January
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THE glorious choir of martyrs, that stands round our Emmanuel till the day of his Presentation in the Temple, opens its ranks from time to time to give admission to the confessors, whom divine Providence has willed should grace the cycle during this sacred season. The martyrs surpass all the other saints in number; but still, the confessors are well represented. After Hilary, Paul, Maurus, and Antony, comes Raymund of Pennafort, one of the glories of the Order of St Dominic and of the Church, in the thirteenth century.
According to the saying of the Prophets, the Messias is come to be our Lawgiver; nay, he is himself our law. His words are to be the rule of mankind; he will leave with his Church the power of legislation, to the end that she may guide men in holiness and justice, in all ages. As it is his Truth that presides over the teaching of the Faith, so is it his Wisdom that regulates canonical discipline. But the Church, in the compilation and arrangement of her laws, engages the services of men, whom she judges to be the most competent for the work, by their knowledge of Canon Law and the holiness of their lives.
St Raymund has the honour of having been intrusted to draw up the Church's Code of Canon Law. It was he who, in the year 1234, compiled, by order of Pope Gregory the Ninth, the five Books of the Decretals; and his name will ever be associated with this great work which forms the basis of the actual discipline of the Church.
Raymund was a faithful disciple of that God who came down from heaven to save sinners by calling them to receive pardon. He has merited the beautiful title, conferred on him by the Church, of excellent Minister of the Sacrament of Penance. He was the first who collected together into one body of doctrine the maxims of Christian morality, which regulate the duties of the confessor with regard to the faithful who confess their sins to him. The Sum of Penitential Cases opened the series of those important treatises in which learned and holy men have carefully considered the claims of law and the obligations of man, in order to instruct the Priest how to pass judgement, as the Scripture says, between leprosy and leprosy.[1]
In fine, when the glorious Mother of God, who is also the Mother of men, raised up for the redemption of captives the generous Peter Nolasco—whom we shall meet, a few days hence, at the Crib of our Redeemer—Raymund was an important instrument in this great work of mercy; and it is with good reason that the Order of Mercy looks upon him as one of its Founders, and that so many thousand captives, who were ransomed by the Religious of that Order from the captivity of the Moors, have honoured him as one of the principal authors of their liberty.
Let us now read the account of the actions of this holy man, whose life was indeed a full one, and rich in merit. The Lessons of his Feast thus abridge his history.
Beatus Raymundus Barcinonensis, ex nobili familia de Pennafort, christianæ religionis rudimentis imbutus, adhuc parvulus, eximia animi et corporis indole magnum aliquid portendere visus est. Nam adolescens humaniores litteras in patria professus, Bononiam se contulit, ubi pietatis officiis, ac Pontificio civilique juri sedulo incumbens, et Doctoris laurea insignitus, ibidem sacros canones magna cum hominum admiratione est interpretatus. Ejus virtutum fama percrebrescente, Berengarius Barcinonensis Episcopus, cum Roma suam ad Ecclesiam rediret, eum conveniendi causa Bononiam iter instituit, et tandem summis precibus, ut secum in patriam reverteretur, obtinuit. Mox ejusdem Ecclesiæ Canonicatu et Præpositura ornatus, universo clero et populo, integritate, modestia, doctrina et morum suavitate præfulsit, ac Deiparæ Virginis, quam singulari pietatis affectu venerabatur, honorem et cultum semper pro viribus auxit.
Annum circiter quintum supra quadragesimum agens, in Ordine Fratrum Prædicatorum solemni emissa professione, ut novus miles, in omni virtutum genere, sed præcipue in caritate erga egenos, et maxime captivos ab infidelibus detentos se exercuit. Unde cum ejus hortatu sanctus Petrus Nolascus (cujus ipse confessiones audiebat) suas opes piissimo huic operi conferret, tum eidem, tum beato Raymundo et Jacobo Primo Aragoniæ Regi apparens beatissima Virgo, gratissimum sibi et unigenito Filio suo fore dixit, si in suum honorem institueretur Ordo Religiosorum, quibus captivos ex infidelium tyrannide liberandi cura incumberet. Quare collatis inter se consiliis, Ordinem beatæ Mariæ de Mercede Redemptionis captivorum fundaverunt: cui beatus Raymundus certas vivendi leges præscripsit ad ejusdem Ordinis vocationem accommodatissimas: quarum approbationem aliquot post annos a Gregorio Nono impetravit, et dictum sanctum Petrum primum Generalem Ordinis Magistrum suis ipse manibus habitu eodem indutum creavit.
Ab eodem Gregorio Romam accersitus, et Capellam ac Pœnitentiarii et Confessarii sui munere decoratus, ejusdem jussu, Romanorum Pontificum Decreta, in diversis Conciliis et Epistolis sparsa, in unum Decretalium volumen redegit. Archiepiscopatum Tarraconensem ab ipso Pontifice sibi oblatum constantissime recusavit: et totius Ordinis Prædicatorum generale Magisterium, quod per biennium sanctissime administraverat, sponte dimisit. Jacobo Aragoniæ Regi sacræ Inquisitionis Officii suis in regnis instituendi auctor fuit. Multa patravit miracula: inter quæ illud clarissimum, quod ex insula Baleari Majori Barcinonem reversurus, strato super aquas pallio, centum sexaginta milliaria sex horis confecerit, et suum coenobium januis clausis fuerit ingressus. Tandem prope centenarius, virtutibus et meritis cumulatus, obdormivit in Domino, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo quinto, quem Clemens Octavus in Sanctorum numerum retulit.
