April
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
IT is through a martyr's palm-branch that we must to-day see the Paschal Mystery. Hermenegild, a young Visigoth prince, is put to death by his heretical father, because he courageously refused to receive his Easter Communion from an Arian bishop. The martyr knew that the Eucharist is the sacred symbol of Catholic unity; and that we are not allowed to approach the Holy Table in company with those who are not in the true Church. A sacrilegious consecration gives heretics the real possession of the divine Mystery, if the priestly character be in him who dares to offer sacrifice to the God whom he blasphemes; but the Catholic, who knows that he may not so much as pray with heretics, shudders at the sight of the profanation, and would rather die than share by his presence in insulting our Redeemer in that very Sacrifice and Sacrament which were instituted that we might all be made one in God.
The blood of the martyr produced its fruit: Spain threw off the chains of heresy that had enslaved her, and a Council, held at Toledo, completed the work of conversion begun by Hermenegild's sacrifice. There are very few instances recorded in history of a whole nation rising up as one man to abjure heresy; but Spain did it, for she seems to be a country on which heaven lavishes exceptional blessings. Shortly after this she was put through the ordeal of the Saracen invasion; she triumphed here again by the bravery of her children; and ever since then, her faith has been so staunch and so pure as to merit for her the proud title of The Catholic Kingdom.
St Gregory the Great, a contemporary of St Hermenegild, has transmitted to us the following account of the martyrdom. The Church has inserted it in her Lessons of today's Matins.
Ex libro Dialogorum sancti Gregorii Papæ.
Hermenegildus rex, Leovigildi regis Visigothorum filius, ab ariana hæresi ad fidem catholicam, viro reverendissimo Leandro Hispalensi Episcopo, dudum mihi in amicitiis familiariter juncto, prædicante, conversus est. Quem pater arianus, ut ad eamdem hæresim rediret, et præmiis su adere, et minis terrere conatus est. Cumque ille constantissime responderet numquam se veram fidem posse relinquere, quam semel agnovisset: iratus pater eum privavit regno, rebusque exspoliavit omnibus. Cumque nec sic virtutem mentis illius emollire valuisset; in arcta ilium custodia concludens, collum manusque illius ferro ligavit. Coepit itaque Hermenegildus rex juvenis terrenum regnum despicere, et forti desiderio coeleste quærens, in ciliciis vinculatus jacens, omnipotenti Deo, ad confortandum se, preces effundere; tantoque sublimius gloriam transeuntis mundi despicere, quanto et religatus agnoverat nihil fuisse, quod potuerit auferri.
Superveniente autem Paschalis festivitatis die, intempestæ noctis silentio, ad eum perfidus pater arianum episcopum misit, ut ex ejus manu sacrilegæ consecrationis communionem perciperet, atque per hoc ad patris gratiam redire mereretur. Sed vir Deo deditus, ariano episcopo venienti exprobravit ut debuit, ejusque a se perfidiam dignis increpationibus repulit: quia etsi exterius jacebat ligatus, apud se tamen in magno mentis culmine stabat securus. Ad se itaque reverso episcopo, arianus pater infremuit, statimque suos apparitores misit, qui constantissimum confessorem Dei, illic ubi jacebat, occiderent; quod et factum est.Nam mox ut ingressi sunt, securim cerebro ej us infigentes, vitam corporis abstulerunt, hocque in eo valuerunt, perimere, quod ipsum quoque qui peremptus est, in se consti terat despexisse. Sed pro ostendenda vera ejus gloria, superna quoque non defuere miracula. Nam cœpit in nocturno silentio psalmodiæ cantus ad corpus ejusdem regis et martyris audiri, atque ideo veraciter regis, quia et martyris.
Quidam etiam ferunt, quod illic nocturno tempore accensæ lampades apparebant. Unde et factum est, quatenus corpus illius, ut videlicet martyris, jure a cunctis fidelibus venerari debuisset. Pater vero perfidus et parricida commotus pœnitentia, hoc fecisse se doluit, nec tamen usque ad obtinendam salutem pœnituit. Nam quia vera esset Catholica fides agnovit, sed gentis suæ timore perterritus, ad hanc pervenire non meruit. Qui oborta ægritudine, ad extrema perductus est, etLeandro Episcopo, quem prius vehementer afflixerat, Reccaredum regem filium suum, quem in sua haeresi relinquebat, commendare curavit, ut in ipso quoque talia faceret, qualia et in fratre suis exhortationibus fecisset. Qua commendatione expleta, defunctus est. Post cujus mortem, Reccaredus rex non patrem perfidum, sed fratrem martyrem sequens, ab arianæ hæreseos pravitate conversus est, totamque Visigothorum gentem ita ad veram perduxit fidem, ut nullum in suo regno militare permitteret, qui regni Dei hostis existere per hæreticam pravitatem non timeret. Nec mirum quod veræ fidei prsedicator factus est, qui frater est martyris: cujus hunc quoque merita adjuvant, ut ad omnipotentis Dei gremium tam multos reducat.
From the book of the Dialogues of Saint Gregory, Pope.
King Hermenegild, son of Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, was converted from the Arian heresy to the Catholic faith by the preaching of the venerable Leander, bishop of Seville, one of my oldest and dearest friends. His father, who continued in the Arian heresy, did his utmost, both by promises and threats, to induce him to apostatize. But Hermenegild returned him ever the same answer, that he never could abandon the true faith, after having once known it. The father, in a fit of displeasure, deprived him not only of his right to the throne, but of everything he possessed. And when even this failed to break the energy of his soul, he had him put into close confinement with chains on his neck and hands. Hereupon the youthful king Hermenegild began to despise the earthly, and ardently to long for the heavenly, kingdom. Thus fettered, and wearing a hairshirt, he besought the omnipotent God to support him. As to the glory of this fleeting world, he nobly looked on it with disdain, the more so as his captivity taught him the nothingness of that which could thus be taken from him.
It was the Feast of Easter. At an early hour of the night, when all was still, his wicked father sent an Arian bishop to him, with this message, that if he would receive Communion from his hands (the Communion of a sacrilegious consecration!) he should be restored to favour. True to his Creator, the man of God gave a merited reproof to the Arian bishop, and, with holy indignation, rejected his sinful offer; for though his body lay prostrate in chains, his soul stood on ground beyond the reach of tyranny. The bishop therefore returned whence he had come. The Arian father raged, and straightway sent his lictors, bidding them repair to the prison of the unflinching confessor of the Lord, and murder him on the spot. They obeyed; they entered the prison; they cleft his skull with a sword; they took away the life of the body, and slew what he, the slain one, had sworn to count as vile. Miracles soon followed, whereby heaven testified to the true glory of Hermenegild; for during the night there was heard sweet music nigh to the body of the king and martyr—king indeed, because he was a martyr.
