October
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
The goodness and kindness of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men.[1] It would seem that the third evangelist, a disciple of St. Paul, had purposed setting forth this word of the doctor of the Gentiles; or may we not rather say, the apostle himself characterizes in this sentence the Gospel wherein his disciple portrays the Saviour prepared before the face of all peoples; a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of . . . Israel.[2] St. Luke’s Gospel, and the words quoted from St. Paul, were in fact written about the same time; and it is impossible to say which claims priority.
Under the eye of Simon Peter, to whom the Father had revealed the Christ the Son of the living God, Mark had the honour of giving to the Church the Gospel of Jesus, the Son of God.[3] Matthew had already drawn up for the Jews the Gospel of the Messias, Son of David, Son of Abraham.[4] Afterwards, at the side of Paul, Luke wrote for the Gentiles the Gospel of Jesus, Son of Adam through Mary.[5] As far as the genealogy of this First-born of His Mother may be reckoned back, so far shall extend the blessing He bestows on His brethren, by redeeming them from the curse inherited from their first father.
Jesus was truly one of ourselves, a Man conversing with men and living their life. He was seen on earth in the reign of Augustus; the prefect of the empire registered the birth of this new subject of Cæsar in the city of His ancestors. He was bound in the swathing-bands of infancy; like all of his race, He was circumcised, offered to the Lord, and redeemed according to the law of His nation. As a Child He obeyed His parents; He grew up under their eyes; He passed through the progressive development of youth to the maturity of manhood. At every juncture, during His public life, He prostrated in prayer to God the Creator of all; He wept over His country; when His heart was wrung with anguish at sight of the morrow’s deadly torments, He was bathed with a sweat of blood; and in that agony He did not disdain the assistance of an angel. Such appears, in the third Gospel, the humanity of God our Saviour.
How sweet too are His grace and goodness! Among all the children of men, He merited to be the expectation of nations and the Desired of them all: He who was conceived of a humble Virgin; who was born in a stable with shepherds for His court, and choirs of angels singing in the darkness of night: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will.' But earth had sung the prelude to the angelic harmonies; the precursor, leaping with delight in his mother’s womb, had, as the Church says,[6] made known the King still resting in His bride-chamber. To this joy of the Bridegroom’s friend, the Virgin Mother had responded by the sweetest song that earth or heaven has ever heard. Then Zachary and Simeon completed the number of inspired canticles for the new people of God. All was song around the new-born Babe; and Mary kept all the words in her heart, in order to transmit them to us through her own evangelist.
The divine Child grew in age and wisdom and grace before God and man; till His human beauty captivated men, and drew them with the cords of Adam to the love of God. He was ready to welcome the daughter of Tyre, the Gentile race that had become more than a rival of Sion. Let her not fear, the poor unfortunate one, of whom Magdalene was a figure; the pride of expiring Judaism may take scandal, but Jesus will accept her tears and her perfumes; He will forgive her much because of her great love. Let the prodigal hope once more, when worn out with his long wanderings, in every way whither error has led the nations; the envious complaint of his elder brother Israel will not stay the outpourings of the sacred Heart, celebrating the return of the fugitive, restoring to him the dignity of sonship, placing again upon his finger the ring of the alliance first contracted in Eden with the whole human race. As for Juda, unhappy is he if he refuse to understand.
Woe to the rich man, who in his opulence neglects the poor Lazarus! The privileges of race no longer exist: of ten lepers cured in body, the stranger alone is healed in soul, because he alone believes in his deliverer and returns thanks. Of the Samaritan, the levite, and the priest, who appear on the road to Jericho, the first alone earns our Saviour’s commendation. The pharisee is strangely mistaken, when, in his arrogant prayer, he spurns the publican, who strikes his Dreast and cries for mercy. The Son of Man neither hears the prayers of the proud, nor heeds their indignation; He invites Himself, in spite of their murmurs, to the house of Zacheus, bringing with Him salvation and joy, and declaring the publican to be henceforth a true son of Abraham. So much goodness and such universal mercy close against Him the narrow hearts of His fellow-citizens; they will not have Him to reign over them; but eternal Wisdom finds the lost groat, and there is great joy before the angels in heaven. On the day of the sacred nuptials, the lowly and despised, and the repentant sinners, will sit down to the banquet prepared for others. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, . . . and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.[7]
O Jesus, thy evangelist has won our hearts. We love Thee for having taken pity on our misery. We Gentiles were in deeper debt than Jerusalem, and therefore we owe Thee greater love in return for Thy pardon. We love Thee because Thy choicest graces are for Magdalene, that is, for us who are sinners, and are nevertheless called to the better part. We love Thee because Thou canst not resist the tears of mothers; but restorest to them, as at Naim, their dead children. In the day of treason, and abandonment, and denial, Thou didst forget Thine own injury to cast upon Peter that loving look, which caused him to weep bitterly. Thou turnedst away from Thyself the tears of those humble and true daughters of Jerusalem, who followed Thy painful footsteps up the heights of Calvary. Nailed to the cross, Thou didst implore pardon for Thy executioners. At the last hour, as God Thou promisedst paradise to the penitent thief, as Man Thou gavest back Thy Soul to Thy Father. Truly from beginning to end of this third Gospel appears Thy goodness and kindness, O God our Saviour!