The blessed Raymund was born at Barcelona, of the noble family of Pennafort. Having been imbued with the rudiments of the Christian faith, the admirable gifts he had received, both of mind and body, were such that even when quite a boy he seemed to promise great things in his after life. Whilst still young, he taught humanities in Barcelona. Later on, he went to Bologna, where he applied himself with much diligence to the exercises of a virtuous life, and to the study of canon and civil law. He there received the Doctor's cap, and interpreted the sacred canons so ably that he was the admiration of his hearers. The holiness of his life becoming known far and wide, Berengarius, the Bishop of Barcelona, when returning to his diocese from Rome, visited Bologna in order to see him; and after most earnest entreaties, induced Raymund to accompany him to Barcelona. He was shortly after made Canon and Provost of that Church, and became a model to the clergy and people by his uprightness, modesty, learning and meekness. His tender devotion to the Holy Mother of God was extraordinary, and he never neglected an opportunity of zealously promoting the devotion and honour which are due to her.
When he was about forty-five years of age, he made his solemn profession in the Order of the Friars Preachers. He then, as a soldier but just entered into service, devoted himself to the exercise of every virtue, but above all to charity to the poor, and this mainly to the captives who had been taken by the infidels. It was by his exhortation that St Peter Nolasco (who was his penitent) was induced to devote all his riches to this work of most meritorious charity. The Blessed Virgin appeared to Peter, as also to blessed Raymund and to James the First, King of Aragon, telling them that it would be exceedingly pleasing to herself and her divine Child, if an Order of Religious men were instituted whose mission it should be to deliver captives from the tyranny of infidels. Whereupon, after deliberating together, they founded the Order of our Lady of Mercy for the Ransom of Captives; and blessed Raymund drew up certain rules of life, which were admirably adapted to the spirit and vocation of the said Order. Some years after, he obtained their approbation from Gregory the Ninth, and made St Peter Nolasco, to whom he gave the habit with his own hands, first General of the Order.
Raymund was called to Rome by the same Pope, who appointed him to be his Chaplain, Penitentiary, and Confessor. It was by Gregory’s order that he collected together, in the volume called the Decretals, the Decrees of the Roman Pontiffs, which were to be found separately in the various Councils and Letters. He was most resolute in refusing the Archbishopric of Tarragona, which the same Pontiff offered to him, and, of his own accord resigned the Generalship of the Dominican Order, which office he had discharged in a most holy manner for the space of two years. He persuaded James the King of Aragon to establish in his dominions the Holy Office of the Inquisition. He worked many miracles; among which is that most celebrated one of his having, when returning to Barcelona from the island of Majorca, spread his cloak upon the sea, and sailed upon it, in the space of six hours, the distance of a hundred and sixty miles, and having reached his convent, entered it through the closed doors. At length, when he had almost reached the hundredth year of his age, and was full of virtue and merit, he slept in the Lord, in the year of the Incarnation 1275. He was canonized by Pope Clement the Eighth.
We take the following Hymn from the Dominican Breviary.
Hymn
Grande Raymundi celebrate nomen,
Præsules, Reges, populique terræ:
Cujus æternæ fuit universis Cura salutis.
Quidquid est alta pietate mirum
Exhibet purus, niveusque morum:
Omne virtutum rutilare cernis lumen in illo.
Sparsa Summorum monumenta
Patrum Colligit mira studiosus arte:
Quæque sunt prisci sacra digna cedro dogmata juris.
Doctus infidum solidare pontum.
Currit invectus stadio patenti:
Veste componens, baculoque cymbam, æquora calcat.
Da, Deus, nobis sine labe mores.
Da vitæ tutum sine clade cursum:
Da perennalis sine fine vitæ Tangere portum.
Amen.
Prelates, Kings, and people of the earth!
celebrate the glorious name of Raymund,
to whom the salvation of all mankind was an object of loving care.
His pure and spotless life
reflected all the marvels of the mystic life;
and the light of every virtue shines brightly forth in him.
With admirable study and research,
he collects together the scattered Decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs,
and all the sacred maxims of the ancient Canons, so worthy to be handed down to all ages.
He bids the treacherous sea be firm, and on her open waters carry him to land;
he spreads his mantle, and his staff the mast,
he rides upon the waves.
Grant us, O Lord, to traverse through the sea of life
with innocence and safety,
and reach at length the port of life eternal.
Amen.
Faithful dispenser of the Mystery of reconciliation! It was from the Heart of an Incarnate God that thou didst draw the sweet charity which made thee the friend of the sinner. Thou didst love thy fellow-men, and didst labour to supply all their wants, whether of soul or body. Enlightened by the rays of the Sun of Justice, thou hast taught us how to discern between good and evil by giving us those rules whereby our wounds are judged and healed. Rome was the admirer of thy knowledge of her laws, and it is one of her glories that she received from thy hand the sacred Code whereby she governs the Churches of the world.
Excite in our hearts, O Raymund! that sincere compunction which is the condition required of us when we seek our pardon in the Sacrament of Penance. Make us understand both the grievousness of mortal sin, which separates us from our God for all eternity, and the dangers of venial sin, which disposes the tepid soul to fall into mortal sin. Pray, that there may abound in the Church men Med with charity and learning, who may exercise that sublime ministry of healing souls. Preserve them from the two extremes of rigorism, which drives to despair, and of laxity which flatters into sloth. Revive amongst them the study of the holy Canons, which can alone keep disorder and anarchy from the fold of Christ. Oh! thou that hadst such tender love for captives, console all that are pining now in exile or in prison; pray for their deliverance; and pray that we all may be set loose from the ties of sin, which but too often make them slaves in their souls who boast of their outward liberty.
Thou wast the confidant of the Heart of Mary, the Queen of Mercy, and she made thee share with her in the work of the Redemption of Captives. Pray for us to this incomparable Mother of God, that we may have the grace to love the Divine Child she holds in her arms. May she be induced, by thy prayers, to be our Star on the Sea of this world, more stormy by far than that which thou didst pass, when sailing on thy miraculous bark.