It is said that lights were seen at the same time burning in the prison. The faithful were led by these signs to revere the body as being that of a martyr. As to the wicked father, he repented having imbrued his hands in his son’s blood; but his repentance was not unto salvation, inasmuch as, whilst acknowledging the Catholic faith to be the true one, he had not the courage to embrace it, for he feared the displeasure of his subjects. When in his last sickness, and at the point of death, he commended his son Reccared, a heretic, to the care of Leander, the.bishop, whom he had hitherto persecuted, but whom he now asked to do for this son what he had, by his exhortations, done for Hermenegild. Having made this request, he died, and was succeeded on the throne by Reccared, who, taking not his wicked father but his martyred brother as his model, abandoned the impious Arian heresy, and led the whole Visigothic nation to the true faith. He would not allow any man to serve in his armies who dared to continue the enemy of the God of hosts by heresy. Neither is it to be wondered at, that being the brother of a martyr, he should have become a propagator of the true faith, for it was by Hermenegild's merits that he has succeeded in reconciling so many thousands to the great God of heaven.
Pope Urban VIII composed the two following hymns for the feast of the holy martyr: we unite them under one conclusion.
Hymn
Regali solio fortis Iberiæ
Hermenegilde jubar, gloria Martyrum,
Christi quos amor almis
Cœli cœtibus inserit.
Ut perstas patiens, pollicitum
Deo Servans obsequium! quo potius tibi
Nil proponis, et arces
Cautus noxia, quæ placent.
Ut motus cohibes, pabula qui parant
Surgentis vitii, non dubios agens
Per vestigia gressus
Quo veri via dirigit!
Nullis te genitor blanditiis trahit,
Non vitæ caperis divitis otio,
Gemmarumve nitore,
Regnandive cupidine.
Diris non acies te gladii minis,
Nec terret perimens carnificis furor:
Nam mansura caducis
Præfers gaudia cœlitum.
Nunc nos e superum protege sedibus,
Clemens, atque preces, dum canimus tua
Quæsitam nece palmam,
Pronis auribus excipe.
Sit rerum Domino jugis honor, Patri,
Et natum celebrent ora precantium,
Divinumque supremis
Flamen laudibus efferant.
Amen.
The royal throne of heroic Iberia counts thee,
Hermenegild, as one of its glories:
so, too, do the martyrs,
whose love of Christ has numbered them among the blessed of heaven.
How courageously didst thou keep thy promised allegiance to God!
He was dear to thee above all things else;
and as to the dangerous pleasures of this world,
thou wisely didst reject them.
Thou didst restrain the passions
which excite and foster vice,
and march onwards, with unfaltering step,
whither the path of truth leads.
Thy father's promises could not seduce thee.
The luxuries of a life of ease and wealth,
the glitter of diamonds, the prospect of a throne
—they could not allure thee.
Thou wast not affrighted by the threat of a cruel death,
nor by the executioner's merciless rage;
for the everlasting joys of heaven
were dearer to thee than those of time.
Do thou now kindly protect us
from thy heavenly throne,
and graciously receive the prayers we present to thee
whilst celebrating the palm made thine by martyrdom.
To the Father, the Lord of all things, be eternal honour!
Let the faithful assembled here in prayer, glorify the Son;
let them sing forth endless praise
to the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
We offer thee, O brave witness to the truth of our holy faith! our admiration and gratitude. Thy courageous death was proof of the love thou hadst for Christ; and thy contempt of earthly honours teaches us to despise them. Though thou wert heir to a throne, a prison was thy abode here below. It was thence that thou didst ascend to heaven, wearing on thy brow the laurels of martyrdom, a crown far brighter than that which was offered thee on condition of thy apostatizing from the faith. Pray now for us: the Church asks it of thee, by inserting thy name in the Calendar of her Saints. The Pasch was the day of thy triumph; obtain for us that this may be a true Pasch to us, a real resurrection. which may lead us to the heaven above, where we may enjoy with thee the sight of our Risen Jesus. Intercede for us, that we may be firm in the faith, obedient to the teachings of holy Church, and enemies of every error and innovation. Protect Spain, thy fatherland, which owes to thy martyrdom long centuries of loyalty to the true faith. Pray for her, that she may ever continue to merit her glorious title of Catholic Kingdom.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
YESTERDAY Spain sent one of her princes to represent her at the court of the Conqueror of Death. To-day Christ receives with equal honour the representative of learning in the service of religion. The philosopher’s mantle worn by Justin is as splendid as the royal purple of Hermenegild, for both prince and philosopher have washed their robes in their own blood, mingled with that of the Lamb, and these robes have become the insignia of their eternal glory. But the victory of Christ’s champions is not felt in heaven only—the blood of the martyrs makes the very earth fruitful. In spite of heresy, Catholic Spain was born from the royal blood of Hermenegild, and paganism, by sacrificing Justin to its own hatred, inspired new vigour into the seed sown in Rome by SS Peter and Paul. On this very day the sacred cycle brings before us SS Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, the glorious triumvirate won to Christ by the immortal Cecily, who embodies so nobly the Roman faith defended with such love and learning by Justin. When she was born. Justin’s public disputations with the adversaries of Christianity were filling Rome with his victorious refutations of paganism. His writings, which he boldly caused to penetrate even to the imperial throne, carried the light to regions which he could not reach by his spoken word. The lictor’s axe, in striking off the head of the apologist, gave more force to his demonstrations than had been given by his powerful logic, when for the first time he overcame the powers of hell and put an end to a fierce persecution.
