July
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THIS same day brings before us a rival of the warrior-martyr, St. George: Margaret, like him victorious over the dragon, and like him called in the Menæa of the Greeks, the Great Martyr. The cross was her weapon; and, like the soldier, the virgin, too, consummated her trial in her blood. They were equally renowned, also, in those chivalrous times when valour and faith fought hand in hand for Christ beneath the standard of the saints. So early as the seventh century our Western island rivalled the East in honouring the pearl drawn from the abyss of infidelity. Before the disastrous schism brought about by Henry VIII, the Island of Saints celebrated this feast as a double of the second class; women alone were obliged to rest from servile work, in gratitude for the protection afforded them by St. Margaret at the moment of childbirth—a favour which ranked her among the saints called in the Middle Ages auxiliatores or helpers. But it was not in England alone that Margaret was invoked, as history proves by the many and illustrious persons of all countries who have borne her blessed name. In heaven, too, there is great festivity around the throne of Margaret; we learn this from such trustworthy witnesses as St. Gertrude the Great[1] and St. Frances of Rome,[2] who, though divided by a century of time, were both, by a special favour of their divine Spouse, allowed, while still on earth, to assist at this heavenly spectacle.
The ancient legend in the Roman Breviary was suppressed in the sixteenth century by St. Pius V as not being sufficiently authentic. We, therefore, give instead some responsories and antiphons and a collect, taken from what appears to be the very office said by St. Gertrude; for in the vision mentioned above allusion is made to one of these responsories, Virgo veneranda:[3]
Responsories
Felix igitur Margarita sacrilego sanguine progenita:
* Fidem quam Spiritu Sancto percepit vitiorum macuHs minus infecit.
℣. Ibat de virtute in virtutem, ardenter sitiens animæ salutem. * Fidem.
℟. Hæc modica quidem in malitia, sed mire vigens pudicitia, præventa gratia Redemptoris: * Oviculas pascebat nutricis.
℣. Simplex fuit ut columba, quemadmodum serpens astuta. * Oviculas.
℟. Quadam die Odibrius, molestus Deo et hominibus, transiens visum in illam sparsit: * Mox in concupiscentiam ejus exarsit.
℣. Erat enim nimium formosa: in vultu scilicet ut rosa. * Mox.
℟. Misit protinus clientes, ad inquirendos ejus parentes; * Ut si libera probaretur, in conjugium sibi copularetur.
℣. Sed hanc qui desponsaverat, non ita Christus præordinaverat. * Ut si.
℟. Dum tyrannus intellexit quod eum virgo despexit: * Jussit eamdem iratus suis præsentari tribunalibus.
℣. Quam sperans puellarum more minis flecti subjuncto terrore. * Jussit.
℟. Virgo veneranda in, magna stans constantia, verba contempsit judicis: * Nil cogitans de rebus lubricis.
℣. Cœlestis præmii spe gaudens, in tribulatione erat patiens. * Nil cogitans.
℟. Post carceris squalorem carnisque macerationem, Christi dilecta: * Tenebrosis denuo recluditur in locis.
℣. Nomen Domini laudare non desinens et glorificare. * Tenebrosis.
℟. Sancta martyre precatibus instante, draco foetore plenus apparuit: * Qui hanc invadens totam absorbuit.
℣. Quem per medium signo crucis discidit, et de utero ejus illæsa exivit. * Qui.
Blessed Margaret, though born of pagan blood:
* Receiving the faith by the Holy Spirit, preserved it free from stain.
℣. She went from virtue to virtue, ardently desiring the salvation of her soul. * Receiving the faith.
℟. Knowing no evil, she blossomed in purity, being prevented by the grace of our Saviour. * She tended the sheep for her foster-mother.
℣. Simple as the dove and prudent as the serpent. * She tended.
℟. Odibrius, hateful to God and men, passing one day, cast his glance upon her. * And he burned with desire of her.
℣. For she was exceeding lovely; her face like a beautiful rose. * And he burned.
℟. Forthwith he sent his men to inquire as to her parentage; * For that if she were of gentle blood, he fain would take her to wife.
℣. But Jesus Christ whose bride she was, had otherwise ordained. * For that if she were.
℟. When the tyrant heard that the virgin despised him, * Enraged he caused her to be brought to his tribunal.
℣. For he hoped that, as maidens are wont, she would yield through fear of his threats. * Enraged.
℟. The worshipful virgin stood firm in her constancy, setting at nought the words of the judge. * For she thought not of vile pleasures.
