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HISTORY

or TBI

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIKGIN MARY,

MOTHER OF GOD.

CHAPTER I.

OUrOIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE DEVOTION TO MABT.

The invocation of Saints, wliich heretics impute to us as idolatry,
and which a Protestant minister has been pleased to set down as
the maladij of tlie Christians of the fourth century^ is so far from
being of modern date that it may, in truth, be regarded as of Apos-
tolical tradition and of Jewish origin. The Hebrews sought counsel
and miraculous cures of the dead, when those dead had been accred-
ited prophets of the Lord. The prophets were their saints, and
saints who read the future clearly, from the depths of the sepulchral
cave where they slept beside their fathei-s. Behold Saul with the
witch of Endor ; the ghost of Samuel, though conjured up by en-
chantments which the law of Moses condemns, appeared by God's
permission, to terrify the reprobate monarch. The prophet, shroud-
ed in his mantle, emerges slowly from the earth in awful majes+3'- ;
the sorceress utters a cry of teri'or at sight of the illustrious shade
which she takes for a God. Saul, bowing down before him who was
so long the supreme judge of Israel, questions him on the issue of
the battle which he is going to fight with the Philistines ; and the

X'lim'^W

!>"' ■

ii'VrV(;>'<c3 2

ftSS&*

IIISTOUY OK TlllO I)i;VOTU)^ To U'lIK

[CIIAP. I. J|!^

proj)lu't auawers him in a voice which no breath of life accompanies,
for his body is at Ramatha, mourned by all Israel: "To-morrow,
thou and thy eons shall be with me : and the Lord will also deliver
the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines !"

The Jews believed, then, that their saints knew the future.

In the fourtii book of Kings, we see a dead man restored to life
by touching the bones of Eliseus.

The saints of Israel, therefore, wrought miracles.

"We read in the second book of Maccabees that the high-pnest
Onias and the prophet Jeremiah were seen, after their death, pray-
ing for the people ; and we find in the Gemare that Caleb escaped
from the hands of his pursuers, because he went to the tomb of his
ancestors to ask them to intercede for him, that he miglit escape.*

Hence, the Jews believed that the intercession of the departed
just was of some avail.

From the earliest times of their settlement in Palestine, the Isra-
elites visited the tomb of Eachel, a primitive monument composed
of twelve enormous stones, whereon every pilgrim inscribed his
name ; the tomb of Joseph, the saviour of his brethren, — wJioi'elones
pi'ophesled,^ — was also a place of prayer.

On the dispersion of the tribes, such immense crowds flocked to
the sepulchral cave of Ezechiel, on the banks of the Chobar — the
same place where he had his divine visions — that the Chaldeans,
fearing lest these vast assemblages might conceal, under the cloak
of religion, some political project, resolved to take the pilgrims by
surprise, and disperse them at the point of the sword ; a massacre
would inevitably have followed, if the dead prophet had not wrought
a miracle to save his people, by dividing the waters of the Chobar. J
This sepulchre of a saint of Israel was surrounded by a superb edi-
fice, and before it burned, day and night, a golden lamp, which the
leaders of the captive people were charged to keep up ;§ it is now
once more a mere cavern ; but still it is visited by all the Jews of

'VM

* Wagenseil, Excerptu ex Gem,

•}• Eccles., ch. xlix., v. 18.

X Benjamin of Toledo, Itinerary, p. 70-80.

§ Epiphau., de Vitis Prophetarum, v. ii, v. 241.

•mi/

CUAP. 1.]

BLESSED VIROnf liAnY.

Asia, who never pass tlvrough Bagdad Avitliout turning aside to pray
there.

At the foot of Orontos, whose rich foliage waves over a thousand
silvery streams which reflect the splendour of the Asiatic sun, there
is a city — once royal and magnificent — lying extended amid ruined
columns, prostrate temples, and mausoleums of red granite with
inscriptions written in some language long unknown: it is Ecbatana,
the ancient capital of the Medes, now the obscure Ilamadan. At
one of the extremities of the fallen city rises a brick monument, the
door of which, according to the old sepulchral style of the country,
is veiy small and made of one solid stona : it is the tomb of a young
queen, fair and virtuous, who braved death to save her people — the
noble Esther, who wiiS laid there on a bed of ivory overlaid with
gold, embalmed in musk and amber, and wrapped in a shroud of
Chinese silk,* beside the ^ eat Hebrew patriot Mardochai.f This
illustrious tomb, which the Jews of Persia regard as a place of
peculiar sanctity, and to which they repair in crowds at the time
of the feast of Phurira,J is still, and has been for two thousand
years, the term of a pilgrimage.

In the middle ages, under the Saracen domination, the Arabs
having threatened the Jews with a general massacre during a
grievous drought which prevailed all over Syria and Palestine, if
rain did not fall on a day appointed, they gathered in great num-
bers around the tomb of Zachary, which is still to be seen in the

* He built bcr a mausolcnra after the manner of tlie Iranians, (Iran ".is, before
Cyrus, tlie true name of tlio vast kingdom which is now called Persia,) fill ' h'v skull
with musk and amber, wrapped her body in Chinese silk, placed her, as « igs are
placed, on a throne of ivory, and hung her crown above her ; then they paintud tlio
door of the tomb red and blue." (Firdousi, Book of Kings, Kci Khosrou.)

•f Travels of Sir Robert Ker Porter in Persia avd Armenia. The present toinb
of Esther and of Mardochai occupies the same place as did the old, which was
destroyed by Tamerlane.

X This festival, which was instituted at Suza by Mardocha* and Esther, was
solemnly celebrated on the 14th or 15th day of the month of Adcr, which is our
February moon. The Jews had formerly a custom of making a wooden cross on
which they painted Aman, and dragged it through the city, so that every one might
see it. Tliey afterwards burnt it, and threw the ashes into the river. The emperor
Theodosins forbade them to enact this comedy, fearing that it might possibly Lave
reference to the death of Christ.

i.\

lIISTOUy OV THK UKVOTION TO THE

CHAP. J.

vicinity of Jerusalem, fusted nncl pmyed for several days in sack-
cloth and ashes, in order to obtain from God, through tlie intercession
of that prophet, that he might save them from certain death by
making it rain upon the earth.

The custom of applying to the living the merits of the dead, la
of Hebrew oi-igin; the proof of this is found in a liturgj' of the
synagogue of Venice. In the office entitled Mazir nechamot,
(^remembrance of sovh,) we find a prayer conceived in the following
terms : " Hear us, O Jehovah, for the sake of those who loved thee
and are now no more ; hear us, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacol), Sara, Rachel," &c.

The invocation of saints is not, then, a CaiJiolic invention.

Besides the saints, the Jews prayed to the angels, whom the
ancient Arabs also invoked, and to whom the Assyrians offered
sacrifice, attributing to them charming functions on the earth.*
Jacob confesses himself indebted to an angel for deliverance fi'om
the evils which threatened him, and beseeches him to bless his
children : Angelus qui cripuit me de ainctis malis lenedicat pueris
istis.\ This prayer is addressed to an angel. It is even thought
that the Jews carried the worship of the angels too far, since they
are suspected of adoring them.;}; This veneration, or worship, never
ceased amongst the modern Jews till the time of the pretended
Reformation, when they abandoned it in order to conciliate tlie
German innovators. There exists in the Vatican library a Hebrew
manuscript containing a litany composed by R. Eliezer Hakalir,
wherein is said to the angel Actariel: "Deliver Israel from all
afliiction, and quickly procure its redemption." Similar favoura

m
it

rti!"

* Amongst the Persians, every month was under the protection of an angel ; to the
nngels was confided the care of seas, rivers, springs, pastures, flocks, trees, herbs,
fruits, flowers, and seeds ; they also guided the stars ; prayers were offered to the
angels soliciting their protection in danger. Tlie modern Persians still sacrifice to the
angel of the moon. (Firdousi, ^ooAq/"Ar«n^s. — Chardin, Voyage en Perse.)

■\ Genesis xlviii., v. 1 G.

J Tlie author of the Preaching of St. Peter, which is very ancient, cited by St,
Clement of Alexandria, makes that Apostle say that we must not adore God witii the
Jews, because, althou,:^h they profess to acknowledge but ore God, they adore th»
»ngels. (Clem. Alex., b v.)

^?^

OIIAV. I.]

TO THE MOTIIKIl

(lOD.

are naked of Btirachiol, Watliiiil, and other princea of the licavenly.
cotirt. The litany ended l)y saying to JMlchael : " Prince of mercy,
pray for Israel, that it may bo greatly exalted."

Tiio tombs of the martyrs were very early venerated by the
Christians of Asia; the fii-st to which pilgrimage was made wa^
most probably that of St. John the Baptist, which, after the Holy
Sepulchre and the tomb of the Blessed Virgin, is the most rospectod
by Orientals of all creeds. The body of the precursor of the man-
God was at Samaria, where it was visited by St. Paula in the fourtli
centurj^ and his head, carefully embalmed by his disciples, was at
Hems, whence it was transported to Damascus in the reign of
Tlu'odosius. It was placed in a superb church bearing the title of
St. Zachary, which took, thenceforward, that of St. John. The
calij)!! Abdelmelek took forcible possession of this church, and now
the venerated tomb of him Avho was a projjJiet ami more than a
prophet, is enclosed within a Turkish mosque ; but it is neither
solitary nor ^vithont honour ; the Mussulmans come there from all
parts on pilgrimage, and the celebrated Saadi himself relates, in
his Guliatan, that, going to pray there, he met with princes from
Arabia. At the close of the first century, the faithful of Asia
Minor were wont to repair in gi-eat numbere to Ephesus to visit
the tomb of St. John the Evangelist, the dust of which, carefully
gathered, was said to effect marvellous cures.*

St. Stephen, the first martyr, whose relics wrought so many
miracles, as attested by St. Augustine, and who died before the
Blessed Virgin, was likewise very early invoked by the primitive
Christians, who also venerated the blessed i-eniains of St. Ignatius
and St. Polycarp.f St. Aster of Amasia has preserved to us, in a

r/^.

* St. Augiistiiio speaks of the mirnculoiis cures wrought by dust from the tomb of
St. John the Evangelist. There is now seen amongst the ruins of Ej)hesus, tlie church
of St. John, of which the Turks had made a mosque.

f The history of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, written in the form of a letter, in
the name of the church of Smyrna, by those who had tiicmselves witnessed it, and
addressed to the church of Philomel, contains these words : " We took fi'om the lire
his bones, more precious than gold or jewels, and we put them in a suitable place,
where wo hope to as.^cmble every year to celebrate the festival of the Lord's martyr,
to the end that those who come after us may bo encouraged to prepare for similar

'. \

1 I
i

P^'lPJ!^

msTouy OF niB devotiox

to-

ff-fi

fiori.ion on tlio murtyrs, tlic pniyop iiddrossed l»y u Christiim of the

<ii^if^ cfti'ly dayrt to a saint whoso tomb hIio visited: "Tlioit didst invoke

tli(! mnrlyrs l)o{oro thou Avert tliyst'lt' a niartyr ; • thou liaat sought

\'(jill)£ '"'*^ found; bo tlion liberal of the blessings which thou hast

received."

Eusebius of Cicsaroo, who flourished towards the end of the third
century, defending our sacred dogmas against the sophisma of the
idolatei-s, rests on the lionoui-s Avhich they paid to their ancient
heroes to justify the veneration of saints, and continues in these
terms : " Wo honour as friends of God those who have fought for
the true religion ; wo go to their tombs ; wo oSer them our vows,
professing to believe that through their intercession with G*' '1. we
are powerfully succoured."*

These words of Eusebius, who, in his double capacity of bishop
and historian, must necessarily have been Avell informed, clearly
indicate an ancient usage, a custom approved by the Chrreh and
generally received. On the other hand, Vigilantius and Arius,
enemies of the veneration of saints, were openly treated as innovor
tors and heretics hy St. Epiphanius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine
Now is it to be presumed that these great doctoi-s would have
iiV4!M dared to set down as heretics and innovators men Avho laboured
but to establish in its native purity the ancient doctrine of the
Church? The word innovators explains all; and it must not be
forgotten that Vigilantius lived at a period so near the times of the
Apostles that there was between them and him not more than three
generations I

St. Cjqirian, who suffered martyrdom in Carthage in the year
2G1, shows us the Christians of Africa crowding to the gloriong
tombs of the martyi-s, making a funeral repast there on the day of
their anniversary, and so eager to invoke them that, not even
iA'aiting for their death, they went to solicit the prayers of those
imprisoned confessors of the faith who had as yet survived their

combats." St. Polycnrp consummated liis sacrifR-o in the year 166, on the 23(1 of
Jnmiary, on wliich cloy the church of Smyrna kept iiis festival in the middle of the
third century, as we sec by tlie acts of St. Peter.
* Praimr. Evang., b. xiii., ch. 7.

sSim

P.^1

ClIAJ".

TO 'I'lii: .MoTiiini t)K (lui).

T)P^>

tonnciiK* St. John Clirysostom, on liia side, osscrtfl tliut In his
time th(! tonilrt of tho -"irtyrs constituted tho fmrcst orniiuK'nt of
royal citicH; tlmt tho days wliich wore conseo.Mted to thtjni wero
(hiy.Hot'joy ; that tlie great men ot' tho empire, nnd oven tho emperor
himself, laid awide tho proud insignia of their po\rer before they
dared to cross the threshold of tho sacred places which contained

tho revered sepulchres of the servants of tho crucified God

" How much more illustrious," exclaims the groat Christian orator,
" are the momimenta erected to old men who were ])oor and humblo
while on earth, than tho tombs of the mightiest kings ! Around
tho tombs of kings reign silence and solitude ; hero do multitudes
throng with prayer and homage."f

IJehold, then, tho worship of didla, (of saints,) which Protestants
style idolatrous and detestable — behold what it wi\s in those ages
which they tliemselves call tho ages by excellence, the pure age<9.\

As to the worship of hijperduUa^ (of the Blessed ^'irg;n,) which
without being adoration — wliich God forbid it was! — is far superior
to that of tho saints, it commenced, apparently, at her very tomb.
Tho Jewish doctors have preserved to us, in the Talmud, a historical
fact long unknown, which establishes the high antiquity of this pious
veneration so much blasphemed. A tradition of tho temple, recorded
in their Toldos — that book wherein the Virgin is so grossly abused,
and which they early circuhited through Greece, Pereia, and every
place where it could at all injure Christianity — relates that the
Xazarenes, who came to pray at the tomb of the mother of Jesus,
undei'weut a violent persecution from the princes of the synagogue,
and that a hundred Christians, kinsfolk of Jesus Christ, w(!r*' put to
death for having raised an oratory over her tomb.§ This act of
barbarous fimaticism of which they boast, being quite conformable
to their treatment of St. Stephen, St. James, and St. Paul, and tho
oratory erected over a venerated tomb being in no way obnoxious
to their customs and traditions, this fact, it seems to us, may be

h}}

^.^w

>t A

* St. Cypriiin, Epist. 28.

j" St. Cliry.sost., Ilom. 66 ad pop. Antioch.

\ Diiille, ill hi.s book of Latin Tradition*, b. it., ch. 16

§ Toldos Jfuldr., p. 115

rvi

!t:r

«r^

Il I

^^^

IIISTOKY OF THE DEVOTION

[chap, l jy.

X:>f

WiH

msl

m&^'

regarded as authentic, even Avitliput any very great stretch of
crediility.

Tradition, supported by religious monuments, asserts that the
worship of Mary is of Apostohc tradition. St. Peter, on his way to
Antioch, raised, it is said, in or . of the cities of ancient Phoenicia,
an oratory to the Blessed Virgin, and gave it a solemn consecration ;
St. John the Apostle placed the beautiful church of Lydda under
the invocation of his adoptive mother; the first church of Milan
was dedicated to Mary by St. Barnabas the Apostle. Our Lady
of the Pilhr^ in Spain, and Om' Lady of Carmd^ in Syria, dispute
the priority with these churches, and their claims are more boldly
advanced, though more contestable. According to the Spanish
tradition,* the Blessed Virgin should have appeared to St. James,
before her death, on the ijanks of the Ebro, and commanded him to
build a church on that spot. According to the Syrian tradition,
the prophet Agabus, the same Avho predicted the famine which
took place under Claudius, slundd have erected, also in the Virgin's
lifetime, ;\at church which is seen from so far at sea, and Avhere
pilgiims and travellers of all religions and of every region receive,
in the name of Mary, such affecting hospitality. Without disputing
the antiquity of these two sanctuaries, very venerable indeed, and
justly revered by all nations, we must be permitted to say that it is
very unhkely that the Blessed Virgin, the humblest of the daughters
of Eve, would have solicited the Apostles, during her lifetime, to
build churches in her honour. That the gratitude of nations and
the piety of the Apostles may have erected them after her death,
is both simple and natural, but that she gave orders for any during
her life is extremely doubtful.

As to the oratory of Carmel, Flavins Josephus, who particularly
mentions the disciples of Ellas in connection with Vespasian, (to
whom one of them promised the empire,) nowhere says that they
were then converted to Christianity, and the contrary is inferred
from his recital. This negative authority is very important.

* Cronologia sacra . . . al ano 35 de Crista.

•'^

V'/^>Y

oiiAP. n.]

BLESSED VIBOIN MART.

lirst ^txiah flf t^t §Mim ta Itarii.

BKFORE OONBTANTINI.

CHAPTER n.

THE BA.8T. — ii>OLB.

As we Lave already observed, the devotion to the Mother *of
God had its ori.oin at her very tomb, and the first lamp lighted in
honour of Mary was a sepulchral lamp, around which the Christians
of Jerusalem came to pray. This, it would seem, did not last long ;
the synagogue — oppressive, like all dominations beset by the fear
of sudden overthrow, and suspicious, like all who are conscious of
evil-doing — became alarmed at the simple homage rendered to the
mother of the young prophet whom it had not only refused, after
all his miracles, to acknowledge as the Messiah, but audaciously
crucified, as a seditious man and an impostor, between two thieves.
It extinguished the lamps, silenced the hymns, and mercilessly killed
the first servants of Mary; so, at least, we are informed by the
synagogue itself, and we know that it was very fit to do it. This
was done a little through fanaticism, a little through self-love, and a
little through fear. The Jewish authorities would not that that
Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had unjustly condemned to an
ignominious death, should arise, he and his, from the obloqny of the
Golgotha. It was annoying to hear that the Galilean whom they
called a son of Belial, and whose miracles they treated as vain
illusions, was truly God, and his mother a great saint ; and then it
feared that this new worship, connected with the religion of the
tombs, and supported by the incontestable miracles wrought by the
Apostles in Jerusalem, might operate injuriously on the JicJde mind
of the multitude and provoke a dangerous reaction in favour of the
crucified prophet. In fine, as it frankly acknowledged to Peter and
John, it had no wish to be called on by the people to account for

the blood of Jesus.
IG

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[ciiAP. n.

For all these reasons, the senators and chief priests took another
step on the slippery road of guilt, in order to justify the abominable
sentence which they had wrung from the Romans, and they openly
boasted of having stifled in the bud the devotion to the Blessed
Virgin. Their iniquitous hopes were defeated. The most furious
tyrants, even when most implicitly obeyed in the gloomy caprices
of their cruelty, cannot kill remembrance, that flower of the soul
which blooms, mysterious and consoling, in the inaccessible region
of ideas, and is but rooted the more firmly by the wind of perse-
cution. The memory of the Virgin-mother resisted this Jewish
hurricane ; people sang no more in her grotto, but they went there
to weep, and the tears which devotion sheds are equal tc the incense
of Saba, which, itself, trickles like tears from the pierce '. bark,

Violently uprooted by the sacrilegious hands of the ] -.••inces of the
reprobate people of God, the veneration of Mary was transplanted
by the Apostles to the still idolatrous land of the stranger. In
th'eir own lifetime they saw it beginning to appear in Syria, Meso-
potamia, Asia Minor, Egypt and Spain. It is true, that this devotion,
so tender and so poetical, which was to replace the , impure and
seductive woi-ship of the divinities of Olympus, shone, at first but
like a small star on the zenith of a few cities ; for Christianity was,
in the beginning, only the religion of cities, and of the common
people in those cities. Paganism, repudiated by all serious minds,
despised by philosophers, I'idiculed on the stage, where men publicly
read the last w>ll and testament of Jiipitei^ deceased, and scoffed at
in the true Voltairian style by the young Ejiicureans of the imperial
court,* retained, nevertheless, an incredible number of partisans ;
connected with numerous interests, defended l)y prejudice and by
ancient supei-stitions, attractive from the splendour of its festivals.
and mingled with every glorious recollection, it still dazzled, though
on its decline. Proud of its advantages, it did not, at first, conde-
scend to fear the carpenter's son and the young spinner of JSktzareth .}

* Most people are familiar with the sarcastic jost of that courtier of Nero, who,
being scolded and threatened by an old priestess for having {{illcd one of her sacred
geese, threw her two gold pieces, saying, " There, you can bny both gods and geese.'

f See Celsus.

W.-

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OKAP. U.]

BLESSED VmOIN' MART.

hem ? it saw them not. The religion of the poor
J mother advanced, noiselessly, by the rough and

How could it :.

God and his h >1

toilsome medium of the people ; it addressed itself especially to the

artisan, the woman, the slave, to all, in fine, who were weak and

lowly, and oppressed by pagan society— that society so profoundly

selfish, so avaricious, so effeminate and corrupt, and which was

briUiant and cold as its marble gods.

It was soon perceived that the moral vorld — that old decrepit
Titan — was growing young again under the mighty though secret
influence of a regenerating charm. "What magician had restored to
that new .^on the fresh, warm blood of its earlier years ? What
new Prometheus had scaled the heights of heaven to bring down to
man, frozen to death by selfishness, a spark of the sacred fire ? For
there was no overlooking the fact that society was pregnant of
something sti'ange and grand which was to restore its pristine love-
liness and strength ; it was becoming again, to all appearance, what
it was in the days so lamented by Horace, when it despised pomp,
honoured the gods, and esteemed poverty as an honour. Invisible,
but pei"severing hands, seemed ali'eady to have raised from their
ruins, where they lay beneath the grass of ages, the altar of chastity,
and the austere temples of Faith, Honour, and Virtue. Beneficence,
long unhonoured with the smoke of sacrifice, in the frantic
pureuit of material pleasures, began once more, it seems, to be
mysteiiously respected. The old equality of the age of Saturn
re-appeared here and there ou the earth. In fine, Humanity bore
hi her arms the children whom the elegant matrons of pagan society
exposed on the banks of the river, in the depths of the forest, and
on the verge of the precipice, where the eagles, dogs, and wild
beasts tore them to pieces.* Charity, sustaining with one vigorous
arm the old man panting under his load of toil, extended the other
to the infirm creatures abandoned on the stej)s of the temples. O,
gods of Greece, wandering gods who were sheltered beneath the
cottage-roof of Philemon and Baucis, did you again traverse the

* Philo gives details of this abominable citstoin of exposing helpless abaudoued
children, which are enough to make one's hair stand oa end. It was only the Jewi
who then condemned this barbarous practice.

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTIOX TO THE

oarth to restore thereon the fair reign of virtue? Not so; for yon
were, as the Scriptui'e says, deaf gods, powerless gods, blind gods,
or, rather, you were nothing.

Behold 1 In the midst of that society — ^luxurious, effeminate,
crowned with roses, drinking to the gods of Olympus from golden
cups — there are seen, here and there, groups of persons with noble
aspect and austere demeanour, who avert their eyes from those
pagan orgies with indignation mingled with ridicule. . . . Can these
be Stoic philosophei-s ? No; for they give a tear of pity to the
supplicating poor, while placing in their hand the liberal alms,
concealing themselves as they do so. Can that be a vestal, that
young maiden who walks, with folded hands and eyes cast down,
beside her mother, veiled like herself? No ; for she has neither the
embroidered zone, nor the purple-bordered robes of the amatcs*
and modesty is her only ornament. Those youthful widows who
light no more the hymeneal turch,f whilst the great ladies of
])aganism reckon their divorces by consulates, J whence come they ?
And those young men who bow with reverence before the aged,
blush like young maidens, and yet, in war, are brave as lions, who
are they ? They are not seen in the theatre, they frequent not the
circus, they figure not in the pagan festivals with garlands of flowera
or baskets of sacred fruit on their heads, and pass by the stately
temples of Greece and Rome without entering. The sight of a
sacrifice makes them fly, and they quickly shake off from their dark
cloaks the drops of purifying water which fall on them by chance.
Finally, they prefer to die rather than touch the meats offered to
the gods. Can these men be impious, they whose hands close with
gold the gaping wounds of misery, whose lives are the mirror of

* The vestals bore the name of Amaioi in memory of Amnta, the first Roman
virgin who was consecrated to the worship of Vesta. (Aulu-Gcll., b. i., ch. 12.)

f The austere chastity of the Christian women excited tlie admiration of the pagans
tliomsclves. St. John Chrysostcm mentions that the famous sophist Libanius, from
wliom lie took lessons in oratory, hearing from him that his mother had been left a
widow at twenty, and would never take a second husband, exclaimed, turning to hiH
idolatrous audience, " gods of Greece I what women ore found amongst thc«e
Christians 1" {Sancti Chrysostomi vita.)

X Seneca, Treatise on Favours, b. iii.

«r^

OIIAP.

BLESSED VUiOIN >IAUY.

propriety ? No ; for they assemble tlirice in tlie day, and sometimes
in the night,* to pray in common, '^•ith uplifted hands, to- an
unknown God ; and, on the altar of their ancient household deities,
where the lamp still burns,f may be seen the graceful image of a
young Asiatic woman, half veiled in a light blue drapery, J holding
in her arms a divine infant. That woman, with the calm, deep
eyes, is the Inspirer of chastity, modesty, devotion, mercy; the
guardian of honour, the protectress of ]u)me ; in a word, that sweet
Virgin Mary to whom the Greeks have given the beautiful name
of Panagia^ which means all holy.

Asia claims the honour of having placed the first oratory and
chapel under the invocation of Mary; the most ancient of these
shrines was Our Lady of Tortosa, which St. Peter himself founded,
according to the Eastern traditions, on the coasts of Phoenicia.
These early Syrian churches were, at first, but very simple struc-
tures, with cedar roofs and latticed windows. The altar was turned
towards the west, like that of Jerusalem, and during the day a
wooden screen concealed the sanctuary, in memory of the famous
veil of t'ae Holy of Holies. There were crosses in those churches ;
and there were also, at a very early period, pictures of Mary, for
tradition relates that her image was painted on one of the pillars in
the beautiful church of Lydda, which had been dedicated to her by
her adopted son, and that St. Luke presented to the cathedral of
Antioch a portrait of the Virgin painted by himself This image.

"^rm

* The first Cliristians met to pray at the hours of Tierce, Sexte, and None, as
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ; they passed the niglit in pra3'cr on tlie eve of
great festivals, singing hymns in honour of Jesus Christ, as St. Basil and Socrates
testify.

f The gods which were indiscriminately named Lares or Penates were the tutelary
gods of houses. They had tlitir own distinct worsliip. Wine and incense were
offered to them ; they were crowned with flowers, and a lamp was kept burning before
their little statues. There was found, under ground, in Lyons, in l.'JOS, a co]iper
lamp with two sockets, the chain sealed in a piece of marble, bearing this iuscripiion :

Lnribu3 Mcrum.
P. F. Uomuiii —
h'hich signifies, Puhlicce fdlcitali liomanorum.

X In the oldest pictures of the Virgin, being those painted on wood, whose high
antiquity is indisi)utable, she wears almost always a blue veil.

I I

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niSTOBY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. n.

to whicli tlie mother of God was believed to have attached signal
graces, became so famous that the Empress Pulcheria had it brought
to Constantinople, where she built a magnificent church to place it in.

Edessa, the capital city of that king Abgarus who was on the
point of making war on the Jews to revenge the death of our Lord,
and who was only prevented from doing so through fear of the
Romans, their masters, as Eusebius tells us, had also, in the firet
century, its church of Our Lady, adorned with a miraculous image.
Egypt boasts of having had, about the same time. Our Lady of
Alexandria, and Saragossa in Spain, then called Caesar Augusta, its
famous shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar. But no where was the
devotion to Mary carried on with such enthusiastic fervour as in
Asia Minor. Ephesus, where the memory of the Blessed Virgin
was still fresh and vivid, soon built in honour of Mary the Miriam,
a superb cathedral, wherein was held, in the fifth century, the
famous council which confirmed her proud title of Mother of God.

This example was followed from one end of the immense Roman
provinces to the other. Phrygia, having become Christian, con-
signed to oblivion those Trojan gods sung by Homer ; Cappadocia
suffered those sacred fires to die away which the Persians had
kindled side by side with the elegant temples of the Grecian
deities; and the caverns, whose gloomy vaults had so recently
witnessed the bloody mysteries of Mithra,*' became, during the
religious persecutions — which no where broke out with greater
fury than amongst those Greek colonies — a place of refuge for the
Christians and their proscribed God. At length, the gods of
Greece — those indigenous deities, sprung from the sparkling foam
of the ^gean sea, born under the still-existing palms of the

* The worship of Mithra, before it reached Greece or Rome, had passed from
Persia into Cappadocia, where Strabo, who travelled there, says that he saw a great
number of the priests of Mithra. The mysteries of Mithra, which were celebrated in
the depth of caverns, were something horrible, according to the holy Fathers. Ilumau
victims were there sacrificed, as appears from a fact mentioned by Socrates in his
EcL-lesiiistical History, viz., that the Christians of Alexandria having discovered a
den which had been long closed up, and in which the Mithraic mysteries were said
to have been formerly celebrated, they found therein human skulls and boues which
they took out to show to the people of that great city.

OllAP. U.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

Cyclades, or cradled in the shade of the woods which crown the
lofty mountains of Crete — were abandoned for the God who died
on Calvary, and the humble Virgin of Nazareth; so truly, so
entirely abandoned, that Pliny the younger, on his arrival in
Bythinin, of which province he had been named governor, wrote to
Trajan that Christianity had not only invaded the cities, but the
rural districts, so much so that he had found the temples of the
gods of the empire completely deserted*

Asia Minor possessed, from the earliest times, miraculous images
of Our Lady. The two most famous were that of Didynia, where
St. Basil, during the reign of Julian, went to pray for the afflicted
Church, and that of Sosopoli, an image painted on wood, from
which there oozed out a marvellous oil, which operated the aston-
ishing cures referred to in the second council of Nice.

Greece, that brilliant land of arts and letters, was not more tardy
in honouring Mary. In the time of St. Paul, Corinth, where Greek
liberty, like an expiring lamp, had given one last brilliant flash, was
converted almost entirely to Christianity. The faithful met, at first,
in the vast halls of private houses, where the Virgin was solemnly
invoked. By degrees, the temples of Paganism were deserted, and
after the lapse of a hundred years the curious traveller made Lis
way alone up the steep sides of the Acro-Ceraunes to visit the tem-
ple of Venus, whose lofty porticos, rising above the surrounding sea
of green foliage, were traced on the Grecian sky, so deeply, darkly
blue. The protecting goddess of the Corinthians had been dethroned
by the holy woman who re-established in that effeminate country
modesty, so long unknown, and maternity, so long despised. Thanks
to her, the pure pleasures of the domestic circle, the touching joys of
home, were easily substituted for the shameful disorders, the gigan-
tic orgies, the depraved morals of that small republic which had ever
led the van in the march of corruption. Corinth transfigured be-
came a Christian Sparta, and the eulogy pronounced on its Church
by St. Clement, the pope, towards the end of the first cenlury, gives
a marvellous idea of its fervour.

* riinv, lib. X , epist. 97.

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IIISTOBT OF THE DEVOTION TO THB

[chap. U.

Pl U

Arcadia, whose forests were peopled with rural gods, and where
every grotto, every murmuring spring had its altar, likewise abjured,
though not 80 promptly, the worship of Pan and the Niiiads for the
veneration of the humble Virgin, whose divine child was pleased to
receive his firat homage from simple shepherds. But as ancient su-
perstitions are more difficult to eradicate from rural districts than
from any other places, it was long ^elieved in the Arcadian hamlets
that Diana still followed the chase in the depth of the great forests
of Menales and Lyceum. Young and credulous shepherdesses, divi-
ded between the Christian faith and their ancestral superstitions,
sometimes imagined that they saw, by the flickering light of the
moon, fair white Dryads amongst the trees. Naiads bending pensively
over the springs, or playful elves dancing on the buttercups and
daisies in the meadows. But, about the time of Constantine, the
Blessed Virgin had definitely prevailed over deified nature ; and the
numerous churches bearing her name, which still adorn the rustic
scenes of the land of the ancient Pelages, attest the profound devo-
tion of the Arcadians to the Virgin Mother.

Elida, too, vei y early built a church in honour of the Blessed Vir-
gin on the banks of its romantic river, the Alpheus, and as it was
surrounded by noble vineyards, it received the name of Our Lady
of Grapes.

Macedonia preceded Greece proper in the veneration of Mary.
Thessalonica had a bishopric even in the time of the Apostles, and
its church was a superb edifice with jasper columns, dedicated by
the pious Macedonians to the Blessed Virgin ; this structure is still
to be seen, but the Turks have converted it into a mosque.*

Nero, travelling in the Peloponnesus, did not dare to cross the fron
tiers of Laconia ; the stern gloom of Sparta inspired him v/ith fear.
The mild, sweet Virgin of Galilee was more valiant than Caesar ; she
passed the Eurotes, which hides its waves under rose-bays, and
presented herself to the people of Leonidas, whose ancient virtue was
preserved in the bitter, but invigorating waters of poverty. She
was welcomed with enthusiasm, and that brave people hastened to

1I.J

ni.KSSKD VIUOIN JIAUY.

build the fairest church of Greece in honour of that young foreign
Virgin who came to teach the daughtei-s of Sparta to cast down their
eyes.

Ever since that time, Mary reigns in Sparta Avith absolute power ;
for her are culled the earliest violets that bloom by the Eurota's
atreara ; it is before her im"ge, rudely painted in red and blue on
the walls of their dwellings, that the young Lacedemonians nightly
light a lamp of clay or bronze ; a pious act which is duly noticed
when the Grecian women pronounce the funeral enlogium of the
dead. Finally, the inhabitants of Laconia substituted the name of
Christ and the Virgin wherever their ancestors introduced the name
of Jupiter in affirmation, and this oatii has become of such common
use that even the Turks of Misistra, prior to the Greek revolution,
instead of swear.'ng by Allah and by Mahomet, like the other Mus-
sulmen, swore, like the Greeks of Sparta, by the Blessed Virgin.*

Athens, the elegant and learned, celebrated for its monuments,
the finest m the world, and ita schools, which were frequented by
the flower of the studious youth of Europe and Asia — Athens was
slower in being converted to Christianity than the other countries of
Greece. From the earliest times, however, it had had a bishop and
a church dedicated to Mary, Our Lady Spiliotissa, or our Lady of
the Grotto ; but polytheism was sheltered tinder the brilliant aegis
of Minerva, and Athens was at the same time full of Christian
churches and of idols. It was \» one of these churches that Julian
filled the office of lector, by command of the Emperor Constantius ;
but it was in the Parthenon that he was to plan the revival of idol-
atry, while reading Homer.

That the devotion to the Blessed Virgin had a po-werful influence
on the spread of the Gospel in Greece and in Asia, is a fact which
the habits and tastes of the Levantines would have rendered prob-^ -
ble even were it not attested, before all the bishops of the East, by
St. Cyril, at tlie first council of Ephesus, in a discourse which is still
extant. " Hail, Mary, Mother of God !" said that holy and learned
bishop ; " it is through you that, in the cities, the towns, and the

11^;

^ijAcJ

1,4

insToiiY or THE devotion to tiik

[chap,

islamls, of tlioso who Imvo received the true faith, numeroua churehca
have been founded 1"*

Beyond the great sea, several tribes of Arabs were converted to
Christianity, and greatly honoured Mary, the Sultana oflieaven, as
they still call her. Seated in the shade of the date-trees or tama-
rinds, which flourish best on the margin of brackish streams, and in-
haling with delight the freshness which the night brings in those
burning region8,f the story-tellers of the Christian t.'ibes, by the
light of those etei-nal lamps of God which they suppose fastened by
cliaiiis of gold to the vault of the flrmament,| related the principa";
facts in the life of the Blessed Virgin, colouring them with that mar-
vellous tint so pleasing to the sons of Ishmael. They told, accord-
ing to the Arab gospel of the holy childhood and the traditions of
the desert, how the holy angels came to bring to the Virgin, in the
temple where Zachary, her guardian, had placed her, delicious dates,
amber grapes, figs sweeter than honey, and odorous flowers gathered
in the celestial gardens where limpid streams and green trees abound ;
for Paradise, in warm climates, is always composed of fresh watei-s and
cool shades. And there, they recite, in their own peculiar style,
the prodigies of the birth of Jesijs, which they still call (Mussul-
men as they have since become) al milad — the hirth by excelkiice
They placed the scoje in the desert, on the banks of a stream and at
the foot of a withered palm-tree, which was suddenly covered witli
leaves and fruit at the bidding of the angel Gabriel, whom God had
sent to console Mary. These marvellous tales increasing their ven-
eration for the Blessed Virgin, they believed, in time, that they
might adore, in heaven, her whom angels had served on earth, and
they offered lier, in fact, oblations of cakes made of flour and honey ;

* S. Cyr. Alex. Oivr., v. v., \\ 2.

f Whilst the sun is above t!ie horizon, ns the heat is excessive in their climate, th''
Arabs usually remain under their tents. They go out when .sunset draws near, and
tlien enjoy the charnis of a lovelier sky and cooler air. The niglit is partly for tiieni
what the day is for us. Hence tlieir ]>oets never extol the charms of a fine day ; but
the words, " Leili ! leili ! O nij^ht ! O night 1" are repented in all their songs. (Sal«.,
note on the 7th rh. of tiie Koran.')

\ The iirst sky is of pure silver ; it is from its beantifnl vault tliat the stars are sus-
pended with strong chains of gold. {JSI'oran,thelcr;cn(l of Mtihomvt, by Savary, p. 15 '

s?r>

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CUAV. II. J

UM'MSEU VIKCIIN MAKV.

10 tj^A-S*^

ht'iioe their niinie c>f colhjridian-t, from the Greek word colhjn' (caki').
St. Epipluuuus warmly rebukes them for this worship, which excoeih^l
the prescribed limits, exi)laiuiiig to tliem that oblation and sftcrifice
are only to be ofl'ered to GoiL

Ou the other hand, the idolatrous Arabs had placed the image of
IMary in the Caaba, amongst the angels, whom they represented un-
der the figure of young women, and called the daughters of God*
INIary, whom they had made this sister of those pure spirits, came in
for u share of the divine honoura paid to them. They sacrificed
to her victims adorned with leaves and flowers ; they offered to hei
the fii-st of their crops, together with the fii-st dates from their trees,
and, in golden vases, the frothy milk of the sacred camels.f The
image of the Blessed Virgin with the divine child in her arms re-
mained in the temple of Mecca till the time of IMahomet, who had
it removed with the genii and the angels.

The holy name of Mary began to be invoked amongst the nations
who dwell between the Caspian and the Euxine seas ; but the shrines
of Judea and the scenes of the Redemption were, alas ! profaned by
Greek and Syrian idols which were only overthrown under Constan-
tine. The statue of Jupiter was sacrilegiously raised on the spot
where the weeping Mary saw Jesus crucified, and it was to Adonis
that sacrifice was offered in the cave of Bethlehem.

* Geliuk'ddin, note on the ICtli ch. of tlio Koran.

f Tlic idolatrous Arabs had several she-camels cousccrnted to the gods of the Caa-
ba ; the cream of their mill; served to make libations. (Savary, in a note on tlie 5th
ch. of the Koran.) The inhabitants of Mecca offered one portion of their fruits and of
their tloeka to Qod, another to their idols. (Gcladcddin, note ou tho 6Ui ch. of the
Koran.)

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IUSTkUY ok the devotion to TIIK

CHAPTER III.

TRI WEBT.-THI OATAOOUIt.

TiiK sncrcd vine of Cliristianity already flourished in Asia so as to
extend its hrnnchcs over a multitude of nations ;* but it did not tako
root so quickly in the West. Rome, thoroughly idolatrous — Rome,
drunk with the blood of martyra, which she shed like water — Rome
protected polytheism with all her power, and her power extended
over an entire world ! In the cast, a mysterious sign, which made
Satan tremble in the depth of the fiery abyss, announced that the king-
dom of God was near ; but in Italy, and the regions beyond the Alps,
Christianity was, as yet, in the condition of a secret society ; people
wore received into its ranks with all manner of caution and even
mystery ; its membei-s recognized each other by certain signs ; and,
doubtless, the sign of the cross, the origin of which is unknown, avos
one of those mysterious signs, which revealed an unknown Chnstian
to ln« brethren scattered through the crowd. It was not that the
Christians were so few in the regions of the West ; they were already
sufT-ciently numerous to form armies ; but pei-secuted by idolatrous
governors, tracked like wild beasts, and finding no protection in
the Roman laws, which recognized only to punish them, they lived
isolated as drops vpon the grass, as a dexo fir.ni the Lord, wJiich
waiteth not for man, nor tarriethfor the children of men.}

The first Latin churches were domestic chapels, and the ilrst altars,
portable wooden chests like the Ark, having the same form and the
same iron rings.| Those primitive churches of Rome, which were

* We learn from Arnobus and Eusebius that the Gospel, durinpf the three first cen-
turies, had spreac! ;'ar beyond the limits of the Roman empire, amongst the Persians,
tlie I'arthians, the Scytliians, and many other natiqns whom they do not name.
(Ariinb., Adv. Gentes, lib. ii. ch. 12. — Euseb., Dcmonst.Evang. 1. iii. ch. 5.

T Micheas, ch. v., v. 7.

X One of these altars, whereon St. Peter was tlionarht to have celebrated the divin.
inysterits, and wliich Pope St. Sylvester inclosed under the liiijh altar of St. John ii
Lateral!, was examined on the 29lh of ]\[areli, 1G58, under Alexander VII,, l)y the
L'avalier IJaromiiii, in coLi;ert with the chief sacristan of the church ; it is four palms

/ir?^^?7r^

'~ii

}

Sri

OIlAl'. IK.J

IILI>HK1> VIIIUIX MAKY.

1?1

ill cxiHti'iu-o bi'foro the luii fil of St. Paul, woro oompoHod (ihiofly of
(ii'«'(,'k8 and t'onvcrted Jowh; hut tin* Koinan people soon licardHpoak
of that nuw law which »aid that all iin a art* brothrou, that th«'y ar»j
all o<iuals, and oiight to love each other. They found this holy law
both fair and good; they would follow it, and came in crowds to
receive the regenerating waters of haptisrn. " It was then perceived,"
says Tacitus, "that Koine contained an incrodihlo numhi r of Chris
tians."* The pagan priests were troubled ; Nero, eni[)oror and su-
premo pontiff, took the alarm, and the persecutions commenced.f

They assembled, at first, wherever they could, a.s St. Justin, the
m irtyr, said when asked by the prefect of Rome where the Chris-
.' WIS were occustomod to meet; but the halls and upper chambers
of jiiivnte houses becoming too small, and the scrutiny of the senate
daily more rigorous, it became necessary to seek a temple vast
enough to contain n great multitude of people, and so hidden as to
escape the eyes of that host of s])ios which then infested the empire,
not unlike one of the plagues of Egypt. Some hold-hearted Chris-
tians proposed the catacombs. Therein were found vast and gloomy
halls, interminable avenues, "where the darkness was so profoinid,"
Bays St. Jerome, "that it seemed as though one went down alive into
the sepulchre, and the walls around were sheeted with mouldering
bodies." This labyi'inth of coffins, from which there appeared no
egress, and where any one venturing in without a guide was sure to
perish ; those dreary vaults, where all was silence, fear and death, had
no terrors for the fii-st Christians of Rome. On the siil 'bath-day,
then fii-st called Sunday, they assembled in that dismal nii , lopolitan
church to read the writings of the Apostles or the Prophets ; then,
they offered up, on an altar of uidiewn stone, the sacrifice of hrcad

long, by eight wiuo. Its form is that of a chest. The altar was moved from place to
place by mean'- of several rings.

* Tacitus, Innal., lib. xv,, ch. 44.

f Tiiis fii t persecution had for a pretext the burning of Rome, of wliich Nero nc-
ciised the (lu-istians, though it was iiis own net ; it was extremely cruel ; they clothed
the Christians with giirnients soalvcd in jiitch, or some other combustililc nnitter ; they
then set fire to them, so that tliey served as torches during the night. Nero had a
festival on the occasion, in his gardens, where he drove bis chariots by the light of
those fatal fl'»mes. (See Eccks. Hist., v. i. p. 98.)

fiMV

'--*-.

:.^

»m

^f:^^^^

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III

III! -i

!£^:

LIFE OF TIIE

[CIIAP. m.

,jmsV

■*^

ivnJ wine, which was preceded by a sermon and followed by a col-
lection for the pool'."* Some rude frescoes, representing the Saviour
or Mary, which are still to be seen, half effaced, in the catacombs of
Naples and of Kome, were the sole decoration of this place of
prayer, whose congregation consisted of ten dead and one living
generation. What a temple ! Instead of golden vases, there were
wooden cups ! instead of the Roman lamps of massive silver, there
were flaring torches ! instead of martial spoils, there were the fear-
ful trophies of the angel of death ! Behind, before, and all around
the spot where the faithful assembled, were endless subterraneous
avenues where distant torches gleamed from time to time, and
veiled figures were seeu moving, looking more like spectres than
human beings ! Beneath was the dust of a republic which had car-
ried oflp its virtues in the folds of its great shroud : terror within ; and
without, in case of discovery, was the amphitheatre, red with the J^
blood of martyred Christians !

When we come to reflect on these things, we ask ourselves in
amaz(;raent, what intrepid heroes wore they who braved these hor-
rors ? . . . . Those heroes, who thus braved death and terror, Avere
ignorant men who had groAvn up amid the auguries, the signs, and
tlie thousand superstitious fears of paganism ; they were timid vir-
gins accustomed tohloom far from the worldlitce solitary roses ;\ fair
and rich patricians, served l)y legions of slaves, who slept on beds
of massive gold, eat from tables of lemon-tree wood, inhabited apart-
uKMits coiled with ivory, and trod but on flags of marble strewed
w ith gold or silver dust ; young men, wrapt up in rich scarlet cloaks,
and bearing the names of Anicitts, Olihvius^Prohus, GracchusX — in
a word, the flower of the Koman patricians ; knights, who might
1)0 k)iown l)y thoir equestrian ring, great officers of the palace,
tribunes of the people, favourites and kinsmen of C;x)sar, whose sons
wore appointed to succeed him in the empire.§ .... Who else ?

* . \pi)!n'j. S. Just.

t S. Ainbr., dc V'oy., \\h. i., pli. 0.

\ S c Pniilcnlius in his two hooks iio-ainst Symmachiis. Acconlin^ to tlint author,
t Mr family of Auicius was t>.r first ])atrleian faiiiiiy w\w\\ embraced Cliristiaiiity in Konie.

§ Flavins Cleineiit, consiii-ircrniain of r)<iniitian, wliosc two sons had been a])po'nt('d
bv ih'.' Emperor liiuisolf as his successors, was put to death as a Christian shortly aftel

iVi,

BLE:?SED VIUGIN MAUT.

<j3 rtr^^<<J'

Imperial princesses wlio traversed by night, escorted by some
faitliful slaves, the atrium of their gilded palace on mount Palatine,
and glided like spirits out of the city of Romulus, to go worship
the O'alileau in the catacombs — the Galilean so despised and ridi-
culed by the haughty pagan aristocracy — and to invoke that sweet
Virgin Mary for whom the noble descendants of the Gracchi and
the Scipios abandoned their favourite temple of Juno Luclna.*

If the Tiber ovei-flowed, or the rain failed, or an earthquake
happened, and the Iloman people, to avert these disasters, c]ie<l
out, according to custom, "The Christians to the lions !"f they
brought before the altar coffins filled Avith bones gathered in tlio
amphitheatre. Thereupon, a song of triumph, softly chanted,
arising from the bosom of the earth, went up to mingle with the
continued noise of the waters brought in by the aqueducts over
the Avails of Rome, and the low, sweet murmur of the tall Italian
poplars, Avhich sounds like the rippling of streams. Often Avould
the bishop, a saintly old man, leaning on a crooked stick — true
emblem of his pastoral charge — rebuke the desertera who came
over from the camp of Avcalth to worship the poor King, for a
lingering attachment to Roman luxury. He told the great ladies,
who stood pensively listening, that it became not Christian Avomen
to Avoar in rings and in bracelets the suhntance of a thousand foor.
Some daj's after, a daughter of the Anicii Avas asked Avhat had
become of her jgaax'Is ; the poor of her neiglibourhood, both pagan
and Clu'istiau, might have ansAvered, showing bread and gold ! Or
pei'chance he spoke of slavery ; and, on the morroAA', it Avas every-
wliere told in Avonder that a prefect of the palace had just set free
fiftoL'n hundred slaves. Tliere it AA'as that charity was taught ; and
wluit charity that Avas ! " Alms-giving is a my-stenj^'' said the
piiest of Jesus Clirist; '■'■ivhen yoa do it, dose your doovsP

And then, on going forth from these assemblies Avhcre fervour

the expiration of his consulate. Tlio princess Doraitilla, his wife, a Christian lijic
liiniscir, was l)auislied to an island. (Hist. Kccles., t. i., p. 105.)

* Tlie temple of Juno Lueina was frequented in preference to any other by the
great la'lie.s uf Home ; iirostitutcs were forbidden to cuter ; it was in this temple that
mothers prayed especially fo' the advantageous marriage of their daughters.

t Ajioliig. Terlullian.

■i^-l

5vv^

Of < I

;! i);

IIISTOUY OF TIIE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. hi.

-•■1^>;

V':}]}

was renewed, poor toiling women went anu took up from off the
banks of the Tiber the helpless infants left there by pagan ladies
of rank; the patricians set apart a portion of their palaces for
hospitals ; and the young Christian nobles undertook distant voyages
to succour their brethren in Africa or Asia. These acts of charity,
of abnegation, of devotion, astonished the pagans, to whom they
were wholly nnaccountable*

The noble matrons of Rome then wore images of Mary engraved
on emeralds, cornelians, or sapphires, and, dying, bequeathed them
to their daughters as symbols of theiv faith. Galla, the widow of
Symmachus, had a superb church erected, long after, to deposit;
therein one of these precious stones, the relic of a persecuted faith ;
the workmanship of this stone was so fine that it was thought to
have come from a liand more than human, and was venerated as a
gift from heaven.f

Besides these religious ornaments which served those Christian
women as distinctive marks, they exposed, amid flowers, on the
domestic altar where the lares had so long reigned, miniature figures
in gold or silver, representing Jesus Christ, the Virgin, and the
Apostles, These statuettes, the discovery of which brought a whole
family to the amphitheatre, were usually so small that they could
be put out of sight on the first alarm, and even concealed on the
person.J

'1' '

lli'i
hi}

^t^

* Lucianus, de Morte Peregrini.

f Astolfi, Delle Imagini Miracolose.

X M. Kaoul-Roclictte attributes the invention of these little statues to the Gnostics ;
but the Gnostics themselves make them go back much farther than their sect,
According to all appearance, this custom was established amongst the patricians of
Home first converted to Christianity. The images of Jesus Christ, of the Virgin, and
the Ajjostles, were substituted for those of Fortune and several other divinities,
which they placed, crowned with flowers, on the altar of the Lares; they were small
enough to be concealed about the person in case of necessity. One of these statuettc.=i,
representing Harpocrates, god of Silence, has been found in Bretagne ; it was of
gold, and about two inches in height. — (See Hist. Eccl^s. de Bretagne, t. iii., p. 358.)
We know, moreover, that the ancients hung around their neck, or fastened to their
clotlics, little images of Fortune. Hence came the custom of wearing nindonnas,
crosses, and other sacred images in gold or precious stones. Being unable to destroy
this ancient custom, the Church, in her wisdom, changed its object.

OHAP. ni.J

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

A little later, private cbapels received the bodies of w "tyrs,
which were clothed in costly white gai'ments and enclosed m mag-
nificent marble tombs. During the last persecutions, Agla6, a fair
and wealthy Roman matron, sent for these holy relics as far as
Bithyuia, where the Roman governors — who traded in every thing,
even dead bodies — sold them at a high price.*

In the interval from one persecution to another, the Christians
gathered their dead into cemeteries outside the walls of Rome, and
went thither frequently to pray. The walls of these cemeteries
painted in fresco, represented Jesus Christ on his tribunal, in the
majestic and severe attitude which becomes the sovereign Judge of
men ; near him, Mary, veiled in the Roman style, stood ready to
implore his mercy for sinners.f

During the halcyon days of the reign of Alexander Severus, the
Chiistians of Rome, knowing that that prince honoured Jesus
Christ, whose image he had placed in his lararium, amongst the
holy souls, J and counting on the support of his mother, the Empress
Mamea, who was a Christian, demanded and obtained, notwith-
standing the clamorous opposition of the pagan priests, permission
to erect a church on a waste spot which had long been encumbered
with mouldering ruins. This was the first that reared its cross
beside the marble fanes of the gods of the empire ; it was dedicated
to Mary, and took the name of Our Lady "beyond the Tiber.

Christianity, violently oppressed in Italy, was cruelly persecuted
in the Gauls, where it progressed but very slowly, according to
Sulpicius Severus, who wrote in the fourth century. Nevertheless,
there were a few bishoprics established so early as the third century,
amongst others that of Lyons, where St. Pothin had introduced the
veneration of Mary; and missionaries, amongst whom were even
Roman knights, went all over the Gauls. But these sowers of the
Gospel often fell beneath the impious sword of the idolatrous

* Simplician, governor of Cilicia, sold to the servants of the martyr Bonifacius, the
body of their master for five hundred gold crowns.

f A very ancient painting in the cemetery of St. Calixtus, in Rome, still represents
the Blessed Virgin in this costume.

X Lamprid., in Alex. Sev., cb. 29-31.
17

CT'

i'l'

II z

ai|i:

ii M.

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [cHAP. IH.

govemoi-s — who hunted them like wild beaats* — before their task
was fully accomplished. Their labours, however, thougn unfinished,
were not lost ; their generous blood fertilized the soil which they
had cleared, and in after times other labourers came in to reap what
they had sowed.

The island of Britain boasts of having preceded the Gauls in its
conversion to Christianity, and, if we may believe its most ancient
chronicles, it had the fii-st Christian king. Venerable Bede relates
that, in the time of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, a
prince named Lucius a&ked of Pope Eleutherus two Italian mission-
aries to evangelize the little kingdom which he governed for the
Romans. His request was graciously received, and two apostolic
men, to whom the Gauls subsequently erected altars,f went to
preach the Gospel to the native tribes of Great Britain, then
divided between Druidism — still in its prime — and the gods of
Atigustus. God blessed their eflforts : the Britons, still in a semi-
barbarous state, went forth in crowds from their bee-hive-like huts
to hear them. Sometimes, in the midst of the desert and stony
heath where they went to seek the sectaries of Esus, collected by the
pale moonlightj for some secret sacrifice, a young priestess of the
Celts having listened attentively to the divine doctrine, leaning
against an aged oak, suddenly let fall the golden sickle which was
to have cut the misletoe — that sacred plant which grew out of the
furrowed bark of the oak — and bowing down before the minister
of Christ, her fail* tresses still bound with the sacerdotal wreath,
she cried out in trembling accents, "I am a Christian!" whereupon,
the priest, taking water from the still worshipped spring, adminis-
tered the regenerating sacrament of Baptism to the young and
stately neophyte, who gave up her proud title of iThddeda (sub-
limity) for the sweet strange name of Mary.§

* " You have escaped ns, then, if yon be a Christian," said Heraclias to St. Sym-
phorian, " for but few of them now remain."

t Harpisfield, Hitt., lib. i., eh. 3.

i The Gauls and the insular Britons assembled only by night in their temples,
when the moon was in her first quarter, oi at her full ; this traditional custom dates
from the nost remote antiquity, (i/is/. Eccles. de Bret., t. iv., p. 540.)

§ The Venerable Bede asserts, in his Ecclesiastical Historij, that, at this remote
period, a great number of Druids became Christians.

'•m^i^

ciiAi'. m.]

BL£SSKD VlUOm SIARY.

!iT t?aa«

During the persecution of Dioclesian, according to the best
authorities, Christianity crossed the double wall which separated
the Britons, politically enervated by their conquerors, from their
wild and restless neighbour of the North. The island of Britain,
where Roman civilization flourished like a pale and forced exotic,
had cities adorned with baths, palaces of marble, temples radiant
with gold, side by side with dreary wastes of sand and rock, and
thick primeval woods; but Caledonia, whither the eagle of the
CsBsare had not yet penetrated, was still the land of foam and flood,
of rock and torrent, having no other worship than a half-effaced
Druidism, mingled with German superatitions. All was hazy and
indistinct, like a landscape veiled in mist. The Druids, having a
misunderstanding with the great chiefs, had been expelled in the
fourth century,* and their notions relating to the one God were
gradually almost forgotten ; but the people believed in the spirit of
the waters, and the spirit of the mountains, and in a certain aerial
dwelling where the shades of their ancestors, wandering by night
on their cloudy chariots, their white drapery glittering in the
moonbeams, and their transparent hands, holding by way of sword,
a half-extinguished meteor.f The Christian apostles of these regions,
then almost unknown, took possession of the caves which the Druids
had abandoned, J and established themselves on the margin of
streams, in the depth of forests, or on the steep hill-side. It some-
times chanced that the highland hunter, careless of pursuing farther
over the moor the red deer or the roe, came to seat himself on the
gray, mossy stone which marked the grave of a warrior, in order to
converse with the old man of the cave, the Christian Ouldee,^ who
told him of Christ and his Mother. With one arm thrown over his
unbent bow, and the other resting on the head of his favourite
hound lying at his feet, the Scottish chief listened, with respect and
attention, to the grave discourse of the solitary; then, when the
sanctity of the Gospel had, at length, touched his heart ; when, with

* Poems of Osiian. Dissertation on the Era of Osdan.

\ See Ossian.

X Ibid.

§ Culdee, in Gaelic Culdich, a hermit, a solitary.

S'li

I 33

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO '.niE

tef/

[chap. m.

clasped hands and kindling eyes, he said, " I believe !" his entire clan
repeated like a faithful echo, " We also believe !"

Not content with having spread their doctrine over hill and dale,
the priests of Christ would fain pursue the old idolatry even to its
most ancient and remote sanctuaries. The isle of lona, one of the
islands of the Scottish archipelago, surrounded by a green and
turbulent sea, was a sacred place for the lords of the isles and the
mountain chiefs, who came to swear peace on an ancient block, which
they called the stone of power. The stone quickly disappeared, and
in its stead arose, amid the picturesque rocks, the most ancient and
the most venerated abbey in Scotland : alas ! its cloistei-s are now,
and have long been roofless, though they cover the ashes of a race
of kings.

Four centuries had passed avvay, and Christianity had already
spread from east to west. " "We are but of yesterday," said Tertul-
lian to the senate of pagan Rome, " and yet we fill your palaces,
your cities, your fortresses, your armies, both by land and sea ; we
leave you only your temples !" It was true ; but what torrents of
blood had, during all that time, reddened the great standard of the
Cross ! The last persecution was meant to eradicate Christianity :
Dioclesian either levelled or closed up all the churches, and put
Christian cities to the sword,* promising the most magnificent
rewards to apostacy, which, however, was very uncommon, notwith-
standing the imperial encouragement, the Christians of those times
generally preferring martyrdom. Men thought that it was all over
with Christianity : the idolaters clapped their hands in exultation
over its approaching downfall, and hell was heard to bellow out its
shouts of triumph ; but the holy angels, looking on with a smile,
said amongst themselves: "Christ is about to gain the victory;

blessed be His name !" A young maiden of Bithynia, named

Helena, whom the Emperor Constantius Chloris had married for
her rare beauty and virtue, had just given birth to a son, who was
named Constantine.

* Eusebius, Eecles. Hist. — Snipicius Severus.

OHAP. IV.]

BLES8KD VIRGIN MAUY.

rROU C0N6TANTINE TO TnB MIDDLK AOES.

CHAPTER IV.

THE EAST.— THE lOONOCLABTS.

On tlie delightful banks of the Bosphorus, in Thrace, within sight
of the distant mountains of Asia Minor, whose lofty summits are at
evening tinged with the richest gold and carmine, the coast of
Europe is indented by a large bay of incomparable beauty, and
over its sheet of bright blue waters rises a vast city, all white and
all Christian ;* it is Constantinople, which the son of Helena and of
Constantius-Chloris had solemnly dedicated to Maiy ; for the master
of the world, still treated as a God in idolatrous Rome, belongs
himself to Jesus Christ; and the cross whereby he has conquered
decorates his bannere, glitters on his coin, and surmounts the
sumptuous basilic which he has placed under the invocation of St.
Sophia, the Virgin, and the twelve Apostles.

Idolatry is still erect, but it is a withered palm-tree, whose lofty
branches are already lifeless. Its altai-s are still seen, but over their
deserted stand reptiles crawl to and fro ; birds begin to nestle in the
arches of the temples where spiders spin their webs ; the wild vine
spreads its green branches over their walls of polished marble, and
the traveller profanely cuts a Avalking-stick in those sacred groves
from which it was, formerly, death to pull a single branch. Tho
ceremonies of pagan worship have ceased in Greece ; the most
venerated idols serve only for ornament in the public places of
Constantinople ; but no one is forced to enter the church ; for,
though polytheism be a religion essentially bad and supremely

* Co'istantinc would have it so that there was not a single idolater in Constanti-
nople ; he left idols only in profane places, to serve as ornaments. {Eccles. Hist ,
vol. i. p. 523.)

x:>^^s

\l\

vimf'^^^^

t;-

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■'■ i

fi?4fj

mf.

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO TlIE

[chap. IV

absurd, yet the emporor respects that liberty of conscience which
the pagans so badly understood when they abused the dread right
of the strongest. Lactantius, one of the brightest luminaries of
Christianity, lays down as a principle, in a famous contemporary
work, that nihil est tani voluntarivm quam religio* It is such
moderation as this that gains success for a holy cause.

It was not merely by dedicating to her the new Rome thai
Constantine testified his respect for Mary; at nis request, the
Empress Helena, converted by him, set out for Palestine, and
covered that h>ly land with sacred monuments, in which Mary
had her full stare. The grotto of the Nativity, sheeted with
marble and lit ujt with golden lamps, was surrounded by a magni
ficent church, wh'.ch bore the name of St. Mary of Bethlehem. St.
Mary of Nazarexb, erected on the site of the humble dwelling of
the Holy Family, was long considered one of the finest churches
in Asia. The sepulchral cave in the valley of Josaphat was
considerably enlarged, and adorned with a superb staircase of
marble ; silver lamps were suspended around the Virgin's tomb.
Finally, two sumptuous churches commemorated the Visitation of
Mory and her swoon near the rock from which the Nazarenes would
have cast Jesus.

The successors of the first Byzantine emperors showed themselves
in general very devout towards the Ble3sed Virgin. Theodosius the
Younger, having learned that a great concourse of Christians from
all parts of Europe and Asia, flocked to the tomb of the Blessed
Virgin, had »» stately Byzantine church erected there, which wa«
called by the Arabs la Giasmaniah (the church of the body),
Kosrou-Paviz (Cosroes II.) threw down this church at the instiga-
tion of the Jews, in his invasion of Syria and Palestine ; but
subsequently repenting of that act of violence, for which he was
tearfully reproached by Sira, his Christian wife, the follower of
Zoroaster built a church himself to the Blessed Virgin, in his city
of Miafarckin.f The Empress Pulcheria, daughter of Theodosius
and wife of the Emperor Marcian, had herself no less than three

* Lactantius, Institut., v. 20.

f D'Herbelot, Bibliothique Oruntale.

m^r^

<3l?^

CHAP. IV.J

BLESSED VIKQIN IIARY.

churches constructed, under the invocation of the Pancujia, withir
the limits of Constantinople. Being unable to enrich them "t).
relics of the Mother of God, since the body of Mary is in heaven,
she tried to make up the deficiency by some of her garments, seiil
by the faithful of Jerusalem. The beautiful church of the Blaquer-
nes had her robe, that of Chalcoprat6e, her girdle ; but that of the
Guides obtained the best of all. Therein was placed on an altar
glittering with gold and embellished with columns of jasper, a
portrait of Mary sent from Antioch, said to have been painted by
St. Luke during the life-time of the Virgin, and to which she had
attached graces.*

This portrait was considered as the palladium of the empire ; and
the emperors — amongst others, John Zimiscea and the Ooraneni —
conveyed it to the army, whence it was brought back on a triumphal
car drawn by magnificent white horses. In great solemnities, this*
miraculous image was taken from the church of the Guides, where
it was usually kept with the most reverential care. The people
always hailed its presence with shouts of joy and canticles of praise.
The fate of this image remains doubtful. Some hold that it was
this image which, after the taking of Constantinople by the Latins
in 1204, was brought to Venice by the doge, Henry Dandolo;
others maintain that it was the one found by the Turks when
sacking the city of Constantine, and by them contemptuously
trampled under foot, after being stripped of the jewels and gold
wherein it was set.

Leo the First built, in 460, a superb basilic, which he dedicated
to Our Lady of the Fountain, in gratitude for that the Holy Virgin
had appeared to him on the margin of a lonely spring, whither he
had led a blind old man, and promised him the empire, though he
•was then but a young Thracian soldier. The diadem of the Ciesai*s
no sooner encircled his brow, than he set about perpetuating, by
this monument, the remembrance of Mary's protection.f

* Niceph., Hist. Eccles., I. xiv. and xv.

t Niceph., 1. XV., ch. 25. This church, built with much raagnificence, had windows
of stained glass, but not representing historical subjects. At the end of the fifth
century, painting on glasi) was still a new art.

7^'

Hi m

niSTORY OF TlIE UEVOTION TO THE

[OIIAP. IV.

Tbe Emperor Zeno, son-in-law of Leo I., was not less devoted to
Mary than his father-in-law had been; he built her a church on
Mount Gurizim — the sacred mountain of the Saraaiitans — and as
that restless people, then in open rebellion, had spoiled some images
of Mary, he surrounded the mountain with a wall, whereon he
placed a garrison of soldiers to prevent the renewal of these
sacrileges.

The Emperor Justin rebuilt, with increased splendour, in Constan-
tinople, the church of Our Lady of Chalcoprat6e, overthrown by an
earthquake. Two churches built at Jerusalem in honour of the
Blessed Virgin, St. Mary the New, and another on the Mount of
Olives, with a monastery erected on a shelf of Mount Sinai, and in
Africa, a sumptuous basilic, with the name of Our Lady of Carthage,
were lasting testimonies of the piety of the Emperor Justinian, Not
content with building temples to her, the Csesars of Constantinople
piously venerated Mary in their private chapels ; they offered her
splendid crowns of gold,* and wore on their persons a little figure
of her carved in the same precious metal.f They brought from the
monastery Hodegium, to the imperial palace of Constantinople, the
celebrated image of the Virgin Hodigitrie (conductress), during the
last days of Lent, and it remained there till the second Easter-
holiday. It was to the Virgin, too, that Michael Paleologus
did homage, when he had succeeded in expelling the race of Couvte-
nay from Constantinople.}

The Greek people were not slow in following the example of their
emperors ; the lares and the Olympic idols were almost everywhere
replaced by the Panagia. The altars of Bacchus were overthrown
with their green garlands of ivy, and Our Lady of Grapes received
amid the vineyards the homage of the vintagers; Ceres herself

* Leo IV., son of Constantine Copronymus, having taken from the church of St.
Sophia one of the crowns of gold which the Emperor Maurice had consecrated to the
Virgin, liis death, which occurred soon after, was attributed to that sacrilege. (Blond.,
1. xxi., decad. 2.)

f The Emperor Andronicus II. usually wore round his neck one of these statuettes
of the Blessed Virgin ; it was of gold, and so small that he put it in his' mouth, in
lien of other viaticum, at the moment of death.

t Antiquities of the chapel, &c., of the King of France. .

.is
■-i

oil 4 p. IV. I

lIMCMtiKU VIllUIN MAUr.

begun to be forgotten in tlie ruins of her myflteriou» Bhrino at
Kleiwls, destroyed by the Goths in the third century, together with
the tflniplcH of DolplioH, Corinth, and Ephesus ; finnlly, Mount
Atlios, th(( mountain of Jupiter, had become, since the time of
Ot)nstantiiin, ' little colony of liennits and solitaries, of which Mary
was prool.iipicd the (pioen. The Gospel facts of her life were repro-
duced in frescoes, grounded on gold, on the ceilings of an infinit(i
number of chapelj built in her honour amongst the vines and olives
which clothe the sides of that lofty mountain, whose shadow extends
across the sea to the distant isle of Lcmnos.

Who would believe that it waa omongst those very Greeks, so
devout to the Blessed Virgin, that the ideas most opposed to her
personal dignity and the perpetuity of her reign had their rise. It
was within the walls of Constantinople that the heresy of Nestorius
was first broached, disputing her right to be called the Mother of
God ; and also that of the Iconoclasts, who dragged her images
through the mii-e, and burned them in the streets. Under Leo the
Isaurian, who had acquired, it is said, amongst the Jews?, a furious
hatred for all religious painting and statuary, faithful Catholics were
seen thrown in heaps into the Bosphorus, or beaten to death with
rods, for having lit lamps before a domestic Madonna, prayed at the
foot of a crucifix, or bent the knee in passing the statue of a saint.*
Coastontine Copronymus, successor of this wicked prince, even sur
passed him in cruelty, and Leo, his son, walked in the ways of both ,
but Irene, sincerely attached to Catholicity, had the second council
of Nice convoked, when the veneration of images was solemnly
recstablished,f and the Empress Theodora, aided by the patriarch
Methodus, consolidated the pious work of Irene.

* Leo the Isanrian was exceedingly cruel. Having failed in imparting his own
hatred of images to the learned men charged with the care of the public library, he
had them shut up within it, surrounded the building with wood and combustible
iiatter.s, and tlicn set fire to it. Medals, numberless pictures, and more than three
thousand manuscripts were consumed in that conflagration.

f The Protestants have protested loudly against this council, which explains so
clearly the veneration of images. In the sixteenth century, they had quite a horror
of the Empress Irene, whom they surnamed the furious, affirming that she had estab-
lished the worship of images. (Letter to the Bishop of Angers on the Miracles of Our
Lady of Ardilliers, in 1594.)

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If the insult had been great, the reparation was complete; *he
Greeks, thenceforward, endeavoured to honour Mary by all imagin-
able means. They decreed her crowns of gold; they ever after
represented her with the imperial purple, the tiara of pearls, and
the diadem of the empresses ;* they stamped her image on their
coins; they struck medals in her honour, and fought under her
auspices. " Romans," said Nai-ses, vflien about to offer battle to the
Goths at Taginas, " Eomans, fight bravely, the Virgin is with us ;
fail not to invoke her during the combat ; for she beholds our co-
horts, and will deliver to us the wretches who dispute her title of
Mother of GodP\ It was quickly rumored through the ranks that
the Panagia^ to whom Narses was very devout, had promised him
victory, and appointed the hour for the attack. Persuaded that
Heaven favoured their cause, the Greeks displayed an energy foreign
to their character. Totila was slain ; his army fled, leaving the plain
covered with dead, and Italy, delivered in the name of Our liady
of Victory, loudly blessed the Virgin and Narses.

Nicetes records a historical fact, which proves how highly Mary
was honoured by the princes of the Lower Empire. " John Com-
nenus, after gaining a battle," says that historian, "was to enter
Constantinople in triumph, as he was entitled to do; all was
prepared for the gorgeous ceremony ; the streets were hung with
silk and cloth of gold, and nume' ous scaffolds were erected through
the streets for the accommodation of the multitudes of spectators
who had come from all parts of the empire to see that glorious
sight.

"The trumpetera crowned with laurel walked in front of the
procession; then appeared representations of the conquered cities,
together with the vanquished princes, in painting, in scu]j)ture,
in marble, and in ivory, all of the most exquisite workmanship ; J
then the spoils qI the enemy — arms, precious robes, vases of gold

* It is under this costume that the Blessed Virgin is represeuted on the medals of
Zimisces and Theophanes.

f History of Arianism, by Father Maimbourg, vol. ii.

X Josephus gives a magnificent description of the representations of citiei whfeh
adorned the triumphs.

^o^A

CIIAP. IV.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MAHT.

enriched with jewels, so as to dazzle the eyes of the beholders;
after these came the captives, barbarian princes of majestic stature
and of haughty bearing, walking in chains according to custom, their
eyes cast down, and their heads, now bowed in shame, now raised in
a sadden fit of fury and despair. After them came the triumphal
car, di'awn by four white horses ; all expected to see the emperor
seated on this car, clothed in a robe of purple or scarlet, richly
embroidered, and his lordly brow encircled with lauMl ; but in his
stead there was seen an image of the Blessed Virgin, to whom, and
not to himself, he considered the triumph due. The emperor on
horseback, followed by his brilliant court, closed this Christian pro-
cession, happier in the triumph of Mary than if he had triumphed
himself"

In order to show how far the Virgin was revered in Asia Minor,
it will suffice to relate, as briefly as possible, what passed in Ephesus
during the sitting of the council which condemned the heresy of
Nestorius, in 431.

The day on which the council was to decide on the divine mater-
nity of Mary, the people, anxious and disturbed, blocked up the
streets and crowded around the magnificent temple which the piety
of the inhabitants had built under the invocation of the Virgin.
There it was that two hundred bishops were examining the propo-
sitions of Nestorius, who dared not come to defend them, so little
confidence had he in the justice of his cause or the soundness of his
arguments. Profound silence ragned amongst the vast multitude
who thronged the vicinity of the basilic, and anxiety was painted
on every countenance ; the fine expressive features of the Greeks
manifesting, as in a glass, every inward emotion of the soul. A
bishop at length appears ; he announces to the muta and attentive
crowd that the anathema of the council is launched against the
innovator, and that the Most Holy Virgin is gloriously maintained
in her august prerogative. Thereupon, the most deafening shouts
of joy burst forth on every side. The Ephesians and the strangei-s
gathered together from all the cities of Asia, surrounding the Fatliers
of the council, kissed their hands and their garments, and burned
odoriferous perfumes in the streets through which they were to pass.
The city was spontaneously and suddenly illuminated, and never

-SSSi

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JHAP. v.]

BLESSED VIIIGIN MAKY.

tn^^fi^

CHAPTER V.

THE EAST. — TUE HOLT WABB.

The Christians of Asia were no less active than the Greeks in
manifesting theii* d votion to Mary. Before the time of Constan-
tino, a church bearing the name of the Blessed Virgin arose like a
Mght-house on the lofty promontory of Mount Carmel. Tyre, the
deposed but still mighty queen of the Levantine seas, was distin
guished for her church of Our Lady, composed principally of cedar
and marble, and rivalling the Byzantine basilica of the Coesars.
Damascus, the emerald of trie desert, willingly expended two hundred
thousand dinars of gold in building its splendid church of Mart-
Miriam (St. Mary), which was burned by the Mahometans during
the caliphate of Moctader, in the year of the Hegira, 312.* Antioch
had, likewise, a superb basilic of Our Lady, and hung golden lamps
before that image of her which was soon to be gi.ven up at the pious
desire of the Empress Pulcheria ; for this sacred image the good
Christians of Antioch substituted a small cedar statue of the Mother
of God, miraculously found in the time-hollowed trunk of an enor-
mous cypress which overhung the Orontes.f Lebanon, that lovely
mountain, which, " beneath a fiery sky remains faithful," says Tacitus,
" to snow and shade ; J Lebanon, wlio-se cedars tcere planted hy the
liand of the Lord, sheltered in its rocky caverns a crowd of solitaries
who had devoted their labour to Mary. Seated on the banks of
that river which took, from their vicinity, the name of Holy, which
it still beara, and which flows between two mossy banks picturesquely
shaded, those men of toil, of contemplation, and of prayer, carved, in
the mi ijestic shade of the cedara which let foil on them, through its rich
foliage, a light like that which comes down tinged with purple, blue,
and gold, through the stained windows of our cathedrals, those

* D'Herbelot, Bibliolk. Orient.
f > stolfi, della Imaglni miracolose.
\ Taciti Historiarum, lib, v.

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[chap. v.

little statuettes of the Blessed Virgin, called blach virgins^ which
the western pilgrims, who visited the Holy Land during the first
ages of Christianity, brought back to Europe to place them either
in the domestic chapels, or in churches which they have rendered
famous by their miracles.

Mary had also shrines in the rocky solitudes of Mount Sinai. In
the depth of a grassy ravine, so profoundly set amongst enormous
rocks that the top of its loftiest cedars is never agitated by the wind,
there arose, in the midst of a little grove of olives, poplars, and date-
trees, a convent placed under the invocation of the Virgin. There
was nothing to disturb the gloomy silence of that oasis ; even the
storm that shook the aged cedars of the mountain was scarcely
heard there ; that peaceful tomb of the living was only animated
when there arose from it songs of praise to Him who was lefc^e the
mountains, and to Her in whom he hath done great things.

In Pei'sia, where the ruins of numerous churches and monasteries
dedicated to Mary are still seen, the Christians were early distin-
guished by their zeal in building those places of prayer. Eliseus
Vertabed, a highly-esteemed Armenian author who flourished in the
fifth century, has preserved for ur, in his religious history of the
Armenian wars, a discourse of the king of kings Jesgird — ^in the west,
Isdigerdes : — " I have learned from my fathei's," said that prince in a
grer i. council composed of satraps and magi, wherein tue question of
an approaching persecution of the Christians was discussed, " I have
learned from my fathers that, in the time of King Chabouh II., (in
319,) when the religion of Christ began to spread in Persia, and
other eastern countries, our principal moheds (doctors) advised the
king to abolish Christianity in his states ; he tried to do so, but in
vain, for the more he exerted himself to arrest the progress of that
religion, the more it seemed to flourish. The Christians of Persia
were so bold that they built, in all the cities, churches which sur-
passed the royal dwellings in magnificence ; they also raised oratories
over the graves of their martyrs ; and there was no place, whether
inhabited or waste, where they did not put up convents."*

* Hislory of the Rising rf Christian Armenia, by Eliseus Vertabed, cb. iii.

OlIAP.

V.J

BLESSED VIKOIN MARY.

The extinction of Christianity was decided on in this council, whero
the Magi were all-powerful ; but the king resolved to try bribery
before he had recourse to violence . he tried, as the Persians have it,
to infuse deadly poison into the (nip of milk. Calling around him
the naharars or nobles of Ai-menia, who governed by feudal tenure
the small principalities hereditaiy in their fomilies, under the
authority of a marzhan or vice-king named by Persia, he loaded
them with praise, with sweet words, and allui'ing promises, to obtain
from them the sacrifice of their religion. Those who yielded were
rewarded with governments, honorary titles, fair and fertile lotd-
ships, or Arab horses supeibly caparisoned. Never had there gone
forth from the royal treasury so many bracelets of emeralds, so many
girdles of beaten gold, studded with rubies and pearls; so many
pieces of brocade, grounded on red and gold, and spangled with
precious stones — for no cost was spared to gain the desired end.
But, alas! the deserters from the true faith to the camp of the Magi
were so few in number, and the king of kings was so urged to put
an end to Christianity, that, suddenly throwing off the mask of
moderation which he had at first assumed, he issued a very curious
proclamai on, wh-jrein, after having praised, according to the ancient
formulas of the Persian court, the ho.^ God, master of the moon and
stars, whose power nothin^ escapes, /rom the sun to the darkness of
night, from the little spi'ing to the bhie seorxoave, he went on to
expose the fundamental points of his own false doctrine, and to
slander that of the Christians.* This royal edict was promptly fol-
lowed by another commanding the Armenians to embrace without
delay the worship of fire ; to contract marriage with their nearest

'* m

* "Trust vot your chiefs whom you name Ntizarciies," said he to the Armenians, in
this royal edict mentioned by Eliseus Vertabcd, " they are liars and impostors. What
they teach by word, they belie by their deeds. To eat meat, say they, is no sin, and
yet they eat it not ! It is lawful to marry, they tell you, and ye+ they will not so
much as look on a woman 1 Tiicy will tell you that it is no sin to gather riches
honestly, and yet they are forever preaching up poverty. They extol alTliction and
condemn prosperity ; they (^spise glory of every kind ; tliey love to clotiic themselves
in homely garmt nts, like poor beggars, preferring wortiiless tilings" to those that arc
of value ; they praise death and despise life ; finally, they have even gone so far as to
make a virtue of chastity, so that if their advice were followed, the world would
speedily come to an end 1" {Risinff of Christian Armenia, ch. ii.)

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[CIUP. V.

relations, contrary to the laws of Jesus Christ, Avhich declares such
marriages criminal, and ending by ordering sacrifice to the sun, con
sisting of goats and white bulls.

The Apostle said lie ye siihject to the powers that he; Init God
has commanded us to prefer death to idolatry. Hence, the Arme-
nians, instead of conforming to the impious edict of the Peraian
court, continued to celebrate the divine service in their horse-camps,
and to listen to the preaching of priests who, in imitation of the
ancient Jewish Levites, accompanied the army. In vain did Isdiger-
des, separating them into small bodies, station them at the most
distant and dangerous points along the frontiers ; in vain did he give
them for winter-quartera the most unsheltered mountain-passes, and
the most unhealthy localities ; in vain did he seek to reduce them
by the extremities of hunger and thirst, whilst, on the other hand,
poor Armenia, squeezed like the grape in the wine-press, gave to the
Persian treasury its last drops of gold. The tree of the faith, amidst
all these miseries, remained green as a stately cypi'ess s^irmonnted hy
thefnllrorled moon. The Christians of Armenia had endured all ;
but their patience failed when the king of kings madly undertook
to destroy the monasteries placed under the invocation of the Saints,
and to convert the churches into temples of the Sun. They rose
from one end of the kingdom to the other, and, making up in enthu-
siasm what they wanted in numbei's, all the Pei-sian fortresses were
taken, and the temples of the sun burned to the ground. A great
battle, in which the Persians were ten to one, was fought on the
frontici's of Georgia, on the banks of a small river which flows into
the (iour (Cyru'i). The Persian army presented the most splendid
and imposing sight; its war-elephants — loaded with towei-s from
whose top the skilful archers darted their long poplar arrows —
extended over the wings, and in the centre was the terrible phalanx
of the immortals. These numerous squadrons, resplendent with gold,
moved to the sound of clarions, trumpets, cymbals, and little Hindoo
bells ; flags of yellow, red, and violet flaunted like tulips at tlie end
of the spears ; the captains and the satraps d^w their Indian swords
from their golden scabbards, and pushed on their swift Arabian
horses with golden bridles and brilliant covei-s. Clothed in dark-
coloured garments, and with the cross displayed on their bannei-s —

>-«>^Jt.

Xi-v

CT'

CHAP. V.J

ULKS8KD VIRGIN MARf.

(lark like their garments — the Armenians, a handful of heroes,
having raised their hands and hearts to heaven, marched to meet the
enemy singing a canticle from the psalms. " Judge between us and
our enemies, O Lord 1" sang the insurgent Christians ; " take up bow
iiud buckler for us, for i)ui' ise is thine ; spread terror through tlie
countless hosts of the wiclied. Let tliem fly and be disperaed before
the augast sign of the holy cross. We are Avilling to dio for thy
sake, and if we smite these infidels, Ave shall be martyra to the
truth."*

Excited by this prayer, the Armenians bui-st with fury on the
Pei-sians, and shattered their right wing at the fii-st shock. The
conflict was terrible ; the air, bristling with arrows, resembled the
vulture^s wing^ and blue swords flashed like heaven's lightning.
Enthusiasm, exalted by faith, prevailed; the Persians were com-
pletely routed, and the bodies of nine great satraps lay on the field
of battle. The waters of the Lomeki were changed into blood, and
only a single horseman escaped on his dromedary to bear these dis-
astrous tidings to the Persian court.

But this victory, great and unhoped for as it was, could not be
decisive ; the Christians of Armenia had neither gold nor allies ;
Marcian, the Greek emperor, whom they had besought, in the name
of Christ and his Blessed Mother, to assist them, basely sent an express
ambassador to the court of Persia to protest to the king of kings
that he had nothing whatever to do with the rebellion in Armenia,
and was resolved not to inteifere. Isigerdes understood that Caesar
was afraid ; and, trusting to his cowardice, he resolved to pursue the
extermination of Christianity in Armenia ; happily, he did not suc-
ceed. The Christians, overwhelmed by numbe.s, lost a great battle,
together with the hero Avho commanded them, Vartan the Mamigo-
nian, a prince of Chinese origin, who fell after performing prodigies
of valour. The Armenians, reduced to the last extremity, would not
declare themselves conquered ; they deserted the cities for the forests
and mountains ; they celebrated the divine office in the caverns of
the rocks. The Armenian T)ishops suffered martyrdom with un-

♦ Eliseus Vcrtabed, cb. iii.

