August 27 — Saint Augustine '

not the one thou seekest"; and all the creatures of earth made the same reply. I questioned the sea and its abysses and all the living things therein, and they answered: "We are not thy God; seek above us." I questioned the restless winds; and all the air with its inhabitants replied: "Anaximenes is mistaken, I am not God." I questioned the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they said: " We are not the God whom thou seekest." And I said to all these things that stand without at the gates of my senses: "Ye have all confessed concerning my God that ye are not He, tell me now something about Him." And they all cried with one great voioe: " It is He that made us." I questioned them with my desires, and they answered by their beauty. — Let the air and the waters and the earth be silent ! Let man keep silenoe in his own soul ! Let him pass beyond his own thought ; for beyond all language of men or of angels, He, of whom creatures speak, makes Himself heard ; where signs and images and figurative visions cease, there eternal Wisdom reveals Herself. . . . Thou didst oall and cry so loud that my deaf ears could hear Thee ; Thou didst shine so brightly that my blind eyes could see Thee; Thy fragrance exhilarated me, and it is after Thee that I aspire ; having tasted Thee I hunger and thirst ; Thou hast touched me and thrilled me, and I burn to be in Thy peaceful rest. When I shall be united to Thee with my whole being, then will my sorrows and labours cease.' 1

To the end of his life Augustine never ceased to fight for the truth against all the heresies then invented by the father of lies; in his ever repeated victories, we know not which to admire most: his knowledge of the holy Scriptures, his powerful logic,

1 Confess. Lib. ix and x. pati\m^ or his eloquence. We see too that divine oharitv which, while inflexibly upholding every iota of God s rights, is full of ineffable compassion for the unhappy beings who do not understand those rights.

1 Let those be hard upon you who do not know what labour it is to reach the truth and turn away from error. Let those be hard upon you, who know not how rare a thing it is, and how much it costs, to overcome the false images of the senses and to dwell in peace of soul. Let those be hard upon you, who know not with what difficulty man's mental eye is healed so as to be able to gaze upon the Sun of justice ; who know not through what sighs and groans one attains to some little knowledge of God. Let those, finally, be hard upon you, who have never known seduction like that whereby you are deoeived. ... As for me, who have been tossed about by the vain imaginations of which my mind was in search, and who have shared your misery and so long deplored it, I could not by any means be harsh to you.' 1

These touching words were addressed to the disciples of Manes, who were hemmed in on all sides even by the laws of the pagan emperors. How fearful is the misery of our fallen race, when the darkness of hell can overpower the loftiest intellects ! Augustine, the formidable opponent of heresy, was, for nine years previously, the convinced disciple and ardent apostle of Manioheism. This heresy was a strange variety of Gnostic dualism, which, to explain the existence of evil, made a god of evil itself ; and which owed its prolonged influence to the pleasure taken in it by satan's pride.

Augustine sustained also a prolonged though more local struggle against the Donatists, whose teaching

1 $. Aug. contra epist. Manichai quam vocant fundamenti, 2-3, was based on a 'principle as false as the fact from which it professed to originate. This fact, which on the petitions presented by the Donatists themselves was juridically proved to be false, was that Caecilianus, primate of Africa in 311, had received episcopal consecration from a traditor, i.e. one who had delivered up the sacred Books in time of persecution. No one, argued the Donatists, could communicate with a sinner, without himself ceasing to form part of the flock of Christ ; therefore, as the bishops of the rest of the world had continued to communicate with Csecilianus and his successors, the Donatists alone were now the Church. This groundless schism was established among most of the inhabitants of Roman Africa, with its four hundred and ten bishops, and its troops of Circumoellions ever ready to commit murders and violence upon the Catholics on the roads or in isolated houses. The greater part of our saint's time was occupied in trying to bring back these lost sheep.

We must not imagine him studying at his ease, in the peace of a quiet episcopal city chosen as if for the purpose by Providence, and there writing those precious works whose fruits the whole world has enjoyed even to our days. There is no feoundity on earth without sufferings and trials, known sometimes to men, sometimes to God alone. When the writings of the saints awaken in us pious thoughts and generous resolutions, we must not be satisfied, as we might in the case of profane books, with admiring the genius of the authors, but think with gratitude of the price they paid for the supernatural good produced in our souls. Before Augustine's arrival in Hippo, the Donatists were so great a majority of the population, that, as he himself informs us, they opuld even forbid anyone to bake bread for Catholics, 1 1 Contra litteras FetiHani, ii. 184,

When the saint died, things were very different ; but the pastor, who had made it his first duty to save, even in spite of themselves, the souls oonfided to him, had been obliged to spend his days and nights in this great wori, and had more than onoe run the risk of martyrdom. 1 The leaders of the schismatics, fearing the force of his reasoning even more than his eloquence, refused all intercourse with him; they declared that to put Augustine to death would be a praiseworthy action, which would merit for the perpetrator the remission of his sins. 2

'Pray for us,' he said at the beginning of his episoopate, 4 pray for us who live in so precarious a state, as it were between the teeth of furious wolves. These wandering sheep, obstinate sheep, are offended because we run after them, as if their wandering made them cease to be ours. — Why dost thou call us ? they say ; why dost thou pursue us P — But the very reason of our ories and our anguish is that they are running to their ruin. — If I am lost, if I die, what is it to thee ? what dost thou want with me ? — What I want is to call thee back from thy wandering ; what I desire is to snatch thee from death. — But what if I will to wander P what if I will to be lost P — Thou wiliest to wander ? thou wiliest to be lost? How much more earnestly do I wish it not ! Tea, I dare to say it, I am importunate ; for I hear the Apostle saying: "Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season." 8 In season, when they are willing ; out of season, when they are unwilling. Yes then, I am importunate: thou wiliest to perish, I will it not. And He wills it not, who threatened the shepherds saying: " That whioh was driven away you have not brought again, neither i Poesidius, vita Atyustini. 13. * Ibid. 10. 8 % Tim. iv. 2. have you sought that which was lost." 1 Am I to fear thee more than Him? I fear thee not; the tribunal of Donatus cannot take the place of Christ's judgment seat, before which we must all appear. Whether thou will it or not, I shall call back the wandering sheep, I shall seek the lost sheep. The thorns may tear me ; but however narrow the opening may be, it shall not check my pursuit ; I will beat every bush, as long as the Lord gives me strength ; so only I can get to thee wherever thou strivest to perish/ 2

