Octave of Saint Laurence. ♦

At Christmas Stephen watched beside the crib, where the Infant God attracted our hearts ; Laurence to-day escorts the Queen whose beauty outshines the heavens. It was fitting that a deacon should be present at both triumphs of love, shown at Bethlehem in the weakness of the Babe, and in heaven in the glory wherewith the Son delights to honour his Mother. During her pilgrimage through the desert of this world, the deacons are the guardians of the Bride, the Church, signified by the ancient tabernacle, wherein was the Ark of the Covenant, a figure of Mary.

" "Beloved sons," said the Pontiff to them on the day of their consecration, " consider by how great a " privilege, inheriting both the office and the name " of the Levitical tribe, you surround the tabernacle "of the testimony, which is the Church, to defend "it against an untiring enemy. As your fathers "carried the tabernacle, so must you support the " Church ; adorn her by sanctity, strengthen her by '.'the divine word, uphold her by the example of "perfection. Levi signifies set apart ; be you then "separated from earthly desires; shine with the " brightness of spotless purity, as beseems the tribe "beloved of the Lord/'1

1 Pontificate Rom. in Ordinat. Diaconi.

OCTAVE OF ST. LAURENCE.

By this disengagement from earth which gives true liberty, the Church, who is free herself, whereas the Synagogue was a slave, clothes her deacons with a grace unknown to the Levites of old. It were true to say of Laurence what was written of Stephen, that his face appeared as the face of an Angel amongst men ; from the brow of each shone the light of Wisdom who dwelt in them, and the Holy Ghost who spoke by them put a grace upon their lips. In blood not his own did the Levite of Sinai, raising his sword, consecrate his hands to Jehovah; the deacon, ever ready to give his own blood, manifests his power by a fidelity of love, not of servitude; keeps up his energy by righteousness and self-forgetfulness ; and while his feet are on the earth, where he combats, his eyes are on heaven, to which he aspires, and his heart is given to the Church, who has entrusted herself to him.

With what devotedness he guards both her and her treasures ; from the precious Pearl of the Body of her spouse, to the jewels of the Mother, which are her poor and suffering children: from the purely spiritual riches springing from Baptism and the word of God, to those material goods, the possession of which proves the Bride's right of citizenship here below. It were well to recall this lesson in our days: God willed that the greatest martyr of the holy City should win his crown by refusing to deliver up the revenues of the Church; and yet, under the circumstances, the confiscation of the treasure was legal, at least as far as an edict of Caesar could legalize injustice. Laurence did not consider that this pretended legality authorized him to yield to the governor's demands; he had no answer but disdain for this man who knew not that, the earth being the Lord's, the Bride of the Lord is responsible 1*> him alone in the administration of his goods. Would he have acted differently if the State had then, as later, joined hypocrisy to tyranny, and tried to vindicate its spoliations by artful language, unknown to the straightforward highway robber? Where are now the State and the Caesar of those days ? It is no new thing for persecutors to end in shame ; the imperial murderer of the great deacon had not long to wait ; in less than two years, Valerian had become the footstool of Sapor, and afterwards his skin, dyed red, was hung from the roof of a Persian temple.

Laurence, meanwhile, has received more homage than was ever offered to king or Caesar. What ancient Roman conqueror ever attained to his glory? Borne itself became his conquest : twenty-four sanctuaries dedicated to Christ in his name in the Eternal City eclipse all the imperial palaces. And throughout the world, how many important churches and monasteries rejoice in his powerful patronage. The New World imitates the Old, giving the name of St. Laurence to its towns and provinces, its islands, bays, rivers, capes and mountains. But among all Christian kingdoms, his native Spain justly distinguishes itself in paying honour to the illustrious Archdeacon ; it celebrates on the 1st May his holy parents Orentius and Patience, who gave him birth in the territory of Huesca ; and it consecrated to him the noblest monument of its grandest age, St. Laurence of the Escurial, at once a church, a monastery, and a palace, built in the form of a gigantic gridiron.

Let us close the Octave with the prayer addressed to him to-day by our common Mother : " Raise up, " O Lord, in thy Church, the spirit which was followed "by the blessed Levite, Laurence; that we being " filled with it, may study to love what he loved, and " in our works to practise what he taught."

We have just quoted the Collect of the Octave day ; it is borrowed, together with the Introit and other prayers of to-day, from the Mass which was anciently celebrated in the night of the 10th August. We take the opportunity of remarking that supernatural prodigies at various times have proved that this glorious night won for the martyr a special privilege of delivering souls from Purgatory in virtue of his own fiery torture. It became the custom in Rome to pray for the dead in the basilica of St. Laurence in agro Verano, raised by the first Christian emperor over the martyrs tomb. The faithful of the Eternal City come to sleep their last sleep under its shadow, and within its walls Pius IX., of happy memory, willed to await his resurrection.

Notker gives us this fine Sequence, after which we will conclude with a prayer from the Leonian Sacramentary<

SEQUENCE.

O Laurence, martyr and Laurenti, David magni brave soldier of the great and martyr milesque fortis, true David,

The tribunal of the emperor, Tu imperatoris tribunal,

The blood-stained hand of Tu manus tortorum cruthe executioners, entas,

Are set at nought by thee, Sprevisti, secutus desidewho f ollowest the Desirable rabilem atque manu fortem, One, who is mighty of hand,

Who alone could overthrow Qui solus potuit regna the Kingdom of the cruel ty- superare tyranni crudelis, rant,

And whose holy love mak- Cujusque sanctus sanguieth his soldiers prodigal of nis prodigos facit amor militheir blood, tes ejus,

Provided they may behold Dummodo ilium liceat cerhim, at the price of the present nere dispendio vitae praelife. sentis.

Thou despisest the fasces of Caesaris tu fasces contem- Csesar, and laughest to scorn nis et judicis minas derides, the judge's threats.

Carnifex ungulas et ustor craticulam vane consumunt.

Dolet impius urbis praefectus, victus a pisce assato, Christi cibo.

Gaudet Domini conviva favo, conresurgendi, cam ipso sataratus.

O Laurenti,militum David invictissime, regis aeterni,

Apud ilium servulis ipsius deprecare veniam semper, Martyr milesque fortis. Amen.