St. Luke completed his work by writing, in the same correct style as his Gospel, the history of the first days of Christianity, of the introduction of the Gentiles into the Church, and of the great labours of their own apostle Paul. According to tradition he was an artist, as well as a man of letters; and with a soul alive to all the most delicate inspirations, he consecrated his pencil to the holiest use, and handed down to us the features of the Mother of God. It was an illustration worthy of the Gospel which relates the divine Infancy; and it won for the artist a new title to the gratitude of those who never saw Jesus and Mary in the flesh. Hence St. Luke is the patron of Christian art; and also of the medical profession, for in the holy Scripture itself he is said to have been a physician, as we shall see from the breviary lessons. He had studied all the sciences in his native city Antioch; and the brilliant capital of the east had reason to be proud of its illustrious son.
The Church borrows from St. Jerome the historical lessons of the feast. The just censure therein passed upon a certain apocryphal and romantio history of St. Thecla, in no way derogates from the universal veneration of east and west for the noble spiritual daughter of St. Paul.
Ex libro sancti Hieronymi presbyteri de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis.
Lucas medicus Antiochensis, ut ejus scripta indicant græci sermonis non ignarus, fuit sectator apostoli Pauli, et omnis peregrination is ejus comes. Scripsit Evangelium, de quo idem Paulus: Misimus, inquit, cum illo fratrem, cujus laus est in Evangelio per omnes ecclesias. Et ad Colossenses: Salutat vos Lucas, medicus carissimus Et ad Timotheum: Lucas est mecum solus. Aliud quoque edidit volumen egregium, quod titulo, Acta apostolorum, prænotatur: cujus historia usque ad biennium Romæ commorantis Pauli pervenit, id est, usque ad quartum Neronis annum. Ex quo intelligimus in eadem urbe librum esse compositum.
Igitur periodos Pauli et Theclæ, et totam baptizati leonis fabulam, inter apocryphas scripturas computamus. Quale enim est, ut individuus comes apostoli, inter ceteras ejus res, hoc solum ignoraverit? Sed et Tertullianus, vicinus eorum temporum, refert presbyterum quemdam in Asia amatorem apostoli Pauli, convictum a Joanne, quod auctor esset libri, et confessum se hoc Pauli amore fecisse, et ob id loco excidisse. Quidam suspicante, quotiescumque in epistolis suis Paulus dicit, Juxta Evangelium meum, de Lucæ significare volumine.
Lucam autem non solum ab apostolo Paulo didicisse Evangelium, qui cum Domino in carne non fuerat, sed a ceteris apostolis: quod ipse quoque in principio sui voluminis declarat, dicens: Sicut tradiderunt nobis, qui a principio ipsi viderunt, et ministri fuerunt sermonis. Igitur Evangelium sicut audierat, scripsit: Acta vero apostolorum, sicut viderat ipse, composuit. Vixit octoginta et quatuor annos, uxorem non habens: sepultus est Constantinopoli, ad quam urbem vigesimo Constantini anno ossa ejus cum reliquiis Andreæ apostoli translata sunt de Achaia.
From the book of St. Jerome, priest, on ecclesiastical writers.
Luke was a physician of Antioch, and, as is shown by his writings, was skilled in the Greek tongue. He was a disciple of the apostle Paul, and accompanied him in all his journeys. He also wrote a Gospel; wherefore the same Paul says of him: We have sent also with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel through all the churches. And again to the Colossians: Luke the most dear physician saluteth you. And to Timothy: Only Luke is with me. He wrote another excellent work, called the Acts of the apostles, in which he relates the history of the Church, as far as Paul’s two years’ sojourn at Rome, that is to the fourth year of Nero. From this circumstance we infer that the book was written at Rome.
Conseqently we class the journeys of Paul and Thecla and the whole fable of the baptized lion, among apocryphal writings. For is it possible that the apostle’s inseparable companion should know everything concerning him except this one thing? Moreover Tertullian, who lived near to those times, relates that a certain priest in Asia, an admirer of Paul, was convicted by John of having written that book; which he confessed he had done out of love for Paul, and was on that account deposed. Some are of opinion that whenever Paul in his epistles says: According to my Gospel, he means that of Luke.
Luke, however, was instructed in the Gospel not only by the apostle Paul, who had never seen the Lord in the flesh, but also by the other apostles. This he declares in the beginning of his work, saying: According as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word. He wrote his Gospel, then, from what he had heard, but the Acts of the apostles from what he had himself seen. He lived eighty-four years, and was never married. His body lies at Constantinople, whither it was translated from Achaia, together with the relics of St. Andrew the apostle, in the twentieth year of Constantine.
