September 16 — Saint Joseph Cupertino

atque adolescentiam summa cum simplicitate morumque innocentia transegit. A diuturno molestoque morbo patientissime tolerato, Deipara Virginis ope liberatus, se totum pietatis operibus ac excolendis virtutibus dedit: utque Deo ad majora vocanti se intimius conjungeret, Ordini seraphico nomen dare constituit. Post varios eventus voti tandem compos f actus, apud Minores Conventuales in coenobio Cryptulee, inter laicos primum ob litterarum imperitiam, deinde inter clericos divina dispositione connumeratus est. Sacerdotio post solemnia vota initiatus, perfectius sibi vitse institutum proposuit. Quamobrem mundanis quibuscumque aff ectibus, terrenisque rebus pene ad vitam necessariis illico a se abdicatis, ciliciis, flagellis, catenis, omni demum asperitatum ac poenarum genere corpus afflixit: spiritum vero sanctae orationis altissimaeque contemplationis assiduitate dulciter enutrivit. Hinc factum est, ut caritas Dei, quae jam erat in ejus corde a prima setate diffusa, miro planeque singulari modo in dies coruscaverit. bis boyhood and youth in the greatest simplicity and innocence. The Virgin Mother of God delivered him from a long and painful malady, which he had borne with the greatest patience; whereupon he devoted himself entirely to works of piety and the practice of virtue. But God called him to something higher; and in order to attain to closer union with him, Joseph determined to enter the Seraphic Order. After several trials he obtained his desire, and was admitted among the Minor Conventuals in the convent called Grotella, first as a lay-brother, on account of his lack of learning; but afterwards, God so disposing, he was raised to the rank of a cleric. After making his solemn vows he was ordained priest, and began a new life of greater perfection. Utterly renouncing all earthly affections and everything of this world almost to the very necessaries of life, he afflicted his body with hairshirts, chains, disciplines, and every kind of austerity and penance; while he assiduously nourished his spirit with the sweetness of holy prayer, and the highest contemplation. By this means, the love of God, which had been poured out in his heart from his childhood, daily increased in a most wonderful manner.

TTME AFTER PBNTECOST

Eluxit praecipue ardentissima ejus caritas in extaaibus ad Deum suavissimis, stupendisque raptibus, quibus frequenter afficiebatur. Minim autem, quod alienato a 8ensibu animo statim ab extasi eum revocabat sola obedientia. Hanc quippe virtutem eximio studio prosequebatur, dicere solitus, se ab ea veluti caecum circumduct et mori potius velle quam non obedire. Paupertatem vero seraphici patriarch® ita aemulatus est, ut morti proximus praelato suo asserere vere potuerit, se nihil habere, quod more religiosorum resignaret. Itaque mundo sibique mortuus, vitam Jesu manifestabat in carne sua, qu® dum in aliquibus ex turpitudine obscoenum flagitium sentiebat, prodigiosum de se efflabat odorem, indicium nitidissim® illius puritatis, quam, immundo spiritu vehementissimis tentationibus frustra obnubilare diu conante, servavit illsBsam, turn arcta sensuum custodia, turn jugi corporis maceratione, turn denique speciali protectione purissim® Yirginis Mari®, quam matrem suam appellare consuevit, ac veluti Matrem dulcissimam intimo cordis aff ectu venerebatur, eamque ab aliis venerari exoptabat, ut cum ejusdem patrocinio.

His burning charity shone forth most remarkably in the sweet ecstasies which raised his soul to God, and the wonderful raptures he frequently experienced. Yet, marvellous to tell, however rapt he was in God, obedience would immediately recall him to the use of his senses. He was exceedingly zealous in the practice of obedience; and used to say that he was led by it like a blind man, and that he would rather die than disobey. He emulated the poverty of the seraphic patriarch to such a degree, that on his deathbed he could truthfully tell his superior he had nothing which, according to custom, he could relinquish. Thus dead to the world and to himself Joseph showed forth in his flesh the life of Jesus. While in others he perceived the vice of impurity by an evil odour, his own body exhaled a most sweet fragrance, a sign of the spotless purity which he preserved unsullied in spite of long and violent temptations from the devil. This victory he gained by strict custody of his senses, by continual mortification of the body, and especially by the protection of the most pure Virgin Mary, whom he called his Mother, and whom he venerated with tenderest affection as the sweetest of mothers, desiring to see her venerate^

SAINT JOSEPH CUPKRT1NO sicut ipse aiebat, omnia bona consequerentur.

