Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem.
Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations, who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him.
Man has been cast forth from Eden, and has gone into the dreary land of his exile. He has nothing left him of the tree of life, but the recollection that it was once his. It remains in the happy land where it was first planted; how could it go after the sinner man, now that he is banished into the vale of tears? No! it remains in paradise; far from the abode of suffering, and out of mortals' sight, it continues in all its loveliness, bearing testimony to the primitive intentions of God, which were peace, innocence, and love. The day will come when we shall see it again, for it is to be one of the charms of the new earth, into which our Lord will lead His chosen people on the day of the great Pasch, and of the restoration of all things.[1] Happy day! after which, as the apostle tells us, every creature longeth, bowed down as it now is, and made subject, by reason of a fault which was not its own, to the inconstancy of ceaseless change. Man, who, against the creature’s will, subjected it to the servitude of corruption, keeps up within it the hope that, the time of deliverance being come, it, too, will partake, in its own way, of the glorious liberty of the children of God.[2] The glory of the new paradise will be greater than that of the one of old; for, it is not under the veil of symbols, or in a passing way, that the deifying union is to be fulfilled, but divine Wisdom will give Himself, and for ever, and without veil, to man, in an eternal embrace.
And yet this union, whose permanent enjoyment is to make the eternal bliss of heaven, is to be contracted even now, and on this very earth of ours; for it is the economy of the divine plan, that, in all things, the future life should have its roots in the present one, and should be but the revelation, in the light of glory, of the ineffable realities formed here by grace. What, then, after the fall, will be the conditions of the alliance, from which eternal Wisdom has not been turned by the sin committed by His creature man?
Oh the depth of the riches of this Wisdom ef God![3] His love is strong as death,[4] and, even after man’s disloyalty, will be infinitely admirable in its delicate ways of gaining its object. There is to be nothing unbecoming in the alliance He is bent on! He will admit no compromise with the depravity which has befallen our now sinful race! His mercy is infinite; and, through that, He has pardoned the offence, the moment the offender expressed his sorrow; but the pardon is not one which was to mean no compensation, no expiation on man’s side; that would have ill-suited the dignity of such a Spouse as He. And since sinful man cannot offer an adequate expiation, He, Wisdom, undertakes to pay the culprit’s whole debt, and give him back the holiness he has forfeited; this done, He will take our human nature, and espouse her to Himself as His much-loved bride. ‘I will espouse thee unto Me, in justice and judgment,’ says this God to man, by His prophet Osee.[5]
And He adds: ‘I will espouse thee unto Me in faith.’[6] For, just as the entrance of divine Wisdom into this world, which He conies to save from pride by humility, is to be without exterior parade or glory, so, likewise, the divine union is to be accomplished in the mystery of the sacred Species of the nuptial banquet, and these Species will offer nought to view but the appearance of bread and wine, such as one could find on any table. But faith will see through that veil; and the unspeakable dignity conferred on the children of men by this heavenly food, will reflect its brightness on the whole creation.
The whole world of creatures, each in its own way, was in expectation of this marvellous manifestation, which was to be made upon the sons of God,[7] by the union to be contracted between Wisdom and man. The prophet thus speaks of this universal expectation: ‘And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens; and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and these shall hear Jezrahel.’[8] Jezrahel means the seed or race of God. God will give to man, through corn and wine, the substance to be offered in the mysteries; and, through oil, the priesthood, which is to transform them into the marriage-dowry, in the very action of the Sacrifice. It is to be by the Sacrifice, and by Blood, that this alliance of justice and love is to be contracted.
We read in Scripture that Moses was one day traversing the desert; he had on him a legal transgression; the angel of the Lord met him, and was about to slay him, when Sephora, the wife of this future leader of Israel, averted the divine vengeance by the rough and speedy circumcision of her son, Eliezer: then marking with his blood the feet of the guilty one, she said to him: ‘A spouse of blood art thou to me.’[9] Thus, and with far greater truth, could divine Wisdom say to the human race; for He is not to save, He is not to be united with man, except by the Blood of this Son of Man, who is one in person with that same Wisdom.
Nay, far from lessening, this very sight of man’s misery has increased the ardour of His love. Later on this Man-God will say: ‘I have a baptism, wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!’[10] It was the same from the very first: no sooner has expiation been shown as the royal way, whereby humanity is to be restored to Him, and again made worthy of Him, by the shedding of divine Blood—Wisdom has ever had that thought before Him. He is impatient for the great immolation of Calvary; and until its time comes, He will suggest to His people rites and sacrifices figurative of that one Sacrifice, and of the banquet of the adorable Victim, the marriage-feast.
