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R. P. P.-A. GRANGER, O. P.

•i-

NOVENA
IN HONOR OF

ST.ANNE

-i-

MEDITATIONS ON PIETY.

Authorized Translation

THE REVEREND PAUL LEDUC



Approbations of the Order:

Fr. C. Forest, 0. P.

Fr. P, V. Charland, 0. P.

Imprimi potest:

Fr. E. A. Langlais, 0. P.

Prior Provincialis.

Nihil Obstat:

Rev. John J. Collins

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

*f«Most Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, D. D.

Bishop of Albany, N. Y.

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PRESS
Huntington, Indiana



THE NATURE OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Each year at this time you usually prepare

yourselves by a novena of prayer for the feast of the

great wonder-worker, the glorious St. Anne. Divine

Providence has ordained that this time I should lend

you the assistance of my feeble words.

It is my intention to speak to you on the sub-

ject of piety. I know of no subject which is of more

vital interest to a Christian, and also, it must be

admitted, of no subject more disregarded and un-

familiar. Ask the people of the world what they

think of piety. They consider it beneath them, a

lessening of human dignity. They criticize it, they

laugh at it, they condemn it, and all this because

they do not understand it. And why is it that they

do not understand it? Because, no doubt, of their

passions and prejudices, of their ignorance of things

divine. Are they the only guilty ones? How little

we understand what true piety is! Sometimes our

notions concerning it are so indefinite and our prac-

tices far from supernatural! Here, as in all things,

the exact idea is of sovereign importance and gives

birth to a multitude of consequences.

What then is real piety? St. Thomas Aquinas

defines it, ‘‘a disposition of the will, which causes

man to embrace the services of God eagerly.” Three

thoughts sum up this definition perfectly: piety is a

disposition of the will; it manifests itself by a readi-

ness and promptitude; it refers solely to the service

of God.

First of all piety is a virtue of the will, and,



4 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

consequently, a virtue which proceeds from within.

It is not therefore a question of imagination; it is

still less a matter of exterior practices—two false
notions which must be set aside.

Man’s imagination! It is not necessary for me

to tell you of the power with which it is endowed,

of what excesses it is capable, and how it can lead

to the most exalted heroism as well as to the most

shameful degradation. From it exterior objects re-

ceive their attraction or their repulsion, their charm

or their loathsomeness, their beauty or their re-

pugnance. Does it not occasionally go to the extreme

of creating its fictions, of living on idle fancies,

which have never existed and never will? Is it not

the mother of illusion and consequently of discour-

agement, of disenchantment and even of despair?

Man’s imagination is a creative force like no other

in the world, for it has received the often fatal gift

of seeing things and persons, not as they are in

reality, but as it figures them to be. Let it be kept

under the yoke of wisdom and prudence, it will re-

main an astonishing force for good; let it loose, and

there is no telling where it will stop on the road

to evil.

And here permit me to rem.ark that in the edu-

cation of children, of young girls especially, too

little importance is attached to the directing of the

imagination; not that it must be suppressed (you

would cause them to lose a precious auxiliary), but

would it not be of the greatest importance to accus-

tom children to distinguish always between the will

and the imagination and to heed in all things the

voice of reason and wisdom! “Alas!” wrote, not so

long ago, a most cultured lady, “as a rule we are



THE NATURE OF PIETY 5

very poorly reared, it seems, and quite contrary to

our destiny. We, who must suffer so much, we are

bereft of strength; our culture is directed to our

nerves, to our sensibility and, in addition, to our

vanity, to our religion, to our morals for formas

sake, without making them a direction for our mind.”

(Melle Eugenie de Guerin). Quoting these words

Monseigneur Landroit, adds: “Later on, these young

existences are launched upon life, like vessels with-

out rudders or sails, and they learn, by cruel ex-

perience, of the faults of their early education. Life

shows itself to them with all its austere realities;

each year, each day destroy the flowers of their

illusions; the golden clouds become more and more

dark and gloomy, so much so that sometimes before

maturity they have passed, with a rapid bound,

from confidence which always hopes to a despair

which has confidence in nothing.”

It is above all in religious matters that the im-

agination can present serious disturbances if it is

not ruled by a severe discipline. A need of activity,
linked with an exterior necessity for changing

—

behold the character which betrays the piety of the

imagination. Today the heart is ardent, anything

can be undertaken, nothing is difficult, it would be

an easy matter to overturn the whole world. Will-

ingly hours of rest are sacrificed for assistance at

Mass, marked by a devotion which would have been

the envy of the saints themselves, and, during the

day, the ordinary duties of one^s state of life are

sadly neglected. Today, numerous prayers, the re-

citation of the rosary, litanies, but how about to-

morrow ? On the morrow, it is apathy, neglect,

abandonment, and repugnance. What has happen-



NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

ed? Surely it would be interesting to know, but nc

one can find out, not even the pious one. Piety of

the imagination, that which goes thus from esteem

to scorn, from ardor to laziness, from love to hatred

yielding to all impressions, to all fluctuations, the

poor victim has not been able to adopt a conduct

which is stable, persevering and energetic. Such, on

certain wintry days and in the midst of a fog, ap-

pears a ray of sunlight, magnificent and victorious,

bringing back hope and faith in a splendid day; but

no, a small cloud is sufficient to blot out the light,

and nature is once again surrounded by mourning

and death. Such, a flame which rises bright, vivid

and warm towards heaven; one would think that an

immense fire is kindling and is about to devour

everything; but no, rapidly the flame decreases, and

when the ashes are raked over, one can hardly find

a bit of warmth and life. It is true that a new whim

could revive this almost extinguished fire, but always

it will be a whim, which in turn will, give way to

another whim. And thus piety of the imagination

passes from one excess to another excess, with no

other law than that of fancy, odd fancy, dangerous

fancy.

Real piety is not such. Real piety, I have told

you, is a disposition of the will, namely a disposition

which is fixed, immovable, convinced. Convinced!

Yes, at the base of our piety are to be found the

most solid of religious convictions. Without this

foundation, the edifice of our Christian devotion is

threatened with ruin. It may, for a while perhaps,

lean more or less happily upon certain routine prac-

tices, but it will crumble. The least breeze from the

passions or the world will make it vanish.



THE NATURE OF PIETY 7

Alas! What can be said of our piety right now?

What is its structure? Has it not been reduced to

pure exterior formality? When, morning and night,

we kneel to say our prayers, what is the motive

behind our actions? Is it a deep-rooted sentiment

which shows us God as the supreme Master of men

and creatures. Him, Whose Providence governs our

days and from Whom we implore by the means of
prayer, light for our intelligence, strength for our

life, consolation for our heart: or rather do we not

follow in all this some trace of our early education,

some vague and indefinite memory of what hap-

pended at home, some remains of our piety which

floated on when all the rest had sunk beneath the

waves? When on Sunday we assist at a Mass,

which we have chosen because it is the shortest one

possible and it seems never ending, what motive

brings us to church? Is it the motive of Christian

faith, based upon God^s commandment and the in-

vitation of the Church, or rather is it the motive of

law or custom, because it is proper for a well-bred

person to have at least this veneer of devotion; or

is it the motive of levity which manifests itself by

disipation and laughter; or is it the motive of vanity

which tries to show itself even in the House of God ?

Ah! How far we are from the piety of the will, from
the piety of conviction, from that piety which is al-

ways even and which never belies itself, which pro-

ceeds from the interior as from a vital principle

from whence flow exterior manifestations, as a river

flows from its source, as an effect flows from its

cause. Once again, I repeat, if our piety is not inter-

ior, and from the interior, we are simply deceiving

ourselves.



S NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

This voluntary devotion, how inspiring we find

it in the life of the glorious St. Anne! It is in deep-

rooted faith that this great saint drew that ardour

of conviction which fortified her in the days of trials

as well as in the happy hours of God^s manifesta-

tions. Always of an even disposition and united to

God in good as well as bad fortune, she has become

a perfect model of Christian life and perfection.

Let us then be devout, not only in appearance

and upon the surface, but because of the conviction

of our soul and the love of our heart. Let us beg of

St. Anne that she obtain for us that interior flame

of piety which enlightens, sustains and gives life.

Prayer:

O good St. Anne, with the greatest of confidence

I kneel at your feet. Before you I make bare all

my deficiences. You know all the needs of my soul;

you know how much I am in need of piety. Obtain

for me the grace of piety, a solid and vivifying piety.

Pray that my soul be steeped in it. Since you are

all-powerful with Jesus and Mary, prove that your

kindness equals your powers. Obtain for me that I

may make this novena with a spirit of faith and

a tender devotion. At this moment I formulate my

intentions. Pray for me that I may obtain the favor

which, with great confidence, I am petitioning from

the mercy of God. Do not despise my humble pray-

er, but graciously hear it and deign to have it

granted. Amen.



THE QUALITIES OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Piety, as we have said in cur preceding medita-

tion, is a disposition of the soul, a virtue of the

heart. Proceeding from our inner selves it becomes

the source from which flow our external manifesta-

tions and practices.

The second part of the deflnition is yet to be

explained: piety is a disposition of the will which

causes the soul to embrace the service of God

eagerly.

Eagerness, promptitude, generosity—behold the
essential qualities of Christian piety.

Eagerness, namely, that flight of the soul which

is happy when it flnds itself with God and w^hich

feels itself irresistibly attracted to Him as to the

kindest of Fathers and to the best of Friends;

promptitude, that is to say, obedience to all divine

calls, correspondence to all the inspirations of grace,

even the anxiety of anticipating an order before it

is given; generosity, in other words, that virtue of

the heart which consecrates itself, which gives itself

up entirely and without reserve, in a word, which

devotes itself—for piety is nothing if it is not devo-
tion. The word itself makes it clear: to be pious

is to be devout, and it has required I know not what

strange aberration to take this word from its primi-

tive significance and to attach to it the ridiculous

sense it now has.

Eager, devoted and generous are these charac-

teristics of our piety?



la NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

Alas! It must be admitted that the least effort

is most difficult for us when it pertains to heaven.

The pious exercises which God and the Church com-

mand, appear too monotonous, or too long, or too

difficult. We shrink from their weight as too heavy
for our shoulders and we reduce them to the simpl-

est expression. It is a chain, I was on the point of

adding that it is a bill, which we drag attached to

our feet, and we are hardly decent enough to repress

a sigh of satisfaction when the devotions are fin-

ished. Not unlike misers, who give up of their

treasures only what they cannot keep for themselves,

we surrender to God, very parsimoniously our time

and our efforts. We limit our piety and we give it
the command: ‘‘You shall go so far, and you shall

not go farther.” After all, does it not suffice to avoid

sin and to live in a virtuous manner? Does God

really demand more than this?

Let us beware for here we have a dangerous

pitfall. When we stand on the exact limits of good

and evil, aided by our weakness, we easily veer to-

ward evil. “There is only one way to practice vir-

tue, that is to practice piety.” (Joubert). This ut-

terance of a philosopher is remarkably true: virtue

in itself is austere; it requires a struggle, a struggle

every day and every moment without truce or mercy

and this renewed struggle fatigues, enervates and

discourages. Our soul must find a sustaining

strength and this strength is piety.

Now what happens most frequently? What

happens? We neglect this source of strength. For

the world, for the pleasures of the world, for the

satisfactions of the world, we impose upon ourselves

privations, hardships, sacrifices; never do we do



THE QUALITIES OF PIETY 11

enough. For God, for Heaven, we feel that we al-

ways do too much.

Here again, I fear that you are neglecting the

education of your children, the majority of whom

show but very little inclination and very little

eagerness for anything related to piety. Have you

not often remarked an indescribable expression of

weariness when you spoke of their duties to God

and to their religion? Did not a young girl one day

remark to her mother who was forcing her to go to

Mass, ‘Ah! What a tiresome task, this business of

going to Mass!” I beg of you to inculcate in your

children the love of a piety which is prompt, ardent

and eager. Let them learn more from your example

than from your word that beautiful generosity which

does not count, which does not calculate, which

gives without hesitation to our duties of state that

which belongs to them, but which knows above all

how to render to God the things which are God^s.

