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Copyright. 1689, 
 
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t-^SAO Pa ?«S».A 
 
$1 SSIp^onsus pQ^BFia bp Eiguori. 
 
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 for |0$u$ ii^risi;' 
 
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 LOAN STACK 
 
 Cofvmam. 1888. Mum^v ft MoCartky. 
 
. inntlu$ llnft0n$n$: ^nvtn ba Jiniiom^ 
 
 Episcopus, EcclesiiB Knctor et Songregationis 
 SS. :^edBmptort8 Fundator. 
 
 CoPYRtaHT. 1888, Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
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I!f9 
 
 ENTIC 
 
 PORTRAITS OF THE HOLY FATHERS 
 
 '•^W 
 
 FROM 
 
 St. Peter to Leo the XIII 
 
 'IJIYINa THE DATE OF THE CONSECRATION AND THE 
 NUMBER OF YEARS EACH REIGNED. 
 
 NIURPHY & MCCARTHY, 
 
 20 WARREN STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 1 S. Petrus 42-67. 
 
 2 S. Linus M. 67-78. 
 
 3 S. Cletus I. M. 78-90. 
 
 4 S. Clemens I. M. 90-100. 
 
 5 S. Anacletus M. 100-112. 
 
 6 S. Evaristus M. 112-121. 
 
 7 S. Alexander I. M. 121-132. 
 
 8 S. Sixtus I. M. 132-142. 
 
 9 S. Telesphorus M. 142-154. 
 10 S. Hyginus M. 154-158. 
 lis. Pius I. M. 158-167. 
 
 12 S. Anicetus M. 167-175. 
 
 13 S. Soter M. 175-182. 
 
 14 S. Eleutherus M. 182-193. 
 
 15 S. Victor I. M. 193-203. 
 
 16 S. Zepliyrinus M. 203-221. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 17 S. Callistus I. M. 221-227. 
 
 18 S. Urbanus I. M. 227-2a3. 
 
 19 S. Pontianus M. 233-238. 
 
 20 S. Anterus M. 238-239. 
 
 21 S. Fabianus M. 240-253. 
 
 22 S. Cornelius M. 254-255. 
 
 23 S. Lucius I. M. 255-257. 
 
 24 S. Stephanus I. M. 257-260. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 25 S. Sixtus II. M. 260-261. 
 
 26 S. Dyonisius 261-272. 
 
 27 S. Felix I. M. 272-275. 
 
 28 S. Eutychiaiius M. 275-283. 
 20 S. Cajus M. 28:i-296. 
 
 30 S. Marcellinus M. 296-304. 
 
 31 S. Marcellus I. M. 304-309. 
 
 32 S. Eusebius M. 309-311. 
 
 33 S. Melcliiades 311-314. 
 
 34 S. Silvester I. 314-337. 
 
 35 S. Marcus 337-340. 
 
 36 S. Julius I. 341-352. 
 
 37 Liberius 352-363. 
 
 38 S. Felix II. M. 36.3-365. 
 
 39 S. Damasus I. 366-384. 
 
 40 S. Siricius 384-398. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 41 S. Anastasius I. 399-402. 
 
 42 S. Innocentius I 402-417. 
 
 43 S. Zosimus 417-418. 
 
 44 S. Bonifatius I 418-423. 
 
 45 S. Coelestinus I. 42:3-432. 
 
 46 S. Sixtus III. 432-440. 
 
 47 S. Leo 1. Masjnus 440-461. 
 
 48 S. Hilarius 461-468. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 49 S. Simplicius 468-483. 
 
 50 S. Felix III. 48;W92. 
 61 S. Gelasius I. 492496. 
 
 52 vS. Anastasius II. 496-498. 
 63 S. Symniagus 498-514. 
 
 54 S. Hormisdas 514-523. 
 
 55 S. Joliannes I. M. 523-526. 
 
 56 S. Felix IV. 526-530. 
 
 57 Bonifacius II. 530-532. 
 
 58 Johannes II. 532-535. 
 
 59 S. Agapetus I. 535-536. 
 
 60 S. Silverius 536-538. 
 
 61 Vigilius 539-555. 
 
 62 Pelagius I. 555-560. 
 
 63 Johannes III. 560-573. 
 
 64 Benedictus I. 574-578. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 65 Pelagius II. 578-590. 
 
 66 S. Gregorius I. Magnus 590-604. 
 
 67 Sabinianus 604-606. 
 
 68 Bonifacius III. 607. 
 
 69 S. Bonifacius IV. 608-615. 
 
 70 S. Adeodatus I. 615-619. 
 
 71 Bonifacius V. 619-625. 
 
 72 Honorius I. 625-638. 
 
Copyriglit, r889. 
 
 73 Severimis 040. 
 
 74 Jolianiies IV. 640-642. 
 
 75 Theodorus I. 642-649. 
 
 76 S. Martin us I. M. 64fW355. 
 
 77 S. Eugenius I. 655-656. 
 
 78 S. Vitaliaiius 657-672. 
 
 79 Adeodatus II. 672-676. 
 
 80 Donus I. 676-678. 
 
 81 S. Agatho 678-682. 
 
 82 S. Leo II. 682-683. 
 
 83 S Beiiedictus II. 684-685. 
 
 84 Johannes V. 685-686. 
 
 85 Conon 686-687. 
 
 86 S. Sergius I. 687-701. 
 
 87 Joliannes VI. 701-705. 
 
 88 Johannes VII. 705-707 
 
 Mui'phy & McCarthy. 
 
 89 Sisinnius 708. 
 
 90 Constantinus 708-715. 
 
 91 S. Gregorius II. 715-731. 
 
 92 S. Gregorius III. 731-741. 
 
 93 S. Zaciiarias 741-752. 
 
 94 S. Steplianus II. 752. 
 
 95 Stephanus III. 752-757. 
 
 96 S. Paul us I. 757-767. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 97 Stephanus IV. 768-771. 
 
 98 Hadrianus I. 771-795. 
 
 99 S. Leo III. 795-816. 
 
 100 S. Steplmnus V. 816-817. 
 
 101 S. Paschalis I. 817-824. 
 
 102 Eugenius II. 824-827. 
 
 103 Valentiims 827. 
 
 104 Gregorius IV. 827-843. 
 
 105 Sergius IT. 844-847. 
 
 106 S. Leo IV. 847-855. 
 
 107 Benedictus III. 855-858. 
 
 108 S. Nicolaus I. Magnus 858-867. 
 
 109 Hadrianus II. 867-872. 
 
 110 Johannes VIII. 872-882. 
 
 111 Marinus I. 882-884. . 
 
 112 Hadrianus III. 884-885. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 113 Stephanus VI. 885-891. 
 
 114 Formosus 891-896. 
 
 115 Bonifacius VI. 896. 
 
 116 Stephanus VII. 896-898. 
 
 117 Romanus 898. 
 
 118 Theodorius II. 898. 
 
 119 Jolianncs IX. 898-900. 
 
 120 Benedictus IV. 900-90S 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 121 Leo V. 903, 
 
 122 Christophorus 903-904. 
 
 123 Sergius III. 904-911. 
 
 124 Anastasius III. 911-913. 
 
 125 Lando 913-914. 
 
 126 Johannes X. 915-928. 
 
 127 Leo VI. 928-929. 
 
 V28 Stephanus VIII. 929-931. 
 
 129 Johannes XL 931-936. 
 
 130 Leo VII. 936-939. 
 
 131 Stephanus IX. 939-942. 
 
 132 Marinus II. 943-946. 
 
 133 Agapetus II. 946-956. 
 
 134 Johannes XII. 956-964. 
 
 135 Benedictus V. 964-965. 
 
 136 Johannes XIII. 965-972. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 137 Benedictus VI. 972-973. 
 
 138 Bonus II. 973. 
 
 139 Benedictus VII. 975-984. 
 
 140 Johannes XIV. 984-985. 
 
 141 Bonifacius VII. 985. 
 
 142 Johannes XV. 985-996. 
 
 143 Johannes XVI 996. 
 
 144 Gregorius V. 996-999- . 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 145 Johannes XVII. 999. 
 
 146 Silvester II. 999-1003. 
 
 147 Johannes XVIII. 1003. 
 
 148 Johannes XIX. 1003-1009. 
 
 149 Sergius IV. 1009-1012. 
 
 100 Benedictus VIII. 1012-1024. 
 
 101 Johannes XX. 1024-1033. 
 152 Benedictus IX. 1033-1044. 
 
 153 Gregorius VI. 1044-1046. 
 
 154 Clemens II. 1046-1047. 
 
 155 Daniasus II 1048. 
 
 156 S. Leo IX. 1049-1054. 
 
 157 Victor II. 1055-1057. 
 
 158 Stephanas X. 1057-1058. 
 
 159 Benedictus X. 1058-1059, 
 
 160 Nicolaus II. 1059-1061. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy 
 
 161 Alexander II. 1061-1073. 
 
 162 S. Gregorius VII. 1073-1085. 
 
 163 Victor III. 1087. 
 
 164 B. Urbanus II. 1088-1099. 
 
 165 Paschalis II. 1099-1118. 
 
 166 Gelasius II. 1118-1119. 
 
 167 Calistus II. 1119-1124. 
 
 168 Honorius II. 1124-1130. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 169 Innocentius II. 11.30-1143. 
 
 170 Coelestinus II. 114:)-1144. 
 
 171 Lucius II. 1114-1145. 
 
 172 Eugenius III. 1145-1153. 
 
 173 Anastasius IV. 115:3-1154. 
 
 174 Hadrianus IV. 11.54-1159. 
 
 175 Alexander III. 1159-1181. 
 ">76 Lucius III. 1181-1185. 
 
 177 Urbanus III. 1185-1187. 
 
 178 Gregorius VIII. 1187. 
 
 179 Clemens III. 1187-1191. ^ 
 
 180 Coelestinus III. 1191-1198. 
 
 181 Innocentius III. 1198- 121b. 
 
 182 Honorius III. 1216-1227. 
 
 183 Gregorius IX. 1227-1241. 
 
 184 Coelestinus IV. 1241. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 185 Innocentius IV. 124.3-1254. 
 
 186 Alexander IV. 1254-1261. 
 
 187 Urbanus IV. 1261-1264. 
 
 188 Clemens IV. 1265-1269. 
 
 189 B. Gregorius X. 12/1-1270. 
 
 190 Innocentius V. 1276. 
 
 191 Hadrianus V. 1276 
 
 192 Johannes XXI. 1276-1277. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 193 Nicolaus III. 1277-1280. 
 
 194 Martinus IV. 1281-1285. 
 
 195 Honorius IV. 1285-1287. 
 
 196 Jsicolaus IV. 1288-1292. 
 
 197 S. Coelestinus V. 1294. 
 
 198 Bonifaciiis VIII. 1294-1303. 
 
 199 B. Benedictus XI. 1303-1304. 
 
 200 Clemens V. 1305-1314. 
 
 201 Johannes XXII. 1316-1334. 
 
 202 Benedictus XII. 1334-1342. 
 
 203 Clemens VI. 1342-1352. 
 
 204 Innocentius VI. 1352-1362. 
 
 205 B. Urbanus V. 1362-1370. 
 
 206 Gregorius XI. 1370-1378. 
 
 207 Urbanus VI. 1378-1389. 
 
 208 Bonifacius IX. 1389-1404. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 209 Innocentius VII. 1404-1406. 
 
 210 Gregorius XII. 1406-1409. 
 
 211 Alexander V. 1409-1410. 
 
 212 Johannes XXIII. 1410-1415. 
 
 213 Martinus V. 1417-1431. 
 
 214 Eugenius IV. 1431-1447. 
 
 215 Nicolaus V. 1447-1455. 
 
 216 CalUstus III. 1455-1458. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 217 Tins II. 1458-1404. 
 
 218 Paulus II. 1464-1471. 
 
 219 Sixtus IV. 1471-1484. 
 
 220 Innocentius VIII. 1484-1492. 
 
 221 Alexander VI. 1492-1503. 
 
 222 Pius III. 1503. 
 
 223 Julius II. 1503-1513. 
 
 224 Leo X. 1513-1521. 
 
 225 Hadrianus VI. 1522-1523. 
 
 226 Clemens VII. 152:3-1534. 
 
 227 Paulus III. 1534-1549. 
 
 228 Julius III. 1550-1555. 
 
 229 Marcellus II. 1555. 
 
 230 Paulus IV. 1555-1559. 
 
 231 Pius IV. 1559-1565. 
 
 232 S. Pius V. 1566-1572. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy 
 
 233 Gregorius XIII. 1572-1585. 
 
 234 Sixtus V. 1585-1590. 
 
 235 Urbanus VII. 1590. 
 
 236 Gregorius XIV. 1590-1591. 
 
 237 Innocentius IX. 1591. 
 
 238 Clemens VIII. 1592-1605. 
 
 239 Leo XL 1605. 
 
 240 Paulus V. 1605-1621. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 241 Gregorius XV. 1621-1623. 
 
 242 Urbanus VIII. 1623-1044. 
 
 243 Innocentius X. 1644-1655. 
 
 244 Alexander VII. 1655 1667. 
 
 245 Clemens IX. 1667-1669. 
 
 246 Clemens X. 1670-1676. 
 
 247 Innocentius XI. 1676-1689. 
 
 248 Alexander VIII. 1689-1691. 
 
 249 Innocentius XIL. 1691-1700. 
 
 250 Clemens XI. 1700-1721. 
 
 251 Innocentius XIII. 1721-1724. 
 
 252 Benedictus XIII. 1724-1730. 
 
 253 Clemens XII 1730-1740. 
 
 254 Benedictus XIV. 1740-1758. 
 
 255 Clemens XIII. 1758-1769. 
 
 256 Clemens XIV. 1769-1774. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 257 Pius VI. 1775-1799. 
 
 258 Pius VII. 1800-1823. 
 
 259 Leo XII. 1823-1829. 
 
 260 Pius VIII. 1829-1830. 
 
 261 Gregorius XVI. 1831-1846. 
 
 262 Pius IX. 1846-1878. 
 
 263 Leo XIII. 1878. 
 
HALF - HOURS 
 
 WITH 
 
 The Servants of God, 
 
 WITH A COMPENDIUM OF THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS ; THE INCARNATE WORD AND THE DEVO 
 
 TION TO THE SACRED HEART; INDIFFERENTISM : OR, IS ONE RELIGION 
 
 AS GOOD AS ANOTHER ? APPROVED BY HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL 
 
 GIBBONS AND THEIR EMINENCES CARDINALS MANNING AND 
 
 NEWMAN, THE MOST REVEREND THE ARCHBISHOPS 
 
 OF NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, EDINBURGH, 
 
 AND GLASGOW, AND MANY BISHOPS. 
 
 COMPHSD FROM THE WORKS OF 
 
 REV. JOHN Mclaughlin, rev. george tickell, s. j., 
 
 CHARLES KENNY, THOMAS ARNOLD, M. A., 
 REV. W^ILLIAM A. ADDIS, 
 
 AND OTHERS. 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH NEARLY SCO ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY MURPHY & MCCARTHY, 
 
 20 WARREN STREET. 
 
COFY OF THE IMPRIMATUR OF HIS GRACE THE MOST REVERENL 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK, APPROVING THE PUBLICATION 
 
 OF ''HALF-HOURS WITH THE SERVANTS OF GODr 
 
 Nihil Obstat, 
 
 D. J. McMAHON, 
 
 CENSOR DEPUTATUS. 
 
 APRIL 7, 1891. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR. 
 
 T Michael Augustine, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK. 
 
 APRIL II. 1891. 
 
 Cupyrighi, 1S91, bjr 
 
 MURPHv A McCarthy. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS AND SERVANTS OF GOD. 
 
 Part tbe Sixet. 
 
 ON GOD, HIS ATTRIBUTES, GIFTS, GRACES, ETC. 
 
 ORAr. rACB 
 
 1. On the Love of God 9 
 
 St. Francis of Sales and Father Segneri. 
 
 2. On the Holy Fear of God .... 12 
 
 Fire Breiteville, Fathers Faber, Noutt, and St. 
 Gregory. 
 
 3. On the Holy Will of God .... 15 
 
 Fire Nepveu, Massillon, and St. Augustine, 
 
 4. On the Word of God 17 
 
 Fire de la Porte, Massillon, and SS. Francis 
 and Cyprian, 
 
 5. On the Law of God 20 
 
 .55. Augustine, Chrysostom, ferome, and Cyp- 
 rian, 
 
 6. On the Presence of God .... 23 
 
 Fire Nepveu and Father Faber. 
 
 7. On the Providence of God .... 25 
 
 St, Chrysostom, Fire Croiset, and St. Augustine. 
 
 8. On the Service of God 27 
 
 Archdeacon Boudon and Father Faber, 
 
 9. On the Want of Fervor in God's 
 
 Service 30 
 
 Bourdaloue, Fire Croiset, and St, Augustine, 
 
 10. On the Mercy of God ....... 33 
 
 Fire de la Colombiire and Father Faber, 
 
 11. On God's Mercy in our Illnesses . 35 
 
 Father Sfinola, S. M, Fire Nouet, and St, 
 Ambrose, 
 
 12. On God's Mercy in Afflictions, etc. 38 
 
 St. Chrysostom and P techier. 
 
 CHAF. VAOfe 
 
 13. On the Actual Grace of God . . 40 
 
 St. yElred, Massillon, and Bourdaloue, 
 
 14. On the Sanctifying Grace of God . 43 
 
 Cardinal Bellarmin, Fire Duneau, and St, L»o. 
 
 15. On Confidence in God 46 
 
 Fires Houdry and De la Colombiire. 
 
 16. On Zeal for God 4> 
 
 Fathers Lambert, Croiset, and Nouet, 
 
 Part tl)e lt)ccanlr. 
 
 ON GOD THE SON AND GOD THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 17. On THE Incarnation 51 
 
 SS. Bernard, Athanasius, Jerome, and Fire 
 Grenada. 
 
 18. On the Divinity of our Saviour 
 
 Cardinal Berulle and Fire Dozennes. 
 
 19. On Belief in Christ our Lord 
 
 Massillon, Promentiire, and St. Jerome. 
 
 20. On the Love of Jesus for Men . 
 
 Fire Eusibe Nieremberg. 
 
 21. On the Nativity of our Lord 
 
 Fire du Jarry and St. Augustine, 
 
 22. On the Circumcision 
 
 Bourdaloue, Father Faber, and St. Bernard, 
 
 23. On the Holy Name of Jesus . . 
 
 Fire Nouet, S. J. 
 
 24. On the Epiphany 
 
 SS. Augustine, Chrysostom, and Fire Mon^ 
 morel. 
 
 54 
 57 
 59 
 61 
 64 
 
 60 
 
11 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 25. On the Infancy and Hidden Life of 
 
 Jesus ' 7^ 
 
 Pires Croistt and Nouet, S. J. 
 
 26. On the Transfiguration 73 
 
 FatAtr du Pont, S. J. 
 
 27. On the Washing of the Feet ... 75 
 
 Rev. Pire Houdry, S.J., and St. Lte. 
 
 28. On the Passion of our Lord ... 77 
 
 Pires De la Colombilre and Nouet. 
 
 2g. On Jesus Risen 80 
 
 Bourda/oue, 
 
 30. On the Sacred Heart ANfa Wounds 83 
 
 Cardinal Peter Damien, Pire Biroat, and St. 
 Bernard. 
 
 31. On the Mystery of the Cross . . 86 
 
 55. Chrysostom and Augustine. 
 
 32. On the Ascension 88 
 
 Pires De la Colombiire, Le Valois, and St. 
 Bernard. 
 
 33. On the Descent of the Holy Ghost 91 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Flechier. 
 
 34. On the Most Holy Trinity .... 93 
 
 Pires Houdry and De la Colombiire. 
 
 Part X\z Cjjtrt. 
 
 on the blessed virgin MARY AND OF OUR 
 
 lady's feasts. 
 
 35. On Devotion to the Mother of God 96 
 
 Henri-Marie Boudon, Arc/tdeacon, and St. Ber- 
 nard. 
 
 36. On the Lmmaculate Conception . 99 
 
 Pires Houdry, De la Colombiire, and St. Ber- 
 nard. 
 
 37. On the Nativity of Mary .... 102 
 
 Pire Verjus. 
 
 38. On the Holy Name of Mary ... 105 
 
 Pire D^ Argentan. 
 
 39. O.v THE Presentation of Mary . . 107 
 
 Fere Houdry, S. J. 
 
 40. On the Annunciation 109 
 
 Bourdaloue and St. Gregory. 
 
 41. On the Visitation 112 
 
 Fires dujarry and D^ Argentan. 
 
 42. On the Purification 114 
 
 Bourdaloue and Father Faber. 
 
 43. Oy the Seven Dolours 117 
 
 Prom " Essias de .Sermons " and Father Faber. 
 
 CHAP. 'AOB 
 
 44. On the Assumption 120 
 
 Fire Nouet. 
 
 45. On the Holy Rosary 122 
 
 Father Faber and Pire Nicolas de Dijon. 
 
 46. On our Lady of Mount Carmel 
 
 Pir* D* la Colombiire. 
 
 125 
 
 Part t()e Jottrtl). 
 
 ON OUR HOLY MOTHER THE CHURCH, AND OF THE 
 sacraments administered in the CHURCH. 
 
 47. On the Holy Catholic and Apos- 
 tolic Church 127 
 
 Fire Texier and Flechier. 
 
 On the Treasures of the Church 
 
 Fire Texier. 
 
 130 
 
 49. On the Ministry of God's Church 132 
 
 Flechier and St. Jerome. 
 
 50. On Material Churches .... 
 
 Flechier and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 51. On Sundays and Holidays . . . 
 
 Fire Montmorel and Discours, Chretiennes. 
 
 52. On Fastings and Abstinence . . 
 
 Fire De la Colotnbiire, 
 
 53. On the Sacrament of Baptism . 
 
 St. Chrysostom, Pire Ncpvue, and St. Leo. 
 
 54. On the Sacrament of Penance . 
 
 Bourdaloue and Pire Masson. 
 
 135 
 
 138 
 140 
 142 
 
 145 
 
 148 
 
 55. On Holy Communion 
 
 Fires Castillo, Vaubert, and St. Cyprian. 
 
 56. On the Holy Eucharist as a Sac- 
 
 rifice 150 
 
 Flechier. • 
 
 57. On the Holy Eucharist as a Sac- 
 
 rament 153 
 
 Father Faber, Pire Gamier, and St. Cyprian. 
 
 58. On the Sacrament of Matrimony . 156 
 
 Fire Cordier. 
 
 Part tl)e JFifti). 
 on the world and sin. 
 
 59. On the World and its Dangers 
 
 St. Augustine, Flechier, and Fire Croiset. 
 
 60. On the World and its Maxims . 
 
 St. Ambrose, Massillon, and St. Augustine. 
 
 158 
 
 160 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 «KAr. PAGE 
 
 6i. On the World and its Duties . . 163 
 
 St. Chrysostom and P'ere Texier, 
 
 62. On the World and its Honors and 
 
 Dtgnitiks 166 
 
 Pire de la Colombilrt and St. Gregory, 
 
 €3. On Mortal Sin 168 
 
 Pires Texier, Berthier, and St. Cyprian. 
 
 64. On Vknial Sin 171 
 
 Pires de la Colombiire and Segneri. 
 
 65. On Habitual Sin 173 
 
 St. Augustine, Pire Biroat, and St. Bernard, 
 
 66. On Occasions of Sin 175 
 
 Massillon and Bossuet. 
 
 67. On Frequent Relapses into Sim . 177 
 
 Bourdaloue. 
 
 68. On Final Impenitence 179 
 
 Massillon, De la Colombiire, and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 Part t!)e Siytl). 
 
 ON THE vices WE SHOULD FLEE FROM. 
 
 69. On Ambition 182 
 
 Pires Houdry and Croiset, S. J. 
 
 70. On Anger 184 
 
 ^5. Basil, Chrysostom, and Ambrose. 
 
 71. On Avarice 186 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Massillon. 
 
 72. On Atheism and Unbelief .... 188 
 
 SS. Augustine and Cyprian. 
 
 73. On Blasphemy 191 
 
 La Morale Chr'etienne and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 74. On Calumny and Slander .... 193 
 
 Bourdaloue and SS. Chrysostom and Bernard. 
 
 75. On Discord, Law-Suits, &c 196 
 
 Pire Lejeune, Homelies Morales, and St. Am- 
 brose. 
 
 76. On Effeminacy and Sensuality . . 199 
 
 Le Pire Haineuve. 
 
 77. On Envy and Jealousy 201 
 
 SS. Cyprian, Chrysostom, and Basil. 
 
 78. On Flattery 204 
 
 '■'■Guerre aux Vices," and SS. Basil and Jerom*. 
 
 79. On Gambling 207 
 
 Pires Giroust and Bourdaloue. 
 
 ■80. On Hardness of Heart 209 
 
 Bishot Mascaron, and Pires Nouet and Nepvue. 
 
 CHAP. ,^^ 
 
 81. On Hypocrisy 211 
 
 Bourdaloue and Dictionnaire Morak. 
 
 82. On Idleness and Sloth 213 
 
 Bourdaloue. 
 
 83. On Ignorance 215 
 
 Pire La Pont. 
 
 84. On Immodest Attire, Fashion, etc. 217 
 
 SS. Chrysostom and Cyprian. 
 
 85. On Impurity 219 
 
 St. Basil, Pires Houdry and De la Rue. 
 
 86. On Ingratitude 222 
 
 .^5. Chrysostom and Ambrose, and Bourdaloue. 
 
 87. On Intemperance 224 
 
 Pires de la Colombiire, Houdry, S. J., and St. 
 Ambrose. 
 
 88. On Lying and Trickery 227 
 
 Pires Houdry, Heliodore, and St. Augustine. 
 
 89. On Prosperity of the Wicked . . 229 
 
 St. Augustine and Massillon. 
 
 90. On Rash Judgments 231 
 
 SS. Francis de Sales, John of God, Augustine, 
 and D Abbe de la Trappe. 
 
 91. On Scandal 234 
 
 Bourdaloue, St. Cyprian, and Pire Houdry. 
 
 92. On Self-Love 236 
 
 Pires Louis de Granada, Camaret, and St. 
 Augustine. 
 
 93. On Theatres, Balls, etc 238 
 
 Fenelon, St. Francis de Sales, and Lanetan- 
 tius. 
 
 94. On Theft and Larceny 241 
 
 Pire Lejeune. 
 
 95. On Vain Glory 243 
 
 .S^. Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Rodriguez. 
 
 96. On all our Bad Passions .... 246 
 
 Pires A. Rodriguez, Nepvue, and St. Philip 
 Neri. 
 
 Part i\t §»ci)entl). 
 
 on the virtues we should put into 
 practice. 
 
 97. On Alms-Deeds 249 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Pires Houdry and Faber. 
 
 98. On Keeping the Commandments 
 
 Pire Lambert. 
 
 2JI 
 
 99. On Conscience 253 
 
 Bourdaloue. 
 
IV 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 CHAP. »AGB 
 
 loo. On the Conversion of Sinners . 255 
 
 Bourdalotu anet Pirt Houdry. 
 
 loi. On the Employment of Time . . 257 
 
 Pires Segneri and Croiset. 
 
 102. On Faith 260 
 
 Fleehier and Pire La Font. 
 
 103. On Friendship 263 
 
 SS, Francis of Sales, Chrysostom, and Jerome, 
 
 104. On Good Example 265 
 
 Plre Texier. 
 
 105. On Good Works 267 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Plre Segneri. 
 
 106. On Holiness and Perfection . . 270 
 
 St. Ambrose and Pire D^Argentan. 
 
 107. On Human Respect 272 
 
 Massillon and St. Gregory. 
 
 io8. On Humility 274 
 
 St. Francis de Sales and Father Faher. 
 
 109. On Love of our Neighbor . . . 276 
 
 SS. Bernardine of Sienna, etc., etc. 
 
 1 10. On Love of our Enemies .... 278 
 
 Carranza, Le Plrejoly, and St. Gregory Naz. 
 
 111. On Meditation and Mental 
 
 Prayer 280 
 
 St. Francis of Sales, Massillon, and Rodriguez. 
 
 112. On Meekness 282 
 
 SS. Ambrose and Augustine. 
 
 113. On Modesty 284 
 
 St. Ambrose and Plre A. Rodriguez. 
 
 114. On Mortification 287 
 
 Pires Segneri, Croiset, and St. Bernard. 
 
 115. On Obedience 290 
 
 SS. Francis of Sales, Gregory, and Plre 
 Lambert. 
 
 116. On Order and Regularity . . . 293 
 
 Le Plre Hatneuve and St. Augustine. 
 
 117. On Penance as a Virtue .... 295 
 
 Bourdaloue. 
 
 118. On Perseverance 297 
 
 Plres Antoint de la Porte Croiset and St. 
 PhtltJ) Neri. 
 
 119. On Piety and Devotion .... 300 
 
 St. Bernard and Plre Croiset. 
 
 120. On Poverty, Voluntary, etc. . . 302 
 
 Fathers Sarrazin, Faber, and St. Bernard. 
 
 121. On Prayer 304 
 
 J.S1 Francis, Augustine, Philip Neri, and 
 Peneion. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 122. 
 
 123. 
 124. 
 125. 
 
 126. 
 127. 
 128. 
 
 129. 
 
 130- 
 131- 
 
 132. 
 
 On Predestination 307 
 
 Plres Houdry and Croiset. 
 
 On Prudence 309 
 
 St. Basil and Plre Giroust. 
 
 On Purity and Chastity .... 311 
 
 SS. Astere and Ambrose. 
 
 On Religion 313 
 
 Bourdaloue, De la Colombilre, and St. Ber- 
 nard. 
 
 On Retreats 316 
 
 SS. Efhrem, Gregory, and Plre le Valois. 
 
 On Riches — Use and Abuse. . . 319 
 
 SS. Chrysostom, Basil, and Massillon. 
 
 On the Excellence of the Soul . 321 
 
 Plres Houdry, Nepvue, Bretteville, and St. 
 Chrysostom. 
 
 On the Peace of the Soul . . . 323 
 
 Father Segneri, SS. Edmond of Canterbury 
 and Augustine. 
 
 On Salvation 326 
 
 SS. Ephrem, Chrysostom, and Plre Nepvue. 
 
 On Temptations 328 
 
 SS. Chrysostom, Francis, Augustine, and 
 Rodriguez. 
 
 On Vocation to a State of Life . 331 
 
 Plrt Nepvue, Massillon, and St. Philip Neri. 
 
 Part t()e eiffl&tl). 
 on the last four things. 
 
 133. On Death — In General .... 335, 
 
 Fathers Segneri and Faber. 
 
 134. On Death — a Good and Bad One 335 
 
 SS. Bernard, Philip Neri, and Plres Giroust 
 and Houdry. 
 
 135. On the Particular Judgment . . 338 
 
 Plres Du Pont and Croiset. 
 
 136. On the Last Judgment 340 
 
 Bourdaloue and Plre Segneri. 
 
 137. On Purgatory 342 
 
 On -what the Saints have written on this subject. 
 
 138. On .Hell 345 
 
 Fathers Biroat and Faber. 
 
 139. On Heaven 347 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Plres Croiset and Nej^vue. 
 
COffTENTS. 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 1. Antioch the First Centre of the 
 
 Catholic Church i 
 
 Antijihon. Apocrisiarius. Apocrypha. 
 
 2. History of the Catacombs .... 8 
 
 3. History of Canon Law 19 
 
 4. History of Peter's Pence .... 26 
 
 5. Origin of Schools 28 
 
 6. History of Freemasonry .... 33 
 
 7. History of Galileo 37 
 
 8. History of the Irish Catholic 
 
 Church 45 
 
 Origin and History of the Irish College at 
 Rome. 
 
 9. History of the Inquisition ... 58 
 
 The Spanish Inquisition Explained. 
 
 \o. History of the Oratory of St. 
 
 Philip Neri 63 
 
 History of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of 
 Jesus. History of the Devotion to the Sacred 
 Heart of Mary. The Origin of Bells. 
 
 11. Persecutions of the Christians dur- 
 
 ing the First Six Centuries . 69 
 
 12. Stations 72 
 
 Stations of the Cross. Stigmata. 
 
 13. Stole 76 
 
 Dove : Symbol of the Holy Ghost. Doxology, 
 Dreams. 
 
 14. Purgatory 81 
 
 Communion of Saints. 
 
 15. Beatification 89 
 
 16. Miracles 94 
 
 Missal. Propaganda. 
 
 17. Conclave loi 
 
 Concordat. 
 
 18. Commandments of God 106 
 
 Commandments of the Church. Mitre. Mixed 
 Marriages. 
 
 19. Intercession and Invocation of the 
 
 Saints 112 
 
 Dispensation. Divorce. What a Doctor of 
 *ke Church is. Dogma. 
 
 CHAP. rAOt 
 
 20. Marriage lai 
 
 Martyr, Martyrology. 
 
 21. Antichrist 135 
 
 Ash Wednesday. Asperges, Assumption. At- 
 trition. Aureole. Ave Maria. Banns. Ex- 
 communication. Fathers of the Church, 
 Genuflexion, 
 
 22. Celibacy 146 
 
 Veneration of Images. 
 
 23. Meaning of Doctrine of Immacu- 
 
 late Conception of the Blessed 
 Virgin 151 
 
 Season of Advent. What Heresy is. Hermit. 
 Hierarchy. Holy Water. 
 
 24. Holy Week 165 
 
 In Hoc Signo Vinces. 
 
 25. Language of the Church .... 172 
 
 Churching of Women after Childbirth. In- 
 cense. 
 
 26. Index of Prohibited Books ... 177 
 
 27. Vatican Council 181 
 
 The Veil. Vestments. Dolours of Blessed 
 Virgin. Domine, non sum Dignus. Chrism. 
 Seamless Coat of our Saviour. The Pope's 
 Tiara. Quinquagesima. Encyclical. Apos- 
 tasy. Coadjutor. Papal Bull. Papal Brief. 
 Acolyte. Pulpit. Benedicamus Domino. 
 Julian and Gregorian Calendar. Whmt 
 an Infidel is. Privileged Altar, 
 
 28. Altar 200 
 
 Altar-Breads. Altar-Cloths. Ambo. Amen. 
 Amice. Anathema. Catafalque. Catechism, 
 Catechist. Ex Cathedra. What a Cathe 
 dral is. Sanctuary. The Sancius. San 
 dais. 
 
 29. Scapulars aio 
 
 Schism. Beretta. Chalice. Chalice Veil. 
 Chancel. Pyx. Ciborium. Girdle. Man- 
 iple. Humeral Veil. Surplice. Dalmatic, 
 Cassock. Tunic. Corporal. Crib at Beth- 
 lehem. Cope. Crosier, or Pastoral Staff, 
 Chasuble. Frontal. Explanation of Pref- 
 ace of the Mass. Prelate. Why ths Prisst 
 says "Ite, Missa est." Bursa. 
 
VI 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 P>rt tlie /int. 
 
 CHAT. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 rAGS 
 
 I 
 
 1. Refutation of Indifferentism froh 
 
 Reason 13 
 
 2. Refutation of Indifferentism from 
 
 Revelation 18 
 
 3. Indifferentism Shown to be a Com- 
 
 tradiction of revelation .... 25 
 
 4. Refutation of Indifferentism . 
 
 44 
 
 CHAP. PACK 
 
 5. Further Refutation of Indifferent- 
 ism from Revelation 50 
 
 Part i\t l^tconti. 
 
 1. Unity 59 
 
 2. Universality, or Catholicity ... 79 
 
 China. India. Ceylon. Antipodes. Nevt Zea- 
 land. Oceanic 1. Africa. The Levant f Syria, 
 and Armenia. America. 
 
 Conclusion , .... 1 14 
 
 THE INGflRNflTE WORD AND THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
REFKCE. 
 
 PIRITUAL reading is now so recognized a practice for all who 
 wish to lead a devout life, that it is hardly necessary here to 
 insist on its importance. It is, however, well to remind persons 
 living in these times, that the present multiplication of period- 
 ical literature of every kind is an additional reason for being 
 faithful to the exercise of daily spiritual reading. The variety 
 of subjects brought before the reader, the absence of deep 
 thought or real principles, concealed by an attractive and brilliant style of 
 writing, dissipate the mind, and gradually destroy, not only the habit, but 
 even the power of serious reflection. We, therefore, who live in times of 
 much reading and little thinking, have the greater need to spend some por- 
 tion of our day in reversing this process, in company with some book, which 
 we read slowly, but from which we can gain matter for much after-medita- 
 tion. 
 
 The demand for spiritual reading for persons varying much in their capac- 
 ity, tastes, and the amount of leisure at their disposal, justifies the multipli- 
 cation of such books. And it is thouGfht that the one now offered to the 
 public has special advantages, which will make it prove a boon to many. 
 
 In spite of their goodwill, there are persons whose lives are so occupied 
 fchat they can give but little time to serious reading, and even those few 
 moments have to be snatched at uncertain times. For such as these, it is 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 important to have a book which can bear to be so read. The editor of 
 " Half-Hours with the Saints and Servants of God " has effected this, by 
 arranging in short sections, extracts from various writers, all bearing on some 
 one great truth or mystery of our holy religion. It would be well, indeed, 
 to spend a half-hour in such good company, but the sections are so short, that 
 one who has only ten minutes at his disposal would be able to read slowly 
 and '' pausingly^' as St. Philip tells us such books should be read, words that 
 would go far to sanctify the day. 
 
 The extracts are made from writers of every age, from St. Augustine down 
 to our own Father Faber, and many of the quotations are from books quite 
 out of the reach of ordinary readers. Moreover, the editor has wisely added 
 a short account of the life of the saint, or servant of God, whose work he 
 quotes, and this not only adds much to the interest of the work, but may 
 lead those who have time at their disposal to cultivate a taste for solid read- 
 ing. They will learn the beautiful thoughts of men whom they have hitherto 
 known only by name, and they will become anxious to know more of the 
 history of their times, and of the circumstances in which they wrote. Thus 
 ecclesiastical history and the biographies of the great Christian writers will 
 acquire a new interest in their minds, and who can say how great a blessing 
 a taste for such reading may prove ? Many, whose lives are now full of 
 activity, may have before them, through ill health or old age, long years of 
 enforced inactivity; and a taste for reading will save them from many 
 temptations, and make these years a time not only of tranquil enjoyment 
 but of much profit to their souls. Those who have been faithful in the 
 practice of daily spiritual reading know from experience how great is the 
 fruit derived from it. Thoughts are suggested which prove a safeguard 
 against some sudden temptation which comes to them during the day, or they 
 gain a light which enables them to answer some specious but shallow 
 blasphemy uttered in their presence ; or some cross, which would otherwise 
 have betrayed them into impatience, is welcomed as a gift from God. 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 These " Half-hours w'th the Saints and Servants of God" will thus enable 
 many to profit by the few minutes they can give to spiritual reading, while 
 they will suggest to others, who have more time at their disposal, in what 
 books they may seek for treatises suited to their spiritual needs. 
 
 The long experience of Mr. Charles Kenny is a guarantee for the literary 
 excellence of the book, — of the spiritual merit of which I have alone been 
 speaking. 
 
 WILLIAM T. GORDON. 
 
 
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 # CHAPTER I. # 
 
 V 
 
 Si''-' 
 
 \ 
 
 ©at^©!!© (SRMreB ^igt©!*^. 
 
 \ 
 
 A 
 
 ANTIOCH, W 
 
 ••• 
 
 THE FIRST CENTRE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ► HE city in which the disci- 
 ples of our Lord were first 
 called Christians. It was 
 the chief centre of the 
 Gentile Church, and here 
 the chief apostles, St. 
 Peter and St. Paul, and 
 other apostolic men, such 
 as St. Barnabas, labored. Besides this, 
 Antioch had a title to special pre-eminence 
 in the fact that it was for a time the 
 actual see of St. Peter, who founded the 
 Church and held it, according to St. Jerome, 
 for seven years. He was succeeded by 
 St. Evodius and St. Ignatius. Moreover, 
 the civil greatness of the city combined 
 with its traditional glory, as St. Peter's 
 see, to give it a high rank among the 
 churches of the world. It is no wonder, 
 then, that Antioch should have been 
 regarded in early times as the third among 
 the episcopal cities of the Catholic world. 
 
 The difficulty rather lies in the fact that 
 the third, instead of the second, place was 
 assigned to it, and that it ranked after 
 Alexandria, the see of St. Mark. This 
 apparent anomaly may be explained by the 
 civil superiority of Alexandria, and this is 
 the solution actually given by Baron ius ; 
 or, again, it may be said that St. Peter 
 only fixed his see at Antioch for a time, 
 whereas he placed his representative St 
 Mark as the permanent bishop of Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 However, the bishops of Antioch did 
 not even maintain their rank as third 
 among Christian bishops, though it was 
 theirs by ancient privilege. At the second 
 and Fourth Councils, they permitted the 
 bishop of Constantinople to assume the 
 next place after the Roman bishop, sa 
 that Antioch became the fourth among 
 the patriarchates. Shortly after the Fourth 
 General Council, Antioch fell lower stilL 
 
CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Anatolius, bishop of Constantinople in St. 
 Leo's time, ordained a patriarch of Antioch, 
 and this infringement of the independence 
 which belonged to Antioch as a patriarchate 
 came to be regarded as a settled custom. 
 
 The patriarchate of Antioch embraced 
 the following provinces : Phoenicia prima 
 et secunda, Cilicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, 
 Osroene, Euphratesia, Syria secunda, 
 Isauria, and Palestine. It is doubtful 
 whether Persia was subject to it. Antioch 
 claimed jurisdiction over Cyprus, but the 
 latter asserted its independence at the 
 Council of Ephesus, and at a latter date 
 Anthimus, metropolitan of Cyprus, resisted 
 Peter the Fuller, who claimed author- 
 ity as patriarch of Antioch. Anthimus 
 professed to have found the body of St. 
 Barnabas in the island, and so to have 
 proved the apostolic foundation of his 
 Church. The territory of Antioch was 
 abridged further by the rise of the patri- 
 archate of Jerusalem. At Chalcedon, 
 Juvenal of Jerusalem secured the three 
 Palestines as his own patriarchate. This 
 he did by an agreement with Maximus of 
 Antioch, which was ratified by the council 
 and the Papal legates. 
 
 The bishop of Tyre held the first place 
 among the metropolitans subject to 
 Antioch ; he was called prototkronos, and 
 he had the right of consecrating the new 
 patriarch, though in the middle of the 
 fifth century, as we have seen, this privi- 
 lege was usurped by Constantinople. The 
 patriarch consecrated the metropolitans ; 
 they consecrated the bishops, though Pope 
 Leo wished that even bishops should not 
 
 be consecrated without the patriarch's 
 approval. 
 
 Under the emperors Zeno and Anas, 
 tasius, at the end of the fifth century, 
 Monophysite patriarchs were placed at 
 Antioch, and this Monophysite patriarch- 
 ate lasts to the present day, though the 
 patriarch's residence was removed to 
 Tagrit and later to Diarbekir. There 
 was a Greek orthodox patriarch, who 
 generally resided at Constantinople, but 
 he too fell away in the general defection of 
 the Greeks from Catholic unity. This 
 schismatic patriarchate of the orthodox 
 Greeks still continues. At the end of 
 the eleventh century, the conquests of 
 the crusaders led to the establishment 
 of a Latin patriarchate. 
 
 At present, besides the Syro-Monophy- 
 site or Jacobite, and the Greek schismatic 
 patriarch, there are — the Latin Catholic 
 patriarch, who, at present, does not really 
 govern any church in the east ; the Greek 
 Melchite patriarch, for the united Greeks, 
 the Syrian patriarch, for those of the 
 Syrian rite who returned in the seventeenth 
 century from Monophysite error to the 
 church; the Maronite patriarch, who has 
 authority over all Maronite settlements. 
 (From Le Quien, "Oriens Christianus," 
 tom. ii. De Patriarchatu Antiocheno ; 
 except the last paragraph, which is from 
 Moroni, " Dizionario," sub voce.) 
 
 Among the many councils assembled at"* 
 Antioch, special importance belongs (r) 
 to three councils held between 264 and 
 269 against Paul of Samosata. At the 
 third council, in 269, Paul was deposed 
 
ANTIOCH, THE FIRST CENTRE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 and his formula that the Son was of one 
 substance {komoousios) with the Father 
 condemned, probably because Paul meant 
 by it, that the Son pre-existed only as an 
 attribute of the Father, not as a distinct 
 Person, just as reason in man is a mere 
 faculty, not a distinct person. The fathers 
 of the council addressed an encyclical 
 letter to Dionysius of Rome, Maximus of 
 Alexandria, and to the other bishops. 
 Dionysius died that same year, but his 
 successor, Felix I., published a decisive 
 statement of the Catholic faith against 
 the errors of the heresiarch. Paul, how- 
 ever, maintained possession of the epis- 
 copal house ; whereupon the orthodox 
 applied to the emperor Aurelian, who 
 decreed that the bishop's house was to 
 belong to him "with whom the Italian 
 bishops and the Roman see were in 
 communion." 
 
 (2) To the Synod in enccsniis, held in 
 341. It consisted of 97 bishops, met to 
 consecrate the " Golden Church " begun 
 by Constantine the Great, whence the 
 name en egkainiois. The majority of 
 the Fathers held the Catholic faith, and 
 had no thought of betraying it ; and 
 hence their 25 canons relating to mat- 
 ters of discipline attained to great 
 authority throughout the Church. But 
 they were deceived by the Eusebian 
 party, renewed the sentence of deposi- 
 tion against Athanasius, and put forth 
 four Creeds, which, though they approach 
 the Nicene confession, still fall short 
 of it by omitting the decisive word " con- 
 BubstantiaL" 
 
 Apart from its influence as a patriarch- 
 ate and as the meeting place of councils, 
 Antioch also wielded great powers over 
 the Church as a school of theology and of 
 scriptural exegesis. This school already 
 existed in the fourth century, when Dor- 
 otheus and Lucian — who died, as a mar- 
 tyr, in 311 — were its chief ornaments. 
 The Antiochenes were learned and logical, 
 the enemies of allegorical interpretation 
 and of mysticism, but their love of reason- 
 ing and their common sense degenerated 
 at times into a rationalistic tendency, so 
 much so that Theodore of Mopsuestia has 
 ever been regarded as the forerunner of 
 Nestorius. But undoubtedly, Antioch ren- 
 dered great services in the literal interpre- 
 tation of Scripture. Unlike the Alexan- 
 drians, the great scholars of Antioch 
 turned aside from allegorical interpretations 
 and were distinguished for their critical 
 spirit and grammatical precision. Among 
 their foremost commentators were — 
 Diodore, bishop of Tarsus, (-}- about 394), 
 formerly priest at Antioch, whose writ- 
 ings, though vehemently denounced for 
 their Nestorian tendency, and no longer 
 extant, once enjoyed a vast reputation ; 
 John Chrysostom, the greatest of all 
 literal expositors ; Theodore of Mopsues- 
 tia ( +429 ), like Diodorus, inclining to 
 Nestorianism, but gifted with talents 
 which can still be discovered even in the 
 fragments and Latin translations of his 
 commentaries which survive, and known 
 among the Nestorians as "the commen- 
 tator " par excellence ; Theodoret ( -{-about 
 458 ), whose commentaries on St. Paul 
 
CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 are "perhaps unsurpassed" for "appre- 
 ciation, terseness of expression, and good- 
 sense." 
 
 /\r\tipKorv. 
 
 The word signifies " alternate utter- 
 ance." St. Ignatius, one of the Apostolic 
 Fathers, is believed to have first instituted 
 the method of alternate chanting by two 
 choirs at Antioch. In the time of Constan- 
 tine, according to Sozomen, the monks Fla- 
 vian and Diodorus introduced it among the 
 Greeks. In the Latin Church it was first 
 employed by St. Ambrose at Milan in the 
 fourth century, and soon became general. 
 But in process of time the word came to 
 have a more restricted sense, according to 
 which it signifies a selection of words or 
 verses prefixed to and following a psalm 
 or psalms, to express in brief the mystery 
 which the church is contemplating in that 
 part of her office. 
 
 In the Mass, the Introit ( introduced by 
 Pope Celestine I. in the fifth century), 
 the Offertory and the Communion, are 
 regarded as Antiphons. But it is in the 
 canonical hours that the use of the Anti- 
 phon receives its greatest extension. 
 At Vespers, Matins, and Lauds, when the 
 office is a double [Double], the Antiphons 
 are doubled — that is, the whole Antiphon 
 is said both before and after the psalm or 
 Canticle. On minor feasts, the Antiphons 
 are not doubled ; then the first words only 
 are said before the psalm, and the whole at 
 the end of it. Liturgical writers say that the 
 Antiphon means charity ; and that when it is 
 not doubled, the meaning is that charity. 
 
 begun in this life, is perfected in the life 
 to come ; when it is doubled, it is because 
 on the greater feasts we desire to show a 
 more ardent charity. Except the Alle- 
 luias, few Antiphons are sung in Paschal 
 time, for the joy of the season inflames of 
 itself, and without extraneous suggestion, 
 the charity of the clergy. On most Sun- 
 days the Antiphons at Vespers are taken 
 from both Testaments, but in Paschal time 
 only from the New. 
 
 The final antiphons of the B. V. M. 
 formed no part of the original Church 
 ofllice ; they came into the breviary later. 
 They are four in number, one for each 
 season in the year. The first, " Alma 
 Redemptoris," sung from Advent to Can- 
 dlemas, was written by Hermannus Con- 
 tractus, who died in 1054. Chaucer's 
 beautiful use of this in the Prioresses 
 Tale shows how popular a canticle it must 
 have been with our forefathers. The 
 second, " Ave Regina," sung from Can- 
 dlemas to Maundy Thursday, was written 
 about the same time, but the author is 
 unknown. The third, " Regina Cceli, 
 Izetare," is used in Paschal time ; and the 
 fourth, " Salve Regina " (to which, as is 
 well known, St. Bernard added the words 
 " O Clemens," etc.), written either by 
 Pedro of Compostella or Hermannus Con- 
 tractus, is sung from Trinity to Advent. 
 
 Apocrisiarivjs. 
 
 Ecclesiastical, but chiefly Papal, emis- 
 saries to the Court of the Emperor were 
 designated by this name from the fourth 
 
ANTIOCH, THE FIRST CENTRE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 to the ninth century. So long as the 
 civil power persecuted the Church, there 
 was no place for such officials ; but, after 
 the conversion of Constantine, the recog- 
 nition by the Roman emperors of the 
 divinity of Christianity and the claims of 
 the hierarchy gave rise to numberless 
 questions, within the borderland of the 
 civil and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 
 which it was important for the Popes to 
 press on the notice of the emperors, and 
 obtain definite answers upon, so that a 
 practical adjustment might become pos- 
 sible. The Apocrisiarius, therefore, cor- 
 responded to the Nuncio or Legate a 
 latere of later times, and was usually a 
 deacon of the Roman Church. Gregory 
 the Great resided in this character for 
 three years at Constantinople in the reign 
 of the Emperor Mauricius. After the 
 middle of the eighth century we hear no 
 more of such an emissary, because the 
 adoption of the extravagances of the 
 Iconoclasts by the imperial Court led to 
 a breach with Rome. But, when Charle- 
 magne revived the Empire of the West, 
 similar diplomatic relations arose between 
 him and the Holy See, which again 
 required the appointment of Apocrisiarii. 
 It appears that, under the first Prankish 
 emperors, the imperial arch-chaplain was 
 at the same time Papal Apocrisiarius. 
 Subsequently the name was given to 
 officials of Court nomination, who held no 
 commission from Rome ; and, in this way, 
 the title in its old sense came to be 
 disused, and was replaced by Legatus or 
 Nuntius. 
 
 ApocrypKa. 
 
 It corresponds to the Jewish word . . . 
 which the Jews applied to books with- 
 drawn from public use in the synagogue, 
 on account of their unfitness for pubhc 
 reading.^ But the later Jews had also the 
 notion that some books should be with- 
 drawn from general circulation because 
 of the mysterious truths they contained.' 
 
 The early Fathers used "apocryphal" 
 to denote the forged books of heretics, 
 borrowing, perhaps, the name from the 
 heretics themselves, who vaunted the 
 " apocryphal " ^ or " hidden " wisdom of 
 these writings. Later — e. g., in the 
 " Prologus galeatus " of Jerome — apoc- 
 ryphal is used in a milder sense to mark 
 simply that a book is not in the recognized 
 canon of Scripture ; and Pope Gelasius,* ' 
 in a decree of 494, uses the term apocry- 
 phal in a very wide manner, (i) of hereto 
 ical forgeries ; (2) of books like the 
 " Shepherd of Hermas," revered by the 
 ancients, but not a part of Scripture ; 
 (3) of works by early Christian writers 
 (Arnobius, Cassian, etc.) who had erred 
 on some points of doctrine. "We need 
 scarcely add that the Protestant custom 
 of calling Wisdom, Machabees, etc, 
 " Apocrypha," is contrary to the faith 
 and the tradition of the Church. 
 
 The name is now usually reserved by 
 Catholics for books laying claim to an 
 
 1 Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. et Rabbin, sub voc. 
 
 8 4 Esdr. xiv. 46. 
 
 » Tertull. De An. 2. Clem. Alex. Strom. iiL 4, 29 ; Easeh 
 Hist. iv. 22. 
 
 * Fleury Hiit. xxx. 35 ; but see also Hefele, Cencilienga 
 tchichtt, ii. iiS. 
 
CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 origin which might entitle them to a place 
 in the canon, or which have been supposed 
 to be Scripture, but which have been 
 finally rejected by the Church. In the 
 Old Testament the most important apocry- 
 phal books are — 3d and 4th Esdras, 
 both of which are cited by early writers 
 as Scripture, the latter being also used in 
 the Missal and Breviary ; 3d and 4th 
 Machabees ; the prayer of Manasses, 
 which is found in Greek MSS. of the Old 
 Testament, and is often printed, in a Latin 
 version, in the appendix to the Vulgate ; 
 the book of Enoch {cf. Jude 14), which 
 Tertullian regarded as authentic (it only 
 exists at present in an Ethiopic version) ; 
 a 151st Psalm attributed to David, which 
 is found in Greek MSS., and in the Syriac, 
 Ethiopic, and Arabic versions of the 
 Psalms ; eighteen psalms attributed to 
 Solomon, written originally, according to 
 some scholars, in Hebrew, according 
 to others, in Greek.^ 
 
 There is a great mass of New Testa- 
 ment apocryphal literature. Some books, 
 such as the " Epistle of Barnabas," the 
 two "Epistles of Clement," and the 
 " Shepherd of Hermas," may in a certain 
 sense be called apocryphal, because, 
 though not really belonging to Scripture, 
 they were quoted as such by ancient 
 writers, or were inserted in MSS. of the 
 New Testament. Some other books men- 
 tioned by Eusebius — viz., the " Acts of 
 Paul," the "Apocalypse of Peter," the 
 " Teachings of the Apostles " {didachai 
 
 I See Reusch, Einleit. in das A. T. p. 176. 
 
 ton Apostolon), seem to have belonged to \ 
 this better class of apocryphal literature. 
 Besides these, Eusebius mentions apocry- 
 phal books in circulation among heretics 
 — viz., the " Gospels " of Peter, Thomas, 
 Matthias ; the " Acts " of Andrew, John, 
 and the rest of the Apostles.^ Fragments 
 remain of the ancient Gospels, " according 
 to the Hebrews," "of the Nazarenes," 
 " according to the Egyptians," of the 
 preaching and Apocalypse of Peter, etc., 
 and have been repeatedly edited.^ 
 
 Later times were no less fruitful in 
 apocryphal literature, and we still possess 
 a great number of these later forgeries, 
 entire and complete. They have been ' 
 edited by Fabricius in the work already 
 named ; by Thilo, " Codex Apocryphus 
 Novi Testamenti," 183 1, of which work 
 only the first volume, containing the 
 apocryphal Gospels, appeared ; by Tis- 
 chendorf (" Evangelia Apocrypha," 1876, 
 second edition enlarged ; " Acta Aposto- 
 lorum Apocrypha," 1851 ; "Apocryphal 
 Apocalypses," 1866) and by other scholars. 
 This is not the place to attempt an enum- 
 eration of these apocryphal books, but 
 we may mention some which enjoyed a 
 special popularity in the Church, and 
 exercised a marked influence on Catholic 
 literature. A number of apocryphal Gos- 
 pels treat of the infancy and youth of 
 our Lord, and of the history of His 
 blessed Mother and foster-father. Among 
 these the " Protevangelium of James " 
 
 1 Euseb. H. E. iii. 2;. 
 
 3 By Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus N. T. (1703-/9)1 
 Grabe, Spicilegium Patrum, Oxoniae ^1700) ', HilgeofelJ, 
 N. T. extra Canonem receptum (1S65). 
 
ANTIOCHy THE FIRST CENTRE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Jjolds the first place. It describes the 
 early history of Mary, our Lord's birth at 
 Bethlehem, and the history of the wise 
 men from the East. This gospel was 
 much used by the Greek Fathers ; portions 
 of it were read publicly in the Eastern 
 Church, and it was translated into Arabic 
 and Coptic. It was prohibited for a time 
 among the Latins, but even in the West 
 it was much used during the middle ages. 
 Other Gospels, such as the Arabic " Evan- 
 jelium Infantiae Salvatoris," contain legend- 
 sary miracles of our Lord's infancy. 
 We have a second class of apocryphal 
 Gospels, which treat of the Passion and 
 Resurrection of Christ. Of this class is 
 the " Gospel of Nicodemus." It is prob- 
 ably of very late origin, but it was a 
 favorite book in the middle ages. The 
 Greek text still exists, but it was also 
 circulated, before the invention of printing, 
 in Latin, Anglo-Saxon, German, and 
 French. Closely connected with this 
 Gospel are a number of documents which 
 have sprung from very ancient but spuri- 
 ous " Acts of Pilate." These ancient 
 Acts, which were known to Justin and 
 Tertullian, have perished, but they called 
 forth several imitations, which still survive. 
 The one which is best known is a letter 
 of Lentulus to the Roman senate, describ- 
 ing the personal appearance of our Lord. 
 It is a forgery of the middle ages. 
 
 Further, apocryphal literature is rich in 
 *'Acts of the Apostles," and here, as in 
 
 the apocryphal Gospels, we find early but 
 spurious Acts, revised and enlarged, and 
 so originating fresh forgeries. Thus the 
 "Acts of Paul and Thecla," in their exist- 
 ing form, are the recension of a very early 
 work — forged as early at least as Tertul- 
 Han's time. The fullest of all these 
 "Acts" is the " Historia Certaminis 
 Apostolorum." It can scarcely be older 
 than the ninth century, but it is of con- 
 siderable value, because the author has 
 made diligent use of earlier Acts, some of 
 which have perished. 
 
 Of apocryphal Epistles we have, among 
 others, a letter of St. Paul to the Laodi- 
 ceans (only existing in Latin), which, 
 though rejected by Jerome, was accepted 
 as canonical by many great Latin theo- 
 logians of a later day, won a place in 
 many copies of the Latin Bible, and for 
 more than nine centuries " hovered about 
 the doors of the sacred canon." We 
 may also mention a letter of St. Paul 
 to the Corinthians, and another of the 
 Corinthians to St. Paul (both only in 
 Armenian); letters supposed to have 
 passed between St. Paul and Seneca 
 (known to Jerom eand Augustine) ; spuri- 
 ous letters of the Blessed Virgin to St. 
 Ignatius, to the inhabitants of Messina, 
 etc. 
 
 Lastly, we have apocryphal Apocalypses 
 of Paul (called also anabatikon ; see 2 Cor. 
 xii. i), Thomas, Stephen — nay, even of 
 St. John himself. 
 

 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 ^^ ^W "^ "W" ^ff^ •^l^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
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 HISTeRY 0F THE GATAGOMBS. 1 
 
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 SKETCH of the present state 
 of knowledge about the Roman 
 catacombs, considering the high 
 religious interest of the sub- 
 ject, may fairly be expected in 
 a work like the present. We 
 shall briefly describe their position, explain 
 their origin, and trace their history ; then, 
 after describing the catacomb of San Cal- 
 listo, as a model of the rest, we shall 
 show, so far as our limits will allow, what 
 a powerful light the monuments of the 
 catacombs supply in illustration of the 
 life, and in evidence of the faith, of 
 Christians in the primitive ages. 
 
 The word "catacomb" had originally no 
 such connotation as is now attached to it ; 
 the earliest form, catacumbcB {kata, and 
 humbh, a hollow) — probably suggested by 
 the natural configuration of the ground — 
 was the name given to the district round 
 the tomb of Caecilia Metella and the Cir- 
 cus Romuli on the Appian Way. All 
 through the middle ages " ad catacumbas " 
 meant the subterranean cemetery adjacent 
 to the far-famed basilica of St. Sebastian, 
 
 in the region above mentioned ; after- 
 wards, the signification of the terra was 
 gradually extended, and applied to all 
 the ancient underground cemeteries near 
 Rome, and even to similar cemeteries in 
 other places, at Paris, for instance. The 
 bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul were 
 believed to have rested here nearly from 
 the date of their martyrdom to the time 
 of Pope Cornelius, who translated them 
 to where they are now (Bed. " De Sex MX. 
 Mundi:" "corpora apostolorum de cata- 
 cumbis levavit noctu ") ; it was therefore, 
 most natural, apart from the sacred asso- 
 ciations which the memorials of othe^ 
 martyrs aroused, that for this reason alone 
 pilgrims should eagerly visit this cem- 
 etery. 
 
 I. Some twenty-five Christian ceme- 
 teries are known, and have been more or 
 less carefully examined ; but there are 
 many others, which, either from their 
 having fallen into ruin or being blocked 
 up with earth and rubbish, remain unex- 
 plored. Those that are known and access- 
 ible are found on every side of Rome ; but 
 
HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 they are clustered most thickly at the 
 southeast corner of the city, near the Via 
 Appia and the Via Ardeatina. The most 
 noteworthy of all, the cemetery of San 
 Callisto, is close to the Appian Way ; near 
 it are those of St. Praetextatus, St. Sebas- 
 tian, and St. Soteris. Passing on round 
 the city by the east and north, we find 
 the cemetery of Santi Quattro, near the 
 Via Appia Nova, that of St. Ciriaca on 
 the road to Tivoli, the extremely interest- 
 ing catacomb of St. Agnes on the Via 
 Nomentana, and that of St. Alexander, 
 farther out from Rome on the same road. 
 Next comes the cemetery of St. Priscilla, 
 on the Via Salaria. Continuing on, past 
 the Villa Borghese, we ■ come upon the 
 valley of the Tiber, beyond which, on the 
 right bank of the river, we find in succes- 
 sion the cemeteries of Calepodius and 
 Generosa. Crossing again to the left 
 bank, we come upon the cemetery of St. 
 Lucina on the Via Ostiensis, that of SS. 
 Nereo et Achilleo (known also by the 
 name of S. Domitilla) on the Via Arde- 
 atina, and, finally, that of St. Balbina 
 between the last-named road and the 
 Appian Way. 
 
 II. The origin of the catacombs is 
 now thoroughly understood. It was long 
 believed that they were originally mere 
 sand-pits, arenarice, out of which sand was 
 dug for building purposes, and to which 
 the Christians resorted, partly for the 
 sake of concealment, partly because the 
 softness of the material lent itself to any 
 sort of excavation. This was the view of 
 Baronius and of scholars in general down 
 
 to the present century, when the learned 
 Jesuit, F. Marchi, took the subject in 
 hand. He made personal researches in 
 the catacomb of St. Agnes, and gradually 
 the true origin and mode of construction 
 of these cemeteries broke upon his mind. 
 His more celebrated pupil, the Commend 
 atore de' Rossi, aided by his brothers, 
 continued his explorations, and has given 
 to the world a colossal work on the 
 Roman Catacombs, which Dr. Northcote 
 and Mr. Brownlow made the foundation of 
 their interesting book, "Roma Sotterra- 
 nea." Padre Marchi drew attention to the 
 fact that among the volcanic strata of the 
 Roman Campagna, three deposits are 
 especially noticeable — a hard building 
 stone, called the tufa litoide ; a soft stone, 
 the tufa granolare ; and a sand-stone of 
 scarcely any coherency, called pozzolana. 
 The sand-pits, arenarice, of course occur in 
 beds of this pozzolana ; and if they had 
 been the origin of the catacombs, the 
 latter would have been wholly or chiefly 
 excavated in the same beds. But in point 
 of fact, the catacombs are almost entirely 
 found in the tufa granolare, which exactly 
 suited the purposes which the early Chris- 
 tians had in view. In the first place, they 
 were obliged by the imperial laws to bury 
 their dead outside the walls of the city. 
 Secondly, they naturally would not place 
 the cemeteries at a greater distance than 
 they could help ; and in fact, all the cata- 
 combs above named, except that of St. 
 Alexander, are within two miles and a half 
 of the city walls.^ Thirdly, the tufa 
 
 1 The Walls of Aurelian. 
 
lO 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 granolart, being softer than the tufa 
 litoide, the necessary galleries, chambers, 
 and loculi (receptacles for the dead) could 
 more easily be worked in it, while, on the 
 other hand, it was sufficiently coherent to 
 allow of its being excavated freely without 
 danger of the roof and sides of the exca- 
 vations falling in or crumbling away. The 
 pozzolana was softer ; but from its crum- 
 bling nature narrow galleries could not be 
 run in, nor loculi hollowed out, without 
 the employment of a great deal of 
 masonry for the sake of security, as may 
 be seen in the two or three instances of 
 arenaricB turned into catacombs which do 
 exist ; thus greater expense and trouble 
 would arise in the end from resorting to it 
 than from excavating in the tufa granolare. 
 If it be asked why the Roman Chris- 
 tians did not bury their dead in open-air 
 cemeteries, the answer is twofold. In the 
 first place, the Church grew up amid 
 persecution, and the Christians naturally 
 strove to screen themselves and their 
 doings from public observation as much 
 as possible, in the burial of their dead as 
 in other matters. The sepulchral inscrip- 
 tions and decorations, which they could 
 safely affix to the graves of their beloved 
 ones in the subterranean gloom of the 
 catacombs, could not with common pru- 
 dence have been employed on tombs 
 exposed to public view. In the second 
 place, the needs of prayer and the duty 
 of public worship were in this manner 
 reconciled with the duty of sepulture to 
 an extent not otherwise, under the cir-. 
 cumstances, attainable. The relatives 
 
 might pray at the tomb of a departed 
 kinsman ; the faithful gather round the 
 " memory " of a martyr ; the Christian 
 mysteries might be celebrated in subter- 
 ranean chapels, and on altars hewn out of 
 the rock, with a convenience, secrecy, and 
 safety, which, if the ordinary mode of 
 burial had been followed, could not have 
 been secured. Nor was the practice a 
 novelty when the Christians resorted to it. 
 Even Pagan underground tombs existed, 
 though the general custom of burning the 
 dead, which prevailed under the emperors 
 before Constantine, caused them to be of 
 rare occurrence ; but the Jewish ceme- 
 teries, used under the pressure of motives 
 very similar to those which acted upon the 
 Christians, had long been in operation, 
 and are in part distinguishable to this day. 
 The modus operandi appears to have 
 been as follows. In ground near the city, 
 obtained by purchase or else the property 
 of some rich Christian, an area, or ceme- 
 tery " lot," was marked out, varying in 
 e;xtent, but commonly having not less 
 than a frontage of a hundred and a depth 
 of two hundred feet. At one corner of 
 this area an excavation was made and a 
 staircase constructed ; then narrow gal- 
 leries, usually little more than two feet 
 in width, with roof flat or slightly arched, 
 were carried round the whole space, leav- 
 ing enough of the solid rock on either 
 side to admit of oblong niches {loculi) — 
 large enough to hold from one to three 
 bodies, at varying distances, both verti- 
 cally and laterally, according to the local 
 strength of the material — being exca- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 II 
 
 vated in the walls. After burial, the 
 lociihis was hermetically sealed by a slab 
 set in mortar, so that the proximity of the 
 dead body might not affect the purity of 
 the air in the catacomb. Besides these 
 loaili in the walls, cubicida, or chambers, 
 like our family vaults, were excavated in 
 great numbers ; these were entered by 
 doors from the galleries, and had loculi in 
 their walls like the galleries themselves. 
 There were also arcosolia — when above 
 the upper surface of a loculns containing 
 the body of a martyr or confessor, the rock 
 was excavated, so as to leave an arched 
 vault above and a flat surface beneath on 
 which the Eucharist could be celebrated 
 — and " table-tombs," similar in all 
 respects to the arcosolia except that the 
 excavation was quadrangular instead of 
 being arched. Openings were frequently 
 made between two or more adjoining 
 aibiaila, so as to allow, while the Divine 
 Mysteries were being celebrated at an 
 arcosolimn in one of them, of a consider- 
 able number of worshippers being present. 
 When the walls of the circumambient 
 galleries were filled with the dead, cross 
 galleries were made, traversing the area 
 at such distances from each other as the 
 strength of the stone permitted, the walls 
 of which were pierced with niches as 
 before. But this additional space also 
 became filled up, and then the fossors 
 were set to work to burrow deeper in the 
 rock, and a new series of galleries and 
 chambers, forming a second underground 
 story or piano, was constructed beneath 
 the first. Two, three, and even four such 
 
 additional stories have been found in a 
 cemetery. Another way of obtaining 
 more space was by lowering the floor of 
 the galleries, and piercing with niches the 
 new wall surface thus supplied. It is 
 obvious that expedients like these could 
 only be adopted in dry and deeply-drained 
 ground, and, accordingly, we always find 
 that it is the hills near Rome in which 
 the cemeteries were excavated — the val- 
 leys were useless for the purpose ; hence, 
 contrary to what was once believed, no 
 system of general communication between 
 the different catacombs ever existed. 
 Such communication, however, was often 
 effected, when two or more cemeteries lay 
 contiguous to each other on the same hill, 
 and all kinds of structural complications 
 were the result ; see the detailed account 
 in " Roma Sotterranea " of the growth 
 and gradual transformation of the ceme- 
 tery of San Callisto. 
 
 III. With regard to the history of the 
 catacombs, a few leading facts are all that 
 can here be given. In the first two cen- 
 turies the use of the catacombs by the 
 Christians was little interfered with ; they 
 filled up the area with dead, and decorated 
 the underground chambers with painting 
 and sculpture, much as their means and 
 taste suggested. In the third century 
 persecution became fierce, and the Chris- 
 tians were attacked in the catacombs. 
 Staircases were then destroyed, passages 
 blocked up, and new modes of ingress and 
 egress devised, so as to defeat as much as 
 possible the myrmidons of the law ; and 
 the changes thus made can in many cases 
 
12 
 
 CA THOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 be still recognized and understood. On 
 the cessation of persecution, after A. D. 
 300, the catacombs, in which many mar- 
 tyrs had perished, became a place of 
 pilgrimage ; immense numbers of persons 
 crowded into them ; and different Popes — 
 particularly St. Damasus, early in the fifth 
 century — caused old staircases to be 
 enlarged, and new ones to be made, and 
 luminaria (openings for admitting light 
 and air) to be broken through from the 
 cubicula to the surface of the ground, in 
 order to give more accommodation to the 
 pious throng. These changes also can be 
 recognized. Burial in the catacombs 
 naturally did not long survive the con- 
 cession of entire freedom and peace to 
 the Church ; but still they were looked 
 upon as holy places, consecrated by the 
 blood of martyrs, and as such were visited 
 by innumerable pilgrims. In the seventh 
 and eighth centuries Lombard invaders 
 desecrated, plundered, and in part de- 
 stroyed the catacombs. This led to a 
 period of translations, commencing in the 
 eighth century and culminating with Pope 
 Paschal (a. d. 817), by which all the relics 
 of the Popes and principal martyrs and 
 confessors which had hitherto lain in the 
 catacombs were removed for greater safety 
 to the churches of Rome. After that the 
 catacombs were abandoned, and in great 
 part closed ; and not until the sixteenth 
 century did the interest in them revive. 
 The names of Onufrio Panvini, Bosio, and 
 Boldetti are noted in connection with the 
 renewed investigations of which they were 
 the object ; and since the appearance of 
 
 the work of the Padre Marchi already 
 mentioned, the interest awakened in all 
 Christian countries by the remarkable 
 discoveries announced has never for a 
 moment waned. 
 
 IV. Having thus attempted to sketch 
 the origin and trace the history of the 
 catacombs, we proceed to describe what 
 may now be seen in the most important 
 portion of the best known among them 
 all — the cemetery of San Callisto. 
 Entering it from a vineyard near the 
 Appian Way, the visitor descends a broad 
 flight of steps, fashioned by Pope Damasus 
 from the motive above mentioned, and 
 finds himself in a kind of vestibule, on 
 the stuccoed walls of which, honey- 
 combed with loculi, are a quantity of rude 
 inscriptions in Greek and Latin, some of 
 which are thirteen and fourteen centuries 
 old, scratched by the pilgrims who visited 
 out of devotion the places where Popes and 
 martyrs who had fought a good fight for 
 Christ, and often their own kinsfolk and 
 friends, lay in the peaceful gloom, awaiting 
 the resurrection. By following a narrow 
 gallery to the right, a chamber is reached 
 which is called the Papal Crypt ; for here 
 beyond all doubt the bodies of many Popes 
 of the third century, after Zephyrinus 
 (203-217) had secured this cemetery for 
 the use of the Christians and committed 
 it to the care of his deacon Callistus, 
 were laid, and here they remained till they 
 were removed by Paschal to the Vatican 
 crypts. This is proved by' the recent 
 discovery, in and near the Papal Crypt, of 
 the slabs bearing the original inscriptions 
 
HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 13 
 
 in memory of the Popes Eutychian, 
 Anteros, Fabian, and Lucius. A passage 
 leads out of the crypt into the cubiculum 
 of St. Caecilia, where, as De' Rossi has 
 almost demonstrated, the body of the 
 saint, martyred in the first half of the 
 third century, was originally deposited by 
 Pope Urban, though it was afterwards 
 removed by Paschal to her church in the 
 Trastevere, where it now lies under the 
 high altar. In this cubiculum are paint- 
 ings of St. Caecilia and of our Lord, the 
 latter "according to the Byzantine type, 
 with rays of glory behind it in the form of 
 a Greek cross." But these paintings are 
 late — not earlier than the tenth century. 
 Besides the Papal Crypt and the chamber 
 of St. Caecilia, there are in this part of 
 the cemetery " several cubicula interest- 
 ing for their paintings, chiefly referable 
 to Baptism and the Eucharist, the fish 
 being the principal emblem of the lat- 
 ter. In one of these crypts is a paint- 
 ing of four male figures with uplifted 
 hands, each with his name, placed over 
 an arcosolium ; in another are representa- 
 tions of peacocks, the emblem of immor- 
 tality ; in a third, Moses striking the 
 rock, and ascending to the mount ; in a 
 fourth, a grave-digger {fossor) surrounded 
 with the implements of his trade ; in a 
 fifth, the Good Shepherd, with the miracle 
 of the paralytic taking up his bed ; in 
 a sixth, a banquet of seven persons, sup- 
 posed to be the seven disciples alluded 
 to in the twenty-first chapter of St. 
 John's Gospel. These paintings, as well 
 as the greater part of the catacomb, 
 
 are referred to the last half of the third 
 century." ^ 
 
 V. For a detailed answer, accompanied 
 with proofs, to the question, what testi- 
 mony the catacombs bear to the nature 
 of the religious belief and life of the early 
 Christians, the reader is referred to the 
 pages of " Roma Sotterranea," or to the 
 larger work of De' Rossi. He will there 
 find sufficient evidence to convince him of 
 the truth of two main propositions — (i) 
 that the religion of those Christians was 
 a sacramental religion ; (2) that it was the 
 reverse of puritanical ; that is, that it 
 disdained the use of no external helps 
 which human art and skill could furnish, 
 in the effort to symbolize and enforce the 
 spiritual truth. With reference to the first 
 proposition, let him consider how the sac- 
 rament of Baptism is typically represented 
 in the catacombs by paintings of Noe in 
 the ark, the rock smitten and water gush- 
 ing forth, a fisherman drawing fish out of 
 the water accompanied by a man baptizing, 
 and the paralytic carrying his bed (" Roma 
 Sotterranea," p. 265) ; and also how the 
 mystery of the Eucharist is still more 
 frequently and strikingly portrayed by 
 pictures in which baskets of bread are 
 associated with fish, the fish being the 
 well known emblem of Our Lord.^ The 
 second proposition is so abundantly proved 
 by the remains of Christian art of very 
 ancient date still to be seen in the cata- 
 
 1 Murray's Handbook of Rome and its Environs. 
 
 2 There were other reasons for this ; but the fact that the 
 initials of the Greek words signifying "Jesus Christ, Son of 
 God, Saviour," made up the word ichthtis, fish, undoubtedly 
 had much to do with the general adoption of the emblem. 
 
14 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 combs, in spite of the havoc and ruin of 
 fifteen centuries, that it would be a waste 
 of words to attempt to establish it at 
 length. Adopting the general forms and 
 methods of the contemporary Pagan art, 
 but carefully eliminating whatever in it 
 was immoral or superstitious, we find the 
 Christian artists employing Biblical or 
 symbolical subjects as the principal figures 
 in each composition, while filling in their 
 pictures with decorative forms and objects 
 — such as fabulous animals, scroll- 
 work, foliage, fruit, flowers, and birds — 
 imitated from or suggested by the pre- 
 existing heathen art. A type for which 
 they had a peculiar fondness was that of 
 the Good Shepherd. The blessed Virgin 
 and Child, with a figure standing near 
 supposed to be Isaias, is represented 
 in an exceedingly beautiful but much 
 injured painting on the vaulted roof of 
 a lociilus in the cemetery of St. Priscilla. 
 De' Rossi believes this painting " to 
 belong almost to the apostolic age " 
 ("Roma Sotterranea," p. 258). Another 
 favorite type of Our Lord was Orpheus, 
 who by his sweet music drew all crea- 
 tures to hear him. The vine, painted 
 with so much freedom and grace of 
 handling on the roof of the entrance to 
 the cemetery of Domitilla, is also, in 
 De' Rossi's opinion, work of the first cen- 
 tury. (" Roma Sotteranea," Northcote 
 and Brownlow ; Murray's '* Handbook of 
 Rome.'";? 
 
 Bible (from biblion, a letter or paper, 
 and that from biblos, the inner bark of 
 papyrus). A name given to the sacred 
 
 books of the Jews and the Christians. 
 In itself "Bible" might mean a book of 
 whatever kind, just as its synonym "Scrip- 
 tures" {graphat) means originally writ- 
 ings of any sort. Gradually the Jews who 
 spoke Greek employed the word " Bible " 
 as a convenient name for their sacred 
 books. Thus the Greek translator of 
 Ecclesiasticus, writing soon after 132 a. c, 
 mentions the law and the prophets and the 
 rest of the Bible {ta loipa ton biblioti) ; 
 and a similar instance might be quoted 
 from first Machabees.^ Our Lord and His 
 disciples received the Jewish collection 
 of the sacred books with the same rever- 
 ence as the Jews themselves, and gave it 
 the title usual at the time — viz. " the 
 Scriptures." But after an interval there 
 came a change. The apostles and their 
 disciples wrote books professing sacred 
 authority. These writings appeared in. 
 the latter half of the first century, and 
 were quoted within the Church with the 
 same formulas — "it is written," etc. — 
 which had been used before to introduce 
 citations from the law and the prophets. 
 These books of Christian authorship were 
 called, first of all, " the books " or " scrip- 
 tures of the new covenant," and from the 
 beginning of the third century, the shorter 
 expression "new covenant" came into 
 vogue. In Chrysostom and succeeding 
 writers we find " Bible " {biblid) as the 
 familiar term for the whole collection con- 
 tained in either "covenant," or, as we - 
 
 1 Ecclus. Praef. ; i Mach. xii. 9. In Dan. l». I, we find 
 en tats biblois, a translation of * • * 
 
HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 le 
 
 should now say, in the Old and New Tes- 
 taments.' 
 
 Under the article Canon the reader will 
 find some account of the way in which, 
 and the authority by which, the list of 
 sacred books has been made, while the 
 nature of their inspiration is also treated 
 in a separate article. Here we take for 
 granted that the Bible consists of a num- 
 ber of inspired books, contained in the 
 Vulgate translation and enumerated by 
 the Council of Trent ; and we proceed to 
 treat of its authority, its interpretation, 
 and of its use among the faithful. 
 
 I. The Church holds that the sacred 
 Scripture is the written word of God. 
 The Council of Trent, "following the 
 example of the orthodox Fathers, receives 
 with piety and reverence all the books of 
 the Old and New Testament, since one 
 God is the author of each." These words 
 of the council, which are an almost verbal 
 repetition of many early definitions, sepa- 
 rate the Bible utterly from all other books. 
 Of no human compositions, however excel- 
 lent, can it be said that God is its author. 
 And the divine origin of Scripture implies 
 its perfect truth. We know for certain, 
 St Irenaeus argues, that the Scriptures are 
 perfect, since they are spoken by the 
 Word of God and by the Spirit.^ Some 
 few Catholic theologians have, indeed, 
 
 1 "The Scriptures of the new covenant," Etiseb. iii. 25 ; 
 "the books of the new covenant," by implicauuii in Melito 
 of Sardis, about 170 A. d. (apud Euseb. iv. 26.) The "new 
 document" and Testament, TertuU. Adv. Marc. iv. i 
 ("novum instrumentum "). We have translated diatheke 
 "covenant." It never means "testament" in the Christian 
 Scriptures, except in Heb. ix. 15-17. 
 
 2 Iren. ii. 28, 2. 
 
 maintained that the Scriptures may en 
 in minimis — /. e. in small matters of his 
 torical detail which in no way effect faith 
 or morals. Nor in doing so do they con- 
 tradict any express definition of Pope or 
 council, thqugh such an opinion has never 
 obtained any currency in the Church; 
 But of course the modern Protestant theo- 
 ries which reduce the historical account of 
 the Bible to mere myths, or again which, 
 while they allow that the Scripture con- 
 tains the word of God, deny that it is the 
 written word of God, are in sharp and 
 obvious contradiction to the decrees of 
 the church. 
 
 2. The Church, then, affirms that all 
 Scripture is the word of God, but at the 
 same time it maintains that there is an 
 unwritten word of God over and above 
 Scripture. Just as Catholics are bound to 
 defend the authority of the Bible against 
 the new school of Protestants who have 
 come to treat it as an ordinary book, so they 
 are compelled to withstand that Protestant 
 exaggeration, on the other side, according 
 to which the word of God is contained 
 in Scripture and in Scripture alone. The 
 word of God ( so the council of Trent 
 teaches) is contained both in the Bible 
 and in Apostolical tradition, and it is the 
 duty of a Christian to receive the one 
 and the other with equal veneration and 
 respect. The whole history and the 
 whole structure of the New Testament 
 witness to the truth and reasonableness 
 of the Catholic view. If our Lord had 
 meant His Church to be guided by a book, 
 and by a book alone, He would have taken 
 
i6 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 care that Christians should be at once 
 provided with sacred books. As a matter 
 of fact He did nothing of the kind. He 
 refers those who were to embrace His 
 doctrine, not to a book, but to the living 
 voice of His apostles and of FJ is Church. 
 " He who heareth you," He said to the 
 apostles, " heareth me." For twenty years 
 after our Lord's ascension, not a single 
 book of the New Testament was written, 
 and all that time no Christian could appeal, 
 as many Protestants do now, to the Bible 
 and the Bible only, for the simple reason 
 that the New Testament did not exist, 
 and the faithful were evidently called 
 upon to believe many truths for which no 
 strict and cogent proofs could be brought 
 from the pages of the Jewish Scriptures. 
 Further, when the writings of the New 
 Testament were issued, they appeared one 
 by one, in order to meet special exigencies, 
 nor is the least hint given that the apostles 
 or their disciples provided that their writ- 
 ings should contain the whole sum of 
 Christian truth. St. Paul wrote to various 
 churches in order to give them instruction 
 on particular points, and in order to pre- 
 serve them from moral or doctrinal errors 
 to which they were exposed at the moment. 
 Far from professing to communicate the 
 whole circle of doctrine in a written form, 
 he exhorts his converts in one of his 
 earliest epistles, to "hold the traditions 
 which "they "had learned, whether by 
 word or by " his " epistle " ; a few years 
 later he praises the Corinthians for keep- 
 ing the traditions {paradoseis) as he deliv- 
 ered them, and towards the close of his 
 
 life, he warns St. Timothy to keep the 
 "deposit" of the faith {parathokon), with- 
 out a syllable to imply that this deposit 
 had been committed to writing.^ So, with 
 regard to the gospel records, St. John 
 expressly declares that they were, from 
 the necessity of the case, an incomplete 
 account of Christ's life.^ The Christians 
 who lived nearest to apostolic times 
 believed, as the apostles themselves had 
 done, that Scripture is a source, but by 
 no means the only source, of Christian 
 doctrine. Tertullian constantly appeals 
 to the tradition of the apostolic churches, 
 and lays down the principle on which all 
 his arguments against heresy turn — viz., 
 that the apostles taught both by word and 
 by letter.^ A little before Tertullian's- 
 time, St. Irenaeus actually put the imag- 
 inary case that the apostles had left no 
 Scripture at all. In this case, he says, 
 we should still be able to follow the order 
 of tradition, which [the apostles] handed 
 down to those into whose hands they 
 committed the churches.^ 
 
 3. There is a controversy no less vital 
 between Catholics and Protestants as to 
 the interpretation of Scripture. A pop- 
 ular Protestant theory makes it the right 
 and the duty of each individual to interpret 
 the Bible for himself and to frame his own 
 religion accordingly; the Catholic, on 
 the contrary, maintains that it belongs to 
 the Church, and to the Church alone, to 
 determine the true sense of the Scripture. 
 
 1 2 Thess. ii. 14 ; i Cor. xi. 2 ; i Tim. vi. 20. 
 
 2 John xxi. 25 ; and see Acts xx. 35. 
 ^ Prescript. 21. 
 
 * Iren. iii. 4, i. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 j; 
 
 and that we cannot interpret contrary to 
 the Church's decision, or to " the unani- 
 mous consent of the Fathers," without mak- 
 ing shipwreck of the faith. The Catholic is 
 fully justified in believing with perfect 
 confidence that the Church cannot teach 
 any doctrine contrary to the Scripture, for 
 our Lord has promised that the gates of 
 hell will not prevail against His Church. 
 On the other hand, Christ has made no 
 promise of infallibility to those who 
 expound Scripture by the light of private 
 judgment. St. Peter tells us distinctly that 
 some parts of the New Testament are 
 hard to understand. Moreover, the expe- 
 rience of centuries has abundantly con- 
 firmed the Catholic and disproved the 
 *rotestant rule of interpretation. Unity 
 IS the test of truth. If each man received 
 the Holy Ghost, enabling him to ascertain 
 4he sense of the Bible, then pious Protes- 
 tants would be at one as to its meaning 
 and the doctrines which it contains, 
 whereas it is notorious that they have 
 differed from the first on every point of 
 doctrine. The principle of private judg- 
 ment has been from the time it was first 
 applied a principle of division and of con- 
 fusion, and has led only to the multiplica- 
 tion of heresies and sects, agreed in nothing 
 except in their common disagreement with 
 the Church. Nor does the authority of 
 the Church in any way interfere with the 
 scientific exposition of Scripture. A 
 Catholic commentator is in no way limited 
 to a servile repetition of the interpretation 
 already given by the Fathers. He is not, 
 indeed, permitted to give to any passage 
 
 in Scripture a meaning which is at variance 
 with the faith, as attested by the decision 
 of the Church or the unanimous consent 
 of the Fathers. But he may differ as to 
 the meaning of passages in Scripture, even 
 from the greatest of the Fathers ; he is 
 not bound to consider that these passages 
 necessarily bear the meaning given them 
 by general councils in the preambles to 
 their decrees ; he may even advance inter- 
 pretations entirely new and unknown 
 before. When, for example, God is said 
 to have hardened Pharao's heart, a Catholic 
 commentator cannot infer from this that 
 the book of Exodus makes God the author 
 of sin, but he may, if he sees cause, give 
 an explanation of the words which differs 
 from that of St. Augustine or St. Thomas, 
 or, indeed, from that of all the Fathers 
 and Doctors of the Church taken together.^ 
 4. We now come to the use of the 
 Bible, and the Catholic principles on this 
 head follow from what has been already 
 said. It is not necessary for all Christians 
 to read the Bible. Many nations, St. 
 Irenaeus tells us, were converted and 
 received the faith without being able to 
 read.2 Without knowledge of letters, 
 without a Bible in their own tongue, they 
 received from the Church teaching which 
 was quite sufficient for the salvation of 
 their souls. Indeed, if the study of the 
 Bible had been an indispensable requisite, 
 a great part of the human race would have 
 been left without the means of grace till 
 
 1 Pallavacini, Hist. Concil. Trident, in Mohler's Symboltk 
 
 p. 386. 
 
 2 Iren. iii. 4, 2. 
 
it 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 the invention of printing. More than 
 this, parts of the Bible are evidently 
 unsuited to the very young or to the igno- 
 rant and hence Clement XL condemned the 
 proposition that " the reading of Scripture 
 is for all." These principles are fixed and 
 invariable, but the discipline of the Church 
 with regard to the reading of the Bible 
 in the vulgar tongue has varied with vary- 
 ing circumstances. In early times, the 
 Bible was read freely by the lay people, and 
 the Fathers constantly encourage them to 
 do so, although they also insist on the 
 obscurity of the sacred text. No prohibi- 
 tions were issued against the popular read- 
 ing the Bible. New dangers came in during 
 the middle ages. When the heresy of the 
 Albigenses arose there was a danger from 
 corrupt translations, and also from the 
 fact that the heretics tried to make the 
 faithful judge the Church by their own 
 interpretation of the Bible. To meet these 
 evils, the councils of Toulouse (1229) and 
 Tarragona (1234) forbade the laity to read 
 the vernacular translations of the Bible. 
 Pius IV. required the bishops to refuse lay 
 persons leave to read even Catholic ver- 
 sions of Scripture unless their confessors or 
 parish priests judged that such reading was 
 
 likely to prove beneficial. During this cen. 
 tury, Leo XII., Pius VIII., and Pius IX., 
 have warned Catholics against the Protes- 
 tant Bible Societies, which distribute 
 versions (mostly corrupt versions) of the 
 Bible with the avowed purpose of pervert- 
 ing simple Catholics. It is only surprising 
 that any rational being could have thought 
 it possible for the Holy See to assume any 
 other attitude toward such proceedings. 
 It is right, however, to observe that the 
 Church displays the greatest anxiety that 
 her children should read the Scriptures, 
 if they possess the necessary dispositions. 
 "You judge exceedingly well," says Pius 
 VI., in his letter to Martini, the author of 
 a translation of the Bible into Italian, 
 " that the faithful should be excited to the 
 reading of Holy Scriptures : for these are 
 the most abundant sources, which ought 
 to be left open to every one, to draw from 
 them purity of morals and of doctrine. 
 This you have seasonably effected .... 
 by publishing the sacred Scriptures in the 
 language of your country, .... especially 
 when you show that you have added 
 explanatory notes, which, being extracted 
 from the holy Fathers, preclude every pos- 
 sible danger of abuse." 
 
 ^ 
 
 xxxxxxxxxx 
 
 «««4S»«««i!}««««4^«««« 
 
 xxxxxxxxxx 
 
 xxxxxxxxxx 
 
 ««««««««««««««««« 
 
 xxxxxxxxxx 
 
 8^ 
 
,ROM the earliest times the 
 determinations of the Church 
 received the name of Canons, 
 that is, rules directory in mat- 
 ters of faith and conduct. 
 Thus we read of the Apostolic 
 Canons, the Canons of the Council of 
 Nice, or of Chalcedon, etc. A tendency 
 afterwards appeared to restrict the term 
 Canon to matters of discipline, and to 
 give the name of Dogma to decisions bear- 
 ing on faith. But the Council of Trent 
 confirmed the ancient use of the word, 
 calling its determinations " canons^ whether 
 they bore on points of belief or were 
 directed to the reformation of discipline. 
 
 Canon Law is the assemblage of rules 
 or laws relating to faith, morals, and dis- 
 cipline, prescribed or propounded to Chris- 
 tians by ecclesiastical authority. The 
 words " or laws " are added to the defini- 
 tion, lest it be thought that these rules 
 are only matters of publication and per- 
 suasion, and not binding laws, liable to 
 be enforced by penalties. The definition 
 shows that the object of canon law is " faith, 
 
 morals, and discipline " ; and nothing but 
 these is its object. "To Christians"—- 
 that is, baptized persons are the subject 
 of canon law ; and that without reference 
 to the question whether they are or are 
 not obedient to the Church and within 
 her pale. For theologians teach that the 
 character imprinted by baptism on the 
 soul is ineffaceable ; and in virtue of this 
 character the baptized are Christ's sol- 
 diers, and subject of right to those whom 
 He appointed to rule in His fold. The 
 unbaptized (Turks, Pagans, etc. ), speaking 
 generally, are not the subject of canon 
 law. Yet it must not be supposed that 
 the Church has no rights and no duties in 
 regard to such persons ; by the com- 
 mission of Christ she has the right of 
 visiting, teaching, and then baptizing 
 them (^' euntes docete omnes gentes, bap- 
 tizando^'' etc.). " Propounded " — for some 
 of these rules belong to the natural or to 
 the divine law, and as such are not orig- 
 inally imposed by the Church, but proposed 
 and explained by her. " By ecclesiastical 
 authority" — hence canon law is distin- 
 
CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 guished from systems of law imposed by 
 the civil authority of States, as being pre- 
 scribed by the power with which Jesus 
 Christ endowed the Church which he 
 founded ( " qui vos audit, me audit ; pasce 
 oves measT etc.). 
 
 Before we proceed to give a brief sketch 
 of the history of canon law, to notice in 
 parts, ascertain its sources, and describe 
 its principal collections, a preliminary 
 objection, striking at the root of its author- 
 ity, and almost at its existence, must be 
 examined. It is, that the consent of the 
 civil power in any country is necessary to 
 give validity to the determinations of the 
 canon law in that country. This is the 
 doctrine of the " placitum regium^^ or 
 " royal assent " ; it implies, whatever may 
 be the form of the government, that State 
 authorization is necessary before it can 
 become the duty of a Christian to obey 
 the ecclesiastical authority. On this 
 Cardinal Soglia writes as follows: — "If 
 we inquire into the origin of the ' placitum,' 
 we shall find it in the terrible and pro- 
 longed schism which lasted from the 
 election of Urban VI. to the Council of 
 Constance. For Urban, lest the schism 
 should give occasion to an improper use 
 of Papal authority, granted to certain pre- 
 lates that there should be no execution of 
 any apostolic letters in their cities and 
 dioceses, unless such letters were first 
 shown to and approved by those prelates, 
 or their officials. The rulers of European 
 States also began carefully to examine all 
 bulls and constitutions, in order that their 
 subjects might not be deceived by pseudo- 
 
 pontiffs. But these measures, it is evident, 
 were of a precautionary and temporary 
 character. However, when the cause 
 ceased, the effect did not also cease ; on 
 the extinction of the schism, the placitum 
 did not disappear, but was retained by 
 the civil power in many countries, and 
 gradually extended. At first, says Oliva, 
 the placitum was applied to Papal rescripts 
 of grace and justice given to individuals; 
 afterwards it was extended to decrees of 
 discipline, and in the end even to dogmatic 
 bulls." The Cardinal explains in what 
 sense the celebrated canonist Van Espen, 
 who was prone unduly to magnify the 
 civil power, understood the application of 
 the placitum to dogmatic rescripts, and 
 proceeds : — "It is evident that this theory" 
 (of possible danger or inconvenience to the 
 State if Papal bulls were published without 
 restraint) "arose out of the suggestions- 
 of statesmen and politicians, who, as Zall-,) 
 wein says, out of a wish to flatter and 
 please the princes whom they serve, and 
 to enlarge their own and their masters' 
 jurisdiction, as well as out of the hatred 
 of the ecclesiastical power by which 
 they are often animated, invent all kinds 
 of dangers, harms, and losses, by which 
 they pretend the public welfare is threat- 
 ened, and artfully bring these views under 
 the notice of their masters. ... * If,' pro- 
 ceeds the same Zallwein, ' the ecclesias- 
 tical sovereigns whom Christ hath set 
 to rule over the Church of God, were to 
 urge their " placitum " also, whenever 
 political edicts are issued, which, as often 
 happens, are prejudicial to the ecclesiastic 
 
HISTORY OF CANON LAW, 
 
 21 
 
 cal state, hostile to ecclesiastical liberties, 
 opposed to the jurisdiction of the Pontiff 
 and bishops, and aggressive against the 
 very holy of holies, what would the civil 
 rulers say ? ' Following up the argument, 
 Govart says, ' If a prince could not be 
 said to have full power and jurisdiction in 
 temporals, were his edicts to depend on 
 the " placitum " of the Pope and bishops, 
 and could their publication be hindered by 
 others, so neither would the Pope have 
 full power in spirituals, if his constitutions 
 depended on the " placitum " of princes, 
 and could be suppressed by them. Where- 
 fore if, in the former case, whoever 
 should maintain the affirmative might 
 justly be said to impugn the authority of 
 the prince, so and a fortiori in the second 
 case must the supporter of such an opin- 
 ion be said to undermine with sinister 
 intention the Papal authority, or rather to 
 destroy it altogether.' The sura of the 
 argument is, that ' by the " placitum 
 regium" the liberty of the ecclesiastical 
 " magisterium " and government divinely 
 entrusted to the Church is seriously 
 impaired, the independence of the divinely 
 appointed primacy destroyed, and the 
 mutual intercourse jjetween the head and 
 the members intercepted. Therefore, if 
 the Church, to guard against still greater 
 evils, endures and puts up with the " placi- 
 tum," she never consents to or approves 
 of it.' " 
 
 From the point of view of the interest 
 of the laity, and the Christian people 
 generally, it is obvious that the lovers of 
 true liberty must disapprove of the "placi- 
 
 tum." It is impossible that the Church, 
 or the Roman Pontiff as the mouth-piece 
 of the Church, should issue any decree or 
 have any interest inimical to the welfare 
 of the general Christian population in any 
 state. Any obstacles, therefore, which 
 governments may interpose to the free 
 publication and execution of ecclesiastical 
 rescripts cannot arise from solicitude for 
 the public welfare. Whence, then, do they 
 arise, or have they arisen } Evidently 
 from the arbitrary temper of kings, the 
 jealousies of nobles, and the desire of 
 bureaucrats to extend their power. These 
 two latter classes, at least all but the 
 noblest individuals among them, are usu- 
 ally predisposed to hamper the action of 
 the Church and the clergy, lest their own 
 social influence should be diminished rel- 
 atively to that of the latter. This is no 
 interest which deserves to engage popular 
 sympathies, but rather the contrary. 
 
 Historical. — Jurisdiction is implied in 
 the terms of the commission of binding 
 and losing which Christ gave to the 
 apostles, and especially to Peter. While 
 Christians were few, and apostles and 
 others who had " seen the Lord " still 
 alive, the apostolic authority could be 
 exercised with little help from written 
 documents or rigid rules. As these early 
 conditions passed away, the necessity of a 
 system of law, in order to ensure uniform- 
 ity, equity, and perspicuity in the exercise 
 of the Church's jurisdiction, could not but 
 become increasingly manifest. After the 
 apostles had passed away, having devolved 
 upon the bishops all of their authoritj' 
 
22 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 which was not limited to them in their 
 apostolic character, each bishop became 
 a centre of jurisdiction. In deciding any 
 cases that might be brought before him, 
 he had three things to guide him, — Scrip- 
 ture, tradition, and the "holy canons," — 
 that is, the disciplinary rules which Church 
 synods, beginning with the Council of 
 Jerusalem, had established. Many of 
 these primitive canons are still preserved 
 for us in the collection known as the apos- 
 tolical canons, although, taken as a whole, 
 they are of no authority, Till Christianity 
 conquered the imperial throne, questions 
 of jurisdiction and law did not come into 
 prominence ; after Constantine the case 
 was very different. The Council of Nice, 
 besides its dogmatic utterances, framed a 
 quantity of canons for the regulation of 
 Church discipline, which, along with those 
 of Sardica, were soon translated into 
 Latin, and widely circulated in the West. 
 An important step towards codification 
 and uniformity of procedure was taken 
 at the end of the fifth or early in the 
 sixth century, when Dionysius Exiguus, 
 under the direction of Popes Anastasius 
 and Symmachus, made a large compila- 
 tion of canons for the use of the Latin 
 Church. In this he included fifty of the 
 apostolic canons, translated from the 
 Greek, considering the rest to be of doubt- 
 ful authority ; the canons of Chalcedon, 
 with those of which that Council had made 
 use ; the canons of Sardica, and a large 
 number promulgated by African councils ; 
 lastly, the decretal letters of the Popes 
 from Siricius to Anastasius II. The next 
 
 collection is that supposed to have been 
 made by St. Isidore of Seville, early in the 
 seventh century. About a. d. 850, a col- 
 lection of canons and decretals appeared, 
 seemingly at Mayence, which were osten- 
 sibly the compilation of lisdore of Seville. 
 In an age of great ignorance, when criti- 
 cism was neither in favor nor provided 
 with means, it is not wonderful that this 
 collection which invested with the spurious 
 authority of recorded decisions a system of j 
 things existing traditionally, indeed, but ' 
 liable to constant opposition, passed speed- ; 
 ily into general recognition and acceptance. 
 Six centuries passed before it was dis- 
 covered that these pseudo-Isidorian or 
 False Decretals as they are now called, 
 were to a great extent forgery. Never- 
 theless, as Cardinal Soglia remarks, the 
 collection contains in it nothing contrary 
 to faith or sound morals ; otherwise its 
 long reception would have been impossi- 
 ble ; nor does the discipline which it 
 enjoins depend for its authority upon this 
 collection, but either upon constitutions ^ 
 of earlier and later date, or upon custom, 
 " qucs in rebus disciplinaribus multum ' 
 valet." 
 
 Many collections of canons were made 
 and used in national churches between the 
 date of Dionysius Exiguus and that of the 
 author of the " Decretum." In Africa 
 there was the Codex Africanus (547), 
 and the " Concordantia Canonum " of 
 Bishop Cresconius (697) ; in Spain the 
 chapters of Martin, Bishop of Braga (572), 
 beside the work by Isidore of Seville 
 already mentioned ; in France, a Codex 
 
HISTORY OF CANON LAW. 
 
 23 
 
 Canonum, besides the capitularies of the 
 Merovingian and Carlovingian kings. 
 Passing over these, we come to the cel- 
 ebrated compilation by Gratian, a Bene- 
 dictine monk (11 51), which the compiler, 
 whose main purpose was to reconcile the 
 inconsistencies among canons of different 
 age and authorship bearing on the same 
 subject, entitled " Concordantia discor- 
 dantium Canonum," but which is generally 
 known as the "Decretum of Gratian." 
 Having brought our historical sketch to 
 the point where ecclesiastical law, no lon- 
 ger perplexed by the multiplicity of canons 
 of various date and place and more or less 
 limited application, begins to provide her- 
 self with a general code — a " corpus 
 juris " — applicable to the whole Catholic 
 world, we drop the historical method and 
 turn to the remaining heads of the inquiry. 
 
 Canon law consists of precepts of differ- 
 ent kinds. Hence it is divided into four 
 parts — precepts of the natural law, posi- 
 tive divine precepts, directions left by the 
 apostles, and ecclesiastical constitutions. 
 Upon each of these Cardinal Soglia dis- 
 courses solidly and lucidly in the second 
 chapter of his Prolegomena. 
 
 With regard to the sources whence these 
 precepts flow, they might, strictly speak- 
 ing, be reduced to three — God, who 
 impresses the natural law upon the con- 
 science, and reveals the truth which men 
 are to believe ; the apostles ; and the 
 Supreme Pontiffs, either alone or in con- 
 junction with the bishops in general coun- 
 cils. Canonists, however, find it more 
 convenient to define the sources of canon 
 
 law in the following manner: i. Holy 
 Scripture ; 2. Ecclesiastical tradition ; 3. 
 The decrees of councils ; 4. Papal consti- 
 tutions and rescripts ; 5. The writings of 
 the Fathers ; 6. The civil law. On this 
 last head Soglia remarks that "many 
 things relating to the external polity of the 
 Church have been borrowed from the 
 imperial enactments of Rome, and incor- 
 porated in the canon law." 
 
 The Collections oi canon law, considering 
 it as a system in present force and obliga- 
 tion, commence with the '^Decretum of 
 Gratian " already mentioned. This great 
 work is divided into three parts. The 
 first part, in loi "Distinctions," treats 
 of ecclesiastical law, its origin, principles, 
 and authority, and then of the different 
 ranks and duties of the clergy. The sec- 
 ond part, in thirty-six " Causes," treats of 
 ecclesiastical courts, and their form of 
 procedure. The third part, usually called 
 "De Consecratione," treats of things and 
 rites employed in the service of religion. 
 From its first appearance the Decretum 
 obtained a wide popularity, but it was soon 
 discovered that it contained numerous 
 errors which were corrected under the 
 directions of successive Popes down to 
 Gregory VHI. Nor, although every sub- 
 sequent generation has resorted to its 
 pages, is the Decretum an authority to this 
 day — that is, whatever canons or maxims 
 of law are found in it possess only that 
 degree of legality which they would pos- 
 sess if they existed separately ; their being 
 in the Decretum gives them no binding 
 force. In the century after Gratian sev- 
 
24 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 eral supplementary collections of Decretals 
 appeared. These, with many of his own, 
 were collected by the orders of Gregory IX., 
 who employed in the work the extraordi- 
 nary learning and acumen of St. Raymond 
 of Pennafort, into five books, known as 
 the Decretals of Gregory IX. These are 
 in the fullest sense authoritative, having 
 been deliberately ratified and published by 
 that Pope (1234). The Sext, or sixth book 
 of the Decretals, was added by Boniface 
 VIII (1298). The Clementine^ are named 
 after Clement V., who compiled them out 
 of the canons of the Council of Vienne 
 (i3i6)and some of his own constitutions. 
 The Extravagantes of John XXII., who 
 succeeded Clement V., and the Extrava- 
 gantes Communes, containing the Decre- 
 tals of twenty-five Popes, ending with Six- 
 tus IV. (1484), complete the list. Of these 
 five collections — namely, the Decretals, the 
 Sext, the Clementines, the Extravagants 
 of John XXII., and the Extravagants 
 Common — the "Corpus Juris Ecclesias- 
 tici " is made up. 
 
 To these a very important addition has 
 to be made in " Jus novissimum " — mod- 
 ern law. Under this head are comprised 
 the canons of general councils since that 
 of Vienna, contained in great compilations 
 such as those of Labbe and Harduin, and 
 the Decretal letters of Popes, published 
 in the form of Bullaria, and coming down 
 (in the case of the great Turin Bullarium 
 of 1857) to the pontificate of Pius IX. 
 The decisions of Roman congregations 
 and of the tribunal of the Rota also form 
 part of this modern law. The rules of 
 
 the Roman Chancery, first formulated 
 by John XXII. and now numbering 
 seventy two, are everywhere of authority, 
 provided that they do not conflict witk 
 a contrary law, a clause in a Concordat,! 
 or a legitimate custom. Lastly, the 
 Concordats, or treaties entered into by, 
 the Holy See with various countries foi 
 the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs,! 
 constitute special systems of law for those 
 countries. 
 
 In England, as in other European coun- 
 tries, the canon and civil law were studied 
 together before the Reformation, andl 
 formed a code, applicable not only to 
 spiritual suits but to the large class of 
 mixed cases, which was enforced in the 
 Church courts. Provincial constitutions 
 were passed from time to time by different 
 archbishops of Canterbury, but from their 
 increasing number and the want of a meth- 
 odical arrangement, many of them were 
 gradually forgotten or neglected. A great 
 service, therefore, was rendered to the 
 English Church of his day by William 
 Lyndewode, chaplain to Archbishop Chich- 
 eley and official of the Court of Arches, 
 who collected and arranged (about 1425), 
 under the title of " Provinciale," the con- 
 stitutions of fourteen archbishops of Can- 
 terbury, from Stephen Langton to Chich- 
 eley, classifying them according to their 
 subjects in five books, in imitation of the 
 Decretals of Gregory IX. To this col- 
 lection the constitutions of the legates 
 Otho (1237) and Othobon (1262) were 
 subsequently appended. These English 
 constitutions, and canon law generally 
 
HISTORY OF CANON LAW, 
 
 (except so far as modified by the statutes 
 and canons which consummated the 
 Anglican schism, and raised the reign- 
 ing sovereign — being an Anglican Prot- 
 
 25 
 
 estant, 1702 — to the headship of the 
 national church), are still recognized as 
 authoritative in Anglican ecclesiastical 
 courts. 
 
 l^ 
 
 '' 
 
ist^r^ 0f Petsr's Peaee. *^ 
 
 :f 
 
 I 
 
 N annual tax of one penny for 
 every house in England, col- 
 lected at Midsummer, and 
 paid to the Holy See. It was 
 extended to Ireland under the 
 bull granted by Pope Adrian to 
 Henry 11.^ The earliest documentary 
 mention of it seems to be the letter of 
 Canute (103 1), sent from Rome to the 
 English clergy and laity.^ Among the 
 " dues which we owe to God according to 
 ancient law," the king names "the pennies 
 which we owe to Rome at St. Peter's," 
 {denarii quos Romce ad Sanctum Petrum 
 deb emus), whether from towns or vills." 
 It may hence be considered certain that 
 the tax was deemed one of ancient stand- 
 ing in the time of Canute, but its exact 
 origin is variously related. West Saxon 
 writers ascribe the honor (for it was 
 regarded as an honor by our forefathers) 
 of its institution to kings of Wessex ; 
 Matthew Paris, who represents merchant 
 
 1 Matt. Paris, ed. Wats, p. 95. But, as is well known, 
 the genuineness of this bull is now disputed (see the last 
 volume of the Analecta Pontificia). 
 
 2 Flor. of Wore. a. 1031. 
 
 traditions, gives it to Offa, king of Mercia. 
 Malmesbury makes Ethelwulf, the father 
 of Alfred, the founder ; so that the same 
 king who instituted tithes would on this 
 view have established " Peter's Pence." 
 But a writer very little later than Malmes- 
 bury — Henry of Huntingdon — attributes 
 the grant to Offa, king of Mercia, who 
 " gave to the Vicar of St. Peter, the 
 Bishop of Rome, a fixed rent for every 
 house in his kingdom forever." Matthew 
 Paris, in his " Two Offas " (printed by 
 Wats), gives the Mercian tradition in an 
 expanded form. Offa, visiting Rome in 
 great state, besides other munificent offer- 
 ings, burdens his kingdom with the " Rom- 
 scot," which is to be paid to the Roman 
 Church for the support of the English school 
 and hostel at Rome. It was to be one 
 silver penny (argentus) for every family 
 occupying land worth thirty pence a year. 
 On the other hand, Layamon, the poet 
 (writing about 1209, among West Saxon 
 traditions), ascribes the institution to Ina, 
 a king of Wessex. No certain conclusion 
 can be arrived at ; but, on the whole, it 
 
HISTORY OF PETER'S PENCE. 
 
 27 
 
 seems probable that the " Rom-scot " 
 owed its foundation to Offa, with whose 
 prosperous and successful reign the initia- 
 tion of the thing would be more in keeping 
 than with the troubled times of Ethel- 
 wulf, although the latter may well have 
 consented to extend that which had been 
 before only a Mercian impost to the West 
 Saxon part of his dominions. 
 
 The "alms,"^ sent by Alfred to Pope 
 Marinus, who then "freed" the English 
 school at Rome, were probably nothing 
 more than arrears of Peter's pence, the 
 receipt of which made it possible for the 
 Pope to free the inhabitants in the English 
 quarter, and the pilgrims resorting to it 
 for hospitality, from all tax and toll. 
 Geoffrey Gaimar^ is responsible for the 
 curious statement, that in consideration 
 of the Peter's pence (the " dener de la 
 meison " ) given by Canute, the Pope made 
 him his legate, and ordered that no Eng- 
 lishman charged with crime should be 
 imprisoned abroad, or exiled, but should 
 " purge himself in his own land." 
 
 1 Sax. Chr. 883. 
 
 » See Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 821. 
 
 It is probable that there was at all times 
 great irregularity in the payment of the 
 Rom-scot. It is recorded to have been 
 sent to Rome in 1095, by the hands of the 
 Papal nuncio, after an intermission of 
 many years. Again, in 1123,^ we read of 
 a legate coming into England after the 
 Rom-scot. From 1534 it ceased to be 
 rendered. 
 
 The tribute, or cess, of 1,000 marks 
 (700 for England, 300 for Ireland), which 
 King John bound himself and his heirs to 
 pay to the Roman See, in recognition of 
 the feudal dependence of his kingdom, was 
 of course wholly distinct from the Peter's 
 pence. After being paid by Henry III. 
 and Edward II., but withheld by Edward 
 I. and Edward III., it was formally 
 claimed with arrears, in 1366, by Urban 
 V. 
 
 The Peters pence of modern days is a 
 voluntary contribution made by the faith- 
 ful, and taken up under the direction of 
 their bishop, for the maintenance of the 
 Sovereign Pontiff. 
 
 1 Sax. Chr on. 
 
'^^^^^-^^^ 
 
 %t5;j^%?:5^s^- 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 $: ^: 'i?: %•': iv {•': * * i?> i?> *•?> <?> *•?> ^V ^?> <?> ^?J ^?> * 
 ••• •!•; {•; {•; •!•; 'S* '.*': •?• i?j •!•; •?•' •?• •?•' *•?• *•?• "S* •?•* •?•* *•?• 
 
 BOY is usually sent to school in 
 order that he may obtain, with 
 greater ease and fewer inter- 
 ruptions than would be pos- 
 sible at home, knowledge which 
 would be serviceable to him 
 in after life. This is a motive which acts 
 on parents independently of State insti- 
 gation ; it filled the school of Flavins at 
 Venusia with " big boys, the sons of big 
 centurions,"^ and took Horace to that 
 superior establishment at Rome which 
 received the sons of "knights and sen- 
 ators." To these voluntary schools, which 
 doubtless existed in every part of the 
 Roman empire, and were closely connec- 
 ted with the movement of Pagan society, 
 it does not appear that Christian parents 
 in the first three centuries sent their sons. 
 The earliest Christian school of which we 
 have a distinct account — that of Pantaenus 
 at Alexandria (a. d. i8o) — was one for 
 religious and catechetical instruction 
 {hieron logon katechesedti)? The earliest 
 
 1 Hor. 5a/. I. 6, 73. 
 a Eus. His . Eccl. 
 
 State provision for secondary instruction 
 was made by the Emperor Vespasian,^ who 
 established a group of "imperial schools " 
 at all the great provincial towns ; Besan- 
 con, Aries, Cologne, Rheims, and Treves 
 are particularly mentioned. In these 
 schools rhetoric, logic, and Latin and 
 Greek literature were well taught, and 
 many a Christian apologist owed to them 
 the mental culture which he employed 
 after his conversion in the service of 
 Christ. When the empire had become 
 Christian, these schools still retained the 
 old methods and subjects of instruction, and 
 even, to a great extent, the old spirit. St. 
 Jerome, who had himself been educated 
 in one of them, was alive to the perilous 
 nature of this influence, and interdicted 
 the reading of the Pagan authors to ali 
 those under his direction who were in 
 training for the religious life. Every bish- 
 op's residence was from the first more or 
 less definitely a school, in which clerics 
 were trained for the ecclesiastical life. 
 Similarly, after the commencement of the 
 
 1 J. B. Mullinger, TheSchools of the Great (1877), p. 12. 
 
 28 
 
ORIGIN OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 29 
 
 monastic life under St. Antony and St. 
 Hilarion, the monastery, besides subserv- 
 ing the ends of self-discipline and continual 
 intercession, became a school for training 
 monks. This was especially seen in the 
 monasteries in Gaul which followed the 
 rule of the Abbot Cassian of Marseilles. 
 Early in the fifth century, the invasions 
 of the barbarians began ; for four centuries 
 Western Europe weltered in chaos, and 
 the institutions of civilized life perished. 
 In the cities of Gaul, as the Franks 
 pressed southwards, the old municipal 
 schools — the schools of the Rhetoricians 
 and the Grammarians — dwindled and 
 were dispersed. Lay life became barbar- 
 ous ; and the arts of barbarism — which 
 chiefly fighting, destruction, and 
 do not stand in the 
 need of schools. But in the wreck the 
 episcopal and monastic schools survived, 
 and, through the degradation of lay life, 
 became ever more attractive. In the 
 island of Lerins, the abbot Honoratus, 
 about 400, founded a celebrated monastery, 
 the school of which was known as the 
 Studiuin Insiilanum. Ireland, soon after 
 its conversion by St. Patrick, was dotted 
 over with monastic schools, in which such 
 learning as was then accessible was prose- 
 cuted with remarkable success. 
 
 The suppression of the schools of 
 Athens by order of Justinian (529) 
 sounded the knell of the educational 
 institutes of antiquity. These schools 
 were, in fact, a university, although that 
 name was of later introduction. They 
 had never been able to shake off the Pagan 
 
 ire 
 
 coarse indulgence 
 
 modes of thought which gave birth to 
 them, and now the advancing tide of 
 Christian ideas engulfed them, without 
 being able for a long time to supply their 
 place. A few months after the suppres- 
 sion, St. Benedict founded the abbey of 
 Monte Cassino, and the schools for the 
 erection of which his rule provides were 
 soon spread over Western Europe. These 
 gradually produced a race of teachers and 
 students whose higher and wider views 
 suggested the resuscitation of academic 
 life. It is sufficient to mention the names 
 of lona, Lindisfarne, Canterbury, York, 
 Fulda, Rheims, Corbie, Fleury, and 
 Seville — not as being all of Benedictine 
 origin, but as among the best schools to 
 be found in the troubled period from the 
 fifth to the tenth century. 
 
 The great organizing mind of Charle- 
 magne endeavored to make use of educa 
 tion, as of all other forces within his reach, 
 for restoring civilization in the West. He 
 invited Alcuin, the Scholasticus of York, 
 as the best known teacher in Europe, to 
 his court at Aix-la-Chapelle, and gave into 
 his charge the palace school. Conscien- 
 tious and painstaking, Alcuin was yet 
 essentially born^\ there is something 
 cramped and unsatisfactory in his way of 
 handling all the subjects of his narrow 
 curriculum. The age of universities was 
 not yet. Charlemagne, and his son after 
 him, were perpetually urging the bishops 
 to improve their schools. Rabanus 
 Maurus, a pupil of Alcuin, made the 
 school of Fulda illustrious ; that of Corbie, 
 in the same age, produced Paschasiu« 
 
30 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Radbert. The trivium and quadrivium — 
 the invention of which is ascribed by some 
 io Martianus Capella, a Carthaginian 
 professor of rhetoric, by others to St. 
 Augustine — supplied the cadre of the 
 most advanced instruction for several 
 centuries. Between 850 and 1000, the 
 inroads of the Normans and Danes again 
 made havoc of all that had been hitherto 
 done in France and England to promote 
 education. The Normans, however, when 
 once solidly converted, became the most 
 active propagators of all civilizing ideas 
 that the world has ever seen. The 
 Norman school of Bee, founded in the 
 eleventh century by the Abbot Herluin, 
 :iumbered among its teachers Lanfranc 
 and St. Anselm. In schools of this class, 
 where knowledge was sought at first hand, 
 and philosophy disdained conventional 
 methods, university ideals began to 
 emerge. In the twelfth century, at Paris, 
 commences the history of modern univer- 
 sities. After the establishment of these 
 foci of superior teaching, the secondary 
 school became, in theory, on the one hand 
 a stage of preparation for the university, 
 on the other a place of the final training 
 for those who had to begin work early. 
 But for a long time first of these two 
 aspects of a secondary school overpowered 
 the other. William of Wykeham, bishop 
 of Winchester, founded there, in 1373, the 
 school which still exists, expressly in 
 order to feed the college (New College) 
 which he was establishing at Oxford. 
 The Winchester foundation was for a 
 warden and ten fellows, three chaplains 
 
 and three clerks in orders, an informatut 
 or head master, a hostiarius or second 
 master, seventy scholars who were to be 
 "poor and in need of help," and sixteen 
 choristers.^ Imitating this example, 
 Henry VI. founded the school at Eton in 
 1440, as a nursery to King's College, 
 Cambridge. The later public schools of 
 England — Westminster, Rugby, Harrow, 
 etc. — have been founded, speaking gene- 
 rally, upon the model of these two, but 
 without the same close connection with 
 the universities. 
 
 Towards the end of the seventh century, 
 the necessity of separating primary or 
 elementary instruction from secondary 
 began to make itself felt. The greater 
 complexity and variety of employments, 
 and the increased application of science to 
 all the useful arts, make it desirable, if not 
 indispensable, that the laboring class also 
 should at least be instructed in letters and 
 in the art of calculation. Primary instruc- 
 tion on a large scale was first tried (1684) 
 by the Ven. de la Salle, the founder of the 
 Christian Brothers. The new grade had 
 its two aspects — that by which it was a 
 stage of preparation for the secondary 
 school, and that by which it gave a final 
 training. Up to very recent times the 
 former aspect was little regarded ; but, at 
 present, the advantage of making free and 
 easy communications by which the best 
 scholars can pass from the primary to the 
 secondary, and from that to the superior 
 grade of instruction, is clearly perceived 
 by educationists. 
 
 1 The Public Schools, 1867. 
 
ORIGIN OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 3i 
 
 All English schools before the Refor- 
 mation had a Catholic character. That 
 being withdrawn from them by the change 
 of religion, and the laws prohibiting the 
 erection of new schools under Catholic 
 teachers, those who adhered to the old 
 faith were put to great straits for several 
 generations in order to get their children 
 educated under any tolerable conditions. 
 A single sample of Protestant legislation 
 will show what difficulties had to be faced. 
 By the ii and 12 Will. III. c. iv. "if any 
 Papist, or person making profession of the 
 Popish religion, shall keep school, or take 
 upon himself the education or government 
 or boarding of youth, he shall be adjudged 
 to perpetual imprisonment in such place 
 within this kingdom as the King by advice 
 of his Privy Council shall appoint."^ 
 Unless foreign education were sought, 
 obscure private schools, such as those of 
 which we obtain a glimpse in the accounts 
 of the early life of Pope, were the only 
 available resort. The first school of a 
 higher class was that established at Sedg- 
 ley Park (it had previously existed in a 
 humble way at Newcastle-under-Lyne) by 
 Bishop Challoner in 1763. Ushaw, which, 
 as Crook Hall, was founded in 1794; 
 Stonyhurst, dating from the same year ; 
 St. Edmund's, founded in 1795 ; Down- 
 side, in 1798; Oscott, in 1808; and 
 Edgbaston, in 1858 — with Ampleforth, 
 Beaumont, and Woburn Park — are our 
 principal Catholic secondary schools at 
 present. 
 
 1 Hook's Church Dictionary, " Schools." 
 
 The monitorial system of Bell and Lan- 
 caster, by means of which it was con- 
 sidered that primary instruction could be 
 much extended at little expense by setting 
 the elder children as "monitors" to teach 
 the rudiments to the younger, was brought 
 out in 1797. The primary schools of 
 Prussia, organized under Hardenberg with 
 great skill and thoroughness, drew general 
 attention; and in 1833 the first public 
 grant, 20,000/., in aid of the elementary 
 education of the people, was voted by 
 Parliament, and its administration con- 
 fided to a Committee of the Privy Council, 
 The system of aiding local efforts thus 
 introduced has received an enormous 
 development and undergone numerous 
 changes of detail, but in its substantial 
 features it remains unaltered to the pres- 
 ent day. In the Anglican communion, 
 the organ through which State help was 
 dispensed was the " National Society for 
 the Education of the Poor in the Principles 
 of the Established Church," founded in 
 18 12. The corresponding organ for the 
 Dissenters was the " British and Foreign 
 School Society." For Catholics was 
 established, in 1847, ^^^ "Catholic Poor 
 School Committee," which, by maintain- 
 ing efficient training-schools for masters 
 and mistresses, enables Catholic managers 
 to obtain their fair share of the Parliamen- 
 tary grant for elementary education. 
 
 In Ireland the penal laws rendered the 
 erection of Catholic schools impossible 
 until about a hundred years ago, when the 
 ill success of the war against the Ameri- 
 can colonists compelled certain relaxa- 
 
3» 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 tions. A secondary school for forty- 
 boarders was founded at Burrell's Hall, 
 Kilkenny, in 1783, under Drs. Lanigan 
 and Dunne.1 It throve exceedingly, and 
 was transformed in 1836 into St. Kieran's 
 College, under which name it still exists. 
 Of more recent foundation are Carlow and 
 Thurles Colleges, and the Jesuit Colleges 
 of Clongowes and Tullabeg. These insti- 
 tutions, though without State aid or 
 inspection, are already more flourishing 
 than the Royal and Charter Schools — 
 founded in the bad times in order to pre- 
 serve and extend Protestant ascendency 
 — could ever boast of being. 
 
 The National Board of Education — in 
 the schools of which a combined literary 
 instruction was to be given to children of 
 all creeds during certain hours in the day, 
 while separate religious teaching might 
 be given to those whose parents desired it 
 before or after those hours, and also on 
 one particular day of the week — was 
 organized through the exertions of Mr. 
 Stanley, Chief Secretary for Ireland (after- 
 
 1 Trans, of the Ossory Archceological Society, i2>Z2, vol. 
 i. part 2. 
 
 wards Earl of Derby), in 1831. The 
 bishops accepted this arrangement, not as 
 the best, but as the best obtainable, meas- 
 ure ; and under it, notwithstanding the 
 difficulties caused by extreme poverty, 
 elementary school training has penetrated 
 into every corner of Ireland. 
 
 An Act for the enforcement of general 
 education, and authorizing the formation 
 of School Boards, and the levying of rates, 
 in all places where voluntary effort should 
 appear to be insufficient for the need, was 
 brought in by Mr. Forster in 1870, and 
 became law. Great efforts have been 
 made by the Catholic body in England, 
 and hitherto with a large measure of suc- 
 cess, to provide schools under certificated 
 teachers (and therefore qualified to partici- 
 pate in the educational grant) sufficient 
 for the reception of all the Catholic 
 children in the country. Whether these 
 efforts will prevail, or the Board schools, 
 from which definite religious teaching 
 is excluded, will more and more bring 
 the elementary instruction of the people 
 under their control, is a question still 
 uncertain. 
 

 ^ 
 
 "^1^ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 
 Ifistoiiy o]| 5i|eemasoni|y. 
 
 
 REEMASONRY is the system 
 of the Freemasons, a secret 
 order and pantheistic sect, 
 which professes, by means of 
 a symbolical language and 
 certain ceremonies of initiation 
 and promotion, to lay down a code of 
 morality founded on the brotherhood of 
 humanity only. Some writers apply the 
 term Freemasonry not only to Aie Free- 
 masons proper, but also to all secrc.i organ- 
 izations which seek to undermine 
 Christianity and the political and social 
 institutions that have Christianity for 
 their basis. 
 
 The origin of Freemasonry is disputed. 
 The Freemasons themselves, in the lan- 
 guage of their rituals, assume the sect to 
 have begun its existence at the building of 
 Solomon's Temple : but serious Masonic 
 writers, as well as all writers of repute, 
 declare this to be merely a conventional 
 fiction. Nor is any more value to be 
 attached to the attempts that are occasion- 
 ally made to find a link between the Pagan 
 
 mysteries and Freemasonry. Some 
 writers trace Freemasonry to the heresies 
 of Eastern origin that prevailed during the 
 early and middle ages in certain parts of 
 Europe, such as those of the Gnostics, 
 Manicheans, and Abigenses, some of whose 
 mischievous tenets are, no doubt, apparent 
 in the sect. The suppressed order of the 
 Knights Templars, too, has been taken 
 to have been the source of the sect ; and 
 this theory may have some countenance 
 in the facts that a number of the Knights 
 in Scotland illicitly maintained their organ- 
 ization after the suppression, and that it 
 was from Scotland that Freemasonry was 
 brought into France at the beginning of 
 the last century. 
 
 But it seems more in consonance with 
 many known historical facts to trace the 
 sect to the mediaeval guild of stonemasons 
 who were popularly called by the very 
 name of Free Masons. During the mid- 
 dle ages the various trades were formed, 
 with the approbation of the Church, into 
 guilds or close protective societies. In 
 
34 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 general no one was permitted to follow a 
 trade for wages or profit, as apprentice, 
 journeyman, or master, until he had been 
 made free of the guild representing that 
 trade. Each guild had its patron saint, 
 and several guilds, it is certain, had each 
 its peculiar ritual, using its own tools and 
 technical language in a symbolical way in 
 the ceremonies of initiation and promotion 
 — that is to say, in entering an apprentice, 
 and at the end of his time declaring him a 
 worthy fellow-journeyman or craftsman, 
 etc. The guild of Free Masons was sin- 
 gular in this ; that it was a migratory one, 
 its members travelling under their masters 
 in organized bodies through all parts of 
 Europe, wherever their services were 
 required in building. When first referred 
 to, they are found grouped about the 
 monasteries, especially about those of the 
 Benedictines. The earliest form of initia- 
 tion used by the guild is said to have been 
 suggested by the ritual for the reception 
 of a Benedictine novice. * 
 
 The South of France, where a large 
 Jewish and Saracenic element remained, 
 was a hotbed of heresies, and that region 
 was also a favorite one with the guild of 
 Masons. It is asserted, too, that as far 
 back as the twelfth century the lodges of 
 the guild enjoyed the special protection of 
 the Knights Templars. It is easy in this 
 way to understand how the symbolical 
 allusions to Solomon and his Temple 
 might have passed from the Knights into 
 the Masonic formulary. In this way, too, 
 might be explained how, after the suppres- 
 sion of the order of the Temple, some of 
 
 the recalcitrant Knights, maintaining their 
 influence over the Free Masons, would be 
 able to pervert what hitherto had been a 
 harmless ceremony into an elaborate ritual 
 that should impart some of the errors of 
 the Templars to the initiated. A docu- 
 ment was long ago published which pur- 
 ports to be a charter granted to a lodge 
 of Free Masons in England in the time of 
 Henry VII., and it bears the marks in its 
 religious indifference of a suspicious like- 
 ness between Freemasonry then and now. 
 In Germany the guild was numerous, and 
 was foimally recognized by a diploma 
 granted in 1489 by the Emperor Maxi- , 
 milian. But this sanction was finally 
 revoked by the Imperial Diet in 1707. 
 
 So far, however, the Free Masons were ''■ 
 really working stonemasons ; but the so- 
 called Cologne Charter — the genuine- 
 ness of which seems certain — drawn up 
 in 1535 at a reunion of Free Masons 
 gathered at Cologne to celebrate the open- 
 ing of the cathedral edifice, is signed by 
 Melanchthon, Coligny, and other similar 
 ill-omened names. Nothing certain is 
 known of the Free Masons — now evi- ■ 
 dently become a sect — during the seven- 
 teenth century, except that in 1646 Elias 
 Ashmole, an Englishman, founded the 
 order of Rose Croix, Rosicrucians, or 
 Hermetic Freemasons— a society which 
 mingled in a fantastic manner the jargon 
 of alchemy and other occult sciences with 
 pantheism. This order soon became affili' 
 ated to some of the Masonic lodges in 
 Germany, where from the time of the 
 Reformation there was a constant found- 
 
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 
 
 35 
 
 ing of societies, secret or open, which 
 undertook to formulate a philosophy or a 
 religion of their own. 
 
 As we know it now, however. Free- 
 masonry first appeared in 1725, when 
 Lord Derwentwater, a supporter of the 
 expelled Stuart dynasty, introduced the 
 order into France, professing to have his 
 authority from a lodge at Kilwinning, 
 Scotland. This formed the basis of that 
 variety of Freemasonry called ■ the Scotch 
 Rite. Rival organizations soon sprang 
 up. Charters were obtained from a lodge 
 at York, which was said to have been of 
 very ancient foundation. In 1754 Marti- 
 nez Pasquales, a Portuguese Jew, began in 
 some of the French lodges the new 
 degree of " conens," or priests, which was 
 afterwards developed into a system by the 
 notorious Saint-Martin, and is usually 
 referred to as French Illuminisw. But it 
 remained for Adam Wefsnaupt, Professor 
 of Canon Law at the University of Tngol- 
 stadt, in Bavaria, to give a definiLr shape 
 to the anti-Christian tendencies of Free- 
 masonry. In 1776, two years after the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits from the Univer- 
 sity, he brought together a number of his 
 pupils and friends, and organized the order 
 of the Illuminati, which he established on 
 the already existing degrees of Free- 
 masonry. The avowed object of the 
 Illuminati was to bring back mankind — 
 beginning with the Illuminated — to their 
 primitive liberty by destroying religion, 
 for which this newest philosophical inven- 
 *ion was to be substituted, and by 
 re shaping ideas of property, society, mar- 
 
 riage, etc. One of the Illuminati, a 
 Sicilian, Joseph Balsamo, otherwise Cag- 
 liostro, organized what he called Cabalis- 
 tic Freemasonry, under the name of the 
 Rite of Misraim. He it was who in 1783 
 predicted, as the approaching work of the 
 Freemasons, the overthrow of the French 
 monarchy. Indeed, Freemasonry was 
 very active in the French Revolution, and 
 assisted in bringing about many of the 
 calamities which accompanied the great 
 upturning of society. 
 
