26 JUNE – SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL OF ROME (Martyrs)

The brothers John and Paul were Roman officers in the service of Constantia, the daughter of Constantine the Great. They were were martyred by Julian the Apostate in 362 AD after he failed to persuade them to worship pagan gods. They were beheaded in their own house during the night and were secretly buried there. Later, another group of martyrs, Terentianus, Crispus, Crispinianus and Benedicta were buried beside them. In 392 a great Basilica was built on the Caelian Hill over the site of their house and burial place. Saints John and Paul are specifically commemorated in the Canon of the Mass.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Amid the numerous sanctuaries which adorn the capital of the Christian universe, the Church of Saints John and Paul has remained from the early date of its origin one of the chief centres of Roman piety. From the summit of the Coelian Hill it towers over the Colosseum, the dependances of which stretch subterraneously even as far as the cellarage of the house once inhabited by our Saints. They, the last of the Martyrs, completed the glorious crown offered to Christ by Rome, the chosen seat of His power. The conflict in which their blood was spilt consummated the triumph whose hour was sounded under Constantine, but which an offensive retaliation on the part of Hell, seemed about to compromise. No attack could be conceived more odious for the Church than that devised by the apostate Caesar. Nero and Diocletian had violently and with hatred declared against the Incarnate God a war of sword and torture, and without recrimination. Christians by thousands had died, knowing that the testimony thus demanded was merely the order of things, just as it had been in the case of their august Head (1 Timothy vi. 13) before a Pontius Pilate, and upon the Cross. But with the clever astuteness of a traitor, and the affected disdain of a false philosopher, Julian purposed to stifle Christianity amid the bulrushes of an oppression progressive to a nicety, and respectfully abhorrent of human blood: merely to preclude Christians from public offices, and to prohibit them from holding chairs for the teaching of youth, that was all the apostate aimed at! However, the blood which he wanted to avoid shedding, must flow, even though a hypocrite’s hands be dyed with it, for according to the divine plan, bloodshed alone can bring extreme situations to an issue, and never was Holy Church menaced with greater peril: fain would they now make a slave of her whom they had beheld still holding her royal liberty in face of executioners — fain would they now await the moment when, once enslaved, she would at last disappear of herself, in powerlessness and degradation.

For this reason the bishops of that time found vent for their indignant soul in accents such as their predecessors had spared to princes whose brute violence was then inundating the empire with Christian blood. They now retorted upon the tyrant, scorn for scorn. And the manifestations of contempt that consequently came showering in from every quarter upon the crowned fool completely unmasked at last his feigned moderation: Julian was now shown up as nothing but a common persecutor of the usual kind — blood flowed, the Church was rescued. Thus is explained the gratitude which this noble Bride of the Son of God has never ceased to manifest to these glorious Martyrs we are celebrating today: for amid the many generous Christians whose out-spoken indignation brought about the solution of this terrible crisis, none are more illustrious than they. Julian was most anxious to count them among his confidants: with this view, he made use of every entreaty, as we learn from the Breviary Lessons. Nor does it appear that he even made the renouncing of Jesus Christ a condition. Well then, it may be retorted, why not yield to the Imperial whim? Could they not do so without wounding their conscience? Surely too much stiffness would be the rather calculated to ill-dispose the prince, perhaps even fatally. Whereas to listen to him would very likely have a soothing effect on him, possibly even bring him round to relax somewhat of those administrative trammels unfortunately imposed on the Church by his prejudiced government. Yes, for anything one knew, the possible conversion of his soul, the return of so many of the misled who had followed him in his fall, might be the result! Should not such things as these deserve some consideration, should they not impose, as a duty, some gentle handling? Yes, such reasoning as this would doubtless appear to some as wise policy: such preoccupation for the apostate’s salvation could easily have had nothing in it but what was inspired by zeal for the Church and for souls. And indeed the most exacting casuist could not find it a crime for John and Paul to dwell in a court where nothing was demanded of them contrary to the divine precepts.

Nevertheless the two brothers resolved otherwise. To the course of soothing and reserve making, they preferred that of the frank expression of their sentiments, and this bold out- speaking of theirs put the tyrant in a fury and brought about their death. The Church has judged their case, and she has found them not in the wrong. Hence it is unlikely that the former path would have led them to a like degree of sanctity in God’s sight. The names of John and Paul inscribed on the sacred diptychs show well enough their credit in the eyes of the Divine Victim, who never offers Himself to the God Thrice-Holy without blending their memory with that of His own immolation. The enthusiasm excited by the noble attitude of these two valiant witnesses to the Lord still re-echoes in the Antiphons and Responsories proper to the feast. It was formerly preceded by a Vigil and fast. Together with the sanctuary which encloses their tomb, it may be said to date as far back as the very morrow of their martyrdom. Granted by a singular privilege a place in the Leonian Sacramentary, while so many other martyrs slept their sleep of peace outside the walls of the Holy City, John and Paul reposed in Rome itself, the definitive conquest of which had been won for the God of armies by their gallant combat.

That very same day of the year immediately succeeding their victorious death, Julian fell dead, uttering against Heaven his cry of rage: “Galilean, you have conquered!” From the Queen City of the universe, their renown, passing beyond the mountains, shone forth almost as soon and with nearly equal splendour in the Gauls. Returned from the scene of his own struggle in the cause of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, Hilary of Poitiers at once propagated their cultus. This great Bishop was called to our Lord, scarcely five years after their martyrdom, but he had already found time to consecrate to their name the church in which his loving hands had laid his sweet daughter Abra and her mother, awaiting the hour when he too should be joined to them in the same spot, expecting the day of the Resurrection. It was from this very church of Saints John and Paul, called later on Saint Hilary the Great’s, that Clovis on the eve of the battle of Vouille beheld streaming towards him that mysterious light, presage of the victory which would result in the expulsion of Arianism from the Gauls, and in the foundation of monarchical unity. These holy Martyrs continued in after years to show the interest they took in the advancement of the kingdom of God by the Franks. When the disastrous issue of the second Crusade was filling the soul of Saint Bernard with bitterness, for he had preached it, they appeared to him, upraised his courage, and manifested by what secrets the King of Heaven had known how to draw His own glory out of events in which man saw only failure and disaster.

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TWO-FOLD is the triumph that thrills through Heaven and two-fold the gladness re-echoed on Earth this day, while your out-poured blood proclaims the victory of the Son of God! Verily, by the martyrdom of the Faithful does Christ triumph. The effusion of His own Blood marked the defeat of the prince of this world. The Blood of His mystical members possesses, alone and always, the power of establishing His reign. Contest has never been an evil for the Church Militant: the noble Bride of the God of armies delights in combat, for she knows right well that her Spouse came on Earth to bring not peace, but the sword. Therefore, to the end of time, will she hold up as an example to her sons, your chivalrous courage and your bold frankness, which scorned to dissimulate your utter contempt for an apostate tyrant, or to suffer you to dwell for a moment on such considerations, as might perhaps, had you listened to him at the first, have just saved your conscience, together with life. Woe to the day on which the deceptive mirage of guileful peace misleads minds, in which merely because sin, properly so called, does not stare them in the face, Christian souls stoop from the lofty stand-point of their Baptism to compromises which even a pagan world would scout. Glorious Brethren, make the children of holy Church to turn aside from that fatal error which would lead them to misconceptions of sacred traditions received by them in heritage. Maintain the “Sons of God” at the full height of those noble sentiments demanded by their heavenly origin, by the throne that awaits them, by the divine Blood they daily drink of. Far from them be all such base-born notions, such vulgarity, as would be calculated to excite against their heavenly Father the blasphemies of the “accursed city.”

