Part II, The Commandments: The First Commandment of God

On Sinai God said : " Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me" (Exod. xx. 2-7). That is to say, " Thou shalt worship the true God only ; thou shalt worship no false gods." In the First Command ment interior and exterior worship is required of us. To this commandment Our Lord referred when He said to Satan : " It is written the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve " (Matt. iv. 10).

In the First Commandment God enjoins upon us to worship Him, and forbids idolatry and every false form of worship.

1. The Adoration or Worship of God

We are accustomed to show respect to any one who is superior to ourselves in any point, in power, in experience, in knowledge, etc. We also reverence kings, aged men, men eminent for learning or science, and the like. The greater a man's superiority to ourselves, the greater is our esteem, our reverence for him. Now as God is infinitely superior to us, we owe Him the utmost respect, worship and veneration of which we are capable. This highest worship we call adoration.

We ought to adore God because He is infinitely exalted above us, and because we are entirely dependent upon Him as our Creator.

Let us meditate a while upon the infinite sublimity of God. Consider first His omnipotence; this is displayed in the beauty of the star-spangled firmament. " The heavens show forth the glory of God" (Ps. xviii. 2). Consider also the eternity of God. "One day with the Lord is as a thousand years " (2 Pet. iii. 8). Think of the wisdom of God, the arrangements of Whose providence are so wonderful in creation, and Who can turn even what is evil to good. " O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments!" (Rom. xi. 33.) Think of His fatherly care even for the most insignificant of His creatures. At the time of Our Lord's birth, He showed grace to poor shepherds and heathens; He chose for His Mother a lowly Virgin, unlearned fishermen for His apostles, to the poor He had the Gospel

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preached, etc. " Who is as the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, and looketh down on the low things?" (Ps. cxii. 5.) How infinite is the distance between God and man ! We love God, because we know Him; we adore Him because we cannot comprehend Him (St. Gregory of Nazianzen). We are entirely dependent upon God; we belong wholly and solely to Him. The members of our body, the powers of our soul are His gift; to Him we owe our being, and by Him we have been redeemed. Since He has given us all that we have, it is just that we should serve Him and worship Him alone. The consideration of the divine benefits bestowed upon us teaches us to adore Him. We must, moreover, consider that we cannot exist , without God's continual help. If He deprives us of food, we cannot live ; if He takes away our life, we die ; if He takes from us the light of the Holy Spirit, we become spiritually blind ; if He were to permit the devil to have too much power over us, we should fall into mortal sin. What is true of man, is true of all other creatures; they also are entirely dependent upon their Creator. " Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power; because Thou hast created all things " (Apoc. iv. 11). " Come, let us adore and fall down before the Lord that made us. For He is the Lord our God; we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand" (Ps. xciv. 7).

1. The adoration we pay to God consists in this: That we acknowledge both in our hearts and by our actions that He is Our Lord and we are His creatures and His servants.

To worship God is to acknowledge our own misery and His great ness. He who worships God says with David " My substance is as nothing before Thee!" (Ps. xxxviii. 6.) Our adoration of God manifests itself first by interior reverence,, then by external signs. We call those persons pious who worship God in truth.

2. We worship God interiorly by acts of faith, hope, and charity.

By faith we give our assent to all the utterances of the most high and the true God, we adore God as the perfect truth. By hope we expect all good things from the almighty and most bountiful God, we adore Him as the source of all good. By charity we occupy ourselves exclusively with God, we adore Him as our final end. St. Augustine says that the worship of God necessarily commences with a correct knowledge of God, for it is impossible to know Him without venerating Him. And who that knows the omnipotence of God and His beneficence towards mankind, can do otherwise than place his hopes in Him? Who that is conscious of the many benefits God lavishes upon him, can fail to love Him ? " Is it possible," asks St. Thomas of Villanova, "for a creature to know God without loving Him ? " Reverence for God, the worship of God, are inseparable from the love of God, for we adore what we love. " Love and adoration are as closely connected as fire and fiame " (St. Francis of Sales). Thus the worship of God consists of these three things: faith, hope, and charity; by acts of these virtues we are to manifest our reverence for Him. Exterior worship is nothing more or less than the expression of faith, hope, and charity.

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3. We adore God exteriorly by vocal prayer, sacrifice, genuflections, prostrations, folding of hands, striking the breast, etc.

Sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of some visible gift of God, in order thereby to honor Him as our sovereign Lord. By sacrifice we attest our belief that God is the Author of all being, the supreme Lord of all, to Whom accordingly we owe allegiance. The oblation of visible objects is a sign of the interior, spiritual sacrifice, whereby the soul surrenders herself to God as her final and blissful end. By kneeling down or prostrating one's self, as Christ did in the Garden of Olives, we acknowledge our own insignificance before God ; clasping the hands signifies that we are fettered, i.e., helpless ; striking the heart, like the publican in the Temple, that we are deserving of chastisement.

1. We ought to pay God exterior worship, because we are bound to render Him the homage of our bodies, and because it serves to increase our interior devotion ; furthermore, external worship answers to a need inherent in our human nature.

Body and soul are both God's work, consequently both are under the obligation of manifesting their subjection to Him. An omniscient God does not indeed need outward signs of reverence, because He sees the intention of the worshipper, yet these outward tokens are useful to us, because they inflame the interior affections and augment the fervor of interior worship. And since these external ceremonies during prayer are only means to an end (that of intensifying interior devotion) they can be dispensed with if they prove a hindrance to interior worship. For instance, if one is greatly fatigued, one may sit to say one's prayers. ISTay more, one may pray while walking about or standing, if one finds that thus one can pray more devoutly. Do not weary yourself with protracted kneel ing, or it will occasion distraction. It is enough if the posture of the soul before God is one of lowly adoration. Man is so constituted that he must needs give outward expression to his inward feelings. When a house is on fire within, the flames burst out externally; so when a man adores God in spirit, he manifests his devotion by outward signs; otherwise he would belie the impulse of his nature, were he to suppress all demonstration of the adoration he pays in thought and heart.

2. We ought never to render external adoration to God without having awakened within us the corresponding sentiments of devotion.

He who kneels down, clasps his hands, strikes his breast, without thinking of what he is doing, is little better than a hypocrite. How many people go through the usual ceremonies in the house of God merely from habit, without thinking of what they are doing ! We must not act in this like acquaintances who, meeting casually, repeat a formula of greeting without meaning a word of what they say. The ceremonies we observe when we worship God ought faith fully to express the feelings of our. heart. Christ said to the Samaritan woman that God must be adored in spirit and in truth (John iy.

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24), that is, exterior worship ought to be the expression of our spiritual worship, and correspond faithfully to the feelings of our heart. Those individuals who make a greater demonstration of devotion than their interior sentiments warrant, are like people who dress above their station, and give themselves out for richer than they really are. Vicious people sometimes make an outward profession of piety, by which they seek to conceal their evil life. In this they resemble those who seek to disguise some unpleasant odor by the use of a powerful perfume, or those who having a bad complexion by nature, employ cosmetics to give it a fictitious beauty and attractive brilliancy. The ancient Egyptians used to embalm dead bodies to preserve them from decomposition. So Satan imbues those who are spiritually dead with the aroma of a spurious piety, that their moral corruption may not be apparent. Persons who make a pretence of piety may be detected by their ostentatious display of devotion and their utter lack of charity. They court observation of their religious practices, accompany their prayers with extravagant gestures, affect a downcast mien, take a prominent part in all Catholic confraternities, and count it a crime not to go to confession on particular days. Meanwhile they do not scruple to conceal a grievous sin in the tribunal of penance, they live in enmity, they slander their neighbor, give no alms and indulge envy. Thus these would-be saints betray their real character as surely as a man betrays his nationality the moment he opens his lips. Piety that is simply external does not last, because it is not the outcome of interior devotion. " Planets and comets," says St. Francis of Sales, " are both luminous, heavenly bodies, and closely resemble each other, but the comets soon disappear, whereas the planets shine on to all time." So it is with real and unreal devotion. Those who make a pretence of piety render religion contemptible, and deter many right-minded persons from devotional practices, for no one likes to be classed with hypocrites.

3. We ought to avoid all exaggeration in devotion, and never omit the duties of our state in life.

We ought to avoid every kind of exaggeration in the worship of God. True piety does not consist in a gloomy demeanor, downcast looks, a melancholy manner. True piety is cheerful. The soul that rejoices in the possession of God, that is rich in virtue, produces a pleasant impression on others. It is also a mistake to load one's self with a great variety of religious practices. We should aim at simplicity in our devotions. A short prayer, repeated a hundred times over, is often worth more than a hundred different formulas. The duties of our station ought never to be neglected for the sake of prayer, for nothing is more pleasing to God than their right fulfil ment. " He who performs the duties of his calling," says St. Francis of Sales, " with diligent care for the love of God, is truly pious and a man after God's heart." That piety which is incompatible with the duties of our station is false piety. True piety adapts itself to the duties of every state and calling, as a fluid takes the form, of the vessel into which it is poured.