Hsbc beati Josephi sollicitudo a sua erga proximos caritate prodibat: tanto enim animarum zelo exardebat, ut omnium salutem modis omnibus instantissime procuraret. Extendens pariter caritatem suam in proximum sive pauperem, sive infirmum, sive quacumque alia tribulatione vexatum, quantum in ipso erat, ilium recreabat. Nec alieni erant ab ejus caritate, qui objurgationibus, probris, omnisque generis injuriis ipsum appeterent; nam eadem patientia, mansuetudine, vultusque hilaritate talia excipiebat, qua tot inter ac tantas vicissitudines resplenduit, dum vel moderatorum Ordinis, vel sacrae Inquisitionis jussu hac iliac errare versarique coactus est. Quamquam vero populi non solum, sed viri principes eximiam ejus sanctitatem et superna charismata admirarentur, ea nihilominus erat bumilitate, ut magnum se peccatorem reputans Deum enixe deprecaretur, ut sua ab eo illustria dona removeret, homines vero exoraret, ut in eum locum mortuum ejus corpus injicerent, ubi memoria sui esset prorsus oblitterata. At Deus, qui ponjt humiles in sublime, <jui- by others, that they might, said he, together with her patronage gain all good things.

Blessed Joseph's solicitude in this respect sprang from his love for his neighbour, for he was consumed with zeal for souls, urging him to seek the salvation of all. His love embraced the poor, the sick, and all in affliction, whom he comforted as far as lay in his power, not excluding those who pursued him with reproaches and insults, and every kind of injury. He bore all this with the same patience, sweetness, and cheerfulness of countenance as were remarked in him when he was obliged frequently to change his residence, by the command of the superiors of his Order, or of the holy Inquisition. People and princes admired his wonderful holiness and heavenly gifts; yet, such was his humility, that, thinking himself a great sinner, he earnestly besought Grod to remove from him his admirable gifts: while he begged men to cast his body after death in a place where his memory might utterly perish. But God, who exalts the humble, and who had richly adorned his servant during life with heavenly wisdom, prophecy, the reading of hearts, the grace of healing, and other gifts, also rendered his death precious and his sepulchre glorious, Joseph die<J

TIME AFTER PENTOCOfT que servum suum, dum viveret, coelesti sapientia, prophetia, cordium perscrutatione, cnrationum gratia, ceterisque donis cumulatissime exornaverat, ejus quoque mortem iis, quibus ipse an tea praedixerat, loco ac tempore, anno aetatis sum sexagesimo primo, Auximi in Piceno pretiosam reddidit, sepulchrumque gloriosum. Ilium denique etiam post obitum miraculis coruscantem Benedictus quartusdecimus beatorum, Clemens tertiusdecimu sanctorum fastis adscripsit. Ejus autem Officium et Missam Clemens quartusdecimus ejusdem Ordinis ad universam Ecclesiam extendit.

While praising God for the marvellous gifts He bestowed on thee, we acknowledge that thy virtues were yet more wonderful. Otherwise thy ecstasies would be regarded with suspicion by the Church, who usually witholds her judgment until long after the world has begun to admire and applaud. Obedience, patience, and charity, increasing under trial, were incontestable guarantees for the divine authorship of these marvels, which the enemy is sometimes permitted to mimio to a certain extent. Satan may raise a Simon Magus into the air: he cannot make a humble man. 0 worthy son of the seraph of Assisi, may we, after thy example, be raised up, not into the air, but into those regions of true light, where far above the earth and its passions, our life, like thine, may be hidden with Christ in God! 1