℣. Rejoicing in the hope of a heavenly reward, she was patient under the trial. * For she thought not.
℟. The beloved of Christ, after enduring the horrors of a dungeon, and the torturing of her flesh, * Is closed once more in a darksome prison.
℣. She ceases not to praise and glorify the name of the Lord. * Is closed.
℟. While the holy martyr was instant in prayer, a foul dragon appeared; * And rushing upon her, he devoured her.
℣. With the sign of the cross she rent him asunder, and came forth again unhurt. * And rushing.
Antiphons
Ministri statim tenellæ corpus comburebant puellæ; sed hæc, oratione facta, igne permansit intacta.
Vas immensum aqua plenum præses imperavit anerri: et in illud virginem ligatam demergi.
Laudabilis Dominus in suis virtutibus, vincula manuum relaxavit, suamque famulam de morte liberavit.
Videntes hæc mirabilia baptizati sunt quinque millia: quos capite plecti censuit ira præfecti: quibus est addicta Christi testis invicta, benedicens Deum deorum in sæcula sæculorum.
The executioners burn the limbs of the tender maiden: but making her prayer she feels nought in the flame.
A great vessel full of water is brought by the judge’s com mand: and the virgin is cast in bound.
The Lord, who is worthy of praise in His mighty deeds, loosened the fetters of His handmaid, and delivered her from death.
At the sight of these wonders five thousand are baptized: the prefect in anger commands them all to be beheaded, and after them the unconquerable witness of Christ blessing the God of gods for ever and ever.
Prayer
Deus qui beatam Margaritam virginem tuam ad cœlos per martyrii palmam venire fecisti: concede nobis, quæsumus, ut ejus exempla sequentes ad te venire mereamur. Per Dominum.
O God, who didst lead Thy blessed virgin Margaret to heaven, with the palm of martyrdom, grant, we beseech thee, that by following her example, we may merit to come even unto Thee. Through our Lord.
[1] Legatus divinæ pietatis, iv., xlv.
[2] Visio xxxvi.
[3] Breviarium Constantiense, Augustæ Vindelicorum, mccccxcix.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
ON this day Pudentiana's angelic sister at length obtained from her Spouse release from bondage, and from the burden of exile that weighed so heavily on this last scion of a holy and illustrious stock. New races, unknown to her fathers when they laid the world at the feet of Rome, now governed the Eternal City. Nero and Domitian had been actuated by a tyrannical spirit; but the philosophical Cæsars showed how absolutely they misconceived the destinies of the great city. The salvation of Rome lay in the hands of a different dynasty: a century back Praxedes' grandfather, more legitimate inheritor of the traditions of the Capitol than all the emperors present or to come, hailed in his guest, Simon Bar-Jona, the ruler of the future. Host of the prince of the apostles was a title handed down by Pudens to his posterity: for in the time of Pius I, as in that of St. Peter, his house was still the shelter of the Vicar of Christ. Left the sole heiress of such traditions, Praxedes, after the death of her beloved sister, converted her palaces into churches, which resounded day and night with divine praises, and where pagans hastened in crowds to be baptized. The policy of Antoninus respected the dwelling of a descendant of the Comelii; but his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, would make no such exception. An assault was made upon the title of Praxedes, and many Christians were taken and put to the sword. The virgin, overpowered with grief at seeing all slain around her, and herself untouched, turned to God and besought Him that she might die. Her body was laid with those of her relatives in the cemetery of her grandmother, Priscilla. The following is the short notice given by the Church:
Praxedes, virgo Romana, Pudentianæ virginis soror, Marco Antonino imperatore Christianos persequente, eos facultatibus, opera, consolatione et omni charitatis officio prosequebatur. Nam alios domi occultabat; alios ad fidei constantiam hortabatur: aliorum corpora sepeliebat: iis, qui in carcere inclusi erant, qui in ergastulis exercebantur, nulla re deerat. Quæ cum tantam Christianorum stragem jam ferre non posset, Deum precata est, ut, si mori expediret, se e tantis malis eriperet. ltaque duodecimo calendas Augusti ad pietatis prremia vocatur in crelum. Cujus corpus a Pastore presbytero in patris et sororis Pudentiana? sepulcrum illatum est, quod erat in cremeterio Priscillæ, via Salaria.