4. We must pay supreme worship to God only, for He alone is the sovereign Lord of heaven and of earth,

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Our Lord said to the devil, when he tempted Him : " It is written, the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve " (Matt. iv. 10). If I am in the presence of a personage of distinction, it would be showing1 contempt for him were I to turn away from him, and devote my attention to some one greatly his inferior ; so it would not be right to allow any object but God to engross our mind and thoughts. It is however no sin to reverence creatures in whom the perfections of God are reflected. We do not worship them with supreme worship; we only honor and venerate them for God's sake. Thus it is permissible to venerate the saints.

0. Idolatry or the Worship of False Gods

Every human creature feels himself to be dependent upon one supreme Being, and therefore is conscious of an inward impulse to adore that supreme Being. He who does not adore the true God will adore a creature. This is -idolatry. He who does not worship God in the manner which He has revealed and which the Church prescribes, will ere long come to worship Him after a debased and foolish fashion. This is the false worship of God.

1. Idolatry is the worship of a creature which is regarded as a deity; e.g., the sun, fire, animals, images, etc.

Idolatry is frequently met with in the history ^oL' the Jews: witness the worship of the golden calf (Exod. xxxii.), o_? 'the adoration of the statue ISTabuchodonosor set up (Dan. iii.). Remember the soldiers who fought under Judas Machabeus, and who fell in battle because they had idols concealed under their coats. Judas had prayers and sacrifices offered for the men who were thus punished. In the time of persecution some of the early Christians were guilty of idolatry, because from fear of the torture awaiting them, they offered incense upon the altars of the pagan gods.. And at the French revolution the people of France fell into the sin of idolatry when a woman, personating the Goddess of Reason, was adored in the house of God.

To this day the heathen worship idols.

The heathen changed the glory of the Creator into the glory of creatures (Rom. i. 23). In Asia, where the heavenly bodies shine with greater brilliance than in northern lands, the people looked upon the sun, the moon, the circle of stars as gods, and also fire, the source of light, the wind and the great waters (Wisd. xiii. 2). The Egyptians mostly worshipped animals which were either useful or hurtful, such as the cat, the hawk, the crocodile, and especially Apis, a black bull with a white scar on its forehead and other peculiar marks, which was kept in their temple. The Romans and Greeks again worshipped statues and images of the pagan gods. And as the heathen had fallen away from the true God, as a punishment He permitted them, through the practice of idolatry, to degrade themselves by the most hideous vices (Rom. i. 28). They represented their divinities as vicious themselves, and the patrons of vice in others; by indulging in the vice of which any particular god

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was the protector, they thought to do him honor. This worship of false gods was nothing less than the service of devils (1 Cor. x. 20), for the devil was the animating spirit of idolatry; he dwelt in the idols and oftentimes spoke through them. David says : " The gods of the Gentiles are devils " (Ps. xcv. 5). How thankful we ought to be to almighty God for the blessings of the Gospel. It is to show our gratitude for this benefit that we stand while the Gospel is read during Mass. Three-quarters of the human race are still plunged in pagan darkness, that is to say about eight hundred millions are heathens. They are to be found principally in Africa, India, China and Japan. Every year the Holy Father sends out more missioners to the heathen. Catholics ought to support these missioners by their prayers and their alms. The Association for the Propagation of the Faith, and of the Holy Childhood of Jesus* have been instituted for this object.

2. Another form of idolatry is when a human being gives up his whole self to a creature.

It would be absurd to call a man an idolater because he offers to a false god a few grains of incense which he ought to offer to the true God, and not to apply the same term to one who devotes his whole life to the world instead of to God. The avaricious are pre eminently idolaters (Eph. v. 5), for they consecrate their every thought, their every exertion, they sacrifice their health, their life to Mammon, to the pursuit of this world's goods. " Covetousness is the service of idols " (Col. iii. 5).

All Avho are engrossed in material interests are guilty of idolatry, especially the avaricious, the prond, the intemperate, the unchaste.

Whatever a man desires and adores, that is his god. The god of the avaricious is gold (Osee viii. 4) ; the god of the proud is honor, the god of the glutton is his belly (Phil. iii. 19) ; the god of the unchaste his own lusts (1 Cor. vi. 15). The greed of gain, the pride of life, sensual pleasures, are worshipped by the worldling. Parents are also guilty of idolatry, if they cherish an inordinate affection for their children (Wisd. xiv. 15).

3. The service of idols is high treason against the majesty of God, and the most heinous of sins.

St. Thomas Aquinas declares the worship of idols to be the greatest of all sins. Among the Jews it was punishable by death (Exod. xxii. 20). On one occasion no less than twenty- three thousand Jews were put to death by God's command for this transgression (Exod. xxxii. 28). He who worships idols incurs the curse of God (I)eut. xxvii. 15). Think of the lamentable condition of the heathen; some of them have become so degraded through idolatry that they have sunk into the vice of cannibalism. The Apostle says idolaters, adulterers, the covetous, drunkards, and others, shall not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. vi. 10).

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3. Foolish or Perverted Worship

1. Superstition, fortune-telling, spiritualism, and magic, are foolish and irrational forms of worship.

2. Superstition consists in ascribing to created things powers which they do not possess, either by nature or in virtue of the prayers of the Church.

Superstition is of pagan origin. Among the Romans the will of the gods was divined by the Haruspices from the entrails of animals. The Greeks consulted the oracle of Delphi : a priestess was seated upon a tripod above a fissure in the earth whence a stupefying vapor arose, and to her incoherent utterances when in a state of unconsciousness through this exhalation, a mystic meaning was at tached. Many popular and local customs that linger among us in the present day are relics of heathen times. These superstitions are generally found among people who do not care for religion ; superstition and unbelief go hand in hand. Children born on a Sunday are said to be fortune's favorites; Friday is considered an unlucky ^ day for the commencement of an enterprise, or for starting on a journey; to sit down thirteen to table is regarded as a fatal omen. Some people wear charms, such "as four-leaved clover, about them to ensure good fortune. What folly this is! These we call natural superstitions, because they refer to natural objects. On the other hand, those people are not to be called superstitious who make use of, or carry on their person things that the Church has consecrated or blessed, and which consequently are endued with supernatural efficacy. To wear a cross which has been blessed, or a rosary, or a relic, to take holy water, hoping thereby to be preserved by God from evil, is not superstitious. But if a greater efficacy than they possess is ascribed to these things, for instance, if it is thought that the fact of lighting a blessed candle during a storm will avert the thunderbolt, that the mere wearing of, or recital of certain prayers will preserve from drowning or death by fire, then we have an instance of superstition. This kind of superstition is called religious, because it has reference to sacred objects.

2. For tune- telling or soothsaying is the attempt to discover hidden or future events by means of things that are not in themselves calculated to reveal them.

The heathens of old made use of astrology for this purpose ; from the course or conjunction of the planets they forecast the destiny of individuals. Even nowadays many people regard the appearance of a comet as presaging war or famine. The Roman augurs predicted wiiat was about to happen by watching the flight of birds, listening to the cries they uttered, or observing the manner in which the sacred fowls devoured their food. What a strange delusion ! In the present day, however, Christians sometimes use cards as a means of divination; if the public papers are to be believed, there are in Paris eight hundred women who tell fortunes by cards, and they are invited to the houses of the great to exercise their art. There are also many

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who believe in the portents of dreams, or in palmistry, or who think to foretell the future by the combinations of numbers and figures, and the like contemptible devices. They attach superstitious meaning to the howling of a dog at night, which is said to predict the death of its owner; the hour at which a watch happens to stop, etc. Those who play lottery connect certain numbers with certain events, either real or the phantoms of dreams. On the occasion of an earthquake in Rome in 1895, a million of francs was put into the lottery on the number eleven, this being the date of the earthquake, other tickets for large sums being taken for the hour and minute at which it occurred. All these numbers were drawn blanks. And that in this nineteenth century, the age of enlightenment ! On the other hand, the forecasts of meteorologists, or the prediction of what weather may be expected from the observation of natural phenomena, is of course perfectly legitimate.

3. Spiritualism is the invocation of spirits in view of learn ing what is hidden from human ken.

Spiritualists offer themselves to act as instruments or mediums to the spirits, their design being that some unknown spirit (that is a devil) should communicate with mankind by means of their hand or voice, or by some other manifestation, such as rapping. St. Thomas Aquinas says it is sinful to seek instruction from the devil, since the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, are placed within our reach. " Let there not be found any one that consulteth spirits, for the Lord abhorreth all these things" (Deut. xviii. 11). Spiritualists are often excused on the plea that they are Christians, and call upon the name of God; but for that very reason they are to be condemned, because they profane God's holy name, and while professing to be Christians, they act as do the heathen.

4. Magic or sorcery is the invocation of spirits in order to produce miraculous effects.

It is an undeniable fact that among the heathen there were individuals who worked wonders by the devil's aid. There were magicians in Egypt in the time of Moses, who by their enchantments imitated his miracles (Exod. vii. 11). In the days of the apostles a magician named Simon lived in Samaria and deluded many by his sorceries (Acts viii. 10). We are also told that Antichrist will perform many lying wonders with the assistance of the evil one (2 Thess. ii. 9). The name of magician is not to be given to jugglers, who by skill and sleight of hand perform astonishing feats.