Remember, too, thy dear Spain, where thou didst pass thy saintly life. Her Church is in mourning, because she has lost the Religious Orders which made her so grand and so strong: pray that they may be speedily restored to her, and assist her as of old. Protect the Dominican Order, of whose Habit and Rule thou wast so bright an ornament. Thou didst govern it with great prudence whilst on earth; now that thou art in heaven, be a father to it by thy love. May it repair its losses. May it once more flourish in the universal Church, and produce, as in former days, those fruits of holiness and learning which made it one of the chief glories of the Church of God.
[1] Deut. xvii 8.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Gothic Church of Spain deputes, today, one of her most glorious Prelates, to represent her at the Crib of the Divine Babe, and to celebrate his ineffable Birth. The praise, which falls from Ildephonsus’ lips, seems, at our first hearing it, to have the Mother’s dear honour for its only theme: but, how can we honour the Mother, without at the same time proclaiming the praise of the Son, to whose Birth she owes all her greatness?
Among the glorious Pontiffs, who honoured the noble episcopate of Spain, during the 7th and 8th centuries—for example: Leander, Isidore, Fulgentius, Braulio, Eugenius, Julian, Helladius—among them, and in the foremost rank, stands Ildephonsus, with his glory of having been the Doctor of the Virginity of the Mother of God, just as Athanasius is the Doctor of the Divinity of the Word, Basil the Doctor of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, and Augustine the Doctor of Grace. The holy Bishop of Toledo has treated the dogma of Mary’s Virginity in all its completeness. With profound learning and with fervid eloquence, he proves, against the Jews, that Mary conceived without losing her Virginity; against the followers of Jovinian, that she was a Virgin in her Delivery; against the disciples of Helvidius, that she remained a Virgin, after she had given birth to her Divine Son. Other holy Doctors had treated separately on each of these sublime questions, before our Saint: but he brought together all their teachings, and merited that a Virgin-Martyr should rise from her tomb to thank him for having defended the honour of the Queen of Heaven. Nay, Mary herself, with her own pure hand, clothed him with that miraculous Chasuble, which was an image of the robe of light wherewith Ildephonsus shines now in heaven, at the foot of Mary’s Throne.
The Monastic Breviary gives us the following Lessons, in the Office of our holy Bishop.
We salute thee with devout hearts, O holy Pontiff! who standest pre-eminent in thy love of the Mother of God, even in that glorious Spain, where her honour has had such brave defenders. Come, and take thy place near the Crib of Jesus, where this incomparable Mother is watching over this Babe, who, being both her God and her Son, consecrated her virginity, but did not impair it.[1] Pray for us to her, and remind her that she is our Mother also. Ask her to receive the hymns we sing in her honour, and to bless the offering we make of our hearts to her divine Son. That our prayer may find a readier welcome from this august Queen, we will make use of thy own words, O holy Doctor of Mary’s Virginity; and thus will we speak to her:
I come to thee, the sole Virgin-Mother of God; I prostrate myself before thee, the sole co-operatrix of the Incarnation of my God; I humble myself before thee, that wast alone found worthy to be the Mother of my Lord; I pray to thee, the Handmaid, unlike all others, of thy Son, that thou obtain for me the forgiveness of my sins, that thou procure for me the being cleansed from my evil deeds, that thou get me a love of thy grand glory, that thou reveal unto me the exceeding sweetness of thy Jesus, that thou grant me to proclaim and defend the purity of our holy Faith. Grant, that I may cling to my God and to thee, and be faithful to thy Son and to thee—to him as my Creator, to thee as Mother of my Creator; to him as the Lord of hosts, to thee as the Handmaid of the Lord of all; to him as God, to thee as Mother of God; to him as my Redeemer, to thee as the instrument of my redemption.
He became the price of my ransom, but he became so by his becoming incarnate from thy flesh. He assumed a mortal Body, but he took it from thine, and with this his sacred Body he blotted out my sins. My own human nature, which he took to his kingdom, and set it, above the Angels, on the right hand of his Father, he took from thy pure flesh and blood, when he humbled himself and was made Man.
I, then, am thy servant, O Mary! because thy Son is my Lord. Thou art our Lady, because thou art the Handmaid of our Lord. I am the servant of the Handmaid of my Lord, because thou, that art our Lady, wast made Mother of my Lord. I pray thee, I fervently pray thee, O Holy Virgin! that I may receive Jesus by that Holy Spirit, by whom thou didst become Mother of Jesus. May I be made to know Jesus by that Holy Spirit, by whom thou didst know, and possess, and bring forth Jesus. May I speak of Jesus in that same Holy Spirit, in whom thou didst confess thyself the Handmaid of the Lord. May I love Jesus in that same Holy Ghost, in whom thou adorest him as thy God, and gazest upon him as thy Son. And may I obey this thy Jesus as faithfully, as he himself, though God, was subject to thee, and to Joseph.[2]
[1] Non minuit, sed sacravit. Prayer of the Church, on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, September 8th.
[2] St. Ildephonsus, On the perpetual Virginity of Mary, ch. xii.x
Commemoration of Saint Emerentiana
Three days have scarcely passed since the martyrdom of St Agnes, when the Liturgy, so jealous of every tradition, invites us to visit the Martyr's tomb. There we shall find a young Virgin named Emerentiana; she was the friend and foster-sister of our dear little heroine, and has come to pray and weep at the spot where lies her loved one, so soon and so cruelly taken from her. Emerentiana has not yet been regenerated in the waters of Baptism; she is going through the exercises of a Catechumen; but her heart already belongs, by faith and desire, to Jesus.
