THE palms of two martyred Popes are intertwined and grace this day of the Calendar. Soter suffered for Christ in the second, and Caius in the third century; a hundred years separate them; and yet we have the same energy of faith, the same jealous fidelity to keep intact the depositum left by Christ to his Church. What human society ever existed that produced heroes for century after century? The Society, however, which was founded by Christ—in other words, the Church—is based on that traditional devotedness which consists in laying down one's life for the faith. And if so, we may be sure that the spirit of martyrdom would show itself in them that were the Heads and Fathers of this Society. The first thirty successors of St Peter paid dearly for the honour of the Supreme Pontificate; they were martyrs. How grand the throne of our Risen Jesus, surrounded as it is by all these Kings clad in their triumphant scarlet robes!
Soter was the immediate successor of Anicetus, whose feast we kept on the 17th of this month. Time has effaced the details of his life. Eusebius, however, gives us a fragment of a letter written by St Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, wherein thanks are expressed to the Pontiff for the alms he sent to the faithful of that Church, during a famine. An Apostolic Letter was sent with these alms; and St Dionysius tells us that it was read in the assemblies of the faithful, together with the one addressed to the same Church, in the preceding century, by St Clement. The Roman Pontiffs have ever united charity to their fidelity in preserving pure the deposit of our faith. With regard to Caius, he suffered death in the terrible persecution under Diocletian: and little more than a mere mention of his name is given in the annals of Christian Rome. We cannot, therefore, be surprised at the brevity wherewith the Liturgy speaks of these two martyred Popes. We subjoin the Lessons given in the Breviary.
Soter, Fundis in Campania natus, sancivit ne sacræ virgines vasa sacra et pallas attingerent, neve thuris ministerio in Ecclesia uterentur. Idem statuit ut Christi corpus in Cœna Domini sumeretur ab omnibus, iis exceptis, qui propter grave peccatum id facere prohiberentur. Sedit in Pontificatu annos tres, menses undecim, dies decem et octo: martyrio coronatur sub Marco Aurelio imperatore, et in coemeterio, quod postea Callisti dictum est, sepelitur, more majorum, mense decembri, creatis presbyteris decem et octo, diaconis novem, episcopis per diversa loca undecim.
Caius Dalmata, et genere Diocletiani imperatoris, constituit ut his Ordinum et honorum gradibus in Ecclesia ad episcopatum ascenderetur: ostiarii, lectoris, exorcistæ, acolythi, subdiaconi, diaconi, presbyteri. Hic Diocletiani crudelitatem in Christianos fugiens, aliquandiu in spelunca delituit: verum octo post annis una cum Gabino fratre martyrii coronam consecutus est, cum sedisset annos duodecim, menses quatuor, dies quinque, creatis mense decembri presbyteris viginti quinque, diaconis octo, episcopis quinque. of Sepultus est in cœmeterio Callisti, decimo Ka lend as maii. Ejus memoriam Urbanus Octavus in Urbe renovavit, dirutam ecclesiam restituit, Titulo, Statione et ipsius reliquiis decoravit.
Soter was born at Fondi, in Campania. He passed a decree, forbidding virgins consecrated to God to touch the sacred vessels and palls, or to exercise the office of thurifer in the Church. He also decreed, that on Maundy Thursday the Body of Christ should be received by all, excepting those who were forbidden to do so by reason of some grievous sin. His pontificate lasted three years, eleven months, and eighteen days. He was crowned with martyrdom under the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and was buried in the cemetery which was afterwards called the Cemetery of Callixtus. In the month of December, according to the custom observed by his predecessors, he ordained eighteen priests, nine deacons, and eleven bishops for divers places.
Caius was a native of Dalmatia, and a relation of the Emperor Diocletian. He decreed that the following ecclesiastical Orders or honours should precede the ordination of a bishop: doorkeeper, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, priest. He concealed himself for some time in a cave, in order to escape the cruelty exercised against the Christians by Diocletian: but after eight years, he, together with his brother Gabinus, received the crown of martyrdom. He governed the Church twelveyears, four months and five days, He ordained in the month December twenty-five priests, eight deacons, and five bishops, He was buried in the Cemetery of Callixtus, on the 10th of the Kalends of May (April 22). Urban the Eighth revived his memory in Rome, restored his Church, which was in ruins, and honoured it with a Title, a Station, and the relics of the Saint himself.