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[chap. V

sliakcn firmness ; the princes, accustomed to the fresh, brncnirj air
of their higli mountains, were taken in chains to Kornsaan, ^\hero
tlie sky ii^ fire and the wind is the dread Simoom, which kills like
while the soil is a sea of flaming sand. There they would
liave perished miserably had not two confessors, mutilated by the
'ei-sian sabre, undertaken to collect alms amongst tht Christians of
the neighbouring provinces for the relief of th» captive nobles: this
lasted about seven years. One of these angels of charity died of
fatigue in the burning deserts of Kohistan, the heat of which has
been compared by a modern traveller to that of a plate of red-hot
iron; the other continued alone the same work of mercy. Isdigor-
des, overcome by so much constancy and devotion, at length put an
end to this hard captivity; but it was only after fifty years of
negotiations, treaties, and fighting, that Vahan the Maraigonian,
nephew of the great Vartan, terminated this bloody war, commenced
in 430.f

If the Christian churches of Persia deserved to be compared to
the palaces of its kings, of whose magnificence the Ai'ab poets have
left such glowing descriptions, J * those of the nations who dwelt
between the Euxine and the Caspian seas were very poor in compar
ison. These were, at fii-st, wooden buildings, to which the faithful
were summoned, on festival days, by striking two planks, one
against the other; bells were then unknown. The first stone
church of the Armenians, built near the sources of the Tigris, was

%js^

* The Simoom is a deadly wind which stifles travellers and nil sorts of nnimnls,
mik'ss they fnll prostrate on the ground. Curious details relating to llie Simoom ore
found in Niebnhr's description, pp. 6, 1, and 8, Copenhagen edition. Tliis wind rises
between the 15th of June and the 15th of August. It whistles with great violence,
appears red and inflamed, and kills every living thing that it strikes. But the death
which it causes is not its most surprising effect : the bodies of those who die by it are
dissolved, without losing, however, cither their shape or colour, so that it would seem
ns though they were asleep. If one touch these bodies, the part which is touched
remains in the hand.

t Continuation of Eliseus Vertabed, by Lazarus Parbe, ch. iii.

J Antar's description of the palace of Cosrocs resembles that of the Thousand and
One Nights : he gives it halls of marble and of red cornelian, fountains of rose-water,
baeiiis from which arise emerald pillai-s surmounted by birds of burnished gold, with
topaz eyes, &o

r ''A

,'iM \V

cnAP. v.]

BLESSliU VIlUilN MAKY.

„ m&t^

pliiced under the invocation of Mary; it possessed, like many of thf
siiiiiiea of Syria and Asia Minor, a miraculous image of the Virgir

|y which was intrusted to the care of pious women*

IjJ Tlie cathedral of Mtzkhetha, the ancient capital of (ieorgia, w;if
the fij'rtt Christian church of that country ; the Geoi'gians dedicated
it to the Virgin. In it wjis formerly kept the famous khiton, one of
the torn garments of Jesus Christ. Often thrown down, but as
«)ften elegantly reconstructed in the highest Georgian style, it is still
rich in marble and green jasper. An inscription, written on one
of the pillars in lettere of gold, announces that this divine and
venerable temple of Mary, Queen of the Georgian-^, Mother of God,
and ever Virgin, was rebuilt at the expense and by the care of a
princess of Georgia, named Pebanpato.

The metropolis of the Mingrelians was likewise dedicated to the
Virgin ; one of her robes was venerated there, and was kept in a
casket of ebony, adorned with silver flowere. This robe, composed
of a precious stuff, of a buff colour, oiniamented with embroidery of
various coloui-s, was exhibited in Chardin when it was taken through
Mingrelia on its way to Persia.

In the Caucasian regions, which abound in convents dedicated to
Mary, it was always on the loftiest heights that the most beautiful
monasteries were seen: they were often even defended by strong
castles. That of. Miriam-Nischin, in Creorgia, was built on a rock of
the Caucasian chain, in the midst of a lovely mountain lake, which
rendered it inacce,ssil)le by land ; it was protected by a fortress that
wiifl considered impi-egnal^le. The castle and the montistery were
besieged by Melik-Schah, in the reign of AlpAi-slan, his father,
second sultan of the Seljoucides line. Just as the army of the Mus-
sulman prince was preparing to embark to commence the siege, and
the garrison, decimated b.y hunger, regarded the approaching attack
with fear and sad forybodings, a terrible earthquake took place, and
the monastery of St. Maiy fell shattered into the lake.f This
strange catastrophe was considered miraculous. "The Virgin,"

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* Ancient Oeographj of Armenia, Ym\co, 1822.
t D'llerbelo^, Bihlioth. Orient.

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[CIIAP. V.

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Bnid tl»e Georgians, " would rather see lier lanctuary destroyed than
doHccTuted."

licfore the jn-incipal gate of Djoulfn, ati ancient and comnicrcial
city of Armenia, situated near one of the nuwt convenient forda of
the Ariixes, there stands a solitary peak, on whoso narrow jdat-forin
there was })uilt, in the first ages of Christianity, a monastery in
honour of the lileased Virgin. The declivities of this steep rock,
>till adorned with the pretty blue hyacinth and the fragrant marjo-
ram, are covered with rich tond)8 and ancient tumuli ; but the
living — where are they? One day it came into the head of a
certain Asiatic despot* to erase Djoulfa, a city of forty thousand
inhal)itants, from amongst the cities of the globe, and he sent
Thamas-Kouli-Beg with an order for the citizens to evacuate it in
three days' time : he was ol)eyed. The inhabitants hastily concealed
their treasures in secret places, hoping — vain hope ! — that Schah-
Abbas, when the storm of his wrath had blown over, would permit
them to return to their city. At the end of the third day, when
they were forced to set out, and the last raonu-nt of respite had
passed, each one, taking the keys of his house, foUu^ved the priests,
who crried those of the ohurclu'S. Arrived at the foot of the rock
where Mary's shrino still overlo< >ks the ancient tond)s of their fatliers,
tlieir despair broke forth in lieart-rending sobs. Forced to continue
their journey, the unliappy exiles cast a parting gknce on their ])oor
deserted ci..y ; and, after placing their churches and dwellings under
the special care of the Blessed Virgin, they threw their keys into
the river.

The Egyptians, who had never bent the knee to strange gods, am.
who seemed enclosed, as it \vere, in their beastly region, (as Josephus
called it •while still flourishing,) had abandoned iXmxv grazing divini-
ties^ and giving back to the waters rT ihe Nile the hideous crocodiles
which had had their devotees for food,f they had come to adore the
God of Calvary. The descendants of the ancient people of the
Pharaohs had built, at an early period, a beautiful church in the
small Egyptian village where the Holy Family had taken refuge

Vf\

OIIAP. v.]

ULKSSKD VIUaiN MAUT.

from the fell designs of Herotl, nnrl they ha<l given it the name of
Our Liidy of Miitarich ; a protty foiintiiin, wIkto of old the Blessed
Virgin used to wiwh the clothes of the infant-Ood, had received the
name of Mary's Fountain, and that fountain, iog»>ther with a gigantic
sycamore which had often shaded the Mother and Child, was the
oltject of numerous ])ilgrimages. The metropolis of Egypt was also
dedicated to Oir Lady.

The church of Alexandria, which shone amongst all the churches
')t' the Christian Avorld like u beacon on a loftv eminence, had
attached to its patriarchal see, in the fourth century, a kingdom
almost unknown to the Romans, and of which Pliny related the
strangest things ;* this was Abyssinia, whose people, Jews, SaV)eans,
or fotichists, according as they })leased, were governed by kings
descended from M keda, the beautiful black (pieen who tilled Jeru
salem with jewels and perfumes, and who had a son by King
Solomon. A young Tyrian merchant, a trader in jewels, having
been shipwrecked on the African coasts of the Red Sea, wjis first
plundered and then conducted to Axoum, the ancient capital of the
Queen of Saba, where he wa.s presented as a prisoner of note to the
Neguz (emperor')y that prince at vhofte name the lions how Jown ;
he succeeded so far in conciliating the neguz that he made him his
treasurer. After the death of the black pi-ince, the education of his
young son, Abreka, Avas confided to the Tyrian, who secretly instructed
his pupil in his own belief, and conceived the magnificent hope of
becoming the apostle of those half-savage regions. In order to
succeed in this, he repaired to Alexandria, where St. Athanasius
consecrated him bishop of Axoum. On his return, Frumentius, who
wa.s suruamed Ahha SiUama (the father of salvation), baptized
Abreka, with the principal personages of his court ; a great part of
the nation followed the example of its chiefs. This religious revolu-

* According to Pliny nnd some otlicr ancient (iooj;rai)lK'rs, Abyssinia was peopled
with men who had neither nose nor moutli to their face, and whose eyes were placed in
the pit of their stomach ; they there met men without a head, and others with asses'
heads, &c. Pliny, who relates (b. vi. ch. 30, and b. v. ch. 8) those prodigious things,
leaves the subject unfinished, and modestly stops, for fear, he says, of not being
believed.

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WISTORT OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. V.

tion vfaa effected, aa all religious revolutions should be effected,
without shedding a single drop of blood. Abreka and his brother
Atzbeka, who reigned together in edifying harmony, preached the
Gospel themselves to their subjects,* and built a great number of
churches in honour of the true God, under the invocation of Mariam
{Mary). One of these ancient churches took, from the woods by
which it was surrounded, the pretty name of Mariam-Chaoiiitou,
Our Lady the Green.

Chiistianity then spread over the opposite coast of the Red Sea,
into Yemen, the inhabitants of which adored the stars and the trees ;
amongst them there were a good number of Jews ; a prince of that
nation, who had usurped the supreme power in Arabia, peraecuted
the Christians, and, in 520, banished St. Gregentius, an Arab by
birth and Archbishop of Taphar, metropolis of that country. St.
Aritas, Governor of Nagran, the ancient capital of Yemen, would
not give up his faith ; he was taken and conducted out of the city,
where he was put to death on the banks of a rivulet. His wife and
daughter likewise perished in the midst of torments, together with
three hundred and forty Christians ;f and as Dunaan continued to
sacrifice all those who would not apostatize, Caleb, King of
Abyssinia, marched against him, in 530, and gained a complete
\actory over him. Some time after, the same Caleb, disgusted with
the throne, sent his crown to Jerusalem,^ Pvbdicated in favour of his
son, and shut himself up in a monasteiy, taking with him only a cup
and a mat. The African troops whom he had sent to the assistance

* " Hail, Abreka and Atzbeka, who reigned together with the greatest liarmony,
who preached the religion of Christ to the children of the Mosaic law, and erected
temples to the honour of God." {Abi/ssinian Liturgy, Commemoration of the dead.)

f The following is a prayer addressed to the martyrs of Nagran by the Abyssinian
Church : —

" Saluto pulchritudlnem vestrair. amoennra,
O siJcra Nagrani I gcmmie qui illuminatis muDdum,
Conciliatrix sit mill! ilia pulcliritudo, et pacificatrix.
Coram Deo judics si stctcrit poccatum nieum,
Ostendite ei sauguincm qucm elTudistis propter pulcbritudinetn cjtiii."

{AbyKiiinian Liturgy.)
I " Hail, Caleb I who gave up the sign of your power when you sent your crown a.
an offering to the temple of Jerusalem : you did not abuse your victory when yoa
destroyed the army of the Sabeans." {Abyssinian Liturgy.)

''mm

CHAP, v.]

BLESSED VIRGIN HART.

of the Christians of Asia, seduced by the beauty and fertility of that
floppy land, resolved to settle there. These were the black Chris-
tians, who, commanded by the Governor of Yemen, carried on,
against the Arabs of Mecca, that war known as the elephant^var.
Arabia Felix, however, did not long remain in their hands ; it wa«
wrested from them in 590, by the Persians, who were themselve*-
conquered, and expelled by Mahomet's captains.

At the time of the conversion of Abyssinia, the doctrine of Nesto-
rius agitated the Church. It is generally known that the opinions
of that bishop, who refused to Mary the title of Mother of God,
were condemned by the council of Ephesus. The Abyssinians, in
their exaggerated enthusiasm for the Blessed Virgin, did not content
themselves with rejecting the heresy of Nestorius ; to the title of
Mother of God, they added that of Mundi Creatrix^ to testify theii
boundless veneration for Mary. Nothing, in fact, can exceed the
l,ove and respect of which she is the object all along the Blue Nile,
and even as far as the Mountains of the Moon. The errors of
Dioscorus and Eutyches, which the Abyssinians have unhappily
adopted, have made no change in this respect.

The old East seemed to grow young again through its devotion
to Mary ; it loved to do her honour, and pompously solemnized her
festivals, which were, for the most part, of apostolic origin. The
feast of the Annunciation was regarded, in the time of St. Athana-
eius, as he himself tells us, as one of the greatest festivals of the
year, and for that of the Assumption — which was celebrated with
splendour from the Nile to Mount Caucasus, under the name of Our
Lady's Powell — the people prepared themselves by a fast of fifteen
days*

All seemed to promise that the Gospel was about to spread from
one end of Asia to the other, and it was already beginning to be
announced to the idolatrous people of the Celestial Empire, who
heard without surprise of that Holy One, born of a Virgin, whom the

* The first day of the month of Avigust was called in the Syrliui calendar saum
Miriam, the fast of Our Lady, because the Christians of the East fasted from that
day till the 15th, which they named ^/Ar Miriam, that is to say, the end of the faat,
or Our Lady's Pasch. (D'Herbelot, Bihlioth. Orient., t. ler, p. 2.)

'^mL^^W

El' m.

TUSTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. V.

earth expected, acoord'r.g to tlie disciples of Confucius, a* drooping
plants ea^ect the dew • but, alas ! a storm more furious, more destruc-
tive, more irresistible than the burning wind of the desert, and
born, like it, amid the sandy wastes of Arabia, came to trample
down Christianity with a force derived, doubtless, from Satan
himself.

At first, there was heard but a "lonfused clashing of anns along
the sea of reeds ; Arab fought Arab with savage fury, and the
idol-trees fell to the ground as well as the Christian temples ; then,
all was silfcDt in that region, and myriads of horsemen wearing abbas
striped in black and white, cast themselves on Syria like clouds of
locusts, destroying with the back of their scimitars fourteen hundred
Chi'istian churches ! Thence they swept on to Persia, which gave
way before them, leaving in their hands the famous banner of
Kawed, on which the fate of the empire of the Magi was thought to
depend ;* the flames of the superb library of Alexandria lit them on
their devastating course through Egypt; a little time and they
leaped on the African coast, where Carthage ruled of old, and con-
quered all before them. Ariived at the place where the ancients
had planted the pillars of Hercules, the haughty conquerors pushed
on their stately coursers into the watere of the Straits of Gibraltar,

* Tho ancient Romans had bound up the fate of their empire with tliat of the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which was burned precisely on tho first appearance of
Christianity ; the Persians had ancient traditions which announced the full of the
Magian empire when their tamous standard should fall into the hands of the enemy.
The empire did, indeed, fall at the same time that its standard fell into the powor of
the Mussulmans, in the battle of Kadesia. This banner was at first a blacksmith's
iijiron, which was hoisted in a war of independence against the tyrant Zohak, and ac-
(■ei)ted as an omen of success by Foridoun, one of the greatest kinfr^ of Iran (ancient
Persia) ; it was covered with brocade and adorned with a magnificent image of the
sun, wrought with jewels ; a globe of gold, representing the moon's orb, surmounted
this image, and around it floated broad bands of red, yellow, and violet-colour. Tiiis
standard was called Kaweiani dire/sh (the standard of Kawed). From the time of
Keridoun, the kings of Persia made it a point to adorn it with precious stones, and, in
order to make room for them, they had been obliged to enlarge this famous bamier
beyond all proportion, so that it had obtained a dimension of tweuty-two feet by
fifteen, when it fell into the hands of the Arabs, who tore it in pieces and divided it
with the rest of the booty. (Price, Mitkamm. ITistory, vol. i., p, 116 ; and JIu/l
Kolkoum, vol. iv., p. 126.')

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [CHAP. VI.

-S-S^'^

CHAPTER VI.

THB WEST.— THE HAD0NKA8.

CoNSTANTiNE, after ' , ig raised within the very walls of Kome —
that goddess city whi<^ aganism placed amid the starry heavens*
— the superb Latera. asilic, had closed the Pagan temples; but
his hand was not strong enough, tc ^luck up the deep roots of
idolatry. It is certain that the greater number of the Roman
patricians remained obstinately faithful to the ancient idols of the
empire; the senate itself was divided into two parties, the one
Pagan and the other Christian, which made St. Ambrose say that
there was, as it were, two senates. It was of the idolatrous senators
that Prudentius said : " The successors of the Catos, sunk in shameful
error, still invoke the Trojan gods, and in the privacy of Iheir
nomcs venerate the exiled lares of Phrygia ; the senate — ^I shame to
say — ^the senate still honours two-faced Janus, and celebrates the
feasts of Saturn."

As to the greet mass of the people, by far the greater number
were sincerely devoted to Chiist, and, despising the altara of
Jupiter, thronged ai'ound the tomb of the Apostles.f

The Italian peninsula was divided, like its capital, between
Jupiter and Jesus, Juno and Mary; the darkness of error struggled
with all its might against the increasing light of truth. The
heathen priests ascribed to the desertion of their gods the calamities
v^iich befell the empire. If the famine were unusually great in
Latium, it was because Caesar, ill-advised by the Christians around

* " Hear me, magnificent queen of the universe-.-0 Rome, admitted into the
starry skies," said Rutilius, a famous heathen poet of the last age of Roman letters.
" Tiiaiiks to thy temples, I am not far from the heavens." Rome was, ip ' tct, a deified
city, and had its priests and its temples.

f " All this populace, inhabiting the upper stories of the houses and living on the
biead of the rich, visits, at the foot of the Vatican mount, the tomb which contains
that precious pledge, the ashes of St. Peter, our father." (PrudeDtius contra Syna-
machum.j

['''//yii'A"^'-

^f'^'-^^^m

OIIAP. VI.]

BLKS3ED VIRGIN MAIIY.

him, had suppressed the privileges of the Vestals ; if the frontiers
were ravaged with impunity by the Barbarians, or if the Goths
penetrated to the very heart of the empire, it was because the altar
of Victory had been destroyed. " We demand back the religious
state which has so long served to maintain the republic," said
Syramachus, prefect of Rome, to the Emperor Valentinian II. ; " we
demand peace for the gods of our country; our religion subjugated
the world, it repulsed Hannibal from our walls, and drove the Gauls
from the capital. What ! would Rome reform in her old days what
has all along been her safety ? The reform of age is tardy and de-
grading!"

Paganism was vanquished by St. Ambrose in this struggle, but it
continued, notwithstanding, to rear itself up against the ri nu religion,
which it overwhelmed with sarcasm, calumny, and haughty con-
tempt. It was with transports of joy that Rome restored, under
Julian, the altar of Vict )ry, which, nevertheless, did not prevent the
Barbarians from sacking the city several times. Panic-struck to see
the enemy at its gates, it became again more than half Pagan;
ceremonies forbidden by the laws of Gratian and Theodosius were
publicly performed ; the prefect of Rome called in the aid of Tuscan
diviners, and the last of the consuls revived the augurial rites by
another pai ody on the day of his installation. "It was too much,"
says Bossuet, " God remembered, at last, all the bloody decrees of
the senate against the faithful, and the furious shouts wherewith the
Roman people, in their thii-st for Christian blood, had so often filled
the amphitheatre ; he gave up to the Barbarians that city which
was drunk with the blood of the martyrs, . . . That new Babylon,
the imitator of the old ; like her, inflated with her victories, glorying
in her riches, defiled with idolatry, and persecuting the people of
God, falls, like her, with a great fall ; the glory of her conquests,
which she attributed to her gods, is taken from her ; she is the prey
of the Barbarians, taken three, four times, pillaged, sacked, de-
stroyed: the sword of the Barbarians spares only the Christians.
Another Rome — entirely Christian — rises from the ashes of the
foimer, and it is only after the inundation of the Barbarians that
Christ finally triumphs over the Roman gods, who are not only
destroyed, but wholly forgotten."

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.;^.^'

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [OHAP. Vi.

Idolatry was dead at last ; its marble fanes were re-opened and
purified, and the most beautiful were dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin, before whom all Italy bent the knee with a faith and a
fervcr which, thank God, still remains unshaken. The patricians
built innumerable churches or chapels, and ornamented them with a
munificence which testified their piety; the altara of Mary were
incrusted with gold, silver, and precious stones;* lamps no less
splendid gave them light; nothing was spared to have the
splendour of religious deco* on commensurate with the dignity of
the saint.

The people, having no gold at their disposal, rendered her a
homag*-? more touching, more tender, and more picturesque. On
the smiling sea-side hills, in the fertile valleys of Campania, amid
the gorges of the Apennines, in the glaciers of the Alps, and
amongst the arid heaths of the Abruzzaa, humble altars were here
and there raised to the Madonna. These little primitive chapels,
shaded with a net-work of ivy or green \ane-leaves, were sheltered
by the old forest houghs, and their shade was cast over many a
stream in the fervid heat of noon. This devotion, so fresh, so
simple, so appropriate to the gentle heaii; and simple habits of Her
; who is its object, exists even now in all its reli^ ious poetry. Vic-
torious over time and political commotions, the Madonna still shades
her little mystic lamp beneath a canopy of foliage or of creeping^
jasmine. Still at evening does the shepherd of the hills, the
labourer of the valley, and even the fierce brigand, devoutly light
the flickering lamp, which shines like a protecting star far up on the
mountains, and serves as a beacon amid the woods. The little nook
wherein it stands is sacred ground : there the most ferocious bandit
of Calabria would aot dare to draw his dagger ; and there even he
goes to pray when the distant bells chime forth the Ave Maria ; it
is the last link which binds him to humanity, and rarely, indeed, is
that link broken.f

/5ec^

* The coonter-tables of some of the altars of Venice were of solid gold ; that of the
Virgin's altar, in the Church of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, was composed of jewels
and gold, cast together in the same crucible.

t The respect entertained by the Italian banditti for the Madonna is a well-known

-4L-

CUAP. VI.]

BLISSED VIRGIN JIARY.

These little solitaiy chapels, lost amid the rocks or in the depth
of the woods, awake in the soul of the traveller, be he ever so reck-
less, a thousand delightful emotions, like the long-forgotten perfume
of home-flowers, suddenly greeting us in a strange land. A modern
author, who is anything but partial to Catholicity, gives a charming ac-
count of the emotions which he felt on seeing one of these Madonna'^,
hidden in the mountains of the Tyrol. " At a turn of the path," says
he, " I found a small niche hollowed in the rock, with its Madonna
and tl' lamp, which the pious mountaineers l.ght every evening, in
the most remote solitudes ; there was, at the foot of the rustic altar,
a bunch of fresh garden-flowera ; that lighted lamp, those blooming
flowers, mUea and miles in amongst the bleak mountains, were thp
offerings of a devotion more simple and more touching than anything
I have ever seen of the kind. Not more than two paces from the
Madonna was a precipice, along the verge of which lay the only
path out of the defile; the Virgin's lamp must thus be of great
service to the nightly traveller."

During the revolution of 1'793, and when the French had just
taken possession of the kingdom of Naples, there was a report cir-
culated that they were about to close the churches and abolish the
loorship of the Blessed Virgin. On hearing this the Calabrian
peasants seized their long muskets ; aU. the bells of that wild region
rang out the alarm, and the brigands themselves, bearing the image
of the Madonna, suspended by a red ribbon, enrolled themselves in
the regular army, and fought like lions. These Calabrian troops
were the last to lay down their arms.*

Yvora Italy the veneration of the Mother of the Saviour passed
into Gaul. The Olympian gods had found their way thither in the
train of Caesar's conquering legions, and the temples of Augustus
and of Jupiter arose beside the dolmens, the menhirs, and the more
modern altars of Belenus. The idols of the emperors, basely

fact ; one of them allowed himself to be taken without offering any resistance, because
tho shini attacked him on a Saturday, and he had vowed before the Virgin's altar
never to make use of arms on that day, even in defence of his life. {See Father do
Barry.)
* Ilahj, by Lady Morgan, vol. iii., eh. 24. Travels in Italy, by M. R. C.

^J^

HISTORY OF T»TB DEVOTION TO .i^iE [cHAP. VI

* Sec JTlstoire Eceles'tastlqxie de Bretagne, Introduction.

■f Bensozia, Ben, bel, sos, mute or silent. I/isl. Eccles. de Bret., t. iv., p. 496.

X Le gui. Hist. Eccles. dc Bret., t. iv., p. 564.

§ Hist. Eccles. de Bret., t. iv., n. 561, and t. i., p. 293,

accepted by the Gallic-Roman population of the large cities, fai'ed
not to disappear after the conversion of Constantine; but it requirrd
ages to destroy the Druidical worship of trees, locks, and springs*
In vain did the active virtues, the unctuous meekness, the angelic
al)stinence of the hermits excite the admiration of the Gallic tribes ;
in vain did the ingenuous charity, the spotless integrity, the mild,
compassionate religion of the bishops attract their souls to the cru-
cified God ; the sight of the gigantic menhirs^ standing like dark
spectres amid the arid heaths, the aspect of a mossy oak, or of a
deified foaatain, destroyed in some moments the tedic us work of the
Christian pastors.

In this state of things, so calculated to wear out the most tried
patience, the clergy of Gaul showed themselves worthy of the
religious and civiliang mission which it had received from its divine
Master. They were by nature charitable and humble of heart; n.
necessity rendered them skilful. Unable to break the superstitious
habits which were closely intermingled with the deep roots of the
old Celtic tree, they sanctified what they could not abolish, and
turned the very practices of heathenism to the glory of God. The
menhirs of the heath, where the children of Teutates went often to
pray by the silvery light of the moon, which they called tlie fair
mute.,\ were surmounted by a gigantic cross, which suggested a
Chiistian thought amid the dark rites of Paganism. The oaks of
eight centuries, where the Druids cut down with their golden sickles
(lie spirit^ brcmch^X received in their hollow trunks the Bweet image
of Mary ; and it was also Mary and the saints whom the heathens
found on the margin of their fairy springs.^

This change, which manifests, in those who made it, a profound
knowledge of the human heart, took place not only in the Gauls,
but also among the Belgians, the Spaniards, and the Britons : every-
where it was crowned with success. In time the mysterious super-
stitions of Druidism descended from the songs of bards to popular

^1^

CUAP. VI.]

BLESSED YIROm MART.

legends; the daisies of the meadow, the lilies of the valley, the
odorous stems of the honeysuckle, were no longer stripped of their
leaves over the stream in honour of the deified fountain ; they were
laid on the rustic altar of Mary, and the little lamp of her chapel
replaced the torches of resinous wood burned by the Gauls around
those aged oaks, which they then called tJie oaks of the Lord.

In the invasion of the Barbarians the ChiTstians, in order to hide
from the profrnation of those fierce warriors the cherished objects
of their veneration, carefully concealed the little statues of the
Blessed Virgin ia the wildest and most inaccessible parts of their
forests. There those sacred images remained, not because they
were forgotten, but because the sword of the Goths, Huns, and
Vandals cut down the native tribes, as the mower does the gra;::
of the meadows, so that, in the most fertile and populous countries
of the Roman world, the traveller might then journey on for days
together without seeing the smoke of a human dwelling.*

Long after some of these Madonnas of the woods and fountains
reappeared with splendour; and, according to the old chroniclers,
Spanish, Belgian, and French, their discovery was accompanied by
miracles. At one time, a bright light attracted by night a Spanish
hunter or a Pyrenean shepherd to a bunh, where the birds warbled
sweetly all the day long ; at another, there was an image of Mary
found hidden amongst the flowers of a thorny shrub, redolent with
the perfumes of the wild-wood. Now it was that some shepherds,
seeing their sheep bend the knee before a grassy knoll, covered with
white violets, dug about the spot, and found, to their inexpressible
surprise, a small statue, rudely carved in wood, but in a perfect state
of preservation, representing the Blessed Virgin. Again, it was
falling-stars, illumining the night with a long train of radiance,
and all concentrating their rays on the same spot, pointed out to the
Spanish troops, encamped under the walls of some Moorish city, the
place where, in the time of Rodrigo, some holy monks had concealed.

* The general depopulation that followed tho invasion of the Barbarians surpasses
all belief. Muratori relates, that in the eighth and ninth cei turies Italy was so totally
destitute of inhabitants, that it was infested by wolres. (Murat. Antiq., vol. ii., p.
163.)

tmvf'^y^''

^11

^v.^'

^^cT

IIISTOIIY OF TUB DEVOTION TO TITK

[chap. TI.

on a night of fear and fligbt, a miraculous image, in order to save it
from the sacrilegloua hands of tlie Mussulman. At another time, it
was valorous knights or illustrious dames who, riding, with falcon
on arm, through the gi'een forests of France or of Lusitania, dis-
covered, in the hollow of some old, moss-grown oak, or in the brior-
hidden crevice of a rock, a little hidinc: Madonna.* At this sight,
the proud baron or the noble lady crossed themselves devoutly,
descended in haste from their palfreys, knelt on the grass before the
Madonna, and vowed to build her a chapel.

Our Lady of the Blossomed Thorns was found on a bushy rock,
under marvellous circumstances. The following is the narrative, a.s
told by a simple legend of the past:

" Not far from the highest peak of Jura, but a little downwards
on its western slope, there was still to be seen, about half a century
ago, a heap of ruins which had once formed part of the monastery
of Our Lady of the Blossomed Thorns, built by the widow of a
knight, the last of his race, who fell fighting for the Holy Sepulchre.
The noble lady, walking one winter evening in the long avenue of
her ancient castle, her mind occupied in pious meditation, reached
the thorny bush which subsequently marked the fiie of the monas
tery, and was no little surprised to see that one of those shrubs was
already adorned M-ith the garb of spring ; a calm, clear light, like
that of the rising day, displayed the busli in full flower, and beneath
its verdant screen, spangled with little white shining stars, was a
statue of the Virgin, simply sculptured in rough wood, painted by
no very skilful hand, but clad in robes of some value ; it was from
this image that the miraculous light proceeded. The sacred image
wtis conveyed with great pomp to tLe castle chapel ; but the next
day it was not to be found. The Queen of Angels preferred the
modest shade of her favourite shrubs to the splendour of the baronial
chapel; she had returned to the freshness and solitude of the woods.
In the evening all the inmates of the castle went thither and found
her still more radiant than before. They fell on their knees in

* Malfada, queen of Portagal, hunting with the falcon, found a small Madonna, (,£
which retained the name of Our Lady of the Forest. {See Vasconcellius, in Dctcrip- iSPK^'i
iione regni Lnsit., chap, vii., 1, 5.)

B'--^'

'.*p»t

CHAP. VI.]

nr-EssED viRom mary.

respectful silence. Poiverfvl Qtieen, said the lady, blessed and holy
Mary^ this is your chosen drvelUng j yonr will shall be done. And
a short time after a stately Gothic abbey arose on tlie spot whero
the miraculous Madonna had been found. The nobles of the king-
dom enriched it with their gifts, and the kings endowed it Avith a
tabernacle of pure gold.

Bretagne abounded in oaks consecrated to the honour of Mary ;
the most famous of these flourished by the sea-side, on a hill which
nses at some distance from Lesneven. Our Lady of the Gates was
there honoured, and her silver statue was, from time immemorial, an
object of profound veneration for the faithful of Armorica. The
shrine is now bereft of its Madonna, which was stolen by the iiicor-
rtqjtible agents of the Kepublic ; but it is still frequented by numer-
ous pilgrims, with long, flowing hair, and goat-skin garments, who
come to ask the Mother of God for fine weather, abundant crops, or
the recovery of some sick relative. To see them in this primitive
costume, anterior to the Roman conquest, kneeling devoutly in the
shade of the woods, in \ iew of the green, restless ocean, and the
dolmens of ancient heroes who marched to the conquest of the Capitol,
you would fancy yourself transported to the Gallia Comata of Pliny,
and the illusion would be completed if they chanted a hymn to the
Virgin in the ancient and sonoro'is idiom of the Celts, their own
peculiar language.

Le Berry had also its celebrated Madonna of the Oak, whom a
Lord du Bouchet, seeking his hawk amid the woods, had found in
the hollow of one of those old trees, sacred amongst the Gauls, on
which the hunter-bird had perched, as if to attract his master
thither. The oak Avhich spread its broad branches over the fair
statue of Mary, around which the ivy entwined like a Gothic frame,
stood on a small islet covered with fine, thick grass, and surrounded
by a small lake which had been named — ^I know not why — the Med
Sea. This oak became the terminus of so many pilgrimages, that a
causeway was made to give access to it, and it was subsequently
encircled by a religious edifice. The image, too richly adorned by
the piety of the faithful, was stolen by the Protesttmts during the
civil wars ; but the Count de Maur had another carved from the
wood of the oak which had so long sheltered the Madonna, and this

■flm

)^a

III8T0RT OF TUB DEVOTION TO TIIE

[onAP. VI.

new one might say, liko the perfumed cai-th of the Peroiuu poet : " 1
am not the rose, but I have lived near it."*

In Pioardy, a small Madonna waa deposited in the hollow of an
aged oak, on the high-road from Abbeville to Ileadin ; this miracu-
lous image, shaded by the fragrant honeysuckle, overlooked a patch
of soft verdure on the side of the uusty road, which offered a
pleasant shelter to the passing traveller and the high-born pilgrim,
who went barefoot, like St. Louis and the sire de Joinville, to some
sacred place, in fulfilment of a vow made by himself or some one
whom he loved. The bandit of the feudal time^ muttered an Ave
to himself as he took off hia coarse woollen hat before Our Lady
of Faith ; and the . noble dame, after praying at the feet of the
Madonna, opened her alms-purse, adorned with heraldic devices,
and dropped her alms into the trunk of the old oak, where the
Christian modesty of the faithful of those days secretly deposited,
for the poor, the funds which the latter took without the shame of
asking, and which no other ever touched.f The traveller, his
'levotiona ended, sat down, with his feet stretched out in the soft,
cool grass, which refreshed him after his long journey ; ho inhaled
(he perfume of the flowers, listened to the murmur of the neigh-
bouring spring, and enjoyed the exquisite sense of repose, so
precious when contrasted with bis late fatigue. But, alas ! he was
at length forced to depart, and how reluctantly he turned away !
The shade was so refreshing, the grass so soft, the gurgling of the
fountain so sweetly soothing 1 Crossing himself, he murmured a
parting prayer to the Virgin, slipped an alms into the hand of the
poor invalid who knelt hard by, and whose blessing followed him
on his way : " Worthy traveller, may Our Lady save you from hurt
or harm !" At the bend of the road he turned his head to take a
last look at Our Lady's Oak.

Anjou, where the pilgrimages in honour of Mary are of so old a
date, had, near the village of Sabld, its oak, contemporary with the

* Saadi, Oufistan.

■f These trees, wherein travellers deposited the alms which the poor came at dusk (^
to take away unseen, were so Tenerable, says M. de Marchangy, that none, save those
who really required it, woald dare to take a farthing.

(MW. VI.]

DM'>48KD VIUOIX MAKY.

r)0

r'..ititngonei«i, furnished with a Madonna no less oncient. At tho
foot of the Vosges, on the borders of Lorraine, a huge old Onllic
onk, which the peasants still call, through custom, the fairy tree,
Inul, ill its rao8«y bosom, a white ond mysterious image of the Virgin,
Ix'fon^ which Joiin of Arc, that pious maiden, went to pray with all
her heart against the English, who were so soon after to fly before
her victorious banner. Huinault had qJso its old oaks and mira-
culous images; Spain and Portugal were not without theirs; and
Kngland, so late as the reign of Charles the First, saw her Catholi
children still kneeling to invoke the absent Madonna. Evelyn tells
us that these trees were known by the name of process ioiiroalM*

But of all the monuments of the vegetable kingdom ever c( n-
secratcd to Mary, there is none to be compared to the oak of
AUouville, in the District of Caux. The cii cumference c*' this
ancient tree is thirty-four feet at its base, and twenty-sLx at. n manV
height from the ground. It has the broad, open top of the cedar,
and its vast branches, which spring from the trunk, about eight feet
from its base, extend horizontally, so as to cover an immense spn •'^.
The interior of the tree is hollow throughout ; the central part beiiig
destroyed many years ago, it is only by its bark and the I'.r ■ ; coats
of sap that it still subsists ; and yet it is every year cl ,'ercd with
acorns and adorned with an abundant foliage. In the hollow of this
oak, which is, at least, nine hundred years old, and has seen the fall
of the Druid-groves, pious hands have constructed a charming little
chapel, lined with marble, and decorated with an imag'^ of Mary.
A grating closes the front of the shrine, without concealing the
sacred image from the eyes of the pilgrim or the traveller. Over
the chapel is a cell, a fitting habitation for some ne^w stylite ; it is
reached by a spiral ladder which winds around the trunk. Thii^
aerial dwelling, covered with a pointed roof, forms a steeple
surmounted by an iron cross, which rises ^r ;♦. picturesque manner
above the branches of the oak.f

^7m^

m^'

* So late as the reign of Clmrles the Second, there were found in many coanties of
Eni^laiid, certain old oaks whicli were c /rauionly called procession-oaks. (Evelyn'i
Memoir.)

•}■ See Ducatel's Norman Antiquities {Antiquitis Normandes).

Hi II

? f I'

■"III

J 'if

•fl

'A i

■I

-J 1 ^i

HISTORY OF TIIE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. VI.

On certain festivals of the year, and especially on the patronal
feast, the chapel serves for the religious ceremonies of the day, and
the people of the neighbouring villages repair in crowds to the feet
of the Gallic Virgin, who seems to wrap them with maternal tender-
ness in her fresh, green mantle. These good people love their Ma-
donna, and have proved it well. In those disastrous days when all
that belonged to religion was proscribed, when the slightest mani-
festation of Catholicism was punished with death, a band of revolu-
tionary bravos from Rouen marched towards Allouville, with the
avowed purpose of burning the venerable oak, with the Madonna
whom it sheltered. The peasants of Normandy, though much less
susceptible of enthusiasm than the Bretotis, assembled in arms ai'ound
the oak, and defended it so valiantly that the republicans were com-
pletely foiled in their design, and had to retire in disgrace. When
the Reign of Terror was at its height, and the sound of hymn or
psalm was no longer to be heard in France ; when a misguided
people, worshipping Marat on the altar of Christ,* vociferated:
■' There are no longer Saints^ nor God^ nor immortal soul!'''' the iron
cross of the hermitage was still seen tapering above the branches of
the oak of Allouville, and on the front of its little chapel was stUl
read the calm and touching inscription : " To Our Lady of Peace."

Under the successors ot Constantine the Great, Gaul, where Pagan-
ism daily lost ground, became almost entirely Christian. In the
time of Theodosius, it contained seventeen archbishop's sees, nearly all
dedicated to Mary, and one hundred and fifteen bishoprics governed
by men of great learning, of rare piety, of boundless charity, and
of illustrious birth, which added much to their influence. Christi-
anity was then seeking to restore the primitive gravity of manner
and austerity of morals amongst those Gallic tribes so wholly given
np to the sports of the circus, their chariot-races, and the seductive
pleasures of the theatre — enervating and pernicious amusements
which heathen Rome, in her corruption, had cast, like flowery chains,

* " i' was during the festivals of Reason," says Laharpe, " that the bust of Marat
was placea on the altar, when all those who were suspected of fanaticism — that is to
Bay, of believing in God — were forced to bend the knee before Marat." (See Du
Fanaticisme dans la langue revolutionnaire, p. 51.)

JJLESSED VIKGIK MARY.

(;:iAP VI. J

over the primitive nations whom she could hardly subdue — under-
mining, by these means, their martial courage. The bishops, who
have been too rashly accused of tampering with Prfganism, because
they were unable to eradicate these noxious Pagan practices, used
every endeavour, on the contrary, to extirpate them, and flattered
themselves that they were succeeding, when, all at once, amid pro-
found peace, and whilst Gaul lived from day to day, careless of the
morrow, secure in the legions who occupied her great cities, and the
sixty fortresses which protected her frontiers against the barbarians,
behold! the sound of trumpets is heard beyond the river Avhicli

divides it from Germany Hostile battalions suddenly

precipitate themselves on the plains whose echoes are still murmur-
ing the Gallic songs ; fire and sword devastate the country ; rivei-s
tinged wjth blood, cities given up to pillage, the marble temples of
the old imperial gods laid prostrate on the ground, Christian
churches desecrated, announce the dread approach of those ferocious
wan-iors of the North, whose gods bear the ominous titles of
destroyers and fathers of carnage j they burst on Gaul like a
mighty avalanche ; the warrior has no time to seize his arms, fear
deprives him even of the power of thinking ; wealth and poverty

share the same fate A thick, gloomy cloud overcasts the

fair Roman province, and naught i to be seen save the flow of
l>lood and the flash of steel ; from the Ehine to the Pyrenees, from
the Mediterranean to the ocean, Gaul, lately so flourishing, is but
one vast scene of carnage and desolation. This disastrous period,
which witnessed the final overthrow of the Roman colossus, and
changed the form of Western Europe, was the gulf which swal-
lowed up the ancient civilization ; and Robertson, the English histo-
rian, hesitates not to say that, were he asked to point out the most
deplorable period of the world's history, he would name that which
elapsed between the death of Theodosius the Great and the estab-
lishment of the Lombards in Italy.

t?;a<8>«J

I Ms! J
(

i 1 i

a 5|

HISTORY OF THB DEVOTION TO THE [CHAP. Vlli

Itriti 0f % ^tMm ia Itarj.

TBK MIDDLE AOXB.

CHAPTER VII.

THK BARBABOUS TIMES.

The invasion of the Barbarians was, for religion, as for the na-
tions who lived enervated and civilized under the shadow of the
Roman eagles, a period of mourning, of teiror, and of tears — a
night of blood, illumined by the distant glar? of conflagrations, re-
sounding with the clash of arms, and crossed by warlike chiefs who
look to themselves the fearful title of scourges of God. When the
sound of this great passage of men had ceased, and it became pos-
sible to distinguish objects through the smoke of conflagrations and
the dust of battle-fields, it was found that Europe had changed its
face. The Saxons occupied fertile England, the Franks had taken
possession of Gaul, the Goths of Spain, and the Lombards of Italy.
There remained not a single vestige of the sciences, the arts, or insti-
tutions of the mighty people of Romulus ; barbarism had invaded
all and swept away all before it. New forms of government, new
laws, new customs were everywhere observed ; one thing only had
resisted the general transformation — Christianity, which was to con-
sole the conquered and humanize the conqueroi-s.

The devotion to Mary, impeded for some time by Arianism, which
was fatally predominant for some time after the invasion of the Goths
and Vandals, flourished again under the victorious bannere of the
Franks. Clovis, the only Catholic king of his time, conceived the
design of building, at the eastern extremity of the city, under the
invocation of Our Lady, a metropolitan church, of which he liimself
laid the first stone, and which wa? '■ompleted by his son Childebert.*
This church, built on the site of an ancient Druid temple, waa

* Felibien, Hiit. de Paris, t. i.

CHAP.

BLESSED VIRGIN MATlX\

adorned with marble columns, frescoes on a golden ground, and a
mosaic pavement. The poet-bishop Fortunat gives special pn*:. lo
its windows, which filled the interior with a flood of light ; these
windows were a luxury imported from Greece and Italy, and were
then first introduced into the Gauls.*

Clovis the First also founded Our Lady of Argenteuil, where the
Piincess Theodrade, daughter of the Emperor Charlemagne, took
the veil after having accompanied her father to Italy ; this abbey,
which was then in the midst of the woods, was destroyed by the
Normans, and magnificently rebuilt by the pious Queen Adelaide,
wife of Hugh Capet, who delighted to adorn its altare with the
finest works of her hands.

The other Merovingian princes, not even excepting ChUperic, the
sanguinary spouse of Fredegonde, dedicated many chapels and
abbeys to the Virgin. Radegohde, daughter of Berthaire, king of
Thuringia, the holy and deserted wife of King Clotaire, requested
with tears, in her last moments, that they would bury her in the un-
finished Abbey of St. Mary, which she was then building at Poic-
tiers. This same pious princess, who refused to accept the regal
crown ofiered to her by her ferocious and inconstant husband,
founded in Neustria, near a Druid spring which the Gauls of that
time still obstinately persevered in secretly worshipping, the church
of Our Lady of Cailliouville, which was adoi-ned with so many sacred
images that it was often compared to Paradise. Of the Merovingian
church nothing now remains, bat the fountain still pours forth its
limpid stream, and people come from afar off to seek health in its
waters. When the water is calm and undisturbed, the image of St.
Radegonde may still be seen on the flag at the bottom, with the
legend, " Pray for us !"

Another wife of Clotaire the Fii-st, Queen Waltrade, with the

II"; i

'-h

* The most ancient author who speaks of stained glass windows is St. Jerome, in
his Commentary on Ezechiel, quoted by Ducange, verho vitra. After St. Jerome it is
Gregory of Tours, then Fortunat. Paul the Silent, a contemporary of Fortunat, to
whom wc are indebted for a pinute description of tlie church of St. Sophia, such as
it then was, has also described the beautiful windows of coloured glass which orna-
mented the dame of the Byzantine basilic. (See I'Hist. de Byzance by Ducange.)

E- vi

* I

te-

y'AV

HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [CIIAP. VII.

Princess Engeltrude, a daughter of that king, founded at Tours,
about the year 600, a noble abbey, with the title of Our Lady of the
Casket, probably because those princesses employed their jewels in
forwarding the work * Several ladies of high birth shut themselves
up with them in this monastery, Avhich was destroyed by the Nor-
mans.

Gregory of Tours mentions that there was then in the capital of
Touraine a church of Our Lady whic:' . was held in profound vene-
ration. On solemn occasions, oaths ^ 'eio taken by placing the hand
on the Virgin's altar, and those who pt jured themselves were sup-
posed to die within the year.f

The royal spouse of Clovis IL, Bathilda, that fair and holy prin-
cess, who was the pearl of those barbarous times, founded the superb
abbey of Chelles, whither she retired when her glorious regency was
at an end. This abbey was placed under the invocation of the
Blessed Virgin, and was situated in the midst of the dense forest
where Chilperic had met his death. A great lady of the Merovin-
gian court, Lutruda, wife of Ebroin, that famous mayor of the
palace who was sumamed the Marius of the Franks, founded, after
the death of her di'eaded spouse, the splendid abbey of Our Lady
of Soissons, which was inaugurated by St. Dronsin. Six Carlovin-
gian princesses governed this abbey in succession, for a period of
an hundred and forty-five years. During all that time Our Lady of
Soissons was regarded as the flower of Frank monasteries, and the
daughters of the highest houses took the veil there. Its affluence
became so great that it was, at length, necessary to place it within
bounds ; on tlie prayer of the Abbess Imma, Charles the Bald fixed
the number of nuns at 216. That prince also prescribed the estab-
lishment of an hostelry for travellers and an alras-house in front of
the abbey gate. All was redolent of piety in this opulent house ;
the divine office was uninterruptedly kept up, and the nuns watched
by turns, night and day, before the Blessed Sacrament. When the
king was with the army, or his life exposed to any danger, a large
number of the holy sisters passed the night in prayer. According

* Gallia Christiana, t. iv.

t Gregory of Tours, de 01. M., c. 19.

rJS)^^

:7/ViiV^>--

"T-C

CT^

;>i'>-«n*'

OHAP. vn.J

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

to the custom of the feudal times, this monastery was bound to send
to the army its quota of raen-at-arms. Its importance declined with
that of the Frank empire ; but numerous pilgi-ims were attracted
thither from all countries dujjng the middle ages by two relics of
the Blessed Virgin. Now, there is nothing to be seen of this Mero-
vingian cloister but a few broken arches.

An Austrasian princess, Plectruda, wifo of Pepin of Heristal, like-
wise built, under the first dynasty, the church of Our Lady of Co-
logne, which still exists.

But of all the pious foundations in honour of the Blessed Virgin,
which date from these remote times, there is none more worthy of
note than that of Our Lady of Treves, in the ancient country of
Tongres, the fatherland of the Franks, which then made part of the
duchy of Austrasia. Who does not remember the popular legend
of Genevieve of Brabant? That moving tale, sung by so many
troubadours and minstrels in the baronial halls of the feudal times,
and told by the cottage hearth for a thousand years and more — ^this
story of the barbarous ages, attested by a monument, commemorates
a most tragical event, a true drama from which Shakspeare perhaps
drew — ^for ho loved to draw from ancient chronicles — the two most
powerful characters that his fancy ever produced — ^lago, the traitor
and calumniator, and Othello, the hero with the credulous mind and
jealous heart. Sigfred, palatine of Treves, reluctantly tears himself
from *^e arms of a beloved wife, to go fight the Moors under the
glorious banner of Charles Martel. Golo, the master of the prince's
household, to whom he had confided the care of his young wife, a
model of virtue and a pearl of beauty, conceived a shameful passion
for the princess, and was not slow in declaring it. Repulsed with
the contempt which his treason merited, the unworthy favourite,
who had deliberately planned his lord's disgrace, hesitated not to
(ialumniate the woman whom he could not seduce : for all vicc3 are
<»isters. Sigfred believed him ; he was far away from home, he loved
nis wife madly, and was jealous ; in th3 first buret of what he con-
sidered his just indignation, he condemned Genevieve to die, together
with her child ; but the servants charged to execute this fatal sen-
tence, in the depth of a dark forest, had rot the heart to do it, and
the Belgian princess was left, with her new-born infant, in that

^ii\>-

!:• II:

41'

... 1 ii

— ^''ff'

..r»«^-,.

I'/V

s:t^'

(Ik

'tm

HIBTOBT OP THE DKVOTIOW TO THE [OHAP Vf

gloomy orest, peopled only with wild Lo'^sts ; the child was suckled
by a wild doe. For six long years did the innocent and injured
wife live on roots and wild fruits, constantly begging of God that
her innocence might be recognised, The compassionate Virgin,
touched by so many tears and so much miser;', came to her one day
as she sat by a spring and ^>romised her that her wishes should be
accomplished. Soon after, Sigfred, whc still loved his wife, and was
inconsolable for her loss, being ou ahuntiag-party, found Genevieve
in a cave, covered with rags, her long hair hanging over her shoul-
ders like a veiL Golo confessed his crime, and was i-om :j8undcr by
four wild bulls from the Black Forest. Tliis act of Mem jaitsce
being done, Genevieve had a church built in Honour of Mary amid
the woods where she had so long wandered, and on the very spot
where the Mother of God hal appeared to her Hydolxnias, arcb-
bishop of Tievts, consecrated thi* church in the year 746.*

Notwithetanding the^a marks of respect bestowed on the Bi'issed
Virgin, it would be fakw^fag history to represent the devotion to
her as having attained its higheti!; pitch under the firet French dy-
nasty ; the truth is, that it v. a then only in its dawn. Local devo-
tions absorbed both Ihs nobi « and the people: St. Martin of Tour?,
St. Denis, St. Germain, ai^d St. Hilary, were each the object of sucli
exclusive veneration that, excepting only Our Lord himself, all else
was in the shade. Tt was tho altars of those saints that were plated
w.'tli gold ; it was their tombs that were covered with beaten silver ;
it >^a^ under the arches of their JRoman churches that robes of
goldfci'. tissue, embroidered with pearls, were hung, ex voto.j; The
fair imag;- af Mary, the grand figures of the Apostles, the army of
martyrs, ail fade away before the first Gallic bishops. Thus, an im-
postor of the name of Didier, who would fain found a sect in the
sixth century, announced himself, with cool effironteiy, greater than
the Apostles, and almost as great as St. Martin.J This distorted
vis: ■>n, which causes us some surprise, proceeded from the gradual
extinction of light ; legends began to take precedence of the Gospel,

W\\

* Add. ad Molau. de Belgk,

f See Life of Bagohtrt, by the Monk of St. Denki

j Gregory of Tours.

ST-

K ^WIA P. VU.]

BLESSED VIKGIN MART.

and ignorance, ever more productive of evil, did not always stop at
the threshold of the Christian temple ; the successors of the Basils,
of the Ambroses, the Chrysostoms, unhappily deserved iivhat Alfred
the Great said of them, with sadness of heart . " From the Thames
to the Humber, they no longer understand the Pater, and, in other
parts of the island, it is still worse."*

Gaul was not entirely converted to the Gospel under the Mero-
vingian kings; the Franks had completely abjured their fierce
German deities, but there were still some vestiges of polytheism
amongst the Romans of the cities, who continued to draw omens
from the flight and singing of birds, to feast on Thursday in
honour of Jupiter, to swear by Neptune, Pluto, Diana, or the genii ;
in fine, who dared to light lamps and hang up offerings in the
deserted temples of the idols, as St. Eloi reproaches them with in his
Homilies. These frail shoots of Greek and Roman idolatry soon
withered of themselves on an adverse soil ; but the religion of the
Celts, as we have already said in a preceding chapter, stoutly resisted
the sacerdotal axe, and was ages before it died away. So late as the
fourth century the image of the goddess Berecynthia, representing
the cultivated ground, was borne through the fields. In the fifth,
it is decreed by a canon of the Second Council of Aries, that if a
baron permits lamps to be lit before trees, rocks, or fountains, he
shall be cut off from- the communion of the faithful, after being first
admonished and solemnly warned. At the end of the sixth century,
the Council of Auxerre forbids vows being made to bushes, trees, or
fountain8.f In a Council of Nantes, the date of which is fixed by
Flodoard at the year 658, the bishops are advised to uproot the
trees which the Bretons still persist in worshipping, and from which
they would not, on any account, cut a single branch. The priest
Paulinus represents these same Gauls relapsed into their former
idolatry, placing meats on the sacred stones at the foot of these
trees, and beseeching a venerable oak (which was probably the
sepulchre of some old chief Druid), with the humble offering of a

* Robertson's History of the Emperor Charles V., vol. i., p. 186.
f Tliis canon is conceived in tliese terras : " Non licet inter sentes, aut ad arbore»
tnrcivos, vel ad fontes vota exolvere."

^#3

liiii

1:1

I.I '
r;,

waw3.. "itm ri aM. ' . i .ij.wjm i U ' ii^ij> Br - r ga

\X-y'P^-if:S'

\l\

HlSTOltY OF TlIE DEVOTION TO THE

[chap. VII.

handful of beech-nuts* to protect their wives, their children, their
servants, and their houses-f The bishops of Charlemagne's time
likewise pronounced severe penalties against these superstitions
which had outlived the Merovingian dynasty,^ and they must have
been still of some account when the church passed laws against
them, so late as the opening yeara of the ninth century. It was
especially in the two Ai*moricas, east and west, where the Gospel
was late sown and of slow growth, that the native worship, favoured
Sy forests as old as the world itself, long held its ground despite of
councils and bishops, who, nevertheless, strained every nerve to root
it out. The desert of Scycy, in the Cotentine peninsula, was peopled,
even in the seventh century, by Pagan Gauls, who lived there, as we
learn from the canons of some of the councils of those times, posi-
tively Uks wild leasts. But if idolatry was obstinately sustained
by the scalds and bards, and some Druids wandering in the woods,
the zealous Christian had the ardour which secures victory, and
oroved it well. In the depth of thpse remote solitudes, said to be
the haunts of demons, where strange things were indeed revealed
when the torches of the Gauls flashed through the darkness of the
wood in some forbidden ceremony, or formed a fiery circle around
some dark dolmen planted on the moonlit heath,§ hermits, often of
high birth, took up theii* dwelling in clay huts, covered with bram-
bles, some hidden by a coat of mingled moss and ivy. Their beds
were of dry leaves, sometimes the bark of trees ; their food consisted
of fruits, berries, and wild roots ; their garment a toga or gown of
white, coarsd wooL| Making their way through the tall, tangled

* They first raised the bark cmd then made a square hollow In the trunk, wherein
they placed the body of the Druid ; the aperture was closed with a block of green
wood, and then the bark was restored to its place. The sepulchral tree still lived on.
In some of these trees bones hare been found almost reduced to ashes, and with them
some beech-nnts, in good preservation.

f Paulinns, lib. i. Paschalis Operis, ch. 2.

X Capitul. Caroli Magni, lib. i., tit. 64.

§ The most solemn assemblies of the Druids were those of the new and fall moon -
that of the new moon commenced when that planet gave sufficient light to illumine the
country on the sixth day ; the moonlight did not prevent the worshippers from bearing
torches. (See Hist. Eccles. de Bretagne, Introd., p. 184.)

H Even in the sixth century the clergy still wore the white toga of the Roman

S'lm"^^^

5^!

er^^i

CHAP. VII.]

BLESSED VIUGIN MARY.

ferna of those primeval forests, whose secret ways they knew not.
these good sliepherds sought out in every direction the stray sheep
of Christ. When the good odour of the sanctity of one of these
solitaries spread abroad through the old Neustrian woods, other
hermits hastened to place themselves under his guidance. Then
they set about clearing the hard, dry earth, choked up for ages
with briers and brambles ; then the yellow crops began to wave on
the fair hill-side ; then, at the calm evening hour, when the birds sat
warbling on the trees, the hymns of Sedulius, in honour of the Vii-gin
Mary, arosn in grave, sweet tones, from the very places where the
victim doomed * > die under the stone-knife of the sacrifices, to ap-
pease the Gallic gods, had of old chanted his death-song.*

Woman — ever ready, notwithstanding her natural timidity, to
brave all dangera, when occasion requires — woman would fain
contribute her share to the overthrow of Paganism, and bravely
advance to attack it, even in its ancient strongholds, under the
protection of Mary. St. Fremond, a nobleman who had grown
disgusted with the world, and who was forced to receive the episco-
pal crown in his humble cell, founded a monastery of nuns in his
beloved solitude, and this convent is one of the first in Neustrian
Armorica of which there is any record ; the holy bishop added to
it a handsome church which he dedicated to the Mother of God

tru^j

people. Ill 423 Popo Celcstine blessed the ecclesiastics of Vienna and Narbonne,
who, instead of the toga, began to wear a cbak and girdle. He shows them that it
is only the love of chastity which is recommended when tiie Gospel tells us to gird our
loins ; that the discipline sanctioned by so many holy bishops must not be cormpted by
superstition ; that the clergy are not to be distinguished from tlie faithful by their
garment:,, but by their knowledge and the purity of their lives. (Fleury, Momrs det
Chretiens, ch. 41. Ihid., t. ii., p. 185.)

* M. Pitre-Chevalier ha.s inserted in his interesting and patriotic work on Brittany,
a very curious Bardic song attributed to the victim on the dolmen. — " Ilail, thor
whose wings pierce the clouds, thou whose son was the protector of great privileges,
the bardic herald, the minister, father of the abyss ! — My tongue shall sing my
death-song within the rocky circle which incloses the world. — ^Trust of Brittany, He
whose brow beams forth light, support me I There is joy around the two lakes ; a lake
surrounds mo and the circle ; the circle is surrounded by another marked by strong
planks. A fair asylum is before ; high rocks hang over it ; the serpent approaches on
the outside, creeping towards the sacrificer's vanes with the golden horns. These
golden horns in his hand, his hand on the knife, the knife on my head. '

Ml It

,'■; I

«' 1

<(r^

OlIAl'. VU.

vM)]

T.-ifi

r*i

'^1.

This monastery, built about the year 674, was destroyed by the
idolatrous Romans, but was rebuilt with increased splendour by
their Christian descendants.

The proximity of the British Isle, which the Anglo-Saxons, the
conquerors of the native Britoin, had plunged back again into
idolatry, was fatal to the Neustrian pastors ; for the idolators of Great
Britain, making common cause with the Gauls, strengthened them
in their resistance. The Gospel, favoured by a Merovingian princeas,
once more penetrated into the island of Britain about the end
of the sixth century, and obtained a permanent footing there,
thanks to the wise measures of Gregory the Great ; but this disputed
triumph was only partial ; Edwin, one of the most powerful princes
of the Saxon heptarchy, had the glory of making it secure. Having,
like Clovis, made a vow to embrace Christianity if he obtained a
victory over the perfidious kings of Wessex, who had tried to assas-
sinate him, and having gained it, he convoked the wittena-geinote^ or
great council of the sages, lords, and warriora of his little kingdom,
and, having explain'^d to them liis reasons for abjuring his ancient
gods, he demanded their opinion.

It was a strangely-imposing sight to see that Anglo-Saxon senate
deliberating on the proposed change of religion. The king, young,
handsome, and of noble presence, presided over the assembly, his
crown on his head, a naked sword in his hand, according to the
custom of those times, and clothed in a long cloak fastened at the
shoulder; ranged on either side were the sages of the nation, old
men without arms, wearing long robes and cloaks, with Phrygian
caps on their heads; then the warriora, in short, tight-fitting gar-
ments, their round helmets, without visors, adorned with a drooping
plume ; on their arms shone heavy golden bracelets ; from a narrow
belt which passed over their shoulder hung their sword and battle-
axe ; in one hand they held a lance, and in the other a round shield
studded with golden nails ; in the background were the Chiistian
priests and the high-priest of the idols.

The result of this national conference exceeded the hopes of the
bishops. The Pagan pontiff was the first to declare that his gods
were utterly impotent. A warrior noble, a thane, compared the
life of man to the wing of a little bird as it flies across a room (per-

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WQ CHAP. VII.J

BLKS8ED VIKOIN MAKT.

hflps he saw one at tlie mom t). " Wc see the door by which it
enters," said the Saxon chiti, • the window by which it goes out ;
but whence did it come, and whither does it go ? This is the em-
blem of our existence. If the new faith removes this uncertainty,
let us liasten to adopt it."*

Thereupon, the king declared himself a Christian ; the entire
assembly solemnly renounced the worship of idols, and the people
soon followed the example of the senate and the king. This reli-
^ous revolution took place in the year 620.

The German gods were overthrown in Great Britain, but not so
Druidism ; it lived in the old insular forests where the Britons still
tattooed themselves, like the savages of America, even in the middle
of the eighth century, although it had been decreed by councils that
this strange custom, which gave to the Scots or North Britons the
name of Picts or painted warriors, was of diabolical invention.f
King Edgar prohibited, by an ordinance dated 967, the superstitious
assemblies caXleAfrithgmr, held around the Druid stones which were
still adored in Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Devonshire,
Somersetshire, and especially on Salisbury Plain,:}; where stood the
famous stone-henge (the chorea giganteum of the ancionts). This
prohibition was not strictly adhered to, it would seem, since Canute,
or Cnut the Great, a cekbrated sea-king, was obliged, so late as the
eleventh century, to forbid the worship of trees, rocks, and fountains.
As to the Anglo-Saxons, they were absolutely converted, so that not
a trace of their ancient worship remained, and no sooner had they
exchanged the white horse of Hengist on their banners for the cross
of Christ, than there arose simultaneously, all over the country,
convents, cathedrals, churches, hermitages, and chapels in honour of
the Blessed Mary, sometimes alone, sometimes associated with one of
the Apostles or the Saxon saints, when they came to have any.
Nothing could be more simple than the greater part of these first
Anglo-Saxon chapels. Their walls were formed of liuge trunks of

* Hist. d'Anglet., by M. de Roujoux, t. Icr.

f This tattooing was conderancd in 787 by a Nortliurabrian Couacil, as a Pagan
superstition and a diabolical rito. (See Concil. Labbe, t. tL)
I See Camden's Britannia.

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insrouv OK thk devotion to tiik [chai'. vii.

trees, taken from the neigbl)Ouring forosts and cemented with moss
or green Bods mixed with clay ; tlie interior of the wulla was rough-
cast with n slaty earth which took a kind of polish, and on this were
traced coloured figures, in barbarouH de.signa,* At the farther end
of the little building, where wind, rain and light were all admitted
through the osier lattice which served for glass,! there stood over a
tomb-shaped altar, covered with a red cloth with a dee}) fringe,^ an
image of the Blessed Virgin in the costume of a Saxon lady. The
straw roof of the chapel was surmounted by a little bell. In front
of this primitive monument, there was seen a cross formed of two
trees fastened together by branches of willow, and crowned with a
wreath of box or ivy ; this was the sign of the change of worshij),
and the trophy of Christ's victory over Zernebock and Ilertha. A
little later, the Anglo-Saxon bishops brought from Rome painter*,
glaziera and builders ;§ but the cathedrals and abbeys which thfy
built under the invocation of Mary and the Saints were all in the
heavy, cumbrous style which prevailed at that time.

When William of Normandy made the conquest of England, the
Anglo-Norman churches, with their bold steeples, their splendid
belfries, and their lofty towera, suddenly started up, in the pride
of their fairy architecture, by the side of the heavy churches and
rude chapels of the Saxons. But the latter, notwithstanding thiir
want of elegance, still retained a charm which exercised a powerful
influence over the conquered nation: it was there that the \)Qn-
quished came to weep and pray. The Virgin, whom they had ven-
erated in happier days — the Virgin who, according to the custom

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* Hist. d'Anfflel., by M. do Roujoux, t. Icr.

f Sir James Hall, in his Essai/ on Gothic Archileclure, traces up the stone rauHions,
BO light and so elegant, of the great pointed windows, to the imitation of* these osier
lattices. (See Edinburgh Phil. Trans.)

\ It must be remembered that the ancient altars of Christianity were the tombs of .
martyrs ; the stuffs, often very rich, which covered tiio altars, were red, in imitation
of the colour of blood ; covers were sometimes brought from the tomb of Sts. Peter
and Paul in Rome. {Hist. Eccles. de Bretagne.)

§ " Misit legataries in Galliam, qui vitri faetores, artifices videlicet Britanniis ea
tenus incognitos, ad cancellandos ecclesite porticus et coenacularum ejus fenestras, abdn-
Cerent." (Bcde, lib, de Wiremulhensi monasterio, c, 5.)

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CHAP, vn.]

BLKSHKI) Vino IN MAUY.

of those times, wore their national costumfl — Boomed to them more
attentive, more indulgent, more disposed to help them, in those
places where she reigned over the graves of their fathers and the
sculptured saints of old England.

Christianity, which, according to old Spanish tradition, wns
brought into Spain by St. James, four yeare after the death of
Our Ix)rd, made a rapid progress in that country, and flourished
there, mixed up, it is true, with the tares of Arianism, from the
invasion of the Goths and Vandals ; the veneration of Mary was
already common, though somewhat eclipsed by that of St. Vincent,
the great martyr of Coesar-Augusta, now Saragossa, whom Pruden
tins has celebrated in his hymns. Our Lady of the Pillar, which
was, at first, it seems, but a poor chapel, built of clay and round
stones, was already a Roman church frequented by numerous pil
griras, where the statue of the Blessed Virgin seemed to smile on
the kneeling Spaniards from the height of her rich marble column.
Our Lady of Toledo, the metropolitan church of Spain, the founda-
tion of which is referred by some Spanish historians to the first
ages of Christianity, was authentically consecrated in the year
680 under the Gothic king Rccaredo, the first king of Spain who
merited the title of Catholic, since he expelled the Arians from his
kingdom, after h'wing their errors condemned by a council held in
Toledo. But the shrine of Mary most frequented by the Spanish
people, in those remote ages to which we now refer, was that of
Our Lady of Covadonga, in the Asturias. The reason was, that,
under the natural arches of this Astnrian cave, consecrated to Mary
by the ancient hermits when they were waging war against Druid-
ism in' the depth of the Spanish forests, where it long maintained
itself,* the flag of independence — the sacred banner of the Cross —
had taken refuge, as a last resource, after the battle of Xeres, which
delivered Spain to the Caliphs. Abandoning forest after forest,
mountain after mountain, and retiring with heroic slowness to
Mount Autiba, which commands a view of the Cantabrian Sea, the

* The twelfth and sixteenth council of Toledo, of which one was held in 681, and
the other in 693, teach, by their eleventh and twelfth canons, that those who pay
religious wonhip to stones or trees, sacrifice to Satan.
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last boundary of Spain, Pelago, a young man of the royal blood,
the only hope of his country, found shelter for a short time, with
a handful of brave followere, in this inaccessible cavern which the
piety of the Asturian mountaineers had consecrated to the Blessed
Virgin, whose sweet image was placed on a rock that served for an
alfar. On entering this rude temple, the Spanish hero conceived
all sorts of hopes, and, kneeling with his companions before the
sacred imago, he solemn^'y placed himself and the shattered fortunes
of Spain under the prot action of Our Lady of Covadonga, took the
Virgin's name for his war-cry, and fortified himself on her mountain.
The Mother of God graciously heard the Gothic prince, and was
pleased to manifest her protection by giving the Spaniards a great
victory over the Moors commanded by the Musjsulman governor,
Alcama*

Attributing this unhoped-for victory to the Blessed Virgin, Pe-
lago, to show his gratitude, founded near the natural grotto, which
was in the side of a steep rock, at whose base flowed the Auseba, a
fair church with the title of Our Lady of Covadonga {of the cave),
where all Spain went to pray.f

The descendants of Clovis tJie Handsome — le chevelu, as he is styled '
in the introdi tion to the Salic law — had sadly degenerated from the
valour and prudence of that piince. The lamp of the Merovingians,
almost consumed, was wasting away without emitting a single flash
of light ; the sluggish kings, who were no more than vain images,
were scarcely seen by the people more than once a year, and then
they appeared seated on a chariot bedecked with flowers and green
branches, drawn by four oxen, who moved with a slow and heavy
gait towards the Champ de Mai, there to exhibit to the public gaze
those phantoms of princes whom the breath of Charles Martel could
destroy if it deigned to do so. Yet they were pious, and built

* According to Father Mariana, this army consisted of sixty thousand men. Se-
bastian, bisliop of Salamanca, and Anibrosio de Morales, represent it as still larger.

f The church of Om: Lady of Covadonga was preserved till the year 1775, when it
was consumed by fire ; the pious king, Charles III., wished to rebiiild it with great
splendour, and had the work actually commenced, though it is not yet finished. This
shrine is situated in the province of Oviedo.

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BLESSED VniGIN MARY.

75 IC):

monasteries ; but piety alone will not suflBce to sustain a sceptre ,
that of France is heavy, and requires a strong arm, a fearless heart,
a clear head, and n prudent mind. The mayors of the palace had
all that, happily for Christian Europe, which was soon to be con-
fronted with Islamism.*

The Moors, being mastei-s of Spain, had looked with a longing eye
from the top of the Pyrenees over the land of France, the fairest
kingdom of the West; it seemed to them good to introduce Islamism
there, and to change its churches into mosques. The project was no
sooner conceived than executed. The rich plains of the South were
q!.ickly covered with a numerous army, which pillaged the shrines as
it paased along, and dashed from their ancient pedestals the statues
of the Virgin and the Saints, contemptuously treating them as idols.
All France quaked with fear, from the Pyrenees to the Tlhine ; the
churches could scarcely contain the multitudes who came to implort
the assistance of God and the Blessed Virgin ; the bishoj^s took up
arms ; the mitred abbots marched to battle under the flag of their
abbey; the abbot of St. Denis hoisted the orijlanime^ which was
then peculiar to his own convent ; Aquitaine display«^d the image
of St. Martial, and Charles Martel the cloak of St. Martm of Toui-s,
which was then the royal standard of France. It was truly a holy
war; and we consequently see that those who fell in this contest
(Vere numbered amongst thf^ martyrs.

The battle wherein the Moorisli scimitar and the Frankish battle-
axe were to decide the destinies of the world, and secure the triumph
either of the Koran or the Gospel, was fought on the plain of Poic-
tiera. The two artnies viewed each other at fii-st with equal surprise.
The French could not help admiring the brilliant Eastern cavalry,
proud of so many victories!, and laden with the spoils of Africa and
Asia. The ground shook beneath the fiery tread of their Arab
courses as they impatiently pawed and pranced, seeming as though
they would cry "Forward!" like their type inimortalizod in the
sublime description of Job ; the eye was dazzled by the goi'geouH
flowing robes of the Saracens, the splendour of their jewelled tur-
bans, and the meteor glare of their breastjilates and scimitars.

The word isfmnism signifies oonsecration to God.

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The ai my of the Franks, ranged in angular form fur the battle,
presented to the sons of Ishnaael a sight no less strange or im-
posing. Those agile warriors, clothed in short garments, and ex-
ceeding the swiftest horses in the celerity of their movements, — that
formidable infantry, which united in its manoeuvres the ancient
tactics of the Roman legions and the wild ferocity of the Gennanic
races, — that bristling triangle of spears and axes, advancing eagerly
but steadily to pierce the Moorish squadrons, struck the Arabs with
surprise, and soon convinced them, say the ancient chronicles, that
they had no longer to deal with the degenerate Goths, and that
Charles was a different person from Rodriguez.,

The battle of Xeres, Avhich delivered Spain to the Mooi-s, had
lasted for eight days ; the battle of Tours, which delivered France
from them, lasted but a single day. The Arabs charged the Chris-
tian army several times, pouring in one battalion after another, like
the overwhelming billows of the ocean; but their insatiate fury
broke in vain against the solid phalanx of the Franks, whom a
Portuguese bishop, Isidore, their content porary, compares to a wall
of ice, against which the Arab liosi dashed itself to pieces. At length
the ferocious Abderama, lieutenant of the Caliph of Bagd 1, whose
authority extended even to Spain, fell under the crushing axe of
Charles, The shades of night separated the combatants, and next
day, when the Christian troops rushed on the African camp, in order
to ccMnplete the ruin of their enemies, they found it empty — the
Moors had fled ! Then, each of the victorion" battalions, as they
marched into the grateful city, was greeted with the merry sound
of bells and the music of joyful anthems ; and the whole city
resounded with the cry of " Praises be to Christ, who loves the
Franks, protects their armies, and watches over their kingdom !"

CHAP, vin.]

BLK88ED VIRGIN MAKY.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE NORTHMEN.

The List of the Merovingians had exchanged the white and bhie
dalmatic, the tiara of gohl adorned with jewels, and the golden
wand bent in the form of a cross, which formed the sceptra of those
princes, for the brown habit of a monk ; it was a phantom the less.
For many a long year the mayors of the palace had been the real
kings, and the disappearance of the last descendant of Clovis made
so little noise in the world, that the chronicles of the time merely
state, so very concisely that contempt ekes out through indifference,
that the Franks assembled at Soissons deposed Childeric and trans-
ferred the crown to Pepin. This Austrasian prince, who so boldly
assumed the crown of France, violating, by the consent of the cobles,
all the laws of monarchy, had a sword able to defend it, and a head
strong enough to wear it. His valour was undoubted, his prudence
proverbial, and he showed himself more pious than his father,
Charles Martel, of glorious memory, who pillaged the church after
having saved it. Pepin, Avho Avas remarkable for his devotion to
the Blessed Virgin, was consecrated by Boniface, archbishop of
Mayence, in the famous abbey-church of Our Lady of Soissons,
where Gisele, one of liis daufrhter?, the beloved sister of Charlo-
magne, afterwards took the veil. It v;as t'^'- prince who granted
to the Merovingian monastery of O'lr Lady jc Argenteuil a part
of the immense forest which lay near it. Pepin the Short also
founded, in the old German forest, since so famous and so dreaded
as the Black Forest, a charming rusti-^ ^ha[)el in )\onour of Mary.
This he did on the followinr^ occasion : One day, as he was hunting
with his lords in those immense woods, he iieedlcssly detached him-
self from his suite, and lost his way. Not knowing what to do, he
stood hesitating which path to foUov', Avhen the soft sound of a
hermitage-bell was Avafted to his ear on the autumn breeze. Turn-
ing his horse's head in the direction of the sound, the prince soon
reached a sequestered spot wh^re a poor Scottish monk had built

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hiuiself a cell and a small oratory by the side of a limpid brook.
This lowly edifice, constructed without the aid of art or the mason's
trowel, was yet not without its own magnificence: the brier had
Interlaced its brown branches through the narrow openings, adorned
with dark green leaves, whilst the gold and purple foliage of the
w ilil vine seemed to fix on the ruined wall the rich tints of the

■ttmg sun.

The kings of that time, though arrogant by natui'e, everywhere
ilivosted themselves of pride in presence of a Christian emblem.
On seeing the black cross of the hermitage, the Frankish prince
bent his head as humbly as the poorest shepherd would have done ;
tlien, tying his horse to a tree, he entered the humble sanctuary.
Tlie utter nakedness of the holy place, through whose brolcen roof
wpi-e seen the waving pine and the passing clouds, cooled in no
degree the simple piety of the valiant prince. Having prayed foi
a little time before a Madonna, so miserably sculptured that it
would now frighten a child, and make an artist shudder, the king,
wholly unprovided, yet unwilling to leave the little chapel without
some token of his ATsit, laid before the altar his jewelled cap. Ee-
turned to his palace of Heristal, Pepin did not forget, amid th';
cares and pleasures of royalty, the little hermitage of Mary, which
he rebuilt v>^ith splendour, and richly endowed.*

Charlemagne, or Kai^l the Grea% as he is styled in the old FrankLsh
chronicles, rejected not the religious inheritance of his father's piety:
there is on record one of his pious visits to Our Lady of Marillais,
in Anjou, — a pilgrimage which dates, it is said, from the fourth
century, and which was then one of the most popular of the Chris-
tian world. f During his stay in Italy, his rich gifts to St. Mary
Major dazi.ied the Roman people, accnstoi'ned as they were to splen-
dor" and magnificence ; Germany was enriched by him with three
churches bearing Our Lady's name : nor was this all.

Having exhumed the mineral city of Granus, the remains of which
he accidentally found beneath the moss and weeds of the fair valley

CHAP. vra.J

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

which skirts the Rhine and the Meuse, Charles, having chosen it for
the seat of the Frankish empire, erected there, by the side of his
vast palace, under the invocation of the Virgin, a chape^ or oratory
of octagonal form, ornamented with Italian marble, lighted by
windows incrusted with gold, and secui'ed by brai'on doora. This
chapel, which equalled the basilica in extent, and subsequently
afforded a magnificent asylum to the mortal remains of the great
Emperor, soon became so famous, that the German city, whose glory
it was, esteemed it a high honour to bear its name. From the
Emperor Louis the First, till the year 155G, thirty-six kings and
ten queens were crowned in this sanctuary of Our Lady. This
shrine was so much frequented, that in 1496 there wei'e reckoned,
in one day, an hundred and forty-two thousand pilgrims.

The court of Charlemagne imitated him ir his tender and pro-
found devotion to the Blessed Virgin. When he declared wai-
against the Mussulman king of Cordova, and summoned the lords
of southern France to fight under the victorious banners whereon
figured the Archangel Michael, the great patron of the French of
that time, the famous paladin Roland, his nephew, before crossing
the Pyrenees, which were to be so fatal to him, made a pilgrimage,
in company with many high and mighty lords, to Our Lady of Roc-
Amadour. The Carlovingian priuce, after having piously invoked
Mary, offered her the weight of his hiacmar (sword) of silver, and
consecrated to her that sword which had already acquired so much
renown. As he was returniig to France, coveted with glory, the
vanguard of the French army, commanded by him, was suv >anded
and attacked on all sides in the valley of Roncevaux. In vain did
the French brave the danger with untlinching courage ; they were
cut to pieces ; not one would surrender ; all perished, both chiefs
and soldiers. To perpetuate the memory of this disastrous event,
there was erected on the spot, over the collected bones of those
chivalrous warriors, a chapel dedicated to Mary, in which was
placed an inscription bearing the names of Thierry of Ardennes,
Rioles du Mas, Guy of Bourgogne, Ogier the Dane, Olivier, and
Roland. This chap(;l, situated near the abbey of Roncevaux, was
adorned with frescoes re-^rebenting a combat, and for six centuries
aone but Frenchmen were buried there.

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [CIIAP. VIH.

paladin Roland, ere he expired on the field of battle, waa an act
of respect towards the Blessed Virgin ; he desired that his sword
might be borne to Our Lady of Roc-Amadour, and it was done as
he had commanded.

Louis the Pious, or the Good, son of Charlemagne, always wore
the image of Mary about his person whether in the chase or on a
journey. When, straying a little from his court, he found himself
alone in the woods, he hastily unfastened his gauntlets studded with
golden nails, and, drawing from his bosom the venerated image, he
placed it at the foot of an oak and knelt to oflfer up a prayer. He
afterwards deposited it in the superb abbey of Hildesheim, which
he fou'i'l (T in hcnour of the Blessed Virgin,* and where he planted
a rose-!'> .-li with his own hand, which lasted nearly as long as his
noble in'^iTstery.

''JiiL. Charles the Fat, a craven and deceitful monarch, whose
(i nibeJ and unhappy reign prepared the fall of the race of Char-
gne, the Normans, conducted by Sigefroy, came to lay siege to
Paris. " -+ ancient capital of the Parisii was no larger then than
it had .jc.'n in the time of Caesar: the cathedral of Notre-Dame,
built by king ChilJtbei-t, to the east ; two large towers to the north
and south; and to the west, the king's palace, formed the four
points of its circumference. The Seine encircled it with its blue
waves. The river-side, towards the north, was covered with wood,
and the octagonal tower which stood at the corner of the Cemetery
of the Innocents served as a watch-tower to keep off thn incursions
of the robbei-s from the forest. In the present quartier des Ilalles^
in the neighbourhood of St. Opportune, was a hermitage called the
hermitage of Our Lady of the ^Yoods, becaus3 it stood at the en-
trance of the forest. The mountain of St. Genevieve was thickly
covered with vines, and the fauhourg St. Germain.^ noted for its
beautiful meadows, M'as a small abbatial village.

Sigefroy at first demanded per-nissiou for tne troops whom he
was leading to Burgundy to entor i'aris as they passed ; the Paris-
ians refused to open their gates to him, and the Nor an swore that
his sword should break them open.

CHAP, vm.]

BLESSED VlRGrN MART.

Eudes, son of Eobert the Strong, shut himself up in Paris and
resolved to defend it against these barbarians, who, not content with
pillaging the houses and churches, robbed even the venerated bodies
of the Saints.* The siege was long and bloody. Seven hundred
Norman barks blockaded the Seine; battering-rams, balistas, and
catapults were employed on both sides, and either party darted
against the other fiery arrows and burning brands. The Norman
towers were placed over against the towers of the besieged ramparts,
and the enemy approached the walls under covered galleries which
the Parisians often succeeded in burning, or crushing beneath the
weight of beams and stones.

From the very beginning of this desperate and heroic conflict,
Paris had placed itself under the special protection of the Blessed
Virgin. It was her statue that the clergy bore in procession around
the ramparts during the siege, and many a Norman arrow was aimed
at it in vain ; it was Mary whom the archers invoked aloud as they
hurled stones and other missiles from the height of the towers ; it
was in her honour that, as often as they repulsed the Northern
pirates, the city was splendidly illuminated with white wax tapers.
"It is she who saves us," said Abbon, "it is she who deigns to
support us; it is by her help that we still enjoy life. Amiable
Mother of our Saviour, bright Queen of Heaven, it is thou who
hast deigned to shield us against the menacing sword of the
Danes !"

Some yeara after, the Blessed Virgin assisted by a miracle in re-
covering the city of Nantes from the Normans, and expelling them
from Bretagne, which they had invaded. Alain, afterwards sur-
named the Barbe-Torte^ who had taken refuge in England with the
flower of the young Breton nobility, then undertook to regain his
country ; he was but twenty yeai-s old, an exile, and had little else
fhan his sword and the protection of Mary ; but a sword is some-
thing in the hands of a brave man, and Mary's protection is worth
whole squadrons. He landed with some Bretons at Cancalc, and
from stage to stage, tracking his way with Norman corpses, the Bre-

Sce A.itiq. lie Rouen, p. 102.

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HISTOKY OF TItE DEVOTION TO THE [CUAP. Vm.

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ton hero at length arrived under the walls of Nantes, where the
plundering Northmen had taken refuge, as a last resource. Repulsed
with loss by the Normans, who had collected numerous bands
around the city, Alain, driven to the extremity of the mountain
with his troops, stretched himself on the ground, grievously tired^
says an old Breton chronicle, and tormented with thirst. " Ho,
thereupon, began +o moan piteously, and with humble supplication
to implore the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our
Lord, beseeching her to open a fountain of water, so that he and his
exhausted knights might quench their ^ievous thirst. Which
prayers being heard by the Virgin Mary, she did graciously open a
fountain which is still called St, Mary's Fountain, from which ho
and his did drink, and being suflSciently strengthened and refreshed,
did marvellously recover their vigour and returned as valiant as ever
to the battle. Falhug again on the Normans, they slew them and
cut them to pieces, excepting only those who fled with their booty
to their ships."

Alain found the city of Nantes sacked and burned ; all covered
»vith dust and blood, the young liberator had long looked in vain
amid the piles of smouldering ruins for the stately church of St.
Felix, the roof of which, covered with line tin, was so clear, says
a contemporary work, that when shone upon by the sun or moon it
resembled burnished silver. Alas ! that roof had disappeared, and
the sky was the only covering of the ancient church, whose altars
were bi-oken and its tombs laic' waste. In order to reach the place
where the high altiir had been, Alain was obliged to clear away the
briers with hb sword. Yet the Te Deum of victory and the can-
ticles of praise to the Virgin were chanted with no less fervour
amid the ruins of that temple ; acd, before he arose from his knees,
the young Breton duke, recognizing the tutelary support of the
Blessed Virgin, promised to dedicate to her that cathedral which
now bears the name of Our Lady of Nantes.

It waa in the reign of Charles the Simple that a whole army of
the bold Northci'n pirates who had so long ravaged the western
coast of Europe v/as converted to the faith, though at the exi)ense
of the fairest jewel in the Frankish crown. Neustriu, a rich and
fertile province, which they had overrun for nearly a century, and

^■^

CHAP. VUI.]