Whilst the young girl is pouring forth her grief over the tomb of her much loved Agnes, she is surprised by the approach of some pagans; they ridicule her tears, and bid her pay no more of this sort of honour to one who was their victim. Upon this, the child, longing as she was to be with Christ, and to be clasped in the embraces of her sweet Agnes, was fired with holy courage—as well she might near such a Martyr's tomb—and turning to the barbarians, she confesses Christ Jesus, and curses the idols, and upbraids them for their vile cruelty to the innocent Saint who lay there.
This was more than enough to rouse the savage nature of men, who were slaves to the worship of Satan; and scarcely had the child spoken, when she falls on the tomb, covered with the heavy stones thrown on her by her murderers. Baptized in her own blood, Emerentiana leaves her bleeding corpse upon the earth, and her soul flies to the bosom of God, where she is to enjoy, for ever, union with him, in the dear company of Agnes.
Let us unite with the Church, which so devoutly honours these touching incidents of her own history. Let us ask Emerentiana to pray that we may have the grace to be united with Jesus and Agnes in heaven; and congratulate her on her triumph, by addressing her in the words of the holy Liturgy.
Ant. Veni, Sponsa Christi, accipe coronam quam tibi Dominus præparavit in æternum.
℣. Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis.
℟. Propterea benedixit te Deus in æternum.
Oremus
Indulgentiam nobis, quæsumus, Domine, beata Emerentiana Virgo et Martyr imploret: quæ tibi grata semper exstitit et merito castitatis, et tuæ professione virtutis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Ant. Come, O Spouse of Christ, receive the crown, which the Lord hath prepared for thee for ever.
℣. Grace is poured abroad in thy lips.
℟. Therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
Let us Pray
Let blessed Emerentiana, thy Virgin and Martyr, O Lord, sue for our pardon: who by the purity of her life, and profession of thy virtue, was always pleasing to thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
BEFORE giving thanks to God for the miraculous Conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Church assembles us together for the feast of his favourite disciple. Timothy—the indefatigable companion of St Paul—the friend to whom the great Apostle, a few days before shedding his blood for Christ, wrote his last Epistle—comes now to await his master's arrival at the Crib of the Emmanuel. He there meets John the Beloved Disciple, together with whom he bore the anxieties attendant on the government of the Church of Ephesus; Stephen too, and the other martyrs, welcome him, for he also bears a martyr's palm in his hand. He presents to the august Mother of the Divine Babe the respectful homage of the Church of Ephesus, which Mary had sanctified by her presence, and which shares with the Church of Jerusalem the honour of having had her as one of its number, who was not only, like the Apostles, the witness, but moreover, in her quality of Mother of God, the ineffable instrument of the salvation of mankind.
Let us now read, in the Office of the Church, the abridged account of the actions of this zealous disciple of the Apostles.
Timotheus, Lystris in Lycaonia natus ex patre Gentili et matre Judæa, Christianam colebat religionem, cum imca loca venit Paulus Apostolus. Qui fama commotus quæ de Timothei sanctitate percrebuerat, ipsum adhibuit socium suæ peregrinationis: sed propter Judæos, qui se ad Christum converterant, scientes Timothei patrem esse Gentilem, eum circumcidit. Cum igitur ambo Ephesum venissent, ibi ordinatus est Episcopus ab Apostolo, ut eam Ecclesiam gubernaret.
Ad quem Apostolus duas Epistolas scripsit, alteram Laodicea, alteram Roma: quibus in pastoralis officii cura confirmatus, cum sacrificium, quod uni Deo debetur, fieri dæmonum simulacris ferre non posset, populum Ephesinum Dianæ in ejus celebritate immolantem, abilla impietate removere conatus, lapidibus obrutus est; ac pene mortuus a Christianis ereptus, et in montem oppido vicinum delatus, nono kalendas Februarii obdormivit in Domino.
Timothy was born at Lystra in Lycaonia. His father was a Gentile, and his mother a Jewess. When the Apostle Paul came into those parts, Timothy was a follower of the Christian religion. The Apostle had heard much of his holy life, and was thereby induced to take him as the companion of his travels: but on account of the Jews, who had become converts to the faith of Christ, and were aware that the father of Timothy was a Gentile, he administered to him the rite of circumcision. As soon as they arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him Bishop of that Church.
The Apostle addressed two of his Epistles to him—one from Laodicea, the other from Rome—to instruct him how to discharge his pastoral office. He could not endure to see sacrifice, which is due to God alone, offered to the idols of devils; and finding that the people of Ephesus were offering victims to Diana on her festival, he strove to make them desist from their impious rites. But they, turning upon him, stoned him. The Christians could not deliver him from their hands till he was more dead than alive. They carried him to a mountain not far from the town, and there, on the ninth of the Kalends of February (January 24), he slept in the Lord.
The Greek Church celebrates the memory of St Timothy in her Menæa, from which we extract the following strophes.
Die XXII Januarii
Deisapiens Timothee, torrentem ingressus es deliciarum, et divinitus hausisti gnosim, ferventes imitatus amatores Christi, cujus nunc lætanter adiisti gloriam, contemplans Trinitatem splendidissimam et pacem placidissimam.
Deisapiens Timothee, frequentibus corporis debilitatibus et infirmitatibus corroboratus secundum mentem, erroris potentiam facile dissolvisti, Christi custoditus potestate, et prædicasti sublimiter divinissimum pacis nobis Evangelium.
Mundi fines tua nunc decantant miracula, Thaumaturge immortalis; miraculis etenim te Christus remunerans adornavit, propter ipsum tormenta perpessum, et pro morte tolerata immortali gloria et beatitudine donavit.
Effusa est, omnisancte, abundanter gratia e labiis tuis, et flumina dogmatum scaturire fecit Christi Ecclesiam irrigantia et centuplicem ferentia fructum, o Timothee, Christi præco, divine Apostole.
