The divine Leader of God’s people is their salvation in all their distress. Did we not last Sunday see Him prove Himself such, and in a very telling way, by curing both body and soul of the poor paralytic, who was a figure of the whole human race? Let us hear His voice, in the Introit, with love and gratitude; let us promise Him the fidelity He asks of us; His Law, if we will but observe it, will preserve us from a relapse.
The anthem which follows is made up of several passages of holy Writ, without being exactly that of any one of them. The verse is taken from Psalm lxxvii.
Introit
Salus populi ego sum, dicit Dominus: de quacumque tribulatione clamaverint ad me, exaudiam eos : et ero illorum Dominus in perpetuum.
Ps. Attendite, popule meus, legem meam : inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei. Gloria Patri. Salus.
I am the salvation of the people, saith the Lord : in what distress soever they call upon me, I will hear them : and will be their Lord for ever.
Ps. Attend, O my people, unto my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth. Glory, etc. I am the salvation.
Free both in mind and body by the omnipotent word of the Son of Man, the human race can devote itself, with all activity, to the service of God. Let us obtain from His divine Majesty, by uniting our prayer with that of the Church in her Collect, that the fatal paralysis, which was once so cruel a tyrant over our souls and faculties, may never return.
Collect
Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude : ut mente et corpore pariter expediti, quæ tua sunt liberis mentibus exsequamur. Per Dominum.
O almighty and merciful God, graciously keep away from us all things that are adverse: that being free in mind and body, we may, with unimpeded minds, attend to the things that are thine. Through, etc.
The other Collecte, as on page 120.
Epistle
Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli Apostoli ad Ephesios.
Cap. iv.
Fratres, Renovamini spiritu mentis vestræ, et induite novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est in justitia, et sanctitate veritatis. Propter quod deponentep mendacium, loquimini veritatem unusquisque cum proximo suo : quoniam sumus invicem membra. Irascimini, et nolite peccare : sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram. Nolite locum dare diabolo : qui furabatur, jam non furetur : magis autem laboret, operando manibus suis, quod bonum est, ut habeat unde tribuat necessitatem patienti.
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians.
Ch. iv.
Brethren : be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, who, according to God, is created in justice, and holiness of truth. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.
The Epistle to the Ephesians, which was interrupted last Sunday in the manner we then described, is continued to-day by the Church. The apostle has already laid down the dogmatical principles of true holiness; he now deduces the moral consequences of those principles.
Let us call to mind how the holiness, which is in God, is His very truth—truth living and harmonious, which is no other than the admirable concert of the Three divine Persons, united in love. We have seen that holiness, as far as it exists in us men, is also union, by infinite love, with the eternal and living Truth. The Word took a Body unto Himself in order to manifest in the Flesh this sanctifying and perfect truth,[1] of which He is the substantial expression;[2] His Humanity, sanctified directly by the plenitude of the divine life and truth, which dwell within Him,[3] became the model, as well as the means, the way, of all holiness to every creature.[4] It was not sin alone, but it was, moreover, the finite nature of man that kept him at a distance from the divine life;[5]but he finds in Christ Jesus, just as in God, the two elements of that life: truth and love. In Jesus, as the complement of His Incarnation, Wisdom aspires at uniting with herself all the members, also, of that human race, of which He is the Head,[6] and the First-born;[7] by Him the Holy Ghost, whose sacred fount He is,[8] pours Himself out upon man, whereby to adapt him to his sublime vocation, and to consummate, in infinite love (which is Himself), that union of every creature with the divine Word. Thus it is that we verily partake of that life of God, whose existence and holiness are the knowledge and love of His own Word; thus it is that we are sanctified in truth[9] by the participation of that very holiness wherewith God is holy by nature.
The Son of Man, being God, participates for us His brethren in the life of union in the truth which constitutes the holinessof the blessed Trinity. But He communicates that life, that truth, that deifying union, to none save those who have truly become His members, and who, in Him, reproduce between one another, by the operation of the Spirit of truth[10] and love, that unity of which that sanctifying Spirit is the almighty bond in the Godhead.
‘May they all be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee,' said Jesus to His eternal Father, ‘that they also may be one in us. I have given unto them the glory (that is to say, the holiness) which Thou hast given unto Me, that they may be one, as we also are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be consummated (that is, be made perfect) in unity.'[11] Here we have, and formulated by our Lord Himself, the simple but fruitful axiom, the foundation of Christian dogma and morals. By that sublime prayer, He explained what He had previously been saying: 'I sanctify Myself for them, that they, also, may be sanctified in truth.'[12]
Let us now understand the moral doctrine given us by St. Paul in our to-day's Epistle. What does he mean by that justice, and that holiness of truth, which is that of Christ,[13] of the new man, whom everyone must put on, that aspires to the possession of the riches spoken of in the passages already read to us from this magnificent Epistle? Let us re-read the Epistle for the seventeenth Sunday, and we shall find that all the rules of Christian asceticism, as well as of the mystic life, are to St. Paul’s mind summed up in those words: Be careful to keep unity![14] It is the principle he lays down for all, both beginners and the perfect. It is the crowning of the sublimest vocations in the order of grace, as well as the foundation and reason of all God's commandments; so truly so, indeed, that, if we are commanded to abstain from lying, and to speak the truth to them that live with us, the motive is that we are members one of another.
There is a holy anger, of which the Psalmist speaks,[15] and which is the outcome, on certain occasions, of zeal for the divine law and charity; but the movement of irritation excited in the soul must, even then, be speedily calmed down; to foster it would be to give place to the devil, to give him an opportunity of weakening, or even destroying, within us, by bitterness and hatred, the structure of holy unity.[16]
Before our conversion our neighbour, as well as God, was grieved by our sins; we cared little or nothing for injustice, provided it was not noticed; egotism was our law, and it was proof enough of the reign of satan over our souls. Now that the Spirit of holiness has expelled the unworthy usurper, the strongest evidence of His being our rightful master is that not only the rights of others are sacred in our estimation, but our toil and our labours are all undergone for the purpose of being serviceable to our neighbour. In a word, as the apostle continues a little farther on, we walk in love, because, as most dear children, we are followers of God.[17]
It is by this means alone, says St. Basil, that the Church manifests the many and great benefits bestowed on the world by the Incarnation. The Christian family, which, heretofore, was split up into a thousand separate fragments, is now made one, one in itself, and one in God; it is the repetition of what our Lord did, by assuming Flesh and making it one with Himself.[18]
Our Jesus has restored to our hands, which once were paralyzed for every supernatural work, the full freedom of their movements; let us, then, raise them up spiritually in prayer, giving glory to God by this our homage, which He graciously accepts as a fragrant sacrifice. The Church gives us this teaching in the Gradual, and by her own example as well.
Gradual
Dirigatur oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo, Domine.
V. Elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. Confitemini Domino, et invocate nomen ejus : annuntiate inter gentes opera ejus. Alleluia.
Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight, O Lord.
V. May the lifting up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia. V. Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: proclaim among the gentiles his works. Alleluia.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthæum.
Cap. xxii.
In illo tempore; Loquebatur Jesus principibus sacerdotum, et pharisæis in parabolis, dicens : Simile factum est regnum cœlorum homini regi, qui fecit nuptias fìlio suo. Et misit servos suos vocare invitatos ad nuptias, et nolebant venire. Iterum misit alios servos, dicens : Dicite invitatis : Ecce prandium meum paravi; tauri mei, et altilia occisa sunt, et omnia parata; venite ad nuptias. Illi autem neglexerunt, et abierunt, alius in villam suam, alius vero ad negotiationem suam : reliqui vero tenuerunt servos ejus, et contumeliis affectos occiderunt.Rex autem cum audisset, iratus est : et missis exercitibus suis, perdidithomicidas illos, et civitatem illorum succendit. Tunc ait servis suis : Nuptiæ quidem paratæ sunt, sed qui invitati erant, non fuerunt digni. Ite ergo ad exitus viarum, et quoscumque inveneritis, vocate ad nuptias. Et egressi servi ejus in vias, congregaverunt omnes, quos invenerunt, malos et bonos : et impletæ sunt nuptiæ discumbentium. Intravit autem rex ut videret discumbentes, et vidit ibi hominem non vestitum veste nuptiali. Et ait illi: Amice, quomodo huc filtrasti, non habens vestem nuptialem? At ille obmutuit. Tunc dixit rex ministris : Ligatis manibuset pedibus ejus, mittite eum in tenebras exteriores : ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium. Multi enim sunt vocati, pauci vero electi.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Ch. xxii.
At that time : Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the pharisees in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage: and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner : my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants : The marriage indeed is ready : but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as ye shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good : and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: Friend, how eamest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters : Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
This Gospel has given to the present Sunday the name of the Sunday of the invited to the marriage. And yet, from the very opening of the dominical series, which began with the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Church gave us the Gospel teaching which she offers to us, now a second time, for our consideration. On the second Sunday after Pentecost, she related to us, from St. Luke,[19] the parable of the great supper, to which many were invited, and which St. Matthew, entering into fuller details, calls a marriage-feast.
Set thus before us, both at the beginning and at the close of the liturgical season over which the holy Spirit reigns supreme, this parable is, as it were, the interpreter of the whole portion of the year which it thus hems in : it is an additional revelation of the true aim of the Church. But how much has the light increased, since the first time we had these mystery-telling allegories! The certain man (homo quidam), who made a great supper, and invited many, has become the King, who makes a marriage for His Son, and, in this marriage, gives us an image of the kingdom of heaven. The world’s history, too, has been developing, as we gather from the terms respectively used by the two Evangelists. Those who were the first invited, and contented themselves with declining the kindness of the Master of the house, have grown in their impious ingratitude; laying hands on the messengers sent them by the loving kindness[20] of the King, they treat them with contumely, and put them to death! We have seen the merited punishment inflicted on these deicides, by this Man, who was God Himself, the Father of Israel, now become King of the Gentiles : we have seen how He sent his armies to destroy them, and burn their city.[21] And now at last, in spite of the refusal of the invited of Juda, in spite of the treacherous opposition put by them against the celebration of the nuptials of the Son of God, all things are ready for the marriage, and the banquet-hall is filled with guests.
Our heavenly King has confided, to the ministers of His love, the work of calling from every people the new guests. But now that His ambassadors, according to His command, have traversed the whole earth,[22] bringing together all nations for this day of the joy of His heart,[23] He Himself is coming in person, to see that nothing is wanting to the due preparation for the feast, and to give the signal for the eternal banquet of the divine nuptials. Now, for such a feast, and in such a place, if there be any deficiency, it can only be on the part of the guests. Let them, then, be careful not to draw down upon themselves, in this general and last examination, the displeasure of the great King, who has called them to an alliance with Himself. Though He has condescended to call them, notwithstanding their extreme poverty, from the public streets and highways, He has given them abundant time to lay aside their tatters; and knowing that they could not get ready of themselves, He has placed at their disposal, for the marriage-feast, the richest garments of His grace and virtues. Woe, then, to him who on the last day shall be found not having the wedding garment of charity! Such a want would admit of no excuse; and the King would justly punish it, by excluding the guilty man from the feast, as one that had insulted His Son.
Everything we have had on the preceding Sundays, has shown us how solicitous the Church ever is in preparing mankind for that wonderful marriage whose realization is the one object aimed at by the divine Word, in coming upon our earth. During her long exile, the bride of the Son of God has been a living model to her children; and, by her instructions, she has been unceasingly preparing them for the understanding of the great mystery of divine union. Three weeks ago,[24]treating more directly than she had hitherto done on the great subject of her ambition as mother and bride, she reminded them of the great call. On the following Sunday, she gave them another lesson : she revealed to them the Bridegroom of the nuptials, to which they were invited, as the Man-God, the object of the twofold precept of love which embodies the whole Law. To-day, we have the teaching in all its perfection. It is condensed in the night Office, where we have St. Gregory explaining her whole teaching. The great doctor and the great Pope thus, in the name of the Church, explains our Gospel:
'The kingdom of heaven is the assembly of the just; for, the Lord says by a prophet: “Heaven is My throne"; [25] and Solomon says : “The soul of the just man is the throne of wisdom ”;[26] and Paul calls Christ the Wisdom of God.[27] If, therefore, heaven be the throne of God, we must evidently conclude that, as Wisdom is God, and the soul of the just man is the throne of Wisdom, this soul is a heaven. . . . The kingdom of heaven, then, is the assembly of the just. ... If this kingdom is said to be like to a King, who made a marriage for his Son, your charity at once understands who is this King, who is the Father of a Son, King like Himself. It is He, of whom the psalmist says: “Give to the King Thy judgment, O God, and to the King’s Son Thy justice!”[28]God the Father made the marriage of God His Son, when He wished that He, who had been God before all ages, should become Man towards the end of ages. But we must not, on that account, suppose that there are two persons in Jesus Christ, our God and our Saviour. ... It is, perhaps, clearer and safer to say, that the King made a marriage for His Son, in that, by the mystery of the Incarnation, He united the Church to Him. The womb of the Virgin-Mother was the nuptial-chamber of that Bridegroom, of whom the psalmist says:[29] He hath set His tabernacle in the sun : and He, as a Bridegroom, cometh out of His bride-chamber!'[30]
Notwithstanding her dignity of beloved bride of the Son of God, the Church is, none the less, subject to tribulations here below. The enemies of the Spouse, having ho longer any direct power to injure our Lord, turn all their rage against her. In these trials, endured as they are by the Church with love, Jesus sees a fresh trait of that resemblance which He wishes her to have to Himself; He, therefore, leaves her to suffer in this world, contenting Himself with ever upholding and saving her, as the Offertory says, in the midst of the evils which go on thickening around her.
