August 11 — Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, Martyrs. ♦

Laurence is followed to-day by the son of Chromatins, prefect of Rome, Tiburtius, who also suffered upon burning coals for the confession of his faith. Though forty years intervened between the two martyrdoms, it was the same Holy Spirit that animated these witnesses of Christ and suggested to them the same answer to their executioners. Tiburtius, walking upon the fire, cried out : " Learn " that the God of the Christians is the only God, for " these hot coals seem flowers to me."

Equally near to the great Archdeacon stands an illustrious virgin, so bright herself as not to be eclipsed by him. A relative of both the Emperor Diocletian and the holy Pope Caius, Susanna, it is said, one day beheld the imperial crown at her feet. But she obtained a far greater nobility; for, by preferring the wreath of virginity, she won at the same time the palm of martyrdom.

Now, as St. Leo remarks, on the glorious solemnity whose Octave we are keeping, if no one is good for himself alone, if the favours of Divine Wisdom profit not only the recipient, then, no one is more wise than the martyr, no eloquence can instruct the people so well as his. It is by this excellent manner of teaching that, as the Church tells us to-day, "Laurence enlightened the whole world with the " light of his fire, and by the flames which he endured "he warmed the hearts of all Christians. By the " example of his martyrdom, faith is enkindled and " devotion fostered in our souls. The persecutor lays " no hot coals for me, but he sets me on fire with " desire of my Saviour."1 If, moreover, and it is not mere theory to repeat it in our days, if, as St. Augustine remarks, " circumstances place a man in " the alternative of transgressing a divine precept or "losing his life, he too must know how to die for " the love of God, rather than live at enmity with "him."2 Morality does not change, neither does the justice of God, who in all ages rewards the faithful, as in ail ages be chastises cowards.

The Mozarabic Missal eloquently expresses the grandeur of St. Laurence's martyrdom in this beautiful formula which precedes the Consecration on the day of his feast.

POST SANCTUS.

Hosanna in excelsis : vere Hosanna in the highest. It dignum et justum est, omni is truly meet and just, at all quidem tempore, sed praeci- times, but especially in honour pue in honorem Sanctorum of thy saints, to return thanks tuorum, nos tibi gratias, to thee, O God, co-eternal consempiterna Trinitas et Trinity, consubstantial and consubstantialis et co-opera- co-operatrix of all good things, trix omnium bonorum Deus, and to offer sacrifices of praise et pro beatissimi Martyris on this illustrious day of thy tui Lauren tii celeberrimo die, most blessed martyr Laurence, laudum hostias immolare. The glorious triumph of whose

Cujus gloriosum passionis passion brought round again triumphum, anni circulo re- by the circle of the year, the volutum, Ecclesia tua laBta Church doth joyfully cele-

1 p8eudo*Ava. Sermo 30 de Sanctis. 2 Aug. Tract, in Joan. 51.

SS. TIBURTIUS AN!

brate : for in teaching he was nearly equal to thine Apostles ; but in the confession of his Lord not unequal. He adorned the snow-white robe of the Levite with the purple of the blood of martyrdom: thou didst so inflame his heart with thy fire which thou earnest to cast on the earth, that he felt not the visible fire; by the strong purpose of his mind he overcame the flames that surrounded his body ; and strong in faith, feared not the burning coal.

Placed upon the gridiron, thy chaste minister offered himself a new sacrifice to thee: and burnt as a holocaust upon the altar, sent up a sweet savour to the Lord. There the incomparable Martyr, while his heart and bowels and the marrow of his bones were melting away, suffered his limbs to be roasted, with invincible virtue of patience. There stretched out he lay hanging over the fire: crude impiety broiled the holocaust of piety, and inhaled the hot vapours from the liquefying members. Thy minister laid his own body on the altar, a new kind of sacrifice to be celebrated. The praiseworthy Levite was to himself both pontiff and victim. And he who had been a minister at the offering of the Lord's Body, in offering himself performed the office of priest. concelebrat: Apostolis quidem tuis in doctrina supparem : sed in Domini confessione non imparem. Qui niveam iliam stolam Leviticam, martyrii cruore purpureo decora vit : cujus cor in igne tuo, quern veneras mittere super terram, ita flammasti: ut ignem istum visibilem non sentiret: et appositas corpori flammas mentis ihtentione superaret : ardentemque globum fide validus non timeret.

Quique craticulae superpositus, novum sacrificium tibi semetipsum castus minister exhibuit: et veluti super aram holocausti more decoctus, saporem Domino suavitatis ingessit. In quo incomparabihs Martyr praecordiis pariter ac visceribus medullisque liquescentibus desudavit, ac defluentia membra torreri invicta virtute patientise toleravit. In quo extensus ac desuper fixus, subjectis jacuit ac pependit incendiis : et holocaustum pietatis cruda coxit impietas: quae sudorem liquescentium viscerum bibulis vaporibus suscepit. Supra quam velut super altare corpus suum, novi

Veneris sacrificium celebranum minister imposuit: et Levita praedicandus ipse sibi Pontifex et hostia fuit. Et qui fuerat minister Dominici corporis, in offerendo semetipsum officio functus est sacerdotio.