In vain does the torturer use his iron hooks and the executioner his gridiron.

The impious prefect of the city laments* overcome by the broiled fish, the food of Christ :

But the guest of the Lord rejoices, feasting with him on the honeycomb, the type of resurrection.

O Laurence, most invincible of all the soldiers of the eternal king David,

Ever implore of him pardon for his servants,

O brave martyr and soldier.

Amen.

PRAYER.

Auge, quaasumus Domine, fidem populi tui, de sancti Laurentii Martyris festivitate conceptam ; ut ad conf essionem tui Nominis nullis properare terreamur adversis, sed tantae virtutis intuitu potias incitemur. Per Dominum.

Increase, O Lord, we beseech thee, the faith of thy people gotten on the feast of the holy martyr Laurence; that we may by no adversities be terrified from hastening to confess thy Name, but may rather be encouraged by the sight of such great valour. Through, &c

1 An allusion to the mysterious scene of Easter evening, when our risen Lord ate a piece of broiled fish and some honey-comb before his disciples, and gave them the remains.

August 18.

FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION. ♦

In the eternal decrees Mary was never separated from Jesus; together with him, she was the type of all created beauty. When the Almighty Father prepared the heavens and the earth, his Son, who is his Wisdom, played before him in his future humanity as first exemplar, as measure and number, as starting-point, centre and summit of the work undertaken by the Spirit of Love ; but at the same time the predestined Mother, the woman chosen to give to the Son of God from her own flesh his quality of Son of Man, appeared among mere creatures as the term of all excellence in the various orders of nature, of grace, and of glory. We need not then be astonished at the Church putting on Mary's lips the words first uttered by Eternal Wisdom : " From the beginning and before the world " was I created."

The divine ideal was realized in her whole being, even in her body. To form out of nothing a reflection of the divine perfections, is the purpose of creation and the law even of matter. Now, next to the Face of the most beautiful of the sons of men, nothing on earth so well expressed God as the Virgin's countenance. St. Denis is said to have exclaimed on seeing our Lady for the first time:

"Had not faith revealed to me thy Son, I should " have taken thee for God.'* Whether it be authentic or not to place it in the mouth of the Areopagite, this cry of the heart expresses the feeling of the ancients. We shall be the less surprised at this, if we remember that no son ever resembled his mother as Jesus did ; it was the law of nature doubled in him, since he had no earthly father. It is now the delight of the Angels, to behold in the glorified bodies of Jesus and Mary, new aspects of eternal beauty, which their own immaterial substances could not reflect.

Now the unspeakable perfection of Mary's body sprang from the union of that body with the most perfect soul that ever was, excepting of course the soul of our Lord her Son. With us, the original Fall has broken the harmony that ought to exist between the two very different elements of our human being, and has generally displaced, and sometimes even destroyed, the proportions of nature and grace. It is very different where the divine work has not thus been vitiated from the beginning; so that in each blessed spirit of the nine choirs, the degree of grace is in direct relation to his gifts of nature. Exemption from sin allowed the soul of the Immaculate One to inform the body of its own image with absolute sway, while the soul itself, lending itself to grace to the full extent of its exquisite powers, suffered God to raise it supernaturally above all the Seraphim, even to the steps of his own throne.

For in the kingdom of grace, as in that of nature, Mary's super-eminence was such as became a Queen. At the first moment of her existence in the womb of St. Anne, she was set far above the highest mountains ; and God, who loves only what he has made

1 Ex pseudo-epistola Dionys. ad Paulum. 3 Thom. Aquin., Ia P., qu. lxii., art. 6. worthy of his love, loved this entrance, this gate of the true Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. It was indeed impossible that the Word, who had chosen her for his Mother, should, even for an instant, love any creature more, as being more perfect. Throughout her life there was never in Mary the least want of correspondence with her preventing graces; so great perfection could not brook the least failing, the least interruption., the least delay. From the first moment of her most holy Conception till her glorious death, grace operated in her without hindrance, to the utmost of its divine power. Thus, starting from heights unknown to us, and doubling her speed at each stroke of her wings, her powerful flight bore her up to that nearness to God, where our admiring contemplation follows her during these days.

Our Lady, moreover, is not only the first-born, the most perfect, the most holy, of creatures and their Queen — or rather she is all this, only because she is also the Mother of the Son of God. If we wish only to prove that she alone surpasses all the united subjects of her vast empire, we may compare her with men and with Angels, in the order of nature and of grace. But all comparison is out of the question, if we try to follow her to the inaccessible heights, where, still the handmaid of the Lord, she participates in the eternal relations which constitute the Blessed Trinity. What mode of divine charity is that, whereby a creature loves God as her Son ? But let us listen to the Bishop of Meaux, not the least of whose merits is, to have understood as he did the greatness of Mary: "To form the holy " Virgin's love, it was necessary to mingle together "all that is most tender in nature and most effi- " cacious in grace. Nature had to be there, for it " was love of a son ; grace had to act, for it was love

"of a God. But what is beyond our imagination is, "that nature and grace were insufficient; for it is " not in nature to have God for a son ; and grace, at " least ordinary grace, cannot love a son as God : "we must therefore rise higher. Suffer me, O "Christians, to raise my thoughts to-day beyond "nature and grace, and to seek the source of this "love in the very bosom of the Eternal Father. "The divine Son, of whom Mary is Mother, belongs " to her and to God. She is united with God the "Father by becoming the Mother of his only be- " gotten Son, who is common to her and the Eternal " Father by the manner of bis conception. But to "make her capable of conceiving God, the Most " High had to overshadow her with his own power ; "that is, to extend to her his own fecundity. In " this way Mary is associated in the eternal generation. But this God, who willed to give her his "Son, was obliged also, in order to complete his " work, to place in her chaste bosom a spark of the " love he himself bears to his only Son, who is the " splendour of his glory and the living image of his "substance. Such is the origin of Mary's love: it " springs from an effusion of God's heart into hers ; " and her love of her Son is given to her from the "same source as her Son himself. After this " mysterious communication, what hast thou to say, " 0 human reason ? Canst thou pretend to understand the union of Mary with Jesus Christ? It "has in it something of that perfect unity which "exists between the Father and the Son. Do not "attempt any more to explain that maternal love " which springs from so high a source, and which is " an overflow of the love of the Father for his only " begotten Son."1

