August 6 — Transfiguration of Our Lord

" 0 God, who in the glorious t^nsfiguration of thine " only-begotten Son, didst confirm the mysteries of " the faith by the testimony of the fathers : and " who, in the voice which came from the bright i cloud, didst in a wonderful manner fore-signify our " adoption as sons : mercifully vouchsafe to make us " fellow-heirs of that King of glory, and the sharers " of his bliss/' Such is the formula which sums up the prayer of the Church and shows us her thoughts on this day of attestation and of hope.

We must first notice that the glorious transfiguration has already been twice brought before us on the sacred cycle, viz.: on the second Sunday of Lent, and on the preceding Saturday. What does this mean, but that the object of the present solemnity is not so much the historical fact already known, as the permanent mystery attached to it ; not so much the personal favour bestowed on Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, as the accomplishment of the great message then entrusted to them for the Church? TeU the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead} The Church, born from the open Side of the Man-God on the Cross, was not to behold him face to face on earth ; after his Resur-

1 St. Matth. xvii. 9. rection, when be had sealed his alliance with her m the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, it is on faith alone that her love was to be fed. But by the testimony which takes the place of sight, her lawful desires to know him were to be satisfied. Wherefore, for her sake, giving truce, one day of hismortal life, to the ordinary law of suffering and obscurity he had taken upon him for the world's salvation, he allowed the glory which filled his blessed soul to transpire. The King of Jews and Gentiles revealed himself upon the mountain, where his calm splendour eclipsed for evermore the lightnings of Sinai : the covenant of the eternal alliance was declared, not by the promulgation of a law of servitude engraven upon stone, but by the manifestation of the Lawgiver himself, coming as Bridegroom to reign in grace and beauty over hearts. Elias and Moses, representing the prophets and the Law whereby his coming was prepared, from their different starting points, met beside him, like faithful messengers reaching their destination ; they did homage to the Master of their now finished mission, and effaced themselves before him at the voice of the Father : This is my beloved Son ! Three witnesses the most trustworthy of all assisted at this solemn scene : the disciple of faith, the disciple of love, and that other son of thunder who was to be the first to seal with his blood both the faith and the love of an Apostle. By his order they kept religiously, as beseemed them, the secret of the King, until the day when the Church could be the first to receive it from their predestined lips.

But did this precious mystery take place on the 6th August? More than one Doctor of sacred rite& affirms that it did. At any rate it was fitting.

1 Sicard. Cremon. Mitrale, ix. 38; Beleth. Rationale, cxliv.;. Durand. vii. xxii., &c. to celebrate it in the month dedicated to eternal Wisdom. It is she, the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror and image of God's goodness, who, shedding grace upon the Son of man, made him on this day the most beautiful amongst all his brethren, and dictated more melodiously than ever iio the inspired singer the accents of the Epithalamium: My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king.

Seven months ago, the mystery was first announced by the gentle light of the Epiphany; but by the virtue of the mystical seven here revealed once more, the " beginnings of blessed hope"8 which we then celebrated as children with the Child Jesus, have grown together with him and with the Church; and the latter, established in unspeakable peace by the full growth which gives her to her Spouse, calls upon all her children to grow like her by the contemplation of the Son of God, even to the measure of the perfect age of Christ. We understand then, why the Liturgy of to-day repeats the formulas and chants of the glorious Theophany : Arise, be enlightened, 0 Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee : it is because on the mountain together with our Lord the Bride also is glorified, having the glory of God.

While the face of Jesus shone as the sun, his garments became white as snow.b Now these garments so snow-white, as St. Mark observes, that no fuller on earth could have bleached them so, are the just men, the royal ornament inseparable from the Man-God, the Church, the seamless robe woven by

1 Alleluia verse fr. Wisd. vii. 26.

2 Gradual fr. Ps. xliv. 2, 3.

3 Leon, in Kpiph., Sernio ii. 4.

4 1st Responsory of Matins from Isaias lx. 1. h St. Matth. xvii. 2. our sweet Queen for her Son out of the purest wool and most beautiful linen that the valiant woman into his glory, nevertheless the bright mystery of the Transfiguration will not be complete until the last of the elect, having passed through the laborious preparation at the hands of the Divine Fuller, and tasted death, has joined in the Resurrection of our adorable Head. 0 Face of our Saviour that dost ravish the heavens, then will all glory, all beauty, all love shine forth from thee. Expressing God by the perfect resemblance of true Son by nature, thou wilt extend the good pleasure of the Father to that reflection of his Word, which constitutes the sons of adoption, and reaches in the Holy Ghost even to the lowest fringes of his garment which fills the temple below him. According to the doctrine of the Angel of the schools, the adoption of sons of God, which consists in being conformable to the image of the Son of God by nature, is wrought in a double manner: first by grace in this life, and this is imperfect conformity ; and then by glory in patria, and this is perfect conformity, according to the words of St. John : We are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when lie shall appear, we shall be like to him : because we shall see him as he is. The word of eternity, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, has had two echoes in time, at the Jordan and on Thabor; and God, who never repeats himself, did not herein make an exception to the rule of saying but once what he says. For although tlie terms used on the two occasions are identical, they do not tend, as St. Thomas says, to the same

1 1 John iii. 2. end, but show the different ways in which man participates in the resemblance of the eternal filiation. At the baptism of our Lord, where the mystery of the first regeneration was declared, as at the Transfiguration which manifested the second, the whole Trinity appeared : the Father in the voice, the Son in his Humanity, the Holy Ghost under the form, first of a dove, and afterwards of a bright cloud ; for if in baptism this Holy Spirit confers innocence symbolised by the simplicity of the dove, in the Resurrection he will give to the elect the brightness of glory and the refreshment after suffering, which are signified by the luminous cloud.