Mortificans tuæ membra carnis Verbo subjecisti; dans pejoris, beate Timothee, regimen meliori, passionibus dominatus es, et animam alleviasti, Pauli documentis harmonice ordinatus.
Fulgurans quasi sol Paulus te misit quasi radium splendidum terram abundantiori lumine illuminantem lucidissime, Theophantes Timothee, ad directionem nostram et confirmationem.
Currus Dei apparuisti, Timothee, portans divinum nomen, ante impios tyrannos, Deograte, non timens istorum crudelitatem; tu enim invincibilem Salvatoris fortitudinem induisti.
Coronam gloriosam recepisti, Timothee omnibeate, divina mente prædite, Apostole, et diadema regni præcinxisti, et astitisti ante thronum magistri tui, cum Paulo decoratus in æternis tabernaculis, beatissime.
O Timothy! full of godly wisdom! thou didst enter into the torrent of delights, and drink in of the mysterious knowledge, imitating the fervent lovers of Christ, into whose glory thou hast now joyfully gone, contemplating the infinitely resplendent Trinity, and most tranquil peace.
O Timothy! full of godly wisdom! thy frequent weaknesses and ailments of body gave thee strength of spirit; thou didst readily reduce to nought the power of error, for thou wast guarded by the power of Christ, and sublimely didst thou preach to us the most divine Gospel of peace.
The furthermost ends of the earth now sing thy miracles, immortal Thaumaturgus! for Christ rewarding thee, adorned thee with the gift of miracles, because thou didst suffer torments for his sake; and he gave thee, for the death thou didst endure, glory and blessedness everlasting.
Most holy Saint! grace flowed in plenty from thy lips, and made the streams of dogma water the Church of Christ, and yield fruit a hundredfold, O Timothy! thou herald of Christ! thou Apostle of God!
Mortifying thy flesh, thou didst subject it to the Word: and making what is superior govern that which is inferior, O blessed Timothy! thou didst master thy passions and unburden thy soul, and the harmony was established in thee which was taught by blessed Paul.
He, Paul, brilliant as the sun, sent thee forth as a shining ray, that thou mightest most brightly illumine the earth with a rich abundance of light, unto our direction and encouragement, O Timothy, thou revealer of God!
O Timothy I as a chariot of God, thou didst carry his divine name before impious tyrants, fearing not their cruelty, O thou beloved of God! for thou hadst clad thyself with the invincible strength of Jesus.
O most blessed Timothy! O divinely gifted mind! O Apostle! thou hast received a glorious crown; thy brow has been encircled with a heavenly crown; and thou hast stood before the throne of thy Master, beautiful in glory, together with Paul, in the eternal tabernacles, O most blessed one!
In thee, O holy Pontiff! we honour one of the disciples of the Apostles—one of the links which connect us immediately with Christ. Thou appearest to us all illumined by thy intercourse with Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles. Another of his disciples, Dionysius the Areopagite, made thee the confidant of his sublime contemplations on the Divine Names; but now, bathed in light eternal, thou thyself art contemplating the Sun of Justice, in the beatific vision. Intercede for us, who enjoy but a glimpse of his beauty through the veil of his humiliations, that we may so love him, as to merit to see him one day in his glory. In order to lessen the pressure of the corruptible body, which weigheth down the soul,[1] thou didst subject thy outward man to so rigorous a penance that St Paul exhorted thee to moderate it: do thou assist us in our endeavours to reduce our flesh to obedience to the spirit. The Church reads without ceasing the counsels, which the Apostle gave to thee, and to all Pastors through thee, for the election and the conduct of the clergy: pray that the Church may be blessed with Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, endowed with all those qualifications which he requires from the dispensers of the mysteries of God. Lastly, we beseech thee, who didst ascend to heaven decked with the aureole of martyrdom, encourage us who are also soldiers of Christ, that we may throw aside our cowardice, and win that kingdom where he welcomes and crowns his elect for all eternity.
[1] Wisd. ix 15.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
WE have already seen how the Gentiles, in the person of the Three Magi, offered their mystic gifts to the Divine Child of Bethlehem, and received from him in return the precious gifts of faith, hope and charity. The harvest is ripe; it is time for the reaper to come. But who is to be God's labourer? The Apostles of Christ are still living under the very shadow of Mount Sion. All of them have received the mission to preach the gospel of salvation to the uttermost parts of the world; but not one among them has as yet received the special character of Apostle of the Gentiles. Peter, who had received the Apostleship of Circumcision,[1] is sent specially, as was Christ himself, to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel.[2] And yet, as he is the Head and the Foundation, it belongs to him to open the door of Faith to the Gentiles;[3] which he solemnly does by conferring Baptism on Cornelius, the Roman Centurion.
But the Church is to have one more Apostle, an Apostle for the Gentiles; and he is to be the fruit of the martyrdom and prayer of St Stephen. Saul, a citizen of Tarsus, has not seen Christ in the flesh, and yet Christ alone can make an Apostle. It is then from heaven, where he reigns impassible and glorified, that Jesus will call Saul to be his disciple, just as, during the period of his active life, he called the fishermen of Genesareth to follow him and hearken to his teachings. The Son of God will raise Saul up to the third heaven, and there will reveal to him all his mysteries: and when Saul, having come down again to this earth, shall have seen Peter,[4] and compared his Gospel with that recognized by Peter,[5] he can say, in all truth, that he is an Apostle of Christ Jesus,[6] and that he has done nothing less than the great Apostles.[7]
It is on this glorious day of the Conversion of Saul, who is soon to change his name into Paul, that this great work is commenced. It is on this day that there is heard the Almighty voice which breaketh the cedars of Libanus,[8] and can make a persecuting Jew become first a Christian and then an Apostle. This admirable transformation had been prophesied by Jacob, when upon his deathbed he unfolded to each of his sons the future of the tribe of which he was to be the father Juda was to have the precedence of honour; from his royal race was to be born the Redeemer, the Expected of nations. Benjamin's turn came; his glory is not to be compared with that of his brother Juda, and yet it was to be very great—for from his tribe is to be born Paul, the Apostle of the Gentile nations.
