June 25 — Saint William, Abbot. ♦

Martyrs are numerous on the cycle during the Octave of St. John. But not alone in martyrdom's peerless glory does our Emmanuel reveal the potency of his grace, or the victorious force of example left to the world by his Precursor. At the very outset, we have here presented to our homage one of those countless athletes of penance, who succeeded John in the desert ; one of those who fleeing, like him, in early youth, a society wherein their soul's foreboding told only of peril and annoy, consecrated a life-time to Christ's complete triumph within them over the triple concupiscence, thus bearing witness to the Lord, by deeds which the world ignores, but which make angels to rejoice and hell to tremble. William was one of the chiefs of this holy militia. The Order of Monte-Vergine, that owes its origin to him, has deserved well of the Monastic institute and of the whole Church in those southern parts of Italy, wherein God has been pleased, at different times, to raise up a dyke, as it were, against the encroaching waves of sensual pleasures, by the stern spectacle of austerest virtue.

Both personally and by his disciples, William's mission was to infuse into the kingdom of Sicily, then in process of formation, that element of sanctity upon which every Christian nation must necessarily be based. In southern, just as in northern Europe, the Norman race had been providentially called in to promote the reign of Jesus Christ. Just at this moment, Byzantium, powerless to protect against Saracen invasion the last vestiges of her possessions in the West, was anxious nevertheless to hold the Churches of these lands fast bound in that schism into which she had recently been drawn by the intriguing ambition of Michael Cerularius. The Crescent had been forced to recoil before the sons of a Tancred and a Hauteville ; and now, in its turn, Greek perfidy had just been outwitted and unmasked by the rude simplicity of these men, who learnt fast enough how to oppose no argument to Byzantine knavery save the sword. The Papacy, though for a moment doubtful, soon came to understand of what great avail these new-comers would be in feudal quarrels, the jar and turmoil whereof were to extend far and wide for yet two centuries more, leading at last to the long struggle betwixt Sacerdotalism and Csesarism.

All through this period, as has ever been the case since the day of rentecost, the Holy Ghost was directing every event for the ultimate good of the Church. He it was that inspired the Normans to give solidity to their conquests by declaring themselves vassals of the Holy See, and thus fixing themselves on the Apostolic rock. But at the same time, both to recompense their fidelity at the very opening of their career, and to render them more worthy of the mission which would have ever been their honour and

ST. WILLIAM. their strength, had they but continued so to understand it, this same Holy Spirit gave them Saints. Roger I. beheld St Bruno interceding for his people in the solitudes of Calabria, and there also that blessed man miraculously saved the duke from an ambush laid by treason. Roger II. was now given another such heavenly aid to bring him back again into the paths of righteousness from which he had too often strayed, the example and exhortations of the founder of Monte- Vergine.

The Life of our Saint is 1 of Holy Church :

William was born of noble parents, at Vercelli in Piedmont. Scarce had he attained his fourteenth year, when already inflamed with wondrous ardour for piety, he performed the pilgrimage to the far-famed Sanctuary of Saint James at Compostella. The which journey he made, clad in one single tunic, with a double chain of iron about his loins, and with bare feet, a prey to extreme cold and heat, to hunger and thirst, and even with danger of life. Being returned into Italy, he was moved to perform a fresh pilgrimage to the holy Sepulchre of our Lord ; but each time he was on the point of carrying out his purpose, various and most

Save impediments intervened, ivine Providence thus drawing the holy inclinations of the youth to yet higher and holier on the pages

Gulielmus nobilibus parentibus Vercellis in Insubria natus,vix quartumdecimum setatis annum expleverat, cum miro quodam pietatis ardore flagrans, Compostellanam peregrinationem ad celeberrunum sancti Jacobi templum aggressus est. Quod iter una amictus tunica, ac duplici ferreo circulo prsecinctus, nudisque pedibus prosecutus, asperrima f rigoris et sestus, famis et sitis, summo cum vitas discrimine perpessus est incommoda. Keversus in Italiani, novam ad sanctum Domini sepulchrum peregrinationem molitur ; sed quominus propositum exsequatur, varia atque gravissima mtercedunt impedimenta, divino numine ad altiora et sanctiora religiosam juvenis indolem retra- hente. Porro in Soliculo things. Then passing two monte biennium inter assi- years on Monte Solicolo in duas preces, vigilias, cha- assiduous prayer and in meunias, et jejuni a commo- watchings, in sleeping on the ratus, divina subnixus ope, bare ground, and in fastings cseco lumen restituit ; cujus wherein he was divinely as- miraculi fama percrebre- sisted ; he restored sight to a scente, jam Gulielmus la- blind man, the fame of which tere non poterat : quare ite- miracle becoming gradually rumHierosolymamadireco- divulged, at last William gitat, et alacris se itineri could no longer be hidden: committit. for which reason he thought once more of undertaking a journey to Jerusalem, and joyfully set out on his way.

