Saint Nicholas Tolentino

despaired — suoh was the ardent prayer, the solemn adjuration of Eugenius IV, when, towards the close of his laborious pontificate, he committed the cause of the Church to the humble servant of God placed by him upon her altars. According to the testimony of Sixtus V, the obtaining of this peace was the greatest of Nicholas's miracles; a miracle whioh moved the latter Pontiff to order the oelebration of the saint's feast as a double, at a time when days of that rank were much rarer on the calendar than now.

Let us read the legend, which is as simple as the saint's life itself.

Nicolaus, Tolentinas, a diuturno illius civitatis domicilio appellatus, in oppido sancti Angeli in Piceno est natus piis parentibus: qui liberorum desiderio Barium voti causa profecti, ibique a sancto Nicolao de futura prole confirmati, quern susceperunt filium de illius nomine appellarunt. Is ab inf antia multarum virtutum, sed abstinentise in primis specimen dedit. Nam anno vix septimo, beatum ipsum Nicolaum imitatus, complures hebdomad© dies jejunare ccepit, eamque postea consuetudinem retinuit, solo pane contentus.

Adulta aetate jam clericali militiae adscriptus, et canonicus f actus, cum quodam die concionatorem Ordinis Eremitarum sancti Augustini de mundi contemptu dicentem audisset, eo sermone

Nicholas, called of Tolentino as he lived a long time in that city, was born at the town of St. Angelo in the Marches of Ancona. His pious parents, desirous of having children, went to Bari in fulfilment of a vow. There they were assured by St. Nicholas that they should have a son; whom they therefore called by that saint's name. From his infancy he was admirable for his virtues, especially for his abstinence; for, when only seven years old he began, in imitation of St. Nicholas, to fast several days a week; which custom he afterwards kept up, contenting himself with bread and water.

While still young he was enrolled in the ranks of the clergy and made a canon; but one day, hearing a sermon on contempt of the world preached by one the hermits of Saint Augustine, he was so struck

TttfE A*TER fctiNTfeOOat inflammatuB, statim enmdem Ordinem est ingressus. In quo tarn exactam religiosre vit© rationem. coluit, ut aspero vestitu, verberibus et ferrea catena corpus domans, atque a came et omni fere obsonio abstinent caritate, humilitate, patientia, ceterisque virtutibus aliis praeluceret.

Orandi assiduum studium, quamvis satana* insidiis variro vexatus, et flagellis interdum csesus, non intermittebat. Demum sex ante obitum mensibus, singulis noctibus angelicum concentum audivit, cujus suavitate cum jam paradisi gaudia praegustaret, crebro illud apostoli repetebat: Cupio dissolvi, et esse cum Christo. Denique obitus sui diem fratribus praedixit, qui fuit quarto idus septembris. Miraculis multis etiam post mortem claruit, quibus rite et ordine cognitis, ab Eugenio Papa quarto in sanctorum numerum est relatus. by it that he immediately joined that Order. As a religious he led a perfect life; subduing his body by rough garments, disciplines, and iron chains; abstaining from meat and almost every kind of nourishment; and showing a bright example to others by his charity, humility, patience, and other virtues.

Very great was his love of prayer, in which he never relaxed, although satan troubled him in various ways and at times scourged him severely. For six months before his death he heard every night the songs of the angels: a foretaste of heavenly delights which caused him frequently to repeat that saying of the apostle: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. He foretold to his brethren the day of his death, which was the fourth of the Ides of September. Both before and after death he was famous for miracles; which having been duly proved, he was enrolled among the saints by Pope Eugenius IV.

Good and faithful servant, thou hast entered into the joy of thy Lord. He has broken thy bonds; and from heaven, where thou art now reigning, thou repeatest to us those words which determined the sanctity of thy life on earth: 'Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. For the world passeth away, and the oonoupisoenoe thereof.' 1 How

• 1 St. John, ii. 15, 17. muoh a man thus forgetful of earth oan do for his fellow-men, is evinced by the gift thou didst reoeive of solaoing all the miseries around thee, and suooouring the souls in purgatory. The suooessor of St. Peter was not deoeived, when, in ranking thee among the saints, he counted on thy power in heaven to bring baok sooiety from its long continued state of disturbance to the paths of peace. May that word of the beloved disciple which thou hast just echoed to us, sink into our souls as a seed of salvation, and there yield the fruits that it produoed in thee: detachment from all temporal things and a longing for eternal realities ; that humble simplicity of the soul's eye which makes life a peaceful journey towards God ; and lastly, that purity, which made thee the friend of angels and the favourite of Mary.

FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY i Dim\tte me, Jam enim ascendit aurora; let me go for it is break of day ; 9 1 such were the words which put an end to the struggle between the angel and the patriarch on the banks of the torrent. Blessed dawn which triumphed over God Himself! How long had been that night, during which the human race had been struggling by its supplications and tears! 2 Ever sinoe the fall, the angel of justioe had been guarding the entranoe to the true land of promise; at every turn he was to be found, resisting in

1 Gen. xxx, 26. * Cf. Osee, xii, 4.

September 11 m

Ttlife AFTER frENTECOST

Iiis inexorable vengeanoe poor, wandering, outcast man. How is it, then, that the inflexible has now yielded P That spiritual being, so superior to our weak, halting nature, why is he the first to speak of olosing the struggle, and to own himself vanquished? It is beoause, as with God so with the angel, light is strength. Now our earth, hitherto buried in deepest night, has suddenly reflected back to heaven brighter splendours than ever Cherubim shed down upon the Dominations and Virtues and Powers and Principalities, beside whom, a while ago, man was so very little. It is beoause at length in the glimmering dawn, which already subdues him, the angel of justice foresees the Sun Himself, the Sun of justice, who, rising from the bosom of the human raoe, is to make Himself answerable for it. Man is no longer a pariah compared with the angel; he is Israel, 'the strong longer derogatory to the angelic dignity; to yield to him is no humiliation: the day is breaking.

Blessed be thou, whose radiant innocence thus raises up to the throne of God our proscribed race. With the angels for allies instead of adversaries, we are henoeforth one great army, of which thou art the Queen.

Our Lady shares her honours to-day with two brothers, whose martyrdom, under Valerian, raised them from servile condition to the highest rank of heaven's nobility. Their bodies were first laid in the cemetery of St. Hermes : but Protus had already been honoured within the walls of the eternal oity for more than a thousand years, when, in 1845, the disoovery of Hyacinth's bones in his primitive tomb, opened a new era in the history of the catacombs and of Christian archaeology. against

To come to terms with him is no

PRAYER

Beatorum martyram tuo- May the precious confession mm Proti et Hyacinthi nos, of thy blessed martyrs Protus

Domine, foveat pretiosacon- and Hyacinth animate us, 0 fessio, et pia jugiter inter- Lord, and may their pious cessio tueatur. Per Domi- intercession ever defend us. num. Through our Lord.

The abbey of St. Gall in the tenth century furnishes us with the following ancient sequence in honour of Mary's birth.

SEQUENCE

Ecce solemnis diei canamus f esta,

Qua saeculo processit gemma potens et nobilis Maria.

Begalibus exorta parentelis theotochos inclita.

Haec egressura de germine Jesse tempore prisco praedicta est virgula.

Et flos ex ejus radice procedens turbida mundi absolveret crimina.

Istam venturam veterum parentum linguae prophetiis plenae testabantur coelitus ac praecinuerant alma oracula.

Quae virgo manens paritura f oret unico more filium spiritualiter conceptum, qui contraderet mundo remedia.

Quae Davidis genita stirpe

Let us hail with song the festivity of this solemn day

Which ushered into the world the noble, queenly pearl, Mary.

The illustrious Mother of God, born of a royal stock.

In ancient times it was foretold that this little branch should spring from the rod of Jesse,

And that the Flower proceeding from its root should put an end to the darksome crimes of earth.

The prophetic tongues of her remote ancestors testified in heaven's name to her future coming, and propitious oracles sang her praises of old.

Alone of all women she was to remain ever a virgin, whilst bringing forth a Son spiritually conceived, who was to heal the world.