The symbolical Ox, reminding us of the figurative sacrifices, and announcing their abrogation, takes his place to-day, with the man, the lion, and the eagle, to complete the number of the four mystical creatures before the throne of God. O evangelist of the Gentiles, blessed be thou for having put an end to the long night of our captivity, and warmed our frozen hearts. Thou wast the confidant of the Mother of God; and her happy influence left in thy soul that fragrance of virginity which pervaded thy whole life and breathes through thy writings. With discerning love and silent devotedness, thou didst assist the apostle of the Gentiles in his great work; and didst remain as faithful to him when abandoned or betrayed, shipwrecked or imprisoned, as in the days of his prosperity. Rightly, then, does the Church in her Collect apply to thee the words spoken by Saint Paul of himself: In all things we suffer tribulation, are persecuted, are cast down, always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus; but this continual dying manifests the life of Jesus in our mortal flesh. Thy inspired pen taught us to love the Son of Man in His Gospel; thy pencil portrayed Him for us in His Mother’s arms; and a third time thou revealedst Him to the world, by the reproduction of His holiness in thine own life.
Preserve in us the fruits of thy manifold teaching. Though Christian painters do well to pay thee special honour, and to learn from thee that the ideal of beauty resides in the Son of God and in His Mother, there is a yet more sublime art than that of lines and colours: the art of reproducing in ourselves the likeness of God. This we wish to learn perfectly in thy school; for we know from thy master St. Paul that conformity to the image of the Son of God can alone entitle the elect to predestination.
Be thou the protector of the faithful physicians, who strive to walk in thy footsteps, and who, in their ministry of devotedness and charity, rely upon thy credit with the Author of life. Second their efforts to heal or to relieve suffering; and inspire them with holy zeal, when they find their patients on the brink of eternity.
The world itself, in its decrepitude, now needs the assistance of all who are able, by prayer or action, to come to its rescue. ‘The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth?'[8] Thus spoke our Lord in the Gospel. But He also said that we ought always to pray and not to faint;[9] adding, for the instruction of the Church both at this time and always, the parable of the widow, whose importunity prevailed upon the unjust judge to defend her cause. ‘And will not God revenge His elect, who cry to Him day and night; and will He have patience in their regard? I say to you that He will quickly revenge mem.'[10]
[1] Tit. ii. 11; iii. 4.
[2] St. Luke ii. 31. 32.
[3] St. Mark i. 1.
[4] St. Matt. i. 1.
[5] St. Luke iii. 38.
[6] Vesper hymn for the feast of St. John Baptist.
[7] St. Luke iv. 25-27.
[8] St. Luke xviii. 8.
[9] Ibid. 1.
[10] Ibid. 2-7.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘O happy penance, which has won me such glory!' said the saint of to-day at the threshold of heaven. And on earth, Teresa of Jesus wrote of him: ‘Oh! what a perfect imitator of Jesus Christ God has just taken from us, by calling to his glory that blessed religious, Brother Peter of Alcantara! The world, they say, is no longer capable of such high perfection; constitutions are weaker, and we are not now in the olden times. Here is a saint of the present day; yet his manly fervour equalled that of past ages; and he had a supreme disdain for everything earthly. But without going barefoot like him, or doing such sharp penance, there are very many ways in which we can practise contempt of the world, and which our Lord will teach us as soon as we have courage. What great courage must the holy man I speak of have received from God, to keep up for forty-seven years the rigorous penance that all now know!
Of all his mortifications, that which cost him most at the beginning was the overcoming of sleep; to effect this he would remain continually on his knees, or else standing. The little repose he granted to nature he took sitting, with his head leaning against a piece of wood fixed to the wall; indeed, had he wished to lie down, he could not have done so, for his cell was only four feet and a half in length. During the course of all these years, he never put his hood up, however burning the sun might be, or however heavy the rain. He never used shoes or stockings. He wore no other clothing than a single garment of rough, coarse cloth; I found out, however, that for twenty years he wore a hair-shirt made on plates of tin, which he never took off. His habit was as narrow as it could possibly be; and over it he put a short cloak of the same material; this he took off when it was very cold, and left the door and small window of his cell open for a while; then he shut them and put his cape on again, which he said was his manner of warming himself and giving his body a little better temperature. He usually ate but once in three days; and when I showed some surprise at this, he said it was quite easy when one was accustomed to it. His poverty was extreme; and such was his mortification, that, as he acknowledged to me, he had, when young, spent three years in a house of his Order without knowing any one of the religious except by the sound of his voice; for he had never lifted up his eyes; so that, when called by the rule to any part of the house, he could find his way only by following the other brethren. He observed the same custody of the eyes when on the roads. When I made his acquaintance, his body was so emaciated that it seemed to be formed of the roots of trees.’[1]
To this portrait of the Franciscan reformer drawn by the reformer of Carmel, the Church will add the history of his life. Three illustrious and worthy families now form the first Order of St. Francis, known as the Conventuals, the Observantines, and the Capuchins. A pious emulation for more and more strict reform, brought about in the Observance itself, a subdivision into the Observantines proper, the Reformed, the Discalced or Alcantarines, and the Recollets. This division, which was historical rather than constitutional, no longer exists; for, on the feast of the patriarch of Assisi, October 4, 1897, the sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII thought fit to reunite the great family of the Observance, which is henceforth known as the Order of Friars Minor.[2]
Petrus, Alcantaræ in Hispania nobilibus parentibus natus, a teneris annis futuræ sanctitatis indicia præbuit. Decimo sexto ætatis anno ordinem Minorum ingressus, se omnium virtutum exemplar exhibuit. Tum munus concionatoris ex obedientia exercens, innumeros a vitiis ad veram pœnitentiam traduxit. Primævum sancti Francisci institutum exactissime reparare cupiens, ope divina fretus, et apostolica munitus auctoritate, angustissimum et pauperrimum cœnobium juxta Petrosum fundavit: quod vitæ genus asperrimum, ibi feliciter cœptum, per diversas Hispaniæ provincias, usque ad Indias mirifice propagatum fuit. Sanctæ Teresiæ, cujus probaverat spiritual, in promovenda Carmelitarum reformatione adjutor fuit. Ipsa autem a Deo edocta, quod Petri nomine nihil quisquam peteret, quin protinus exaudiretur, ejus precibus se commendare, et ipsum adhuc viventem sanctum appellare consuevit.