 Freemasonry in the meantime had 
 split up into numerous sects, or " rites," all 
 working to the common effort of destroy- 
 ing a belief in the divine revelations 
 of Christianity. In 1781 a great assembly 
 of all the Masonic rites was held at 
 Wilhelmsbad, in Hanover, under the 
 presidency of the Duke of Brunswick, 
 which refused to recognize Weishaupt's 
 system, but at the same time permitted 
 the most mischievous tenets of Illuminism 
 to be engrafted on the higher degrees of 
 Freemasonry, especially of the so-called 
 Scotch Rite. About this time the 
 Scotch Rite was established at Charles- 
 ton, S. C, by some officers of the French 
 auxiliary army. The York rite had been 
 introduced into the United States by Eng- 
 lish colonists. 
 
 Freemasonry in Continental Europe has 
 been the hatching-ground of most of the 
 revolutionary societies, many of which 
 were affiliated to the higher Masonic 
 degrees. In France the sect was officially 
 recognized by the government of Napoleon 
 III., but advanced Freemasons bore this 
 
36 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 unwillingly, as it involved restraint. An 
 avowed belief in God was required for 
 initiation, but this requirement, through 
 the efforts of M. Mac6, of the University, 
 was finally abolished in the convention 
 of Freemasons held at Paris, Sept. 14, 
 1877. 
 
 A recent French writer maintains that 
 Freemasonry is unknown to most of the 
 craft — managed by five or six Jews, who 
 bend its influence in every possible way 
 to the furtherance of the anti-Christian 
 movement that passes under the name 
 of Liberalism. Throughout Continental 
 Europe, in the Spanish-American States, 
 and in Brazil, Freemasonry has of late 
 years again become very active. The war 
 against the Catholic Church in Germany 
 had no more bitter supporter than Free- 
 masonry. If the Culturkampf was not 
 direct from the lodges, at least nearly 
 all its leaders were Freemasons. Dur- 
 ing "the Commune" of Paris, in 1871, 
 Masonic lodges took part as a body in the 
 insurrection, marching out to the fight 
 with their red banners. In France and 
 Belgium the lodges have officially com- 
 manded their members to assist the Ligue 
 de r Enseignement — a league intended to 
 bring about the complete secularization 
 of the primary public schools. 
 
 In the English-speaking countries, how- 
 ever. Freemasonry has hitherto protested 
 its respect for government and established 
 society, and it has not had any immediate 
 action on politics, its members being 
 usually found as numerous in one political 
 party as another. But it has never failed 
 
 indirectly to use its influence for the 
 advancement of its members over others. 
 English-speaking Freemasons have usually 
 been accustomed to regard the pantheism 
 of their rituals as an amusing mummery 
 rather than as a reality. These Free- 
 masons usually disown for their order 
 any aims but those of a convivial and 
 mutual benefit society, but no one can fail 
 to see that indifferentism in religion at 
 least is one of the necessary results of 
 English-speaking Fremasonry at its best. 
 But the constant influx into the English- 
 speaking countries of Jews and Continen- 
 tal Freemasons must necessarily impreg- 
 nate the order with all the poison of the 
 Continental sect. 
 
 Freemasonry is essentially opposed to 
 the belief in the personality of God, whose 
 name in the Masonic rituals veils the doc- 
 trine of blind force only governing the 
 universe. It is also essentially subversive 
 of legitimate authority, for by professing 
 to furnish man an all-sufficient guide and 
 help to conduct, it makes him independent 
 of the Church, and by its everywhere 
 ridiculing rank in authority it tends, in 
 spite of its occasional protests of loyalty, 
 to bring all governments into contempt. 
 
 The sect has been repeatedly con- 
 demned by learned and respectable men 
 of all countries, Protestant and Catholic. 
 Five bulls have been directed against it 
 by name, viz. : " In eminenti," Clement 
 XII., 1738; "Providas," Benedict XIV., 
 175 1 ; " Ecclesiam Jesu Christi," Pius 
 VII., 1 821; "Qui graviora," Leo XII., 
 1826; "Quanta cura," Pius IX., 1864. 
 
CHAPTER VII, 
 
 HISTORY Of eAl2ll2EO. 
 
 ^ 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 HE object of the present 
 article is, not to write a Life 
 of Galileo, but to give an 
 account, as clear as our limits 
 will permit, of the two con- 
 demnations of the doctrine of 
 the immobility of the sun and the rotation 
 of the earth, pronounced by the Congre- 
 gations of the Holy Office (Roman Inqui- 
 sition) and the Index, with special refer- 
 ence to the teaching and writing of Galileo 
 m 1616 and 1633. After the most 
 material facts have been narrated without 
 comment, it will be necessary to examine 
 three separate points : i. What was the 
 precise nature of the condemnation pro- 
 nounced ? 2. What was the character of 
 the considerations which appeared to the 
 Pope and the cardinals to justify them in 
 pronouncing it ? 3. Was Galileo, as some 
 writers have maintained, really put to the 
 torture ? 
 
 In 161 3 the great astronomer, who had 
 long inclined to the heliocentric^ system 
 
 1 The terms "heliocentric" and " geocentric," as denoting 
 the systems which assume the sun or the earth respectively to 
 be the fixed centre round which the planets revolve, are 
 borrowed from two articles in the Dublin Review (believed 
 
 of Copernicus, published a letter ad- 
 dressed to his friend the Padre Castelli, 
 in which he says that it is not the object 
 of God in the Holy Scriptures to teach us 
 science and philosophy, and that the 
 received Ptolemaic system could no more 
 be reconciled to the text of Scripture than 
 the Copernican. Some time afterwards, 
 in 161 5, he wrote a much longer and more 
 important letter to the Grand Duchess 
 Christina of Tuscany, in which he is said ^ 
 to have endeavored to accommodate to the 
 Copernican theory the various passages in 
 Scripture which seem to be inconsistent 
 with it. This letter was not published till 
 1636, but its tenor appears to have become 
 known to many persons. Galileo visited 
 Rome towards the end of 16 15, and was 
 shortly summoned before the Congregation 
 of the Holy Office. The original minutes, 
 showing exactly what occurred, have been 
 published by M. de I'Epinois.^ On Feb- 
 ruary 25, 161 6, Cardinal Milan reported 
 
 to be by Dr, Ward), of which we hare made free use in the 
 present paper : one is headed " Copernicanism and Pope Paul 
 v." (April, 1871); the other, "Galileo and the Pontifical 
 Congregations" (July, 1871). 
 
 1 Hallam, Lit. of Europe, iii. 413. 
 
 2 Les Piices du Proces de Galilee, Rome, Paris, 1877. 
 
 37 
 
38 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 to the Congregation that the Pope (Paul 
 V.) had ordered that Cardinal Bellarmine 
 should call Galileo before him, and should 
 " warn him to abandon the said opinion 
 [of the immobility of the sun, etc.], and 
 if he refused to obey, the Father Commis- 
 sary . . . was to lay a command upon 
 him to abstain altogether from teaching 
 or defending a doctrine and « opinion of 
 this kind, or from dealing with it [in any 
 way]." If he was refractory, he was to 
 be imprisoned — " carceretur." The min- 
 utes of the following day show how all this 
 was done, and an injunction, as above, laid 
 upon Galileo; "in which command the 
 said Galileo acquiesced, and promised to 
 obey it." The prohibition of the Pope 
 was identical in intention ^ with that con- 
 tained in a decree of the Congregation of 
 the Index dated a week later, March 5, 
 16 16. This decree first condemns five 
 theologico-political works, and then goes 
 on to say that it has come to the knowl- 
 edge of the Sacred Congregation "that 
 the well known doctrine — of Pythagorean 
 origin and wholly repugnant to the sacred 
 Scriptures — concerning the mobility of 
 the earth and the immobility of the sun," 
 formerly taught by Copernicus and Diego 
 of Astorga, " was now being spread abroad 
 and embraced by many ; . . . therefore, 
 lest such an opinion should insinuate itself 
 any more, to the destruction of Catholic 
 truth, it gave sentence " that the books of 
 
 1 This is certain ; for Bellarmine, in the certificate which he 
 gave to Galileo in 1616 — of which we shall again have occasion 
 to speak — says that " the declaration made by the Pope, and 
 published by the Sacred Congregation of the Index [italics 
 ours], was notified to him," etc. 
 
 Copernicus and Diego " should be sus- 
 pended [from circulation] till they were 
 corrected," that the work of a certain 
 Foscarini upholding the same opinion 
 should be altogether prohibited and con- 
 demned, " and that all other books teach 
 ing the same thing were to be similarly J 
 prohibited." 
 
 That this decree was sanctioned and 
 confirmed by the Pope it is impossible to 
 doubt. The writer of the article Galileo 
 in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" main- 
 tains that its responsibility rests with a 
 disciplinary congregation in no sense rep- 
 resenting the Church, and that it was 
 never confirmed by the Pope. This view 
 is untenable in view of the fact that in 
 any decree of one of the Sacred Congre- 
 gations confirmed and ordered to be pub- 
 lished by the Pope, it is the Pope himself 
 who speaks — not the cardinals merely — 
 if not always in his capacity of Universal 
 Doctor, yet always in that of Supreme 
 Pastor or ruler. That the decree was not 
 confirmed by Paul V. there is not, so far as 
 we know, the smallest shred of evidence 
 for maintaining ; and the onus probandi 
 rests on those who make an assertion so 
 improbable. 
 
 Galileo was thus estopped by a decision 
 in which he had acquiesced, and which he 
 had promised not to infringe, from publish, 
 ing anything more on the Copernican 
 theory. Some years passed ; Urban VIII. 
 ascended the Papal chair in 1623; he was an 
 enlightened man, of considerable learning, 
 and, as Cardinal Barberini, had had much 
 friendly intercourse with Galileo. The 
 
HISTORY OF GALILEO. 
 
 39 
 
 philosopher visited Rome in 1624, and was 
 received with great warmth and kindness 
 by the Pope. Soon after this he began to 
 return to the forbidden subject ; in an 
 essay on sun-spots he assumed the fact of 
 the sun's immobility. In his famous 
 Dialogo on the " System of the World," 
 published at Florence in February, 1632, 
 he spoke out still more plainly. The 
 dialogue is carried on between three 
 persons, Salviati, Sagredo, and Simplicio ; 
 the last being a well-meaning ignoramus, 
 who supports the Ptolemaic side by argu- 
 ments manifestly futile. At the conclu- 
 sion of the work the question is in words 
 left open ; but the whole effect of the 
 treatise is said to be that of a powerful and 
 vehement defence of the Copernican 
 theory. The book reached Rome at the 
 end of February, 1632, and caused great 
 excitement. The Pope was very angry; 
 he said that Galileo had been ill-advised ; 
 that great mischief might be done to 
 religion in this way, greater than was ever 
 done before.! Riccardi, the Master of the 
 Apostolic Palace, whose license Galileo 
 had obtained for the printing of the book 
 by representations which do not seem to 
 have been quite straightforward, com- 
 plained that arguments which Urban him- 
 self had used to Galileo against the 
 Copernican theory were in the Dialogo 
 placed in the mouth of Simplicio, a ridicu- 
 lous personage. The authority of Aris- 
 totle was in that age inconceivably great, 
 and Aristotle had believed the earth to be 
 immovable. The Peripatetics — so his 
 
 1 L' Epinois, La Question de GaliU*, p. 114. 
 
 followers were called — flocked around the 
 Pope, urged against Galileo the breach of 
 his promise, and the insulting neglect of 
 the prohibition of 1616, and pressed for 
 the condemnation both of the book and its 
 author. Urban, still desirous of keeping 
 the case out of the Inquisition, appointed 
 a commission of theologians to examine 
 and report on the book. Their report was 
 submitted in September, 1632; it was 
 highly unfavorable to Galileo. The Pope 
 then wrote to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 in whose service Galileo was at the time, 
 saying that the case must go before the 
 Inquisition, and that the accused must 
 come to Rome and stand his trial. After 
 a considerable delay, which produced a 
 stern letter from Urban (December 30, 
 1632) to the effect that if Galileo could 
 travel at all he was to be sent up to Rome 
 in chains, the philosopher departed from 
 Florence and arrived in Rome about the 
 middle of February, 1633, taking up his 
 abode at the Tuscan embassy. The trial 
 came on in April ; for ten days after its 
 commencement Galileo was committed to 
 the house of the fiscal of the Holy Office ; 
 but on his complaining that from his feeble 
 state of health he could ill bear the confine- 
 ment, he was allowed to return to the 
 Tuscan embassy. 
 
 The minutes of the Holy Office show 
 that Galileo was examined on April 1 2 and 
 30, May 10, and June 21. The report of 
 the commissioners, one of whom was 
 Melchior Inchofer, told heavily against 
 him. Melchior said that the author of 
 the Dialogo did not put the case in favor 
 
40 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of the immobility of the sun " hypothetice," 
 but "theorematice," and that his having 
 written in Italian, so that "vulgares etiam 
 homines " might read it, made the matter 
 worse. The disobedience to the command 
 issued by the Holy Office in 1616 was also 
 much dwelt upon ; to which Galileo could 
 only reply by putting in the certificate 
 which he had obtained at the time from 
 Bellarmine,! and pleading that as the latter 
 had not in this expressly referred to the 
 injunction not to write any more on the 
 question, he had forgotten all about it. It 
 is probable that this was not believed, and 
 that some intention other than one purely 
 scientific was ascribed to him, as account- 
 ing for his open disregard of the prohibi- 
 tion of 16 16. We read in the minutes for 
 June 16, 1633, that the Pope ordered that 
 Galileo should be questioned " concerning 
 his intention, a threat even of torture 
 being used to him ; and that if he persisted 
 in his statement (e^ si sustinuerit) his 
 abjuration having been first taken, he was 
 to be condemned," etc. 
 
 On June 21 he was examined according 
 to this instruction. Being asked whether 
 he had not held the opinion [of the immo- 
 bility of the sun] since the decree of 161 6, 
 he said, " I do not hold and have not held 
 this opinion of Copernicus since it was 
 intimated to me by authority {con precetto) 
 
 i The certificate ends thus — after stating that Galileo had 
 made no abjuration, nor been put to penance — " but only the 
 declaration made by the Pope and published by the Sacred Con- 
 gregation of the Index was solemnly notified to him, in which 
 it is contained that the doctrine attributed to Copernicus that 
 the earth moves around the sun, and that the sun remains in the 
 centre of the world without moving from east to west, is con- 
 trary to the Sacred Scriptures, and therefore cannot be defended 
 or held. In testimony whereof," etc. 
 
 that I must abandon it ; for the rest, I am 
 here in your hands ; you must do what yoi 
 please." He was then warned to spea 
 the truth, otherwise the torture would 
 applied. He answered, " I am here to! 
 make my submission, and I have not hel^ 
 this opinion since the decision was giver 
 as I have said." He was then allowed t(j 
 withdraw. The sentence was pronounce 
 the next day in the convent of the Mil 
 erva. A full narrative of what passed maf 
 be read in a letter addressed by the Care 
 nal di S. Onofrio on July 2, 1633, to tl 
 Inquisition of Venice.^ The sentenc 
 opened with the words, " Whereas thoi 
 Galileo," etc., and after reciting the pre 
 ceedings of 161 5 and 1616, stated that the 
 Holy Office appointed theologians on that 
 occasion as qualificators, who reported tc 
 this effect : — 
 
 1. That the sun is the centre of the 
 world and immovable is a proposition| 
 absurd and false in philosophy, and for* 
 mally heretical, as being expressly contrarj 
 to Holy Scripture. 
 
 2. That the earth is not the centre oi 
 the world, nor immovable, but that 11 
 moves even with a diurnal motion, is 
 like manner a proposition absurd and fals^ 
 in philosophy, and, considered in theology| 
 at least erroneous in faith. The accuse 
 is reminded that, after Bellarmine had 
 advised and admonished him, the thei 
 commissary of the Inquisition told hii 
 that he could not defend nor teach thai 
 doctrine any more, either orally or i»| 
 
 1 Printed in Venturi's Memorie e Lettere Ineditt (Modems i \ 
 1818). 
 
HISTORY OF GALILEO. 
 
 41 
 
 writing. In publishing the Dialogo he 
 had manifestly disobeyed the precept, and 
 in consequence of the publication, the 
 tribunal understood, the said opinion was 
 spreading more and more. He had acted 
 disingenuously in saying nothing about the 
 precept when he applied for the license to 
 print. Mistrusting him, the tribunal had 
 thought it right to proceed to the rigorous 
 cxamen (" rigoroso esame") in which he 
 had answered as a Catholic should (" ris 
 pondesti cattolicamente "). " We therefore," 
 [ proceeds the tribunal, " say, pronounce, 
 I declare, etc., that you, Galileo, have made 
 [ yourself vehemently suspect of heresy to 
 i this Holy Office — i, e. of having believed 
 and held a doctrine false and contrary to 
 the sacred and divine Scriptures." He 
 i had therefore incurred all the usual pen- 
 ialties; nevertheless the tribunal would 
 absolve him if he abjured and detested the 
 said errors. But as a warning to others, 
 i they ordered: i, that his Dialogo should 
 be prohibited ; 2, that he should be " for- 
 mally " imprisoned ^ during the pleasure of 
 the Holy Office ; 3, that he should say 
 once a week for three years to come, the 
 . seven penitential psalms. Galileo then 
 abjured the condemned opinion,^ and 
 swore never to promote it in future, and to 
 denounce to'the Holy Office any whom he 
 might find maintaining it. 
 
 Harsh as this sentence sounds, the fact 
 is that Galileo was treated with little that 
 
 1 Under restraint, but not in a material prison. 
 
 - The clever fiction which makes him say at this pointy 
 Eppur si muove (" And yet it [the earth] does move "), first 
 appeared, according to the writer in the Enc. Brit, in an 
 Historical Dictionary published at Caen in 1789. 
 
 can be called severity for the remainder of 
 his life. He resided at first at Siena, 
 afterwards in his own villa at Arcetri, near 
 Florence. He was so far under restraint 
 that he was not allowed to go into the 
 city, nor to remove elsewhere without 
 permission ; but within his own house and 
 grounds he seems to have been left entirely 
 free. Milton visited him at Arcetri in 
 1638 or 1639. " There [I e. in Italy] I 
 found and visited the famous Galileo, 
 grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition."' 
 Perhaps Milton did not mean to mislead, 
 but the common inference drawn from his 
 words has been, that he found Galileo 
 immured in the dungeons of the Inquisi- 
 tion,2 instead of living as a private 
 gentleman in his own country house. The 
 philosopher died at an advanced age at 
 Arcetri in 1642. 
 
 Such, in brief outline, were the facts of 
 this celebrated condemnation. Before 
 considering the motives actuating those 
 who pronounced it, let us examine what 
 the sentence itself amounted to. Did the 
 Roman Pontiff, at any stage of these 
 proceedings, pronounce «r cathedra that 
 the theory of Copernicus was wrong, and 
 that the earth was the fixed centre of the 
 world 1 The writer in the " Dublin 
 Review " already referred to, appears to us 
 to make it quite plain that the Roman 
 Pontiff did nothing of the kind. Whether 
 the decrees of Pontifical congregations on 
 matters of doctrine, in which there is a 
 
 1 Areopagiiica. 
 
 2 Thus Dr. Johnson says in his Life of Milton, " He had 
 perhaps given some offence by visiting Galileo, tAen a prisoner 
 in the Inquisition f italics ours] for philosophical heresy." 
 
42 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 clause expressly asserting the Papal 
 sanction, are or are not to be regarded as 
 ex cathedfa and infallible judgments, is a 
 point, according to the reviewer, on which 
 theologians are not entirely agreed ; but 
 no one, he adds, has ever doubted that 
 decrees not containing this clause are not 
 to be regarded as decisions ex cathedra. 
 Now, the decree of the Congregation of 
 the Index of March 5, 1616, does not 
 contain the clause ; it cannot, therefore, 
 be regarded as defining ex cathedra. 
 
 What, then, does the decree decide or 
 do ? It decides that the theory of 
 Copernicus is " false " and " entirely 
 contrary to Scripture," and that the books 
 which teach it are to be prohibited. To 
 this must be added the language used by 
 the Holy Office in the preamble of their 
 sentence, as given in a previous paragraph. 
 It is abundantly clear that both Pontifical 
 congregations held that the opinion about 
 the earth's motion now universally received 
 was false and contrary to Scripture, and 
 that no Catholic could hold it without 
 falling into heresy. The reviewer main- 
 tains that it was natural and inevitable 
 that they should so regard it, seeing that 
 the obvious sense of Scripture is unques- 
 tionably opposed to the Copernican theory, 
 and only "some overwhelming scientific 
 probability" (p. 159) could render it 
 legitimate to override the obvious in favor 
 of an unobvious sense. Later researches 
 have supplied this overwhelming proba- 
 bility, and consequently all Catholics now 
 "admit that the Holy Ghost for wise 
 purposes .... permitted the sacred 
 
 writers to express themselves in language 
 which was literally true as understood by 
 them^ but was figurative in the highest 
 degree as intended by Him.'' {lb) 
 
 The reviewer moreover contends that, 
 although all Catholics were bound to 
 assent to the decrees, they were not 
 thereby obliged to hold the geocentric 
 theory as an article of divine faith — z. e. 
 with an assent excluding all doubt. To 
 maintain the contradictory of this propo- 
 sition would be absurd, since the heliocen- 
 tric theory was allowed to be proposed 
 hypothetically, but the Church would never 
 for a moment allow even the hypothetical 
 maintenapce^ of an opinion contrary to an 
 article of faith. For instance, what impos- 
 sibility is greater than that, since 1854, 
 the Church should allow any Catholic 
 theologian to maintain, as a hypothesis, 
 that the doctrine of the Immaculate Con- 
 ception is untrue? But that the helio- 
 centric theory might be hypothetically 
 propounded after the decree of 161 6 is 
 indisputable. For, first, Galileo deposed 
 before the Holy Oflfice in 1633^ that in 1616 
 Cardinal Bellarmine spoke approvingly, 
 both as to him and Copernicus, of their 
 holding the opinion of the movement of 
 the earth ^^ ex suppositione and not abso- 
 lutely." Secondly, the same Bellarmine 
 declared in 1620, "that if a scientific 
 proof of Copernicanism were discovered, 
 Scripture should then be Copernically 
 interpreted "^; and the theologian, Amort, 
 
 1 Except for the purpose of a reductio ad absurdum^ 
 which of course is not here in question. 
 
 2 L'Epinois, Les Piices, etc., p. 6a 
 8 Dub. Rev., vol. Ixix., p. 164. 
 
HISTORY OF GALILEO. 
 
 43 
 
 writing in 1734, expressed himself to the 
 same effect.^ Thirdly, the report of Mel- 
 chior Inchofer speaks of " the reasons by 
 which Galileo assertively, absolutely, and 
 not hypothetically . . . maintains the 
 motion of the earth " ; whence it may be 
 inferred to maintain it hypothetically 
 would not have been censurable. '^ 
 
 II. The meaning and effect of the decrees 
 being what we have described, the ques- 
 tion arises. Was there any urgent, and at 
 the same time justifiable, motive for issu- 
 ing them at all .'' After all, it may be said, 
 the opinion condemned by the decrees has 
 come to be universally believed ; was it 
 not therefore a mistake, to say the least, 
 to attempt thus to suppress it } Has not 
 the logic of events proved that course to 
 be wrong } Such questions as these will 
 be differently answered, according to the 
 varying estimates which people may form 
 of the value of a stable religious convic- 
 tion. The Pope and the cardinals believed, 
 in 1616, that if every one might freely 
 teach, at universities or by printed books, 
 that the earth revolved round the sun, a 
 great weakening of religious faith would 
 ensue, owing to the apparent inconsistency 
 of such teaching with a number of well- 
 known passages in the Bible. They 
 might remember that Giordano Bruno, an 
 ardent Copernican, had also taught panthe- 
 ism with equal ardor. The standing dan- 
 ger on the side of Protestantism was, they 
 might think, sufficiently formidable, with- 
 out the addition to it — while it could still 
 
 ^ lb., p. 162. 
 
 2 L'Epinob, p. 76. 
 
 be staved off — of a danger on the side of 
 physical science. At the present day the 
 youth of Italy listen to infidel lectures and 
 read bad books without restriction ; one 
 single book of this kind, Kenan's Vie de 
 JhuSy is said to have caused loss of faith 
 to innumerable readers in Spain and Italy. 
 With loss of faith there comes too often, 
 as we all know, a shipwreck in morals. 
 Are the young Italians of to-day, whom 
 no one thinks of shielding from the 
 knowledge of attacks on Christianity, mor- 
 ally purer and intellectually stronger than 
 their partially protected predecessors of 
 the seventeenth century } We are not in a 
 position to answer the question ; but those 
 who believe that the case is not so, but 
 much otherwise, may well approve the 
 solicitude of the rulers of the Church at 
 the former period — when the repression 
 of bad books was still possible — to pro- 
 tect the Christian faith of the rising gen- 
 eration of Italians. Few Catholics would 
 hesitate to say, even now, that it would have 
 been to the unspeakable advantage of Euro- 
 pean society and individual souls, if the bad 
 book by Renan just adverted to had been 
 summarily suppressed at its birth, and the 
 writer imprisoned, at least "formally." Far 
 be it from us so to disparage the honored 
 name of Galileo as to suggest for a 
 moment that the two cases are parallel. 
 Galileo was a Christian all along, and 
 could no more have written the sentimen- 
 tal impieties of the Vie de J^sus than 
 could Urban VIII. himself. Still there 
 can be no doubt that the Pope and cardi- 
 nals, beside thinking his personal behavior 
 
44 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 censurable, because he had broken a dis- 
 tinct promise and disregarded a solemn 
 warning, believed that the interests of 
 religion required that Copernicanism 
 should be no otherwise taught than as a 
 scientific hypothesis. The decrees, it is 
 true, say nothing as to a hypothetical pro- 
 pounding ; to them the Copernican theory 
 is simply false. But this is the usual style 
 of all disciplinary tribunals. The words 
 of Bellarmine, before quoted, leave no 
 doubt as to the Church's mind, and an 
 important step towards their realization 
 was taken when, in 1757, — the Newtonian 
 philosophy, which involves the centrality 
 of the sun, having been favorably received 
 at Rome, — Benedict XIV. suspended the 
 decree of the Congregation of the Index 
 above described.^ 
 
 III. One more question remains — 
 whether Galileo was or was not tortured in 
 
 1 There need be no question as to the sincerity of the Pope 
 and cardinals in repudiating Copernicanism. So far as was 
 then known, the appearances of nature might be equally well 
 explained on either theory, and Scripture in its obvious mean- 
 ing agreed with one and not with the other. Neither Bacon, 
 nor Tycho Brahe, nor Descartes, accepted the Copernican 
 theory. Milton, in the " Paradise Lost," wavers between the 
 two systems. 
 
 the course of his examination. It is 
 extremely painful to read of torture being 
 even threatened to a man so warmly loved 
 by a host of friends, and to whom science 
 was under such profound obligations. 
 However, one may feel reasonably confi- 
 dent that it was no more than a threat. 
 M. L'Epinois {La Question de Galilee, p. 
 104) enters fully into the question, and 
 shows (i) that no one in the seventeenth 
 century ever said or thought, so far as 
 appears, that Galileo had been actually 
 tortured ; (2) that a special " interlocutory 
 sentence" of the judge must have been 
 given before the application of the torture, 
 and that of such sentence there is no 
 trace ; (3) that even if such sentence had 
 been given, Galileo might have legally 
 appealed against it on the ground of age 
 and ill-health, and that his appeal must 
 have been allowed. For these and several 
 other reasons which we have not space to 
 analyze, L'Epinois considers that it is 
 scarcely possible to doubt that the torture, 
 though threatened, was not actually 
 administered. 
 
Copyright, ltS9. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy, 
 
 €f)e Cruciftjrion 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 
 WWW 
 
 Hi^tofJ of the Ifi^h CathoIiG dhiii<cfi. 
 
 IJJiJJJlLIIJlL 
 
 •*->^ 
 
 (Fl^^^-** 
 
 'N the fifth century Ireland was 
 divided, as it was for centuries 
 afterwards, into several small 
 kingdoms. Some unknown 
 preachers must have found 
 their way into the country 
 even before the mission of Palladlus, and 
 converted some of the natives to the 
 faith of Christ, for St Prosper in his 
 chronicle (published about 434), writes 
 that Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine 
 in 431 "ad Scotos in Christum credentes^^ 
 to the Scots believing in Christ. The 
 terms Scotia and Scots originally belonged 
 to Ireland and the Irish. This mission 
 of Palladius, who was deacon of the 
 Roman Church, did not last long, and 
 bore little fruit. So much we learn from 
 the Book of Armagh (written before 
 700), with the additional fact that Pal- 
 ladius died in Britain on his return from 
 Ireland. 
 
 The general conversion of the Irish 
 nation was reserved for St. Patrick, who 
 was probably born at the place now called 
 
 Kilpatrick on the Clyde,^ whence he was 
 carried as a slave into the north of Ireland 
 while still a youth. The degradation and 
 darkness of the inhabitants profoundly 
 impressed his pure and generous heart, 
 and from the time when he regained his 
 liberty, at the age of twenty-one, he devo- 
 ted himself to the divine service and the 
 task of spreading the doctrines of salvation. 
 After going through a course of study at 
 Marmoutier and Lerins, he repaired to 
 Rome. We next hear of him as accom- 
 panying St. Germanus and St. Lupus on 
 their anti-Pelagian mission to Britain. 
 Being selected by St. Germanus to preach 
 the faith in Ireland, he went first — if we 
 may accept the testimony of Probus^ — to 
 Rome to obtain the apostolic blessing. 
 Celestine dying soon after, Patrick left 
 Rome and journeyed towards Ireland. 
 Hearing on his way of the death of Palla 
 
 1 Dr. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, who formerly leaned tj 
 the opinion that the place was near Boulogne in France, hai 
 lately written convincingly in favor of the Scottish site. 
 
 2 Probus wrote a Life of St. Patrick in the tenth century; 
 see O'Curry's Materials of Ancient Irish History. 
 
46 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 dius, he went to St.. Amatorex, who 
 ordained him bishop. Landing in Ireland 
 in 432, he attended the assembly of the 
 Irish kings and chieftains held on the hill 
 of Tara in that year. His reception was 
 not very encouraging ; however, he con- 
 verted several, and among others the father 
 of St. Benignus, his immediate successor 
 in the see of Armagh. 
 
 St. Patrick fixed his principal residence 
 at Armagh, which became the primatial 
 see of the island. In the course of his 
 long career, extending beyond sixty years, 
 he visited and converted the greater part 
 of Ireland, and established bishoprics in 
 all the provinces. Among his chief com- 
 panions and assistants were Auxilius, 
 Isserninus, and Secundinus. The Irish 
 people received the gospel with extraordi- 
 nary readiness. St. Patrick left few writ- 
 ings behind him ; his " Confession," a 
 kind of autobiography, is his chief work. 
 We have also his circular letter against 
 Coroticus, and the canons of a synod which 
 he held with Auxilius and Isserninus, 
 about 453, to regulate church discipline. 
 In his " Confession," he does not mentioa 
 the Pope or the Holy See, and Beda, in 
 his " Ecclesiastical History," is silent 
 about St. Patrick's mission. Hence Prot- 
 estant writers have inferred that he had 
 no mission from Rome, and preached a 
 Christianity of his own, distinct from that 
 of the Popes ; in short, that he was a kind 
 of Protestant. This hypothesis has been 
 exploded by Dr. Lanigan, Bishop Moran, 
 and others, who show that although St. 
 Patrick, having a special object in view 
 
 when he wrote the "Confession," says 
 nothing in it about Rome, yet the history 
 of the early Irish Church is unintelligible 
 unless we assume a close and filial rela- 
 tion to the Holy See to have existed from 
 the first. Within a century after St. Pat 
 rick, St. Columbanus, the great Irish mis- 
 sionary of the sixth century, said to the 
 Pope, " The Catholic faith is held unshaken 
 by us, as it was delivered to us by you, 
 the successors of the holy apostles."^ 
 Another theory was put forward by the 
 learned Usher, the Protestant Archbishop 
 of Armagh : it was that Ireland did not 
 owe her Christianity to Rome, nor even to 
 St. Patrick, since she already possessed 
 a hierarchy at the time when the saint 
 arrived. But when the names of the 
 bishops supposed to have belonged to this 
 hierarchy — Ailbe, Declan, Ibar, Kieran, 
 etc. — came to be examined. Dr. Lanigan 
 was able to prove that they were all pos- 
 terior in date to St. Patrick.^ 
 
 With respect to Beda, alrtiough it is 
 true that he does not mention St. Patrick 
 in his Ecclesiastical History, the circum- 
 stance — singular as it must be admitted 
 to be — may perhaps be explained on the 
 ground that he chose to confine himself 
 strictly to the religious concerns of the 
 Angles and Saxons. It is impossible to 
 infer from it that Beda passed over the 
 conversion of Ireland in silence, because 
 he, a zealous adherent of Rome, disap- 
 proved of a work effected independently 
 of Rome. Had he so felt, he would have 
 
 1 Moran, Essays on the Early Irish Church, p. 4. 
 '^ Ibid., p. 40. 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 47 
 
 studiously avoided speaking of St. Patrick 
 in his other writings, as well as in his 
 history. But the fact is that in both his 
 " Martyrologies," Beda does give the 
 name of St. Patrick. In the prose one, 
 under March 17, he says, " In Scotia, the 
 birthday of the holy Patricius, bishop and 
 confessor, who first in that country 
 preached the gospel of Christ." In his 
 metrical martyrology, under the same day, 
 he says, "Patricius, the servant of the 
 Lord, mounted to the heavenly court." 
 
 The death of the apostle of Ireland 
 occurred in 493. The present sketch of 
 the history of the Church in Ireland from 
 that time to our own day will be divided 
 into three periods : i, that of sanctity, 
 learning, and missionary energy (493-8CXD) ; 
 2, that of invasions and usurpation (809- 
 1530); 3> that of persecution (i 530-1829). 
 The period commencing at the last-named 
 date will be regarded by our descendants, 
 if present appearances may be trusted, as 
 an era of restoration. 
 
 I. The Irish saints are divided by the 
 national hagiographers into three classes. 
 In the first, which consists of those of the 
 earliest Christian age down to about 530, 
 the principal figures are those of St. Pat- 
 rick himself, St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Ibar, 
 St. Declan, and St. Kieran. The second 
 class, from 530 to 600, contains St Coem- 
 man or Kevin, the two Brendons, Jarlath 
 of Tuam, and the great St. Clumboa or 
 Columbkill. The third class, whose 
 period is from 6cxD to about 660, contains 
 St. Maidoc, the first bishop of Ferns ; St. 
 Colman of Lindisfarne, Ultan, Fursey, 
 
 etc. The first class, in the words of the 
 ancient authority quoted by Dr. Lanigan,^ 
 "blazes like the sun, the second like the 
 moon, the third like the stars .... 
 the first most holy, the second very holy, 
 the third holy." 
 
 That learning, in all the branches then 
 known, was eagerly followed by Irish stu- 
 dents from the time of the conversion, is 
 a fact of which there is abundant evidence. 
 A copious literature sprang up, consisting 
 of monastic rules, tracts on ritual and 
 discipline, homilies, prayers, hymns, gen- 
 ealogies, martyrologies in prose and verse, 
 and lives of saints. This literature, as was 
 to be expected, was partly composed in 
 the vernacular and partly in Latin ; but 
 the bulk of it was in the Gaelic. The 
 extant remains are still considerable ; that 
 they are not yet more copious is explained 
 by Professor O' Curry in a remarkable 
 passage, which will be cited in a different 
 connection further on. 
 
 The English Beda bears ungrudging 
 testimony to the high character of the 
 Irish missionaries who had labored in 
 Northumbria, and to the general belief in 
 the excellence of the Irish schools. " The 
 whole solicitude of those teachers," he 
 says, "was to serve God, not the world; 
 their one thought was how to train the 
 heart, not how to satisfy the appetite."^ 
 The special excellence of the Irish schools 
 was the interpretation of Scripture ; thus 
 about 650, Agilbert, a French bishop, 
 resided a long time in Ireland, " for the sake 
 
 1 History of the Church of Ireland, \\. 330. 
 
 2 Hist. Eccl. iii. 26. 
 
48 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of reading the Scriptures."^ Some years 
 latter (664) it became a common practice 
 with the Northumbrian Thanes to visit 
 Ireland, either with a view to greater 
 advance in the spiritual life, or for the 
 sake of biblical knowledge, ''divines 
 lectionis.'" These last would go from 
 place to place, attending the cells of the 
 different masters ; and so generous were 
 the natives, that they provided for them 
 all, " their daily food free of cost, books 
 also to read, and gratuitous teaching. "^ 
 
 The missionary energy of the Irish 
 Church, commencing with a little island 
 off the coast of Mull, which it made a 
 basis for further operations, ended by 
 embracing France, Switzerland, and Italy 
 within the scope of its charity. St. 
 Columba, of whom Montalembert in his 
 ^' Monks of the West," has given to the 
 world a graphic portraiture, founded the 
 monastery of Hy or lona in 563, chiefly 
 with a view to the conversion of the Picts 
 dwelling in the north of Scotland. For 
 more than 230 years lona continued to 
 flourish, and was a centre of pure religion, 
 education, art, and literature to all the 
 surrounding countries. Here, as in a 
 "sacred storehouse,"^ rest the bones of 
 not a few Irish, Scottish, and Norwegian 
 kings. It was devastated by the Danes in 
 795, and the monks were dispersed a few 
 years later. From lona the monk Aidan, 
 at the invitation of king Oswald, came 
 into Northumbria, the Angles of which 
 
 1 Ibid. iii. 7. 
 
 * Ibid. iii. 27. 
 
 8 Shaksp. Macbeth, Act II. sc. 4. 
 
 were still mostly Pagans, and founded in 
 633 a monastery on the isle of Lindis- 
 fame, of which he became the first bishop. 
 To him and his successors the conversion 
 of the northern English was chiefly due. 
 Lindisfarne in its turn became a great 
 school of sacred learning and art, and its 
 bishopric ultimately grew into the palatine 
 see of Durham. In East Anglia the Irish 
 St. Fursey assisted Felix the Burgundian 
 in the conversion of the natives ; in 
 Wessex the Irish Maidulf founded the 
 great convent of Malmesbury. In the 
 sixth and seventh centuries Irish mission- 
 aries were active in France ; Fridolin 
 restored religion at Poictiers, and recov- 
 ered the relics of St. Hilary ; St. Fursey 
 founded a monastery at Lagny ; St. 
 Fiacre settled at Paris ; and Columbanus 
 founded in Burgundy the historic monas'^ 
 tery of Luxeuil. In Switzerland the name 
 of the town and canton of St. Gall perpet- 
 uates the memory of an Irish anchorite, 
 who in 613 planted a cross near a spring 
 in the heart of a dense forest, south of the 
 lake of Constance, and by despising the 
 world drew the world to him. Bobbio, in 
 Italy, was the last foundation and resting- 
 place of St. Columbanus. In Germany, 
 the Irish Fridolin, the hero of many a 
 tender Volkslied and wild legend, was 
 probably the first apostle of the Alemanni 
 in Baden and Suabia.^ 
 
 The well-known controversy respecting 
 the right observation of Easter, which 
 raged in the seventh and eighth centuries 
 between those who had received a Roman 
 
 1 Art. " Fridolin," by Hefele, in Wetzer and Welte. 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 49 
 
 and an Irish training respectively, turned 
 on the fact that the Irish Church, from 
 its isolation in the far west, and the diffi- 
 culties of communication with the centre 
 of unity, had fallen somewhat behindhand 
 in ecclesiastical science, and not adopted 
 the improved methods of calculation 
 which had come into force in Latin 
 Christendom generally. ^ After there had 
 been time for a full discussion and 
 comparison of views, the Irish gradually 
 came round to the better practice. At a 
 synod held at Old Leighlin, in 630, a 
 letter having come from Honorius I., the 
 Roman cycle and rules for computing 
 Easter were adopted in all the south of 
 Ireland.^ At lona and in the north of 
 Ireland the necessary change was deferred 
 for many years. Adamnan, Abbot of Hy, 
 labored hard between 701 and 704 to 
 introduce the Roman Easter, and met 
 with considerable success. But the deci- 
 sive adoption of it at Hy is said to have 
 been due to the persuasions of St. Egbert 
 about 716.' 
 
 II. Period of Invasions. — The Danes 
 (called " Ostmen " by the Irish), appeared 
 on the Irish coasts about the end of the 
 eighth century. Wherever they came they 
 desecrated churches, burnt monasteries, 
 destroyed books, pictures, and sculptures, 
 
 1 The erroneous practice was not that of the Quartodeci- 
 mans [ Easter Cycle], for the Irish always waited for 
 Sunday before celebrating the feast ; it consisted in keeping 
 Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the 
 month, instead of from the fifteenth to the twenty-first ; the 
 consequence being that when Sunday fell on the fourteenth, 
 Easter began to be kept on the evening of the thirteenth day, 
 that is, before the occurrence of the Paschal full moon. 
 
 2 Lanigan ii. 389. 
 
 8 Bed. Hist. Eccl. 5. 22. 
 
 murdered priests, monks, and poets. To 
 the ferocity of the wild beasts they joined 
 the persevering energy of the Teuton ; 
 their arms were better than those of the 
 Irish, and perhaps they had more skill in 
 handling them. Confusion and lamenta- 
 tion were soon in every part of the island. 
 Men, after a while, seeing the continued 
 success of these odious Pagans, began to 
 doubt of Providence, and to grow slack in 
 faith. Sauve qui petit became the general 
 feeling, and the generosity towards the 
 Church of the" converts of the age of St. 
 Patrick underwent a selfish but not unnat- 
 ural reaction in their descendants. " When 
 foreign invasion and war had cooled down 
 the fervid devotion of the native chiefs, and 
 had distracted and broken up the long 
 established reciprocity of good offices 
 between the Church and the State, as weU 
 as the central executive controlling 
 power of the nation, the chief and the 
 noble began to feel that the lands which 
 he himself or his ancestors had offered to 
 the Church, might now, with little impro- 
 priety, be taken back by him, to be applied 
 to his own purposes, quieting his con- 
 science by the necessity of the case."^ 
 The beautiful Glendalough, founded by 
 St. Kevin about 549, being near the sea, 
 was peculiarly exposed to Danish assault; 
 but not one of the principal monasteries — 
 Armagh, Kildare, Clonmacnc'se, Slane, 
 etc., — escaped destruction at one time or 
 other. Dublin — of which the Irish name 
 is "Ath-cliath" — became a Danish city. 
 From time to time the invaders were 
 
 1 O'Curry, Materials, etc p. 343. 
 
50 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 heavily defeated — as in the battle of 
 Clontarf (1014) when the victorious Brian 
 Boru fell in the hour of victory. Gradu- 
 ally they adopted Christianity, lost their 
 national language, and were blended with 
 the natives, never having, as in England, 
 succeeded in subjecting the whole island 
 to their rule. 
 
 In the course of the twelfth century, 
 the power of the O' Neils of Ulster, who 
 had for a long period been overlords of the 
 whole of Ireland, declined, and the O'Con- 
 nors of Connaught attempted to take their 
 place. But it was a weak and wavering 
 sovereignty, and the kings of the five 
 petty kingdoms were continually plotting, 
 combining, and making war one against 
 another. A state of general insecurity and 
 lawlessness was the natural result ; and 
 though the faith of the people remained 
 intact, moral disorder in every form was 
 rampant, and the discipline of the Church 
 was often set at nought. The clergy, 
 probably for the sake of greater stability 
 and safety, tended to cluster together 
 under some monastic rule ; and the laity, 
 abandoned to themselves, fell a prey to 
 gross superstitions and excesses. The 
 Popes, by sending legates, and writing 
 admonitory letters from time to time, 
 attempted to reform the state of society. In 
 the first half of the twelfth century a power- 
 ful influence for good was exerted by the 
 admirable sanctity of St. Malachy, who 
 died at Clairvaux under the eyes of St. 
 Bernard, in 1 148, and whose life was writ- 
 ten by his great friend. The state of things 
 at Armagh, when Malachy was elected to 
 
 the primacy in 1125, is a good illustration 
 of the disorder which pervaded the Irish 
 Church. A certain powerful family had 
 for more than two hundred years claimed 
 the primatial chair as a hereditary posses- 
 sion ; for fifteen generations they had 
 made good their claim ; and of these fifteen 
 occupants of the see only six were in holy 
 orders, the rest being married laymen, 
 who, though they did not presume to 
 exercise the Episcopal functions, enjoyed 
 the title and emoluments of the bishopric.^ 
 Celsus, the last of the series, being a good 
 man, procured the election of St. Malachy 
 as his successor ; but the family resented 
 this intrusion on their " rights," and pre- 
 sented to the see one of themselves, 
 Murchadh by name, upon the death of 
 Celsus. For the sake of peace St. 
 Malachy waited for five years before enter- 
 ing Armagh ; on the death of Murchadh, 
 in 1 1 33, he was peaceably installed. In 
 1 138 the saint visited Rome, where Pope 
 Innocent II. received him with the highest 
 honor, and appointed him his legate in 
 Ireland. His zeal, but still more his 
 saintly example, effected a salutary change 
 in the northern parts of Ireland, where, 
 having obtained leave to resign the pri- 
 macy, he spent the last ten years of his 
 life as bishop of the small see of Down. 
 
 At the beginning of his reign, Henry II. 
 had obtained the approbation of Pope 
 Adrian IV., an Englishman, for his project 
 of entering Ireland, ostensibly with a view 
 to extirpating vice and ignorance among 
 the natives, and attaching the island more 
 
 1 Lingard, Hist, of Eng. ii. 89. 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 51 
 
 closely to the see of St. Peter. Of this 
 bull Henry made no use for many years, 
 and the actual invasion of Ireland by 
 Strongbow and other Norman knights was 
 in a manner accidental. For several gene- 
 rations things went on much as before ; the 
 English power was confined to the " Pale " 
 or strip of country on the eastern coast ; 
 in the rest of Ireland the native princes, 
 though they often recognized an ill-defined 
 overlordship in the English kings, reigned 
 practically after their own fashion. Out- 
 side the Pale, Brehon, not feudal law, pre- 
 vailed. One benefit, at least, resulted : 
 the Normans were great builders ; and 
 noble churches of stone soon covered the 
 land. It is true that in this reform they 
 were preceded by St. Malachy, who had 
 built a church of stone at Bangor, near 
 Carrickfergus, to the great amazement of 
 the natives, who had, till then, seen only 
 their own ingeniously constructed edifices 
 of timber and wickerwork. 
 
 Three great Irish synods were held in 
 the twelfth century. At the first, that of 
 Kells (11 52), at which a Roman cardinal 
 presided, the metropolitan dignity of the 
 three sees of Cashel,^ Dublin, and Tuam 
 was solemnly recognized ; but the primacy 
 over the whole island was still reserved to 
 Armagh. At the second, that of Cashel 
 (1172), held immediately after the inva- 
 sion, Church property was declared to be 
 exempt from the exactions of the chief- 
 tains, the regular payment of tithes was 
 
 1 Cashel was already regarded as a metropolitan see as 
 early as 11 11, and its bishops exerted corresponding powers to 
 8 jme extent; in 1140 it was formally recognized as such by 
 Innocent II. at the request of St. Malachy (Lanigan, iv. 20). 
 
 enjoined, and it was ordered that all mat- 
 ters of ritual should be arranged in future 
 "agreeably to the observance of the 
 Church of England" — in other words, 
 according to Roman usage. The third 
 synod, that of Dublin (1186), passed sev- 
 eral canons of ritual; it is chiefly noted 
 for a sermon, preached before it by Gerald 
 de Barri, or Cambrensis, in which, while 
 praising the orthodoxy and the continency 
 of the Irish clergy, he lamented that too 
 many of them were addicted to intem- 
 perance. 
 
 Many of the English and Normans 
 who settled in Ireland after the invasion 
 adopted by degrees the dress, customs, 
 and laws of the natives, and became no 
 less intractable than they in their attitude 
 towards the English government. An 
 effort was made to stop this process by 
 the Statute of Kilkenny (1367), which 
 made it treasonable for those of English 
 descent to marry, or enter into the rela- 
 tion of fosterage, or contract spiritual 
 aflfinity with the natives ; and forbade to 
 the same class, on pain of forfeiture of 
 property, the adoption of an Irish name, 
 or the use of the Irish language, dress, or 
 customs. But this statute was to a great 
 extent inoperative, and from the date of 
 its enactment to the time of Henry VIII. 
 there were two parties in continual oppo- 
 sition to the government, the "English 
 rebels," and the " Irish enemies." The 
 demarcation between English and Irish, 
 which the civil government thus did its 
 utmost to maintain, was partially intro- 
 duced, and with the most unhappy results. 
 
52 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 into the administration of Church affairs. 
 In the counties of the Pale it was scarcely 
 possible for an ecclesiastic of Irish race to 
 obtain preferment. The invasion by the 
 Scots under Edward Bruce, in 13 15, 
 though ultimately defeated, caused great 
 confusion, and called forth during its con- 
 tinuance many tokens of sympathy from 
 the Irish clergy. This, says Mr. Malone, 
 was made a pretext for " throwing off the 
 mask,"^ and under color of disloyalty 
 Irishmen were excluded from all the 
 higher dignities and benefices. Yet it 
 would appear that this exclusion could not 
 have extended much beyond the Pale ; for 
 if we examine the lists of bishops occupy- 
 ing the Irish sees in 1350, we find that 
 out of thirty-three names, eighteen are 
 certainly Irish, thirteen English, while 
 two may be doubtful. All through this 
 time of confusion and disunion a strong 
 religious feeling was abroad, animating 
 the men of both races alike, and directing 
 them to common objects. In the thir- 
 teenth century we hear of 170 monas- 
 teries being founded; about 55 in the 
 fourteenth, and about 60 in the fifteenth. 
 Two unsuccessful attempts were made to 
 found universities, — one at Dublin (1320), 
 by Archbishop Bicknor ; the other at 
 Drogheda, by the parliament which sat 
 there in 1465. 
 
 III. Period of Persecution. — By the 
 aid of Brown, the Archbishop of Dublin, 
 an Englishman who had embraced the 
 Lutheran opinions, Henry VIII. had some 
 success in imposing his doctrine of the 
 
 1 Church History of Ireland, ch. ix. 
 
 royal supremacy on the Irish clergy. 
 Under Mary all progress in this direction 
 was reversed. Soon after the accession of 
 Elizabeth, in 1560, a packed Parliament 
 was convened at Dublin which passed an 
 Act of Uniformity, declaring the royal 
 supremacy over the Church, and imposing 
 the Protestant Prayer-book. By many 
 Protestant writers ^ it has been maintained 
 that the bishops, with the exception of 
 two, either approved of or acquiesced in 
 the new order of things, and that the 
 people for many years frequented the 
 churches where the English service was 
 performed. The falsehood of all such 
 statements has been exposed by the 
 Bishop of Ossory.2 The real state of the 
 case appears to have been this. The 
 Archbishop of Dublin, Curwin, conformed 
 to Protestantism, and O'Fihel, Bishop of 
 Leighlin, did the same. The conduct of 
 four bishops (Ossory, Ferns, Cork, and 
 Clonfert) is more or less suspicious. The 
 remainder of the Irish hierarchy, viz., the 
 Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam (the 
 see of Armagh was vacant), two bishops 
 holding sees in the Pale (who were 
 deprived by the government), and sixteen 
 other bishops of suffragan sees, remained 
 faithful to their canonical obligations. As 
 these bishops died, or as, in the course of 
 the Elizabethan wars, the government was 
 able to consolidate its power in the 
 remoter parts of Ireland, the cathedrals, 
 Church lands, and other Church property 
 
 1 Bishop Mant, Dean Murray, etc. 
 
 2 Episcopal Succession in Ireland. See also an article » 
 the Contemporary Review^ for May, 1880, on " Dr Littledale,* 
 etc 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 53 
 
 were made over to Protestant bishops and 
 ministers appointed under the Act of Uni- 
 formity. The Catholic Bishop of Kil- 
 more, Richard Brady, was expelled from 
 the sec so late as 1585. The Holy See 
 did all that it could to support the 
 oppressed Church of Ireland, and animate 
 the clergy to meet their sufferings with an 
 unbending fortitude. A nuncio was sent 
 to reside at Limerick, money and arms 
 were liberally provided, the intervention of 
 Spain solicited, and Irish ecclesiastics 
 visiting Rome welcomed and assisted. 
 Except in the case of Dublin, the seat of 
 the Anglo-Irish government, where the 
 see was left vacant for many years from 
 the absolute impossibility of any prelate 
 residing there in safety, the successions of 
 bishops in all the Irish sees appear to have 
 been regularly maintained through all the 
 period of persecution. 
 
 The cause of learning, to which the 
 Irish Church has been ever devoted, could 
 not but suffer in this prolonged conflict. 
 Before the change of religion in England 
 there had been some encouraging signs of 
 progress in the reconciliation of the races 
 through the influence of a common inter- 
 est in intellectual pursuits. Among the 
 distinguished Oxford students of the first 
 thirty years of the sixteenth century, a 
 considerable proportion were Irishmen,^ 
 and it is impossible to doubt that had peace 
 and religious unity been preserved, this 
 resort to the English universities would 
 have gone on increasing until it bore its 
 
 1 See the list in Wood's Athenot Cxon. Wood does 
 not go farther back than 1500. 
 
 natural fruit in the establishment of a 
 great university on Irish soil. The change 
 of religion in England cut off the supply 
 of Irish students ; Catholicism became a 
 persecuted creed ; and the effect on learn- 
 ing — its professors, seats, implements, 
 and productions — may be understood 
 from the following vigorous passage: 
 "From about the year 1530, in the reign 
 of the English king Henry VIII., to the 
 year 1793, the priests of Ireland were 
 ever subject to persecution, suppression, 
 dispersion, and expatriation, according to 
 the English law ; their churches, monas- 
 teries, convents, and private habitations 
 were pillaged and wrested from them ; 
 and a vandal warfare was kept up against 
 all that was venerable and sacred of the 
 remains of ancient literature and art which 
 they possessed. When, therefore, we make 
 search for the once extensive monuments 
 of learning which the ecclesiastical libra- 
 ries contained of old, we must remember 
 that this shocking system continued for 
 near 300 years ; and that during all that 
 long period the clergy — the natural repos- 
 itories of all the documents which belonged 
 to the history of the Church — were kept 
 in a continual state of insecurity and 
 transition, often compelled to resort to 
 the continent for education, often forced 
 to quit their homes and churches at a 
 moment's notice, and fly for their lives, in 
 the first instance to the thorny depths of 
 the nearest forest or the damp shelter of 
 some dreary cavern, until such time, if 
 ever it should come, as they could steal 
 away to the hospitable shores of some 
 
54 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Christian land on the continent of 
 Europe."^ 
 
 Under James I. and Charles I., the 
 Catholic clergy having been now stripped 
 of all their property, and the laity of a 
 considerable portion of theirs, some tol- 
 eration was extended by the government 
 to Catholic worship. The terrible rising 
 of 1 64 1 was the commencement of a war 
 of eleven years, ending with the surrender 
 of Galway in 1652. Innocent X. sent the 
 Archbishop of Fermo (Rinuccini) as his 
 nuncio to Ireland in the autumn of 1645, 
 with considerable supplies of arras and 
 money. Unfortunately dissension arose 
 in the national ranks ; a moderate section 
 of the clergy, with most of the Catholic 
 gentry and laity, were for aiding the king 
 against the Parliament, and not exacting 
 from him very stringent conditions ; 
 but the bulk of the population, supported 
 by the nuncio and the inferior clergy, were 
 for turning the war into a struggle for 
 complete religious freedom and national 
 independence. Cromwell transported his 
 victorious army to Ireland in 1649, and by 
 several successful sieges, followed by 
 bloody military executions, broke the 
 strength of the resistance. The conquest 
 of the island was completed by his lieuten- 
 ants. The sufferings of the Irish clergy 
 during, and still more after, the war, were 
 indescribable. Bishop O'Brien of Emly 
 was executed by Ireton's order (165 1) 
 after the fall of Limerick. Bishop Egan 
 of Ross was murdsred by Ludlow's sol- 
 diers in 1650. In the same year Bishop 
 
 1 O'Curry's Materials, etc., p. 355. 
 
 McMahon of Clogher, being in command 
 of a body of Irish troops, fell into the hands 
 of the Puritans, and, though quarter had 
 been promised, was hanged. A letter of 
 Dr. Burgatt, afterwards Archbishop of 
 Cashel, written in r667, says that in the 
 persecution begun by Cromwell " more than 
 300 [clergy] were put to death by the 
 sword or on the scaffold . . . . ; 
 more than looo were sent into exile, and 
 among these all the surviving bishops," 
 except the Bishop of Kilmore, who was 
 too old to move.^ The Puritan sol- 
 diers put every priest to death whom they 
 fell in with; and yet so close a tie of 
 affection bound the clergy to their native 
 land and their people, that even in 1658, 
 about the worst time of all, there were 
 upwards of 1 50 priests in each province.^ 
 The regular clergy were no better off; 
 the Acts of the General Chapter of the 
 Dominican Order held at Rome in 1656, 
 mention that out of 600 friars who were in 
 the island in 1646 not a fourth part 'were 
 left, and of forty-three convents of the 
 order, not one remained standing.^ All 
 these horrors the Puritans pretended to 
 justify, as done in retaliation for the mas- 
 sacre of Protestants in 1641. That a great 
 number of persons were cruelly put to 
 death at the time of that rising is unde- 
 niable ; but, as Lingard points out,* the 
 main object pursued was not the murder 
 of the Protestants, but the recovery of the 
 
 1 Moran, Hist. Sketch of the Persecutions under CromweR 
 (1862)/. 82. 
 
 2 lb. p. 98. 
 
 8 Moran, of. cit. p. 74. 
 
 * Hist, of Eng. vii. app. note nnn. 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 55 
 
 confiscated lands. He significantly adds, 
 " That they [the Irish] suffered as much 
 as they inflicted cannot be doubted." 
 
 The exiles, both priests and laity, were 
 cast on the French coast in a state of such 
 utter destitution, that, but for prompt and 
 ample relief, many must have perished. 
 Happily a saint was at hand to help them. 
 St. Vincent of Paul, filled with compassion 
 for these victims of war and fanaticism, 
 collected money and clothing for them, 
 and provided them all with homes and 
 shelter ; he even sent considerable sup- 
 plies to Ireland.^ The Bishop of Ossory 
 also gives detailed proof of the unwearied 
 solicitude of the Holy See, for many years 
 after the Cromwellian invasion, in pro- 
 curing succors of every kind for the 
 Irish Catholics, and itself aiding them with 
 money to the utmost of its power.^ 
 
 The Act of Settlement (1660) legalized 
 the Cromwellian spoliations ; but the 
 Catholic worship was tolerated all through 
 the reign of Charles II. At the Revolu- 
 tion, the Irish espoused the cause of their 
 king, who, whatever quarrel the English 
 might have with him, had done Ireland no 
 wrong. Neither the letter nor the spirit 
 of the constitution enjoined that the Irish 
 Parliament and people should change their 
 king whenever it might suit the English 
 people to change theirs. But, in the 
 absence of effectual aid from abroad, the 
 
 1 Moran, op. cit. p. 52. 
 
 2 About 1688, 72,000 francs a year were supplied by Rome 
 for the support of the Irish secular clergy and laity. In 1699 
 the Pope seat to James II., at St. Germain's, 58,000 francs for 
 the Irish eclesiastics exiled that year. From about 1750 to 
 iSoo the Popes sent the Irish bishops a hundred Roman 
 crowns a year in aid of Catholic poor schools. 
 
 superior resources of the stronger nation 
 crushed the resistance of the weaker ; and 
 I a period commenced ior the Irish Church 
 and people sadder than any that had pre- 
 ceded it. The writings of Burke, and — 
 among recent publications — Mr. Lecky's 
 "History of the Eighteenth Century," paint 
 in detail the picture of Ireland ruined and 
 outraged by the penal laws. Whatever 
 iniquitous law and crafty administration 
 could devise to destroy the faith of the 
 people was tried during the gloomy century 
 which began at the Revolution, but all to 
 no effect. The ill success of the American 
 war compelled the English government 
 to propose the first relaxation of the penal 
 laws in 1778. From that time the Irish 
 Church has been step by step regaining 
 portions and fragments of the rights of 
 which she was deprived in the sixteenth 
 century. The Protestant Church was dis- 
 established in 1869. The last twenty 
 years have seen the island covered with 
 beautiful religious edifices — cathedrals, 
 parish-churches, convents, colleges, etc. 
 Of such a people it may be justly said, " In 
 much experience of tribulation they have 
 had abundance of joy, and their very deep 
 poverty hath abounded unto the riches of 
 their simplicity."^ 
 
 The following is a list of the Irish sees, 
 of which four are metropolitan and twenty- 
 four suffragan : — 
 
 Province of Armagh. 
 
 Armagh. Meath. Derry. 
 
 Clogher. Dromore. Raphoe. 
 
 Down and Connor. Ardagh. Kilmore. 
 
 1 X Cor. viii. 2. 
 
56 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Dublin. 
 
 Province of Dublin. 
 
 Ossory. 
 
 Ferns. 
 
 Kildare and Leighlin. 
 
 Province of Cashel. 
 
 Cashel and Emly. Waterford and Lismore. 
 
 Cork. Cloyne. Killaloe. 
 
 Limerick. Ross. Kerry. 
 
 
 Province of Tuam. 
 
 
 Tuam. 
 
 Elphin. 
 
 Achonry. 
 
 Galway. 
 
 Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora. 
 Killala. 
 
 Clonfert 
 
 Mitred Abbot : The most Rev. the Abbot of Mount Melleray, 
 Cappoquin. 
 
 (Lanigan, " Ecclesiastical History of 
 Ireland," 1829; Plowden, "Historical 
 Review of the State of Ireland," 1803 ; 
 Malone, "Church History of Ireland," 3d 
 edition, 1880; Moran [Bishop of Ossory], 
 " Spicilegium Ossoriense " ; " Essays on 
 the Origin, Doctrine, and Discipline of the 
 early Irish Church," 1864; "Historical 
 •Sketch of the Persecutions suffered by 
 the Catholics of Ireland under Cromwell 
 and the Puritans " [1862].) 
 
 Origir\ arvd History of tKe 
 IrisK College at Rome. 
 
 The munificent Pontiff to whom the 
 English College owed its foundation — 
 Gregory XIII. — contemplated a similar 
 institution for Ireland ; but on mature 
 consideration he judged that whatever 
 portion of the Papal revenues could be 
 spared to aid that injured people would be 
 better spent in sending them money and 
 arms, at a time when they were engaged 
 in a deadly struggle with their English 
 
 oppressors, than in any other way. His 
 original desire was, however, carried out 
 by his nephew, the Cardinal Ludovico 
 Ludovisio, who in 1628 founded a college 
 near the Piazza Barberini for the instruc- 
 tion of Irish theological students, who were 
 afterwards to return to their own land, and 
 do their best to keep alive the flame of 
 religion among their persecuted country- 
 men. The celebrated Irish Franciscan^ 
 Fr. Luke Wadding, the historian of his 
 order, was the first rector of the college, 
 which opened with six students, and a 
 a dotation of fifty scudi per month. Car 
 dinal Ludovisio by his will bequeathed to 
 it a large vineyard at Castel Gandolfo, and 
 a thousand scudi of annual rent ; he 
 further directed that its management 
 should be transferred to the hands of the 
 Society of Jesus. A permanent site for 
 the college was found near the convent of 
 the Dominican nuns of the Annunziata. 
 The students attended lectures at the 
 CoUegio Romano [Roman College]. 
 
 The college remained under Jesuit man- 
 agement till 1773, when the order was sup- 
 pressed ; from that time to the date of the 
 French invasion — when it shared in the 
 general ruin which fell on all the Roman 
 colleges — it was governed by an Irish 
 rector assisted by three or four secular 
 priests of that nation. In 1826 it was 
 restored by Leo XII, , who placed it in a 
 suitable building near the church of S. 
 Lucia de' Ginnasi, with Mgr. Blake for its 
 first rector. Soon afterwards it was 
 arranged that the Cardinal Prefect of Propa- 
 ganda pro tern, should always be the pro- 
 
HISTORY OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 57 
 
 tector of the college. Card, Cappellari, 
 afterwards Gregory XVI., who thus 
 became their protector, conceived a singu- 
 lar affection for this Irish community, and 
 loaded it with favors. In 1836 he paid a 
 formal visit to the college, while Paul 
 Cullen, afterwards Cardinal Archbishop of 
 Dublin, was rectcr ; and in the same year, 
 he made over to it the monastery and 
 
 church of S. Agata alia Suburra. As 
 another proof of his regard, he granted 
 to the students the privilege of carrying in 
 the annual procession of Corpus Christi 
 the staves of the baldacchino under which 
 the Pope carries the Blessed Sacrament, 
 from the end of the colonnade in the 
 piazza of St. Peter's to the great gate of 
 the Accoramboni palace. 
 
 J 
 1 
 
 ^^ 
 
 Qjtee\jvO 
 
 '1^^^ 
 
 ++++ + + 4-+++++ + ++++++++ + + ++++ +++++++++-*-4-* 
 
 ■<in(n|n|n|n|e+++-iininih+4-4- + +++ + ■*-4- + -iii- + 4- + + + ++-*- •*•*■■♦••♦•++ 
 
 r 
 
 ^-^^ 
 
Jfistoiiy 0^ tt|E Inquisition. 
 
 'N no age of Christianity has the 
 Church had any doubt that in 
 her hands, and only in hers, 
 was the deposit of the true 
 ^^^ faith and religion placed by 
 
 Jesus Christ, and. that, as it is 
 her duty to teach this to all nations, so she 
 is bound by all practicable and lawful 
 means to restrain the malice or madness 
 of those who would corrupt the message or 
 resist the teacher. Some have maintained 
 that no means of coercion are lawful for 
 her to use but those which are used in 
 the internal forum [Forum Internum] 
 and derive their sanction from anticipated 
 suffering in the next world. The power 
 of the Church, according to Fleury,^ is 
 "purely spiritual," and he held with Mar- 
 silius that the Pope could employ no coac- 
 tive punishment of any kind unless the 
 emperor — i, e. the civil power — gave him 
 leave. From such a view it logically 
 follows that St. Paul ought to have asked 
 the permission of Sergius Paulus before 
 striking Elymas the sorcerer with blind- 
 
 1 Fleury, Dernier Discours, ch. 14. 
 
 ness ! The overwhelming majority of the 
 canonists take the opposite view — namely, 
 that the Church can and ought to visit 
 with fitting punishment the heretic and 
 the revolter ; and since the publication 
 of the numerous encyclical letters and 
 allocutions of the late Pope treating of the 
 relations between Church and State, and 
 the inherent rights of the former, the view 
 of Fleury can no longer be held by any 
 Catholic. 
 
 For many ages after the conversion of 
 Constantine it was easier for the Church 
 to repress heresy by invoking the secular 
 arms than by organizing tribunals of her 
 own for the purpose. Reference to eccle- 
 siastical history and the codes of Justinian 
 and Theodosius shows that the emperors 
 generally held as decided views on the 
 pestilent nature of heresy, and the neces- 
 sity of extirpating it in the germ before it 
 reached its hideous maturity, as the Popes 
 themselves. They were willing to repress 
 it ; they took from the Church the defini- 
 tion of what it was ; and they had old- 
 estabUshed tribunals armed with all the 
 
 68 
 
HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION. 
 
 59 
 
 terrors of the law. The bishops, as a rule, 
 had but to notify the appearance of heretics 
 to the lay power, and the latter hastened 
 to make inquiry, and, if necessary, to 
 repress and punish. But in the thirteenth 
 century a new race of temporal rulers 
 arose to power. The emperor Frederic 
 II. perhaps had no Christian faith at all ; 
 John of England meditated, sooner than 
 yield to the Pope, openly to apostatise to 
 Islam ; and Philip Augustus was refractory 
 towards the Church in various ways. 
 The Church was as clear as ever upon the 
 necessity of repressing heretics, but the 
 weapon — secular sovereignty — which she 
 had hitherto employed for the purpose, 
 seemed to be breaking in her hands. The 
 time was come when she was to forge a 
 weapon of her own ; to establish a tribunal 
 the incorruptness and fidelity of which 
 she could trust ; which, in the task of 
 detecting and punishing those who misled 
 their brethren, should employ all the 
 minor forms of penal repression, while 
 still remitting to the secular arm the case 
 of obstinate and incorrigible offenders. 
 Thus arose the Inquisition. St. Dominic 
 is said by some to have first proposed the 
 erection of such a tribunal to Innocent 
 III., and to have been appointed by him 
 the first inquisitor.^ Other writers trace 
 the origin of the tribunal to a synod held 
 at Toulouse by Gregory IX. in 1229, after 
 the Albigensian crusade, which ordered 
 that in every parish a priest and several 
 respectable laymen should be appointed to 
 search out heretics and bring them before 
 
 1 Ferraris, " Inquisitionis S. Officium." 
 
 the bishops.^ The task of dealing with 
 the culprits was diflficult and invidious, and 
 the bishops ere long made over their respon- 
 sibility in the matter to the Dominican 
 order. Gregory IX. appointed none but 
 Dominican inquisitors ; Innocent IV. nom- 
 inated Franciscans also, and Clement VII. 
 sent as inquisitor into Portugal a friar of 
 the order of Minims. But the majority of 
 the inquisitors employed have always been 
 Dominicans, and the commissary of the 
 Holy Office at Rome belongs ex officio t(? 
 this order. 
 
 The Congregation of Cardinals of the 
 Holy Inquisition was first erected by 
 Paul III. (1542), and remodelled by Six- 
 tus V. about forty years later. 
 
 " It is composed of twelve cardinals ; 
 of a commissary .... who discharges the 
 functions of a judge ordinary; of a coun- 
 sellor or assessor, who is one of the presi- 
 dents of the Curia ; of consultors, selected 
 by the Pope himself from among the 
 most learned theologians and canonists; 
 qualificators, who gave their opinions on 
 questions submitted to them ; an advocate 
 charged with the defence of persons 
 accused ; and other subordinate officials. 
 The principal sittings of the congregation 
 are held under the immediate presidency 
 of the Pope. "2 This supreme court of 
 inquisition proceeds against any who are 
 delated to it, and in former times used to 
 hear appeals from the sentences of similar 
 courts elsewhere, and to depute inquisitors 
 to proceed to any place where they might 
 
 1 Mohler, Kirchengeschichte, ii. 651. 
 
 2 De Moy, in Wetzer and Welte. 
 
6o 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 appear to be needed. The duties and 
 powers of inquisitors are minutely laid 
 down in the canon law, it being always 
 assumed that the civil power will favor, 
 or can be to compelled to favor, their 
 proceedings. Thus it is laid down, that 
 they " have power to constrain all mag- 
 istrates, even secular magistrates, to. 
 cause the statute against heretics to be 
 observed," and to require them to swear to 
 do so ; also that they can " compel all 
 magistrates and judges to execute their 
 sentences, and these must obey on pain of 
 excommunication " ; also that inquisitors 
 in causes of heresy " can use the secular 
 arm," and that "all temporal rulers are 
 bound to obey inquisitors in causes of 
 faith. "1 No such state of things as that 
 here assumed now exists in any part of 
 Europe ; nowhere does the State assist 
 the Church in putting down heresy ; it is 
 therefore superfluous to describe regula- 
 tions controlling jurisdiction which has 
 lost the medium in which it could work 
 and live. 
 
 The canon law also assumes that all 
 bishops, being themselves inquisitors ex vi 
 termini into the purity of the faith in their 
 respective dioceses, will co-operate with the 
 official inquisitors. Each may inquire 
 separately, but the sentence ought to pro- 
 ceed from both ; if they disagree, reference 
 must be made to Rome. The proceedings 
 taken against the Lollard followers of 
 Wyclif by Archbishops Arundel and Chi- 
 cheley between 1382 and 1428,^ illustrate 
 
 1 Ferraris, /<?<;. cit. §§ 33-37. ' 
 
 S Lewis' Life of Wyclif, p. 126. 
 
 both the points noticed above : i. That the 
 civil power in pre-reformation times was 
 wont to give vigorous aid to the bishops 
 in extirpating heresy ; 2. That the bishops 
 themselves could and did exercise strin- 
 gent inquisitorial powers apart from the 
 appointment of special inquisitors. 
 
 It does not appear that Papal inquisitors 
 were ever commissioned, eo nomine, in 
 England. In France the Inquisition was 
 established in pursuance of the decrees of 
 the synod of Toulouse (1229) already 
 referred to. Its tribunals were converted 
 into State courts by Philip the Fair, who 
 made use of them to condemn and ruin 
 the Templars. In this condition they 
 remained till the Reformation. In 1538 
 the Grand Inquisitor, Louis de Rochette, 
 was convicted of Calvinism and burnt ; 
 soon afterwards the powers of these courts 
 were transferred to the parliaments, and 
 finally to the bishops (1560). In Germany, 
 Conrad of Marburg, a man of a harsh and 
 inflexible temper, the confessor of St. 
 Elizabeth, attempted to establish an inqui- 
 sition in the thirteenth century ; he was 
 assassinated, and the tribunal never gained 
 a footing in the country. [On the Spanish 
 Inquisition, see the next article.] 
 
 JKe SparvisK Ir\q\jisitior\ 
 Explairved. 
 
 It was founded by Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella at Seville in 148 1, the first judges 
 of the tribunal being two Dominicans. 
 The clergy and many of the laity of the 
 
HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION. 
 
 6l 
 
 Csstilian kingdom had for some time 
 pressed the adoption of some such measure 
 in order to check the profanations and 
 frauds which the sham conversion to 
 Christianity of a large number of Jews 
 and Moors had occasioned. Even the 
 Episcopal thrones of Spain are said to 
 have been not always preserved from 
 the intrusion of these audacious hypo- 
 crites. Torquemada, another Dominican, 
 appointed in 1483, was Grand Inquisitor 
 for fifteen years. Under him three new 
 tribunals of the Holy Office were erected, 
 at Cordova, Jaen, and Villa Real ; after- 
 wards a fifth was added at Toledo. These 
 tribunals were always popular with the 
 lower orders and the clergy in Spain, but 
 terrible in the eyes of the nobles and the 
 rich middle class, who believed that they 
 were often used by the government as 
 engines of political repression in order to 
 diminish their influence. Ranke calls the 
 Spanish Inquisition " a royal tribunal, fur- 
 nished with spiritual weapons." In 1492 
 an edict was issued for the banishment 
 from Spain of all Jews refusing to embrace 
 Christianity, chiefly on account of their 
 alleged incorrigible obstinacy in persisting 
 in the attempt to convert Christians to their 
 own faith and instruct them in their rites.^ 
 About a hundred thousand went into ban- 
 ishment, and an equal or greater number 
 are supposed to have remained in Spain, 
 where their merely nominal Christianity 
 and secret addiction to their ancestral 
 doctrines and usages gave employment to 
 the Inquisition for centuries. 
 
 1 Prescott's Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, ii. 122. 
 
 The history of the Spanish Inquisition 
 was written by Llorente, who was secretary 
 to the tribunal of Madrid from 1790 to 
 1792. Hence he has been supposed to 
 have possessed great opportunities for 
 obtaining exact information ; and his state- 
 ment, that during its existence of 330 
 years the Spanish Inquisition condemned 
 30,000 persons to death, has been quoted 
 with credulous horror in every corner of 
 the civilized world. Dr. Hefele, now 
 bishop of Rottenburg, has examined with 
 great care and ability^ the real worth of 
 the above statement, and the question of the 
 credit due to Llorente. First, there is the 
 general fact of the greater relative severity 
 of penal justice in all countries alike, till 
 within quite recent times. The Carolina, 
 or penal code in force under Charles 
 v., condemned coiners to the flames, and 
 burglars to the gallows. Burying alive 
 and other barbarous punishments were 
 sanctioned by it, none of which were 
 allowed by the Inquisition. In England, 
 in the sixteenth century, persons refusing 
 to plead could be, and were, pressed to 
 death. The last witch burned in Europe 
 was sentenced in the canton Glarus by a 
 Protestant tribunal as late as 1785. 
 Secondly, Llorente omits to draw attention 
 to the fact that the Spanish kings obliged 
 the Inquisition to try and sentence 
 persons charged with many other crimes 
 besides heresy — e. g. with polygamy, 
 seduction, unnatural crime, smuggling, 
 witchcraft, sorcery, imposture, personation, 
 
 1 In his Life of Cardinal Ximenes, translated by Cano^ 
 Dalton, i860. 
 
62 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 etc. A large portion of criminals of this 
 kind would, down to the present century, 
 have been sentenced to death on convic- 
 tion in any secular tribunal in Europe. 
 Thirdly, Llorente does not pretend to base 
 the above statement as to the number 
 executed by the Inquisition on written 
 documents, but on calculations of his own 
 making, in some of which he can be 
 proved to be inexpert and inexact. 
 Fourthly, Hefele gives a list of palpable 
 misstatements and exaggerations which he 
 has detected in Llorente's volumes. 
 Fifthly, the man's career, when closely 
 examined, does not invite confidence. At 
 the end of the last century he was a liberal 
 ecclesiastic, imbued with French ideas, 
 and on intimate terms with Freemasons. 
 In 1806, at the instigation of Godoy, he 
 wrote a book against the fueros, or ancient 
 privileges, of the Basque provinces. He 
 
 accepted employment from the usurping' 
 government of Joseph Bonaparte. Ban- 
 ished from Spain on the fall of Joseph, he 
 escaped to Paris, and published his 
 "History of the Inquisition " in 1814. He 
 next translated the abominable novel, 
 " Faublas," into Spanish ; and, being exiled 
 from France in 1822, died at Madrid the 
 next year. 
 
 " The celebrated Autos-da-Fd ( i. e. Acts 
 of the confession of the faith)," says 
 Mohler,! " were as a rule bloodless. But 
 few inquisitorial processes terminated 
 with the death of the accused." The 
 auto, speaking generally, was a form of 
 reconciling culprits to the Church. 
 Nevertheless, the severities practised by^ 
 the tribunals were such that Rome 
 frequently interfered. The Spanish Inqui- 
 sition' was abolished in 18 13. 
 
 1 Kirckengeschichte, ii. 655. 
 
 
 
 
 
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 CHAPTER X. 
 
 
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 .HILIP NERI, a native of 
 Florence, remarkable from his 
 childhood upward for the sin- 
 gular beauty and purity of his 
 character, came to reside at 
 Rome, at the age of eighteen, 
 iw 1533' For some years he was tutor to 
 the children of a Florentine nobleman 
 living in Rome. His Hfe was one of 
 habitual self-denial, penance, and prayer. 
 A thirst for doing good consumed him ; 
 and by degrees he gathered round him a 
 number of men, young and old, whom he 
 animated by his discourses to a greater 
 zeal for God and hatred of evil, and to a 
 more exact regularity of life than they had 
 known before. This he did while still a 
 layman ; but on the advice of his con- 
 fessor he received holy orders, and was 
 ordained priest in 155 1. For a short time 
 after his ordination he received in his 
 own chamber those whom he had won to 
 God, and instructed them on spiritual 
 things ; then, during seven years, in a 
 larger room. Out of these colloquies was 
 gradually perfected the plan of evening 
 
 exercises, which is to this day practised 
 by the congregation, — plain sermons 
 being preached, hymns sung, and popular 
 devotions used, in a regular order, on 
 every week-day evening except Saturday, 
 The number of persons attending the 
 exercises still increasing, he obtained 
 (1558), from the administration of the 
 Church of St. Jerome, leave to build over 
 one of the aisles of that Church a chapel, 
 to which he gave the modest name of an 
 " oratory," whence arose the name of the 
 congregation. About this time many 
 persons afterwards eminent in the church 
 and the world joined him, among whom 
 were Caesar Baronius, the ecclesiastical 
 historian, and Francis Maria Tarugi, 
 afterwards Cardinals, Lucci, Tassone, etc. 
 Six years later, the Florentines living in 
 Rome having requested him to undertake 
 the charge of the Church of St. John the 
 Baptist, which they had just built, the 
 saint (1564) caused Baronius and others 
 of his followers to remove thither and to 
 receive ordination. From this date the 
 commencement of the congregation is 
 
6j. 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 reckoned. Their numbers increasing, it 
 seemed desirable to the Fathers to have a 
 house of their own. The old church of 
 the Vallicella, situated in the heart of 
 Rome, was ceded to them in 1575 ; and 
 St. Philip at once caused the present 
 magnificent church, called the " Chiesa 
 Nuova," to be commenced on the site. 
 The Fathers removed to the Vallicella in 
 1577 on the completion of the church; 
 St. Philip joined them in 1583, Gregory 
 XIII. had approved and confirmed the 
 erection of the congregation in 1575. 
 The constitutions of the society — which 
 St. Philip desired should be composed of 
 simple priests, without vows, but agreeing 
 to a rule of life — ■ were approved by Paul 
 V. in 1612. St. Philip died in 1595, was 
 beatified in 161 5, and canonized in 1622. 
 The rule of the congregation from the 
 first was that each house should be 
 independent, the only exception being 
 made in favor of certain Italian oratories 
 (Naples, San Severino, and afterwards 
 Lanciano), which were at first admin- 
 istered by the mother house at Rpme. 
 
 The Oratory was introduced into Eng- 
 land in 1847 by Dr. (now Cardinal) New- 
 man, who, during his long sojourn in 
 Rome following upon his conversion, had 
 studied closely the work of the holy 
 founder and become deeply imbued with 
 the spirit of his institute. The first house 
 was at Mary Vale, i. e. Old Oscott, and 
 was transferred, after a temporary sojourn 
 at St. Wilfrid's, Staffordshire, to Alcester 
 Street, Birmingham, in January, 1849. 
 A short time later a house was opened at 
 
 King William Street, Strand, London, by 
 F. Faber, with several other Fathers who 
 belonged to the Birmingham congrega- 
 tion, and were still subject to Father 
 Newman. In October, 1850, the London 
 house was released from obedience to Bir- 
 mingham, and erected into a congregation 
 with a superior of its own. It was finally 
 transferred to Brompton, where it is now 
 erecting a large domed church. The Ora- 
 tory at Birmingham has remained under 
 the direction — ever since his elevation to 
 the purple — of its illustrious founder, and 
 has become a great centre for the midland 
 counties of Catholic preaching and educa- 
 tion. 
 
 The following passage embodies a por- 
 tion of the cardinal's conception of St. 
 Philip's work. "He was raised up," 
 writes Cardinal Newman, " to do a work 
 almost peculiar in the Church." Instead 
 of combating like Ignatius, or being a 
 hunter of souls like St. Cajetan, " Philip 
 preferred, as he expressed it, tranquilly to 
 cast in his net to gain them ; he preferred 
 to yield to the stream and direct the cur- 
 rent — which he could not stop — of 
 science, literature, art, and fashion, and to 
 sweeten and sanctify what God had made 
 very good and man had spoilt. And so 
 he contemplated as the idea of his mis- 
 sion, not the propagation of the faith, nor 
 the exposition of doctrine, nor the catechel- 
 ical schools ; whatever was exact and 
 systematic pleased him not ; he put from 
 him monastic rule and authoritative speech, 
 as David refused the armor of his king. 
 No ; he would be but an ordinary individ- 
 
HISTORY OF THE ORATORY OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 
 
 65 
 
 ual priest as others ; and his weapons 
 should be but unaffected humility and 
 unpretending love. All he did was to be 
 done by the light, and fervor, and con- 
 vincing eloquence of his personal charac- 
 ter and his easy conversation. He came 
 to the Eternal City and he sat himself 
 down there, and his home and his family 
 gradually grew up around him by the 
 spontaneous accession of materials from 
 without. He did not so much seek his 
 own as draw them to him. He sat in his 
 small room, and they in their gay worldly 
 dresses, the rich and the well-born as well 
 as the simple and the illiterate, crowded into 
 it, . . . And they who came remained 
 j^'azing and listening till, at length, 
 first one and then another threw off their 
 bravery, and took his poor cassock and 
 girdle instead ; or, if they kept it, it was 
 to put hair-cloth under it, or to take on 
 them a rule of life, while to the world they 
 looked as before." 
 
 ^istor^ of tHe ©euotloH t© t^e 
 ^Qersd ^eiart ©f Jesas. 
 
 The special and formal devotion to the 
 Heart of Jesus, which is now so popular in 
 the Church, owes its origin to a French 
 Visitation nun, the Blessed Margaret Mary 
 Alacoque, who lived in the latter part of 
 the seventeenth century. Her biogra- 
 phers relate that our Lord Himself 
 appeared to her and declared that this 
 worship was most acceptable to Him ; and 
 her director, the famous Jesuit, Father de 
 la Colombi^re, preached the devotion at 
 
 the Court of St. James, and zealously 
 propagated it elsewhere. The most popu- 
 lar book in defence of the new devotion 
 was that of Father Gallifet, S, J., "De 
 Cultu SS. Cordis Jesu in variis Christiani 
 orbis partibus jam propagato." It was 
 published with a dedication to Benedict 
 Xni, and with the approval of Lambertini 
 (afterwards Benedict XIV,) ; the French 
 translation appeared in 1745, at Lyons. 
 On February 6, 1765,1 Clement XIII, 
 permitted several churches to celebrate 
 the feast of the Sacred Heart, which 
 was extended in 1856 to the whole church. 
 It is generally kept on the Friday after 
 the Octave of Corpus Christi. In Eng- 
 land, Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, 
 Spain, and Portugal, indeed, throughout 
 the Catholic world, the devotion and the 
 feast found a ready and enthusiastic 
 acceptance. However, the worship of the 
 Sacred Heart encountered keen opposi- 
 tion, particularly from the Jansenists. 
 They who practised it were nicknamed 
 " Cardiolatrae," or " Cordicolae," and 
 were charged with Nestorianism, as if 
 they worshipped a divided Christ, and 
 gave to the created humanity of Christ 
 worship which belonged to God alone. 
 The Jansenist objections were censured 
 as injurious to the Apostolic See, which 
 had approved the devotion, and bestowed 
 numerous indulgences in its favor by Pius 
 VI. in his condemnation of the Jansenist 
 synod of Pistoia. This condemnation was 
 issued in the bull "Auctorem fidei," bear- 
 
 1 The Congregation of Rites had refused to sanction "^t 
 feast in 1697 and 1729. 
 
66 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 ing date August 28, 1694. A further 
 approval of the devotion was implied in 
 the beatification of Margaret Mary Ala- 
 coque in 1864. 
 
 The bull " Auctorem fidei " contains the 
 following explanation of the principle on 
 which the devotion rests, an explanation 
 which is at once authoritative and clear. 
 The faithful worship with supreme adora- 
 tion the physical Heart of Christ, con- 
 sidered "not as mere flesh, but as united 
 to the Divinity." They adore it as " the 
 Heart of the Person of the Word to 
 which it is inseparably united." It is of 
 course absurd to speak of this principle 
 as novel ; it is as old as the belief in the 
 hypostatic union, and it was solemnly 
 defined in 431 at the Council of Ephesus. 
 All the members of Christ, united to the 
 rest of His sacred humanity and to the 
 eternal Word, are the object of divine 
 worship. If it be asked further, why the 
 heart is selected as the object of special 
 adoration, the answer is, that the real and 
 physical heart is a natural symbol of 
 Christ's exceeding charity, and of his 
 interior life. Just as the Church in the 
 middle ages turned with singular devotion 
 to the Five Wounds as the symbol of 
 Christ's Passion, so in these later days she 
 bids us have recourse to His Sacred Heart, 
 mindful of the love wherewith He loved 
 us "even to the end." Nothing could be 
 made of the fact, if it were a fact, that 
 the devotion actually began with Blessed 
 Margaret Mary, for though the doctrine of 
 the Church cannot change, she may and 
 does from time to time introduce new 
 
 forms of devotion. But the special 
 devotion to the Heatt of our Saviour is as 
 old at least as the twelfth century, while 
 early in the sixteenth the Carthusian 
 Lansberg recommended pious Christians 
 to assist their devotion by using a figure 
 of the Sacred Heart. ^ 
 
 (An account of the theology of the 
 devotion will be found in Card. Franzelin, 
 " De Incarnatione," and of the propagation 
 of the devotion in the admirable Life of 
 Blessed Margaret Mary by F. Tickell, S. J. 
 Both the doctrines and the history are 
 exhaustively treated by Nilles, '' De 
 Rationibus Festorum Sacratissimi Cordis 
 Jesu et Purissimi Cordis MaricB^ 1873.) 
 
 ^aered l^eart ©f ipar^j. 
 
 The principles on which the devotion 
 rests are the same {mutatis mutandis) as 
 those which are the foundation of the 
 Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart 
 
 Just as Catholics worship the Sacred 
 Heart because it is united to the Person of 
 the Word, so they venerate (with hyper- 
 dulia) the heart of Mary because united to 
 the person of the Blessed Virgin. In each 
 case the physical heart is taken as a natural 
 symbol of charity and of the inner life, 
 though of course the charity and virtues of 
 Mary are infinitely inferior to those of her 
 Divine Son. 
 
 1 See F. Ryder's quotations {Catholic Controversy, pp. 148, 
 149) from the Vitis Mystica, a series of meditations printed 
 among the works of St. Bernard, c. iii. 8, and from Laa»' 
 pergius, Divini Amoris Pharetra, ed. 1572, p. 78. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF MARY. 
 
 67 
 
 The devotion to the Immaculate Heart 
 was first propagated by John Eudes, 
 founder of a congregation of priests called 
 after him Eudistes. Eudes died in 1680. 
 The Congregation of Rites in 1669, and 
 again in 1726, declined to sanction the 
 devotion. However, a local celebration 
 of the feast was permitted (but without 
 proper Mass and office) by Pius VI. in 
 1799 ; and in 1855 Pius IX. extended the 
 feast — which is kept with a special Mass 
 and office, either on the Sunday after 
 the Octave of the Assumption or on the 
 third Sunday after Pentecost — to the 
 whole Church. The Arch-confraternity 
 of the Immaculate Heart established sorne 
 twenty years earlier at the church of 
 Notre Dame des Victoires, in Paris, did 
 much to spread the devotion and make it 
 popular. 
 
 {Nilles, " De Rationibiis Festorum SS. 
 Cordis Jesu et Purissimi Cordis Marice") 
 
 TKe Orig'iA of Bells. 
 
 Nothing certain is known as to the date 
 of their introduction, which has been 
 attributed sometimes to St. Paulinus of 
 Nola, sometimes to Pope Sabinian. During 
 the heathen persecution it was of course 
 impossible to call the faithful by any signal 
 which would have attracted public notice. 
 After Constantine's time, monastic com- 
 munities used to signify the hour of prayer 
 by blowing a trumpet, or by rapping with 
 a hammer at the cells of the monks. 
 Walafrid Strabo, in his celebrated book on 
 
 the divine offices, written about t?U; middle 
 of the ninth century, speaks of f;hc use of 
 bells as not very ancient in his time, and 
 as having been introduced from Italy 
 However, we learn from the history of St. 
 Lupus of Sens that church-bells were 
 known in France more than two centuries 
 before Strabo's time.. For long the 
 Eastern Church employed instead of bells, 
 clappers, such as we still use on Good 
 Friday, and bells were not known among 
 the Orientals till the ninth century. Even 
 then their use cannot have become 
 universal among them, for Fleury mentions 
 the ringing of church-bells as one of the 
 customs which the Maronites adopted 
 from the Latins on their reunion with the 
 Catholic Church in 11 83. The classical 
 words for bell are, kodon and tintinnabu- 
 lum. From the seventh ceptury onwards, 
 we find the names campana (from the 
 Campanian metal of which they were often 
 made)^, nola (from the town where their 
 use is said to have been introduced), and 
 clocccB (French cloche). Originally, church- 
 bells were comparatively small. Large 
 ones of cast metal first appear in the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries ; those of 
 the greatest size, in the fifteenth. In the 
 tenth century the custom began of giving 
 bells names. 
 
 Before the Church sets aside bells for 
 sacred, she blesses them with solemn 
 ceremonies. The form prescribed in the 
 Pontifical is headed " the blessing of a 
 bell," though it is popularly called " the 
 baptism of a bell," a title by which the 
 office is mentioned as early as the eleventh 
 
68 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 century. The bishop washes the bell with 
 blessed water, signs it with the oil of the 
 sick outside, and with chrism inside, and 
 lastly, places under it the thurible with 
 burning incense. He prays repeatedly 
 that the sound of the bell may avail to 
 summon the faithful, to excite their devo- 
 tion, to drive away storms, and to terrify 
 evil spirits. This power of course is due 
 to the blessings and prayers of the Church, 
 not to any efficacy superstitiously attribu- 
 ted to the bell itself. Thus consecrated, 
 bells become spiritual things, and cannot 
 be rung without the consent of the ecclesi- 
 astical authorities. 
 
 Hitherto, we have been treating of the 
 large church-bell. Small bells are also 
 used during Mass, and are rung by the 
 server at the Sanctus and Elevation. 
 The object of this rite is to excite the 
 attention and devotion of the faithful 
 The practice of ringing the bell at the 
 Elevation was introduced after the custom 
 of elevating the Host had become common 
 in the Church. The Elevation bell is 
 mentioned by William of Paris. This 
 bell is not rung when Mass is said before 
 the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, nor 
 again in private chapel of the Apostolic 
 palace if the Pope says or hears Mass. 
 
I- 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 ^u ftanti^ f abier. 
 
N exhaustive essay, " Christen- 
 verfolgungen," etc., on this 
 subject has lately appeared in 
 the " Real - Encyklopadie of 
 Christian Antiquities," edited 
 by Dr. Kraus. The limits of 
 the present work permit us only to give 
 a brief general outline of the principal 
 facts. 
 
 During the first century Christianity 
 was to a great extent confounded with 
 Judaism in the eyes of the Roman officials, 
 and since the latter was a religio licita, the 
 former shared the same privilege. The 
 persecutions under Nero and Domitian 
 were local and occasional ; no systematic 
 design of extirpating Christianity dictated 
 them. Gradually, partly because the Jews 
 took pains to sever their cause from that 
 of the Christians, partly because, in pro- 
 portion as Christianity was better under- 
 stood, the universality of its claim on human 
 thought and conduct, and its essential 
 incompatibility with pagan ideas, came 
 out into stronger relief, the antagonism 
 grew sharper, and the purpose of repres- 
 
 sion more settled. Charges, various in 
 their nature, were brought against the 
 Christians ; they were treasonable men 
 {majestatis ret) who denied to the empe- 
 rors a portion of their attributes and 
 dignity ; they were atheists, who, so far 
 from honoring the gods of the empire, 
 declared that they were devils ; they were 
 dealers in magic ; lastly, they practised a 
 foreign and unlawful religion (^religio peri- 
 grina illicita). Possessed by such concep- 
 tions, a high Roman official, especially if 
 he were a man of arbitrary or brutal 
 character, or if Christians were indiscreet, 
 could not lack pretext in abundance for 
 persecution, even before any general edict 
 of proscription had appeared. The rescript 
 of Trajan (98-117) directed the policy of 
 the government for a hundred years. 
 " Search," he said, " is not to be made for 
 Christians ; if they are arrested and 
 accused before the tribunals, then if any 
 one of them denies that he is a Christian, 
 and proves it by offering sacrifice to our 
 gods, he is to be pardoned." The implica- 
 tion was, of course, that those who avowed 
 
70 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 their Christianity and refused to sacrifice 
 were to be executed, as the adherents of 
 an unlawful religion. All through the 
 second century, the popular sentiment, 
 whenever a Christian was put on his trial, 
 raged against the accused ; the mob, still 
 for the most part pagan, believed every 
 wild and monstrous calumny that was 
 afloat against the sect. "If the Tiber 
 overflows," says Tertullian, "if the Nile 
 does not overflow, if there is a drought, 
 an earthquake, a scarcity, or a pestilence, 
 straightway the people cry, 'The Chris- 
 tians to the lions.* " This popular aversion 
 is noticed in the reports of the persecution 
 in Asia Minor, in which St. Polycarp suf- 
 fered (probably about 155, under Antoni- 
 nus Pius), and of the terrible slaughter of 
 Christians at Lyons and Vienna under 
 Marcus Aurelius. In 202 Severus issued 
 a formal edict forbidding conversions either 
 to the Jewish or the Christian religion 
 under heavy penalties. The persecution 
 which ensued lasted ten or eleven years ; 
 but from about 212 to the reign of Decius 
 (249-251) was a time of comparative peace, 
 and Christians multiplied in every direc- 
 tion. Even upon the general population 
 an impression was by this time made ; 
 and the attitude of the mob, in the perse- 
 cutions of Christians which happened 
 after the middle of the third century, was 
 at first apathetic, then respectful, finally, 
 even compassionate. Under Decius, who 
 was an enthusiast for the ancient glories 
 of the republic and empire, the systematic 
 general persecutions began, which aimed 
 at stamping out Christianity altogether. 
 
 Fabian, the bishop of Rome, and St. 
 Agatha in Sicily, were among the victims 
 of the Decian storm. Fortunately it was 
 short ; but when it had passed over, the 
 number of the lapsi, or those who in 
 various degrees had given way under the 
 pressure, was found to be very great. 
 Under Callus there was peace, but Vale- 
 rian (257) renewed the persecution. The 
 martyrdoms of St. Lawrence, St. Cyprian, 
 and St. Fructuosus of Tarragona, date 
 from about this time. Again., from 260 
 (in which year an edict of Gallienus 
 declared Christianity to be a legal reli- 
 gion) to 300, the government left the 
 Christians undisturbed except ire a few 
 months (270) under Aurelian. In 303, the 
 terrible persecution of Diocletian was 
 ushered in by the destruction of the great 
 church at Nicomedia. On the next day 
 appeared an edict, ordering that all build- 
 ings used for religious worship by the Chris- 
 tians should be destroyed, and that their 
 sacred books should be given up to the 
 authorities and burnt. Christians them- 
 selves were declared to be outlawed and 
 civilly dead ; they were to have no remedy 
 in the courts against those who did them 
 wrong ; and they were to be subject, in 
 every rank, to torture. A second edict 
 ordered that all bishops and priests should 
 be imprisoned ; a third, that such prisoners 
 should be compelled by every possible 
 means to offer sacrifice to the gods. The 
 extreme violence of this persecution did 
 not last beyond two years, but in that 
 time the blood of martyrs flowed abun- 
 dantly in Palestine, Italy, Gaul, Spain, and 
 
PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS. 
 
 71 
 
 Britain. A detailed account of the suffer- 
 ings of the Christians in Palestine may 
 be read in the Ecclesiastical History of 
 Eusebius. For some years after the 
 abdication of Diocletian (305) civil war 
 desolsied the empire ; but, after the fall of 
 Maxentius, Constantine, and Licinius, 
 about the beginning of 313, was published 
 the famous edict of Milan, by which 
 complete toleration was given to the 
 Christians, and Christianity was placed 
 on a footing of perfect equality with what 
 had been till now the State religion. This 
 edict was published some months later at 
 Nicomedia, so that both in East and West 
 the period of martyrdom was closed. 
 
 The persecution of Julian (361--363) — 
 although martyrdoms were not wanting, 
 e. g. those of SS. John and Paul — con- 
 sisted rather in a studied exclusion of 
 Christians from the favor of the Court 
 
 and government, together with a prohibi. 
 tion of teaching rhetoric, literature, and 
 philosophy *;ba» 'n ">ctual Taeasures o' 
 coercion. 
 
 The cruel persecution of the Catholics 
 in Africa by their Vandal conquerors, 
 under Geiseric {Genseric), Hunneric, and 
 his successors (439-523), was motived 
 partly by the hatred and contempt which 
 these Teutons bore to all of Roman blood 
 or nurture, partly by the inevitable antag* 
 onism between the Arian heresy which 
 they professed and the Catholic creed, 
 and partly by the policy of humbling and 
 weakening those whom they could not 
 hope to attach sincerely to their govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The persecutions of the Spanish Catho- 
 lics by the Arian Visigothic kings, Euric 
 and Leovigild, in the fifth and sixth centu* 
 ries, were of no great intensity. 
 
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 8«-- 
 
 V 
 

 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ■=^8!'==::::^ 
 
 -4^ STATIONS. 4- 
 
 '--SSss*^*^ 
 
 c^g^i^iS"^' 
 
 NAME given to the fast kept 
 on Wednesdays and Fridays, 
 In the Roman Church the fast 
 was one of devotion, not of 
 precept, and it ended at none 
 — i. e. three o'clock (TertuU. 
 "De Jejun." 2). Tertullian ("De Orat." 
 19) explains the word from the military 
 usage ; the Stations were days on which 
 the Christian soldiers stood on guard 
 and "watched in prayer." It was charac- 
 teristic of the Montanists to prolong the 
 fast of the Stations till the evening (" De 
 Jejun." 10). Prudentius (" Peristeph." vi. 
 52 seq) relates of the martyr Fructuosus 
 that he refused the cup offered him 
 because it was a Station, and the ninth 
 hour had not come. In the East, on the 
 other hand, the fast of the Stations was 
 obligatory (" Apost. Const." v. 20; "Canon 
 Apost." 69'^; Epiphan. "Haer." 75 n. 3). 
 In the West the fast on Wednesdays, 
 
 1 We follow Thomassin in his interpretation of the fourth 
 canon. The passage in the Constitutions {pasan tetrada 
 kai pasan paraskeuen frostassomen hutnin nesteuein) is, as 
 it seems to us, decisive against the view of Hefele {Concil. vol. 
 L p. 821) and others. Tetras often means " the fourth day." 
 
 never obligatory, died out altogether, while 
 that on Friday became obligatory about 
 the end of the ninth century. The Greeks, 
 on the other hand, still maintain the fast 
 of Wednesdays and Fridays. (Thomassin» 
 "Trait6 des Jeunes," P. ii. ch. 15.) 
 
 (2) The word, in another sense, still 
 holds its place in the Roman Missal. 
 Many of our readers must have noticed 
 the words ^' Staiio ad S. Petrum, ad S. 
 Mariam majorem,^^ etc., before the Introit 
 of certain Masses. Mabillon (" Museum 
 Italicum," tom. ii. p. xxxi.) explains the 
 term as meaning either a fast or " a con- 
 course of the people to an appointed 
 place — i. e. a church in which the proces- 
 sion of the clergy halts on stated days to 
 say stated prayers. It is an ancient cus- 
 tom in Rome that the Roman clergy 
 should on particular days meet for prayer 
 in some one church where Mass and other 
 divine services are performed. The pro- 
 cession of the Roman clergy to these 
 Stations is either solemn or private; the 
 latter when individuals betake themselves 
 privately to the appointed place, the 
 
 78 
 
STATIONS. 
 
 n 
 
 former when the Pope and the rest 
 solemnly proceed thither, singing litanies 
 and other prayers." The gathering of 
 clergy and people before this procession, 
 Mabillon continues, was called collecta, 
 and the name was then given to the 
 prayer said over the people before the pro- 
 cession started from one church to the 
 other in order to make the Station. "It 
 was St. Gregory who regulated the Sta- 
 tions at Rome — i. e. the churches where 
 the office was to be performed daily in 
 Lent, on the Ember days, and on the 
 solemn feasts ; for the feasts of the 
 saints were celebrated in the churches 
 which contained their relics. St. Gregory 
 then marked these Stations in his Sacra- 
 mentary, as they are now in the Roman 
 Missal, and attached them chiefly to the 
 patriarchal and titular churches ; but, 
 although the Stations were fixed, the 
 Archdeacon did not fail, after the Pope's 
 Communion, to announce the next Station 
 to the people" (Fleury, "H. E." livr. 
 xxxvi. § 17). In the Easter of 774, Charle- 
 magne assisted at the Station of Easter 
 Sunday at St. Mary Major, of Easter 
 Monday at St. Peter's, Tuesday at St. 
 Paul's — the same Stations still noted in 
 our Missal (Eginhard, apud Fleury, xliv, 
 §5). 
 
 Statior\s of the Gross. 
 
 A SERIES of images or pictures represent- 
 ing the different events in the Passion of 
 Christ, each Station corresponding to a 
 particular event. Usually, they are ranged 
 
 round the church, the first Station being 
 placed on one side of the high altar, the 
 last on the other. The Stations are among 
 the most popular of Catholic devotions, and 
 are to be found in almost every church. 
 Sometimes they are erected in the open 
 air, especially on roads which lead to some 
 church or shrine standing on a hill. 
 
 The devotion began in the Franciscan 
 order. The Franciscans are the guardians 
 of the holy places in Jerusalem, and these 
 Stations are intended as a help to making 
 in spirit a pilgrimage to the scene of 
 Christ's sufferings and death. Innocent 
 XII., in 1694, authentically interpreting a 
 brief of his predecessor, Innocent XL, in 
 1686, declared that the indulgences 
 granted for devoutly visiting certain holy 
 places in Palestine could be gained by all 
 Franciscans and by all affiliated to the 
 order, if they made the way of the cross 
 devoutly — i. e. passed or turned from 
 Station to Station meditating devoutly on 
 the various stages of the history. 
 
 Benedict XIII., in 1726, extended these 
 indulgences to all the faithful ; Clement 
 XII., in 173 1, permitted persons to gain 
 the indulgences at Stations erected in 
 churches which were not Franciscan, pro- 
 vided they were erected by a Franciscan 
 with the sanction of the ordinary. At 
 present the connection of the Stations 
 with the Franciscan order is almost forgot- 
 ten, at least in England, except as a mat- 
 ter of history. Our bishops can, by 
 Apostolic faculties, erect the Stations 
 with the indulgences attached to them, 
 and they constantly delegate this 
 
 b 
 
74 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 faculty to priests. The English bishops 
 received faculties to this effect, provided 
 there were no religious in the neighborhood 
 to whom the privilege belonged, in 1857. 
 In 1862 these faculties were renewed 
 without this limitation. The faculties are 
 quinquennial. (Cone. Prov. Westmonast. 
 II. Append. I. Concil. IV. Append. II.) 
 There are fourteen Stations — viz. (i) 
 the sentence passed on our Lord by Pilate ; 
 (2) the receiving of the cross ; (3) our 
 Lord's first fall ; (4) His meeting with His 
 mother; {5) the bearing of the cross by 
 Simon of Cyrene ; (6) the wiping of Christ's 
 face by Veronica with a handkerchief ; 
 (7) His second fall : (8) His words to the 
 women of Jerusalem, " Weep not for Me," 
 etc. ; (9) His third fall ; (10) His being 
 stripped of His garments ; (i i) His cruci- 
 fixion ; (12) His death; (13) the taking 
 down of His body from the cross ; (14) 
 His burial. In the diocese of Vienna the 
 number of the Stations at the end of the 
 last century was reduced to eleven. On 
 the other hand a fifteenth Station has 
 been sometimes added — viz. the finding 
 of the cross by Helena. These changes 
 ture unauthorized. 
 
 Stigmata. 
 
 The word occurs in Gal. vi. 15 : *' I bear 
 the marks of Jesus in my body." Such 
 brands or marks {stigmata) were set on 
 slaves who had run away, or slaves 
 consecrated to the service of a heathen 
 God, rarely on captives, and some- 
 times soldiers branded the name of 
 
 their general on some part of their body. 
 Probably St. Paul's metaphor is taken 
 from the second of these customs. He 
 regarded the marks of suffering in Christ's 
 cause as consecrating him the more to 
 his Master's service. The Latin versions 
 retain the word " stigmata," but no Catho- 
 lic commentator of repute, so far as we 
 know, ever dreamt that St. Paul received 
 miraculous marks of Christ's passion. 
 Neither St. Thomas nor Estius allude to ' 
 such an interpretation, and Windischmann 
 only mentions it to dismiss it. 
 
 Still, the idea that miraculous wounds on^ 
 the hands, feet, and side, like these borne 
 by our Lord, were a mark of divine favor, 
 certainly existed in the mediaeval Church 
 independently of St. Francis, for in 1222, 
 at a council in Oxford, an impostor who 
 claimed to have stigmata of this kind con- 
 fessed his guilt and was punished accord- 
 ingly (Fleury, " H. E." Ixxviii. § 56). 
 Only two years later — i. e. 1224 — St. 
 Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) was on Mount 
 Alvernus to keep his annual fast of forty 
 days in honor of St. Michael. One morn- 
 ing, says St. Buonaventure, about the I4tb 
 of September, the feast of the Exaltation 
 of the Cross, Francis saw a seraph flying 
 towards them. There was a figure of a 
 man attached to a cross between the 
 wings. After the vision disappeared, the 
 hands and feet of the saint were found to 
 be marked with nails, and there was a 
 wound in his side. The wounds were 
 seen by some of the friars and by Alexan- 
 der IV. during the lifetime of the saint, 
 and after his death by fifty friars, St 
 
STIGMATA. 
 
 75 
 
 Clare and a multitude of seculars. St. 
 Buonaventure assures us that he has the 
 testimony of Alexander IV. from the 
 Pope's own lips. The Church keeps a 
 feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, insti- 
 tuted by Benedict XII. 
 
 The Dominicans claimed a similar dis- 
 tinction for one of their own order, St. 
 Catharine of Sienna (1347-1380). They 
 appealed to a letter from the saint to her 
 confessor, Raymond of Capua, in which 
 she states that our Lord had impressed 
 the stigmata upon her, but had at her own 
 request made them invisible to others. 
 They also quoted the testimony of St. 
 Antoninus and the hymn which alludes to 
 the stigmata, inserted in the Office of St. 
 Catharine with the approval of Pius II. 
 The Franciscans, who maintained that 
 the privilege was peculiar to their own 
 
 founder, carried the matter before Sixtus 
 IV. in 1483. The Pope (himself a Fran- 
 ciscan) forbade, under severe penalties, any 
 one to paint images of St. Catharine with 
 the stigmata. (See Fleury, "H. E." 
 Ixxix. § 5, cxv. § 103.) 
 
 Still the fact of her stigmatization is 
 recorded in the lireviary office, and a 
 special feast in commemoration of it was 
 granted to the Dominicans by Benedict 
 XIII. In a work on the subject Dr. 
 Imbert-Gourbeyre enumerates 145 per- 
 sons, twenty men, the rest women, who are 
 stated to have received the stigmata. Of 
 these eighty lived before the seventeenth 
 century. Some are canonized, others beati- 
 fied, others simply persons of reputed holi- 
 ness. More than one is still living. The 
 work just referred to ("Les Stigmatis^es"^ 
 was published by Palm^in 1873. 
 
CHAPXBR XIII, 
 
 '^• 
 
 STOl-E. ^ 
 
 NARROW vestment made of 
 the same stuff as the chasuble, 
 and worn round the neck. 
 The Pope always wears the 
 stole. Bishops and priests 
 wear it at Mass — the priest 
 crossed over his breast, the bishop, who 
 has already the pectoral cross on his 
 breast, pendant on each side. They 
 always wear it whenever they exercise their 
 orders by administering sacraments or by 
 blessing persons or things. In some 
 places it is, in others it is not, worn in 
 preaching, and the custom of the place is 
 to be followed (S. C. R. 12 Nov. 1837, 23 
 Maii, 1846). Deacons wear it at Mass, or 
 at Benediction, etc., when they have to 
 move the Blessed Sacrament, over the left 
 shoulder, and joined on the right side. 
 Stole — i. e. s^oli in classical Greek — 
 in the LXX and New Testament means a 
 robe of any kind, sometimes (e. g.) in 
 Mark xii. 38, (Luc. xx. 46) a costly or 
 imposing garment. In Latin sfo/a was the 
 upper garment worn by women of position. 
 The conjecture of Meratus (on Gavant. 
 
 torn. i. P. ii. tit. i.) that our stole is the 
 Roman stola of which only the ornamental 
 stripe has been left, is very unlikely, con- 
 sidering that the stola was, almost exclu- 
 sively, a piece of female attire. The stole 
 is never mentioned by that name before 
 the ninth century. Theodoret (" H. E." 
 ii. 27) speaks of " a holy stole " {Aiera stole) 
 given to Macarius by Constantine, but he 
 only means a *' sacred vestment " in 
 general ; and Germanus of Constantinople, 
 at the beginning of the eighth century, 
 identifies the stole with the phelonioii or 
 chasuble, and distinguishes it from the 
 orarion or stole according to our modern 
 usage (Galland. " Bibliothec." torn. xiii. p. 
 226). 
 
 This word orarium belongs to the later 
 Latin, and means a cloth for the face, a hand- 
 kerchief. It was also used " in favorem,''' 
 to applaud at theatres, etc., and sometimes 
 worn as a scarf. The first mention of it 
 as an ecclesiastical vestment occurs about 
 the middle of the fourth century, when the 
 Council of Laodicea (can. 22 and 23) for- 
 bade clerics in minor orders to use it. A 
 
 T6 
 
STOLE. 
 
 71 
 
 t^ermon attributed to Chrysostom, and 
 probably not much later than his time, 
 compares the deacons to angels, and the 
 "stripes of thin linen on their left 
 shoulders " {tats leptais othonais tais epi ton 
 aristeron omoti) to wings (" Homily on the 
 Prodigal Son," Migne, vol. viii. 520). In 
 the West for a long time after, orarium 
 was used for a common handkerchief or 
 napkin (Ambros. "De Excess. Sat." lib. 
 i. 43 ; August, " De Civit. Dei," xxii. 8 ; 
 Hieron. Ep. lii. 9 ; Prudent. " Peristeph." 
 i, 86 ; Greg. Turon, " De Gloria Mart." i. 
 93 ; Greg. Magn. Ep. vii. 30. So the 
 Council of Orleans in 511). It is in the 
 Spanish Church that we find the earliest 
 traces of the orarium or stole as a sacred 
 vestment among the Latins. The Coun- 
 cil of Braga in 563 (can. 9) speaks of the 
 orarium as worn by deacons ; a Council 
 of Toledo in 633 recognizes it as a vest- 
 ment of bishops, priests, and deacons (can.. 
 28 and 40). Another synod of Braga in 
 675 mentions the present custom accord- 
 ing to which priests wear the orarium 
 crossed over the breast (can. 4) ; while the 
 Synod of Mayence in 813 (can. 28) requires 
 priests to wear it not only at Mass but 
 habitually, as the Pope does now, to mark 
 their sacerdotal dignity. Several of the 
 Ordines Romani (the third, fifth, eighth, 
 ninth, and thirteenth), also mention the 
 orarium. Hence we may conclude that 
 from about the time of Charlemagne the 
 orarium or stole was generally adopted 
 throughout the West as a vestment of 
 bishops, priests, and deacons. The Greeks 
 have always regarded the orarium as a 
 
 vestment peculiar to deacons. The epi- 
 trachelion or peritrac he lion of priests differs 
 both in form and in the manner it is worn 
 from the orarium of deacons. The Syrian 
 Christians have adopted the same word 
 orro, ororo, but with them the orro is worn 
 by clerics of all the orders. Readers 
 among the Maronites wear the orro hang- 
 ing from the right shoulder, subdeacons 
 in all the Syrian rites round the neck, 
 deacons on the left shoulder, priests round 
 the neck and in front of the breast. The 
 Syrians also use the same word for the 
 ojnophorion or pallium of bishops. (See 
 Payne Smith, "Thesaurus Syricus," col. 
 \o\,\02^ sub voc. c . . .) Hefele says 
 it appears from ancient pictures that down 
 to the twelfth century the deacon's stole 
 hung over the left shoulder, and was not, 
 as now, fastened together on the right side 
 below the breast. Till a late period the 
 stole was worn outside the dalmatic, as 
 now by the Greek deacons over the stich- 
 arion. Hefele finds the earliest notice of 
 a deacon's stole worn under the dalmatic 
 in a Salzburg Pontifical of the twelfth 
 century, and in the fourteenth Roman 
 Ordo, compiled about 1300. Bishops, 
 however, wore the stole over the alb and 
 under the tunicella and dalmatic as early 
 at least as Rabanus Maurus ( " De Cleric. 
 Instit." i. 19, 20) — i. e. about '^\^. 
 
 The same author {loc. cit) speaks of 
 the orarium which " some call stole." 
 This is the first certain instance of the use 
 of the latter word, for its place in the 
 Gregorian Sacramentary may be one of 
 the many interpolations to which the 
 
78 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 liturgical books are peculiarly subject. 
 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries 
 stole became the common word (so, e. g. 
 the Synod of Coyaca, in the diocese of 
 Oviedo, anno 1050, can. 3.) The oraria on 
 ancient pictures are exactly like our stoles, 
 resembling the pattern known as Gothic. 
 They were often adorned with jewels, bells 
 hung from them, and letters or words were 
 worked in. Hefele acknowledges his 
 failure, after much search, to find the 
 reason why the word " stole " came to be 
 used for orarium. The vestment has been 
 taken as a symbol of the yoke of Christ 
 (pseudo-Alcuin), of Christ's obedience 
 (Innocent III.). The prayer in our pres- 
 ent Missal evidently refers to the original 
 meaning of the Greek stole. " Give me 
 back, O Lord, the stole or robe of immor- 
 tality," etc. 
 
 DoVe. Symbol of tKe |1ol\j 
 QKost. 
 
 Dove is frequently used as a symbol of 
 the Holy Ghost, who appeared at Christ's 
 baptism under that form. The custom of 
 depicting the Holy Ghost in this form is 
 mentioned by St. Paulinus of Nola, and 
 must have been familiar to Eastern Chris- 
 tians in the sixth century : for the clergy 
 of Antioch in 518, among other complaints 
 made by them to the see of Constantino- 
 ple against the intended bishop Servius, 
 accuse him of having removed the gold 
 and silver doves which hung over the 
 altars and font {kolumbethra) and appro- 
 
 priated them on the ground that this 
 symbolism was unfitting.^ The dove as 
 a symbol of the Holy Ghost is often placed 
 in the pictures of certain saints — e. g. of 
 Fabian,^ Hilary of Aries, Medard of 
 Noyon, etc. It is also a figure of inno- 
 cence, and so, e. g. the souls of SS. Eula- 
 lia and Scholastica are represented as 
 flying to heaven in the form of a dove. 
 Lastly, the dove serves as a figure of 
 peace and reconciliation (see Gen. viii. 11). 
 A vase in the form of a dove {peristerion, 
 
 peristeriuni) was in the East and in France 
 suspended over the altar and used as a 
 repository for the Blessed Sacrament. 
 This custom is mentioned by the author 
 of an ancient Life of St. Basil, by St. 
 
 . Gregory of Tours, and in several ancient 
 French documents. Martene mentions 
 that even in his time such a tabernacle 
 was still in use at the church of St. Maur 
 des Foss6s. The custom probably came 
 to France from the East, for it never seems 
 to have existed in Italy.^ 
 
 D 0x0 logy. 
 
 The greater doxology or " ascription of 
 glory," is usually called, from its initial 
 words, the " Gloria in excelsis." It is not 
 mentioned by the earliest writers, but it is 
 found nearly, though not quite, as we now 
 have it in the Apostolic Constitutions (vii. 
 47), so that it can scarcely have been 
 composed, as is asserted in the " Chron. 
 
 1 Hefele, Concil. ii. p. 771. 
 
 2 For the origin of this see Euseb. H. E. vi. 29. 
 8 See Chardon, Hist. des. Sacr. vol. ii. p. 24a. 
 
DOXOLOGY. 
 
 79 
 
 Turonense," by St. Hilary of Poictiers, 
 and the real author is, as Cardinal Bona 
 says, unknown. It was only by degrees 
 that it assumed its present place in the 
 Mass. In Gaul, according to St. Gregory 
 of Tours, it was recited after Mass in 
 thanksgiving. St. Benedict introduced it 
 into lauds ; while it was also recited on 
 occasions of public joy — e. g. in the 
 Sixth General Council. It was sung at 
 Mass, according to the use of the Roman 
 Church, first of all on Christmas day, 
 during the first Mass in Greek, during 
 the second in Latin. It was of course 
 on Christmas night that the first words of 
 the "Gloria in excelsis" were sung by 
 the angels. Afterwards bishops said it 
 at Mass on Sundays and feasts, priests 
 only at the Mass of Easter Sunday, as 
 appears from the Gregorian Sacraraentary. 
 This rule lasted till the eleventh cen- 
 tur}^ At present it is said in all Masses, 
 except those of the dead, of ferias which 
 do not occur in the Paschal season — (it 
 is said, however, on Maundy Thursday) — 
 Sundays from Septuagesima to Palm 
 Sunday inclusive. It is not said in votive 
 Masses, except those of the Angels, and 
 the Blessed Virgin on Saturday. 
 
 II. Lesser doxology — i. e. "Glory be 
 to the Father," etc., recited as a rule 
 after each psalm in the office and after 
 the " Judica " in the Mass. Forms resem- 
 bling it occur at the end of some of the 
 Acts of the Martyrs — e. g. those of St. 
 Polycarp. St. Basil (" De Spiritu Sancto 
 ad S. Amphilochium," which work, how- 
 ever, is of doubtful authenticity) defends 
 
 the formula " Glory be to the Father, and 
 to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," con- 
 tends that its antiquity is attested by early 
 Fathers, Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, etc., 
 and that it is at least as ancient as the 
 Arian form, " Glory be to the Father in '* 
 or "through the Son," etc. Anyhow, 
 the former part of the Gloria must date 
 as far back as the third or fourth century, 
 and arose, no doubt, from the form of bap- 
 tism. The concluding words, " As it was 
 in the beginning," are of later origin. 
 The Galilean Council of Vaison, in 529, 
 ordered their use, adding that they had 
 been already introduced in Rome, Italy, 
 Africa, and the East, against heretics who 
 denied the Son's eternity.^ And the 
 rule of St. Benedict contains directions 
 for the recital of the Gloria after each 
 psalm. (Benedict XIV. "De Missa,'* 
 Kraus, art. doxologid). 
 
 Dreams. 
 
 Dreams arise, according to St. Thomas 
 (2 2ndae, qu. 95, a. 6), from interior or 
 exterior causes. Among the former he 
 enumerates the thoughts which occupied 
 the mind in waking hours, and the state of 
 the body. Among the latter, the effect 
 produced on the bodily organs by material 
 things — e. g. cold and heat, sound or 
 light, etc. — and also the influence of good 
 or evil spirits. It is reasonable to believe 
 that God may speak to the soul through 
 dreams, for the influence of God extends 
 to sleeping as w«ill as to waking hours; 
 
 1 Hefele, Concil. iu p. 742. 
 
8o 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 and that God has used dreams as a means 
 of revealing His will is fully attested by 
 the Old and the New Testament (see 
 Gen. XX. 3, 7, xl. 5 ; Num. xii. 6 ; Matt. ii. 
 12, xxvii. 19). Accordingly, to regard 
 dreams proceeding from merely physical 
 causes as indications of a future with 
 which they have no natural connection, is 
 superstitious and therefore sinful. It is 
 also, of course, unlawful to seek or accept 
 signs of future events in dreams from 
 demons. But, on the other hand, if there 
 are grave reasons for doing so, we may 
 lawfully believe that a dream has been 
 sent by God for our instruction. But it is 
 
 to be noted that a disposition to trust in 
 dreams is always superstitious, for in the 
 Christian dispensation there is a strong 
 presumption against their use as means of 
 foretelling the future. Even in the Old 
 Testament the greater number of predic- 
 tive dreams were given to those outside the 
 Jewish covenant. If given to God's ser- 
 vants, they were given to them, as a rule, 
 in the period of their earliest and most' 
 imperfect knowledge of Him. In the New 
 Testament, often as we read of ecstasies 
 and visions, dreams are never mentioned 
 as a vehicle of revelation, and they rarely 
 occur in the lives of the saints. 
 
 ^I^fl^f^f^f 
 
'^'^^^^^;:?^^^-^>%t><^%?:5<'^=<-^ 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 t PURGKTORY. I 
 
 ^•>J?'* ijj J?> '.•': '.•': '.•': '.•': •.•': \V \»': '.•': '.•': •.•: ••• •:•• •:;> •:•> {i} 
 
 PLACE in which souls who 
 depart this life in the grace of 
 God suffer for a time because 
 they still need to be cleansed 
 from venial, or have still to pay 
 the temporal punishment due 
 to mortal sins, the guilt and the eternal 
 punishment of which have been remitted. 
 Purgatory is not a place of probation, for 
 the time of trial, the period during which 
 the soul is free to choose eternal life or 
 eternal death, ends with the separation of 
 soul and body. All the souls in Purgatory 
 have died in the love of God, and are cer- 
 tain to enter heaven. But as yet they are 
 not pure and holy enough to see God, and 
 God's mercy allots them a place and a time 
 for cleansing and preparation. At last 
 Christ will come to judge the world, and 
 then there will be only two places left, 
 heaven and hell. 
 
 The Councils of Florence ("Decret 
 Unionis ") and Trent (" Decret. de Pur- 
 gat." sess. XXV. ; cf. sess. vi. can. 30, sess. 
 xxii. " De Sacrific. Miss." c. 2 et can. 3), 
 define " that there is a Purgatory, and that 
 
 the souls detained there are helped by the 
 prayers of the faithful and, above all, by 
 the acceptable sacrifice of the altar." Fur- 
 ther the definitions of the Church do not 
 go, but the general teaching of the theolo- 
 gians explains the doctrine of the councils, 
 and embodies the general sentiment of the 
 faithful. Theologians, then, tell us that 
 souls after death are cleansed from the 
 stain of their venial sins by turning with 
 fervent love to God, and by detestation of 
 those offences which marred, though they 
 did not entirely destroy, their union with 
 Him. St. Thomas and Suarez hold that 
 this act of fervent love and perfect sorrow 
 is made in the first instant of the soul's 
 separation from the body, and suffices of 
 itself to remove all the stain of sin. (See 
 the quotation in Jungmann, "De Novissi- 
 mis " p. 103.) Be this as it may, it is cer- 
 tain that the time of merit expires with 
 this life, and that the debt of temporal 
 punishment may still be paid. The souls 
 in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss — i. e. 
 they are in anguish because their past sins 
 exclude them for a season from the sight 
 
82 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of God, and they understand in a degree 
 previously impossible the infinite bliss 
 from which they are excluded, and the 
 foulness of the least offence against the 
 God who has created and redeemed them. 
 They also undergo "the punishment of 
 sense " — i. e. positive pains which afflict 
 the soul. It is the common belief of the 
 Western Church that they are tormented 
 by material fire, and it is quite conceivable 
 that God should give matter the power of 
 constraining and afflicting even separated 
 souls. But the Greeks have never accepted 
 this belief, nor was it imposed upon them 
 when they returned to Catholic unity at 
 Florence. The saints and doctors of the 
 Church describe these pains as very 
 terrible. They last, no doubt, for very 
 different lengths of time, and vary in inten- 
 sity according to the need of individual 
 cases. It is supposed that the just who 
 are alive when Christ comes again, and 
 who stand in need of cleansing, will be 
 purified in some extraordinary way — e. g. 
 by the troubles of the last days, by vehe- 
 ment contrition, etc. ; but all this is mere 
 conjecture. In conclusion, it must be 
 remembered that there is a bright as well 
 as a dark side to Purgatory. The souls 
 there are certain of their salvation, they 
 are willing sufferers, and no words, accord- 
 ing to St. Catherine of Genoa, can express 
 the joy with which they are filled, as they 
 increase in union with God. She says 
 their joy can be compared to nothing 
 except to the greater joy of Paradise itself. 
 (See for numerous citations, Jungmann, 
 *' De Noviss." cap. i, a. 6.) 
 
 This may suffice as an account of theo- 
 logical teaching on the subject. It must 
 not be supposed that any such weight 
 belongs to legends and speculations which 
 abound in mediaeval chronicles (see Mas- 
 kell, " Monument. Rit." vol. ii. p. Ixxi.), and 
 which often appear in modern books. 
 The council of Trent (sess. xxv. Decret. 
 de Purgat.), while it enjoins bishops to 
 teach "the sound doctrine of Purgatory, 
 handed down by the holy Fathers and 
 councils," bids them refrain "in popular 
 discourses " from those " more difficult 
 and subtle questions which do not tend to 
 edification," and " to prohibit the publica- 
 tion and discussion of things which are 
 doubtful or even appear false." 
 
 Scripture, it may be justly said, points 
 to the existence of Purgatory. There is 
 no fellowship between the darkness of sin 
 and selfishness and God, "in whom there 
 is no darkness at all," so that the degree 
 of our purity is the measure of our union 
 with God here on earth. Perfect purity is 
 needed that we may see God face to face. 
 When God appears " we shall be like Him, 
 for we shall see Him as He is." "Every 
 man who hath this hope in him purifieth 
 himself, as he is pure" (i John iii. 2, 3) 
 Without holiness "no man shall see the 
 Lord" (Heb. xii. 14). This work of inner 
 cleansing may be affected by our corre- 
 spondence with grace. vVe sow as we 
 reap : deeds of humility increase humility ; 
 works of love deepen the love of God and 
 man in the soul. Often, too, God's mercy 
 in this life weans the soul from the love of 
 the world, and affliction may be a special 
 
PURGATORY. 
 
 83 
 
 mark of His compassion. "Whom the 
 Xord loves He disciplines, and He scourges 
 every son whom He receives " (Heb. x. 6). 
 He disciplines us "for our good, that we 
 may participate in His sanctity" (/(^. 10). 
 Now, it is plain that in the case of many 
 good people this discipline has not done 
 its work when death overtakes them. 
 Many faults, e. g. of bad temper, vanity, 
 and the like, and infirmity consequent on 
 more serious sins of which they have 
 repented, cleave to them still. Surely, 
 then, the natural inference is that their 
 preparation for heaven is completed after 
 death. By painful discipline in this world 
 or the next God finishes the work in them 
 which He has begun, and perfects it 
 "unto the day of Jesus Christ " (Phil. i. 6). 
 We would appeal to those general princi- 
 ples of Scripture rather than to particular 
 texts often alleged in proof of Purgatory. 
 We doubt if they contain an explicit and 
 direct reference to it. St, Paul (i Cor. iii. 
 10) speaks of some who will be saved 
 "yet as through fire," but he seems to 
 mean the fire in which Christ is to appear 
 at the last. He himself, he says, has 
 established the Corinthian church on the 
 only possible foundation — viz. Jesus 
 Christ. Others have built it up from this 
 foundation, or, in other words, have devel- 
 oped the Christian faith and life of its 
 members. These teachers, however, must 
 take care how they build, even on the one 
 foundation. " Each man's work will be made 
 manifest, for the day will show it, because 
 it [the day of judgment] is revealed in 
 fire, and the fire will test each man's work 
 
 of what kind it is: if any man's work 
 which he has built up [on the foundation] 
 remains, he will receive a reward ; if any 
 man's work is burnt down he will suffer 
 loss — [i. e. he will forfeit the special 
 reward and glory of good teachers] but 
 he himself will be saved, but so as through 
 fire." The man who has built up with 
 faulty material is depicted as still working 
 at the building when the fire of Christ's 
 coming seizes it and he himself escapes, 
 but only as a man does from a house on 
 fire, leaving the work which is consumed 
 behind him. St. Paul, if we have caught 
 his meaning, speaks of the end of the 
 world, not of the time between death and 
 judgment, and so, we think, does our Lord 
 in Matt. xii. 32. The sin against the 
 Holy Ghost, he tells us, will not be for- 
 given, either " in this age " {en touioi tot 
 aioni) — i, e. in the world which now is, 
 or in the future age {en toi mellonti) — i. e, 
 in the new world, or rather new period 
 which is to be ushered in by the coming 
 of the Messias in glory. There is no hope 
 of forgiveness here or hereafter for the 
 sin against the Holy Ghost, but it does 
 not follow, and, granting our interpretation, 
 it would be inconsistent with Catholic 
 doctrine to believe, that other sins may 
 be forgiven in the age to come. Thus, 
 "the age to come" would have precisely 
 the same sense as the corresponding 
 
 Hebrew words ( — see, e, 
 
 g., " Pirke Avoth," cap. 4, and for many 
 other instances Buxtorf, " Lex Rabbin, et 
 Chald." suh voc. . . .), which is in 
 itself a strong argument, and the manngei 
 
84 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 we have given is fully supported by New 
 Testament usage (see particularly tou 
 aionos eheinou tuchein, Luc. xx. 35, and sun- 
 teleia tou aionos, Matt. xiii. 39, 40, 49, xxiv. 3, 
 xxviii. 20— decisive passages, as we venture 
 to think). Maldonatus decidedly rejects the 
 supposed allusion to Purgatory in Matt. 
 V, 25, 26. "Be well-disposed to thine 
 adversary [i. e. the offended brother] 
 quickly, even till thou art on the way 
 with him [i. e. it is never too soon, and 
 never, till life is over, too late, to be recon- 
 ciled], lest the adversary hand thee over 
 to the judge, and the judge hand thee 
 over to the officer, and thou be cast into 
 prison. Amen. I say unto thee thou 
 shalt not go out thence till thou shalt 
 pay the last farthing." Maldonatus fol- 
 lows St. Augustine in the opinion that the 
 " last farthing " will never and can never 
 be paid, and that the punishment is eter- 
 nal. Just in the same way it is said of 
 the unmerciful slave (Luc. xviii. 34), that 
 he was to be handed over to the torment- 
 ors "till he should pay all the debt." Yet 
 a slave could never pay so enormous a 
 sum as 10,000 talents. " Semper solvet, 
 sed nunquam persolvet^' " He will always 
 pay, but never pay off," is the happy com- 
 ment of Remigius (and so Chrysostom and 
 Augustine ; see Trench. " Parables," p. 
 164). The reader will find the various 
 interpretations of these texts fairly dis- 
 cussed in Estius and Maldonatus or in 
 Meyer. Dollinger, however (" First Age 
 of the Church," p. 249), sees an " unmis- 
 takable reference" to Purgatory in Matt, 
 xii. 32, V. 26. 
 