Dei autem monitu, qui ei- But God appeared to him ad- dem apparuit, a proposito monishing him to desist from revocatur, utilior ac f ructu- his purpose, because he was to osior tam apud Italos, quam be more useful and profitable apud exteras nationes tutu- both in Italy and elsewhere, rus. Turn monasterium in Then ascending Mount Virgi-

Virgiliani montis cacumine, lian, since called Monte Vergi- quod deinde Virginis est ap- ne, he built a monastery on its pellatum, loco aspero et in- summit, on a rugged and inac- accesso, miranda exaedificat cessible spot, and that with celeritate. Socios deinde vi- marvellous rapidity. He there ros et religiosos adsciscit, associated to himself certain eosque ad vivendi normam religious men who wished to be

Evangelicis prseceptis et his companions, and taught consiliis ^summopere accom- them both by wordand example modatam, turn certis legi- a manner of life conformable to bus ex beati Benedicti insti- the Evangelical precepts and tutis magna ex parte de- counsels, as well as to certain sumptis, turn verbo et san- rules taken for the most part ctissimae vitse exemplis, in- from the institutions of Saint format. Benedict.

Aliis deinde monasteriis Other monasteries being af- erectis, clarior in dies Guli- terwards built, the sanctity of elmi facta sanctitas multos William became more and more ad eum undique viros per- known, and attracted to him ducit, sanctitatis odore, ac many other persons, who were miraculorum fama allectos. drawn by the sweet odour of his

Nam muti loquelam, surdi holiness and the fame of his auditum, aridi vigorem, va- miracles. For by his interces- rioque et immedicabili mor- sion , the dumb received speech ,

ST. WII the deaf hearing, the withered new strength, and those labouring under various incurable diseases were restored to health. He changed water into wine, and performed many other wondrous , deeds : amongst which the following must not be passed overin silence, to wit, that a courtesan having been sent to make an attempt upon his chastity, he rolled himself without hurt amidst burning coals spread upon the ground. Roger, king of Naples, being certified of this fact, was led to hold the man of God in highest veneration. After having predicted to the king and others the time of his death, resplendent in miracles and innumerable virtues, he slept in the Lord, in the year of salvation eleven hundred and forty-two.

LI AM. 345 bo laborantes, sanitatem ipsius inter cessione receperunt. Aquam in vinum convertit, aliaque complura mirabilia patravit: inter quae illud non silendum, quod muliercula ad ejus castitatem tentandam missa, in ardentibus prunis humi stratis illaesum se volutavit. De qua re certior factus Rogerius Neapolis rex, in summam viri Dei venerationem adducitur. Demum tempore sui obitus regi aliisque prsenuntiato, innumeris virtutibus et miraculis clams obdormivit in Domino, anno salutis millesimo centesimo quadragesimo secundo. following the footsteps of John, thou didst understand, 0 William, the charms of the wilderness ; and God was pleased to make known by thee how useful are such lives as thine, spent afar from the world and apparently wholly unconcerned with human affairs. Complete detachment of the senses disengages the soul, and makes her draw nigh to the Sovereign Good; solitude, by stifling earth's tumult, permits the voice of the Creator to be heard. Then man, enlightened by the very Author of the world concerning the great interests that are being at that very time put into play in this work of His, becomes in the Creator's hands an instrument at once powerful and docile for the carrying out of these very interests, in reality identical with those of the creature himself and of nations. Thus didst thou become, 0 illustrious Saint, the bulwark of a great people, who found in thy word the rule of right ; in thine example, the stimulus of loftiest virtue ; in thy superabundant penance, a compensation, in God's sight, for the excesses of its princes. The countess miracles which accompanied thine exhortations were not without a telling eloquence of their own, in the eyes of new nations among whom success of arms had created violence and had lashed up passion to fury : that wolf, for instance, which, after having devoured the ass of the monastery, was enforced by thee to take its victim's place in humble service ; or again, that hapless woman, who, beholding thee inaccessible to the scorching flames on that bed of burning coals, renounced her criminal life, and was led by thee into paths even of sanctity !