Driven into their last trenohes by such unconquerable charity, the Donatists replied by massaoring clerics and faithful, since they could not touch Augustine himself. The bishop implored the imperial judges not to inflict mutilation or death upon the murderers lest the triumph of the martyrs should be sullied by such a vengeance. Such mildness was oertainly worthy of the Church ; but it was destined to be one day brought forward against her in contrast to certain other facts of her history, by a school of liberalism that can grant rights and even preeminence to error. Augustine acknowledges his first idea to have been that constraint should not be used to bring any one into the unity of Christ ; he believed that preaching and free discussion should be the only arms employed for the conversion of heretics. But on the consideration of what was taking place before his eyes, the very logio of his charity brought him over to the opinion of his more ancient colleagues in the episcopate. 8

'Who,' he says, * could love us more than God does ? Nevertheless God makes use of fear in order to save us, although He teaches us with sweetness. When the Father of the family wanted guests for

1 Ezech. xxxiv. 4. 2 S. Aug. sermon xlvi, 14. * JSpistola, passim.

His banquet, did He not send His servants to the highways and hedges, to compel all they met to oome inP This banquet is the unity of Christ's body. If, then, the divine goodness has willed that, at the fitting time, the faith of Christian kings should recognize this power of the Church, let the heretics brought back from the by-ways, and sohismatics forced into their enclosures, oonsider not the constraint they suffer, but the banquet of the Lord to which they would not otherwise have attained. Does not the shepherd sometimes use threats and sometimes blows, to win back to the master's fold the sheep that have been enticed out of it ? Severity that springs from love is preferable to deceitful gentleness. He who binds the delirious man, and wakes up the sleeper from his lethargy, molests them both, but for their good. If a house were on the point of falling, and our cries could not induoe those within to come out, would it not be cruelty not to save them by force in spite of themselves ? and that, even if we could snatch only one from death, because the rest, seeing it, obstinately hastened their own destruction: as the Donatists do, who in their madness commit suicide to obtain the crown of martyrdom. No one can become good in spite of himself ; nevertheless, the rigorous laws, of which they complain, bring deliverance not only to individuals, but to whole cities, by freeing them from the bonds of untruth and causing them to see the truth, which the violence or the deceits of the schismatics had hidden from their eyes. Far from complaining, their gratitude is now boundless and their joy complete; their feasts and their chants are unoeasing.' 1

Meanwhile the justice of heaven was falling upon the queen of nations; Rome, after the triumph of

1 Epistoloe, passim. of the cross, had not profited of God's meroiful delay ; now she was expiating, under the hand of Alaric, the blood of the saints which she had shed before her idols. 4 Go out from her my people.' 1 At this signal the city was evacuated. The roads were all lined with barbarians; and happy was the fugitive who could succeed in reaching the sea, there to entrust to the frailest skiff the honour of his family and the remains of his fortune. Like a bright beacon shining through the storms, Augustine, by his reputation, attracted to the African coast the best of the unfortunates ; his varied correspondence shows us the new links then formed by God, between the bishop of Hippo and so many noble exiles. At one time he would send, as far as Nola in Campania, charming messages, mingled with learned questions and luminous answers, to greet his 4 dear lords and venerable brethren, Paulinus and Therasia, his fellow disciples in the sohool of our Lord Jesus.' Again it was to Carthage, or even nearer home, that his letters were directed, to console, instruct, and fortify Albina, Melania, and Pinianus, but especially Proba and Juliana, the illustrious grandmother and mother of a still more illustrious daughter, the virgin Demetrias, the greatest in the Roman world for nobility and wealth, and Augustine's dear conquest to the heavenly Spouse. ' Oh ! who,' he wrote on hearing of her consecration to our Lord, 'oould worthily express the glory added this day to the family of the Anicii ? For years, it has ennobled the world by the consuls its sons, but now it gives virgins to Christ! Let others imitate Demetrias; whosoever ambitions the glory of this illustrious family, let him take holiness for his portion!' 2 Augustine's desire was magnificently realized, when, less than a century

1 Apoc. xviii. 4 T 2 JSpitt. cl, al. clxxix, later, the gens Anicia gave to the world Soholastioa and Benedict, who were to lead into intimate familiarity and union with God so many souls eager for true nobility.

When Rome fell, the shock was felt throughout the

Erovinces and even beyond. Augustine tells us how e, a descendant of the ancient Numidians, groaned and wept in his almost inconsolable grief ; 1 so great, even in her decadence, was the universal esteem and love for the queen city, through the secret aotion of Him who was holding out to her new and higher destinies. Meanwhile the terrible crisis furnished the occasion for Augustine's most important writings. The City of God was an answer to the still numerous partisans of idolatry, who attributed the misfortunes of the empire to the suppression of the false gods. In this great work he refutes, in the most oomplete and masterly way, the theology and also the philosophy of Roman and Greoian paganism; he then proceeds to set forth the origin, the history, and the end of the two cities, the earthly, and the heavenly, which divide the world between them, and which are founded upon 'two opposite loves: the love of self even to the despising of God, and the love of God even to the despising of self.' 2