 In two special ways, writers of the early 
 Church, as Cardinal Newman points out 
 ("Development," p. 385 seq.), were led 
 to formulate the belief in Purgatory. In 
 the articles on the sacrament of Penance, 
 we have shown the strength of primitive 
 belief in the need of satisfaction for sin 
 by painful works, and in the article on 
 Penance the rigor with which satisfaction 
 was exacted. Indeed, the belief in Pur- 
 gatory lay dormant in the primitive Church 
 to a certain extent, just because the fer- 
 vor of the first Christians was so vehe- 
 ment, just because the severity of penance 
 here might well be thought to exclude the 
 need of purifying discipline after death. 
 But what was to be thought of those who 
 were reconciled on their death-bed before 
 their penance was ended or even begun, or 
 in whom outward penance for some cause 
 or other had failed to do the whole of its 
 work ? Clement of Alexandria supplies a 
 clear answer to this question : " Even if a 
 man passes out of the flesh, he must put 
 off his passions, ere he is able to enter the 
 eternal dwelling through much dis- 
 cipline, therefore stripping off his passions, 
 our faithful man will go to the mansion 
 which is better than the former, bearing 
 in the special penance which appertains to 
 him {idioma tes metanois) a. very great pun- 
 ishment for the sins he has committed 
 after baptism " ("Strom." vi, 14, p. 794, ed. 
 Potter). He speaks of the angels " who 
 preside over the ascent " of souls as 
 detaining those who have preserved any 
 worldly attachment (iv. 18. p. 616), and 
 with at least a possible reference to Pur- 
 
PURGATORY. 
 
 85 
 
 gatorv. of fire as purifying sinful souls 
 (vii. 6, p. 85 r). The genuine and contem- 
 porarj,' Acts of St. Perpetua, who suffered 
 under Septimius Severus at the very begin- 
 ning of the third century, plainly imply 
 the belief in Purgatory. The saint, accord- 
 ing to the part of the Acts written by 
 herself, saw in a vision her brother who 
 was dead, and for whom she had prayed. 
 He was suffering and she went on praying. 
 Then she beheld him in another and more 
 cneerful vision, and " knew that he was 
 translated from his place of punishment " 
 {de poena ; Ruinart, "Act. Mart. S. Per- 
 pet." etc., vii. viii.). Cyprian ( Ep. Iv. 
 20), in answer to the objection that the 
 relaxation of penitential discipline in the 
 case of the lapsed would weaken the courage 
 and stability which made martyrs, insists 
 that after all the position of one who had 
 fallen away and then been admitted to mar- 
 tyrdom would always be much less desirable 
 than that of a martyr. "It is one thing for 
 man to be cast into prison and not to 
 leave it till he pay the last farthing, 
 another thing to receive at once the 
 reward of faith and virtue ; one thing to be 
 tormented long with sorrow for sins, to 
 be purified and cleansed for a long time 
 by the fire, another to purge away all sins 
 by martyrdom." Cardinal Newman urges 
 that these words, especially **missum in 
 carcerem," "purgari dm igne,"" "seem to go 
 beyond" a mere reference to a penitential 
 discipline in this life, and the Benedictine 
 editor is of the same mind. 
 
 Next, we can prove the early date of 
 belief in Purgatory from the habit of pray- 
 
 ing for the dead, a habit which the Church 
 inherited from the Synagogue. The words 
 in 2 Mace. xii. 42 seq. are familiar to every- 
 body. Judas found hieremata, or things 
 consecrated to \^o\%, under the garments 
 of those who had been slain in battle 
 against Gorgias. Whereupon he made a 
 collection of money and sent to Jerusalem, 
 "to offer sacrifice for sin, doing very well 
 and excellently, reasoning about the dead. 
 For unless he had expected those who had 
 fallen before [the others] to rise again, it 
 would have been superfluous and absurd 
 to pray for the dead. Therefore, seeing 
 well \emblepdri\ that a most fair reward is 
 reserved for those who sleep in piety, his 
 design was holy and pious, whence he 
 made the propitiation for the dead that 
 they might be loosed from sin."^ This 
 passage implies a belief both in Purgatory 
 and the efficacy of prayers for the departed, 
 and takes for granted that this belief would 
 be held by all who believed in the resur- 
 rection. This is not the place to discuss 
 the canonical or even the historical charac- 
 ter of the book. It represents a school of 
 Jewish belief at the time, and we know 
 from XV. 37 that it was written before the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. Second Macca 
 bees was composed in Greek, but we have 
 the fullest evidence from Hebrew and 
 Chaldee sources that the later Jews prayed 
 for the dead and recognized the need of 
 purification after death. Weber (" Altsy- 
 nag. Palast. Theol." p. 326 seq.) thus sums 
 
 1 This sentence is, of course, ungrammatical ; but so is the 
 Greek. A part of 2 Mace is m»re like rough notes than a 
 finished composition. 
 
86 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 up the Rabbinical doctrine : " Only a few 
 are sure of [immediate] entrance into 
 heaven ; the majority are at their death 
 still not ripe for heaven, and yet will not 
 be absolutely excluded from it. Accord- 
 ingly, we are referred to a middle state, 
 a stage between death and eternal life, 
 which serves for the final perfecting." 
 Those who were not perfectly just here 
 suffer "the pain of fire, and the fire is 
 their penance." The "Pesikta," a very 
 ancient commentary on sections of the 
 law and prophets, composed at the begin- 
 ning of the third century after Christ, 
 describes the penance as lasting usually 
 twelve months, of which six are spent 
 in extreme heat, six in extreme cold. 
 The common Rabbinical doctrine that 
 Israelites, except those guilty of some 
 special sins, do at last enter heaven, and 
 the fantastical shapes which the Jewish 
 doctrine of Purgatory has assumed, do 
 not concern us here. But it is well to 
 observe that the Jews have never ceased 
 to pray for their dead. The following 
 is from the prayer said at the house of 
 mourners, as given in a modern Jewish 
 prayer-book, issued with authority : " May 
 our reading of the law and our prayer 
 be acceptable before Thee for the soul 
 of N. Deal with it according to the great 
 mercy, opening to it the gates of com- 
 passion and mercy and the gates of the 
 garden of Eden, and receive it in love 
 and favor ; send thy holy angels to it to 
 conduct it, and give it rest beneath the 
 Tree of Life." (* * * " Meditation of 
 Isaac," a Jewish prayer-book according to 
 
 the German and Polish rite, pp. 336, 
 
 337.^) 
 
 Against the Jewish custom and doctrine 
 Christ and His apostles made no protest, 
 though both custom and doctrine existed 
 in their time. Nay, " St. Paul himself [cf. 
 2 Tim. i. 16-18 with iv. 19] gives an exam- 
 ple of such a prayer. The Epbesian 
 Onesiphorus, mentioned in the Second 
 Epistle to St. Timothy, was clearly no 
 longer among the living. St. Paul praises 
 this man for his constant service to him, 
 but does not, as elsewhere, send saluta- 
 tions to him, but only to his family ; for 
 him he desires a blessing from the Lord, 
 and prays for him that the Lord will 
 grant he may find mercy with Christ at 
 the day Oi! judgment." The words in 
 inverted commas are from Bollinger's 
 "First Age of the Church," p. 251 ; but 
 many Protestant commentators, among 
 whom we may mention De Wette and 
 Huther, who is eminent among recent 
 commentators on the Pastoral Epistles, 
 lean to the same interpretation. 
 
 All this considered, it cannot seem 
 strange that every ancient liturgy contains 
 prayers for the dead. To understand the 
 strength of this argument we must remem- 
 ber that these liturgies are written in many 
 different languages, and represent theprac- 
 tice in every part of the ancient world. 
 The very first Christian who has left Latin 
 
 1 The * * * is recited at morning and evening prayer 
 for deceased parents during eleven months of the year of 
 mourning. Formerly it was said for the whole year. It is one 
 of the few prayers in the Ritual which are in Chaldee instead 
 of Hebrew, but there are internal signs that it comes from » 
 lost Hebrew original. 
 
PURGATORY. 
 
 87 
 
 writings, speaks of " oblations for the dead" 
 as a thing of course (Tertull. "De Coron." 
 3). It is often said that prayers for the 
 dead do not necessarily imply belief in 
 Purgatory, and this is true. The words, 
 e. g. in the Clementine liturgy, " We offer 
 to Thee for all Thy saints who have pleased 
 Thee from ancient days, patriarchs, 
 prophets, just men, apostles, martyrs, con- 
 fessors, bishops, presbyters, deacons, sub- 
 deacons, readers, singers, virgins, widows, 
 laymen, and all whose name Thou 
 knowest," do not imply that those for 
 whom the sacrifice is offered are in a state 
 of suffering. But Tertullian (" Monog." 
 10) connects prayer for the dead with 
 Purgatory when he says of a woman who 
 has lost her husband that " she prays for 
 his soul and supplicates for him refresh- 
 ment \refngerium\ and a part in the first 
 resurrection, and offers on the anniversa- 
 ries of his death [dofmitionisy So, too, 
 St. Cyril of Jerusalem (" Mystagog." 5) : 
 "If when a king had banished certain 
 who had given him offence, their con- 
 nections should weave a crown and offer 
 it to him on behalf of those under his 
 vengeance, would he not grant a respite to 
 their punishments 1 In the same manner 
 we, when we offer to Him our supplications 
 for those who have fallen asleep, though 
 they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer 
 up Christ sanctified for our sins, propitia- 
 ting our merciful God, both for them and 
 for ourselves." Still the doctrine was not 
 fully established in the West till the time 
 of Gregory the Great. Some of the Greeks 
 conceived that all, however perfect, must 
 
 pass through fire in the next world. So, 
 e. g., Origen, "In Num." Horn. xxv. 6, 
 " In Ps.xxvi." Horn. iii. i. St. Augustine 
 had indeed the present doctrine of Purga- 
 tory clearly before his mind, but had no 
 fixed conviction on the point. In his work 
 "De VIII. Dulcitii Qusestionibus " (§ 13), 
 written about 420, he says it is "not 
 incredible" that imperfect souls will be 
 "saved by some purgatorial fire," to which 
 they will be subjected for varying lengths 
 of time, according to their needs. 
 
 A little later, in the "De Civilate," he 
 expresses his belief in Purgatory as if he 
 were certain (xxi. 13), or nearly so (xx. 
 25), but again speaks doubtfully (xxi. 26, 
 " forsitan verum est ") and in the 
 "Enchiridion" (69). Very different is 
 Gregory's tone : " ante judicium purga- 
 tortus ignis credendus est" ("Dial." iv. 
 39)- 
 
 GorT\rT\\jr\ior\ of 5air\ts. 
 
 Communion of saints is mentioned in 
 the ninth article of the Apostles' Creed, 
 where it is added, according to the Roman 
 Catechism, as an explanation of the fore- 
 going words, " I believe in the holy 
 Catholic Church." The communion of 
 saints consists in the union which binds 
 together the members of the Church on 
 earth, and connects the Church on earth 
 with the Church suffering in Purgatory 
 and triumphant in heaven. 
 
 (i) The faithful on earth have com- 
 munion with each other because they 
 partake of the same sacraments, are under 
 
 I 
 
88 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 one head, and assist each other by their 
 prayers and good works. Even the 
 personal merits of a just man profit his 
 brethren, because the greater his goodness, 
 the greater the efficacy of his prayer for 
 others, the more fitting it is that, as he 
 does God's will, so God should deign to do 
 his by increasing the graces or converting 
 the souls of those for whom he prays. 
 
 Catholic commentators understand St. 
 Paul to refer to this communion in good 
 works when he encourages the Corinthians 
 to help their needy brethren at Jerusalem. 
 ** Let your abundance," he says (2 Cor. 
 viii. 14), " supply their want, that their 
 abundance also may be the filling up of 
 
 your want " — i, e. that you may share in 
 their spiritual, as they have shared in your 
 temporal, riches. ^ Again, God spares His 
 people for the sake of the saints among 
 them, just as He was ready to spare Sodom 
 had ten just men been found in it ; or 
 forgave Job's firiends at the sacrifice and 
 prayer of Job himself; or so often 
 restrained His wrath against His people for 
 His servant David's sake. Of course, also, 
 many graces are given primarily for the 
 edification of the Church. 
 
 (2) We communicate with the souls in 
 Purgatory by praying for them. 
 
 1 See Estius, ad loc. Meyer, who attacks this interpre- 
 tation, admits that it is the traditional one ; and it has bee» 
 adopted by eminent Protestants, e. g. by Bengel, 
 
HE act of declaring a person or 
 persons deceased, whose vir- 
 tues have been proved by suffi- 
 cient testimony, and whose 
 power with God has been 
 demonstrated by miracles, to 
 be among the number of the blessed. 
 
 To pay honor to the dead whom the 
 general voice declares to have lived well 
 is an instinct of human nature. Roman 
 citizens brought the images of their dis- 
 tinguished ancestors into their villas ; 
 under the empire they recognized the far- 
 reaching power and august majesty — 
 sometimes the beneficence — of their rulers 
 by deifying them after death ; in China, 
 the worship of ancestors is to this day the 
 most living portion of the popular religion ; 
 among ourselves, the numbers of monu- 
 uments in our public places everywhere, 
 though in many cases rather attesting the 
 vanity of the living than the merits of the 
 dead, prove the universality of the impulse. 
 A modern writer of note^ has said that 
 everything depends on how a people "does 
 
 1 Mr. Carlyle. 
 
 its hero-worship." The Church, divinely 
 founded and divinely guided as she is, so 
 far recognizes this view that she encourages 
 us to distinguish with singular honor 
 certain of her children who have gone 
 before us in the Christian warfare, bids us 
 reserve this honor for those whose virtue 
 reached the "heroic" level, and that we 
 may not be deceived, establishes a careful 
 and deliberate process whereby to test the 
 truth of facts and probe the moral signifi- 
 cance of actions. Her judgments and her 
 processes need not fear a comparison with 
 those of public opinion. The State, which 
 modern religion invites us to regard as a 
 moral agency, the fiat which is not to be 
 appealed against, has also modes of con- 
 ferring honor, and does not wait for their 
 death before it rewards its servants. It has 
 peerages, baronetcies, orders, stars, money, 
 offices. If we examine on what grounds 
 these distinctions are dispensed, we find 
 that it is for rare intellectual ability — 
 usually attended by the gift of expression 
 — for the capacity of amassing money, 
 for courage with direction, and for simple 
 
 89 
 
90 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 courage ; a certain degree of ' patriotic 
 devotion being supposed to be present in 
 each case. In this way, and on these 
 grounds, the modern State honors its 
 heroes. To the Church, the more or less 
 of ability possessed by those whom she 
 recommends for our veneration is a matter 
 of no concern. She is as willing to raise 
 a St. Isidore, the gardener of Madrid, to 
 the ranks of the Blessed, as an Augus- 
 tine of Hippo, or a Thomas Aquinas. 
 The proof of eminent virtue is all that she 
 demands, and as a conclusive and com- 
 pendious test of the presence of this high 
 order of virtue, she requires the authenti- 
 cation of miracles wrought by, or through 
 the intercession of, the person whose 
 virtues are under debate. Such are, in 
 her estimate, the only sound bases of a 
 popular cultuSy and when these conditions 
 have been complied with, such a cultus has 
 been never known to be discredited. 
 
 The possession of virtue rising to the 
 heroic level, and the illustration of that 
 virtue by miracles, are matters of fact, 
 which must of course be established by 
 testimony. The witnesses, in most cases, 
 can be no other than the countrymen and 
 countrywomen of the reputed saint, for 
 only they can have seen his life from so 
 near at hand as to be competent to speak 
 with certitude respecting it. In the early 
 times, individual bishops, and afterwards 
 metropolitans acting upon this local testi- 
 mony, and sifting it in the best way they 
 could, declared the blessedness of certain 
 persons, and proposed their memories for 
 the veneration of the faithful. But it is 
 
 notorious that local testimony is rarely 
 free from bias, that national and provincial 
 sympathies, or even antipathies, are apt 
 to disturb the judgment, and that for 
 this reason the universal Church could 
 not safely endorse without injury even 
 the unanimous judgment of his own 
 countrymen on the virtues of a reputed 
 saint. Earl Waltheof, put to death by 
 William the Conqueror, was regarded by 
 the English as a martyr, and miracles 
 were said to be worked at his tomb ; the 
 same thing happened in the case of Simon 
 de Montfort ; but it may reasonably be 
 doubted whether antipathy to the Nqrman 
 and the foreigner was not a substantial 
 factor in these reputations for sanctity. 
 Considerations of this kind prevailed, 
 many centuries ago, to cause the inquiry 
 into reputed sanctity to be reserved to the 
 central authority in the Church, the Holy 
 See, and to recommend the wisdom and 
 necessity of the decision that without the 
 sanction of that see no religious cultus 
 may lawfully be paid to the memory of 
 any holy person, however eminent for 
 virtue or notorious for miracles. As early 
 as the fourth century, in the case of Vigil- 
 ius, bishop of Trent, we find the authority 
 of Rome invoked to recognize a martyr 
 or confessor as such, and sanction his 
 being honored in the liturgy. The pro- 
 cedure to be observed was gradually reg- 
 ularized, defects remedied, and safeguards 
 supplied ; and in the tenth century we 
 meet with the complete process of a can- 
 onization, of which the object was St. 
 Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg. Still, how- 
 
BE A TIFICA TION. 
 
 91 
 
 ever, through the inordinate fondness with 
 which those of a particular country or 
 religious order regarded holy persons of 
 their own blood or profession, instances 
 of abusive cultus sometimes occurred; 
 and accordingly we find Alexander III., in 
 1 1 70, publishing a decree in which it is 
 declared unlawful to honor any person 
 publicly as a saint, however celebrated for 
 miracles, without the consent of the 
 Roman Church. Still more important is 
 the bull of Urban VIII. (1634), in which 
 the form of procedure in cases of canoni- 
 zation is minutely prescribed, and various 
 abuses condemned. In this bull, however, 
 the Pope declared " that he did not wish 
 to prejudice the case of those [servants of 
 God] who were the objects of a cultus 
 arising either out of the general consent 
 of the Church, or a custom of which the 
 memory of man ran not to the contrary, 
 or the writings of the Fathers, or the long 
 and intentional tolerance of the Apostolic 
 See or' the Ordinary." (Ferraris, Cultus 
 Sanctorum ) 
 
 It remains briefly to explain in what 
 manner the duty, thus reserved to the 
 Holy See, of testing the evidence offered 
 in proof of sanctity, is discharged. The 
 celebrated treatise of Pope Benedict XIV. 
 [on Heroic Virtue (of which a translation 
 was published some years ago by the Eng- 
 lish Oratorians) is the standard authority 
 on the subject. There are three recog- 
 nized degrees of sanctity — that of Vener- 
 able, that of Blessed, and that of Saint. 
 On the first and third we shall speak more 
 fully under the head of Canonization; 
 
 it is with the title of Blessed, given on the 
 completion of the process of Beatifica- 
 tion, that we are at present concerned. 
 At the present time, Beatification is 
 nearly always a stage on the road to 
 Canonization ; the same rigorous proof 
 of eminent virtue and the working of 
 miracles is demanded in one case as in 
 the other. But whereas the cultus of a 
 canonized saint belongs to the universal 
 Church, and churches and altars can be 
 freely erected in his or her honor, and 
 images, pictures, or statues of him or her 
 displayed without special permission, in 
 the case of one of the Blessed it is other- 
 wise. The honor and veneration which 
 are authorized in their regard are limited 
 and partial ; and because the cultus of one 
 of them is permitted to one country, or 
 city, or order, or branch of an order, it 
 does not follow that it should be practised 
 elsewhere, and the attempt to extend it 
 without special permission is condemned. 
 Nor is it lawful, without such permission, 
 to display their pictures or images in 
 churches, nor, under any circumstances, 
 can Mass be said or the breviary recited 
 in their honor. 
 
 Thirteen or fourteen different steps may 
 be distinguished in the process of Beatifi- 
 cation ; the general object of all these 
 slow and lengthy inquiries — extending 
 always over many years, and sometimes 
 from one century to another — being to 
 unite the credibility and authenticity 
 which can only be founded on the reports 
 of witnesses locally and personally cog- 
 nizant of the facts to the authority of a 
 
92 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 juridical investigation conducted by trained 
 and impartial intellects. It must be remem- 
 bered that the character and behavior of 
 the reputed saint are subjected to the 
 severest possible strain ; that the " fierce 
 light which beats upon a throne" is 
 nothing to that which so minute and 
 protracted an inquiry turns upon the 
 everyday life of the person submitted 
 to it. " The person who is to be beati- 
 fied must have practised in the heroic 
 degree, chiefly, the three theological vir- 
 tues, Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the 
 four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, 
 Courage, and Temperance, with all that 
 these suppose and involve ; nor is it 
 enough to show that these have been 
 practised to this degree of perfection 
 under certain circumstances : numerous 
 acts, a permanent and habitual practice, 
 principally of charity, are required ; and, 
 with regard to the cardinal virtues, the 
 habit of that virtue which was the proper 
 and distinguishing excellence of the per- 
 son's calling. Thus justice and temperance 
 are required in statesmen and prelates ; in 
 Popes, zeal „ for the defence and propaga- 
 tion of the Catholic faith ; in kings, loyal 
 attachment to the Church and the Holy 
 See ; in married women, gentleness and 
 devotion," etc.^ 
 
 The first step of the process is a formal 
 inquiry instituted by the bishop of the j 
 diocese as to the fact of the reputation of 
 the person whose beatification is demanded 
 for virtue and miraculous power. This 
 being accomplished, either the same 
 
 1 De Moy in Wetzer and Welte. 
 
 bishop or a Roman official inquires into 
 the fact of non-ciiltus — that is, whether 
 the bull of Urban VHI. (supposing the 
 case not to be included among the excep- 
 tions thefore specified ) has been hitherto 
 scrupulously complied with. Thirdly, the 
 acts or minutes resulting from these two 
 inquiries are sent to Rome, to the secre- 
 tary of the Congregation of Rites. [Roman 
 Congregations.] Before this body the 
 process is now opened, at the request of 
 t]\Qpostulators, or supporters of the beati- 
 fication. The fifth step is the nomination 
 of a promotor fidei ( called in popular lan- 
 guage the " devil's advocate "), whose 
 duty it is to point out any flaws or weak 
 points" in the evidence adduced, and raise 
 all kinds of objections. Sixthly, the Con- 
 gregation examines, if the person were an 
 author, all the works, printed or in man- 
 uscript, which were ascertained to be of 
 his composition, and draws up a formal 
 report on them. If this be favorable, the 
 seventh stage is reached, that of the intro- 
 duction of the apostolic process ; for Rome, 
 so to speak, now makes the cause its own, 
 and gives a commission to the Congrega- 
 tion of Rites to try it, investigating, not 
 only the notoriety, but the reality and 
 nature of the virtues and miracles 
 ascribed to the beatificandus. This com. 
 mission, without a special Papal dispensa- 
 tion, is never issued till at least ten years 
 have passed since the first transmission of 
 the acts to the secretary of the Congrega- 
 tion. The next step is the appointment 
 by the Congregation, under what are 
 called littercB remissionales, of a delegation 
 
BE A TIFICA TION. 
 
 93 
 
 of three bishops, or other high function- 
 aries, to deal with the case systematically, 
 and examine witnesses in respect to the 
 reputed virtues and miracles. The acts 
 of this delegation, which are often 
 extremely voluminous, are, as the ninth 
 stage, sent to the Congregation, by which 
 they are examined, and arguments heard, 
 pro and contra, from the postulators and 
 the promotor fidei. If the result is favor- 
 able to the beatificandiis, a second and 
 still more searching inquiry into the real 
 and inmost nature of all that has been 
 deposed respecting him is committed to a 
 new delegation ; this is the tenth stage. 
 The process, being returned to the Con- 
 ,gregation, is finally considered by them, 
 ^both as to its form and as to its substance ; 
 and the virtues and miracles are separately 
 the subject of debate in three successive 
 assemblies or congregations, at the last 
 of which the Pope himself is present. 
 After having sought to know the will of 
 
 God by prayer, the Pope makes known 
 his judgment to the secretary of the Con- 
 gregation. A new general congregation 
 is then held, at which is considered whether 
 the beatification may be proceeded with 
 without further delay; if the decision be 
 favorable, the Pope appoints a day for the 
 ceremony, and orders a brief, setting forth 
 the apostolic sentence, to be prepared. 
 The final stage of this long process, the 
 beatification itself, takes place in the 
 Vatican church ; it includes the public 
 reading of the brief, the chanting of the 
 Te Deum, the unveiling of the image or 
 picture of the newly beatified on the 
 altar, the incensing of the image, the 
 reading of the new collect, etc. 
 
 By an " equipollent beatification " is 
 meant the Papal authorization of the 
 public cultus of a confessor or martyr, 
 founded on the proof of one or more of the 
 exceptional conditions stated in the bull 
 of Urban VIII. 
 
 II 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
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 T 
 
 HE Latin word miraculum 
 means something wonderful — 
 not necessarily supernatural, 
 for, e. g., the " Seven Wonders 
 of the World " were known as 
 the " Septem Miracula." In 
 theological Latin, however, and in English, 
 the words miraculum, " miracle," are used 
 commonly only of events so wonderful 
 that they cannot be accounted for by nat- 
 ural causes. This use, as we shall see 
 presently, is not sanctioned by the Vul- 
 gate translation of the New Testament, 
 and is not thoroughly supported by the 
 language of the original Greek. It has 
 its disadvantages as well as its advantages, 
 though, of course, the established termin- 
 ology cannot be altered now, even if it 
 were possible — as we believe it is not — 
 to find a more convenient word. It will 
 be well, however, to say something on the 
 Scriptural, and particularly the New Tes- 
 tament, phraseology. 
 
 (i) Miracles are called Urata {prodigia. 
 See Exod. iv. 21, where it is the rendering 
 of ... . shining or splendid deeds) 
 
 — i. e. prodigies, because of the surprise 
 they cause. The Greek word thaumasia, 
 which would exactly answer to miracula^ 
 is found in the New Testament once only 
 {thauma} never). Matt. xxi. 1 5 ; and 
 there in a wider sense than " miracle." 
 There is no great difference, from a 
 theological point of view, between the 
 words "prodigy" and "miracle." It is, 
 however, well worth notice that the New 
 Testament never uses the word " prodigy " 
 by itself. It speaks of " signs and prodi- 
 gies," etc., many times ; of " prodigies " 
 simply, never. Evidently, the wonder 
 caused is not the only or even the chief 
 feature in a miracle, and this the New 
 Testament writers are careful to note. 
 
 (2) Miracles are also frequently called 
 " signs " {semeia \ an accurate rendering of 
 
 Ex. vii. 3), to indicate their 
 
 purpose. They are "marvels" and "prod- 
 igies " which arouse attention, but the 
 "wonder" excited is a means, and not an 
 end, and the "miracle" is a token of 
 God's presence ; they confirm the mission 
 
 1 Never, i. e. for a " wonderful thing." See .^poc. xviL 7. 
 
P"'!!II!ii!!;!iIlli'j|iII!l!II!Iili!' 
 
 \Mi 
 
 CHRIST HEALETH THE BLIND. 
 
MIRACLES. 
 
 95 
 
 and the teaching of those who deliver a 
 message in His name (see Acts xiv. 3, 
 Heb. ii. 4). Of course, it is only by usage 
 that the word " sign " acquires this tech- 
 nical sense, and it does not always in the 
 New Testament mean a supernatural sign. 
 
 (3) They are often described as 
 " powers " {dunameis), inasmuch as they 
 exhibit God's power. They are evidences 
 that new powers have entered our world, 
 and are working thus for the good of 
 mankind, God, no doubt, is always work- 
 ing, and He manifests His power in the 
 operation of natural law. But we are in 
 danger of looking upon the world as if it 
 were governed by laws independent of 
 God, and of forgetting that His hand is 
 as necessary in each moment of the 
 world's existence for each operation of 
 created things as it was for creation at the 
 first. In a miracle, God produces sensible 
 effects which transcend the operation of 
 natural causes. Men are no longer able 
 to say, •* This is Nature," forgetting all the 
 while that nature is the continuous work 
 of God ; and they confess, "The finger of 
 GoJ is here." In Christ, miracles were 
 the " powers," or works of power done by 
 Him who was Himself the power of God. 
 And so, miracles done through the saints 
 flow from, and are signs of, the power of 
 God within them. " Stephen, full of grace 
 and power, did great prodigies and signs 
 among the people " (Acts vi. 8). 
 
 (4) Christ's miracles are often called 
 His "works," as if the form of working to 
 be looked for from Him in whom the 
 "fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily." 
 
 They were the characteristic works of 
 Him who came to free us from the bond- 
 age of Nature, to be our life, to overcome 
 death, to lead us, first to a worthier and 
 more unselfish life, and then to a better 
 world in which sorrow and death shall be 
 no more. They are the first-fruits of His 
 power ; the pledges of that mighty work- 
 ing by which, one day, He will subject all 
 things to Himself and make all things 
 new. 
 
 From a different point of view, then, the 
 same event is a "prodigy," a "sign," and 
 a " power " ; each word presenting it under 
 a distinct and instructive aspect. The 
 three words occur three times together — 
 viz. in Acts ii. 22, 2 Cor. xii. 12 ; 2Thes. ii. 
 9 (in the last passage of the false miracles 
 of Antichrist). In each case the Vulgate 
 has kept the distinction with accurate and 
 delicate fidelity ; and we cannot help 
 expressing our regret that the Douay 
 version, in Challoner's recension, should 
 have obliterated the distinction and 
 blunted the sense of Scripture by translat- 
 ing — e. g. Acts ii. 22 — "by miracles, and 
 wonders, and signs," as if " wonder" added 
 anything to " miracle." 
 
 We cannot pretend to consider here, in 
 full, the objections made to the possibility 
 of miracles, but can only give in brief the 
 teaching of Catholic theologians, and 
 particularly of St. Thomas, on the matter. 
 The latter defines a miracle as an effect 
 which " is beyond the order ( or laws ) of 
 the whole of created nature " — " prceter 
 ordinem totins natures' creates'' (Lex. 4). 
 He explains further, that an event may 
 
^ 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH. HISTORY. 
 
 transcend the laws of some particular 
 nature, and yet by no means be miracu- 
 lous. The motion of a stone when thrown 
 up in the air, to take his own instance, is 
 an effect which exceeds the power which 
 resides in the nature of the stone ; but it 
 is no miracle, for it is produced by the 
 natural power of man, and does not there- 
 fore exceed the power of Nature in its 
 entirety. No natural law can account for 
 the sun's going back on the dial of Achaz, 
 for the resurrection of Lazarus, or for the 
 cure by Christ of Peter's wife's mother 
 when she was sick of a fever. All these 
 things exceeded the powers of Nature, 
 though in different degrees, and they are 
 inst-ances of the three grades of the miracu- 
 I . lous which St. Thomas distinguishes (I. cv. 
 8). In the first case the very substance of 
 the thing done is beyond the power of 
 Nature to effect {" excedit facultatem 
 natures, quantum ad substantiam facti ") ; in 
 the second, the recipient of the effect 
 stamps it as miraculous (" ex c edit facultatem 
 naturcB, quatitum ad id in quo Jit "), since 
 natural powers can indeed give life, but' 
 not to the dead; in the third, it is the 
 manner and order in which the effect is 
 produced (" modus et ordo faciendi'^) that 
 is miraculous, for the instantaneous cure 
 of disease by Christ's word is very differ- 
 ent from a cure effected by the gradual 
 operation of care and medical treatment. 
 The latter is natural, the former super- 
 natural. 
 
 The definition given makes it unreason- 
 able to deny the possibility of miracles, 
 unless we also deny the existence of God. 
 
 Usually, He works according to natural 
 laws, and this for our good, since we 
 should be unable to control natural agents 
 and to make them serve us, unless we 
 could count on the effects known causes 
 will produce. But God is necessarily 
 free ; He is not subject to natural laws, 
 and He may, for wise reasons, make 
 created things the instruments of effects 
 which are beyond their natural capacity. 
 A miracle is not an effect without a cause ; 
 on the contrary, it is a miracle because 
 produced by God, the First Cause, It is 
 not a capricious exercise of power. The 
 same God who operates usually, and for 
 wise ends, according to the laws which He 
 has implanted in Nature, may on occasion, 
 and for ends equally wise, produce effects 
 which transcend these laws. Nor does 
 God in working miracles contradict Him- 
 self, for where has He bound Himself 
 never, and for no reason, to operate except 
 according to these laws .'' 
 
 It is also clear from the definition given 
 that God alone can work miracles. 
 " Whatever an angel or any other creature 
 does by his own power is according to the 
 order of created nature," and therefore not 
 miraculous according to the definition 
 with which we started (I, ex. 4), It is 
 quite permissable to speak of saints or 
 angels as working miracles ; indeed, 
 Scripture itself does so speak. Still, we 
 must always understand that God alone 
 really performs the wonder, and that the 
 creature is merely His instrument. Hence 
 it follows that no miracle can possibly be 
 wrought except for a good purpose. It 
 
MIRACLES. 
 
 97 
 
 does not, however, follow that persons 
 through whose instrumentality miracles 
 occur are good and holy. St. Thomas, 
 quoting St. Jerome, holds that evil men 
 who preach the faith and call on Christ's 
 name, may perform true miracles the 
 object of these miracles being to confirm 
 the truths which these unworthy persons 
 utter and the cause which they represent^ 
 Thus the gift of miracles is in itself no 
 proof of holiness. But, as a rule, miracles 
 are effected by holy men and women, and 
 very often they are the signs by which 
 God attests their sanctity and the power 
 of their prayer (2 2ndae clxxviii. 2). In all 
 these cases, the miracle is a sign of God's 
 will, and cannot, except through our own 
 perversity, lead us into error. 
 
 It is otherwise with the "lying 
 vonders," which, SL Paul says. Antichrist 
 ill work, or which Pharaoh's magicians 
 re supposed by some to have done by 
 the help of devils. Real miracles these 
 cannot be, for God, who is the very truth, 
 cannot work wonders to lead His creatures 
 into error. But the demons, according to 
 St. Thomas, are so far beyond us in knowl- 
 edge and strength, that they may well 
 vork marvels, which would exceed all 
 atural powers, so far as we know them, 
 nd would seem to us superior to any 
 itural power whatsoever, and so to be 
 truly miraculous (I. cxiv.). True mir- 
 acles, then, are practically distinguished 
 from false ones by their moral character. 
 
 1 Sylvius, one of the best known commentators on St, 
 - homas, holds that heretics may work miracles ; not, how- 
 ever, in confirmation of their heresy. 
 
 They are not mere marvels, meant to 
 gratify the curiosity of the spectator and 
 the vanity of the performer. They are 
 sig^s of God's presence ; they bring us 
 nearer to Him with whom " we ever have 
 to do " ; they remind us that we are to 
 be holy as He is holy, to cultivate humility, 
 purity, the love of God and man. The 
 doctrine whicli they confirm must appeal 
 to us, apart from its miraculous attestation. 
 "Jesus answered them and said. My doc- 
 trine is not mine, but His who sent me. If 
 any man will do His will, he will know of the 
 doctrine whether it be of God, or whether 
 I speak from myself. He who speaketh 
 of himself, seeketh his own glory, but he 
 that seeketh the glory of Him that sent 
 him, he is true, and injustice is not in 
 him" (John vil 16). So our Lord appeals, 
 in answering John's disciples, to His mir- 
 acles, not simply as works of power, but 
 as stamped with a moral character, and in 
 their connection with the rest of His work, 
 "Blind see again and lame walk, lepers 
 are cleansed, and deaf hear, and corpses 
 are raised, and the poor have the gospel 
 preached to them ; and blessed is he 
 whosoever shall not be scandalized in me " 
 (Matt xi. 5 seq). In short, there was a 
 witness within, as well as without, to 
 Christ's mission, and the miracles had no 
 voice for those who were deaf to the 
 voice within. Because they were deaf to 
 this voice within, the Pharisees ascribed 
 Christ's miracles to Beelzebub. They 
 blasphemed, or were in danger of blas- 
 pheming, the Holy Ghost who spoke to 
 their hearts. And precisely the same 
 
98 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 danger which made men reject Christ's 
 miracles will make them accept the mar- 
 vels of Antichrist. 
 
 So far, many Protestants are with us ; 
 but whereas most of them consider that 
 miracles ceased with, or soon after, the 
 apostolic age, the Catholic Church, not, 
 indeed, so far as we know, by any formal 
 definition, but by her constant practice in 
 the canonization of saints, and through 
 the teaching of her theologians, declares 
 that the gift of miracles is an abiding one, 
 manifested from time to time in her midst. 
 This belief is logical and consistent. 
 Miracles are as possible now as they 
 were eighteen centuries ago. They were 
 wrought throughout the course of the old 
 dispensation, and by the apostles after 
 Christ's death ; and although miracles, no 
 doubt, were specially needed, and there- 
 fore more numerous, when Christianity 
 was a new religion, we have no right to 
 dictate to the All-wise and maintain that 
 they have ceased to be required at all. 
 Heathen nations have still to be con- 
 verted. Great saints are raised up in 
 different ages to renew the fervor of 
 Christians, and turn the hearts of the dis- 
 obedient to the wisdom of the just. The 
 only reasonable course is to examine the 
 evidence for modern miracles, when it 
 presents itself, and to give or withhold 
 belief accordingly. This is just what the 
 Church does. The Anglican Bishop Fitz- 
 gerald, at the end of a most thoughtful 
 and useful essay on " Miracles " in Smith's 
 " Bible Dictionary," asserts that according 
 to the confession of their ablest advocates, 
 
 ecclesiastical miracles belong to the class 
 "of miracles which may be described as 
 ambiguous and tentative — i. e. the event, 
 if it occurred at all, may have been the 
 result of natural causes." Then, indeed, 
 the question would be at an end. But any 
 one who looks into Benedict XIV. *s treat- 
 ise on " Canonization," or into Cardinal 
 Newman's "Lectures on Anglican Diffi- 
 culties," will see what an extraordinary 
 mistake this is. This able writer is wast- 
 ing words and exposing the weakness of 
 his own cause when he argues that the 
 course of Nature cannot be interrupted 
 "by random and capricious variation," 
 that strong evidence is needed to make 
 supposed miracles credible, and that the 
 true miracles of Christianity at its birth 
 may have occasioned spurious imitations 
 of fanatical credulity. All this may be 
 admitted, but it does not touch the ques- 
 tion. And when Dr. Fitzgerald rests the 
 belief in miracles upon the authority of 
 inspired writers, and urges that there is 
 no such authority for ecclesiastical mira- 
 cles, he forgets that the first Christians 
 must have believed the miracles of Christ 
 and the apostles before any inspired 
 record of them had been made. In many 
 cases, too, the belief in apostolic miracles 
 must have come first, that in apostolic 
 inspiration, second. 
 
 It must be observed, hoifever, that 
 ecclesiastical and Scriptural miracles claim 
 widely different kinds of belief. The 
 Scriptural miracles rest on divine faith, 
 and must be accepted without doubt. No 
 ecclesiastical miracle can become the 
 
MIRACLES. 
 
 99 
 
 object of faith, nor is any Catholic bound 
 to believe in any particular miracle not 
 recorded in Scripture. He could not, 
 without unsoundness in doctrine, deny 
 that any miracles had occurred since the 
 apostolic age, and he owes a filial respect 
 to the judgment of high ecclesiastical 
 authority; but within these limits he is 
 left to the freedom and to the responsibili- 
 ties of private judgment. 
 
 Lastly, although there is a danger in 
 incredulity, even when this incredulity 
 does not amount to abandonment of the 
 faith. Catholic saints and doctors have 
 insisted on the opposite danger of credu- 
 lity. To attribute false miracles, says St. 
 Peter Damian, to God or His saints, is to 
 bear false witness against them ; and he 
 reminds those who estimate sanctity by 
 miraculous power that nothing is read of 
 miracles done by the Blessed Virgin or 
 St. John Baptist, eminent as they were in 
 sanctity, and that the virtues of the saints 
 which we can copy are more useful than 
 miracles which excite our wonder (Fleury, 
 "H. E." Ixi. 2). Neander ("Kirchen- 
 geschichte," viii. p. 26 seq), after speaking 
 of the popular taste for legendary miracles 
 in the middle ages, continues : " Men were 
 not wanting to contend against this spirit, 
 and a catena of testimonies may be pro- 
 duced from the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries on the true significance of the 
 miraculous in relation to the divine life, 
 and against an exaggerated estimation of 
 external miracles. Nor were such thoughts 
 peculiar to enlightened men who rose 
 above their age ; they may be taken as an 
 
 expression of the common Christian feel- 
 ing in those centuries." The mediaeval 
 biographer of Bernard of Tiron says 
 that for the conversions of fallen women 
 which he effected through God's grace, he 
 was more to be admired than if he had 
 raised their dead bodies to life. And the 
 biographer of St. Norbert writes : " It is 
 the visible miracles which astonish the 
 simple and ignorant, but it is the patience 
 and virtues of the saints which are to be 
 admired and imitated by those who gird 
 themselves to Christ's service." (See the 
 references in Neander, loc cit. ) 
 
 ( On the subject of miracles generally, 
 Archbishop Trench's dissertation at the 
 beginning of his " Essays on the Miracles" 
 may be consulted. It is specially valuable 
 for its Patristic references. The opinions 
 of the School-men on the nature of 
 miracles are well given by Neander, vol. 
 viii. p. 26 of the last German edition. 
 Cardinal Newman's " Essay on Eccle- 
 siastical Miracles " is well known.) 
 
 JMissal. 
 
 The book which contains the complete 
 service for Mass throughout the year. 
 
 In the ancient Church there was no one 
 book answering to our Missal. The 
 service for Mass was contained in the 
 Antiphonary, Lectionary, Book of the 
 Gospels, and Sacramentary. This last, 
 besides matter relating to other sacraments, 
 gave the collects, secrets, prefaces, canon, 
 prayer infracanonem, and post-communion, 
 
lOO 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 and from the eighth century at latest it 
 was known as Missal or Massbook. There 
 were " Completa Missalia," — i. e. Missals 
 which contained more of the service of 
 the Mass than the Sacramentaries ; but 
 we do not know how far this completeness 
 went, for "during the ages which 
 intervened between the use of the Liber 
 Sacramentorum and the general adoption 
 of the complete book of the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries, the Missal was in 
 a transition state, ■ sometimes containing 
 more, sometimes less of the entire office. 
 Thus the MSS. which still exist, vary in 
 their contents (Maskell, " Monumenta 
 Rit.," p. Ixiii, seq)?- There are, of course, 
 printed Missals according to the various 
 rites — Missale Romanum, Ambrosianum, 
 Missa ad usum Sarum (first printed edition 
 known, Paris, 1487), and the various uses 
 of religious orders (Dominicans, Bene- 
 dictines, etc.) The Roman Missal was 
 carefully revised and printed under Pius 
 v., who carried out a decree of the Council 
 of Trent on the matter, and strictly 
 enjoined the use of this Missal, or faithful 
 reprints of it, in all churches which could 
 not claim prescription of two hundred 
 years for their own use. It was revised 
 again under Clement VIII. and Urban 
 VIII. New masses have of course been 
 added from time to time, and to the Missal 
 as to the Breviary a "Proper" may be 
 added by permission of the Holy See, 
 containing masses for the saints venerated 
 in a particular county, diocese, order, etc. 
 
 1 The Missale Plenarium contains all the service for 
 Mass, L e. it b a Missal in the modern sense. 
 
 J^ropagarxda. 
 
 The sacred congregation of Cardinals di 
 propaganda fide y commonly called the Con- 
 gregation of Propaganda, which had been 
 contemplated by Gregory XIII., was prac- 
 tically established by Gregory XV. (1622) to 
 guard, direct, and promote the foreign mis- 
 sions. Urban VIII. (1623-1644) instituted 
 the " College of Propaganda " as part of the 
 same design, where young men of every 
 nation and language might be trained for 
 the priesthood, and prepared for the evan- 
 gelic warfare against heathenism or heresy. 
 The management of this college the Pope 
 entrusted to the Congregation. Urban 
 caused the present building to be erected, 
 from the designs of Bernini. The College 
 possesses a library of 30,000 volumes, 
 among which are the translations of a great 
 number of Chinese works, and a large col- 
 lection of Oriental MSS. Attached to the 
 library is the Museo Borgia, which contains 
 several interesting MSS., service-books, and 
 autographs, and a collection of objects sent 
 home by the missionaries from the coun- 
 tries where they are stationed, including an 
 extraordinary assortment of idols. "The 
 annual examination of the pupils, which 
 takes place in January (on the day before 
 the Epiphany), is an interesting scene, 
 which few travellers who are then in Rome 
 omit to attend ; the pupils reciting poetry 
 and speeches in their several languages, 
 accompanied also by music, as performed 
 in their respective countries. The number 
 of pupils was, by the last return, 142."^ 
 
 1 Murray's Handbook /or Rome, 1867. 
 
CONCLAVB. 
 
 ONCLAVK (Lat. conclave; 
 properly, a chamber that can 
 be closed with one key). The 
 term is applied both to- the 
 place where the Cardinals 
 assemble for the election of 
 X new Pope, and to the assembly itself. 
 Several questions relating to the election 
 of Popes — e. g. whether the Roman Pon- 
 tiff can legally nominate his successor ; 
 who is or is not eligible ; what would 
 happen in the event of all the Cardinals 
 dying before the election, etc. — are con- 
 sidered under Pope ; in this article we 
 shall treat exclusively of the mode of elec- 
 tion, as finally settled by Gregory X. In 
 the course of the dark ages the secular 
 rulers of Rome made various attempts to 
 interfere with the freedom of Papal elec- 
 tions. A statement even appears in the 
 jDecretura of Gratian (and was used in 
 argument by James I. and Bishop 
 Andrewes, when attempting to justify 
 I the subjection of the Anglican Church 
 fto the crown), to the effect that Pope 
 Hadrian granted to Charlemagne the 
 
 right of electing the Pope and regu;ating 
 the Apostolic See. But this canon was 
 shown by Bellarmine to be spurious ; it 
 was probably invented by Sigismond of 
 Gemblours, a strong supporter of imperial 
 pretentions, and being found in his chron- . 
 icle, imposed upon the unwary Gratian, 
 Another canon, also found in Gratian, 
 which states that Leo VIII. granted a 
 similar privilege to Otho I., soon after 
 the commencement of the revived " Holy 
 Roman Empire," at once falls to the 
 ground when it is remembered that Leo 
 VIII., for the unanswerable reasons given 
 by Baronius, is not to be accounted a true 
 Pope. In 1059 an important decree was 
 made by Nicholas II. in a council at 
 Rome, assigning the election of future 
 Popes to the Cardinal Bishops, with the 
 consent of the other Cardinals, and the 
 clergy, and the people of Rome, saving 
 also the honor due to Henry, king of the 
 Romans, and to any of his successors on 
 the imperial throne in whose favor the 
 Holy See should make the same reserva- 
 tion. This partial recognition of a right 
 
 101 
 
102 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH fllSTORY. 
 
 to interfere in the election proved to be 
 fertile in antipopes and vexations of every 
 kind ; and Alexander III., having experi- 
 enced what trouble an arbitrary emperor 
 could cause, in his long struggle with 
 Frederic Barbarossa, resolved with a wise 
 boldness to take away from the imperial 
 line the locus standi in Papal elections 
 which the canon of 1059 ^^^ allowed, and 
 to vindicate her ancient freedom for the 
 Church. In a General Council held at 
 the Lateran in 1179, it was decreed that 
 the election sboald thenceforth rest with 
 the Cardinalo alone, and that, in order to 
 be canonical, it must be supported by the 
 votes of two-thirds of their number. In 
 the following century, the Lateran decree 
 was confirmed and developed at the Coun- 
 cil of Lyons (1274), presided over by 
 Gregory X. ; and in all its substantial 
 features the discipline then settled is still 
 observed. 
 
 In the election of a Pope, it is obvious 
 that there are certain conditions the exact 
 fulfilment of which is of the utmost con- 
 sequence. These are such as the follow- 
 ing : That all those qualified to vote, and 
 only those, should take part in the elec- 
 tion ; that the election should not be 
 unnecessarily delayed ; that it should not 
 be precipitated ; that the electors should 
 be in no fear for their personal safety, 
 which would prevent the election from 
 being free ; lastly, that they should be 
 subjected to no external persuasion tend- 
 ing to make them vote, or at least come 
 under the suspicion of voting, from motives 
 lower than those which ought to actuate 
 
 them. All these conditions, the regula- 
 tions for the conclave fixed in 1274 
 endeavor, so far as human forethought can 
 ensure it, to cause, to be observed. After 
 the death of a Pope the Cardinals who 
 are absent are immediately to be sura^ 
 moned to the conclave by one of the sec- 
 retaries of the Sacred College ; the election 
 is to begin on the tenth day after the 
 death. In whatever city the Pope dies, 
 there the election must be held. Within 
 the ten days the conclave must be con- 
 structed in the Papal palace, or in some 
 other suitable edifice. The large halls of 
 the palace are so divided by wooden par- 
 titions as to furnish a number of sets of 
 small apartments (two for an ordinary 
 Cardinal, three for one of princely rank), 
 all opening upon a corridor. Here the 
 Cardinals must remain until they have 
 elected a Pope. 
 
 On the tenth day a solemn Mass of the 
 Holy Ghost is said in the Vatican church, 
 and after it the Cardinals form a proces- 
 sion and proceed to the conclave, taking 
 up their respective apartments as the lot 
 has distributed them. For the rest of 
 that day the conclave is open ; crowds of 
 persons flock in and circulate among the 
 apartments and corridors, and the ambas- 
 sadors and delegates of foreign States, 
 besides their personal friends, visit the 
 Cardinals for the last time. In the even- 
 ing every one is turned out except the 
 Cardinals and those authorized to remain 
 with them, and the conclave is closed. 
 This is done under the superintendence of 
 two guardians of the conclave — one a 
 
CONCLA VE. 
 
 103 
 
 prelate previously appointed by the Sacred 
 College, who is called the governor ; the 
 other, a lay official designated the marshal. 
 Each Cardinal is allowed to have two 
 members of his household in personal 
 attendance upon him ; these are called 
 conclavists. A number of other atten- 
 dants and minor officials — a carpenter, a 
 mason, a sacrist, a monk or friar to hear 
 confessions, two barbers, eight or ten 
 porters and messengers, and several others 
 — are in the common service of the whole 
 body of Cardinals. All the entrances to 
 the building but one are closed ; that one 
 is in the charge of officials who are partly 
 prelates, partly officials of the municipal- 
 ity, whose business it is to see that no 
 unauthorized person shall enter, and to 
 exercise a surveillance over the food 
 brought for the Cardinals, lest any writ- 
 ten communication should be conveyed to 
 them by this channel. After three days, 
 the supply of food sent in is restricted ; if 
 five days more elapse without an election 
 being made, the rule used to be that the 
 Cardinals should from that time subsist on 
 nothing but bread, wine, and water ; but 
 this rigor has been somewhat modified by 
 later ordinances. Morning and evening 
 the Cardinals meet in the chapel, and a 
 secret scrutiny by means of voting papers 
 is usually instituted, in order to ascertain 
 whether any candidate has the required 
 majority of two-thirds. A Cardinal com- 
 ing from a distance can enter the conclave 
 after the closure, but only if he claim the 
 right of doing so within three days of his 
 arrival in the city. Every actual Cardinal, 
 
 even though he may lie under a sentence 
 of excommunication, has the right to vote, 
 unless he has not yet been admitted to 
 deacon's orders. Even in this case the 
 right of voting has sometimes been con- 
 ferred by special Papal indult. There are 
 three valid modes of election — by scru- 
 tiny, by compromise, and by what is called 
 quasi-inspiration. Compromise is when 
 all the Cardinals agree to entrust the elec> 
 tion to a small committee of two or three 
 members of the body. Scrutiny is the 
 ordinary mode, and, although since the 
 thirteenth century elections have usually 
 been made by this mode with reasonable 
 dispatch, yet in times of disturbance, the 
 difficulty of obtaining a two-thirds major- 
 ity has been known to protract the pro- 
 ceedings over a long period, as in the 
 celebrated instance of the conclave of 
 1799, described in Consalvi's Memoirs, 
 which lasted six months, resulting in the 
 election of Pius VII. (Ferraris, Papa; 
 Zoepffel, "Die Papstwahlen," GottingeUj 
 1871.) 
 
 Gorvcordat. 
 
 Concordat ( Lat. concordaia, things 
 agreed upon). A treaty between the 
 Holy See and a secular State touching the 
 conservation and promotion of the inter- 
 ests of religion in that State. 
 
 It were to be wished that Christendom 
 did not require concordats, for a treaty 
 between two powers implies some felt 
 divergency of sentiment and principle, 
 which, having already resulted in opposi- 
 
 I 
 
I04 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 tion and contention more or less serious, 
 dictates to the contracting parties the 
 necessity of coming to an understanding 
 as to the limits beyond which neither will 
 give way to the other. Such divergency 
 of sentiment only arises, speaking gener- 
 ally, when the secular State aims at 
 excluding the Church from its rightful 
 share of control over human affairs — an 
 aim which familiar experience shows to be 
 eminently pernicious and disastrous. 
 When Ethelberts ^r St. Louises rule in 
 temporals, we ^s '.',ot hear of concordats 
 with the Holy Se^, for such rulers desire 
 to see religion more, not less, in the 
 ascendant among their subjects. Never- 
 theless, considering the actual condition 
 of things in Europe and America, it is 
 generally a subject of congratulation when 
 the Pope concludes a fresh concordat ; we 
 know that at any rate for a time, religion 
 and its ministers will be treated with 
 some justice and moderation in the treaty- 
 making State ; that if the Church has 
 been robbed there in time past, some 
 modicum of a yearly grant will now be 
 given by way of restitution ; and that the 
 churches and convents will be made over 
 to her — at any rate till the next revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Among the more celebrated concordats 
 of former times are the following : — 
 
 I. That of Worms in 1122, between 
 Calixtus II. and the Emperor Henry V., 
 by which the abusive right of appointing 
 bishops and abbots " by ring and crosier," 
 long usurped by the emperors, was 
 resigned, and only the investiture by the 
 
 sceptre, in token of the grant of their 
 temporalities, retained. On the lines of 
 this concordat the question of investiture 
 was settled throughout Europe in such a 
 way as to leave intact in theory the uni- 
 versal pastorate of the successors of Peter, 
 however seriously it may have been here 
 and there compromised in practice. 
 
 2. That of Frankfort or Vienna (1446-8), 
 called the Concordat with the German 
 Nation, by which the Popes Eugenius IV. 
 and Nicholas V., employing Nicholas of 
 Cusa and ^neas Sylvius as negotiators, 
 agreed with the emperor Frederic III. to 
 divide in a particular manner the patron- 
 age of ecclesiastical dignities in Ger- 
 many, and as to the payment of first fruits 
 and other matters. 
 
 3. That of 15 1 5, between Leo X. and 
 Francis I., by which the latter agreed to 
 abolish the pragmatic sanction of Charles 
 VII. (limiting appeals to Rome, and pre- 
 tending to set a general council above the 
 Pope), and the former resigned to the 
 crown of France the norrsination to vacant 
 bishoprics and abbeys, with the proviso 
 that the persons named should be accept- 
 able to the Holy See. 
 
 In later times, the concordat of 1801, 
 between Piiis VII. and the first Napoleon, 
 restoring to the French nation the public 
 practice of the religion of their fathers, 
 which the detestable wickedness of the 
 revolutionists had proscribed since 1790, 
 is a treaty of primary importance. Under 
 its terms the Holy See agreed to a new 
 demarcation of the boundaries of French 
 dioceses, reducing their number from over 
 
CONCORDAT. 
 
 105 
 
 100 to about 80, and declared (art. 13) 
 that neither the reigning Pope nor his 
 successors would molest the purchasers or 
 grantees in the peaceable possession of 
 Church lands alienated up to that date. 
 On the other hand, the French Govern- 
 ment agreed to the free and public exer- 
 cise of the " Catholic, Apostolic, and 
 Roman " religion in France ; consented 
 (art. 4, 5,) to the canonical institution by 
 the Pope, under the ancient discipline, of 
 the bishops whom the Go^'ernment should 
 nominate ; promised (art. 14) a suitable 
 annual grant for the support of the French 
 bishops and clergy ; and undertook to 
 facilitate (art. 15) fresh endowments on 
 the part of any French Catholics desiring 
 to make them. These were the principal 
 articles of the concordat signed by the 
 Papal envoys on behalf of the Holy See. 
 
 The Government of Napoleon soon after- 
 wards added to the concordat a number 
 of clauses called " organic articles," the 
 tenor of which was of course highly 
 Erastian, and by which it has been often 
 maintained by the French and other pub- 
 licists that the French clergy are bound. 
 This, however, since the Holy See never 
 ratified the "organic articles," is not the 
 case. 
 
 In an interesting supplementary article 
 in vol. xxvi. of Wetzer and Welte's 
 Dictionary on Concordats, the text of 
 several modern conventions of this kind 
 (with Russia, 1847; with the republic of 
 Costa Rica, 1852; with Austria, 1855) is 
 given in full. 
 
 (Ferraris, Concordata; Soglia, i. 4, De 
 jure novissimo : Mohler's " Kirchenges- 
 chichte.") 
 
 ..J^,Qr-'y.J>«. A::^ 
 
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CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 • GeMMANBMENtS Bf 699, 
 
 OMMANDMENTS of God (in 
 Hebrew of Exodus xxxiv. 28, 
 Deut. iv. 13, X. 4, "the ten 
 words," of which " the Deca- 
 logue," Aoi deka logoi, ta deka 
 logia, ta deka rhemaia, is a 
 verbal translation) were given to Moses by- 
 God on Mount Sinai. They were written 
 by the finger of God on two tables of 
 stone, which were placed in the Ark. 
 Thus the commandments formed the centre 
 and kernel of the Jewish religion. They 
 were given more directly by God than any 
 other part of the Jewish law, and they 
 were placed in the most holy place, which 
 none but the high priest could enter, and 
 he only once a year. The Roman Cate- 
 chism (iii. I. i), quoting St. Augustine, 
 points out that all the rest of the Mosaic 
 law depends on the decalogue, while the 
 ten commandments, in their turn, are 
 based on two precepts — the love of God 
 with the whole heart, and the love of our 
 neighbor as ourselves. 
 
 Two questions about the commandments 
 
 must be mentioned, the former of which 
 concerns the binding force, the latter the 
 division and arrangement, of the deca. 
 logue. 
 
 As to the former question, the Council 
 of Trent defines, against antinomian 
 heretics of ancient and modern times, that 
 the ten commandments bind the conscien- 
 ces of all mankind. Christians included. 
 " If any one say that the ten command- 
 rnents have nothing to do with Christians^ 
 let him be anathema." " If any one say 
 that a man, though justified and ever so- 
 perfect, is not bound to observe the com- 
 mandments of God and the Church, let 
 him be anathema."^ The reason on which 
 this obligation rests is manifest. God did 
 not give a new law to Moses ; He 
 only republished a law written origi. 
 nally on the conscience of man, and 
 obscured by his sinful ignorance. The 
 ten commandments, then, did not begin to 
 bind when proclaimed to the people of 
 Israel, and they have not ceased to do so 
 
 — . . _ II ■» 
 
 1 Concil. Trident, sess. vi. De Justif. can. 19, 2a 
 
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 
 
 107 
 
 nuvv that Christ has done away with the 
 Jewish lavv.^ 
 
 The second question turns on the division 
 of the commandments, and here there are 
 three principal views. It is well to remind 
 the reader, first, that there are several 
 differences in the exact words of the com- 
 mandments as given in Exodus xx. and 
 Deuteronomy v., one of which is of special 
 moment. In Exodus, the last prohibitions 
 run, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
 house : thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
 wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor 
 his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is 
 thy neighbor's." In Deuteronomy, the 
 order is changed thus: "Thou shalt not 
 covet thy neighbor's wife ; and thou shalt 
 not desire " [a different word in Hebrew 
 from that translated "covet," though the 
 Vulgate obliterates the distinction] "his 
 field, or his servant, or his maid, his ox, or 
 his ass, or anything that is thy neigh- 
 bor's" We may now proceed to consider 
 the different modes of division. 
 
 (i) Philo and Josephus, followed by 
 Origen and other early Christians, by 
 the Greek Church, and all Protestants 
 except Lutherans, divide the command- 
 ments into two tables, containing each 
 five precepts : viz. i, on strange gods ; 2, 
 on image worship ; 3, on taking God's 
 
 1 Cat. Rom. iii. i, 3. An exception must be made of that 
 clause in the third commandment which fixes the seventh 
 day for divine worship. As to the apparent prohibition of 
 images, see Petav. De Incarn. xv. 6. Here it is enough to 
 say that if, with Josephus, we hold that the commandment 
 absolutely prohibits sculpture and painting, so that Solomon 
 broke it when he made the twelve oxen under the brazen sea 
 or the lions for his throne, then we must also hold tliat this 
 ceremonial part of ths commandment no longer binds. 
 
 name in vain ; 4, on the Sabbath ; 5, on 
 honoring parents ; 6, on murder ; 7, on 
 adultery ; 8, on stealing ; 9, on false wit- 
 ness ; 10, on covetousness. 
 
 (2) The Talmud, the Targum of Jon- 
 athan, and many rabbinical commentators, 
 make the preface, " I am the Lord thy 
 God," etc., the first " word " ; they regard 
 the prohibition of strange gods and 
 images as one single "word," viz. the 
 second ; for the rest they agree with the 
 division of Philo, etc. 
 
 (3) Augustine places in the first table 
 three commandments, relating to God — 
 viz. I, on strange gods and images (so 
 that he regards the prohibition of idols as 
 a mere application of the principle, " Thou 
 shalt not have strange gods before me " ; 
 2, the name of God ; 3, the Sabbath. In 
 the second table he places seven precepts, 
 relating to our neighbor — viz. command- 
 ment 4, on parents ; 5, on murder ; 6, on 
 adultery ; 7, on stealing ; 8, on false wit- 
 ness ; 9, on coveting our neighbor's wife ; 
 10, on coveting our neighbor's goods. 
 This division has prevailed in the Catho- 
 lic Church, and has been retained by the 
 Lutherans, except that they, following the 
 order in Exodus, make commandment 9, 
 on coveting our neighbor's house ; 10, on 
 coveting his wife or goods ; a division to 
 which Augustine himself in some places 
 gives support. 
 
 What has been already said shows that 
 ignorance alone can charge Catholics with 
 introducing a new mode of division in 
 order to give less prominence to the pro- 
 hibition of idol-worship. The division was 
 
io8 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 current long before any strife on images 
 had arisen in the Church. 
 
 Next, the Catholics, in this division of 
 the first and second commandments, have 
 the vi^hole weight of rabbinical tradition 
 on their side. 
 
 Thirdly, the modern Catholic division is 
 the only one consistent with the Hebrew 
 text, as usually found in MSS. and printed 
 editions. The text is divided into ten 
 sections, which correspond precisely with 
 our Catholic division. These sections are 
 admitted to be very ancient, older even 
 than the Masoretic text, and the Protes- 
 tant scholar Kennicott found them so 
 marked in 460 out of 694. MSS. which he 
 collated.^ 
 
 Lastly, the wording of the text in both 
 Exodus and Deuteronomy strongly favors 
 the Catholic division. The promises and 
 threats, " I am the Lord thy God, mighty, 
 jealous," etc., are much more suitable on 
 the theory that the prohibition of strange 
 gods and idols forms one commandment, 
 while in Deuteronomy, after the prohibi- 
 tion of coveting our neighbor's wife, the 
 change of the verb mentioned above 
 seems to indicate the beginning of a new 
 commandment ; nor is there any difficulty 
 in distinguishing carnal desire from cov- 
 eting another man's goods. (The facts as 
 
 1 There is no doubt that the prohibition of polytheism 
 and of image-worship always forms one section. In some 
 MSS. however, of Exodus there are only nine sections in the 
 text of the decalogue, our ninth and tenth commandments 
 forming one section. Kennicott, says Keil, found the division 
 wanting in 234 out of 694 MSS. which he collated, and an 
 examination of Kennicott's Bible confirms Keil's statement. 
 Dillmann's assertion that Kennicott found the division between 
 the ninth and tenth commandments wanting in most of his 
 MSS. seems to be wholly inaccurate. 
 
 here given will be found in Kalisch, Knobel 
 and Keil in their commentaries on Exodus. 
 The first is a very learned Jew, the second 
 a Rationalist, the third an orthodox Prot- 
 estant. All are opposed to the Catholic 
 mode of division. Dillmann's commen- 
 tary (1881) has also been consulted.) 
 
 GorTMTvarvdmervts of tKe 
 CKvircK. 
 
 Parents, and other persons invested 
 with lawful authority, have power to make 
 rules for those placed under them, so that 
 things lawful in themselves become unlaw- 
 ful by their prohibition. The Scripture 
 teaches plainly that the Church has this 
 dower. We are to hear the Church (Matt, 
 xviii. 17). The Holy Ghost has placed 
 bishops to "rule the Church " (Acts xx. 28) 
 St. Paul commanded Christians to keep 
 the "precepts of the apostles and the 
 ancients " (xv. 41). 
 
 The Roman Catechism makes no special 
 enumeration of the commandments of the 
 Church; but such an enumeration is gen- 
 erally found in popular Catechisms, which 
 have followed in this respect the example 
 set by the Catechism of Canisius. The 
 English Catechism, like the French ones 
 of Fleury, etc., counts six commandments 
 of the Church. Many other Catechisms 
 reduce them to five. In our English Cate- 
 chism they are given as follows : i, to keep 
 certain days holy with the obligation o^ 
 resting from servile work; 2, to hear Mass 
 on Sundays and holidays of obligation ; 
 
COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 109 
 
 3, to keep the days of fasting and absti- 
 nence ; 4, to confess once a year; 5, to 
 communicate at Easter or thereabouts ; 6, 
 not to marry within forbidden degrees, or 
 at forbidden times. The sixth command- 
 ment is omitted in many Catechisms ; that 
 of Bellarmine adds another — viz. to pay 
 tithes. 
 
 Mitre. 
 
 A HEAD-DRESS wom by bishops, abbots, 
 and in certain cases by other distinguished 
 ecclesiastics. Mitra (mitra) is used in 
 Greek and Latin for the turban which was 
 worn by women, and among the Asiatics, 
 especially Phrygians, by men. It had no 
 connection with religious rites. 
 
 On the other hand, a band {infula) was 
 worn by heathen priests and by the sacrifi- 
 cial victims. The Jewish priests wore a 
 cap of uncertain form, though the root 
 points to a round shape, and the high 
 priest a turban, from a root meaning " to 
 wind," with a plate of gold on the front, 
 inscribed with the words, " Holiness to the 
 Lord." The Vulgate uses "mitra " for the 
 high priest's head-dress (Ecclus. xlv. 14), 
 for the priest.-'s (Exod. xxix. 9 ; Lev. viii. 
 13). It is certain, however, that the early 
 church did not adopt the head-dress of the 
 Jewish priesthood and transfer it to her 
 own priests or chief priests. Polycrates of 
 Ephesiw indeed, writing about 190 (apud 
 Euseb. " H. E."v. 24) says of St. John the 
 Evangelist that he " became a priest, hav- 
 ing worn the plate {peialon)," and Epiphan- 
 ius, (Haer.) about 380, makes a similar 
 
 statement about St. James, except that he 
 makes it in St. James's case a mark of his 
 Jewish, not his Christian priesthood, for 
 he says he was allowed both to wear the 
 petalon and enter the Holy of Holies. 
 This account of Epiphanius is evidently 
 legendary, for on what possible ground 
 could the authorities of the Temple treat 
 James as high priest } Bishop Lightfoot 
 (see also Routh, " Rell. Sacr." ii. p. 28) is 
 probably justified in regarding the lan- 
 guage of Polycrates on St. John's "plate" 
 as metaphorical. But, in any case, such a 
 "plate" answers to no vestment now in use ; 
 and even if we could translate it " mitre " 
 (as we cannot), this use by St. John stands 
 quite by itself. It would have been his 
 custom, not that of the Church. 
 
 Hefele, who treats the above notices of 
 St. John and St. James as mere legends, 
 contends, nevertheless, that there are clear 
 traces of mitres used as part of the offi- 
 cial ecclesiastical costume from the fourth 
 century. After carefully considering the 
 proofs which he alleges, we can see no 
 reason for abandoning the judgment oi 
 Menard, the learned Benedictine editor of 
 St. Gregory's Sacramentary — viz. that for 
 the first thousand years of her history 
 there was no general use of mitres in the 
 Church. All Hefele's references can, we 
 think, be explained as poetical or meta- 
 phorical. And, on the other hand, Hefele 
 himself allows that no Sacramentary or 
 Ritual-book before 1000 a. d. mentions 
 the mitre, ranch less the bishop's invest- 
 ment with it at consecration, though, e. g. 
 in a Mass for Easter Sunday, written before 
 
1 lO 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 986, the ornaments of a bishop are enu- 
 merated. Again, liturgical writers, such 
 AS Amalarius and Walafrid Strabo, are 
 silent on the subject. " It is not,," we 
 again quote from Hefele, " it is not till the 
 eleventh century that representations of 
 popes, bishops, and abbots with the mitre 
 occur; though from that time onwards 
 they are very numerous." 
 
 The use of the mitre seems to have 
 begun at Rome, and then to have 
 spread to other churches. Leo IX., in 
 1049, gave the "Roman mitre" to the 
 Archbishop of Treves, and this is the 
 earliest instance known of such a conces- 
 sion. Canons also, e. g. at Bamberg, got 
 leave from Rome to wear the mitre on 
 certain feasts, and it was used by all car- 
 dinals till, in 1245, the first Council of 
 Lyons sanctioned the cardinal's hat. 
 According to Gavantus (torn. i. 149), the 
 first concession of a mitre to an abbot was 
 made by Urban 11. in 1091. The straight 
 lines and sharp points familiar to us in 
 the Gothic mitres first appear in works of 
 art in the thirteenth century. The Italian 
 mitre with its greater height and curved 
 lines came into use in the fourteenth. 
 
 Bishops and abbots (if mitred) receive 
 the mitre from the consecrating bishop, 
 a ceremony, as Catalani shows, of late 
 introduction. The " Cserimoniale Episco- 
 porum " distinguishes the " precious 
 mitre," adorned with jewels and made of 
 gold or silver plate ; the " mitre auriphry- 
 giata," without precious stones (it may, 
 however, be ornamented with pearls) and 
 of gold cloth {ex tela aured) ; the " plain 
 
 mitre " {mitra simplex) of silk or linen 
 and of white color. The bishop always 
 uses the mitre if he carries the pastoral 
 staff. Inferior prelates who are allowed a 
 mitre, must confine themselves to the sim- 
 ple mitre, unless in case of an express con- 
 cession by the pope (" Manuale Decret."^ 
 870). The Greeks have no mitre. The 
 Armenians have adopted a kind of mitre 
 for bishops and a bonnet for priests since 
 the eleventh century. (Hefele, "Beit- 
 rage," vol. ii.; Gavantus, Bona, " Rerum 
 Lit." lib. i.; Catalani on the "Pontifical"; 
 Menard on St. Gregory's Sacramentary. 
 Innocent III. gives mystical meanings to 
 the mitre and its parts — e. g. the two horns 
 are the two testaments ; the strings, the 
 spirit and the letter, etc.) 
 
 Mixed JMarriages. 
 
 Mixed Marriages are marriages between 
 persons of different religions. A marriage 
 between a baptized and unbaptized person 
 is invalid ; one between a Catholic and a 
 person of another communion — e. g. a 
 Protestant — is valid, but, unless a dispen- 
 sation has been obtained from the Pope or 
 his delegate, unlawful. This explanation 
 has been already given in the article on 
 the Impediments of Marriage. But it 
 will be useful to say something here on 
 the legislation of the Church on marriages 
 between Catholics and other Christians 
 not Catholics. 
 
 (i) Benedict XIV. (Instruction on 
 Marriages in Holland, 174.1. Encychcal, 
 " Magnae Nobis ") has declared the 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Church's vehement repugnance to such 
 unions, on the ground that they are not 
 likely to be harmonious, that they expose 
 the Catholic party and the children to 
 danger of perversion, that they are apt to 
 produce indifference, etc., etc. 
 
 (2) He says the Church has permitted 
 them for very grave reasons, and generally 
 in the case of royal personages ; but even 
 then on the condition that the Catholic 
 party be free to practise his or her religion, 
 and that a promise be given that the chil- 
 dren of either sex be brought up Catholics. 
 
 (3) Increasing intercourse between Cath- 
 olics and Protestants made such marriages 
 far more frequent, and the conditions 
 insisted on by Benedict XIV. were 
 neglected. In Silesia a law of the State 
 in 1803 required the children of mixed 
 marriages to be brought up in the religion 
 of the father. In England, till very recent 
 times, there was a common arrangement 
 by which the boys were brought up in the 
 father's, the girls in the mother's religion ; 
 and neither in Silesia (see Hergenrother, 
 " Kirchengeschichte," vol. ii. p. 856 seq) 
 nor in England did the Catholic clergy, as 
 a rule, oppose this state of things. An 
 attempt was made by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment in 1825 to introduce the law which 
 
 \ prevailed in S !esia and the other Eastern 
 provinces to the Rhineland and Westpha- 
 lia ; and this order of the Cabinet was 
 accepted by Von Spiegel, archbishop of 
 Cologne, and also, though with some 
 scruple, by the Bishops of Paderborn, 
 Miinster, and Treves. This led Pius 
 VIII. and Gregory XVI. to declare a 
 mixed marriage, when it was not under- 
 stood that the children of either sex should 
 be brought up Catholics, contrary to the 
 "natural and divine law." Otherwise, 
 the priest could take no part in the cele- 
 bration. In extreme cases, and to avoid 
 greater evils, he might passively assist at 
 the contract ; but more the Pope himself 
 could not permit. Obedience to these 
 Papal briefs led to the imprisonment of 
 Droste von Vischering, the new arch- 
 bishop of Cologne, in 1837, ^"^ to that of 
 the Archbishop of Posen in 1839. The 
 bishops, even those who had once been of 
 a different mind, steadfastly adhered to the 
 Papal regulations. One exception, how- 
 ever, must be mentioned. The Prince- 
 Bishop of Breslau resigned his see in 1840 
 rather than submit, and became a Protes- 
 tant. He died in 1871. Under the good 
 king, William IV., peace was gradually 
 restored between Church and State. 
 
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 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 g^g^g^:::;:^ 
 
 IntefcB^^ion and Invocation of tp ?&int^. 
 
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 HE Council of Trent (sess. xxv. 
 De Invoc. Sanct.) teaches that 
 "the saints reigning with 
 Christ offer their prayers for 
 the men to God ; that it is 
 good and useful to call upon 
 them with supplication, and in order to 
 obtain benefits from God through Jesus 
 Christ, who alone is our Redeemer and 
 Saviour, to have recourse to their prayers, 
 help, and aid. The prayer which we may 
 address to the saints is of course wholly 
 different from that which we offer to God 
 or Christ. "We pray God," says the 
 Roman Catechism (p. iv. ch. 6), "Himself 
 to give good or free us from evil things ; 
 we ask the saints because they enjoy God's 
 favor, to undertake our patronage and 
 obtain from God the things we need. 
 Hence we employ two forms of prayer, 
 differing in the mode [of address] ; for to 
 God we say properly. Have mercy on us. 
 Hear us ; to the saints, Pray for us. Or, 
 if we ask the Blessed Virgin or the saints 
 to have pity on us, we only beseech them 
 to think of our misery, and to help us " by 
 
 their favor with God and their interces- 
 sion " ; and " the greatest care must be 
 taken by all not to attribute what belongs 
 to God to any other" ("Cat. Rom." ib.). 
 Two points, then, are involved in the Cath- 
 olic doctrine — the intercession of the 
 saints and the utility of invoking them. 
 
 (i) Intercession of the Saints. — The 
 whole of the New Testament enforces the 
 principle that we are members of Christ, 
 and so bound to each other as members of 
 the same body (see, e. g., i Cor. xii. 12 
 seq.). God might, had it pleased Him, have 
 made us solely and directly dependent on 
 Himself, but He has chosen to display His 
 own power by giving great efficacy to the 
 intercession of the just (James v. 16). He 
 taught us to go to Him with the wants of 
 others as well as with our own, and He 
 has deepened charity and humility by mak- 
 ing us dependent to some extent on the 
 prayers of others. Everybody knows the 
 store St. Paul set on the prayers of his fel- 
 low-Christians (Eph. vi. 18, 19; I Tim. ii. 
 i). Prayer even for enemies was a duty 
 enjoined by Christ Himself (Matt, v, 44). 
 
INTERCESSION^ AND INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 IIT^ 
 
 Now, it is hard to imagine a reason why 
 souls which have gone to God should cease 
 to exercise this kind of Charity and to 
 intercede for their brethren. The Old 
 Testament plainly asserts the intercession 
 of angels, as has been approved already, 
 and it seems at least to imply the inter- 
 cession of departed saints in Jeremias xv. 
 I ; and undoubtedly the later Jews believe 
 in the merits and intercession of the saints 
 of Israel (Weber, "Altsynagog. Theol." 
 p.3 14). We find an explicit statement of the 
 doctrine just where we should reasonably 
 expect it. The Apocalypse was written 
 later at least than the death of Nero (June 
 9, A.D. 68) and the writer is filled with the 
 thought of his martyred brethren who had 
 gone before him to God. He believes that 
 they still sympathize with, and intercede 
 for, those whom they had left behind. " I 
 r saw beneath the altar the souls of them 
 that were slain because of the word of God 
 and the witness which they had, and they 
 cried with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, 
 holy and true, dost thou not avenge our 
 blood from them that dwell on the earth } 
 And there was given to each of them a 
 white robe, and they were told to rest a 
 little, until their fellow-servants and their 
 brethren be completed [" in number," or 
 else, according to the reading sumplero- 
 sosin, "complete the number"] who are to 
 be killed even as they" (vi. 9 seq^. So 
 again, in v. 8 (cf. viii. 3), the elders before 
 the heavenly altar are represented as fall- 
 ing " before the Lamb, having each a harp 
 and golden vials full of perfumes, which 
 are the prayers of the saints." It matters 
 
 nothing for our present purpose whether 
 the " saints " mentioned were or were not 
 still on earth. In either case their prayers 
 are offered to God by the elders in heaven, 
 so that the imagery implies that the saints[ 
 before God offer up our prayers and so 
 help us by their intercession. 
 
 But if Scripture were silent, tradition 
 witnesses to the doctrine so universally 
 and so constantly as to remove all doubt 
 of its apostolic origin. The genuine 
 " Acts " of the early martyrs abound in 
 testimonies. Thus, the contemporaries of 
 St. Ignatius, St. John's disciple, tell us 
 that some saw the martyr in vision after 
 death "praying for us" ("Act. Mart." 7). 
 The " Acts " of the Martyrs of Scilla (anno 
 202) speak of them as interceding after 
 death before our Lord (Ruinart, " Act. 
 Mart." ed. Ratisb. p. 132). Theodotus, 
 before his death, says : " In heaven I will 
 confidently pray for you to God" {ib. p. 
 384). " Pious men " built the Martyrium 
 of Trypho and Respicius, " commending 
 their souls to the holy patronage of the 
 blessed martyrs" (ib. p. 210). Fresh 
 evidence comes from the early Fathers. 
 Cyprian, writing to Cornelius (Ep. Ix. 5), 
 thus exhorts those who may be martyred 
 first : " Let our love before God endure ; 
 let not our prayer to the Father's mercy 
 cease for our brethren and sisters " (see 
 also " De Habit. Virg." 24). Origen (" In 
 Cantic." lib. iii. p. 75, ed. Bened.) thinks 
 it no " unfitting " interpretation of a pas- 
 sage in the Canticles if we take it to mean 
 that " all the saints who have departed 
 this life care for the salvation of those who 
 
114 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 axe in the world, and help them by their 
 prayers and meditation [interventu] with 
 God." It is useless to add passages from 
 later Fathers. A long list of them will be 
 found in Petavius, 
 
 (2) Invocation of the Saints. — If it is 
 the will of God that the saints should help 
 us on the road to heaven by their prayers, 
 we may be sure that He makes the com- 
 munion between the Church militant and 
 the Church triumphant perfect on both 
 sides ; that he enables us to speak to them 
 in order that they may speak for us. Our 
 Saviour tells us that the angels rejoice 
 over repentant sinners ( Luc. xv. 7), and a 
 passage already cited from the Apocalypse 
 shows that the martyrs in heaven are 
 aware of what happens on earth. The 
 inscriptions in the Catacombs recently 
 brought to light witness to the confidence 
 with which the Church invoked the 
 prayers of departed saints. We select a 
 few instances from those given by De 
 Rossi (in the "Triplice Omaggio" and 
 " Collection of Epitaphs," as quoted in 
 Kraus, " Real-Encycl." art. Gebet) : " Ask 
 for us in thy prayers because we know thou 
 art in Christ" (n. 15); "Beseech for thy 
 sister" (n. 19); " We commend to thee, O 
 holy [Do7nina] Basilla Crescentius and 
 Micena, our daughter" (n. 17). The 
 great Fathers of the fourth century directly 
 invoke and bid others invoke the saints. 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen begs a martyr, St. 
 Cyprian, to "look down from heaven upon 
 him with kindly eye, and to direct his dis- 
 course and his life" (Orat. xxiv. ad fin). 
 So he invokes his friend St. Basil (Orat. 
 
 xliv. ad fin). St. Gregory Nyssen, fearing 
 the Scythian invasion, attributes past pres- 
 ervation to the martyr, and not only 
 invokes him, but begs him in turn to 
 invoke greater saints, Peter, Paul, and 
 John (Orat, in S. Theodor.). St, Ambrose 
 (" De Vid." cap, 9, n. 55) exhorts Christians 
 to supplicate {pbsecrandi) their guardian 
 angels and the martyrs, especially those 
 whose relics they possess. " Let us not 
 only on this feast day but on other days 
 also keep near them ; let us beg them to be 
 our patrons," are the words of St. Chrys- 
 ostom on the martyrs Berenice and Pro- 
 doce. In his verses the early Christian 
 poet Prudentius habitually invokes the 
 saints; and St. Augustine (Serm, 324) tells 
 a story to his people of a woman who 
 prayed to St. Stephen for her dead son, 
 " Holy martyr . , . give me back my 
 son," and was rewarded by the miracle she 
 asked. It must be remembered that these 
 passages are but samples out of many 
 which might be adduced. They come to 
 us from every part of the Christian world, 
 and the devotion which they attest cannot 
 have sprung up as if by magic at once and in 
 every quarter. We may add that then, as 
 now. Catholics were charged with idolatry 
 because they venerated the saints. Such 
 accusations were made by the heathen 
 generally, and in particular by Julian the 
 Apostate, by the Manicheans, Eunomians 
 (extreme Arians), by Vigilantius, etc, (See 
 Petavius, "De Incarnat." xiv. 14). St. 
 Augustine's reply is well known — viz. that 
 the sacrifice of the Mass and supreme wor- 
 ship of every kind was offered, not to the 
 
INTERCESSION AND INVOCA TION OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 115 
 
 
 martyrs but to God who crowned the mar- 
 tyrs" (so, e. g., "Contr. Faust." lib. xx. 
 cap. 21). 
 
 The fact that the saints hear our prayers 
 was held by the Fathers as certain; the 
 way in which they do so is a matter of 
 philosophical or theological speculation, 
 about which neither they nor we have any 
 certainty. In some way, unknown to us, 
 God reveals to them the needs and prayers 
 of their clients, and Petavius warns us 
 against curious speculation on the matter. 
 The very uncertainty of the Fathers on 
 this point throws into relief their unshaken 
 confidence in the intercession of the saints 
 and the advantage of invoking them. 
 Augustine, Jerome, and others, suggest that 
 sometimes departed saints may actually be 
 near those who are calling on them. 
 Modern theologians have generally thought 
 that the blessed beholding God see in Him, 
 as in a mirror, all which it concerns them 
 to know of earthly things. Whatever the- 
 ory we adopt, the knowledge of the saints 
 depends entirely on the gift of God. We 
 should be idolators indeed were we to 
 think of them as omnipresent or omni- 
 scient. 
 
 An account has been given of the insti- 
 tution of the Feasts of the Saints in a pre- 
 vious article. The devotion of the Church 
 has turned chiefly to the saints who died 
 after Christ. The ancient liturgies do 
 indeed commemorate the Patriarchs and 
 prophets. Abel, Melchisedec, and Abra- 
 ham are mentioned in the Roman Mass, 
 and more than a score of Old Testament 
 saints in the Roman Martyrology. Abel and 
 
 Abraham are invoked by name in the Lit- 
 any for the Dying prescribed in the Roman 
 Ritual. The list of feasts given by Man- 
 uel Comnenus mentions one feast of an O. 
 T. saint, that of Elias ; but the Church of 
 Jerusalem had many such feasts, and at 
 Constantinople churches were dedicated 
 to Elias, Isaias, Job, Samuel, Moses, Zach- 
 arias, and Abraham. But the Maccabees 
 are the only O. T. saints to whom the 
 Latin Church has assigned a feast.^ The 
 reason, as Thomassin thinks, for the 
 exception is, that the mode of their martyr- 
 dom so closely resembled that of the Chris- 
 tian martyrs, and that their date was so 
 near to the Christian period. (The chief 
 authority followed has been Petavius, " De 
 Incarnat." lib. xiv., which treats the sub- 
 ject exhaustively, and for the last para- 
 graph Thomassin's "Traits des Festes," 
 lib. i. ch.9.) 
 
 Dispervsatior\. 
 
 The relaxation of a law in a particular 
 case. The necessity of dispensation arises 
 from the fact that a law which is made for 
 the general good may not be beneficial in 
 this or that special case, and therefore may 
 be rightly relaxed with respect to an indi- 
 vidual, while it continues to bind the com- 
 munity. Dispensation must be carefully 
 distinguished from the interpretation of a 
 law, though the two are often confused 
 with one another in common speech. 
 
 1 I. e. a feast kept by the vrhole Church ; for the Carmel- 
 ites keep the feast of St. Elias, and e. g. at Venice, there are 
 churches dedicated to Moses, Job, etc. 
 
Ii6 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Thus a person so ill that he cannot fast 
 without serious injury to his health needs 
 no dispensation, because he is by the 
 nature of the case exempt from the law. 
 On the other hand, though he may be able 
 to fast, his health, occupations, etc., may 
 make it suitable that the law should be 
 relaxed in his favor; for this purpose a 
 dispensation is required, and he must 
 apply to some one possessed of authority 
 to grant it. Any one may interpret the 
 law who has sufficient knowledge and 
 impartiality to do so, but jurisdiction is 
 needed in order to dispense. 
 
 The general principle is that the law- 
 giver, from whom the law derives its force, 
 has power to relax it. So again, a superior 
 may relax the laws of his predecessors, 
 because his power is equal to theirs, or of 
 his inferiors, because his power is greater. 
 But an inferior cannot dispense in the laws 
 of his superiors unless by power delegated 
 to him for that end. 
 
 God Himself cannot give a dispensation, 
 in the strict sense of the word, from the 
 natural law. " From the precepts of the 
 decalogue," says St. Thomas, " no dispen- 
 sation of whatsoever kind can be given," 
 and to the objection that God who made 
 the ten commandments can unmake them, 
 he replies, "God would deny Himself if He 
 did away with the order of His justice, 
 since He is identical with His own justice, 
 and therefore God cannot give a dispensa- 
 tion making it lawful for a man to neglect 
 the due order to God, or exempting him 
 from submission to the order of His justice, 
 even in those things which concern the 
 
 relations of men to each other."^ God 
 however can change the circumstances in 
 such a manner that the case no longer falls 
 under the law. He could, for example, as 
 supreme Lord and proprietor of all, make 
 over the goods of the Egyptians to the 
 Israelites, so that the latter could take them 
 without committing robbery. He could, 
 as the Lord of all that lives, deprive Isaac 
 of life and make Abraham the executioner. 
 Further, just as a man may remit a debt» 
 so God may free a man from the obligation 
 incurred to Him by oath or vow. Lastly, 
 God can of course dispense from the posi- 
 tive law which He has imposed — e. g. He 
 could have dispensed a Jew from the law 
 of circumcision, the Sabbath, etc. We 
 may now pass on to consider the actual 
 law of the Church on dispensations. 
 
 The Pope can dispense from obligations 
 to God which a man has incurred of his 
 own free will — i. e. by oath or vow. This 
 power belongs to him as the successor of St. 
 Peter to whom Christ gave the power of 
 binding and loosing. He can also dispense 
 in all matters of ecclesiastical law. Bish- 
 ops, by their ordinary power, can dispense 
 from the statutes of the diocesan synods, 
 etc., and they can dispense individuals 
 from the general laws of the Church, or 
 from obligations under which they have 
 placed themselves to God, in such cases as 
 frequently occur — e. g. in most vows, in 
 fasts, abstinences, observances of feasts, 
 
 1 St. Thorn. I zndae, qu. loo, a. 8. The Opinion of Occam, 
 D'Ailly, and Gerson that God could dispense from the pre- 
 cepts of the decalogue has long been abandoned. The Scot- 
 ists held that God could dispense from the precepts of tht 
 second table except that against lying. 
 
DISPENSA TION. 
 
 117 
 
 etc. But by reason of privilege, lawful 
 custom or necessity, the dispensing power 
 of the bishop is often extended. Custom 
 has also given parish priests power to dis- 
 pense individuals from fasts, abstinences, 
 abstinence from servile work on feasts, and 
 the like. As a rule, a person who has 
 received power to dispense from a superior 
 by delegation cannot sub-delegate. 
 
 A reason is always needed before a dis- 
 pensation can be lawfully given. If a 
 superior dispenses without cause in his 
 own law or that of an inferior, the dispen- 
 sation, though unlawful, is valid. If, how- 
 ever, an inferior to whom dispensing power 
 has been delegated uses it without reason, 
 the dispensation is null and void. In all 
 cases it is taken for granted that a dispen- 
 sation is only given on the tacit condition 
 that the statements of the person who peti- 
 tions for it are true. Concealment of 
 falsehood in an essential matter effecting 
 the motive which induced the superior to 
 dispense, renders the dispensation null. 
 
 A dispensation ceases if recalled ; if it 
 is renounced and the renunciation is 
 accepted by the superior ; also, in certain 
 cases, if the cause for which the dispensa- 
 tion was given no longer exists. What 
 those cases are it is not so easy to deter- 
 mine. According to Suarez, a dispensa- 
 tion from one single obligation — e. g. a 
 vow — continues even when the cause for 
 which it was granted is there no longer, 
 provided the dispensation has been 
 accepted and used before the cause ceased. 
 On the contrary, dispensations which vir- 
 tually relax a series of obligations — e. g. 
 
 from fasting each day in Lent — expire 
 with the cause which induced the superior 
 to grant them. 
 
 Div^orce. 
 
 Divorce, in its widest sense, signifies a 
 separation made between man and wife on 
 sufHcient grounds and by lawful authority. 
 It may dissolve the marriage bond alto- 
 gether, so that the man or woman is free 
 to contract a fresh marriage {separatio 
 quoad vinculum ) ; or it may simply relieve 
 one of the parties from the obligation of 
 living with the other {separatio quoad torum 
 et mensam). 
 
 No human power can dissolve the bond 
 of marriage when ratified and consummated 
 between baptized persons. But 
 
 (i) The marriage bond may be dis- 
 solved, even between baptized persons, by 
 Papal authority, if the marriage has not 
 been consummated. Such at least is the 
 common doctrine of canonists and theolo- 
 gians ; nor does Billuart, who holds the 
 opposite opinion, deny that such divorces 
 have been granted by Martin V., Paul III., 
 Pius IV., and Gregory XIII. 
 
 (2) It may be dissolved in similar cir- 
 cumstances by the solemn religious pro- 
 fession of either party. . This point was 
 defined at Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 6. ; the 
 principle had been already laid down by 
 Innocent III., who professed to follow 
 the example of his predecessors, and it is 
 justified by the example of ancient saints, 
 who left their brides before consummation 
 of marriage to lead a life of perpetual con- 
 tinence. The engagement by which they 
 
ii8 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 bound themselves to continence may be 
 considered equivalent to a solemn religious 
 profession in later times. 
 
 (3) If two unbaptized persons have con- 
 tracted marriage, this marriage, even 
 if consummated, may be dissolved, 
 supposing one of the parties embraces 
 the Christian religion and the other 
 refuses to live peaceably and without 
 insult to the Christian religion in the mar- 
 ried state. This principle is laid down by 
 Innocent III., and is founded on the "dis- 
 pensation of the apostle," as it is called in 
 I Cor. vii. 12-15. 
 
 In all other cases the marriage bond is 
 indissoluble, and, besides this, married per- 
 sons are bound to live together, as man 
 and wife. They may, however, separate 
 by mutual consent ; and, again, if one 
 party exposes the other to grave danger of 
 body or soul, or commit adultery, the inno- 
 cent partner may obtain a judicial separa- 
 tion, or even refuse to cohabit without 
 waiting for the sentence of the judge, pro- 
 vided always that the offence is clearly 
 proved. If the innocent party has con- 
 doned the adultery, the right of separation 
 on that ground is forfeited — unless, of 
 course, the offence is repeated. (From 
 Billuart St. Liguori, Gury, " De Matrimo- 
 nio.") 
 
 WKat a Doctor of tKe 
 GKvircK is. 
 
 Three things, says Benedict XIV., are 
 required to make a Doctor of the Church. 
 First, he must have had learning so emi- 
 
 nent that it fitted him to be a doctor not 
 only in the Church but of the Church 
 {^^^ doctor ip sins ecclesia:^'')^%o that through 
 him " the darkness of error was scattered, 
 dark things were made clear, doubts 
 resolved, the difficulties of Scripture 
 opened." Next, he must have shown 
 heroic sanctity. Thirdly — though, as we 
 shall see presently, this last condition has 
 not always been insisted on — the title of 
 " Doctor of the Church " must be conferred 
 by a declaration of the Pope or of a Gen- 
 eral Council. Four Doctors of the Church 
 are named in the canon law: viz., Ambrose, 
 Augustine, Jerome, Gregory. Besides 
 these, other saints enjoy the title and cul- 
 tus due to a Doctor of the Church without 
 a formal declaration of Pope or Council. 
 Under this class Benedict XIV. puts Chrys- 
 ostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Anselm, Isi- 
 dore, Peter Chrysologus. He adds that a 
 part of the cultus usually assigned to doc- 
 tors is given to St. Hilary,^ in whose office 
 the Gospel and prayer but not the anti- 
 phon, and to St. Athanasius and St. Basil, 
 who have only the antiphon but not the 
 Gospel and prayer, proper to doctors. 
 
 Since the Reformatioi\ the title of Doc- 
 tor of the Church has been conferred more 
 freely. Pius V. added St. Thomas of 
 Aquin to the list ; Sixtus V., St. Buonaven- 
 tura. During the eighteenth century the 
 title was conferred on St. Anselm, St. Isi- 
 dore, and St. Leo. Pius VIII. gave 
 the title to St. Bernard : Pius IX. to St. 
 Hilary, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and St. 
 
 1 Pius IX. gave Hilary the title of Doctor, and now, of 
 course, the antiphon " O Doctor " is recited in his office. 
 
WHAT A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH IS. 
 
 119 
 
 Francis of Sales. (Chiefly from Benedict 
 XIV., " De Canoniz.," lib. iv. p. 2, cap. 
 II. 12.) 
 
 Dog 
 
 ma. 
 
 Dogma, in its theological sense, is a 
 truth contained in the Word of God, writ- 
 ten or unwritten — i. e. in Scripture or 
 tradition — and proposed by the Church 
 for the belief of the faithful. Thus dogma 
 is a revealed truth, since Scripture is 
 inspired by the Holy Ghost, while tradi- 
 tion signifies the truths which the apostles 
 received from Christ and the Holy Spirit, 
 and handed down to the Church. 
 
 The word itself has an interesting history. 
 In classical writers it has three distinct 
 senses connected with its derivation from 
 dokein, " to seem." 
 
 It means, accordingly, that which seems 
 good to the individual — i. e. an opinion ; 
 that which seems good to legitimate author- 
 ity — i. e. the resolution of a public assem- 
 bly, or, in other words, a decree ; lastly, it 
 acquired a peculiar sense in the philo- 
 sophic schools. The mere word of some 
 philosopher (e. g. of Pythagoras) was con- 
 sidered authoritative with his disciples ; 
 and so Cicero, in the Academic Questions, 
 speaks of " decrees," or doctrines, " which 
 the philosophers call dogmata, none of 
 which can be surrendered without crime." 
 In the LXX and New Testament, the 
 word retains the second of the two of the 
 senses given above. Thus, in Daniel ii. 
 13, iii, 10, in Luc. ii. i, xvii. 7, it is used of 
 decrees proceeding from the State. In 
 
 Ephes. ii. 15, Coloss. ii. 14, it signifies 
 the Mosaic ordinances, and in Acts xvi. 4 
 (^dogmata ta kekrimend) the disciplinary 
 decrees issued by the Apostolic Council at 
 Jerusalem. Nowhere in the New Testa- 
 ment does it bear the sense in which theo- 
 logians employ it.^ 
 
 This sense sprang from the third of the 
 classical meanings given above — viz. that 
 of a truth accepted on the authority of a 
 philosopher. The Pythagoreans accepted 
 tenets, which if true admitted of proof, on 
 the authority of their master. Christians, 
 better instructed, accepted truths beyond 
 the reach of unaided reason which had 
 been revealed by Christ to his Church. 
 These truths they called dogmas. We 
 find the earliest trace of this technical 
 sense, still imperfectly developed, in St. 
 Ignatius, " Magn." 13: — " Use all zeal to 
 be established in the doctrines {en tots dog- 
 masin) of the Lord and the Apostles." ^ 
 
 In later Fathers the word occurs in its 
 precise, theological meaning. Thus, St. 
 Basil mentions "the dogma of Christ's 
 Divinity " to tes theologias dogma ; Chrys- 
 ostom, "the dogmas {dogmata) of the 
 Church" ; Vincent of Lerins, " the ancient 
 dogmas {dogmata) of heavenly philoso- 
 phy." ^ This last illustrates the origin of 
 the theological term. 
 
 From the definition with which we 
 began it follows that the Church has no 
 
 1 The list of New Testament passages given in the text is 
 exhaustive, except that Lachmann reads to dogma tou basileSs^ 
 the decree of King Pharao, in Heb. xi. 23. 
 
 2 See also Barnab. Ep. 1 tria oun dogmata estin Kuriou, 
 where the old Latin version has " constitutiones." 
 
 8 Basil. Orat. iv. In Hexaem. Chrysost, In Galai. cap. ii 
 apud Kuhn, Dogmatik, vol. i. p. 191. 
 
I20 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 power to make new dogmas. It is her 
 office to contend for the faith once 
 delivered, and to hand down the sacred 
 deposit which she has received without 
 adding to it or taking from it. At the 
 same time, the Church may enunciate fully 
 and impose dogmas or articles of faith con- 
 tained in the Word of God, or at least 
 deduced from principles so contained, but 
 as yet not fully declared and imposed. 
 Hence with regard to a new definition — 
 such, e. g., as that of Transubstantiation, 
 Christians have a twofold duty. They are 
 obliged to believe, first, that the doctrine 
 so defined is true, and next, that it is part 
 of the Christian revelation received by the 
 apostles. Again, no Christian is at lib- 
 erty to refuse assent to any dogma which 
 the Church proposes. To do so involves 
 nothing less than shipwreck of the faith, 
 and no Catholic can accept the Protes- 
 tant distinction between "fundamental 
 and non-fundamental articles of faith." It 
 is a matter of fundamental importance to 
 accept the whole of the Church's teach- 
 ing. True, a Catholic is not bound to 
 know all the definitions of the Church — 
 but if he knowingly and wilfully contra- 
 
 dicts or doubts the truth of any one among 
 them, he ceases to be a Catholic. 
 
 This arbitrary distinction between essen. 
 tial and non-essential articles, has led by 
 natural consequence to the opinion that 
 dogmatic belief, as such, matters little, 
 provided a man's life is virtuous and his 
 feelings are devout. A religion of this 
 kind is on the very face of it different from 
 the religion of the apostles and their suc- 
 cessors. St. Paul anathematizes false 
 teachers, and bids his disciples shun here- 
 tics ; St. John denounces the denial of the 
 Incarnation as a mark of Antichrist. It 
 is not necessary to quote the utterances of 
 the early Fathers on this matter, which 
 has been already treated in the article on 
 the Church, but we may refer the reader 
 to the striking discussion of the subject in 
 Cardinal Newman's book on "Develop- 
 ment," ch. vii. sect, i, § 5. We will only 
 remark in conclusion that it is unreason- 
 able to make light of dogmatic truth, unless 
 it can be shown that there is no such 
 thing in existence. If God has made a 
 revelation, then both duty and devotional 
 feeling must depend on the dogmas of that 
 revelation, and be regulated by them. 
 
 = * 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ^1^ 
 
 
 TV^KRRIKGB. 
 
 
 # « 
 
 //£" Nature of Marriage as such. 
 — Marriage is a natural con- 
 tract between man and woman, 
 which Christ has raised to the 
 dignity of a sacrament. Hea- 
 then may be, and are, united in 
 true marriage, and their union is of course 
 a lawful one, sanctioned and blessed by 
 God Himself, who is the author of nature 
 as well as of grace. But it is only among 
 baptized persons that the contract of 
 marriage is blessed and sanctified in such 
 a manner as to become a means of con- 
 ferring grace, so that we must distinguish 
 between marriage in itself or according to 
 the natural law on the one hand and the 
 sacrament of marriage on the other. 
 Theologians commonly give the following 
 definition of marriage taken from the 
 Master of the Sentences. It is ** viri 
 mitlierisqiie conjunctio maritalis inter 
 legitimas pcrsonas individuam vitcB socie- 
 tatcm retinens.'^ It is " conjunctio viri et 
 mulieris" — i. e. the union of man and 
 woman, the persons between whom the 
 contract is formed ; it is " maritalis " — i. e. 
 
 it implies the giving to each power over 
 the person of the other, and so is distinct 
 from the union of friend with friend, man 
 with man in business, and the like ; it is 
 " inter legitimas persottas " — i. e. between 
 those who are not absolutely prevented 
 by lawful impediment from contracting 
 such an union ; " individuam vitce societatem 
 rctinens" it binds them to an undivided 
 and indissoluble partnership during life, 
 and so is distinct from such unhallowed 
 unions as are contracted for a time or may 
 be ended at will. If we add, " gratiam 
 conjugibus conferendam significans " — i. e. 
 being an (efficacious) sign of grace to be 
 bestowed on the persons contracting — we 
 have the full definition of marriage as a 
 sacrament. Of course, the definition 
 gives the bare essentials of marriage, for 
 it ought to include the most perfect union 
 of heart and soul, sympathy and interest. 
 
 Two points in the above definition may 
 cause some difficulty, since it assumes that 
 even in the law of nature a man can only 
 have one wife ( and of course a woman 
 only one husband), and further that by 
 
 ■ 
 
J-i5 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 the same law the marriage tie lasts till 
 death. 
 
 With regard to the former point, 
 polygamy, according to St. Thomas 
 ("Suppl." Ixv. i), does not absolutely 
 destroy the end of marriage, for it is 
 possible that a man with several wives 
 should protect them and provide for the 
 education of his children. And there- 
 fore (as many theologians suppose, from 
 the time of the Deluge) God allowed the 
 Patriarchs and others, whether Jews or 
 heathen, to have more wives than one. 
 But polygamy cruelly injures the perfect 
 union of marriage ; it degrades man by 
 sensuality, and exposes women to the 
 miseries of jealousy and neglect ; it 
 endangers the welfare of the children, and 
 so may be justly stigmatized as contrary 
 to the law of nature. Moreover, monog- 
 amy alone is contemplated in the 
 institution of marriage : Gen. i. 24, " There- 
 fore a man will leave his father and his 
 mother and will cleave to his wife, and 
 they shall be one flesh." The legislation 
 in Deut. xxv. 5 seq. appears to assume that 
 monogamy was the rule among the 
 Hebrews ; so does the book of Proverbs 
 throughout, and particularly the beautiful 
 description of the good wife in ch. xxxi.,^ 
 and the same idea pervades the noble 
 poetry of Ps. cxxviii. (See also in the 
 Deutero-canonical books, Tob. i. 11; 
 Ecclus. xxvi. I.) It was not till a. d. 1020 
 
 1 The estimate of women is high throughout the Old 
 Testament. We need only remind the reader of Mary, the 
 sister of Moses, Deborah, Anna. See also Prov. xiv. i • 
 xviii. 22; xix. 14 (even xxi. 9, 19, are not really different in 
 spirit). The most unfavorable judgment is that of Eccles. 
 vii. 28. 
 
 that a law of Rabbi Gershon ben Judah 
 in the Synod of Worms absolutely pro- 
 hibited polygamy among the Western 
 Jews. It was practised by the Jews of 
 Castile even in the fourteenth century, 
 and still survives among the Jews of the 
 East (Kalisch on Exodus, p. 370 ; on Lev. 
 p. 374). But our Lord Himself expounded 
 and enforced the natural law of marriage^ 
 and recalled men to the idea of marriage 
 given in Genesis. It is worth noticing 
 that He quotes the Septuagint text, which 
 is more express in favor of monogamy than 
 the Hebrew : " And the two shall be one 
 flesh." (So also the Samaritan * * * ^ 
 * and there shall be from the two of them, 
 one flesh " ; the New Testament inva- 
 riably, Mark x. 8 ; i Cor. vi. 16; Ephes. 
 V. 31 ; and the Vulgate. The Targum 
 of Onkelos, on the other hand, exactly 
 follows the Hebrews.) Again, since 
 Christ spoke generally of all mankind 
 and not simply of those who were to 
 be members of His Church, theologians 
 hold that He withdrew the former dispen- 
 sation, and consequently that polygamy is 
 unlawful and a violation of natural law 
 even in heathen. (Billuart, "De Matriraon." 
 diss. v. a. I.) 
 
 The same principles apply to the second 
 point of difficulty. Moses, our Lord 
 declares, permitted divorce because of the 
 hardness of men's hearts, i. e. to prevent 
 greater evils ; and in consequence of this 
 dispensation it was perhaps lawful for the 
 heathen to imitate the example of the Jews 
 in this respect also. But here, too, Christ 
 has recalled all mankind to the primitive 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 123 
 
 institution. The apparent exception which 
 our Lord makes will be considered below, 
 and certain cases in whieh marriage may 
 be really dissolved have been explained in 
 the article on Divorce. 
 
 II. The Sacrament of Marriage. — A 
 sacrament is an outward sign, and nobody 
 doubts that in marriage, as in all other 
 contracts, some outward sign on the part 
 of the contracting parties is necessary. 
 They must signify their consent to the 
 solemn obligation of living together as man 
 and wife. It is plain, too, that marriage 
 may be called a sacred sign, for it typifies, 
 as St. Paul (ad Ephes. v.) assures us, the 
 mysterious union between Christ and the 
 Church, which is His bride. But is it an 
 efficacious sign of grace } That is, is the 
 contract of marriage accompanied by signs 
 which not only betoken, but necessarily, 
 in consequence of Christ's institution, con- 
 vey grace to all baptized persons who do 
 not wilfully impede the entrance of the 
 grace into their hearts } This is a question 
 on which Catholics are divided from Prot- 
 estants, and which was agitated among 
 Catholics themselves late even in the 
 middle ages. St. Thomas (" Supp." xlii. a. 
 3), though he assumes that marriage is a 
 sacrament of the new law, inquires whether 
 it "confers grace," and mentions three 
 opinions : first, that it does not do so at all, 
 and this opinion he dismisses at once ; next, 
 that it confers grace only in the sense that 
 it makes acts lawful that would otherwise 
 be sins (this opinion he also rejects, but in 
 a less summary way); and thirdly, that 
 when " contracted in the faith of Christ," 
 
 it confers grace to fulfil the duties of the 
 married state, and this opinion he accepts 
 as "more probable." It is plain that all 
 which the second opinion attributes to 
 marriage may be truly said of marriage as 
 a natural contract, and does not by any 
 means amount to a confession that mar- 
 riage is a Christian sacrament in the sense 
 of the council of Trent. What St. Thomas 
 gives as the more probable opinion is now 
 an article of faith, for the council ( Sess. 
 xxiv. De Sacram Matr.), after stating that 
 Christ Himself merited for us a grace which 
 perfects the natural love of marriage and 
 strengthens its indissoluble unity, solemnly 
 defines (Can. i) that marriage is "truly 
 and properly one of the seven sacraments 
 of the evangelical law instituted by Christ." 
 The same council speaks of Scripture as 
 insinuating {inmiit) this truth, and more 
 can scarcely be said. One text, indee 1, as 
 translated in our Douay Bible, would cer- 
 tainly seem to settle the question — viz. 
 Ephes. V. 31, 32 : " For this cause shall a 
 man leave his father and mother, and shall 
 adhere to his wife ; and they shall be two 
 in one flesh. This is a great sacrament, 
 but I speak in Christ and in the Church." 
 But we venture to -think that this is not 
 the true sense of the Vulgate, " Sacramen- 
 turn hoc magnum est ; ego aiitem dico in 
 Christo et in ecclesia,'' which exactly 
 answers to the original Greek, except that 
 ' in Christo et in ecclesia^' would be better, 
 rendered as in the old Latin of Tertullian 
 ( " Contr. Marc.'" v. 18 ; *' De Anima," 1 1), 
 " in Christum et in ecclesiam.'' " Sacra- 
 mentum" UQcd not mean a "sacrament" 
 
124 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 any more than the Greek musterion which 
 it represents, and to prove this we need 
 not go beyond the text of the Vulgate it- 
 self, which speaks of the " sacramentum " 
 of godliness, i Tim. iii. i6 ; the " sacramen- 
 tuvi" of the seven stars; the " sacramentitm'^' 
 of the woman and the beast (Apoc. i. 20 ; 
 xvii. 7). Indeed, though the word '' sacra- 
 mentiim " occurs in fifteen other places of 
 the Vulgate, it cannot possibly mean a 
 sacrament in any one of them. We trans- 
 late, accordingly, " This mystery is great, 
 but I speak with reference to Christ and 
 the Church" — that is, the words, "For 
 this cause shall a man leave," etc., contain 
 a hidden or mysterious sense,^ in virtue of 
 which St. Paul regards Adam's words 
 about the union between man and wife as 
 a type or prophecy of the union between 
 Christ and His Church. We have the 
 authority of Estius for this interpretation, 
 which is that generally adopted by modern 
 scholars, and he denies that the ancients 
 appealed to this text to prove marriage a 
 sacrament. 
 
 On th.e other hand, St. Cyril, ( " Lib. ii. 
 in Joann.") says that Christ was present at 
 the wedding in Cana of Galilee that He 
 might sanctify the principle of man's gene- 
 ration, " drive away the old sadness of 
 child-bearing," "give grace to those also 
 who were to be born"; and he quotes 
 the words of St. Paul, " if any man is in 
 Christ, he is a new creature ; old things 
 have passed away." 
 
 1 The formula, " This is a great mystery," is a common 
 ■Rabbinical one, * * * . See Schoettgen, Horcz p. 783 seq ; 
 and the same Chaldee word for " mystery " is preserved in the 
 Penshito rendering of the verse. 
 
 St, Augustine ("Tract. 9 in Joann." 
 cap. 2) holds similar language. This 
 theory, however credible in itself, cer- 
 tainly does not lie on the surface of St. 
 John's narrative. 
 
 More may be made of i Tim. ii. 1 1 seq. 
 " Let a woman learn in quietness, in all 
 subjection. But teaching I do not permit 
 to a woman, nor to have authority over a 
 man, but to be in quietness. For man 
 was first formed and then Eve, and Adam 
 was not deceived, but the woman being 
 deceived hath fallen into transgression ; 
 but she shall be saved through her child- 
 bearing,^ if they continue in faith, and 
 love, and sanctification with temperance." 
 St. Paul excludes women from the public 
 ministry of the Church, and reserves that 
 for men. But he assigns them another 
 ministry instead. They are to save their 
 own souls by the faithful discharge of 
 their duties as wives, and to be the source 
 of the Church's increase, for it cannot 
 subsist without marriage any more than 
 without the sacrament of order. Women 
 are to be the mothers of children whom 
 they are to tend and train for the service 
 of Christ. And just as a special grace is 
 given to those whom God calls to the 
 priestly state, so is " the state of marriage 
 placed under the protection and blessing 
 of a special grace, as being dedicated to 
 the Church and subserving its continual 
 growth and expansion." Thus the inter- 
 course of the sexes, which is apt to 
 
 1 Bishop Elicott, ad loc, translates " through the cliild- 
 bearing " — i. e. through the birth of Christ. It seems to us 
 incredible that St. Paul, if he really meant this, should have 
 expressed it by an allusion so obscure and abrupt. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 125 
 
 become a source of fearful corruption, is 
 blessed and sanctified, more even than in 
 its primitive institution, and directed to 
 a still higher end, that of carrying on the 
 Church's life on earth. The natural union 
 is holy and beautiful. Christ perfects the 
 union of heart and soul, and makes it 
 still more holy and beautiful by sacramen- 
 tal grace ; and, hallowed by a sacrament, 
 marriage becomes the perfect antitype of 
 Christ's union with His Church. He 
 cleansed His Church that He might unite 
 it to Himself. He sanctifies Christian 
 man and woman in their union, that it 
 may be "a hallowed copy of His own 
 union with His Church." (See the elo- 
 quent passage in Dollinger, in " First Age 
 of the Chur«h," Engl. Transl. pp. 361, 
 362.) 
 
 The reader must remember that we do 
 not allege this last passage as in any way 
 conclusive from a controversial point of 
 view, though we do think it fits in well 
 with the Catholic doctrine. Many author- 
 ities are alleged from tradition, one or two 
 of which we have already given in speak- 
 ing of the marriage at Cana. St. Ambrose, 
 " De Abraham," i. 7, says that he who is 
 unfaithful to the marriage bond " undoes 
 grace, and because he sins against God, 
 therefore loses the share in a heavenly 
 mystery {sacramenti ccelestis consortium 
 ainittit)^ St. Augustine, " De Bono Con- 
 jugali," cap. 24, writes: "The advantage 
 of marriage among all nations and men 
 lies in its being a cause of generation and 
 a bond of chastity, but as concerns the 
 people of God, also in the holiness of 
 
 a sacrament {in sanctitate sacramenti).^'' 
 Here the distinction drawn between 
 natural and Christian marriage, and still 
 more the comparison made between the 
 "sacramenta " of marriage and order,i seem 
 to warrant our rendering of "sanctitate 
 sacramenti.'' 
 
 The Nature of the Sacramental Grace, 
 etc. — Marriage, then, is a sacrament of 
 the new law, and as such confers grace. 
 The sacrament can only be received by 
 those who have already received baptism, 
 the gate of all the other sacraments ; and 
 marriage is not, like baptism and penance, 
 instituted for the cleansing of sin, so that 
 grace is conferred on those, and those 
 only, who are at peace with God. Chris- 
 tians who are in mortal sin may contract 
 a valid marriage, but they receive no 
 grace, though they do receive the sacra- 
 ment, and therefore have a claim and title 
 to the sacramental grace when they have 
 amended their lives by sincere repentance. 
 
 Christians, on the other hand, who 
 contract marriage with due dispositions 
 receive an increase of sanctifying grace, 
 and, besides, special graces which enable 
 them to live in mutual and enduring 
 affection, to bear with each other's infirm- 
 ities, to be faithful to each other in every 
 thought, and to bring up the children 
 whom God may give them in His fear and 
 love. They may go confidently to God 
 
 1 He says the " sacramentutn ordinationis " remains in a 
 cleric deposed for crime, and that so, the bond of marriage is 
 only loosed by death. However, cap. i8 proves that St. 
 Augustine did not use the word "sacramentutn " in its precise 
 modern sense, for he calls the polygamy of the Jews " sacra- 
 mentum fluralium nuftiarum," as typifying the multitude 
 of converts to the Church. 
 
120 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 for every help they need, in that holy 
 state to which He has deigned to call 
 them, for He Himself has sealed their 
 union by a great sacrament of the Gospel. 
 Theologians are not agreed about the 
 time when Christ instituted the sacra- 
 ment. Some say at the wedding in Cana ; 
 others, when He abrogated the liberty of 
 divorce (Matt, xix.) ; others, in the great 
 Forty Days after Easter. 
 
 If we ask, further, how this grace is 
 conferred, or, in other words, who are the 
 Ministers of the Sacrament, what are the 
 words and other signs through which it is 
 given ? the answer is far from easy. It is 
 evident that there must be a real consent 
 to the marriage on both sides, otherwise 
 there can be no contract and therefore no 
 sacrament. But is the expression of 
 mutual consent enough ? The great 
 majority of mediaevial theologians, though 
 William of Paris is quoted on the other 
 side, answered yes. They held that wher- 
 ever baptized persons contracted marriage, 
 they necessarily received the sacrament 
 of marriage also. On this theory, the 
 parties themselves are the ministers of the 
 sacrament ; the matter consists in the 
 words or other signs by which each gives 
 him or herself over to the other ; the form, 
 which gives a determinate character to the 
 matter, consists in the acceptation of this 
 surrender by each of the contracting par- 
 ties. Hence (apart from the positive 
 enactments of Trent, for which see Clan- 
 destinity, under Impediments of Mar- 
 riage), wherever Christians bind them- 
 selves by outward signs to live as man 
 
 and wife, they receive the sacrament of 
 marriage. No priest or religious ceremony 
 of any kind is needed. A very different 
 view was put forward in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury by Melchior Canus (" Loci Theol." 
 viii. 5). He held that the priest was the 
 minister of the sacrament ; the expressed 
 consent to live as man and wife, the mat- 
 ter; the words of the priest, " I join you 
 in marriage," or the like, the necessary 
 form. A marriage not contracted in the 
 face of the Church would, on this theory, 
 be a true and valid marriage, but not a 
 sacrament. Theologians and scholars of 
 the greatest learning and highest reputa- 
 tion — Sylvius, Estius, Tournely, Juenin, 
 Renaudot, etc. (see Billuart, " De Matrim." 
 diss. i. a. 6), — embraced this opinion. In 
 its defence an appeal might be made with 
 great plausibility to the constant usage of 
 Christians from the earliest times, for they 
 have always been required to celebrate 
 marriage before the priest. But it is to be 
 observed that Tertullian (" De Pudic." 4), 
 strong as his language is against mar- 
 riages not contracted before the Church, 
 says that such unions "are in danger" 
 {periclitantur) of being regarded as no 
 better than concubinage, which implies 
 that they were not really so. Nor does he 
 make any distinction between the contract 
 of marriage in Christians and the sacra- 
 ment, though it would have been much 
 to his purpose could he have done so. 
 Besides, the language of the Fathers 
 quoted above points to a belief that Christ 
 elevated the contract of marriage to a 
 sacrament, not that He superadded the 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 127 
 
 sacrament to marriage. Moreover, Denzin- 
 ger (" Ritus Orientales," tom. i. p. 152 
 seq.) shows that the Nestorians, who have 
 retained the nuptial benediction from the 
 Church and believe in the obligation of 
 securing it, still consider that marriage, 
 even as a sacred rite, may be performed 
 by the parties themselves if the priest 
 cannot be had ; and he quotes from 
 Gregorius Datheviensis this dictum : " Mar- 
 riage is effected through consent expressed 
 in words, but perfected and consummated 
 by the priest's blessing and by cohabita- 
 tion." Now, at all events, the former of 
 the two opinions given is the only tenable 
 one in the Church. Pius IX. in an allo- 
 cution, Sept. 2y, 1852, laid down the prin- 
 ciple that there "can be no marriage 
 among the faithful which is not at one and 
 the same time a sacrament" ; and among 
 the condemned propositions of the Sylla- 
 bus appended to the Encyclical " Quanta 
 Cura " of 1864, the sixty-fourth runs thus : 
 "The sacrament of marriage is something 
 accessory to and separable from the con- 
 tract, and the sacrament itself depends 
 simply on the nuptial benediction." 
 Whether, supposing a Christian (having 
 obtained a dispensation to that effect) 
 were to marry a person who is not bap- 
 tized, the Christian party would receive 
 the sacrament as well as enter into the 
 contract of marriage, is a matter on which 
 theologians differ. Analogy seems to 
 favor the affirmative opinion. 
 
 The Conditions for the Validity of Mar- 
 riage are mostly identical with the condi- 
 tions which determine the validity of con- 
 
 tracts in general. The consent to the 
 union must be mutual, voluntary, deliber- 
 ate, and manifested by external signs. 
 The signs of consent need not be verbal 
 in order to make the marriage valid, though 
 the rubric of the Ritual requires the con- 
 sent to be expressed in that manner. The 
 consent must be to actual marriage then 
 and there, not at some future time ; for in 
 the latter case we should have engage- 
 ment to marry, or betrothal, not marriage 
 itself. Consent to marry if a certain con- 
 dition in the past or present be realized (e. 
 g. " I take you N. for my wife, if you are 
 the daughter of M. and N.") suffices, sup. 
 posing that the condition be fulfilled. 
 Nay, it is generally held that if a condition 
 be added dependent on future contingen- 
 cies (e. g. " I take you N. for my wife, if 
 your father will give you such and such a 
 dowry "), the marriage becomes a valid one 
 without any renewal of the contract, when- 
 ever the condition becomes a reality. The 
 condition appended, however, must not be 
 contrary to the essence of marriage — i. e. 
 a man cannot take a woman for his wife to 
 have and hold just as long as he pleases. 
 (See Gury, "Theol. Moral." De Matrimon. 
 cap. iii.) 
 
 III. Indissolubility of Marriage. — The 
 law of Israel (Deut. xxiv. i) allowed a man 
 to divorce his wife if she did not find grace 
 in his eyes, because he found in her some 
 shameful thing (* * *, literally the " nak. 
 edness or shame of a thing " ; LXX, 
 aschemon pragma ; Vulg. aliquant fcedita- 
 tern), and the woman was free at once to 
 marry another man. The school of Sham- 
 
128 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 mai kept to the simple meaning of the text, 
 Hillel thought any cause of offence suffi- 
 cient for divorce — e. g. " if a woman let 
 the broth burn " ; while R. Akiva held that 
 a man might divorce his wife if he found 
 another woman handsomer. (See the quo- 
 tation from " Arbah Turim Nilchoth Git- 
 tin," i. in McCaul, "Old Paths," p. 189.) 
 The Pharisees tried to entangle Christ in 
 these Rabbinical disputes when they asked 
 Him if a man might put away his wife "for 
 any cause." In Athens and in Rome under 
 the Empire the liberty of divorce reached 
 the furthest limits of Rabbinical license. 
 (For details see Dollinger, " Gentile and 
 Jew," Engl. Transl. vol. ii. p. 236 seq. p. 
 254 seq.) Our Lord, as we have already 
 seen, condemned the Pharisaic immorality, 
 annulled the Mosaic dispensation, and 
 declared, " Whosoever shall put away his 
 wife, except for fornication, and shall 
 marry another, committeth adultery, 
 and he who marrieth her when she is put 
 away committeth adultfery " (Matt. xix. 9). 
 The Catholic understands our Lord to 
 mean that the bond of marriage is always, 
 even when one of the wedded parties has 
 proved unfaithful, indissoluble, and from 
 the first Christ's declaration made the 
 practice of Christians with regard to 
 divorce essentially and conspicuously 
 different from those of their heathen 
 and Jewish neighbors. Still it was only 
 by degrees that the strict practice, or 
 even the strict theory just stated, was 
 accepted in the Church. And before we 
 enter on the interpretation of Christ's 
 words, we will give a sketch of the 
 
 history of practice and opinion on tha 
 matter. 
 
 Christian princes had of course to dea^ 
 with the subject of divorce, but they did 
 not at once recast the old laws on Chris- 
 tian principles. Constantine, Theodosius 
 the Younger, and Valentinian III., forbade 
 divorce except on certain specified 
 grounds ; other emperors, like Anastasius 
 (in 497) and Justin (whose law was in 
 force till 900), permitted divorce by mutual 
 consent, but no one emperor limited 
 divorce to the single case of adultery. 
 Chardon says that divorce (of course a 
 vincido) was allowed among the Ostro- 
 goths in Spain till the thirteenth century, 
 in France under the first and second 
 dynasties, in Germany till the seventh 
 century, in Britain till the tenth. (Chardon, 
 " Hist, des Sacrements," tom. v. Mariage, 
 ch. V.) 
 
 It would be waste of labor to accumu- 
 late quotations from the Fathers in proof 
 of their belief that divorce was unlawful 
 except in the case of adultery. But it is 
 very important to notice that the oldest 
 tradition, both of the Greek and Latin 
 churches, regarded marriage as absolutely 
 indissoluble. Thus the '• Pastor Hermae " 
 (lib. ii. Mand. iv. c. i), Athenagoras, 
 " Legat." 33 (whose testimony, however, 
 does not count for much, since he objected 
 to second marriages altogether), and 
 Tertullian (" De Monog." 9), who speaks 
 in this place, as the context shows, for the 
 Catholic Church, teach this clearly and 
 unequivocally. The principle is recog- 
 nized in the Apostolic Canons (Canon 48, 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 129 
 
 al. 47), by the Council of Elvira held at 
 the beginning of the fourth century, 
 Canon 9 (which, however, only speaks of a 
 woman who has left an unfaithful husband), 
 and by other early authorities. 
 
 However, the Eastern Christians, 
 though not, as we have seen, in the 
 earliest times, came to understand our 
 Lord's words as permitting a second 
 marriage in the case of adultery, which 
 was supposed to dissolve the marriage 
 bond altogether. Such is the view and 
 practice of the Greeks and Oriental sects 
 at the present day. And even in certain 
 parts of the West similar views prevailed 
 for a time. Many French synods (e. g. 
 those of Vannes in 465 and of Compi^gne 
 in 756) allowed the husband of a wife 
 who had been unfaithful to marry again in 
 her life-time. Nay, the latter council 
 permitted re-marriage in other cases ; if a 
 woman had a husband struck by leprosy 
 and got leave from him to marry another, 
 or if a man had given his wife leave to go 
 into a convent (Canons 16 and 19). Pope 
 Gregory II., in a letter to St. Boniface in 
 the year 726, recommended that the 
 husband of a wife seized by sickness 
 which prevented cohabitation should not 
 marry again, but left him free to do so 
 provided he maintained his first wife. 
 (Quoted by Hefele, " Beitrage," vol. ii. p. 
 376.) At Florence the question of divorce 
 was discussed between the Latins and 
 Greeks, but after the Decree of Union ; 
 and we do not know what answers the 
 Greeks gave on the matter. The Council 
 of Trent confirmed the present doctrine 
 
 and discipline which had long prevailed 
 in the West in the following words : " If 
 any man say that the Church is in error 
 because it has taught and teaches, follow- 
 ing the doctrine of the Gospels and the 
 apostles, that the bond of marriage cannot 
 be dissolved because of the adultery of 
 one or both parties, let him be anathema." 
 (Sess. xxiv. De Matrim. can. 5). The 
 studious moderation of language here is 
 obvious, for the canon does not directly 
 require any doctrine to be accepted ; it 
 only' anathematizes those who condemn a 
 certain doctrine, and implies that this 
 doctrine is taught by the Church and 
 derived from Christ. It was the Venetian 
 ambassadors who prevailed on the Fathers 
 to draw up the canon in this indirect form, 
 so as to avoid needless offence to the 
 Greek subjects of Venice in Cyprus, 
 Candia Corfu Zante, and Cephalonia. The 
 canon was no doubt chiefly meant to stem 
 the erroneous views of Lutherans and 
 Calvinists on divorce. 
 
 Our Lord's utterances on the subject of 
 divorce present some difficulty. In Mark 
 X. II, 12; Luke xvi. 18, He absolutely 
 prohibits divorce : " Whosoever shall put 
 away his wife and marry another, com- 
 mitteth adultery against her ; and if a 
 woman put away her husband and be 
 married to another, she committeth 
 adultery." But in Matt. xix. 9, 10, there 
 is a marked difference : " Whosoever shall 
 put away his wife except for fornication, 
 and marry another, committeth adultery ; 
 and he who marrieth a woman put awa , 
 committeth adultery." So also Matt, v 
 
I30 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 32. Protestant commentators understand 
 our Lord to prohibit divorce except in the 
 case of adultery, when the innocent party 
 at least may marry again, Maldonatus, 
 who acknowledges the difficulty of the 
 text, takes the sense to be — "Whoever 
 puts away his wife except for infidelity 
 commits adultery, because of the danger 
 of falling into licentiousness to which he 
 unjustly exposes her, and so does he who 
 in any case, even if his wife has proved 
 unfaithful, marries another." He takes 
 St. Mark and St. Luke as explanatory of 
 the obscure passage in St. Matthew. Sub- 
 sequent scholars, we venture to think, 
 have by no means improved on Maldonatus. 
 Hug, who is never to be mentioned 
 without respect, suggested that Christ 
 first (in Matt. v. 32) forbade divorce 
 except in case of adultery; then (Matt. 
 xix. 9, 10,) forbade it altogether, the words 
 " except for fornication " in the latter 
 place being an interpolation — a suggestion 
 perfectly arbitrary and followed by nobody. 
 A well-known Catholic commentator, 
 Schegg, interprets the words "for for- 
 nication " i^epi porneiai) to mean, " because 
 the man has found his marriage to be null 
 because of some impediment, and so no 
 marriage at all, but mere concubinage." 
 In this event there would be no occasion 
 lor or possibility of divorce. On Matt. v. 
 32 {parekiui logou porneias, save where 
 fornication is the motive reason of the 
 divorce) he thinks Christ took for granted 
 that the adulteress would be put to death 
 (according to Levit. xx. 10) and so leave 
 her husband free, an hypothesis which is 
 
 contradicted by the " pericope of the 
 adulteress." (John viii. 3 seg.) Bol- 
 linger's elaborate theory given in the 
 Appendix to his " First Age of the 
 Church " is less ingenious than that of 
 Hug, but scarcely les? arbitrary. He 
 urges that porneuein can only refer to 
 "fornication," and cannot be used of sin 
 committed after marriage ; \i\xt pomeia and 
 porneuem are used of adultery (i Cor. v. i ; 
 Amos vii. 17; Sir. xxiii. 33), so that we 
 need not linger over Dollinger's con- 
 tention (which has no historical basis, and 
 is objectionable in every way) that ante- 
 nuptial sin on the woman's part annulled 
 the union and left the man free, if he was 
 unaware of it when he meant to contract 
 marriage. ^ 
 
 IV. The Unity of Marriage. — The un- 
 lawfulness of polygamy in the common 
 sense of the word follows from the declara- 
 tion of Christ Himself, and there was no 
 room for further question on the matter. 
 With regard to reiteration of marriage, St. 
 Paul (i Cor. vii. 39, 40) distinctly asserts 
 that a woman is free to marry on her 
 husband's death. Still there is a natural 
 feeling against a second marriage, which 
 Virgil expresses in the beautiful words he 
 puts into Dido's mouth — 
 
 Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores 
 Abstulitj ille habeat secum servetque sepjdcro. 
 
 1 Dollinger objects to the instance from i Cor. v. t, because 
 he says there is no Greek word for " incest," so that the 
 Apostle was obliged to use porneia. Why porneia rather 
 than w»«VA«a? As to Amos vii. 17, "Thy wife will commit 
 fornication in the city," he urges that this defilement was not 
 to be voluntary on the woman's part, and therefore wasnt 
 adultery. This argument proves too much. If it was noi 
 adultery because not wilful, no more was it " fornication. ' 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 131 
 
 And this feeling, of which there are many 
 traces among the heathen, was yet more 
 natural in Christians, who might well look 
 to a continuance in a better world of the 
 love which had begun and grown stronger 
 year by year on earth. Moreover, the 
 apostle puts those who had married again 
 at a certain disadvantage, for he excludes 
 them (i Tim, iii. 2 ; Titus i. 6) from the 
 episcopate and priesthood. And the 
 church, though she held fast the lawfulness 
 of second marriage and condemned the 
 error of the Montanists (see Tertullian 
 "De Monog." "Exhortat. Castitatis") and 
 of some Novatians (Concil. Nic. i. Canon 8), 
 treated such unions with a certain disfavor. 
 This aversion was much more strongly 
 manifested in the East than in the West, 
 Athenagoras ("Legat." 33) says Chris- 
 tians marry not at all, or only once, since 
 they look on second marriage as a 
 "specious adultery " {eupretes estimoicheict), 
 Clement of Alexandria ("Strom," iii. i. p. 
 551, ed. Potter) simply repeats the apos- 
 tolic injunction, " But as to the second 
 marriage, if thou art on fire, says the 
 apostle, marry," (In iii. 12, p, 551, he is 
 referring to simultaneous bigamy.) Early 
 in the fourth century we find Eastern 
 councils showing strong disapproval of 
 second marriage. Thus the Council of 
 Neocaesarea (Canon 7) forbids priests to 
 take part in the feasts of those who mar- 
 ried a second time, and assumes that the 
 latter must do penance. The Council of 
 Ancyra (Canon 19) also takes this for 
 granted, and the Council of Laodicea 
 (Canon i) only admits those who have 
 
 married again to communion after prayer 
 and fasting. Basil treats this branch of 
 church discipline in great detail. For 
 those who married a second time he pre- 
 scribes, following ancient precedent, a pen- 
 ance for one year, and of several years for 
 those who marry more than once. (See the 
 references in Hefele, "Concil." i. p. 339; 
 " Beitrage," i. p. 50 seq) Basil's rigorism 
 had a decided influence on the later Greek 
 church. A Council of Constantinople, in 
 920, discouraged second, imposed penance 
 for third, and excommunication for fourth, 
 marriage. Such is the discipline of the 
 modern Greek church. At a second mar- 
 riage the "benediction of the crowns" 
 is omitted, and " propitiatory prayers " 
 are said ; and although some concessions 
 have been made with regard to the former 
 ceremony, Leo Allatius testifies that it was 
 still omitted in some parts of the Greek 
 church as late as the seventeenth century. 
 A fourth marriage is still absolutely prohib- 
 ited.i 
 
 The Latin Church has always been 
 milder and more consistent. The " Pastor 
 Hermae" (lib. ii. Mandat. iv. 4) emphati- 
 cally maintains that there is no sin in 
 second marriage. St. Ambrose ("De 
 Viduis," c. 1 1) contents himself with 
 saying, " We do not prohibit second 
 marriages, but we do not approve 
 marriages frequently reiterated," Jerome's 
 words are, " I do not condemn those who 
 marry twice, three times, nay, if such a 
 
 1 The Oriental sects (Copts, Jacobites, Armenians) are 
 even stricter than the Greeks. The Nestorians, however, are 
 as might have been expected, free from any spirit of strictnesf 
 in this point, Denzinger, Rit. Orient, i. p. i8o. 
 