His garden, the place of His delight, is no longer paradise; it is this parched earth of ours, where man has now, more than ever, need of being loved of God. Ye Cherubim, whom God has stationed to guard the tree of life,’tis well that sinful man be kept from approaching it. But the flaming sword ye hold in your hands, will not prevent divine Wisdom from leaving paradise, and joining our human race here in its banishment. He was not only the tree, but He is, likewise, the river of life. Speaking of Himself, He says, in the Book of Ecclesiasticus: ‘Like a brook out of a river of a mighty water, as though I were but a mere channel of a river, I came out of paradise. I said: “I will water My garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of My meadow.” And behold! My brook became a great river, and My river became like a sea; for I make doctrine to shine forth unto all, as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off, yea, even to the most distant ages. I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will visit all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.’[11]
This living light, which from early morning enlightens the whole earth with divine Wisdom, is the varied teaching of prophecies and figures, which were given by God through the course of ages, and, from the very moment of man’s creation, put the shadow of the Messias upon the whole universe. By means of this manifold teaching, Wisdom conveyeth Himself, through nations, into holy souls;[12] rouses man up, when discouragement makes him slumber;[13] cherishes his hopes, and bids him hope, by looking at the future. Those bloody sacrifices, which were prescribed immediately after man’s departure from Eden, as the ritual expression of his early worship of God, will be offered up by all after generations; and even when idolatry shall have led mankind into the abyss of every crime, those sacrifices will raise up their voice, and keep up the prophecy which they are intended to proclaim—the prophecy of a Victim, who will be one of infinite worth. The stream of primitive traditions will, as it flows through time and space, become impregnated with foreign elements, and transmit many a worthless or even dangerous material; still, it is through the rite of sacrifice, observed by the whole world, that the desire and expectation of Christ will be maintained among all nations.[14] Satan, that old serpent thief, may succeed in inducing men to build altars to himself, and on those altars offer him sacrifice, which is due to God alone; but he cannot stifle the voice of truth which accompanies every sacrifice, the voice which teaches that an innocent and pure victim may be substituted in place of guilty man, and work his expiation. This will arouse the notion of the promised Mediator in many a soul bewildered by the orgies of this satanic worship; and here, again, the very sight of the serpent was made to be the cure of them he had stung, and became the sign and ensign of the son of Jesse.[15] O root of Jesse! root of the Wisdom of the Most High! who is there that can understand the depth of Thy counsels, or penetrate the devices of Thy immense love?[16] Verily, Thou art more beautiful than any light of day; for that light yields when night comes on; whereas Thou, O Wisdom, art overcome by no evil, be it as black as sin![17]
All those ancient sacrifices were powerless to produce grace; their very multiplicity proved their inability to do so;[18] but what they could and did effect was the keeping alive in mankind the remembrance of the fall, and the expectation of a Redeemer; they were, likewise, the basis of those supernatural acts, which are requisite for man’s justification and salvation. But, besides their representing the redemptive element, which the fall of man has introduced into the plan of God, these bloody sacrifices express, also, the union of God with His creature, which was the primary and chief object of creation. That union was to be effected in the banquet prepared by Wisdom, the eucharistie banquet, wherein He, Wisdom, the Son of God, was to be received by man, and thus united with him. This sublime mystery was also expressed by those figurative sacrifices, wherein the people partook of the viotims offered: for, in the Eucharist, the Victim is the Man-God, offered to God, and eaten of by man; the Deity is appeased by the Blood of the divine Lamb, and mankind is restored, because nourished by His Flesh, which thus feeds him to a new and divine life. Such was the general law observed by all nations, when offering sacrifice: the portion intended for God was consumed by fire, and thus transmitted to heaven; but another portion of the same victim was taken and eaten by the people: and all this signified that there was communion between heaven and earth, and that the receivers were all made one, because they all partook of the same sacred food. How admirably are thus grouped together all the mysteries of God’s goodness towards His creature man! And what a prophecy this was! It was unceasing, for it was proclaimed each time a sacrifice was offered up, and there were thousands every day. It was thus that the divine Lamb, whom they foretold, was slain from the very beginning of the world;[19] His Blood, in all these early ages, was applied, through hope and faith, to the souls of men, and cleansed them from their sins; and the mysterious ritual, with its inspired code of prescriptions, was keeping man on the alert, and preparing him for the banquet of the nuptials of the Lamb.[20] Then, let Wisdom extol His own triumph! It is He who caused that in the heavens there should rise a light which never fails, and covers the whole earth as with a cloud; He alone has compassed the circuit of heaven, has penetrated into the bottom of the deep, has traversed the waves of the sea, and has stood in all the earth, and in every people, as the King of all, holding the chief rule, and vanquishing, strongly and sweetly, the hearts of all, both high and low.[21]
Meanwhile, the time of banishment is running on; the long period of expectation is more than half over. The nearer the realization of the promised alliance comes, the more ardent are the longings of chosen souls. As to our Jesus Himself, He seems to desire a preparation of a more telling kind than any of these others that have preceded. He will turn His attention to the very spot where He is to dwell on this earth. And where is that? His Father, the Creator of all things, whose every word is fulfilled by His Son, has a chosen people; and among these He would have His Son be nationalized, if we may reverently use such a word. He said to Him: ‘Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel!’[22] In obedience to this His Father’s will, He establishes Himself in Sion, He takes His rest in the holy city, and fixes His power in Jerusalem.[23] Jerusalem! It is the city of peace, and is to be the scene of such stupendous mysteries! It is here that Isaac, the child of promise, had come carrying on his shoulders the wood for his self-sacrifice; here his father was about to slay him, when a ram was mysteriously substituted; and the mount of the one true Sacrifice was thus selected. It is here, also, that there then lived a king-priest, who bore the likeness of the Son of God;[24] it was Melchisedech; and when Abraham, the father of believers, came to him, this Melchisedech offered what was to be the sacrifice of the alliance to come, a sacrifice of bread and wine; and thereby showed to Abraham, who saw into the future, the day of Christ, his Son.[25]
