TheStation is in the church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, two celebrated martyrs of Rome under the persecution of Diocletian. Their names are inserted in the Canon of the Mass.
Collect
Da, quæsumus, Domine, nostris effectum jejuniis salutarem: ut castigatio camis assumpta, ad nostrarum vegetationem transeat animarum. Per Christum Dorainum nostrum. Amen.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, this saving effect of our fast, that the chastisement of the flesh, which we have undertaken, may become the improvement of our souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lectio libri Genesis.
Cap. xxvii.
In diebus illis: Dixit Rebecca filio suo Jacob: Audivi patrem tuum loquentem cum Esaü fratre tuo et dicentem ei: Affer mihi de venatione tua, et fac cibos ut comedam, et benedioam tibi coram Domino antequam moriar. Nunc ergo, fili mi, acquiesce consiliis meis: et pergens ad gregem, affer mihi duos hcedos optimos, ut faciam ex eis escas patri tuo, quibus libenter vescitur: quas cum intuleris, et comederit derit, benedicat tibi priusquam moriatur. Cui ille reepondit: Nosti quod Esaü frater meus homo pilosus sit, et ego lenis: si attrecta verit me pater meus, et senserit, timeo ne putet me sibi voluisse illudere, et inducam super me maledictionem pro benedictione. Ad quern mater: In me sit, inquit, ista maledictio, fill mi: tantum audi vocem meam, et pergens affer quæ dixi. Abiit, et attulit, deditque matri. Paravit illa cibos eicut velle noverat patrem illius. Et vestibus Esaü valde bonis, quas apud se habebat domi, induit eum: pelliculasque hædorum circumdedit manibus, et colli nuda protexit. Deditque pulmentum, et panes quos coxerat tradidit. Quibus illatis dixit: Pater mi! At ille respondit: Audio. Quis es tu, fili mi? Dixitque Jacob: Ego sum primogenitus tuus Esaü: feci sicut præcepisti mihi: surge, eede, et comede de venatione mea, ut benedicat mihi anima tua. Kursumque Isaac ad filium suum: Quomodo, inquit, tam cito invenire potuisti fili mi? Qui respondit: Voluntas Dei fuit, ut cito occurreret mihi quod volebam. Dixitque Isaac: Accede hue, ut tangam te, fili mi, et probem utrum tu sis filiue meus Esaü, an non. Accessit ille ad patrem, et palpato eo, dixit Isaac: Vox quidem, vox Jacob est: sed manus, manus sunt Esaü. Et non cognovit eum, quia pilosæ manus similitudinem majoris expresserant. Benedicens ergo illi, ait: Tu es filiua meufl Esaü? Respondit: Ego sum. At ille: Affer mihi, inquit, cibos de venatione tua, fill mi, ut benedicat tibi anima mea. Quos cum oblatos comedieset, obtulit ei etiam vinum. Quo hausto, dixit ad eum: Accede ad me, et da mihi osculum, fili mi. Accessit, et osculatus est eum. Statimque ut sensit vestimentorum illius fragrantiam, benedicens illi, ait: Ecco odor filii mei, sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus. Det tibi Deus de rore cœli, et de pinguedine terræ, abundantiam frumenti et vini. Et serviant tibi populi, et adorent te tribus: esto dominus fratrum tuorum, et incurventur ante te filii matris tuæ. Qui maledixerit tibi, sit ille maledictus: et qui benedixerit tibi, benedictionibus repleatur. Vix Isaac sermone m impleverat: et egresso Jacob foras, venit Esaü, coctoeque de venatione cibos intulit patri, dicens: Surge, pater mi, et comede de venatione filii tui, ut benedicat mihi anima tua. Dixitque illi Isaac: Quis enim es tu? Qui respondit: Ego sum filius tuus primogenitus Esaü. Expavit Isaac stupore vehementi, et ultra quam credi potest, admirans, ait: Quis igitur ille est, qui dudum captam venationem attulit mihi, et comedi ex omnibus priusquam tu venires? Benedixique ei, et erit benedictus. Auditie Esaü sermonibus patris, irrugiit clamore magno: et conetematus, ait: Benedio etiam et mihi, pater mi. Qui ait: Venit germanus tuus fraudulenter, et accepit benedictionem tuam. At ille subjunxit: Juste vocatum est nomen ejus Jacob: supplantavit enim me in altera vice: primogenita mea ante tulit, et nunc secundo surripuit benedictionem meam. Rursumque ad patrem: Numquid non reservasti, ait, et mihi benedictionem? Respondit Isaac: Dominum tuum ilium conetitui, et omnes fra tres ejus servituti illius subjugavi: frumento et vino stabilivi eum; et tibi post haec, fili mi, ultra quid faciam? Cui Esaü: Num unam, inquit, tan turn benedictionem habes, pater? Mihi quoque obsecro ut benedicas. Cumque ejulatu magno fleret, motus Isaac, dixit ad eum: In pinguedine terræ, et in rore caeli desuper erit benedictio tua.
