered, saying: “What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey him?”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us adore the power of our Emmanuel who is come to calm the tempest which threatened the human race with death. In the midst of their danger the successive generations of men had cried out: “Lord! Save us. We perish.” When the fullness of time had come, He awoke from his rest. He had but to command, and the power of our enemies was destroyed. The malice of the devils, the darkness of idolatry, the corruption of paganism — all yielded. Nation after nation was converted to Jesus. They had said when in their misery and blindness: “Who is this Jesus whom no power can resist?” and then, they embraced His Law. This power of Jesus to break down every obstacle —and that, too, at the very time when men were disquieted at His apparent slumbering — has often shown itself in the past ages of the Church. How many times has He not chosen that period for saving the world which seemed the least likely for rescue! The same happens in the life of each one among us. Often we are tossed to and fro by violent temptations. It would seem as though the billows must sink us, and yet our will is firmly anchored to our God! And what is all this, if not Jesus sleeping in the heaving barque —nay, protecting us by this His sleeping? And if our cry for help at length awakens Him, it is only to proclaim His own and our victory, for He has already conquered and we have conquered in Him.

2 NOVEMBER – THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED (ALL SOULS)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“We will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians iv. 12).

The Church today has the same desire as the Apostle thus expressed to the first Christians. The truth concerning the dead not only proves admirably the union between God’s justice and His goodness: it also inspires a charitable pity which the hardest heart cannot resist, and at the same time offers to the mourners the sweetest consolation. If faith teaches us the existence of a Purgatory where our loved ones may be detained by unexpiated sin, it is also of faith that we are able to assist them. And theology assures us that their more or less speedy deliverance lies in our power. Let us call to mind a few principles which throw light on this doctrine. Every sin causes a twofold injury to the sinner: it stains his soul and renders him liable to punishment. Venial sin, which displeases God, requires a temporal expiation. Mortal sin deforms the soul and makes the guilty man an abomination to God: its punishment cannot be anything less than eternal banishment, unless the sinner, in this life, prevents the final and irrevocable sentence. But even then the remission of the guilt, though it revokes the sentence of damnation, does not cancel the whole debt. Although an extraordinary overflow of grace upon the prodigal may sometimes, as is always the case with regard to baptism and martyrdom, bury every remnant and vestige of sin in the abyss of divine oblivion, yet it is the ordinary rule, that for every fault satisfaction must be made to God’s justice, either in this world or in the next.

On the other hand, every supernatural act of virtue brings a double profit to the just man: it merits for his soul a fresh degree of grace, and it makes satisfaction for past faults in exact proportion to the value, in God’s sight, of that labour, privation or trial accepted, or that voluntary suffering endured, by one of the members of His beloved Son. Now, whereas merit is a personal acquisition and cannot be transferred to others, satisfaction may be vicarious. God is willing to accept it in payment of another’s debt, whether the recipient of the boon be in this world or in the next, provided only that he be united by grace to the mystical Body of our Lord, which is one in charity. This is a consequence of the mystery of the Communion of Saints, as Suarez explains in his beautiful treatise on Suffrages. Appealing to the authority of the greatest and most ancient princes of science, and discussing the objections and restrictions since proposed by others, the illustrious theologian does not hesitate to formulate this conclusion with regard to the suffering souls in particular: “I believe that this satisfaction of the living for the dead is a matter of simple justice, and that it is infallibly accepted with its full value, and according to the intention of him who applies it. Thus, for instance, if the satisfaction I make would, if kept for myself, avail me in strict justice for the remission of four degrees of Purgatory, it will remit exactly the same amount to the soul for whom I choose to offer it” (Suarez, De Suffragiis, Sectio vi.)

We well know how the Church seconds the goodwill of her children. By the practice of Indulgences, she places at their charitable disposal the inexhaustible treasure accumulated, from age to age, by the superabundant satisfactions of the Saints, added to those of the Martyrs, and united to those of our blessed Lady and the infinite residue of our Lord’s sufferings. These remissions of punishment she grants to the living by her own direct power, but she nearly always approves of and permits their application to the dead by way of suffrage, that is to say, in the manner in which, as we have seen, each of the faithful may offer to God who accepts it, for another, the suffrage or succour of his own satisfactions. Such is the doctrine of Suarez, who adds that an Indulgence ceded to the dead loses nothing either of the security or of the value it would have had for ourselves who are still militant.

