August 2 — Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Yesterday we admired, in Peter and the Machabees, the substructure of the palace built by Wisdom in time to endure for eternity. To-day, in conformity with the divine ways of that Wisdom, who in her playing reaches from end to end, we are suffered to contemplate the progress of the glorious building, to behold the summit of the work, the last row of stones actually laid. Now, summit and foundation, the work is all one ; the materials are all priceless : witness the diamond of fine water which displays its lustre to-day.

To this great Saint, great both in works and in doctrine, are directly applied these words of the Holy Ghost: they that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity} At the time he appeared, an odious sect was denying the mercy and the sweetness of our heavenly Father; it triumphed in the practical conduct of even those who were shocked by its Calvinistic theories. Under pretext of a reaction against an imaginary school of laxity, and denouncing with much ado some erroneous propositions made by obscure persons, the new Pharisees had set themselves

1 Dan. xii. 3. up as zealous for the law. Stretching the commandments, and exaggerating the sanction, they loaded the conscience with the same unbearable burdens which the Man-God reproached the ancient Pharisees with laying on the shoulders of men ; but the cry of alarm they had raised in the name of endangered morals, had none the less deceived the simple, and ended by misleading even the best. Thanks to the show of austerity displayed by its adherents, Jansenism, so clever in veiling its teachings, had too well succeeded in its designs of forcing itself upon the Church in spite of the Church. Unsuspecting allies within the holy city gave up to its mercy the sources of salvation. Soon in too many places, the sacred Keys were used but to open hell ; the Holy Table, spread for the preservation and increase of life in all, became accessible only to the perfect; and these latter were esteemed such, according as, by a strange reversion of the Apostle's words, they subjected the spirit of adoption of sons to the spirit of servitude and fear. As to the faithful who did not rise to the height of this new asceticism, " finding in the tribunal " of penance, instead of fathers and physicians, only "exactors and executioners,"1 they had but to choose between despair and indifference. Everywhere legislatures and parliaments lent a hand to the so-called reformers, without heeding the flood of odious unbelief that was rising around them, without seeing the gathering storm-clouds.

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in ; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. ... Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites : because you

1 Supplices litterae Kpiscopatus pro concessione tituli Doctoris S. Alphonso Mariae. go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte ; and wlten he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves. Not of your conventicles was it said that the sons of Wisdom are the Church of the just, for it was added : Their generation is obedience and love. Not of the fear which you preached did the Psalmist sing : The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom ; for even under the law of Sinai the Holy Spirit said : Ye that fear the Lord, believe him : and your reward shall not be made void. Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him : and mercy shall come to you for your delight Ye that fear the Lord, love him : and your hearts shall be enlightened.* Every deviation, whether towards rigour or weakness, offends the rectitude of justice ; but, especially since Bethlehem and Calvary, no sin so wounds the divine Heart as distrust ; no fault is unpardonable except in the despair of a Judas, saying like Cain: my iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

Who then, in the sombre quietism into which the teachers then in vogue had led even the strongest minds, could find once more the key of knowledge ? But Wisdom, says the Holy Ghost, kept in her treasures the signification of discipline. Just as in other times she had raised up new avengers for every dogma that had been attacked : so now, against a heresy which, in spite of the speculative pretensions of its beginning, had only in its moral bearing any sort of duration, she brought forth Alphonsus Liguori as the avenger of the violated law and the Doctor by excellence of Christian morality. A stranger alike to fatal rigorism and baneful indulgence, he knew how to restore to the justices of the Lord their recti-