Lesson from the Book of Genesis.
Ch. xxvii.
In those days: Rebecca said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, and saying to him: Bring me of thy hunting, and make me meats that I may eat, and bless thee in the sight of the Lord before I die. Now, therefore, my son, follow my counsel: and go thy way to the flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth; which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless thee before he die. And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth; if my father shall feel me, and perceive it, I fear lest he will think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing. And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son; only hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said. He went, and brought, and gave them to his mother. She dressed meats such as she knew his father liked. And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at home with her; and the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered the bare of his neck. And she gave him the savoury meat, and delivered him bread that she had baked. Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he answered: I hear; who art thou, my son? And Jacob said: I am Esau thy first-born; I have done as thou didst command me; arise, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? He answered: It was the will of God, that what I sought came quickly in my way. And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may ioel thee, my sun. and may prove whether thou be my son Esau or not. He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice, indeed, is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands made him like to the elder. Then blessing him, he said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: I am. Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. And when they were brought and he had eaten, he offered him wine also; which after he had drunk, he said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son. He came near, and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of com and wine. And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee; be thou lord of thy brethren, and let thy mother’s children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings. Isaac had scarce ended his words when Jacob being now gone out abroad, Esau came, and brought in to his father meats made of what he had taken in hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son’s venison; that thy seul may bless me. And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy firstborn son Esau. Isaac was struck with fear, and astonished exceedingly, and wondering beyond what can be believed, said: Who is he then that even now brought me venison that he had taken and I ate of all before thou earnest? and I have blessed him and he shall be blessed. Esau having heard his father’s words, roared out with a great cry, and being in a consternation, said: Bless me also, my father. And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully and got thy blessing. But he said again: Rightly is his name called Jacob, for he hath supplanted me, lo! this second time; my first birth-right he took away before, and now this second time he hath stolen away my blessing. And again he said to his father: Hast thou not reserved me also a blessing? Isaac answered: I have appointed him thy lord, and have made all his brethren his servants: I have established him with corn and wine, and after this, what shall I do more for thee, my son? And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee, bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry, Isaac being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth and in the dew of heaven from above, shall thy blessing be.