She is honoured with a noble i clara generosi nominis fert insignia.

Salomonis creditur haec propinqua, sed majore praedita sapientia.

Haec de regibus generis clari sumpsit primordia.

Et hroc eadem regis seterni mater castissima.

Ejus qui ante tempora fuerat atque ssBcula.

Qui angelos et homines junxerat pace placida.

Illiu nobis adesse cuncti precemur auxilia,

Per quern tarn gravis destructa paci concessit discordia.

Illius ha3C nobis acquirat Genitrix sanctam quam sonant gaudia.

Atque suum nobis placatum faciat natum per cuncta ssBcula.

Ille nobis cuncta ut demittat pleniter delicta,

Et aeterne clemens tribuat ornarier corona.

0 nunc coelorum domina, famulorum vocibus mota, quae deposcunt aure suscipe benigna,

Et nos tuo munimine tuearis sedule, donee nosmet regna dones scandere superna. name, being sprung of the illustrious race of David.

She is descended from Solomon , but she far surpasses him in wisdom.

Born of the glorious lineage of kings,

She is herself the most pure Mother of the eternal King,

Who was before all times and ages;

Who had united angels and men in tranquil peace.

Then let us all implore him to come to our assistance;

Through whom such terrible discord was destroyed and gave place to peace.

May his Mother obtain this for us, whom our joyous songs proclaim holy.

And may she render her Son for ever propitious to us;

So that he may grant us full remission of our sins,

And give us in his mercy to be adorned with the eternal crown.

0 thou who now art heaven's Queen, touched by the prayers of thy servants, receive their petitions with a kindly ear,

And assiduously shield us with thy protection, until thou bringest us too into the heavenly kingdom.

September 12

FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY

1 Who is she that oometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?' 1 Such is thy growth, 0 Mary ! Not the holiest life, were it even of patriarchal duration, will ever attain the degree of progress made under the influence of divine power by the soul of the most pure Virgin, in these few days elapsed since her coming on earth. First, there is the progress of her intellect: not subject to the obsourity which envelopes the minds of all men at their entrance into the world, it is a faithful mirror, into whioh the Word of God pours floods of that light whioh is also life. Then the progress of love in that heart of the Virgin and the Mother, wherein the holy Spirit already delights to awake such ineffable harmonies, and to dig still deeper depths. Lastly, the progress of that victorious power, which made satan tremble at the moment of the Immaculate Conception, and whioh has constituted Mary the incomparable Queen of the hosts of the Lord.

Two glorious triumphs, two victories won under the protection of our Lady, have rendered this present day illustrious in the annals of the Church and of history.

Manicheism, revived under a variety of names, had established itself in the south of France, whenoe it hoped to spread its reign of shameless excess. But

1 Cant. vi. 9.

(191)

Dominio appeared with Mary's rosary for the defence of the people. On September 12, 1213, Simon de Montfort and the crusaders of the faith, one against forty, crushed the Albigensian army at Muret. This was in the pontificate of Innocent III.

Nearly five centuries later, the Turks, who had more than onoe caused the west to tremble, again poured down upon Christendom. Vienna, worn out and dismantled, abandoned by its emperor, was surrounded by 300,000 infidels. But another great Pope, Innooent XI, again confided to Mary the defence of the baptized nations. Sobieski, mounting his oharger on the feast of our Lady's Assumption, hastened from Poland by forced marches. On the Sunday within the octave of the Nativity, September 12, 1683, Vienna was delivered ; and then began for the Osmanlis that series of defeats which ended in the treaties of Carlowitz and Passarowitz, and the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire. The feast of the most holy name of Mary insoribed on the calendar of the universal Church, was the homage of the world's gratitude to Mary, our Lady and Queen.

As a supplement to the ancient sequence given yesterday, we choose for to-day a hymn of the same period, to celebrate the blessed birth which brought peace and honour to the world.

SEQUENCE

O sancta mundi domina,

O holy Lady of the world, illustrious Queen of heaven I O Mary, star of the sea, Virgin Mother after God's own heart!

Regina coeli inclyta! O stella maris, Maria, Yirgo mater deifica!