BLESSED VIRGIN IIAKY.

had even forced to conform to the savage woi-ship of their gods *
was made over to them with the sovereignty of Bretagne, on condi-
tion tliat RoUo, their chief, whose progress through France had
been marked by blood and flames, should become a Christian. The
condition was accepted ; the Norman pirate married a Cai-lovingian
princess (who lived but a short time), and was thoroughly converted.
Strangely enough, the religious element had been always strong
amongst these fierce Northmen, who several times sent presents and
tapei-s to the very abbeys which they had come to pillage, when a
storm rising at sea, in sight of the holy place, induced them to
believe that the Christian sanctuary was guarded by -ome celestial
power.f The first question put by the new Duke of Normandy to
Franco, archbishop of Rouen, who was instructing u'la in the mys-
teries of Christianity, was to ascertain who were the most renowned
saints of France and Neustria. The prelate immediately named
Our Lady and enlarged upon her great power. " "Well," said the
Norman prince, after a moment's pause, " as she is so powerful, we
must do something for her." And he thereupon made a large con-
cession of lands to Onr Lady of Bayeux. The city ot Rouen had
dedicated to Mary its metropolitan church, burned by the Normans
of Hastings, and repaired as well as possible some time after : the
duke was baptized therein with most of his Danish captains, and sei
on foot to enlarge and beautify it, works which his successors magni-
ficently continued-^ Our Lady of Evreux, one of the most ancient

* " For seventy-four years," says Renault, " the Cotentine had tlie misfortune to
be profaned by the pagan ceremonies of the Northmen and the idolatrous sacrifices
offered to their idols even in the city of Coutances." {^Abridgment of the Lives of the
Bit/iops of Coutances, p. 151.)

f A Danish army, which had landed on the coast of Brittany to pillage the rich
and famous abbey of Rhedon, was so terrified by a storm which burst on the camj),
that, instead of sacking and burning the abbey, the pirates, considering that it was for-
bidden by a God worthy of their respect, gave rich presents to the abbey, illuminated
it with tapers, and placed sentinels around it to prevent pillage. Sixteen soldiers
having infringed on ^ho commands of Godefroy, their chief, and taken something from
the abbey, were punished with death the same day. (Mabillonius, in Actis S. S. Ord
S. Bened., sect, iv., 2d part.

X Tills prince was interred in the cathedral of Notre Dame, which he had rebuilt
"He en''ed his days at Rouen, as a good Catholic," says Taillepied, "and was in-

xri^r3

.viV

* I

Sn\„

"i^^

4U: lA^y^&li^dJ»m

BISTORT OP ITIE DKVOTION TO TIIE [CIIAP. Vm.

churches of Normandy — if we believe the annals which relate that
St. Taurin, first bishop of Evreux, founded it obout the year 250,
and consecrated it to the woi hip of the tj'ue God under the invo-
cation of the Blessed Virgin — likewise received rich gifts froir
RoUo, who gave, even to his last moments, the most signal marks c>
sincere devotion towards Madame Sainte Mane, as she was respect-
fully called by the princes and nobles of that period.

These Norman dukes, by nature gay, generous, and brave, were
in general very devout to the Virgin ; i.t was before her altar that
they were invested with the regalii. of that fair duchy which they
proudly styled their kingdom of Normandy. There it was, too, that
they slept their lost sleep, under the gray flags of her chapel, hung
with tapestry of silk and gold, representing the principal events in
the life of the Mother of God, and wrought by the duchesses of
Normandy.* Robert the Magnificent had, himself, no less than
three churches built in honour of Mary, and bearing her name : Our
Lady of Deliverance, to accomplish a vow made during a storm
whilst his bark was tossed about in the dangerous waters of the
Norman Archipelago; Our Lady of Grace, near Honfleur; and
finally. Our Lady of Pity, under the ducal castle which protected
Honfleur.

This prince, so devoteri lo Mary, resolved on going to Jerusalem
to visit her tomb and t)i»j Holy Sepulchre; he set out on horseback,
accompanied by tbo ricboai. ai»d noblest lords of his court, all radiant
with gold, sparkling with jewels and surrounded by a crowd of
varlets, squii-es and pages, U!;! though they were going to some great
tournament. As they passed along, the people came forth in crowds
to see them, and their entry into Rome was something remarkable.
The Romans regarded with admiration those Northern barbarians

hnmcd with great pomp and funeral state in the great ohureh of Notre Dame, towards
the south side." (Antiquites de la ville de Rouen, p. iC'7.)

* " The duchess Gonnor, second wife of Richard Sam Peur, duke of Normandy, gave
great wealth to the churches," says Taillepied, " and esi>ecially to Our Lady of Rouen,
to which she gave many splendid ornaments made by skilful artists and embroiderers ;
she likewise made tapestries of embroidered silk, representing sacred histories, with
pictures of the Virgin and the Saints, to decorate the cbnrcb of Our Lady of Ronen."
{Ibid. p. 112.)

• I

•11

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iv^*>^' V, ui'-fc^^";^^

onAi>.

liLKSHKU VIKOIN MAUY.

whc had made even Italy itself tremble, and whose tall stature and
noble mien reminded them of their ancient heroes. Seeing their
lordly btiaring, their brilliant armour, their long gold-hilted swords,
and their pointed helmets whence their fair tresses escaped, they
aaked each other who were these princes from the North who came
thus as humble pilgrims to visit the tombs of the Apostles ? The
Pope gave them a distinguished reception, bestowed on them hh
pastoral blessing, and with his own hands placed the pilgrim's staff
on the shoulder of their princelv chief. Thence ihey continued

y of Mary, which they dazzled

-ed gold and pearls through

mule was shod with gold,

leigned to stoop in search

gather from the dust the golden

their route to Constantinople, tl^
with their magnificence. T]
the streets as they passed alui
and when a nail fell out, not ,
of it; it was for the Greeks ti
nails lost by the Norman's horse.*

On approaching the holy places, the Christian spirit made itself
felt ; those same travellers who had crossed or braved, without ac-
knowledging any right of toll, so many well defended rivera, and so
many embattled walls, those bold companions who always took care
to let the point of their swords be seen underneath the pilgrim's
robe, they who were so lately proud even to insolence, could now
. ' scarcely recognized, so humble, so modest, so collected were they
nuide by the mere proximity of that Holy Land whose arid, rocky
soil they trod barefoot. Robert, so justly styled the Magnificent,
visited, with the most edifying devotion, the holy sepulchres of Jesus
and Mary. Christians and Mussulmans alike received from him such
munificent alms that the Emir of Jerusalem, excited to emulation,
refused to accept the tribute due to him by these splendid pilgrims.
Robert left a lili^'ral donation at the Holy Sepulchre; Richard H.,
duke of Normandy, had already made an offering there of an hun-
dred pounds of gold.

The pilgrimage accomplished, the Duke set out by land on his
return to his fair duchy, which he was never more to see ! He died
at Nice, in Bithynia, jesting on the aspect of death, like the sea-hings

* See La Normandie, by M. Jnlcs Janin, ch. 2.

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HISTOBT OT THK DEVOnoiT TO THE [OHAP. VIZI.

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his fathers,* and oominending himself to Madame Saint Marie, as
his Christian predecessors had donei^ "t?>^,i';oi'^5);tirskii»sq(?ivjci,m

The If orman nobles, who began toi dream of Hngclom? nndcr
the radiant sun of Italy, were no less devoted to the Vir^ than
tiieir princes. The fEunons Tancred and Robert Gniscard were lords
of the small maritime village of Hauteville, where not a stone re-
mains of their castles, bnt where the old ehnrrh in which these Nor-
num lions received baptism is still seen, withont a spire, all covered
with moss and weeds ; — ^they sent from the heart of Pnglia^ where
with five hundred Norman lances they drove back sixty thonsand
Saracens, the half of a treasure which they had found, to Oeoffrey
de Monbray, bishop of Coutances, to build, under the invocation of
ffoly Mary, the beautiful fairy fabric which forced even from Van-
ban himself that cry of stupified admiration, *'What sublime mad-
man was it that reared this noble building to the clouds 1"

Precisely at the same period, a brother of Robert Guiscard, Count
Roger de Hauteville, founded in conquered Sicily the famous cathe-
dral of Messina, which he failed not to dedicate to the Virgin, accord-
ing to the custom of his house. This sumptuous building, which
was consecrated in the year 1097, participated a little in all the
styles of architecture then known ; the Byzantine mosaic was there
joined with the arabesque of the Saracens, and the graceful gothic
spires adorned with statues of saints and angels exceedingly well ^t.
hi the sumptuous treasury of this cathedral is preserved a letter of
the Blessed Virgin, in which the devout inhabitants of Messina take
no small pride,f and on which several Sicilian bishops have written

* A Norman pilgrim, having met the Dako, whom some Arabs were carrying in a
litter, sadly approached the dying prince, and said, "What tidings shall I bring
home of yonr lordship T" " Say," replied Robert with a smile, as he pointed to his
bearers, " tliat yon saw me taken to heaven by fonr devils."

f This letter, which was first translated from the Greek by Lascari, who was sus-
pected of having invented it, was subsequently found also in Syriac in the old manu-
scripts of the bishop of Mardin, in Syria, and was translated into Latin by D. Josepli
AUeraani, a noble Maronite, interpreter of Oriental languages for the Vatican library.
We do not pretend to examine the value of this document, which is placed amongst
the af ocryphal writings, notwithstanding many protests ; we give it here as a curious
and ancient document.

" Maria virgo, Joachim et Aunts filia, humilis ancilla Domini, Mater Jesn Ghristi,

'ijiVittiii

K<ii,>3 (A. .t^ilLi' <.

;^iL

CHAP. YIIlJ

BLXSSSD VIBOIN VABTv.

volTuues, in order to prove its authenticity, whicli is somewhat doubt-
fbi In the same cathedral is celebrated every year the feast of the
Varra, destined to perpetuate the memory of the Saracen defeat
by the Norman heroes. The Vir^, represented by a young maiden,
figures in this festival, seated on a magnificent triumphal car, whilst
tho Mussulmans vanquished by Count Boger are represented by
hideous colossal figwKiti.^';ym'imtik^ikiMiih^v^i!^.!^^

From Normandy came the religious light which dispelled the
heathen darkness of the north, and it was Mary who received in her
fiEur cathedral of Rcuen the first-fruits of that sacred harvest Hai>
old IL, king of Denmark, who came with an hundred galleys to
the succour of Richard Sans<Peur, abjured Paganism there; and
Olaiis, king of Norway, who had joined his forces with those of
Normandy in a war which Duke Richard IL maintained against
Eudes, king of Blois, was converted by Robert, archbishop of Rouei^
to Christianity, which he soon afterwards introduced into his states;
This holy king had the courage to throw down with his own handii
the statue of Thor, tutelary divinity of Norway, in the ancient tem-
ple of Drontheim; this statue had been encircled by the Norwe-
gian pirates with a golden chain, and hence they were wont to swear
by the armlets of that warrior^god whose club was so dreaded by
the giants of thefroat. Olaiis sent into Sweden Christian missionap
lies, who were well received, and the ^ded waUs of the temple of

:! !.

ili:VJ I-!,

qm est ex tribn Jnds, et de stirpe Darid, Messaneosibos omnibus salntem, et a Deo
Patre omnipotente benedictionem.

"Per pablicam docamentnm comitat tos misisse ad nos nnncios, fide magna ; tos
scilicet credere Filiam nostram a nobis genitom esse Denm et homiii;>n, et post resar-
nctioBem safim ad oalam ase«ndisw ; Tosqne, mediante Panlo, c»o«tolo elnctp, Tiam
ffvitatis agnovisse. Propterea tos vestramqae ciritatem benedidmos et protegimoa^
•t defendimns earn in sacola anculorum.

"Data ihit hne epistola die qninto, in arbe Hiemsalem, a Maria virgine, ei\ja8 no-
measnpra, anno xliL a Filio tjm, socnlo primo, die 3 jnnii, lana zxrii. : i q 'iuy:tsA)

"La oliiesa metropolitana de Meaaina fa dedicata aUa beatissima Y. M defla Sacra
Lettera e t! si oelebra tutti gli annl ana grande feita.

" I/antica e pia tradisione della sacra lettera della gran Madre di Dio sempre Te»
gine Maria, soritta alia nobili ad ezsmplare oiti di Messina, illostrata eon ^nori dod
am^ti ragioni e verisinkili congAttnre, dal P. Maestro D. Pietro Meaniti, abbate gea^
erale di S. Baailio Magno." {.x J ,.»KuniytVj .t „i ;. h .^uiaiv .i«»»w«s»'tJ>. ,aoi«iio77

l(^ i

raSTOET OF THE DJBVOTIOIT TO THB [OHA?. VIIL

i^f

Upsal, disencumbered of their idols, cleansed from their human
sacrifices* were adorned with the blessed images of Christ and his
holy mother.

It was not the fault of the princes of Christendom that the sun
of the Gospel rose so late on the horizon of the Northern kingdoms ;
in the middle of the seventh century, the Saxon Willibord had
laboured in vain to convert Jutland; rerewed eflforts were made, with
as little success, in the course of the eighth century, by missionaries
sent by Witikind, the convert of Charlemagne ; the ninth opened
under more favourable auspices. Driven from his states, Harold
K!lack, king of a part of Jutland, came to take refupe at the court
of Louis-le-Debonnaire, where he embraced Christianifcy. A con-
temporary annalist, Ermold the Black, Abbot of n Fiankish
monastery, gives a picturesque description of the seorhing and his
Danish fleet. " What do I see," says he, " shining in the morning
ray, and covering the waves afar ? What ships ascend the proud
Bhine in warlike pomp ? How those white sails glance in the sun-
light over the mirror of the watere and the dancing waves !" This
conversion of the Jutland prince was almost alone, notwithstanding
the exertions of Anschar, the apostle of the North ; and those
glittering ships, so admired liy the br&ve. and simple Franks,
retained but too well the way to Western Europe.

The conversion of King Harold did more for the Christian
religion than that of the Jutland prince. On his return to his own
country, he forbade sacrifices, shut up the temples of the false gods,
built Christian churches, and did all in his power to promote the
propagation of the Gospel.

His son, Sueno, a cruel and ferocious prince, declaring himself tbs
champion of idolatry, treacherously killed his father, re-opened the

* The ScandinariaDS sacrificed prisoners to Odin in time of war, and criminals in
time of peace ; bnt they did not always confine themselres to thejj classes, and in
great calamities, even kings were sacrificed to appease the gods. It vas thus that the
first king of Yermiland was barned in hononr of Odin in the time of a. great famine ; and
we learn from the history of Norway, that kings spared not ercn their own children.
Haqnin, king of Norway, offered his in sacrifice to obtain a Tictory ; and a king of
Sweden sacrificed his sons to Odin in order that that god might prolong his life. (Sm
Wormios, Monument. Dank, et Sax. Orammat., 1. x.) :■'. >: ,. s .

OHAF. vm,]

BLESSED VIBOIN MAKY.

temples of Odin and Thor, and destroyed the Christian churches.
After his death, which happened in 1014, Christianity again raised
its head and resumed its onward career. Still the transition from
one worship to the other was not sudden, as amongst the young and
impetuous conquerors of England and Gaul; the Christian churches
of Deiunark arose for a century side by side with the stone of
sacrifice. If Chbist and his mother were venerated, the gods
of Walhalla were not forgotten ; Thor still kept his placu on the
altar, with his club in his mailed hand, and if a hymn were uung to
Mary in her chapel, the hymn of Odin was still chauied in the
battle, and to Odin were thanks returned for victory, by a sacrifice
of birds of prey. It seemed hard for the warriors of the North
to abandon all at once those warlike deities whose tombs they
possessed, and who had made their fathers so mighty in battle.
They admitted that Chbist was God, and were willing to adore him
as such ; but how could they dethrone the ancient gods of their
country, to make place for the God of the stranger ? Could not all
reign together ? The Walhalla was fuU of virtuous women, it might
receive the Virgin Mary. Under favour of this last exception,
Paganism was more formidable than ever, and the first Christian
neophytes made a monstrous mixture of both worships by way of
reconciliation.* This state of things continued till the reign of
Canute the Great, '^ho established the supremacy of the Christian
religion.

The devotion to the Blessed Virgin contributed much to the
establishment of the Gospel amongst the Scandinavians. From time
immemorial they had deified virginity in the person of Falla, whose
fair tresses were bound with a golden band, and Gesione, who, after
their death, admitted vir^ns into her heavenly train. Three mgins,
seated under the sacred oak, disposed of the fate of men, and those
white ladies were also virgins who glided over the lakes like a pillar
of mist, sat at midnight in the freezing shadow of the pines, and
sang with a soft, low voice the Runic hymns which the Scalds had
engraved with the point of their swords on the rocks which over-

m.mii

'.r^S >■'

HKtOBT OF THE DEVOTIOW TO THB [OUAP. Vm.

hnng the sepulchral monnd of the heroes who were mourned by the
orowaofthe air.* It was hard to set aside these charming Northern
fairies, who introduced themselves invisibly into the peasant's cot
'Wffn jf and the JarPs (earl's) fortress, and whose coming was sure to bring
good fortune. These superstitions, equally cherished by the high
and the low,f cottld never, perhaps, be totally eradicated without
the Blessed Virgin, who became the protectress of cabin and
palace. The influence of the Queen of Heaven on the conversion
of the Scandinavians, is proved by a fact which none can dispute :
it is, that Christianity owed its success amongst those nations
to the mothers of families who afterwards gained over the
warriors-t

The first Christian kings of Denmark were faithful servants of
Mary. St. Canute, duke of Sleswick, dedicated to her three superb
churches. Waldemar II. placed her image on his shield, and having
learned that the Russians, leagued with the Esthoniaas, threatened
the rising church of Biga, he solemnly pledged himself to pass the
following year in Esthonia, <w well for the hoiKnir of the JBleeeed
Virgin as for the remission of his 8ins.§ It was in this war,
commenced under the patronage of Mary, that the Danes, surprised
in their camp, lost their national banner. As they began to give
way before the Pagans, the Blessed Virgin, whom they had piously
invoked before leaving Esthonia, gave them, it is said, a sensible
mark of ber powerful protection ; a red flag with a white cross fell
from heaven, according to ancient chronicles, and with that flag

* " When Rogwald was killed," says the fitmoas TTorthern Scald, Regnier Lodbrog,
in his Epicedium or Dirge, " all the crows of the air monrned for him." Apparently
becanse he gave them snmptaoos feasts of dead bodies.

f The religion of the Scandinavians was wholly corrupt ; it no longer insisted on
the worship of one Supreme God ; the intelligences who had emanated from him
seemed no longer to depend on him, and, as a consequence of that almost invincible
inclination which has evpr prompted men to multiply the objects of their adoration,
they hod acquired an equal right to the government of this world. The belief in
fairies and genii, omens, and divinations, had gradually become a!', essential part of
the Northern religion, (Mallet, Hi$t. de Dat^mark.)

X Rid.

§ lAvonian Chroni<ile, p. 122.

'^j,

OHAP. vin.l

BLBBSED VIRGIN MART.

victory retnmed.* The devotion to Mary flourished long in the
three Hnedoms of the North, as is proved by the great number of
cathedrals, hermitages, and monasteries which they dedicated to her.
When the scorching wind of the Reformation had blighted that
fair flower of Catholicism, this devotion was still secretly nuuntained,
and fifty years after Luther, Mary was still venerated in the subter-
raneous chapel of the cathedral of UpsaLf This soothing devotion
ended in those far northern regions as it began in Rome, amongst
the tombs.

It was under the influence of Mary that Prussia, with all the
coast of the Baltic Sea, received the light of the GospeL The
Knights Hospitallers of the Blessed Tirgin, better known a£
the Teutonic Knights, civilized those barbarous countries whose
principal deities were hell (Poklm) and the thunder-god {Per-
Jeonnaa).

Amongst the nations of Sclavonic origin, who substituted
Chiistianity for their bloody rites, and polished their martuers un-
der its civilizing influence, no people were so devout to the Blessed
Virgin as the Hungarians.

Towards the beginning of the eleventh century, St. Stephen, first
Christian king of the Huns or Hungarians, founded Our Lady of
Albe-Royale, in thanksgiving for a victory obtained over the Prince
of Transylvania. This fair Sclavonic basilic vied in magnificence
with the most sumptuous churches of the East. Its walls adorned
with beauteous sculptures, its marble pavements, its altars overlaid
with gold and incrusted with fine jewels, its vases of silver, gold,
and onyx, were marvellous to behold. Over the Virgin's altar were
perfuming-pans of silver, in which two old men, fired with the
exploits of Attila, burned the rarest perfumes of Asia. Processions
came several times in the day to honour the Mother of God in her
sanctuary.

All this splendour was not sufficient for the piety of the Hungarian

m^Mi

* Mallet, who disputes this legend, acknowledges, nevertheless, that no Daniah
historian explains in a satisfactory manner the origin of this banner, apart from the
prodigy.

t M. Marmicr, Ltttrt a M. Salvandy.

=^r-">'?:?w^

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO TIIB [OHAP. Vni.

prince ; descended though he was from the Scourge of Ood^ it was
his pleasure to hold his crown in subjection to the Virgin, whom he
declared sovereign of his states. Thus, as often as the name of
Mary was pronounced throughout the extent of that vast kingdom,
there was not a Hungarian noble, no matter how high his lineage*
who did not bend the knee and bow down, as a vassal, before his
liege lady.* Within the fortified walls of every castle, there was a
small chapel lit by several brass or silver lamps, which burned night
and day before Mary's image. The prince-palatines even carried
that same image to the battle, and made an altar for it within
their tent.

The devotion to Mary was kept up with no less fervour on the
banks of the Vistula. Dating from the d jy when Dumbrowka, the
fair Bohemian princess, converted King Micislas, and made him
break the idols which his fathers had raised to Pagoda {eahn air),
to Poehwist (the clotidij shy), and to the gloomy deities of the abyss,
the Poles became essentially Catholic, and built numberless chapels
of larch-wood in honour of the Mother of God. Pagan banners,
taken on twenty battle-fields, were the only ornament of these
primitive churches, nestling amongst the ever-green pines of the
Sclavonic forests; but when, during the celebration of mass, the
minister of Jesus Christ read the Gospel to those Northern heroes,
kneeling before an altar as poor as the crib of Bethlehemj every
sword was seen half drawn from the scabbard, in token of protection
and defence.f Nor was this an idle show: Poland was long the
bulwark of Christianity ; were it not for John Sobieski, the Crescent
would, perchance, have crowned the battlements of the cities
beyond the Rhine.

Poland was early consecrated to the Blessed Virgin; Mary was
solemnly invoked under the title of Queen of Poland long before
John Casimir renewed that consecration. As often as the Polish
army moved against the Tartars, it was Mary's banner that guided

* Bonifadns, Hist. Virg., b. il., ch. ii.

t This cnstom is traced to the time of Micislas, the first king of Poland.
de Polognt, par M. L. S., t. ler, p. 43.)

{HitL

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IIISTOKT Olf' THE DKVOTION TO TIIS [OIIAP. IX

111 !

I ,

I .

CHAPTER IX.

OBIVALBT.

The gigantic empire of Charlemagne had vanished like a brilliant
phantom; the last of the Carlovingians had been stripped of bia
kingdom, already reduced to nothing by the thoughtless extravap
gance of his fathers, and the dukes of France, who were also
pretending to the throne, as descendants of Charlemagne, having
■ twice tried on the royal mantle, had at length taken possession of it.
Before they appended the impoverished crown to the great fief
wherewith they enriched it, the Counts of Paris had given striking
proofe of their devotion to the Blessed Virgin. When that myste-
rious and dreadful malady called fmi des ardents^ after ravaging
the southern parts of the kingdom, reached the Isle of France,
Hugh the Great supported at his own expense the poor sick pilgrims
who sought (and never failed to obtain) their cure from Our Lady
of Paris.* Hugh Capet, founder of the third dynasty, had a sincere
devotion for -the Blessed Virgin ; and Queen Adelaide of Aquitaine,
hia pious spouse, enriched with her gifts the fair Abbey of Our Lady
of Argenteuil, which thenceforward possessed the sacred relic which
is still exposed there to the veneration of the faithful. Robert,
who proclaimed Mary the Star of his kingdom, built monasteries in
her honour at Poissy, Melun, Etampes, and Orleans, as we learn from
Helgaud. The church of Orleans was called Our Lady of Good
Tidings, and was built on the spot where Robert, when heir-pre-
sumptive to the throne, was informed that his father, Hugh Capet,
had escaped death. Worthy son of a good king 1

In the reign of Philippe the First, grandson of Robert, a prince
who showed himself more disposed to pillage the church than to
enrich it, a great event took place, which gave the kings of France
those of England for ypssals. William the Bastard, son of that
Robert the Magnificent who died returning from a pilgrimage to

Felibien, Hist, de Paris, t. lef.

:ii

CHAP. IX.J

BLE88KD VIKUIN MART.

the Holy Tjand, conqnered England in a single battle, and ositib-
lished the Norman domination in that country. William, like hUi
father Robert, held Mary in the utmost reverence; that con-
queror, so brave, so politic, at whose frown all England quaked,
was no sooner attacked by fever than he humbly clasped his hands
and recommended himself to the Blessed Virgin. Having fallen
sick at the Castle of Chierbourg, a small town then defended by
moats and towers, he made a vow to build a fair chapel to the
Virgin, if by her powerful intercession he quickly recovered his
health. He was cured, and religiously kept his vow. He recon-
structed at his own expense the superb Abbey of Jumieges, where
the clerk found learning and the poor bread, on condition that its
church, dedicated by the queen Bathilda to St. Peter, should be
placed under the invocation of the Mother of God. He assisted in
person, with the duchess Matilda and all his great Norman barons,
on the 1st of July, a. d. 1068, at the dedication of this church, and
some years ifter he crossed the sea to be present at that of Our Lady
of Bayeux, with his sons William and Robert, Lanfranc, archbishop
of Canterbury, and Thomas, archbishop of York, on the invitation
of the bishop, Philippe d'Hai'court, who had rebuilt it. It was doubt-
less on that occasion that the duchess Matilda made an offering to
Our Lady of Bayeux of that famous historical tapestry, on which
her patient needle had wrought the great epic of the conquest of
England. This tapestry, emhi'oidered with images and Scrvptv/ral
scenes, was hung throughout the whole extent of the name on the day
of the exposition of relics mid during its octaves, says an inventory
of the treasures of Our Lady of Bayeux, drawn up in 1476.* But
this was not the only mark of her devotion to the Blessed Virgin
left by this lovely and pious princess, whose memory was so revered
that the Saxon wife of her \ion, Henry the First of England, changed
her pretty name of Edith for that of Matilda, in order to please the
Normmi, chivalry.

* This prccioas tapestry, contemporary with the conquest of England, remained in
some degree unknown for six centuries. Exposed only on certain days in the nave of
the cathedral, tradition had given it the name of Duke William's toilet. It was
Montfauf on who found out that it was at Bayeux, and enriched his Jfonumena de la
ifonarchie Frangaite with designs from this tapestry, till then so little known.

XT?^i^l3

ill

•fr*Zj

IIISTOUY OK TIIK DKVOTION TO TIIK

She was walking, towuids the end of October, in one of those
beautiful Norman incudowa, thu gni8s of wliich roHembles an immense
carpet of green velvet, painted wl«^h flowers. She was accompanied
by her two young sons — two future heroes, the eldest of whom was
to immortalize himself by his chivalrous exploits in the taking of
Jerusalem — and some luilies of her court, when a courier from Duke
William, riding with all speed towards Rouen, drew up on pe^
ceiving her, and bounded into the meadow. " What news from my

lord and the Norman army ?" cried Matilda, \mh with emotion

" The battle" "Is gained, noble lady," rej)lied the courier, as,

bending his knee, he placed in the trembling hand of the young
duchess the letter with its pendant seal, which confirmed the truth
of his words : " the perfidious Harold is defeated ; his body, which
ought to have no other tomb than the sand of the sea-shore, now
rests in the choir of the Saxon abbey of Waltham ; England is the
vassal of Normandy." The Norman princess joyfully blessed her-
self, and made a vow to raise on the spot where she had heard these
good news, a commemorative church, under the name of Our Lady
of the Miadow, since changed into that of Our Lady of Good
Tidings. She commenced it some yeare after, and her son, Henry
the First, after having it finished, endowed it munificently.*

In his last war with France, William the Conqueror delivered
Mantes to the flames ; but that fire which destroyed the church of
s Our Lady shed such a lurid and terrific light, that the king of
^ England's horse took fright, began to rear and prance, and threw
his rider, who was mortally wounded. Attributing the fatal
accident to the burning of the Virgin's beautiful church, he be-
queathed a considerable sum for the purpose of rebuilding it.
Being conveyed to an abbey near Rouen, the conqueror of England
was roused at the dawn of day, on the 7th of September, 1087, by
the sound of a matin-bell. " What is that ?" he asked, raising his
head with difficulty, his face pale and emaciated, though still

* In the time of the archbishop Godefroy, King Henry the First of England bnilt
the Priory of the Meadow, called Our Lady of Good Tidings, near Rouen, which his
deceased mother, Matilda, had commenced with the bridge of Rouen. {Ant. de la
Ville de Rouen, p. 130.)

SSTi

V^//iiiv,\v

-c,

OHAP IX.]

BLKUHEO VIKOIN MAHY.

returning a portion of that proud, maficuline Leanty which **v«n the
Snxou chroniclora aflcribc .o him. Being told that it was th« bolls
of 8t. Mary's chnrch ringing Pnme, "BlosHri Lady Mary !" said
the Nonnan hero, raising hia hands, " to you I commend my soul ;
may you reconcile me to your son, my Lord Jesus !" and with thes«»
words he expired.

Henry the First, his son, who usurped the crown from Robert, his
elder brother, whose eyes he caused to be put out, was devout only
in theory. Although he affected much piety, and made many
splendid foundations in England, where he introduced the Nonnan
architecture, yet he burned several churches in Normandy. For
mstance, he burned in 1120 (the date is memorable) the cathedral of
Lisieux with the city itself. This ancient cathedral, which dated
from the first ages of Christianity, was dedicated to the Virgin, like
most of the Norman cathedrals. -The punishment of this sacrilegious
offence quickly followed ; at the end of the same year, the vessel
which carried Henry's only son, Prince William of England, witn
two of the king's illegitimate children, foundered at sea, during a
calm moonlight night, not far from Harfleur. From that time
forward, Henry was never seen to smile.

The empress Matilda, daughter of this prince, had a signal proof
of the Virgin's protection, and her power over the elements
Whilst at war with Stephen of Blois, she was forced to embark for
Normandy in unsettled weather, which very soon became stormy,
and was overtaken in the very shoals wh«fo her brother William
had perished, by one of those frightful tempests which are only seen
on the angry ocean. The horizon was sheeted with a vast black
cloud, which reached from sea to sky like a funeral veil ; the moun-
tain billows reared themselves up with ominous slowness, to dash
with terrific crash against the sides of the royal bark, vhich they
raised high in the air at one moment, to hurl it, the next, into the
yawning abyss. The sailors shook their heads despondingly, whilst
the English lords, crossing themselves devoutly, recommended them-
selves to God and the Blessed Virgin, and to St. George, the patron
of chivalry. Matilda was standing on the deck, and her composed
countenance, though pale, belied not the race of heroes from whom
she sprung. " Be of good cheer, my lords," said she, turning to her

A^^i-

1^1

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

faithful noblea, " Our Lady is kind and powerful ; she will save us.
I will sing her a hymn of thanksgiving as soon as we descry the
coast; and I pledge myself to b'lild her an abbey wherever we
shall land." Scarcely had the Anglo-Norman princess spoken these
words, when the waves were seen to grow smooth, the winds were
suddenly hushed, and the vessel flew swiftly over a calm sea. A
dark speck was soon discerned on the blue sky, as tjie clouds cleared
away ; it grew larger and larger still ; it was a lofty hill, whose
bare summit was crowned with a hermitage, and a vast forest was
seen stretching far and away in the background of the picture.
There was heard the hoarse cry, so impatiently expected from the
man at the mast-head, Cante, Jieyiie I vechi terre (sing, oh queen !
here is the land) ; and Matilda instantly began to sing her hymn to
the Virgin, which was fervently repeated by the English barons,
with clasped hands and bare heads,.

The bark, miraculously preserved from shipwreck, soon cast
anchor in .,he little bay of Equeurdreville, in Lower Normandy.
Matilda's first care on landing was to point out the site of her
monastery, which she named the Abbey of the Vow, and before
quitting the neighbourhood, she herself laid the first stone.

Matilda did not live to see the Church and Abbey of the Vow
finished ; it was her son, Henry IL of England, who accomplished
the work. We read in the necrology of this abbey, " On the fourth
day of the ides of September died the empress Matilda, foundress
of this monastery ; a libej'a is to be said for her, a-sfor a canon.'"

Let not our age, so cold in all that relates to God and the Sainto,
scoff at these vows made to Our Lady during a storm ; the most
incredulous believe in something when in danger of perishing at
sea, as is proved in the case of Volney. He was out on a pleasure
party with some friends in Baltimore, when the wind suddenly
arose, and the small American craft, freighted with the flower of the
unbelievers of both hemispheres, seemed twenty times on the point
of being lost. Every one on board was already praying, "/olney as
well aij the rest, when the storm began to subside. Soraf, one who
had seen Volney during the danger lay hold of a rosary and recite
his Ave-Marias with edifying fervour, approached him when the
calm had returned. " My dear sir," said he, with an arch smile.

^l|\v\^^

CHAP. IX.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

" to whom were you praying, just now ?" " Oh I" replied Volney,
somewhat embarrassed by the question, " one may be a philosopher
in his study, but not during a stoi-m."

The empress Matilda desired that her mortal remains should be
interred in the most famous of the Norman abbeys, Ste. Marie du
Bee ; her son Henry, who was aa yet only duke of Anjou and
Normandy, had a tomb raised to her memory, which he covered
with plates of silver. When he became king of England, he
contitiued to protect and to honour, in reverence to the Virgin and
his mother, that abbey which was partly erected by his royal
munificence. In 1178, it was consecrated anew by Rotrou, bishop
of Rouen ; Henry the Second assisted at that pious ceremony, with
his son Henry.

Richard the Lion-hearted, son and successor of Henry II., built
before his departure for the Crusades, Our Lady of Good-Haven, in
the diocese of Evreux, and assisted with his brilliant chivalry at the
dedication of that monastery, which took place in 1190.* When
his eventful life was drawing to a close, being mortally wounded by
an arrow at the Inglorious siege of a fortress, he dictated his last
will, and decreed that his heart should be borne to Our Lady of
Rouen, on account of the great devotion uliich Tie had for said place,
and that heart, ths bravest, perhaps, that ever beat under knightly
cuirass, was decently placed in tlie side of tlie choir, towards tJie
revestianj, in a silver case, which was afte-'wards taken for the
ransom of St. Louis, hing of Fra/tice, who was taTcen prisoner by the
Saracens, and inpla/ie thereof was made one of stone.-f

This mighty champion of the Cross, whose name is never pro-
nounced by the Saracens without a pious anathema, was, by his
own orders, interred beside his father, in the abbey church of Fon-
tevrault. By his side reposes his wife, Berangera of Navarre ; their
statues, painted and gilt, were laid on their tombs, and amongst the
ornaments of Queen Berangera is a large square medal, whereon is
seen the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by many tapers. The famous
Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of King Richard, retired to this abbey

* Gallia Christiana, t, i".

f Antiqitiiis de la Ville de Rouen, p, 187.

100

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[OHAP. IX.

ii!

;|J

t?A

some years after, and her tomb is one of those royal monuments
which adorn the fair abbey church of Our Lady.

John Lackland, who died of indigestion in a Saxon abbey,* —
(what an English death !) — was burled, by his own request, with great
pomp, in the beautiful. Anglo-Norman cathedral of Our Lady of
Worcester ; but if we may believe the ancient chronicles, the body
of that base and cruel prince, who had steeped his hands in the
innocent blood of his lawful brother, Arthur of Bretagne, and who
had had a mind to turn Turk in order to conciliate the Moors of
Spain, did not long pollute the sacred dwelling of Mary. They
relate that strange noises were heard by night in that dishonoured
tomb — blasphemies, fearful shouts of laughter, revelry, and all
manner of terrifying sounds — which caused the monks of Worcester
secretly to exhume the body of the reprobate prince, and transfer
it to some less holy place.

The Plantagenets distinguished themselves by their devotion to
the Virgin, and covered England with those fair Gothic churches
of Mary, which still exist in every county, and constitute its chief
archaeological treasure: Our Lady of York, compared to a vessel
under full sail, because of the stately beauty and lightness of its
aerial architecture ; Oar Lady of Salisbury, another architectural
gem, fashioned in the noblest style, which was covered with Flemish
hangings, and filled with light and flowei-s on the solemn festivals
of Mary ; Our Lady of Westminster, " where there was an image of
Mary," says Froissart, " in which the English kings had great faith.,
and by which many miracles were wrought ;" the superb Gothic
abbey of Our Lady of Walsingham, the favourite pilgrimage of
Edward L and his chivalrous court ; the fair cathedral of Wells,
the Lady-chapel of which is, according to connoisseurs, the pearl
of the Gothic monuments of Great Britain : these are all there to
prove the devotion of those princes toward the Blessed Mother of
Our Lord.

The Anglo-Saxons, who formed the poorer classes, with the mer-
chants and burghers of England, were no less devout to the Virgin

* According to the Saxon annalists, King John died of a.i indigestion of peaches
and ale, in a Bernardine priory r,t Swiucshead.

CHAP. IX.]

BLESSED VIKGIN MART.

101

Mary than tlio continental princes, who ruled them by right of
conquest. Differing from their conquerors on almost every point,
they were in perfect harmony on that of religion, and both races
went like brethren, staff in hand, on their pilgrimage to Our Lady
of Radcliff, a fine old abbey, full of Saxon monuments, and to
Our Lady of "Worcester, where Lady Warwick, wife of the hin^-
maker, offered sumptuous robes for thb use of the Blessed Virgin,
after praying at one time for the red rose, at another for the white,
according to the party with which her valiant spouse was connected
at the time.*

The fast of Saturday in honour of the Blessed Virgin was observed
by the English people from the time of William Rufus. There
was in those days a certain famous robber — a Saxon, without doubt,
since St. Anselm, the Noiman prelate who relates the anecdote, calls
him a robber without any circumlocution^ — and he one morning
entered the cottage of a poor widow with intent to rob her ; finding
nothing to his taste, he coolly seated himself on the only spare stool
in the little dark room, with its earthen floor, where the widow was
sitting at her wheel, and addressed her with a winning smile*
" Well, gossip, have you had your breakfast ?" " Is it I, good sir,'
replied the poor woman, pausing a moment in her work ; " God
forbid that I had ! Is it not Saturday ? I fast every Saturday
throughout the year." " Every Saturday !" repeated the astonished
robber, " and why ?" — " Why, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, to be
sure. Do you not know that that is the reason why she prevents
you, and others like you, from dying unshriven ?" " If that be so,"
said the robber, " I am very glad to know it, and from hence-
forward I make a vow to fast myself." He kept his word, and the
Blessed Virgin, on her side, did not forget him at his last hour.
Being mortally wounded on a perilous expedition, she miraculously
prolonged his life until he had time to make his peace with God.

i" *■•••;!'

* The custom of dressing the statue! of the Blessed Vu'gin, which still exists m
France, Spain, and Italy, was likewise practised in England in former times. The
Countess of Warwick frequently presented her richest veils and robes to Our Lady of
Worcester, and wc see, in Leland's History of England, that those statues wore rings
of great price.

"t^

mm^'

I !

I ill;

J'..'

unu

M 'I

I !
I

i^^

102

IIISTOKY OF TIIK DKVOTION TO THE

[CIIAP. IX

St. Anselm also informs us that the bold and haughty Norman
knights piously honoured Mary, whilst oppressing, with all their
might, the conquered Saxons. One of them, a great lord, had for
varlets and pages a troop of vagabonds always ready for mischief,
and for steward an incarnate devil, who constantly persuaded the
poor baron now to outrage one, now to plunder another, and ngaip
to kill that other, so that not a day passed without some detestahU
crime. In the midst of all this wickedness, he kept praying devoutly
to the Virgin night and morning, saluting her with seven Avea and
as many profound genuflections, for which reason his infernal
steward could not strangle him as he intended, and he finally
obtained the grace of a sincere conversion.*

The Saxon outlaws who took refuge in the depth of the forests
(where they became the most skilful archers in England), in order
to escape the capital punishment decreed by the Norman law for
irimes appertaining to the chase, regretted but one thing in their
wild retreats : their being unable to pray at Mary's altar, when the
bell of an old Saxon abbey pealed across the woods. Those ancient
English ballads in black letter, " which are now worth their weight
in gold," says an English antiquary, represent Robin Hood, the
forest king, risking his head, after recommending himself to the
Virgin, in order to perform his devotions in the monastery, whose
distant bells seemed to summon him thither.

Spain, no less devoted to Mary than the island of Britain, had
raised numerous shrines to her, and fought under her standard. In
1212, Alphonso IX. having obtained, under the banner of Our Lady
of the Seven Sorrows, his great victory of Laa Navas, where the
Moors experienced one of their most signal defeats, built Ov/r Lady
of Vf'cto)^ in Toledo, to deposit therein that sacred banner of Mary.
St. Ferdinand, that holy prince who could not endure to increase
the taxes of his people, and who was more afraid, he said, of the
curses of cno poor woman than of all the Moorish host, attributed
to the protection of the Blessed Virgin his conquests of Cordova,
Taen, and Murcia. Finally, Alphonso the Wise composed canticles

St. Anselm, in his book of TTie Miracles of Our Lady,

CHAV. IX.J

BLESSED VntOIN MART.

103

to the Mother of God, and founded an order of knighthood in her
honour,*

Portugal walked in the same way, with an ardour no less great.
In 1142, after having defeated, through the protection of Mary (to
whom she recommended herself before the battle), five Moorish
princes, whose five standards she captured on the plains of Alentejo,
Alphonso I. founded in honour of the Blessed Virgin the superb
monastery of Alcoba9a ; deeming that insufficient, he did homage
for his kingdom to Our Lady of Clairvaux, and ordained that every
year, at the Feast of the Annunciation, a rent of fifty maravedie of
gold should be paid, in token of vassalage, to the Suzeraine, in the
person of the abbots of Clairvaux.f One of the successors of this
prince, Don Juan I., after a victory, offered to Our Lady of the
Olive the weight of himself (armed cap-a-pie) of silver, and hung
from the roof of Mary's chapel, as «c veto., his lance and his brilliant
suit of armour.J

About the same time, the kings of Denmark undei-took crusades
against the Pagans of the North, in honour of the Blessed Virgin,
and the Poles fought those of Prussia and Pomerania, singing the
famous Boga Rodziqa (Mother of God), a battle-hymn addressed to
Mary, composed in the tenth century by St. Adalbert, bishop of
Guezne.§

The kings of France had no mind to give way to other princes in
devotion to the Queen of Angels. Louis the Young and Philip
Augustus, of glorious memory, contributed liberally to the rebuild-
ing of Our Lady of Paris, which Maurice de Sully, a great bishop
of plebeian extraction, was reconstructing on the site of King
Childebert's old Merovingian cathedral.

Attributing to the Blessed Virgin his splendid victory of Bouvines,
Philip Augustus founded on the skirt of the forest of Chantilly, and

f!L

* El rey don Alonso el Sabio dedico varios libros do pocsias a la Madre de Dlos ;
y con respecto a alguuas ordino en su testamento quo so cautasen en sus Estados
(See Poetica Espanola, p. 16*2.)

\ Angelas Manriqae, Annal. Clitere., cli. 5, ad ann. 1142.

j Pire Paul de Barry, Paradis Ouvert, etc,

§ See last note of chap, viiu

u /.

ri i

:!r

104

HISTOar OF THE DKVOTION TO THE

[chap. IX.

'i/: .^■"

Es^^^..

on the banks of the deep Oise, a magnificent royal abbey. Guerin,
bishop of Senlis, minister of the king, and hia companion in arras,
_^ ,„, who had ably filled the oflSce of adjutant-general during the battle ;
iMtyM Mathieu de Montmorency, who immortalized himself by taking full
j j] ^ sixteen of the enemy's banners ; Enguerrand de Coucy and Guil-
laume de Barres, who had formed a rampart around the king that
day which the whole Anglo-German army could not force, would
all have their share in this commemorative foundation, made in
reverence to the sacred Virgin Mary, as she is called in the Car-
tularies.

Blanche of Castile, the celebrated regent of France, founded two
fair abbeys in honour of the Blessed Virgin : the abbey of Maubis-
son, which she called Notre Dame la Royale (Our Lady the Royal),
and Notre Dame du Lys. These two royal monasteries have each a
share of her mortal remains, according to her last behest.

King Louis the Ninth, the holiest and most righteous prince that
ever wore the crown of France, the best of kings and the model of
knights, distinguished himself by his tender devotion to the Blessed
Virgin. He contributed to the completion of Our Lady of Paiis,
and, after having that exquisite gem of art — the Holy Chapel — ^built
by Pierre de Montereau, the most famous architect of his time, as
a shrine for the sacred crown of thorns, he solemnly dedicated the
lower part of it to Our Lady, whose statue, placed under the porch,
s?5? wrought a charming miracle, one day, in behalf of a little girl who
r^i « was very wise, if we may believe the tradition. As the pious child,
mounted on a stone bench, destined for the use of the poor, stretched
herself up on her little feet and reached her arms as high as she
could, to place a wreath of white roses on the head of the Madonna,
the kind Virgin graciously bent her fair marble brow towards the
little earthly angel ; " wherefore it is," says a monk of the time of
Louis Xni., " that she has still her head bent forward."

St. Louis recited every day with his almoner the office of the
Blessed Virgin, even in his travels, and forbade any one to interrupt
him; he fasted on bread and water on the eve of Our Lady's
festivals, and gave great alms on Saturday in her honour. " When
lie thought ,/ undertaJcing his crujsade, he came to Oxir Lcuhj of
Paris^'' says an ancient chronicle, " accompanied hy hi4 barons, all

■oi

OHAP. UC]

BLISSKD VIROIK MART.

106

barefoot^ the hood on their nech, and the pUgriirCs staff in their hmdy
and ih&'e heard mass with great devotion^''

On his arrival in Egypt, the king found a Mussulman array drawn
up on the shore to oppose his landing. The air was darkened with
the clouds of arrows aimed at the Fi'ench barks by the Swa-
cens, whose lances gleamed through the clouds of dust raised by
their horses, like fire behind a dark curtain : their chief bore amis
of fine gold, so dazzling, says Joinville, in his simple style, that it
seemed when the sun strtich thereon as though it were actually tliat
star himself. Their standards were surmounted by that ancient
golden crescent which had been the emblem of the Turkish kings
long before the days of Cyrus,* and their war-music was terrihh to
l\mr, and very strange unto French ears. But Louis IX. and his
warriors were not easily frightened. Being come within a short
distance of the shore, the holy king, after commending himself to
God and the Blessed Virgin, threw himself first into the sea ; the
foaming wave covers him even to the shoulders ; a shower of arrows
falls around hioi ; neither wave nor dai't arrests his course ; buckler
on arm, casque on head, sword in hand, he makes for the Saracens
with fiery haste ; the whole army hastens after him, and the Alricans
are quickly routed to the thiilling cries of Mont-Joie, St. Denis !
When the Egyptians had disappeared on the wings of fear, the gates
of Damietta, the key of the Delta, had to open to the Crusaders,
whose first care was to chant the Te Deum of victory in the Mussul-
man mosque, which was consecrated by the Roman legate under
the title of Our Lady of Damietta.

The rumour of this glorious event soon reached Syria, where the
honour was attributed to the protection of Our I^ady of Tortosa, a
famous Syrian Madonna, which the Mahometans themselves came
to invoke ; she was said to have left her shrine, in order to protect
the descent of the French crusaders.f

* See Firdousi, Mceun de Bois.

t Sire dc Joinville, who repaired, while in Asia, to our Lady of Tortosa, relates

that, ia his time, that famous Syrian Madonna wrought a miracle in favour of a poor

man who was possessed of an evil spirit ; this man was brought, one day, before

the altar of Our Lady of Tortosa, " and so," proceeds the Sire de Joinville, " whilst

! i

106

HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO TUB

[OIIAP. IX. J^'

The disastrous end of the Egyptian crusade — so InilHantly con ■
menced — is but too well known. After paying an enormous
ransom, St. Louis turned the prow of his vessels towards Syiia ; the
Christians, who had taken possession of Palestine in 1099, h.id at
that time only a few strong places there, amongst which was iVaza-
reth, the birth-place of Mary, whieii they had transformed into a
feudal fortress, its first French lord being the hero of heroes,
Tancred, immortalized in the deathless lays of Tasso. St. Louis
rebuilt the walls of the Galilean fortress, and, happening to be there
on the Feast of the Assumption, he had the offices of the day sung
with an instrumental accompaniment in the church of St. Mary,
where he solemnly communicated.

As King Louis IX. was leaving the Holy Land with Queen
Margaret, the vessel which bore theni was driven by a sudden squall
under a lofty promontory which cast its shadow far out on the sea.
The tempest having subsided, they cast anchor before that Syi'i.m
mountain, which was crowned by a monastery, and in the silence
Df the night, scarce broken by the murmur of the hushed waves,
the sound of a distant bell came over the waters with the sweet
perfume of marjoram and thyme from the woods. " What is that ?"
demanded the king, quickly. He was told by some Plicenician
sailors, who were on board, that it was the convent of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel. The holy king went ashore at the first dawn of
day, to hear inass in Mary's monastery, the monks of which, clothed
in Arab costume, lived on fniits and vegetables, fasted half the
year, kept a rigorous silence, and lived by manual labour ; the
fervent and cenobitic spirit of the ancient aolitaries still reigned
there. Penetrated with respect for their austere piety, St. Louis
brought with him six of these monks, who were named the Brothers
of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and established them
in Paris, on the banks of the Seine. They subsequently removed

th(,y were petitioning Our Lady for his onn^, tiie devil answered from witliin his body,
' Our Lady is not here ; slie is in Egypt, assisting the king of France and the
Christiana who are now entering the Holy Land on foot, ngainst the infidels wlio are
mounted on horses.'" The Seneschal adds that, on the very day when the dcTil
pronounced these words, the French army landed in Egypt.

tr=^

OUAP. IX.]

BUSH8ED VIKOLN MART.

107

to the Place Maubert, and their new church, consecrated under the
title of Our Lady of Carmelites, was chiefly built by the munificent
donations of Joan of Evreux, third wife and widow of Chai'les II.,
surnamed the Fair. This princess presented to the Virgin of
Mount Carmel her crowu of jewels, together with her zone, em-
broidered with pearls, and the bouquet of golden lilies studded with
precious stones which the king had given her on the day of her
coronation. Fifteen hundred gold florins accompanied this royal
gift.*

The kings of France, no way sparing of their person in the
battle, placed themselves habitually under the protection of the
Blessed Virgin, when danger became imminent. Philip the Fair
having " invoked Mary at a moment of extreme peril, during the
bloody battle of Mons-en-Puelle (where he displayed the valour of
a paladin), made splendid offerings to Our Lady of Paris, after his
brilliant victory, and granted to Our Lady of Chartres, in pei*^
petuity, the territory and lordship of Barres,f with a rent of an
hundred livres.

After the taking of Cassel, Philip of Valois, say the Great Chroni-
cles of St. Denis, came to this abbey to leturn the orijla/mme which
he had taken thence to march against the Flemings, and then pix>-
ceeded to Our Lady of Paris ; arriving there, he resumed the arms
which he had worn at the battle of Cassel, mounted his charger, and
thus entered the church of Notre-Dame, thanked the Blessed Virgin
most devoutly, and presented to her the charger on which he sat,
with all his own equipments.^ The king redeemed his horse and
armour, from the chapter of Notre-Pame, for the sum of one thousand
livres, and had an equestrian statue of himself erected in front of

* Felibien, Hut. de Paris.

f Sebastian Rouillard, c. 6.

X V7e read in the old Paris breviaries {lectio quinta) : " Quod int«lligens gloriosse
memoria rex Phillj)piis Valcsius, cnra opitulanto Deo per merita Bcatce Virginis
Matris, insignem victoriam de rebellibus Flaiidris obtiuuisset, quae contigit, anno
1328, acturus Deo et sanctoe Virgini gratias, triumplians ct equitans ecclesiam Beatee
Miiriic Parisiis iiigressus est, non vana ostentatioue elatus, sed Deo, per quem de
anci;'*' bcllo evasorat, profunda linmilitate subjectus." {Breviarii Seeleria Pariden'
tis,/eita Augusli, anno 1584.)

■:ili

1^)

108

IllSTOllY OF TllK DKVOnON TO THE [CIIAV. IX.

Mary's altar. It is worthy of rcmnvk that tliese two gi'eat victories
of Cassel and Mons-en-Puelle were gained between the Feast of the
Assaraption and its octave. After having fought the Flemings at
Rosbecq, Charles VI., who was then hut fourteen years old, and
was called the little Mng, likewise sent to our Lady of Chartres his
richly-ornamented armour and his royal sword.* The queens of
France, on their side, on their first entrance into the capital of the
kingdom, transferred to Our Lady the magnificent crown which
they received from the city of Paris. That offered by Isabella of
Bavaria was of gold and jewels.f

It was under Philip of Valois that the English wars commenced.
King Edward III. of England declared himself the rightful heir to
the throne, in right of his mother Isabel, sister of Philip the Fair,
as the latter died without heirs, and he was his nephew, whereas
Philip of Valois was only his cousin german. The French peers
and barons declared for Philip of Valois rather than the princess
Isabel, not because of the Salic law, which speaks not of the exclu-
sion of women, but by the authority of existing customs, which had
acquired the force of law. Edward, in reply, advanced a most
singular argument, -which is found in a letter written by him to
the Pope. " If the son," said he, " be debarred from ascending the
throne because his mother could not, Jesus Christ had no right to
the inheritance of David, seeing that he was only descended from
that king by Madam St. Ifaty, his mot1ie)'P%

This unhappy notion of reigning over France, which in an evil
hour crossed the mind of the English monarchs, and which deluged
the kingdom of the lily with blood, was first aroused by a chival-
rous appeal, made in the name of the sweet Virgin Mary, who
showed herself, in the sequel, no way disposed to favour it. A
false traitor, Robert of Artois, whom the king of France had
disobliged (says an English historian), revenged himself by re-
kindling the all but extinguished flame of resentment in the
mind of the young English king, who then thought of little else

* Essaia Hist, svr Paris, par M. do Sainte Foi.v, t. iv. p. 162.
f Froissart, t. ii.
X Stowe'a Chroniele.

onAP. iz.]

BLESSED VIBOIN HART.

\09

than feasts and tournaments. Ho presents himself one day with
a heron in the hall where Edward was entertaining the great
barons and noble dames of his court. "Walking to the upper end
of the hall, where sat the king under a white canopy fringed with
silver, " I bring," said ho, " the most cowardly of all birds, and
I will give him to the greatest poltroon amongst you. In my mind
it is thee, Edward, who permittest thyself to be wronged of the
noble kingdom of France, to which thou art lawfully entitled."
The king's eyes sparkled with anger. The idea of any one suspecting
ais courage was worse than death: he blushed Avith shame, and
swore a tremendous oath, that before six months he would declares
war against that Count's son who wrongfully assumed the title of
King of France. When the king had thus pledged himself, the
Count d'Artois presented the heron to the English lords, who, each
in his turn, swore to make war on the French, calling on the
honoured Virgin, who hore a God in her chaste womb, to bear witness
to their rash oath.

The first exploit of the English was the naval battle of I'Ecluse.
Sea-fights then had little or no resemblance to what they are now ;
the combatants were hand to hand ; the crews of the hostile ships
endeavoured to shatter the enemy's sails with arrows and long sickles,
whilst divers pierced the hulls under water in order to make them
sink. The ne plus ult/ra of skilful manceuvre consisted in driving
the enemy on shore, or dashing him against the rocks. Edward,
who commanded his fleet in pei-son, was wounded by an arrow at
the beginning of the action, and yet continued to fight, prefacing
every thrust of his lance with one of his favourite ejaculations, "Ah,
St. Edward! — Ah, St. George ! — Ah, St. Mary !" and aroirad his
blood-red banner, whereon wjis embliizoned a golden dragon,* the
English nobles shouted their piercing war-cries, Onr Lady of
Ainindel! — Our Lady of Arleton! — St. George! for at that chival-
rous period eveiy warrior of note had a patron saint, whom he
invoked aloud during the contest. Edward disgraced his victory
by hanging, from the end of a yard, one of the French admirals

mim

•il (i m

* Stowe's Chronicle.

k^-^ft

i 1

:\^a

IIWTOUY OF TJIK l)i;\()riON T(» TllK

[chap. IX.

fz^i.

■fh^

who bnJ bravely deft'iided hinist'lf ; tho otlier, who died arms in

hand, found a grave beneath tlie waters. In the midst of that

^ ... scene of blood and tumult, some fair ladies from England, who

ylivMuE canio in tho royal bark in Hcarch of j)loasuroblo excitement, were
heard applauding their knights; — not one demanded mercy for tho
vanquished ! and twenty thousand French corjiHes reddened the
blue waves of the (.Jerniiui Sea. Tlie king of England, who did not
forget to invoke Mary during the combat, had no HOt>n(;r landed in
Flanders than he went on foot to thank her (says Froissart), with
the flower of his chivalry, in her shrine of Ardenburg. This, then,
was the opening of that famous war which lasted for a century,
during which time the English carried their victorious banner from
the Garoimo to tho Rhine, and from tho Ocean to the Mediter-
ranean.

During this long struggle, interrupted only by some truces when
the combatants paused for breath — their hand on the dagger, and
their feet in blood — the Blessed Virgin, whoso abbeys were often
unscrupulously plundered by the English, was still tho object of
their profound veneration. After having destroyed an entire city^

ijt^t^f^l and retired loaded Avith booty, they sometimes left one of her
statues perfectly safe on its pedestal ; and, when tho inhabitants,
finding them gone, ventured to return in search of their mined
dwellings, they crossed themselves devoutly, and cried, "A mira-
cle 1"* It was indeed a miracle to see such an act of res})ect amid
a scene of frightful devastation.

The shrines wherein it had pleased the Queen of Heaven to
manifest her power, were held as neutral and sacred ground : each
of them was, as it were, an oasis of peace, towards which journeyed
knights and soldiers, from every country, and they were all but
pious pilgrims I'rom tho moment they fastened a little image of the
Madonna to their steel helmet or serge hood. Wo road in tho
manuscript chronicles of Quercy, tl.>at certain English eoldiera,
having been arrested by those of Cahors, were restored to liberty

* Our Lndy of Vnssivi^ri wns thus respected amid the ruiuj of that strong city
which the Englisb hud pilluiyd and destroyed. (SeeDu Chcsne, ch. 9, § 19, nomb. 6.)

S
M

■aA» gg wi ' -j-"m- ' i i jaB i iM

OHAl'. IX.J

BLEf*.;iC|» VIItniN MARY.

with kind nnd pncouriiginpf ^vords, as noon iw thoy woro found to l)(i
pilgriniH of Our Lady,

The fciwtrt of the JiU'si- d Virgin wcCf Hcrupulously observed l)y
the English trooj)s, who even Htopped on thcic march to colobrate
thom. In 1880, Buckingham, who iiiado liis way tluough tlid heart
of JVance, sweeping all lufforo him, halted with his army in the
forest of Marchenoir, to celebrate the September fea^t of Our Lady,
'i he Englwh knights heard ma.ss devoutly in an abbey which they
fi 'md in the woods ; and their long Bordeaux Idades were innocent
oi Ercnch blood that day.*

An English captain, named Norwich, whom Prince John, duke
of Normandy and heir-presumptive to the throne, had suddenly
besieged in Angouh5me, where proviMions failed him, skilfully
availed himself of that devotion to the Virgin, which was common
to both nations, in order to escape the neces-sity of surrendering at
discretion. On the ovo of the Purification (one of the great
festivals of Our Lady, kept in France from the time of Pepin the
Short), he goes forth from the walls and demands to speak to the
prince. The latter, coming forward, asks, " Do you come to capitu-
late ?" " No !" replies the Englishman ; " you and I are both devoted
to the Bleased Vii-gin ; I request, then, of your courtesy, a suspen-
sion of hostilities, and that, during the twenty-four houi-s consecrated
to this festival, the soldiera on l)oth sides be forbidden t use their
arms on any pretence whatsoever." "Be it so," said the Prince,
" I am well content."

• Next morning, by the earliest dawn, Norwich marched out with
the garrison and all its war-stores; the French sentries, stoppmg
him, demanded what he meant by this sally. " I mean to profit by
Ihe truce," lie replied, " to let my soldiera take a walk."

When Prince John waa informed of the fact, he said, " I vow to
God, thf rttratagem was a good one ! Let them go and welcome,
since we have the city."!

Notwithstanding all the testimonies of respect which she received

* Sec Frolssart, rol. ii,, p. 112.

t md

.rvJ

--■ - <^^'"-

^'^M

^ y'

liii

|l .

112

HISTORY OF THB DEVOl'IOlf TO THB

[chap. IX.

from the invaders, the Blessed Virgin turned from them to protect
the invaded. As an oppressed country, France had found favoui
before her, as was proved by more than one miracle In Poictiers,
the mayor's servant, who had sold the city to the English, and
promised to admit them on a dark, moonless night, could nowhere
find the keys, which he was stupefied to see next day in the hands
of an ancient statue of the Virgin, in her own cathedral of Notre-
Dame. At Bennes, which the Duke of Lancaster had long
besieged in vain, the English, despaiiing of taking the brave city
by storm, made a mine in order to blow it up. The city slept
calmly over a volcano, unconscious of its danger ; but Our Lady
watched for it. When the mine had reached the cathedral of
St. Mary, and the enemy was about to set fire to it, the tapers in
the chapel of Our Lady of St. Saviour were seen to light of them-
selves in the midst of a dark night ; the bells, put in motion by
invisible hands, suddenly pealed out, and when the inhabitants,
awoke from sleep and hastily clothed, came flocking to the
strangely-lighted church, asking, " What is the matter ?" the Virgin
slowly extends her stony arm from the side of the Gothic nave,, and
points to the place where th<? mine was to explode. The city,
warned in time, was saved. Many other examples might be given,
showing how Mary protected France during that disastrous period ;
we shall content ourselves with giving, on the authority of contem
porary writers, worthy of credit, the most striking of these nume-
rous prodigies.

It was after those two lamentable days which France will never
cease to mourn — Crecy, where the flower of the French chivalry
fell, and Poictiers, where King John was made prisoner, with eight
hundred of his barons, by the Black Prince. The nobles wer5*l
ruined; the young Regent without troops; the most fertile fields
were overrun with briers ; the city, threatened with the horrors of
a siege by the stranger who camped at their gates, was internally
rent asunder by factions. When man has nothing more to expect
on earth, he kneels and raises his suppliant hands to heaven ; this
is tv^hat was done by all good people in town and country, in the
cities and the villages ; they boldly demanded a miracle from God.
through the intercession of Mary, so that these calamities might

'^i^\

CHAP. JXJ

BLXS8KD ViaaiS HABl.

113

have an end. Their faith was great, and their woes inexpressible ;
their prayer was therefore heard. Abusing his power, and taking
advantage of the utter prostration of France, Edward III., when in
treaty with the young Regent, afterwards Charles the Wise, pro.
posed conditions so hard, so disgraceful, so intolerable, that France,
exhausted as she was, rabed her head with generous indignation,
and said, " No I" At this unexpected refusal, Edward crossed the
sea and laid siege to Chartres.

The English army pitched their tents a short distance from the
walls and in front of that splendid cathedral so magnificently
rebuilt by Fulbert with the gifts of the faithful, great and small.
Placed on a height which commands the city, the fair Gothic church
— with its lofty spires, which may be seen at a distance of ten
leagues — had the air of a citadel, with the city reposing in its
shade. In that sanctuary, so universally revered, there was a
reliquary of precious wood, overlaid with thick plates of gold and
incrusted with diamonds, rubies, and pearls ; in it was kept one of
Mary's precious garments, her wedding-robe of Babylonian stuflF.
At one time the Normans were besieging Chartres, and the inhabi
tants, well disposed to defend their temple, took this sacred relic
for their standard ; the Normans, beholding it, instantly fled. It
was then customary to touch with this reliquary the doublet of
fine linen worn by the nobles on the day of their receiving knight-
hood ; Richard Coeur de Lion, to whom it was brought all the
way to England, offered in return to our Lady of Chartres a rich
case made of gold and jewels, containing relics of St. Edward. The
Madonna of Chartres was, therefore, held in high veneration by the
English knights, and, doubtless, there were many of them who
secretly blamed the king for exposing to sacrilege and pillage the
holy things of Mary's cathedral.

The city, summoned by the English king to surrender, simply
replied that it would not, and Edward's messengers saw nothing
but the massive gate strongly plated and studded with iron, above
which, in a charming Gothic niche, decorated with carved foliage,
was a white Madonna, with this inscription engraved on stone:

" TUTELA CaRNUTUM T

The siege of the aroiei^t capital of the Carnuti was of long

f?'

HISTORlf OF THE DEVOTION TC THE [OUAP. IX.

daratiou, and the fertile fields of France were bristling with
English swords instead of ears of grain. The Dauphin tried, by
negotiation, to save the favourite city of Mary ; but Edward was
deaf to his offers and representations. The French negotiators,
rudely repulsed, had no longer tlie shadow of a hope, and the city
seemed all but lost, when there took place, says Froissart, a miracle
which hwmbled and broke down the courage of the English king.
" A thunderbolt, a storm so great and so horrible, descended from
heaven on the king of England's arm^ , that it seemed as though
the end of the world had indeed come ; for there fell from the sky
stones so large that they killed both men and horses, and even the
boldest were struck witli fear."

" If thou sowest in the garden of life the seed of wrath," said
the ancient sages of Iran,* " thy star shall have to mourn." The
king of England must have had some such thoughts, when the sun
arose like a golden lamp to show him the disasters of the previous
evening. His whole camp was devastated; the canvass of the tents
iiung in tatters, and, all over that immense plain where the green
corn had been trodden down by the English cavalry, seven thousand
h:>ises lay dead beside their masters. There is no historical fact
better attested than this extraordinary event; Edward was so
awed by it, that he was long before he recovered the shock, as he
himself confessed to the continuator of Nangis.

Some time after, conformably to the promise which he had made
in his fright to the powerful patroness of Ohartres, he signed the
peace concluded at Bretigny, a small town of the Chartrian district,
and his haughty nobles, laying aside their arrogance for the time,
came as peaceful and humble pilgrims to kneel before the Virgin's
shrine.

But Mary's intervention in the desperate affairs of France did not
^top here ; she raised up one of those strong men whose iron arm is
done sufficient to sustain a falling kingdom ; she inspired with a
liatred of the British, a young Breton, who made his first achieve-
ments in arms under her auspices, and took her name for his war-

• Iran was the name of Persia before the time of Cyrus,

lis

ixm-

"■'■'t'MI'l

-Ut^ i J 'ii' J i . i jaM

, OHAP. UC.I BLESSED VIRGIN MABT. lift

cry. The troops that followed the red flag of Albion were scpttered
like straw before the wind, at the cry of Ou7' Lady of Ovssdin!

When the idiocy of the unfortunate Charles VII. — ^that prince so
brave, so beloved by the people, and so devoted to Mary — ^had
revived the failing hopes of the English kings, and Henry of Mon-
mouth, yielding to the temptation of uniting the diadem of France
to his own badly-acquired crown, crossed the sea to do a hundred
times worse than ever Edward had done, the Virgin opposed to him
only a pure-hearted young maiden, who dropped the shepherd's
crook to assume the sword of battle. It was while lighting mystic
tapers before the venerated image of Our Lady of Bermont, and
dressing with flowers the hermitage of St. Mary,* that Joan of Arc,
hearkening to the interior voice which prompted her, conceived the
bold project of ridding France of the English pec^le^ and of having
the young Dauphin, Chf^rles, consecrated at Rheicis Thus did the
Virgin decree, and the inspired shepherdess announce ; St. Mary of
Rheims, where the kings of France of that time went to make the
vigil of arms with the young lords of their court,f before they re-
ceived the knightly spurs, joyfully opened its ponderous gates to
admit the true king of France, he who could alone be anointed as the
chosen of the Lord. A flight of birds was sent J to tell the angels
these happy tidings, and near the kneeling prince, at the altar
where Clovis bent his haughty head beneath the baptismal water,
the daughter of Ood^ the high-hearted maiden^ the chaste heroine sent
by the Virgin, unfurled (with a countenance at once modest and
joyful) her banner of white mohair, whereon were emblazoned, in
letters of gold, the two sweet names — the saving names — Jesus '
Makt!

"' Deposition of tho witnesses in the investigation of Yanconlenra on the habita ol
Joan of Arc.

f Froissart.

I At tho consecration of onr kings, from time immemorial, two or three handred
dozens of birds were set at liberty. {Eatais historiques sur Paris, par M. de Sainto*
Foix, t. v., p. 26.)

ft'!'

116

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION' TO THE

[OHAP. X

V '

I' ''
hi

lit

I.I »

■•11

CHAPTER X.

THB ORDERS.

The star of chivalry, which shone from the time of the crnsades
over the zenith of Europe, began at length to descend towards the
horizon ; but, majestic even in its decline, it continued to shed a bril-
liant light, religious as well as martial. Those were, indeed, better
and happier days than ours, when religion was respected, and its holy
laws obeyed from the palace to the cottage, and the veneration of
Mary was at its height ; when all was done through her and for
bftr. " It is very natural for all to invoke her," said the warlike
troubadours of Germany, "since her bidding is done in heaven."
And so she was universally invoked; and although each lord chose
for his patron either St. James, St. George, St. Michael, or St.
Martin, (whom, in their simple respect for the inhabitants of the
heavenly kingdom, they distinguished by honorary titles,) yet the
Tuynov/red Virgin, who contained within herself all the beauty, the
sweetness, and the angelic purity which became a sovereign lady,
was the object of a homage far superior to that paid the haron
St James, or the good hnight St. George. Tournaments were pro-
claimed and feasts performed in honour of Madam St. Mary ; kings
and knights made the vigil of arma in her chapels ; her name,
translated into every European language, was the war-cry of
the Norman, the Danish and the English barons, as well as of
Du Guesclin. In the battle of Trente (the site of which is still
pointed out amid the broom of Lower Bretagne by a mutilated
pillar), Beaumanois recommends himself to God, Our Lady, and
St. Yvea. Seeing that his companions redden the grass with their
blood, and that the English have the advantage, he knights a
squire of noble birth, named Jean de la Hoche, in Our Lady's
name, and fortune, quickly changing sides, declared for the
Bretons.*

* Froissart. vol xiii

OHAF. X.]

BLESSED VIBOIK MABY.

Ill

Having commended themgelves to Mary, they fought one to ten
with that confidence in the support of heaven which trebles the
strength of man ; a good cause, a clean conscience, and the Virgin's
aid, sufficed to effect a mai'veUous feat and to obtain the most signal
victories. In 1388, an army from Brabant entered the duchy of
Gueldre, and destroyed all with fire and sword. The duke had
neither men jor money to repulse the invaders; his councillors
were of opinion that he should shut himself up in one of his
fortresses ; but he rejected their advice with indignant contempt.
" Neither in town nor castle will I enclose myself," he exclaimed,
" and leave my country to be burned ; I would rather die manfully
on the open field." Having made this chivalrous answer, the young
duke armed himself for the fight ; but before he left Nim^gue, he
went and prayed de 70utly before the image of Our Lady, in whom
he had great trust, and consecrated himself and his knights to her.
This done, he mounted his horse, and set out, at the head of four
hundred lancers, to fight an army of forty thousand men. At sight
of the enemy, the advisers of the Flemish prince, frightened by the
fearful odds, sought again to dissuade him from coming to an
engagement ; but the duke, laying his hand on his heart, replied,
" Something tells me that the day is mine. On, then, unfurl ray
banner quickly, and let all who are true knights advance ! I will
do it in honour of God and Madam St. Mary, of whom I took leave
on my departure ; to her care I commit all ray affairs. Forward !
Forward !"

And the brave young duke charged the enemy at full gallop,
crying, " Our Lady for Gueldre !" The army of Brabant was com-
pletely routed, and lost seventeen banners, " which may be found,"
says Froissart, " before the image of Our Lady of Nim^gue, to the
end that the victoiy may be kept in perpetual remembrance."
After the battle, the Flemish knights held a council on the field.
Some proposed to enter a neighbouring city, to place their prisoners
in safety, and to dress the wounded. " Not so," said the duke ;
" I gave and pledged myself to the department of Nimegue, and
to-day I consecrated myself, at the beginning of the battle, to Our
Lady of Nimegue ; I will and ordain, therefore, that we go back
thither to see and to thank the Koyal Lady who hag helped us to

1 1

iil .'

iiitf*'

•ill:
'4

I i

^cT

k-^-s

.M~^.

118

IIISTOUr OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[cilAP. X, 'r'fgf

obtain the victory." So saying, he galloped back with hia knighta
to return thanks to Our Lady, and to hang up his spoiled and
broken arms as ex voto in her chapel.*

In 1363, King Louis I. of Hungary, finding himself, with only
twenty thousand men, in presence of eighty thousand infidels, con-
secrated himself with all his array to the Queen of Angels, whose
image he always wore. In order to thank Our Lady for the
brilliant victory which ho gained, he built around the chapel of
Affleuz, in Carinthia, a very beautiful church, wherein he deposited
the sacred image to which he attributed his victory, and the sword
wherewith he had fought .f

In the fourteenth century, Louis, Duke of Bourbon, surnamed the
Great, resolved on quitting France for a time (it was then in a most
disturbed state, owing to the minority of Charles II.) in order to
put down the audacious piracy of the Saracens of Africa, which
totally impeded the commerce of Europe. Genoa and the French
ports demanded an expedition against these robbers; Louis of
Bourbon beard the appeal, and resolved to make a crusade on that
side in honour of the Blessed Virgin, whom he held in supreme
veneration. He summoned his chivalry, and was soon joined by
the Dauphin of Auvergne, John of Beaufort, son of the Duke of
Lancaster, the Count d'Harcourt, Walter of Chatillon, William of
Hainault, Philip of Artois, Count d'Eu, the Sire de la Tremouille,
and Philip de Bar. All these warriors, before they set sail, solemnly
pledged themselves to the Blessed Virgin, and took for their flag
the Duke of Bourbon's banner, " which was then adorned with the
jlewr de lys of France, a Avhite image of Our Lady, the mother of
Jesus Christ, represented as sitting in the midst; underneath the
feet of said image was the shield of Bourbon." J

The Duke of Bourbon put to sea with a fleet of eighty vessels

* Froissart, vol. i., p. 112.

f This Cwinthian church, now known by the name of Maria-Zell, is still one of the
most famous pilgrimages of Catholic Germany. The Emperor Mathias went thither to
rctarn thanks for a victory obtained over the Turks in IGOl ; Ferdinand III. had the
church finished, su7h as we now see it, and Maria Theresa made her first commnnioa
there, a. d. 1128.

J Froissart, vol. xi. p. 206.

[. OHAP. X.J

BLESSED VmOTK MAKY.

liO

under the Tceeping of God, Our Lady and St, George. They arrived
ahont midsuratr er, in front of a city to which Froissart and others
give the name of Africa, and which is thought to be Tunis. The
crusaders of the Blessed Virgin laid siege to this place, which
they tried four times to take by assault, but could not succeed, the
Turks making a vigorous resistance. The arrival of the Christians
had been the signal of a holy war for the Mussulmans of Africa ;
the kings of Tripoli, Morocco, and others, sent their troops to suc-
cour the besieged city, and the Chri ,Ians had to guard against the
ambuscades and nocturnal assaults of the barbarians. But their
stratagems were all defeated without the aid of sentinels or lights,
in a manner which excited the gratitude of the crusaders for their
divine protectors. A dog, which had no known master, kept watch
every night around the Christian camp, so that it was impossible
for the Turks to elude his vigilance. The soldiers, seeing some-
thing extraordinary in the unfailing instinct of this animal, called
him Our Ladi/s dog.

This African expedition, commenced under the auspices of the
Blessed Virgin, was accompanied by prodigies, according to Frois-
sart ; he relates that " the Saracens, thinking to surprise the French
by a nocturnal attack, stealthily approached the Christian camp,
when they perceived before them a company of ladies, robed in
white, and, especially, one at the head who was fairer than all the
others, and carried in her hand a snow-white flag, with a ruddy
cross. The Saracens were so amazed and confounded at the sight,
that they had, for the time, neither the power nor the courage to
advance."*

Whether it was that Mary wished to protect the chivalry of
France, trusting in her protection, by placing herself and her
heavenly train between the Christians and the Mussulmans, or that
a hallucination caused by the doubtful light of the stars and the
waving banners of the knights was the sole cause of the prodigy,
the camp was none the less saved from a night attack.

Owing to the excessive warmth of the climate, an epidemic broke

tT?»(!;^it^

\i\

■■>,

* Froissart. t xi., p. 266.

I-"'? ■

liJO

HI9T0KV OF TilE DEVOTION TO TUK [oiIAP. X.

out amongst the Christians, which decimated their army, and forced
them to raise the siege of Tunis, after nine weeks of unavailing
eflEbrts; but, before they retired, they twice gave battle to the
Saracens, and defeated them, notwithstanding their numbers ; the
banner of Mary was gloriously borne by the chivaW of France,
and the Christians achieved under that flag such prodigies of valour
that the King of Tunis, thoroughly frightened, was but too happy
to conclude a treaty, whereby he engaged to give up the Christian
slaves, to leave the navigation of the Mediterranean undisturbed,
and, finally, to pay \en thousand gold pieces to defray the expenses
of the war.

The good cities of the kingdom, in times of calamity, placed
themselves under tl e special protection of the Blessed Virgin, as
well as the sovereigns In 1357, after that fatal battle of Poictiers,
which mowed down th^ flower of the French nobility, and in which
the king was taken by the English, the merchant-provost then
made a vow, in the name of the city of Paris, to oflfer every year to
the Mother of God, in the cathedral church, a taper whose length
should equal the circumference of the citj'' walls. This offering was
actually made down to the time of the league, when it was inter-
rupted for twenty-five or thirty years. In 1605, the city substi-
tuted for this immense taper a silver lamp with a large wax taper,
which burned continually before the altar of Our Lady till the
year 1789.*

Rouen, where the image of Mary formerly adorned every street
and square, the fountains and the public monuments, placed itself
by solemn vow under her protection in 1348, on the appearance of
that famous blach plague which ravaged the whole earth, and which
struck its victims so fiercely that they died, say the chronicles of the
time, while looking at each other. When the intercession of the
Virgin had put an end to this frightful pestilence, there wna

* Sanral, Afem. MS. There is found in the accounts of receipts and expenses for
the corporation of Paris, a. d. 1488, an item concerning this taper : " To the Widow
Oerbelot, the sum of 21 livres, 19 sols, 8 deniers, to her lilcewise duo by said city, for
117^ lbs. of wax, made into a large taper, and placed on a wooden tower by said
widow duly delivered on tiie 12th February, at the price of 4 sols, 8 deniers per lb. ;
amount for Our Lady's candle, 53 livres, 11 sols, 8 deniers."

''1M'1^

nUnVHlL! PliJM

UUAP. A.j

UJ.USiSKl) VIKOIN MAKY.

founded in the Normun cuthedi-al one of the moat mugn at
chapels in the world, under the title of Our La<.ly of the Vow. I'ho
statue of Mary, in white marble, crowned with white roses, sur-
mounted the altar erected to her by public gratitude, and over this
sacred image the magistrates of Rouen suspended a massive golden
lamp, which was kept lit, night and day, till the sixteenth century,
when it was extinguished by the Protestants.*

The cities of France were not then alone in consecrating them-
selves to the Blessed Virgin. Genoa the Proud had inscribed on
each of her gates, QitUi di Mana (the city of Mary), and Venice
the Beautiful had adorned her grand council-hall, in 1385, with a
magnificent work of Guariotto, a disciple of Giotto, representing
Christ crowning his mother Queen of Venice. Underneath this
painting, which has perished in the lapse of ages, were written thes«
four lines from Dante ;

L' amor uhc mosac pia I'eterno Padre
Per Gglia aver di sun Deitu trina,
Costei die fa dt-l Figlio suo poi Mudre
Dell' aiiiverso (jiii la fa rojriiin.

The doges of Venice were each obliged to leave in the dncal
palace a picture in which they were painted kneeling before the
Blessed Virgin, so as to make them remember that she was their
sovereign and that of the republic.f

This devotion of Genoa and Venice to tlie Mother of Gi)d, was
however eclip-sed by the fervent homage rendered to her by the
sniall republic of Parma, which was also consecrated to Mary.
There was no day more solemn amongst the citizens of Parma than
the ir)th of August, the Fea'it of the Assumption of the Virgin,,
patroness of their cathedral and sovereign of their republic. This
festival stooil on a par amongst them with that of Eitster, and was
■*o respected that the Holy See, when placing Parma under an
•nterdict, always excepted the day o+' the Assumption from the
excommunication. On that day the heads of families, with all the
members of their household, repaired to the splendid cathedral of

• Amiot, Hist. Je la Ville tie Rouen, t. iL
t Dilices Je VllaUe, t. 1, p. 60.

i^i

r Hpl

f-wm

't<l

It ^1

?//«

''-y^.i

[OIIAP. X.

Mary (the roof of which was subsequently pnintcd l>y Coru-gio),
with banners flying and the singing of hymns, and laid flowers and
rich offerings on hci* altar. " An inhabitant of Parma, who failed
to iippear in the cathedral, wonld have been disgraced," says Tnrchi,
"niitl held up to public sconi." At this solemn festival, in which all
rankH were confounded, there were neither grades nor distinctions;
it M'omed as though the membere of one family had joyously met to
do lionour to their mother.

'iVuly it is a fervent and sincere devotion tnat can stifle party
feuds ! Such was that of the Parmesans for the Mother of God.
In the year 1323, on the day of the Assumption, the Guelphs, exiled
from Parma, laying aside their old animosity, presented themselves
umler the walls of the city, and, with clasped hands, begged to be
admitted for the Holy Virgin's sake; the people within the city,
hf'ifing Mary's name thus humbly invoked on the day of her solemn
festival, were moved with compassion, and, by a spontaneous move-
ment, each ran to open the gates; Guelphs and Ghibelines embraced
each other with tears of joy, and the exiles were conducted, amid
the vivas of the citizens, to the famous cathedral of Our I^ady,
where peace was sworn at the Virgin's altar : that f>eace lasted fifty
years.*

To appease these fiery factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelinen,
which divided each of the Italian cities into two camps, and made
their streets and public places fields of battle, it was thought best
to create an order of knighthood of a purely pacific nature: the
J'yati Gaudenti^ or Knights of the Virgin, who, without renouncing
the world, applied themselves to restore peace and concord in the
•Italian peninsula, in the name and for the sake of the Mother
of God.

This devotion to Mary, which restored the peace of cities and
inspired warriors with courage, was the soul of the military orders —
those great, all-con(niering, medieval armies, which were generally
founded on faith in the Mother of God, and achieved their heroic
deeds in her name. In" that austere and religious section of chivalry.

• Chronic. Parm. in med. ann. 1328. — Chronir. Parm. apad Muratori, 10, Rnr.

CHAP. X.]

ULUHHKD VIHUIN MART.

123

thi iOve and honour of absent ladies was represented by a particular
devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Thus, the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem invoked Mary when receiving their sword, an invocation
which is still practised by the Knights of Malta, the last phase of
that celebrated order. The Teutonic knights took the name of
KnighUi of the Virgin.* The territories which they wrested from
the Pagans of Northern Europe, they called Martfn lands; the
Virgin was their celestial lady, as she was, in fact, tlis Lady of the
uwld, according to the simple legends of the middle ages. These
ordera — subject to a mighty organization, which participated in the
discipline of a camp and the severity of a rule — conquered, in
Mary's name, provinces which they collected into kingdoms ; the
order of Teutonic Knights became, as every one knows, the Prussian
-ntnm mouarchy, and, under the name of the Knights of Rhodes, the
'jTw Hospitallei-s govenied one of the fairest islands of the Levant. To
these religious and chivalrous orders, who extended the devotion to
Mary by prodigies of valour, were added the royal orders, which
were like them, in general, under the patronage of Mary. It was in
her honour that King John founded the knightly order of Our
Lady of the Xoble House, better known as the Knights of the Star.
Those knights fasted every Saturday when they could, and, when
they could not, they were to give fifteen pence to the poor, in
memory of the fifteen joys of Our Lady. They were allowed to
hoist a banner, spangled with stars, with an image of the Blessed
Virgin, whether ir' making war on the enemies of the faith or in the
service of their liege lord. They were swoi-n to die rather than
surrender, and not to retreat more than four acres, when forced by
superior numbers to retire.

Charles VL, that poor prinoe wluwe precocious valour gained,
when he was but fourteen, the famous victory of Rosbecq, likewise
instituted, in the first years of his reign, an order of knighthood in
^jonour of the Blessfed Virgin, in consecjuence of a vow made by him
in Languedoc. During his stay at Toulouse, he frequently went

* In 1191 tbe Pope approved of the institation of these knights, nnder the title
of Brothers Hospitallers of the Blessed Virgin, and placed them under the mle of
St Angnstinc.