1 Bossuet. First sermon for the Assumption.

Palestrina, the ancient Preneste, sends a representative to Mary's court to-day, in the person of its valiant and gentle martyr, Agapitus. By his youth and his fidelity, he reminds us of that other gracious athlete, the acolyth Tarcisius, whose victory, gained on the 15th August, is eclipsed by the glory of Mary's queenly triumph. During the persecution of Valerian, and just before the combats of Sixtus and Laurence, Tarcisius, carrying the Body of our Lord, was met by some pagans, who tried to force him to show them what he had ; but, pressing the heavenly treasure to his heart, he suffered himself to be crushed beneath their blows rather than " deliver up " to mad dogs the members of the Lord."1 Agapitus, at fifteen years of age, suffered cruel tortures under Aurelian. Though so young, he may have seen the disgraceful end of Valerian ; while the new edict, which enabled him to follow Tarcisius to Mary's feet, had scarcely been promulgated throughout the empire, when Aurelian, in his turn, was cast down by Christ, from whom alone kings and emperors hold their crowns.

PRAYER.

Laetetur Ecclesia tua, Deus, beati Agapiti sion tyris tui confisa suffragiis : atqueejusprecibusgloriosis, de- et devota permaneat, et se- Per Dominum.

Let thy Church rejoice, O God, relying on the interces- Marof blessed Agapitus, thy martyr; and by his glorious prayers, may she remain vout, and be securely support- cura consist at. ed. Through, <fcc.

As we return from Palestrina to the Eternal City, we pass on our left the cemetery of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, where were first deposited the holy

1 Damas. in Callisti. pent. iv. 2 H relics of the pious empress Helena, who entered heaven on this day. The Koman Church deemed no greater honour , could be given her, than to mingle, so to say, her memory on the 3rd May with that of the sacred Wood which she restored to our adoring love. We shall not then speak to-day about the glorious Invention, which, after three centuries of struggle, gave so happy a consecration to the era of triumph. Nevertheless, let us offer our homage to her who set up the standard of salvation, and placed the Cross on the brow of princes who were once its persecutors.

PRAYER.

Domine Jesu Christe, qui O locum, ubi crux tua latebat, beatae Helenae revelasti, ut veal per earn Ecclesiam tuam hoc pretioso thesauro ditares: ejus nobis intercessione concede ; ut yitalis ligni pretio aeternra vitae praemia consequamur. Qui vivis.

Lord Jesus Christ, who unto blessed Helena didst rethe place where thy Cross lay hid : thus choosing her as the means to enrich thy Church with that precious treasure : do thou, at her intercession, grant that by the price of the Tree of Life we may attain unto the rewards of everlasting life. Who li vest and reignest, <fec.

But let us return to the empress of heaven, for Helena is but her happy handmaid and the martyrs are her army. Adam of St. Victor offers us this sweet Sequence wherewith to praise her and pray to her in the midst of this stormy sea.

SEQUENCE.

Ave, Virgo singularis, Mater nostri salutaris, QuaB vocaris sttlla maris^ Stella non erratica ;

Hail, matchless Virgin, Mother of our salvation, who art called Star of the Sea, a star that wandereth not; permit

FOURTH DAY WITHIN OC1 us not in this life's ocean to suffer shipwreck, but ever intercede for us with the Saviour born of thee.

The sea is raging, the winds are roaring, the boisterous billows rise ; the ship speeds on, but her swift course what fearful odds oppose ! Here the sirens of pleasure, the dragon, the sea-dogs, pirates, all at once menace well-nigh despairing man with death.

Down to the depths and up to the sky does the raging surge bear the frail bark ; the mast totters, the sail is snatched away, the mariner ceases his useless toil; our animal man faints amid so great evils: do thou, O Mother, who art spiritual, save us ere we perish.

The dew of heaven being sprinkled on thee, thou, without losing the flower of thy purity, didst in a new manner give to the world a new flower. The Word co-equal with the Father, entering thy virginal body, took for our sakes a body in the secret of thy womb.

He who rules all things in his power, foresaw and elected thee. He filled thy sacred bosom without breaking the seal of thy virginity. Unlike the first mother, thou, O Mother, didst feel neither anguish nor pain in bringing forth the Saviour.

Nos in hujus vitse mari ' Non permitte naufragari, Sed pro nobis salutari Tuo semper supplica.

Saevit mare, f remunt venti, Fluctus surgunt turbulenti; Navis currit, sed currenti

Tot occurrunt obvia ! Hie sirenes voluptatis, Draco, canes, cum piratis, Mortem pene desperatis

Hsec intentant omnia.

Post abyssos, nunc ad cesium,

Furens unda fert phaselum ; Nutat malus, fluit velum,

Nautae cessat opera ; Contabescit in his malia Homo noster animalis : Tu nos, mater spiri talis,

Pereuntes libera.

Tu, perfusa cceli rore, Castitatis salvo flore, Novum florem novo more

Protulisti saeculo. Verbum Patri coaequale, Corpus intrans virginale, Fit pro nobis corporale

Sub ventris umbraculo.

Te praevidit et elegit

Sui potenter cuncta regit, ec pudoris claustra f regit, Sacra re plena viscera ; Nec pressuram, nec dolorem, Contra primae matrismorem, Pariendo Salvatorem, Sensisti, puerpera.

O Maria, pro tuorum Dignitate meritorum, Supra choros angelorum

Sublimaris unice : Felix dies hodierna Qua conscendis ad superna ! Fietate tu materna

Nos in imo respice.

Radix san eta, radix viva, Flos, et vitis, et oliva, Quam nulla vis insitiva,

Juvit ut fructificet ; Lampas soli, splendor poli,

Suae splendore prsees soli, os assigna tuae proli, Ne districte judicet.

In conspectu summi Regis, Sis pusUli memor gregis Qui, transgressor datae legis,

Praesumit de venia : Judex mitis et benignus, Judex jugi laude dignus Reis spei dedit pignus,

Crucis factus hostia.

Jesu, sacri ventris fructus, Nobis inter mundi fluctus Sis dux, via et conductus

Liber ad ccelestia : Tene clavum, rege navem ; Tu, procellam sedans gravem,

Portum nobis da suavem Pro tua dementia. Amen.

