TheStation for to-day is in the church of Saint Vitalis, martyr, the father of the two illustrious Milanese martyrs, Saints Gervasius and Protasius.
Collect
Da, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus; ut sacro nos purificante jejunio, sinceris mentibus ad sancta ventura facias pervenire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, O almighty God, that being purified by this fast, we may come to the approaching solemnity with clean hearts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Genesis.
Ch. xxxvii.
In diebus illis: Dixit Joseph fratribus suis: Audite somnium meum quod vidi: Putabam nos ligare manipulos in agro: et quasi consurgere manipulum meum, et stare, vestrosque manipulos circumstantes adorare manipulum meum. Responderunt fratres ejus: Numquid rex noster eris? aut subjiciemur ditioni tuæ? Hæe ergo causa somniorum atque sermonum, invidiæ et odii fomitem ministra vit. Aliud quoque vidit somnium, quod narrans fratribus ait; Vidi per somnium quasi solem, et lunam, et Stellas undecim adorare me,Quod quum patri suo et fratribue retulisset, increpavit eum pater suns, et dixit: Quid sibi vult hoc somnium quod vidisti? Num ego, et mater tua, et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram? Invidebant ei igitur fratres sui: pater vero rem tacitus considerabat. Cumque fratres illiue in pascendis gregibus patris morarentur in Sichem, dixit ad eum Israël: Fratres tui pascunt oves in Siohimie: veni, mittam te ad eos. Quo respondente: Præsto sum; ait ei: Vade, et vide si cuneta prospera sint erga fratres tuos, et pecora: et renuntia mihi quid agatur. Missus de valle Hebron, venit in Sichem: invenitque eum vir errantem in agro, et interrogavit quid quæreret. At ille respondit: Fratres meos quæro: indica mihi ubi paecant greges. Dixitque ei vir: Recesserunt de loco isto; audivi autem eos dicentes: Eamus in Dothain. Perrexit ergo Joseph post fratres suos, et invenit eos in Dothain. Qui cum vidissent eum procul, antequam accederet ad eos, cogitaverunt ilium occidere, et mutuo loquebantur: Ecce somniator venit: venite, occidamus eum, et mittamus in cistemam veterem: dicemusque: Fera pessima devoravit eum, et tune apparebit quid illi prosint somnia sua. Audiens autem hoc Ruben, nitebatur liberare eum de manibus eorum, et dicebat: Non interficiatis animam ejus, nec effundatis sanguinem; sed projicite eum in cisternam hane, quæ est in solitudine, manusque vestras servate innoxias. Hoc autem dicebat, volens eripere eum de manibus eorum, et reddere patri suo.
Lesson from the Book of Genesis.
Cap. xxxvii.
In those days: Joseph said to his brethren: Hear my dream which I have dreamed. I thought we were binding sheaves in the field; and my sheaf arose, as it were, and stood, and your sheaves, standing about, bowed down before my sheaf. His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were, the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars, worshipping me. And when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren, worship thee upon the earth? His brethren therefore envied him, but his father considered the thing with himself. And when his brethren abode in Sichem, feeding their father’s flocks, Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem; come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: I am ready; he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the cattle, and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem. And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked him what he sought. But he answered: I seek my brethren; tell me where they feed their flocks. And the man said to him: They are departed from this place; for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothain. And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him, and said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh; come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him. And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said: Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood; but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless. Now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands, and to restore him to his father.
