October
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
This glorious saint was like a beautiful lily, crowning the ancient branch of the kings of Wessex. The times had progressed since that sixth century, when the pagan Cerdic and other pirate chiefs from the North Sea scattered with ruins the island of saints. Having accomplished their mission of wrath, the Anglo-Saxons became instruments of grace to the land they had conquered. Evangelized by Rome, even as the Britons they had just chastised, they remembered, better than the latter, whence their salvation had come; a spring-tide blossoming of sanctity showed the pleasure God took once more in Albion, for the constant fidelity of the princes and people of the heptarchy towards the See of Peter. In the year of our Lord 800, Egbert, a descendant of Cerdic, had gone on pilgrimage to Rome, when a deputation from the West Saxons offered him the crown, beside the tomb of the Prince of the apostles, at whose feet Charlemagne, at that very time, was restoring the empire. As Egbert united under one sceptre the power of the seven kingdoms, so Saint Edward, his last descendant, represents to-day in his own person the glorious holiness of them all.
Nephew to St. Edward the martyr, our holy king is known to God and man by the beautiful title of the Confessor. The Church, in her account of his life, sets forth more particularly the virtues which won him so glorious an appellation; but we must remember moreover that his reign of twenty-four years was one of the happiest England has ever known. Alfred the Great had no more illustrious imitator. The Danes, so long masters, now entirely subjugated within the kingdom, and without, held at bay by the noble attitude of the prince; Macbeth, the usurper of the Scotch throne, vanquished in a campaign that Shakespeare has immortalized; St. Edward's Laws, which remain to this day the basis of the British constitution; the saint’s munificence towards all noble enterprises, while at the same time he diminished the taxes: all this proves with sufficient dearness, that the sweetness of virtue, which made him the intimate friend of St. John the beloved disciple, is not incompatible with the greatness of a monarch.
Eduardus, cognomento Confessor, nepos sancii Eduardi regis et martyris, Anglo-Saxonum regum ultimila, quem futurum regem Brithualdo viro sanctissimo in mentis excessu Dominus demonstravit, decennis a Dania Angliam vastantibus quæsitus ad necem: exsulare cogitur apud avunculum, Normanniæ ducem: ubi in mediis vitiorum illecebris talem se exhibuit integriate vitæ, morumque innocentia, ut omnibus admirationi esset. Eluxit in eo vel tum mira pietas in Deum ac res divinas, fuitque ingenio mitissimo, atque ab omni dominandi cupiditate alieno. Cujus ea vox fertur, malle se regno carere, quod sine cæde et sanguine obtineri non possit.
Exstinctis mox tyrannis, qui fratribua suis vitam et regnum eripuerant, revocatur in patriam: ubi summis omnium votis et gratulatione regno potitus, ad hostilium irarum delenda vestigia totum se convertit, a sacris exorsus ac Divorum templis: quorum alia a fundamentis erexit, alia refecit, auxitque redditibus ac privilegiis; in eam curam potissimum intentus, ut reflore sceret collapsa religio. Ab aulæ proceribus compulsum ad nuptias, constans est assertio scriptorum, cum virgine sponsa virginitatem in matrimonio servasse. Tantus in eo fuit in Christum amor et fides, ut illum aliquando inter Missarum solemnia videre meruerit blando vultu et divina luce fulgentem. Ob profusam caritatem, orphanorum et egenorum pater passim dicebatur, numquam lætior, quam cum regios thesauros exhausisset in pauperes.
Prophetiæ dono illustris, de Angliæ futuro statu multa cœlitus prævidit: et illud in primis memorabile quod Sweyni Danorum regia in mare demersi mortem, dum Angliam invadendi animo classem conscenderet, eodem quo accidit momento, divinitus intellexit. Joannem evangelistam mirifice coluit, nihil cuiquam, quod ejus nomine peteretur, negare solitus. Cui olim sub lacera veste suo nomine stipem roganti, cum nummi deessent, detractum ex digito annulum porrexit, quem Divus non ita multo post Eduardo remisit, una cum nuntio secuturæ mortis. Quare rex, indictis pro se precibus, ipso ab evangelista prædicto die, piissime obiit nonis videlicet Januarii, anno salutis millesimo sexagesimo sexto. Quem, sequenti sæculo, Alexander Papa tertius miraculis darum sanctorum fastis adscripsit. At ejus memoriam Innocentius undecimus Officio publico per universam Ecclesiam eo die celebrari præcepit, quo annis ab obitu sex et triginta translatum ejus corpus incorruptum, et suavem spirans odorem, repertum est.
Edward, surnamed the Confessor, nephew to St. Edward king and martyr, was the last king of the Anglo-Saxon race. Our Lord had revealed that he would one day be king, to a holy man named Brithwald. When Edward was ten years old, the Danes, who were devastating England, sought his life; he was therefore obliged to go into exile, to the court of his uncle the duke of Normandy. Amid the vices and temptations of the Norman court, he grew up pure and innocent, a subject of admiration to all. His pious devotion towards God and holy things was most remarkable. He was of a very gentle disposition, and so great a stranger to ambition that he was wont to say he would rather forgo the kingdom than take possession of it by violence and bloodshed.
On the death of the tyrants who had murdered his brothers and seized their kingdom, he was recalled to his country, and ascended the throne to the greatest satisfaction and joy of all his subjects. He then applied himself to remove all traces of the havoc wrought by the enemy. To begin at the sanctuary, he built many churches, and restored others, endowing them with rents and privileges; for he was very anxious to see religion, which had been neglected, flourishing again. All writers assert that, though compelled by his nobles to marry, both he and his bride preserved their virginity intact. Such were his love of Christ and his faith, that he was one day permitted to see our Lord in the Mass, shining with heavenly light and smiling upon him. His lavish charity won him the name of the father of orphans and of the poor; and he was never so happy as when he had exhausted the royal treasury on their behalf.
He was honoured with the gift of prophecy, and foresaw much of England’s future history. A remarkable instance is, that when Sweyn, king of Denmark, was drowned in the very act of embarking on his fleet to invade England, Edward was supernaturally aware of the event the very moment it happened. He had a special devotion to St. John the evangelist, and was accustomed never to refuse anything asked in his name. One day St. John appeared to him as a poor man begging an alms in this manner; the king, having no money about him, took off his ring and gave it to him. Soon afterwards the saint sent the ring back to Edward, with a message that his death was at hand. The king then ordered prayers to be said for himself; and died most piously on the day foretold by St. John, the Nones of January, in the year of salvation 1066. In the following century Pope Alexander III enrolled him, famous for miracles, among the saints. Innocent XI ordered his memory to be celebrated by the whole Church with a public Office, on the day of his Translation, which took place thirty-six years after his death, his body being found incorrupt and exhaling a sweet fragrance.
Thou representest on the sacred cycle the nation which Gregory the Great foresaw would rival the angels; so many holy kings, illustrious virgins, grand bishops, and great monks, who were its glory, now form thy brilliant court. Where are now the unwise in whose sight thou and thy race seemed to die?[1] History must be judged in the light of heaven. While thou and thine reign there eternally, judging nations and ruling over peoples;[2] the dynasties of thy successors on earth, ever jealous of the Church, and long wandering in schism and heresy, have become extinct one after another, sterilized by God’s wrath, and having none but that vain renown whereof no trace is found in the book of life. How much more noble and more durable, O Edward, were the fruits of thy holy virginity! Teach us to look upon the present world as a preparation for another, an everlasting world; and to value human events by their eternal results. Our admiring worship seeks and finds thee in thy royal abbey of Westminster; aud we love to contemplate, by anticipation, thy glorious resurrection on the day of judgment, when all around thee so many false grandeurs will acknowledge their shame and their nothingness. Bless us, prostrate in spirit or in reality beside thy tomb, where heresy, fearful of the result, would fain forbid our prayer. Offer to God the supplications rising to-day from all parts of the world, for the wandering sheep, whom the Shepherd’s voice is now so earnestly calling back to the one fold!
