June 14 — Saints Gervase and Protase. Martyrs. ♦

There being but a simple commemoration made to-day of these two glorious brethren, whose names were formerly so celebrated throughout the West, must not lessen their merit in our eyes. The Holy Spirit, whose function it is to maintain within the Bride of Jesus that divine mark of Holiness, whereby she is to be, up to the day of doom, for ever recognisable both to angels and to men, ceases not in every generation to raise up new saints, who more especially attract the devout homage of that particular period, to which their virtues have served as an example, and of which they are the distinctive glory. But whilst in thus honouring these children of hers, whose brilliant virtues add fresh jewels to her vesture, holy Church is moved by a sentiment of gratitude to the Paraclete for present benefits; these his later manifestations can never make her forgetful of those wrought within her by the same divine Spirit in ber earlier days. Gervase and Protase are indeed no longer honoured by a solemn feast, preceded as heretofore by a Vigil, whereof the Sacramentary of Gelasius preserves the memory ; but they still occupy an important place in the Roman Litanies, as representatives of the great Martyr host ; which position none have been allowed to assume in their stead. To these two in preference to a vast array of Martyrs whose festivals are now of a rite superior to theirs, does Holy Church turn in the more solemn of all her supplications; whether it be in holy processions to implore the averting of scourges and the obtaining blessings of this present life; or whether the sacred assembly of the whole Christian people, prostrate together with the Pontiff, unite in imploring the grace of abundant consecration to flow upon altars an<^ temples, or upon future priests, virgins, or kings.

• We learn from the historians of sacred rites, that the Introit of the Mass of our two holy Martyrs: The Lord will give peace unto his people, is a monument of the confidence of Saint Gregory the Great in their powerful succour. Filled with gratitude for results already obtained, he committed to their care, in the selection of this antiphoD, the complete pacification of Italy, then a prey to Lombard invasion and to the petty vengeance of the Byzantine Court, f

Two centuries previously, Saiut Ambrose had a first experience of the special power of pacification which it seemed Our Lord Christ had attached to the very bones of these his glorious witnesses in return for their having given their life for Him. The empress Justina and the Arian Auxentius now for a second time directed against the Bishop of Milan a united assault of the powers of earth and of hell ; and Ambrose, thus again ordered to abandon his Church, replied: "It were unseemly in a priest to deliver up the temple."1 Upon the soldiers sent to lend main force to the invaders of the sacred precincts he denounced sentence of excommunication, if they passed one step farther; and they, knowing that they had been engaged to God by their ; baptism

1 Anib. Kpist. xx. - - before being so to their prince, thereupon made fitting estimate of such a proposed act of sacrilege. To the cogirt, terrified at the universal indignation that had ensued, and now praying him to quell the popular excitement aroused by these odious measures, he replied : " It is in my power not to excite it ; but " to appease it, belongs only to God." When such troops as could be* assembled, composed exclusively of Arians, were at length surrounding the Basilica wherein was Ambrose, his faithful people were there to be seen gathered around him, in the name of the undivided and ever tranquil Trinity, sustaining by the sole force of divine psalmody and sacred hymns, a novel kind of siege. But the last act of this two years' war levied against a disarmed man, the event which completed the overthrow of heresy, was the discovery of the relics of Gervase and Protase, precious treasures unconsciously possessed by Milan, and now revealed to their bishop by a heavenly inspiration.

Let us hearken to the bishop himself recounting to his sister Marcellina these facts, in all the sweet simplicity of his great soul. Long consecrated by the Supreme Pontiff himself to the Spouse of virgins, Marcellina was one of those all-powerful in humility, who are almost invariably placed by Our Lord side by side with the great historic names of holy Church, to be their stay and support before God ; ignored co-operatrices in deeds the most brilliant, whose intervention by prayer and suffering must, for the most part, remain concealed until the day when eternal realities shall be revealed. Ambrose had already kept his sister informed of" the details of the first campaign directed against him: "In almost every "letter, ' he says, "thou dost anxiously inquire about "what affecteth the Church; well then, here it is. " The day after that on which thou didst send me the

Q

"account of thy dreams, the weight of heavy disquietude fell upon us."1

The following letter, on the contrary, breathes already of triumph and liberty regained :

" The Brother to the Lady, his Sister, dearer to " him than are his eyes and his life. It is my wont "to leave thy holiness ignorant of nothing that "passeth here in thine absence: know also then, " that we have found Martyrs. For of a truth, when " I was engaged about the dedicating of the Basilica " which thou knowest, many began to call upon me " with one voice, saying: Dedicate it after the manner " of the Roman Basilica. I replied : I will do so, if "I find relics of Martyrs. Thereupon there came " upon me, as it were, the glowing heat of a presage. " What shall I say ? The Lord hath bestowed his " grace. Despite the fears of the very clerics them- " selves, I ordered the earth to be dug up about the " spot facing the balustrade of Saints Felix and Nabor. " I found the wished-for signs. Men even came for- " ward bringing possessed persons on whom we might " impose hands ; and it so fell out, that at the very " first sight of the holy Martyrs, whilst we as yet had "not broken silence, a woman from among them "was instantly seized and thrown to the ground " before the holy tomb. We found therein two men " of wondrous stature, as in the times of the ancients ; " all the bones entire, and a quantity of blood. There "was a vast concourse of people during these two " days. Wherefore these details ? Towards evening "we transported the holy bodies (in their entirety " and laid out in a fitting manner), to the Basilica of "Fausta; there vigil wasrkept all night, and imposition of hands. On the morrow, the translation

1 Epist. xx.

• Uma in the Latin text, is taken for una by the best interpreters.