To-day the Church reminds us of the apostasy of the Jewish nation, and of the consequent vocation of the Gentiles. This instruction was intended for the catechumens; let us, also, profit by it. The history here related from the old Testament is a figure of what we read in to-day’s Gospel. Joseph is exceedingly beloved by his father Jacob, not only because he is the child of his favourite spouse Rachel, but also because of his innocence. Prophetic dreams have announced the future glory of this child: but he has brothers; and these brothers, urged on by jealousy, are determined to destroy him. Their wicked purpose is not carried out to the full; but it succeeds at least this far, that Joseph will never more see his native country. He is sold to some merchants. Shortly afterwards, he is cast into prison; but he is soon set free, and is made the ruler, not of the land of Chanaan that had exiled him, but of a pagan country, Egypt. He saves these poor Gentiles from starvation, during a most terrible famine, nay, he gives them abundance of food, and they are happy under his government. His very brothers, who persecuted him, are obliged to come down into Egypt, and ask food and pardon from their victim. We easily recognize in this wonderful history our divine Redeemer, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. He was the victim of His own people’s jealousy, who refused to acknowledge in Him the Messias foretold by the prophets, although their prophecies were so evidently fulfilled in Him. Like Joseph, Jesus is the object of a deadly conspiracy; like Joseph, He is sold. He traverses the shadow of death, but only to rise again, full of glory and power. But it is no longer on Israel that He lavishes the proofs of His predilection; He turns to the Gentiles, and with them He henceforth dwells. It is to the Gentiles that the remnant of Israel will come seeking Him, when, pressed by hunger after the truth, they are willing to acknowledge, as the true Messias, this Jesus of Nazareth, their King, whom they crucified.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xxi.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus turbis Judæorum, et principibus sacerdotum parabolam hane: Homo erat paterfamilias, qui plantavit vineam, et sepem circumdedit ei, et fodit in ea torcular, et ædifieavit turrim, et locavit eam agricolis, et peregre profectus est. Cum autem tempus fructuum appropinquasset, misit servos suos ad agricolas, ut acciperent fructus ejus. Et agricolæ, apprehensis servis ejus, alium ceciderunt, alium occiderunt, alium vero lapidaverunt. Iterum misit alios servos plures priori bus, et fecerunt illis similiter. Novissime autem misit ad eos filium suum, dicens: Verebuntur filium meum. Agricolæ autem videntes filium, dixerunt intra se: Hic est hæres: venite, occidamus eum, et habebimus hæreditatem ejus. Et apprehensum eum ejecerunt extra vineam, et occiderunt. Cum ergo venerit dominus vineae, quid faciet agricolis illis? Aiunt illi: Malos male perdet: et vineam suam locabit aliis agricolis, qui reddant ei fructum temporibus suis. Dicit illis Jesus: Nunquam legistis in Scripturis: Lapidem quem reprobaverunt ædificantes, hicfactus est in caput anguli? A Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris. Ideo dico vobis, quia auferetur a vobis regnum Dei, et dabitur genti facienti fructus ejus. Et qui ceciderit super lapidem istum, confringetur: super quem vero ceciderit, conteret eum. Et cum audissent principes sacerdotum et pharisæi parabolas ejus, cognoverunt quod de ipsis diceret. Et quærentes eum tenere, timuerunt turbas: quoniam sicut prophetam eum habebant.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xxi.
At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitude of the Jews, and to the chief priests this parable: There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he.sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shaU come, what will he do to those husbandmen? They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end: and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen that shall render him the fruit in due season. Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him they feared the multitude; because they held him as a prophet.
Here we have more than the mere figures of the old Law, which show us our Redeemer in the far distant future; we have the great reality. Yet a little while, and the thrice holy Victim will have fallen beneath the blows of His persecutors. How awful and solemn are the words of Jesus, as His last hour approaches! His enemies feel the full weight of what He says; but, in their pride, they are determined to keep up their opposition to Him, who is the Wisdom of the Father. They have made up their minds not to acknowledge Him to be what they well know He is—the stone, on which he that falls shall be broken, and which shall grind to powder him on whom it shall fall. But what is the vineyard, of which our Lord here speaks? It is revealed truth; it is the rule of faith and morals; it is the universal expectation of the promised Redeemer; and, lastly, it is the family of the children of God, His inheritance, His Church. God had chosen the Synagogue as the depository of such a treasure; He willed that His vineyard should be carefully kept, that it should yield fruit under their keeping, and that they should always look upon it as His possession, and one that was most dear to Him. But, in its hard-heartedness and avarice, the Synagogue appropriated the Lord’s vineyard to itself. In vain did He, at various times, send His prophets to reclaim His rights; the faithless husbandmen put them to death. The Son of God, the Heir, comes in Person. Surely, they will receive Him with due respect, and pay Him the homage due to His divine character! But no; they have formed a plot against Him; they intend to cast Him forth out of the vineyard, and kill Him. Come, then, ye Gentiles, and avenge this God! Leave not a stone on a stone of the guilty city that has uttered this terrible curse: ‘May His Blood be upon us and upon our children!’[1] But you shall be more than the ministers of the divine justice; you yourselves are now the favoured people of God. The apostasy of these ungrateful Jews is the beginning of your salvation. You are to be keepers of the vineyard to the end of time; you are to feed on its fruits, for they now belong to you. From east and west, from north and south, come to the great Pasch, that is being prepared! Come to the font of salvation, O ye new people, who are gathered unto God from all nations under the sun! Your mother the Church will fill up from you, if you be faithful, the number of the elect; and when her work is done, her Spouse will return, as the dread Judge, to condemn those who would not know the time of their visitation.[2]
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Da, quæsumus, Domine, populo tuo salutem mentis et corporis: ut bonis operibus inhærendo, tuæ semper virtues mereatur protectione defendi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy people health both of soul and body, that by the continual practice of good works they may always be defended by thy powerful protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us encourage within ourselves the spirit of humility and penance by the following hymn, which we take from the Greek liturgy. It was composed by St. Andrew of Crete.
