Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent

Audite verbum Domini, qui tremitis ad verbum ejus. Dixerunt fratres vestri odientes vos, et abjicientes propter nomen meum : Glorificetur Dominus, et videbimus in laetitia vestra : ipsi autem confundentur. Vox populi de civitate, vox de templo, vox Domini reddentis retributionem inimicis suis. Antequam parturiret, peperit : antequam venerit partus ejus, peperit masculum. Quis audivit unquam tale 1 Et quis vidit huic simile 1 Numquid parturiet terra in die una 1 aut parietur gens simul, quia parturivit et peperit Sion filios suosl ifumquid ego qui alios parere facio, ipse non pariam, dicit Dominus 1 Si ego, qui generationem caeteris tnbuo, sterilis ero, ait Dominus Deus tuus? Laetamini cum J erusalem, et exsultate in ea, omnes qui diligitis earn : gaudete cum ea gaudio universi, qui lu-

The Lord is now nigh ; come, let us adore.

From the Prophet Isaias.

CK.LXVI.

Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hate you, and cast you out for my name's sake, have said : Let the Lord be glorified, ancf we shall see in your joy : but they shall be confounded. A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies. Before she was in labour, she brought forth : before her time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man-child. Who hath ever heard such a thing? And who hath seen the like of this 1 Shall the earth bring forth in one day ] or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labour, and hath brought forth her children] Shall not I that make others to bring forth children, myself bring forth, saith the Lord ? Shall I, that give generation to others, be barren, saith

FOURTH FRIDAY OF ADVENT. the Lord thy God 1 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her : rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her : that you may suck and be filled with the breasts of her consolations : that you may milk out and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck : you shall" be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you. As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall be angry with his enemies. For behold the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind : to render his wrath in indignation, and his rebuke with flames of fire : for the Lord shall judge by fire : and by his sword unto all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. getis super earn : ut sugatis et repleamini ab ubere consolationis ejus : ut mulgeatis, et deliciis affluatis ab omnimoda gloria ejus. Quia hsec dicit Dominus : Lcce ego declinabo super earn quasi fluvium pacis, et quasi torrentem inundantem gloriam Gentium, quam , sugetis : ad ubera portabimini, et super genua blandientur vobis. Quomodo si cui mater blandiatur, ita ego consolabor vos, et in Jerusalem consolabimini. Videbitis, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et ossa vestra quasi herba germinabunt : et cognoscetur manus Domini servis ejus, et indignabitur inimicis suis. Quia ecce Dominus in igne veniet, et quasi turbo quadrigae ejus : reddere in indignatione furorem suum, et increpationem suam in flamma ignis : quia in igne Dominus dijudicabit : et in gladio suo ad omnem carnem, et multiplicabuntur interfecti a Do-

Thy presence, O Jesus, will give fruitfulness to her that was barren, and the despised Sion shall suddenly bring forth a people which the world is too small to hold. But all the glory of this fruitfulness belongs to thee, O divine Word ! The Psalmist had foretold it, when speaking to Jerusalem, as to a

Queen, he said to her : Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee ; thou shalt make them princes over all the earth : they shall remember thy name throughout all generations; therefore shall people praise thee for ever and ever, yea for ever and ever} But, for this end it was necessary that God himself should come down in person. He alone could make a Virgin- Mother ; he alone could raise up children to Abraham out of the very stones. Yet one little while, as he says by one of his Prophets, and I will move heaven and earth, and I will move all nations. And by another : From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles ; and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation? There will soon be, then, but one Sacrifice ; for the Lamb, who is to be offered in that Sacrifice, will be born in a few hours hence; and since Sacrifice is the bond of union among men, when there shall be but one Sacrifice, there will be but one People.