The two sons of Isaac are another illustration of God’s judgments upon Israel, and His vocation of the Gentiles. The instruction contained in this passage from Genesis was intended for the catechumens. Here we have two brothers, Esau the elder, and Jacob the younger; Esau represents the Jewish people; he is his father’s heir, and, as such, he has a glorious future before him. Jacob, though twin-brother to Esau, is the second-born, and has no right to the special blessing which Esau claimed; he is the figure of the Gentiles. How, then, is it that Jacob receives the blessing and not Esau? The sacred volume tells us that Esau is a carnal-minded man. Rather than deny himself the momentary gratification of his appetite, he sacrifices the spiritual advantages which his father’s blessing is to bring him; he sells his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage. We know the mother’s plan for securing Jacob’s claim; and how the aged father is, unsuspectingly, the instrument in God’s hands, ratifying and blessing this substitution, of which he himself has no knowledge. Esau, having returned home, is made aware of the greatness of his loss; but it is too late, and he becomes an enemy to his brother. The same thing happens with the Jewish people; they are carnal-minded and lose their birthright, their pre-eminence over the Gentiles. They refuse to acknowledge a Messias who is poor and persecuted; their ambition is for earthly triumph and earthly greatness; and the only kingdom that Jesus holds out to His followers is a spiritual one. The Jews, then, reject this Messias; but the Gentiles receive Him, and they become the first-born, the favoured people. And, whereas the Jews repudiate this substitution (to which, however, they assented, when they said to Pilate: ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us’),[1] they are indignant at seeing the heavenly Father bestowing all His love and blessings on the Christian people. They that are children of Abraham according to the flesh are disinherited; and they that are the children of Abraham by faith alone are evidently the children of the promise; according to those words of the Lord, which He spoke to that great patriarch: ‘I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore. ... In thy seed (that is, in Him who is to be born of thy race) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.’[2]
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam.
Cap. xv.
In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus pharisæis et scribis parabolam istam: Homo quidam habuit duos filios: et dixit adolescentior ex illis patri: Pater, da mihi portionem substantiae quæ me contingit. Et divisit illis substantiam. Et non post multos dies, congregatis omnibus, adolescentior filius peregre profectus est in regionem longinquam, et ibi dissipavit substantiam suam vivendo luxuriose. Et postquam omnia consummasset, facta est fames valida in regione ilia, et ipse coepit egere. Et abiit, et adhæsit uni civium regionis illius. Et misit ilium in villain suam ut pasceret porcos. Et cupiebat implere ventre m suum de siliquis quas porci manducabant: et nemo illi dabat. In se autem reversus, dixit: Quanti mercenarii in domo patrie mei abundant panibus: ego autem hicfame pereo! Surgam, et ibo ad patrem meum, et dicam ei: Pater, peccavi in cœlum et coram te; jam non sum dignus vocan filius tuus: fac me sicut unum de mercenariis tuis. Et surgens venit ad patrem suum. Cum autem adhue longe esset, vidit ilium pater ipsius, et misericordia motus est, et accurrens cecidit super collum ejus, et osculatus est eum. Dixitque ei filius: Pater, peccavi in ccelum, et coram te: jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuus. Dixit autem pater ad servos suos: Cito proferte stolam primam, et induite ilium, et date annulum in manum ejus, et calceamenta in pedes ejus: et * adducite vitulum saginatum, et occidite, et manducemus et epulemur: quia hicfilius meus mortuus erat, et revixit: perierat, et inventus est. Et coeperunt epulari. Erat autem filius ejus senior in agro: et cum veniret, et appropinquaret domui, audivit symphoniam, et chorum; et vocavit unum de servis, et interrogavit quid hæc essent. Isque dixit illi: Frater tuus venit, et occidit pater tuus vitulum saginatum, quia salvum ilium recepit. Indignatus est autem, et nolebat introire. Pater ergo illius egressus, cœpit rogare ilium. At file respondens, dixit patri suo: Ecce tot annis servio tibi, et numquam mandatum tuum præterivi, et numquam dedisti mihi hcedum, ut cum amicis meis epularer: sed postquam filius tuus hie, qui devoravit substantiam suam cum meretricibus, venit, oceidisti illi vitulum saginatum. At ipse dixit illi: Fili, tu semper mecum es, et omnia mea tua sunt: epulari autem et gaudere oportebat, quia frater tuus hic mortuus erat, et revixit: perierat et inventus est.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Ch. xv.