Principum obsequia, qui ipsum velut oraculum consulebant, summa humilitate declinans, Carolo quinto imperatori a confessionibus esse recusavit. Paupertatis rigidissimus custos, una tunica, qua nulla deterior esset, contentus erat. Puritatem ita coluit, ut a fratre, in extremo morbo sibi inserviente, nec leviter quidem tangi passus sit. Corpus suum perpetuis vigiliis, jejuniis, flagellis, frigore, nuditate, atque omni genere asperitatum in servitutem redegit, cum quo pactum inierat, ne ullam in hoc sæculo ei requiem præberet. Caritas Dei et proximi in ejus corde dilfusa tantum quandoque excitabat incendium, ut e celiæ angustiis in apertum campum prosilire, ærisque refrigerio conceptum ardorem temperare cogeretur.
Gratia contemplationis admirabilis in eo fuit, qua cum assidue spiritus reficeretur, interdum accidit, ut ab omni cibo et potu pluribus diebus abstinuerit. In æra frequenter sublatus, miro fulgore coruscare visus est. Rapidos fluvios sicco pede trajecit. Fratres in extrema penuria, cœlitus delata alimonia cibavit. Baculus ab ipso terræ defixus, mox in viridem ficulneam excrevit. Cum noctu iter ageret, densa nive cadente, dirutam domum sine tecto ingressus est, eique nix in ære pendula pro tecto fuit, ne illius copia suffocaretur. Dono prophetiæ ac discretionis spirituum imbutum fuisse sancta Teresia testatur. Denique annum agens sexagesimum tertium, hora qua prædixerat, migravit ad Dominum, mirabili visione, sanctormnque præsentia confortatus. Quem eodem momento in cœlum ferri beata Teresia procul distans vidit; cui postea apparens dixit: O felix pœnitentia, quæ tantam mihi promeruit gloriam! Post mortem vero plurimis miraculis claruit, et a Clemente nono sanctorum numero adscriptus est.
Peter was born of noble parents at Alcantara in Spain, and from his earliest years gave promise of his future sanctity. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Order of Friars Minor, in which he became an example of every virtue. He undertook by obedience the office of preaching, and led numberless sinners to sincere repentance. Desirous of bringing back the Franciscan Order to its original strictness, he founded, by God’s assistance and with the approbation of the apostolic See, a very poor little convent at Pedroso. The austere manner of life, which he was there the first to lead, was afterwards spread in a wonderful manner throughout Spain and even into the Indies. He assisted St. Teresa, whose spirit he approved, in carrying out the reform of Carmel. And she having learned from God that whoever asked anything in Peter’s name would be immediately heard, was wont to recommend herself to his prayers, and to call him a saint, while he was still living.
Peter was consulted as an oracle by princes; but he avoided their honours with great humility, and refused to become confessor to the emperor Charles V. He was a most rigid observer of poverty, having but one tunic, and that the meanest possible. Such was his delicacy with regard to purity, that he would not allow the brother, who waited on him in his last illness, even lightly to touch him. By perpetual watching, fasting, disciplines, cold, and nakedness, and every kind of austerity, he brought his body into subjection; having made a compact with it, never to give it any rest in this world. The love of God and of his neighbour was shed abroad in his heart, and at times burned so ardently that he was obliged to escape from his narrow cell into the open, that the cold air might temper the heat that consumed him.
Admirable was his gift of contemplation. Sometimes, while his spirit was nourished in this heavenly manner, he would pass several days without food or drink. He was often raised in the air, and seen shining with wonderful brilliancy. He passed dry-shod over the most rapid rivers. When his brethren were absolutely destitute, he obtained for them food from heaven. He fixed his staff in the earth, and it suddenly became a flourishing fig-tree. One night when he was journeying in a heavy snow-storm, he entered a ruined house; but the snow, lest he should be suffocated by its dense flakes, hung in the air and formed a roof above him. He was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and discernment of spirits as St. Teresa testifies. At length, in his sixtythird year, he passed to our Lord at the hour he had foretold, fortified by a wonderful vision and the presence of the saints. St. Teresa, who was at a great distance, saw him at that same moment carried to heaven. He afterwards appeared to her, saying: O happy penance, which has won me such great glory! He was rendered famous after death by many miracles, and was enrolled among the saints by Clement IX.