Emerge, dulcis filia, ffitesce jam virguncula,

Come forth, thou maiden sweet; grow verdant, thoij

Florem latura nobilem, Christum Deum et homi nem. Natalia tui annua En colimus solemnia, Quo stirpe electissima Mundo fulsisti genita.

Per te sumus, terrigense Simulque jam coeligenae, Pacati pace nobili More inestimabili.

Hinc Trinitati gloria Sit semper ac victoria, In unitate solida, Per sseculorum saecula.

Amen. tender little branch; for thou wilt bear the noble flower, Christ, both God and man.

Lol we are celebrating the annual solemnity of thy birth, the day whereon, sprung from a most choice root, thou didst begin to shine upon our earth.

We who are earth-born, yet now are citizens of heaven too, have been through thee, in wondrous wise, set at peace by an honourable treaty.

Glory then and victory be ever to the Trinity, in undivided Unity, through everlasting ages.

Amen.

September 13 sixth day within the octave of the nativity

How beautiful are thy first steps, 0 prince's daughter ! Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army. 1 Blessed child, continue to grow in grace ; may thy course be prosperous ; may thy royalty be strengthened and established. But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up, to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon: 'Rejoice

0 Virgin Mary ; thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.' 2

Heresy, satan's denial of what God affirms by His

1 @ant. vii. 1, 2. 8 First antiphon of the third nocturn of the feast.

TIKE AFTER PENTECOST

Christ, this is the great struggle, or rather the only one, which sums up history. God having created the world for the sole purpose of uniting it to Himself by His Word made Flesh ; the enemy of God and of the world, in order to break the bond of this mysterious love, attacks by turns the Divinity and the Humanity of Christ the Mediator. But all his lies are in vain: Jesus is Man, for He is born of a Mother, like every one of us ; He is God, for He alone is born of a Virgin. The Man-God, who, acoording to Simeon's prophecy, is a sign of oontradiotion to the sons of perdition, has Himself a sign, for unprejudiced eyes, viz: a Virgin-Mother: * The Lord Himself/ said the prophet, * shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall oonceive and bear a Son and His name shall be called Emmanuel: 1 God with us/

In the second of the celebrated conferences held with Manes in 277 by the holy bishop Arohelaus, the heresiaroh having denied that Christ was born of Mary, Arohelaus replied: 'If such be the oase, if He was not born, then obviously He did not suffer, for to suffer is impossible to one not born. If He did not suffer, no mention can be made of the cross; do away with the cross, and Jesus cannot have risen from the dead. But if Jesus be not risen, no one else oan rise again; and if there is no resurreotion, there oan be no judgment. In that case there is no use in keeping the oommandments of God : Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. 2 Suoh is the corollary to thy argument. Confess, on the other hand, that our Lord was born of Mary, and thence will follow the passion, the resurreotion, and the judgment ; then the whole of Scripture is saved. No, this is no vain question ; for, as the whole Law and the Prophets are contained in the two precepts

1 Isaia*. yii. 14 * } Cor. xy. 32 f of charity, so all our hope depends on the motherhood of the blessed Virgin.' 1

The Church of Milan, which celebrates the most holy name of Mary on September 11, sings on that day the following beautiful Preface, so perfectly in harmony with the sentiments inspired by this bright ootave.

PREFACE

Vere quia dignum tibi gratias agere, aeterne Deus. Qui beatissimam Mariam virginem Unigeniti tui genitricem esse voluisti : quoniam nec alia Deum mater decebat, quam virgo ; nec virginem alius Alius, quam vir- Deus. Sicut autem divinse gin's Majestati tuse in nomine Je- Jesu omne genu flectitur sus, coelestium, terrestium et infernorum; sic audito Mariae fore nomine, inclinantes se coeli, terra procumbens, trepidantesinferi tuam in Virgine prostrates, con- Matre adorandam omnipo- fessing omnitentiam confitentur. Et ideo potence in cum angelis.