Hymn (Feria V. quintæ hebdomadæ)
Unde primum miseræ vitæ meæ actiones lamenter? quod, Christe, hodierni planctus initium faciam? enim vero, qui misericors sis, debitorum veniam concede.
Veni, misera anima, tua carne comite, omnium confitero Creatori, deincepsque antiqua abstine aliena a ratione affectione, ac Deo lacrymas pænitens exhibe.
Qui Adam protoplastum prævaricando sim æmulatus; Deo, ætemoque regno et voluptate, meis cognovi peccatis me nudatum.
Heu me, misera anima! ut quid primæ Evæ similis facta es? male quippe vidisti, direque vulnerata es; ac manum admovisti ligno, petulansque escam absonam gustasti.
Jure merito Adam, ut qui unum tuum mandatum, O Salvator, non custodivisset, Eden ilia ejectus est: at ego, qui continue vivifica eloquia tua spemam,quid sustinuero?
Tempus est pænitentiæ: ad te accedo, fictorem meum: grave a me tolle peccati jugum: mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum.
Ne me, Salvator, abomineris, ne projicias a facie tua: grave a me tolle peccati jugum: mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum.
Voluntaria mea debita præterque voluntatem, manifestaque et occulta, cognita omnia et incognita, tu Salvator, condona, velut Deus indulgens; propitius esto, ac me salvum facito.
I would mourn over the sins of my wretched life; but where shall I begin? O Jesus! how shall I commence the lamentation I fain would make this day? Do thou, my merciful God, forgive me my sins.
Come, my poor soul and thou, too, my body, come, and confess to the great Creator; and, henceforth, restrain your senseless passions, and offer to God the tears of repentance.
I have imitated my first parent in his sin; I acknowledge my nakedness, for I have lost my God, and the kingdom and the joys of eternity.
Alas, unhappy soul! wherefore hast thou made thyself like unto Eve! Oh that guilty look! Oh that cruel wound! Thou didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree; and, in thy frowardness, didst eat the forbidden fruit.
Adam was deservedly driven out of paradise, because he broke one of thy commandments. O my Saviour! I, then, who am for ever setting thy life-giving words at defiance, what punishment shall I not have?
Now is the time for repentance. I come to thee, O my Creator! Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.
Despise me not, my Saviour! Cast me not away from thy face. Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.
Do thou, my Saviour, and my merciful God, pardon mo my sins, deliberate or indeliberate, public or private, known or unknown. Have mercy on me, and save me!
Forty days after the white dove of Cassino had mounted to heaven, Benedict, her glorious brother, ascended by a bright path to the blissful abode, where they were to be united for ever. Both of them reached the heavenly country during that portion of the year which corresponds with the holy season of Lent. It frequently happens, however, that St. Scholastica’s feast is kept before Lent has begun; whereas St. Benedict’s day, the twenty-first of March, always comes during the season of penance. God, who is the sovereign Master of time, willed that the faithful, whilst practising their exercises of penance, should always have before their eyes a saint whose example and intercession would inspire them with courage.
With what profound veneration ought we to celebrate the festival of this wonderful saint, who, as St. Gregory says, was filled with the spirit of all the just! If we consider his virtues, we find nothing superior in the annals of perfection presented to our admiration by the Church.
Love of God and man, humility, the gift of prayer, dominion over the passions—form him into a masterpiece of the grace of the Holy Ghost.Miracles seem toconstitute his life: he cures the sick, commands the elements, casts out devils, and raises the dead to life. The spirit of prophecy unfolds futurity to him; and the most intimate thoughts of men are not too distant for the eye of his mind to scan. These superhuman qualifications are heightened by a sweet majesty, a serene gravity, and a tender charity, which shine in every page of his wonderful life; and it is one of his holiest children who wrote it, St. Gregory the Great. It is this holy Pope and Doctor, who had the honour of telling posterity all the wonders which God vouchsafed to work in His servant Benedict.