Tuam igitur Domine in eo virtutem, tuamque potentiam prgedicamus. Nam quis crederet corpus fragili compage conglutinatum,tantis sine te sufficere conflictibus potuisse? quis incendiorum sestibus humana aestimaret membra non cedere : nisi flagrantior a te veniens interiorem hominem Jampas animasset : cujus potentia factum est, ut laeta rore suo anima, coctione

Sroprii corporis exsultaret: urn versari se Martyr prsecipit, et vorari : ne et paratam coronam uno moriendi genere sequeretur: et sic lenitate cruciatuum vitalis tardaret interitus, non existeret gloriosus coronatus. Per te Dominum qui es Salvator omnium et Redemptor animarum.

PENTECOST.

It is therefore, O Lord, thy power and thy might that we raise in him. For who would elieve that a body formed of fragile structure could, without thee, endure such torments? Who would not think that human members would yield before the heat of the fire, had not a fiercer flame, coming from thee, fired the interior man 1 By thy power it was, that the soul, rejoiced with spiritual dew, exulted at the broiling of its own body : the Martyr bade them turn him and devour him : lest he should obtain the crown by only one death ; and thus, the mildness of the torments should retard life- givingdeath, andhe should be less gloriously crowned. Through thee, our Lord, who art the Saviour and Redeemer of all souls.

August 42. SAINT CLARE,

VIRGIN.

The same year in which St. Dominic, before making any project with regard to his sons, founded the first establishment of the Sisters of his Order, the companion destined for him by heaven received his mission from the Crucifix in the church of St. Damian, in these words: "Go, Francis, repair my "house which is falling to ruin." The new patriarch inaugurated his work, as Dominic had done, by preparing a dwelling for his future daughters, whose sacrifice might obtain every grace for the great Order he was about to found. The house of the Poor Ladies occupied the thoughts of the seraph of Assisi, even before St. Mary of the Portiuncula, the cradle of the Friars Minor. Thus, for a second time this month, Eternal Wisdom shows us that the fruit of salvation, though it may seem to proceed from the word and from action, springs first from silent contemplation.

Clare was to Francis the help like unto himself, who begot to the Lord that multitude of heroic virgins and illustrious penitents soon reckoned by the Order in all lands, coming from the humblest condition and from the steps of the throne. In the new chivalry of Christ, Poverty, the chosen Lady of St. Francis, was to be the queen also of her whom

God had given him as a rival and a daughter. Following to the utmost limits the Man-God humbled and stripped of all things for us, she nevertheless felt that she and her sisters were already queens in the kingdom of heaven :l "In the little nest of poverty," she used lovingly to say, "what jewel could the "bride esteem so much as conformity with a God " possessing nothing, become a little One whom the "poorest of mothers wrapt in humble swathing bands "and laid in a narrow crib?"2 And she bravely defended against the highest authorities the privilege of absolute poverty, which the great Pope Innocent III. feared to grant. Its definitive confirmation, obtained two days before the Saint's death, came as the long-desired reward of forty years of prayer and suffering for the Church of God.

This noble daughter of Assisi had justified the prophecy, whereby sixty years previously, her mother Hortulana had learnt that the child would enlighten the world; the choice of the name given her at her birth had been well inspired. " Oh ! how powerful " was the virgin's light," said the sovereign Pontiff in the Bull of her Canonization ; " how penetrating " were her rays ! She hid herself in the depth of the "cloister, and her brightness transpiring filled the "house of God."4 From her poor solitude which she never quitted, the vfery name of Clare seemed to carry grace and light everywhere, and made far-off cities yield fruit to God and to her father, St. Francis.

Embracing the whole world where her virginal

3 Regula Damianitaruni, viii. *

2 Regula ii.; Vita S. Clane, coaeva ii.

3 Clara claris preeclara meritis, magna} in coelo claritate glorise ac in terra splendore miraculorum sublimium, clare claret. — Bvlla Canonizationis.

4 Bulla Canonizationis.

ST. CLARE. family was being multiplied, her motherly heart overflowed with affection for the daughters she had never seen. Let those who think that austerity embraced for God's sake dries up the soul, read these lines from her correspondence with Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. Agnes, daughter of Ottacar I., had rejected the offer of an imperial marriage to take the religious Habit, and was renewing at Prague the wonders of St Damian's. " 0 my mother and my " daughter/' said our Saint, " if I have not written " to you as often as my soul and yours would wish, " be not surprised : as your mother's heart loved you, "so do I cherish you; but messengers are scarce, " and the roads full of danger. As an opportunity " offers to-day, I am full of gladness, and I rejoice " with you in the joy of the Holy Ghost. As the " first Agnes united herself to the immaculate Lamb, "so it is given to you, 0 fortunate one, to enjoy this 4 ; union (the wonder of heaven) with him, the desire " of whom ravishes every soul ; whose goodness is all "sweetness, whose vision is beatitude, who is the " light of the eternal light, the mirror without spot ! " Look at yourself in this mirror, O queen ! 0 bride ! " unceasingly by its reflection enhance your charms ; "without and within adorn yourself with virtues; "clothe yourself as beseems the daughter and the "spouse of the supreme King. O beloved, with "your eyes on this mirror, what delight it will be " given you to enjoy in the divine grace ! . . . Re* " member, however, your poor Mother, and know that " for my part your blessed memory is for ever graven " on my heart."1