Offertory
Si ambulavero in medio tribulationis, vivificabis me, Domine : et super iram inimicorum meorum extendes manum tuam, et salvum me faciet dextera tua.
If I should walk in the midst of tribulation, thou, O Lord, wilt quicken me: and thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
The august sacrifice, which is about to be offered, always obtains its effect, as far as the glory of the divine Majesty is concerned; but its virtue is applied to man in a greater or less degree, according to the dispositions of the creature, and depending on the divine mercy. Let us, in the Secret, beseech our heavenly Father, that we may experience abundantly the effects of the divine mysteries, which are so soon to be produced on our altar.
Secret
Hæc munera, quæsumus Domine, quæ oculis tuæ majestatis offerimus, salutaria nobis esse concede. Per Dominum.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that the offerings we bring before thy divine Majesty, may avail unto our salvation. Through, etc.
The other Secrets, as on page 130.
The Man-God, by His divine contact in the sacred banquet, has spiritually given vigour to our members; let us recall to mind that we must, henceforward, consecrate them to His service, and that our feet, now made sure, must run in the way of the divine commandments.
Communion
Tu mandasti mandata tua custodiri nimis: utinam dirigantur vise meæ, ad custodiendas justificationes tuas!
Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept most diligently: oh! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications!
The Postcommunion, again, seems to be an allusion to the Gospel of the paralytic, which used formerly to be read on this Sunday. In it, we implore the assistance of the heavenly Physician, who sets man free from the palsy, which held him a prisoner; He also gives him the strength needed for fulfilling the law of God bravely and perseveringly.
Postcommunion
Tua nos, Domine, medicinalis operatio et a nostris perversitatibus clementer expediat, et tuis semper faciat inhærere mandatis. Per Dominum.
May the healing efficacy of these thy mysteries, O Lord, mercifully free us from our perverseness, and make us always obedient to thy commandments. Through, etc.
The other Postcommunions, as on page 181.
VESPERS
The psalms, capitulum, hymn, and versicle, as above, pages 71-81.
Antiphon of the Magnificat
Intravit autem rex ut videret discumbentes : et vidit ibi hominem non vestitum veste nuptiali, et ait illi: Amice, quomodo hue intrasti non habens vestem nuptialem?
Oremus.
Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude : ut mente et corpore pariter expediti, quæ tua sunt liberis mentibus exequamur. Per Dominum.
Now, the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment, and he saith unto him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment?
Let Us Pray.
O almighty and merciful God, graciously keep away from us all things that are adverse : that being free in mind and body, we may, with unimpeded minds, attend to the things that are thine. Through, etc.
[1] St. John i. 14. [2] Heb. i. 3 [3] Col. ii. 3, 9, [4] St. John xiv. 6. [5] Eph. iv. 18. [6] Ibid. i. 10. [7] Col. i. 15-20. [8] Cf. St. John iv. 14; vii, 37, 39. [9] Ibid. xvii. 17. [10] Cf. St. John xv. 26. [11] Ibid. xvii. 21-23. [12] Ibid. 19. [13] Rom. xiii. 14. [14] Eph. iv. 3. [15] Ps. iv. 5. [16] S. Chrys., in ep. ad Eph. Hom., xiv. [17] Eph. v. 1, 2. [18] S. Basil, Const, mon., xviii [19] St. Luke xiv. 16-24. [20] See Time after Pentecost, vol. i., p. 358. [21] See Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. [22] Ps. xviii. 5. [23] Cant. iii. 11. [24] The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. [25] Isa. lxvi. 1. [26] Wisd. vii. 27. [27] 1 Cor. i. 24. [28] Ps. lxxi. 2. [29] Ps. xviii. 6. [30] S. Greg., Hom, xxxviii. in Ev.
It is customary with men of the world to balance their accounts at the end of the year, and ascertain their profits. The Church is now preparing to do the same. We shall soon see her solemnly numbering her elect, taking an inventory of her holy relics, visiting the tombs of those who sleep in the Lord, and counting the sanctuaries, both new and old, that have been consecrated to her divine Spouse. But to-day’s reckoning is a more solemn one, the profits more considerable: she opens her balance-sheet with the gain accruing to our Lady from the mysteries which compose the cycle. Christmas, the cross, the triumph of Jesus, these produce the holiness of us all; but before and above all, the holiness of Mary. The diadem which the Church thus offers first to the august Sovereign of the world, is rightly composed of the triple crown of these sanctifying mysteries, the causes of her joy, of her sorrow, and of her glory. The joyful mysteries recall the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, Mary’s Purification, and the Finding of our Lord in the temple. The sorrowful mysteries bring before us the Agony of our blessed Lord, His being scourged, and crowned with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the Crucifixion. While, in the glorious mysteries, we contemplate the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour, Pentecost, and the Assumption and Coronation of the Mother of God. Such is Mary’s rosary; a new and fruitful vine, which began to blossom at Gabriel’s salutation, and whose fragrant garlands form a link between earth and heaven.
In its present form, the rosary was made known to the world by St. Dominic at the time of the struggles with the Albigensians, that social war of such ill-omen for the Church. The rosary was then of more avail than armed forces against the power of satan; it is now the Church’s last resource. It would seem that, the ancient forms of social prayer being no longer relished by the people, the holy Spirit has willed by this easy and ready summary of the liturgy to maintain, in the isolated devotion of these unhappy times, the essential of that life of prayer, faith, and Christian virtue, which the public celebration of the Divine Office formerly kept up among the nations. Before the thirteenth century, popular piety was already familiar with what was called the psalter of the laity, that is, the angelical salutation repeated one hundred and fifty times; it was the distribution of these Hail Marys into decades, each devoted to the consideration of a particular mystery, that constituted the rosary. Such was the divine expedient, simple as the eternal Wisdom that conceived it, and far-reaching in its effects; for while it led wandering man to the Queen of Mercy, it obviated ignorance which is the food of heresy, and taught him to find once more ‘the paths consecrated by the Blood of the Man-God, and by the tears of His Mother.’[1]
Thus speaks the great Pontiff who, in the universal sorrow of these days, has again pointed out the means of salvation more than once experienced by our fathers. Leo XIII, in his encyclicals, has consecrated the present month to this devotion so dear to heaven; he has honoured our Lady in her litanies with a new title, Queen of the most holy rosary;[2]and he has given the final development to the solemnity of this day, by raising it to the rank of a second class feast, and by enriching it with a proper Office explaining its permanent object.[3] Besides all this, the feast is a memorial of glorious victories, which do honour to the Christian name.