[1] Wisd. iii. 2.
[2] Ibid. iii. 8.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
He was a sign of contradiction in Israel. In his own time, Christians were ranged either around him or against him. The trouble excited by his mere name sixteen hundred years ago, was renewed in the middle of the nineteenth century by the discovery of a famous book, which gave an occasion to the sectaries of our own days to stand with those of old against Callixtus and the Church. The book, entitled Philosophumena or refutation of heresies, was composed in the third century; it represented Callixtus, whose life and character were painted in the darkest colours, as one of the worst corruptors of doctrine.
In that third century, however, the author of the Philosophumena, attacking the Pontiff he wished to supplant, and setting up in Rome, as he himself acknowledges, Chair against Chair, did but publish to the Church his own shame, by ranging himself among those very dissenters of whom his book professed to be the refutation and the history. The name of this first antipope has not come down to us. But behold his punishment! The work of his envious pen, despised by his contemporaries, was to reappear at the right moment to awaken the slumbering attention of a far-off posterity. The impartial criticism of these latter ages, setting aside the insinuations, took up the facts brought forward by the accuser; and with the aid of science, disentangling the truth from among his falsehoods, rendered the most unexpected testimony to his hated rival. Thus once more iniquity lied to itself;[1] and this word of to-day’s Gospel was verified: Nothing is covered that shall not be revealed; nor hid that shall not be known.[2]
Let us listen to the greatest of Christian archaeologists, whose mind, so sure and so reserved, was overcome with enthusiasm on finding so much light springing from such a source.; ‘All this,’ said the Commandant de Rossi on studying the odious document, ‘gives me clearly to understand why the accuser said ironically of Callixtus that he was reputed most admirable; why, though all knowledge of his acts was lost, his name has come down to us with such great veneration; and lastly, why, in the third and fourth centuries when the memory of his government was still fresh, he was honoured more than any of his predecessors, or of his successors, since the ages of persecution. Callixtus ruled the Church when she was at the term of the first stage in her career, and was marching forward to new and greater triumphs. The Christian faith, hitherto embraced only by individuals, had then become the faith of families; and fathers made profession of it in their own and their children’s name. These families already formed almost the majority in every town; the religion of Christ was on the eve of becoming the public religion of the nation and the empire. How many new problems concerning Christian social rights, ecclesiastical law, and moral discipline, must have daily arisen in the Church, considering the greatness of her situation at the time, and the still greater future that was opening before her! Callixtus solved all these doubts; he drew up regulations concerning the deposition of clerics; took the necessary measures against the deterring of catechumens from Baptism, and of sinners from repentance; and defined the notion of the Church, which St. Augustine was afterwards to develop.[3] In opposition to the civil laws, he asserted the Christian’s right over his own conscience, and the Church’s authority with regard to the marriage of the faithful. He knew no distinction of slave and freeman, great and lowly, noble and plebeian, in that spiritual brotherhood that was undermining Homan society, and softening its inhuman manners. For this reason, his name is so great at the present day; for this reason, the voice of the envious, or of those who measured the times by the narrowness of their own proud mind, was lost in the cries of admiration, and was utterly despised.’[4]
We have not space to develop, as it deserves, this masterly exposition. We have already seen how, when the virgin martyr Cæcilia yielded to the Popes the place of her first sepulture, Callixtus, then deacon of Zephyrinus, arranged the catacomb of the Cæcilii for its new destiny. Venerable crypt, in which the State for the first time recognized the Church’s right to earthly possessions; sanctuary, no less than necropolis, wherein, before the triumph of the cross, Christian Rome laid up her treasures for the resurrection-day. Our great martyr-Pontiff was deemed the most worthy to give his name to this the principal cemetery, although Providence had disposed that he should never rest in it. Under the benevolent reign of Alexander Severus, he met his death in the Traste. vere, in a sedition raised against him by the pagans. The cause of the tumult appears to have been his having obtained possession of the famous Taberna meritoria, from the floor of which, in the days of Augustus, a fountain of oil had sprung up and had flowed for a whole day. The Pontiff built a church on the spot, and dedicated it to the Mother of God; it is the basilica of St. Mary in Trastevere. Its ownership was contended for; and the case was referred to the emperor, who decided in favour of the Christians.[5] We may attribute to the vengeance of his adversaries the saint’s violent death, which took place close to the edifice his firmness had secured to the Church. The mob threw him into a well, which is still to be seen in the church of St. Callixtus, a few paces from St. Mary’s basilica. For fear of the sedition, the martyr’s body was not carried to the Appian Way; but was laid in a cemetery already opened on the Aurelian Way, where his tomb originated a new historic centre of subterranean Rome.[6]
The following brief history was drawn up at a period, when the history of Callixtus was less known than at present.
Callistus Romanus præfuit Ecclesiæ Antonino Heliogabalo imperatore. Constituit quatuor anni tempora, quibus jejunium ex apostolica traditione acceptum ab omnibus servaretur. Ædificavit basilicam sanctæ Mariæ trans Tiberim, et in via Appia vetus cœmeterium ampliavit, in quo multi sancti sacerdotes et martyres sepulti sunt: unde ab eo Callisti cœmeterium appellatur.
Ejusdem pietatis fuit, quod beati Calepodii presbyteri et martyris corpus jactatum in Tiberim conquiri diligenter curavit, et inventum honorifice sepelivit. Palmatium consulari, Simplicium senatoria dignitate illustres, Felicem et Blandam, qui deinde omnes martyrium subiere, cum baptismo lustrasset, missus est in carcerem, ubi Privatum militem, ulceribus plenum, admirabiliter sanitati restitutum, Christo adjunxit: pro quo idem, recens adhuc a fide suscepta, plurabatis usque ad mortem cæsus occubuit.
Sedit Callistus annos quinque, mensem unum, dies duodecim. Ordinationibus quinque mense Decembri, creavit presbyteros sexdecim, diaconos quatuor, episcopos octo. Post longam famem crebrasque verberationes, præceps jactus in puteum, atque ita martyrio coronatus sub Alexandro imperatore, illatus est in cœmeterium Calepodii, via Aurelia, tertio ab Urbe la pide, pridie idus octobris. Ejus postmodum corpus in basilicam sanctæ Mariæ trans Tiberini, ab ipso ædificatam, delatum, sub ara majori, maxima veneratione colitur.
Callixtus, a Roman by birth, ruled the Church in the time of the emperor Antoninus Heliogabalus. He instituted the Ember days, on which four times in the year, fasting, according to apostolic tradition, should be observed by all. He built the basilica of Saint Mary across the Tiber; andenlarged the cemetery on the Appian Way, in which many holy pontiffs and martyrs were buried; hence this cemetery is called by his name.
The body of the blessed Calepodius, priest and martyr, having been thrown into the Tiber, Callixtus in his piety caused it to be diligently sought for, and when found to be honourably buried. He baptized Palmatius, Simplicius, Felix and Blanda, the first of whom was of consular and the others of senatorial rank; and who all afterwards suffered martyrdom. For this he was cast into prison, where he miraculously cured a soldier named Privatus, who was covered with ulcers; whom he also won over to Christ. Though so recently converted, Privatus died for the faith, being beaten to death with scourges tipped with lead.
