May
[In Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year, the feast day of St. Augustine of Canterbury is marked on May 26, as it is traditionally celebrated in the United Kingdom. In the calendar for the Extraordinary Form in the United States, his feast is kept on May 28.–Ed.]
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
FOUR hundred years had scarcely elapsed since the glorious death of Eleutherius, when a second Apostle of Britain ascended from this world, and on this same day, to the abode of eternal bliss. We cannot but be struck by the fact that the names of our two Apostles appear on the Calendar together: it shows us that God has his own special reasons in fixing the day for the death of each one among us. We have more than once noticed these providential coincidences, which form one of the chief characteristics of the liturgical cycle. What a beautiful sight is brought before us to-day, of the first Archbishop of Canterbury, who, after honouring on this day the saintly memory of the holy Pontiff from whom England first received the Gospel, himself ascended into heaven, and shared with Eleutherius the eternity of heaven’s joy! Who would not acknowledge in this, a pledge of the predilection wherewith heaven has favoured this country, which, after centuries of fidelity to the truth, has now for more than three hundred years been an enemy to her own truest glory?
The work begun by Eleutherius had been almost entirely destroyed by the invasion of the Saxons and Angles; so that a new mission, a new preaching of the Gospel, had become a necessity. It was Rome that again supplied the want. St Gregory the Great was the originator of the great design. Had it been permitted him, he would have taken upon himself the fatigues of this apostolate to our country. He was deeply impressed with the idea that he was to be the spiritual Father of these poor islanders, some of whom he had seen exposed in the market-place of Rome, that they might be sold as slaves. Not being allowed to undertake the work himself, he looked around him for men whom he might send as Apostles to our island. He found them in the Benedictine monastery where he himself had spent several years of his life. There started from Rome forty monks, with Augustine at their head, and they entered England under the standard of the Cross.
Thus the new race that then peopled the island received the faith, as the Britons had previously done, from the hands of a Pope; and monks were their teachers in the science of salvation. The word of Augustine and his companions fructified in this privileged soil. It was some time of course before he could provide the whole nation with instruction; but neither Rome nor the Benedictines abandoned the work thus begun. The few remnants that were still left of the ancient British Christianity joined the new converts; and England merited to be called, for long ages, the ‘Island of Saints.’
The history of St Augustine’s apostolate in England is of thrilling interest. The landing of the Roman missioners, and their marching through the country, to the chant of the Litany; the willing and almost kind welcome given them by king Ethelbert; the influence exercised by his queen Bertha, who was a Frenchwoman and a Catholic, in the establishment of the faith among the Saxons; the baptism of ten thousand neophytes, on Christmas day, and in the bed of a river; the foundation of the metropolitan see of Canterbury, one of the most illustrious Churches of Christendom on account of the holiness and noble doings of its Archbishops; all these admirable episodes of England’s conversion are eloquent proofs of God’s predilection of our dear land. Augustine’s peaceful and gentle character, together with his love of contemplation amidst his arduous missionary labours, gives an additional charm to this magnificent page of the Church’s history. But who can help feeling sad at the thought that a country, favoured as ours has been with such graces, should have apostatized from the faith; have repaid with hatred that Rome which made her Christian; and have persecuted with unheard-of cruelties the Benedictine Order to which she owed so much of her glory?
We subjoin the following Lessons on the life of our Apostle, taken from an Office approved by the Holy See:
Augustinus Romæ in Sancti Andreæ cœnobio monachus, ibidem etiam Præpositi officium pie ac prudenter administravit. Hinc eum Gregorius Magnus in Britanniam, cum sociis monachis fere quadraginta, direxit: ut gentis illius conversionem ad Christum, quam ipse animo pridem agitabat, per discipulos suos exsequeretur. Eosdem jam aliquantum itineris progressos, tantique negotii difficultate perterritos, litteris confirmavit per Augustinum: quem ipsis Abbatem præfecit, et Francorum regibus, Gallicanisque episcopis commendavit. Augustinus igitur cum suis iter accelerans, Turones accessit ad tumulum sancti Martini: tum ad Pontem Cæsaris, haud procul Andegavis, indigna passus ab incolis, et sub aperto aere pernoctare coactus, cum baculo fontem divinitus eduxit eo in loco ubi postea ecclesiam sui nominis habere meruit.
Acceptis de gente Francomm interpretibus, in Tanetum, Angliæ insulam, adpulsus; cruce argentea et imagine Salvatoris pro vexillo prælata, Ethelbertum, Cantii regem, adiit: qui præconibus evangelicis domicilium in civitate Cantuariensi, et prædicandi in regno suo facultatem liberaiiter concessit. Erat autem prope oratorium quoddam in honorem beati Martini antiquitus exstructum, dum adhuc Romani Britanniam incolerent: in quo regina, quæ Christiana erat, nempe de gente Francorum, Bertha nomine, orare consueverat. Augustinus igitur solemni ritu, cum psalmis et litaniis, Cantuariam ingressus, in eodem oratorio aliquandiu consedit: ubi apostolicum vivendi genus cum suis æmulatus est. Quo quidem vitæ genere, simul et cœlesti doctrina plurimis confirmata miraculis, sic insulanos demulsit, ut eorum plerosque ad christianam fidem perduxerit, ac demum regem ipsum, quem, cum innumero suorum comitatu, sacro fonte lustravit. Quin etiam, semel in Natali Domini, quum millibus Anglorum amplius decem baptismum in alveo fluminis Eboraci contulisset; quotquot ex ipsis aliquo morbo affecti erant, cum animarum salute corporum quoque sanitatem recepisse memorantur.
Interea vir Dei Augustinus, Gregorii jussu ordinatus in Gallia Episcopus a Virgilio Arelatensi Episcopo, sedem Cantuariæ instituit in ecclesia Salvatoris a se erecta: in qua monachos opens sui subsidiarios collocavit: et Sancti Petri monasterium, quod postea ipsius nomine dictum est, in suburbanis construxit. De Anglorum conversione certior factus Gregorius per Laurentium et Petrum monachos, Romam ab Augustino missos: scriptis litteris illi gratulatus est. OrdinandæAnglicanæ Ecclesiæ facultatem, usumque pallii concessit: eumque insuper monuit ne miracula quæ in aliorum salutem, operante Deo, frequenter patrabat, efferendo sese, in suam ipsius perniciem converteret.