"to the Basilica that they call the 'Ambrosian.' " During the transit, a blind man was cured."1

Ambrose then goes on to relate to Marcellina, the discourse pronounced by him on this occasion. We can cite only one passage: "O Lord Jesus, I give " thee thanks for having raised up, in our midst, the " spirit of thy holy Martyrs, at a time in which thy

" unto all, what kind of defenders I desire ; such as " can defend and yet attack not. Holy people, lo ! " I have gained such for you, they are useful to all, "hurtful to none! Such are the guardians I ambi- " tion, such my soldiers. On their account I have "no envy to fear; yea, I wish their succour to be " profitable to those even who are jealous of me. So "then let them come, let them behold my guards: " I deny not my being surrounded by arms such as "these! Even as in the case of the servant of Eli- "seus, when the Syrian army was besieging the " prophet, — God hath opened our eyes. Behold us, " Brethren, freed from no light shame : to have had " defenders, and not to have known it ! . . . . Behold " how from an ignoble sepulchre, noble remains have " been taken, trophies at last brought to light. Gaze " upon this tomb still wet with blood, glorious stains, " marks of victory ! See these relics inviolable in their ^hiding place, laid just in the very same order " wherein they were placed the first day ! Look at " this head separated from the shoulders ! Our old " men now begin to remember having formerly " heard these Martyrs named, and to have read the " inscription on their tomb. Our city had lost her "own Martyrs, she who had borne away those of "foreign cities! Although this is God's gift, still

Be it known

1 Epist. xxii.

" I cannot refuse to see therein a great grace, where- "by our Lord Jesus has vouchsafed to render the " tinpe of my episcopacy illustrious. Not deserving " to be myself a Martyr, I have procured these Mar- " tyre for you. Let them be brought in then ; bring " hither these victorious victims, let them take their " place there, where Christ is the Victim ; but, on the " Altar be He who suffered for all, and under the " Altar be they whom His Passion redeemed. I had "destined this spot for myself; since fitting it is, " that the Pontiff should repose there where he hath " been wont to present the Oblation ; but I cede my "right to sacred victims: this place was due unto "Martyrs."1

In fact, Ambrose did come, ten years later, to take his own place under the altar of the Ambrosian Basilica ; he occupied the Epistle side, leaving that of the Gospel to the two Martyrs. In the ninth century, one of his successors, Angilbert, placed the three venerable bodies together, in one same sarcophagus of porphyry, which was placed length- ways of the alter, .above the two primitive tombs. There, after the lapse of a thousand years, on August the 8th, in the year 1871, owing to necessary repairs being made in the Basilica, they once more reappeared ; not this time amidst blood, as the fourth century had disclosed our Martyrs, but under a sheet of water, deep and limpid ; a touching image of that water of Wisdom? that flowed so copiously from the lips of Ambrose himself, now the principal occupant of this holy tomb. There, not far from the tomb of Saint Marcellina, itself also an altar, the pilgrim of these days, with soul brimful of by-gone memories, may still venerate these precious relics;

1 Epist. xxii. 2 Prov. xviij. 4 xx. 5 ; Ecclus. xv. 3 ; etc.

(for they are united together in one crystal shrine where, placed under the immediate protection of the Roman Pontiff, Pius IX, they await the glorious day of resurrection.

The brief legend of these two Martyrs runs as follows :

Gervase and Protase were the sons of Vitalis and Valeria, who both testified even unto death, for the Lord Christ's sake, by martyrdom, — the father at Ravenna, and the mother at Milan. After the victory of their parents, Gervase and Protase gave all their inheritance to the poor, and set free their slaves. This act of theirs stirred up against them savage hatred, on the part of the heathen priests, and when the Count Astasius was about setting forth to war, they believed they had got a good occasion for the destruction of the two holy brethren. They persuaded Astasius that their gods had revealed to them that he had no chance of conquering in the war, unless he had first made Gervase and Protase to deny Christ, and to offer sacrifice to the gods. Being commanded so to do, they refused with horror, and Astasius then ordered Gervase to be beaten with rods until he died under the stripes, and Protase to be beaten with clubs, and his head

1 Constitutio Pii IX. : Qui

Gervasius et Protasius, Vitalis et Valeriae filii, quorum pater Ravennae, mater Mediolani, pro Christi Domini fide martyrium subi* erunt, distributo pauperibus patrimonio, domesticos ser* vos libertate donarunt. Quo facto Gentilium sacerdotes immane in illos conceptum odium habebant. Quare, cum Astasius comes in helium proficisci vellet, hanc occasionem perdendi pios fratres se nactos esse putaverunt. Itaque AstasioDersuadent se a diis admonitos esse,nullomodo eum in bello victorem f uturum, nisi Gervasio et Protasio coactis Christum negare, eosdem ad sacra diis facienda compelleret. Quod cum illi detestarentur, Astasius imperavit Gervasium tamdiu csedi dum inter verbera exspiraret : Protasium fustibus contusum securi percuti jubet. Quorum corpora Phiuppus Christi servus clam sustulit, et in suis sedibus sepelivit : quae postea sanctus Ambro^ it a fine usque ad finem fortiter.

TIMB AFTER PENTECOST. sius, Dei monitu inventa, in to be struck off. A servant of loco sacro et insigni collo- Christ named Philip took away canda curavit. Passi sunt their dead bodies by stealth

MediolanidecimotertioKa- and buried them in his own

Though short is the account of your combat, O holy Martyrs, because few are the details handed down to us concerning you, still may we cry out with Saint Ambrose when he first presented you to the populace: "That eloquence is best that springs from " blood ; for blood is a voice of thunder, re-echoing "from earth to heaven."1 Ohl make us to understand its potent accents ! Ever must the veins of a Christian be ready to pour forth testimony to God, our Redeemer! Say, is there no blood left in our impoverished veins ? Oh ! cure our generation of such a hopeless state of lingering decline; what physicians may not, Jesus Christ can always do !

road of devotedness and suffering! Surely not in vain have our feeble eyes been granted to contemplate you, in these our days, even as did Ambrose ; if Qod, after the lapse of so many ages, has once more revealed the sight of you, he must therein have intentions not unlike those he had in by-gone times! Therefore, dear Saints, may he perchance vouchsafe to raise up, through your intercession, mankind and our present society from the degradation of a fatal servility ; to banish error, to save the lendas JuliL them in a hallowed and honourable place. They suffered at Milan, on the thirteenth of the kalends of July.