Soliman II, the greatest of the Sultans, taking advantage of the confusion caused in the west by Luther, had filled the sixteenth century with terror by his exploits. He left to his son, Selim II, the prospect of being able at length to carry out the ambition of his race: to subjugate Rome and Vienna, the Pope and the emperor, to the power of the crescent. The Turkish fleet had already mastered the greater part of the Mediterranean, and was threatening Italy, when, on October 7, 1571, it came into action, in the Gulf of Lepanto, with the pontifical galleys supported by the fleets of Spain and Venice. It was Sunday; throughout the world the confraternities of the rosary were engaged in their work of intercession. Supernaturally enlightened, St. Pius V watched from the Vatican the battle undertaken by the leader he had chosen, Don John of Austria, against the three hundred vessels of Islam. The illustrious Pontiff, whose life’s work was now completed, did not survive to celebrate the anniversary of the triumph; but he perpetuated the memory of it by an annual commemoration of our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, altered this title to our Lady of the rosary, and appointed the first Sunday of October for the new feast, authorizing its celebration in those churches which possessed an altar under that invocation.
A century and a half later, this limited concession was made general. As Innocent XI, in memory of the deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski, had extended the feast of the most holy name of Mary to the whole Church; so, in 1716, Clement XI inscribed the feast of the rosary on the universal calendar, in gratitude for the victory gained by Prince Eugene at Peterwardein, on August 5, under the auspices of our Lady of the snow. This victory was followed by the raising of the siege of Corfu, and completed a year later by the taking of Belgrade.
MASS
The joys experienced on the other feasts of the Mother of God, are all gathered up and resumed in this one, for us, for the angels, and for our Lady herself. Like the angels, then, let us offer, together with Mary, the homage of our just delight to the Son of God, her Son, her King and ours.
Introit
Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore beatæ Mariæ Virginis: de cujus solemnitate gaudent angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei.
Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus.
Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, on whose solemnity the angels rejoice, and give praise to the Son of God.
Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. ℣. Glory, &c. Let us all.
The mysteries of the Son and of the Mother are our instruction and our hope. The Church prays in the Collect that they may also be our rule of life and our pledge of eternal happiness.
Collect
Deus, cujus Unigenitus per vitam, mortem, et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis æternæ præmia comparavit: concede quæsumus; ut hæc mysteria sanctissimo beatæ Mariæ Virginis rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Dominum.
O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, procured for us the rewards of eternal salvation; grant, we beseech thee, that commemorating these mysteries in the most holy rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and possess what they promise. Through the same Lord &c.
Then is made a commemoration of the occurring Sunday.
Epistle
Lectio libri Sapientiæ. Prov. cap. viii.
Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum antequam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab æterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret, Nondum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui cnstodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere eam. Beatus homo qui audit me, et qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie, et observat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino.
Lesson from the Book of Wisdom. Prov. ch. viii.
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth mo, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.
Our Lady’s mysteries are before all time in God’s sight, like those of her divine Son; like these they will endure for all eternity; like them they rule the ages, which circle round the Word and Mary, preparing for both in the days of figures, perpetuating their presence by the incessant glorification of the most holy Trinity, in whose name all Christians are baptized. Now the rosary honours all this series of mysteries; to-day’s feast is a glance back upon the cycle as it draws to its close. From these mysteries, from this view of them, we must draw the conclusion formulated by our Lady herself in this passage from Proverbs, which the Church applies to her: ‘Now therefore, my children, consider my ways; imitate me, that you may find happiness.’ Blessed is he that watcheth at her gate! Let us pray to her, rosary in hand, considering her at the same time, meditating on her life and her greatness, and watching, were it but for a quarter of an hour, at the entrance to the palace of this incomparable Queen. The more faithful we are, the more assured will be our salvation and our progress in true life.
In the Gradual, let us congratulate the Queen of the holy rosary on her perfect life, all truth, and justice, and meekness, which won her the love of the supreme King. In the Alleluia verse, let us proclaim the nobility of her race, unequalled in the whole world.
Gradual
Propter veritatem et mansuetudinem, et justitiam, et deducet te mirabiliter dextera tua.
℣. Audi filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam: quia concupivit Rex speciem tuam.
Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. Solemnitas gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ ex semine Abrahæ, ortæ de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David. Alleluia.
Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall lead thee marvellously.
℣. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, for the king hath greatly desired thy beauty.
Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. It is a festival of the glorious Virgin Mary of the seed of Abraham; sprung from the tribe of Juda, from David’s renowned lineage. Alleluia.
The Gospel is the same as on the feast of the most holy name of Mary (page 176). ‘At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God, into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women? Blessed art thou among women, repeated Elizabeth a few days later, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. These two salutations, with the name of Mary added to the angel’s greeting and the name of Jesus to Elizabeth’s, constituted the Ave Maria in the time of St. Dominic, the promulgator of the rosary. The prayer, 'Holy Mary Mother of God’ which now so beautifully completes the formula of praise, received the sanction of the Church in the sixteenth century. No better Gospel could, then, have been chosen for to-day, for it gives the original text of the rosary, and describes the first of its mysteries.
All grace, all light, all life, are to be found in our Lady; by her holy rosary she, as we sing in the Offertory, has multiplied flowers and fruits in the garden of the Church. Every offering acceptable to God, comes from Mary, with and by Jesus.
Offertory
In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis; in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis: ego quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum fructificavi.
In me is all grace of the way and of truth: in me is all hope of life and of virtue: I have flowered forth like a rose planted by the brooks of water,
As the Secret tells us, the rosary, piously meditated, prepares us for the Sacrifice of the altar, that supereminent and august memorial of the mysteries which it imprints in the heart and mind of the Christian.
Secret
Fac nos, quæsumus Domine, his muneribus offerendis convenienter aptari: et per sanctissimi rosarii mysteria sic vitam, passionem, et glori am Unigeniti tui recolere, ut ejus digni promissionibus efficiamur. Qui tecum.
Do thou, we beseech thee, O Lord, render us fit suitably to offer up these gifts: and by means of the mysteries of the most holy rosary, so to call back to mind the life, the Passion, and the glory of thine only-begotten Son, as to be made worthy of his promises: Who with thee liveth and reigneth &c.
Then a commemoration of the Sunday.
The Preface as on September 8, substituting ‘in solemnitate, on the solemnity,’ for ‘in Nativitate, on the Nativity,’ of the blessed Virgin Mary.
After the sacred banquet, our soul must not remain barren. The fragrance of virtue’s flowers must embalm all that surrounds us, and prove to the Spouse that His visit has not been made in vain.
Communion
Florete flores quasi lilium, et date odorem, et frondete in gratiam, collaudate canticum, et benedicite Dominum in operibus suis.