2. This perverted form of worship is a grievous sin.

God says : " The soul that shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers I will destroy out of the midst of its people " (Lev. xx. 6). David says: "Thou hast hated them that regard vanities to no purpose" (Ps. xxx. Y). He who trusts to vain things or to evil spirits, ascribes more power to them than to God; he tacitly denies the divine attributes of sanctity, omnipotence, wisdom, etc. "How canst thou hope for grace from God," asks St. John Chrysostom, " if thou dost abandon Him and have recourse to the evil enemy ? " This sin

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brings down severe chastisements from God. Ochozias, one of the kings of Israel, sent to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether he should recover of his sickness. The prophet Elias met the messengers, and said to them : " Go and return to the king that sent you, and say to him : Thus saith the Lord, Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendeth to Beelzebub? Therefore thou shalt not come down from thy bed but thou shalt surely die " (4 Kings i.). Ochozias expired shortly after. Superstitious people have no peace; they are timid and apprehensive; every trifle alarms them; they are dismayed and afraid to act when they perceive what they consider as portents. Other sins follow in the train of this perversion of the reverence due to God; such as abuse of holy things, for instance, relics and images ; or injustice and want of charity towards one's neighbor. Superstitious people are easily misled by their omens into rash judgments and hasty condemnations of others ; or they refuse to do them a service lest it should bring ill-luck, etc.

Sins Against the First Commandment.

The First Commandment of God is transgressed:

1. By neglecting prayer.

The heathen had their household gods; they were to be seen in the halls of palaces as well as above the threshold of the lowliest dwellings. Yet Catholics, who worship the true God, too often deny Him the daily homage due to Him. The followers of Mohammed never omit, when the muezzin calls to prayer, to kneel down and perform their orisons, even in public places, while Christians, who hold the true faith, do not scruple to dispense with prayer almost entirely. Unhappy is the household where family prayer is an unknown thing !

2. By opposing religion, either by speaking against the faith, or by the publication or dissemination of books and periodicals hostile to the faith, or by joining associations of an anti-Christian character.

3. By worshipping idols or being engrossed in material interests.

4. By superstitions.

5. By telling fortunes or having one's fortune told.

6. By invoking spirits, either for the purpose of searching out what is hidden, or of doing what cannot be done in the ordinary course of nature.

4. The Veneration of Saints

We call those saints who died in the grace of God, and who are already in heaven, more especially those whom the Church has canonized.

Canonization does not admit any one into heaven; it is only a solemn declaration on the part of the Pope that the man or woman

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in question has led a holy life (this having been proved by the examination of his or her life), and that (as the miracles proved to have been wrought by the individual testify) he or she is already in heaven, and is therefore to be venerated by the Church. Canonization is preceded by beatification ; by this latter the individual is proposed for the veneration of a portion of the faithful only, whereas by canonization he is declared worthy to receive the cultus of the whole Church. The scrutiny to which the life and miracles are subjected is extremely rigorous; they are laid before a special congregation composed of cardinals, priests, physicians, scientists, who are appointed to examine them by the Supreme Pontiff himself. This examination does not take place as a rule until fifty years after the death of the servant of God. On account of the great number of the saints, their different degree of glory, and the fc.ct that their life was more in heaven than on earth, they are compared to the stars; or again to precious stones, rarely found upon earth and valuable in God'c sight; to the cypress, whose wood never decays, because they were not contaminated by the corruption of serious sin ; to the majestic cedars of Lebanon, by reason of the height of perfection they attained ; to the fragrant lily, because by their good works they shed a sweet odor around them; to an anvil, unbroken by the blows of the hammer, for they stood steadfast beneath the strokes of misfortune. They are also said to be the pillars of the Church, for they sustain her by their prayers, and like the towers that crown a city, they add to her outward majesty and dignity.

The Church ordains that those saints alone whom she has canonized should be publicly venerated by the faithful.

The Church knows that the veneration of the saints is good and useful for us. Consequently she omits no opportunity of inciting us tq it; at Baptism the name of a saint is given to the child who is made one of the members of the Church, and the same is done at Confirmation. Every day in the year some one or more saints are commemorated; statues and pictures of saints are placed in the churches, their names are mentioned in the Mass and invoked in litanies and public prayers.

1. We honor the saints because they are the friends of God, princes of the heavenly court, and benefactors to ourselves; also because we obtain great graces from God through venerating them.

We venerate the saints because they are the friends and servants of God. He who reverences the emperor will not fail to honor his servants, the ministers, or viceroy, etc., for the reverence paid to them is indirectly paid to the emperor himself. For this reason we venerate the friends and servants of God. Every man of good feeling likes his friends to be respected, and feels it to be a slight to himself if they are treated with contempt; how much more is this so with God. He desires that those who loved Him above all things on earth should receive special honor. While the saints lived here below, they fled from honors ; nay, more, they were despised, calumniated, perse cuted by evil men. Therefore God now wills that their innocence and virtue should be made clear, and they should be venerated by all

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Christendom. God Himself gives honor to the saints; He works miracles through their intercession, a*id oftentimes inflicts condign punishment on those who show them disrespect. Christ Himself says : " If any man minister to Me, him will My Father honor " (John xii. 26). We venerate the saints on account of their exalted rank in heaven. If we show so much honor to kings by whom God rules the world, how much the more is it incumbent upon us to honor the celestial spirits whom Goo: makes His instruments for the government of the Church, and of whole races of men, and also for the salvation of mankind; and whose dignity therefore far exceeds that of earthly princes. Most of the saints moreover have a -claim on us for the services they have rendered to mankind ; heathen countries have been evangelized by them (witness St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany) ; others have maintained and defended the faith, as St. Ignatius of Loyola by forming the Society of Jesus; or again they have enriched the Church by their writings, as did St. Augustine. Many a time the saints have prevailed upon God on behalf of their fellow-men. He would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten just men (Gen. xviii. 32) ; for Joseph's sake He blessed the house of Putiphar (Gen. xxxix. 5) ; for the sake of the elect the days of judgment shall be shortened (Matt. xxiv. 22). After their death the saints offer supplications before the throne of God for their kinsfolk and their people. The prophet Jeremias did not cease after death to pray for the Jewish people and for all the holy city (2 Mach. xv. 14). The saints in heaven and Christians upon earth are all members of one body. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and they mutually succor one another. Thus the saints help us by their prayers. How much honor is paid to men who have deserved well of their contemporaries ; their services are lauded and magnified, statues are Erected to their memory, institutions, towns, streets are named after them; ought we not then to venerate our best benefactors ? If the man who rescues me from drowning has a claim on my gratitude, how much more those who have spent their strength in endeavoring to save me from eternal perdition ! Furthermore, the Council of Trent tells us that the veneration of the saints is of practical utility to ourselves ; through them we obtain favors from God, besides a speedy answer to our prayers. Our petitions are much more favorably received by an earthly monarch if they are presented by one of his courtiers; so it is with God, and the more intercessors we have the better for us. What God might not grant to a single saint, He will not deny to several, just as an abbot cannot refuse to grant a request preferred by the whole of his community. Wherefore, as beggars go from house to house asking an alms, let us go through the streets of the heavenly city, appealing to the apostles, the martyrs, the virgins, and the confessors, imploring them to intercede on our behalf.

2. We venerate the saints if we entreat their intercession with God, if we celebrate their feasts, reverence their images and their relics; if we bear their name, claim their protection in matters of importance, and praise them in word and song. The best manner in which to venerate them is to imitate their virtues.

One day we are to be the companions of the saints in heaven, and

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this prospect unites us to them in a mutual love. Both they and we belong to the same great family whose father is God. This is the meaning of the communion of saints. Hence they espouse our cause, when we invoke their aid and their intercession with God. The fact of invoking them testifies to the esteem in which we hold them, and the value we attach to their prayers. We celebrate the feasts of the saints. In the earliest ages of the Church the day whereon the martyrs suffered was carefully noted down, t9 be commemorated annually. In the world great events are celebrated by a jubilee; why should not the same be done in the Church? The anniversaries of the saints are not holydays of obligation, excepting the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul in England, and the festiv.il of All Saints here. And as we like to preserve in memory of the departed, little objects that have belonged to them, whether they be our own relatives and friends, or men of great renown, so the relics of the saints and their images are to be held in veneration. The names of heroes and great men are given to public institutions or buildings, so we receive the name of some saint or great servant of God at our Baptism and Confirmation, or on entering a religious Order, taking him or her for our patron. We also dedicate churches, towns, and countries to some saint, placing them under his protection. Heroes and illustrious men of past times often furnish a theme to the orator and the poet; so panegyrics are pronounced, and hymns sung in honor of the saints. But the most important thing is to imitate the saints. " To venerate the saints without following in their steps," says St. Augustine, " is merely offering them the incense of empty flattery." To read the lives of the saints is also a means of honoring them, for we read the record of their deeds in order to take them for patterns in our own actions.

3. The veneration we pay to the saints does* not in the least detract from the honor due to God, for we only reverence the saints for God's sake, and by no means do we reverence them in the way that we reverence God, but only because they are the servants of God.