These are the words of the dying Prophet: Benjamin, a ravenous wolf , in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil.[9] Who, says an ancient writer,[10] is he that in the morning of impetuous youth goes like a wolf in pursuit of the sheep of Christ, breathing threatenings and slaughter against them? Is it not Saul on the road to Damascus, the bearer and doer of the high-priest's orders, and stained with the blood of Stephen, whom he has stoned by the hands of all those over whose garments he kept watch? And he who in the evening, not only does not despoil, but with a charitable and peaceful hand breaks to the hungry the bread of life—is it not Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Apostle of Christ, burning with zeal for his brethren, making himself all to all, and wishing even to be an anathema for their sakes?
Oh! the power of our dear Jesus! how wonderful! how irresistible! He wishes that the first worshippers at his Crib should be humble Shepherds—and he invites them by his Angels, whose sweet hymn was enough to lead these simple-hearted men to the Stable, where, in swaddling-clothes, he lies who is the hope of Israel. He would have the Gentile Princes, the Magi, do him homage—and bids a star to arise in the heavens, whose mysterious apparition, joined to the interior speaking of the Holy Ghost, induces these men of desire to come from the far East, and lay at the feet of an humble Babe their riches and their hearts. When the time is come for forming the Apostolic College, he approaches the banks of the sea of Tiberias, and with this single word: Follow me, he draws after him such as he wishes to have as his Disciples. In the midst of all the humiliations of his Passion, he has but to look at the unfaithful Peter, and Peter is a penitent. Today, it is from heaven that he evinces his power: all the mysteries of our redemption have been accomplished, and he wishes to show mankind that he is the sole author and master of the Apostolate, and that his alliance with the Gentiles is now perfect: he speaks; the sound of his reproach bursts like thunder over the head of this hot Pharisee, who is bent on annihilating the Church; he takes this heart of the Jew, and, by his grace, turns it into the heart of the Apostle, the Vessel of election, the Paul who is afterwards to say of himself: I live, not I, bid Christ liveth in me.[11]
The commemoration of this great event was to be a Feast in the Church, and it had a right to be kept as near as might be to the one which celebrates the martyrdom of St Stephen, for Paul is the Protomartyr's convert. The anniversary of his martyrdom would, of course, have to be solemnized at the summer solstice; where, then, place the feast of his Conversion if not near Christmas, and thus our own Apostle would be at Jesus' Crib, and Stephen's side? Moreover, the Magi could claim him, as being the conqueror of that Gentile world of which they were the first-fruits.
And lastly, it was necessary, in order to give the court of our Infant-King its full beauty, that the two Princes of the Church—the Apostle of the Jews, and the Apostle of the Gentiles—should stand close to the mystic Crib; Peter with his Keys, and Paul with his Sword. Bethlehem thus becomes the perfect figure of the Church, and the riches of this season of the Cycle are abundant beyond measure.
Let us borrow from the ancient Liturgies a suitable expression of our admiration of our Apostle's Conversion. The following Sequence, which belongs to the tenth century, is found in the old Missals of the Churches of Germany. It is full of mysterious allusions, which bear a certain grandeur of thought.
Sequence
Dixit Dominus: Ex Basan convertam, convertam in profundum maris.
Quod dixit et fecit, Saulum ut stravit, Paulum et statuit,
Per Verbum suum incarnatum, per quod fecit et sæcula.
Quod dum impugnat, audivit: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris?
Ego sum Christus: durum est tibi ut recalcitres stimulo.
A facie Domini mota est terra, contremuitque mox et quievit.
Dum cognito credidit Domino, Paulus persequi cessat Christianos.
Hic lingua tuorum est canum, ex inimicis ad te rediens, Deus;
Dum Paulus in ore omnium sacerdotum jura dat præceptorum,
Docens crucifixum non esse alium præter Christum Deum,
Cum Patre qui regnat et Sancto Spiritu, cujus testis Paulus.
Hinc lingua sacerdotum, more canis dura perlinxit legis et Evangelii duos molares in his contrivit,
Corrosit universas species medicinarum, quibus curantur saucii, reficiuntur enutriendi.
Per quem conversus ad nos tu vivifices, Christe, peccatores:
Qui convertendis conversum converteras Paulum, vas electum.
Quo docente Deum, mare vidit et fugit, Jordanis conversus est retrorsum;
Quia turba gentium, rediens vitiorum profundo, Og rege Basan confuso,
Te solum adorat Christum creatorem, quem et cognoscit in carne venisse redemptorem.
Amen.
The Lord said: I will turn him from Basan (the land of barrenness); I will turn him into the deep sea (of my faith).
What he said he did, when he prostrated Saul, and raised him up Paul,
By his Incarnate Word, by whom also he made the world.
It was whilst opposing this Word, that the Jew heard the voice: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
I am Christ: it is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
The earth was moved at the presence of the Lord; it trembled and then was at rest.
Paul, when he knew the Lord Jesus, believed, and ceased to persecute the Christians.
He became, O God, the tongue of thy faithful ones; leaving thine enemies, he returned to thee.
For it is Paul who, by the mouth of the priests throughout the world, proclaims the commandments,
Teaching that the Crucified is no other than God, the Christ,
Who reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost; and Paul is his witess.
By the light of his teaching the priests meditate on the law and the Gospel; and by these, as with two mill-stones, have pounded
And prepared every spiritual medicine, whereby the wounded are healed, and the hungry are fed.