But without waiting for the day when our Saviour will renew our very bodies conformable to the bright glory of his own divine Body, the mystery of the Transfiguration is wrought in our souls already here on earth. It is of the present life that St. Paul says and the Church sings to-day : God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined i/n, our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus. Thabor, holy and divine mountain rivalling heaven, how can we help saying with Peter: "It is good for us to "dwell on thy summit!" For thy summit is love, it is charity which towers above the other virtues, as thou towerest in gracefulness, and loftiness, and fragrance over the other mountains of Galilee, which saw Jesus passing, speaking, praying, working prodigies, but did not know him in the intimacy of the perfect. It is after six days, as the Gospel observes, and therefore in the repose of the seventh which leads to the eighth of the resurrection, that Jesus reveals himself to the privileged souls who correspond

1 8th Responsory of Matins fr. 2 Cor. iv. 6.

2 Joan. Damasc. Orat. in Transfig. iii. to his love. The Kingdom of God is within us ; when, leaving all impressions of the senses as it were asleep, we raise ourselves above the works and cares of the world by prayer, it is given us to enter with the Man- God into the cloud : there beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, as far as is compatible with our exile, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. " Let "us then," cries St. Ambrose, "ascend the mountain; " let us beseech the Word of God to show himself to " us in his splendour, in his beauty ; to grow strong " and proceed prosperously, and reign in our souls. "For behold a deep mystery! According to thy "measure, the Word diminishes or grows within " thee. If thou reach not that summit, high above " all human thought, Wisdom will not appear to thee; " the Word shows himself to thee as in a body with- "out brightness and without glory."2

If the vocation revealed to thee this day be so great and so holy, " reverence the call of God," says St Andrew of Crete : " do not ignore thyself, despise " not a gift so great, show not thyself unworthy of " the grace, be not so slothful in thy life as to lose " this treasure of heaven. Leave earth to the earth, " and let the dead bury their dead ; disdaining all that " passes away, all that dies with the world and the " flesh, follow even to heaven, without turning aside, 44 Christ who leads the way through this world for " thee. Take to thine assistance fear and desire, lest " thou faint or lose thy love. Give thyself up wholly ; " be supple to the Word in the Holy Ghost, in order " to attain this pure and blessed end : thy deification, " together with the enjoyment of unspeakable goods.

1 Capit of Sext, fr. 2 Cor. iii. 18.

2 Ambr. in Luc, lib. vii. 12.

3Andr. Hierosolymitani, Archiepisc. Cretensis, Oratio in Transfig.

AiBy zeal for the virtues, by contemplation of the "truth, by wisdom, attain to Wisdom, who is the " principle of all, and in whom all things subsist."

The feast of the Transfiguration has been kept in the East from the earliest times. With the Greeks, it is preceded by a Vigil and followed by an Octave, and on it they abstain from servile work, from commerce, and from law-suits. Under the graceful name of Rose-flame, toscb coruscatio, we find it in Armenia at the beginning of the fourth century, supplanting Diana and her feast of flowers, by the remembrance of the day when the divine Rose unfolded for a moment on earth its brilliant corolla. It is preceded by a whole week of fasting, and counts among the five principal feasts of the Armenian cycle, where it gives its name to one of the eight divisions of the year. Although the Menology of this Church marks it on the sixth of August like that of the Greeks and the Roman Martyrology, it is nevertheless always celebrated there on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost; and by a coincidence full of meaning, they honour on the preceding Saturday the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, a figure of the Church.

The origin of to-day's feast in the West is not so easy to determine. But the authors who place its introduction into our countries as late as 1457, when Callixtus III. promulgated by precept a new Office enriched with indulgences, overlook the fact that the Pontiff speaks of the feast as already widespread and "commonly called of the Saviour."1 It is true, that in Rome especially the celebrity of the more ancient feast of St. Sixtus II., with its double Station at the two cemeteries which received respectively the relics of the Pontiff- Martyr and

1 Callixt III. Const. Inter Divinae dispensations arcana. those of his companions, was for a long time* an obstacle to the acceptation of another feast on the same day. Some Churches, to avoid the difficulty, chose another day in the year to honour the mystery. As the feast of our Lady of the Snow, so that of the Transfiguration had to spread more or less privately, with various Offices and Masses, until the supreme authority should intervene to sanction and bring to unity the expressions of the devotion of different Churches. Callixtus III. considered that the hour had come to consecrate the work of centuries ; he made the solemn and definitive insertion of this feast of triumph on the universal Calendar the memorial of the victory which arrested, under the walls of Belgrade in 1456, the onward march of Mahomet II., conqueror of Byzantium, against Christendom.

Already in the ninth century, if not even earlier, martyrologies and other liturgical documents furnish proofs that the mystery was celebrated with more or less solemnity, or at least with some sort of commemoration, in divers places. In the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable, under whose government Cluny took possession of Thabor, ordained that " in "all the monasteries or churches belonging to hi& " Order, the Transfiguration should be celebrated " with the same degree of solemnity as the Purifica- "tion of our Lady;" and he gave for his reason, besides the dignity of the mystery, the "custom, "ancient or recent, of many Churches throughout " the world, which celebrate the memory of the said "Transfiguration with no less honour than the "Epiphany and the Ascension of our Lord."3

On the other hand at Bologna, in 1233, in the

1 Schulting, on this date ; Tommasi, Antiphoner. 7 Wandalbert ; Eldefons. 3 Statuta Cluniac. V. juridical instruction preliminary to the canonization of St. Dominic, the death of the Saint is declared to have taken place on the feast of St Sixtus, without mention of any other. It is true, and we believe this detail is not void of meaning, that a few years earlier, Sicardus of Cremona thus expressed himself in his Mitrale: "We celebrate the Transfiguration "of our Lord on the day of St. Sixtus."2 Is not this sufficient indication that while the feast of the latter continued to give its traditional name to the eighth of the Ides of August, it did not prevent a new and greater solemnity from taking its place beside it, preparatory to absorbing it altogether? For he adds : " Therefore on this same day, as the "Transfiguration refers to the state in which the " faithful will be after the resurrection, we consecrate "the Blood of our Lord from new wine, if it is " possible to obtain it, in order to signify what is said " in the Gospel : I will not drink from henceforth " of this fruit of the vine, until tliat day when I " shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of " my Father. But if it cannot be procured, then "at least a few ripe grapes are pressed over the " chalice, or else grapes are blessed and distributed to "the people."4