Nowadays there has arisen a persecution not dissimilar to that in which you gained the crown. Julian’s plan of action is once more in vogue. If these mimics of the apostate equal him not in intelligence, they at least surpass him in hatred and hypocrisy. But God is not wanting to His Church now, any more than He was then. Obtain for us the grace to do our part in resistance, as was done by you, and the victory will be the same. Your very names, John and Paul, remind us of the Friend of the Bridegroom whose Octave is speeding its course, and of that Paul of the Cross who revived heroism of sanctity in your very house on Monte Coelio. Vouchsafe to unite your protection, powerful as indeed it is, to that which the Precursor exercises over the Mother and Mistress of all Churches, become by the very fact of her primacy the chief butt of the enemies’ attack. Uphold the new militia raised by the necessity of the times, and which is entrusted with the guardianship both of your sacred remains and of those of its glorious Founder. Remembering the power which the Church specially attributes to you, namely, that of opening or shutting the flood-gates of Heaven, be pleased to bless our harvest well near ripe for the sickle: be propitious to our reapers and assuage their painful labour. Preserve from lightning, man and his possessions, the home that shelters him, the beasts that serve him. Too often, alas, ungrateful and forgetful man would indeed deserve to incur your wrath, but prove yourselves children of Him who makes His sun to rise upon the wicked as well as upon the good, and gives His rain to fall alike upon the just and upon sinners (Matthew v. 45).

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Trent, St. Vigilius, bishop, who, while he endeavoured to root out the remains of idolatry, was overwhelmed with a shower of stones by cruel and barbarous men, and thus endured martyrdom for the name of Christ.

At Cordova in Spain, under the Saracen king Abderahman, the birthday of St. Pelagius, a young man who gloriously consummated his martyrdom for the faith by having his flesh torn to pieces with iron pincers.

At Valenciennes, the holy martyrs Salvius, bishop of Angouleme, and Superius.

Also the comemmoration of St. Anthelmus, bishop of Belley.

In Poitou, St. Maxentius, priest and confessor, renowned for miracles.

At Thessalonica, St. David, hermit.

The same day, St. Perseveranda, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

25 JUNE – SAINT WILLIAM OF VERCELLI (Abbot)

William was born of noble parents at Vercelli in the Piedmont in 1085. His parents died while he was still a child and he was brought up by his relatives. But scarce had be attained his fourteenth year, when already inflamed with wondrous ardour for piety, he performed the pilgrimage to the far-famed Sanctuary of Saint James at Compostella in Spain. He made the journey clad in single tunic with a double chain of iron about his loins, and with bare feet, a prey to extreme cold and heat, to hunger and thirst, and even with danger of life. After returning to Italy he was moved to perform a fresh pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord in Jerusalem, but each time he was on the point of carrying it out, various and grave impediments intervened. Divine Providence thus drew the holy inclinations of William to even higher and holier things.

Then passing two years on Monte Solicolo in assiduous prayer and in watchings, in sleeping on the bare ground, and in fastings in which he was divinely assisted, he restored sight to a blind man, the fame of which miracle becoming gradually divulged, at last William could no longer be hidden: for which reason he thought again of undertaking a journey to Jerusalem, and joyfully set out on his way. But God appeared to him, admonishing him to desist from his purpose because he was to be more useful and profitable both in Italy and elsewhere. Ascending Mount Virgilian, since called Monte Vergine, he built a monastery on its summit, on a rugged and inaccessible spot. He there associated to himself religious men who wished to be his companions, and taught them both by word and example a manner of life conformable to the Evangelical precepts and counsels, as well as to certain rules taken for the most part from the institutions of Saint Benedict.

Other monasteries being afterwards built, the sanctity of William became more and more known, and attracted to him many other persons who were drawn by the sweet odour of his holiness and the fame of his miracles. For by his intercession, the dumb received speech, the deaf hearing, the withered new strength, and those labouring under various incurable diseases were restored to health. He changed water into wine, and performed many other wondrous deeds among which, the following must not be passed over in silence, namely, that a courtesan having been sent to make an attempt on his chastity, he rolled himself without hurt amid burning coals spread upon the ground. Roger, king of Naples being certified of this fact, was led to hold the man of God in highest veneration. After having predicted to the king and others the time of his death, resplendent in miracles and innumerable virtues, he passed away in 1042.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Martyrs are numerous on the Cycle during the Octave of Saint John. John and Paul, Irenaeus, the very Princes of the Apostles even, come thronging in to confirm with their blood the testimony of him who made known to Earth the arrival of her long expected God. Where can names more illustrious be found, whether as regards human greatness, sacred science, or the holy hierarchy? But not alone in martyrdom’s peerless glory does our Emmanuel reveal the potency of His grace, or the victorious force of example, left to the world by His Precursor. At the very outset we have here presented to our homage one of those countless athletes of penance who succeeded to John in the desert. One of those who fleeing, like him, in early youth, a society in which their soul’s foreboding told only of peril and annoy, consecrated a lifetime to Christ’s complete triumph within them over the triple concupiscence, thus bearing witness to the Lord by deeds which the world ignores, but which make Angels to rejoice and Hell to tremble.

William was one of the chiefs of this holy militia. The Order of Monte Vergine, that owes its origin to him has deserved well of the Monastic institute and of the whole Church, in those southern parts of Italy in which God has been pleased, at different times, to raise up a dyke, as it were, against the encroaching waves of sensual pleasures, by the stern spectacle of austerest virtue. Both personally and by his disciples, William’s mission was to infuse into the kingdom of Sicily, then in process of formation, that element of sanctity on which every Christian nation must necessarily be based. In southern, just as in northern Europe, the Norman race had been providentially called in to promote the reign of Jesus Christ. Just at this moment, Byzantium, powerless to protect against Saracen invasion the last vestiges of her possessions in the West, was anxious nevertheless to hold the Churches of these lands fast bound in that schism into which she had recently been drawn by the intriguing ambition of Michael Cerularius. The Crescent had been forced to recoil before the sons of a Tancred and a Hauteville. And now, in its turn, Greek perfidy had just been outwitted and unmasked by the rude simplicity of these men who learnt fast enough how to oppose no argument to Byzantine knavery, save the sword. The Papacy, though for a moment doubtful, soon came to understand of what great avail these new-comers would be in feudal quarrels, the jar and turmoil of which were to extend far and wide for yet two centuries more, leading at last to the long struggle betwixt Sacerdotalism and Caesarism.

All through this period, as has ever been the case since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost was directing every event for the ultimate good of the Church. He it was that inspired the Normans to give solidity to their conquests by declaring themselves vassals of the Holy See and thus fixing themselves on the Apostolic rock. But at the same time, both to recompense their fidelity at the very opening of their career, and to render them more worthy of the mission which would have ever been their honour and their strength, had they but continued so to understand it, this same Holy Spirit gave them Saints. Roger I beheld Saint Bruno interceding for his people in the solitudes of Calabria, and there also that blessed man miraculously saved the Duke from an ambush laid by treason. Roger II was now given another such heavenly aid to bring him back again into the paths of righteousness from which he had too often strayed, the example and exhortations of the founder of Monte Vergine.

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FOLLOWING the footsteps of John, you understood, William, the charms of the wilderness, and God was pleased to make known by you how useful are such lives as yours, spent afar from the world and apparently wholly unconcerned with human affairs. Complete detachment of the senses disengages the soul, and makes her draw near to the Sovereign Good. Solitude, by stifling Earth’s tumult, permits the voice of the Creator to be heard. Then man, enlightened by the very Author of the world concerning the great interests that are being at that very time put into play in this work of His, becomes in the Creator’s hands an instrument at once powerful and docile for the carrying out of these very interests, in reality identical with those of the creature himself and of nations. Thus did you become, O illustrious Saint, the bulwark of a great people who found in your word the rule of right, in your example the stimulus of loftiest virtue, in your superabundant penance a compensation, in God’s sight, for the excesses of its Princes. The countless miracles which accompanied your exhortations were not without a telling eloquence of their own, in the eyes of new nations among whom success of arms had created violence and had lashed up passion to fury: that wolf, for instance, which after having devoured the ass of the monastery, was enforced by you to take its victim’s place in humble service. Or again, that hapless woman, who beholding you inaccessible to the scorching flames of that bed of burning coals, renounced her criminal life and was led by you to paths even of sanctity!

Many a revolution, upheaving the land in which you once prayed and suffered, has but too well proved the instability of kingdoms and dynasties that seek not first, and before all things else, the Kingdom of God and His Justice. Despite the oblivion, alas too frequent, into which your teaching and example have been thrown, protect the land in which God granted you graces so stupendous — that land which He vouchsafed to confide to your powerful intercession. Faith still lives in its people. Then keep it up, notwithstanding the efforts of the enemy in these sad days. But make it also to produce fruits in virtue’s field. Amid many trials, your Monastic family has been able, up to this present age of persecution, to propagate itself and to serve the Church: obtain that it, together with all other Religious families, may show itself, to the end, stronger than the tempest. Our Lady, whom you served right valiantly, is at hand to second your efforts. From that sanctuary whose name has outlived the memory of the poet (Virgil), who unconsciously sang her glories, may Mary ever smile on the thronging crowds that year by year toil up the holy mount, hailing the triumph of her virginity. May she accept at your hands our hearts’ homage and desire, although we cannot in very deed accomplish this sacred pilgrimage.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Beraea, the birthday of St. Sosipater, a disciple of the blessed Apostle St. Paul.