Callixtus was Pope five years, one month, and twelve days. He held five ordinations in the month of December, wherein he made sixteen priests, four deacons, and eight bishops. He was tortured for a long while by starvation and frequent scourgings, and finally, by being thrown headlong into a well, was crowned with martyrdom under the emperor Alexander. His body was carried to the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Aurelian Way, three miles from Rome, on the day before the Ides of October. It was afterwards translated into the basilica of St. Mary across the Tiber, which he himself had built, and placed under the high altar, where it is honoured with great veneration.
The Holy Ghost, the protector of the Church, prepared thee, by suffering’ and humiliation, to become His chosen auxiliary. Thou wast born a slave; Jewish perfidy soon spread snares beneath thy feet; and while still young thou wast condemned to the mines of Sardinia, for the name of our Lord. Thou wast a bond-slave, it is true, but not now for thy former master. And when delivered from the mines at the time appointed by Him who regulates circumstances according to His good pleasure, thou wast ennobled by the title of Confessor, which recommended thee to the maternal attention of the Church.
Such were thy merits and virtues, that Zephyrinus, entering upon the longest pontificate of the persecution period, chose thee for the counsellor, support, and coadjutor of his old age; and after the experience of those eighteen years, the Church elected thee for her supreme Pastor. At the hour of thy death, how prosperous didst thou leave this bride of our Lord! All the nobility of ancient days, all the moral worth and intellectual eminence of the human race, seemed to be centred in her. Where was then the contempt of old, where the calumnies of a while ago? The world began to recognize in the Church the queen of the future. If the pagan state was yet to inflict cruel persecutions upon her, it would be from the conviction that it must struggle desperately for its very existence. It even hesitated, and seemed, for the moment, more inclined to make a compact with the Christians.
Thou didst open to the Church new paths, full of peril, but also of grandeur. From the absolute and brutal Non licet vos esse[7] of the lawyer-executioners, thou wast the first to bring the empire to recognize officially, to a certain extent, the rights of the Christian community. Through thee, Cæcilia assured to them the power of assembling together, and making collections to honour their dead; thou didst consecrate to Mary, fons olei, the first sanctuary legally acquired by the Christians in Rome; and thou wast rewarded for the act by martyrdom. Now, far from compromising the least of God’s rights in coming to terms with Cæsar, thou didst, at that very time, oppose the latter, asserting, as no other had yet done, the absolute independence of the Church with regard to marriage, which Christ had withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the civil power. Already, ‘would not one be inclined to say that we have a nation within the nation? Yes; and it will continue to be so, until the whole nation itself have passed into the ranks of this new people.’[8]
Within the bosom of the Church thou hadst other cares. Doctrinal contests were at their height, and attacked the first of our mysteries: Sabellius, condemned for his audacity in declaring that the real distinction of Persons in the most holy Trinity is incompatible with the unity of God, left the field open to another sect, who so separated the three divine Persons as to make them three Gods. Again, there was Montanus, whose disciples, enemies of the Sabellian theories even before Sabellius appeared, courted the favour of the holy See for their system of false mysticism and extravagant reformation. But as an experienced pilot avoids the rooks and shoals, so between the subtilities of dogmatizers, the pretensions of rigorists, and the utopias of politicians, thou, under the infallible guidance of the holy Spirit, didst, with a sure hand, steer the bark of Peter towards its glorious destination. The more satan hates thee and pursues thee even to the present day, the more mayst thou be glorified for ever. Give thy blessing to us, who are thy sons and thy disciples.
[1] Psalm xxvi. 12.
[2] St. Matt. x. 26.
[3] Quo referendum aiebat apostoli rerbum: ‘Tu quis es qui judicas servum alienum?' Atque etiam lolii parubolam, ‘Sinite zizania crescore cum tritico,’ id est, sinite peccatores in Ecclesia manere. Dicebat etiam Ecclesiæ instar arcam Noe fuisse, qua canes, lupi, corvi, aliaque omnia pura et impura animantia comprehendebantur; oportere autem item esse de Ecclesia. Philosophumena, lib. ix. de Callisto.
[4] De Rossi, Bullettino, 1866, n. 1, 2, 5, 6.
[5] Lamprid. in Alex. Severo, cap. xix.
[6] Histoire de sainte Cécile. 1849 p. 5; Sainte Cécile et la société romaine aux deux primiers siècles. 1874, p. 424.
[7] It is not lawful for you to exist.
[8] Paschal Time, vol. ii; Thursday of the third week after Easter.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
'Although the Church triumphant in heaven, and the Church mourning here on earth, appear to be completely separated,' says Bossuet on this feast, ‘they are nevertheless united by a sacred bond. This bond is charity, which is found in this land of exile as well as in our heavenly country; which rejoices the triumphant saints, and animates those still militant; which, descending from heaven to earth, and from angels to men, causes earth to become a heaven, and men to become angels. For, O holy Jerusalem, happy Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven, although the Church thy dear sister, who lives and combats here below, ventures not to compare herself with thee, she is not the less assured that a holy love unites her to thee. It is true that she is seeking, and thou possessest; that she labours, and thou art at rest; that she hopes, and thou rejoicest. But among all these differences which separate the two so far asunder, there is this at least in common: that what the blessed spirits love, the same we mortals love. Jesus is their life, Jesus is our life; and amid their songs of rapture, and our sighs of sorrow, everywhere are heard to resound these words of the sacred Psalmist: It is good for me to adhere to my God.’[1]
Of this sovereign good of the Church militant and triumphant, Teresa, in a time of decadence, was commissioned to remind the world, from the height of Carmel restored by her to its pristine beauty. After the cold night of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the example of her life possessed a power of irresistible attraction, which survives in her writings, drawing predestined souls after her in the footsteps of the divine Spouse.
It was not, however, by unknown ways, that the holy Spirit led Teresa; neither did she, the humble Teresa, make any innovations. Long before, the apostle had declared that the Christian’s conversation is in heaven; and we saw, a few days ago, how the Areopagite formulated the teaching of the first century. After him we might mention St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and many other witnesses from all the churches. It has been said, and proved far more ably than we could prove it, that 'no state seems to have been more fully recognized by the fathers, than that of perfect union, which is achieved in the highest contemplation; and in reading their writings, we cannot help remarking the simplicity with which they treat of it; they seem to think it frequent, and simply look upon it as the full development of the Christian life.'[2]
In this, as in all else, scholasticism followed the fathers. It asserted the doctrine concerning these summits of Christian life, even at a time when the weakness of faith in the people scarcely over left full scope to divine charity, save in the obscurity of a few unknown cloisters, In its own peculiar form, the teaching of the School was unfortunately not accessible to all; and moreover the abnormal character of that troubled epoch affected even the mystics that still remained.
It was then that the virgin of Avila appeared in the Catholic kingdom. Wonderfully gifted by grace and by nature, she experienced the resistances of the latter, as well as the calls of God, and the purifying delays and progressive triumphs of love; the Holy Ghost, who intended her to be a mistress in the Church, led her, if one may so speak, by the classical way of the favours He reserves for the perfect. Having arrived at the mountain of God, she described the road by which she had come, without any pretension but to obey him who commanded her in the name of the Lord.[3] With exquisite simplicity and unconsciousness of self, she related the works accomplished for her Spouse;[4] made over to her daughters the lessons of her own experience;[5] and described the many mansions of that castle of the human soul, in the centre of which, he that can reach it will find the holy Trinity residing as in an anticipated heaven.[6] No more was needed: withdrawn from speculative abstractions and restored to its sublime simplicity, Christian mysticism again attracted every mind; light reawakened love; the virtues flourished in the Church; and the baneful effects of heresy and its pretended reform were counteracted.