•k

\(J 124 IMSTOKY OK THE DKVtHION TO TIIH, [oiIAP.

hunting with Oliver de Cliwon, IVter of Nnviinv, iiiul u iinrnher of
otljer lonls, in tho ancient forest of Bout'onn(^ 1 laving one day
separated from liis wuite while tt)o ardently ehasing a wild deer,
nii^ht snrpriaed him alone in the wildest recesseH «)f the old Di-uid
forest; to increase the dangei-H of his situation, the shadtw gathered
deeper and deeper around him, ho that not a singlo star wan viailde.
Terrified by the awfid lonelineas of the jdaco, and not knowing
whither to turn, the i)rinco made a solemn vow to Our Lady of
ll/^lJS^ llope, and humbly put himself under her protection. Immediately
.V light wind dispereed the clouds, and a brilliant star shed ita trem-
Vtling light on a beaten track, which conducted the young monarch
out of the woods. Next day, Charles, followed by his lords in
complete armour, except their head, went to accomplish his vow
in Mary's chapel. To perpetuate the memory of his perilous
adventure, he founded, shortly after, the Order of Our I^ady of
Hope, and ordained that its .mblera should be a star.*

In the year 1370, Lonis II., Duke of BourlK)n, instituted the
order of the Knights of Our Lady's Thistle. This order consisted
of twen>,y-six knights, who wore a girdle of sky-blue velvet, embroi-
dered with gold, and liaving the word hope emblazoned thereon ; tho
buckle was of fine gold, enamelled with green, and represented the
head of a thistle. On the day of Our Lady's Conception, which
was the grand festival of the order, the Knights of the Thistle
wore a sumptuous robe of flesh-colour damask, anc' a sky-blue cloak
1'^ embroidered with gold, whereon they wore the grand collar of th«)
order, composed of golden lozenges and fk'ar.9 de lys^ with the word
Juype on ever)' lozenge. Fi'ora the end of the collar hung an oval

'^m

'^'fll^ * The institution of Our Liuiy of Good llopo is proved by an nncient painting
wliich is seen on tlie walls of ttie Carmelite cloister in Toulouse, near tho chapel of
Our Lady of Hope, where the Kin;^ of France is represented on horseback, bending
bfffore an image of the Virgin. Some lords a'c ftlsw painted there, all armed, except
the head. Their names, written bi.lr»w, are almost effaced ; but those of the Duke of
Touruine, the Duke of Bourbon, Peter of Navarro, Ooni-y de Bar, and Oliver de
Clisson, can still be distinguished. All these figures are of full length. The back-
ground of this painting is filled with bears, wolves, boars, kc. At the top, on a sort
of frieze, angels bear streamers, whereon is thrice written the word " Hope." (Dom
VaiBSctte. Hist, de Languedoc, i. iv., p. 896.)

A-^

()

OUAP. X.]

lILhJMKU VIIUIIK MAKY.

126

medalliou bearing the image of M1117, under wliicli wns seen a
thistle's head, enainellod with green and etclied with white.*

Devout and <-hivnlrou» Spain had also, in the middle ages, royal
ordein foumlc 1 in honour of Mary. Alphonzo, or rather Don Alonzo
tlio AVise, founded an order of chivalry, which ho placed under the
[)atronagc of the Virgin ; and Don James II., King of Arragon — to
reward the valour of the inhabitants of Montesa, whos*;* castle, built
on the top of a high mountain, had several times repulsed the
Mod's — founded, in 1319, an order of knighthood, under the title
of Santa Maria do Montesa, to which he generously gave, with the
Pope's consent, the property which 'tbe suppressed order of the
Templars had possessed in Valencia.

A little later, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Christian
the Fii-st, King of Denmark, founded, in honour of the Holy Trinity
and tl'o Blessed Virgin, the royal order of the Elephant, the mem-
bers of which entered into divers pious engagements ; for instance,
that of defending the Catholic faith at the peril of their life ; the
elephant was symbolical of the virtues of the order.

But it was not only the royal and military orders that took Mary
for their patroness ; the religious militia, which gains its battles by
prayer under the shield of Faith, would also move forward under
the Virgin's banner, and distinguished itself by another kind of
heroism. In the West, the liiNt religious order founded especially
in honour of Mury, was that of Citeaux, the founder of which wjia
St. Robert, a young Norman gentleman who had been destined by
his family for the pi'ofession of arras, but who chose rather to gain
the kingdom of heaven than any of this world's gifts or honouiu In
the yeai" 1098 he founded, in a desert place, given him by the Duke
of Burgundy, the famous abbey of Citeaux, and caused the twenty
monks who accompanied iiim thither to assume the white habit, in
honour of the Blessed Virgin, and, according to the annalists of
Citeaux, on a special revelation from her. In order to merit the
protection of Mary, Robert and his monks condemned themselves to
a life the most detached, the most laborious, the poorest, and the

* Favin, Hi»t. de Navarre, I. viiL

fr/-'

\^'^f^

^V,

1:^^"^^ i'ii'

:or

126

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

most austere that it is possible to imagine ; they banished from their
cloisters all that had the least appearance of luxury. Their abba-
tical church had but one wooden cross; the censers and candlesticks
were of iron, and the chalices of gilt copper; the ornaments were
of coarse stuff; the abbot's crosier vv&s merely the wooden crutch
then used by old men. In order to avoid all that might disturb
retreat and recollection, it was agreed that no prince or noble should
henceforward keep his court in their church or in their monas-
tery, as had been hitherto the case on high festivals. These rules
were made by degrees ; most of them were enacted by the Abbot
Stephen, who succeeded Alberic, the successor of Robert, in 1109.
There was so great scarcity of provisions in the abbey during the
following year, that the abbot was obliged to mount an ass and go
out to beg with one of the brothers. The rigorous austerity prac-
tised in the abbey caused Citeaux to be deserted ; no one presented
himself to replace the monks who died, and the abbot began
seriously to fear that this new institute must perish in its cradle ;
but Mary, its patroness, would not permit it to fall to the ground,
and made it a magnificent present in the person of St. Bernard,
who retired thither, with several of his kinsmen, in 1113. He was
then scarcely seventeen ; at ninet' in he v^as sent to Clairvaux, in
the capacity of abbot, and applied himself to clear that place, then
overgrown with brushwood.
Whilst St. Bernard was laying the foundations of Clairvaux,
\ La Ferte, Pontigny, and Morimond — the three other daughters of
Citeaux — were being peopled under favour of the Blessed Virgin.
The wild, dreary spot whereon arose the abbey of Morimond, the
most austere of all the Cistercian abbeys, was a pious donation from
Olderic de Grammont, and Adeline his wife.* These four abbeys
were the first and the mothers of several othei-s, which we need not
mention in detail, all equally austere and regular, all worthy of
their heavenly patroness. The monks went to work in the woods
and fields, sowed and reaped grain, mowed hay, felled trees and
carried them on their back. On returning to the convent, they
thankfully received what was given them to eat, that i' to say

* Anna/fs Ciilffciennei, » R. P. Manrique, ann. 1115, eh. I.

: r

OHAP. Z.]

BLESSED VXROTN MARY.

127 XT:i^!^^

a poand of co.irse black bread, with a potage of lieech leaves.
Their bed was of straw, their bolster a bag of oats, and, after
having slept some hours, they rose in the middle of the night to
sing the praises of the Lord. Such was the life of these monks of
the Virgin, whom their conduct honoured according to the expres-
sion of God himself in the sacred books ; hence she was pleased to
give them the most striking proofs of her approbation. The annals
of Citeaux relate that, when these good monks, whose life was so
austere, whose heart so pure, and whose hands so occupied, were
toiling and sweating in the heat of a harvest day, without daring to
quench their thirst in the neighbouring stream, or to refresh their
exhausted frame by a few moments' rest in the cool shade of the
woods hard by, the Virgin wiped away with her white veil the
sweat that bathed the pale and furrowed brow of the brothers.*

Men of high birth thronged to Citeaux : Prince Henry, brother
of Louis the Young, became a monk of Clairvaux in 1149. St.
Malachy, who was descended from the kings of Ireland, and was
himself primate of that island, exchanged hb pontifical robes for the
serge and fustian of these austere monks. One of the first lords of
the Scottish court, and much beloved by the king, who was his rela-
tive, abandoned the world and its glories, to shut himself up in a
Cistercian monastery. The king had often noticed that the young
nobleman withdrew from the exciting pleasures of the chase to read
and pray amongst the tall ferns or the blooming hawthorns of the
woods. " We must make him a bishop," said the pious monarch
oue day, with a thoughtful air. The young man anticipated him,
and became a monk at Wardon.

In 1129, Everard, Count du Mans, gave up his princely coronet
for the Cistercian cowl. He presented himself in disguise at one
of the houses of the order, and was entrusted with the care of
one of the flocks; he might have remained unknown had not
some lords of his acquaintance met him while minding his sheep
on the border of a ^vild heath. Another young nobleman, of very
high birth, having taken the Cistercian habit, was charged to con-

• Ibid., A. D. 1199, ch. 5, and 1228, cli. 6 ; a. d. 1121, cli. 6.

^i?,3

' r

Lti

128

duct a flock of

nrL'TORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

[OHAP. X.

swine every day to feed in a neighbouring forest,
wliere they fared sumptuously on the acorns and beech-nuts. One
evening, when the novice neglected to pray as usual, he heard the
voice of Satan, the father of pride, whispering in his ear that his
was certainly a strange trade for the son of a powerful baron. The
young lord, hitherto so pious, bit his lip, and all his fervour fled
like a dream ; night came, he regained his monastery, and retired to
the chapel. Any one who saw him kneeling before Our Lady's
altar, buiied in profound meditation, would have said, " There is a
saint whose thoughts are in heaven." Yet his thoughts did not take
so lofty a flight, for he was thinking of his father's cp.stle, and began
to entertain the idea of flight. "The night is dark," thought the
novice, as he looked through the open door of the chapel ; " the

wind is high ; it is just the time to make my escape Herding

Bwine, indeed ! and I the son of one of the first lords of the court !
Why, it is a burning shame, and nothing less !" He arose, and
crossed the nave with a firm step; he was about to pasr» the
threshold, when he perceived a woman standing just before him !
At firet he thought it was but a dream ; but no — there she wiis — a
woman of majestic mien, and beautiful as an angel ; with a graceful
motion of her hand, and a sweet smile of compassion, she made a sign
for him to follow, and was mechanically obeyed. The unknown
directed her steps towards the cemetery, as it lay ghastly and cold
in the light of the half- veiled moon ; the huge yew-trees, agitated
by the wind, seemed to mturn for the dead, and the night-birds
mingled their doleful cries with the tumultuous voice of the tem]test.
A cold shudder began to creep over tlie young monk ; his fair and
calm conductress extended her hand, and behold ! the turf coverings
of the graves began slowly to open, and the dead arose, cold and
pale in their shrouds. The novice was sinking to the ground with
terror; but the unknown, regarding him with an eye of tender
compassion, said, in a sweet and penetrating voice, "Yet a little
while, and thou shalt be dead like these ! Whither, then, wouldst
thou go, and of what art thou thinking ? This is the end of all
earthly glory!" Saying these words the Virgin, for she it was,
vanished from his sight; the graves closed again, and the young

,^f

CHAP. X]

BI..ESSKD VIROIN MAUY.

Ii29 \Ui

novice, who thougl.b no more of quitting the convent, became a
model of humility and virtue.*

The order of Citeaux, which extended itself into every country
of Christendom, was suppressed in France at the beginning of the
Revolution.

The order of Fontevrault, founded in 1100 by Robert d'Arbri-
celle to honour the holy obedience of Jesus Christ to the ordei-a
of his mother, and the filiation of John with regard to Mary, could
only have its origin in the chivalrous middle ages. In that order
— whose nuns were high and noble ladies, and its abbesses princesses
of the blood royal — the women governed the men, and the abbots
dared not treat the abbess as a sister, but were bound, in all
humility, to call her mother,f she being absolute sovereign of the
order. The foundation of this order raised some storms at the
outset. Marbode, bishop of Rennes, and Godefroi, bishop of Ven-
dome, alarmed by the strangeness of this reversed obedience,
declared against Fontevrault; but the order, nevertheless, existed
till the time of the Revolution. It was in this abbey that th«
princesses of the royal family were brought up.

Seven merchants of Florence also founded, in the second poriod
of the middle ages, the order of Servantes, or Serfs of Mary, which
gave to the church St. Philip Benizzi, author of the touching devo-
tion of the Seven Dolors of the Virgin. Finally, the sweet nime of
Mary was attached to the order of Our Lady of Mercy, destined to
ledeem Christian captives from the hands of the infidels. This
order, founded on the lOth of August, 1218, is one of those holy
works which do honour to humanity; its .-ales were extremely
severe, and it formed the most perfect link between the military
ordei-s and those that were purely monastic.

If the other religious ordei-s of chivalrous times were placed less
directly than those of which we have spoken, under the immediate
patronage of the Blessed Virgin, all united in honouring her, and

mh.

* A.tt. 1207, ch. 4.

f Tlie monks of tlie Abbey of FotitRvrault were commanded, by an act of Parlia
ment to (.-all *lie Al)be8s tlieir motner, and v.ot Ihoir sister. (See the Annals of
Fonleurnu/t.)

?^r

h : I

^:l

1I1MU1.1 yjr iHK I)KV(/riON TO TIIK

I CHAP. X.

were founded under her influence. The Hnci^nt Carthtisiaiis dedi-
cated to Mary their first chapel, which still exinta amongst the rochs
wh(Te it was first hnilt, and it retains the commemorative name of
Ovr Lady of Cottages*

llie cradle of the Franciscan order was a small chapel, very old
and ill had repair, Ituilt originally by four hermits of Palestine, who
gav(- it the name of St. Mary of Josaphat, because they liad in it
eoiiH! relics fi'om the tomb of the Blessed Virgin.

'I he Dominican order had its origin in Our Lady of Prouille.

St. Norbert reformed the Premonstratensions by order of the
Ml 'f her of God, and he obliged his monks to recite the office of the
\riigin every day, under pain of mortal sin.

* Sdceflitm htatcB Maria de Catalihut. This chapel, which the Carthusians have
prusprved wit!) all respttct ae the cradle of their order, is still in existence. TastePuIlT
or>i:imeiiled, and hidden in the depth of the woods, it has a verv pleasing effect.

!»

■M

fe...-'^

v^v

CHAP. XL]

BLESSED VIROIN MARl.

IBl

IJiirH |trio)r 0( t^t ■^mtian to Itats.

WnOU TRB MIDDLE AOB8 TILL OUR OVM TItlll.

CHAPTER XJ.

TUB BKTITAL.

At the opening of the fifteenth century, Catholic Europe was still
kneeling before Mary, whose cathedrals, already secularizeo, were
being finished with admirable constancy. At that time poor com-
panions made their tour of France^ offering tlieir hammers and
trowels wherever the piety of the faithful was rais'ng churches;
must of them asked no payment ; they got bread and roots to eat,
and slept on the bare ground. One hundi-ed thousand men were
seen working i» this way for two centuries, at the cathedral of
Strasburg, which Bishop "Werner had dedicated to Mary.

Some of these workmen were wholly devoted to the constmction
of chapels in honour of the Blessed Virgin ; they wrought for the
love of God, and refused all other employment. Amongst these
were some who imposed on themselves the daily fabrication of a
certain number of oak leaves, trefoil or arabesques ; this pious task
was called the stone-cutter's cliaplef. The enthusiasm reached even
the weaker sex ; women were seen taking up the chisel to carve
Madonnas; the statue of the Blessed Virgin, which may be observed
over the portal of the cathedral of Strasburg, with a crown on the
head and a chalice in the right hand, is the work of Sabina,
daughter of Ervin, herself a faniouH architect, like her father and
brother, whose great work she continued when they had worn away
their lives.

Those artists who wrestled like gifint'* with the idea of the infinite
to translate it into stone, acquired no wealth by their colossal under-
takings ; they would hr.ve deemed it a disgrace. Their labour was
more suitably rewarded ; after their death, the stately basiMc which
they had built, raising its .lags of black marble, took them respect-
fully to its bosom, and one might fancy that its tall, tapering steeples.

l>-1U

TJ'

fefea

132

IIISTOKY OV TIIK DRVOTTON TO THK [oiIAK XI.

piercing the clouda like the just rcnii's prayer, went up to plead their
:;ause before the Eternal.

The carvera of wood likewiae consecrated their work to the
Virgin; the choir-stalls of the ancient churches were adorned, for
tlie most part, with those sculptures where the artist delighted to
concentrate, in a narrow space, some graceful scene from the life of
the Blessed Virgin. The cathedrals of Auch and Evreux, both
dedicated to Mary, are so fortunate as to have preserved many of
these carvings, whose loss would be irreparable.

Under the vaulted roof of the cathedral of Paris, that dread
periodical press which does so much good and so much evil, accord-
ing to the passions which set it in motion, was then springing into
life like a timid dove which feai-s to venture from the parent nest.
A great iron branch, with tabes running hither and thither, as far
up as the eye could reach, was fastened to one of the walls of
Notre Dame, close by one of those side-doora which are master-
pieces of the locksmith's craft. On a level with these tubes, gar-
nished with tapei-s of yellow wax, was hung, by a flexible fastening,
a hollow tablet, coated with wax. There, every morning, on the
advice and responsibility of the directoi-s or chief editors of the
period, the bishop, the mayor, or the sheriff, the pt-inter in wax
inscribed with his pen the official announcement of whatever was
most interesting to the people of the good old times, the arrival of a
bull, the gaining of a battle, <fec. Every lettered individual was
then free to come, by the light of the tapers (which the stained
glass windows rendered necessary, even in daylight,) and read to
the assembled crowds that daily gazette, daily in the fullest sense
of the word, since the news of the morrow eft'aced that of the day
before.

Confraternities in honour of the Virgin were then founded all
over Europe — still Catholic from one end to the other. The princes
of Germany gloried in wearing her scapular, and the English kings
of the Lancasti'ian line were consecrated with a miraculous oil more
rculiant than fine yold, which the Blessed Virgin had given expressly
for tliem — the Lancastrians — to St. Thomas a !> chet during his exile*

* Bour'ier, Aunales do TAquitaiiie, t. iv., p. 3.

<§

OHAP. ZI.J

BLKSSEO \IBOm BIART.

In Frauce, the students of the c^eat colleges (where so many
gratuitous burses were given in Our Lady's name) arose at the dawn
of day to say the office of the Virgin in common. Princes recited it
also, at regular hours, with soms other offices of the Church. A
small space, something like the domestic 'ihapels of the Romans, was
reserved in their apartments for these morning devotions. The
Duke of Orleans, uncle of Charles VI., though his life was far from
Ijcing edifying, had neveitheless, in the Hotel St. Paul, an oratory,
adorned with Gothic sculptures in Irish oak, on the door of which
was read, '■'•Retreat where Monsieur Louis of France says his
offices^^*

The rosaryf and the chaplet were the favourite ornaments of
great and small, the magistrate and the warrior. Kings of France
substituted them for the knightly collar, the fashion of which • had
been brought by the Crusaders from Eastern lands, famous for their
gorgeous costumes. A costly chaplet was put in every wedding
casket ; and the great ladies of the period of the Revival, as well as
those of '\e middle ages, were often represented on theix' stone
monuments with a chaplet in their hand. This prayer, originally
invented for the poor, had become the prayer of all classes. Bur-
gesses and gentlemen said their chaplet going out to the country or
returning to the city, clients in court while awaiting their lawyers,
and Christians of every grade when going to distant churches to
gain indulgences. Kings themselves set the example. Blanche of
Castile said her rosary every day. Edwtu'd III., King of England,
gave his chaplet, enriched with pearls, to Eustace de Ribeaumont, a
French knight, who had twice defeated him. In the inventory
taken after the death of Charles V., there were, as La Sage telis us,
ten gold chaplets. The Swisr., at Grandson, found in the ducal tent

133 it5W*i^^3

frnti"

* Felibien, t. ler, p. 654. — Sauvnl, Mem. M.

f The rosary was instituted in 1208, by St. Dominick, but he was not precisely the
inventor of it. In tlie year 1094, Peter tlie Herniit devised wooden beads, wiiereon
the soldiers of the Crnsade, for the most prrt unable to read, might recite a certain
number of paters and aves, according to the solemnity of the feasts. Even before hit
time, some ancient historians relate that devout persons said a series of patera and
ctw on knotted cords, per cordulam rn, '•'« distinetam. {JReglei de la Conjr du Bomiirt.
AHt/))fi. — Gabriel Pennotos, in Hist, tripart.)

■■^^^r^^^-i*.^

rjr

134

UISTOBT OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

¥ u

of Charles of Burgundy his pater (chaplet), whereon the Ajjostles
were represeutej in s^lid gold* It is well known that the famous
constable, Anne de Montmorenci, was accustomed to say his beads
V liile riding at the head of his men-at-anna. " Sometimes, leaving a
^>ater unfinished, he commanded some military expedition, or gave
the signal for attack ; then he carefully resumed his pater, or aw."
says a contemporary historian, " t/o devout was fie.''^

The chaplet, which takes its name from the crowns of flowers
called in the middle ages chapeh or duipeavx, was the spiritual
crown of Mary; people said then — and it was a graceful and
poetical idea — that there was beside every person who recited it
devoutly, an angel, sometimes visible, who strung on a golden
thread a rose for every aw, and a golden lily for every pater, and
that after laying this garland on the brow of the devort servant of
Mary, the angel disappeared, leaving behind him the sweet perfume
of roses.f

The kings of Scotland and their great vassals wore chaplets of
golden beads to p}'eserve tlieniselvea from all evil ; the bold troopers
of the bordera provided themselves with others, simpler and less
costly, consisting of filberts browned by the autumn sun, " and never
did they recite them with more fervour," says Leslie, " than in their
expeditions against the English." The golden chaplets disappeared
with poor Queen Mary, the last of the Catholic sovereigns ; but
those which the borderers gathered in the woods long withstood
the shock of the Reformation. It was the last Catholic practice
kept up in Caledonia; with it fell the ancient religion of -Bruce, of
Wallace, and of David I., the religion to which England and Scot-
land both owe, according to Cobbett, all that they have of greatness
both in men and things.

* History of Lonis XL, by M. Liskeii, p. 91.

■f The clinplet owes its origin to a young monk of t!ie order of St. Francis.
Before taking tbe habit of the Friars Minors, this yonni,' man made it a practice to
crown an imago of Our Lady every day with a wreath of flowers. Being unable to
continue this pious practice in tlie convent, he was on the point of giving up the habit ,
out Our Lady appeared to him, and ordered him to substitute the spiritual crown of
the chaplet for the wreath of flowers. (P. Alex. Salo, Mtth. ad. pour hon. la V. JT.,
p. 672.)

k'VWil''.*'^'

^vm

J. OUAP. XI.]

ULK88ED VIRGIN MAKY.

186 itr:;a(!2y;?3

'fho Georgians an9 the nations of Italy fabricated beads for
themselves with an little expense as the Scotch : they made thetn of
the nuts of the azedaral\, ?♦ known amongst the Italians as VaJhero
dei patemostri.

The lender and sincere piety of our ancestoi-s for tht Blessed
Virgin then manifested itself in forms the sweetest and most touch-
ing. Berries from the shrubs, and fruit from the bushes, sufficed
to form a religious garland ; flowers, heath, the plants of Europe
and of Asia, were honoured with her name, and kept her memory
alive amid the woods and fields. The narcissus, with its pui-ple-
tinted bell, received the name of Mary's My ; the rose of Jericho,
the seal of Solomon, became her rose and her seal ; the lung-wort,
spotted with white, was Our Lady's milk,' the Scotch took foi
their emblem her blessed thistle ; the Christian Arab gave the
name of St. Mary's snioike to a sort of wormwood, with a white
flo'ver, which grows on his sandy wastes ; the mountain shepherd
designated as St. Mary's grass the Alpine mint, the rosemary, and
the persicaria ; the Mussulmans of the East call the fragrant cycla-
men hohour Miriam (Mary's perfume), and the same plant beai-s
in Persia the naine of tchenk Miriam (Mary's hand) ; a vernal plant
of Europe received the name of Ou/r Lady's cloak ; the plane that
oears the blue, sweet wortleberry was her signet, the sherbets of the
Alps her pears ; and the bed of wild thyme, whereon the wearied
bee rests, had likewise her name.

In some northern countries, on the other hand, they scrupulously
avoided giving the Virgin's name, not only to tuing? but to peraons,
fearing lest that name might eventually be treated with irreverence,
or unworthily borne. Amongst the Poles, no woraan was called
Mary, and this prohibition extended so far, that Lauislaus IV., when
marrying Marie Louise of Nevers, would have a clause inserted in
the marriage contract to the effect that the new queen should give
up her name of Marie, which wtis displeasing to the Poles, because
of their respect for the Mother of (iod, and that she retain only the
simple name of Louise.*

♦ Doveiido Ladislso IV. prendcre per raoplie la figliuola del duca di Nevers,
chiainuter Maria Aloisa, messe questa special condizione che la rci'ia, per riverenza

^S^^S'^

I8fi

HISTORY OV TirE DKVlvriON TO THK

[chap. XI.

In the fli-st yoai-s of the fourteenth century, Pope Innocent XXII.,
ju'^tly alarmed by tho conquests of the MusHulraans, instituted a
prayer to the Blessed Virgin, under the name of I/ail, Ma/ry t Th\»
prayer, for wliicli tho sweetest nnd most my8t<>rious hour of the day
had been chosen, tlmt is, the close of day,* wjw said in France and
England at the first toll of the curfew-bell. All Catholics then
said three Hail Mai-ys for the success of the Christian arms, and
besought the Blessed Virgin that peace, union, and prosperity might
prevail in every Christian kingdom. Ix)uis XL, in 1475, instituted
the Angdiis^ as it now is, in honour of the mystery of the Incarna-
tion, and desired that, to thf) evening prayer offered up for the
general peace of Christendom, one might be added at noon for
the particular peace of his kingdom. Ilis decree is thus conceived :
'*It is hereby ordained, that all Frenchmen, knights, men-at-arms,
and clowns, do kneel on their two hnees at the stroke of noon,
cross themselves devoutly, and offer a prayer to Our Lady for the
maintenance of peace."

The ordinance was executed with an exactness which proves how
popular was the devotion to Mary. During the fifteenth century,
at the first stroke of the Angelu-s, there was not a single Frenchman
in the houses, in the streets, in the fields, or on the highways, who
•lid not prostrate himse.f to invoke the Blessed Virgin. That duty
fulfilled, the wayfarer and traveller arose and went on his way.f

In those immense processions, the head of which was at St. Denis
when the end was still on the steps of Notre Dame, J the Virgin's
banner of mohair, embroidered with gold, was borne high over all
the other sacred ensigns, and was carried immediately after the
cross. Kings, queens, bishops, and burgesses of high degree, were
all members of our Lady's confrateraity,§ and in pious assemblies

It .M I

>k:S^**

della Vcrgine, si chiamasse nell' avenire solainente Aloisa. {II P. Paolo Seffneri,
t. vii., p. 571.)

* Polidorns Virgil uttribntes the institution of the evening Ave Maria to Pope
John XXII., and that of the morning to Theodoric, archbishop of Cologne.

t Alexis Monteil, Vie privee des Fran fats, t. 1.

X Capef., Hi»t. de la Ref.

§ This confraternity, tho most ancient belonging to Oar Lady in Paris, waa
established in 1168. It was named the Orand Con Mernity of Our Lady of th$

riup. XI.J

itLKIMKD VIKOIN MAKY.

13?

the gold embroidered hoods of priiiceH were seen ^ide by side with
the blii«! and red hooda of the Pariaiiin citizens.

At every corner of the streets, a little statue of Mary, rudely
carved in oak, blackened by time, and covered with a veil of
antique lace, raised its guardian heud above a pile of flowers, which
the good people renewed every morning when the trumpets
announced the dawn from the to were of the Ch&tehit.* 8ometirae»
these flowers, placed there secretly before daybreak, were taken
for the gifts of angels, who came, it avos said, to teach Christians to
honour their Queen. During the night lamps burned continually in
these little grayish niches, which on Saturday were illuminated all
day long.f This was the first lighting of streets, and though it was
less brilliant than that now in use, it had, at least, one great advan-
tage : it was connected with a pious thought, calculated to excite
reflection amongst a believing people. The mystic lamps of the
Madonnas, shining here and there like a light chain of stai-s,
through the perfumed stems of flowers, seemed to say to the
nightly wanderer, intent on crime. There is on this slumbering city
an ey which never closes, but watches for ever over those silent and
desertt^d streets — the eye of God!%

These little corner-Madonniis, though not so richly adorned as
those which figured in massive silver over altars of marble and gold,
wi've none the less dear to the people. Young men and women
came there from all sides, in procession, barefoot and crowned with
now( .-., singing the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin; every one
followed them, let the time bo what it might, and the crowd was
sometimes so d(!ns(! that the strei^t was completely blocked up. A

Lord.i, Pi-u-kIk, and Ciflzinn of I'arU. Tlie kiiijr, the qticen, iliul tlio bishop dl
I'aris, were members, and none but the most ext'm|)liiry jicrfsoiis were reeeived int*
any of the three orders of the cojifraternity. (T^e Maire, t. ii., p. 79. — Trait de la
Police, t. i. p. 372.)

• Alex. Montell, t. 1.

f Jfist. de Notre Dame de la Paix, par le P. Medard, Cnpucfn.

J It Is still the only lighting of several towns in Italy Tlie following arc the words
of an author who wrote in 1803 : " II popolo ^ divoto alle Madonne, per cui ve ne
•iono in agni aiigollo delle strado con fiinali aceessi di notte. Essi tengono illnuiinate
le strade, e eosi la divozione mipplisre alia polizia." — {De$erizione di N'apoli, p. 269.)
24

Ill

\l:

13d

UIHTOKY UK TIIK DKVOTION TO THE

[OIIAP. XI

y-n

f r N>

fi^^i

little cedar Htftttio, about n foot hl^^li, wliicli hinl hi-lonpfpd to the
house of Joyeuse, and which Htood between two pointed tnrretM over
the gate of the reverend Capuchin fathen* in the Rne St. Ilonorfe,
caniH near being the cause of a civil war on a small scale, between
two of the wards of Paris. Some persons of more zeul than pni»
deuce would fain carry off the miracle-working Madonna, to eniich
their own parish. The people of the neighbourhood carao to hear of
their intention, and forthwith took up arms, mounted guard day and
niglit before the tutelary Virgin, and made up their minds to chain
the street across. Tranquillity was only restored by the formal
translation of the sacred image to the very church of the convent.*

The Queen of Heaven, who inspired the aimies of the middle
ages with the confidence of victory, reigned over the fleets and
merchant vessels of that fifteenth century, which was justly styled
the age of discoveries. Christopher Columbus undertook the dis-
co\'ery of the New World under the auspices of the Virgin, whose
office he read on board his ship, from a precious manuscript given
■nar. him at his departure by Pope Alexander VI., and which he be-
/H queathet' at his death to the republic of Genoa, his native country.
;^ Don Hemy of Portugal, who j)re8ided over and promoted the
discovery of the East Indies, raised a church at Belem in honour of
Our Lady, accompanied by an hospital for Portuguese sailors. John
Gont..dvo Zai .s, his first and ablest navigator, had a church built to
Our Lady in Madeira. When the Portuguese, under the direction
of Vasco de Gama, landed for the first time on the coast of Coro-
mandel, where they expected, on the faith of some old tradition, to
find some of St. Thomas's Christians, they were conducted by the
natives to the temple of an Indian goddess, whom they had the
simplicity, notwithstanding her four ai lus and her long golden eai-a,
to take for the Blessed Virgin, and prayed to her accordingly. One
of them, however, began to have some doubts, and cried out, as he
looked at the hideous features of the idol, resembling nothing less
than the fair, sweet Virgin of the Christians: "If the devil be
worshipped here, which is very possible, it is well understood that
we are only addressing our prayei-s to the Mother of God 1"

• See fflst. de Notre Dame de la Paim.

"nV

OHAP. XI. J

iiLmHKD vinr.iN maky.

139

After estAbliBhiug theraselven in the Indies, the Portiignone, faith-
fal in their devotion to Mary, dndicated to her in Goa, a siiporb
church, wholly gilt in the inside, styled Our fjady of A^ara, or
Mercy. Several other churches, such as Our Lady of Cninganor
and of Meliapour, arose, by their meann, in several parts of India,
even to the mouth uf the Ganges, the naored river of HindoHtan.
There was then amongst thorn a pioud practice of offering to Mary
the tenth part of the booty obtained from the heathen, and that
custom caused the construction of many private chapels in her
honour. Even in our days their vefwels never pjws in sight of the
Virgin's chapels, situated along the count of their superb Macao,
without saluting them with discharges of all their guns.* The
Spaniards, no less de /out than the Portuguese to the divine Mother
of the Saviour, bore on their gold-laden galloons \wv statue in mas-
sive silver, before which the brave Castilian niarinci's of Isabella the
Catholic said their morning and evening prayew. At a soniewluit
more recent period, the buccaneers of the Island of Tortue, having
taken one of these images in a naval engagcmi'iit, the Spaniards,
robbed of all they possessed, thought only of recovering their
revered Madonna. The governor-general opened a negotiation with
the pirates, solely to save the Santa Senora from the ])rofanation8 to
which she was exposed amongst those lawless men who gloried in
living without any religion, but they refused to give it up.

Italy — then conspicuous amongst all Catholic kingdoms by the
revival of the arts — consecrated th«^ pallet of her paintoi-s, the chisel
of her sculptore and the pen of her pofts, to oclubrate the great-
ness of Mary.

From Cimabue, who founded the Italian school about the year
1240, to Carlo Maratti and Salvator Husa (who are considered its
last masters), that is to say, for a period of five centuries, religious
painting produced a series of mjuster-pieees to which the history of
the Blessed Virgin contributed the hirgest share. Raphael, then
fine, poetical, and pious as an angel, was the fii-st to divine, in his
admirable ^w^oZizio, the noble yet simple bearing, the fair and

iswctr

■^■h

H». 5

t M

* Anncds of tht Propagation of the Faith.

h hi

HISTORY OF TirE DKVOTTON TO THE

serious countenance, the celestiul attitude of the Mother of divine
Love and of holy Mercy. One wouhi say, that on a day of fer-
vent prayer Maiy appeared to him seated on the clouds, with her
angelic train, and that he painted her in her glory, such as he saw
her. How many men of genius followed in the footsteps of that
great master! Michael Angelo, CoiTogio, Titian, the CaiTachi,
Spagnoletto, Dominichini, that austere Carlo Dolchi who consecrated
his pencil to the Blessed Virgin, and the fierce Salvator who made
j)ilgriraage3 to Our Lady of Loi'etto. What richness of imagina-
tion ! What superhuman conceptions ! What a profound senti-
ment of the holiness of their art amongst those great Italian
masters! Those wondrous men, who disiuheiited the future and
effaced the past, feared not to show themselves faithful servants of
the Blessed Virgin ; they lit tapers before her images, took off their
leretta as they passed before them, said their beads like every one
else,* and their greatest ambition was to adorn a Chiistian church
with some sacred painting, for which they prepared themselves as a
holy work. " Sound the trumpets, ring the bells," wrote Salvator
Rosa to Dr. Ricciardi ; " after thirty years' residence in Rome, after
six whole lustres of blighted hopes and a life of continual tribula-
tion both from man and heaven, I am at last called on, for once, to
paint a picture for a high-altar !" f This is downright ecstasy, as
we cannot but see. But, on the other hand, how Catholicism loved,
encouraged, and protected the art which enriched its temples with
|/<\ so many master-pieces ! — how the Holy See honoured and exalted
the man of genius ! — how it levelled heights and effaced social
distinctions, to honour illustrious talents and to raise their possessors
to a level with the rich and nobly born ! Giotto, the peasant Avho
left his flock in a romantic Tuscan valley to work in the school of
Cimabue, was the prat(-<ji of Poj)e Clement V. ; and it was tlie suc-
cessor of St. Peter who first sought out the artist. Michael Angelo,
destined by his father for a weaver of wool, was honoured with
something moie than the favour, he possessed the confidence and

^,1"?

* There is still to be seen in the domestic chapel of M Chacl Angelo, ia Florence,
lurge rosiiries which belonged to him, and which he took v. ith iiim on his travels.
\ Lettere di Salvator Rom uldott. Oiov. Batista Rkcundi, Lcttcra 20.

CHAP.

BLESSED VIRttlN MAEY.

:t^T^^^'%

the friendship of Julius II. To Raphael, the sou of a poor and
obscure painter, there was offered on the one hand a cardinal's hat,
and on the other, the hand of a cardinal's niece. Lanfranco, that
Panmgiano so popular in the eighteenth century, was the intimate
friend of cardinals, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, and the
special proieyi of the Pope. Caravaggio, the son of a mason,
received the cross of the order of Malta, a superb gold chain, which
the grand-master himself hung around his neck, and two slaves to
wait upon him. Claude Lorraine, who was first a cook and then a
grinder of colours, was the friend of the elegant Cardinal Benti-
voglio, and the distinguished favourite of Urban VIII. The Roman
cardinals expended part of their fortune on master-pieces of art
which are still the ornament of the churches or of their splendid
galleries, and, following their example, the Catholic princes all
encouraged the arts, and adorned the altais with religious paintings.

Behold what Catholicism has done for painting! Protestants
acted in a very different manner. Calvin, who despised poetry and
even set down church-organs as foolish vanities* protested with no
less bitterness and vehemence, against idolatrous painting ; hence,
religious pictures were unmercifully lacerated by his ferocious
followere, and tliis aversion for that most noble art lasted so long
that, in the acts passed by the British Parliament in 1636, it is
ordained that all the pictures in the royal gallery which represent
the Virgin or the second person of the Trinity^ shall be publicly
burned.f What more could the Caliph Omar have done ?

It is worthy of remark that the two chiefs of the Protestant sects,
whilst exclaiming against Catholic pictures, were quite willing to sit
for their own portraits, as often as their }>artisans desired to have
them. " Luther," says an Eusrlish writer, " was always well pleased

* The Scotch Covenanters despised poetry, wliidi they deemed a profane and
profitless art. This roiij^ii fanaticism lasted so long in some parts of Scotland, that
Wilson, author of a poem called llie Clyde, being appointed, some thirty years ago,
to teach a school in Greenock, was obliged to give a written promise that he would
renounce poetry. The Scotch Puritans gave organs the contemptuous name of
whistling chests. — (Sir Walter Scott, Border MimtrtUy.)

f Journal of the House of Commons.

S--r.'\

(

•,;y,>-.

/3l

^J'

r-A\

HISTORY OF THE DEVUiiu^ I'C HIK

[OHAP. XI.

to multiply his portrait and that of his homely rib."* His statue,
erected at Wittenberg, is exposed to the veneration of the Luther-
ans of Germany, and M. Lerminier himself compares this veneration
to that which Catholics bear to ' )ur I»ady of Loretto. Calvin,
possessed by the same strange mania, drew on the Huguenots of
France that judicious question of ibaconay : " Why are ye so much
opposed to paintings and images ? Does not your own Calvin take
pleasure in having his likeness multiplied, carved in Geneva with so
much skill that his hollow eyes and countenance are vividly repre-
sented, aiid he is &how7i to the life ungainly as he i*."f

Statuary also arose, graceful and majestic, under the inspiration
of Mary. Greece had seated, erected, and reclined her statues ; but
she had not devised the suppliant posture of Our Lady of Dolora;
she had not placed innocence and purity kneeling before God ; she
confided to Bacchantes, or to old Silenus, her fair marble children.
Mary, bearing the infant Jesus in her arms, came to reveal both to
art and to society the religion of maternity, and opened to sculpture
the unexplored career of moral things. Sculpture revived, like her
sister, in the classic land of art — ftiir, sunny Italy ; like her sister,
she was protected there by the princes of the Roman church, who
had preserved the noble productions of the great masters of ancient
Greece. A bull had been issued by the Vicar of Jesus Christ, for
bidding the mutilation of ancient statues ; and if the modern
sculptor can yet study those master-pieces, h» owes it to Martin V.

Benvenuto Cellini, one of the greatest artists of the time of
Leo X., and one of the most dangerous bravos of Italy, had, never-
theless, a profound faith in the Virgin ; vindictive as he was, and
there was no one more so, ho would not dare to draw his richly-
chased stiletto from his sUken sleeve, in presence of a Madonna.
One day, when he had been cast into prison for his misdeeds, he
thought he saw the Virgin, in the midst of the sun's disc, holding
her divine Son on her knee, and looking down on hira with the
Bweetest smile. "I saw her," says he, in a letter which is still

* Mrt)wir» of Salvator Hosa, by Lady Morgan.
f Arrliives Curieuxen.

OHAP. ZI.]

BLJajSiil) VIRGIN MABTi.

143

extant, "I saw her clearly and diatinctly, and I glorlned God
aloud."

Amongst tbe great Italian poets of the Revival, the most illus-
trious were distinguished by their devotion to Mary. Dante sang
her praise in the magnificent verse of his Paradiso. " O woman !"
he exclaims, "thou ait so great, thou hast so much pov/er, that he
who solicits a favour without having recouree to thee, sends up his
aspirations without wings."* In the romantic solitudes of Vaucluse,
Lint^nno, and Arqua, where Petrarch shut himself up to await the
poetic inspiration which is repelled by the tumult of cities, we still
behold the spire of his little domestic chapels, adorned with Peru-
gino's superb Madonnas. It was at the feet of this fair Madonna
that he composed his Invocation to Mary, his last camona^ so hum-
ble, ao tender, so Christian, wherein he prostrates his heart before
the sweet and pious Virgin^ to the end that she may guide him
back to the way from which he had waudered, and recommend hi''.
to her divine Son at his last moment.f Tasso, being on his way
I . ""^[antua to Rome, turned aside to acquit himself of a vow to
» i xdy of Loretto ; he arrived, overpowered with fatigue, and
v» iihout money to finish his journey ; but happily one of the princes
oi Gonzague, who was much attached to him, happened to be there
at the same time, and amply provided for all his wants. Recovered
from his fatigue, he fulfilled with the most fervent devotion all the
duties of his pilgrimage, and composed the finest canticle ever
written in honour of Our Lady of Loretto.J

Stretched on his bed of death, in the convent of St. Anuphre,
Tasso requested of the young Rubens — who had taken hira from
the dungeons of the Duke of Ferrara — a small silver Madonna,
which he had himself given long before to the father of that great
painter. " Thou wilt take it biick," said he, " v:hen I am dead."
Rubens instantly obeyed, and the author of Jerusalem Delivered,
after having burned some poetical sketches written during the
delirious hours of his cruel and unjust captivity, began to say his

* Dante, // Paradiw, v. 33.

f Lt Rime del Petrarca (Fireiize), t. iii., e. 8.

J Such Ib the opinitm of Oiiiciicne

fim

iW^JS'i

f-k^i

.^L^,vV

\i ' ■

!'l

ilijfiKi*

■Iv

144

IIISTOUY OF THE DKVOTION TO THE

[chap. XI.

CI lo.

prayers in a low voice, clasping in his convnlsed hands the sacred
image which encouraged him to hope till the last. When the body
of the great poet, so cruelly neglected during his life, was borne
triumphantly fj its last resting-place, Rubens could not bring him-
self to join the funeral ocession ; he hastened to take shelter in
the most obscure con> jf St. Peter's, in Rome, where, prostrate
before the Virgin's alt le prayed v/ith great fervour, holding in
his hands the little silvei Madonna whi^li he had taken from the icy
hands of Tasso.

Music, puiified by the tender and inspiring breath of the Blessed
Virgin, was then beginning to revive under her auspices. In the
fifth century", Sedulius, whose verses were considered very pleasing
to her, had sung her praise in his Gcn'men PascJiale. In the twelfth,
a monk of St. Victor composed the Litanies, which accorded so well
with the lofty arches of the cathedrals, the majestic tones of the
organ, the white veils and scarfs of gold-brocade, and the roses scat-
tered by the hands of innocent children. These Litanies were sung,
during the middle ages and those which immediately followed, by
the pilgrims as they journeyed to some shrine built on the sandy
beach, or afar amid the granite and bivsalt of the mountains. That
long series of divine titles and graceful appellations, broken only by
the 8imj)le and most touching wordd, "pray for us," went floating on
tlie wind to awake the slumbering echoes of the valleys, or to die
away on the distant wave in many a plaintive cadence.

The Christmas carols — those joyous liymns so full of the memory
of the Vii-gin of Bethlehem — sung by torch-light through the snowy
fields, or by the antique cribs adorned with verdure and M'inter-
flowers, were then the favourite song of all the French provinces.
Our church-hymns have impressed on the music a noble and severe
character, which fills the soul to overflowing, and plunges it into the
infinite. The Christmas carols, more simple in their eflTef't, gave it
a tinge quite Arcadian. It is a bird-like song, which goes up gaily
to God to celebrate a joyous mystery ; it is a wodland perfume,
which embalms the altar of the Saviour's youthful mother. The
fresh and simple lays connected with these charming airs, all breathe
the coolness of the woods, the smell of the white-thorn, the perfume

L;-<

«r-^j

OHAF. XI.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY.

145

of the hive, and the bleating of lambs. It is the song of the ptsoplo,
the song of the shepherds, the song of Nature itself.

In the carols, Mary is always r'^presented S3 a youthful Virgin,
fair and pure, wrapping up in her linen veil the King of Angels,
and too much absorbed in her joy to heed the bareness of the stable
or the straw in the crib. The people, inured to privations of every
kind, dwell not on the poverty but on the happiness of the Mother
of Christ ; it is like one of Claude Lorraine's paintings — all light.
In the Stabat* — that hymn of the 1 iHh century which the Italians
have so poetically styled Upianto di Maria (Maiy'a wail) — there is
no longer aught of the joys of the Nativity, but all the terrors of
the Golgotha. It is a straui buithened with the deepest s:»rrovv,
and breaking forth at times into heart-rending cries of anguish ; it
is the piercing recital of tlie sufl'ariugs of a mother, who sees an
adored son expiring before her eyes. To underatand the inconceiva-
ble sadness of that hymn, and the mournful mysteries whicli it
reveals, it must be heard, as we have heani it, in one of those vast
Italian churches where people pray with faith and sing with soul ;
one would say that the majestic voice of the organ is choked with
s<)l)S, and that the angels are weeping for their queen. No religion,
since the world began, ever furnished such a theme for poetry and
music as the Stahat. The sori'ows of Mary at the foot of the cross
call forth all the power of liarmony and all the iaspiratiou of
poetry. That theme, although most effective as it now stands, is
>till fai- from perfeetioii ; to give it as it oKcjht to lie, or mujld be,
would be the last and most sublime reach of art.

At the period of the Revival, those competitions in poetry
t'ounded in honour of the Blessed Virgin during the ages of
fhivalry, wei-e still kej)t uj) with great i)onip and splendour in
Rouen, Dieppe, and Caen, under the name of puya or faliihJu.
The meeting wjis held in one of Mary's churches, iind the successful
competitor received from the pi-iuce of the piiy^s a golden palm.-f

* It is tlioiij^ht that tlie Stubat Mater Dolorom was composed by Inuoceiit III ,
one of the greatest popes that ever ruled the church, and the founder of two great
orders, the Dominicans and the Franciscans ; others attribute it to Jacopone de Todi,
St. Gregory, an<l some to St. Hrrimrd.

f Antiqiiites de la Ville de Rouen

I, ». .1

'i '.

ii!-

145

IIISTOKY OK THK I>K\ OTIOiV TO THK [CHA1\ XL

f;7*^

JT%<

^^^K^

This waa the germ of the Frendi Academy. A little lator, that of
the Floral Games, which awarded a silver lily to the best pie e
of poetry oa the Virgin, was established in Toulous , where it still
exists.

In the fifth century it was said of Mary that she was bonwiim
poefamm magietram; in t' ^fteenth, she waa still the queen of all
the poets of the Christian '• .d. The Britons, who had substituted
the dialogue-ballad for the ^.read and mystic songs of the Druids,
almost invariably introduced an invocation to Mary. The Cauta-
doura of Guienne, the bards of Provence, never passed a shrine of
he IS without going in to sing there (accompanying themselves with
the lute or hand-organ) some pretty hymn composed in her honour,
and it was said by those exemplary sons of song that the Madonna
sometimes rewarded their simple strain by a smile or a graceful
inclination of the head, which made them happier than the golden
cu])8 given theia as guerdons by princes whose victories they sang.
The descendants of the English bards — who sang, like the birds of
the air, now in the shadow of the cloister, anon in the shade of the
woods, to the sound of the Saxon hai-p— -had no song sweeter or
mor(i admired than the ballads wherein they related some miracle
of the Blessed Virgin. Italian song, so highly extolled, began with
the madriale, the hymn to Mary which the gondolier of Venice
sang on his lagoons, the Neapolitan contadino in the shade of his
vine, and the Sicilian fisherman in his light bark. Spanish poetry
had, even in the middle ages, signalized its awakings by songs
consecrated to Mary. In the thirteenth century, Gonzalo de Berceo,
the first Sj»anish poet on record, styled himself the Blessed Virgin's
poet, and Louis of Leon soon after created Spanish lyric poetry, the
better to celebrate her niUTie. In (iermany, the Tudescan poets
early softened their rude idiom tor Mary, whom they sang, even in
the sixteenth century, with admirable faith and charming simplicity.
" Thou canst not choose but hear us," sang the most popular poet
of Germany, Walter de Wolgelweide; "we delight so much in
honouring thee!" Conra^l de Wurzburg was no less devout to
Mary. In the northern kingdoms, the Virgin's hymns anperpeded
the fierce and warlike songs of the Scalds, of which none now
rem.'iin except the funeral hymn of Rcgnier Lodhrog, that wild sea-

-,S*^V

CHAP. XT.J

BLK8HE1) VIRGIN MARY.

147

king, who wrote, on the dark walls of his dungeon, the sanguinary
exploits which he had committed on the gloomy shores of the Baltic,
and the stormy Geiinan Sea, whose waves he had made red as tho
fresh wound of a warrior. In Lithuania, with difficulty converted
to Christianity, the hymn to Mary replaced the canticles of Mild a,
the g'^ddess of b3auty, spring and roses; and the hartinihts^ thoso
rovin;^, minstrels of White Russia, who were regarded as inspired,
and who presided at the musical choruses of the feast of crops and
the still more joyous feast of flowere, abandoned, in the fifteenth
centuiy, the god Sotwaros, their easteni Apollo, to seek their poetic
inspiration from Mary, who was proclaimed Grand Duchess of the
Lithuanians.*

The Virgin, who vivified the arts, watched ever and always over
the preservation of empires, and the sweet Queen of Heaven had still
for her vassals the kings of Catholic Europe in general, and those of
France in particular. In 1478, King Louis XI. detached the earl
dom of Boulogne from Artois, and transferred it to the Virgin Mary,
whom he declared Countess of Boulogne. In payment of his feudal
debt, he laid on her altar a golden heart of the M-eight of thirteen
marks, and engaged that his successors on the throne should be
hound to renew the homage and the oifering to the Virgin suzeraine.
It is well known that this cruel, but politic pnnce, disdaining pomp
even so as to fall into the opposite extreme, wore no other ornament
in his public audiences than a small leaden Madonna in his royal hat.
Be was accustomed to say that he thought more of that little bit
of lead than of all the gold \\\ his king<loni.

He was buried, according to his oi-ders, in the church of Our Lady
of Clery. So partioulaj was he about the execution of this com-
mand, that Pope Sixtus IV,, at liis requi^st, for})ade any one, under
pain of excommunication, ^o i-emovf the body of Louis to any other
place.

Anne of Brittany, who was twice queen of France, built chapels
to the Blessed Virgin, and wished that her scapular might be placed
in the golden box wherein her heart was to be sent to the Bretons.

* Sketch of the Pagan religion and tht popular traditiont of ike Lithuanians, by
Felix Wrotnowski.

C^"^

=■^1

IF -if

mSTOUy OK THK DKVOTtON TO THK

LCIIAP. XX.

The tomb of Francis II., last Duke of Hrota2;n(', having been opened
in the year 1727, there wna fonnil in the vanlts, between the coffin
of that prince and tliat of Margnerite de Foix, a small leaden chest
containing a golden ])0X shaped like a heart, snrmounted by a royal
crown, and encircled l»y the cord of the Franciscan Order, all of ex-
tpiisite workmanshij), This box, vvhich had enclosed the heart of
Queen Anne, then contained only a little water, and the remains of
the scapular which the jnous princess had worn in honour of Mary.

Francis L, having learned that a certain Huguenot had had the
audacity to strike off, in the very heart of Paris, the head of an image
of Our Lady, made a solemn act of re}>aration to the Mother of God,
walking barefoot and bareheaded, with a taper in his hand. The
lords of the court and the membei"s of parliament v -Iked in proces-
sion after the monarch, who replaced, with his own hands, on the
altar where the mutilatioi had taken place, a magnificent statue of
the Virgin.*

In Spain, the work commenced by Prince Pelagius, undei tho
auspices of Mary, to deliver the peninsula from the Moot's, Avas con-
summated l)y the taking of Grenada. The fii-st war-cry of Spanish
independence was Mary ! in the cave of Covadonga; this victory
was gained under her banner, by Ferdinand the Catholic, who had
engraved in gold, on his good Toledo blade, the guardian image of
Our Lady, and on his banners was inscribed : Ave Maria.

• p. de Barry, Paradts, ntc.

oaAi*. xii.]

BLES8KD VIRGIN MABY.

CHAPTER XII.

THE LATER niRBSIIt.

49 ^rrN'n'M^

Th£he is, in the Caramanian desert, towards the Peraian Gulf, a
shrub which the Persians call g^ul bdd samoun (the flower that poi-
sons the wind). Heresy sprang up in cold, noilhern Germany, like
tlic poisonous plant which impregnates the warm breeze of tho Persian
summer with a quality so deadly that it kills those who inhale it ;
the only difference is that the fatal breath which went forth from
the Germanic countries Commenced by killing souls, which it did by
thousands ! Then it was that the cheering rays of the fair star
which reflected the uncreated Sun so benignly on the zenith of the
Chiistian world were lost amid the thick fogs of error which ob-
scured the Northern sky, while its light was sensibly diminished
even in the faithful countries which it continued to illumine.

The sectaries of the sixteenth century were outrageous against the
images of Mary and the Saints ; the patrician sect of Luther, it must
be confessed, showed somewhat more moderation in this respect ;*
but the fury of the Calvinists exceeded all belief.

Opposed to arts and letters as much as to Catholicism, concealing
a destructive radicalism under the mask of religion, assaDing by in-
flammatory pamphlets now the pope, now the prince, that small
minority, labouring with all its might to impose its doctrine and
belief on tlie vast majority of the peo|)le, by whom it was held in
abhurrence, covered France with ruin and mourning, " These good
reformers," says a Count of Lyon, an eye-witness of their atrocities,
" f)cgan hy reforming pvMic peace and tranquillity^'' In Tours, in
Blois, in Pulctiers, in Bourges, in Rouen, they completely sacked the

^f^-^S^^T.

"-.^■F

* Those who follow the Confession of Augsburg honour the saluts by hymns, images
and festivals ; but they do not think tlieraselves bound to invoke thera. Stuyter,
minister of Eibergen, wrote a very beautiful poem on the virtues and prerogatives of
the Mother of God. It is not so with the other sectaries, who despise the Blessed
Virgin, or look upon her as no more than any other woman.

CT"

:i_v,

i ! ji

^ I.

m^'

nisroKT OF THE DEVOTION TO TIIK [OHAP. XU

chnrcbes, mutilftted the statuea of the 8aint« and dragged the images
of Christ and his Blessed Mother througli the mire, singing the
Litanies in derision * In Gascony, they buried Catholics alive, cut
infants in two, ripped priests open and tore out their bowels. The
dead thoinaelves were not respected in lli(>ir dusty sepulchres; the
Huguenots tore Louis XI. from his tomb, burned what decay hail
spared, and audaciously flung to the winds the ashes of a king oi
France whose race still occupied the throne. The ancestors of the
Kings of Navarre and the Princes of Conde were no better treated
than Louis XI. ; the tombs of the house of Angoulfime (the reigning
house) shared the same fate. The lords of Longueville were taken
but half decayed from their coffins, and thrown to the dogs.f

The Count-Canon Saconay, who lived near the time of the Hu-
guenots, of whom little good was then to be told, h.as left us the
relation of their doings in the churches of Lyon. " Ruffi, one of
their piincipal preachei-s," says he, " with ^ two-handled sword,
which he wore while preaching, like .'i St. Paul in painting, entered
with his satellites into the great church of St. John, where he beat
down and demolished a crucifix of great height, which was in the
middle of said church, partly of solid silver and the rest overlaid
with the same precious metal. Having thrown it down, Ruffi fell on
it with great fury, setting his feet on its head ; and seeing some of
his soldiere and ministers drawing nearer than he wished, fearing
lent they might secure the silver, he drew his huge sword, and bran-
dished it five or six times. ' }VJtatr said he, '■am I not to Ite respect-
ed f sImU any other have the glory of smiting this great idol before
me r So saying, he struck oif the head of said likeness of Jesus cru-
cified, and held it up, saying, ' BeluM Jie head of the idoV But.
what was not of solid silver, he left to tlte others.

" The lesser thieves must needs have their share of the plunder ;
they scraped the gold or silver images so as to get a mouthful for
themselves before they handed them over to the greater thieves.
From an angel they took a wing, from a saint an arm, from a virgin

* Archives Cvrieuses de I'Hktoire de France. — Capefigne. — Astolfi
f Archives CuricHses. — CniJt'fi^ue, Hist, de la Ref.

\\T

!|l

iL^

V'lJi^f

CT^J

CfUAP. xn.J

BLIWHED VIltOIN MAUY.

51 itr^f^j

the head, Ac. They melted down a massive silver crucifix which
was in the church of St. Stephen, saying in derision that the j)oor
crucifix had been a long time cold, being naked, Ijut that they would
give it such a warming that it should never be cold again. They
likewise melted the coi)e8, and other ornaments of the altars which
were of knapped cloth of gold, and could not but make great profit
of the same, which were of the value of ten thousand crowns. Tnily
theirs wrs a hot and a fiery gocpel "

The hermitages, whose little secular spires invited the belated
traveller to turn aside, promising him, in the Virgin's name, a lodg-
ing for the night, a frugal meal and a kindly welcome ; these were
demolished by the Calvinists, who had the cruelty to shoe, as they
did their horses, the pious old men who inhabited those calm re-
treats.*

The priests fled with the relics, the crucifixes and the statues of
Our Lady, as in the time of the Norman invasion ; one of them went
all the way to Gallicia, (where it still remains,) to hide the imiige
of Our Lady of Beth-Aram, which shepherds of the olden time had
miraculously found in the wooda.f

In Paris, under the very eyes of the court which then protected
them, they massacred in St. Modard, during the sermon, a crowd of
unarmed Catholics. Tlie parishes, frightened by the insolence of
these sectaries, who went to their conventicles dagger in hand and
harquebuss on shoulder,^ petitioned to have artillery placed at the
entrance of the churches sis a means of defence, and the day was seen
when the ceremonies of Catholic woi-ship could no longer be cele-
brated, in the most Christian kingdom, without the protection of a
range of cannon.§ " It was then that they commenced in Paris,"

* Archives Curicu's.

f Tho chapel of Our Lady of Beth-Aram, which had been destroyed by the Hugue-
nots, was rebuilt in 1615, by John de Salotte, bishop of Lecnr ; but the miracnlous
iiiiitl^e was wanting.

X Tiie Calvinists went to meeting nmicd to the teeth ; they were mei journeying
tlius in hostile array, twelve cavaliers, accompanied by twenty footmen. — {Archives
('iirieuKes.) These evangelical people, wlio came forth from their conventicles with
licrre looks and threatening gestures, according to the testimony of Frasmus, were
ill A ays ready to take up arms, and as ready to fight as to dispute.

§ Arr.li Cur. etc.

«r^^

:sr

•^i

"^TA

l/iQ

niSTOIlY OV THK DjCVOTION T«) tiik

[chap. xu.

•ays M. Cajwflgue, "a war of popular pamphlets destined to anniln-
late all the old belief; they postecl placards against the Eucharint,
and especially against the Ma**, even in the palace of the Louvre.
The wall>i of the clinrches and jwsts in tl»') squares, displayed every
morning that thii-st for prosolytisni which distinguished the Re-
formei-s.*

After having gone to the most unheard-of excesses, so as to ex-
asperate the Catholic population to the last degree, the Huguenots
published a number of hypocritical apologies, wherein tliey set
themselves forth as martyrs. " Protestantism," says M. de Chateau-
briand, " cried out against the intolerance of Rome whilst slaughter-
ing Catholics in England and France, throwing to the winds the
ashes of the dead, Vindling funeral-piles in Geneva, perpetrating all
manner of atrocities in Munster (Germany), and dictating the vile
penal laws which oppressed the Irish, and do, in great measure, o{>-
press them still, after three centuries of persecution l"f

Kings were not more quiet than the people, and the throne was
no less menaced than the altar. " 2' he-9e people are dkturha's of (/he
public peace^^ said Henry VIII., sending them to the stake with the
English Catholics. " / see anarchy through their banner^ said
Francis I. In fact, Luther established the principle that it is lawful
to make war on sovereigns for the propagation of Protestantism ;J
and the Calvinist preacher, des Rosiers, laid down in his pamphlets
this maxim, which he subsequently applied to Catherine de Medici :
It u lawful to hill a king or queen wJio opposes the reformation of
the church.^

This insolence and these subversive theories, duly carried out,
drew down on the authoi-s of our civil discord, the heaviest and most

Lr-i.1

* Cupefigne.

f M. de Chateaubriand, Eixai mr la Lilt. Aug., t. i.

J Tills was also the opinion of Calvin, who added : " The powers of the earth give

in their resignation when tliey oppose the progress of our doctrine It is better

to spit in their face than obey tliera." The Iliiguenots understood their apostles so well
that Catherine de Medici found, in her very chamber, a notice that she should bo
Btabbed if she did not dismitiB all Catholics from about her person. — (Capefigut, Iliit.
de la Ref.)

§ Ibid.

SlJ?i

■_^t.

OIIAI'. XII.J

UI.ESitKO VIUOIN MAUY.

ir)3

severe reprisals ; the policy of n pi-ince exasperated to the liwt degree
by on attempt of the Protestants on lii.-i pei-Hon,* threw the whrtlo
court into ar extreme party ; it Ix-lieved, what wiw reoUy true, that
the question was whether the kingdom wom (o to or not to f/e, and
hence it wan that n })loody j)age was added to our history. St.
Bartholomew's day naved the house of Valois from the fate of the
StuartSjf and Catholicism from imminent danger. Still, it was un

* It must ho ackiiowlcili^L'rt tliat if Cliarlt^s, our king, wns cruel to the Hupfufinots,
it WHS not without just iianw. The afTuir of Mouux, in partieulnr, gave him great
oflToiico : tiio otiicrx iiiight ail l)u oxcu.tccl l)y Homo covering of 'oligion ; but that or'.
•Ilf^ht he truly ciillcd un attempt on the person of the king, \\U. orother and the 'juccn,
whom tliey would gladly hnve put to death, if they (M)uld. Ilcneo, tho king often
Huid that ho could never forgive them for tlmt, and well fo-- him, bo wiid, that '"3 made
a good show of defence amongst his Swiss, to wliom he often said hat ho W'ld rather
die a king tluin live a cujjtivc and a slave. Tlic transactions of Snrove-Tuesday like-
wise touched him to tho heart, and excited him still more against tho Huguenots for
having corrupted Monsieur his brother, ond the King of Navarro, and inducing the t
to make war on him while he lay dangerously ill. "They mif?iit at len ' " said he,
" liavo waited for my death ; this was the worst of all." — ( Vie de Charles ,*!., . ar Br,
p. 1(1.) It is to bo remarked that the author was a cotemporary of Imrli^.-i IX.,
that he lived at his court, that he boldly called the affair of St. Uurtholomew a hate
daughUr, and that he no where assigned religion as its motive.

f Hear how Swift, a great politician and a distinguished member of th^ Englisb
church, judged tho Calvinists in 1132 : "The Puritans, who had, almost from the bo-
ginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, been a perpetual thorn in tho church's side, joining
with the Scotch enthusiasts in the time of King Charles I., were the principal cause
of tho Irish rebellion and massacre, by distressing that prince, and makiug it impos
sible for him to send over timely succours. And after that prince had satisfied his
parliament in every single |)oint to bo com|>lained of, the same sectaries, by poisoning
the minds and affections of the people, with the most false and wicked representations
of their king, were able, in the compass of a few years, to embroil the three nations ir
a bloody rebellion, at the expense of many thousaml liv"9 ; to turn the kingly power
into anarchy ; to murder thoir prince in the face of the wpri.j and (in their own style)
to destroy the church, root and branch." — {Sioi/t'a Wor<i,, Qiteriies relating to Iht
Sacramental 7'est.) At the battle of Philliphaugh, in Scotland, whL'n Leslie, tha
chief of tho Covenanters, defeated the Marquis of Mouirose, the Presbyterians massa-
cred many of their prisoners in cold blood ; othei ;, as Wishart relates, " were cast
from u bridge into the Tweed," whilst a Presiyttrian minister, who presided at the
execution, rubbed his hands and cried: "Bravely done 1" — {Border Miristreltg.)
Under Cromwell the church of England was declared malignant, and the Puritans
who had so loudly demanded freedom of conscienco for themselves, shut up all the
Anglican churches -vhoD rnev •urac into [lower. It i.s related by Evelyn that they
went on Christmas Day, armed with muskets, into the English cathedrals, and insultrd
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inhuman step, which the religion of Christ must over condemn, and
the guilt of which she indignantly denies. Catherine and Charlea
dealt themselves with heresy ; they annihilated the conspiring fac-
tion. The Catholic bishops protested against that act of intimidation
and violence by sheltering the Calvinists in their palaces * This ia
tlie only fact omitted by these sectaries, who took good care to mag-
nity and exaggerate their losses in every possible way.

Ferdinand the Catholic, unwUlijig that the pernicious weed of her-
esy should make its way into the fair land of Spain, or dry up that
truly Christian soil, debarred its entrance from the very outset by
raising up the Inquisition, which arrested its audacious march at the
foot of the Pyrenees.

Italy, then torn asunder by civil wars, was not so fortunate as
Spain, and Protestantism there manifested all its horrors in the sack
of Rome. The Constable de Bourbon had pointed out to his heretic
soldiers the capital of the Christian world as a rich and defenceless
prey, which they might strip almost at pleasure. From the spirit

the Anglicans who were preparing to take the Supper. Hence Swift said of them :
" There is one small doubt I would be willingly satisfied in, before I agree to the re-
pealing of the Test ; that is, whether these same Protestants, when they have by their
dexterit" made themselves the national religion, and disposed of the church revenues
among their pastors or themselves, will be so kind as to allow us dissenters, I do not
say a share in employments, but a bare toleration by law ? The reason of my doubt
is, because I have been so very idle as to read above fifty pamphlets, written by as
many Presbyterian divines, loudly disclaiming this idol toleration : some of them call-
f ing it (I know not how properly) a rag of Popery, and all agreeing it was to establish
i iniquity by law. Now, I would be glad to know when and where their successors
have renounced this doctrine, and before what witnesses." Under the first Hanoverian
princes, they began once more to cry out against Anglican persecution, and were an-
swered with cutting sarcasm : " If the dissenters will be satisfied with such a toleration
by law as has been granted them in England, I believe the majority of both houses
will fall readily iiT with it ; further, it will be hard to persuade this House of Com-
mons, and perhaps much harder the next. For, to zxj the truth, we make a mighty
difference here between suffering thistles to grow among us, and wearing them for
posies."- -(/6'W.)

* The bishop of Lizieuy, Jean Hennuyer, boldly prevented the execution of tho
king's order, by opening the doors of his palace to those Calvinists who insulted and
outraged the Roman bishops. Several other prelates, and especially those of Bayonne,
Valence, Vienne, Oleron, and Uzes, incurred the displeasure of the court by extending
their protection to the Calvinists.

CHAP.

BLESSED VIROIN MARY.

which animated the leaders of these disorderly hordes, we may form
an idea of that of the soldiers : the Txitheran Colonel Frunsberg, who
accompanied the constable to the siege of Rome, had a chain madn
of solid gold, taken from the churches, /<??• (lie ea^press purpose, he
said, of strangling the pope with his own hand.*

Home, without a single ally, and attacked unawares, still defended
itself bravely, and, at the first assault, the Constable de Bourbon
was mortally wounded by an arquebusade. He had scarcely time
to order that his body should be covered with a cloak in order to
conceal his death from his troops. But the precaution was useless :
the ominous news quickly spread, " and the heretic soldiers," says a
cotemporary historian who gathered his materials on the very spot,
" the heretic soldiers thenceforward fought only in the diabolical
spirit of revenge, to the furious cries of sangre I sangre ! Boiirhon I
Bourhon ! Nothing could resist these imperial bands mad with
rage and thirsting for blood ; the ramparts were scaled ; the Romans
gave way, and the fatal victory of impiety went on from street to
street with so great fury that it seemed as though lieU were un-
chained and fought under the banners of the Prince of Orange, who
had the melancholy glory of accomplishing this criminal enterpnse.
"The arquebusades," says Brantome, in his Life of Constable de
Bourbon, " the shouts of the combatants, the cries of the wounded,
the clashing of arms, the shrill sound of the trumpets, the incessant
roll of the drum urging the soldiers to the fight, kept up such a
noise that the very thunder itself could not have been heard." So
hotly did the victors pursue the vanquished that the latter had
barely time to lower the gates of the castle of San Angelo, the
stronghold of modem Rome, where the pope had hastily taken
refiige with some of the cardinals. Even that could not have been
done but for the chivalrous devotion of three young Roman nobles,
descendants of one of those rare patrician families which authenti-
cally date from the time of Augustus. When all Rome lay at the
mercy of the ruthless marauders and the princes of the Church rode
for life or death towards the citadel, pursued by the lansquenets,

* Brantome, Capilaine* ilrangeri, t L

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IIISTOBY OP TILE DEVO'lION TO THE [ciIAP. XH.

three of the Orsini, Juannin, Antonio and Valerius, brave and valiant
lords, says Brantome, and Jerome Mathei, rallied with two hundred
chosen men at the head of the Sixtine Bridge, to keep back the
Imperiftls and leave the passage free. The Prince of Orange, at the
head of his heretic battalions, set upon them, and the contest was
right valiantly sustained on both sides. But, at length, the prince
made such afu/rious charge that the Itomans were forced to abandon
the bridge which they had defended so bravely, yet not before they
had seen the iron gate of the citadel close behind the illustrious
fugitives. " Eome being thus vanquished," pursues the same histo-
I'ian, "the lansquenets, ^vho were recently imbued ivith the new reli-
gion, began to rob and massacre, not sparing even the sacred relics
in the temples, the convents, or the ornaments of the Madonnas ;
their cruelty extended itself even to marbles and ancient statues. Ac-
cording to the usual practice of the Huguenots of those days, they
mingled sacrilegious buffoonery with those scenes of blood and
pillage. Robed as cardinals, they made sham processions through
the city, reciting the Litany of the Blessed Virgin in derision.
After having polluted themselves with crimes shameful either to
tell, or to hear, these miscreants," observes Brantome, " went, nearly
all to die at the siege of Naples a short time after, having pre-
viously lost, in one way or another, the gold sacrilegiously taken
from temples and altars ; which made the Spaniards say that el di-
abh los avia dado, y d diahlo los avia llevado — that is to say, tlie
devil gave, and (lie devil took.

In Great Britain, where the veneration of Mary, once so popular,
was abolished by Henry VIH. and tb'^, fratricide Somerset, the peo-
pie long regretted the Mother of Mercy, and often went back to
pray, by the glimmering light of the stars, amid the desolate ruins
of her plundered shrines. The Welsh peasants — the Armoricans of
England — who had embraced Christianity before the invasion of the
Saxons, could by no means rec ucile themselves to the absence of
the saints with whom they had adorned their ancient oaks, their
Druid stones* and fountains. Watched and harassed as they wero
by the last Tudoi-s, and afterwards by Cromwdl, they could not

* In Brecknockshire, there is still to be seen a menhir of gigantic size which bears
the name of Maycn y Afanjnnion, or. the Virgin Mary's Stone - (Cnmilen's Britannia.')

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CHAP, xn.]

UI,ESvSED VIR(4IN MARY

Mi'

profess Catholicity, and gradually returned to a state bordering on
paganism. Not many years have passed since the Anglicans talked
of going to convert these gross idolaters who, for want of sympathy
with the arid yet multiform thing called Protestantism, had fallen
back on the worship of trees and brooks, as practised by the ancient
Britons in the time of Coesar.*

The people who dwelt along the Scottish frontier were just as un-
•yilling as the Welsh to embrace the new doctrines. The bordei'
was, more than any other part of the kingdom, under the immediate
protection of Mary, whose name was given to the clearest lake,f the
most sparkling fountains, and the most picturesque sites. There
stood Jedburgh and Melrose, two stately abbeys dedicated to the
Blessed Vii-gin, and reared by the faith which worketh miracles, in
a poor country continually torn by foreign and internal warfare.
Who, of all the border troopers, had not asked and freely obtained
hospitality at Jedburgh, in the Virgin's name ? Was there a high-
land chief who did not doflf his blue bonnet with its eagle's feather
before the Virgin of JMelrose, the most famous and the most fre-
quented of the four great shrines of Scotland ? The fiags of its vast
chapel covered all that the land had ever owned of brave and
noble ; heroes whose effigies reposed on their tombs, with their hands
devoutly joined m though still invoking Jesus and Mary, two names
which Catholics always unite. The Blessed Virgin reigned there
over the living and the dead. By day, the place resounded with
sacred songs, and by night, when the tempest roared and the flick-
ering light of the moon illumined at intervals the richly-stained
glass, set, as it were, in the light stone tracery of the windows, it
seemed as though all the petrified wreaths and all the knightly
banners which adorned the church quivered in the blast, and that
the old Scottish lords, rising armed from their tombs, saluted the
Blessed Mother of the Redeeraer.J

* Gordon's Modern Gcographij, \>. 217.

■f The beautiful lake of St. Mary (sitnntcd at the rise of the river Yarrow, ou the
Scottish border), which is often covered with numerous flocks of wild swans, took its
name from a pretty chapel of Our Lady, which was formerly a favourite piljrriumge of
lae Scottish nobles of the border. Tlie cliapel has been destroyed, but the lake has
still its sweet name and its snow-white birds.

X Who knows not Sir Walter Scott's churniiiig description of the ruins of Melrosp

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168

HISTOET OP THE DEVOTION TO THE [cHAP. XII,

Before the revered altar of Our Lady of Melrose, the English and
Scotch, laying aside their hereditary hatred, were nothing more
than humble and peaceable pilgrims. Chiefs of c^tw came there to
pray for the souls of those who had fallen beneath their dirk or
claymore in the course of a mountain-war or foray.* Sinners there
bewailed their crimes before the Comfo of the Afflicted; and, rising
full of confidence in her merciful inte' iPb'^'on, went thence to found
expiatory monuments whose name pe ne ..ated the memory of their
remorse.f

The Calvinist preachers, enemies of the arts as they were of the
saints, destroyed Melrose and Jedburgh, with a considerable number
of shrines of lesser note. Of all the splendour which once surrounded
the Virgin of Melrose, there was left but one shattered fragment
of an altar, which was soon overgrown by the rank grass and the

Abbey — a descriptioD marked by tbe exqnisito taste of a paiater and the research of

in antiquarian :-^

If thou ~ -uWa*, view fair Melrose aright,

Go view it by the pale moonlight ;

For the gay beams of lightsome day

Gild but to flout the ruins gray.

When the broken arches are black \a night.

And each shafted oriel glimmers white; •

When the coid light's uiicertaiu shower

Streams on the ruin'd central tower ;

When buttress and buttress, alternately,

Seem framed of ebon and ivoi-y ;

When silver edges the imagery,

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and dm ,

When distant Tweed is lieard to rave,

And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grar* ;

Then go^but go alone the while —

To view SL David's ruin'd pile ;

And homo returning, sootbly swear,

Was never scene so sad and fair t

{Lay of the Lot Mlnttrel, Canto IL)

"' There is still extant a treaty of peace between two hostile clans, whereby the
chiefs of both bind themselves to make the four pilgrimages of Scotland, for the repose
of the souls of those who had fallen on either side. These four pilgrimages were Scone,
Dundee, Paisley, and Melrose. — (Introduction to Border Minstrelsy.)

f These monumental ))enances were frequent along tho borders ; some of the build-
iiig.s still remain, for instance, the Tower of Rejientance in Dumfriesshire, and, according
to vulgar tradition, the I'hureh of Linton, in Roxburghshire. — {Bordir Minstrelty, Int.)

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OHAF. ^^I.]

BL£»S£D VIROm MART.

159

wild shrub, springing up amid the ruins. For some time after the
destruction of the abbey, a dark sha.^jw might be seen by night
gliding beneath the broken arches of the chapel, and a murmur of
human voices was heard to mingle with the voice of waters from
the neighbouring Tweed. It was a monk stealing back to celebrate
the divine mysteries for the few who were yet faithful to the old
religion. These visits became at length so hazardous that the clergy
were forced to give them up ; but nothing could prevent the people
from burying their dead in the lonely cemeteries of the old abbeys,
and through a sense of propriety highly honourable to the Scotch,
none but women were interred, for a \r>\ig course of time, within the
precincts of those grounds where the virgins of the Lord reposed.*

The first attempt of the Calvinists on the Scottish Highlanders
was so discouraging in its result that they resolved on leaving the
clans to their fate, hoping that the want of instruction, the privation
of the Sacraments, and the total absence of all religious ceremonies,
would eventually thi ow them into the net of Protestantism ; which
really came to psiss i*the course of tirae.f

Even in the reign of James VI., the Highlanders were so cool to-
wards the doctrine of Geneva, that it was on their warlike clans the

* See ^..Johnson's Tour in the Hebrides. The Highlanders of Scotland even now
Ijnry their dead in the old Catholic cemeteries. One of the most picturesque islands
iu Loch Lomond, called JV^mm's Island, is the burial-place of several clans ; the tombs
of the MacGregor chiefs, and some other noble families, who claimed kindred with the
ancient kings of Scotland, *r« still to be seen around the ruins of t'le abbey-church,
destroyed by the ferocious followers rS Oalvin and Knox.

f This policy was not only put in practice, but oj,^:?ly avowed by the Anglicans
themselves. Swift recommends it as the best course to pursue, iu his L'^tters on Ire-
land : "Their lands," says he, " are almost entirely taken from them, and they are
rendered incapable of purchasing any more ; and for the little that remains, provision
is made by the late act against Popery, that it will daily crumble away : to prevent
which, some of the most considerable among them are already turi'- \ Protestants.
Then the Popish priests are all registered, and without permission they can have no
successors ; so that the Protestant clergy will, perhaps, find it no difficult matter to
tiring great numbers over to the church." — {Swift's Works, Lelto- concerning the Sa-
cnimental Test.) The Scottish borders 'vjre likewise subjected to tiiis negative system,
and if the people came not forth victorious like the Irish, they, at least, did not yield
without a struggle ; and if Protestantism finally prevailed, it was only after havinii
destroyed the churches, and extinguishing the lights of the ancient faith.

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HISTORY OF TIIE DEVOl iON TO THE [OHAP. XH.

king chiefly relied in his numerous disputes with his democratic
church.* A huudi ed yeai-s after, they still prayed at times near the
fountains which gushed out before the ruined chapels of Mary and
the Saints, and the water from those springs was carried far and
near to restore health to the sick.f

The associations connected w'lf li the veneration of Marv still live
in the valleys and glens of thfl Highland;, and are found in \iie his-
torical ballads sunp' by the peasantry. A.t one tine it is a k^^^ght
treacherously slain on some lonely moor, wh ::se wounds are wfisbed
at Our Lfi.ly'h fountain,.and his corpsa w<fJccd in Our Ii.'uly's chapel ;
again it is a noble baron who is buried a'' the foot of St. ?.[ary's
Cross, and it nhose tomb Christiaua shall como to pray, wliihf Scot-

l' land in>'oh'>i Our Ladi/',^

name. Tiie bard who thus sang, doubtlt

meant forever I At &i! tber time, knights are described as leaving
their golden rosaries as a pled;;', • of their faith, <fec. In every dan-
ger, God and Our Ijady ar*^ ir^'oked : never one without the other.
The scattered remains cf Ci tholicity took refuge in the north of
Scotland, and ther\ ])ru((iet('d by interminable* heaths and rampait ■<
of wild barren mountains, they maintained themselves in some sor-
tary cjistles along the shores of the North Sea. There they prayed

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* " Xever," says a Scotcli writer, "could the Calvinist clergy forget that they owed
their • i-\ation to the full, or at least to the depression of royalty. In Scotland, the
reformed i'hnrch was, for nearly two centuries, either the declared enemy or the am-
bitious riviii ':f its prince. The disciples of Calvin could hardly divest themselves of a
tendency to deraocraoy, and the republican forms of their ecclesiastical administration
were often held up as a model for the state to follow. The theocracy, haughtily pro-
claimed, was rigorously exercised ; the offences committed in the king's household fell
'.mdec *he insolent juriddiction of the raiuisters. The prince was formally reprimanded
lor having neglected to say grace before or after meals, and for tolerating the arause-
mt t^ of the queen. A solemn malediction was pronounced against man, horse, or
lance, that should assist the king in his quarrel with the Earl of Gowrie, a conspirator.
The monarch's courtiers, present at the sermon, were compared to Aman, the queen
to Herodias, and the prince himself to Achab, Herod; and Jeroboam. This excessive
zeal was far from being agreeable to James VI. — (Sir W. Scott, Hist, of Scot., and
Border Minstrelsy) Charles II. often said to his courtiers in confidence that Calvin-
ism was not the religion of a gentleman.

t A Calvinist physician of the seventeenth century bitterly censured the people
along the borders for having recourse, even in his time, to several consecrated foun-
tains, to procure water for thi sick. — {Account of the Presbytery of Pentfont.)

CHAP. XII.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

161

for many a long year for the restoration of the Stuarts, invoking
that Virgin whom the Stuarts honoured. Cardinal York, the last
branch of that unfortunate family, had followed his brother to the
tomb, and yet they prayed on, nay, there is little doubt but some
of the simple mountaineers are praying still, unable to believe in the
total extinction of that ancient race.*

Ireland, thoroughly Catholic, remained faithful in its devotion to
the Blessed Virgin amid persecution the longest and most oppressive
that the world ever saw. Under pain of losing house and home
and the means of subsistence, the poor Irish were forced to pay the
ministers of a religion which they did not profess, while every
means were tried to induce or compel them to embrace its doctrines.
Yet still they remained heart and soul attached to the faith of their
fathere. Disinherited of their churches, they went stealthily to
assist at the divine office in the secret vaults of their old castles,
amongst the ruins of the monasteries, or in the gloomy caverns where
the Druids had, of old, celebrated their bloody rites. They {jlanted
sentinels on the heights to protect the proscribed prayers and the
priced head of the priest ; for Protestant bloodhounds, who wer<»
known by the name of priesi-hwiie/'s, attracted by the bait of the
twenty pounds sterling given for the head of any ecclesiastic belong-
ing to the communion of the church of Rome, tracked the papiata
through the woods and mountains as though they had been wild
beasts. Happily, those fearful times are past, and the faithful Irisli
people now freely invoke Our Blessed Lady in that green ide of the
ocean, so well deserving of its glorious title : 'fhe Island of SainU.

It was not in England alone that the devotion to Mary, swept
away by the tempest of Protestantism, left numerous traces of its
existence. The moui-nful and picturesque ruins of monasteries dedi-
cated to Mary still occupy the fairest sites of Germany ; many cities
of the North still bear her name ; so too with some of the gulfe of

m^M^-

* It is related by a famous Scotch writer, that, long after tlie death of Cardinal
York, the restoration of *he Stuarts was prayed for in the Catholic castles of Scotland.
Many of the Scottish Highlanders cannot yet persuade themselves that the race of their
ancient kings is extinct. '' It is not that the Stuart^ are dead," said one of them to
a French traveller, "Imt that loyalty is diad."

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A^i>>C^ 162

mSTORy OF THE DKVOTION TO TIIK [oHaP. Xil.

ih^'

Denmark ; and Sty: la, Austria, lllyriii, Switzerland, the Tyrol and
tho Grand Duchy of Baden still possess shrines whither the Catholic
people from beyond the Rhine come to invoke Oar Lady. By these
ruins— still so majestic — of a devotion once so general, we may judge
the extent of its former influence, even as we estimate the greatness
of the shipwreck by the number of broken masts and tattered sails
which float on the water.

The devotion to Mary regained in the New World what it had
lost in the Old. Spanish and French missionaries, embarking with
an image of Our Lady, whom they invoked during their perilous
voyage, undertook, with the assistance of Mary — who rendered them
strong, they said, a9 an army in battle array — to civilize and con-
vert the two Americas. Landing on the unexplored coasts of the
Western continent, they placed their Madonna beneath some over-
arching canopy of palm-branches.

Warriors, when undertaking the conquest of foreign countries,
i;ake with them all that is necessary for the work of blood and de-
stiTicticn: arms, soldiers, parks ot artillery; devastation precedes,
and mourning follows them on their way. The Catholic missionaries
marched to the conquest of the New World with an image of Mary,
a rosary and a cross. Thanks to their almost superhuman labours,
whole tribes came forth from the dens of the mountains and the
uhade of the great woods, and formed little colonies wherein Chris-
tianity was once more seen to flourish pure and fresh as in the first
ages of the Church.

These religious, who enriched botany, history and geography with
numberless valuable discoveries, became artists, and even mechanics,
in order to instruct their neophytes, and led them on in the way of
art and science as well as in that of salvation. Savages, who but a
short time before feasted on human flesh, might then be seen taking
hold of the architect's compass, the sculptor's chisel, the painter's
pallet, and raising with their own hands temples to God and chapels
to Mary. The repetition of the Rosary was the most suitable prac-
tice of piety for a hunting people ; thus, at evening, when the shade
of the tulip-tree and the magnolia lengthened over the glade or along
the savannah, you heard t)ie Angelical Salutation repeater! in every
savage tongue, tbroughout the American wilds Mary was the

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cHAi'. xn.]

UIiK»HKI) VIKOrN MAKT.

IC.*)

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mother of the ladian as well aa of the European, and she vru not
more piously invoked in the temple glittering with gold which the
first Spanish conquerors built in her honour in Mexico and Peru,
than in the rustic chapels, dedicated to her by the pious missionariHn
under the title of Our Lady of Loretto and Our Lady of Sorrows,
on the banks of the great Amazon river and the river of tbt«
Hnrons.