But Augustine's greatest triumph was that which earned for him the title of the Doctor of grace. His favourite prayer: Da quod Jubes, et jube quod vis, 3 offended the pride of a oertain British monk, whom the events of the year 410 had led into Africa. 4 This was Pelagius, who taught that nature, all-powerful for good, was quite capable of working out salvation, and that Adam's sin injured himself alone, and was not passed down to his posterity. We can well un-

1 De urbis excidio, 3. 2 Be civitate Dei contra paganos xiv, xxviii. * Lord give me grace to do what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. * J)e dono perseverantia, 63. derstand Augustine, who owed so muoh to the divine mercy, feeling so strong an aversion for a system whose authors seemed to say to God: ' Thou madest us men, but it is we that justify ourselves/

In this new campaign no injuries were spared to the former convert ; but they were his joy and his hope. He had already said, with regard to similar arguments adduced by other adversaries: ' Catholics, my beloved brethren, one flock of the one Shepherd, I care not how the enemy may insult the watch-dog of the fold ; it is not for my own defence, but for yours, that I must bark. Yet I must needs tell this enemy that, as to my former wanderings and errors, I condemn them, as every one else does ; I can but see therein the glory of Him who has delivered me from myself. When I hear my former life brought forward, no matter with what intention it is done, I am not so ungrateful as to be afflicted thereat ; for the more they show up my misery, the more I praise my physician.' 1

While he made so little account of himself, his reputation was spreading throughout the world, by reason of the victory he had won for grace. ' Honour to you,' wrote the aged St. Jerome from Bethlehem ; 'honour to the man whom the raging winds have not been able to overthrow ! . . . Continue to be of good courage. The whole world celebrates your praises; the Catholics venerate and admire you as the restorer of the ancient faith. But what is a mark of still greater glory, all the heretics hate you. They honour me, too, with their hatred. Not being able to strike us with the sword, they kill us in desire.' 2

These lines reveal the intrepid combatant with whom we shall make acquaintance in September,

1 Contra litter as PetiUmii, iii, 11. 2 Hierou. ejpitt* cxli, al, lxxx. and who, soon after writing them, was laid to rest in the saored oave near which he had taken refuge. Augustine had yet some years to continue the good fight, to oomplete the exposition of Catholic doctrine in contradiction to some even holy persons, who were inclined to think that at least the beginning of salvation, the desire of faith, did not require the special assistance of God. This was semi-pelagianism. A century later (529) the second Council of Orange, approved by Rome and hailed by the whole Church, closed the struggle, taking its definitions from the writings of the bishop of Hippo. Augustine himself, however, thus ooncluded his last work: 'Let those who read these things give thanks to God, if they understand them ; if not, let them pray to the teaoher of our souls, to him whose shining produces knowledge and understanding. Do they think that I err ? Let them refleot again and again, lest perhaps they themselves be mistaken. As for me, when the readers of my works instruct and correot me, I see therein the goodness of God ; yea, I ask it as a favour, especially of the learned ones in the Church, if by chance this book should fall into their hands, and they deign to take notice of what I write.' 1

But let us return to the privileged people of Hippo, won over by Augustine's devotedness, even more than by his admirable discourses. His door was open to every comer ; and he was ever ready to listen to the requests, the sorrows, and the disputes of his children. Sometimes, at the instance of other ohurohes, and even of councils, requiring of Augustine a more aotive pursuit of works of general interest, an agreement was made between the flock and the pastor, that on certain days of the week no one should interrupt him. But the convention could not last

J>$ dono perteverantia, 68* long. Whoever wished could claim the attention of this loving and humble shepherd, beside whom the little ones especially knew well that they would never meet with a refusal. As an instance of this we may mention the fortunate child, who wishing to enter into correspondence with the bishop, but not daring to take the initiative, received from him the touching letter which may be seen in his works. 1

Besides all his other glories, our saint was the institutor of monastio life in Roman Africa, by the monasteries he founded, and in which he lived before he became bishop. He was a legislator by his letter to the virgins of Hippo, which became the rule whereon so many servants and handmaids of our Lord have formed their religious life. Lastly, together with the clerios of his church who lived with him a common life of absolute poverty, he was the example and the head of the great family of Regular Canons. But we must close these already lengthy pages, which will be completed by the narrative of the holy liturgy.

Let us, then, read this authentic acoount. Independently of the present feast, the Churoh, in her martyrology, makes special mention of Augustine's conversion on the fifth of May.

Angustinus, Tagaste in Augustine was 'born at Ta-

Africa honestis parentibus gaste 2 in Africa of noble pa- natus, ac puer docilitate in- rents. As a child he was so genii aequales longe super- apt in learning that in a short ans, brevi omnibus doctri- time he far surpassed in know- na antecelluit. Adolescens, ledge all those of his own age. dum esset Carthagine, in When he was a young man

Manichaeorum haeresim in- he went to Carthage where he cidit. Postea Romam pro- fell into the Manichsean here-

1 Epi*t. cclxvi, al. cxxxii. Augustinus Florentine puelUe. 3 Souk-Arhas, in Algeria, 25 leagues to the south of Bona, the ancient Hippo. fectus, ,inde Mediolanum missus ut rhetoricam doceret, cum ibi frequens Ambrosii episcopi esset auditor, ejus opera incensua studio catholicaB fidei, annos uatus triginta tres ab ipso baptizatur. Reversus in Af ricam, cum religione vitaB sanctimoniam conjungens, a Valerio notae sanctitatis episcopo Hipponensi presbyter factus est. Quo tempore familiam instituit religiosorum, quibuscum victu communi eodemque cultu utens, eos ad apostolicae vitae doctrinaeque disciplinam diligentissime erudiebat. Sed cum vigeret Manichaeorum haeresis, vehementius in illam invehi coepit, Fortunatumque haeresiarcham confutavit.

