November 2 — All Souls

Although an extraordinary overflow of grace upon the prodigal may sometimes, as is always the case with regard to baptism and martyrdom, bury every remnant and vestige of sin in the abyss of divine oblivion ; yet it is the ordinary rule, that for every fault satisfaction must be made to God's justice, either in this world or in the next.

On the other hand, every supernatural act of virtue brings a double profit to the just man : it merits for Ins soul a fresh degree of grace ; and it makes satisfaction for past faults, in exact proportion to the value, in God's sight, of that labour, privation, or trial accepted, or that voluntary suffering endured, by one of the members of his beloved Son. Now, whereas merit is a personal acquisition and cannot be transferred to others, satisfaction may be vicarious ; God is willing to accept it in payment of another's debt, whether the recipient of the boon be in this world or in the next, provided only that he be united by graoe to the mystical Body of our Lord, which is one in charity. This is a consequence of the mystery of the Communion of Saints, as Suarez explains the authority of the greatest and most ancient princes of science, and discussing the objections and restrictions since proposed by others, the illustrious theologian does not hesitate to formulate this conclusion, with regard to the suffering souls in particular: " I believe that this satisfaction of the living for the " dead is a matter of simple justioe, 1 and that it is " infallibly accepted with its full value, and acoord- " ing to the intention of him who applies it. Thus, " for instance, if the satisfaction I make would, if " kept for myself, avail me in striot justice for the "remission of four degrees of purgatory, it will

Appealing to

Esse simplieiter dejustitia.

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TIME AFTER PKKTK00ST. remit exaotly the same amount to the soul for " whom I choose to offer it. 1

We well know how the Church seconds the good-will of her children. By the practice of Indulgences, she places at their charitable disposal the inexhaustible treasure accumulated, from age to age, by the superabundant satisfactions of the Saints, added to those of the Martyrs, and united to those #f our blessed Lady and the infinite residue of our Lord's sufferings. These remissions of punishment she grants to the living by her own direct power ; but she nearly always approves of and permits their application to the dead by way of suffrage, that is to say, in the manner in which, as we have seen, eaoh of the faithful may offer to God who accepts it, for another, the suffrage or succour 2 of his own satisfactions. Suoh is the doctrine of Suarez, who adds that an Indulgence ceded to the dead, loses nothing either of the security or of the value it would have had for ourselves who are still militant. 3

Now, Indulgences under every form are continually coming in our way. Let us make use of our treasures, and exercise mercy towards the poor suffering souls. Is any condition more pitiable than theirs P So great is their anguish, that no distress on earth can approach to it; and withal so nobly endured, that not a murmur breaks the silenoe of that " river of fire, which in its imperceptible current " bears them on little by little to the ocean of " Paradise." 4 All heaven cannot help them, for there is no merit to be gained there. God himself, though most merciful, owes it to his justioe not to deliver them

1 Suarez. De Suffragiis, Sectio vi. 1 Est enim snffragium, ut sumitur ex D. Thoma et aliis in 4 d. 45, auxilium quoddam, quod unus fidelis praebet alteri ad obtinendum a Deo remissionem poen® temporalis, vel aliud hujusmodi. Suarbz. De Suffragiis, in Prooemio. 3 De Indulgentiis, Disput. liii.

Sect. iii. 4 Mgr. Gay. Christian life and virtues : Of charity towards the Church, ii.

NOV. 2. ALL SOULS. until they have paid the whole debt that they carried with them beyond the world of trial. The debt was contracted perhaps through our fault, and in our company ; and it is to us they turn for help, to us who are still dreaming of nothing but pleasure, while they are burning, and we could so easily shorten their torments ! Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me. 1

Whether it be that Purgatory is now more than ever overflowing with the multitudes daily sent thither through the worldliness of the age, or that the last and universal judgment is approaching, — the Holy Ghost is no longer satisfied with keeping up the zeal of ancient confraternities devoted to the service of the departed. He raises up new associations, and even religious families, whose one aim is to promote, by every possible means, the deliverance or the solace of the suffering souls. In this kind of redemption of captives there are likewise to be found Christians, who at their own risk offer to take upon themselves the chains oftheirbrethren, by utterly foregoing, for this purpose, not only all their own satisfactions, but even the suffrages which may be offered for them after death : an heroic act of charity, which must not be lightly undertaken, but which the Church approves ; 2 for it greatly glorifies our Lord, and in return for the risk incurred of a temporary delay of beatitude, merits for its author a greater nearness to God, both by grace here below, and in glory in heaven. If the suffrages of the simple faithful are of such value, of how much more are those of the whole Ohuroh, in the solemnity of public prayer, and the oblation of the awful Saorifioe, wherein God him-

Regular Clerks Theatines, and enriched with spiritual favours by the Sovereign Pontiffs Benedict xiii, Pius vi, and Pius ix.