Praxedes was a Roman virgin and sister of the virgin Pudentiana. 'Vhen the emperor Marcus Antoninus persecuted the Christians, she devoted both her time and her wealth to consoling them, and doing them every charitable service in her power. Some she concealed in her house: others she encouraged to firmness of faith. She buried the dead, and saw that those who were imprisoned wanted for nothing. But at length being unable to bear the grief caused by such a wholesale butchery of the Christians, she prayed God that if it were expedient for her to die He would take her away from so much evil. Her prayer was heard, and on the twelfth of the Calends of August, she was called to heaven, to receive the reward of her charity. Her body was buried by the priest Pastor in the tomb where lay her father and her sister Pudentiana, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way.
Mother Church is ever grateful to thee, O Praxedes! Thou hast long been in the enjoyment of thy divine Spouse, and still thou continuest the traditions of thy noble family, for the benefit of the saints on earth. When, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the martyrs, exposed to the profanations of the Lombards, were raised from their tombs and brought within the walls of the Eternal City, Paschal I sought hospitality for them where Peter had found it in the first century. What a day was that of July 20, 817, when, leaving the Catacombs, 2,300 of these heroes of Christ came to seek in the title of Praxedes the repose which the barbarians had disturbed! What a tribute Rome offered thee, O Virgin, on that day! Can we do better than unite our homage with that of the glorious band, coming on the day of thy blessed feast, thus to acknowledge thy benefits? Descendant of Pudens and Priscilla, give us thy love of Peter, thy devotedness to the Church, thy zeal for the saints of God, whether militant still on earth or already reigning in glory.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘THREE saints,’ said our Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, 'have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalen.’[1] The Fathers tell us that Magdalen is a type of the Gentile Church, called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness; and, indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wanderings and the love of the human race, espoused by the Word of God. Like the most illustrious characters of the law of grace, she has her antitype in past ages. Let us follow the history of this great penitent as traced by unanimous tradition: Magdalen’s glory will not be thereby diminished.
When, before all ages, God decreed to manifest His glory, He willed to reign over a world drawn from nothing; and as His goodness was equal to His power, He would have the triumph of supreme love to be the law of that kingdom, which the Gospel likens unto a king who made a marriage for his son.[2]
Passing over the pure intelligences whose nine choirs are filled with divine light, the immortal Son of the King of ages looked down to the extreme limits of creation; there he beheld human nature, made, indeed, to know God, but acquiring that knowledge laboriously; its weakness would better show His divine condescension: with it, then, He chose to contract His alliance.
Man is flesh and blood: so the Son of God would be made Flesh; He would not have angels, but men for His brothers. He that in heaven is the Splendour of His Father, and on earth the most beautiful of the sons of men, would draw the human racewith the cords of Adam.[3] In the very act of creation He sealed His espousals by raising man to the supernatural state of grace, and placing him in the paradise of expectation.
Alas! the human race knew not how to await her Bridegroom even in the shades of Eden. Cast out of the garden of delights, she prostituted to vain idols in their groves what was left her of her glory. For she had much beauty still, the gift of her Spouse, though she had profaned it: Thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.[4]
God would not suffer His love to be defeated. Leaving humanity at large to walk in the ways of folly, He chose out a single people, sprung from a holy stock, to be the guardian of His promises. Coming forth from Egypt and from the midst of a barbarous nation, this people was consecrated to God and became His inheritance. In the person of Balaam, the former Bride saw Israel pass through the desert, and filled with admiration at the glory of the Lord dwelling with him in his tent, her heart for a moment beat with bridal love. I shall see Him, she cried in her transport, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not near.[5] From those wild heights whence the Spouse would one day call her, she hailed the Star that was to rise out of Jacob, and predicted the ruin of the Hebrew people who had supplanted her for a time.
Too soon was this sublime ecstasy followed by still more culpable wanderings! How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? Know thou, and see, that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God.[6] But the ages are passing, the night will soon be over, and the day-star will arise, the sign of the Bridegroom gathering the nations. Let Him lead thee into the wilderness and there He will speak to thy heart. Thy rival knows not how to be a queen; the alliance of Sinai has produced but a slave. The Bridegroom still waits for His Bride.