Flower ye forth like the lily, and yield ye a sweet smell, and bring forth leaves in grace: sound forth a canticle of praise, and bless ye the Lord in his works.
In the Postcommunion, the Church prays that our Lady may, by her intercession, second the effects of this Sacrifice, and-of the mysteries in which she played so great a part.
Postcommunion
Sanctissimæ Genitricis tuæ, cujus rosarium celebramus, quæsumus Domine, precibus adjuvemur: ut et mysteriorum, quæ colimus, virtus percipiatur, et sacramentorum, quæ sumpsimus, obtineatur effectus. Qui vivis.
We beseech thee, O Lord, to help us through the prayers of thy most holy Mother, the feast of whose rosary we are celebrating: that we may both experience the virtue of the mysteries on which we meditate, and also obtain the effect of the Sacrament which we have received. Who livest and reignest &c.
Then is added the Postcommunion of the Sunday, and the Gospel of the same is read at the end of the Mass.
VESPERS
A few days ago, the Church borrowed from the Servites of Mary her Office of the Seven Dolours; to-day she seeks her responsories, hymns, and antiphons from the noble family which claims the rosary as its birthright. The Christian world owes a new debt of gratitude to the sons of St. Dominic for enriching it with these beautiful liturgical formulæ. But as the Use of the Friars Preachers gives but one antiphon for the psalms in the Vespers of the saints, the following antiphons have been added for the Roman rite. The hymn, which so gracefully and yet concisely resumes the triple series of the mysteries, is the fourth of the entire Office: the first celebrates, at first Vespers, the joyful mysteries; the second, at Matins, the sorrowful; the third, at Lauds, the glorious. 'From these mysteries let us gather roses, and weave garlands for the Mother of fair love.’
1. Ant. Quæ est ista, speciosa sicut columba, quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum?
1. Ant. Who is this, beautiful as a dove, like a rose planted by the brooks of water?
Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 38.
2. Ant. Virgo potens, sicut turris David; mille clypei pendent ex ea, omnis armatura fortium.
2. Ant. It is the mighty Virgin, like the tower of David; a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.
Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.
3. Ant. Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus.
3. Ant. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.
Ps.Lætatus sum, page 152.
4. Ant. Benedixit te Dominus in virtute tua, quia per te ad nihilum redegit inimicos nostros.
4. Ant. The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought.
Ps. Nisi Dominus, page 153.
5. Ant. Viderunt eam filiæ Sion vernantem in floribus rosarum, et beatissimam prædicaverunt.
5. Ant. The daughters of Sion saw her adorned with the flowers of roses, and declared her most blessed.
Ps. Lauda Jerusalem, page 154.
Capitultum Eccli. xxiv. xxxix.
In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis, in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis: ego quasi rosa piantata super rivos aquarum fructificavi.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue; I have flowered forth like a rose planted by the brooks of water.
Hymn
Te gestientem gaudiis, Te sauciam doloribus, Te jugi amictam gloria, O Virgo Mater pangimus.
Ave redundans gaudio Dum concipis, dum visitas, Et edis, offers, invenis, Mater beata, Filium.
Ave dolens, et intimo In corde agonem, verbera, Spinas, crucemque Filii Perpessa, princeps martyrum.
Ave, in triumphis Filii, In ignibus Paracliti, In regni honore et lumine, Regina fulgens gloria.
Venite gentes, carpite Ex his rosas mysteriis, Et pulchri amoris inclytæ Matri coronas nectite.
Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu, In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
Thee exulting with joy, thee wounded with the sword of sorrow, thee girt with everlasting glory, we sing, O Virgin Mother.
Hail, overflowing with gladness, when thou conceivest; when thou visitest thy cousin; when thou bringest forth thy Son, offerest him to God, findest him in the temple, O happy Mother!
Hail, in thy bitter sorrow, when thou didst suffer in thy inmost heart the agony, the scourging, the thorns, and the cross of thy Son, O first of martyrs!
Hail, O Queen refulgent with glory in the triumphs of thy Son, in the fires of the Paraclete, in the honour and splendour of thy queenliness.
Come, O ye nations, gather roses from these mysteries, and wreathe therewith garlands for the Mother of fair love.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus born of the Virgin; together with the Father and the holy Spirit, through everlasting ages.
Amen.
℣. Regina sacratissimi rosarii, ora pro nobis. ℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
℣. Queen of the most holy rosary, pray for us, ℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Antiphon Of The Magnificat
Beata Mater et intacta Virgo, gloriosa Regina mundi, sentiant omnes tuum juvamen quicumque celebrant tuam sanctissimi rosarii solemnitatem.
Blessed Mother and unspotted Virgin, glorious Queen of the world, may all experience thine aid, who celebrate thy solemnity of the most holy rosary.
The Prayer as on page 299.
Then is made a commemoration of the Sunday.
[1] Leon, xiii, Epist eneyel. Magnæ Dei Matris, de Rosario Mariali. Sept. 8, 1892. [2] Litteræ Salutaris Dec. 24, 1883. [3] Decret. Sept. 11, 1887, Aug. 5, 1888.
And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.[1]
The sixth seal of the Book of destinies had just been opened before the eyes of the prophet of Patmos. It was a time of anguish, the hour for the wicked to cry to the mountains: ‘Fall upon us!' The sun was darkened: an image of the Sun of justice eclipsed by the night of iniquity; the moon, the figure of the Church, appeared red as blood, through the evils that defiled the sanctuary; the stars fell from heaven, as the fig-tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind. Who would appease the Lamb, and retard the day of wrath? At the invitation of the saints and of the apostolic See, let us recognize the angel who won for the world a delay of the judgment; the angel with the impress of God upon a mortal body; the seraph with his sacred stigmata, the sight of which once more disarmed the justice of God. Dante thus sings of the elect of God, under whose leadership took place on earth as it were a repetition of the first and only Redemption:
Between Tupino, and the wave that falls From blest Ubaldo’s chosen hill, there hangs Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold Are wafted thro’ Perugia’s eastern gate: And Nocera with Gualdo, in its rear, Mourn for their heavy yoke. Upon that side, Where it doth break its steepness most, arose A sun upon the world, as duly this From Ganges doth: therefore let none who speak Of that place say Ascesi; for its name Were lamely so delivered; but the east, To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled. He was not yet much distant from his rising, When his good influence ’gan to bless the earth. A dame to whom none openeth pleasure’s gate More than to death, was, ’gainst his father’s will, His stripling choice: and he did make her his, Before the spiritual court, by nuptial bonds, And in his father’s sight: from day to day Then loved her more devoutly. She bereaved Of her first husband, slighted and obscure, Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd Without a single suitor, till he came.