But the cono nests of these faithful servants of God and of Mary
did not end hL^-e: they explored the burning regions of Africa and
converted the black princes of Guinea and Monomotapa. At the
same time they penetrated to Ceylon, the Indian peninsula, Japan,
and China ; and wherever they went, Our Lady's image was treated
with respect and veneration. The Mongolese ladies, bowing down
before the Mother of Jesus, called her the Iioh/, the glorious Mary ;
the Prince of Cashmere sent her tapers and other gifts, and tlie
Grand Lama had a temple raised to her under the title of the An-
nunciation. The ladies of China offered her flowers and pei-fumes.
and the Japanese, who, alas ! paid dearly for their energetic devotior
to the true faith, said the rosary on their long crystal beads, while
walking through the streets of the idolatrous cities full of bonzes
and pagans.*

These triumphs gained in far-off lands were not, however, the
only consolations of Mary's faithful servants for the outrages of Pro-
testantism. Scarcely had Calvin gone down to the grave when the
naval battle of Lepanto was gained by the Spaniards, under the
banner of the Blessed Virgin.f John Sobicski likewise did homage
to the Mother of God for his famous victory over the Turks at the
siege of Vienna, and his fii-st care, on entering the delivered cit^',
was to throw himself, prostrate on tJie ground, before the altar of
Our Lady, where he chanted aloud a Te Beam of thanksgiving.
The magnificent standard of the Mahometans was sent to Our Lady
of Loretto, J and the Polish hero reserved to himself a trophy which

I 1

*- Lttlres EdifianU». — AnnaUs d» la Propagation de la Foi
f The pope sent this blessed banner to Don Jnan, who had it hoisted on his own
ship.

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164

mSTORT OF TMK DKVOTION TO THE [CHAP, XII.

he said touched him more than all the others : it was an old picture
— ^apparently very old — which had been found in the ruins of the
village of Wiahau. It represented Our Lady with two angels sup-
porting her crown, and in their hands were scrolls bearing the Jjatin
inscriptions: "in hoc imagine Marioe^ vincea, Johannes. — In Iwc
inmgvrie MrnncB, victor ero, Jbharmee. By this imago of Mary,
thou, John, shalt conquer. — By this image of Mary, I, John, shall
be the victor."

This image was regarded as miraculous ; John Sobieski intended
it for his royal chapel at Zolkiew, and in the mean time it followed
him through all his campaigns.

In the year 1647, the Emperor Ferdinand III solemnly conse-
crated himself, his family, and his empire, to the Queen of Heaven.
A lofty column was erected in the grand square of Vienna in hononr
of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her
statue was placed on the top, with the moon under her feet, and her
heel on the serpent's head.

Calvinism still agitated France, and its freezing influence, pene-
trating the masses, slowly but fatally cooled the religious sentiment ;
profane speech and impious scoffing have at nil times a bad eflfect on
the people, who cannot reason on their faith, and therefore lose or
recover it according to the arguments which captivate their at-
tention. The bare altars and devastated churches had no longer
that holy prestige imparted by splendour and long traditions of
homage. The Madonnas, stript and cast down from their pedestals,
arose so poor and naked, that the heart and the feet turned away
from their shrine. The clergy, calumniated, ruined, disparaged, had
fallen into disrepute amongst the people, who, at heart impressed
with a reverence for high birth, never respect their own equals.
Finally, the abbeys having passed into the hands of military owners,

green and the centre red. It was of cloth, the ornaments being embroidered in silver,
and the Arabic inscription in letters of gold. In the middle of this Mussulman flag,
laid by the Polish hero at the Virgin's feet, was seen the~e words, strikingly con-
trasted by the Christian banners whereon the crescent fell ) tifore the cross : " There
is no God but one, and Mahomet is his prophet." — (See ffJv'. of Poland, by Leonard
Chadzko.)

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OHAP. XU.J

bLJ!»ttKU VIUOIN MAUT.

165

they took care ♦'» give them Buperiors who would merely act iu the
capacity of stewards over a community whose sav 'ngs were no longer
applied to the use of the poor, but to that of the officer or courtier
who was the legal proprietor. This vile system, which would, of itself,
have been sufficient, without the aid of revolutions, to ruin all the
monasteries of France, continued even through the reign of Henri
IV.,* notwithstanding the just complaints of the clergy, and was
only abolished under Louis XIII. From the reign of Louin XI. till
that time, the historian must glean one by one the facts which testify
the devotion of the kings towards the Blessed Virgin. Louis XII.,
nevertheless, made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loretto, and Henri
III. sent the Duke de Joyeuse there in 1585, with a magnificent
equipage, to offer gifts and pay homage to the holy Madonna. The
same prince, having founded the Order of the Holy Ghost, made it
one of the statutes that every hnight .i/iould recite daily a decade of
the beads.

The beads were then the distinctive mark of Catholics. One of
the conditions imposed by the Holy See on Henri IV., after his ab-
juration, was to say the rosary every Saturday, and the beads every
Sunday.

Even in the end of the sixteenth century, people fasted, all over
Catholic Europe, on the eve of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin, and
no one failed to observe that pious practice. The profligate generals
of Charles IX. and Henri HI. took great pains to excuse themselves
for having broken the abstinence on the vigil of the Assumption ;
some having done it, by mistake, going through Italy. One of the
boldest and least scrupulous historians of the time deems it neces-
sary to suppress their names, in oinler to save their credit, and pro-
tests that those gentlemen were wholly f orgetf id of the feast of the
•norrow.

The devotion to Mary — for some time on the decline — revived in
all its splendour under Louis XIII. That prince, in order to thank
the Blessed Virgin for the advantages he had gained over the Pro-
testants, and hoping to obtain, through her intercession, an honour-

• See the Menwiri of James Sohieski

^-^

WAw

HISTOET OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [OHAP iJI.

able peace with the European Powers who thei. made war upon
him, declares, in an edict dated from St. Germain-en-Laye (February
10th, 1633), that " taking the most holy and glorious Virgin for the
special protectress of his kingdom, he consecrates to her his person,
his States, his crown, and his subjects, beseeching her to defend
France against the power of her enemies, whether in war or peace."
And, as a memento of this consecration, Louis promised to have
the high altar of the cathedral of Paris reconstructed, and to place
thereon an image of the Virgin, holding in her arms Jier preciovs
Son taken dmonfrom the Gross, having himself represented kneeling
at the feet of the Mother and Son, offering to them his crown and
sceptre.

He also decreed, that every year, >n the day of the Assumption,
there should be a commemoration o1 ' his edict, at higli mass, in all
the churches of France ; and, after vespers, a solemn procession, in
which the magistrates and other functionaries of the different cities
were to join.

Louis XIV. inherited his father's devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
It was he who engaged Custou in 1723 to execute the group known
as the Vmv of Luuis XIII., together with the two figures in marble
placed on either side, representing Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.
offering their crown to the Virgin. That prince presentcvl to the
Church of Boulogne a sum of 12,000 livres, in place of the ew voto
of gold which the kings of France, from Louis XL, offered as a
tribute to the Blessed Virgin. He did his utmost to propagate the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and obtained, in 1657, from
Pope Alexander VIL, a bull, which y/as confirmed by Clement XI.,
in 1668, ordaining the celebration of that festival throughout the
realm of France. It wis also nt his solicitation that, in 1670, the
Pope granted indulge .ices for th'^ recital of the Angdus.

It was his wish to receive confirmation on the feast of the Imma-
culate Conception. This fact is attested by that inscription in the
chapel of the Lou.tc: —

Hac Sacra Die Immaculat.e Conoeptionis,
Ltjdovicus XIV, Rex,

RUHOKTH" mo H\N0TIS8. CoNFIKMATIONIS SaOKAMENTUM.

CHAP. 201.]

BLKS8ED YIKGIN MAKT.

167 \t^U^^

Beneath is the following : —

Immaculata Dosiitta, Salvum fao eeoem.

Louis XIV. took from his mother, Anne of Austria, a great ven-
eration for Our Lady of Liesse ; he went there in 1652 and 1673,
and twice with the queen in 1680. The pious Spanish princess,
Maria Theresa, who never gave her royal husband otTier grief than
that of her death, went thither also in 1677 and 1678. After the
death of Anne of Austria, her son vowed fifty thousand masses for
the repose of her soul in the principal places of devotion specially
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.

After the treaty of the Pyrenees, he sent his thanksgiving,
together with rich gifts, to Our Lady of Chartres, Our Lady of
Loretto, and Our Lady of Grace.

Louis the Great belonged, like his father, Louis XIII, to the
confraternity of the Scapular, and habitually said his beads. Father
de la Rue being one day admitted to a private audience, found the
king piously engaged saying his rosary on large beads. The good
father wa.s surprised, and could not help expressing his admiration •
" Be not sui-prised, father," said the monarch, " I glory in telling
my beads ; I inherit the practice from the queen, my mother, and
sorry would I be to let one dnv pass without fulfilling that duty."

The Spanish ambassador presented himself at the court of the
great king, his beads in his hand, and no one found fault with him
for so doing.

It was then, too, an<l had long been, customary to put beads and
a superb copy of the Offices of the Virgin in the marriage-casket.
This custom was continued till the time of Louis XV.

Louis XIII had taken Rochelle, the last bulwark of Calvinism
in France ; Louis XIV. annihilated that turbulent, heresy by his
revocation of the Etlict of Nantes. That measure, which secured
the tranquillity of the kingdom, has been most severely censured,
but those who do so must lose sight of the fact, that the Calvinists
were then incorrigible insurgents, who were not ashamed to cp", in
the English.

Louis XIV, the greatest tiionarch of his age, expired murmuring
the Hail Mari/, vfh\ih he had repeated several times, in a firm
v(>i<r»', whilst the prayers for the dying were said near him.

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168

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HISTOKY OF THE DKVOTION TO THE [OHAP. Xin

CHAPTER XIIL

UODKBN TIUE8.

From the bosom of the Mediterranean, whose blue waters are
perfumed ten leagues from land with the sweet odour of the orange
tree, there rises a rocky island, whose snow-crowned mountains,
woods of pine, and groves of enormous chestnut-trees, would remind
us of Switzerland, were it not that clumps of myrtle, of orange and
of citron-trees, forests of gigantic olives, pomegranate- treeSj with
their pretty red blossoms, and the ruins of Roman towers, all
proclaim an Italian land. This island is the birth-place of the
great patriot, Paoli, and of Napoleon, the great emperor: it is
Corsica, an Italian isle, which now forms one of the departments of
France.

This island, at once fertile and uncultivated, is inhabited by a
primitive race, poor, warlike, and hospitable, like the Highlanders
of Scotland, and the mountaineers of Caucasus. Attached to Cath-
olicity, and at all times free from heresy, they are yet extremely
jealous in regard to honour; and, forgetting the divine precept
which prescribes the forgiveness of injuries, they take justice into
their own hands, and keep up for ages the memory of an offence
till it is fully and fearfully revenged.

Civilized though the country be, it yet retains a certain air of
\\ildness, and one sees at a glance that its people are essentially
devout towards the Blessed Virgin. Her image stands at the
entrance of every village, in the squares and public places, on the
margin of fountains, on the highest point of the promontories, and
amid the orange-woods which clothe the hill-sides. The environs
of Bastia are covered with charming little Italian chapels, dedicated
+o the Annunciation, or Our Lady of Good Counsel. On the day of
these festivals, which happens in spring or summer, people desert the
cit}- to go visit these Madonnas, which are reached ^y flowery and
odorous pathways. After saying their prayers to the Virgin, each
fami y sits down to a ruval collation in the cool shade of the trees,

Y^-

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CHAP. XUI.J

BLESSED VlK(iIN MAKY.

169

and give themselves up for a time to innocent amusement and social
enjoyment.

In former times, Corsica had several cathedrals ; most of them
were built under the title of the Assumption ; now, the most solemn
feast of Mary is that of the Immaculate Conception. It is preceded
by a novena, and is ushered in by the ringing of bells ; the vessels"
are full-rigged, and the streets are strewn with myrtle. A solemn
procession is formed, wherein the Brothers of the Conception, in
penitential garments, and with lighted torches in their hands, pre-
cede the statue of the Virgin, adorned with a crown of silver, neck-
laces and bracelets of jewels. The procession makes the circuit of
the city to the sound of martial music, whilst Mary's altars, profusely
adorned with flowers, illumine the holy place with the light of their
thousand tapers. It is a true Italian festival, radiant with light
and joy, and full of religious enthusiasm.

In the country, the priest, or, perhaps, siMue venerable old man,
rt-citea the Rosary eveiy evening, just as the village bell rings out
the deatli-hcU of the dying day* Sometimes there is seen in the
haze of distance, on the point of a steep rock, a dark figui'e, leaning
on his carbine ; it is an outlaw, who risks his life to join in the
common prayer : for i-he Madonna is the last hope of these fierce
yet believing men, who wear her image around their necks, and
ask the shei)herds in her name for a little milk and some black
])read to sustain their miseral)le existence. V- rv receutJy, a young
Corsican, a companion of the famous brigand, janta Lucia, defend-
ing himself, though wounded and alone, against a whole regiment
of the line and a posse of police, in^^iked the Virgin during that
desperate struggle, whilst his friends, 'reeling at the foot of the
rock which was his last refi'ge, recited tor him the prayeis for tlm
dying. "There is every rejison to believe," says the record oP this
affecting scene, " that the last thoughts of this unhappy }'ouug man
were raised to God, for there was found on his body a small medal

on la 110
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(I^iuitc, PiiT'htt., I, viii.)

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HISTORY OF THE DK\ OTION TO THE [oilAl>. Xm.

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of the Blessed Virgin, which he held iu his hands while bis parents
and friends prayed for him."

On the 30th of January, 1735, the nation assembled in general
council at Corte to form a national government, after having
thrown off the yoke of the republic of Genoa, elected the Blessed
Virgin as queen of Corsica, and carried her banner during the last
struggles of their expiring liberty. The two Paolis, Pascal and
Clement, made this banner respected, being both devoted servants
of Mary.* Clement, of whose history little is said, except by local
tradition, made his soldiers recite the Rosary on tfieir hues before
every engagement. Some Englishmen, amazed at this custom,
reminded him, on several occasions, that the enemy was before
them, and that his kneeling soldiers could not defend themselves.
" Let them pray, geYitlemen," responded Paoli in his deep, martial
voice. The prayer being ended, the Corsicans rose like lions, and
not one moved an inch from his post, for soldiers who pray know
not how to fly. The Vend^eans taught this lesson to the French
republic.

Pascal Paoli had two chapels built in honour of the Blessed
Virgin: one at Pastoreccia, near Ponte-Nuovo, the theatre of that
bloody battle which destroyed the nationality of Corsica, and where
many of his friends lost their lives ; the other at Morosaglia, near
his own family mansion. During his exile, he built a third in Eng-
land.

In the time of King Theodore, the national council had the
words Mimstra te esse Matrem stamped on their issue of gold and
coppfci" coins.

Napoleon took pleasure in saying that the Holy Virgin was
queen of his native country. Whilst he was yet but a simple
officer, he testified much devotion for a French Madonna in the
chapel of the Ursuline Convent at Auxonne, and went often to pray
before it. This statue was since removed to the parish church,
where it is still seen.

• Pascal Paoli heard mass every day wnen in Corsica, and subsequently in England,
in a chapel built by him in honour of the Holy Virgin.

CHAP, xm.")

The saturnalia of the Eegency, and the corrupt reign of Louis
XV, bring us to the last years of the eighteenth century, vrhen
religion vas blighted by the pestiferous breath of false philosophy.
The revolution of 1793 drove the Virgin from her altars and God
from his temples. The order was given to close the churches and
demolish every thing that resembled a Christian shrine. Alas ! it
was mournful to see the Calvaries thrown down, and th*? poor little
Madonnas shattered to pieces where they modestly sheltered them-
selves beneath the green foliage of the woods. It was especially
in Lower Brittany that devastation reached its height. " We may
say, without exaggeration," says M Emile Souvestre in his interest-
ing work on the Bretons, " that, in certain places, our highways are
paved with saints — regularly macadamized with heads, bodies, and
limbs of Christian statues." Those unhappy days saw grievous
profanations, but they likewise witnessed instances of self-devoted-
uess that would .have done honour to ancient times. Bretagne, in
particular, offered a resistance, passive indeed, yet firm and perse-
vering so as to tire out persecution itself It gave way neither to
fear nor anger. The Breton peasant, as he passed the empty niches
where the Madonnas were wont to stand, took off his broad felt
hat piously and reverently, and went his way sadly, murmuring a
Hail Mary. On Sunday, he sat down with his family at the door
of their dwellings and remained in profound silence, with his eyes
fixed on the village church* where lie had so often invoke'' Jesus
and Mary. " I will puU down your steeples," said Jean-Bon St.
Andr6 to the mayor of a village, " so that you may have nothing
to remind you of your former superstitions." " You must leave us
the stars, though," rejoined the peasant, " and they are seen farther
off than our steeple." ITieir devotion, surviving their altara,
acquired something lofty r.nd melanch.oly, connect'^d by sympathy
with the religious ruins which covered the land. The Virgin, who
bad disappeared from their country churches, took refuge under
their cottage roofs ; and l)eneath the little earthenware statues, an
hundred times more respected than the lofes of the ancients, was

* Voyage dam U Finistere.

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THK [cHAP. Xin.

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Been tlie inscription — " Holy Mother of God, vouchsafe to protect
this dwelling." And I know not whether a fjlue would have
dared to break that image thu8 sheltered in the household sanc-
"iuary : for there was often an old carbine under the green serge
curtains of the Breton farmer ; and if Bretagne is the laud of
religious sentiments, it is also that of strong and lasting hatred.
The sterling virtues of tliese people are still somewhat tarnished
by the Celtic rust : for instance, the Bretons are the only people in
Christendom who have conceived the idea of associating the name
of the mmrciful Virgin with the thought of vengeance, and of raising
chapelt tO uer under the strange and rather Druidical title of Ortr
Lady o^ Hatred*

The ' igrimages to the Blessed Virgin were not discontinued in
1''^' •uiTDe during the reign of terror — 'they merely assumed old
C, ' \. fo.ras. They took place by night, through dreary wastes,
whwre • ■: "> menhirs and dolmens of the immeless God rose gray and
mossy ftc i pectral-looking. Every pilgrim held in the right hand
a rosa:y — in the left, a torch ; and all these pale figures, half seen
through their long hair, or the hanging lappets of their white caps,
passed slowly along through the mists of night, singing a hymn to
the Virgin. Sometimes it ha]>pened that a party of republicans,
concealed in the skirt of a wood, or behind a hedge, would fire
upon the little rustic procession. Yet this did not deter the Breton
peasant from renewing his perilous devot^'ons some days after. In
a neighbouring province, the villagers who went by night to pray
to God and Our Lady in some lonely ravine, passed through the
hamlets occupied by the revolutionary soluiers singing hymns to
the Virgin set to republican airs.

During all this time, the churches in the cities were everywhere
pillaged. Gold, silver, iron, marble, gratings, and wood-work, were
all carried off. The works of art /ere ;jrn from the walls, the
pictures destroyed, and workmen were paid high wr. es to deface
the sculptures from ^axq walls and arches. Even the clocks were

* " A cliapol, dcdicatod to Oar Lady of Hatred, still exist"; near Treguier, and the
people still continue to *>clieve in ttie efficacy of the prayers liierein offered np." (Z«»
Dtrnxfra Brct<>n», l)y M. Souvestre, t. ii.)

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CHAP. XIU.]

JJLKSSEU VimHN MAKY.

1T3

pulled down and converted into coin, and this patriotic fabrication
cost the State (hy its own admission) full twenty raillions.*

" Fools !'' said La Harpe, addressing the perpetrators of these
sacrilegious crimes ; " Fools ! is faith engraved on walls ? is religion
painted on canvass ? No, it is in the heart, which you cannot reach ;
in the conscience, which condemns you ; in the sight of the whole
world, speakitig to all men; in heaven where it shall he your judge.
Poor imbecile destroyers, you have cried ' victory !' — where is now
your victory ? Day by day, you are convulsed with rage, seeing
the multitudes who throng our temples : they are no longer rich,
but they are still sacred ; they are bare and naked, but they are
full. Pomp has disappeared, but worship remains ; men tread there
no longer on marble, and costly carpets, but they kneel on the cold
pavement and weep over the ruins.f

That beautiful hymn to Mary, beginning Avith

" Je raets ma confiancc, Vicrge, en votro secoiira,"J

was the lay of the acaffold. In 1793, two carts full of poor Royal-
ist women, for whom the guillotine was preparing, passed through
a civic banquet served up in the street by the elect of the Revolu-
tion. Madame de Montrnorency-Laval, venerable from her virtue,
and respectable because of her illustrious name, was in one of these
carts, her hands tied behind her back, and with her sixteen of her
nuns — for she was abbess of the Cnnnelites of Montmartre, a reli-
gious order founded in the East under the patronage of Mary, as
we have elsewhere mentioned. These holy daughtei's of the Virgin,
wliom the revolutionary tempest had cast on the stormy sea of the
world, to perish there, were singing the prayer of the Vendeeans,
the hymn of their pati-oness, as calmly as though they were still
hidden beneath their snowy veils in the choir of their beautiful
church. Could they not be pertuitted to sing it in peace,^and
they about to die ? The hideous fury of the wretches who dis-
graced the republic is aroused by the hearing of tliat pious chant ;

* La Harpe, du Fanadcisme dans la loiipue revolutions p. 49.

t P>id., p. 41.

J "Virgin ! in tlee I place my trust, !"

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p.cJ' 174

inSTOUY OF TIIK DEVOnON TO THE [cHAP. XIH,

an hundred ruifinns in red caps rush towards the caiis, brandishing
their sticks, and crying, " Silence the nuns 1 ' Let them sing the
Marseillaise ! Let thera obey the people ! Come ! the Marseil-
laise, instantly !" The daughters of Mary continued their sweet
canticle as though they heard not these fierce vociferations. Exas-
perated by this passive resistance, which they did not at all expect,
these ferocious bandits stopped the horses, with the most fearful
oaths and imprecations, and would have struck down these poor
defenceless females who were so soon to die ; but there is still so
much honour and chivalry in the French people, even when going
astj'ay, that others of the republicans pressed forward, crying, " No
murder ! Would you kill women ?" Then a terrible struggle took
place around the carts. A young patriot in a Phrygian bonnet
snatched a sabre fro i>ne of the archers, and planting himself
close to the cart wherein the terrified Carmelites pressed around
their venerable abbess, he succeeded in parrying the blows destined
for them, defending himself and them with as much courage as
coolness. Yet, notwithstanding all his efforts, one of the nuns
received a sabre-wound in the breast. Her life was ebbing fast
away, the blood flowed profusely over her black robe, and the pale-
ness of death soon overspread her mild, sw^^et features. " Bless me,
oh holy saint, who will soon be in heaven !" cried a woman from
the crowd, throwing herself on her knees before the expiring nun.
" Be you ble**aed !" replied the daughter of Carmel in a failing vf)ice.
" And you, who havo defended us on our way to death," she con-
tinued, presenting her valuable rosary to the softened republican
'' accept this token of gratitude."

The carts moved forward onoe more, and the pious chant was
resumed ; when it ceased, the hearts of the martyrs had ceased to
beat, and Mary had taken her faithful servants to her bosom.

The revolutionary vortex swallowed up the religious orders con-
secrated to Mary, as the stormy wind sweeps away many useful
plants. But that of the Carmelites left behind something like the
])erfijme of the withered rose, a fragrant and balsamic water which
beara its name.

Of seventeen hundred thousand sacred buildings which covered
the soil of Franco, each of which had an altai to the Blessed Virgii.^

ciiiU>. xm. I

UUili^UU VXUUIN MAUY.

171. ltT?«S¥C.

there remained barely two thousand churches worthy the attention
of the artist or the antiquary ; the others- -sold, bought, pillaged,
destroyed, cast into the oven to make quick-lime — left only some
mournful ruins, sad subjects for contemplation I " Behold, then,"
exclaims M. Jules Janin, with generous indignation, " behold, then,
the result of so much money, so much patience, so much genius,
heaps of mouldering ruins ! They have disgraced the cities. De-
prived of thcLic master-pieces of art, what does a community of men
resemble ? it is no longer a city — it is an ant-hill. They have dis-
figured the landscape which was so adorned by these turrets, and
spires, and lofty walls. What they could not destroy, they have
marred and defaced. Of the noblest Gothic towf.r? *\ey have
made shops, and stables of the purest ogival churches. That fabu-
Icjus period wjis so perverse, and so infinite in its destroying genius.,
that one can hardly realize it."*

The devotion to Mary, which had slumbered for a while in
l"'rance, soon began to awake, and insensibly resumed its soothing
influence on the souls of men. Napoleon, faithful to his early im-
pressions, chosb the day of the Assumption for his own patronal
feast, and made it the greatest festival of the empire. The pro-
cessions, the crosses, the white banners, and the sacred songs, soon
reappeared in those fair Gothic churches whose bare walls and
jKjor altara recalled the days of the primitive Church ; whilst their
dazzling lights and slender pillars and cloud-piercing spires spoke
of the chivalrous period of the ages of faith. All who had suf-
fered, all who had groaned or trembled, under the fearful Reign of
Terror, came to kneel at Mary's feet : the religious reaction was
energetic, immense, and was felt alike in the city and the hamlet
The Virgin had again her rustic altars in the depth of the woods.
Tier shrines, where for long years nought had been heard save the
singing of birds or the humming of bees, again resounded with
the pilgrim's hymn. The Restoration, by re-establishing the pro-
cessions of the Vow of Louis XIII, placed France once more under
the dominion of Miuy. A gigantic stride was made in the devo-

UJi

M. .Tnlos Janin, la .VunndtKiic.

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170 mSTOKY OK THK UKVOTION TO TIIK [OHAP. XIII

tion to the Iminaculate Concep*^i(»n, and nil France consecrated to the
Virgin the month of flowei-s, now pionwly and poetically named tlie
Month of Mary. The higher classes gave the example of devotio'i
to the Virgin; the descendants of the valorous knights and stately
nobles, who built so many chaj)els and monasteries for her, delight
to honour her now as she was honoured in the good old times.
First in this pious work was the virtuous queen Marie-Amelie.

In France, the devotion to Mary is tender, but respectful ; the
French always l)ehold the Vii-gin as she is in heaven, and honour
her accordingly. In Italy, the devotion to the Madonna has some-
thing more ardent, and at the same time more familiar. From his
cradle, the Italian has beiore his eyes those graceful images which
remind him only of Clary's goodness and mercy ; she n* the pro-
tectress of childhood, the dream of youth, the last refuge of the
sinner; the thought of her is uppermost in all the religious festivals,
like the rose of the Nenuphar over the deep watere ; the fiery Italian
sees her every where, blesses her for every good, and when his
prayer is not granted, far from blaming Mary, he says, striking his
breast, " It is my I'ault ! The Madonna will not hear me because 1
am 80 great a sinner!" What admirable faith is that ! what truly
Christum faith! for in hicL a case the heathens would drag their
gods I rough t\w- taire.

The devotior to the Vi/giu is still as fervent in modern Italy as
when it brought forth the Duomo of Pisa, that beautiful cathedral
of Mary, the bronze gates of which, executed on the design of
John of Bologna, represent the principal scenes of the life of Oui
Lord and of the Blessed Virgin ; Our Lady of Flowei-s, the sump-
tuous metropolitan church oi Florence, resembling a mountain of
marble of various colour?, cut in the form of a Latin cross ; and
many other master-pieces of Christian art — a period the most
illustrious in Italian history !

Landing at Genoa, so justly called the Superb, "seeming," says
Madame d«! Stael, " as though it were built for a congress of
kings," the fii-st thing that strikes the eye is the devotion of the
Genoese to the Holy Virgin. At every angle of those " sti-eets
of palaces," filled with men in their picturesque costume, and
women in long white veils, there stands a graceful Madonna

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BLRM8KO VIKGIN MAUY.

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painted or sculptured, protecting all the neighbourhood. All dav
it is perfumed with the sweet scent of myrtle or jessamine ; in the
evening it is illumined by a lump, and numerous groups kneel before
it reciting the Litany. It is still as in the days when Andrea
Doria said his Ofico on board his galleys, and on the gates of the
stately city may still bo read, Cittd di Maria. There are even
now no less than fifty chapels in Genoa consecrated to the Blessed
Virgin.

Venice, the peerless queeu of +
out to sea without decorating
During the cholera she took ret'uL
Lady of Safety, whom she invoki .. „i
preference to her patron St. Mark, and olfered to her, on that
occasion, a superb silver lamp w'eighing one hundred and sixteen
pounds, richly chased and ornamented. The beautiful church of
Mary, where this ofl'ering wa-^ hung up, owes its origin to a favour
of a similar kind. It was erecte,d in 1531, on the site of a hou-^e
wherein the plague had first broken out, the eity being then de-
livered from that terrible scourge by the all-j)owerful' intercession
of M.'-y. In the centi-e of the cupola was the nol)le inscri[»tiou —
noble 111 its simplicity : ITnile ori(/o, inde solus.

The Tuscans have a most tender veneration iov the Madonna.
On the roads and bridges, in the sti'eets and in the houses, her
sweet image is evciy where foimd smiling on the passer-by as ho
bows his head before her, and seeming to participate in every
joyful domestic event. The contadine around the charming city
of Florence come down from the woody heights which surround it
in a semicircle, on every feast of the Virgin, leading a mule
elegantly harnessed, and carrying a basket full of the finest grapes,
some small sheaves of wheat, and some branches of the orange,
tree and pomegranate laden with fruit or flowers. Dressed in
their holiday garb, they traverse the city in procession, and come
to dej/osit their fruits and flowers at the foot of the Virgin's altar.

When the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a model sovereign, returned
to his states, on the fall of Napoleon, his firet care was to repair to
the church Santa 3fari(t delJa JSlmziata, where numbers of people
go every day to visit an image of the Virgin, said to have been

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finished by an angel. In gratitude for his unhopeil-for restoration,
^^<:1|faMQ the excellent prince suspended a lamp of the rarest workmanship
in Mary's chapel.

Rome is no less devout to the Madonna than Florence. Pass
when you will through the city, you will find groups of Romans
kneeling before the Madonna, praying with a fervour and an ear-
nestness truly remarkable. In the streets, on the public places,
?6)^ and in the houses, her image is seen with a lamp of the purest of
ll^'-T^J oil burning before it ; the poor, as well as the rich, go to this
expense, and would deprive themselves of bread to provide the oil.
It is both edifying and picturesque to see a street in Rome lit up
by thousands of luminous points like the htcioU of Italy, and
resounding with the simple music of the Calabrian or Abruzaali
pifferari. These mountain-minstrels attract a great concourse of
the faithful around the Madonnas at all times, but especially in
Advent ; for it seems as though they wished to introduce, by their
pastoral strains, the feast of the shepherds, the holy night of
Christmas.

It is especially on the day of the Assumption that the ardeui
devotion of the Romans for Mary is manifested. On that day rll
the churches are deserted for that of St. Mary Major, the royal
church, with walls of Parian marble. The villa of the noble is
abandoned, with its healthful air and refreshing shades ; Va/i'ia
cattiva prevails in Rome, and with it fever ; but what of that ?
They would go even though the plague were there. Is not the
Madonna more powerful to save than either fever or plague is to
V, destroy ? What pious confidence, and how truly wonderful is such
V, faith in these days of ours ! The Roman people are assembled en
J& masse on the streets and squares around the superb church, which is
adorned with all possible splendour for this festival. The men are
clothed in their picturesque costume of blue velvet ; the women are
bedecked with their coral necklaces, and their jet black hair is
fastened up with a gold or sUver pin under a graceful white dra-
pery. Every one carries a large bunch of the most beautifnl
flowers as an ofiering to the Madonna. That immense crowd of
believers kneels in the hot dust, parched by the fervid sun of Italy,
or stand in the shade of the adjacent houses. The Italians, natu-

CHAP, xni.]

BL£SSKD VIKOIN MART.

17»

rally noisy, and given to gesticulation, forget on those occasions
their wonted habits : one thought engrosses their mind, and that is
prayer; and how well they do anderstand prayer! They prey
with look, gesture, lips, heart, and do indeed pour out their sonl at
Mary's feet.

When the Pope has finished the holy sacrifice, and solemnly
blessed the kneeling multitude, the immense doors of the church
are thrown open to admit the crowd, who fill it with sweet music
and fragrant flowers. When evening comes, the whole city is
illuminated, and all Rome prays in the street. Every one throngs
without distinction, without privilege, with a fraternity worthy of
the golden age, around his own Madonna, the Madonna of the
district. For this purpose, the prince leaves his raarble palace, the
artisan his workshop, and the maiden her father's roof, all to joii:
in prayer with touching fervour. The women say the rosary, the
men chant the litany ; sometimes one of those fine Italian voices,
of heavenly sweetness, sings a hymn to Mary, and all are silent to
hear ; but that silence is itself a mental prayer to the Virgin.

" I shall remember all my life," says a modern traveller, " the
beauteous festival of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the evening
of the 8th of September, on the Place de Navona, where from ten
to twenty thousand peraons were congregated. The image of the
Madonna, splendidly illuminated, presided over the popular festivi-
ties, as was manifest from the decency, the reserve, and the half-
'seriousness every where seen ; the dwelling of a numerous family,
submissive all to the paternal control, can alone give the idea of
such serenity amid the excitement of public rejoicing; this was
apparent even at the moment when the crowd fiiapersed after the
fire-works. I thought it afforded a fair proof of the wisdom and
mildness of the pontifical government."

In Naples, the devotion to the Virgin blooms ever with the
freshness and the beauty of a full-blown lily. The feasts of the
Madonna are popular festivals, full of joyful enthusiasm; her
churches, of which there are no less than fourteen in the city of
Naples alone, unite within themselves all that is grandest and most
luxurious in painting, sculpture, and architecture ; the chapels of
Mary, all rich and beautiful, are adorned with lapis-lazuli, topazes.

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180

HISTuRT OF THE DEVOTION TO TIIK

jasper, and other precious stonea. la the church of Scmta Maria
Niuyva^ the miraculous image of the Madonna deUe Qrazie is
placed under a canopy of silver all covered with jewels. On
Mount Pausilippo the church of Santa, Maria Fortunata replaces
an ancient temple of Fortune, where the heathens were wont to
hang their oflPeriugs. Mount Rulignano is crowned by one of the
most beautiful of Mary's churches. Five of the suburbs of Naples
bear the name of the Blessed Virgin. To her the Neapolitans
have also consecrated Vesuvius, whose base resembles the gardens
of Armida, and its summit one of hell's gate" opening on a dreary
chaos. When the crater vomits forth its torrents of burning lava,
and the whole bay is illuminated in the middle of a dark night, as
though the last fire foretold by the sibyls were about to destroy
our little planet, the terrified Neapolitan prays to Mary and forgets
his alarm, and the inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlets run to
meet the fiery stream of lava with images of the Madonna, which
they hold out to bar its progress.

Sicily is still, as well as Sardinia, a land essentially Catholic.
The devotion to Mary is particularly popular in Palermo and
Messina ; in the latter city, the noble cathedral dedicated to the
Virgin by the Norman kings, is still in existence ; only that the
campanile and the spire of the principal tower were destroyed by
the great earthquake of 1753, and the SicDians have never set
about rebuilding them.

In Piedmont and Savoy Our Lady is still religiously honoured.
In 1669 King Charles Emmanuel declared the mother God
principal patroness of his house and of his states, and thit ,ara-
tion has been frequently renewed by the pious successor of that
prince

Even at the close of the eighteenth century, the veneration of
Mary was universal in Spain. In the cath'. dral of Toledo, placed
under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, the chapel of Our
Lady of the Sanctuary (del Sagrario) was of wonderful richness
and beauty. It was of octagonal form ; its pillars and pavements
were of marble; in the niches were seen goLlen vases enriched
with diamonds, and other gems of great value. The statue of the
Blessed Virgin was of solid silver, and she was seated on a throne

W^ onAP. xui.]

BLICSSKO VIRGIN MART.

181

of the same metal, with an Infant Jesos in her ai'ms twelve inches
high, formed of massive gold, incrusted with diamonds. The
cathedral of Seville had its famous chapel. Our Lady of Kings,
built by St. Ferdinand, the splendour of which was so great that
it was reckoned the most magnificent chapel in the world. The
chapel of the Presentation, in Burgos, was almost as celebrated.
In Madrid, the church of Our Lady of Almemada is one of the
most splendid in the city; to this Madonna is asciibod the dis-
covery of a quantity of corn found by a providential chance in the
vaults of a tower, just as the city, besieged by the Moors, was
about to surrender for want of provisions. The miraculous fact is
still painted in fresco on the walls of Qur Lady's chapel, but we doubt
whether the altar and the balustrade of solid silver are still there.

About a quarter of a league from Madrid, in a vast Dominican
convent, (now doubtless deserted, like many others,) was the
miraculous image of Our Lady of the Bush, (d'Atocha,) a black
Madonna, usually dressed in weeds ; this is a custom peculiar to the
place, as far as we know, but on solemn feasts the statue was
arrayed in queenly garments, studded with large jewels. Her
chapel, gloomy in its structure, was lit by an hundred lamps of
massive gold and silver. The Catholic kings had their gallery in
this chapel with a screen in front. It was there, too,- that the Te
Demn of victory was sung.

Charles III., king of Spain, founded an order of knighthood in
honour of the Blessed Virgin, whom he declared universal patrona
de Espana i Indias, (universal patroness of Spain and the Indies.)

At present, the fair moon of Christianity is somewhat obscured
in Spain, but the cloud shall pass away, and the Blessed Virgin
shall speedily recover her rights of supremacy over that most
Catholic and most chivalrous nation. We hope, like the Spanish
doctor who has done us the honour of translating this work, that
posterity will add many a luminous page to the Spanish portion of
this history.

In Portugal, where Mary has reigned as queen from the time of
Alphonso the First, the devotion to her is still national and flour-
ishing; she is the first godmother of all female children, and her
images are venerated in rich and beautifu) chapels.

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HI8T0BT OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [CHAP. XIH

England, that land of hydra-headed heresy, begins at last to
torn her head towards Rome; numerous Catholic churches are
being erected in every county, under the title of chapels. In
Ireland, bonfires have been recently kindled on every hill to cele-
brate, in the ancient manner, a miracle obtained after a Novena to
the Virgin — ^the marvellous liberation of O'Connell.

The Belgians e-e still, as they have ever been, preoeminently
devout to Mary ; they make pilgrimages to her shrines, and conse*
crate to her the most beautiful chapels of their noble G^hic
cathedrals.

The Tyrolese adorn the walls of their houses with scenes taken
from the life of the Blessed Virgin.

Bohemia, rich and tranquil, multiplies images of the Mother of
God on its highways and in its towns. Here and there through
the country, a modest chapel, dedicated to Mary, (and serving at
once as a house of prayer and a place of rest,) rears its pointed
roof, surmounted by a cross, as if to notify the traveller that he
will there find shelter from sun or rain, and the call is always
religiously heard.

Austria, with its pure and simple morals, its religious and poeti-
cal tendencies, remains ever faithful to Mary, and nowhere have
the sacred ceremonies of her devotion a more serious or touching
character.

Poland is still and always the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin,
whom the Poles, since 1655, invoke in their Litanies as JRegina
Ccdi et PotonioB. Her image is hung around the necks of their
children, and Polish warriors, formerly, wore it as a precious pre-
servative against danger. Laditd of rank have, in their apart-
ments, an oratory adorned with the portrait of the Virgin, and
these proud Polish nobles, the proudest in all Europe, never failed,
at Christmas times, to hang in a conspicuous part of the sumptuous
banquet-hall a sheaf of straw, in memory of the utter poverty of
Jesus and Mary in the stable of Bethlehem.

The Lithuanians are the youngest naticn of Mary's children in
Europe, according to the order of time, as they were only converted
in the fifteenth century ; but they too have remained faithful Ui
her, notwithstanding all the eflbrta of Protestantism, which fell to

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BLKS6SD VIBOIN MART.

1S3 1

b!?<f ground auiongst them as soon as it spoke of suppressing the
popular devotion to Mary. Faithful to the ancient customs of
their country, the Lithuanian women still celebrate the return of
spring and the close of autumn under the auspices of Mary ; it is
on her altars that they deposit the violets which they go far and
near to gather the first morning of spring, before sunrise ; and it is
also her whom they invoke, seated around the last sheaf, while
their dexterous fingers weave floral hieroglyphics, giving, as in the
East, a thought to every leaf and a symbol to every plant. These
simple Lithuania s are passionately fond of their woods and fields,
and especially of the fair fiowers which the poorest of them culti-
vate, but they love the Blessed Virgin better than all these.

The Kussians, who follow the rites of the Greek Church, profess
the greatest veneration for the Virgin ; as far ofl^ as the) can see
her image they prostrate themselves several times, crossing them-
selves with extreme rapidity. In Moscow, one of the gates of the
Kremlin is decorated with a statue of the Virgin, to which miracles
are ascribed ; it is guarded by two sentinels night and day, and the
people never fail to uncover their heads in passing this sacred
image.

The Czars were formerly crowned in the splendid Muscovite
crtchedral of the Assumption, where the bodies of the Russian
patriarchs are laid. The wall around the sanctuary was sheeted
with gold and silver. The sacred vessels and the episcopal vest-
ments of this cathedral are still wonderfully rich ; the image of
the Blessed Virgin, placed in a heavy gilt frame at the end of this
church, figures in the processions, mounted on a superb coach all
covered with mirrors, like the carriages formerly seen in France
at the consecration of the kings. This modern car of triumph is
drawn slowly along by four horses richly caparisoned.

The Greeks, although schismatic, have still the same respect for
the Panagia ; in the Morea there are several convents dedicated
to Mary ; the most famous is that of the Assumption, on Mount
Cylene, a few hours' journey from the famous cascade of the
Styx, now called Mavronero. This convent has a miraculous image
of Mary, which was given it in the eighth century by an imperial
princess of Constantinople, named Euphrosine ; it is nearly all

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184

HISTOUr OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [cHAP. XIII.

built within a large cavern one hundred and twenty feet high, and
aa many wide. The entrance is reached by a steep and narrow
path winding along the side of the mountain, and, like a fortress
of the middle ages, it is defended by a gate and an iron portcullis,
together ,vith a lateral wall pierced with numerous loop-holes and
furnished with four pieces of cannon. This narrow path, in which
the winter torrents make every year large breaches, is yet the only
way of rfciiching the convent ; hence this sacred asylum, where the
Panagia has been invoked for ages by the Hellenes, is considered
impregnable. In the last war of independence, the famous Ibrahim
tried to take it, but in vain. The three hundred monks who dwell
in it, becoming soldiers from necessity, were well able to defend
the altar of their patroness.

The life of these Caloyers, as they are called by the Mussulmans,
is simple and pure jw in the time of their ancient foundation, nh
They enjoy a complete independence ; they are laborious and
robust, and, as worthy servants of the compassionate Virgin, they
have ever extended a helping hand to the suffering or the o]>-
pressed. In the fourteenth century the monks of Thessalia and
Phocida found an asylum in the convent of the Assumption, when,
pursued byi the Turks, they fled from their beloved country with
out a hope of seeing it again. Again, in the seventeenth century,
the poor monks who escaped the massacre of Constantinople, took
refuge in this convent. Finally, in the eighteenth century, when
the ruinous war which followed the insurrection of the Morea had
destioyed all around them, it was the Christian conduct of these
religious towards the Turks of Calavrita, their prayers and the
sacrifice which they made of a portion of their wealth, that ena-
bled them to save from apostacy or death a great number of the
Greeks of Achaia.

The Klephts, those bold mountaineers who have so long kept
the Turks at bay, are no less devout to the Panagia than the
people of the Morea. For ages long they have had no other
places of prayer than some ruined chapels which they believe
haunted by vampires, or some rock-hewn oratory under the patro-
nage of the Virgin. They are sometimes seen, at the dawn of
day, climbing the loftiest crest of their steep mountains, w ith their

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OJIAP. XIU.J

BLKSSKX) VIUOIX MAKY.

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crooked poignard in their belt, and their long gun slung over their
shoulder, going to hear mass, or perhaps simply to pray in some
lonely chapel overhanging frightful precipices, the very sight of
which would make a Turkish soldier shudder. There it \t€s that
they went to hang the offerings promised to the Panagia in the
hour of danger, and always faithfully given. These gifts were
often articles of value wrested from the Turk with sword and
steel, and were regarded with the most religious reverence ; public
devotion was their safeguard, and no matter how great might be
his distress, no Klepht would ever think of purloining the least
of these things, which became sacred in his eyes. M. de Houque-
ville, in his Traveh n Greece^ relates an incident of a brigand
chief who, having taken some of these eayvoto from a chapel dedi-
cated to the Virg* , near Vonitza, was given up by his own band
to Ali-Pacha, by whose order he was hung. The practice of
making distant pilgrimages, difficult as it was for men placed in
tlie position of the Klephts, was still far from being unknown to
them. The famous partisan, Blachavas, at the age of seventy-six,
set out OP foot for Jerusalem, his musket on his shoulder, followed
by his lieutenant, and died, as he appears to have wished, in the
Holy Land.*

Mount Athos, named by the modern Greeks Hagion Oros, (the
holy mountain,) still belongs to Mary, as it did in the time of the
first Caesars of Byzantium.

The islands of the Bosphorus and the Archipelago contain nu-
merous, though poor, convents of Mary ; the bells of these Greek
monasteries are suspended from the trunk of so . huge cypress,
which stands in spectral gloom near a church or cemetery. In
Scio, the fairest of those islands, nearly all the inhabitants were
Catholic. Being mildly governed, thanks to the powerful protec-
tion of the Sultana Val'da, that charming island kept its religion,
its gaiety, and its refreshing shades. The stranger was welcomed
there with branches laden with fruits, and when he departed they
offered him flowers in remembrance of hospitality. Nothing could
equal the pomp of it." festivals : it had its Catholic archons, liko

* Fnuricl, Popular Soni/.i of Greece.

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IIISTORT OF THE DEVOTION TO THB [CIUP. XID

Athens of pld ; its maidens were pnre nod fair as the smile of
Mary, their beloved Panagia. . . . The revolution broke out . .
all this peace, all this joy, ended in a massacre . . . three hundred
youn^ girls, the fairest in the island, were mercilessly slanghtered
on the seashore by the fierce Osman soldiers. They fell, one after
the other, their hands joined and their eyes raised to heaven, in«
yoking that Virgin mother who failed not to avenge them. Ali-
Pacha, the tiger who ordered this brutal massacre, was burned
«oon after by the intrepid Canaris, he and his vessels, and came to
lie miserably on that very strand which he had crimsoned with
blood, and the conqueror did public homage to the Virgin for his
victory.

lu Anatolia and the adjacent isles, in Cyprus and in Tenedos,
tbe vireek race have maintained in all its fervour their devotion to
the Virgin, Mahomet prevailed in the cities ; but high on the
mountain-tops, in the region of clouds, the sacred banner of tht
Panagia waves over many a convent. Some of the Hellenes have
forgotten the language of Demosthenes and Isocrates, but not tbe
Gospel, nor their devotion to Mary, and they repeat in the Turkish
language the Apostles' Creed and the Angelical Salutation.* There
the illuminations of the Courban-Baiiram are opposed by the bon-
fires known by the name of St. John's, and the feast of Mahomet
by that of Our Lady of Mount Olympus.

The Georgians, who bear on their standard the image of St.
George, won for themselves in the middle ages the privilege of en-
tering Jerusalem with banners flying, to perform their devotions,
without paying the tribute imposed on other Christiansf ; they are
still the faithful subjects of the Holy Virgin, the heavenly queen
of their mountain-land. The highest peaks of their mountains are
everywhere crowned with a church or chapel dedicated to Mary,
placed so high that they cannot reach it themselves, and are forced
to content themselves, says Chardin, with profoundly saluting it
from the depth of their valleys, which they never fail to do.

* Occident et Orient, par M. Barranlt.

f De Belleforest, 1. ii., ch. 5, de son Hist, TTniver*. — Chalcondyle, HUt. de$ Turet

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ouAP. xm.J

DTiESSBD VIKOIN MARY.

181

The Mingrelinn, who aleeps with his head on his carbine and his
cimeter by his side, venerates in hia churches, certain relics of the
Blessed Virgin,* kept therein with profound respect since the fimt
ages of Christianity.

Armenia, inclosed amid Mussulman nations, has no more yielded
to the Koran than it has to Zend-Avesta, and remains nearly as it
was in the fifth century, after the Holy Wars, were it not that it is
divided into two camps, one professing Christianity with Rome, tnu^
the other with Nestorius. The Virgin is devoutly honoured by
both. Every Armenian fasts fifteen days before the feast of thci
Assumption, which was introduced very early into the Caucasian
regions.

Lebanon, that fair mountain an hundred leagues in circumference,
is entirely peopled with Catholics. On one of its highest table-
lands is the village of Eden, full of limpid streams and cool shades ;
it is topped by an archiepiscopal church, in which there is an altar
to Mar^, and at the right of that altar rises (in a truly marvellous
manner) the Nakar-Rossena (chief river)^ which descends from ac
immense rock clothed with cypress. The yakar-Kadi^ha (holy
river), the ofifepring of eternal snows, on whose bunks so many soli-
taries were once engaged in carving images of Mary, still retains the
name which it owed, in the first ages of the Church, to the piety
of the hermits who dwelt amid its rocks. An hour's journey from
the spot where the Holy River collects its rapid and noisy waters.
Tyre, the ancient ruler of the seas, displays the mournful wreck of
greatness past ; her famous cathedral of Our Lady, destroyed in
the last ciiisades, a short time after its reconstruction, is now but a
magnificent ruin, whose stately vaults and orches are still traced on
the blue sky of Syria, but there is another church, less conspicuous,
wherein the four or five hundred Catholic families who people Tyre
still fervently invoke Mary. The pretty town of Nazareth, ap-
proached by an avenue of olive-trees, is inhabited solely by Catholics ;
its church, bnUt on the site of St. Helena's, has three naves, and is

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* By relics of the Blessed Virgin we, of coarse, nnderstand certain articles which
were used by her daring her mortal life. — Trans.

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188

IIWTORY OF THE DKVOTroPT TO TMK [cHAr. XFII.

always full of pilgrims and otbers of the faithful, in prayer. The
sweet name of Mnry is everywhere road on the walls, and every-
whera, one sees her image, profusely adorned with the fairest
rtowci-s by the piety of the Eastern Christians.

Modern Jerusalem, whose population seems formed of the
wreck of nations, presents within its bosom the strange sight of
the Jewish synagogue side by side with the Mussulman mosque and
tlie Christian church, yet, thank Heaven ! it is not without its
altars to Mary. The descendant of the kings of Jnda is still prayer-
fully invoked in the capital of the holy King David, and all re-
ligions differences disappear at her tomb, where the Armenian, the
Georgian, the Arab, the Tyiian, and the western Christian meet to-
gether, and where even Turkish women are seen kneeling in prayer,
wrapped up in their veils. A Greek caloyer sprinkles some drops
of otto of roses on the head of each one who comes to honour
Mary.

In the Levant, the veneration of the Virgin has reached even the
infidels. The Turks and Persians, who speak of her with all re-
verence, consider her as the purest and most perfect of women.
Hence, they are often known to hang votive lamps before her
images, to conduct their sick children to her churches, to pray de-
voutly at her tomb, and what is still more extraordinary amongst
the worshippers of Allah, to build temples in her honour.*

In Abyssinia, the devotion to the Virgin is still as popular as it
ever was : churches bearing her eastern name of Mariam are met in
great numbers in the cities, on the mountains, and on the banks of
the rivers ; they are covered with straw, surrounded by an exterior
gallery, and surmounted by an iron cross, whose numerous branches
are terminated with ostrich-eggs ; they stand in the midst of a ceme-
tery, which is an inviolable sanctuary, and are magnificently shaded by

* A pachn of Mossoul, besieged by the famous Thamas-Eonli-Khan, made n tow
to build two cimrchcs to the Hlessed Virgin, in case he prtsorved his city. Thamas
raised the siege, and the Pacha, faithful to his promise, cau-^^ed two charches to be
erected ; their raagnlBcence, unexampled In those regions, be-peaks at once the peril,
the alarm, and the gratitude of the Mussulmans. — (See tlie Bishop of Babylon's
letter in the Annali of the Propagation of the Faith.)

V\\'^-

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OHAP, xin.]

HLKH.SKI) VIUOIN MAUr.

d»rk sahines and gigantic olive-trees. "Within, 'he walls are
adorned with gariHu frescoes representinor the Virgin, St. Michael,
or St. George, who is very popular araougst the Eastern nations ;
the floor is sometimes covered with Persian carpet, which the
MuAsulraans bring from Massaouah and sell at an exorbitant prion
to the Christians. A gallery runs all around these churches, and in
the centre there is a square sanctuary which none but the prieHtw
may enter ; there is kept the sacred ark containing the bread ami
wine intended for communion. The Abyssinians hold the Virgin
in so great veneration that, according to them, the world was
created for her and by her ; they precede the feast of the Assump-
tion by a fast of fifteen days, like the Copts and Syrians ; their
kings Htyle themselves sons of Mariam^a Juind, and many of them
assume her name. Finally, we learn from travellei-s who visited
Abyssinia in 1837, that, when the Abyssinians ask a favour or give
an invitation, it is always in the name of Mary; they swear < ily
by Maiy {l)i Mariatn)^ and her name is ever in their mouth.*

This ardent devotion of the Abyssinians to the mother of God
has sometimes broken out into real acts of fanaticism. In 1714,
when German missionaries of the order of St. Francis, sent by
Pope Clement XI, tried to bring them back to the unity of faith,
the schismatic monks defeated their efforts by circulating the report
that these European monks were avowedly hostile to the Blessed
Virgin. This falsehood of theirs ha^l frightful consequences ; the
people revolted ; the emperor, who protected the missionaries, was
poisoned, and Fathers Liberat, Veis, Pie de Zerbe, and Samuel
Bienno were stoned to death by an infuriate mob. A n Ethiopian
monk cast the first stone, exclaiming : " Accureed and excommuni-
cated by the Virgin be he who will not cast five stones at her
enemies !"+ Alas ! these poor Franciscans were the most faithful
and devoted servants of Mary !

The devotion to the Virgin is now spreading gradually over all
the Indies. The chaplet is recited amongst the Hindoos of the

* Voyage en Abt/ssinie, par MM. Combes et Tamisier, 1 835-31
f Annals of the Propagation of the Fitilh.

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HISTORY 01'' TUB DJSVOTION TO THE [CHAP. XIII

Malabar coast, amongst the Chiueae, the Siamese, the Thibetians, the
tribes of Tonquia and of Cochin-China ; it is the only prayer-book
possessed by the Catholics of those remote countries, and it is the
first thing they ask on seein^^' a priest from Europe* I'he churches
of India often bear the name of Mary ; that of the Nativity of the
Virgin, at Pondichei-ry, is one of the most remarkable. A noveua
has been founded in this Malabar church which procures a number
of conversions, though conversions are there so difficult ; it opens

-^I'iSSK with a procession which takes place by night, and is. conducted with
much pomp. The sacred image of Maiy is borne on a triumphal
car, and is placed, from time to time, on altars which the pious
Chribtiaus of that country adoin with flowera and gold muslic ;
these alters are lit up by overhanging globes of fire. The proces
sion moves slowly, to the sound jf crashing music, between two
lines of torches. At each resting-place, the noise ceases while a
childish voice sings the praises of the holy mother of Our Lord ;
after which the image ot the Virgin is solemnly brought back to
the church, and replaced over her altar, magnificently illuniinated.f
South America is always remarkable fo'- its devotion to the
Blessed Virgin. Brazil has built many churches in her honour in
modern times, and adorned them to the utmost of her power,
Peru dedicated to her, from the first, its splendid cathedral of
Lima, under the title of the Assumption, and paved it with silver
instead of marble. Cusco, the city of the Incas, consecrated to
Mary its Temple of the Sun, the walls of which were coated with
thick plates of gold. The Dominicans, to whom this church now
belongs, raised a chapel in it for Our Lady, and adorned it with
true Peruvian splendour : flags of silver, an altar of the same metal,

S'i 41 ^ statue radiant with gold and pearl, golden lamps, and magnificent
ex-voto, nothing was wanting to complete its grandeur. Mary has
altai-s no less rich in the ancient tein})le of Zuilla {the moofi)^ also
a very 8j)lendid building, in that of Yllaper (the thunder)^ and of
Chasca (the eveningstur). In Mexico, the cathedrils and altai-s
dedicated to the Virgin are of rare magnificence. The cathedral

* Annah of tlif Propagation, &c

i''A

citAP. xiilJ

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,

I'Jl

of the Assumption, in the city of Mexico, commenced in the six-
teenth century and finished in the seventeenth, has two statues of
Mary which exceed all European ideas of splendour ; the first is an
Assumption of massive gold incrusted with precious stones of con-
siderable weight ; the second, a Conception in solid silver. The
cathedral of Pueblo d'Angeles, bearing the title of the Conception,
has a high altar dedicated to Mary which is itself worth a whole
basilic ; the altar is of massive silver, and the balustrading around
it has plintho and capitals of burnished gold.

In San Domingo, in the time of the French domination, the pro
cession c' the Vow of Louis XIII. was every year made with all
possible pomp. Since Hayti declared itself a republic, this custom
is discontinued, but not the devotion to Mary, whom the blacks of
that island still invoke with boundless confidence. The Haytian^
have two pilgrimages to the Blessed Virgin, one in the part that
formerly belonged to Spain, and the other in the old French dis-
trict. They often make these pilgrimages by proxy . a black pil-
grim who sets out on this pious journey, visits all his acquaintancesi
and collects the ofii^rings which they wish to send to the Virgin.
The negresses of distinction imported from Africa a f'eatheii
custom which they made a Christian one in the Antilla.s. When
they wish to ascertain whether they possess the affection of their
husbands, they take to the sea-shore a thin plank of native wood
pienied with holes, wherein they place lighted tapers of white
wax ; after invoking Mary, they carefully and timidly commit their
little illuminrted raft to the waves of their sunny gulf, and if it
floats a little time on the water without sinking, they bless the
Virgin, persuaded that they may rest content.

Numismatics, which has preserved to us the effigy of sovereigns
lost to history, has also helped to perpetuate the remembrance of
the devotion to Mary. Nearly all Christian nations have struck
medals in honour of the Virgin, and stamped her image on coins.

The empress Theophania, who married Romanus the Younger in
959, is the first whose coin bears the image of Mary. She is placed
on the reverse ; her head, surrounded by the aui-eola, is covered
with a veil, and her two hands are raised to the height of the chest :
around, is the (xreek inscription sigulfying Mothku ok (Jon. The

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192

HISTORY OF niE DEVOTION TO THE [cHAP. XUI.

second husband of that princess, John Ziraisces, who ascended the
imperial throne in 969, also had a medal struck, bearing on one side
the figure of Christ Emmaxyua (^Emmanuel), and on the other, the
Virgin seated on a throne with the Infant Jesus on her knee.
Before her are the three magi offering their gifts ; above her head
is a star, and beneath her two doves. The first emperor who
placed the efligy of Mary on the front side of his coins, was Ro-
man us IV., styled Diogenes, who ascended the imperial throne
A. D. 1068. On his medals is seen the Blessed Virgin with the
head of the divine Infant reclining on her bosom, according to the
decree of the council of Ephesus. The Virgin is there attired as
an empress. Several strings of pearls are seen around her head
and twined amid her hair, and her brow is encircled by the impe-
rial diadem. She also retains the glory or aureola, but has no veil.
On the reverse of the medal is the Greek inscription meaning •
May the Mother of God he propitioa-s to the Emperor Romumui
Diogenes. Many of the succeeding emperors also stamped the
image of the Virgin on their coins ; but from the time of John
Zimisces till the taking of Constantinople, the letter M is no longer
found on the coins of the Lower Empire.

The Greeks were not the only nation who gave Mary this mark
of respect ; many modern states still bear on their coins the effigy
of the holy Virgin.

In the States of the Church, the new silver crown has on it the
Virgin borne on clouds, holding the keys in one hand, and in the
other an ark, with this inscription : Supra firmam petram. The
city of Genoa also presents, on some of its gold coins, the Virgin
home on clouds, and holding the Infant Jesus on one arm. The in-
scription is: Et rege eos. Austria has gold ducats whereon is seen
the Virgin, in like manner, borne on clouds, holding the Infant
Jesus on one arm, with the globe in his hand ; the inscription is ;
Maria Mater Dei. The same state has also gold maximilians, on
the revei"se of which is seen the Virgin and Child, the latter hold-
ing the globe in his hand ; the legend is : Saln^ in te s-perantibu><.
The three-florin gold pieces of the same empire have also on tlie
reverse the Virgin and Child, with the same legend as the maxi-
milians. Bavaria, too, strikes gold maximilians and cai'olusos with

t • ft

I I

194

HISTORY OF THE DKVOTION TO THK

jOUAr. XIV.

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CHAPTER XIV.

[We hare, in the prereding chapters, a most ititerusting chronicle of the rise and
progress of the devotion to the Blessed Virgin : the learned author has collected
much Talaable information on this snbject : he has glanced over many lands, giving a
brief space to all, and, as far as he has gone, his work leaves nothing unnoticed that
ro\ild throw light on the fair picture of filial love and reverence. But we could wish
rliut he had devoted more space to this New World, where he had assuredly an
ample field before him : where the devotion to Mary is, and has been, for ages,
steadily on the increase, till, like the grain of mustard-seed mentioned in the Gosprl,
it hM become a stately tree, overshadowing with its t)ranche8 all the land. It is with
some hesitation that I attempt to " to take up the wondrous tale," but, as I have en-
(.leavoured to give it an English form, and make it accessible to those who know not
tiie French language, I should be sorry to present it to them without adding a few
pages on the history of the devotion to Mary in these countries.]

The countries of the New World were nearly all settled by
Catholics, and by Catholics who loved and honoured Mary, as we
see by the names of many of the older settlements. Columbus
was a faithful servant of Mary, and Jacques Cai'tier, the discoverer
of Canada, or New France, was equally devoted to her service.
The latter brought with him from old Catholic France that zeal for
religion which then characterized all the navigators of that great
country. The beads and crucifix were his most trusty weapons, and
when he succeeded in eftecting a landing, or making a treaty with
the Indians, it was to God and the Virgin that he returned thanks.
The first tree felled by Europeans was hailed as a triumph for re-
ligion — as the first step towards the foun iation of a new empire for
Jesus and Mary.* Those sacred names were the watchword of all
the F'-'ench and Spanish Christians who led the van in civilizing
America, atul strong in the strength of those mighty names they
triumphed over every obstacle that the powei*s of earth and hell

m
m

* " The salvation of a soul ts worth more than thr covqi-est ok av empiric."
Such was the golden maxim of Champlain, the founder of New France (Canada) ;
A maxim which was adopted and acted on liy all the Catliolic pioneers of of the New
World. —(Life of Bisliop FIa?rt, p. 170.)

OUAT,

BLES8KD VIROrN MARY.

ii^5

raised np to bar tbeir progress. T'^ose northern regions of Amorioa
were especially placed under the protection of Mary from their fii-st
settlement by Europeans. Jacques Cartier's grim old followers,
with hand of iron and heart of faith, had passed away ; several
voyages had been made by successive companies from France, but
none of them succeeded in effecting a permanent settlement ; all de-
signs that were of a purely worldly nature failed, and it was only
the faithful sons of Loyola who braved and at length surmounted
every difficulty. They it was who explored the interminable woods
of Canada, seeking, through incredible toils and hardships, to
gather in the harvest, already ripe for the sickle ; martyrdom itself
had no terrors for these valiant soldiei-s of Christ, and, armed onlj-
with the cross and beads, they boldly advanced, regardless of the
tomahawk and scalping-knife, intent on conquering the land for
Him who sent them, and making his name known to the heathen.
"Well and aptly have they been called the pioneers of civilization,
for where the foot of European never trod, never dared to tread,
they planted the standard of the Cross. God and the Virgin wort'
with them wherever they went. It may well be said thai
Mary presided over the opening of American civilization, since the}-
who laid its earliest foundations were her own faithfal servants, her
devoted clients. Thus, in the cruel torments inflicted on them by
their savage captors, we find them consoled by the thought of
Mary's maternal care and protection. " It was my consolation,"
wrote one of these fervent missionaries, addi-essing the Superior-
General of his order ; " it was my consolation to know that I was
doing the will of God, since I undertook this journey only through
obedience. I was full of confidence in the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin, and in the assistance of the many souls who were
praying for me."* And again, describing another of his grievous
trials : " I desired and expected death, but was not without a cer-
tain dread of the fire. I, nevertheless, prepared for it as well as I
could, commending myself to the Mother of Mercy, who is truly

Km?

• Bressani's Rtlation de la JVottwWe-JVanc*, abridged by the Rey. Piro Martin,
S.J., p. 118

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196

niSTOUT OF THE DKVOTION TO THE [OHAP, XTV.

the AmialU Mother^ the AdmirahU Mother^ the Pmoerfvl and
Clement Virgin, the comfort of the afflict'&J. She was, after God,
the only refuge of a poor sinner, forsaken by all creatures on a
foreign soil, in that plaee of Jwiror and of waste toildernees* with-
out a tongue to make himself understood, or friends to console, or
sacraments to strengthen him, or any human remedy to alleviate
his sufferings."f

Father de Noue, one of the first missionaries, was frozen to death
while wandering alone in the trackless forest, and was found in a
kneeling posture, his head uncovered, his eyes wide open and
raised to heaven, and his arms crossed on his bosom. He was
quite dead. " Father de None died, it is thought, on the day of
the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, for whom he had a great
devotion. . Every Saturday he fasted in her honour, and, every day,
he recited the office of the Immaculate Conception. When he
spoke of her, every word was from his heart."J

Father Jogues, the illustrious champion of the faith, who
lived through torments that would have killed an hundred ordinary
men, giving an account of his capture by the Iroquois, says : " At
length we reached the first Iroquois village ; it was on the eve of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and I thanked Our Lord
Jesus Christ for that he was pleased to call us to share his cross
and sufferings, on the day whereon the Christian world celebrates
the triumph of his divine mother ascending to heaven."§ On an-
other occasion, when he and his companion had retired from this
Iroquois village, during a tumult, to pray on a little neighbouring
hill : " Returning to the village, we were reciting the chaplet of the
Blessed Vir^n, and had already said four decades, when we met
two young men who ordered us to return to the village. * Brother,'
said I to Ren6, ' we know not what these men intend to do with us,
[. now that they are all so much excited. Let us recommend our*

* Deut. xxxii. 10.

t Bressani's Relation de la Nouvelle-France, abridged by the Rcr. Pere Martin,
S. J., p. 128. ^ U

J delation Abregee, pp. 118, 179. i&r O

§ Pii'l., p 198. ■"

CHAP. XIV.]

BL£SS£0 VIUOIN MAUY.

197

■elves with the greater fervour to God and the Blessed Virgin, cm
good mother."*

Of Father Charles Gamier, another of the martyra of Canada, it
is related that from his childhood he had a great inclination for
virtue, and especially a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin,
whom he always called his mother. He had bound himself by a
solemn vow, to defend, till death, the doctrine of her Immaculate
Conception, and he loved to honour her under that title. His death
took place on the eve of that festival, which he went to celebrate
with greater solemnity in heaven.f

Such were the fii-st missionaries — the first civilizere of the
Canadian savages, — and such their devotion to the Blessed Mother
of God, a devotion which must necessarily have communicated to
their neophytes at least a poi'tion of its fervour, and made the name
of Mary a household word amongst the simple denizens of the forest.
But whilst the Jesuit fathers were toiling and bleeding, preaching
and baptizing, amongst the savage tribes of Canada, far away in the
sunny realm of France the Almighty was carrying out his merciful
designs for the permanent settlement of these remote countries, and
the foundation of a new empire for the queen of heaven ; bb omnis-
cient wisdom was preparing an asylum for the Catholic church of
North America, and raising up a barrier against heresy in the
noble provinces of New France.J

The island of Montreal was still covered with primeval woods
its existence scarcely known to Europeans, when God made known,
by a special revelation, to some pious persoTis in France, that such a
place was to be colonized, and that they were the instruments
chosen to carry out the design. Neither of these individuals was
either rich or powerful, yet never doubting — never pausing to in-
quire " how this could be done," they at once set about forming a
society for the pui-pose, assured that God was with them. Their
object was to build a city in Canada in honour of Mary and under

* Relation Ahregh, p. 212.

t Ibid., p. 266.

J Life of Sister Ihurgeoys, Tntrodnction.

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198

lIIf^TOnY OF TlIK DKVOTION TO THE [ciIAP. XIV.

her cs])ecial patronago, to servo as the strcnghold aud nucleus of re-
ligion in those (then) remote regions. The city was to be called
Villemarie. The principal movers of this project were the inspired
persons above mentioned : M. do Maisonneuve, u virtuous and
pious layman, M. Olier, afterwards founder of th«i ill'istrious order
of St. Sulpice, aud sister Mai'guerite Bourgeoys, an h arable maiden
of Troyes. Each of these, but especially the two latter, were
favoured, all through, with the most singular graces, and guided by
light and knowledge fi'om above, clearly showing that they wert
chosen instruments of the divine will. When all things were pre-
pared for the voyage, the good sister Bourgeoys began to shrink
from the prospect of emlmrking alone on such an undertaking, as
she was to have no female companion. She had taken all possible
pains to ascertain whether she was really called to this perilous en-
terprise; she had consulted the most pious and the most en-
lightened ecclesiastics of the time, and was, through thi^m, assured
of her vocation, yet still she feared to go alone to Car.ada. Her
historian tells us " thai the project of such a voyage for a woman
of thirty-three, the prospect of being unaccompanied by any of her
own sex, amidst a company of soldiers ; the idea of having no female
to assist her at Villemarie in the education of children, and of
being constantly exposed to the danger of being taken and burned
by the Iroquois ; all these considerations were very fit to inspire her
with fear, and prudence seemed to render it necessary that she
should have some more convincing j)roof of the divine will. Even
this waa granted to her, though uhe asked it not. The Blessed
Virgin, for whose honour and gloiyshe was resolved to sacrifice her
life, by going to Canada to procure faithful servants for her, vouch-
safed to assure her with her own lips, that the design was well-
I)leasing to her, and that she would herself protect her amidst so
many dangers. The good nun being in her own chamber, thinking
at the moment of anything but her voyage: 'I saw before me,'
says she, ' a tall lady, clad in a robe as it were, of white serge, who
said to me : Go, I will not desert thee : aud I knew it was the
Blessed Virgin, though I saw not her fece. This reassured me and
gave me courage to undertake the voyage.' After this vision,
sister Margaret no longer hesitated to set out. Yet still her great

^~:

f'fSi.

ijM^ CHAP. Xl\.]

'^'MMU-mt

RM<:a8ED VlltOIX MAKY.

199

o.r

prudence made her fear that it might be an illusion; knowing that
God conducts his children by the coramvin rules of faith, and not
by extraordinary means : — ' After this apparition,' says she, ' being
fearful of illusions, I considered that if this one were from God, 1
had nothing to pr<>"ide for my voyage. I said to myself: if it be
the will of God that I should go to Villemarie, I have no need of
anything ; whereupon I set out without a penny or a box of any
kind, having with me only a small bundle which I could carry under
my arm.'

" We cannot sufficiently admire the heroism of such perfect con-
fidence in God, unexampled, perhaps, except by that of the holy
Apostles whose spirit was still manifested in this admirable woman.
Instead of laying in money and clothes, so necessary in a new
country which as yet produced nothing of itself for the sustenance
of life, but had to import all from Euro])e, she strips hei-self, on the
contrary, of all she has, and distributes amongst the poor even tin'
little money she possesses, placing her trust in God alone."*

While journeying to and fro, preparing for her embarkation,
sister Bourgeoys took her pjissage in a boat from Orleans to Nantes.
There were twelve or thirteen passeugei's on board besides the
crew, and amongst these there was only one woman; yet sister
Bourgeoys contrived to make all those men sanctify the voyage by
many pious practices. Every day they said the beads, recited the
office of the Blessed Vii-gin, and read a jjortion of some pious
book.f

All this time M. de Maisonneuve was hurrying on his prepara-
tions under the direction of M. Olier: they had secured the assist-
ajice of another pious lady. Mademoiselle Manse, who v^as to
take charge of the sick in the new colony. It was the intension of
M. Olier to consecrate the island of Montreal to the Holy Family,
and for that pui-pose he proposed to establish three different insti-
tutes : that of his own order of St. Sulpice, for the forming and
maintenance of the priesthood, in honour of Our Lord and Saviour

♦ Life of Sister lioitrijiot/s, p. 41-43.
t I'le (ie la Sa-iir fintiri/eoi's, Ionic 1, |>. 52.

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200

JIWTOlty O*" THK DEVOTION TO THK [ciIAP. XIV.

Jesus Christ ; that of the Cungregfttion of Our Lady for the educa-
tion of foiiiulea, in hciiour of Our Blessed Lady, and that of the
Hospital N uns, for the care of the sick and diseased, in honour of
tier illustrious spouse, St. Joseph. Come we now to the actual
Foundatlori of the city, which 1 will give in the simple, graphic
words ot M. Olier's biographer.

"Li the moiitli of Feltiuary, 1642, he assembled in the church
of Notre Damo all the members of tlie company of Montreal,
celebrated the Holy Mass at the Virgin's altar, where he gave
communion to those who were not priests, whilst the latter cele-
brated at the neighbouring altars ; and all consecrated the island to
the Holy Family, under the special protection of the Blessed
Virgin, and consecrated themselves to that pious intention. On
leaving the church, they repaired to the Hotel de Loson, to concert
the means of consolidating the good work. It was resolved that
they should freight at leivst three vessels, to convey to Montreal as
many decent families of different states as they could find willing to
emigrate ; that they should take possession of the island in tlie
name of the Blessed Virgin, who wjis always to be regarded as its
first and true mistress, and that, with the king's permission, they
would build a city on it to be called VUlenuirie.

" On the 17th of May following, the little troop (having psisscd
the winter in Quebec,) at length arrived at Montreal. Immediately
on landing, they prostrated themselves on the shore, and, in the
transports of their holy enthusiasm, they sang several psalms, to
testify their gratitude to God. In the place destined for the nev,'
city, they erected tents for their own accommodation, and then pro-
ceeded to raise an alt'-:r, where, next day. Father Vimont, after the
Veni-Oreatoi\ fii"st celebrated the holy sacrifice, and exposed the
blessed sacrament, to obtain from heaven an auspicious coinnienco
meut to that pious work. It was in a chapel constructed of l)ark
that the blessed sacrament was first placed, and it has ever since
been j)reserved in Ville-Marie ; as ilio country furnished neither oil
nor wax, they placed before the tabernacle which tht^y brought
from Fi'ance, instead of a lamp, n, ghiss vial containing a mmiber
of fire-flies, insects which, when there ai'e several of them put

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OIIAI'

XIV.]

ULKSHKD VIKMIN MARY.

201

together, produce a light like that of numerous wax tapers.*
" Such was the begiiiLing of Ville-Marie," adds the biographer,
and it will at once be seen from his description, that the foundation
of the city of Montreal was essentially a religious one, resembling
that of a monastery rather than a city. We are inclined to think
that no other city was ever founded under circumstances so interest<
ing or so edifying. The motives of its founders were of a purely
religious nature ; they had no thoughts of aggrandizing themselves
or even their nation ; they desired not to enrich themselves by
drawing forth the natural resources of the country ; its wealth of
woods and waters, and minerals, gave them no concern ; their sole
ambition was to promote the glory of God and the salvation of
men, and to do honour to their soverign lady and mistress, the
Blessed Mother of God. Assured of her protection, they calmly
prosecuted their work of building habitations for themselves, fear-
ing neither the savage Iroquois of the surrounding woods, nor the
severity of the climate, nor the privations of every kind yet to be
endured. They were doing the will of God, and working foi
Mary, their beloved queen, Hn<l all considerations of a purely per-
sonal or selfish nature were forgotten.

During the first days of the colony's existence, the river St.
fjawrence rose in fury one Christmas-eve, threatening to sweep
away the little inclosure of stakes which then contained the whole
of Montreal. M. de Maisonneuve, the pious governor of the
island, made a vow that if the fort were preserved, he would plant
a wooden cross on the summit of the mountain which overhung the
infant city. Tlie watere retired after some time, without doing an}
injury, and the grateful governor planted the cross as he had
promised. This cross was destroyed soon after by the Iroquois,
but when sister Bourgeoys arrived in the colony, she prevailed
upon M. de Maisonneuve to have it put up again, and it continued
to be a place of pilgrimage for several years, notwithstanding that
the woods around it were infested by the ferocious Iroquois who
took every opportunity of attacking those who went to pray there.

inn

* Vit de M. Oli«r, nbregee.

S02

IIIHTOKY or THK UKVOTION TO THE [clUP. Xl\

*,-#-a

Yet mauy did go for noruti tiino after tho n'i»IaMting of the cr(»HS, to
perform novenoM and other devotionsi for the converaion of the
savages. In the lapse of time tliere was a mimion estahliNhed on the
mountain, and the itavages began to gather to the place : hitherto
they could never be induced to settle on the island. A school-
huiiiie and a small ohapel were built ; the latter dedicated to Oar
Lady of Snow — Notre Dame dca Neiges^ around which a pretty
village has siiire sprung up.

The good Sister Bourgeoys succeeded, after some years, in form<
Ing her admirable institute under the title of the OongregatUm of
Out' Ladify but not without having her full share of the sufferings
and privations of the infant colony. At fii-st, she went from house
to liouse teaching, but her Rtrength soon began to fail under this
excessive fatigue ; she was then presented by the governor (in the
nniue of the company) with a stone building which had been used
as a stable;* here she commenced her school, hei-self and her four
assistants sleeping in a soi-t of loft to which they ascended by a
ladder. This humble building, cleaned and ornamented by the
pious sister as well as her poverty would permit, was converted into
a fchoul-house, and formed the foundation of the stately convent
now known as tlw Congregation Nunnery. After considerable
delay and many disappointments, Sister Bourgeoys was so happy as
to see ft chapel erected near her school liouse, in honour of Our
Lady of Good Aid — Notre Dame de Hon Secours.

" Nothing could be more touching," sayg the reverend biographer
of Sister Bourgeoys, " than the disinterested and courageous charity
of these fervent colonists for each other. M. de Maisonneuvo had
formed amongst them a company of soldiers styled the Blessed
Virgin's Company, who were to be ready at any time to sacrifice
their lives to preserve those of the other colonists, and kept guard
night and day around the houses and fields, where the savages were
accustomed to conceal themselves in order to surprise the colony.
•* M. de Maisonneuve,' says Sister Bourgeoys, ' had enrolled aixt \
three of these soldiers, in honour of the number of years w''.! 'i; ^-iiv

• Vi4 de !a Sctur Bourqtoyg, t.

■>^

•*• ■'5

OIIAP. XTV.

nMl>)8KI> VntOIN MAKV.

203

•Kll

iVV

Rlpwted Virgin i« thought to have passed on eftrtb. Every Sonclay
he Appointed portain of tlioir tnirnbor to receive daily during the
ensuing week, Jind ga.' them a pious exhortation. When these
sohliera mounted p'uard, it wi ■ always with prayer; and whfln they
had any religiouu duty to fultil, they were taken to the church
where they ttaid their prayers and performed their other devotions
in common, with every appearance of satisfaction/ "*

Meanwhile, Mademoiselle Manse ha<l lier hospital already in
operation, under the title of the Hotel Dim. M. Olier 'being
unable to come himself to Montreal as he hod desired, the governor
prevailed upon him to send four of his ecclesiastics to establish n
seminary there for the education of ])riest8 and to minister to the
spiritual wants of the rising colony, the Jisuit fathers having no
perraonent settlement there, and being desirous of devoting them-
selves in a particular manner to their missions amongst the Indians.
From this time the colony progressed rapidly under the pastoral
and paternal care of tlie pious Sulpicians, who in the course of
some years, became seigneurs or jiroprietoix of the island of Mon-
treal, which was transferred to them 'ty the company.

During the whole period of her 'ong life, Sister Bourgeoys con-
tinued to labour, under the patronage of Mary, for the spiritual and
temporal welfare of the colony. Not content with training up her
pupils in the way of godliness and virtue, she instituted an external
congregation, consisting of those young women who bad been
brought up in her schools. This excellent coi Vaternity ia still
kept up in Montreal under the title of the Confraternity of Our
Lady of Victoiy.

About the same time was formed the pious confraternity of the
Holy Family, which grew out of the three religious communities
already in existence. The object of this association was to place
bef(Me Christian families the example of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph;
tb'» men to form their conduct ou that of St. Joseph, the women on
that of the Blessed Virgin, and the children on that of the child
Jesus.f This confratej-nity is also in existence at the present time.

• Vie dt la Sanir Bourf/toyt, t. i., p. 77, 78.
\ lhxd,i.\., p. 170.

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204

HISTORY OP THE DEVOTION TO THE [CHAP. XIV,

In 16Y3, the wooden chapel of Our Lady of Good Aid was
replaced by one of stone on the following occasion : amongst the
members of the company of Montreal, before it made over the
island to the Sulpicians, there were two brothers named L<i Pretre,
lords of ileury in France. They were both very pious, and having
a pecnliar devotion to the Blessed Virgin, they were exceedingly
anxious to promote the prosperity of her new city. For this pur-
pose they made sc sacrifice highly honourable to themselves and
well Calculated to prove their generous devotion. They had, in the
chapel of their castle, a small statue of the Blessed Virgin which
had been an object of particular veneration for more than a century
The desire of promoting the devotion to Mary in a colony specially
consecrated to her, induced them to send this precious treasure to
Montreal, with a request that it might be placed in a chapel dedi-
cated to the mother of God. Sister Bourgeoys happened just then
to be in France on some important business for the colony, and to
her care the statue was confided. It was but six or eight inches in
height, skilfully carved in brown wood. The niche wherein it
stood was of gilt wood, adorned with sculpture and with precious
stones. This statue was at fii-st deposited in the little wooden
chapel, but the piety of the colonists did not permit it to remain
long in that humble abode. They resolved to erect a stone build-
ing, and on the 30th of January, 1673, the first stone was solemnly
blessed by the Superior of the seminary, amidst a general assembly
of all the inhabitants of the island.* This church was consecrated
on the 25th of August, 1675, and was the first stone church erected
on the island of Montreal. Every day a priest went there to say
mass, and when Mary's festivals came round, they were celebrated
with so much pomp and solemnity that the people gathered from
all parts, and the place became a famous pilgrimage. It became
the term of public processions, and in times of danger or calamity,
the faithful hastened thither to ofl'er up their supplications.

In 1754, the church of Bon Secours was burned in a conflagration
which destroyed a considerable portion of the city, but " great was

• Manuel du Pelerin de Notre Dame de Bon Seeourt d Montreal, pp. 14, 16,

W*; OHAP. XIV.]

,M4ii^^^42L^illi't;

BLESSED VIEGIN MARY.

206

the astonishment of all the world, and great the consolation of
virtuous souls, when, on searching amongst the ruins, the venerated
image of Our Lady of Good Aid was found in a state of perfect
preservation."*

War and famine visited the land, so m to keep the public mind
in an unsettled and anxious state, and it was many years before the
project of rebuilding the church could be carried into execution.
On the 80th of June, 1771, the first stone of the new building was
laid. This stone bore the inscription :

D. O. M.

BbAT^ MaRL£ AnXILIATBICI

SUB TITULO ASSUMPTIONIS.

High up in the wall of the church, overlooking the St. Lawrence,
there was a figure of the Blessed Virgin placed in a niche, inviting
all those who sailed up or down the river to invoke the Star of the
Sea. Time, and the ravages of the weather, have long since de-
stroyed this venerable image.

There is in Montreal another interesting monument of past times
also dedicated to Our Lady : it is a church which formerly belonged
to the R6collet fathers, and from them popularly named the church
of the Recollets. It now belongs to a congregation of men piously
assocjattd together under the patronage of Our Blessed Lady. It
bears on its front the date, 1725.

But we have yet to speak of the noblest monument of piety
ever erected in these northern regions : the parish church of Mon-
treal, dedicated to Almighty God, under the invocation of Our
Lady. This magnificent structure is built in that stately style of
architecture which characterized the old French and Flemish cathe-
drals of the middle ages, and though, perhaps, not quite so florid
as most of them, its exterior is of rare beauty. Two lofty towers
rise on either side of the portal ;f in ong of these there is a bell

* Manuel du Pelerin d» Notre Dame de Ben Secoum, p. 21.

t° Tlie height of the principal towers \a 220 feet, and of the others 115 feet

itiar.fmmmr'

V- 1 w ■ - - i

f^-^ii

206

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [OHAP. XIV.

which weighs 29,400 lbs., and in ti.3 other a very good chime of
bells ; the bourdon, or great bell, is only rung on solemn occasions,
and when it is, its deep, booming sound, is heard reverberating for
miles along the river. The interior is divided by two rows of lofty
pillars into a nave, and two lateral aisles, with a spacious choir, sur-
rounded by the stalls of the reverend Sulpicians to whom the
church belongs. The roof ia groined and arched. There are two
ranges of galleries running around three sides of the walls, and
opposite the choir, just over the principal entrance, is the organ-
loft. Over the high altar is a niche containing a statue of Our
Lady, nearly of life-size. In the side aisles there are several
chapeUes, with altai-s and balustrading of dark wood, handsomely
ornamented. One of these is dedicated to the infant Jesus, another
to St. Amable : these two are on either side of the high altar. There
is also one bearing the name of St. Joseph, and another that of St.
Anne. Each of these has a handsome altar-piece. The nave is
lit by chandeliers of the most costly kind, and the aisles by oil-
lamps. Before each of the altai-s where the blessed sacrament is
kept, there hangs a heavy silver lamp of antique style and work-
manship. Take it for all in all, it is a superb memento of Catholic
piety and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Quebec is scarcely behind Montreal in devotion to the Mother
of God. One of the first churches founded in the city was that of
Our Lady of Victory, where the faithful still go to invoke the aid
of her who is called the Help of Christians. The Sisters of the
Congregation have an establishment in Quebec, as they have in
various parts of the country, and wherever they have charge of
the rising generation of females, Mary is sure to be loved and
honoured.