Brethren; teach us the royal

1 Epist. xxii.

Church who cannot indeed perish, but whom he loves to deliver by means of her Saints. Doth it not behove you, generous Martyrs, to recognise by signal favours, the protection lavished by the successor of Peter on your relics, despite his own captivity? Be Milan worthy of you and of her Ambrose! Deign lovingly to visit the various lands both near and afar, formerly enriched with the blood found near your tomb. France was specially devout to you, placing no fewer than five of her cathedrals under your glorious invocation ; may she not look for particular help at your hands ? Oh ! rouse up once more her piety of by-gone days ; free her from false sects, from traitors ! Let the day soon come when she may step forth once again the soldier of God !

June 20. SAINT SILVERIUS,

POPE AND MARTYR. . ♦

Papal succession is one of the principal facts wherein is demonstrated the working of the Holy Ghost, from the very first day of his descent upon our earth. The legitimacy of the popes, as successors of Peter, is indeed closely linked with the legitimacy of the Church herself, in her character of Bride of the Man- God; and therefore, his mission being to lead the Bride to the Spouse, the Holy Ghost cannot suffer her to wander in the footprints of intruders. The inevitable play of human passions, interfering in the election of the Vicar of Christ, may perchance for a while render uncertain the transmission of spiritual power. But when it is proved that the Church, still holding, or once more put in possession of, her liberty, acknowledges in the person of a certain Pope, until then doubtful, the true Sovereign Pontiff, this her very recognition is a proof that, from that moment at least, the occupant of the Apostolic See is as such invested by God himself. This doctrine the Holy Ghost confirms, by .giving thereto, in the pontiff we are celebrating to-day, the consecration of martyrdom.

Saint Agapitus I. died at Constantinople, whither Theodorat, the Goth, had persuaded him to go, in order to appease the anger of Justinian excited

ST. S1LVERIUS. against this king by reason of his treasons. Scarcely had the news of this death reached the Arian prince, than he, in terror of perhaps seeing some one unfavourable to his pretensions raised to the pontificate, imperatively designated as successor to the deceased Pope, the deacon Silverius. Two months later, the Justice of God struck the tyrant, and the Church was set free. Doubtless, Rome would have but exercised her proper right had she rejected the Head thus imposed upon her by main force: for not to earthly princes has the Lord consigned the election of his Vicar upon earth. But Silverius, who had been an utter stranger to the violence used on his personal account, was in reality a man in every way fitted to the supreme pontificate. Therefore, when the Roman clergy became free to act, they had no wish to withdraw from him their adhesion, until then certainly disputable. From that moment undoubtedly, Silverius could not but be Head of the Church, the true successor of Agapitus, the Lord's Elect. In the fnidst of a period thronged with snares, he proved how well he understood the exigences of duty in his exalted office, and preferred an exile which would eventually cost him his life, to the abandoning of a post wherein the Holy Ghost had truly placed him. Holy Church gratefully bears witness to this, in her short eulogy of him ; and the army of Martyrs opened their ranks to receive him, when death at length struck the Pontiff in his land of exile.

Silverius was a native of Silverius Carapanus, post

Campania, and succeeded Aga- Agapitum proximo Pontif ex pitus in the Papacy. His doc- creatus est : cujus doctrina trine and holiness shone forth et sanctitas illuxit in insec- in his pursuing of heretics ; tandis haereticis, et con- and his strength of soul, in stantis animi magnitudo his firmness regarding the up- perspecta est in tuendo ju- holding of the sentence passed dicio AgapitL Nam Anthi- mum, quern, quia Eutychianam haeresim defendebat, Agapitus ab episcopatuConstantinopoli tano deposuerat, cum a Theodora Augusta saepissime rogatus restituere noluifc

Quamdbrem irata mulier mandat Belisario ut Silverium mittat in exilium. Qui exsulavit in insula Pontia, unde his verbis scripsisse fertur ad Amatorem Episcopum: Sustentorpane tnbulationis et aqua angustiae ; nec tamen dimisi, aut dimitto officium meum. Et sane brevi incommodis asrumnisque confectus obdormivit in Domino, duodecimo Kalendas Julii : cujus corpus Romam delatum, et in Basilica Vaticana depositum, multis miraculis illustratum f uit. Praef uit Ecclesise annos tres et amplius, creatis mense Decembri presbyteris tredecim, diaconis quinque, episcopis per diversa loca decern et novem. by Agapitus/ Agapitus had deposed Anthimus from the Patriarchateof Constantinople for defending the heresy of Eutyches; and Silverius would never allow of his restoration, although the Empress Theodora repeatedly asked him to do so.

The woman was enraged at him, on this account, and ordered Belisarius to send Silverius into exile. He was accordingly banished to the Island of Ponza, whence, it is said, he wrote these words to Bishop Amator : " I am fed upon the " bread of tribulation, and the " water of affliction, but never- " theless, I have not given up, " and I will not give up, doing "my duty." Soon, indeed, worn out by grief and suffering, he slept in the Lord, on the twelfth of the Kalends of J uly : His body being taken to Rome, was laid in the Vatican Basilica and was made illustrious by numerous miracles. He ruled the Church for more than three years, and ordained in the month of December, thirteen priests, five deacons, and nineteen bishops for divers sees.

The waters of tribulation passed indeed over thy soul, O holy Pontiff! Thy persecutors were not pagan Caesars: nor was it even (as in the case of John I. who so shortly preceded thee on the papal throne and in the arena of martyrdom), an heretical prince that overpowered thee with sectarian hatred.

1 Ps. lxviii 2.

ST. SILVEK1US.

