July 4 — Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bishops and Confessors, Apostles of the Sclaves

It seems fitting that the Octave of the Princes of the Apostles should not end without the appearance on the sacred cycle of some, at least, of those brilliant satellites that borrow light from them, and continue their work throughout the course of ages. Twin stars this day arise on the heavens of holy Church, illumining by the radiant beams of their apostolate immense tracts of country. Seeing that they start from Byzantium ; one is at first led to suppose that their evolution is going to be performed independently of the laws which Rome has the right to dictate for the movements of the heavens, whereof it is said, that they shall declare the glory of God and the works of his hand. But the auspicious influence of Saint Clement I, through his sacred relics, diverts their course, as we shall see, towards the Mistress of the world; and presently they can be descried gravitating with matchless splendour in Peter's orbit, manifesting once more to the whole earth, that all true light, in the order of salvation, radiates solely from the Vicar of the Man-God. Then once again is realised that word of the Psalmist, that there are no speeches nor

1 Ps. xviii. 2. languages where the voices of the messengers of light are not heard}

To the sudden and splendid outburst of the good tidings that marked the first centuries of our era, had succeeded the labours of the second apostolate to which the Holy Ghost entrusted the gathering in of those new nations called by Divine Wisdom to replace the ancient world. Already, under that mysterious influence of the Eternal City, whereby she assimilated to herself even her very conquerors, another Latin race had been formed out of those barbarians whose invasion seemed, like a deluge, to have submerged the whole empire. Scarce was this marvellous transformation effected by the baptism of the Franks, the conversion from Arianism of the GotJhs and of their variously named brethren in arms, than the Anglo-Saxons, the Germans, and lastly the Scandinavians, conducted respectively by an Augustine, a Boniface, or an Anscharius, all three monks, came in turn to knock for admission at the gates of Holy Church. At the creative voice of these new apostles, Europe appeared, issuing from the waters of the sacred font

Meanwhile, the constant movement of the great migration of nations had, by degrees, brought as far as the banks of the Danube a people whose name began, in the ninth century, to attract universal attention. Betwixt East and West, the Sclaves, profiting on the one side of the weakness of Charlemagne's descendants, and of the revolutions of the Byzantine court on the other, were aiming at erecting their various tribes into principalities, independent alike of both empires. This was now the hour chosen by Providence to win over to Christianity and to civilisation a race hitherto without a history. The Spirit

1 Ps. xviii. 4.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST. of Pentecost rested on the head of the two holy Brethren whom we are to-day celebrating. Prepared by the Monastic life for every devotedness and every suffering, they brought to this people struggling to issue from the shades of ignorance the first elements of letters, and tidings of the noble destiny to which God, our Saviour, invites men and nations. Thus was the Sclavonic race fitted to complete the great European family, and God ceded thereto a larger territory than he had bestowed upon any other in this Europe of ours, so evidently the object of eternal predilection.

Happy this nation had she but continued ever attached to Rome, that had lent her such valuable assistance in the midst of the early struggles disputing her existence ! Nothing, indeed, so strongly seconded her aspirations for independence as the favour of having a peculiar language in the sacred rites, a favour obtained from her, from the See of Peter, by her two Apostles. The outcries uttered, at that very time, by those who would fain hold her fast bound under their own laws, showed clearly enough, even then, the political bearing of a concession as unparalleled as it was decisive, in sealing the existence, in those regions, of a new people distinct at once both from Germans and Greeks. The future was to prove this, better still. If, now-a-days, from the Balkan to the Ural mountains, from the Greek coasts to the frozen shores of the Northern Ocean, the Sclavonic race spreads itself out, ever strong, ever indomitable to the influence of invasion, maintaining in the midst of the empires that by force of arms have at last prevailed over it, a dualism which the conquering nation must be resigned to endure, through the course of centuries, as a living menace within her, a very thorn in her side, such a phenomenon, unparalleled, to a like degree elsewhere, is but the product of the powerful demarcation effected a thousand years ago, betwixt this race and the rest of the world, by the introduction of its national language into the Liturgy. Having, by this use, become sacred the primitive Sclavonic tongue has undergone none of those variations incident to the idiom of every other nation ; whikt, at the same time, giving birth indeed to the various dialects of the different peoples issuing from the common stock, it has itself remained the same, following the most insignificant of Solavonio tribes through every phase of their history, and continuing, in the case of the greater number of them, to group them, (apart from all other nationalities) at the foot of their own altars. Beautiful indeed such unity as this, a very glory for holy Church, had but the desire, the hope of the two Saints who based it on the immutable rook, been able to keep it ever fixed thereon ! But wof ul and terrible would such an arm become in the service of tyranny, if ever Satan should make it fall by schism, into the hands of one of hell's acoursed agents !