Hac Augustini pietate commotus Valerius, eum adjutorem adhibuit episcopalis officii. Nihil illo fuit humilius, nihil continentius. Lectus ac vestitus moderatus, vulgaris mensa, quam semper sacra vel lectione vel disputatione condiebat. Tanta benignitate fuit in pauperes, ut, cum non esset alia facultas, sacra vasa frangeret ad eorum inopiam sustentandam. Feminarum, et in eis sororis, et fratris filiae, contubernium f amilia- sy. Later on, he journeyed to Borne, and was sent thence to Milan to teach rhetoric. Having frequently listened to the teaching of Ambrose the bishop, he was through his influence inflamed with a desire of the Catholic faith and was baptized by him at the age of thirty-three. On his return to Africa, as his holy life was in keeping with his religion, Valerius the bishop, who was then renowned for his sanctity, ordained him priest. It was at this time that he founded a religious community with whom he lived, sharing their food, and dress, and training them with the utmost care in the rules of apostolic life and teaching. The Manichaean heresy was then growing very strong: he opposed it with great vigour and refuted one of its leaders named Fortunatus.

Valerius perceiving Augustine's great piety made him his coadjutor in the bishopric. He was always most humble and most temperate. His clothing and his bed were of the simplest kind: he kept a frugal table, which was always seasoned by reading or holy conversation. Such was his loving kindness to the poor, that when he had no other resource, he broke up the sacred vessels, for their relief. He avoided all intercourse and conversation with women. ritatemque vitavit: quippe qui diceret, etsi propinquaB mulieres suspectae non essent, tamen quaa ad eas ventitarent, posse suspicionem efficere. Nullum finem fecit prsBdicandi Dei verbum, nisi gravi morbo oppressus. Haereticos perpetuo insectatus et coram et scriptis, ac nullo loco passu consistere, Africam a Manichaeorum, Donatistarum, Pelagianorum, aliorumque praeterea haereticorum errore magna ex parte libera vit.

Tarn multa pie, subtiliter et copiose scripsit, ut christianam doctrinam maxime illustrarit. Quern in primis secuti sunt, qui postea theologicam disciplinam via et ratione tradiderunt. Wandalis Africam bello vastantibus, et Hipponem tertium jam mensem obsidentibus, in febrim incidit. Itaque cum discessum e vita sibi instare intelligeret, psalmos David, qui ad pcenitentiam pertinent, in conspectu positos profusis lacrimis legebat. Solebat autem dicere neminem, etsi nullius sceleris sibi conscius esset, committere debere, ut sine poenitentia migraret e vita. Ergo sensibus integris, in oratione defixus, astantibus f ratribus, quos ad caritatem, pietatem, virtutesque omnes even with his sister and his niece, for he used to say that though such near relatives could not give rise to any suspicion, yet might the women who came to visit them. Never, except when seriously ill, did he omit preaching the word of God. He pursued heretics unremittingly both in public disputations and in his writings, never allowing them to take foothold anywhere; and by these means he almost entirely freed Africa from the Manichees, Donatists and other heretics.

His numerous works are full of piety, deep wisdom and eloquence, and throw the greatest light on Christian doctrine, so that he is the great master and guide of all those who later on reduced theological teaching to method. While the Vandals were devastating Africa, and Hippo had been besieged by them for three months, Augustine was seized with a fever. When he perceived that his death was at hand, he had the penitential psalms of David placed before him, and used to read them with an abundance of tears. He was accustomed to say that no one, even though not conscious to himself of any sin, ought to be presumptuous enough to die without repentance. He was in full possession of his faculties and intent erat adhortatus, migravit in on prayer to the end. After coelum. Vixit annos sep- exhorting his brethren who tuaginta sex, in episcopatu were around him, to charity, ad triginta sex. Cujus cor- piety and the practice of every pus primum in Sardiniam virtue, he passed to heaven, delatum, deinde a Luit- having lived seventy-six years, prando, Longobardorum re- and thirty-six as bishop. His ge, magno pretio redem- body was first of all taken to ptum, Ticinum translatum Sardinia, afterwards Luit- est, ibique honorifice condi- prand, king of the Lombards, turn. translated it to Pavia, where it was honourably entombed.

What a death was thine, 0 Augustine, receiving on thy humble couch nought but news of disasters and ruin ! Thy Africa was perishing at the hands of the barbarians, in punishment of those nameless crimes of the ancient world, in which she had so large a share. Together with Genserio, Arius triumphed over that land, whioh nevertheless, thanks to thee, was to produce, for yet a hundred years, admirable martyrs for the Consubstantiality of the Word. When Belisarius restored her to the Roman world, God seemed to be offering her, for the martyrs' sake, an opportunity of returning to her former prosperity; but the inexperienced Byzantines, preoccupied with their theological quarrels and political intrigues, knew not how to raise her up, nor to protect her against an invasion more terrible than the first; and the torrent of Mussulman infidelity soon swept all before it.

At length, after twelve centuries, the cross reappeared in those places, where the very names of so many flourishing churches had perished. May the nation on which thy oountry is now dependent, show that it is proud of this honour, and understand its consequent obligations !