Many a revolution, upheaving the land wherein once thou didst pray and suffer, has but too well proved the instability of kingdoms and dynasties that seek not first, and before all things else, the Kingdom of Ood and His Justice. Despite the oblivion, alas too frequent, into which thy teaching and example have been thrown, protect the land wherein God granted thee graces so stupendous, that land which He vouchsafed to confide to thy powerful intercession. Faith still lives in its people; then keep it up, notwithstanding the efforts of the enemy in these sad days ; but make it also to produce fruits in virtue's field. Amidst many trials, thy monastic family has been able, up to this present age of persecution, to propagate itself and to serve the Church : obtain that it, together with all other Religious families, may show itself, unto the end, stronger than the tempest. Our Lady, whom thou didst serve right valiantly, is at hand to second thine efforts; from that sanctuary whose name has out-

ST. WILLIAM. lived the memory of the poet, who unconsciously sang her glories, may Mary ever smile upon the thronging crowds that year by year toil up the holy mount, hailing the triumph of her Virginity; may 'she accept at thy hands our hearts' homage and desire, although we cannot in very deed accomplish this sacred pilgrimage.

1 Virg. Egl. iv.

June 26. SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL,

MARTYRS.

Amidst the numerous sanctuaries which adorn the capital of the Christian universe, the church of Saints John and Paul has remained from the early date of its origin one of the chief centres of Roman piety. From the summit of the Ooelian Hill it towers over the Coliseum, the dependencies of which stretch subterraneously even as far as the cellarage of the house once inhabited by our Saints. They, the last of the Martyrs, completed the glorious crown offered to Christ by Rome, the chosen seat of his power. The conflict in which their blood was spilt consummated the triumph whose hour was sounded under Constantine, but which an offensive retaliation on the part of hell seemed about to compromise.

No attack could be conceived more odious for the Church than that devised by the apostate Caesar. Nero and Diocletian had violently and with hatred declared against the Incarnate God a war of sword and torture ; and without recrimination, Christians by thousands had died, knowing that the testimony thus demanded was merely the order of things, just as it had been in the case of their august Head before a Pontius Pilate, and upon the cross. But with the clever astuteness of a traitor, and the af-

1 1 Tim. vi. 13. fected disdain of a false philosopher, Julian purposed to stifle Christianity amidst the bulrushes of an oppression progressive to a nicety, and respectfully abhorrent of human blood. Merely to preclude Christians from public offices, and to prohibit them from holding chairs for the teaching of youth, that was all the apostate aimed at! However, the blood which he wanted to avoid shedding must flow, even though a hypocrite's hands be dyed therewith ; for, according to the divine plan, bloodshed alone can bring extreme situations to an issue, and never was Holy Church menaced with greater peril. They would now make a slave of her whom they had beheld still holding her royal liberty in face of executioners. They would now await the moment when, once enslaved, she would at last disappear of herself, in powerlessness and degradation. For this reason the bishops of that time found vent for their indignant soul in accents such as their predecessors had spared to princes whose brute violence was then inundating the empire with Christian blood. They now retorted upon the tyrant scorn for scorn; and the manifestations of contempt that consequently came showering in from every quarter upon the crowned fool, completely unmasked at last his feigned moderation. Julian was now shown up as nothing but a common persecutor of the usual kind ; blood flowed, the Church was rescued.

Thus is explained the gratitude wnich this noble Bride of the Son of God has never ceased to manifest to these glorious Martyrs we are celebrating today : for amidst the many generous Christians whose out-spoken indignation brought about the solution of this terrible crisis, none are more illustrious than they. Julian was most anxious to count them amongst his confidants : with this view, he made use of every entreaty, as we learn from the Breviary

Lessons ; nor does it appear that he even made the renouncing of Jesus Christ a condition. Well then, it may be retorted, why not yield to the Imperial whim ? Could they not do so without wounding their conscience? Surely too much stiffness would be rather calculated to ill-dispose the prince, perhaps even fatally. Whereas to listen to him would very likely have a soothing effect upon him ; nay, possibly even bring him round to relax somewhat of those administrative trammels unfortunately imposed upon the Church by his prejudiced government. Yea, for aught one knew, the possible conversion of his soul, the return of so many of the misled who had followed him in his fall, might be the result! Should not such things as these deserve some consideration? should they not impose, as a duty, some gentle handling ? Ah ! yes ; such reasoning as this would doubtless appear to some people as wise policy. Such pre-occupation for the apostate's salvation could easily have had nothing in it but what was inspired by zeal for the Church and for souls; and indeed the most exacting casuist could not find it a crime for John and Paul to dwell in a court where nothing was demanded of them contrary to the divine precepts. Nevertheless the two brothers resolved otherwise ; to the course of soothing and reserve-making, they preferred that of the frank expression of their sentiments, and this bold out-speaking of theirs put the tyrant in a fury and brought about their death. The Church has judged their case, and she has found them not in the wrong; hence, it is unlikely that the former path would have led them to a like degree of sanctity in God's sight.