Now Indulgences under every form are continually coming in our way. Let us make use of our treasures and exercise mercy towards the poor suffering souls. Is any condition more pitiable than theirs? So great is their anguish that no distress on Earth can approach to it, and withal so nobly endured, that not a murmur breaks the silence of that “river of fire, which in its imperceptible current bears them on little by little to the ocean of Paradise.” All Heaven cannot help them, for there is no merit to be gained there. God Himself, though most merciful, owes it to His justice not to deliver them until they have paid the whole debt that they carried with them beyond the world of trial. The debt was contracted perhaps through our fault, and in our company. And it is to us they turn for help, to us who are still dreaming of nothing but pleasure, while they are burning and we could so easily shorten their torments! “Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me” (Job xix. 21).

Whether it be that Purgatory is now more than ever overflowing with the multitudes daily sent there through the worldliness of the age, or that the last and universal judgement is approaching, the Holy Ghost is no longer satisfied with keeping up the zeal of ancient confraternities devoted to the service of the departed. He raises up new associations, and even religious families, whose one aim is to promote, by every possible means, the deliverance or the solace of the suffering souls. In this kind of redemption of captives there are likewise to be found Christians who at their own risk offer to take upon themselves the chains of their brethren by utterly foregoing, for this purpose, not only all their own satisfactions, but even the suffrages which may be offered for them after death: an heroic act of charity, which must not be lightly undertaken, but which the Church approves. For it greatly glorifies our Lord, and in return for the risk incurred of a temporary delay of beatitude, merits for its author a greater nearest to God, both by grace here below, and in glory in Heaven. If the suffrages of the simple faithful are of such value, of how much more are those of the whole Church in the solemnity of public prayer and the oblation of the awful Sacrifice in which God Himself makes satisfaction to God for every sin!

From the very beginning the Church has always prayed for the dead, as did even the Synagogue before her (2 Maccabees xii. 46). As she honoured with thanksgiving the anniversaries of her martyred sons, so she celebrated with supplications the memory of her other children who might not yet be in Heaven. In the sacred Mysteries she daily uttered the names of both for this twofold purpose of praise and prayer. As in each particular church it was impossible to name all the Blessed of the entire world, a common mention was made of them all. And in like manner, after the recommendations peculiar to each place and day, a general commemoration was made of all the dead. Thus, as Saint Augustine remarks, those who had no relatives and friends on Earth were henceforth not deprived of suffrages: for, to make up for their abandonment, they had the tender compassion of the common Mother.

The Church having always followed the same method with regard to the commemoration of the blessed and that of the departed, it might be expected that the establishment of All Saints Feast in the ninth century would soon lead to the solemn Commemoration of All Souls. In 998, according to the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, Saint Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, instituted it in all the monasteries under his crosier, to be celebrated in perpetuity on the morrow of All Saints. In certain visions recorded in his Life, Odilo and his monks had been denounced by the demons as the most indefatigable helpers of the holy souls, and most formidable to the powers of Hell. And this institution was the Saint’s retaliation. The world applauded the decree. Rome adopted it and it became the law of the whole Latin Church.

The Greeks make a general commemoration of the dead on the eve of our Sexagesima Sunday, which with them is called Apocreos or Carnival, and on which they celebrate the second coming of our Lord. They give the name of “Saturday of all souls” to this day, as well as to the eve of Pentecost when they again pray solemnly for the departed.

Today the Roman Church doubles her task of daily service to the divine Majesty. The Commemoration of the Dead does not distract her from the Saints. The Office of the second day within the Octave preceded the Dirge. Tierce of All Saints has been followed by the corresponding Mass, and it is after None of the same Office that the holy Sacrifice is offered for the faithful departed. On account of this increase, and her solicitude to maintain the harmony she has established between the two liturgical objects of this day, Rome has never countenanced the extension of a privilege existing in Spain, which allows each Priest to offer three Masses for the Dead. For a long period Rome alone, with a few churches that kept the most closely to her, recited the Office of All Saints on the second of November. Most of the Western churches said only that of the Dead. At the day Hours, as well as at Matins and Lauds, the Hymn and the Deus in adjutorium were suppressed. The ordinary Psalms were concluded with Requiem aeternam, and the Collect for the Dead was said at the close, as is still the custom among the Friars Preachers. The one Solemn Mass, that of the Dead, was celebrated after Tierce. This Commemoration of the faithful departed usually ended at None but Cluny maintained, up to [the eighteenth] century, the custom of celebrating second Vespers.