The world, courted on all sides by a thousand different schools, which by their contradictions seemed bent on making the discovery of truth impossible, was now in a position to recognize sincerity. Marcus Aurelius had succeeded Antoninus Pius, and he claimed to enthrone philosophy in his own person. His ideal of perfection was the satisfaction of self and the contempt of others, and he passed from dogmatic scepticism to the establishment of the Moral Law, delivering his ‘Thoughts ‘to the admiration of his courtiers without caring for the reformation of their morals. Justin, had been seeking truth from boyhood, in order to find justice. He was not discouraged by the ill-success of his early efforts, and did not make the delay of the dawn an excuse for denying the existence of the light. When, at God's chosen time, he found Wisdom, he longed to communicate her to all, little and great, and devoted his life to the work, making naught of the labours and sufferings by which he solemnly confessed his faith before the world. What man of good faith could hesitate to choose between the Christian hero and the crowned sophist who put him to death? Who would not, like Cecily, pour scorn upon the pretensions of those false philosophers who have made themselves masters of the world and who give no proof of their love for wisdom beyond their determination to shut the mouths of those who preach it?
Philosophy, baptized in the blood of this convert, is henceforward Christian for ever. Her distressing sterility is at an end. The testimony of martyrdom which she has now given to truth in token of faithful service, atones for all the monstrous offences of her early years. She will always be distinct from faith, but henceforth she will be the helpmeet of this heavenly virtue. Human reason will be strengthened by the alliance and will be able to arrive at trustworthy conclusions. But woe to reason if she forgets her consecration to Christ, ignores the mystery of the Incarnation, and declares herself satisfied with a purely natural explanation of the origin of man, the end of creation, and the Moral Law. The natural light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world, is unquestionably from the Word, and that is its glory. But since the divine Word, in addition to the honour thus done to reason, has given to humanity a higher and more direct manifestation of himself, he does not intend that man should divide his gifts, leave on one side the faith which prepares the way for vision, and content himself with the gleam of light which would have been sufficient for the state of pure nature. The Word is one, as man, to whom he manifests himself, is one; and this manifestation is made at one and the same time, though in different ways, namely, by reason and faith. If man withdraws himself from the supernatural light, he will be rightly punished by the withdrawal of that natural light, which he thought to be his own, and the world will be plunged into unreasoning foolishness.
Let us read the account given by the Church of the martyr philosopher and give glory to our Risen Lord, whose triumph is enhanced by the consecration to him of all the glory gained by men.
Justinus Prisci filius ex græco genere Flaviæ Neapolis in Syria Palestina natus, adolescentiam in litterarum omnium studiis transegit. Vir factus adeo philosophiæ: amore correptus est, ut ad veritatem assequendam, quotquot aderant, philosophorum sectis nomen dederit, eorumque præcepta scrutatus sit. Cum in his fallaccm tantum sapientiam erroremque reperisset, superna illustratione per senem quemdam ignotum aspectuque venerabilem edoctus, veræ christianæ fidei philosophiam amplexus est. Hinc sacræ Scripturæ libros diu noctuque præ manibus habens, ita ex eorum meditatione divinus ignis in anima ejus exarsit, ut ea qua pollebat emditionis vi, eminentem Jesu Christi scientiam adeptus, plurima conscripserit volumina ad christianum fidem exponendam, magisque propagandam.
Inter præclarissima Justini opera binæ eminent fidei Christiane Apologie, quas cum, coram Senatu, Imperatoribus Antonino Pio ejusque tiliis, necnon Marco Antonino Vero et Lucio Aurelio Commodo, Christi asseclas sevissime divexantibus, porrexisset, eamdemque fidem disputando strenue propugnasset, obtinuit ut a christianorum cede publico Principum edicto temperatum fuerit. Verum Justino hand parcitum est. Nam Crescentis Cynici, cujus vitam et mores nefarios redarguerat insidiis accusatus, a satellitibus comprehensus est. Adductus autem ad Rome Presidem nomine Rusticum, cum hic ab eo quesivisset quenam essent christianorum precepta, hanc bonam confessionem coram multis testibus confessus est: Rectum dogma quod nos christiani homines cum pietate servamus, hoc est: ut Deum unum existimemus factorem et creatorem omnium, que videntur, queque corporeis oculis non cernuntur; et Dominum Jesum Christum Dei Filium confiteamur, olim a Prophetis prænuntiatum, qui et humani generis judex venturus est.
Quoniam Justinus in prima sua Apologia palam exposuerat quomodo christiani convenirent ad Sacra celebranda, et quænam fuerint sacri hujus conventus mysteria ad repellendas ethnicorum calumnias, exquisivit ab eo Præses in quonam loco conveniret ipse et cæteri hujus Urbis Christi fideles. Justinus autem reticens coventuum loca, ne sancta et fratres proderet canibus, domicilium tantum suum indicavit, ubi manere et discipulos excolere solebat, penes celebrem titulum Pastoris in ædibus Pudentis. Demum Præses optionem ei dedit vel ut diis sacrificaret, vel per totum corpus flagellis caedi perferret. Cum invictus fidei vindex assereret se in votis semper habuisse cruciatus perpeti propter Dominum Jesum Christum, a quo magnam in cœlis mercedem consequi exspectabat, praeses in eum capitalem sententiam pronuntiavit. Itaque mirabilis philosophus, Deum collaudans, post verbera, fuso pro Christo sanguine, glorioso martyrio coronatus est. Quidam vero fideles clam illius sustulerunt corpus, et in loco idoneo condiderunt. Leo decimus tertius,Pontifex Maximus, ejusdem officium ab universa Ecclesia celebrari præcepit.
Justin, the son of Priscus, was a Greek by race, and was born at Nablus in Palestine. He passed his youth in the study of letters. When he grew to manhood he was so taken with the love of philosophy and the desire of truth, that he became a student in the schools of all the philosophers, and examined the teaching of them all. He found in them only deceitful wisdom and error. He received the light of heaven from a venerable old man, who was a stranger to him, and embraced the philosophy of the true Christian faith. Henceforth he had the books of Holy Scripture in his hands by day and night, and his soul was filled with the divine fire enkindled by his meditations. Having thus acquired the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, he devoted his learning to the composition of many books explaining and propagating the Christian faith.
Among the most famous of the works of Justin are his two Apologies or Defences of the Christian faith. These he offered in the Senate to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and his sons, together with Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, who were cruelly persecuting the followers of Christ. By these Apologies and his vigorous disputations in defence of the faith he obtained a public edict from the government to stay the slaughter of the Christians. But Justin himself did not escape. He had blamed the wicked life led by Crescens the Cynic, who caused him to be accused and arrested. He was brought before Rusticus, the Prefect of Rome, and questioned concerning the doctrine of the Christians. Whereupon he made this good confession in the presence of many witnesses: ‘The right doctrine which we Christian men do keep with godliness is this: that we believe that there is one God, the maker and creator of all things, both those which are seen and those which bodily eyes do not see; and that we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was of old foretold by the Prophets, and who is to come to judge all mankind.’