‘Such then is the end of that austere life, an eternity of glory!’[3] And how sweet were thy last words: ‘I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.'[4] The time of reward had not yet come for the body, with which thou hadst made an agreement to give it no truce in this life, but to reserve its enjoyment for the next. But already the soul, on quitting it, had filled it with the light and the fragrance of the other world; signifying to all that, the first part of the contract having been faithfully adhered to, the second should be carried out in like manner. Whereas, given over for its false delights to horrible torments, the flesh of the sinner will for ever cry vengeance against the soul that caused its loss; thy members, entering into the beatitude of thy happy soul, and completing its glory by their own splendour, will eternally declare how thy apparent harshness for a time was in reality wisdom and love.
Is it neccessary, indeed, to wait for the resurrection, in order to discover that the part thou didst choose is incontestably the best? Who would dare to compare, not only unlawful pleasures, but even the permitted enjoyments of earth, with the holy delights of contemplation prepared, even in this world, for those who can relish them? If they are to be purchased by mortification of the flesh, it is because the flesh and the spirit are ever striving for the mastery; but a generous soul loves the struggle, for the flesh is honoured by it, and through it escapes a thousand dangers.
O thou who, according to our Lord’s promise, art never invoked in vain, if thou deign thyself to present our prayers to Him; obtain for us that relish for heavenly things, which causes an aversion for those of earth. It is the petition made by the whole Church, through thy merits, to the God who bestowed on thee the gift of such wonderful penance and sublime contemplation.[5]The great family of Friars Minor cherishes the treasure of thy teaching and example; for the honour of thy holy Father Francis and the good of the Church, maintain in it the love of its austere traditions. Withdraw not thy precious protection from the Carmel of Teresa of Jesus; nay, extend it to the whole religious state, especially in these days of trial. Mayst thou at length lead back thy native Spain to the glorious heights, whence formerly she seemed to pour down floods of sanctity upon the world; it is the condition of nations ennobled by a more sublime vocation, that they cannot decline without the danger of falling below the level of those less favoured by the Most High.
[1] St. Teresa. Life, xxvii, xxx.
[2] Constit. apost. Felicitate quadam.
[3] St. Teresa. Life, xxvii.
[4] Ps. cxxi. 1.
[5] Collect of the feast.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Kenty, the humble village of Silesia which witnessed the birth of St. John, owes its celebrity entirely to him. The canonization of this holy priest, who in the fifteenth century had illustrated the university of Cracow by his virtues and science, was the last hope of expiring Poland. It took place in the year 1767. Two years earlier, it was at the request of this heroic nation that Clement XIII had issued the first decree sanctioning the celebration of the feast of the sacred Heart. When enrolling John Cantius among the saints, the magnanimous Pontiff expressed in moving terms the gratitude of the Church towards that unfortunate people; and rendered to it, before shamefully forgetful Europe, a supreme homage.[1] Five years later Poland was dismembered.
Joannes in oppido Kenty Cracoviensis diœcesis, a quo Cantii cognomen duxit, Stanislao et Anna piis et honestis parentibus natus, morum suavitate, innocentia, gravitate, ab ipsa inf antia spem fecit maximæ virtutis. In universitate Cracoviensi philosophiæ ac theologiæ primum auditor, tum per omnes academiæ gradus ascendendo professor ac doctor, sacra quam annis multis tradidit doctrina, mentes audientium non illustrabat modo, sed et ad omnem pietatem inflammabat, simul docens scilicet et faciens. Sacerdos factus, nihil de litterarum studio remittens, studium auxit Christianæperfectionis. Utque passim offendi Deum maxime dolebat, sic eum sibi et populo placare oblato quotidie non sine multis lacrimis incruento sacrificio satagebat. Ilkusiensem parochiam annis aliquot egregie administravit; sed animarum periculo commotus postea dimisit, ac postulante academia ad pristinum docendi officium rediit.
Quidquid temporis ab studio supererat, partim saluti proximorum, sacris præsertim concionibus curandæ, partim orationi dabat, in qua cœlestibus quandoque visionibus et colloquiis dignatus fertur. Christi vero passione sic afficiebatur, ut in ea contemplanda totas interdum noctes duceret insomnes, ejusque causa melius recolendæ Hierosolymam peregrinatus sit: ubi et martyrii desiderio flagrans, Turcis ipsis Christum crucifixum prædicare non dubitavit. Quater etiam ad apostolorum limina pedes, atque viaria onustus sarcina Romam venit, tum ut Sedem apostolicam, cui maxime addictus fuit, honoraret, tum ut sui (sic enim aiebat) purgatorii pœnas exposita illic quotidie peccatorum venia redimeret. Quo in itinere a latronibus olim spoliatus, et numquid haberet præterea interrogatus, cum negasset, aureos deinde aliquot suo insutos pallio recordatus, fugientibus hos etiam clamans obtulit latronibus: qui viri sancti candorem simul, et largitatem admirati, etiam ablatos ultro reddidere. Alienæ famæ ne quia detraheret, descriptis beati Auguatini exempio in pariete versiculis, se atque alios perpetuo voluit admonitos. Famelicos de suo etiam obsonio satiabat: nudos autem non emptis modo, sed detractis quoque sibi vestibus et calceis operiebat, demisso ipso interim uaque ad terram pallio, ne domum nudipedes redire videretur.