Not only did the Franciscan family benefit by a charity which extended to all the worthy interests of this world. Assisi, delivered from the lieutenants of

1 S. Clarae ad B Agnetem, Epist. iv. the excommunicated Frederick II. and from the Saracen horde in his pay, understood how a holy woman is a safeguard to her earthly city. But our Lord loved especially to make the princes of holy Church and the Vicar of Christ experience the humble power, the mysterious ascendency, wherewith he had endowed his chosen one. St Francis himself, the first of all, had in one of those critical moments known to the Saints, sought from her direction and light for his seraphic soul. From the ancients of Israel, there came to this virgin not yet thirty years old, such messages as this : " To his very dear Sister in Jesus "Christ, to his mother the Lady Clare handmaid of " Christ, Hugolin of Ostia, unworthy bishop and " sinner. Ever since the hour when I had to deprive " myself of your holy conversation, to snatch myself "from that heavenly joy, such bitterness of heart " causes my tears to flow, that, if I did not find at "the feet of Jesus the consolation which his love "never refuses, my mind would fail and my soul "would melt away. Where is the glorious joy of " that Easter spent in your company and that of the "other handmaids of Christ? ... I knew that I "was a sinner; but at the remembrance of your " supereminent virtue, my misery overpowers me, and " I believe myself unworthy ever to enjoy again that "conversation of the Saints, unless your tears and " prayers obtain pardon for my sins. I put my soul, "then, into your hands; to you I intrust my mind, " that you may answer for me on the day of judgment. " The Lord Pope will soon be going to Assisi ; Oh I "that I may accompany him, and see you once "more! Salute my sister Agnes (i.e. St. Clare's "own sister and first daughter in God); salute all "your sisters in Christ."1 The great Cardinal Hugolin, though more than

1 Wadding ad an. 1221.

ST. CLARE. eighty years of age, became soon after Gregory IX. During his fourteen years' pontificate, which was one of the most brilliant as well as most laborious of the thirteenth century, he was always soliciting Clare's interest in the perils of the Church, and the immense cares which threatened to crush his weakness. For, says the contemporaneous historian of our Saint : " He knew very well what love can do, and " that virgins have free access to the sacred court : " for what could the King of heaven refuse to those, "to whom he has given himself?"1

At length her exile, which had been prolonged twenty-seven years after the death of Francis, was about to close. Her daughters beheld wings of fire over her head and covering her shoulders, indicating that she, too, had reached seraphic perfection. On hearing that a loss which so concerned the whole Church was imminent, the Pope, Innocent IV., came from Perugia with the Cardinals of his suite. He imposed a last trial on the Saint's humility, by commanding her to bless, in his presence, the bread which had been presented for the blessing of the sovereign Pontiff ; heaven approved the invitation of the Pontiff and the obedience of the Saint, for no sooner had the virgin blessed the loaves than each was found to be marked with a cross.

A prediction that Clare was not to die without receiving a visit from the Lord surrounded by his disciples was now fulfilled. The Vicar of Jesus Christ presided at the solemn funeral rites paid by Assisi to her who was its second glory before God and men. When they were beginning the usual chants for the dead, Innocent would have had them substitute the Office for holy Virgins ; but on being advised that such a canonization, before the body

1 Vita S. Clarae coteva iii.

2 Wadding ad an. 1253, though the fact is referred by others to the Pontificate of Gregory IX. wa interred, would be considered premature, the Pontiff allowed them to continue the accustomed chants. The insertion, however, of the Virgin's name in the catalogue of the Saints was only deferred for two years.

The following lines are consecrated by the Church to her memory :

. Clara nobilis virgo, Assisii nata in Umbria, sanctum Franciscum concivem suum imitata, cuncta sua bona in eleemosynas et pauperum subsidia distribuit et convertit De saeculi strepitu fugiens, in campestrem declinavit ecclesiam, ibique ab eodem beato Francisco recepta tonsura, consanguineis ipsam reducere conantibus fortiter restitit. Et denique ad ecclesiam sancti Damiani fuit per eumdem adducta, ubi ei Dominus plures socias aggregavit, et sic ipsa sacrarum sororum collegium instituit, quarum regimen, nimia sancti Francisci devicta importunitate, recepit. Suum monasterium sollicite ac prudenter in timore Domini, ac • plena Ordinis observantia, annis quadraginta duobus mirabiliter gubernavit : ejus enim vita erat aliis eruditio et doctrina, unde caeterse Vivendi regulam didicerunt.