PENTECOST.

O Mary, by the dignity of thy merits, thoualoneart raised far above the choirs of Angels : happy is this day whereon thou didst ascend to such heights ! Oh ! in thy motherly love, look down upon us here below.

O holy root, O living root, O flower and vine and olive, no ingrafted energy made thee fruitful ; light of the earth and brightness of heaven, thou outshinest the sun in splendour ; present us to thy Son, that he judge us not sternly.

In presence of the Most High King, be mindful of the little flock, which, though it has transgressed the law given it, dares to hope for pardon ; the Judge, who is mild and merciful, Judge, worthy of everlasting praise, becoming the victim of the Cross, gave to the guilty the pledge of hope.

O Jesus, fruit of a holy Mother, to us amid the world's billows be a guide, a way and a free passage to heaven : take the helm and guide the ship : and stilling the tempest, do thou in thy clemency lead us to a pleasant harbour. Amen.

August 19.

FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION.

— ♦ —

"It is a great thing for a saint to have as much " grace as would suffice for many; but if he had l- sufficient for all men in the world, that would be " fulness of measure : and this is the case with Jesus "Christ and the Blessed Virgin."1 So speaks the prince of theologians with regard to her whom Suarez salutes as the " universal cause, intimately united to "the Lord her Son." *

A higher authority than that of the School has confirmed this teaching of the Angelic Doctor ; in his encyclical Magnce Dei Matris, the Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII. has deigned to make his own the words we have just quoted; and he adds: " When therefore we " hail Mary as full of grace, we awaken the recollec- " tion of her sublime dignity and of the redemption of " the human race, wrought by God through her inter- " mediary ; moreover we call to mind the divine and " eternal relationship, whereby she is associated to " Christ in his joys and his sorrows, his humiliations " and his triumphs, in ruling and aiding men with a " view to their eternal welfare."3

St. Bernardine of Sienna compares our Lady to the

^hom. Aq. Opuscv in Salutat. Angelicam.

2 Suarez in III8™ P., qu. xxxvii., art 4. Disputat. xxi., sect. 3.

3 Encyclical of Sept. 8th, 1892. fountain mentioned in Genesis, which sprang from the earth and watered its whole surface. And as it is well to know the different expressions of the different schools, we may add, that the illustrious representative of the Seraphic Order recognises in Mary what he calls " a sort of jurisdiction or authority over every temporal "procession of the Holy Ghost,"2 because, he continues, " she is the Mother of him from whom the " Holy Ghost proceeds ; and therefore all the gifts, " graces, and virtues of this Holy Spirit are adminis- " tered by her hands, distributed to whom she wills, " when she wills, as she wills, and as much as she twills."3

We must not, however, conclude from these words that the Blessed Virgin has a right, properly so called, over the Holy Ghost or his gifts. Nor may we ever consider our Lady to be in any way a principle of the Holy Ghost, any more than she is of the Word himself as God. The Mother of God is great enough not to need any exaggeration of her titles. All that she has, she has, it is true, from her Son by whom she is the first redeemed. But in the historical order of the accomplishment of our salvation, the divine predilection, whereby she was chosen to be Mother of the Saviour, made her to be "the source of the " source of life," according to the expression of St. Peter Damian. Moreover, being Bride as perfectly as she was Mother, and united, in the fulness of all her powers of nature and of grace to all the prayers, to all the sufferings, to the whole oblation of the Son of Man, as his truly universal co-operatrix in the time of his sorrow : what wonder that she should in the

1 Bkrnardin. Sen. Pro festiv. V.M. Sermo vi. de animntiatione, art. i. , c. 2.

2 Ibid. Sermo v. de Nativit. B. M., cap. 8,

3 Bernardin. Sen. &c.

4 Petr. Dam. Homilia in Nativ, B. V. days of his glory have a Bride's full share in the dispensation of the goods acquired in common, though differently, by the new Adam and the new Eve? Even if Jesus were not bound in justice to give it her, who would expect such a Son to act otherwise ?

Bossuet, who cannot be suspected of being carried away, and whom we therefore quote by preference, did not consider his necessary controversies with heresy an excuse for not following the doctrine of the saints. " God," says he, " having once willed to "give us Jesus Christ by the holy Virgin, the gifts of " God are without repentance, and this order remains " unchanged. It is and ever will be true, that having " received by her charity the universal principle of "grace, we also receive through her mediation its " various applications in all the different states where- " of the Christian life is made up. Her maternal love " having contributed so much to our salvation in the " mystery of the Incarnation, which is the universal " principle of grace, she will eternally contribute to it " in all the other operations which are but dependent "on the first.

" Theology recognises three principal operations of " the grace of Jesus Christ : God calls us, justifies us, "gives us perseverance. Vocation is the first step ; "justification is our progress; perseverance ends the " voyage, and gives us in our true country glory and " rest, which are not to be found on earth. Mary's "charity takes part in these three works. Mary is " the Mother of the called, of the justified, and of the "persevering; her fruitful charity is an universal "instrument of the operations of grace."1

This noble language is an authentic testimony to the tradition of the holy Church of Gaul, which by its Irensaus, its Bernard, its Anselm, and so many

1 Bossuet, Sermon sur la deVotion a la Ste. Vierge, pour la fete de la Conception, 9 Dec. 1669. others, made France the kingdom of Mary. May the present teachers put to profit what they have inherited from their great predecessors, and continue to sound the inexhaustible depths of mystery in Mary; so that one day they may deserve to hear from her lips, that word of Eternal Wisdom : They that explain me shall have life everlasting}

We borrow from the ancient processional of our English St. Editha the beautiful Responsory Quce est ista; after which we will give a series of other graceful Responsories written in metre, which are to be found in the Antiphoner of Sens, 1552.

RESPONSORIES.

IJ. Quae est ista quae penetrant coelos? ad cujus transitum Salvator advenit, et induxiteam in thalamoregoi sui, ubi cantantur organa hymnorum : * Quae ab Angelis ad laudem Kegis aeterni sine fine resonant semper.