The veneration of the saints does not detract from the honor due to God. Who would think of saying that it showed want of respect to the emperor to honor his mother, his children, his friends, and faithful servants ? On the contrary, it would rather evince our respect for him (St. Jerome). By venerating the saints of God we no more detract from the honor due to Him than we do by charity towards our neighbor, and we know that the love of God increases with the love of one's neighbor. We honor the saints because in them the divine image is reflected. We reverence a portrait of the king as being a faithful representation of the monarch to whom we owe allegiance; so we reverence the saints because we see the image of God in them. We love them as we love our fellow-men ; they are made after God's image, and are His children. We also venerate the saints because they were instruments employed by God to perform new and signal deeds. We do not honor them for what they were in and by themselves ; their works do not redound to their own glory, so much as to the glory of God, Who worked by their agency. Thus

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the credit of a beautiful picture does not belong to the brush, or a clever book to the pen, or an eloquent discourse to the lips that merely repeated it. God alone is wonderful in His saints. The Blessed Mother of God did not say : " I have done great things ; " but, "He that is mighty hath done great things to me" (Luke i. 49). And as by venerating the saints we honor God, so by despising the saints we dishonor God. Our Lord declared that to despise His apostles was tantamount to despising Himself (Luke x. 16), and that He regarded every act of unkindness towards one's neighbor as an act of unkindness to Himself (Matt. xxv. 40). And since God loves the saints in heaven far more than men on earth, He must be deeply affronted by disrespect shown to them. An additional reason why veneration of the saints in no wise diminishes our reverence for God, is because we do not honor them as we honor God. We adore God, but we do not adore the saints, so we do not pay to them the supreme homage that we pay to God, for we know that the distance between Him and them is infinite. However superior the saints are to us, they are only creatures like ourselves. The esteem and veneration in which we hold them is the same in kind as that in which we hold the servants of God on earth, only it is greater in degree, because the saints have already passed as victors into the Church Triumphant. The saints do not desire the adoration of men. When Tobias and his family prostrated themselves before the angel, he said : '' Bless ye God, sing praises to Him" (Tob. xii. 18). When St. John the Divine fell down before the feet of the angel, he said to him: " See thou do it not, adore God" (Apoc. xix. 10). And if we kneel beside the tomb or before the image of a saint, we no more adore him than a servant adores his master if he goes on his knees to ask a favor of him. If the holy sacrifice is offered in honor of a saint, if churches arid altars are dedicated to him, it is only in the hope that he will unite his prayers to the sacrifices we offer, the prayers we say at his shrine; and we praise God, Who led the saint in so mar vellous a way to the attainment of sanctity. Thus veneration of the saints is not idolatry, nor does it betray want of confidence in Christ, our great Mediator. It rather betokens mistrust of ourselves, a humble spirit. Conscious of our own unworthiness to present our petitions to Christ, we have recourse to a mediator whose prayers will have greater weight with Him than our own.

4. It is advisable under different circumstances of life to invoke certain saints.

Experience has proved how much is gained by invoking the saints in times of special need. We invoke St. Joseph as the patron of a happy death, because he expired in the arms of Jesus and Mary; also in seasons of temporal distress, for on him the Child Jesus was dependent for His maintenance. For diseases of the throat St. Blase is to be invoked, who miraculously cured a boy thus afflicted; for diseases of the eye we call on St. Ottilia for aid, because she, when blind, recovered her sight at her Baptism. Those who suffer through calumny find a protector in St. John Nepomucene, who was a martyr to the seal of confession ; and when anything is l^st, we have recourse to St. Anthony, through whose prayers the thief who had stolen from him a valuable manuscript, had no peace until he restored it.

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It appears that God lias given to individual saints special powers to help us in special needs. Many wonderful answers to prayer lead to the belief that the saints take particular interest in persons whose circumstances are the same as theirs were on earth, and whose calling or state of life is the same as was their own, as well as for the place where they lived and labored.

5. The Veneration of the Mother of God

Many are the types of our blessed Lady to be found in the Old Testament ; e.g., Eve, the mother of all mankind ; Noe's ark, wherein the human race was preserved from extinction; the Ark of the Covenant containing the manna; Judith who slew Holof ernes, the archenemy of her people; Esther, who was exempted from the universal law (as Mary was from original sin), and by her mediation rescued her people from death ; the mother of the Machabees, who witnessed the death of her seven sons, and whose heart, like Mary's, was pierced with seven swords, etc. The Gospels gave little information respect ing the life of Our Lady; more concerning it may be learned from the revelations of the saints.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, is usually called the Mother of God or the Most Blessed Virgin.

Elizabeth was the first to call Mary Mother of God (Luke i. 43). The Council of Ephesus, in 431, confirmed this title, Dei Genitrix, and condemned the contrary doctrine asserted by the heretic RTestorius. Mary gave birth to Him Who is God and man in one person. A child does not receive its soul from its mother, but from God, yet she of whom it is born is called its mother; in like manner Mary is justly termed the " Mother of God," although Christ did not derive from her His divine nature. Mary is also rightly called " the Blessed Virgin." The words she spoke to the angel announced her determination to preserve her virginity inviolate (Luke i. 34). Many ages before the prophet Isaias foretold that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son (Is. vii. 14). In her conception, in child-bearing, and after the birth of Jesus, Mary remained a virgin. As the bush burned with fire and was not consumed, so Mary's virginity was not impaired by the birth of Christ; as Our Lord appeared in the midst of the apostles although the doors of the room where they were as sembled were shut, so He came into the world, and her chastity remained intact. So the sun shines through glass without in any wise changing it. Mary is the window of heaven, through which the true Light came into the world. Those who are spoken of in the Gospels as the brethren of Christ (Matt. xiii. 55) are His blood relations; it was customary among the Jews to term near relatives brethren. Abraham called his nephew Lot by this name (Gen. xiii. 8). " Had Mary had other children who could have taken care of her, Our Lord upon the cross would not have commended her," as St. John Chrysostom remarks, "to the beloved disciple." Christ was called the " first-born," to indicate the fact that He was, according to Jewish law, sanctified to the Lord (Exod. xiii. 2). Christ was, in fact, the first-

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Dorn among many brethren (Roin. viii. 29), that is, all Christian people, who are besides the children of Mary. Mary was espoused to Joseph by God's command, in order that she might not be stoned after the birth of Christ, and also in order to provide a guardian for her and the divine Child. The name Mary is a Hebrew word, meaning lady, or mistress.

We pay greater honor to Mary, the Mother of Christ, than to any other saint.

Even in her lifetime, Mary had great honor paid to her; at the Annunciation the angel addressed her as " full of grace," and " blessed among women " (Luke i. 28). It is a great honor if an angel appears to mortal men and affords them an opportunity of showing him reverence; yet at the Annunciation it was not man who reverenced the angel, but the angel who reverenced man. " Hence," St. Thomas Aquinas says, " we conclude that Mary excels the angels in dignity." How respectfully Elizabeth treated Mary; she called her blessed, and gave her the title of Mother of her Lord (Luke i. 42, 43). Mary herself foresaw that she would be praised by posterity, for she said : "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed " (Luke i. 48). The Church invites us to honor the Mother of God with special devotion. The Hail Mary is almost invariably added to the Our Father ; three times a day the Angelus bell reminds us of the mystery of the Incarnation, and bids us invoke the name of Mary; many festivals have been instituted in her honor, the Litany of Loretto is recited at the public services of the Church; the month of May, the fairest month in the year, is dedicated to her, and during October the Rosary is daily recited. Moreover, numerous churches are erected in all lands in honor of the. Mother of God, not a few of these being renowned places of pilgrimage, where signal graces and favors are obtained ; and the most glorious titles are given to her, such as : Channel of grace, Mother of mercy, Refuge of sinners, Help of Christians, Queen of heaven, etc. Yet the veneration we pay to Mary is distinct from the adoration due to God. Exalted honor is due to Mary, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost alone, do we adore.

1. We hold Mary in such great veneration because she is the Mother of God and our Mother.

Whoever truly loves God must assuredly honor the Mother of God, and honor her, too, far above all the saints, the friends of God. The honor paid to the Queen-Mother is reflected upon the King, her Son. One may judge of the measure in which a man loves God by his devotion to Mary. In fact, the greater the saint, the more intensely does he love Mary. She is actually our Mother, for Our Lord gave her to us upon the cross when He said to St. John : " Behold thy Mother" (John xix. 27), John representing on Calvary all the follow ers of Christ. Mary is the second Eve, the Mother of all mankind; as the disobedience of Eve brought misery upon the human race, so the obedience of Mary restores it to a state of grace. Through one woman death came into the world, through another, life. And since Mary is our Mother, our salvation is more a matter of concern to her than to any of the saints. After Christ no one cares for us

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as she does. St. Bernard declares that the love of all the mothers in the world does not equal the love Mary bears to each one of her children. And the reason she cares so much for us is because of her love for God, and consequently her charity towards her neighbor exceeds that of any other saint. As the glory of the moon surpasses that of the stars, so the love of Mary for us exceeds that of the angels; it is a boundless ocean of love. Mary knows all our circumstances; this even the angels do (Luke xv. 7), and it cannot be supposed that they know more than does their Queen. A dutiful child delights to be with its mother, and the devout Christian rejoices to address to Mary, the Mother of God, his loving supplications.

2. Another reason why Mary is so highly honored throughout Christendom, is because God has exalted her above all men and angels.

Monarchs grant privileges to the towns where they were born, or where they were crowned; so the King of heaven has conferred special privileges and prerogatives on the Mother who bore Him.

Mary was, in fact, chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son, preserved from the stain of original sin, raised gloriously from the tomb, and crowned Queen of heaven.