Ut came depressa, spiritu convalesceret, nudam humum, et interdum sarmenta pro lecto habebat, et pro pulvinari sub capite durum lignum Una tunica

The noble virgin Clare was born at Assisi, in Umbria. Following the example of St. Francis, her fellow-citizen, she distributed all her goods in alms to the poor, and, fleeing from the noise of the world, she retired to a country church, where blessed Francis cut off her hair. Her relations attempted to bring her back to the world, but sne bravely resisted all their endeavours ; and then St. Francis took her to the church of St Damian. Here our Lord gave her several companions,so that she founded a convent of consecrated virgins, and her reluctance being overcome by the earnest desire of her holy father, she undertook its government. For forty-two years she ruled her monastery with wonderful care and prudence, in the fear of God and the full observance of the Rule. Her own life was a lesson and an example to others, showing all how to live aright.

She subdued her body in order to grow strong in spirit Her bed was the bare ground, or, at times, a few twigs, and for a pillow she used a piece of hard wood. Her dress con- cum mantello de vili et utebatur, aspero cilicio nonnumquam adhijuxta carnem. Tanta se fraenabat abstinentia, ut longo tempore tribus in hebdomada diebus nihil penitus pro sui corporis aligustaverit : reliquis autem diebus tali se cioorum parvitate restringens, ut aliae, quomodo subsistere poterat, mirarentur. Binas quotannis (antequam aegrosolo pane et aqua refecta jejuna- "bat. Vigiliis insuper et orationibus assidue dedita, in praecipue dies noctesque expendebat. Diutinis perlanguoribus, cum ad non posset surgere per se ipsamr sororum suffragiis levabatur, et fulcimentis ad tergum appositis, laborabat propriis manibus, ne in suis etiam esset infirm itatibus otiosa. Amatrix praecipua paupertatis, ab ea pro nulla umquam necessitate discesde- sit, et possessiones pro rorum sustentatione a Nono oblatas constantissime recusavit. sup- sisted of a single tunic and a hismantle of poor coarse stuff ; pido panno and she often wore a rough hair-shirt next to her skin, bito So great was her abstinence, that for a long time she took absolutely no bodily nourishment for three days of the week, and on the remaining mento days restricted herself to so small a quantity of food, that the other religious wondered how she was able to live, Before her health gave way, it was her custom to keep two taret) quadragesimas Lents in the year, fasting on bread and water. Moreover, she devoted herself to watching and prayer, and in these his exercises especially she would spend whole days and nights, plexa She suffered from frequent exercitium corporate and long illnesses ; but when she was unable to leave her bed in order to work, she would make her sisters raise and prop her up in a sitting position, so that she could work with her hands, and thus not be idle even in sickness. She had a very great love of poverty, never soviating from it on account of Greany necessity, and she firmly gorio refused the possessions offered by Gregory IX. for the port of the sisters. sane- Multis et variis miraculis virtus suae sanctitatis effulsit. Cuidam de sororibus sui monasterii loquelam restituit expeditam : alteri aurem surdam aperuit : laborantem febre, tumentem plagatam fistula, aliasque aliis oppressas lan-

The greatness of her tity was manifested by many different miracles. She restored the power of speech to one of the sisters of her monastery, to another the power of hearing. She healed one of a fever, one of dropsy, one of hydropisi, an ulcer, and many others of guoribus liberavit. Fratrem de Ordine Minor urn ab insaniae passione sanavit. Cum oleum in monasterio totaliter defecisset, Clara accepit urceum, atque lavit, et inventus est oleo, beneficio divinae largitatis, impletus. Unius panis medietatem adeo multiplicavit, ut sororibus quinquaginta suffecerit. Saracenis Assisium obsidentibus, et Clarae monasterium invadere conantibus, aegra se ad portam afferri voluit, unaque vas, in quo sanctissimum Eucharistiae sacramentum erat inclusum, ibique oravit: Ne tradas, Domine, bestiis animas, confitentes tibi, et custodi famulas tuas, quas pretioso sanguine redemistL In cujus oratione ea vox audita est : Ego vos semper custodiam. Saraceni autem partim se fugas mandarunt, partim qui murum ascenderant, capti oculis, praecipites ceciderunt. Ipsa denique Virgo, cum in extremis ageret, a candido beatarum Virginum coetu (inter quas una eminentior ac f ulgidior apparebat) visitata, ac sacra Eucharistia sumpta, et peccatorum indulgentia ab Innocentio Quarto ditata, pridie Idus Augusti animam Deo reddidit Post obitum vero quamplurimis miracu - lis resplendentem Alexander Quartus inter sanctas Virgines retulit., i PENTECOST. various maladies. She cured of insanity a brother of the Order of Friars Minor. Once when all the oil in the monastery was spent, Clare took a vessel and washed it, and it was found filled with oil by the loving kindness of God. She multiplied half a loaf so that it sufficed for fifty sisters. When the Saracens attacked the town of Assisi and attempted to break into Clare's monastery, she, though sick at the time, had herself carried to the gate, and also the vessel which contained the most Holy Eucharist, and there she prayed, saying : " O " Lord, deliver not unto beasts " the souls of them that praise " thee ; but preserve thy hand- " maids whom Thou hast re- " deemed with thy precious 4t Blood." Whereupon a voice was heard, which said: " I will "always preserve you." Some of the Saracens took to flight, others who had already scaled the walls were struck blind and fell down headlong. At length, when the virgin Clare came to die, she was visited by a white-robed multitude of blessed virgins, amongst whom was one nobler and more resplendent than the rest. Having received the Holy Eucharist and a Plenary Indulgence from Innocent IV., she gave up her soul to God on the day before the Ides of August. After her death she became celebrated by numbers of miracles, and Alexander IV. enrolled her among the holy virgins.