O holy Pontiffs! you are of the number of those who went through the great tribulation,[1] and passed, through fire and water,[2]to the eternal shores of heaven. The thought of Jesus’ victory over death gave you courage: you remembered how his Passion was followed by a glorious Resurrection. By imitating him in laying down your lives for your sheep, you have taught us how we also should think no sacrifice too great to be made for our faith. Obtain for us this heroic courage. Baptism has numbered us among the soldiers of Christ; confirmation has given us the spirit of fortitude; we must then be ready for battle. It may be that, even in our own times, a persecution may rage against the Church; at all events, we have to fight against ourselves, the spirit of the world, and Satan; support us by your prayers. You were once the Fathers of the Christian people; you are still animated with the pastoral charity which then filled your hearts. Protect us, and make us loyal to the God, whose cause was so dear to you when here on earth.
℣. In resurrectione tua, Christe, alleluia. ℟. Cœli et terra lætentur, alleluia.
℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia. ℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia.
THERE is nothing on earth so grand, nothing so exalted, as the princes of the Church—the pastors, appointed by the Son of God—who are to follow on, in unbroken succession, to the end of time: but let us not suppose that the subjects of this vast empire, called the Church, are devoid of dignity and greatness. The Christian people, in which both prince and beggar are equally subjects, is superior to every other, in intellectual and moral worth. It carries civilization with it, wheresoever it goes, for it carries with it the true notion of God and of the supernatural end of man. Barbarism recedes; pagan institutions, how ancient soever they may be, are forced to give way. Even Greece and Rome laid down their own laws to adopt those of the Christian code—the code which was based on the Gospel. So, too, in our own times, the mere sight of a Christian army, though composed of but a few thousand men, struck terror into the heart of an immense empire of the East: its ruler who counts four hundred million subjects, and calls himself the ‘Son of the Celestial Empire, was so overcome by fear that without offering the slightest resistance he fled from his palaces and capital. Yes, this is the superiority given by baptism to Christian nations; for it would be absurd to attribute this superiority to our civilization, seeing that civilization itself is but a consequence of baptism.
But if the outward bearing of the Christian people be such as to exercise an influence on even infidels, what must not be that dignity which faith teaches us is its inheritance? The Apostle St Peter—the universal shepherd, into whose hands the divine Shepherd placed the keys—thus describes the flock entrusted to his care: You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people; that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of' darkness into his marvellous light.[1]So, indeed, it is; divine truth is entrusted to this people, and its light can never be extinguished among them. When the teaching authority has, with its infallibility, to proclaim a solemn definition in doctrinal matters, it first appeals to the faith of the Christian people; and the sentence declares that to be the truth which has been believed ‘everywhere, always, and by all.’[2] Amidst the Christian people there exists that strangest phenomenon under heaven, union of mind; whereby there is one common faith amidst nations the most opposite to each other in every other respect. Let them be as hostile to one another as you please; in matters of faith, in submission to their pastors, they are all one and the same great family. The most admirable, at times the most heroic virtues are to be found amidst this people, for Jesus has given it a large share of that element of holiness wherewith his grace has enriched human nature.
Observe, too, how affectionately it is protected and honoured by its pastors! Every pastor, no matter what may be his rank in the Church, is bound, in virtue of his office, to lay down his life for his sheep, if called upon to do it. The sacrifice is not even counted as an act of heroism; it is a strict duty. Shame and curse upon the pastor who flees through cowardice! The Redeemer stigmatizes such a one with the name of hireling. Hence it is, that during these last eighteen hundred years, there have been so many thousands of pastors who have given their lives for their flocks. One or other of their names are to be found in every page of the Church’s history. The list is headed by St Peter, who was crucified like his divine Master; it continues down to the Bishops of Cochin-China, Tonkin, and Corea, whose recent martyrdoms attest that the pastor has not ceased to consider himself as a victim for his flock. Thus, before confiding his lambs and sheep to Peter, Jesus asks him if he have greater love than the rest. If Peter love his Master, he will love his Master’s lambs and sheep; he will love them even to laying down his life for them. For this reason, after entrusting him with the care of the whole flock, our Saviour tells Peter that he is to die a martyr. Happy is that people whose rulers only exercise their authority on condition of being ready to die for these their Master’s sheep!