No angel, not even the most perfect and greatest of the heavenly host, can say to God as Mary can : " Thou art my Son." O what a marvellous privilege is this ! Mary is indeed the Mater admirdbilis, and that not alone because she is at one and the same time Virgin and Mother, nor because she is Mother both of the creature and of the Creator, but pre-eminently because she gave birth to Him Who was the Author of her being. Mary is the wonder of wonders, and nothing in the universe, God only excepted, is more glorious than she is. Mary's spotless purity, her sinlessness, was first proclaimed by God in paradise (Gen. iii. 15), and afterwards by the 'archangel Gabriel (Luke i. 28). God said to the serpent, " She shall crush thy head." Had Mary been brought under the dominion of the devil by sin, she could not possibly have been his conqueror. Gabriel saluted Mary as " full of grace." The dignity of Christ alone demanded that His Mother should be entirely free from sin. When God raises any one to a high post, He fits him for it; and the Son of God, in choosing Mary to be His Mother, rendered her by the gifts of grace fit for this exalted dignity (St. Thomas Aquinas). Now we know that no one who built a house for his own use, would first put his greatest enemy in possession of it ; much less would the Holy Spirit, Whose temple Mary was to be, allow the evil one to make her his own. The Fathers of the Church and the children of the Church in all ages, have given to Mary the title of immaculate both in their writings and in their prayers ; and in 1854 the Holy Father declared her Immaculate Conception to be a dogma of the faith. Mary was there fore free from original and actual sin (Council of Trent, 6, 23) ; she is compared to a lily among thorns (Cant. ii. 2), a mirror without a flaw (Wisd. vii. 26). She advanced in perfection rapidly and continuously, like the vine (Ecclus. xxiv. 23) that grows higher and higher, till it attains the height of the tree to which it clings. She

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advanced all the more rapidly, because she was so near to the source of all grace, and was the recipient of greater and more abundant graces than other men. Mary was the most holy and perfect of all creatures; and her sanctity surpassed that of all other saints as much as the light of the moon exceeds in brilliance that of the planets. Even in the first moments of her existence, Mary's sanctity was greater than that of the most eminent saints at the close of their life. On account of her exalted sanctity she is compared to the tower of David (Cant. iv. 4), which rose in majestic stateliness on the highest summit of the mountains about Jerusalem. She is also called the mirror of justice. Of all created beings none ever loved God so in tensely as Mary did, or cared so little for the things of earth. As the action of fire causes iron to glow with heat, so the Holy Spirit in flamed the heart of Mary with charity. On account of her great love she is called the house of gold. Mary was adorned with every virtue. She is the mystical rose, for as the rose surpasses all other flowers in the beauty of its coloring and the fragrance of its perfume, so Mary exceeds all the saints in the magnitude of her love for God, and the sweet odor of her virtues. She is the Queen of whom the Psalmist speaks (Ps. xliv. 11), clad in the golden garments of charity, surrounded by a variety of virtues. " Thus," Suarez declares, " shewas dearer to God than all the other saints together." The body of the Blessed Virgin was assumed gloriously into Leaven. It is said that the apostle Thomas, having arrived in Jerusalem too late to assist at her interment, was desirous to see her remains in the sepulchre; but when it was opened nothing was found there but the grave-clothes in which her body had been wrapped. Catherine Em merich in her visions asserts that Our Blessed Lady died forty-eight years after the birth of Christ, at the age of sixty-four. Having gone from Ephesus to Jerusalem to follow again the footsteps of her Son in the way of the cross, she fell mortally sick and died of grief ; hence her tomb was in Jerusalem. The feast of her Assumption is kept throughout the whole Church on the fifteenth of August. No one has ever claimed to possess a relic of her body. Mary shines in heaven with unrivalled splendor. The sun, moon, and stars of our solar system are symbols of Christ, His Mother and the saints. Mary is the Queen of angels, the Queen of all saints. In her more than in any other creature we gain a knowledge of the divine attributes. Most especially we see displayed in her glorious exaltation the infinite goodness of God, Who raises the poor man from the dunghill, that He may set him with princes and elevate him above the choirs of celestial spirits (Ps. cxii. 7, 8).

3. Finally, we entertain this great veneration for Mary, because her intercession is more powerful with God than that of any other saint.

Mary's intercession has immense power with God. On earth her petitions were all-prevailing with Christ, as at the marriage-feast at Cana. And if Christ granted all His Mother's prayers on earth, how much the more will He do so in heaven. When the General Coriolanus could not be prevailed upon by the Senate and priests of Rome to withdraw his army from before the city, he yielded to the entreaties of his mother Veturia, although he knew that to do so

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would cost him his life. How much the more will Christ, the great Lawgiver, listen to the supplications of His Mother ! If the prayers of the saints, His servants, have so much power with God, what must those of His Mother have ! Being the prayers of a mother, they are less like a petition than a command. St. Bernard declares Mary to be omnipotent by means of her intercession ; there is nothing that she cannot obtain for us. As at the court of an earthly monarch he is sure to succeed for whom the queen interests herself, so at the court of the King of kings those for whom Mary, the Queen of heaven, pleads, will not be disappointed of their desires. Thus Mary is our hope; because through her intercession we hope to procure the blessings which our poor prayers cannot obtain. Hence the saints speak of her as the dispenser of graces, for all the favors we receive from heaven come to us through her hands. " God," St. Peter Damian says, " would not become man until Mary had given her consent, in order that we might see that the salvation of mankind rested in her hands." She stood beneath the cross that we might know that without her mediation no one could be made partaker of the merits of the blood of Christ. God the Father sanctions, Christ grants, and Mary distributes the gifts of heaven to mankind. Thus Mary is the Mother of divine grace. No prayer she proffers is unanswered. " Who can doubt," exclaims St. Bernard, " that the Son will listen to His Mother — such a Son to such a Mother ! " Remember how the same saint declares in the Memorare that it is a thing unheard of for any one to implore Mary's aid, and implore in vain. Even the least and shortest prayer to Mary does not go unrecompensed ; she rewards the slightest intentions with the rich est graces. Every time we salute her she does not fail to return our greeting. She is the Virgin most clement. There is not a trace of sternness about her; she is all clemency, loving kindness and gentle ness. He would be wrong indeed who approached her with trembling.

From tiihe immemorial Christians have been accustomed to have recourse to Mary in times of affliction and distress.

In the year 1683, when the Turks besieged Vienna, both in the beleaguered city and throughout Christendom the Rosary was recited to implore the aid of the Mother of God, and a signal victory was the result. Individual Christians also appeal to Mary for aid when private troubles press heavily upon them. She is called the Help of Christians, the Comforter of the afflicted, the Health of the sick. Christians call upon her in seasons of severe sickness. It is recorded of St. John Damascene, that when the caliph, enraged with him for having written in defence of the veneration of images, caused his right hand to be struck off, the saint prostrated himself before a statue of Our Lady, and was immediately healed. In the present day how numerous are the miraculous cures effected at Lourdes! To Mary also is due the conversion of many sinners who desire to amend their lives, for upon those who invoke her the light of the Holy Spirit is shed. Mary is the morning star; as that planet heralds the sunrise, so devotion to Mary is the forerunner of divine grace, the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost. She is compared to the dawn (Cant. vi. 9), because as the shades of night vanish

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before the rising sun, so sin departs from the soul that is devoted to Mary. The month of May is dedicated to her, because nature then awakens to a new life, and devotion to Mary brings fresh life to the soul dead in sin. Witness the miraculous conversion of the public sinner, Mary of Egypt, before an image of Our Lady in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Mary is ever desirous to effect our reconciliation with God, far more so than any earthly mother could be to establish peace between two members of her family who were at enmity with each other. Through her intercession Our Lord's anger is easily appeased. Alexander the Great once said : " A single tear from my mother's eyes will blot out many death-warrants." If a man, and a heathen to boot, will speak thus of his mother, what may we not expect from the divine Son of Mary? She is the Refuge of sinners; the Mother of mercy; from her as from an olive tree to which -she is likened (Eccles. xxiv. 19), the softening oil of mercy flows. She is our mediatrix ; to her we fly in temptation ; as the Jews on their entrance into the Promised Land (Numb. x. 35), and in their wars with the Philistines (1 Kings xiv.) carried with them the ark of the Lord to insure victory, so through Mary, the Ark of the Covenant of the New Testament, are we enabled to conquer our spiritual foes. As the star guides the mariner, tossing on the stormy sea, to a safe haven, so Mary guides us over the tempestuous ocean of life to the celestial port. She is compared in Holy Scripture to a planetree in the streets (Eccles. xxiv. 19), because as the tree protects the wayfarer from sun and rain, so Mary defends those who place themselves under her care from the assaults of the devil. To the enemy of mankind she is " terrible as an army set in array " (Cant. vi. 3). Various titles are given to Mary to indicate the circumstances in which we may invoke her aid and trust in her succor, such as : Mother of perpetual succor, Mother of good counsel, Mother of dolors, etc.

Devotion to the Mother of God is an excellent means of at taining sanctity here below and eternal happiness hereafter.