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, 0 eternal God. Who didst will that the most blessed Virgin Mary should be the Mother of thy only-begotten Son: for it was not fitting that God's Mother should be other than a Virgin, nor that a Son should be other than God. As, at the name of every knee in heaven, on earth, and in hell, bends bethy divine Majesty; so, on hearing the name of Mary, the heavens bow down, earth hell trembles, thine adorable the Virgin-Mother, And therefore with the angels.

On the day of the Nativity itself, the Preface in the Ambrosian rite is as follows:

PREFACE

Vere quia dignum tibi gratias agere, aeterne Deus. Kecensemus enim prseclarissimae Nativitatis diem, a

It is truly meet to give thee thanks, 0 eternal God. For we are celebrating the day of most illustrious birth, when

1 £cta disputationis xlix. quo gloriosissima Dei Genitrix, intemerata Virgo Maria, stella corasca et adrairabilis, mundo effulsit. Quae nobis perennis vita) januani quam Eva in paradiso clauserat, reseravit: nosque de tenebris ad lucis antique gaudia revocavit. Per eumdem. the most glorious Mother of God, the spotless Virgin Mary, the bright and wonderful star, shone upon the world. It is she who has opened to us again the gate of everlasting life, which Eve had closed in paradise: and has brought us back from darkness to the joys of the ancient light. Through the same Jesus Christ.

September 14

THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLT CROSS

4 Through thee the precious cross is honoured and worshipped throughout the world/ 1 Thus did Saint Cyril of Alexandria apostrophize our Lady on the morrow of that great day, which saw her divine maternity vindicated at Ephesus. Eternal Wisdom has willed that the octave of Mary's birth should be honoured by the celebration of this feast of the triumph of the holy cross. The cross indeed is the standard of God's armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the cross that she crushes the serpent's head, and wins so many victories over error, and over the enemies of the Christian name.

1 By this sign thou shalt conquer.' Satan had been suffered to try his strength against the Church by persecution and tortures ; but his time was drawing

1 Cyrill. Alex. Horn. iy. Ephesi habit a. to an end. By the ediot of Sardica, which emancipated the Christians, Galerius, when about to die, acknowledged the powerlessness of hell. Now was the time for Christ to take the offensive, and for His cross to prevail. Towards the close of the year 311, a Roman army lay at the foot of the Alps, preparing to pass from Gaul into Italy. Constantine, its commander, thought only of revenging himself for an injury received from Maxentius, his political rival ; but his soldiers, as unsuspecting as their chief, already belonged henceforward to the Lord of hosts. The Son of the Most High, having become, as Son of Mary, king of this world, was about to reveal Himself to His first lieutenant, and, at the same time, to discover to His first army the standard that was to go before it. Above the legions, in a cloudless sky, the cross, proscribed for three long centuries, suddenly shone forth ; all eyes beheld it, making the western sun, as it were, its footstool, and surrounded with these words in characters of fire: In hoc vincb: by this be thou conqueror ! A few months later, October 27, 312, all the idols of Rome stood aghast to behold, approaching along the Flaminian Way, beyond the bridge MUvius, the Labarum with its sacred monogram, now become the standard of the imperial armies. On the morrow was fought the decisive battle, which opened the gates of the eternal city to Christ, the only God, the everlasting King.

' Hail, 0 cross, formidable to all enemies, bulwark of the Church, strength of princes ; hail in thy triumph ! The sacred Wood still lay hidden in the earth, yet it appeared in the heavens announcing victory ; and an emperor, beoome Christian, raised it up from the bowels of the earth.' 1 Thus sang the Greek Churoh yesterday, in preparation for the joys

• Ap. Grac. Mence. in profwto Mcaltationis. of to-day ; for the east, which has not our peculiar feast of May 3, oelebrates on this one solemnity both the overthrow of idolatry by the sign of salvation revealed to Constantine and his army, and the discovery of the holy cross a few years later in the cistern of Golgotha.

