September
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
At Sion in Valais, at a place called Agaunum, the birthday of the holy martyrs Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, Victor, Innocent, and Vitalis, with their companions of the Theban legion, who were massacred under Maximian for the name of Christ, and filled the whole world with the renown of their martyrdom.[1] Let us unite with Rome in paying honour to these valiant soldiers, the glorious patrons of Christian armies as well as of numerous churches. ‘Emperor,’ said they, ‘we are thy soldiers, but we are also the servants of God. To Him we took our first oaths; if we break them, how canst thou trust us to keep our oaths to thee?’[2] No command, no discipline can overrule our baptismal engagements. Every soldier is bound, in honour and in conscience, to obey the Lord of hosts rather than all human commanders, who are but His subalterns.
Prayer
Annue, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut sanctorum martyrum tuorum Mauritii et sociorum ejus nos lætificet festiva solemnitas; ut quorum suffragiis nitimur, eorum natalitiis gloriemur. Por Dominum.
Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that the festive solemnity of thy holy martyrs, Maurice and his companions, may give us joy, that we may glory in their festival on whose help we rely. Through our Lord.
[1] Martyrology for this day.
[2] Eucher. ad Sylvium.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity; just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. Let us leave the learned to discuss certain points in the following short legend; as for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast, and pay our loving veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff, who was the first laid to rest beside St. Peter in the Vatican crypts.
Linus Pontifex, Volaterris in Etruria natus, primus post Petrum gubernavit Ecclesiam. Cujus tanta fides et sanctitas fuit, ut non solum dæmones ejiceret, sed etiam mortuos revocaret ad vitam. Scripsit res gestas beati Petri, et ea maxime quæ ab illo acta sunt contra Simonem Magum. Sancivit ne qua mulier, nisi velato capite, in ecclesiam introiret. Huic Pontifici caput amputatum est ob constantiam christianæ fidei, jussu Saturnini impii et ingratissimi consularis, cujus filiam a dæmonum vexatione libera verat. Sepultus est in Vaticano prope sepulchrum principis apostolorum, nono calendas Octobris. Sedit annos undecim, menses duos, dies viginti tres, creatis bis mense Decembri episcopis quindecim, presbyteris decem et octo.
Pope Linus was born at Volterra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed St. Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great, that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Simon Magus. He decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul, whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Kalends of October. He governed the Church eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated fifteen bishops and eighteen priests.
Simon Barjona was invested with the sovereign pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all; thou, O blessed Pontiff, didst receive in secret, yet none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. In thy person began the reign of pure faith; henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: 'feed my lambs,’ nevertheless acknowledges the continuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by thy prayers, that the shadows of earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience; and that hereafter we may merit, with thee, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
While honouring the first successor of St. Peter, Rome commemorates the protomartyr of the female sex. Together with holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon Thecla by the fathers of east and west. When the martyr pontiff Methodius gave his ‘Banquet of virgins’ to the Church, about the end of the third century, it is on the brow of the virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of the crowns distributed at the banquet of the Spouse. And justly so; for had not Thecla been trained by Paul, who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science? Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge; her magnanimity of purpose was equalled by her courage; while, strong in the virginal purity of her soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts, and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple martyrdom.
A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has taken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry. When the feast is over, and the virgins rise to give thanks to the Lord, Thecla leads the chorus, singing:
For thee, O Bridegroom,
I keep myself pure;
and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.I have fled from the bitter pleasures of mortals,
and the luxurious delights of life and its love;
under Thy life-giving arms I desire to be protected,
and to gaze for ever on Thy beauty, O blessed One.For Thee, O Bridegroom,
I keep myself pure;
and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.I have contemned union with mortal man;
I have left my golden home for Thee, O King;
I have come in undefiled robes,
that I may enter with Thee into Thy happy bridal chamber.For Thee, O Bridegroom,
I keep myself pure;
and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the serpent,
and triumphed over the flaming fire
and the attacks of wild beasts,
I await Thee from heaven.For Thee, O Bridegroom,
I keep myself pure;
and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.Through love of Thee, O Word, I have forgotten the land of my birth;
I have forgotten the virgins my companions,
and even the desire of mother and of kindred;
for Thou, O Christ, art all things to me.For Thee, O Bridegroom,
I keep myself pure;
and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.[1]
Prayer
Da, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut qui beatæ Theclæ virginis et martyris tuæ natalitia colimus, et annua soleranitate lætemur, et tantæ fidei proficiamus exemplo. Per Dominum.
Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that we, who celebrate the festival of blessed Theda, thy virgin and martyr, may rejoice in her annual solemnity, and make progress by the example of such great faith. Through our Lord.
[1] Method. Conviv. dec. virg. vii, viii, xi.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The Office of the time gives us, at the close of September, the Books of Judith and Esther. These heroic women were figures of Mary, whose birthday is the honour of this month, and who comes at once to bring assistance to the world.
‘Adonai, Lord God, great and admirable, who hast wrought salvation by the hand of a woman:’[1] the Church thus introduces the history of the heroine, who delivered Bethulia by the sword, whereas Mardoohai’s niece rescued her people from death by her winsomeness and her intercession. The Queen of heaven, in her peerless perfection, outshines them both, in gentleness, in valour, and in beauty. Today’s feast is a memorial of the strength she puts forth for the deliverance of her people.
Finding their power crushed in Spain, and in the east checked by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the Saracens, in the twelfth century, became wholesale pirates, and scoured the seas to obtain slaves for the African markets. We shudder to think of the numberless victims, of every age, sex, and condition, suddenly carried off from the coasts of Christian lands, or captured on the high seas, and condemned to the disgrace of the harem or the miseries of the bagnio. Here, nevertheless, in many an obscure prison, were enacted scenes of heroism worthy to compare with those witnessed in the early persecutions; here was a new field for Christian charity; new horizons opened out for heroic self-devotion. Is not the spiritual good thence arising a sufficient reason for the permission of temporal ills? Without this permission, heaven would have for ever lacked a portion of its beauty.
When, in 1696, Innocent XII extended this feast to the whole Church, he afforded the world an opportunity of expressing its gratitude by a testimony as universal as the benefit received.
Differing from the Order of holy Trinity, which had been already twenty years in existence, the Order of Mercy was founded as it were in the very face of the Moors; and hence it originally numbered more knights than clerks among its members. It was called the royal, military, and religious Order of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives. The clerics were charged with the celebration of the Divine Office in the commandaries; the knights guarded the coasts, and undertook the perilous enterprise of ransoming Christian captives. St. Peter Nolasco was the first Commander or Grand Master of the Order; when his relics were discovered, he was found armed with sword and cuirass.
In the following lines the Church gives us her thoughts upon facts which we have already learnt.[2]
Quo tempore major feliciorque Hispaniarum pars diro Saracenorum opprimebatur jugo, innumerique fideles sub immani servitute, maximo cum periculo christianæ fidei abjurandæ ammitendæque salutis æternæ, infeliciter detinebantur, beatissima cœlorum Regina, tot tantisque benigniter occurrens malis, nimiam caritatem suam in iis redimendis ostendit. Nam sancto Petro Nolasco, pietate et opibus fiorenti, qui sanctis vacans meditationibus jugiter animo recogitabat qua ratione tot Christianorum ærumnis sub Maurorum captivitate degentium succurri posset, ipsamet beatissima Virgo serena fronte se conspiciendam dedit, et acceptissimum sibi ac unigenito suo Filio fore dixit, si suum in honorem institueretur Ordo religiosorum, quibus cura incumberet captivos e Turcarum tyrannide liberandi. Qua cœlesti visione vir Dei recreatus, mirum est, quo caritatis ardore flagrare cœperit, hoc unum servans in corde suo, ut ipse, ac instituenda ab eo religio maximam illam caritatem sedulo exercerent, ut quisque animam suam poneret pro amicis et proximis suis.