1 St. Matth. xxiii. 13, 15. 3 Ps. ex. 10. i Gen. iv. 13.

2 Eccli. iii. 1. * Eccli. ii. 8-10. - 6 Eocli. i. 31. tude, and at the same time their power of rejoicing hearts, to his commandments their luminous brightness, whereby they are justified in themselves, to his testimonies the purity which attracts souls and faithfully guides the simple and the little ones from the beginnings of Wisdom to its summits. It was not only in the sphere of casuistry that Alphonsus succeeded, in his Moral Theology, in counteracting the poison which threatened to infect the whole Christian answered any attack made at the time against revealed truth, his ascetic and mystical works brought back piety to its traditional sources, the frequentation of the Sacraments, and the love of our Lord and his Blessed Mother. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, after examining in the name of the Holy See the works of our Saint, and declaring that nothing deserving of censure was to be fou/nd therein, arranged bis innumerable writings under forty separate titles* Alphonsus, however, resolved only late in life to give to the public, through the press, the lights which flooded his soul ; his first work, the golden book of Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to tlve Blessed Virgva, did not appear till the author was nearly fifty years of age. Though God Drolonged his life beyond the usual limits, he spared him neither the double burden of the episcopate and the government of the Congregation he had founded, nor the most painful infirmities, nor still more grievous moral sufferings.

Let us listen to the Church's account of his life.

Alphonsus Maria de Li- Alphonsus Mary de Liguori gorio, Neapoli nobilibus was born of a noble family at parentibus natus, ab ine- Naples, and from his early unte state non obscura youth gave clear proofs of

1 Of. Ps. xviii. 8-10. 1 Deoretuni, 14 and 18 Maii, 1803. never left un-

ST. ALPHONSUS sanctity. While he was still a child, his parents once presented him to St. Francis Girolamo, of the Society of Jesus. The Saint blessed him, and prophesied that he would reach his ninetieth year, that he would be raised to the episcopal dignity, and would do much good for the Church. Even as a boy he shrank from games, and both by his words and example incited noble youth to Christian modesty. When he reached early manhood he enrolled himself in pious associations, and made it his delight to serve the sick in the public hospital, to spend much time in prayer and in the church, and frequently to receive the sacred mysteries. He -joined study to piety with such success that, when scarcely sixteen years of age, he took the degree of Doctor in both Canon and Civil Law, in the University of his native city. In obedience to his father's wishes, he pleaded at the bar ; but, while winning himself a name in the discharge of this office, he learnt by experience what dangers beset a lawyer's life, and, of his own accord, abandoned the profession. Then he refused a brilliant marriage proposed to him by his father, renounced his right of inheritance as eldest son, and, hanging up his sword at the altar of the Virgin of Mercy, he devoted himself to the divine service. Having been made priest, he attacked

PENT. IV. prsebuit sanctitatis indicia. Eum adhuc infantem quum parentes obtulissent sancto Francisco de Hieronymo e Societate J esu, is bene precatus edixit eumdem ad nonagesimum usque annum perventurum, ad . episcopalem dignitatem evectum iri, maximoque Ecclesise bono f uturum. Jam turn a pueritia a ludis abhorrens, nobiles ephebos ad christianam modestiam verbo et exemplo componebat. Adolescens, dato piis sodalitatibus nomine, in publicis nosocomiis aegrotis inservire, jugi in templis orationi vacare, ac sacra mysteria frequenter obire in deliciis habebat. Fietatem litterarum studiis adeo conjunxit, ut sexdecim vix anbos natus utriusque juris lauream in patria Universitate fuerit assecutus. Fatri obtemperans causarum patrocinia suscepit, in quo munere obeundo, etsi magnam sibi laudem comparasset, fori tamen pericula expertus, ejusmodi vitse institutum ultro dimisit Spreto igitur prieclaro conjugio sibi a patre proposito, avita primogenitura abdicata, et ad aram Virginis de Mercede ense suspense, divinis ministeriis se mancipavit. Sacerdos f actus, tanto zelo irruit in vitia, ut apostolico munere f ungens, hue illuc pervolans, in gen tea perditorum hominum conversiones perageret. Fauperum pras- S sertim, et ruricolarum miseratus, congregationem presbyterorum instituit sanctissimi Redemptoris, qui ipsum Eedemptorem secuti per agros, pagos et castella, pauperibus evangelizarent