At that time: Jesus spoke to the scribes and pharisees this parable: A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And, after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him. And returning to .himself hesaid: How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger! I will arise and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; I am not now worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants. And rising up, he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion; and running to him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; I am not now worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry; because this my son was dead, and is come to life again, was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe. And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him. And he answering said to his father: Behold for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine. But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is come to life again, he was lost, and is found.
The mystery brought before us in the Epistle is repeated in our Gospel. Again it is the history of two brothers; the elder is angry at seeing his father show mercy to the younger. This younger brother has gone abroad into a far country; he has quitted his father’s house, that he might be under no control, and indulge in every kind of disorder. But when a mighty famine came, and he was perishing with hunger, he remembered that he had a father; and, at once, he arose, and humbly besought his father to receive him, and give him the last place in that housey which, but for his own folly, might have been all his own. The father received the prodigal with the tenderest affection; not only did he pardon him, he restored him to all his family rights; nay, he would have a feast kept in honour of this happy return. The elder brother, hearing what the father had done, was indignant, and conceived the bitterest jealousy against his younger brother. Let the Jews be jealous, if they will; let them be indignant with their God for showing His mercy to any but themselves. The time has come when all the nations of the earth are to be called to the one fold. The Gentiles, notwithstanding all the misery into which their errors and their passions had led them, are to receive the preaching of the apostles. Greeks and Romans, Scythians and barbarians, are to come, humbly acknowledging the evil of their ways, and ask to share in the favours offered to Israel. Not only are they to be allowed to eat of the crumbs that fall from the table, which was all the poor woman of Chanaan dared to hope for; they are to be made sons and heirs of the Father, with all the attendant rights and privileges. Israel will be jealous, and will protest; but to no purpose. He will refuse to take part in the feast; it matters not, the feast is to be. This feast is the Pasch. The prodigals that have come, starved and naked, to the Father’s house, are our catechumens, on whom God is about to bestow the grace of adoption.
But there are also the public penitents, who are being prepared by the Church for reconciliation; they, too, are the frodigals, who come seeking mercy from their offended Father. This Gospel was intended for them as well as for the catechumens. But now that the Church has relaxed her severe discipline, she offers this parable to all those who are in the state of sin, and are preparing to make their peace with God. They know not, as yet, how good is the God from whom they have strayed by sin: let them read to-day’s Gospel, and see how mercy exalteth itself above judgment,[3] in that God, who so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.[4] How far soever they may have gone astray, or how great soever may have been their ingratitude, let them take courage; a feast is being prepared in their Father’s house, to welcome them home again. The loving Father is waiting at the door to receive and embrace them; the first robe, the robe of innocence, is to be restored to them; the ring, which they alone wear that are of God’s family, is to be once more placed on their hand. There is a banquet being prepared for them, at which the angels, out of joy, will sing their glad songs. Let these poor sinners, then, cry out with a contrite heart: Father! I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee; I am not now worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants. This tender-hearted Father asks only this much of them: sincere sorrow for their sins, humble confession, and a firm resolution of being faithful for the time to come. Let them accept these easy terms, and He will receive them, once more, as His dearest children.
Humiliate capita vestra Deo. Familiam tuam, quæsumus, Domine, continua pietate custodi: ut quæin sola spe gratiæ cœlestis innititur, cœlesti etiam protectione muniatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bow down your heads to God.
Protect, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy family, by thy continual goodness, that as it relieth on the hopes of thy heavenly grace, so it may bo defended by thy heavenly aid. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This being Saturday, let us have recourse to Mary the Queen of mercy. Let us address ourselves to her in these devout words of a sequence, taken from the ancient Cluny missals. This is our request: that she would obtain for us the pardon of our sins.
Sequence
Ave novi luminis Stella promens radium, Quo nostræ propaginis Deletur opprobrium.
Tu sola spes hominis, Tu nostrum refugium, In hora discriminis Placa nobis Filium.
Florens Jesse virgula, Vera veris primula, Salutem initians.
Rosa semper vernula, Tota sine macula, Maculosos expians.