Ea ipsa nocte eadem Virgo sanctissima beato Raymundo de Pennafort, et Jacobo Aragoniæ regi apparuit, idipsum de religiosis instituendis admonens, suadensque, ut opem pro constructione tanti operis ferrent.Petrus autem statim ad Raymundi pedes, qui ipsi erat a sacris confessionibus, advolans, ei rem omnem aperuit: quem etiam cœlitus instractum reperit, ejusque directioni se humiilime subjecit. At superve mens Jacobus rex, quam et ipse acceperat a beatissima Virgine, revelationem exsequi statuit. Unde collatis inter se consiliis, et consentientibus animis, in honorem ejusdem Virginis Matris Ordinem instituere aggressi sunt, sub invocatione sanctæ Mariæ de Mercede Redemptionis captivorum.
Die igitur decima Augusti anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo decimo octavo, rex idem Jacobus eam institutionem jampridem ab iisdem sanctis viris conceptam exsequi statuit, sodalibus quarto voto adstrictis, manendi in pignus sub paganorum potestate, si pro christianorum liberatione opus fuerit. Quibus rex ipse arma sua regia in pectore deferre concessit, et a Gregorio nono illud tam præcellentis erga proximum caritatis institutum et religionem confirmari curavit. Sed et ipse Deus per Virginem Matrem incrementum dedit, ut talis institutio celerius ac felicius totum per orbem divulgaretur, sanctis que viris floruerit caritate ac pietate insignibus, qui eleemosynas a Christi fidelibus collectas in pretium redemptionis suorurn proximorum expenderent, seque ipsos interdum darent in redemptionem multorum. Ut autem tanti beneficii et institutionisdebita; Deo et Virgini Matri referantur gra tiæ, Sedea apostolica hanc peculiarem festivitatem celebran, et Officium recitan indulsit, cum alia fere innumera eidem Ordini privilegia pariter contulisset.
At the time when the Saracen yoke oppressed the larger and more fertile part of Spain, and great numbers of the faithful were detained in cruel servitude, at the great risk of denying the Christian faith and losing their eternal salvation, the most blessed Queen of heaven graciously came to remedy all these great evils, and showed her exceeding charity in redeeming her children. She appeared with beaming countenance to Peter Nolasco, a man conspicuous for wealth and piety, who in his holy meditations was ever striving to devise some means of helping the innumerable Christians living in misery as captives of the Moors. She told him it would be very pleasing to her and her onlybegotten Son, if a religious Order were instituted in her honour, whose members should devote themselves to delivering captives from Turkish tyranny. Animated by this heavenly vision, the man of God was inflamed with burning love, having but one desire at heart, viz: that both he and the Order he was to found, might be devoted to the exercise of that highest charity, the laying down of life for one’s friends and neighbours.
That same night, the most holy Virgin appeared also to blessed Raymund of Pegnafort, and to James king of Aragon, telling them of her wish to have the Order instituted, and exhorting them to lend their aid to so great an undertaking. Meanwhile Peter hastened to relate the whole matter to Raymund, who was his confessor; and finding it had been already revealed to him from heaven, submitted humbly to his direction. King James next arrived, fully resolved to carry out the instructions he also had received from the blessed Virgin. Having therefore taken counsel together and being all of one mind, they set about instituting an Order in honour of the Virgin Mother, under the invocation of our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives.
On the tenth of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and eighteen, king James put into execution what the two holy men had planned. The members of the Order bound themselves by a fourth vow to remain, when necessary, as securities in the power of the pagans, in order to deliver Christians. The king granted them licence to bear his royal arms upon their breast, and obtained from Gregory IX the confirmation of this religious institute distinguished by such eminent brotherly charity. God himself gave increase to the work, through his Virgin Mother; so that the Order spread rapidly and prosperously over the whole worldIt soon reckoned many holy men remarkable for their charity and piety who collected alms from Christ’s faithful, to be spent in redeeming their brethren; and sometimes gave themselves up as ransom for many others. In order that due thanks might be rendered to God and his Virgin Mother for the benefit of such an institution the apostolic See allowed this special feast and Office to be celebrated, and also granted innumerable other privileges to the Order.