132 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 thing can be said, eight times {non damno 
 digainoSf into et trigavtos, et, si did potest, 
 octogamos,)''' but he shows his dislike for 
 repeated marriage (Ep. Ixvii. "Apol. pro 
 libris adv. Jovin."). Gregory III. advises 
 Boniface, the apostle of Germany, to 
 prevent, if he can, people marrying more 
 than twice, but he does not call such 
 unions sinful. Nor did the Latin Church 
 impose any penance for reiterated 
 marriage. We do, indeed, find penance 
 imposed on those who married again in 
 the penitential books of Theodore, who 
 became archbishop of Canterbury in 668. 
 But Theodore's view came from his Greek 
 nationality ; and if Herardus, archbishop 
 of Tours, speaks of third marriage, etc., as 
 "adultery," this is probably to be 
 explained by the Greek influence which 
 had spread from England to France. 
 Anyhow, this is the earliest trace of such 
 •rigorism in the West. 
 
 The Latin Church, however, did exhibit 
 one definite mark of disfavor for reiterated 
 marriage. The " Corpus Juris " contains 
 two decretals of Alexander IH. and Urban 
 IIL, forbidding priests to give the nuptial 
 benediction in such cases. Durandus 
 (died 1296) speaks of the custom in his 
 time as different in different places. The 
 "Rituale Romanum " of Paul V. (1605- 
 162 1) forbids the nuptial benediction, only 
 tolerating the custom of giving it, when it 
 already existed, if it was the man only 
 who was being married again. The 
 present Rubric permits the nuptial bene- 
 diction except when the woman "has been 
 married before. 
 
 V. Ceremonies of Marriage. — From 
 the earliest times and in all times Chris- 
 tians have been wont to celebrate their 
 marriages in church, and to have them 
 blessed by the priest ; nor can they cele- 
 brate them otherwise without sin, except 
 in case of necessity. " It is fitting," 
 Ignatius writes ("Ad Polycarp." 5), "for 
 men and women who marry to form this 
 union with the approval of the bishop, that 
 their union may be according to God." 
 " What words can suffice," Tertullian sayy 
 (" Ad Uxor." ii. 9), " to tell the happiness 
 of that marriage which the church unites, 
 the oblation confirms, and the blessing 
 seals, the angels announce, the Father 
 acknowledges ! " 
 
 Martyr. 
 
 Martyr {martus, then martur, which 
 was originally the JEoMc form). A witness 
 for Christ. In early times this title was 
 given generally to those who were distin- 
 guished witnesses for Christ, then to those 
 who suffered for Him ^ ; lastly, after the 
 middle of the third century, the title was 
 restricted to those who actually died for 
 Him. The very first records of the 
 Church which we possess tell us of the 
 
 1 Martus and the cognate words begin to assume their 
 later technical sense in Acts xxii.; Apoc. ii. 13. This 
 technical sense is probab'y intended in Clem. Rom. i, Ad Cor. 
 5 ; certainly in Ignat. Ad Ephes. i ; Mart. Polyc. 19 ; Melito 
 (apud Euseb. H. E. iv. 26); Dionys. Corinth, {ib. ii. 25.); 
 Hegesippus (,ib. ii. 23, iv. 22); Epist. Gall. {ib. v. 1,2); 
 Anon. Adv. Cataph. {ib. v. 16) ; Iren. i. 28, i, etc.; though at 
 the same time the words were also used of testimony which was 
 not sealed by death. The Epistle of the Martyrs of Vienna 
 and Lyons just quoted distinguishes between confessors 
 (homologoi) and martyrs, but in Clement Alex. (Strom, iv. g, 
 p. 596) and even in Cyprian the distinction is not observed 
 The Decian prosecution tended to fix it. 
 
MARTYR. 
 
 133 
 
 honors done to the martyrs. It was the 
 martyrs who, first of all, were regarded as 
 saints ; the relics of the martyrs which 
 were first revered ; to the martyrs that 
 the first churches were dedicated. The 
 name " martyrium " {ntarttirion), which at 
 first meant the church built over a 
 martyr's remains, was given to churches 
 generally, even if dedicated to saints who 
 were not martyred, though this usage was 
 partly justified by the fact that a church 
 was not consecrated till the relics of some 
 martyr had been placed in it. 
 
 Benedict XIV., in his work on "Canon- 
 ization " (lib. iii. cap. 1 1 scq), gives the 
 modern law of the church on the recogni- 
 tion of martyrdom with great fulness. 
 He defines martyrdom as the "voluntary 
 endurance of death for the faith, or some 
 other act of virtue relating to God." A 
 martyr, he says, may die not only for the 
 faith directly, but also to preserve some 
 virtue — e. g. justice, obedience, or the 
 like, enjoined or counselled by the faith. 
 He mentions the dispute among theolo- 
 gians whether a person who died for 
 confessing the Immaculate Conception of 
 the Blessed Virgin, which in his time had 
 not been defined, would be a martyr. He 
 gives no decided opinion on the point, but 
 says that " in other cases the safe rule is 
 that one who dies for a question not yet 
 defined by the church dies in a cause 
 insufficient for martyrdom." Further, he 
 explains that to be a martyr a man must 
 actually die of his sufferings or else have 
 endured pains which would have been 
 his death but for miraculous intervention. 
 
 J^artyrology. 
 
 A LIST of martyrs and other saints, and 
 the mysteries commemorated on each day 
 of the year, with brief notices of the life 
 and death of the former. It is these brief 
 notices which distinguish a Martyrology 
 from a mere calendar. It is read in 
 monastic orders at Prime after the prayer 
 " Deus, qui ad principium." It is followed 
 by the versicle " Precious in the sight of 
 the Lord is the death of His saints," and 
 by a petition for the intercession of the 
 heavenly court ; and these words are 
 retained even in the secular office, when 
 the Martyrology is not actually recited. 
 Mr. Maskell has collected many proofs 
 that in England the Martyrology used to 
 be said in the monastic chapter, not, like 
 the office, in the choir. This custom, 
 however, was in no way peculiar to Eng- 
 land, as may be seen from the notes of 
 Meratus on the subject (Pars. II. sect. v. 
 cap. xxi.). After Prime, or sometimes 
 after Tierce, the monks adjourned to the 
 chapter, heard the Martyrology, and said 
 the prayers which now form part of Prime, 
 " Dcus, in adjutoriwn memn " / " Dignare, 
 Domine, die ista" etc., before setting out 
 to their daily labor. 
 
 Gregory the Great speaks of a Martyr- 
 ology used by the Roman Church in his 
 day, but we do not know for certain what 
 it was. A Martyrology attributed to 
 Jerome is printed, e. g. in Vallarsi's edi- 
 tion of his works. It has undergone 
 many revisions and later editions. It is 
 quite possible that Jerome may have col- 
 
1 34 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 lected a Martyrology from the various 
 calendars of the Church, and that the 
 Martyrology which goes by his name, as 
 we have it, is the corruption of a book 
 used in St. Gregory's time at Rome. The 
 lesser Roman Martyrology was found at 
 Ravenna by Ado, archbishop of Vienna, 
 about 850. A third Martyrology is attrib- 
 uted (erroneously, Hefele says) to Bede, 
 and the foundation of the work may 
 probably come from him. All western 
 Martyrologies are based on these three. 
 We have Martyrologies from Florus, Ado, 
 Usuard, in France ; from Rabanus and 
 Notker of St. Gall, in Germany. 
 
 The Roman Martyrology mentioned, as 
 
 we have seen, by Gregory the Great, is 
 mentioned again at the English Council 
 of Cloveshoo. Such a work is, of course, 
 subject to constant alterations from the 
 addition of new feasts, etc. A revision 
 of the Roman Martyrology was made by 
 Baronius and other scholars in 1584. It 
 was revised again under Urban VIII. (See 
 Laemmer, "De Mart. Rom." Ratisbonae,^ 
 1878.) 
 
 1 This scholar classifies Martyrologies thus : (i ) that 
 attributed to Jerome ; (2) Martyr. Rom. Parv. published 
 by Rosweyd in 1613, and written in Rome about 740; (3) a 
 genuine Martyrology of Bede, with interpolations from Florus 
 of Lyons ; (4) that of Usuard, dedicated to Charles the Bald, 
 used from the ninth century, not only in Benedictine houses, 
 but throughout the West. In the fifteenth century no other 
 was in use except in St. Peter's, and even there the Martyr* 
 ology was but a translation of Usuard 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ><^ 
 
 
 •!•!• •!•!• •*•!• •'•!• •!!• •!•!■ 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 • # # 
 
 HNTICHRIST. 
 
 I^ 
 
 WORD which, so far as the 
 New Testament is concerned, 
 only occurs in St. John's 
 Epistles. In itself it might 
 mean — " like Christ," or "in- 
 stead of Christ," as antitheos 
 signifies Godlike, or anthupatos pro-consul, 
 but the Antichrist of St. John is Christ's 
 adversary. "Ye have heard," he says, 
 "that Antichrist^ is coming, and now 
 there have been many Antichrists. . . . 
 This is the Antichrist who denies the 
 Father and the Son." In the fourth 
 chapter he makes the characteristic of 
 Antichrist {to ton antichristou) consist in 
 not confessing Jesus ^ ; and more fully in 
 the seventh verse of the Second Epistle, 
 he places the guilt of Antichrist in his 
 denial that Christ has "come in the flesh." 
 Thus St. John identifies the Antichristian 
 spirit with the Docetic heresy, though he 
 seems also to allude to a single person 
 
 1 I Ep. ii. 18. The reading ho an, "that the Antichrist 
 comes," is that of the received text, but Lachmann, Tischen- 
 dorf, and Tregelles omit the article. 
 
 2 " Every spirit which does not confess Jesus." So the 
 Greek, according to the editions just quoted. The Vulgate 
 has " every spirit which dissolves Jesus." 
 
 who is to come in the last days. St. Paul» 
 in the Second Epistle to the Thessalo. 
 nians, is more explicit. He does not, 
 indeed, use the word " Antichrist," but he 
 speaks of a person whom he describes as 
 the " man of sin," " the son of perdition 
 who opposeth and raiseth himself over all 
 that is called God, or is an object of awe, 
 so as to sit in the temple of God, exhibit- 
 ing himself as God." At present, there is 
 a power which hinders his manifestation. 
 The Thessalonians looked on the " day of 
 the Lord " as already imminent. Not so, 
 St. Paul replies ; three things must happen 
 first — an apostasy or defection must 
 occur ; the hindrance to the manifestation 
 of Antichrist must be removed, and then 
 Antichrist himself revealed. This "man 
 of sin " is usually called " Antichrist," 
 and to this terminology we shall conform 
 during the rest of the article. 
 
 As to this Antichrist, we must distin- 
 guish between what is certain and what is 
 doubtful. 
 
 It is the constant belief of the whole 
 Church, witnessed by Father after Father 
 
 13S 
 
I-^ft 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 from Irenaeus downwards, that before our 
 Lord comes again, a great power will arise 
 which will persecute the Church, and lead 
 many into apostasy. All that is " lawless," 
 all that oppose "lawful authority" in 
 Church or State, partake so far of his 
 spirit, who is called, in the words of the 
 apostle, the "lawless one" by pre-emi- 
 nence. But this must not lead us to treat 
 Antichrist as a mere personification of 
 evil, or to forget the universal belief of 
 Fathers and theologians that he is a real 
 and individual being who is to appear 
 before the end of the world. 
 
 So much for what is certain. When we 
 come to details, the Fathers, Bossuet says, 
 " do but grope in the dark, a sure mark 
 that tradition had left nothing decisive on 
 the subject." All, or nearly all, are agreed 
 in considering that the " mystery of ini- 
 quity already worked " in Nero, that the 
 power which hindered the appearance of 
 Antichrist was the Roman Empire, and 
 that he was to appear as the Messias of the 
 Jews, and to possess himself of their tem- 
 ple. Further, from very early times, St. 
 Paul's " man of sin " was identified with 
 one of the two Apocalyptic beasts, in 
 Apoc. xiii., and with the little horn, in 
 Daniel vii., which roots out the other ten 
 horns, or kings, speaks blasphemies, and 
 destroys the saints. A time was expected 
 when the Roman power would be divided 
 into ten kingdoms. Antichrist was to 
 destroy three of these, to subdue the rest, 
 till, after a reign of three and a half years, 
 he, in turn, was destroyed by Christ. It 
 was also commonly held that Antichrist 
 
 was to be a Jew, of the tribe of Dan, 
 because that tribe is described as a serpent 
 by the dying Jacob,^ and is omitted from 
 the list of tribes in the Apocalypse.* 
 Many other features in the picture might 
 be given. Some regarded Antichrist as 
 generated by Satan ; others, as actually 
 Satan incarnate. The Arian persecution 
 in Africa, the domination of Islam, were 
 looked upon as likely to usher in the reign 
 of Antichrist. Among other curious 
 beliefs we may mention that of some 
 among the Beguines, who supposed that 
 as Lucifer had come from the highest 
 order of angels, so Antichrist would spring 
 from the most perfect Order, viz. the 
 Franciscan. In contrast with these aber- 
 rations of fancy, St. Augustine in the 
 West, and St. John Damascene in the 
 East, preserve a marked moderation of tone 
 in discussing this subject. 
 
 At the Protestant Reformation, an 
 entirely new view appeared on the field. 
 Even heretics had not ventured to assert 
 that St. Paul, in the "man of sin," meant 
 to describe the Pope. Wicliffe, indeed, 
 had called the Pope " Antichrist," while 
 the name was applied to Pope Sylvester by 
 the Waldensians, to John XXII. by the 
 Beguines ; but the word was used in that 
 vague sense in which every one who does 
 or teaches evil is an Antichrist. Indeed, 
 till Luther's time it was generally agreed 
 that Antichrist was to be an individual, 
 and this fact, which the plain sense of St. 
 Paul's words implies, is enough of itself ta 
 
 iGen. xlix. 17. 
 2 Apoc. vii. 5. 
 
ANTICHRIST. 
 
 ^n 
 
 I 
 
 refute the absurd opinion that Antichrist 
 means the line of Popes. All Protestant 
 writers of respectable attainments have 
 now rejected this monstrous interpreta- 
 tion. Yet it is well not to forget that it 
 was once almost an article of Protestant 
 faith, and it was actually made a charge 
 against Archbishop Laud on his trial that 
 he refused to recognize Antichrist in the 
 Bishop of Rome. 
 
 (Chiefly taken from Dollinger's " First 
 Age of the Church," Appendix I.) 
 
 /\sK Wedr\esday. 
 
 The first day, according to our present 
 observance, of the forty days' fast of Lent. 
 But that it did not come within the quad- 
 ragesimal period in primitive times we 
 know from the testimony of Gregory the 
 Great, who, in speaking of the fast, 
 describes it as of thirty- six days' duration 
 — that is, as extending over six weeks, 
 from the first Sunday in Lent to Easter 
 Day, omitting Sundays. Thirty-six days 
 are nearly a tenth part of the year, and 
 thus, by observing the fast. Christians 
 were thought to render a penitential tithe 
 of their lives to God. Lent, therefore, at 
 the end of the sixth century, began on the 
 first Sunday, and we know from the Sacra- 
 mentary of Gelasius that the practice was 
 the same at the end of the fifth century. 
 At what time Ash Wednesday and the 
 three following days were added to the 
 jfast has not been precisely ascertained. 
 It is true that in the Sacramentary of Pope 
 
 Gregory there is a Mass for Ash Wednes- 
 day, under the heading " Feria IV., caput 
 jejunii " (beginning of the fast) ; whence 
 it might be inferred that Pope Gregory, in 
 spite of the words cited above, had himself 
 before his death sanctioned the alteration 
 in question. But this would be an unsafe 
 conclusion, for one of the best MSS. of the 
 Sacramentary does not contain this head- 
 ing. However this may be, a Capitulary 
 of the Church of Toulon (714) and the litur- 
 gical work of Amaury (about 820) 
 describe the Lenten usage as identical with 
 our own. There can be no difficulty in 
 understanding the motive of the change ; 
 for by the addition of the four days pre- 
 ceding the first Sunday, the number of 
 fasting days before Easter (the Sundays 
 being omitted) becomes exactly forty, and 
 accords with the fasts recorded of Moses 
 and Elias, and with that of our Saviour in 
 the wilderness of Judea. 
 
 The office for Ash Wednesday opens 
 with the solemn ceremony which has given 
 the day its name.^ After an introit and 
 four collects, in which pardon and mercy 
 are implored for the penitent, the faithful 
 approach and kneel at the altar rails, and 
 the priest puts ashes on the forehead of 
 each, saying, " Memento, homo, quia pulvis 
 es, et in pulverem reverteris " (Remember, 
 man, that thou art dust, and shalt return 
 to dust). The ashes are obtained by burn- 
 ing the palms of the previous year. The 
 Lenten pastorals of Bishops, regulating 
 the observance of the season, usually 
 prescribe that the fast on Ash Wednesday 
 
 1 Billuart, Z)e Myster, Diss. xiv. a. i. 
 
138 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY, 
 
 shall be more rigorously kept than on any 
 other day in Lent except the last four days 
 of Holy Week. 
 
 The administration of the ashes was not 
 originally made to all the faithful, but only 
 to public penitents. These had to appear 
 before the church door on the first day of 
 Lent, in penitential garb and with bare 
 feet. Their penances were there imposed 
 upon them ; then they were brought into 
 the church before the bishop who put 
 ashes on their heads, saying, besides the 
 words ^^ Memento ^^ etc., ^^ age poenitentiam 
 ut habeas vitani aternatn " (Repent (or, do 
 penance), that thou mayest have eternal 
 life). He then made them an address, 
 after which he solemnly excluded them 
 from the church. Out of humility and 
 affection, friends of the penitents, though 
 not in the same condition, used to join 
 themselves to them, expressing in their 
 outward guise a similar contrition, and 
 ojffering their foreheads also to be sprinkled 
 with ashes. The number of these persons 
 gradually increased, until at length the 
 administration of ashes was extended to 
 the whole congregation, and the rite took 
 its present form. ("Diet, of Antiq." 
 Smith and Cheetham ; Kossing, in Wetzer 
 and Welte.) 
 
 Asperges. 
 
 A NAME given to the sprinkling of the 
 altar, clergy, and people with holy water at 
 the beginning of High Mass by the cele- 
 brant. The name is taken from the words, 
 "Asperges me," "Thou shalt wash me, O 
 
 Lord, with hyssop," etc., with which tha 
 priest begins the ceremony. During the 
 Easter season the antiphon " Vidi aquam " 
 is substituted. This custom of sprinkling 
 the people with holy water is mentioned in 
 the Canon of a synod quoted by Hincmar 
 of Rheims, who lived at the beginning of 
 the ninth century. 
 
 /\ss\jrT\ptior\. 
 
 After the death of her divine Son the 
 Blessed Virgin liyed under the care of St. 
 John. It is not quite certain where she 
 died. Tillemont conjectures from a pas- 
 sage in a letter of the Fathers assembled in 
 the General Council of Ephesus that she 
 was buried in that city, but the common 
 tradition of the church represents her as 
 having died at Jerusalem, where her 
 empty tomb was shown to pilgrims in the 
 seventh century. In any case, it is certain 
 that she really died, and that her exemp- 
 tion from sin original and actual did not 
 prevent her paying this common debt of 
 humanity. The very fact that she had 
 received a passible nature rendered her 
 liable to death. Except for the special gift 
 of immortality which he received from 
 God, Adam would have died in the course 
 of nature, even if he had never sinned ; 
 and St. Augustine declares that our 
 Blessed Saviour would have died by the 
 natural decay of old age, if the Jews had 
 not laid violent hands upon Him.* 
 
 1 In French, Marcredi des Cendres \ in German, Asci^ 
 mittwoche. 
 
ASSUMPTION. 
 
 139 
 
 Still, although the Blessed Virgin tasted 
 of death, her body was preserved from cor- 
 ruption and it was united to her soul in 
 the kingdom of heaven. The church signi- 
 fies her belief in this fact by celebrating the 
 feast of her Assumption on the fifteenth 
 of August. There is no distinct assertion 
 of the r^;^)^/'^/ assumption in the prayers of 
 the feast, but it is plain that the church 
 encourages and approves this belief from 
 the fact that she selects for the lessons 
 during the octave a passage from St. John 
 Damascene in which the history of this 
 corporal assumption is given in detail. 
 This pious belief is recommended by its 
 intrinsic reasonableness, for surely it is 
 natural to suppose that our Lord did not 
 suffer that sacred body in which He Him- 
 self had dwelt and from which He had 
 formed His own sacred humanity to become 
 a prey to corruption. It is confirmed by 
 the testimonies of St. Andrew of Crete, of 
 St. John Damascene, and of many ancient 
 Martyrologies and Missals, cited by Butler 
 in his note on this feast. It is, moreover, 
 a striking fact that, notwithstanding the 
 zeal of the early church in collecting and 
 venerating relics, no relics of the Blessed 
 Virgin's body have ever been exhibited. 
 Much weight, too, must be given to the 
 common sentiment of the faithful. 
 "Admirable," says Petavius, "is the 
 admonition of Paulinus of Nola, an author 
 of the greatest weight, who bids us adhere 
 to the common voice of the faithful, since 
 '^he spirit of God breathes upon them 
 all."i 
 
 ' Petav D€ Incarmat. xiv, 3. 
 
 The corporal assumption is not an article 
 of faith. Still Melchior Canus sums up 
 the general teaching of theologians on 
 this head when he says : — " The denial of 
 the Blessed Virgin's corporal assumption 
 into heaven, though by no means contrary 
 to the faith, is still so much opposed to the 
 common agreement of the Church, that it 
 would be a mark of insolent temerity."^ 
 
 The feast, according to Butler, was 
 celebrated before the sixth century in the 
 East and West. The Greeks called it 
 koitnesis or metastasis ; the Latins, dor- 
 mitio, pausatio, transitus, assumptio. 
 
 /\ttritiorA. 
 
 Attrition, as distinct from contrition, 
 is an imperfect sorrow for sin. Contrition 
 is that sorrow for sin which has for its 
 motive the love of God, when the sinner 
 has offended. Attrition arises from a 
 motive which is indeed supernatural, — 
 that is to say, apprehended by faith, — but 
 which still falls short of contrition. Such 
 motives are — the fear of hell, the loss of 
 heaven, the turpitude of sin. By this last, 
 we understand the turpitude of sin as 
 revealed by faith. We may also, for the 
 sake of clearness, exclude from our defi- 
 nition that kind of sorrow which theolo- 
 gians call serviliter servilis — the sorrow 
 which makes a man renounce sin because 
 he is afraid of hell, while at the same 
 time he would be ready to offend God if 
 he could do so without incurring the 
 penalty. 
 
 1 Melchior Canus, De Locis Theolog. xiL 10. 
 
140 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 All Cathol'cs are bound to hold that 
 attrition, as explained above, is good and 
 an effect of God's grace. This is clear 
 from the words of our Lord, " Fear him 
 who can destroy both body and soul in 
 hell " ; from the declaration of the 
 Tridentine Council, that attrition which 
 proceeds from considering " the baseness 
 of sin, or from the fear of hell and pun- 
 ishment, if it excludes the purpose of 
 sinning and includes the hope of pardon, 
 * * * * is a true gift of God and an 
 impulse of the Holy Spirit " ; ^ and from 
 subsequent pronouncements of the Popes, 
 particularly of Alexander VIII. The 
 Council put forward this Catholic truth 
 against Luther, and succeeding Popes 
 against the Jansensists. 
 
 Further, the Council of Trent teaches ^ 
 that attrition does not of itself avail to 
 justify the sinner. Sin which separates 
 the soul from God is only annulled by love 
 which unites it to Him. 
 
 But a question was long keenly debated 
 among Catholic divines, viz. whether if a 
 man comes with attrition to the sacrament 
 of penance and receives absolution, this 
 avails to restore him to God's grace. The 
 negative opinion was held by the French 
 clergy in their assembly general of the 
 year 1700, and prevailed in the universities 
 of Paris and Louvain. On the other hand, 
 the affirmative, according to which a sinner 
 who receives absolution with attrition is 
 justified though the grace which the 
 sacrament confers, has always apparently 
 
 1 Concil. Trident, sess. xiv. cap. 4, De Penit. 
 « Ibid. 
 
 been the commoner tenet in the schools. 
 It rests on the strong argument that as 
 perfect contrition justifies without the 
 actual reception of the sacrament of 
 penance, it is hard to see why this sac- 
 rament should have been instituted, if 
 perfect contrition is needed to get any 
 good from it. Alexander VII. in 1667 
 forbade the advocates of either opinion to 
 pronounce any theological censure on their 
 opponents. But at present the opinion 
 that attrition with the sacrament of 
 penance suffices is universally held. St. 
 Liguori^ calls it " certain." 
 
 /\\jreole. 
 
 Aureole (from aursolus, golden, gilt, of 
 golden color), i. In Christian art it is the 
 gold color surrounding the whole figure in 
 sacred pictures, and representing the 
 glory of the person represented. It is 
 distinct from the nimbus, which only 
 covers the head. The aureole (also called 
 scutum, vesica, piscis, etc.) was usually 
 reserved for pictures of the three divine 
 Persons, of Christ, and of the Blessed 
 Virgin along with the Holy Child. (Kraus, 
 " Archaeol. Diet.") 
 
 2. In theology, it is defined as a certain 
 accidental reward added to the essential 
 bliss of heaven, because of the excellent 
 victory which the person who receives it 
 has attained during his warfare upon earth. 
 It is given, according to St. Thomas,^ to 
 
 1 Moral Theol. vi. n. 440. 
 
 2 Supplem. qu. xcvi. 
 
AUREOLE. 
 
 141 
 
 virgins, martyrs, and to doctors and 
 preachers. Virgins have triumphed with 
 special glory over the flesh ; martyrs, 
 over the world, which persecuted them to 
 death ; preachers, over the devil, whom 
 they have driven, not only from their own 
 hearts, but also from those of others. 
 
 AVe Maria. 
 
 This familiar prayer, called also the 
 Angelical Salutation, consists of three 
 parts — (i) the salutation of the archangel 
 Gabriel, Ave [Maria.] gratia />/c;ia, Dominus 
 tecum ; benedicta tit in tnulieribus ; (2) the 
 words of Elizabeth to our Lady, et bene- 
 dictus fncctus ventris tui ; (3) an addition 
 made by the church, Sancta Maria, Mater 
 Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc 
 et in hora mortis nostrcB. Parts i 
 and 2 seem to have come into common 
 use as a formula of devotion towards the 
 end of the twelfth century ; the use of 
 them is enjoined by the Constitutions of 
 Odo, bishop of Paris, in 1196. The third 
 part gives a compact and appropriate 
 expression to the feelings with which 
 Christians regard the Blessed Virgin. 
 The words nunc . . . nostra are said to 
 come from the Franciscans ; the rest of 
 the verse is believed to have first come 
 into use in the middle of the fifteenth 
 century. The whole Ave Maria as it 
 now stands is ordered in the breviary 
 of Pius V. ( 1 568 ) to be used daily 
 before each canonical hour, and after 
 Compline. 
 
 B 
 
 arvAs. 
 
 The proclamation of intended marriage, 
 in order that if any one is aware of an 
 impediment, he may state it to the 
 ecclesiastical authorities, and so prevent 
 the celebration of the wedding. Such 
 proclamations were introduced first of all 
 by the custom of particular places, but it 
 was not till 12 15 that they were imposed, 
 at the Fourth Lateran Council, by a 
 general law binding the whole church.^ 
 The Council of Trent^ orders the banns to 
 be proclaimed by the parish priest of the 
 persons who intend to marry, during 
 Mass on three continuous festivals. At 
 the same time it permits the ordinary to 
 dispense from the obligation of proclaim- 
 ing the marriage for a grave reason. 
 According to theologians and the S. 
 Congregation of the Council, the banns 
 must be proclaimed in the parish church 
 of the contracting parties, and in each 
 parish church if they live in different 
 parishes, at the principal mass on three 
 continuous Sundays or holidays of obliga- 
 tion — or at least on days when there is 
 sure to be a concourse of people in the 
 church. It is generally held that if the 
 marriage does not take place within two 
 months, or at most four, of the last publica- 
 tion, the banns must be proclaimed anew. 
 
 Zxcommurxicatiorv. 
 
 An ecclesiastical censure by which a 
 Christian is separated from the communion 
 
 1 Fleury, Hist. Ixxvii. 52. 
 * Sess. xxiv. c. i. 
 
142 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of the church. It is a power included in 
 the power of the keys, or of binding and 
 loosing, given by Christ to Peter and the 
 apostles, and may be deduced from our 
 Saviour's words (Matt, xviii. 17) — "If he 
 will not hear the church, let him be to 
 thee as the heathen and publican." For 
 to treat a man as a heathen and a publican 
 is to repel him from the church and all 
 things sacred — that is, to excommunicate 
 him. We find it put in practice by St. 
 Paul (i Cor, V. 3), when he said of the 
 incestuous Corinthian — " I . . . have 
 already judged . . . him that hath so 
 done, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, you being gathered together and 
 my spirit, with the power of our Lord 
 Jesus, to deliver such a one to Satan," etc. 
 St. Augustine explains : " Because outside 
 the church is the devil, as within it is 
 Christ, and accordingly he who is sepa- 
 rated from the conimunion of the church 
 is, as it were, delivered to the devil." 
 
 Excommunication is of two kinds, the 
 major and the minor. The minor kind is 
 an ecclesiastical censure, by which a 
 Christian is deprived of the right to 
 participation in sacraments,^ and indirectly, 
 as a consequence, of the right of receiving 
 a benefice. It is incurred by communicat- 
 ing with a person under major excom- 
 munication, in any case where such 
 communication is not excused. 
 
 The major excommunication deprives 
 of all ecclesiastical communion, and is 
 equivalent in substance to anathema, from 
 which it only differs in regard to the 
 
 1 Ferraris. 
 
 formalities by which the latter is sur- 
 rounded. For the major excommunication 
 can be inflicted by mere force of law, or 
 by the written sentence of a judge, 
 whereas an anathema is publicly pro- 
 nounced, and " cum strepitu." 
 
 Those under major excommunication 
 again fall into two classes : tolerati, whom 
 the faithful are not bound to avoid ; and 
 noji tolerati (i. e. those excommunicated by 
 name and publicly denounced, and those 
 notoriously guilty, by themselves or others, 
 of violence to clerics), with whom the 
 faithful are forbidden to hold either relig- 
 ious or civil communication. Civil inter- 
 course is, however, permitted, for the sake 
 of the faithful themselves, under various 
 circumstances and to various classes of 
 persons. 
 
 Excommunications are also divided — 
 and this is a most important distinction — 
 into those ferendcg sententicB, and those 
 latce sententics. In the case of the former, 
 it is enjoined that a sentence of excom- 
 munication be pronounced (e. g. "we for- 
 bid this on pain of excommunication; 
 whoever does it, let him be excommuni- 
 cated," or "will incur excommunication," 
 etc.), but the delinquent does not actually 
 incur the sentence till it has been inflicted 
 by a competent judge. In the second 
 case, the words of the law or other instru- 
 ment are so chosen that upon a given act 
 being done the doer of it falls at once 
 under the ban of the Church, as when it 
 is said, " let him incur excommunication 
 ipso factoy Nor are such sentences 
 unjust, as some have argued, on the 
 
EXCOMMUNICA TION. 
 
 143 
 
 ground that the delinquents who incur 
 them have not been duly warned, as the 
 Gospel requires, of the nature of their 
 offence ; for the law itself, which they 
 must be presumed to know, is a standing 
 and perpetual warning. At the same 
 time, the excommunication latcz sententicB 
 is operative only in the internal forum, 
 and in the sight of God ; to make it 
 effectual in the external forum also, it 
 is necessary that the guilt be proved 
 before, and declared by, a competent 
 judge. 
 
 Excommunications are also divided into 
 those reserved to the Pope, and those not 
 reserved. Those of the first class now 
 in force are enumerated in the constitu- 
 tion " Apostolicae Sedis," issued by Pius 
 IX. in 1869, in which are also specified all 
 excommunications lat(2 setitentice and ipso 
 facto incurred henceforth in vigor. 
 
 If it be asked. Who can excommuni- 
 cate } it may be answered, those who 
 possess ordinary or delegated jurisdiction 
 in the external forum in regard to those 
 subject to them ; but not parish priests 
 (who have as such only jurisdiction in the 
 forum of conscience), and never laymen 
 or women. To the question, Who can 
 be excommunicated } the answer is, that 
 only Christians, alive and of sound mind, 
 guilty of a grave offence and persisting in 
 it, and subject to the judge giving sen- 
 tence, can be excommunicated. Not Jews, 
 therefore, nor Pagans, nor the unbaptized 
 heathen, nor the dead ; but the sentence 
 may justly be inflicted on heretics or 
 schismatics. 
 
 The effects of excommunication are 
 thus summed up : " As man by baptism 
 is made a member of the Church, in which 
 there is a communication of all spiritual 
 goods, so by excommunication he is cast 
 forth from the Church and placed in the 
 position of the heathen man and the pub- 
 lican, and is deprived accordingly of sacra- 
 ments, sacrifices, sacred offices, benefices, 
 dignities, ecclesiastical jurisdiction and 
 power, ecclesiastical sepulture, — in a word, 
 of all the rights which he had acquired by 
 baptism, — until he make amends, and 
 satisfy the Church." * 
 
 Fathers of the GKvirck 
 
 The appellation of Fathers is used in a 
 more general and a more restricted sense. 
 In a general sense, it denotes all those 
 Christian writers of the first twelve centu- 
 ries who are reckoned by general consent 
 among the most eminent witnesses and 
 teachers of the orthodox and Catholic 
 doctrine of the Church. Taken in this 
 sense, it includes some names on which 
 there rests more or less the reproach of 
 heterodox doctrine. Origen, whose works, 
 as we have them, contain grave errors 
 frequently condemned by the highest 
 authority in the Church, is one of these. 
 Nevertheless, his writings are of the high- 
 est value for their orthodox contents. 
 Eusebius of Caesarea is another. Ter- 
 tullian became an open apostate from the 
 Catholic Church, yet his writings, as a 
 
 ^ Soglia, lib. iv. cap. 4. 
 
144 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Catholic, are among the most excellent and 
 precious remains of antiquity. There are 
 some others included among the Fathers 
 in this greater latitude of designation who 
 have not the mark of eminent sanctity. 
 
 In its stricter sense, the appellation 
 denotes only those ancient writers whose 
 orthodoxy is unimpeachable, whose works 
 are of signal excellence or value, and 
 whose sanctity is eminent and generally 
 recognized. The following list includes 
 the names of the most illustrious Fathers, 
 according to the most exclusive sense of 
 this honorable title : 
 
 First Century — St. Clement of Rome. 
 Second Century — St. Ignatius, St. Justin, 
 St. Irenaeus. Third Century — St. Cyprian, 
 St. Dionysius of Alexandria. Fourth 
 Century — St. Athanasius, St. Hilary of 
 Poitiers, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Basil, 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory of 
 Nyssa, St. Ephrem, St. Ambrose, St. 
 Optatus, St. Epiphanius, St. John Chrys- 
 ostom. Fifth Century — St. Jerome, St. 
 Augustine, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. 
 Leo the Great, St. Prosper, St. Vincent of 
 Lerins, St. Peter Chrysologus, Sixth Cen- 
 tury — St. Caesarius of Aries, St. Gregory 
 the Great. Seventh Century — St. Isi- 
 dore of Seville. Eight Century — Ven. 
 Bede, St. John Damascene. Eleventh 
 Century — St. Peter Damian, St. Anselm. 
 Twelve Century — St. Bernard. A com- 
 plete collection of the works of the 
 Fathers contains many more names than 
 these. Moreover, it is plain that the 
 Fathers of the first six centuries, by the 
 mere fact of their priority in time, are 
 
 much more valuable witnesses to primitive 
 faith and order, and that their writings are 
 in a stricter sense sources of theological 
 tradition, than the works of those who 
 came later, however illustrious the latter 
 may be. There is also a gradation of rank 
 among the Fathers, some having a much 
 higher authority than others. As private 
 doctors, no one of them has a final and 
 indisputable authority taken singly, except 
 in so far as his teaching is warranted by 
 some extrinsic and higher criterion, or 
 supported by its intrinsic reasons. As 
 witnesses, each one singly, or several con- 
 curring together, must receive that cre- 
 dence which is reasonably due in view of 
 all the qualities and circumstances of the 
 testimony given. Their morally unani- 
 mous consent concerning matters pertain- 
 ing to faith has a decisive and irrefragable 
 authority. It has always been held that 
 God raised up in the earlier ages of the 
 Church these highly gifted, learned, and 
 holy men, and endowed them with special 
 and extraordinary graces, that they might 
 be the principal teachers of the mysteries 
 and doctrines of the faith. Their writings 
 are the great source of light and truth in 
 theology, after the Holy Scriptures. The 
 authority of their doctrine, in the proper 
 sense of th^t word, is nevertheless derived 
 from the sanction of the Ecclesia Docens, 
 the only supreme and infallible tribunal. 
 
 Qervviflexior\. 
 
 Genuflexion (the bending of the 
 knee) is a natural sign of adoration or 
 
GENUFLEXION. 
 
 H5 
 
 reverence. It is frequently used in the 
 ritual of the Church. Thus the faithful 
 genuflect in passing before the taber- 
 nacle where the Blessed Sacrament is 
 reserved ; the priest repeatedly genu- 
 flects at Mass in adoration of the Eucha- 
 rist, also at the mention of the Incarnation 
 in the Creed, etc. Genuflexion is also 
 made as a sign of profound respect 
 before a bishop on certain occasions. A 
 double genuflexion — i. e. one on both 
 knees — is made on entering or leaving 
 
 a church where the Blessed Sacrament is 
 exposed. 
 
 The early Christians prayed standing on 
 Sundays, and from Easter till Pentecost, 
 and only bent the knee in sign of penance ; 
 hence a class of penitents were known as 
 Genuflectentes. A relic of this penitential 
 use of genuflexion survives, according to 
 Gavantus (P. I. tit. i6), in the practice 
 enjoined by the*rubric of genuflecting at 
 the verse "Adjuva nos," in the Tract of 
 Masses during Lent. 
 
^^^>^^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^fiff^^f^'^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 •!«i i^i •!•; •!•!• *ji ••• •!#} •!•} i*i •!•; i*i *A i*: *ji {•i •!•} •Ji •!•!• {•i 
 
 •«• •«• •»• •«• •»• «j« •*• •»• •«• •«• •»• •«• •»• •»• •«• •»• •»• •#• •#• 
 
 t CEL-IBKCY. f 
 
 ••*• ?•} %•; 'Mi 'Mi '?« '?J i?. 'J^i 'Jfi 'Jii't {?J •?•* 'Jii •^•* 'V '?• •?• '•!• 
 
 ELIBACY of the clergy. The 
 law of the Western Church 
 forbids persons living in the 
 married state to be ordained, 
 and persons in holy orders to 
 marry. A careful distinction 
 must be made between the principles on 
 which the law of celibacy is based and the 
 changes .which have taken place in the 
 application of the principle. 
 
 The principles which have induced the 
 church to impose celibacy on her clergy 
 are (a) that they may serve God with less 
 restraint, and with undivided heart (see 
 I Cor. vii. 32) ; and (d) that, being called 
 to the altar, they may embrace the life of 
 continence, which is holier than that of 
 marriage. That continence is a more holy 
 state than that of marriage is distinctly 
 affirmed in the words of our Blessed Lord 
 ("There are eunuchs who have made them- 
 selves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's 
 sake. He that can receive it, let him 
 receive it"). It is taught by St. Paul 
 ("He that giveth his virgin in marriage 
 doeth well, and he that giveth her not 
 doeth better"), and by St. John (Apoc. 
 
 xiv. 4. ). Christian antiquity speaks with 
 one voice on this matter, and the Council 
 of Trent, sess. xxiv. De Matr. can. 10, 
 anathematizes those who deny that " it is 
 more blessed to remain in virginity or in 
 celibacy than to be joined in marriage." 
 Thus all Catholics are bound to hold that 
 celibacy is the preferable state, and that it 
 is specially desirable for the clergy. It 
 does not, however, follow from this that 
 the church is absolutely bound to impose a 
 law of celibacy on her ministers, nor has 
 she, as a matter of fact, always done so. 
 
 There does not seem to have been any 
 apostolic legislation on the matter, except 
 that it was required of a bishop that he 
 should have been only once married. In 
 early times, however, we find a law of celi- 
 bacy, though it is one which differs from 
 the present Western law, in full force. 
 Paphnutius, who at the Council of Nicaea 
 resisted an attempt to impose a continent 
 life on the clergy, still admits that, accord, 
 ing to ancient tradition, a cleric must not 
 marry after ordination. This statement is 
 confirmed by the Apostolic Constitutions, 
 vi. 17, which forbids bishops, priests, and 
 
 li6 
 
CELIBACY. 
 
 147 
 
 deacons to marry, while the 27th {al. 25th) 
 Apostolic Canon contains the same prohibi- 
 tion. One of the earliest councils, that of 
 Neocaesarea (between 314 and 325 ), threat- 
 ens a priest who married after ordination 
 10 degradation to the lay state. Even a 
 deacon could marry in one case only — viz. 
 if at his ordination he had stipulated for 
 liberty to do so, as is laid down by the 
 Council of Ancyra, in 314. Thus it was 
 the recognized practice of the ancient 
 church to prohibit the marriage of those 
 already priests, and this discipline is still 
 maintained in the East 
 
 A change was made in the West by the 
 33d Canon of Elvira (in 305 or 306). It 
 required bishops, priests, and all who 
 served the altar ( *^ positis in ministerio " ) 
 to live, even if already married, in conti- 
 nence. The Council of Nicaea refused to 
 impose this law on the whole church, but 
 it prevailed in the West. It was laid 
 down by a synod of Carthage in 390, by 
 Innocent I. 20 years later ; while Jerome 
 (against Jovinian) declares that a priest, 
 who has " always to offer sacrifice for the 
 people, must always pray, and therefore 
 always abstain from marriage." Leo and 
 Gregory the Great, and the Eighth Council 
 of Toledo in 653, renewed the prohibitions 
 against the marriage of subdeacons. 
 
 So the law stood when Hildebrand, 
 afterwards Gregory VII., began to exercise a 
 decisive influence in the church. Leo IX., 
 Nicolas II., Alexander II., and Hildebrand 
 hims(.lf when he came to be Pope, issued 
 stringent decrees against priests living in 
 concubinage. They were forbidden to say 
 
 Mass or even to serve at the altar ; they 
 were to be punished with deposition, and 
 the faithful were warned not to hear their 
 Mass. So far Gregory only fought against 
 the corruption of the times, and it is mere 
 ignorance to represent him as having insti- 
 tuted the law of celibacy. But about this 
 time a change did occur in the canon law. 
 A series of synods from the beginning of 
 the twelfth century declared the marriage 
 of persons in holy orders to be not only 
 unlawful but invalid. With regard to 
 persons in minor orders, they were allowed 
 for many centuries to serve in the church 
 while living as married men. From the 
 twelfth century, it was laid down that if 
 they married they lost the privileges of the 
 clerical state. However, Boniface VIII., 
 in 1300, permitted them to act as clerics, 
 if they had been only once married and 
 then to a virgin, provided they had the 
 permission of the bishop and wore the 
 clerical habit. This law of Pope Boniface 
 was renewed by the Council of Trent, sess. 
 xxiii. cap, 6, De Reform, The same 
 Council, can. 9, sess. xxiv., again pro- 
 nounced the marriage of clerks in holy 
 orders null and void. At present, in the 
 West, a married man can receive holy 
 orders only if his wife fully consents and 
 herself makes a vow of chastity. If the 
 husband is to be consecrated bishop, the 
 wife must enter a religious order. 
 
 We may now turn to the East, and 
 sketch the changes which the law of celi- 
 bacy has undergone among the Greeks, 
 In the time of the Church historian Soc- 
 rates (about 450), the same law of clerical 
 
148 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 celibacy which obtained among the Latins 
 was observed in Thessaly, Macedonia, and 
 Achaia. Further, the case of Synesius 
 in 410 proves that it was unusual for 
 bishops to live as married men, for he 
 had, on accepting his election as bishop, 
 to make a stipulation that he should be 
 allowed to live with his wife. The synod 
 in Trullo (692) requires bishops, if mar- 
 ried, to separate from their wives, and 
 forbids all clerics to marry after the 
 subdiaconate. However, a law of Leo 
 the Wise (886-911) permitted subdeacons, 
 deacons, and priests, who had married 
 after receiving their respective orders, 
 not indeed to exercise sacred functions, 
 but still to remain in the ranks of the 
 clergy and exercise such offices (e. g. 
 matters of administration) as were con- 
 sistent with the marriage which they had 
 concluded. 
 
 The practical consequences of these 
 enactments are (i) that Greek candidates 
 for the priesthood usually leave the semi- 
 naries before being ordained deacons, and 
 return, having concluded marriage, com- 
 monly with daughters of clergymen ; (2) 
 that secular priests live as married men, 
 but cannot, on the death of their wife, 
 marry again ; (3) that bishops are usually 
 chosen from the monks. (From Hefele, 
 ** Beitrage zur Kirchengeschichte, Archao- 
 logie und Liturgik.") 
 
 Ver\eratipr\ of Images. 
 
 The idolatrous worship of images is 
 vehemently condemned in the Scriptures, 
 
 and in the Old Testament two forms of 
 idolatry are specially reprobated. First, 
 we find denunciations of worship paid to 
 images of false gods, such as Moloch. 
 Astarte, etc. Here the whole meaning 
 and intention of the religious act was bad. 
 No respect was due to such a divinity as 
 Baal ; to worship him was an act of trea- 
 son against the living God, so that there 
 could be no possible excuse for venerating 
 his image. But besides this, the law and 
 the prophets condemn worship given to 
 images of the true God. It seems clear 
 that the calf-worship begun at Mount 
 Sinai, and continued in the northern king- 
 dom at Bethel, etc., was meant as the wor- 
 ship of the true God set before Israel in 
 this symbolical forra.^ But this worship 
 also is denounced — e. g. by Amos and 
 Osee — and was really idolatrous, because 
 it conveyed false notions of God, who is a 
 pure spirit, so that although e. g. Jeroboam 
 professed to worship Jehovah, he was 
 really serving a god of his own imagina- 
 tion. To prevent such idolatrous errors, 
 to which the Jews were constantly tempted 
 by the example of the surrounding heathen, 
 the Hebrew worship was regulated in each 
 detail by God. Images they had in their 
 tabernacle and the Temple, for the cheru- 
 bim were placed in the holy of holies, and 
 the walls and pillars were adorned with 
 figures of psalms, pomegranates, etc. But 
 these figures were placed in the tabernacle 
 from which the pattern of the Temple was 
 
 ISee Exod. xxxii. 5, where Aaron calls the idolatroai 
 feast a feast to Jehovah ; and 3 Kings xxii. 6, from which it 
 appears that prophets who sanctioned the calf-worsliip wen 
 siiU considered prophets of Jehovah. 
 
CELIBACY. 
 
 149 
 
 taken by the express ordinance of God, and 
 the Jews were by no means left to their 
 own discretion in the use of sacred images 
 and symbols. 
 
 The prohibition of idolatry conveyed in 
 the first commandment continues, it is 
 needless to say, in full force. Idolatry 
 is evil in its own nature, and necessarily a 
 sin of the deepest dye, whoever it may be 
 that commits it. Moreover, it is impossi- 
 ble to commit this sin without falling into 
 the gross and brutal error of identifying a 
 lifeless image with the divinity. There- 
 fore the Council of Trent (Sess. xxv. " De 
 Invocatione," etc.) not only reprobates the 
 delusion that the godhead can be really 
 portrayed by material figures ; it also states 
 that in images there is no divinity or "vir- 
 tue, on account of which they are to be wor- 
 shipped^' that no petitions can be addressed 
 to them, and that no trust is to be placed 
 in them. 
 
 At the same time the Tridentine 
 Fathers, following the Second Council of 
 Nicaea, advocate the true use of images. 
 The danger of idolatry has at least to a 
 very great extent passed away from Chris- 
 tian nations. Further, God Himself has 
 taken a human form which admits of being 
 represented in art. So that the reasoning 
 of Moses in Deut. iv. 15 no longer holds,^ 
 and on the whole matter the liberty of Chris- 
 tians is very different from the bondage of 
 Jews. Images, according to the Tridentine 
 definition, are to be retained and honored, 
 
 1" Ye did not see any likeness on the day that the Lord 
 spak* to you on Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest ye 
 should act wickedly and make for yourselves a graven image," 
 ete. 
 
 but abuses and all occasion of scandal to 
 the rude and ignorant are to be removed. 
 The object of images is to set Christ, his 
 Blessed Mother, the saints and angels 
 before our eyes, while the council adds that 
 "the honor which is given to them is 
 referred to the objects {prototypes) which 
 they represent, so that through the images 
 which we kiss, and before which we 
 uncover our heads and kneel, we adore 
 Christ and venerate the saints, whose like- 
 nesses they are." " The Council," says 
 Petavius, ("De Incarnat." xv. 17,) "could 
 not have declared more expressly that the 
 cultus of images is simply relative {scheti- 
 kon) \ that they are not in themselves and 
 strictly speaking {per se et proprie) adored 
 or honored, but that all adoration and ven- 
 eration is referred to the prototypes, in- 
 asmuch as images have no dignity or 
 excellence to which such honor properly 
 appertains." We cannot imagine any bet- 
 ter exposition than that of this great theo- 
 logian, who, among many other merits, is 
 always distinguished for his sobriety and 
 his avoidance of useless subtleties. His 
 words explain the doctrine of the Church 
 and remove all possibility of scandal, when 
 we find the Church in the Good Friday 
 office inviting the faithful to adore the 
 cross. It is the suffering Saviour, not the 
 dead wood, which Catholics adore. 
 
 The use of images in the Church dates 
 from the very earliest times. The Church 
 no doubt was cautious in her use of 
 images, both because the use of them in 
 the midst of a heathen population might 
 easily be misunderstood, and also because 
 
I50 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 the images might be seen and profaned by 
 the heathen persecutors. It is, as Hefele 
 and De Rossi maintain, for this latter 
 reason that the Council of Elvira, in the 
 year 306, forbade the placing of " pictures 
 in the churches, lest what is worshipped 
 and adored should be painted on the 
 walls." Certainly the Church of that 
 time did not reject the use of Christian 
 art — witness the numerous sacred 
 pictures recently brought to light in the 
 Roman catacombs. Many ancient works 
 of art which have come down to us from 
 the old Spanish church — e. g. the 
 beautiful sarcophagi of Saragossa — prove 
 that there was no difference of feeling or 
 opinion on this matter between Spanish 
 and Roman Christians. But whereas the 
 F.oman churches were under, the Spanish 
 were above, ground. Hence the anxiety 
 of the council to avoid the mockery and 
 actual danger which the sight of images 
 might have created. 
 
 We can trace the veneration of images 
 and the Tridentine doctrine concerning it 
 through the whole history of the Church, 
 but here a few instances must suffice. The 
 early Christian poet Prudentius speaks of 
 himself (" Peristeph." ix. 9 seq) as praying 
 before an image of the martyr Cassian, 
 We read that at a conference held between 
 St. Maximus and the bishop Theodosius 
 the Fathers present bent the knee to the 
 images of Christ and the Blessed Virgin.^ 
 The principles of Gregory the Great on 
 the respect due to images are well known. 
 When Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, 
 
 1 See Kxaus, Encyclop'dd., art. " Bilderverehriing." 
 
 removed images from the church on the 
 ground that they had proved an occasion 
 of idolatry, Gregory tells him (Ep. ix. 105) 
 that he ought not to have broken images 
 placed in the church as means of instruc- 
 tion, not objects of adoration. In sending 
 Secundinus images of Christ, the Blessed 
 Virgin, and St. Peter and St. Paul, Gregory 
 writes (Ep. ix. 52): " I know you do not 
 ask for the image of our Saviour to 
 worship it as God, but that, being 
 reminded of the Son of God, you may be 
 inflamed anew with love of Him whose 
 image you long to see. And we on our 
 part do not prostrate ourselves before it as 
 a divinity, but we adore Him whom by 
 means of- the image we bring to mind in 
 His birth, in His passion, or as He sits on 
 His throne." 
 
 Two qualifications must be made to the 
 doctrine stated in a previous part of this 
 article. We have said that no images can 
 really resemble the divine nature, which is 
 immaterial. But there is no harm in 
 symbolical representations of the Holy 
 Trinity, or of the divine Persons singly. 
 The contrary proposition was condemned 
 by Pius VI. (Synod of Pistoia, prop. 69), 
 in the bull "Auctorem fidei." Again, 
 though images have no virtue in them- 
 selves, God may be pleased to give special 
 graces at particular shrines. This is 
 taught in the same bull, and the words of 
 St. Augustine (Ep. 'jZ) are aptly quoted : 
 " God, who divides special gifts to each 
 according as He wills, was not pleased 
 that these [marvels] should take place in 
 all the shrines of the saints." 
 
HE Meaning of the Doctrine. — 
 Benedict XIV. ("De Fest." 
 clxxxvii. seq), quoting Frassen, 
 a Scotist theologian, distin- 
 guishes between active and pas- 
 sive conception. The former 
 consists in the act of the parents which 
 causes the body of the child to be formed 
 and organized, and so prepared for the 
 reception of the rational soul which is 
 infused by God. The latter takes place 
 at the moment when the rational soul is 
 actually infused into the body by God. It 
 is the passive, not the active, conception 
 which Catholics have in view when they 
 speak of the Immaculate Conception. 
 For there was nothing miraculous in 
 Mary's generation. She was begotten 
 like other children. The body, while still 
 inanimate, could not be sanctified or 
 preserved from original sin, for it is the 
 soul, not the body, which is capable of 
 receiving either the gifts of grace or the 
 stain of sin. Moreover, from the fact that 
 Mary sprang in the common way from 
 
 Adam, our first father, it follows that she 
 was the daughter of a fallen race and 
 incurred the " debt " or liability to 
 contract original sin. Adam was the 
 representative of the human race : he was 
 put on his trial, and when he fell all his 
 descendants fell with him, and must, 
 unless some special mercy of God inter- 
 posed, receive souls destitute of that grace 
 in which Adam himself was created. In 
 Mary's case, however, God's mercy did 
 interpose. For the sake of Him who was 
 to be born of her and for " His inerits 
 foreseen," grace was poured into her soul 
 at the first instant of its being. Chris- 
 tian children are sanctioned at the font : 
 St. John the Baptist was sanctified while 
 still unborn. Mary was sanctified earlier 
 still — viz. in the first moment of her 
 conception. She received a gift like that 
 of Eve, who was made from the first 
 without sin, only the immaculate concep- 
 tion is rightly called a privilege, and a 
 privilege altogether singular, because in 
 the ordinary course of things the Blessed 
 
 151 
 
^52 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Virgin would have been conceived and 
 born ill original sin. We beg the reader 
 to remember that what we have written up 
 to this point is the universal teaching of 
 theologians, and we have carefully 
 abstained from entering on scholastic 
 disputes (e. g. as to the remote and proxi- 
 mate debt of sin), because we believe that 
 the mere statement of the doctrine is 
 enough to remove many prejudices from 
 the minds of candid Protestants. So far 
 from derogating from, the Catholic 
 doctrine exalts, the merits of Christ. He 
 who redeemed us redeemed her. He who 
 sanctified us in baptism sanctified her in 
 her conception. Nor could any Catholic . 
 dream of comparing Mary's exemption 
 from sin, we do not say with the sinless- 
 ness of Divine nature, for such a compar- 
 ison would be insane as well as blas- 
 phemous, but with the sinlessness of 
 Christ as man. Sin was a physical impos- 
 sibility in the human soul of Christ, 
 because it was hypostatically united to 
 the Divinity, Mary, on the other hand, 
 was sinless by the grace of God. " Thou 
 art innocent," says Bossuet, addressing 
 Christ, " by nature, Mary only by grace ; 
 Thou by excellence, she only by privilege ; 
 Thou as Redeemer, she as the first of 
 those whom Thy precious blood has 
 purified " (" Sermon pour la fite de la 
 Conception de la Sainte Vierge " ). No 
 better summary could be given of the 
 church's doctrine. 
 
 2. History of the Controversy on the 
 Doctrine. — The controversy, so far as we 
 know, began in the twelfth century. The 
 
 church of Lyons had adopted the custom, 
 which already prevailed elsewhere (see the 
 article on the feast), of celebrating the 
 feast of Mary's conception. St. Bernard 
 {d. 1 153) remonstrated sharply with them, 
 in great measure because the feast had 
 not been approved at Rome. The authen- 
 ticity of this letter has been disputed, bitt 
 on grounds, as Benedict XIV. impliea, 
 absolutely insufficient. Besides, little 
 would be gained even if the letter were 
 spurious, for Petavius ("De Incarnat." 
 xiv. 2) has proved, from other passages in 
 his works, Bernard's opinion to have been 
 that the Blessed Virgin was not conceived 
 immaculate, but was sanctified in the 
 womb like Jeremias and St. John the 
 Baptist. Benedict XIV., following 
 Mabillon, declines to accept the theory that 
 St. Bernard had the active, not the passive, 
 conception in his mind. At the same 
 time it must be remembered that the 
 saint refers the whole matter of his dispute 
 with the canons of Lyons to the judgment 
 of the Roman Church. The quotations of 
 Petavius from St. Peter Damian, St. 
 Anselm, Peter Lombard, and others, 
 abundantly prove that St. Bernard's 
 opinion was the prevalent one before and 
 during his own age. In the following 
 century St. Thomas (iii. 27, 2) held that 
 Mary was only sanctified in the womb 
 after her body was already informed by 
 the soul {post ejus animationem), and he 
 argues that if the Virgin " had not incurred 
 the stain of original guilt," she would have 
 stood in no need of being saved and 
 redeemed by Christ, whereas Christ, a» 
 
MEANING OF DOCTRINE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 153 
 
 the apostle declares, is the Saviour of all 
 men.^ But the strongest evidence to the 
 prevalence of the belief that the Virgin 
 was not conceived without sin is supplied 
 by Scotus (In Lib. III. Sentent," d. iii. qu. 
 I, n. 4). He gives his own opinion in 
 favor of the immaculate conception with a 
 timidity which clearly betrays his 
 consciousness that the general opinion 
 was on the other side. After maintaining 
 that God might, had He so chosen, have 
 exempted the Blessed Virgin from original 
 sin, and might on the other hand have 
 allowed her to remain under it for a time 
 and then purified her, he adds that " God 
 knows " which of these possible ways was 
 actually taken ; " but if it is not contrary 
 to the authority of the church or of the 
 saints, it seems commendable {probabile) 
 to attribute that which is more excellent 
 to Mary." 
 
 Scotus, however, farther on in the same 
 work (d. 18. qu. i. n. 4), expresses a more 
 decided view, and he inaugurated a new 
 state of opinion, though the change did 
 not come at once, and the story told by 
 Cavellus, an author of the fourteenth 
 century whom Benedict XIV. quotes, is 
 probably a mere legend. According to 
 this story, Scotus defended the doctrine of 
 the immaculate conception at Cologne and 
 Paris, and a disputation which he held in 
 the latter place induced the Paris 
 University to adopt the doctrine, and won 
 
 1 Cardinal Lambruschini, in a polemical dissertation on the 
 Immaculate Conception (Romae, 1842), declared that here, 
 as in other places, the MSS. of St. Thomas had been 
 corrupted. But this position does not admit of serious 
 defence 
 
 for Scotus himself the title of the " Subtle 
 Doctor." Scotus died in 1308, and events 
 which happened in 1387 show how rapidly 
 the Scotist opinion had spread and how 
 deeply it had struck root at least in France. 
 A Dominican doctor, John Montesono, had 
 publicly denied the immaculate conception, 
 whereupon he was condemned by the 
 University and by the Bishop of Paris; 
 and though he appealed to the Pope (or 
 anti-Pope) Clement VII., he did not dare 
 to appear, and was condemned for con- 
 tumacy. The Fathers of the Council of 
 Basle begged Cardinal Torquemada 
 (Turrecremata) to prepare a treatise on 
 the question, and so he did ; but circum- 
 stances prevented him from laying it 
 before the council, and his treatise, which 
 was adverse to the doctrine, was practi- 
 cally unknown till it was published by 
 the Master of the Sacred Palace with 
 the consent of Paul III., then Pope. The 
 decree of Basle, which defined that the 
 doctrine asserting Mary's immunity from 
 original sin was "to be approved, held, 
 and embraced by all Catholics, as being 
 pious and consonant to the worship of the 
 Church, to Catholic faith, right reason, 
 and Holy Scripture," was passed in 1439, 
 when the council had become schismatical, 
 so that it in no way bound the consciences 
 of Catholics. It serves, however, to mark 
 the general feeling of the time ; and other 
 signs of the hold the doctrine had obtained 
 are not wanting. It was asserted at a 
 provincial synod in Avignon in 1457. 
 Forty years later the University of Paris 
 required an oath to defend the doctrine 
 
154 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 from all who proceeded to the doctor's 
 degree, and the tenet was embraced with 
 ardor by the Carmelites, the different 
 branches of the Franciscan order, and by 
 men of the highest distinction among the 
 secular clergy. 
 
 The matter gave rise to keen discussion 
 at Trent, and although most of the 
 bishops held the doctrine, the council 
 contented itself with a declaration that in 
 defining the truth that the whole human 
 race fell under original sin it did not intend 
 to include in the decree " the blessed and 
 immaculate Virgin Mary," but desired that 
 the Constitutions of Sixtus IV. should be 
 observed. These Constitutions had been 
 issued in 1476 and in 1483. In the former 
 the Pope granted indulgences to those who 
 said the Mass and office which he had 
 approved for the feast of the Conception. 
 In the latter he condemned those who 
 accused persons who celebrated the feast 
 of mortal sin, or those who maintained 
 that the doctrine itself was heretical. 
 Pius v., in 1570, forbade all discussion of 
 the doctrine in sermons, permitting, 
 however, the question to be handled in 
 assemblies of the learned. Paul V., in 
 161 7, prohibited attacks on the doctrine 
 in public assemblies of any kind, while 
 Gregory XV., in 1622, strictly forbade 
 any one to maintain, even in private dis- 
 cussions, that the Blessed Virgin was 
 conceived in original sin. He made an 
 exception, however, in favor of the 
 Dominicans, to whom he granted leave to 
 maintain their own opinion in discussions 
 held within their own order, and he was 
 
 careful to add that he in no way meant to 
 decide the theological question, but, on the 
 contrary, forbade any one to accuse those 
 who denied the immaculate conception of 
 heresy or mortal sin. Benedict XIV., 
 writing about the middle of the last cen- 
 tury, sums up the whole state of the 
 question in his day thus : " The Church 
 inclines to the opinion of the immaculate 
 conception ; but the Apostolic See has 
 not yet defined it as an article of faith." 
 
 So matters stood, when on February i, 
 1849, Pius IX. wrote from Gaeta to the 
 bishops of the Catholic world. He asked 
 them for an account of their own opinion 
 and of the feeling entertained in the 
 churches subject to them on the expediency 
 of defining the doctrine that the Blessed 
 Virgin was immaculate in her conception. 
 The Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese 
 bishops, about 490 in number, were nearly 
 unanimous in their wish for the definition. 
 On the other hand, there were bishops of 
 great eminence in France, Germany, and 
 Switzerland who were of a different mind. 
 Some of these last thought that the 
 doctrine was not prominent enough in 
 Scripture or tradition to be made an article 
 of faith ; others deprecated a definition 
 which would put fresh difficulties in the 
 way of Protestants or timid Catholics ; 
 others, again, were afraid to pronounce at 
 all on so hard a matter. Nearly six years 
 later the question was closed. On 
 December 8, 1854, Pius IX., in the pres- 
 ence of more than 200 bishops, issued his 
 solemn definition that the immaculate 
 ' conception of Mary was a truth contained 
 
MEANING OF DOCTRINE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 155 
 
 ?n the original teaching of the apostles 
 and an article of divine faith. The defi- 
 nition was accepted by Gallicans as well as 
 by Ultramontanes, for it was notorious 
 that the entire episcopate gave full assent 
 to the doctrines of the Papal bull. Indeed, 
 the opposition made within the Church to 
 the new definition was of the most insig- 
 nificant kind. 
 
 3. TJie Doctrine in its Relations to Scrip- 
 ture and Tradition. — A Catholic is bound 
 to hold that the doctrine recently defined 
 was contained in the faith once delivered to 
 the saints by the apostles. On the other 
 hand, he is under no obligation of believ- 
 ing it possible to produce cogent historical 
 proof (over and above the Church's decis- 
 ion) that the doctrine was so contained. 
 It is enough to show that no decisive argu- 
 ment can be brought against the apostolic 
 origin of the Church's present belief, and 
 there are at least probable traces of its 
 existence in the Church from the earliest 
 times. Petavius — justly, as we think — 
 dismisses many passages from the Fathers, 
 which have been cited in support of the 
 doctrine. He points out that if the 
 Fathers speak of Mary as " stainless," 
 " incorrupt," " immaculate " {achrantos, 
 aphthartos, amiantos), it by no means fol- 
 lows that they believed her to have been 
 conceived immaculate. Still, tradition does 
 supply solid arguments for the belief in 
 question. 
 
 First, from the earliest times, and in 
 every part of the Church, Mary, in her 
 office at the Incarnation, was compared 
 and contrasted with Eve before the fall. 
 
 We find the parallel between the two 
 drawn by Justin Martyr (" Trypho," 100), 
 by Irenaeus (iii. 22, 34, v. 19), by Ter- 
 tullian ('• De Carne Christi," 17), not to 
 speak of later Fathers ; indeed, the doc- 
 trine that Mary is in some sense the 
 second Eve is a commonplace of primi- 
 tive theology. This comparison enters 
 into the very substance of the theology 
 of St. Irenaeus. He urges the parallel 
 between Mary and Eve, just as he insists 
 on the resemblance between Adam and 
 Christ, the second Adam. As Eve was 
 married and yet a virgin, so Mary, " hav- 
 ing an appointed husband, was yet a, 
 virgin." Eve listened to the words of an 
 angel ; so also Mary. Eve's disobedience 
 was the cause of our death ; Mary, " being 
 obedient, became both to herself and all 
 mankind the cause of salvation." "The 
 knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by 
 Mary's obedience." The Virgin Mary 
 became " the advocate of the virgin Eve." 
 It is true that whereas Eve of course was 
 made immaculate, yet this is just the 
 point where Irenaeus fails to draw the 
 parallel between Eve and Mary. It must 
 be remembered, however, that in Irenaeus, 
 as in the Ante-Nicene Fathers generally, 
 there is no explicit statement of the doc- 
 trine of original sin, so that we cannot 
 expect an explicit statement that Mary 
 was exempt from it. There is further a 
 presumption that if Irenaeus could have 
 had the question " Was Mary conceived in 
 sin } " proposed to him, he would have 
 answered in the negative. His whole 
 theory of the Incarnation turns on the 
 
156 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORIC. 
 
 proposition, " Man could not break the 
 bonds of sin, because he was already 
 bound f^st by them." He in Adam had 
 been already worsted by the devil. When, 
 therefore, he tells us that Mary untied the 
 knot of Eve's disobedience, we may infer 
 that she never had been bound by it in 
 her own person. 
 
 The tradition that Mary was the second 
 Eve was familiar to great Fathers of the 
 later Church. But one of these, St. 
 Ephrem (a. d. 379), gives much more 
 explicit evidence — the most explicit evi- 
 dence, so far as we know, to be found 
 in patristic writings — of belief in the 
 immaculate conception. Not many years 
 ago the famous Syriac scholar, Bickell, 
 edited, with a Latin version of the Syriac, 
 the "Carmina Nisibena " of the saint. 
 There is no doubt as to the authenticity 
 of these poems. In hymn 27, strophe 8, 
 St. Ephrem speaks thus : " Truly it is 
 Thou and Thy Mother only, who are fair 
 altogether. For in Thee there is no stain, 
 and in Thy Mother no spot. But my sons 
 [i. e. the members of the Church of 
 Edessa ] are far from resembling this two- 
 fold fairness." Elsewhere Ephrem places 
 first among fallen men infants who die in 
 baptismal innocence; so that it must be 
 freedom from original not actual sin which 
 he ascribes to Mary. So (ii. 327 a.), " Two 
 were made simple, innocent, perfectly like 
 each other, Mary and Eve, but afterwards 
 one became the cause of our death, the 
 other of our life." It is most important 
 to appreciate this testimony at its real 
 value. It is not only or chiefly that it 
 
 proves the existence of the belief which 
 we are discussing in the fourth century. 
 This no doubt it does, and it enables us 
 summarily to dismiss the confident assump- 
 tion of many Protestant scholars that the 
 belief arose for the first time in the middle 
 ages. But besides and above this, St. 
 Ephrem supplies an authentic commentary 
 on the meaning of the tradition that Mary 
 was the second Eve. We may well 
 believe, considering how early and in what 
 various quarters it appears, that this tra- 
 dition was apostolic. And just at the 
 time when the doctrine of original sin 
 becomes prominent in Christian theology, 
 St. Ephrem assumes, without doubt or 
 question, that this tradition implies Mary's 
 entire exemption from the cause, and 
 supplies us with reasonable grounds for 
 believing that the doctrine of the immacu- 
 late conception is coeval with the founda- 
 tion of the Christian Church. 
 
 A word or two must be said about St. 
 Augustine. Undoubtedly his theory on 
 the transmission of original sin by the act 
 of generation drove him to believe that 
 Mary, being conceived in the ordinary way, 
 must have been conceived in sin. So 
 Petavius understands him, and the saint's 
 own language seems to be clear and decisive 
 on this point. Thus ("De Nuptiis et Con- 
 cep." i. 12,), he teaches that all flesh born 
 " de concubitu " is " flesh of sin," and ( " In 
 Genesim ad lit." x. 118) he expressly 
 affirms that on this ground Mary's flesh 
 was, while Christ was not, " caro peccati.^^ 
 Again, in "Contr. Julian." v. 15, his lan- 
 guage is still more definite, for he says 
 
MEANING OF DOCTRINE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 157 
 
 that original sin passes to the child from 
 the ** conctipiscentia'^ of the parents, and 
 that therefore original sin could not infect 
 the flesh of Christ, since His Virgin 
 Mother conceived Him without concu- 
 piscence. It may, we think, be affirmed 
 without irreverence to so great a doctor, 
 that this language about sin passing to 
 the flesh involves confusion of thought, 
 and probably very few nowadays would 
 maintain that " concupiscentia,** in itself 
 natural and innocent, though caused as a 
 matter of fact by the fall, can possibly be 
 the cause of original sin. The fact that 
 St. Augustine is driven to the position he 
 takes with regard to Mary by the 
 exigencies of a theological theory, probably 
 mistaken, and certainly never approved by 
 the Church, diminishes, if it does not 
 altogether destroy, the force of his 
 testimony. On the other hand, great 
 weight belongs to the testimony which St. 
 Augustine bears to' the immaculate con- 
 ception, because in giving it he speaks, not 
 as a theologian, but as a Christian. He is 
 impelled in this latter case by Catholic 
 instinct and tradition, not by any theory 
 of his own His testimony is as follows. 
 He is arguing (" De Natura et Gratia," cap 
 36) against the Palagian theory that some 
 of the saints had been wholly exempt from 
 actual sin. He denies the truth of the 
 statement altogether All have sinned, 
 " excepting the Holy Virgin Mary, con- 
 cerning whom for the honor of the Lord I 
 would have no question raised in treating 
 of sin. For how do we know what excess 
 of grace to conquer sin on every side was 
 
 bestowed on her whose lot it was {qua 
 meruit) to conceive and bring forth Him 
 who certainly had no sin." We fully 
 admit that it is actual, not original sin 
 which St. Augustine is thinking of 
 directly. But on his own principles he 
 was bound to hold that exemption from 
 actual implied freedom from original sin. 
 Thus he asserts categorically (" Contr. 
 •Julian." V. 15) that if Christ had been 
 conceived in sin. He must needs have 
 committed actual sin {" peccatum major 
 fecissit, si parvulus habuisset''). Let the 
 reader observe that this theory, unlike that 
 referred to above on the transmission of 
 sin, is supported by the tradition and 
 subsequent decision of the Church. It is 
 of course conceivable that Mary might 
 have been conceived in sin and then 
 enabled by a special and extraordinary 
 grace to avoid all actual trespass. In any 
 case we may safely say that St. Augustine 
 might easily have accepted the Church's 
 present doctrine. It would have satisfied 
 most fully this inclination to believe that 
 Mary, "for the honor of the Lord," was 
 enabled to " overcome sin on every side." 
 The freedom from actual would have 
 followed suitably upon her preservation 
 from Qriginal sin, and the progress of her 
 life would have been consonant with its 
 beginning. 
 
 Finally, the rapid acceptance of the 
 doctrine within the Church, when once it 
 came under discussion, might of itself 
 dispose individual CI»ristians to believe it 
 and prepare the way for definition. The 
 one positive objection was that if Mary 
 
158 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 was conceived immaculate, Christ could 
 not have been her saviour and redeemer. 
 When once the truth was apprehended 
 that Mary's exemption from original sin 
 was due to the merits of her Divine Son, 
 and magnified instead of detracting from 
 them, the belief in this exemption grew 
 and spread throughout the Catholic world. 
 We cannot expect Protestants to appre- 
 ciate this argument. But to a Catholic,' 
 who believes that the Holy Spirit directs 
 the minds of the faithful, and specially 
 those of the saints, the very fact of the 
 doctrine's acceptance affords a strong 
 presumption of its truth. He would 
 naturally be loth to believe that God 
 allowed the Christian people to cling so 
 zealously to a doctrine which had no solid 
 foundation, and which, if untrue, would be 
 an error of a very serious kind. He would 
 recognize in the belief of so many saints a 
 judgment superior to his own, and a 
 greater quickness to discover the " analogy 
 of the faith." The solemn definition of 
 the Church would but enable him to hold 
 with greater security what he already held 
 as a certain and pious opinion. 
 
 (The evidence for and against the doc- 
 trine is given by Petavius, " De Incarnat." 
 xiv. 2. Perrone published his treatise 
 "De Immaculato B. V. M. Conceptu: an 
 dogmatico decreto definiri possit," at Rome 
 in 1853. Still better known is the work 
 of Passaglia, also at that time a Jesuit, " De 
 Immaculato B. V. Conceptu," Romae, 1854. 
 A collection of ancient documents relating 
 to the doctrine was made by a third Jesuit, 
 Ballerini). 
 
 Seasorv of Adv^ervt. 
 
 The period, of between three and four 
 weeks from Advent Sunday (which is 
 always the Sunday nearest to the feast of 
 St. Andrew) to Christmas eve, is named 
 by the Church the season of advent. Dur- 
 ing it she desires that her children should 
 practice fasting, works of penance, medi- 
 tation, and prayer, in order to prepare 
 themselves for celebrating worthily the 
 coming {adventum) of the Son of God in 
 the flesh, to promote His spiritual advent 
 within their own souls, and to school them- 
 selves to look forward with hope and joy to 
 His second advent, when He shall come 
 again to judge mankind. 
 
 It is impossible to fix the precise time 
 when the season of Advent began to be 
 observed. A canon of a Council at Sara- 
 gossa, in 380, forbade the faithful to absent 
 themselves from the Church services dur- 
 ing the three weeks from December 17th 
 to the Epiphany : this is perhaps the earli- 
 est trace on record of the observance of 
 Advent. The singing of the "greater 
 antiphons " at Vespers is commenced, 
 according to the Roman Ritual, on the 
 very day specified by the Council of Sara- 
 gossa ; this can hardly be a mere coinci- 
 dence. In the fifth century Advent seems 
 to have been assimilated to Lent, and 
 kept as a time of fasting and abstinence 
 for forty days or even longer — i. e. from 
 Martinmas (Nov. 1 1) to Christmas eve. 
 In the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great 
 there are masses for five Sundays in 
 Advent ; but about the ninth century these 
 
SEASON OF ADVENT. 
 
 159 
 
 were reduced to four, and so they have 
 ever since remained. " We may there- 
 fore consider the present discipline of the 
 observance of Advent as having lasted a 
 thousand years, at least as far as the Church 
 of Rome is concerned." ^ 
 
 With regard to fasting and abstinence 
 during Advent, the practice has always 
 greatly varied, and still varies, in differ- 
 ent parts of the Church. Strictness has 
 been observed, after which came a period 
 of relaxation, followed by a return to 
 strictness. At the present time the Fri- 
 days in Advent are observed as fast 
 days in most parts of the United States ; 
 but in France and other Continental 
 countries the ancient discipline has long 
 ago died out, except among religious com- 
 munities. 
 
 There is a marvellous beauty in the oflfi- 
 ces and rites of the Church during this 
 season. The lessons, generally taken from 
 the prophecies of Isaias, remind us how 
 the desire and expectation, not of Israel 
 only, but of all nations, carried forward 
 the thoughts of mankind, before the time 
 of Jesus Christ, to a Redeemer one day to 
 be revealed ; they also strike the note of 
 preparation, watchfulness, compunction, 
 hope. In the Gospels we hear of the terrors 
 of the last judgment, that second advent 
 which those who despise the first will not 
 escape ; of the witness borne by John the 
 Percursor, and of the " mighty works " by 
 which the Saviour's life supplied a solid 
 foundation and justification for that wit- 
 
 1 Gu6ranger's Liturgical Year, translated by Dom Shep- 
 herd, 1867. 
 
 ncss. At Vespers, the seven greater anti- 
 phons, or anthems — beginning on Decem- 
 ber 17, the first of the seven greater Ferias 
 preceding Christmas eve — are a note- 
 worthy feature of the liturgical year. 
 They are called the O's of Advent, on 
 account of the manner in which they com- 
 mence ; they are all addressed to Christ ; 
 and they are double — that is, they are 
 sung entire both before and after the Mag- 
 nificat. Of the first, O Sapientia, qiice ex 
 ore Altissimi prodiisti, etc., a trace still 
 remains in the words O Sapientia printed 
 in the calendar of the Anglican Prayer 
 Book opposite December 16 — words which 
 probably not one person in ten thousand 
 using the Prayer Book understands. The 
 purple hue of penance is the only color 
 used in the services of Advent, except on 
 the feasts of saints. In many other points 
 Advent resembles Lent ; during its con- 
 tinuance, in Masses de Tempore, the 
 Gloria in excelsis is suppressed, the organ 
 is silent, the deacon sings Benedicamus 
 Domino at the end of Mass instead of 
 lie Missa est, and marriages are not 
 solemnized. On the other hand, the Alle- 
 luia, the word of gladness, is only once 
 or twice interrupted during Advent, and 
 the organ finds its voice on the third 
 Sunday ; the Church, by these vestiges 
 of joy, signifying that the assured expec- 
 tation of a Redeemer whose birth she 
 will soon celebrate fills her heart, and 
 chequers the gloom of her mourning with 
 these gleams of brightness. ( Fleury, 
 "Hist. Eccles." xvii. 57; Gueranger's 
 "Liturgical Year.") 
 
i6o 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 WKat Heresy Is. 
 
 Heresy {kairesis, from haireisthai, to 
 choose) is used in a later Greek (e. g. by 
 Sextus Empiricus) to denote a philosophi- 
 cal sect or party. In the Acts of the 
 Apostles (e. g. v. 17, xv. 5) it is applied to 
 the parties of Sadducees and Pharisees, 
 who were divided from each other in relig- 
 ious and political views. But in the New 
 Testament we also find the word 
 employed in a distinctly bad sense. In i 
 Cor. xi. 1 8, it indicates an aggravated form 
 of division {dichostasid) among Christians 
 ' — i. e. of division grown into distinct and 
 organized party. We find St. Paul (Gal- 
 V. 19), placing "heresies" on the same 
 level with the most heinous sins, and St. 
 Peter (2 Ep. ii. i.) speaks of fafse teachers 
 among Christians, who will bring in " here- 
 sies [or sects] of perdition." St. Ignatius 
 in his epistles also uses the word as a term 
 of bitter reproach, and Tertullian (" Prae- 
 script." 5 and 6) accurately draws out the 
 meaning of the term. The name, he says, 
 is given to those who of their own free 
 will choose false doctrine, either institut- 
 ing sects themselves, or receiving the false 
 doctrine of sects already founded. He 
 adds that a heretic is condemned by the 
 very fact of his choosing for himself, since 
 a Christian has no such liberty of choice, 
 but is bound to receive the doctrine which 
 the apostles received from Christ. 
 
 The nature of heresy is further explained 
 by St. Thomas in the " Summa," (2 2nd£e, 
 qu. 1 1). Heresy, according to St. Thomas, 
 implies a profession of Christian belief, so 
 
 that persons who have never been Chris 
 tians, or who have utterly renounced 
 Christianity, are infidels and apostates, 
 but not heretics. The heretic, he says, 
 is right in the end which he proposes or 
 professes to propose to himself — viz. the 
 profession of Christian truth — but he 
 errs in his choice of the means he takes to 
 secure this end, for he refuses to believe 
 one or more of the articles of faith " deter- 
 mined by the authority of the universal 
 Church." St. Thomas adds that this 
 rejection of Catholic dogma must be 
 deliberate and pertinacious, so that his 
 teaching, which is that of all theologians, 
 may be summed up in the following defini' 
 tion. Heresy is error pertinaciously held 
 and manifestly repugnant to the faith, 
 on the part of one who professes the 
 faith of Christ. It is clear from this that 
 such Protestants as are in good faith and 
 sincerely desirous of knowing the truth 
 are not heretics in the formal sense, inas- 
 much as they do not pertinaciously reject 
 the Church's teachings. Their heresy is 
 material only — i. e. their tenets are in 
 themselves heretical, but they are not 
 formal heretics : i. e. they do not incui 
 the guilt of heresy, and may belong to the 
 soul of the Church. 
 
 Formal heresy is a most grievous sin 
 for it involves rebellion against God, whc 
 requires us to submit our understanding: 
 to the doctrine of His Church. Thii 
 guilt, if externally manifested, is visitec 
 by the Church with greater excommunica 
 tion, absolution from which, except in th( 
 i article of death, can only be given by th( 
 
WHA T HERESY IS. 
 
 I6l 
 
 Pope, although the power of imparting it 
 is communicated to bishops, under certain 
 restrictions, in their quinquennial faculties, 
 and to priests in missionary countries, 
 such as England. Ecclesiastics who fall 
 into heresy are liable to irregularity, 
 perpetual deprivation of their offices and 
 benefices, and to deposition and degrada- 
 tion. The sons of an heretical mother, 
 the sons and grandsons of an heretical 
 father, are incapable of entering the 
 clerical state.^ 
 
 J4errT\it. 
 
 Eremita (from the Gr. eremos, desert), 
 a dweller in the desert. Anchorite 
 (anacohretes, one who has retired from the 
 world) has the same meaning. On the 
 life of St. Paul, the first hermit, who was 
 born in the Thebaid about 230, and died 
 in 342, after ninety years spent in solitude, 
 see Alban Butler for Jan. 15, and the 
 "Acta Sanctorum." Though the lives of 
 the hermits are not proposed by the 
 church for the imitation of ordinary 
 Christians, she holds them up for our 
 admiration, as men who, committing 
 themselves to the might of divine love, 
 buoyed up by continual prayer, and 
 chastened by lifelong penance, have 
 vanquished the weakness and the yearning 
 of nature, and found it possible to live for 
 God alone. " They appear to some," says 
 St. Augustine,^ " to have abandoned 
 
 1 Provided the heresy was notorious, and that the parents 
 died in it. St. Lig. Theol. Moral, lib. vii. § 363, 
 •^ De Mor. Eccl. Cath. i. 31, quoted by Thoniassia 
 
 human things more than is right, but such 
 do not understand how greatly their souls 
 profit us in the way of prayer, and their 
 lives in the way of example, though we are 
 not allowed to see their faces in the flesh." 
 St. Paul fled to the desert during the 
 persecution of Decius, when he was 
 twenty-two years old, and never afterwards 
 left it. He was visited in his cell by St. 
 Anthony shortly before he died (see his 
 Life by St. Jerome). Experience soon 
 proved that it was seldom safe for a man 
 to essay the life of a solitary at the 
 beginning of his religious career. The 
 prudent plan was found to be, to spend 
 some years in a monastery, in rigorous 
 conformity to all the ascetical rules of the 
 coenobitic life, and then, the spiritual 
 strength being tested and the passions 
 subdued, to pass on to the hermit's cell. 
 Thus we read in Surius (" Vita Euthymii 
 abbatis " ) of an abbot Gerasimus, who 
 presided over a great monastery near the 
 Jordan, round which there was a Laura 
 consisting of seventy separate cells. 
 Gerasimus kept every one who came to 
 him for some years in the monastery ; 
 then, if he thought him fit for solitary life, 
 and the disciple himself aspired to it, he 
 allowed him to occupy one of ,the cells, 
 where he lived during five days in the 
 week on bread and water, in perfect 
 solitude, but on Saturday and Sunday 
 rejoined his brethren in the monastery 
 and fared as they did. 
 
 Among the more famous English her- 
 mits were Bartholomew of Fame, St. 
 Godric of Finchale, and St. Wulfric of 
 
1 62 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Haslebury ; all thes*» flourished in the 
 twelfth century. -Gi "Cuthbert lived an 
 eremitical life or, .VV.ine Island for nine 
 years, from 6~J^ tj 685. Helyot, in his 
 history of the />iOra.stic orders, mentions a 
 Spanish or«iev r/ Hermits of St. John of 
 Penance, ^^nJ two Italian orders, one 
 called V^*onii, the other, of Mrnte 
 Sen an o. 
 
 Hierarchy. 
 
 Hierarchy (Jtierarckes, a president of 
 sacred rites, a hierarch ; whence hie- 
 rarchia, the power or office of a hierarch). 
 The word first occurs in the work of the 
 pseudo-Dionysius (a Greek writer of the 
 fifth century) on the Celestial and Ecclesi- 
 astical Hierarchies. This author appears 
 to mean by it " administration of sacred 
 things," nearly in accordance with its ety- 
 mology. The signification was gradually 
 modified until it came to be what it is at 
 present ; a hierarchy now signifies a body 
 of officials disposed organically in ranks 
 and orders, each subordinate to the one 
 above it. Thus we speak of the "judicial 
 hierarchy," and the " administrative hie- 
 rarchy." However, when the hierarchy is 
 spoken of, what is meant is the organiza- 
 tion of ranks and orders in the Christian 
 Church. In a wide and loose sense, when 
 the whole Catholic Church is considered 
 as existing in the midst of heretics, schis- 
 matics, and the heathen, even the laity 
 may be considered as forming a portion of 
 the hierarchy. With this agrees the 
 expression of St. Peter, calling the general 
 
 body of Christians in the countries to 
 which he is sending his epistle " a kingly 
 priesthood " and "a holy nation" (i Pet. 
 ii. 9). St. Ignatius, writing to the Smyr- 
 naeans,^ salutes " the bishop worthy of 
 God, and the most religious presbytery, 
 my fellow-servants the deacons, and all of 
 you individually and in common." So at 
 the Mass, the priest, turning to the people, 
 bids them pray that " his and their sacri- 
 fice " may be acceptable to God ; and at 
 the incensing before the Sanctus, the 
 acolyte, after the rite has been performed 
 to all the orders of the clergy within the 
 sanctuary, turns towards and bows to the 
 laity, and incenses them also. But, 
 according to its ordinary signification, the 
 word " hierarchy " only applies to the 
 clergy — with varieties of meaning which 
 must be clearly distinguished, I. There 
 is a hierarchy of divine right, consisting, 
 under the primacy of St. Peter and his 
 successors, of bishops, priests, and deacons, 
 or, in the language of the Tridentine 
 canon, "ministers." "If any one shall 
 say," defines the council,^ *' that there is 
 not in the Catholic Church a hierarchy 
 established by the divine ordination, con- 
 sisting of bishops, presbyters, and minis- 
 ters, let him be anathema." The term 
 " ministers " comprehends those minor 
 orders of ecclesiastical institution which, 
 as occasion arose, were, so to speak, 
 carved out of the diaconate. II. There 
 is also a hierarchy by ecclesiastical right, 
 or a hierarchy of order. This consists — • 
 
 1 Ad Smyrn. xii. 
 
 2 Sess. xxiii. can. 6. 
 
HIERARCHY. 
 
 163 
 
 besides the Roman Pontiff and the three 
 original orders of bishops, priests, and 
 deacons — of the five minor orders (two 
 in the East) of sub-deacons, acolytes, exor- 
 cists, lectors, and porters {osiiarit), which, 
 as was said above, were in the course of 
 time severed from the diaconate. III. 
 There is also the hierarchy of jurisdiction. 
 This is of ecclesiastical institution, and 
 consists of the administrative and judicial 
 authorities, ordinary and delegated, which, 
 under the supreme pastorate of the Holy 
 See, are charged with the maintenance of 
 the purity of the faith, and of union among 
 Christians, with the conservation of disci- 
 pline, etc. These authorities exercise 
 powers conferred on them by delegation, 
 expressed or implied, from the order above 
 them : thus, the powers of cardinals, patri- 
 archs, exarchs, metropolitans, and arch- 
 bishops, proceed from the Pope, either 
 expressly or by implication ; again, the 
 powers of archpriests, archdeacons, rural 
 deans, vicar-general, foran, etc., are derived 
 to them from bishops. (Thomassin,^ I. iii. 
 23 ; art. by Phillips in Wetzer and Welte.) 
 
 J4ol\j Water. 
 
 Holy Water {aqua benedict a). Wash- 
 ing with water is a natural symbol of 
 spiritual purification. " I will pour out 
 upon you," says God by the prophet 
 Ezekiel, xxvi. 25, "clean water, and you 
 shall be clean." In the tabernacle a laver 
 was placed in the court between the altar 
 
 1 Thomassin's Vetus et Nova Eccl. Disciplina is quoted 
 by the part, book, chapter, and paragraph. 
 
 and the door of the tabernacle, for the 
 priests to wash their hands and feet before 
 offering sacrifice ; and the later Jews, as 
 may be inferred from Mark vii. 3, devel- 
 oped the frequent washing of the hands 
 into a matter of ritual observance. If we 
 look into a modern Jewish prayer-book, we 
 find the same importance attached to 
 ritual ablutions, and in particular washing 
 of the hands is prescribed before prayer. 
 The use of the *' aqua lustralis" with 
 which the Romans sprinkled themselves 
 or were sprinkled by the priest, shows that 
 the same symbolism existed among the 
 heathen. 
 
 A like custom, beautiful and natural in 
 itself, though of course it may degenerate 
 and often has degenerated into supersti- 
 tion, has been adopted by the church. 
 Water and salt are exorcised by the priest 
 and so withdrawn from the power of Satan, 
 who since the fall has corrupted and 
 abused even inanimate things ; prayers 
 are said, that the water and salt may pro- 
 mote the spiritual and temporal health of 
 those to whom they are applied, and may 
 drive away the devil with his rebel angels ; 
 and finally the water and salt are mingled 
 in the name of the Trinity. The water 
 thus blessed becomes a means of grace. 
 Even common water, if devoutly used as a 
 memento of the purity of heart which God 
 requires, might well prove useful for the 
 health of the soul. But as the church has 
 blessed holy water with solemn prayers, 
 we may be sure that God, who answers the 
 petitions of His church, will not fail to in- 
 crease the charity, contrition, etc., of those 
 
164 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 who use it, and to assist them in their 
 contests with the powers of evil. The 
 reader will observe that we do not attri- 
 bute to holy water any virtue of its own. 
 It is efficacious simply because the 
 church's prayers take effect at the time it 
 is used. 
 
 Holy water is placed at the door of the 
 church in order that the faithful may 
 sprinkle themselves with it as they enter, 
 accompanying the outward rite with inter- 
 nal acts of sorrow and love. Before the 
 High Mass on Sundays the celebrant 
 sprinkles the people with holy water ; and 
 holy water is employed in nearly every 
 
 blessing which the church gives. And at 
 all times, on rising and going to bed, leav- 
 ing the house or returning home, in temp- 
 tation and in sickness, pious Catholics use 
 holy water. 
 
 The use of holy water among Christians 
 must be very ancient, for the Apostolical 
 Constitutions (viii. 28, ed. Lagarde) contain 
 a formula for blessing water that it may 
 have power " to give health, drive away 
 diseases, put the demons to flight," etc. 
 But there does not seem to be any evi- 
 dence that it was customary for the priest 
 to sprinkle the people with holy watet 
 before the ninth century. 
 
CHAPTKR XXIV. 
 
 ^^"^jiiTfrffri'imiii"^ 
 
 .; i.orioc^~m^:irirgc^y x-ygriric^i^^^^^i^?^^ 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 H-** 
 
 HE week in which the church 
 commemorates Christ's death 
 and burial, and which is spoken 
 of by ancient writers as the 
 Great, the Holy Week, the 
 Week of the Holy Passion (ton 
 hagion pathon, tou soteriou pathous, pascha 
 staufosimon), the Penal Week, the Week 
 of Forgiveness {Jiebdomas indiilgentice). 
 The observance of Holy Week is men- 
 tioned by Irenseus (apud Euseb. " H. E." 
 V. 24), towards the end of the second 
 century; while Eusebius (ii. 17) evidently 
 believed that the custom of keeping Holy 
 Week dated from apostolic times. In the 
 East, Holy Week was distinguished from 
 the rest of Lent by the extreme strictness 
 of the fast. Thus Dionysius of Alexandria, 
 in his Epistle to Basilides, tells us that 
 some Christians kept an absolute fast the 
 whole week, others did so for one, two, 
 three, or four days.^ Epiphanius, in his 
 exposition of the orthodox faith, says much 
 
 1 This strictest form of fasting, which implies a total absti- 
 nence from food till the dawn of the next day, was called 
 huptrtkesis or superpositio. 
 
 the same. In the Latin Church (accord- 
 ing to Thomassin, "Trait6 des Jeiines," p. 
 50), it is difficult to discern any proof that 
 the fast of Holy Week exceeded the strict- 
 ness of the ordinary Lenten fast. 
 
 We have said that in Holy Week the 
 Church commemorates Christ's Passion, 
 and it may be objected that the definition 
 is incomplete, since on Palm Sunday, the 
 first day of Holy Week, it is Christ's 
 triumphant entry into Jerusalem which is 
 chiefly contemplated. But, in fact. Holy 
 Week begins with the Monday, not with 
 the Sunday. At least this is the reckon- 
 ing of St. Cyril, Theophilus, and St. 
 Epiphanius, quoted by Routh in his " Reli- 
 quiae Sacrae" (tom. ii. p. 52). We there- 
 fore reserve our account of Palm Sunday 
 for a special article, and confine ourselves 
 here to the ceremonies of Holy Week. 
 
 The Tenebrce. — This is the name given 
 to the matins and lauds of the following 
 day, which are usually sung on the 
 afternoon or evening of Wednesday, 
 Thursday, and Friday in Holy Week. 
 The " Gloria Patri " at the end of tho 
 
i66 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Psalms, and in the responsories, the 
 hymns, antiphons of the Blessed Virgin, 
 etc., are omitted in sign of sorrow. The 
 lessons of the first nocturn are taken 
 from the Lamentations of Jeremias, the 
 Hebrew letter which begins each verse in 
 these acrostic^ poems being retained in 
 Latin. At the beginning of the office 
 thirteen lighted candles are placed on a 
 triangular candelabrum, and at the end of 
 each psalm one is put out, till only a single 
 candle is left lighted at the top of the 
 triangle. During the singing of the 
 Benedictus the candles on the high altar 
 are extinguished, while at the antiphon 
 after the Benedictus the single candle left 
 alight is hidden at the Epistle corner of 
 the altar, to be brought out again at the 
 end of the office. This extinction of 
 lights (whence probably the name tenebr<z 
 or darkness) is best explained by Amala- 
 rius Fortunatus, who wrote in 820. It 
 figures, he says, the growing darkness of 
 the time when Christ, the light of the 
 world, was taken. The last candle, 
 according to Benedict XIV., is hidden, not 
 extinguished, to signify that death could 
 not really obtain dominion over Christ, 
 though it appeared to do so. The 
 clapping made at the end of the office is 
 said to symbolize the confusion consequent 
 on Christ's death. 
 
 Holy Thursday. — On this day one Mass 
 only can be said in the same church, and 
 that Mass must be a public one. The 
 Mass is celebrated in white vestments, 
 
 1 I. e. acrostic in the original Hebrew. No attempt is 
 Hiade to preserve the acrostic in the Vulgate. 
 
 because the institution of the Eucharist is 
 joyfully commemorated, but at the same 
 time there are certain signs of the mourn- 
 ing proper to Holy Week. The bells, 
 which ring at the Gloria, do not sound 
 again till the Gloria in the Mass of Holy 
 Saturday, and the church returns to her 
 ancient use of summoning the faithful or 
 arousing their attention by a wooden 
 clapper. Nor is the embrace of peace 
 given. The celebrant consecrates an 
 additional Host, which is placed in a 
 chalice and borne in procession after the 
 Mass to a place prepared for it. In 
 ancient times this procession occurred 
 daily, for there was no tabernacle over the 
 altar for reserving the particles which 
 remained over after the communion of the 
 faithful. Mediaeval writers connect the 
 procession with the Blessed Sacrament on 
 Holy Thursday with our Lord's journey 
 to the Mount of Olives after the Last 
 Supper. The " Pange lingua " is sung 
 during the procession, and the place to 
 which the Blessed Sacrament is removed 
 — often called the Sepulchre, but properly 
 the altar of repose — is decked with 
 flowers and lights. Afterwards the altars 
 are stripped. This used to be done, 
 according to Vert in his explanation of 
 the ceremonies of the Mass, every day 
 after the celebration of the sacrifice, and 
 is retained on Holy Thursday to remind 
 the Christians of the way in which their 
 Master was stripped of his garments. In 
 St. Peter's the chief altar is washed 
 with wine, and a similar custom prevails 
 among the Dominicans and Carmelites, 
 
HOLY WEEK. 
 
 167- 
 
 and in some churches of France and 
 Germany.^ 
 
 The stripping of the altars is followed 
 by the washing of the feet, called " Manda- 
 tum " from the words of the first antiphon 
 sung during the ceremony — " Mandatum 
 novum," etc., "A new commandment I 
 give unto you, that you love one another "; 
 whence our English word Maundy Thurs- 
 day, The principal priest or prelate of 
 the church, assisted by deacon and sub- 
 deacon, washes the feet of twelve poor 
 men. The Pope washes the feet of 
 thirteen poor persons, all of whom are 
 priests ; and some churches follow the 
 Papal custom. The observance of the 
 Mandatum is mentioned as a recognized 
 custom, and is enforced under penalties, 
 by the twenty-second council of Toledo 
 in 694. 
 
 Since the seventh century the holy oils, 
 formerly consecrated at any time, have 
 been blessed by the bishop in the Mass of 
 this day. Twelve priests and seven 
 deacons assist as witnesses of the cere- 
 mony. The bishop and priests breathe 
 three times upon the oil of the catechu- 
 mens and the chrism, meaning by this 
 action that the power of the Holy Spirit 
 is about to descend on the oils ; and after 
 the consecration is complete they salute 
 the oils with the words, " Hail, holy oil ; 
 hail, holy chrism," Another rite proper 
 to Holy Thursday, now passed into disuse, 
 was the reconciliation of penitents. This 
 reconciliation on Holy Thursday is 
 mentioned by Pope Innocent I. and St, 
 
 i So says Benedict XIV, spealdng of his own time. 
 
 Jerome. The Mass now celebrated is one 
 out of three which used to be said, the 
 other two being for the crns-c-ition of 
 the chrism and the reconciliation of 
 penitents. 
 
 Good Friday {pascha staurosimon, para- 
 sceve, or paras keue — i. e. the day of prepar- 
 ation for the Jewish Sabbath — cana pura, 
 dies absolutionis, dies salutaris). — On this 
 day the Church commemorates the Passion 
 of Christ, so that it is the most sad and 
 solemn of all the days in Holy Week. 
 The officiating clergy appear in black vest- 
 ments, and prostrate themselves before 
 the altar, which still remains stripped. 
 Nor are the candles lighted. After a 
 short pause, the altar is covered with 
 white cloths, and passages of the Old 
 Testament, followed by the history of the 
 Passion from St. John, are read. Next, 
 the Church prays solemnly for all condi- 
 tions of men, for all the members of the 
 hierarchy, for the prosperity of Christian 
 people, for catechumens, heretics, Jews, 
 and Pagans, Before each prayer the 
 sacred ministers genuflect, except before 
 that for the Jews, when the genuflection is 
 omitted in detestation of the feigned 
 obeisance with which the Jews mocked 
 Christ. When the prayers are ended, the 
 cross, which has been up to this time 
 covered with black, is exposed to view, 
 " adored " [ see the article Cross] and 
 kissed by clergy and people. During the 
 adoration the " Improperia" are sung, 
 each improperium being followed by the 
 Trisagion in Greek and Latin. Impro- 
 perium is a barbarous word used by Latin 
 
[68 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 writers of a late age, meaning " reproach," 
 and these "reproaches" are addressed in 
 dramatic form by Christ to the Jewish 
 people. They begin with the touching 
 words : " My people, what have I done to 
 thee, wherein have I vexed thee ? Answer 
 Me." The Trisagion is so called because 
 the word " holy " occurs three times in it : 
 " Holy God, holy [and] strong, holy [and] 
 immortal, have pity on us." It was first 
 introduced at Constantinople, and it is 
 probably because of its Greek origin that 
 it is recited in the Good Friday office in 
 Greek as well as in Latin, 
 
 We have now to speak of the most 
 striking and singular feature in the Good 
 Friday ritual. From very ancient times, 
 as appears from the Council of Laodicea, 
 canon 49, and the Synod in Trullo, canon 
 52, the Greek Church abstained from the 
 celebration of Mass in the proper sense of 
 the word during Lent, except on Satur- 
 days and Sundays, and substituted for it 
 the Mass of the Presanctified, in which 
 the priest received as communion a Host 
 previously consecrated. The Greeks still 
 observe this ancient use, but the Latin 
 Church contents herself with abstaining 
 from the celebration of Mass on Good 
 Friday, the day on which Christ was 
 offered as a bleeding victim for our sins. 
 This Mass of the Presanctified on Good 
 Friday is mentioned by Pope Innocent I. 
 in his letter to Decentius. The Blessed 
 Sacrament is borne in procession from the 
 chapel where it was placed the day before, 
 while the choir sing the hymn " Vexilla 
 Regis," The priest places the Host on 
 
 the altar, the candles of which are now 
 lighted. The Blessed Sacrament is ele- 
 vated and adored while the wooden 
 clapper is sounded ; it is divided into 
 three parts, one of which is put into 
 a chalice containing wine and water. 
 Finally the priest receives the portions of 
 the Host which remain on the paten, and 
 then takes the wine with the third portion 
 of the Host. According to a Roman 
 Ordo written about the year 8cx) and 
 quoted by Thomassin (" Traite des Fes- 
 tes "), the ceremony ended with the silent 
 communion of the faithful ; but the pres- 
 ent discipline of the Church forbids com- 
 munion to be given on Good Friday^ 
 except in the case of sickness. 
 
 Holy Saturday. — Before entering on the 
 history of the ceremonies for this the last 
 day of Holy Week, it is necessary to say 
 something about the time at which they 
 are performed. We learn from the Epistle 
 of Pope Innocent, already quoted, that in 
 his time no Mass was said during the day 
 hours of Holy Saturday. The office began 
 at the ninth hour, i. e. at three o'clock 
 p. M. ; the faithful kept vigil in the churchy 
 and the Mass celebrated at midnight 
 belonged rather to the morning of Easter 
 Sunday than to Holy Saturday. This 
 state of things lasted till late in the 
 middle ages. Hugo of St. Victor (died 
 1 140) mentions the custom then creeping 
 in of anticipating the vigil office ; but the 
 old mode of observance is spoken of 
 as still subsisting in some churches, by 
 Durandus (lived about 1280) and Thomas 
 Waldensis (after 1400). Though the time 
 
HOLY WEEK. 
 
 169 
 
 is changed, the words of the office remain 
 g_, as they were. This explains the joyous 
 character of the Mass, the fact that the 
 history of the resurrection is sung in the 
 Gospel, and the allusion to the night time 
 \ in the Preface, the " Communicantes," 
 and the maje&tic language of the Collect, 
 *' O God, who didst illumine this most 
 holy night with Ihe glory of the Lord's 
 r resurrection." 
 
 At present the ceremonies begin early 
 in the morning with the blessing of the 
 new fire struck from the flint. This 
 blessing was unknown at Rome in the 
 time of Pope Zacharias (anno 751), though 
 it is recognized about a century later by 
 Leo IV. Apparently it was the custom in 
 some churches daily to bless the fire 
 struck for the kindling of the lamps, and 
 about the year iioo this benediction was 
 reserved exclusively for Holy Saturday, 
 when the fire is an appropriate image of 
 the Light of light rising again like " the 
 sun in his strength." From this fire a 
 candle with three stems, and placed on a 
 reed, is lighted and carried up the church 
 by a deacon, who three times chants the 
 words " Lumen Christie The same sym- 
 bolism reappears in the paschal candle, 
 which is blessed by the deacon, wi^o fixes 
 in it five grains of blessed incense in 
 memory of the wounds of Christ and the 
 precious spices with which he was anointed 
 in the tomb, and afterwards lights it from 
 the candle on the reed. The use of the 
 paschal candle goes back very far, — as far 
 at least as the time of Zosimus, who was 
 made Pope in 417, — and the sublime 
 
 words of the '' Exultet^ a triumphant 
 hymn of praise which the deacon sings in 
 the act of blessing the candle, can scarcely 
 be less ancient. The great critic, Mar 
 tene, attributes it to St. Augustine. 
 
 The blessing of the candle is followed 
 by the twelve prophecies, and after they 
 have been read, the priest goes in proces- 
 sion to bless the font. This last blessing 
 carries us back to the days of the ancient 
 Church, in which the catechumens were 
 presented to the bishop for baptism 
 on Holy Saturday and the vigil of Pente- 
 cost. The water in the font is scattered 
 towards the four quarters of the world, to 
 indicate the catholicity of the Church, and 
 the world-wide efficacy of her sacraments ; 
 the priest breathes on the water in the 
 form of a cross, and plunges the paschal 
 candle three times into the water, for the 
 Spirit of God is to hallow it, and the 
 power of Christ is to descend upon it ; and, 
 lastly, a few drops of the oil of catechu- 
 mens and of the chrism are poured, in 
 order, says Gavantus, to signify the union 
 of Christ our anointed king with His peo- 
 ple. On the way back from the font the 
 Litanies of the Saints are begun, they are 
 continued while the sacred ministers lie 
 prostrate before the altar, and, as they 
 end, the altar is decked with flowers and 
 the Mass is begun in white vestments. 
 At the Gloria the organ sounds and 
 bells are rung, and the joyful strains of 
 the Alleluia peal forth after the Epistle. 
 The vespers of the day are inserted in the 
 Mass after the Communion. 
 
 The reason for the iubilant character 
 
170 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of the Mass has been given above, but 
 there are some other peculiarities which 
 need explanation. The kiss of peace is 
 omitted, because in the ancient rite the 
 faithful kissed each other in the church as 
 day was breaking, with the words, "The 
 Lord is risen " ; there was therefore a 
 natural objection to anticipating the cere- 
 mony in the Mass at midnight. The 
 Agnus Dei, which was introduced by 
 Pope Sergius towards the end of the 
 seventh century, was never added to this 
 Mass. The Communion and Postcom- 
 munion are simply replaced by vespers. 
 But why is there no Offertory ? Liturgi- 
 cal writers give many different answers, 
 none of which are satisfactory. Gavantus 
 alleges that the celebrant alone communi- 
 cated, and that hence there was no obla- 
 tion of bread and wine on the part of the 
 faithful. But, though now custom and a 
 decree of the Congregation of Rites for- 
 bid communion, it is certain, as Meratus 
 points out, from the Gelasian Sacramen- 
 tary, that the faithful in former times did 
 communicate and did make the usual 
 oblations on this day. Meratus himself 
 has no better explanation to give than the 
 desire to shorten the Mass as much as 
 possible, on account of the long offices 
 which preceded it. (Chiefly from Gavan- 
 tus, Meratus, Thomassin, " Sur les Fes- 
 tes," and Benedict XIV. "De Festis.") 
 
 Ir\ Hoc Sigrvo Vir\ces. 
 
 Labarum (derivation uncertain). The 
 banner of the cross, used by Constantine 
 
 in his campaigns. Eusebius, a contem- 
 porary writer, in his " Life of Constan- 
 tine," gives the following account of it : 
 " He [Constantine] kept invoking God in 
 his prayers, beseeching and imploring that 
 He would declare Himself to him, who 
 He was, and stretch forth His right hand 
 over events. While the king was thus 
 praying and perseveringly entreating, a 
 most extraordinary sign from heaven 
 appears to him, which perhaps it were not 
 easy to receive on the report of any one 
 else ; but since the victorious king him- 
 self, a long time afterwards, when we were 
 honored with his acquaintance and friendly 
 intercourse, repeated the story to us who 
 are compiling the record, and confirmed it 
 with an oath, who would hesitate to 
 believe the recital, especially as the ensu- 
 ing period furnished unerring testimony 
 to the tale .■' About midday, when the 
 day was now on the turn, he said that he 
 saw with his own eyes, in the sky, above 
 the sun, the trophy-like figure of a cross 
 {stauroii tropaion) composed of light, and 
 that a writing was attached to it, which 
 said * By this conquer.' That astonish- 
 ment at the sight seized upon both him- 
 self and all the troops whom he was then 
 leading on some expedition, and who 
 became spectators of the portent." That 
 same night, Constantine went on to say, 
 "the Christ of God " appeared to him in a 
 dream, with the same sign which he had 
 seen in the sky, and bade him have an 
 imitation of it made, and use it in war. 
 Constantine sent for goldworkers and 
 jewellers, and had a costly banner made 
 
IN HOC SIGNO VINCES. 
 
 171 
 
 surmounted by a crown, on which was 
 the monogram formed of the first two 
 letters of the name of Christ. With this 
 home at the head of his army, he crossed 
 iutc Italy, defeated Maxentius in several 
 
 battles, and became master of Rome. 
 Fifty men of his guards were selected to 
 have charge of the Labarum, and vic- 
 tory was the unfailing attendant of its 
 display. 
 
liangnage o^ tl\e 0l\m[zi\. 
 
 HIS title is used for want of a 
 better to denote the Church's 
 practice of celebrating Mass, 
 administering the sacraments, 
 and generally of performing 
 her more solemn services in 
 dead languages. For the Church cannot 
 be said to use, or even to prefer, any one 
 language. She requires some of her 
 clergy to use Greek, Syriac, Coptic, 
 Armenian, Slavonic, in Mass, just as 
 strictly as she requires others to employ 
 Latin. Latin no doubt is far more widely 
 used than other ancient languages in the 
 offices of the Church, but this has arisen 
 chiefly from the fact that those who would 
 naturally use Greek, etc., in their offices 
 have fallen away from Catholic com- 
 munion. We will begin with an historical 
 account of the discipline observed, and 
 then give the principal reasons adduced 
 to justify it 
 
 Benedict XIV. (" De Missa," lib. ii. cap. 
 2) mentions the opinion of those who held 
 that the apostles said Mass in Hebrew, 
 or that originally Mass was said only in 
 
 Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the three 
 languages on the title of the cross ; and 
 he continues, "Those who are skilled in 
 ecclesiastical history have shown suffi- 
 ciently that the apostles and their suc- 
 cessors did not only ' preach but also 
 celebrate the divine offices in the vulgar 
 tongue of the people in whose land they 
 preached the Gospel." He quotes Bona, 
 Le Brun, and Martene in support of his 
 own statement, which surely does not 
 need support. Mass, then, and the other 
 offices, were said originally in the vernacu- 
 lar, because it was the vernacular ; but 
 the Church, so far as we know, has never 
 once allowed a change in the language of 
 the liturgy, when the language in which it 
 had been originally written had become 
 unintelligible to the people. Nor at 
 present is Mass ever said in a tongue 
 still generally spoken and understood. 
 Latin, Coptic, and -^thiopic, are, and 
 have long been, dead languages, while the 
 ancient Greek, Syriac, Armenian, and 
 Slavonic, used in the liturgies, are quite 
 distinct from the modern languages which 
 
 172 
 
LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 173 
 
 bear the same names. Even schismatical 
 and heretical bodies which have preserved 
 the true priesthood, and therefore the true 
 Mass, have not ventured to substitute 
 translations into the vulgar tongue, for the 
 ancient language of their liturgies. 
 Indeed, Mass said in such a language as 
 Coptic is much less understood than Mass 
 in Latin, not only because Coptic has no 
 affinity with the Arabic spoken by the 
 people, but also because many of the 
 Coptic priests can hardly read the Coptic 
 words of their church books, and do not 
 understand the meaning of a single 
 sentence. One exception may here be 
 mentioned, the only one with which we 
 are acquainted, to the general rule, that 
 all schismatical and heretical bodies 
 preserve the ancient language of their 
 liturgies, and clearly it is an exception 
 which proves the rule. Le Brun (Tom. 
 III. diss. vi. a. 6) notices that the 
 Melchites — i. e. schismatic Greeks in the 
 Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and 
 Jerusalem, who are in communion with 
 the "orthodox" Greek Church of Con- 
 stantinople — sometimes say Mass in 
 Arabic, because it is often hard to find 
 deacons and other assistants who can even 
 read Greek. A friend versed in liturgical 
 science and in the Oriental languages 
 informs us that this exceptional usage 
 still occurs, e. g. at Jerusalem. 
 
 On the other hand, the Church has not 
 pursued the same uniform policy, in 
 dealing with nations newly converted to 
 the Christian religion, and therefore 
 destitute of a liturgy. In the middle of 
 
 the ninth century the Oriental monks St 
 Cyril and St. Methodius introduced, not a 
 Latin or Greek, but a Slavonic or vernacu- 
 lar liturgy among their Moravian converts. 
 This measure of theirs was approved by 
 Pope Hadrian II., and tolerated by John 
 VIII. on condition that the translation 
 was faithful, and the Gospel read first in 
 Latin, then in Slavonic. But in 1061 the 
 legate of Alexander II. in a council of 
 Croatian and Dalmatian bishops prohib- 
 ited the use of the Slavonic liturgy — 
 which must not be confounded with the 
 Slavonic versions of the Greek liturgies 
 still used — and the prohibition was 
 repeated by Gregory VII. in a letter of 
 the year 1080 to Ladislaus, King of 
 Bohemia. However, even as late as 1248 
 Innocent IV. allowed a Slav bishop to 
 use it by special dispensation. In 16 15 
 Paul V. gave the Jesuit missionaries leave 
 to celebrate Mass and the divine offices in 
 Chinese, but the brief never reached those 
 to whom it was addressed. The Jesuits 
 renewed their petition, and a Chinese 
 version of the Missal was presented to 
 Innocent XI.,^ but nothing came of the 
 negotiation. In the " Propylaeum " of the 
 Bollandist Lives for May a summary is 
 given of the reasons urged for a vernacular 
 Chinese liturgy by Father Couplet, 
 Procurator-General of the Jesuit missions. 
 Such, then, is the rule of the Church. 
 She never allows an ancient liturgy to be 
 altered because the language in which it is 
 
 1 So Benedict XIV. in the edition before us ; but he says 
 this was done in 1631, long before Innocent XI. began to 
 reign. Possibly 1631 is a misprint for 1681. 
 
174 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 \»rritten has been altered or displaced by a 
 modern one, and she is unwilling, though 
 she does not always absolutely refuse, to 
 allow the use of vernacular liturgies among 
 nations newly converted. The Council of 
 Trent declares (Sess. xxii. cap. 8, De Sac- 
 rific. Missae) that the Fathers of the 
 council thought it inexpedient to have Mass 
 "celebrated everywhere in the vulgar 
 tongue," and condemns those who affirm 
 "that Mass ought only to be celebrated in 
 the vulgar tongue " ijb. can. 9). We must 
 beware, however, of pressing these state- 
 ments too far. Benedict XIV. defends 
 Colbert, bishop of Rouen, who taught in a 
 pastoral that the ancient mode of celebrat- 
 ing Mass in the language of the people was 
 the fittest means to prepare the minds of 
 the congregation for participation in the 
 sacrifice ; or at least argues that this con- 
 viction is not condemned by the Council 
 of Trent. The Church may have had 
 good and weighty grounds for foregoing a 
 usage which in itself would tend to the 
 greatest spiritual edification. 
 
 These reasons seem to consist, first of 
 all, in the jealousy with which the Church 
 guards her ancient rites, and her unwill- 
 ingness to face the danger of constant 
 change in them to meet the changes in 
 modern languages. Such changes might 
 seriously endanger the purity of doctrine, 
 or at least the reverence of the faithful for 
 the rites of the Church, Let the reader 
 only consider how much of the reverence 
 which Protestants feel for the Book of 
 Common Prayer is due to the fact that its 
 pure and noble language has been pre- 
 
 served unchanged for centuries. A new 
 edition in modern English would certainly 
 be better understood, but how much of its 
 power to soothe the heart and to inspire a 
 sober and rational devotion would be 
 lost in the process } Again, the preserva- 
 tion of the ancient forms enables priests 
 to celebrate and the faithful to follow 
 Mass in all lands, and thus impresses upon 
 us, in a way which no one who has experi- 
 enced it can forget, the unity of the 
 Church. Lastly, the words of the Missal, 
 admirably fitted as they are for the use of 
 the priest, are by no means fitted for the 
 use of uneducated persons, and this diffi- 
 culty would not be met by a transla- 
 tion. 
 
 Protestant objections arise to some 
 extent from misunderstanding the nature 
 of Catholic worship. The Mass is a great 
 action in which Christ's sacrifice is con- 
 tinued and applied. Those who are pres- 
 ent bow their heads at the consecration, 
 and unite themselves in spirit, if they do 
 not actually communicate, with the com- 
 munion of the priest. Christ crucified is 
 set forth in their midst, and they know 
 that they, on their part, must offer their 
 souls and bodies in constant sacrifice to 
 God by a life of purity, labor, and self-de- 
 nial. It is the expressed wish of the Tri- 
 dentine Fathers that the meaning of the 
 Mass and its rites should be constantly 
 explained to the people by their pastors ; 
 and surely the most ignorant person who 
 follows Mass in the way just described, and 
 accompanies the priest's action with 
 prayers which come from his own heart, 
 
LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 175 
 
 offers to God a reasonable service. A 
 life of self-sacrifice and devotion — that 
 is the great lesson taught by the sacri- 
 fice of the Mass, and it is a lesson inde- 
 pendent of the language in which Mass 
 is said. 
 
 The texts quoted from i Cor. xiv. 
 against the Catholic usage are not to the 
 point. " I would rather," says St Paul, 
 " speak fine words in the church through 
 my intelligence, that I may instruct others, 
 than ten thousand words in a tongue." 
 We believe St. Paul is referring to ecs- 
 tatic utterances — sighs, exclamations, 
 broken sentences, which were unintelligible 
 to others, and in which the tongue of the 
 speaker was not controlled even by his own 
 intelligence. Be this as it may, no paral- 
 lel can be drawn between " speaking in 
 tongues," and the use of Latin in the 
 Mass. Strangers would not think a priest 
 " mad " (v.23) if they heard him reading 
 the Latin Missal. The priest prays with 
 " his understanding " (v. 14), for he knows 
 Latin; others are "edified" (v. 17); and 
 no extraordinary gift of interpretation 
 (v. 13) is needed, for our English prayer- 
 books give translations of the Mass, 
 Moreover, St. Paul was familiar with a cus- 
 tom closely analogous to ours, and with 
 this neither he nor any other apostle finds 
 fault. The services of the temple and the 
 synagogue, like those of the synagogue 
 at this day, were in a dead language, 
 with the difference only that more pains 
 are taken to diffuse the knowledge of 
 Hebrew among poor Jews than of Latin 
 among poor Catholics. 
 
 GKvjrcKiiAg of WorT\er\ /\fter 
 CKildbirtK. 
 
 A BLESSING which the priest gives to 
 women after childbirth according to a form 
 prescribed in the Roman Ritual. He 
 sprinkles the woman, who kneels at the 
 door of the church holding a lighted 
 candle, with holy water, and having recited 
 the 23d Psalm, he puts the end of his stole 
 into her hand, and leads her into the 
 church, saying, " Come into the temple of 
 God. Adore the Son of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary, who has given thee fruitfulness in 
 child-bearing." The woman then advances 
 to the altar and kneels before it, while the 
 priest, having said a prayer of thanks^ 
 giving, blesses her, and again sprinkles 
 her with holy water in the form of a cross. 
 The rubric in the Ritual reserves this rite 
 for women who have borne children in 
 wedlock. Women are under no strict 
 obligation of presenting themselves to be 
 churched, though it is the " pious and 
 laudable custom," as the Ritual says, that 
 they should do so. Properly speaking, 
 the churching of women is not counted 
 among strictly parochial rights ; still it 
 ought to be performed by the parish priest, 
 as appears from a decision of the S. Con- 
 gregation of Rites, December 10, 1703. 
 
 This rite was suggested probably by the 
 prescriptions of the old law in Levit. xii. 
 In the Christian Church, the first mention 
 of the rite is said to be found in the so- 
 called Arabic canons of the Nicene 
 council. Among the Greeks, the blessing 
 
176 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 after childbirth is given on the fortieth 
 day after the birth of the child, and the 
 child must be brought with the mother to 
 the church. 
 
 Irvcervse. 
 
 It is certain from Tertullian, ("Apol." 
 42,) and from many other early writers 
 down to St, Augustine, that the religious 
 use of incense was unknown in the 
 primitive Church. Le Brun quotes St. 
 Ambrose to prove that incense was used 
 in the churches of his day, but the quo- 
 tation can scarcely be said to prove the 
 point. On the other hand, Dionysius the 
 Areopagite — whose works were first 
 quoted in 532, but may have been written 
 a good deal earlier — distinctly mentions 
 (*^ Hierarch. Eccles," iii. § 2) the censing 
 of the altar by the chief priest. The use 
 of incense is also mentioned in the first 
 Ordo Romanus, which may belong to the 
 seventh century, and in the liturgies 
 which go by the names of St. James, St, 
 
 Basil, and St. Chrysostom. Possibly also 
 the fourth {al. third) canon of the apos- 
 tles, which forbids anything to be placed 
 on the altar at the oblation except " oil fo/ 
 the lamp and incense," may refer to the 
 incense as liturgically used. If so, we 
 should be justified with Le Brun in sup- 
 posing that incense was introduced into 
 the Church services when the persecution 
 of the heathen ceased and the splendor of 
 churches and ritual began. 
 
 Some authors believe that incense was 
 at first introduced to sweeten the air, and 
 certainly a " Benediction of Incense " used 
 in the time of Charlemagne and given by 
 Martene points in this direction. But the 
 mystical significations of incense are 
 obvious. It symbolizes the zeal with 
 which the faithful should be consumed ; 
 the good odor of Christian virtue ; the 
 ascent of prayer to God. It is used before 
 the introit, at the gospel, offertory and 
 elevation in High Mass ; at the Magnificat 
 in vespers ; at funerals ; etc. 
 

 
 Sjij^ ^ ^ ^ M^ ^^ 
 
 ^fp ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ' 
 
 
 it: 
 
 <•> 
 
 1* 
 
 * Iradei of Prohibited B©o6s. * 
 
 
 
 
 jgfe. i^ ;^^ ,^^ ^^ ^1^ 
 
 ^1^ w ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 
 
 INCE the dawn of civilization, 
 the perception of the influence 
 for good or evil exerted by 
 books has induced the authori- 
 ties of every strongly consti- 
 tuted State to control their 
 circulation. Not to search for other instan- 
 ces, the speech which Livy^ puts in the 
 mouth of the consul Postumius (b. c. i86) 
 shows the sternness of Roman feeling on 
 the subject. Addressing the assembled 
 people in the forum, and about to denounce 
 the foul Bacchic rites of which he had 
 discovered the trace, " How often," he 
 says, " in the time of our fathers and grand- 
 fathers, was the duty imposed on the 
 magistrates of forbidding the practice of 
 foreign rites ; of driving away [foreign] 
 priests and prophets from every corner of 
 the city ; of searching for and burning books 
 of magic ; of putting a stop to every 
 system of sacrificing that was not accord- 
 ing to the custom of Rome ! " In Chris- 
 tian times the danger of bad books was 
 recognized from the first. The converts 
 
 1 Book xxxix. c. i6. 
 
 at Ephesus (Acts xix. 19) voluntarily 
 brought their magical books to St. Paul 
 and cast them into the flames. One of 
 the Apostolic Canons (Ix) orders the 
 deposition of any one in the ranks of the 
 clergy who should publish in the Church 
 as holy "the falsely inscribed books of the 
 impious." The practice of the primitive 
 Church in condemning and suppressing 
 heretical or dangerous books was uniform. 
 The erroneous writings of Origen were 
 brought to the Roman Pontiff, Pontianus, 
 to be condemned by him ; Leo the Great 
 by letter suppressed and prohibited the 
 books of the Priscillianists.^ Descending 
 to the middle ages, we find Leo IX. in a 
 synod at Vercelli (1050) condemning and 
 ordering to be burnt the writings of Erig- 
 ena and Berengarius on the Eucharist.* 
 The Council of Constance (141 5) ordered 
 all the books of John Huss to be publicly 
 burned at the council, and that all bishops 
 should make diligent search for copies and 
 burn them wherever found. Leo X. in the 
 
 1 Fleury, xxviL lo. 
 
 2 Ibid. lix. 69. 
 
 177 
 
178 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 bull "Exsurge Domine" (1520), condemned 
 the earlier heretical writings of Luther, 
 The invention of printing, and the exten- 
 sion of facilities of communication between 
 State and State, made it evident to the 
 hierarchy that if the influence of books was 
 to be kept under control, new methods 
 must be adopted. When copies of books 
 were slowly multiplied by the labor of 
 scribes, it was sufficient to await their 
 publication before examining them, and 
 trust to being able, if they were to be 
 suppressed, to call in, get hold of, and 
 cancel the few copies in circulation. But 
 when the printing-press could turn out a 
 thousand copies of a work in a few days, 
 everything was changed. It then became 
 necessary that the books should be exam- 
 ined before they were printed ; censors 
 were appointed, and a system of licensing 
 came into force. "The first known 
 instance of the regular appointment of a 
 censor on books is in the mandate of 
 Berthold, archbishop of Mentz, in i486" ; 
 and a few years later, in 1501, "a bull of 
 Alexander VI., reciting that many perni- 
 cious books had been printed in various 
 parts of the world, and especially in the 
 provinces of Mentz, Cologne, Treves, and 
 Magdeburg, forbade all printers in these 
 provinces to publish any book without the 
 Kcense of the archbishop or their offi- 
 cials."^ 
 
 In the movement of what is called the 
 Reformation, a deluge of books containing 
 doctrine more or less erroneous was poured 
 over Europe, and it became evident that 
 
 1 Hallam, Lit. of Europe , i. 254. 
 
 if booksellers were to know with certainty 
 what they might sell, and the Christian 
 faithful what they might read, it would 
 not do to trust to an " imprimatur " on the 
 title-page, which might be forged, or come 
 from Protestant censors ; but that a list or 
 catalogue of books condemned by the 
 Church must be drawn up and published. 
 The matter was taken up by the Council 
 of Trent (sess. xviii,), which appointed a 
 commission of some of its members to 
 collect and examine the censures already 
 issued, and consider and report on the 
 steps which it was advisable to take about 
 books generally. This commission com- 
 piled an Index of Prohibited Books accord- 
 ingly ; but the Council in its last session 
 (1563), finding that from the multiplicity 
 of details it was not desirable to frame any 
 conciliar decision, remitted the whole 
 matter to the Pope. In conforming with 
 this reference St. Pius V., a few years 
 later, erected the Sacred Congregation of 
 the Index, with a Dominican Friar for its 
 secretary. Sixtus V. confirmed and 
 enlarged their powers. 
 
 "The Congregation of the Index of 
 Prohibited Books consists of a competent 
 number of Cardinals, according to the 
 good pleasure of the Pope, and has a sec- 
 retary taken from the Order of Preachers, 
 and a great number of theological and 
 other professors, who are called Consultors, 
 the chief of whom is the Master of the 
 Apostolic Palace [Curia Romana], the 
 primary and official Consultor of this Con- 
 gregation." ^ 
 
 1 Ferraris, " Congregationes," 
 
INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS. 
 
 179 
 
 A Constitution of Benedict XIV. (1753) 
 gives minute instructions as to the princi- 
 ple and methods to be observed by the 
 Congregation in its work of examining 
 and judging books. Some idea of these 
 principles may be gained from the follow- 
 ing paragraph. " Let them know that 
 they must judge of the various opinions 
 and sentiments in any book that comes 
 before them, with minds absolutely free 
 from prejudice. Let them, therefore, dis- 
 miss patriotic leanings, family affections, 
 the predilections of school, the esprit de 
 corps of an institute ; let them put away 
 the zeal of party ; let them simply keep 
 before their eyes the decisions of Holy 
 Church, and the common doctrine of 
 Catholics, which is contained in the de- 
 crees of General Councils, the Constitu- 
 tions of the Roman Pontiffs, and the 
 consent of orthodox Fathers .and Doctors ; 
 bearing this in mind, moreover, that there 
 are not a few opinions which appear to 
 one school, institute, or nation, to be 
 unquestionably certain, yet nevertheless 
 are rejected and impugned, and their con- 
 tradictories maintained, by other Catho- 
 lics, without harm to faith and religion — 
 all this being with the knowledge and per- 
 mission of the Apostolic See, which leaves 
 every particular opinion of this kind in its 
 own degree of probability." 
 
 Numerous editions of the Index have 
 appeared from time to time. That issued 
 under Benedict XIV. (Rome, 1744) con- 
 tains between nine and ten thousand 
 entries of books and authors, alphabetically 
 arranged; of these about one-third are 
 
 cross-references. Prefixed to it are the 
 ten rules sanctioned by the Council of 
 Trent, of which the tenor is as follows. 
 The first rule orders that all books con- 
 demned by Popes or General Councils 
 before 15 15, which were not contained in 
 that Index, should be reputed to be con- 
 demned in such sort as they were formerly 
 condemned. The second rule prohibits all 
 the works of heresiarchs, such as Luther 
 and Calvin, and those works by heretical 
 authors which treat of religion ; their other 
 works to be allowed after examination. 
 The third and fourth rules relate to ver- 
 sions of the Scripture, and define the 
 classes of persons to whom the reading of 
 the Bible in the vulgar tongue may be per- 
 mitted. The fifth allows the circulation, 
 after expurgation, of lexicons and other 
 works of reference compiled by heretics. 
 The sixth relates to books of controversy. 
 The seventh orders that all obscene books 
 be absolutely prohibited, except ancient 
 books written by heathens, which were 
 tolerated, "propter sermonis elegantiain et 
 proprietatem" but were not to be used in 
 teaching boys. The eighth rule is upon 
 methods of expurgation. The ninth pro- 
 hibits books of magic and judicial astrol- 
 ogy ; but " theories and natural observa- 
 tions published for the sake of furthering 
 navigation, agriculture, or the medical art, 
 are permitted." The tenth relates to print- 
 ing, introducing, having, and circulating 
 books. Persons reading prohibited books 
 incur excommunication forthwith {statim). 
 Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Cranmer, 
 Jewel, etc., are named as in the first class 
 
i8o 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 — i. e. as heresiarchs. Among books of 
 more or liess note are named the Dialogo 
 of Galileo, the Satire Meftipp^e, the Anti- 
 Coton, and the Augustinus of Jansenius. 
 Among the English authors whose works 
 
 are prohibited occur the names of Jame* 
 I., Barclay, Usher; bishops Sanderson, 
 Bull, and Pearson ; Cave and Hobbes ; but 
 not Hooker, nor Milton, nor Chillingworth, 
 nor Bunyan, nor Swift. 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 
 +*■*■•*■++*■*•+++■*• •*■+++•*•++*+ + + + •*•■♦•+ + ++ •♦•++4-+++++ 
 
 +.i!ni(.*HH!.+++#-4--i!n>- +•!>••*■•))(•■*•■*• 4- **■*•■*■++ + + •♦■ •ii"*- + *+*++4' 
 
 ^•^ 
 
 f 
 

 CAEDINAL GIBBONS. 
 
t 
 
 CHAPTER XXVil. 
 