No one can fail to observe the filial affection and devotion which all the saints have displayed towards the Mother of God, and the signal success with which God has rewarded this devotion on their part. Among the most prominent of these was St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and in later times St. Alphonsus Liguori, the author of the " Glories of Mary." Mary is the gate of heaven ; a ladder connecting heaven and earth, by which the Lord of heaven came down to us, and by which we may ascend up to God. St. Alphonsus declares it to be his persuasion that hell cannot boast of containing one single soul who ever had a true and heartfelt devotion to Mary. St. Bernard asserts that those who honor her daily will assuredly be saved. St. Francis Borgia always feared for the salvation of that soul which had little or no devotion for the Mother of God.

6. The Veneration of Images of the Saints

The veneration of sacred pictures and images is as old as Christianity itself. In the Catacombs representations are found of Christ, of the Mother of God with the divine Child, and of biblical scenes

328 The Commandments.

from the Old or New Testament, calculated to strengthen the Christians in times of persecution, by reminding them of God's omnipotence and of a future resurrection. With the spread of Christianity the veneration paid to images increased. Pictures, statues, and crosses, were seen not in the churches alone, but on the market-place and highways. In the eighth century the Emperor of the East prohibited the veneration of images; the figures of the saints were broken to pieces or burned, the paintings on the walls of the churches were whitewashed over, and any persons who persisted in venerating images were punished (this was called the iconoclastic movement). The veneration of images answers to a need of our human nature; we respect the portraits of those whom we love or esteem; moreover it is the will of God that man, who lost true happiness for the sake of material things, should regain it by means of material things. The Jews were strictly forbidden to make images or bow down to them (Exod. xx. 4), because they had a strong propensity towards idolatry, and the Son of God had not then become man. In spite of this prohibition there were two golden cherubim, one on each side of the propitiatory in the Holy of holies (Exod. xxv. 18), and we also read of a brazen serpent in the wilderness, whereon the Israelites were commanded to look that they might be healed (Numb, xxi. 8).

By sacred pictures or statues are meant representations of Christ, of the saints, or of the truths of religion.

The manner in which Our Lord is ordinarily depicted is familiar to all of us; the expression of His countenance is grave and benign, His eyes are blue, His hair is of a ruddy brown, curling and parted in the middle, His beard is short, and a burning heart is often placed upon His breast. The Mother of God is represented in various ways : as Help of Christians she holds the divine Child in her arms ; as Mother of dolors, the dead Christ is laid across her knees ; as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception she is as she appeared at Lourdes, in a white robe, without her Infant Son; as Queen of heaven (Apoc. xii. 1) with her head encircled with twelve stars and the moon beneath her feet. The most celebrated and well-known pictures of the Mother of God are: (1) The painting in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, supposed to be the work of St. Luke; (2) The Madonna di San Sisto, painted by Rafael; (3) The miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, painted upon wood, and dating from the thirteenth century, in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. The representations of the saints are easily recognized; they have a nimbus round their head, and are accom panied by emblems either of their office, of the special virtue that distinguished them, or by the instruments wherewith they suffered martyrdom. The four Evangelists are known by their symbols: St. Matthew has an angel in human shape beside him, because his gospel begins with the genealogy of Our Lord ; St. Mark has a lion, because he speaks in the opening chapter of a voice crying in the wilderness ; St. Luke is accompanied by an ox, because he begins with Zacharias' sacrifice; St. John by an eagle, because his gospel begins with sublime and lofty truths. We also call those sacred pictures which portray some great truth, such as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity,

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or purgatory; or some event recorded in Holy Scripture. The three divine persons are represented under the form they have assumed when appearing to men. But all delineations of the Godhead do no more than give an idea of certain attributes or actions of the Deity, for it is not within the power of man to make an image of God.

Pictures or statues of saints, by means of which or before which miracles have been worked, are called miraculous images.

There are a great many places of pilgrimage on the continent of Europe where an image of Our Lady is to be seen, by means of which extraordinary favors and graces have been and are obtained. Among these Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Alt-Otting in Bavaria, Kevelaer in the Ehineland may be mentioned. It is also well known that many cures have been effected through devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague (a wax statue in the church of the Carmelites in that city), especially at the time of the pestilence in 1713. The Empress Maria Teresa had a great veneration for that image; she worked a robe for it with her own hands, richly embroidered with gold, ^fany of these miraculous images have been preserved from destruction in a marvellous manner ; they have, for instance, been in the fire without being burned. Many signal cures have been wrought in a moment, in answer to prayers offered before them. Such miracles are permitted by God as an attestation to the truth of the Catholic Church, and it would be a sin on the part of any Catholic to deny their authenticity. A strict investigation is made of these miracles by the Holy See, and then the statue of the saint is crowned.

Above all representations of the saints or of holy things, we venerate the cross of Our Redeemer.

There ought not to be a single church, or altar, or cemetery, without a crucifix. Such is the honor in which the Church holds the cross of Christ, that she allows no sacrament to be administered, no Mass to be celebrated, no act of divine worship to be performed unless in presence of the crucifix. The cross is seen on the crown of the monarch, on the breast of the bishop, arid it is awarded as a decoration to men of merit. The cross is in the hand of the dying Christian when he draws his last breath, and it accompanies him to the grave. This sacred symbol ought to be found in every Christian household; it does not speak well for the inhabitants of a house if none but secular pictures adorn its walls.

1. We honor the images of the saints by giving them a place in our dwellings ; we say our prayers before them, we salute them respectfully, we adorn them with offerings, we make pilgrimages to their shrines.

The reverence we pay to the image of a saint is not paid to the picture or image itself, but to the individual it represents ; that is, to Christ, or some one of the saints. When we adore the cross we adore Him Who died thereon. By showing respect to the portrait of a king, we testify our respect for the monarch, and disrespect manifested to his portrait is a personal affront to himself. When the book of tlie Gospels is kissed, it is the Word of God therein contained

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that is venerated. Thus when we kiss our parents or our children, we express the love and fondness of our hearts, and in venerating images, we express our love for the persons they represent. And when incense is burned, or tapers lighted before the images, it is as a symbol of the light of the Holy Ghost and the virtues wherewith the saints were endowed. It is not from the images themselves that we ask help, it is from God, through the intercession of the saints. None but the heathen imagine that there is any virtue or super natural power in the image itself. Moses did not think that his staff worked miracles, but God Who powerfully assisted him.

2. Through venerating the images of the saints, efficacious and oftentimes supernatural graces are obtained; they are also useful as a means of avoiding distractions in prayer, and affording us a silent admonition.

St. John Damascene says that the Holy Spirit surrounds the images of the saints with a certain halo of grace. Wherever the cross is erected, the malicious designs of the evil one are defeated. How often a soul sunk in sin has been touched and converted by the sight of an image; how often have pictures comforted and encouraged devout persons, especially at the moment of death! While gazing upon an image we pray with greater recollection; images are steps whereby we ascend more easily in spirit to heaven. And as one'sprayers, when offered at the shrine of some saint are more fervent, so they are more readily granted; the ex-votos hung beside the image testify to the efficacy of the saint's intercession — they are also a constant admonition to us ; either by placing vividly before us one of the truths of religion, or exhorting us to imitate the example of the saint. The work of the artist does indeed often prove more influential than the words of the preacher, for the impressions we receive through the ear have less effect upon the mind than those which we receive through the eye. St. Gregory the Great calls pictures the books of the unlearned. In the Middle Ages, before there were any printed books, pictures were widely disseminated among the people. From those times we date the crib, the sepulchre, the stations of the cross, etc.

7. The Veneration of Relics

The name of relic is given to the remains of the saints, as well as to objects that have been closely connected with Christ or the saints.

The body of a saint is a relic, or any portion of it, even the most minute particle of bone. These relics are placed beneath or upon our altars; they also pass into the possession of private persons. Those only are authentic to which the name of the saint and the episcopal seal is attached. The relics themselves must not be sold, but this prohibition does not apply to the case containing them. From time immemorial those objects also which are closely connected with Our Lord or the saints have been held in high veneration; for instance, the cross of Christ, His tunic, His winding-sheet, the manger wherein

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the Infant Jesus was laid, Veronica's veil, etc. The holy cross was discovered by the Empress Helena in the year 325, and a portion of it is in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. A part of the manger is in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The seamless coat of Our Lord is in the Cathedral of Treves. (In 1891 it was exposed for six weeks, and two thousand of the faithful came to adore it. During that period eleven authentic cases of miraculous cure took place.) At Argenteuil, near Paris, another garment worn by Our Lord when a child is preserved; it was presented by Charlemagne to the church. The holy winding-sheet is in Turin; Veronica's veil is in St. Peter's at Rome. Several other important relics are preserved in the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The whole of Palestine is to the Christian a sacred and precious relic ; the seven crusades undertaken to recover it from the Saracens prove how much it was valued in the Middle Ages. The principal holy places are : The place of crucifixion and the sepulchre on Mount Calvary; the scene of Our Lord's agony and the spot whence He ascended on Mount Olivet ; the cenacle on Mount Sion, His birthplace at Bethlehem and the holy house of Nazareth, now at Loretto. At all these places churches were erected, mostly by the Emperor Constantine, or his mother, St. Helena. The garments worn by martyrs and the instruments of their execution, the spots where eminent saints were born or are buried, have always been held in veneration. It was formerly the custom to erect churches and altars for the celebration of divine worship over places thus hallowed, especially where the saints are interred.