It is at the very period, when the world at large has fallen into idolatry, and offered to false gods the homage of its sacrifices, that divine Wisdom leads into this chosen dwelling-place the people of whom He is to be born as Man; it is the fulfilment of the command: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob! let thine inheritance be in Israel! In this one people Wisdom will maintain His Father’s claims, and keep alive and pure the light of the expectation of nations. He delivers it, at the cost of countless prodigies, from the Egyptian bondage.[26] The feast of the Paschal Lamb—slain the same day on which, at a future time, is to be celebrated the Supper of the Lord, and the immolation of the true Lamb—is the signal of deliverance, and of a triumphant march, through the waters of a sea, to the mount of the alliance: the chosen people becomes the bride of God,[27] the priestly kingdom, and the holy nation.[28] Figure, in all things, of God’s true people traversing the desert of this world, Israel drinks of the waters which come from the rock, and the Rock is Christ;[29] a bread rained down daily from heaven, strengthens him amidst the fatigues of journey and battle; and this bread of angels, as the Scripture terms it, took any taste the eater wished it to have.[30] God Himself dwells with Israel under his tents. He has had a tabernacle made for him, on the plan of one shown by God on the mount; and in front of this tabernacle there is an altar, on which a chosen family, consecrated by oil of unction, may alone offer, under the direction of a high-priest, the manifold legal sacrifices, each of which points to some excellency or other of the one great Sacrifice of the future. From this altar, on which burns a fire that is never quenched, there goes up to heaven without interruption the smoke of the flesh and blood of the victims slain. They are a supplication for the coming of that saving Host, which is to put an end to these hecatombs. There are also offerings of flour and wine, the necessary accompaniment of holocausts and peace-offerings; these prefigure the august Memorial which is to keep up and perfect the divine Sacrifice of the cross, by an unbloody application of it. There is, in these early days, a sacrifice which goes under the name of a memorial; it is an offering by itself, consisting of fine flour, and unleavened loaves and wafers.[31] Then, there are the proposition loaves; they are kept within the veil, as the most holy of the sacrifices, as being a perpetual memorial of sacrifice and covenant;[32] and what a mysterious, yet unmistakable, figure is all this of the future eucharistic Presence, kept up in the Church under the sacred Species, even when the celebration of the mysteries is over!
As there is but one altar in Jacob, which, by its oneness, points towards Him who, at a future time, is to be both victim and altar; so there is but one place, the tabernacle and its surroundings, and later on the temple and the holy city, where it is lawful to celebrate those sacred banquets of communion, which, according to universal custom, close the sacrifice in which they are offered. The last time that Moses had his people assembled around him, in the plains of the Jordan, he thus spoke to them: ‘Beware lest thou offer thy holocaust in every place that thou shalt see. In the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may be therein, thither shall ye bring your holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands. There shall ye feast before the Lord your God, ye and your sons and your daughters, your men-servants and maid-servants, and the levite that dwelleth in your cities; and thou shalt rejoice, and be refreshed, before the Lord thy God, in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.’[33]
The material prosperity promised to the Jewish people, as a reward of his faithfully observing the numerous figurative prescriptions of the law of Sinaï, was itself but a figure of the spiritual blessings which were to transform the soul, and prepare it for the coming of divine Wisdom in the flesh. But Israel is slow to raise himself above material things. He easily falls a prey to all the scandals he witnesses among the Gentiles. Severe punishments teach him that he is not safe, except in keeping the law given to him. He keeps the letter of the ritual precepts with scrupulous exactitude, but sees nothing of their chief meaning, which is the Redeemer to come, and the spiritual dispositions which those outward observances were intended to prompt. God is continually warning him by the prophets, and seeking to reclaim him to the spirit of His divine institutions. Thus, in the psalms, He remonstrates with him, but with such paternal affection that one can scarcely suspect a complaint, though there is a most bitter one: 'Hear, O My people! and I will speak: O Israel! and I will testify unto thee. I am God, thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; and thy burnt-offerings are always in My sight. I will not take calves out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks; for all the beasts of the wood are Mine, the cattle on the hills, and the oxen. I know all the fowls of the air, and with Me is the beauty of the field. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High! . . . The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me; and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God,' that is, my Christ, who is the Saviour signified by all these sacrifices![34] Later on, however, to this people, stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,[35] which has gone deeper and deeper into outward formalism, and knows no other virtue or perfection, God speaks in strong language, expressing His disgust for sacrifices, which they have robbed of the only worth they possessed in His eight, that is, their prophetic sense. ‘To what purpose do ye offer Me the multitude of your victims?’ says He by the prophet Isaias, ‘I am full; I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck-goats. When ye came to appear before Me, who required these things at your hands, that ye should walk, (defiling) My courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: your incense is an abomination unto Me!’[36] But these warnings are not heeded; pride increases in the carnal Jew, in proportion to his narrow heart and views. He dreams of a Messias who is to be an earthly conqueror. As to the true Messias, whose divine characteristics are foretold by the victims offered in sacrifice, this Jew will deny Him, for he finds Jesus too closely resembling these poor victims, by His sufferings and meekness.