At length the hour came: bending the heavens, He was made sin[7] for sinful men; and hidden under the servile garb of mortals, He sat down to table in the house of the proud Pharisee. The haughty Synagogue, who would neither fast with John nor rejoice with Christ, was now to see God justifying the delays of His merciful love. ' Let us not, like Pharisees,' says St. Ambrose, 'despise the counsels of God. The sons of Wisdom are singing: listen to their voices, attend to their dances; it is the hour of the nuptials. Thus sang the prophet when he said: Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus.'[8]
And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; and standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.[9] ‘Who is this woman? Without doubt it is the Church,' answers St. Peter Chrysologus, 'the Church, weighed down and stained with sins committed in the city of this world. At the news that Christ has appeared in Judea, that He is to be seen at the banquet of the Pasch, where He bestows His mysteries and reveals the divine Sacrament, and makes known the secret of salvation, suddenly she darts forward; despising the endeavours of the Scribes to prevent her entrance, she confronts the princes of the Synagogue; burning with desire she penetrates into the sanctuary, where she finds Him whom she seeks, betrayed by Jewish perfidy even at the banquet of love; not the passion, nor the Cross, nor the tomb can check her faith, or prevent her from bringing her perfumes to Christ.’[10]
Who but the Church knows the secret of this perfume? asks Paulinus of Nola with Ambrose of Milan; the Church, whose numberless flowers have all aromas; the Church, who exhales before God a thousand sweet odours aroused by the breath of the Holy Spirit—viz., the virtues of nations and the prayers of the saints. Mingling the perfume of her conversion with her tears of repentance, she anoints the feet of her Lord, honouring in them His humanity. Her faith, whereby she is justified, grows equally with her love: soon the Head of the Spouse—that is, His divinity—receives from her the homage of the full measure of pure and precious spikenard—to wit, consummate holiness, whose heroism goes so far as to break the vessel of mortal flesh by the martyrdom of love, if not by that of tortures.
Arrived at the height of the mystery, she forgets not even there those sacred feet, whose contact delivered her from the seven devils representing all vices; for to the heart of the Bride, as in the bosom of the Father, her Lord is still both God and Man. The Jew, who would not own Christ either for head or foundation, found no fragrant oil for His head, nor even water for His feet; she, on the contrary, pours her priceless perfume over both. And while the sweet odour of her perfect faith fills the earth, now become by the victory of that faith the house of the Lord, she continues to wipe her Master's feet with her beautiful hair—i.e., her countless good works and her ceaseless prayer. The growth of this mystical hair requires all her care here on earth; and in heaven its abundance and beauty will call forth the praise of Him who jealously counts, without losing one, all the works of His Church. Then from her own head, as from that of her Spouse, will the fragrant unction of the Holy Spirit overflow even to the skirt of her garment.
Thou despisest, O Pharisee, the poor woman weeping with love at the feet of thy divine Guest, whom thou knowest not; but ‘I would rather,’ cries the solitary of Nola, ‘ be bound up in her hair at the feet of Christ, than be seated with thee near Christ, yet without Him.'[11] Happy sinner to be, both in her life of sin and that of grace, the figure of the Church, even so far as to have been foreseen and announced by the prophets. For such is the teaching of St. Jerome and St. Cyril of Alexandria; while Venerable Bede, gathering up, according to his wont, the traditions of his predecessors, does not hesitate to assert that ‘ what Magdalen once did, remains the type of what the whole Church does, and of what every perfect soul must ever do.’[12]
We can well understand the predilection of the Man-God for this soul, whose repentance from such a depth of misery manifested so fully, from the outset, the success of His mission, the defeat of Satan, and the triumph of divine love. While Israel was expecting from the Messias nought but perishable goods, when the very apostles, including John the beloved, were looking for honours and first places, she was the first to come to Jesus for Himself alone, and not for His gifts. Eager only for pardon and love, she chose for her portion those sacred feet, wearied in the search after the wandering sheep: here was the blessed altar whereon she offered to her divine Deliverer as many holocausts of herself, says St. Gregory, as she had had vain objects of complacency. Henceforth her goods and her person were at the disposal of Jesus; the rest of her life was to be spent sitting at His feet, contemplating the mysteries of His life, gathering up His every word, following His footsteps, as He preached the Kingdom of God. How swiftly, in the light of her humble confidence, did she outstrip the Synagogue and the very just themselves! The Pharisee might be indignant, her sister might complain, the apostles might murmur: Mary held her peace; but Jesus spoke for her, as if His Sacred Heart were hurt by the least word said against her. At the death of Lazarus the Master had to call her from the mysterious repose wherein even then she was seated; her presence at the tomb was of more avail than the whole college of apostles and the crowd of Jews. One word from her, though already said by Martha who had arrived first, was more powerful than all the words of the latter; her tears made the Man-God weep, and drew from Him that groan which He uttered before recalling the dead man to life-that divine trouble of a God overcome by His creature. Oh truly, for others as well as for herself, for the world as well as for God, Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her.[13]