Doubtless Teresa invited no one to attempt, as presumptuously as vainly, to force an entrance into the uncommon paths. But if passive and infused union depends entirely upon God’s good pleasure, the union of effective and active conformity to the divine will, without which the other would be an illusion, may be attained with the help of ordinary grace, by every man of good will. Those who possess it, ‘have obtained,’ says the saint, ‘what it was lawful for them to wish for. This is the union I have all my life desired, and have always asked of our Lord; it is also the easiest to understand, and the most secure.’[7]
She added however: ‘Beware of that excessive reserve, which certain persons have, and which they take for humility. If the king deigned to grant you a favour, would it be humility to meet him with a refusal? And when the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth deigns to honour my soul with His visit, and comes to load me with graces, and to rejoice with me; should I prove myself humble if I would not answer Him, nor keep Him company, nor accept His gifts, but fled from His presence and left Him all alone? A strange sort of humility is that! Look upon Jesus Christ as a Father, a Brother, a Master, or a Spouse; and treat Him in one or other of these ways; He Himself will teach you which is the one that best pleases Him and that it behoves you to choose. And then, be not so simple as to make no use of it.’[8]
But it is said on all sides: ‘This way is beset with snares: such a soul was lost in it; such an one went astray; and another, who ceased not to pray, could not escape a fall. . . See the inconceivable blindness of the world. It has no anxiety about those thousands of unfortunate creatures who, entirely strangers to the path of prayer, live in the most horrible excess; but if it happens, by a misfortune deplorable no doubt but very rare, that the tempter’s artifices seduce a soul that prays, they take advantage of this to inspire others with the greatest terror, and to deter them from the holy practices of virtue. Is he not the victim of a most fatal error, who believes it necessary to abstain from doing good in order to avoid doing evil? You must rise above all these fears. Endeavour to keep your conscience always pure; strengthen yourself in humility; tread under foot all earthly things; be inflexible in the faith of our mother the holy Church; and doubt not, after that, that you are on the right road.'[9] It is too true that ‘when a soul finds not in herself that vigorous faith, and her transports of devotion do not strengthen her attachment to holy Church, she is in a way full of perils. The Spirit of God never inspires anything that is not conformable to holy Scripture; if there were the slightest divergence, that, of itself alone, would suffice to prove so evidently the action of the evil spirit, that, were the whole world to assure me it was the divine Spirit, I would never believe it.'[10] But the soul may escape so great a danger by questioning those who can enlighten her. ‘Every Christian must, when he is able, seek out a learned guide, and the more learned the better. Such a help is still more necessary to persons given to prayer; and in the highest states they have most need of it. I have always felt drawn to men eminent for doctrine. Some, I grant, may not have experimental knowledge of spiritual ways; but if they have not an aversion for them, they do not ignore them; and by the assistance of holy Scripture, of which they make a constant study, they always recognize the true signs of the good Spirit. The spirit of darkness has a strange dread of humble and virtuous science; he knows it will find him out, and thus his stratagems will turn to his own loss. ... I, an ignorant and useless creature, bless Thee, O Lord, for these faithful servants of Thine, who give us light.[11] I have no no more knowledge than virtue; I write by snatches, and even then with difficulty; this prevents me from spinning, and I live in a poor house where I have no lack of occupations. The mere fact of being a woman and one so imperfect, is sufficient to make me lay down the pen.’[12]
As thou wilt, O Teresa: deliver thy soul; pass beyond that, and with Magdalene, at the recollection of what thou callest thine infidelities, water with thy tears the feet of our Lord, recognize thyself in St. Augustine’s confessions![13] Yes; in those former relations with the world, although approved by obedience; in those conversations, which were honourable and virtuous: it was a fault in thee, who wast called to something higher, to withhold from God so many hours which He was inwardly urging thee to reserve for Him alone. And who knows whither thy soul might have been led, hadst thou continued longer thus to wound thy Spouse? But we, whose tepidity can see nothing in thy ‘great sins’ but what would be perfection in many of us,[14] have a right to appreciate, as the Church does, both thy life and thy writings; and to pray with her, on this joyful day of thy feast, that we may be nourished with thy heavenly doctrine and kindled with thy love of God.[15]
According to the word of the divine Canticle, in order to introduce Teresa into His most precious stores the Spouse had first to set charity in order in her soul. Having, therefore, claimed His just and sovereign rights, He at once restored her to her neighbour, more devoted and more loving than before. The Seraph’s dart did not wither or deform her heart. At the highest summit of perfection she was destined to attain, in the very year of her blessed death, she wrote: ‘If you love me much, I love you equally, I assure you; and I like you to tell me the same. Oh! how true it is, that our nature inclines us to wish for return of love! It cannot be wrong, since our Lord Himself exacts a return from us. It is an advantage to resemble Him in something, were it only in this.’[16]And elsewhere, speaking of her endless journeys in the service of her divine Spouse, she says: ‘It cost me the greatest pain when I had to part from my daughters and sisters. They are detached from everything else in the world, but God has not given them to be detached from me; He has perhaps done this for my greater trial, for neither am I detached from them.’[17]
Grace never depreciates nature, which, like itself, is the Creator’s work. It consecrates it, makes it healthy, fortifies it, harmonizes it, causes the full development of its faculties to become the first and most tangible homage, publicly offered by regenerated man to Christ his Redeemer. Let any one read that literary master-piece, the Book of the Foundations, or the innumerable letters written by the seraphic mother amid the devouring activity of her life; there he will see whether the heroism of faith and of all virtues, whether sanctity in its highest mystical expression, was ever prejudicial—we will not say to Teresa’s constancy, devotedness, or energy—but to that intelligence, which nothing could disconcert, swift, lively, and pleasant; to that even character, which shed its peaceful serenity on all around; to the delicate solicitude, the moderation, the exquisite tact, the amiable manners, the practical good sense, of this contemplative, whose pierced heart beat only by miracle, and whose motto was: ‘To suffer or to die.’
To the benefactor of a projected foundation she wrote: ‘Do not think, sir, that you will have to give only what you expect; I warn you of it. It is nothing to give money; that does not cost us much. But when we find ourselves on the point of being stoned, you, and your son-in-law, and as many of us as have to do with this affair (as it nearly happened to us at the foundation of St. Joseph’s at Avila), Oh! then will be the good time!’[18] It was on occasion of this same foundation at Toledo, which was in fact very stormy, that the saint said: ‘Teresa and three ducats are nothing; but God, Teresa, and three ducats, there you have everything.’
Teresa had to experience more than mere human privations: there came a time when God Himself seemed to fail her. Like Philip Benizi before her, and after her Joseph Calasanctius and Alphonsus Liguori, she saw herself, her daughters, and her sons, condemned and rejected in the name and by the authority of the Vicar of Christ. It was one of those occasions, long before prophesied, when it is given to the beast to make war with the saints and to overcome them.[19] We have not space to relate all the sad circumstances;[20] and why should we do so P The old enemy had then one manner of acting, which he repeated in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and will always repeat. In like manner, God has but one aim in permitting the evil, viz. to lead His chosen ones to that lofty summit of crucifying union, where He, who willed to be the first to taste the bitter dregs of the chalice, could say more truly and more painfully than any other: 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’[21]
The Church thus abridges the life of the reformer of Carmel.