At Rome, St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, with twenty-two others.

At Alexandria, St. Gallicanus, ex-consul and martyr, who had been honoured with a triumph and was held in affection by the emperor Constantine. Converted by Saints John and Paul, he withdrew to Ostia with St. Hilarinus and devoted himself entirely to the duties of hospitality and to the service of the sick. The report of such an event spread through the whole world, and from all sides many persons came to see a man who had been a senator and consul, washing the feet of the poor, preparing their table, serving them, carefully waiting on the infirm, and performing other works of mercy. Driven from this place by Julian the Apostate, he repaired to Alexandria where, for refusing to sacrifice to idols, at the command of the judge Raucian, he was put to the sword and thus became a martyr of Christ.

At Sibapolis in Syria, under the governor Lysimachus in the persecution of Diocletian, St. Febronia, virgin and martyr, who was scourged and racked for defending her faith and her chastity, then torn with iron combs and exposed to fire. Finally, having her teeth plucked out and her breasts cut off, she was condemned to capital punishment and went to her spouse adorned with her sufferings as with so many jewels.

At Besançon in France, St. Antidius, bishop and martyr, who was killed by the Vandals for the faith of Christ.

At Riez, St. Prosper of Aquitaine, bishop of that city, distinguished by his erudition and piety. He valiantly combated the Pelagians in defence of the Catholic faith.

At Turin, the birthday of St. Maximus, bishop and confessor, most celebrated for his learning and sanctity.

In Holland, St. Adelbert, confessor, a disciple of the sainted bishop Willibrord.

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

Thanks be to God.

24 JUNE – THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

John the Baptist was born to Zachariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Aaron and a relative of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah and told him not to fear, that his prayer was to be answered, and his wife would bear him a son, who he must call John. Zachariah would have joy and gladness and rejoice in his son's nativity because he would be great before the Lord and be filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother's womb. He would not drink wine or strong drink and he would convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Because Zachariah was incredulous that his wife who was advanced in age and barren would bear a child, he was struck dumb until the things the angel had spoken of would come to pass. And so, when Elizabeth delivered her son, her relatives and neighbours said he should be named after his father, but she answered he will be called John, despite the fact that none of her relatives were called by this name. They made signs to Zachariah and he wrote “John is his name” on a tablet. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue loosened and he spoke, blessing God. Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited and wrought the redemption of His people. And has raised up a horn of salvation to us, in the house of David, His servant.

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who are from the beginning. Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.

To perform mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy testament. The oath, which He swore to Abraham our father, that He would grant to us.

That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve Him without fear, in holiness and justice before Him, all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people to the remission of their sins.

Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high has visited us, to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace.”

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“The Voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord: behold your God.’” (Isaias xl. 3-9). O in this world of ours grown now so cold, who can understand Earth’s transports at hearing these glad tidings so long expected? The promised God is not yet manifested, but already have the heavens bowed down to make way for His passage. No longer is He “'the One who is to come,” He for whom our fathers, the illustrious saints of the prophetic age, ceaselessly called in their indomitable hope. Still hidden, indeed, but already in our midst, He is resting beneath that virginal cloud, compared with which the heavenly purity of Thrones and Cherubim wax dim. Yes, the united fires of burning Seraphim grow faint in presence of the single love with which He alone encompasses Him in her human heart, she that lowly daughter of Adam whom He has chosen for His mother. Our accursed Earth, made suddenly more blessed far than yonder Heaven inexorably closed erstwhile to suppliant prayer, awaits no longer anything, save that the august mystery be revealed. The hour is come for Earth to join her canticles to that Eternal Praise Divine, which henceforth is rising from the depths, and which being itself no other than the Word Himself, celebrates God condignly. But beneath the veil of humility where His Divinity, even after as well as before His birth, must still continue to hide itself from men, who may discover the Emmanuel? Who, having recognised Him in His merciful abasements, may succeed in making Him to be accepted by a world lost in pride? Who may cry, pointing out the Carpenter’s Son (Matthew xiii. 55), in the midst of the crowd: Behold Him whom your fathers have so wistfully awaited!

For such is the order decreed from on High in the manifestation of the Messiah: conformably to the ways of men, the God-Man will not intrude Himself into public life. He will await, for the inauguration of His divine ministry, some man who has preceded Him in a similar career, and who is hereby sufficiently accredited, to introduce Him to the people. Sublime part for a creature to play, to stand guarantee for his God, witness for the Word! The exalted dignity of him who was to fill such a position had been notified, as had that of the Messiah, long before his birth. In the solemn Liturgy of the Age of types, the Levite choir, reminding the Most High of the meekness of David and of the promise made to him of a glorious heir, hailed from afar the mysterious lamp prepared by God for His Christ (Psalms cxxxi. 17). Not that to give light to His steps, Christ should stand in need of external help: He, the Splendour of the Father, had only to appear in these dark regions of ours to fill them with the effulgence of the very heavens, but so many false glimmerings had deceived mankind during the night of these ages of expectation, that had the true Light arisen on a sudden, it would not have been understood, or would but have blinded eyes now become well near powerless by reason of protracted darkness to endure its brilliancy. Eternal Wisdom therefore decreed that just as the rising sun is announced by the morning-star, and prepares his coming by the gently tempered brilliancy of aurora, so Christ who is Light should be preceded here below by a star. His precursor, and His approach be signalised by the luminous rays which He Himself, (though still invisible) would shed around this faithful herald of His coming. When, in by-gone days, the Most High vouchsafed to light up before the eyes of His prophets the distant future, that radiant flash which for an instant shot across the heavens of the Old Covenant melted away in the deep night and ushered not in, as yet, the longed-for dawn. The “morning-star” of which the Psalmist sings, will know nothing of defeat: declaring to night that all is now over with her, He will dim his own fires only in the triumphant splendour of the Sun of Justice. Even as aurora melts into day, so will He confound with Light Increated his own radiance. Being of himself, like every creature, nothingness and darkness, he will so reflect the brilliancy of the Messiah shining immediately on him, that many will mistake him even for the very Christ (Luke iii. 15).

The mysterious conformity of Christ and His Precursor, the incomparable proximity which unites one to the other, are to be found many times marked down in the Sacred Scriptures. If Christ is the Word, eternally uttered by the Father, He is to be the Voice bearing this divine Utterance wherever it is to reach. Isaias already hears the desert echoing with these accents, till now unknown. And the prince of prophets expresses his joy with all the enthusiasm of a soul already beholding itself in the very presence of its Lord and God (Isaias xl.). The Christ is the Angel of the Covenant, but in the very same text in which the Holy Ghost gives Him this title, for us so full of hope there appears likewise bearing the same name of angel, the inseparable messenger, the faithful ambassador, to whom the Earth is indebted for her coming to know the Spouse: “Behold, I send my angel and he will prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord whom you seek, and the Angel of the testament whom you desire, will come to his Temple. Behold he comes, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachias iii. 1). And putting an end to the prophetic ministry of which he is the last representative, Malachias terminates his own oracles by the words which we have heard Gabriel addressing to Zachary, when he makes known to him the approaching birth of the Precursor (Malachias iv. 5-6). The presence of Gabriel on this occasion of itself shows with what intimacy with the Son of God this child then promised will be favoured, for the very same Prince of the heavenly hosts, came again, soon afterwards, to announce the Emmanuel. Countless are the faithful messengers that press around the Throne of the Holy Trinity, and the choice of these august ambassadors usually varies according to the dignity of the instructions to be transmitted to earth by the Most High. Nevertheless, it was fitting that the same Archangel charged with concluding the sacred Nuptials of the Word with the Human Nature should likewise prelude this great mission by preparing the coming of him whom the eternal decrees had designated as the Friend of the Bridegroom (John iii. 29).