The author of the Mitrale died in 1215 ; yet he was only repeating the explanation already given in the second half of the preceding century by John Beleth, Rector of the Paris University. We must admit that the very ancient benedictio uvce found in the Sacramentaries on the day of St. Sixtus has nothing corresponding to it in the life of the greac Pope which could justify our referring it to him* The Greeks, who have also this blessing of grapes

1 Deposition of the Prior of St. Nicholas. 3 St. Matth. xxvi. 29*

2 Sicard. Mitrale, ix., xxxviii. 4 Sicard. Ibid. s Beleth. Rationale, cxliv. fixed for the 6th August, celebrate on this day the Transfiguration alone, without any commemoration of Sixtus II. Be it as it may, the words of the Bishop of Cremona and of the Rector of Paris prove that Durandus of Mende, giving at the end of the thirteenth century the same symbolical interpretation, did but echo a tradition more ancient than his own time.

St. Pius V. did not alter the ancient Office of the feast, except the Lessons of the first and second Nocturns, which were taken from Origen, and the three Hymns for Vespers, Matins, and Lauds, which resembled somewhat in structure the corresponding Hymns of the Blessed Sacrament. The Hymn now used for Vespers and Matins, which we here give, is borrowed from the beautiful Canticle of Prudentius on the Epiphany in his Cathemerinon :

HYMN.

Quicumque Christum All ye who seek Christ, lift quseritis up your eyes to heaven ; there

Oculos in altum tollite : ye may behold the token of Illic licebit visere his eternal glory.

Signum perennis glorise.

Illustre quiddam cernimus, A per- Quod nesciat finem pati, ceive Sublime, celsum, interim- sublime, num, certain brilliance we that knows no ending, noble, interminable, older than heaven and chaos.

Antiquius coelo et chao.

Hie ille Eex est Gentium, Populique Rex Judaici, Gentiles, Promissus Abrahae patri, pro- Ejusque in sevum semini. mised

This is the King of the and King of the Jewish people, who was to Abraham our father, and to his seed for ever.

1 Eucholog.

2 Durand. Rationale, vii., xxii.

3 Homil. xii. in Exod. De vultu Moysi glorificato et velamine quod ponebat in facie sua.

4 Qaude, mater pietatis. Exultet laudtbus never ata concio. Novum sidu exoritur.

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The prophets testify to him, and the Father, who testifies with them for his witnesses, bids us hear and believe him.

O Jesus, glory be to thee who revealest thyself to little ones, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

Hunc et prophetis testibus Iisdemque signatoribus Testator et Pater jubet Audire nos et credere.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Qui te revelas parvulis, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu In sempiterna saecula. Amen.

Adam of St. Victor has also sung of this glorious mystery :

SEQUENCE.

Come, let us sing with joy, and devoutly celebrate these sacred solemnities; let the Church resound with the praises of this day to the honour of the Most High God.

For on this festal day did Christ give manifest signs of his great glory; that we may recount the same, may he give us his aid and till us with his grace.

Christ, then, the mighty God, the giver of life, and conqueror of death, the true Sun of justice, to-day transfigured on Thabor's height, did glorify the flesh he had taken of the Virgin.

O how happy the lot of the good! For such will be the resurrection of the blessed. As shines the sun in fulness of his light, so shone the countenance of God and Man, as the Gospel testifieth-

Laetabundi jubilemus Ac devote celebremus

Hsec sacra solemnia ; Ad honorem summi Dei Hujus laudes nunc diei

Personet Ecclesia.

In hac Christus die festa Suae dedit manifesta

Glorias indicia ; Ut hoc possit enarrari Hie nos suos salutari

Eepleat et gratia !

Christus ergo, Deus f ortis, Vitae dator, victor mortis,

Verus sol justitias, Quam assumpsit carnem de

Virgine, Transformatus in Thabor culmine, Glorificat hodie.

O quam f elix sors bonorum I Talis enim beatorum

Erit resurrectio. Sicut fulget sol pleni luminis,

Fulsit Dei vultus et homi- nis,

Teste Evangelio.

CJandor quoque sacrae vestis Deitatis fuit testis

Et f uturae glorias. Minis honor et sublimis : Mira, Deus, tuae nimis

Virtus est potentiae.

CJumque Christus, virtus Dei,

Petro, natis Zebedaei

Majestatis gloriam Demonstraret mauifeste, Ecce vident, Luca teste,

Moysem et Eliam.

Hoc habemus ex Matthaeo, Quod loquentes erant Deo

Dei Patris Filio : Vere sanctum, vere dignum Loqui Deo et benignum,

Plenum omni gaudio.

Hujus magna laus diei, Quad sacratur voce Dei,

Honor est eximius ; Nubes illos obumbravit, Et vox Patris proclamavit :

Hie est meus Filius.

Hujus vocem exaudite : Habet enim verba vitae,

Verbo potens omnia. Hie est Christus, rex cun- ctorum, Mundi salus, lux Sanctorum,

Lux illustrans omnia.

Hie est Christus, Patris Verbum,

Per quern perdit jus acerbum

Quod in nobis habuit Hostis nequam, serpens dims,

<Jui, fundendo suum virus Evae, nobis nocuit.

The brightness, too, of his sacred robe gave testimony of his Godhead and of the glory to come. Wondrous the nonour and sublime: wondrous exceedingly, O God, is the power of thine almightiness.

And when Christ, the power of God, to Peter and the sons of Zebedee did clearly show the glory of his majesty, lo ! they beheld, as Luke doth testify, Moses and Elias.