Ne autem a proposito umquam diverteret, perpetuo se voto obstrinxit, nullam temporis jacturam faciendi. Hinc animarum zelo succensus, turn divini verbi praedicatione, turn scriptis sacra eruditione et pietate refertis, animas Christo lucrifacere, et ad perfectiorem vitam adducere studuit. Mirum sane quot odia exstinxerit, quot devios ad rectum salutit iter revocaverit. Dei Genitricis cultor eximius de illius laudibus librum edidit, ac de iis dum f erventius concionando disserit, a Virginia imagine in eum imlirisso miro splendore totus facie coruscare, et in exstasim rapi coram universo populo non semel visus est. Dominicse passionis, et sacrae Eucharistiae contemplator assiduus, ejus cultum mirifice propagavit. Dum vero ad ejus aram oraret, vel sacrum faceret, quod numquam omisit, pr» amoris venementia, vel seraphi- vice with such great zeal that, in the exercise of his apostolic ministry, he hastened from place to place, working wonderful conversions. He had a special compassion for the poor, and particularly for country people, and founded a congregation for priests, called "of the Holy Re- "deemer," who were to follow the Redeemer through the fields, and hamlets, and villages, preaching to the poor.

In order that nothing might turn him from his purpose, he bound himself by a perpetual vow never to waste any time. On fire with love of souls, he strove to win them to Christ and to make them lead more perfect lives, both by preaching the divine word and by writings full of sacred learning and piety. Marvellous was the number of hatreds he stilled and of wanderers he brought back to the path of salvation. He had the greatest devotion to the Mother of God, and published a book on the "Glories of Mary." More than once, while he was speaking of her with great earnestness during his sermons, a wonderful brightness came upon him from Our Lady's image, and he was seen by all the people to be rapt in ecstasy. The Passion of our Lord and the Holy Eucharist were the objects of his unceasing contemplation, and he spread devotion to them in a wonderful degree. When he was praying be-

ST. ALPHONSUS fore the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament, or celebrating Holy Mass, which he never failed to do, through the violence of his love he shed burning tears, was agitated in an extraordinary manner, and at times was carried out of his senses. He joined a wonderful innocence, which he had never stained by deadly sin, with an equally wonderful spirit of penance, and chastised his body by fasting, iron chains, hair-shirts, and scourging even to blood. At the same time he was remarkable for the gifts of prophecy, reading of hearts, bilocation, and many miracles.

He firmly refused the ecclesiastical dignities which were offered him, but he was compelled by the authority of Pope Clement XIII. to accept the government of the Church of St. Agatha of the Goths. As Bishop, though he changed his outward dress, yet he made no alteration in the severity of his life. He observed the same moderation ; his zeal for Christian disci-

Eline was most ardent, and e displayed the greatest devotedness in rooting out vice, in guarding against false doctrine, and in discharging the other duties of the pastoral charge. He was most generous towards the poor, distributing to them all the revenues of his See, and in a time of scarcity of corn he sold even the furniture of his house to feed his starving people. cis liquescebat ardoribus, vel insolitis quatiebatur motibus, vel abstrahebatur a sensibus. Miram vitae innocentiam, quam nulla urnquam lethali labe foedavit, pari cum pcenitentia socians, corpus suum media, ferreis catenulis, ciliciis, cruentaque flagellatione castigabat. Inter haec prophetic, scrutationis cordium, bilocationis, et miraculorum donis inclaruit.

Ab ecclesiasticis dignitatibus sibi oblatis constantissime abhorruit. At dementis Decimitertii Fontificis auctoritate coactus, sanctaa Agathae Gothorum Ecclesiam gubernandam suscepit. Episcopus externum dumtaxat habitum, non autem severam viveudi rationem immutavit. Eadem frugalitas, summus Christianas disciplined zelus, impensum in vitiis coercendis arcendisque erroribus, et in reliquis pastoralibus muneribus obeundis studium. Liberalis in pauperes, omnes ecclesise proventus iisdem distribuebat, ac, urgente annonae caritate, ipsam domesticam supellectilem in alendis famelicis erogavit. Omnibus omnia factus, sanctimoniales ad perfectiorem vivendi formam redegit, ftuaeque congregationis mo- He was all things to all men. nialium monasterium con- He brought religious women