 S' 
 
 i^ATICKN COUNCIL-. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 HIS Council met on December 
 8, 1869, and is not yet con- 
 cluded. No general council 
 had been held for three hundred 
 years, and the author of the 
 articles on Trent in Herzog's 
 " Encyclopaedia," writing only about seven 
 years before the bishops met in the Aula 
 of the Vatican, speaks of another general 
 council as a moral impossibility. Yet, it is 
 easy enough to see that the events of half 
 a century had been preparing the way for 
 the General Council of 1869. The inter- 
 ference of statesmen with the freedom of 
 the Church had turned the law (Concil. 
 Trid. sess. xxiv. " De Reform," c. 2) which 
 requires provincial synods to be held every 
 three years, into a dead letter. The same 
 cause would also have proved an obstacle, 
 and probably an insuperable one, to great 
 assemblies of the bishops at Rome. But 
 the revolution which stripped the Church 
 of her wealth certainly left her freer in 
 action. The first Provincial Synod which 
 had been known for long, assembled at 
 Tuam in 18 17, and its decrees were con- 
 
 firmed at Rome. It was followed by the 
 National Synod of Hungary, held at 
 Pressburg in 1822. But it was from the 
 United States that the revival of Provin- 
 cial Councils really came. There were 
 Provincial Synods of Baltimore in 1839, 
 1833, 1837, 1840, 1843, 1846, and 1849. 
 Pius IX. in his early Pontificate urged the 
 observance of the Church's law upon the 
 bishops. Soon, no fewer than twenty 
 provincial councils had assembled in 
 France ; Austria and Hungary followed 
 the example in 1858 (Synods of Vienna 
 and Grau,) Holland in 1865 (Synod of 
 Utrecht,) and numerous synods were held 
 in Germany, in England, just after the 
 hierarchy had been restored, in Ireland, in 
 Australia, and in South America (Quito 
 and New Granada). Even the Catholics 
 of the Oriental rites were affected by the 
 movement. Syrians, Maronites, Arme- 
 nians, met in council, and the last Council 
 of the Armenians at Constantinople in 
 1869 deserves special notice. In Italy, 
 on the other hand, political troubles made 
 the number of provincial councils very 
 
l82 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 small. Nor was this revival of synodical 
 action the only preparation for a general 
 council. Pius IX. had three times seen a 
 vast number of bishops gathered round 
 him — viz. at the definition of the Immac- 
 ulate Conception, at the canonization of 
 the Japanese martyrs, on the eighteenth 
 centenary of the martyrdom of St. Peter 
 and St, Paul. Since the Second Lateran 
 Council of 1 139, Rome had never 
 witnessed such an assembly of bishops as 
 this last one. Nor was it simply the fact 
 of these unions which led the way to the 
 General Council in the Vatican. It is 
 evident now that the chief definition of 
 this Council — viz. that of the Papal 
 Infallibility, — came as the result of forces 
 which had been long at work. The French 
 universities had disappeared in the storms 
 of the Revolution, and Galilean principles 
 were dying out in France itself. In Italy, 
 Spain, and Portugal, where, owing to the 
 influence of the Governments, Gallicanism 
 had found, even late in the last century, 
 such representatives as Tamburini, Bishop 
 Solari, Fontani, Palmieri, Degola, Bishop 
 Clement of Barcelona, etc., it was now 
 wholly extinct. Many of the provincial 
 councils and the bishops in their assem- 
 blies at Rome had held language which 
 showed that a proposal to define the 
 Pope's infallibility would meet with no 
 opposition among the majority. With the 
 German Catholics it was otherwise. There 
 many of the clergy were still educated at 
 "mixed" universities — many of the 
 Catholic professors had already manifested 
 their distrust of the " Roman " theology, 
 
 and some of them had come into collision 
 with the Roman Congregations, They 
 clung, in the supposed interests of science, 
 to methods different from those which 
 prevailed at Rome. And even in France 
 there was a party, small in numbers, but 
 strong in talent and character, which was 
 attached to liberal principles in politics 
 and distrustful of Roman interference in 
 such matters. They had fought the 
 Church's battle for freedom of instruction, 
 and they were unwilling to admit that the 
 appeal they had made to the principles of 
 freedom and toleration was after all only 
 an argumentum ad hominein. Ultramon- 
 tanism then prevailed throughout the 
 Church, but it was opposed by a small 
 band of Catholic "liberals "in France, 
 and by a number of learned men in 
 Germany, The former advocated the 
 interests of freedom, as they understood 
 it \ the latter, those of philosophy, history, 
 and theology, as they understood them. 
 There were, besides. Catholic statesmen 
 in both countries who saw danger to the 
 State in a definition of Papal infallibility. 
 Pius IX. first imparted his idea of con- 
 voking a General Council to the cardinals 
 of the Congregation of Rites in Decem- 
 ber, 1864; and shortly afterwards he con- 
 sulted all the cardinals who resided in 
 Rome on the matter. They were re- 
 quested to submit to the Pope their opin- 
 ions, in writing, on the opportuneness of 
 such a convocation, and the subjects which, 
 supposing the Council opportune, ought to 
 be discussed. Nineteen advised the con- 
 vocation, two were against it, one was 
 
VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 183 
 
 doubtful. In March, 1865, five cardinals 
 (Patrizi, Reisach, Panebianco, Bizarri, Cat- 
 erini) weie appointed to consider the votes 
 sent in, and these, with the addition of 
 some other cardinals and of consultors, 
 were formed into a Congregation of Direc- 
 tion (Cecconi, "Storia del Concil. Vatic." 
 lib. i. cap. i). In April and May a circular 
 was addressed to thirty-six bishops, beg- 
 ging their opinion on the subjects to be 
 treated {jb. Doc. iii.), and letters were also 
 addressed to the Nuncios at the various 
 Courts, asking them to find theologians fit 
 to act as consultors in the preliminary 
 congregations (ib. Doc. iv.). Next year, 
 in February and March, certain Oriental 
 bishops and bishops of the Greek rite in 
 the Austrian Empire, were also consulted 
 {ib. Doc. vi. and vii.). All these consulta- 
 tions were made in the strictest confi- 
 dence. On June 4, 1867,^ Cardinal Caterini 
 wrote to all the bishops present for the 
 centenary of the martyrdom of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul. He added a list of seven- 
 teen questions on points of discipline, and 
 invited suggestions on other matters (ib. 
 Doc. ix.). 
 
 At last, in the same month, the Pope 
 announced in a public Consistory of some 
 500 bishops, his intention of convoking 
 the Council {ib. Doc. x.), and by a bull of 
 June 29, 1869 (ib. Doc. xxxvi.), the Coun- 
 cil was summoned to meet at Rome on 
 December 8, 1869. Meantime, in Sep- 
 tember of the previous year, " all bishops 
 
 1 So Schneemann, Kanonen und BeschlUsse (Us Vatikan 
 Concils, EinUtt.^. xv. The date in Cecconi — viz. June 6, 
 
 1886 — must be a slip. 
 
 of the churches of Oriental rite not in 
 communion with the Apostolic See " {ib. 
 Doc. xxxvii.), and all ''Protestants and 
 non-Catholics" {ib. Doc. xxxviii), were 
 invited to attend. There was some thought 
 of addressing a similar invitation to the 
 Jansenist bishops in Holland, but it was 
 resolved not to do so {ib. vol. i. p. 119 seg). 
 It was intended that these Oriental bishops 
 should be allowed no part in the Council 
 till they professed the Catholic Roman 
 faith whole and entire ; and it was explained 
 in a letter to Archbishop, now Cardinal, 
 Manning that the Protestants were only 
 invited to attend that they might be 
 referred to "experienced men," and have 
 their difficulties solved. No effect fol- 
 lowed from these letters to Orientals and 
 Protestants, except a few protests (Fried- 
 rich, " Geschichte des Vatikan Concils," i. 
 p. 723 seq.). Besides the Commission of 
 General Direction, mentioned already, the 
 Pope nominated six special commissions — 
 for Ceremonial, the Relations of Church 
 and State, the Churches and Missions of 
 the East, the Religious Orders, Dogmatic 
 Theology, and Discipline. Each consisted 
 of a cardinal-president, and of consultors 
 from all parts of the world. Vercellone, 
 Theiner, Tarquini, Franzelin, Schrader, 
 Perrone, Gibert, Freppel, Hefele, Hane- 
 berg, Hergenrother, Alzog, Molitor, Mou- 
 fang, Hetlinger, Feijje, were among the 
 consultors. Dr. (now Cardinal) Newman 
 was asked to be a consultor, but declined 
 on account of bad health. It was the 
 duty of these special congregations to 
 prepare "schemata" — i. e. draughts of 
 
1 84 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 canons and decrees for the consideration 
 of the Fathers. Their members were 
 bound to absolute secrecy. 
 
 Till the Council met, nothing was said 
 by any one in authority of any intention 
 to define Papal infallibility. But attention 
 was roused by statements in the French 
 correspondence of the " Civilt^," Febru- 
 ary 6, 1869 (reprinted in Cecconi, Doc. 
 cxl.). In this Jesuit organ, published at 
 Rome, and believed by many to possess 
 very high authority in the Roman Court, 
 it was stated that the Council would prob- 
 ably set its seal to the condemnations of 
 the Syllabus ; that the bishops would 
 define the Pope's infallibility by acclama- 
 tion, and that the corporal assumption of 
 the Blessed Virgin into heaven would be 
 made an article of faith. This was the 
 occasion, soon after, of the famous articles 
 in the Augsburg "Allgemeine Zeitung," 
 which afterwards appeared in the form of 
 a book entitled "Janus." It professed to 
 be written from a Catholic point of view, 
 but was in reality a bitter attack on the 
 Papacy. In April, 1869, Prince Hohen- 
 lohe, Foreign Minister in Bavaria, sent a 
 circular to the European Governments, 
 warning them of the political dangers 
 which the Council might cause (Friedrich, 
 ib. i. p. 774), and in September a large 
 majority of the German bishops assembled 
 at Fulda, laid before Pius IX. their fears 
 as to the consequences in Germany should 
 Papal infallibility be defined. This docu- 
 ment was undoubtedly despatched to 
 the Pope, but Cecconi, after laborious 
 search, could not find it in the Roman 
 
 archives (Cecconi, part i. vol. ii. sect. I 
 p. 479). 
 
 The time of convocation was drawing 
 near, and Pius IX. in a brief, " Multiplices 
 inter," Nov. 27, 1869 {ib. Doc. Hi), arranged 
 the order of business at the Council. The 
 preparatory commissions had done their 
 work, and were to be replaced by new 
 ones. The Pope appointed five cardinal- 
 presidents, viz. Reisach (who died shortly 
 afterwards, and was replaced by De 
 Angelis), De Luca, Bizzari, Bilio, Capalti, 
 a secretary, viz. Bishop Fessler of St. 
 Polten, and a deputation of members of 
 the Council who were to examine pro- 
 posals made by the bishops. Four other 
 deputations for Dogma, Discipline, Reli- 
 gious Orders, and Oriental Rites, were to 
 be chosen by the Fathers of the Council, 
 but each was to be placed under a cardi- 
 nal-president nominated by the Pope him- 
 self. The schemata drawn up by the 
 preparatory commissions were to be 
 printed and distributed to the Fathers. 
 The bishops might send proposals to be 
 examined by the directive deputation. 
 These new schemata or proposals, if 
 approved by it, were also to be printed 
 and circulated among the bishops some 
 days before the discussion on them began. 
 Bishops who wished to speak on any subject 
 must notify their intention at least a day 
 before. They were to do so in order of 
 rank, and after they had ended others 
 might obtain leave to speak from the 
 presidents. If there was no prospect of 
 agreement, the schemata, according to 
 their subject-matter, were to be referred to 
 
VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 185 
 
 the special commissions for revisal, and 
 then voted upon in general congregation. 
 Finally, the canon or decree was to be 
 read in the Pope's name in solemn session, 
 the Fathers were to answer "Placet" or 
 " Non placet'^ ; the Pope was to announce 
 the result, and, in case of acceptance by 
 the Council, to confirm its decision by 
 apostolic authority. The Council opened 
 on Dec. 8, 1869. There were 719 mem- 
 bers present, and by March of the follow- 
 ing year as many as 764. Of these, 120 
 were archbishops or bishops /;/ partibiis 
 infidelium, now called titular prelates, and 
 52 were abbots, generals of orders, etc. 
 (From the lists in Schneemann ) 
 
 Much time was spent in discussions on 
 discipline, the preparation of a Short 
 Catechism, etc., which have issued as yet 
 in no definite result. The work actually 
 finished consists of two Constitutions — 
 one, " De Fide Catholica," made up of 
 chapters and canons on the primary truths 
 of natural religion, on revelation, on faith, 
 and the connection between faith and 
 reason ; the other, " De Ecclesia Christi," 
 treating chiefly of the primacy of the 
 Roman See, and defining the Pope's imme- 
 diate authority over all Christians. The 
 former constitution passed with compara- 
 tively little difficulty. It was unanimously 
 accepted by the 667 Fathers present, and 
 confirmed by the Pope in the third public 
 session, April 24, 1870. 
 
 Very different was the fate of the 
 second constitution. We have seen that 
 nothing had been said, at least publicly 
 and by authority, before the Council met, 
 
 of any intention to define the Pope's 
 infallibility, and Cecconi (lib. i. cap. i.) 
 assures us that of the cardinals first con- 
 sulted by the Pope — i. e. in 1864 — two 
 only even mentioned the subject. Scarcely, 
 however, had the Council met, when a 
 " postulatum ", representing the views of 
 the great majority of the Fathers, begged 
 that the question should be proposed for 
 decision. On the other hand, in January, 
 1870, forty-five German and Austrian bish- 
 ops, thirty-two French, joined by three 
 Portuguese and four Orientals, twenty- 
 seven from nations of English speech, 
 seventeen Orientals, seven Italians, begged 
 the Pope to prevent the discussion. (Ori- 
 ginal texts in Friedrich, " Documenta ad 
 Illustrandum Concil. Vatic." Abth. i. pp. 
 251, 254, 256, 450.) At the same time, 
 outside the Council, a protest was made 
 by Dr. Dollinger, as well as by the French 
 Minister Daru and the Austrian von 
 Beust, supported by the Bavarian, Portu- 
 guese, Prussian, and English Cabinets. 
 Archbishops Dechamps of Malines, Man- 
 ning of Westminster, Spalding of Balti- 
 more, and Bishop Martin of Paderborn, 
 were prominent on the side of the major- 
 ity ; while the learned Hefele, who was 
 promoted to the bishopric of Rottenburg 
 in November, 1869, Strossmayer, bishop 
 of Diakovar in Slavonia, Cardinal Raus- 
 cher, archbishop of Vienna, Darboy, arch- 
 bishop of Paris, Dupanloup, bishop of 
 Orleans, Maret, bishop in partibiis, Ken- 
 rick, archbishop of St. Louis, in the United 
 States, Clifford, bishop of Clifton, were 
 strenuous supporters of the opposition. 
 
i86 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 New complications arose from a docu- 
 ment issued by the cardinal-presidents at 
 the wish of the Pope on Feb. 20, 1870. 
 Complaints were made of the way in 
 which the discussions were protracted, 
 and accordingly new arrangements were 
 devised. In the discussion on any amended 
 schema, no one was to take part without 
 giving notice beforehand of that particu- 
 lar portion of the said schema on which 
 he meant to address the Council. Further, 
 at the request of any ten Fathers, the 
 presidents might ask the Council if they 
 desired the discussion to proceed, and if a 
 majority said No, they might close it there 
 and 'then. This led more than a hun- 
 dred prelates to protest, in a document 
 addressed to the presidents, that by these 
 regulations "the freedom of the Council 
 might seem in several respects to be 
 impaired, nay, destroyed" {"mimd imo 
 tolli posse videatiir'"'). They implored 
 that nothing should be defined except 
 with the moral unanimity of the Fathers, 
 and appealed to the example of Pius IV. 
 at the Council of Trent. Otherwise 
 they feared that "the character of the 
 CEcumenical Council might be exposed 
 to doubt " ( " cecumcnici concilii character 
 in diibium vocari possity Text in Fried- 
 rich, Abth. i. p. 258 seq). It must be 
 remembered, however, that the whole dis- 
 cussion was extended over seven weeks. 
 The points at issue must have been per- 
 fectly familiar to those with whom the 
 decision lay, and the majority could not 
 be expected to tolerate a protracted dis- 
 cussion which had no real influence on 
 
 opinion, and only served to impede deft, 
 nition. 
 
 Early in May the schema " De Ecclesia," 
 with the added clauses on Papal infallibil- 
 ity, was laid before the Council, and the 
 conciliar discussion upon it began. On 
 July 13, it was voted upon in general 
 congregation ; of the Fathers present 45 1 
 said "Placet" sixty-two *^ Placet jiixta 
 modum'' — i. e. they were ready to accept the 
 Constitution with modifications but not as 
 it stood ; eighty-eight said, " Non placet " ; 
 seventy did not vote at all. In the last 
 general congregation the Fathers protested 
 against the calumnies of the press, espe- 
 cially against the report that the Council 
 was not free. In a letter to the Pope 
 fifty-five bishops declared that their mind 
 was unaltered, but that they meant to 
 absent themselves from the public session. 
 This was held on July 18. The bull 
 " Pastor iEternus," containing the Consti- 
 tution " De Ecclesia,'* and the definition 
 of Papal infallibility, was read. Thereupon 
 535 answered " Placet,"" XhQ two others — 
 viz. Bishop Riccio of Ajaccio and Bishop 
 Fitzgerald of Little Rock — " Nott placet.'" 
 The Pope then confirmed the decree by 
 Apostolic authority. On that same day 
 Napoleon III declared war against Prussia. 
 On September 20 the Italians possessed 
 themselves of Rome, and by a brief of 
 October 20 the Pope prorogued the 
 Council. It has never been reassembled. 
 
 In the articles on Faith and on the 
 Pope, we have said something on the mean- 
 ing of the Vatican decrees, and in that on 
 Old Catholics we have spoken of the 
 
VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 187 
 
 opposition made to them. No single 
 bishop refused assent, and for that and 
 other reasons a schism of any considerable 
 magnitude was impossible. 
 
 (The histories of the Council by Cecconi 
 and Friedrich resemble in more points than 
 one those of the Tridentine Council by Pal- 
 lavicino and Sarpi, with this notable differ- 
 ence, that Sarpi wrote before Pallavicino, 
 while Friedrich takes care to write after 
 Cecconi, and to use his materials. Neither 
 historian has reached the actual assembly 
 of the Council. Cecconi has access to the 
 Vatican archives, so that his work [first part 
 published 1873] will always be indispens- 
 able. But it has already exceeded 3,000 
 pages large octavo ; it is filled with much 
 irrelevant matter, is badly written and badly 
 arranged. Friedrich's first volume [1877] 
 is well arranged and interesting, and does 
 not, as far as we can test it, alter the facts ; 
 but it is disfigured by a vehement invective 
 against the Roman Court and Ultramon- 
 tanism in general. For the actual history 
 of the Council Friedrich's collection of doc- 
 uments [1871] was useful but incomplete, 
 and has been replaced by the fuller collec- 
 tions of Bishop Martin [1873] and the 
 Protestant Friedberg [1871]. The Jesuit 
 Father Schneemann [1871] has prefixed a 
 short history of the Council to his edition 
 of its decrees, and there is another brief his- 
 tory by the learned Protestant Frommann 
 [1872]. 
 
 .e Veil. 
 
 JKc 
 
 Veil {velum, a covering). Pagan cus- 
 toms in resrard to the use of the veil can- 
 
 not here be considered, but we shall 
 endeavor to give some account of the 
 various kinds of veil recognized in the 
 Catholic ritual for covering either things 
 or persons. Three Eucharistic veils were 
 in use in the ancient Eastern Church, the 
 paten veil for covering the bread before 
 consecration, the chalice veil, and a very 
 thin, transparent veil for covering both 
 paten and chalice. The offertory veil 
 {offertorium) was used, according to the 
 ritual of the Church of Sarum,^ in various 
 parts of the ceremonial of High Mass. 
 It seems to be the same as the super- 
 humeral veil with which the subdeacon now 
 covers the chalice at High Mass, and 
 which is also used at Benediction. Magri 
 (quoted in Morone), says that in Spanish 
 Churches from the first day of Lent a veil 
 is drawn before the high altar while the 
 hours are recited, and during Mass on 
 ferias ; it is withdrawn at the Gospel and 
 the elevation of the Host. On Wednes- 
 day in Holy Week, when in the " Passion " 
 the words occur " et velum templi scissum 
 est,'* the veil is withdrawn and no more used. 
 The nuptial veil or Jlammeum, as is well 
 known, was in use among the Romans. 
 St. Ambrose speaks of a veil {pallium) 
 stretched over the heads of the bride and 
 bridegroom during the celebration of mar- 
 riage, with a mystical significance.^ The 
 priest officiates with veiled head in several 
 Oriental rites — Coptic, of St. Anthony, 
 Abyssinian, Maronite. 
 
 1 See the Consuetudinary of Sarum, recently edited in the 
 Rolls series with a translation, in the Register af St. Osmumd, 
 vol. i. p. 150 seg, 
 
 2 Morone. 
 
1 88 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 In Maskell's " Monumenta Ritualia " 
 is printed a form^ for the "Order of 
 Consecration of Nuns " according to the 
 use of Sarum, from which we shall 
 extract what relates to the ritual of the 
 veil. On the day of profession the nov- 
 ices, clad in white, each bearing on the 
 right arm the "habite that the religyon 
 knd professyon requireth, wyth the veyle, 
 ryng, and scroll of hir protessyon attached 
 upon the sayd habits, ^nd in hir left hand 
 '>erying a taper wythoute lyght," go in pro- 
 iession from the place where they were 
 irrayed towards the western door of the 
 choir, with looks bent on the ground, sing- 
 ing the response " Audivivocem''' etc. Pass- 
 ing through the choir and going up to the 
 altar, they lay their veils, rings, and scrolls 
 on the right end of it. They then make 
 the vow of chastity, and after receiving 
 the habit from the bishop return whence 
 they came. After the Credo the virgins 
 return to the western door of the choir, 
 bearing lighted tapers in their right hands. 
 The rite proceeds ; after the Litanies each 
 makes her profession before the bishop 
 and abbess, and signs her scroll of profes- 
 sion with a cross. After the psalm 
 '' Domine, guts habitabit,'' during which 
 the virgins prostrate themselves, they rise 
 and go with the bishop to the right end of 
 the altar, and, taking their veils therefrom, 
 hold them in their hands with their faces 
 turned towards the bishop. He, standing 
 in his place, blesses the veils in the virgin's 
 hands, " with orysons." The first of these 
 prayers is, "We suppliantly beseech Thee, 
 
 1 VoL ii. p. 308. 
 
 O Lord, that in Thy clemency a blessing 
 may come down upon these veils which 
 are about to be placed on the heads of Thy 
 handmaidens, so that they may be blessed, 
 and consecrated, and spotless, and holy 
 for these Thy handmaidens. Through." 
 The second, " O God, creator of things 
 visible and invisible, be mercifully present 
 with us, and vouchsafe to bless and sanc- 
 tify with the streams of Thy grace these 
 veils which are the type of holiness and 
 the sign of humility ; may Thy servants 
 deserve through Thy gift to take and hal- 
 low them in heart and body. Through." 
 Every virgin, beforethebishopputs the veil 
 upon her head, kisses his hand. Being 
 veiled, she sings, " The Lord hath clothed 
 me with a garment^ woven of gold, and 
 with immense jewels hath He adorned me." 
 The ritual of the ring succeeds, followed 
 by the " long benediction," during which 
 the virgins lie prostrate. Before their 
 " houselling " the bishop draws down their 
 veils over their eyes. After their com- 
 munion each gives up her taper to the 
 bishop, after kissing his hand, and he 
 gives them all his benediction. Then the 
 abbess pulls their veils down beneath their 
 chins, and so they remain for three days. 
 On the third day after they have communi- 
 cated, the abbess lifts up their veils, and 
 from that time " they shall were and goo 
 and cumme as other of the convent doth." 
 (Morone, " Dizion. Eccl." ; Maskel, " Mon- 
 um. Ritualia," 1846; Smith and Cheetham.) 
 
 1 Cyclade. Cyclas is " a kind of garment named from its 
 roundness drawn in above and full below." (See Ducange, 
 who cites " circttrnttxtum rosea velamen acantAo." /Sn i. 
 649.) 
 
VESTMENTS. 
 
 189 
 
 Vestmervts. 
 
 Their Distinctive Character. It was 
 the common belief in the middle ages that 
 the vestments used by the Church at Mass 
 and other services were derived from the 
 Jewish temple, though Walafrid Strabo 
 had a better notion of the historical aspect 
 of the question, and affirmed (" De Reb. 
 Eccles." c. 24) that Christian priests in 
 e early ages officiated in the common 
 dress of daily life. Strabo's view (with a 
 modification to be mentioned presently) is 
 .nfirmed, to use the words of Dr. Rock, 
 "by the concurrent testimony of writers 
 who have bestowed much laborious research 
 upon the investigation of this subject " 
 (*' Hierurgia," p. 414). No quotation can 
 be adduced from any author of the first 
 five centuries which so much as alludes to 
 any difference in form between the dress 
 of priests at the altar and of laymen in 
 - mmon life. True, St John (Polycrat. 
 apud Euseb. " H, E." iil 31, v. 24 ; Hieron. 
 *• Vir. Illustr." 45) and St. James (Eptphan. 
 " Haer." Ixxviii. 14) are said to have worn 
 the "shining plate*' {petalon, lamina, 
 . . . . ) of the Jewish high priest : bnt 
 even were we prepared to accept these testi- 
 monies as literal statements of fact, they 
 would not affect the question, for no such 
 nament has ever found place in the 
 -.urch, and the mitre, which comes near- 
 1 to this "plat^** was unknown, as has 
 -n already proved, for centuries after 
 e Apostolic age. But the strongest 
 x)f will be &>und in the articles on the 
 particular vestments. There it has been 
 
 shown that the ecclesiastical vestments 
 had their origin in the ordinary dress of 
 the Roman Empire.* It was after the fall 
 of the empire that the fashion in ordinary 
 attire underwent a revolution, and the garb 
 once common to all became peculiar to the 
 servants of the altars, till at last the very 
 memory of its original use was obscured. 
 This obscuration was, as we should expect, 
 gradual Walafrid Strabo, as we have said, 
 in the ninth century understood the true 
 state of the case, and another writer of the 
 same age — viz. Anastasius ("In ViL S, 
 Stephani," cf. Baron "AnnaL" ad ann. 
 260, n. 6) — was not wholly ignorant of it, 
 for he says of Pope Stephen : "He 
 ordained that priests and Levites should 
 not use the consecrated vestments in com- 
 mon life, but only in the church.*' 
 
 Long, however, before the ecclesiastical 
 vestments were distinguished by their form 
 from those in common use, certain gar- 
 ments were reserved for the officiating 
 clergy, and though these were identical in 
 form with the ordinary garb, they were 
 often no doubt of costlier material The 
 Apostolic Constitutions (viiL 12) describe 
 the bishop as clothed in a " shining vest- 
 ment'* (Jantpran estketa tneUndus), and 
 we may perhaps take this as evidence for 
 the practice at the end of the fourth or 
 b^;inning of the fifth century. A little 
 earlier, Jerome ("In Ezech." idiv. 17), 
 
 1 The ab jad pnJIcv vliiA ^'^ icallf MMt Jfte JcwM 
 inlMiati, had a panff fcodar «rf^;«idtkeafc b taf: 
 mariudm aChank 4na»hf€ma€bmaUwkUh feMddetia 
 faMc tte SMW aftmcMMMi fifeaad iaClMfcfcu Jooaw 
 (E1PJ64} ifM» FaftMfe am cbhnate aecmmt tt fhe JortA 
 tvflkeHe«faaalnB 
 
IQO 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 speaking of the vestments of the Jewish 
 priests, adds : " Thence we learn that we 
 should not enter the holy of holies with 
 common attire or in any sort of dirty dress, 
 such as will do for daily life, but that we 
 should with clean conscience and in clean 
 attire handle the mysteries of the Lord." 
 It is not easy to decide how far this pas- 
 sage is to betaken literally.^ Anyhow, we 
 learn from Theodoret (" H.E." ii. 23) that 
 Constantine gave Macarius, bishop of Jeru- 
 salem, "a sacred dress '\hieran stolen) "of 
 gold thread " — i. e. a dress of the common 
 form, but of very costly material and 
 intended exclusively for use in church. 
 It is very uncertain when the blessing of 
 ecclesiastical vestments was introduced, 
 but we find a form for that purpose, very 
 like the one now used, in the Gregorian 
 Sacramentary. (See the reprint in Migne, 
 " Patrol." Ixxviii. p. 157.) The Council of 
 Poitiers, a.d. i 100, can. 4 (Mansi, xx. 1 123), 
 forbids any one not a bishop to give this 
 blessing, and Innocent III, ("Altar Myst." 
 i. 9) lays down the same rule. It is still 
 in force, though bishops constantly dele- 
 gate the power to simple priests. 
 
 At first the vestments were of one 
 color — viz. white. Thus, when Pelagius 
 alleged that all splendor in dress was 
 irreligious, Jerome ("Adv. Pelag." i. n. 
 39) charges him with exaggeration, and 
 asks what harm there was in wearing " a 
 tunic particularly clean" {tunicam mun- 
 diorem), what objection could be made. 
 
 1 It is dear, however, from the passage quoted further on 
 in this article, that Jerome was familiar with the use of special 
 restmeats by the clergy in church. 
 
 "if bishop, priest, and deacon, and the 
 rest of the clergy appeared at the admin- 
 istration of the sacrifice in white array " 
 {Candida veste processerit). So Gregory of 
 Tours ("De Gloria Conf." c. 20) describes 
 the band of " priests and Levites in white 
 vestments." Black was sometimes used 
 in sign of mourning (Theodore Lector, 
 lib. I, excerpt quoted by Hefele). Even 
 Pseudo-Alcuin, in the tenth or eleventh 
 century, knows only of white vestments, 
 except that he speaks of the scarlet 
 stripes on the deacon's dalmatic (" Divin. 
 Offic." c. 40), and of the use of black 
 vestments during the litany and procession 
 on the P^east of the Purification (c. 7). 
 Innocent III. is the first to mention four 
 colors — viz. white, which the Roman 
 Church employs on feasts of confessors, 
 virgins, and on joyful solemnities generally; 
 red, used on the feasts of martyrs, of the 
 cross (though then perhaps white is to be 
 preferred), and on Whitsunday, by some 
 also on All Saints, but not by the Curia 
 Romana, in which white is the color ; 
 black, used in penitential seasons and 
 Masses for the dead ; green, used on 
 common days, because " midway between 
 black and white." He regards violet, 
 which is now the penitential color, as a 
 mere variety of black, and says the former 
 was used on Holy Innocents and Laetare 
 Sunday. So scarlet and saffron-yellow 
 (coccineus et croceus) are varieties of red 
 and green. Rose-colored vestments, he 
 says, were sometimes used on feasts of 
 martyrs, and yellow ones on feasts of 
 confessors ("Altar. Myst." i. 65). At 
 
VESTMENTS. 
 
 191 
 
 present yellow counts as white, and rose- 
 colored vestments are only used at solemn 
 Mass on the third Sunday in Advent and 
 fourth in Lent. 
 
 Bishops, when they celebrate pontifically, 
 take their vestments from the altar ; simple 
 priests put them on in the sacristy. But 
 this distinction is probably not very ancient, 
 for even in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries it was common custom for 
 priests, at least in England, to vest in the 
 sanctuary. (Maskell, " Ancient Liturgy 
 of the Church of England," p. 219.) The 
 present law on the use of vestments at 
 Mass is very strict, and many theologians 
 (see Benedict XIV. "De Miss." iii. 7, 
 i) believe that no cause whatever will 
 excuse a priest from observing it. (The 
 chief recent authorities are Bock, " Gesch. 
 der Liturg. Gewander " ; Hefele, in his 
 "Beitrage," ii. p. 150 seq.\ Wharton 
 Marriott, "Vestiarium Christianum.") 
 
 Dolours of Blessed Virgirv. 
 
 St. John mentions that the Blessed 
 Virgin, with other holy women and with 
 St. John, stood at the foot of the cross 
 when the other apostles had fled. At that 
 time the prophecy of Simeon, " a sword 
 will pierce thine own soul," was most 
 perfectly fulfilled : and very naturally the 
 sorrows of Mary have been a favorite 
 subject of contemplation with the saints, 
 among whom St. Ambrose and St. Bernard 
 deserve particular notice. They dwell 
 specially on the intensity of her mental 
 
 suffering, and on the supernatural con- 
 stancy with which she endured it. The 
 famous hymn " Stabat Mater " celebrates 
 Mary's sorrows at the foot of the cross in 
 sublime language. The seven founders of 
 the Servite order, in the thirteenth 
 century, devoted themselves to special 
 meditation on the Dolours of Mary, and 
 from them the enumeration of the Seven 
 Sorrows (i. e. at the prophecy of Simeon, 
 in the flight to Egypt, at the three days' 
 loss, at the carrying of the cross, at the 
 crucifixion, at the descent of the cross, at 
 the entombment) is said to have come. 
 The feast of the Dolours was instituted 
 at a Provincial Council of Cologne in 1423, 
 at the time when the Hussites were 
 destroying crucifixes and images of the 
 Mother of Sorrows with fanatical zeal. 
 Benedict XIIL, in 1725, caused this feast 
 to be celebrated in the States of the 
 Church on the Friday after Passion Sun- 
 day. This feast is now observed as a 
 greater double throughout the Church. 
 Pius VII., in 1 8 14, directed that a second 
 feast of the Dolours should be kept on 
 the third Sunday of September. In 
 allusion to her seven sorrows, the Blessed 
 Virgin is represented in art transfixed by 
 seven swords. (Benedict XIV. " De 
 Festis"; " Manuale Decret.") 
 
 DorT\ir\e, |lor\ Sum Digr\us. 
 
 " Lord, I am not worthy that Thou 
 shouldst enter under my roof, but only 
 speak with a word, and my soul will be 
 
192 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 healed." Words used by the priest before 
 communicating, and again before giving 
 communion to the people. The custom 
 of employing this prayer before com- 
 munion is alluded to by Origen and 
 Chrysostom. It is adapted from the 
 prayer of the centurion in Matt. viii. 8. 
 
 GKrisn\. 
 
 OLrvE oil mixed with balm, blessed by 
 the bishop and used by the Church in 
 confirmation as well as in baptism, ordina- 
 tion, consecration of altar-stones, chalices, 
 churches, and in the blessing of baptismal 
 water. The oil, according to the Roman 
 Catechism, signifies the fulness of grace, 
 since oil is diffusion ; the balm mixed with 
 it, incorruption and the "good odor of 
 Christ." 
 
 In itself the word chrism {chrismd) need 
 not mean more than " anything smeared 
 on"; but even in classical writers it 
 denotes especially a scented unguent, while 
 the common oil was called elaion. It was 
 this simple, unperfumed oil which was 
 used in the earliest times for sacred 
 purposes, but from the sixth century oil 
 mixed with balm began to be employed. 
 This balm {balsamos, in the classics 
 opobalsamo7i ) is a kind of perfumed resin, 
 produced by a tree which grows in Judaea 
 and Arabia. This Eastern balm was 
 always used in the West till the sixteenth 
 century, when Paul III. and Pius IV. 
 permitted the use of a better kind of balm, 
 brought by the Spaniards from the West 
 
 Indies. The Orientals did not content 
 themselves with simply mixing balm. 
 Thus the Greeks mingle forty different 
 spices, and the Maronites, before they 
 were re-united to the Catholic Church, 
 prepared their chrism from oil, saffron, 
 cinnamon, essence of roses, white incense, 
 etc. 
 
 The consecration of the oils during the 
 Mass goes back to the earliest times. 
 Cyprian mentions it in Ep. 70, addressed 
 to Januarius ; and St. Basil attributes the 
 origin of this blessing to apostolic tradi- 
 tion. It of course included chrism in the 
 strict sense, when that came into use. In 
 the West this blessing was always reserved 
 to bishops ; in the East, as may be seen 
 from Gear's "Euchologium," it was only 
 given by the patriarchs. At first the oils 
 used to be blessed on any day at Mass, 
 but in a letter of Pope Leo to the emperor 
 of the same name, in the Synod of Toledo 
 (490), and in all the older Sacramentaries 
 and ritual-books, Maunday Thursday is 
 fixed for this blessing. It was only in 
 France that the custom survived of 
 blessing the oils on any day, till uniformity 
 with the use of other churches was 
 introduced by the Council of Meaux, in 
 845. The function took place in the 
 second of the three Masses which used to 
 be said on Maunday Thursday ; whence 
 the name " Missa Chrismatis." The 
 blessing of the chrism was called ** Bene- 
 dictio chrisntatis principalis ^ All the 
 clergy of the diocese used to assist, till, 
 in the eighth century, the custom altered, 
 and only those who lived near the cathe- 
 
CHRISM. 
 
 193 
 
 dral came, while the others had the holy 
 oils sent to them. The chrism used to be 
 kept in a vessel like a paten with a 
 depression in the middle. A "patena 
 chrismalis " of this kind is mentioned by 
 Anastasius, in his Life of St. Sylvester 
 (Kraus, " Real-Encyclopadie "). 
 
 Seamless Coat of Our 
 SaViour. 
 
 Coat, the Holy ( tunica iuconsutilis, der 
 heilige Rock, la sainte Robe). This cele- 
 brated relic is in the treasury of the 
 cathedral of Treves, and a very ancient 
 tradition asserts it to be identical with the 
 seamless coat which our Saviour wore at 
 the time of His Passion. The empress 
 Helena, having come into possession of it 
 in the Holy Land, is said to have given it 
 to the city of Treves, where she resided 
 for a considerable time. The earliest 
 written testimony to this effect is found in 
 the"Gesta Trevirorum," a chronicle of the 
 first half of the twelfth century, where 
 Helena is said to have presented the relic 
 to the church during the episcopate of 
 Agritius ( 3 14-334 )• Several other notices 
 of the Holy Coat are found in documents 
 mounting up to, or nearly to, the twelfth 
 century. But the most remarkable and 
 interesting piece of evidence in support of 
 the authenticity of the relic, is an ancient 
 ivory belonging to the cathedral ( lost for 
 some time, but recovered in 1844), on 
 which the empress is figured, seated at 
 the church door, and awaiting the arrival 
 
 of a procession closed by a chariot in which 
 are two ecclesiastics guarding a chest. 
 Above the chariot is the face of Christ, by 
 which some relation between our Lord 
 and the contents of the chest seems to be 
 indicated. This ivory was examined by 
 the Archaeological Society of Frankfort in 
 1846, with the result of fixing its date at 
 the end of the fourth or beginning of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 We read of the translation of the relic 
 from the choir to the high altar of the 
 cathedral in 1196. After an interval of 
 more than three hundred years, it was 
 exposed in 15 12, and on several other 
 occasions in the sixteenth century, for the 
 veneration of the faithful. During the 
 wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries, it was deposited for safety in 
 the castle of Ehrenbreitstein, or at Augs- 
 burg. In 1 8 10, with the permission of 
 Napoleon, the bishop of Treves, Mgr. • 
 Mannay, brought the sacred relic back 
 from Augsburg to his own city, and, in 
 spite of the confusion of the times, a mul- 
 titude of pilgrims, numbering over two 
 hundred thousand, visited Treves to cel- 
 ebrate this joyful restoration. But the 
 most striking and successful exposition 
 was that of 1844, when eleven bishops 
 and more than a million of the laity flocked 
 to Treves from all sides during the period 
 (from August 18 to October 6) for which 
 the Holy Coat was exhibited. Several 
 miraculous cures were reported, and the 
 joy and piety of the believing throng must 
 have been a very moving sight. Certain 
 unstable Catholics with a secret leaning to 
 
'94 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 rationalism, took offence at the proceed- 
 ings and wrote against the authenticity of 
 the Holy Coat. Among these were Czer- 
 ski, an ecclesiastic from Posen, and Ronge, 
 a suspended priest of Breslau. A long con- 
 troversy arose, in the course of which these 
 men seceded from the Church and founded 
 a sect which they called the " German Cath- 
 olic Church." The movement made a great 
 noise at the time, but is now seldom 
 heard of. The well-known Catholic writer, 
 Gorres, published a pamphlet on the ques- 
 tion, entitled " The Pilgrimage of Treves," 
 in 1845. 
 
 (This notice follows the article in Wet- 
 zer and Welte, by J. Marx, the author of 
 several works bearing on the history of 
 the relic.) 
 
 TKe Pope's Tiara. 
 
 The tiara is a cylindrical head-dress 
 pointed at the top and surrounded with 
 three crowns, which the Pope wears as a 
 symbol of sovereignty. The word {tiara) 
 occurs in the classics to denote the Persian 
 head-dress, particularly that of the " great 
 king." In the Vulgate it is a synonym of 
 cidaris and miira, and -is used for the tur- 
 ban of the high priest (Exod. xxviii. 4), or 
 of the common priest. Till late in the 
 middle ages tiara was a synonym of miira, 
 a bishop's mitre, regnum being the word 
 for crown (Ducange, sub voc). 
 
 The whole history of the Papal tiara is 
 uncertain. Nicolas I. (858-867) is said to 
 have been the first to unite the princely 
 crown with the mitre, though the Bolland- 
 
 ists think this was done before his time 
 (BoUandists, "Thesaur." vol. ii. p. 323, 
 quoted by Hefele). The common state- 
 ment that Boniface VIII. (about 1300) 
 added the second crown, is false, for Hefele 
 shows that Innocent III. is represented 
 wearing the second crown in a painting 
 older than the time of Boniface. Urban 
 V. (1362-70) is supposed to have added 
 the third crown. The tiara is placed on 
 the Pope's head at his coronation by the 
 second cardinal deacon in the loggia of 
 St. Peter's with the words, " Receive the 
 tiara adorned with three crowns, and know 
 that thou art Father of princes and kings, 
 Ruler of the world. Vicar of our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ." At ceremonies of a purely 
 spiritual character the Pope wears the 
 mitre, not the tiara. (Hefele, " Beitrage," 
 vol. ii. p. 236 seq). * 
 
 Qvjinqvjagesima. 
 
 QuiNQUAGESiMA, Sexagesima, Septua- 
 gesima, the first, second, third, Sundays 
 before Lent. The words are ancient (Sep- 
 tuagesima occurs in the Gelasian and Gre- 
 gorian Sacramentaries) ; but it is hard to 
 divine their meaning. . Alcuin proposed 
 two solutions to Charlemagne (Thomassin, 
 "Traits des Festes," p. 308 seg) — one 
 that there are seventy days from Septua- 
 gesima to "Pascha clausum " — i. e. the 
 Octave of Easter. This leaves the names 
 Sexagesima and Quinquagesima unex- 
 plained. His other solution is adopted by 
 Thomassin " (Traite des Jeunes," p. 231). 
 Quoting a passage from the " Regula 
 
QUINQUAGESIMA. 
 
 195 
 
 Magistri," Thomassin says : " It clearly 
 shows that the names Quinquagesima and 
 Sexagesima are not intended to denote the 
 numbers fifty or sixty. They have been 
 formed on the [false] analogy of Quadra- 
 gesima — i. e. Lent — being one and two 
 weeks before the first Sunday in Lent. 
 In the same rule the second week of Lent 
 is called Tricesima, the third Vicesima." 
 The custom of beginning the fast on 
 Septuagesima, etc., and the reasons for it, 
 are given in the article on Lent. 
 
 Lrvcyclical. 
 
 Encyclical {litem encyciicce). A cir- 
 cular letter. In the ecclesiastical sense, 
 an encyclical is a letter addressed by the 
 Pope to all the bishops in communion with 
 him, in which he condemns prevalent 
 errors, or informs them of impediments 
 which persecution, or perverse legislation 
 or administration, opposes in particular 
 countries to the fulfilment by the Church 
 of her divine mission, or explains the line 
 of conduct which Christians ought to take 
 in reference to urgent practical questions, 
 such as education, or the relations between 
 Church and State, or the liberty of the 
 Apostolic See. Encyclicals are " published 
 for the whole Church, and addressed 
 directly to the bishops, under circum- 
 stances which are afflicting to the entire 
 Catholic body ; while briefs and bulls are 
 determined by circumstances more par- 
 
 Iticular in their nature, and have a more 
 special destination." 
 _ 
 
 In early times the use of the Ifrm was 
 not restricted as at present ; thus, the 
 well-known letter of the Church of 
 Smyrna, describing the martyrdom of 
 Poly carp, is headed Epistole egkuklikos, a 
 circular letter ; and the same designation 
 was given by St. Cyprian to his letters on 
 the Lapsi. (Ferraris, EpisiolcB^ § 15.) 
 
 /\postac\j. 
 
 It is of three kinds : that from the 
 Christian faith ; that from ecclesiastical 
 obedience ; and that from a religious 
 profession, or from holy orders. An 
 apostate from the faith is one who wholly 
 abandons the faith of Christ, and joins 
 himself to some other law, such as Judaism, 
 Islam, Paganism, etc. It is a mistake, 
 therefore, to brand as apostacy any kind 
 of heresy or schism, however criminal or 
 absurd, which still assumes to itself the 
 Christian name. While the Turks were in 
 the heyday of their power, and had great 
 command over the Mediterranean, the 
 captivity of Christians among them, and 
 apostacy resulting from such captivity, 
 were matters of everyday occurrence ; 
 hence a great number of decisions and 
 opinions respecting the treatment of 
 apostates, on their wishing to return to 
 Christianity, may be found in the writings 
 of canonists. The second kind of 
 apostacy, that from ecclesiastical obedience, 
 is when a Catholic wilfully and contuma- 
 ciously sets at nought the authority of the 
 Church. Such apostacy, if persisted in, 
 
196 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 becomes Schism [^. v\ The third kind is 
 that of those who abandon without per- 
 mission the religious order in which they 
 are professed, as when Luther abandoned 
 his profession as an Augustinian, and 
 married Catherine Bora. He is also an 
 apostate who, after having received major 
 orders, renounces his clerical profession, 
 and returns to the dress and customs of the 
 world, " an act which entails ecclesiastical 
 infamy, and, if there is a marriage, excom- 
 munication." (Ferraris, "Apostasia"; 
 Mack's article in Wetzer and Welte.) 
 
 Coadjutor. 
 
 One <vho helps a prelate, or a priest 
 holding a benefice, in discharging the 
 duties of his bishopric or benefice. Coad- 
 jutorship may be of two kinds : one 
 temporary and revocable, allowed on 
 account of sickness or other incapacity, 
 and implying no right of succession ; the 
 other perpetual and irrevocable, and 
 carrying with it the right to succeed the 
 person coadjuted. In this latter sense it 
 is expressly forbidden by the Council of 
 Trent ; nevertheless the Pope, for special 
 causes, sometimes concedes it, the plen- 
 titude of his apostolic power enabling him 
 legally to dispense with the law. If a 
 coadjutor is required for a parish priest, 
 it is for the bishop of the diocese to 
 nominate one ; if for a bishop, the nomi- 
 nation belongs to the Pope, any usage to 
 the contrary notwithstanding. In the 
 case of a priest, if the incapacity is tem- 
 
 porary or curable, he must appoint a vicaf 
 or substitute, not a coadjutor. The various 
 infirmities which justify coadjutorship — 
 serious and incurable illness, leprosy, loss 
 of speech, etc. — are specified in the canon 
 law. In the case of a bishop, the terms 
 "administrator" and "suffragan" mean 
 much the same as coadjutor, the differences 
 being, that the administrator's function 
 ceases when the bishop resumes charge of 
 the diocese or dies, and a suflfragan assists 
 the bishop in things which relate to his 
 ministry, but has no jurisdiction ; while a 
 coadjutor has jurisdiction, and his rights 
 may, as we have seen, by special Papal 
 permission, subsist after the death of the 
 coadjuted. Various points affecting the 
 precedence, dignity, and ceremonial attach- 
 ing to a coadjutor bishop, have been settled 
 from time to time by the Congregation of 
 Rites. (Ferraris, Coadjutor) 
 
 J^apal Bull. 
 
 A Papal Bull is so named from the 
 Bulla (or round leaden seal, having on one 
 side a representation of SS. Peter and 
 Paul, and on the other the name of the 
 reigning Pope), which is attached to the 
 document (by a silken cord, if it be a 
 " Bull of Grace," and by one of hemp if a 
 " Bull of Justice " ), and gives authenticity 
 to it. Bulls are engrossed on strong, 
 rough parchment in gothic characters, and 
 begin " [Leo] Episcopus servus servorum 
 Dei ad perpetuam rei menjoriam.'* A bull 
 is dated "a die Incarnationis,''' and signed 
 
PAPAL BULL. 
 
 197 
 
 by the functionaries of the Papal Chan- 
 cery. It is a document of a more formal 
 and weighty character than a brief, and 
 many memorable Papal decisions and 
 condemnations have been given in this 
 form, such as the bull " Unam Sanctam " 
 of Boniface VIII., the bull "Unigenitus" 
 of Clement XL, etc., etc. 
 
 jpapal Brief. 
 
 A Papal Brief is a letter issuing from 
 the Court of Rome, written on fine parch- 
 ment in modern characters, subscribed by 
 the Pope's Secretary of Briefs, dated *' a 
 die Nativitatis^'' and sealed with the Pope's 
 signet-ring — the seal of the Fisherman. 
 [See Bull.] 
 
 Acolyte. 
 
 
 Acolyte, from akolontheo, to follow; 
 and here, to follow as a server or minis- 
 trant ; a name given to the highest of the 
 four minor orders. It is the duty of the 
 acolyte to supply wine and water, and to 
 carry the lights at the Mass ; and the 
 bishop ordains him for these functions by 
 putting the cruets and a candle into his 
 hand, accompanying the action with words 
 indicating the nature of the office con- 
 ferred. The order of Acolyte is men- 
 tioned along with the others by Pope 
 Cornelius in the middle of the third 
 century. Their ordination is mentioned 
 in an ancient collection of canons com- 
 
 monly, though wrongly, attributed to the 
 Fourth Council of Carthage. The func- 
 tions of acolytes are now freely performed 
 by laymen, though the order is still always 
 received by those who aspire to the 
 priesthood. 
 
 Pulpit. 
 
 The old custom was to preach from the 
 altar or episcopal chair. But apparently, 
 even in St, Augustine's time, the ambo, 
 originally meant f(5r readers and singers, 
 and large enough to hold several persons 
 easily, was used for preaching, and so was 
 raised and narrowed into the form of the 
 pulpit. It should be placed on the Gospel 
 side (S. C. R., Feb. 20, 1862), unless that 
 side is already occupied by the bishop's 
 throne. The bishop, according to the 
 " Caer. Episc," should preach, if possible, 
 from the throne or from a faldstool at the 
 altar. If this is inconvenient, he should 
 be accompanied to the pulpit by the two 
 canons who assist at the throne. (Mon- 
 tault, " Traite de la Construct., etc., des 
 Eglises." ) 
 
 Bervedi 
 
 erveaicarrwjs 
 
 D 
 
 orT\ir\o. 
 
 Benedicamus Domino, i. e. " Let us 
 bless the Lord," a form used in the 
 Breviary at the end of each hour except 
 Matins, and at the end of Mass instead of 
 Ite Missa est on days when the Gloria in 
 excelsis is not said. Various reasons are 
 given for the use of Benedicamus Domino 
 
198 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 for the usual Ite Missa est. Cardinal Bona 
 thinks that the Ite Missa est was omitted 
 first of all during penitential seasons, such 
 as Advent and Lent, because then the 
 people did not immediately leave the 
 church, but waited for the recitation of 
 the hours, and that gradually the Benedica- 
 mus Dommo came to be used in ferial 
 Masses generally. In Masses for the 
 dead, Requiescat in pace took the place of 
 the Ite Missa est, perhaps because the 
 people often had to remain for the funeral 
 rites. (Benedict XIV. "De Miss." ii. 24.) 
 
 Julian arvd Qregoriarv Gal- 
 erxdar. 
 
 Julius Caesar, in the year 708 of the 
 city, caused the civil calendar, which had 
 fallen into confusion, to be reformed by 
 dividing the year into twelve months, each 
 with the same number of days as at pres- 
 ent, and providing that an additional day 
 should be given to February m every 
 fourth year, in order that the natural 
 year, which was believed to be 365 days 
 six hours in length, might keep even pace 
 with the legal year. But as the real 
 excess of the time taken in the solar revo- 
 lution over 365 days does not amount to 
 six hours, but only to five hours and forty- 
 nine minutes (nearly), it was an inevitable 
 consequence of the disregard of this fact 
 that the addition of nearly forty-four min- 
 utes too much every leap-year should 
 
 again in course of time make the natural arrear of the rest of Europe 
 
 and civil years disagree. The accumulated 
 error caused the difference of a day in 
 about 134 years; thus the vernal equinox, 
 which in the year of the Council of Nicaea 
 (325) fell, as it ought to fall, on March 21, 
 in 1582 occurred ten days earlier. But 
 since Easter ought to be kept on the 
 Sunday after the first full-moon following 
 the vernal equinox, it is obvious that, with 
 so serious a difference between the real 
 equinox and the equinox of the calendar, 
 Easter might easily be kept a month too 
 late ; the Paschal full-moon might have 
 occurred on some day between March 1 1 
 (the (late of the real equinox) and March 
 21, but be disregarded in favor of the next 
 full-moon, which fell after the equinox of 
 the calendar. Gregory XIII., consulting 
 with men of science, effectually remedied 
 the evil, and provided against its recur- 
 rence. He ordered that the days between 
 October 4 and October 1 5 in the current 
 year (1582) should be suppressed, and 
 that, beginning with 1700, three out of 
 every four centesimal leap-years — 1700, 
 1800, 1900, but not 2CX)0 — should be 
 omitted, so that those years should have 
 only 365, not 366, days. This change, 
 having originated at Rome, was long 
 resisted in Protestant countries, and in 
 English-speaking countries not adopted 
 until 175 1, by which time the accumulated 
 error amounted to eleven days ; these days 
 were suppressed between September 2 and 
 14, 1752. In Russia the Julian Calendar is 
 still adhered to, with the result that their 
 computation of time is now twelve days in 
 
PVI/A T AN INFIDEL IS. 
 
 199 
 
 WKat ^7\ Ipvfidel Is. 
 
 One who is not among the fideles^ the 
 faithful of Chnst, Popularly the term is 
 applied to all who reject Christianity as a 
 divine revelation. In order to reject it, 
 they must have heard of it ; those, there- 
 fore, who have never heard of Christianity, 
 are not in proper language called infidels, 
 but heathens, though they are included 
 under the theological term " infideles." 
 Nor are heretics, even Unitarians, to be 
 called infidels, for they do accept the 
 religion of Christ as divinely revealed, 
 however erroneous or fantastic their 
 notion as to the nature of the revelation 
 may be. 
 
 Privileged /\ltar. 
 
 An altar, such as the seven privileged 
 altars in St. Peter's, by visiting which 
 certain indulgences may be gained. 
 
 (2) An altar at which Votive Masses 
 may be said even on certain feasts which 
 are doubles. There are often altars of 
 this kind at places of pilgrimage. 
 
 (3) Altars with a plenary indulgence 
 for one soul in purgatory attached to all 
 Masses said at them for the dead. The 
 privilege continues, even if a new altar be 
 erected, provided it be in the same place 
 and under the same title. All altars are 
 privileged on All Souls' Day. Sometimes 
 the privilege is personal — i. e. a priest 
 may have the privilege of gaining the 
 plenary indulgence always, or on certain 
 occasions, when he offers Mass for the 
 dead, without respect to the altar at which 
 he says it. The local privilege is only 
 granted to fixed altars, the personal may 
 be used even at portable altars. The 
 Mass must be a Requiem Mass, if the 
 rubrics permit it to be said on that day. 
 This privilege is not withdrawn in the 
 general suspension of indulgences during a 
 jubilee. (Probst, art. Altar , in the new 
 edition of the " Kirchenlexikon.") 
 
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 8«- 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 
 ALTAR. 
 
 ME Hebrew word . . . which 
 is usually translated "altar," 
 means literally, "a place for 
 sacrifice " ; and in the New 
 Testament its equivalent is t/m- 
 siasterion. The sacred writers 
 avoid the common Greek word for altar, 
 bomos} " a raised place," adopting the 
 unclassical word thusiasterion, because by 
 doing so they avoided the heathen asso- 
 ciations connected with the common Greek 
 term, besides expressing much more dis- 
 tinctly the purpose of sacrifice for which 
 an altar is built. Whether the Christian 
 altar is mentioned by name in the Bible is 
 doubtful. There is some ground for sup- 
 posing that it is referred to in Matt. v. 23, 
 and in Hebrews xiii. 10. It has been 
 argued that when our Lord imposes a pre- 
 cept of forgiveness before the gift is pre- 
 sented at the altar, He did not mean to 
 give the Jews a new law with regard to 
 their sacrifices, which were soon to pass 
 away, but to establish the indissoluble 
 
 1 Bdmos occurs only once in the New Testament, and then 
 tf a heathen altar ; Acts xvii. ? 
 
 connection between the Eucharistic Sacri- 
 fice of His Church and brotherly love. 
 Similarly, it is urged that when the writer 
 of the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts "we 
 have an altar, of which they have no right 
 to eat who serve the tabernacle," he is 
 setting altar against altar, and declaring 
 the impossibility of partaking in the Jew- 
 ish sacrificial feastings and joining at the 
 same time in the sacrificial banquet of the 
 new law. It is certainly difficult to under- 
 stand the "altar" as the altar of the cross, 
 which is never once called an altar in the 
 New Testament, and though, of course, 
 an altar it indisputably is, still nobody ate 
 of the sacrifice offered on it. At the 
 same time, these interpretations are by no 
 means held by all Catholic commentators.^ 
 However it may stand with the name, 
 the existence of the thing is implied in 
 the New Testament doctrine of sacrifice 
 [see Mass], and the name occurs in the 
 very earliest Christian writers. " There is 
 
 1 Maldonatus ignores that given above, of Matt. v. 23, 
 Estius, following St. Thomas, distinctly rejects that of Hebb 
 xiii. 10. 
 
/tLTAR. 
 
 20I 
 
 one flesh," says St. Ignatius, the disciple 
 of St. John, " one flesh of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and one chalice for union with His 
 blood, one altar {thusiasierion), as one 
 bishop." ^ So TertuUian describes Chris- 
 tians as standing at "the altar of God"2j 
 and the same word "altar " is used in the 
 Apostolic Constitutions and in the ancient 
 liturgies. These testimonies are in no 
 way weakened by passages in Minucius 
 Felix and Arnobius, who in their contro- 
 versies with Pagans deny the existence of 
 Christian altars. Obviously they deny 
 that altars such as the Pagan ones were in 
 use among Christians ; just as one of 
 these authors allows that there were no 
 temples among Christians, though churches 
 are distinctly recognized in the edicts of 
 the Diocletian era, and are known to have 
 existed at a still earlier date.'^ 
 
 In early times the altar was more usually 
 of wood ; and an altar of this kind is still 
 preserved in the church of St. John Lat- 
 eran at Rome, on which St. Peter is said 
 to have celebrated Mass.^ But the tombs 
 of martyrs in the Catacombs and elsewhere 
 were also used for the Holy Sacrifice, the 
 slab of marble which covered the sepul- 
 chre serving as the altar-table ; and for 
 almost fourteen centuries, that part of the 
 altar on which the Eucharist is consecrated 
 has always been of stone or marble. After 
 the time of Constantine, when sumptuous 
 
 1 Philad. 4. 
 
 2 De Or at. 19. 
 
 s Cardinal Newman's Development, 27. 
 
 < It is enclosed in the Papal altar of this church, except a 
 portion of it, which is preserved in the church of St. Puden- 
 tiana: so, at least, says the writer of the article "Altar" in 
 Kraus' Real Encydop'ddie. 
 
 churches were erected, careful arrange^ 
 ments were made for the position of the 
 altar. It did not lean, as it often does 
 now, against the sanctuary wall, but stood 
 out with a space round it, so that the 
 bishop, when celebrating Mass, looked 
 towards the people. Thus the altar looked 
 in the same direction as the portals of the 
 church, and often both were turned towards 
 the east. This ancient arrangement is 
 still exemplified by the " Papal " altars in 
 the Roman basilicas, but particularly in 
 St. Peter's, where the Pope still says Mass 
 on the great festivals, looking at one and 
 the same time to the people, to the portals 
 of the church, and to the east.^ The altars 
 in the Catacombs were still employed, but 
 even new altars were sanctified by relics, a 
 custom to which so much importance was 
 attributed that St. Ambrose would not 
 consecrate an altar till he found relics to 
 place in it. Then, as now, the altar wa» 
 covered with linen cloths, which, as appears 
 from a rubric in the Sacramentary of St- 
 Gelasius, were first blessed and conse- 
 crated. It was surmounted by a canopy, 
 supported by columns between which veil^ 
 or curtains were often hung, and on great 
 festivals it was adorned with the sacred 
 vessels placed upon it in rows, and with 
 flowers. The cross was placed over the 
 canopy, or else rested immediately on the 
 altar itself. The language and the actions 
 of the early Christians alike bespeak the 
 reverence in which the altar was held. It 
 was called "the holy," "the divine table," 
 "the altar of Christ," "the table of the 
 
 1 Rock, Hierurgia, 497 seq. 
 
202 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Lord" The faithful bowed towards it as 
 they entered the church ; it was known as 
 the asulos trapeza, or " table of asylum," 
 from which not even criminals could be 
 forced away.^ Finally, before the altar 
 was used, it was solemnly consecrated by 
 the bishop with the chrism. The date at 
 which this custom was introduced cannot 
 be accurately determined ; but the Council 
 of Agde, or Agatha, in Southern Gaul, 
 held in the year 506, speaks of this custom 
 as familiar to everybody.^ 
 
 The rubrics prefixed to the Roman 
 Missal contain the present law of the 
 Church with regard to the altar. It must 
 consist of stone, or at least must contain 
 an altar-stone large enough to hold the 
 Host and the greater part of the chalice ; 
 and this altar, or the altar-stone, must have 
 been consecrated by a bishop, or by an 
 abbot who has received the requisite 
 faculties from the Holy See. The altar is 
 to be covered with three cloths, also 
 blessed by the bishop, or by a priest with 
 special faculties. One of these cloths 
 should reach to the ground, the other two 
 are to be shorter, or else one cloth double 
 may replace the two shorter ones. If 
 possible, there is to be a "pallium," or 
 frontal, on the altar, varying in color 
 according to the feast or season. A 
 crucifix^ is to be set on the altar between 
 two candle-sticks, the Missal placed on a 
 
 1 Synod of Orange, anno 441. Hefele, ConcilUngeschichte, 
 a. p. 293. 
 
 2 Hefele, ibid. p. 653. 
 
 8 The rubric says only a cross, but a crucifix is prescribed 
 by subsequent decrees of th« Congregation of Rites. Liguor. 
 Thsel. Mor. vi, n. 393. 
 
 cushion, at the right-hand side looking 
 towards the altar ; under the crucifix there 
 ought to be an altar card,i with certain 
 prayers which the priest cannot read from 
 the Missal without inconvenience. 
 
 With regard to the number of altars in 
 a church, Gavantus says that originally, 
 even in the West, one church contained 
 only one altar. On this altar, however, 
 the same author continues, several Masses 
 were said on the same day, in proof of 
 which he appeals to the Sacramentary of 
 Leo. He adds that even in the fourth 
 century the Church of Milan contained 
 several altars, as appears from a letter of 
 St. Ambrose, and he quotes other 
 examples from the French Church in the 
 sixth century. 
 
 Altar-Breads. 
 
 Altar-Breads are round wafers made 
 of fine wheaten flour, specially prepared 
 for consecration in the Mass. The altar- 
 breads, according to the Latin use 
 ( followed also by the Maronites and 
 Armenians), must be unleavened. They 
 are usually stamped with a figure of Christ 
 crucified, or with the I H S. They are 
 of two sizes : one larger, which the priest 
 himself consecrates and receives, or else 
 reserves for the benediction with the 
 Blessed Sacrament ; the other smaller, 
 consecrated for the communion of the 
 faithful. 
 
 1 Tabella secretarum, in use since the sixteenth century. 
 The rubric mentions one under the cross, but now two others 
 are placed, one at each end of the altar. 
 
ALTA R-BREA DS. 
 
 203 
 
 The practice of stamping altar-breads 
 ivith the cross or I H S seems to be 
 ancient and is widely diffused. Merati 
 mentions the fact that the cross is stamped 
 on the altar-breads used by Greek, Syrian, 
 and Alexandrian ( Coptic ? ) Christians. 
 
 /lltar-GIotKs. 
 
 The rubrics of the Missal require three 
 fair cloths to be placed on the altar, or 
 two cloths, of which one is doubled. They 
 must be blessed by the bishop, or by a 
 priest with special faculties. In the 
 fourth century St. Optatus speaks of the 
 linen clolh placed on the altar as usual' in 
 his time, and Pope Sylvester is said to 
 have made it a law that the altar-cloth 
 should be of linen. Mention, however, is 
 made by Paulus Silentiarius of purple 
 altar-cloths, and, in fact, both the material 
 and the number of these cloths seem to 
 have varied in early times. ( See Rock, 
 "Ilierurgia," p. 503 ; Kraus, " Archaeol, 
 Diet." — Altartiicher) 
 
 /\rT\bo. 
 
 Ambo ( Gr. anabainein, to ascend). A 
 raised platform in the nave of early Chris- 
 tian churches, surrounded by a low wall ; 
 steps led up to it from the east and west 
 sides. The place on it where the Gospel 
 was read was higher than that used 
 for reading the Epistle. All church 
 notices were read from it ; here edicts and 
 excommunications were given out ; hither 
 
 came heretics to make their recantation ; 
 here the Scriptures were read, and sermons 
 preached. It was gradually superseded 
 by the modern pulpit. A good example 
 of the ambo may be seen in the church of 
 San Clemente at Rome. (Ferraris.) 
 
 ^nrxerv. 
 
 A Hebrew word signifying "truly," 
 " certainly." It is preserved in its original 
 form by the New Testament writers, and 
 by the Church in her Liturgy. According 
 to Benedict XIV., it indicates assent to a 
 truth, or it is the expression of a desire, 
 and equivalent to genoito, " so be it." ^ 
 
 " Amen " signifies assent when used at 
 the end of the Creeds. In the ancient 
 Church the communicants used it as an 
 expression of their faith in the Blessed 
 Sacrament. Thus we read in the Apos- 
 tolic Constitutions^ — "Let the bishop 
 give the oblation, saying, ' The Body of 
 Christ,' and let the recipient say, * Amen.' ' ' 
 St. Ambrose explains the "Amen" used 
 thus in communicating as meaning " it is 
 true." 
 
 At the end of prayers " Amen " signifies 
 our desire of obtaining what we ask. 
 Thus it is said by the server, after the 
 collects in the Mass, as a sign that the 
 faithful unite their petitions to those of 
 the priest. In Justin's time, the people 
 themselves answered " Amen " as the 
 
 1 De Miss. ii. 5. He adds a third sense — viz. consent to a 
 request — but gives no clear instance of this use. 
 
 2 viii. 12. 
 
204 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 priest finished the prayers and thanks- 
 givings in th.e Mass, and was about to dis- 
 tribute the Holy Communion.^ 
 
 A 
 
 mice. 
 
 Amice {Amicius. Called also " humer- 
 ale," " superhumerale," " anaboladium," 
 from anaballeifi, and, in a corrupt form, 
 "anabolagium "). A piece of fine linen, 
 oblong in shape, which the priest who is 
 to say Mass rests for a moment on his 
 head and then spreads on his shoulders, 
 reciting the prayer — " Place on my head, 
 O Lord, the helmet of salvation," etc. 
 
 For many centuries priests celebrated 
 with bare neck, as may be seen from many 
 figures in the Roman Catacombs, and 
 from the Mosaic at San Vitale in Ravenna. 
 The amice, however, is frequently men- 
 tioned after the opening of the ninth 
 century.^ Originally, as Innocent III. 
 expressly testifies, it covered the head as 
 well as the neck ; and to this day Capuchin 
 and Dominican friars wear the amice over 
 their heads till they reach the altar. It 
 also was not at first concealed by the alb, 
 as is now the case, and it was often made 
 of silk and ornamented with figures. At 
 present it is made of linen, and only 
 adorned with a cross, which the priest 
 kisses before putting on the amice. 
 
 Mediaeval writers have given very many 
 and very different symbolical meanings to 
 this vestment. The prayer already quoted 
 from the Roman Missal speaks of it as 
 
 1 Apol. i. 67. 
 
 2 "It was introduced in the eighth," says Dr. Rock; but 
 see Hsfele, Beitrdge %ur Kirchengeschichtt, etc., 11. 
 
 figuring the " helmet of salvation," and a 
 similar prayer occurs in most of the ancient 
 Latin Missals. 
 
 Ar\atKerT\ai. 
 
 A THING devoted or given over to evil, 
 so that ^'anathema sit^' means "let him 
 be accursed." St. Paul at the end of 
 I Corinthians pronounces this anathema 
 on all who do not love our blessed Saviour. 
 The Church has used the phrase "ana- 
 thema sit" from the earliest times with 
 reference to those whom she excludes from 
 her communion, either because of moral 
 offences or because they persist in heresy. 
 Thus one of the earliest councils — that of 
 Elvira, held in 306, — decrees in its fifty- 
 second canon that those who placed libel- 
 lous writings in the church should be 
 anathematized ; and the First General 
 Council anathematized those who held the 
 Arian heresy. General Councils since 
 then have usually given solemnity to their 
 decrees on articles of faith by appending 
 an anathema. 
 
 Neither St. Paul nor the Church of God 
 ever wished a soul to be damned. In pro- 
 nouncing anathema against wilful heretics, 
 the church does but declare that they are 
 excluded from her communion, and that 
 they must, if they continue obstinate, 
 perish eternally. 
 
 Gatafalqvje. 
 
 An erection like a bier placed during 
 Masses of the dead, when the corpse itself 
 
CATAFALQUE 
 
 205 
 
 1 
 
 is not there, in the centre of the church, 
 or in some other suitable place, surrounded 
 with burning lights and covered with black 
 cloth. It is also called "feretrmn,'' '^cast- 
 rum doloris,'' etc. (Merati's "Novae 
 Observationes " on "Gavantus," Part ii. 
 tit. 13.) 
 
 GatecKism. 
 
 A SUMMARY of Christian doctrine, usu- 
 ally in the form of question and answer, 
 for the instruction of the Christian people. 
 From the beginning of her history, the 
 Church fulfilled the duty of instructing 
 those who came to her for baptism. Cate- 
 chetical schools were established, and cate- 
 chetical instruction was carefully and 
 methodically given. We can still form an 
 accurate idea of the kind of instruction 
 given in the early Church, for Cyril of 
 Jerusalem has left sixteen books of cate- 
 chetical discourses, explaining the Creed 
 to the candidates for baptism, and five 
 more in which he sets forth, for the bene- 
 fit of the newly-baptized, the nature of the 
 three sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, 
 Eucharist) which they had just received. 
 St. Augustine wrote a treatise on catechis- 
 ing, at the request of Deo Gratias, a deacon 
 and catechist at Carthage. When the 
 world became Christian there was no 
 longer the same necessity for instructing 
 converts, but the children, and, indeed, the 
 people generally, still needed catechetical 
 instruction. Hence we find a council 
 held at Paris in 829 deploring the neglect 
 of catechetical instruction, while the Eng- 
 
 lish Council of Lambeth in 1281 requires 
 parish-priests to instruct their people four 
 times a year in the principal parts of Chris- 
 tian doctrine — viz., the articles of the 
 Creed, commandments, sacraments, etc. 
 The treatise of Gerson, " De Parvulis ad 
 Christum trahendis," gives some idea of 
 catechetical instruction towards the close 
 of the middle ages. 
 
 Catechetical instruction was one of the 
 subjects which occupied the Council of 
 Trent, and the Fathers arranged that a 
 Catechism should be drawn up by a com- 
 mission and be approved by the council. 
 This plan fell through, and they put the 
 whole matter in the Pope's hands. Pius 
 IV. entrusted the work to four theologians 
 — viz., Calinius, archbishop of Zara ; 
 Fuscararius (Foscarari), Bishop of 
 Modena ; Marinus, Archbishop of Lan- 
 ciano ; and Fureirius (Fureiro), a Ponii- 
 guese. All of them except the first were 
 Dominicans, Scholars were appointed to 
 see to the purity of style. St. Charles 
 Borromeo took a great part in assisting 
 the undertaking. In 1564 the book was 
 finished, whereupon it was examined by a 
 new commission under Cardinal Sirietus. 
 Towards the close of 1566 the Catechism 
 appeared, under the title " Catechismus 
 Romanus, ex Decreto Concilii Tridentini, 
 Pii V. Pont. Max. jussu editus. Romae, in 
 aedibus Populi Romani, apud Aldum Man- 
 utium." The original edition contains no 
 chapters and no answers. This Cate- 
 chism possesses very high though not abso- 
 lute authority, and has been regarded as a 
 model of clearness, simplicity and purity 
 
206 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 of language, of method, and doctrinal pre- 
 cision. But it was not fitted for direct use 
 in catechetical instruction, being intended 
 for parish priests and others who have to 
 catechize rather than for those who receive 
 instruction. Catechisms, therefore, of 
 various sizes, have been prepared by 
 bishops for their dioceses, or, as in Eng- 
 land, the bishops in concert approve a Cate- 
 chism for use in the whole country or pro- 
 vince. 
 
 GatecKist. 
 
 A NAME originally given to those who 
 instructed persons preparing for baptism. 
 Catechists were in early times also called 
 nautologoi, because they brought the sail- 
 ors on board the ship of the Church. 
 
 Zx GatKedra. 
 
 Cathedra, in the ecclesiastical sense, 
 means (i) the chair in which the bishop 
 sits. It was placed in early times behind 
 the altar, which did not stand, as it usually 
 does now, against the wall, but was sur- 
 rounded by the choir. The wooden chair 
 which St. Peter is said to have used is 
 still preserved in the Vatican basilica. 
 Eusebius relates that the chair of St. James 
 still existed in Jerusalem down to the time 
 of Constantine. The chair of St. Mark at 
 Jerusalem was regarded with such reli- 
 gious awe that Peter of Alexandria, arch- 
 bishop and martyr, did not dare to sit upon 
 it, though it was used by his successors. 
 Thoraassin, " Traits des Festes.") 
 
 (2) Cathedra was used by a natura\ 
 extension of meaning for the authority of 
 the bishop who occupied it, so that the 
 feast of the Cathedra or chair commemo- 
 rated the day on which the bishop entered 
 on his office. Thus we have three ser- 
 mons of St. Leo on the " natalis cathedrae 
 suae " — i. e. his elevation to the pontifi- 
 cate. In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory 
 we find a Mass for "the Chair of St, 
 Peter," on'the 24th of February. Accord- 
 ing to John Belith, a liturgical writer of 
 the middle ages, this feast was intended to 
 celebrate St. Peter's episcopate both at 
 Anticoch and Rome. A feast of St. 
 Peter's chair is mentioned in a sermon 
 attributed to St. Augustine, and in a canon 
 of the Second Council of Tours, which met 
 in 567. In the course of the middle ages, 
 the feast in February was associated with 
 St. Peter's chair at Antioch. Paul IV., in 
 a bull of the year 1558, complains that 
 although the feast of St. Peter's chair at 
 Rome was celebrated in France and Spain, 
 it was forgotten in Rome itself, although 
 the feast of his chair at Antioch was kept 
 in Rome. Accordingly Paul IV. ordered 
 that the feast of St. Peter's chair at Rome 
 should be observed on January 18. The 
 feast of St. Peter's chair at Antioch is kept 
 on February 22. (Thomassin, ib) 
 
 (3) Cathedra is taken as a symbol of 
 authoritative doctrinal teaching. Our Lord 
 said that the scribes and Pharisees sat 
 " super cathedram Moysis " — i. e. on the 
 chair of Moses. Here plainly it is not a 
 material chair of which Christ speaks, but 
 the " chair," as Jerome says, is a metaphor 
 
EX CATHEDRA. 
 
 207 
 
 for the doctrine of the law. This meta- 
 phor became familiar in Christian litera- 
 ture. Thus Jerome speaks of the " chair 
 of Peter, and the faith praised by apostolic 
 mouth." Later theologians use ^^ ex cathe- 
 dra " in a still more special sense, and 
 employ it to mark those definitions in 
 faith and morals which the Pope, as 
 teacher of all Christians, imposes on their 
 belief. The phrase is comparatively mod- 
 ern, and Billuart adduces no instance of 
 its use before 1305. It is often alleged 
 that the theologians explain the words " ex 
 cathedra " in many different ways, but a 
 clear and authoritative account of the 
 meaning is given by the Vatican Council, 
 which declares that the Pope is infallible 
 " when he speaks ' ex cathedra ' — i. e. 
 when exercising his office as the pastor 
 and teacher of all Christians, he, in virtue 
 of his supreme apostolic authority, defines 
 a doctrine concerning faith and morals, to 
 be held by the whole Church." (From 
 Ballerini, "De Primatu," and the bull 
 " Pastor seternus," cap. iv.) 
 
 WKat a GatKedral is. 
 
 I Cathedral (kathedra, the raised seat 
 
 )f the bishop.) The cathedral church in 
 
 pevery diocese is that church in which the 
 
 [(bishop has his chair or seat ; whence see, 
 
 the English form of st(^£^e. It is sometimes 
 
 :alled simply Domus, " the house," 
 
 \[Puonio, Ital. ; Dom, Ger.) ; for, as "pal- 
 
 ■ace " sufficiently indicates the residence of 
 
 la king, " so the Lord's house, which is the 
 
 cathedral church, the palace of the King 
 of kings, and the ordinary seat of the 
 supreme pastor of a city and diocese, is 
 sufficiently denoted by the single word 
 Domus." (Ferraris, in " Ecclesia.") A 
 cathedral was in early times called the 
 Matrix Ecclesia, but that name is now 
 given to any church which has other 
 churches subject to it. 
 
 The establishment of a cathedral church, 
 the conversion of a collegiate church into 
 a cathedral, and the union of two or more 
 cathedrals under the same bishop, are all 
 measures which cannot be legally taken 
 without the approbation of the Pope. 
 The temporal power has often performed 
 these and the like acts by way of usurpa- 
 tion, as when the revolutionary govern- 
 ment of France reduced the number of 
 French dioceses from more than a hundred 
 and thirty to sixty ; but a regular and law- 
 ful state of things in such a case can only 
 be restored by the State's entering into a 
 convention with the Holy See, which is 
 always ready, without abandoning prin- 
 ciple, to conform its action to the emergent 
 necessities of the times. Thus, in the 
 case just mentioned, by the Concordat 
 with Napoleon in 1802, Rome sanctioned 
 the permanent suppression of many old 
 sees, in consequence of which the French 
 episcopate now numbers eighty-four bish- 
 ops, instead of the larger number existing 
 before the Revolution. Analogous changes 
 are provided for in the Anglican com- 
 munion by the theory of the Royal Suprem- 
 acy, though this theory has been slightly 
 modified by the progress of political 
 
208 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 development since the Reformation. The 
 sovereign is still supreme in theory " in 
 all causes and over all persons, ecclesi- 
 astical as well as civil," within the Angli- 
 can communion ; but the supremacy cannot 
 be exercised in any important matter 
 without the consent of the majority of the 
 House of Commons, expressed through a 
 responsible ministry. An Act of Parlia- 
 ment, embodying as it does the united 
 will and action of sovereign and Parlia- 
 ment, solves all difficulties. Thus, in 
 1833, ten Protestant sees in Ireland were 
 suppressed at a stroke, and within the last 
 few years several suffragan sees, at Not- 
 tingham and elsewhere, have been erected 
 — always by Act of Parliament. In every 
 such case, whatever legality the Act may 
 have is solely due to the action of the 
 temporal power ; ecclesiastical authority 
 has nothing to do with it. 
 
 The Council of Trent forbids the hold- 
 ing of more than one cathedral church, or 
 the holding of a cathedral along with a 
 parish church by the same bishop.^ It 
 enjoins that ordinations shall, so far as 
 possible, be publicly celebrated in cathe- 
 dral churches, and in the presence of the 
 canons.* 
 
 Sar\ct\Jary. 
 
 The part of the church round the high 
 altar reserved for clergy. Euseb. (" H. E." 
 X. 5) speaks of the altar in the church 
 built by Constantine at Tyre, as enclosed 
 
 1 Sess. vii. 2 ; xxiv. 17, De Refonn. 
 
 2 Sess. xxiii. 8, De Reform. 
 
 with wooden rails. In ancient times, says 
 Morinus ("De Pen." vi. c. i, n. lo), both 
 the Latin and Greek churches were divided 
 into two parts, the atrium or court for the 
 laity, and the sanctuary (called by the 
 Greeks hierateion, but most commonly 
 bema, from its raised position, also Jiagion 
 ton hagidn, aduta, hilasterion, anaktoroti) 
 for bishop, priests, and deacons. The 
 porch, or nartJiex, is not mentioned till 500 
 years after Christ. The Latin word sanc- 
 tuarium occurs in the thirteenth capitu- 
 lum of the Second Council of Braga, in 
 563, which forbids any lay person to enter 
 the sanctuary for the reception of commu- 
 nion. (Le Brun, tom. iii, diss. i. a. viii.) 
 
 JKe Sarvctus. 
 
 The Sanctus, also known as the Tersanc- 
 tus, as the angelic hymn among the Latins, 
 as the triumphal hymn {epinikios /mninos) 
 among the Greeks, forms the conclusion of 
 the Preface in all the liturgies. It is 
 composed of the words, " Holy, holy, holy, 
 Lord God of Sabaoth," from Is. vi. and a 
 fragment of Ps. cxvii. 26 (Heb. cxviii.), 
 "Blessed is he who cometh in the name 
 of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." 
 In the Roman rite, except in the Pontifical 
 chapel and during exposition of the Blessed 
 Sacrament, a small bell is here rung. But 
 Benedict XIV. says he could not discover 
 when this custom began. It is to be ob- 
 served that the Missal here follows the old 
 Latin version, which retained the word 
 Sabaoth, while the Vulgate has cxercit7iiiin. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 209 
 
 This, no doubt, is the right translation, 
 but scholars are not agreed as to the origi- 
 nal reference. Ewald believes the refer- 
 ence is to the armies of angels (Ps. ciii. 2i, 
 cxlviii. 2; I Kings [3 Reg.], xxii. 19, "the 
 camp of God"; Gen, xxxii. 2) Schrader 
 suggests, which is very unlikely, that the 
 hosts of Israel are intended, while, 
 probably, the opinion of many other critics, 
 Kuenen, Bandessin, Tiele, Delitzch, is the 
 right one — viz. that the original reference 
 was to the stars. These are constantly 
 spoken of as the " host of heaven," and in 
 Is. xl. 26 as the host which God musters. 
 The title never occurs in the Pentateuch, 
 Josue, or Judges. But it is constantly 
 employed in the historical books from 
 Samuel onwards, in Psalms, in the 
 Prophets, but not in Osee, Ezechiel, or in 
 Micheas, except iv. 1-4. 
 
 5ar\clals. 
 
 Sandals form part of the bishop's 
 liturgical dress. The fact is interesting, 
 as one of many proofs that church vest- 
 ments are derived from the dress of daily 
 life, and had originally no connection with 
 the garb of Jewish priests, who oflficiated 
 barefoot. 
 
 Sandals are first mentioned as part of 
 the liturgical dress by Amalarius of Metz 
 ("De Eccl. Offic." i. 25 and 26). He 
 distinguishes between the sandals of the 
 bishop, which were fastened with thongs, 
 because he had to travel, and those of 
 priests. The deacon's sandals were the 
 same as those of the bishop whom he had 
 to accompany ; those of the subdeacons 
 were again distinct. Rabanus Maurus is 
 the next to mention sandals ( " De Cleric. 
 Institut."i. 22) ; he sees a reference to them 
 in Marc. vi. 9, Ephes. vi. 15, and, as they 
 covered the under but not the upper part 
 of the foot, he sees here a symbol of the 
 teacher's duty of revealing the Gospel to 
 the faithful and concealing it from infidels. 
 Pseudo-Alcuin, in the tenth century ("De 
 Div. Oflic." 39), copies the authors just 
 namsd. On the other hand, Hugo St. 
 Victor (" De Sacram." ii. iv. 14), Innocent 
 III. ("De Altaris Myster." i. 10, 34, 48), 
 Honorius of Autun ("Gemma Animae," 
 i, 210), show that in their time the sandals 
 of bishops only, not of priests, belonged to 
 the liturgical dress, as is the case still. 
 Innocent mentions the stockings of bishops 
 {calig(B} also iibialia), which since the 
 twelfth century have been of silk. (Hefele 
 "Beitrage," vol. ii. p. 219 scq.) 
 
 1 So Hefela understands the term. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SCKPUL-KRS. 
 
 1^ 
 
 CAPULAR ( from scapula, 
 shoulders). A dress which 
 covers the shoulders. It is 
 mentioned in the rule of St. 
 Benedict as worn by monks 
 over their other dress when 
 they were at work, and it now forms a 
 regular part of the religious dress in the 
 old orders. But it is best known among 
 Catholics as the name of two little pieces 
 of cloth worn out of devotion over the 
 shoulders, under the ordinary garb, and 
 connected by strings. 
 
 It was through the Carmelites that this 
 devotion began, and the following is the 
 story told of its origin : The Blessed 
 Virgin appeared at Cambridge to Simon 
 Stock, general of the Carmelite order, 
 when it was in great trouble. She gave 
 him a scapular which she bore in her hand 
 in order that by it " the holy [Carmelite] 
 order might be known and protected from 
 the evils which assailed it," and added, 
 " this will be the privilege for you and for 
 all Carmelites ; no one dying in this 
 scapular will suffer eternal burning." 
 
 Another m arvel is related by John XXII. 
 in the famous Sabbatine bull The 
 Blessed Virgin, he says, appeared to him, 
 and, speaking of the Carmelites and those 
 associated to them by wearing the scapu- 
 lar, promised that, if any of them went to 
 purgatory, she herself would descend and 
 free them on the Saturday following their 
 death. "This holy indulgence," says the 
 Pope, " I accept, corroborate, and 
 confirm, as Jesus Christ for. the merits of 
 the glorious Virgin Mary granted it in 
 heaven." To gain this privilege it is 
 necessary to observe fidelity in marriage 
 or chastity in the single state. Those 
 who read must recite the office of the 
 Blessed Virgin, unless already bound to 
 the Divine Office ; those who cannot, 
 must abstain from flesh meat on Wednes- 
 days and Saturdays, unless Christmas 
 falls on one of these days. So the 
 Sabbatine bull, as given in the Carmelite 
 *' Bullarium." 
 
 Two statements, then, have to be 
 examined. Is there any proof that the 
 Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon 
 
 210 
 
SCAPULARS. 
 
 211 
 
 Stock and made the promise related 
 above ? Is the Sabbatine bull genuine, 
 and the story it tells true ? 
 
 Wo take the latter question first, because 
 it may be dispatched very quickly. 
 Launoy, in a dissertation of wonderful 
 learning, to be found in the second volume 
 of his collected works (the edition we 
 have used is dated 1731, "Coloniae Allo- 
 brogum "), proves by a superabundance 
 of reasons that the bull of John XXII. is 
 a clumsy forgery, and that of Alexander 
 V. another forgery made to cover the 
 former. The autograph has never been 
 found, nor has it any place in the Roman 
 "Bullarium." Its authenticity is unhesi- 
 tatingly denied by the great Bollandist 
 Papebroch in his reply to the attacks 
 made upon him by the Carmelites and by 
 Benedict XIV. (" De Fest." Ixxiv. Ixxvii.) 
 The latter says it is as hard, perhaps 
 harder, to believe in this bull than in the 
 (story of the chapel built on Mount Carmel 
 in honor of the Blessed Virgin during her 
 life. He says he could give more reasons 
 against it than he cares to produce, and 
 [arguments drawn '* from things [ in the 
 pull ] which want all appearance of truth." 
 [He alludes, we suppose, to the style of the 
 [bull, which, as Launoy points out, betrays 
 |in many ways the hand of the impostor. 
 
 As to the fact of the apparition to 
 tSimon Stock, it is accepted by Benedict 
 IXIV., Papebroch, and Alban Butler on the 
 [faith of a " Life " of the saint by Swayn- 
 ton, who was his secretary and wrote the 
 story of the apparition at his dictation. 
 |A fragment of this " Life " was produced 
 
 from their archives at Bordeaux and 
 printed by one of the Carmelites — viz. 
 Cheronensis. We may observe that the 
 Carmelites refused a sight of this " Life " 
 to Papebroch. (See Bollandist "Acta 
 SS. Mali," tom. iii.) Next, to understand 
 the force of Launoy' a arguments for 
 regarding this passage in the "Life," if it 
 be authentic, as an interpolation, we must 
 remember that the miracle is represented 
 as gaining immediate notoriety. These 
 are Swaynton's, or pseudo-Swaynton's 
 words : " The story running through 
 England and beyond it, many cities 
 offered us places in which to live, and 
 many nobles begged to be affiliated to this 
 holy order, that they might share in its 
 graces, desiring to die in this holy habit." 
 If so, the silence of Carmelite authors for 
 more than a century after is remarkable. 
 Simon Stock died in 1250. Ribotus, 
 provincial in Catalonia (about 1340), in 
 his ten books " On the Institution and 
 Remarkable Deeds of the Carmelites," 
 ignores it. So does Chimelensis in two 
 books specially designed to glorify the 
 order (" Speculum Historiale " and " Spec- 
 ulum Ordinus Carmeli " ), and so do three 
 other authors of similar books quoted by 
 Launoy. Strangest of all, Waldensis, a 
 Carmelite, an Englishman, and writing 
 in England (" De Sacramentalibus"), tries 
 hard to prove the religious habit a sacra- 
 mental, and speaks particularly of the 
 Carmelite habit and the form which it is 
 given. Nothing could have been more to 
 the point than Swaynton's story, but he 
 never alludes to it. The vision is 
 
212 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 mentioned, apparently for the first time, 
 so far as it is known for certain, by 
 Grossus, a Carmelite of Toulouse, in his 
 *' Viridarium " (1389), then by Paleoni- 
 dorus (" Antiq. Ord. Carm." vi, 8, apud 
 Launoy), published in 1495. It is right 
 to add, however, that the Carmelites 
 claimed the support of an anonymous MS. 
 in the Vatican, said to have been written 
 early in the fourteenth century. 
 
 Many of the later Popes have granted 
 numerous indulgences to the Confraternies 
 of the scapular, and no Catholic, Launoy, 
 as little as any one, doubts the utility and 
 piety of the institution. " The Scapular," 
 says Bossuet, " is no useless badge. You 
 wear it as a visible token that you own 
 yourselves Mary's children, and she will 
 be your mother indeed if you live in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ " (" Sermon pour le 
 Jour du Scapulaire," vol. xi, p, 369, in the 
 last edition of Bossuet). Benedict XIV. 
 speaks in a similar tone, but he admits 
 that too many abuse these symbols and 
 badges by a misplaced confidence in them. 
 
 There are four other scapulars used in 
 the Church : that of the Trinity, of white 
 linen with a red cross, given by the Trin- 
 itarians or priests delegated by them ; the 
 Servite scapular of the Seven Dolours, 
 which is of black woollen stuff; that of 
 the Immaculate Conception, of light blue 
 woollen cloth, propagated by Ursula Ben- 
 incasa in the sixteenth century, and given 
 by the Theatines, who governed the 
 Congregation to which this nun belonged ; 
 the red scapular of the Passion, originated 
 by a Sister of Charity at Paris, who is 
 
 said to have received a revelation on the 
 matter in 1846, and given by the Vin- 
 centian Fathers. All these Confraternities 
 are designed to promote prayer and other 
 good works in their members. 
 
 (This article has been compiled from 
 Benedict XIV. " De Festis," the Bollan- 
 dists. Mail, torn. iii. ; Launoy, " Dissertat." 
 tom. ii. ; Swaynton's " Life " does not 
 seem to have been published entire. At 
 least, we have searched in vain for a copy 
 at the British Museum. There is nothing 
 in Alban Butler which had not been 
 already stated by the authors quoted. 
 The brief notice on the other Scapulars 
 is from a little book of Labis, " Notices et 
 Instructions sur les Scapulaires,"etc. It is 
 merely practical and has no historical 
 worth.) 
 
 ScKi 
 
 ism. 
 
 Schism {schisma). A tear or rent (Matt, 
 ix. 16; Marc. ii. 21) ; a division of opinion 
 (John vii. 43 ; ix. 16; x. 19); party spirit 
 in the Christian Church (i Cor. i. 10; xi. 
 18; xii. 25); and then, in Fathers and 
 theologians, a technical word to denote 
 formal separation from the unity of the 
 Church. " Schismatics," says St. Thomas 
 (" 2 2ndae," II. qu. xxxix., a. i), " in the 
 strict sense, are those who of their own 
 will and intention sever themselves from 
 the unity of the Church." This unity of 
 the Church, he continues, consists in the 
 connection of its members with each 
 other, and of all the members with the 
 head. " Now, this head is Christ, whose 
 
SCHISM. 
 
 213 
 
 representative in the Church is the 
 Supreme Pontiff. And therefore the name 
 of * schismatics ' is given to those who 
 refuse to be under the Supreme Pontiff 
 and to communicate with the members of 
 the Church subject to him," Further, he 
 thus explains the difference between 
 heresy and schism. Heresy is opposed to 
 faith, schism to charity ; so that, although 
 all heretics are schismatics, because loss of 
 faith involves separation from the Church, 
 all schismatics are not heretics, since a 
 man may, from anger, pride, ambition, or 
 -the like, sever himself from the communion 
 of the Church and yet believe all that 
 which the Church proposes for our belief. 
 Still, a state of pure schism — i. e. of schism 
 without heresy — cannot continue long — 
 at least, in the case of a large number of 
 men. The words of St. Jerome (on Titus, 
 cap. 3), quoted by St. Thomas, are to the 
 point : '* Schism at the beginning may be 
 understood as something different from 
 heresy, but there is no schism which does 
 not invent some heresy for itself, in order 
 to justify its secession." History abun- 
 dantly confirms this observation. Bodies 
 which at first separate from the Church 
 merely because they think their personal 
 rights have been infringed, are sure, in the 
 end, to deny the Church's unity and to 
 lose the spirit of faith. And so St. Thomas 
 remarks that, as loss of charity is the way 
 to loss of faith, so schism is the road to 
 heresy. 
 
 Schismatics do not, of course, lose the 
 power of order ; their priests can say 
 Mass, their bishops confirm and ordain. 
 
 But they lose all jurisdiction, so that 
 " they cannot either absolve, excommu- 
 nicate, or grant indulgences, or the like ; 
 and if they attempt anything of the kind 
 the act is null " {loc. cit. a. 3). Whether 
 pure schismatics door do not cease thereby 
 to be members of the Church, is a ques- 
 tion controverted in the Schools. Many 
 theologians consider that all who retain 
 integrity of faith are members of the 
 Church. But all agree that they are not 
 united to the Church by charity, — that, if 
 members, they are dead members, — so that 
 the question is of no great moment. 
 
 Berretta. 
 
 Berretta. a square cap with three or 
 sometimes four prominences or projecting 
 corners rising from its crown. There is 
 usually a tassel in the middle where the 
 corners meet. It is worn by a priest as 
 he approaches the altar to say Mass, by 
 ecclesiastics in choir, etc. It is of two 
 colors, black or red. The latter color is 
 used by cardinals, the former by all other 
 clerics. A bishop's berretta should be 
 lined with green ; in other respects it is 
 like that of an ordinary priest. A four- 
 cornered berretta belongs to Doctors of 
 Divinity,^ though Benedict XIV. mentions 
 that in his time Spanish ecclesiastics gen- 
 erally wore a berretta of this kind. 
 
 The word is derived from birrus, a man- 
 tle with a hood, and that again from 
 
 t Who, however, aie forbidden to use this peculiar berretta 
 in sacred functions. S. R. C. 7, Dec. 1844. But there is 
 some doubt as to the precise force of this decree. 
 
 I 
 
214 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 purrhos, flame-colored. "At Rome," says 
 Benedict XIV., "and in most churches, 
 the berretta was unknown as late as the 
 ninth century. Its ecclesiastical use began 
 when priests gave up the ancient custom 
 of covering their heads with the amice till 
 the actual beginning of the Mass." (Bene- 
 dict XIV. " De Miss." i. 9.) 
 
 GKalice. 
 
 Chalice {calix, poterion). The cup used 
 in Mass, for the wine which is to be conse- 
 crated. The rubrics of the Missal require 
 that it should be of gold or silver, or at 
 least have a silver cup gilt inside. It must 
 be consecrated by the bishop with chrism, 
 according to a form prescribed in the Pon- 
 tifical. It may not be touched except by 
 persons in holy orders. 
 
 We know nothing about the chalice which 
 our Lord used in the first Mass. Vener- 
 able Bede relates that in the seventh cen- 
 tury they exhibited at Jerusalem a great 
 silver cup, with two handles, which our 
 Saviour Himself had used in celebrating 
 the Eucharist, but antiquity knows noth- 
 ing of this chalice, and it has no better 
 claim to be regarded as genuine than the 
 chalice of agate which is still shown at 
 Valencia and claims also to be that used 
 by Christ. Probably the first chalices used 
 by Christian priests were made of glass. 
 It seems likely, at least, though the 
 inference cannot be called certain, from 
 TertuUian's words, that in his time glass 
 chalices were commonly used in church, 
 
 and undoubtedly such chalices were still 
 common during the fifth century, as 
 appears from the testimonies of St. Jerome 
 and Cyprianus Gallus, the biographer of 
 St. Caesarius of Aries. Gregory of Tours 
 mentions a crystal chalice of remarkable 
 beauty, which belonged to the church of 
 Milan. 
 
 However, even before persecution had 
 ceased, the Church began, from natural 
 reverence for Christ's blood, to employ 
 more costly vessels. The Roman Book of 
 the Pontiffs says of Pope Urban I. (226) 
 that " he made all the holy vessels of 
 silver." So, too, we read in the acts of 
 St. Lawrence's martyrdom, that he was 
 charged by the heathen with having sold 
 the altar vessels of gold and silver, and 
 with having given the proceeds to the 
 poor; while St. Augustine mentions two 
 golden and six silver chalices, which were 
 exhumed from the crypt of the church at 
 Cirta. Of course, such precious chalices 
 became more common when the Church 
 grew rich and powerful. Thus St. Chrys- 
 ostom describes a chaUce "of gold and 
 adorned with jewels." In 857 the Emperor 
 Michael III. sent Pope Nicolas I., among 
 other presents, a golden chalice, sur- 
 rounded by precious stones, and with 
 jacinths suspended on gold threads round 
 the cup. A precious silver chalice adorned 
 with figures belonged to the church at 
 Jerusalem, and was presented in 869 to 
 Ignatius of Constantinople. But it is need- 
 less to multiply instances on this head. 
 
 Still, for a long time chalices of horn, 
 base metal, etc., were still used, and 
 
CHALICE. 
 
 215 
 
 Binlerim says that a copper chalice, in 
 which Ludger, the Apostle of Miinster, in 
 the eighth century, said Mass, is still pre- 
 served at Werden, where he founded an 
 abbey. But very soon afterwards chalices 
 of glass, horn, base metal, etc., were pro- 
 hibited by a series of councils in England, 
 Germany, Spain, and France, although chal- 
 ices of ivory, and of precious stone ( e. g. 
 of onyx) were still permitted. Gratian 
 adopted in the Corpus Juris, a canon which 
 he attributes to a Council of Rheims, 
 otherwise unknown. The words of the 
 canon are, " Let the chalice of the Lord 
 and the paten be at least of silver, if not 
 of gold. But if any one be too poor, let 
 him in any case have a chalice of tin. 
 Let not the chalice be made of copper or 
 brass, because from the action of the wine 
 it produces rust, which occasions sickness 
 But let none presume to sing Mass with 
 a chalice of wood or glass." (Hefele, 
 " Beitrage," ii. p. 322 seq) 
 
 The practice of consecrating chalices is 
 very ancient. A form for this purpose is 
 contained in the Gregorian Sacramentary, 
 as well as in the most ancient " Ordines 
 Romani," and such consecration is usual 
 among the Greeks and Copts. In the 
 Latin Church, the bishop anoints the 
 inside of the chalice with chrism, using at 
 the same time appropriate prayers. The 
 consecration is lost if the chalice be 
 broken or notably injured, or if the inside 
 is regilt. A decree prohibiting all except 
 those in sacred orders to touch the paten 
 or chalice is attributed to an early Pope, 
 St. Sixtus, by the author of the "Liber 
 
 Pontificalis." But Merati, who quotes this 
 statement, admits that a Roman Ordo 
 regards it as lawful for acolyr.es to do so. 
 However, a Council of Braga, held in 563, 
 confines the right of touching the sacred 
 vessels to those who at least are sub- 
 deacons. 
 
 Besides the chalice from which the priest 
 took the Precious Blood, the ancients also 
 used " baptismal chalices," from which the 
 newly -baptized received communion under 
 the species of wine, and " ministerial chal- 
 ices " (^' calices ntinisteriales^'' " scj'phi"), in 
 which the Precious Blood was given to the 
 people. This " ministerial " chalice was 
 partly filled with common wine, and into 
 this wine the celebrant poured a small 
 quantity of the Precious Blood from the 
 " calix offertorius" i. e. the chalice with 
 which he said Mass. (Benedict XIV. " De 
 Miss." i. cap. 4.) 
 
 GKalice-Veil. 
 
 The veil with which the chalice is cov- 
 ered, called also "peplum" and "suda- 
 rium." It used to be of linen, but must 
 now be of silk, as the rubric requires. 
 The Greeks use three veils, one of which 
 covers the paten, another the chalice, a 
 third both paten and chalice. They call 
 the third veil aer, because it encompasses 
 the oblations. Cardinal Bona says this 
 Greek custom began in the church of 
 Jerusalem, and thence spread through the 
 East. (Benedict XIV. " De Miss." i. c^p. 
 5.) 
 
2l6 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 Benedict XIV. considers the antiquity 
 of the chalice-veil to be proved by one of 
 the Apostolic Canons — viz. 72 {al. 73), 
 which forbids the application of the church 
 vessels or veils {othonen) to profane uses. 
 Hefele thinks this canon may belong to 
 the latter half of the third century. But 
 there does not seem to be any reason for 
 alleging that the veil meant is the chalice- 
 veil. Gavantus says that the chalice-veil 
 is mentioned in the liturgy of St. Chrysos- 
 tom (which, however, has been altered 
 since the saint's time) ; that silken chalice- 
 veils were given to Pope Hormisdas (514- 
 523), and that Amalarius mentions the 
 Roman custom of bringing the chalice to 
 the altar wrapped in a veil. 
 
 GK 
 
 ar\ce 
 
 1. 
 
 The part of a church between the altar 
 and the nave, so named from the rails 
 (cancelli) which separated it from the nave. 
 The word was in use before the Reforma- 
 tion, and the Anglicans still retain it. 
 Among English Catholics it is now little 
 used, the portion of the church near the 
 altar, separated by rails from the nave, 
 being designated the "sanctuary." In 
 cathedrals and conventual churches, where 
 space is required to accommodate the 
 canons or the religious, a portion of the 
 church between the sanctuary and the nave 
 is taken for the purpose ; it is not, how- 
 ever, called the "chancel," but the "choir," 
 Fr. chceur. 
 
 Py 
 
 X. 
 
 A VASE in which the Blessed Sacra 
 ment is reserved. The word occurs in 
 this sense in a decree of Pope Leo IV., 
 who reigned from 847-885. (Mansi, " Con- 
 cil," xiv. 891). The pyx should be of 
 silver, gilt inside, and covered with a silk 
 veil. It is not consecrated, but the Missal 
 gives a form for the blessing of a pyx by 
 the bishop or priest with episcopal facul- 
 ties. (" Manuale Decret." p. y6 note.) 
 
 Gib 
 
 onvjm. 
 
 The use of the ciborium, or canopy over 
 the altar, has been already described in the 
 article Baldacchino. In English, cibo- 
 rium is the name commonly given to the 
 pyx in which the Blessed Sacrament is 
 kept. Pyx (also Vas) is the recognized 
 name in our present liturgical books, and 
 under that head the subject will be treated. 
 The name " Ciborium minus " is first used 
 for the receptacle of the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment, in the middle ages. It is found in 
 an Ordo Romanus printed in the " Biblio- 
 otheca Patr." Lugdun. vol. xiii. 724. 
 (Kraus, "Real-Encyclopadie.") 
 
 Qirdle. 
 
 Girdle {cingulum, balleum, zone). A 
 cord with which the priest or other cleric 
 binds his alb. It is the symbol of conti- 
 nence and self-restraint, as is said by InnO' 
 
GIRDLE. 
 
 217 
 
 cent III., and implied in the prayer which 
 'the priest about to celebrate Mass is 
 directed to use while he ties the girdle 
 round his waist. The Congregation of 
 Rites (January 22, 1701 ) lays it down that 
 the girdle should be of linen rather than of 
 silk, though it may also be ( S, R. C, 
 December 23, 1862) of wool. Usually it 
 is white, but the use of colored girdles, 
 varying with the color of the vestments, is 
 permitted (S. R. C. January 8, 1709). 
 
 As to the origin of the girdle, its use 
 was common among Greeks and Romans 
 in their daily life, and thence took its place, 
 as a matter of course, among the liturgical 
 vestments ; but it is not till the beginning 
 of the middle ages that we meet with 
 liturgical girdles richly adorned. Anas- 
 tasius, in the ninth century, mentions 
 nmrcBiiulcB — i. e. jewelled girdies in the 
 shape of lampreys or eels. We also read 
 of girdles variegated with gold, and of 
 others {zonce literatcB) with letters or 
 words woven in. The Greek girdle is 
 shorter and broader than ours, and often 
 richly adorned. ( See Benedict XIV. " De 
 Miss" ; Le Brun ; Hefele, " Beitrage.") 
 
 MaPiiple. 
 
 An ornamental vestment worn by sub- 
 deacons and by clergy of higher orders at 
 Mass. It hangs from the left arm below 
 the elbow ( Gavantus says above the elbow, 
 but he is corrected by Meratus ), and is 
 fastened by strings or pins. It is of the 
 same color and material as the chasuble. 
 
 Priests put it on before Mass after the 
 girdle. Bishops do not take it till they 
 have said the Confiteor at the foot of the 
 altar. It is supposed to symbolize pen- 
 ance and sorrow, and the prayer which 
 the priest is directed in the Missal to say 
 as he puts it on alludes to this significa- 
 tion. " Be it mine, O Lord, to bear the 
 maniple of weeping and sorrow, that I may 
 receive with joy the reward of toil." And 
 the prayer said by the bishop is much the 
 same. Liturgical writers also see in the 
 maniple a symbol of the cords with which 
 Christ was bound on His capture. 
 
 Many writers, following Cardinal Bona, 
 have thought that they could trace the 
 mention of the maniple to Gregory the 
 Great, who wrote to John of Ravenna 
 because the clergy of that see had begun 
 to use w/«//«/^, which, up to that time, 
 had been peculiar to Roman ecclesiastics. 
 It has been shown, however, by Binterein, 
 that the mappidce were not maniples, but 
 portable baldaccJdni. The mosaic of St. 
 Vitalis at Ravenna ( sixth century ) repre- 
 sents the bishop and clergy without 
 maniples, and it is not till the eighth and 
 ninth centuries that any trace of the 
 maniple is found. It was originally a 
 handkerchief ( hence the name mannipuhcs) 
 used for removing perspiration and the 
 moisture of the eyes. Mabillon quotes 
 from a document of the year 781, in which 
 " five maniples " are named, along with 
 other vestments. In 889, Bishop Riculf, 
 of Soissons, required each church to have 
 at least two girdles and as many clean 
 maniples {^'totidem nitidas manipulas''). 
 
 ft 
 
2l8 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 In the tenth century, Bishop Ratherius 
 forbade any one to say Mass without amice, 
 alb, stole, ^^ fanone et plaiieta!' Th^planeta 
 is the chasuble ; the fano (Goth, fana, 
 allied to the Greek penos and the Latin 
 panrms, and the same word as the modern 
 German Fahne ) is the maniple ; hantfan or 
 Jiantvan being the translation of ma7iipulus 
 or manipula in mediaeval vocabularies. 
 
 The following are the principal changes 
 which have occurred in the form and use of 
 the maniple. Originally, as has been said, 
 it was a mere handkerchief, used indeed 
 at Mass, but then for ordinary purposes. 
 But it was richly ornamented. Thus in 
 908, Adalbero, bishop of Augsburg, offered 
 a maniple worked with gold at the shrine of 
 St. Gallus. In the Basilica of St. Ambrose 
 at Milan there are four figures of saints, 
 constructed in 835, with ornamental 
 maniples on their left arms, much like 
 Gothic maniples of a much later date. 
 Hefele gives a figure (belonging to the 
 ninth century) of a priest with little bells 
 on his maniple, in imitation doubtless of 
 the bells on the coat of the Jewish High 
 Priest. But even as late as iioo Ivo of 
 Chartres mentions the use of the maniple 
 for wiping the eyes, and it was only 
 gradually that the maniple became entirely 
 of stiff material. The prayer in the Missal, 
 as we have seen, still alludes to the old and 
 simple use. 
 
 Again, in 11 00 a Council of Poitiers 
 restricted the use of the maniple to sub- 
 deacons, and such is the present custom. 
 But only a little before the council Lan- 
 franc speaks of the maniple as commonly 
 
 worn by monks, even if laymen. A statute 
 of the Church of Liege (1287) directs that 
 the maniple should be two feet long, 
 which is much more than its present 
 length. Moreover, since the chasuble 
 used to cover the entire body, the priest 
 did not put on the maniple till the chasuble 
 was raised after the Confiteor and his arm 
 left free. A memory of the old state of 
 things is preserved by bishops at their 
 Mass. ( Gavantus, with Merati's notes, 
 Hefele, "Beitrage.") 
 
 Humeral Veil. 
 
 An oblong scarf of the same material as 
 the vestments, worn by the subdeacon at 
 High Mass, when he holds the paten, 
 between the Offertory and Paternoster ; by 
 the priest when he raises the monstrance 
 to give Benediction with the Blessed Sacra^ 
 ment ; and by priests and deacons when 
 they remove the Blessed Sacrament from 
 one place to another, or carry it in proces- 
 sion. It is worn round the shoulders, and 
 the paten, pyx, or monstrance is wrapped 
 in it. According to Le Brun (" Explica- 
 tion de la Messe," i. p. 319), this veil was 
 introduced because in many churches it 
 was the ancient custom for an acolyte to 
 hold the paten at High Mass, and he, not 
 being in holy orders, could not lawfully 
 touch the sacred vessels with bare hands. 
 The Levites, as may be seen in Numbers 
 iv., were only allowed to bear the sacred 
 vessels after they had been wrapped up in 
 coverings. This reason obviously does 
 
HUMERAL VEIL. 
 
 219 
 
 not supply any explanation of the use of 
 the veil by tTie priest at Benediction, etc. 
 But though the priest is permitted to touch 
 vessels containing the Blessed Sacrament, 
 he abstains from doing so at certain solemn 
 moments out of reverence. We ought to 
 add that the use of the humeral veil at 
 Benediction is strictly prescribed in 
 several decrees of the Congregation of 
 Rites. 
 
 Svjrplice. 
 
 A GARMENT of white linen worn over 
 the cassock in choir and in the administra- 
 tion of the sacraments. It is among the 
 most familiar, and at the same time is one 
 of the most modern, of Church vest- 
 ments. 
 
 The word superpellicium means a dress 
 worn over a garment of skins. Such 
 dresses of fur {pellictce) came into use 
 among monks early in the ninth century, 
 probably to protect them from the cold and 
 damp during the long offices in church. 
 The great Synod of Aix-la-Chapelle in 
 817 (can. 22) ordered each monk to have 
 two dre.^ises of fur {pellictce). Over these 
 pellicicB'A. linen garment, the superpellicium 
 or surplice, was worn in choir. It is uncer- 
 tain when this last custom began. The 
 surplice is mentioned in 1050 by the Coun- 
 cil of Coyaca, and Durandus in 1286 
 speaks of its use as already ancient, but by 
 no means universal. The Spanish synod 
 just mentioned (can. 3) requires it to be 
 worn under the amice, alb, and the rest of 
 the Mass vestments, and this usage is 
 
 still recognized in the rubrics of the Roman 
 Missal. ("Ritus Servand." i. 2.) In the 
 twelfth century it reached to the ankles, 
 and so the Council of Basle in the fifteenth 
 century requires canons in choir to wear 
 surplices " ultra medias tibiasy Cardinal 
 Bona, more than two hundred years ago, 
 speaks of surplices being already shorter 
 than the rule of Basle required, but the 
 pictures in Roman Pontificals of the last 
 century show that the present form of the 
 Italian surplice or cotta is very recent. 
 To this day the length varies much in 
 American churches, but it never reached 
 below the knees, while in the new Italian 
 fashion adopted by many of the English 
 clergy the surplice does not reach nearly 
 so far. It was not till the seventeenth cen- 
 tury that surplices were commonly adorned 
 with lace. (Hefele, " Beitrage," vol. ii. p. 
 174. seq.\ see also Rochet and Cotta.) 
 
 Dalmatic. 
 
 A VESTMENT Opened on each side, with 
 wide sleeves, and marked with two stripes. 
 It is worn by deacons at High Mass as 
 well as at processions and benedictions, 
 and by bishops, when they celebrate Mass 
 pontifically, under the chasuble. The 
 color should conform to that of the chasu- 
 ble worn by the celebrant. 
 
 The word is derived from Dalmatia, 
 and first occurs in the second century. 
 
 The dalmatic {Dahnaiica vestis) was a 
 long under-garment of white Dalmatian 
 wool corresponding to the Roman Tunic. 
 
220 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 .-Elius Lampridius blames the emperors 
 Commodus and Heliogabalus for appear- 
 ing publicly in the dalmatic. In the Acts 
 of St. Cyprian we are told that the martyr 
 drew off his dalmatic and, giving it to his 
 deacons, stood ready for death in his^ 
 linen garment. In these instances the 
 dalmatic was clearly a garment of every- 
 day life. 
 
 According to Anastasius, Pope Sylves- 
 ter, early in the fourth century, gave the 
 Roman deacons dalmatics instead of the 
 sleeveless garments ikolobia) which they 
 had used previously. Gradually the Popes 
 conceded the privilege of wearing the dal- 
 matic as an ecclesiastical vestment to the 
 deacons of other churches.^ Such a con- 
 cession was made by rope Symmachus 
 towards the close of the fifth century, to 
 the church of Aries. In the same way, 
 the use of the dalmatic as an episcopal 
 vestment was first proper to the Pope and 
 then permitted by him to other bishops. 
 Thus Gregory the Great allowed Aregius, 
 bishop of Gap in Gaul, to wear a dalmatic, 
 and Walafrid Strabo testifies that in the 
 seventh century this episcopal custom was 
 by no means universal. But from the 
 year 800 onwards ecclesiastical writers all 
 speak of the dalmatic as one of the episco- 
 pal, and the chief of the deacon's vest- 
 ments. The dalmatic was originally 
 always white, but Durandus speaks of red 
 dalmatics, symbolizing martyrdom. The 
 Greeks have a vestment corresponding to 
 our dalmatic, called sticharion or stoic/iarion, 
 
 l«Quando sacerdoti ministrant." — Rubr. Gen. Miss. iit. 
 
 from the stichoi (lines or stripes), with which 
 it is adorned ; its color varies', just as the 
 dalmatic of our. deacons does, with the 
 color of WiQ phelojiion or chasuble, worn by 
 the celebrant. The Greek priests also 
 wear a sticharion under the chasuble, but 
 the former is always white. 
 
 Various mystical meanings have been 
 attached to the dalmatic. When the arms 
 are stretched it presents the figure of a 
 cross ; the width of the sleeves is said to 
 typify charity ; the two stripes (which 
 were originally purple, and are probably a 
 relic of the Roman latus clavus) were sup- 
 posed to symbolize the blood of Christ 
 shed for Jews and Gentiles. (From Rock, 
 "Hierurgia," and Hefele, " Beitrage," il 
 204 seq.) 
 
 lassoc 
 
 k. 
 
 Cassock {vestis talaris, toga subtanea, 
 soutane). A close-fitting garment reach- 
 ing to the heels {usque ad talos), which is 
 the distinctive dress of clerics. The cas- 
 sock of simple priests is black ; that of 
 bishops and other prelates, purple ; that of 
 cardinals, red ; that of the Pope, white. 
 Originally the cassock was the ordinary 
 dress common to laymen ; its use was con- 
 tinued by the clergy, while lay people, 
 after the immigration of the northern 
 nations, began to wear shorter clothes, and 
 thus it became associated with the ecclesi- 
 astical state. The Council of Trent, De 
 Reform, cap. 6, requires all clerics, if in 
 sacred orders, or if they hold a beneficCi 
 
CASSOCK. 
 
 221 
 
 to wear the clerical dress ; although in 
 Protestant countries clerics are excused 
 from doing so in public, on account of the 
 inconveniences likely to arise. 
 
 Jvjrvic. 
 
 Tunic {tunica or tunicelld). A vest- 
 trtent proper to sub-deacons, who are 
 clothed in it by the bishop at ordination, 
 and exactly like the dalmatic, except 
 that, according to Gavantus ("Thesaur." 
 P. I, tit. xix.), it is rather smaller. Even 
 this distinction is not, so far as we know, 
 generally observed. It is also worn by 
 bishops under the dalmatic when they 
 pontificate. Gregory the Great (Ep. ix. 
 ,12) says one of his predecessors had given 
 the sub-deacons linen tunics, and that 
 some other churches had adopted this 
 usage, but he himself had restored the old 
 fashion, and left his sub-deacons without 
 any special vestment. There is no notice 
 of the tunicella in the Gregorian Sacra- 
 mentary. But the first (§6) and the 
 fifth ( § I ) of the Roman Ordines distin- 
 guish between a greater and less dal- 
 matic, and the latter probably is our 
 tunicle. Amalarius expressly marks 
 ("Eccles. OflEic." ii. 21, 22) the difference 
 between dalmatic and tunicle, and tells us 
 that some bishops wore one, some the 
 other, some, as now, both. He says the 
 tunic was also called " subucula,^^ and \yas, 
 when worn as an episcopal vestment, 
 purple {hyacinthind). Honorius of Autun 
 calls the tunicle ( " Gemma," i. 229) 
 
 "subtile^ and ** tunica stricta^^ (i. e. nar- 
 row) ; Innocent III. ( " De Altar. Myster." 
 i. 39 and 55), " tunica poderes^ 
 
 Corporal. 
 
 The linen cloth on which the body of 
 Christ is consecrated. It used to cover 
 the whole surface of the altar, as may be 
 gathered from an " Ordo Romanus," where 
 the corporal is said to be spread on the 
 altar by two deacons. The chalice also 
 was covered by the corporal, a custom 
 still maintained by the Carthusians. The 
 corporal is and must be blessed by the 
 bishop or by a priest with special faculties. 
 It represents the winding-sheet in which 
 Christ's body was wrapped by Joseph of 
 Arimathea. 
 
 Crib at BetKIeKen\. 
 
 The actual crib in which Christ was 
 born is said to have been brought from 
 Bethlehem in the seventh century, and to 
 be now preserved in the Liberian basilica 
 at Rome. The present custom of erecting 
 a crib in the churches at Christmas time 
 with figures representing our Lord, the 
 Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, etc., began 
 during the thirteenth century in the 
 Franciscan order. (Benedict XIV. " De 
 Festis," i. n. 641, n 679.) 
 
 Go 
 
 pe. 
 
 Cope {fappa pluviale). A wide vest- 
 ment, of silk, etc., reaching nearly to the 
 
222 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORy. 
 
 feet, open in front and fastened by a clasp, 
 and with a hood at the back. It is used 
 by the celebrant in processions, benedic- 
 tions, etc, but never in the celebration of 
 Mass, for the Church reserves the chasuble 
 for the priest actually engaged in offering 
 sacrifice, and thus carefully distinguishes 
 between Mass and all other functions. 
 The cope is used in processions by those 
 who assist the celebrant, by cantors at 
 vespers, etc., so that it is by no means a 
 distinctively sacerdotal vestment. Men- 
 tion is made of the cope in the ancient 
 " Ordo Romanus " for the consecration of 
 bishops. No special blessing is provided 
 for the cope. (From Gavantus and Mera- 
 tus.) 
 
 G rosier or jpastoral Staff. 
 
 Crosier or Pastoral Staff {baculus pas- 
 toralis, pedum, cambutd). The staff given 
 to the bishop at his consecration as the 
 symbol of the authority with which he rules 
 his flock. It is said that such a staff is 
 first mentioned by Isidore of Seville 
 (t^S^)- This staff is curved at the top, 
 straight in the middle, and pointed at the 
 lower end. Hence the mediaeval line 
 quoted by Gavantus, " Curva irakii, qnos 
 dextra regit ; pars ultima pungit!^ The 
 Pope alone of all bishops actually ruling a 
 diocese does not use a pastoral staff. 
 According to some, this is because the 
 curvature in the staff is a token of limited 
 jurisdiction (?). 
 
 CKasvible. 
 
 Chasuble (Lat. casula, pcenula, planeta ; 
 and in Greek, phelonion or pheldniotiy from 
 phainoles, or phelones, identical with 
 pcemila). The chief garment of a priest 
 celebrating Mass. It is worn outside the 
 other vestments. Among the Greeks, it 
 still retains its ancient form of a large 
 round mantle. Among the Latins, its 
 size has been curtailed, but it still covers 
 the priest on both sides, and descends 
 nearly to the knees. In France, Ireland, 
 the United States, and often in England, 
 a cross is marked on the back ; in Italy, 
 this cross is usually in front. In the 
 West, all who celebrate Mass wear the 
 same chasuble, but among the Greeks the 
 chasuble of a bishop is ornamented with 
 a number of crosses {phainolion polus- 
 iaurion), while an archbishop wears a 
 different vestment altogether, viz. the 
 sakkos, which is supposed to resemble 
 the coat of Christ during His Passion. 
 In Russia, even bishops, since the 
 time of Peter the Great, have worn the 
 sakkos. 
 
 The chasuble is derived from a dress 
 once commonly worn in daily life. Classi- 
 cal writers often mention the " paenula," 
 or large outer garment which the Romans 
 wore on journeys or in military service. 
 " Casula," from which our word chasuble 
 is obtained, does not occur in pure Latin- 
 ity. It was, however, used in later ages, 
 as an equivalent for the " paenula," or 
 mantle. We first meet with the word 
 in the will of Caesarius of Aries (about 
 
CHASUBLE. 
 
 223 
 
 540), and in the biography of his contem- 
 porary, Fulgentius of Ruspe. In both 
 instances, " casula " denotes a garment 
 used in common life. Isidore of Seville 
 (about 630) uses the word in the same 
 sense, and explains it as a diminutive of 
 "casa," because, like a little house, it 
 covered the whole body. The same 
 author tells us that " planeta " comes from 
 the Greek planao, " to wander," because 
 its ample folds seemed to wander over the 
 body. It is plain, from the examples given 
 by Ducange, that "planeta," like "casula" 
 and " paenula," denoted a dress worn by 
 laymen as well as clerics. 
 
 It is in the former half of the sixth 
 century that we find the first traces of the 
 chasuble as an ecclesiastical vestment. 
 In the famous mosaic at San Vitale, in 
 Ravenna, the archbishop, Maximus, is 
 represented wearing a vestment which is 
 clearly the chasuble, and over which the 
 pallium is suspended. The chasuble has 
 the same shape which prevailed till the 
 eleventh century. The Fourth Council of 
 Toledo, in 633, makes express mention of 
 the "planeta," as a priestly vestment. 
 Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, 
 about 715, uses the word phelonion in the 
 same technical sense ; while at the begin- 
 ning of the ninth century, Amalarius of 
 Metz speaks of the " casula" as the " gen- 
 eral garment of sacred leaders" {^^ gene- 
 rale indumentum sacrorum ducum " ). 
 Almost at the same time, Rabanus Mau- 
 rus gives the derivation of " casula," 
 quoted above, from Isidore of Seville, and 
 
 goes on to say that it is "the last of all (d. 114.0) 
 
 the vestments, which covers and preserves 
 all the rest." Later authors of the mid- 
 dle age copy their predecessors ; and even 
 Innocent III. adds nothing of his own 
 save certain mystical meanings implied in 
 the use of the vestment. 
 
 To sum up, the chasuble was first of all 
 an ordinary dress ; from the sixth century 
 at latest it was adapted to the use of the 
 church, till gradually it became an eccle- 
 siastical dress pure and simple. But did 
 it at once become distinctive of the priest- 
 hood } The question admits of no certain 
 answer. The eighth " Ordo Romanus " 
 distinctly prescribes that acolytes, in their 
 ordination, should receive the ** planeta " or 
 chasuble. Amalarius, in like manner, 
 declares that the chasuble belongs to all 
 clerics. On the other hand, almost all 
 ancient writers who refer to the church 
 use of the chasuble regard it as the dis- 
 tinctive dress of priests. Cardinal Bona 
 mentions this difficulty without venturing 
 to explain it. Hefele suggests that as the 
 Greek //^^/^»/^« signifies (i) a chasuble in 
 the modern sense, (2) a kind of collar, 
 reaching from the neck to the elbows, 
 which is worn by lectors or readers, so the 
 Latin word "planeta " may have been also 
 employed as the name of two distinct 
 vestments. But even if this explanation 
 is correct, the fact remains that even now 
 the deacon and subdeacon, in High Mass 
 during Advent and Lent, wear chasubles 
 folded in front, laying them aside while 
 they sing the Gospel and Epistle. This 
 custom is mentioned by Hugo of St. Victor 
 
 I 
 
224 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 The form of the chasuble has under- 
 gone great alterations. The ancient 
 chasuble, which enveloped the whole body, 
 was found very inconvenient, and hence in 
 the twelfth century, it was curtailed at 
 the sides, so as to leave the arms free. 
 Of this kind is a chasuble said to have 
 been used by St. Bernard. In shape it 
 resembles what is now known as the 
 Gothic chasuble, although the ornaments 
 upon it are not Gothic but Romanesque. 
 At a later date, the chasuble was still 
 further curtailed, till in the Rococo period 
 all resemblance to the original type disap- 
 peared. However, even in Italy, attempts 
 were made to recall the ancient shape, at 
 least to a certain extent. Thus St. 
 Charles Borromeo, in a provincial council, 
 ordered that the chasubles should be about 
 four and a half feet wide, and should reach 
 nearly to the heels. 
 
 Various symbolical significations have 
 been given to the chasuble. The earliest 
 writers make it a figure of charity, which, 
 as Rabanus Maurus says, "is eminent 
 above all the other virtues." This is the 
 most popular explanation of the symbolism ; 
 but we also find it regarded by an ancient 
 writer as typical of good works ; ancient 
 Sacramentaries and Missals consider it as 
 the figure of sacerdotal justice, or of 
 humility, charity, and peace, which are 
 to cover and adorn the priest on every 
 side ; while the prayer in the Roman 
 Missal connects the chasuble with the 
 yoke of Christ. ( Hefele, " Beitrage zur 
 Kirchengeschichte, Archaologie und Lit- 
 urgik," p. 195 seq) 
 
 Frorxtal. 
 
 Frontal {antipendium, pallium). An 
 embroidered cloth which often covers the 
 front side of the altar. The color, accord- 
 ing to the Rubrics of the missal, should 
 vary with the feast or season. In early 
 times the altar was open in front, so that 
 there was no need of such a covering, and 
 even now Gavantus says it may be dis- 
 pensed with if the altar is of costly 
 material, or fine workmanship. (Gavant 
 P. I., tit. XX.) 
 
 ZxpIaAatiorx of preface of 
 tKe JMass. 
 
 A PRELUDE or introduction to the Canon 
 of the Mass, consisting in an exhortation 
 to thanksgiving made by the celebrant, in 
 the answers of the minister or choir, and a 
 prayer ending with the Sanctus, in which 
 God is thanked for His benefits. The 
 Greeks have only one Preface, which in 
 the Clementine liturgy is extremely long. 
 The Galilean and Mozarabic rites, on the 
 other hand, are rich in Prefaces, and so 
 originally was the Roman liturgy, which 
 from the sixth till about the end of the 
 eleventh century had a special Preface for 
 nearly every feast. About iioo the 
 number was reduced in most churches of the 
 Roman rite to ten — viz. the common one, 
 found in nearly all the ancient Sacramen- 
 taries, and nine others named in a letter 
 falsely attributed to Pelagius, predecessor 
 of St. Gregory, and cited in the " Microlo- 
 
EXPLANATION OF PREFACE OF THE MASS. 
 
 225 
 
 gus," etc. — viz. the Preface of Christmas, 
 Epiphany,^ Lent, Easter, Ascension, 
 Pentecost, the Trinity, the Apostles, the 
 Cross. Urban II. is said by Gratian, who 
 lived fifty years later, to have added the 
 Preface of the Blessed Virgin in 1095. 
 The Sarum Use had " proper Prefaces " 
 for the " Conception, Nativity, Annuncia- 
 tion, Visitation, Veneration, and Assump- 
 tion of the Blessed Virgin." "The York 
 Use added another for the days between 
 Passion Sunday and Easter. The Here- 
 ford appointed the same Preface from Palm 
 Sunday to Easter." ( Maskell ; the rest of 
 the article is from Le Brun and Ham- 
 mond). 
 
 Prelate. 
 
 Prelate {pralatiis), A name for an 
 ecclesiastical dignitary, whether among 
 the secular or the regular clergy, who has 
 a jurisdiction inherent in his office, and not 
 merely one transmitted to him as the 
 delegate of a superior. The designation 
 is extended in a wider sense to the prelates 
 of the Pope's Court and household, as 
 having a superiority of rank. 
 
 Prelature, or prelacy, is the status of a 
 prelate. When the first Scotch Presby- 
 terians raved against " Popery, Prelacy, 
 and Erastianism," prelacy in their mouths 
 was not exactly equivalent to "Episco- 
 pacy" ; they meant that they were in 
 
 1 So Le Brun, torn, ii ; but the letter, as given in Leofric's 
 Missal, omits the Preface for the Epiphany and substitutes 
 one for the dead (Maskell, Ancient Liturgies of thg Church 
 of England p. 103. seq). 
 
 rebellion against canon law and ecclesias. 
 tical jurisdiction. It is true that they 
 erected a new jurisdiction, far more 
 burdensome and inquisitorial than the old 
 one ; on which see Buckle's " History of 
 Civilization," vol. ii. chap. v. 
 
 WK\j tKe Priest says ^' Ite 
 ]Missa est." 
 
 The meaning of the word Missa is dis- 
 cussed under Mass, Here it may suffice 
 to say, that after the Gospel the catechu- 
 mens were dismissed by the deacon with 
 the words, "Ite Missa est "/ Go, you are dis- 
 missed ; literally " a dismissal is made " ; 
 and that the same formula was repeated at 
 the end of the whole Mass. In the litur- 
 gies of St, James, St. Basil, and St. Chrys- 
 ostom, we find the form " Let us go in the 
 peace of Christ," the people answering " In 
 the name of the Lord." "Benedicamus 
 Domino " is substituted in Masses of ferias 
 and Sundays in the penitential seasons, 
 " Requiescat in pace " in Masses of th« 
 dead, because these Masses were followed 
 by penitential prayers, and by the absolu- 
 tion at the tomb, for which the peopl* 
 waited. (Benedict XIV., "De Miss." 
 Hefele, " Beitrage.") 
 
 Bu 
 
 rse. 
 
 Burse {bursa, also perd). A square 
 case into which the priest puts the cor 
 
226 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 poral which is to be used in Mass. It was 
 introduced in the fourteenth century. It 
 should be of the same color as the vest- 
 ments of the day. Usually it has a cross 
 in the middle. The priest places it above 
 the chalice, with the open side towards his 
 
 own breast. When he reaches the altar, 
 he extracts the corporal and places the 
 burse on the Gospel side. Pius V. allowed 
 the Spanish priests to carry the corporal 
 outside the burse. (Benedict. " De Miss." 
 i. 5.) 
 
 1^ 
 
 Wa 
 
 ^ 
 
NBIfFERENTlSn. 
 
b^ " 
 
 -INTRODUCTION. 
 
 —^^ 
 
 JN the following pages I propose 
 to answer the question : " Is 
 one religion as good as 
 another ? " In other words, I 
 propose to discuss that popu- 
 lar theory which teaches that 
 all Christian creeds find equal favor in the 
 eyes of God, and that it does not matter 
 what branch of Christianity a man belongs 
 to, provided he be a good man after his 
 '^wn fashion. 
 
 Lest those outside the Catholic Church, 
 Into whose hands this little book may fall, 
 might think that, as being a Catholic 
 priest, I have put forward my views on 
 the subject in an exaggerated light, I wish 
 to anticipate such charge, by quoting at 
 the outset the words of a man whose 
 words can evoke no such suspicion. He 
 wrote them while he was still a Protestant, 
 some seven or eight years before he 
 became a Catholic. I allude to the illus- 
 trious Cardinal Newman. Long before 
 he made up his mind to renounce 
 
 1 
 
 Anglicanism he condemned this insid- 
 ious theory in language quite as strong 
 and emphatic as any that is used in these 
 pages. 
 