This we learn of Matthew, that they were seen speaking with God, the Son of God the Father. Oh! how noble and how holy, how good and full of all joy, to speak to God !

Great is the glory of this day, consecrated by the voice of God, and exceeding is its honour; a cloud did overshadow them, and the Father's voice proclaimed: "This is "my Son."

Hear ye his voice : for the words of life hath he, who can do all things by his word. This is Christ, tbe King of all, the world's salvation and the light of Saints, the light enlightening all things.

This is Christ, the Father's Word, by whom he destroys the bitter law set in us by the wicked enemy, the cruel serpent, who, pouring out his poison upon Eve, did work our ruin.

Christ by dying healed us, who by rising restored our life and condemned the tyranny of death. This is Christ, the eternal peace, ruling both depths and height ; to whom from heaven the Father's voice bore testimony.

At his voice those three aforesaid fathers were afraid, and prostrated on the earth when the word was uttered. At length they rise, Christ bidding them ; they gaze around intently, but at once see none but Jesus.

Wishing these things to be concealed, Christ suffers them not to be uttered, until the restorer of life and conqueror of life's enemy should rise triumphant over death. This is the day so worthy of praise, whereon are wrought so many holy signs ; may Christ, the splendour of God the Father, by the prayer of his holy Mother, deliver us from death.

To thee, O Father, thee, O Son, and thee, O Holy Ghost, be, together with highest power, the praise and honour due! Amen.

Moriendo nos sanavit Qui surgendo reparavit Vitam Christus et damnavit

Mortis magisterium. Hie est Ch ristus, Pax aeterna, Ima regens et superna, Cui de co3lis vox paterna

Confert testimonium.

Cujus sono sunt turbati Patres illi tres praefati Et in terram sunt prostrati

Quando vox emittitur. Surgunt tandem, annuente Sibi Christo, sed intente Circumspectant, cum repente

Solus Jesus cernitur.

Volens Christus haec celari Non permisit enarrari, Donee, vitae reparator, Hostis vitae triumphator,

Morte victa, surgeret. Haec est dies laude digna

8ua tot sancta Hunt signa ; hristus, splendor Dei Patris

Prece sancta suae matris Nos a morte liberet.

Tibi, Pater, tibi, Nate, Tibi, Sancte Spiritus,

Sit cum summa potestate Laus et honor debitus ! Amen.

The Mensea of the Greeks offers us these stanzas from St. John Damascene:

MENSIS AUGUSTI DIE VI. In Matutino.

O Christ, who with invisible Qui manibus invisibilibus formaeti secundum imaginem tuam, Christe, hominem, archetypam tuam in figmento pulchritudinem ostendisti non ut in imagine, sed ut hoc ipse exsistens per substantiam, Deus simul et homo.

Quam magnum et terribile visum est spectaculum hodie ! e coelo sensibilis, e terra vero incomparabilis effulsit sol justitise, intelligibilis, in monte Thabor.

Begnantium es Bex pulcherrimus, et ubique dominantium Dominus, princeps beatus, et lumen nabitans inaceessibile, cui discipuli stupefacti clamabant: Pueri, benedicite ; sacerdotes, concinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia saecula.

Tamquam coelo dominanti, et terrse regnanti, et subterraneorum dominium habenti, Christe, tibi adstiterunt : e terra quidem apostoli: tamquam e coelo autem, Thesbites Elias ; Moyses vero ex mortuis, canentes incessanter: Pueri, benedicite ; sacerdotes, concinite ; populus, superexaltate per omnia saecula.

Segnitiem parientes curae in terra derelict ae sunt,apostolorum delectu, o humane, ut te secuti sunt ad sublimem e terra divinam politiam, unde et jure divinae tua manifestationis participes effecti, canebant : Pueri, benedicite ; sacerdotes, concinite ; populus, superexaltate per omnia ssecuia.

I PENTECOST. hands didst form man to thine own image, thou hast shown thine original beauty in the human frame, not as in an image, but as being this thyself, both God and Man.

How grand and awful was the spectacle beheld this day ! from heaven the visible sun, but from earth the in* comparable spiritual Sun of justice shone upon Mount Thabor.

Thou art the King of kings most beautiful, and Lord of all lords, O blessed Prince, dwelling in inaccessible light; to thee the disciples, beside themselves, cried out: Ye children, bless him ; ye priests, sing to him ; ye people, exalt him above all for ever.

As before the Lord of heaven and King of earth and Kuler of the regions under the earth, before thee, O Christ, there stood the Aposties as from the earth, Elias the Thesbite as from heaven, Moses as from the dead ; and they sang unceasingly : Ye children, bless him ; ye priests, sing to him ; ye people, exalt him above all for ever.

Leaving to the earth its wearying cares, the chosen Apostles having followed thee, O loving one, to the divine city far above the earth, are justly admitted to behold thy divine manifestation, singing: Ye children, bless him ; ye priests, sing to him ; ye people, exalt him above all for ever.

Come to me, attend to me, ye people, ascending the holy, heavenly mountain; casting away material things, let us stand in the city of the living God, and mentally behold the immaterial divinity of the Father and the Spirit, shining forth in the only-begotten Son.

Thou, O Christ, hast won me with desire, and inebriated me with thy divine love ; but burn away my sins with immaterial fire, and make me worthy to be satiated with the delights that are in thee ; that exulting I may sing thy two comings, O thou who art so good.

Agite mihi, parete mini, populi ascendentes in montem sanctum, coelestem : abjecta materia stemus in civitete viventis Dei, et inspiciamus mente divinitatem materiae expertem Patris et Spiritus, in Filio unigenito effulgentem.

Demulsisti desiderio me, Christe, et alterasti divino tuo amore, sed combure igne a materia remoto peccata mea, et impleri eis quae in te deliciis dignum fac, ut duos saltando magnificem, o bone, adventus tuos.