No : a worthless woman, having in her service treason emanating from the very sanctuary, was thine oppressor. Even before death had done its work in thee, there was to be found a son of thine coveting thy dominion, heavy though such a burden was! But how could man rend asunder the indissoluble bond that bound thee to holy Church? The usurper could but be an intruder; until such time as the all-powerful merits of thy glorious death had obtained the transformation of the hireling into the legitimate Pastor, and had made this Vigilius become the heir of thine own courage. Thus did the invisible Head of the Church permit, unto hell's confusion, that ambition should carry scandals even into the very Holy of Holies. The unshaken Faith of nations, in the age in which thou didst live, suffered naught from all this ; and the light resulting from these lamentable facts, would but all the better serve to teach future ages, that the personal character of a pope, nay, even his faults, cannot in any way affect the heavenly prerogative assured by God, to the Vicar of his Christ. Keep up within us, dear Saint, the fruit of these teachings. % If the Faithful be but well penetrated with true principles, they will never see waning in them that respect due to Qod in His representatives, whosoever or whatsoever they may be ; and scandal, no matter whence it come, will be powerless to trammel their faith.

1 It is not our place to forestal the Church in the defence of some amongst her Pontiffs. Nevertheless, apology- has yet other duties ; ana ours seems to be here, to remind our readers that the successor of St. Silverius has met with able and learned defenders. Vigilius has not, it is true, been granted the honours of a public ctdtus, and until such be the case, the Church is not at all called upon to answer for his personal holiness. As regards Silverius, the matter stands quite differently ; he has been declared a Saint. Still, so long as apology for vigilius does not go to diminish the moral grandeur of St. Silverius, which has been solemnly guaranteed by Holy Church, it may be allowable.

June 21. SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA,

CONFESSOR. ♦

" Oh ! how exceeding great is the glory of Aloysius, " Son of Ignatius ! Never could I have believed it, " had not my Jesus shown it to me. Never could I " have believed that such glory as that, was to be " seen in heaven !" Thus cries out Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, whose memory we were celebratr ing a month ago : she is speaking in ecstasy. From the heights of Carmel, whence her ken may reach beyond the heavens, she reveals to earth the splendour wherewith the youthful hqro of this day shines amidst the celestial phalanxes.

Yet short was the life of Aloysius, and it had offered nothing to the superficial gaze of a vast majority, save the preliminaries, so to say, of a career broken off in its flower, before bearing fruit of any kind. Ah ! God does not account of things as men do; of very slight weight are their appreciations, in his judgment ! Even in the case of the saints themselves, the mere fractional number of years, or brilliant deeds, goes far less to the filling up of a life-time, in his view, than does love. The usefulness of a human existence ought surely to be measured, as a matter of fact, by the amount produced in it, of what is lasting. Now beyond this present time charity re- mains alone, fixed for ever at that precise degree of growth attained during this life of passage. Little matters it, therefore, if without any long duration or any apparent works, one of God's Elect have developed in himself a love as great or greater than some others have done, in the midst of many toils, be they never so holy, and throughout a long career admired of men.

The illustrious Society that gave Aloysius Gonzaga to holy Church owes the sanctity of her members and the benedictions poured upon their works to the fidelity she has ever professed to this important truth, which throws so much light on the Christian life. From the very first age of her history, it would seem that our Lord Jesus, not content to allow her to assume his own blessed Name, has been lovingly determined so to arrange circumstances in her regard that she may never forget wherein it is her real strength lies, in the midst of the actively militant eareer which he has especially opened before her. The brilliant works of Saint Ignatius her founder, of Saint Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, of Saint Francis Borgia, the noble conquest of Christ's humility, manifested truly wondrous holiness in them, and to the eyes of all; but these works of theirs had no other spring nor basis than the hidden virtues of that other glorious triumvirate, in which, under the eye of God alone, by the sole strength of contemplative prayer, Saints Stanislaus Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga, and John Berchmans, rose to such a degree of love, and consequently to the sanctity of their heroic fathers.

Again, it is by Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, the depositary of the secrets of the Spouse, that this mystery is revealed to us. In the rapture during which the glory of Aloysius was displayed before ker eyes, she thus continues, whilst still under the influence of the Holy Ghost: "Who could ever " explain the value and the power of interior acts ? " The glory of Aloysius is so great, simply because "he acted thus, interiorly. Between an interior act " and that which is seen, there is no comparison pos- " sible. Aloysius, as long as he dwelt on earth, kept " his eye attentively fixed on the Word ; and this is "just why he is so splendid. Aloysius was a hidden " martyr ; whosoever loveth Thee, my God, knoweth " Thee to be so great, so infinitely amiable, that keen "indeed is the martyrdom of such an one, to see " clearly that he loves Thee not so much as he desireth " to love Thee, and that Thou art not loved by Thy "creatures, but art offended! .... Thus he became a " martyrdom unto himself. Oh ! he did love, whilst " on earth ! Wherefore, now in heaven, he possesses " God in a sovereign plenitude of love. Whilst still " mortal, he discharged his bow at the Heart of the " Word ; and now that he is in heaven, his arrows " are all lodged in his own heart. For this commu- " nication of the Divinity which he merited by the " arrows of his acts of love and of union with God, he " now verily and indeed possesses and clasps for ever."

To love God, to allow His grace to turn our heart towards Infinite Beauty, which alone can fill it, such is then the true secret of highest perfection. Who can fail to see how this teaching of to-day's feast answers to the end pursued by the Holy Ghost ever since his coming down, at our glorious Pentecost ? This sweet and silent teaching was given by Aloysius, wheresoever he turned his steps, during his short career. Born to heaven, in holy baptism, almost before he was born to earth, he was a very angel from his cradle; grace seemed to gush from him into those who bore him in their arms, filling them with heavenly sentiments. At four years of age, he followed the marquess his father into the camps; and thus, some unconscious faults, which had not so much as tarnished his innocence, became for the rest of his life the object of a penitence that one would have thought rather beseemed some grievous sinner. He was but nine years old when, being taken to Florence, there to be perfected in the Italian language, he became the edification of the Court of duke Francis i but though the most brilliant in Italy, it failed to have any attraction for him, and rather served to detach him more decisively than ever from the world. During this period, likewise, at the feet of the miraculous picture of the Annunziata, he consecrated his virginity to Our Lady.