To render to God the things which are God’s

—

that is the true character of piety. It can never be

repeated too much that piety does not consist in

long or numerous prayers or in spending long

hours in church; neither does it consist in being de-

voted to all the saints: nor in being a member of

all the Third Orders and of all religious confraterni-

ties, nor in covering one’s self with medals and scap-

ulars. Piety consists in loving God with one’s whole

heart and with true filial love; piety consists in

seeking God and in seeking nothing but God. Piety

has reference solely to the service of God.

What is meant by the words “to seek God
only”? They mean not to seek one’s self in selfish

affection, not to love the means of perfection for



12 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

themselves but for the goal to which they lead and

not to mix, in an abominable alloy, God and the

world. These are the requirements of true piety.

How numerous are the souls who seek them-

selves! Their piety belongs to them, only to them

for themselves and for themselves alone. They must

have consolations, sensible joys and even tears.

And when a prayer is offered up in coldness and in-

difference, discouragement sets in, dark and full of

anguish. They do not realize that it is God who

leads the soul as He pleases, and that it does not

behoove the soul to lead God. False piety would

like to place God at its beck and call. Real piety

is submissive to the will of God, and therefore it

does not attach itself to the means of perfection to

the point of forgetting perfection itself. Prayers,

meditations, lectures, intercourse with holy souls,

confessions, communions, confraternities are, for

sincerely pious souls, nothing but means which lead

to the goal of their desires, nothing but mystical

flowers which a living daughter’s affection gathers

for her clestial Father, nothing but so many precious

stones with which she adorns herself to please and

honor Him. Diametrically opposed is false piety. It

attaches itself to prayer for the satisfaction it finds

therein, to spiritual readings for the satisfaction

they afford, to confession more for the sweetness of

the outpouring of the soul than for the benefits of

sincere amendment, and even to Holy Communion

for the satisfaction of the most hidden and most

refined self-love. This false piety can easily be com-

pared to a traveller who decides to go some where

more for the beauty of the scenery which will charm

his eye along the road, more for the charms of a



THE QUALITIES OF PIETY 13

delightful conversation, than for the object of the

voyage itself. Is it necessary to remark that this

piety of sentimentality is not sufficient?

Much more reprehensible is that piety which

leagues itself with the pleasures of the world and

tries to team the austere obligations of virtue with

the enervating distractions of the world. In spite

of all our intentions, the w*orld shall always be the

enemy of piety. It is impossible, remarks a spiritual

writer, in the morning to become intoxicated with

the perfume of incense and in the evening with that

of flowers, in the morning to shed tears before the

tabernacle and in the evening before the stage while

attending the opera, in the morning to be on one^s

knees and begrimed with the dust of a church and

in the evening to be scantily gowned and intoxicated

with the pleasures of the ballroom, in the morning

to read holy meditations, and in the evening novels

that are more than frivolous, briefly to be clever and

energetic in accomplishing the perfect union of a

pious life and a worldly life. This alliance of two

lives, destined to exclude each other, is a scandal

for the world and a plague for religion.

What can be done about it? There are no two

ways. You practice Christian piety or you do not.

There is no middle course. How happy you would
be and how completely satisfied your heart would be

if instead of trying to effect the union of God and

the world, you sought the union of your soul with

God! God is our Master. God is our Father, God

is our Friend; and how worthy this Master is of all

our adoration! How worthy this Father of all our
filial love! How worthy this Friend of all our af-
fections! Earthly masters are hard and violent at



14 NOVENA IN HONOR OP ST. ANNE

times; our heavenly Master is patient and tolerant.

Earthly fathers are sometimes unmindful of their

children; our heavenly Father continually thinks of

and watches over us with the fondest solicitude.

Earthly friends are selfish and fickle; our heavenly

Friend is generous and persevering in His liberali-

ties.

To be united with God, this should be the am-

bition of our piety. The human heart craves union

because it craves love. And where is it to be found?

Certainly not in the joys and the affections of this

earth. Those which are guilty leave in their wake

nothing but sadness and remorse; those which are

legitimate do not suffice at all, and even if we pos-

sessed them all at once we would still hear the plain-

tiff wail of our soul, ‘‘Thou hast made us for Thee,

0 Lord and our hearts can find no rest till they re-

pose in Thee”.

Saint Jeanne de Chantal relates that St. Francis

de Sales in the last years of his life would continu-

ally keep himself in the presence of God, full of

confidence, just as a child of love.

What a beautiful attitude! What a beautiful

disposition! As a child of love! Such was always

the preferred attitude of the great saint in whose

honor we are making this novena. Was there ever

a soul more united to God than her^s! Was there

ever a piety more tender, more ardent, more gener-

ous! Can it not truthfully be said that Saint Anne’s

whole life was a hymn of love addressed to Al-

mighty God!

Can we truthfully say of ourselves that we are

really pious? Is our heart filled with a love that

is filial, eager, tender, generous, efficacious ? Is



THE QUALITIES OF PIETY 15

God for us always a beloved and cherished Father?

Are we always for Him children of love?

If we are so let us bless and thank God for

such a gift, if we are not, or only partly so, let us

endeavor to become and to be so entirely by our

hearts, by our actions and by our lives. Let us pray

Saint Anne to inspire us with that ardor of devo-

tion for God which is the principal character of

true Christian devotion.

Prayer

O good Saint Anne, obtain for me that spirit

of devotion which causes me to see in God a Father

and the best of fathers. At all times make me feel

His divine presence; make me find pleasure in con-

versing with Him, in asking Him in prayer, in ob-

serving His commandments faithfully, in abandoning

myself without reserve to the dispositions of His

Providence. Make me find joy in loving and serving

Him here below, that I may merit His eternal re-

ward. Amen.



EXERCISES OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Hh

In my two preceding instructions, I have en-

deavored to make you understand that our piety

must be interior, that it must proceed from within,

and give an impulse to our whole being. This true

ideal, the only true ideal of Christian piety, must

all the more necessarily be retained and incorpor-

ated into our life that willingly and easily we would

pursue exterior practices, practices maintained by a

routine and habit, and which do not spring from

the source of a will enlightened, firm and constant.

This is, I am convinced, one of the greatest dangers

of our piety. We are attracted by the outside, by
the surface, by words; we never penetrate as far

as the true sense, as far as the interior pith. We
meander through the avenues of devotion, occasion-

ally agreeable and engaging; we never penetrate

the sanctuary where God is found. Thus the visitor

is attracted into one of our church edifices by the

irresistible beauty of art. He admires the harmony

of the proportions, the daring height of the arches

and the correctness of the lines; he is captivated by

the perfect ornamentation of a capital, by a per-

fectly carved bas-relief; in a word, he examines

every nook of the edifices, but he forgets Him who

lives there—God in His tabernacle. Are we to con-
clude that we should condemn these ornamentations

and these artistic marvels, and consider practices

of devotion as childish extravagance? To think and

to act thus would indicate a complete ignorance of

human nature. My intention now is to speak of
practices of piety.



EXERCISES OF PIETY 17

We practice piety as we practice any other art.
EXERCE AUTEM TEIPSUM AD PIETATEM, says
the Apostle, St. Paul—exercise thyself unto piety.
Necessarily then there must be exercises of piety.

Yes, there must be exercises of piety to satisfy

the demands of our human nature. Our human na-

ture is so constnicted that it partakes both of the

immutable beauty of the spirit and the changing

vicissitudes of matter. We are composed of a soul
and a body, or as Pascal has put it, we are part

angel and part beast, and necessarily each one of

our acts is at the same time spiritual and corporal.

To desire and to perform only the acts of angels

would be above us. To desire and to perform only

the acts of beasts would be to degrade one’s self.

Therefore, in our practice of piety, both the soul and

the body must be considered. The part of the soul

consists in that interior disposition which we men-

tioned, and which is made up entirely of good will,

of eagerness, and of love. The part of the body

consists in practices of devotion.

'VMiat then is a practice of devotion? This could

mean, in a large sense, all exterior forms of worship

which facilitate piety or flow from it. In all our

actions we feel the need of sensible things to excite

and move us on towards things spiritual. For in-

stance, I kneel to say my prayers; in this humble
position of my body my soul all the more easily
bows down before the presence of God. I contem-

plate the heavens; this pious gesture causes my
heart to rise more rapidly than my eyes and seek
there above Him Whom it desires. I tell my beads,
and this succession of Ave Marias, unless it pro-

ceeds from routine, increases and develops my devo-



18 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

tion to the Blessed Virgin. These are many sacred

signs which penetrate our senses and go up to the

soul that they may awake it when it sleeps, stimu-

late it when it languishes, recall it to duty when it

forgets, or strengthens it when it complains of its

weakness.

All this has been admitted by philosophers well

known for their lack of Christian piety, and one of

them has written these lines too beautiful for you

not to receive with the greatest of pleasure: “The

Catholic religion is the only one which has com-

pletely understood the necessity of warming souls

and wresting them away from matter by sensible

signs. Not satisfied with multiplying churches and

chapels, the Church raises crosses wherever she

dominates, on monuments, over graves, at the cross

roads. She girdles her faithful with her rosary; she

is most ingenious in creating new pious articles.

Every inch of the interior of her temples is covered

with paintings, with statues, with pictures, and with

the sentences taken from scripture, or with ex-votos.

The love for domestic shrines, for beads, for holy

pictures is essentially Catholic. Very zealously she

aims to unite prayer to each and every action of life;

she multiplies prayers and the sign of the cross; to

some she recommends mental prayer, to others

practices of devotion, which need hardly any at-

tention and which go on just the same while one

works. To all she gives prayers, formulas, and acts

with are nothing but adoration and love. Unbeliev-

ers do not^ fail to say that religion is in these ex-

terior forms, and it happens that simplicity and

hypocrisy seem to decide in their favor by distorting

the meaning of religion and transforming it into



EXERCISES OF PIETY 19

superstitious practices. But taken as a whole, this

network of obligations which entwines life itself,

these bells which twenty times a day ring in our

ears, these churches, these calvaries, these pictures

which fill our eyes are nothing else but this unique

sentence, repeated in a thousand forms and in a

thousand different languages: Think of God, adore

God, pray to God.” (Jules Simon.)

To adore God, such is the goal of all practices

of piety. Therefore, to treat practices of devotion

with contempt or indifference would be to disregard

the essential laws of human nature, to disregard

above all the solemn precept of adoration and love

of God. Our whole being must adore God, in its

intimate thought as well as its exterior action. Vocal

prayer and mental prayer, elevation of the heart

and manifestation of the senses, interior union and

sacramental communion, private prayer and public

devotions, solitary meditation in the silence of one’s

room and assistance at the offices of the Church, all

this, but all this gathered together, ail this prudent-

ly regulated and intelligently arranged, constitutes

true religion, because all this repeats the hymn of

adoration and love. So I shall very frankly admit

that I have no use for the piety of those persons

who are satisfied, so they say, to live interiorly with

God, to contemplate His immutable essence and to

love Him before the tribunal of their consciences.

He who loves manifests his love, he proclaims it,

he sings it. Divine charity, when it urges the soul,

can much less than human affection be confined to

the interior: it feels a need of expansion and repro-

duction. Not unlike certain forests filled with

breezes and stormy winds, not unlike certain moun-



20 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

tains undermined by subterraneous fires, not unlike

certain clouds too loaded with moisture, the soul

tormented with the desire of pleasing God, sighs,

moans, bursts forth through the medium of the

senses into formulas and exterior acts. And thus

man, by the sacred vestments he dons, by the sacred

sign a pious hand traces over him, by the humble

postures of his body, by the ardent prayers he re-

cites, by the mortification of his flesh, by the move-

ments of his body, the reverberations of his voice,

man offers to God by one single act a complete

homage of his whole self.

All this proves that there does not exist as

great a difference between religion and piety as is

commonly believed. The world, it is true, establishes

a line of demarcation between those it deems fit to

call good Christians and those whom with contempt

it terms devout. Truly and before God, a soul which

is sincerely Christian must necessarily be pious.