Relics are deserving of veneration for this reason, because the bodies of the saints were temples of the Holy Ghost, and instruments whereby He worked; and they will rise glorious from the grave.

The Jews regarded a dead body as an unclean thing, but the Christian looks upon it with respect, as having been the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, and as being the seed whence the immortal, glori fied body will spring at the resurrection. Moreover, as St. Jerome remarks, by honoring the saints, we adore Him for Whom they died. God Himself shows them honor, for by their medium He works miracles. Many bodies, or portions of the bodies of saints still remain incorrupt and supple, as that of St. Teresa, or St. Francis Xavier; some emit a delicious fragrance; from others an oil distils possessed of healing properties. " God," says St. John Chrysostom, " has divided the possession of the saints between Himself and us; He has taken their souls to Himself, and has left their bodies for us."

1. We honor the relics of the saints by preserving them with reverence, and visiting the spot where they are deposited.

Even among the Jews relics were regarded with reverence. At the exit from Egypt Moses took Joseph's bones with him (Exod. xiii. 19). The early Christians also had great respect for relics. When St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, was torn to pieces by lions, two of his companions came by night and gathered up his bones, carrying them to Antioch. When St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was burned

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alive, the Christians collected his ashes, valuing them more than jewels. At an early date it was customary to erect chapels or altars above the tombs of martyrs, and offer the holy sacrifice over their remains. Relics are usually enclosed in costly reliquaries, richly decorated. It is out of respect for the dead that we lay wreaths on their coffins, and deck their graves with flowers. Relics of great value, such as the portions of the true cross, or of the manger at Bethlehem, are encased in gold or silver; likewise some of the bodies of the saints. From time immemorial pilgrimages have been made to the sepulchres of the saints. For nineteen centuries the faithful have been wont to visit the tombs of the apostles in Rome or the holy places in Palestine. The early Christians flocked in such numbers to the Holy Land that the places in Jerusalem were thronged with devout worshippers. Any one who had not been thither esteemed himself a worse Christian than his neighbors. " We visit the sepulchres of the saints," says St. John Chrysostom, " and prostrate ourselves there in order to obtain some grace which we need."

2. We obtain many blessings from God by venerating relics.

Relics are a source whence spiritual benefits come to us from God. St. John Damascene says : " As water gushed from the rock in the wilderness at God's command, so by His will blessings flow from the relics of the saints." Where the remains of saints or martyrs are interred the snares of the devil lose their potency and obstinate maladies are healed. St. Augustine relates numerous cures effected by the relics of St. Stephen in Africa, besides the raising from the dead of two children. In the Old Testament we read of a deadman restored to life on coming in contact with the bones of the prophet Eliseus (4 Kings xiii. 21). Even in their lifetime the bodies of the saints were instrumental in working miracles. By the shadow of St. Peter (Acts v. 15), and by the handkerchiefs or girdles worn by St. Paul (Acts xix. 12), the sick were delivered from their infirmities. But it must be remembered it is not by the relics themselves that these miracles are wrought, but by God. Hence it is not a superstitious act on the part of pious persons when they visit places of pilgrimage, where God is pleased to work wonders by means of relics or images of the saints.

8. The Extraordinary Worship of God

We can, moreover, honor God by taking an oath or by making a vow.

To take an oath or make a vow is not an ordinary occurrence of our lives; it is only done in peculiar, i.e., extraordinary cases. An oath is taken when human witness or asseveration is not sufficient; a vow is made when we voluntarily pledge ourselves to do something for God. We honor God by an oath, because we thereby acknowledge His omnipotence, His justice, His holiness. And by a vow we offer Him a sacrifice, because we bind ourselves by a solemn promise to perform a work pleasing to God.

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The Oath.

Cases sometimes occur in which a man will not believe the word of another. But if a witness comes forward and affirms : " That is so,

1 myself saw it," then the speaker is more readily believed, and all the more if the witness in question is known to be a man of honor. Now it may occur that a man calls God to witness, that is to say, he appeals to the omniscient God to make known the truth of what is said by His almighty power. In this case his word will be regarded as the word of God. As an official seal gives force to a decree, so the oath is the seal God gives us to corroborate a statement. It is a coin of high value, stamped with the name of the living God. Our Lord took an oath when Caiphas adjured Him by the living God to speak the truth. So did Esau, when he confirmed by an oath the promise he made to relinquish his birthright for the pottage of lentils.

1. To swear or take an oath is to call God to witness that one is speaking the truth, or that one will keep a promise.

In swearing, a man calls either upon God or upon something he holds sacred. If a man swears by God, he makes use of words such as these: As the Lord liveth (Jer. iv. 2); as surely as there is a God in heaven, God is my witness (Rom. i. 9) ; may God punish me, etc. Or we swear by holy things, such as the holy Gospel, the cross of Christ, the Blessed Sacrament. But as these things are incapable of attesting anything themselves, or of punishing a deceiver, it is in fact equivalent to calling God to witness. Our Lord Himself speaks of swearing by the Temple, by heaven, or by the throne of God (Matt, xxiii. 21, 22). But to use such expressions as: Upon my word, by my honor, as surely as I stand here, etc., is merely emphasizing an assertion, not swearing. An oath may be simple or solemn. A simple oath is between man and man in ordinary intercourse; a solemn oath is taken in a court of law or in presence of official personages. (An oath is administered to soldiers and officers of state.) In taking a solemn oath one is required to kiss the Holy Scriptures, or a crucifix, and to say: So help me God, to intimate that if he departs from the truth, he renounces the divine assistance and the blessings promised in the Gospels. Jews and Mohammedans have their own peculiar ceremonial; the latter raise one finger to show their belief in one God.

2. Christians are not obliged to refuse to take an oath, for it is permitted by God, and pleasing in His sight.

If swearing were forbidden Christ would not have made use of an oath (Matt. xxvi. 64), nor would God have sworn to Abraham on Mount Moriah that He would multiply his seed as the stars in heaven and as the sand by the seashore (Gen. xxii. 16) ; nor would St. Paul so frequently have taken God to witness in his epistles (Rom. i. 9;

2 Cor. i. 23). The oath has besides a good object; it serves to put an end to disputes (Heb. vi. 16). It is pleasing to God, because by it we make public profession of faith in His omnipotence, His justice, His omniscience, and thus we honor Him. On this account atheists

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and social democrats cannot be induced to take an oath. It is God's will that we confirm our word with an oath, when necessary (Exod. xxii. 11). When Our Lord said: "Let your speech be yea, yea, no, no, and that which is over and above these is of evil" (Matt. v. 37), He meant to warn the Pharisees against the habit to which they were addicted of using idle, unnecessary oaths. Catholics need not refuse to take an oath, as some sectaries do; however, no one ought to be compelled to do so. Any one who forces a man to swear when he knows he will swear falsely, is in some way worse than a murderer; for the murderer only kills the body, whereas he who makes another swear falsely, causes the death of a soul, nay, of two souls, his neighbor's soul and his own also, for he is responsible for the other'sdeath.

3. We ought therefore to make use of an oath only when it is absolutely necessary, with deliberation, and in the interests of truth and justice.

When Christ says the oath is of evil (Matt. v. 37), He intends to signify that it is occasioned by man's evil tendencies, and that rash oaths are sinful. Had mankind not fallen from its original state of integrity and justice, there would have been no need for the oath ; but since faith and fidelity have vanished, recourse has been had to it. Not until evil prevailed everywhere did swearing become an ordinary practice; when by reason of the general perfidy and corruption no man's word could be relied on, then God was called to witness. St. Augustine compares the oath to a medicine, which must not be taken without good reason; it is to a man's words what the crutch is to the cripple. Consequently it is wrong to swear heedlessly, about trifling matters, as salesmen often do about their wares. Frequent swearing is apt to lead to false swearing. " A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house" (Ecclus. xxiii. 12). Wherefore we must make use of an oath as seldom as possible, unless it is required of us by the Government or in a court of law. Our oath must always be true; that is to say, when on our oath, we must always say what we really believe to be true, and we must have the intention of keeping our word. The Roman general Regulus (250 B.C.) affords a fine instance of this. He was taken prisoner in war by the Carthaginians, and after being kept six years in captivity, he was sent to Rome to sue for peace. Before leaving the Carthaginian camp, a solemn oath was administered to him to return thither, provided the Romans would not conclude peace. On arriving in Rome he informed the Senate of the enemy's weakness, and urged them to pursue the war. Then he returned to prison, although every one in Rome, even the pagan high priest, spared no effort to detain him. St. Peter, on the contrary, swore falsely in the outer court of the high priest's palace (Matt. xxvi. 72). Blessed Thomas More, the High Chancellor of England, was thrown into prison by Henry VIII., because he would not concur in the hostile attitude that monarch assumed towards the Catholic Church. He might have purchased his release merely by swearing to conform to what his sovereign decreed. He was advised to do this, mentally applying the words to God, his supreme Sovereign and Lord. But he would not consent, saying he dared not swear falsely.