Dispositis Anglicanæ Ecclesiæ rebus, synodum habuit Augustinus cum Episcopis atque Doctoribus veterum Britonum, qui in Paschæ celebratione, aliisque ritibus, ab Ecclesia Romana jam dudum dissidebant; Et ut eos miraculis convinceret, quos sæpe admonitos nulla flexisset Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritas, cæco lumen, in rei quam asserebat testimonium, coram eis restituit. Sed, quum nec signo divinitus edito adquiescerent, prophetico spiritu eis excidium prædixit. Denique, multis pro Christo laboribus perfunctus, designato Laurentio successore, in cœlos migravit septimo kalendas junii, sepultus in monasterio Sancti Petri, quod Cantuariensium Pontificum et aliquot regum conditorium fuit. Ejus cultum ferventi studio prosecutæ sunt Anglorum Ecclesiæ, statuto edito ut ejus festus dies quotannis feriatus haberetur; nomen vero in litaniis proximum haberet locum post sanctum Gregorium; cum quo Augustinus Anglorum apostolus, et Benedictini ordinis propagator, semper ab indigenis honoratus est.
Augustine was a Monk of the Monastery of Saint Andrew, in Rome, where also he discharged the office of Prior with much piety and prudence. He was taken from that Monastery by St Gregory the Great; and sent by him, with about forty Monks of the same monastery, into Britain. Thus would Gregory carry out, by his disciples, the conversion of that country to Christ—a project which he at first resolved to effect himself. They had not advanced far on their journey, when they became frightened at the difficulty of such an enterprise; but Gregory encouraged them by letters which he sent to Augustine, whom he appointed as their Abbot, and gave him letters of introduction to the kings of the Franks, and to the Bishops of Gaul. Whereupon Augustine and his Monks pursued their journey with haste. He visited the tomb of St Martin, at Tours. Having reached the town of Pont-de-Cé, not far from Angers, he was badly treated by its inhabitants, and was compelled to spend the night in the openair. Having struck the ground with his staff, a fountain miraculously sprang up; and on that spot a Church was afterwards built, and called after his name.
Having procured interpreters from the Franks, he proceeded to England and landed at the Isle of Thanet. He entered the country, carrying, as a standard, a silver Cross, and a painting representing our Saviour. Thus did he present himself before Ethelbert, the king of Kent, who readily provided the heralds of the Gospel with a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, and gave them leave to preach in his kingdom. There was close at hand an Oratory which had been built in honour of St Martin, when the Romans had possession of Britain. It was in this Oratory that his queen Bertha (who was a Christian, as being of the nation of the Franks) was wont to pray. Augustine, therefore, entered into Canterbury with solemn religious ceremony, amidst the chanting of psalms and litanies. He took up his abode for some time near to the said Oratory; and there, together with his Monks, led an apostolic life. Such manner of living, conjointly with the heavenly doctrine that was preached, and confirmed by many miracles, so reconciled the islanders, that many of them were induced to embrace the Christian Faith. The king himself was also converted, and Augustine baptized him and a very great number of his people. On one Christmas Day he baptized upwards of ten thousand English, in a river at York; and it is related that those among them who were suffering any malady, received bodily health, as well as their spiritual regeneration.
Meanwhile, the man of God Augustine received a command from Gregory to go and receive Episcopal ordination in Gaul, at the hands of Virgilius, the Bishop of Arles. On his return he established his See at Canterbury, in the Church of our Saviour, which he had built, and he kept there some of the Monks to be his fellow-labourers. He also built in the suburbs the Monastery of Saint Peter, which was afterwards called ‘Saint Augustine’s.’ When Gregory heard of the conversion of the Angli, which was told to him by the two Monks Laurence and Peter, whom Augustine had sent to Rome, he wrote letters of congratulation to Augustine. He gave him power to arrange all that concerned the Church in England, and to wear the Pallium. In the same letters he admonished him to be on his guard against priding himself on the miracles which God enabled him to work for the salvation of souls, lest pride should turn them to the injury of him that worked them.
Having thus put in order the affairs of the Church in England, Augustine held a Council with the Bishops and Doctors of the ancient Britons, who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the keeping of Easter and other rites. And in order to refute, by miracles, these men, whom the Apostolic See had often authoritatively admonished, but to no purpose, Augustine, in proof of the truth of his assertions, restored sight to a blind man in their presence. But on their refusing to yield even after witnessing the miracle, Augustine, with prophetic warning, told them of the punishment that awaited them. At length, after having laboured so long for Christ, and appointed Laurence as his successor, he took his departure for heaven on the seventh of the Calends of June (May 26) and was buried in the Monastery of Saint Peter, which became the burying-place of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and of several kings. The Churches of England honoured him with great devotion. They decreed that each year his feast should be kept as a holyday, and that his name should be inserted in the Litany, immediately after that of St Gregory, together with whom Augustine has ever been honoured by the English as their Apostle, and as the propagator of the Benedictine Order in their country.
We also give the following hymn in honour of our Apostle, which has also been approved by the Holy See:
Hymn
Fœcunda sanctis insula,
Tuum canas apostolum;
Et filium Gregorii
Laudes piis concentibus.
Ejus labore fertilis,
Messem dedisti plurimam,
Quæ sanctitatis floribus
Diu refulges inclyta.
Turma quadragenaria
Stipatus intrat Angliam:
Vexilla Christi proferens,
Dux pacis adfert pignora.
Crucis trophæum promicat,
Verbum salutis spargitur:
Fidem quin ipse barbarus
Rex corde prompto suscipit.
Mores feros gens exuit,
Undisque lota fluminis,
Ipsa die renascitur
Qua sol salutis ortus est.
O Pastor alme, filios
E sede pascas siderum:
In matris ulnas anxiæ
Gregem reducas devium.
Præsta, beata Trinitas,
Quæ rore jugi gratiæ
Vitem rigas: ut pristina
Fides resurgens floreat.