Six months later, when on his deputation to Mary he strengthens his divine message by revealing to that purest of Virgins, the prodigy which had by then already given a son to the sterile Elizabeth: this being the first step of the Almighty towards a still greater marvel. John is not yet born, but without longer delay his career is begun: he is employed to attest the truth of the angel’s promises. How ineffable this guarantee of a child hidden as yet in his mother’s womb, but already brought forward as God’s witness in that sublime negotiation which at that moment is holding Heaven and Earth in suspense! Illumined from on high, Mary receives the testimony and hesitates no longer. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” says she to the Archangel, “be it done to me according to your word” (Luke I.). Gabriel has retired, bearing away with him the divine secret which he has not been commissioned to reveal to the rest of the world. Neither will the most prudent Virgin herself tell it. Even Joseph, her virginal Spouse, is to receive no communication of the mystery from her lips. Yet fear not, the woeful sterility beneath which Earth has been so long groaning, is not to be followed by an ignorance more sorrow-stricken still, now that it has yielded its fruit (Psalms lxxxiv. 13). There is one from whom Emmanuel will have no secret, nor reserve. It were fitting to reveal the marvel to him. Scarce has the Spouse taken possession of the Sanctuary all spotless in which the nine months of His first abiding among men must run their course, yes scarce has the Word been made Flesh, than Our Lady inwardly taught what is her Son’s desire, arising, makes all haste to speed into the hill-country of Judea (Luke i. 39). “The voice of my Beloved! Behold he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills” (Canticles ii. 8).

His first visit is to the “Friend of the Bridegroom,” the first out-pour of His graces is to John. A distinct feast will allow us to honour in a special manner the precious day on which the divine child, sanctifying His Precursor, reveals Himself to John by the voice of Mary: the day on which Our Lady, manifested by John, leaping within the womb of his mother, proclaims at last the wondrous things operated within her by the Almighty according to the merciful promise which He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever (Luke i. 55). But the time is come when the good tidings are to spread from children and mothers through all the adjacent country, until at length they reach unto the whole world. John is about to be born, and, while still himself unable to speak, he is to loosen his father’s tongue. He is to put an end to that dumbness, with which the aged priest, a type of the old law, had been struck by the Angel. And Zachary, himself filled with the Holy Ghost, is about to publish in a new canticle, the blessed Visit of the Lord God of Israel (Luke i. 68)

Epistle – Isaias xlix. 1-7

Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, you people from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother He has been mindful of my name. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of His hand He has protected me, and has made me as a chosen arrow. In His quiver He has hidden me. And He said to me, “You are my servant Israel, for in you will I glory.” And now says the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant: “Behold I have given you to be the light of the gentiles, that you may be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth. Kings will see, and princes will rise up, and adore for the Lord’s sake, and for the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Isaias, in these few lines, has directly in view the announcing of Christ. The application here made by the Church to Saint John Baptist once more shows us how closely the Messiah is united with His Precursor in the work of the Redemption. Rome, once capital of the gentile world, now Mother of Christendom, delights in proclaiming on this day to the sons whom the Spouse has given her, the consoling prophecy which was addressed to them of yore, before she herself was founded upon the seven hills. Eight hundred years before the birth of John and of the Messiah, a voice had been heard on Sion and, reaching beyond the frontiers of Jacob, had re-echoed along those distant coasts where sin’s darkness held mankind in the thraldom of Hell:” Give ear, you islands, and hearken, you people from afar!” It was the Voice of Him who was to come, and of the Angel deputed to walk before Him, the voice of John and of the Messiah, proclaiming the one predestination common to them both, which as servant and as Master, made them to be objects of the self-same eternal decree. And this voice, after having hailed the privilege which would designate each (though so diversely) from the maternal womb,as objects of complacency to the Almighty, went on to utter the divinely formulated oracle which was to be promulgated in other terms over the cradle of each by the respective ministry of Zachary and of Angels. “And He said to me: ‘You are my servant Israel, for in you will I glory, in you who are indeed Israel to Me...’ And he said: ‘it is a small thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel, who will not hearken to you, and of whom you will bring back but a small remnant (Isaias xlix. 4-6). Behold I have given you to be the Light of the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation, even to the farthest part of the earth; to make up for the scant welcome my people will have given you, kings will see, and princes will rise up, at your word, and adore for the Lord‘s sake, because He is faithful and for the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you as the negotiator of His alliance’” (Isaias xlix. 8).

Children of the Bridegroom, let us enter into this thought of His. Let us understand what ought to be the gratitude of us Gentiles to him to whom all flesh is indebted for its knowledge of the Redeemer. From the wilderness, where his voice stung the pride of the descendants of the patriarchs, he beheld us succeeding to the haughty Synagogue. Without at all minimising the divine exactions, his stern language when addressed to the Bridegroom’s chosen ones, assumed a tone of considerateness which it never had for the Jews. “You offspring of vipers,” said he to these latter, “who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance, and do not begin to say, we have Abraham for our father. For I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For in your case, already is the axe laid to the root of the tree. Every tree, therefore that brings not forth good fruit, will be cut down and cast into the fire” (Luke iii. 7-9). But to the despised publican, to the hated soldier, to all those parched hearts of the gentile world, hard and arid as the desert rock, John the Baptist announced a flow of grace that would refresh their dried up souls making them fruitful in justice: “You publicans, do nothing more than what is appointed you by the exigences of the tax-laws. You soldiers, be content with your pay (Luke iii. 12-14). The Law was given by Moses, but better is grace — grace and truth come by Jesus Christ whom I declare to you (John i. 15-17): He it is who takes away the sins of the world (John i. 29), and of His fullness we have all received” (John i. 16).

What a new horizon was here opened out before these objects of reproach, held aloof so long by Israel’s scorn! But in the eyes of the Synagogue, such a blow aimed at Judah’s pretended privilege was a crime. She had borne the biting invectives of this son of Zachary. She had even, at one moment, shown herself ready to hail him as the Christ (John i. 19), but she who vaunted herself as pure, to be invited to go hand in hand with the unclean Gentile— that she could never brook — it were too much. From that moment John was judged of by her, as His Master would afterwards be. Later on, Jesus will insist on the difference of welcome given to the Precursor by those who listened, to him. Yes, He will even make thereof the basis for His sentence of reprobation pronounced against the Jews: “Amen I say to you that the publicans and harlots will go into the kingdom of God before you, for John came to you in the way of justice and you did not believe him. But the publicans and harlots believed him: but you seeing it, did not even afterwards repent, that you might believe him” (Matthew xxi. 31-32).

Gospel – Luke i. 57-68

Elizabeth’s full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had showed His great mercy towards her, and they congratulated with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by his father’s name, Zachary. And his mother answering said: “Not so, but he will be called John.” And they said to her: “There is none of your kindred that is called by that name.” And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And demanding a writing-table, he wrote, saying: “John is his name,” and they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed. And he spoke, blessing God. And fear came upon all their neighbours. And all these things were noised abroad over all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them, laid them up in their heart, saying: “What a one, think you, will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost; and he prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited, and wrought the redemption of His people.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

After the places hallowed by the sojourn, here below, of the Word made Flesh, there is no spot of greater interest for the Christian soul than that in which were accomplished the events just mentioned in our Gospel. The town illustrated by the birth of the Precursor is situated about two leagues from Jerusalem, to the West. Just as Bethlehem, our Saviour’s birthplace is at the same distance southwards from the Holy City. Going out by the gate of Jaffa, the pilgrim bound for Saint John of the Mountain passes, on his way, the Greek monastery of Holy Cross, raised on the spot where the trees which formed our Lord’s cross, were hewn down: then pursuing his course through the close-set woods of the mountains of Judah, he attains a summit from which he can descry the waters of the Mediterranean. The house of Obed-Edom that for three months harboured the sacred Ark of the Covenant stood here, where a by-path leads by a short cut directly to the place where Mary, the true Ark, dwelt for three happy months in the house of her cousin Elizabeth. Two sanctuaries, distant about a thousand paces one from the other, are sacred to the memory of the two great facts just related to us, by Saint Luke: in the one, John the Baptist was conceived and born. In the other, the circumcision of the Precursor took place eight days after his birth. The first of these sanctuaries stands on the site of Zachary’s town house. Its present form dates from a period anterior to the Crusades. It is a beautiful church with three naves and a cupola, measuring thirty seven feet in length. The high altar is dedicated to Saint Zachary, and another altar, on the right, to Saint Elizabeth. On the left, seven marble steps lead to a subterraneous chapel hollowed out of the rock, which is identical with the furthermost apartment of the original house: this is the sanctuary of Saint John's Nativity. Four lamps glimmer in the darkness of this venerable crypt, while six others, suspended beneath the altar-slab itself, throw light on the following inscription engraved on the marble pavement: HIC PRECURSOR DOMINI NATUS EST.