ST. CLARE.

O Clare, the reflection of the Spouse which adorns the Church in this world no longer suffices thee ; thou now beholdest the light with open face. The brightness of the Lord plays with delight in the pure crystal of thy soul, increasing the happiness of heaven, and giving joy this day to our valley of exile. Heavenly beacon, with thy gentle shining enlighten our darkness. May we, like thee, by purity of heart, by uprightness of thought, by simplicity of gaze, fix upon ourselves the divine ray, which flickers in a wavering soul, is dimmed by our waywardness, is interrupted or put out by a double life divided between God and the world.

Thy life, O Virgin, was never thus divided. The most high poverty t which was thy mistress and guide, preserved thy mind from that bewitching of vanity which takes off the bloom of all true goods for us mortals. Detachment from all passing things kept thine eye fixed upon eternal realities ; it opened thy soul to that seraphic ardour wherein thou didst emulate thy father Francis. Like the Seraphim, whose gaze is ever fixed on God, thou hadst immense influence over the earth ; and St. Damian's, during thy lifetime, was a source of strength to the world.

Deign to continue giving us thine aid. Multiply thy daughters ; keep them faithful in following their Mother's example, so as to be a strong support to the Church. May the various branches of the Franciscan family be ever fostered by thy rays, and may all Religious Orders be enlightened by thy gentle brightness. Shine upon us all, O Clare, and show us the worth of this transitory life and of that which never ends.

August 13. SAINT RADEGONDE,

QUEEN OF FRANCE. ♦

Never was such a booty won as that obtained by the sons of Clovis in their expedition against Thuringia towards the year 530. Receive this blessing from the spoils of the enemy, might they well say on presenting to the Franks the orphan brought from the court of the fratricide prince whom they had just chastised. God seemed in haste to ripen the soul of Radegonde. After the tragic death of her relatives followed the ruin of her country. So vivid was the impression made in the child's heart, that long afterwards the recollection awakened in the queen and the Saint a sorrow and a homesickness which nought but the love of Christ could overcome. " I have seen the plain strewn with dead "and palaces burnt to the ground; I have seen " women, with eyes dry from very horror, mourning " over fallen Thuringia ; I alone have survived to "weep over them all."2

The licentiousness of the Frankish kings was as unbridled as that of her own ancestors ; yet in their land the little captive found Christianity, which she

1 1 Kings xxx. 26.

2 De excidio Thnringiee, i„ v. 5-36, Fortunatus ex persona Radegundis. had not hitherto known. The faith was a healing balm to this wounded soul. Baptism, in giving her to God, sanctified, without crushing, her highspirited nature. Thirsting for Christ, she wished to be martyred for him ; she sought him on the cross of self-renunciation ; she found him in his poor suffering members; looking on the face of a leper, she would see in it the disfigured countenance of her Saviour, and thence rise to the ardent contemplation of the triumphant Spouse, whose glorious Face illumines the abode of the Saints.

What a loathing, therefore, did she feel when offering her royal honours, the destroyer of her own country sought to share with God the possession of a heart that heaven alone could comfort or gladden ! First flight, then the refusal to comply with the manners of a court where everything was repulsive to her desires and recollections, her eagerness to break, on the very first opportunity, a bond which violence alone had contracted, prove that the trial had no other effect, as her Life says, but to bend her soul more and more to the sole object of her love.

Meanwhile, near the tomb of St. Martin, another queen, Clotilde, the mother of the most Christian kingdom, was about to die. Unfortunate are those times when the men after God's own heart, at their departure from earth, leave no one to take their place ; as the Psalmist cried out in a just consternation : Save me, 0 Lord, for there is now no saint ! For, though the elect pray for us in heaven, they can no longer fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in their flesh, for his body, which is the Church. The work begun at the baptistery of Rheims was not yet completed ; the Gospel, though reigning by faith over the

1 Baudonivia, Vita Radegundis, 2. 8 Ps. xi. 2. * CoL i. 24. pent. iv. 2 B

Frankish nation, had not yet subdued its manners. Christ, who loved the Franks, heard the last prayer of the mother he had given them, and refused her not the consolation of knowing that she should have a successor. Radegonde was set free, just in time to prevent an interruption in the laborious work of forming the Church's eldest daughter ; and she took up in solitude the struggle with God, by prayer and expiation, begun by the widow of Clovis.