The Church herself, in the Breviary Lessons, will relate the other details of this sweet life, in which, as is ever the case with souls fully docile to the Holy Ghost, heavenly piety never marred what was of duty in earthly things. It is just because he really was a model for all youth engaged in study, that Aloysius has been proclaimed Protector thereof. Of a singularly quick intelligence, as faithful to work as to prayer in the midst of the gay turmoil of city life, he mastered all the sciences then exacted of one of his rank. Very intricate and ticklish negotiations of worldly interest were more than once confided to his management : and thus was opportunity afforded of realising to what a high degree he might have excelled in government affairs. Here, again, he comes forward as an example to such as have friends and relatives who would tain hold them back, when on the threshold of the religious state, under pretence of the " great good they may do in the world, and "how much evil they may prevent." Just as though the Most High must be contented with useless non-

1 It is of interest to recollect that Marie de Medicis, the future Queen of France, was at that time a child in the same court. entities in that select portion of men he reserves to himself amidst nations ; or, as though the aptitudes of the richest and most gifted natures may not be turned all the better, and all the more completely to God their very principle, precisely because they are the most perfect On the other hand, neither State, nor Church, ever really loses anything by this fleeing to God, this apparent throwing away of the best subjects ! If, in the old law, Jehovah showed himself jealous in having the very best of all kiods of goods offered at his altar, his intention was not to impoverish his people. Whether admitted or not, it is a certain fact, that the chief strength of society, the fountain head of benediction and protection to the world, is always to be found in holocausts well pleasiDg to the Lord.

Aloysius, Ferdinandi Gonzagse Castellionis Stiverorum Marchionis filius, festinato propter vitse periculum bapti8mo, prius ccelo quam terria nasci visus, primam illam gratiam tarn oonstanter retinuit, ut in ea confirmatus crederetur. A primo rationis usu, quo se Deo statim obtulit, vitain duxit quotidie sanctiorem. Novennis Florentiae ante aram beatae Virginia, quam parentis loco semper habuit, perpetuam virginitatem vovit : eamque, insigni Dei beneficio, nulla mentis aut corporis pugna tentatam servavit. Reliquas animi perturbationes coepit aetate ilia tarn f ortiter comprimere, Ut ne primo quidem earum motu deinde incitaretur.

Aloysius was son of Ferdinand Gonzaga, Marquess of Castiglione delle Stivere. He was so hurriedly baptised on account of danger, that he seemed to be born to heaven, almost before he was born to earth, and he so faithfully kept this his first grace, that he seemed to have been well nigh confirmed therein. From his first dawn of reason, which he used in offering himself to God, he led a life more holy day by day. At Florence, when he was nine years old, he made a vow of perpetual virginity, before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, upon whom he always looked as a Mother; and by a remarkable mercy from God, he kept this vow wholly and without the slightest impure temptation, either of body or of mind, dur- ing his whole life. As for any other perturbations of the soul, he began at that age to check them so sternly, that he was never more pricked by even their first movements. His senses, and especially his eyes, he so restrained, that he never once looked on the face of Mary of Austria, whom for several years he saluted almost every day, whilst he was page of honour, in the court of the king of Spain; and he used the same reserve with regard to the face of even his own mother: wherefore he might truly be called a man without flesh, or an angel in human flesh.

To this custody of the senses, he added the maceration of the body.' He kept three days as fasts, in every week, and that mostly upon a little bread and water. But indeed, he, as it were, fasted every day, for he hardly ever took so much as an ounce weight of food at his meal. Often also, even thrice a day, he would, with cords or chains scourge himself to blood : sometimeshe would supply the place of a discipline or hair shirt, by dog-thongs or his own spurs. Hesecretly strewed his soft bed with pieces of broken wood or potsherds, that he might find it easier to wake to pray. He passed great part of the night even in the depth of winter clad only in his shirt, either kneeling on the ground, or lying prostrate, when too weary to remain upright, occupied in heavenly contem-

Sensus etiam, oculos pra&r cipue, ita cohibuit, ut non modo illos nuuquam in faciem intenderit Marias Austriacae, quam plures annos inter honorarios Hispaniarum principis ephebos fere quotidie salutavit; sed a niatris etiam vultu continent; homo propterea sine carne, aut angelus in carne merito appellatus.

Adjecit sensuum custodies corporis cruciatum. Tria singulis hebdomadis jejunia, eaque plerumque modico pane et aqua tolerabat. Quanquam perpetuum fuis se per id tempus ipsius jejunium videre potest, cum ejus prandia ferme vix unciam aequarent. Saepe etiam ter in die se f unibus aut catenis cruentabat : flagella quandoque canum loris, cilicia equorum calcaribus supplevit. Mollem lectulum clam injectis asserum fragments asperabat, eo etiam ut citius ad orandum exci- N taretur. Magnam quippe noctis partem, summa etiam hieme, solo tectus indusio, positis humi genibus, vel pre languore jacens ac promts, in ccelestium contemplatione traducebat. Interim quoque trea, quatuor, quinque horas in ea perstabat immotus; donee unam saltern animo nusquam distracto percurrisset. Cujus constantiae premium fuit stabilitas mentis inter orandumalio non vagantis, imo perpetua velut exstasi in Deo defixse. Ei demum ut unice adhaBreret, victo post triennale acerrimum certamen patre, et aviti principatus jure in fratrem translato, Societati Jesu, ad quam ccelesti voce Matriti fuerat accitus, Romae se adjunxit.