1 Collect and proper antiphons of the feast. Col. iii. 3, at the place and time he had foretold, namely, at Osimo in Picenum, in the sixty-first year of his age. He was famous for miracles after his death ; and was enrolled among the blessed by Benedict XIV and among the saints by Clement XIII. Clement XIV, who was of the same Order, extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

September 19

SAINT JANTTABIUS BISHOP AND MARTYR AND HIS COMPANIONS MARTYRS

Januarius is ever preaching the Gospel to every oreature; for his miraoulous blood perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples; there they will behold the martyr's blood, when placed near his head which was cut off sixteen hundred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. No; miraoles are not lacking in the Church at the present day. True, Q-od cannot subject Himself to the fanciful requirements of those proud men, who would dictate to Him the conditions of the prodigies they must needs witness ere they will bow before His infinite Majesty. Nevertheless, His intervention in interrupting the laws of nature framed by Him and by Him alone to be suspended, has never yet failed the man of good faith in any period of history. At present there is less dearth than ever of such manifestations.

The following is the legend concerning St. Januarius and the sharers in his glorious martyrdom.

Januarius, Beneventi epi- During the persecution of scopus, Diocletiano et Maxi- the Christians under Diocletian miano in christianos ssevi- and Maximian, Januarius, bi- entibus, ad Timotheum shop of Beneventum, was

CampanisB preesidem ob brought before Timothy, pre- christianse fidei prof essionem ^ident of Campania, at Nola, for

Nolam perducitur. Ibi ejus the profession of the Christian constantia varie tentata, in faith. There his constancy

(241)

TIME AFTER PENTECOST ardentem fornacem conjectuB, ita illaesus evasit, ut ne vestimentum ant capillum quidem flamma violaverit. Hinc prases accensus iracundia, martyris corpus imperat usque eo distrahi, quoad nervorum compages artuumque solvantur. Festus interea ejus diaconus, et Desiderius lector comprehensi, vinctique, una cum episcopo ante rhedam praesidis Puteolos pertrahuntur, et in eumdem carcerem, in quo Sosius Misenas, et Proculus Puteolanus diaconus, Eutyches et Acutius laici ad bestias damnati detinebantur, simul conjiciuntur.

Postero die omnes in amphitheatre feris objecti sunt: quae naturalis oblitae feritatis, ad Januarii pedes se prostravere. Id Timotheus magicis cantionibus tribuens, cum sententiam capitis in Christi martyres pronuntiasset, oculisrepente captus, orante mox beato Januario, lumen recepit: quo miraculo hominum millia fere quinque Christi fidem susceperunt. Verum ingratus judex nihilo placatior factus beneficio, sed conversione tantae multitudinis actus in rabiem ; veritus maxime principum decreta, sanctum episcopum cum sociis gladio was tried in various ways. He was cast into a burning furnace, but escaped unhurt, not even his garments or a hair of his head being injured by the flames. This enraged the president, who commanded the martyr's body to be so stretched that all his joints and nerves were displaced. Meanwhile Festus his deacon, and Desiderius a lector, were seized, loaded with chains, and dragged, together with the bishop, before the president's chariot to Pozzuolo. There they were cast into a dungeon, where they found the deacons Sosius of Misenum and Proculus of Pozzuolo, with Eutyches and Acutius laymen all condemned to be thrown to wild beasts.

The following day they were all exposed in the amphitheatre; but the beasts, forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of Januarius. Timothy, attributing this to magical arts, condemned the martyrs of Christ to be beheaded; but as he was pronouncing the sentence, he was suddenly struck blind. However, at the prayer of Januariushe soon recovered his sight; on account of which miracle, about five thousand men embraced the faith. The ungrateful judge was in no way softened by the benefit conferred upon him, on the contrary, he was enraged by so many con-

SAINT JANUARIUS AND COMPANIONS MM 24S percuti jussit. versions; and, fearing the em- peror's edicts, he ordered the holy bishop and his companions to be beheaded.