It will be well to borrow also from the Church of Armenia, which celebrates this feast with so much solemnity :

IN TRANSFIGURATION E DOMINI.

O Light intelligible, who, transfigured on the mountain, didst show thy divine power, we glorify thee.

But this ineffable Light of the Godhead thou didst hap-

Sily bear in thy womb, O [ary, Mother and Virgin: we glorify and bless thee.

The choir of the Apostles trembled before the diminished Light; but in thee dwelt fully the fire of the divinity, O Mary, Mother and Virgin : we glorify and bless thee. A bright cloud was spread

Qui transfiguratus in monte vim divinam ostendisti, te glorificamus, intelligibile Lumen.

Ast ipsum deitatis ineffabile Lumen propriis visceribus provide portasti, Maria Mater Virgoque : te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Lumine abbreviato chorus Apostolorum terretur ; ast in te plenius habuisti ignem divinitatis, Maria MaterVirgoque: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Apostolis nubes lucida x tenditur desuper ; ast in te Spiritus Sanctus, virtus Altis8imi, diffunditur obumbrans, sancta Dei Mater : te gloriiicamus et benedicimus.

Christe, Deus noster, da ut cum Petro et filiis Zebedaei tua divina visione digni habeamur.

Ultra montem terrenum aufer nos ad intelligibile tabernaeulum coelo celsius.

Exsultant hodie montes Dei Creatori obviam procedentes, Apostolorum agmina et Prophetarum montibus aeternis sociata.

Hodie sponsa Regis immortalis, Sion excelsa lastatur, adspiciens coalestem Sponsum lumine decorum in gloria Patris.

Hodie virga de radice Jesse floruit in monte Thabor.

Hodie immortalitatis odore manat, inebrians discipulos.

Te benedicimus, consubstantialem Patri, qui venisti salvare mundum. over the Apostles; but upon thee was poured the Holy Spirit, the Power of the Most High, overshadowing thee, O holy Mother of God: we glorify and bless thee.

O Christ our God, grant that with Peter and the sons of Zebedee, we may be deemed worthy of thy divine vision.

Lift us above the earthly mountain to the spiritual tabernacle higher than the heavens.

To-day the mountains of God exult, going to meet the Creator, the troops of Apostles and Prophets associated to the divine mountains.

To-day the bride of the immortal King, the lofty Sion rejoices, beholding her heavenly Spouse adorned with light in the glory of the Father.

To-day the rod of the root of Jesse blossomed on Mount Thabor.

To-day it breathes forth the perfume of immortality, inebriating the disciples.

We bless thee, O Consubstantial Son of the Father, who didst come to save the world.

Let us conclude by addressing to God this prayer of the Ambrosian Missal :

ORATIO SUPER SINDONEM.

Illumina, quaesumus Domine, populum tuum, et splendore gratiae tuae cor eorum semper accende: ut

Enlighten, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy people, and ever kindle their hearts by the brightness of thy grace : that

Sa- Salvatoris mundi, aeterni luminis gloria famulante, manifestata celebritas tibus nostris reveletur semper, et crescat. Per eum- Dominum. through the glory of the viour of the world, the Eternal Light, the mystery here menmanifested may be ever more and more revealed, and may grow in our souls. Through aem the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SAME DAY.

SAINT SIXTUS II, Pope and Martyr,

AND

Sb. FELICISSIMUS and AGAPITUS, Martyrs.

" Xistum in dmiterio animadvermm sciatis oc- " tavo iduum augustarum die. Know that Sixtus " has been beheaded in the cemetery on the 8th of " the Ides of August."1 These words of St. Cyprian mark the opening of a glorious period, both for the cycle and for history. From this day to the feast of St. Cyprian himself, taking in that of the deacon Laurence, how many holocausts in a few weeks does the earth offer to the Most High God! One would think that the Church, on the feast of our Lord's Transfiguration, was impatient to join her testimony as Bride, to that of the Prophets, of the Apostles, and of God himself. Heaven proclaims him well-belovedr the earth also declares its love for him : the testimony of blood and of every sort of heroism is the sublime echo wakened by the Father's voice through all the valleys of our lowly earth, to be prolonged throughout all ages.

Let us, then, to-day salute this noble Pontiff, the first to go down into the arena opened wide by Valerian to all the soldiers of Christ. Among the

1 Cyprian., Epist. lxxxii.

ST. SIXTHS II. brave leaders who, from Peter down to Melchiades, have headed the straggle whereby Rome was both vanquished and saved, none is more illustrious as a martyr. He was seized in the Catacomb lying to the left of the Appian Way, in the very chair wherein, in spite of the recent edicts, he was presiding over the assembly of the brethren; and after the sentence had been pronounced by the judge, he was brought back to the sacred crypt. There in that same chair, in the midst of the martyrs sleeping in the surrounding tombs their sleep of peace, the good and peaceful Pontiff received the stroke of death. Of the seven deacons of the Roman Church, six died with him ;* Laurence alone was left, inconsolable at having this time missed the palm, but trusting in the invitation given him to be at the heavenly altar in three days' time.

Two of the Pontiff '8 deacons were buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus, where the sublime scene had taken place. Sixtus and his blood-stained chair were carried to the other side of the Appian Way into the crypt of the Popes, where they remained for long centuries an object of veneration to pilgrims. When Damasus, in the days of peace, adorned the tombs of the saints with his beautiful inscriptions, the entire cemetery of Callixtus, which includes the burial place of the Popes, received the title "of Cecilia and " of Sixtus," two glorious names inscribed by Rome upon the venerable diptychs of the Mass. Twice over on this day, did the Holy Sacrifice summon the Christians to honour, at each side of the principal Way to the eternal City, the triumphant victims of the 8th of the Ides of August.

