April 11 — Saint Hermenegild, Martyr

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 them that 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 in a mass to abjure heresy ; but Spain did it, for she seems to be a country on which heaven lavishes exceptional blessings. Shortly

APEIL 13. ST. HEBMENEGILD. 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 to-day's Matins.

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 Ms utmost, both by promises and threats, to induce him to apostatise. 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

£x libro Dialogorum sancti Gregorii Papae.

Hermenegild us rex, Leovigildi regis Visigothorum filius, ab ariana haeresi ad fidem catholicam, viro reverendissimo Leandro Hispalensi Episcopo, duduiu mihi in amicitiis familiariter juncto, prsedicante, conversus est Quern pater arian us, ut ad eamdem haaresim rediret, et praemiis suadere, et minis terrere con at us est. Cumque ille constantissime respondent, numquam se veratn fidem posse relincuiere, quam semel agnovisset : iratus pater eum privavit regno, rebusque exspoliavit omnibus. Cumque nec sic virtutem mentis illius emollirevaluisset; in arcta ilium custodia concludens, collum manusque illius ferro ligavit. Coepit itaque Hermenegildus rex iuvenis terrenum regnum despicere, et forti desiderio cceleste quaerens, in ciliciis vinculatus jacens, omnipotent! Deo, ad confortandum se, preces effun-

PASCHAL TIME. dere ; tantoque sublimius Omnipotent God to snpport gloriam transeuntis mundi bim. As to the glory of this despicere, quanto et religa- fleeting world, he nobly looked tus agnoverat nihil fuisse, on it with disdain, tie more

Supervenienteautem Pas- It was the Feast of Easter, chalis festivitatis die, in- At an early hour of the night, tempest® noctis silentio, ad when all was still, his wicked eum perfidus pater arianum father sent an Arian Bishop

Episcopum misit, nt ex ejus to him, with this message, manu sacrileg» consecra- that if he would receive Corn- tionis communionem per- munion from his hands, (the ciperet, atque per hoc ad Communion of a sacrilegious patris gratiam redire mere- consecration !) he should be retur. Sed vir Deo deditus, restored to favour. True to ariano Episcopo venienti his Creator, the man of God exprobravit ut debuit, ejus- gave a merited reproof to the

<me a se perfidiam dignis Arian Bishop, and, with holy increpationibus repulit : indignation, rejected his sinful quia etsi exterius jacebat offer ; for though his body lay ligatus, apud se tamen in prostrate in chains, his soul magno mentis culmine sta- stood on ground beyond the bat securus. Ad se itaque reach of tyranny. The Bishop reverso Episcopo, arianus- therefore, returned whence he pater infremuit, statimque had come. The Arian father suos apparitores misit, qui raged, and straightway sent constantissimum confesso- his lictors, bidding them rem Dei, illic ubi jacebat, repair to the prison of the occiderent ; quod et factum unflinching Confessor of the est. Nam mox ut ingressi Lord, and murder him on the sunt, securim cerebro ejus spot. They obeyed; thev infigentes, vitam corporis entered the prison ; they cleft abstulerunt, hocque in eo his skull with a sword; they valuerunt, perimere, quod took away the life of the body, ipsum quoque qui peremp- and slew what he, the slain tus est, in se constiterat one, bad sworn to count as despexisse. Sed pro osten- vile. Miracles soon followed, y denda vera ejus gloria, su- whereby heaven testified to perna quoque non defuere the true glory of Hermenegild; miracula. Nam ccepit in for during the night, there nocturno silentio psalmodiae was heard sweet music nigh to cantus ad corpus ejusdem the body of the King and regis et martyris audiri, Martyr,— King indeed, be- at^ue ideo veraciter regis, cause he was a Martyr, quia et martyris. quod potuerit auferri. so as his captivity taught him the nothingness of that which could thus be taken from him.

APRIL 13. ST.

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 for having imbrued his nands 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 Keccared, a heretic, to the care of Leander, the Bishop, whom he had hitherto persecuted, but from whom he now asked, that he would 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 Visigoth 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.

Quidam etiam ferunt, quod illic nocturno tempore accenese lampades apparebant. Unde et factum est, quatenus corpus illius, ut videlicet martyris, jure a cunctis Fidelibus venerari debuisset. Pater vero perfidus et Parracida commotus pcenitentia, hoc fecisse se doluit, nec tamen usque ad obtinendam salutem pcenituit. Nam quia vera esset Catholica fides agnovit, sed gentis suae timore perterritus, ad hanc pervenire non meruit. Qui oborta aegritudine, ad extrenia perductus est, et Leandro Episcopo, quern prius vehementer afflixerat, Reccaredum regem filium suum, quern in sua haeresi relinquebat, commendare curavit, ut in ipso quo^ue talia faceret, qualia et in fratre suis exhortationibus fecisse t Qua commendatione expleta, defunctus est Post cujus mortem, Reccaredus rex non patrem perfidum, sed fratrem martyrem sequens, ab arianas haereseospravitate conversus est, totamque Visigothorum gentem ita ad veram nerduxit fidem, ut nullum in suo regno militare permit teret, qui regni Dei hostis existere per haereticam pravitatem non timeret. Nec mirum quod verae fidei praedicator f actms est, qui frater est martyris : cujus hunc quoque merita adjuvant, ut ad omnipotentis Dei gremium tam multos reducat.

PASCHAL TIME.

Pope Urban the Eighth composed the two following Hymns for the Feast of the holy Martyr : we unite them under one conclusion.

HYMN.

Regali solio f ortis Iberiae Hermenegilde jubar, gloria

Martyrum, Christi quos amor almis Cceli ccetibus inserit.

Ut perstas patiens, polli- citum Deo Servans obsequium ! quo potius tibi Nil proponis, et arces Cautus noxia, quae placent.

Ut motus cohibes, pabula qui parant Surgentis vitii, non dubios agens Per vestigia gressus Quo veri via dirigit ! Nullis te genitor blandi- tiis trahit, Non vitaB caperis divitis otio,

Gemmarumve nitore, Regnandive cupidine. Diris non acies te gladii minis,

Nec terret perimens carni- ficis furor : Nam mansura caducis Praefers gaudia ccalituni. Nunc nos e superum protege sedibus, Clemens, atque preces, duni canimus tua Qusesitam nece palmam, Pronis auribus excipe. Sit rerum Domino jugis honor, Patri,

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 warily didst reject them.

Thou restrainedst the passions, which excite and foster vice. Thou marchedst onward ?, with unfaltering step, to where the path of truth directs.

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, or 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 !

APRIL 13. ST. HERAT EN EQI LP*

Let the Faithful assembled Et natum celebrent ora pre- here in prayer, glorify the Son ; cantium, let them sing forth endless Divinumque supremis praise to the Holy Ghost Flamen laudibus efferant.

Amen. Amen.

We offer thee, 0 brave witness to the truth of 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. Heir to a throne, a prison was thy abode here below. It was from thy prison that thou ascendedst to heaven, wearing on thy brow the laurels of Martyrdom, — a crown far brighter than that which was offered thee on condition of thy apostatising from the Faith. Pray now for us : the Church asks it of thee, by inserting thy name in the Calendar of her Sainta 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 to 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.

PASCHAL TIME.

APRIL 14.

STS. TIBURTITJS, VALERIAN, and MAXTMUS,

Let us affectionately welcome the brave triumvirate of martyrs, presented to-day 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's; he shows us the triumphant palm he so speedily won. Maxim us 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 her 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.