Brevis illi somnus, atque humi; vestis, quæ nuditatem, cibua, qui mortem dumtaxat, arceret. Virginalem pudicitiam, velut lilium inter sninas, aspero cilicio, flagellis atque jejuniis custodivit. Quin et per annos ante obitum triginta circiter et quinque ab esu carnium perpetuo abatinuit. Tandem dierum juxta ac meritorum plenus, cum vicinæ, quam præsensit, morti se diu diligenterque præparasæt, ne qua re amplius teneretur, ai quid domi supererat id omnino pauperibus distribuit. Tum Ecclesiæ sacramentia rite munitus, dissolvi jam cupiens, et esse cum Christo, pridie Nativitatis ejus, in cœlum evolavit, miraculis ante et post mortem claras. Mortuus ad proximam academiæ ecclesiam sanctæ Annæ delatus est, ibique honorifice sepultus. Auctaque in dies populi veneratione ac frequentia inter primarios Poloniæ ac Lithuaniæ patronos religiosissime colitur. Novisque corascans miraculis, a Clemente decimo tertio Pontifice maximo decimo septimo calendas Augusti, anno millesimo septingentesimo sexagesimo septimo, solemni ritu sanctorum fastis adscriptus est.
John was born at Kenty, a town in the diocese of Cracow; and hence his surname Cantius. His parents were pious and honorable persons, by name Stanislaus and Anna. From his very infancy, his sweetness of disposition, innocence, and gravity, gave promise of very great virtue. He studied philosophy and theology at the university of Cracow, and taking all his degrees proceeded professor and doctor. He taught sacred science for many years, enlightening the minds of his pupils and enkindling in them the flame of piety, no less by his deeds than by his words. When he was ordained priest, he relaxed nothing of his zeal for study, but increased his ardour for Christian perfection. Grieving exceedingly over the offences everywhere committed against God, he strove to make satisfaction on his own behalf and that of the people, by daily offering the unbloody Sacrifice with many tears. For several years he had charge of the parish of Ilkusi, which he administered in an exemplary manner; but fearing the responsibility of the cure of souls, he resigned his post; and, at the request of the university, resumed the professor’s chair.
Whatever time remained over from his studies, he devoted partly to the good of his neighbour, especially by holy preaching; partly to prayer, in which he is said to have been sometimes favoured with heavenly visions and communications. He was so affected by the Passion of Christ, that he would spend whole nights without sleep in the contemplation of it; and in order the better to cultivate this devotion, he undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While there, in his eagerness for martyrdom he boldly preached Christ crucified even to the Turks. Four times he went to Rome on foot, and carrying his own baggage, to visit the threshold of the apostles; in order to honour the apostolic See to which he was earnestly devoted, and also (as he himself used to say), to save himself from purgatory by means of the indulgences there daily to be gained. On one of these journeys he was robbed by brigands. When asked by them whether he had anything more, he replied in the negative; but afterwards remembering that he had some gold pieces sewn in his cloak, he called back the robbers, who had taken to flight, and offered them the money. Astonished at the holy man’s sincerity and generosity, they restored all they had taken from him. After St. Augustine’s example, he had verses inscribed on the walla in his house, warning others, as well as himself, to respect the reputation of their neighbours. He fed the hungry from his own table; and clothed the naked not only with garments bought for the purpose, but even with his own clothes and shoes; on these occasions he would lower his cloak to the ground, so as not to be seen walking home barefoot.
He took very little sleep, and that on the ground. His clothing was only sufficient to cover him, and his food to keep him alive. He preserved his virginal purity, like a lily among thorns, by using a rough hair-shirt, disciplines, and fasting; and for about thirty-five years before his death, he abstained entirely from fleshmeat. At length, full of days and of merits, he prepared himself long and diligently for death, which he felt drawing near; and that nothing might be a hindrance to him, he distributed all that remained in his house to the poor. Then, strengthened with the Sacraments of the Church, and desiring to be with Christ, he passed to heaven on Christmas Eve. He worked many miracles both in life and after death. His body was carried to St. Anne’s, the church of the university, and there honourably interred. The people’s veneration for the saint, and the crowds visiting his tomb, increased daily; and he is honoured as one of the chief patrons of Poland and Lithuania. As new miracles continued to be wrought, Pope Clement XIII solemnly enrolled him among the saints, on the seventeenth of the Kalends of August, in the year 1767.