But another celebration, the memory of which is fixed by the Menologv on September 13, was added in the year 335 to the happy recollections of this day ; namely, the dedication of the basilicas raised by Constantine on Mount Calvary and over the holy sepulchre, after the precious discoveries made by his mother St. Helena. In the very same century that witnessed all these events, a pious pilgrim, thought to be St. Silvia, sister of Rufinus the minister of Theodosius and Arcadius, attested that the anniversary of this dedication was celebrated with the same solemnity as Easter and the Epiphany. There was an immense concourse of bishops, clerics, monks, and seculars of both sexes, from every province ; and the reason, she says, is that the ' cross was found on this day'; which motive had led to the choioe of the same day for the primitive consecration, so that the two joys might be united into one.

Through not being aware of the nearness of the dedication of the Anastasia, or church of the Resurrection, to the feast of the holy cross, many have misunderstood the discourse pronounced on this feast by Sophronius the holy patriarch of Jerusalem. 1 It is the feast of the cross ; who would not exult ? It is the triumph of the Resurreotion ; who would not be full of joy ? Formerly, the cross led to the Resurrection ; now it is the Resurrection that introduces us to the cross. Resurrection and cross: trophies of our salvation ! M And the pontiff then developed the

1 Sophron. in exaUat. vmeranda cruris. instructions resulting from this connexion. | It appears to have been about the same time that the west also began to unite in a certain manner these two great mysteries ; leaving to September 14 the other memories of the holy cross, the Latin Churohes introduced into Paschal Time a speoial feast of the finding of the Wood of redemption. In compensation, the present solemnity acquired a new raneous events whioh, as we shall see, form the principal subject of the historical legend in the Roman liturgy.

A century earlier, St. Benedict had appointed this day for the commencement of the period of penance known as the monastic Lent, 1 which continues till the opening of Lent proper, when the whole Christian army joins the ranks of the cloister in the campaign of fasting and abstinence. 'The oross/ says St. Sophronius, 6 is brought before our minds ; who will not crucify himself ? The true worshipper of the sacred Wood is he who carries out his worship in his deeds.' 2

The following is the legend we have already alluded to.

Chosroas Persarum rex, About the end of the reign extremis Phocae imperii of the emperor Phocas, Chos- temporibus, -3Dgypto et roes king of the Persians in-

Af rica occupata, ac Jeroso- vaded Egypt and Africa. He lyma capta, multisque ibi then took possession of Jeru- caesis Christianorum milli- salem; and after massacring bus, Christi Domini crucem, there many thousand Chris- quam Helena in monte Cal- tians, he carried away into variae collocarat, in Persi- Persia the cross of our Lord dem abstulit. Itaque He- Jesus Christ, which Helena raclius, qui Phocae succes- had placed upon Mount Cal-

1 & P. Benedicti Beg, xli. 2 Sophron. ubi supra. lustre to its oharacter of triumph

TIMB AFTER PENTECOST serat, multis belli incommodia et calamitatibus aff ectus, pacem petebat, quam a Chosroa victoriis insolente ne iniquis quiiem conditionibus impetrare poterat. Quare in summo discrimine se assiduis jejuniis et orationibus exercens, opem a Deo vehementer implorabat : cujus monitu exercitu comparato, signa cum hoste contulit, ac tres duces Chosroae cum tribus exercitibus superavit.

Quibus cladibus fractus Chosroas, in fuga, qua trajicere Tigrim parabat, Medarsen fiilium socium regni designat. Sed earn contumeliam cum Siroes Chosroae major natu filius ferret atrociter, patri simul ac fratri necem machinatur: quam paulo post utrique ex fuga retracto attulit, regnumque ab Heraclio impetravit, quibusdam acceptis conditionibus, quarum ex prima f uit, ut crucem Christi Domini restitueret. Ergo crux, quatuordecim annis postquam venerat in potestatem Persarum, recepta est: quam rediens Jerosolymam Heraclius solemni celebritate suis humeris retulit in eum montem, quo earn Salvator vary. Phocaa was nucceeded in the empire by Heraclius; who, after enduring many losses and misfortunes in the course of the war, sued for peace, but was unable to obtain it even upon disadvantageous terms, so elated was Chosroes by his victories. In this perilous situation he applied himself to prayer and fasting, and earnestly implored God's assistance. Then, admonished from heaven, he raised an army, marched against the enemy, and defeated three of Chosroes' generals with their armies.