Posterity had a right to know the life and virtues of a man, whose salutary influence upon the Church and society has been so observable during the ages of the Christian era. To describe the influence exercised by the spirit of St. Benedict, we should have to transcribe the annals of all the nations of the western Church, from the seventh century down to our own times. Benedict is the father of Europe. By his Benedictines, numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the sea-shore, he rescued the last remnants of Roman vigour from the total annihilation threatened by the invasion of barbarians; he presided over the establishment of the public and private laws of those nations, which grew out of the ruins of the Roman empire; he carried the Gospel and civilization into England, Germany, and the northern countries, including Slavonia; he taught agriculture; he put an end to slavery; and to conclude, he Baved the precious deposit of the arts and sciences from the tempest which would have swept them from the world, and would have left mankind a prey to a gloomy and fatal ignorance.
And Benedict did all this by that little book which we call his Rule. This admirable code of Christian perfection and prudence disciplined the countless legions of religious, by whom the holy patriarch achieved all these prodigies. During the ages which preceded the promulgation of this rule, so wonderful m its simple eloquence, the monastic life in the western Church had produced some few saintly men; but there was nothing to justify the hope that this kind of life would become, even more than it had been in the east, the principal means of the Christian regeneration and civilization of so many nations. Once this rule was written, all others gradually give place to it, as the stars are eclipsed when the sun has risen. The west was overspread with monasteries; and from these monasteries flowed upon Europe all those blessings, which have made it the privileged quarter of the globe.
An incredible number of saints, both men and women, who look up to Benedict as their father, purify and sanctify the world, which had not yet emerged from the state of semi-barbarism. A long series of Popes who had once been novices in the Benedictine cloister, preside over the destinies of this new world, and form for it a new legislation, which, being based exclusively on the moral law, is to avert the threatening prevalence of brutal despotism. Bishops innumerable, trained in the same school of Benedict, consolidate this moral legislation in the provinces and cities over which they are appointed. The apostles of twenty barbarous nations confront their fierce and savage tribes, and, with the Gospel in one hand and the rule of their holy father in the other, lead them into the fold of Christ. For many centuries, the learned men, the doctors of the Church, and the instructors of youth, belong, almost exclusively, to the Order of the great patriarch, who, by the labours of his children, pours forth on the people the purest beauty of light and truth. This choir of heroes in every virtue, of Popes, of bishops, of apostles, of holy doctors, proclaiming themselves as his disciples, and joining with the universal Church in glorifying that God, whose holiness and power shine forth so brightly in the life and actions of Benedict—what a corona, what an aureola of glory for one saint to have!
Let us now read the sketch of his life, as given us in the liturgy:
Benedictus, Nursiæ nobili genere ortus, Romæ liberalibus disciplinis eruditus, ut totum se Jesu Christo daret, ad eum locum qui Sublacus dicitur, in altissimam speluncam penetravit: in qua sic per triennium delituit, ut unus id sciret Romanus mo· nachus, quo ad vitae necessitatem ministro utebatur. Dum igitur ei quadam die ardentes ad libidinem faces a diabolo subjicerentur, se in vepribus tamdiu volutavit, dum lacerato corpore, voluptatis sensus dolore opprimeretur. Sed jam erumpente ex illis latebris fama ejus sanctitatis, quidam monachi se illi instituendos tradiderunt: quorum vivendi licentia cum ejus objurgationes ferre non posset, venenum in potione ei dare constituunt. Verum poculum ei præbentibue, crucis signo vas confregit, ac relicto monasterio in solitudinem se recepit.
Sed cum multi ad eum quotidie discipuli convenirent, duodecim monasteria ædificavit, eaque sanctissimis legibus communivit. Postea Cassinum migravit, ubi simulacrum Apollinis, qui adhuo ibi colebatur, comminuit, aram evertit, et lucos succendit: ibique Sancti Martini sacellum et Sancti Joannis ædiculam exstruxit: oppidanos autem et incolas Christiania præceptis imbuit. Quare augebatur in dies magis divina gratia Benedictus, ut etiam prophetico spiritu ventura prædiceret. Quod ubi accepit Totila Gothorum rex, exploraturus an res ita esset, spatharium suum regio ornatu et comitatu præmittit, qui se regem simularet. Quern ut ille vidit: Depone, inquit, fill, depone quod geris; nam tuum non est. Totilæ vero prædixit adventum ej us in Urbem, maris transmissionem, et post novem annos mortem.
Qui aliquot mensibus antequam e vita migraret, præmonuit discipulos quo die esset moriturus: ac sepulchrum, in quo suum corpus condi vellet, sex diebus antequam eo inferretur, aperiri jussit: sextoque die deferri voluit in ecclesiam: ubi sumpta Eucharistia, sublatis in ccelum oculis orans, inter manus discipulorum efflavit animam: quam duo monachi euntem in ccelum viderunt, pallio omatam pretiosissimo, circum eam fulgentibus lampadibus, et clarissima et gravissima specie virum stantern supra caput ipsius dicentem audierunt: Hæc est via, qua dilectus Domini Benedictus in cœlum ascendit.