From all this we can conclude that practices of devo-

tion are indispensable in our life, and that viewed in

this light piety by which we adore God with our

whole being, and by which we love Him with our

whole heart, is not only of counsel but also of pre-

cept; it is not optional, it is obligatory; it is not

only a gracious gift which good and generous people

make to God voluntarily, but it is a debt which we

awe; a debt of honor, of justice, of gratitude and

love. Piety is not merely to Christianity what the

flower is to the tree, its splendor, its aroma, and its

glory; it is to Christianity what a part of its sap is

to the tree, namely one of the very elements of its

life, so much so that we must say that if a soul is

completely without piety, there is no hope for its



EXERCISES OF PIETY 21

salvatioru How can it be helped? We must love

God. Now, we do not love God sincerely, completely,

and perfectly if we set aside piety and its exercises.

Definitely what is piety, if not that ensemble of

habits and procedures, that harmonious blend of

respect, obedience, eagerness, and love which we

owe God?

In the manifestations of the most tender and

the most filial piety St. Anne showed her love for

God. Never was there a soul who better understood

the holy requirements of the service of God. Every-

where, in the solitude of her home as well as in the

public prayer of the temple, she always rendered to

God that exterior worship which He solicits and

demands. The voice of tradition is unanimous in

picturing her as a soul entirely devoted to God,

lifting her voice to Him in prayer through the med-

ium of the most famous hymns of Scripture.

Let us beg of St. Anne to obtain for us the

love of piety and above all a great fidelity to all the

exercises of divine worship.

Prayer

O Good St. Anne, you know how little I relish

pious exercises, how indifferent I am to private as

well as public prayer, how lukewarm I am in God’s

holy service. Obtain for me a greater devotion.

Make me faithful to that which religion has aright

to expect from me. May my soul each hour of the
day soar to God. May my piety be less a habit than
a continuous bound of my heart. May my whole
life be nothing but an act of love for God, that one

day I may bless and glorify Him forever and ever.

Amen.



HOW WE SHOULD CHOOSE OUR PIOUS
EXERCISES

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Pious exercises are obligatory. It is true, as

St. Paul tells us, that we have not been given the

spirit of fear which makes slaves, but the spirit

of love which makes us children of adoption; if it

be true that we do not lie when we repeat each

day and each hour of the day, ‘‘Our Father Who

art in heaven;” if it be true that God is for us the

best and the most tender of Fathers; if it be true

that He loves us as a mother alone can love and

more than a mother can love her child, it is easily

understood that He is not satisfied with correct-

ness, with ceremonious politeness. We must show
Him all the love of which we are capable. Now

when we love, we must say so, we repeat it in

every fashion and in a thousand different ways.

But if practices of piety are indispensable in

serious Christian life, it is not the less indispensable

to choose them wisely. Just as we must be con-

vinced of their necessity, so must we guard against

disorder and abuse. We must in all things be wise
and orderly, that is, we must regulate all things by

the light of reason aided by the light of faith.

Therefore the subject of this discourse will be

practices of piety.

Without the least difficulty you understand that

speaking to an audience whose conditions of life, of

environment, of education, of health, and of circum-

stances are entirely different, it is impossible to fix

either the number or the nature of the exercises of



CHOOSING OUR PIOUS EXERCISES 23

piety suited to each of you. This, moreover, is a

matter for your confessor to decide, and I must

limit myself to the presentation of the general

principles, which must enlighten and guide you in

your choice.

Shall I amaze you if first and foremost I recom-

mend moderation? St Francis de Sales, that great

doctor of piety, held as a maxim: Good and few.

He derided sweetly, amiably, as he did all things,

intemperance in this matter. “Some there are,” he

would say, “who seek and embrace many exercises

in the hope of sooner obtaining perfection, just as

though perfection was to be found in the multiplicity

of the acts we perform and not in the holiness with

which we perform them. They resemble,” he would

add, “those who at a banquet pick at each dish and

eat a little of everything to the detriment of their

stomachs and their health.” And I imagine that with

a sly smile he would warn his spiritual children

against the danger of spiritual indigestion.

Holy Mother Church, we could say with St.

Francis de Sales, is a mother who prepares a sump-

tuous repast. Never could the guests be more num-

erous since all Christians are invited. There must,

therefore, be a great variety of spiritual foods and

they must be almost innumerable in order to satisfy

the palate and the needs of everyone. These spirit-

ual viands are the pious exercises, the practices of

piety, the indulgences and all that which pertains

to exterior worship. But in this immense banquet

of souls we must imitate the temperance of a pru-

dent guest, take what agrees with us, leave the rest

alone, leave it without contempt and with the high-

est of respect The temperate soul prefers thus to



24 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

add rather than to subtract, and in moderating it-

self forces upon itself the obligation of doing all

things well and of remaining faithful to God. What

stands out most, when we read the history of the

lives of the great saints who have honored the

Church, is the regularity of their conduct and the

simplicity of their lives. How many among them

did much less than other men, but they did a thou-

sand times better what they had to do.

Piety temperate and moderate could be more

easily and more wisely coordinated. Regulation is

easy where there is moderation. Overloading and

intemperance are pregnant with disorder. To pro-

vide orderly for our Christian life, that is, to pre-

arrange our days and the actions thereof, to fore-

see our occupations and to be faithful to them, to

make room for each thing in its own time and each

duty at its own hour, that is something rare, yet of

sovereign importance.

People of the world, for the most part, are led

by the whims of their caprices. Nothing is regu-

lated for them, rest, legitimate recreation, not even

their own lives for themselves, their environment.

Nothing but confusion in a state of permanency.

This does not mean that they are idle. On the con-

trary, they seem to be very much occupied, and to

hear them talk, one would conclude that no one in

the world is more busy.

This self-same confusion and this self-same dis-

order are to be found in pious exercises. No dis-

tinction is made between necessary and essential

practices and those which are only accidental and

superrogatory. Duties of state do not stand out

as the clear expression of God’s holy will, and



CHOOSING OUR PIOUS EXERCISES 25

they fail to grasp the idea that piety far from hin-

dering our duties of state requires that they be

given always the foremost place. Trifles are given

an exaggerated importance, while neglect cloaks

those serious and important acts which are the very

basis of Christian life. In approaching a sacrament,

there is a conspicuous neglect of the essential con-

ditions such as preparation and thanksgiving, while

great attention is paid to a number of prayers found

in the book. Have you ever noticed how meticu-

lously the First Friday devotions are observed by

some who, for no reason at all, miss Sunday Mass?

Some even impose mortifications upon themselves to

satisfy their private devotion, while they easily dis-

pense themselves from the obligation of fast and

abstinence. How often has it been noticed that those

who are the most punctual in making long trips and

long visits to their favorite shrine, neglect the

cleanliness of their homes and the care of their

children ?

Is it necessary to remark that well ordered

piety does not act thus? It knows the value, the

dignity, the hierarchy, if I may be permitted this

expression, of the exercises of piety. It leaves in

the background that which is less useful and gives

all its esteem to everything that can bring it closer

to God. Preference is given to the pious exercises

which are the noblest, the most ancient, the most

venerable and the most universal. Far from seeking

novelties and singularities, w^ell regulated piety

places nothing above devotions which are essentially

Catholic.

The wisely pious soul, first of all, accomplishes

vdth exactitude and firmness the exercises required



26 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

by divine and ecclesiastical law. She understands

her great dependence upon God, and morning as well

as night, filled with respect and love, she kneels to

call down from heaven the graces for the day and

to offer thanks for favors received. Come what may,

nothing can make her unmindful of the great and

holy precept of Sunday. Then come the duties of

state and after them follow the exercises of piety

which properly are so called: assistance at daily

Mass, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual

reading, meditation, the Rosary, etc.

Finally, and this is my last consideration, she

must perform her exercises of piety with profound

reflection and a real spirit of piety. This is their

essential quality, just as routine, their opposite vice,

is their capital fault.

Routine, that is to say, a certain habit acquired

by force of repetition of certain acts, and blindly

followed, is an irregularity which must be studiously

avoided. Never shall we be able to say how much we

are creatures of habit and consequently how much

we need to be attentive and of a reflecting mind

always. It matters not how noble, how elevated,

how sublime our exercises may be! It suffices that

they be frequently repeated to be threatened with

routine.

At a very tender age we were taught to love

piety, we were shown how to pray, we were led into

the confessional, we were invited to the altar rail,

and we have felt in certain moments of fervor that

in the fulfillment of these duties was to be found

not only our happiness, but also our eternal salva-

tion. With all the ardor we could muster we were

faithful to these practices, then suddenly since the



CHOOSING OUR PIOUS EXERCISES 27

obligations of life were always the same, our occu-

pations reappeared each day on the same scene and

the same sphere, our devotional exercises consisted

of dry forms, which were neither animated nor vivi-

fied by solid refiection. We have become accustomed
to prayer, to church, to the confessional, to Holy

Communion and even to the performance of works

of charity. We assist at every service, we satisfy
every requirement, at least in appearance, because

we have been told that this is what we should do, and
because we see others doing the same things, with-
out asking ourselves the why of our conduct. In
reality, there is nothing or little done for God. We
kneel in prayer without even giving a thought to

the presence of God, and then we pray mechanically.

Often we enter a church without even the vaguest
idea of the Real Presence, and then we talk or are
distracted. We confess our sins without any desire
of amendment, and naturally we do not derive any
benefit from these confessions. Without liking or

fervor we communicate, and then our soul remains
cold and insensible. Days, weeks, months, years

pass and we always remain the same. We complain
of lack of progress and we deplore it. Whose fault
is it? Our own. Nothing has been made fruitful

by dew from heaven, nothing has been made super-

natural, nothing has been vivified. Nothing but bar-

renness, sterility, death. That which is lacking in

our lives, is the rain which transforms our actions

and makes them fruitful, and this beneficial rain is

interior recollection; this life-giving dew is the

spirit of faith.

Let us contemplate St. Anne. How well every-
thing was regulated in her life! Faithful to God,



28 NOVENA IN HONOR OP ST. ANNE

faithful to her duties of state, she filled all exercises

of piety with a spirit of faith and with the desire

to correspond with the grace which comes from on

high.

Let us live then in a continual spirit of interior

recollection. Let us be alive to the presence of God,

that, when we meet with the occasion of practicing

a pious exercise, we may without effort direct our

intention, give to God the purest homage of our

heart and thus derive from our acts all the merit and

the fruits they produce or beget.

Prayer

O Good St. Anne, obtain for me a prudent and

enlightened piety. Cause me to love all that Jesus

loves, to make His will my will. His passion my
passion. His love my love. Grant that I may love
Holy Mother Church, the Blessed Virgin, the saints,

the Souls in Purgatory and all my brothers in Christ.
Make my piety amiable, joyful and appealing. Ob-
tain for me the power to do all things with the in-

tention and the desire of pleasing God and of pro-

curing His greatest glory. Amen.



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Eager and interior disposition of the will, ex-

terior practices of devotion selected with sobriety

and order, intimate affection of the soul and mani-

festation of its affection by words and acts, such is

the economy of Christian piety. The interior feel-

ing bereft of the exterior manifestations could not

satisfy our complex nature, composed of soul and

body, just as the exterior exercises without the

spirit of faith which animates them would be noth-

ing but acts without force, without merit and with-

out life. These practices would then resemble parch-

ed and arid lands which the dew of heaven never fer-

tilizes, and which await in vain a beneficial rain to

come back to life and to produce their fruits. This

beneficial rain in the moral order is faith; this celes-

tial, generating dew is the spirit of faith. Do not

allow my insistence in reminding you of this truth

provoke on your part either astonishment or weari-

ness. I am so well convinced that there exists a

danger for your piety in these exterior practices

which are not animated by the soul that I would

like to make you partaker of my conviction and ab-

solutely convinced that there is nothing true, good,

serious, Christian or supernatural in our life unless

it proceeds from the interior.