As to the obligation of resting from servile work on All Souls’ day, it was of semi-precept in England, the more necessary works being permitted. In some places the obligation lasted only till midday. In others assistance at Mass was alone enjoined. For some time, Paris kept the 2nd November as a Feast of obligation. In 1673 the command to observe it until midday was retained in the statutes by the Archbishop Francis de Harlay. The precept no longer exists, even at Rome.

The remark of Amalarius, quoted above with regard to the Office of the Dead, is no less applicable to the Mass. Not to mention the suppression of the Gloria in excelsis and of the Alleluia, the Priest omits the Psalm Judica me at the foot of the Altar, as in Passiontide. As on Good Friday, he is clothed in black vestments. Most of the blessings are omitted, as also the kiss of peace, and the various marks of honour shown to the celebrant. The altar is thurified but once, and the singing of the Gospel is done as on that great day, viz: the Deacon receives no blessing from the Celebrant, lights and incense are not used, and the Priest does not kiss the sacred text. So closely, even in death, does the Church draw her children to him whose members they are.

Epistle – 1 Corinthians xv. 51‒57

Brethren, behold, I tell you a mystery: we will all indeed rise again, but we will not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise again incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal has put on immortality, then will come to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin: the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

While the soul is supplying in Purgatory for the insufficiency of her expiations, the body she has quitted returns to the earth in virtue of the sentence pronounced against Adam and his race from the beginning of the world. But, with regard to the body as well as the soul, justice is full of love. Its claims are a prelude to the glory which awaits the whole man. The humiliation of the tomb is the just punishment of original sin, but in this return of man to the earth from which he sprang, Saint Paul would have us recognise the sowing necessary for the transformation of the seed which is destined to live again under very different conditions. For flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians xv. 50), neither can corruptible members aspire to immortality. The body of the Christian, which Saint Ignatius of Antioch calls the wheat of Christ, is cast into the tomb, as it were into the furrow, there to leave its own corruption, the form of the first Adam with its heaviness and infirmity: but by the power of the new Adam reforming it to his own likeness, it will spring up all heavenly and spiritualised, agile, impassible and glorious. Blessed be He who willed to die for us in order to destroy death, and to make His own victory ours!

Gospel – John xv. 25‒29

At that time, Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews, “Amen, amen I say to you, that the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son also to have life in Himself: And He has given him power to do judgement, because he is the Son of man. Wonder not at this; for the hour comes in which all that are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, will come forth to the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Purgatory is not eternal. Its duration varies according to the sentence pronounced at each particular judgement. It may be prolonged for centuries in the case of the more guilty souls, or of those who, being excluded from the Catholic communion, are deprived of the suffrages of the Church, although by the divine mercy they have escaped Hell. But the end of the world, which will be also the end of time, will close forever the place of temporary expiation. God will know how to reconcile His justice and His goodness in the purification of the last members of the human race, and to supply by the intensity of the expiatory suffering what may be wanting in duration. But, whereas a favourable sentence at the particular judgement admits of eternal beatitude being suspended, and postponed, and leaves the bodies of the elect to the same fate as those of the reprobate: at the universal judgement, every sentence, whether for Heaven or for Hell, will be absolute and will be executed immediately and completely. Let us, then, live in expectation of the solemn hour when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God (John v. 25). He that is to come, will come and will not delay, as the Doctor of the Gentiles reminds us. His arrival will be sudden, as that of a thief, we are told, not only by Saint Paul, but also by the Prince of the Apostles and the Beloved Disciple, and these in turn are but echoing the words of our Lord Himself: “As lightning comes out of the East and appears even to the West: so will also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The the birthday of St. Victorinus, bishop of Poitiers, who, after writing many works, as was attested by St. Jerome, was crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian.

At Trieste, blessed Justus, who consummated his martyrdom in the same persecution under the governor Manatius.

At Sebaste, the Saints Carterius, Styriacus, Tobias, Eudoxius, Agapius and their companions, martyrs, under the emperor Licinius.

In Persia, the holy martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphtonius, Elpidephorus and Anempodistus, with their numerous companions.

In Africa, the birthday of the holy martyrs Publius, Victor, Hermes and Papias.

At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, St. Eustochium, virgin and martyr, who breathed her last in prayer in the midst of severe torments.