In all that we have said, we have but linked together the testimonies of a veneration universally consistent. But the homage of all the doctors together cannot compare with the honour which the Church pays to the humble Magdalen, when she applies to the Queen of heaven on her glorious Assumption day the Gospel words first uttered in praise of the justified sinner. Albert the Great[14] assures us that, in the world of grace as well as in the material creation, God has made two great lights-to wit, two Maries, the Mother of our Lord and the sister of Lazarus: the greater, which is the Blessed Virgin, to rule the day of innocence; the lesser, which is Mary the penitent beneath the feet of that glorious Virgin, to rule the night by enlightening repentant sinners. As the moon by its phases points out the feast days on earth, so Magdalen in heaven gives the signal of joy to the angels of God over one sinner doing penance. Does she not also share with the Immaculate One the name of Mary, Star of the sea, as the Churches of Gaul sang in the Middle Ages, recalling how, though one was a Queen and the other a handmaid, both were causes of joy to the Church: the one being the gate of salvation, the other the messenger of the Resurrection?[15]
On that great Easter day, Magdalen, like a morning star, announced the rising of the Sun of Justice, who was never more to set. ‘Woman,’ said Jesus to her, ‘why weepest thou? Thou art not mistaken.’ He seemed to say, ‘It is, indeed, the Divine Gardener speaking to thee, the same that planted Eden in the beginning. But now dry thy tears; in this new garden, whose centre is an empty tomb, Paradise is restored; the angels no longer close the entrance; here is the Tree of Life, which has borne fruit these three days past. This fruit, which thou, O woman, art eager, as of old, to seize and taste, belongs to thee now by right; for thou art no longer Eve but Mary. If thou art bidden not to touch it yet, it is because, as thou wouldst not heretofore taste the fruit of death thyself alone, thou mayest not now enjoy the fruit of life till thou bring back him that was first lost through thee.' Thus by the wisdom and mercy of our God, woman is raised to a greater dignity than before the Fall. Magdalen, to whom woman is indebted for this glorious revenge, has hence obtained in the Church’s litanies the place of honour above even the virgins; as John the Baptist precedes the whole army of the saints on account of his privilege of being the first witness to our salvation. The testimony of the penitent completes that of the Precursor: on the word of John the Church recognized the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world; on the word of Magdalen she hails the Spouse triumphant over death.[16] And, judging that by this last testimony Catholic belief is put in full possession of the entire cycle of mysteries, she to-day intones the immortal symbol, which she deemed premature for the feast of Zachary’s son.
O Mary! how great didst thou appear before heaven at that solemn moment when, before the world knew aught of the triumph of life, our Emmanuel the conqueror said to thee: Go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.[17] Thou didst represent us Gentiles, who were not to obtain possession of our Lord by faith till after His ascension into heaven. These brethren, to whom the Man-God sent thee, were doubtless those privileged men whom He had called to know Him during His mortal life, and to whom thou, O apostle of the apostles, hadst to announce the mystery of the Pasch; and yet, in His loving mercy, the divine Master intended to show Himself that same day to many of them; and both thou and they were soon to be witnesses of His triumphant Ascension. Is it not evident that thy mission, O Magdalen, though addressed to the immediate disciples of our Lord, was to extend much further both in space and time? As He entered into His glory, the Conqueror of death already beheld these brethren filling the whole earth. It is of them He had said in the psalm: I will declare thy name to My brethren: in the midst of the Church will I praise thee; in the midst of a people that shall be bom which the Lord hath made.[18] It is of them and of us, the generation to come, to whom the Lord was to be declared, that He said to thee: Go to My brethren and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God. Thou didst come, and thou comest continually, fulfilling thy mission towards the disciples, and saying to them: I have seen the Lord, and these things He said to me.[19]
Thou camest, O Mary, when our West beheld thee, treading the rocks of Provence with thine apostolic feet, whose beauty Cyril of Alexandria admires. There seven times a day, raised on angels’ wings towards the Spouse, thou didst point out, more eloquently than any speech could do, the way He took, the way the Church must follow by her desires, until she is reunited with Him for ever. Thou didst prove that the apostolate in its highest reach does not depend on words. In heaven the Seraphim and Cherubim and Thrones gaze unceasingly upon the Eternal Trinity, without so much as glancing at this world of nothingness; and nevertheless it is through them that pass the strength and light and love which the heavenly messengers in the lower hierarchies distribute to us on earth. Thus, O Magdalen, though thou clingest ever to the sacred feet which are now not denied to thy love, and thy life is unreservedly absorbed with Christ in God, thou seemest more than any other to be always saying to us: If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.[20]
O thou, whose choice, so highly approved by our Lord, has revealed to the world the better part, obtain that that portion may be ever appreciated in the Church as the better—viz., that divine contemplation which begins here on earth the life of heaven, and which in its fruitful repose is the source of all the graces spread by the active ministry throughout the world. Death itself does not take away that portion, but assures its possession for ever, and makes it blossom into the full, direct vision. May he that has received it from the gratuitous goodness of God never strive to dispossess himself of it! ‘Happy house,’ says the devout St. Bernard, 'blessed assembly, where Martha complains of Mary! But how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous of Martha!’[21] And St. Jude tells us the awful judgment of the angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation.[22] Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility; they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain: and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than thou, O Magdalen, become indifferent to the lost sheep; but they take the surest of all means for purifying the earth and drawing souls to God.