The names of John and Paul inscribed on the sacred diptychs show well enough their credit in the eyes of the Divine Victim, who never offers Himself to the God Thrice- Holy without blending their memory with that of His own immolation. The enthusiasm excited by the noble attitude of these two valiant witnesses to the Lord, still re-echoes in the Antiphons and Besponsories proper to the Feast. It was formerly preceded by a Vigil and fast; together with the sanctuary which encloses their tomb, it may be said to date as far back as the very morrow of their martyrdom. Granted by a singular privilege a place in the Leonian Sacramentary ; whilst so many other martyrs slept their sleep of peace outside the walls of the Holy City, John and Paul reposed in Rome itself, the definitive conquest of which had been won for the God of armies by their gallant combat. That very same day of the year immediately succeeding their victorious death, Julian fell dead, uttering against heaven his cry of rage: " Galilean, thou hast conquered !"

From the Queen City of the universe their renown, passing beyond the mountains, shone forth almost as soon and with nearly equal splendour in the Gauls. Returned from the scene of his own struggle in the cause of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, Hilary of Poitiers at once propagated their cultua. This great Bishop was called to our Lord scarce five years after their martyrdom; but he had already found time to consecrate to their name the church in which his loving hands had laid his sweet daughter Abra and her mother, awaiting the hour when he too should be joined to them in the same spot, expecting the day of the Resurrection. It was from this very church of Saints John and Paul, called later on St, Hilary the Great's, that Clovis on the eve of the battle of Vouille* beheld streaming towards him that mysterious light, presage of the victory which would result in the expulsion of Arianism from the Gauls,

1 June 26, 363. and in the foundation of monarchical unity. These holy Martyrs continued, in after years, to show the interest they took in the advancement of the kingdom of God by the Franks. When the disastrous issue of the second Crusade was filling the soul of St. Bernard with bitterness (for he had preached it), they appeared to him, upraised his courage, and manifested by what secrets the King of Heaven had known how to draw His own glory out of events in which man saw only failure and disaster.

Let us now read the simple and touching Legend consecrated by the Church to the two Brethren.

Joannes et Paulus fratres Komani, cum facultatibus a Constantia Constantini filia, cui pie fideliterque servierant, sibi relictis, Christi pauperes alerent ; a Juliano apostata in numerum familiarium suorum invitati, libera negaverunt se apud eum esse velle, qui a Jesu Christo defecisset. Quibus ille ad deliberandum decern dies prsefinit, ut nisi ad earn diem ei adhaerere, et Jovi sacrificare constituerint, sibi moriendum esse certo sciant.

Illi intra id tempus reliqua sua bona distribuerunt pauperibus,quo expeditiores ad Dominum migrare possent, et plures juvarent, a quibus in aeterna tabernacula reciperentur. Die de-

John and Paul, Roman brethren, fed the poor of Christ out of the riches left to them by Constantia, Constantino's daughter, whom they had faithfully and piously served. Being invited into the number of his familiars by Julian the Apostate, they boldly refused, declaring that they had no wish to be in company of one who had forsaken Jesus Christ. Whereupon, he gave them ten days for deliberation, at the end of which term they must know for certain they were to die unless they would consent to attach themselves to him and to sacrifice to Jupiter.

They, meanwhile, employed the time in distributing the remainder of their goods to the poor, so that they might the quicker go to the Lord, and that there might be more persons helped by them, through

Bern. Ep. 386. al. 333. Joannis Casae-Marii ad Bern. whose means they might be received into the eternal tabernacles. On the tenth day, Terentianus, Prefect of the praetorian guard, was sent to them, bringing with him the statue of Jupiter, that they might worship it, and he expounded unto them the Emperor's mandate : to wit, that unless they would pay homage to Jupiter, they must forthwith die. They, still continuing their prayer, replied that they hesitated not to suffer death for the faith of Christ, whom they with both mind and mouth did adore as G6d.