At Laodicea in Syria, St. Theodotus, a bishop, powerful in words, and adorned with good works and virtues.

At Vienne, St. George, bishop.

In the monastery of St. Maurice, in Switzerland, St. Ambrose, abbot.

At Cyrus, in Syria, St. Marcian, confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

1 NOVEMBER – ALL SAINTS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The bells ring out as joyously as on the brightest days. They announce the great solemnity of the closing Cycle. The feast which shows us time stamped with the impress of eternity, and God taking possession of the declining year and gathering in its harvest. At the sound of their triumphant and harmonious peals, the Church, prostrate and fasting since morning, raises her brow to the light. Guided by Saint John, she penetrates the secrets of Heaven and the words of the Beloved Disciple, uttered by her lips, assume a tone of incomparable enthusiasm. This feast is truly the triumph of her motherhood, for the great crowd of the blessed before the throne of the Lamb are the sons and daughters she alone has given to the Lord.

When Rome had completed the conquest of the world she dedicated to all the gods, in token of her gratitude, the Pantheon, the most durable monument of her power. But when she herself had been conquered by Christ, and invested by Him with the empire over souls, she withdrew her homage from vain idols and offered it to the Martyrs for they, praying for her as she slew them, had rendered her truly eternal. To the martyrs then, and to Mary their Queen, she consecrated forever, on the morrow of her merciful chastisement, the now purified Pantheon. “Come forth from your dwellings, ye Saints of God, hasten to the place prepared for you.” For three centuries the catacombs were the resting place of our Lord’s athletes when they were borne from the arena. These valiant warriors deserved the honours of a triumph far better than did the great victors of old. In 312, however, Rome disarmed but not yet changed in heart, was not at all disposed to applaud the men who had conquered the gods of Olympus and of the Capitol. While the Cross surmounted her ramparts, the white-robed army still lay entrenched in the subterranean crypts that surrounded the city like so many outworks. Three centuries more were granted to Rome that she might make satisfaction to God’s justice and take full cognizance of the salvation reserved for her by His mercy. In 609 the patient work of grace was completed. The Sovereign Pontiff Boniface IV uttered the word for the sacred crypts to yield up their treasures. It was a solemn moment, a fore-runner of that in which the Angel’s trumpet call will sound over the sepulchres of the world. The successor of Saint Peter, in all his apostolic majesty and surrounded by an immense crowd, presented himself at the entrance of the catacombs. He was attended by eighteen chariots magnificently adorned for the conveyance of the martyrs. The ancient triumphal way opened before the Saints. The sons of the Quirites sang in their honour: “You will come with joy and proceed with gladness for behold, the mountains and the hills exult, awaiting you with joy. Arise, ye Saints of God, come forth from your hiding places. Enter into Rome, which is now the holy city. Bless the Roman people following you to the temple of the false gods, which is now dedicated as your own church, there to adore together with you the majesty of the Lord.”

Thus, after six centuries of persecution and destruction, the martyrs had the last word, and it was a word of blessing, a signal of grace for the great city hitherto drunk with the blood of Christians. More than rehabilitated by the reception she was giving to the witnesses of Christ, she was now not merely Rome, but the new Sion, the privileged city of the Lord. She now burned before the Saints the incense they had refused to offer to her idols. Their blood had flowed before the very altar on which she now invited them to rest since the usurpers had been hurled back into the abyss. It was a happy inspiration that induced her, when she dedicated to the holy martyrs the temple built by Marcus Agrippa and restored by Severus Augustus, to leave on its pediment the names of its primitive constructors and the title they had given it, for then only did the famous monument truly merit its name when Christian Rome could apply to the new inhabitants of the Pantheon those words of the Psalm: “I have said, you are gods” (Psalm lxxxi. 6). The thirteenth of May was the day of their triumphant installation.