Space will not permit me to particularize all tlie churches and
chapels dedicated to Our Blessed Lady in Canada ; sufBce it to say
that many of the parish churclies bear her name, and that, in all
the cities and towns, there is one altar dedicated to her wherever

each ; the gront window behind the high altar is 64 feet in height, by 32 in width.
The tota number of jirws is 1,244, cnpabie of seating between six nnd seven thononnd
persons. [Ouid<' In the Citiea of Ca/n/rf'/.]

>»>■.

iZtJi

H^.ti

' CHAP. XIV.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

\xru^:

there is a second one in the church. Throughout all the rural
flistricts Mary reigns supreme : her festivals are celebrated with all
possible solemnity, and her altars adorned as richly as the means
of the people will allow. There is scarcely a family all the country
over without a Mary, and it is no unfreqaent thing, amongst the
Fi'ench Canadians, to find several daughters of the same family
bearing the name of Maiy in addition to their distinctive appella-
tions. Za Savnte Vierge is still the chosen patroness of all Lower
(.'anada, from one end to the other, and it may with truth be said
that the wives and mothers of that province are entirely devoted
to that great queen, and live, for the most part, as becomes her
servants. Lower Canada is essentially Catholic, a fact which stares
the traveller in the face as he journeys along the peaceful highways-
At every few milefi he will perceive a pretty parish church raising
its cross-crowned steeple, and over its portal, perhaps, a small
statue of the Blesced Virgin set in a nichei The exterior of these
churches is simple enough, but within they are, in general, well
finished and tastefully decorated.*

And the sweet Mother of Christians is not insensible to all this
homage : many and many a time has she manifested her gratitude
and her protecting care on behalf of these good Canadians. Pass-
"ng over the numerous instances on record, we will only mention
wo which occurred within the last few years in view of the whole
^ rovince.

In 1847, when the terrible typhus fever raged in Montreal and
in all the ports of the St. Lawrence, many of the priests had
iilready fallen victims to the dreadful pestilence ; the devoted
(laughters of St. Vincent de Paul, the heroic Sisters of Charity,
had suifered severely, no less than thirteen of their number
having died within a few weeks ; the worthy bishop of Montreal
was at length attacked l)y the fever and the whole city was thrown
into consternation. Then it was, when all human succour was vain,

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* There arc also woodoii crosses ercetrd. nt short intervnis, to retniud the pi-ople
of Cliriat's passion and death ; they are geiieraUy accompanied by some of the
iii.slniment3 of Our Saviour's torture — the ladder the si)ear, the crown of thorns,
kc, and arc inclosed by a wooden railing.

^Ci

tsesna

2U8

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [OHAP. XIV.

that the faithful had recourse to the Mother of Mercy. A novena
was made in the church of Bon Secours for the recovery of the
bishop ; the good prelate himself made a vow that if the Blessed
Virgin would be pleased to arrest the progress of the pestilence by
her powerful intercession, and relieve his suffering people, he would
have the event recorded on canvass. The prayers were heard ; the
vow was accepted ; the fever stopped its ravages almost immedi-
ately; the bishop recovered, contrary to all expectation, and a
handsome painting was executed by his orders, representing the
emigrant sheds, the chief scene of the pestilence, the Sisters of
Charity and some ecclesiastics in attendance on the sick, with the
Blessed Virgin seated on a cloud, looking down on the sufferings
and the charitable labours of her faithful servants. The picture is
now to be seen over one of the side altars in the church of Bon
Secours.

The other instance referred to occurred during the visitation of the
cholera to Montreal in 1849. The disease was making fearful ravages
amongst the people, and was daily on the increase, when the same
pious prelate* had again recourse to the maternal heart of Mary.
The statue of the Blessed Virgin was borne in triumph around the
city, followed by a vast concourse of people, amounting, it \\ra8
thought, to twenty thousand, walking in procession with banners
fiying; some of the pious confraternities reciting the Rosary and
Litany, and others singing hymns. After visiting some others of
the churches, the procession returned to that of Our Lady of
Succour, and the scene at that moment was one which the mind
cannot easily forget. It was a lovely evening and a lovely sight
when the gray, soft, summer twilight faded into night, and the vast
multitude knelt in front of the quaint old church, lighted up and
wreathed with flowers as for a joyous festival. Above was the
cloudless sky, where Mary sits enthroned beside her divine Son,
and below, at the end of a long, long vista of glittering lights and
ovei'-arching boughs, Avas seen the statue of that amiable Virgin,
reminding the thousand, thousand supplicants, of her many claims

The Right Rev. Ignatius Bourget, titdar bishop of Montreal.

Y<f^'.

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OHA I'. XI V.J

BLESSED VIRGIN MAUY.

209

nw tbeir confidence and afiection. During the solemn benediction
of the Blessed Sacrament, the multitude without and within th*e
church joined in fervent prayer. Our Lady of Bon Secours again
extended her protecting arm over her own city, and in a few days
the cholera disappeared from Montreal.

In gratitude for this last favour, the good bishop replaced the
statue of Our Lady by one larger and more richly adorned, which
was bo^ne in solemn procession to the favourite shrine, and there
placed over the high altar in regal state. A crowned queen with
her maternal arms extended to embrace her humble clients, as we
see her in the representations of the Immaculate Conception.

In the cities of Lower Canada, the devotion to Mary is carried
un with pious fervour. The different confraternities belonging to
lior are aU in a flourishing condition. That of the Holy Scapular
is diffused all over the country, and the society of the Living
llosury is daily gaining gi-oajd. The urcli-confraternity of the
Sacred Heart of Mary for the Conver-s-ion of Sinners, was estab-
lished several years ago in Montreal, and it has borne good fruit
ill the numerous souls reclaimed from a life of sin through the
prayers of its membei's and the compassionate goodness of the
ever blessed Virgin.

Upper Canada is still far behind the sister j)rovince in religion,
owing to the comparatively small number of Catholics settled
there. Indeed, the intenor of the country is even yet but thinly
peopled, but its population is rapidly on the incnuose, and the
zealous missionaries of the Cross are located here and there at
regular intervals, like sentinels at their post. Tlie church of
Upper Canada is growing fast under the watchful care of the three
bishops of Toronto, Kingst(»n, and Bytown. These eminent pre-
lates are all fervently devoted to Mary, and are using their best,
endeavours, in concert with their respective clergy, to promote her
honour and glory ; to enrol the faithful in her confraternities, and
to place churches under her invocation. Convents are already
established in each of the cities, and both Kingston and Toronto
have magnificent cathedrals ; Bytown, too, has a large and hand-
some church, used as a catliedral since the town became an c])isco-
pal see.

H '

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B ^ 1^

. In the lower provinces of British America religior .r-gina to

raise her head. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's

Island, and the ialand of Newfoundland, have now their titular

a\ (X^ ]^ bishops, suflragans of the new archiepiscopal see of Halifax. The

good bishop of St. John's, N. F., lately undertook to prosecute the

building of a spacious cathedral, commenced many years ago by

his predecessor, and nothing could equal the enthusiasm with

which the honest fishermen of Newfoundland seconded his pious

undertaking. The people not only furnished great part of the

building materials, but drew thera to the spot, and the church

being placed on a steep hill, it was no easy matter to draw heavy

loiuis to the top. But this was no obstacle, or at least it was one

which the jnety of the people easily overcame; it was no uncommon

thing to see several fishermen drawing a cart up the hill loaded

witli wood or stone, and all seemed vicing with each other who

should do most to forward the work. Every one gave what he

could : those who had nothing else, freely gave their manual

labour. It has been justly observed that never, in modern times,

was the faith of Catholics, and its all-powerful efficacy, so strikingly

dijiplayed as in the building of a superb cathedi-al by the poor

fishermen of Newfoundland.* Honour to them, then, honour to

their pious prelate who incited them by word and example in their

nol)le enterprise, and honour, above all, to that " miracle- working

faith" which is more precious than gold or silver, or all that the

world holds dear ; that faith which makes the poor man rich, and

raises the humble above the princes of the earth ; that faith which

annihilates time and space, and raises men to a level with the

angels, doing the will of God, and " ministering unto Him !"

In August, 1852, there was a provincial synod held in Quebec,
on which occasion nearly all the prelates of British America were
present either in person or by proxy. The bishops of Upper
Canada were met in Montreal by some of the prelates of the lower
provinces, and, after vespers on a Sunday evening, a procession
was formed consisting of the greater part of the Catholic popula-

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Nfte Vork Freemav,^» Journal.

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Ate

oiiXp. XIV.J

MLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

tion of tlie city, to visit Our Blessed Lady iu her shrine of Bou
Secours, and to implore her blessing on the council about to open
during t ie following week ; at the head of the procession walked
six bi8^ops with the reverend Superior of the Seminary, followed by
the countless multitude of the faithful. A solemn benediction was
given at the altar of Bon Secours, and one of the prelates* ad-
dressed the assembly from the steps of the church, announcing the
object of the approaching assembly in Quebec, and soliciting th«
prnyei-s of the people on behalf of their pastors during the sitting
of the council, that the H^ly Ghost might preside over their
deliberations, and that Mary might be with them as she was of
old with the Apostles when they met together. This scene is one
of the proudest and most cherished reminisjoences in the annals of
Montreal, and will, we doubt not, be related with piide and plea-
sure by generations yet unborn.

It may be well to mention hero that the Indian tiibes of Canada
are for the most part firmly attached to the Catholic faith. They
have a large settlement near Quebec, named Loretto ;t one neai-
the southern shore of St. Lawrence, named Canghnawaga, and
another on the Lake of the Two Mountains, an expansion of the
river Ottawa. These people are extremely simple and well-dis-
posed, and are remarkable for their piety and i-everence for religion. J

When Bishop Flaget visited Canada a few years before his
death, he was taken by the Sulpicians of Montreal to visit the
Indian village on the lake of the Two Mountains, where an old
schoolmate of his was their pastor. Here a large band of Al-
gonquins came to visit him and to receive his blessing. They
bore before them a crimson banner, inscribed with the Ave Maria
of the Sulpicians ; and falling upon their knees, appeared fuU of
Immility and faith. They conducted him to their village, and on
his arrival, he was sainted with firing of cannon, while all tlm
inhabitants were on their knees to receive his benediction. At tluH
mass the Indians chanted canticles in two responding choirs, and
the bishop was moved even to tears. He next visited their stipci-b

• Tho Right Reverend Arraand de Charbonnel, bishop of Toronto.

f The chapel of Loretto was founded by the Jcs jit Father Chaiimonot, in fulfilment of a vow
made by him in France; it was opened for service in 1R74, and is an exact counterpart of th«
famous Santa Cata. J Ii/« of Bishop Flaget, p. 191.

W-

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OHAP. XV.J

MLESSED VIRGIN MART.

CHAPTER XV.

DKVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN THE UNITU) BTATKS.

If Canada and the other British provinces were discovered and
settled under the auspices of Mary, the same may be truly said of
the Grent West. Father Marquette, the illustrious Jesuit mission-
ary, who, in pursuit of " the lost sheep" through the pathless
forests of the west, discovered the great river since known as the
Mississippi, tells us himself that he had " always invoked Mary
since he had been in the Ottawa country, to obtain of God the
grace to l>e able to visit the nations on the river Mii^siss^ippi."* His
biographer tolls us that " fi-ora his pious mother the youthful Mar-
quette iiubil>e<J that warm, generous, and im wavering devotion to
the Mother of God, which makes him so conspicuous among her
8ervauts."f Marquette whs, in relation to the Mississippi, what
Jacques Cartier was to the St. Lawrence : each disclosed to the
civilized world a vast region before unknown, and both were ser-
vants of Mary. No other discoverer, in ancient or modern times,
occupies ao grand a position in history as the Jesuit Marquette.
Othei-s laboured and explored at the bidding of earthly princes,
for the advancement of human science, or, perhaps, even for self-
aggrandizement, but Marquette did all, undca-took all,/©;* the greater
glory of God, according to the well known motto of his order : no
earthly prince or princess gave him his commission, but Jesus Christ
was Ids sovereign, and Mary " the patroness of his mission.'' Thus
we find him having resource to her in all his doubts and dangers.
" Despairing now of being able to reach his destined goal without
the interposition of Heaven, the missionary turned to the patroness
of his mission, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, and with his two
companions began a novena in her honour. Nor was his trust
belied," adds the biographer ; " God heard his prayer, and his ill-

• Life of Father Marquette, bj' J. Q. Shea.
\ Narrative of Father .)fari]uelte, p. 0.

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UC38 ceased. Dming this painful wintering, whicli, for all his
expressions of comfort, was one of great hardship and suffering,
his 'houra were chiefly spent in prayer. Convinced that the terra
of his existence was drawing rapidly to a close, he consecrated this
period of quiet to the exorcises of a s])iritual retreat, in which his
soul overflowed with heavenly consolation, as rising above its frail
and now tottering tenement, it soared towards that glorious home
it was 80 soon to enter."* ' When opening a new mission amongst
the savages, we find him adorning the rustio altar which he had
raised with pictures of the Blessed Virgin, uuder whose invocation
he had placed his new mission ;f and when he felt his end aj)-
proaching, the names of Jesus and Mary were ever on his lips.J

* Life of Father Marquette, p. (59.

t Ibid.

X The ncconnt of tlic death of this famous missionary is so very beantiful that we
cannot forbear giving it here. " Calmly and cheerfully ho saw the approach of death,
for which he prepared by assidnons prayer ; his office he regularly recited to the last
day of his life ; a meditation on death, which ho had lOng since prepared for thi«
iiour, he now made the subject of liis tliou^hts ; and as his kind but simple compan-
ions seemed overwhelmed at the prospect of their approaching loss, he blessed some
water with the usual ceremonies, gave liis companions directions how to act in his
last moments, how to arrange his body wlien dead, and to commit it to the earth
with tlie ceremonies he prescribed. lie now seemed but to seek .: ^mve ; at last
perceiving the mouth of a river which iUill bears his name, he pointc '. to an erainenco
as the i)lace of his burial . . . His companions then erected a little bark cabin, and
stretched the dying missionary beneath it as comfortably ai their want permitted
them. Still a priest, rather than a man, ho thought of his ministry, and, for the last
time, heard the confessions of his conipanioiis, and encouraged them to rely with
confidence on the protection of God, then sent them to take the repose they so much
needed. When he felt his agony approaching, he called them, and taking his crucifix
from around his neck, he placed it in their hands, thanked the Almighty for the favour
of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a missionary, and alone. Then he relapsed into silence,
interrupted only by his pious aspirations, till at last, with the names of Jesus and
Mary on his lips, with his eyes raised as if in ecstasy above his crucifix, witii his face
all radiant with joy, ho passed from the scene of his labours to the God who was to
be his reward. Oliedicnt to his directions, his companions, when the first outbursts
of grief were over, laid out the body for burial, and to the .sound of his little chap'l
bell, bore it slowly to the spot which he had pointed out. Here they committed hie
body to the earth, nnd raising a cross above it, returned to their now desolate cabin
Such was the ediiViiig und holy death of the illustrious explorer of the Mississipni
on Satuplay, lSt!i Muy, Km."!." — Life of Futher Marquette, p. Ixxi.

i^fetSM

sii*mH2J^*

CHAP. XV.]

ni.KWKl) VIIUil.N .MAIIT.

b.\\

He died as ho had lived, devoted to the Mother of God, who had
ever been the especial oV)ject of his love and veneration. " The
piivilege," says his biographer, " which the Chui'ch honours under
the title of the Iniraaculato Conception, was the constant object of
his thoughts ; from his earliest youth, he daily recited the little office
of the Immaculate Conception, and fasted every Saturday in her
honour. As a missionary, a variety of devotions directed to the
same end, still show his love for her, and to her ho turned in all
his trials. When he discovered the great river, when he founded
his new mission, he gave it the name of the Conception, and no
letter, it is said, ever came from his hand that did not contain the
words, " Blessed Virgin Immaculate." The smile that lightcfd up
his dying face, induced his poor companions to believe that she hart
ii])peared befora the eyes of her devoted client.*

That the Blessed Virgin took an active part in the discovery of
the Mississippi, no candid mind can doubt. Marquette himself
tells us in his narrative that "he put his voyage under her pro-
tection, promising her, that if she did them the grace to discover
the great river, he would give it the name of Conception, and that
lie would also give that name to the first mission which he should
establish among those new nations, as he actually did among the
Illinois."f . . . The name which the pious missionary gave to the
Mississippi is found only in his own narrative, and on the nia)
which accompanies it. The name of the Immaculate Conception,
which he gave to the mission among the Kaskaskias, was retained
as long as that mission lasted, and is now the title of the church in
tli«^ present town of Kaskaskia. Although his wish was not real-
ized in the name of the great river, it has been fulfilled in the fact
that the Blessed Virgin, mider the title of the Immaculate Conce}>
tion, has been chosen by the prelates of the United States assem-
bled in a national council, as the patroness of the whole country,
"o that not only in tLe vast valley of the Mississippi, but from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, the Blessed Viigtu Immaculate is .ts dear

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1..I

niSTOllY Ol" THK DKVOTION TO TIIK

to every American Catholic as ia Our Lady of Oimdaloupo to our
Mexican neigli>iour«."*

The imnie(liat(3 succesaoiti of Marquette in the evangelization of
the wcHtern regi<ni9 were scarcely letw <levoted to Mary than hu
was himself. Thus we find Father Hennepin, a Recollet friar,
during his missions on the upper Mississippi, chanting the litany of
the Blessed Virgin as ho journeyed with his Indians in a canoe on
the great river. The name of Mary, and the glorious titles where-
with the Church delights to honour hei', wore among the first
Bounds that awoke the slumbering echoes of the Father of "Waters
after its discovery l»y Eui-opcans.

When the great valley of the Mississijjpi became partially
peopled by settlers from the different nations of Europe, religion
continued to progi-tiss until the fatal breaking up of the Jesuit
missions, when those zealous champions of the cross were forced to
leave tho rich harvest of their toil to bo gathered in by others ;
then the scattced flock, being deprived of pastoral care, and sur-
rounded by a half heathen population, began to lose the fervour
and simplicity of that faith which they had received in hai)pier
days : coldness and indiftVrence prevailed among them, and how
could it be otherwise, when they had neither bishop, nor priest, nor
sacrament. The Catholic regions of the west and south, the con-
quests of the Jesuits and Recollets, were fast falling away from
their high vocation. The Eixstern and Middle States were mean-
while peopled with an active, bustlinnr population, professing either
oome Protestant fancy^ which they called religion, or otherwise no
religion save that of expediency and worldly prosperity. The
immense countries now constituting the United States were on the
point of being lost to the universal church, but God in his own
good time raised up tho means of defence. A branch of the order
of St. Sulpice was founded at Baltimore, in the Catholic State of
Maryland, about ':he year 1791, and their establishment was a
tower of strength for Catholicity. The priests whom they trained
for the mission were vtv^w of rai'e prudence and of fervent zeal,

• Narrative of Father Marquette, See. i., p. 8, uote.

OIIAP. XV.]

ULICHMKI) VIIUIIN MAKY.

31'? I

duvottnl to tbo HloHsed Mother of God, aud ready to Hucrilici! all
for tho honour and glory of (lod. Baltimoro had already a hir^lmp
tho only cue south of the St. Luwivuce, east or west of tho AlKi-
^hani"8. The vouerabl« Hishop Carroll bore on his own shoulders
the nhole episcopal burden of all those infant churches founded by
tlir i-arly uiissionaries, and none but a man endowed with tho rarest
(lualities, r.nd tho most vigorous intellect, could have borne jus he
.lid, for many yeare, this heavy weight of care and responsibility,
or fulfilled the arduous duties of \m sjuired office.

In 1792 some pious missionaries arrived from France, and
amongst them was M. Flaget, afterwards bishop of Ix)uisville.
" Having unreservedly ofl'ered his services to Bishop Carroll, ho
cheerfully accepted from the latter the distant mission of Vincennes,
where there was a considerable number of French settlers, wIki
liad been long deprived of the services of a clergyman . . . . M.
Flaget arrived at Vincennes a few duNs before Christmas, 1792.
He found the church in a sadly dilai»idiited state. It was a very
poor log building, open to the weather, neglected, and almos*
tottering. The altar was a temj)orary structure of boards badly
put together . . . The congregation was, if possible, in n still more
miserable condition than the church. Out of nearly seven hundred
souls of whom it was composed, the missionary was able, with al!
his zealous efforts, to induce only twelve to approach the holy com-
munion during the ChristnuLs festiviti(!s. Ilis heart was filled with
anguish at tin; spiritual desolation which brooded over the i)lace."*
But things were soon changed : the zealous eft'orts of the pious
missionary, through the grace of (iod, soon fructified, and a mani-
fest change took place in tlm congregation, so that, at his depai-turt
from Vincennes, he might say with truth, says his biographer,
that if but twelve adults could be found, on his fii-st ai'rival, to
approach tho holy communion, there was then probably not more
than that number of pei-sons who were not pious communicants."

In 1811 the excellent pastor of Vincennes wjvs made bishoj) of
Rardstown, in Kentucky, the first bishopric erected in the West

.[i. :;o, 33, 35

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HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE [OHAP. XV.

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It was much against his will that he accepted the app')intment, but
he could not disobey the positive injunction of the Holy See, and
cheerfully gave up his own will for the good of religion and the
salvation of souls. He tells us himself, in a letter to the directors
of the Association for the Propagation of the Faith, that it was six
months afterwards before Le was enabled to reach Bardstown, his
episcopal see, and that through a subscription made by hia friends
in Baltimore.*

There was, as yet, no church in Bardstown — a poor prospect for
a bishop ; but M. Flaget was not the man to be easily discouraged
where there was question of doing good, or advancing the interests
of religion. The ceremony of his installation must, we think, be
interesting to our readers. " The Bishop there found the faithful
kneeling on the grass, and singing canticles in English : the country
women were nearly all dressed in white, and many of them were
still fasting, though it was then four o'clock in the evening ; they
having entertained a hope to be able on that day to assist at his
mass, and to receive the holy communion from his hands. An
altar had been prepared at the entrance of the first court, under a
bower composed of four small trees which overshadowed it with
their foliage. Here the bishop put on his pontifical robes. After
the aspersion of the ^ oly water, he was conducted to the chapel
in procession, with ilt4 singing of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin^
and the whole closed with the prayers and ceremonies prescribed
"^ for the occasion in the Roman Pontifical."!

€^^-

Here again we see Mary presiding over the installation of the
J*^/ ^* fii'st bishop of the West, and that the new prelate considered her
M vi protection as of the last importance to religion is clearly proved by
the interesting memoir from which we have already quoted. Pass-
ing through Lancaster, a village on his way, he found some Catholic
families of good standing in society, and baptized their children.
Ho had hopes that a good congregation would, in time, be formed

:im

* Annals of the Propagation, vol. iii., p. 189,
f Life of B'<shop Flaget, chap, iv., p. 72

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-t?,r<

CHAP. XV.]

there ; but he remarked with regret that " the devotion to the
Holy Virgin seemed unknown in those parts."*

At another station where the good Bishop remained some
days, he found, the church in such a miserable condition that ho
could not say mass. Not much more than a quarter of a century
has since passed away, yet these poor villages, so utterly destitute
of religious accommodation, have many of them become large
cities and episcopal sees, so rapidly do things progress in the West.
The biographer of Bishop Flaget quotes in tliis connection an
interesting passage from the Annals of the Propagation : " Follow-
ing the traces of this journey of seven hundred leagues, one would
say, that wherever Bishop Flaget pitched his tent, he there laid
the foundations of a new church, and that each one of his principal
halts was destined to become a bishopric. There is Vincennes, in
Indiana ; there is Detroit, in Michigan ; there is Cincinnati, the
principal city of Ohio; there is Buffalo, on the borders of the
lakes ; there is Pittsburg, which he evangelised in returning to
Louisville, after thirteen months' absence, after having given mis-
sions wherever, on his route, there was a colony of whites, a plan-
tation of slaves, or a village of Indians."

In 1799 the Russian prince Gallitzin, a convert to the Catholic
faith, who might well be called one of the apostles of North
America, established in western Pennsylvania a mission under the
title of Loretto, doubtless under the invocation of the Blessed
Virgin.

In 1812 a convent was founded in Kentucky, by the Rev.
Charles Nerinkx, for the education of young females, " and was
called Ixyi'etto^ after the famoi s asylum of the Holy Virgin m Italy.
Besides the object alluded to above, the sisterhood was to take
charge of destitute orphans, and its members were taught to love
poverty, and to earn their own livelihood by manual labour. They
were to cheiish a special devotion towards that model and pi'ide of
her sex, the pure and holy One, —

" ' Our tainted nature's solitary boast,'

* Uf« of Bishop Flaget, p. 109.

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HISTORY OF TIIK DEVOTION TO THE

the Imznaculate Mary, Mother of God made man. They were
styled, ' The Lovers of Mary at the foot of the C'rosa.' Standing
M-ith her near the Cross, they were daily to sympathize with the
dying Son and the afflicted Mother, with the pious ejaculations:
' O suffering Jesus ! O sorrowful Mary !' Such was the idea of the
sainted founder, and God bestowed an abundant blessing on his
enterprise. The society grew apace, and the most edifying fervour
reigned throughout the establishment of Loretto. The mother
house was soon able to send out colonies to other parts of
Kentucky, and subsequently to found houses iu Missouri and
Arkansas."*

"These women sought for poverty in every thing: in theii
monasteries, and in the plain neatness of their chapels . . . They
were the edification of all who knew them, and their singular piety
and penitential lives reminded one of all that we have read of the
ancient monasteries of Palestine and Thebais."f

" The same year (1812) which gave birth to the Loretto Society,
likewise witnessed the commencement of another sisterhood, des-
tined also to do much for p'-omoting the cause of religion and
education.''^ The mother house of this community is named
Nazareth in commemoration of the humble abode of Mary. The
members are known as the Sisters of Charity, and they are devoted
to the twofold object of teaching and exercising the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy. The institution has attained a high
reputation for sanctity and usefulness, and has extended itself far
and near over the country.

In 1819, when, in consequence of the increasing age and the
numerous infirmities of the venerable Bishop Flaget, a coadjutor
was given him, the new prelate was consecrated on the feast of
the Assumption, in the newly-erected cathedral of Louisville.
" This was the first episcopal consecration which took place beyond
(or west of) the Alleghany mountains," and we see that the cere-
mony was performed under tlie auspices of Onr Blessed Lady.

• IJfe of Bishop Flaget, p. 289- '.'0.

t Ibid.

+ Jhul., 291, 293.

<¥

'ci

^^ CHAP. XV.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

221

iHt

In 1820 the college of St, Joseph was founded, and in 1821 that
of St. Miry's ; both in Kentucky. Thus did the pious bishop,
who was mainly iustruraental in founding both, place the education
of the rising generation under the tutelary care of Mary and her
blessed spouse.

This holy patriarch of the West Avent to Rome about the year
1837, and having business to transact at Vienna, he made it a point
to visit the sanctuary of Loretto, " to satisfy that tender devotion
he had from childhood cherished towards the Immaculate Virgin,
Mother of God. He made a retreat there, under the direction of
the Jesuit father.* God was pleased to attest the sanctity of this
holy prelate, even by the gift of miracles, as we see from his
memoirs. The young lady thus miraculously cured was a Miss
Olympia de Monti; she was attacked by a fever, which finally
became of the most malignant kind, and she was reduced to the
very point of death. She received the holy viaticum with senti-
ments of the greatest fervour, and made up her mind that she was
to die. Just then Bishop Flaget was induced to pay her a visit.
When Madame de Monti had conducted him to her daughter's
room, she retired. The Bishop remained fifteen or twenty minutes
with Miss de Monti. Slie afterwards related to her parents thai
he gave her his blessing twice, and made the sign of the cross on
her forehead. Moreover, the holy prelate promised to pray for her
intention during nine consecutive days, and recommended to her to
recite the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, and a prater to the
Bhs-sed Virgin. The prayers were heard, and the young lady
was restored to health. This miracle is so well authenticated that
no rational mind can doubt it."f Je.^as and Mary, never invoked
in vain, were pleased to honour their faithful servant by this
miraculous cure.

" He had always cherished a most tender devotion to the Virgm
Mother of God ; he had imbibed this feeling at the same pure
fountain of living watei-s, from which all the saints of God — from

• Life of Bishop Flaget, p. 315.
■f /&»:</., p. 318-323.

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[chap. XV.

St. John, the beloved Jisciple, down to St. Alphonso Liguori — had
drank it in so abundantly. He had made it a practice through
life to recite a port of the Rosary daily ; and now, while unable to
perform other devotions which required reading, he gladly availed
himself of the occasion to multiply this simple, but touching form
of supplication."*

Following the march of civilization to the Far West, we find in
the van the stalwart champion of the Cross, the Rev. Father de
Smet, and M. Blanchet, now the venerable archbishop of Walla
Walla. The former may truly be called the apostle of Oregon, the
greatest explorer of the western wilderness since the days of
Father Marquette.

We find this illustrious missionary planting the devotion to Mary
wherever he went, side by side with the worship of God. At each
of his principal missions he gave her name to either a church, a
school, or some other charitcblo institution. Thus, when a convent
of the sisters of Notre Dame was establ'shed in Willajuette, its
chapel received the name of St. Mary's ; when a church was erected
amongst the Flathead Indians, it was named St. Mary's Church ;
that established amongst the Flatbows was dedicated to Mary,
under the title of the Assumption, and that of the Koetensis was
called the Church of the Koly Heart of Mary.f " Nowhere," says
Father de Smet himself, " nowhere does religion make greater
/^ progress or present brighter prospects for the future than in
Oregon." J We ha^e every reason to hope that this remark will
be verified, for the foundations of those infant churches were well
laid. " On the feiist of the Holy Heart of Mary," says the mis-
sionary again, " I sang High Mass, thus taking spiritual possession
of this land, which was now for the first time trodden by a minister
of the Most High. This station bears the name of the Holy Heart
of Mary."§ Speaking of another tribe amongst whom he cele-
brated the f.;ast of the Assumption, he says, " Since my arrival

^'S^

■t^ CHAP. XV.J

ULl-aSED VIKOIN MAIIY.

223

among the Indians, the feast of the glorious Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary has ever been to me a day of great consola-
tion . . . The Cross was elevated on the border of a lake, and the
station received the beautiful name of the Assumption. Under
the auspices of this good mother, in whose honour they have for
many years sung canticles, we hope that religion will take deep
root and flourish amidst this tribe, where union, innocence, and
■iimplicity reign in full vigour."* A Canadian, settled in those
1 larts, had been many years without seeing a priest, and on hearing
)f the arrival of the missionaries at the source of the Columbia,
(near which he resided,) he hastened thither with his wife and
iiildren in order to have them baptized. "The fer.st of the Na-
i\ity of the Blessed Virgin, this favour was conferred on them.
. . This was a solemn day for the desert ! The august sacrifice of
\[ass was offered ; Morigeau devoutly approached the Holy Table.
At the foot of the humble altar he leceived the nuptial benedic
rion, and the mother, surrounded by her children and six little
Indians, was regenerated in the holy waters of baptism. In mem-
ory of so many benefits, a large cross was erected in the plain,
V. hich, from that time, is called the Plain of the NativityP^

The name of St. Mary's river was also given to one of the prin-
L'ipal streams in those remote regions,;}; so that woods, and wilds,
iiid waters, were alike consecrated to her, and her name impressed
on every striking object. When the good Indians prayed for their
benefactors, it was the Rosary they recited for them,§ invok-
ing the tender heart of Mary on their behalf. " How happy
■iljould I be," writes Father de Smet to one of these benefactors,
•' liow happy should I be, could I give you to underatand how
o'reat, how sweet, how enrapturing is their devotion to the august
Motlier of God ! The name of Mary, which, pronounced in the
Indian language, is something so sweet and endearing, delights and
cliarms them. The hearts of these good children of the forest

* Oregon Misxlous, p. 135.

t Ibid., p. 121.

X Ibid., p. 21S,

§ Ibid., i)p. '24r), 246.

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HISTORY OF THK DEVOllON TO THE [CHAP. XV.

melt, and seem to overflow, when they sing the praises of her
whom they, as well as we, call their mother."* In another place,
the whole week preceding the Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Mary was devoted to the preparation for receiving the Holy Com-
munion on that festival. And again, we find the hunting-party
who travelled with the missionary, stopping under the shade of a
majestic tree to celebrate the feast of the divine maternity. " The
sun's last rays had long disaj)peared beneath the horizon, ere all
was ready for the evening prayer. After which, notwithstanding
the fatigues of the day, a fire was kindled before the missionary's
tent, and the greater part of the night consecrated by these fer-
vent children of the woods, to tho reconciliation of their souls with
God."t

How beautiful is the fervour of these guileless Christians ; how
edifying their example ! Religious confraternities had been formed
amongst them at St. JNIary's, and when their spiritual father was
forced to leave them, to bear the tidings of salvation to others of
their brethren, we find them adding some short ejaculations to their
morning and evening prayers ; " fii-st, to the Heart of Jesus, as
protector of the men's confraternity ; second, to the Blessed Virgin,
patroness of the women's sodality ; third, to St. Michael, model of
the brave ; fourth, to St. Raphael, the guide of travellers ; fifth, to
St. Hubert, the patron of hunters ; sixth, to St. Francis Xavier, for
the conversion of idolaters. We shall see," adds the zealous mis-
sionary, " that these pious aspirations were not addressed to
Heaven in vain.";}; Let us hope that such may be the case, and
that the vast regions thus happily evangelized, may continue to
progress in civilization — that true civilization founded on religion —
and that Mary, the Mother of God, may ever reign over the hearts
of its people, of what origin soever they may be.

Now that we have followed the veneration of Mary in its pro-

* Oregon Missions, p. 284.

t I/ji'l., pp. 389, 390.

X The present Archbishop of Baltimore, the Most Rev. Dr. Kenrick, when Bishop 'l
of Philadclphio, composed a very excellent manual of devotion for the Month of
Mary.

HI i

OUAi*. XV.J

BLESSED VmoiN MARY.

J25

gress through the Fai* West, let us return to the eastern regions of
the vast empire known i ■ the United States. It would carry us
far beyond our prescribed iiraits to give even a brief sketch of the
foundation of each bishopric and archbishopric ; and as we have
only to do with the histoi-y of the devotion to Mary, that erd will
be best attained by a cursory glance at the diiferent churches, con-
vents, colleges, and seminaries in her honour and placed under her
patronage. It may be well, however, to show the exact state of
the hierarchy of America before I proceed farther, as the subject
is so closely connec+ed with that on which I profess to treat. It ie
a well-known fact that the prelates of the United States are collec-
tively and individually devoted to the Blessed Virgin, under whose
pi'otection they formally placed their several bishoprics in the first
general council of Baltimore. Each one of them endeavours to
promote the devotion to her by all the means in his power, and in
every city of the United States the exercises of the Month of Mary
are publicly performed in the different church'is; the society of
the Living Kosaiy and that of the Holy Scapular have been intro-
iV ed into most of the towns and cities, and the fruits of these
devotions are already mauifc! '-f.d in tlie increased piety and fervour
of the faithful.

Fii-st in the order of tune* is the see of Baltimore, the mothei-
church of the United State.^, these many yeara invested with the
priuiatial dignity. There are in the arch-diocese, or province of
Baltimore, about twelve churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin
under her various titles, exclusive of the convent chapels ; one of
the chief theological seminaries is called St. Mai-y's, in her honour,
and the other Mount St. Mary's ; the latter is fan.ous throughout
the Union, and is also known as Mount St. Mary's College. There
are also five convents of the order of the Visitation, one of Our
Ladj' of Mount Carmel, and one of the SisLers of Notre Damo.
In the city of Baltimore alone there are foui* or five churches and
chap(!ls under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin.

The diocese of Charleston has one church dedicated to Mary

* The followiii^^ atfttisl' s ure taken fnmi the Cutholic Ahnaiwc for .854.

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220

HISTORY OF THE DKVOTION TO TIIK [CHAI'. XV.

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and one to Mary and Joseph ; St. IMiiryV Collegiate Institution,
and one convent of the order of Our Lady of Mercy,

In the diocese of Philadelphia there are sixteen churches and
chapels under the invocation of Mary ; three of these are in the
city of Philadelphia, viz., St. Mary's Church, the Chapel of Our
Lady of Consolation, and the Church of the Assumption. There
is aliO St. Mary's College at Wilmington, Delaware State.

1'here are in the diocese of Pittsburg eleven churches and
chapels dedicated to the Blessed Virgin ; of these, four are in the
city of Pittsburg. One of them bears the title of Our Lady of
M« Tcy. There is also a convent of the Sisters of Mercy,

The new diocese of Erie has already four churches bearing the
name of Mary ; it has also a town called St, Marystown. A veiy
good beginning for so young a diocese.

In the arch-diocese of Cincinnati ther^ are fifteen churches and
chapels under <'.he invocation of the Blessed Virgin, exclusive of
the chapel of the Convent of Notre Dame in the city of Cincin-
uati. Overhanging the city is Mount St, Mary's, with its ecclesi-
astical seminary, Tn Cincinnati there' is an establishment of the
sisters of Notre Dame, and two female academies with the name
of St, Mary's.

The diocese of Cleveland has, in the city of Cleveland, one church
dedicated to St. Mary, and one at Harrisburg, to the Sacred Heart
of Mary. The ecclesiastical seminary of the diocese is also named
St. Mary's.

TJie diocese of Louisville (formerly Bardstown) has, in the city
I* of Louisville, the cathedral dedicated to Our Lady, under the
title of the Assumption, the church of the Immaculate Conception,
(for the use of the German population,) that of Notre Dame du
Port, (Our Lady of the Port.) and also a chrpel at the Orphan
Asylum, called the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, At
Manton, is the Church of the Holy Rosary ; St, Mary's, in Marion
county ; and St. Mary of the Woods, in Davies county. Near New
Haven, in Kentucky, is the famous abbey of Our Lady of La
Trappe, affiliated to the great mother house of the order in France,
Thei-e is also St. Mary's College in the same diocese ; Nazareth
Convent, belonging to the Sistei-s of Charity, and another excellent

OIIAP. XV.]

BLESSED VIRGIN MART.

5^27

institution, tlie Sistei's of Loretto, already mentioned in our akstoh
of the progress of religion in Kentucky.

In the new diooose of Covington, (establisheu only in July,
1853,) the cat.ie.'.itti, not yet completed, is to be dedicated to St.
Mary ; there are also, in the city of Covington, 'he Church of 8t«
Mary's, and the Church of the Mother of God.

In the diocese of Vincennes there are three churches dedicated
to the Blessed Virgin, and one to the Holy Family ; the university
of Notre Dame du Lac; the convent of the Sisters of Providence,
called St. Mary's of the Woods. There is also St. M&ry's Female
Orphan Asylum in the city of Vincennes.

In the new diocese of Wheeling there is one church dedicated
to St. Mary, and also a convent of the Visitation ; the latter is in
the episcopal town of Wheeling.

The diocese of Detroit has four churches called St. Mary's, (onn
of them in the episcopal city,) two in honour of the Assumption,
and one bearing the title of the Holy and Immaculate Heart of
Mary ; St. Mary's Hospital, in Detroit, a convent of the Sisters of
Notre Dame, and an academy under the care of the Sister-servants
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, There is also St. Mary's
academy, conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, at Bertrand,
in Michigan.

In the Apostolic Vicariate of upper Michigan, lying around the
lake shore, and embracing the islands which stud its bosom, we
find a church dedicated to St. Mary, and another bearing the title
of the Holv Name of Jesus.*

Passing down to the extreme south, we find in the arch-diocese
of New Orleans nine churches dedicated to Mary, under various
titles ; a parish bearing the name of Assumption, a 'iollege of the
Immaculate Conception, and two convents of the order of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel.

In the diocese of Natchez we find St. Mary's Cathedral in the

* The Indians belonging to this mission are continually advancing in civilization,
good religions conduct, and indnstrious habits. They live peaceable and contented,
and enjoy already, in this world, the reward of their sobriety and Christian-like moda
of living. — Catholic Almanac, 1854, p. 136.

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ni(<T()IlY OK THK DKVOTION TO TIIK [ciIAP. XV.

episcdpal city ; ono church hearing tho naintf of St Mnry of the
Springs, uuothor that of the Assumption, unothor Our Latly of the
Gulf, and another of the Nativity. In tlie city of Natchez, the
Orphan Asylum and gchool are under the patronage of St. Mary.

Coming to the great valley of the MissiBsippi, we there find the
arch-diocese of St. Louis growing with a rapidity almost unexam-
pled ; in the episcopal city of St. Louis there is the church of Our
Lady of Victory (commonly called St. Mary's) ; at Carondelet,
the seat of the theological seminary of St. Louis, the church of St.
VTaiy and St. Joseph, and five other churches dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin under her several titles, throughout the diocese j
also, St. Mary's Preparatory Seminary, two establishments of the
Sisters of Lorotto, and a convent of the Visitation.

The diocese of Chicago has its cathedral dedicated to St. Mary ;
nine churches of a similar title, one of the Maternity of the Blessed
Virgin, and one of the Immaculate Conception; the University >f
St. Mary of the Lake, two convents of the Sisters of Mercy, St.
Mary's Female Orphan Asylum, and two free schools under the
same patronage.*

In the new diocese of Quincy there are four churches dedicated
to St. Mavy, one to the Holy Family, three to Our Lady the Help
of Christia is, and two in honour of the Immaculate Conception.

In the diocese of Dubuque we find one church bearing the title
of St. Mary's, one of the Immaculate Conception, and one of the
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin. This diocese, like that of Louis-
ville, is blessed with a Cistercian monastery of Our Lady of La
Prappe ; it has also a convent of the Visitation, and St. Mary's
Female Academy belonging to the Sisters of Charity of the
Blessed Virgin. i

The new diocese of St. Paul's, comprising the whole territory of
Minnesota, has as yet made but little progress, being for the most
part very thinly settled ; its woods and wilds are yet but little

* Confraternities of the Rosary, the Scapular, the Si Ted Heart of Jesus, and
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, hi^ve been established wi several of the principal
churches. — Catholic Almanac fur 1854, p. 135.

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CIIAl'. XV.]

229

known to Europeans, and its vast prairies are still tho haunt of the
buffalo and bison ; its churches are few, and })uilt only of logs, bnt
there is a good piospect for tlie future ; there is a cliurch about to
bo built in honour of Our Lady of the Visitation. Amongst the
Indian mistions belonging to this diocese, there is one under the
patronage of Our Lady of Seven Dolors.

Next to St. Paul is the diocese of Santa F6, consisting of the
territory of Now Mexico. This new diocese was chiefly settled
from Mexico, as wo see by the Spanish titles of the churches and
chapels, and also from the number dedicated to Our Blessed Lady.
Honour to the noble Spanish nation ! — its descendants, however
remote, seldom fail to cherish the jmous traditions of their worthy
fathers. Well may this infant diocese be called Santa Fe, for we
trust it bids fair to do honour to the Holy Faith. In the city of
Santa Fo we find Our Lady of the Light, Our Lady of Guada-
loupe, Our Lady of the Kosary, and the chapel of the convent of
Our Lady of the Light ; and scattered over the vast diocese there
are no less tlian twelve churches and chapels dedicated to Our
Lady under various titles. There is also, in the episcopal city, the
convent of Our Lady of Light, belonging to the Sisters of Loretto.
How ingenious are these good Spaniards in devising titles of love
and honour for our common Mother !

In the diocese of Nashville we find the cathedral of the Seven
Dolora, the church of the Immaculate Concoption, and St. Mary's
school for girls. The arch-confraternity of the Immaculate Con.
ception, for the conversion of sinners, is established in all the
churches of the diocese.* This is, in itself, a sufficient guarantee
for the prosperity of the diocese of Nashville ; wherever such a
^ (ciety exists, there religion is sure to flourish, and piety to increase
amongst the faithful.

Come we now to Albany, a young, yet flourishing diocese, taken
a few years since from the overgrown diocese of New York. In
the episcopal city of Albany the cathedral, a superb building,
bears the title of the Immaculate Conception, and there is also in

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IlldrollY OF TUK DKVOTION TO TUE [CIUI'. XV.

the same city St. Mary's Church. This diocese is honourably dis-
tinguished by tlio number of churches it has placed under the
invocation of the Mother of God : exclusive of the two already
mentioned in the episcopal city, there are no loss than nineteen of
its churches dedicated to Mary. It hjw also St. Mary's Asylum for
lioys, St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, and three schools under the
patronage of the Blessed Virgin. The arch-confraternity of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary is established at the cathedral, and the
society of the Living liosary in nearly all the churches of the
diocese.*

In the diocese of Hartford we find thirteen churches and chopels
under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin : of these there are two
in the city of Providence, one of them being a children's chapel,
dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy ; one at Crompton, to Our Lady
of Mount Carmel ; and one at Newport, to Our Lady of the Isle ;
this last is the tutelary church of Rhode Island. There is also St.
Mary's Convent in Hartford.

The new diocese m" Bufl'alo has four churches called St. Mary's,
and one in honour of the Immaculate Conception. The e.vcellent
bishop of Buffalo has not, as yet, been enabled to carry out his
pious intentions for the promoticm of religion in his diocese. Lot
us hope that the time is not fur distant when this large bishopric
\.ill be as thickly studded with monuments of devotion to Mary as
even the piety of its chief pastor could desire.

In the diocese of Savannah, embracing Georgia and part of
Florida, we find, in the episcopal city, the chapel of Our Lady of
Mercy, and in other parts of the diocese, St. Mary's Church, the
Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Church of the Assump-
tion, the Church of the rurification, and the Cimrch of St. Mary,
Star of the Sea ; also a convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy. The society of Our Lady the Help of Christians is estab-
lished in Savannah, and also the confraternity of the Rosary.

The diocese of Richmond, comprising the eastern part of Vir

•o

* Catholic Almanac for 1854, p. 183.

CHAP. XV.J

Ht.l'>*sKI> VIKOIN MARY.

>31

ginia, hiu one church xuu\or th« invocation of St. Mary, and also
im Orphan Asylum, anil a froo school bearing her name.

We have now reached the diooj-H'* of Boston, consisting of the
State of Massachusetts, one of the oldest and most respected sees
of America. In the episcopal city of Boston we find St. Mary's
Church, and the Chapel of the Holy Family; eighteen other
churches already dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and one about to
be built in her honour under her beautiful title, Star of the Sea.
There is also in Boston a female school under the patronage of St.
Mary, conducted by the sisters of Notre Dame. So much for the
Puritan city of Boston, the capital of old anti-Catholic New Eng-
land.

The infrnt diocese of Portland, embracing Maine and New
Hampshire, has already no less than seven churches dedicated to
the Mother of God.

The diocese of Burlington, consisting of the State of Vermont,
iiikI but recently erected, hjis three churches placed under the invo-
eation of Mary.

Next comes the arch-diocese of New York, and in it we find six
churches* under the special invocation of Mary, and St. Mary's Free
School in New York city, conducted by the Sisters of Charity.
The arch-confraternity of the ImmacuLate Heart of Mary is estab-
lished in nearly all the churches, and also the society of the Rosary.

The new diocese of Brooklyn has five churches dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin ; of these, two are in the episcopal city of Brooklyn.
The arch-confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is estal>
lished in the Church of the Assumption, and the society of the
Rosary in many of the others.

Newark is also a newly-erected diocese, but it, too, has several
churches in honour of Mary : the episcopal city has one S\ Mary's
church, and there are ten others in various parts of the diocese.

* The iin-h-diocese of New York is not fairly reprL'seiited in this cnumcriition :
it would seem from t\w rompiiratively small luimlifir of churches it has dcdicntetl to
Mary, to he deficient in love and veneration for her, but be it remembered that the
two dioceses of Brooklyn and Newark have been taken from it within the last year,
Hud they have each a lii-jfe number.

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IIISTOUY OF THJC DEVOTION To THE [OHAP. XV.

The diocese of Mobile has dedicated its cathedral to Our Blessed
Lady, under the title of the Immaculate Conception. It has also
a convent of the Visitation.

Even the uewly-settled province of California, known to the
church as the arch-bishopric of San Francisco, and the bishopric of
Monterey, has one of its churches dedicated to Our Lady of the
Angels (los Aiujehs). There is hope for that remote region, wild
as its condition is, so long as religion has planted the cross on its
world- renowned soil, and hoisted the banner of Mary. The one
solitary church will, we doubt not, be followed by many others in
honour of the Queen of Angels.

In the diocese of Milwaukie (State of Wisconsin) we find no less
than thirteen churches under the invocation of Our Blessed Lady,
and one dedicated to the Holy Family : a convent of thp Sistei-s of
Notre Dame, and an academy for young ladies, under the patron-
age of St. Mary of the Holy Angels. The arch-confraternity of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Rosary Society, are estab-
lished in many of the churches. It will be seen, from this, that the
devotion to Our Lady is already flourishing in Wisconsin, although
the country is far from being all settled. What can be more
cheering than to see the desert thus made to blossom like the rose,
and the dark places to shed light on more civilized lands !

Passing on towards the Rocky Mountains, we come upon the
diocese of Little Rock, consisting of the State of Arkansas, and
there we find in the episcopal city, a chapel to Our Lady of Mercy,
d convent of the same title, a church dedicated to St. Mary, and a
site called Mount St. Mary's.

The newly-annexed State of Texas is now the diocese of Gal-
veston, and even there, on the extreme verge of civilization, we
find St. Mary'a Cathedral, St. Mary's Church, St. Mary's Chapel,
the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, of Our Lady del Pilar,
and of the Immaculate Conception. There is at San Antonio a
religious community culled the Brothers of Mary.

In the Nebraska Territory there are the following churches and
chapels dedicated to the Mother of God. The church of the Im-
maculate Conception on Kansas river, the chapel of the Seven
Doloi's on Mission Creek. In the heart of the Indian Territory

tf^sr*^,

CHAP. XV.J

BLESSED VIKOIN MAKY.

23a

there is a convent of the Sisters of Loretto, wh "> are engaged in
teaching the children of the natives. In the arch-diocese of Oregon
city we find a church of the Immaculate Conception, and two
establishments of the Sisters of Notre Dame. The sister diocese
of Nesqualy has a chapel to Mary, Star of the Sea, and one in
honour of the Immaculate Conception.

Here, then, is a brief summary of the present state of the devo-
tion to Mary on this Western continent : of Mexico I have said
nothing, because the Abbe Orsini has given it a passing notice
when speaking of America, but I have endeavoured to give the
feader a bird's-eye view of all the other countries as they now
stand in their relation to the ever blessed Mother of God. Some
more competent historian may hereafter take up the subject, and
treat it as it deserves..

Canada, and especially Lower Canada, has ever been devoted to
the Blessed Virgin ; the fervour of the early settlers has scarcely,
if at all, diminished, and Mary is now, in the nineteenth century, as
loved and honoured by the great mjiss of the French Canadians as
slie was two hundred years ago, when Champlain and de Maison-
iieuve, Sister Bourgeoys, and Madame de la Pelletrie, all vied with
each other in promoting her glory. Nor is this devotion of Mary
confined to the descendants of the French settlers : the Irish emi
grants are gradually spreading abroad over all the country, and
wherever they go, they bring with them at least the germ of that
devotion, and readily fall in with the French ceremonies and reli-
gious exercises, in honour of her who is especially dear to them as
the most afflicted of Catholic nations. In fact, no people are more
sincerely devout to Mary than the Irish : from their earliest ymith
they are trained up in love and reverence for her : the devotion of
the Rosary and that ">f the Holy Scapular are popular in every
part of Ireland, and in the cities, there are various other confra.
teri'ities est.nblished in honour of Mary. Hence it is that they
propagate, with the Catholic faith, that reverence for the Blessed
Virgin which has raised so many noble churches and convents in
lier honour tliroughout the United States. The German Catholics
have also contributed larirely to spread this devotion : many of
their churclie^ in the American cities are dedicated to Mary, while

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lilsroUY OF THJS DKVOllON TO lllK LoiIAH. XV.

"Si

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the iSpanish element, so strong in tht* South aud South-west, hat*
donu much to promote the public veueratiou uf the Mother of God.

America, then, from north to soutli, from Hudson's Bay to the
Gulf of Mexico, and from Chili to Massachunetta, is deeply imhned
with the devotion to M *ry. Monti-eal, the capital of the British
provinces, is still, and will, we trust, ever be the city of Mary,
seated like a queen on her own majestic river, and watching with
anxious interest the increasing homage offered to her divine Mis-
tress in the less favoured countries around. Even in the United
States the prospect is cheering : within the last few yeai-s religious
comii. unities are springing up every where under the auspices of
the liisliops, and the masses of the people are beginning to catch
^i»iii' of the holy fervour of their prelates.

Ill Ireland, the Apostle-nation of the world, there is, just now,
a f.'i eat revival taking place under the new impulse given to religion
by tlie great national Synod of Thurles, opened and conducttd
umler the patronage of Mary, and followed up by provincial synods
in every part of the country. Religious institutions ai-e being
founded and revived all the country over: the ancient churches
and monasteries, so long i-uined and deserted, are now being re-
stoied ; some of them with renovated splendour, and the National
Univei-sity about to be founded in Dublin will be, as it were, an
impregnable bulwark for the Irish Church — a wall of brass rearing
itself up against the furious attacks of heresy and infidelity. And
j Mary will reign as a queen within those honoured walls, presiding
r over the education of the generations who are yet to come, and of
the faithful missionaries who are to perpetuate the faith of Christ
ftnd the devotion to her through all the nations of the earth, who
in her are biassed.

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$il0nmagt8.

CHAPTER XVt

PIL0BIMA0X8 OF rBAMO*.

"The practice of making pilgrimages," says Michaud,* "bas been
encouraged In all religions ; it is, moreover, based on a sentiment
natural to man."

This remark is just and true ; all nations have had consecrate'l
places whither they made it a duty to repair, at certain commemo-
rative periods, to obtain favours more easily from the divinity, by
visiting the sites whicb they believed sanctified by his presence or
by his miracles.

Pilgrimages are as ancient as society itself ; those of the East
are, nearly all, connected with diluvian memories; indeed, those
pilgrimages, whose institution is lost in the obscurity of time, have
generally, for their object, the lofty mountains whereon was formed
the kernel of the great nations of Asia, who choose to descend
like their rivers, from the rocky bosom of their mountains. The
Chinese, who style themselves sons of the mountains, climb on their
knees the steep sides of Kicou-hou-chan ; the eastern Tartars go to
venerate the mountain of Chan-pa-chan, as the root of their tribes*
and some of the Gentile Hindoos, that of Pyr-pan-jal; the Japanese
undertake, at least, once in their life, the perilous pilgrimage of
Jsje, a mountain from which their ancestors descended : the Apala-
chites, or Floridian savages, repair, on the return of every season,
to sacrifice on Mount Olaimi, in thanksgiving to the sun who, they
say, saved their fathers from a deluge, <tc. These pilgrimages are
founded on traditions corrupted by time, but undoubtedly histo-
rical; in them- are perceived the traces and the etfects of the terror
which prompted the building of the famous tower of Babel. Dis-
couraged by the confusion of tongues, the post-diluvian tribes,
finding that they could not take refuge in towers reaching to the

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236

IllSTOHT OF Tire DKVOTIO.V TO THE CHAP. XVI.J

clouJs, took up their abode on high mountains, to preserve them-
selves, if possible, from the disastrous consequences of another
deluge. It was only when pasturage failed on the mountains, and
tV.e soil would not yield sufficient produce to support the rising
colonies, t^ ' they were forcec^ to settle on the plains which they
had often irain before they wero fit for tillage. Hence comes
the resp entertained by the Eastern nations for their sacred
mountaipi, a respect which they testify by annual visits, accompa-
nied by vows, offerings, and prayers.

After having venerated the cradle of nations, men venerated
that of creeds ; then the sites which recalled great remembrances ;
then pei'sons who made themselves illustrious by heroic or religious
acts. Thus it is that the gratitude of the Jewish people pre-
serves, from age to age, the tomb of Esther and of Mardochai,
whither the Hebre»vs, from every part of Asia, go on pilgrimage
for two thousand years. Strange it is that the tomb of two exiles,
erected by the gratitude of some captives, has survived the great
Assyrian empire, and that it alone suves the ruins of Ecbatana
frop\ utter oblivion !

Man is like the ivy ; he must rest somewhere, and cling to some-
thing that he may have courage to live. When he finds neither
sympathy nor jonsoLation among his fellows, he instinctively con-
jures up the beings of a better world, and seeks from them that
succour which society either will not 02' cannot give. Of this we
have a remarkable proof in the conduct of the Indians, when op-
pressed by the first Portuguese viceroys ; these unarmed and inof-
fensive people, finding neither protection nor support from the
successors of Alphonso d'Albuquerque, sat down, as suppliants,
before the tomb of that gi-eat man, to demand from the illustrious
dead that justice which the living would not grant eitlier to their
rights or their prayeis.

Protestantism, which discolours and pulverises all it touches, did
not fail to do away with the pious visits which Christians made in
every age to places sanctified by the sufferinirs of Christ, or those
which li's Mother made famous by lier favoirs. Turks, the infu-
riate enemies of images, have lighted gold -n lamps before the
altars of Mary ; but what Protestant has ever placed a lamp in

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the Holy Sepulchre; what Protestant has prayed before the manger
of Bethlehem, as did Saladiii and the Caliph Omar? "These local
devotions," say they, " are superstitions : God is everywhere.''
Doubtless God is everywhere, aud Catholics know it well ; they
have not yet to learn the first question of their catechism. They
knew, fifteen centuries before the time of the apostate monk, Lu-
ther, and they know it now, that God hears in all places the prayer
of the faithful soul ; but what is there to prevent God from attach-
ing some particular graces to those ancient shrines where he has
often vouchsaftfd to manifest his power by prodigies. There was
many a verdant hill in Judea which he might have pointed out to
David for the place of his temple, yet he chos'- tl>e rocky threshing-
floor of Arenna, the Jebusito, because he had there once before
displayed his mercy ;* and also, if we may believe a charming tra-
dition, pi-eserved like a desert-flower amid the dark tents of Arabia,
because the place was sanctified of old by a noble instance of fra-
ternal love.f Man is, by nature, so imperfect and so prone to evil,

* It WHS over the threshing-floor of Areuna that tlie destroying angel ceased his
ravages, after the ])ruyer of David. " From all time," says a great ecclesiastical
Wiltti-, "God has particularly marked on' certain places for receiving the prayers
and vows of men. One raust be more incredulous as to the history of the church
than to any other, not to believe tliat God wishes his saints to be sjjocially lionourod
in certain places where he bestows graces not given c'sewhcre, and this in order to
attract the nations.

f Jerusalem was a ploughed field ; two brothers owned the lot of ground on which
the temple was subsequently built ; one of these brothers was married, and had
Boveral cliildren ; the other lived alone, but they farmed together the piece of ground
left them by their father. The harvest-time being como, the two brothers bounc". up
their sheaves, of which they made two equal shares, and left them on the field. Du-
ring the night there came a happy thought into the mind of the unmarried brother.
He said to himself, " My brother has a wife and children to feed, and it is not meet
that my share should be as large as his ; I will go then and jiut some of my sheaves
witii his secretly ; knowing nothing of it, he cannot refuse them." And he end
accordingly. The same night, the other brother awoka, and said to his wife, " My
brother is young ; he lives alone, and has no one to comfort him in his toil and
fatigue ; it is not just that we sliould tak(! from the con-.nion field as much as he ; let
us arise and add some of our sheaves to his without his knowledge, so that he cannot
refuse to take the slieaves." And it was done as he said. Ne.vt day, each of the
brothers was surprised to see that the heaps were still equal ; neither could aeeount
for the prodigy. So it went on for several nights ; but us each carried to liis brnther'ss

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iriSTOKY OF THE nEVOTION TO TIIK OUAP. XVI.J

that he hns always some expiation to make before approaching the
source of all sanctity ; when that expiation seems to him in some
measure proportionate to the fault, he feels a more sensible trust in
the assistance of Heaven ; hence came tVe generous confiden''e of
the martyrs, who hoped in proportion to their sufferings. The
pilgrim acts on the same principle ; to prayer he adds fatigue, pri.
vation, and thf + '1 of travel, and he hopes, in virtue of the sufter-
ings he impo8e> . himself, that he may find favour with God who
himself 8uffere« • o much 1 How can such a hope bo vain ?

The illustrious Robertson, unblinded by the narrow privileges
of his sect, candidly acknowledges the benefits for which Europe is
indebted to foreign pilgrimages. In the fii"st place, the enfranchise
ments of the commons, the creation of commerce and shipping, the
propagation of knowledge, the improvement of agriculture, and
the introduction of numberless plants and trees, with various kinds
of grain, which now contribute to the maintenance of the western
nations ; then, the emancipation of the serfs to which the pilgrim-
ages contributed more than any thing else ; for the feudal lord who
miiigled, barefoot, with the pilgrims of all conditions who set out
with him on some holy journey, (i ea(/e,) more easily understood,
in those hours of penance and humility, that those despised slaves,
whom antiquity placed in the rank of things, were his brethren
before God, and, when he obtained the grace which he came to
seek, fjir away from his castle, in some ancient shrine, it often came
into his mind to free a certain number of his vassals, in honour of
Christ, the enemy of sjavery, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who
is nought but meekness and mercy,*

Pilgrimages, which date from the (leluge,f and have beer, adopted

heap just the same uumbtT of slieaves, t\vi huiVp always rfraaiiied the same, till, one
night, both having set up to watch for the cause of this miracle, they both met with
their load of sheaves. Now, the place where so good a thouijht came at once into
the minds of two men, and was so perseveringly carried oat, must be a place agreeable
to God, and the men blessed it and chose it for the site of a house of prayer.

* Many old acts of emancipation still bear the pious formula, " We transfer and
give up to Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary all our rights over such a oue," etc

f If credit may bo given to the old traditions of Asia, pilgrimages are of still
more ancient origin. According to the Rabbins, the children of Adam retarned mora

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VWr' L*^UAP. XVI.

BLKS8ED VIKGlN MAKT.

285)

by all nations, strengthen the religious sentiment amongst Catholics,
opening the soul to many a generous and sanctifying emotion;* let
Protestants, then, in their utter ignorance of the human heart, say
what they may, pilgrimages are good, and useful, and praiseworthy,
and well-pleasing to the Divinity. We see this pious practice in
use from the first ages of the Church ; Mary, the holy women, and
the Apostles, were the first pilgrims, and the faithful of Europe
and Asia quickly followed their example.

" People throng hither," wrote St. Jerome, in the fourth century,
"from every part of the world: Jerusalem is full of men from
every nation. Every Gaul of distinction comes to Jerusalem. The
Breton, beyond the range of our knowledge, if he have made any
progress in religion, leaves his wild home to visit a land which he
knows only by name and on the testimony of the Scriptures. Need
I speak of Armenians, Persians, the people of India, of Ethiopia,
of Egypt fertile in solitaries, of Pontus, of Cappadocia, of the two
Syrias, of Mesopotamia, and the swarms of Christians that the East
poui*s xorth. According to the Saviour's own words, where the
body is there shall the eagles gather. They come in crowds to
these places, and edify us by the lustre of their virtues. Their
language is difi^erent, but their religion is the same."f

The Mussulmans say, with great reason, that it is a pious and
salutary practice to visit the tombs of the hdi/ dead, and have often
knelt side by side with Christians in places where the latter went
on pilgrimage. After the taking of Jerusalem, the Caliph Omar
repaired to Bethlehejn; he entered the church, and prayed before
the crib wherein the Lord-Messiah (^A'isa HesovT) was born. He
commanded the Mussulmans to pray only one by one, lest there
might arise in the crowd some confusion incompatible with the

than once to contemplate from afar the inclosure of the terrestrial paradlsp, and some
of lliu sons of Sctli took up their abode on the summit of a mountain whence they
coulu behold it, always hoping that the promised liberator would soon restore them
10 it.

* Doctor Johnson, a zealou) Protestant and a most profound thinker, Itimself
V knowk'dilpa that.

t at. Jerorar, Ep \1.

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240

IIISTOKY OK THK DEVOTION TO TIIK

CUAl".

sanctity of the place ; he also forbade them to go there for any
other purpose than that of prayer. Saadi himself relates this
fact,* and the local tradition of Jerusalem adds that the same
prince went to pray at the tomb of Mary.

Besides the scenes of tlie Redemption, there are several famous
pilgrimages in the Holy Land: Our Lady of Edessa, in Mesopo-
tamia, where the first Christians repaired in great numbei-s ; Our
Lady of Seydnai, where a Suit m of Damascus founded a perpetual
lamp, in gratitude for a favour which he had obtained through the
intercession of Mary ; Our Lady of Belment, within two hours'
march of Tripoli ; finally, Our Lady of Tortosa, famous in medieval
times, throughout Christendom, and where the Mussulmans them-
selves sometimes brought their children to have them baptized,
persuaded as they were that that ceremony, through the protection
of the Blessed Virgin, would preserve them from all evil.f

We read in the memoirs of the Sire de Joinville that he went on
a pilgrimage to Our Lr.dy of ToHaiMe, whence he brought relics
and some camlets which gave rise to a droll mistake. The senes-
chal, who had himself brought the relics to the king, sent by one
of his officers some parcels of rich stuffs to the pious queen Mar-
garet, to whom he was very willing to pay his court. The queen,
knowing that the Sire de Joinville wan returned, and had brought
relics from Tortosa, no sooner saw his knight enter her presence
with a parcel in his hand, than she fell on her knees before the
package, supposing it to contain the relics in question. The knight,
ignorant of the queen's motive, knelt in his turn, and kept looking
at Margaret in mute surpiise. The princess, perceiving this, told
him to rise, adding, with pious condescension, " that it was not for
him to kneel, having the honour of bearing holy relics." " Relics,
your highness," replied the knight, " I have no relics. Tliis is a
package of camlets which tlie Sire de Joinville sends you." Then

* Omar would i?o to Betlilehcrn ; ho entered the church iind said his prayers at
the crib where the LnnlMesslah was born. He commanded his Mussulmans to pray
there only one by one, and forbade them to assemble there or make any noise —
Oullstaii, ilrg Mwurs <les Jloin, |i. .101.

f Tortosa is now Tripoli of Syria.

.M,

»4
1

(ClIAl'. XVI.

BLKaSED VIRom ilAUr.

the queen and her ladies began to laugh. " And" said the queen
to the knight, " ijour lord has played m^ a pretty trick to make me
kneel to his camlets.''^*

Pilgrimages in honour of the Mother of God have lost nothing
of their fervour in Asia, and Europeans are sometimes surprised to
tneet Turkish women praying devoutly at the Virgin's torab,f with
the daughters of Sion, wealthy Armenians, Greeks from beyond
the sea, and Catholics from Arabia. The devotion to the Vir^ a
iiiuongst the Christian nations of the East is sure to strike all
travellers; they consider it worthy of note that this devotion sub-
mits all human destinies to the power of a woman, in countries
whore women rank so low.J

Amongst the Gauls pilgrimages were made long before the intro-
duction of Christianity; one of the moat famous shrines of western
Giinl was a gloomy cavern, consecrated to the god Belenus, on the
rock — then surrounderl by woods — where now rises, amid moving
sands, the amphil)ious fortress of Mount St. Michael.§ There it
w:vs that the pilots of Armonica went to buy of the Druiils of
Mount Belen, to which they foolishly as( "ibed the power of chang-
ing the winds, and averting storms. When this steep mountain,
the last stronghold of Druidistn, received a Christian abbey, sol-
emnly dedicated to the archangel Michael, the grotto of Belenus
was transformed into a charming marine chapel dcdicr.t'^d to the
Star of the Sea, to Mary, protectress of sailors. This chapel was
built of pebbles polished by the waves, and rolled up by the
ocean ; inside, the walls and roof were adorned with coral branches,
amber, and shining shells, brought there frotn every shore by pious
mariners ; the altar was a portion of rock still retaining the rough-

* Hist, de St. Louis, by the Sire do Joinville.

f Occident el Orient, by M. Hurrault.

J All the East, with the cxcoption of the ,Te\vs, is full of respect for the Virgin,
whom Mahomet placed in the Koran as one of the four just women. Chardin relates
that the Jews of Persia, having taken it into their iieads to speak ill of her before
-onie of the foliowcrri of Ali, were near being killed for their pains, and had to leave
the city where it happened.

§ The vast forest which snrronnds Mount St. Michael was submerged about tb«
year 709.

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242

lILsrORY OV THE DKVOTION TO TIIK

OHAP. XVI.] jilC.I

(

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ness of a shoal, and all aronnd were hinijaf up, as c.iyvoto, anchors
Bav«d from the ocean, and the chains of captivos. Before the Revo-
lution, this chapel was often visited by long files of mariuea saved
from shipwreck; those sons of the ocean, with a fervour by no
means uncommon amongst them, chanted in a voice hoarse <:? that
of the waves, the Av6 maria stdla^ or the sweet Salve regina
Nearly all the kings of France, down to Louis XV., visited this
shrine, and there is said to be an ancient pi-ophecy preserved in the
archives of the abbey, threatening great misfortunes, till the third
generation, on the posterity of that king who should fail to make
a pllgrimnge to Our Lady and St. Michael. If the prophecy really
exists, it has been but too truly verified.

The pilgrimages of France present themselves to us surrounded
b} marvels which conceal their origin ; we will speak of them as
our worthy fathers spoke before us. These wonders, handed down
b} tradition from age to age, are not an article of Catholic faith,
ami criticism may attack them without wounding the church ;
nevertheless, it is our opinion that we should gain little by rejects
ing them: the marvellous belongs to Gothic legends like mosa to
aged oaks, or ivy to mouldering walls.

According to certain Lyonese traditions, baaed on a bull of Inno-
cent IV., St. Pothin erected the first chapel wherein Mary was
invoked in the Gauls. It is said that he brought from Asia a little
statue of the Virgin, which he placed in a solitary and shaded crypt
on the banks of the Saone, in front of the hill of Fourvi6re. In
that wild and retired place he raised an altar to the true God, and
there placed the image which was afterwards removed to a temple
built on the same hill, and called fi-om it Our Lady of Fourvi^re.
This church was famous as a pilgrimage, in the middle ages, through
all the Lyonese country; but the Calvinists, who pillaged and de-
stroyed so many rich shrines, spared not that of Lyon. The church
of Fourvifere, where every generation from the birth of Chris-
tianity, had marked its passage by gifts which would be now as
precious to the antiquary, the sculptor, and the painter, as to the
pilgrim, was stripped of all but its four bare walls; these could not
well be melted in the crucible that had swallowed up so many

Irt

LonAf. XVI.

BLES8BD VnmiN MARV.

248

gems of art, bocause they had the raisfortnne of being gold or
silver.

The chapter of St. Johu could not think of restoring that of
Fourvifere till long after the ravages of the Protestants. It was
dono, however, as soon as the cathedral and cloister were completed.
Mary's altar was at length consecrated on *he 2l3t of Augnst, 1686
From that moment the confidence of the people turned towards
that beacon of salvation. "The source of miracles seemed dried
r.j)," says an ancient historian, " but they began again at the close
of the eighteenth century, to the great joy and satisfaction of th(.
whole country."*

During the Revolution of 1793, the church of Fourvifere wa.*-
sold ; but when tranquillity was restored, the zealous prelate who
governed the ancient church of Pothin and of Ireneiis recovered
the shrine for religion. The inans^nration was performed on the
19th of April, 1805, by the sovereign pontiff Pius Vll.f

In 1832 and 1835, Lyon, threatened with cholera, raised its eyes
to the holy mountain, and the Virgin said to the jjlnf^ue, "Thou
sh.ilt go no farther 1" The city escaped, contrai-y to all expecta-
tions : the cries of terror were chancred into canticles of joy, and
public thanksgivings were solemnly offered to Mary in her favonrite
shrine.

Ever since the auspicious period when this sanctuary was restored
to religion, the devotion to Our Lady has steadily increased, and
Fourvi6re is, as it were, its fountain-head. The inhabitants of Lyon
and the surrounding country crowd the paths of Mary's hill, and
no matter at what hour you go there, you are sure to find yourself
amidst a crowd of pious persons of every rank, age, and condition.
One day, in the year 1816, a pilgrim of no ordinary mien, having
first taken a view of Lyon from the top of the hill, like one who
stui ":ed its sti'ong and weak points, at length entered Our Lady's
church, and the faithful, raising their downcast eyes a moment, said
to th 'mselves, "It is Marshal Suchet!" It was indeed ho — the

4L' Wi

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* Hhi. de Notre Dame de Fourviires, ou Bicfterehes hittoriqnet tur rautel tutilmirt
n Lyonnais.
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llIsrOKY OK TIIK UKVimON Tt. THE CHAP. XVI.]

uiiirHhttl of the Empiro, the son of Lyon, to whoiii the defence of
his native city wna (Mitrantod. lie slowly jmccd up the nlsl« of
Mary's church, with ii subdueti and respectful couutoiuuice ; entering
the sacristy, he sent to r'vpiest tlmt one of the clmplnins would
come to hira. "lieveiend sir," b.i;d the marshiil, advancing towards
the priest, "when I was quite a child, my good and pious mother
often brought me here, to Our Laidy's feet, and that remembrance
is still before me ... I will say more, that remembrance is dear to
me, and I have willingly cherished it. Will you have the goodness
to say some masses for my intention ?" And having placed three
N^apoleons on the table where the oil'erings are registered, the bril-
liant hero of that wondrous period knelt some time at Mary's altar
in fervent prayer. Marshal Suchet, as might be expofted, ended
bis loyal and noble career by a Christian death, as is recorded on
his tomb.

The pilgrimage of Notre Dame du Puy, in Vcluy, is also con-
sidered as one of the oldest in France. It is said that, during the
occupation of Gaul by the Komans, a Gallic lady who had been
baptized by St. George, fii-st bishop of Puy, finding herself in
danger of death, was apprised that she should recover her health
on the top of Mount Anicium, not far from her own dwelling. She
had hei-self conveyed thither accordingly, and was scarcely seated
on 11 volcanic rock of the Puy,* when she fell into a gentle slumber.
She then saw in a dream, a celestitJ woman clothed in white flow-
ing robes, with a crown of jewels on her head ; she was of dazzling
beauty, and surrounded by a train of heavenly spirits. " Who is
she?" demanded the Gallic lady, addressing one of the attendant
spirits; ''who is this queen so lovely and so noble, who comes to
visit a poor sick woman in her allliction V " It is the Mother of
God," replied the angel ; " she has chosen this rock for a shrine, and
commands thee to make it known to her servant George. Lest
thou shouldst take this behest of Heaven for an idle dream, awake,
woman, and be healed !" She awoke, accordingly, without fever,

• In Laiiguedoc and Aiivergne the name of puy is giv it to a high mountain, from
tbo Italian word po'jr/io.

(Vl

^MMi

tt avii _i - — - ■» — — — -

^^1 [on\i». XVI.

UI.t'lSHKU VIUUIN MAKY.

pain, or even liuiguor. Penetrated with gratitude, she liastened to
the bishop, and giivc him, word for word, the mesHage of the angel.

Having listened in Hilence to the ordora of Ilor whom he revered
next to God, St. (Joorge bowed down, as though the Virgin herself
had spoken, and went without delay to visit the miraculous rock,
followed by Home servants and the Gallic convert. How great was
his surpris(' to find the spot covered with snow, although it was
then July ! Whilst he yet stood, lost in astonishment, a deer was
seen running over the snow, marking out with its light feet the site
for a vast building. The holy bishop, still more amazed, had the
ground thus marked, fenced in with a hedge, and on ^hat favoured
spot there soon orose a cathedral around which the citv of Puy was
soon formed. Tliift town was considered impregnable — thanks to
the protection of Mary.

The little statue which people coT"e from ^Jpain and all the,
southern provinces of France to venei ite, datv,« from t.; time of
the crusades; it is two feet in height, and is seated after i j manner
of the Egyptian deities, with the Infant Jesus on her 'aiee. W^'iit
is most remarkable is, that this statue is w.^'; ed, from hea*! lo
foot, in several bandages of fine linen, careful y aTid solidly fastened
to the wood, much in the same way as an Egyptian mummy. The
appearance of this statue, the cedar of which it is composed, and
the bandages in which it is swathed, give I'eason to suppose that it
is the work of the hermits of Lebanon, who fashioned it on the
model of the Egyptian statues. This imnge of Our Lady was
brought by St. Louis from the Holy Land.

The sovereign pontiffs have encouraged this pilgrimage by their
favours and by their example ; several popes went there as simple
pilgrims.

The bishops of Puy received n. '■..'■ privileges from the court of
Rome on account of Our Lady, uu^ongst others, that of immediate
dependence on the Holy See and the Pallium. Many of the kings
of France went likewise to /lonour Mary on the mountain of Ani-
cium. In 1422, Charles "VII., while yet but Dauphin, went there
to recommend his almost desperate cause to Notre Dame du Puy,
and it was in that veiy church that he was afterwards proclaimed
king.

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HISTOEY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE OHAP. XM.\. "^

King lleue also made this pilgrimage with a great train of men
and hoi-ses ; a crowd of Moore, jirobably converted to the Christian
faith, followed in their Oriental costume.

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Mountains, or of Ceignac, seated
on a hill surrounded by others, in the ancient forest of Cayrac, be
tween the Viaour and the Avcyron, is famous through the pilgrim-
age of a Hungarian palatine who, in 1150, miraculously recovered
his sight, through the intercession of Our Lady. This nobleman,
afflicted in the veiy prime of life with total blindness, left the banka
of the Danube with an hundred men-at-arras, to asik Our Lady of
the Mountain to put an end to his long-protracted sufferings.

He embarked on the Adriatic Sea, and, after coasting along the
Italian shore, entered the Gulf of Lyons; but there, a terrible
storm dispersed his ships, and it was with great difficulty that his
squire saved him in a long boat, which succeeded in reaching the ij^
shore. Shocked by this sad catastrophe, and deploring the fate of
his followers, the blind prince, accompanied by his faithful servant,
plunged into the mountains of Languedoc, journeying by shoi't %^Vi
stages towards the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mountains, where fs%«
he arrived in 1150. A huntsman, watching his snares on the ver-
dant shores of the Viaour, pointed out the ford to the two pilgrims,
and conducted them to a rising ground commanding a view of the
little church. The palatine, for years deprived of the sweet light
of heaven, could not behold the welcome sight ; but he heard the
merry chime of the morning bells, and, prostrating himself on the
dewy grass, he blessed God and Our Lady for that he had reached
the end of his long journey. Full of faith he entered the sanctuary
which he came so far to seek, and had a solemn Mass said at Mary's
altav. The Mass ended, tlie blind prince was praying in toars
before the image of the Virgin, when his attention was attracted
by a clang of arms, as if caused by many pilgrim'* f;ntering the
church together. He instinctively raises his sightless eyes, and,
behold ! he see^s his own banner, and those prostrate pilgrims whose
Eastern costume contrasts so strongly with the brown capes of the
Languedoceans, they are his own faithful Hungarians ! A cry of
joy and gratitude escapes him ; he has recovered his sight, and his
men-at-arms ar.- thoi-t! before him! Our Lady treated her vassal

)/li

K^r-^

•/^jg-- [CHAP. XVL

BLKaSED VIUQIN MARY.

247

with royal generosity, Jisd favoured him beyond his moat sanguine
hopes.

Seven lamps of massive silver were the gift offered by the Hunga«
nan noble to the Virgin ; by his orders, a cross was raised on the hill
where he had prayed, and on it was inscribed in Gothic character?
the history of his cure. A group in relievo was placed in Mary's
shrine, representing the prince palatine and his squire, on their
knees before the image of the Virgin ; above was a Latin inscrip-
tion conceived as follows : —

Ecce palatinns privatus lumine princeps,
Munera magna ferens, scd meliora refert.
Virginia auspiciis, divino in lumine, lumen
Cernit, et exultat, dura pia perficerent.
Insaper et centum famulos in littore fractoa
Invenit incolames ; dicitar inde locus.

Amongst the benefactora of the ChapeT of Our Lad y of Ceignac,
are reckoned the Dukes d'Arpajon, Cardinal de la Peligrna, nephew
of Pope Clement V., with a great number of bishops and other
eminent personages.

The pilgrimage of Our Lady of Roc Amadour, not far from
Cahors, is situated in the most barren and mountainous part of
Qnercy. A saint, whom local tradition would fain set down as the
Zaccheus of the Gospel, retired about the middle of the third cen-
tury to a maze of rocks which rear their lofty heads above the
narrow and deep ravine through which the Lauzon rolls its waters ;
this ravine, now known iis the glen of Roc Amadour, was then
called the Dark Valley, (val tenebreuoo^) and was infested with wild
beasts.

This gloomy, yet somewhat grand landscape, having some resem-
blance to the Theban desert, had doubtless some analogy with the
lot^y and austere thoughts of the anchoret ; he made himself a cell
on one of the culminating points of the mountain, and hollowed in
till' I'ock, on a level with the eyrie, an oratory to the Motlier of
God. The Gallo-Roraan inhabitants of tlie fair valleys of Figeac
.111(1 St. Cer6, seoing him sometimes from a distance on the crest
f tliose bare, wild mountains, surnamed him Amator rwpis ; this

WrA

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HISTORY OF THK DEVOTION TO THE CHAP. XVI. j

name, the only one which has corae down to us, was changed into
that of Amador, and then Amadovr, which is more conformable to
the genius of the dialect spoken there.

The little statue of the Virgin, like those which the early Chris-
tians of Gaul venei-ated in the hollow of oaks, wrought miracles in
behalf of the fervent pilgrims who went to visit it in its rocky
fehrine. Pilgrimages were multiplied, and they soon became so
frequent that a city was built at the foot of the holy place ; that
city, though situated in a desolate region, on a barren soil, and in
a place difficult of access, nevertheless became, through the devotion
of our fathers, one of the principal towns of Quercy ; it had its
towers, its consuls, and its coat of arms — three silver rocks with
golden lilies on a field fftdes.

Just over the steeple of the ancient church of Roc Amadour, at
a prodigious height, wjvs a citadel intended to protect the rich
shrine of Mary ; but those lofty w£ills, towering proudly in the air,
were not sufficient to save the holy mountain from the fierce fol-
lowers of Calvin, who would have braved hell itself for the sake
of gold. Our Lady's Chapel has now a surer protection in its
poverty.

This pilgrimage was famous even in the time of Charlemagne ;
Count Roland, nephew of that Emperor, visited Roc Amadour
in 778 ; he made an oftering to the Blessed Virgin of the
weight of his sword of silver, and when he fell on the field of
Roncevaux, that sword was carried to Roc Amadour.* In the year
1170, according to Roger de Hoveden, Henry II., King of England
and Duke of Guyenne, (in right of his wife Eleanor,) made a pil-
grimage to Roc Amadour, in fulfilment of a vow made by him
during a long illness which he had had. As the people of Quercy
had no great love for the English, Henry had to make this pious
journey under the escort of a strong guard. The English prince
left marks of hiiJ munificence in Our Lady's Chapel, and amongst
the poor of Roc ^Vmadonr.

■'/I A"

N:X^'

:• !l

* Diipleix, His!, de France, Charlemagne, ch. 8. — This bracmar (sword) havinp^
been stolen or lost, was replaced by a club which retained the name of Roland'i
Bword

CIIA1>, XVI.

liLpaSKD VIIJGIN SIAUI.

•249

Amongst the illustrious pilgrims who went to lionour Mary in
her mountain-shrine, were Simon de Montfort, the pope's legate;
Arnaud Amaliic, afterwards bishop of Narbonne ; St. Loui:^, ac.
companied by his three brothers ; Blanche of Castile, and Alphonso,
Count of Boulogne, who subsequently ascended the throne of
Portugal ; Charles the Fair, King John, Louis XL, and many pow-
erful lords.

Of the great bishops who, at various times, visited the miracu-
lous Chapel of Our Lady, there is one whose name is so dear to
humanity, to Catholicity, that we cannot omit to mention it : that
name, so honourable to France, so imposing even to unbelievers, is
that of the Swan of Cambrai. Vowed from his birth to Our Lady
of Roc Amadour by his pious mother, Fenelon went more than
once to invoke, in her favourite shrine, her who gave him that
courageous wisdom which he turned to such good advantage. Two
pictures, hung as ex-voto in Mary's sanctuary, represent two solemn
phases of his existence. In the first, he is lying in his cradle, a
new-born infant ; in the second, a young man, and already a doctor
of divinity, he is returning thanks to his divine protectress for the
first step in his brilliant career. At a little distance there is a
tomb, at which he often wept and prayed ; it is that of his
mother, who would sleep her last sleep in the shade of Mary's
altar.

Sometimes it wfiS not only single individuals, but whole towns
and provinces, that repaii-ed to Roc Amadour. " In 15-tG," says M.
de Mallevillc, in his Chronicles of Quorcy, " the 24th of June, the
feast of St. John and of the Blessed Sacrament, was the gi-eat j^^r-
(Ion of Roc Amadour ; to which place the concourse of people, both
natives and foreignei-s, was so great that persons of every age and
of both sexes were smothered in the crowd, and tents were spread
over all the adjoining country like a great camp."

The offerings made at the shrine of Roc Amadour were truly

magnificent ; amongst them was the forest of Mont Salvy, given in

1119, by Odon, Count de la Marche, to the Blessed Mary of Roc

Amadour; and the lands of Fornellas and Orbanella, given in 1181,

by Alphonso IX., king of Castile and Toledo, for the benefit of the

soiih' of /</s' parents.
" 31

'Mr

'. m

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JUSTOUY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE CHAP. XVI.J

lu tlie year 1202, Sancbo VII., king of Navarre, gave an annuity
of foi'ty-eight gold pieces for the lighting of Our Lady's Chapel,
and in 1208, Savaiic, prince of Mauleon, a great captain and a
famous troubadour, gave, as a free and perpetual donation, to the
Blessed Mary of Hoc Amadour, his estate of Lisleau, with a full
exemption from tax or charge of any kind. Pope Clement V., in
1314, left a legacy to 1.3 same church, "to keep a taper perpetu-
ally burning in a silvc ' .i. e or basin in the Chapel of the Blessed
Virgin Mary of Roc A uidour, in honour of that ever-blessed
Mother, and for the salvation of his soul."