The Church is ever saying to thee, and we repeat it with the same unwavering hope: ‘O thou, who didst never refuse assistance to any one, take in hand the cause of thy native kingdom; it is the desire of the Poles, thy fellow-countrymen, it is the prayer of even foreigners.'[2] The treason of which thy unhappy fatherland was the victim, has not ceased to press heavily upon disorganized Europe. How many other crushing weights have since been thrown into the balance of our Lord’s justice! O John, teach us at least not to add thereto our own personal faults. It is by following thee along the path of virtue, that we shall merit to obtain pardon from heaven,[3] and to hasten the hour of great atonements.
[1] Bulla canonizationis.
[2] Hymn of Matins.
[3] Collect.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
‘Monks were unknown in Syria before St. Hilarion,' says his historian St. Jerome. ‘He instituted the monastic life in that country, and was the master of those who embraced it. The Lord Jesus had His Anthony in Egypt and His Hilarion in Palestine, the former advanced in years, the latter still young.'[1] Now our Lord very soon raised this young man to such glory, that Anthony would say to the sick, who came to him from Syria attracted by the fame of his miracles: ‘Why take the trouble to come so far, when you have near you my son Hilarion?'[2] And yet Hilarion had spent only two months with Anthony; after which the patriarch had said to him: ‘Persevere to the end, my son; and thy labour will win thee the delights of heaven.' Then, giving a hair-shirt and a garment of skin to this boy of fifteen whom he was never to see again, he sent him back to sanctify the solitudes of his own country, while he himself retired farther into the desert.[3]
The enemy of mankind, foreseeing a formidable adversary in this new solitary, waged a terrible war against him. Even the flesh, in spite of the young ascetic’s fasts, was satan’s first accomplice. But without any pity for a body so frail and delicate, as his historian says, that any effort would have seemed sufficient to destroy it, Hilarion cried out indignantly: ‘Ass, I will see that thou kick no more; I will reduce thee by hunger, I will crush thee with burdens, I will make thee work in all weathers; thou shalt be so pinched with hunger, that thou wilt think no more of pleasure.'[4]
Vanquished in this quarter, the enemy found other allies, through whom he thought to drive Hilarion, by fear, back to the dwellings of men. But to the robbers who fell upon his poor wicker hut, the saint said smiling: ‘He that is naked has no fear of thieves.' And they, touched by his great virtue, could not conceal their admiration, and promised to amend their lives.[5]
Then satan determined to come in person, as he had done to Anthony; but with no better success. No trouble could disturb the serenity attained by that simple, holy soul. One day the demon entered into a camel and made it mad, so that it rushed upon the saint with horrible cries. But he only answered: 'I am not afraid of thee; thou art always the same, whether thou come as a fox or a camel.' And the huge beast fell down tamed at his feet.[6]
There was a harder trial yet to come from the most cunning artifice of the serpent. When Hilarion sought to hide himself from the immense concourse of people who besieged his poor cell, the enemy maliciously published his fame far and wide, and brought to him overwhelming crowds from every land. In vain he quitted Syria and travelled the length and breadth of Egypt; in vain, pursued from desert to desert, he crossed the sea, and hoped to conceal himself in Sicily, in Dalmatia, in Cyprus. From the ship, which was making its way among the Cyclades, he heard, in each island, the infernal spirits calling one another from the towns and villages and running to the shores as he passed by. At Paphos, where he landed, the same concourse of demons brought to him multitudes of men; until at length God took pity on His servant, and discovered to him a place inaccessible to his fellow-men, where he had no company but legions of devils, who surrounded him day and night. Far from fearing, says his biographer, he took pleasure in the neighbourhood of his old antagonists whom he knew so well; and he lived there in great peace the last five years before his death.[7]
The Church thus abridges St. Jerome’s history of Hilarion.
Hilarion, ortus Tabathæ in Palæstina ex parentibus infidelibus, Alexandriam missus studiorum causa, ibi morum et ingenii laude floruit:ac Jesu Christi suscepta religione, in fide et caritate mirabili ter profecit. Frequens enim erat in ecclesia, assiduus in jejunio et oratione: omnes voluptatum illecebras et terrenarum rerum cupiditates contemnebat. Cum autem Antonii nomen in Ægypto celeberrimum esset, ejus videndi studio in solitudinem contendit: apud quem duobus mensibus omnem ejus vitærationem didicit. Domum reversus, mortuis parentibus, facultates suaspauperibus dilargitus est: necdum quintum decimum annulli egressus, rediit in solitudinem, ubi, exstructa exigua casa, quæ vix ipsum caperet, humi cubabat. Nec vero saccum, quo semel amictus est, umquam aut lavit, aut mutavit, cum supervacaneum esse diceret, munditias in cilicio quærere.
In sanctarum litterarum lectione et meditatione multus erat. Paucas ficus et succum herbarum ad victum adhibebat; nec illis ante solis occasum vescebatur. Continentia et humilitate fuit incredibili. Quibus aliisque virtutibus varias horribilesque tentationes diaboli superavit, et innumerabiles dsemones in multis orbis terræ partibus ex hominum corporibus ejecit. Qui octogesimum annum agens, multis ædificatis monasteriis, et Claris miraculis, in morbum incidit: cujus vicum extremo pene spiritu conflictaretur, dicebat: Egredere, quid times? egredere, anima mea, quid dubitas? septuaginta prope annis servisti Christo, et mortem times? Quibus in verbis spiritum exhalavit.