 As early as 1838 he foresaw, with the 
 eyes of a seer, the havoc which Indiffer- 
 entism, Latitudinarianism, Liberalism in 
 religion, would make of the Gospel, and 
 he pointed to the gulf of unbelief to which 
 it must inevitably lead. From the outset 
 of his brilliant career, and while he was 
 still a comparatively young clergyman of 
 the Church of England, he raised his 
 eloquent voice and wielded his powerful 
 pen against it. He felt that those whose 
 duty it was to try to keep down the flood 
 of Agnosticism and infidelity must use all 
 their energies to stem the torrent of Indif- 
 ferentism. The one, he saw, was but a 
 process of transition into the other. To 
 /lis mind it was clear as noonday, even 
 then, that the theory, that every man's 
 view of revelation was equally acceptable 
 to God, would, in the case at least of 
 
INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 many, end in the conviction that all 
 religions were useless 
 
 It was to check the growth and to 
 counteract the influence of this pernicious 
 system that he made so many and such 
 energetic efforts to give to the Articles of 
 the Church of England a dogmatic inter- 
 pretation — such an interpretation as would 
 make them say something definite, and 
 clear away from them that ambiguity 
 which left every man free to become the 
 arbiter of his own belief. But he was not 
 allowed to do so.. 
 
 In his Tracts for ^he Times he treats, 
 amongst many other subjects, that of 
 Latitudinarianism or Indifferentism. 
 After showing that the Indifferentist or 
 Latitudinarian may, quite consistently 
 with his principles, deny even the funda- 
 mental doctrine of the Trinity, since that 
 doctrine is not found on the surface of the 
 Scriptures, he proceeds to say : " And if 
 the doctrine of the Trinity is not to be 
 accounted as one of the leading of funda- 
 mental truths of revelation, the key- 
 stone of the mysterious system is lost ; 
 and that being lost, mystery will, in mat- 
 ter* of fact, be found gradually to fade 
 away from the creed altogether; that 
 is, the notion of Christianity, as being a 
 revelation of iiew truths, will gradually 
 fade away, and the Gospel in course of 
 time will be considered scarcely more 
 than a republication of the law of nature. 
 This, I think, will be found to be the 
 historical progress and issue of this line 
 of thought. It is but one shape of Lati- 
 tudinarianism." 
 
 In this same paper, which was published 
 in the fifth volume in 1838, he pronounces 
 Latitudinarianism or Indifferentism so 
 extravagant and so unreasonable, that he 
 declares he " cannot enter into the state 
 of mind of a person maintaining it " ; that 
 he "conceives such a theory to be out of 
 the question with every serious mind"; 
 that he cannot understand " how a serious 
 man, who realizes what he is speaking 
 about, can be a consistent Latitudinarian." 
 Such were his views, and such his em;)hatic 
 utterances, long before he entered the 
 Catholic Church. Time went on ; it 
 wrought no change in him in this respect. 
 As years rolled by, he became more and 
 more emphatic in denouncing it. His life, 
 as he himself has said, has been one long 
 continuous battle against it. Well, indeed, 
 might he say in his address, when in 
 Rome in 1879, on the occasion of his 
 elevation to the Cardinalate, that there 
 was one great evil against which he had 
 always set himself — the spirit of Liberal- 
 ism or Latitudinarianism in religion. 
 
 If my space permitted, I should like to 
 give the whole of that remarkable allo- 
 cution ; as it is, I can only briefly quote 
 from it. Having thanked the Holy 
 Father for the great honor he was con- 
 ferring upon him, in raising him to the 
 Cardinalate, he went on to say : " And I 
 rejoice to say, to one great mischief I 
 have from the first opposed myself. For 
 thirty, forty, fifty years, I have resisted to 
 the best of my powers the spirit of Lib- 
 eralism in religion. Never did the Holy 
 Church need champions against it more 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sorely than now, when, alas ! it is an error 
 overspreading as a snare the whole earth ; 
 and on this great occasion, when it is 
 natural for one who is in my place to look 
 out upon the world and upon the Holy 
 Church as it is, and upon her future, it 
 will not, I hope, be considered out of place 
 if I renew the protest against it which 
 I have so often made. Liberalism in 
 religion is the doctrine that there is no 
 positive truth in religion, but that one 
 creed is as good as another ; and this is 
 the teaching which is gaining substance 
 and force daily. It is inconsistent with 
 the recognition of any religion as true: 
 It teaches that all are to be tolerated, as 
 all are matters of opinion. Revealed reli- 
 gion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a 
 taste; not an objective fact — not miracu- 
 lous ; and it is the right of each individual 
 to make it say just what strikes his fancy." 
 He then calls attention to the fact that 
 it is supposed that the sects, of which 
 Indifferentism can be said to be the only 
 creed, constitute half the population of 
 England. He points to the motives which 
 the advocates of that system avow ; he 
 describes the change which its spread has 
 brought upon society ; and he adds that, 
 though in these countries it does not arise 
 out of infidelity, it, nevertheless, ends in 
 infidelity. 
 
 Such the judgment pronounced on 
 Indifferentism by the great Cardinal, who 
 knew so well how to describe its nature, 
 spread, influence, and effects. He had no 
 hesitation in saying that in this country it 
 ended in infidelity. 
 
 Now, if we look from a religious stand- 
 point at the elements or sections which 
 constitute the present populati'^n of Eng- 
 land, leaving for the moment the Roman 
 Catholic community out of sight, we can 
 easily realize the justice of his remarks. 
 
 It is true that in one section — which 
 includes several non-Catholic denomina- 
 tions — are found strict, earnest, generous, 
 charitable Protestants, who adhere firmly 
 to the form of religion they have inherited 
 by family tradition, and would deem it a 
 violation of conscience to change it for 
 any other; who regard the blessings ot 
 Christianity as the greatest God can 
 bestow upon a people ; who contribute 
 liberally to have those blessings spread 
 among the heathen ; who advocate Chris- 
 tian education ; who bring up their 
 children according to their ideas of strict 
 social morality ; who frequent the church, 
 read the Bible, say their prayers, encour- 
 age devotion in others, and even make 
 vigorous efforts from time to time to 
 increase the number of their co-religionists 
 by winning proselytes from .other denom- 
 inations. 
 
 In another section, however, we find 
 Advanced Thinkers, Agnostics, Infidels, 
 Atheists. Whatever name they are to be 
 called by, they no longer believe, or at 
 least profess no longer to believe, in 
 Christianity. They seem to have been 
 borne away into the region of utter 
 unbelief. And however reluctant we may 
 be to realize the fact, this spirit of unbe- 
 lief has struck its roots more deeply in 
 these countries than many apiongst us 
 
lADIFFERENTISM. 
 
 seem to imagine. It was stated in i860, 
 by those who were likely to have the most 
 reliable information on the subject, that 
 more than five millions of the population 
 of England professed no religion of any 
 kind. According to an official census 
 taken about that time, — alluded to in the 
 Times of May the 4th, 1 860, — it was 
 found that, in spite of the richest Estab- 
 lishment in the world, — which has at 
 least one representative in every village of 
 the land, — in Leeds and Liverpool, forty 
 per cent. ; in Manchester, fifty-one ; in 
 Birmingham, forty-four; in Lambeth, sixty- 
 one, and in Sheffield, sixty-two per cent, of 
 the whole population neither had, nor pro- 
 fessed to have, any religion whatever. 
 " Thousands upon thousands," said an 
 earnest advocate of the Establishment 
 some time ago, ." are living in London, to 
 whom the great truths of the Gospel are 
 practically as little known as if the land 
 of their birth were a heathen land, and 
 not the great bulwark of Protestant Chris- 
 tianity." The rector of the important 
 parish of St. Clement Danes, in the 
 Strand, — as reported in the Quarterly 
 Review of April, 1861, — said that he 
 detected in his flock a frightful amount of 
 infidelity, — infidelity in all its shapes, — 
 extending not merely to the denying of 
 the Christian Revelation, but even to the 
 grossest and darkest heathenism. Another 
 authority added : " There are whole streets 
 within easy walk of Charing Cross, and 
 miles and miles in more obscure places, 
 where the people live literally without God 
 in the world, . . . We could name 
 
 entire quarters in which it seems to be 
 the custom that men and women should 
 live in promiscuous concubinage ; where 
 the very shopkeepers make a profession of 
 Atheism, and encourage their poor cus- 
 tomers to do the same." This same 
 authority laments what he calls the well- 
 known fact that there never was a time 
 when the temper of the lower order was 
 less satisfactory than it is now. 
 
 Since that time the spirit of unbelief has 
 not been on the wane. It has never been 
 more rampant than it is at present. The 
 number of those who sneer at the Gospel 
 and ridicule everything sacred, instead of. 
 getting less, is increasing every day. 
 
 Now, these two sections of the popula- 
 tion may be looked upon as its two extreme 
 sections. Between them there lies another 
 and a very large one. It consists of those 
 who profess Christianity, but profess a 
 form of it which is vague and variable, and 
 as such tends to the destruction of Divine 
 Revelation altogether. 
 
 The creed of this intermediate section of 
 the community teaches that all religions 
 are good — that one is practically as good 
 as another, as all are tending towards the 
 same end; that the great thing is to live 
 up to them — to do what they tell us ; that 
 God is indifferent what formula of faith a 
 man follows, provided he be a goc d man 
 after his own fashion. Those who take 
 this view of revelation hold that religion is 
 a matter of opinion, choice, taste, senti- 
 ment, and that people may exercise their 
 liberty as freely in choosing it as in choos- 
 ing the food they eat and the clothes they 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 wear. Or, as Cardinal Manning puts it, 
 " People nowadays assume that religious 
 truth can have no definite outline, and that 
 each man must discover and define it for 
 himself. And however definite he may 
 choose to be, one law is equally binding on 
 us all. No one must be certain. Each 
 one must concede to his neighbor as much 
 certainty as he claims for himself. The 
 objective certainty of truth is gone. The 
 highest rule of certainty to each is the con- 
 viction of his own understanding. And 
 this, in the revelation of God, and in that 
 knowledge which is life eternal " {The 
 Grounds of Faith, p. 5). 
 
 Such is the theory which is the subject 
 of the following pages. And a most 
 important subject it is — one which ought 
 to be looked upon as all-important, not 
 merely by Catholics, but also, for reasons 
 already implied, and which we shall pres- 
 ently explain in detail, by strict Protes- 
 tants as well. 
 
 It is the opinion of those who have the 
 best opportunity of knowing that Indiffer- 
 entism is the chief obstacle to conversion 
 to the Catholic faith in England. And it 
 is the opinion of the same authorities that 
 it is sending people in large numbers every 
 year from Anglicanism into Agnosticism 
 or infidelity. It may not land them there 
 all at once, but it puts them on the road 
 that leads there. Hence, while it is the 
 enemy of the Catholic Church by keeping 
 many out of her communion, it is no less 
 the enemy of the Protestant Church by 
 sweeping numbers of her children into the 
 ranks .of unbelief. In preventing them 
 
 from coming to Rome, it does not, on that 
 account, make them hold more firmly to 
 the Anglican formularies — it rather tends 
 to ripen them for utter fidelity. When I 
 say it is the enemy of the Catholic Church 
 I do not mean that it is so from bigotry, 
 bitter hostility, or determined opposition, 
 for it is too tolerant of every form of belief 
 to be sternly opposed to any. I mean it is 
 the enemy of the Catholic Church by keep- 
 ing many out of her fold. This is worth 
 considering. There are many obstacles to 
 England's conversion : chief amongst them 
 is the spirit of Indifferentism, Liberalism, 
 Latitudinarianism, or whatever name we 
 may call it by. It stands to reason it 
 should be so. 
 
 When a man has gone so far as to regard 
 religion as a mere matter of opinion, and 
 consequently as a matter of choice, he is 
 not likely to choose a difficult one, when 
 an easy one will suit his purpose quite as 
 well. Naturally, men are averse to having 
 their intellect bound down to definite doc- 
 trines, and to having their will burthened 
 by difficult obligations. There are few, if 
 any, who will think of embracing a creed 
 which imposes many restraints, while they 
 feel, or at least try to feel, they can go to 
 heaven equally safely by one that imposes 
 hardly any restraint at all. Why should I 
 be asked to waste time in considering the 
 claims of a Church which makes marriage 
 a contract which can never, under any 
 circumstances, be dissolved ; which binds 
 her members to confession, to receive the 
 Eucharist at least once a year, to assist at 
 a certain form of worship every Sunday, 
 
INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 to fast at stated times, to abstain on cer- 
 tain days from flesh-meat, to obey spiritual 
 pastors ; while I am free to remain in, or 
 to join, a Church which imposes no obliga- 
 tions of the kind ? As long as men are 
 satisfied that all religions are equal in the 
 sight of God, there is little hope of their 
 seeking after any that differs from the easy 
 one to which they have been accustomed. 
 
 It is quite different in the case of the 
 strict, earnest, practical Protestant, who 
 becomes uneasy in conscience about the 
 truth of the creed he has hitherto professed. 
 When he gets unhinged in his belief, and 
 entertains a serious doubt as to its tenable- 
 ness, he is at once involved in researches ; 
 he will inquire, read, pray ; he is willing to 
 put himself to inconvenience, and even to 
 make sacrifices, in his anxious search after 
 truth. But the man who enjoys unruffled 
 peace in the wide and easy creed of Indif- 
 ferentism is not likely to trouble himself 
 with pondering on the claims of a Church 
 which exacts stern, unchanging faith in 
 her doctrines, and which is constantly 
 enforcing the strict fulfilment of her pre- 
 cepts. Such a man will never look towards 
 Rome except through the influence of some 
 very special grace. And the longer he 
 remains the adherent of a system which is 
 only an excuse for indolence and apathy, 
 the farther he drifts away from the defi- 
 nite teaching and strict discipline of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 Hence, till you have banished entirely 
 from his thoughts the conviction that one 
 religion is as good as another, till you have 
 cleared away from his mind the shifting 
 
 sands of Indifferentism, you will not be able 
 to lay in his understanding a foundation 
 for definite faith. Or, as Cardinal Newman 
 remarks, you cannot build in the aborigi- 
 nal forest till you have felled the trees. 
 
 But while Indifferentism is the enemy of 
 the Church of Rome, it is no less the 
 enemy of the Church of England. It 
 tends to destroy her, although it is her 
 offspring. It has sprung from the free 
 application of her great principle of pri- 
 vate judgment. And the older it grows 
 and the larger it becomes, the more seri- 
 ously does it threaten her life. Through 
 it multitudes of her members become an 
 easy prey to infidelity. In fact, we may 
 say it is a kind of preparatory school for 
 infidelity. When men are hanging only 
 loosely to Christianity by the elastic thread 
 of Indifferentism, a very slight influence is 
 sufficient to make them abandon it alto- 
 gether, and leave them without faith in 
 anything beyond the world of sense. The 
 theory that one religion is as good as 
 another is next neighbor to the theory 
 that there is not much good in any relig- 
 ion at all. If religion is only an opinion, 
 then every religion may be wrong, since 
 every opinion may be wrong. And as 
 every religion may be wrong, there is no 
 possibility of ever arriving at any certainty 
 about those matters religion professes to 
 deal with ; the whole thing from that 
 moment becomes lost in impenetrable 
 darkness. The mysteries of faith are 
 then denied, because they appear opposed 
 to reason ; and when the mysteries of 
 faith are set aside, Christianity as •a rev 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 elation of new and definite doctrines dis- 
 appears. This -state of mind gradually 
 prepares a man for the wholesale denial 
 of Christianity as a Divine Revelation ; 
 and hence the step from Indiffercntisra 
 into utter unbelief is natural and easy. 
 
 But let us come from the abstract to 
 the concrete, from possibilities to things 
 which are taking place in actual life under 
 our own eyes. See what is going on in 
 our midst. It is no secret that the rapid 
 growth of unbelief, chiefly among persons 
 of education, is mainly due to the fact 
 that the ceaseless divisions in the various 
 branches of Anglicanism have generated 
 in the minds of many the conviction that 
 Christianity is a failure. Numbers of 
 men, formerly Protestants, and, for the 
 most part, men of cultivated intellect, 
 have declared that they have ceased to 
 believe in Christian revelation altogether, 
 in consequence of the Church of England 
 tolerating within her pale absolutely con- 
 tradictory teaching on the most funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Christian creed. 
 Such men could never reconcile themselves 
 to the view that that Church was, as she 
 professed to be, a Divine Teacher, when 
 she approved totally opposite views of the 
 religion of which she was the recognized 
 organ. 
 
 Now when people of non-Catholic denom- 
 inations thus lose all confidence in the 
 religion they have hitherto professed, they 
 do not, as a rule, look, or care to look, in 
 any other direction for consistency and 
 truth. They find no book, or at all events 
 they r^ad no book, which would have the 
 
 effect of turning their thoughts towards 
 that one sanctuary of truth, that ever- 
 lasting treasure-house, in which alone 
 are found harmonious unity, unchanging 
 doctrine, perfect consistency, everything 
 that can satisfy the cravings of the human 
 mind — that is, the Catholic Church. 
 
 On the other hand, the infidel literature 
 of the day, which is pouring from the 
 press like a deluge, and which threatens 
 to submerge the greater part of the earth, 
 easily, finds its way into their hands. It 
 preaches a new gospel — one just suited 
 to their present temper of mind ; it pro- 
 nounces Christianity a myth, a fable, an 
 antiquated superstition, a bundle of con- 
 flicting doctrines which cannot bear the 
 test of scientific investigation ; its shallow, 
 blasphemous arguments are clothed in 
 that elegant sophistry which its ingenious 
 propagandists know so well how to use. 
 These arguments meet with hardly any 
 resistance in the mind of the Christian 
 Indifferentist who has no definite form 
 of belief to cling to. He has seen nothing 
 but contradiction in the creed he has been 
 accustomed to, and he is captivated by the 
 apparently more consistent principles of 
 infidelity. He becomes its disciple. He 
 gives himself up unreservedly to its teach- 
 ing ; and he does so all the more willingly, 
 because, while his late Christian profession 
 imposed upon him some semblance of 
 moral restraint, infidelity relieves him of 
 restraint altogether. He is no longer 
 crippled by the pains of conscience. He 
 becomes dead to all sense of moral respon- 
 , sibility. He can go where inclination 
 
8 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 leads, give loose reins to his passions, 
 gratify every desire with impunity ; for 
 while he hopes for no future reward, he 
 fears no future punishment. 
 
 Indifferentism, then, Liberalism in relig- 
 ion, Latitudinarianism, acted on by the 
 infidel press of the day, is sending thous- 
 ands of members every year from the 
 Establishment into Atheism. It is sap- 
 ping her very foundations. Hence, to say 
 the least, Protestants have as much reason 
 to hate it as Catholics have. The injury 
 it inflicts on Protestantism is greater than 
 the injury it inflicts on Catholicity. The 
 one is negative, the other positive. While 
 it only tends to put farther and farther 
 away from the Church of *Rome people 
 who never belonged to her, and renders 
 them less disposed to examine into her 
 claims, it, on the other hand, robs the 
 Establishment of multitudes of her baptized 
 members, and consigns them to hopeless 
 unbelief. This it has been doing, this it 
 is doing still, this it will continue to do. 
 And the end will be, says a writer of this 
 generation, that it will sweep so many 
 from her ranks into the region of the 
 "Unknowable," that whenever the State 
 withdraws its sustaining hand, as soon as 
 those props and buttresses, by which the 
 civil power keeps her standing, give way, 
 she will totter and fall to pieces ; and in 
 the day of her downfall there will be few 
 sincere adherents remaining to weep over 
 her dissolution. 
 
 Bossuet foresaw this, and predicted it. 
 Speaking of the great revolt of the i6th 
 century, and referring especially to Eng- 
 
 land, he says : — " Every man erects a 
 tribunal for himself, where he becomes 
 the arbiter of his own belief. Although 
 the innovators wished to restrain the 
 minds of men within the limits of Holy 
 Scripture, yet as each individual was con- 
 stituted its interpreter, and was to believe 
 that the Holy Scripture would discover to 
 him its meaning, all were authorized to 
 worship their own inventions, to consecrate 
 their own errors, and to place the seal of 
 the Divinity on their own thoughts. It 
 was then foreseen that by this unbridled 
 license sects would be multiplied to 
 infinity, and that while some would not 
 cease to dispute or to hold their reveries 
 for inspirations, others, wearied by vis- 
 ions of folly, and not able to recognize 
 the majesty of religion, torn asunder by so 
 many sects, would seek at length a fatal 
 repose and complete independence in 
 indifference to all religion, or Atheism." 
 
 Dr. Moriarty, lately Bishop of Kerry, 
 who, in his allocution to his clergy on " The 
 Church Establishment," quotes the above 
 passage, adds : — " Why was not the latter 
 part of this prophecy sooner and more 
 universally fulfilled amongst us } What 
 was it that retarded the erring mind in its 
 downward path towards infidelity .? While 
 Protestantism elsewhere rapidly changed 
 into Rationalism, in these countries it 
 even yet retains a large portion of Chris- 
 tian truth. The material and golden bond 
 of an endowed Establishment furnishes 
 the only reasonable explanation we can 
 suggest for standing still upon the steep 
 incline. Besides the rewards offered to 
 
IN TROD UCTION. 
 
 orthodoxy, its connection with the State 
 preserved while it enslaved it ; the dry, 
 hard, unyielding discipline of law and 
 government insisted on the observance of 
 forms and formularies, and thus kept 
 Protestantism in shape, as bodies, though 
 lifeless, are preserved in ice." 
 
 We have seen that Cardinal Newman 
 considers this pernicious theory to be the 
 religion of half the population of England. 
 Any one who has mixed much with the 
 masses, and who has seen how widely it is 
 spread, and the hold it has taken on the 
 mind of the multitude, must feel that 
 his estimate is not beyond the mark. The 
 popularity it has attained in all classes of 
 society is astounding. It may be justly 
 named the most popular creed of the day. 
 In mixing with people of non-Catholic 
 denominations in the large towns and 
 country districts of England, I have fre- 
 quently asked persons who were not 
 Catholics (but whose Catholic connections 
 desired me to put the question ) whether 
 they had any objection to become members 
 of the Roman Catholic communion. On 
 most occasions the answers I received 
 indicated clearly enough that this flexible 
 system of Indifferentism was their only 
 creed. They spoke as if they were per- 
 fectly satisfied with it, and seemed to have 
 no appetite for anything in the shape of 
 religion beyond it. 
 
 Repeatedly I hav^, heard candid, 
 straightforward professions like the follow- 
 ing : — " I cannot say that I have any 
 objection to the Roman Catholic religion "; 
 " One religion is as good as another " ; 
 
 " All religions are good"; "It makes no 
 matter what we are when we are Christians 
 at all." Avowals such as these made it 
 clear to evidence that the persons from 
 whom they came had no idea of the neces- 
 sity of belonging to any one definite 
 Christian creed, or of holding fast to any 
 special doctrine of revelation. They spoke 
 as if they might choose a religion to-day 
 and change it to-morrow, and change the 
 one of to-morrow for a directly opposite 
 one the day following, and repeat these 
 changes until they had gone round the 
 whole circle of Christian sects ; and as if 
 they might do all this without imperilling 
 their salvation in any way whatever, at 
 least as far as forms of belief were con- 
 cerned. 
 
 But with all this I perceived signs of 
 great docility, a praiseworthy willingness to 
 reason, to compare claims, to listen to the 
 Catholic view of the question, to listen even 
 to an explanation of the uncompromising 
 attitude of the Catholic Church with regard 
 to her symbol of faith. In many instances 
 I have had an opportunity of speaking a 
 second and a third time, and several times 
 successively, to those who in the first inter- 
 view expressed their convictions in the 
 language to which I have referred. And, 
 as a rule, I may say, when I showed them 
 the unreasonableness and untenableness of 
 their theory, and proved to them that one, 
 and only one, religion could be true, that 
 all the others must be false, that those who 
 had a serious doubt whether they belonged 
 to the true one or not were bound to 
 strive to find a solution of their doubt, 
 
10 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 they seemed to have an incipient want of 
 confidence in Indifferentism as a creed, 
 were quite willing to make researches, to 
 receive instruction, and eagerly anxious to 
 have their doubts removed. I may add 
 that as their honest inquiry was accom- 
 panied by humble and persevering prayer 
 for light, it ended almost invariably in 
 their submission to the Catholic Church. 
 
 It was this experience that suggested 
 to me the idea of publishing what the fol- 
 lowing pages contain. When I perceived, 
 on the one hand, that this broad, unde- 
 fined Christianity, or Indifferentism in 
 religion, had become the creed of so large 
 a portion amongst the masses ; and when 
 I perceived, on the other hand, on the 
 part of so many (in fact, nearly all with 
 whom I come in contact), a willingness to 
 inquire, an eagerness to receive instruc- 
 tion, it occurred to me that it would be 
 worth while to strive to make reach the 
 multitude, in a pamphlet or small book, 
 those popular and familiar, but at the same 
 time forcible, arguments which a priest 
 would use with such class of persons if he 
 spoke to them separately and individually 
 on this phase of religion. 
 
 I knew well from the outset that the 
 undertaking was beset by numberless diffi- 
 culties. Something of the kind could 
 be easily enough written ; but how get it 
 into the hands of those for whom it was 
 chiefly intended } 
 
 This was the difficulty that almost 
 deterred me from making the attempt, and 
 this is my difficulty still. The very fact 
 that a book is written by a Catholic priest. 
 
 and that the book deals with matters of 
 controversy, is sufficient to prejudice those 
 outside the Catholic Church against it. 
 Many are so opposed, through bigotry,, 
 education, associations, surroundings, to 
 what they consider the narrowness, exclu- 
 siveness, and arrogant attitude of the 
 Church of Rome, and are so captivated by 
 that broad and wide creed which is so 
 tolerant of other people's views, so benevo- 
 lent, so aptly designed to make allowances, 
 for country, character, dispositions, circum- 
 stances, that they are afraid to read any 
 book, and are not at all likely to buy any 
 book, which might have the effect of up- 
 setting their present comfortable convic- 
 tions. 
 
 This certainly is a difficulty, and a seri- 
 ous one. As far as getting expositions of 
 Catholic doctrine directly spread amongst 
 the non-Catholic population is concerned,, 
 we are powerless. Hitherto the Protestant 
 masses have marshalled themselves in- 
 such serried ranks against what has been 
 termed Popish aggressiveness, that it has 
 been impossible for any Catholic missive 
 to penetrate them. They have been like a 
 wall of brass, impervious to every Catholic 
 effort. 
 
 This is one of the great disadvantages 
 under which the Catholic Church has 
 been laboring in England. Of the many 
 splendid developments, expositions, vindi- 
 cations, apologies, of Catholic doctrine 
 which have been written in England (com- 
 pared with any of which this little tract 
 dwindles into insignificance), compara- 
 tively few have reached the non-Catholic 
 
INTROD UCTION. 
 
 ii 
 
 multitude. The persistent traditional hor- 
 ror of religious interference, and the par- 
 ticular dread of anything that savored of 
 Popery, has been one of the chief obsta- 
 cles. And it may be thought that the 
 difficulty will be exceptionally great with 
 regard to the present little book, since it 
 bears a rather significant title, and since 
 many people have already made up their 
 minds once for all that the creed which 
 teaches that one religion is as good as 
 another is the easiest, the most conven- 
 ient, the most agreeable, and, as far as 
 they can see, quite as safe as any other. 
 
 It would be a step in the right direc- 
 tion, if we could succeed in concentrating 
 the mind of the multitude on the state- 
 ment that all religions cannot be right, 
 that one only can be right, and that all the 
 rest must be wrong ; and that, in case of 
 rational doubt about one's present posi- 
 tion, it is necessary to inquire, to search 
 after a solution of the doubt. 
 
 Happily there has been a great advance 
 towards the Catholic Church since the 
 early part of this century. Although the 
 happy change of feeling has not reached 
 the extent earnest Catholics could have 
 desired, yet it has been wider and deeper 
 than many had anticipated. Numerous 
 and honored are the names of those who 
 have sacrificed everything in their noble 
 pursuit after truth — have abjured sectari- 
 anism, have broken the fondest and firm- 
 est family ties, and have been enrolled as 
 members of the Roman CathoUc com- 
 munion. From the steps of the throne 
 down to the street-sweeper, the work of 
 
 conversion has been steadily going on. 
 Nobles, clergymen, lawyers, physicians, 
 tradespeople, working people, have seen 
 the error of their hereditary faith, and 
 have generously renounced it to embrace 
 another. And not merely have men of 
 noble rank and of great parts, at extreme 
 personal inconvenience, embraced Catholi- 
 cism, but even ladies of great intellectual 
 power and rare accomplishments have not 
 shrunk from sacrifices which one would 
 have thought would have appalled their 
 sex, when sincere and unprejudiced inquiry 
 made it clear to them which was the 
 one true religion amongst the numberless 
 claimants. 
 
 The natural result of these many con- 
 versions has been the gradual decline of 
 that spirit of bitter hostility which actu- 
 ated almost the whole public mind of Eng- 
 land as late as the first part of this 
 century. It is no longer the fashion to 
 say what, we are told, it was quite fashion- 
 able to say some sixty or seventy years 
 ago — "All Papists must be damned, just 
 because they are Papists," No ; most of 
 our dissenting brethren will grant that 
 people may be saved in the Catholic reli- 
 gion as easily as in any other. Some, who 
 are njore liberal in their admissions, will 
 grant that the Catholic religion was the 
 first religion of Christianity, and is most 
 likely to be the last ; and that, as far as 
 they can see, it is the holiest, and ought 
 therefore to be the safest. When they 
 have begun to see things in this light, 
 instruction and earnest prayer will easily 
 complete the good work — i. e. impel 
 
12 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 them to take the final step which will 
 bring them safely into the bosom of the 
 one true Church. 
 
 While I mean this little book chiefly for 
 those outside the Church, I mean it also 
 for some who are within. There are 
 Catholics who are disposed to make con- 
 cessions which their Church can never 
 warrant. They move in a circle of society 
 or are placed in circumstances where they 
 are strongly tempted to temporize in mat- 
 ters of religion. They may be inclined to 
 attach much more importance to expedi- 
 ency, or to certain false notions of eti- 
 quette, than to duty, even of a sacred kind. 
 For example, they hear it stated in some 
 drawing-room assembly, or at some noble- 
 man's dining-table, where the tone of the 
 conversation is notably Protestant, that, 
 after all, one religion is quite as good as 
 another ; that there is hardly any differ- 
 ence of any importance ; that it is quite 
 immaterial what creed a man follows, pro- 
 vided he be an honest man, pay twenty 
 shillings in the pound, do no injury to his 
 neighbor in his property or in his charac- 
 ter, and discharge his duty faithfully as a 
 benevolent member of society. Now, if 
 they (Catholics) chime in with this liberal 
 doctrine, endorse it, express assent to it, 
 or imply assent to it, they are simply 
 encouraging heresy, virtually propagating 
 it, sacrificing their most sacred convictions 
 to erroneous ideas of politeness — or 
 rather, allowing themselves to be swayed 
 by the lowest and most despicable form of 
 human respect. They imagine, perhaps, 
 that by this kind of liberalistic spirit they 
 
 will find favor in the eyes of those who 
 are above them in social position. It is 
 just the contrary. Even the very persons, 
 to gain or to retain whose esteem they 
 thus make admissions which their Church 
 and their own conscience condemn, will 
 soon begin to look on them with contempt 
 and distrust. The Catholic Church can- 
 not tolerate any compromise. She is not 
 at liberty to allow even the last morsel of 
 error to be mixed up with the sacred 
 deposit of truth which has been entrusted 
 to her. 
 
 And hence she can never countenance 
 the low, grovelling complaisance of those 
 who seek to further their own interests by 
 expressing their approbation of statements 
 which are entirely at variance with her 
 teachings. Of course, I do not mean that 
 the Catholic faithful ought to be eager to 
 engage in controversy, to be uselessly 
 parading their faith, or to be obtruding it 
 in an offensive manner upon others ; but 
 I do mean that it is altogether unlawful 
 (for them) to sanction, either explicitly or 
 implicitly, a system of religion which 
 embodies the most subtle, popular, and 
 dangerous heresy of the present day : i. e. 
 that broad and wide Christianity which 
 teaches that all religions find, equal favor 
 in the eyes of God. 
 
 "In private life," says Cardinal Man- 
 ning, "we ought to be kindly and unob- 
 trusive, but uncompromising in confessing 
 our Faith, never forcing it upon the 
 unwilling, but never silent when we ought 
 to speak." ("Sermon on Indifference," 
 Advent, 1884.) 
 
PART FIRST. 
 
 NE of the most popular, plau- 
 sible, and at the same time one 
 of the most pernicious theories 
 about religion at the present 
 day is the theory which teaches 
 that a man may be quite 
 indifferent to what Christian creed he 
 belongs, provided he be a good man after 
 his own fashion. This theory may be 
 called by some Latitudinarianism, by 
 others Liberalism in religion, by others, 
 again, Indifferentism. Whatever name 
 we give it, it means simply the doctrine 
 that one religion is as good as another, or 
 that all creeds are equally agreeable in the 
 eyes of God. Its advocates say, and say 
 it in the plainest terms, that God does not 
 care what religion His creatures profess, 
 provided they live up to and act consist- 
 ently with the one which they have 
 embraced, or the one which has been 
 handed down to them by family tradition. 
 They contend, in fact, that men may claim 
 as large a measure of liberty in choosing 
 the creed they profess as in choosing their 
 
 place of residence or their family doctor. 
 Instead of making religious belief a 
 matter of duty, they, on the contrary, 
 make it a matter of choice, taste, sent!" 
 ment, and inclination. They act and 
 speak and think, or at least affect to think, 
 that while God holds up, as it were, before 
 men's minds certain doctrines which He 
 commands to be believed, men are, 
 nevertheless, free to put aside those 
 doctrines and to choose other doctrines, 
 even contradictory ones, in their stead. 
 Their reasoning, when analyzed, must 
 force them inevitably to the conclusion 
 that although the voice of the God of 
 everlasting truth has declared something 
 to be true, they are at liberty to believe it 
 to be false; and that while that same 
 unerring voice proclaims some statement 
 to be false, they, in the enjoyment of the 
 fulness of their right of private judgment, 
 are free to look upon it as true. Lib- 
 erty of choice with regard to forms of 
 Christian belief means nothing less than 
 this. 
 
t4 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 , Does this theory, which eloquent soph- 
 istry has made so plausible, deserve the 
 popularity which it has attained, and 
 which has given it such a hold on the 
 mind of vhe multitude ? No ; so far from 
 deserving the approbation, it does not 
 deserve even the toleration of any reason- 
 able man. Let us weigh it in the balance 
 of truth. Let us look at it in the light of 
 right reason and of Divine revelation, and 
 we shall find that it contradicts at once 
 man's reason and God's jevelation. 
 
 In this chapter we shall deal with it as a 
 contradiction of reason. 
 
 God being what He is, that is, the God 
 of eternal truth, He cannot be indifferent 
 as to whether His people believe this 
 particular creed or some other creed that 
 contradicts it. To say that He does not 
 care what form of Christianity they pro- 
 fess is exactly equivalent to saying that 
 He does not care whether they believe 
 what is true or what is false. For, the 
 different creeds which now exist, and 
 which, all of them, press their claim on 
 the homage of man's mind, contradict each 
 other ; and contradict each other not 
 merely in small items of belief, but 
 even in doctrines which are commonly 
 looked upon as fundamental by those 
 belonging to any Christian denomination. 
 One Church teaches that Christ is truly, 
 really, and substantially present in the 
 sacrament of the Eucharist ; another 
 Church teaches that He is not truly 
 present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. 
 One Church teaches that the priest has 
 power to forgive the grievous sins commit- 
 
 ted after baptism ; another Church teaches 
 that the priest has not power to forgive 
 the grievous sins committed after baptism. 
 One Church holds that the Pope has 
 universal spiritual jurisdiction over the 
 whole world, and that his utterances are 
 infallible when he speaks on faith and 
 morals in certain given circumstances ; 
 other Churches maintain that the Pope 
 has not universal spiritual jurisdiction over 
 the whole world and that his utterances 
 are not infallible in those circumstances in 
 which members of the Roman Catholic 
 communion say they are infallible. 
 
 Now, here are statements, and here are 
 contradictory statements, and contradic- 
 tory statements in matters of great 
 moment — in doctrines which touch even 
 the very foundations of faith. The voice 
 of reason is peremptory and emphatic. 
 It proclaims, in a tone that cannot be 
 mistaken, that the creed which affirms 
 these propositions, and the creed which 
 denies them, cannot be both true. Two 
 statements that contradict each other 
 cannot both be true at once. One only 
 can be true, the other must be false ; and 
 the evident truth of one establishes the 
 evident falsehood of the other. To say, 
 therefore, that God does not care whether 
 His people profess this religion or that 
 other religion which is in contradictory 
 opposition to it is exactly the same as to 
 say that He does not care whether they 
 believe truth or falsehood. 
 
 Now, philosophy (which is a science of 
 reason) demonstrates that veracity, or 
 essential truthfulness, is one of God's 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REASON. 
 
 15 
 
 attributes. In virtue of this essential 
 attribute^ God not only loves truth, but 
 loves truth of necessity ; and not only 
 hates falsehood, but must, as a law of His 
 being, bear an undying and eternal hatred 
 to it. And hence, to aflfirm that He 
 Jeaves people free to believe what is true 
 or what is false, as they choose, is nothing 
 short of a blasphemy against His attribute 
 of essential truthfulness. The moment 
 we affirm that one religion is as good as 
 another, and that it is a matter of indiffer- 
 ence with God what form of Christian 
 belief men adopt, that moment we are 
 hurried inevitably i.ito the blasphemous 
 conclusion that He is not more glorified 
 by the profession of the doctrines which 
 He Himself has revealed, than He is by 
 the profession of those false theories of 
 men which contradict them. If He has 
 condescended to reveal from on high one 
 definite religion ( and all professing Chris- 
 tians freely admit that He has done so), 
 surely He cannot be indifferent whether 
 that one definite religion which He has 
 thus revealed be believed, or some other 
 religion which is in open, palpable opposi- 
 tion to it. 
 
 This statement, which is clear enough in 
 its bare enunciation, will become still more 
 clear in the light of the following illustra- 
 tions. We read in the Old Testament 
 that when the Israelites, in their journey 
 through the desert, had reached the wil- 
 derness of Sinai, having the mountain of 
 Sinai over against them, the time was come 
 when God was to make known the Ten 
 Commandments, and to have a Tabernacle 
 
 and an ark constructed for His worship. 
 It was on that memorable occasion He 
 revealed to Moses the precise plan accord- 
 ing to which both tabernacle and ark were 
 to be made. He was not content with 
 describing the general dimensions, such as 
 the length, the breadth, the height ; He 
 went down to the most minute details. He 
 specified the particular kind of wood of which 
 both were to be made — i. e., Setim wood. 
 He specified also the particular way in which 
 they were to be overlaid with gold; and 
 He added the other precious materials 
 which were to be used in their decoration. 
 No human architect could enter more 
 minutely into details, in giving a design 
 for some earthly structure, than the great 
 Divine Architect did on that occasion, 
 when there was question of giving the plan 
 after which His ark and tabernacle were to 
 be fashioned. And if He was so explicit 
 in the directions He gave, it is simply 
 because He meant to show that He would 
 not leave any room for the promptings of 
 man's imagination, fancy, or private judg- 
 ment in the construction of those sacred 
 appurtenances for His worship. Hence, 
 He charged Moses, in words on which He 
 laid all the emphasis His Divine Voice 
 could command, to keep to and not to 
 depart in the least item from the plan which 
 had been revealed to him. "Look," He 
 said, "and make it " (the ark) "according 
 to the pattern which was shown thee in the 
 mount " {Exod. xxv, 40). 
 
 Now let us suppose that as soon as 
 Moses had gone down from the mountain, 
 he had begun to make the tabernacle and 
 
i6 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 the ark, not according to the plan which 
 had been divinely revealed to him, but 
 according to a plan struck out of his own 
 head ; would God have sanctioned the 
 change ? If he (Moses) had departed from 
 the pattern thus divinely shown to him 
 and shown to him in such a minute, precise, 
 definite detail, and had constructed taber- 
 nacle and ark according to the dictates of 
 his own private judgment, God would not 
 have recognized either as the thing which 
 he had commanded to be made. And 
 surely we cannot say that the God of infi- 
 nite knowledge, of infinite wisdom, of 
 eternal truth, is more concerned about the 
 length and breadth of a material thing than 
 about those momentous truths which go to 
 build up the noble, majestic structure of 
 His religion. 
 
 The intercourse of Moses with God on 
 the mountain furnishes us with another 
 illustration which is quite as much to the 
 point. It directs our thoughts in the same 
 channel. It was there that God gave to 
 him, written with His own finger on the 
 tables of stone, those Ten Commandments 
 which were to form the basis of all moral 
 law. He directed him to make these Com- 
 mandments known to the people. Such 
 was the commission given to Moses, and 
 such the message he was to announce. 
 His work was marked out for him. He 
 was not the maker of the law : he was but 
 the vehicle by which it was to pass to the 
 people. When he received those binding 
 precepts from the hands of the great 
 Sovereign Lord and Creator to whom man 
 owed both the homage of the mind and the 
 
 service of the body, he was not at liberty 
 to put them aside, and give to the people 
 precepts of his own making. He had no 
 power to change the law, of which those 
 precepts were the expression. He could 
 not add to it ; he could not take away from 
 it. He was bound to give it to the people 
 as he himself received it, in all its purity, 
 integrity, and definiteness. On the other 
 hand, similar obligations rested on the peo- 
 pie as soon as the promulgation of those 
 precepts reached them. When they heard 
 them from the lips of Moses, who 
 announced them in the name of God, whose 
 representative he was, they were not free 
 to depart from them, and to frame for 
 themselves other precepts which would be 
 more in harmony with their natural incli- 
 nations. No ; there was the Divine code, 
 there the expression of God's law for man 
 — clear, distinct, definite ; and man was 
 bound to follow it, and forbidden to follow 
 any that was at variance with it. Now, 
 Moses appeared in the Old Dispensation as 
 the oracle of Divine Truth to those of 
 whom he was the chief, as the medium of 
 that partial revelation which God then 
 vouchsafed to make to His people. 
 
 Jesus Christ appeared in the New Dis- 
 pensation, when the fulness of time was 
 come, to reveal additional doctrines to the 
 world — doctrines immeasurably more 
 important. And if those who lived in the 
 centuries which intervened between the 
 days of Moses and the Incarnation were 
 obliged to adhere to the portion of revela- 
 tion made to them through the lips of that 
 Great Lawgiver, surely the people of the 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REASON. 
 
 17 
 
 present dispensation are as strictly obliged 
 to embrace and adhere to that religion, 
 when it has been enlarged, completed, 
 and perfected by God's own Incarnate 
 Son, who is the Way, the Truth, and the 
 Life. 
 
 The foregoing arguments may be 
 summed up in these two sentences : ist, 
 Right reason can never sanction contra- 
 diction, and, therefore, can never sanction 
 
 Indifferentism ; 2d, If God does not 
 allow any change to be made in the plan 
 He gives for the construction of a material 
 sanctuary for His worship, it is against all 
 reason to hold that He will allow any 
 change to be made in the doctrines which 
 teach in what His true worship consists 
 — that is, in the truths He wishes to be 
 believed and the laws He wishes to be ful- 
 filled. 
 
 #:^^^ ^ ^ ^ 
 ^71^ ^^1^ ^I^ ^^(^ W^ ^^ 
 
-^©©15^ 
 
 
 HIS theory of Indifferentism is 
 also a contradiction of Revela- 
 tion. After His resurrection 
 from the dead and before He 
 ascended to His Father, our 
 Divine Lord appeared on a 
 mountain in Galilee. His apostles were 
 there to meet Him. His appearing on 
 that particular mountain had been expec- 
 ted ; it had been previously announced by 
 Himself. It was natural it should be a 
 meeting of special appointment. It was 
 one of unequalled import. Its results 
 were to sway the world to the end of 
 time. The interests of the whole human 
 race would be influenced by it. 
 
 It was there our Divine Lord gave to 
 His apostles that great commission to 
 which the world owes its conversion. 
 •' Going," He said to them, " teach ye all 
 nations, baptizing them in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe 
 all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you. And behold I am with you all days, 
 
 18 
 
 even to the consummation of the world " 
 (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20). 
 
 " Teach ye all nations," He said. What 
 were they to teach ? They were to teach 
 the truths of His faith and the precepts of 
 His law. And they were to -teach all 
 nations these selfsame truths and pre- 
 cepts. He could not mean that, when 
 they divided the earth into those vast 
 districts, which were to be the spheres of 
 their respective apostolates, one apostle 
 was to preach in one country that there 
 was a sacrament in the Church by which 
 the sins committed after baptism could 
 be forgiven, and that another apostle was 
 to preach in another country that there 
 was no such sacrament. He could not 
 mean either, when He thus sent them 
 forth in His name, that He authorized 
 some amongst them to announce that He 
 was truly and really and substantially 
 present in the sacrament of the Eucharist, 
 and that He authorized others of them to 
 preach the contradictory — i. e., that He 
 was not truly present in that sacrament 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 19 
 
 No ; He left no room for the play of 
 fancy, or the promptings of imagination, 
 or the dictates of private judgment. He 
 would have them understand — and under- 
 stand beyond all manner of doubt — that 
 as He was the One Only God, so there 
 could be only one true religion which was 
 the faithful expression of His Divine 
 mind to His people. Being the God of 
 essential truthfulness, He would not 
 allow man's error to be mixed up with 
 His truth. He would permit no human 
 authority to add to His doctrines ; nor 
 would He permit any human authority to 
 diminish them. 
 
 Mark well the words He added, with 
 such significance and such emphasis, when 
 He gave His apostles the great world-wide 
 commClkion to teach. They call for 
 special notice ; for we must remember 
 that they were sounded by that same 
 Omnipotent Voice which spoke to Moses 
 on Sinai, when the great commission of 
 promulgating • the Ten Commandments 
 was given him, and when the plan of the 
 ark and of the tabernacle was shown him ; 
 and when God said to him : " Look and 
 make it after the pattern that was shown 
 thee on the mount." We must remember, 
 too, that the apostles and their successors 
 had as little power to change the doctrines 
 they were then commissioned to preach 
 as Moses had to change the Ten Com- 
 mandments, or to change the plan accord- 
 ing to which the ark and the tabernacle 
 were to be constructed. The words in 
 question prove this to evidence. " Teach- 
 ing them," He said, "to observe all 
 
 things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." He did not say. Teaching them to 
 observe this portion of what I have com- 
 manded you; nor did He say. Teaching 
 them to observe that other portion of 
 what I have commanded you ; but He 
 said, "Teaching them to observe all 
 things whaisoeverl have commanded you." 
 " All things," whether in the domain of 
 faith or in the domain of morals. 
 
 It was as if He had said. You are not 
 to teach them that they may observe 
 whatever they will take into their heads 
 to observe, or whatever their individual 
 preference or private judgment may dictate; 
 nor are you to teach them that they may 
 observe whatever your own private judg- 
 ment dictates, or your imagination prompts ; 
 but you are to teach them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you 
 — these things and nothing else. You 
 are to make them feel that they have no 
 liberty of choice, that I will never tolerate 
 the innovations of human opinion upon 
 the doctrines which, through my Church, 
 I teach, or upon the laws which, through 
 her, I enforce. 
 
 May we not say that these words, 
 "Teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you," 
 without straining them in the least, with- 
 out stretching them beyond their natural 
 obvious import, are equivalent to a posi- 
 tive, absolute condemnation of the theory 
 of Indifferentism. For, did not these 
 words mean something definite and cer- 
 tain in the mind of our Lord ; did He not 
 intend them to mean something definite 
 
20 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 and certain in the minds of His apostles ; 
 and did He not intend by them to em- 
 power and oblige His apostles to convey that 
 definite and certain " something " to the 
 nations which they were to teach ? But the 
 argument gathers additional strength from 
 the fact that when our Lord gave to His 
 apostles this great world-wide commission 
 to teach, He knew well how much it 
 would cost them to carry it out. Being 
 God as well as man, the future lay as 
 clear before Him as the past and the then 
 present. The stern, desperate opposition 
 they must meet with — the sufferings, the 
 humiliations, the privations they must 
 endure in their long, laborious career, 
 were all present to His mind when He 
 spoke the words, " Going, teach all 
 nations." He saw their scourgings, the 
 prisons in which they would be chained, 
 the days and nights they must pass in 
 hunger, thirst, and cold. He saw, too, the 
 violent deaths that were in store for them. 
 And He saw all these things not in vague 
 outline, but in all their terrible, revolting, 
 and harrowing details. He saw the ship- 
 wrecks, the imprisonments, the cauldron 
 of boiling oil, the flaying alive, the behead- 
 ing, the crucifixion with head downwards. 
 He knew well that their lives were to be 
 lives of unceasing toil, pain, and contempt, 
 and that their deaths were to be the deaths 
 of malefactors. 
 
 Yet these men were His own chosen 
 ones. They were His dearest friends ; 
 they were the men nearly all of whom 
 had been with Him throughout His pub- 
 lic life — the men whom He loved with 
 
 the fondest love of His sacred, loving 
 Heart. 
 
 But how reconcile the love He bore 
 them, and His clear foreknowledge of 
 their life-long martyrdom, with the state- 
 ment that He is quite indifferent what 
 faith people hold, provided they act con- 
 sistently with it } Would it not have been 
 cruel on His part thus to doom His special 
 servants. His dearest friends, to those 
 lives of suffering and deaths of shame, if it 
 was a matter of no consequence to Him 
 whether His people worshipped Him 
 according to this creed or that.? If men, 
 by acting consistently with whatever idea 
 of religion they already held, became 
 sufficiently acceptable to Him, why not 
 leave them as they were, and save the 
 apostles from such trials in life and such 
 torments in death .-• 
 
 Let them act up to the lights of nature 
 — those lights gave them a certain notion 
 of religion : that notion of it, though full 
 of error, was for them as good as any 
 other ( according to the principles of our 
 opponents ) if their life was in harmony 
 with it. Or, in case some fragment of 
 definite, positive relation, through inter- 
 course with the Jews, or through the 
 promulgation of Christianity at Jerusalem, 
 by chance reached them, let them use it 
 according to casual or ordinary helps, and 
 let further illumination, if deemed expedi. 
 ent, for some particularly privileged soul 
 ( like Cornelius ) be vouchsafed by the min- 
 istry of an angel. But why condemn an 
 apostle to a life of incessant pain and 
 a death of unheard-of torment in order to 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 21 
 
 bring to his fellow-man a message of sal- 
 vation, if his fellow-man was free ( in spite 
 of every evidence of its truth ) to accept 
 that message or to reject it, or to accept a 
 part and reject the rest, and could make 
 himself quite as agreeable to God without 
 it as with it ? Does not the fact of His 
 giving that great commission to His 
 apostles prove that He meant them to 
 convey to His people some definite mes- 
 sage of revelation which His people could 
 not know by any natural means? And 
 does not His foresight of the storms of 
 persecution they were to encounter, and 
 the tremendous trials they were to undergo, 
 show how extremely important He con- 
 sidered it that that message should reach 
 them ? Who can give us permission to 
 treat as insignificant, or to be indifferent 
 about, a message, or the true meaning of a 
 message, to which a God of infinite wis- 
 dom attached so much importance ? None 
 but Himself could give such permission, 
 and He could not do so without defeating 
 His own ends. 
 
 I can easily anticipate the argument 
 that will spring to the lips of Indifferen- 
 tists in answer to this reasoning. It 
 is in vain, however, for them to urge it. 
 The very comprehensiveness of their sys- 
 tem makes it powerless. They say that 
 the apostles were sent to teach and to 
 preach, in order that men might know 
 and believe in Christ, the Mediator, 
 whose mediation or redemption was the 
 leading idea, or the great fundamental 
 truth, of the Gospel — a truth which men 
 could not know by the light of reason, or 
 
 by any revelation made heretofore to the 
 Jews. 
 
 But the very men who say this comprise 
 in their theory of liberal religion Socinians 
 and Unitarians, who do not believe in the 
 divinity of Christ at all — do not believe in 
 original sin — do not believe in Redemp- 
 tion — who reject all the mysteries of 
 religion, from the very fact that they are 
 mysteries, and that, therefore, reason 
 cannot comprehend them. I mean, they 
 will tell us that the Socinian or Unitarian 
 who acts up to what his religion teaches 
 can quite as easily find favor in the eyes of 
 God, and therefore quite as easily save his 
 soul, as the man who professes the most 
 detailed and most complete form of Chris- 
 tian belief ; and that it is a matter of indif- 
 ference to God whether a man chooses for 
 his creed Unitarianism pure and simple, 
 which absolutely denies the mystery of 
 Redemption, or chooses some other form- 
 ula of religion which emphatically aflfirms 
 that mystery as one of the most vital doc« 
 trines of Christianity. 
 
 The conclusion from such premises is 
 clear ; it must be this. Therefore it was 
 quite useless to put the apostles to such 
 trouble, to force them to lead a life of 
 perpetual self-sacrifice, in announcing the 
 doctrine of Redemption, since men, though 
 living in a country where that doctrine is 
 widely professed, clearly explained, sus- 
 tained by sound and convincing proofs, 
 are free to form and cling to a creed from 
 which it is sedulously excluded ; and while 
 exercising such wide liberty in the choice 
 of a creed, are doing an act which in itself 
 
22 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 is quite as acceptable in the eyes of God, 
 and quite as apt to promote salvation, as 
 would be the act of faith made by him 
 whose creed contains with absolute cer- 
 tainty all those doctrines our Lord referred 
 to when He said to His Apostles — 
 ** Teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you." 
 
 But there is another answer to this 
 sophistry. On what grounds does the 
 Indifferentist, or Latitudinarian, or advo- 
 cate of any form of liberal religion, 
 single out the mystery of Redemption, or 
 any other isolated doctrine of Christianity, 
 as the one for the promulgation of which 
 principally the apostles were to traverse 
 the earth, spend their lives in toil, shed 
 their blood, and die the martyr's death ? 
 Were not those apostles as strictly bound 
 to announce all the doctrines which that 
 Redeemer taught as they were to announce 
 the truth that He was the Redeemer? 
 Is not this evident from the words He 
 Himself made use of when He gave them 
 the world-wide commission — " Teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 have commanded you " ? Was there any- 
 thing in that commission, either expressed 
 or understood, to warrant them in believ- 
 ing that He gave them leave to class His 
 doctrines under the heads of principal and 
 subordinate, or to put forward some as of 
 primary and others as of secondary 
 importance ? Did they not look upon 
 everything that came from His lips as 
 equally important and equally grave ? 
 Did they claim to have any share in 
 formulating the creed 'they were to teach 
 
 by choosing some of His precepts and 
 rejecting others ? Did they not know that 
 to reject one iota of His revelation was to 
 deny His authority altogether ? And did 
 not the same reasons which bound the 
 people who were taught by the apostles to 
 believe some of the Gospel truths bind 
 them to believe all the Gospel truths ? 
 What reason could there be for receiving 
 part and for rejecting the rest ? Why 
 believe the apostles credible up to a cer- 
 tain point and look upon them as totally 
 unworthy of credence beyond that point ? 
 But, above all, why should the apostles be 
 sent to preach at all, if it mattered so 
 little whether men believed or did not 
 believe even those doctrines which are 
 looked upon by most Christians as the 
 leading fundamental doctrines of the 
 Gospel ? Must not, then, the preaching of 
 the apostles (in the theory of our oppo- 
 nents) be regarded as vain and meaning- 
 less ? 
 
 Cardinal Newman, in his book entitled 
 Discussions and Arguments, traces the sad 
 issue to which this " marking out " or 
 "singling out" of favorite doctrines leads. 
 " Many," he says, " would fain discern one 
 or two doctrines in the Scripture clearly, 
 and no more ; or some generalized form, 
 yet not so much as a body of doctrine of 
 any character. They consider that a 
 certain message, consisting of one or two 
 great and simple statements, makes up the 
 whole of the Gospel, and that these are 
 plainly in the Scriptures : accordingly, 
 that he who holds and acts upon these is 
 a Christian, and ought to be acknowledged 
 
REFUTATIOK OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 23 
 
 by all to be such, for in holding these he 
 holds all that is necessary. These state- 
 ments they sometimes call the essentials, 
 the peculiar doctrines, the leading idea, 
 the vital doctrines, the great truths of the 
 Gospel ; and all this sounds very well ; 
 but when we come to realize what is 
 abstractedly so plausible, we are met by 
 this insuperable difficulty, that no great 
 number of persons agree together what 
 are those great truths, simple views, lead- 
 ing ideas, or peculiar doctrines of the 
 Gospel. Some say that the doctrine of 
 the Atonement is the leading idea ; some 
 the doctrine of spiritual influence ; some 
 .hat both together are the peculiar doc- 
 trines ; some that love is all in all ; some 
 that the acknowledgment that Jesus is the 
 Christ, and some that the resurrection 
 from the dead ; some that the announce- 
 ment of the soul's immortality is, after all, 
 the essence of the Gospel, and all that 
 need be believed." 
 
 Then, in the words which he subjoins, 
 and which we have already quoted in page 
 2, he shows that the Indifferentist, 
 following out his principles of latitude, 
 may, without any inconsistency, deny even 
 the dogma of the Trinity ; and that if that 
 great fundamental mystery is put aside, 
 mystery gradually disappears from the 
 Christian creed altogether. He observes 
 also that the Gospel under the destructive 
 influence of Indifferentism becomes merely 
 an equivalent for a new publication of tne 
 law of Nature. In other words, the 
 Indifferentist, who believes himself a 
 Christian because he professes this broad, 
 
 undefined Christianity, is pretty much on 
 a level with those who are entirely outside 
 the pale of Christendom, whom no ray of 
 revealed religion has ever yet reached — 
 that is, as far as Divine faith is concerned, 
 he is on a level with such. As to sal- 
 vation, it may be said that his chances of 
 being saved are less, since he rejects lights 
 which to the heathen were never offered 
 — unless, indeed, he be one of those in 
 whose case good faith or invincible 
 ignorance may plead in their behalf. 
 
 The inevitable results to which Latitu- 
 dinarianism, Indifferentism, Liberalism in 
 religion, leads, could not be more beauti- 
 fully or more accurately described than in 
 the words of the great Cardinal which I 
 have quoted, and which were written by 
 him several years before he became a 
 Catholic. To hold that every man's view 
 of revealed religion is acceptable to God, 
 if he acts up to it, that no one view is in 
 itself better than another, is simply to 
 reduce Christianity to a level with natural 
 morality — to lead men on gradually, 
 though it may be slowly, to the gulf of 
 absolute unbelief. Now if a theory, the 
 natural tendency of which is to lead to 
 such lamentable consequences, is main- 
 tainable, then the preaching of the Gospel 
 on the part of the apostles, at the expense 
 of health, happiness, and life, was a work 
 useless and foolish in the extreme. And 
 if it was useless and foolish on the part of 
 the apostles to suffer so much in preach- 
 ing the New Revelation, it was equally 
 useless and foolish on the part of those 
 faithful who have endured martyrdom to 
 
24 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 suffer so much in professing and practising 
 what it taught. Why so many thousands 
 living in the catacombs, why so many 
 thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheatre, 
 why so many, throughout the history of 
 the Church, imprisoned for life, burned or 
 beheaded, hanged and quartered ? Why 
 
 might not these heroic souls have chosen 
 some easy form of religion that would 
 have saved them from such tremendous 
 sacrifices, rather than that detailed, stern, 
 inflexible one which cost them the loss of 
 earthly goods, earthly happiness, and even 
 their blood and their life ? 
 
 
Copyright, IbS: 
 
 Murphy & McC;iithy. 
 
 fil^atcr SDoloro^a. 
 
m m m m m 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM shown to be a CONTRADICTION of REVELATION 
 
 PH07«S XHB 
 
 HISTORY OF CORNELIUS THE CENTURION* 
 
 HE tenth chapter of the Acts of 
 the Apostles gives the narra- 
 tive of a conversion of a man 
 whose conversion may be 
 regarded as an unanswerable 
 refutation of the theory of 
 Indifferentism. I refer to the conversion 
 of Cornelius the Centurion. 
 
 The virtues this man practised before 
 St. Peter saw him, the stern uprightness 
 with which he had acted up to the lights 
 hitherto received, the succession of 
 miraculous circumstances which led to his 
 conversion, make it clear to evidence that 
 indifference in matters of religion cannot 
 
 * Now there was a certain man in Cesarea, named Cornel- 
 ius, a centut ion of the band which is called the Italian. 2. A 
 religious man, and one that feared God with all his house, 
 who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God 
 always. 3. He saw in a vision manifestly, about the ninth 
 hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying 
 to him; Cornelius. 4. And he, beholding him, being seized 
 with fear, said : What is it. Lord f And he said to him : 
 Thy prayers and thy alms have ascended for a memorial in 
 the sight of God. 5. And now send men to Joppe, and call 
 hither one Simon, who is surnamed Peter : 6. He lodgeth 
 with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea-side ; he 
 thall tell thee what thou must do. 7. And when the angel who 
 spoke to him was departed, he called two of his household 
 servants, and a soldier that feared the Lord, of those who 
 were under him : 8. To whom when he had related all, he 
 sent them to Joppe. 9. And on the next day, whilst they 
 
 25 
 
 be reconciled with the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. The history of his instruction, 
 baptism, and reception into the Church 
 occupies so large a space in the sacred 
 text that it forms the whole of what is 
 called the tenth chapter of the Acts — a 
 chapter which consists of forty-eight 
 verses. It looks as if the Holy Ghost had 
 penned this lengthened description of 
 this conversion that it might be a standing 
 record to demolish the flimsy sophistry of 
 those who advocate unrestricted liberty in 
 the choice of a religious creed. 
 
 The good, moral, upright life Cornelius 
 led before he was baptized by St. Peter, 
 
 were going on their journey, and drawing near to the city, 
 Peter went up to the higher parts of the house to pray, about 
 the sixth hour. 10. And, being hungry, he was desirous to 
 taste somewhat. And as they were preparing, there came 
 upon him an ecstasy of mind; 11. And he saw heaven 
 opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great 
 sheet, let down by the four corners from heaven to the earth, 
 12. In which were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creep- 
 ing things of the earth, and fowls of the air. 13. And there 
 came a voice to him ; Arise, Peter ; kill and eat. 14. But 
 Peter said : Far be it from me. Lord ; for I have never 
 eaten any common and unclean thing. 15. And the voice 
 spoke to him again the second time : That which God hath 
 purified, do not thou call common. 16. And this was done 
 thrice; and presently the vessel was taken up again into 
 heaven. 17. N9W, whilst Peter was doubting within himself 
 what the vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the 
 
26 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 before he had even heard of St. Peter, 
 corresponds with the picture drawn by 
 those who hold that it does not matter 
 what creed a man follows, provided He be 
 a good man after his own fashion. He 
 surely reaches their standard • for he was 
 truly a good man after his own fashion, 
 and according to the lights he had 
 received. He was a soldier, but an 
 exceptionally virtuous one. He had a 
 position in the Roman army. He was 
 centurion of the band which was called 
 the Italian band. As far as we can see, 
 he was a man in pretty good circum- 
 stances, able to live comfortably. And, 
 as to his moral character, it is described 
 in the second verse of the chapter: "A 
 religious man and one that feared God 
 with all his house — who gave much alms 
 to the people, and prayed to God always." 
 In the language, then, of inspiration, he is 
 declared to be a good man — to be a man 
 who was full of the fear of God, of the 
 love of God — one who spent long hours 
 in prayer, and who divided his substance 
 largely and generously with the poor — 
 one, too, the power of whose example had 
 
 men who were sent by Cornelius, inquiring for Simon's house, 
 stood at the gate. 18. And when they had called, they asked 
 if Simon, who is surnamed Peter, lodged there ? 19. And as 
 Peter was thinking on the vision, the Spirit said to him : 
 Behold, three men seek thee. 20. Arise, therefore, go down, 
 «nd go with them, doubting nothing ; for I have sent them. 
 
 21. Then Peter, going down to the men, said : Behold, I am 
 he whom you seek : what is the cause for which you are come ? 
 
 22. And they said: Cornelius, a centurion, a just man, and 
 one that feareth God, and that hath good testimony from all 
 the nation of the Jews, received an answer of a holy angel, to 
 send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee. 
 
 23. Then bringing them in, he lodged them. And the day 
 following he arose, and went with them ; and some of the 
 brethren from Joppe accompanied him. 24. And the day 
 »fter he entered into Cesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting 
 for them, having called together his kinsmen and special 
 
 been such that all the members of his 
 household were influenced by it — walked 
 in uprightness as he did, and practised 
 similar virtues. 
 
 Now, what more was wanted } Was he 
 not moving on securely to heaven in his 
 present state .-' Would he not be suffi- 
 ciently prepared for a place in heaven by 
 continuing to live as he had lived hitherto } 
 And if the good qualities which are 
 ascribed to him, and the many and exalted 
 virtues he is said to have practised, 
 had been sufficient to qualify him for a 
 place in heaven, why not leave him as he 
 was ? Perhaps he was following his 
 present lights better than he would follow 
 stronger and fuller illuminations, and cor- 
 responding with the graces he was actually 
 receiving more perfectly than he would 
 correspond with more abundant ones. 
 Why, then, not leave him as he was .^ 
 — why take any further trouble with him ? 
 God, however, did not leave him as he 
 was ; He condescended to take further 
 trouble with him, if I may be allowed that 
 familiar way of expressing the idea. He 
 sent an angel from heaven to Cornelius. 
 
 friends. 25. And it came to pass when Peter was come in, 
 Cornelius met him, and falling down at his feet, worshipped. 
 26. But Peter raised him up, saying: Rise, I myself also 
 am a man, 27. And talking with him, he went in, and found 
 many that were come together. 28. And he said to them : 
 You know how abominable a thing it is for a man that is a 
 Jew to keep company or to come to one of another nation ; 
 but God hath showed to me not to call any man common or 
 unclean. 29. Wherefore, making no doubt, I came when I 
 was sent for : I ask, therefore, for what cause you have sent 
 for me ? 30. And Cornelius said : Four days ago, until this 
 hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and 
 behold, a man stood before me in white apparel, and said : 
 31. Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thy alms are remem- 
 bered in the sight of God. 32. Send, therefore, to Joppe, and 
 call hither Simon, who is surnamed Peter : he lodgeth in the 
 house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea-side. '},t,. IinmediateljTj 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 27 
 
 And the angel, in the name of Him who 
 sent him, commanded Cornelius to invite 
 St. Peter, that St. Peter might come and 
 instruct him and the members of his 
 family as to what they must do. The 
 angel was not content with giving a vague 
 general command. He did not leave 
 Cornelius in doubt as to where St. Peter 
 was to be found. He told him that Peter 
 was in the city of Joppe, described the 
 quarter of the city in which he abode, and 
 mentioned the very house in which he was 
 staying. Cornelius promptly and gladly 
 obeyed this message from heaven. He at 
 once sent three men to Joppe to invite him 
 to his house in Cesarea. As these three 
 men were approaching Joppe, St. Peter 
 himself had a vision. At the end of this 
 vision, the Spirit of God said to him that 
 three men stood at the door seeking him 
 — that they had been divinely sent, and 
 that he was to go with them whither they 
 would lead him. The following day he 
 set out -for Cesarea, accompanied by the 
 messengers who had come to invite him. 
 And the morrow after he reached the 
 
 therefore, I sent to thee ; and thou hast done well in coming. 
 Now, therefore, all we are present in thy sight, to hear all 
 things whatsoever are commanded thee by the Lord. 34. 
 Then Peter, opening his mouth, said : In truth I perceive 
 that God is not a respecter of persons : 35. But in every 
 ■ation he that feareth Him, and worketh justice, is acceptable 
 to Him. 36. God sent the word to the children ot Israel, 
 preaching peace through Jesus Christ ( He is the Lord of all). 
 37. You know the word which hath been published through 
 all Judea : for it began from Galilee, after the baptism which 
 John preached. 38. Jesus of Nazareth: how God anointed 
 Him with the Holy Ghost, and with power ; who went about 
 doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil ; 
 for God was with Him. 39. And we are witnesses of all 
 things which He did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem ; 
 whom they killed, hanging Him upon a tree. 40. Him God 
 raised up the third day,*and gave Him to be made manifest. 
 41. Not to all the people, but to witnesses preordained of 
 
 house of the centurion, instructed hira 
 and the members of his household in the 
 true Gospel, and received them into the 
 one true Church. 
 
 Now here the advocates of Indifferent- 
 ism are on the horns of a dilemma. One of 
 two conclusions they are forced to draw — 
 namely, either God sends His apostles, 
 and even His angels, on useless errands, 
 or it cannot be a matter of indifference to 
 Him what religion people profess. If 
 Cornelius knew God, if he feared Him, 
 if he loved Him — if he loved Him, 
 too, in His poor by relieving those who 
 were in distress — if he spent long hours 
 in prayer, if his life was such that he was 
 styled in inspired language a "just man," 
 why should God send an angel from 
 heaven to him, or why should He send St. 
 Peter from Joppe to Cesarea, to bring to 
 him the light of the new Gospel, to 
 administer to him the sacrament of 
 baptism, and to receive him and his family 
 into the one true fold } 
 
 On the other hand, when St. Peter, as 
 an apostle of the new religion, stood in 
 the presence of Cornelius, and put before 
 
 God; even to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose 
 again from the dead. 42. And He commanded us to preach 
 to the people, and to testify that it is He who hath been 
 appointed by God to be the judr^ of the living and of the 
 dead. 43. To Him all the prophets give testimony, that 
 through His name all receive remission of sins who believe in 
 Him. 44. While Peter was yet speaking these words, the 
 Holy Ghost fell upon all them that were hearing the word. 
 45. And the faithful of circumcision who had come with 
 Peter, were astonished because the grace of the Holy Ghost 
 was also poured out upon the Gentiles. 46. For they heard 
 them speaking with tongues, and magnifying God. 47. Then 
 Peter answered : Can any man forbid water, that these should 
 not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost, as well as 
 we? 48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they entreated him to 
 stay wdth them some days. 
 
28 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 the doctrines of that religion, was he 
 ( Cornelius ) free to keep any longer to the 
 old form of worship in which he had 
 served God for some time before, and to 
 reject the doctrines which Peter had 
 come expressly to announce to him ? Or, 
 was he free to accept some of those doc- 
 trines and to reject others ? If he had 
 hesitated, or if he had made it a condition 
 of his being received into the Church, 
 that he could go back to his own old 
 religion after a time, in case he preferred 
 to do so when he had given the new one 
 a fair trial, and that he was to have the 
 free exercise of his private judgment as to 
 the meaning he was to attach to the Gos- 
 pel truths, would St. Peter have admitted 
 him into the fold of Christ ? Certainly 
 not. And above all, if after a visit from 
 an angel of heaven — if while there stood 
 in his presence an apostle who had been 
 divinely instructed in a vision to come to 
 him — if while it was clear as noonday it 
 was God's will he should abandon his old 
 religion and take to the new — if in spite 
 of all this he had persisted in still clinging 
 to the old one, saying that it was the one 
 he had been most used to, at least for 
 some time — that he did not ask for a 
 better, that he did not care for novelties 
 and changes, that he dreaded the wrench 
 which such a change must bring with it, 
 that he shrank from breaking with relations 
 and friends, that he feared to incur their 
 dislike, that he might lose his position in 
 the Roman army, that such a step might 
 reduce himself and his family to penury, 
 and that, in consequence of these many 
 
 grave and well-founded fears, he had made 
 up his mind to remain as he was — that he 
 would keep in the old lines, pray as much 
 as he had prayed before, give alms more 
 abundantly still, and do good to all within 
 his reach. Now, had he reasoned thus 
 and acted thus, and remained in his old 
 religion, while heaven's light flashed upon 
 him with such overwhelming brightness, 
 that he saw as clearly as he saw the sun 
 in the heavens that it was wrong to remain 
 in it any longer, would that old religion, and 
 his many virtues, and his many prayers, 
 and his abundant alms have availed 
 him aught for heaven } No ; God had now 
 revealed to him the creed which He com- 
 manded him to embrace, and he ( Cor- 
 nelius) was not free to put it aside and to 
 follow some other creed instead. He 
 might pray, he might profess to live in 
 the fear of God, he might give all his 
 substance to feed the poor — all would be 
 in vain, unless he gave up his old form 
 of worship, which for hUn could no longer 
 be right, and adhere to that new faith 
 which God, through His angel and His 
 apostle, had shown him to be the true one, 
 and the only true one. " Without faith it 
 is impossible to please God" {Heb. xi. 6). 
 
 The application of this to current 
 events is already implied, in the supposi- 
 tion I have made with regard to Cornelius, 
 in the event of his having failed or 
 neglected to take the course which he had 
 the happiness to follow. 
 
 Before entering upon this application, 
 I feel I ought to ask the reader's indulgence 
 while I digress for a short time from the 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 29 
 
 main line of argument. I have less hes- 
 itation in asking this permission, as the 
 application itself, though it is a slight 
 departure from the direct line of demon- 
 stration, embodies, nevertheless, a further 
 refutation of the pernicious system against 
 which I am arguing. 
 
 A man, belonging to some non-Catholic 
 denomination, seeing the number of rich, 
 respectable, educated people who leave 
 the ranks of Protestanism and enter the 
 Catholic Church, may become unhinged 
 in the creed he has hitherto professed. 
 He begins to have doubts, and serious 
 ones, as to whether that creed is right or 
 wrong. In spite of the prejudices gen- 
 erated by early education, in spite of 
 those popular calumnies which taught 
 him in his boyhood and early youth that 
 any religion was better than the Roman 
 one — that all churches were good enough 
 exccpt\.\\Q. Roman Church, he has, never- 
 theless, a sort of incipient, though reluc- 
 tant, leaning towards the faith which that 
 church teaches. Natural motives incline 
 him to remain where he is ; something 
 abnormal within him (which he cannot 
 e.xplain to himself ) impels him in another 
 direction. He stands bewildered in the 
 clash of so many contending, antagonistic 
 creeds ; his reason tells him that all can- 
 not be right, that one only can be right, 
 and he is quite uncertain whether he 
 belongs to the one which is right, or to one 
 amongst the many which are wrong. He 
 doubts more seriously every day. 
 
 Well, such a man either seeks to have 
 his doubts clpfred up or he does not. If 
 
 he is sincerely anxious to find a solution 
 of them, he will set the right way about it 
 — i. e., he will put himself to the trouble 
 of inquiring, of reading, of consulting ; he 
 will pray with earnestness, and with his 
 whole heart, for light from on high ; and 
 if he continue to pray earnestly and heart- 
 ily for light, light is sure to come. The 
 darkness of error and the mists of doubt 
 will gradually disappear. No angel may 
 be sent to him from heaven, and no apostle 
 of the true faith may be divinely instructed 
 on earth to come to him ; but the light of 
 reason and the light of revelation com- 
 bined may show him — and show him so 
 clearly that he can no longer have any 
 rational doubt about the matter — that 
 his present religion is wrong, and that the 
 one he was taught in his younger years 
 to ridicule and to hold in detestation is 
 the right one, and the only right one. 
 
 The course he is bound to follow under 
 these circumstances is evident. He it 
 bound to take, energetically and promptly, 
 the final step which will lead him into 
 that Church to which the steady light of 
 faith is inviting him. The same grace 
 which is a star to guide him is meant to 
 be also a help to direct his steps in the 
 path it traces out for him. Not to cor- 
 respond with that grace, which is at once 
 both light and strength, is to abuse it, 
 and to abuse it is to run the risk of los- 
 ing it forever ; for no man has control 
 over the length of time he Is to live, or 
 the measure of grace he is to have ; and 
 the worst way to get grace in the future 
 is to throw away the grace which is given 
 
30 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 in the present. I say he is bound to fol- 
 low, promptly and energetically, the light 
 which is made to shine upon him, and to 
 use the strength which is divinely given 
 him ; for God does not give His super- 
 natural helps in vain. When He com- 
 municates His lights and His strength. 
 He expects, and He has a right to expect, 
 that they will be used for the purpose for 
 which they are bestowed ; and He will 
 demand at the Judgment-seat a rigorous 
 account of those who, through apathy, 
 cowardice, or caprice, shut their eyes to 
 His light, or waste those helps which are 
 meant to strengthen them on the way to 
 the true fold. 
 
 Such a man may pray a great deal, 
 may perform acts of heroic penance : he 
 may speak with the tongues of men and of 
 angels, he may distribute all his goods to 
 feed the poor, his portrait may hang in 
 every drawing-room, his bust or statue may 
 be found in every place of public resort, 
 he may wield a wide influence amongst 
 his fellow-men, he may have the good 
 testimony of all who know him, he may be 
 a useful, beneficent, benevolent member of 
 society, he may be the very ideal of a 
 philanthropist, he may impress all who 
 come in contact with him that he is a good 
 man after his own fashion — all this will 
 fail to save him, if he refuses or neglects 
 to enter that church which he sees in the 
 irresistible light of faith to be the true 
 one, and the only true one. Without 
 faith it is impossible to please God. 
 Which that church is to which 
 his star must guide him, if faithfully 
 
 followed, we shall determine later on, in 
 the second part of this little book, when 
 we discuss the external marks which 
 must necessarily belong to the true church, 
 and which can belong to her alone. 
 
 This leads us to the further treatment 
 of the second part of our supposition — ■ 
 i. e., to consider in detail the position of 
 the man who does not seek a solution of 
 his doubts, and who strives to drown the 
 voice of conscience by endeavoring to 
 argue himself into the conviction that 
 good works with any form of Christian 
 belief are a sufficient qualification for the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 In spite of his efforts to stifle the voice 
 of conviction, his doubts become more 
 grave every day ; for he cannot help notic- 
 ing the stream of conversions which is 
 constantly flowing into the Catholic 
 Church. He observes that every year 
 several men of standing, of great ability, 
 of varied learning, leave the Protestant 
 and embrace the Catholic communion. 
 He understands perfectly well that they 
 cannot be doing so from motives of self- 
 interest. He has penetration enough 
 to perceive that in taking such a step 
 they have nothing to gain in a temporal 
 point of view, but everything to lose. 
 He has heard repeatedly that many of 
 them made the change with the certain 
 knowledge that they would lose in conse- 
 quence their family inheritance, a rich 
 living, an annual income, a lucrative busi- 
 ness, a good situation, a means of live- 
 lihood — that they would be disowned 
 and cast off by their nearest and dearest 
 
INDTFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 31 
 
 relatives, have to break some of the fond- 
 est family ties, incur the displeasure of 
 many cherished friends, and lose the 
 respect of large numbers of old and highly 
 esteemed acquaintance. 
 
 He looks at some of the living promi- 
 nent dignitaries of the Catholic Church in 
 England, and he finds that the history of 
 what they were in the not very distant 
 past is still fresh in the memories of all. 
 That contemporary history tells him that 
 some of the greatest intellects that England 
 has ever produced, that some of the bright- 
 est stars that ever shone in the English 
 Protestant Church, have in this century 
 abandoned her, and have given their life, 
 genius, heart, soul, whole being, to another 
 church. That same history makes it 
 clear to him that these great men did not 
 give up Protestantism without counting 
 the cost. Numberless difficulties stared 
 them in the face — difficulties which 
 would have appalled and unnerved men of 
 less force of will, or would at least have 
 made them try to find principles of expedi- 
 ency to baffle conviction. And souls less 
 brave and hearts less courageous might 
 have succumbed before getting even half- 
 way over the dark waters that separate 
 Protestantism from Catholicity. They 
 had England at their feet while they 
 remained members of the Establishment ; 
 on the other hand, they felt as if they 
 themselves must ever sit at the feet of 
 the humblest members of the priesthood 
 of the communion they were embracing. 
 The high places, to which the Catholic 
 Church was in time to lift them, were 
 
 still far below the horizon, could hardly be 
 dreamt of ( at least by themselves ) as 
 things within the range of possibility. 
 They could not foresee the glories which 
 were to crown their courage, and make 
 them shine as beacons in the church of 
 their adoption. The panorama they had 
 to contemplate was, in an earthly point of 
 view, dark beyond description. The loss, 
 not merely for a time, but forever, of the 
 high place they had hitherto occupied — ■ 
 the loss of revenues, the loss, too, of the 
 prestige with which fame had already 
 invested their name as champions of the 
 faith they had till then professed, the 
 sacrifice of prospects which made the 
 highest elevations in the Protestant 
 hierarchy far more than probable ; on the 
 other hand, nothing to look forward to in 
 the church to which they were submitting 
 but a position of insignificance, crosses, 
 humiliations, perpetual self-denial, and a 
 life of comparative obscurity. Such the 
 contrast between the fascinations of the 
 delightful life they were renouncing, and 
 the stern rigors of the life of abnegation 
 for which they girded themselves up, 
 when they resolved to take the course in 
 which unchanging conviction was irresisti- 
 bly drawing them. They had all the 
 merit of that heroic, unlimited self-sacri 
 fice which their will cheerfully embraced 
 when they took the step which severed 
 them forever from the church of their 
 family, and which lodged them safely in 
 the bosom of the old Church of Rome. 
 
 Our friend ( who doubts ) philosophizes 
 on the conversion of men such as I have 
 
INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 been describing. He feels that nothing 
 but the force of conviction, deep and 
 irresistible, could have led them on in 
 this course, could have made them brave 
 such dangers and nerve them for such 
 sacrifices. It occurs to him, too, that if 
 men of such undoubted uprightness, such 
 ability, such learning — men who are so 
 conversant with the question of religion, 
 who were thoroughly qualified to compare 
 the relative merits of different creeds, made 
 up their minds in the face of such formid- 
 able obstacles to abjure the church in 
 which they had been brought up, and to 
 make their submission to another — then 
 other men of less ability, of less knowl- 
 edge, and of fewer opportunities of 
 judging, and who were brought up in the 
 same church, ought at least to doubt. 
 
 It may have been in reasoning of this 
 kind that his own first doubts had their 
 origin. And since the day when he first 
 became unsettled in the creed of his fam- 
 ily, the news of each successive notable 
 conversion has tended to render his doubts 
 more disquieting and more perplexing. 
 He feels impelled to draw the conclusion 
 that those great, able, learned, religious- 
 minded men, who had so many motives 
 to bind them to the Church of their birth 
 and early years, would never have 
 renounced her at the cost of such sacri- 
 fices, if they had entertained the idea 
 that they could have saved their souls 
 equally easily, or saved them at all, in 
 the religion taught by the church which 
 they were abandoning. This process of 
 reasoning may lead him still farther, and 
 
 may incline him to draw the additional 
 inference, namely, that if other members 
 of the Establishment, who have remained 
 listless in their doubts for years, had 
 applied their mind to the search after the 
 true faith, with that energy and indomita- 
 ble perseverance with which they give 
 themselves up to temporal pursuits, there 
 would have been a far greater number 
 who would have followed in the path 
 traced out by those heroic souls who 
 have so nobly and so courageously sacri- 
 ficed everything in their glorious search 
 after the truth. 
 
 Such his doubts, such the facts that 
 have generated them, such the reflections 
 that have increased them. Still, in his 
 case they lead to no practical result. And 
 it is his own fault that they do not. He 
 can reason cleverly enough about the con- 
 version of others, and speak eloquently 
 about the conclusions which such conver- 
 sions ought to incline people to draw. 
 But, though he is full of uncertainties and 
 perplexities himself, he takes no means to 
 have them cleared up. He is tossed 
 about on the ocean of error, and he makes 
 no effort whatever to get on the dry and 
 firm land. Nor can it be argued, in exten- 
 • nation of this culpable apathy, that he is 
 ignorant of the dangers which surround 
 his present position. He has no difficulty 
 in realizing the gravity, the vital impor- 
 tance, of the point at issue. He knows 
 that religion has to do with the soul, and 
 that the soul is immortal — that with 
 regard to himself it is a question of eter- 
 nal life or eternal death ; and that in 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 33 
 
 retcx^nce to God it is a question of serv- 
 ing Him according to the form of worship 
 He has prescribed, or some other form of 
 worship at variance with the one on which 
 He has set the seal of Divine sanction. 
 
 All this he fully understands ; and he 
 fully understands, moreover, the terrible 
 consequences which must attend his want 
 of decision. Though harassed by so 
 many disquietudes and perplexities about 
 matters of religion, he nevertheless enjoys 
 a sort of lethargic peace of soul. While 
 his conscience is oppressed by a multitude 
 
 ' of doubts, he chooses practically to ignore 
 them. And if his state of mind is analyzed 
 it may be described in this form, namely — 
 " I have serious doubts as to the truth of 
 
 \ the religion which I nominally profess, 
 I have various reasons for thinking it is 
 not the religion of Christ. I feel unac- 
 countably and irresistibly drawn to another 
 which I have been taught hitherto to 
 despise and to hate, I am quite uncertain 
 whether I am serving God in the right way 
 or the wrong way ; and although I am 
 pretty sure I could find out for certain 
 which is the religion in which He wishes 
 me to serve Him if I made the effort, 
 still I will give myself no trouble about it, 
 I know that I ought to inquire, but inquiry 
 is irksome and inconvenient, and if once 
 begun and followed up it may show me 
 the necessity of making changes from the 
 very thought of which I shrink with hor- 
 ror. Many good men, who are as much 
 bound to inquire as I am, hold that it is a 
 matter of no consequence what form of 
 Christian belief a man professes, provided 
 
 he be a man of good works. I will remain 
 as I am. I will keep to the creed I was 
 brought up in, I will do as much in 
 the way of good works as I can. I will 
 lead as good a life as possible. And, as to 
 matters of faith, I will take my chance." 
 This may not be recognized as expressing 
 the state of mind of a certain class of 
 Indifferentists, but I think it will be gen- 
 erally admitted that it expresses the state 
 of mind of many. 
 
 Now here we are engaged in a hand-to- 
 hand combat with our opponents. The 
 defenders of the system of Indiffercntism, 
 if true to their principles, will hold that 
 this man is quite secure as far as religion 
 is concerned, that he is a good man after 
 his own fashion, and that he has nothing 
 whatever to fear in regard to the world to 
 come. 
 
 I maintain that such a man cannot pos- 
 sibly be a good man in God's sense of the 
 word " good " so long as he remains wil- 
 fully and apathetically in the state of 
 doubt in which he is living at present 
 He lacks the very foundation of super- 
 natural goodness — i. e., that firm, 
 unswerving faith, without which no super- 
 structure of supernatural virtue can be 
 raised. His faith, shifting like the sands 
 of the beach, is equivalent to no faith at 
 all. It means everything and it means 
 nothing; for it means nothing definite. 
 In the secret of his heart he sets more 
 value on a creed to which he is supposed 
 to be antagonistic than he does on the 
 one which he nominally professes. And 
 yet he has not the courage or strength of 
 
34 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 will to enter upon a search after the solu- 
 tion of his doubts. Self-interest, human 
 respect, craven fear, downright apathy, 
 sheer indifference, prevent him from doing 
 so. The things of time absorb nearly 
 all his attention ; he has none to give to 
 the settlement of the question on which 
 his eternal state depends. While he 
 willingly takes an immense deal of trouble 
 in arranging the affairs of his house, of 
 his family, of his business, in seeking after 
 the situation, occupation, or work which 
 brings the largest wage, in attending to 
 an infinity of trifles, he takes no trouble 
 at all ( although he is harassed by constant 
 misgivings about the matter) in assuring 
 himself whether he is doing rightly or 
 wrongly that greatest and most important 
 of all duties — the duty he was sent into 
 the world to do — the duty of serving 
 God. "Fear God, and keep His com- 
 mandments ; for this is all man " ( Eccle- 
 siastes xii. 13 ). Can we say that the man 
 who attaches so little importance to God's 
 service, that He does not care whether he 
 is serving Him in the way that He approves 
 of, or in a way that He condemns, is 
 practising in any degree that holy fear 
 spoken of in the inspired language which 
 I have quoted .-* 
 
 Does not the first precept of the Dec- 
 alogue forbid not only the worship of 
 strange gods, but also the worship of the 
 true God in a way that is false and wrong .■' 
 On what foundation, then, can that man 
 rest the confident hope of being eternally 
 saved who has good reason to believe 
 that he is not worshipping his Creator 
 
 according to the fashion He has divinely 
 revealed, but according to a bundle of 
 erroneous doctrines and empty rites" which 
 have had their origin in the pride and 
 obstinate opinionativeness of novelty-seek- 
 ing men } Is God likely to give heaven 
 to those who will not condescend to 
 inquire which is the road that leads to it ? 
 No. Heaven is the greatest reward 
 which in His omnipotence He can bestow. 
 He will never give it to the man who 
 doubts seriously whether he is walking in 
 the way that leads towards it or the way 
 that leads away from it, and who does not 
 think it worth his while to make inquiries, 
 though he has easy and ample opportune 
 ties of doing so. If it still be urged that 
 he is a good man after his own fashion, 
 I answer, that may be ; but he is not a 
 good man after God' s fashion, and on that 
 everything depends. That moral goodness 
 which God demands as a qualification for 
 heaven can never be found in the soul 
 which is oscillating (entirely through its 
 own fault ) in vague, perpetual uncertainty, 
 or which is deliberately stifling doubts, 
 instead of continuing to inquire with a 
 view to finding a solution of them. 
 
 Hence, I hold that the very terms in 
 which the theory of Indifferentism is 
 enunciated are sophistical — at least, if it 
 is a question of a man into whose mind 
 has come a reasonable suspicion that he is 
 wrong. For that system supposes some- 
 thing as proved '^\i\z\i is not proved, which 
 never can be proved, for the simple reason 
 that such a thing is an impossibility. It 
 supposes that a man can be a good man. 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 3i 
 
 tven according to the Divine standard of 
 goodness, although he is in constant wilful 
 doubt whether he is offering to God a wor- 
 ship which is agreeable to Him, or a wor- 
 ship which He must disown and reject. And 
 can that great God, who is just and holy 
 and true, ever look upon as good the man 
 who lives day by day in grave doubt, in 
 sheer indifference, whether he is glorifying 
 Him by believing what is true, or insult- 
 ing Him by professing a creed which he 
 has good reason to believe may be false ? 
 God is the God of truth. He must love 
 truth of necessity ; and by the same law of 
 His Divine being. He must bear an 
 everlasting and unchanging hatred to 
 what is contrary thereto. 
 
 The striking words of the Cardinal 
 Archbishop of Westminster in reference 
 to this are in place here. Alluding to a 
 kindred subject (i. e., " Rationalism the 
 legitimate consequence of private judg- 
 ment " ), he says : — " Greater things than 
 argument are at stake — the honor of Qur 
 Lord and the eternal salvation of souls. 
 How great is the dishonor, of which men 
 think so little ; as if truth were a sort of 
 coin, that they may stamp and change, and 
 vary its die amd fix its value, and make it 
 in metal or paper as they will! They 
 treat the truth as one of the elements of 
 human barter, or as an indulgence which 
 a man may hold and use for himself alone, 
 leaving his neighbor to perish. This is 
 truth for me ; look you to what you 
 believe. What dishonor is this to the 
 person of our Lord .-• Picture to your- 
 selves this night upon your knees the 
 
 throne of the Son of God; cherubim and 
 seraphim adoring the glory of Eternal 
 Truth, the changeless light of the Incar- 
 nate Word, yesterday, today, and forever 
 the same ; the heavenly court replenished 
 with the illumination of God, the glorified 
 intelligences, in whose pure spirit the 
 thought of falsehood is hateful as the 
 thought of sin; — then look to earth on 
 those whom the blood of Christ hath 
 redeemed ; look on those who in this 
 world should have inherited the faith ; 
 look at their controversies, their dis- 
 putes, their doubts, their misery ; and in 
 the midst of all these wandering, sinning, 
 perishing souls, look at those who stand 
 by in selfish, cold complacency, wrapping 
 themselves in their own opinion, and say- 
 ing, 'This is truth to me.* Think, too, of 
 the souls that perish. How many are 
 brought into the very gulf of eternal 
 death through uncertainty "i How, as 
 every pastor can tell you, souls are torn 
 from the hand which would save them 
 by being sedulously taught that the dead- 
 liest sins have no sin in them ; by the 
 specious and poisonous insinuation that sin 
 has no moral quality ; how souls have first 
 been sapped in their faith as Satan 
 began in Paradise. ' Yea, hath God said ? ' 
 that is, God hath not said. This is per- 
 petually at this hour going on around 
 us ; and whence comes it "i Because men 
 have cast down the Divine authority, 
 and have substituted in its place the 
 authority of men, that is, of each man 
 for himself " ( " Grounds of Faith," pp. 
 84, 85). 
 
36 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 I now return to the argument drawn 
 from the conversion of the centurion : 
 and I return to it to answer an objection. 
 
 I am well aware that the patrons of 
 Indifferentism will appeal to a certain por- 
 tion of the chapter (Acts x. ) as containing 
 a vindication of their theory. They quote 
 the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth verses as 
 a clear and explicit defence of it. In 
 these verses we find St. Peter, after hear- 
 ing from the lips of Cornelius an account 
 of the wonderful way in which he had 
 been visited by an angel, and commanded 
 to send for him, giving expression to his 
 thankful admiration of God's loving prov- 
 idence in leading pure-minded men into 
 the true Church. These verses run thus : 
 — "And Peter opening his mouth said: 
 In very deed I perceive that God is not a 
 respecter of persons. But in every 
 nation, he that feareth Him and worketh 
 justice, is acceptable to Him " ( Acts x. 
 
 34, 35)- 
 
 Now, the supporters of Indifferentism, 
 looking at these words quite apart from 
 the context and from the exceptional cir- 
 cumstances in which they were spoken, 
 seem to think that they warrant almost 
 any conclusion ; and they have no scruple 
 in drawing a very wide one. They say 
 (at least some of them say) that it is 
 evident, from this emphatic declaration of 
 the apostle, that God does not care what 
 a man is, in point of religion — that He 
 is quite indifferent whether he is a Jew or 
 a Gentile, a Pagan or a Turk, a Presbyte- 
 rian, a Protestant, a Ritualist, or even a 
 Roman Catholic (if you will), provided he 
 
 be an honest, straightforward, benevolent 
 charitable man. 
 
 Let us see if there is anything in the 
 verses in question to justify this bold 
 reasoning. Can these words of St. Peter 
 be construed, even by the most subtle 
 understanding of them, into a vindication 
 of the theory of Indifferentism ? No, cer- 
 tainly not. For, quite apart from their 
 true meaning, as made evident by the 
 context, the very circumstances even, in 
 which they were spoken, embody an 
 unanswerable refutation of any such theory. 
 If God were indifferent as to what form 
 of worship His creatures paid Him, then 
 St. Peter's visit on that occasion to Cor- 
 nelius was useless — his long journey of 
 more than a day from Joppe to Cesarea was 
 useless — the journey of the three men 
 who travelled so far to invite him was 
 useless — the coming of the angel from 
 heaven was useless — the truths Peter 
 announced to him were useless, and would 
 have served the purpose quite as well if 
 they had been but a repetition of the old 
 doctrines of the Synagogue, or a rehearsal 
 of those fragments of revelation which 
 were already familiar to Cornelius — the 
 baptism was useless, an idle ceremony 
 which might have been very conveniently 
 replaced by some of the old rites of the 
 Jewish ceremonial. In such a supposition 
 these long journeys and the consequent 
 fatigue, the preparatory instructions given 
 to the centurion and his family before 
 his reception into the Church, the per- 
 formance of the sacred functions by which 
 they were made members of the Church 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION, 
 
 Z7 
 
 — all this might have been dispensed 
 with ; and so all parties might have been 
 spared a great deal of unnecessary trouble. 
 But, can we conceive a God of infinite 
 wisdom, who must have an end in every- 
 thing He does, going beyond the lines of 
 His ordinary providence, working great 
 miracles, employing so many intermediate 
 agents — i. e., servants, apostles, angels 
 
 — to lead a man who was already accept- 
 able to Him to a knowledge of a certain 
 definite creed, if He cared so little about 
 matters of faith as the advocates of 
 IndifFerentism would have us believe ? 
 Is not the secret, why these propagandists 
 of broad Christianity give to the passage 
 in question so free and wide an interpre- 
 tation, patent to every reasonable man 
 who thoughtfully investigates the matter ? 
 Is it not this ? They would have it that 
 God must be indifferent about religion, 
 just because they are disposed to be 
 indifferent about it themselves. They 
 paint Him, not according to the dictates 
 of intimate conviction, but according to 
 the bent of natural inclination ; and they 
 cling to Indifferentism as a creed, not 
 because they believe it is one which is 
 particularly calculated to give Him glory, 
 but because it is one that is particularly 
 suited to their own convenience. It presup- 
 poses little restraint ; still, quite as much as 
 they are disposed to bear. It is an excuse 
 for a religion, while it leaves them free to 
 believe what they like, and, with regard 
 to many points, perhaps to do what they 
 like. In point of convenience, there is 
 nothing that has the resemblance of a 
 
 Christian creed than can be compared 
 with it. It saves people from the reproach 
 of being absolute unbelievers, while it 
 gives them unlimited latitude both as to 
 articles of faith and as to the laws of 
 moral conduct. In fact it may be said 
 to be diluted idolatry ; for those who 
 profess it make God not what He is, 
 but what they wish him to be — that is, 
 as careless and indifferent about His 
 religion as the most careless and indiffer- 
 ent amongst His creatures. 
 
 But now having considered the circum- 
 stances in which the words were spoken, 
 let us sift the meaning of the words them- 
 selves. " In very deed," said St. Peter, 
 " I perceive that God is not a respecter of 
 persons. But in every nation he that 
 feareth Him and worketh justice is accept- 
 able to Him." The real meaning is evi- 
 dently this. 1st. That God does not 
 exclude the Gentiles from the gifts of 
 faith and of grace, and that He is as 
 willing to receive Gentiles as Jews into 
 His Church. 2d. That while He is free 
 to give or withhold from men the gifts of 
 His grace, which are quite gratuitous, 
 He at the same time has no regard to a 
 man's race, or lineage, or pedigree, or 
 country, or nationality, when there is a 
 question of the distribution of those gifts ; 
 in other words, that the beginning of a 
 member of a particular race, or a native of 
 a particular country, is not demanded by 
 Him as a prerequisite for becoming 
 acceptable to Him, or for finding favor in 
 His eyes. 3d. That if a man knows 
 God and fears Him, and leads a just life 
 
38 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 according to the supernatural lights which 
 are given him, and does the works of 
 justice with the aid of Divine grace, 
 according to his present knowledge of 
 religion, while he is yet in invincible 
 ignorance that there is any other religion 
 which is true, or at all events, that there 
 is any other which is better than his own, 
 and if he is in such a frame of mind that in 
 case it were made evident to him that his 
 old religion can be no longer right for 
 him, he would be quite willing to abandon 
 it, and quite willing, on the other hand, 
 to embrace another as soon as he became 
 absolutely certain it was the Divine Will 
 he should do so — then such a man, 
 whether he was born in Judea or Galilee, 
 or in some heathen land, like Job, shall 
 find favor with God. 
 
 This must be the meaning of Peter's 
 words, for it is evident Cornelius himself 
 is the ideal Peter is describing. He 
 (Peter) is contemplating a man whose 
 circumstances in regard to religion, whose 
 tone of mind, and whose dispositions of 
 heart resembled those of the centurion. 
 And hence the widest conclusion that 
 must be drawn from his words is, that God 
 looks with favor on those who live in holy 
 fear and lead a just life according to their 
 lights, as Cornelius did, and who, having 
 no knowledge of a better way of serving 
 Him at present, are ready to adopt a new 
 and a higher form of worship as soon as it 
 is His good pleasure to reveal it to them. 
 It is to people who act up to their lights 
 in this way St. Thomas alludes when he 
 teaches that it is to be held as most certain 
 
 that God will either, by some interiof 
 inspiration, reveal to them what is of nec- 
 essary belief for salvation, or will send 
 them some preacher of the faith, as He 
 sent St. Peter to Cornelius, rather than let 
 them perish through want of faith. His 
 words are — " Si eniin aliqiiis, taliter nutri- 
 tus, ductum naturalis rationis sequ^retur in 
 appetitu boni et fiigA mali, certissime est 
 tenejidiim. quod ei Deus vel per internam 
 inspirationem revelaret ea qii(2 sunt ad cre- 
 dendum necessaria vel aliquem fidei pra- 
 dicatorem ad euni dirigeret, sicut misit 
 Petrum ad Corneliinn " {De fide, 2-14, Art. 
 xi.). He is treating the case of a man 
 who lives in a place where none of the 
 ordinary or natural means of attaining to 
 a knowledge of Divine revelation are to 
 be found. The conversion of Cornelius 
 is, indeed, a striking illustration of the 
 truth of the teaching of this great doctor 
 of the Church. 
 
 But the meaning of the verses in ques- 
 tion will become still more clear, if we 
 look at the matter from another point of 
 view. Suppose that St. Peter, as soon as 
 he reached Cesarea, perceived that Cor- 
 nelius, in the short interval between the 
 vision of the angel and his own arrival at 
 his house, had changed his mind again, 
 and had begun to resist God's will, though 
 it had been so clearly manifested to him ; 
 and suppose that he declared to Peter that 
 although he knew with absolute certainty 
 the religion he came to announce to him 
 was now the only true one — that it was 
 the Divine Will he should embrace it at 
 once, and that it was wrong for him to 
 
JXDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 39 
 
 follow the old one any longer — still, 
 having regard to the tremendous temporal 
 difficulties which, for a man in his position, 
 stood in the way, he could not think of 
 making the sacrifices which such a step 
 demanded, would St. Peter, in such a sup- 
 position, have spoken words which implied 
 that he (Cornelius) was there and then 
 acceptable to God ? Every reasonable 
 man must answer No ; for, although Cor- 
 nelius had been (or in case he had been) 
 in the Divine favor till then — till the 
 hour came when there was question of 
 corresponding with or rejecting the signal 
 grace then offered, he would have sinned 
 the moment he wilfully and persistently 
 rejected it. And his sin would have been 
 the particularly great sin of the man who, 
 while heaven's light was shining upon him 
 with its brightest rays to show him what 
 was false on one side and what was true 
 on the other, chose falsehood in preference 
 to truth, and did so from motives of self- 
 interest, and in open resistance to God's 
 will. 
 
 Till the apparition of the angel, or a 
 little before, Cornelius, though knowing 
 the one true God, and having implicit faith 
 in Christ, the Mediator, had been living in 
 invincible ignorance that there was a 
 higher and a holier religion than that 
 which he was practising ; but that igno- 
 rance had begun now to be vincible. The 
 announcement that the promulgation of 
 the Gospel of Christ had been made at 
 Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost was 
 spreading widely. It had already reached 
 several cities of the Roman provinces, and 
 
 Cornelius had probably heard tidings of 
 it from the Jews with whom he associated 
 at Cesarea. At all events, that Gospel 
 had now been promulgated to himself, 
 personally, in a manner so wonderful and 
 so miraculous that there was no longer 
 room for any doubt. Had he turned a 
 deaf ear to the truths it announced and 
 the laws it imposed, he would have sinned, 
 and lost by his sin the grace he had 
 hitherto possessed, or the favor of God, in 
 whose eyes he had till then been accept- 
 able. 
 
 Our opponents are not disconcerted. 
 They hold that the conversion of Cor- 
 nelius, and the arguments we have drawn 
 from it, do not weaken their position in 
 the least. Although Cornelius knew the 
 true God, they observe, still he had not 
 explicit faith in Christ the Mediator; nor 
 had he been as yet instructed in the 
 fundamental doctrines of Christianity. 
 But we, they urge, are Christians, and ai 
 such we believe those great and broad 
 truths on which Christianity is built. We 
 hold, however, that within the limits of 
 those broad and wide fundamental truths, 
 it is lawful to construct several different 
 creeds, and creeds, too, which on many 
 points contradict each other. 
 
 This reasoning is easily answered. It 
 carries with it its own refutation, That 
 the sophistry it contains may be more 
 thoroughly exposed and our answer to it 
 appear in clearer light, we must look 
 again at some of the doctrines on which 
 the principal Christian creeds differ, and 
 at the same time keep before our minds 
 
¥> 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 the momentous importance of those doc- 
 trines. These creeds differ on the doctrine 
 of the Real Presence of Christ in the 
 Eucharist, on the doctrine of sacramental 
 confession, on the question of the Pope's 
 jurisdiction. They also differ as to 
 whether there is a voice on earth which is 
 infallible when it speaks on certain matters 
 in certain given circumstances. Now, surely 
 it is a matter of importance whether Christ 
 is or is not truly and really present in the 
 Sacrament of the Eucharist, whether con- 
 fession is or is not the ordinary means 
 instituted by Christ for obtaining forgive- 
 ness of the grievous sins committed after 
 baptism, whether the Supreme Pontiff has 
 or has not universal spiritual jurisdiction 
 over the whole world, and whether he is 
 or is not infallible when he speaks in his 
 character of universal teacher on matters 
 of faith and morals. Could there be 
 doctrines which affect the interests of 
 men's souls more deeply than these .? 
 "With this question we proceed to answer 
 the statement of the Indifferentist : that 
 within the limits of the broad and wide 
 fundamental truths on which Christianity 
 is built it is lawful to construct different 
 creeds, and creeds even which on many 
 points contradict each other. 
 
 What is Christianity } We do not ask 
 for an elaborate definition drawn from any 
 theological treatise. Better not use such, 
 perhaps, as the authority of the theologi- 
 cal school from which it issued might be 
 questioned. We shall take the usual or 
 common definition or description found in 
 almost every dictionary, which is to this 
 
 effect : Christianity is the religion taught 
 by Christ. 
 
 Now, the religion taught by Christ was 
 on in its beginning, it has been one ever 
 since, and it must ever remain one to the 
 end of time. It cannot be two. It can- 
 not differ from itself ; if it could, it would 
 not be Christ's. As there is only one 
 true baptism, says St. Paul, one true 
 Saviour, one true God and Father of all, 
 so there can be only one true faith. 
 "Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit 
 in the bond of peace. One body and one 
 spirit, as you are called in one hope of 
 your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one 
 Baptism, one God and Father of all, who 
 is above all, and through all, and in us 
 all " ( Ephes. iv. yG). In other words, 
 Christianity, as it signifies the religion 
 revealed by Christ, means truth. For 
 Christ is the God of truth, who cannot 
 speak a lie. And truth is one — it is 
 something pure and simple. It is not a 
 compound consisting of various elements, 
 some of which are true and others false. 
 It can admit no alloy of falsehood without 
 losing its essence, without ceasing to be 
 what it is. Light and darkness cannot 
 co-exist ; heat and cold cannot be found in 
 the same place at the same time. False- 
 hood and truth cannot be built together 
 on Christ, who, as the God of truth, is 
 the foundation on which His religion 
 rests. To affirm, then, that, within the 
 broad and wide limits of Christianity, 
 different creeds, and even contradictory 
 creeds, may be lawfully built up, is simply 
 to affirm that Christ's religion may mean 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A CONTRADICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 4' 
 
 truth and falsehood at once — may be a 
 mixture of what is true and what is false ; 
 and that Christ Himself meant it to be 
 such, since, if He did not mean it to be 
 such, it would be against all reason to 
 hold that contradictory creeds may law- 
 fully spring out of it. But was not that 
 religion true in all its parts, when Christ 
 delivered it to His apostles, to be propa- 
 gated throughout the world ? And, was 
 it not true in all its parts when His 
 apostles transmitted it to their successors ? 
 And was it not that it might remain 
 true in all its parts, free from all 
 alloy of falsehood, to the end of time, 
 that He promised to send His Spirit, the 
 Spirit of truth, to teach all truth ; and 
 promised, too, to be with His Church 
 Himself all days even to the consumma- 
 tion of the world ? 
 
 Could He mean, when He revealed 
 those doctrines which were to constitute 
 Christianity, that He left men free to 
 give them contradictory forms according 
 as fancy or inclination prompted ? Had 
 even the apostles themselves any power to 
 change them, or to leave people free to 
 believe their opposites, as they thought 
 fit ? And if the apostles, to whose guar- 
 dianship they were committed, could not 
 change them in the least item, how does 
 it appear that any innovator or new evan- 
 gelist, who has come into the world since 
 their day, has had any authority to take 
 such liberty with them? What passage 
 is there in the whole range of Scripture 
 from Genesis to the Apocalypse — what has 
 there been handed down in tradition — 
 
 what is there in the dictates of right 
 reason to justify the assumption that 
 Christ meant to leave people free to draw 
 contradictory creeds out of the religion 
 which He revealed ? Does not every- 
 thing in Scripture, in tradition, in reason, 
 point the other way ? I have nevei 
 heard, you, dear reader, have never heard, 
 no one has ever heard, that He said at 
 any time, that if men believed the unity 
 of God, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and 
 the Redemption, they might be free about 
 all the other dogmas of His revelation. 
 
 But, quite independently of reasoning oi 
 this kind, the statement is refuted from 
 the very words in which it is made. It 
 leads to conclusions the most absurd. 
 To say that, within the limits of the 
 great fundamental doctrines of Christian- 
 ity, there is room for different creeds, and 
 creeds which on many points contradict 
 each other, is hardly anything less than a 
 contradiction in terms. For if such lib- 
 erty is allowed, Christianity can never 
 have any limits at all. In other words, 
 while the theory of Indifferentism may be 
 said to have certain limits to begin with, 
 it has none whatever to end with. It can 
 be expanded to any degree its upholder 
 wishes, be stretched out indefinitely, and 
 be made to mean anything and everything, 
 or nothing, according to men's whims, 
 fancies, caprices, private judgment, most 
 foolish eccentricities. There is no restrict- 
 ive or restraining element in it to check 
 its course. It is necessarily progressive, 
 changeful, variable. Freedom of opin- 
 ion is principle of life ; and freedom of 
 
42 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 opinion has never recognized any lim- 
 its in the past, nor is there any hope it 
 will ever recognize any in the future. The 
 only sphere in which it finds itself at 
 home is illimitable space. There is no 
 anchor to keep it within fixed distance. 
 It is like a puny boat, unfastened from 
 its moorings, swept over the ocean by the 
 rage of the tempest, without steersman, 
 without rudder, without chart, iX. the 
 mercy of every wind and wave. 
 
 Here is the secret why the religion of 
 the Reformation has been divided, and 
 subdivided, and re-subdivided, into num- 
 berless sects. It claimed the right of 
 liberty of opinion, of individual preference ; 
 it repudiated the idea of being bound to 
 obey any controlling or authoritative voice 
 that could keep it within definite lines. 
 Hence, its doctrines, like circles on the 
 water, became wider and wider as time 
 went on. These doctrines are expanding 
 still every day ; and it is not unreasonable 
 to say that the only thing that will put an 
 end to their constant expansion will be the 
 day of general judgment. 
 
 But perhaps we shall be told that even in 
 the Church of Rome, which boasts to be so 
 clear and definite in her teachings, liberty 
 of opinion with regard to certain matters 
 of doctrine is allowed, and that in all 
 such matters members of her communion 
 may hold different and even contradictory 
 views. Why, then, condemn in another 
 Church what we approve in our own } 
 Is it not unfair to deny to others a right 
 which we, to a certain extent, make use of 
 ourselves ? What is the difference, ask 
 
 our opponents, between our system and 
 that followed by the Church of Rome "i 
 Is it not this, that while sJie marks off the 
 limits of liberty of opinion at a certain 
 point, we make those limits a little wider } 
 She gives a certain amount of latitude, we 
 give a little more. The difference, there- 
 fore, is a difference, not of kind, but of 
 degree. 
 
 We shall not seek to evade the difficulty. 
 We shall meet it fairly, face to face. And 
 we say at once it is not a difference of 
 degree, but an essential difference of prin- 
 ciple between the Catholic and non-Catho- 
 lic churches. Catholics recognize the 
 infallible voice of the church, as the divinely 
 established means of securing unity in 
 faith, by fixing the limits of free thought 
 and necessary faith. But non-Catholics 
 sanction the right of private judgment, 
 which is a principle not of unity, but of 
 division and diversity. We readily admit 
 that there are certain things in which the 
 Catholic Church allows her children liberty 
 of opinion. But the very lines within 
 which she circumscribes that liberty may 
 be regarded as an additional, though an 
 implicit, proof of her truthfulness. She 
 marks out clearly the limits up to which 
 liberty may go, beyond which it must never 
 go. " Thus far," she says to her children, 
 " you may go in the exercise of freedom of 
 opinion, but no farther." 
 
 She defines, too, with equal clearness, 
 the sphere within which necessary faith 
 is demanded, and demanded under penal- 
 ties of the gravest kind. And so authori- 
 tative is her voice, and so distinctly does 
 
INDIFFERENTISM A COiVTRA DICTION OF REVELATION. 
 
 43 
 
 she draw the lines that mark the bounda- 
 ries botTi of liberty and of obligation, that 
 if one of her own children persistently 
 held that there was no liberty of belief 
 where she granted it, she would cease to 
 regrard him as a member of her communion, 
 and would brand him at once with the 
 mark of heresy. Nor would she be less 
 stern in pronouncing upon him the sen- 
 tence of excommunication if he obstinately 
 refused to submit his understanding to any 
 of those great and distinctly revealed 
 truths which she binds her members, 
 under pain of heresy, to believe. More 
 than this ; if, in order to meet some 
 dangerous innovation, she brings a certain 
 doctrine into more striking prominence, 
 and clothes it in a new garb, though an 
 old truth, so as to meet the heresy it is 
 meant to combat and to crush, any of her 
 members persistently refuses to subscribe 
 to her definition, she condemns him at 
 once in her most emphatic terms, and cuts 
 him off unhesitatingly from her com- 
 munion. 
 
 Surely there is a great difference 
 between a religion which is secured by 
 bulwarks such as these against the assaults 
 of Rationalism, and a religion which, I 
 may say, consists of nothing else but 
 Rationalism, which is made up of those 
 favorite doctrines which free inquiry, 
 guided by taste and inclinations, leads a 
 man to choose as his formula of belief. 
 Wide, indeed, is the distance that sepa- 
 rates the man who belongs to a Church 
 which, under penalties such as I have 
 named, demands submission to her teach- 
 
 ings, from the man who makes his own 
 fancy and caprice the only measure of his 
 faith, and the only standard of his morality. 
 
 The Church of Christ makes religion 
 something clear, distinct, definite; Indif- 
 ferentism makes it something so vague and 
 so variable that it reduces it to nothing. 
 That Church, pointing to her teachings, 
 says to her children : "These are the doc- 
 trines which I, in Christ's name, declare 
 have been divinely revealed. These you 
 are bound to believe. In whatever else 
 there may be liberty of opinion, there can 
 be no liberty here." 
 
 The system of Indifferentism, on the 
 contrary, authorizes its disciples to look 
 through the whole series of Christian 
 creeds, just as they would look through 
 the range of stalls at a bazaar ; gives them 
 full freedom to patronize the one which 
 most commends itself to their taste — 
 with the additional privilege of giving it 
 up when they get tired of it, and of 
 patronizing some other in preference when 
 fancy, family connection, matrimonial 
 alliance, self-interest, greater convenience, 
 or anything else whatever inclines them 
 to do so. 
 
 The Church of Christ makes religion 
 consist in God's unchanging revelation ; 
 Indifferentism makes it consist in man's 
 ever-changing opinion. The Church of 
 Christ insists on belief in one definite creed ; 
 Indifferentism openly and boldly sanctions 
 the lawfulness of holding as many antag- 
 onistic creeds as there are men who hold 
 antagonistic opinions. Which system has 
 the stronger claim to be judged true.? 
 
w Jlefutation of Indifferentism 
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 HE apostles realized fully that 
 they were bound to guard with 
 jealous care the sacred deposit 
 of faith which had been com- 
 mitted to their keeping. They 
 knew with infallible certainty 
 that that faith was true — true in substance 
 and true in detail. It had come from the 
 lips of Him who was the Fountain of all 
 truth. They could not allow even the 
 least element of falsehood to be mixed up 
 with it. 
 
 They had not been long engaged in the 
 ministry of preaching when they had an 
 opportunity of showing their zeal in pro- 
 tecting it against innovation. The church 
 was §till in her infancy when the voice of 
 error made itself heard, and sought to 
 destroy her young life. Proud, obstinate 
 men arose, who resisted the apostles, 
 disputed with them, questioned, and even 
 in some points denied, the truth of their 
 teaching. These restless innovators 
 maintained loudly and defiantly that the 
 Gentile converts could not be saved, 
 unless they superadded the observances 
 
 44 
 
 of the Mosaical Law to those of the 
 New Gospel, and that Judaism was a 
 necessary intermediate step from paganism 
 to Christianity. St. Paul opposed these 
 positions with all his . energy. Peter, 
 James, and John held the same doctrine. 
 The question was one of great moment. 
 The zealots for the Law were moving 
 heaven and earth to carry their point, i. e., 
 to make submission to legal prescriptions 
 a necessary qualification for a Gentile's 
 becoming a Christian. It was a critical 
 time in the life of the Church. The 
 apostles found themselves placed in cir- 
 cumstances of exceptional difficulty : they 
 must either allow some little falsehood to 
 be mingled with the truths of the Gospel, 
 or they must condemn such falsehood, and 
 condemn it by a public act, which would 
 have the effect of changing into the 
 bitterest enemies of the Church some who 
 had hitherto been most zealous in extend- 
 ing her sway and in propagating her 
 doctrines. They foresaw clearly enough 
 the consequences of such public con- 
 demnation. A storm of persecution. 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 45 
 
 which the church, yet young and, accord- 
 ing to human appearances, ill able to bear, 
 was sure to follow. Not merely in Jerusa- 
 lem and Judea, but in the other Roman 
 provinces — indeed, in every part of the 
 world where Jews were found, it would 
 create bitter and persistent opposition. 
 Perhaps those Jews might prevail so far 
 with the Roman authorities as to induce 
 them to prohibit entirely the further 
 preaching of the New Faith. 
 
 Such were the difficulties the apostles 
 had to contend against — such the dangers 
 they had to encounter. Yet they did not 
 hesitate ; they could not allow the Gospel 
 of which they were the appointed guar- 
 dians, to be corrupted, changed, or added 
 to. Compromise in things so sacred was 
 out of the question. There could be no 
 communication between light and dark- 
 ness ; truth and error could not live 
 together in the Church of their Divine 
 Master. They must preserve the deposit 
 of faith pure, integral, incorrupt, unmixed 
 with even the least leaven of falsehood. 
 Though all earth and hell should rage 
 against the rising Church, they must con- 
 demn error, condemn it publicly ; and 
 condemn it not merely separately and 
 individually, each apostle by himself — 
 they must condemn it with unanimous 
 voice when met together in sacred council. 
 They were to put on record a public act 
 which would show the people of future 
 times that there was one Gospel, and one 
 only — that it could not change without 
 ceasing to be what it was in the beginning. 
 And the example they were thus to set in 
 
 the very dawn of Christianity was to be 
 a standing record throughout all centuries 
 and all generations how error was to be 
 treated — how the Gospel of Christ could 
 never bear the innovations of human 
 opinion — how that Gospel, pure, intact, 
 unchanged, as it came from the lips of its 
 Divine Author, was the one to be trans- 
 mitted to succeeding ages, and not some 
 other gospel that was more or less at 
 variance with it 
 
 Though it was inconvenient at the time 
 to hold a council, yet a council was held. 
 It was the first ever convoked in the 
 Church. All the apostles who could be 
 present took part in it. Some were far 
 away in distant lands teaching and preach- 
 ing; one, St. James the Greater, had 
 already received the crown of martyrdom. 
 Peter, James the Less, and John, Paul, 
 and Barnabas were there. Peter, as 
 Prince of the Apostles, Vicar of Christ, 
 first Pope, opened the council and pre- 
 sided throughout. The doctrines and 
 observances which the innovators sought to 
 introduce were examined, discussed, and 
 condemned. All agreed that such doc- 
 trines were irreconcilable with the Gospel 
 of their Divine Master. The parting 
 'words which that Divine Master had 
 spoken on the day of His Ascension were 
 still fresh in their memories, and still 
 sounding in their ears : " Going, teach all 
 nations . . . teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." And the Holy Ghost, who had 
 been promised to the Church, who hti 
 already come down into her, and who w , ^ 
 
46 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 to dwell in her to the end of time, was 
 with them to suggest to them all truth. 
 He guided them in their mode of acting, 
 inspired their deliberations, placed the 
 matter in clear light before them, swayed 
 their decision, and left no room for doubt 
 as to the course they must follow. They 
 knew with infallible certainty that the 
 Mosaical prescriptions were not amongst 
 the things which their Divine Master had 
 commanded to be observed ; and they 
 knew with equal certainty that that Divine 
 Master would never allow man to add to, 
 or subtract from, or change in any way 
 whatever the Gospel which He had an- 
 nounced. That Gospel was in their hands, 
 and they would guard its identity and 
 integrity at the expense of their lives. 
 They condemned emphatically and unhesi- 
 tatingly the doctrine which taught the 
 obligation of the Jewish ceremonial law 
 on the Gentile converts. 
 
 "Then it pleased the apostles and 
 ancients, with the whole Church, to choose 
 men of their own company, and to send 
 them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas : 
 Judas, who was surnamed Barsabas, and 
 Silas, chief men among the brethren, 
 writing by their hands : The apostles and 
 ancients, brethren, to the brethren of the 
 Gentiles that are at Antioch and in Syria 
 and Cilicia, greeting: Forasmuch as we 
 have heard that some who went out from 
 us have troubled you with words, subvert- 
 ing your souls, to whom we gave no com- 
 mands : it hath seemed good to us, 
 assembled together, to choose out men, 
 and send them to you with our dearly- 
 
 beloved Barnabas and Paul ; men who 
 have given their lives for the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, there- 
 fore, Judas and Silas, who themselves also 
 will by word of mouth tell you the same 
 things. For it hath seemed good to the 
 Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further 
 burthen upon you than these necessary 
 things : that you abstain from things 
 sacrificed to idols, and from blood, 
 and from things strangled, and from 
 fornication : from which things keeping 
 yourselves, you shall do well Fare ye 
 well " (Acts XV. 22-29). 
 
 Such was the decree. The importance 
 attached to it, the care that was taken to 
 promulgate it, and the effort that was 
 made to secure its observance, may be 
 judged from the forty-first verse of the 
 fifteenth chapter of the Acts, in which the 
 history of the council is given : " And he 
 (Paul) went through Syria and Cilicia, 
 confirming the churches : commanding 
 them to keep the precepts of the apostles 
 and the ancients." And the same may be 
 gathered from the fourth verse of the 
 sixteenth chapter, in which are found these 
 words : " And as they (Paul and Timothy) 
 passed through the cities they delivered 
 unto them the decrees for to keep, that 
 were decreed by the apostles and ancients 
 who were at Jerusalem." 
 
 The consequences they had anticipated 
 quickly followed. Several apostacies date 
 from the holding of that council. Some, 
 who till then had been amongst the most 
 firm adherents of the Church, broke with 
 her completely, and became her most 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 47 
 
 bitter and determined persecutors. As 
 long as she withheld from condemning 
 Judaizing innovations, they were numbered 
 amongst her best friends ; the moment she 
 pronounced her definition of condemnation, 
 they assumed an attitude of the most des- 
 perate antagonism. Her stern, unyielding 
 guardianship of her doctrines brought upon 
 her a persecution from which a slight com- 
 promise would have saved her. But she 
 could not purchase peace at the sacrifice 
 of even the least tittle of her teaching. 
 
 Now, does not the course of action 
 which this council followed naturally sug- 
 gest the question : Would the apostles 
 have acted piously, prudently, or even 
 justly, in thus giving a decision which they 
 foresaw would most likely sever from the 
 Church forever men who had great influ- 
 ence for good or for evil, if they thought 
 it mattered little whether people believed 
 the Gospel as our Lord delivered it, or 
 believed that Gospel when added to, 
 diminished, or changed by the innovations 
 of man } Or, if they thought it mattered 
 little whether an element of falsehood 
 was mixed up with the truth, why not 
 tolerate the different views prevailing as 
 to the obligation or non-obligation of the 
 Mosaic ceremonial law being essential to 
 the Christian Faith, and leave all in peace 
 and free to hold which opinion they pre- 
 ferred on this point, provided they pro- 
 fessed themselves members of the New 
 Church, and continued to fulfil her 
 precepts } 
 
 But, further, does not the holding of 
 that council, the circumstances that led to 
 
 its convocation, and the decisions it put 
 forth, suggest another question } Would 
 those apostles, who condemned so loudly 
 this innovation of Judaism, have approved 
 the modern system of Liberalism in reli- 
 gion, of Latitudinarianism, of Indiffer- 
 entism, or whatever other name we choose 
 to give W. Would Peter, James, and 
 John, Paul, and Barnabas, or any other 
 apostle, or all the apostles, have ratified at 
 that council the doctrine that God was 
 indifferent what form of Christian belief 
 people nominally adhered to, provided they 
 were good people after their own fashion "> 
 Can any reasonable, serious man hold that 
 the apostles had it in their power on 
 that occasion to pronounce the decision 
 that, after all, men were not strictly bound 
 to believe the doctrines of the New Gos- 
 pel — that they were quite at liberty to 
 adopt any other doctrines in preference if 
 they chose } If so, it was useless to hold 
 a council at all, useless to teach, useless to 
 preach ; and far worse than useless, it was 
 both indiscreet and foolish to evoke such 
 a storm of opposition to themselves. 
 
 A theory of religion that would have 
 been condemned in the Church of the 
 first century cannot be regarded as tenable 
 in the Church of the nineteenth. The 
 Church of Christ does not change — if 
 she did, she would not be the Church of 
 Christ. She cannot condemn a doctrine 
 at one period as heretical, and sanction it 
 at another as being in harmony with ortho- 
 dox teaching. 
 
 Here, then, in the very outset of Chris- 
 tianity, we see the apostles in possession 
 
48 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 of the deposit of faith, holding in their 
 hands the treasure of those revealed 
 truths which their Divine Master meant to 
 constitute His religion — a religion which 
 was more precious in their eyes than life 
 itself, and to protect which against the 
 blighting breath of error they were willing 
 to shed their blood and die the martyr's 
 death. Restless, turbulent, novelty-seek- 
 ing men sought to tear it from their grasp, 
 to enlarge it, to improve it, to make it 
 square with their individual ideas of 
 Christian obligation, to give it a form of 
 their own ; but an authoritative declara- 
 tion, which bore upon it the impress of 
 Divine inspiration, coming from the lips of 
 apostles assembled in sacred council, made 
 them understand that that religion meant 
 one thing, and not anything' — that it was 
 impenetrable to heresy — that it was 
 proof against the assaults of error or 
 innovation — that the opinions of men's 
 private judgment could never find a place 
 in it — that the privilege of individual 
 preference must ever be discountenanced 
 and repudiated by it, as a blasphemous 
 attempt to dissolve the Gospel of Christ, 
 and to melt to nothing the doctrines He 
 came from heaven to announce — that it 
 must ever keep the form, and shape, and 
 color >Jt had at the beginning — that it 
 must preserve till the end of time the 
 complete identity it had on the day when 
 it was first confided to their sacred keeping. 
 Such was the attitude of the Church 
 towards heresy and innovation in the first 
 century, while her first apostles still lived. 
 She had just come fresh from the hands of 
 
 her Divine Founder. The Holy Ghost 
 had descended upon her on the day of 
 Pentecost, and she was yet in the splen- 
 dors of His first indwelling. The apostles, 
 who were the custodians of her doctrines, 
 and who were to bear them to the ends of 
 the earth, were guided by the inspirations 
 of that Divine Spirit; and, thus guided, 
 they acted in the Name and spoke with 
 the voice of Him who gave them the 
 great commission to teach and to preach. 
 What they approved was approved by Him, 
 and what they condemned was condemned 
 by Him. Surely we cannot say that in 
 preaching the Gospel, and in condemning 
 error, they went beyond the limits of His 
 authorization. Surely the course of action 
 which they took in the face of heresy was 
 the course of action their successors were 
 to take in similar circumstances to the 
 end of time. Surely, too, all will freely 
 admit that the Church was right in their 
 day ; for if she was not right in their day 
 she has never been right. And if in that 
 day, when, in the admission of all, she had 
 still upon her the signs of her Divine 
 credentials, she was so intolerant of error 
 can she afford to be less intolerant of 
 error now .-• If she felt it a duty to con- 
 demn error in the first century, can she 
 let it pass unnoticed in the nineteenth } 
 If she would not allow the least addition to 
 be made to her doctrines while her first 
 apostles still lived to be her mouthpiece, 
 can she allow the people of the present 
 day to make any change in those doc- 
 trines, or to believe what they like, or 
 deny what they like 1 If so, who gave her 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 49 
 
 leave to change her spirit — to depart 
 from the stern, unyielding rigor with 
 which she guarded the Gospel of her 
 Divine Founder in the beginning ? Who 
 authorized the successors of the apostles 
 to be more indulgent towards heresy than 
 the apostles had been themselves ? Was 
 the Church which would not, and could 
 not, bear the interference of free inquiry 
 in the apostolic age to set the seal of her [ 
 sanction on that privilege at any future ; 
 date ? Did she not mean the decisive 
 voice of her first council to give the tone 
 to her teachings in this respect down to \ 
 the consummation of the world ? 
 
 Suppose that that first council had been 
 convoked, not to discuss the question of 
 Jewish or Mosaical observances, but to i 
 discuss the question which is the main | 
 subject of this little tract — i. e., whether \ 
 one religion was as good as another, 
 whether it could be lawfully held that God ■ 
 did not care what religion people professed, ' 
 provided they were good people after their 
 own ideas — could we imagine the apostles 
 putting forth a decision like this ? — 
 " Knowing that all religions are equal 
 in the sight of God, and foreseeing the 
 different opinions that will prevail 
 amongst men, and foreseeing, conse- 
 quently, the difficulty of preserving unity 
 in matters of doctrine, it hath seemed 
 good to the Holy Ghost and to us to 
 declare that all people shall be at perfect 
 liberty to believe that one religion is as 
 good as another — that they shall be at per- 
 fect liberty to give any meaning they like to 
 those words of Christ, and to chose words 
 
 of us, the apostles, which will be handed 
 down to them — that they shall be entirely 
 free, too, to believe as much as they like 
 or as little as they like — that it is a matter 
 of absolute indifference to God what creed 
 a man professes, provided he live up to it." 
 Now, if the theory of Indifferentism, 
 Latitudinarianism, Liberalism, in religion 
 were tenable, this decision would have 
 sounded perfectly natural on the lips of 
 the apostles assembled in council ; and yet 
 such decision would have been in absolute 
 opposition to the sacred cause that had 
 brought them together, and that united 
 their voices in condemning the men who 
 sought to force upon the Church their 
 own private, personal views of religion. 
 Nay, it would be nothing short of a 
 blasphemy to say that such a definition 
 could come from the lips of those who 
 stood around Jesus Christ on the day of 
 His Ascension and heard from His lips 
 the memorable words — " Going, teach all 
 nations . . . teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." May we not imagine we hear those 
 heroic heralds of the faith speaking from 
 the benches of that first council chamber 
 to the generations yet unborn — to their 
 successors in the most distant centuries — 
 and saying to them — " As we have done, 
 so do ye. Guard, protect, defend the 
 deposit of faith against the assaults of 
 innovation, against the dictates of private 
 judgment, against the errors of men, 
 against all the false theories of time, and 
 do not ever allow even the least breath of 
 heresy to rest upon it." 
 
Fui'thei' Refutation & IqiliffePEiiti^m I l^eVelafsion 
 
 3^^^^^^^ 
 
 
 REFUTATION FROM ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 HAVE said that the impor- 
 tance attached to the decree 
 of the council of Jerusalem, 
 the care that was taken to 
 promulgate it, and the effort 
 that was made to secure its 
 observance, might be gathered from the 
 forty first verse of the chapter in which 
 the history of the council is given. Allu- 
 sion is made in the verse in question to 
 the mission of St. Paul to the churches in 
 Syria and Cilicia : — " And he (Paul) went 
 through Syria and Cilicia confirming the 
 churches ; commanding them to keep the 
 precepts of the apostles and of the 
 ancients." 
 
 I may add that the effort made to pro- 
 cure the fulfilment of that decree may be 
 seen in still clearer light in the words of 
 that great apostle himself to the Galatians. 
 In his epistle to the neophytes of Galatia 
 we find him branding with withering curse 
 those very same errors which he and his 
 brethren in the apostolate had assembled 
 in council to combat and to crush. And 
 the words of warning and reprehension 
 
 60 
 
 which he writes on the occasion embody 
 an overwhelming refutation of this flexible 
 system of Indifferentism. 
 
 Language could not be stronger, more 
 clear, or more scathing than that in which 
 this great doctor of the Gentiles condemns 
 and anathematizes those who sought to 
 introduce a second gospel among the 
 Galatians. He himself had evangelized the 
 Galatians, and had made them members 
 of the one true fold. Scarcely, however, 
 had the seeds of faith begun to germinate 
 and produce fruit amongst them, when the 
 voice of heresy was heard. Galatia was 
 one of the portions of Asia Minor in 
 which the struggle made by the Jewish 
 converts to have the ceremonial precepts 
 of the Mosaical Law superadded to the 
 Gospel of Christ, and made binding on 
 the Gentile converts, was most violent 
 and most persistent. The Judaizing 
 teachers had succeeded in spreading their 
 doctrines of innovation pretty widely. 
 St. Paul, hearing that some of those whom 
 he had won to Christ had fallen away, 
 through the influence of spurious evan- 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 51 
 
 gelists, wrote an epistle to the Galatians. 
 The first chapter of that epistle strikes as 
 directly at certain errors of the present 
 day as at those errors in condemnation of 
 which it was originally written. After 
 wishing the Galatians grace and peace 
 from God the Father and from our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, he says: — "I wonder that 
 you are so soon removed from Him who 
 called you to the grace of Christ, to 
 another gospel : which is not another ; 
 only there are some that trouble you, and 
 would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But 
 though we or an angel from heaven preach 
 a gospel to you beside that which we have 
 preached to you, let him be anathema. 
 As we said before, so I now say again : 
 "If any one preach to you a gospel 
 besides that which you have received, let 
 him be anathema. For I give you to 
 understand, brethren, that the Gospel 
 which was preached by me is not accord- 
 ing to man. For neither did I receive 
 it from man, nor did I learn it, but by the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
 I have just implied that this scathing, 
 unqualified condemnation of false teach- 
 ing strikes as directly at the Indifferent- 
 ism of the nineteenth century as at the 
 errors of the innovators of the first 
 century, who sought to impose useless 
 burthens on the Galatians. May I not 
 express the idea in stronger language 
 still 1 St. Paul was denouncing men 
 whose chief error was to put forward as 
 binding in conscience certain ceremonial 
 precepts of the Mosaic Law, which had 
 been of obligation in the Old Dispensa- 
 
 tion, which could never be binding as part 
 of the New, and which were to be entirely 
 abolished in the first century of the 
 Church's history. The aim of those 
 proud zealots was not so much to change 
 any particular article of faith, as to add 
 to the articles of faith superfluous, and 
 henceforth useless, ceremonial observ- 
 ances. And if he spoke with such 
 vehemence against those who tried to add 
 to the Gospel things which had once been 
 obligatory, and still were lawful, for Jewish 
 converts, would he not have used stronger 
 and more unsparing language still, if such 
 could be conceived, against the abettors 
 of a system which attempts to overthrow 
 the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, 
 and which teaches errors which are in 
 open, palpable contradiction to them } If 
 he hurled such withering anathemas on 
 the heads of the men who dared to add 
 human opinions to the doctrines of the 
 Church, what anathemas would he not 
 thunder against those who should seek to 
 sap her very foundations by proclaiming 
 that it did not matter whether people 
 believed the Gospel she taught, or some 
 other gospel which denied what she 
 affirmed, and affirmed what she denied ! 
 