Let us unite, on this day, with the devout sons of Saint Francis, guardians of those ineffable memories. More fortunate here, than at Bethlehem with its sacred grotto, they have not to dispute with schism, the homage which they pay in the name of the legitimate Bride to the Friend of the Bridegroom on the very spot of his Nativity. Local tradition sets at some distance from this first sanctuary, as we have said, the memorable place where the circumcision of the Precursor was performed. Besides a town house, Zachary was owner of another more isolated. Elizabeth had retired there during the first months of her pregnancy to taste in silence the gift of God (Luke i. 24-25). There did the meeting between herself and Our Lady on her arrival from Nazareth take place. There the sublime exultation of the Infants and their Mothers. There, the Magnificat proclaimed to Heaven that Earth henceforth could rival, and even surpass, supernal songs of praise and canticles of love. It was fitting that Zachary’s song, the morning canticle, should be first intoned there, where that of evening had ascended like incense of sweetest fragrance. In the accounts given by ancient pilgrims it is noticed that there were here two sanctuaries placed one above the other. In the lower one Mary and Elizabeth met. In the upper story of this same country house of Zachary, the greater portion of the facts just set before us by the Church were enacted.

* * * * *

PRECURSOR of the Messiah, we share in the joy which your birth brought to the world. This birth of yours announced that of the Son of God. Now, each year, our Emmanuel assumes anew His life in the Church and in souls. And in our day, just as it was [two thousand] years ago, He wills that this birth of His will not take place without you preparing the way, now as then, for that Nativity by which our Saviour is given to each one of us. Scarce has the sacred Cycle completed the series of mysteries by which the glorification of the Man-God is consummated and the Church is founded, than Christmas begins to appear on the horizon. Already, so to speak, does John reveal by exulting demonstrations the approach of our Infant God. Sweet Prophet of the Most High, not yet can you speak, when already you outstrip all the Princes of Prophecy. But full soon the desert will seem to snatch you forever from the commerce of men. Then Advent comes, and the Church will show us that she has found you once more. She will constantly lead us to listen to your sublime teachings, to hear you bearing witness to Him whom she is expecting. From this present moment, therefore, begin to prepare our souls. Having descended anew on this our Earth, coming as you now do on this day of gladness as the messenger of the near approach of our Saviour, can you possibly remain idle one instant in face of the immense work which lies before you to accomplish in us?

To chase sin away, subdue vice, correct the instincts falsified in this poor fallen nature of ours. All this would have been done within us, as indeed it should long ago, had we but responded faithfully to your past labours. Yet, alas, it is only too true that in the greater number of us scarce has the first turning of the soil been begun: stubborn clay in which n stones and briers have defied your careful toil these many years! We acknowledge it to be so, filled as we are with the confusion of guilty souls. Yes, we confess our faults to you and to Almighty God, as the Church teaches us to do at the beginning of the great Sacrifice. But at the same time, we beseech you with her, to pray to the Lord our God for us. You proclaimed in the desert: from these very stones even, God is still able to raise up children of Abraham. Daily, do the solemn formulae of the Oblation in which is prepared the ceaselessly renewed Immolation of our Saviour, tell of the honourable and important part which is yours in this august Sacrifice. Your name, again pronounced while the Divine Victim is present on the Altar, pleads for us sinners to the God of all mercy. Would that, in consideration of your merits and of our misery, He would deign to be propitious to the persevering prayer of our mother the Church, change our hearts, and in place of evil attachments, attract them to virtue, so as to deserve for us the visit of Emmanuel!

At this sacred moment of the Mysteries, when thrice is invoked, in the words of that formula taught us by yourself, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” He, this very Lamb, will Himself have pity on us and give us peace: peace so precious, with Heaven, with Earth, with self, which is to prepare us for the Bridegroom by making us become sons of God (John i. 12; Matthew v. 9) according to the testimony which, daily, by the mouth of the priest about to quit the altar, you continue to renew. Then, Precursor, will your joy and ours be complete. That sacred union, of which this day of your Nativity already contains for us the gladsome hope, will become, even here below and beneath the shadow of faith, a sublime reality, while still awaiting the clear vision of Eternity.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, in the time of Nero, the commemoration of many holy martyrs who were accused of having set fire to the city, and cruelly put to death in various manners by the emperor’s order. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and lacerated by dogs. Others were fastened to crosses, others again were delivered to the flames to serve as torches in the night. All these were disciples of the Apostles, and the first fruits of the martyrs, which the Roman Church, a field so fertile in martyrs, offered to God before the death of the Apostles.

In the same city, the holy martyrs Faustus and twenty three others.

At Satalis in Armenia, seven saintly brothers, martyrs: Orentius, Heros, Pharnacius, Firminus, Firmus, Cyriacus and Longinus who owe their martyrdom to the emperor Maximian. Because they were Christians, they were deprived of the military cincture by his command, separated from one another, hurried away to various places, and in the midst of painful trials, found their repose in the Lord.

In the diocese of Paris, at Creteil, the martyrdom of the Saints Agoardus and Aglibertus, with a multitude of others of both sexes.

At Autun, the demise of St. Simplicius, bishop and confessor.

At Lobbes, St. Theodulphus, bishop.

At Stilo in Calabria, St. John, surnamed Therestus, distinguished for his fidelity to the monastic rule, and for his sanctity.

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

Thanks be to God.

23 JUNE – VIGIL OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

There was in the days of Herod the King of Judea a certain priest named Zachary of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name Elizabeth. And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. And they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. And it came to pass, when he executed the priestly function in the order of his course before God, according to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord; and all the multitude of the people was praying without, at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an Angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zachary seeing him was troubled, and fear fell on him; but the Angel said to him: “Fear not, Zachary, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John: and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice in his nativity. For he will be great before the Lord: and will drink no wine nor strong drink: and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. And he will convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the Just, to prepare to the Lord a perfect people.” (Luke i. 5-17)

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

This page which the Church reads to us today is precious in the annals of the human race, for here begins the Gospel itself: here we have the first word of the good tidings of salvation. Not that man had up to this, received no knowledge of Heaven’s designs for the lifting up of our fallen race and the giving of a Redeemer, but weary and long had been this period of expectancy since the day when first the sentence pronounced against the accursed serpent pointed out to Adam and Eve a future in which man should be healed by the “Son of the woman,” and God also by him should be avenged. Age upon age rolled on, and the promise all unaccomplished still gradually assumed certain developments. Each generation saw the Lord by means of the prophets adding some new feature to the characteristics of this Brother of our race — in Himself so great that the Most High would call Him “my Son” (Psalms ii. 7), so impassioned for justice that He would shed the last drop of His Blood to ransom Earth’s whole debt (Isaias liii. 7). Our Lamb in His immolation, He would rule the Earth by His gentleness (Isaias xvi. 1). Though springing from Jesse’s root, yet was He to be the desired of the Gentiles (Isaias xi. 10). More magnificent than Solomon (Psalms xliv), He would graciously hearken to the love of these poor ransomed souls. Taking the advance of their longing desires, He is fain to announce Himself as the Spouse descending from the everlasting hills (Osee ii.19; Genesis xlix. 26). The Lamb laden with the crimes of the world, the Spouse awaited by the Bride, such was to be this Son of Man, Son likewise of God — the Christ, the Messiah promised to Earth. But when will He come, He, this desired of nations? Who will point out to Earth her Saviour? Who will lead the Bride to the Bridegroom?