1 Pontius Diac. De vita et passione S. Cypriani, xiv.

2 Liber Pontific. in Sixt. II.

3 Sacramentaria Leon, et Gregor.

Xystus Secundus, Atheniensis, ex philosopho Christi discipulus, in persecutions Valeriani accusatus quod publico Christum praedicaret, comprehensus trahitur in templum Martis, proposita ei capitali poena, nisi ill! simulacro sacrificaret. Qua impietate constantissime recusata, cum ad martyrium duceretur, occurrenti sancto Laurentio, et dolenter in hunc modum interroganti : Quo progrederis sine filio pater 7 quo sacerdos sancte sine ministro properasl Kespondit : Non ego te desero fui: majora te manent pro Christi fide certaraina : post triduum me sequeris, sacerdotem levita: interea, si quid in thesauris habes, pauperibus distribue. Eodem jgitur die interfectus est una cum Felicissimo et Agapito diaconis, Januario, Magno, Vincentio et Stephano subdiaconis, et in ccemeterio Callisti sepultus octavo idus Augusti: caateri vero in ccemeterio Praetextati. Sedit menses undecim, dies duodecim. Quo tempore habuit ordinationem mense Decembri, creatis presbyteris quatuor, diaconis septem, episcopis duobus. a PENTECOST.

Sixtus II., an Athenian, was first a philosopher, and then a disciple of Christ. In the persecution of Valerianae was accused of publicly preaching the faith of Christ ; and was seized and dragged to the temple of Mars, where he was given his choice between death and offering sacrifice to the idols. As he firmly refused to commit such an impiety, he was led away to martyrdom. As he went, St. Laurence met him, and with great sorrow, spoke to him in this manner : " Whither goest thou, Father, " without thy son 1 Whither "art thou hastening, O holy " Priest, without thy deacon %" Sixtus answered : 44 I am not "forsaking thee, my son, a " greater combat for the faith " of Christ awaiteth thee. In " three days thou shalt follow " me, the Deacon shall follow "his Priest. In the mean- " while distribute amongst the 44 poor whatever thou hast in " the treasury." He was put to death that same day, the 8th of the Ides of August, together with the Deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, and the Subdeacons Januarius, Magnus, Vincent, and Stephen. The Pope was buried in the cemetery of Callixtus, but the other martyrs in the cemetery of Praetextatus. He sat eleven months and twelve days; during which time he held an ordination in the month of December, and made four priests, seven deacons, and two bishops.

The following Preface from the Leonian Sacramentary breathes the freshness of the Church's triumph over persecution :

PREFACE.

Vere dignum. Cognoscimus enim, Domine, tuae pietatis effectus, quibus nos adeo gloriosi Sacerdotis et tui Xysti semper honoranda solemnia, nec inter prseteritas mundi trivoluisti, et nunc reddita prsestas libertate venerari.

It is truly just to return thanks to thee, O Lord. For we know the effects of thy loving kindness, whereby thou wouldst not suffer us to omit Martyris the ever honourable solemnity of thy glorious Pontiff and Martyr, Sixtus, during the bulationes,omittere past tribulations of the world, and dost enable us to celebrate it now that liberty is restored.

The Prayer now in use is that found in the Gregorian Sacramentary for Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, the name of Saint Sixtus having been placed before theirs :

PRAYER.

Deus, qui nos concedis sanctorum Martyrum tuo- Felicis- rum Xysti, Fehcissimi et simus and Agapitus, colere : da nobis in aeterna beatitudine de eorum societate gaudere. Per Dominum.

O God, who permittest us to keep the festivals of thy holy Martyrs, Sixtus, grant us Agapiti natalitia to rejoice in their society in eternal happiness. Through our Lord, <fec.

August 7. SAINT CAJETAN OF THIENNA,

CONFESSOR.

Cajetan appeared in all his zeal for the sanctuary at the time when the false reform was spreading rebellion throughout the world. The great cause of the danger had been the incapacity of the guardians of the holy City, or their connivance by complicity of heart or of mind with pagan doctrines and manners introduced by an ill-advised revival. Wasted by the wild boar of the forest, could the vineyard of the Lord recover the fertility of its better days? Cajetan learned from Eternal Wisdom the new method of culture required by an exhausted soil.

The urgent need of those unfortunate times was that the clergy should be raised up again by worthy life, zeal, and knowledge. For this object men were required, who being clerks themselves in the full acceptation of the word, with all the obligations it involves, should be to the members of the holy hierarchy a permanent model of its primitive perfection, a supplement to their shortcomings, and a leaven, little by little raising the whole mass. But where, save in the life of the counsels with the stability of its three vows, could be found the impulse, the power, and the permanence necessary for such an enterprise? The inexhaustible fecundity of the religious life was no more wanting in the Church in those days of decadence than in the periods of her glory. After the monks, turning to God in their solitudes and drawing down light and love upon the earth seemingly so forgotten by them; after the mendicant Orders, keeping up in the midst of the world their claustral habits of life and the austerity of the desert : the regular clerks entered upon the battle-field, whereby their position in the fight, their exterior manner of life, their very dress, they were to mingle with the ranks of the secular clergy; just as a few veterans are sent into the midst of a wavering troop, to act upon the rest by word and example and dash.

Like the initiators of the great ancient forms of religious life, Cajetan was the Patriarch of the Regular Clerks. Under this name Clement VII., by a brief dated 24th June, 1524, approved the institute he had founded that very year in concert with the Bishop of Tbeati, from whom the new religious were also called Theatines. Soon the Barnabites, the Society of Jesus, the Somasques of St. Jerome iEmilian, the Regular Clerks Minor of St Francis Carracciolo, the Regular Clerks ministering to the sick, the Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools, the Regular Clerks of the Mother of God, and others, hastened to follow in the track, and proved that the Church is ever beautiful, ever worthy of her Spouse; while the accusation of barrenness hurled against her by heresy, rebounded upon the thrower.