Now Terentianus was afraid lest there should ensue a popular tumult were they executed in public, so there and then, on the sixth of the Kalends of July, and in their own house, their heads being struck off, they were secretly buried ; whilst the rumour was spread abroad that John and Paul had been sent into banishment. But their death was published by the unclean spirits that began to torment a number of persons whose bodies they possessed: amongst whom was the son of Terentianus, who being troubled by a devil, was led to the sepulchre of the martyrs and there freed. By the which miracle, both he and his father Terentianus believed in Christ ; Terentianus himself, as it is said, afterwards wrote the history of their blessed martyrdom, cima Terentianus praetoriae cohortis praefectus, ad eos missus, cum allata Jovis effigie, ut earn venerarentur, imperatoris man data in eis exponit: ut nisi Jovi cultum adhibeant, moriantur. Qui, ut erant orantes, responderunt, se pro Christi fide, quern Deum mente et ore venerabantur, non dubitanter mortem subituros.

At Terentianus, veritus ne, si publico interficerentur, populus commoveretur, domi ubi tunc erant, abscissis eorum capitibus sexto Kalendas Julii, secret o eos sepeliendos curavit : rumoremque sparsit Joannem et Paulum in exilium ejectos esse. Verum eorum mors a spiritibus immundis, qui multorum corpora vexabant, pervulgata est : in quibus Terentiani Alius et ipse oppressus a daemone, ad sepulchrum martyrum perductus, liberatus est. Quo miraculo et is in Christum credidit, et ejus pater Terentianus, a quo etiam horum beatorum martyrum vita scripta esse dicitur.

We give below, the proper Antiphons and Responsories, of which we spoke, and which are to be found just as we now use them, with but few variations, in the most ancient Responsorialia and Antir phonaria which have come down to us. The person mentioned in one of these Antiphons, by the name of Gallicanus, is a Consul who was drawn to the faith, and to a saintly life by the influence of the two Brothers ; he is even named in yesterday's Martyrology.

ANTIPHONS AND RESPONSORIES.

Paulus et Joannes dixerunt Juliano : Nos unum Deum colimus, qui fecit coelum et terram.

Paulas et Joannes dixeruntTerentiano: Si tuus dominus est Julianus, habeto pacem cum illo : nobis alius non est, nisi Dominus Jesus Christus.

Joannes et Paulus, agnoscentes tyrannidem Juliani, facultates suas pauperibus erogare cceperunt.

Sancti spiritus et animse i'ustorum, hymnum dicite )eo. Alleluia.

Joannes et Paulus dixerunt ad Gallicanum : Fac votum Deo coeli, et eris victor melius quam f uisti.

Paul and John said to Julian : We worship the one God who made heaven and earth.

Paul and John said to Terentianus : If thy Lord be Julian, keep thou at peace with him : ours is none other but the Lord Jesus Christ.

John and Paul perceiving the tyranny of J ulian began to distribute their riches among the poor.

Ye holy Spirits and souls of the just, sing ye a hymn to God. Alleluia.

John and Paul said to Gallicanus : Make thy vow unto the God of heaven, and thou shalt be victor greater than thou hast ever been.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT (1st Ve8pers).

Adstiterunt justi ante Dominum, et ab invicem non sunt separati : calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei appellati sunt.

The just stood before the Lord and were not separated from one another : they drank the chalice of the Lord, and they were called the friends of God.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT (2nd Vespers).

These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks giving light before the Lord : they have power to close heaven that the clouds rain not, and to open the gates thereof, for their tongues are made keys of heaven.

Iste sunt duae olivae, et duo candelabra lucentiaante Dominum : habent potestatem claudere coelum nubibus, et aperire portas ejus, quia linguae eorum claves coeli factae sunt.

AT THE BENEDICTUS.

These are the holy ones, who for Christ's love contemned the threats of men : in the kingdom of heaven the holy martyrs exult with the Angels : oh ! how precious is the death of the Saints who constantly stand before the Lord, and are never separated from one another !

1$. These are two men of mercy, who stand before the Lord, * the Sovereign of the whole earth. ft. These are two olive trees and two candlesticks giving light before the Lord, * the Sovereign of the whole earth.

1$. I saw men standing together clad in shining raiment ; and the Angel of the Lord spake unto me, saying: * These men are holy, for they are made the friends of God. ft. And I beheld a mighty Angel of God flying through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, and saying : * These men are holy, for they are made the friends of God.

Isti sunt sancti, qui pro Christi amore minas hominum contempserunt : sancti martyres in regno ccelorum exsultant cum angelis : o quam pretiosa est mors sanctorum, qui assidue assiatunt ante Dominum, et ab invicem non sunt separati !

1$. Isti sunt duo viri misericordiae, qui assistunt ante Dominum, * Dominatorem universae terrae. ft. Isti sunt duae olivae, et duo candelabra lucentia ante Dominum, * Dominatorem universae terrae.