The lovers’ titles—Poverty and Francis. Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love, And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts, So much that venerable Bernard[2] first Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace So heavenly, ran, yet deemed his footing slow. O hidden riches! O prolific good! Egidius bares him next, and next Sylvester, And follow, both, the Bridegroom: so the bride Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way The father and the master, with his spouse, And with that family, whom now the cord Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son Of Pietro Bernadone, and by men In wondrous sort despised. But royally His hard intention he to Innocent[3] Set forth; and from him first received the seal Of his religion.
And when He had, thro’ thirst of martyrdom, stood up In the proud Soldan’s presence, and there preached Christ and his followers, but found the race Unripen’d for conversion; back once more He hasted, (not to intermit his toil,) And reap’d Ausonian lands. On the hard rock, ’Twixt Arno and the Tiber, he from Christ Took the last signet, which his limbs two years Did carry. Then, the season come that he, Who to such good had destin’d him, was pleased To advance him to the meed, which he had earned By his self-humbling; to his brotherhood, As their just heritage, he gave in charge His dearest lady: and enjoined their love And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will’d His goodly spirit should move forth, returning To its appointed kingdom; nor would have His body laid upon another bier.[4]
Francis took his flight, for his work was done; innumerable souls were now treading the paths of penance; the cross of Christ was set before the eyes of the whole world as the treasure of the Church, now that she was beginning her ascent of Calvary. How admirably had the sanctifying Spirit conducted this work!
At the age of four-and-twenty, Francis, who was destined not to see his forty-sixth year, was the head of a party of gay youths, who filled Assisi day and night with their songs. Full of the poetry of France (from which country he borrowed his name), be dreamed of nothing but worldly renown and knightly prowess. One night he beheld in a prophetic dream a large assortment of arms and weapons. ‘For whom are all these?' he inquired; and on hearing the answer: ‘For thee and thy soldiers,' he hastened to join Gauthier de Brienne, who was at war with the Germans in the south of Italy. But God arrested him: in a series of manifestations, to which the young man corresponded with all the generous ardour of his pure heart, our Lord revealed to him the object of his life's labour, the standard he was to carry through the world, and the lady in whose service he was to win his spurs.
The Church, ever under attack, vet hitherto ever victorious, seemed about to succumb, so undermined were her walls by heresy, so broken by the batteringram of the secular power; while, within the citadel, the ancient faith was sinking under prolonged soandals, leaving the field open to the enterprises of traitors, and multiplying defections in a society already beginning to feel the torpor of death. Nevertheless, it is written that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. ‘Francis, seest thou not that My house is falling to decay? Go, then, and repair it for Me.’[5]
There was need of a sudden surprise to disconcert the enemy; and of an energetic appeal, to rouse the sleepy garrison, and rally them around the too forgotten ensign of Christians, the oross of Christ. Francis was to be, in his very flesh, the standard of the Crucified. The sacred wounds already pierced his soul, and made his eyes two ceaseless fountains of tears: ‘I weep for the Passion of Jesus Christ my Master; nor shail I blush to go weeping all over the world.'
Avarice was the crying sin of the age; the hearts of men, too preoccupied with earthly affairs to have a desire of heaven, must be delivered from a slavery which crushed out all noble thoughts, all love, all devotedness. Holy poverty, the mother of that true liberty which disarms hell and laughs at tyrants, could alone achieve such a deliverance. Francis was taken with the beauty of poverty, in spite of the jeers and insults of the vulgar, and of his rejection by his own family; but his sublime folly was the salvation of his people, and he was blest by our heavenly Father, as a true brother of His eternal Son.
As by nature the consubstantial Word receives His unbeginning Being from Him who begets Him eternally; so within the holy Trinity, He has nothing appropriated to Himself but the title of Son, to the glory of the Father, in the holy Spirit who is their love. Such is God’s destitution of all things, whereof nothing created could give an idea, but which is reflected in the Incarnate Word’s sublime disappropriation in presence of that Father from whom He derived His all. Would it, then, be far wrong to consider the poverty chosen by St. Francis as no other than eternal Wisdom, offering herself, even under the old Law, to the human race, as bride,[6] and as sister?[7] Once espoused in Mary’s womb at the Incarnation, how great has been her fidelity! But whoever loves her, must become in Jesus like unto her.
‘Lord Jesus,’ said Francis, ‘show me the paths of Thy well-beloved poverty. ’Tis she that accompanied Thee from Thy Mother’s womb to the crib in the stable, and, on the waysides of the world, took care Thou shouldst not have where to lay Thy head. In the combat which concluded the war of our Redemption, poverty, adorned with all the privations which form her bridal attire, mounted with Thee upon the cross, which even Mary could not ascend. She followed Thee to Thy borrowed tomb; and, as Thou didst yield up Thy soul in her embrace, so in her arms Thou didst take it again in the glorious nakedness of the Resurrection; and together with her didst enter heaven, leaving to the earth all that was earthly. Oh! who would not love this queen of the world which she tramples under her feet, my lady and my love? Most poor Jesus, my sweet Master, have pity on me; without her I can taste no peace, and I die of desire.’[8]
God cannot turn a deaf ear to such entreaties. If He contends, it is in order to add fresh wounds of love, until, the ‘old man’ being destroyed, the new rises from the ruins, in all things conformed to the image of the heavenly Adam. Eighteen years later, after the prodigy on Mount Alvernia, Francis, impressed with the divine seal of Christ’s wounds, sang in heavenly language the sublime combat which had made up his life:
Love has cast me into a furnace, love has cast me into a furnace, I am cast into a furnace of love. My new Bridegroom, the loving Lamb, gave me the nuptial ring; then having cast me into prison, He cleft my heart, and my body fell to the ground. Those arrows, propelled by love, struck me and set me on fire. From peace He made war, and I am dying of sweetness. The darts rained so thick and fast, that I was all in an agony. Then I took a buckler, but the shafts were so swift that it shielded me no more; they mangled my whole body, so strong was the arm that shot them. He shot them so powerfully, that I despaired of parrying them; and to escape death, I cried with all my might: “Thou transgressest the laws of the camp.” But He only set up a new instrument of war, which overwhelmed me with fresh blows. So true was His aim, that He never missed. I was lying on the ground, unable to move my limbs. My whole body was broken, and I had no more sense than a man deceased; Deceased, not by a true death, but through excess of joy. Then regaining possession of my body, I felt so strong, that I could follow the guides who led me to the court of heaven. Returning to myself, I took up arms, and I made war upon Christ; I rode into His territory, and meeting Him, I engaged Him at once, and took my revenge on Him. Having had my revenge, I made a treaty with Him; for from the beginning Christ had loved me with a true love. And now my heart has become capable of the consolations of Christ.[9]
Around the standard-bearer of Christ were already gathered those whom he called his knights of the Round Table.[10]However captivating he may have been when his fellow-citizens proclaimed him the flower of their youth, and he presided at their feasts and games; Francis was much more attractive now in his life of self-renunciation. Scarcely ten years after his espousals with holy poverty, he had so well avenged her for having been so long despised, that she held full court in the midst of five thousand Friars Minor encamped under the walls of Assisi;[11] while Clare and her companions formed for her such a suite of honour as no empress could ever boast of. The enthusiasm soon became so general, that Francis, in order to satisfy it without depopulating the State and the Church, gave to the world his Third Order; into which, led by Louis IX of France and Elizabeth of Hungary, entered countless multitudes of every nation, and tribe, and tongue. Thanks to the three seraphic Orders, as well as to the triple militia founded at the same time by Dominic de Guzman, devotedness to the Roman Church, and the spirit of penance and prayer, everywhere triumphed for a time over the anticipated rationalism, the luxury, and all the other evils, which had been threatening the speedy ruin of the world.