O Virgo ineffabiliter veneranda, cui Michael Archangelus, et omnis militia Angelorum deferunt honorem, quam violent exaltatamsuper ccelos cceldrum. * Quae ab Angelis.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Quae ab Angelis.

1$. Sanctas primitias offert Genitus Genitori: * Florem virgineum niveo candore decorum.

5. Who is this that hath penetrated the heavens? At whose passage the Saviour came to meet her, and introduced her into his Royal Chamber, where music and hymns resound : * Which the Angels sing unceasingly, for ever praising the Eternal King.

$\ O Virgin unspeakably venerable, to whom Michael the Archangel and all the angelic hosts pay honour, whom they behold exalted above the heaven of heavens. * Which the Angels.

Glory be to the Father, etc. * Which the Angels.

Holy first fruits does the Son offer to his Father. * The virginal flower lovely in its snowy whiteness.

1 Eccli. xxiv. 31.

FIFTH DAY WITHIN OCI ft. No heat has scorched it, nor *night-cold withered it * The virginal flower.

IJ. Through the fruit of virginity, of the heavenly kingdom, * The loss incurred by eating the forbidden fruit is repaired.

The sacred hierarchy rejoices that its diminished number is restored, * The loss incurred.

1$. After the fall virginity is the first to recover heaven.

• First of all in the Son, then in his Blessed Mother. ft. The heavenly ranks revere holy virginity. * First of all.

1$. The gate of Sion enters the gate of closed Paradise. * Which our first mother had closed to herself and the whole world. ft. To the spotless Mother the gate of heaven is opened.

• Which our first.

]$. The Blessed Virgin received the one thing she requested. * To enjoy the face of the Lord for all eternity. ft. The divine bounty both prevented and surpassed her desire. * To enjoy.

1$. While she mounts the fifteen steps to the palace of life. * The Virgin deserved to rise above the Angelic heights. ft. Next to her Son the Mother merited to surpass all others, * The Virgin. lVe of assumption. 475 ft. Non calor hunc coxit. nec frigus noctis adussit * Florem.

1$. Eegni ccelestis, per f ructum virginitatis, * Damna ref ormantur vetitum contracta per esum. ft, Kestitui numerum gaudet sacer ordo minutum. * Damna.

]$. Virginitas coelum post lapsum prima recepit: * Sed prius in Genito,post inGenitrice beata. ft. Coelicus ordo sacram reveretur virginitatem.* Sed prius.

1$. Porta Sion clausi portam penetrat paradisi: * Prima parens toti quam secum clause rat orbi. ft. Intactae matri reseratur janua ccelL * Prima.

5. Unam quam petiit Virgo benedicta recepit: * Ut facie Domini sine tempore perfrueretur. ft. Divinum munus votum praevenit et auxit * Ut facie.

1$. Quindenis gradibus dum scandit ad atria vitae : * Angelicum meruit Virgo transcendere culmen. ft. Post Genitum Genitrix meruit praecellere cuuctis. * Angelicum.

1$. Ecclesise Sponsum Virgo genuit speciosum : * Qui Deus est et homo persona junctus in una.

Sic secum Matrem coelesti sede locavit. * Qui Deus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et SpirituiSancto. * Qui Deus.

Be. The Virgin brought forth the beautiful Spouse of the Church. * Who is both God and Man united in one Person. tf. Thus he placed his Mother with him on his heavenly throne. * Who is.

Glory be to the Father, <fcc. * Who is.

The following Hymn was composed by St Peter Damian :

HYMN.

Aurora velut f ulgida, Ad coeli meat culmina, Ut sol Maria splendida, Tamquam luna pulcherrima.

Eegina mundi hodie Thronum conscendit glorise, Ilium enixa filium Qui est ante Luciferum.

Assumpta super Angelos, Excedit et Archangelos ; Cuncta Sanctorum merita Transcendit una femina.

Quern foverat in gremio, Locarat in praesepio : Nunc Hegem super omnia Patris videt in gloria.

Pro nobis, Virgo virginum, Tuum deposce h ilium : Per quam nostra susceperat Ut sua nobis prsebeat.

Sit tibi laus, Altissime, Qui natus es ex Virgine : Sit honor ineffabili Patri, sanctoque Flamini.

Amen.

As a brilliant aurora Mary rises to the heights of heaven, glittering as the sun, most beautiful like the moon.

To-day the Queen of the world ascends to her throne of glory, the Mother of that Son who was begotten before the Day-Star.

She is raised above the Angels and passes beyond the Archangels; this one woman surpasses all the merits of the Saints.

Him, whom she had cherished in her bosom, she placed in a manger ; now she beholds him King over all in the glory of his Father.

O Virgin of virgins, implore for us thy Son: by thee he received of ours, through thee may he give us of his own.

To thee, O Most High, be praise who wast born of the Virgin : be honour to thy ineffable Father and to the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

August 20. SAINT BERNARD,

ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHUJRCtf. ♦

The valley of wormwood has lost its bitterness ; having become Clairvaux, or the bright valley, its light shines over the world ; from every point of the horizon vigilant bees are attracted to it by the honey from the rock which abounds in its solitude. Mary turns her glance upon its wild hills, and with her smile sheds light and grace upon them. Listen to the harmonious voice arising from the desert ; it is the voice of Bernard, her chosen one. "Learn, O " man, the counsel of God ; admire the intentions of " Wisdom, the design of love. Before bedewing the " whole earth, he saturated the fleece; being to " redeem the human race, he heaped up in Mary " the entire ransom. O Adam, say no more: 4 The " woman whom thou gavest me offered me the for- " bidden fruit say rather : ' The woman whom thou ' * gavest me has fed me with a fruit of blessing.' " With what ardour ought we to honour Mary, in " whom was set all the fulness of good ! If we have " any hope, any saving grace, know that it overflows "from her who to-day ris6s replete with love: she "is a garden of delights, over which the divine "South Wind does not merely pass with a light " breath, but sweeping down from the heights, he " stirs it unceasingly with a heavenly breeze, so that

"it may shed abroad its perfumes, which are the "gifts of various graces. Take away the material "sun from the world: what would become of our "day? Take away Mary, the star of the vast sea: "what would remain but obscurity over all, a night " of death and icy darkness ? Therefore, with every " fibre of our heart, with all the love of our soul, with " all the eagerness of our aspirations, let us venerate " Mary ; it is the will of him who wished us to have "all things through her."1