Blessed be thou, O Mary, the honour and the joy of thy people! On the day of thy glorious Assumption, thou didst take possession of thy queenly dignity for our sake; and the annals of the human race are a record of thy merciful interventions. The captives whose chains thou hast broken, and whom thou hast set free from the degrading yoke of the Saracens, may be reckoned by millions. We are still rejoicing in the recollection of thy dear birthday; and thy smile is sufficient to dry our tears and chase away the clouds of grief. And yet, what sorrows there are still upon the earth, where thou thyself didst drink such long draughts from the cup of suffering! Sorrows are sanctifying and beneficial to some; but there are other and unprofitable griefs, springing from social injustice: the drudgery of the factory, or the tyranny of the strong over the weak, may be worse than slavery in Algiers or Tunis. Thou alone, O Mary, canst break the inextricable chains, in which the cunning prince of darkness entangles the dupes he has deceived by the highsounding names of equality and liberty. Show thyself a Queen, by coming to the rescue. The whole earth, the entire human race, cries out to thee, in the words of Mardochai: 'Speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death!’[3]
[1] Magnificat ant. 1st Vesp. 4th Sunday of September.
[2] On the feasts of St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Pegnafort, January 31 and 23.
[3] Esther xv. 3.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘Whosoever ye be, that are seduced by the mysteries of the demons, none of you can equal the zeal I once had for these false gods, nor my researches into their secrets, nor the vain power they had communicated to me, to me Cyprian, who from my infancy was given up to the service of the dragon in the citadel of Minerva. Learn from me the deceitfulness of their illusions. A virgin has proved to me that their power is but smoke. The king of the demons was arrested at the door of a mere child, and could not cross the threshold. He who promises so much is a liar. A woman makes sport of the boaster who vaunted he could shake heaven and earth. The roaring lion becomes a startled gnat before the Christian virgin Justina.’[1]
Cyprianus primum magus, postea martyr, cum Justinam, christianam virginem, quam juvenis quidam ardenter amabat, cantionibua ac veneficiis ad ejus libidinis assensum allicere conaretur, dæmonem consuluit, quanam id re consequi posset. Cui dæmon respondit, nullam illi artem processuram adversus eos qui vere Christum colerent. Quo responso com motus Cyprianus, vehementer dolere cœpit vitæ superioris institutum. Itaque relictis magicis artibus, se totum ad Christi Domini fidem convertit. Quam ob causam una cum virgine Justina comprehensus est, et ambo colaphis flagellisque cæsi sunt: mox in carcerom conjecti,si forte sententiam commutarent. Verum inde postea emissi, cum in Christiana religione constantissimi reperirentur, in sartaginem plenam ferventis picis, adipis et ceræ injecti sunt. Demum Nicomediæ securi feriuntur. Quorum projecta corpora, cum sex dies inhumata jacuissent, noctu quidam nautæ clam ea in navem imposita Romain portaverunt: ac primum in prædio Rufinæ nobilis feminæ sepulta sunt: postea translata in urbem, in basilica Constantiniana condita sunt prope baptisterium.
Cyprian, who was first a magician and afterwards a martyr, attempted, by charms and spells, to make Justina, a Christian virgin, consent to the passion of a certain young man. He consulted the devil as to the best way to succeed, and was told in reply that no art would be of any service to him against the true disciples of Christ. This answer made so great an impression on Cyprian, that, grieving bitterly over his former manner of life, he abandoned his magical arts, and was completely converted to the faith of Christ our Lord. Accused of being a Christian, he was seized together with the virgin Justina, and they were both severely scourged. They were then thrown into prison to see if they would change their mind; but on being taken out, as they remained firm in the Christian religion, they were cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, fat, and wax. Finally they were beheaded at Nicomedia. Their bodies were left six days unburied; after which some sailors carried them secretly by night to their ship, and conveyed them to Rome. They were first buried on the estate of a noble lady named Rufina, but afterwards were translated into the city and laid in Constantine’s basilica, near the baptistery.
He who sought to ruin thee is now, O virgin, thy trophy of victory; and for thee, O Cyprian, the path of crime turned aside into the way of salvation. May you together triumph over satan in this age, when spirit-dealing is seducing so many faltering, faithless souls. Teach Christians, after your example, to arm themselves, against this and every other danger, with the sign of the cross; then will the enemy be forced to say again: ‘I saw a terrible sign and I trembled; I beheld the sign of the Crucified, and my strength melted like wax.’[2]
[1] Confessio Cypriani Antiocheni, 1. 2.
[2] Acta Cypriani et Justinæ.