Hilarion was born of infidel parents at Abatha in Palestine; and was sent to study at Alexandria, where he became famous for his talents and the purity of his morals. He embraced the Christian religion, and made wonderful progress in faith and charity. He was constantly in the church, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, and was full of contempt for the enticements of pleasure and earthly desires. The fame of St. Anthony had then spread over all Egypt. Hilarion, desirous of seeing him, betook himself to the wilderness, and stayed two months with him learning his manner of life. He then returned home; but on the death of his parents he bestowed his goods upon the poor, and though only in his fifteenth year, returned to the desert. He built himself a little cell scarcely large enough to hold him, and there he slept on the ground. He never changed or washed the sackcloth he wore, saying it was superfluous to look for cleanliness in a hair-shirt.
He devoted himself to the reading and study of the holy Scripture. His food consisted of a few figs and the juice of herbs, which he never took before sunset. His mortification and humility were wonderful; and by means of these and other virtues he overcame many terrible temptations of the evil one, and cast innumerable devils out of the possessed in many parts of the world. He had built many monasteries, and was renowned for miracles, when he fell ill in the eightieth year of his age. In his last agony he exclaimed: Go forth, my soul, why dost thou fear? Go forth, why dost thou hesitate? Thou hast served Christ for nearly seventy years, and dost thou fear death? And with these words he expired.
To be a Hilarion, and yet to fear death! If in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?[8] O glorious saint, penetrate us with the apprehension of God’s judgments. Teach us that Christian fear does not banish love, but on the contrary, clears the way and leads to it, and then accompanies it through life as an attentive and faithful guardian. This holy fear was thy security at thy last hour; may it protect us also along the path of life, and at death introduce us immediately into heaven!
St. Hilarion was one of the first confessors, if not the very first, to be honoured in the east with a public cultus like the martyrs. In the west, the whiterobed army led by Ursula adds to the glory of the holy monk who has the first honours of this day.
[1] Hieron: in vita S Hilarionis, cap. ii.
[2] Ibid. iii.
[3] Ibid. i. ex græca versione.
[4] Hieron. Vita S. Hilarionis.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid. ii.
[7] Hieron. Vita S Hilarionis, 3, 4, 5.
[8] St. Luke, xxiii. 31.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
St. Hilarion was one of the first confessors, if not the very first, to be honoured in the east with a public cultus like the martyrs. In the west, the whiterobed army led by Ursula adds to the glory of the holy monk who has the first honours of this day.
On October 21, 451, Cologne was made equal to the most illustrious cities by a spiritual glory. Criticism, and there is no lack of it, may dispute the circumstances which brought together the legion of virgins; but the fact itself, that eleven thousand chosen souls were martyred by the Huns in recompense for their fidelity, is now acknowledged by true science. From the earth where so many noble victims lay concealed, they have more than once been brought to light by multitudes, bearing about them evidence of the veneration of those who had buried them; for instance, by a happy inspiration, the arrow that had set free the blessed soul, would be left, as a token of victory, fixed in the breast or forehead of the martyr.
St. Angela of Merici confided to the patronage of the glorious phalanx her spiritual daughters, and the numberless children whom they will continue till the end of time to educate in the fear of the Lord. The grave Sorbonne dedicated its church to the holy virgins as well as to the Mother of God; and here, as in the universities of Coimbra and Vienna, an annual panegyric was pronounced in praise of them. Portugal, enriched with some of their precious relics, carried their cultus into the Indies. And pious confraternities have been formed among the faithful for obtaining their assistance at the hour of death. Let us address to them these verses from a beautiful Office composed in their honour by the blessed Herman, their most devout client.
AD COMPLETORIUM
O præclaræ vos puellæ,
Nunc implete meum velle,
Et dum mortis venit hora,
Subvenite sine mora:
In tam gravi tempestate
Me præsentes defendate
A dæmonum instantia.
Nulla vestrum ibi desit,
Virgo Mater prima præsit,
Si quæ mihi fæx inhæsit,
Quæ me sua labe læsit,
Vestra prece procul fiat,
Vos præsentes hostis sciat,
Et se confusum doleat.
O ye glorious virgins,
fulfil now my desire,
and when the hour of death arrives,
hasten to my assistance:
be present at that terrible moment,
and defend me
from the assault of the demons.
Let not one of you be then absent;
come with the Virgin Mother at your head.
If any remnant of sin still cling to me
and soil me with its stain,
remove it by your prayer.
Let the foe be aware of your presence,
and bewail his own confusion.
Let us conclude with the Church's own prayer.
Prayer
Da nobis, quæsumus Domine Deus noster: sanctarum virginum et martyrum tuarum Ursulæ et sociarum ejus palmas incessabili devotione venerari; ut quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum.
Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with continual devotion the triumphs of thy holy virgins and martyrs, Ursula and her companions; that what we cannot celebrate with worthy minds, we may at least attend with humble service. Through our Lord &c.