Teresia virgo nata est Abulæ in Hispania, parentibus tum genere, tum pietate præclaris. Ab iis divini timoris lacte educata, admirandum futuræ sanctitatis in tenerrima adhuc ætate specimen dedit. Nam cum sanctorum martyrum acta perlegeret, adeo in ejus meditatione sancti Spiritus ignis exarsit, ut domo aufugiens, in Africam trajiceret, ubi vitam pro gloria Jesu Christi et animarum salute profunderet. A patruo revocata, ardens martyrii desiderium eleemosynis aliisque piis operibus compensavit jugibus lacrimis deplorans optimam sibi sortem fuisse præreptam. Mortua matre, cum a beatissima Virgine peteret, ut se matrem esse monstraret, pii voti compos effecta est, semper perinde ac filia patrocinio Deipara perfruens. Vigesimum ætatis annum agens, ad moniales sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmelo se contulit: ibi per duodeviginti annos gravissimis morbis et variis tentationibus vexata, constantissime mernit in castris christianæ pœnitentiæ, nullo refecta pabulo cœlestium earum consolationum, quibus solet etiam in terris sanctitas abundare.
Angelicis ditata virtutibus, non modo propriam, sed publicam etiam salutem sollicita caritate curavit. Quare severiorem veterum Carmelitarum regulam, Deo afflante, et Pio quarto approbante, primum mulieribus, deinde viris observandam proposuit. Effloruit in eo consilio omnipotens miserentis Domini benedictio: nam duo supra triginta monasteria inops virgo potuit ædificare, omnibus humanis destituta auxiliis, quinimo adversantibus plerumque sæculi principibus. Infidelium et hæreticorum tenebras perpetuis deflebat lacrimis, atque ad placandam divinæ ultionis iram, voluntarios proprii corporis cruciatus Deo pro eorum salute dicabat. Tanto autem diviniamoris incendio cor ejus conflagravit ut merito viderit angelum ignito jaculo sibi præcordia transverberantem, et audierit Christum data dextera dicentem sibi: Deinceps ut vera, sponsa meum zelabis honorem. Eo consiliante, maxime arduum votum emisit, efficiendi semper quidquid perfectius esse intelligeret. Multa cœlestis sapientiæ documenta conscripsit quibus fidelium mentes ad supernæ patriæ desiderium maxime excitantur.
Cum autem assidua ederet exempla virtutum, tam anxio castigandi corporis desiderio æstuabat, ut quamvis secus suaderent morbi quibus afflictabatur, corpus ciliciis, catenis, urticarum manipulis, aliisque asperrimis flagellis sæpe cruciaret, et aliquando inter spinas volutaret, sic Deum alloqui solita: Domine, aut pati, aut mori: se semper miserrima morte pereuntem ex istimans, quamdiu a cœlesti æternæ vitæ fonte abesset. Prophetiæ dono excelluit, eamque divinis charismatibus tam liberaliter locupletabat Dominus, ut sæpius exclamans peteret beneficiis in se divinis modum imponi, nec tam celeri oblivione culparum suarum memoriam aboleri. Intolerabili igitur divini amoris incendio potius quam vi morbi, Albæ cum discumberet, prænuntiato suæ mortis die, ecclesiasticis sacramentis munita, alumnos ad pacem, cantatem et regularem observantiam adhortata, sub columbæ specie purissimam animam Deo reddidit, annos nata sexaginta septem, anno millesimo quingentesimo octogesimo secundo, idibus Octobris, juxta calendarii Romani emendationem. Ei morienti adesse visus est inter angelorum agmina Christus Jesus: et arbor arida celias proxima statim effloruit. Ejus corpus usque ad hanc diem incorruptum, odorato liquore circumfusum, pia veneratione colitur. Miraculis claruit ante et post obitum, eamque Gregorius decimus quintus in sanctorum numerum retulit.
The virgin Teresa was born at Avila in Spain, of parents illustrious for nobility and virtue. She was brought up by them in the fear of God; and while still very young, she gave admirable promise of her future sanctity. While reading the acts of the holy martyrs, she was so enkindled with the fire of the holy Spirit, that she ran away from home, resolved to cross over to Africa, and there to lay down her life for the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls. She was brought back by her uncle; but her heart still burned with the desire of martyrdom, which she endeavoured to satisfy by alms-deeds and other works of piety, weeping continually to see herself deprived of that happy lot. On the death of her mother she begged the blessed Virgin to be a mother to her; and she gained her request, for, ever afterwards the Mother of God cherished her as a daughter. In the twentieth year of her age she joined the nuns of St. Mary of Mount Carmel; and spent eighteen years in that monastery, enduring severe illnesses and many trials. While she was thus courageously battling in the ranks of Christian penance, she was deprived of the support of heavenly consolations, in which the saints usually abound even on this earth.
She was adorned with angelic virtues; and her charity made her solicitous not for her own salvation alone, but for that of all mankind. Inspired by God, and with the approbation of Pius IV she restored the Carmelite rule to its primitive severity, and caused it to be thus observed first by the women and then by the men. The all-powerful blessing of our merciful God was evident in this work; for, though destitute of all human aid, and moreover opposed by many of the great ones of the world, the virgin was able, in her poverty, to build thirty-two monasteries. She wept continually over the blindness of infidels and heretics, and offered to God the voluntary maceration of her body to appease the divine anger, on their behalf. Her heart burned like a furnace of divine love; so that once she saw an angel piercing it with a fiery dart, and heard Christ say to her, taking her hand in his: Henceforward, as my true bride, thou shalt be zealous for mine honour. By our Lord’s advice, she made the exceedingly difficult vow, always to do what she conceived to be most perfect. She wrote many works, full of divine wisdom, which arouse in the minds of the faithful the desire of their heavenly country.
Whereas Teresa was a pattern of every virtue, her desire of bodily mortification was most ardent; and in spite of the various maladies which afflicted her, she chastised her body with hairshirts and iron chains, scourged herself with sharp disciplines or with bundles of nettles, and sometimes rolled among thorns. She would often speak thus to God: O Lord, let me either suffer or die; for she considered that as long as she was absent from the fountain of life, she was dying daily and most miserably. She was remarkable for her gift of prophecy, and was enriched to such a degree by our Lord with his divine favours, that she would often beg him to set bounds to his gifts, and not to blot out the memory of her sins so speedily. Consumed by the irresistible fire of divine love rather than by disease, after receiving the last Sacraments, and exhorting her children to peace, charity, and religious observance, she expired at Alba, on the day she had foretold; and her most pure soul was seen ascending to God in the form of a dove. She died at the age of sixty-seven, in the year 1582, on the Ides of October according to the corrected Roman calendar.[22] Jesus Christ was seen present at her death-bed, surrounded by angels; and a withered tree near her cell suddenly burst into blossom. Her body has remained incorrupt to the present day, distilling a fragrant liquor; and is honoured with pious veneration. She was made illustrious by miracles both before and after her death; and Gregory XV enrolled her among the saints.