During all that long night which overhung thy native land, thy influence did not cease. Through* out the entire world, thy immortal works were^enlightening the minds of men and arousing their love. In the basilicas served by thy sons and imitators, the splendour of divine worship, the pomp of the ceremonies, the perfection of the sacred melodies, kept up in the hearts of the people the same supernatural enthusiasm which took possession of thine own, when for the first time in our west, St. Ambrose instituted the alternate chanting of the psalms and saored hymns. 1 Throughout all ages the perfect life, in its many different ways of exercising the double precept of charity, draws from the waters of thy fountains. Continue to illumine the Church with thine incomparable light. Bless the numerous religious families which claim thine illustrious patronage. Assist us all, by obtaining for us the spirit of love and of penance, of confidence and of humility, whioh befits the redeemed soul. Give us to know the weakness of our nature and its unworthiness since the fall, and at the same time the boundless goodness of our Q-od, the superabundance of His Redemption, the all-powerf ulness of His grace. May we all, like thee, not only recognize the truth, but be able loyally and practically to say to God: 4 Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is ill at ease till it rest in Thee.' 2

According to the most ancient monuments of the Roman Church, 3 another saint has always been honoured on this same day, viz: Hermes, a Roman magistrate, who bore witness to Christ under Trajan. The crypt constructed, less than half a century after the death of the apostles, to receive this martyr's relios, is remarkable for its majestic and ample proportions not usually found in the subterranean cemeteries. It was his sister Theodora, who received

1 Aug. confess, ix. 2 Ibid, L 3 Calendarium Buchtriu

TIME AFTER PBNTBC08T from Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, the venerable chains of St. Peter.

Dens, qui beatum Herme- 0 God, who didst strengthen tern, martyrem tuum, vir- blessed Hermes, thy martyr, tute constantly in passione with the virtue of constancy roborasti: ex ejus nobis imi- in suffering: grant us in imita- tatione tribue, pro amore tion of him to despise worldly tuo prospera mundi despi- prosperity for the love of thee, cere, et nulla ejus adversa and not to fear any of its ad- formidare. Per Dominum. versity. Through our Lord, &c.

August 29

THE DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN

THE BAPTIST i At that time, Herod sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod: " It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Now Herodias laid snares for him, and was desirous to put him to death, and could not. For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and kept him, and when he heard him did many things ; and he heard him willingly. And when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the princes, and tribunes, and ohief men of Galilee. And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with him, the king said to

PRATER the damsel: "Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee." And he swore to her, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask, I will give thee ; though it be the half of my kingdom." Who, when she was gone out, said to her mother : " What shall I ask P" But she said, "The head of John the Baptist." And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying, " I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Baptist." And the king was struck sad ; yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her ; but sending an executioner he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. Which his disciples hearing, came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.' 1

Thus died the greatest of 6 them that are born of women:' without witnesses, the prisoner of a petty tyrant, the victim of the vilest of passions, the wages of a dancing girl ! Rather than keep silence in the presence of crime, although there were no hope of converting the sinner, or give up his liberty, even when in chains: the herald of the Word made flesh was ready to die. How beautiful, as St. John Chrysostom remarks, is this liberty of speech, when it is truly the liberty of G-od's Word, when it is an echo of heaven's language ! Then, indeed, it is a stumbling-block to tyranny, the safe-guard of the world and of (rod's rights, the bulwark of a nation's honour as well as of its temporal and eternal interests. Death has no power over it. To the weak murderer of John the Baptist, and to all who would imitate

1 Gospel of the feast, St. Mark yi. 17-29, him to the end of time, a thousand tongues, instead of one, repeat in all languages and in all plaoes: * It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.'

' 0 great and admirable mystery ! 9 cries out Saint Augustine. * He must increase, but I must deorease, said John, said the voice which personified all the voices that had gone before announcing the Father's Word Incarnate in His Christ. Every word, in that it signifies something, in that it is an idea, an internal word, is independent of the number of syllables, of the various letters and sounds ; it remains unchangeable in the heart that oonoeives it, however numerous may be the words that give it outward existenoe, the voices that utter it, the languages, Greek, Latin and the rest, into which it may be translated. To him who knows the word, expressions and voices are useless. The prophets were voioes, the apostles were voices ; voices are in the psalms, voices in the Gospel. But let the Word come, the Word who was in the beginning, the Word who was with God, the Word who was God ; when we shall see Him as He is, shall we hear the Gospel repeated? Shall we listen to the prophets? Shall we read the Epistles of the apostles P The voioe fails where the Word increases. . . . Not that in Himself the Word can either diminish or increase. But He is said to grow in us, when we grow in Him. To him, then, who draws near to Christ, to him who makes progress in the contemplation of wisdom, words are of little use ; of neoessity they tend to fail altogether. Thus the ministry of the voice falls short in proportion as the soul progresses towards the Word; it is thus that Christ must increase and John decrease. The same is indicated by the decollation of John, and the exaltation of Christ upon the cross ; as it had already been shown by their birthdays: for, from the birth of John the days begin to shorten, and from the birth of our Lord they begin to grow longer.' 1

The holy doctor here gives a useful lesson to those who guide souls along the path to perfection. If, from the very beginning, they must respectfully observe the movements of grace in each of them, in order to second the Holy Ghost, and not to supplant Him ; so also, in proportion as these souls advance, the directors must be oareful^not to impede the Word by the abundance of their own speech. Moreover, they must discreetly respect the ever-growing powerlessness of those souls to express what our Lord is working in them. Happy to have led the bride to the Bridegroom, let them learn to say with John: ' He must increase, but I must decrease.'

The sacred oycle itself seems to convey to us too a similar lesson ; for, during the following days, we shall see its teaching as it were tempered down, by the fewness of the feasts, and the disappearance of freat solemnities until November. The sohool of the oly liturgy aims at adapting the soul, more surely and more fully than could any other school, to the interior teaohing of the Spouse. Like John, the Church would be glad to let God alone speak always, if that were possible here below; at least, towards the end of the way, she loves to moderate her voice, and sometimes even to keep silence, in order to give her children an opportunity of showing that they know how to listen inwardly to Him, who is both her and their sole love. Let those who interpret her thought, first understand it well. The friend of the Bridegroom, who, until the nuptial-day, walked before Him, now stands and listens ; and the voice of the Bridegroom, which silences his own, fills him

1 4»ug. Sermon cclxxxyiii. In Natali #. /. Bapt. II. J)e voe$ etverbo. with immense joy: 1 This my joy therefore is fulfilled/ said the preoursor. 1

Thus the feast of the Decollation of St. John may be considered as one of the landmarks of the liturgical year. With the Greeks it is a holiday of obligation. Its great antiquity in the Latin Church is evidenoed by the mention made of it in the martyrology called St. Jerome's, and by the place it occupies in the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramenttfries. The precursor's blessed death took place about the feast of the Fasoh ; but, that it might be more freely oelebrated, this day was ohosen, whereon his sacred head was discovered at Emesa.