In tyrocinio ipso virtutum omnium magister haberi coapit. Exactissima in eo erat legum etiam minimarum custodia, mundi contemptus singularis, implacabile odium sui: Dei vero amor tarn ardens, ut corpus etiam sensim absumeret. Jussus propterea mentem a divinis rebus tantisper avertere, occurrentem sibi ubique Deum irrito conatu f ugiebat. Mira etiam proximos charitate amplexus,in publicis, quibus alacriter ininistrabat, nosocoraii, contagiosam luem traxit. Qua lente consumptus, die quern praedixerat, undecimo Kalendas

PENTECOST. lation. Sometimes he would eep himself thus immovable for three, four, or five hours, until he had spent at least one, without any distraction of mind. Such constancy obtained for him the reward of being able to keep his understanding quite concentrated in prayer without any wandering of mind, as though rapt in God,in unbroken ecstasy. In order that he might henceforth adhere to Him alone, having overcome the bitter resistance of his father, in a sharp contest of three years' duration, and having procured the transferof his right to the Marquessate unto his brother, he joined, at Rome, the Society of Jesus, to which he had been called by a voice from heaven, when he was at Madrid.

In his very novitiate, he began to be held as a masterof all virtues. His obedience even to the most trifling rules was absolutely exact, his contempt of the world extraordinary, and his hatred of self implacable. His love of God was so ardent, that it gradually undermined his bodily strength. Being commanded, therefore, to divert his mind for a while from divine things, he struggled vainly to distract himself from Him Who met him everywhere. From tender love towards his neighbour, he joyfully ministered to the sick in the public hospitals, and in the exercise of this charity, he caught the contagion. Whereby, being slowly consumed, on the very day he had predicted, the eleventh of the Kalends of July, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, he departed to heaven, having previouslybegged to receive the discipline and to be placed upon the ground to die. What the glory is which he there enjoys, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was enabled by the revelation of God to behold ; and she declared that it was such a she had hardly believed existed even in heaven, and that his holiness and love were so great that she could declare him to be a hidden Martyr. On earth, God glorified him by many miracles. These being duly proved, Benedict XIII. inserted the name of this angelical youth in the Calendar of the Saints, and commended him to all young scholars, both as a pattern of innocence and of chastity, and as principal Patron.

Julii, aBtatis anno quarto et vigesimo jam inchoato, cum antea flagellis csedi, atque humi stratus moid postulasset, migravit in ccelum. Ibi eum Sancta Maria Magdalena de Pazzis tanta frui gloria, Deo monstrante, vidit, quantam vix esse in ccelo credidisset; ipsumque sanctimonia insignem, et charitate martyrem incognitum fuisse praedicavit. Multis etiara, magnisque claruit miraculis. Quibus rite probatis, Benedictus Decimus tertius Sanctorum fastis angelicum juvenem adscripsit, atque innocentiae et castitatis exemplar simul et patron um studiosae praesertim juventuti dedit.

Venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of man is grey hairs; and a spotless life is old age. And therefore, Aloy sius, thou dost hold a place of honour, amidst the ancients of thy people! Glory be to the holy Society, in the midst whereof, thou didst, in so short a space, fulfil a long course ; obtain that she may ever continue to treasure, both for herself and others, the teaching that flows from thy life of innocency and love. Holiness is the one only thing when one's career is ended, that can be called true again ;

1 Wisd. iv. 8, 9. and holiness is acquired from within. External works count with God, only in as far as the interior breath that inspires them is pure ; if occasion for exercising works be wanting, man can always supply that deficiency, by drawing nigh unto the Lord, in the secret of his soul, as much and even more than he could have done by their means. Thus didst thou see and understand the question ; and therefore, prayer, which held thee absorbed in its ineffable delights, succeeded . in making thee equal to the very martyrs. What a priceless treasure was not prayer in thine eyes, what a heaven-lent boon, and one that is indeed in our reach too, just as it was in thine ! But in order to find therein, as thou didst express it, "the short cut to " perfection," perseverance is needed and a careful elimination from the soul, by a generous self-repression, of every emotion which is not of God. For, how could muddy or troubled waters mirror forth the image of him who stands on their brink ? Even so, a soul that is sullied, or a soul that without being quite a slave of passion, is not yet mistress of every earthly perturbation, can never reach the object of prayer, which is to reproduce within her the tranquil image of her God.

The reproduction of the one great model was perfect in thee ; and hence it can be seen how nature (as regards what she has of good), far from losing or suffering aught, rather gains by this process of recasting in the divine crucible. Even in what touches the most legitimate affections, thou didst look at things no longer from the earthly point of view ; but beholding all in God, far were the things of sense transcended, with all their deceptive feebleness, and wondrously did thy love grow in consequence I For instance, what could be more touching than thy sweet attentions, not only upon earth, but even from thy throne in heaven, for that admirable woman given thee by our Lord to be thine earthly mother? Where may tenderness be found equal to the affectionate effusions written to her by thee in that letter of a Saint to the mother of a Saint, which thou didst address to her shortly before thy quitting thine earthly pilgrimage ? And still more, what exquisite delicacy thou didst evince, in making her the recipient of thy first miracle, worked after thine entrance into glory ! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost, by setting thee on fire with the flame of divine charity, developed also within thee immense love for thy neighbour: necessarily so, because charity is essentially one ; and well was this proved, when thou wast seen sacrificing thy life so blithely for the sick and the pestiferous.

Cease not, O dearest Saint, to aid us in the midst of so many miseries ; lend a kindly hand to each and all Christian youth has a special claim upon thy patronage, for it is by the sovereign pontiff himself* that this precious portion of the flock is gathered around thy throne. Direct their feeble steps along the right path, so often enticed as they are to turn into dangerous by-roads ; be prayer and earnest toil, for God's dear sake, their stay and safeguard ; be they illumined in the serious matter before them of the choosing a state of life. We beseech thee, dearest Saint, exert strong influence over them during this most critical period of their opening years, so that they may truly experience all the potency of that fair privilege which is ever thine, of preserving in thy devout clients, the angelical virtue! Tea, furthermore, Aloysius, look compassionately on those who have not imitated thine innocence, and obtain that they may yet follow thee in the example of thy penance; such is the petition of Holy Church this day !