 Can we conceive the man who wrote 
 these words of apostolic censure receiving 
 into the Church, or permitting to remain 
 iti the Church, Galatians, Romans, Cor- 
 inthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colos- 
 sians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, Jews, or 
 people of any country under the sun, if 
 they persisted in refusing to become her 
 members, or to remain in her communion, 
 
52 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 except on the condition that they were to 
 have the free exercise of their private 
 judgment, and to be at liberty to accept 
 or to retain this or that particular doctrine 
 according to their own individual inter- 
 pretation of what is contained in Holy 
 Scripture ? Or can we imagine that if he 
 appeared now in this nineteenth century 
 before the influential, learned advocates of 
 Indifferentism, he would give any assent 
 to, or connive at, the statement that all 
 gospels are good — that one religion is as 
 good as another — that all Christian 
 creeds, although they contradict each 
 other in matters which are of vital impor- 
 tance, if any can be, are equally good, or 
 pretty much the same ; and that it is 
 quite immaterial which of them a man 
 embraces as his symbol of faith, provided 
 he shape his life after the one upon which 
 his choice has fallen. They must have a 
 strong imagination, indeed, who can sup- 
 pose that such a theory could be endorsed 
 by the apostle, who pronounced such 
 scathing anathemas on the innovators of 
 Galatia. 
 
 But, further, it must not be overlooked 
 (for it is a point deserving of very special 
 notice) that he expresses his condemna- 
 tion of those erring evangelists who 
 sought to force false teachings on the Gal- 
 atians a second time, and almost in the 
 same terms. Lest the Galatians might 
 suppose that his words of censure were 
 rhetorical, or that he was writing from 
 human impulse, or that he was rebuking 
 them from a feeling of intense disappoint- 
 ment at their sudden change, and that in 
 
 calmer moments he would reprove them 
 with less severity — lest any thought of 
 that kind should enter their minds, he 
 repeats, with all the power he can com- 
 mand, and with all the emphasis with 
 which his character of apostle can invest 
 his words, the same anathema again : — 
 " As we said before, so I say now again : 
 If any one preach to you a gospel besides 
 that which you have received let him be 
 anathema." 
 
 More than this, as the false teachers, 
 whose sophistry and influence he wanted 
 to make powerless, had quoted, but of 
 course falsely quoted, the authority of 
 Peter, James, and John in support of their 
 opinions, he (St. Paul) pointed to the Gos- 
 pel which he had preached as a thing of 
 such sacredness, such indissoluble unity, 
 such everlasting identity, that neither he 
 nor any of the apostles, nor even an angel 
 of God, had power to change it in the 
 least item. "I wonder," he says, "that 
 you are so soon removed from him who 
 called you to the grace of Christ to 
 another gospel, which is not another." 
 He first condescends to style the errors of 
 those heretical evangelists "another gos- 
 pel," in order that, by correcting himself in 
 having dignified them by that name, he 
 may draw more attention to them, and 
 that his overwhelming, crushing condemna- 
 tion of them may call forth greater horror, 
 and may be more deeply impressed upon 
 their memories. "Which is not another 
 Gospel," he adds ; for another Gospel there 
 cannot be — there can never be. There 
 is but one, the one which we have preached 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 55 
 
 to you — while the world lasts there can- 
 not be another. Wicked men may strive 
 to pervert it, to add to it, to diminish and 
 explain it away, to mutilate, to corrupt, to 
 change it ; but it still remains, and must 
 ever remain, unchanged, unchanging, and 
 unchangeable, like the God whose immuta- 
 ble truths it announces. "Jesus Christ 
 yesterday, and to-day, and the same for 
 ever " {Heb. xiii. 8). " One Lord, one 
 faith, one baptism. One God and Father 
 of all, who is above all, and through all, and 
 in us all " {Ephes. iv. 5, 6). 
 
 Some, however, who would fain justify, 
 through the principles of Indifferentism, 
 the system of faith which they at present 
 profess (although they have serious mis- 
 givings about its truth), take refuge in a 
 fact which affords anything but ground for 
 solid argument. When driven from every 
 other position, they fell back upon this as 
 a sort of forlorn hope. They say : — " The 
 creed which I now profess was the creed 
 professed by my father ; it was the creed 
 of my grandfather, the creed of my ances- 
 tors from time immemorial — at all events, 
 since the Reformation ; if it was good 
 enough for them, it ought to be good 
 enough for me." 
 
 This is weak philosophy indeed. The 
 many and wonderful conversions to the 
 Catholic faith which have taken place in 
 England within the last half century might 
 be regarded as furnishing a sufficient 
 answer to this. But entirely apart from 
 the logic of such events, an answer is 
 easily found. The fact that a man's reli- 
 gion was the religion of his father, the 
 
 religion of his grandfather, and the reli- 
 gion of his ancestors for centuries past, 
 does not prove that religion to be true. If 
 it was wrong in its beginning, it has been 
 wrong ever since ; age cannot have made it 
 right. The transmission of an error from 
 one generation to another cannot change 
 that error into truth. Length of time, under 
 certain given circumstances, may give a 
 prescriptive claim to the possession of prop- 
 erty, but no number of years can give 
 error any sort of claim to the submission 
 of man's understanding. A custom may 
 be sanctified by antiquity ; but an anti- 
 quity equal to the age of the world could 
 not sanctity falsehood or change heresy 
 into orthodox religion. 
 
 That falsehood may be polished up, 
 refurbished, gilded, draped in a fascinating 
 sophistry, which makes it appear tolerable, 
 plausible, and even commendable in the 
 eyes of the over-credulous and unreflect- 
 ing ; it is falsehood, however, all the while, 
 and must remain falsehood to the day of 
 doom. 
 
 More than this, if reasoning of this kind 
 j ustified a man in remaining in the creed 
 he was born in, the Gospel of Christianity 
 could never have been reasonably expected 
 to make any progress. For both the Jews 
 and the Gentiles, to whom the apostles 
 preached, might, in such a supposition, 
 have rejected entirely the doctrines of the 
 New Faith. They could have said to 
 those who sought to make the light of the 
 Christian Gospel shine upon them that 
 they were quite satisfied with the religion 
 they were already professing, that it had 
 
54 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 been the traditional religion of their fami- 
 lies for centuries before, that they did not 
 deem themselves better than those of their 
 race who had gone before them, and that 
 they could not make up their minds to 
 abandon a form of worship to which their 
 predecessors had clung so long, so faith- 
 fully, so persistently, and so scrupu- 
 lously. 
 
 But further, our opponents, by this quasi- 
 appeal to the past, are unconsciously open- 
 ing the way to the argument which, of all 
 others, is the most fatal to the theory they 
 are advocating. For although their pres- 
 ent faith has been in its many and perpetu- 
 ally changing forms, the faith of their 
 fathers for some generations, or even some 
 centuries past, yet there was a time a little 
 further back when it was not the faith of 
 their fathers. From the sixteenth century, 
 Protestantism, or some fragmentary reli- 
 gion which was an offspring of Protestant- 
 ism, may have been the creed according to 
 which the successive generations of their 
 family worshipped ; beyond that century it 
 could not have been, for the simple reason 
 that it did not exist. And, if it had no 
 existence till then, and was born into the 
 world only at that date, it was born more 
 than fifteen hundred years too late to be 
 the religion of which St. Paul spoke when 
 he said — "If I or any angel of heaven 
 preach to you a gospel besides that which 
 we have preached, let him be anath- 
 ema." 
 
 Cardinal Manning, speaking on " Re- 
 vealed truth definite and certain," and 
 referring to this last resource of the Indif- 
 
 ferentist, says : — " Well, you will perhaps 
 tell us that you have inherited the faith 
 you hold. The inheritance of faith, that 
 is a Divine principle. We bow before the 
 principle of inheritance. But why did you 
 cut off the entail of your forefathers ? 
 Why, three hundred years ago, did you cut 
 off the entail of that inheritance .-' If it be 
 not cut ofT, why is the contest ? If it be 
 cut off, why was it cut off ? To inherit 
 the faith is the Divine rule. It needs only 
 one thing, infallibility, to secure it. It 
 needs only one support to giye it substance 
 and certainty : a Divine tradition flowing 
 from the Throne of God through prophets, 
 seers, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, 
 saints, and doctors in world-wide stream, 
 ever deepening, never changing, from the 
 beginning until now. Show this Divine 
 certainty as the basis of your conviction, 
 and then inherit both truth and faith. 
 But the inheritance of opinion in a family, 
 or a diocese, or a province, or nation — 
 what is it "i Human in the beginning, and 
 human to the end : ' the traditions of men.' 
 You say you have inherited the faith, 
 and that this is the Church of your fore- 
 fathers. Go back three hundred years 
 ago and ask the priests of God, who stood 
 then at the altar, how they would expound 
 the faith you still profess to hold. Ask 
 them what they believed while they minis- 
 tered in cope and chasuble. Go back to 
 the Apostle of England who first bore 
 hither again the light of the Gospel after 
 Saxon paganism had darkened this fair 
 land. Ask St. Augustine what he believed 
 of these words — ' Thou art Peter, and upon 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 55 
 
 this rock I will build my Church.' Give 
 your exposition, and ask Jiis. What would 
 he have taught you of visible unity ? 
 What would he teach you of the Church 
 of God ? Ask him, Is it one numerically, 
 or only by metaphor ? Is it visible, that 
 all men may see ' the city seated on a 
 mountain,' or invisible, that men may 
 weary themselves and never find it? Has 
 it a head on earth representing its Divine 
 Head in Heaven ? Or has it no head, and 
 may set up many of its own ? What would 
 he have taught you of your baptismal creed ? 
 Or that great saint who sent him from the 
 apostolic throne, what would he have testi- 
 fied to you of those doctrines of faith which 
 you are to look upon as errors ? Ask 
 Gregory, first and greatest of the name, 
 what he believed of the powers left by the 
 Incarnate Son to his Church on earth ; 
 what he taught of the power of the keys 
 transmitted by his predecessors in lineal 
 descent from the hands of his Divine Lord. 
 Ask what he taught of the power of absolu- 
 tion in the Sacrament of Penance ; what 
 he believed of the Reality on the altar, 
 and of the Holy Sacrifice daily offered in 
 all the world ; of the communion of 
 saints ever interceding, by us ever invoked ; 
 of the intermediate state of departed souls, 
 purifying for the kingdom of God. Ask 
 Gregory, saint and doctor, to whom we 
 owe the faith, what he taught of those doc- 
 trines which you have rejected. If the 
 disciple and his Master, if he that was sent 
 and He that sent him, were to come now 
 and tread the shore of this ancient river, 
 whither would they turn to worship "i 
 
 Would they go to the stately minster, 
 raised by their sons in the faith, where 
 even now rests a sainted king of Catholic 
 England .'' Would they bend their steps 
 thither to worship the God of their fathers, 
 and their incarnate Lord, from whom their 
 mission and their faith descended } or 
 would they not rather go to some obscure 
 altar in its neighborhood, where an 
 unknown and despised priest daily offers 
 the Holy Sacrifice in communion with the 
 world-wide church of God ? If then you 
 claim inheritance as the foundation of your 
 faith, be true to your principle, and it will 
 lead you home. Trifle not with it. Truth 
 bears the stamp of God and truth changes 
 men to the likeness of God. Trifle not with 
 the pleadings of the Holy Spirit within 
 you ; for he has a delicate touch, and 
 sensitively shrinks from wilfulness and 
 unbelief. If truth struggle within you, 
 follow it faithfully. Tread close upon the 
 light that you possess. Count all things 
 loss that you may win truth, without 
 which the inheritance of God's kingdom is 
 not ours. Labor for it and weary your- 
 selves until you find it. And forget not 
 that if your religion be indefinite, you have 
 no true knowledge of your Saviour ; and 
 if your belief be uncertain, it is not the 
 faith by which we can be saved." {The 
 Grounds of Faith, pp. 16-19.) 
 
 Though our proper scope is rigid dem. 
 onstration, yet we may be excused if we 
 make the following little digression to 
 record an example which bears intimately 
 on the phase of Indifferentism which we 
 have just been noticing. This little book 
 
56 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 may (and we hope it will, largely) fall into 
 the hands of persons outside the Catholic 
 Church who have begun to doubt the 
 truth of their present religion, and whose 
 chief objection to further inquiry or 
 nearer approach to Catholic unity is the 
 shrinking, or shyness, or inward move- 
 ment of human respect, which they feel 
 at the idea of giving up the traditional 
 creed of their family. Let such reflect on 
 the noble and chivalrous answer given by 
 Count Leopold Stolberg, after he became 
 a Catholic, to Frederick William IIL, 
 King of Prussia, father of the late 
 Emperor of Germany. Stolberg was a 
 man of unswerving uprightness and of 
 uncommon learning. He read much, 
 studied much, reasoned much, wrote much 
 and well. All Germany was filled with 
 the fame of his learning, of his writings, 
 and of his high-mindedness. He was a 
 good man according to his lights ; he 
 followed those lights faithfully. After 
 mature deliberation, it became clear to 
 him that he was bound to abjure Protest- 
 antism and to embrace the Catholic faith 
 in its stead. He did not hesitate or allow 
 himself to be held back by useless and 
 dangerous delays. He made his submis- 
 sion to the Church of Rome promptly 
 and publicly ; and did so in spite of 
 difficulties greater in number, and of a 
 more serious kind, than any that surround 
 the conversions which are taking place 
 around us at present. The first time he 
 appeared at court after his renunciation 
 of Lutheranism and solemn reception 
 Into the Catholic Church, the king said to 
 
 him in a tone of bitter reproach — "I 
 cannot respect the man who has abandoned 
 the religion of his fathers." "Nor I, 
 sire," replied Stolberg; "for if my ances- 
 tors had not abandoned the religion of 
 their fathers, they would not have put me 
 to the trouble of returning to it." 
 
 Here is the right spirit — here is fear- 
 less courage of the right kind. Neither 
 the desire of retaining the king's esteem, 
 nor the fear of losing the king's friend- 
 ship, could sway this noble-hearted man 
 one iota. He saw that Protestantism 
 meant only Latitudinarianism or Indiffer- 
 entism, that it had no foundation to rest 
 upon, that it led to incipient Rationalism 
 by bringing revelation down to a level 
 with the law of nature, and that in its 
 further stages it led to Atheism. And, see- 
 ing this, he broke with it forever, and sought 
 admission into the communion of the 
 Church of Rome. 
 
 Indifferentism, then, has no firm ground 
 to stand on. It cannot bear investigation. 
 It may appear substantial, firm, fair, and 
 fascinating in the eyes of those who do 
 not care to look beneath the surface ; it 
 breaks and crumbles to pieces in analysis. 
 
 It would have us believe that God spoke 
 with the view of revealing something, 
 and that yet He revealed nothing definite ; 
 that He made known some doctrine, and 
 at the same time gave men leave to give 
 that doctrine any meaning they pleased ; 
 that He proclaimed some statement as 
 true, and left men perfectly free to believe 
 it was false ; that He made a revelation, 
 and, while making it, did not care in the 
 
REFUTATION OF INDIFFERENTISM FROM REVELATION. 
 
 57 
 
 least in what sense men received it, or 
 whether they received it at all, or whether 
 they received it in two opposite senses, 
 the one contradictory of the other. It 
 would have us believe that, while our 
 Divine Lord says faith is necessary to 
 salvation, faith after all is not necessary 
 to salvation ; in other words, that the 
 statement is true or false according to the 
 standpoint from which it is looked at. 
 It would have us believe that, while God 
 meant something definite when He gave 
 the Ten Commandments through Moses 
 on Mount Sinai, His Divine Son did not 
 mean anything definite at all when, on the 
 Mount of His Ascension, He commanded 
 His apostles to teach and to preach to the 
 nations the doctrines and precepts they 
 had heard from Him, It will not allow 
 the Ten Commandments to be subjected 
 to the action of free inquiry or private 
 judgment, and it lets free inquiry and 
 private judgment deal as they like with 
 the doctrines revealed personally, directly, 
 audibly, visibly, by our Lord Himself. 
 It makes the Divine message so impalpa- 
 ble, so versatile, so chameleon-like in its 
 changeableness, that, by some inherent, 
 heaven-born property which it possesses, 
 heaven knows how, it necessarily accom- 
 modates itself to each fresh mind it meets. 
 Indifferentism means all this and more. 
 It is a contradiction of man's reason, and 
 it is a contradiction of God's Word. It 
 is a contradiction of the great apostolic 
 commission — " Going, teach all nations, 
 teaching them to observe all things what- 
 soever I have commanded you. " It is a 
 
 contradiction of the teaching of the Holy 
 Ghost, who is the Spirit of truth ; for it 
 sanctions contradictory statements, and 
 therefore necessarily sanctions falsehood. 
 It contradicts the collective teaching put 
 forth by the first apostles in council ; for 
 the apostles met in council expressly to 
 condemn error and to stop the inroads" of 
 innovation. It contradicts the teaching of 
 the apostles taken individually ; for St. 
 Paul was only echoing the voice of his 
 apostolic brethren, who had been born 
 into the apostolate before him, when he 
 said — " But though we, or an angel from 
 heaven, preach a gospel to you besides 
 that which we have preached to you, let 
 him be anathema." It is a practical, per- 
 manent, persistent contradiction of Chris- 
 tianity. Christianity (I mean orthodox 
 Christianity) may be said to be Christ 
 teaching religion to man. Indifferentism 
 is man explaining away that religion, 
 minimizing it, reducing it to nothing. 
 Christianity is something supernatural 
 both as to the lights it brings to the mind 
 and as to' the laws it imposes on the will. 
 The religion of Indifferentism, when 
 analyzed, is hardly anything but an out- 
 ward, imperfect, and even unfaithful 
 expression of the light of reason, and a 
 repromulgation of the law of nature. 
 
 Its natural tendency, therefore (though 
 many of those who profess it as their creed 
 do not, I believe, realize this), is to dis- 
 solve all revealed religion, and consequently 
 to dissolve Christ. No creed can stand 
 before so powerful a solvent as this. It is 
 an engine of destruction before which all 
 
58 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 revealed doctrine must fall to pieces. It 
 tends, as far as in it lies, to loosen every 
 stone on either side of that great arch of 
 Christian truth which spans the universe ; 
 nay, it tends to loosen the very keystone of 
 that arch, to bring the whole sacred struc- 
 ture to the ground, to leave the world with- 
 out a single trace of the Divinity or 
 teaching of Jesus Christ, and to reduce it 
 to that state of spiritual chaos whose only, 
 or whose best, religion is the " Unknow- 
 able." And to this state of utter anarchy 
 in matters of faith, Indifferentism, or Lib- 
 eralism in religion, would have brought the 
 world long before now, had not the edifice 
 of true Christianity been built upon a 
 foundation that could never fail, and been 
 sustained by an omnipotent, though invisi- 
 ble, hand, which made it proof against all 
 the efforts of innovation and all the assaults 
 of men and of devils. 
 
 Where that true Christianity is to be 
 found is now the question. 
 
 As many of those who belong to non- 
 Catholic denominations will admit that it 
 Impossible at least that the creed which they 
 now profess is wrong, I do not think that 
 we do any violence to their feelings when 
 
 we ask them to pray that, in case they 
 have not the true faith at present, the light 
 of God's grace may guide them into the 
 full and calm possession of it. Prayer is 
 the way to the true Church. As the star of 
 the Eastern kings, though its light was 
 intermittent, nevertheless continued to 
 shine with sufficient steadiness till it 
 brought them into the cave of Bethlehem, 
 so the star of grace, which is formed by 
 humble, confident, earnest, and preserving 
 prayer, will infallibly, sooner or later, guide 
 the sincere inquirer into that one true fold 
 in which alone Jesus Christ dwells, and 
 in which alone He speaks and teaches. 
 It is in the light of this truth we desire 
 all outsiders, into whose hands these 
 pages may fall, to read what we shall 
 now put before them with respect to 
 those signs or marks by which that true 
 fold is to be distinguished from every 
 other. We take the liberty of advising 
 them to ask, in the words of Pope's uni- 
 versal prayer — 
 
 " If I am right, Thy grace impart 
 
 Still in that right to stay ; 
 If I am wrong, then guide my heart 
 
 To find that better way." 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 •01" 
 
 — UNITV.- 
 
 ^ 
 
 HERE are many who will 
 accompany us thus far. They 
 readily grant all that has been 
 said. They admit that all 
 religions cannot be true — that 
 one only can be true — that all 
 the rest must be false. They admit fur- 
 ther that there is a true religion in the 
 world somewhere. This, of course, they 
 are forced to admit ; else the gates of hell 
 have prevailed, and Jesus Christ made a 
 promise which He either could not or 
 would not fulfil. And to say either would 
 be to speak with great irreverence against 
 His omnipotence or fidelity. To assert 
 that He promised to do something which 
 He did not mean to do, or had not the 
 power to do, would certainly be a blas- 
 phemy. 
 
 When at Cesarea Phillipi He spoke the 
 memorable words^ in which He pro- 
 claimed to the world that His church was 
 to be built on a rock, fi.rm, unyielding, 
 
 1 " Thou art Peter ; and upon this rock I will build My 
 Chu:ch ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." — 
 Mait. xvi. 18. 
 
 inmovable, against which no power of 
 earth or hell could prevail ; and when 
 again He declared, just before ascending 
 to His Father, that He would remain 
 with her all days until the consummation 
 of the world^ — the whole of her future 
 history was present to Him, — nay, the 
 whole future history of the world, in all 
 its varied events, circumstances, changes, 
 revolutions, wars, schemes, intrigues, 
 treasons, schisms, heresies, stood out as 
 clear before Him as the apostles whom 
 He was addressing. For He was God, to 
 whose infinite knowledge all things, past, 
 present, and future, were equally visible. 
 Now, would He, or could He, have 
 uttered these solemn promises if He had 
 foreseen there was ever to be a time when 
 His Church would do any deed, or teach 
 any doctrine, or commit any betrayal of 
 trust, which would force Him to forsake 
 
 1 " Going, teach ye all nations ; baptizing them in the naino 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Teaching them to observe all things wrhatsoever I have com- 
 manded you, and behold I am with you all days even to the 
 consummation of the wor' iL" — Mait. xxviii. 19, 30. 
 
6o 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 hei', or force Him to allow the powers of 
 error or of evil to prevail over her ?• There 
 is nothing in His words, nor is there any- 
 thing in the sacred circumstances in 
 which He spoke them, to justify any such 
 supposition. His promises are absolute, 
 unconditional, unqualified by any limita- 
 tion, whether expressed or implied. And 
 surely on such promises we can safely rest 
 the following statement: — The Church 
 existed once on earth ; and so surely as 
 she existed once, so surely does she exist 
 stillf in some part of the world or other, 
 else Christ Himself is not God, or if He 
 is God, He has promised and not fulfilled. 
 
 But now comes the question. The hon- 
 est, earnest inquirer, who has followed us 
 thus far, will ask, "Which is His Church.^ 
 Where is she to be found .-* Point her out. 
 Show me how she is to be distinguished 
 amongst the numberless claimants, all of 
 which arrogate to themselves the preroga- 
 tive of Divine institution. Here I stand," 
 he continues, "bewildered, amid the din, 
 the clash and clamor of contending, antag- 
 onistic sects, each and all of which lay 
 claim to truth. Though in their teachings 
 they are as far apart from each other as 
 the poles, though they are separated by 
 huge mountains of contradiction, yet they 
 all and each profess to be the true Church. 
 What, then, are the marks, signs, tokens, 
 by which I can find out for certain, and 
 without any lingering feeling of doubt, 
 which amongst them all is the one true 
 Church of Christ .> " 
 
 Such the question we have to answer. 
 Such our search. 
 
 We do not begin by saying which is that 
 Church. We shall come to it step by step. 
 And we shall not seek to advance one inch 
 on the way that leads to our conclusion, 
 except by arguments which we think will 
 be looked upon as honest, fair, straight- 
 forward, and solid by all reasonable men. 
 
 To determine which Church amongst all 
 is right, we must summon the rival claim- 
 ants before the bar of plain common sense, 
 and examine which claimant has the best, 
 nay, the only^ claim to be believed the one 
 true Church of Christ. 
 
 It is evident that if Christ established 
 His Church for the salvation of the people 
 of all time. He could not have made her 
 so obscure, so hidden, so mysterious, that 
 it would take years of historical research, 
 and a thorough knowledge of the Scrip- 
 tures from Genesis to the Apocalypse, to 
 find her out. If so, she would be for ever 
 beyond the reach of the ignorant and 
 uneducated who would be born without 
 her pale. He must have meant her to be 
 something palpable, tangible, visible, strik- 
 ingly visible, easily discoverable by all who 
 had not yet discovered her ; and, also, easily 
 distinguishable from the spurious, schis- 
 matical, and heretical sects which he fore- 
 saw would in time rise up around her and 
 strive to supplant her. His design was 
 that she should be like the city built on a 
 hill, as plain to the sight of the unlettered, 
 who would open their eyes and look around 
 them, as to the keen, penetrating glance of 
 the scientist. For she could never answer 
 to the purpose of universal salvation for 
 which she was framed, unless her Divine 
 
UNITY. 
 
 61 
 
 credentials were legible to the poor and the 
 rich, the illiterate and the scholar alike. 
 
 What are those credentials or marks? 
 
 There are several ; but they may be 
 reduced to two. At all events two will be 
 sufficient for our purpose. Whichever 
 Church is Christ's must have these two; 
 and she alone ever can have them. 
 
 One is the Mark of Unity, the other is 
 the Mark of Universality or Catholicity. 
 
 AH who belong to any Christian denomi- 
 nation will readily grant that whichever 
 Church is Christ's must necessarily have 
 these marks. Several sectarian denomina- 
 tions recite as their symbol of faith the 
 creed (Niccnc Creed) which enunciates 
 them : — "And I believe in one, holy, Catho- 
 lic Church." But quite independently of 
 that ancient formula, reason enlightened by 
 faith compels us to the conclusions that it 
 must be so. 
 
 I. Unity. — Whichever Church is Christ's 
 must be one — cannot be two. If she were 
 two, she would not be the one true Church 
 of Christ. This may sound a truism. I 
 mean, if she taught contradictory state- 
 ments about doctrines of vital importance, 
 she could not be the one true Church of 
 Christ. For, if she taught contradictory 
 dogmas of faith, she must needs teach 
 falsehood ; and Christ, who is the God of 
 Truth, and whose voice speaks in her, can- 
 not teach falsehood. Nor can He dwell, 
 by a perpetual and an abiding presence, in 
 any Church which teaches what is false ; 
 for His abiding presence is an approving 
 presence, and He can never set the seal of 
 His approbation, either explicitly or impli- 
 
 citly, on any doctrine which is opposed to 
 truth. 
 
 For a similar reason, she (whichever 
 Church is Christ's) cannot sanction, permit, 
 or tolerate the use of any principle or 
 privilege which, taking men as they are, 
 necessarily leads to contradictions in funda- 
 mental matters of faith ; just because she 
 cannot sanction, permit, or tolerate any 
 principle or privilege whose application 
 leads of necessity to falsehood. No reason- 
 able man will hold that she would be 
 Christ's Church if she did. These state- 
 ments will be equivalent to first principles, 
 in the judgment of all who regard the 
 Church as a work of Divine institution. 
 
 If we gainsay them, if we refuse to see 
 them in that light, we are unconsciously 
 admitting that her teachings, even before 
 the end of the first century, may have been 
 a chaos of contradictory doctrines, in which 
 it would have been impossible to tell 
 whether the element of truth or the ele- 
 ment of falsehood predominated. In fact, 
 to deny them is simply to deny to be a 
 mark of the true Church that unity which 
 Christ Himself expressly declared was to 
 be one of her most distinguishing and most 
 striking marks. 
 
 At the Last Supper, towards the end of 
 His parting discourse. He raised His eyes 
 to his Eternal Father, and prayed that 
 there might be unity amongst His apos- 
 tles, and unity amongst the faithful, who 
 through their preaching were to believe in 
 His Gospel. And He not only prayed that 
 unity might bind them all together, but 
 He proclaimed in that very same prayei 
 
63 
 
 JNDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 that He meant that unity to be a proof to 
 the world that they were His own flock, 
 and that He Himself had been divinely 
 sent : " And not for them (the apostles) 
 only do I pray, but for them also who 
 through their word shall believe in Me — 
 that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, 
 in Me, and I in Thee ; that they also may 
 be one in Us : that the world may believe 
 that Thou hast sent me " {John xvii. 20, 21). 
 Now, would not that prayer have been 
 meaningless if He meant, while He said it, 
 that the apostles or the faithful, the priests 
 or the people, were to have the free use of 
 a privilege before which all definite revela- 
 tion would melt away — which would leave 
 them free to give opposite forms to every 
 doctrine He had made known, and contra- 
 dictory interpretations to every word of 
 His which was to remain on record ? Or, 
 could He, the God of unchanging truth, 
 ever have put forth that solemn petition to 
 the Father, if He intended, while He said 
 it, that Peter was to be free to preach one 
 doctrine in Antioch, and John the contra- 
 dictory in Ephesus ? 
 
 Well, I think we may say that two 
 points have been established: ist, The 
 Church of Christ — the Church of the 
 everlasting rock — exists somewhere on 
 earth ; 2d, That Church can neither 
 teach contradictory doctrines of faith, nor 
 can she approve or tolerate a principle 
 the use of which necessarily leads to 
 contradictions in doctrines of fundamental 
 importance. 
 
 Now, apply this test to the numberless 
 creeds outside the Catholic communion 
 
 which proclaim themselves orthodox, and 
 see if they can stand it. 
 
 The principle of private judgment, 
 free inquiry, individual preference, as we 
 shall see presently, not merely leads, but, 
 taking men as they are, leads of necessity 
 to contradictions, and to contradictions in 
 even the most important matters of faith ; 
 and, consequently, leads of necessity to 
 false conclusions with regard to the most 
 important matters of faith. 
 
 But the Church of England, and all the 
 branch Churches which have sprung from 
 her, enforce, sanction, or tolerate the use 
 of private judgment. This statement may 
 sound too bold and comprehensive, Ii is, 
 however, undeniable. Nearly all the 
 members of the Anglican Communion 
 will admit it ; and the twentieth of those 
 Articles on which the Anglican creed is 
 founded plainly professes it. And even the 
 High Church and Ritualistic party, which 
 is loudest in disclaiming it, uses it, and 
 uses it in its most intense form ; while 
 those who belong to the Low Church and 
 Broad Church party will not pretend to 
 deny that the Scripture is their only rule 
 of faith, and that private judgment is its 
 interpreter. Besides, those Articles, to 
 which all the clergy of the Establishment 
 are bound to subscribe, are forthcoming to 
 prove that it is so. 
 
 In the sixth Article it is stated : " Holy 
 Scripture containeth all things necessary 
 to salvation ; so that whatever is not read 
 therein, nor may be proved thereby, is 
 not to be required of any man that it 
 should be believed as an article of faith, 
 
UNITY. 
 
 63 
 
 or be thought requisite or necessary to 
 salvation." And the twentieth Article 
 runs thus: "The Church hath power to 
 ordain rites and ceremonies, and authority 
 in controversies of faith ; and yet it is not 
 lawful for the Church to ordain anything 
 contrary to God's Word written ; neither 
 may it so expound any passage of Scripture 
 so as to be repugnant to another." 
 
 Dr. Beveridge, a celebrated Protestant 
 divine, whose teaching is confirmed by 
 other and later writers, guided by these 
 Articles, maintains that each individual 
 is bound to look to the proofs of what he 
 specifically believes, and obliged to be a 
 member of his Church on grounds which 
 he himself has verified. 
 
 Further remarks on this point are 
 unnecessary, since the principal that each 
 individual must judge for himself, and 
 make out his own system of faith from 
 the Scriptures, is admitted by the mem- 
 bers of the Low Church and Broad Church 
 party. 
 
 But even the members of the High 
 Church and Ritualistic party, who will 
 not allow themselves to be reproached 
 with professing the principle of private 
 judgment, use it, and use it, as I have 
 said, in its most exaggerated form. 
 
 I will give here my reasons for saying 
 so. Their belief in the past, their change 
 of belief, their present anomalous position, 
 the various phases through which their 
 creed has passed, their stopping within 
 the boundary line which they have now 
 reached, their obstinate unwillingness to 
 move an inch beyond it, makes this clear 
 
 to evidence. Their gradual app oi.ch to 
 that scries of dogmas, which they at pres- 
 ent profess, has been an exercise of pri- 
 vate judgment all along. For if, when 
 the hour of change came, they departed 
 from the doctrines of their earlier 
 years, and replaced them by doctrines 
 taught by the Church of Rome, was i^ not 
 free inquiry, individual preference, and 
 private judgment pure and simple, that 
 led them to take that course } Their 
 interpretation of their Anglican position, 
 and of the formularies and doctrines of 
 their Church, in a Catholic sense, as con- 
 trary to the Protestant sense, which 
 had before so long prevailed — what was 
 all that but the result of private judg- 
 ment .■* 
 
 And their standstill on the line of demar- 
 cation which now separates them on one 
 side from their co-religionists, and on 
 the other from the members of the Roman 
 Catholic communion — what is it but a 
 constant, continuous exercise of the same 
 arbitrary choice } If they move neither 
 backward towards the creed of their early 
 youth, nor forward still nearer to the Church 
 of Rome, it is nothing but private judg- 
 ment that keeps them where they are. 
 There is no external power, no authorita- 
 tive tribunal, to keep them there. Their 
 own Church — the Church to which they 
 nominally belong — is quite passive in 
 their regard. She merely looks upon their 
 state of oscillation, transition, change, with 
 the eye of toleration. And they give 
 pretty clear proof that they would not 
 listen to her voice, even if she spoke in 
 
64 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 the tone of authoritative prohibition. 
 They acknowledge no living authority of 
 any kind which can bind them to keep 
 fixedly to the doctrines which make up 
 their present creed. The only real, living, 
 tangible authority they recognize is their 
 own freedom of mind, individual prefer- 
 ence, private judgment, which has been 
 their guide throughout, and which, from 
 the day it broke loose from the traditional 
 fragments of Anglican belief, has never 
 submitted to any external control. And 
 that private j udgment, being still free to 
 roam unchecked, bei ng at perfect lib- 
 erty to change its former decision in a 
 moment, may induce them in the not far 
 distant future to discard utterly all the 
 Catholic doctrines which they at present 
 profess. 
 
 They may tell us loudly that they do not 
 use private judgment in the interpretation 
 of the Scripture. Well, if they do not 
 pretend to interpret the Scriptures by 
 private judgment, they interpret the 
 Ancient Fathers by private judgment, and 
 that comes pretty much to the same thing. 
 Perhaps it is more correct to say that they 
 use private judgment in their interpreta- 
 tion both of the Scriptures and of the 
 Fathers. The field in which they exercise 
 private judgment is in reality broader and 
 wider than that claimed by any other 
 sectaries whatever. While others are 
 content to confine the exercise of this 
 arbitrary right to the Bible, they let it 
 loose upon the decisions of the early 
 Councils and the writings of the Fathers. 
 That is, they make certain passages of 
 
 Scripture give out certain favorite doctrines 
 by an appeal to the interpretations given 
 to those passages by the early Fathers ; 
 while, with regard to other passages, they 
 reject entirely the interpretations of those 
 Fathers, and follow their own interpreta- 
 tion in preference. If this is not private 
 judgment, it is hard to say what is. They 
 take up the history of the early Councils 
 and the writings of the Ancient Fathers, 
 and they find that the primitive Church 
 must have believed this doctrine, and that 
 doctrine, and that other doctrine. Guided 
 by these venerated records, they give to 
 certain passages in Scripture the Catholic 
 interpretation — an interpretation which the 
 other members of their communion entirely 
 disclaim, and emphatically repudiate. 
 They copy these doctrines into their new 
 creed just because, in their present temper 
 of mind, such doctrines commend them- 
 selves to their private fancy. Then, sud- 
 denly, it is found they are prepared to go 
 only a certain length, and no further, with 
 the early Fathers ; although there is quite 
 as much reason, and more, for going the 
 whole way, than there is for stopping when 
 they have got a certain distance. While 
 they gladly transfer into their new symbol 
 of faith the doctrine of Confession and of 
 the Eucharist, because they find these 
 doctrines clearly enunciated in the writ- 
 ings of the Ancient Fathers, they sedu- 
 lously keep out of it other doctrines of 
 equally vital importance, and which are 
 expressed with equal clearness by the very 
 same Fathers. If they profess to believe 
 '.hat the priest has power to forgive sin. 
 
UNITY. 
 
 65 
 
 and that Christ is really present in the 
 Eucharist, on the ground that the early 
 Fathers taught these dogmas, why refuse 
 to believe those very same Fathers, when 
 they teach with equal clearness and equal 
 emphasis, the necessity of being in com- 
 munion with the See of Rome, and of sub- 
 mitting to its authority, as .being an 
 authority which all are bound to obey, and 
 from which there is no appeal. If they 
 agree with St. Irenaeus, when he speaks 
 words which embody the Catholic doctrine 
 of the real presence of Christ in the 
 Eucharist, why not agree with the same 
 Irenaeus when he teaches so unequivocally 
 that it is necessary that every church 
 should be in communion with the Church 
 of Rome ? No words could be clearer than 
 those which this Father of the Church 
 uses when referring to this vital doc- 
 trine : — 
 
 "For with this Church " (the Church of 
 Rome), " on account of a more powerful 
 principality, it is necessary that every 
 Church, that is, the faithful on every side, 
 should meet together, in which Church 
 has ever been preserved that tradition 
 which is from the Apostles " {Adv. Hcer., 
 lib. iii., c. 3). 
 
 What reason can they give for taking in 
 just so much of the dogmatic teaching of 
 the primitive Church as they do take in, 
 and nothing more, and for treating all the 
 rest as a matter of comparatively trivial 
 importance .? 
 
 Is it not evident that although they 
 borrow certain materials from the early 
 
 I Church in building up their creed, they are 
 i 
 
 not following her teachings, but rather the 
 dictates of their own private judgment, 
 and the promptings of their own imagina- 
 tion } 
 
 While they disobey the traditions of the 
 Establishment by embracing a belief 
 rejected by most of its Bishops and the 
 greater part of its laity, they at the same 
 time refuse to obey any other Church, 
 except that ideal one which exists in their 
 own imagination, and can exist nowhere 
 else. I say it can exist nowhere else ; for 
 no Church such as they picture to them- 
 selves ever came into actual life. The 
 ancient one, of which they pretend theirs 
 is the modern realization or semi-miraculous 
 resurrection, was in communion with 
 Rome. If, then, they mean theirs to be 
 the identical ancient Church, it must have 
 the Roman Pontiff for its head ; and since 
 it has not the Roman Pontiff for its head, 
 but is a body or part of a body without a 
 head at all, it cannot be the identical ulJ 
 Church. 
 
 Their Church is a nebula — it is a struc- 
 ture in the air. It is not God's work, it is 
 ihcir own work — a thing struck out of 
 their own head, created, framed in outline, 
 and decorated in detail by the exercise of 
 private judgment and the caprice of indi- 
 vidual taste. Trace the process they follow 
 in its formation, and you will find this to 
 be the case. They draw a plan in their 
 mind of what they imagine the ancient 
 Church must have been, then they gather 
 fragmentary or isolated doctrines from the 
 early chronicles of the Church of the East 
 and of the West, from the writings of the 
 
66 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 ancient Latin Fathers and of the ancient 
 Greek Fathers ; they introduce a sprink- 
 ling of the novelties of the Reformation ; 
 they also draw upon certain doctrines of 
 their own invention ; and out of these 
 heterogeneous elements they rear their 
 phantom fabric. 
 
 Their religion, then, as it exists in its 
 present form, is entirely their own arbi- 
 trary creation. It owes its whole being to 
 the activity of private judgment. Hence, 
 they are not under its control ; it is entirely 
 under their control. They made it when 
 they chose ; they can keep it for as long or 
 as short a time as they choose ; they can 
 abolish it any moment they deem it pru- 
 dent or expedient to do so. It was private 
 judgment that called it into being; the 
 same private judgment can annihilate it in 
 the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 In other words, the Church they profess 
 to belong to is either dead or living. If it 
 is dead, it cannot receive their submission, 
 and they cannot obey it. If it is living, it 
 must be the primitive Church out and out, 
 or it is nothing. Else they must have us 
 believe that the pure, perfect, primitive 
 Church died and disappeared altogether 
 from history for centuries ; that the very 
 rock moved away out of sight, too; and 
 that that ancient rock and ancient Church, 
 in all its beauty, perfectness, and complete- 
 ness, emerged from chaos about the middle 
 of the nineteenth century, and reappeared 
 in themselves in the form of High-Church- 
 ism and Ritualism. And this, I think, is 
 rather an extravagant and unwarrantable 
 supposition. 
 
 It is hard indeed to conceive how the 
 mere fact of arbitrarily taking up a cer- 
 tain number of doctrines can reach over a 
 dead past of 1500 or at the least 1000 
 years, and connect them with a Church 
 which lived only during the first three cen- 
 turies, or, at the longest, only till the Pho- 
 tian Schism in the ninth century, and 
 which died and was buried then, and has 
 lain buried ever since. What proof can 
 they give, that the act of reading a new 
 profession of faith, or a mere volition, can 
 restore a dead Church to life } 
 
 By holding any such theory they vir- 
 tually claim the credit of having worked a 
 greater miracle than the resurrection of 
 Lazarus. Lazarus had been only the 
 fourth day in the tomb, when, at the 
 bidding of our Divine Lord, he rose to 
 life. 
 
 Ritualists would have us believe that 
 their forming themselves into a distinct 
 religious body, of which nothing has ever 
 been heard before, has produced the two- 
 fold wonderful effect — of bringing back 
 to life a Church that had been dead for 
 centuries, and of making them, in the very 
 same instant, members of it. 
 
 It is in vain, however, they will strive to 
 stretch over a gulf of 1500 or 1000 years 
 and ask to shake hands with Augustine, 
 Athanasius, Cyril, Ambrose, or Jerome, 
 with the hope they will be recognized by 
 those early heroes of the faith as members 
 of the same communion. 
 
 Were those great doctors to return 
 again to life, doubtless they would tell , 
 them, that while they were willing enough 
 
UNITY. 
 
 6r 
 
 to stretch out to them the hand of charity, 
 yet they could never look upon them as 
 members of the same Church, as long as 
 they did not obey one central, unfailing 
 authority, from which there was no 
 appeal. 
 
 The members of the Ritualistic Com- 
 munion may say that they believe all the 
 Catholic doctrine, and that entering into 
 the Roman Catholic Church would not add 
 anything to their creed, except the dogma 
 which teaches that the Pope has universal 
 spiritual jurisdiction over the whole earth. 
 I answer that is an essential point. 
 
 " Never," says Cardinal Wiseman, 
 "were men more slightly separated from 
 the acknowledged truth than were the Sa- 
 maritans in the time of our Lord. 
 
 . . . Slight as were the dissenting 
 principles of those sectarians, amiable and 
 charitable as may have been their charac- 
 ters, ripe as they were for Christianity, 
 affable and conciliating as the interview 
 (with the Samaritan woman) had hitherto 
 been, no sooner is this important question 
 put, than He makes no allowance, no com- 
 promise, but answers clearly and solemnly : 
 ' Salvation is of the Jews'. . . . Thus 
 did this benign and charitable Saviour, 
 who came to see and save what was lost, 
 and whose first principle it was : ' I will 
 have mercy and not sacrifice' — thus did 
 He hesitate not a moment to pronounce, 
 in the clearest terms, that no devia- 
 tion from the true religion, however tri- 
 vial, can be justified or excused in His 
 sight " {JLecture on the Catholic Church, pp. 
 326-328). 
 
 The Church of England, then, in all its 
 schools of opinion — High Church, Low 
 Church, Broad Church — with the number- 
 less subdivisions of these great parties, 
 enforces, sanctions, permits, or tolerates 
 the use of the privilege of private 
 judgment in the interpretation of the 
 Scripture. 
 
 But the use of private judgment, in the 
 interpretation of the Scripture, leads 
 necessarily (taking men as they are) to 
 contradictions in matters of faith, and con- 
 sequently leads necessarily to falsehood in 
 matters of faith. 
 
 The very meaning of private judgment 
 as a privilege or principle makes this suffi- 
 ciently clear. What is its meaning.^ 
 When analyzed, it plainly means that a 
 number of men, say twenty, may open the 
 Bible, take any verse of it they like, and 
 may, each of them, give to that verse the 
 interpretation his individual judgment 
 dictates — the meaning which commends 
 itself most to his particular judgment or 
 taste. Now, men differ in temper of mind, 
 in intellect, in disposition, in character, in 
 education, in convictions, prejudices, lean- 
 ings, inclinations. A hundred contingen- 
 cies will influence the meaning they give 
 to the. verse in question. The inevitable 
 result of this exercise of liberty will be 
 that, in many cases, one man will give to 
 that verse one interpretation, another will 
 give it an interpretation absolutely con- 
 tradictory ; and each of them, thus using 
 the privilege his Church so freely allows 
 him, maintains that his view of the matter 
 i is quite as likely to be correct as that taken 
 
68 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 by his neighbor, who gives the inspired 
 words a meaning totally opposite. And 
 really, looking at the thing from his stand- 
 point, it is hard to blame him. For if 
 inspiration, as his church represents, is 
 abundantly vouchsafed to individuals, he 
 cannot see why he may not claim as large 
 a measure of it as his friend, whose life, as 
 far as he can perceive, is not more edifying 
 than his own. Enjoying this fulness of 
 unrestricted freedom, there is nothing to 
 prevent them from differing on every 
 single verse from Genesis to the Apoca- 
 lypse. And what is more, there is no 
 guarantee that they will agree even in 
 their interpretation of those passages 
 which have reference to the most vital 
 doctrines of Christianity. There is no 
 magisterial authority to bring their minds 
 into oneness of thought. They recognize 
 no superior control which can adjust their 
 differences ; nor does their Church oblige 
 them to recognize any. For, in the 
 twentieth Article in which it is stated that 
 she has authority in matters of contro- 
 versy, in the very same clause it is 
 implied that she is fallible, and quite as 
 liable to err as the least individual who 
 belongs to her communion ; nay, it is 
 implied that the individual has a right to 
 sit in judgment upon her, and to decide 
 whether she ordains anything contrary to 
 God's word written, or whether she 
 expounds one verse of Scripture so as to 
 be repugnant to another. She herself 
 does not claim to have a definitive voice ; 
 nor does she point to any higher or 
 supreme tribunal from which there is no 
 
 appeal. Her children are left free to 
 believe that she may go as deeply into 
 error, in the interpretation of the Scrip- 
 tures, as the most ignorant and least 
 instructed amongst themselves. She may 
 refer them in their controversies to the 
 Sovereign as her head, or to the Privy 
 Council as the organ of her voice ; but in 
 doing so the hopes of obtaining certainty 
 do not become greater. It is one fallible 
 individual appealing to another equally 
 fallible, or to a tribunal consisting of fallible 
 individuals, all of whom, collectively, 
 admit that their united decision may be as 
 faraway from the truth as if it was given 
 separately and individually by each, when 
 a thousand miles away from his fellow- 
 councillor. 
 
 It is of no use to say that the highest 
 court of appeal in the Church of England 
 never erects itself into a standard with 
 regards to matters of faith, or presumes to 
 decide on such matters — that it itself 
 appeals to the received formularies of the 
 Anglican Church, and that the most it does 
 is to decide whether some disputed doctrine 
 is opposed to, or is in accordance with,, 
 those formularies. 
 
 Even so, it formally and authentically 
 interprets them ; and, while doing so, 
 admits, at least implicitly, that the inter- 
 pretation may be wrong, since it does not 
 claim to be infallible — nay, admits that 
 the very articles themselves may be full of 
 error, since they were drawn up by fallible 
 men, men who never claimed, professed, 
 or pretended to be infallible. For, after 
 all, what are these formularies ? Which is 
 
UNITY. 
 
 69 
 
 this standard itself, to which all in the 
 Anglican Communion, High, Low, and 
 Broad, must bow ? What but the teach- 
 ings and decisions of the English Protes- 
 tant Reformers of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries, who can claim no more 
 gift of inerrancy, or an effusion of the 
 Holy Ghost, than the divines of the 
 nineteenth century : fallible men who 
 severed themselves from the traditional 
 teaching of their forefathers, and from 
 communion with Rome. It is hard to 
 discover any theological or solid reason 
 why the dicta of fallible men, who lived 
 three centuries ago, should continue to be 
 the fixed standard of doctrine for Anglicans 
 in the present century. 
 
 With such unlimited liberty, then, as 
 the Church of England allows, in sanction- 
 ing the use of private judgment, there may 
 be as many contradictory meanings of 
 Scripture as there are individuals who can 
 read its pages, and consequently as many 
 contradictory creeds. 
 
 Such is private judgment. Such it is, 
 such it has been, such it ever must be, 
 and such the fatal consequences to which 
 it must necessarily lead. Whether it is 
 gilded by the softer and more refined 
 names of free inquiry, individual prefer- 
 ence, liberty of opinion, freedom of 
 thought, the meaning is the same, and the 
 same inevitable results follow from its 
 application. 
 
 The use, therefore, of private judgment 
 in the interpretation of the Scripture 
 necessarily leads to contradictions in 
 matters of faith, and to contradictions* in 
 
 matters of faith of the most momentous 
 importance. 
 
 Let us look at the thing in practice. 
 See what is going on around us. The 
 High Churchman takes out of a certain 
 passage in the New Testament the doc- 
 trine that Christ is truly and objectively 
 present in the Eucharist ; the Low Church- 
 man interprets the same passage to mean 
 nothing more than a figurative and indefi- 
 nite presence of our Lord in that mystery, 
 through the faith of the receiver. The 
 Ritualist holds that the words of our Lord 
 recorded in the twentieth chapter of St. 
 John's Gospel, " Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost," &c., prove clearly the power to 
 absolve from sin; his Protestant co-reli- 
 gionist, who has not advanced so far on the 
 road of change, and who still clings to the 
 vague doctrines of Low Churchism, loudly 
 asserts that our Lord's words do not prove 
 that power. 
 
 Now, surely if any questions of doc- 
 trine, in the sphere of religion, ought to 
 be regarded as supremely important in 
 the eyes of man, these ought. No ques- 
 tions in life can be more closely con- 
 nected with the sanctification and the 
 ultimate salvation of man's soul than the 
 true worship of God, and the right use 
 of Christ's ordinances. And yet, on ' 
 these most vital points, men who profess 
 to belong to the same Church, and who 
 fill her highest offices, using their right 
 of private judgment, give absolutely con- 
 tradictory interpretations to the passages 
 of Scripture which have reference to 
 them. 
 
70 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 Kenoe the almost measureless doctrinal 
 differences, which separate the various 
 parties of which that Church is now com- 
 posed. Some with firm conviction believe 
 the Catholic doctrine of the Real Pres- 
 ence ; others reject it as intolerable idol- 
 atry. Some proclaim their belief in 
 sacramental absolution, and express their 
 astonishment that they could have lived so 
 long and read the Scriptures so often 
 without believing it ; others repudiate it 
 with horror and disgust, and designate it 
 as the pest of society. 
 
 Now, I ask, has the Church which sanc- 
 tions a principle which necessarily leads 
 to such interminable contradictions, and, 
 therefore, to interminable error, any right 
 to be considered the one true Church of 
 Christ.? Can any reasonable man, who 
 seriously thinks on the matter, hold that 
 Christ meant to leave to His Church the 
 free use of a principle, prerogative, privi- 
 lege, which would reduce His religion to 
 a Babel of contradictory opinions } Should 
 any one hold this, he must be prepared to 
 accept the necessary logical conclusion, 
 which is this : that when He (Christ) gave 
 to His apostles the great commission to 
 preach His gospel to the nations. He 
 authorized Peter to preach the doctrine of 
 the Real Presence in Antioch, authorized 
 John to preach the contradictory in Ephe- 
 sus, authorized James to preach both the 
 one and the other in Jerusalem — nay, left 
 each apostle free to affirm that dogma 
 emphatically, and to deny it quite as 
 emphatically, while preaching the very 
 same sermon to the very same audience. 
 
 And these are conclusions from which 
 these very advocates of private judgment 
 must shrink with horror, if they have any 
 regard for consistency and truth. 
 
 If, then, unity is an essential mark of 
 the one true Church of Christ, the Church 
 of England, in her various sections, must 
 give up all claim to Divine mstitution. 
 For unity she has not, has never had, and 
 never can have. If unity of doctrine were 
 not something entirely beyond her con- 
 trol, why should there have been in the 
 past, and why should there be in the 
 present, so many different parties holding 
 opposite opinions on the most momentous 
 matters of revelation ; all of them, we 
 must remember, tolerated, and mutually 
 tolerating one another, as recognized par- 
 ties in the same communion ; each and all 
 claiming a common right to hold their 
 place, as representing the varied multiform 
 views of one and the same comprehensive 
 Anglican Church .-* But she does not pro- 
 fess to have it. So far from having any 
 principle that can be a bond, a guarantee, 
 a preservative, a protection of unity, she 
 asserts a principle which makes unity an 
 impossibility. And the history of her 
 variations in the past, her present actual 
 state, the numberless divisions into which 
 she has been torn, are striking illustrations 
 of the disintegrating power of her princi- 
 ple. All these things furnish tangible and 
 irresistible proof that identity of doctripe 
 can never live side by side with the unre- 
 stricted use of the privilege of free inquiry. 
 
 Let us take some facts from history. 
 Protestantism was not seventy years old 
 
UNITY. 
 
 71 
 
 when it was divided into two hundred and 
 seventy sects. 
 
 Staphylus and Cardinal Hosius counted 
 two hundred and seventy branches of it 
 before the end of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Calvin, secretly lamenting the wreck 
 the Reformation had made of Christian 
 unity, wrote to Melancthon that he was 
 anxious to hide, as far as possible, the 
 hideous spectacle of their interminable 
 divisions from the gaze of the world, and 
 particularly from the eyes of future gener- 
 ations. " It is of great importance," he 
 says, " that the divisions which subsist 
 among us should not be known to future 
 ages ; for nothing can be more ridiculous 
 than that we, who have been compelled to 
 make a separation from the whole world, 
 should have agreed so ill amongst our- 
 selves from the very beginning of the 
 Reformation " {Epist. 141). 
 
 Beza wrote to Dudith in the same tone : 
 " Our people," he says, "are carried away 
 by every wind of doctrine. If you know 
 what their religion is to-day, you cannot 
 tell what it may be to-morrow. In what 
 single point are those churches, which 
 declared war against the Pope, united 
 amongst themselves "i There is not one 
 point which is not held by some of them 
 as an article of faith, and by others rejected 
 as an impiety " ( Theod. Beza, Epist. ad 
 Aud. Dudit). 
 
 Melancthon was quite as loud in his 
 lamentation over the Babel of discordant 
 creeds, generated by the doctrines of the 
 Reformers, as either of the two wl^ra I 
 have quoted : " The Elbe," he says, 'ith 
 
 all its waters, could not furnish tears 
 enough to weep over the miseries of the 
 distracted Reformation " {Epist., lib. ii., 
 ep. 202). 
 
 But to come to a later date — to our 
 own time. Leslie acknowledges that the 
 character, nature, and principle of private 
 judgment is to produce variety and differ- 
 ence of opinion, and even civil and general 
 war. How great and multiform that vari- 
 ety is ; how wide that difference, is 
 abundantly demonstrated in Whitakers 
 Almanac of this very year — 1888! On 
 page 248 we find that places for religious 
 worship in England and Wales have been 
 certified to the Registrar-General on behalf 
 of over 230 different sects. The list is 
 alphabetical ; it begins with the Advent 
 Christians and ends with the Young 
 Women's Christian Association ; very 
 nearly all these sects have had their 
 origin in the errors of the Reformation. 
 
 Lord Macaulay, in his essay on Mr. 
 Gladstone's volume, TJlc State in its Rela- 
 tions with the Church, makes various allu- 
 sions to this matter. I wish to reproduce 
 some of them here, because they reveal the 
 very noticeable absence (if I may so speak) 
 from the Church of England of all unity of 
 doctrine, and of every principle that tends 
 to secure or protect unity. His words are 
 particularly remarkable for various reasons 
 — I St, Because they show that unity of faith 
 and private judgment are utterly irrecon- 
 cilable ; 2d, While he points to the end- 
 less contradictions which private judg- 
 ment generates, he at the same time 
 asserts that there is no visible body on the 
 
72 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 face ai the earth to whose decrees men 
 are bound to submit their judgment on 
 points of faith — which is equivalent to 
 saying that no Church was instituted by 
 Christ, or that if a Church was instituted 
 by Him, that Church does not exist now; 
 3d, Because he is arguing against Mr 
 Gladstone, whose contention in the volume 
 alluded to is, that unity is essential to- 
 truth, and that that unity is a characteris- 
 tic mark of the Church of England. That 
 unity is essential to truth Macaulay freely 
 admits ; but he denies loudly that unity is 
 a characteristic mark of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 Before adducing from his essay the cita- 
 tions which I wish to insert here, I think 
 it advisable to observe, that my great 
 wonder has been that a man of such giant 
 intellect as Mr. Gladstone ^ could have 
 failed to see that the Church of England, 
 so far from having unity as her distinctive 
 mark, is, or. the contrary, founded on a 
 principle which places it entirely and for 
 ever beyond her reach — that he could 
 have failed to see through the shallowness 
 
 1 1 could have wished that the volume which called forth 
 the essay in quistion had not been written by Mr. Gladstone, 
 or that if such a book were to be written at all, it should have 
 borne some other name. My long, great, and ever-growing 
 admiration of Mr. Gladstone's character makes me unwilling 
 to speak of his arguments and conclusions in reference to a 
 subject in which both arguments and conclusions are evidently 
 aiogical, and must therefore be unhesitatingly condemned. 
 All who know me, however, are well aware that my admiration 
 ef, and respect for, his character are not of recent growth ; 
 that I have frequently stood up in defence of his pre-eminent 
 statesmanship ; that I consider him the ablest, the most accom- 
 plished, the most philanthropic statesman this century has 
 produced, whether in England or elsewhere; that I have 
 always felt (and I still feel the same) that his benevolent inten- 
 tions and desires have been far in advance of even the greatest 
 and the best of the many great and good works he has already 
 «chi«ved for the benefit of his fellow-men. 
 
 bolstered up, so as to make her position 
 plausible, reasonable, tolerable, in the eyes 
 of the public — and that he could persist 
 in claiming for her an exemption from error, 
 which she has never had the boldness to 
 attempt to claim for herself. There are 
 others who share this feeling of wonder. 
 Macaulay himself, who, I venture to say, 
 was at all times of his life much more 
 widely separated from Catholic truth than 
 Mr. Gladstone, expresses more than once 
 his unqualified surprise that so clever and 
 clear-sighted a man could claim unity for a 
 Church which is notorious for discords, 
 disagreements, differences ; within whose 
 pale " multitudes of sects are battling," or 
 of the sophistry with which she must be 
 could think it possible that the use of 
 private judgment or free inquiry could 
 produce or lead to unity of doctrine. He 
 analyzes Mr. Gladstone's reasoning on the 
 relations between identity of faith and the 
 use of private judgment. And we think 
 the candid, unprejudiced reader must 
 admit that he does so justly and fairly. 
 
 " Mr. Gladstone," he says, " dwells much 
 on the importance of unity in doctrine. 
 ' Unity,' he says, * is essential to truth.' 
 And this is most unquestionable. But 
 when he goes on to tell us that this unity 
 is the characteristic of the Church of 
 England, that she is one in body and one 
 in spirit, we are compelled to differ from 
 him widely. The apostolical succession 
 she may have or may not have ; but unity 
 she most certainly has not, and never has 
 had. It is a matter of perfect notoriety 
 that her formularies are framed in such a 
 
UNITY. 
 
 73 
 
 manner as to admit to her highest offices 
 men who differ from each other more 
 widely than a very High-Churchman 
 differs from a Roman Catholic, or a very 
 Low-Churchman from a Presbyterian ; and 
 that the general leaning of the Church, 
 with respect to some important questions, 
 has been sometimes one way and some- 
 times another. Take, for example, the 
 questions agitated between the Calvinists 
 and the Armenians. Do we find in the 
 Church of England that unity which is 
 essential to truth ? Was it ever found in 
 the Church ? Is it not certain that at the 
 end of the sixteenth century the rulers of 
 the Church held doctrines as Calvanistic 
 as were ever held by any Cameronian, and 
 not only held them, but persecuted every- 
 body who did not hold them ? And is it 
 not equally certain that the rulers of the 
 Church have, in very recent times, con- 
 sidered Calvinism as a disqualification for 
 high preferment, if not for holy orders ? 
 ... It is notorious that some of her most 
 distinguished rulers think this latitude a 
 good thing and would be sorry to see it 
 restricted in favor of either opinion. And 
 herein we most cordially agree with them. 
 But what becomes of the unity of the 
 Church, and of that truth to which unity 
 is essential .^ . . . 
 
 " What differences of opinion respecting 
 the operation of the sacraments are held 
 by bishops, doctors, presbyters of the 
 Church of England, all men who have 
 conscientiously declared their assent to 
 the Articles . , . Here again the 
 Church has not unity, and as unity is the 
 
 essential condition of truth, the Church 
 has not truth. . . . Nay, take the very 
 question we are discussing with Mr, 
 Gladstone — To what extent does the 
 Church of England allow of the right of 
 private judgment } What degree of 
 authority does she claim for herself in 
 virtue of the apostolical successiort of her 
 hiinisters } Mr. Gladstone, a very able and 
 a very honest man, takes a view of this 
 matter widely differing from the view 
 taken by others whom he will admit to be 
 quite as honest and as able as himself. 
 People who altogether dissent from him 
 on this subject eat the bread of the 
 Church, preach in her pulpits, dispense 
 her sacraments, confer her orders, and 
 carry on the apostolical succession, the 
 nature and importance of which they do 
 not comprehend. Is this unity } Is this 
 truth > 
 
 " It will be observed that . . . the reli- 
 gion of the Church of England is so far 
 from exhibiting that unity of doctrine 
 which Mr. Gladstone represents as her 
 distinguishing glory, that it is, in fact, a 
 bundle of religious systems without num- 
 ber. It comprises the religious system of 
 Bishop Tomline, and the religious system 
 of John Newton, and all the religious sys- 
 tems which lie between them. It com- 
 prises the religious system of Mr. New- 
 man, and the religious system of the 
 Archbishop of Dublin, and all the religious 
 systems which lie between them. All 
 these different opinions are held, avowed, 
 preached, printed, within the pale of the 
 Church, by men of unquestionable integ- 
 
74 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 rity and understanding. Do we make this 
 diversity a topic of reproach to the Church 
 of England? Far from it. We would 
 oppose with all our power every attempt 
 to narrow her basis. . . . But what be- 
 comes of all Mr, Gladstone's exhortations 
 to unity? Is it not a mere mockery to 
 attach so much importance to unity in 
 form and name, when there is so little in 
 substance — to shudder at the thought of 
 two Churches in alliance with one State, 
 and to endure with patience the spectacle 
 of a hundred sects battling within one 
 Church ? And is it not clear that Mr. 
 Gladstone is bound on all his own princi- 
 ples to abandon the defence of a Church 
 in which unity is not found ? " 
 
 The eloquent essayist discusses also the 
 peculiar views held by Mr. Gladstone with 
 respect to private judgment : — 
 
 " Mr. Gladstone pronounces the right of 
 private judgment, as it is generally under- 
 stood throughout Europe, to be a mon- 
 strous abuse. He declares himself favor- 
 able, indeed, to the exercise of private 
 judgment, after a fashion of his own. We 
 have, according to him, a right to judge all 
 the doctrines of the Church of England to 
 be sound, but not to judge any of them to 
 be unsound. He has no objection, he 
 assures us, to active inquiry into religious 
 questions. On the contrary, he thinks 
 such inquiry highly desirable, as long as 
 it does not lead to diversity of opinion ; 
 which is much the same thing as if he 
 were to recommend the use of fire that 
 will not burn down houses, or of brandy 
 that will not make men drunk. He con- 
 
 ceives it to be perfectly possible for man- 
 kind to exercise their intellects vigorously 
 and freely, and yet to Come to the same 
 conclusion with each other and with the 
 Church of England. And for this opinion 
 he gives, as far as we have been able to 
 discover, no reason whatever, except that 
 everybody who vigorously and freely exer- 
 cises his understanding on Euclid's theo- 
 rems assents to them. Everybody, he 
 says, who freely inquires agrees with 
 Euclid ; but the Church is as much in 
 the right as Euclid ; why, then, should 
 not every free inquirer agree with the 
 Church ? " 
 
 This reasoning is evidently sophistical. 
 For, from the very fact that free inquiry 
 has been allowed, there are opposite creeds 
 in the Church of England, and the free 
 inquirer does not know which creed is 
 right, or which represents most faithfully 
 the teaching of that Church ; 2d, because, 
 having the privilege of free inquiry, he 
 may judge that the Church ordains some- 
 thing contrary to God's written word and 
 expounds some passage of Scripture so as 
 be repugnant to another ; 3d, because, in 
 the exercise of searching and energetic 
 inquiry, he is free to arrive at the conclu- 
 sion that the Church is not in the right at 
 all, but is entirely in the wrong. That is, 
 while still remaining a Protestant, he is 
 free to deny entirely or to doubt seriously 
 the minor of Mr. Gladstone's syllogisms— 
 i. e., " The Church is as much in the right 
 as. Euclid." Quite consistently with the 
 principle of Protestantism, he may accept 
 all the doctrines of the Catholic Church, 
 
UNITY. 
 
 75 
 
 even the Pope's universal spiritual juris- 
 diction included. 
 
 Macaulay, after using some illustrations, 
 proceeds : " Our way of ascertaining the 
 tendency of free inquiry is simply to open 
 our ey(is and look at the world in which 
 we live; and there we see that free inquiry 
 on mathematical subjects produces unity, 
 and that free inquiry on moral sub- 
 jects produces discrepancy. There would 
 undoubtedly be less discrepancy if inquir- 
 ers were more diligent and more candid. 
 But discrepancy there will be amongst the 
 most diligent and candid as long as the 
 condition of the human mind and the 
 nature of moral evidence continue 
 unchanged. That we have not freedom 
 and unity together is a very sad thing ; 
 and so is it that we have not wings. But 
 we are j ust as likely to see the one defect 
 removed as the other. . . . There are 
 two intelligent and consistent courses 
 which may be followed with respect to 
 private judgment : the course of the 
 Romanist, who interdicts private judgment 
 because of its inevitable consequences, and 
 the course of the Protestant, who permits 
 private judgment, in spite of its inevitable 
 inconveniences. Both are more reason- 
 able than Mr. Gladstone, who would have 
 private judgment without its inevitable 
 inconveniences, 
 
 . . . When Mr. Gladstone says that we 
 actually require discrepancy of opinion — 
 require, demand error, falsehood, blindness, 
 and plume ourselves on such discrepancy, 
 as attesting a freedom which is only valu- 
 able when used for unity in the truth, he 
 
 expresses himself with more energy than 
 precision. . . . Mr. Gladstone seems 
 to imagine that most Protestants think it 
 possible for the same doctrine to be at once 
 true or false ; or that they think it 
 immaterial whether, on a given religious 
 question, a man comes to a true or false 
 conclusion. If there be any Protestants 
 who hold notions so absurd, we abandon 
 them to his censure." 
 
 However absurd these notions may 
 appear in the eyes of Lord Macaulay, the 
 Church of England herself holds them at 
 least implicitly — at all events, by allowing 
 the right of private judgment, she tolerates 
 them in her members ; for, on his own 
 showing, she not only keeps within her 
 pale, but she admits to her highest offices, 
 men who contradict each other on the 
 most vital questions of Christianity. 
 
 We share, however, the feeling of won- 
 der expressed by Lord Macaulay that a 
 man of Mr, Gladstone's powers can hold 
 that unity is essential to truth, and hold 
 at the same time that unity is the charac- 
 teristic mark of the Church of England, 
 while that Church permits a principle 
 which necessarily and in point of fact leads 
 to contradictions in the most fundamental 
 doctrines of revelation. Nothing can 
 account for this anomaly except that great 
 natural ability, amounting to genius of 
 even the highest order, is one thing, and 
 supernatural faith is quite another. 
 
 We agree with Lord Macaulay again in 
 the inference he draws from his analysis of 
 Mr. Gladstone's theory — namely, "Is it 
 not clear thac Mr. Gladstone is bound on 
 
76 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 all his own principles, to abandon the 
 defence of a Church in which unity is not 
 found ? " 
 
 These quotations strengthen more and 
 more our thesis, that nowhere in the 
 Church of England is found the mark of 
 unity ; and that consequently neither the 
 Church of England, nor any school of opin- 
 ion in her, can represent the one true 
 Church of Christ. And what we say of 
 the Church of England, with respect to 
 this point, applies equally to all dissenting 
 Churches. 
 
 But why use further arguments in 
 ■words f Is not the logic of facts sufficient 
 to prove the point ? Look at the Church 
 of England in her present actual state. 
 Some of those who subscribe to her Arti- 
 cles profess all the doctrines taught by the 
 Catholic Church, except the supreme uni- 
 versal spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope 
 over the world. They profess to hold the 
 real presence, transubstantiation, sacra- 
 mental confession, the sacrifice of the 
 Mass, Purgatory, the invocation of Mary 
 and of the saints, and nearly all the other 
 doctrines that are contained in the Roman 
 Catholic creed. Others reject all these 
 doctrines as damnable superstition. Now, 
 by what effort of the mind can these two 
 parties be said to be one } By what pro- 
 cess of reasoning can it be established that 
 the Church which allows such contradic- 
 tions to be professed within her pale is 
 one.? On what principle can it be said 
 that she has that unity which is essential 
 to truth } What idea can we have of false- 
 hood if we hold that the Church of Eng- 
 
 land is true — is the one true Church of 
 Christ > 
 
 But this want of unity is common not 
 merely to all branches of the Church of Eng- 
 land ; it is common to all religious bodies 
 outside the Church of Rome. As unity 
 cannot be found in any heretical Church, 
 so neither can it be found in anyschismat- 
 ical Church. The Oriental schismatical 
 Churches cannot pretend to possess it. 
 They have always been willing to sacrifice 
 unity of creed to " State " expediency. 
 They do not aim, and cannot aim, at any- 
 thing higher than material or political 
 unity. On the same principle that Photius 
 and Michal Cerularius broke with Rome, 
 and denied the supremacy of the Roman 
 Pontiff, so the bishops of those schismat- 
 ical Churches may, either individually or 
 collectively, sever their connection with 
 their respective patriarchates, deny entirely 
 the authority of their respective patriarchs, 
 and form themselves into distinct and sep- 
 arate religious bodies.^ 
 
 As a matter of fact, schism has already 
 produced its inevitable consequences in 
 those regions of the East which are still 
 under its sway. It is well known that the 
 Russian Church is undermined throughout 
 her length and breadth by sects which, at 
 the present moment, number the greater 
 part of the population — sects, too, which 
 
 lit may be said that the Greek Church is very tenacious of 
 the Catholic doctrines and Catholic traditions. I answer: — 
 The Greek Church cannot continue to have unity of faith, 
 for as all-important controversies on questions of faith have 
 arisen in every age in the past, so all-important questions of 
 a siniilar kind will arise again ; and, on the other hand, she 
 has no infallible "judex controversiarum " — i. e., no infallibl* 
 judge of controversies, either in Pope or in General Council — « 
 to appeal to, who could settle such matters definitely. 
 
UNITY. 
 
 77 
 
 are filled with the most desperate hatred 
 towards both imperial and patriarchal 
 jurisdiction. There are few who have not 
 heard that the late Czar Nicholas often 
 predicted that Russia would perish by her 
 religious divisions. Now, a Church which 
 is torn by increasing and incurable schisms 
 can hardly have the boldness to pretend 
 that a necessary, unfailing bond .of unity 
 is one of her essential characteristics. 
 
 But now, which alone amongst all the 
 Churches has this mark of unity .' Cardi- 
 nal Wiseman gives the answer. He says 
 there is one simple way of demonstrating 
 which Church has the right to claim it — 
 i. e., by showing which is the Church which 
 alone actually c\2ams it. He adds, that if 
 we find that all other Churches give up 
 their right and title to it, it follows that 
 they can have no pretension to it ; and if 
 only one Church assumes it as one of its 
 characteristics, assuredly we have enough 
 to prove that it alone possesses it. "With 
 regard to unity," he observes, " all say 
 that they believe in one Church, and 
 profess that the true Church can be only 
 one. But the Catholic Church is the only 
 one which requires absolute unity of faith 
 among all its members ; not only so, but 
 — as by principles alone I wish to try the 
 question — the Catholic Church is the 
 only one that holds a principle of faith 
 essentially supposing unity as the most 
 necessary quality of the Church. The 
 Catholic Church lays down, as its principle 
 and ground of faith, that all mankind must 
 believe whatever she decides and sanc- 
 tions, with the as.si stance of the Holy 
 
 Ghost ; and this is a principle necessarily 
 directed to bring all men's minds into 
 oneness of thought. Its essence, there- 
 fore — its very soul — that which gives it 
 individuality — is the principle of unity. 
 The principle of the others is, that each 
 individual must judge for himself and 
 make out his own system of faith : now 
 dispersion, dissension, and variety are 
 necessarily the very essence of a Church 
 which adopts that principle. And this, in 
 fact, is practically demonstrated. For 
 Leslie acknowledges that the character, 
 nature, and principle of private judgment 
 is to produce variety and difference of 
 opinion, and even civil and general war, 
 Thus clearly in the Catholic Church alone 
 does the principle of unity exist" {Lec- 
 tures on the Catholic Church, Lect. ix., pp. 
 317, 318, third edit). 
 
 Yes, the Catholic Church, and the 
 Catholic Church alone, can claim this 
 essential mark of truth, for she alone 
 actually possesses it. Her mode of teach- 
 ing excludes absolutely every principle, 
 prerogative, or privilege that could lead to 
 contradiction in the domain of doctrine. 
 She interdicts the use of private judgment 
 in matters of faith now — she has ever 
 interdicted it — and she will continue to 
 interdict it to the end of time. Free 
 inquiry, individual preference, liberty of 
 mind, freedom of thought, private judg- 
 ment, in the domain of faith, are words 
 which she has no ears to hear. She will 
 not, she cannot, listen to them. They 
 would rend the rock on which she rests. 
 She takes her stand on the unchanging 
 
/8 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 truths of Him who built her ; and she will 
 tolerate no human pretensions which 
 would tend to split them asunder. Nor 
 will she suffer any sophistry, however 
 plausible, that would generate the least 
 deviation from them. Her teaching is one, 
 absolute, clear, unerring, emphatic, defin- 
 itive. No creeds of human origin can 
 rear their heads within her pale, except to 
 be branded with her loud and withering 
 anathemas. She will never recognize any 
 appeal from her tribunal. She will suffer 
 none of her children to sit in judgment 
 upon her decrees. In all places, at all 
 times, in all circumstances, her voice is 
 unchanging. High position, boundless 
 wealth, literary attainments, vast erudition, 
 transcendent ability, genius even of the 
 highest order, make no difference. With 
 the king and the subject, the philosopher 
 and the savage, the rich and the poor, the 
 young and the old, her method of teaching 
 is the same. To the youth of fifteen and 
 the old man of fourscore she speaks in the 
 same tone. To each generation of her 
 children, as they grow up to an age to 
 understand her symbol of faith, she says 
 with the authoritative voice of her founder : 
 — " You are but of yesterday ; you are 
 but fifteen, twenty, thirty, fifty, eighty, at 
 
 most a hundred years of age: You did 
 not live in the days of Jesus Christ to hear 
 the doctrines He commanded to be 
 believed, and the precepts He commanded 
 to be fulfilled. But /lived in His time 
 for /am His Church, His spouse. And I 
 have brought down in my bosom through 
 the centuries that have since rolled away 
 the doctrines He revealed to the world, and 
 the sense in which He meant them to be 
 received — the precepts He imposed, and 
 the manner in which He meant them to 
 be fulfilled. It is mine to teach you. It 
 is yours to listen and to believe. But it 
 is not yours, and it never can be yours, 
 to build up a creed out of your own 
 head." 
 
 This mode of teaching bears upon it the 
 impress of Divine institution. Here is a 
 bond of unity. Here is a bulwark of 
 unity. Here is unity in principle and 
 unity in practice — unity in word and 
 unity in meaning. Neither practical error 
 nor speculative error; neither Rational- 
 ism, nor Indifferentism, nor Liberalism, 
 nor Latitudinarianism, nor Agnosticism, 
 nor any other religious system of human 
 invention, can ever find a shelter in this 
 impregnable citadel of God's one, perfect,, 
 unchanging, everlasting truth. 
 
-^^>i^->^^H^ 
 
 ^^^^^^r^k^' 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 •••.• •••; •*•; ■••« 'Ji: •.?• ".?.' w w 
 
 ••• \»; ••; 
 
 I Universality or Catholicity. % 
 
 ."•• ••; •'•'• •*•; ••*• •'•'• •*•"• •*•"• •'•• •"•*• ••• ••; {•'• •*•*• .*•'• •'•"• ; J*. .*4*. .*#*• 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 HAT Church which Christ 
 founded must have universal- 
 ity or catholicity as one of her 
 essential marks. 
 
 What is meant by universal- 
 ity as an essential mark of the 
 one true Church of Christ > It is well to 
 define our meaning, for wrong impressions 
 may easily be fprmed. 
 
 Universality or catholicity,^ in the sense 
 in which it is an essential mark of the one 
 true Church, is nothing else but such 
 extension as to time, territorial space, 
 number of members, as will make it clear 
 to all who choose to inquire that she is 
 the only Church amongst all religious 
 bodies in which is found permanent unity 
 of faith, springing from a necessary, 
 unfailing principle of faith, and therefore 
 the only one which can justly claim to be 
 the Church instituted by Christ. 
 
 Hence, when we hold that she must 
 have universality as an essential note of her 
 
 1 Or, as in words of Catechism — " The Church is catholic 
 or unirersal, because she has subsisted in everj age, is spread 
 through all nations, and shall last to the end of time " {.May. 
 nooth Caiechum). 
 
 T» 
 
 truth,we do not mean that she must necessa- 
 rily exist in every country of the globe, 
 from pole to pole, simultaneously. Neither 
 do we mean that she must have at all times, 
 or at any time, the greater part of the 
 human race enrolled as members of her 
 fold. Neither do we mean that in every 
 period of her history, or in any period of 
 it, it must be clear that in point of 
 numbers she is far ahead of the various 
 heretical and schismatical sects taken 
 collectively. Nor do we mean even that 
 her members must necessarily be more 
 numerous than some individual heresy or 
 schism, which, for the hour, has become 
 particularly rampant and particularly pop- 
 ular. No. Numbers however great, space 
 however wide, duration however long — 
 none of these things singly, nor all of 
 them collectively, can constitute universal- 
 ity in the sense in which it is a necessary 
 note of the one true Church. Universal- 
 ity is rather the transparent medium 
 through which her unity becomes strik- 
 ingly visible. For it is, we may say, the 
 unity of the Church illustrated and mani- 
 
8o 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 fested in a sufficiently large and wide 
 sphere to make that unity a visible, strik- 
 ing, unmistakable proof of truth ; since 
 such unity, producing oneness of thought 
 on so large a scale, holding permanently 
 so many people of different times, of differ- 
 ent climes, different tongues, different 
 character, in one and the same faith, is 
 something which cannot be accounted for 
 on merely natural grounds, and conse- 
 quently presupposes the Divine institution 
 of the thing to which it belongs. 
 
 Hence, that the Church of Christ be 
 universal, in the sense in which universal- 
 ity is a mark of her truth, it is not neces- 
 sary that she should be simultaneously 
 and mathematically universal. Her action 
 on the nations of the world is not to be 
 measured by . mathematical dimensions ; 
 majority of numbers and vastness of terri- 
 tory do not constitute this mark. 
 
 It is not impossible that God, whose 
 wise providence rules all things, might 
 allow one nation after another to lose the 
 faith, in punishment of the abuse of 
 grace ; might permit persecution so to 
 cripple her power and thin her children 
 that her sphere would be narrowed within 
 a very much smaller space than that which 
 she now occupies. He might allow Liber- 
 alism, Agnosticism, Atheism, to wrench 
 from her bosom as many members as she 
 lost in the great apostacy of the sixteenth 
 century, without her acquiring any New 
 World, where millions of conversions 
 would compensate her for her loss. Such 
 diminution of her numbers, however — 
 such narrowing of her sphere, would not 
 
 deprive her of that universality which is] 
 an essential mark of truth. However 
 small the numbers to which apostacy raightj 
 reduce her — however narrow the limits 
 within which persecution might confine 
 her, there would still shine on her bro\ 
 the star that would make it clear that she 
 was the Church of all times and of all 
 nations — her identity with the Church ojj 
 the centuries and generations of the past 
 would be clearly discernible ; and she 
 would continue ever to be the Church, of^ 
 which alone it could be said, that she, and 
 she only, had the potentiality of universal- 
 ity — that is, a power that would make her 
 even absolutely universal, if the passions, 
 prejudices, and obstinacy of men did not 
 prevent her from doing so. 
 
 Now it is on this potentiality, power, or 
 capacity of universality, that I wish chiefly 
 to ground my argument. Although the 
 members of the church in communion 
 with Rome reach a higher figure than is 
 reached by the members of all other 
 Christian bodies taken collectively, yet I 
 will not take advantage of this majority of 
 numbers. Numbers ebb and flow. The 
 crops of the earth in some particular year 
 may be fourfold what they were the year 
 before, and tenfold what they are the year 
 following. Universal war and widespread 
 epidemic may reduce the population of 
 the earth by many millions in a decade. 
 
 No ; I will take ground which cannot 
 be disputed ; for it is my settled purpose 
 not to draw my inference except from 
 premises which will be easily granted, or 
 which at least can admit of being proved. 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 8i 
 
 I will argue from that inborn property or 
 power of universality which is essential to 
 the very existence of the Church of Christ, 
 and of which visible universality is nothing 
 but the external manifestation. This is 
 the point on which I wish to insist most. 
 
 Whichever church is Christ's was His 
 Church before she became actually univer- 
 sal in any sense. She could and did exist 
 before she was widely spread. She was 
 as truly His Church while she was still 
 confined within the walls of Jerusalem, as 
 when some centuries later she had re- 
 duced the East and the West under her 
 sway, and counted her members in mil- 
 lions. But she never was His Church, 
 and she never could be His Church, with- 
 out having the innate potentiality of 
 universality. This inherent power of 
 making herself universal, as far as people 
 will allow her to become universal, is 
 essential to her being. It was implanted 
 in her on the day of Pentecost, when she 
 stepped forth in all her completeness 
 from the hands of her Founder, and when 
 His Divine Spirit descended into her to 
 dwell in her forever. And the vast space 
 she was afterwards to cover, and the mil- 
 lions of members she was afterwards to 
 count in the course of her long and glo- 
 rious history, were to be but the visible 
 results of that power in action. 
 
 I have said : Whichever church is 
 Christ's must be one which has the 
 potentiality of universality. This state- 
 ment is easily proved. 
 
 As Christ died for all, He instituted 
 His Church for the salvation of all, sinc« 
 
 He meant His Church to be instrumental 
 in saving all whom He died to redeem. 
 The salvation of the whole human race 
 was the sole object he had in view when 
 He founded her on the everlasting rock, 
 and when He gave His apostles the great 
 commission to bear her message of faith 
 to all the nations of the earth. And it 
 was that she might be instrumental in 
 saving the human race, not merely in one 
 stage of its career, but in all its genera- 
 tions to the end of time, that He promised 
 to remain with her all days down to the 
 consummation. In other words, He did 
 not bring her into life that she might save 
 the people of Asia only, or of Africa only, 
 or of Europe only, or of Ireland, England, 
 or Scotland only, but that she might save 
 the people of all countries and of all cen- 
 turies. His intention and desire, in found- 
 ing her, covered exactly the same space 
 and the same duration as was covered by 
 His intention and desire in working out 
 Redemption. As His Redemption was to 
 take in the people of all places and of all 
 ages, so did He mean His Church to 
 embrace, within her bosom, mankind of 
 every place and of every time. If He 
 redeemed all, it was that all might be 
 saved ; if He instituted His Church, it 
 was that all might be saved by her, for 
 through her He meant the fruits of His 
 copious and universal Redemption to be. 
 communicated to all for whom He shed 
 His blood and gave His life. 
 
 No one can deny that such were His 
 intentions. That some, that many, men 
 in every age were to refuse to listen to 
 
82 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 her voice, to shut their eyes to her signs, 
 to persecute, to imprison, to murder those 
 who sought to bring to them her saving 
 message, does not interfere with His 
 merciful and loving designs. As His 
 blood was to be shed for many in vain, 
 so His Church would be founded for 
 many in vain — both for many within her 
 and for many without her, who would per- 
 sistently refuse her proffered graces. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that as yet I am 
 not saying which Church has this essential 
 mark of truth. My contention at present 
 is that Christ meant His Church for the 
 salvation of the people of all nations and 
 of ALL times. 
 
 But if He meant her to save all He must 
 iiave meant her to reach all, as far at 
 least as people would allow themselves to 
 be reached by her. In other words, He 
 must have so constructed her that she 
 should have the potentiality or power of 
 making herself even absolutely universal, 
 unless the malice, blindness, obstinacy, 
 passions, or prejudices of men prevented 
 her from doing so. More than this, He 
 must have meant her to be continually 
 striving throughout all time to enlarge her 
 sphere — to make her light shine more and 
 more widely — to bring her gospel of truth 
 to those who had it not. All reasonable 
 Christians will admit that any Church 
 which does not fit in this frame can have 
 no claim to be considered the one true 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 Now here, quite independently of any 
 argument taken from comparison of num- 
 bers — quite independently of any argu- 
 
 ment taken from the relative success of 
 the efforts made by the various Christian 
 denominations to convert the heathen — 
 quite independently, too, of any argument 
 taken from the names of those Churches 
 or sects, whose names indicate their geo- 
 graphical boundaries, and mark them out 
 as national or local institutions ; — quite 
 independently of all this, we have ground 
 enough to show that the Church of Eng- 
 land has not this essential mark of th( 
 one true Church of Christ. Not only hai 
 she not it, she cannot by possibility evet 
 have it. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 No Church which has not unity of faith, 
 springing from a necessary, unfailing prin- 
 ciple conservative of that unity, can ever 
 possibly have the potentiality of univer- 
 sality, and, therefore, can never possibly 
 have the mark of universality, since the 
 mark is but the outgrowth of the innate 
 power. As long as it has not a bond to 
 keep it united as one and the same thing, 
 it can never have in itself the germ of 
 universal growth. Its inherent elements 
 of discord will prevent it from multiplying 
 in its original form. 
 
 An army, in point of overwhelming 
 numbers, perfect discipline, complete equip- 
 ment, skill of commander, invincible cour- 
 age on the part of its officers and of its 
 rank and file, may be, in the opinion of 
 the most competent judges, more than 
 strong enough to subdue all the nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 
UNIVERSALITY' OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 83 
 
 It has hardly begun, however, its work 
 of universal conquest, when discord be- 
 comes visible in its ranks. It is split into 
 two opposite camps, which fight against 
 each other, and continue to fight against 
 each other. Reconciliation is hopeless. 
 The elements of division spread and break 
 up the two great sections into minor oppos- 
 ing bands, until every trace of union has 
 disappeared. 
 
 It is clear such an army, however nu- 
 merous, however brave, however well- 
 armed and well-officered, can never reduce 
 the world under one sceptre ; actual divi- 
 sion makes that impossible. In like man- 
 ner, some new religion appears. It pan- 
 ders to men's prejudices, flatters men's 
 passions, professes to impose some sem- 
 blance of restraint, while it leaves them 
 comparatively free both as to faith and to 
 morals. It is easily made plausible through 
 the ingenious rhetoric of its propagandists ; 
 it quickly becomes popular with the multi- 
 tude ; it may make proselytes in thousands 
 in the hour of wild, unreasoning excite- 
 ment ; it may even bring some nations 
 under its sway for the time ; but having 
 within itself the elements of division, being 
 devoid of that union which constitutes at 
 once strength and individuality, having no 
 bond of cohesion to keep it together as 
 one united whole, it will be rent inevitably 
 into different sects before it gets half 
 across the world, and so will fail utterly to 
 reduce mankind under one symbol of faith. 
 Hence, no Church which has not an unfail- 
 ing, necessary principle of unity can ever 
 possibly have the potentiality or mark of 
 
 universality. Even granting it facilities 
 which can never be realized in practice, its 
 teaching can never, by any possibility, 
 spread universally. Remove all impedi- 
 ments, put away all opposition springing 
 from the blindness, obstinacy, malice, pas- 
 sions, or prejudices of men, let all the 
 nations of the earth be cheerfully willing 
 to listen to and to embrace its teaching, 
 let every circumstance of time and place 
 favor its apostolate ; and withal, it cannot 
 possibly ever have the mark of universal- 
 ity, since it does not possess the inborn 
 power from which universality springs. It 
 will teach one nation one set of doctrines, 
 and another nation their corresponding 
 contradictories ; or perhaps it will teach 
 one and the same nation a hundred dis- 
 tinctly different doctrines. 
 
 We have not far to go to find a practical 
 illustration of this. Look at the Church 
 of England, within the very shores from 
 which she takes her name. Can she be 
 said to have kept her members in the 
 same belief even in that very territory 
 within which she is dominant "i Certainly 
 not. In the very realm where the religion 
 she teaches is the established one, where 
 she is helped, subsidized, encouraged, 
 stimulated by the machinery of the 
 greatest civil power the sun ever shone 
 upon, she has not succeeded in keep- 
 ing her. members in the same creed, 
 except in the broad sense of a widespread, 
 universal, multiform antagonism to the 
 Church of Rome. She may indeed have 
 the mark of universality in that sense. 
 But to say that England ever did profess. 
 
84 
 
 INDIFFERENTJSM. 
 
 or is professing now, Protestantism as 
 one united, uniform creed, would be as 
 great an error as to assert that England, 
 France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Tur- 
 key, China, North and South America, 
 were united under one and the same 
 crowned head. 
 
 Those who profess her religion at the 
 present moment are not under her control, 
 either as to doctrines of faith or precepts 
 of morality. She is entirely under their 
 control. They circumscribe her boun- 
 daries, define her sphere, mark out her 
 work, sit in judgment upon her, frequently 
 take the punishment of clergymen into 
 their own hands, make decrees for the 
 regulation of her worship, and change 
 them at their pleasure. And as to foreign 
 operations for the propagation of the 
 Gospel, it is only when they furnish her 
 with ample means, and promise to hold 
 over her the strong arm of civil pro- 
 tection, that she will make any move 
 to preach her divided creed to the hea- 
 then. And then, just because her creed is 
 a divided one, her effort is an absolute 
 failure. 
 
 To this fact — the fact that in her are 
 found the elements of inevitable discord, 
 interminable contradiction, endless divi- 
 sion — her notorious want of success in 
 her attempts to evangelize the people of 
 pagan lands is to be ascribed. The 
 average pagan, though not deeply read, 
 though not skilled in close reasoning, has 
 nevertheless sense enough to perceive 
 that there cannot be much truth in a 
 religion in which there are so many 
 
 opposite opinions. Some of them, after 
 hearing contradictory expositions of faith 
 from the lips of those sectarian mission- 
 aries who sought to Christianize them, 
 have been heard to say that Christians 
 seemed to have as many different religions 
 as paganism had gods. " There is no 
 greater barrier," says Mr. Colledge, a 
 Protestant British official in China, "to 
 the spread of the Gospel of our Saviour 
 among the heathen than the division 
 and splitting which have taken place 
 among the various orders of Christians 
 themselves. Let us ask any intelligent 
 Chinese what he thinks of this, and 
 he will tell us that these persons can- 
 not be influenced by the same great 
 principle, but that Europe and America 
 must have as many Christs as China has 
 gods." 
 
 A Church which has not a bond of 
 unity proceeding from an unfailing princi- 
 ple of unity can never become universal. 
 A thing which has not permanent identity 
 can never possess the power or quality of 
 universal assimilation. 
 
 The Church of England has no bond of 
 unity, and therefore can never possibly 
 have that mark or capacity of universality 
 which is essential to the one true Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 The Church of Rome, as we have seen, 
 is the only one which possesses such a 
 bond of unity, and hence she alone can 
 ever possibly realize universality in prac- 
 tice. And as a matter of fact, as we shall 
 see later, she alone has ever practically 
 realized it. 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 85 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 This potentiality of universality must be 
 one that slumbers not : it must be ever 
 active and energizing. 
 
 Whichever Church is Christ's must be 
 one of which impartial history can testify, 
 that she has been striving actively and 
 energetically ever from her first beginnings 
 and throughout her whole career to prop- 
 agate her faith more and more widely 
 through pagan lands. Any Church which 
 has not exhibited at all times, when there 
 was any opportunity of doing so, this char- 
 acteristic of active zeal for the conversion of 
 the heathen, cannot have any claim to be 
 considered the one true Church of Christ. 
 If there ba any persons who have any 
 difficulty in granting this, a few words will 
 make the matter clear. 
 
 The sun cannot be in the heavens above 
 us without sending forth rays of light. 
 There may be an eclipse, there may be a 
 mist black as night, still, from the very 
 fact that he is in the sky, he must send 
 forth his beams, and those beams must 
 reach us, unless some accidental cause 
 darkens the medium through which they 
 are meant to be conveyed to us. 
 
 The Church was designed by Christ, her 
 Founder, to be the light of the world, and 
 to be the light of the world of every cen- 
 tury and of every generation. 
 
 He Himself who is the Eternal Sun of 
 Justice, and who styled Himself the Light 
 of the World, promised to be in her all 
 days, that she might be such. He meant 
 her light to shine upon the people of all 
 
 times and of all places. Consequently, His 
 desire to dispel the darkness of paganism 
 did not end with the death of His first 
 apostles. When He gave them the com- 
 mission to teach all nations. He foresaw 
 that the martyr's death would overtake 
 them before they had succeeded in making 
 His Gospel known to all nations. He 
 could not mean that as soon as the grave 
 had closed over their remains, His Church 
 was to cease entirely the work of propagat- 
 ing the faith, and was thenceforward to 
 make no further effort to make her light 
 shine in those regions which were still in 
 the darkness of idolatry and in the shadow 
 of death. We cannot hold that such was 
 His design without being forced to the con- 
 clusion that, while He had at heart the sal- 
 vation of those who lived in the days of 
 His first apostles, He had no concern as 
 to what became of the pagan nations of the 
 second, third, and fourth centuries, and of 
 every century to the end of time. 
 
 It is clear He meant her to continue 
 throughout all ages her efforts to evan- 
 gelize the nations — to spread her light 
 farther and farther over the earth ; else 
 she would fail to fulfil the end for which 
 He founded her. 
 
 It is clear also that if He promised to 
 be with His first apostles by a special 
 presence of His power and guidance, in 
 order to stimulate and help them to do 
 the work of propagating His faith every- 
 where, He meant that promised presence 
 to extend to their successors throughout 
 all generations ; for the simple reason, 
 that the dissipation of the darkness of 
 
S6 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 idolatry, and the replacing it by the light 
 of His Gospel, were works which would 
 be as dear to His Sacred Heart through- 
 out all time as they were on the memorable 
 day when He spoke the words — " Going, 
 teach all nations." 
 
 Since, then, Christ dwells permanently 
 in His Church — since He is the light of 
 the world, since He must have at all 
 times a constant, active, efficacious desire 
 that His light should illuminate the whole 
 earth, it follows that His church must be 
 one of which the unprejudiced historian 
 can relate that, during her whole career, 
 she, above all others, has manifested a 
 strong impulse — a necessarily active 
 desire to bring heathen nations within her 
 communion. 
 
 But which amongst all the churches 
 now existing can honestly claim from the 
 impartial records of the past this glorious 
 testimony ? 
 
 Can the Anglican Church, the Lutheran 
 Church, or the Calvinistic Church lay any 
 claim thereto } No. They did not begin 
 to exist till towards the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, and consequently could 
 not have evangelized the peoples of the 
 long centuries that had passed away 
 before they were born. And even for the 
 few years of their comparatively short 
 career, they cannot stand the application 
 of this test. For they had been a consid- 
 erable period in existence before they 
 showed any inclination at all to make the 
 light of their creed shine on the idolater. 
 
 Besides, this was not their scope. 
 Their sphere was meant to be purely 
 
 local. Their original framing excluded all 
 idea of organization for wide foreign 
 missionary enterprise — in fact, for mis- 
 sionary enterprise of any kind. They 
 were to be but a phase of the state in 
 which they were to subsist. They were 
 to be under State control, and conse- 
 quently were to partake of the nature of 
 the constitution whose established reli- 
 gion they were to be. And a religion 
 formed to suit the taste of some particular 
 nation is not likely ever to become a reli- 
 gion of universal adoption. A religion 
 that suits the government of one country 
 may not suit the government of another 
 country, and is certain not to suit the 
 government of every country. At all 
 events, being created and kept in life by 
 an act of Parliament, they could not make 
 any move to convert the heathen, unless 
 directed, encouraged, helped, subsidized 
 by the State whose dominant religion they 
 represented. And surely we cannot say 
 that Christ ever meant His Church,, 
 which He founded to evangelize all the na-^ 
 tions of the earth, to be directed in the 
 measure and exercise of her zeal for the 
 salvation of souls by the laws of any par- 
 ticular country, and to be guided in her 
 efforts for the propagation of the faith in 
 pagan lands according to the dictates of 
 any particular civil power. 
 
 That I am not making groundless 
 statements, or putting the thing in a 
 false light, will be evident from the fol- 
 lowing testimonies, which undoubtedly 
 cannot be said to be taken from prejudiced 
 sources. 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 87 
 
 Lord Macaulay, whose opposition to the 
 Catholic Church is sufficiently known to 
 make it certain that he does not say 
 anything in her praise except what he 
 believes to be true, draws a contrast 
 between her action and that of the 
 Reformed Churches in the seventeenth 
 and eighteenth centuries. In any case, 
 the truth of his statement is patent to all. 
 
 He says : " As the Catholics in zeal and 
 union had a great advantage over the 
 Protestants, so had they an infinitely 
 superior organization. In truth. Protes- 
 tantism, for aggressive purposes, had no 
 organization at all. The Reformed 
 Churches were mere national Churches. 
 The Church of England existed for Eng- 
 land alone. It was an institution as purely 
 local as the Court of Common Pleas, and 
 was utterly without machinery for foreign 
 operations. The Church of Scotland, in 
 like manner, existed for Scotland alone. 
 The operations of the Catholic Church 
 took in the whole world " (Essay on 
 Ranke's History of Popery). 
 
 A prominent Presbyterian clergyman 
 speaks in a similar tone in his review of 
 Marshall's well-known volumes entitled 
 Christian Missions. He even philoso- 
 phizes on the matter. " During the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries," he 
 says, " the Romish Church girdled the 
 globe with her missions, planting the cross 
 from beyond the wall of China to the 
 Peruvian Cordilleras. Nor is it to be 
 denied that her missionaries, in those 
 years, were men abounding in Christian 
 heroism and sacrifices. Of monetary 
 
 means she had not so much as any one of 
 our Protestant societies. But she had 
 what, alas ! we so often fail to get — abun- 
 dance of large-hearted men, ready to do 
 and suffer everything for the faith." He 
 continues: "This interesting inquiry" 
 (he means the singular success of Catholic 
 missions as contrasted with the evident 
 failure of Protestant missions) ." is one 
 which calls for deeper thought and greater 
 fairness than polemical divines have yet 
 allowed it ; for the student of history will 
 not be satisfied without some theory or 
 law adequate to account for the undeniable 
 fact, that hitherto the progress of Chris- 
 tianity among the heathen has been carried 
 on chiefly by Romanism, and only in a 
 slight manner as yet by a consistent and 
 scriptural Protestantism " {North British 
 Review, May, 1864). 
 
 In a very slight manner, indeed, if we 
 look to the results ; on a gigantic scale, 
 however, if we consider the enormous 
 sums of money that have been expended 
 by Protestant missionary societies, and the 
 millions of Bibles that have been exported 
 from England and America. 
 
 The feeble and fruitless efforts (though 
 numerous) which the Protestant Church 
 of late years has made do not tend to 
 strengthen her claim to the note of 
 universality. 
 
 However, during the last sixty or 
 seventy years, that Church, particularly in 
 England and America, has had an organ- 
 ization for carrying on missions in pagan 
 lands ; and if we are to look to the number 
 of its agents and the magnitude of its 
 
88 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 resources, a great organization it has 
 been. 
 
 Its emissaries, says Marshall in his 
 Christian Missions, are reckoned by 
 thousands and its revenues by millions. 
 "A single English society," we are told, 
 " consumes, in its home expenditure alone, 
 about forty thousand pounds annually, 
 before one native is converted, or even 
 sees a missionary. That is to say, nearly 
 one-fourth of the whole income of a 
 society, maintained for the purpose of 
 spreading the light of the Gospel in 
 heathen countries, is spent in England 
 before one preacher has embarked on his 
 mission " (vol. i., p. 3). It is stated that 
 during the present century England and 
 America alone, omitting Germany, 
 Switzerland, and all Protestant States of 
 modern Europe, had before the year 1862 
 expended in the work of missions, includ- 
 ing the distribution of Bibles and tracts, 
 at least forty millions sterling. 
 
 Do these facts give to Protestantism any 
 claim to that universality which is a mark 
 of the true Church } Do they go any 
 way towards proving that the Protestant 
 Church is identical with the one in which 
 there must be an ever-active impulse, an 
 ever efficacious zeal to evangelize heathen 
 nations .-* We shall show, and show it on 
 Protestant testimony, that they prove 
 exactly the contrary. 
 
 It is unfortunate for the claims of the 
 Protestant Church that she ever attempted 
 to give missions at all in pagan coun- 
 tries. It is a kind of work for which 
 she was never intended, and which, from 
 
 her very structure, was quite unnaturaK 
 to her. 
 
 Although the enormous sums of money, 
 contributed to swell her foreign missionary 
 funds, bespeak the generous liberality of 
 many of her religious-minded children, yet 
 the spirit of the missionaries she has sent 
 out, the way in which they have done their 
 work, and the slender results which that 
 work has produced, can only tend, in the 
 mind of all impartial observers, to remove 
 from her farther and farther all resem- 
 blance to the Church which was destined 
 to teach all nations through all time, and 
 to be forever the light of the world. 
 
 The signal failure of her missionary 
 efforts in all parts of the world (a failure 
 confessed to by members of her own 
 denomination) makes it clear to evidence 
 that she cannot be that Divine everlasting 
 institution to which was addressed the 
 world-wide commission : " Going, teach 
 all nations." With all her unlimited 
 resources and all her vast expenditure, 
 she has made but few converts ; and those 
 few, say the same Protestant witnesses, 
 have in most cases been distinguished by 
 becoming worse after their conversion than 
 they were before, and much worse than 
 their heathen compatriots. 
 
 While another Church, with hardly any 
 earthly resources — without help from the 
 hand of any civil power — without human 
 appliances of any kind — with nothing 
 except fearless apostolic courage and 
 burning zeal, has, during the same years 
 and in the very same spheres of labor, 
 made converts in multitudes, and has lifted 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 89 
 
 tnem up from the lowest depths of pagan 
 degradation to a life of practical virtue 
 which has made them an object of wonder 
 to all who have witnessed the change. 
 
 That I am not going out of the region 
 of facts, or making unwarrantable state- 
 ments, will be evident from testimonies I 
 now adduce, all of which are given by 
 Protestants or by members of various 
 non-Catholic denominations. They are 
 found in Marshall's book on Christian 
 Missions, vol. i., from page 9 to 15, with 
 abundant references. 
 
 GKi 
 
 ir\a. 
 
 "The attempts of Protestant bodies to 
 evangelize China," says Mr. Antony Grant, 
 author of the Bampton Lectures for 1843, 
 "have signally failed." 
 
 "Whoever asserts," added Mr. Win- 
 grove Cooke in 1858, "that the Protestant 
 missionaries are making sincere Chinese 
 Christians, must be either governed by 
 delusion or guilty of fraud." 
 
 Ir\clia. 
 
 Sir James Brooke, in 1858, speaking 
 before a meeting of the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel, said : " You 
 have made no progress at all either with 
 the Hindoo or the Mahometan ; you are 
 just where you were the very first day that 
 you went to India." 
 
 Mr. Clarkson, himself a missionary, 
 speaks in the same tone. "Every gate," 
 
 he says, " seems to have been shut, every 
 channel dammed up, by which Gospel 
 streams might force their way." 
 
 Mr. Irving goes further still, when speak- 
 ing of the nominal converts. He says, 
 and says it in accord with a hundred 
 Anglo-Indian witnesses, that "their lax 
 morality shocks the feelings of even theii 
 heathen fellow-countrymen." 
 
 Geylorv. 
 
 The Rev, W. Haward, a Wesleyan mis- 
 sionary, says: "The greater part of the 
 Singhalese, whom I designate nominal 
 Christians of the Reformed Religion, are 
 little more than Christians by baptism." 
 
 "Disappointment was felt in nearly 
 every department of the mission," says 
 Dr. Brown in 1854. 
 
 " All accounts agree in reporting unfa- 
 vorably," adds the Rev. Mr. Tupper in 
 1856. 
 
 Mr. Pridham goes further. He deplores, 
 in energetic language, that Christianity 
 has made but "leeway." 
 
 Ar\tipodes. 
 
 Of Australia, Dr. Lang reported in 1852: 
 "There is no well-authenticated case of 
 the conversion of a black native to Chris- 
 tianity." 
 
 Mr. Minturn added in 1858: "All mis- 
 sionary efforts among them failed." 
 
90 
 
 INDTFFERENTISM. 
 
 JJeW Zealand. 
 
 Mr. Fox declared in 1851 : "With 
 most of the natives Christianity is a mere 
 name, entirely inoperative in practice." 
 
 In 1859 Dr. Thomson still repeats that 
 it is only a rude mixture of paganism and 
 the cross. 
 
 Mr. Wakefield, who is confirmed by a 
 multitude of witnesses, adds the gloomy 
 statement that the converted natives are 
 distinctly inferior in point of moral char- 
 acter to the unconverted heathen. 
 
 Another Protestant authority attests the 
 Colonial verdict, that they are, generally 
 speaking, distinguished from the uncon- 
 verted as rogues, thieves, and liars. 
 
 Ocear\ica. 
 
 Of the Society Islands, a writer in the 
 Asiatic Journal reported as long ago as 
 1832 that "the presence of the mission- 
 aries has been productive of more mis- 
 chief than good." 
 
 Mr. Pridham announced, seventeen years 
 later, that they had only added a new 
 plague to the evils which they had come 
 to cure. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Hines, Mr. Herman 
 Melville, Commodore Wilkes, Chaplain 
 Laplace, all speak in the same tone. 
 
 Africa. 
 
 In Western Africa, Mr. Tracy reckons 
 eighteen Protestant missionary attempts. 
 
 without counting Sierra Leone and Goree, 
 all of which failed. 
 
 Mr. Duncan candidly declares of those 
 in Dahomey, that the education given by 
 the missionaries is only the means of 
 enabling them to become more perfect in 
 villainy. 
 
 Of the KaflSrs in South Africa, Major 
 Dundas reported in 1835 to the House of 
 Commons : " I believe the missionaries 
 have hardly Christianized a single individ- 
 ual." 
 
 Twenty-three years later, the Rev. Mr. 
 Calderwood declared once more : " The 
 Kaffirs may be said to have refused the 
 Gospel." 
 
 In North and East Africa it is not 
 even alleged that any converts have been 
 made. 
 
 The Lev^ar\t, Syria, arvd 
 /Irrrvenia. 
 
 Of the missionaries in the Levant, Sir 
 Adolphus Slade says in 1854, after many 
 years of personal observation : " Their 
 utter unprofitableness cannot be suffi- 
 ciently pointed out." 
 
 Of those in Greece, Dr. Hawes reports, 
 they "have felt themselves obliged for 
 the present to withdraw, in a great meas- 
 ure, from the field," — which means, as 
 we shall see, that they were expelled by 
 the people. 
 
 Of Jerusalem, Lord Castlereagh tells 
 us : " The Bishop has scarcely a congre- 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 91 
 
 gation besides his chaplains, his doctor, 
 and their families." 
 
 Dr. Southgate, an American Protestant 
 bishop, candidly admits that the only 
 Protestant converts, throughout Turkey 
 and the Levant, " are infidels and radicals 
 who deserve no sympathy from the Chris- 
 tian public." 
 
 And Dr. Wagner declares, after careful 
 examination, that the expensive establish- 
 ments in Armenia have made no con- 
 verts. 
 
 A 
 
 merica. 
 
 Finally, the learned author of The Nat- 
 ural History of Man warns his readers not 
 to venture upon any comparison between 
 the success of missions to the aboriginal 
 races of North and South America, 
 because their history reveals a contrast so 
 portentous that, as he frankly admits, it 
 must be allowed to cast a deep shade upon 
 the history of Protestantism. 
 
 If, then, it is clear that the Protestant 
 Church, before she began to give missions 
 to the heathen, could not possibly have 
 either the mark or the capacity of univer- 
 sality, that fact has become clearer now 
 that she has made the attempt. Indeed, 
 we might say that if there was nothing 
 else to prove that she is not the Church of 
 Christ, her uniform want of success in her 
 foreign missionary efforts would be quite 
 enough to prove it. The heathen nations, 
 even on Protestant testimony, have every- 
 where rejected her teaching ; and the few 
 individuals, who pretended to become her 
 
 disciples, have, on the same testimony, been 
 lower in the scale of morality than they 
 were before their apparent conversion. 
 
 Such, then, is her history. For about 
 two centuries and a half — that is, from her 
 institution till the beginning of this cen- 
 tury — she confined her zeal within those 
 dominions to which she owes her creation, 
 and to which she owes the continuance of 
 her life. During the whole of that long 
 period she manifested no compassion — 
 no consideration for the poor idolater. 
 She let him go his way, and left him to 
 perish helplessly in his darkness, without 
 making any attempt to stretch out to him 
 the hand of relief, although the constantly 
 increasing commerce of the great empire 
 which she represented gave her every facil- 
 ity for doing so. She remained satisfied 
 with her work at home, enjoyed her repose 
 with dignity, and went on sleeping the sleep 
 of undisturbed peace. Then, suddenly, in 
 the beginning, of this century (about the 
 year 1805), she awoke from her slumber, 
 shook off her drowsiness, became alive to 
 a sense of her culpable apathy, and seemed 
 anxious to make a great, a vigorous, a stu- 
 pendous effort for the propagation of the 
 faith — such an effort as would make 
 amends for long and grave neglect. Enor^ 
 mous sums of money for evangelizing pur 
 poses were produced ; missionaries were 
 sent out in thousands to pagan lands ; 
 millions of Bibles and numberless tracts 
 were distributed in pagan towns — Ihat is, 
 in pagan ports and all along the coasts. 
 Those publications were sown broadcast, 
 as the farmer sows his grain. They never 
 
92 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 took root however. The soil proved most 
 ungrateful. And what has been the 
 result } To-day her hands are as empty of 
 fru't as if she had never advanced a step 
 in the direction of foreign missionary 
 enterprise, or as if the idolater had never 
 seen a single leaf of a Bible or tract in his 
 life. 
 
 It is evident, then, that neither past nor 
 contemporary history can bear testimony 
 that she has been throughout her career 
 the evangelizing Church of the nations. 
 
 But now comes the question : Can the 
 Greek schismatical churches claim this 
 testimony } No. They have never pre- 
 tended or professed to be missionary 
 churches at all. They are mere national 
 churches — purely local institutions like 
 the Church of England ; but, unlike the 
 Church of England, they have made no 
 attempt even in this nineteenth century to 
 convert the heathen. 
 
 As to the Greek-Russian Church, Mar- 
 shall, speaking of it, says : " It not only 
 fails to convert the heathen tribes subject 
 to the empire, but does not always even 
 wish to do so, • It suits," they say, " the 
 secular policy of the Czar to leave them to 
 their idols." "The clergy of Russia, as 
 Tourgeneff, Haxthausen, and others relate, 
 have no disposition for such labors: the 
 State, as Theiner, Dr. Moritz Wagner, 
 and many more have shown, forbids others 
 to supply the defect. Every Catholic 
 priest, says Dr. Wagner, who attempts to 
 convert an idolater is threatened with 
 transportation to Siberia " ( Christian 
 Missions, vol. i., p. i.). 
 
 Hence the Greek schismatical Churches 
 do not and cannot ask to claim from his- 
 tory the testimony that they have been 
 striving assiduously throughout their 
 course, to make the light of Christianity 
 shine in heathen lands. 
 
 One Church, and one Church alone, can 
 claim this glorious testimony. 
 
 Need I say it is the Church of Rome } a 
 
 Ske has been the great evangelist of the 
 nations throughout all time since the days 
 of the apostles : and, as we shall see 
 presently, she is the only successful evan- 
 gelizing church of the present generation. 
 
 As to the past, we need not dwell long 
 in claiming for her a glory which even her 
 bitterest enemies do not attempt to with- 
 hold from her. If it be asked, who gave 
 to England that Christianity whose form 
 was changed and mutilated at the Refor- 
 mation, Venerable Bede answers the ques- 
 tion to the satisfaction of all. Speaking 
 of England's conversion, he says : " And 
 whereas he (Pope Gregory) bore the pon- 
 tifical power all over the world, and was 
 placed over the churches already reduced 
 to the faith, he made our nation, till then 
 given up to idols, the Church of Christ." 
 
 Who gave to Germany the religion 
 which she abolished in the revolt of Luther.^ 
 Do not all impartial records show it came 
 from missionaries who had with them 
 the approval, the credentials, and the 
 blessing of the Roman Pontiff } ' 
 
 Dr. Milman, some years ago Dean of St. 
 Paul's, in his History of Latin Christianity ^ 
 after showing that one nation after another 
 received the gospel through the voice of the 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 93 
 
 Church or Rome, adds : "All these con- 
 quests of Christianity were in a certain 
 sense the conquests of the Roman See. 
 . . . , Reverence for Rome penetra- 
 ted with the Gospel to the remotest parts. 
 Germany was converted to Latin Chris- 
 tianity Rome was the source, the centre, 
 the regulating authority recognized by 
 the English apostles to the Teutons. The 
 clergy were constantly visiting Rome as 
 the religious capital of the world . . . 
 and bishops from the remotest parts of the 
 empire, and of regions never penetrated 
 by the Roman arms, looked to Rome as 
 the parent of their faith — if not to an 
 infallible authority, at least to the highest 
 authority in Christendom." 
 
 Colonel Mitchell, in his Life of Wallen- 
 stein, says: "Deep and indelible is the 
 debt which religion and civilization owe to 
 the early Roman Pontiffs and to the 
 Church of Rome. They strove long and 
 nobly to forward the cause of human 
 improvement, and it is difficult to say what 
 other poaer could have exercised so bene- 
 ficial an influence over the fierce and fiery 
 nations which established themselves on 
 the ruins of the Roman empire, after root- 
 ing out all that remained of ancient art 
 and ancient knowledge. Nor were their 
 efforts confined within those territorial 
 limits Monks and missionaries, disre- 
 garding personal danger, penetrated into 
 the forests of Germany and into the 
 distant regions of the North, and, unap- 
 palled by the deaths of torture to which so 
 many holy men had fallen victims, preached 
 to the heathe»' and barbarian the mild 
 
 doctrines of Christianity, which only 
 sprung up in Europe watered by the blood 
 of saints and martyrs. Even the efforts 
 of the Church to interpose its spiritual 
 power in the direction of temporal matters, 
 and to control the conduct of kings and 
 princes, were beneficial in an age when the 
 clergy alone possessed whatever learning 
 was extant ; and the uniformity of belief 
 which rendered all the Western Churches 
 dependent on the Pope, an authority so 
 greatly enlightened, when contrasted with 
 the general darkness of times, became a 
 principal cause of the progress and pros- 
 perity of the Catholic world." 
 
 Such the testimonies of Protestant 
 writers. 
 
 Who brought the light of the faith to 
 France and made her a Catholic nation ? 
 — Missionaries who came in the name, 
 and with the authority and benediction, of 
 the See of Rome. 
 
 Who evangelized Spain ^ Who brought 
 to Austria and her tributaries the faith 
 she now possesses } Who led Ireland and 
 Scotland to a knowledge of the true 
 Gospel .•• Who gave to the various nations 
 of the East that religion (I mean orthodox 
 religion) which they professed ?r all its 
 completeness and integrity, till schism 
 rent them from the parent stock .? — Either 
 the first apostles who recognized Peter as 
 their head, or their successors who recog- 
 nized Peter's See — the See of Rome —as 
 the head of all the Churches, and pro- 
 claimed union with that See to be a n^^ces- 
 sary qualification for membership ii» the 
 one true fold of Christ. 
 
94 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 Go through all the countries of Europe, 
 of Asia, of Africa that ever professed the 
 Christian religion in its completeness and 
 perfectness, trace their Christianity to its 
 source, and you will find that source to be 
 none other than the energizing power — 
 the necessary active, unfailing impulse to 
 evangelize — which is ever found in the 
 Church of which Peter's successor is the 
 visible head. 
 
 All impartial records of the past 
 agree in stating the undeniable fact, that, 
 from the days of the apostles down to the 
 present time, the Church of Rome has 
 been constantly, untiringly exerting her 
 power to bring idolatrous nations under 
 the sway of the Gospel of Christ. There 
 is no other Church of which this can be 
 said. She alone, amongst all the religious 
 bodies which now exist, has manifested 
 throughout her career that sacred energy 
 — that holy, earnest, necessarily active 
 zeal for the conversion of the heathen and 
 the heretic which must ever characterize 
 the Church in which dwells the Saviour of 
 souls, who founded her as much for the 
 salvation of the people of the nineteenth 
 century, and of every century to the day 
 of doom, as for the salvation of the people 
 who lived in the age which witnessed her 
 institution. 
 
 Now let us place her side by side with 
 those sects, which have in this century 
 affected to surpass her in zeal for the 
 propagation of the faith, and have tried to 
 wrench from her her title of Universal 
 Teacher. Have they succeeded .? — No. 
 They cannot dispute her exclusive claim 
 
 to that title for the pre-Reformation 
 period ; nor can they dispute that she 
 alone was the apostle of pagan countries 
 during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. During those two centuries, 
 while Protestantism in England and on 
 the Continent was being divided into 
 endless sects, which were battling with 
 one another continually — 'while their 
 respective leaders were excommunicating 
 each other with implacable acrimony, the 
 Church of Rome, as Dr. Hanna observes, 
 was girdling the globe with her missions. 
 While no schismatical or heretical herald 
 of the Gospel had, as yet, set out from 
 Europe for any barbarous land, her apostles 
 were already preaching " in labor and 
 painfulness, in many watchings, in hunger 
 and thirst, in many fastings," and were 
 reaping an abundant harvest in China, 
 Japan, India, Africa, Paraguay — every- 
 where. This our opponents cannot deny. 
 
 Till the eighteenth century, then, she 
 continued to be the sole Teacher of hea- 
 thendom. Has she lost her claim to that 
 title in this the nineteenth century } 
 Have her rivals uncrowned her.' Have 
 the sects supplanted her } Have they done 
 any work of zeal in heathen lands which 
 she has not done on a larger scale and 
 immeasurably better .-' Has the character 
 of their zeal transcended hers ? Have 
 they gone far away from the large centres 
 of population, penetrated into the outlying 
 and remote districts of the savages, and 
 shown themselves unselfish in enduring 
 hunger, thirst, and cold and heat ; while 
 hers have enjoyed a dignified repose in 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 95 
 
 some comfortable dwelling situated in an 
 eligible quarter of the large city ? Have 
 they, in times of persecution, shed their 
 blood profusely, and given up their lives 
 generously and courageously ; while hers, 
 lil<e cowards, ran away at the first appear- 
 ance of danger? Have they done more 
 for the education of the savage hordes 
 than she has done ? Have they produced 
 more abundant fruits ? Have they made 
 more converts ? And have their converts 
 been remarkable for practical faith, firm- 
 ness in trial, intense fervor, earnest 
 devotion, heroic constancy ; while hers 
 have been distinguished by their coldness, 
 carelessness, apathy, fickleness, gross 
 immorality ? 
 
 Impartial witnesses shall give the 
 answer, and their answer will show that, 
 while for eighteen hundred years the 
 Church of Rome alone possessed, and 
 alone could claim, the title of Church of 
 the Universe — yet never has that title 
 shone out so conspicuously, appeared in 
 such striking light, as in the present 
 century, in which the sects have worked 
 by her side in the same fields of labor, 
 and, in spite of all the help human 
 resources could give, have failed utterly 
 everywhere ; whereas she has prospered 
 to a degree which can only be explained 
 by help from on high, by special aid from 
 the hand of Him whose blessing is with 
 those whom He Himself has chosen, and 
 not with those who have tried to intrude 
 themselves into His fold. 
 
 It is a common saying that things look 
 brighter by contrast. Never has there 
 
 been a contrast more striking than that 
 presented by the marvellous fruits which 
 have followed the efforts made by the 
 missionaries of the Catholic Church when 
 compared with the uniform barrenness 
 which has ever attended the labors of her 
 antagonists. It looks, says Mr. Marshall, 
 as if Almighty God, in His wise provi- 
 dence, meant to take all controversy 
 between the Church and the sects entirely 
 out of human hands into His ozvn, and to 
 decide the matter Himself by applying 
 His own Supreme test — "By their fi-uits 
 you shall know them." 
 
 Here are accounts from Protestant 
 sources — at all events, non-Catholic 
 sources : — 
 
 China. — "The number of conversions 
 effected by Protestants," says Mr. Haus- 
 mann, who dedicates his book to Mr. 
 Guizot, and seems to profess an equal 
 indifference to all sorts of religion, "is 
 perfectly insignificant when compared with 
 those effected by Catholics." 
 
 " The religion of Catholics," says Baron 
 Von Haxthausen, "extends itself more 
 and more in the north of the empire ; and 
 even in Pekin itself their number is said 
 to exceed forty thousand." 
 
 Mr. Montgomery Martin, a warm- 
 hearted opponent of the Catholic religion, 
 observes — " Perhaps there are not more 
 than twenty or thirty Christian Chinese, 
 while Catholicism numbers its tens and 
 hundreds of thousands." 
 
 " It is superfluous," writes Mr. Osmund 
 Tiffany, with reference to his Protestant 
 companions, "to say aught of nxissionary 
 
96 
 
 INDIFFERENTIi^M. 
 
 labors, simply because these have little or 
 no importance." 
 
 " Great progress has been silently made," 
 says Sir Oscar Oliphant, in 1857 (though he 
 does not so much as allude to the Protestant 
 attempts), " and continues to be made." 
 
 " There is something inexplicable," says 
 the Rev. Howard Malcolm, ** in the steril- 
 ity of the Protestant missions ; for the 
 Catholic missionaries, with very limited 
 resources, have made a great many prose- 
 lytes, their worship has become popular, and 
 everywhere excites the attention of the 
 public." 
 
 " Little has been done," says another, 
 " by missionaries in China except printing 
 books." 
 
 "The Protestants," observes Mr. Leitch 
 Ritchie, " have as yet confined their efforts 
 to the distribution of books along the sea- 
 coast ; the result not being in the mean- 
 time of any obvious importance." 
 
 " We have no proof," adds a candid 
 American missionary, " that the thousands 
 of books thrown among the people have 
 converted a single individual." 
 
 " The activity of the missionaries of the 
 Romish Church in China," says Sir John 
 Davis, "has no rival as to numbers or 
 enterprise." 
 
 " For many a long, toilsome year," says 
 the Secretary of a London Missionary 
 Society, in 1855, "has the Christian 
 missionary been laboring for this people, 
 . . . unblessed with the knowledge of 
 any successful issues of his labor" 
 (Marshall, Christian Missions, vol. i., chap. 
 U., pp. 286-8). 
 
 Mr. Marshall, alluding to the praisel 
 given by Protestant testimony to the zeal] 
 of Catholic missions, says : " Dur 
 half a century Protestant writers, filled] 
 with the same involuntary admiration] 
 which the pagans had often manifested] 
 with greater energy, have not ceased 
 celebrate the courage, devotion, anc 
 charity of the Catholic missionaries in] 
 China. From Ricci to the latest martyr 
 who gained his crown only yesterday, theyj 
 have recognized, without understanding,] 
 the same tokens of a supernatural calling.) 
 Even Morrison was constantly c >mpariugi 
 them with himself, though apparently! 
 without deriving instruction from the! 
 contrast." 
 
 Speaking of the Catholic missionatyJ 
 Morrison says : " He is willing to sacrifice! 
 himself : he offers himself up to God." 
 
 " They will be equalled by few andj 
 rarely excelled by any/' is the joint con- 
 fession of Mr, Milne and Mr. MedhurstJ 
 " for they spared not their lives untol 
 death, but overcame by the blood of the| 
 Lamb." 
 
 " That they were holy and devoted| 
 men," says Mr, Malcolm, " is proved by| 
 their pure lives and serene martyrdom. 
 
 " They appear to me," observes Mr.] 
 Power, " to surpass any men I ever met 
 with, they were so forgetful of self, so full] 
 of pity and compassion for others." 
 
 " Their self-denying hard labor is truly| 
 wonderful," says Mr. D'Ewes. 
 
 " It is a pity that all missionaries are| 
 not equally self-sacrificing," adds Mr; 
 Scarth. 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 97 
 
 * We cannot refuse them our respect," 
 say Colonel Mountain. 
 
 " They regard neither difficulties nor 
 discouragemenls," writes Mr. Sirr. 
 
 " I cannot refrain," exclaims Mr, 
 Robertson, "from admiring the heroism, 
 the devotedness, and superiority of the 
 Catholic missionaries." 
 
 "On the other hand," continues Mr, 
 Marshall, "the same impartial witnesses 
 who had seen them at their work, speak 
 only with sorrow and disgust of the 
 Protestant missionaries in China, in spite 
 of active sympathy with their religious 
 opinions.^ Morrison, they tell us, never 
 ventured out of his house, preached only 
 with the doors securely locked, gave 
 books with such precaution that it could 
 not be traced to him, and only ventured 
 on operations which were not of a dazzling 
 or heroic order. Milne found preaching 
 the Gospel in China difficult and ran 
 away. Gulzlaff made his fortune, and 
 then ceased to call himself a missionary. 
 Medhurst could only repeat : ' Why are 
 we not successful in conversions ? ' 
 Tomlin abandoned the work to the Pope, 
 Mahomet, and Brahm .. Smith was 
 content to revile the men whom he dared 
 not imitate, to fling Bibles on dry banks, 
 and to provoke the scornful rebukes of his 
 own flock. The rest listened to far-off 
 tidings of what was happening in the 
 interior ; or drank wine and played cards 
 
 ^ I am aware that some unselfish and generous-hearted 
 
 clergyman of non-Catholic denominations have gone on a 
 
 mission of zeal to foreign lands to try to convert the heathen. 
 
 The testimonies, however, which I have cited, and cited 
 
 ^entirely from non-Catholic sources, refer to the great 
 
 ulk uf sectarian missionaries. 
 
 on Sunday ; or refused to visit the sick in 
 the hospitals ; or accepted a skulking and 
 precarious sojourn in obscurity and 
 disguise." 
 
 Such is the Protestant account of them. 
 
 " They surround themselves with com- 
 forts," says Mr. Power, " squabble for the 
 best house, higgle for wares, and provoke 
 contempt by a lazy life." 
 
 " We are grieved to the heart's core," 
 writes Mr. Sirr, " to see so many of the 
 Protestant missionaries occupy their time 
 in secular pursuits, trading and traffick- 
 ing." 
 
 Mr. Marshall continues : "The converts, 
 as we have seen, of whom a million 
 belong to the church, and five, by a san- 
 guine estimate, to the sects, display the 
 same difference of character as their 
 teachers. What the Catholic Chinese 
 were, from the i6th to the 19th century, 
 we know ; wliat they have been since 
 1805, hostile witnesses have told us. In 
 spite of torments, never exceeded in dura- 
 tion and intensity, more than half a mil- 
 lion have been added to the church since 
 Timkowski visited Pekin and found that 
 many thousand persons had embraced 
 Christianity, even among the members of 
 the Imperial family ; and that the Presi- 
 dent of the Criminal Tribunal in that city 
 was obliged to relax his severity, because 
 nearly all his relations and servants were 
 Christians. And so exactly have these 
 Chinese neophytes, in every province of 
 the empire, resembled the primitive 
 disciples, that even the Mandarins have 
 been forced to confess from their judg- 
 
93 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 ment-seats, in presence of so much virtue 
 and heroism : ' Truly, this Christian reli- 
 gion is a good religion.' " 
 
 Mr. Marshall proceeds : " The rare 
 Protestant converts, on the other hand, 
 the scum of a Chinese seaport, dishonest 
 pensioners of an immoral bounty, who at 
 one time run off with the communion 
 plate, at another with cases of type or 
 whatever else they can lay their hands 
 upon, have been everywhere of such a 
 class, that, in the words of a candid wit- 
 ness, anxiety to obtain them has been 
 converted into anxiety about those who 
 were obtained. And even the teachers 
 and catechists employed by English or 
 American missionaries, brutalized by 
 opium, and quite as willing, as Dr. Bern- 
 castle says, to teach Buddhism as 
 Anglicanism or Methodism, for the same 
 wages, only accept Protestant baptism as 
 a condition of their employment, and 
 appreciate it so warmly that their whole 
 care thenceforth is to prevent others from 
 sharing the baptism with them, lest they 
 should share the wages also " ( Marshall, 
 Christian Missions, vol. iii., pp. 409-14). 
 
 Let the impartial Christian look these 
 facts in the face : let him view them in the 
 light of faith : let him ponder on them 
 with unbiassed mind, and he will have no 
 difficulty in deciding which class of mis- 
 sionaries has the stronger claim to be 
 considered the apostles of the Church, 
 which was destined in the designs of the 
 Most High to be the Teacher of the 
 nations. If he looks at the Catholic mis- 
 sionary and the sectarian missionary in 
 
 the field of labor, if he observes the char- 
 acter of their zeal, their daily life, their 
 domestic relations, their method of work, 
 their surroundings, the difference of their 
 condition as to human help and national 
 patronage, their different attitude in the 
 face of danger ; if he will only weigh all 
 this seriously, then, quite independently of 
 the relative results of their labors alluded 
 to above, he will find it easy to answer to 
 himself the following questions : — 
 
 Which church is making those efforts to 
 convert the heathen, which an unprejudiced 
 conscience will say look most like the efforts 
 that ought to be made by a church in which 
 the Redeemer of the world is ever dwelling ? 
 
 Whose work in spreading the faith has 
 most appearance of the impress of the 
 Holy Ghost upon it .? 
 
 Which church can, with most show of 
 reason, claim to be the one which is still 
 fulfilling the great commission — "Teach 
 all nations " } Is it the one which, not 
 merely throughout all the past, but even 
 in the present generation, can count num- 
 bers of heroic men who have shed their 
 blood and given away their life in their 
 glorious efforts to evangelize the pagan 
 world .'' Or, is it one which neither at 
 the present time nor at any time in a 
 history of three hundred years can hardly 
 point to an individual who died the mar- 
 tyr's death or risked life in the most 
 distant way, in proof of the earnestness of 
 a desire to bring the blessings of Chris^ 
 tianity to the home of the idolater .? 
 
 Which of the two missionaries is the 
 more likely to win to Christ the idolaters 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 99 
 
 ©f China or the Indians of America ? Is 
 it the man who, at the expense of all 
 earthly comforts, at the risk of health, and 
 even of life, searches them out in their 
 native forests and mountains, who lives on 
 the same fare, lodges in their cabins, 
 observes their manners and customs, who 
 trains them in the habits of industry, 
 cleanliness, self-respect, who instructs and 
 preaches to them, in their remotest wil- 
 dernesses, who prays with them, sympa 
 thizes with them, shares their joys and 
 sorrows, uses every available means to 
 humanize, civilize, and Christianize them ? 
 Or is it the man who seldom, if ever, goes 
 beyond the walls of the city where waves 
 the flag of the nation whose national 
 Church he represents, and who, if he does 
 make an advance into some outlying dis- 
 trict, will not move an inch except as far 
 as there are guns and bayonets to protect 
 him ? 
 