Then comes the last of the prophets, Malachias. He turns to the Gentiles: they have been less favoured than Israel, but they have kept up the expectation of a Saviour, and, when He comes, they will lovingly receive Him. Malachias announces the final abrogation of a worship which had been so perverted, and the substitution of a divine memorial, which shall be the same in all places, and shall make all people one, by their ail partaking of the great Sacrifice to come: I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, to the priests of Israel; I will not receive a gift of your hand; for, from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, My name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered unto My name a clean oblation.[37]
The fullness of time has come; then, bless God, O ye Gentiles! Make the voice of His praise to be heard![38] Too long, life has been to you but the empty dream of night. You hungered after the fruit of life; you thirsted for living water. But, like the hungry man who dreams of a sumptuous repast, yet never satisfies the hunger which gnaws him; like the thirsty man who dreams that he drinks, yet, on waking, is tormented with the same burning thirst, and finds his soul still empty; so was the multitude of your erring people.[39] Yet, now, behold! The standard of Jesse appears on the mountain, and rallies you around it. Ye Gentiles, that once were strangers, feed now to your hearts content, in the deserts turned into fruitfulness![40] The water from the rock flows plentifully through your once parched lands. The glory of Libanus, the beauty of Carmel and Saron, adorn your hills, and refresh your lonely plains; your wilderness shall rejoice, and flourish like the lily.[41] Rain shall be given to your seed; and the bread of the corn of your land shall be delicious.[42] ’Tis just it should be so; for, shall the labourer plough all day long? Shall he be ever opening and harrowing his ground? No; the time comes when, having made smooth the surface of his field, he sows and scatters his seeds, and puts wheat in the rows he has marked. Such is the providence shown to the Gentiles by the Lord God of hosts; and thereby He evinces both the sureness of His divine counsels, and the magnificence of His justice.[43]
Eternal Wisdom had not given up the mysterious designs of His love. He kept close to the fallen human race, even when He severely chastised it. He owed it to Himself to put guilty man to the test, so to make him feel, before raising him up, how deep had been his fall. It was on this account that He permitted him to be overtaken by night, and fear, and anguish; He Himself sends him sufferings, in order that, having thus brought him to sound the frightful depth of his misery, He might trust Himself to the safe welcome and keeping of His creature’s humility. This done, He would raise him up by repentance, and strengthen him with hope, and, joyously meeting him, disclose to him again His divine charms, and enrich him with the treasures which are in the keeping of His love.[44]
This is Saturday; let us turn to Mary, who was made for us Gentiles the seat of Wisdom. In her chaste womb was wrought the mystery of mercy, which had been the expectation of all the long ages past. Her most pure blood provided the substance of that spotless Body wherewith the most beautiful of the sons of men contracted the indissoluble alliance of our nature with eternal Wisdom. Mary’s soul is enraptured at seeing the ineffable mystery of these divine nuptials effected in her chaste womb. She is that enclosed garden, where, more delightedly than in the early days of the universe, Wisdom enjoys light and love; the flowery couch of the Canticle,[45] perfumed, by the holy Spirit, with the sweetest fragrance; the glorious tabernacle, incomparably more holy than that of Moses. It is within her, under the immaculate veil of her flesh, that, by the unspeakable embrace of the two natures in the unity of God’s only-begotten Son, the Holy Ghost pours forth the unction, which makes Him Spouse, and, at the same time, Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.
Let man, then, be of good courage; the Bread of heaven, the Bread of the covenant, has at last come down upon our earth; and although nine months must pass before the great night comes, when He is to be made visible to us all in Bethlehem, yet, even now, the High Priest is at His work in this His holy temple. ‘Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldest not,’ He says to His eternal Father; ‘but a Body Thou hast fitted unto Me. Holocausts for sin did not please Thee. Then said I: “Behold I come;” in head of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Thy will, O God!’[46]
We will close, to-day, our selections from the Office of the Blessed Juliana, by the following hymn; it is assigned to Compline in the ancient books of the Church of St. Martin-au-Mont.