O Jesus! hear his prayers for us sinners; turn to us; give us life;
Who didst turn Paul into a true convert, for the sake of all who are to return to thee, and didst make him the vessel of election.
When he preached God to men, the sea beheld and fled, the Jordan was turned back,
Because the multitude of the nations, returning from the depths of sin, to the confusion of Og the King of Basan,
Now adore but thee, O Christ! their creator, whom they believe to have come in the flesh to redeem them.
Amen.
The Roman-French Missals give us this beautiful Hymn of Adam of Saint-Victor.
Sequence
Corde, voce pulsa cœlos,
Triumphale pange melos,
Gentium Ecclesia.
Paulus Doctor gentium
Consummavit stadium
Triumphans in gloria.
Hic Benjamin adolescens,
Lupus rapax, præda vescens,
Hostis est fidelium.
Mane lupus, sed ovis vespere.
Post tenebras lucente sidere,
Docet Evangelium.
Hic mortis viam arripit,
Quem vitæ via corripit,
Dum Damascum graditur.
Spirat minas, sed jam cedit;
Sed prostratus jam obedit;
Sed jam vinctus ducitur.
Ad Ananiam mittitur:
Lupus ad ovem trahitur;
Mens resedit effera.
Fontis subit sacramentum:
Mutat virus in pigmentum
Unda salutifera.
Vas sacratum, vas divinum,
Vas propinans dulce vinum
Doctrinalis gratiæ.
Synagogas circuit:
Christi fidem astruit
Prophetarum serie.
Verbum crucis protestatur:
Causa crucis cruciatur:
Mille modis moritur:
Sed perstat vivax hostia:
Et invicta constantia
Omnis poena vincitur.
Segregatus docet gentes:
Mundi vincit sapientes
Dei sapientia.
Raptus ad cœlum tertium,
Videt Patrem et Filium
In una substantia.
Roma potens et docta Græcia
Præbet colla, discit mysteria:
Fides Christi proficit.
Crux triumphat: Nero sævit.
Quo docente, fides crevit,
Paulum ense conficit.
Sic exutus carnis molem
Paulus, videt verum
Solem Patris Unigenitum.
Lumen videt in lumine,
Cujus vitemus numine
Gehennalem gemitum.
Amen.
Church of the Gentiles!
sing with heart and voice thy hymn of triumph,
and make the heavens echo.
Paul, the Doctor of the Gentiles,
has finished his course,
and triumphs in glory.
This is he that was the youthful Benjamin,
the ravenous wolf, the devourer of the prey,
the enemy of the Faithful.
He was a wolf in the morning, but in the evening a lamb.
The night was past, the day-star rose,
and he preaches the Gospel.
This is he that marched in the road of death,
but was stayed, as he goes to Damascus,
by Him who is the Way of Life.
He had breathed forth threats, but at length he yields;
he prostrates, and obeys;
he is made captive, and goes whither he is led.
He is sent to Ananias
—the wolf to the lamb;
his stormy heart is calm.
He receives the sacrament of the font;
its saving waters turn the venom of his soul
into the fragrance of love.
He becomes a sacred vessel, a vessel divine,
a vessel that gives forth to men the sweet wine
of the grace of doctrine.
He visits the synagogues;
and proves the Christian faith
by unfolding the prophets.
He preaches the cross of Christ;
and for the sake of that Cross himself does bear the cross,
dying a thousand deaths.
Yet dies not, but is a living victim,
conquering every pain
by unconquered courage.
He is set apart by God as the teacher of the Gentiles;
and by the wisdom of God he overcomes
the wise ones of the world.
Rapt to the third heaven,
he sees the Father and Son
in one substance.
The mighty Rome, and the learned Greece
—both bow down their heads, and learn the Mysteries,
and embrace the Faith of Christ.
The Cross triumphs! Then does Nero rage
to see this Paul spreading the Faith by his preaching,
and sentences him to die by the sword.
Thus disburthened from the flesh,
Paul sees the true Sun,
the Only Begotten of the Father.
He sees the Light in Light,
by whose almighty power
we shun the pains of hell.
Amen.
The ancient Sacramentaries give us nothing upon the Conversion of St Paul. We take the following Prayer and Preface from the Gallican Missal published by Dom Mabillon, under the title of Missale Gothicum.
Prayer
Deus qui Apostolum tuum Paulum insolentem contra Christiani nominis pietatem, Cœlesti voce cum terrore perculsum, hodierna die Vocationis ejus, mentem cum nomine commutasti: et quem prius persecutorem metuebat Ecclesia, nunc cœlestium mandatorum lætatur se habere Doctorem: quemque ideo foris cæcasti, ut introrsus videntem faceres: cuique post tenebras crudelitatis ablatas, ad evocandas Gentes divinæ legis scientiam contulisti: sed et tertio naufragantem pro fide quam expugnaverat, jam devotum in elemento liquido fecisti vita incolumem. Sic nobis, quæsumus, ejus et mutationem et fidem colentibus, post cæcitatem peccatorum, fac te videre in cœlis, qui illuminasti Paulum in terris.
O God, who by a voice from heaven didst strike with terror thine Apostle Paul when raging against the holiness of the Christian religion, and on this the day of his Vocation didst change him both in his heart and his name: so that the Church having once dreaded him as her persecutor, now rejoices in having him as her Teacher in the commandments of God: whom thou didst strike with exterior blindness, that thou mightest give him interior sight: to whom, moreover, when the darkness of his cruelty was removed, thou didst give the knowledge of thy divine law, whereby he might call the Gentiles: and didst thrice deliver him from shipwreck, which he suffered for the Faith, saving this thy devoted servant from the waves of the sea: grant also to us, we beseech thee, who are solemnizing both his conversion and his faith, that, after the blindness of our sins, we may be permitted to see thee in heaven, who didst enlighten Paul here on earth.