The Beloved, who revealed Himself to thee, O Teresa, at death, thou hadst already found in the sufferings of this life. If anything could bring thee back to earth, it would be the desire of suffering yet more.[23] ‘I am not surprised,' says Bossuet speaking in thy honour on thy feast, ‘that Jesus willed to die: He owed that sacrifice to His Father. But why was it necessary that He should spend His days, and finally close them, in the midst of such great pains? It is because, being the Man of sorrows, as the prophet calls Him, He would live only to endure; or, to express it more forcibly by a beautiful word of Tertullian’s: He wished to be satiated, before dying, with the luxury of suffering: Saginari voluptate patientiædiscessurus volebat.[24] What a strange expression! One would think, according to this father, that the whole life of our Saviour was a banquet, where all the dishes consisted of torments. A strange banquet in the eyes of men, but one which Jesus found to His teste! His death was sufficient for our salvation; but death was not enough to satisfy His wonderful appetite for suffering for us. It was needful to add the scourges, and that blood-stained crown that pierced His head, and all the cruel apparatus of terrible tortures; and wherefore? Living only to endure, He wished to be satiated, before dying, with the luxury of suffering for us. In so far that upon His cross, seeing in the eternal decrees that there was nothing more for Him to suffer, “Ah!” said He, “it is done, all is consummated; let Us go forth, for there is nothing more to do in this world;” and immediately He gave up His soul to His Father.’[25]
If such is the mind of Jesus our Saviour, must it not also be that of His bride, Teresa of Jesus? 'She too wished to suffer or to die; and her love could not endure that any other cause should retard her death, save that which deferred the death of our Saviour.’[26] Let us warm our hearts at the sight of this great example. ‘If we are true Christians, we must desire to be ever with Jesus Christ. Now, where are we to find this loving Saviour of our souls? In what place may we embrace Him? He is found in two places: in His glory and in His sufferings; on His throne and on His cross. We must, then, in order to be with Him, either embrace Him on His throne, which death enables us to do; or else share in His cross, and this we do by suffering; hence we must either suffer or die, if we would never be separated from our Lord. Let us suffer then, O Christians; let us suffer what it pleases God to send us: afflictions, sicknesses, the miseries of poverty, injuries, calumnies; let us try to carry, with steadfast courage, that portion of His cross, with which He is pleased to honour us.'[27]
O thou, whom the Church proposes to her children as a mistress and mother in the paths of the spiritual life, teach us this strong and true Christianity. Perfection, doubtless, cannot be acquired in a day; and thou didst say: ‘We should be much to be pitied, if we could not seek and find God till we were dead to the world. God deliver us from those extremely spiritual people, who, without examination or discretion, would refer everything to perfect contemplation!'[28] But God deliver us also from those mistaken devotions, which thou didst call puerile and foolish, and which were so repugnant to the uprightness and dignity of thy generous soul![29] Thou desiredst no other prayer, than that which would make thee grow in virtue. Convince us of the great principle in these matters, that 'the prayer best made and most pleasing to God, is that which leaves behind it the best results, proved by works; and not those sweetnesses which end in nothing but our own satisfaction.'[30] He alone will be saved, who has kept the commandments and fulfilled the law; and heaven, thy heaven O Teresa, is the reward of the virtues thou didst practise, not of the revelations and ecstasies wherewith thou wast favoured.[31]
From the blessed abode where thy love feeds upon infinite happiness, as it was nourished on earth by sufferings, obtain that thy native Spain may carefully cherish, in these days of decadence, her beautiful title of the Catholic kingdom. Remember the part taken by France in determining thee to undertake the reform of Carmel.[32] May thy sons be blessed with increase in members, in merit, and in holiness! In all the lands where the Holy Ghost has multiplied thy daughters, may their hallowed homes recall those ‘first dove-cotes of the blessed Virgin, where the Spouse delighted to show forth the miracles of His grace.’[33] To the triumph of the faith, and the support of its defenders, thou didst direct their prayers and fasts;[34] what an immense field now lies open to their zeal! With them and with thee, we ask of God ‘two things: first, that among so many men and so many religious, some may be found having the necessary qualities for usefully serving the cause of the Church, on the understanding that one perfect man can render more services than a great many who are not perfect. Secondly, that in the conflict our Lord may uphold them with His hand, enabling them to escape all dangers, and to close their ears to the songs of sirens. . . O God, have pity on so many perishing souls; stay the course of so many evils which afflict Christendom; and, without further delay, cause Thy light to shine in the midst of this darkness!’[35]
[1] Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Teresa.
[2] Spiritual Life and Prayer according to holy Scripture and monastic tradition, ch. xix. (Translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook).
[3] Life of the saint written by herself.
[4] Book of the Foundations.
[5] The Way of Perfection.
[6] The Interior Castle.
[7] Interior Castle, 5th mansion.
[8] Way of Perfection, ch. xxix.
[9] Way of Perfection, ch. xxii.
[10] Life, ch. xxv.
[11] Life, ch. xiii.
[12] Ibid. ch. x.
[13] Ibid. ix.
[14] Bolland. in Theres. 133.
[15] Collect of the day.
[16] To Mary of St. Joseph, prioress of Seville, Nov. 8, 1581.
[17] Foundations, ch. xxvii.
[18] To Alphonso Ramirez, Feb. 19, 1569.
[19] Apoc. xiii. 7.
[20] See the saint’s letters: to the prior of the Charterhouse at Seville, Jan. 1579; etc.
[21] St. Matt. xxvii. 46.
[22] In order to effect this correction, Gregory XIII had ordered that ten days of the year 1582 should be suppressed, and that the morrow of October 4 should be called the 15th of that month. It was during that historic night, between the 4th and 15th, that St. Teresa died.
[23] Apparition to Father Gratian.
[24] Tertull. De patientia, 3.
[25] Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Teresa.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Teresa.
[28] To the Bishop of Avila, March 1577, one of the saint’s most graceful letters.
[29] Life, xiii.
[30] To Father Gratian, Oct. 23, 1577.
[31] Apparition to the Prioress of Veas.
[32] Way of Perfection, i.
[33] Foundations, iv.
[34] Way of Perfection, i. 3.
[35] Ibid.
[This feast day, previously kept on Oct. 17, was moved to Oct. 16-Ed.]
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the plateaux of upper Asia poured down a fresh torrent of barbarians, more terrible than all their predecessors. The one fragile barrier, which the Graeco-Slavonian civilization could oppose to the Mongols, had been swept away by the first wave of the invasion; not one of the States formed under the protection of the Byzantine Church had any prospect for the future. But beyond this Ruthenia, which had fallen into dissolution before being conquered, the Roman Church had had time to form a brave and generous people: when the hour arrived, Poland was ready. The Mongols were already inundating Silesia, when, in the plains of Liegnitz, they found themselves confronted by an army of thirty thousand warriors, headed by the duke of Silesia, Henry the pious.[1] The encounter was terrible; the victory remained long undecided, until at length, by the odious treason of some Ruthenian princes, it turned in favour of the barbarians. Duke Henry and the flower of the Polish knighthood were left upon the battle-field. But their defeat was equal to a victory. The Mongols retired exhausted, for they had measured their strength with the soldiers of the Latin Christianity.
It is Poland’s happy lot, that at each decisive epoch in its history a saint appears to point out the road to the attainment of its glorious destiny. Over the battle-field of Liegnitz shines the gentle figure of St. Hedwige, mother of duke Henry the pious. She had retired, in her widowhood, into the Cistercian monastery of Trebnitz founded by herself. Three years before the coming of the barbarians, she had had a revelation touching the future fate of her son. She offered her sacrifice in silence; and far from discouraging the young duke, she was the first to animate him to resistance.
The night following the battle, she awoke one of her companions, and said to her: ‘Demundis, know that I have lost my son. My beloved son has fled from me, like a bird on the wing; I shall never see my son again in this life.’ Demundis endeavoured to console her.; no courier had arrived from the army, and her fears were vain. ‘It is but too true,' replied the duchess, ‘but mention it to no one.'
Three days later the fatal news was confirmed. ‘It is the will of God,' said Hedwige; ‘what God wills, and what pleases Him, must please us also.' And rejoicing in the Lord: ‘I thank Thee, O my God,' said she, raising her hands and eyes to heaven, 'for having given me such a son. He loved me all his life, always treated me with great respect, and never grieved me. I much desired to have him with me on earth, but I congratulate him with my whole soul, for that by the shedding of his blood he is united with Thee in heaven, with Thee his Creator. I recommend his soul to Thee, O Lord my God.' No less an example was needed to sustain Poland under the new task it had just accepted.