Hymn for Compline
Christus noster vere cibus, Christus noster vere potus, Caro Christi vere cibus, Sanguis Christi vere potus.
Vera caro quam sumimus, Quam assumpsit de Virgine: Verus sanguis quem bibimus, Quem effudit pro homine.
Vere tali convivio, Verbum caro comeditur; Per quod viget religio, Per quod coelum ingredimur.
Panis iste dulcedinis Totus plenus, et gratiæe, Alvo gestatus Virginis, Rex est aeternae gloriae.
Hujus panis angelici Saginemur pinguedine; Ut tam pii viatici Delectemur dulcedine.
O coeleste convivium! O redemptorum gloria! O requies humilium! Æterna confer gaudia.
Praesta Pater per Filium, Praesta per almum Spiritum; Quibus hoc das edulium, Prosperum serves exitum.
Amen.
Christ is truly our meat, Christ is truly our drink; the Flesh of Christ is truly our meat, the Blood of Christ is truly our drink.
The true Flesh which he took from the Virgin, is what we eat; the true Blood, which he shed for man, is what we drink.
In this banquet, the Word made Flesh is truly eaten; it is on him that our worship rests, and by him that we enter heaven.
This Bread, which is all full of sweetness and grace, is the King of eternal glory, that was carried in the Virgin’s womb.
Let us feed on the richness of Angels’ Bread; that we may find delight in the sweetness of a viaticum so full of mercy.
O thou heavenly banquet! O glory of the redeemed! O repose of the humble! grant us eternal joys.
Grant, O Father, through thy Son, grant, through the Spirit of love, that we, to whom thou givest such nourishment as this, may be brought by tbee to a prosperous end.
Amen.
We will continue our selections from the magnificent Preface given in the liturgy of the eighth book of the.Apostolic Constitutions.
Constitutio Jacobi
Neque hoc solum: verum etiam et posteris ejus, a te in multitudinem innumerabilem effusis, eos qui tibi adhæserunt glorificasti, eos vero qui a te defecerunt punivisti; admisso quidem Abelis sacrificio ut innocentis, fratricidi autem Caini munere ut detestandi fastidito.
Tu enim es opifex hominum, vitae largitor, indigentiae expletor; legum dator, easque servantium remunerator, transgredientium vindex. Qui diluvium mundo propter impie viventium multitudinem intulisti, et eo ex diluvio in arca eripuisti cum octo animabus justum Noam, finem quidem eorum qui praeterierant, originem vero successurorum. Qui horrendum ignem adversus Sodomitanam pentapolim concitasti, ac sanctum Lotum ex incendio eruisti. Tu es qui Abrahamum liberasti avita impietate, et mundi haeredem constituisti, ipsique Christum tuum apparere fecisti. Qui Melchisedecum pontificem divini cultus designasti. Qui Isaacum effecisti filium promissionis. Qui Jacobum ad Ægyptum introduxisti.
Tu, Domine, Hebræos ab Ægyptiis oppressos, ob promissa patribus eorum facta, non neglexisti. Cumque homines legem naturalem corrupissent, et creaturam modo fortuitam arbitrarentur, modo plusquam oportet honorarent; non sivisti errore duci; quin potius edito sancto famulo tuo Moyse, per eum legem scriptam in adjutorium naturalis tribuisti; et creaturas ostendisti opus tuum esse, errorem vero de multitudine deorum exterminasti.
Aaron et posteros ejus honore sacerdotali decorasti. Hebræos, cum peccarent, castigasti; cum reverterentur, suscepisti. Ægyptios decem plagis ultus es; mari diviso trajecisti Israelitas; insecutos Ægyptios delevisti submersione. Ligno amaram aquam dulcescere fecisti; ex petra dura aquam profudisti; e coelo mannam depluisti; praebuisti ex aere escam, ortygometram: constituisti nocte columnam ignis ad illustrationem, et die columnam nubis ad umbraculum in æstu. Per Jesum ducem a te declaratum septem gentes evertisti, Jordanem dirupisti, fluvios Ethan siccasti, muros prostravisti absque machinis.
Pro omnibus, tibi gloria, Domine omnipotens.
Te adorant innumerabiles copiæ angelorum, archangelorum, thronorum, dominationum, principatuum, potestatum, virtutum, et cherubini, item seraphini senis alis, binis quidem velantes pedes suos, binis vero capita, et duabus aliis volantes, ac dicentes una cum mille millibus archangelorum et denis millibus denum millium angelorum, indesinenter ac sine vocis intermissione clamantibus:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Sabaoth: pleni sunt cœli et terra gloria ejus: Benedictus in sæcula.
Amen.
And not this only; but, when thou hadst increased the posterity of man to an innumerable multitude, thou glorifiedst them that kept faithful to thee, but punishedst them that fell off; accepting the sacrifice of Abel, because he was innocent, rejecting the gifts of the fratricide Cain, because he was abominable.