Thus spoke the monk who had acquired his eloquence, as he tells us himself, among the beeches and oaks of the forest, and he poured into the wounds of mankind the wine and oil of the Scriptures. In 1113, at the age of twenty-two, Bernard arrived at Citeaux, in the beauty of his youth, already ripe for great combats. Fifteen years before, on the 21st March, 1098, Robert of Molesmes had created this new desert between Dijon and Beaune. Issuing from the past, on the very feast of the patriarch of monks, the new foundation claimed to be nothing more than the literal observance of the precious Rule given by him to the world. The weakness of the age, however, refused to recognise the fearful austerity of these new comers into the great family,: as inspired by that holy code, wherein discretion reigns supreme ; for this discretion is the characteristic of the school accessible to all, where Benedict " hoped to ordain nothing rigorous or bur- "thensome in the service of God."4 Under the government of Stephen Harding, the next after Alberic, successor of Robert, the little community from Molesmes was becoming extinct, without human hope of recovery, when the descendant of the lords

1 Bernard. Sermo Nativ. B.M. 3 Greg. Dialogue II., xxxvi. 8 Vita Bernardi, L. iv. 23. 4 S. P. Benedict, in Reg. Prolog. of Fontaines arrived with thirty companions, who were his first conquest, and brought new life where death was imminent.

"Rejoice, thou barren one that bearest not, for " many will be the children of the barren." La Fert was founded that same year in Ch&lonnais; next Pontigny, near Auxerre; and in 1115 Clairvaux and Morimood were established in the diocese of Langres; while these four glorious branches of Citeaux were soon, together with their parent stock, to put forth numerous shoots. In 1119 the Charter of charity confirmed the existence of the Cistercian Order in the Church. Thus the tree, planted six centuries earlier on the summit of Monte Cassino, proved once more to the world that in all ages it is capable of producing new branches, which, though distinct from the trunk, live by its sap, and are a glory to the entire tree.

During the months of his novitiate, Bernard so subdued nature, that the interior man alone lived in him; the senses of his own body were to him as, strangers. By an excess, for which he had afterwards to reproach himself, he carried his rigour, though meant for a desirable end, so far as to ruin the body, that indispensable help to every man in the service of his brethren and of God. Blessed fault, which heaven took upon itself to excuse ,so magnificently. A miracle (a thing which no one has a right to expect) was needed to uphold him henceforth in the accomplishment of his destined mission.

Bernard was as ardent in the service of Qod as others are for the gratification of their passions. "You would learn of me," he says in one of his earliest works, "why and how we must love God. " And I answer you : The reason for loving God is " God himself; and the measure of loving him is to

"love him without measure."1 What delights he enjoyed at Citeaux in the secret of the face of the Lord ! WheD, after two years, he left this blessed abode to found Clairvaux, it was like coming out of Paradise. More fit to converse with Angels than with men, he began, says his historian, by being a trial to those whom he had to guide : so heavenly was his language, such perfection did he require surpassing the strength of even the strong ones of Israel, such sorrowful astonishment did he show on the discovery of infirmities common to all flesh.

But the Holy Spirit was watching over the vessel of election called to bear the name of the Lord before kings and people; the divine charity, which consumed his soul, taught him that love has two inseparable, though sadly different, objects : God, whose goodness makes us love him ; and man, whose misery exercises our charity. According to the ingenious remark of William de Saint-Thierry, his disciple and friend, Bernard re-learnt the art of living among »men. He imbued himself with the admirable recommendations given by the legislator of monks to him who is chosen Abbot over his brethren : " When "he giveth correction, let him act prudently, and "push nothing to extremes, lest whilst eager of " extreme scouring off the rust, the vase get broke. "... When he enjoineth work to be done, let him "use discernment and moderation, and think of "holy Jacob's discretion, who said: 'If I cause my "'flocks to be overdriven, they will all die in one " * day/ Taking, therefore, these and other docu- " ments regarding that mother of virtue, discretion, " let him so temper all things as that the strong may " have what to desire and the weak nothing to deter "them."4

1 De diligendo Deo, I., 1. 3 Ibid. 30. a Vita, 1., vi. 27-30. 4 S. P. Kened. Iteg. lxiv.

Having received what the Psalmist calls " under- " standing concerning the needy and the poor," Bernard felt his heart overflowing with the tenderness of God for those purchased by the divine Blood, He no longer terrified the humble. Beside the little ones who came to him attracted by the grace of his speech might be seen the wise, the powerful, and the rich ones of the world, abandoning their vanities, and becoming themselves little and poor in the school of one who knew how to guide them all, from the first elements of love to its very summits. In the midst of seven hundred monks receiving daily from him the doctrine of salvation, the Abbot of Clairvaux could cry out with the noble pride of the Saints : " He that is mighty has done great things " in us, and with good reason our soul magnifies the "Lord. Behold we have left all things to follow " thee : it is a great resolution, the glory of the great "Apostles; yet we, too, by his great grace have taken " it magnificently. Perhaps, even if I wish to glory "therein, I shall not be foolish, for I will say the "truth: there are some here who have left more " than a boat and fishing-nets."1

" What more wonderful," he said on another occasion, "than tfr see one who formerly could scarce "abstain two days from sin, preserve himself from "it for years, and even for his whole life? What "greater miracle than that so many young men, "boys, noble personages, all those, in a word, whom "I see here, should be held captive without bonds in "an open prison by the sole fear of God, and should "persevere in penitential macerations beyond human " strength, above nature, contrary to habit? What " marvels we should discover, as you well knew, were " we allowed to seek out the details of each one's

1 Bern. De diversis, Serrao xxxvii. 7.

"exodus from Egypt, of his passage through the "desert, his entrance into the monastery, and his " life within its walls."1