Necessarily, I have explanied, for any soul who

seriously and sincerely wishes to work out its salva-

tion, Christian piety has numerous and important

advantages which must be considered attentively.

Among so many divine things, the Apostle St. Paul



30 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

has said: ‘‘Pietas ad omnia utilis est, habens pro-

missionem vitae quae nunc est et futurae”—godli-
ness is profitable for all things; it has promise of

the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

It is profitable for all things, mark well, profitable

everywhere, profitable always. Therefore let us see

what the principal advantages of piety are.

Every human existence may be summed up in

two words—joy and sorrow. Hence all the science
of life consists in making of our joys and sorrows

so many means of sanctification and salvation. To

moderate the former, and to accept the latter cour-

ageously is true wisdom and also the double effect

of piety.

Have you ever remarked how difficult it is to

adopt a middle course in the joys of life! We are
not considering those which our conscience con-

demns, but those which are legitimate and lawful.

When one of these joys, always very rare and very

short-lived, crosses our path, instinctively our heart

clings to it, gives itself up to its possession entirely

and without measure, considering nothing beyond,

not even God who has given this joy. Plainly we

see the hand of God when we are visited by some

great misfortune, and, strengthened by our faith, we

bless the hand that smites us, but not often in the

midst of great joys do we think of the giver of every

perfect joy. Turn back the pages of your life, see

this unexpected success, this fortune regained, this

cure obtained, this friendship won in loyalty and

long maintained, and tell me if in the depths of your

selfish soul you did not drink in these joys forgetful

of all else, even of God Himself. Yes, in human

happiness there will always be for us a temptation



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY 31

to forget God. Could this be the reason that here

below happiness is meted out to us in such parsimon-

ious quantity? The few scattered bits sown here

and there at long intervals on our path already

have the sad privilege of tormenting and troubling

us; they bend us down towards earth as they keep

our souls from lifting their glances to heaven. What

would happen then if all the joys of the world unit-

ing themselves took possession of our poor hearts?

They would overwhelm it.

Thus a sincerely pious Christian understands

these austere truths. He knows that the joys of

this earth are not the goal of life, but that they

ought to be the means of gaining heaven. Therefore,

far from attaching himself to them and setting his

heart upon them, he knows how to be moderate in

all things and to direct all his affections toward God.

For him the joys of life are a few flowers which

he plucks with a grateful hand, but the perfume

of his life is God. These joys are to his soul cooling

drops, but God is the ocean where he lives and

breathes. The Lord having thus taken possession of

this soul through piety, there is no anxiety, no

worry, in the acceptance of sensible joys; God makes

all perfect by deifying all, for piety is God in the

heart. Piety in the existence of a Christian, is God

living in his soul, putting everything in order, estab-

lishing peace and perfect equilibrium, harmonizing

all his faculties and making of his whole life an

admirable concert never interrupted by the least

discordant note.

Though necessary for the sanctification of our

joys here below, piety is none-the-less required to

help us endure with patience and resignation the



32 NOVENA IN HONOR OP ST. ANNE

trials and the austerities of this vale of tears. And

now, I feel more at ease to speak of the advantages

of piety, since suffering is the universal law of our

existence. ‘^For we know that every creature groan-

eth and travaileth in pain, even till now.^’ Suffering

is everywhere, it is part and pracel of our being. To

give us life is to give us up to death, and our first

utterance as we pass through the portals of life is a

wail and a sob. To suffer in our soul and in our body

pains the variety of which is equalled only by their

intensity, to suffer as we die, such is the lot of our

poor human race. And the most disconcerting fact

of it all is that no one escapes suffering. In vain

would I try to delude you, in vain would I try to

make you immune to this law of universal suffer-

ing, you who live so peacefully in the midst of your

families. I see among you, young men and young

women anxiously awaiting what the future holds in

store for you, I see heads of families loaded down

with care and worn out by daily toil, I see also

wives and Christian mothers; and does there exist a

person who does not know that without suffering

it is impossible for a Christian to accomplish the

sublime function for which Divine Providence has

destined him?

Now a pious soul illumines every trial and every

suffering with the light of faith and finds in recourse

to God energies which are nothing short of divine.

When the tempest is raging at its highest, the pious

soul seeks the harbor of prayer. And what does the

pious soul learn from this spiritual intercourse ? She

learns that suffering imposes itself upon man as a

law which is both necessary and merciful, necessary

because man is a sinner, merciful because man may



ADVANTAGES OP PIETY 33

thus atone for his sins. She learns that this life is

of short duration and that the one to come with its

ineffable joy will last forever. She learns that Chris-

tians, at least those who are truly so, are always

consoled when they glance upon the crucifix with

love and compassion. She learns that she is not the

only one to suffer, but that God, giving her the ex-

ample of suffering gives her also the strength to

bear it. Lastly she learns that in spite of these

apparent severities, God loves us as a Father, or, in

the words of the Prophet, as a mother who with

tenderness carries us on her bosom, so whatever

may be the course which Divine Providence has

chartered for her, whatever may be the trials, the

sickness, the separations, the afflictions imposed up-

on her, lovingly she throws herself into the arms of

God, takes refuge in His heart and blindly allows

herself to be led in joy and peace like a child of

predilection. The thought of belonging entirely to

God is sufficient to make her perfectly happy, to in-

spire her with the courage and the confidence which

nothing can disturb.

*^Love,” says the author of the Imitation, ^^by

itself maketh everything that is heavy, light; and

maketh everything that is bitter, sweet and savory”.

Long before his time, St. Augustine had presented

the same thought in expressive and well known

words: ‘Tondus meum, amor meus.” My love is a
weight which enlivens me. To him who loves God

with all his heart, the trials of life are not a burden;

they are a source of strength and consolation.

Think of St. Anne. How did St. Anne bear until
the very end the heavy trial God had in store for

her; the downfall of her family and the greater hu-



34 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

miliation of her sterility, double calamity which dis-

honored her in the eyes of all her people? How?

By having recourse to God in her affliction, and in

shedding at His feet the tears of her loving and

bruised soul. It was her piety which upheld her in

her sorrow, just as it was her piety that sanctified

her joys when she beheld herself in the temple and

the object of divine blessings.

Love carries its own burden without feeling its

weight and renders secret that which is most bitter.

Consider the saints. Whence came to them that

serenity with which they accepted contradictions,

persecutions and even death? From their piety,

from their ardent love of God. ‘Tbant gaudentes,”

we read in the Acts of the Apostles. Joyful they

went their way, always, even when they went to

their execution. Is it possible! To place one’s joy in

suffering, to love and to desire suffering? Yes in-

deed! There are some saints who loved and desired

suffering. Saint Theresa in the ecstasy of divine love

cried out: ‘^Either to suffer or to die!”, having no

desire for a life without suffering, which in her

mind would be a life without love.

And so shall it be with us if we are truly pious.

Piety will regulate our affections. Loving God with

all our hearts, we will love our neighbor with great-

er facility and greater disinterestedness. Piety will

sanctify our joys. If on certain days we feel happi-

ness flooding our soul to such a point that we cry

out with the Apostle, St. Peter: ‘‘Lord, it is good

for us to be here!” we shall be prompted thereby to

love God with more effusion and more tenderness.

Lastly piety will lessen our sufferings. Surrounded

by the light of Faith, we will understand better that



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY 35

to suffer for God is to love God and that “whatever

crucifies us here below is nothing but the answer of

human love to the love of a God who was crucified

for us.’^

Therefore let us be pious, of that piety which

is always uniform, of that piety always serene in

the midst of joys as well as in the presence of ad-

versity, of that piety always united to God and al-

ways submissive to His holy will.

Prayer:

O Good St. Anne, purify my joys and sanctify

my sufferings. Cause me to find bitter any enjoy-

ment which is not according to God^s holy law, im-

possible any desire contrary to His holy will, im-

bearable any consolation which does not come from

Him. Obtain for me resignation in my tribulations.

Let me be simple in my humility, calm in my joys,

and never depressed in my trials. Let me speak in

a straightforward manner, let me fear without de-

spair, hope without presumption, be pure without

pride, love without pretence, edify without ostenta-

tion, suffer without murmuring. Obtain for me that

my heart be submissive and resigned, that my soul
calm and serene be ever ready to do God^s holy

will. Amen.



THE ADVANTAGES OF PIETY—II

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

Piety, while of paramount importance for sanc-

tifying the joys of this world, and to help us bear

with patience and resignation the contradictions of

life, also has the power to transform us.

By piety our intelligence is rendered perfect. It

is a commonly admitted fact that pious souls have

a greater comprehension of things divine. This is

true not only of learned persons with brilliant natu-

ral endowments, but also of simple, illiterate people

who are really pious and totally given over to the

illuminating action of grace. How many women

taken from the rank and file of the people are

there, whose judgments concerning events and doc-

trines which interest the faith are saner than those

of the wisest doctors? ‘Tie agentibus Deus dat sa-

pientiam,” says Holy Scripture: to the godly the

Lord hath given wisdom.

The heart is improved by piety because it fills

it with truth. How much hypocrisy we find in the

pretended affections of the world! There love is a

matter of pride, of interest, of ambition, animated

by all sorts of motives emanating from selfishness.

Piety destroys selfishness and substitutes for it true

charity. The pious soul loves God and loves for God

alone. It pays no attention to the perishable and sec-

ondary qualities of the body. It seeks first of all in

those who are loved the qualities of the soul, and

though it endeavours to make this present life more

agreeable it strives above all to obtain heaven for

them, accompanying them as they go. The Holy



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY—II 87

Ghost has said of these friendships that: ^‘a faith-

ful friend is the medicine of life and immortality’^

—

medicamentum vitae et immortalitatis.

The will is rendered perfect by piety. What

gives to the Christian the necessary strength to

resist the allurements of the world, to turn a deaf

ear to flattery and to close his eyes to vanity, to

ignore the appeal of passions and to avoid the oc-

casions of sin? Piety. What gives him the courage

to pardon enemies and to bear mockeries and insults

fearlessly and joyously ? Piety. What gives the

strength each day to begin anew monotonous daily

tasks ? Piety.

Lastly, even the body sometimes feels the in-

fluence of piety which transforms it. It has been

known that upon certain Christians piety and love

of God have worked real miracles of transfigura-

tion.

Here then are some most appreciable personal

advantages. But as you are well aware, you are not

alone in the world, and your perfection requires'

that you give to others as much as, and more
sometimes than to yourselves, that you forget your-

selves in certain circumstances to think only of

others. It is plain, therefore, that your life at home
must be one of abnegation, of duty, of sacrifice.

And, here again, piety offers many advantages
which it behooves us to recall to your mind.

You must be thoroughly convinced that who-
soever does not place the spirit of duty and sacri-
fice at the base of his relations with his own people,
shall never have a supernatural and Christian in-
fluence over the persons around him. I beg of you
not to believe that this influence in order to be



38 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST, ANNE

efficacious, must be striking and manifest itself

by a multitude of words, remarks and advice. No,

this influence is discreet, and all the more powerful

because it appears to be inactive. This influence

may easily be compared to those hidden fire-places

which send heat to every part of the house. Almost

unconsciously a warm atmosphere steals over one.

Especially is this influence marvellous in the Chris-

tian animated by sincere piety. Watch this sincere

Christian in action. Each day he endeavors to make

his soul more pure, he corrects his faults, he tones

down the harshness of his temper, he immolates

himself continually, and this spirit of sacrifice gives

to his heart a flexibility, a goodness, a neglect of

self, a gracious kindness, a continual attention to

the needs of others, so many virtues which animate

and render fruitful the true Christian apostolate.

And I say that piety alone can prompt this

spirit of self-denial and sacrifice which denies itself

for the sake of duty, and makes one so happy that

the most difficult task seems to cost nothing in the

way of effort. Calculate as much as you please and

reason as much as you like, read the most remark-

able writings on human dignity and worth; nothing

of all this will satisfy you, for as soon as you set to

work, you will be face to face with your nature and

here you will find selfishness, vanity, self-love, and

consequently the neglect of others, susceptibilities,

harshness, irritation, outbursts of temper, all traits

which may be overcome only in the Christian school

of piety.