Come then quickly, O Church of God, that art to unite us all into one ; come and be born into our world. And since for us thy children thou art already born, may the Lamb, thy Spouse, pour out upon thee the river of peace announced by the Prophet ; may he open out upon thee the glory of the Gentiles, as an overflowing torrent; may the nations cluster round thee as their common Mother, and be filled with the abundance of thy glory, with the breasts of thy consolations ; and thou carry them on thy heart and caress them in thy tender love. O Jesus! it is thou that hast inspired our Mother with this wonderful love; it is thou that consolest us, and enlightenest us, by her. Come to her, and visit her; come, and, by the New Birth thou art about to take among us, renew her life within her. Give her, during this year also, firmness of Faith, the Grace of

1 Ps. xi;v. 8 Agg. ii. 7, 8. 8 MaL i. 11. the Sacraments, the efficacy of Prayer, the Gift of Miracles, the Succession of her Hierarchy, power of Government, Fortitude against the Princes of the world, love of the Cross, victory over Satan, and the crown of Martyrdom. During this new year, make her, as ever, thy beautiful Spouse ; make her faithful to thy love, and more than ever successful in the great work thou hast put upon her ; for each year brings us nearer to the day when thou wilt come for the last time, not in the swathing bands of infancy, but on a cloud, with great majesty, to render thy rebuke with flames of fire, and destroy those that have despised or have not loved thy Church, which thou wilt then raise up and admit into thy eternal Kingdom.

HYMN OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

(Taken from the Poet Prudentius. viil kal. januaeias.)

Come forth, sweet Babe ! Emerge, dulcis Pusio,

Child of Chastity, Child of a Quern Mater edit castitas,

Virgin Mother ! Come, O Parens et expers conjugis, thou our Mediator, Man and Mediator, et duplex genus. God.

Though thou didst come, Ex ore quamlibet Patris in time, from the mouth of Sis ortus, et verbo editus, the Most High Father, and Tamen paterno in pectore becamest incarnate at the Sophia callebas prius. Angel's word; yet hadst thou, O eternal Wisdom, dwelt for ever in the bosom of thy Father.

This eternal Wisdom ma- Quae prompta ccelum con- nifested itself when it made didit, heaven, light, and the other Ccelum, diemque et caetera, creatures ; by the power of Virtute Verbi effecta sunt the Word were all these Haec cuncta : nam Verbum made, for the Word is God. Deus.

But having thus created Sed ordinatis saeculis, the world, and fixed the laws Kerumque digesto statu, of the universe, this creator Fundator ipse et artifex and maker still left not his Permansit in Patris sinn. Father's bosom.

Donee rotata annalium Transvolverentur millia, Atque ipse peccantem diu Dignatus oroem viseret.

Nam caeca vis mortalium Venerans inanes naenias, Vel aera, vel saxa algida, Vel igna credebat Deum.

Hsec dum sequuntur, perfidi

Prsedonis in jus venerant, Et mancipatam fumido Vitam barathro immerserant.

Stragem sedistam non tulit Christus cadentum gentium Impune ; ne forsan sui Patris periret fabrica.

Mortale corpus induit, Ut, excitato corpore, Mortis catenam frangeret, Hominemque portaret Patri

Sentisne, Virgo nobilis, Matura ner fastidia, Pudoris intactum decus Honore partus crescere ]

O quanta rerum gaudia Alvus pudica continet ! Ex qua no vellum saeculum Procedit et lux aurea.

Until at length thousands of years rolled on, and then he deigned to visit the world grown old in sin.

For man, blinded with passion, paid adoration to empty vanities, and believed that brass, or stiff blocks of stone and wood, were God.

Abandoned to idolatry, they became the slaves of the treacherous enemy, and plunged their enslaved souls into dark abyss.

But the Son of God conipassionated this destruction of his fallen creatures ; for it was the ruin of his Father's image.

He took to himself a mortal body, that by the resurrection of that body he might break the chain of death, and raise up man to his Father.

Thou f orebodest^his sufferings, O noble Virgin ! and yet to give birth to this thy Son is an honour which adds fresh lustre to thy spotless purity.

O that Virgin Mother, what joy for the world does she not contain within her ! a new age, a golden light, will come by her !

PRAYER FROM THE GALLICAN SACRAMENTART. {In Adventu Domini, Contestatio.)

Vere dignum et justum est, nos tibi hie et ubique semper gratias agere, omnipotens l)eus, per Christum Dominum nostrum, quern Joannes

It is truly meet and just that we should here and in all places ever give thee thanks, O almighty God, through Christ our Lord, of whom