June 22. SAINT ALB AN,

PROTO-M ARTY R OF ENGLAND. ♦

Let the heavens rejoice, let the Island of Saints exult, and let all the universe shout with her a song of victory: for now indeed earth has been everywhere empurpled with the blood of testimony. Alban, Proto-Martyr of fruitful Britain, seals to-day the conquest of the far West. Already, doubtless, even from the earliest days, Albion had yielded abundant flowers beneath the foot-steps of the Spouse, whose giant stride had reached even unto her. Later on, Eleutherius and Lucius had added the fresh charm of other plants to this new garden, wherein, far away from sterile Juda, the Man-God could forget the haughty disdain of the daughter of Sion. Jesus loves, indeed, flower beds exhaling the fragrance of "confession and of praise;"8 but still flowers of peace may not alone form the diadem of this powerful Son of the God of armies. The beauty he received from his Mother was enhanced by the blood shed by him in the great battle ; and to obtain favour in his eyes, the Bride too is called

1 Venant: Fortun. De Virginit. 155. 3 Can tic. vi. 1. * Ps. xviii. 6. 4 Pa. xliv. 4. upon to mingle her own brilliant purple with the glistening whiteness of His lilies.

Glory, then, to our Proto- Martyr ! glory to him by whom Albion, fully arrayed for the nuptials of the Lamb, advances side by side with the most illustrious Churches, and takes her seat with them, at the banquet of the strong! From the heights of heaven, the glorious choir of apostles and the whiterobed army of martyrs, are thrilling with joy, as in the brightest days of the three hundred years' struggle, prolonged perchance, just on purpose to give ancient Britain a chance of sharing in their triumph. Persecution was nearing its close; and even from this very British soil of ours, the last to be touched by the tidal wave of martyrs' blood, would deliverance come. On June 22nd, 303, Alban, our new Stephen, died breathing a prayer for his murderers, beside the banks of an affluent of old Thames: on July 25th, 306, Constantine, having just escaped the snares of Qalerius, was proclaimed at York, and he started thence to unfurl the standard of Salvation to the whole world.

Later on, to the victorious combats of the Gross, succeeded heresy's contesting struggle to wrest from God nations already won to his Christ in holy baptism. Whilst the East was going astray in misconceptions of the Incarnate Word, the West was carping at doctrines concerning Free-will and Grace, a fatal stumbling-block to be thrown in again at a more distant epoch.

Pelagius, the heretic here in question, was condemned by the Church, and the stone of error hurled against her gave but a passing shock.

The tomb of Alban was the curbing point of hell's

1 Apoc. xix. 7. efforts at that lime, and here were the final troubles caused by the Pelagian attack ended. Saint Lupus of Troyes and Saint Germanus of Auxerre, sent from the cootineut to maintain, beyond the Straits, the cause of grace, ascribed to our British martyr the whole honour of their victory, whereby peace was given to the Western Church. To show that this second defeat of hell's power was indeed the completion of that which a century previously had ended the era of blood, these two holy bishops respectfully opened the glorious tomb, and united to the remains of our noble Alban some relics of the apostles and martyrs, the fruit of whose triumph had just been definitively sealed.

For a thousand years were the depths of the abyss closed :l years of power, years of honour for Alban, venerated alike by each race that succeeded one the other, on this our British shore. The Anglo-Saxons outstripped the Britons, in the magnificence of the structure they raised on the site of the church formerly built over the Martyr's tomb, in the first era of his victory ; the Danes even considered his holy body to be their noblest conquest; and under the Normans, the abbey founded by Offa of Mercia, beheld popes and kings concert together, in raising its prerogatives and glory to the highest pitch. No monastic church, on this side of the channel, could compare with St. Alban's, in its privileges; and just as Alban is counted England's first martyr, so was the abbot of his monastery held first in dignity among all abbots of this realm.

For a thousand years, Alban too reigned with Christ. At last came the epoch, when the depths of

1 Apoc. xx. 3. * Malth. Paris, edit. 1684, p. 1020.

8 Ex regest. Honor. Ill, Privileg. de omnibus libertat. S. Albani. 4 Apoc. xx. 4. the abyss were to be let loose for a little time, and Satan, unchained, would once again seduce nations. Vanquished formerly by the Saints, power was now given him to make war with them, and to overcome them in his turn. The disciple is not above his Master: like his Lord, Alban too was rejected by his own. Hated without causey he beheld the illustrious Monastery destroyed, that bad been Albion's pride, in the palmy days of her history; and scarce was even the venerable church itself saved, wherein God's athlete had so long reposed, shedding benefits around, far and near. But after all, what could he do now, in a profaned sanctuary, in which strange rites had banished those of our forefathers, and condemned the faith for which martyrs had bled and died ? So Alban was ignominiousiy expelled, and his ashes scattered to the winds.

The Eulogy (unfortunately very meagre), dedicated by England, still faithful to her Proto-Martyr, sums up in the following lines the combat of this hero of the Lord :

When the mandates of the Emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, were raging against the Christians, Alban, as yet a pagan, received into his house a certain priest fleeing from persecution. Now, when he beheld how this priest persevered day and night in constant watching and prayer, he was suddenly touched by divine grace, so that he was fain to imitate the example of his faith and piety; and being instruct-

1 Apoc. xiii. 7.

Albanus, cum imperatorum Diocletiani et Maximiani man data adversus Ghristianos saevirent, paganus adhuc clericum quemdam persecutores fugientem hospitio recepit. Quern dum orationibus continuis ac vigiliis die noctuque studere conspiceret, subito divina gratia respectus, exemplum tidei ac pietatis ejus coepit aemulari, ac salutaribus ejusdem exhortationibus paula-

2 St. John, xv. 18,25.' tim edoctus, relictis idololatriae tenebris Christianus integro ex corde factus est.

Cum autem hunc clericum persecutors quaere rent, et ad tuguriura Albani pervenissent, hie se pro hospite et raagistro sub ipsius habitu, id est caracalla, iudutus railitibus exhibuit; a quibus loris revinctus ad judicem ductus est. Qui cum illudi se cerneret, caedi sanctum Dei confessorem a tortoribus praecepit, ac demum cum tormentis ilium superari, vel a cultu Christianas religionis revocari non posse perciperet, capite eum plecti jussit.