At Liegnitz it had raised up again the sword of Christendom, fallen from the feeble hands of Ruthenia. It became henceforth as a watchful sentinel, ever ready to defend Europe against the barbarians. Ninety-three times did the Tartars rush upon Christendom, thirsting for blood and rapine: ninety-three times Poland repulsed them at the edge of the sword, or had the grief to see the country laid waste, the towns burnt down, the flower of the nation carried into captivity. By these sacrifices it bore the brunt of the invasion, and deadened the blow for the rest of Europe. As long as blood and tears and victims were required, Poland gave them unstintedly; while the other European nations enjoyed the security purchased by this continual immolation.[2]
This touching page will be completed by the Church's story, where the part played by the saintly duchess is so well, brought forward.
Hedwigis, regiis clara natalibus, innocentia tamen vitæ longe clarior, sanctæ Elisabethæ filiæ regis Hungariæ matertera, Bertholdi et Agnetis Moraviæ marchionum filia, animi ab ineunte ætate moderationem protulit. Adhuc enim puellula puerilibus abstinuit, et duodennis Henrico Poloniæ duci a parentibus nuptui tradita, thalami fide sancte servata, prolem inde susceptam in Dei timore erudivit. Ut autem commodius Deo vacaret, ex pari voto et consensu unanimi ad separationem thori virum induxit. Quo defuncto, ipsa in monasterio Trebnicensi, Deo, quem assiduis precibus exoraverat, inspirante, Cisterciensem devota sumpsit habitum; in eoque contemplationi intenta, divinis Officiis et Missarum solemniis a solis ortu ad meridiem usque assidua assistens, antiquum humani generis hostem fortis contempsit.
Sæculi autem commercia, ni divina, vel animarum salutem attingerent, audire vel loqui non sustinuit. Prudentia in agendis sic emicuit, ut neque excessus esset in modo, nec error in ordine, comis alioqui, et mansueta in proximum. Grandem autem de se triumphum, jejuniis et vigiliis, vestiumque asperitate austera carnem macerans, reportavit; hinc sublimioribus florens virtutibus christianis, consiliorum gravitate, animique candore et quiete, in eximium religiosæ pietatis evasit exemplar: omnibus se ultro subjicere, atque viliora præ ceteris monialibus alacriter munia subire; pauperibus etiam flexo genu ministrare, leprosorum pedes abluere et osculari, ipsi familiare erat, neque illorum ulcera sanie manantia sui victrix abhorruit.
Mira fuit ejus patientia animique constantia; præcipue vero in morte Henrici ducis Silesiæ sui, quem materne diligebat, filii, in bello a Tartans cæsi, enituit: potius enim gratias Deo, quam filio lacrimas reddidit. Miraculorum denique gloria percrebuit; puerum enim demersum, et molendini rotis allisum et prorsus attritum, invocata, vitæ resti tuit; aliaque præstitit; ut rite iis Clemens quartus probatis, sanctorum numero eam adscripserit, ejusque festum in Polonia, ubi precipua veneratione uti patrona colitur, die decima quinta Octobris celebrari concesserit; quod deinde ut decima septima in tota Ecclesia fieret, Innocentius undecimus ampliavit.
Hedwige was illustrious for her royal descent, but still more so for the innocence of her life. She was maternal aunt to St. Elizabeth, the daughter of the king of Hungary; and her parents were Berthold and Agnes, Marquis and Marchioness of Moravia. From childhood she was remarkable for her self-control, for at that tender age she refrained from all childish sports. At the age of twelve, her parents gave her in marriage to Henry, duke of Poland. She was a faithful and holy wife and mother, and brought up her children in the fear of God. In order the more freely to attend to God, she persuaded her husband to make with her a mutual vow of continency. After his death, she was inspired by God, whose guidance she had earnestly implored, to take the Cistercian habit; which she did with great devotion in the monastery of Trebnitz. Here she gave herself up to divine contemplation, spending the whole time from sun-rise till noon in assisting at the Divine Office and the holy Sacrifice. The old enemy of mankind she utterly despised.
She would neither speak of worldly affairs nor hear them spoken of, unless they affected the interests of God or the salvation of souls. All her actions were governed by prudence, and it was impossible to find in them anything excessive or disorderly. She was full of gentleness and affability towards all. She triumphed completely over her flesh by afflicting it with fasting, watching, and rough garments. She was adorned moreover with the noblest Christian virtues; she was exceedingly prudent in giving counsel; pure and tranquil in mind; so as to be a model of religious perfection. Yet she ever strove to place herself below all the nuns; eagerly choosing the lowest offices in the house. She would serve the poor, on her knees, and wash and kiss the feet of lepers, so far overcoming herself as not to be repulsed by their loathsome ulcers.
Her patience and strength of soul were admirable; especially at the death of her dearly-loved son, Henry duke of Silesia, who fell fighting against the Tartars; for she thought rather of giving thanks to God, than of weeping for her son. Miracles added to her renown. A child, that had fallen into a millstream and was bruised and crushed by the wheels, was immediately restored to life when the saint was invoked. Many other miracles wrought by her having been duly examined, Clement IV enrolled her among the saints; and allowed her feast to be celebrated on the fifteenth of October, in Poland, where she is very greatly honoured as patroness of the country. Innocent XI extended her Office to the whole Church, fixing it on the seventeenth of October.
Daughter of Abraham according to faith, thou didst imitate his heroism. Thy first reward was to find a worthy son in him thou offeredst to the Lord. Thy example is most welcome in this month, wherein the Church sets before us the death of Judas Machabeus.[3] As glorious as his was the death of thy Henry; but it was also a fruitful death. Of thy six children he alone, the Isaac offered and immolated to God, was permitted to propagate thy race. And yet what a posterity is thine, since all the royal families of Europe can claim to be of thy lineage! 'I will
make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.’[4] This promise, made to the father of the faithful, is fulfilled once more on thy behalf, O Hedwige. God never changes; He has no need to make a new engagement; a like fidelity in any age, earns from Him a like reward. Mayst thou be blest by all, O mother of nations! Extend over all thy powerful protection; but above all others, by God’s permission, may unfortunate Poland find by experience that thy patronage is never invoked in vain!
[1] April 8, 1241.
[2] Dom Guépin, S. Josaphat et i'Eglise grecque unie en Pologne, Introduction.
[3] 3rd Sunday of October.
[4] Gen. xvii. 6.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Note.—The Feast of SAINT HEDWIGE, Widow, has been transferred from October 17 to OCTOBER 16.
“Among the most striking proofs of the infinite love of our Redeemer is this, that, at a moment in which the love of the faithful was growing cold, the Divine Love proposed himself as the object of special veneration and worship, and the precious treasure of the Church was opened to enrich with indulgences the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ... In that Sacred Heart we must place all our hope, from that Heart ask and expect our salvation.”[1]
The great devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI thus speaks, and which has been so marvellously extended in the Church since the seventeenth century, is no new devotion. Much research by Catholic scholars has established the fact that there was not one of the great older religious orders but had a tradition of such devotion and saintly souls in their ranks with whom it was associated. This is true of the children of St. Benedict (both of the “Black monks” of the parent stem, and the later Cistercians), of the Carthusians, Dominicans, and Franciscans. St. Bonaventure’s beautiful and tender phrases have supplied some of the lessons for the new office of the feast, whilst during the octave not only St. Bernard, but one of the greatest of the early Fathers, St. John Chrysostom, exhort us in turn concerning what has been so often described, and even bitterly opposed, as a novelty unknown to primitive days.