Amen.
O isle fruitful in Saints,
sing a hymn to thine Apostle!
Praise in holy song
the son of Gregory!
Made fertile by his toil,
thou gavest a rich harvest,
and for ages wast famed
for thy flowers of sanctity.
He enters England,
having with him his forty brethren.
He bears the standard of Christ.
He is the leader, and brings the pledges of peace.
The trophy of the Cross shines forth;
the word of salvation is spread through the land.
Yea, the king himself, though a barbarian,
receives the faith with a ready heart.
The nation casts aside its savage ways;
it is baptized in the river's stream,
and is born to its new life,
on the very day that the Sun of Justice rose upon our earth.
O kind Shepherd!
from thy heavenly throne feed thy children.
Thy flock has gone astray;
lead it back to the arms of its anxious Mother.
O Blessed Trinity, that art ever pouring
the dew of grace upon thy vine!
grant that the ancient faith
may rise again and flourish in our land!
Amen.
O Jesus, our Risen Lord! thou art the life of nations, as thou art the life of our souls. Thou biddest them know and love and serve thee, for they have been given to thee for thine inheritance; and at thine own appointed time, each of them is made thy possession.[1] Our own dear country was one of the earliest to be called; and when on thy Cross thou didst look with mercy on this far island of the West. In the second Age of thy Church, thou didst send to her the heralds of thy Gospel; and again in the sixth, Augustine, thine Apostle, commissioned by Gregory, thy Vicar, came to teach the way of truth to the new pagan race that had made itself the owner of this highly favoured land.
How glorious, dear Jesus, was thy reign in our fatherland! Thou gavest her bishops, doctors, kings, monks, and virgins, whose virtues and works made the whole world speak of her as the 'Isle of Saints'; and it is to Augustine, thy disciple and herald, that thou wouldst have us attribute the chief part of the honour of so grand a conquest. Long indeed was thy reign over this people, whose faith was lauded throughout the whole world; but, alas! an evil hour came, and England rebelled against thee; she would not have thee to reign over her.[2] By her influence, she led other nations astray. She hated thee in thy Vicar; she repudiated the greater part of the truths thou hast revealed to men; she put out the light of faith, and substituted in its place the principles of private judgement, which made her the slave of countless false doctrines. In the mad rage of her heresy, she trampled beneath her feet and burned the relics of the Saints, who were her grandest glory; she annihilated the Monastic Order, to which she owed her knowledge of the Christian faith; she was drunk with the blood of the martyrs; she encouraged apostasy, and punished adhesion to the ancient faith as the greatest of crimes.
By a just judgement of God she has become a worshipper of material prosperity. Her wealth, her fleet, and her colonies—these are her idols, and she would awe the rest of the world by the power they give her. But the Lord will, in his own time, overthrow this colossus of power and riches; and as it was in times past, when the mightiest of kingdoms was destroyed by a stone which struck it on its feet of clay,[3] so will people be amazed, when the time of retribution comes, to find how easily the greatest of modem nations was conquered and humbled. England no longer forms a part of thy kingdom, O Jesus! She separated herself from it, by breaking the bond that had held her so long in union with thy Church. Thou hast patiently waited for her return; yet she returns not. Her prosperity is a scandal to the weak; so that her own best and most devoted children feel that her chastisement will be one of the severest that thy justice can inflict.
Meanwhile, thy mercy, O Jesus, is winning over thousands of her people to the truth, and their love of it seems fervent in proportion to their having been so long deprived of its beautiful light. Thou hast created a new people in her very midst, and each year the number is increasing. Cease not thy merciful workings; that thus these faithful ones may once more draw down upon our country the blessing she forfeited when she rebelled against thy Church.
Thy mission, then, O holy Apostle Augustine! is not yet over. The number of the elect is not filled up; and our Lord is gleaning some of these from amidst the tares that cover the land of thy loving labours. May thine intercession obtain for her children those graces which enlighten the mind and convert the heart. May it remove their prejudices, and give them to see that the Spouse of Jesus is but One, as he himself calls her;[4] that the faith of Gregory and Augustine is still the faith of the Catholic Church at this day; and that three hundred years’ possession could never give heresy any claim to a country which was led astray by seduction and violence, and which has retained so many traces of ancient and deep-rooted Catholicity.
[1] Ps. ii 8.
[2] St Luke xix 14.
[3] Dan. ii 35.
[4] Cant, vi 8.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
OUR Paschal Calendar gives us three illustrious virgins of beautiful Italy. We have already kept the feast of the valiant Catharine of Siena; in a few days we shall be honouring the memory of Angela dei Merici, surrounded by her school-children; to-day it is the fair lily of Florence, Magdalen de Pazzi, who embalms the whole Church with the fragrance of her name and intercession. She devoted herself to the loving imitation of our crucified Jesus; was it not just that she should have some share in the joy of his Resurrection?
Magdalen de Pazzi was one of the brightest ornaments of the Order of Carmel, by her angelic purity, and by the ardour of her love for God. Like St Philip Neri, she was one of the grandest manifestations of the divine charity that is found in the true Church. Magdalen in her peaceful cloister, and Philip in his active labours for the salvation of souls—both made it their ambition to satisfy that desire expressed by our Jesus when he said: I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, hut that it he kindled?[1] The life of this Spouse of Christ was one continued miracle. Her ecstasies and raptures were almost of daily occurrence. The lights given to her regarding the mysteries were extraordinary; and in order to prepare her for those sublime communications, God would have her go through the severest trials of the spiritual life. She triumphed over them all; and her love having found its nourishment in them, she could not be happy without suffering; for nothing else seemed to satisfy the longings of the love that burned within her. At the same time, her heart was filled to overflowing with charity for her neighbour: she would have saved all mankind, and her charity to all, even for their temporal well-being, was something heroic. God blessed Florence on her account; and she so endeared herself to its people by her admirable virtues, that devotion to her, even to this day, which is more than three hundred years since her death, is as fervent as ever it was.