At this school most particularly we learn two

things necessary for the effacement of self: to

tolerate and to forgive. Toleration deals with imper-



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY—II 39

fections, forgiveness deals with sin. Holy Scripture

says that we are a burden to one another. Differ-

ences of opinion, varieties of temperament, oddities

of character, all these are the object of toleration.

Intimate clashings, heartaches, desertion and cow-

ardice, these are the object of forgiveness. Tolera-

tion is laudable; it is the characteristic of a soul

which soars and goes searching to God for its

light and power. The one, toleration, is Jesus in the

midst of His own, in His daily dealings with the

Jews, with His Disciples, with the Twelve, all crude,

ignorant, badly educated folk, imbued terrestrial

prejudice and painfully offending His infinite tender-

ness. The other, forgiveness, is Jesus nailed to the

Cross, unmindful of His own sufferings, forgetting

even His executioners or rather mindful of them but

only to forgive. Toleration springs from patience,

forgiveness springs from love and both are nurtured

by the abundant sources of Christian piety. Yes,

piety is a source, humbly hidden as all sources are

and gives birth to all those virtues, which like so

many channels, flow through domestic life to nourish

and develop it.

I have just mentioned family life. What occa-

sions of practicing toleration and forgiveness does it

not sometimes offer? To speak only of the wife,

does she always And in her home that solid and faith-

ful affection upon which she may lean and rest with-

out fear? Over the roof of this house which ex-

teriorly bespeaks prosperity, are there not hovering

storm-brewing clouds, and is there not reason to

fear a dark and threatening future? Is mutual con-

fidence still to be found there, simple, consoling as

in the days gone by; and if it does exist still, how



40 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

long will it last? And the child, the child of sorrow

and suffering, what will he become? What has he

already become? Ah! If it be true that our love

for someone be measured by the intensity of our

suffering for such a one, I begin to understand that

maternal love is beyond all expression, since mater-

nal sorrows are beyond all measure! What shall

become, in her dark moments, of the mother who is

not directed and strengthened by piety? Truly, it is

impossible to foresee where she will find the neces-

sary strength and energy, and it is plain that it will

be simply miraculous if the burden does not prove

to be unbearable. Unless she drift along or be un-

able to grasp the importance of her obligations, it is

impossible to conceive of a more unhappy being than

this woman going thus through life without the

help and light of piety. Should we be astonished if

she bow down under the load and declare that it is

impossible for her to proceed any further ? Or

otherwise her existence becomes a mere sham,

empty, lost for time and eternity.

Confronted with such situations nothing but

piety can inspire enough grandeur of soul to bear

all, to forgive all. And then, as we have been told,

there are some things so divine that they must be

blessed by God even in this world. Devotion and

sacrifice are as fertile seeds which, sooner or later,

bring forth respect and affection. Man cannot with

impunity always despise or constantly trample un-

der foot that which is noble and great; he cannot

always remain cold in the presence of the beauty

of a soul unhappy but always dignified, a beauty

which sorrow places in relief surrounding it with a

soft and somber light. The hour of reckoning comes



ADVANTAGES OF PIETY—II 41

sooner or later. It is not only the husband of the

energetic wife who will rise to sing her praises:

“vir ejus et laudabit earn,” the husband of the un-

happy wife also shall stand some day to exalt the

hidden virtues of the woman, whose heart he had

broken many times and to beg a forgiveness to

which he knows he is no longer entitled. And the

children shall also rise in their turn to acclaim and

bless their mother.

See this woman kneeling in the semi-obscurity

of a chapel, and setting both her eyes and her heart

on the tabernacle. She is attired in widow^s weeds,

for she is overcome with grief at the death of her

husband who died as the result of a hunting acci-

dent. She resides in the castle of her father-in-law,

a violent and vain man, and she submits to the

domination of a servant, she, the daughter of a

president of Parliament. For seven years she is the

victim of violences without name. Humiliated, in-

sulted, she sees the children of a servant given

preference over her own and animated with the

most sublime abnegation, she cares for the children

of this servant as though they were her own. Could

greater sufferings be endured? Could greater hu-

miliations be imagined? And yet I know that this

woman is by nature proud and domineering. Where

does she acquire the courage and strength to con-

quer and triumph over self? Follow her, attending

Holy Mass each morning in the village church, unit-

ing her sufferings with those of Jesus and Mary,

shedding fortifying and salutary tears, receiving in

Holy Communion courage for the whole day, rising

from her knees consoled, almost radiant, and re-

turning to the castle ready to accept all, to suffer all.



42 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

This woman is Jeanne de Chantal, model of all wives

and of all Christian mothers as well as the model

of all pious souls.

St. Anne also had her domestic troubles. Pain-

fully did she suffer in her wifely heart; for a long

time and in vain, did she aspire to the honours of

motherhood. Always her piety sustained her. She

emerged from the trial noble and purified.

Let us be devout and we shall become saints,

and we shall become apostles. Be pious, you es-

pecially who are living in the married state, and

more easily shall you put up with its austerities.

And thus piety will hold for you not only the pro-

mises of this life, but also and above all the pro-

mises of the life to come.

Prayer:

O Good St. Anne, august mother of the Virgin

Mary, I implore you for those who are dear to me.

See my needs and those of my family. Obtain for

me, from Jesus, all the graces I need faithfully to

fulfill my duties of state. Beg for me the fear of

God, the love of labor and good works, the liking for

prayer and things holy, chastity, meekness, patience

and all the other Christian virtues. I make you the

mother and protector of my children; train their

hearts to love piety; obtain such help that they

may never deviate from the path of virtue; that

they may preserve their innocence, and that they

may never tarnish the purity of their bodies, their

minds and their hearts. Watch over our home in

order that adversity, sickness and above all sin

may be kept from it. Pray that we may all lead a

holy life here on earth, that we may meet in heaven,

and celebrate your kindness eternally.



THE ENEMY OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

In our preceding instructions we have estab-

lished the correct idea, that is to say, the Christian

idea of piety, and we have pointed out the precious

advantages it bestows. These different considera-

tions must have convinced us that the spirit of

piety should animate our entire being, illumining

our intellectual life with the rays of faith, and

warming our moral life with the rays of divine love.

Where there is equality of talent, it must be admit-

ted that a pious soul will be more accurate in her

judgments and far more reaching in her conclusions

than a soul, I shall say not impious, than a soul of

lesser piety, than a soul without piety. And what

has just been said of gifted talents can more easily

be said of tenderness, of devotion, of geniality of

the heart.

To this spirit of piety, which must penetrate

all the actions of a Christian soul, is opposed an

irreducible and irreconcilable enemy, another spirit:

the spirit of the world, which is really the only ob-

stacle to piety, as all other obstacles dwindle down

and come to this one. You are all familiar with the

words of our Saviour: “No man can serve two mas-

ters.” This saying is especially true of the subject

with which we are concerned. Should we care to

analyze each one of our sins, we would learn, after

all, that we are trying always, but in vain, to solve

this never to be solved problem: to unit two things

which exclude each other, to unite a piety more or

less enlightened, more or less firm, to that entire



44 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

ensemble of prejudices, of distractions, of lies which

constitute the spirit of the world.

What, then, is this spirit of the world, and what

should we think of this world reproved by God and

against which Our Lord has hurled His most terrible

anathemas ?

This word “world^^ spirit of the world, is a very

complex word, susceptible of many meanings and

employed even in the Gospel to express different

realities. Therefore it is of the greatest importance

to separate from these significations the one which

is taken in bad part, and which indicates the enemy

of piety.

“God,” says the Evangelist St. John, “so loved

the world as to give to it His only begotten Son.”

Evidently, the sense here is humanity, buried in

darkness and fettered in the servitude of sin, and

God was taken with such an intense love for this

miserable humanity that, in order to save it, He did

not hesitate to sacrifice, in a sad holocaust. His only

begotten and beloved Son. “Sic enim Deus dilexit

mundum ut Filium unigenitum suum daret.” And

we, too, must love this humanity, our neighbor in

other words, as God has loved him, and because _God

loves him. The pretext of not wishing to intrude and

of avoiding trouble does not justify our indifference

to the misery and the shortcomings of the world.

We are obliged to help the former and to mourn
over the latter; and selfishness, even in religion

and above all in religion, always remains selfish-

ness. Among our neighbors there are some whom

we must love in a special manner and with whom we

must entertain unwearied and affectionate relations.

The first word of the law expresses the formal com-



THE ENEMY OF PIETY 45

mand to love, to love God, and to love our brethren,

to love our family, to love husband, wife and chil-

dren, more for themselves than for ourselves, and

more for God than for them. This is the order of

charity, and if this order is respected, piety re-

mains wholesome. Don’t speak to me of a harsh

piety, of a disagreeable piety; I demand, moreover,

a piety which, when the occasion warrants it, can

sacrifice itself for the exigencies of the world, when

these exigencies are the factors of peace, of union

and furthermore are blameless. One need not be

afraid to surrender one’s heart generously to these

affections and these friendships, which our Lord by

His law as well as by His example deigned to purify

and to elevate, and far from believing that religion

forbids and stifles them, let it be well understood

that it exalts, supernaturalizes, and deifies them.

Surely, I have conceded enough to the world

now to have the right to disavow it in its wrongs

and its contradictions with piety. Moreover, it is

impossible to do so in more expressive terms and

with more pronounced sincerity than the Holy

Gospel does. Let us consider this scene and all the

circumstances of this scene. The Master is dying,

and who does not know that at the moment of

death there are to be found on the lips only words

of pardon, and in the heart, sentiments of generos-

ity. Behold! Jesus before breathing His last ex-

presses in a supreme prayer His desires and His

wishes. He prays for His Apostles that they may

be preserved from harm; He prays for His Church

that all the faithful may be united among them-

selves as He and the Father are one. He forgets no

one. He prays for His friends as, in a few moments.



46 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

on the Cross He will pray for His enemies, when

suddenly He utters this strange, incomprehensible

word: non pro mundo rogo. I pray not for the

world. What! Lord, to declare that you pray not

for some one, is it not to declare that you condemn

him? To affirm that you pray not for the world is

it not by the same token to affirm that you condemn

the world? It is plain that Jesus has condemned

the world. Why? Because ^‘the world was made

by Him and the world knew Him not.” Christ came

down upon earth to teach humility to men, and the

pride of the world set itself up against Christ.

Christ came down upon earth to make us love pov-

erty and the rich of the world have fettered the

work of Christ. Christ came down on earth to at-

tract souls to purity, and the lust of the world has

worked against the sanctifying action of Christ.

Wherever Christ penetrated there also did the

world endeavor to enter. Where Christ wished to

work salvation, the world tried to effect perdition.

And this antagonism has never ceased. There always

has been set up against the spirit of truth, of self-

denial and of love, which is the spirit of Jesus

Christ, a spirit of untruth, of egotism and hatred,

which is the spirit of the world. And this antagon-

ism has passed on into works, and this antagonism

in actions has been so noticeable that even the

pagans have remarked it and one of them has de-

fined the world in these terms: to corrupt and to be

corrupted, such is the world, “corrumpere et cor-

rumpi saeculum vocatur”. More emphatic still is

St. John, the Evangelist, when he makes this ter-

rible declaration summing up the malice of our poor

humanity: ‘‘the whole world is seated in wicked-



THE ENEMY OF PIETY 47

ness^’, mundus totus in maligno positus est, and

when he concluded: ‘‘Love not the world, nor the

things which are in the world, for all that is in the

world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupis-

cence of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

And in this sense what then is the world?

Nothing but concupiscence. This concupiscence is a

part of our very selves. We cast our personal concu-
piscences upon the common heap of concupiscences,

and this reunion, this ensemble, this mass of concu-

piscences, of false principles, of perverted maxims,

of works of darkness and of contaminations of all

sorts, such is the world, such is the spirit and the

life of the world.