FOURTH FBID1

John, the faithful friend, was the precursor in birth, the precursor in preaching in the wilderness, the precursor in baptism, preparing thus the way to the Judge and Redeemer. He called sinners to repentance ; and purchasing a people for the Saviour, he baptised in the Jordan them that confessed their sins. He conferred not the full grace which regenerates man, but taught him to look for the Coming of the most merciful Saviour. He remitted not the sins of them that came unto him, but he promised the future -remission of sins to believers ; that thus they, who went down into the waters of penance, might hope for a merciful cure and forgiveness from Him, who, they were told, was to come full of the gift of Truth and Grace, our Lord Jesus Christ. fidelis amicus, praecessit nascendo, praecessit in desertis eremi praedicando, praecessit baptizando, viam quoque praeparans Judici ac Kedemptori. Convocavit peccatores ad pcenitentiam ; et

Eopulum Salvatori acquirens, aptizavit in Jordanepeccata propria confitentes : non hominis innovandi plenam conferens gratiam, sed piissimi Salvatoris admonens exspectare praesentiam : non remittens ipse peccata ad se venientibus, sed remissionem

Seccatorum ad futurum polcens esse credentibus : ut descendentes in aquam pcenitentiae ab illo sperarent remedium indulgentiae, quem venturum audiebant plenum dono Veritatis et Gratiae, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum.

The Vigil of Christmas is given below in the Proper of Saints, December 24, page 532. dbyGoogk

PROPER OF THE SAINTS.

We give the title of Proper of Saints to that portion of our work, which contains the Feasts of Saints, and all such parts of the Advent proper Office as have a fixed day ; for example, the great Antiphons, the Vigil of Christmas* &c. This division into Proper of the Time and Proper of Saints is that which is adopted by the Breviary and Missal, and is familiar to all those who frequent the Divine Service.

Our readers will have observed in the Proper of the Time of Advent, how intent the holy Church is in preparing for the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord ; in the Proper of Saints, they will find her celebrating, with all possible devotion, the feasts of the Friends of God, the Saints, which come during that time. Our separated brethren accuse the Catholic Church of giving a place in the Liturgy, to the cultus of the Saints, which belongs to God alone. They are led to make this accusation, which involves a very serious error, from having never considered, firstly, that the homage paid to God in his Saints rebounds to His glory who made them Saints ; and secondly, that, at the same time that the Church honours the Saints by keeping their feasts, she pays to the sovereign and incommunicable majesty of God more acts of religion, in one short week, than Protestantism could possibly do in a whole year.

Let us, children of the Church, love and practise devotion to the Saints, and remember how God, who demands our homage, requires us to pay that portion of it which consists in honouring him in those whom he has crowned. Now, the first homage which we ought to pay to God in his Saints is, to study to know them. One of the evils of our times is, that the Saints are not sufficiently known. Protestant rationalism, under the false name of Criticism, has done its utmost, during the last two hundred years, to lessen the devotion of the faithful towards the Saints ; and one is often surprised and shocked to meet with persons, otherwise well instructed, and attached to the faith, who know little about the Saints, and have imbibed most uncatholic prejudices regarding them. But, if we may judge from the interest with which some very full and well written lives have been recently received, these prejudices are fast disappearing, and the time is come when hagiography will become, once more, a serious study amongst our people, and the ancient devotion to the Saints be revived.

To further this happy tendency, we have resolved to imitate the Church herself, by giving the greatest development, in these pages, to all that regards the honour due to the Saints. Firstly, the faithful must be got to know them. No method, it seemed to us, could be more effectual to this end, than the one adopted by the Church. She is most desirous that her children should know the heroes of sanctity whom God has given to her, and in whom, together with the incomparable Mother of God and the Holy Angels, she puts her greatest hope, after that which she places in her Saviour Jesus Christ, the King and Master and Head of all the Saints. The faithful should, therefore, understand that the Church keeps an official register of the actions, and maxims, and virtues of the Saints, who are her glory ; there she has chronicled, through all these eighteen hundred years, the wonders which God has wrought in them and by

PROPER OF SAINTS. them, and the blessings she has received through their intercession. This admirable history of the Saints is known under the name of the Legends of the Breviary ; a history which the Church is ever writing, for God is ever adding to the number of his Saints ; a history, which the learned admire for its great beauty of style, and in which the children of the Church find that unction which has such power over the heart, and which the Catholic Church alone can put into human language. This is not the place to notice the objections which some critics have made to certain passages of some of the Legends, of which they contest the historical exactitude ; besides, they are very few and of little importance.