The truth is that, in post-Reformation days, a new element in the devotion has been stressed. In the ages of faith, although the devotion was always, as now, closely connected with the Passion, yet it was exultant, glorious, triumphant Love which dominated it. After the rending of the seamless garment of the Church universal, with all its dire consequences, it was the element of reparation, of loving the Heart which had so loved men, but was so little loved in return, which was emphasized; and it is this aspect of the devotion which is thus urged upon the faithful by Pius XI: the duty of reparation for the offences, the insults, the contempt meted out to infinite Love, in our modern world which knows him not.
The saint of this day is neither the first nor the only soul to whom our Lord revealed the mystery of the Sacred Heart; but she was the one whom he chose as the special instrument of its propagation. He had taught it to others, but he did not command them to preach it to the world or to work for its public cultus. He did so command this simple Visitation nun of Paray-le-Monial, Margaret Mary Alacoque, in an age when Jansenism was chilling men’s hearts, and substituting for love of God a terrible fear, which kept them from the Sacraments and made them “see the Judge severe e’en in the crucifix.”
Not that the devotion, even as formally and finally approved and propagated by the Church, depends upon the revelations, any more than that of Corpus Christi depends upon those of Blessed Juliana of Cornillon. Revelations have only an accessory part in the institution of such feasts; what the Church seeks is, what is useful for souls; and it suffices for her that a devotion is in itself good, and will make for the greater glory of God.
The saint’s own story illustrates the effect of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, rightly practised. Like all souls specially called to a life of reparation and expiation, Margaret Mary knew much suffering. In her early life she and her beloved mother had much to endure from members of her family. She suffered from unjust constraint upon her actions, from monotony and unkindness. Her religious practices were hindered, partly by her family circumstances and partly by those of the times; she was over twenty-one before she was able to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Want of proper direction, and more unjust opposition, rendered her vocation a further source of suffering; and when, at last, the convent doors closed behind her, she found trials compared with which what had gone before seemed but trifling. Favoured at times, even from childhood, with extraordinary graces, she found herself at the very natural disadvantage caused by such in a prudently-ruled religious house; the more so as the Visitandine spirit was of another sort. It seems ironical that, though she had entered an order in its first fervour, and a house fervent among the fervent, under successive superiors distinguished for their spirituality and their wisdom, she should have been long completely misunderstood, undervalued, and somewhat distrusted. The tendency to scruples, excessive timidity and trouble in spiritual matters, the lack of peace which we notice in the early years, vanished only when the great revelations began. Under the influence of our Lord’s own teaching, and the guidance he further gave her in his holy servant, Blessed Claude de la Colombière, her character steadily developed. Her humility, ever great, became greater, so that she could walk safely in her mystic ways; her judgement and insight in spiritual things became sure. Despondency vanished, and no trials could disturb her peace or shake her confidence till, at the end, the religious of whom once her sisters had thought little stands revealed in her biographies “a true and valiant lover.” Once pre-occupied with self, she became selfless, and all suffering became sweet; and after her has followed an unending procession of those who, again in the words of the great Encyclical of Pius XI, valiantly strive to make satisfaction to the Divine Heart for so many sins that are committed against it, who do not fear to offer themselves to Christ as victims . . . who not only hate sin and shun it as the greatest of evils, but offer themselves to the divine will, and use every means in their power to compensate for the offences committed against the divine Majesty by constant prayer, by voluntary mortifications, and by the patient acceptance of all the trials that may come upon them—in fact by living their whole lives in the spirit of reparation.
Margarita Maria Alacoque, in pago diœcesis Augustodunensis honesto genere nata, jam inde a teneris annis futuræ sanctitatis indicia præbuit. In Deiparam Virginem et in augustum Eucharistiæ sacrametum amore flagrans, adolescentula Deo virginitatem devovit, id exoptans unice ut ad Christianas virtutes vitam componeret. In deliciis babebat prolixas preces rerumque cælestium contemplationem, sui contemptum, patientiam in adversis, corporis afflictationem, caritatem in proximos, præsertim egenos; summoque studio nitebatur ut sanctissima divini Redemptoris exempla pro viribus referret.
Margaret Mary Alacoque was bom of a respectable family in a village in the diocese of Autun, and from her earliest years already gave signs of future holiness. Filled with burning love of the Virgin Mother of God and of the august mystery of the Eucharist, in her youth she dedicated her virginity to God and strove above all things to realize in her life the practice of Christian virtues. Her delight was to spend long hours in prayer and in the contemplation of heavenly things. She had a low esteem of herself, was patient in adversity, practised bodily penance, and was charitable towards her neighbour, especially towards the poor. She diligently strove by all means in her power to imitate the most holy example of the divine Redeemer.
Ordinem Visitationis ingressa, statim religiosæ vitæ fulgore nitere cœpit. Altioris dono orationis a Deo est decorata, aliisque gratiæ muneribus et crebris visionibus. Harum celeberrima fuit cum ante Eucharistiam precanti Jesus semetipsum conspiciendum obtulit, et divinum Cor in aperto pectore flammis incensum ac spinis constrictum ostend it, præcepitque ut, ob talem caritatem et ad ingratorum hominum injurias expiandas, illa publicum Cordi suo cultum, magnis propositis cælestis thesauri præmiis, instituendum curaret. Cunctanti ex humilitate seque tantæ rei imparem profitenti amantissimus Salvator addit animum, simulque eximia sanctitate virum, Claudium de la Colombière, ducem et adjutorem designat; eamque spe fovet illius summæ utilitatis, quæ postea e divini Cordis cultu in Ecclesiam dimanavit.
Ut jussa Redemptoris impleret Margarita omni diligentia studebat. Nectamen illi defuere molestiæ plures atque acres contumeliæ ab iis qui eam vano mentis errori obnoxiam esse dictitabant. Quæ omnia æquo animo tulit, immo apponebat lucro, existimans se per opprobria et dolores hostiam Deo gratam fore, et majora ad propositum suum auxilia consecuturam. Religiosæperfectionis laude florens et per æternarum rerum contemplationem in dies singulos cælesti sponso conjunctior, ad eum evolavit, anno ætatis suæquadragesimo tertio, reparatæ salutis millesimo sexcentesimo nonagesimo. Miraculis insignem Benedictus decimus quintus Sanctis adscripsit: ejusque officium Pius undecimus Pontifex maximus ad universam Ecclesiam extendit.
Having entered the Order of the Visitation, her life becameat once a bright example to others. She was endowed by God in a high degree with the gift of prayer, together with other favours and frequent visions. Of these the most famous was when Jesus appeared to her whilst she was in prayer before the most holy Sacrament and, opening his breast, showed her his divine Heart enkindled by flames and encircled in a crown of thorns; and he bade her, in return for bis excessive love and in atonement for the insults of ungrateful men, to seek to have established the public veneration of his Heart, which he would enrich with the treasures of heavenly grace. When from humility she hesitated to undertake so great a task, the most loving Saviour encouraged her, at the same time pointing out Claude de la Colombière, a man of great holiness, as her guide and helper. He also comforted her with the assurance of the very great blessings which afterwards accrued to the Church from the worship of his divine Heart.
Margaret strove with all diligence to fulfil the Redeemer’s command. Vexations and even bitter insults were not wanting to her on the part of those who maintained that she was liable to mental delusions. She not only bore these troubles patiently, but even profited by them, deeming herself through suffering and reproach as a victim acceptable to God and taking them as a means of more easily furthering her purpose. Renowned for religious perfection and becoming daily more united to her heavenly Spouse by the contemplation of eternal things, she took flight to him in the forty-third year of her age, and in the year of restored salvation 1690. She became famous for miracles, and Benedict XV enrolled her name among those of the saints; and the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI extended her Office to the universal Church.
[1] Encycl. Miserentissimus Redemptor.