Concupiscence of the eyes. To see and then be

seen is this not the world? Once again, I do not in-

tend to exaggerate. There exists an allowable

charm, a charm necessary in the relations, in the

decent pleasures of the world, but when this be-

comes an intoxication, a giddiness, it is quite an-

other matter. It is meet and it is just, that by her

very exterior charm, a wife, a mother desires to

please her own, and have consideration for her im-

mediate household, but to live only to see and to be

seen, as it happens, to strut in indecent and extra-

vagant clothes, to think only of exhibiting and in-

troducing one^s self, is nothing but excess and abuse,

and every abuse should be condemned.

Concupiscence of pride. To surpass all others,

to out-shine all, to dominate, to crush every one

around, once again is this not the world? And what

numerous sins do this vanity and this worldliness

cause their authors or their witnesses to commit?



48 NOVENA IN HONOR OP ST. ANNE

Concupiscence of the flesh. Surely, it suffices

to name it among you to make you clearly under-

stand my meaning. You know how easily it slips
into what are known as the pleasures of the world,

when they are enjoyed without reserve and without

prudence. You know how far it can go and how

true are the words of St. John: ‘‘The whole world is

seated in wickedness”. There are things so pro-

foundly delicate that they make themselves known

by their very existence. These things are sad, but

we must not put a bandage over our eyes; it is not

necessary to be unaware of the dangers for virtue

which are met in the conversation, the lectures, the

recreation, the theater of the world, in the giddiness

which, at any sacrifice, we must avoid if we wish

to save our souls. Even if you put aside the sad

things, you will always recognize the world by these

infallible signs: its levity, its frivolity, its thought-

lessness, its uselessness.

And do you understand now the severity of reli-

gion towards the pleasures of the world, when she

declares with the authority of St. Francis de Sales

that most of them are bad and that the rest are

worthless? Do you realize that the worldly life,

that life of concupiscence and frivolity can in no

possible manner be united with a life of sincere piety

and true devotion? To attempt a union of this sort

would be to add hypocrisy to all other faults. And

since it is impossible to divert the torrent of the

world, or to direct it, what is to be done? It must

be stopped by a dam, and this dam is piety, exercises

of piety and the seriousness which is given the soul

by habitual thoughts of piety.

Consider St. Anne. She lived in the midst of the



THE ENEMY OF PIETY 49

world without conforming to its customs and with-

out being tainted by its spirit. Always amiable, al-

ways agreeable and prepossessing, she obtained the

affection and the sympathy of all.

So let it be with us. Let us live in the world

without surrendering to the world. Let us make a

judicious choice of the pleasures and the amusements

of the world. Let this be our rule of conduct: the

pleasures, which, surrounded by prudence and watch-

fulness, constitute in our home a distraction in-

dulged in with simplicity of heart and purity of

intention, are innocent. The amusements divorced

from their essential evil, and to which we submit by

duty without attaching our heart to them, are toler-

ated, the amusements which by themselves or by

their circumstances are proximate occasions of sin,

are forbidden.

Therefore, let us be sincere with ourselves and

with our consciences. Above all our thoughts, let us

place the thought of God; above all our hopes, hope

in God, above all our affections, the love of God. It

is the love of God that saves. Let us love God with

all our hearts and nothing will preserve us from

worldliness more surely.

Prayer

0 Good St. Anne, you who lived in the midst

of the world without being attracted by it and with-

out its weaknesses, obtain for me a heart profound-

ly in love with God, never to be separated from

Him either by sight or by hearing; a heart faithful

and true, which neither wavers nor lowers itself; an



50 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

indomitable heart, always ready to fight after each

storm; a free heart, never captivated, never en-

slaved; a heart which never loses itself in the ways

of sin. Pray that my every thought may be for God

and that Jesus alone may be my love and my de-

light. Amen.



PIETY AND ITS SOURCE

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

>
1
-

I have told you what constitutes piety, and how

it must proceed from within to give to our acts

their full value and their merit. I have told you

the importance of making a judicious selection of

your exercises of piety and of vivifying them always

with the spirit of faith. I have reminded you of the

advantages of Christian piety and the happy trans-

formations it brings about in us. Last of all I have

warned you against the enemy of piety: the world,

its maxims, its pomps, its amusements, its pleasures.

In order to complete the edifice we have tried

to build together, would you allow me to indicate

the very source of Christian piety? This abundant

and unexhaustible source is Holy Communion.

St. Francis de Sales, whom I have previously

quoted with great pleasure, wrote: ‘^Experience has

proven to me very clearly, in the twenty-five years

I have devoted to the service of souls, the omnipo-

tent force of this divine Sacrament to fortify souls

in the conquest of good, to deter them from evil,

to console them, and in a word to edify them in this

world, provided that it be received with the required

faith, purity and devotion.”

These words are a sermon in themselves and

I shall limit myself to a brief commentary of them.

In holy Communion we receive Our Lord.

It is a dogma of faith that the Blessed Euchar-

ist contains truly, really and substantially the ador-

able person of the Word. Vere, realiter et substan-

tialiter, are the words used by the Council of Trent.



52 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

When we communicate, we therefore receive Our

Lord. We receive Him, not in a sign which sym-
bolizes Him, not in a figure which represents Him,

but in reality; not in a virtue emanating from Him,

but in His very substance; not morally, by thought

and desire, but sacramentally; not in part, but en-

tirely whole. His body. His blood. His soul and His

divinity. We receive Him as a food, a living food
which gives life, a food for our souls. ‘^For my fiesh

is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He

that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath

everlasting life^\ We receive Him within us, in our
bosoms, in our hearts, which become tabernacles.

Like the spouse of the Canticles of Canticles we may

exclaim, “My beloved is mine and I am His.’^

“In the Eucharist,” says Saint Thomas, “the

soul tastes the very source of spiritual sweetness.”

It overflows with peace, with confidence, and with

love. “When I receive Holy Communion,” said St.

Catherine of Sienna, “I am so full of joy that I can

not contain myself and I am astonished to find that

my entire being does not dissolve.” Certainly, this

is not yet our etern^al happy home, because to the

possession of God there is lacking the beatific vision

and the beatific love; but if this is not heaven, it is

a least the road which leads there and a certain

anticipated taking possession.

In Holy Communion we feast on Our Lord.

Holy Communion in the spiritual order consti-

tutes a real food. What material bread is to the

life of the body, the Eucharist is to the life of the

soul. In addition to being the vehicle of grace as

well as its sigh, the Eucharist possesses in itself a

vivifying virtue. It is through Holy Communion



PIETY AND ITS SOURCE 53

that the supernatural life which we have received

in baptism is developed and fulfilled in every one

of us. Not only does it keep up in us this super-

natural life, but communicates to it a new develop-

ment; not only does it replace its losses and impede

its abating, but also it assures its increase so much

so that Saint Augustin did not hesitate to say:

“Whosoever wishes to live knows from now on where

he can find life, where he can be fed and nourished.

Habet ubi vivat, habet unde vivat.

In Holy Communion we unite ourselves to Our

LfOrd.

The Blessed Eucharist, being a food, possesses

all the essential qualities of a food: it incorporates

itself in our body, it unites itself to us, it identifies

itself with us. But in this case the food being in-

finitely more perfect than the being which receives

it, it is not Jesus who transforms himself into us,

it is we who are changed into Him and who become

a single identical thing with Him. “I live, now not

I; but Christ liveth in me^\

It is evident that this union does not go so far

as to take away our personality from us: we always

remain human beings, subjected to the weaknesses of

the flesh and to the allurements of passion, but like

Saint Paul, we can say: “Omnia possum in eo qui me

confortat^^—I can do all things in Him who strength-
ened me. Neither does Holy Communion effect a

simple moral union which unites two hearts in one

friendship; it is a union of a special kind, the

union which produces nutrition and assimiliation.

Two pieces of wax melted in the same crucible,

incandescent iron and the fire which brightens it,

behold, according to the Holy Fathers, a perfect



54 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

image of the union which Holy Communion establish-

es between Jesus and the Christian soul.

A truly deifying union, which according to the
expression of Saint Thomas, transforms us into

Christ, which causes God to be in man, and man to

be in God which makes us his members, and makes

us incorporate ourselves in Him, corporei, consan-

guinei, just as really as the shoot is to the plant,

complantati, as the root is to the tree, radicati;

union which more and more makes us partakers of

the divine nature, divinae consortes naturae.

In Holy Communion we sanctify ourselves in

Our Lord.

Holy Communion brings us in contact with the

holy life of the Savior, with His infinite merits, and

then, it is our entire being which rises, becomes

spiritualized, sanctified and deified, the body as well

as the soul.

When we receive Holy Communion, there hap-

pens between God and us something akin to what

happened to Jesus Christ at the moment of the In-

carnation. In the Incarnation, God became man by

uniting himself to humanity. In Holy Communion,

the body the Savior unites itself to our body. His

blood unites itself to our blood. His soul unites it-

self to our soul. “The Christian who communi-

cates,’’ says St. Francis de Sales, “has God in his

head, in his heart, in his feet, in his hands, every-

where.” But, as in Jesus Christ the divine nature

is intimately united to the human nature, it follows

that by this holy transformation, we become after

a certain fashion deified beings. The fiesh of Christ,

that flesh without sin and without concupiscence,

purifies and sanctifies our own; His precious blood



PIETY AND ITS SOURCE 55

taken from the most pure blood of the Virgin Mary

creates divine morals in us; His immensity dilates

our charity; His immutability strengthens us in

righteousness; His power gives us strength in temp-

tations and makes us accomplish great things for the

glory of God, the service of the Church and the

^velfare of souls; His holiness separates us from sin

and clothes us with the virtues which makes saints:

lastly, His heart. His loving and infinitely compas-

sionate heart, becomes our heart, our heart to love

God and to love souls, our heart to adore, to praise

and to thank the All-Mighty according to the gran-

deur of His mercies.

Qui manducat me vivet propter me. Well! Yes,

Christ in Holy Communion assimilates our souls and

in an embrace as strong as the love of God He makes

us like unto Himself. We communicate to become
more Christ-like, to allow Christ to grow in us until

He reaches His plenitude. Therefore it has truth-

fully been said that all love, every burst of love,

every apostolate, every saintship, all fervor, all en-

thusiasm, every abnegation, every self denial every

complete surrender of self, every immolation, all

heroism, all sublime vocations spring forth from the

altar. Priests, apostles, confessors of the Faith, vir-

gins, all who ascend, all who labor, fight, and sacri-

fice themselves for God, all those who consecrate

themselves, all those who surrender themselves, who

merit and implore, who pray, all that can be termed

zeal, ardor, or holocaust, all these spring from the

altar and there also seek their vigor.

What is the reason for so many admirable

works performed in the Church for more than nine-

teen centuries? WTiere did the martyrs find that



56 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

heroic courage which made them so admirable in

the face of persecution? Listen to the words of

Saint Cyprien: ‘Those we send into the fray are

not without arms; we place them under the protec-

tion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we give

them Holy Communion, and, strong as lions, they

brave the greatest dangers.”

And even today what turns the priest into an

apostle? Who makes the humble, the meek, the

poor, the mortified, the merciful, the chaste, the

valorous ? Why is it that the non-Christian religions

and all the profane philosophies have never brought

forth a single missioner nor a single Sister of

Charity? Two words of explanation suffice: there

we find no altar and consequently neither the altar-

rail nor communion The principle of life is miss-

ing, the fruits of perfection and holiness are not

possible.

Lastly, in Holy Communion we elevate ourselves

to the glorious life of Christ.

The glorious life, life in God in heaven, is noth-

ing but the expansion and the crowning of life in

God upon earth. Therefore it exists in embryo even

here below. This beginning is supernatural life,

such as sanctifying grace establishes in our souls.

Now Holy Communion completes in us the life

of grace, fructifies, develops, and prepares it for

definite expansion.