Vidi conjunctos viros habentes splendidas vestes ; et Angel us Domini locutus est ad me, dicens : * l9ti sunt viri sancti, facti amici Dei. ft. Vidi Angel um Dei fortem, volantem per medium coelum, voce magna clamantem et dicentem : * Isti sunt viri sancti, facti amici Dei.

Twofold is the triumph that thrills through heaven and twofold the gladness re-echoed on earth, this day, whilst your outpoured blood proclaims the victory of the Son of God ! Verily, by the martyrdom of the Faithful doth Christ triumph. The effusion of his Blood marked the defeat of the prince of this world ; the Blood of his mystical members possesses, alone and always, the power of establishing his reign. Contest has never been an evil for the Church militant the noble Bride of the God of armies delights in combat; for she knows right well her Spouse came upon earth to briDg not peace, but the sword. Therefore, unto the end of time will she hold up as an example to her sons your chivalrous courage and your bold frankness, which scorned to dissimulate your utter contempt for an apostate tyrant, or to suffer you to dwell for a moment on such considerations as might perhaps, had you listened to him at the first, have just saved your conscience, together with life. Wo to the day wherein the deceptive mirage of guileful peace misleads minds; wherein, merely because sin, properly so called, does not stare them in the face, Christian souls stoop from the lofty stand-point of their baptism, to compromises which even a pagan world would gcout. Glorious Brethren! make the children of holy Church to turn aside from that fatal error which would lead them to misconceptions of sacred traditions received by them in heritage. Maintain the " sons of God" at the full height of those noble sentiments demanded by their heavenly origin, by the throne that awaits them, by the divine Blood they daily drink of; far from them be all such base-born notions as would be calculated to excite against their heavenly Father the blasphemies of the " accursed city !" Now-a-days there has

1 St. Matth. x. 34. arisen a persecution not dissimilar to that in which you gained the crown; Julian's plan of action is once more in vogue ; if these mimics of the apostate equal him not in intelligence, they at least surpass him in hatred and hypocrisy. But God is not wanting to his Church now any more than he was then ; obtain for us the grace to do our part inv resistance, as was done by you, and the victory will be the same.

Your very names, O John and Paul, remind us of the Friend of the BridegroomwhoseOcta.veis speeding its course ; and of that Paul of the Cross who revived, in the last century, heroism of sanctity in your very house on Monte Coelio. Vouchsafe to unite your protection, powerful as indeed it is, to that which the Precursor exercises over the Mother and Mistress of all Churches, become by the very fact of her primacy the chief butt of the enemies' attack ; uphold the new militia raised by the necessity of the times, and which is entrusted with the guardianship both of your sacred remains and of those of its glorious Founder. Remembering the power which the Church specially attributes to you, namely, that of opening or shutting the flood-gates of heaven, be pleased to bless our harvest well nigh ripe for the sickle. Be propitious to our reapers and assuage their painful labour. Preserve from lightning man and his possessions, the home that shelters him, the beasts that serve him. Too often, alas, ungrateful and forgetful man would indeed deserve to incur your wrath ; but prove yourselves children of Him who maketh his sun to rise upon the wicked as well as upon the good, and giveth his rain to fall alike upon the just and upon sinners.

1 St. Matth. v. 46.

June 27. THE FOURTH DAY.

WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST.

The gladsome Octave of the Precursor has a still further increase of light in store for us. Let us imitate the Church, who once again concentrates her thoughts on the Friend of the Bridegroom; she knows well that hereby the Spouse himself will be the better understood. " For, according to the word of "the best authorised princes of Christian doctrine, "the bonds which link together Jesus Christ and " John the Baptist are so close, that the one cannot "be known without the other; and if life eternal " consists in knowing Jesus Christ, so also a part of "our salvation consists in knowing Saint John."1

The Precursor's mission surpassed alone, as we have seen, that of all other prophets and apostles. But personally, who and what was this herald whose dignity was shown to us, on his feast-day, by the sublimity of the message that he bore to the world ? Did his private qualities, his personal sanctity, correspond with the eminence of the part allotted to him ? That sovereign harmony which, inspires the eternal decrees and presides over their execution forbids us to doubt it. When the Most High resolved to unite