Every dedication on Earth reminds the Church, as she herself tells us, of the assembly of the Saints, the living stones of the eternal dwelling which God is building for Himself in Heaven. It is not astonishing, then, that the dedication of Agrippa’s Pantheon under the above-mentioned circumstances should have originated the feast of today. Its anniversary, recalling the memory of the martyrs collectively, satisfied the Church’s desire of honouring year by year all her blessed sons who had died for the Lord: for, at an early date it became impossible to celebrate each of them on the day of His glorious death. In the age of peace there was added to the cultus of the martyrs that of the other just who daily sanctified themselves in all the paths of heroism opened out to Christian courage. The thought of uniting these with the former in one common solemnity which would supply for the unavoidable omission of many of them, followed naturally on the initiative given by Boniface IV. In 732, in the first half of that eighth century which was such a grand age for the Church, Gregory III dedicated, at Saint Peter’s on the Vatican, an oratory in honour of the Saviour, of His blessed Mother, of the holy Apostles, of all the holy Martyrs, Confessors and perfect Just who repose throughout the world. A dedication under so extensive a title did not, it is true, imply the establishment of our feast of All Saints by the illustrious Pontiff. Yet from this period it began to be celebrated by divers churches, and that too on the first of November, as is attested with regard to England by Venerable Bede’s Martyrology and the Pontifical of Egbert of York. It was far, however, from being universal when in the year 835 Louis le Debonnaire, at the request of Gregory IV and with the consent of all the bishops of his realm, made its celebration obligatory by law. This decree was welcomed by the whole Church and adopted as her own, says Ado, with reverence and love.

The councils of Spain and Gaul, as early as the sixth century, mention a custom then existing of sanctifying the commencement of November by three days of penance and litanies like the Rogation days which precede the feast of our Lord’s Ascension. The fast on the Vigil of All Saints is the only remaining vestige of this custom of our forefathers who, after the institution of the feast, advanced the triduum of penance, so as to make it a preparation for the solemnity itself. “Let our devotion be complete,” is the recommendation of a contemporaneous author. “Let us prepare ourselves for this most holy solemnity by three days of fasting, prayer and almsdeeds.”

When extended to the entire world the feast became complete. It was made equal to the greatest solemnities and widened its horizon till it reached the infinite, embracing uncreated as well as created sanctity. Its object was now not only Mary and the martyrs: not only all the just children of Adam, but moreover the nine choirs of Angels, and above all the Holy Trinity Itself, God who is all in all, the King of kings, that is, of the Saints, the God of gods in Sion. Hear how the Church awakes her children on this day: “Come let us adore the Lord, the King of kings, for He is the crown of all the Saints.” Such was the invitation addressed by our Lord himself to Saint Mechtilde, the chantress of Helfta, the privileged one of His divine Heart: “Praise me, for that I am the crown of all the Saints.” The virgin then beheld all the beauty of the elect and their glory drawing increase from the Blood of Christ, and resplendent with the virtues practised by Him. And responding to our Lord’s appeal, she praised with all her might the blissful and ever adorable Trinity for deigning to be to the Saints their diadem and their admirable dignity.

Dante too describes Beatrice in the highest Heaven, forming her crown of the reflection of the eternal rays. “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,” sang the inhabitants of Paradise with one voice. “I seemed,” says the sublime poet, “to behold a smile of the universe. The kingdom of bliss, with all its people both ancient and new, turned look and love all towards one point. O triple light, which shining in a single star does so delight them, look down upon our tempests!” (Dante, Paradiso, xxvii, xxxi.)

The Greeks honour with us, on one common solemnity, “all the Saints of all the countries on Earth, of Asia, Libya, and Europe, of North and South.” But, whereas the West celebrates at the close of the year a feast which represents the gathering of the harvest into our heavenly Father’s granary, the East keeps it on the first Sunday after Pentecost in that spring time of the Church when, under the action of the Holy Ghost, sanctity was everywhere beginning to blossom. We find it thus as early as the fourth century, for it was on this first Sunday after Pentecost, which with us Latins is now the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, that Saint John Chrysostom pronounced his discourse in honour of “all the Martyrs, who have suffered throughout the world.”

In the West also as we have seen, the origin of All Saints’ feast was this general commemoration of the Martyrs. This latter was placed by some Eastern churches on the Friday within the Octave of Easter. It was a happy thought thus to associate the confession of Christ’s witnesses with the victory over death won by Him, whose divine confession before Pontius Pilate had been an example and a support to them in presence of their executioners. Indeed Rome herself had had the same inspiration when she made her solemn commemoration of the Martyrs in the beginning of May, and she still reserves to the Martyrs and Apostles the honour of having a special Office for the whole of Paschal Time.