Upon entering the abode of the Blessed we

shall be transfigured, we shall become capable of

the most extended pleasures, we shall be in pos-

session of the glorious life; but, again, it is Holy

Communion which prepares all, nourishes all, rend-

ers all fruitful. Holy Communion, sings the



PIETY AND ITS SOURCE 57

Church in her liturgy, is eternal life in its root,

futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.

Every human life ends in death; life through

the Eucharist has its prolongation into eternity. God

has promised it and He in infallible in His promises;

“Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aternum.”

What matters then the death which awaits us!

Our hope shall not be in vain. When our soul mark-

ed vuth the Eucharistic seal, will appear before

God, it will be the object of His kind attentions and

will have access into heaven.

So also will it be with our body. Surely, before

long, it will rend “like a used garment”; it will fall

to ruins “as old edifices fall”; it will become “a bit

of dust carried by the wind one knows not where”;

but our body also, our body which will have been

the receptacle of the Blessed Eucharist, God, at

the end of time, will reunite its scattered ashes to

weave them into a garment of glory and immortal-

ity: Fururae gloriae nobis pignus datur.

Yes, to him who communicates and communi-

cates worthily; life, supernatural life in this world,

life glorious and eternal in the next, life in God for

ever, the life of the elect, the life of the angels and

the saints. Vivet in aeternum!

I desist. Do we wish to be pious Christians,

marked with that piety whose beauty and fecundity

I tried to portray for you? Let us love the Bles-

sed Eucharist, let us love Holy Communion.

Saint Anne through hope alone knew the

Eucharist. Making of Holy Writ her daily food,

oftentimes she must have stopped to meditate upon

certain passages of the Old Testament whose pro-



58 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

phetic sense is particularly applied to the Blessed

Eucharist. Did God reveal to her what came to pass

under the new law? We know not. What we are

certain of is that like all the great personages of

her race, she ardently desired the Redemption and

all that it admitted of the supernatural and divine.

More fortunate than Saint Anne, we possess in

reality what she could have attained only in desire.

Let us beg of our great patron that all our Commu-

nions be received with such dispositions that will

make of them a source of piety here, the source

and the guarantee of everlasting glory.

Prayer

0 Good Saint Anne, inspire me with a tender

piety towards the Blessed Eucharist. It is the

source of every grace, of every joy and of every

consolation. Obtain for me a desire to assist at

the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. May my Commun-

ions be accompanied by faith, confidence, and good

and holy desires. May my visits to the Blessed Sac-

rament be more numerous and more fervent. Jesus

is not exacting; He does not require long prayers;

a quarter of an hour, five minutes, the time it takes

to pour out my soul in His presence, to tell Him of

my gratitude and my love. Implore Jesus that I

become a Eucharistic soul, in the first rank of those

who understand and exalt the great Sacrament of

divine love. Amen.



MODEL OF PIETY

Exercise thyself unto godliness. (I Tim. IV-7)

We celebrate today (July 26) the feast of Saint

Anne. Will you allow me to propose this great

saint to you as a model of piety?

Piety exercises and manifests itself in the mer-

itorious accomplishment of one’s duties of state.

“Unusquisque in qua vocatione vocatus est in ea

permaneat,” said the Apostle Saint Paul
—

‘^let every

man abide in the same calling in which he was cal-

led.” Now who better than Saint Anne ever under-

stood this teaching and put it into practice?

Saint Anne, like most mothers, unheralded came

on earth, fulfiled in silence, work, and virtue, her

role of spouse and mother, and left the world with-

out ostentation.

The Gospel which needs but one word to exalt

one to the pinnacle of glory says nothing of the

mother of Mary; it does not even mention her name.

A careful perusal of the New Testament reveals no
word, no trace, nor allusion to Saint Anne. It is

only the Christian generations which have treasured

in their hearts and deeply impressed in their mem-

ories a few facts about her, who, by the sanctity

of her life, by the splendor of her virtues, won the

honor of becoming the mother of the purest and

noblest creature who ever lived, the august and ven-

erated mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Here is the contribution of Tradition. ‘‘Born at

Bethlehem of the royal family of David and of the

sacredotal race of Aaron, by the union of Machan,



60 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

her father, with Mary, daughter of the tribe of

Judah, St. Anne would have had the right of living

in the royal palace and of occupying the splendid

apartments reserved for the priests at the approach

of the temple, in the holy City. On account of re-

verses of fortune, she was forced to renounce this

honor and live in retirement with her parents in

the town of Bethlehem.”

‘‘There never existed a couple better suited to

each other, never were husband and wife better

matched. Anne and Joachim had the same prefer-

ences, the same inclinations. Their thoughts, their

desires, their aspirations tended only to the glory

of God and to the relief of the misery they found

around them. They were happy.”

“A cruel cross was soon to be laid upon their

shoulders. It seemed as though God did not want to

bless their union. They had been married twenty

years, were childless, and Anne was sterile. This

shame was considered the most humiliating, for

Jewish men looked upon sterility as a disgrace and

punishment from heaven. Therefore Anne envied

those fortunate mothers, who by their offspring kept

alive in Israel the hope of a Liberator to come.”

“So great was her sorrow and so ardent her

supplications that God finally answered her prayer

and Anne gave birth to a daughter whom she

named Mary.”

“With what great joy she must have been filled,

when she learned, by divine revelation, that her

child was predestined to be the mother of the Sav-

ior of the world, and that because her divine mater-

nity had been foreseen, God had preserved her from



MODEL OF PIETY 61

sin and filled her with grace from the very first

moment of her conception!”

‘Tt certainly was for her an incomparable honor

to have been chosen to be the mother of Mary and

the grandmother of the son of God. This glory,

Saint Anne made greater still by the tender and

delicate care with which she surrounded her beloved

daughter. To her came the honor of having formed

this vessel of election chosen by God to accomplish

in the world the designs of His mercy. She it was

who initiated Mary into the practice of all the

Christian virtues and piety, and when Tradition

pictures her, close by her daughter, holding open

before her eyes the book of divine Scriptures and

teaching her how to read from it, it only glorifies

this eminently educational role which she zealously

fulfilled with regard to her daughter.”

‘‘Lastly, when Mary had been presented in the

temple. Saint Anne, having become widowed, aban-

doned her home and established herself in Jeru-

salem.”

“From then on, her life was nothing but one un-

interrupted contemplation. Continuously she enjoy-

ed those torrents of spiritual delights which are

like a foretaste of the celestial joys which God lav-

ishes upon true servants, and which were soon to be

hers for all eternity.”

“Her death,” says Saint John Damascene, “was

that of the predestined.”

It was not long before the Christian nations

placed themselves under her protection. Why did
devotion to her spontaneously spring from the heart

of the faithful? Ah! It is because Saint Anne has

a title of glory which is truly incomparable, only



62 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

one title, but the greatest of all: she was the grand-

mother of the Savior.

Does there not exist also another motive? Yes!

For we find that the very essence of the devotion w'e

have for her is the fact that we know her to be a

perfect model of Christian life and perfection.

Saint Anne lived the most humble life. It was

in the midst of labors imposed upon her by the fall

of her family, and in struggling with adversity, that

she atttained that degree of sanctity which charac-

terizes her. With her piety was a conviction of the

soul. Continuously united to God by the thoughts

of her mind and the affections of her heart, she

walked always in His presence and directed toward

Him every act of her life. Fidelity to duty in its

multiple forms, to duty often obscure and despised

because it is the monotonous performance of daily

work; respect for and entire submission to the Di-

vine Will, even in the midst of anxieties and con-

tradictions, such was the entire secret of her exalted

virtue.

Therefore we derive from her life a most power-

ful encouragement.

Ordinarily our idea of holiness, to say the least,

is very strange. The perfection of the saints appears

to us an ideal so far above our weaknesses that for

this very reason we believe that we cannot attain

it, though we may be actuated by the most legiti-

mate ambitions. Now this is nothing but a false

idea, a prejudice which too often masks our uncon-

cern and cowardice. To be holy does not mean to do

extraordinary things, to multiply miracles at every

step, to fast^ to mortify one’s self, to pass long

hours in church; no, to be holy, is to serve God in



MODEL OF PIETY 63

the best possible manner in that state of life where

His Providence has placed us, to be holy is to accom-

plish one^s duties and one’s obligations faithfully,

respecting the law of God and obeying His com-

mandments. Sanctity, therefore, is not beyond our

strength, not beyond the energies of our nature up-

held and vivified by grace. Entirely composed of

self-denials and sacrifices, it finds its principle and

its base in the faithful performance of the duties

and obligations of each day.

‘‘What must one do to be a saint?” one of his

sisters, who lived in the world, asked of Saint

Thomas Aquinas. “To will it,” answered the holy

doctor.

To will it! Is this not, I ask you, a consoling

doctrine? How often do we hear the people of the

world exclaim: “I would like to be a saint, but how

can I become one in my state of life, in the midst of

the toils, the anxieties and the requirements of my

miserable existence? No, holiness is not for me, it

is too difficult!” Too difficult! Let us see: Have we

not the same graces which the saints had? Have

we not the same means of sanctification—prayer,
the sacraments, the practice of virtue. Were they

exposed less than we to the world and its dangers,

less subject than we to the rebellion of the flesh

and to the sway of passions? Had they not, as we

have, battles to fight, struggles to maintain, tempta-

tions to repel, victories to win? The saints were

what we are, Christians, but they were better than

we and lived in a more perfect manner. “God,” says

St. Francis de Sales, “does not measure His elect

by the splendor and multiplicity of the work they

accomplish, but by the fervor of the charity which



64 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

animates them”. Never has holiness been acquired

in any other way than through ardent and contin-

uous efforts.

And this is the lesson which is to be found in

the feast which we celebrate.

Let us imitate St. Anne, the model of a humble

and resigned life. Let us imitate her by a greater

fidelity in accomplishing our daily tasks. As she

did, let us have a salutary fear of sin, a tender and

solid piety for the practices of divine worship, an

unalterable patience in the trials of life, an ardent

love which causes us to suffer everything in order

to please God; and thus protected and blessed by our

illustrious patron, we shall obtain, as she did, a

happy death.

Tradition has it that in her last moments, St.

Anne was assisted ‘by her immaculate daughter, the

Blessed Virgin Mary, who by her exhortations, her

fervent prayers, and all the love of her filial affec-

tion soothed her in the supreme hour of her agony.

What a marvelous ending of a holy life! May

we die thus, in perfect peace in the arms of Mary!

Prayer:

O Good St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary

and very holy grand-mother of Jesus, I choose you

today for my mother and powerful protectress. I

confide and I recommend to your maternal keeping

my whole being, my body, my soul, my life, my

death, my sorrows, my joys, my hopes; in the bosom

of your mercy full of tenderness I place them, to-

gether with my family and all that I hold dear in

this world. I promise to serve you, to love you, to



MODEL OF PIETY 65

venerate you, I purpose to spread your devotion and

your love as far as is within my power. So, good

and kind Mother, deign to accept me as your child

and as such to surround me with your beneficient

affection. Obtain for me grace to imitate those vir-

tues by which you delighted the heart of God that

I may always be pleasing to Jesus, to Mary and to

yourself, O good Saint so beloved! Obtain for me

a happy death; come in my last moments to help

and console me; intercede for me with the Savior

that I may atone for my sins, escape the pains they

have deserved, and, thus free from every stain, pass

from this mortal body to everlasting peace, close

to you, Jesus, and Mary. Amen.



GOOD SAINT ANNE

The Wonder-Worker of

North America

God has given to St. Anne the power of work-

ing miracles. This power she has exercised partic-

ularly in favor of the inhabitants of our North

American continent. She is our wonder-working

saint.

On the other hand, there is to be found in the

heart of our people a tenderness full of confidence

for the glorious patroness of Canada. Truly it may

be said that devotion to St. Anne has become a

country-wide devotion.

A few facts taken from history will prove the
great protection St. Anne exercises over our North

American continent.

On the feast of St. Anne, July 26, 1536, ten

days after the landing of Jacques Cartier in Amer-

ica, the intrepid explorer saw coming back to

Blanc Sablon two of his vessels which he thought

had been lost in the storm. This signal favor he

attributed to Saint Anne.