If one of these should evince in his life the marks which denote sanctity, and this so far as to deserve to be proposed to the faithful as a model and intercessor, you will not only see the priest whose word calls down the Son of God upon the altar, not only the bishop whose sacred hands wield the pastoral staff, but the very Vicar of Christ, humbly kneeling before the tomb or statue of the Servant of God, how poor or despised soever he or she may have been on this earth. This sacred hierarchy testifies the same sentiments of respect for the sheep of Christ on every occasion. Thus in a baptized babe, that knows not how to utter a single word, that is not counted among the citizens of the state, that, like a tender flower, may perhaps have faded before the close of day, yet does the pastor recognize in it a worthy member of the Body of Christ, the Church; he reverences it as a being that is enriched with gifts so sublime as to be an object of heaven’s love, and a source of blessing to all around it. When the Faithful are assembled in the house of God, and the sacred oblations and altar have been thurified, the Celebrant, as the representative of Christ, and any others of the clergy who may be in the sanctuary, are also honoured with the same mysterious tribute of homage: but the incense is to go beyond the sanctuary. The thurifer advances towards the people, and in the name of the Church, gives them the same honour as that just given to the pontiff and the clergy; for the faithful people are also members of Christ. Again: when the corpse of a Christian, even though he may have been the poorest of the poor, is carried into the house of God, observe what honour is paid to his mortal remains! On this occasion, also, the incense is made to express the affectionate homage wherewith the Church honours the Christian character of her children. O Christian people! how truly we may say of thee what Moses said of Israel: There is no other nation so great as thou![3]
It is our Risen Jesus that has procured us all this honour: let us express our love and gratitude in this canticle of the ancient Missal of Saint Gall.
Sequence
Laudum quis carmine Unquam præevalet, regum summe, Typica majestatis tuae Promere? Qui Parenti supremo Deitate coaequalis, Omnia potestate pari disponis;
Nam ante hujus mundi exordia, In Patre callebas Sophia; Per quam facta sunt omnia, Quæque profert Triplex machina. Qui cernens immersos esse barathro, Tua quos adornat imago, Propter nos factus es homo, Ut nos solveres Sanguine tuo.
Hæc pridem signavit sub typo Isaac parentis nostri immolatio, Mactabatur aries Pro quo Domino.
Te, Christe, passurum Pro mundo Joseph prænotavit Venditus in Ægypto, Nunc daturus typicos victus populo.
Nam fueras præfiguratus Infernum fracturus, Cum Samson vir invictus Leonem suffocavit, Et portas hostiles Disrupit.
Tu, Domine, es suave rubens Illius flos virgæ, Quam fudit radix Jesse Generosa germine, Quod sunt præconati Prophetae.
Hæc nostris præstantur Patribus, O Redemptor, ceu sub umbra primitus, Quæ nos verius Te monstrante cernimus. Tu cuncta procul fugas nubila, Terrae reddens tui vultus Lumina. Quæ morte tua Fuscabatur tremula.
Ecce nunc perspicuus Cuncta ornantur Elementa sereno, Quia redisti victor Barathro. Hinc et nos, o socii, Mente Dominum Sincera et humili Simul laudemus Carmine tali:
Sit Patri laus summo, qui levans Criminum nos cœno, Haud pepercit proprio Propter nosmet Filio.
Laus quoque sit Nato, Pro nobis qui factus est homo, Ut solvens nos tartaro Redderet paradiso.
Gloria compar sit Pneumati Ævo omni.
Amen.
Who, O King of kings! can worthily celebrate the mysteries wrought by thy majesty? God co-equal with the Father, Eternal, thou rulest all things with the selfsame power as his.
This world had not yet begun, when thou wast, in the bosom of the Father, the Wisdom whereby all things were made, yea all that compose this triple world. Seeing that they who were adorned with thy image had fallen into an abyss of misery, thou wast made man for our sakes, that by thy Blood thou mightest rescue us.
In figure of this was the sacrifice of our father Isaac; in whose stead a ram was immolated unto the Lord.
Thy suffering for the world’s redemption was prefigured by Joseph sold into Egypt, where he fed the people with mysterytelling food.
Thy crushing hell was foreshadowed by the invincible Samson slaying a lion and breaking his enemies’ gates.
Thou, O Lord, art the sweet ruddy Flower of the Branch that nobly grew from Jesse's root, as sang the Prophets of old.
All these things, O Redeemer! were shown, in a shadow, to our Fathers; thou hast shown them to us in their truth. Thou dispellest all clouds, and makest the light of thy countenance to shine once more on the earth, that had been thrown into darkness and fear by thy death.
Lo! now all creation beams in beauteous light, because thou hast returned in victory from the tomb. Let us, then, brethren, with upright and humble hearts, unite in praising thus our God:
Praise be to the Father Almighty, who, to raise us from the mire of our sins, spared not his own Son, for our sake.
Praise, too, to the Son, who to ransom us from hell, and restore us to heaven, was made Man for our sake.
Glory co-equal be to the Holy Spirit, for ever.
Amen.
[1] 1 St Pet. ii 9. [2] St Vincent of Lerins: Commonitorium. [3] Deut. iv 7.
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