Cajetan began and carried forward his reform chiefly by means of detachment from riches, the love of which had caused many evils in the Church. The Theatines offered to the world a spectacle unknown since the days of the Apostles; pushing their zeal for renouncement so far as not to allow ihemselves even to beg, but to rely on the spontaneous charity of the faithful. While Luther was denying the very existence of God's Providence, their heroic trust in It was often rewarded by prodigies.

Let us now read the life of this new patriarch.

Cajetanus, nobili Thienaea gente Vicentiaa ortus, statim a matre Deiparse Virgini oblatus est. Mira a teneris annis morum innocentia in eo eluxit, adeo ut Sanctus ab omnibus nuncuparetur. Juris utriusque lauream Patavii adeptus, Romam profectusest: ubiinterpraelatos a Julio Secundo collocatus, et sacerdotio initiatus, tanto divini amoris aestu succensus est, ut relicta aula se totum Deo mancipaverit. Nosocomiis proprio aere f undatis, etiam morbo pestilenti laborantibus, suis ipse manibus inserviebat. Proximorum saluti assidua cura incumbebat, dictus propterea Venator animarum.

Collapsam ecclesiasticorum disciplinam ad formam apostolicae vitaa instaurare desiderans, ordinem Clericorum regularium inatituit, qui, abdicata rerum omnium terrenarum sollicitudine,nec reditus possiderent, nec vitae subsidia atidelibus peterent, sed solis eleemosynis sponte oblatis viverent. Itaqueapprobante Clemente Septimo ad aram maximam basilicas

Cajetan was born at Vicenza of the noble house of Thienna, and was at once dedicated by his mother to the Virgin Mother of God. His innocence appeared so wonderful from his very childhood that everyone called him "the " Saint." He took the decree of Doctor in canon and civil law at Padua, and then went to Home where Julius II. made him a Prelate. When he received the priesthood, such a fire of divine love was enkindled in his soul, that he left the court to devote himself entirely to God. He founded hospitals with his own money and himself served the sick, even those attacked with pestilential maladies. He displayed such unflagging zeal for the salvation of his neighbour that he earned the name of the "Hunter of souls."

His great desire was to restore Ecclesiastical discipline, then much relaxed, to the form of the Apostolic life, and to this end he founded the Orderof Regular Clerks. They lay aside all care of earthly things, possess no revenues, do not beg even the necessaries of life from the faithful, but live only on alms spontaneously offered. Clement VII. having approved this in-

ST. CAJETAN stitution, Cajetan made his solemn tows at the High Altar of the Vatican basilica, together with John Peter Caraffa, Bishop of Chieti, who was afterwards Pope Paul IV., and two other men of distinguished piety. During the sack of Rome, he was most cruelly treated by the soldiers, to make him deliver up his money, which the bands of the poor had long ago carried into the heavenly treasures. He endured with the utmost patience stripes, torture, and imprisonment. He persevered unfalteringly in the kind of life he had embraced, relying entirely upon Divine Providence : and God never failed him, as was sometimes proved by miracle.

He was a great promoter of assiduity at the divine worship, of the beauty of the House of God, of exactness in holy ceremonies, and of thefrequent at ion of the most Holy Eucharist. More than once he detected and foiled the wicked subterfuges of heresy. He would prolong his prayers for eight hours, without ceasing to shed tears; he was often rapt in ecstasy and was famous for the gift of prophecy. At Home, one Christmas night, while he was praying at our Lord's crib, the Mother of God was pleased to lay the Infant Jesus in his arms. He would spend whole nights in chastising his body with disciplines, and could never be induced to relax anything

Vaticanse una cum Joanne Petro Caraf a episcopo Theatino, qui postea Paulus Quartus Pontifex Maximus fuit, et aliis duobus eximiaa pietatis viris, vota solemnia emisit. InUrbisdireptione a militibus crudellssime vexatus ut pecuniam proderet, auam dudum in ccelestes thesauros manus pau~ perum deportaverant, verbera, tormenta, et carceres invicta patientia sustinuit. In suscepto vitas instituto constantissime perseveravit, soli divinae providential inhaerens, quam sibi numquam defuisse aliquando miracula comprobarunt.

Divini cultus studium, nitorem domus Dei, sacrorum rituum observantiam, et sanctissimae Eucharistiae frequentiorem usum maxime promovit. Ha3resum monstra et. latebras non semel detexit, ac profligavit. Orationem ad octo passim horas jugibus lacrymis protrahebat: saepe in exstasim raptus, ac prophetiae dono illustris. Roraae nocte natalitia ad praesepe Domini, infantem Jesum accipere meruit a Deipara in ulnas suas. Corpus integras noctes interdum verberationibusaffligebat; necumquam adduci potuit, ut vitae asperitatem emolliret, testatus, in cinere et cilicio velle se morL Denique ex animi dolore concepto morbo, quod offendi plebis seditione Deum videret, coelesti visions recreates, Neapoli migravit in coelum : ibique corpus ejus in ecclesia sancti Pauli magna religions colitur. Quern multis miraculis in vita et post mortem gloriosum, Clemens Decani us Pontifex Maximus sanctorum numero adscripsit. of the austerity of his life : for he would say, he wished to die in sackcloth and ashes. At length he fell into an illness caused by the intense sorrow he felt, at seeing the people offend God by a sedition; and at Naples, after being refreshed by a heavenly vision, he passed to heaven. His body is honoured with great devotion in the Church of St. Paul in that town. As many miracles worked by him both living and dead made his name illustrious, Pope Clement X. enrolled him amongst the Saints.