Benedict was born of a noble family at Nursia. He was sent to Rome, that he might receive a liberal education; but not long after, he withdrew to a place called Subiaeo, and there hid himself in a very deep cave, that he might give himself entirely to Jesus Christ. He passed three years in that retirement, unknown to all save a monk, by name Romanus, who supplied him with the necessaries of life. The devil having one day excited him to a violent temptation of impurity, he rolled himself amidst prickly brambles, and extinguished within himself the desire of carnal pleasure by the pain he thus endured. The fame of his sanctity, however, became known beyond the limits of his hiding-place, and certain monks put themselves under his guidance. He sharply rebuked them for their wicked lives; which rebuke so irritated them, that they resolved to put poison in his drink. When he made the sign of the cross over the cup as they proffered it to him, it broke, and he, leaving that monastery, returned to his solitude.
But whereas many daily came to him, beseeching him to take them as his disciples, he built twelve monasteries, and drew up the most admirable rules for their government. He afterwards went to Monte Cassino, where he destroyed an image of Apollo, which was still adored in those parts; and having pulled down the altar and burnt the groves, he built a chapel in that same place, in honour of St. Martin, and another in honour of St. John. He instructed the inhabitants in the Christian religion. Day by day did Benedict advance in the grace of God, and he also foretold, in a spirit of prophecy, what was to take place. Totila, the king of the Goths, having heard of this, and being anxious to know if it .were the truth, went to visit him; but first sent his sword-bearer, who was to pretend that he was the king, and who, for this end, was dressed in royal robes and accompanied by attendants. As soon as Benedict saw him, he said: ‘Put off, my spn, put off this dress, for it is not thine.’ But he foretold to Totila, that he would reach Rome, cross the sea, and die at the end of nine years.
Several months before he departed from this life, he foretold to his disciples the day on which he should die. Six days previous to his death, he ordered them to open the sepulchre wherein he wished to be buried. On the sixth day, he desired to bo carried to the church, and there having received the Eucharist, with his eyes raised in prayer towards heaven, and held up by his disciples, he breathed forth his soul. Two monks saw it ascending to heaven, adorned with a most precious robe, and surrounded by shining lights. They also saw a most beautiful and venerable man, who stood above the saint’s head, and they heard him thus speak: ‘This is the way whereby Benedict, the beloved of the Lord, ascended to heaven.’
The Benedictine Order celebrates the praise of its illustrious patriarch in these three hymns:
Hymn I
Laudibus cives resonent canoris, Templa solemnes modulentur hymnos; Hac die summi Benedicts arcem Scandit Olympi.
Ille florentes peragebat annos, Cum puer dulcis patriae penates Liquit, et solus latuit silenti Conditus antro.
Inter urticas rigidosque sentes Vicit altricem scelerum juventam: lade conscripsit documenta vitæ Pulchra beatæ.
Æream turpis Clarii figuram, Et nemus stravit Veneri dicatum, Atque Baptistæ posuit sacrato Monte sacellum.
Jamque felici residens Olympo, Inter ardentes Seraphim catervas, Spectat, et dulci reficit clientum Corda liquore.
Gloria Patri, genitæque Proli, Et tibi compar utriusque semper Spiritus alme, Deus unus, omni Tempore sæcli.
Amen.
Let the faithful give forth their songs of praise; let our temples echo with solemn hymns: for on this day Benedict ascended to the highest heavens.
When a boy, and in the flower of youth, he left his sweet home, and hid himself from the sight of all in a lonely cave.
He conquered his passions of youth by rolling amidst nettles and prickly thorns. After this, he wrote a beautiful rule of a holy life.
He destroyed a brazen statue of the vile Apollo, and a grove that was sacred to Venus: and on the holy mount he built an oratory in honour of the Baptist.
Now he dwells in the happy land above, amidst the burning Seraphim: he looks down on those that invoke him, and refreshes their hearts with a nectar of sweetness.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son that is begotten of him! To thee, also, O Spirit of love, coequal with them, one God, be glory for endless ages.
Amen.
Hymn II
Quidquid antiqui cecinere vates, Quidquid æternæ monimenta legis, Continet nobis celebranda summi Vita monarchæ.
Extulit Mosen pietas benignum, Inclytum proles Abraham decorat, Isaac sponsae decus, et severi Jussa parentis.