But there were other marvels not to be hidden within the secret of the cloister. The voice that had peopled the desert was bidden to echo through the world ; and the noises of discord and error, of schism and the passions, were hushed before it ; at its word the whole West was precipitated as one man upon the infidel East. Bernard had now become the avenger of the sanctuary, the umpire of kings, the confidant of sovereign Pontiffs, the thaumaturgus applauded by enthusiastic crowds ; yet, at the very height of what the world calls glory, his one thought was the loved solitude he had been forced to quit. " It is high time," he said, " that I should think of "myself. Have pity on my agonized conscience: " what an abnormal life is mine ! I am the chimera " of my time ; neither clerk nor layman, I have the " habit of a monk and none of the observances. In " the perils which surround me, at the brink of precipices yawning before me, help me with your "advice, pray for me."2

While absent from Clairvaux he wrote to his monks : " My soul is sorrowful and ctTnnot be com- " forted till I see you again. Alas ! Must my exile " here below, so loug protracted, be rendered still " more grievous ? Truly those who have separated "us have added sorrow upon sorrow to my evils. " They have taken away from me the only remedy "which enabled me to live away from Christ; while " I could not yet contemplate his glorious Face, it was " given me at least to see you, you his holy temple. "From that temple the way seemed easy to the " eternal home. How often nave I been deprived of

1 In Dedicat. Eccl., Sermo i. 2. 2 Epist. cel.

" this consolation ? This is the third time, if I mis- " take not, that they have torn out my heart. My " children are weaned before the time ; I had be- " gotten them by the Gospel, and I cannot nourish "them. Constrained to neglect those dear to me " and to attend to the interests of strangers, I scarcely " know which is harder to bear, to be separated from " the former or to be mixed up with the latter. O " Jesus, is my whole life to be spent in sighing ? It " were better for me to die than to live ; but I would "fain die in the midst of my family; there I should " find more sweetness, more security. May it please " my Lord that the eyes of a father, how unworthy " Soever of the name, may be closed by the hands of "his sons; that they may assist him in his last " passage ; that their desires, if thou judge him " worthy, may bear his soul to the abode of the "blessed; that they may bury the body of a poor " man with the bodies of those who were poor with " him. By the prayers and merits of my brethren, " if I have found favour before thee, grant me this "desire of my heart. Nevertheless, thy will, not " mine, be done ; for I wish neither to live nor to die "for myself."1

Greater in his Abbey than in the noblest courts, Bernard was destined to die at home at the hour appointed by God ; but not without having had his soul prepared for the last purification by trials both public and private. For the last time he took up again, but could not finish, the discourses he had been delivering for the last eighteen years on the Canticle. These familiar conferences, lovingly gathered by his children, reveal in a touching manner the zeal of the sons for divine science, the heart of the father and his sanctity, and the incidents of

1 Epist. cxliv. daily life at Clairvaux. Having reached the first verse of the third chapter, he was describing the soul seeking after the Word in the weakness of this life, in the dark night of this world, when he broke off his discourses, and passed to the eternal face to face vision, where there is no more enigma, nor figure, nor shadow.

The following is the notice consecrated by the Church to her great servant :

Bernardus, Fontanis in Burgundia honesto loco na- tinguishedfamilyatFountains tus, adolescens propter egre- in giam f ormam vehementer sollicitatus a mulieribus, numquam de sententia colendse castitatis dimoveri potuit. Quas diaboli tationes ut effugeret, duos et viginti annos natus, momohic ordo incepit, et quod nastery sanctitate florebat, ingredi constituit Quo nardi consilio cognito, tres summopere conati sunt nard's eum a proposito deterrere : in quo ipse eloquentior ac felicior rait. Nam sic eos successful.won aliosque multos in suam perduxit sententiam, ut cum eo triginta juvenes eamdem religionem susceperint. Monachus jejunio ita deditus erat, ut quoties sumendus esset cibus, toties tormensubire videretur. In ture. vigiliis etiam et orationibus mirifice se exercebat : et christianam paupertatem colens,quasicoelestemvitam agebat in terris, ab omni caducarum rerum cura et cupiditate alienam.

Bernard was born of a dis- Burgundy. As a youth, on account of his great beauty he was much sought after by women, but could never be shaken in his resolution of ten- observing chastity. To escape these temptations of the devil, he, at twenty-two years of age, nasteriumCisterciense,unde determined to enter the of Citeaux, the first turn house of the Cistercian Order, Ber- then famous for sanctity, fra- When his brothers learnt Berdesign, they did their best to deter him from it ; but he, more eloquent and more them and many others to his opinion ; so that together with him thirty young men embraced the Cistercian Rule. As a monk he was so given to fasting, that whenever he had to take food he seemed to be undergoing torturn He applied himself in a wonderful manner to prayer and watching, and was a great lover of Christian poverty; thus he led a heavenly life on earth, free from all anxiety or desire of perishable goods,

ST. BEI

The virtues of humility, mercy, and kindness shone conspicuously in his character. He devoted himself so earnestly to contemplation, that he seemed hardly to use his senses except to do acts of charity, and in these he was remarkable for his prudence. While thus occupied he refused the bishoprics of Genoa, Milan, and others, which were offered to him, declaring that he was unworthy of so great an office. He afterwards became Abbot of Clairvaux, and built monasteries in many places, wherein the excellent rules and discipline of Bernard long flourished. When the monastery of Ss. Vincent and Anafitasius at Rome was restored by Pope Innocent II., St. Bernard appointed as Abbot the future sovereign Pontiff, Eugenius III.; to whom he also sent his book " De Con- " sideratione."

He wrote many other works which clearly show that his doctrine was more the gift of Ck>d than the result of his own labours. On account of his great reputation for virtue, the greatest princes begged him to act as arbiter in their disputes, and he went several times into Italy for this purpose, and for arranging ecclesiastical affairs. He was of great assistance to the Supreme Pontiff Innocent II. in putting down the schism of reter de Leone, both at the courts of the emperor and of king Henry of England, and

JARD. 485

Elucebat in eo humilitas, misericordia, benignitas J contemplationi autemsicad* dictus erat, ut vix sensibus, nisi ad officia pietatis, uteretur: in quibus tamen prudentiae laude excellebat. uo in studio occupatus, enuensem, ac Mediolanensem, aliosque episcopatus oblatos recusavit, professus se tanti officii munere indignum esse. Abbas f actus Claravallensis, multis in locis sedificavit monasteria, in quibus praeclara Bernardi institutio ac disciplina diu viguit. Romae, sanctorum Vincentii et Anastasii monasterio ab Innocentio Secundo Papa restituto prsefecit abbatem ilium, qui postea Eugenius Tertius Summus Pontifex fuit, ad quern etiam librum misit de Consideratione.