It would be too long to enumerate all the benefactors of Mary's
Chapel ; its interior was radiant with offerings of gold, pearls, aud
precious stones; Spanish princesses wrought rich hangings for it
with their own hands, aud it wjis lit, both night and day, by four-
teen lamps of solid silver, whose chains Avere intertwined into a mag-
nificent net-work. By a contrast, peculiar to Christianity, the
Madonna's altar wfis of wood, as in the days of St. Amadour, and
the miraculous image was a little statue of rough black oak. High
in the dome of the chapel, where windows of rich stained glass
surrounded the steeple, there was a little bell without cord, which
rung, of its own accord, when it pleased the Star of the Sea to
manifest her povver in behalf of distressed mariners who called
upon her from the wastes of Ocean.

The Virgin of Quercy was too rich a prey to escape Protestant-
i-!in. On the 3rd of September, ir)92, Duras took possession of
Roc Amailour; the crosses were broken, the pictures defaced, the
rich ornaments burned and torn to pieces, the bells melted down,
and the body of St. Amadour w;us smashed with tlio hammer, and
then consigned to the flames.* The atheists of 1793 gave the
finishing stroke to this work of destruction.

Now, the towel's of the city are prostrate and overgrown with
grass ; shrubs are growing amid the ruins of the citadel ; tall weeds
are waving over the disjointed stones of the immense flight of two
hundred and seventy-eight steps which led from the city to the

Olio (Ic Gissty, Hist, de Roc Amadour

ydivO

[CIIAP. XVI.

BLES8KD VIKOIN MARY.

251

atirifil slirine of Mary ; tlie lute of the Languedocian cantadour no
longer celebrates Our Lady's miracles, and the night-wind alone is
heard whistling through *^^)iat ancient chapel, where the organ once
pealed its solemn music. The Virgin of Roc Amadour might now
bo called the Virgin of Jitmis, and yet she still works miracles
there.

The pilgrimage of Our Lady of Liesse, in Picardy, is not so
ancient as those of southern France, since it only dates from the
twelfth century ; but it is stUl more famous than they are. The
origin of the statue which decorates the sanctuary is truly marvel-
lous; tradition has preserved the wondrous tale not only in the
French province wliere it is located, but even in the Holy Land;*
nay, it is even said to exist in the archives of the Knights of
Malta.f The following is the story, and it benrs a decidedly Eastern
chai'acter.

Fonleques of Anjou, king of Jerusalem, having rebuilt the fort-
ress of Bersabeo, within four leagues of Ascalon, to protect the
frontier of his kingdom from the incursions of the Saracens, en-
trusted its defence to the bravo and pious Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem. This valiant gni-rison had often to combat the infidels
who held the ancient country of the Philistines for the Sultan of
Egypt. One day, the Knights of St. John, including three brothers
of the ancient and noble hous(3 of Eppes in Picardy, fell into an
ambuscade, and, notwitli.standing that they i)erfornied prodigies of
valour, they were taken and loaded with chains by the Mussulmans,
who sent them to Egypt. The brothers d'Eppes had the majestic
mien and lofty stature of the ancient knights of the north of
France. The Sultan quickly distinguished them from the others,
and hopinc to gain thnm for his false pi'oph.et, he conmicnced by
castinc: them into a dungeon in order to break do\vn their courasfo,
and then proceeded to spread before their eyes the most seducing
prospect, making them all manner of fair pi-omiscs if thoy won d
only give up their religion. The three valorous knights, as they

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* See IFist. de Nofre. Dame de Liesse, par I'Abljo ViUette, Audit an ilisn. prcUm.
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I Ifisl -Ic Noire Ditme de Liesse, p. 10, 11, ct 12.

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lir ,rOJ I OF THE DEVOTION TO THE OIIAP. XVI.J

were before inaccessible to fear, were now also deaf to the voice of
ambition, and not to be lured by gold. The Sultan, thus disap-
pointed, sent some of the most famous dervises to argue religion
with them, whereupon, the good knights, in their hatred of MuliO-
metanism, became, nil ut once, subtle theologians, uid defend^,'
Christiunity as well iij discussion as they had ol'ton d-^vie wit.i
shield on arm nnd lau*;*; in rest. The Sultan mad*- it a point of
honour to overcome the < aptives, and his ob.tinacy lui reasiug w:ia
their resistance, he swore that these knight;i of St. lohn shoulil
follow the prophet's standiu!! were it to cost him tl-ie half of Egypt.
He hnd one daughter, bennti! il and accomplished, and so virtuous
that she deserved to Lave n better creed ; ^.er he sent into the
dungeon whcie tho French I. nights lungui>-hed in chains, and
flhargel Iv v to gis'e them a terrifying acc-un,, of thp tor .u ;.s
ftwaitir?;,' riiem if they still continued to holu out. The knights
received iL<', la'!'' with all the high-bred courtesy of that chivalrous
ago; but tL y iej(?x;ted her insinuations with the firmness of men
who T- illiiis^jy .'■.copttHi martyrdom, and explaineil their own faith
in a ni.aini.v f>o clear svnd convincing that the yountt princess began
to rciioct on the truths laid before her. A mii-aesilous and radiant
image of Mary brought by angels, it wa.9 said, to tiie pious cliani-
plojis of the faith, completed the conversion of the young Miir
hometan. Having one uight bribed the guards of tiii) prison, she
made lier way, with a casket of jewels, to the French knights, and
escaped with them from her father's palace.

, Having crossed the Nile in a bark prepared to receive them, the
fugitives bent their coui-se towards Alexandria, hoping, perhaps, to
obtain a temporary asylum in one of the Coptish monasteries of
the solitude of St. Macarius; but, after some hours' march, the
princess, exhausted with fatigue, stood in need of some repose, and,
notwithstanding the imminence of the danger, the three kni^hts of
St. John resolved to keep watch, and let her sleep for a while.

They accordingly seated her in a field of soft, long grass, and sat
down themselves at a respectful distance. The princess slept, and
her companions, after struggling in vain against the drow.siness
which came upon them, at last fell asleep in their turn.

No OIK! knows how long their sleep lasted. The eldest of the

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jUHAP. XVI.

DIJ'>SKO VllJGIN MAItY.

'i^aV

brothers wns the first to awake, the sun waa ah'eaily fur al)Ove tlie
hori/ou, and the binls were \vurl)luig on every tree. The ci-usader
looked around in anmzeraent; he fell asleep within sight of the'
Nile and the pyramids, under the fan-like branches of a palm-tree,
and ho awoke under a venerable oak, on the margin of a purling
stream, in a fresh gi-een meadow spangled with daisies. At a littlt?
distance rose the dark, lound turrets of an old baronial castle, very
much resembling that in which he left his sorrowing mother, when
-netting ont for the Holy Land. His doubts were dispelled by a
she] ' erd wiio was leading his flock to the pasture: the castle be-
fore him was his own good castle of Marchais, and he found himself
in Picardy, iinder one of the old ancestral trees which his fathers
had planted. He blessed the Holy Virgin, and awoke his compan-
ions, whose surprise equalled his own.

The image of the eastern Madonna was still in their possession ;
so they built a fair church wherein to place it, and the Mahometan
princess Avas baptized in the cathedral of Laon.

Tliat this statuette of Mary reached France by means more
natural, we may well believe ; but it is quite certain that it Avaa
brought from the Holy Land by three brothers of the house of
Eppe, knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

Some of the most illustrious names of the French monarchy are
found on the list of the pilgrims to Our Lady of Liesse. Amongst
them are the Duke of Burgundy, Louis H. of Bourlion, Pi-ince of
Cond6, the Duke de Mercceur, Prince Albert Henry of Ligne,
Madame Henrietta Frances of France, Queen of England, some of
the princes de Longueville, Marshal d'Ancre, Mademoiselle de
Guise, the Count of Eginout, Louis, Duke of Orleans, l)rother of
Charles VI., Charles VH., King Rene, Louis XL, Francis the First,
Henry H., Charles IX., Queen Mary de Medici, Louis XIH., Aim
of Austria, Louis XIV., &c.

Many of these great pei-sonages, not content with leaving rich
donations at Notre Dame de Liesse, also placed their statue there;
that of Louis II. of Bourbon, prince of Conde, was of gold.

Mary of Arquin, who was afterwards queen of Poland, visited
Our Lady's chapel in 1671 ; she offered to the Blessed ^'irgin a
silver child, representing Prince Alexander Sobieski, her son, to-

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gt'tlior witli II c'liiiin of goUl enricli(Ml with jewels, denotiiitj that «he
devoted liim to the Mother of (fod as her slave*

'i "his shrine, like the others, wiw ])lundered by the Huguenots,
ami the RdVolntiou completed the work; yet still the cha[)el of Our
Liidy of Lioise is frequented by a concourse of pilgrims.

In tlie legend of St. Siphard of Meaney, who lived in .'J.'iO, there
is iiientiou made of the town of Clery, and an oi'atory therein dedi
oated to the Blessed Virgin. In 1280, some labourers placed there
a small statue of Our Lady, which had been turned up by their
ploughshare. This discoveiy was rumoured abroad, and attracted
tli(^ attention of the most powerful nobles of the time. Amongst
these was Simon de Melun, a nobleman who had accomjianied St.
Louis to Africa, and was raised by Philip the Fair to the dignity
of Marshal of France ; he formed the design of founding a college
there, but, dying gloriously, soon after, at the siege of Contray, ho ^
was prevented from executing his pious intention, which was, how- W(;3(
ever, carried out by his wife and son. Philip the Fair, after his
victories in Flanders, was deeply sensible c^f what he owed to
Mary ; struck with the vast numbers of the faithful Avho visited
Our Lady of Clery, he increased the number of its canons, and
resolved to rebuild the church, but death came suddenly upon him,
too, in the midst of so many projects, religious and otherwise, and
left him little more than the merit of a good intention. The church
was, nevertheless, commenced in his reign, and was duly continued,
thanks to the munificence of his third son, Charles, duke of Orleans.
The completion of the church was reserved for Philip of Valois,
that nol)le prince who charged his soldiei's, in a conquered comitry, Ip*]
to re-'^pect the churches. This magnificent temple was pillaged by bSdW
th(! English during the famous siege of Orleans. Louis XL, who
had new sleeves put to his old doublet, so as to make the most he
could of them, knew well how to act as became a sovereign jirince
when he felt so inclined; he had the chui'ch of Clery rebuilt, made
it a donation of 2,?t'^Q gold crowns, endowed it with great reveimos,
erected it into a royal chapel, and richly provided for its canons.

This monument, the objeit of so much care and exi)ense, was

* Ilht. de Notre Dame da Liesse.

y{LA

destroyed by iiir in 1472, whilst the worknu'ii woro »>ngnged in
covoriiiij it, T/ie whole t/v/,y coumDned ly fire, nays the chroiiiclo of
Louis XL, but the churcli wits constructed anew under the inspcc.
tiou of the king's secretary,

Louis XL haviu<^ recovered his henltli at Clery, and attril)utinj»
his cure to the Blessed Virgin, enriched her college with n<!W gifts,
and caused his tomb to be constructed there. "He placed himself
in it several times," says one of his historians, " in order to see
whether it fitted hia body well, and was ready to receive him after
his death." Ho was buried there according to his desire. His wife,
(Jharlotte of Savoy, was soon after laid beside him.

The Calvinists, Avho had tis little respect for the sepulchres of
kings K'* for the altars of saints, demolished the statue of Louis XL,
and broke o[)en his royal tomb for the sake of pillage. This tomb,
reconstructed ))y Louis XIII., was again broken and inutilatcd
iluring the Revolution, and repaired by Louis XVIH. The devo-
tion to the Virgin is still kept up with pious fervour in the old
church of Louis XL

The pilgrimage of Our Lady of the Thorn, {Nott'e Dame (h
rAj)inc,) near Chalons-sur-Marno, commenced in the first years of
the fiftet nth century. On t\w eve of the feast of the Annuncia
tion, A. 1). 111'.), two young shepherds leading their flocks by the
!^ide of a little chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, perceived
a britrht li-dit in the miiht of a thornv bush Avhich grew near it.
The fiitit sheep of the flock being frightened by the light, took
(light; but the young lambs approachcnl the bush; the shepherds
followed their e.\ami)le, and discovered a small statue of the Blessed
Virffin with the Lifant Jesus in her arms. The miraculous lifjht
increasing when night came, people ran from all parts to see it, and
as the place where the prodigy occurred was very high, the light
could be seen for ten leagues around. Th<,' l)isliop (">{ Chalons came
in procession with all his chapter and many of the neighbouring
priests to visit the place. They found the bush as green as though
it were summer; and they took the little statue of the Madonna
and conveyed it to the neighbouring chapel of St. John.

This prodigy attracted all the faithful of Champagne to the
chapel, which speedily became a famous j)ilgrimage. With the

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IIISTOKY Ol.- illK OEVOl'ION TO TirK CIlAt^ JIV J.j

oflt^'iiigrt ot' tlio piljj;nmrt, a Hiipfih cliinvli was t'oiistiiu't< >, i»., the
I»lau ot" lilt Iiirth architect; tlie work wiw Htoadily proHt'ciitcd ; iiot-
witlistaiuliiig till! war then being carried on against thu Kiiglisli,
tlio iiiiial)itaiiti, tliou^'h phiiidcrfd and inipovuMislied, chcorfnily
qtiittcd their plough t(» draw Htones all the way from Lorraine.
The building went on with renitwed activity when Charles \'II.
sent a con^iideral)le sum towards the completion of the church. It
took a c(;iitury to build it, and during all that time the fervour of
the people continued through war, and pestilence, and famine, and
all imaginable plagues, the worst of which was certainly tlie ha-
rassing pieseuce of the English. The cities of Chalon and Verdun
would fain contribute their share towards the decoration of this
building, which was to per[)etuate the memory of the miraculous
bush. The one gave it HU|)erb stained gla>»8 windows, representing
the history of the miracle; the other, magnilicent bells; the liber-
ality of the faithful, great and small, rich and poor, did the rest.

During the religious wars the English Protestants, who were
masters of Champagne, having heard of the great riches contained
in the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Thorn, formed the project of
pillaging and destroying it; but the lord of the soil, a imwi full of
faith and courage, had the noble church surrounded with stakes
and putting hiniself at the head of a band of ))rave young men,
drawn together by patriotism and devotit)n to Mary, they succeeded
in rej)ulsing the enemy and saving the Virgin's altar. Forced to
beat a retreat, the English acted like Vandals ; they Hred a [jarting
volley tlii'ough the beautiful windows, which were nearly all de-
stroyed. Nevertheless, by a sort of prodigy, the famous pane of
glass on which is represented the iinding of the miraculous statue
remained uninjured. In memory of th.it happy day, the fabric (or
trustees) of the church of Notre Dame de I'Epino, down to the
time of the Revolution, gave to the descendants of the valiant
gentlemen, who saved the shrine from i)rofanation and pillage, two
blessed swords which they received on the feast of the Assumption
before the Virgin's altar.

A solemn procession took place every year in this church. A
number of delicate children, bound to wear white perpetually in
honour of the Blessed Virgin, assisted in the procession on the I5th

,-- C

lll,IX^I':l> VIKlil.N .MAKY.

of AiiLTMst, with tiipt'iN ill tlifir liaiidM : thcso wcro tho Hupplicuiit-i
iif Miiry. Tim vi'idirt of (icfitli hci'IiumI pt-oiioiiiiccd iiguiiist IIkmii
oil tlicir t'litraiK'c into tlic world : tlit'ir mothers jiiuUHly oaUod on
thi) Virgin, mid liopc, throiigli hfi* poworfnl nid, to pri'servo those
fragiUi phiiitrt whirh tliiis grow up uiidor hor Hncrod protection, and
(h'peiid on her for thoir very existence. It wm nn nlVccting Higlit
to see tliese jitth' angels, clothed in white, nnd pale iw tho llowec"'
wreatlied around their heads, kneeling at Mivry'rf feet, aud repeatini.
the prayer which they are not nhle to nndei-sitand, asking that their
lift) be spared, tliat life so precious to their tender mothers . . .
When the rose of health begins to bloom on their childish features,
when the seventh year is past, and they at length leave off the
white livery of the Virgin, how joyfully do their mothers hastei.
to return thanks to Mary ! What lieartfelt prayers are then })ourei1
forth at the altar of Our Lady of the Thorn !

There is in tho Vosges a pilgrimage which perpetuates, amongst
the humble matrons of the country, a lieautiful superstition wherein
the Christian and tht; maternal sentiment are closely comminglvcl.
Al)out the year l()7t>, a monk of Scnones built, on tho margin of
a lonely torrent, a hermitage and chapel, whither the people went
to honour Our Lady of Meix. This pilgrimage was afterwards
either discontinued or suppressed. The chapel is now in ruins, and
a shattered stone cross is the only thing yet standing ; but under
these ruins there ai'e subterraneous vaults, and an altar of rouyli
stone, wlier(!on chihb'en who die unbaptized are still laid.
" They are hardly jd.u-ed on that stone," says the mountaineer who
serves as a guide through the gloomy cavern, " when their eyes
oj)en, a slight breath escapes from their little icy lips, the water
of baptism falls on their brow, and they sleep again to go up to
heaven." A little grave is made near the altar, and the mortal
remains of the faded floweret are left under the protection of
Mary: the ignorant, but exalted tenderness, which induced the
parents to ask a miracle of the Virgin, makes them bury them in
the precincts of her ancient shrine, in order that she may not
forget them !

Let incredulity blame as it may this su])erstltii)n of the heart, to
the tender and pious soul it is full of melancholy beauty, and de-

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serving only of j)ity. Doubtless, more than one mother may have .
^^i^'tj^Ci boon mistaken in fancying that she saw the pale lips of her infant
qniver with momentary life as it received the water of baptism ;
^^yj but no one will dare to say that ]\Iaiy has not i)Ower to work
miracles as great as this, at her pleasure.

Even amongst the Avild recesses of the Pyrenees there ai-e sanc-
tuaries dedicated to Mary. The most ancient and the most famous
of these is Our Lady of Ileas, frecjuented by all the people of the
neighbouring valleys. Amongst the pi'ccipitous rocks of Hejxs
thei'e is an altar raised where the goatherd would not dare to
hang up a temporary shelter against the storm: the Romans would
have dedicated this altar to the Spirit of the Storm, but Christians
have erecte(1 it in honour of Her who appeases the winds and
waves On the 8th of September, the feast of the Nativity of
Mary, and on the 15th of August, the day of her glorious Assump-
tion, an immense concourse of people repairs to the shi'ine of Our
Lady of Heas ; each one, on going away, detaches a small fragment
of the blessed rock, which is taken home respectfully to their
cabins, as a relic of some value.

Mountain pilgrimages are picturesque ; but how touching are
'* those on the sea coasts ! What a pleasing object is a sanctuary of
Mary, with its tapering spire standing on the point of a promontory,
whence it may be seen from afar over the deep sea! The mariner
salutes it with a heavy heart on quitting the land where he leaves
N his wife and children, and hails it with delight on his return ; that
«pire is to him the emldem of hope, and amid all the anxious per-
turbation of his heart, ..s he approaches his home after months,
perhaps years of absence, he feels a cei'tain religious coiiiidence, a
certain assurance tliat all goes well — thanks to the jjvotection of
the good Virgin .... And then, who knows but it was Our Lady
that saved him from shipwreck, he and his vessel, and the first care
of these poor people, on reaching land, is to go barefoot, 03 m the
middle ages, to hang up in the maritime cha])el the oflering prom-
ised when the temi)est shivered tins masts and rent tlu; sails. One
of the Dieppe pnpei's recently puldished an account of one of these
toucliing scenes, which made a deep impression on the public mind
notwithstanding the impiety of the times. "A ceremony of a most

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affecting kiutl took place yesterday in St. James's church," saiil the
wiiter. "The crew of the higger Aiitomne (wliich encountered so
violent a storm on the 3d of September) gave themselves up for
lost, when the mate, Louis Coreteur, thought of making a vow, in
the name of his companions, to Our Lady of Succour, the patroness
of sailors. Scarcely had he made the vow, when a sunbeam, dart-
ing through the mass of heavy clouds which obscui-ed the sky,
cheered the drooping hearts of the mariners with renewed hope.
This vow was yesterday accomplished by these good sailors in the
chapel of Our Lady of Succour: the whole crew of the vessel
walked in procession to Our Lady's cha|)el barefooted and liare-
hcaded, in their sea costume, bearing on their robust shoulders the
promised offering placed on a litter, and ornamented with blue
streamers ; they were accompanied by their parents and friend?', and
followed by a numerous concourse of people. The parisli priest
addressed them in an affecting discourse, and after the mass of
thanksi'ivin.T, he recited the Do ProfunJii' for the captain and four
sailors who perished during the storm,"

Our Lady of Grace is one of the most ancient maritime chapels
of Normandy ; tliis sanctuary was built, as we have already said, in
consequence of a vow made, during a tempest, by a Norman duke,
who was veiy devout to the Blessed Virgin. The site of this pretty
chapel, shaded bv tall trees, and surrounded with flowery turf, is
calm and beaull'ul as the rich, fresh landscapes of the magnificent
province to vhich it belongs, (^ur Lady of (iraee seems to be the
fortress of llonileur; the hill on which it stands commands a view
of th(f mouth of the Seine, with the distant line of the dai'k green
sea and the brisrht blue I'iver glldinir into its bosom. There are
two roads leading to this chapel: one rough and rocky, the other
smooth and level. In former times, the Inhabitants of ITonfleur took
a pleasui'e in keei)ing the road clean and covering it with fine sand,
in order that a fair and gentle princess, much beloved by the peo-
])le, might cVunb the ascent to the Virgin's shrine without fatigue.
The revolutionary storm drifted the noble lady to other climes,
but the memorv of her beneficence still remains.

One dav, not long ago, great crowds of ])eopl<' were assembled on
the little gieen esplanade which extends in front of Notre Dame de

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JIISTOUY OF THE DEVOTIOV TO TIIK

CHAP. XV r.,

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Gi'ore ; they wore iidhcring to the sitles of the rock, clinging to tlic
bushes, mounted on the tops of the trees, antl every eye was turned to-
wards the ocean in seai'ch of some expected o1)ject. The enthusias^ni
of the people was great, l)ut soaicwhat grave and religious in its
character; prayers ascended to heaven, and tears were in every eye:
a shij) passed under Our Lady's hill, a ship with a black flag and a
cotlin on the deck : the j)iiests blessed it as it p;issed beneath, and
the peoj)le Avept in silence .... There was not a chapel of the
Virgin on either bank of the Seine wherein prayers were not offered
up that (lay for the soul of the great Emperor, and Our Ija,dy of
Grace was fei'ventlv invoked for that illustrious exile who died far
away frcm France, and — saddest of all — where the flag of England
waved al>nve him !

Within half a league of Parnie, a small seaport aljuut ten leagues
from Nantes, on a height Avhich overhangs the ocean, stands the
maritime village and church of St. Mary ; this church boars the
marks of great anticpiiiy, and in its small cemetery lie the mortal
remains of a crusadei-, it is lield in great veneration amongst the
Breton sailors, who often go thei'o to accomplish vows. When a
Breton ship passes under the Church of St. Alary, the mariners take
oft' their hats and say the Ave Maria. Ne)t a peasant along the j,"^
coast thinks of going into the sea to bathe without di])ping his li;uid f,^
in the water and making the sign of the cross, tm-iung his head to-
wards the patronal sanctuary; and the fishei'men, tossed about by
the storm which is more dangerwus along the coast than on tlie high
sea, n(!ver lose hope so h^ng as they c;.n boliohl tlu- pictures([ue
spire of St. Mary's Church : f/ie Vir/jiii vmv ///(//;. Tliat thought
sustains their courage, and is, oven in itsolf, a chance of safety.

When the stoi'my waves df the Arlantie rush madly into the
sandy Imys of Guienno, ami ivcido from the slmre with a lioarse
and territic sound, if a disunustod vessel be seen strngglim,'' with th.'
tempest, it is Our Lady nf Ari'achun that the anxious wives and
mothers (^f the Aquitaim; sailors invoke on their behalf. This
chapel, around which whole flocks of sea-mews take I'cfuge, stands in
a wild and lonely place, amid clumps of gloomy ])ines. JNIany
sailors, an<l poor, giateful women, aii'ive there barei'oot from time to
time, ti'T.'i;.;' their l;ea(ls with their rough, homy lingers, aiul many ifM-^-

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an ex-voto liniigs in tlie vonerahle chapel, denoting that so many
prayers liave heen licard and granted l>y Mary.

Our Lady of the Watch (Notre Dame de hi Garde) is tlie last
object seen or noticed by the Provencal sailor as he leaves his na-
tive land: its chapel, linilt in the thirteenth century, is of bluish-
gray limestone, and stands on the summit of a lofty mountain com-
manding a view of the Mediterranean, with its numerous isles, its
castle of If, and its changeful Inllows. Thither does the sea-worn
mariner first Ijend his steps when his vessel reaches the port, after a
voyage to the distant countries of the Levant; it is no uncommon
sight to see these seafaring people going on their knees up the
mountain path to this ancient cliupel to thank Her whom they
name, with ti'ue Italian familiarity, the good Motlier of the Wcttch^
for having saved them from the dangers of sea, wind, and plague.
But it i.-3 not to sailors alone that the Madonna of Marseilles is kind
and propitio.is ; she i-^ the guardian angel of the city, which has re-
cjurse to her in all p\iblic calamities. When the cholera, raging
all over France, first broke out on the Provencal soil, the fair old
Phocian city knelt .as one man at the feet of its beloved patroness,
who faih'd it not in its hour oi j)eril. In testimony of its gratitude,
]Mai'seilles has conseci'ated to her a superb statue of solid silver, ad-
mirably executed. That is as it should be.

In Corsica, Our Lady t>f Lavasina, looking down on the blue
waves of the ]\Ieditei'ranean, refreshes the w.iy-worn pilgrim, an<l
even the sailor passing in his ves-el. with the perfume of its orange
trees. This sanctuary, dedicated ♦••• the Nativity of the Virgin, was
long left in ol)scurity, visited only ■ j the coral fishers who frequent
that lovely coast, when, about the middle of the seventeent'j cen-
turv, miracles were wrought by the Corsiean ^Nladonna which were
noised abroad even tlirougV Tlaly. The church was then enlarged
and beautified ; grc'at numbers of the faithful went there on the pa-
troiial feast, with bare feet and tapcM in their bauds. This pious
pr.'U'tice is still kept up with as much devotion as in any former
time. The ])ainting which. dectU'ates tliis chajiel, the work of an
Italian artist, represents Mary when a child, with St, Anne throw-
ing a transparent veil gracefully over her head.

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The origin of the famous pilgrijiiage of our Lady of Hermits, tlie
Loi'etto of Helvetia, dates from the heroic times of Charlemagne
The saint who first inhabited the hermitage of Einsiedeln, was a
young Suabiau lord named Meiurad, belonging to the illustrious
house of Hohenzollern. Being of that contemplative turn of mind
so common amongst the Germans, Meinrad, even in his early days,
loved to Avander through the woods which then overspread his na
tiv(. laud, and to commune with tlie Deity face to face, where no
sotiud broke in on the silence of the place save the murmur of
streams or the rustling of leaves. Night oft(m surprised him poring
over an old book clasped with gold, Avhich he had inherited from
his fathers, or meditating profoundly on the mii'acles and favours of
the Blessed Virgin. His soul soared aloft in solitude ; pitying the
world and its fleeting goods, Meiurad made his vt)ws in the Abbey
of Reichenau, which he afterwards quitted for a small hermitage
built on tlic brow of Mount I'^tzd. There he passed sovea yciii's;
but the fame of his virtU',' descended to the valley-".; the shepherds
and woodmen first went to visit him, then lords, tlieu noble ladies,
lumibly soliciting his prayers and counsels. This public homage
was toi'ture to the young hei'mit, wlio sighed only for meditation
amid the deep silenca of the woods ; one night, he stealthily quitted
his hermitage, taking with him only the statue of the Virr'in, tho
sole ornament of his chapel, and took refuge in a forest of the can-
ton of Schwytz, winch bore the characteristic name of the dark
forest.

Thirty-two years aftc, he was assassinated by ruffians with whom
lie had shared the water of his spring, and the wild fruits of his
forest. The Ijirds of heaven pursued the murderers, till they suf-
fered the ]>enalty of their crime.*

* 'I'hi' imirdri'crs wci'i' betrayed liy two ravens who foil )wcil them all the way to
Ziii'ieli ; they cvi ii iiviih' tlnii' way thninp-h the wiihlow.s of the iuu where the assas-
sins, ti)uk ref'i/'' on ( nterlnt^ the town, and n'-ver left them till they witnessed their
e\e< iiliiin. Il i- ill nieiimry of this event tli;it ihi; Alih.'y of lleiehenan hears two
ra^'cns on its iinne

fCHAP. XVI.

BLlivSKD VIRGIN JIAUY.

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After tlie tragical cleiitli of Mcinrad, Lis cell, wherein lie Lad
wrought luii'acles, remained uninhabited for nearly half a century
at the end of that time, a little society of hermits settled there un
der St. Bennon, a member of the ducal house of Burgundy. Hence
the sui'uame of Our Lady of TIerniits given to the chapel of Einsie-
deln. St. Eberhard consecrated his wealth, which Avas considerable,
to the erection of a monastery there, and he hinioelf was the fu-st
abbot.

The Virgin's chapel, sucl- as it Avas in the time of St. Bennon, was
[)laced in the viust church of the convent, of which Meinrad's cell
formed the choir. Tlie French destroyed this chapel, which had
rt'ithstood the furious attacks of Protestantism, but God permitted
the statue of the Virgin to be saved. It was replaced in the church
of Einsiedeln in 1803, with much solemnity, and in 1S17 this ancient
shrine recovered a portion of its former splendour, thanks to the
concurrence of some distinguished artists and the abundant alms of
the faillifnl.

The convent of EiiisicMh-ln is not situated in the mildest climate:
its steej)le, covered witli snow tiie gi'eatcr ])art of the year, pierces
the dull, heavy clouds secrete 1 by the long frost; at its base
Ktretches a barren waste yielding with reluctanc(! a scanty crop; the
fruits are few and tasteless, and the field; are only adorned by the
[)rt;tty lilac blossom of the i)otato; but still Onr Lady is pleased to
manifest her j)ower ther,\ and the rugged path of the holy moun-
tain is often niois.cncul with the noblest l)lood of Germany. More
than one count of the empire, and noble (b'r'i':'.;i ladies not a few, [
make it their duty to asecnd barefoot to ICinsiedeln: tlieie is still
some of the ancient fervour of Frederick's knights remaining in old
(lei'maiiy. As for the Catholic popidation of Switzerland, nothing
can ecjual their confidence in Our Lady of Hermits; ami there are
few faui'lies, eveij in the more distant cantons, who do not keep uj)
the pious })i'actice of nuiking this pilgrimage.

"The first thing which strikes the eye, in the beautiful church
of Einsiedeln," says a French traveller who visited it in 1S39, "is
the miraculous chajjcl where the modest image of the Vii'gin is e::
])osed. ]\[ass was being said there, and a great crowd of the faitli-
fnl, men, women, and children, of every age and station, were assist

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HISTOUY (tK TIIK DKVOIION TO TIIK

CIIA1-. XVI.

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iiig lit the holy sacrifice, piously awuitiug the time for coniimiiiiou ;
others were gathered arouiicl tlie confessionals; others, after having
received the Holy Eucharist, \v(;re hearing a mass of tlianksgiving
at some of the side-altars. Nearly all the Swiss cantons were rej)i'e-
sentod there. In a group from which the other pilgrims seemi.-d to
keep respectfully aloof, we reci^gnized the grncefid mien and elegant
costume of the v/omen of France. The men, less numerous, and
moie nniforndy clad, still betrayed their origin by a certain diver-
sity of countenance. Amongst them we could distinguish French, \
(n'rniau*, and Italians; but all were equally pious and collected."'

In a visit of devotion to the Ab1)ey of Kinsiedeln, Queen Ilor-
t.'use, that fair, uidiappy princess, once the brightest ornament of
Najxtleon's ct)nrt, placed on the altar of the Swi-s jMadonna a superl)
branch of horteiisia, composed of large diamnuds. This ex-roto was
the offering of a mother who had l»ut one son to love, and who be- jf||i
sought the JMother of Clii'ist to protect and save tVom nil evil the ^},
noblediearted youth who rcin-'mbered birt too Wi ll that he was
born within healing of tlit; cannon of Wagram, and amid the fabu-
lous e.xjjloits of tiie imperial epoch.

^'(.!umes have been written in Switzerland oji the miracles
wrought by the ^la<b)nna of Kinsiedeln; we shall give but one of
these, a little fancifid legend of the si;\ eiite.'uth century, which wv,
fouinl in a book of devotion [)ublishc 1 in Fribiurg, but now some-
what scarce. The Swiss ])iously believ(^ in the auth<!nticity of this
strange fact, but others are not bound to follow their example.

In a vast mcidiieval ha. 1, whose walls were adorned with paintings
in fresco of tiie most terrific subjeet-<, ;iiid arMin 1 which wwv. seen
those stone lienches only fo.iiid in the feudal e:i-tles of Gi'rmany,
weie seated some Helvetian geiitlei'ieu (pi.ilnug deeii draughts of
Rhenish wine from larp'. (>l<I-fa>liic>;ie ! <:<)l.lets. In the niid>t of
this Teutonic bancpiet, whiNt a young otlieei- named Berthold was
uttering some oi die i.;ost extravagant ni>nsense, a jiilgrim was
ushered in; he was goinn' aluin' a:, ' b.^'efooted to • isit < )ur Ladv
of liermits, when tl;e n|!j)ro;'.ch <ii"a violent stuini forced him to ;isk
hospitality at the castle. 'I'ln- m.ble hist aivxe fiom his seat, and
court<'ous]y eoiiducted his new guest to the corner of a vast (iothic
ftre-])laee, where whole oaks were burning. This duty accomplished, ,^

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Ik'i'thold, without any ri'j^pect for the austorc presence of tlie pil-
f^rini, resumed the silly and innpious discourse which his entrance
had for a moment iirferriii)ted, casting from time to time a furtive
glance at the stranger to see what effect his words produced on
him ; but tlie pale, emaciated face of the holy man remained per-
fectly calm and UKjtiouless. The })auquet over, the guests oidered
their hoi-ses, and prepared to go to their several homes. "The
night is dark," said the host to the young miscreant, Berthold, who
si'iis a relative of his own; "thou luist to pass thi'ough a glen

haunted by evil spirits Something bad might happen to

thee Be advised by me, and stay here to-night."

" Pshaw !'' laughed the oftlctu', who was in the service of France,
" I fear neither God nor devil !"

" Are you quiie sure of that ?" demanded the pilgrim, in a tone
of gloomy raillery, which made all the othei"s afraid.

"So sure, honest jiilgrim, that I now drink to Lucifer, and beg
the favour of his comjiany to escort me home to-night, if it be coti-
renient."

"And thou wouldst deserve it well," cried the host, turning pale

"AVe will petition Our Lady for you," said the immovable pil
grim; "you will need her help."

"Oh, pray do not troubh; yourself — •! can dispen?;e with youi
prayers;" and he bowed ironically to the holy man. Some minutes
after, he was in the stirrup-:, and dashing down the hill on which
the castle stamls, singin^r tlu', chorus of a bacchanalian song.

The night was far advanced, the silence profound, and the soli-
tude unbroken; tlu !'ull-orl)i'd moon, fair and lonely, shone out at
times through thicL, dark clouds, in a starless sky, and Hashes of
lightning dart"(l at intervals along the horizon. For some reason,
best known to himself, the young man left off singing, but kept
swearing occasionally, lie at last reached the dangerous place
mentioned by his frienil, which was known by a name very common
in Helvetia, The DeviP.^ lioad. It was a deep gorge, hollowed be-
tween the reddish tlanks of two mountains — a wild and gloomy
spot, wliei'c^ the Alpine goat would have scarcely ventured even in
the light of day. Ar tli.at dead hour of the night, when the deep
stilhiess and the iVarful gloom calU'd torth every snjx'rstitious feel

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ing liitoiit ill tlie iiihul, the young Swiss, becoming somewhat unoitsy,
mochtinioully placed his hand on his sword ; then, ashamed of him-
self, he began to hiiigh at his own fears.

" I have specially invited Lucifer to see me home," said the mis-
creant, willing to indulge his pride by nn idle boast; "but he is
deaf, it seems — or, hell is empty."

The thunder growled in the distance, and a flash of lightning
illumined the woods and mountains, showing liira two hideous
dwarfs at his horse's head. " Ila !" cried the officer, with a shudder;
but quickly resuming his wonted insolence, " Avaunt, ye fiends !"
he cried, proudly waving his sword; "two wretched dwarfs would
be only a fitting escort for some Alpine cowherd !"

The dwarfs disapi)eared, and the gallop of two horses rapidly
de>!'^ 'ling the almost ])erpendicular face of the mountain made
Bertliold turn his head. The horsemen were two knights, in black {V^
armour, mounted on steeds of the same colour. Their eyes shone '
like blazing coals through the bars of their closed helmets ; to their
arm was attached the morgenstoin of ancient Germany, a club stud-
ded with long iron points apj)areiitly reeking with human gore, and
streams of fire waved above their helmets instead of i)hinu's.

The gloomy knights drew np in silence on either side of the ter
rifled officei', snatched the reins from his trembling hands, and the
three horses dashed along at lightning speed; mountain after moun-
tain disapjjeared ; sparks of fire darted from the stones of the road,
and distance wiis no sooner perceived than passed. Frail In'idges
of flexible ln'anches, spanning cataracts so fearful that even the
boldest hunter of the Alj>s wovild scarce set foot npon them, were
crossed with the swiftness of the wind. Tlu' I'cgiDiis of eternal
snow were quickly gained, and the horses, redouljling their fury,
made straight foi- a tremendous gulf, where, far down as the eye ^(^t-X
could see, rolled a mountain stream, its noise hardly ])erceptible ' ftgi
from the immense height above. Suddenly, from amidst those vwj
gloomy waters, reddened at times by subterranean fires, a multitude W<~
of hoarse, hollow voices were heanl. "Revenge! revenge !" they
cried ; "give us th(* seducei', the false frieiul, the duellist!"

"We ])i'ing him!" replied the kniglus, brandishing their pon-
derous clubs.

|ciiAi'. xvr.

B[,i;.S8KD VIUGIN sIaUY.

'Jt'7

A coUl sweat botlcwod BortlioliVs brow ; liis Imir stood on enil,
and liis features were convidsed with mortal terror; for uniongst
tlioHe accusing voices tliero were many that ho well knew — voices
that pierced his very soul: remorse began to speak as loud as foiir
within his wretched soul.

" Give us the gambler, the slanderer, the })lasph(!nnM', the per-
jured !" cried the voices from the abyss; and Berthold's gloomy
I companions, laughing within their helmets, with a clanking, horri-
ble laugh, answered the voices frombeloAv: " We bring him! wo
liring him !"

" Give us the impious!"

" We bring him!" was still the answer '>f the black knights, and
Berthold well nigh lost his senses.

Already wiu-o the throe horsemen o.: t';:) edge of a steep rock
overhanging the dread a})ys3. . . Another moment, and all were over,
. . . But suddenly the two black knights stopped in the midst of a
furious gallop, a-ul stood still and mute as statues. The light tinkle
of a bell was heard from afar : it was the midnight office ringing in
Our Lady's Chapel at Kinsi('(l(jln. Berthold understood that Mary's
influence had paralj'zed the fearful power ^/hich was dragging him
down to hell, and, hastily making the sign of the cross, he fervently
recommciided himself to the protecting Virgin, who seemed to in-
terpose bi'tween him and the condign jiunishment which his con-
science told him he so well de-served. Tlie ])ell ceaseel ringing, and
the young otlicer felt his heart sink as he saw the two knights once
more moving on their black couisers. But the voice of repentance
had ascended to the starry throne of iSlary ; and the demons, with
an impotent gesture of i-age and desjjair, plunged headlong into the
chasm, leaving Berthold alone on the brink. The moon, just then
emerging fi-om a mass of dark clouds, shone l)rightly down from her
meridian height, and the officer disco v(!red, to his great surprise,
that he was on the highest ridge of the mountains, and would find
it extremely difficidt to descend. Some days after, the young noble-
man went barefooted to Our Laih/ of Jlei'iiiit'f, to the givat amaze-
ment of his boon companions, and made a vow, in expiation of his
ninful orgies, never to drink any other beverage than the pure water
vioin tlic spring.

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UISTOUY OK TIIK UKVOTKJN TO TIIK CHAI'. XVI.J

III a rumoto ornor of the canton of UndtTwuld, on tlio ed^o of
ft p.itli which winds in a serpentine form nniongst the rocky knoUn
which cover the monntain-side, at the narrowcwt ])art of the pass,
whei'e the tnucller sees below the most fri^litfiil Tirccipices, and
(if)()re ovt'rhaii<,'iiir; nuissfs of rock, whore (h^ath s' .a! i Uiroateninf^
on either hand, (here stands a small open chafx'l, adorned with siin-
l)le pictnres of the Blessed Virgin. This place, often accursed, was
long ago called the DeviP.s CiiUeiuki'. After trying in vain to make
it more secure, ])eople conceived the idea of building a cliaMel, and
placing in it a sacred image, so that no one might forget, '.,."i great
soever was his dangci-, to invoke; the holy name of Ood, ana mikt ♦he
sign of the cross. But where were workmen to he found hold enough
to undertake the work ? This obstacle was sptjedily got over, for
several cauie forward and repaired to the spot, after renewing their
fervour by hearing iMass. And the Mother of God, willing to show
these pious workmen that their heroic devotion was })leasing to h -r,
made fast the tottei'ing rocks by viiyin^s' fhrcm/s; fastened to the
grass and moss. " Ever since," say the Swiss of Uiiderwald, "the
])as8nge is safe ; no accident happens thei-e either (hiy or night. Our
Lady is so good as to ])rotect all the passers by, even those who do
not see, or will not honour her."*

The pilgrimage of Maria Zell. in Austria, is almost as famous as
tnat of iiiDsiideln Its founder, whoso name is no longer known,
uiis <K mr>' ,v' ot the Abbey of St. Lambert, who took up his abode,
about the middle of the twelfth century, in the vale of Ailleuz, for
the purjwise of converting some Carinthian trilx's who were still
idolaters. This pious German missionary brought with him a sninl!
wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin, which he exposed to the vene-
ration of his neophytes on th;; trunk of a fallen tree, for want of
other pedestal. The Carinthian shepherds sheltered their .Madonna
as well as they could, in a sort of hut erected by them for the pur-
pose, and went in crowds to invoke her in that humble shed, wh(;rc
their simple demands were -iften heard and granted by the powei-
ful Virgin.

UMiSriKI) Vlltdl 4 .MAUY

ti.iu'i^r^

Sucli wuH tlio L'omtm!MC(!in»;iit of this fmutnis pilj^rima'/c, now frc-
(juciitiHl liy cinptTorM and jjiIiicch. In 1220, lloiiry, iiiarj^ravi! of
Moiaviii, and his wile A!,'iii'-<, in gratitude) tor a tnarvolloii3 euro ob-
y tuiiRMi tliroui,di tlic iiitcircMsioii of Mary, huilt the Mtoiio chapel
ij wliic'h is now seen in the niiddh) of th(i church; on its altar was
placed tln! sacred iniaf^'e, which had till then remained on tho stump.
Louis I., king of Iliuigary, after gaining an unhoped-ft)r victory over
tho Turks, erected the church which surrounds tho chapel. The
Mussulmans sni'rouiuled Maiia Zcdl in ir),'JO; but, at the moment
when tho chief wa> dire •fing tho j)oint of his lanco against tho mi-
raculous statue of the ' i, ho was struck with blindness, and his
Soldiers, sei/.<>d \'. it' 'ook flight. Tho emperors Mathias,
Ferdinand II., Fei'H 1 Leopold I., made tho pilgrimage
of Maria Zell. Man iiade her first communion there, in
1728; tho Euipon)r 1 .mcis v cut thither himself in 1814; and the
late emperor, no less devout to Mary than his givat ancestors, made
that pilgrimage with the empress and a ]mvt of his court. A magnifi-
cent ottering of ])recious stones signalized the munificence of the two
illustrious pilgrims who went to solicit tho aid of the Queen of Ilea-
ven in governing their people wisely and paternally, as their pious
and glorious ancestors did before tluMii.

On th(! shores of th(! Illyrian sea there rises, about two thousand
feet above the level of the sea, a mountain which bears the name
of }[ontc-Santt} ; on the top of this mountain there is a Franciscar,
monastery, which possesses the miraculous image of St. Mary of
Ciistagnavizza. King Charles X., a good prince and a pious mon-
arch, reposes there under the guardian care of the heavenly patron-
ess of France; one day, perhaps, when the stormy passions of men
have subsided, six feet of French earth will \w. granted to tho de-
«cend;i'it of St. Louis, of Ilenry IV., ami of Louis XIV.

In th(! palatinate of Kalish, in Poland, there is n small towi^
seated advantageously on a height, and praised for the strength of
its fortifications even in IT")!). This town, named Czenstochowa,
was always garrisoiunl by C()ini)anies of ailillery, but it w;vs best
known through its abbey of the F((f/ier,s' of Dea/h, or the congrega-
tion of St. Paul, which coutaintul a miraculous image of Mary; both
natives and foreigners flocked to this sanctuary, where every

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IIISTOUY 01'' THE DEVOTION TO TlIK

01 UP. XVI. 1

wealthy pilgrim left magnificent offerings. Besides the image of
the Madonna, which, according to the monks, is the identical por-
trait of the Virgin painted by St. Luke, (an opinion somewhat
questionable,) they expose to the veneration of the faithful a more
authentic relic: the table at which the Holy Family took tlieir
meals. Polish sentinels were stationed at the gate of Our Lady of
Czenstoohowa, and iu different parts of the monastery ; fresh-blown
flowers were every morning laid at the Virgin's feet ; but not nil
the sweet and simple grace of Mary's worship could exclude from
that chapel a sort of religious liorror which froze one's very blood.
The catacombs, with their mournful ornaments of human bones,
were scarcely more frightful than those spectral-looking monks, who
wore on their drapery the death's-head and cross-bones, such as Ave
see on funeral-palls,* and had similar devices painted in a hundred
different places through the church. This devotion to the Virgin
of Czenstochowa has been transplanted into PYance by the Poles of
our own times. A pious Polish family, residing in the neighbour
hood of Paris, conceived the idea of inaugurating the image of the
tutelary Madonna of Poland in an ancient oak of the forest of St.
Germain. On the 13th of August, 1840, a Polish ecclesiastic, in the
presence of a multitude of Poles of both sexes, consecrated the
sacred image in the beautiful tree chosen for its temple, (doubtless,
for want of means to build one ;) then, all the assembly, kneeling on
the grass, began to recite aloud the Litany of the Blessed Virgin ;
they then prayed for the dead, and for their beloved country ; they
besought Heaven for happier days, and dispersed with their souls
strengthened and encouraged by that religious sentiment which
gives men patience and fortitude.

Belgium has been always distinguished amongst the nations of
Europe for its tender devotion to Mary ; of the numerous pilgrim-
ages which it had, and still has, we will only mention that of Our
Lady of Hall, of which an interesting description was left us by
one of the most learned writers of the seventeenth century, Justus
Lipsis.

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* Histoire des Onlres MotHistiques, t. iii., ch. 44

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lOlIAP. XVI.

BLEriSED VIRGIN llAUY.

271

Our Lady of Hall is situated in a pretty town surrounded by a
fine aad fertile country, watered by the Senne; it passes for a beau-
tiful church even in that old Catholic land where the churches are
truly magnificent. The Virgin's chapel is on the left-hand side.
The statue is of gilt wood, and is crowned with fine gold. With
one hand the Virgin supports her divine Son, and with the other
she presents a lily, that charming flower, the emblem of chastity,
poetically named by the inhabitants of the Pyrenees, Andredana
Maria arrosa (the Virgin Mary's rose). In former times, she wore
on her breast six large pearls, with a beautiful ruby in their midst.
Twelve towns or cities, who had experienced the efifects of her pro-
tection, undertook the chai-ge of her adornnient. Every year, on
the first Sunday of September, their deputies brought her twelve
magnificent robes, in token of gratitude and devotion. On that
day a solemn procession took place, and the imrge of the Virgin
was borne in triumph by the twelve deputies through the city of
Hall and its suburbs. The people of Liege are also in the habit of
going there every yea.- in procession, on the feast of Pentecost.*

Several princes have contributed to enrich this sanctuary. Over
the altar, according to Justus Lipsis, were seen the twelve apostles,
and on either side, an angel with a lamp ; the whole of solid silver.
No altar could boast so great a number of lamp*, coats of arms,
l)anner3, crosses, chalices, and divers figures in gold and silver.
Philip the Good, Duke o!" Burgundy, gave among other rich presents,
a second statue of the Virgin, with a cavalry soldier and a foot-
soldier, fully accoutred, all of silver; Charles, his son, gave a silver
falcon ; the Emperor Maxiniiliiin enriched this shrine with a golden
tree ; Charles V. with a coat of arms ; Pope Julius H. with a silver
lamp. To the right weie seen the statues of the Emperor Maxi-
milian, Albert, duke of Saxony, and one of their courtiers, in a
kneeling posture. Over their heads were hung the banners sent by
conquerois as offerings to Maiy. There was also a Remonstrance
of gilt silver, of a considerable weight, given by Henry VHL of
England. Justus Lipsis, himself, not content with having carefully

Diva Virgo HoUensin. — Millot, Hist, dvs Troubud.. t. i., p. 407.

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HIS'l'OU\ OV TIIK DKVOTION TO TIIK

written the liistory of Oiu" Lady of Hull, liting up liis silver pen
before Mary's image.

After the Holy Sepulchre, ami St. Peter's in Rome, there is not^
in all Christendom, a pilgrimage more famous than that of the Holy
House of Loretto. Santlssinia casa dl Lorelo. The holy house of
Nazareth was venerated by Christians even in the life-time of tlie
A])ostle3, and St. Helen surrounded it liy a temple which received
the name of St. Mary. Under the domination of the Arabian caliphs,
crowds of Eui'opean pilgrims went to adore God and honour his
ISIotiier in that simple, holy dwelling where Jesus and Mary led, for
so many years, a l.iborious and hidden life ; but when the Turks had
subjugated their former masters, the Christian pilgrims who ven-
tured into Syria to visit Jernsalem and xVazareth, were so barba-
rously ti'eated, that the West became thoioughly exasperated, and
rushed forth as one man to do battle against the infidels.

When Godfrey de Bouillon was proclaimed king of Jerusalem,
Tancred (whose valorous deeds have been sung by Tasso) was
named governor of Galilee : that piince, who was very devout to
Mary, enriched the Church of Nazareth with sumjituous gifts.

Galilee having fallen under the Mahometan yoke, though
whitened with the bones of Christian warriors, " God would not
permit Mary's holy house," says Father Torsellini,* " to remain ex-
posed to the pi'ofanation of the Bai'barians ; he had it conveyed by
angels to Selavonia, and thence to the rjarch of Ancona, where it
wa' placed in the midst of a laurel grove, belonging to a pious and
noble widow, named Lauretta. It was rumoured abroad," ho
added, "that on the arrival of holy house, the tall trees of tho
Italian forest bowed down ii' m of respect, and further, that
they retained that inclination till the winds or the woodman's axe
laid them prostrate on Jie ground."

The Church of Lo)'elto, one of the most beautiful in Italy, has
been tastefully and munificently adorned by the popes, who often
went there as pilgrims; three doors of chased bronze gave admis-
sion to the holy temple, in the centre of which stands the Holy

* Ilistoria Laurefana, cb. 2, p. 0.

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[CIIAI'. XVI.

UI.JiSSKD VIKUIN JIAUY.

273

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House, with its covering of white marble, adorned with magnificent
huxHo-t-elievOy designed by Hramante, and executed by Sansovino,
Sanirallo, and BandinoUi.

The miraculous statue of the Virgin is thirty-three inches in

liiiight ; it is carved in cedar-wood, covered with the richest drapeiy,

and placed on an altar sparkling with jewels.* It is said that the

.iche in which it stands is overlaid with gold.f Numerous lamps

>i massive silver are constantly burning before it.

La scda del tesovo (the treasure-room) no longer displays the
lioiindless wealth that it did in fo?mer times; but even in our days
it lias received some splendid gifts from popes and princes.
Amongst these pious offerings is seen an ostensory of gold enriched
with diamonds, a chalice and a censer, offered to the Madonna
by the Emperor Napoleon; a chalice of gilt silver adorned with
rubies and beryls, presented in 1819 by Prince Eugene Beauhar-
nais ; another chalice ornamented with brilliants, by the Princess
of Bavaria, his wife ; a large cross of gold and diamonds, and a
crown of amethysts, rubies, and diamonds, offered in 1816, by the
King and Queen of Spain, then on their pilgrimage to Loretto ; a
bmiquet of diamonds, offered, in 1815, by Maria^ouisa, sister of the
King of Spain, Queen of Etruria, and Duchess of Lucca ; an im-
mense heart of the purest gold, with a jewel in the centre, sus-
pended by a chain of emeralds and amethysts, the Emperor of
Austria's gift to the Madonna. It would be impossible to enume-
rate all the precious stones and rion presents of every kind offered
by kings and princes, under the simple title of do no dl una pia per-
sona (the gift of a pious person) on the register which contains the
names of the benefactors of the Holy House.

The music of the beautiful Litany of Our Lady of Loretto was
the offering wherewith a famous Florentine composer repaid a mir-
acle of the Virgin in the beginning of the eighteenth century. This
composer, named Barroni, suddenly lost his hearing, like Beetho-

* Tlio altar of the Madqniia is I'tuliaiit with gold and jewels. {Itulij, by Lady
Morgan, vol. iii., cli. 25.)

t La vaga nicchia e rieoperta di lame d'oro. (Don Vinecnzo Murri, Storia dello
Santa Casa.)

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IIISTOKY Ob' THE DEVOTION TO THE

ClIAl'. XVI.J

ven ; after exhausting all the efforts of art, he besought the assist-
ance of Mary, and made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loretto.
There he was cured after having prayed with fervour and devotion
and in his gratitude to the Holy Madonna, he composed a chorus
of praise in her honour, which, under the title of the Litany of
Loretto, was executed for the first time on the 15th of August,
1737. This Litany is since sung every year on the feast of the
Madonna; Rossini, passing by Our Lady of Loretto, was struck
with the beauty of the music, and introduced it, they say, into his
Tancredi.*

The popes have taken pleasure in showing their respect for Mary
by thoir tender solicitude for her miraculous shrine at Loretto.
Pope Pius V. offered to the Holy House two silver statues of St.
Peter and St. Paul ; he did still better by turning from its natural
channel a river whose watei-s, sluggish and partly stagnant, sent up
the most unwholesome exhalations to the top of the hill where a
small town was formed in the shade of Mary's magnificent church.
Gregory XHL founded a college for the lUyrian youth, within the
very bounds of Loretto, aa if to console the Dalmatians for the loss
jf the Madonna, wlfo stopped but a moment amongst them ere she
took her flight to the lovely shores of Italy. Sixtus V. founded the
Order of the Knights of Loretto, specially intended to protect the
coast of the Mediterranean from the incursions of the Barbarians.
Benedict XIV. embellished this sanctuary with persevering gene-
rosity, and Pius VII., on being liberated, went to kneel before Our
Lady's altar before he returned to Rome, and left, as a mark of his
passage, a superb golden chalice with this inscription : " The sove-
reign pontiffj Pius VII., restored to liberty on the feast of the An-
nunciation, being on his return from France to Rome, left at Loretto
this token of his gratitude and devotion."" His Holiness, Gregory
XVI., likewise made the pilgrimage to Loretto.

The Spaniards have consecrated to Mary the lofty mountain of
Mouut-Serrat, ten leagues from Bai-cclona, wliieh was, according to
the great naturalist Humboldt, the great Atlas of the ancients ;

* Gazette Musicale.

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CHAP. XVI.

1JLE.SSED VIUGIN MAltY.

2Yi

sjjvcnd out beneath lies the fiiir kingdom of Vnlencift, the ancient
L'iirdi'n of the Hcsperidos. • This mountain, whose singular form
gave rise to its name of MonUSeii'aU (the cut mountain), seems
composed of detached pieces which make it appear divided, and
covered with spiral cones, so that at a distance it would be taken
for the work of man. Seen from afar, it is a pile of grottoes and
gothie pyramids ; on a nearer view, each particular cone appears a
mountain, and all these cones, terminated by miniature spires, forms
an enormous mass about five leagues in circumference. It was
probably this strange configuration that gave rise to the fable of
the giants heaping mountain on mountain in order to scale the
heavens.

On a platform of this fiamous mountain was built the superb con-
vent dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, one of the most renowned
pilgrimages in the Christian world. The foundation of this noble
monastery is recorded as follows, in an insciiption over a large pic
tui-e of the same time (12.^9) : In the year 808, under the govern-
ment of Geolfry the Bearded, Count of Barcelona, three young
shepherds having, one evoming, seen a great light coming down
from heaven, and heard melodious music in the air, went and told
their friends. The bishop of Manresa repaired to the spot accom
panied by a magistrate and a great number of the people; they also
beheld the heavenly light, and after searching for some time, they
discovered the imago of the Virgin, which tli''y resolved to take
to Manresa; but, on reaching the place where tlie monastery now
is, behold ! they could go no fartlici- ! Tliis prodigy induced
the Count of Barcelon t) build a convent there for nuns, whom
he procured from the ro'"al abbey of las Paellas in Barcelona;
the first abbess of Our Lady of ]\Ioiite-Serrat vras his daughter
Ricliilda, who took possession of it about the year 895. This
• community of nuns lasted till 976, when Borrell, Count of Bar-
celona, with the pope's consent, established the Benedictines on
Mount-Serj'at.

The convent of Montserrat is a grand and noble building, situ-
ated on a narrow table-land of the mo mtain, known by the name
of St. Mary's Platform ; it is overhung by enormous rocks, which
seem ever on the point of falling; it is defended by the declivities

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lltsrolty OK TIIK DKVOTION TO THE

CIIAI'. XVI. I

CrM

i73

of tlie mountain, like natural fortifications, and on tin; side wliore it
18 nccwHihle, by six strong towers. Besides the convent and church
of Our Lady, the fortified inclosure contains a lodging-liouso for
travellers, an hospital, and an infirmary. The Church of Our Lady
of Montseri-at, though having but one nave, is yet very spacious ;
the choir-stalls ai-e of remai'kable workmanship. The face of the
Virgin's imago is almost black, like that of Toledo, Guadaloupo,
and many othei's in Sj)ain ; it repi-esents Our Blessed Lady of a
matronly figure, and advanced in ngo, although very dark; her
face is serene and beautifid ; she is seated on a sort of throne, and
holds in her jight hand a globe, frojn which 8[)rings a Jfeni' de lij%
while with the other she supports the Divine Child, sitting on he r
knee, giving benediction with his right hand, and holding in the
other a globe surmounted by a cross.

The inhabitants of the mountain are dividetl into four classes,
namely, monks, hermits, choristerr<, and lay-brothers, who regularly
and uninterruptedly succeed each other at prayer. The place is so
arranged, that the singing in the monastery is heard in the different
he'-mitages ; and the bells of the latter, repeated by the echoes, is
conveyed from one station to another round the whole mountain.
The top of Montserrat commands one of the finest prospects in
the world, consisting of the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and
even the Balearic Isles.

Spanish kings and princes often ascended on foot the mountain-
path which leads to Mary's altar, and numberless captives went
thither, in the old times, to hang up the chains whicii they had
worn amongst the Moors. St. Ignatius Loyola, before he devoted
his life to religion, went there to make his viijil of ami-t, according
to the custom of ancient chivalry, with whose spirit he was strongly
imbued. " After having passed the night in prayer," says Father
Bonhours, his biographer, "and solemnly consecrated himself to the
Virgin, as her knight, in conformity with those martial ideas in
which he conceived the things of God, he hung his sword on a pil-
lar near the altar, as a sign that he renounced the secular vservice;
then, after receiving the holy communion very early in the morn-
ing, he left Montserrat."

Our Lidy of the I^illar, at Saragossa, is one of the oldest and

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(CllAl'. AW.

lll,»i>sKU VIUUIN MAKV.

iiKmt inngiiiricent pDgrimnges in Spnln. King Fonliimiul went there
with Queen Cliiihtina a short tinie hefon; ]m death ; juid both, after
praying devoutly, like true Catholic princes, before the venerated
image of the Virgin of Saiagossia, left her, at their departure, muni.
♦Icent i)roofd of their devotion.

'J'ho catheilral dedicated to Mary is u vast building, five hundred
feet in length, with three s[)aeious n:vve«t, and a multitude of chapels.
Modern travellers speak with admiration of these chapels of marble
and of jiusper, hung round with offerings of gold, silver, and precious
stones ; its silver lamps shed such a dazzling radiance on these walls
eovered with bright and precious objects, that it produced around
the statue, itself sparkling with jewels, such an overpowering bright-
ness that the eye can scarcely l>ear to rest upon it ; the whole like
a splendid vision, with the glitter of gold and the flash of rubies and
diamonds. The Virgin's statue stands on a jasper column about
thi'ee feet high ; her garments and jewels were valued at several
millions of pounds.

A pilgrimage, still very famous in Spain, is that of Our Lady of
(iuadaloupe. Father Mariana assures us that this image, which was
renowned so early as the fourth century, was sent by Pope Gregory
the Great to St. Leander, bishop of Seville. King Alphonso en-
dowed this shrine in 1340, and annexed it to his private domains.
Forty-nine years after, Don Juan I. gave it to some Jeromite monks,
together with the lordship of a lai'ge town formed in the neighbour-
hood. The convent, which took the name Santa J/an'u, is situated
in the midst of the present town ; and, as times w(;re very unsettled
when it was first founded, it has rather the appearance of a stately
fortress than of a peaceful monasteiy. It has an infirmary for the
sick pool", a caravanserai for strangers, two colleges, and some fine
cloisters.

In 1389, the famous Spanish architect, Juan Alfonso, commenced
the church, which has three naves, and its walls are hung round
with magnificent offerings, acknowledging, as the Spaniards say,
more than three thousand authentic miracles wrought by the Blessed
Virgin, Her image is over the high altar, and wiis lit, some years ago,
by more than one hundred lamps of massive silver ; she is clothed in
white, and has the Divine Infant in her arms. Queen Donna Ma-

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lia, wife of Jimn II., Iior son, Don Ilfiirici), ftiid many otlicr princes,
i'h(»-<e tlu'ir Kiiiial-plrtct! in this rliiiroli, wliicli is ndtnat.-d with hand-
.^oinn trappini^'s tVouj Znrlmrajj and Jonhm.

The devotion to Our Lady of (Jiiachdoiipo crossed tlin ocean, nnd
was established hy niiraeles in Mexico, a country entirely devoted
to the- Motlier of (}od. It is recorded, in n narrative published at
Kouic in 178(5, tliat a converted Indian, who went vvvvy Saturday
t ) Mexico — eii^lit miles from his own village — to hear mass in honour
of the Blessed Virgin, had n miraculous vision on a hill formerly very
famous among the Mexican idolaters, who named it TipiJdriK^ aiul
consecrated it to Tonantiiii^ the mother of the gods. One Saturday,
l>eiiig tho 9th of December, a. d. ir»31, the pious Diego, passing the
foot of this hill, heard a soft strain of music, which he took at first
for \\\i> singing of birds; but on listening more attentively, ho was
inclined to attribute it rather to tlje angels. Over the Tcpijacac
hovered a variegated cloud of the loveliest lines imaginable, and
from it came forth a sweet voice, calling the pious Mexican by name.
Amazed, and unabh; to account for this strange adventure, Diego
climbed tho hills, on the nummit of which he perccfivcul a woman of
the most majestic l)eauty : from her white drapery issued rays of
light, which, reflected on the surrounding rocks, seemed to liavo
transformed them into precious stones. The Blessed Virgin, for she
it was, told Diego that she wished to have a temple built to her on
that hill, under the name of Our Lady of Guadalouj)e, and com-
maiided him to acquaint Juan de Zumarraga, who was then bishop
of Mexico. The prelate listened in silence to this strange recital,
and dismissed the Indian, telling him that he would need to be as-
sured of the truth of liis statement, and to have a more convincing
sign of the will of Heaven. Apprized by her messenger of the ill
success of his mission, the Virgin ordered him to ascend the hill,
and gather a Ininch t)f flowers. Now, it was not the season for
flowers, and, moreover, the top of the rock had as yet produced
only la'iers and thorns; })ut Diego obeyed, nevertheless, and his
.=;nbnii.ssion was rewarded, for lie quickly found himself in the midst
of flowers balmy and beautiful; he proceeded to cull a nosegay,
wliioli IVfary told him to present to the bishop. " He will believe
ihis time," said the Virgin, with a smile

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[OIIAI'. XVI.

III.KSHKI) VIIKIIV MAUY.

t>7U

D'lPgo ropaiis to tlio cpiscop.il piiliico, wlitTc tlu! friijj;raiic(i ot' tin-
llowoi-s hid uiitit!!- Ills floiik iittnicts tlio atti'iition of tlui oHict-rs of
Uio liouHc'lioUl ; M;t'y forw! I)it>go to lot tliorn hoo tlusin, and Htretoli
out tlitiir hands to tiiko thorn. AMtoiilshnient! tlic floucrs nro im.
piiiiti'd oil tlu' cdotii, and aro nothing more, an it were, than painted
roses and lilies ! The hishop appears, and Diego, opening the folds
of his garment, now exhaling a celestial odonr, finds, to his extreme
snrpri.se, that the flower^ had shaded themselves into a heantifid
imago of Mary. The prelate, nftor prostrating himself, takes the
I'loak from off the Mexican's shonldors, nnd exposes it in his chapel,
until another could bo hnilt on the spot pointed out by the Vir-
gin. The church was erected as soon as possible, and wiien it was
comjileted, the imago was conveyed thither: ever after it per-

«»». >ornied many miracles, and became the luoat famous Madonna in

\f^f .Vmericn.

This new sanctuary })eing nnablo to contain tho crowds who
lloeked thither, people thought of I > Iding another about the year
UiOT). Tho archbishop of Mtixico, Francisco do Aquiar e Seixas,
laid the first stone. Tiiis is the splendid chnreli now so much ad-
mired. It cost 2,'27<),»)l»t) pounds. On tho 1st of May, 1700, the
sacred image was transported thither, and placed on a silver throne
,'alued at l(i(),0()0 francs. The gifts increasing from day to d.iy,
altars were constructed of the finest marble, and the treasury was
enriched with [)iecioU3 vessels. Tlie great silver-gilt lamp alone
weighs mui • than six hundred and twenty marks, and is still moi'O
valuable from it-* workmanship. Around tho sanctuary runs a
grand balustrade of silver, continued as far as tlu^ choir, which, ac-
cording to the Spanish cu-icin, occupies tho lower end of the
church. This first railing is protected by a second of precious
wood, adorned with an infinite number of silver figures of exquisite
workmanshi]). A vice-king of Mexico, Don Antonio- ^Nlaria Hucca-
relli, surrounded the image with a cornice of massive gold, and en-
riched the nltar with twelve golden candlesticks. In 1710, a
chapter was founded for the service of this sanctuary. ^Mexico was
solemnly consecrated to Our Lady of Guadalon])!', and her feast
was fixed on the 12tli of December, with an octave, as a festival of
tho first cla.s3. Benedict XIV. extended this festival to all tho do.

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HISTOUY OK TIIK DKVOTIOX TO TIIK CUM'. XVI, ]

millions of tlie Catholic king. A town has since sprung np nroninl

the sanctnary. Guadaloupe is the Loretto of America. The image

,i represents an Immaculate Conception, with the inscription: JSon

\jf fecit taliter omni natiouL*

A We will content ourselves with the pilgrimages alreatly desciilied,
as they are the most famous in Chnstendom : it would be tedious
to enumerate all those which still subsist in Catholic countries. We
will meri'ly mention, then, Our Lady of Larapadouze, placed, like a
beacon, on a desert isle, between Malta and the African coast,
whose lamp, kept up alternately by Christians and Mussulmans,
burned uninterruptedly for ages ; Our Lady of Monte-Nero, over
looking Livourne, whose church is frequented by an innumerable
crowd of pilgrims, and its walls covered with ex-voto ; it commands
a viev7 of that fair Tuscan sea into which the Italian maidens cast,
on the eve of the Virgin's festivals, those garlands of flowers which
they once offered to the nytn])hs of Amphytrioii ; Our Lady ot
Mercy, near Savona, in the valley of St. Bernard, the fairest sanc-
tuary constructed by tlie piety of the Genoese people in honour of
Mary; Our Lady of Consolation, in Turin; Our Lady of Charme
in Maurienne ; Onr Lady of Chasms, near Chambery; and Our Lady
of Passaw, where the French priests, driven from home by the Re-
volutionary bayonets, went to pray for a iiappy return to their
country — sighing for the limpid streams of France on the banks of
the majestic Danube, the king of German riveri't. As to the other
sanctuaries of Mary scattered all over the world, tin; greater part
will be found in the annexed historical calt-ndar. This calendar,
published during the minority of Louis XIV., contains all the pil-
grimages of the Virgin throughout Christendom, with a number of
pious foundations, which render it extremely valuable; it is, more-
over, a very rare work, only to be found in libiaries. It is need-
less to say, that things have changed since then, and that many
religious edifices consecrated to the Mother of God, and then in a
flourisliing condition, pre now but a heap of ruins, thanks to the

* Tlio ^lexiciiiiR, to show their respect for Our litidy of Oiiadaloiipe, pnve hci
name to their first steamboat.

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HISTORY OK TIIK UKVO'llON 'tO TIIK CIIAP. XVr. )

HISTORICAL CALENDAR

(Df tl]^ $t\\&ts of tlje Slfsse^ iUirgin,

WITH THE FOUNDATIONS AND CHUKCHES DEDICATKD TO HEO,

^*--'i

JANUARY.

1. Dedication of Our Lady of the Annunciation, in Florence, by Cardinal Quilla-
nnie d'Estonville, a. p. 1452. In this churcli is preserved a picture of the Annunci
vtion, wliicli was found miraculously finished when the painter came to give it tlic last
iouclies. Archangel, Janius.

2. Foundation of the Abbey of Dunes, in Flanders, in honour of the Virgin, a. u.
1128, by Foulqucs, a Benedictine Monk. Chronic. Bertinense.

3. Onr Lady of Sichem, near Louvain, in the duchy of Brabant. This iniiigc is
said to liave sweated four drops of blood in the year 1306. Just, Lips, in hisl. Sichem.,
cap. 5.

4. Dedication of Our Lady of Treves, in Germany, a. d. 746, by Hydolph, Arelib'shop
of Treves. The Princess Genevieve, wife of Syfred, pahtine of Treves, and daiisliter
of the Duke of Brabant, had this church built in a wood on the very spot where Our
Lady appeared to her, and assured her that her innocence should be recognized. Ad-
diliones ad MoUinum de Sanctis Belrficis,

5. It is stated tliat on this day a paralytic man was miraculously cured in the
churcli of Our Lady of Sichem, in Brabant. Justus Lipsius in hist. Sich., c. 24.

6. Our Lady being on this day at the wedding of Canaan, prevailed upon her son,
then thirty years of age, to change water into wine ; this was his first public miracle |.
S. Epiph. hceres. 51.

7. Our Lady's return from Egypt to JuJca with Jesus and St. Joseph. Martyroluy
Rom., 7 Janvar.

8. Our Lady of the Coramenceraent, in Naples. Tliis chapel was built by St. TIcIimi,
and consecrated by St. Sylvester, a. d. 320. Pctrus Stephanus, de Locis Scurii
^eapolit.

9. Our Lady beyond the Tiber, in Rome. Tliis cliurch was built by Oali.xtus I., a. d.
224. Baroniiis in apparatu ad Annul, et in Anmil, adunn. 224.

10. Our Lady of Guides, in Constantinople, whore tliero was some of Onr Lady's
spindles to be seen, with some of the swaddling-clothes of the divine Infant, given by
St. I'ulchcria to that church. Niceph., Tract. 3, cap. 7

11. Our Lady of Bessifere, in Limousin. A heretic who had scoffed at the devotion

7<7

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|011AP. XVI.

ULKriSKU VIUGIN MAllY

283^

testified for this image, saw his house burned before his eyes without any visible cause.
Triple Couronne, I. i., Tniit. 2, 8, 10, nonib. ft.

12. Our Lady of the Rue Lanje in Rome, built ou tiie spot where St. Paul lan-
ijuished for two years in chains, while he preached the Gospel and wrote several of his
Epistles. Trip, four., place quoted, nomb. 6.

13. Pius V. revises the little office of tiie Blessed Virgin, a. d. 1571. Bulinghem
in Culend.

14. Our Lady of Speech, near Montserrat, in Spain, so called because she is said
to have restored his speech to a dumb man, a. d. \b\\. Balinyhem in Calend.

15. Our Lady of the Porch, in Rome, where may be seen an image said to have
been brought from heaven by an angel to the blessed Galla, widow of the Consul
Symmachus. Ex monument. S. Mariae in Portic. ■

IG. Our Lady of Montserrat, in Spain, on this day, miraculously delivers several
captives from the tyranny of the Turks. Hist. Montiscr.

17. Our Lady of Peace, in Rome. In the year 1483, the Duke of Calabria having
besieged Rome to revenge himself on Si.xtus IV., for his having prevented him from
assisting the Duke of Ferrara against the Venetians, the Pontiff had recourse to the
Queen of Heaven, and engaged by vow to build her a church under the title of Our
Lady of Peace, if she would vouchsafe to deliver the city from the siege, and restore
peace to Italy. His prayer being heard, he accomplished his vow, and commenced
a churchy which was finished by his successor. Innocent VIII. Gabriel Pennotus in
Iil.it. tripartita Canon, regul., 1. iii., cap. 33.

18. Our Lady of Dijon, in Burgundy. This image, formerly called Our Lady of
Hope, delivered the city from the fury of the Swiss, a. d. 1513 ; in gratitude for
this favour, a general procession takes i)lace every year. Trip. Coiir., n. 42.

11». Our Lady of Giniont, near Toulouse. This Cistercian church is celebrated in
that part of the country for its rairucles. Trip. Cour., nomb. 34.

20. Our Lady of Tables, in Montpellier ; an ancient and very famous church. In
the arras of the city the Virgin is seen holding her divine sou in her arras. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 38.

21. Our Lady of Consolation, in Rome, at the foot of the Capitol. This Madonna
commenced to work miracles in 1471. Trip. Cour., nomb. 38.

22. Kspousals of Our Lady. This feast, long celebrated in France l)y pious per-
sons, was approved of by Pope Paul III., in 1546. Petr. Auratus, lib. de Imarj.

I'irt., c. 10.

23. Espousals of Our Lady, according to the custom of Arras. This feast was first
cekbratcd in the year 1556. Jifonum. Eccles. Attrebat.

24. Our Lady of Damascus. There is said to proceed from this image painted on
wood, a miraculous oil, which restored sight, a. d. 1203, to tlie Sultan of Danuiscus,
infidel as he was ; in gratitude for this favour, he founded a lump to be kept constant-
ly burning before the image. Spend, in Annal, adann, 1203.

25. Translation of Our Lady's shroud and tomb to Constantinople, by Juvenal,
IJishop of Jerusalem, in the reign of the Emperor Marcian, a. d 455. Ferreol,
Loerius in Ckron. unacephal.

;a)

t'dS

TJ-

284

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE

2(5. Onr Lady of Long-Fields, founded in 1261, by Elizabeth, sister of St. Louis,
Oalliii Christ., t. iv.
L /2a\ 27. Our Lady of Life, at Venasqiio, in Provence. Chronicles say that this imago
frequently restored life to unbaptized children, in ftrdcr that they might receive bap-
tism. Trip. Coiir., nomb. 89.

28. Our Lady of Succour, near Ilouen. This image is famous throughout the coun-
try. Ex archiv. hujus ccclesia.

29. Our Lady of Chatillon-sur-Seino. Bernard had a great devotion for this image,
because of n miracle which it wrought in his favour. Trip. Coiir., nomb. 43.

30. Our Lady of the Rose, at Lucca, in Italy. Three roses were found iu the month
of January, in the arms of this image, according to a Latin Chronicle. CasarFran-
dot. ill hist. Lucensi.

31. Apparition of Our Lady to Sister Angela de Foligny. In ejus vita.

dii^

f .:». y^ ^

MfC

FEBRUARY.

1. The Vigil of the Feast of the Purification. Locrius in Calend.

2. The Purification of Our Xady. This festival was instituted in 544, under the
Emperor Justinian, on occasion of the plague which ravaged Constantinople, wher?
ten thousand persons sometimes died in one day. In the year 701 , Pope Sergius added
to this feast the solemnity of the Tapers. Buronius in Annal. ad ann. 544.

3. Onr Lady of Seidaneida, near Damascus. From this image, painted on wood,
there flowed an oil which was never exhausted, no matter what quantity was taken
The virtue of this oil was so great that it cured even the infidels themselves. Arnold
abbas Lubec. apud Baron, ad ann. 870, ft apud Spondan ad ann. 1203.

4. Our Lady of the Pillar, at Saragossa, in Spain. So named, because, according
to the tradition, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. James the Major on a pillar of
jasper, a. d. 30, and commanded him to build her a church, which the Spaniards hold
to have been the first dedicated to Our Lady. Beutereus, 1. i., c. 2 et 3.

5. Dedication of the first Temple to Our Lady by St. Peter, in Tripoli, now Tortosn.
Caaisius, 1. v., de B. Virij., c. 32.

6. Our Lady of Louvain, in the Netherlands. This Madonna, highly venerated in
the country, began i> work miracles in 1444. Bulinghem, in Calend.

7. Our Lady of Gfrace, in the Abbey of Saiut Sauve, in Montreuil-sur-Mor. Chro'
ttic S. Salvi.

8. Our Lady of tlie Lily, near Melun. This Abbey of Cistercian nuns was founded
by Queen Blanche, mother of St. Louis. Gallia Christania, v. 4.

9. Octave of the Purification of Our Lady, established in the Cathedral of Saiiitcs,
because it was said that on the night of the Octave, the bells were heard to ring har-
mi)niously of their own accord. Tiiu sacristans having hastened to the church, beheld
a numI)or of strange men with tapers in their hands, singing hymns of honour to tht-
Virgin, venerated in tliat church under tiie title of Our liady of Miracles, and, enter-
ing softly, tlicy lipgjrcd tlie nearest of the august l)and to give thorn his taper, in proof

rM>itJ

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.S*^

lOIlAP. XVI.

BLESSED VIPwOIN MAU\.

285

of the i)ro(]igy. This taper is religiously preserved in that clwrch. Sausnei/ut
Martyr. Go 'i, die 9.

10. Our Lady of the Dove, near Bologna, in Italy, built, it is said, in the place
ninrkcd out by a dove, who kci)t for two days flying round some masons who were at
work, seeming to them to indicate a certain spot. Trip, Cour., nomb. 107.

11. St. Mary of Liqncs, near Calais. This monastery, of the Prcmonstrotenslau
Order, was founded in 1131, by Robert, lord of Liques. Oal. Christ., t. iv.

12. Our Lady of Argenteuil, near Paris, built by Ciovis I., a. d. 101. This
priory possesses a part of Our Saviour's seamless garment. TJiomaa Bosius, 1. ix.,
lie Siff. eccl., c. 9.

13. Our Lady of the Hot Oven, in Bourgcs, so called because in the year 526 a
certain Jew, it is said, shut up his son in a heated oven, because he had received Bap-
tism and the Holy Communion ; he was taken out safe and sound, thanks to the pro-
tection of Our Lady. A church was built to the Ble.s.sed Virgin in memory of this
event. Annalea dc France en Cliildehert.

14. Our Lady of Bourburg, in Flanders. It is said that this image having been
struck by an impious man, a. d. 1383, tlie sacrilegious ofionder fell dead on the spot.
Dgnvius, ex Archil', eccles. Burbiirg.

15. Our Lady of Paris, built in the first place by King Childebert, a. d. 522. About
the year 1257, St. Louis had a more spacious one erected on the same site, on the
foundations laid by Pliilip Augustus in 1191. Du Breuil, Theatre des Antiq. de
Paris, 1. i.

16. Our Lady of the Thorn, near Chalon, in Champagne, so named because this
image was found in a hawtliorn bush. Trip. Cour., nomb. 54.

17. Our Lady of Constantinople, formerly the Jewish Synagogue, which was con
verted into a Christian Church by tlie Emperor Justin the Younger, a. d. 566. Zocriim.

18. Our Lady of Laon, erected into a catlicdral and founded by St. Rr ui, Arch-
bishop of Rlieims, about the year 500 ; this prelate also consecrated St. Geneband. his
nephew, its first bishop. Miracles were oi'ten wron;j;lit tlierc, and, amongst otliers, wc
read that in 1395 there was seen on tlie spire, a crucifi.x, whose stigmata shed blood,
Thomas Walsiuffham, Hist. Aug. in Richardo I. rege.

19. Our Lady of Good-tidings, near Rouen, visited by a vast concourse of people,
especially on Saturdays. Trip. Cour., nomb. 52.

20. Our Lady of Boulogne-sur-Mer. In this cliurch there is seen an image said to
have been brought in a ship by tlie ministry of angels, a. d. 633. Louis XI. gave
this church a massive goldeu heart, weighing as much a? two thousand crowns, a. d.
1479, aiid ordained that all the kings of France, his successors, should make a similar
offering on their accession to the crown. Trip. Cour., nomb. 53.

21. Our Lady of Good Ilaven, iuDol, propitious to mariners. 2>i;', Cour., nomb. 51.

22. Our Lady of Help, at Ilennes, in Brittany. Idem.

23. Our Lady of the Rocks, near Salamanca, in Spain. There is an image venerated
in this church which was miraculously found, a, n. 434, by Simon Vela, who built a
church on the spot. BuUnghe/n in Culead.

24. On this day, in the year 591, St. Gregory the Great, hn ving the imago of the

~s^

O'lf

! i

;t^

tii II

'iMi

l^^

VQfi^

286

IIISTOUY OF Till': JOEVOTIOX TO THE

C'lAP. XVI.

Virgin whieli St. Luko painted, borno in procession, tlio plague ceasod in Rome. Ba-
liiiffliein in Calend. *

25. Our Lady of Victory, in Constantinople. The city was delivered from the
siege of the Saracens by tlie aid of the Blessed Virgin, a. d. 621. Fereolus Locriiis

20. Our Lady of the Fields, in Paris, formerly dedicated to Ceres. St. Denis,
after having cast out tiie demons, consecrated it to Our Lady. In it is seen an imago
of the Virgin, on a small square stone, about afoot indiameter, made after tliat which
St. Denis brought to France. Tliis house, a Benedictine priory, was occupied by the
Carmelites, who were received into it, a. d. 604, and founded by Cathei'ine, Princess
de Longueville. It was the first snttlemcnt of these nuns in France : Mother Anne
of Jesus, a companion of St. Theresa, was the first superior. i>« Breuil, Theatre des
Antiq., 1. ii.

27. Our Lady of Lights, near Lisbon, in Portugal. A liglit was long seen shining
in this place, without any one being able to account for the phenomenon, when Our
Lady, appearing to a prisoner, promised him liberty on condition that he would build
her a church on the place thus pointed out by her. Anton. Vasconcell., in descript.
reff. Lusitaii., c. 1, § 5.

28. Institution of the Monastery of the Annunciation, at Bethune, in Artois, by
Franyois de Melun and Louise de Foi.v, his wife, a. d. 1519. Fereolus Locritts.

MARCH.

1. Establishment of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, bj
Sixtus IV., A. D. 1476, and grants of indulgences to those who assist at mass or di
vine service. T, IV. Conciliorum.

2. Our Lady of Apparitions, in Madrid, so named because in 1449 the Virgin ap-
peared on eight successive days to a young girl named Yves, and commanded her to
build a church on the spot where she should find a cross in honour of Our Lady. In
vita B. Joan.

3. Our Lady of Longpont, in Valois. This abbey of the Cistercian Order was
founded in the year 1131, by Jo.sselin, Bishop of Soissons. Gaf. Christ., t. iv.

4. Our Lady of (5uard, in Arragon, so named for having saved the life of a child
who fell into a well, a. d. 1221. Dzonim, ad. ami. 1221.

5. Our Lady of Good Aid, at Xaiu-y, in Lorraine. Tills image is believed to have
obtained the victory for Rene, Duke of Lorraine, over Ciiarles tlic Bold, the last Duke
of Burgundy. Trip. Cour., nomb. 55.

6. Our Lady of Nazareth, at Pierrc-Noire, in Portugal. This image was honoured
in Nazareth from the time of the Apostles if we may believe a document which was
foniid by a hunter fastened to the image, a. d. 1150. Trip. Cour., nomb 13.

7. Our Lady of the Star, at Villa-Vicioza, in Portugal. So called because of a
star which a shepherd saw shining where the church i.: built. Trip. Com:, nomb. 17.