Preface
Dignum et justum est; vere æquum et justum est: nos tibi gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus: qui, ut ostenderes te omnium cupere indulgere peccatis, persecutorem Ecclesiæ tuæ, ad unum verbum tuæ vocationis lucratus es, et statim fecisti nobis ex persecutore doctorem: nam qui alienas epistolas ad destructionem Ecclesiarum acceperat, coepit suas ad restaurationem earum scribere; et ut seipsum Paulum factum ex Saulo monstraret, repente architectus sapiens, fundamentum posuit, ut sancta Ecclesia tua Catholica, eo ædificante, gauderet, a quo fuerat ante vastata; et tantus ejus defensor existeret, ut omnia supplicia corporis, et ipsam cædem corporis non timeret: nam factus est caput Ecclesiæ, qui membra Ecclesiæ conquassaverat: caput terreni corporis tradidit, ut Christum caput in suis omnibus membris acciperet, per quod etiam vas electionis esse meruit; qui eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum in sui pectoris habitationem suscepit.
It is meet and just, yea it is right and just, that we should give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God: who, to show that thou desirest to forgive all men their sins, didst win over the persecutor of thy Church with one word of thy calling, and straightway madest the persecutor our teacher: for he that had received epistles from others unto the destruction of the Churches, began to write his own unto their restoration; and who, to show that Saul had become Paul, did immediately, as a wise architect, lay the foundation, giving joy to thy holy Catholic Church, by becoming her builder after being her destroyer: and in such wise did he defend her, that he feared neither tortures nor very death, and became a Head of the Church after having crushed the members of the Church, delivering up the head of his own body, that he might be united with the Divine Head Christ in all his members, by whom also he merited to be made a vessel of election, and into the dwelling of his own heart he received this same Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord.
We give thee thanks, O Jesus! who hast this day prostrated thine enemy by thy power, and raised him up again by thy mercy. Truly art thou the Mighty God, and thy victories shall be praised by all creatures. How wonderful art thou, in thy plans for the world's salvation! Thou makest men thy associates in the work of the preaching of thy word, and in the dispensing of thy Mysteries; and in order to make Paul worthy of such an honour, thou usest all the resources of thy grace. It pleased thee to make an Apostle of Stephen’s murderer, that so thy sovereign power might be shown to the world, thy love of souls be evinced in its richest gratuitous generosity, and grace abound where sin had so abounded. Sweet Saviour! often visit us with this grace which converts the heart; for we desire to have the life of grace abundantly, and we feel that its very principle is often in danger within us. Convert us, as thou didst thine Apostle; and after having converted us, assist us; for without thee we can do nothing. Go before us, follow us, stand by our side; never leave us, but as thou hast given us the commencement, secure to us our perseverance to the end. Give us that Christian wisdom which will teach us how to acknowledge, with fear and love, that mysterious gift of grace which no creature can merit, and to which, nevertheless, a creature's will may put an obstacle. We are captives: thou alone art master of the instrument, wherewith we can break our chains; thou puttest it into our hands, bidding us make use of it; so that our deliverance is thy work, not ours—but our captivity, if it continue, can only be attributed to our negligence and sloth. Give us, O Lord, this thy grace; and graciously receive the promise we now make, that we will render it fruitful by co operating with it.
Assist us, thou holy Apostle of Jesus! to correspond with the merciful designs of God in our regard; obtain of him for us, that we may be overcome by the sweetness of an Infant-God. His voice does not make itself heard; he does not blind us by the glare of his divine light; but this we know—he often complains that we persecute him! Oh! that we could have the courage to say to him, with a heart honest like thine: Lord! what wilt thou that we do? He would answer, and tell us to be simple, and to become little children like himself—to recognize now, after so many Christmases of indifference, the love he shows us in this mystery of Bethlehem—to declare war against sin—to resist our evil inclinations—and to advance in virtue, by walking in his divine footsteps. Thou hast said, in one of thine Epistles: If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema![12] Oh! teach us to know him more and more, so that we may grow in his love; and by thy prayers, preserve us from that ingratitude which turns even the sweet Mysteries of this holy season into our own greater condemnation.
Glorious Vessel of election! pray for the conversion of sinners who have forgotten their God. When on this earth, thou didst spend thyself for the salvation of souls; continue thy ministry, now that thou art reigning in heaven, and draw down, upon them that persecute Jesus, the graces which triumph over the hardest hearts. Apostle of the Gentiles! look with an eye of loving pity on so many nations, that are still sitting in the shadow of death. During thy mortal life, thou wast divided between two ardent desires—one, to be with Christ, the other, to remain longer on earth labouring for the salvation of immortal souls: now that thou art united for ever with the Jesus thou didst preach to men, forget not the poor ones to whom their God is a stranger. Raise up in the Church apostolic men, who may continue thy work. Pray to our Lord that he bless their labours, and the blood of such among them as are martyrs of zeal. Shield with thy protection the See of Peter, thy BrotherApostle and thy Leader. Support the authority of the Church of Rome, which has inherited thy power, and looks upon thee as her second defence. May thy powerful intercession lead her enemies into humble submission, destroy schisms and heresies, and fill her Pastors with thy spirit, that like thee they may seek not themselves, but solely and in all things the interests of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Gal. ii 8.
[2] St Matt. xv 24.
[3] Acts xiv 26.
[4] Gal. i 18.
[5] Ibid. ii 2.
[6] Gal. i 1, and frequently elsewhere.
[7] 2 Cor. xi 5.
[8] Ps. xxviii 5.
[9] Gen. xlix 27.
[10] These words are taken from a sermon which for a long time was thought to be St Augustine's.
[11] Gal. ii 20.
[12] 1 Cor. xvi 22.