Multa praeterea scripsit, in quibus apparet, eum doctrina potius divinitus tradita, quam labore comparata, instructum fuisse. In summa virtutum laude exoratus a maximis principibus de eorum componendis controversiis, et de ecclesiasticis rebus constituendis, saepius in Italiam venit. Iunocen* tium item Secundum Pontificem Maximum in confu* tando schismate Petri Leonis, cum apud imperatorem et Henricum AngliaB regem, turn in concilio Pisis coacto, egregie adjuvit. Denique tres et sexaginta annos natus, obdormivit in Domino, ac miraculis illustris, ab Alezandro Tertio Papa inter Sanctos relatus est. rius vero Octavus Pontifex Maximus ex sacrorum Eituum Congregationis consilio sanctum Bernardum universalis Ecclesise Doctorem declaravit et confirmavit, necnon Missam et Officium de Doo toribus ab omnibus recitari jussit, atque indulgentias plenarias quotannis in perpetuum ordinis Cistercieneium ecclesias visitantibus die hujus sancti festo concessit. at a Council held at Pisa. At length, being sixty-three years old, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Alexander III. placed him among the Saints. Pope Pius VIII., with the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Bites, declared St. Bernard a Doctor of the universal Church and commanded all to recite the Mass and Office of a Doctor on his feast. He also granted a plenary indulgence yearly, for ever, to all who visit churches of the Cistercian Order on this day.

Let us offer to St. Bernard the following Hymn, with its ingenuous allusions ; it is worthy of him by the graceful sweetness wherewith it celebrates his grandeurs :

HYMN.

Lacte quondam profluentes,

Ite, montes vos procul, Ite, colies, fusa quondam Unde mellis fl umina ; Israel, jactare late Manna priscum desine.

Ecce cujus corde sudant, Cujus ore profluunt Duiciores lacte fontes, Mellis amnes aemuli : Ore tan to, corde tan to Manna nullum dulcius.

Quseris unde duxit ortum Tanta lactis copia ;

Ye mountains, once flowing with milk, depart to a distance; depart, ye hills that once poured forth streams of honey; Israel, cease to boast freely of your ancient manna.

Behold one from whose heart ebb forth, and from whose mouth flow out sweeter fountains of milk and rival rivers of honey : than such a mouth, than such a heart no manna could be sweeter.

Thou askest whence such abundance of milk originat- ed; whence the honeycomb, whence the swift - flowing sweetness of honey; whence such manna; and whence so many delights.

The showers of milk the Virgin-Mother shed on him from heaven: the mouth of the dead lion was the source of the honeyed rivers: the woods and the solitude so nigh the heavens produced the manna.

O Bernard, O Doctor, enriched with such gifts of heaven, shed down upon us the dews of this milk and of this honey; give us the drops, now that thou possessest the full

Unde favus, unde prompta Tanta mellis sua vitas ; Unde tantum manna fluxit, Unde tot dulcedines.

Lactis imbres Virgo fudit Coelitus puerpera : Mellis amnes os leonis Excitavit mortui : Manna sylvae, coelitumque Solitudo proxima.

Doctor o Bernarde, tantis Aucte coeli dotibus, Lactis hujus, mellis hujus, Funde rores desuper ; Funde stiilas, pleniore Jam potitus gurgite.

Highest praise be to the Sovereign Father, and highest praise to the Son : and be the like to thee, O Holy Spirit, proceeding from them both, as it was, now is, and ever will be, equal glory eternally.

Amen.

Summa summo laus Parent!, Summa laus et Filio : Par tibi sit, sancte, manans Ex utroque, Spiritus ; Ut f uit, nunc et per sevum Compar semper gloria.

Amen.

It was fitting to see the herald of the Mother of God following so closely her triumphal car ; entering heaven during this bright Octave, thou delightest to lose thyself in the glory of her whose greatness thou didst proclaim on earth. Be our protector in her court; attract her maternal eyes towards Citeaux; in her name save the Church once more, and protect the Vicar of Christ.

But to-day, rather than to pray to thee, thou invitest us to sing to Mary and pray to her with thee ; the homage most pleasing to thee, O Bernard, is that we should profit by thy sublime writings and admire the Virgin who, "to-day ascending glorious "to heaven, put the finishing touch to the happiness " of the heavenly citizens. Brilliant as it was already, "heaven became resplendent with new brightness " from the light of the virginal torch. Thanksgiving " and praise resound on high. And shall we not in " our exile partake of these joys of our home ? "Having here no lasting dwelling, we seek the city "where the Blessed Virgin has arrived this very "hour. Citizens of Jerusalem, it is but just that, "from the banks of the rivers of Babylon, we should " think with dilated hearts of the overflowing river " of bliss, of which some drops are sprinkled on earth "to-day. Our Queen has gone before us; the " reception given to her encourages us who are her " followers and servants. Our caravan will be well " treated with regard to salvation, for it is preceded " by the Mother of mercy as advocate before the "Judge her Son."1

" Whoso remembers having ever invoked thee in "vain in his needs, O Blessed Virgin, let him be "silent as to thy mercy. As for us, thy little "servants, we praise thy other virtues, but on this "one we congratulate ourselves. We praise thy "virginity, we admire thy humility; but mercy is "sweeter to the wretched; we embrace it more " lovingly," we think of it more frequently, we invoke "it unceasingly. Who can tell the length and " breadth and height and depth of thine, O Blessed " one ? Its length, for it extends to the last day ; "its breadth, for it covers the earth ; its height and "depth, for it has filled heaven and emptied hell. "Thou art as powerful as merciful; having now " rejoined thy Son, manifest to the world the grace

1 Bernard. In Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo i.

"thou hast found before God: obtain pardon for "sinners, health for the sick, strength for the weak, "consolation for the afflicted, help and deliverance "for those who are in any danger, O clement, O "merciful, O sweet Virgin Mary !,,a

1 Bernard. In Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo iv. a A tradition of the cathedral of Spires attributes to St Bernard the addition of this triple cry of the heart to the Salve Regina.