1 Bourdaloue, Sermon pour la fete de Saint Jean Baptiste. his Word to human nature, he pledged himself to clothe this created Nature with qualities all divine, which would thereby permit him to treat with this New Adam as equal with equal, and to call him his Son. When, to this his Well-Beloved Son whom he wished to be, at the same time, Son of Man, he determined to give a Mother, the gift of a purity every way worthy of her august title was, from that moment, assured to this future Mother of God. Predestined before all ages to the most eminent service of the Soq and the Mother, charged by the Eternal Father with the mission of first discovering the Word hidden within Our Lady's womb, of accrediting the Man-God, of betrothing him to the Bride; could it possibly be, that the holiness of John should, either in the designs of God or by his own fault, be less incomparably exalted than was his mission ? Eternal Wisdom can never thus belie Itself; and that unparalleled eulogium which Jesus made of his Precursor, just when the life of this latter was about to close, sufficiently shows that the graces held in reserve for this soul had there fructified in all plenitude.

Now, what must have been these graces which, at the very outset, show us John, three months previous to his birth, already established on summits of sanctity which the holiest persons scarce attain in a whole life-time! He soars far above the range of sense and reason, which in him have not yet been called into play. With that intellectual gaze which is unsurpassed, save by the face to face vision of the Elect, he perceives his God present before him in the flesh ; in an ecstasy of adoration and love, his first act emulates that of Seraphim. The being filled with the plenitude of the Holy Ghost became, from that

1 St. Matth. xi. moment, the portion of this child of Zachary and Elizabeth : a plenitude so overflowing, that at once the mother, aud soon afterwards the father likewise, were themselves filled with the exuberance that brimmed over from their son.

First then was he, after Our Lady, to recognise the Lamb of God, to give his love to the Bridegroom just come down from the eternal hills. First was he, likewise, to penetrate the mystery of the divine and virginal maternity. Without separating the Son from the Mother, he had, at one and the same time, both adored Jesus and honoured Mary above all creatures. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb! Unanimous tradition tells us, that when pronouncing these words, Elizabeth was but the orgao and interpreter of her son. As witness of the Light, John begins with Mary, the first recipient of his testimony; unto her is addressed, in praise and admiration, the first expression of the sentiments which animate him. Himself the Angel, as the Prophets style him, he takes up and completes Gabriel's salutation to earth and heaven's sweetest Lady. It was the enthusiastic shout of his gratitude, fully illumined as to Mary's part in the sanctification of the Elect ; the cry of his soul, on awaking to sanctity, at the first sound of the Virgin Mother's voice. In fact, for his sake it was, that after the Angel's visit, she had crossed the mountains in great haste ; but other favours yet has Our Lady for her John. Heretofore silent, before that Seraph by whom she was sure to be understood, Mary now intones her divine Canticle, whereby to God is given glory, and to John the comprehension of the ineffable mystery in all fulness. Just as she had sanctified her Eton's

1 St. Luke, i. 16, 41, 67. 2 Ibid. 42. » Ibid. 28.

Precursor, so would the Mother of God, in a similar manner, next form and instruct him. The Magnificat is the first lesson taught to Elizabeth's son : incomparable lesson of divine praise ; a lesson which gives John the understanding of the whole Scriptures, the knowledge of the divine plan throughout ages. For the space of three months this marvellous education is continued in the angelic secrecy of still more hidden communications.

Oh! yes, indeed; "well may we say, in our turn, and with more reason than did the Jews: What an one, think ye, shall this child be? The dispensatrix of heavenly treasures kept in reserve for John the first effusion of those floods of grace of which she had become the divine reservoir. The river which maketh glad the City of God shall no more stay its course, carrying to every soul, until the end of time, its countless streamlets ; but its first impetuous outburst, in all the might of its buoyant gush, bore down at once upon John; the fulness of its yet undivided flood rolled its vast waters to and fro over this one soul, as though they existed for no other. Who may measure these torrents ? Who may tell their effect ? Holy Church attempts not to describe it ; but lost in admiration at the sight of the mysterious growth of John beneath the astonished gaze of angels, losing sight of the feebleness of that infant body in face of the maturity of the soul which dwells within it, she exclaims on the glorious Birthday of the Precursor : Great is the man whom Elizabeth had brought forth! Elisabeth Zacharice magnum virum genuit, Johannem Baptistam prcecwrsorem Domini.

That we may put these our thoughts into liturgical form, let us sing this sequence, the text of which

1 St. Luke, i. 66. 2 Ps. xlv. » Ant. in Laud, et 2 Vesp. is borrowed from the ancient Missal of Lyons of 1530. The filial homage paid by the Lyonese to Saint John the Baptist is well known. Their primatial Church has the holy Precursor for its Patron. In the year 1886 we beheld crowds as immense as in former times flocking to the famous jubilee granted by the Holy See to this "Rome of the Gauls," for those years wherein the feast of Corpus Christi coincides with the titular solemnity of the 24th of June.