One of the most striking proofs of the divine origin and holiness of the Church is to be found in such privileged souls as Magdalen de Pazzi, on whom we see the mysteries of our salvation acting with such direct influence. God so loved the world as to give it his Only Begotten Son;[2] and this Son of God deigns to love some of his creatures with such special affection, and to lavish upon them such extraordinary favours, that all men may have some idea of the love wherewith his Sacred Heart is inflamed for this world, which he redeemed at the price of his Blood. Happy those Christians that appreciate and relish these instances of Jesus' special love! Happy they that can give him thanks for bestowing such grits on some of our fellowcreatures! They have the true light; whereas they that have an unpleasant feeling at hearing of such things, and are angry at the thought that there can be between God and any soul an intimacy of which they are not worthy, prove that there is a great deal of darkness in their faith.
We regret extremely that we have not space for a fuller development of the character and life of our Saint. We therefore proceed at once to the Lessons given in her Office. Even they are too short, and give us but an imperfect idea of this admirable spouse of Christ.
Maria Magdalena, illustriori Pazziorum genere Florentiæ nata, fere ab incunabulis iter perfectionis arripuit. Decennis perpetuam virginitatem vovit, susceptoque habitu in monasterio Sanctæ Mariæ Angelorum ordinis Carmelitaram, se omnium virtutum exemplar exhibuit. Adeo casta fuit, ut quidquid puritatem lædere potest, penitus ignoraverit. Quinquennium, Deo jubente, solo pane et aqua transegit, exceptis diebus Dominicis, quibus cibis Quadragesimalibus vescebatur. Corpus suum cilicio, flagellis, frigore, inedia, vigiliis, nuditate, atque omni pænarum genere cruciabat.
Tanto igne divini amoris æstuabat, ut ei ferendo impar, ingesta aqua pectus refrigerare cogeretur. Extra sensus frequenter rapta, diuturnas et admirabiles exstases passa est, in quibus et arcana cœlestia penetravit, et eximiis a Deo gratiis illustrata fuit. His autem munita longum certamen a principibus tenebrarum sustinuit, arida, desolata, ab omnibus derelicta, variisque tentationibus vexata; Deo sic permittente, ut invictæ patientiæ ac profundissimæ humilitatis exemplar præberet.
Charitate erga proximum singulariter enituit; nam sæpe noctes ducebat insomnes, vel obeundis sororum ministeriis, vel inserviendo infirmis occupata, quarum aliquando ulcera lambens sanavit. Infidelium et peccatorum perditionem amare deflens, se ad quælibet pro illorum salute tormenta paratam offerebat. Multis ante obitum annis, universis cœli deliciis, quibus copiose affluebat, heroica virtute renuntians, illud frequenter in ore habebat: Pati, non mori. Tandem longa et gravissima infirmitate exhausta, transivit ad Sponsum die vigesima quinta Maji anno millesimo sexcentesimo septimo, expleto anno quadragesimo primo ætatis suæ. Eam multis in vita et post mortem miraculis claram Clemens Nonus sanctarum Virginum numero adscripsit: cujus corpus in præsentem diem incorruptum conservatur.
Mary Magdalen was born at Florence of the illustrious family of the Pazzi. It might be said of her that she entered the way of perfection when a babe. When ten years of age she took a vow of perpetual virginity; and having taken the habit in the Carmelite Monas tery of Our Lady of the Angels, she became a model of every virtue. Such was her purity, that she was entirely ignorant of everything that is opposed to that virtue. She was commanded by God to fast on bread and water for five years, Sundays alone excepted, on which she might partake of Lenten diet. She mortified her body by a hair-shirt, discipline, cold, abstinence, watching, want, and every kind of suffering.
Such was the ardour of divine love that burned within her, that not being able to bear the heat, she was obliged to temper it by applying cold water to her breast. She was frequently in a state of rapture, and the wonderful ecstasies she had were almost daily. In these states, she was permitted to penetrate into heavenly mysteries, and was favoured by God with extraordinary graces. Thus strengthened, she had to endure a long combat with the princes of darkness, as also aridity and desolation of spirit, abandonment by all creatures, and divers temptations: God so willed it, that she might become a model of invincible patience and profound humility.
She was remarkable for her charity towards others. She would frequently sit up the whole night, either doing the work of the sisters, or waiting upon the sick, whose sores she sometimes healed by sucking the wounds. She wept bitterly over the perdition of infidels and sinners, and offered to suffer every sort of torment so that they might be saved. Several years before her death she heroically besought our Lord to take from her the heavenly delights wherewith he favoured her; and was frequently heard saying these words: ‘To suffer; not to die.' At length, worn out by a long and most painful illness, she passed hence to her Spouse, on the twenty-fifth of May, in the year 1607, having completed the forty-first year of her age. Many miracles having been wrought by her merits, both before and after death, she was canonized by Pope Clement the Ninth. Her body is, even to this day, preserved from corruption.
Thy life here below, O Magdalen, resembled that of an angel sent by God to assume our weak and fallen nature and be subject to its laws. Thy soul ceaselessly aspired to a life which was all heavenly, and thy Jesus was ever giving thee that thirst of love which can only be quenched by the waters of life everlasting.[3] A heavenly light revealed to thee such admirable mysteries, such treasures of truth and beauty, that thy heart, unequal to the sweetness thus given to it by the Holy Ghost, sought relief in sacrifice and suffering. It seemed to thee as though there was but one way of making God a return for his favours—the annihilation of self.
Seraphic lover of our God! how are we to imitate thee? what is our love, when we compare it to thine? And yet we can imitate thee. The year of the Church's Liturgy was thy very life. Each of its seasons did its work in thee, and brought thee new light and love. The divine Babe of Bethlehem, the bleeding Victim of the Cross, the glorious Conqueror of Death, the Holy Ghost radiant with his seven gifts—each of these great realities enraptured thee; and thy soul, renewed by the annual succession of the mysteries, was transformed into him who, that he might win our hearts, gives these sublime celebrations to his Church. Thy love of souls was great during thy sojourn here; it is more ardent now that thou art in possession of the Sovereign Good; obtain for us, O Magdalen, light to see the riches which enraptured thee, and love to love the treasures which enamoured thee. O riches! O treasures! is it possible that they are ours too?
[1] St Luke xii 49.