Ipse virtutum cumulis onustus, Celsior nostri patriarcha coetus Isaac, Mosen, Abraham sub uno Pectore clausit.
Ipse, quos mundi rapuit procellis, Hic pius flatu statuat secundo, Pax ubi nullo, requiesque gliscit Mista pavore.
Gloria Patri, genitæque Proli, Et tibi compar utriusque semper Spiritus alme, Deus unus, omni Tempore sæcli.
Amen.
All that the ancient prophets preached, and all that the books of the divine Law tell us of holiness, is contained in the life of the great patriarch which we are now extolling.
Moses was celebrated for his meekness; Abraham for his being father of all believers; Isaac for the beauty of his bride, and his obedience to the trying commands of his father.
The sublime patriarch of our family was richly laden with every virtue; and in his single person represented Isaac, Moses, and Abraham.
May he have a loving care of those whom he has delivered from this stormy world, and lead them with prosperous gales to the port where there is no fear that can ruffle peace and repose.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son that is begotten of him! To thee, also, O Spirit of love, coequal with them, one God, be glory for endless ages.
Amen.
Hymn III
Inter æternas Superum coronas, Quas sacro partas retinent agone, Emicas celsis meritis coruscus, O Benedicte.
Sancta te compsit puerum seneotus, Nil sibi de te rapuit voluptas, Aruit mundi tibi flos ad alta Mente levato.
Ne diu tutus latebras foveres, Signa te produnt operum pioruin, Spargitur felix celeri per orbem Fama volatu.
Gloria Patri, genitæque Proli, Et tibi, compar utriusque semper Spiritus alme, Deus unus, omni. Tempore sæcli.
Amen.
Amidst the saints that glitter with the crowns they have won in the holy contest, thou, O Benedict, shinest resplendent with thy sublime merits.
Thy boyhood was graced with the holy gravity of old age; the pleasures of the world had no hold on thee, and its flowers seemed but as withered weeds to a soul like thine, that was fixed on heavenly things.
Therefore didst thou flee from the world, leaving thy country and thy parents, and becamest a fervent solitary. Thou didst tame the rebellion of the flesh, and by sharp mortification thou didst bring it into subjection to Christ.
But thy fond hope of concealment was to be cut short: thy holy miracles betrayed thee, and the glorious fame of thy sanctity swiftly spread through the world.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son that is begotten of him! To thee, also, O Spirit of love, coequal with them, one God, be glory for endless ages.
Amen.
The monastic missal contains the following sequence in honour of St. Benedict:
Sequence
Læta quies magni ducis, Dona ferens novæ lucis, Hodie recolitur.
Eliseus dignoscatur, Cum securis revocatur De torrentis alveo.
Illum Joseph candor morum, Illum Jacob futurorum Mens effecit conscia.
Ipse memor suae gentis, Nos perducat in manentis Semper Christi gaudia.
Amen.
We celebrate, this day, the happy death of our great leader, which brings us the blessings of new light.
On this day grace is given to the souls of his loving children. Oh! may the fervent heart re-echo what the voice sings forth!
Let us admire the beauty of our patriarch, as he ascends to heaven by the path of the east.
He shines as a sun in the world, he is most like to Abraham, for he is the rich seed from which a countless race hath sprung.
When thou seest him fed by the crows thou thinkest of Elias, that hid himself in the little cave.
He reminds us of Eliseus, when he makes the head of the axe return from the bed of the stream.
He is like Joseph by the purity of his life, and like Jacob by the spirit of prophecy.
May he be mindful of his children, and lead us safe to the joys of our Lord Jesus Christ, who abideth for ever.
Amen.
The Greek Church has not forgotten, in her liturgy, the praise of the great patriarch of the monks of the west. We take from the menæa some of the stanzas, in which she celebrates the name of Saint Benedict:
Hymn (Die XXI Martii)
Mihi laudabilem memoriam tuam, o sancte, hymnis celebrare aggresso gratiam ac peccatorum omnium remissionem tribui, Benedicte, Sancto deprecare.
In eremo tuam a pueritia crucem tollens, Omnipotentem insecutus es, atque carne mortificata vitam, o beatissime, promeruisti.
Angusta semita calcata pedem in Paradisi latitudine fixisti, o prorsus beate, ac dæmonum calliditates et insidias elusisti.
Lacrymarum tuarum profluviis fructiferi ligni instar irrigatus, o Benedicte, divinos virtutum ac miraculorum fructus, Dei virtute, ubertim attulisti.