But such considerations as these are leading us too far. It is time for us to turn to the ample narrative of the two illustrious Brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, given us by the Church, for thiB day.

Cyril and Methodius were own brothers, born of the same noble parents in Thessalonica, and when old enough were sent to Constantinople that they might, in the great capital of the East, learn the principles of literature and the arts. Both of them made great progress in a short time ; but specially Cyril who attained such a reputation for learning, that as a

Cyrillu et Methodius fratres germani, Tessalonic» amplissimo loco nati, Constantinopolim mature ooncesserunt, ut in ipsa urbe (Mentis principe humanitatis artes addiscerent. Uterque plurimum brevi prof ecerunt ; sed maxime Cyrillus, qui tantam scientiarum laudem adeptus est, ut singularis honoris causa.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST. philosophus appellaretur. token of distinction, lie was Deinde monachum agere called the Philosopher. Me- autem d'gnus est habitus, cui auctore Ignatio Patriarcha, Ignegotium daret erudiendi ad natius fidem christianam Chazaros trans Chersonesum incolen- structing in tes ; quos prseceptis suis theKhazares, a edoctos et Dei nnmine instinctos, multiplici superstitionedeleta,ad Jesum adjunxit. Eecenti Christianorum couiraunitate optime constituta, Oonstan Jetinopolim rediit alacer, atqne sus innionasteriuml)lychronis, quo se jam perat, Cyrillus ipse secessit. Interim cum res traus sonesum prospere gestas ad Ratislaum Moravise principem fama detulisset, is de aliquot operariis evangelicis Constantinopoli arcessendis tio egit. Igitur Cyrillus et ed illi expeditioni destinati, et in Moraviam celebri laetitia excepti, animos christianis institutionibus tanta vi tamque operosa indiuntur, ut non longo intervallo ea gens nomen Jesu Christo libentissime dederit. Ad earn rem non parumscientia valuit dictionis Slavo- fuse, nicse, quam Cyrillus ante pie, perceperat, multumque potueruntsacrseutri usque Testamenti litterse, quas proprio populi sermone reddiderat : nam Cyrillus et Me- monk; whilst Cyril was judged Theodora imperatrix, worthy by the Empress Theodora, at the suggestion of the Patriarch, to be entrusted with the labour of inthe faith of Christ people dwelling beyond the Chersonesus; which people, being taught by his Chris- precepts and incited by the turn grace of God, abob'shing their numerous suporstitions, ho added unto the kingdom of Christ. Having excellently organised the new Christian Methodius rece- community, he returned, filled with joy, to Constantinople, Cher- and betook himself to the same Monastery of Polychrone, wherein Methodius had already retired. In the meanwhile, the fame of the success gained in the country beyond cumimperatoreMichaeleter- the Chersonesus having reachthe ears of Eatislas, Prince Methodius of Moravia, he was earnest with the Emperor Michael the Third, in negotiating the grant of some evangelical labourers, Cyril and Methodius being dustria excolendos aggre- therefore designated unto this expedition, were received with great joy in Moravia; and with so much energy, care, and ability did they strive to ininto the minds of the peothe Christian doctrine, that it was not long ere this nation most cordially subscribed its name to Jesus Christ. This success was in no small measure due to the knowledge of the

Methodius coepit; Cyrillus

SB. CYFIL AND METHODIUS.

Sclavonic tongue which Cyril had previously acquired; and of very great avail likewise, was the translation which he made of both Testaments of the Holy Scriptures, into the language proper to this people : indeed Cyril and Methodius were the first to find alphabetical letters whereby this language of the Sclaves is signified and expressed, and on this account, they are not undeservedly held as the originators of this same language.