In his first Apology Justin had given, in order to rebut the slanders of the heathen, an open account of the Christian assemblies and of the holy Mysteries there celebrated. The prefect asked him in what place he and Christ’s other faithful servants in the city were accustomed to meet. But Justin, fearing to betray the holy mysteries and his brethren, mentioned only his own dwelling near the famous church in the house of Pudens, where he lived and taught his disciples. The prefect then bade him choose whether he would sacrifice to the gods or suffer a cruel scourging. The unconquered champion of the faith answered that he had always desired to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom he hoped to receive a great reward in heaven. The prefect thereupon sentenced him to death, and thus this excellent philosopher, giving praise to God, suffered the pain of scourging, and then shed his blood for Christ, and was crowned with martyrdom. Some of the faithful stole away his body and buried it in a fitting place. The Supreme Pontiff, Leo XIII, commanded that his office and Mass should be said throughout the Church.
We hail in thee, O Justin, one of the noblest trophies of the divine Conqueror of Death. Thou wast bom in the kingdom of darkness, but thou didst early seek to break the chains of falsehood which bound thee like so many others. Thou didst love Wisdom even before thou didst know her, and she too had chosen thee.[1] But she ‘will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.’[2] Many men seek to hide their self-love under the beautiful name of Philosophy, and to find in her an excuse for all their vices; but thou didst seek for knowledge out of a desire to know and love the truth and obey her laws. This purity of heart and mind brought thee near to God and made thee worthy to meet in the ways of life the living Wisdom whom thou art now enjoying in the full light of eternity.[3] The Church has honoured thee, and rightly, with the name of the Admirable Philosopher, for thou wast the first to realize that a Philosophy which is worthy of the name—a true love of wisdom—cannot confine its researches within the abstract domain of pure reason; for reason is only the gateway into those higher regions where Wisdom reveals herself in person to the love that seeks her with a sincere heart.
It is written of souls like thee that ‘the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world.’[4] But true philosophers who, like thee, understand that the aim of the wise man is to attain to the vision of God[5]—to reach the most holy God by the way of obedience[6]—are rare in .these days. The independence of reason is the only dogma on which the sophists of the present day are agreed. Their sect is characterized by a false eclecticism, which allows each one to make his own system and choose what most appeals to him out of the positive affirmations of different schools and religions. Thus they proclaim that reason, though supreme in their eyes, has so far produced no trustworthy conclusions, and that the last word of science is scepticism or universal doubt. It is hardly becoming for such men to reproach the Church with despising reason. On the contrary, the Church has but lately, in the Vatican Council,[7] emphasized and exalted the mutual help rendered by faith and reason in leading men to God, and she casts out of her fold those who deny to human reason the power to affirm with certainty the existence of God our Lord and Creator. When seeking to define in these days the respective value of faith and reason, without either separating or confusing them, the Church had but to listen to the testimony of Christian philosophers in all centuries, beginning with thee, for their works, which complete one another, are full of this dcctrine.
Thou wast as faithful as thou wert brave, O valiant martyr! In thy day the Church had not been forced by contests with heresy to seek for new terms of expression whose very precision soon became indispensable, but thy writings prove to us that the doctrine was the same though the phraseology was less clear. Be thou blessed by all the children of the Church for this demonstration of the identity of our belief with that of the second century. Be thou blessed for thy careful distinction between that which was dogma to be held by all, and those private opinions on lesser points to which the Church in thy day left liberty as she has ever done.
Do not disappoint the confidence of the Mother of all mankind. Though so many centuries have passed since thy martyrdom, she wishes her children to pay thee greater honour to-day than they have done in past ages. She was once recognized as queen of the nations, but now her situation is what it was in the days when thou didst defend her against hostile powers. Raise up new apologists. Teach them that the assaults of hell may be repelled by zeal, firmness and eloquence. But they must not have false ideas as to the nature of the combat entrusted to their honour by the Church. They have to defend a queen. The Spouse of the Son of God could never permit her champions to solicit for her the protection accorded to a slave. Truth has its rights—or, rather, it is truth alone that has the right to claim liberty. Our apologists, O Justin, must, like thee, make the State ashamed not to grant to the Church a liberty accorded to all sects. But Christian champions may not rest satisfied with a toleration extended equally to Christ and Satan, They must cry with thee, even when fresh violence is threatened: ‘Our cause is just, for we, and we alone, speak the truth.’[8]
[1] Ecclus. iv 18.
[2] Wis. i 4.
[3] Cp. ibid. vi 17-21.
[4] Ibid. vi 26.
[5] Ecclus. vi 23; Dialog, cum Tryph. 3.
[6] Ecclus. iv 15.
[7] Sess. iii, cap. 4, can. 10.
[8] Apol. i 23.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
LET us affectionately welcome the brave triumvirate of martyrs, presented today to our Risen Jesus by the Roman Church of the second century. The first is Valerian, the chaste and noble spouse of Cecily; he wears on his brow a wreath of roses and lilies. The second is Tiburtius, Valerian's brother, and like him, a convert of Cecily; he shows us the triumphant palm he won so speedily. Maximus is the third; he witnessed the combat and the victory of the two brothers, imitated their example, and followed them to heaven. The immortal Cecily is the queen of this holy group; she taught them to be martyrs; she has a right to our remembrance on this day of their feast. She herself shared in their glorious privilege of suffering and dying for the name of Christ. She won the crown five months later, on September 16, according to the most ancient calendars; her feast, however, is no longer kept on that day. The solemnity of November 22, formerly preceded by a vigil, is marked in the Roman breviary as the day of her martyrdom; it is, in reality, the anniversary of the dedication of her magnificent basilica in Rome.
The Church makes a commemoration of our three great martyrs to-day.
The following lesson is extremely short. The reason is, that this feast is very ancient; and in the early ages of the Church, simple offices, as they are called, were extremely frequent; and it was only for great feasts that three nocturns were said each with three lessons.