Elisabeth Zacharise Magnum virum in hac die Gloriosa genuit.

Qui

SEQUENCE.

Elizabeth of Zachary, on this glorious day, hath given birth to a great man. virtutum vas sincerum,

Inter natos mulierum Principatum tenuit

Nondum natus sensit regem

Nasciturum supra legem, Sine viri semine.

Deum sensit in hac luce, Tanquam nucleum in nuce, Conditum in Virgine.

Quam beatus puer natus, Salvatoris angelus, Incarnati nobis dati

Verbi vox et bajulus !

Non prsecedit f ructus florem,

Sed flos fructum juxta morem,

Agri pleni dans odorem Mentibus fidelium.

Who, a perfect vessel of virtues, holds the first place amongst all that are born of women.

Nor yet is he brought forth, when he perceives already the King who is about to be born, in a manner surpassing nature's law, without man's intercourse.

He perceives God here below, like the almond in the nut, hid within the Virgin.

Oh ! how blessed is this new-born child, the Angel of the Kedeemer, the Voice and Bearer of th e Word made Flesh, that is given to us.

The Fruit doth not precede the flower, but, according to custom, the flower the fruit, yielding the odour of a fertile field to the minds of the Faithful.

FOURTH DAY WIT]

He prepares and shows the way, wherein his foot will not stumble, who by faith embraceth the true Son of God.

Subjected to an austere rule of life, he abhors not wild honey with locusts for his food.

Clad in camel's hair, how poor is he in the desert, yet how goodly did he appear :

Lo ! the words of the Evangelist: "This one," saith he, "was not the Light, but he " was to give testimony of the " Light, unto thee, O Christ."

He was not the Light, but the Lamp, showing the road towards heaven's heights, unto those to whom eternal peace promises its joys.

Let us all contemplate him whom the crowd hoped to be the Christ, struck at the wonders they saw in him.

He, on the contrary, raised not his head, but deemed himself unworthy to loosen the latchets of the Lord's shoes.

From this time forth, by gift divine, Heaven suffereth violence ; and to violence together with fruits of penance, it is granted ; yet not by right, but gratis.

Him whom the other pro-

Viam parat et ostendit, Ubi pedem non offendit Qui per fidem comprehendit Yerum Dei Filium.

Lege vitse sub angusta, Mel sylvestre cum locusta Cibum non abhorruit.

Camelorum tectus pilis, In deserto quam exilis, Quam bonus apparuit :

Verba sunt evangelistae : Lux non erat, inquit, iste, Sed ut daret tibi, Christe, Lucis testimonia.

Lux non erat, sed lucerna Monstrans iter ad superna Quibus sua pax seterna Pollicetur gaudia.

Contemplemur omnes istum

Quern sperabat turba Christum,

Stupens ad prodigia.

Qui cervicem non erexit, Nec se dignuni intellexit Domini corrigia.

A suo tempore, Divino munere, Ccelum vim patitur ; Et violentiae Cum pcenitentiae Fructu conceditur, Gratis non merito.

Quern vates caeteri

Sub lege veteri Canunt in tenebris, In came Dominum, Figuris terminum, Propheta Celebris Ostendit digito.

O quam sanctum, quam praeclarum, Qui viventium aquarum Fontem Christum baptiza- vit,

Et lavantem cuncta lavit In Jordanis flumine.

Ab offensis lava, Christe, Praecureoris et Baptistae Natalitia colentes : Et exaudi nos gementes In hac solitudine.

Post arentem et australem,

Terram animse dotalem Petimus irriguam.

Ut manipulos portantes, Veniamus exsultantes Ad pacem perpetuam. Amen. phets, under the Old Law, in darkness sing, that same Lord in the flesh (figures being now at an end), this renowned Pro-

Ehet points out with his very nger.

Ohi how holy, how luminous is he who baptized Christ, the Fount of living waters ; and who laved in Jordan's flood Him who cleanseth all.

O Christ, cleanse from their offer) ces those who celebrate the Birthday of the Precursor and Baptist : Hearken also to us sighing in this solitude*

After this dry and parched place, we ask, as our soul's dower, a well watered land.

So that bearing our sheaves, we may come exultingly unto perpetual peace.

Amen.

1 This seems to be an allusion to Axa's petition addressed to her father, Caleb, at her husband's suggestion. See Judges, i. 15. [Note of Translator.]