[2] St John iii 16.
[3] St John iv 14.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
THE holy Popes of the primitive ages of the Church abound during these last days of our Paschal season. To-day we have Felix I, a martyr of the persecution under Aurelian, in the third century. His Acts have been lost, with the exception of this one detail: that he proclaimed a dogma of the Incarnation, with admirable precision, in a letter addressed to the Church of Alexandria, a passage of which was read with much applause at the two (Ecumenical Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.
We also learn from a law he passed for those troubled times of the Church, that this holy Pontiff was zealous in procuring for the martyrs the honour that is due to them. He decreed that the Holy Sacrifice should be offered up on their tombs. The Church still keeps this law in mind by requiring that all altars, whether fixed or portable, must have, amongst the relics that are placed in them, a portion of some belonging to the martyrs. We shall have to speak of this custom in a future volume.
The Liturgy gives us this short notice regarding the holy Pontiff:
Felix Romanus, patre Constantio, Aureliano imperatore præfuit Ecclesiæ. Constituit ut Missa supra memorias et sepulchra martyrum celebraretur. Qui cum mense Decembri habuisset ordinationes duas, et creasset presbyteros novem, diaconos quinque, episcopos per diversa locaquinque, martyrio coronatus, via Aurelia sepelitur in Basilica quam a se ædificatam dedicarat. Vixit in pontificatu annos duos, menses quatuor, dies viginti novem.
Felix, a Roman by birth, and son of Constantius, governed the Church during the reign of the emperor Aurelian. He decreed that the Mass should be celebrated upon the shrines and tombs of the martyrs. He held two ordinations in the month of December, and made nine priests, five deacons, and five bishops for divers places. He was crowned with martyrdom, and was buried on the Aurelian Way, in a Basilica which he himself had built and dedicated. He reigned two years, four months, and twenty-nine days.
Thou, O holy Pontiff, didst imitate thy divine Master in his death, for thou gavest thy life for thy sheep. Like him, too, thou art to rise from thy tomb, and thy happy soul shall be reunited to its body, which suffered death in testimony of the truth thou proclaimedst at Rome. Jesus is the first-born of the dead;[1] thou didst follow him in his Passion, thou shalt follow him in his Resurrection. Thy body was laid in those venerable vaults, which the piety of early Christians honoured with the appellation of Cemeteries—a word which signifies a place wherein to sleep. Thou, O Felix, wilt awaken on that great day whereon the Pasch is to receive its last and perfect fulfilment: pray that we also may then share with thee in that happy resurrection. Obtain for us that we may be faithful to the graces received in this year's Easter; and prepare us for the visit of the Holy Ghost, who is soon to descend upon us, that he may give stability to the work that has been achieved in our souls by our merciful Saviour.
[1] Apoc. i 5.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
DURING the season consecrated to the mystery of our Emmanuel's Birth, we saw standing near his crib the blessed Emperor Charlemagne. Crowned with the imperial diadem, and with a sword in his fearless hand, he seemed to be watching over the Babe, whose first worshippers were shepherds. And now near the glorious Sepulchre, which was first visited by Magdalene and her companions, we perceive a king—Ferdinand the Victorious—wearing a crown, and keeping guard with his valiant sword, the terror of the Saracen.
Catholic Spain is personified in her Ferdinand. His mother Berengaria was sister to Blanche, the mother of St Louis of France. In order to form ‘the Catholic Kingdom,’ there was needed one of our Lord's Apostles, St James the Great; there was needed a formidable trial, the Saracen invasion, which deluged the Peninsula; there was needed a chivalrous resistance, which lasted eight hundred years, and by which Spain regained her glory and her freedom. St Ferdinand is the worthy representative of the brave heroes who drove out the Moors from their fatherland and made her what she is: but he had the virtues of a saint, as well as the courage of a soldier.
His life was one of exploits, and each was a victory. Cordova, the city of the Caliphs, was conquered by this warrior Saint. At once its Alhambra ceased to be a palace of Mahometan effeminacy and crime. Its splendid Mosque was consecrated to the divine service, and afterwards became the Cathedral of the City. The followers of Mahomet had robbed the Church of St James at Compostella of its bells, and had them brought in triumph to Cordova; Ferdinand ordered them to be carried thither again, on the backs of the Moors.
After a siege of sixteen months, Seville also fell into Ferdinand's hands. Its fortifications consisted of a double wall, with a hundred and sixty-six towers. The Christian army was weak in numbers; the Saracens fought with incredible courage, and had the advantages of position and tactics on their part: but the Crescent was to be eclipsed by the Cross. Ferdinand gave the Saracens a month to evacuate the city and territory. Three hundred thousand withdrew to Xeres, and a hundred thousand passed over into Africa. The brave Moorish General, when taking his last look at the city, wept, and said to his officers: ‘None but a Saint could, with such a small force, have made himself master of so strong and well-manned a place.’
We will not enumerate the other victories gained by our Saint. The Moors foresaw that the result would be their total expulsion from the Peninsula. But this was not all that Ferdinand proposed: he even intended to invade Africa, and thus crush the Mussulman power for ever. The noble project was prevented by his death, which took place in the fifty-third year of his age.
He always looked upon himself as the humble instrument of God’s designs, and zealously laboured to accomplish them. Though most austere towards himself, he was a father in his compassion for his people, and was one day heard to say: ‘I am more afraid of the curse of one poor woman, than of all the Saracen armies together.’ He richly endowed the churches which he built in Spain. His devotion to the holy Mother of God was most tender, and he used to call her his Lady: in return, Mary procured him victory in all his battles, and kept away all pestilence and famine from the country during his entire reign, which, as the contemporary chroniclers observe, was an evident miracle, considering the circumstances of the age and period. The life of our Saint was one of happiness and success, whereas the life of that other admirable king, St Louis of France, was one of almost uninterrupted misfortune; as though God would give to the world, in these two Saints, a model of courage in adversity, and an example of humility in prosperity. They form unitedly a complete picture of what human life is, regenerated as it has now been by our Jesus, in whom we adore both the humiliations of the Cross and the glories of the Resurrection. What happy times were those, when God chose kings whereby to teach mankind such sublime lessons!