Valerianus Romanus, nobili genere ortus, Alexandro Severo Imperatore, hortatu beatæ Cæciliæ virginis, quam sibi pari nobilitate uxorem desponderat, una cum Tiburtio fratre a sancto Urbano papa baptizatur. Quos ubi præfectus Urbis Almachius christianos esse cognovit, et patrimonio pauperibus distributo, Christianorum corpora sepelire, accersitos graviter reprehendit: atque ubi Christum Deum constanter confitentes, deos autem daemoniorum inania simulacra prædicantes videt, virgis cædi jubet. Sed cum verberibus cogi non possent, ut Jovis simulacrum venerarentur, imo fortes in fidei ventate permanerent, ad quartum ab Urbe lapidem securi feriuntur. Quorum virtutem admiratus Maximus praefecti cubicularius, qui eos ad supplicium perduxerat, Christianum se esse professus est, cum multis praefecti minis tris: qui paulo post plumbatis contusi, omnes ex diaboli ministris Christi Domini martyres evaserunt.
Valerian, a Roman by birth, and of a noble family, was married to the blessed Cecily, who was of equal nobility. By the advice of this virgin, he and his brother Tiburtius were baptized by the holy Pope Urban, in the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus. Almachius, the City Prefect, having been informed that they had become Christians, had distributed their patrimony among the poor, and were burying the bodies of the Christians, summoned them before him, and severely rebuked them. Finding, however, that they persevered in confessing Christ to be God, and in proclaiming the gods to be but vain images of devils, he ordered them to be scourged. But they were not to be induced, by this scourging, to adore the idols of Jupiter; they continued firm in the profession of the true faith: they were therefore beheaded four miles out of Rome. One of the Prefect's officials, by name Maximus, who had been appointed to lead them to execution, was filled with admiration at seeing the courage wherewith they suffered, and professed himself to be a Christian, as did likewise several other servants of the Prefect. Not long after, they were all beaten to death with whips loaded with plummets of lead; and thus, from being slaves of the devil, they became martyrs of Christ our Lord.
Holy and precious fruits of the great Cecily's apostolate! we this day unite with the blessed Spirits in celebrating your entrance into the court of heaven. Thou, O Valerian, wast led to faith, and to the sublimest of all virtues, by thy noble spouse; thou wast the first to enter into the joy of the Lord; but in a few days thy Cecily followed thee, and the love begun on earth was made eternal in heaven. Speaking of thee and her, an angel said that your roses and lilies should never fade; their fragrance of love and purity is sweeter by far now than when they bloomed here below. Thou, O Tiburtius! brother of these two angels of earth! thou owest to them thy beautiful palm; thou art a sharer in their eternal happiness, and the three names, Cecily, Valerian, and Tiburtius, are to be for ever united in the admiration of angels and men. The sight of the two brothers suffering so bravely for Christ inflamed thy ambition, O Maximus, to imitate them; the God of Cecily became thine; thou didst shed thy blood for him; and he, in return, has placed thee in heaven near Cecily, Valerian and Tiburtius, to whom, whilst on earth, thou wast so inferior by birth and position.
Now, therefore, O holy martyrs, be our protectors, and hear the prayers we address unto you. Speak in our favour to the immortal King, for whom you so bravely fought and died; ask him to fill our hearts with his love, and make us generous like you. You despised this fleeting life; we too must despise it, if we would share in the happiness you now enjoy, the sight of our Risen Lord. The battle we have to fight may, perhaps, be different from yours; but the reward that awaits us is, like your own, everlasting. Rather than betray Christ, you laid down your lives; our duty is the same—we must die rather than sin. Pray for us, O holy martyrs, that our lives may henceforward be such as will honour this year's Pasch. Pray also for the Church of Rome, your Mother; her days of trial have returned; she has a right to count upon your intercession for the help she needs.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
A POPE and martyr of the second century appears in the Calendar today. The martyrs stand in clusters near our Risen Lord; they are the Eagles of which he speaks in his Gospel, as gathering together around their longed-for object.[1] Anicetus is not the only Pope whose martyrdom has to be celebrated during Paschal Time; others will come, adding to our Easter joy. The Saint who claims our attention to-day is one of those whose holy actions are shrouded in the venerable gloom of the Church; and yet his memory will be held in veneration to the end of time, not only as being the eleventh successor of St Peter in the See of Rome, but as having imitated him also in holiness of life. St Poly carp, whose feast we kept on January 26, came from Smyrna to Rome, in order to visit him and receive his advice. There have also been transmitted to us one or two instances of the zeal wherewith he defended the Church against the heresiarchs, Valentine and Marcion. In a word, we know that he was a martyr; and that is enough to immortalize his name.
The Church makes the following commemoration of the holy Pontiff:
Anicetus Syrus, imperatore Marco Aurelio Antonino, præfuit Ecclesiæ. Decrevit ne clerici comam nutrirent. Quinquies mense decembri ordinavit presbyteros decem et septem, diaconos quatuor, episcopos per diversa loca novem. Vixit in Pontifica tu annos octo, menses octo, dies viginti quatuor. Propter Christi fidem martyrio coronatus, sepultus est via Appia in cæmeterio, quod postea Callisti appellatum est, decimo quinto kalendas maii.
Anicetus, a Syrian by birth, governed the Church during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He passed a decree which forbade clerics to nourish their hair. The ordinations, which he held in five Decembers, gave seventeen priests, four deacons, and nine bishops for divers places. His pontificate lasted eight years, eight months, and twenty-four days. He was crowned with martyrdom for the Christian Faith, and was buried on the fifteenth of the Kalends of May (April 17), in the Cemetery (afterwards called the Cemetery of Callixtus) which is on the Appian Way.
Holy Pontiff! who so many long ages ago wast made partaker of the glory of him whose Vicar and martyr thou hadst the privilege to be, we celebrate thy blessed memory today with filial affection. In thee we venerate one of the pillars of the early Church; and though thy name has been handed down to us without the history of those holy deeds which merited for thee a martyr’s palm—we at least know that it was dear to the faithful of the age in which thou didst live. Now that thou art in heaven, thy zeal for the glory of God is greater than it was when thou wast on this earth; pray, then, for the Church of these sad times. Upwards of two hundred Pontiffs have followed thee upon the Chair of Peter; and Christ has not yet come to judge the world. Assist thy successor who is our Father; assist the flock entrusted to his charge, for the dangers that now threaten us are extreme. Thy pontificate was during a stormy period; pray to our Risen Jesus that he would quell the tempest that is now howling round the Bark of Peter. Beseech him to give us perseverance and courage. Obtain for us that we may fix our hearts on our heavenly country; so that when God calls us hence, we may be prepared as thou wast. We are the descendants of the martyrs; their faith is ours; the hope that cheered them must be our consolation.