For thou art the maker of mankind, the giver of life, the supplier of indigence; the giver of laws, and the rewarder of such as keep them, the avenger of them that transgress. ’Twas thou didst bring a deluge upon the world, because of the multitude of the ungodly; from which deluge thou by the ark deliveredst the just Noe, with eight souls, Noe who was the end of the foregoing generations, but the source of them that were to follow. ’Twas thou that kindledst a fearful fire against the five cities of Sodom, and snatchedst holy Lot from the burning. ’Twas thou deliveredst Abraham from the impiety of his forefathers, and madest him the heir of the world, and showedst him thy Christ. ’Twas thou appointedst Melchisedech to be high-priest of thy divine worship; thou that madest Isaac the son of the promise; thou that broughtest Jacob into Egypt.
Thou, Lord, didst not abandon the Hebrews, when they were oppressed by the Egyptians, on account of the promises made to their fathers. And when men had corrupted the natural law, and had, at one time, looked on creation as the effect of chance, and, at another, had honoured it more than it deserved, thou permittedst them not to be led astray by error, yea, thou raisedst up thy holy servant Moses, giving, through him, the written law, as an aid to the natural; thou showedst that creatures are thy work, and tookest away the error of plurality of gods.
’Twas thou didst adorn Aaron and his posterity with the priestly honour; that punishedst the Hebrews when they sinned, receiving them when they repented; that inflictedst the ten plagues on the Egyptians; that carriedst the Israelites across the divided sea; that drownedst the Egyptians, who pursued them. ’Twas thou madest the bitter water become sweet, by the wood; that broughtest water out of the hard rock; that rainedst manna from heaven: that grantedst quails to come from the air, as food; that appointedst a pillar of fire by night to give light, and a pillar of a cloud by day to overshadow them from heat. By Josue, proclaimed by thee as leader, thou didst overthrow the seven nations; thou dividedst the Jordan, driedst up the rivers of Ethan, and overturnedst the walls without instruments.
Glory be to thee, O almighty Lord, for all these things!
Thee do adore the innumerable hosts of angels, archangels, thrones, dominations, principalities, powers, virtues, and cherubim; the seraphim, also, with their six wings, with two covering their feet, with two their heads, and with two flying, and saying with thousand thousands of archangels, and ten thousand times ten thousand angels incessantly, and with uninterrupted voices, crying out:
Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of hosts: heaven and earth are full of his glory: be he blessed for ever!
Amen.
[1] Apoc. xxii. 2. [2] Rom. viii. 19-22. [3] Rom. xi. 33. [4] Cant. viii. 6. [5] Osee ii. 19. [6] Ibid. 20. [7] Rom. viii. 19. [8] Osee ii. 21-22. [9] Exod. iv. 24-26. [10] St. Luke xii. 50. [11] Ecclus. xxiv. 41-45. [12] Wisd. vii. 27. [13] Ps. cxviii. 28. [14] Gen. xlix. 10; Agg. ii. 8. [15] Num. xxi. 6-9; Is. xi. 10. [16] Ecclus. i. 6. [17] Wisd. vii. 29, 30. [18] Heb. x. 1-4. [19] Apoc. xiii. 8. [20] Apoc. xix. 7-9. [21] Ecclus. xxiv. 6-11. [22] Ecclus. xxiv. 12, 13. [23] Ibid. 15. [24] Heb. vii. 3. [25] St. John viii. 56. [26] Wisd. x. 15. [27] Exeh. xvi; Osee ii, etc. [28] Exod. xix. 6. [29] 1 Cor. x. 4, 11. [30] Wisd. xvi. 20-29. [31] Levit. ii. 2, 9. [32] Ibid, xxiv. 7-9. [33] Deut. xii. 7, 11-13. [34] Ps. xlix. 7-14, 23. [35] Acts vii. 51. [36] Is. i. 11-13. [37] Malach. i. 10, 11. [38] Ps. lxv. 8. [39] Is. xxix. 7, 8. [40] Ibid. v. 17. [41] Is. xxxv. 1, 2, 7. [42] Ibid. xxx. 23. [43] Ibid, xxviii. 24-29 [44] Ecclus. iv. 18-21. [45] Cant. i. 15. [46] Heb. x. 5-7.
THE helpful influence of the Holy Ghost is more and more multiplied along the Church's path. It seems as though he would show us to-day how the divine power of his action is not crippled by lapse of years: for here we have, twelve centuries after his first coming among us, miracles of grace and conversion quite as brilliant as those that marked his glorious descent upon earth.