We therefore give, in this work, the Roman Legends, just as they are in the Breviary. By this means, we shall be giving a general idea of the life and actions of the Saints to those who are completely ignorant of them. Even they who have grown familiar with the Lives of the Saints by having read such as are in general use, even they will sometimes find, in these Legends of the Church, a very different, if not contrary, appreciation of the conduct of the Saints from that which has been put upon it by modern writers. They will find, that notwithstanding their brevity, the Legends of the Breviary are often more complete and explicit than some of the Lives they have read, which consisted of twenty or more pages. As to the doctrinal and moral appreciation, which almost necessarily accompany the written Lives of the Saints, a Catholic should remember that when they come from the Church, they have for their guarantee the authority of God himself.

After having received from the Church herself the knowledge we ought to have of the Saints, we ought also to learn from her how we are to honour them. For this reason, we shall first insert the prayers, which the usage of the Church consecrated, in a manner, to them in ancient times ; and then, those which were composed at a later period. Our work will thus become a complete manual of Catholic devotion to the Saints, giving, first, the formulae used in the universal Church; secondly, those which were composed during the first and middle ages of the Latin Churches ; and thirdly, those which were in use in the several churches of the East.

In order to give unity to these various liturgies, we shall continue the method we adopted in the Proper of the Time. A simple and concise commentary shall be given throughout the entire course of our work, explaining the several intentions of the Church in the prayers and usages, which we shall have to give. But with regard to everything which is strictly of the province of science and archaeology, we shall use a prudent reserve, as such details will come better in a special Treatise.

To derive solid advantage from the devotion we pay to the Saints in the various seasons of the year, it is important that we should not disjoin the honour we give to them from that which we have to pay to the Mysteries of our redemption, which the Christian Year gradually brings before us, and which form the basis of the Proper of the Time, throughout the entire Cycle. It will not be difficult to do this ; for if we read over the Catholic Calendar with an eye of faith, we shall not fail to see the secret relation, which unites the Feasts of the Saints with the various mystical seasons, in which they, as it were, bloom. A Saint's feast is, generally, kept on the very day of his death ; in other words, on the day of his entrance into heaven. That infinite Wisdom, — which has revealed to us that not even a hair of our head shall perish without our Heavenly Father's having willed it, — in choosing one day in preference to all others for the Saint's death, may, surely, be supposed to have selected it, because it would be in

PROPER OF SAINTS. keeping with the supernatural harmony of the Church's year. It should, therefore, be our duty to study, during the whole of the Liturgical Year, the relation, which the Saints, whose feasts are being kept, have with the Season in which the Church celebrates their memory.

As the Office of the Church, in Advent, does not assign a Saint's feast for each day, we have thought it advisable to fill up the vacant days by giving for each day, from December 1st to Christmas Eve, reflections upon the events which preceded the divine Mystery of the Birth of Jesus. Our object is to aid the piety of the faithful, by offering them meditations, both upon the facts related in the Sacred Scriptures, and upon the pious conjectures which almost irresistibly suggest themselves.

Lastly, in order to impress the spirit of this holy time more deeply on the mind, we have, on each day of this second part of our volume, given a liturgical prayer, taken from the Advent Offices of the various Churches : and thus we shall be saying, each day, an additional prayer for the Messias to come; a prayer, too, which must be efficacious, because offered to the Divine Majesty in the words of our holy Mother the Church.

November 30. SAINT ANDREW, APOSTLE.

We open our Proper of Saints for Advent with St. Andrew, because, although his feast frequently occurs before this holy season has begun, it sometimes happens that we have entered Advent when the memory of this great Apostle has to be celebrated by the Church. This Feast is therefore destined to terminate, with solemnity, the Cycle which is at its close, or to add lustre to the new one which has just begun. It seems, indeed, fitting that the Christian Year should begin and end with the Cross, which has merited for us each of those years which it has pleased the divine goodness to grant us, and which is to appear, on the last day, in the clouds of heaven, as the seal put on Time.

We should remember that Saint Andrew is the Apostle of the Cross. To Peter, Jesus has given firmness of Faith; to John, warmth of Love; the mission of Andrew is to represent the Cross of his divine Master. Now it is by these three, Faith, Love, and the Cross, that the Church renders herself worthy of her Spouse. Everything she has or is, bears this threefold character. Hence it is that after the two Apostles just named, there is none who holds such a prominent place in the universal Liturgy as Saint Andrew.

But let us read the life of this glorious fisherman of the lake of Genesareth, who was afterwards to be the successor of Christ himself, and the companion of