Mankind, gone forth in tears from Eden, had stood with wistful gaze fixed on futurity. Jacob, when dying, hailed from afar this beloved Son whose strength would be that of the lion, whose heavenly charms, still more enhanced by the blood of the grape (Oh mystery ineffable!) rapt him in inspired contemplation, on his funeral couch (Genesis xlix. 9-12, 18). In the name of the Gentile world Job, seated on the dung-hill on which his flesh was falling to pieces, gave response to ruin in an act of sublime Hope in his Redeemer and his God (Job xix. 25-27). Breathlessly panting under the pressure of his woe and the fever of his longing desires, mankind beheld century roll upon century, the while consuming death suspended not its ravages, the while his craving for the expected God ceased not to wax hotter within his breast. Thus, from generation to generation, what a redoubling of imploring prayer! What a growing impatience of entreaty! O that you would rend the heavens and could come down! (Isaias lxiv. 1) “Enough of promises,” cries out the devout Saint Bernard, together with all the Fathers, speaking in the name of the Church of the expectation, and commenting the first verse of the Canticle of Canticles: “Enough of figures and of shadows, enough of others’ parleying! I understand no more of Moses. No voice have the Prophets for me. The Law which they bear has failed to restore life to my dead (4 Kings iv. 31). What have I to do with the stammerings of their profane mouths (Exodus iv. 10; Isaias vi. 5)! To whom the Word has announced Himself? Aaron’s perfumes may not compare with the Oil of gladness poured out by the Father on Him whom I await (Psalms xliv. 8). No more deputies, no more servants for me: after so many messages, let Him come at last, let Him come Himself!”

Yes, prostrate, in the person of the worthiest of her sons on the heights of Carmel the Church of the expectation will not raise herself up till appears in the heavens the proximate sign of salvation’s rain cloud (3 Kings xviii. 42-46). Vainly, even anon seven times, will it be answered her that as yet nothing can be descried “arising seawards,” prolonging still her prayer and her tears, her lips parched by the ceaseless drought and cleaving to the dust. She will yet linger on awaiting the appearance of that fertilising cloud, the light cloud that bears her God under human features. Then, forgetting her long fasts and weary expectant years, she will rise on her feet in all the vigour and beauty of her early youth. Filled with the gladness the angel announces to her, in the joy of that new Elias whose birthday this Vigil promises on the morrow — she will follow him, the predestined Precursor running (more truly than did the ancient Elias), before the chariot of Israel’s king.

Lo! The first beginnings of Christian joy, Lord, by which erstwhile, the sanctified Voice preceded the Word about to be born in flesh, and the herald of light signally announced the rising of the Day-Star, himself had witnessed: by him, both Faith’s mysteries and Salvation’s fountains have produced marvels: he is approved whose conception is miracle, whose birth is joy: therefore do we beseech you, that we who with glad ovations hail the birthday of your Precursor, may with purified hearts draw near likewise to your own Nativity: so that the Voice which preached you in the desert may cleanse us in the world; and he who preparing the way for the coming Lord, washed in his baptism the bodies of living men, may now, by his prayers purify our hearts from vices and errors; so that, following in the foot-prints of the Voice, we may deserve to come to the promises of the Word.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, St. John, a priest, who was decapitated on the old Via Salaria before an idol of the sun. His body was buried near those of other martyrs by the blessed priest Concordius.

Also at Rome, St. Agrippina, virgin and martyr, under the emperor Valerian. Her body was carried to Sicily where it works many miracles.

At Sutri in Tuscany, St. Felix, priest. By the command of the prefect Turcius he was struck on the mouth with a stone until he breathed his last.

At Nicomedia, in the time of Diocletian, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who concealed themselves in mountains and caverns, and joyfully underwent martyrdom for the name of Christ.

At Philadelphia in Arabia, the holy martyrs Zeno, and Zenas, his slave. When the latter kissed the chains of his master begging to be his partner in torments, he was arrested by the soldiers and received the crown of martyrdom with him.

In England, St. Audry, queen and virgin, who departed for heaven with a great renown for sanctity and miracles. Her body was found without corruption eleven years afterwards.

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

Thanks be to God.

22 JUNE – SAINT ALBAN (First Martyr of England)

During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, Alban, a pagan, received into his house a priest fleeing persecution. When he saw how the priest persevered day and night in constant watching and prayer, he was touched by divine grace, so that he was fain to imitate the example of his faith and piety. Alban converted to the faith of Christ. The persecutors came to Alban’s house searching for the priest. Disguised in the priest’s clothes, Alban presented himself to the soldiers in place of his master and guest. They bound him with thongs and led him to the judge who, finding himself deceived, ordered that Alban be beaten. But seeing that he could not overcome him by torments, or win him over from the worship of the Christian religion, he commanded him to be beheaded. Alban having reached the brow of the neighbouring hill, the executioner who was to dispatch him, admonished by a divine inspiration, cast away his sword and threw himself at Alban, desiring to die with him, or instead of him. They were both beheaded.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let the heavens rejoice, let the Island of Saints exult, and let all the universe shout with her a song of victory: for now indeed has Earth been everywhere purpled with the blood of testimony. Lo, Alban, Proto-Martyr of fruitful Britain, seals today the conquest of the far West. Already, doubtless, even from the earliest days, had Albion yielded abundant flowers beneath the footsteps of the Spouse whose giant stride (Psalms xviii. 6) had reached even to her. Later on Eleutherius and Lucius had added the fresh charm of other plants to this new garden in which far away from sterile Judah the Man-God could forget the haughty disdain of the daughter of Sion. But if Jesus loves flower-beds exhaling the fragrance of confession and praise (Canticles vi. 1), yet not of blossoms of peace alone must the garland be woven for the potent Son of the God of armies (Psalms xliv. 4). The beauty He received from His fair Mother (Canticles v. 10) He has enhanced by the gore He shed on the great Battle Field. So if the Bride would obtain favour in His eyes, let her mingle with her glistening lilies the crimson’s richer hue (Canticles vi. 6).

Glory, then, to our Proto-Martyr! Glory to him by whom Albion, fully arrayed for the Nuptials of the Lamb, advances side-by-side with the most illustrious Churches and takes her seat with them at the Banquet of the Strong! (Apocalypse xix. 7) From the heights of Heaven the glorious choir of Apostles and the white robed army of Martyrs are thrilling with joy, as in the most brilliant days of the 300 years’ struggle, prolonged perchance just on purpose to give ancient Britain a chance of sharing in their triumph. Persecution is nearing its close, and even from this British soil, the last to be touched by the tidal wave of martyrs’ blood, will deliverance come.

On the 22nd of June 303, Alban, our new Stephen, dies, breathing a prayer for his murderers beside the banks of an affluent of old Thames: on the 25th of of July, 306, Constantine, having just escaped the snares of Galerius, is proclaimed at York and he thence sets forth to unfurl throughout the world the standard of salvation. But presently the victorious combats of the cross were succeeded by heresy’s contesting struggle by which Satan wrested from God nations already won to Christ in holy baptism. While the East was going astray in a misconception of the Mystery of the Incarnate Word, the West began to carp at doctrines concerning Free will and Grace: that fatal stumbling-block which the enemy would again throw in the way later on.

Rejected by the Church, together with Pelagius who had cast it, but a passing shock was at that time felt. Once again, in this instance, was the curbing point of Hell’s efforts the tomb of Alban. Here were the final troubles caused by the Pelagian attack extinguished. Saint Lupus of Troyes and Saint Germanus of Auxerre, sent from the Continent to maintain beyond the Straits the cause of grace, ascribed to our British Martyr the whole honour of their victory by which peace was given to the Western Church. To show that this second defeat of Hell’s power was indeed the completion of that which a century previously had ended the era of blood, these two holy Bishops respectfully opened the glorious tomb and united to the remains of our noble Alban some relics of his predecessors, the Apostles and Martyrs, the fruit of whose triumph had just been definitively sealed.

For a thousand years were the depths of the abyss closed (Apocalypse xx. 3): years of power, years of honour for Alban, venerated alike by each race that succeeded one the other, on this British shore. The Anglo-Saxons outstripped the Britons in the magnificence of the structure they raised on the site of the Church formerly built over the Martyr’s tomb in the first era of his victory. The Danes even considered his holy body to be their noblest conquest. And under the Normans the Abbey founded by Offa of Mercia beheld Popes and Kings concert together, in raising its prerogatives and glory to the highest pitch. No monastic church on this side of the Channel could compare with Saint Alban’s in its privileges, and just as Alban is counted England’s first Martyr, so was the Abbot of his Monastery held first in dignity among all Abbots of this realm.