Norbert, in whose veins flowed the blood of emperors and kings, was, from the very breast of his mother Hedwige, supernaturally invited to a nobility loftier still: yet did he devote to the unreserved enjoyment of pleasure three-and-thirty years of a life that was to number but fifty in all. The Holy Ghost at length hastened to the conquest. There burst a sudden storm, a thunderbolt falls right in front of the prodigal, throwing him to the ground and making a frightful chasm between him and the point whither, a moment ago, he was hastening in pursuit of new vanities, that needs must fail, as all others had done, to fill the hopeless void in his heart. Then, in the very depths of his soul resounds a voice, such as Saul once heard on his way to Damascus: ‘Norbert, whither goest thou?' Like another Paul he replies: ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' He is answered: ‘Depart from evil and do good; seek after peace and pursue it.' Twenty years later, Norbert is in heaven, seated amidst pontiffs, upon a glorious throne, and all radiant with that special brilliancy that distinguishes the founders of the great religious Orders, when they have reached the eternal home.
Deep are the traces left by him on earth of his few years of penitential life. Germany and France receive his preaching; Antwerp is delivered from a shameful heresy; Magdeburg is rescued, by her archbishop, from the irregularities that were sullying the house of God: such are his works; and though these alone would have sufficed to a long life of holiness, yet they are not the only claims, nor the most brilliant, which Norbert has to the Church's gratitude. Before being called, against his will, to the honours of the episcopate, this once gay courtier made choice of an uninhabitable solitude amidst the forests of the diocese of Laon where he devoted himself to prayer and to the maceration of his flesh. The renown of this holy penitent gained rapidly; and Prémontré soon beheld her swampy marshes invaded by a vast multitude, formed of the fairest names of the nobility, pressing thither to learn the science of salvation from the lips of the saintly anchorite. There, too, did our Lady show to him, in vision, the white habit wherewith his disciples were to be clothed; and St Augustine, in like manner, delivered to him his own rule. Thus was founded the most illustrious branch of the Order of Canons Regular. They add to the obligation of solemnizing the Divine Office the austerities of an uninterrupted penance; and devote themselves, moreover, to the service of souls, by preaching and the administration of parishes.
In the foregoing century, the episcopacy and papacy had been raised by the monks above the danger of feudal servitude; and Norbert was now raised up to give the needed completion to their work. Although, in principle, the monastic life excludes no sort of labour useful to the Church, the monks could not (however numerous they might be) quit their cloisters in order to undertake charge of souls. Yet great were the wants of the lambs of the flock at that time; for many unworthy pastors of secondary order, slaves to simony and immorality, still continued to lead astray the simple laity. The religious life was alone capable of raising the priesthood from such degradation, whether on the pinnacles of the hierarchy, or amongst the lowest degrees of sacred Orders. Norbert was the man chosen by God to effect, in part at least, this immense work; and the importance of his mission explains the sublime prodigality wherewith the Holy Ghost multiplied vocations to his standard. The number and rapidity of foundations permitted succour to be promptly and everywhere afforded. Even into the far east did the light of Prémontré reach, almost at its first dawn. In the eighteenth century, notwithstanding the devastations of the Turks and the ravages of the pretended Reformation, the Order, divided into twenty-eight provinces, still contained, in almost every one of its houses, as many as from fifty to one hundred and twenty canons, and the parishes that continued under their care might be counted by thousands.
Nuns, whose holy life and prayers are the ornament and aid of the Church militant, occupied from the very beginning the place deservedly their due in this numerous family. In the time of the founder, or soon after his death, there were more than a thousand of them at Prémontré alone. Such an incredible number gives us an idea of the prodigious propagation of the Order from its very origin. Norbert moreover extended his charity to persons who, like Thibault Count of Champagne, would gladly have followed him into the desert, but who were retained by God’s will in the world; he thus made a prelude to those pious associations, which we shall see St Francis and St Dominic organizing in the thirteenth century, under the name of Third Orders.
The liturgy thus condenses the life of this great servant of God:
Norbertus nobilissimis parentibus natus, adolescens liberalibus disciplinis eruditus, in ipsa postea imperatoris aula, spretis mundi illecebris, ecclesiasticæ militiæ adscribi voluit. Sacris initiatus, rejectis mollibus ac splendidis vestibus, pellicea melote indutus, prædicationi verbi Dei se totum dedit. Abdicatis ecclesiasticis proventibus satis amplis, et patrimonio in pauperes erogato, semel in die sub vesperam solo cibo quadragesimali utens, nudisque pedibus, et lacera veste sub brumali rigore incedens, miræausteritatis vitam est aggressus. Potens igitur opere et sermone, innumeros hæreticos ad fidem, peccatores ad pœnitentiam, dissidentes ad pacem et concordiam revocavit.
Cum Lauduni esset, ab episcopo rogatus ne a sua diœcesi discederet, desertum in ea locum, qui Præmonstratus dicebatur, sibi delegit: ibique tredecim sociis aggregatis, Præmonstratensem ordinem instituit, divinitus accepta per visum regula a sancto Augustino. Cum vero ejus fama sanctitatis in dies magis augeretur, ac plurimi ad eum quotidie discipuli convenirent, idem ordo ab Honorio Secundo aliisque Summis Pontificibus confirmatus, ac pluribus ab eo monasteriis ædificatis, mirifice propagatus est.