On the twenty-sixth of July, 1609, Champlain in

an expedition on the lake which bears his name,

marked out on He La Motte a location propitious for

the construction of a fort to be called Fort Saint

Anne.

In the year 1635, a fortification was raised in

the bay of Chibou on Cape Breton, the point most

exposed to attacks from the enemies of New France,



GOOD SAINT ANNE 67

and ever5Twhere it was known under the name of
Fort St. Anne.

On the fifteenth of May, 1639, a group of young
ladies left France to come to Canada to establish
the Congregation of the Ursulines. And Madame
La Frete, their leader, receiving the good wishes of
the king of France, received also the command that
the first church whose pointed spire should pierce
the virgin sky of the New World should be an
homage to St. Anne and bear her name.

In the year 1647, the church of Notre Dame,
raised from the ruins of the chapel of La Recouv-
rance, had within its walls an oratory which, ‘'to
satisfy the desires of the citizens as well as their

filial love and their devotion,” was dedicated to St.
Anne.

Ten years later, on the tenth of April, Rev-
erend Father de Quen signed the establishment of
the first confraternity erected in Canada; St. Anne
became its patroness at the express and reiterated
demand of its members.

As it can clearly be seen, the budding colony
which was to become the Canadian people, a nation
strong in its faith, true to God, simple and fervent in
prayer, grew and developed under the vigilance and
protection of St. Anne, the great St. Anne of the
North, as she was then known.

But it is time now to mention the erection of
the sanctuary of Beaupre, which has witnessed so
many wonders worked through the prayers of St.
Anne.

It was about the year 1635, a vessel manned by



68 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

Breton mariners navigating the St. Lawrence was

headed for Quebec. Already in the distance, when

through the mists of the river and the twilight of

evening appeared the rugged line of the famous

heights where Champlain had breathed his last, the

joyful singing which accompanied the rythmic move-

ment of the oars suddenly stopped, and anxiety

darkened the faces of all. A storm appeared in the
offing. In the twinkling of an eye the wind heaved

the waves, rain, a diluvial rain fell furiously, sinis-

terly the thunder reechoed from mountain to moun-

tain, while blinding lightning shattered the clouds.

Nonsense! The vessel is sturdy and the mari-

ners are Bretons!

Alas, suddenly a streak of lightning more glar-

ing than the rest rends the atmosphere and in a

second disables the vessel.

The sailors are lost! Their grave is there:

right there at the bottom, between two waves. And

resigned, they prepare for death, when suddenly one

of them cries out, ‘‘Saint Anne! Pray for us.”

And every one answers; “Saint Anne! Pray for

us.”

Again, a strong voice is raised through the

furies of the skies: “A church to Saint Anne if we

are saved.” And, miraculous as it may seem, not

one sailor was lost. The vessel, however, was dashed

to pieces.

A few days later, on the North shore of the St.
Lawrence, in a wild and deserted spot, a humble

chapel was erected in a primeval forest, and men,

sailors, their eyes full of tears, prayed to Good

Saint Anne and offered her this rustic sanctuary.



GOOD SAINT ANNE 69

first chapel of Saint Anne de Beaupre, to fulfill

their vow, and in gratitude for her protection.

Legend or history, this narrative is nothing but

the prelude of a long series of supernatural facts

and miracles which for three centuries have filled the

records of St. Anne de Beaupre.

Skeptics have been attracted to this sanctuary

by curiosity, and they have gone away, if not con-

verted, at least affected and touched by the thrilling

impression which captivates all the souls who draw

near to Saint Anne.

For example, MacDonald Oxley, editor of a

fashionable New York magazine, who wrote that

there are delights for the soul which opens its doors

to incipinet faith. Impressed by the pious and

recollected throngs at Saint Anne, he could not help

but feel the respectful admiration which is born in

the presence of the supernatural.

A second example is Cleveland Moffet, Ameri-
can Protestant, who devoted sixteen pages of a Pro-

testant review to narrate the miracles of St. Anne

de Beaupre; of the Good Saint Anne, as he calls

her.

A third example is Joaquin Miller who, in spite
of an heterodox belief, wrote with a good deal of

convicion: “Yes, it is the truth and I know that the

miracles attributed to the Good Saint Anne de

Beaupre, as she is called, are authentic, and if there

have been miracles in the past, there are still many

today.” This is a statement from a San Francisco

journal of 1884.

All this proves that Saint Anne in a special

manner extends her protection over the people as



70 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

well as the land of our North American continent,

and that many of her choicest blessings as well as

her rarest gifts are showered upon us.

The first inhabitants of Canada as well as those

of today were much alive to this great fact.

Let us listen to His Excellency Monsigneur

Laval, first Bishop of Quebec and of Canada. **We

confess that nothing has helped us to bear up under

the load of the pastoral burden of this new-born

church more efficaciously than the special devotion

which the inhabitants of this country have for Saint

Anne, devotion which we affirm with great certitude,

distinguishes them from all other peoples.”

About the year 1667, M. Morel writing his

memoirs, penned these lines: ‘Tt is certainly to

attain this same end, namely to make of Saint Anne

a favorable shelter and a secure refuge for the

Christians of the New World, that God has impres-

sed in the hearts a special devotion for this great

saint and an extraordinary confidence in her.”

And the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incar-

nation, the thirtieth of September, 1665, writes to

her son: ‘‘that there is near Quebec, a church of

Saint Anne where Our Lord performs great wonders

in favor of this holy mother. There one sees the

paralytic walk, the blind recover their sight, and the

sick, no matter from what malady they suffer, re-

gain their health.”

Father Mercier, Superior of the Missions of New

France, in 1667 described the wonders worked at

Beaupre and he stated “that the happy results and

beginnings cause him to hope, that through the in-



GOOD SAINT ANNE 71

tercession of Saint Anne, God will lavish His bles-

sings upon this new country of Canada.”

Let us signal out one more illustrious person

who exalted Saint Anne, Monsieur d’ Iberville.

This hero, always victorious, related ‘^that

through the intercession of Saint Anne marked

favors were granted.” During his adventurous trav-

els through Louisiana, in the midst of his hazardous

trips over many oceans, d’Iberville was upheld, en-

couraged and fortified by the protection of Saint

Anne, the patron saint of Canada.

Finally, we wish to mention the respect, the

veneration and the confidence of the Indians, those

intrepid children as free as the oaks of the forest,

who feared no obstacle and who retreated before

nothing, not even death, and who, however, at the

approach of July 26, according to the Relations, set

out for the Sanctuary of Beaupre to beg the Patron

Saint of Canada to bless their hunting expeditions,

protect them against sickness and famine, make

them victorious over their enemies, and who as they

approached the hallowed spot where they prayed to

the good Saint Anne of the North, knelt down and

advanced on their knees to the very door of the

chapel. And there, what a touching spectacle it

was, to see tears flowing from their eyes as they

fixed their gaze upon the rough statue of the Saint,

while from their lips instinctively, in their own na-

tional tongue, came forth songs and hymns of love

and praise.

Let it not be said that it is an easy matter to

scan through three centuries and find there a few



72 NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANNE

facts and testimonials, and then group them together

to exalt without reason a hero or a heroine.

This objection can be answered easily by saying

that the contrary is proved by a visit to the Sanc-

tuary of Beaupre and one glance at the testimonials

accumulated in the sanctuary and the nave of the

majestic basilica erected by numerous alms of pious

pilgrims. Let a careful count of the ex-votos be

taken; let a careful perusal of the manuscripts and

records of the parish be made, and then it will be

possible to realize the great number of spiritual and

temporal favors which form a crown of glory and

gratitude for Saint Anne, without making mention

of marked favors which do not appear upon the

walls of a church nor in its archives, but which are

impressed in the hearts of the favored many, the

converts and the answered petitioners. Let us ask

the million and more pilgrims who each year come

to kneel at the foot of the beloved statue what they

have felt at the sanctuary of the great wonder-

worker, and what sentiments of confidence and love

they have experienced from their visit to the great

saint!

And if this be not sufficient, let us stop at every

hamlet village, city, not only of Canada but of the

United States as well, and wherever we meet with

Catholic families, let us ask the children as well as

the parents, their sentiments regarding St. Anne.

Almost unanimously they will answer, ‘‘Good St.

Anne is our mother, our protectress, the confidant of

our souls, and we love to pray to her each day.”

Moreover, should we travel through the entire

North American continent in search of tangible evi-



GOOD SAINT ANNE 73

dence, everywhere, whether it be in the large cities

themselves, or on the banks of rivers, or on the

slopes of mountains, or in the valleys, from the

Atlantic to the Pacific, are to be found sanctuaries

dedicated to Saint Anne, chapels dedicated to her

name, statues erected in her honor, villages placed

under her protection, confraternities who proudly
bear her name, and in innumerable families faded

pictures of the saint which have grown yellow with

age.

In the United States Saint Anne is honored in a
special manner, although her shrine at Beaupre is

the magnet which attracts hundreds of thousands of
their citizens each year. This is conclusively proved

by the fact that of their forty-eight states there are
only four having no religious buildings or institu-

tions dedicated to Saint Anne. The Reverend and
learned Father Aubin, C. SS. R., has counted and

enumerated more than two hundred and fifty church-
es, chapels and shrines dedicated to Saint Anne in
the United States.

May Saint Anne continue to extend over us her
rem.arkable protection and shower upon us the
choicest gifts of heaven! May we ever strive to be
more and more worthy of them!



LITANY IN HONOR OF SAINT ANNE

To be said privately

Lord have mercy on us.

Lord have mercy on us.

Christ have mercy on us.

Christ have mercy on us.

Lord have mercy on us.

Lord have mercy on us.

Christ hear us.

Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven.

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God,

Have mercy on us.

St. Anne, Grandmother of our Savior,

Pray for us.

St. Anne, Mother of Mary, Virgin and Mother,

St. Anne, Ark of Noah,

St. Anne, Ark of the Covenant,

St. Anne, Root of Jesse,

St. Anne, Fruitful vine,

St. Anne, Issue of a royal race,

St. Anne, Joy of Angels,

St. Anne, Daughter of the Patriarchs,

St. Anne, Filled with grace,

St. Anne, Mirror of obedience,

St. Anne, Mirror of patience.

Pray

for

us



LITANY IN HONOR OF SAINT ANNE 75

St. Anne, Mirror of mercy,

St. Anne, Mirror of piety,

St. Anne, Bulwark of the Church,

St. Anne, Liberator of the captives,

St. Anne, Refuge of sinners,

St. Anne, Consoler of the married,

St. Anne, Mother of widows,

St. Anne, Mother of virgins,

St. Anne, Mother of the sick,

St. Anne, Harbor of salvation,

St. Anne, Light of the blind,

St. Anne, Tongue of the dumb,

St. Anne, Hearing of the deaf,

St. Anne, Consolation of the afflicted,

St. Anne, Help of all who have recourse to

thee.

Our Father! Hail Mary!

God has loved St. Anne.

And delighted in her beauty.

>»
ei

PRAYER

Almighty and Eternal God, who didst vouchsafe

to choose St. Anne to be mother of the Mother of

Thine only Son, grant, we beseech Thee, that we,

who keep her in remembrance, may through her

prayers attain the everlasting life. Through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.



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Home, School and Co.
Maid of the Sacred Sword.
Why Do We Pray for The Dead?
Learn of Me.
Are Mercy-Kllllngs Justifiable?
The Bible.
Modern Indifferentism and Theological Science.
The Traveler’s Guardian.
Prophets of Decadence.
My Conversion.
For Better, For Worse.
Lessons To Be Learned from Persecutions.
Constitution of The United States.
Christ’s Last Words From The Cross.
Lent and Its Observance.
St. Patrick, A.nostle of Ireland.
The Converted Jew.
Novena for the Feast of Pentecost.
The Catholic Mother—Her Glory.
A Martyr to the Seal of Confession.
Devotion to St. Anthony of Padua,

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OUR SUNDAY VISITOR. Huntington, Ind.



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