From thy church at Vezelay thou didst look down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross; they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade, not the least glory whereof is to have supernaturalized the sentiments of honour in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defence of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of last century; Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his army a Temple of glory; before the building was completed he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to thee. O Mary! bless this last homage of thy beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration thy hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and thy church at Saint Maximin, where rest thy precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with thee in His Ascension Him who once sent thee to us, saying: Go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father, and to your Father, to My God and to your God!
During the different seasons of the year Holy Church inserts in their proper places, as so many precious pearls, the various passages of the Gospel relating to St. Mary Magdalen; for the particulars of her life after the Ascension we are referred to the feast of her sister, St. Martha, which we shall keep in a week’s time. To the liturgical pieces already given in this work in praise of St. Magdalen we add the following ancient sequence, well known in the churches of Germany, to which we subjoin a responsory and the collect of the feast from the Roman Breviary:
Sequence
[...]
Responsory
Congratulami mihi, omnes qui diligitis Dominum, quia quem quærebam apparuit mihi:
* Et dum flerem ad monumentum, vidi Dominum meum, alleluia.
℣. Recedentibus discipulis, non recedebam, et amoris ejus igne succensa, ardebam desiderio. * Et dum.
Congratulate me, all ye that love the Lord; for He whom I sought appeared to me:
* and while I wept at the tomb, I saw my Lord, alleluia.
℣. When the disciples withdrew, I did not withdraw, and being kindled with the fire of His love, I burned with desire. * And while.
Prayer
Beatæ Mariæ Magdalenæ, quæsumus Domine, sufiragiis adjuvemur: cujus precibus exoratus quatriduanum fratrem Lazarum vivum ab inferis resuscitasti. Qui vivis.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be helped by the intercession of blessed Mary Magdalen, entreated by whose prayers Thou didst raise up again to life her brother Lazarus, who had been dead four days. Who livest, etc.
[1] Revelationes S. Birgittæ, lib. iv., cap. 108.
[2] St. Matt. xxii. 2.
[3] Osee xi. 4.
[4] Ezech. xvi. 14.
[5] Num. xxiv. 17.
[6] Jerem. xxxi. 22, and ii. 19.
[7] 2 Cor. v. 21.
[8] Amb. in Luc.
[9] St. Luke vii. 37, 38.
[10] Pet. Chrysol. Sermo xcv.
[11] Paulin. Ep. xxiii. 42.
[12] Beda in xii. Joann.
[13] St. Luke x. 42.
[14] ALBERT. MAGN. In vii. Luc.
[15] Sequence Mane prima sabbati.-Paschal Time, Vol. I., p. 287.
[16] Sequence of Easter day.
[17] St. John xx. 17.
[18] Ps. xxi. 23, 32.
[19] St. John xx. 18.
[20] Col. iii. 1, 2.
[21] BERN. Sermo iii. in Assumpt. B.V.M.
[22] St. Jude 6.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
RAVENNA, the mother of cities, invites us to-day to honour the martyr bishop, whose labours did more for her lasting renown than did the favour of emperors and kings. From the midst of her ancient monuments, the rival of Rome, though now fallen, points proudly to her unbroken chain of Pontiffs, which she can trace back to the Vicar of the Man-God through Apollinaris. This great saint has been praised by Fathers and Doctors of the Universal Church, his sons and successors. Would to God that the noble city had remembered what she owed to St. Peter!
Apollinaris had left family and fatherland and all he possessed to follow the Prince of the apostles. One day the master said to the disciple: ‘Why stayest thou here with us? Behold thou art instructed in all that Jesus did; rise up, receive the Holy Ghost, and go to that city which knows Him not.' And blessing him, he kissed him and sent him away.[1] Such sublime scenes of separation, often witnessed in those early days, and many a time since repeated, show by their heroic simplicity the grandeur of the Church.