The influence of the saints springs from their sanctity, as rays from the focus. No rich man ever possessed the earth to such a degree as this poor man, who, seeking God and depending absolutely upon His Providence, had regained the condition of Adam in Eden. Thus, as he passed along, the flocks would welcome him; the fishes would follow his boat in the water; the birds would gather round him, and joyfully obey him. And why P Francis drew all things to himself because all things drew him to God.
With him there was no such thing as analyzing love, and making distinctions among those things which come from God and lead to God. To raise himself up to God, to compassionate with Christ, to be of service to his neighbour, to be in harmony with the whole universe like Adam when innocent, was for the seraphic father, says St. Bonaventure, one and the same impulse of that true piety which ruled his whole being.[12] The divine fire within him found fuel in everything. No touch of the holy Spirit, whencesoever it came, did Francis let pass; so much he feared to frustrate the effect of a single grace. He did not despise the stream for not being the ocean; and it was with an ‘unheard-of tenderness of devotion’, says his son and historian Bonaventure, that Francis relished God’s goodness in creation, contemplated His supreme beauty in every created beauty, and heard the echo of heaven’s harmonies in the concert of beings sprung like man himself from the only source of existence.[13] Hence it was by the sweet name of brothers and sisters that he invited all creatures to praise with him that well-beloved Lord, whose every trace on earth was the dear object of his love and contemplation.
Neither the progress nor the consummation of his holiness altered, in this respect, what would now be called his method of prayer. On hearing that his death was approaching, and again a few minutes before he passed away,[14] he sang, and would have others sing to him, his favourite canticle: ‘Praised be God, my Lord, for all creatures, and especially for our brother the sun, which gives us light, and is an image of Thee, my God! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon; and for all the stars which He has created bright and beautiful in the heavens! Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind; and for the air, and the clouds, and the fine weather, and all the seasons; for our sister the water, which is very useful, humble, precious, and pure; for our brother the fire, which is bright and strong; for our mother the earth, which bears us, and produces the fruits and the flowers. Be Thou praised, O my God, for those who pardon and who suffer for love of Thee! Be Thou praised for our sister the death of the body, which no living man can escape; unhappy is he who dies in mortal sin; but happy is he whom death finds conformed to Thy holy will! Praise and bless my Lord, give Him thanks, and serve Him in great humility.’[15]
After having received the stigmata, Francis’s life was an unspeakable martyrdom; in spite of which, he continued to travel through towns and villages, riding, like Jesus of whom he was so touching an image, upon a poor little ass; and everywhere he preached the cross, working miracles and wonders of grace. Assisi cherishes the memory of the blessing bequeathed to it by its glorious son, when, gazing upon it for the last time from the beautiful plain that stretches at its feet, he exclaimed with tears: 'Be thou blessed of the Lord, O city faithful to God, for in thee and by thee shall many souls be saved!’[16]
The humble Portiuncula, the cradle of the Order, where Clare too had exchanged the vain ornaments of the world for the poverty of the cross: St. Mary of the angels, which awakens in the pilgrim a feeling of the nearness of heaven, and where the Great Pardon of August 2 proves the pleasure our Lord still takes in it: this was the appointed place of Francis’s death. He passed away on October 3, towards eight o’clock in the evening; and although darkness had already set in, a flight of larks descended, singing the rising in heaven of the new sun, which was mounting towards the Seraphim.[17]
Francis had chosen to be buried in the place of public execution, called the Colle d'Inferno, near the west wall of his native city. But within two years, Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints, and changed the name of the hill into Colle del Paradiso. James the German built over the bare rock, where lies the Poor Man of Assisi, a two-storied church, which the genius of Giotto has made to outshine in glory all the princely palaces on earth.
The Church’s narrative, though short, will complete these somewhat lengthy pages.
Franciscus, Assisii in Umbria natus, patris exemplum secutus, a prima ætate mercaturam fecit. Qui quodam die pauperem, pro Christi amore flagitantem pecuniam, cum præter consuetudinem repulisset, repente eo facto commotus, large ei misericordiam impertivit: et ex eo die Deo promisit se nemini unquam poscenti eleemosynam negaturum. Cum verum post in gravem morbum incidisset, ex eo aliquando confirmatus, cœpit ardentius colere officia caritatis. Qua in exercitatione tantum profecit, ut evangelioæ perfectionis cupidus, quidquid haberet pauperibus largiretur. Quod ferens iniquius pater, eum ad Assisinatem episcopum duxit, ut coram illo bonis cederet paternis: qui rejectis etiam vestibus, patri concessit omnia, illud subjungens, sibi in posterum majorem facultatem fore dicendi: Pater noster, qui es in cœlis.
Cum autem illud ex Evangelio audisset: Nolite possidere aurum, neque argentum, neque pecuniam in zonia vestris, non peram in via, neque duas tunicas, neque calceamenta: sibi eam regulam servanedam proposuit. Itaque detractis calceis, et una contentus tunica, cum duodecim socios adhibuisset, Ordinem Minorum instituit. Quare Romam venit, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo nono, ut sui Ordinis regula ab Apostolica Sede confirmaretur. Quem cum accedentern ad se Summus Pontifex Innocentius Tertius rejecisset; quod in somnis postea sibi ille, quem repulerat, collabentem Lateranensem basilicam suis humeris sustinere visus esset, conquisitum accersiri jussit: benigneque accipiens, omnem ejus institutorum rationem confirmavit. Franciscus igitur, dimissis in omnes orbis terræ partes fratribus ad prædicandum Christi Evangelium, ipse cupiens sibi aliquam dari martyrii occasionem, navigavit in Syriam: ubi a rege Soldano liberalissime tractatus, cum nihil proficeret, rediit in Italiam.