Btituendum curavit. Epi- to lead a more perfect lifer

Bcopatu ob graves habitual- and took care to erect ar esques morbos dimisso, ad monastery for nuns of his Con- alumnos suos, a quibus pau- gjregation. Severe and con- per discesserat, revertitur tinual sickness forced him ta pauper. Demum quamvis resign his bishopric, and he senio, laboribusque, diutur- returned to his children as na arthritide, aliisque gra- poor as when he had left vissimis morbis fractus cor- them. Though worn out in

Sore, spiritu tamen alacrior, body by old age, labottrsr e ccelestibus rebus dis- chronic gout, and other pain- serendi, aut scribendi finem ful maladies, his mind was numquam adhibuit, donee fresh and clear, and he never nonagenarius, calendis Au- ceased speaking or writing of gusti, anno millesimo sep- heavenly things till at length r tingentesimo octogesimo on the Kalends of August he septimo. Nuceriae Pagan- most peacefully expired, at orum inter suorum alum- Nocera-dei-Pagani, amidst his norum lacrymas placidissi- weeping children. It was in me exspiravit. Eum inde the year 1787, the ninetieth virtutibus et miraculis clar- of his age. His virtues and um Pius Septimus Pontifex miracles made him famousr

Maximus anno millesimo and on this account, in 1816, octingentesimo decimo sex- Pope Pius VII. enrolled him to beatorum fastis, novis- amongst the Blessed. God que fulgentem signis, Gre- still glorified him with new gorius Decimussextus in signs and wonders, and, on festosanctissimraTrinitatis, the feast of the Most Blessed anno millesimo octingen- Trinity, in the year 1839, tesimo trigesimo nono so- Gregory XVI. solemnly in- lemni ritu sanctorum cata- scribed his name on the list fogo accensuit ; tandem of the Saints ; finally, Pope

Pius Nonus, Pontifex Maxi- Pius IX., after consulting the mus, ex Sacrorum Eituum Congregation of Sacred Kites,

Congregationis consulto, declared him a Doctor of the universalis Ecclesiae Doc- universal Church, torem declaravit

"I bave not hid thy justice within my heart: I " have declared thy truth and thy salvation."1 Thus-

1 Gradual of the Mass, fr. Ps. xxxix. 11. eings the Church in thy name to-day, in gratitude for the great service thou didst render her in the days of sinners, when godliness seemed to be lost. Exposed to the attacks of an extravagant pharisaism, and watched by a sceptical and mocking philosophy, even the good wavered as to which was the way of the Lord. While the moralists of the day could but forge fetters for consciences, the enemy had a good chance of crying : Let us break their bonds asunder: <ind let us cast away their yoke from us. The ancient wisdom reverea by their fathers, now that it was compromised by these foolish teachers, seemed but a ruined edifice to people eager for emancipation. In this unprecedented extremity, thou, O Alphonsus, wast the prudent man whom the Church needed, whose mouth uttered words to strengthen men's hearts.

Long before thy birth, a great Pope had said that it belongs to Doctors to enlighten the Church, to adorn her with virtues, to form her manners ; by them, he added, she shines in the midst of darkness as a morning star ; their word, made fruitful from on high, solves the enigmas of the Scriptures, unravels difficulties, clears obscurities, interprets what is doubtful ; their profound works, beautified by eloquence of speech, are so many priceless pearls which ennoble no less than adorn the House of God. Thus did Boniface VIII. speak in the thirteenth century, when he was raising to the rank of doubles the feasts of the Apostles and Evangelists, and of the four then recognised Doctors, St Gregory, St. Augustine, St Ambrose, and St Jerome. But is it not a description, striking as a prophecy, faithful as a portrait, of all that that thou wert ?

Glory then be to thee, who in our days of decadence renewest the youth of the Church, and through whom justice and peace once more embrace one aDotber at the meeting of mercy and truth. For this object thou didst literally give unreservedly thy time and thy strength. "The love of God," says St Gregory, " is never idle : where it exists it does " great things : if it refuses to act, it is not love."1 What fidelity was thine in accomplishing that awful vow, whereby thou didst deny thyself the possibility of even a moment's relaxation. When suffering intolerable pain, which would appear to anyone else to i'ustify, if not to command, some rest, thou wouldst told to thy forehead with one hand a piece of marble, which seemed to give some slight relief, and with the other wouldst continue thy precious writings.