Eager to secure, each for itself, a patron before God among these holy martyrs, the neighbouring towns provided burial places for their bodies. In obedience to a warning from heaven, the Neapolitans took the body of St. Januarius, and placed it first at Beneventum, then in the monastery of Monte Vergine, and finally in the principal church at Naples, where it became illustrious for many miracles. One of the most remarkable of these was the extinction of a fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius, when the terrible flames threatened with destruction not only the neighbourhood but even distant parts. Another remarkable miracle is seen even to the present day, namely: when the martyr's blood, which is preserved congealed in a glass vial, is brought in presence of his head, it liquefies and boils up in a wonderful manner, as if it had been but recently shed.

0 holy martyrs, and thou especially, 0 Januarius, the leader no less by thy courage than by thy pontifical dignity, your present glory increases our longing for heaven ; your past combats animate us to fight the good fight ; your continual miracles confirm us in the faith. Praise and gratitude are therefore 4ue to you on this day of your triumph ; and we pay

Horum corpora finitim® urbes, pro suo quaeque studio certum sibi patronum ex iis apud Deum adoptandi, sepeliendi curarunt. Januarii corpus Neapolitani divino admonitu extulere: quod primo Beneventum, inde ad monasterium Montis Virginis, postremo Neapolim translatum, et in majori ecclesia conditum, multis miraculis claruit. Sed illud in primis memorandum, quod erumpentes olim e monte Yesuvio flammarum globos, nec vicinis modo, sed longinquis etiam regionibus vastitatis metum afferentes, extinxit. Praeclarum ilium quoque quod ejus sanguis, qui in ampulla vitrea concretus asservatur, cum in conspectu capitis ejusdem martyris ponitur, admirandum in modum colliquefieri et ebullire, perinde atque recens effusus, ad haec usque tempora cernitur.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST this our debt in the joy of our hearts. In return, extend to us the protection, of which the fortunate oities placed under your powerful patronage are so justly proud. Defend those faithful towns against the assaults of the evil one. In compensation for the falling away of society at large, offer to Christ our King the growing faith of all who pay you honour.

September 20 SAINT EUSTACE AND HIS COMPANIONS

MARTYRS

The twentieth of September marks one of the saddest events in history. At the height of her power, in the glorious days of Pepin and Charlemagne, the eldest daughter of the Church had crowned her mother ; and the Church, in the person of her Head, reigned in reality, as well as by right, until, a thousand years later, satan took advantage of the fallen state of France to despoil Peter of the patrimony which ensured his independence. The holy cross is still shedding its rays upon us !

To-day a group of martyrs, and this time a whole family, father, mother, and sons, take up their position around the standard of salvation. While the antiquity of their cultus in both east and west rests on the best authority, the details of their life are extremely vague. Could Placid the tribune, whose exploits are recorded by Josephus in his Wars of the

Jews? be the same as the Eustaoe we are celebrating to-day ? Does the genealogy of our saint connect him with the Octavia family, from which Augustus sprang? Again are we to reoognize as his direot descendant the noble Tertullus, who confided to St. Benedict his son Placid, the favourite child of the holy patriaroh, and the proto-martyr of the Benediotine Order? * Subiaoo long possessed the mountain designated by ancient tradition as the site of the apparition of the mysterious stag ; Tertullus may have bequeathed it to the monastery, as his son's patrimony. But we have not space enough to do more than reoord the faot that these questions have been raised. 8

There could hardly be a more touching legend than that of our martyrs.

Eustachius, qui et Placi- Eustace, otherwise called dus, genere, opibus et mili- Placid, was a Roman, illustri- tari gloria inter Romanos ous for his birth, wealth, and insignis, sub Trajano im- military renown, so that under peratore magistri militum the emperor Trajan he became titulum meruit. Cum vero general of the army. Once sese aliquando in venatione while hunting, he was chasing exerceret, ac fugientem mi- a stag of remarkable size, r» magnitudinis cervum in- which suddenly halted, and sequeretur, vidit repente showed him between its horns inter consistentis ferae cor- a large and bright image of nua excelsam atque f ulgen- Christ our Lord hanging upon tern Christi Domini e cruce the cross and inviting him to pendentis imaginem, cujus make everlasting life the object voce ad immortalis vitae prae- of his pursuit. Thereupon to- dam invitatus, una cum uxo- gether with his wife Theopista re Theopista, ac duobus and his two little sons Agapi- parvulis filiis Agapito et tus and Theopistus, he entered

Theopisto, Christianas mili- the ranks of the Christian tiae nomen dedit. warfare.