The saint we are to honour to-day is one of the sublimest and most lucid interpreters of divine truth. He rose up in the Church many centuries after the apostolic age, nay, long after the four great Latin doctors, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory. The Church, the ever young and joyful mother, is justly proud of her Thomas, and has honoured him with the splendid title of the angelical doctor, on account of the extraordinary gift of understanding wherewith God had blessed him; just as his contemporary and friend, St. Bonaventure, has been called the seraphic doctor, on account of the wonderful unction which abounds in the writings of this worthy disciple of St. Francis. Thomas of Aquin is an honour to mankind, for perhaps there never existed a man whose intellect surpassed his. He is one of the brightest ornaments of the Church, for not one of her doctors has equalled him in the clearness and precision wherewith he has explained her doctrines. He received the thanks of Christ Himself, for having well written of Him and His mysteries. How welcome ought this feast of such a saint to be to us during this season of the year, when our main study is our return and conversion to God! What greater blessing could we have than to come to the knowledge of God? Has not our ignorance of God, of His claims, and of His perfections, been the greatest misery of our past lives? Here we have a saint whose prayers are most efficacious in procuring for us that knowledge, which is unspotted, and converteth souls, and giveth wisdom to little ones, and gladdeneth the heart, and enlighteneth the eyes.[1] Happy we if this spiritual wisdom be granted us! We shall then see the vanity of everything that is not eternal, the righteousness of the divine commandments, the malice of Bin, and the infinite goodness wherewith God treats us when we repent.
Let us learn from the Church the claims of the angelical doctor to our admiration and confidence.
Præelarum Christiani orbis decus et Ecciesiæ lumen, beatissiinus vir Thomas, Landulpho Comite Aquinate et Theodora Neapolitana, nobilibus parcntibus natus, futuræ in Deiparam devotionis affectum adhuc infantulus ostendit. Nam chartulam ab eo inventam, in qua salutatio angelica scripta erat, frustra adnitente nutrice, compressa manu valide retinuit, et a matre per vim abreptam, ploratu et gestu repetiit, ac mox redditam deglutivit. Quintum annum agens, monacbis sancti Benedicti Cassinatibns custodiendus traditur. Inde Neapolim studiorum causa missus, jam adolesoens Fratrum Prædicatorum Ordinem suscepit. Sed matre ac fratribus id indigne ferentibus, Lutetiam Parisiorum mittitur. Quem fratres in itinere per vim raptum in arcem castri Sancii Joannis perducunt, ubi varie exagitatus,utsanctum propositum mutaret, mulierem etiam, quæ ad labefactandam ejus constantiam introducta fuerat, titione fugavit. Mox beatus juvenis, flexis genibus ante signum crucis orans, ibique somno eorreptus, per quietem sentire visus est sibi ab angelis constringi lumbos: quo ex tempore omni postea libidinis sensu caruit. Sororibus, quæ, ut eum a pio consilio removerent, in castrum venerant, persuasit ut, contemptis curia sæcularibus, ad exercitationem cœlestis vitæ se conferrent.
Emissus e castro per fenestram, Neapolim reducitur: unde Romam, postea Parisium a fratre Joanne Theutonico, Ordinis Prædicatorum generali magistro, ductus, Alberto Magno doctore, philosophiæ ac theologise operam dedit. Viginti quinque annos natus, magister est appellatus, publiceque philosophos ac theologos summa cura laude est interpretatus. Nunquam se lectioni aut scriptioni dedit, nisi post orationem. In difficultatibus locorum sacræ Scripturæ, ad orationem jejunium adhibebat. Quin etiam sodali suo fratri Reginaldo dicere solebat, quidquid sciret non tam studio aut labore suo peperisse, quam divinitus traditum accepisse. Neapoli, cum ad imaginem Crucifixi vehementius oraret, hanc vocem audivit: Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma: quam ergo mercedem accipies? Cui ille: Non aliara, Domine, nisi teipsum. Collationes patrum assidue pervolutabat; et nullum fuit scriptorum genus in quo non esset diligentissime versatus. Scripta ejus et multitudine, et varietate et facilitate explicandi res difficiles adeo excellunt, ut uberrima atque incorrupta illius doctrina, cum revelatis veritatibus mire consentiens, aptissima sit ad omnium temporum errores pervincendos.