But still greater was the example God set before the world, when, in thine old age, he suffered thee, through the treason of one of thine own sons, to be disgraced by that Apostolic See, for which thou hadst worn away thy life, and which in return withdrew thee, as unworthy, from the very institute thou hadst founded ! Then hell was permitted to join its stripes with those of heaven ; and thou, the Doctor of peace, didst endure terrible temptations against faith and holy hope. Thus was thy work made perfect in that weakness which is stronger than strength ; and thus didst thou merit for troubled souls the support of the virtue of Christ. Nevertheless, having become a child once more in the blind obedience required under such painful trials, thou wast near at once to the kingdom of heaven and to the Crib, which thou didst celebrate in such sweet accents. And the virtue which the Man-God felt going out from him during his mortal life escaped from thee, too, in such abundance that the little sick children presented by their mothers for thy blessing were all healed.

Now that thy tears and thy toils are over, watch

1 Greg, in Ev., horn. xxx. over us evermore; Preserve in the Church the fruits of thy labours. The religious family begotten by thee has not degenerated ; more than once, in the persecutions of last century, the enemy has honoured it with special tokens of his hatred ; already, too, has the aureola of the blessed passed from the father to his sons ; may they ever cherish these noble traditions ! May the Eternal Father, who in Baptism made us all worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, lead us all happily by thy example and teachings in the footsteps of our Most Holy Redeemer into the kingdom of this Son of his love.

The commemoration of the illustrious Pope and Martyr, Stephen I., adds a perfume of antiquity to the holiness of this day dedicated to the honour of a comparatively modern Saint. Stephen's special glory in the Church is to have been the guardian of the dignity of holy Baptism. Baptism once given can never be repeated ; for the character of child of God, which it imprints upon the Christian, is everlasting; and this unspeakable dignity of the first Sacrament in no wise depends upon the disposition or state of the minister conferring it According to the teaching of St. Austin, whether Peter, or Paul, or Judas baptize, it is he upon whom the Divine Dove descended in the Jordan, it is he alone and always, that baptizes by them in the Holy Ghost. Such is the adorable munificence of our Lord with regard to this indispensable means of salvation, that the very pagan who belongs not to the Church, and the schismatic or heretic separated from her, can administer it with full validity, on the

1 Collect of the Feast. 2 Col. i. 12, 13. one condition of fulfilling the exterior rite in its essence, and of wishing to do thereby what the Church doea

In the time of Stephen I. this truth was not so universally known as now. Great bishops, whose learning and holiness had justly won them the admiration of their age, wished to make the converts from various sects pass again through the laver of salvation. But the assistance promised to Peter was not wanting to his successor; and by maintaining the traditional discipline, Borne, through Stephen, saved the faith of the Churches. Let us testify our gratitude to the holy Pontiff for his fidelity in guarding the sacred deposit, which is the treasure of all men ; and let us beg him to preserve no less effectually, in us also, the nobility and the rights of our holy Baptism.

PRAYER.

Dens, qui nos beati Ste- O God, who givest us joy fhani Martyris tui atque by the annual solemnity of

'ontificis annua solemnitate blessed Stephen, thy martyr laetificaa: concede propitius; and bishop, mercifully grant ut cujus natalitia colimus, that we may rejoice in the de ejusdem etiam protec- protection of him whose festi- tione gaudeamus. Per Do- val we celebrate. Through minum. our Lord, &c

August 3.

INVENTION OF SAINT STEPHEN,

PROTOMARTYR.

Urged by the approach of Laurence's triumph, Stephen rises to assist at his combat ; it is a meeting full of beauty and strength, revealing the work of Eternal Wisdom in the arrangement of the sacred

2cle. But the present feast has other teachings 10 to offer us.