Apollinaris sped to the sacrifice. Christ, says St. Peter Chrysologus,[2] hastened to meet His martyr, the martyr pressed on towards His King; but the Church, anxious to keep this support of her infancy, intervened to defer, not the struggle, but the crown; and for twenty-nine years, adds St. Peter Damian,[3] his martrydom was piolonged through such innumerable torments that the labours of Apollinaris alone were sufficient testimony of the faith tor those regions, which had no other witness unto blood. According to the traditions of the Church he so powerfully established, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove directly and visibly designated each of the twelve successors of Apollinaris, up to the age of peace.
The holy liturgy devotes the following lines to the history of this brave apostle:
Apollinaris cum principe apostolorum Antiochia Romam venit: a quo ordinatus episcopus, Ravennam ad Christi Domini Evangelium prædicandum mittitur: ubi cum ad Christi fidem plurimos converteret, captus ab idolorum sacerdotibus graviter cæsus est. Cumque ipso orante Bonifacius nobilis vir, qui diu mutus fuerat, loqueretur, ejusque filia immundo spiritu liberata esset; iterum est in ilium commota seditio. Itaque virgis cæsus, ardentes carbones nudis pedibus premere cogitur: quem cum subjectus ignis nihil læderet, ejicitur extra urbem.
Is vero latens aliquamdiu cum quibusdam Christianis, inde profectus est in Æmiliam, ubi Rufini patricii filiam mortuam ad vitam revocavit: ut propterea tota Rufini familia in Jesum Christum crederet. Quare vehementerincensus præfectus accersit Apollinarem, et cum eo gravius agit, ut finem faciat disseminandi in urbe Christi fidem. Cujus cum Apollinaris jussa negligeret, equuleo cruciatur: in cujus plagas aqua fervens infunditur, saxoque os tunditur: mox ferreis vinculis constrictus includitur in carcere. Quarto die impositus in navem, mittitur in exsilium: ac facto naufragio venit in Mysiam, inde ad ripam Danubii, postea in Thraciam.
Cum autem in Serapidis tempio dæmon se responsa daturum negaret, dum ibidem Petri apostoli discipulus moraretur, diu conquisitus inventus est Apollinaris: qui iterum jubetur navigare. Ita reversus Ravennam, ab iisdem illis idolorum sacerdotibus accusatus, centurioni custodiendus traditur: qui cum occulte Christum coleret, noctu Apollinarem dimisit. Re cognita, satellites eum persequuntur, et plagis in itinere confectum, quod mortuum crederent, relinquunt. Quem cum inde Christiani sustulissent, septimo die exhortans illos ad fidei constantiam, martyrii gloria clarus migravit e vita. Cujus corpus prope murum urbis sepultum est.
Apollinaris came to Rome from Antioch with the prince of the apostles, by whom he was consecrated bishop, and sent to Ravenna to preach the Gospel of our Lord Christ. He converted many to the faith of Christ, for which reason he was seized by the priests of the idols and severely beaten. At his prayer, a nobleman named Boniface, who had long been dumb, recovered the power of speech, and his daughter was delivered from an unclean spirit; on this account a fresh sedition was raised against Apollinaris. He was beaten with rods, and made to walk barefoot over burning coals; but as the fire did him no injury, he was driven from the city.
He lay hid some time in the house of certain Christians, and then went to Æmilia. Here he raised from the dead the daughter of Rufinus, a patrician, whose whole family thereupon believed in Jesus Christ. The prefect was greatly angered by this conversion, and sending for Apollinaris he sternly commanded, him to give over propagating the faith of Christ in the city. But as Apollinaris paid no attention to his commands, he was tortured on the rack, boiling water was poured upon his wounds, and his mouth was bruised and broken with a stone; finally he was loaded with irons, and shut up in prison. Four days afterwards he was put on board ship and sent into exile; but the boat was wrecked, and Apollinaris arrived in Mysia, whence he passed to the banks of the Danube and into Thrace.
In the temple of Serapis the demon refused to utter his oracles so long as the disciple of the apostle Peter remained there. Search was made for some time, and then Apollinaris was discovered and commanded to depart by sea. Thus he returned to Ravenna; but on the accusation of the same priests of the idols, he was placed in the custody of a centurion. As this man, however, worshipped Christ in secret, Apollinaris was allowed to escape by night. When this, became known, he was pursued and overtaken by the guards, who loaded him with blows and left him, as they thought, dead. He was carried away by the Christians, and seven days after, while exhorting them to constancy in the faith, he passed away from this life, to be crowned with the glory of martyrdom. His body was buried near the city walls.