The vengeanoe of God fell heavily upon Herod Antipas. J osephus relates how he was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudiated in order to follow his wicked passions ; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John. 2 He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul, where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her danoing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors, 3 that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water ; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death.

From Macherontis, beyond the Jordan, where their master had suffered martyrdom, John's disoiples carried his body to Sebaste (Samaria), out of the territory of Antipas ; it was necessary to save it from the profanations of Herodias, who had not spared his august head. The wretohed woman did not

1 St. John iii. 29. * Joseph. Antiquit. Jud. xviii. 6.

8 Pseudo- Dexter, jhronieon, atkann. Ckritti 34 ; Niceph. Call. i. xx t think her vengeanoe oomplete, till she had pierced with a hairpin the tongue that had not feared to utter her shame; and that face, which for seven centuries the church of Amiens has offered to the veneration of the world, still bears traces of the violence inflicted by her in her malicious triumph. In the reign of Julian the Apostate, the pagans wished to complete the work of this unworthy descendant of the Machabees, 1 by opening the saint's tomb at Sebaste, in order to burn and scatter his remains. But the empty sepulchre continued to be a terror to the demons, as St. Paula attested with deep emotion a few years later. Moreover, some of the precious relios were saved, and dispersed throughout the east. Later on, especially at the time of the Crusades, they were brought into the west, where many ohurches glory in possessing them.

Let us greet the noble martyr Sabina, whose triumph completes the glories of this day. The very ancient church of St. Sabina on the Aventine is one of the gems of the eternal city. It shared with St. Sixtus the Old the honour of sheltering Saint Dominic and his first children.

PRAYER

Deus, qui inter cetera po- 0 mitentiae tu» miracula, etiam racles in sexu f ragili victoriam ed martyrii contulisti: concede propitius; ut qui beatae Sabinse martyris tuas natalitia colimus, per ejus ad te exempla gradiamur. Per minum.

God, who among other of thy power, hast granteven to the weaker sex the victory of martyrdom, grant, we beseech thee, that we who celebrate the festival of thy blessed martyr Sabina, may Do- walk to thee by her example, Through our Lord, &c.

1 By her grandmother, Mariamne, grand-daughter of Hyrcanus.

Let us return to the Precursor, and make our own the following formula found in the Gregorian saoramentary for the feast of the Decollation.

PRAYER

Sancti Joannis Baptist© We beseech thee, 0 Lord, et martyris tui, Domine, that the venerable festival of quffisumus, veneranda festi- St. John Baptist, thy precur- vitas, salutaris auxilii nobis sor and martyr, may procure prostet effectum. Per Do- for us the effect of salutary minum. help. Who livest &c.

SUPER OBLATA

Munera tibi, Domine, pro sancti martyris tui Joannis passione deferimus, qui dum finitur in terris, factus est coelesti sede perpetuus; queesumus, ut ejus obtentu nobis profici- seech interant ad salutem. Per minum.

We present our offerings to thee, 0 Lord, in honour of the Baptist® passion of thy holy martyr John Baptist, who, closing his life on earth began to live eternally in heaven; we bethee, that by his Do- cession these gifts may profit us unto salvation. Through our Lord.

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus: Qui praecursorem Filii tui tanto munere ditasti, ut pro veritatis praeconio capite plecteretur: Et qui Christum aqua baptizaverat, ab ipso in Spiritu baptizatus, pro eodem proprio sanguine tingeretur. Praeco quippe veritatis, quae Christus est, . Herodem a fraternis thalamis prohiben-

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: who didst enrich the Precursor of thy Son with so great a grace, that he was beheaded for proclaiming the truth: and he who had baptized Christ with water, was baptized by Christ in the Spirit, and for his sake was washed in his own blood. For having, as a herald of the truth which is Christ, forbidden Herod to do, careens obscuritate detruditur, ubi solius divinitatis tuae lumine frueretur. Deinde capitalem sententiam subiit, et ad inferna Dominum praecursurus descendit. Et quern in mundo digito demonstravit, ad inferos pretiosa morte prascessit. Et ideo cum angelis. keep his brother's wife, he was cast into a dark prison, where he enjoyed no light but that of thy divinity. Afterwards he endured the punishment of death, and went down to limbo as the precursor of the Lord, preceding thither, by his precious death, him whom on earth he had pointed out with the finger. And therefore with the angels.

BENEDICTIO

Deus, qui nos beati Joannis Baptistae concedit solemnia frequentare, tribuat vobis et eadem devotis mentibus celebrare, et suae benedictionis dona percipere. ty. Amen.

Et qui pro legis ejus praeconio carceralibus est retrusus in tenebris, intercessione sua a tenebrosorum operum vos liberet incentivis.

]$r. Amen.

Et qui pro veritate, quas Deus est, caput non est cunctatus amittere, suo interventu ad caput nostrum, quod Christus est, vos f aciat pervenire.

I£. Amen.

Quod ipse praestare dignetur.

May God, who permitteth us to keep the solemnity of blessed John Baptist, grant you to celebrate it with devout minds, and to receive the gifts of his blessing.

15?. Amen.

And may he, who for proclaiming the law of God was shut up in a darksome prison, deliver you from the influence of the works of darkness.

Ity. Amen.

And through the intercession of him who hesitated not to give his head for the truth which is God, may we attain unto Christ our head.

I??. Amen.

Which may he deign to grant, who reigneth for ever.