The first resurrection, of which we spoke above, continues for the Saints. After Nazarius and Celsus, and all the martyrs whom the victory of Christ has shown to be partakers of his glory according to the divine promise, the standard-bearer of the white-robed army himself rises glorious from his tomb to lead the way for new triumphs. The fierce auxiliaries of God's anger against idolatrous Borne, after reducing the false gods to powder, must in their turn be subjugated ; and this second victory will be the work of the martyrs aiding the Church by their miracles, as the first was that of their faith despising death and tortures. The received method of writing history in our days ignores such considerations ; that is no reason why we should follow the fashion: the exactitude of its data, on which the science of this age plumes itself, is but one more proof that falsehood is as easily nurtured by omissions as by positive misstatements. Now the more profound the present silence on the question, the more certain it is that the very years which beheld the barbarians invading and overturning the empire, were signalized by an effusion of virtue from on high, comparable in more than one respect to that which marked the times of the Apostolic preaching. Nothing less was required to reassure the faithful on the one hand, and on the other to inspire with respect for the Church these brutal invaders, who knew no right but might, and felt nothing but disdain for the race they had conquered.

The divine intention in surrounding the fall of Rome in 410 with discoveries of Saints' bodies, was clearly manifested in the most important of these inventions, the one we celebrate to-day. The year 415 had opened. Italy, Gaul, and Spain were being invaded, Africa was about to share their fate. Amidst the universal ruin, the Christians, in whom alone resided the hope of the world, put up their petitions at every sanctuary to obtain at least, according to the expression of the Spanish priest, Avitus, "that the Lord would inspire with gentleness those whom he suffered to pre vail."1 It was then that took place that marvellous revelation which the severe critic Tillemont, convinced by the testimony of all the chronicles, histories, letters, and discourses of the time, allows to be "one of the "most celebrated events of the fifth century."3 Through the intermediary of the priest Lucian, John, Bishop of Jerusalem, received from St. Stephen the first Martyr and his companions in the tomb, a message couched in these terms: "Make haste to " open our sepulchre, that by our means God may "open to the world the door of his clemency, and

1 Aviti Epist. ad Palchon, De reliquiis S. Stephani.

2 Idatii, Marcellini, Sozomenis, Augustini, &c. * Mem. Eccl., ii., p. 12.

INVENTION OF ST. STEPHEN.

"may take pity on his people in the universal " tribulation." The discovery, accomplished in the midst of prodigies, was published to the whole world as the sign of salvation. St. Stephen's relics, scattered everywhere in token of security and peace, wrought astonishing conversions; innumerable miracles, "like those of ancient times,,, bore witness to the same faith of Christ which the martyr had confessed by his death four centuries earlier.

Such was the extraordinary character of this manifestation, so astonishing was the number of resurrections of the dead, that St. Augustine, addressing his people, deemed it prudent to lift their thoughts from Stephen the servant to Christ his Master. "Though dead," said he, "he raises the "dead to life, because in reality he is not dead. " But as heretofore in his mortal life, so now, too, he " acts solely in the name of Christ ; all that ye see " now done by the memory of Stephen, is done in "that name alone, that Christ may be exalted, " Christ may be adored, Christ may be expected as "Judge of the living and the dead."6

Let us conclude with this praise addressed to St. Stephen a few years later by Basil of Seleucia, which gives so well in a few words the reason of the feast : "There is no place, no territory, no nation, no far-off " land, that has not obtained the help of thy benefits. "There is no one, stranger or citizen, barbarian or "Scythian, that does not experience, through thy "intercession, the greatness of heavenly realities."7

1 Luciani Epist. ad omnem Ecclesiam, De revelatione S. Stephani. * Aviti Epist.

3 Severi Epist. ad omnem Eccl., De virtutibus S. Stephani.

4 Aug. De Civit. Dei, xxii. 8, 9. 6 Sermo 319, al. De diversis 51.

6 Sermo 316, al. De diversis 94.

7 Basil Seleue. Oratio 41, De S. Stephano.

TIME AFTEK PENTECOST.

The following Legend epitomizes and completes the history given by the priest Lucian :

Sanctorum corpora Stephani Protomartyris, Gamalielis, Nicodemi et Abibonis, <ju® diu in obscuro ac sordido locojacuerant, Honorio imperatore, Luciano presbytero divinitus admonito, inventa sunt prope Jerosolymam. Cui Gamaliel cum in somnis apparuisset, gravi quadam et praeclara senis specie, locum jacentium corporum commonstravit, imperans, ut Joannem Jerosolymitanum antistitem adiret, ageretque cum eo, ut honestius ilia corpora sepelirentur.