[1] St Matt. xxiv 28.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
A MONK, a Bishop, a Doctor of the Church—such was the Saint whose feast comes to gladden us on this twenty-first day of April. He was a martyr, also, at least in desire, and we may add, in merit too—for he did enough to earn the glorious palm. When we think of Anselm, we picture to ourselves a man in whom are combined the humility and meekness of the cloister with the zeal and courage of the episcopal dignity; a man who was both a sage and a saint; a man whom it was impossible not to love and respect.
He left his native country of Piedmont for the Monastery of Bec in France, where he became a Benedictine monk. Being elected Superior, he realized in himself the type of an Abbot, as drawn by St Benedict in his Rule: ‘He that is made Abbot,’ says the holy Patriarch, ‘should study to give help rather than to give commands,’[1] We read that the love entertained for Anselm by his brethren was beyond description. His whole time was devoted to them, either in giving them spiritual direction, or in communicating to them his own sublime knowledge of the sacred sciences. After governing them for several years, he was taken from them, and compelled to accept the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a worthy successor of Augustine, Dunstan, Elphege, and Lanfranc; and by his own noble example of courage, he prepared the way for the glorious martyr Thomas, who succeeded him in less than a century.
As bishop, his whole life was spent in fighting for the liberty of the Church. Though gentle as a lamb by nature, he was all energy for this great cause. He used to say: ‘Christ would not have his Spouse be a slave; there is nothing in this world that God loves more than the liberty of his Church.’ There was a time when the Son of God allowed himself to be fettered with bonds in order that he might loosen us from the chains of our sins; but now that he has risen in triumph from the dead, he wills that his Spouse should be, like himself, free. She cannot otherwise exercise the ministry of salvation confided to her by her divine Lord; and yet there is scarcely a single hundred years of her existence in which she has not had to fight for this holy liberty. The rulers of this earth, with very few exceptions, have ever been jealous of her influence, and have sought to lessen it by every possible means. In our own times there are numbers of her children who do not even know that she has any rights or privileges; they would be at a loss to understand you, if you told them that she is the Spouse of Christ, and therefore a queen; they think it quite enough for her, if she enjoy the same amount of freedom and toleration as the sects she condemns; and they cannot see how, under such conditions as these, the Church is not the kingdom he wished her to be, but a mere slave. St Anselm would have abominated all such theories as these; so does every true Catholic. He is not driven into disloyalty to the Church by the high-sounding words, progress and modern society; he knows that there is nothing on earth equal to the Church; and when he sees the world convulsed by revolutions, he knows that all comes from the Church having been deprived of her rights. One of these is that she should not only be recognized, in the secret of our conscience, as the one only true Church, but that, as such, she should be publicly confessed and outwardly defended against every opposition or error. Jesus, her divine Founder, promised to give her all nations as her inheritance; he kept his promise, and she was once the Queen and Mother of them all. But nowadays, a new principle has been asserted, to the effect that the Church and all sects must be on an equal footing as far as the protection of the State goes. The principle has been received with acclamation, and hailed as a mighty progress achieved by modern enlightenment: even Catholics, whose previous services to religion had endeared them to our hearts and gained our confidence, have become warm defenders of the impious theory.
Trying as were the times when St Anselm governed the See of Canterbury, they were spared the humiliation of producing and ratifying such doctrine as this. The tyrannical interference of the Norman kings was an evil far less injurious than the modern system, which is subversive of the very idea of a Church. Open persecution would be a boon, compared to the fashionable error of which we are speaking. A winter torrent brings desolation in its track: but in the summer, when the flood is over, nature brings back her verdure and flowers. The errors which now prevail are like a great sea that gradually sweeps over the whole earth: and when the Church can find no spot whereon to rest, she will take her flight to heaven, and men must expect the speedy coming of the judge.
Anselm was not only the zealous and heroic defender of the rights and privileges of the Church; he was also a light to men by his learning. The contemplation of revealed truths was his delight. He studied them in their bearings one upon the other, and his writings occupy a distinguished place in the treatises of Catholic Theology. God had blessed him with extraordinary talent. Amidst all the troubles and anxieties and occupations of his various duties, he found time for study. Even when passing from place to place, as an exile, he was intent on the meditation of the mysteries of religion, thus preparing those sublime reflections which he has left us on the articles of our Faith.
The Church gives us, in her Liturgy, the following sketch of our Saint’s life:
Ansel mus, Augustæ Prætoriæ in finibus Italiæ, Gundulpho et Ermenberga nobilibus et catholicis parentibus natus, a teneris annis assiduo litterarum studio, atque perfectioris vite desiderio, non obscurum futuræ sanctitatis et doctrinæ specimen deditæ. Et licet juvenili ardore aliquando ad seculi illecebras traheretur, brevi tamen in pristinam viam revocatus, patria et bonis omnibus derelictis, ad monasterium Beccense Ordinis sancti Benedicti se contulit: ubi emissa regulari professione sub Herluino abbate observantissimo, et Lanfranco viro doctissimo, tanto animi fervore, et jugi studio in litteris, et virtutibus assequendis profecit, ut mirum in modum tanquam sanctitatis et doctrinæ exemplar ab omnibus haberetur.
Abstinentiæ et continentiæ tante fuit, ut assiduitate jejunii omnis pene ciborum sensus in eo videretur exstinctus. Diurno enim tempore in exercitiis monasticis docendo, et respondendo variis de religione quesitis, emenso, quod reliquum erat noctis, somno subtrahebat, ut divinis meditationibus, quas perenni lacrymarum imbre fovebat, mentem recrearet. Electus in priorem monasterii, invidos fratres ita charitate, humilitate, et prudentia lenivit, ut quos æmulos acceperat sibi, et Deo amicos, maximo cum regularis observantie emolumento redderet. Mortuo abbate, et in ejus locum licet invitus suffectus, tanta doctrinæ et sanctitatis fama ubique refulsit, ut non modo regibus et Episcopis venerationi esset, sed sancto Gregorio Septimo etiam acceptus, qui tunc magis persecutionibus agitatus, litteras amoris plenas ad eum dedit, quibus se et Ecclesiam catholicam ejus orationibus commendabat.