In the joy of having cast off an odious yoke, forgiveness was an easy thing to her great soul; in her monastery at Poitiers she showed an unfailing devotedness for the kings whose company she had fled. The fortune of France was bound up with theirs; France the cradle-land of her supernatural life, where the Man-God had revealed himself to her heart, and which she therefore loved with part of the love reserved for her heavenly country. The peace and prosperity of her spiritual fatherland occupied her thoughts day and night. If any quarrel arose among the princes, say the contemporary accounts, she trembled from head to foot at the very thought of the country's danger. She wrote, according to their different dispositions, to each of the kings, imploring them to consider the welfare of the nation; she interested the chief vassals in her endeavours to prevent war. She imposed on her community assiduous watchings, exhorting them with tears to pray without ceasing; as to herself, the tortures she inflicted on herself for this end are inexpressible.

The only victory, then, that Radegonde desired, was peace among the princes of the earth ; when she had gained this by her struggle with the King of heaven, her joy in the service of the Lord was redoubled, and the tenderness she felt for her devoted helpers, the

1 Baudonivia, 7. 2 Ibid. xi. nuns of Sainte-Croix, could scarcely find utterance : " You, the daughters of my choice," she would say, " my eyes, my life, my sweet repose, so live with me " in this world, that we may meet again in the happiness of the next." And they responded to her love. " By the God of heaven it is true, that every- " thing in her reflected the splendour of her soul." Such was the spontaneous and graceful cry of her daughter Baudonivia; and it was echoed by the graver voice of the historian-bishop, Gregory of Tours, who declared that the supernatural beauty of the Saint remained even in death; it was a brightness from heaven, which purified while it attracted hearts, which caused the Italian Venantius Fortunatus to cease his wanderings, made him a Saint and a Pontiff, and inspired him with his most beautiful poems.

The light of God could not but be reflected in her, who, turning towards him by uninterrupted contemplation, redoubled her desires as the end of her exile approached. Neither the relics of the Saints, which she had so sought after as speaking to her of her true home, nor her dearest treasure, the Cross of her Lord, was enough for her ; she would fain have drawn the Lord himself from his throne, to dwell visibly on earth. She only interrupted her sighs, to excite in others the same longings. She exhorted her daughters not to neglect the knowledge of divine things ; and explained to them with profound science and motherly love the difficulties of the Scriptures. As she increased the holy readings of the community for the same end, she would say : " If you do not understand, "ask; why do you fear to seek the light of your souls V* And she would insist: "Reap, reap the wheat of the " Lord ; for I tell you truly, you will not have long

1 Greg. Turon. De gloria confessorum, cvi.

2 Fortunat. Miscellanea, viil, i., il, etc.

" to do it : reap, for the time draws near, when you " will wish to recall the days that are now given you, "and your regrets will not be able to bring them "back." And the loving Chronicler, to whom we owe these sweet intimate details, continues : " In our " idleness we listen coolly to the announcement ; but " that time has come all too soon. Now is realized " in us the prophecy which says : i" will send forth " a famine into thy land : not a famine of bread, " nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the Word of " the Lord} For though we still read her conferences, "that voice which never ceased, is now silent; those " lips, ever ready with wise advice and sweet words, " are closed. O most good God, what an expression, " what features, what manners thou hadst given her 1 " No, no one could describe it. The remembrance is " anguish ! That teaching, that gracefulness, that face, " that mien, that science, that piety, that goodness, " that sweetness, where are we to seek them now ? "

Such touching sorrow does honour to both Mother and daughters ; but it could not keep back the former from her reward. On the morning of the Ides of August 587, while Sainte-Croix was filled with lamentations, an Angel was heard saying to others on high: "Leave her yet longer, for the tears of her "daughters have ascended to God." But those who were bearing Radegonde away replied: "It is too "late, she is already in Paradise."2

Let us read the Liturgical account, which will complete .what we have said :

Radegun dis, Bertharii Radegonde was the daughter

Thuringorum regis filia, de- of Berthaire, king of Thurin- cennis captiva a Francis gia. When ten years old she abducta, cum insigni et regia was led away captive by the esset forma, Francorum re- Franks ; and on account of gibus cui ipsa cederet inter her striking and queenly

1 Amoe viii. 11. 2 Baudonivia. se decertantibus, Clotario Suessionum regi sorte obtigit; qui optimis gistris credidit, liberalibus erudiendam disciplinis. avide acceptis fidei christianae documentis, et ejurato haereditario, inanium deorum cultu, non sed et beauty their kings disputed among themselves for the possession of her. They drew earn malots, and she fell to the share of Clothaire , king of Soissons. He entrusted her education to Turn puella, excellent masters. Child as she was, she eagerly imbibed the doctrines of the Christian faith, and renouncing the wor- prsecepta tan turn, had learnt from her fathers, consUia. Adultiorem jam she determined to observe not factam Clotarius, qui sibi only the precepts, but also the dudum illam addixerat ux- counsels of the Gospel. When orem, in conjugium excepit : she was grown up, Clothaire, unde licet invita, quin et who had long before chosen altera vice fuga elapsa, cunc- her, took her to wife, and in tis plaudentibus regina salu- spite of her refusal, in spite of tatur. Ad honores igitur her attempts at flight, she was solii evecta, beneficentiam proclaimed queen, to the great in pauperes, assiduas ora- joy of all. When thus raised tiones, crebras vigilias, jgjju- to the throne, she joined nia, aliasque corporis afflic- charity to the poor, con tin- tationes cum regia dignitate ual prayer, frequent watch- conjunxit, adeo ut non re- ings, fasting and other bodily gina, sed monacha jugalis ab austerities to her regal dignity, aalicis pietatem deridenti- so that the courtiers said in bus diceretur. scorn that the king had married not a queen, but a nun.