When favourable rumour brought as far as Rome, the glorious fame of these achievements, the Pope, Saint Nicholas I, ordered these two illustrious Brethren to repair to Borne. They set out on their journey to Rome, bearing with them the relics of Saint Clement I, which Cyril had discovered in the Chersonesus, At which news, Adrian II who had succeeded on the death of Nicholas, went forth with a great concourse of the clergy and people, to meet them, m token of veneration. Then Cyril and Methodius related to the Sovereign Pontiff, in the presence of his clergy, the details regarding their Apostolic ministry in which they had been holily and laboriously engaged ; but as they were accused by the envious on the score of having presumed to use the Sclavonic tongue in the performance of the sacred rites, — such weighty and clear reasons did they allege for so do- thodius principes inveniendi fuerunt ipsas litteras, quibus est sermo ipsorum Slavorum signatus et expressus, eaque de causa ejusdem sermonis auctores non immerito habentur.

Cum rerum gestarum gloriam secundus rumor Stoinam nuntiasset, sanctus Nicolaus Primus Pontifex Maximus fratres optimos Romam contendere jussit. Illi Romanum iter ingressi, reliquias sancti Clementis Primi Pontificis Maximi, quas Cyrillus Chersonse repererat, secum advehunt. Quo nuntio Adrianus Secundus, qui Nicolao demortuo fuerat suffectus, clero populoque comitante, obviam eis magna cum honoris significatione progreditur. Deinde Cyrillus et Methodius de munere apostolico in quo essent sancte laborioseque versati, ad Pontificem Maximum, assidente clero, referunt; cum autem eo nomine ab invidis accusarentur, quod sermonem Slavonicum in perfunctione munerum sacrorum usurpavissent, causam dixere rationibus tarn certis tamque illustribus, ut Pontile* et

TIME AFTER PBOTlfc'OST. elerus et laudarint homines et probarint. Turn ambo jurati so in fide beati Petri et Pontificum Romanorum permansuros, episcopi ab Adriano consecrati sunt. Sed erat provisum divinitus, ut Cyrillu vitae cursum Born se conderet, virtute magis quam setate maturus. Itaque defuncti corpus elatum funere publico, in ipso sepulchro quod sibi Adrianu exstruxerat compositum fuit ; turn ad sancti Clementis deductum, et hujus prope cineres conditum. Cumque veheretur per Urbem inter festos psalmorum cantus, non tarn funeris quam triumphi pompa, visus est populus Romanus libamenta honorum ccelestium viro sanctissimo detulisse. Methodius vero in Moraviam regressus, ibique factus forma gregis ex animo, rei catholicae inservire majore in dies studio institit. Quin etiam Pannonios, Bulgaros, Dalmatas in fide christiani nominis confirmavit ; in Carinthiis autem ad unius veri Dei cultum traducendis plurimum elaboravit.

Apud Joannem Octavum, qui Adriano successerat, iterum de suspecta fide violatoque more majorum accusatus, ac Romam venire irig, thafjthe Pope and Ms clergy, both praised and approved these holy men. Then both of them having sworn that they would persevere in the faith of Blessed Peter and of the Roman Pontiffs, they were consecrated Bishops by Adrian, fiut it was the divine decree that Cyril, ripened rather in virtue than in age, should end his mortal course at Rome. He, therefore, being dead, his corpse was borne in a public funeral, to the very grave that Adrian had prepared for himself ; later on, the holy body was taken to St. Clement's that it might lie near the ashes of that Saint. And as he was thus borne through the City amidst the festive chanting of psalms, with pomps rather triumphal than funeral, the Roman people seemed to be paying to the holy man, the first fruits of heavenly honours. Methodius, on his part, being returned into Moravia, there applied himself with his whole soul to be an example in his works, to his flock ; and day by day to strive more and more to further Catholic interests. He likewise confirmed in the faith of the Christian name the Pannonians, Bulgarians and Dalmatians; moreover he laboured much among the Carinthians to bring them over to the worship of the one true God.

Being once more accused unto John VHE, (who had succeeded Pope Adrian,) of suspected faith and of the violation of the custom of t^e an-