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It is possible, however, that one may swear under a misapprehension, or one may be prevented by illness or misadventure, or some other sufficient cause, from fulfilling a promise made under an oath; in that case no guilt is incurred. Our oath must be premeditated ; that is, we must consider well beforehand whether our statement is strictly true, or whether we shall be able to accomplish what we promise. King Herod at the feast swore rashly, for he promised with an oath to give the damsel who danced before him whatever she should ask. At her mother's instigation she asked the head of John the Baptist (Mark vi. 23). We read that forty Jews, in their enmity to St. Paul, swore neither to eat nor drink until they had killed him (Acts xxiii. 12). In the present day Freemasons bind themselves by oath not to express any desire to receive the last sacraments on their death-bed. Such oaths are sinful, and highly displeasing to God.

4. He who swears falsely, commits a grave act of blasphemy, and draws down upon himself the curse of God and the penalty of eternal perdition.

False swearing is also called perjury. He who swears falsely, who confirms by oath a statement he knows to be untrue, or who swears to do something, although he is conscious that he cannot fulfil his promise, is like a man who stamps a forged document with an official seal, an act which cannot escape punishment. Swearing falsely is a mortal sin, whatever be the subject of the oath. The curse of God rests upon the house of him who swears falsely (Zach. v. 3). Ood often punishes false swearers by a speedy and sudden death. Sedecias, the King of Judah, swore fealty to Nabuchodonosor and broke his covenant. Forthwith God announced to him by the lips of the prophet Ezechiel that he should meet with severe chastisement and die in Babylon (Ezech. xvii.), and in fact Nabuchodonosor took the king captive, put out his eyes, and brought him to Babylon, where he died (4 Kings xxv. 7). Wladislas, King of Hun gary, concluded peace with the Turkish Sultan Murad II., and confirmed the treaty with an oath, yet he resumed hostilities against him. He fell in the battle of Warna (1444) with all the flower of his nobility. Perjury is punishable by the law with imprisonment. The Emperor Charlemagne made it a law that all who were convicted of swearing falsely should have their right hand cut off; later on three fingers only of the right hand, wherewith they took the oath, were struck off. Rash swearing is at the least a venial sin; it is a bad habit, and he who is always ready to confirm every statement, whether true or false, by an oath, lives, if he knows the value of his words, in a state of mortal sin. If a man has sworn wrongfully, he must not keep his oath, but deplore it. That is what Herod ought to have done. With regard to breaking an oath, that is to say, the nonfulfilment of a promise made under oath, it may be either a venial or a mortal sin, according as the matter concerned is weighty or not. The same is true of a vow (Suarez).

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The Vow (Solemn Promise).

1. A vow is a promise voluntarily made to God, to perform some good action.

The vow is a promise made to God. We call upon God implicitly, if not explicitly when we say : My God, I promise that I will do this or that. A simple intention is not a vow; no one, not even God Himself, can require anything of us because of it. A vow is a promise made of our own free will: no one is bound to make it (Deut. xxiii. 22), and no one can be compelled to make it. A vow made under compulsion is invalid ; not so one made under apprehension of danger, or stress of want, for then the act is voluntary. We must only promise what will be pleasing to God; not anything wrong, as did Jephte who, before going to battle, vowed to the Lord that if he was victorious, he would offer as a holocaust whosoever should first come out of the doors of his house. His only daughter came to meet him, and she was sacrificed (Judges xi.). Such a vow is foolish and displeasing to God (Eccles. v. 3), and ought not to be accomplished. Usually something is promised which is not of obligation, a pilgrim age, for instance; but one may also promise something which one is otherwise obliged to do, e.g., to observe the fasts of the Church, to keep the holydays, to be temperate in eating and drinking. In this case failure to keep one's promise is a twofold sin. The owner of a factory, whose only child was dangerously ill, promised before God if she recovered, that he would never have work done on Sundays and holydays. She got well and he kept his word. He was then doubly bound to observe the holydays.

Vows are sometimes accompanied by a condition.

A kind of bargain is made with God. Jacob promised tp give tithes of his possessions to God provided He brought him back prosperously to his father's house (Gen. xxviii. 20-22). The processions on the Rogation days originated through a vow made about the year 500 by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna, in time of famine; and about a century later the procession on St. Mark's Day was instituted in consequence of a vow made by Pope Gregory the Great while the plague was raging. The inhabitants of Ober-Ammergau pledged themselves to perform the Passion play every ten years in 1633, at the time of an epidemic. St. Louis of France promised, if he recovered from a severe illness, to undertake a crusade (1248). In the present day many persons promise, in illness or affliction, to visit some place of pilgrimage, to make an offering to some church, to give a statue, to fast on certain days, etc. The celebrated sanctuary of Maria-Zell, which attracts so many pilgrims, is due to a vow made before a battle with the Turks by King Louis I. of Hungary, (1363).

2. The most important vows are the religious vows, that is to say the solemn promise made voluntarily by persons entering a religious Order, to follow the evangelical counsels.

Poverty, chastity, and obedience, are the three vows taken by

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Religious. They are very useful, for by them a man entirely gives up the world, in order to serve God better. These vows are most pleas ing to God, for those who take them consecrate not only all they do, but their ownselves to God. As St. Anselm says, he who gives the tree gives more than he who only gives the fruit of the tree. Many persons offer oblations to God; a vestment, for instance, candles or flowers; but a better, more perfect oblation is to give one's self to God. The vows of religion are either solemn (so called because the obligations incurred are greater), or simple vows. Solemn vows are those in which there is an irrevocable consecration of one's self accepted by the Church, on the part of one who takes them. What is consecrated to God can never again be employed for secular purposes ; with that which is simply dedicated it is otherwise. Thus any one who takes the solemn vows is irrevocably consecrated to the service of God. The Pope alone can release from solemn vows, and that only for weighty reasons. Before taking the solemn vows, i.e., being professed, it is necessary to have spent a year in the novitiate, and have been under the simple vows for at least three years (Pius IX., March 19, 1857). Bishops, or the superior-general of an Order can generally release from the simple vows, and for a less grave cause.

3. A vow renders the good action which we pledge ourselves to perform more acceptable to God. Consequently by means of a vow we obtain a more speedy answer to prayer, and make more rapid progress in the way of perfection.

By a vow we prove our fidelity to God. We also make an offering to God because we thereby bind ourselves to the performance of a good work. Thus, for instance, one who fasts in fulfilment of a vow performs a more perfect action than he who fasts without a vow. Hence it is that the prayers of those who make vows are more speed ily granted. After the inhabitants of Ober-Ammergau had made the promise already mentioned, not one more fell a victim to the pestilence. The pious Anna made a vow to the Lord, when she prayed that a son might be granted to her, and she became the mother of the great prophet Samuel (1 Kings i. 11). Why do we see so many ex-votos in places of pilgrimage, so many votive offerings in churches? Vows enable us to attain more quickly to perfection (St. Francis of Sales). We thereby gain strength in the practice of virtue, because our will is fortified by the vow. The thought: I have promised my God to do this, is a powerful incentive to the performance of good actions. Many persons of great sanctity have taken vows, as a useful restraint to keep themselves in the fear of God. We may obtain special graces from God by pledging ourselves to make novenas in honor of the saints, to be particularly devout to the Mother of God during the month of May or of October, to perform certain mortifications or good works.

4. He who does not keep a solemn promise, offends against God; and so does he who needlessly postpones the fulfilment of his promise (Exod. xxiii. 21).

If we are bound to keep our word to our fellow-creatures, how much the more ought we to fulfil the promise made to God. " It is

338 Tne Commandments.

much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised" (Eccles. v. 4). The debtor is compelled by the law of the land to pay his debts, and can it be supposed that he will go scot free who withholds from God what is His due? The non-fulfilment of a vow may be either a venial or a mortal sin, according to the importance of the matter in question. The guilt is doubled, if at the same time we transgress a command and show disrespect to God, as for instance by violating a vow of chastity. If we are unable to fulfil a promise we are exempt from blame, provided we do our utmost to perform the thing promised.

5. Therefore any one who is desirous of taking a vow, ought to consider well beforehand whether he will be able to keep his word.

A man who wishes to build, first makes an estimate of the cost, to see whether his means will allow him to complete the structure (Luke xiv. 28). No one ought to make a promise for his whole life, without first testing his ability to keep it. St. Francis of Sales made a vow to say the Rosary every day of his life ; he often regretted having been so hasty in that promise. In any serious matter it is advisable to consult an experienced priest. For this reason the Church has made the rule that every one who wishes to take the vows of religion, should have a twelve months' noviceship. During that time he can make up his mind as to whether he has a real vocation to the religious life. If he takes the vows without feeling certain about his vocation he has only himself to blame.

6. A Religious who finds himself unable to keep his vows must apply to his Superior to be released from them or have them commuted.

Our Lord said to His apostles : " Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matt, xviii. 18). Hence the bishop or other superior is authorized to absolve from vows. The vow is usually commuted for some good work more conducive to the spiritual weal of the individual. There are five vows from which the Holy Father alone can dispense : The vow to enter a religious Order ; the vow of lifelong chastity ; the vow to visit the tombs of the apostles in Rome ; and the vows to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (the holy places) or to Compostella (the tomb of St. James). Under certain circumstances the bishop also has power to dispense from these vows : If they have been made conditionally ; under some measure of compulsion; without mature deliberation, or in ignorance of what they involved. In a time of jubilee every confessor has power to commute vows for some good work of another nature. One may always do more than one has promised: God will not be displeased, any more than an ordinary creditor, if He is paid more than what is due to Him.

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