1 Job, xix. 21.

Tim ATfcm PBNTU008T. self makes satisfaction to God for every sin ! Frorii the very beginning the Church has always prayed for the dead, as did even the Synagogue before her. 1 As she honoured with thanksgiving the anniversaries of her martyred sons, so she celebrated with supplications the memory of her other ohildren, who might not yet be in heaven. In the sacred Mysteries she daily uttered the names of both, for this twofold purpose of praise and prayer. As in each particular church it was impossible to name all the Blessed of the entire world, a common mention was made of them all ; and in like manner, after the recommendations peculiar to each place and day, a general commemoration was made of all the dead. Thus, as St. Augustine remarks, those who had no relatives and friends on earth, were henceforth not deprived of suffrages ; for, to make up for their abandonment, they had the tender compassion of the common Mother. 2

The Church having always followed the same method with regard to the oommemoration of the blessed and that of the departed, it might be expected that the establishment of All Saints Feast in the ninth century, would soon lead to the solemn Oommemoration of All Souls. In 998, according to the Chroniole of Sigebert of Gembloux, 8 St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, mstituted it in all the monasteries under his crosier, to be celebrated in perpetuity on the morrow of All Saints'. In oertain visions, recorded in his Life, 4 Odilo and his monks had been denounoed by the demons as the most indefatigable helpers of the holy souls, and most formidable to the powers of hell ; and this institution was the Saint's retaliation. The world applauded the decree ; Borne

1 II Mach. xii. 46. * Auo. Be cura pro mortals iv.

• Ad huac annum. * Pete. Dam. ; Jotsald. ii. 13.

KOV. 2. ALL 0OTJLS. adopted it ; and it beoame the law of the whole Latin Church.

The Greeks make a general Commemoration of the dead on the eve of our Sexagesima Sunday, which with them is called Apocreos or Carnival, and on which they oelebrate the seoond coming of our Lord. They give the name of " Saturday of all souls" to this day, as well as to the eve of Pentecost when they again pray solemnly for the departed.

MATINS OF THE DEAD.

As early as the ninth century, Amalarius remarked the similarity between the dirge and the Office which commemorates the death of our Lord. 1 There is the same lack of hymns, doxologies, absolutions, and blessings ; the same suppression of the customary introduction Domine labia men aperies, Dens in adjutorium meum intende. There is this difference however : that the Office of Holy Week has no Invitatory ; while that of the Dead has either always kept it, or long ago taken it up again.

This Invitatory, like the first Psalm of Vespers, is a song of love and hope : Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live. Beyond the tomb, as well as on this side of it, all men are living in the sight of him who is one day to raise them up again. In the language of the Church, the grave-yard is the cemetery, that is the dormitory where her children sleep; And they themselves are defuncti, labourers who have finished their task and are awaiting their recompense.

Rome has been better inspired than some other churohes, where the Antiphon ohosen as refrain tq

Venite exmltemus me gemitua mortis ; dolores inferni circumdederunt me. 1 the joyous was: Circumdederunt Were we to make an historical study of the Offioe of the Dead, which however is beyond the limits of the present work, we should find innumerable instances of such variations, always to the advantage of the mother-church.

INVITATORT.

Begem cui omnia vivunt : Venite, adoremus.

Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.

Psalm 94.

Venite, exsultemus Domino, jubilemus Deo Salutari nostro: prseoccupemus faciem ejus in confessione, et in psalmis jubilemus ei.

Begem cui omnia vivunt : * Venite, adoremus.

Quoniam Deus magnus Dominus, et Bex magnus super omnes deos : quoniam non repellet Dominus plebem suam, quia in manu ejus sunt omnes fines terrae, et altitudines montium ipse conspicit.

Venite, adoremus.

Quoniam ipsius est mare, et ipse fecit lllud, et aridam fundaverunt manus ejus : venite, adoremus, et procidamus ante Deum : ploremus coram Domino, qui fecit nos, quia ipse est Dominus Deus noster : nos autem populus ejus, et oves pascuss ejus.

1 The groans of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell enoom-* passed me.

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to God our Saviour : let us approach his presence in praise, and let us sing joyfully in psalms to him.

Come, let us adore the King, to whom all things live.

Because the Lord is a great God, and a great Xing above all gods : because the Lord repels not his people, for in his hands are all the bounds of the earth : and he beholds the heights of the mountains.

Come, let us adore.

Because the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land : come, let us adore, and fall down before God : let us lament before the Lord that made us : because he is the Lord our God : and we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.