1 Joseph. De hello Jud. iii. 3, 4, 13 ; iv. 2 ; v. 3.

• Greg. Dial, ii. 3. * Kircher Hittoria Jhutoehio- Mariana, P. ii, iii.

TIMS AFTER PENTECOST

Mox ad visionis pristinsB locum, sicut ei Dominus pr»ceperat, regressus, ilium prsenuntiantem audivit, quanta sibi deinceps pro ejus gloria perf erenda essen t. Quocirca incredibiles calamitates mira patientia perpessus, brevi in summam egestatem redactus est. Cumque clam se subducere cogeretur, in itinera conjugem primum, deinde etiam liberos sibi miserabiliter ereptos ingemuit. Tantis obvolutus aerumnis, in regione longinqua villicum agens, longo tempore delituit, donee coelesti voce recreatus, ac nova occasione a Trajano conquisitus, iterum bello prseficitur.

Ilia in expeditione, liberis simul cum uxore insperato receptis, victor urbem ingenti omnium gratulatione ingreditur. Sed paulo post inanibus diis pro parta victoria sacrificare jussus, constantissime renuit. Cumque variis artibus ad Christi fidem ejurandam frustra tentaretur, una cum uxore et liberis leonibus objicitur. Horum mansuetudine concitatus imperator, aeneum in taurum subjectis flammis candentem eos immitti jubet, ubi divinis in laudibus

Some time afterwards he returned to the place of the vision, in obedience to the command of our Lord, from whom he there heard how much he was to suffer for God's glory. He underwent, with wonderful patience, such incredible losses that in a short time he was reduced to the utmost need, and was obliged to retire privately. On the way he had the unhappiness to see first his wife, and then his two sons taken from him. Overwhelmed by all these misfortunes, he lived for a long time unknown, in a distant country, as a farm bailiff; until at length a voice from heaven comforted him; and soon after, a fresh occasion of war arising, Trajan had him sought out and again placed at the head of the army.

During the expedition, he unexpectedly found his wife and children again. He returned to Home in triumph amidst universal congratulations; but was soon commanded to offer sacrifice to the false gods in thanksgiving for his victory. On his firm refusal, every art was tried to make him renounce the faith of Christ, but in vain. He was then, with his wife and sons, thrown to the lions. But the beasts showed nothing but gentleness; whereupon the emporer, in a rage, command- consummato martyrio, duodecimo calendis Octobris ad sempiteraam f elicitatem convolarunt. Quorum illaesa corpora religiose a fidelibus sepulta, postmodum ad ecclesiam, eorum nomine erectam, honorifice translata sunt. ed the martyrs to be shut up in a brazen bull heated by a fire underneath it. There, singing the praises of Grod, they consummated their sacrifice, and took their flight to eternal happiness on the twelfth of the kalends of October. Their bodies were found intact, and reverently buried by the faithful, but were afterwards translated with honour to a church erected to their names.

Our trials are light oompared with yours, 0 blessed martyrs ! Obtain for us the graoe not to betray the confidence of our Lord, when He calls us to suffer for Him in this world. It is thus we must win the glory of heaven. How can we triumph with the God of armies, unless we have marched under His standard? Now, that standard is the oross. The Churoh knows it, and therefore she is not troubled even by the greatest calamities. She knows, too, that her Spouse is watching over her, even when He seems to sleep; and she looks to the protection of such of her sons as are already glorified. And yet, 0 martyrs, for how many years has the sorrowful shadow of a sacrilegious invasion hung over the day of your triumph! Rome honoured you with so much love ! Take vengeance on the audacity of hell, and deliver the holy city !