A summo Pontifice Urbano quarto Roman vocatus, ejus jussu ecclesiasticum lucubravit Officium in Corporis Christi solemnitate celebrandum; oblatos vero honores, et Neapolitanum archiepiscopatum etiam deferente Clemente quarto recusavit. A prædicatione divini verbi non desistebat; quod cura faceret per octavam Paschæ in basilica sancti Petri, mulierem, quæ ejus fimbriam tetigerat, a fluxu sanguinis liberavit. Missus a beato Gregorio decimo ad Concilium Lugdunense, in monasterio Fossæ Novæ in morbum incidit, ubi segrotus Cantica canticorum explanavit. Ibidem obiit, quinquagenarius, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo quarto, Nonis Martii. Miraculis etiam mortuus claruit; quibus probatis, a Joanne vigesimo secundo in sanctorum numerum relatus est, anno millesimo trecentesimo vigesimo tertio; translato postea ejus corpore Tolosam, ex mandato beati Urbani quinti. Cum sanctis angelicis spiritibus non minus innocentia quam ingenio comparatus, doctoris angelici nomen jure est adeptus, eidem auctoritate sancti Pii quinti confirmatum. Leo autem decimus tertius, libentissime excipiens postulationes et vota omnium pene sacrorum antistitum orbis Catholici, ad tot præcipue philosophicorum systematum a veritate aberrantium luera propulsandam, ad incrementa scientiarum, et communem humani generis utilitatem, eum ex sacrorum rituum Congregationis consulto, per apostolicas litteras cœlestem patronum scholarum omnium Catholicarum declaravit et instituit.
The distinguished ornament of the Christian world and light of the Church, the most blessed man Thomas, was born of noble parents, his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino, and his mother a rich Neapolitan lady, by name Theodora. While yet an infant he gave proof of his future devotion towards the Mother of God; for having found a leaflet on which was written the angelical salutation, he clenched it so fast that the nurse tried in vain to take it from his hand. His mother, however, having forced it from him, the child succeeded by tears and signs, in recovering the paper, which he immediately swallowed. When he was five years old he was sent to Monte Cassino, that he might receive from the Benedictine monks his first training. Thence he was sent to Naples, where he went through a course of studies, and, young as he was, joined the Order of Friars Preachers. This step caused great displeasure to his mother and brothers, and it was therefore deemed advisable to send him to Paris, He was waylaid by his brothers, who seized him, and imprisoned him in the castle of Saint John. After having made several unsuccessful attempts to induce him to abandon the holy life he had chosen, they assailed his purity, by sending to him a wicked woman: but he drove her from his chamber with a firebrand. The young saint then threw himself on his knees before a crucifix. Having prayed some time, he fell asleep, and it seemed to him that two angels approached him, and tightly girded his loins. From that time forward, he never suffered the slightest feeling against purity. His sisters also had come to the castle, and tried to make him change his mind; but he, on the contrary, persuaded them to despise the world, and devote themselves to the exercise of a holy life.
It was contrived that he should escape through a window of the castle, and return to Naples. He was thence taken by John the Teutonic, the General of the Dominican Order, first to Rome and then to Paris, in which latter city ho was taught philosophy and theology by Albert the Great. At the age of twenty-five, he received the title of doctor, and explained in the public schools, and in a manner that made him the object of universal admiration, the writings of philosophers and theologians. He always applied himself to prayer, before reading or writing anything. When he met with any difficult passage in the sacred Scriptures, he both fasted and prayed. He used often to say to his companion, brother Reginald, that if he knew anything, it was more a gift from God, than the fruit of his own study and labour. One day, when at Naples, as he was praying with more than his usual fervour, before a crucifix, he heard these words: ‘Well hast thou written of me, Thomas! What reward wouldst thou have me give thee?’ He answered ‘None other, Lord, than thyself.’ His favourite spiritual book was the Conferences of the Fathers, and there was not a book which he had not most carefully read. His writings are so extraordinary, not only for their number and variety, but also for their clearness in explaining difficult points of doctrine, that his copious and sound teaching, so wonderfully consonant with revealed truth, is most apt for utterly refuting the errors of all ages.