Defuncto Lanfranco Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, ejus olim præceptore, Anselmus, urgente Wilhelmo Angliæ rege, et instantibus Clero ac populo, ipso tamen repugnante, ad ejusdem Ecclesiæ regimen vocatus, statim (ut corruptos populi mores reformaret) verbo et exemplo prius, dein scriptis, et conciliis celebratis, pristinam pietatem et Ecclesiasticam disciplinam reduxit. Sed cum mox idem Wilhelmus rex vi et minis Ecclesiae jura usurpare tentasset, ipse sacerdotali constantia restitit; bonorumque direptionem et exilium passus, Romam ad Urbanum Secundum se contulit, a quo honorifice exceptus et summis laudibus ornatus est, cum in Barensi Concilio Spiritum Sanctum etiam a Filio procedentem contra Græcorum errorem innumeris Scripturarum et sanctorum Patrum testimoniis propugnasset. E vivis Wilhelmo sublato, ab Henrico rege ejus fratre in Angliam revocatus, obdormivit in Domino: famam non solum miraculorum et sanctitatis (præcipue ob insignem devotionem erga Domini nostri Passionem, et beatam Virginem ejus Matrem) assecutus sed etiam doctrinæ, quam ad defensionem christianæ religionis, animarum profectum, et omnium Theologorum, qui sacras litteras scholastica methodo tradiderunt, normam cœlitus hausisse ex ejus libris omnibus apparet.
Anselm was bom at Aosta, a town on the confines of Italy, of noble and Catholic parents, by name Gondolphe and Hermenberga. From his early childhood he gave great promise of future holiness and learning by his love of study and his longing after a life of perfection. The ardour of youth made him indulge for a while in worldly pleasures; but he speedily returned to his former virtuous life; and then, leaving his country and all that he possessed, he repaired to the Monastery of Bec of the Order of St Benedict. There he made his religious profession, under the Abbot Herluin, a most zealous lover of monastic discipline, and (Prior) Lanfranc, a man of great repute for learning. Such was the fervour of his piety, his application to study, and his desire to advance in virtue, that everyone held him in the highest veneration as a model of holiness and learning.
So mortified was he in eating and drinking, and so frequent were his fasts, that he seemed to have lost the sense of .taste. He spent the day in the performance of monastic duties, and in giving answers, both by word of mouth and by letters, to the several questions proposed to him concerning matters of religion. He passed a considerable portion of the time allotted to sleep in nourishing his soul with holy meditations, during which he shed abundant tears. When he was made Prior of the Monastery, certain of his brethren were jealous at his pro motion; but he so far gained them over by charity, humility and prudence, that their jealousy was changed into love both of their Prior and their God, to the great advantage of regular discipline. At the death of the Abbot, Anselm was chosen to succeed him, and reluctantly accepted the office. It was then that his reputation for learning and virtue began to spread far and wide, and secured him the respect of kings and bishops. Not only so, but even Gregory the Seventh, who at that time was suffering much from persecution, honoured him with his friendship, and wrote to him letters full of affection, begging of him to pray for him and the Church.
At the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been his former master, Anselm was compelled, much against his own will, to accept the government of that see. William, king of England, the clergy and the people, all urged him to it. He immediately set himself to reform the corrupt morals of the people. By word and example, first, and then by his writings, and by holding councils, he succeeded in restoring ancient piety and ecclesiastical discipline. But it was not long before King William attempted, both by violence and threats, to interfere with the rights of the Church. Then did Anselm resist him with priestly courage, for which his property was confiscated, and he himself banished from the country. He turned his steps towards Rome, where Urban the Second received him with great marks of honour, and passed a high encomium upon him at the Council of Bari, where Anselm proved against the Greeks, by innumerable quotations from the Scriptures and the holy Fathers, that the Holy Ghost proceeds also from the Son. After William’s death, he was recalled to England by King Henry, William's brother. Shortly after his return, he slept in the Lord. He was justly venerated on account of his miracles and his virtues, among which latter may be mentioned his great devotion to the Passion, and to the Holy Mother of Jesus. He moreover acquired a high reputation by his learning, which he used in the defence of the Christian religion, and for the good of souls. He first set the example to those theologians who have followed the scholastic method in treating on the sacred sciences. The works he has written prove that his wisdom was a gift bestowed on him by heaven.
We take the following Responsories and Antiphons from an office approved by the Holy See:
℟. Hic est Anselmus, Doctor præclarus, sub disciplina Lanfranci institutus: qui cum esset monachorum pater amabilis, ad pontificales infulas vocatus est;
* Et pro libertate sanctæ Ecclesiæ strenue decertavit, alleluia.
℣. Non ancillam, sed liberam esse Christi sponsam, invicta voce asserebat.
* Et pro libertate sanctæ Ecclesiæ strenue decertavit, alleluia.
℟. Beatus Anselmus dixit mœrens ad episcopos: Indomitum taurum et ovem debilem ad aratrum conjungere disponitis; ovem per spinas et tribulos raptatam taurus misere dilacerabit;
* Et gaudium vestrum mox in mœstitiam convertetur, alleluia.
℣. Tribulationes me manent; sed nihil horum vereor, dummodo consummem cursum meum.
* Et gaudium vestrum mox in moestitiam convertetur, alleluia.
℟. Cum essent Patres in synodo congregati Urbanus pontifex exclamavit: Pater et Magister Anseime, Anglorum archiepiscope, ubi es? Ascende usque ad nos, et pugnans pro matre tua et nostra, adjuva nos, alleluia.
℣. Benedictus sit sensus tuus, et sermo oris tui sit benedictus.
* Ascende usque ad nos; et pugnans pro matre tua et nostra, adjuva nos, alleluia.
Ant. Anselmus mansuetudine agnus, fortitudine leo, cedesti doctrina supereffluens, mentes hominum illustravit, alleluia.
Ant. Beatus Anselmus speculi principes docebat, dicens: Nihil amplius diligit Deus in hoc mundo, quam Ecclesiæ suae libertatem, alleluia.
℟. This is Anselm, the renowned Doctor formed under Lanfranc's care; who, when he was the beloved father of the monks, was called to wear a bishop's mitre;
* And nobly did he fight for the liberty of Holy Church, alleluia.
℣. He boldly asserted that the Spouse of Christ was not a slave, but free.
* And nobly did he fight for the liberty of Holy Church, alleluia.