8. Our Lady of Virtues, at Lisbon, in Portugal. Ant. Vasconcel., in Jescript. vfj.
Lusitan., c. 7, § 5.

9. Foundation of Savigiiy in the dioce.se of Avranchc, in Normandy, in honour of

(if>^~^'

•r'*^v!^'-ii?

^:!r^3

jfe*'

! uiur. XVI.

JILKSSKD VIIJOIN MAUY.

287

/*f

tlie IJIpsscd Virj^in, nlioiit tlic yonr 1112, by tlio Blossctl Vital, hermit, who was its
Rrsit Abbot. Gall. ChrUt., t. iv.

10. Our Lady of the Vino, near Vitcrbo, in Tuscany. A handsome cliurch now
occupied by the inonkH of St. Dominick. Bsovlus, ad. aim. 1481.

11. Our Lady of Forests, at Porto, in Portugftl. This imago was discovered in a
forest, where it liad been liid by Queen Malfadu, wife of Alphonso I. Joan. Barriiis,
lib, lie reb. interamnensib., c. 12.

12. Our Lady of Miracles, in the cloister of St. Muur-desFo.sscs, near Paris. It is
laid that this image was foimd already made, when the sculptor, named Rumoldi,
thought of working on it. Du Breuil, T/iealre ties Antiq., 1. iv

13. Our Lady of the Empress in Rome. Tiiere is a, tradition that this image spoke
to St. Gregory tlie Great, a. d. 593. Anton. Yepez. ad. ann. 84, divi Benedict!.

14. Our Lady of the Breach, in Chartres, where a general procession is held every
year, in gratitude to Our Lady for having delivered the city, when besieged by the
heretics, a. d. 15G8. It was during this siege that the image of the Virgin, standing
over the Portc-Drouaise, remained uninjured by the cannonading or musketry of the
besiegers, tl)c m.arks of which are still seen on two or three of the fingers. Sebastien
Rouitlard, Parthenie, e. 3.

15. In the year 911, the city of Chartres was miraculously delivered from the siege
maintained by UoUo or Ralph, Duke of the Normans ; as he was on the point of tak
ng the town, Gaucelin, forty-seventh bishop of Chartres, ascended the ramparts, liold
ng a .'die of Our Lady ')y way of a banner ;* this raised such a commotion in the

enemy's camp, thiit they wore forced to retire in disorder ; in memory of this event,
the fields of the Porte-Drouaise are still called the Field of Retreat. Sebastien Ron-
illard, Parthenie, c. 7, iiom. 5.

16. Our Lady of the Fountain, in Constantinople, built by the Emperor Lcc, a. n.
400, in gratitude for the Blessed Virgin having appeared to him on the margin of
a stream where he had charitably led a blind man, and promi.sed him that ho should
become an Emperor, though he was yet only a simple soldier. Niceph., 1. xv.,
cap. 15.

17. A. D. 1095, under Urban IF., there was a council held at Clermont in An-
vcrgne, and the office of Our Lady was instituted. Concil. Clurom. Foundation of the
Abbey of Baumont-lez-Tours, by IngeltruJe, in the year ftOO. Gallki Christinna, t. iv.

18. In the year 1586, Our Lady of Lorctto was erected into a cathedral by Si.\tus
V. Tursel. Hist. Laustana, 5, 10.

19. Our Lady Pair (La Belle Dame) at Nogent-sur-Seine. It is said to be impo.s-
sil)le to convey this famous image from its little chapel, which is no more than foar or
five feet square. Ex monument. Kovigent.

20. Our Lady of Talevoirt at Uckclen, near Brussels. This image began to work
miracles in 1454, whe.enpon a magnificent chapel was built there, in honour of Our
Lady, a. d. 1623 ; the shrine was piously visited that same year by the Infanta of
Spain, Isabella Clara Eugenia. Auh. Mir<eus, in Anna I. Behj.

' This relic (so cnll«<l) U tlio wedlini; iiiirnicnt of l!u' n!o<sei] V'ii'nii,. — TitAss.

7-5^*T^WA

HISTOUY OF TIJK UEVoTloN TO TllK

CHAP. XVI.^ [\\cf

21. Our fittity of Bnip;cs, in FlaiiikTS, where there is a tress of the Blossetl Virs;iir9
hair, given by a Syrian Bisliop named Moses. Jfiif/o Fureitus, 1. !., miracul. B. Virg.

22. On Pulm SunJiiy, in tlio year 1008, St. Ilobert, Abbot of Moio'ao, retired,
witli twenty-one of his monies, to the diocese of Clialons-snr-Saono, where ho built, in
honour of Our Lady, the famous monastery of Citeau.x, the mother liouse of the order.
Arnold Vioniis, 1. i., Z/i/i.i vUa, c. 47.

23. Our Lady of Victory. Tliis imago bears tliat name, because the French, hav
ing happily taken it from the Oreek.s, in a bloody battle fonglit near C'Dnstnntinoplo,
A. D. 1204, it obtained a complcto victory for thera, Spondanus in Annal,, ad
ann. 1204.

24. Vigil of the Annnncintlon of Our Lady, instituted by Gregory IL On that day
Our Lady made the Pasch in Jerusalem, a. d. 49. BuUngh. Afelaphrastcs.

25. Tlic Annunciation of Our Lady. This festival was instituted by the Apostlea,
and is the most ancient of all. Joan. Boni/iciun, 1. ii., ITist. Viry. c. 5.

20. Our Lady of Soissons, occupied by nuns of the Benedictine Order. This Ab-
bey i)0ssesses one of the Blessed Virgin's shoes. Hugo FarcUus.

27. Apparitiou of Our Lord to his Blessed Mother, after his resurrection. Alphona.
a Castro, c. 17.

28. Our Lady of Castelbruedo, at Olinn, in Catalonia. It is said that every year,
on the feast of the Annunciation, three lights of nn azure colour ore seen to pene-
trate the windows of t!iis church, light the lamps and tiipers, go out by the way they
came, and disappear immediately. Ludo Marinmus, 1. v., de reb. I/inp., c. ultimo.

20. Apparition of Our Lady to St. Bonet, Bishop of Clermont in Auvergno, whom
she commanded to say mass one night when he had remained in the church to say his
prayers. The Saint, pressing against a pillar as if to conceal himself, the stone be
came soft and made him the place which is still seen there. But the Blessed Virgin
having compelled him to officiate, loft him, when the ceremony was over, the chasubit
brought by angels from heaven. This celestial gift is still shown at Clermont, where
it is religiously preserved. In ejua vita, iipul Surium, die 15 Jan.

30. Restoration of the Chapel of Our Lady of Boulogne-sur-Mer, by Claude
Dor.ny, Bishop of that city. Trip. Cour., nomb. 53.

31. Our Lady of Holy Cross, in Jerusalem, w.icro there is seen a portion of Our
Lady's veil, given by St. Helen. Omiphrius, 1. vii., Bi-cl.

APRIL.

1. Octavo of the Annunciation of Our Lady, in the Carmelite Order. Balingh. in
Calciul.

2. Our Lady the Great, at Poictiers. There is in thi.s church an imago of the
Blessed Virgin, in whose hands were miraculously found tlie keys of tiie city, whilst a
servant of the mayor sought them everywhere, in onler to o|K!n the gates to the Eng-
lish, to whom he had promised to deliver the city. Jcau Boucher, Anwth iV Aquitaine.

3. Apparition of Our Lord to his Blessed Mother and tlio Ai)ostles, eight davji
after his resurrection, Jlalitir/k. in Caleiid.

RviV,

4. Our Lndy of Oraco, in Nuriiiaiuly. TliU UiMgo Is fumoiiK nil ovur tlio foiin-
try, and |H!Opl« cuinc rroin ull parlH to vonoratu U. A'/. Archiv. hiijitt ecil.

T). Apparition of Our Ltittly to I'upu Iluiioriiis IV., in conflrnmtiun of tliu Onlur of
Our Laily of Mount Carinoi. liaitnijh, in CalenJ,

0. Our Lady of tlio Conccptinn, attaciiud to tlio Capuchin Convent of Douui, in
Ptitnders. Tlicre '\* \\\ tliix cluircli ii picture of tliu Immiiculato (*oncuption, wliicii wus
nilruculously pruservt'd from lire, a. d. 1553. Amalim Francine. in libelh M. S.

7. Our Lady of tlio Fornaken, at Yalcnuiu, in Spain. This linaj^o is in a cimpcl
where tiiero is said to lie a loud noise made when any one is drowned or murdered in
the neighbourliood of tlie city. Trip. Coiir,, nomb. 28.

8. Fonst of tlie Miracles of Our Lady, at Canibron, r.ear Mous, in the Low Conn-
trios. Locriui.

n. Our Lady of Myans, near CIntnibery, in Savoy. It is thonglit tliat this ima^c
ircKtud the devastating proj^russ of the lightning which had already consumed tlie
iwii of St. Andrew, with sixteen villnges, and prevented it froi,. destroying Myans,

I). 1219. Trip. Coiir., noml). U4.

10. Our Lody of Laval, in Vivarais. Tliis church is much frenuontod, in order t(
itiiln ruin for the preservation of tlio goods of the eartli. Trtp. Cour., nomb. 41

1 1. It is said that on this day a blind man recovered his sigitt iu the church of On
'iidy of Muutscrrat, a. d. 1538. BKilimjh. iit Calend.

1 2. Our Lady of Cliarity, in tlie Abbey of the Bernardines, seven leagues from
i'oidouse. It is said that this image has several times shed tears. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 34.

13. Apparition of Our Lady to the Blessed Jano of Mantua. In ejus vita.

14. Apparition of Our Lady to St. Ludivina, a. d. 1433. Joan Bruchman.

15. In the year llOl, the Holy Virgin gave the blessed Alberie the white habit,
instead of the black one whicli he then wore. In ejus vita.

16. Our Lady of Victory, in the church of St. Mark, in Venice. This is the fa-
mous image which the Kmperors John Zimisces and John Co;nnenii3 caused to be
borne on a triumphal car ; it is now borne in procession by the Venetians when they
wish to obtain rain or liiK' weather. In rjii.s viln.

n. Our Lady of Arabida, in Portugal, w'.icre there is an image which an B:iglish
merchant was accustomed to wear o:i his p.>rsou. Being one day in danger of s!iip-
wreck, ho beheld his image s/rrounded by a great light, on the top of the rock of Ara-
bida, where he then built himself a snr'l hermitage and in it spent the remainder of
his days. Trip. Cour., nomb. 10.

18. Grant of Plenary Indulgences, by Urban VI., to those who visit the church ol
Our Lady of Loretto. BaUnijh. in Calend.

19. Confirmation of the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, by the Council of
Trent, a. d. 1545. Coneil. Trident.

20. Our Lady of Schuir, in Bavaria. Tliis church was bu'.lt on the site of the cas-
tle, voluntarily made over to Our Lady by all the members of tlie house of Sclus
with the exception of Arnol.l, wlio, in ])iinishiiuMit of \\U obstinacy, was drowned in
nciglibouring lake. Thrith. de Ori<j. yfiti-n et princ. Bnv

\C"?

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"^,*il^^^

»y^

W/i

UISTOllY OF THE PKVOTION TO TIIK

CUAP. XVI

•J JiXyy

21. ItiHtlttitioii or tlio Confratornity of the Iiniimculato Conception, in Toledo, a. d.
160(1, l)y rnriliiml Finncis Xiincrics, Arclibisliop of tliut city. Uomeiim, in rjui vita,

22. Our Liuiy of UL'tliuruin, in tlio tliocoso of Lrscar, country of Honrn. Tiila
imago \\M found in 1503 liy Hlicplicrds wlio, Kcoin;; an extraordinary iiglit in tlioplauo
now ocunpiod by tlio liigli aitar of tlio chapel, apiiroachod and fonnd there an imago of
Our Lady, to wliom a eluipel wiia immediately built. Trip. Cour., n. 52.

23. Concession of Indulgences, by Pope Culi.xtus III., a. d. 1455, to thoso who
visited the Cothedral of Arras, where there are preserved a veil and a cincture of Our
Lady. Andreas Ilerbij, ex codicc MS. Eccles, Attreh.

24. Dedication of Our Lady of Rcporation, at Florence, by Eugenius IV., a. d.
1480. nalinph. in Calend.

25. Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris, in honour of Our Lady, by
Phillip, Archbishop of Bourgcs, a. n. 1248. Du Dreuil, Theatre Jot Antiq.

20. Our Lady of Naiern, in Navarre. This imago was miraculously found 1048.
Don Qnrcins do Niiiero, King of Navnrre, liuilt a church for it, which was visited by
several of the kings of Novurre. Andre Fiivin, 1. ill.. Hist, do Navarre.

27. It is saidthot in the year 1419, Our Lady of llant, in llainaut, restored life to
n child who had been three days dead. Just. Lips, in Hist. D. Virg. Hulkns, e. 19.

28. Our Lady of the Oak, near the town of Saljlo, in Anjou. This imnge has
wrought so many miracles that it is now very famous in that country. Mar.jhol do
Bois Danphin built it a. handsome church and an hospital for pilgrims. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 50.

29. Our Lody of Faith, in the Augustiniun Ciiurch of Ainimis, This iningo re-
mained a long time in the oratory of a young lady who gave it to the Angustinians,
und in their church it has since wrongiitmany miracles. £e. MS. Ahii. Ambinr.

30. Our Lady of Nantes, in Brotngnc. Tills cliurch, which was dedicated to the
Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, by Felix, Bishdpof Nantes, wns thrown down by the
Normans, a. d. 937, and rebuilt by Alain, Dnke of Bi'i'tagiio. Fortnnat., I. iii., Carm.,
c. 1, 2. 3 et 4.

MAY.

f^i/^

1. In the year 1449, some of the principal goldsmiths of Paris began to give the
fe^^^Sfl&l ^^ny-polo to the clinrch of Notrc-Dame. Bit Breail, Ant!(/. de Paris, I. i.

2. Our Lady of Oviedo, in Spain, where tJiere is some of the Blessed Virgin*!
hair. Balinr/h. in Calend.

3. Apparition of Our Lady to the Blessed Mary Ilazzi, of tlic Order of St. Dorai-
nick, A. D. 1597. BaUwjh. in Calend.

4. Our Lady the Helper, tJiree leagues from Caen, in Normandy. There is a sol-
emn procession held every year at this chapel. Trip. Cour., nomb. 51.

5. Our Lody is present on Mount Olivet, at the Ascension of Our Lord, and then
returns totlernsalem to retire with the Apostles. Arts Apost., c. i.

6. Our Lady of Miracles, in the church of our Lady of I'cacp, in Roino. It is said

|(j|Ul'. XVI.

JtU'XHKU VIltUIN MAIir.

2IM

that in 1483, a man who had loRt hix m<'noy at phiy, hariiif^ hlaHphomod this iinngo,
4ii)ilicd it foar times witli lils poignanl, when it shod so much blood that tito luiruclo
wnn noised abroad all throngh tho city. This imago Is still preserved in the cimreh of
Our Liuly of Peace, where it is seen over tlio lilgli altar, enshrined in marl)le. Gabr
Pen. ill nUt. Trlplo Canon. Rffjul., 1. iii., c. 83, § 2.

7. Onr Lady of Uaut, in Hainaut, where there is one of tho three little statues o(
tlin Blessed Virgin which St. Klizabcth, dauglitcr of Andrew II. of Hungary, huri
ourcd religiously, and bccincnthcd by will to her daughter, St. Sophia, who gate it in
1207 to tho cliiirch of Haut, wlicro several miracles have since been wrought. Jiut,
fjip». Hist. I). Vir/f, JIallens, c. 3.

H. A. D. 1202, tho learned Justus Tjipsiua gavo his silver pen to tho church of Our
Lady of Ilaut, in Hninnut, wlierc it titill hiings before tlm high altar. In cjii.i vita.

0. Our Lady of Lorelto, in tlic .March of Aucona, in Italy. Tliis chapel is the
house of Nazareth, where tho mystery of tho Iledemiition was announced. Turselin,
in Hist. LttiiretdiKi, 1. i., c. 1,2, 5, ft, 7, 8, 10.

10. Drdicatiou of the I'ily of ('oiistantinoiilo to 0\ir Lady, by ConRtuiilinc tho
Oreat, under the Patriarch .\lexaiider. Xicepk., 1. viii., c. 20. Our Lady of La
•iaiissaie, near Paris. Tiio clnircli of this IJonedictiuo priory was dedicated to Our
Lady, a. d. 1:!0.">, l>y Po))!) (Meuieut V.

11. Apparition of Oiu' Lady to St. Phili|) of Xeii, whom she cured of a grievous
iiiiilaily, A. I). \Mi. Ill 9".< viti.

12. Our Lady of Virtues, at AubcrvilliTs, near Paris. Tliis imago has wrought so
many miracles in tliis cliurch, th;it it is called Our Lady of Virtues, although it is de-
dicated to St, L'liristoplicr. />» Jheul/, 1. iv.

Ki. Dedication of Our li'uly of Miirtyrs, callcil tlie Uot'iuda, in Home, l)y Boni-
fice IV"., A. n. tJOH. Tills temple Wiis styled tile Piiiitlieou, because it was dedicated
to all the gods of the gentiles. Jltlc, /li-t. Ktii/. b. ii., di. 4.

14. DiMlication ol' Our \,:v.\s of Noyoii, by ll.inloiilii, thirty-seventh bisiiop of tlial
jity, A. 1>. !I'.».S. Chroiiir. AiiU'Oi'ir, t. iii.

IT). Desi-eiit of the Holy (jliosl o.i Our Lady mid the Ajiostlos, a. d. 34, being the
forty-eiglith year of tlic llless'd Virj^iii's age. Cluixl iph. a t'aslro, i,i Hist. Virg.

1(1. Apparition of Our Lady to !<t. Catlieriiie of Alexandria, whoso body was
found on the Llth ol' this luoiith, on Mount Sinai, by a special revelation from tlie
(^neen of Heaven. Li. ejus ri'd,

17. Our Lady of Tears, in the Diicliy of Spuletto, in Italy. It is said that lliis
image, painted on a wall, shed abundance of tears, a. d. 1494. Gabriel Pennotus, 1.
iii.. Hist. Tripartita, c. 34.

18. Dedication of Onr Lady of Bonport, bek/iiging to tho Order of Citcanx, near
Pont do I'Arehe, in the dioceso of Evreux. This abbey was founded by Richard Occur
do Lion, 11th March, a. d. 1190. Gallia. Christ., t. iv.

19. Dedication of Our Lady of Fiincs, near Douai, by Peter, Archbishop of Rheiras,
i. p. 1279. This abbey of Cistercian nuns w.as given to St. Bernard by Marguerite
do Dampierre, a. n. 1234. Chronic. Flinens.

20. Dedication of the church of La Fcrto, dioceso of Ch&lons, in Burgundy, in

?>*;

IIIHTUUY OV TUB I>KV«)'no.V TO TIIK

v<1

e«vi.<

i$J^

■Cj%

linr.niir of Our Tjn<ly. TIiIh atilx'y, tlie (IrHt-born of Citeatix, was foimdwl in Ilia, hy
Hiiriirii- uikI (liilllatimc, CoiiiitM of CliAlotia. £x Arehivii» Abhat. Firmilalit,

21. Our liiidy uf Hweat, ut Hiilcmo, in Itniy. It is mtid tliat tlilfi Madum.ii strcnt
lilooit nml water ill MMl, rnrrNliowiii;^ a great conflai^nitinn wliiclk tooli placo next
(lay. /'. Spintlli Tiurt. tie txi^mpl. el tniracul., cup. ulfim.

22. Our Liuly of llio Vlr);iii'ii Mount, near Naplc. '•'iiis iir.a;(c prniiern'd from the
liiinii'8 the nionastcry and rhurcii consecrated to it. fJiin, lofo fitalo.

23. Our Lady of Mirni-lfn, ot St. Oiiicr, where thi-rc is ono of tlio BloHncd Vir;^iii'«
glovcH and.HOMic of ln>r hair. Vhrnnie. ntrlinens.

24. Orcf^ory XV., a. d. 1022, isstied a decree forUiddln;? any ono to maintain tin;
opinion contrary to the Innnaouiato Conception. It \n also forbidden by tlio Funio do
cree, to employ ony otiier term than that of Coneeption \n tho mass or o^-a /f ' ic
(lay. /)(iliiit/h. in ('nlrnd.

I'utronid fuiist of Our Lndy of Hnecour, Montreol, Lower Coimdu. fhisshilno is
'unioim lliroiiifliont tlio country, and is mucli frequented l)y pilgri'in. U 'urii v co;i-
'.ttincd an iniii;;e which lind been venerated for more timn a contii •*■ ci a d'uncsiii. chu-
i)ci in France, and was sent to Montreal — or Vilioniarie — 1} Hi' jiIoum nobleman to
.vlioni it bolonp;e(l. It was miriveulously preserved from tiro in l^'il, but W"^ .-.toleii
'or otiierwiso disappenred) in 1831, It was replneoil by another in 1847. Marvel-
lous effects Imve followed the invocation of Oui Tindy of lion Secours. Manuel dn
Prleriu ile Notre-Dume Je /Inn Sr.-ciira.

25. Our Lady the New, in .Ferusalem, built by tho Kmperor .lustininn, a. d. 530.
Profoplun, de ^lijxe. imj'rral. Junlininni.

20. Dedication of Our Lady of Vaucelles, in tlio diocese of Cambrai, by Sumson,
Arclibi.shop of Illieinia. This abbey, of tho Cistercian Order, was founded in 1132.
In Chronic, dalere.

27. Dedic .uion of Our Lady of Naples, styled St. Mary Major, by Pope Jolin II.,
A. i> 553 There is an iinogc of tho Virgin preserved in this church wliicli was sjid
to have l)ccn painted by St. Luke. ScliradeniK, \. ii.

28. Feast of the relics of Our Lady, in V^cniee, when there are expo.sed to the
veneration of the faithful some pieces of the Virgin's robo, luT clo.ik, veil, and girdle,
K\ hist, ea de re, impressa Venitiin.

29. Feast of Notre Dame des Ardcnts, at Arras ; there is a taper in tho Cathedral
of Arras said to have been brought there by Our Lady, a. n. 10'.)j. Jacoh. MnjifHs,
in annal. Fland. ad iinn. 10D5.

30. Dedication of the Churcli of the Virgin's Mountain, near Naples, built a. r>.
1 1 20, by St. William, founder of tho Oriler of the Virgin's Mountain, and repuirod in
1519. Jenn Juvenal, I. vii., de Ant.']., v. -J

31. Our ijady of Suffering, in t'l f^^wt 'i "' '^K QervBW '. Paris. Tlii.s ima',;-.
wiiicli .stood at the corner of the • ivo- ■ s, was mutilated by a Jew in 15■J^ ,
Francis the First had it solemnly conveyed to St Ocrvase, and caused a statue of tin-
Virgin to bi^ inade of i/iit sliver, whic'li he him-i'-If put up in (ilaeoof the former. Ths
»talu" was stolen ir. '.f>\'>, and was replaced by one of stone, which still bears tlu'
name of Omi- Lady •)r Silver. Dn Ihenil, Theatre des Anti(/., 1, iii.

^h\

^"/>

1. Our 1 mly or tlio Rtnr, nt A(|iiilca, in Ituly. Thin cliunli lit no nnmiil tivrnnne
ll in Kuiit tliiil It star wuh sui'ii in iliiyliKJit over tlin licuil of St. lUTiuti'Uinv, when
pri'iu liinK it At|iiili'a, lui it|i|)lii'd to tiio lilosMvd Vir;{iti tliut |mSMi|ru of tiiu Apouulypse
whcru niuiitiuti Is uiuUu of tliu woiimii with a irowii of twelve itiirs on licr head.
iSitniit, ill rjiin vita.

2. Our liiidy of Ivlciwu, in AnIii Minor. It in Koid that thii inniKC, placed under
tho portul uf a i-hnrcli, upoke to St. Alexin, and luiidu known to tliu people the merit
cf tiiut Knint. Tlieiii'f it was transported i < llunic, where it m liigldy lionoured.
T/iomim noiiim, 1. \k,, v. 0.

8. Onr Lady of So.sopoli, in risidiu. There proceeded from thin liiiiigo a mirncn-
Ions oil, lis icslJicd liy (Icriniinns, piitrinnh of (-'(>UNtaiitino|ilf, in a letter reui' ^'t llie
M'l'oml Coiini il of Nice, a.sscinl)led for tho defence of sucred iiiui>!;es. Act, 4 Concil.
Xieieiti,

4. Our Lady of tho Hill, at Frihourg, where many "lirueles arc wrought. Trip,
four., nonil). 85,

fi. ChronicleH tell that hi tho year 1428, Oiir Lady of Ilaut, in Ilaiiiuut, rcatored
life to a child who hati hetn deud for Hcvend days, in order thot it might receive
Itiiptistn ; that it lived five lionrs after licing buptized, then grndually melted away
like a 8now-ball, in presence of seventy persons. Juslug Lipniiti, de Vir<j, ILUlent.,
c. 21.

0. Institution of the Nuns of tho Visitation of Our Lmly, foni'dcd nt Annecy, in
Savoy, A. I). 1010, liy St. Francis de Salis, IJisliop of (Jencva, and June Fraiicey
Freniiot dc Chantal, who was the first memher of that Order. Henri de Maujxts du
T'lnr, 2d iiartie, chap. i.

7. Dedication of Our Lady of the Valley, of the Cistercian Onier, seven leagues
from Paris, under Louis XIII., April 18tii, a, i>. 1010. Ejrcodice MS.

8. Our Lady of Alc.xnnd'ia, in Kgypt, huilt Ity St. Peter, patriarch of that city.
Daroniut, ad nun. 310.

9. Our Lr.dy of Ligny, near Har-le-Duc, in Lorraine. This inmge is much cele-
brated hccan.sc of the numerous miracles which it operates. Trip. Cmir., noinb. 57.

10. Our Lady of Crnnganor, in the Fast Indies. Tliis church is saiil to have been
built by one of the three Magi. Ojoriim, t. i. de Ocuti^ Emmnm.

11. Our Lady of E.squcrncs, half a league from Lille, in Flanders. This image
began to work miracles about the yeor 1162. Buzelinns, in Animl. Gull. 1. ii.

12. The Chronicle mentions that on this day Onr Lady appeared to St. Herman of
the I'remonstratcnsiati Order, and gave him a ringlet of her hair. Suriim, in rjn.^ vita

13. Dedication of Our Lady of Sichem, near Louvain, a. d. IfiOi, by Mathias
Ilovius, Archbishop of Malines. The image of the Blessed Virgin .seen in this church
was first placed in the hollow of an oak. Jutt. Lips.,de Virg. Aspricnl.^ c. 4.

14. A. p. 371, there fell from heaven a white fleecy substance mixed with a thick
-ain ; the fact is mentioned by St. Jerome, who holds that, tho famine I icing great in

fit : '■

w^im^

V ^..

illSTOUY OF THE DEVOTION TO THE CiL\.K XVI.]

tlie country, tlic inlmbitants of Arras had recourse to the Virgin, v ' o sent them that
hiavcnly gift, ccnninoiily called manna, some remains of which arc still to bo seen in
tl:o church dedicated to her honour. Ex arch. Abb. TruUense.

15. Foundation of Our Lady of the Bernardiues, in the diocese of Toulouse and
RitMix, A. D. 1145.

IG. Our Lady of Aix-la-Chapello, built by Charlemagne, and consecrated by Leo
IIL, A. ri. 80-t ; there were present on this occasion no less than three hundred and
fifty firelalcs. Charlemagne gave to this cliurch two of Our Lady's tunics, a. d. 810 ;
but Cimrles the IJald took one of them, sixty-five years after, and gave it lO the church
of Cliartros. Ferreul. Locrius, 1. v. Marim Aug., c. 17.

17. Our Lady of the Forest, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. This little chapel is famous
all over the country. Trip. Coiir., nomb. 53.

18. Apparition of Our Lady to St. Agnes of Mount Politian, to wliom she gave,
it is said, a small cross, which is now cx'dljitcd, with great solemnity, ou the first day
of May. Chronic. S. Duminici, part. L, 1. i., c. 72.

19. At Treves, in Germany, in the church of St. John the Evangelist, built in 333,
there is seen Our Lady's comb, given by Agritius, archbisliop of that city.

20. Our Lady of Blaquerncs, on the wharf of Constantinople. In tins church is
Our Lady's .shroud, gii'cn by the Empress St. Pulclieria, who received it from
Juvenal, Bi.shop of Jerusalem. Niceph., 1. xv., c. 14.

21. Our Lady of Macarich, at Grand Cairo, in Egypt, where there is a miraculous
fountain obtained by the prayers of Onr Lady, when slic retired tliither with the Holy
Family ; tradition snys tliat she wa.shed the clothes of the Infant Jesus at this spring.
Trii^ Cow:, iionib. 5.

22. Our Lady of Narni, in Italy. It is said that this image spoke to the Blessed
Lucy, to whom she gave the Infant Jesus to hold. Trip. Cour., tract 3.

23. Our Lady Justiniana, at Carthage. This church was built by the Emperor
Justinian, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, to whom he ascribed his victories over the
Vandals. Baron., ad ann. 534.

24. Our Lady of the CIo.s-Evrard, near Treves. This image was fastened to an
oak by a vine-drcsser who wished to honour it ; but Our Lady ordered him to build a
little hut in her honour. Tlie miracles there wrouglit became so numerous that the
hut was speedily converted into a small chapel, and finally a church was erected on the
pjiot, and deilieiitcd to th(! Blessed Virgin, a. d. 1449, by Jacques (h; Ilircq, Arch-
bishop of Treves. Trip. Cmr., nomb. 82.

25. A. n. 431, the Cuuncil of Epliesus, wherein it was declared that the BJessed
Virgin was entitled to be called the Mother of God. Concil. Ephe.'i.

26. Our Lady of Meliapour, in the East Indies, where St. Franeis Xavicr often
went to pray. In vita S. Franc. Xarerii.

27. Our liady of L:i Doraile, near Toulouse. This jjlace, formerly dedicated to the
goddess Pallas, was changed into a church for Onr Lady when the inhabitants re-
ceived the fiiilh. Ftirrnt.. 1. I., cle Gall. Impcria.

28 Dedication of the (.'luuvh of the Cartluisiaus, in Paris, under the title of N'oirt

[OUAI. XVI.

ULKSSKD VIRGIN JIAKV

J)u lireuil

(41

Dame, by Jean D'Aubigny, Bishop of Tioycs in Cliampagne, a. d. 1325
'riieaire des Antiq., 1. ii.

29. Our Lady of Bnglose, two lengucs from Ac(is, in Qascony. TltiH imago was
miraculously found, a. d. 1G34, and conveyed to the parish church of Buglose. Trip
Vow., uonib. 36.

30. Our Lady of Calais, built by the English while hi possession of that city, which
llioy occupied for about two hundred and ten years ; a magnificent chapel was added
to it iu 1611, by Jacques do BoUoye, Vicar of Calais. Davila, t. ii.

JULY.

1. Dedication of the church of Jumiogcs, in Normandy, a. d 1007, by Maurice,
archbishop of Rouen, at the request of King William. Thoin. \Val.iin(/ham.

2. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin. This festival was instituted by Urban IV., a. d.
1385, and confirmed by Boniface IX., a. n. 1389. S. Anloniii, iv. part., tit. xv,,
cliap. 24.

3. Onr Lady of La Carolle, in Paris. It is said that this imago, placed at the cor-
ner of the Rue au.\ Ours, being struck withaknifc, a. o. 1418, shed a quantity of blood.
In commemoration of this event, a great fire is made every year, and a wa.x figure
burned in it, representing the person wliogavo the sacrilegious blow. Z>n Breuil, \. ii.

4. Our Lady of ^M'vaoles, at Avignon, built by Pope Joiin XXII., on the following
occasion : Two criminals were condemned to be burned, and one of them having in-
voked the Blessed Virgin, was respected l)y the flames, whilst iiis companion was
wholly consumed. Richard Cluniac in Joan. xxii.

5. Dedication of Onr Lady of Cainbrai, a. n. 1472, by Peter dc Ranchicoiiri,
Bishop of Arras. This church wasl)nilt in lionourof Our Lady in 524 ; destroyed by
the Normans in 8S2 ; rebuiil by Ddssilloii, twenty-first Bishop of Arras, a. d. 890 ;
and finally, after l)i'iiig Imrned i! ) vn in lUlJi, ami again in 1148, was restored, as we
now see it, in 121)1. (Jhmnic. JfaniKiii., t. iii., I. ii., cluip. 23.

0. Our Lady of Iron, near Blois, district of Dnnois. It was in tJiis chapel that,
aliout the year 1031, a ciiild wiio liad lieen smotlierod while struggling in its cradle,
was restored immediately to life as soon as its parents consecrated it to Our Lady of
Iron. Ec aichiv. fnijus loci.

7. Dedication of Onr Lady of Arras, a. d. 1484, by Pierre de Ranchicourt, Bishop
of that city. This cliurch was built by St. Vaast, Bisiiop of Arras, a. d. 542, with
the donations of tlie kings of France, according to Baronius. The Normans destroyed
it in 5S3, and, after being rebuilt, it was consumed by liglitning, a. d. 1030, and rebuilt
in 1040. Locrius, 1. ii.

It is said that in 1410, Our Lady of Hant, in Ilainaut, restored life to a child be-
longing to Brussels, who was drowned in a well. Tlie child boing taken dead from the
well, was consecrated to Onr I^ady, and it was instantly restored to life. Jitsl. Lipt
de Virfj. Ilidkm., c. IG

8. Our Lady of Peace, in the Capuchin Church, Rue St. Ilonore, in Paris.

eoITrov de Mowliniv, in lOJO

LO. v/iu ijilMV Ul -L Uiii.-T:, 111 till; V. iiiiiiv.iiiii v^iiuiuii|
9. Dedication of Our Lady of ('ontanecs, l)y G
. .ii i i ' af Mi> i*—< M- i u i i — ::r .- t v .«^ M.L Aviv ' s

!.i|

III.STOUY OK TIIIC DKVOTION TO THE

10 Deilicatioii of Our Lady of Boulogne, near Vnm, a. d. 1460, liy Cliartior.
bishop of Paris. T!ie coiifratcniity of Our Lady of Boulogne is so famous tliat six
of our i<ings were amongst its mcniburs. JJii Breuil, Antiq., 1. iv.

11. Our Lady of Glory, four leagues from Orleans; this church was rebuilt liy
Louis XL, who was buried there in 1483. Lucriiis, Af. Auy., 1. iv., ch. 08.

12. Dedication of Our Lady of All Graces, in the church of the Friars Minors at
Nigcon, near Paris, a. d. 157S. This house was given in 147(5, by Annu of Brittany,
wife of Louis XII., to St. Francis of Paula, who had instituted his order in the year
143(5. Dn Breiiit, Ant. de Paris.

13. One hundred years before the birth of Our Lord, the image of Our Lady of
Cliiii'trcs was carved in a forest, on the plains of Boance, by command of Priscus, king
of I lie Chartrains, and then placed, with the inscription, Virgini paritiirce, (that is to
siiy, to the Viiffiii who is to hriiif/ forth,) on the spot where it now stands, which was
thun a Druid cave. St. Potentian, second bishop of Sens, whom the Apostle St.
Peter had sent into France, stopped at Chartres, where he blessed this image, and
dedicated the grotto for a church, a. d. 46. Sebast. Rotdllanl, Partheii., ch. 4,
nomb. 1.

14. Our Lady of the Bush, in Portugal. This image was discovered by a shepherd
in the midst of a burning bush. Yasquez Perdigon, Bishop of Evora, built in this
place, A. D. 1403, a church and a monastery which was given to the monks of St. Je-
rome. Vasconcell., in Bcscript. regiii Lusitanice, ch. 7, § 5.

15. A. 1). 10D9, the Turks were defeated by Godfrey de Bouillon, who, on this day
took Jerusalem, of which he was declared king, and its festival was formerly celebrated
every year, with a double office and an octave. Molanus, ad haac diem.

16. The Feast of the Scapular. Tradition says that she gave it herself, about the
year 1251, to the blessed Simon Stock, of England. This devotion has spread all ove:
the world. Popes John XXII., Gregory XIIL, Sixtus V., Gregory XIV., ai.u
Clement VIII , granted indulgences to the members of the confraternity. Curtajena,
de Orlii ordinis Carmelitarum.

17. In the year 1505, Pius V. approves of the reform of the barefooted Carmelites,
instituted l)y St. Theresa at Avila, in Spain.

18. Our Lady of Victory, at Toledo ; so immed becau.se of a signal victory pained by
Alphonso IX. over the Moors, a. d. 1202, after having hoisted a Hag on which was the
anage of Our Lady. In Hist. Alphonu ad Innocent, III,

19. Our Lady of Moyen-Pont, near Peroniio. This image was found by a shepherd
near some ponds, vv!iere are now the meadows of AmAle ; a church was built there,
and was repaired in 1G12. Trip. Coitr., iiomh. 53.

20. Our Lady of Grace, at Picpus, Faubourg Si. Antoine, in Paris. This image,
which is in a little wooden vessel with two angels at the end, was made in 1(52'.), of a
solinter taken from the famous image of Our Lady of Boulogne-sur-mer. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 47.

21. Our Lady of Verdun, in Lorraine, renowned for its numerous miracles. St.
Pollchraiuus, fifth Bi.'^hop of Verdun, dedicated this church on his return from the
Council of Chaleedon. £x archiv. ecclea. Virod.

leg

jS'

lll.KSSED VlK(iIN .MAllV.

'.>7

22. Our Laily of Sufoty, near Marseilles. The Queen of Heaven is Jilgiily Iiononred
ill this church, where, every Saturday, the Blessed Sacrament is c.vposed from niidni<;lit
till noon. There are in it more than thirty large silver lamps, with many branches of
coral of extraordinary si/.c. £x Chronic. MassiUens.

23. Institution of the Premonstratensian Order, by St. Norbcrt, a. n. 1120, on a
revelation from Our Lady. Diblioth. Prwmonslr., 1. !., c. 2.

24. Foundation of Our bady of Carabron, near Mons, in Hainaut, by Anselm dc
Trasiguy, lord of Peronue. In MS. a. d. 1148. Hannon Chronic,

25. Our Lady of la Bouchot, two ond a half leagues from Blanc, in Berry. A shrine
which attracts a great number of pilgrims. The image of the Virgin is made of the
wood of an old oak where the first image was found. Ex monumentU hujus loci.

20, Our Lady of Faith, at Chancy, near Abbeville. This imago having been re-
moved from tlie oak where it now is, to a chapel built for it about fifty paces distant,
was miraculously found again in its former place. Des Archives de Cancy,

27. In the year 1480, the Knights of Rhodes ffa'ned a signal victory over the Turks
by the assistance of the Blessed Virgin, who appeared on the walls of that city with
a lunce in her hand ; the enen)y, frightened, retired in disorder, with the loss of the
greater part of his forces. Jacob. Honius, in hint, equituni Jihod.

28. Our Lady of Faith, at Oravelines. This image is renowned throughout all the
country. IIi.it. Domince Foijens. Oravel.

20. A. D. 154(5, it was regulated by the Council of Trent, that, regarding the imnia
cuhite conception of the Ble.ssed Virgin, the decree of Si.xtus IV. should be observed,
under the penalties therein mentioned. Baliwjh. in Caleud.

30. Our Lady of Grny, near Besaii9on, in Fnuiche-Comto. Tiiis imago, made of
the oak of Montaigne, was much honoured in the country. Trip. Cow., nouib. 58.

31. Our Lady of the Slain, at Ce'ica, near Lorban, a Cistercian monastery, in
Portugal. It is said that this image was brought from heaven to the Abbo John,
uncle of King Al|)hon.so, and that it resuscitatetl several persons who had been killed :
that, in memory of this mirucle, they hod ever after a red mark round their neck, liki
that which is still seen on the neek of the imagi". Chronic. Cisii'rc, 1. vi., c. 27 et 2.S.

AUGUST.

1. A. D. 1218, Our Ludy appearing on this day to St. Raymond, of the Order of
St. Dominic, to James, King of Arragon, and to St. Peter of Nolasquez, made known
to nil three separately, that she wisiied them to establish a religious order for tiie
redemption of captives. SiiriuK, in vita S. R'lymondi.

2. Our Lady of the Angels, or the Portioncule, six hundred paces from the *own jf
Assissinm, in Italy. The monks of St. Bi'iiedlct gave this chapel to St. Francis, at hi,s
own request, and it was his wish that the convent which he built there should be the
chief house of his order. It was there that the first general chapter met, on which
occasion five thousand monks were present. In tliis chajitiT lie n-stored the spirit oi"
the order, a. d. 122(5, being tlio twentieth after his eonversioii, and the lorty-lifth of his
age. Chr. Ord., part i., I. ii., c. 1.

a J

3~ J

,«

';u

I <

( im

«vi^l

istl^st

298

lIItJTOUy OF THE DEVOTION TO THK

3. Our Lady of Buws, in London. It is on record that this imago, having boen
carried ofT in a storm, with inoro than six hundred houses, i. d. 1071, full uninjured to
the ground with so much force that it went through the pavement, more than twenty
feet into the earth, whence it could never bo raised. William of Malmeaburij, 1. iv.,
in Willel, 2.

4. Our Lady of Dordrecht, in Holland, erected by St. Sautoro on the spot, it is
said, which an angel, sent by the Virgin, pointed out ; the saint afterwards won the
crown of martyrdom in that some church, and, in order to honour her memory, Ood
tras pleased after her death to make a spring shoot up there, which cured fovors of
all kinds. Molan. in SS. Belf/.

6. Dedication of Our Lady of Snow, in Rome, called St. Mary Major, formerly of the
Crib, because Our Saviour's crii) is kept there. It was bnilt by John Patricius and
his wife, on the place which they found coTCred with snow, on the 5th of Augu-st 3Gt,
and rebuilt by Si.xtus III., about the year 432. Baron., in Not. adann. 367.

Dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, in Ilonio, by Pope Pius IV.,
A. D. 1561. This church, whicli was formerly a part of the baths of Dioclcsian, was
erected into a cardinalate, em'owed with several indulgences, and given by the same
pope to the Carthusians. Balingh. in Calend.

Our Lady of Protection, in the Church of the Bernardines, Rue St. Honoro, Pans.
It was so named by the Queen, Ann of Austria, a. d. 1561, in gratitude for the favours
she had received from the Queen of Heaven. Du Breuil, Aniiq., !. iii.

6. In the year 963, Our Lady of Cliartres was entirely burned, with the exception
of the Virgin's tunic, which is still kept there. Sebast. Rouillard, Parlhen., c. 1.

I. Our Lady of Schiedem, in Ilolland. Clu'onicles relate that a merchant who
stole this image, having embarked with the intention of selling it at the fair of Anvcrs,
could never get clear of the port. Frightened by this prodigy, he replaced the stolen
image, whicli was solemnly conveyed to the cluireh of St. John the Baptist, where St.
Ludivine passed whole nights in prayer. Joan. Druchman, Minorila.

8. Our Lady of La Kuen, near Brussels. Tliis churcli was built by order of Our
Lady, who is said to have marked ^.at its dimensions wltii a cord wliich is still shown.
Aiiclar. ad Molan.

9. Our Lady of (Egnies, in Bral)ant, tlio liirth-phice of Mnry ot a<3;j:nics, wlio
visited this holy imago barefoot, once a yuar, in the depth of winter. Jacob, de
Vitriaco, in ejus vita.

10. Institution of tlio order of Our Lady of ilcrcy, at Barcelona, a. d. 1218.
Sufius, in vita Sancti Raimundi.

II. A. I). 810, the Emperor Nicepliorus and the Empress Irene sent to Charle-
magne two of the Blessed Virgin's robes ; he placed them in his church of Aix-la-
Ciiapclie, from which Charles the Bald took one, and gave it to the eatliedral of Ohur-
tres. Lncriiis Anaccph., p. 3.

12. Our Lady of Roiion, bnilt by Ildbort, Dnke of Normandy. Richard the First.
King of Engliuid, nnide great gifts to this clinrcli, and the kiiiLjs of Frani'(> endowed
it with many priviloifes. Menda, Cosmn^r., part II., 1. Hi.

13 Death of Our Lady in prcsenee of all tiie Apostles, except St. Thomas. Lil»t'

tliir'^HiS

Ui.K.,>i;U VIUGIN MAIIY.

299

her Diviiiu Son, alio rose from the ckiicl and ascended to heaven the third day after her
death. Saarez, t. ii., in p. D'isp. 21 sect., m fine.

14. Vigil of the Assnmption, with a fast, mentioned by Nicholas I., who wai
Pope in 858. It is said tliat on this day the angels were hoard, near the city of
Soissons, singing the anthem : Felix namque es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni laude
dignissima quia ex te orlus est Sol juatiliai, Chrislus Dium nosier. Thorn. Conccp.,
1. ii., part 7.

15. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. This feast was institnted, according to
St. Bernard, in the very times of the Apostles. St. Bernard, epist. 174.

10. On tills day the Virgin's sepulchre was opened, and as a proof that Our Lady
had already ascended to heaven, there was seen in it only her shroud, which shed a
delicious perfume. Sansspijun, in Martyrolog. Gallic, die Asaumpt.

17. Philip the Fair gained, on this day, a signal victory over the Flemings, a. d.
1304, after commending himself to Our Lady of Chartres ; in gratitude for this
favonr, he gave her in perpetuity the land and lordship of Barrcs, together with a per-
petual aimuity, and all the accoutrements which he wore on that memorable day.
This feast is celebrated, in the church of Notre Dame in Paris, on the following day,
the 18tli, and has a double office. Sehast. Rouillard, chap. 6.

18. A. D. 1022, King Robert founded a chapel in honour of Oar Lady in the court-
yard of the palace, in Paris, on the spot now occupied by the Holy Chapel. Du
Biriiil, Antlq. de Pari".

19. Our Lady of Jerusalem, near Montecorvo, in Portugal. There is hero a
chapel built in imitation of that of Jornsalem ; it is said that the Virgin herself gave
the plan. Vasconccll. in Descript. regni Liisit.

20. In the famous church of the Benedictines of Affighcra. in Brabant, there is
seen an image of the Blessed Virgin, whicli is said to have spoken to St. Bernard ;
when the saint saluted her witii. Salve, Maria, she an.swcred. Salve, Bernard. Just.
Lips., t. ii., c. 4, § 4.

21. In the year 1022 was instituted the Order of the Tliirty Knights of Our Lady
of the Star, at Paris, by Kinsr Iltibert, who said that the Blessed Virgin was the star
of his kingdom. A. Farin, Hist, de X<ivarre.

22. Octave of t';" Assumption of tlie Blessed Virgin, instituted by Pope Leo IV.,
A. D. 847. Jacob. Bosiiis, num. 2.

23. On this day, in the year 1328, Pliilip of Valois, being surrounded by the
Flemings near Mount Cassel, hiul recourse to tlie Blessed Virgin, who immediately
delivered him from tlie danger to wliicli he was c.xjio.sed. In gratitude for this scr-
yice, on entering Paris he went straight to the church of Notre Dame, and, going in
mounted as he was, he rode up tiic navo till he came in front of the cracilix, where ho
laid down his arms. The picture of tlie moniireh on horseback was long seen in this
church, to which he assigned a pension of an hundred livres, to be paid from his domain
of Galinais. Trip. Cour., trait 4, p. 7, noiiib. 7.

24. Dedication of Our lady of I5eiioiste-Vaii.\-, within a league of Verdun,
in Lorraine. In tliis chapel there is an image of the Virgin which is famous for
working miiacles j there is a also miraculous fountain, the water of which

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HI.STOKY OV TllK DEVOTION TO THE

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uuri'8 inniiy iliacnKus. Hist, de Notve Dame de Benokte- Vaux, chap. i. et ix
25. Our Lady of Uossniio, iu Culubria. It is said that the Snrucens, wisliiiig tu
Biir|)iiac tliu town of Rossaiio, and liaving already planted their ladders against the
wnll.s, were repulsed by Our Lady, who appeared clothed in purple with a lighted
taper in her hand ; this oppnritiun frightened thcin so that tliey fled precipitately.
Gabriel de Barry.

20. Our Lady of the Arbour, at Douai. It is on record that when some children
were playing disrespectfully before this image, it made a sign of displeasure with its
'lauds. This miracle induced the peo|)le of Douai to build a chapel for it, a. d
1543. Buzelin, in Aiinal. Gallo-Flandr.

27. Our Lady of Monstier, eight or ten leagues from Sisteron, on the way to Mar-
seilles. There is an old tradition that a nobleman of the couutry, being made priisoner
by the Turks, made a vow to builil a chapol in honour of the Virgin, if she wouK'
please to deliver liira The Virgin heard his prayer ; an angel took him on his wingv
and conve}'ed him to his home. Tlie nobleman erected a magniGcent chapel to Our
Lady, where miny miracles were wrought. JEx AfS, ea de re conscript.

28. Our Lady of Kiovia, in Poland, metropolitan of Russia ; there is in this church
a large alabaster figure of the A''irgin, which spoke to St. Hyacinth, a. d. 1241, and
told him not to abandon it to the enemy who was besieging the city, but to take if
with him, which he did without any troublt, the image having lost its weight. /»
vita sancti Hijacintlii.

29. Our Lady of Clermont, ten leagues from Cracovia, where there is an image
made by St. Luke, and sent to the Empress Pulcheria ; that princess ])laccd it in
the church of Our Lady of Guides, in Constantinople, whence it was taken by Leo,
Duke of Russia ; the Duke of Opolia wished to remove it to his duchy, in 1380; but
when it reached the mountain of Clermont it became so heavy that it could be carried
no further ; seeing by this miracle that the Virgin had chosen that mountain for a
dwelling place, a church was built there for her. Bzorius, ad aim. 1383.

30. Our Lady of Carqucra, on the river Douro, in Portugal. Egas de iloni.s
guardion of King Alphonso I., had that young prince carried to this ancient church
that the Virgin, by her intercession, might straighten his feet, wliicli was immediately
done. Vasconcetl. in Retjih. Liisil. Anacephat. 1 et 2.

31. Dudieation of Our Lady of Founders, iu Constantinople. The Empress St.
Pulcheria had this chnrch built, and eiir'ciied it with Our Lady's girdle. A fcstiviil
was instituted in Constantinople for this rolic, nn lor tlio title of the Doposition of Our
Lady's Girdle. The French having taken tlx; city, this precious treasure was taken
by Nivellon, Bishop of Soissons, and placed in the famous abbey of Our Lady with a
part of the Virgin's veil. Niceph., 1. iv., c. 8.

SEPTEMBER.

1. On tlie first Sunday of this month there is a festival celebrated in the chnrch of
St. Peter, at Lonvain, in honour of the Virg'n, called the Collection of the Feasts of
Our Lmlij. ,\fo/anux, ad (liuarJ. Mai'ijruh i

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2. Our La.iy of lli-lbron, or Nettles, in Franconia, Germany,
to work miracles in 1441. Trip. Coi/r., nonib. 73.

S. I>cdicotioii or t!ie Abbey of Conieville in honour of the As-sumption of the
Clo-'<sed Virgin, a. d. 1147, by Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen. Gall, Christ., t. iv.

4. A. D. 1419, Our Lndy of Iluut, in Ilainaut, restored life to a girl named Jeanne
Maillard, who, in tukinu- water from a well, fell in and was drawn out quite dead ; her
mother having devoted lier lo Our Lady of Ilaut, she immediately gave signs of iife.
Just, Lips, de Virginit, llallens., c. 19.

5. Our Lady of the Woods, near Arraa. A horseman having a mind to make a
stable of this cimpel, a. d. 1478, was killed on the spot by his horse. Trip. Cour.,
iiomb. C2.

6. Our Lady of the Fountain, half a league from Valenciennes. Tradition says
tiint tlio Virgin appeared to a certain hermit in tliis place when the plague was ravag-
ing the city, and commanded him to tell the iulmbitants that they should fast next day
and spend the night in prayer. That being done, she was seen coming down from
licaven and encircling the whole city with a cord; this cord is still kept at Valen-
cieiines. Ex liicllo de ea re scripto,

7. Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lady, instituted by Gregory IL, about the year
722. Balingh. in Culend.

8. The Nativity of Our Lady, which happened, according to Baronius, iu the year
of the world 4007, on a Saturday, about the dawn of day, fifteen years before the
l)irth of Onr Saviour. This feast was instituted on tlio Slh of September in tlie Greek
and Latin Ciuirehes, a. d. 436, according to the same writer, and in France by St.
Maui'illu.s, Bishop of Angers.

Dedication of the churcii of Our Lady of Licise, in the diocese of Laon, ten leagues
from Illicims.

Dedication of Our Lady of Moutserrat, in Catalonia.

9. Our Lady of the Pinj, iu Velay. St. Georges, who was (he first bishop, marked
the site for tliis church, whicli was not built till al)out tlio year 221. Tlie Virgin her-
self gave it in charge to St. Evodus, or Vo.-sius, seventh bishop of tlic same place,
whom she ordered to transfer his episcopal see to I'uy. St. Evodus obeyed the Vir-
gin; but when he came to coiisecnite his new churcii, he perceived tliat it was already
consecrated by angels ; tiie doors opened of themselves, the bells rang of their own
accord, the tapers were burning', and tlie holy chrism, which the angels had used, aji-
peared still fresh on the altar and on the walls. Odo Grtxsev.s, de Virg. Anicienn.,
I. ii., c. 7, 8 et 9.

10. Our Lady of Tru, near Cologne. This churcli was built, under Otlio I., by
St. Ileriliert, Archbishop of Cologne, on the very spot where idols were formerly
worshipped.

11. Our Lady of llildeshcini, iu the duchy of Brunswick, in Germany. The imagu
here venerated is the same which Louis the Good was aecustonied to wear on his per-
son. One day when he chanced to forget it in a wood, it became so heavy that it was
impossible to move it, wliich induced the king to build a church for it in that place.
Trip. Coiir., nomb. 75.

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13. Our Lf»dy of Healing, in Lower Normandy. Many miriiculous cures have been
olTc'itcd ill tiiiH c'lmrcli. Ex nrcltlv. htijim ecclen.

13. Our Lady of Onodalupa, in Sjuiin. Tliis image, sent by Pope Gregory to St.
Li'iindcr, liisliop of Si>vil!o, was conucnied, at the time of the Moorisli invasion, witli
ihi^ body of St. Ful^^ontius, in tlio cave of Ouadalupa, where it remained for nearly
six iiiiiidri'd years, till Our Lady revealed it to a shepherd. Juann. Mariana, I. vi
de Jieb. Hinpan.

14. Dedication of Our Lady of Fontevrault, in Poitou, by Podo Calixtus IL, a. b
1121>. Qal. Christiana.

15. Octavo of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, instituted on the occasion of
some dilferunce i)ich occurred at the election of the successor of Celcstino IV.,
through the intrigues of the Eraperor Frederick II., the cardinals had rccoursu to Our
Lndy, binding themselves by vow to add nn octave to the feast of her Nativity, if she
would vouchsafe to give them a pope. Innocent IV. having been elected, ho instituted
this octave, a d. 1243, the Drst year of his pontificate. Arnoldus Wionius., 1. v,,
L'gni vii(s, c. 22.

IG. Our Lady of Good News, at Orleans, built by King Robert, a. d. 990, on the
spot where he received the glad tidings that his father, Ilugh Capet, had escaped
di'iith. Locriim, MuricB Auf/iistw, I, iv., c. 02.

17. The placing of the imago of Our Lady of Puy, in Velay. The holy king St.
Louis ga\e this image to the church of Puy, a. d. 1254, on his return from foreign parts,

18. Our Lady of Smulcom, in Flanders. Chronicles tell that certain shoplierda
remarked that their sheep bent the knee l)eforo tills imago. It was for this reason
that Baldwin, sumamcd Fair-beard, chose this place as the site for a church, in gra-
titude to Our Lady for having cured him of a malady which he had had for seven-
teen years. Trip. Cour., nonib 63.

19. Our Lndy of Healing, near Mount Leon, in Gascony. Oeoffroy, IFist. at ^
Vierf/e de Ouerison.

20. Our Lady of the Silver-Foot, at Toul, in Lorraine ; where there is an image
which, according to nn ancient tradition, apprised a certain woman, in 1284, of
treachery meditated against the city, and as a sign, the imago extended its foot, which
was changed into silver. Trip. Cour., nomb. 57.

21. Our Lady of Pucha, in the kingdom of Valencia. This image was found a. d,
1223, by means of seven stars shining over the place, whereupon the people dug into
the ground, and found an image of the Virgin. Bernard. Conies., Hist. Ifispaii., 1. x.

22. The name of Mary given to Our Lady, by her mother, St. Ann, Pctrusa Cas-
tro, Hint. Virg., c. 2.

23. Our Lady of Vulvancre, in Spain. This image was found in an oak, in the place
iiow occupied l)y the mai^iiilicent cliuivii rebuilt by Alplioiiso IV., King of Castile.
Anton. Yepez, in Chronic.

24. Our Lady of Ivoe-Amadour, or Roche-d'Amateur, in the diocese of Cahors,
tiuercy. This pilgriuKige is so named bec,iu?ie St. Amateur, vulgarly callcil St.
Aniaiit, rciiiaini'd foiih,' time on this rock, which becaine fa-nous about the year 1140
nu'j'< FurciluH, de Miracul. B. Virg. Rupiramal.

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yuii

•M. TIlis Imiij^o boin)? often rciiiovcil was iilwiiys
imsod a clmrcli to bo built tliorc. Ti-ip. Cour,,

25. Our Lady of Pnsdcr, at Illi
fuiiiut a^aiii in tliu Kunio place, wli.
iiniLiii. 53.

20. Our Lady of Vii'tory, at Tonrnay. The iuluibitants curriud tlio keys of tlio
fity to tho cliurch of Our Lady, a. d. 1340, beeausu they knew tliat it was only tlie
(iuecn of neavou who could deliver them I'mm tho English, who were forty days be-
sieging the city. No sooner had they manifested this eoniidoncc in the lijessed Virgin
than the HJcge was raised; tho iidiabitauts at the time had SL-arcely tliroo days' iirovi-
sioiis. £.c Archiv. Tornacens.

27. Our Lady of Happy Meeting, half a leuguo from Agdc. This clay imago was
discovered miraculously, a. u. 1523. Trip. Cour., nomb. 34.

28. Our Lady of Cambron, of tho Order of Citeou.x, near Mons, in ILiinant. It
IS said that this image, being struck by a ruffian, shed blood profusely. Jlist. Cam
tieron., edita Ditaci, aim. 1002.

29. Our Lady of Tongrcs, in the diocese of Cambrai. This iiinigo was taken in
1081 to a garden, where tho Bishop of Cambrai had n chureh built. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 1002.

30. Our Lady of Beaumont, in Lorraine, between Domremy and Vaucouleiir.
Joiiii of Arc often retired '.o this church to recommend the affairs of France to the
Queen of heaven and eartli, who ordered her to take up arms to deliver that kiiiir-
Jom. Trip Cour., tniitv 3, chap. 7.

OCTOBER.

1. Foundation of Crown Abbey,* of the Augu-itinian Order, in tlie diocese of
Angouleme, under the title of O.ir L;uly, by Lambert, who was its first abbot, a. n.
1122. Gallia C/irlsHaua, t. iv.

2. Our Laily of the Assumiifon, lit Naples ; built by the regular canonesscs of St.
Augiislino, in j;rntitule for t!ie Motlier ol' God having warned them to leave a house
whicii fell ini!nnli;itely after they had fiuitted it. Trip Cour., nomb. 42.

3. Our Liiily of tlie Plaeo, iu Home. This Imago having fallen into a well near the
house of the Car.liuil Capoei, a. d. 1200, tho water rose miraculously, aiul east out
the image, wliieli the cardinal tiieii placed in his chapel. But Pope Innocent IV. ob-
liged him to builil another ou the spot where tho miracle took place. This chapel
being given to the Servites, they built a handsome church, iiiclo.iiiig the well within its
walls. Trip. Cour.,nonih. 100.

4. Our Lady of Vanssivi^res, in the uiountaiiis of Aiivergue, near ^loiiiit d'Or,
where there was an image which was miraculously saved from the general wreck wlu-ir
tlie English ravaged Vaussiviercs about the ycir 1374. Tliis image being removed to
the church of Bessc, was found again in its for ner place. Duchiue, chap. 9.

5. Our Lady of Buch, in the I'ine Mountains,f in (Juienr.e. The pea threw this

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imoH:e 1)11 nlwTv, wliilHt St. TlKiinnn, tlic FrftiiciNcnii, wnn praying for two vvnsi'U wlilch
Iio (iftw ill daiigiT of iK'rinliiiig. He rrccivi-ii tlio irimgu witli rcHpcct, tiiid eiiiiiiriiiud it
in timt pliicp, ill ii jitllu eliniit'l Itiiilt for it. Ftorimmul liaymoii, lli»l. de» Hern., I. I.

yt. Mary of Jirscy, coiiHeiTiitt'd a. n. 11520, on oiio of tlio Channel IsIuiiUh. Char-
trier lie C'oulanr.ea, dit le Livre-Noir, (The Black Book.)

C. Our Lady of La I'lcbu, in tiio nmruli of Venice, liuiit a. n. 1180.

7. Feast of tlie Kosary, instituted by I'opo Gregory XIII., a. n. 1573, iiftor the
fainon.s vietoiy of Lii)anto, obtained by the Cliriatlans over tlio Turks, Joteph
Strphdii., Tract. Je iiiilii[(/. liumrii.

8. Our Lndy of Gifts, at Avignon. Tradition nflsigns the foundation of this ehureh
to St. Murtlm, and adds timt it was conseeratcd by Our Lord tiiniHolf. Being
mielved by tiie Saracens, it was repaired by tlio Emperor Chnrlcniagno. Trip. Cuur.,
noinb. 40.

9. A. D. 123, on the iiiglit of tliat day on wliicli the Priiico of tlio Saracens hud St.
Jolin Damascene's hand unjustly cut off. Our Lady miraculously united tlio severed
hand to tlio wrist, that faithful servant having bHj:'Ted her to do so, that he might con-
tinue to write ia favour of sacred images. Joan, Putriarch. Jerosolimit.,iii nita mncti,
Joann. Damasc. apud Siiriutn.

10. Our Lady of the Cloister, at Besanfon. Oui Lady's imago, placed in tiio '•loir.
tor of tho Magdalen, was preserved from a fire, a. r.. 1024, although the niche in which
it stood was reduced to ashes. Trip. Cour., nonih. 53.

11. Our Lady the White, in tlie church of tho Berimrdiuc monnstery, at Oiiville,
district of Caux. This image is much honoured iu that country. £x Archiv. hnjus
Monait,

12. Our Lady of Faith, in the district of Liuge. Tliis imago was found, a. n. IGOD,
by a carpenter named Qilles do W.v.ilin, who, cutting down a tree for the purpose of
milking a boat, found in it, bchi..u an iron grating, an ima^c of Our Lady, made of
wliitish clay, and about a foot in heiglit. It wos removed to another oak, and thence
again to a church built on the spot where tho former tree had stood. Trip. Cour.,
nomb. 00.

13. Dedication of Clairvaux, in the diocese of Langrcs, in honour of tho Blessed
Virgin. St. Bernard was the first abbot of tliis famous moimstcry, were he died iu
1 153, at the age of sixty-three years. Alphonso I., King of Portugal, in 1142, bound
himself and his succes.sors to jiay a tribute of 50 muravedis every year to Our Lady
of Clairvaux. Chronic. Cisterciuiis.

14. Our Lady of La Ilochcttc, near Geneva. A Bliepherd having approached a
busii where he heard a plaintive voice, found in it uii imago of tlic Blessed Virgi'i,
wliich caused a church to be built there. Antolpli. Hist, ■univers. B. Maria Virg.

15. Dedication of Our Lady of Terouenne, a. d. 1133, byMilon, itsthirtietli bisiiop.
J(uob Meyerus, 1. ii.. Annul. Flandrice.

IC. Dedication of Our Lady of Milan by Pope Martin V., a. d. 1417. This church
was built in 1388 by John Gabas, Duke of Milan. Philip. Bergom., 1. iv., Saplic.
ana. 1388.

17 Dedication of the Grotto of Our Lady of Cliartrcs, by St. Pontian, a. d. 40. —

PTOL»'//«ii>'*^~

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t)('(licali<in of tlio cliiircli of Citmiiiv, in tlio UIocunu of riml< iiiiior IIir .iH.-n*.ioii
••r Oiir liiuly. SehnHt. Jinuilliinl, c. J, ii. 4.

IS. Dctlii-alion of Our Liuly of lllicinis, built l)y St, N' '■ uTlihiuli, , ,vf tlml
rily, A. t). 405. TliU cliiirc-li Idmmx riii>icil, wiin rebuilt by Kboii uud Iliui'iMtr It
WHS liiiishcd in S4r). ytmluarUin, I. i., ch. fl.

It). Doilii'utioii uf tliR abli<7 of Iloyaiiiiiojit, uihUm' tiii; tillo of tlin Holy CroHs nml
Oiii- liiuly, l)y Juliii, iii'c'libiKlio|i of Mityluiif, a. ii. 1235. Tliin inoiiustury wiis foiiiiilvtl
by St. LoiiiH, III tliu yt'iir 1227. Oul. Chritt., t. iv.

20. DtMllciUioii of tliu fliiii'di of I'oiitijfiiy, four luo^^ucs from Au.xcrrc, under tl-f
tillo of Our Liidy. This abbey was fouiulcd in 1114 by Tliibuul, Count of Cliam
imj^ne. Anytl. Matiriq.

21. Our Lady of Tuluu, near Dijon. Ex mimimientts D'mon.

22. Our Lady of tiic Vunit, half a h'ni^ne from Grand Cairo. ^Vaditloii has it that
tiie IMessed Virgin remained some years in tills subtet'r.iiean ehapui. Trip, Cotir..
iKimli. 0.

23. Our Lady of Comfort, nnar Honllenr. Tliis oluipcl is mneli frecineiitcd. Twi
children were in it restoicd to life, in memory of which tlieir images are there in silver
Re arehio. hiijus loci.

24. Our Lady of Hermits, in Switzerland, where there was formerly a little hermit
iigo in tlic midst of the woods, ocLMipied l)y St. Meinrad, till tlie Kmpcror Otlio Imili
a chnrL'h tliere, accordiii;r to an oidor wliicli he had received from lieavcn. Tliis ehnrch
eoiitains a little Lady-i'liapel, eonsecrated, it is said, in 1413 by Onr Lord liimsclf, ar-
c'ompaiiied by angels and saints, who performed tlie functions of the ordinary olllcer.-
of the cliuroli, in presemi; of the Blisscd Vir„'in. Tiip. Coiir., nomb. 84.

2.'). Dedication of Our Lady of Toledo, in Spain, about tlie year lOT."), by IJenmrd
N»clil)ishop of that city. Tliis catlicdiai lias a revenue of more than 300,000 livrcs.
Jotinn. Mariana, I. \\., cli. IS.

2(). Dedication of Onr Lidy of Victory, n ;ar S^-idis, a. n. 122.'), by Quarin, bislio|
of Scnlis and Cliancelior of France. Tliis Al)bey was built by Philip Anf,'ustns, in
^crntitude for the victory wliicli he ffuinod at IJoiivines, over tiie Kmpcror Otlio, a. n
1214. Carta Taltulur. <le Victoria.

27. Our Lady of La Basillii, ia Loml)ai'ily, iK'yond tiio I'o. This cimrch was bniil
by the express eommund of 0,ir liady. Alhert. L.'iimler, in ileicrijifiine finliie.

25. Our Lady of Vivoniie, in Savoy, wliere tiicre is an image wliich was miracnlo'.isly
fiiund by a labourer. Tliis statue, liaving been thrice removed to the village churcli.
always returned to its original place ; a diuivh was consequently bulltthcre, and given
to the Carmelites. Antolphus, in Ifistor. nnivers. invvj. IS. Virr/.

20. Our Lady of Orope, near Bielle, in Savoy. This image, made of cedar wood,
and about six feet higli, is in a chapjl built by St. Ensebius, bislioj) of Verceil, about
the year 380 ; the saint often retired tliithor durin j; the troubles of the Arians. Trip.
Cuiir., iioinb. 112.

30. Our Lady of Mondevi, at Vic, in Plcdmoat, wlii-rc tliorc is an im.ageiiaintcd l)y
a tiler on a pillar of '.>ri,k built by him fart'iit pn/po^-. 'Pliis pillar has been sur-
rounded by a church vherc nnnibcrl ss miracle; an; wrou/ht. ffisf. ile }[onJeoi. c. 2

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niSTOUV OV I'lIK UKVOTION I'O TltR

31. Ill the ypiir 1 1 HI, ft choir boy Imvinff fuUoii Into the well of Saint Fort, whirl,
lain tlid chnnh of CliitrlrnM, was wnvoil liy Our Liidy. All Iho tinu; tliutlin wtm In iIh.'
well, Im heard the augcU aiiswiring the piihliu pruycm recited In the church ; tliii
giivo riso to that custom iu the church of (Mmrtrci, of the clinir never Hinging the res-
ponMe to the Dominiti yoliisciiin, ehnntcd iit high niuHii nud in tho canonical hours.
S*ba$l, lioiiitlanl. I'livthtn., c. 0, nomb. 14.

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NOVKMBKH.

I. The FeuHt of All Kaintit, instituted ut llmno, iu honour of Our Ludy and nil tho
Bainlfl, by ro|)0 Itonirncc IV., about the year OOH, mid nrtcrward.s iu all tho churches
In Christendom, by Pope Orogoiy IV., about tho year 829, ut the reiiucsl of Louis tho
Qood, who iHsued a procl.uuation commanding it to bu observed throughout all hia
dominions. Huron, ad Marlymhig. Jiimian.

1. Our Liuly of Kininiinout, near Abbeville. This church h much frequoutud by
pilgrims. Antiq, d'Abbev., I. i.

8. Oiir Liuly of Uciiucs, in !5retaj?nc. Tho English having undermined the town to
blow it up, it is said that the tapers in this chapel were miraculously lighted, the belU
rang of their own accord, and tho iiuiigo of tho Blessed Virgin was seen to extend its
arm towards tho niiddlo of the church, where the train was laid; the danger was thus
discovered, and measures successfully taken to avert it. Trip. Conr., tract 3, c. 7 et 8.

4. Our liady of Port Louis, iu Milan. Tradition tells that this iiinige one day re-
ceived the homugo of two angels, who were seen by several persons bending tho knee
before it. Aslolphus, ex hiat. vnivers, iiinnj. li. Virrf.

5. Our Lady of Damietta, in Kgypt. Tliis church was consecrated in honour of tho
Blessed Virgin, a. d. 1220, by Pelagius, tho Apostolic legate. jEiniliuf, in Philippo

0. Our Lady of Vulfleuric, seven leagues from Lyon. This church is so called
because tho imago of tho Virgin over tho high altar was found by shepherds in ssmo
broom which was iu full blo.sso!u, though the season was inid-wiuter. Trip. Cow.,
nomb. 47.

7. Our Lady of the Pond, near Dijon. This imago, of baked clay, was disoovered
in 1531, by means of an o.x which always stopped at tiiat spot, ami ultliou;;!) he kept
gra/.iiig there continually, the grass grew thicker and thicker every <l.iy. T, '<>. (Jour.,
nomb. 42.

8. Our Lady of Fair-Fountain, in the diocese of La Ilochelle. This image has beeo
honoured from time immemorial. Ex archiv. hnjua AbhaUr,

9 Our Lady of Good Air, in Perche, near Roumalard. This church is much fre-
quented by persons in alHietion. Trip. Conr., ikhiiIi. Wl.

10. A. n. 1552, Our La^y of Ijorctto cured a Turkish pacha of an iiieiirable disease;
he had been persuaded by one of his slaves, who was a t!liristian, to have recourse to
the Blessed Virgin; the infidel believei'. him, and promised to set him iV.'e if Our Lady
p.ured him. Having recovered his health, he sent many presents to the (Jlinrch of Our
Lady of Loretto, and, amongst others, his bow and quiver. Tursd., Hist. I.uurtt ,
I. iii.. c. 18.

lIUIL-

IILI->MKU VllUim MAIIY.

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III

11. On llilo (Iny, about the year lft4rt, tlio Portiij^iicnn nainod a urcut vletury ovi-r
llic iiilltli Ih, will) WLTo licforn tlm (.'iixtlu of Dio, in tho Fast Imlic!*, for seven inontlis,
mill wniilil have taken it if Our Laiiy hud not a|)[iearcil on the walls ; thia a|i|iarition
<ii> terrillcil the ciieniy that tho niej(i! was iiniiu'iliatcly ruined. Balinjh. in Culeml.

12. Onr Lady of the Tower, in Friboiirj?, Imilt in a hcretie country, on tho very
Kjwt where an iniano of Our Lady was found. Trip. Cour,, noml) 85.

13. Dediralioii of the Aliliey of Ilee, in Normandy, a. d. 1077, liy Lanfranc, Arili
bishop of ('aiiturl)ury. This Ueiicdictine abbey was founded about tho year 1045, liy
llerluiii, will) was its first abbot, (fiiillilm, (leniitleensii, 1. vi.,f'« dur. Nonnan,, enp. 1).

14. Our Lady of the (Irotto, in the ilioeese of Laineno, in Portuj^al. Tliis chnpel
wn« hollowed in tho rock, on the upot whcro an imago of tho Virj^in was found. Va»-
eonci'll,, in dencript. rtijni LuhiUih.

15. Our Lady of l'i;?iiei'ol, built in honour of tho Assumption of the lllessed Vir
nin, about tho year 10i»S, by Adelaide, Countess of Savoy. Ex nrchiv. hujus loci.

1(). Our Lady of (Jiiieves, in Hainault, whore, in 1130, tiio lady of tho place nod
Ida, built a ehapel near a fountain where an imaj.ce of Our Lady wn ' ''
mirucies have since been wroiijtht there. Trip. Cour., nomli. 02.

17. Institution of tho Confraternity of Our Lady of Sion, at ^u.-cy
A. I). 13'j;!, by Ferri dc Lorrnine, Count of Vuudoniont. Trip. Cour., r.

18. Onr Lady of Hourdieu.x, near llourj^es, Tliis Hencdictino obbe;
928, by Elibon, Lord of Berry, Bi'wius, adann, 028.

19. Our Lady of Qood .Vews, in the iilibey of St. Victor, which Mary do Medici
visited every Saturday. Tlie abbey was founded in 1'. 13 by Louis tho Fat. £je
archil'. S. Virlnris Purinieiiiiiii.

20. Our Lady of Guard, near nolnjriia, in Italy. Tiiis iiiiaso was in the church of
St. Sophia, in Coiistanlinii|ilr, with tho inscriptiou : "Tliis pii;ture, painted by St.
Luke, is to be taken to Mount Uiiard, and placed over the altar of tho church." A
Oreek monk set out for Italy towards tho year 433, with tho ima;^c entrusted to him,
and placed it on Mount (iiianl. Ihovlim, ml ami. 1133, n. 379.

21. The rre.scntalion of Our L;iily. Tiiis feast was in-ititiiteil, in the Greek Church,
more than nine hundred years ago, since St. Oenminus, who held tho see of Constan-
tinople, in 71.">, composed a serinon on it.* Jliron. in yoli.i ad Afarli/rotor/.

22. Iiislitutiim of the Coiifrat'Tiiity of the I'rcseiuation of Our Lady, at St. Omer,
A. n. 1481. Adahirdus Tiissart, In Chronic, ad iinii. 1481.

23. Onr Lady of tho Vault, near tho town of St. Anastasia, lu the neighbourhood
of Florence. Trip. Cour., nomb. 102.

24. A. I). 1535, Our Lady of Moiitserrat restored speech to a Savoyard who had
been (liiml). Jlist, Montiss.

25. Our Lady of the llock, in tlie territory of Fie/.oli, in Tuscany. Tiiis iinaj^c ii
placed in a rock, where two shepherds once retired to pray, wlicn Our Lidy com-
manded theui to build her a church in tliat place. Archanjel. Janins, in Annul. PP.
Strvilarnm,

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IIISTOUV OK THE DEVOTION TO THE

2r>. Our Lnily of llie Mountains, between Mount E:iquilin aiirl Mount Viniinul, in
Italy. This image was iniracuioualy found, a. d. 1500. Trij' Cour., nonib. 99.

27. Dedication of tiic town of Lesina, in tlie Campagna of Rome. Tiiis town was
given to Our Lady, a. r>. 1400, by Margaret, Queen of Poland, and raollicr of Ladislaa.
Biovlw, I. i.\., t/e Sii/n. ece/es.

28. Our Laily of VVulsinghara, in England, much honoured by Edward I., wlio,
playing one dr.y at che(|ncrs, instinctively rose from liis sent, and at the laine irioment
a large stone foil from tlie roof of tlit vault on the sent which he had occupied. Ever
after, lie had a particuhir devotion for Our Lady of Walsinghnm. Tkotnas Wal.sini/h.
in Hist. Ang. in Ed. I.

29. Our Lady of the Crown, at Palermo, so named because it was there the kings
of Sicily received the royal crown, as holding it from the Mother of God, and being
only to wear it for her. Thorn. Fazellu.i, I. viii., pnoris decad. de reb. Siiilis.

30. Our Lady of Oencsta, on the coast of Genoa, in Italy. A poor woman, nnmi-d
IV'truccia, undertook to l)uild this churcli, which appeared utterly impossible; she,
nevertheless, laid thi^ first stone, saying she was sure she should not die till Our Lady
and St. Augustine had finished the work. The result was, that in a little time after
the church was found miracidously finished. Si;;niniis, in Clironic.

DECEMBER.

1. Our Lady of Ratisbon, in B.ivaria, fo'.inJad by D ika TIi'oIjpo, after bemg
baptized by St. Rujiert, Bishop of Salisbury, and apostle of IJavaria; tlie same saint
subsequently consecrated this church. Canisius, 1. v., de D. Virtf., cap. 2.').

2. Our Laily of Didynia, in Cappadocia, before which St. Basil bc.sou.fht the Blessed
Virgin to remedy the disorders caused by Julian the Apostate; he was favoured there
with a vision foreshowing the emperor's death. Buronins, ad ami. 303.

3. Our Lady of Filerrao, near Malta. This image remaining amongst the ruins of
the church of St. Mark, of Rhodes, was removed to St. Catherine's Church, and, at
length, the knights having quitted Rhodes, it was placed in t!ie clinr.h of St. Law.
reiice. This church was afterwards entirely burned, but the iniiize roniained uninjured.
Trip. Cour., nomb. 91.

4. Our Lady of the Chapel, at Abbeville. This church was built about the year
1400, on a little hill where idoLs were fonnerly worsliijiped. AnUi/. d'AI/het., 1. i.

5. In the year 1584 was instituted tlie fir.st congregation of Our Lady in the Jesnil.
College in Home, and hence the company's pious custom of cstabli.shing it in all their
houses. Balingh. in Calend.

C. Out Lady of Fourvicre, at Lyon, famous for miracles, and for the extraordinary
concourse of people who go there from the city, especially on Saturdays.

1. On this day, being a Sunday, in the 3-ear ir)50, the canons of Our Lady of Pans,
walking in [iroces.sion before the image of the Virgin, which stands n( ar the door of
the choir, a Lorraine heretic, forcing Irs way through tlu; crowd sword in hand,
attempted to strike the image; lie w.is prove, ited liy tlr; assistants, and on the follow-

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301;

lowing Tlmijiday lie was executed in front of Notro Dame. Su Breuil, Antiq. dt
Paris, I. 1.

8. The Conception of tlie Blessed Virgin. This feast commenced in the East about
the seventh or eighth century, for St. John Damascene, who lived in 731, makes
mention of it. It was instituted in England, a. d. 1100, by St. Anselm, Archbishop
of Canterbury, then in tiie diocese of Lyon, a. d. 1145, and finally SixtuslV. decreed
A. D. 1576, that it slionlJ be celebrated throughout Christendom. Joann. Molan., in
Annot. i., ad Usuard.

9. Our Lady of tlie Conception, in Naples ; so named because in 1618, the Viceroy,
with all his court nnd the Neapolitan militia, made a vow in the church uf Our Lady
the Great, to adopt and defend the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Trip. Com:, nomb, 43.

10. Institution of the nuns of the Conception of Our Lady, by Beatrice de Sylva,
to wlioiu Our Liidy is said to have apjieared in 1484, clothed in white, with a scapular
of tliu same colour, and a blue mantle. Beatrice, sister of the blessed Amadcus, took
this costume for the habit of her order, approved by Innocent VIII., according to the
Cistercian rule. Vuscoiitell. in descript. regui Lusil.

11. Our Lady of Angels, in the forest of Livry, four leagues from Paris. Three
Anjou merchants having been abused in this forest, a. d. 1212, by robbers who left
them fastened to trees, so that they might starve to death, had recourse to the Blessed
Virgin, who immediately sent three angels to liberate them. In the course of time
several other miracles were wrought there, which made the chapel very famous. Dei
rei/islrea de VALbnye de Livry.

12. Our Lady of Good Xews, at Abbeville. Tliis little chapel, 'n St. Peter's
priory, has always been much frequented. Antiq. (FAbbev.

13. Our Lady of the Holy Chapel, in Paris. Tliis image, under the portal of the
lower Holy Chapel, lias wrought many miracles.

li. Our Lady of Albe la Royale, iu Hungary, was built by St. Stephen, King of
Hungary, who gave his kingdom to the Blessed Virgin. Joann. Boni/acius, Hist.
Vinj., 1. ii., c. 1.

15. Octave of the Conception of Our Lady, instituted by Pope Sixtus IV. Bui-
tarium,

16. Institution of the famous confraternity of Our Lady of Deliverance, in the
church of St. Etienno des Grcs, in Paris, about the year 1533, tc which Gregory XIII.
gr.mted great indulgences, a. d. 1518.

17. Cathedral church of Our Lady of Amiens. The first bishop of this church
was St. Firmin, who received the crown of martyrdom during the persecution under
Dioi'lesian. There is iu this church a portion of the head of St. John the Baptist,
brought from Constantinople by a traveller named Qalon, a. d. 1205. Locrius, Maria
.\ugtista, 1. iv., c. 59.

18. Dedication of Our Lady of Marseilles, by St. Lazarus, in presence of his two
sisters, Mary Magdalen and Martha, and three holy prelates, Maximus, Trophimus,
and Eutropus. Canisius, 1. v.. Moral.

19. In the year 657, while St. Ildefonso, Archbishop of Toledo, was saying matins,

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310

niSTOllY OF THji DKVOTION TO TIIK

Our Luily, it is said, appeared to him, accompanied by a vast number of blessed spiritu,
liul<lin,i^ ill I. r litiiul the book lie hud composL-d iu hur Itonour. Shu thniilvcd him t'orii,
and, in gratitude, gave iiim a white cliasubie. This celestial present is still preserved
at Oviedo, where Alphouso the Chaste, King of CftsM'.c, had It solemnly removed to
the churLh of St. Saviour, which he had built, Huron, ad unn. 657.

Our Lady of Etulem, iu Bavaria, built by the Emperor Louis IV. AU>ert. Kraut-
zius, 1. i., Metropol,

20. The Abbey of Our Lady of Molcmc, order of St. Benedict, in the diocese of
Langres, was founded on this day, a. d. 1075, by St. Robert, wlio was its abbot,
Onllia Christ., t, iv

2L Foundation of St. Acheul, near Amiens, under the title of Our Lady, by St.
Firmin, first bishop of that city. Ex archiv. S. Achioli.

22. Our Lady of Cliartres, in Beauce. Tl.ls church, which was built in the timei
of the Apostles, after being several times destroyed, was put in its present state by
St. Fulbert, fifty fifth bishop of Chartrcs. Sebwst. Romllard, Porihen., c. ^.

23. Our Lady of Ardilllcrs, at Sauiuur, in Anjou. The name of this church is
illustrious all over France, becausu of the vast concourse of people drawn thither by
I miraculous fountain which cured many diseases. Tiic image represents Our Lady
»( Pity, holding iu her arms her dead son, whose head is supported by an angel. Lo
erius, Marice AtigusUs, 1. iv., ch. CO.

24. Celebration of the Chaste Nuptials of Our Lady and St. Joseph, long solem-
niwd as a festival in Sens, and several other churches of France. Sauaseyus, in Mar-
tyrol. Gallic.

25. On this day, at the hour of midnight, the Blessed Virgin brought forth the
Saviour of the world, in the stable of Bethlehem, where a fountain sprang up miracu-
lously on the same day. Baron., in Apparat, ad Annal.

26. Institution of the Confraternity of the Conception of Our Lady, at the Augus
tines of the grand convent, in Paris, a. d. 1443, to which many indulgences were 8ul>
•equcntly granted by Innocent III. I>u Breuil, Anliq., 1. 11.

27. Institution of the order of the Knights of Our Lady, a. d. 1370, by Louis II.,
Duke of Bourbon. Andr. Favtn, 1. viii., Hist, de Navarre, et 1. ill., du Theatre d'lhn-
neur.

28. Our Lady of Poiitolse, seven leagues from Paris. This image, standing in the
jwrtal of the suburban church of that city, on the road to Rouen, is famous for the
miracles wrought therein. £j: archiv. hvjus eccles.

29. Our Lady of Spire, in Germany. St. Bernard, entering this church onthe29th
of December, 1146, was honourably received by the canons, who co.iducted him to the
choir, singing the anthem, Salve, Regina ; the anthem finlslied, St. Bernard saluted
the image of the Virgin in these terms: — clcmens, pia, dulc\s Vino Maria,
and it is said to have answered : Salve, Bernarde. The words of tiie saint to the
image are engraved in a circle on the pavement of the church, on the spot where he
pronounced them, ond subsequently the Salve, Pegina was added ; this anthem was
composed in 1040, by Herman, surnunied Contract, a Genedlctine monk. Angtl.
Munriquc, Annul. Cist., ad ann. 1146, c. 10, &c

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