Venantius Fortunatus,[4] coming from Ravenna to our northern lands, has taught us to salute from afar thy glorious tomb. Answer us by the wish thou didst frame during the days of thy mortal life: May the peace of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, rest upon you! Peace, the perfect gift, the first greeting of an apostle, the consummation of all grace: how thou didst appreciate it, how jealous of it thou wert for thy sons, even after thou hadst quitted this earth! By it thou didst obtain from the God of peace and love that miraculous intervention which pointed out, for so long a time, the bishops who were to succeed thee in thy see. Thou didst thyself appear one day to the Roman Pontiff, showing him Peter Chrysologus as the elect of Peter and of Apollinaris. And later on, knowing that the cloister was to be the home of the divine peace banished from the rest of the world, thou camest twice in person to bid Romuald obey the call of grace, and go and people the desert. How comes it that more than one of thy successors, no longer, alas! designated by the divine dove, should have become intoxicated with earthly favours, and so soon have forgotten the lessons left by thee to thy Church? Was it not sufficient honour for that Church, the daughter of Rome, to occupy among her illustrious sisters the first place at her mother's side?[5] For surely the Gospel sung on this feast for now twelve centuries, and perhaps more,[6] ought to have been a safeguard against the deplorable excesses which hastened her fall. Rome, warned by sinister indications, seems to have foreseen the sacrilegious ambition of a Guibert, when she fixed her choice on this passage of the sacred text: There was also a strife amongst the disciples, which of them should seem to he the greater.[7] And what more significant, and at the same time more touching, commentary could have been given to this Gospel than the words of St. Peter himself in the Epistle: The ancients therefore, that are among you, I beseech who am myself also an ancient, to feed the flock of God, not as lording it over the clergy, hut being models to them of disinterestedness and love; and let all insinuate humility one to another, for God resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth grace.[8] Pray, O Apollinaris, that both pastor and flocks throughout the Church may, now at least, profit by these apostolic and divine teachings, so that we may all one day have a place at the eternal banquet, where our Lord invites His own to sit down with Peter and with thee in His Kingdom.
[1] Passio S. Apollin. ap. BOLLAND.
[2] PETR. CHRYS. Sermo cxxviii.
[3] PETR. Dam. Sermo vi. de S. Eleuchadio.
[4] Vbnan. Fomtunat. Vita Sti. Martini, lib. iv., v. 684.
[5] Diplom. CLEMENTlS 11. Quod propulsis.
[6] Kalendar, FRONTON
[7] St. Luke xxii. 24-30.
[8] Cf. 1 Pet. v. 1.11.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
While Apollinaris adorns holy Mother Church with the bright purple of his martyrdom, another noble son crowns her brow with the white wreath of a confessor pontiff. Liborius, the heir of Julian, Thuribius, and Pavasius, was a brilliant link in the glorious chain connecting the church of Le Mans with Clement, the successor of St. Peter; he came to bring peace after the storm, and to restore to the earth a hundredfold fruitfulness after the ruin caused by the tempest. The fanatical disciples of Odin, invading the west of Gaul, had committed more havoc in this part of our Lord’s vineyard than had the proconsuls with their cold legalism, or the ancient Druids with their fierce hatred. Liborius, defender of the earthly fatherland, and guide of souls to the heavenly one, brought the enemy to be citizen of both by making him Christian. As a pontiff, he laboured with purest zeal for the magnificence of divine worship, which renders homage to God, and gives health to the earth; as apostle, he took up again the work of evangelization begun by the first messengers of the faith, driving idolatry from the strongholds it had reconquered, and from the country parts, where it had always reigned supreme: his friend St. Martin had not in this respect a more worthy rival.
Five centuries after the close of his laborious life his blessed body was removed from the sanctuary where it lay among his fellow-bishops, and scattering miracles all along the way, was carried to Paderborn; pagan barbarism once more fled at the approach of Liborius, and Westphalia was won to Christ. Le Mans and Paderborn, uniting in the veneration of their common apostle, have thus sealed a friendship which a thousand years have not destroyed.
Prayer
Da, quæsumus omnipotens Deus, ut beati Liborii, confessons tui atque pontificis, veneranda solemnitas et devotionem nobis augeat, et salutem. Per Dominum.
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that the venerable solemnity of blessed Liborius, Thy confessor and bishop, may contribute to the increase of our devotion, and promote our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.