Per continentiæ certamina, o beate, carnis membris mortificatis, mortuos precibus exsuscitasti, ac debilibus expeditam gradiendi vim tradidisti, morbumque omnem curasti, cum fide in admiratione habitus, o pater.
Siccas, atque aridas animas vivifico sermone tuo, o beate, frugiferas reddidisti, miraculorum exhibitione, et pastor divinitus inspiratus, et speciossisimus monachorum decor effectus.
Misericordem Deum deprecatus, sapiens pater, olei thecam, quemadmodum Elias, illico replevisti, o beatissime, a videntibus cum fide in admiratione habitus.
Utpote mente purus, utpote extra te raptus, universam terram conspexisti, ceu ab unico radio Dei te honorantis illustratus, o beatissime Benedicte.
In Christo imperans fontis aquam, precibus bonorum datorem obsecrans, emanare fecieti, quæ miraculum deprædicans, o Benedicte, adhuc perseverat.
Spiritus splendore collustratus, pravorum etiam dæmonum tenebras dissipasti, o miraculorum patrator Benedicte, splendidissimum monachorum luminare.
Te, o beate, venenatis potionibus interimere insipienter volentes, quern divina universi Creatoris manus custodiebat, insipientes oonfusi sunt. Quos prævia tua per Spiritum scientia deprehendit.
Te monachorum turbæ a te convocatæ diu noctuque concelebrant, corpus tuum in medio positum servantes, quod largos miraculorum fluvios effundit, o pater sapiens, eorumque gressus perenni lumine collustrat.
Divinis mandatis obsecutus, o pater, super solares radios effulsisti, atque ad inocciduum translatus es, exorans propitiationem peccatorum concedi iis, qui te cum fide colunt, Celebris Benedicte.
O holy Benedict! pray to the holy God for me, who now begin to sing a hymn to thy praiseworthy name. Obtain for me that I may receive grace and the forgiveness of all my sins.
From thy childhood, O most blessed one! thou didst carry thy cross in the desert, walking in the footsteps of the Omnipotent. Thou didst merit life, by putting thy flesh to death.
Treading the narrow path, O truly blessed! thou didst take thy stand in the spaciousness of paradise, and didst elude the craft and snares of the devils.
Watered by the streams of thy tears, O Benedict! thou, like unto a fruitful tree, didst, by God’s power, bring forth in abundance the divine fruits of virtues and miracles.
O blessed one! by the struggle of continency thou didst mortify thy bodily members: thy prayers raised the dead to life, gave to the lame the power to walk, and cured every disease, for men were in admiration at thee and had faith in thee, O father!
Thy life-giving words, O blessed one! and the sight of thy miracles, gave fruitfulness to souls that before were parched and dry. Thou wast the divinely inspired shepherd, and the fairest glory of the monastic life.
O wise father! thou didst beseech the God of mercy, and like Elias, thou didst suddenly fill the vessel with oil, for men were in admiration at thee, and had faith in thee, O most blessed Benedict!
Because of thy clean-heartedness, and because thou wast out of thyself with rapture, thou didst behold the whole earth, for God honoured thee with a ray of his own light, O most blessed Benedict!
Thou didst command in the name of Christ, thou didst pray to the Giver of all good gifts, and a fountain of water sprang up at thy bidding: it still exists, O Benedict! the abiding witness of thy miracle.
Enlightened by the bright rays of the holy Spirit, thou didst dispel the darkness of the wicked devils, O Benedict, thou worker of miracles, thou fairest light of monasticism!
Those foolish men that madly plotted to destroy thy life by poison were confounded, for thou wast guarded, O blessed one! by the divine hand of the great Creator. The knowledge thou hadet from the holy Spirit forewarned thee of their plot.
The choirs of monks, whom thou hast called, celebrate thy name day and night. They possess thy body, which is enshrined in their midst, and from which flow abundant streams of miracles, and an unfading light that illumines their path, O father full of wisdom!
By thine obedience to the divine precepts, O father 1 thou hast been made brighter than the sun, and hast beeii taken to the land where the light sets not. Pray for them that have confidence in thee and honour thee; pray that they may receive the forgiveness of their sins, O Benedict', thou whose name is known throughout the world.
O Benedict! thou vessel of election, thou palm of the wilderness, thou angel of earth, we offer thee the salutation of our love! What man was ever chosen to work on the earth more wonders than thou hast done? The Saviour has crowned thee as one of His principal co-operators in the work of the salvation and sanctification of men. Who could count the millions of souls who owe their eternal happiness to thee? Thy immortal rule has sanctified them in the cloister, and the zeal of thy Benedictines has been the means of their knowing and serving the great God who chose thee. Around thee, in the realms of glory, a countless number of the blessed acknowledge themselves indebted to thee, after God, for their eternal happiness; and upon the earth whole nations profess the true faith, because the Gospel was first preached to them by thy disciples.