Cum igitur ad verticem vicini montis Albanus pervenisset, earn if ex, qui ilium percussurus erat, divino admonitus instinctu, projecto ense, pedibus eancti advolvitur, desiderans ut cum martyre, vel pro martyre, ipse potius moreretur. Decollatus autem Albanus ibidem, accepit coronam vitas quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se. Decollatus est et miles ille, qui Dei confessorem ferire recusavit : de quo nimirum constat, quod etsi fonte baptismatis non est ablutus, sui tamen est sanguinis lavacro mundatus, ac regni ccelestis dignus

PENTECOST. ed by degrees, through his salutary exhortations, forsaking the darkness of idolatry, he was with his whole heart, made a Christian.

The persecutors being in search for this cleric, came to Alban'shouse; whereupon, disguised in the cleric's apparel, namely, in the caracalla, he

Presented himself to the soliers in place of his master and guest ; by them, he was bound with thongs, and led off to the judge. This latter, finding himself thus deceived, ordered that the holy Confessor of God should be beaten by the executioners ; and, perceiving at last that he could neither overcome him by torments, nor win him over from the worship of the Christian religion, he commanded his head to be struck off.

Alban, having reached the brow of the neighbouring hill, the executioner, who was to dispatch him, admonished by a divineinspiration,castingaway his sword, threw himself at the Saint's feet, desiring to die, either with the Martyr, or instead of him . Alban being at once beheaded, received the crown of life, which Qod hath promised to them that love him. The soldier, who had refused to strike him, was likewise beheaded: concerning whom, it is quite certain, that albeit he was not washed in the baptismal font, still was he made clean, in the laver of his own blood, and so made worthy of entering into the kingdom of Heaven. Alban suffered at Verulam, on the tenth of the Kalends of July. f actus ingressu. Passus est autem Albanus juxta Verolamium die decimo Kalendarum Juliarum.

I was a stranger,and you took me in, will our Lord say to his elect, on the great Judgment Day j and to the inquiries of the elect as to the meaning of this word of his, Our Lord will explain that whatsoever they did to the least of their brethren, they did it unto Him. But thou, 0 Alban, knowest all this beforehand ; that last hour, in which both the good and the wicked will hearken to their eternal doom, will reveal to the world, on this point, only what thou didst experience in thy very first steps along the path of salvation. By harbouring within thy yet pagan house, this unknown fugitive, thou deemedst that thou wast but yielding to the instincts of a heart naturally generous and faithful to the laws of hospitality ! But, far other than thou wistedst was this unknown stranger that came knocking at thy door; for ere he left thee, it was manifest that Christ himself had become thy guest. Full soon did he invite thee, in return, to come and dwell in his own home, and the triumphal gate of martyrdom presently opened unto thee his heavenly palace.

The way to God traced in thy blood, lies opened wide, in this great island of ours. Long did the foe seem unable to cast his snares here : and thy fellowcitizens of earth were to be seen flocking in crowds along this blessed pathway. Yea, nations thou didst never know, came in their turn also, esteeming it an honour to forget, as it were, diversity of origin and rights of conquest, when uniting in thy name, O Alban, to do homage to thee, glorious Proto-Martyr

1 St. Matth. xxv, 35.

1 S68 of this land. Thus wast thou both the stem of this supernatural efflorescence which made ours to be the "Island of Saints/' and the link of national unity in the diverse phases of our history. Thou didst gather together the sons of Saint Benedict around the couch whereon thou wast reposing whilst awaiting the day of Resurrection; thou didst assemble them in that splendid temple dedicated to thee by a grateful people ; thou didst invite them to the ministry of divine praise, whereby celebrating past benefits and daily blessings, they might also merit for thy fatherland a continuation of Heaven's favours. Grand indeed were those ages, wherein God by his Saints thus ruled the world; and sadly misguided are those that think to serve the cause of the Lord and of nations, by suppressing the homage of foregoing generations to these their illustrious protectors.

Since thou wast treated, 0 Alban, like to thy divine Master, the King of saints, like him also remember not the injuries we have inflicted on thee. Rather, 0 thou our Proto-Martyr, exult in the triumph of all the other warriors who swell the ranks of the sacred phalanx, placed under thy command in our eternal home. If for a while the era of martyrs seems once again to be closed, consider those of thy children whose constancy has survived so many rough assaults; bless those families in which has ever been kept alive the faith of the olden times; a noble-hearted race are they, whose forefathers exposed themselves like thee, even unto death, in the "harbouring of Priests." Uphold the new sons of the cloister in maintaining at a high standard those monastic traditions handed to them even in the very midst of the tempest; multiply, everywhere, labourers called in to repair our ruins.

The voice of the Lord is heard once more in Albion.

The holy virtue of hospitality which was, in thy case, the beginning of salvation, has proved to her also in these our own days, an occasion for her return to the ancestral faith, just as though God willed that in this instance likewise, her history should be linked with thine. Like thee, she hath received priests from beyond the seas, driven to her coasts by the storm of persecution ; like thee, hath she not even already heard that word of divine approval : I was a stranger, and yov, took me in ? May she then go the whole length in her imitation of thee, her protector and father, by following the heavenly invitation to the last, so as to conclude with the ancient writer of the acts of thy martyrdom : "The known truth shall " be our Island's joy ; great shall be our gladness " when the fetters of falsehood are broken. For my " part, without further delay, I will go to Rome, I will " there cast of! mine error, there merit reconciliation " and pardon of my faults ; yea, this very book I hold " in my hands, I will present to the revision of them " that dwell in that city, so that should aught un- " seemly be written therein, the Lord Jesus Christ "may vouchsafe to correct it by their means, he who "reigneth God for ever and ever. Amen."1

1 Acta SS. Albani, Amphibali et Sociorum, anno DXC Anglic* scripta, v. 46, Holland, Junii iv, p. 159.