Being called to Rome by Pope Urban IV., he composed, at his command, the ecclesiastical Office for the solemnity of Corpus Christi; but he refused to accept any honours, as likewise the archbishopric of Naples offered to him by Pope Clement IV. He was most zealous in preaching the word of God. On one occasion, during Easter week, as he was preaching in the church of St. Peter, a woman touched the hem of his habit, and was cured of an issue of blood. He was sent by Gregory X. to the Council of Lyons; but having reached Fossa Nova, he fell sick, and was received as a guest in the monastery of that place, where he wrote a commentary on the Canticle of Canticles. There he died in the fiftieth year of his age, in the year of our Lord 1274 on the Nones of March (March 7). His sanctity was made manifest after his death, by miracles: which being proved, he was canonized by Pope John XXII. in the year 1323. His body was translated to Toulouse by command of blessed Urban V. Being comparable to the angels, no less by his innocence than by his genius, he has received the title of angelical doctor, confirmed to him by the authority of St. Pius V. Pope Leo XIII. joyfully acceding to the desires and petitions of the bishops of the Catholic world, by a decree of the sacred Congregation of rites and by letters apostolic, ordained and declared him the heavenly patron of all Catholic schools; and this especially for the purpose of repelling the evil of so many philosophical systems abandoned to error, for the increase of knowledge, and for the common utility of mankind.
The Dominican Order, of which St. Thomas is one of the greatest ornaments, has inserted the three following hymns in its liturgy of his feast:
Hymn
Exsultet mentis jubilo Laudans turba fidelium, Errorum pulso nubilo Per novi solis radium.
Thomas in mundi vespere, Fudit thesauros gratiæ: Donis pienus ex æthere Morum et sapientiæ.
De cujus fonte luminis, Verbi coruscant faculæ, Scripturæ sacræ Numinis, Et veritatis regulæ.
Fulgens doctrinæ radiis, Clarus vitæ munditia, Splendens miris prodigiis, Dat toti mundo gaudia.
Laus Patri sit, ac Genito Simulque sancto Flamini, Qui sancti Thomæ merito Nos cœli jungat agmini.
Amen.
Let the assembly of the faithful exult in spiritual joy, and give praise to God, who has made a new sun to shine in our world, and disperse the clouds of error.
It was in the evening of the world that Thomas shed his treasures of heavenly light. Heaven had enriched him with gifts of virtue and wisdom:
From this fountain of light we have derived a brighter knowledge of the Word, the understanding of the divine Scriptures and the rules of truth.
The effulgent rays of his wisdom, the light of his spotless life, and the splendour of his miracles, have filled the universe with joy.
Praise, then, be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. And may our God, by the intercession and merits of his saint, admit us into the choir of the blessed in heaven.
Profunda scrutans fluminum, In lucem pandit abdita, Dum supra sensus hominum Obscura facit cognita.
Fit paradisi fluvius, Quadripartite pervius; Fit Gedeonis gladius, Tuba, lagena, radius.
Laus Patri sit, ac Genito Simulque sancto Flamini, Qui sancti Thomæ merito, Nos cœli jungat agmini.
Amen.
Noble by birth and parentage, Thomas, while in the bloom of youth, embraced the Order of Preachers.
Like to the star of morn, brightly does he shine amidst the luminaries of earth, and, more than any doctor of the Church, refutes the doctrines of the Gentiles.