One feels curious to know how such a man, such a king, as Ferdinand, would take death when it came upon him. When it came, he was in his fifty-fourth year. The time approached for his receiving the Holy Viaticum. As soon as the priest entered the room with the blessed Sacrament, the holy king got out of bed, prostrated himself in adoration, and, humbly putting a cord round his neck, received the Sacred Host. This done, and feeling that he was on the verge of eternity, he ordered his attendants to remove from him every sign of royalty, and called his sons round his bed. Addressing himself to the eldest, who was Alphonsus the Good, he entrusted him with the care of his brothers, and reminded him of the duties he owed to his subjects and soldiers; he then added these words: ‘My son, thou seest what armies, and possessions, and subjects thou hast, more than any other Christian king; make a proper use of these advantages; and as thou hast the power, be good and do good. Thou art now master of the country which the Moors took, in times past, from king Rodriguez. If thou keep the kingdom in the state wherein I now leave it to thee, thou wilt be, as I have been, a good king, which thou wilt not be, if thou allowest any portion of it to be lost.’
As his end drew nigh, the dying king was favoured with an apparition from heaven. He thanked God for granting him that consolation, and then asked for the blessed candle; but before taking it in his hand, he raised up his eyes to heaven, and said: 'Thou, O Lord, hast given me the kingdom, which I should not otherwise have had; thou hast given me more honour and power than I deserved; receive my thanks! I give thee back this kingdom, which I have increased as far as I was able; I also commend my soul into thy hands!' He then asked pardon of the bystanders, begging them to overlook any offence that he might have committed against them. The whole court was present, and, with tears, asked the Saint to forgive them.
The holy king then took the blessed candle into his hands, and raising it up towards heaven, said: ‘Lord Jesus Christ! my Redeemer! naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I return to the earth. Lord, receive my soul! and, through the merits of thy most holy Passion, deign to admit it among those of thy servants!’ Having said this, he gave back the candle, and asked the bishops and priests, who were present, to recite the Litanies; which being ended he bade them sing the Te Deum. When the hymn was finished, he bowed down his head, closed his eyes, and calmly expired.
Thus died those men, whose glorious works were the result of their faith, and who looked on themselves as only sent into this world that they might serve Christ and labour to propagate his kingdom. It was to them that Europe owed its highest glory; they made the Gospel its first law, and based its constitution on the Canons of the Church. It is now governed by a very different standard; it is paying dearly for the change, and is drifting rapidly to dissolution and ruin.
The following are the Lessons used in the Office of St Ferdinand:
Ferdinandus Tertius, Castellæ et Legionis rex, cui sancti cognomentum jam inde a quatuor sæculis ecclesiasticorum et sæcularium consensus dedere, tantum prudentiæ adolescens adhuc specimen præbuit, ut Berengaria mater, Castellæ regina, a qua persancte educatus fuerat, abdicatum a se regnum in filium transtulerit. In eo, adjunctis regni curis, regiæ virtutes emicuere: magnanimitas, dementia, justitia, et præ cæteris catholicæ fidei zelus, ej usque religiosi cultus tuendi ac propagandi ardens studium. Id præstitit in primis hæreticos insectando, quos nullibi regnorum suorum consistere passus est. Præstitit insuper in erigendis, dotandis, et consecrandis christiano ritu Cordubensi, Giennensi, Hispalensi et aliarum urbium ecclesiis, a maurico ereptarum jugo, simulque in instaurandis primariis templis Toletano, Burgensi et aliis pia et regia munificentia.
Inter hæc, per Castellæ et Legionis regnum, in quo patri Alphonso successerat, collectis magnis exercitibus, annuas expeditiones contra Saracenos, Christiani nominis hostes, suscepit. In queis, ut semper vinceret, præcipui exercitus fuere preces piissimi regis ad Deum fusæ, et quod ante pugnam, ut sibi Deum propitiaret, flagris in se sæviebat, atque aspero cilicio muniebat corpus. Sicque insignes contra ingentes Maurorum acies victorias reportavit, et plures urbes christiano cultui imperioque restituit, conquisitis Giennii, Cordubæ et Murciæ regnis, ac Granatensi vectigali facto. Ad expugnandam Hispalim primariam Bæticæ urbem, hortante in visione (ut traditum est) beato Isidoro olim illius urbis episcopo, victricia signa transtulit. In ea obsidione præsentem divinam opem habuisse fertur; nam ferream catenam, quæ super Bætim transversim extensa Mahometanis pro repagulo erat, coorto validiori vento, una ex navibus regiis, regis jussu eo delata, tanto impetu fregit, ut longius prætervecta, pontem quoque ligneum, et simul spes Maurorum obruperit et ad deditionem coegerit.
Tot victorias beatæ Virginis Mariæ patrocinio ferebat acceptas, cujus imaginem secum in castris habens, peculiari cultu prosequebatur. Capta Hispali, prima religionis cura fuit: nam templum Maurorum expiatum et Christianorum dedicatum sacris, insigni archiepiscopatu, et honestissimo canonicorum et dignitatum collegio, regia et religiosa liberalitate exornavit. Alia deinde in urbe templa et cœnobia erexit: inter quæ pietatis officia, dum trajicere in Africam parat, mahumetanum in ea imperium eversurus, ad cœlestem regiam vocatur. In extremo vitæ agone sacram Eucharistiam pro viatico allatam, fune ad collum alligato, et humi stratus, cum lacrymis ubertim fusis adorans, eaque dignis reverentiæ, humilitatis et catholicæ fidei obtestationibus accepta, obdormivit in Domino. Jacet ejus corpus, incorruptum adhuc post sex sæcula, in templo maximo Hispalensi, honorificentissimo inclusum sepulchro.
Ferdinand the Third, king of Castile and Leon, to whom, for now four centuries, the title of saint has been given both by clergy and laity, exhibited so much prudence in his youthful years, that his mother Berengaria, queen of Castile, who had educated him in a very holy manner, resigned her kingdom in his favour. Scarcely had Ferdinand assumed the government, than he displayed conspicuously all the virtues becoming a king: magnanimity, clemency, justice, and above ail, zeal for Catholic faith and worship, which he ardently defended and propagated. He mainly showed this zeal by forbidding heretics to settle in his states. He also gave proofs of it by building, endowing, and dedicating to Christian worship, churches in Cordova, Jaen, Seville, and other cities rescued from the Moorish yoke. He restored, with holy and royal munificence, the Cathedrals of Toledo, Burgos, and other cities.