Antverpiam accersitus, in ea urbe Tanchelini nefariam hæresim profligavit. Prophetico spiritu et miraculis claruit. Archiepiscopus tandem, licet reluctans, Magdeburgensis creatus, ecclesiasticam disciplinam, præsertim cœlibatum, constanter propugnavit. Rhemis in concilio Innocentium Secundum egregie adjuvit, et Romam cum aliis episcopis profectus, schisma Petri Leonis compressit. Postremo vir Dei, meritis et Spiritu sancto plenus Magdeburgi obdormivit in Domino, anno salutis millesimo centesimo trigesimo quarto, die sexta Junii.
Norbert, born of parents of the highest rank, thoroughly educated in his youth in worldly knowledge, and then a member of the imperial court, turned his back upon the glory of the world, and chose rather to enlist himself as a soldier of the Church. Being ordained priest, he laid aside all soft and showy raiment, clad himself in a coat of skins, and made the preaching of the word of God the one object of his life. Having renounced the ecclesiastical revenues which he possessed and which were very considerable, he distributed likewise his patrimony among the poor. He ate only once a day, in the evening, and then his meal was of lenten fare. His life was of singular austerity, and he used, even in the depth of winter, to go out with bare feet and ragged garments. Hence came that mighty power of his words and deeds, whereby he was enabled to turn countless heretics to the faith, sinners to repentance, and enemies to peace and concord.
Being at Laon, and the bishop having besought him not to leave his diocese, he made choice of a wilderness, at a place called Prémontré, whither he withdrew himself with thirteen disciples, and thus he founded the Order of Premonstratensians, the Rule of which he received in a vision from St Augustine. When, however, the fame of his holy life became every day more and more noised abroad, and great numbers sought to become his disciples, and the Order had been approved by Honorius II and other Popes, many more monasteries were built by him, and the Institute wonderfully extended.
Being called to Antwerp, he there gave the deathblow to the shameful heresy of Tanchelin. He was remarkable for the spirit of prophecy and for the gift of miracles. He was created (albeit against his will) archbishop of Magdeburg, and as such was a strong upholder of the discipline of the Church, especially as regards celibacy. At a council held at Rheims, he was a great help to Innocent II, and went with other bishops to Rome, where he repressed the schism of Peter de Leon. At last the man of God, full of good works and of the Holy Ghost, fell asleep in the Lord, at Magdeburg, in the year of salvation eleven hundred and thirty-four, on the sixth day of June.
Thou didst indeed know how to redeem the time,[1] as was fitting in those evil days, wherein thou thyself, O Norbert, led away by the example of the senseless crowd, hadst for so long frustrated the designs of God's love. Those years, at first refused by thee to the true Master of the world, were at length returned unto him, multiplied a hundredfold, through those countless sons and daughters thou didst train up in sanctity. Even thy personal works, in but twenty years' space, filled the whole earth. Schism crushed; heresy confounded to the greater glory of the most holy Sacrament which it had already dared to attack; the rights of the Church intrepidly defended against worldly princes and unjust retentions; the priesthood restored to its primitive purity; the Christian life established on its true basis, of prayer and penance; such and so many victories achieved in so few years, are due to the generosity which prevented thee from looking back for one moment, once the Holy Ghost had touched thy heart. Do thou make all understand that it is never too late to begin to serve God. Were it even, as in thy case, the evening of life, what yet remains of time would suffice to make us saints, if we would but generously give that little fully to heaven.[2]
Faith and patience were thy cherished virtues; make them flourish once more in this sad world, which boasts of its disbelief, and with jibe and jeer hurries onward to the abyss of hell. Forget not, dear apostle, now that thou art in heaven, the countries thou didst formerly evangelize; we implore this of thee, in spite of their forgetfulness and deliberate return to the deceits of the devil.
Holy Pontiff, Magdeburg has lost her ancient faith, and with it the precious relics of thy body, which she no longer deserved to possess: Prague is now the favoured place of thy repose. But, whilst blessing this hospitable city, pray still for the ungrateful one that has cast aside her double treasure. O thou founder of Prémontré, smile once more on France, which derives from thee one of her fairest glories. Obtain of God that, for the salvation of these calamitous times, thine Order may recover something of its former splendour. Bless, few as they are, those sons and daughters of thine who, in spite of the hostility of the 'powers that be,' seek to shed once more their beneficent influence on France. May England benefit also by their return to her midst, and may their fruits be multiplied in every direction. Maintain thine own spirit among them; may they find in interior peace the secret of triumph over Satan and his crew; may the full magnificence of the divine worship solemnly carried out be ever to their souls as the dearly loved mount, whence, Moses-like, they may declare the will of the Lord to the new Israel, the Christian people.
[1] Eph. v 16. [2] 1 St Pet. iv 2.
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.
Also, this project is in a test phase as we edit and prepare the texts. As such, you can expect to find some typographical errors. If you do, please take a screen shot of the error and email it to us at typos@stlawrence.cc. Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com.