For a thousand years, Alban too had reigned with Christ (Apocalypse xx. 4). At last came the epoch when the depths of the abyss were to be let loose for a little time and Satan unchained would once again seduce nations. Erst vanquished by the Saints, power was now given him to make war with them, and to overcome them, in his turn (Apocalypse xiii. 7). The disciple is not above his Master (John xv. 18, 25): like his Lord, Alban too was rejected by his own. Hated without cause, he beheld the illustrious Monastery destroyed that had been Albion’s pride in the palmy days of her history. And scarce was even the venerable Church itself saved in which God’s athlete had so long reposed, shedding benefits around far and near. But after all, what could he do now in a profaned Sanctuary in which strange rites had banished those of our forefathers, and condemned the Faith for which Martyrs had bled and died? So Alban was ignominiously expelled, and his ashes scattered to the winds.

* * * * *

“I was a stranger and you took me in,” (Matthew xxv. 25) will our Lord say to His Elect on the great Day of Judgement, and to the inquiries of the Elect as to the meaning of this word of His, Our Lord will explain that whatever they did to the least of their brethren, they did it to Him. But you, Alban, know all this beforehand: that last hour in which both the good and the wicked will hearken to their eternal doom will reveal to the world on this point only what you experienced in your very first steps along the path of salvation. By harbouring within your yet pagan house this unknown fugitive, you deemed that you were but yielding to the instincts of a heart naturally generous and faithful to the laws of hospitality! But, far other than you wisted was this unknown stranger that came knocking at your door, for ere he left you, it was manifest that Christ Himself had become your guest. Full soon did He invite you in return to come and dwell in His own Home, and the triumphal gate of martyrdom presently opened to you His heavenly palace.

The way to God traced in your blood lies opened wide in this great island. Long did the foe seem unable to cast his snares here, and your fellow-citizens of Earth were to be seen flocking in crowds along this blessed pathway. Yes, nations you never knew came in their turn also, esteeming it an honour to forget, as it were, diversity of origin and rights of conquest when uniting in your name, Alban, to do homage to you, glorious Proto-Martyr of this land. Thus were you both the stem of this supernatural efflorescence which made [this] to be the “Island of Saints,” and the link of national unity in the diverse phases of [its] history. You gathered together the sons of Saint Benedict around the couch on which you were reposing while awaiting the day of Resurrection. You assembled them in that splendid temple dedicated to you by a grateful people. You invited them to the ministry of divine praise by which, celebrating past benefits and daily blessings, they might also merit for your fatherland a continuation of Heaven’s favours.

Grand indeed were those ages in which God by His Saints thus ruled the world. And sadly misguided are those that think to serve the cause of the Lord and of nations by suppressing the homage of foregoing generations to these their illustrious protectors. Since you were treated, Alban, like your divine Master, the King of Saints, like Him also remember not the injuries we have inflicted on you. Rather, Proto-Martyr, exult in the triumph of all the other warriors who swell the ranks of the sacred phalanx, placed under your command in our eternal Home. If for a while the era of martyrs seems once again to be closed, consider those of your children whose constancy has survived so many rough assaults. Bless those families in which has ever been kept alive the Faith of the old times: a noble-hearted race are they whose forefathers exposed themselves like you, to death, in the harbouring of priests. Uphold the new sons of the Cloister in maintaining at a high standard those monastic traditions handed to them even in the very midst of the tempest.

Multiply everywhere labourers called in to repair our ruins. The voice of the Lord is heard once more in Albion. The holy virtue of hospitality which was, in your case, the beginning of salvation, has proved to her also in these our own days an occasion for her return to the ancestral faith, just as though God willed that in this instance likewise, her history should be linked with yours. Like you, she has received priests from beyond the seas, driven to her coasts by the storm of persecution. Like you, has she not even already heard that word of divine approval: “I was a stranger and you took me in”? May she then go the whole length in her imitation of you, her protector and father, by following the heavenly invitation to the last, so as to conclude with the ancient writer of the acts of your martyrdom: “The known truth will be our island’s joy. Great will be our gladness when the fetters of falsehood are broken. For my part, without further delay, I will go to Rome, I will there cast off my error, there merit reconciliation and pardon of my faults. Yes, this very book I hold in my hands I will present to the revision of them that dwell in that City, so that should anything unseemly be written in it, the Lord Jesus Christ may vouchsafe to correct it by their means. He who reigns God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

21 JUNE – SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA (Confessor)

Aloysius was born in 1568 in the castle of Castiglione near Brescia. His father was Ferdinand Gonzaga, the marquis of Castiglione delle Stivere, and his mother was a lady of honour to Queen Isabella, the wife of King Philip II of Spain. He was so hurriedly baptised on account of danger that he seemed to be born to Heaven almost before he was born to Earth, and he so faithfully kept this his first grace that he seemed to have been well near confirmed in it. From his first dawn of reason, which he used in offering himself to God, he led a more holy life by the day. At Florence, when he was nine years old, he made a vow of perpetual virginity before the altar of the Blessed Virgin on whom he always looked as a Mother, and by a remarkable mercy from God, he kept this vow wholly and without the slightest impure temptation, either of body or of mind, during his entire life.

At the age of 12 Aloysius was put under the spiritual guidance of Saint Charles Borromeo and received his first Holy Communion from him. In 1581 he went with his father and brother to Spain, and was made a page to the infante James, the son of King Philip II. He kept three days as fasts in every week, and that mostly upon a little bread and water. But indeed, he, as it were, fasted every day, for he hardly ever took so much as an ounce weight of food at his meal. Often also, even three times a day, he would, with cords or chains scourge himself to blood. Sometimes he would supply the place of a discipline or hair-shirt, by his own spurs or dog-thongs. He secretly strewed his soft bed with pieces of broken wood or potsherds, that he might find it easier to wake to pray. He passed great part of the night even in the depth of winter clad only in his shirt, either kneeling on the ground, or lying prostrate, when too weary to remain upright, occupied in heavenly contemplation. Sometimes he would keep himself thus immoveable up to five hours until he had spent at least one without any distraction of mind. Such constancy obtained for him the reward of being able to keep his understanding quite concentrated in prayer without any wandering of mind, as though rapt in God, in unbroken ecstasy.

In Spain Aloysius, called by a voice from Heaven, he resolved to join the Society of Jesus. In order that he might adhere to God alone, having overcome his father’s bitter resistance in a sharp contest of three years’ duration, and having procured the transfer of his right to the Marquessate to his brother, he took his vows in Rome in 1585 and received minor Orders. In his noviciate he began to be held as a master of all virtues. His obedience even to the most trifling rules was exact, his contempt of the world was extraordinary, and his hatred of self was implacable. His love of God was so ardent that it gradually undermined his bodily strength. Being commanded, therefore, to divert his mind for a while from divine things, he struggled vainly to distract himself from Him Who met him everywhere. He joyfully ministered to the sick in the public hospitals, and in the exercise of this charity he caught an infection and died in 1591 at the age of 23 years. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1621 and was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Saint Aloysius is the patron of youth.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“O how exceeding great is the glory of Aloysius, Son of Ignatius! Never could I have believed it, had not my Jesus shown it to me. Never could I have believed that such glory as that was to be seen in Heaven!” Thus cries out Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, whose memory we were celebrating a month ago: she is speaking in ecstasy. From the heights of Carmel from which her ken may reach beyond the heavens, she reveals to Earth the splendour with which the youthful hero of this day shines amid the celestial phalanxes.

Yet short was the life of Aloysius, and nothing had it offered to the superficial gaze of a vast majority save the preliminaries, so to say, of a career broken off in its flower, ere bearing fruit of any kind. God does not account of things as men do: of very slight weight are their appreciations in His Judgement! Even in the case of the Saints themselves, the mere fractional number of years or brilliant deeds goes far less to the filling up of a lifetime, in His view, than does love. The usefulness of a human existence ought surely to be measured as a matter of fact by the amount produced in it of what is lasting. Now, beyond this present time, charity remains alone, fixed forever at that precise degree of growth attained during this life of passage. Little matters it, therefore, if without any long duration or any apparent works, one of God’s Elect have developed in himself a love as great or greater, than some others have done, in the midst of many toils, be they never so holy, and throughout a long career admired of men.