Quibus auditis Jerosolymorum antistes, finitimarum urbium episcopis presbyterisque convocatis, ad locum pergit : def ossos loculos invenit, unde suavissimusodor efflabatur. Cujus rei fama commota, magna hominum multitudo eo convenit, multique ex variis morbis aegroti ac debiles, sani et integn domum redierunt. Sacrum autem sancti Stephani corpus, quod summatunccelebritate in sanctam ecclesiam Sion illatum est, sub Theodosio juniore Constantinopolim, inde Romam Pelagio Primo Summo Pontifice translatum,in agro Verano insepulcro sancti Laurentii Martyris collocatum est.

During the reign of the Emperor Honorius, the bodies of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibas were found near Jerusalem. They had long lain buried, unknown and neglected, when they were revealed by God to a priest named Lucian. While he was asleep, Gamaliel appeared to him as a venerable and majestic old man, and showed him the spot where the bodies lay, commanding him to go to Bishop John of Jerusalem, and persuade him to give these Dodies more honourable burial.

On hearing this, the Bishop of Jerusalem assembled the neighbouring Bishops and clergy, and went to the spot indicated. The tombs were found, and from them exhaled a most sweet odour. At the rumour at what had occurred, a great crowd came together, and many of them who were sick and weak from various ailments went away perfectly cured. The sacred body of St. Stephen was then canned with great honour to the holy church of Sion. Under Theodosius the younger it was carried to Constantinople, and from thence it was translated to Rome under Pope Pelagius I. and placed in the tomb of St. Laurence the Martyr, in Agro Verano.

INVENTION OF ST. STEPHEN.

What a precious addition to thy history in the sacred Books is furnished us, O Protomartyr, by the story of thy invention! We now know who were those "God-fearing men, who buried Stephen and "made great mourning over him." Gamaliel, the master of the Doctor of the Gentiles, had been, before his disciple, conquered by our Lord ; inspired by Jesus to whom in dying thou didst commend thy soul, he honoured after thy death the humble soldier of Christ with the same cares which had been lavished by Joseph of Arimathea, the noble counsellor, on the Man-God, and laid thy body in the new tomb prepared for himself. Soon Nicodemus, Joseph's companion in the pious work of the great Friday, hunted by the Jews in that persecution in which thou wert the first victim, found refuge near thy sacred relics, and dying a holy death was laid to rest beside thee. The respected name of Gamaliel prevailed over the angry synagogue; while the family of Annas and Caiphas kept in its hands the priestly power through the precarious favour of Kome, the grandson of Hillel left to his descendants pre-eminence in knowledge, and his eldest line remained for four centuries the depositories of the only moral authority then recognised by the dispersed Israelites. But more fortunate was he in having, by hearing the Apostles and thyself, 0 Stephen, passed from the science of shadows to the light of the realities, from the Law to the Gospel, from Moses to him whom Moses announced ; more happy than the eldest born, was the beloved son Abibas, baptized with his father at the age of twenty, and who, passing away to God, filled the tomb next to thine with the sweet odour of heavenly purity. How touching was the last will of the illustrious father, when, his hour being come, he ordered the grave of Abibas to be opened for himself, that father and son might be seen to be twin brothers born together to the only true light !

The munificence of our Lord had placed thee in death, O Stephen, in worthy company. We give thanks to the noble person who showed thee hospitality for thy last rest ; and we are grateful to him for having, at the appointed time, himself broken the silence kept concerning him by the delicate reserve of the Scriptures. Here again we see how the Man-God wills to share his own honours with his chosen onea Thy sepulchre, like his, was glorious ; and when it was opened, the earth shook, the bystanders believed that heaven had come down ; the world was delivered from a desolating drought, and amid a thousand evils hope sprang up once more. Now that our West possesses thy body and Gamaliel has yielded to Laurence the right of hospitality, rise up once more, 0 Stephen ; and together with the great Eoman deacon deliver us from the new barbarians, by converting them, or wiping them off the face of the earth given by God to his Christ