Subdued by these disasters Chosroes took to flight; and, when about to cross the river Tigris, named his son Medarses his associate in the kingdom. But his eldest son Siroes, bitterly resenting this insult, plotted the murder of his father and brother. He soon afterwards overtook them in flight, and put them both to death. Siroes then had himself recognized as king by Heraclius, on certain conditions, the first of which was to restore the cross of our Lord. Thus, fourteen years after it had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the cross was recovered; and on his return to Jerusalem, Heraclius, with great pomp, bore it back on his own shoulders to the moun- tain whither our Saviour had carried it.

This event was signalized by a remarkable miracle. Heraclius, attired as he was in robes adorned with gold and precious stones was forced to stand still at the gate which led to Mount Calvary. The more he endeavoured to advance, the more he seemed fixed to the spot. Heraclius himself and all the people were astounded; but Zacharias, the bishop of Jerusalem, said: Consider, 0 emperor, how little thou imitatest the poverty and humility of Jesus Christ, by carrying the cross clad in triumphal robes. Heraclius thereupon laid aside his magnificent apparel, and barefoot, clothed in mean attire, he easily completed the rest of the way, and replaced the cross in the same place on Mount Calvary, whence it had been carried off by the Persians. From this event, the feast of the Exaltation of the holy cross, which was celebrated yearly on this day, gained fresh lustre, in memory of the cross being replaced by Heraclius on the spot where it had first been set up for our Saviour.

The victory thus ohronioled in the saored books of the Church, was not, 0 cross, thy last triumph ; nor were the Persians thy latest enemies. At the very time of the defeat of these fire-worshippers, the u tulerat.

Quod factum illustri miraculo commendatum est. Nam Heraclius, ut erat auro et gemmis ornatus, insistere coactus est in porta, quae ad Calvariae montem ducebat. Quo enim magis progredi conabatur, eo magis retineri videbatur. Cumque ea re et ipse Heraclius, et reliqui omnes obstupescerent: Zacharias, Jerosolymorum antistes, Yide, inquit, imperator, ne isto triumphali ornatu, in cruce f erenda parum Jesu Christi paupertatem et humilitatem imitere. Turn Heraclius abjecto amplissimo vestitu, detractisque calceis, ac plebeio amictu indutus, reliquum viae facile conf ecit, et in eodem Calvariae loco crucem statuit, unde fuerat a Persis asportata. Itaque Exaltationis sanctae crucis soiemnitas, quae hac die quotannis celebrabatur, illustrior haberi coepit ob ejus rei memoriam, quod ibidem f uerit reposita ab Heraclio, ubi Salvatori primum fuerat constituta.

TIMB AFTER PENTECOST prinoe of darkness was raising up a new standard, the orescent. By the permission of Q-od, whose ensign thou art, and who, having oome on earth to struggle like us, flees not before any foe, Islam also was about to try its strength against thee: a twofold power, the sword and the seduotion of the assions. But here again, alike in the secret combats etween the soul and satan, as in the great battles reoorded in history, the final success was due to the weakness and folly of Calvary.

Thou, 0 cross, wert the rallying-standard of all Europe in those saored expeditions whioh borrowed from thee their beautiful title of crusades, and whioh exalted the Christian name in the east. While on the one hand thou wert thus warding off degradation and ruin, on the other thou wert preparing the oonquest of new continents ; so that it is by thee that our west remains at the head of nations. Through thee, the warriors in those glorious campaigns are inscribed on the first pages of the golden book of nobility. And now the new orders of ohivalry, whioh claim to hold among their ranks the ilite of the human race, look upon thee as the highest mark of merit and honour. It is the continuation of to-day's mystery, the exaltation, even in our times of decadence, of the holy cross, whioh in past ages was the standard of the legions, and glittered on the diadems of emperors and kings.

It is true, men have appeared in France, who have made it their aim to overthrow the sacred sign, wheresoever our fathers had honoured it. This invasion of the servants of Pilate into the country of the orusaders was inexplicable, until it was discovered that they were in Jewish pay. These, as St. Leo says of the Jews in to-day's Office, see in the instrument