At the same time, he levied powerful armies in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, which he inherited from his father Alphonsus; and, each year, gave battle to the Saracens, the enemies of the Christian religion. The great means whereby this most holy king secured victory in every engagement, were the prayers he offered up to God: he used also to chastise his body with disciplines and a rough hair-shirt, with the intention of rendering God propitious. By so doing, he gained extraordinary victories over the mighty armies of the Moors, and, after taking possession of Jaen, Cordova, and Murcia, and making a tributary of the kingdom of Granada, he restored many cities to the Christian religion and to Spain. He led his victorious standard before Seville, the capital of Baeza, being, as it is related, urged thereto by St Isidore, who had formerly been bishop of that city, and who appeared to him in a vision. Historians also relate that he was miraculously aided during that siege, and in the following manner: The Mahometans had stretched an iron chain across the Guadalquivir, in order to block up the passage. Suddenly there arose a violent wind, and one of the royal ships was, by the king’s order, sent against the chain, which was thus broken, and with so much violence that it was carried far on, and bore down a bridge of boats. The Moors lost all their hope, and surrendered the city.
Ferdinand attributed all these victories to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose image he always had in his camp, and honoured it with much devotion. Having taken Seville, his first thoughts were directed to religion. He immediately caused the Mosque of the Saracens to be purified and dedicated as a Christian church, having, with a princely and pious munificence, provided it with an archiepiscopal see, richly endowed, as also with a well-appointed college of Canons and dignitaries. He moreover built several other churches and monasteries in the same city. Whilst engaged in these holy works, he was making preparations to pass over to Africa, there to crush the Mahometan empire; but he was called to the kingdom of heaven. When his last hour came, he fastened a cord round his neck, prostrated on the ground, and, shedding abundant tears, adored the Blessed Sacrament which was brought to him as Viaticum. Having received it in admirable dispositions of reverence, humility and faith, he slept in the Lord. His body, which has remained incorrupt for six centuries, is buried in a tomb of extraordinary richness, in the Cathedral Church of Seville.
By delivering thy people from the yoke of the infidel, thou, O Ferdinand, didst imitate our Risen Jesus, who rescued us from death and restored us to the life we had lost. Thy conquests were not like those of this world’s conquerors, who have no other aim than to satisfy their own and their people’s pride. Thy ambition was to deliver thy people from an oppression which had weighed heavily on them for long ages. Thy object was to save them from the danger of apostasy, which they incurred by being under the Moorish yoke. O Champion of Christ! it was for his dear sake that thou didst lay siege to the Saracen cities. His banner was thine; and thy first anxiety was to spread his kingdom. He, in return, blessed thee in all thy battles, and made thee ever victorious.
Thy mission, O Ferdinand, was to form for our God a nation, which has been honoured by Holy Church above all others with the glorious name of the 'Catholic Kingdom.’ Happy Spain, for by her perseverance and courage she broke the Mussulman yoke, that still weighs down the other countries which it made its prey! Happy Spain, for she repelled the invasion of Protestantism, and, by this, preserved the faith, which both saves souls and constitutes a nation’s strongest power! Pray for thy country, O saintly king! False doctrines and treacherous influences are now rife within her, and many of her children have been led astray. Never permit her to injure, by cowardly compromise, that holy faith which has hitherto been her grandest glory and safeguard. Frustrate the secret plots which are working to undermine her Catholicity. Keep up within her her old hatred of heresy, and maintain her in the rank she holds among Catholic nations. Unity in faith and worship may still save her from the abyss into which so many other countries have fallen. O holy king! save once more the land that God entrusted to thy keeping, and which thou didst restore to him with such humble gratitude, when thou wast about to change thine earthly for a heavenly crown. Thou art still her beloved protector; hasten, then, to her aid!
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
WHILE the angelic hosts acclaim the Incarnate Word as he takes possession of his eternal throne, a virgin at the head of the armies of earth re-echoes the praises of heaven. She was a child of the countryside, pious, gentle, and utterly ignorant, especially of the art of war, but Michael the soldier of God trained her with the aid of the Virgin Martyrs Catharine and Margaret, and suddenly, like a challenge thrown to modem naturalism in the broad daylight of history, she made her appearance, at the age of seventeen, as an incomparable warrior. Her victories, her personal influence and strategical genius equal those of the most famous captains of any times. But she surpasses them all in heroism, in her childlike simplicity, virginal purity, and faith in her Lord Jesus, the Son of St Mary, for whom she died—even greater at the stake at Rouen than in the days of her triumph. ‘De par le Roi du ciel’ (‘By order of the King of heaven’) was the motto on her banner. By order of the King of heaven, her sovereign liege, in whose royal service she is day by day, she calls upon cities to return, to their lawful obedience. By order of the King of heaven she intimates to the English that she has been sent to drive them out of France. ‘For,’ as she declared to the Dauphin's representative, 'the kingdom does not appertain to the Dauphin, but to my Lord. But it is the will of my Lord that the Dauphin should be made king and should hold the kingdom in commendam.’ ‘And who is thy Lord?’ asked Baudricourt. ‘My Lord is the King of heaven.’
To Charles she said: ‘I am called Joan the Maid, and through me does the King of heaven give you to understand that you shall be viceregent of the King of heaven who is king of France.' To the Duke of Burgundy, who was then in alliance with the enemy, she said: 'I tell you by order of the King of heaven, that all who make war on the said holy kingdom, make war on the King Jesus, the King of heaven and of all the earth.'
Joan came into the world on the feast of the glorious Epiphany, which manifested the divine Child to the world as the Lord of lords. It was during these days of his Ascension, when he takes his seat at the right hand of his Father, that she began her campaigns in 1428, achieved her greatest triumph in 1429, and closed her warlike career in 1430.