Ejus patientia maxime enituit in tolerandis variis, ei rex inferebat. Cum autem ratrem suum fuisse occisum, ab aula recon- pente discessit, ipso rege et beatum Medardum episcopum adiit, inut Domino consecraretur. Provero vehementer obsistebant ne pontifex quae solemni regi. Atillastatim

Her patience shone out brightly in supporting many grievous trials caused her by durioribusque molestiisquas the king. But when she heard that her o wn brother had been audivisset f gerunjustly slain by command of manumClotarii jussuinjuste Olothaire, she instantly left the court with the king's sent, and going to the blessed annuente, bishop Medara she earnestly begged him to consecrate her stantissime deprecans to the Lord. The nobles strongly opposed his giving ceres the veil to her whom the king earn had solemnly married. But velaret, more she at once went into the nupsisset

;elica decrevit servare ingressa sacrarium, monastica veste seip?am induit; indeque procedens ad altare, episcopum sic allocuta est: Si me consecrare distuleris, plus hominem reveritus quam Deum, erit qui animam abs te meam exigat. Quibus ille verbis commotus, reginam sacro velamine initiavit, et manu imposita diaconissam consecravit. Pictavum deinde perrexit, ubi mon aster ium virginum condidit, quod postea titulo sanctae Cruris nuncupatum est Virtutum splendore praecellens, ad sacrae religionis amplexum innumerabiles pene virginis pertraxit : quibus, ob eximia divinae in se gratiae testimonia, omnium efflagit at ion e praefecta, ministrare gaudebat magis quam praeesse.

Miraculorum licet multitudine longe lateque refulgens, prim as dignitatis penitus immemor, vilissima et abjectissima quaevis munia expetebat. iEgrorum , egen - tium,ac maxime leprosorum curam praecipue dilexit : quos saspe ab infirmitatibus mirabiliter liberabat. Ea pietate divinum altaris sacrificium prosequebatur, ut propriis manibus conficeret

Sanes sacrandos, quos dein iversis suppeditabat ecclesiis. Quas vero inter regales delicias totam se carnis mortificationi impenderat, quseque ab adolescentia martyrii t PENTECOST. sacristy and clothed herself in the monastic habit. Then advancing to the altar she thus addressed the bishop : u If you "hesitate to consecrate me " because you fear man more "than God, there is one who "will demand an account of "my soul from you." These words deeply touched Medard; he placed the sacred veil upon the queen's head, and imposing his hands upon her, consecrated her a deaconess. She proceeded to Poitiers and there founded a monastery of virgins which was afterwards called of the "Holy Cross." The splendour of her virtues shone forth and attracted innumerable virgins to embrace a religious life. On account of her extraordinary gifts of divine grace, all wished her to be their mistress ; but she desired to serve rather than to command.

The number of miracles she worked spread her name far and wide ; but she herself, forgetful of her dignity, sought out the lowest and humblest offices. She loved especially to take care of the sick, the needy, and above all the lepers whom she often cured in a miraculous manner. She honoured the divine Sacrifice of the altar with deep piety, making with her own hands the bread which was to be consecrated, and supplying it to several churches. Even in the midst of the pleasures of a court, she had applied herself to mortifying her flesh,

ST. BAD!

and from her childhood she had burned with desire of martyrdom; now that she was leading a monastic life she subdued her body with the utmost rigour. She girt herself with iron chains, she tortured her body with burning coals, courageously fixed red-hot plates of metal upon her flesh that thus it also might, in a way, be inflamed with love of Christ. King Ciothaire, bent on taking her back and carrying her off from her monastery, set out for Holy Cross ; but she deterred him by means of letters which she wrote to St. Germanus, bishop of Paris ; so that prostrate at the holy prelate's feet, the king begged him to beseech his pious queen to pardon him who was both her sovereign and her husband.

Radegonde enriched her monastery with relics of the Saints brought from different countries. She also sent some clerics to the Emperor Justin and obtained from him a large piece of the wood of our Lord's Cross. It was received with great solemnity by the people of Poitiers, and all, both clergy and laity, sang exultingly the hymns composed by Venantius Fortunatus in honour of the blessed Cross. This poet was afterwards bishop of Poitiers j he enjoyed the holy friendship of Radegonde and directed her monastery. At length the holy queen, being ripe for heaven, was honoured a few days before her death

30NDE. 377 flagrabat desiderio ; nunc Vitam agens monasticam, rigidissima corpus domabat inedia : quinetiam f erreis catenis lumbos accincta, membra cruciabat ardentibus carbonibus laminisque candentibus in came acriter infixis, ut sic etiam caro suo modo Christi amore inflammaretur. Clotarium regem, qui illam repetere et e coenobio abripere decreverat, jamque ad ccenobium sanctas Crucis iter contulerat, ipsa datis ad sanctum Germanum Parisiensem episcopum litteris adeo obsterruit, ut ad sancti praesulis pedes provolutus ilium rogaret ut a pia regina regis ac conjugis veniam efjlagitaret.