AD COMPLENDUM

Conf erat nobis, Domine, May the solemnity of Saint sancti Joannis utrumque John procure for us, O Lord, solemnitas: ut et magnifica that we may both worthily

TWR A7TEK PENTECOST sacramenta qun sumpsimus, digne veneremur, et nobis salutaria sentiamus. Per Dominum. venerate the magnificent mysteries we have received, and also experience their salutary effect within us. Through our Lord.

August 30 SAINT ROSE OF LIMA

VIRGIN

The fragrance of holiness is wafted to-day across the dark ocean, renewing the youth of the old world, and winning for the new the good will of heaven and earth.

A century before the birth of St. Rose, Spain, having oast out the crescent from her own territory, reoeived as a reward the mission of planting the oross on the distant shores of America. Neither heroes nor apostles were wanting in the Catholic kingdom for the great work ; but there was also, unhappily, no lack of adventurers, who, in their thirst for gold, became the scourge of the poor Indians, instead of leading them to the true God. The speedy deoadence of the illustrious nation that had triumphed over the Moors, was soon to prove how far a people, prevented with the greatest blessings, may yet be answerable for crimes committed by its individual representatives. It is well known how the empire of the Incas in Peru came to an end. In spite of the indignant protestations of the missionaries: in spite of orders received from the mother country: in a few years, Pizarro and his companions had exterminated one third of the inhabitants of these flourishing regions j

SAINT ROSE OF LIMA another third perished miserably under a slavery worse than death; the rest fled to the mountains, carrying with them a hatred of the invaders, and too often of the Gospel as well, whioh in their eyes was responsible for atrocities committed by Christians. Avarice opened the door to all vices in the souls of the conquerors, without, however, destroying their lively faith. Lima, founded at the foot of the Cordilleras, as metropolis of the subjugated provinoes, seemed as if built upon the triple concupiscence. Before the close of the oentury, a new Jonas, Saint Franois Solano, came to threaten this new Ninive with the anger of God.

But mercy had already been beforehand with wrath; 'justice and peaoe had met', 1 in the soul of a child, who was ready, in her insatiable love, to suffer every expiation. Here we should like to pause and contemplate the virgin of Peru, in her self-forgetful heroism, in her pure and candid graoefulness: Rose, who was all sweetness to those who approaohed her, and who kept to herself the secret of the thorns without whioh no rose can grow on earth. This child of predilection was prevented from her infanoy with miraculous gifts and favours. The flowers recognized her as their queen ; and at her desire they would blossom out of season. At her invitation, the plants joyfully waved their leaves; the trees bent down their branches ; all nature exulted ; even the insects formed themselves into choirs ; the birds vied with her in celebrating the praises of their oommon Maker. She herself, playing upon the names of her parents, Gaspard Flores and Maria Oliva, would sing: '0 my Jesus, how beautiful Thou art among the olives and the flowers, and Thou dost not disdain Thy Eose!' iPs. lxxxiv. 11.

Eternal Wisdom has, from the beginning, delighted to play in the world. 1 Clement X relates, in the Bull of canonization, how one day when Rose was very ill, the Infant Jesus appeared and deigned to play with her; teaohing her in a manner suitable to her tender age, the value and the advantages of suffering. He then left her full of joy, and endowed with a life-long love of the cross. Holy Churoh will tell us in the legend how far the saint carried out, in her rigorous penanoe, the lesson thus divinely taught. In the superhuman agonies of her last illness, when someone exhorted her to oourage, she replied: i All I ask of my Spouse is, that He will not oease to burn me with the most scorohing heat, till I become a ripe fruit that He will deign to cull from this earth for His heavenly table/ To those who were astonished at her confidence and her assurance of going straight to heaven, she gave this answer which well expresses her character: 'I have a Spouse who can do all that is greatest, and who possesses all that is rarest, and am I to expect only little things from Him?' And her confidence was rewarded. She was but thirty-one years of age, when, at midnight on the feast of St. Bartholomew in the year 1617, she heard the ory: 4 Behold the Bridegroom oometh!' In Lima, in all Peru, and indeed throughout Amerioa, prodigies of conversion and miracles signalized the death of the humble virgin, hitherto so little known. 4 It has been juridically proved,' said the Sovereign Pontiff, 2 'that, since the discovery of Peru, no missionary has been known to obtain so universal a movement of repentanoe.' Five years later, for the further sanctification of Lima, there was established in its midst the monastery of St. Catharine of Siena, also called Rose's

1 Proy. viii. 30, 31. 1 Bull of Canonization.

SAINT ROSE OF LIMA monastery, because she was in the eyes of God its true foundress and mother. Her prayers had obtained its erection, which she had also predicted ; she had designed the plan, pointed out the future religious, and named the first superior, whom she one day prophetically endowed with her own spirit in a mysterious embraoe.

Let us read the Churoh's beautiful aooount of her life.

Primus Americas Meridionalis flos sanctitatis, virgo Rosa, christianis parentibus Limae progenita, mox ab incunabulis claruit futurae sanctimoniae indiciis. Nam vultus inf antis mirabiliter in rosae effigiem transfiguratus, huic nomini occasionem dedit: cui postea Virgo Deipara cognomen adjecit, jubens vocari deinceps Rosam a sancta Maria. Quinquennis votum perpetuae virginitatis emisifc. Adultior, ne a parentibus ad nuptias cogeretur, clam sibimet venustissimam capitis caesariem praescidit. Jejuniis supra humanum modum addicta, integras Quadragesimas transegit, pane abstinens, ac dietim solis quinque granulis mali citrini victitans.