She died May 30, 1431, the eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi—a worthy consummation for a life like hers, a supreme consecration for her cause. As her soul rose from the flames to join Michael and his hosts and the Virgin Martyrs at the court of the immortal King of Ages, she left the Church on earth prostrate before Christ the King, the Ruler of the Nations, who, as it were, holds his royal assizes where he is glorified in the mystery of faith.
The following account of her life is given by the Church:
Joanna de Arc, in oppido Domremensi, olim diœcesis Tullensis, nunc Sancti Deodati, conspicuis fide et morum integritate parentibus, orta est anno Christi millesimo quadringentesimo duodecimo. Vix tredecim annos habebat, solummodo domestica negotia, opus rusticum, et prima rerum divinarum elementa edocta erat, quum se a Deo electam esse admonita est, ad Galliam ab hostibus liberandam, et ad pristinum regnum restituendum. Postquam per quinque annos, Michael Archangelus atque Catharina et Margarita, virgines sanctæ, quibus familiariter utebatur, certiorem eam fecerunt, quomodo rem jussam perageret, Deo parendum esse rata, a præfecto Valiis Colorum petiit, et, post nonnullas repulsas, obtinuit, ut viros sibi daret, qui se ad Carolum regem ducerent.
Supernis monitis obtemperans, superatis longi itineris difficultatibus ad Castrum Cainonense in agro Turonico pervenit, et Carolo regi facta fide, se a Deo missam esse, in urbem Aureliam profecta est. Paucis diebus, terribili impetu, triplicem cladem hostibus inflixit, castella expugnavit, suumque sustulit vexillum. Inde, post alia bellica facta, in quibus mirum in modum apparuit auxilium Dei, Rhemos Carolum duxit, ut regia consecratione inungeretur. Nec quiescendum esse censuit: sed quum a cælestibus nuntiis accepisset, se, Deo permittente, in hostium potestatem esse venturam, libenti animo, quæ fieri necesse esset, suscepit.
Capta Joanna in civitate Compendio, et hostibus pretio tradita, Rothomagum mox ducta, quum ibi in jus rapta esset quamplurimis criminationibus, excepta morum castitate, fuit obnoxia; sed omnia pro Jesu patienter toleravit. Acta per corruptissimos judices causa, innocens et mitis virgo damnata est pæna combustionis. Igitur sacra Eucharistia, quara tamdiu desideraverat, refecta, oculis ad crucem conversis, nomen Jesu sæpissime ingeminans, ad cælum evolavit die trigesima Maii, nondum expleto ætatis suæ anno vigesimo. Romana Ecclesia, quam semper dilexerat, et ad quam sæpius provocaverat, eam ab omni crimine vindicandam, Callisto tertio, summo Pontifice, curavit. Vergente in finem sæculo undevicesimo, Leo decimus tertius, Aurelianensis puellæ causam introduci permisit Postremo Pius decimus, re diligentissime examinata, Joannam de Arc, recentibus claram miraculis, in Beatorum numerum retulit, ac Officium et Missam propriam toti Galliæ, de speciali gratia, benigne indulsit.
Joan of Arc was born in the town of Domrémy (which was once in the diocese of Toul, but belongs now to that of Saint Dié) in the year of our Lord 1412. Her parents were noted for their virtue and piety. When she was but thirteen years old, and knew nothing but house work, field work, and the first elements of religion, she learnt that God had chosen her to deliver France from her enemies and restore the kingdom to its former independence. She enjoyed familiar intercourse with the Archangel Michael and SS Catherine and Margaret, who, during five years, instructed her how to fulfil her mission. Then, desiring to obey the command of God, she addressed herself to the governor of Vaucouleurs, who, after having several times repulsed her, at length gave her an escort to take her to King Charles.
Following in all things the divine commands, she overcame all the difficulties of the long journey, and arrived at Chinon in Touraine, where she furnished the king with proofs that her mission was from God. She proceeded to Orleans, and in a few days inflicted three defeats on the enemy, relieved the town, and raised her banner aloft in triumph. Then, after other military successes in which the assistance of God was clearly manifested, she brought Charles to Rheims, where he was solemnly crowned king. She would not rest even then, but, having learnt from her heavenly voices that God would permit her to fall into the hands of the enemy, she went bravely on to meet what was to befall her.
She was taken prisoner at Compiègne, sold to the English, and sent to Rouen for trial. She had to defend herself against many accusations, but her purity was never impugned. She suffered all things with patience for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wicked judges who tried this gentle and innocent virgin, condemned her to be burnt. So, fortified by the holy Eucharist, which she had long desired, and her eyes fixed upon the Cross, while she constantly murmured the name of Jesus, she took her flight to heaven on May 30, in the nineteenth year of her age. The holy Roman Church which she had always loved, and to which she had often appealed, undertook, under Pope Calixtus III, her rehabilitation, and towards the end of the nineteenth century Leo XIII gave permission for the introduction of the cause of beatification. Finally, after diligent examination and approbation of fresh miracles Pius X inscribed her among the Blessed, and permitted the dioceses of France to keep the feast with a special Office and Mass.
O King of Glory, who dost to-day ascend above the heights of heaven, thou didst drink of the torrent in the way and therefore dost thou now lift up thy head. Thy ancestor David prophesied it, thine Apostle proclaimed it. Thou didst humble thyself unto death, even the death of the cross, and therefore has God the Father exalted thee on this day, therefore does every knee bow at thy name, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. It was becoming that the law of the Head should be the law also of all those who were to be called to share his glory. Before all the ages, in the great Counsel of which, as the Church sings on Christmas Day, thou wert the Angel, the conditions of definitive victory and eternal success were thus laid down.
The Gospel tells us that the hour would come for the disciples of Jesus to give testimony and that men would think to serve God by putting them to death. Joan, like Jesus, was questioned, judged and condemned with all the legal forms and imposing ceremonial of orthodoxy. But, O ye enemies of Joan and of France, ye thought yourselves her executioners, and ye were offering her in sacrifice. France was saved, for God accepted the virginal victim. Her passing mission became a permanent patronage, and the deliverer of her country on earth has become her immortal protectress in heaven.