O father of so many people! look down upon thine inheritance, and once more bless this ungrateful Europe, which owes everything to thee, yet has almost forgotten thy name! The light which thy children imparted to it has become dimmed, the warmth they imparted to the societies they founded and civilized by the cross has grown cold; thorns have covered a large portion of the land in which they sowed the seed of salvation. Come and protect thine own work; and, by thy prayers, keep it from perishing. Give firmness to what has been shaken. May a new Europe, a Catholic Europe, spring up in place of that which heresy and false doctrines have formed.
O patriarch of the servants of God! look down from heaven on the vineyard which thy hand hath planted, and see into what a state of desolation it has fallen. There was a time when thy name was honoured as that of a father in thirty thousand monasteries, from the shores of the Baltic to the borders of Syria, and from the green Erin to the steppes of Poland. Now, alas! few and feeble are the prayers that ascend to thee from the whole of that immense patrimony, which the faith and gratitude of the people had once consecrated to thee. The blight of heresy and the rapaciousness of avarice have robbed thee of these harvests of thy glory. The work of sacrilegious spoliation is now centuries old, and unceasingly has it been pursued; at one time having recourse to open violence, and at another pleading the urgency of political interests. Sainted father of our faith! thou hast been robbed of those thousands of sanctuaries, which, for long ages, were fountains of life and light to the people. The race of thy children has become almost extinct: watch over them that still remain, and are labouring to perpetuate thy rule. An ancient tradition tells us how our Lord revealed to thee that thy Order would last to the end of the world, and that thy children would console the Church of Rome and confirm the faith of many in the last great trials: deign to protect, by thy powerful intercession, the remnants of that family which still calls thee its father. Raise it up again; multiply it; sanctify it: let the spirit which thou hast deposited in thy holy rule flourish in its midst, and show, by thus blessing it, that thou art ever Benedict, the servant of God.
Support the holy Church, by thy powerful intercession, dear father! Assist the apostolic See, which has been so often occupied by disciples of thy school. Father of so many pastors of thy people! obtain for us bishops like those sainted ones whom thy rule has formed. Father of so many apostles! ask for the countries which have no faith preachers of the Gospel, who may convert the people by their blood and by their words, as did those who went out missioners from thy cloisters. Father of so many holy doctors! pray that the science of sacred literature may revive, to aid the Church and confound error. Father of so many sublime ascetics! rekindle the zeal of Christian perfection, which has grown so cold among the Christians of our days. Patriarch of the religious life in the western Church! bless all the religious Orders which the holy Spirit has given successively to the Church; they all look on thee with admiration, as their venerable predecessor: do thou pour out upon them the influence of thy fatherly love.
Lastly, O blessed favourite of God! pray for all the faithful of Christ during these days which are consecrated to thoughts and works of penance. It was in the midst of the holy austerities of Lent that thou didst mount to the abode of everlasting delight; ah! help us Christians, who are, at this very time, in the same campaign of penance. Rouse our courage by thy example and precepts. Teach us to keep down the flesh, and to subject it to the spirit, as thou didst. Obtain for us a little of thy blessed spirit, that, turning away from this vain world, we may think on the eternal years. Pray for us, that our hearts may never love, and our thoughts never dwell on, joys so fleeting as are those of time.
Catholic piety invokes thee as one of the patrons, as well as one of the models, of a dying Christian. It loves to tell men of the sublime spectacle thou didst present at thy death, when standing at the foot of the altar, leaning on the arms of thy disciples, and barely touching the earth with thy feet, thou didst give back, in submission and confidence, thy soul to its Creator. Obtain for us, dear saint! a death courageous and sweet as was thine. Drive from us, at our last hour, the cruel enemy who will seek to ensnare us. Visit us by thy presence, and leave us not till we have breathed forth our soul into the bosom of the God who has made thee so glorious a saint.
This email message is part of the Liturgical Year Project at LYP.network, a project of the FSSP apostolate, St. Lawrence Church, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We are in the process of transcribing and formatting the text of Dom Prosper Guéranger's massive 15-volume series, The Liturgical Year. His many meditations on the history and faith behind the feasts and the seasons of the Church's year have edified many people over the years, and we hope to share these with more people through our website and via email.
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