Habitu tertii Ordinis sancti Dominici assumpto, pristinas vitas austeritates duplicavit: oblongo asperrimo-

The first flower of sanctity that blossomed in South America, the virgin Rose was born of Christian parents at Lima. From her very cradle she gave clear signs of her future holiness. Her baby face appeared one day changed in a wonderful way into the image of a rose, and from this circumstance she was called Rose. Later on the Virgin Mother of God gave her also her own name, bidding her to be called thenceforward Rose of St. Mary. At five years of age she made a vow of perpetual virginity, and when she grew older, fearing her parents would compel her to marry, she secretly cut off her hair which was very beautiful. Her fasts exceeded the strength of human nature. She would pass whole Lents without eating bread, living on five grains of a citron a day.

She took the habit of the third Order of St. Dominic and after that redoubled her austerities. Her long and rough

11MB AFTER PENTECOST que oilioio sparsim minusculaa acoi innexuit: sub velo ooronam densis aculeis introrsus obarmatam interdiu noctuque gestavit. Sanctae Catharinae Senensis ardua premens vestigia, catena f errea, triplici nexu circumducta, lumbos cinxit. Lectulum sibi e truncis nodosis compo8uit, horumque vacuas commissures fragminibus testarum implevit. Cellulam sibi angustissimam struxit in extremo horti angulo, ubi coelestium contemplationi dedita, orebris disciplinis, inedia, vigiliis, corpusculum extenuans, at spiritu vegetata, larvas daemonum, frequenti certamine victrix, impavide protrivit ac superavit. iEgritudinum tormentis, domesticorum insultibus, linguaruni morsibus dire agitata, nondum satis pro merito se affligi querebatur. Per quindecim annos ad plusculas horas desolatione spiritus et ariditate miserrime contabescens, forti animo tulit agones omni morte amariores. Exinde coepit supernis abundare deliciis, illustrari vision ibus, colliquescere seraphicis ardoribus. Angelo tutelari, sanctae Catharinae Senensis, Virgini Deiparas inter assiduas apparitiones mire familiaris, a Christo has voces audire hair-shirt was armed with steel points, and day and night she wore under her veil a crown studded inside with sharp nails. Following the arduous example of St. Catharine of Siena, she wound an iron chain three times round her waist, and made herself a bed of the knotty trunks of trees, filling up the vacant spaces between them with potsherds. She built herself a narrow little cell in a distant corner of the garden, and there devoted herself to the contemplation of heavenly things, subduing her feeble body by iron disciplines, fasting and watching. Thus she grew strong in spirit, and continually overcame the devils, spurning and dispelling their deceits.

Though she suffered greatly from severe illnesses, from the insults offered her by her family and from unkind tongues, yet she would say that she was not treated so badly as she deserved. During fifteen years, she suffered for several hours a day a terrible desolation and dryness of spirit; but she bore this suffering, worse than death itself, with undaunted courage. After that period, she was given an abundance of heavenly delights, she was honoured with visions, and felt her heart melting with seraphic love. Her angel-guardian, St. Catharine of Siena and our Lady used

SAINT SOSB OP LIMA meruit: Rosa cordis mei, tu mihi sponsa esto. Denique Sponsi hujus paradiso feliciter invectam, plurimisque ante et post obitum miraculis coruscam, Clemens decimus Pontifex Maximus sanctarum virginum catalogo ritu solemni adscripsit. often to appear to her with wonderful familiarity. She was privileged to hear these words from our Lord : 4 Rose of my heart, be thou my bride.' At length she was happily introduced into the paradise of this her Spouse, and being famous for miracles both before and after her death, Pope Clement X. solemnly enrolled her among the holy virgins.

Patroness of Peru, ever watch over the interests of thy fatherland. Respond to its people's confidence in thee by warding off from them the calamities of even this present life: the earthquakes which spread terror through the land, and political convulsions such as have already so severely tried its reoently gained independence. Extend thy guardianship to the neighbouring young republics ; for they too love and honour thee. Hide from them, and from thy native land, the Utopian mirages which rise from the old world. Preserve them from the rash impulses and illusions, to which their youth is liable. (Juard them against the poisonous teachings of condemned sects, lest their hitherto lively faith should be corrupted. Lastly, 0 thou our Lord's beloved Rose, smile upon the whole Church, who is enraptured to-day at the sight of thy heavenly beauty. like her, we all desire to 4 run in the fragrancy of thy sweetness/ 1

Teaoh us to let ourselves be prevented, like thee, by the dew of heaven. Show us how to respond to the advances of the divine sculptor, who one day allowed thee to see Him making over to His loved ones the different virtues in the form of blocks of choioe

1 Collect of the feast.

TIMS AFTER PBKTZCOST marble, which He expects them to polish with their tears, and to fashion with the chisel of penanoe. Above all, fill us with love and confidence. All that the material sun accomplishes in the vast universe, causing the flowers to bloom, ripening the fruits, forming pearls in the depth of the ooean, and preoious stones in the heart of the mountains ; all this, thou didst say, thy divine Spouse effeoted in the boundless capacity of thy soul, causing it to bring forth every variety of riches, beauty and joy, warmth and life. May we profit, even as thou didst, of the coming of the Sun of justice into our hearts in the Sacrament of union; may we lay open our whole being to the influence of His blessed light ; and may we become, in every plaoe, the good odour of Christ.

The holy martyrs Felix and Adauctus won their palms in the reign of Diocletian. Their tomb, which lies close to that of the Apostle of the Gentiles, is adorned by one of the beautiful epitaphs of Pope Saint Damasus. Let us address to God the prayer, wherein the Church implores their powerful protection.

Majestatem tuam, Do- We suppliantly beseech thy mine, supplices exoramus: Majesty, 0 Lord, that as thou ut, sicut nos jugiter sancto- dost ever rejoice us by the rum tuorum commemora- commemoration of thy saints, tione laetificas, ita semper so thou wouldst always de- supplicatione defendas. Per fend us by their supplication.

Dominum. Through our Lord etc.