The illustrious Society that gave Aloysius Gonzaga to Holy Church owes the sanctity of her members and the benedictions poured on their works to the fidelity she has ever professed to this important truth which throws so much light on the Christian life. From the very first age of her history it would seem that our Lord Jesus, not content to allow her to assume His own blessed Name, has been lovingly determined so to arrange circumstances in her regard that she may never forget in what it is her real strength lies in the midst of the actively militant career which He has especially opened before her. The brilliant works of Saint Ignatius her Founder, of Saint Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, of Saint Francis Borgia, the noble conquest of Christ’s Humility, manifested truly wondrous holiness in them, and to the eyes of all. But these works of theirs had no other spring nor basis than the hidden virtues of that other glorious triumvirate in which, under the Eye of God alone, by the sole strength of contemplative prayer, Saints Stanislaus Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga and John Berchmans rose to such a degree of love, and consequently to the sanctity of their heroic Fathers.

Again, it is by Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, the depository of the secrets of the Spouse, that this mystery is revealed to us. In the rapture during which the glory of Aloysius was displayed before her eyes, she thus continues while still under the influence of the Holy Ghost: “Who could ever explain the value and the power of interior acts? The glory of Aloysius is so great, simply because he acted thus, interiorly. Between an interior act and that which is seen, there is no comparison possible. Aloysius, as long as he dwelt on Earth, kept his eye attentively fixed on the Word, and this is just why he is so splendid. Aloysius was a hidden martyr. Whoever loves you, my God, knows you to be so great, so infinitely amiable, that keen indeed is the martyrdom of such a one, to see clearly that he loves you not so much as he desires to love you, and that you are not loved by your creatures, but are offended!.. Thus he became a martyrdom to himself. Oh he did love, while on Earth, wherefore now in Heaven he possesses God in a sovereign plenitude of love. While still mortal, he discharged his bow at the Heart of the Word, and now that he is in Heaven his arrows are all lodged in his own heart. For this communication of the Divinity which he merited by the arrows of his acts of love and of union with God, he now verily and indeed possesses and clasps forever.”

To love God, to allow His grace to turn our heart towards Infinite Beauty which alone can fill it, such is then the true secret of highest perfection. Who can fail to see how this teaching of today’s feast answers to the end pursued by the Holy Ghost ever since His coming down at our glorious Pentecost? This sweet and silent teaching was given by Aloysius wherever he turned his steps during his short career. Born to Heaven in holy Baptism, almost before he was born to Earth, he was a very Angel from his cradle. Grace seemed to gush from him into those who bore him in their arms, filling them with heavenly sentiments. At four years of age he followed the Marquess, his father, into the camps, and thus some unconscious faults which had not so much as tarnished his innocence became for the rest of his life the object of a penitence that one would have thought rather beseemed some grievous sinner. He was but nine years old when, being taken to Florence there to be perfected in the Italian language, he became the edification of the Court of duke Francis: but though the most brilliant in Italy, it failed to have any attraction for him and rather served to detach him more decisively than ever from the world. During this period, likewise, at the feet of the miraculous picture of the Annunziata, he consecrated his virginity to Our Lady.

The Church herself, in the Breviary Lessons, will relate the other details of this sweet life in which, as is ever the case with souls fully docile to the Holy Ghost, heavenly piety never marred what was of duty in earthly things. It is just because he really was a model for all youth engaged in study that Aloysius has been proclaimed Protector thereof. Of a singularly quick intelligence, as faithful to work as to prayer in the midst of the gay turmoil of city life, he mastered all the sciences then exacted of one of his rank. Very intricate and ticklish negotiations of worldly interest were more than once confided to his management: and thus was opportunity afforded of realising to what a high degree he might have excelled in government affairs. Here again, he comes forward as an example to such as have friends and relatives who would fain hold them back when on the threshold of the religious state under pretense of the “great good they may do in the world, and how much evil they may prevent.” Just as though the Most High must be contented with useless non-entities in that select portion of men He reserves to Himself amid nations. Or, as though the aptitudes of the richest and most gifted natures may not be turned all the better, and all the more completely to God their very principle, precisely because they are the most perfect. On the other hand, neither State nor Church ever really loses anything by this fleeing to God, this apparent throwing away of the best subjects! If, in the old Law, Jehovah showed Himself jealous in having the very best of all kinds of goods offered at His altar, His intention was not to impoverish His people. Whether admitted or not, it is a certain fact that the chief strength of society, the fountain-head of benediction and protection to the world, is always to be found in holocausts well pleasing to the Lord.

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VENERABLE old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years, but the understanding of man is grey hairs and a spotless life is old age (Wisdom iv. 8). And therefore, Aloysius, you hold a place of honour amid the ancients of your people. Glory be to the holy Society in the midst of which you, in so short a space, fulfilled a long course. Obtain that she may ever continue to treasure, both for herself and others, the teaching that flows from your life of innocence and love. Holiness is the one only thing when one’s career is ended that can be called true gain, and holiness is acquired from within. External works count with God only in as far as the interior breath that inspires them is pure. If occasion for exercising works be wanting, man can always supply that deficiency by drawing near to the Lord in the secret of his soul, as much and even more than he could have done by their means. Thus did you see and understand the question. And therefore prayer which held you absorbed in its ineffable delights succeeded in making you equal to the very martyrs. What a priceless treasure was not prayer in your eyes, what a Heaven-lent boon, and one that is indeed in our reach too, just as it was in yours!

But in order to find in it, as you expressed it, the short cut to perfection, perseverance is needed and a careful elimination from the soul, by a generous self repression, of every emotion which is not of God. For how could muddy or troubled waters mirror forth the image of Him who stands on their brink? Even so, a soul that is sullied, or a soul that without being quite a slave of passion, is not yet mistress of every earthly perturbation, can never reach the object of prayer, which is to reproduce within her the tranquil Image of her God. The reproduction of the one great Model was perfect in you, and hence it can be seen how nature (as regards what she has of good), far from losing or suffering anything, rather gains by this process of recasting in the divine crucible. Even in what touches the most legitimate affections you looked at things no longer from the earthly point of view, but beholding all in God, far were the things of sense transcended with all their deceptive feebleness, and wondrously did your love grow in consequence. For instance, what could be more touching than your sweet attentions, not only on Earth, but even from your throne in Heaven, for that admirable woman given to you by our Lord to be your earthly mother, where may tenderness be found equal to the affectionate effusions written to her by you in that letter of a Saint to the mother of a Saint, which you addressed to her shortly before quitting your earthly pilgrimage? And still more, what exquisite delicacy did you evince in making her the recipient of your first miracle, worked after your entrance into glory! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost by setting you on fire with the flame of divine charity, developed also within you immense love for your neighbour: necessarily so, because charity is essentially one, and well was this proved when you were seen sacrificing your life so blithely for the sick and the pestiferous.

Cease not, dearest Saint, to aid us in the midst of so many miseries. Lend a kindly hand to each and all. Christian youth has a special claim on your patronage, for it is by the Sovereign Pontiff himself that this precious portion of the flock are gathered around your throne. Direct their feeble steps along the right path, so often enticed as they are, to turn into dangerous by-roads. Be prayer and earnest toil for God’s dear sake, their stay and safeguard. Be they illumined in the serious matter before them of the choosing a state of life. We beseech you, dearest Saint, exert strong influence over them during this most critical period of their opening years so that they may truly experience all the potency of that fair privilege which is ever yours, of preserving in your devout clients the angelical virtue! Yes, furthermore, Aloysius, look compassionately on those who have not imitated your innocence, and obtain that they may yet follow you in the example of your penance: such is the petition of Holy Church this day.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Demetria, virgin, who was crowned with martyrdom under Julian the Apostate.

At Syracuse in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Rufinus and Martia.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Cyriacus and Apollinaris.

At Mayence, St. Alban, martyr, who was made worthy of the crown of life after long labours and severe combats.

The same day, St. Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, who, in the time of the Arian emperor Constantius, disguised himself under a military dress and visited the churches of God to confirm them in the faith. By Valens he was banished into Thrace, but when peace was restored to the Church in the reign of Theodosius, he was recalled. As he again visited the churches, an Arian woman struck him with a tile, which fractured his skull and made him a martyr.

At Iconium in Lycaonia, St. Terentius, bishop and martyr.

At Pavia, St. Urciscenus, bishop and confessor.

At Tongres, St. Martin, bishop.

In the diocese of Evreux, St. Leutfrid, abbot.

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

Thanks be to God.