℟. Blessed Anselm said sorrowing to the bishops: You would yoke together to the plough a wild bull and a weak lamb: the bull will cruelly drag the lamb through thorns and briars;
* And your joy shall soon be changed into mourning, alleluia.
℣. Afflictions await me; but I fear none of them, so that I may consummate my course.
* And your joy shall soon be changed into mourning, alleluia.
℟. When the Fathers were assembled in Council, Urban, the Pope, cried out: Where art thou, Father and Master Anselm, Archbishop of the English? Come up here to us; fight for thine own and our Mother, and help us, alleluia.
℣. Blessed be thy wisdom, and blessed the word of thy mouth!
* Come up here to us; fight for thine own and our Mother, and help us, alleluia.
Ant. Anselm was a lamb in meekness, and a lion in courage. He was filled to overflowing with heavenly wisdom, and he enlightened the minds of men, alleluia.
Ant. Blessed Ailselm taught the princes of the earth, saying: There is nothing in this world that God loves more than the liberty of his Church, alleluia.
The following hymn is from the same Office:
Hymn
Fortis en præsul, monachus fidelis
Laurea doctor redimitus astat:
Festus Anselmo chorus æmuletur
Dicere carmen.
Ante maturos sapiens hic annos,
Sæculi florem pereuntis horret;
Atque Lanfranci documenta quærens,
Intrat eremum.
Intimum pulsans penetrale Verbi,
Fertur immotæ fidei volatu:
Dogmatum puros latices an ullus
Altius hausit?
Munus Abbatis, pater alme, sumens,
Te voves charæ soboli: benignis
Debiles portas humeris, alacres
Prævius hortans.
Præsulum defert tibi rex cathedram;
Quid times luctam? properant triumphi;
Exteras gentes, generosus exsul,
Lumine reples.
Sacra libertas, ovibus redemptis
Parta, cui Christus nihil ante ponit,
Urget Anselmum: studio quis aequo
Vindicat ipsam?.
Clara fit Romæ tua fama, Præsul:
Pontifex summus tibi fert honores;
Te fides poscit: siluere Patres:
Dogma tuere.
Sis memor sancti gregis, et patronus
Sis ad æternam Triadem, precamur,
Cuncta cui dignas resonent per orbem
Sæcula laudes.
Amen.
Lo, here is Anselm, a courageous pontiff,
a true monk, a doctor with his laurel wreath upon him.
Let our festive choir sing
fervently a hymn in his praise.
He had not reached the years of manhood, and yet was wise;
so wise, indeed, that he trampled on the flower of this perishable world,
and fled to solitude,
that he might receive instruction from Lanfranc.
Borne on the wing of firmest faith,
he entered into the mysteries of the Word.
Did any mortal drink more fully
than he of the limpid fount of Truth?
Taking upon thee, loved Father, the office of Abbot,
thou didst tenderly care for thy flock.
Thou didst carry the weak upon thy shoulders
and encourage the fervent by thine own example.
The king would have thee Primate:
O fear not the combat! Triumph shall be thine.
When he sends thee into exile, thou wilt shine,
as a generous light, upon lands beyond the sea.
The sacred liberty, dear to Jesus above all things,
which he won for us by redeeming us,
excited Anselm’s zeal.
Never had it a braver defender than he.
Thy name was held in veneration at Rome.
The Supreme Pontiff showed thee great honour,
when, in the presence of the Fathers, he said to thee:
‘Fight for the faith! Defend our dogmas!’
We pray thee,
be mindful of the holy flock!
Intercede for us to the Blessed Three,
to whom be worthy praise from all for ever.
Amen.
O holy Pontiff Anselm! beloved of God and men! the Church, whose cause thou didst so zealously defend on earth, celebrates, this day, thy praise, and honours thee as one of her dearest Saints. Thy meekness, condescension and charity gave thee a resemblance to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Like him, thou couldst truly say: I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.[2] Thou didst watch over them day and night, lest the wolf should come and find them unprotected. Far from fleeing at his approach, thou didst go forth to meet him, and nothing could induce thee to yield to his sacrilegious tyranny. Heroic champion of the Church's liberty! protect it in these our days, when there is not a country left where it is not insulted or ignored. Raise up in every place pastors with a spirit of holy independence such as thou hadst; that thus the faithful may take courage and that every Christian may boldly and proudly confess that he himself is a member of the Church, and that the interests of our spiritual mother are far more deserving of our solicitude than those of the whole world besides.
God had gifted thee, O Anselm, with that Christian philosophy which bows down to the teachings of faith, and which, being thus purified by humility, is elevated to the intelligence of the sublimest truths. The Church, in acknowledgement of the benefits she derived from thy learning, has conferred upon thee the title of Doctor, which for a long time was confined to those great men who lived in the early Christian Ages, and whose writings are the reflex of the preaching of the Apostles. Thy teaching has been deemed worthy of being numbered with that of the ancient Fathers, for it came from the same divine Spirit, and was the result of prayer rather than of study. Obtain for us, O holy Doctor, that ‘our faith,' like thine, ‘may seek understanding,'Nowadays, there are many who blaspheme what they know not;[3] but there are many also who know little or nothing of what they believe. Hence arise a deplorable confusion of ideas, compromises are made between truth and error, and the only true doctrines are despised, scouted, or at least undefended. Pray to our heavenly Father, O Anselm, that he would bless the world with holy and learned men, who may teach the path of truth, and dispel the mists of error; that thus the children of the Church may not be led astray.
Look down with affection, O holy Pontiff, on the venerable Order, which, when God called thee from the vanities of the world, received thee, made thee one of her children, gave thy soul its life, and thy mind the light of wisdom. She claims thy protection. Thou art a son of the great Patriarch Benedict: forget not thy brethren. Bless them in France, where thou didst first embrace the Monastic Life; bless them in England, where thou wast Primate, and yet still the humble monk. Pray for the two countries, for both are dear to thee. Faith is weak in one; and heresy reigns supreme in the other. Beseech our Lord to show his mercy to both: he is all-powerful, and he turns not a deaf ear to the prayers of his Saints. If, in his justice, he have decreed not to restore to these two countries their ancient Catholic constitution, pray that, at least, the number of souls saved may be great, that conversions may be frequent, and that the labourers sent at the eleventh hour to the vineyard may emulate the zeal of them that were first called!
[1] The Holy Rule, cap. 64.
[2] St John x 14.
[3] St Jude 10.