Ancient documents referring to this day inform us that on the Calends of November the same eagerness was shown as at Christmas to assist at the holy Sacrifice. However general the Feast was, or rather because of its universality, was it not the special joy of everyone, and the honour of Christian families? Taking a holy pride in the persons whose virtues they handed down to posterity, they considered the heavenly glory of their ancestors who had perhaps been unknown in the world to be a higher nobility than any earthly dignity. Faith was lively in those days, and Christians seized the opportunity of this feast to make amends for the neglect, voluntary or involuntary, suffered during the year by the blessed inscribed on the general Calendar. In the famous Bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, by which he established the feast of Corpus Christi, Urban IV mentions this as one of the motives that had led to the prior institution of All Saints, and expresses a hope that the new solemnity may in like manner compensate for the distractions and coldness of the rest of the year towards this divine Sacrament in which He resides who is the crown and the glory of all Saints.

Epistle – Apocalypse vii. 2‒12

In those days, behold I, John, saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, “Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of them that were signed: an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Ruben twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Aser twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Nephthali twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Mianasses twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Zabulon twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand signed. After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cried with a loud voice saying: “Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God, saying: “Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

At the time of His birth the Man-God, through the instrumentality of Caesar Augustus, took a census of the world. It was fitting that on the eve of the Redemption the statistics of the human race should be officially registered. And now it is time to make a fresh enrolment, and to enter in the Book of Life the results of the work of Redemption. “Wherefore this numbering of the world at the time of our Lord’s birth,” says Saint Gregory in one of the Christmas homilies, “save for this manifest reason, that He was appearing in the Flesh, who is to register the elect in eternity?” But, many having withdrawn themselves by their own fault from the benefit of the first enrolment which included all men in the ranks of those to be redeemed, there was need of a second and definitive registration which should cancel the names of the guilty. “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and with the just let them not be written” (Psalm lxviii. 29). such are the words of the Psalmist quoted by Saint Gregory in the above-mentioned homily.

Today, however, the Church is too full of joy to think of any but the elect. They alone take part in the glorious close of human history described in the Epistle. Indeed, they alone are reckoned before God: the reprobate are but the waste of a world where sanctity alone responds to the Creator’s advances, to the ventures of His infinite love. Let our souls be supple to receive the divine stamp which is to render us conformable to the image of the Only-begotten Son, and mark us out as God’s coin. Whoever is unwilling to receive the divine impress will inevitably be marked with the character of the beast (Apocalypse xiii. 16) and when the Angels come to make the final settlement, every coin unfit to bear the divine stamp will fall into the furnace, where the dross will burn eternally.

Gospel – Matthew v. 1‒12

At that time, Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain. And when He was set down His disciples came to Him. And opening His mouth, He taught them saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they will possess the land. Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they will have their fill. Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they will revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Earth is so near to Heaven today that the one thought which fills all hearts is happiness. The Friend, the Bridegroom, the divine Brother of Adam’s children, comes and sits down among them, and talks of blessedness: “Come to me all you that labour and suffer,” sang the Alleluia Verse, that sweet echo from our fatherland reminding us withal of our exile. And immediately in the Gospel appears the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour. Let us listen to Him, teaching us the ways of blessed hope, the holy delights which are at once an assurance and a foretaste of the perfect bliss of Heaven.

On Sinai Jehovah held the Jew at a distance, giving him precepts under pain of death. On the summit of this other mountain where the Son of God is seated how differently the Law of love is promulgated! In the New Testament the eight beatitudes have taken the place occupied in the Old by the Decalogue graven on stone. Not that the beatitudes repeal the Commandments, but their superabundant justice goes far beyond all prescriptions. It is from His Heart that Jesus brought them forth in order to imprint them, more lastingly than on stone, in the hearts of His people. They are the portrait of the Son of Man, the summary of our Redeemer’s life. Look then and do “according to the pattern that was shown you in the mount” (Exodus xxv. 40).

Poverty was the first mark of our God in Bethlehem and who ever appeared so meek as Mary’s child? Who wept for more noble causes than He in His crib, where He was already expiating our sins and appeasing His Father? They that hunger after justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers: where, save in Him, will they find the incomparable ideal, never attained yet ever imitable? And by His death He became the leader of all those who are persecuted for justice’ sake. In this the highest beatitude on Earth, the Incarnate Word takes delight, returning upon it, detailing it and closing with it in today’s Gospel as with a song of ecstasy. The Church has never had any other ideal. She has ever walked in the footsteps of her Spouse, and her history, throughout the ages, has been but the prolonged echo of the Beatitudes. Let us also understand that we may be blessed both in this world and in the next, let us follow our Lord and the Church.