Who has ever obeyed so well as thou, O ^reat Saint, that word of the Gospel : Be not solicitous therefore saying: What shall we eat? or wJiat shall we drink I or wherewith shall we be clothed? Thou didst understand, too, that other divine word : The workman is worthy of his meat, and thou knewest that it applied principally to those who labour in word and doctrine. Thou didst not ignore the fact that other sowers of the word had before thee founded on that saying the right of their poverty, embraced for God's sake, to claim at least the bread of alms. Sublime right of souls eager for opprobrium in order to follow Jesus and to satiate their love ! But Wisdom, who gives to the desires of the Saints the bent suitable to their times, caused the thirst for humiliation to be overruled in thee by the ambition to exalt in thy poverty the holy Providence of God ; this was needed in an age of renewed paganism, which, even before listening to

J St. Matth. vi. 31. 7 Ibid. x. 10. 3 I Tim. v. 17.

ST. CAJETAN OF THIENNA. heresy, seemed to have ceased to trust in God. Alas! even, of those to whom the Lord had given himself for their possession in the midst of the children of Israel, it could be truly said that they sought the goods of this world like the heathen. It was thy earnest desire, O Cajetan, to justify our Heavenly Father and to prove that he is ever ready to fulfil the promise made by his adorable Son : Seek ye therefore the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Circumstances obliged thee to begin in this way the reformation of the sanctuary, whereunto thou wert resolved to devote thy life. It was necessary, first, to bring back the members of the holy militia to the spirit of the sacred formula of the ordination of clerks, when, laying aside the spirit of the world together with its livery, they say in the joy of their hearts : " The Lord is the portion of my inheritance " and of my cup : it is thou, O Lord, that wilt restore "my inheritance to me."2

The Lord, 0 Cajetan, acknowledged thy zeal and blessed thine efforts. Preserve in us the fruit of thy labour. The science of sacred rites owes much to thy sons ; may they prosper, in renewed fidelity to the traditions of their lather. May thy patriarchal blessing ever rest upon the numerous families of fiegular Clerks which walk in the footsteps of thine own. May all the ministers of holy Church experience the power thou still hast, of maintaining them in the right path of their holy state, or, if necessary, of bringing them back to it. May the example of thy sublime confidence in God, teach all Christians that they have a Father in heaven, whose Providence will never fail his children.

1 St. Matth. vi. 33.

5 Pontificate Romanum. De clerico faciendo, ex Ps. xv. 5.

Let us honour the holy memory of the Bishop of Arezzo whom the persecution of Julian the Apostate sent on this day to heaven. The following prayer, wherein the Church expresses her unchanging confidence in his powerful intercession, is found so far back as in the Gelasian Sacramentary ; though the title of Confessor is there used instead of Martyr, it is beyond all question that Donatus died for Christ.

PRAYER.

Deus,tuorum gloria sacer- O dotum : rjraeata quaesumus ; ut sancti Martyris tui et Episcopi Donati, cujus festa gerimus, sentiamus auxi- Tium. PerDominum.

God, the glory of thy priests, grant, we beseech thee, that we may experience the succour of thy holy martyr and bishop, Donatus, whose festival we celebrate. Through our Lord, (fee

August 8.

Ss. CYRIACUS, L ARGUS, AND SMARAGDUS,

To-DAY a precursor of Laurence appears on the cycle, the deacon Cyriacus, whose power over the demon made hell tremble, and entitles him to a place among the Saints called helpers. He and his companions in martyrdom form one of the noblest groups of Christ's army in that last and decisive battle, wherein the eagerness of the faithful to show that they knew how to die, won victory for the Cross. Rome, baptized in the blood she had shed, found herself Christian in spite of herself; all her honours were now to be lavished upon the very men whom in the time of her folly she had put to the sword. Such are thy triumphs, O Wisdom of God !

Mention of the three martyrs celebrated to-day is to be found in the most authentic calendars of the Church that have come down to us from the fourth century. If then, as Baronius acknowledges, there is some reason for calling in question certain details of the legend, their cultus is none the less immemorial upon earth ; and the unwavering devotion of which they are the objects, especially in the sanctuaries enriched with their holy relics, proves that they have great power before the throne of the Lamb.

1 Calendariura Bucherii. " 2 Annal. ad An. 309, vL

MARTYRS.

Cyriacus diaconus, cum Sisinio, Largo, et Smaragdo diutius inclusus in carcere, molta edidit miracula,in quibus Artbemiam Diocletiani filiam precibus a daemone liberavit: missusque ad Saporem Persarum regem, Jobiam etiam ejus filiam a nefario spiritu eripuit. Rege vero ejus patre cum quadringentis ac trigiuta aliis baptizatis Komam rediit : ubi Maximiani imperatoris jussu comprehensus, eaten is vinctus ante rhedam suam trahitur : et post dies quatuor e carcere eductus, pice liquata perf usus, et in catasta extensus, demum cum Largo et Smaragdo, aliisque viginti securi percussus est via Salaria, ad hortos Sallustianos. Quorum corpora in eadem via, decimo septimo calendas Aprilis, sepulta a Joanne presbytero, postea sexto idus Augustia Marcello Pontifice, et Lucina nobili femina lineis velis involuta, et pretiosis unguentis condita, in ipsius Lucinae praedium via Ostiensi, septimo ab Urbe lapide translata sunt.

Cyriacus, a deacon, underwent a long imprisonment together with Largus, Sisinius and Smaragdus, and worked many miracles. Amongst others, by his prayers, he freed Arthemia, a daughter of Diocletian, from the possession of the devil. He was sent to Sapor, king of Persia, and delivered his daughter, Jobia, in like manner from the devil. He baptized the king, her father, and four hundred and thirty others, and then returned to Rome. There he was seized by command of the Emperor Maximian, and dragged in chains before his chariot. Four days afterwards he was taken out of prison, boiling pitch was poured over him, he was stretched on the rack, and at length he was put to death by the axe, with Largus, Smaragdus, and twenty others at Sallust's Gardens on the Salarian Way. A priest named John buried their bodies on that same way, on the 17th of the Calends of April, but on the 6th of the Ides of August, Pope Marcellus and the noble lady Lucina wrapt them in linen with precious spices, and translated them to Lucina's estate on the Ostian Way, seven miles from Borne.