He explores the depth of mysteries, and brings to light the hidden gems of truth, for he teaches us what the mind of man had else never understood.
God gives him to the Church as a fountain of wisdom, like to that four-branched river of paradise. He made him to be her Gedeon’s sword, her trumpet, her vase, her torch.
Praise, then, be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. And may our God, by the intercession and merits of his saint, admit us into the choir of the blessed in heaven.
Amen.
Hymn
Lauda, mater Ecclesia, Thomæ felicem exitum, Qui pervenit ad gaudia Per Verbi vitæ meritum.
Fossa Nova tunc suscipit Thecam thesauri gratiæ, Cum Christus Thomam efficit Hæredem regni gloriæ.
Manens doctrinæ veritas, Et funeris integritas, Mira fragrans suavitas, Ægris collata sanitas.
Monstrat hunc dignum laudibus Terræ, ponto, et superis; Nos juvet suis precibus, Deo commendet meritis.
Laus Patri sit ac Genito, Simulque sancto Flamini, Qui sancti Thomæ merito Nos cœli jungat agmini.
Amen.
Dear Church, our mother! the happy death of thy Thomas deserves a hymn of praise. By the merits of him that is the Word of life, he is now in endless joy.
It was at Fossa Nova that the rich treasury of grace was welcomed as a guest. It was there that he received from Christ the inheritance of eternal glory.
He has left us the fruits of truth; he has loft us his glorious relics which breathe forth a heavenly fragrance, and work cures for the suffering sick.
Right well, then, is honour his due: earth, and sea, and heaven, all may give him praise. May his prayers and merits intercede for us with God.
Praise, then, be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. And may our God, by the intercession and merits of his saint, admit us into the choir of the blessed in heaven.
Amen.
How shall we worthily praise thee, most holy Doctor! How shall we thank thee for what thou hast taught us? The rays of the divine Sun of justice beamed strongly upon thee, and thou hast reflected them upon us. When we picture thee contemplating truth, we think of those words of our Lord: 'Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.’[2] Thy victory over the concupiscence of the flesh merited for thee the highest spiritual delights; and our Redeemer chose thee, because of the purity of thy angelic soul, to compose for His Church the Office whereby she should celebrate the divine Sacrament of His love. Learning did not impair thy humility. Prayer was ever thy guide in thy search after truth; and there was but one reward for which, after all thy labours, thou wast ambitious, the possession of God.
Thy life, alas! was short. The very masterpiece of thy angelical writings was left unfinished. But thou hast not lost thy power of working for the Church. Aid her in her combats against error. She holds thy teachings in the highest estimation, because she feels that none of her saints has ever known so well as thou, the secrets and mysteries of her divine Spouse. Now, perhaps more than in any other age, truths are decayed among the children of men;[3] strengthen us in our faith, procure us light. Check the conceit of those shallow self-constituted philosophers, who dare to sit in judgment on the actions and decisions of the Church, and to force their contemptible theories upon a generation that is too ill-instructed to detect their fallacies. The atmosphere around us is gloomy with ignorance; loose principles, and truths spoilt by cowardly compromise, are the fashion of our times; pray for us; bring us back to that bold and simple acceptance of truth, which gives life to the intellect and joy to the heart.
Pray, too, for the grand Order which loves thee so devoutly, and honours thee as one of the most illustrious of its many glorious children. Draw down upon the family of thy patriarch St. Dominic the choicest blessings, for it is one of the most powerful auxiliaries of God’s Church.
We are on the eve of the holy season of Lent, preparing for the great work of earnest conversion of our lives. Thy prayers must gain for us the knowledge both of the God we have offended by our sins, and of the wretched state of a soul that is at enmity with its Maker. Knowing this, we shall hate our sins; we shall desire to purify our souls in the Blood of the spotless Lamb; we shall generously atone for our faults by works of penance
[1] Ps. xviii. 8, 9. [2] St. Matt. v. 8. [3] Ps. xi. 2.
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