Sanctorum reliquiis, variis ex regionibus allatis, monasterium suura ditavit. Sed et missis clericis ad Justinum imperatorem, insignem partem ligni Dominicae Crucis impetravit: quae solemni ritua Pictaviensibus recepta est, gestientibus clero omnique populo, atque hymnos decantantibus, quos in laudem aim ae Crucis confecerat Venantius Fortunatus, posthaec episcopus, qui Radegundis potiebatur sancta familiaritate, ejusque coenobium regebat. Ipsa denique sanctissima regina, jam mature coalo, paucis diebus antequam e vita exiret, Christi apparitione sub specie spe- ciosissimi adolescentis dignata est, et ex ejus ore has voces audire meruit: Quid adeo fruendicupiditateteneris? quid tot lacrymis gemitibusque diffunderis? quid tam crebro meis altaribus suppliciter admoveris ? quid tot laboribus corpusculum tuum infringis? cum ipse tibi semper adhseream. Tu gemma nobilis, noveris te in diademate capitis mei esse e gemmis primariis unam. Anno tandem quingentesimo octogesimo septimo purissimam animam in sinu coelestis Sponsi,quem unice dilexerat, exhalavit, et a sancto Gregorio Turonensi in basilica beatae Marise, ut optaverat, sepulta fuit. by an apparition of Christ under the form of a moat beautiful youth; and she heard these words from his mouth : " Why art thou consumed by "so great a longing to enjoy "my presence? Why dost " thou pour out so many tears " and sighs? Why comest thou "as a suppliant so often to " my altars % Why dost thou "break down thy body with " so many labours, when I am " always united to thee ? My " beautiful pearl ! Know that "thou art one of the most " precious stones in my kingly " crown." In the year 587 she breathed forth her pure soul into the bosom of the heavenly Spouse who had been her only love. Gregory of Tours buned her, as she had wished, in the church of St. Mary.

Thine exile is over, eternal possession has taken the place of desire ; all heaven is illumined with the brightness of the precious stone that has come to enrich the diadem of the Spouse. O Radegonde, the Wisdom who is now rewarding thy toils, led thee by admirable ways. Thy inheritance, become to thee as a lion in the wood spreading death around thee, thy captivity far from thy native land ; what was all this but love's way of drawing thee from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards, where idolatry had led thee in childhood ? Thou hadst to suffer in a foreign land, but the light from above shone into thy soul, and gave it strength. A powerful king tried in vain to make thee share his throne; thou wert a queen but for Christ, who in his goodness made thee a mother to that kingdom of France, which belongs to him more than to any prince. For his sake thou didst love that land become thine by the right of the Bride who shares the sceptre of her Spouse; for his sake, that nation, whose glorious destiny thou didst predict, received unstintedly all thy labours, thy unspeakable mortifications, thy prayers and thy tears.

O thou who art ever queen of France, as Christ is ever its King, bring back to him the hearts of its people, for in their blind error they have laid aside their glory, and their sword is no longer wielded for God. Protect, above all, the city of Poitiers, which honours thee with a special cultus together with its great St. Hilary. Bless thy daughters of Sainte- Croix, who, ever faithful to thy great traditions, prove the power of that fruitful stem, which through «o many centuries and such devastations, has never ceased to produce both flowers and fruit. Teach us to seek our Lord, and to find him in his holy Sacrament, in the relics of his Saints, in his suffering members on earth; and may all Christians learn from thee how to love.

Not far from the sepulchre of St. Laurence, on the opposite side of the Tiburtian Way, lies the tomb of St. Hippolytus, one of the sanctuaries most dear to the Christians in the days of triumph. Prudentius has described the magnificence of the crypt, and the immense concourse attracted to it each year on the Ides of August. Who was this Saint ? Of what rank and manner of life ? What facts of his history are there to be told, beyond that of his having given his blood for Christ ? All these questions have in modern times become the subject of numerous and learned works. He was a martyr, ^and that is nobility enough to make him glorious in our eyes. Let tis honour him then, and together with him another soldier of Christ, Cassian of Immola, whom the Church offers to our homage at the same time. Hippolytus was dragged by wild horses over rocks and briars till his body was all torn: Cassian, who was a schoolmaster, was delivered by the judge to the children he had taught, and died of the thousands of wounds inflicted by their styles. The prince of Christian poets has sung of him as of Hippolytus, describing his combat and his tomb.

PRAYER.

Da, qusesumus omnipotens Deus: ut beatorum Martyrum tuorum lyti et Cassiani veneranda solemnitas, et devotionem sian, nobis augeat, et sal u tern, Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the vener- Hippo- able solemnity of thy blessed martyrs, Hippolytus and Casmay contribute to the increase of our devotion, and promote our salvation.

Through Christ our Lord, <fcc.