Multis igitur exstructis suæ familiæ domiciliis, se in solitudinem montis Alverni contulit: ubi quadraginta dierum, propter honorem sancti Michælis archangeli, jejunio inchoato, festo die Exaltationis sanctæ Crucisei Seraphim crucifixi effigiem inter alas continens apparuit: qui ejus et manibus, et pedibus, et lateri vestigia ciavorum impressit: quæ sanctus Bonaventura, cum Alexandri quarti summi pontificis prædicationi iuteresset, narrasse Pontificem a se visa esse, litteris commendavit. His insignibus summi in eum Christi amoris, maximam habebat omnium admirationem. Ac biennio post graviter ægrotans, deferri voluit in ecclesiam sanctæ Mariæ angelorum, ut ubi gratiæ spiritum a Deo acceperat, ibi spiritum vitæ redderet. Eo in loco fratres ad paupertatem ac patientiam, et sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ fidem servandam cohortatus, psalmum illud pronuntians, Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi; in eo versiculo, Me exspectant justi, donec retribuas mihi: efflavit animamquarto nonas Octobris. Quem miraculis darum Gregorius nonus Pontifex maximus in sanctorum numerum adscripsit.
Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria, and, after his father’s example, followed from his youth a mercantile career. One day, contrary to his custom, he repulsed a poor man who begged an alms of him for Christ’s sake; but, immediately repenting of what he had done, he bestowed a large bounty upon the beggar, and at the same time made a promise to God, never to refuse an alms to any one that asked him. After this he fell into a serious illness; and on his recovery, devoted himself more eagerly than ever to works of charity, making such rapid progress in this virtue, that, desirous of attaining evangelical perfection, he gave all he had to the poor. His father, angered at his proceedings, brought Francis before the bishop of Assisi, that, in his presence, he might formally renounce all claim to his patrimony. The saint gave up all to his father, even stripping off his garments, that he might, he said, for the future, have more right to say: Our Father who art in heaven.
After hearing one day this passage of the Gospel: Do not possess gold nor silver, nor money in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, he took it for his rule of life, laid aside his shoes and kept but one tunic. He gathered together twelve disciples and founded the Order of the Minors. In the year of our salvation 1209 he went to Rome, to obtain the confirmation of his rule and Order from the apostolic See. Pope Innocent HI at first refused to see him; but having in sleep beheld the man he had repulsed supporting with his shoulders the Lateran basilica which was threatening to fall, he had him sought out and brought to him; and receiving him kindly confirmed the whole system of his institute. Francis then sent his brethren into every part of the world to preach the Gospel. He himself, desirous of an opportunity of martyrdom, sailed into Syria; but the Soldan treated him most kindly; so that, unable to gain his end, he returned into Italy.
He built many convents of his Order; and then retired into solitude on Mount Alvernia; where he fasted forty days in honour of the Archangel St. Michael. On the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, he had a vision of a seraph bearing between his wings the figure of the Crucified, who impressed the sacred stigmata on his hands and feet and side. St. Bonaventure says he heard Pope Alexander IV, while preaching, relate how he had himself seen these wounds. These signs of Christ’s exceeding love for his servant excited universal wonder and admiration. Two years later, Francis grew very ill, and was carried, at his own request, into the church of St. Mary of the angels; that he might give up his mortal life to God, in the very place where he had commenced his life of grace. There, after exhorting the brethren to poverty and patience, and the preservation of the faith of the holy Roman Church, he said the psalm: I cried to the Lord with my voice. When he reached the verse: The just wait for me, until thou reward me, he breathed forth his soul, on the fourth of the Nones of October. He was renowned for miracles; and Pope Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints.
Mayst thou be blessed by every living soul, O thou whom our Saviour associated so closely with Himself in the work of Redemption. The world, created by God for Himself, subsists through the saints; for it is in them He finds His glory. At the time of thy birth the saints were few; the enemy of God and man was daily extending his darksome reign; and when society has entirely lost faith and charity, light and heat, the human race must perish. Thou didst come to bring warmth to the wintry world, till the thirteenth century became like a spring time, rich in beautiful flowers; but alas! no summer was to follow in its wake. By thee the cross was forced upon men’s notice; not indeed, as heretofore, to be exalted in a permanent triumph, but to rally the elect in the face of the enemy, who would too soon afterwards regain the advantage. The Church lays aside the robe of glory, which beseemed her in the days of our Lord’s undisputed royalty; together with thee, she treads barefoot the path of trials, which liken her to her divine Spouse suffering and dying for His Father’s honour. Do thou thyself, and by thy sons, ever hold aloft before her the sacred ensign.
It is by identifying ourselves with Christ on the cross, that we shall find Him again in the splendours of His glory; for man, and God in man, cannot be separated; and both, thou didst say, must be contemplated by every soul. Yet no otherwise than by effective compassion with our suffering Head can we find the way of divine union and the sweet fruits of love. If the soul suffers herself to be led by the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost, this Master of masters will conduct her by no other way, than that set forth by our Lord in the books of His humility, patience, and suffering.[18]
O Francis, cause the lessons of thy amiable and heroic simplicity to fructify in us. May thy children, to the great profit of the Church, increase in number and still more in sanctity; and never spare themselves in teaching both by word and example, knowing, however, that the latter is of greater avail than the former.[19] Raise them up again, with their former popularity, in that country of France which thou didst love on account of its generous aspirations, now stifled by the sordid vulgarity of money-makers. The whole religious state looks upon thee as one of its most illustrious fathers; come to its assistance in the trials of the present time. Friend of Dominic, and his companion under our Lady's mantle, keep up between your two families the fraternal love which delights the angels. May the Benedictine Order never lose the affection which causes it to rejoice always on this day; and by thy benefits to it, strengthen the bonds knit once for all by the gift of the Portiuncula![20]
[1] Apoc. vii. 2, 3. [2] Bernard of Quintaval, the saint’s first disciple. [3] Innocent III. [4] Dante, Paradiso, canto xi; Cary's translation. [5] Vita B. Fancisci; Thom. Celan. i. 3; Tres Soeii. i; Bonavent. ii. [6] Wisd. viii. 2. [7] Prov. vii. 4. [8] Franc. Opuse. t. i. Oratio B. Patris pro obtinen da paupertate. [9] lIn foco l'amor mi mise, Francisci, Opuse. t. iii. cant. ii. [10] Francisci, Opusc. t. iii. Collatio xvi. [11] Chapter of Mats, May 26, 1219. [12] Bonavent. Legenda S. Francisci, viii. [13] Bonavent. Legenda S. Francisci, viii, ix, x. [14] Wadding, ad ann. 1226. xxii, xxxvii. [15] Francisci, Opuse. t. iii. Canticum fratrum solis. [16] Wadding, ad ann. 1226. xxv. [17] Ibid. xxxix. [18] Francisci, Opuse. t. iii. Collatio xxiv. [19] Ibid. Coll. xvii. [20] A property of the Benedictines on Monte Soubazo, ceded by them to Francis, to be the cradle of the Order he was about to found.
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