 Which of the two missionaries reflects 
 more perfectly the apostle of Christ ? Is 
 it the missionary who, having vowed per- 
 petual chastity, free from all domestic ties, 
 untrammelled by earthly obligations of any 
 kind, detached from all the goods of life, 
 leaving behind him the friends nearest and 
 dearest to his heart, sets out gaily and joy- 
 fully to bear the light of the Gospel to the 
 heathen ? Or is it the married missionary 
 whose slow movements are made slower 
 still by the encumbrance of a wife and fam- 
 ily ? Is it likely that the man who is thus 
 hampered by matrimonial and family ties 
 will have any inclination to risk his life in 
 propagating the Gospel, while he shrinks 
 
 from making his wife a widow and his chil- 
 dren orphans ? Will he care to leave his 
 comfortable home in the large city and to 
 spend months and years catechizing and 
 instructing the heathens of the interior in 
 their remote and savage solitudes ? No. 
 Such sacrifices need not be expected. His 
 desire to multiply the members of Christ's 
 fold, and to bring the light of the Gospel 
 to the savage tribes of heathendom, is sure 
 to yield to his attachment to domestic hap- 
 piness, to wife, to children, aid above all, 
 to anxiety for the safety of his own life. 
 
 The efforts of missionaries of this kind 
 are not likely to prove successful in 
 extending the sway of the Gospel in those 
 regions which are outside the pale of 
 Christianity. Heathen populations will 
 never be converted by the mere distribu- 
 tion of Bibles and tracts. The thing has 
 been tried, and tried on a gigantic scale, for 
 over seventy years, and has resulted not 
 merely in hopeless failure, but in having 
 the Scriptures profaned wherever this indis- 
 criminate scattering has taken place. It is 
 well known that those huge piles of Bibles 
 which are exported from England and 
 America scarcely ever get beyond the city 
 to whose harbor they are shipped. It is 
 well known, too, that in the city itself 
 which has the privilege of receiving such 
 cargo, the profane uses to which they are 
 applied by the pagans, for whose conver- 
 sion they were intended, have shocked the 
 men who had to perform the ungrateful 
 task of superintending their distribution. 
 Wadding for guns, parcel-paper for tea, 
 sugar, and other groceries, are some of the 
 
 to 
 
IC» 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 many disrespectful purposes to which 
 these publications are devoted by the very 
 people for whose enlightenment they were 
 translated, printed, exported, and scattered 
 through the large towns and along the sea- 
 coast. Besides, the great bulk of the popu- 
 lation for which they are meant never see 
 them. The savages in the mountains and 
 forests, and in the villages far away in the 
 interior, are not aware of the liberal dis- 
 tribution which takes place in the large 
 cities and along the seaboard. And even 
 if they were aware of it, it is not probable 
 they would travel so far to get a book of 
 which they have never heard a word and 
 cannot know the value. And the zeal of 
 those whose ostensible duty it is to 
 enlighten the savage hordes never leads 
 them to encounter danger by travelling a 
 thousand miles into the remote districts, 
 for the purpose of distributing those copies 
 of the Written Word personally. 
 
 More than this, a large proportion of 
 the persons who are fortunate enough to 
 receive a copy of the Bible cannot read, 
 and of those who can read, not one in a 
 thousand can understand the meaning. 
 There is no preaching accompaniment to 
 supply explanation. The preaching is 
 often carried on in the presence of a few 
 individuals, and with locked doors. The 
 tracts, which are meant to be a key to the 
 Inspired Word, are applied to ignominious 
 purposes similar to those to which the 
 Bible itself is devoted. But even if they 
 were applied to the uses for which they are 
 designed by their distributors, they would 
 not produce the desired effect, since in 
 
 most cases they are more obscure than 
 the thing they propose to elucidate. 
 
 Now, if the faith is to come by hearing, 
 pagan populations will never have it 
 through teaching of this kind. When 
 Bibles and tracts are thrown upon them in 
 showers, and left to be picked up or to 
 remain on the ground at random, what 
 can be expected } Is the speedy conver- 
 sion of multitudes of savages likely to be 
 the result } Can we picture to ourselves 
 Peter, John, Paul, and the other apostles, 
 striving to convert the Gentiles by any 
 such process .' We do not read that the 
 apostles distributed any writings at all. 
 Ana if these first heralds of the faith 
 appeared on earth now, could we imagine 
 them living a life of ease and indolence in 
 a comfortable, well-furnished residence in 
 the large city, and contenting themselves 
 with sowing broadcast copies of the 
 Scriptures and explanatory tracts, and 
 with doing this only in places where they 
 could afford to do it without any risk of 
 health or of life "i 
 
 Had they or their successors followed 
 such a method, no pagan nation would 
 ever have been converted to the faith. 
 And, what is more, had Christ meant this 
 to be the way in which heathen tribes 
 were to be won to His Gospel, He surely 
 would have arranged in His wise provi- 
 dence that the art of printing should be 
 discovered thirteen hundred years earlier ; 
 or, at all events, that at least half of those 
 who became members of His Church 
 should have hardly any occupation 
 throughout life except that of transcribing 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 lOI 
 
 Bibles And tracts for the conversion of 
 these who were still in the darkness of 
 idolatry. 
 
 Hence, I repeat, that if there were 
 nothing else to prove that the sects have 
 nothing in common, either singly, or col- 
 lectively, with the Universal Church of 
 Christ, their method of propagating the 
 Gospel among the heathen and their total 
 failure everywhere would be abundantly 
 sufficient. To be convinced that such a 
 method was inadequate to the end to be 
 attained, it was not necessary to know the 
 consequent universal failure. Any ob- 
 server, of even ordinary penetration, 
 would have pronounced such failure a 
 foregone conclusion. The effort, however, 
 which they have made — and made on 
 such a gigantic scale, and under such favor- 
 able circumstances, with millions of money 
 at their command, and all the resources of 
 human influence, and all the help great 
 civil power could give — has only served 
 to bring out into stronger relief the truth 
 that the mere " wide " circulation of Bibles 
 and tracts can never bring the heathen 
 population under the sway of Christianity. 
 
 But apart from this, even if the sects 
 had found the pagans cheerfully willing to 
 accept their Bibles and to accept their 
 creed, and had converted them and 
 received them into their respective folds, 
 they would not have advanced one iota 
 towards establishing a claim to the mark 
 of universality. For, in such a supposition, 
 they would have formed them, not into one 
 universal, undivided church, but into as 
 many churches as equalled the number of 
 
 opposite religions which they themselves 
 represented, — and that number was 
 legion. 
 
 Sectarian missionaries may preach to 
 the heathen, and may distribute Bibles in 
 millions to them " every year," to the day 
 of doom, and withal, their divided creed 
 can never possibly become Universal, — > 
 for the simple reason that // is a divided 
 creed. A Church which has no bond of 
 unity can never multiply in its original 
 form, and therefore can never have the 
 note of universality. A thing which has 
 no permanent identity can never possess 
 the quality of universal assimilation. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 I have said that never did the claim of 
 the Catholic Church, to be the sole author 
 ized evangelist of the nations, appear in 
 clearer light than in this century, which 
 has seen the contrast in heathen lands 
 between her missions and those given by 
 her rivals. The thousands, and tens of thou 
 ands, of conversions which she has wrought 
 in China, in North and South America, 
 in Africa, and elsewhere, have proclaimed 
 her to -be the Mother of unfailing fruit- 
 fulness ; while the sects have been stricken , 
 everywhere with perpetual sterility. 
 
 But the title of " Catholic," or " Church 
 of the World," has been vindicated nearer 
 home, and not long ago. It has been the 
 privilege of this generation to witness the 
 most striking manifestation of her univer- 
 sality that the world has ever seen. Noth- 
 ing else could have shown so clearly that 
 
lOl 
 
 JNDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 only the limits of the world can bound her 
 zeal ; that nothing but the confines of the 
 earth can limit her power of expansion ; 
 that she alone has the right to be styled 
 the Church of the Universe. I allude to 
 the late CEcumenical Council of the Vat- 
 ican. It would look as if God, in His wise 
 Providence, had reserved this world-wide 
 vindication of her claim for this particular 
 epoch, when the sects have affected to 
 despoil her of it, or to share it with her. 
 We shall not undertake to describe this 
 magnificent scene ourselves ; we shall 
 leave the description of it to those outside 
 the fold, who cannot help expressing 
 their involuntary admiration of it. 
 
 The hall of assemblage, the number of 
 prelates, the mitred heads, the distant 
 climes from which many of them came, 
 the different tongues they spoke, the 
 antiquity of the heritage they represented, 
 the power of the unbroken unity that had 
 brought them together, their submissive 
 attitude in the presence of the Common 
 Father — the Supreme Pontiff, their unani- 
 mous submission to his decree ; all this 
 was sketched in eloquent and graphic 
 language by the correspondents of several 
 of the great daily papers of London who 
 were in Rome at the time. 
 
 The Standard^ alluding to it, says : 
 " In historic importance, in traditional dig- 
 nity, in the splendor of associations that 
 gather round its name, no assembly in the 
 world, past or present, can pretend to com- 
 pare with the great parliament of the Latin 
 Church. The unbroken continuity of the 
 history of that Church, its undeniable and 
 
 uninterrupted descent from the Church 
 founded by the apostles, renders this Coun- 
 cil .. . the immediate successor and 
 representative, in a sense in which no other 
 council can rival its claims, of the Council 
 of Nicea, if not of the Council of Jerusalem. 
 Nor is its actual power and consequence 
 unworthy of its traditional heritage. It is 
 the representative assembly, the omnipo- 
 tent legislature, of a compact, coherent 
 body of Christians, whose number ap 
 proaches more nearly to two than to one 
 hundred millions." After referring to the 
 attempts made to hinder the Council, the 
 correspondent adds : " Nevertheless, all 
 has been in vain, and the dispassionate 
 observer is compelled to confess that the 
 spectacle of so many hundreds of bishops, 
 coming from the farthest quarters of the 
 globe at the beck of an old man, powerless 
 in all but spiritual thunderbolts, is one 
 that, occurring in the nineteenth century, 
 and especially at this period of it, is cal- 
 culated to strike the believing with pious 
 admiration, and even the incredulous, like 
 ourselves, with irrepressible astonishment." 
 The Daily News says : " It must be 
 admitted that, weak as is the temporal 
 power of the Pope, no other prince could 
 have assembled such a body as met to-day 
 in the council hall of St. Peter, and no 
 other could have provided them with such 
 a magnificent temple. From the remotest 
 quarters of the globe, from a land that 
 was just heard of when the Council of 
 Trent sat, from a land that was then 
 wholly unknown, from Palestine and Syria, 
 the cradles of Christianity, from Persia, 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 103 
 
 from China, from India, from Africa, from 
 the Western Isles, as well as from the 
 countries washed by the Mediterranean, 
 men of various tongues, of diverse origin, 
 men of great learning and great age, have 
 come together to this famous city in obe- 
 dience, voluntary and spiritual obedience, 
 to the pastor who claims to be the succes- 
 sor of St. Peter, and the vicegerent of 
 God upon earth." 
 
 Such is the testimony even of those 
 who were not of her fold. Well, indeed, 
 might it be said that that scene was one 
 which was calculated to inspire the believ- 
 ing with "pious admiration, 'and even the 
 incredulous with irrepressible astonish- 
 ment." For what other Christian denomi- 
 nation in the world could reveal to the 
 eyes of man a representation of universal- 
 ity, or rather a representation of universal 
 unity, to compare with that which forced 
 these words of glowing eulogium from the 
 pen of hostile writers.' The extension 
 and duration of even the oldest and most 
 widely-spread of other Churches dwindle 
 into absolute insignificance when viewed 
 side by side with the prestige, the venera- 
 ble antiquity, universal diffusion, limitless 
 dominion, of the Church of Rome. No 
 sectarian Church within the British Isles or 
 beyond them can lay any claim to uniform 
 universality in the face of this overpower- 
 ing, unanswerable fact — a fact which no 
 amount of sophistry can explain away — 
 the fact of a world-wide diffusion of a 
 Church, which is the same everywhere 
 from sunrise to sunset, and whose identity 
 with the Church of the apostles is clearly 
 
 traceable through all the ctnturies that 
 have intervened between their day and our 
 own. This fact alone, in the judgment of 
 all calm, impartial, reasonable, sincere 
 inquirers, ought to be sufficient to show 
 that in her alone has been realized that 
 undivided luminous universality which 
 must ever distinguish the true Church of 
 Christ — a universality which does not 
 require that she should be found in every 
 part of the globe simultaneously, but 
 which does require that in every spot 
 where she is found she should be one and 
 the same. 
 
 I will close my remarks on this note of 
 her truth by a brief allusion to her superi- 
 ority of numbers, and to her perpetual, 
 exclusive, inalienable possession of the 
 title Catholic. The investigation of both 
 points can only tend to give additional 
 strength to her claims, and to mark her out 
 as the one great religious body in the 
 world which is beyond the reach of 
 rivalry. 
 
 As a matter of fact the Catholic Church, 
 in point of numbers, is far ahead, not 
 merely of the most numerous of all the 
 sectarian Churches throughout the world, 
 but of all the sectarian Churches through' 
 out the world collectively. All other 
 Churches are confined within their own 
 state and tributaries. The Church of Eng- 
 land, which is the largest and the most 
 influential of them all, both in a social and 
 political point of view, is merely co-exten- 
 sive with the British Empire, and contrives 
 to subsist only under the protection of the 
 British flag. The Catholic Church, on the 
 
104 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 Other hand, is the Church of Europe, of 
 Asia, of Africa, of America, of Australia, 
 of the world. Lord Macaulay, in his essay 
 on Ranke's History of the Popes, states 
 that all Christian denominations outside 
 the Catholic Church hardly reach a hun- 
 dred and twenty millions. According to 
 some writers, all the Protestant denomina- 
 tions, even taken collectively, are estimated 
 at sixty-five millions, or less than one fifth 
 of those who bear the Christian name. 
 Considered as separate communions, they 
 are merely a handful. The members of 
 the Greek Schismatical Churches are sup- 
 posed to number a little over seventy mil- 
 lions. 
 
 According to others, who are anxious to 
 make their numbers look as large as possi- 
 ble, the aggregate of those professing non- 
 Catholic Christian creeds, including the 
 Oriental Churches, Protestantism, and all 
 the other sectarianisms, reaches a little 
 beyond a hundred and thirty-one millions ; 
 but even the bitterest enemies of the Cath- 
 olic Church — those who are most inter- 
 ested in depreciating her numbers and in 
 swelling their own — freely admit that her 
 members outnumber by many millions the 
 members of all other Christian denomina- 
 tions put together. The Tablet, in its 
 issue of October 17, 1885, gives the latest 
 estimate of her numbers in the following 
 words : " The question of the number of 
 Catholics throughout the world has been 
 frequently discussed both in these columns 
 and elsewhere. We now have it on the 
 authority of the Osservatore Romano, that 
 it results from the estimates made by the 
 
 various missionaries that the total number 
 of the members of the Catholic Church is 
 actually between two hundred and seventy- 
 five and three hundred millions." 
 
 But, as I have said already, on this 
 majority of numbers I do not wish to 
 insist. We have enough and more than 
 enough to vindicate for her the mark of 
 exclusive universality without it, as I have 
 shown above. 
 
 Then, she alone possesses the title 
 " Catholic," or " Universal " ; and posses- 
 sion is nine-tenths of the law. How came 
 she to have sole possession of that title, if 
 any other Church deserved it better, if any 
 other deserved it equally well, if any other 
 deserved it at all ? That she has verified 
 the title — that is, that she has been the 
 teacher of the nations throughout all time, 
 since the days of the apostles — we have «9 
 already shown; that she alone has pos- ^ 
 sessed the title itself from the beginning 
 is evident from history. 
 
 I will only give two or three citations ^|j 
 from the early Fathers. Such citatioryi 
 can be easily found in abundance ; but to ,| 
 introduce them at any length would swell 
 this book beyond the contemplated limits. 
 
 In the first century, it is said of St. 
 Polycarp, that he used constantly to offer 
 up prayers for the members " of the Catho- 
 lic Church diffused throughout the world" 
 (Euseb., Hist, ec, lib. iv., c. xv). 
 
 Three centuries later St. Cyril, one of 
 the greatest Doctors of the Greek Church, 
 and Patriarch of Jerusalem, instructed the 
 faithful thus : " Should you come into a 
 city, do not inquire merely for the house 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 J 05 
 
 of God, for so heretics call their places of 
 meeting; nor yet ask merely for the 
 church ; but say, the Catholic church — for 
 this is the proper name " (Catech.^ xviii., 
 n. 26, p. 729). 
 
 In the same century, St. Pacianus, one 
 of the lights of the Latin Church, speaks 
 in exactly the same tone : " In the time of 
 the apostles, you will say, no one was called 
 Catholic. Be it so ; but when heresies 
 afterwards began, and under different 
 names, attempts were made to disfigure 
 and divide our holy religion, did not the 
 apostolic people require a name, whereby to 
 mark their unity, a proper appellation to 
 distinguish their head ? Accidentally enter- 
 ing a populous city, where are Marcionites, 
 ( Novatians, and others who call themselves 
 Christians, how shall I discover where my 
 own people meet, unless they be called 
 Catholics ? I may not know the origin of 
 the name ; but what has not failed through 
 so long a time came not surely from any 
 individual man. It has nothing to say to 
 Marcion, nor Appelles, nor Montanus. 
 No heretic is its author. Is the authority 
 of apostolic men, of the blessed Cyprian, 
 of so many aged bishops, so many martyrs 
 and confessors, of little weight? Were 
 not they of sufficient consequence to 
 establish an appellation which they always 
 used. Be not angry, my brother : Chris- 
 tian is my name, Catholic is my surname " 
 (Ep. I, ad- Sympronian Bib. PP. Max., t. 
 iv., p. 729). 
 
 St. Epiphanius, a writer of the Greek 
 Church, relates that, at Alexandria, those 
 schismatics who adhered to Meletius 
 
 ? 
 
 styled their Church " the Church of the 
 Martyrs," while the rest retained for theirs 
 the name of " the Catholic Church " 
 {H(sres., torn, i., p. 719). 
 
 But no one has spoken more clearly 01 
 more emphatically on the point than St. 
 Augustine. Here are his words : " It is 
 our duty," he says, " to hold to the Chris- 
 tian religion, and the communion of that 
 Church which is called Catholic, and is so 
 called, not by us only, but by all its adver- 
 saries. For whether they be so disposed 
 or not, in conversing with others, they 
 must use the word Catholic, or they will 
 not be understood " {De vera Religione, 
 c. vii., t. i., p. 752). He adds: "Among 
 the many considerations that bind me to 
 the Church is the name of Catholic, which, 
 not without reason, in the midst of so 
 many heresies, this Church alone lias so 
 retained, that although all heretics wish to 
 acquire the name, should a stranger ask 
 where the Catholics assemble, the heretics 
 will not dare to point out any of their own 
 places of meeting" {Contra Ep. Fundam, 
 c. iv., torn, viii, 153). 
 
 So was it in the days of St. Augustine ; 
 so is it now. The test which was used in 
 his time, and which had been used for long 
 years before it, holds good even at the 
 present day. Go through the streets of 
 London, Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast, Glas- 
 gow, Edinburg — of any city through the 
 length and breadth of Christendom — ask 
 your way to the nearest Catholic church, 
 and he whom you ask, whether he be 
 Methodist, Presbyterian, Protestant, or 
 even the most advanced " Romanistic " 
 
io6 
 
 INDIFFERENTJSM. 
 
 Ritualist, will never think of directing you 
 to one of his own conventicles, however 
 stately and magnificent the building may 
 be ; he will direct you to some church 
 which is known to be in communion with 
 the See of Rome. If he directs you 
 otherwise, he feels that he is going against 
 his conscience, and that he is leading you 
 astray. 
 
 Every effort on the part of the sects, 
 both in the past and in the present, to 
 wrest this title from the Church of Rome, 
 to appropriate it, or share it with her, 
 has failed ignominiously. Those Rit- 
 ualists and High-Churchmen who desig- 
 nate themselves, and seek to be called, 
 Catholics, often draw upon themselves the 
 ridicule of other members of the Estab- 
 lishment 
 
 However, what I have said of superiority 
 of numbers, I say also with regard to the 
 possession of the title Catholic ; i. e., I will 
 not take advantage of it. I do not desire 
 to insist at any length upon it. But what 
 I do wish to insist upon chiefly and em- 
 phatically, above all and beyond all, is 
 this : The Church of Christ exists some- 
 where on earth. Wherever she is and 
 whatever she is, she must have the capacity 
 of universal extension. No Church which 
 has not the power of universal extension 
 can be the Church of Christ. No Churdi 
 can ever have the power of universal 
 extension, except a Church which has a 
 bond of unity springing from a necessary, 
 unfailing principle of unity. And no 
 Church on earth has, or claims to have, 
 that necessary, unfailing bond of unity 
 
 except the Roman Catholic Church. There- 
 fore she alone can be the one true Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 In her alone we find fulfilled these words 
 of prophecy, which, in the belief not merely 
 of those who profess her creed, but in the 
 belief of almost all who belong to any 
 denomination calling itself Christian, point 
 to the Kingdom or Church of Christ : 
 " All the ends of the earth shall remember,, 
 and shall be converted to the Lord, and all 
 the kindred of the Gentiles shall adore in 
 His sight ; for the kingdom is the Lord's, 
 and He shall have dominion over the 
 nations " {Psalm xxi. 28). " Ask of Me, 
 and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy 
 inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for thy possession " {Psalm ii.). " Of 
 the increase of His government and peace 
 there shall be no end, upon the throne of 
 David, and upon His kingdom, to order it 
 and to establish it with judgment and with 
 justice, from henceforth even and for ever " 
 (Protestant Translation, Isa. ix. 7). " Upon 
 thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed 
 watchmen all the day and all the night ; 
 they shall never hold their peace. You 
 that are mindful of the Lord, hold not 
 your peace" {Isa. Ixii. 6). "Thy gates 
 shall be open continually : they shall not 
 be shut day nor night, that the strength ol 
 the Gentiles may be brought unto thee, 
 and their kings may be brought " {Isa. Ix. 
 11). " From the rising of the sun to the 
 going down thereof. My name is great 
 among the Gentiles : and in every placel 
 there is sacrifice, and there is offered to 
 My name a clean oblation ; for My name 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 107 
 
 is great among the Gentiles, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts" {Mai. i. 11). 
 
 Eliminate the Church in communion 
 with Rome from history and from the 
 world, and these prophetic utterances never 
 have had, and never can have, a fulfilment 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Of course, when I say that the Chris- 
 tianity of all the nations of the earth, 
 which have ever professed Christianity, is 
 traceable to the first apostles and their 
 disciples, or to the See of Peter, as its 
 source, I am to be understood as speaking 
 of full and perfect Christianity : not of 
 mutilated and corrupted Christianity. 
 
 From the beginning there have been 
 corruptions of the gospel. As there were 
 heretics in the first century, so there have 
 been heretics in every century since. And 
 as heresiarchs had a certain following even 
 in the days of the first apostles, it is not 
 surprising that the heresiarchs who came 
 later should have a certain following too. 
 If there were a few teachers of error in 
 the early Church, while her numbers were 
 still so small, how can we wonder there 
 were more as her dominion extended, and 
 as her members multiplied } When some 
 went out of her and remained out of her, 
 because they were not of her, even in her 
 infancy, when she was still confined within 
 comparatively narrow limits, and while the 
 first heralds of her faith were living to 
 guide, and guard, and defend her, and to 
 confirm the truth of her teaching by their 
 miracles, we are not to be astonished that 
 
 others should go out of her in succeeding 
 ages, when the sound of her voice had 
 gone to the ends of the earth, and her 
 children had become countless as the sands 
 of the seashore. 
 
 On the contrary, we should rather be 
 astonished if such had not been the case. 
 For had no schisms and heresies arisen 
 within her, as time went on, her history 
 would have been entirely different from 
 what the apostles foretold it was to be. 
 Those apostles, so far from holding out 
 assurances that the whole people of every 
 nation, without exception, would receive 
 her Gospel, and come within, and remain 
 within, her fold, and that she was never 
 to have any enemies or any rivals, and 
 that her course throughout was to be 
 calm, smooth, prosperous, and free from 
 all opposition, predicted things far differ- 
 ent. They predicted, in fact, that condi- 
 tion of things which has been realized 
 throughout her whole history. " I know," 
 says St. Paul, " that after my departure 
 ravenous wolves will enter in among you, 
 not sparing the flock. And of your own 
 selves will arise men speaking perverse 
 things, to draw away disciples after them " 
 {Acts XX. 29, 30). And describing the 
 character of heretics of distant times, he 
 says : " Know also this, that in the last 
 days shall come dangerous times ; men 
 shall be lovers of themselves, stubborn, 
 puffed up, having the appearance indeed 
 of godliness " — that is, of genuine faith — 
 " but denying the power thereof. . . . 
 But evil men and seducers shall grow 
 worse and worse, erring and driving into 
 
io3 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 error. . . . There shall be a time 
 when they will not endure sound doctrine ; 
 but according to their desires they will 
 heap to themselves teachers having itching 
 ears " ( 2 Tim. ii. and iii.). To the same 
 Timothy he writes : " Now the spirit 
 manifestly saith that in the last times 
 some shall depart from the faith, giving 
 heed to spirits of error and doctrines of 
 devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and 
 having their consciences seared " ( i Tim. 
 iv. I, 2 ). And to the Corinthians he 
 writes : " For there must be also here- 
 sies, that they also, who are approved, 
 may be manifest among you " ( i Cor. ii. 
 19). 
 
 The apostles felt that the aggressive, 
 laborious, unyielding life of the Church in 
 their own day was an index to her history 
 to the end of time. They preached the 
 faith, used all their powers to spread it. 
 They were opposed by Simonians, Cerin- 
 thians, Ebionites, heretics of various 
 kinds, who rose up around them on all 
 sides. They condemned those teachers 
 of error in their separate individual warn- 
 ings to the faithful. They called a council 
 and condemned error again with united 
 voice. They strove to fix the eyes of the 
 Church's children everywhere on these 
 decrees of condemnation. And having 
 done this, they continued to preach and 
 to work in spreading the faith farther and 
 farther, with as much zeal and vigor as if 
 nothing had been done, or were being 
 done, to thwart them in their efforts. In 
 their mind this state of things indicated, 
 symbolized what was to be the state of 
 
 things in the Church down to the consum- 
 mation. They knew that heresies must 
 come ; they knew also that those heresies 
 could not prevent the Church from 
 spreading ; and they knew, moreover, I 
 v«?hether those heresies were to assume] 
 large proportions or small, were to cover 
 half the earth or to be confined within 
 some corner of it ; whether they were to 
 last for centuries or to form, break, andJ 
 disappear like a bubble — that all this wasi 
 quite accidental, that they could never in 
 any case be an argument against her 
 Catholicity, no more than the heresies 
 which appeared in their own day were an 
 argument against it. 
 
 Looking at things from this apostolic 
 standpoint, we see clearly the truth of the 
 following statements : 
 
 1. The fact that the influence of the 
 Novatian heresy in the third century 
 extended from Rome to Scythia, to Asia 
 Minor, to Africa, to Spain, proves nothing 
 against the Catholicity of the Church. 
 
 2. The fact that the Donatists in the 
 fourth century increased so rapidly in 
 numbers and importance that in a short 
 time they had got possession of four hun- 
 dred Episcopal Sees, and that all Africa 
 for a period seemed to groan under the 
 weight of Donatism, proves nothing against 
 the Catholicity of the Church. 
 
 3. The fact that the followers of Arius 
 converted the Gothic race to Arian Chris- 
 tianity ; that they succeeded in inocula- 
 ting Maesogoths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, 
 Alani, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians, with 
 their errors ; that they succeeded, too, in 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 109 
 
 spreading those errors through parts of 
 France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, and 
 that those errors continued to be pro- 
 fessed by numerous disciples in some of 
 those countries for nearly a hundred years, 
 and in others for nearly two hundred 
 vears, proves nothing against the Catho- 
 licity of the Church. 
 
 4. The fact that Nestorius, in the fifth 
 century, went out of the Church, and 
 induced many others to go out of her and 
 to remain out of her ; that his heresy was 
 embraced and supported by some of the 
 oldest churches in Christendom ; that it 
 secured the protection of Persia ; that it 
 spread from Cyprus to China ; that' it was 
 taken up by Indians, Medes, Huns, Bac- 
 trians ; that it enlarged its dominion, and 
 increased in numbers and importance till 
 it possessed twenty-five archbishoprics ; 
 that it had a large portion of Asia all to 
 itself ; that, according to the opinion of 
 some, its members, united to those of the 
 Monophysite heresy, at one time outnum- 
 bered the whole Catholic Church, both in 
 the East and the West ; that from its 
 principal seat in Chaldea it sent out mis- 
 sionaries who worked with an activity and 
 success that brought not merely many 
 illustrious personages, but even some 
 nations under its sway; that it held its 
 ground in its varying forms for more than 
 eight hundred years, and that during 
 that long period it succeeded in preventing 
 Catholic missioners from interfering much 
 with the countries of which it had taken 
 possession — even all this proves nothing 
 against the Catholicity of the Church. 
 
 For, in the first place, all this was but a 
 recurrence in later times, and on a wider 
 scale when the Church was larger, of what 
 had taken place even in the first century, 
 when she was smaller, and when her first 
 apostles were still living. Nay, it was but 
 a fulfilment of the apostles' own predic- 
 tions. 
 
 Secondly, our opponents as well as 
 ourselves regard Novatians, Donatists, 
 Arians, Nestorians, as heretics ; and hence 
 the imposing numbers and the wide diffu- 
 sion of these rebellious bodies over the 
 earth could be no proof of the truth of the 
 doctrines which they taught. 
 
 But, apart from this, we must look at 
 the matter from another point of view. 
 The fact that Novatians, Donatists, Arians, 
 Nestorians, and other heretics worked 
 hard in spreading their errors does not 
 prove that the Church in communion with 
 Rome did not work equally hard in spread 
 ing the truth. Their activity is no proof 
 of her inactivity. And in order that their 
 labors and successes should be an argu- 
 ment against her claim to Catholicity, it 
 would be necessary to show that while 
 tJiey, during several centuries, were so 
 energetic, she, during the same centuries, 
 was idle and apathetic — looked on with 
 folded arms, and made no effort either to 
 dissipate their errors or to propagate her 
 own doctrines more widely. 
 
 Well, then, open history, and it will 
 reveal to you that while those world-wide 
 heresies rose up and 'arrayed themselves 
 against her, and strove like antichrists to 
 supplant her, she was constantly at work 
 
no 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 in pulling down and raising up, in breaking 
 heresy to pieces and in building up the 
 citaCel of truth, in calling her bishops 
 from the remotest parts to sit in council, 
 to judge error and to condemn it, in noti- 
 fying her decrees to the faithful through 
 out the world, in exerting her power to 
 the utmost to have those decrees observed, 
 and in sending her light to the most dis- 
 tant regions of the earth ; and that light 
 shone everywhere except in those lands 
 which shut their eyes against it, or through 
 the intrigues of heresy, refused to accept it. 
 Such had been her constant and untir- 
 ing activity, that in spite of the ceaseless 
 war heresy had waged against her, and in 
 spite of the pagan persecutions which had 
 sought to stamp her out, she had by the 
 end of the third and the beginning of the 
 fourth century, propagated the faith — that 
 is, orthodox Christianity — in the West, in 
 Italy, in Proconsular Africa, in Numidia, 
 in Mauritania, and even among the primi- 
 tive Africans, i. e., the Getuli and the 
 Moors, who inhabited the interior of the 
 country in the gorges and valleys of the 
 Atlas. In Spain, in Gaul, in upper and 
 lower Germany, along the borders of the 
 Danube, in Norica (the modern Austria), 
 in Vindelicia (the modern Bavaria), in 
 Rhetia (at present the Tyrol). That faith 
 had reached Britain also through Roman 
 colonies which had gone there in the reign 
 of Claudius. On the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean, in Thrace, Heminontis, Rho- 
 dope, Scythia, and lower Moesia, flourishing 
 churches had been established. In Mace- 
 donia, Thessalonica, Philippi, Beraea, the 
 
 churches which had been founded by the 
 apostles and their disciples, through their 
 unbroken communion with Rome, still 
 maintained their first fervor. In Athens, 
 the capital of Greece, and in Byzantium, 
 which was soon to be the capital of the 
 New Empire, the faith had long been propa- 
 gated. 
 
 In the East, that faith already spread 
 from Jerusalem (still true to say, from St. 
 Peter as from its source) over all the 
 cities of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria. 
 Ceserea, Palestine, Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais, 
 Berytus, Tripoli, Biblos, Seleucia, Apamea, 
 Hieropolis, Samosata, Antioch, all had 
 their churches. At an early date Bozra in 
 Roman Arabia, and Edessa in the Os- 
 rhoene, had received the Gospel. In Meso- 
 potamia and Chaldea the churches of 
 Amida, Nisibis, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon 
 were celebrated. Asia Minor, which had 
 been evangelized by St. Paul, had its illus- 
 trious Sees of Ephesus, Laodicea, Per- 
 gamos, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Tarsus, 
 Mopsuesta, Smyrna, Iconium, Myra, Mil- 
 etus, Antioch of Pisidia, Corinth, Nice, 
 Chalcedon. Christians too were found in 
 multitudes in the isles of Crete, Cyprus, 
 and the Archipelago. Numerous and 
 flourishing churches had been established 
 in Armenia, and even in Persia. Egypt, 
 in which the faith had been propagated b}' 
 St. Mark, who founded the Patriarchate of 
 Alexandria, had so advanced that it was 
 able to send to the Council of Nice the 
 Bishops of Naucrates, Phtinontis, Pelusium, 
 Panephysus, Memphis and Heraclea. The 
 Thebais, which was soon to produce »uch 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 examples of heroic sanctity, had in the 
 third century several Episcopal Sees, 
 among them Antince, Hermopolis, and 
 Lycopolis. In the Pentapolis, of which 
 Ptolemais was the Metropolitan See, many 
 bishoprics had been founded. 
 
 In the fourth and fifth centuries she 
 continued her work of evangelizing. While 
 Donatism, Arianism, Pelagianism, Nesto- 
 rianism, Eutychianism, were drawing away 
 multitudes from her ranks, and marshalling 
 them under their respective standards 
 against her, she was actively engaged not 
 merely in striving to stay the progress of 
 their errors, in holding Provincial Councils, 
 National Councils, General Councils, to 
 condemn them, and in promulgating her 
 anathemas through all parts of the earth ; 
 she was also vigorously engaged in spread- 
 ing her light in those regions where it had 
 not yet shone, or was shining but faintly. 
 
 Her conquests now (and they were con- 
 quests of great magnitude) extended far 
 beyond the boundaries of the Roman 
 Empire, She spread her faith still more 
 widely in Persia, although that kingdom 
 was soon to become one of the strongholds 
 of Nestorianism, and a little later was to 
 become the prey of Mahometanism. She 
 brought within her fold the Iberians, who 
 inhabited a territory between the Black 
 Sea and the Caspian, and which is now 
 known as Georgia, The Abyssinians, whose 
 faith was destined to be, at least for a 
 time, firm and durable, and whose Metro- 
 politan was to be the Bishop of Ethiopia, 
 were added to her triumphs. She suc- 
 ceeded, too, in Christianizing vast districts 
 
 of India — I mean districts of it w^here 
 her Gospel had not yet reached. Nay, 
 while her General Councils were q..\ amin- 
 ing, discussing, and condemning the here- 
 sies of the East, she was at the same time 
 making numberless conversions in some of 
 the most distant isles of the West. It was 
 during that period that, through the zeal 
 and labors of St. Patrick and his compan- 
 ions, she levelled the altars of the Druids 
 in Ireland, cleared that country of every 
 trace of paganism, and placed its people 
 from shore to shore in possession of that 
 full and perfect and uncorrupted Chris- 
 tianity which they have never lost. And 
 not long after she sent, under the guidance 
 of Augustin, to Britain, the band of heroic 
 missionaries who were destined to revive 
 in that kingdom the faith of which it had 
 almost been entirely despoiled in the per- 
 secution of Diocletian, or the practice of 
 which, at least, had almost entirely ceased 
 there. 
 
 Now, if Donatism, Arianism, Pelagian- 
 ism, Nestorianism, Eutychianism, which 
 occupied such vast portions of the globe, 
 which counted such multitudes of disci- 
 ples, and which exercised such sway for 
 centuries, furnish no argument against the 
 universality of the Church, it is difficult 
 to see how any serious objection against 
 her universality can be taken from the 
 bulk of the Greek schismatical com- 
 munions of the present day, or from the 
 wide prevalence of Protestantism which 
 has taken possession of so many countries, 
 and which is professed by so many peoples. 
 The Greek schismatics of the East, as 
 
112 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 well as the Protestants of the West, admit 
 that the disciples of these various reli- 
 gious bodies were heretics, and in admit- 
 ting this they are virtually admitting that 
 their own bulk and influence, in them- 
 selves, go no way either towards proving 
 that they are members of the true Church, 
 or towards proving that the claim of the 
 Church of Rome is weakened or affected 
 in any way through their vastness. This 
 ought to be remembered by those to whom 
 Cardinal Newman refers when he says : 
 " Bulk, not symmetry, vastness, not order, 
 are their tests of truth." 
 
 But we may go further. The wide 
 diffusion of Nestorianism, of the Greek 
 schism, of the heresy of the Reformation, 
 is no more an argument against the uni- 
 versality of the Catholic Church than is 
 the wide and wonderful spread of Mahome- 
 tanism ; and the sway which Mahometan- 
 ism exercised over so many millions for so 
 many ages is no more an argument 
 against that universality than are those 
 numberless pagans who are outside the 
 pale of Christianity altogether. " Cor- 
 ruptions of the Gospel," says Cardinal New- 
 man again, " are as necessary and ordinary 
 a phenomenon, taking men as they are, as 
 its rejection. Is misbelief," he asks, "a 
 greater marvel than unbelief ? or do not 
 the same intellectual and moral principles 
 which lead men to accept nothing, lead 
 them also to accept half, of revealed truth ? 
 Both effects are simple manifestations of 
 private judgment in the bad sense of the 
 phrase, that is, of the use of one's own 
 reason against the authority of God." 
 
 This is strikingly true. Heresy ol 
 schism, however widely spread, interferej 
 no more with the universality of th« 
 Church than absolute infidelity. Fror 
 the outset the Church was only one of 
 number of communions which professed 
 to be Christian. From the days of \M 
 apostles, true belief, misbelief, unbelief 
 have walked side by side. Among those : 
 who had the Gospel preached to them, 
 some received it, some mutilated it, 
 some rejected it. In the last (the twenty- 
 eighth) chapter of the Acts, we find it 
 stated that many came to the lodgings of 
 St. Paul, that they might hear from him 
 an account of the new religion ; and that 
 he expounded it to them at great length, 
 " testifying the kingdom of God, and per- 
 suading them concerning Jesus, out of the 
 Law of Moses and the Prophets, from 
 morning till night." And it is added that 
 a certain number were persuaded, and that 
 others were not persuaded. " Some be- 
 lieved the things that were said, but 
 some believed not" {Ads xxiii. 24). So 
 was it then, so has it been ever since, so 
 is it now, so will it be to the end of time. 
 The Church's note of universality does 
 not require it to be otherwise ; that note 
 is independent of all rejections, mutila- 
 tions, corruptions of her Gospel. It does 
 not rest on the condition that in every 
 century sJie must have exclusive sway 
 over three-fourths of the globe ; or that, 
 in every generation, nine out of ten of the 
 world's population must profess her doc- 
 trine. It is not to be measured by mathe- 
 matical lines. No. What is essential to 
 
UNIVERSALITY OR CATHOLICITY. 
 
 "3 
 
 it is that, wherever she exists, she should be 
 found at all times and in all circumstances 
 to be one and the same. And that she is 
 found to be. In point of space, Rome, or 
 the See of Peter, is her centre ; the bound- 
 aries of the earth, her only circumference. 
 
 And, in point of identity, she is now what 
 she was in the days of the apostles, and 
 what she is now she will continue to be 
 to the end of time ; for she is the one 
 and only true Church of the unchanged, 
 unchanging, and unchangeable God. 
 

 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I^ 
 
 HE theory of Indifferentism may 
 help much, strange as it may 
 sound to say so, in the search 
 after the true Church. To real- 
 ize this fully, we must fix our 
 thoughts again for a moment on 
 some of the many inconsistencies, inco- 
 herences, and endless contradictions with 
 which that theory is pregnant. 
 
 And, first of all, I would draw attention 
 to this : If God is indifferent in what sense 
 men receive His revelation, it follows He 
 is indiflferent in what sense they receive 
 His ten Commandments, since the ten 
 Commandments are but a portion of His 
 revelation. Now, I assume that no one 
 who pretends to be a Christian will hold 
 that men are free to choose the contradic- 
 tories of the Commandments as the stand- 
 ard of their morality. On what grounds, 
 then, can it be affirmed that they are free 
 to choose the contradictories of His 
 revealed doctrines as the object of their 
 faith ? Where is the reason for making 
 any difference ? Does not such a system 
 do away with the distinction between 
 truth and falsehood altogether.^ Why 
 
 114 
 
 should God promulgate a special precept 
 forbidding lies, if every man was to be free 
 to give to the precept itself two opposite 
 interpretations — that is, to understand it 
 either as forbidding people to state what is 
 false, or as commanding them never to 
 state anything else except what is false. 
 
 But we may put the thing in a stronger 
 light still. The only reason why the Com- 
 mandments are binding on the human 
 conscience is because Revelation teaches 
 that they are the expression of God's will 
 in regard to man. Apart from this 
 j revealed teaching, they can have no oblig- 
 I atory power at all. Take away the Divine 
 [ truth that there is one God, and one only 
 — that He is the Creator, Sovereign Lord 
 of all — that He is to be worshipped by 
 His creatures, and the first commandment 
 is meaningless and without force. Put 
 aside the doctrine that He is infinitely 
 powerful, infinitely wise, infinitely good — 
 that He is all pure and all holy — that 
 His name is, therefore, to be hallowed, 
 and the second commandment ceases to 
 bind. Cancel the revelation that our 
 neisrhbor's soul is made to the Divine 
 
CONCLUSrON. 
 
 115 
 
 image — that it is the Divine will we 
 should love him, and those command- 
 ments which refer to the duties of frater- 
 nal charity lose all their binding force. 
 It is the doctrines on which they are 
 founded that give to the Commandments 
 their hold upon the will of man, and their 
 claim to his obedience. And hence the 
 only reason why we have no authority to 
 change the commandment is because we 
 have no authority to change the doctrinal 
 truth on which it rests. And if we have 
 no leave or privilege to take opposite views 
 of God's revelation in one case, how can 
 we have any leave or privilege to take 
 opposite views of it in another "i 
 
 Again, if God inscribed His ten Com- 
 mandments on tablets of stone, and had 
 >them preserved in the Ark that they 
 might keep the form and meaning He 
 originally gave them, and that He might 
 show the high and important place which 
 they occupied in His Divine mind. He 
 surely intended there should be a means 
 of preserving the doctrinal portion of His 
 revelation in the sense and meaning it had 
 IL at the outset. If He deigned to reveal 
 fcertain truths of faith, it was because He 
 meant them to be heard and to be 
 believed, and, if He meant them to be 
 heard and to be believed, it was undoubt- 
 [edly because He set some value upon 
 them. But in what sense could they be 
 said to have any value in His eyes, if He 
 merely, cast them out upon the world and 
 let men treat them as they liked — allow- 
 ing them to be looked upon as meaning 
 anything, or as meaning nothing, or as 
 
 meaning two contradictory things in one 
 and the same moment } With what show 
 of reason can it be maintained that He 
 attached any importance to them at all, if 
 He intended His people were to be at 
 liberty to believe them or not to believe 
 them, or to believe their opposites, or to 
 believe anything else in their stead if they 
 chose. 
 
 One of two things : either He never 
 made a revelation at all, or, if He did. He 
 cannot have left it to be the sport of 
 men's whims and fancies. If He revealed 
 certain doctrines to the world, it must 
 have been with the intention that they 
 should be not merely believed, but should 
 be believed according to the meaning in 
 which He revealed them. And the very 
 same reason that would lead Him to 
 reveal them would force Him to invent 
 some means of making them always 
 express the same sense, and of surround- 
 ing them with such guardianship as would 
 render them secure against being tam- 
 pered with by the ever-changing opinions 
 and idle, erring speculations of men. 
 
 When He took such care lest the pre- 
 cepts of the Decalogue should be changed, 
 surely He must have taken quite as much 
 care that the revelations made by His 
 Divine Son should never be changed. 
 And if that Divine Son Himself cleared 
 and purged the Mosaic Law, which was to 
 be made void, of the false traditions and 
 interpretations of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, would He not take precautions lest 
 similar false interpretations might be in. 
 troduced in the course of time into the 
 
ii6 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM, 
 
 laws and doctrines which He Himself 
 revealed for all ages. The revelations to 
 which He referred in the words of the 
 great commission were, to say the least, 
 quite as important as those delivered to 
 Moses on Mount Sinai. And, doubtless, 
 those revelations of His New Dispensa- 
 tion, which He condescended to make to 
 the world with His own lips, would have 
 been committed to stone also, had He not 
 designed to preserve their identity and 
 sense by a guardianship still more sacred, 
 of which we shall speak presently — that 
 is, His own special help, His own special 
 presence. His own personal supervision, 
 nay, His own unerring voice ever speaking 
 through His Church, which He meant to 
 be His mouth-piece on earth throughout 
 all time. 
 
 And now this opens out a new view of 
 the matter before us — a view which, on 
 the one hand, reveals clearly the hollow 
 fallacies of Indifferentism, and which, on 
 the other hand, brings out into striking 
 prominence the irresistible claims of the 
 Catholic Church to be the sole authorized, 
 adequate, infallible guardian and teacher 
 of all revealed truth. 
 
 The very fact that Indifferentists dis- 
 agree among themselves, not merely about 
 things which they take the unwarrantable 
 liberty of terming minor points of revela- 
 tion, but disagree also as to what doctrines 
 are to be regarded as the fundamental doc- 
 trines of Christianity ; this, I may say, of 
 itself is sufficient to establish two things : 
 first, the unreasonableness and utter un- 
 tenableness of their system, and, secondly. 
 
 the necessity of an authoritative voice still 
 speaking, which can tell with certainty 
 what has been revealed and what has not. 
 Let us dwell on this for a moment. The 
 adherents of Indifferentism differ even as 
 to what are those truths which are to be 
 deemed essentials, the peculiar doctrines, 
 the vital doctrines, the leading idea, the 
 great truth, of the Gospel. Some say that 
 it is the Divinity of Christ, some the 
 Redemption, some the Resurrection, some 
 that Divine charity is everything, and some 
 that the immortality of the human soul is 
 the essence of the Gospel, and all that 
 need be believed. They dispute over 
 almost every doctrine which is spoken of 
 as lying within the sphere of revelation. 
 And hence their system, when taken to 
 pieces, plainly means that God once, or at 
 sundry times, revealed a number of doc- 
 trines with the design they should be 
 believed, and that at the same time He 
 left His people perfectly free to affirm or 
 to deny every one of those truths from 
 beginning to end, according as they thought 
 proper. Is not this equivalent to saying 
 that He made a revelation, and that it was 
 utterly useless to make it, since men were 
 quite as wise before it was made as after 
 they received it .? 
 
 But this is not all. The fact that 
 Indifferentists take opposite views about 
 even the vital doctrines of Christianity is 
 not only a refutation of their theory, it is 
 at the same time proof sufficient ; it com- 
 pels us to the conclusion that if God ever 
 vouchsafed to make a revelation to the 
 world, He must have consigned it to such 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 117 
 
 careful keeping as would preserve it 
 always in its entirety, and make it always 
 express exactly the same thing. Why 
 should He reveal a doctrine, unless He 
 wished it to have always the same mean- 
 ing ? How could He wish it to have 
 always the samo meaning, if He intended, 
 when He revealed it, that men were to 
 be at liberty to give it any interpretation 
 they chose ? And how could men at any 
 time be certain of its true meaning unless 
 there were to be from age to age an 
 authoritative, definite, infallible voice to tell 
 its meaning. 
 
 Unless there exist some such unerring 
 authority on earth, there can never be any 
 certainty about revealed doctrine of any 
 kind, whether it be called fundamental or 
 non-fundamental. Nay, there can never 
 be any certainty even that those doctrines 
 which are said to be revealed have been 
 revealed at all. And what is more, if that 
 unerring voice spoke only during the 
 first two or three, or four or five, or 
 six or seven centuries, and then became 
 silent, and has never spoken since, how 
 can there be any certainty now about 
 those truths which ought to form the 
 object of faith.' Unless it speaks still, 
 even at the present moment, it is impossi- 
 ble to make an act of faith at all. For 
 faith supposes certainty and excludes 
 doubt ; faith is incompatible with doubt, 
 and undoubting faith I can never have, 
 unless I regard as infallible the voice 
 which teaches me what I am to believe. 
 
 Yet our Lord makes faith an essential 
 condition of salvation ; and the apostle 
 
 tell us that without faith it is impossible 
 to please God. Now, would God make 
 faith a necessary qualification for entrance 
 into heaven, and then leave men in the 
 impossibility of ever possessing it, of ever 
 exercising it, of ever eliciting an act of it > 
 In such a plight He must have left them, 
 unless there is in the world some source 
 of unquestionable authority which can tell 
 for certain what has been revealed, how 
 much has been revealed, what its true 
 meaning, and in what sense it is to be 
 received. 
 
 Cardinal Manning, in his book, Tempo- 
 ral Mission of the Holy Ghost, refers to 
 this point : " There are some who 
 appeal from the voice of the living church 
 to antiquity, professing to believe that 
 while the Church was united it was infalli- 
 ble, that then when it became divided it 
 ceased to speak infallibly, and that the 
 only certain rule of faith is to believe that 
 which the Church held and taught while 
 yet it was united, and therefore infallible. 
 Such reasoners fail to observe that since 
 the supposed division and cessation of the 
 infallible voice, there remains no Divine 
 certainty as to what was then infallibly 
 taught." 
 
 If it be urged that the Scriptures con- 
 tain all the truths of revelation, the state 
 of the case is not altered. The same 
 reasoning holds good ; for I answer, how 
 can I be sure that the Scriptures, as they 
 are now published, are identical wich the 
 Scriptures of the fourth and fifth centuries, 
 unless an infallible authority tells me they 
 are? How can I be sure they contain 
 
ii8 
 
 INDIFFERENTISM. 
 
 the Word of God at all, unless the same 
 infallible authority tells me they do ? How 
 can I be sure whether the Catholic ver- 
 sion or the Protestant is the correct one 
 — the one that contains the truth, and 
 nothing but the truth — unless I regard 
 as infallible the decision of my informant ? 
 If the authority which tells me that the 
 Old and New Testaments are the Word of 
 God be a fallible authority, and therefore 
 a questionable one, then, whether it is the 
 voice of an individual or the voice of a 
 hundred millions of individuals, I can 
 have no certainty, and consequently can- 
 not exercise faith. For the opinions of a 
 fallible multitude, equal in number to the 
 whole population of the earth, as long as 
 there is question of the things which are 
 beyond the reach of reason, can never pro- 
 duce certainty of any kind, much less abso- 
 lute, infallible certainty. 
 
 But granting that the Scriptures contain 
 the whole truth and nothing but the truth, 
 and putting aside the question which ver- 
 sion is the right one, let us test the matter 
 on another ground. How can I be sure 
 which is the true interpretation of those 
 passages, from which are drawn contradic- 
 tory doctrines with regard to points which 
 are commonly called points of fundamen- 
 tal importance — such, for example, as the 
 passages which refer to the Eucharistic 
 presence and sacramental confession — 
 unless I have an infallible teacher to guide, 
 enlighten, and instruct me } 
 
 I think, then, we are warranted in draw- 
 ing the conclusion, that if God ever came 
 into the world for the purpose of making a 
 
 revelation and of instituting a Church, 
 He must have established an unerring 
 interpreter of the one and an unfailing 
 ruler of the other, since there was exactly 
 the same reason for instituting a means of 
 protecting the revelation against false 
 meanings, as there was for making the 
 revelation at all. To have acted other- 
 wise would have been to defeat His own 
 ends ; for either He intended His re- 
 vealed doctrines to have contradictory 
 meanings, or He did not. If He did, then 
 He changes, and He is the God of truth 
 to-day and the God of lies to-morrow ; or 
 He is the God of truth and of lies in one 
 and the same moment, for the same indi- 
 vidual, and under the very same circum- 
 stances. If He did not intend them to 
 have contradictory meanings, then He can- 
 not have abandoned them to every chance 
 interpretation and to every human caprice. 
 He must have raised up around them 
 ramparts of defence which would protect 
 them against the encroachment of innova- 
 tion, and prevent their being wrecked by 
 the ever- varying judgments and wandering 
 imaginations of men. Yes, being the 
 unchanged, unchanging, and unchangeable 
 God, the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
 ever. He must have established on earth 
 an undying authority, whose infallible 
 voice would speak in His name throughout 
 all the vicissitudes of time and throughout 
 the coming and passing away of all genera- 
 tions down to the day of doom — an author- 
 ity whose voice would proclaim to the 
 world, with unerring certainty, those doc- 
 trines which he revealed, and those only^ 
 
 i 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 119 
 
 and declare to all men the sense in which 
 they were to be understood. 
 
 Either this must be granted, or a system 
 of faith there cannot be, since otherwise 
 absolute certainty about the object of faith 
 there cannot be. 
 
 Well, then, dear reader, raise your eyes, 
 look around you, inquire, examine. Is there 
 any Church on earth in which this unerr- 
 ing authority is found — in which this 
 
 infallible voice speaks } Where is it } 
 Which is it .? 
 
 One, and one only, claims it. It is that 
 one which alone can give sufficient reason 
 for urging the claim — the one which, from 
 her mark of everlasting, undivided unity, 
 and from her inborn power of universal 
 expansion, we have shown to be the one 
 only true Church of the living God on this 
 earth. 
 
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 ►HE Devotion to the Sacred 
 Heart rests, for its dog- 
 matic basis, on the adora- 
 tion which our faith 
 teaches us to pay to the 
 sacred humanity of our 
 Lord. The Church, under 
 the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit, nas instructed her children to pay 
 special devotion to His sacred heart as 
 the noblest portion of His body, as a 
 memorial in brief of the interior life and 
 passion of Christ, and as a symbol of His 
 Divine Love for man. 
 
 In speaking of the adoration which we 
 pay to the humanity of our divine Lord, 
 and to His sacred heart as part of His 
 sacred humanity, it may be well to state 
 in what sense we use the term Adoration, 
 and in what sense we apply it to the adora- 
 tion of His sacred humanity, and of His 
 sacred heart as a living part of His 
 sacred humanity. 
 
 Adoration is here understood in its 
 highest and strictest sense, as an act of the 
 
 1 
 
 highest worship paid only to the supreme 
 excellence of the Divinity. This is known 
 in the language of the Church as Latria. 
 
 The theological statement of the grounds 
 on which we pay adoration to the sacred 
 humanity of our Lord and to His sacred 
 heart may appear at first sight to be too 
 abstruse in its dogmatic details for ordinary 
 Catholic readers. 
 
 This, however, is an objection which 
 may be urged against the exposition of 
 any of the articles of Catholic faith, and 
 which is found practically to be overcome 
 to a great extent by the Catholic instincts 
 of the faithful, by the power of which they 
 more readily apprehend and appreciate the 
 great truths of their faith than perhaps we 
 are inclined to suppose. 
 
 On the other hand, it is with increased 
 gratification and consolation that they see 
 how deeply their own devotion to the 
 person of our Lord and His sacred heart 
 has struck its roots, unconsciously perhaps 
 to themselves, in the very foundations of 
 their religioxi. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 We say, then, in entering on our sub- 
 ject, that Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, 
 God, and Man, is to be adored both in His 
 divine and His human nature. He is to be 
 adored not only in His divine, but also in 
 His human nature ; not with two distinct 
 acts, but with one single act of adoration. 
 
 The reason of an act of adoration is 
 the supreme excellence of the Divinity. 
 Any object of our adoration, therefore, 
 must necessarily be united with this 
 supreme excellence. 
 
 This union may be either that of iden- 
 tity, as when we adore God, Who is identi- 
 cally one with the Divinity — and in* this 
 case the object is adored in itself, and on 
 its own account ; or, in other words, on 
 account of its own formal or intrinsic 
 excellence, by an act of absolute adora- 
 tion. Or, again, the object of adoration 
 may be something substantially united, as 
 a part, or by way of part, to the object 
 which claims adoration on its own account 
 by reason of its own sovereign excellence. 
 Such object, thus substantially united, is 
 the direct though partial object, in itself, 
 though not on account of itself, of that 
 absolute adoration which is paid to the 
 one entire substantial object. 
 
 Thus, when we adore Christ, God, and 
 Man, the object of our adoration is Christ 
 as a whole, and in Him also His humanity, 
 substantially united to the Word. " The 
 Incarnate Word of God," says St. Cyril,^ 
 " as being one Son, is adored not without 
 His flesh, but rather together with it." 
 
 J Aptlogia frt A»athem. 8. contra Orientalts VoL Ti. 
 
 It follows, then, from what has beei 
 said (one Divine person in the two nature^ 
 being supposed ) that 
 
 (i) The Man Jesus Christ is to 
 adored with supreme worship ; for He i^ 
 truly God. 
 
 (2) Jesus Christ, regarded both in Hi< 
 divine and human nature, is to be adore 
 with one and the same supreme worshij 
 For one adoration is referred to this divini 
 composite person including both natures j 
 nor can the man Christ be regarded witl 
 out considering the divine nature as propc 
 to Him. In other words, the man Chi 
 is the Word Himself having a human" 
 nature. But the Word is assuredly to be 
 adored with supreme worship. 
 
 The reason, however, why Christ, as 
 man, is to be adored, is not His human 
 nature. His human nature is the reason 
 why Christ who is to be thus adored, is 
 man. In the same manner, the man Christ 
 is the natural Son of God ; although the 
 reason of this is not His human nature, 
 but the divinity of the Word, to whom the 
 humanity of the man Christ is united from 
 the very beginning of its existence. For, 
 from the very beginning of its existence, 
 it belongs to the eternal Word generated 
 from the Father and therefore of one 
 divine nature with Him. As, in the 
 inverse order, God the Word is the Son of 
 the Blessed Virgin ; although it is not the 
 divine, but the human nature, the material 
 part of which was formed by the Holy 
 Ghost from the most pure blood of the 
 Blessed Virgin, which is the reason ot 
 this. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 Consequently, therefore, Christ, inas- 
 much as He is man, is to be adored with 
 supreme worship ; provided only that the 
 expression, inasmuch as man, be not under- 
 stood to express the distinctive or formal 
 reason why Christ is to be thus adored. 
 
 (3) The sacred humanity of Christ itself, 
 or His human nature with all that com- 
 poses it, inasmuch as it is the nature of the 
 Word, is the partial object of adoration. 
 To it is directed one and the same absolute 
 worship with which the person Christ is 
 adored. 
 
 The/«// object of adoration is the com- 
 posite person, Christ ; including the human 
 nature as His own, and proper to Himself. 
 
 The worship paid to a person has for its 
 object the person, not only with reference 
 to something belonging to him, but with 
 reference to «// that substantially belongs 
 to him ; although the reason why this wor- 
 ship is paid to the person has reference 
 only to something contained in the person. 
 
 Thus, for instance, we pay the same 
 homage to the royal crown as we pay to 
 the sovereign who wears it. We do not 
 pay this homage to the crown as simply a 
 material object, but as representing the 
 person of the sovereign who wears the 
 crown. 
 
 It is necessary, however, to notice that 
 the instance adduced, though adequate, as 
 far as it goes, ceases to serve as an illus- 
 tration at an important point. The union 
 between the crown and the sovereign is 
 only accidental, and therefore the homage 
 paid to the crown is only relative ; whereas 
 the union between the humanity of Christ 
 
 and the Word is substantial, and conse- 
 quently the worship of adoration paid to the 
 sacred humanity is absolute, though partial. 
 
 It may be of service to direct attention 
 here to the note by Denziger upon the 
 second canon of the anathemas of St. 
 Cyril. These were received by the third 
 CEcumenical Synod of Ephesus ; the fourth 
 placed them amongst its Acts, and styled 
 the epistles of St. Cyril canonical ; they 
 were defended by the fifth Synod. 
 
 The canon referred to it as follows : — 
 
 '' If any one do not confess that the 
 Word of God the Father was substantially 
 {secundum substantiam) united to the flesh, 
 and that Christ is one with His own flesh, 
 the same, that is to say, at the same time 
 God and man, let him be anathema." 
 
 To this Denziger appends the following 
 note : — 
 
 " The old version here renders the word 
 u-oazaatv by substance. The same is the 
 case. Synod V. can. 13. This we have 
 retained ; and it may be defended by Peta- 
 vius lib. 6. de Incarn c. 17. ad Anath. 2 
 Cyrilli. 
 
 " Hypostatic union is called substantial 
 or essential, inasmuch as these words are 
 opposed to the accidental'^ union of the 
 
 1 The heretic Nestorius, as is well known, denied the Catho- 
 lic doctrine that there is only One Person in Jesus Christ, God 
 and Man, the Person of the eternal Word. He taught that 
 the Word united Himself to Christ (a mere man), after His 
 birth, and resided in Him as in a temple. He admitted only a 
 moral union between the Word and the man Christ, thus 
 understood ; such, in kind, as may exist between two friends, 
 who are united by unity of sentiments. He thus admitted 
 only an a^«V^^«^a'/ union. He denied that the eternal Word, 
 the Son of God the Father, united Himself by a real, physical, 
 substantial union to the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ 
 from the first moment of its existence. He was led necessarily, 
 as a consequence of these heretical tenets, to deny that tht 
 Blessed Virgin was truly the mother of God. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 Nestorians. This union is in truth a union 
 of substances, but by subsistence." 
 
 The object of our adoration, then, is also 
 the humanity of Christ hypostatically 
 united to the Word. But the reason why 
 it is adored, is the Word Himself whose 
 humanity it is. 
 
 The adoration, however, which is paid 
 to the humanity in Christ, is not, on this 
 account, merely relative. 
 
 Relative worship is when an object is 
 worshipped on account of some «;xcellence 
 residing in some person, with which that 
 object has some relation. But whatever is 
 substantially united to the person who is 
 the object of worship, and belongs properly 
 to him, is the object of that absolute wor- 
 ship which is paid to the entire person. 
 
 We said that the humanity of Christ, 
 inasmuch as it is the nature of the Word, is 
 the object of adoration ; for if the human 
 nature were regarded in itself, or as separa- 
 ted from the Word, or prescinding from the 
 Word, assuredly it could not be adored 
 with supreme worship ; because the reason 
 of such worship is the Divinity alone. 
 
 Wickliff maintained that relative wor- 
 ship only should be paid to the humanity of 
 Christ.i 
 
 The Jansenists calumniously charged 
 Catholics with the adoration of the 
 humanity regarded by itself. 
 
 Against them was directed the Dogmatic 
 Bull " Auctorem Fidei,"^ in which it is 
 said, of "the proposition, which asserts 
 
 1 Waldens, Vol. i. p. 135. 
 
 2 In this Bull the propositions 61 and 63 of the Pistoians 
 were condemned. 
 
 that the direct adoration of the humanity of 
 Christ, and much m.ore of any part of it, 
 must always be divine honor given to a 
 creature ; inasmuch as by the word direct 
 it intends to condemn the worship of 
 adoration paid by the faithful to the 
 humanity of Christ, as though such adora- 
 tion, by which the humanity and life- 
 giving flesh of Christ is itself adored 
 (not indeed on account of itself and as 
 mere flesh, but as united to the divinity) 
 were divine honor paid to a creature, 
 and not rather one and the sarne adora- 
 tion with which the Incarnate Word is 
 adored with His own proper flesh " ; this 
 proposition is declared to be "false, cap- 
 tious, detractive, and injurious to the 
 pious and due worship paid and to be paid 
 by the faithful to the humanity of 
 Christ." 1 
 
 " Moreover, inasmuch as it also charges 
 the worshippers of the heart of Jesus, on 
 the ground that they do not bear in mind 
 that the most sacred flesh of Christ or any 
 part of it, or even the whole humanity sep- 
 arated or prescinding from the divinity can- 
 7iot be adored with Latria, (or supreme 
 adoration) as though the faithful adored 
 the heart of Jesus with separation or pre- 
 scinding from the divinity, while they 
 adore it as it is the heart of Jesus, that is 
 to say, the heart of the person of the 
 Word, to which it is inseparably united, in 
 the same manner in which the lifeless 
 body of Christ, during the three days after 
 His death, without separation or pre 
 scission from the divinity, was an object of 
 
 1 From the Council C. P. V. Gener. Canon 9. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 adoration in the tomb " ; this proposition 
 is declared to be " captious and injurious to 
 the faithful worshippers of the heart of 
 Christ." 
 
 What has been said is clearly and dis- 
 tinctly expressed in the decrees of coun- 
 cils and the writings of the Fathers. 
 
 It is there defined that one and the same 
 adoration, which is paid to God the Word, 
 belongs also to Christ regarded in His 
 human nature. Moreover it is clearly 
 taught, that the adoration with which God 
 the Word is adored, is paid (the Incarna- 
 tion being supposed) not only to the Word 
 regarded in Himself and in His divine 
 nature, but to the Word in His flesh ; and 
 consequently, because His flesh or human 
 nature, whether whole or according to its 
 parts, is something belonging to the Word, 
 it is taught that one and the same adora- 
 tion is paid both to the Word and to Christ 
 as a whole, and to the human nature of 
 Christ as the partial object. 
 
 Thus in the Lateran council under 
 Martin I. it is said : — 
 
 " If any one says that Christ is adored 
 in two natures, introducing thereby two 
 adorations, separately to God the Word, 
 and separately to man ; or if any one, to 
 the destruction of the divinity, or to the 
 confounding of the divinity and humanity, 
 or the introduction of one nature or sub- 
 stance out of the two which are united, 
 adores Christ after this manner (as do the 
 Monophysites in advocating one single 
 adoration) but does not with one adoration 
 adore God incarnate together with His own 
 proper flesh, as was from the beginning 
 
 delivered to the Church of God : let him 
 be anathema."^ 
 
 There are three points contained in 
 these definitions : — 
 
 1. That a two-fold adoration is not to 
 be paid to the incarnate Word according to 
 His two-fold nature ; one referred to God, 
 the other to man. For this would intro- 
 duce a distinction of persons. 
 
 2. That one adoration is to be paid, not 
 in the sense that the object of adoration is 
 only one nature, whether divine or com- 
 posite; for this would be the adoration 
 taught by the Apollinarists and Eutych- 
 ians. 
 
 3. That one adoration is to be paid to 
 the Word together with His flesh, so that 
 the object of adoration is His flesh also, 
 because it is something belonging to the 
 word incarnate or Christ, who is adored in 
 His entirety. 
 
 The difficulty which the Monophysites 
 of old, and the Jansenists in more recent 
 times, have raised, viz., that supreme adora- 
 tion could not be paid to a creature, met 
 as it is in these decrees, is still more clearly 
 solved by the Holy Fathers. 
 
 It is thus that St. Athanasius refutes 
 the Apollinarists, who, by means of the 
 same fallacy as the Jansenists did later, 
 endeavored to argue that human nature, if 
 admitted in Christ, cannot be adored, 
 because it is a creature ; and that therefore 
 Catholics adore flesh and adore man. 
 
 "We do not, you say," writes St. Atha- 
 nasius, ^ " adore the creature. Senseless 
 
 1 Council v. Act viii. Can. 9. Hard. iii. p. 197. 
 
 2 Contra Ap. Lib. i. No. 6. Vol. i. p. 936. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 
 
 men I Why do you not reflect that the 
 adoration is not paid to the created body 
 of our Lord as though it were a mere crea- 
 ture ? for it is the body of the uncreated 
 Word; and adoration is paid to Him, 
 whose body it is. Divine adoration is 
 rightly paid to this body, for the word is 
 God, and it is His own body. Thus too 
 did the women approach to the Lord, and 
 held His feet, and adored Him. They held 
 His feet, and adored God. His feet, inas- 
 much as they were flesh and bone, could be 
 touched by them. But inasmuch as they 
 were the feet of God, they adored God." 
 
 In like manner writes St. John Damas- 
 cene : — ^ 
 
 " Christ is one ; perfect God and perfect 
 Man ; whom with the Father and the 
 Holy Ghost we adore with one adoration 
 together with His immaculate flesh. 
 Neither do we say that His flesh is not 
 to be adored. For His flesh is adored in 
 the one person of the Word, which becomes 
 the person of the flesh. 
 
 " We do not pay adoration to the crea- 
 ture ; for we do not adore mere flesh but 
 united, as it is, to the Deity ; and because 
 His two natures are united to one Person 
 and one hypostasis of God the Word. I 
 fear to touch a burning ember on account 
 of the fire which is united to the brand, I 
 adore the two natures of Christ on account 
 of the Deity united to the flesh. 
 
 " I do not introduce a fourth person into 
 the Trinity ; God forbid ! But I acknowl- 
 edge one person of God the Word and^ 
 His flesh." 
 
 1 Fid. Ortkodox. ilL c. 8. Vol. i. p. 316. 
 
 The doctrine taught by the other 
 Fathers, St. Epiphanius, St. Cyril, St. 
 Ambrose, St. Augustine, may be seen in 
 Vasquez disp. 95, c. 2 ; disp. 96, cc. 4, 6 ; | 
 Petavius, B. xv. cc. 3, 4. 
 
 This teaching of the Fathers is but the 
 legitimate explanation of the testimony of 
 Scripture, in which we are taught that the 
 same adoration which is paid to God the 
 Father Himself is to be paid to Jesus 
 Christ regarded even as He is man. Con- 
 sequently, the same divine worship which 
 is paid to the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, is directed also to the Human- 
 ity of the Word ; not on account of itself, 
 but on account of the Word, and in the 
 Word, whose nature it is. 
 
 It may be well to point out a few pas- 
 sages : — 
 
 Ps. cix. I : " The Lord said to my Lord : 
 Sit Thou at My right hand." 
 
 David sees in spirit Christ, ascending 
 after His death, passion, and glorious 
 resurrection, and taking His seat at the 
 right hand of the eternal Father. He uses 
 the expression : "The Lord said," because 
 He announces the eternal decree, and 
 sees the future as already past. 
 
 It is certain, says Cardinal Bellarmine, 
 that this Psalm is to be understood of 
 Christ, the Messiah : the Son of David 
 according to the flesh, and his Lord in 
 respect of His Divinity. 
 
 The Jews, when questioned by our Lord 
 {Matt. 22), regarding the sense in which 
 these words were to be understood, did 
 not dare to deny that they referred to 
 Christ. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 t 
 
 The name Jehovah is not here given to 
 Christ, as it is to the Father, because He 
 is not spoken of as simply the Son of God, 
 but as the Son of God Incarnate. 
 
 In this character He is always called 
 Lord (Ladoni) in Scripture, and the Father 
 Jehovah, when they are spoken of together. 
 The name of Lord is applicable to the Son 
 in both natures, but the name of Jehovah 
 is applicable to Him only as He is God. 
 These words are quoted by St. Paul in his 
 epistle to the Hebrews : "To which of the 
 ingels said He at any time : ' Sit on My 
 right hand until I make thy enemies thy 
 footstool'.?" {Heb. i. 13.) 
 
 PInllipp. ii, 11: " That every tongue 
 should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ 
 is in the glory of God the Father." 
 
 These words are thus paraphrased by 
 Bernardinus a Piconio : " That our Lord 
 Jesus Christ has the same glory with God 
 the Father." 
 
 Heb. i. 6 : " And again when He 
 bringeth in the First-begotten into the 
 world, He saith, * Let all the angels of God 
 adore Him.' " 
 
 Hence, also, in Scripture, baptism, by 
 which the faithful are made members of 
 the Church in the Name of the Three 
 Persons and one God, is also called bap- 
 tism in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 But the sacred humanity of Christ is not 
 merely the object of adoration. It is also 
 the object of manifestation, by which the 
 object of our adoration manifests Himself 
 to us, and moves us in a singular manner 
 to a love and adoration of His excellence 
 .and goodness. 
 
 For, besides the sovereign excellence of 
 the Divinity, which is the reason which 
 moves us to an act of adoration, there may 
 be some other reason, more remote, indeed, 
 in itself, but one which comes more closely 
 home to ourselves, and touches us more 
 nearly, by which the object of our adora- 
 tion manifests Himself and appeals to our 
 love. 
 
 Thus God, our Creator, Redeemer, and 
 Sanctifier, is adored on account of His 
 infinite excellence ; nevertheless, infinitely 
 perfect and adorable as He is in Himself, 
 He manifests Himself to us by His 
 exterior works and benefits. 
 
 .But the highest of all His manifesta- 
 tions of Himself, and the crowning act of 
 His benefits to us, is that God Himself 
 became man. 
 
 In the nature which He took He con- 
 descended to become our first-born Brother, 
 our Restorer, and our Redeemer. 
 
 Although, then, the immediate reason, 
 on account of which, as He is to be 
 supremely loved, so is He to be adored, is 
 His intrinsic absolute goodness and per- 
 fection ; nevertheless, in His human nature 
 He manifests Himself to us in a singular 
 manner as the object of our love and 
 adoration. 
 
 "As the incarnation," says St. Thomas, 
 " adds nothing to the goodness of the 
 Divine Person, so also does it add nothing 
 to His loveableness ; and, in consequence, 
 the person of the Incarnate Word is not 
 to be loved more than the person of the 
 Word simply ; although it is to be loved 
 for another reason. This reason, however, 
 
8 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 is itself comprehended in the universal 
 goodness of the Word.^ " 
 
 It is not only His human nature, as a 
 whole, that may be thus considered as an 
 object of manifestation. Each single action 
 and each single mystery of the Incarnate 
 Word may be thus regarded. So also His 
 human nature, according to its several 
 parts, is the immediate instrument by 
 which God the Incarnate Word manifests, 
 in a singular manner, His goodness, mercy, 
 and love. 
 
 God manifests Himself to us, indeed, in 
 His exterior works ; but it does not follow 
 from this that those created works are an 
 object of adoration. We adore God mani- 
 fested as Creator, Preserver, Benefactor. 
 
 We distinguish in thought the excel- 
 lence of the Divine Essence as the primary 
 reason of our adoration, and His charac- 
 ter of Creator and Benefactor as a reason 
 consequent in God, and as one that comes 
 more closely home to ourselves, and by 
 which we are powerfully moved to adore 
 Him. 
 
 But in the Incarnate Word our flesh and 
 our nature, which He has assumed, is not 
 an exterior work, and thus extrinsic ^ to 
 the Word, but it is the nature of the 
 Word, in which, according to the different 
 
 1 Q. de unione Verdi a. I. ad. 9. 
 
 2 The human nature, hypostatically united, is to be called 
 neither extrinsic to the Word, nor simply .intrinsic, for these 
 are terms of ambiguous meaning. Ifmtrinsic is opposed to 
 extrinsic, as what is identified with the divine nature 's 
 opposed to what is distinct and different from that nature, 
 in this case, the human nature assumed is something extrmsic. 
 But if by extrinsic is meant, not only what is distinct from the 
 divine nature, but also separated from the divine person, and 
 subsisting by itself, then human nature is not extrinsic to the 
 Word, but intrinsic to the composite person subsisting in the 
 two natures. 
 
 mysteries, now in one way now in another, 
 the adorable Word Himself manifests 
 Himself, and acts and suffers for our sal- 
 vation and redemption as God-Man. 
 
 " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
 amongst us, and we have seen His glory ^ 
 the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
 Father" {St. John I 14). 
 
 "The Life was manifested which was 
 with the father, and hath appeared to us" 
 (i St. John i. 2). 
 
 " Glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thy- 
 self with the glory which I had, before the 
 world was, with Thee " {St. John xvii. 5). 
 
 " Evidently, great is the mystery of god- 
 liness,^ which was manifested in the flesh, 
 hath been preached unto the Gentiles, is 
 believed in the world, is taken up in glory " 
 (i Timothy iii. 16). 
 
 " The goodness and kindness of God our 
 Saviour appeared " {Tit. iii. 4). 
 
 When, then, Jesus Christ, God and Man, 
 presents Himself to us for our adoration 
 in His human nature, we pay supreme 
 adoration to the Divine Person in both 
 natures. 
 
 The formal or intrinsic reason of this 
 adoration is the Divinity ; the sacred 
 humanity is the material object, and not 
 only the material object, but also the 
 object in which the Incarnate Word mani- 
 fests Himself to us, and moves us to 
 adoration. This He does the more power- 
 fully in proportion as the infinite goodness 
 of God, His love, mercy, wisdom, and 
 
 1 The mystery of the Incarnation. " Sacramenium pitta- 
 iis" ; the mystery of mercy and condescension, by whick w» 
 ' are taught the true worship of God and religion. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 Almighty power are more resplendent and 
 manifest themselves more clearly in the 
 mystery of the incarnation. 
 
 St. Augustine has beautifully developed 
 the thought, in his own profound and 
 devotional manner, of the manifestation by 
 our Lord of the majesty, glory, and love 
 of His divinity in the very infirmity of 
 His sacred humanity. 
 
 Commenting on the 63d Psalm, he 
 shows how our Divine Lord baffled the 
 wiles and triumphed over the malicious 
 counsels of His enemies by veiling His 
 divinity in His manhood, and thus mani- 
 festing the glory of His divinity through 
 the sufferings and ignominies of His 
 passion. 
 
 Becoming man, He says. He entered 
 into the profound counsels of His heart, 
 and manifested to the world the power, 
 glory, and love of His divinity.^ " It was 
 as man that He met their wicked coun- 
 sels; as man He allowed Himself to be 
 held in their hands. For He could not be 
 held by them if He were not man. He 
 could not, but as man, present Himself to 
 their sight ; He could not be scourged, 
 crucified, or die but as man. He entered, 
 then, into all these His sufferings as man ; 
 neither would these sufferings be of any 
 avail were He not truly man. Were He 
 not truly man, man would not be truly 
 redeemed. It was in becoming man that 
 He entered into the profound and secret 
 counsels of His heart ; presenting Him- 
 self as man to the gaze of men, and veiling 
 from their sight the truth of His divinity ; 
 
 - Accedet homo ad eor mitum gt txaUabitur Dots. 
 
 concealing the form of God, in which He 
 is equal to the Father ; presenting to the 
 sight of men the form of a servant, in 
 which He is inferior to the Father.** 
 
 Each single mystery of the Incarnate 
 Word, His conception, birth, hidden life, 
 preaching, passion, death, resurrection, 
 His sitting at the right hand of the 
 Father, His second coming to judge the 
 living and the dead, etc. ; each bears in 
 itself a special character of manifestation. 
 These mysteries are, each of them, actions 
 or sufferings of the Word Himself in His 
 human nature, and therefore claim to be 
 regarded as so many manifestations of the 
 Incarnate Word, the object of our supreme 
 adoration. 
 
 The divine Word, man according to His 
 human nature, is glorified and beatified in 
 overflowing fulness, as in vision and incom- 
 prehensible love He enjoys God ; as with 
 love, mercy, and the desire of our salvation 
 He is borne towards us as His redeemed, 
 His branches, and His members ; as He 
 loves, cherishes, nourishes, tries, and glori- 
 fies both the whole Church and individual 
 souls by His merits, by the pouring forth 
 of His blood ; by His protection and His 
 power ; by His doctrine, His sacraments, 
 His body and blood in the Holy Eucharist 
 and the perpetual sacrifice ; as in His 
 mortal life, from His conception in the 
 womb of the virgin, to the consummation 
 on the cross, He offered Himself as victim 
 not only in affection, but also in effect, 
 "because He Himself willed it." 
 
 He was " in labors from His youth " ; in 
 poverty, " not having where to lay His 
 
lO 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 head " ; in obedience, " subject to them " ; 
 obedient to His Father, even to the death 
 of the cross. 
 
 In meekness and humility; "meek and 
 humble of heart." In commiseration 
 towards the afflicted ; "Jesus wept ;" " See- 
 ing the city, He wept over it " ; " Come to 
 Me all you who labor, and are burdened, 
 and I will refresh you " ; " He went about 
 doing good " ; " Father, forgive them, for 
 they know not what they do." 
 
 In great and intolerable sorrows ; " My 
 soul is sorrowful even unto death." In His 
 body ; " a leper and stricken by God " ; "a 
 worm and no man " ; "the last of men, and 
 the most abject of the people," In His 
 entire humanity ; spoiled of all external 
 goods, even to His vesture, for which they 
 cast lots. Spoiled of the goods of honor 
 and fame, even to the most atrocious calum- 
 nies and infamy ; of the goods of His most 
 precious Life, even to death, the death of 
 the cross ; of the very goods of external, 
 and, according to His state of traveller upon 
 earth, even internal, consolation ; " My 
 God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me!" 
 
 All these are not the actions and suffer- 
 ings of a mere man, but the operations of 
 a God-Man. By these the Incarnate Word 
 manifests Himself to us as the object of our 
 adoration, love, and heartfelt gratitude. 
 Nothing less, then, than adoring love and 
 gratitude should correspond to each and all 
 of them. 
 
 It is clear, then, that God the Word, 
 acting and suffering in His sacred human- 
 ity, is the object in full of our adoration ; 
 
 that the sacred humanity, in respect of all 
 and each of the things above mentioned, is 
 X.h.Q partial object. The sacred humanity 
 we adore in the Incarnate Word ; in it the 
 eternal Word manifests Himself for our 
 adoration. The Divinity of the Word is 
 the formal or intrinsic reason on account 
 ofwhichwepay this homage of supreme 
 adoration. 
 
 It is evident, also, that in adoring Jesus 
 Christ, the Incarnate Word, certain mys- 
 teries of the incarnation, in particular, may 
 be piously and holily regarded by the 
 faithful. So, also, may certain portions of 
 the sacred humanity, which present a 
 special reason for being regarded as mani- 
 festations of the Incarnate Word, be thus 
 regarded. 
 
 Such reason may be, that they present 
 themselves to our loving adoration as the 
 immediate instruments by which the 
 Incarnate Word, in His actions and suf- 
 ferings, manifested Himself, and carried 
 out the work of our redemption ; or, again, 
 because they represent in brief, and, as it 
 were, symbolically, all those sentiments of 
 God incarnate towards us,^ which are, so 
 to speak, the interior principle of all His 
 actions and sufferings for us. 
 
 All the several manifestations of the 
 Incarnate Word may be referred either to 
 the exterior life and passion of Christ, or 
 to His interior life and passion, the inform- 
 ing principle, so to speak, of the exterior. 
 
 Hence the Church, led and governed 
 by the Spirit of Christ, her divine spouse, 
 has in a particular manner proposed to the 
 
 1 Philipp, sa. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 II 
 
 public worship of the faithful two special 
 objects of manifestation,in accordance with 
 the reasons above mentioned, namely : 
 the sacred wounds and the sacred heart 
 of Jesus, which respectively correspond to 
 this two-fold life and passion. 
 
 It is to the second of these that our 
 subject leads us to confine our attention. 
 We have seen in part, from what has been 
 already said, what is the judgment which 
 the Church has expressed regarding the 
 Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and how 
 jealously it has defended its solidity and 
 its harmony with revealed truths against 
 those who venture to taunt the worship- 
 pers of the sacred heart with heresy ! 
 
 By establishing the Feast of the Sacred 
 Heart for the whole Catholic world, it has, 
 in an unmistakable manner, recommended 
 the Devotion to the Sacred Heart to the 
 practice of all the faithful. 
 
 The time would seem to have now come 
 of which St. John, the beloved disciple, 
 spoke, when asked by St. Gertrude, to 
 whom, as we read in her life, he appeared, 
 why he, who had reposed on the breast of 
 our Lord at the Last Supper, had said so 
 little of the movements of His sacred 
 heart .? " God has reserved the sweetness 
 of the movements of His heart," he 
 replied, " to be revealed in later times, in 
 order to rekindle charity which shall have 
 been greatly cooled," 
 
 May we not read the mysterious words 
 of the Psalmist, * which, as we have said, 
 
 1 Accedet homo ad cer altum et exaltabitur Deus. " Man 
 *hall come to a deep heart, and God shall be exalted " {Psalm 
 turn.) 
 
 are so beautifully referred by St. Augus 
 tine to the triumphant manifestation of 
 His divinity through the humiliation of 
 His sacred humanity ; may we not read 
 these words as prophetic of the time when 
 the hearts of men should be led by the 
 voice of the Church to approach more 
 nearly to the sacred heart, and thus 
 manifest everywhere the triumph of the 
 reign of its divine love } 
 
 St. Bernard gives expression in his 
 burning language to the sentiments of the 
 hearts of the devout faithful in their 
 recognition of the claims of the heart of 
 Jesus to their love and adoration. " I too 
 have found," he says, " the heart of my 
 King, my brother, and my kind friend 
 Jesus, and shall I not adore it 1 Having 
 found Thy heart, which is also mine, O 
 sweet Jesus, I will adore Thee my God."^ 
 
 From the very beginning indeed, of the 
 church, the heart of Jesus has been loved 
 and adored. His Blessed Virgin Mother, 
 of course, holds the first place amongst the 
 adorers of the heart of Jesus. 
 
 The heart of Jesus and the heart of 
 Mary are one ; in so far as the distinction, 
 taught by our faith, between the Creator 
 and the creature may admit. The Blessed 
 Virgin, exalted to the ineffable dignity of 
 Mother of the Creator, and consequently, 
 the Mirror of Justice, reflected in her most 
 pure heart the perfect image of the heart 
 of her divine Son. She treasured up in 
 her immaculate heart, as in a house of 
 gold, all the depth of the riches of the 
 knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Queen 
 
 1 Sermon 3 on the Passion of our Lord. 
 
12 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 of prophets, she communicated to the 
 evangelists, from the precious treasury of 
 her knowledge, many mysteries of the life 
 of her Son, exhaling the divine perfume 
 which breathes from the sanctuary of His 
 sacred heart. 
 
 St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure, St. Ber- 
 nard, St. Gertrude, are links in that golden 
 chain which we trace in the lives of the 
 saints, from the earliest times, binding 
 together the witnesses to the devotion to 
 the sacred heart. 
 
 It is by St. Augustine, whose devout 
 scrutiny leads him to note each minute 
 incident in the life and passion of our 
 Lord, that we are reminded of the signifi- 
 cant expression used by the evangelist 
 when he records the opening of His sacred 
 side, whence issued forth the sacraments 
 which alone give us entrance to the true 
 life. 
 
 " It was for this," says St. Bernard, com- 
 menting upon the sanu mystery, ^ " that 
 Thy side was pierced through, that we 
 might thereby find an entrance within. 
 For this was Thy heart wounded, that in 
 it and in Thee, freed from all disquiet from 
 without, we might make our dwelling 
 therein. It was wounded, too, that by the 
 visible wound we might see the invisible 
 wound of Thy love. Who, then, would 
 not love a heart thus wounded } Who 
 would refuse to love a heart so loving "i " 
 
 Amongst the special gifts with which 
 our Lord rewards those who are truly 
 devout to His sacred heart, holy confi- 
 dence holds a prominent place. 
 
 1 Sermoji 3 on the Passion of our Lord. 
 
 " Come to Me all," are His own words. 
 The Almighty Word, by whom all things 
 were created, is able, by a single word, to 
 draw the hearts of all to Himself. By a 
 single word. He not only called, but drew 
 St. Matthew to Himself. " If the mag- 
 net," as St. Augustine beautifully remarks, 
 " possesses the power of attracting iron, 
 how much more must we believe that the 
 Lord of all had the power of drawing after 
 Him those whom He called.-'" The invi- 
 tation, then, of our Lord, not only calls 
 but also attracts to Himself those whom 
 He calls. " Come to Me all who labor 
 and are burdened." This is addressed to 
 all ; for, as St. Augustine argues, " Why 
 do we all labor, but that we are mortal 
 men, frail and weak } Why does He say. 
 Come to Me all who labor, but that we 
 may no longer labor ? His promise is open 
 to all ; for it is those who labor that He 
 calls to Him. Do we ask under what 
 promise we are called ? ' And I,' He says, 
 ' will refresh you.' " 
 
 We insinuated above that the virtue of 
 holy confidence, by which we are led to 
 approach our Lord, is a special gift. The 
 mysterious action of Divine grace, by 
 which tbe Incarnate Word attracts the 
 hearts of men to Himself, is declared by 
 the words of our Lord when He says, " No 
 man can come to Me unless My Father 
 who sent Me draw him." ^ 
 
 St. Augustine, speaking on these words, 
 explains, with his characteristic-depth and 
 beauty of thought, in what manner this 
 divine attraction is reconciled with the 
 
 1 St. John vi. 44. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 13 
 
 freedom of the human will. " How can I 
 freely believe if I am drawn ? I answer : 
 It is but little to say that you are drawn 
 willingly ; you are drawn also with delight. 
 What do I mean when I say that you are 
 drawn with delight ? ' Delight in the 
 Lord and He will give thee the petitions 
 of thy heart.' There is a delight of the 
 heart which finds sweetness in this bread 
 of heaven. If the poet could say, Each 
 one is drawn by his own delight — delight, 
 not necessity — how much more truly may 
 we say that man is drawn to Christ when 
 he delights in the truth, delights in hap- 
 piness, delights in Eternal Life ; for all 
 these is Christ. 
 
 "The Father draws to the Son those 
 who believe in the Son because they con- 
 sider that He has God for His Father. For 
 God begot the Son equal to Himself; and 
 whoever considers, and thinks, and ponders 
 in faith, that He, in whom he believes, is 
 equal to the Father, he it is whom the 
 Father draws to the Son." 
 
 Father de la Colombi^re, the faithful 
 servant who was appointed by our divine 
 Lord Himself to the special office of con- 
 tributing to make known the devotion to 
 His sacred heart, closes one of his sermons, 
 preached in England, with the most ardent 
 expression of. this holy confidence, in words 
 which will commend themselves to the 
 hearts of many. 
 
 " For myself, O my God ! I am so per- 
 suaded that Thou watchest over those who 
 hope in Thee, and that I can want nothing 
 so long as I look for everything from Thee, 
 that I am resolved henceforth to live with- 
 
 out any care, and to relieve myself of all 
 disquietude by casting all my care upon 
 Thee. In pace in idipsum dormiam et re- 
 quiescam ; qitoniam Tu Domine singidariter 
 in spe constituisti me. 
 
 *' Men may rob me of my goods, and my 
 honor ; sickness may deprive me of strength 
 and power to serve Thee ; I may even lose 
 Thy grace by sin ; but I will never lose my 
 hope. I will keep it to the last moment of 
 my life, and all the demons of hell shall 
 try in vain to rob me of it. In pace in idip- 
 sum dormiam. et requiescam. 
 
 " Others may look for happiness from 
 their riches or their talents ; others may 
 rely on the innocence of their lives, or on 
 the rigors of their penance ; or on the 
 abundance of their alms, or the fervor of 
 their prayers ; Tu Domine singulariter in 
 spe constituisti me. ' Thou, O Lord ! hast 
 singularly settled me in hope.' " 
 
 " For myself, O Lord ! all my hope is 
 hope itself. This hope has never deceived 
 any one. No one, no one, I say, has hoped 
 in the Lord, and been confounded. Nullus 
 speravit in Domino et confusus est. 
 
 " I am assured, then, that I shall be 
 eternally happy, because I hope firmly to 
 be so, and because it is from Thee, O my 
 God ! that I hope this. In Te Domine 
 speravi, non confundar in (Sternum. 
 
 " I know, alas ! too well, that I am weak 
 and changeable. I know how great is the 
 power of temptation against virtue the 
 most assured. I have seen the stars of 
 heaven and the pillars of the firmament 
 fall ; but all this cannot make me fear, as 
 long as I hope. I am secure against all 
 
«4 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 evil, and I am sure of hoping always, be- 
 cause I still hope this unswerving hope."^ 
 
 The heart of Jesus is the school in 
 which we are to study His sentiments, in 
 order to frame our lives in accordance with 
 them. " Learn of Me." He has said : 
 " Let the same mind be in you, which was 
 in Christ Jesus " ; are the words of the 
 apostle, in which he enforces the same 
 truth. 
 
 St. Ambrose describes the life of Mary 
 as the school in which all may learn to imi- 
 tate the life of her divine Son. 
 
 The Blessed Virgin, the crowning work 
 of divine grace, had attracted to herself 
 the eternal word. "While all things were 
 in quiet silence, and the night was in the 
 midst of her course. Thy Almighty Word," 
 says the Book of Wisdom, " leaped down 
 from heaven from Thy eternal throne." 
 
 While the deluge of sin covered the 
 whole face of the earth, Mary, like the 
 dove sent forth from the ark, had found for 
 the eternal word the only spot, her own 
 immaculate heart, from which the waters 
 had retired, and on which He might set 
 His foot. She brought back the branch of 
 olive, the sign of safety for the world, and 
 the pledge of the restoration of man. 
 
 By her faith, resplendent, in the mystery 
 of the annunciation, she secured to us the 
 triumph of the mystery of Redemption, 
 and became truly, in the part assigned to 
 her, the repairer of the human race. 
 " Blessed art thou who hast believed ; 
 behold all thmgs shall be accomplished 
 which were said to thee." 
 
 1 Sermon 68. On Confidence in God. 
 
 St. Leo tells us how tne work of the 
 restoration of man to his lost dignity is 
 effected by the action of divine grace ; and 
 we see, from what has been said, the 
 part taken by Mary in this supernatural 
 work. 
 
 " Man was created," says St. Leo, ^ " to 
 the image of God, in order that he might 
 imitate his Creator. The natural dignity, 
 therefore, of our race, consists in this, that 
 the form of the divine goodness may be 
 resplendent in us, as a mirror. It is to 
 this that the grace of our Saviour, day by 
 day, restores us, whereby what fell in the 
 first Adam is raised up again in the 
 second. 
 
 " But the cause of this restoration is 
 nothing but the mercy of God, whom we 
 could not love, unless He first loved us, 
 and dispelled the darkness of our ignorance 
 by the light of His truth. 
 
 " By loving us, then, God restores us to 
 His own image ; and in order that He may 
 find in us the form of His own goodness. 
 He gives us the power to act as He acts, 
 kindling the light of our minds, and in- 
 flaming us with the fire of His charity, in 
 order that we may not only love Him, but 
 also love whatever He loves." 
 
 The divine light, then, which is poured 
 into our minds, is cast from the life and 
 actions of our divine Lord. It comes in 
 a less majestic, but, for our weakness, 
 exceedingly attractive form, to our sight 
 in the life of Mary ; in which we are 
 enabled to gaze by a borrowed light on the 
 splendor of her divine Son, the bright- 
 
 1 Sermon I. on the Fast of Advent. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 15 
 
 ness of the glory of the Father and the 
 figure of His substance. 
 
 Our Lord Himself tells us what are the 
 virtues which are specially to form our 
 study in His sacred heart. "Learn of 
 Me," He has said, " because I am meek 
 and humble of heart." " Learn of Me," 
 observes St. Augustine on these words, 
 ** not to frame the world ; not to create 
 all things visible and invisible ; not to 
 work wonders in the world and to raise 
 the dead to life ; but ' becatise I am meek 
 and humble of heart.' " 
 
 It is to these two virtues that our atten- 
 tion is principally directed by the words 
 of the Decree of the Sacred Congregation 
 of the 6th of February, 1765 ; in which 
 X is said that the Devotion to the Sacred 
 Heart "renews symbolically the memory 
 of that divine love with which the Only 
 Begotten Son of God took human nature, 
 and, being made obedient even unto death, 
 said that He gave an example to men for 
 that He was meek and humble of heart." 
 
 Reparation for the injuries, which the 
 sacrament of His love has been the occa- 
 sion of inflicting on the heart of our 
 divine Lord, is one of the acts of devotion 
 which suggests itself most powerfully to 
 the adorer of His sacred heart. 
 
 In presence of this, the greatest gift of 
 His divine love, one of the most urgent 
 demands which presses upon our hearts 
 is to discover some means of making 
 reparation for the coldness and injuries 
 with which it has been received. 
 
 It is with a burning sense of this want 
 that Father de la Colombi^re, in his 
 
 sermon on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 
 earnestly appeals to our Lord Himself to 
 g^ve us His own most sacred heart to 
 enable us to make some adequate return. 
 He thus hastens in desire the coming of 
 the reign of His sacred heart by the 
 establishment of the Feast and the Devo- 
 tion throughout the world ; a work in 
 which he had already been called to 
 co-operate in a remarkable manner. 
 
 " Incredible," he says, " as may appear 
 the love manifested by the Son of God in 
 this Sacrament, there is something, as it 
 seems to me, yet more surprising ; the 
 ingratitude with which we repay so great 
 a love. 
 
 "What must Thou do then, O Lord! 
 to conquer hearts so hard.' Thou hast 
 gone so far, the holy fathers tell us, as 
 even Thy divine power could go. If even 
 the touch of Thy sacred body cannot 
 break this hellish charm, we can hope for 
 no other remedy of greater power. I see 
 but one resource in so great an evil. Thou 
 must Thyself, O my God ! Thou must 
 give us another heart : Thou must give us 
 a tender heart, a heart, not like our own, 
 of marble or of bronze ; Thou must give 
 us a heart like Thy own ; Thou must give 
 us Thy own heart itself."^ 
 
 1 Sermon 30. On the Feast of Corpus Christi. This ser- 
 mon was preached in England before the Duchess of York. 
 It was not long before this that Father de la Colombifere had 
 learned from Blessed Margaret Mary the revelation made to 
 her by our Lord regarding His wish that the Feast 01 His 
 Sacred Heart should be established in the Church. In this 
 work he was himself named and commissioned to assist her. 
 It was the subsequent publication of the Notes of his retreat 
 made in London (in which he speaks of this revelation), that 
 first brought the Devotion to the Sacred Heart into public 
 notice. 
 
 L 
 
i6 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. 
 
 It would seem that the ardent petition of 
 the faithful servant of the sacred heart has 
 been heard. Our Divine Lord has given to 
 , the Church His most sacred heart. The 
 devotion to it lives in the hearts of the 
 faithful children of the Church. The hom- 
 age of reparation goes up from unnum- 
 
 bered hearts throughout the Catholic world 
 to the heart of Jesus in the sacrament of 
 His love, as He resides in the tabernacles 
 of our altars or presents Himself on His 
 throne of mercy, and reminds them of 
 His sacred heart, the crowning gift of His 
 Incarnation. 
 
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 HALF=H0aRS 
 
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 (C^apfer 1.— On i^e Botoe of <Boii. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales and Father Segneri. 
 
 " This only take care of with all 
 
 \T. FRANCIS DE SALES was 
 bom at the Castle of Sales, in 
 the diocese of Geneva, August 
 21, 1567. 
 
 Leigh Hunt, the most charm- 
 ing of our modern essayists, 
 has left us an interesting article 
 in his "London Journal" 
 ( February 4, 1835,) o^ ^'^ 
 grand saint and doctor. He 
 says that, " like ¥6n6\on, he 
 was a sort of angel of a gentleman ; a species 
 of phoenix which, we really must say, the 
 French Church seems to have produced beyond 
 any other." 
 
 After the death of Bishop Granier, Francis 
 was appointed Bishop of Geneva. This was 
 on the 8th of December, 1602. 
 
 He continued to discharge all the duties of 
 a saintly prelate till the year 1622, when he 
 died of an apoplexy, at Lyons, December 28, 
 aged fifty-six, leaving several religious works, 
 collected in two volumes folio. He was 
 canonised in 1665. 
 
 For his life, &c., see MarsolUer, Moreri, 
 Disct. Hist., Butler, &c., &c. 
 
 diligence, that you love the Lord your God." 
 
 — JosuE xxiii. I. 
 
 Love is strong as death (Cant. viii. 6) ; 
 since both equally separate the soul from 
 the body and all terrestrial things, the 
 only difference is, that the separation is 
 real and effectual when caused by death, 
 whereas that occasioned by love is usually 
 confined to the heart. 
 
 I say usually, because divine love is 
 sometimes so violent that it actually sep- 
 arates the soul from the body, jnd, by 
 causing the death of those who love, it 
 renders them infinitely happier than i^ it 
 bestowed on them a thousand lives. 
 
 As the lot of the reprobate is to die in 
 sin, that of the elect is to expire in l!ie 
 love and grace of God, which is effected 
 in several ways. 
 
 Many of the saints died, not only in the 
 state of charity, but in the actual exercise 
 of divine love. St. Augustine expired in 
 making an act of contrition, which cannot 
 
lO 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS. ETC. 
 
 exist without love ; St. Jerome, in exhort- 
 ing his disciples to charity and the 
 practice of all virtues ; St. Ambrose, in 
 conversing sweetly with his Saviour, whom 
 he had received in the Holy Eucharist ; 
 St. Antony of Padua also expired in the act 
 of discoursing with our Divine Lord, after 
 having recited a hymn in honor of the ever- 
 glorious Virgin ; St. Thomas of Aquinas, 
 with his hands clasped, his eyes raised to 
 heaven, and pronouncing these words of 
 the Canticles, which were the last he had 
 expounded : " Come, my beloved, let us go 
 forth into the field " {Cant. vii. 1 1). 
 
 All the apostles, and the greater number 
 of the martyrs, died in prayer. Venerable 
 Bede, having learned the hour of his death 
 by revelation, went to the choir at the 
 usual hour to sing the evening office, it 
 being the feast of the Ascension, and at 
 the very moment he had finished singing 
 vespers he expired, following his Guide and 
 Master into Heaven, to celebrate His praises 
 in that abode of rest and happiness, round 
 which the shades of night can never gather, 
 because it is illumined by the brightness of 
 the eternal day, which neither dawns nor 
 ends. 
 
 John Gerson, Chancellor of the Univer- 
 sity of Paris, remarkable for his learning 
 and virtue, — of whom Sixtus of Sienna 
 said, " that it is difficult to decide whether 
 the vein of piety which runs through his 
 works surpasses his science, or whether 
 his learning exceeds his piety," — after 
 having explained the fifty properties of 
 divine love mentioned in the Canticles, 
 expired at the close of three days, smiling, 
 
 and pronouncing these words of the same 
 sacred text : " Thy love, O God, is strong 
 as death " {Cant. viii. 6). 
 
 The fervor and ardor of St. Martin at 
 the hour of his death are remarkable. St. 
 Louis, who has proved himself as great a 
 monarch among the saints as an eminent 
 saint among kings, being attacked by the 
 plague, ceased not to pray, and after 
 receiving the viaticum, he extended his 
 arms in the form of a cross, fixed his eyes 
 on heaven, and, animated with love and 
 confidence, expired in saying with the 
 Psalmist : " I will come into Thy house, O 
 Lord; I will worship towards Thy holy 
 temple, in Thy fear " {Ps. v. 8). 
 
 St. Peter Celestine, after having en- 
 dured the most cruel and incredible afflic- 
 tions, seeing the end of his days approach, 
 began to sing like the swan, and termi- 
 nated his song with his life, by these words 
 of the last Psalm : " Let every spirit praise 
 the Lord " {Ps. cl. 5). 
 
 St. Eusebi^, surnamed the Stranger, 
 died kneeling in fervent prayer. St. Peter 
 the Martyr yielded his last sigh in writing 
 (with his finger, which he had dipped in 
 his blood ) the articles of the faith for which 
 he sacrificed his life, and in saying : " Into 
 Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit " 
 {Ps. XXX. 6). 
 
 The great apostle of the Indies and 
 Japan, St. Francis Xavier, expired holding 
 a crucifix, which he tenderly embraced, and 
 incessantly repeated in transports of love 
 " O Jesus ! the God of my heart ! " 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 From his Treatise on " The Love of God!* 
 
THE LOVE OF GOD, 
 
 II 
 
 [Paul Segneri, S. J., was born in the year 
 1624, at Nantes. From an early age he 
 showed a predilection for the religious state. 
 He united the functions of missionary with 
 that of preacher during the space of twenty- 
 seven years, with a zeal truly apostolic. This 
 indefatigable religious and saintly director, 
 ' worn out with hard work and austerities, 
 yielded up his soul to God in the year 1694, 
 aged seventy.] 
 
 The saintly Father Segneri tells us that 
 the sure way of gaining heaven, without 
 much cost, is by making frequent acts of 
 the love of God, and by accustoming 
 ourselves to do everything with the inten- 
 tion of pleasing Him. 
 
 We shall no longer be tempted to 
 complain that we cannot undertake such 
 great things as we so much admire in 
 others. 
 
 God is content if we do all we can to 
 love Him in our sphere of life, and He 
 asks for nothing more. You sometimes 
 regret that you cannot practise great 
 
 austerities, which no doubt are due to Him 
 for our past sins. 
 
 Supply for these in another way, replace 
 those fastings and watchings by fervent 
 acts of love ; He requires nothing more. 
 
 You are engaged here below in temporal 
 affairs ; domestic cares, perchance, occupy 
 your time. Well, do all these with the 
 intention of pleasing Him, and God will 
 be as content as if you had undertaken the 
 worthy functions of an apostolate. 
 
 By what way, do you think, did the 
 saints attain to the perfection of holiness } 
 It was less by their heroic actions than by 
 the great love they showed in performing 
 their lesser duties. Our Saviour does not 
 praise Mary Magdalen for having done 
 much, but for having loved much. Mag- 
 dalen had not then practised austerities, 
 but the love of Jesus had filled her heart 
 
 with torrents of tears. 
 
 P. Segneri. 
 MttUtatiom. 
 
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 i W ^ W w ^ ^ ^/^ _y^_^i^ "w^ ^ JW^^^t^ : 
 
 
 I 
 
Fathers Bretteville, Faber, Nouet, and St. Gregory. 
 
 " With hitn that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death h« 
 shall be blessed." — Eccles. i. 13. 
 
 'ABBfi DE BRETTEVILLE, born 
 in the year 1630 at Bretteville, 
 near Caen in Normandy. In the 
 year 1667 he entered the Society 
 of Jesus, which order he, how- 
 ever, abandoned in 1678. He 
 died in 1688. 
 
 The fear of the terrible judgment of 
 God is necessary to lead a sinner back to 
 repentance, but love must be added to fear 
 to make this repentance perfect. 
 
 It seems to me that there is implanted 
 in the heart of man two natures ; both 
 combined will contribute to his conversion, 
 and make it perfect and secure. In toto 
 corde vestro. 
 
 There is in the heart an inferior nature, 
 which is more worldly, and which can only 
 be moved by sensible things ; fear is for 
 this portion of the heart ; for it is the 
 contemplation of hell and the fearful con- 
 sequences of vice that seizes the heart of 
 man and turns it away from sin. 
 
 But there is in this same heart a supe- 
 rior celestial nature, which is only suscep- 
 tible of the dawn of grace. This is love ; 
 
 this is that divine charity which moves 
 that portion of the heart, and which makes 
 it seek God for God's sake alone. 
 
 The conversion of the heart begins with 
 fear and finishes with love. 
 
 To return to God simply through fea^ 
 is, so to say, only half the battle. In 
 order that we may be all for God, we must 
 combine love with fear. 
 
 Is not the love of God sufficient, says 
 the great St. Augustine, to make us avoid 
 sin } Was it needful to employ fear and 
 terrible threats } Timor in adjutorium 
 amor is excitandus fuit. 
 
 At least — if fear did what love should 
 do, we should have less to complain of — 
 what is so shocking is, that nowadays we 
 have reached that pitch of indifference 
 which is neither moved by fear nor by 
 love, and that the most frightful things do 
 not make any impression on our hearts. 
 
 Bretteville. 
 Essays. 
 
 [Father Faber. — This celebrated and 
 justly appreciated Oratorian Father died on 
 September 26, 1863. The reader is referred 
 
THE FEAR OF GOD. 
 
 n 
 
 to Father John Bowden's interesting Life of 
 this zealous servant of God. 
 
 Suffice it to say, that his hymns are sung 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
 and that his works have been translated into 
 many an European language, and that his 
 preaching entitled him to the name of the 
 modem Chrysostom ; for truly, like to that great 
 saint and doctor, he was " honey-mouthed."] 
 
 The loss of holy fear is the mischief of 
 all mischiefs. For this fear is a special gift 
 of the Holy Ghost, to be sought for by 
 prayer and penance, by tears and cries, by 
 patience and impatience, and by the very 
 yearnings of an earnest and familiar love. 
 It has always seemed to me very and un- 
 expectedly beautiful when in the special 
 office of St. Philip Neri, knowing what 
 manner of man he was, and what peculiar 
 spirit he was of, it says in the antiphon of 
 the Magnificat, " Come, my children, and 
 I will teach you the fear of the Lord " ; 
 for how else shall the saint teach us 
 divinest love "i 
 
 Let us pass in review before ourselves 
 the ancient patriarchs and their deep awe 
 ot God ; how they trembled with holy fear 
 when God was nigh, and looked upon all 
 things as unspeakably hallowed over which 
 He had so much as cast His shadow. 
 
 Jacob, who was so familiar with Him 
 *^at he wrestled with Him, and would not 
 let Him go till He had blessed him, stands 
 eminent among the saints of God for the 
 gift and grace of fear. The very ritual of 
 the old synagogue was steeped in fear and 
 reverence. David, the man after God's 
 own heart, was ever praying for an increase 
 if holy fear. Our Blessed Lord Himself, 
 
 says the apostle, in the days of His flesh 
 was heard because He feared. Mary and 
 the apostles were filled, as none others 
 ever were, with the beauty, the tenderness, 
 and the excess of this heavenly fear. 
 
 Hundreds of dying saints, around whose 
 flesh and souls still clung the fair, white 
 robe of their unforfeitcd baptismal white- 
 ness, trembled in every limb as they pon- 
 dered the possible judgments of Infinite 
 Purity, beneath whose judicial eye they 
 were about to stand. 
 
 If they needed this degree of fear, what 
 degree need we "i 
 
 Why do frustrated vocations so abound ? 
 Whence come the multitude of unfinished 
 saints, that lie all around us like the broken 
 models of a sculptor's studio .' 
 
 Whence so little perseverance in the 
 devout life, and such wearying and untying 
 even of the vows and promises whereby 
 men have bound themselves to God } 
 
 Whencf 'mt from the lack of fear ! 
 
 Father Faber (Oral.) 
 On the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 I 
 
 [PfeRE NoUET was born at Mans in 1605- 
 He entered the Society of Jesus at the early age 
 of twenty. He is chiefly known for his ascetic 
 works, which are still read and studied with 
 great profit. His beautiful meditations have 
 been translated into the English language. 
 
 He died in Paris in the year 1680, aged 
 seventy-five.] 
 
 There is nothing so bold, nothing more 
 secure, than the fear of God. 
 
 He who fears God, fears naught else ; 
 and he who has a dread of displeasirp. 
 Him, or a fear of forfeiting His love, docs 
 
H 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 not shrink from suffering — cares not if 
 he lose all, provided he be in a state of 
 grace. 
 
 It is said that love banishes fear; but it 
 is the baneful fear of man, or that servile 
 and imperfect fear which dreads the shame 
 of sin more than the sin that brings the 
 shame. 
 
 I say more than this. There are times 
 when it is necessary to fortify the fear of 
 sin by the fear of hell, in order to 
 strengthen us in the love of God ; as when 
 we are assailed by some violent tempta- 
 tion, which is not so easy to overcome if 
 we are not well grounded in the fear of 
 God. 
 
 Let us, then, henceforth combine fear 
 with love. These are the two supports of 
 
 the soul which attach us to God, like un 
 His mercy and justice, which go hand 
 hand together. Do not let us sever the 
 one from the other, if we wish to walk on 
 the road to heaven without swerving froi 
 the paths of perfection. 
 
 Let us often say with humility thai 
 prayer of the Church : " Make us, O Lord, 
 keep always before our eyes the love and 
 fear of Your holy Name." 
 
 Pi:RE NOUET, S. J. 
 Meditations, vol. vil 
 
 an : 
 
 I 
 
 If a depraved mind be not shaken and 
 humbled by the fear of God, it will nev 
 amend its habitual sins. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 H»m. ir. #» tJu G0sftls. 
 
 I 
 
 id 
 
 I 
 
 ^MX 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 # # 
 
 
 # # 
 
 THE iA£II-I_ OF GOD. 
 
 ^^, 
 ^^P 
 
 ^ # # # 
 
 P^RE Nepveu, Massillon, and St. Augustine. 
 " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." — Matthew vi. lo. 
 
 ,ATHER F. NEPVEU, born at St. 
 Male in the year 1639, embraced 
 the Society of the Jesuits in 1654. 
 He was at the head of the College 
 at Rennes, where he died in the 
 year 1708. All the works of this 
 learned Jesuit are replete with 
 earnest piety. A list of his numerous works 
 may be found in Moreri's Dictionary. 
 
 Is there any evil in the city, says the 
 prophet, that God has not made ^ 
 
 Sin, the only evil that God does not will, 
 He simply permits, but the consequences 
 of sin He wills. He condemns the envy 
 of Joseph's brethren, but He wills the 
 effect, which was the slavery of Joseph. 
 He had a horror of the rage of the Jews, 
 but He willed and ordained the death of 
 our Lord, which was the consequence. 
 I He will punish the injury which is done to 
 you, but He wills the loss or affliction it 
 causes you. 
 
 Why not complain of these evils when 
 
 looked at in themselves ? but wherefore 
 
 murmur when we look upon them as the 
 
 ■&vill of Go^l > God wills it ! Ah, that has 
 
 a great weight with a man who has faith, 
 who knows and loves God. A good 
 Christian, would he dare to say, God wills 
 it, but I wish it not } 
 
 Our perfection consists in doing the 
 will of God, and it is for us to submit. 
 The will of God is infinitely holy. If this 
 be the rule of all sanctity, we are then 
 holy in proportion to our conformity to 
 His will. 
 
 Jesus Christ is our model, and we are 
 saintly when we are like unto Him ; and 
 we are so much the more like Him in 
 proportion to our conformity to the will of 
 God. Thus, does He not say that He is 
 not come to do His will, but that of His 
 Father > 
 
 In fine, our perfection and holiness 
 consists in charity. Charity is the fulfil- 
 ment of the law, says St. Paul. Perfect 
 charity consists in doing the will of God 
 in the highest sense it can be placed. 
 " He who keeps my commandments and 
 does my will," says Jesus Christ himself, 
 " is he who loves me " {/oAn xiv). 
 
i6 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 You are sometimes in anxiety ; if you 
 love God, that is a just subject of un- 
 easiness. If you are always ready to do 
 His will and to submit to it, then be sure 
 that you love Him. 
 
 Conformity to the will of God also 
 makes a man happy as God, who is happi- 
 ness itself. 
 
 What is it that makes God infinitely 
 happy ? It is that He does all that He 
 wills ; it is that He wills all that is good ; 
 it is that He finds in Himself all the good 
 that He wills. 
 
 Thus a man perfectly conformed to the 
 will of God possesses all these blessings. 
 
 He does what he wills because he only 
 wishes for what God wills ; because it 
 fulfils also, in whatever manner it may be. 
 His fulfilment also. 
 
 He also wishes only for that which is 
 good, for he wills only what God wills. 
 
 In conclusion, he finds all things good 
 in themselves ; for his conformity to the 
 will of God, united as it is to God, makes 
 him possess God ; and what benefit can 
 fail to occur to him who possesses God } 
 Le PfeRE Nepveu. 
 Reflex. Chridtiennes. 
 
 [John Baptist Massillon was the son of a 
 notary residing at Hybres in Provence. Born 
 on the 24th of June, 1663, he entered the 
 Congregation of the Oratory in the year 1681. 
 His fame as a fine preacher having reached 
 the ears of Louis XIV., he was summoned to 
 Versailles to preach the Advent. It was 
 after the course of these discourses that he 
 received the following-encomium from the lips 
 of the French king : — " My father, I have 
 been well satisfied with many orators, but as 
 
 for you, every time that I have heard you I 
 have felt very discontented and vexed with 
 myself. " 
 
 In the year 17 17, the Regent nominated 
 him to be the Bishop of Clermont. He re- 
 mained in the government of his diocese until 
 the year 1742, when he died at the age of 
 seventy-nine.] . 
 
 Joseph, raised to the highest dignity in 
 the court of Egypt, by his elevation 
 became to be the terror and protector of 
 his brothers. These (of whom he had so 
 much reason to complain) — did he not 
 consider them as only executors of the 
 will of God, notwithstanding the outrages 
 they inflicted on him, that the treason 
 and cruelty which they employed against 
 him proved, by the decrees of Divine 
 Providence, to be more beneficial than 
 their jealousy could have imagined } 
 
 It is true that they had sold him to gc 
 into Egypt, but it was not on account of 
 their perfidy, rather it was by the will oi 
 God that he should be sent to this foreigi 
 land. Non vestro consilio sed Dei voluntatk 
 hie missus sum. 
 
 Such were the feelings of so man] 
 saints and martyrs with regard to those] 
 by whom they had been persecuted. 
 
 They reverenced even the scourges] 
 
 which God had sent to chasten them. The| 
 
 early Christians blessed the hands that 
 
 struck them. 
 
 Massillon. 
 
 Give us, O Lord, the will to do what! 
 
 Thou commandest, and to do what ThouJ 
 
 wiliest 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 Confessions. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 :^ 
 
 §€ "M:- X,-J^^ M/M^M/M-M^ M. M. M.M.M.M,.^.:M>:M: M,. M.M ..J ^. JC M. M .X.M.-MA, 
 
 i\ 
 
 5ii I jjjjmLUJj^ujiJJiLmjJiiiJJiLJim JJJIJJILU^ 
 
 lU 
 
 PfeRE Antoine de la Porte, Carmelite, Massillon, 
 St. Francis de Sales and St. Cyprian. 
 
 " The seed is the word of God." — Luke viii. 1 1. 
 
 chaste 
 saints. 
 
 CCORDING to St. Augustine, 
 the Divine Word falls on a 
 weak and sensitive element, 
 and it becomes a. sacrament. 
 This word also falls on impure 
 hearts, and it makes them 
 on the wicked, and makes them 
 It finds them in sin, and it con- 
 verts them to God. 
 
 As in the most wonderful of our Sac- 
 raments, those words. Hoc est Corpus 
 Meum, are transubstantiations of bread 
 into the Body and of wine into the Blood 
 of the Son of God, because they are not 
 the words of the priest, but the words of 
 Jesus Christ, offered up nevertheless by the 
 priest ; so in like manner preachers make 
 use of moral but wondrous transubstan- 
 tiations, and change old sinners into new 
 servants of God. 
 
 What miraculous wonders has not this 
 Word produced ! It falls on the heart of 
 an adulterous David, and it makes him a 
 royal penitent. It falls on the heart of a 
 
 17 
 
 Magdalen ; it finds her a worshipper of sin, 
 and it makes her a model of penance. It 
 falls on Matthew, and from a public usurer, 
 it makes him an Evangelist. You see a 
 soul enter the Church — a soul enamored 
 of the world and full of vanity — it enters 
 into the Church ; it pays but little atten- 
 tion to the Word of God, and immediately 
 a penetrating light pierces the heart, which 
 shows the bad state in which it is. From 
 this knowledge it sees its shame, its base- 
 ness ; this shame produces the grief for 
 having offended God, and this sorrow 
 brings forth there solution of a change of 
 life. 
 
 What is the reason of this wonder, if it 
 be not the Word of God } 
 
 The force and energy of the Word of 
 God is such that one could say that it was 
 all-powerful : Vox Domini in virtu te in 
 magnificcntia. It is found in the nothing- 
 ness of the ears who have listened to its 
 voice. " It calls those which are not, as 
 well as those which are.'* 
 
HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 It has subdued the world, overturned 
 idolatry, converted whole nations. It has 
 brought kings, wise men, ministers of 
 state, under the subjection of the Gospel. 
 It has done more than this : throughout 
 the universe the most barbarous and sav- 
 age of people have been civilized. In 
 short, we owe to this Divine Word the 
 conversion of the whole world and the 
 extirpation of idolatry, 
 
 Le PfeRE Antoine de la Porte 
 (Carmelite). 
 
 However enlightened and clever we may 
 be, we must not, on account of that, neg- 
 lect the assistance of holy instructions ; 
 however bright may be our intellect, we 
 can easily go astray ; however learned and 
 scientific, we can always learn something 
 from hearing the Word of God. If your 
 understanding learns of nothing new, your 
 heart will, at least, feel that you know 
 nothing, if you do not know Jesus and 
 Him crucified. If you are sinners, what 
 more capable of bringing you to a sense of 
 your own unworthiness than by listening 
 to the voice of the missionary sent by 
 God "i If you are good, what sweeter con- 
 sc^ation than hearing truths explained, 
 truths you love and practice, and which 
 become more beneficial the oftener you 
 hear them ? 
 
 Our Lord has given to the preacher of 
 His Word a help which is not to be found 
 elsewhere. The commonest truths, in the 
 mouth of the preacher, have a strength 
 and unction which can alone move and 
 convert the most hardened heart. 
 
 In what disposition ^o you come to heat^ 
 the Word of God ,? 
 
 Many attend to decide upon the merit 
 or incapacity of him who announces it ; 
 many, to make unjust comparisons between 
 this and that preacher. Some glory in 
 being very difficult to please, in order to 
 appear of excellent taste ; they, inatten- 
 tively, listen to simple explanations which 
 are necessary to be touched upon, and all 
 the fruit which they gather from a Chris- 
 tian discourse consists of disparaging 
 remarks and pointing out the defects of 
 the preacher. They come with an inten- 
 tion of finding fault, and ever find some- 
 thing to censure and criticise. 
 
 Massillon. 
 Lenten Sermon. 
 
 Listen with devotion to the Word of 
 God, whether you hear it in familiar con- 
 versation with your spiritual friends or at 
 a sermon. 
 
 Make all the profit of it you possibly 
 can, and suffer it not to fall to the ground, 
 but receive it into your heart as a pre- 
 cious balm, imitating the most holy Virgin, 
 who preserved carefully in her heart all 
 the words which were spoken in praise of 
 her Son. 
 
 Remember that our Lord gathers up the 
 words we speak to Him in our prayers, 
 according as we gather up those He 
 speaketh to us by preaching. 
 
 Have always at hand some approved 
 book of devotion, such as the spiritual 
 works of St. Bonaventure, of Gerson, of 
 Thomas k Kempis, etc., etc., and read a 
 
iinillllllillillllilillllll: 
 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii I II iiiii mil I iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
 DEPONENTES EUM DE LIGNO | 
 POSLERUNT EUM EN MONUMENTQ 
 
 CopjTight, 1889. 
 
 Miiiphy & McCarthy. 
 
 €or|JU^ €^n^tE 
 
THE WORD OF GOD. 
 
 19 
 
 little in them every day, with as much 
 devotion as if you were reading a letter 
 
 from those saints. 
 
 St. Franxis de Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 Manna suited everybody's taste ; in like 
 manner the Word of God, which is 
 
 preached to all throughout the world, 
 supplies the wants of all kinds of persons, 
 and according as it is listened to by those 
 of ordinary intelligence it will be found — • 
 like the manna of old — to be suitable to 
 
 everybody's taste. 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 Oh the Lord's Prt^tr. 
 
♦ CMAPXER V. ♦ 
 
 
 Saints Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Cypriam. 
 
 " Do not think that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but 
 to fnlfil." — Matthew v. 17. 
 
 T. AUGUSTINE, the perfect model 
 of penitents, was born, a. d. 354, at 
 Agaste, a small town of Numidia, 
 in Africa. Patrick, his father, 
 after having been for many years 
 an idolater, embraced Christianity 
 and received baptism. As to St. 
 Monica, his mother, every one knows that she 
 was a model to all Christian mothers. Through 
 the prayers of his saintly mother, he was con- 
 verted when he was thirty-two. At the age 
 of forty-two, he was consecrated Bishop of 
 Hippo. 
 
 St. Augustine has ever been regarded, and 
 justly, as the most learned of the bishops of 
 his age, and the doctor of all the churches. 
 He expired, tranquilly, on the 28 ih of August, 
 430, aged seventy-six years, nigh forty of which 
 had been spent in the labors of apostolic 
 ministry. 
 
 The difference between the two Testa- 
 ments may be explained in two words — 
 love and fear. The one appertains to the 
 old man, the other to the new. 
 
 This is the principal difference. For 
 the new law is that which God promises 
 to impress upon the mind, to engrave on 
 
 2fi 
 
 the heart, and that which is written on in 
 giving us the Holy Ghost, which diffuses 
 the requisite charity to make us love 
 truth and justice. 
 
 So that this new law induces us to love 
 all that it commands, while the laws 
 engraven on a stone only show the obli- 
 gations of creatures, and threats in default 
 of obedience. It is this difference which 
 the apostle wished to point out in his 
 Epistle to the Romans, where he says, 
 " We have not received the spirit of bond- 
 age again in fear, but we have received 
 the spirit of adoption of sons of God." 
 The spirit of bondage is that which creates 
 fear, the spirit of adoption is that of love ; 
 fear makes us slaves, love makes us as chil- 
 dren. The Jews, who acted only through 
 fear of punishment, were slaves ; the 
 Christians, who love, are the true children. 
 
 The new law, imprinted on the heart b)* 
 the Holy Spirit, regulates the interior 
 feeling ; whilst the laws engraven on stone 
 can only regulate exterior actions. 
 
THE LAW OF GOD. 
 
 21 
 
 Fear is not capable of changing the 
 interior feeling ; it can -only act out- 
 wardly, and thus forces the will to do what 
 it would not do, or even what it might do. 
 So that exteriorly it submits to force, 
 interiorly, it resists. If deeds and words 
 conform to the law, the heart is opposed to 
 it. If the mouth and hands obey, the will 
 is disobedient. 
 
 This is the reproach that God makes to 
 the Jews when He says through His 
 prophet, "This people honor me with 
 their lips, but their hearts are far from me." 
 
 The two usual methods adopted to gov- 
 ern mankind are fear and hope. This is 
 why the old law does not solely make use 
 of threats to ensure obedience, but it adds 
 to them promises ; but these promises 
 were for temporal welfare, for sensual and 
 gross men who sought for fleeting pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Thus we read in the 23d chapter of 
 Exodus that Moses, in order to induce 
 them to observe the law he was about to 
 promulgate, promises them every kind of 
 prosperity — health, long life, a numerous 
 progeny, abundance of everything neces- 
 sary, and protection from enemies, so that 
 they may enjoy in peace and quiet all 
 these blessings. 
 
 Now, on the contrary, the Son of God 
 begms by preaching penance, and speaks 
 only of the kingdom of heaven ; and to 
 make us understand that His wish was that 
 Christians should despise earthly pros- 
 perity, not expecting a reward in this life. 
 He begins His beautiful Sermon on the 
 Mount by saying, " Blessed are the poor in 
 
 spirit," " Blessed are the meek," " Blessed 
 are they that mourn " ; and in St. Luke 
 He says, "Woe to you that are rich ! woe to 
 you that now laugh ! and to all who seek 
 the esteem and approbation of men ! " 
 
 In this life, He leads us to expect 
 sufferings, crosses, and persecution, and 
 He wills that we should love what is 
 unseen and supernatural. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 Extracts front his Book against Adimantt. 
 
 [St. John Chrysostom. — This renowned 
 saint and doctor of the church was born in 
 Antioch in the year 344, and died A. D. 407, 
 aged sixty-three. 
 
 The name of Chrysostom (which means 
 golden-mouthed) was assigned to him after his 
 death, to express the eloquence which he 
 possessed in a much greater degree than the 
 other fathers of the Church, He never re- 
 peats himself, and is always original.] 
 
 The apostles announced to mankind a 
 doctrine raised above human intellect ; 
 they spoke not of earthly things, but of 
 heaven ; they preached a kingdom and state 
 which had never before been understood ; 
 they discovered other riches, another 
 poverty, another liberty, another bondage, 
 another life and death — in fact, a change 
 and renewal of everything. 
 
 Their teachings are far beyond that of a 
 Plato who had traced out an idea of an 
 absurd republic, or that of a Zenon, or 
 those of other philosophers who had 
 formed projects of governments and re- 
 publics, and those who wished to be 
 lawgivers. 
 
 One need but read their books to see 
 ' that the devil urged them on and diffused 
 
22 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 a profound darkness in their mind, upset- 
 ting by that means the order of things, and 
 destroying the most inviolate laws of 
 nature. And notwithstanding that these 
 philosophers were at perfect liberty to 
 publish their strange maxims, fearless of 
 danger or persecution, they deemed it 
 necessary to call to their aid the most 
 elegant of phrases, the most pleasing 
 eloquence, in order to impress their own 
 ideas firmly in their minds. 
 
 The Gospel which, on the contrary, 
 preached only for the poor and for all 
 those persecuted sinners throughout the 
 world who had been treated as slaves, and 
 who were exposed to all kinds of danger 
 — this Gospel, I say, has all at once been 
 received with every mark of respect by 
 the learned as well as by the ignorant, 
 by warriors and princes, — in a word, by 
 Greeks and Romans, and by every savage 
 
 nation. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Sermon on St. Matthew. 
 
 [St. Jerome, one of the most learned and 
 prolific authors of the early Latin Church, was 
 born in Dalmatia about the year 331. The 
 learned epistles which he wrote to St. Marcella 
 and St. Paula are celebrated for their learning 
 and rare monastic piety. 
 
 St. Paula accompanied him to Palestine in 
 386, where he founded a convent at Bethle- 
 hem ; near this he remained till his death in 420. 
 
 His biblical labors are highly valuable, his 
 Latin version of the Old Testament from the 
 
 original language is the foundation of the 
 Vulgate, and his commentary gave a new 
 impulse to the study of the Holy Scriptures.] 
 
 St. Jerome, in writing to the mother 
 of Paula, says : Begin with the Psalter, 
 and teach your daughter how to chant 
 the Psalms. You can read with her the 
 Proverbs, by which she will know the 
 moral precepts. 
 
 This can be followed by Ecclesiasticus, 
 a book so capable of inspiring her with 
 a contempt of this world. 
 
 You can then proceed to the Gospels — 
 these, your daughter ought ever to have 
 in hand. 
 
 She can then read the Acts and Epistles 
 of the apostles. These finished, she will 
 gladly learn by heart the Prophets and 
 historical books. 
 
 Lastly, she can read the Canticle of 
 Canticles, for she will have been prepared 
 to understa.nd this in a spiritual sense. 
 
 St. Jerome. 
 
 The evangelical precepts are no other 
 than divine lessons ; they are the founda- 
 tion of hope, the strengthening of faith, 
 the food of charity ; the Gospel is a rudder 
 to steer our way through life, and helps 
 us to reach the harbor of salvation. 
 
 The law commands but few things, but 
 
 those few should be willingly and lovingly 
 
 performed. 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 
 On the Lord's Praytr. 
 
PRESENCE OF GOB 
 
 * 
 
 PftRE Nepveu and Father Fabek, 
 •• The sinner hath provoked the Lord — God is not before his eyes." — Psalm x. 
 
 OD sees me. Ah, what a phrase 
 is this for him who understands 
 it well ! How capable it is to 
 control our passions, to moder- 
 ate our desires, to prevent us 
 from sinning, to sustain our 
 courage, to animate our fervor, to regulate 
 our conduct ! 
 
 God sees me. He is ever present, always 
 mindful of me, thinks ever of me ; whereas 
 I heed Him not, I am not attentive to 
 Him, I never think of Him. Oh ! shame, 
 shame ! 
 
 God sees me. With what respect and 
 modesty ought I not to behave in His 
 presence I The seraphim hide their faces 
 with their wings, and I, a mere worm of 
 the earth, do not tremble, 
 
 God sees me. Shall I dare, in the pres- 
 ence of Thy glance so infinitely pure, 
 commit deeds which I dare not even show 
 to man } Shall I dare to sin in Thy pres- 
 ence, knowing that sin and the sinner is 
 hated by Thee, and to condemn the sinner 
 Thou hast no wish } 
 
 God sees me. He penetrates into the 
 innermost recesses of my heart ; He sees 
 
 23 
 
 therein every desire, and discerns every 
 intention. With what purity of intention, 
 then, ought I not to perform every action. 
 
 God is present not only by the immen. 
 sity of His being, but in a more eflficacious 
 manner. He is with me to help me, to 
 support me, to act with me, to work with 
 me. I can do nothing without Him, but 
 also I can do everything with Him. I 
 cannot make the least movement, conceive 
 the least desire, do the smallest action, 
 unless He lends me His help and assist- 
 ance, even when I would wish to offend 
 Him. What condescension ! Why ought 
 I to abuse it "i But He always accommo- 
 dates Himself to my inclinations ; He 
 subjects Himself to my will. Is it not 
 reasonable that I should subject my will to 
 His } He concurs always with me. Is it 
 not right and just that I should act in 
 concert with Him ? 
 
 Not only does God act within me, but 
 He also acts with every creature for me. 
 It is for me that He gives light and warmth 
 to the sun, that He refreshes me with the 
 breeze, that He cheers me with the fire ; 
 should I not be unjust if I did not make 
 
24 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 use of these creations fer His glory alone? 
 Should I not be ungrateful if I basely con- 
 verted such blessings into opportunities of 
 sinning against Him who created them for 
 
 me ? 
 
 Le P^re Nepveu. 
 
 Christian Reflections. 
 
 We do our works in the presence of 
 God, when we practise the presence of God 
 while we do them. There are six ways of 
 practising the presence of God which are 
 given in books, and from which souls 
 should select those which are most suited 
 to them, but not try to practise more than 
 one. 
 
 The first, is to try to realize God as He 
 is in heaven ; the second, to regard our- 
 selves in Him as in His immensity; the 
 third, is to look at each creature as if it 
 were a sacrament having God hidden under 
 it ; the fourth, is to think of Him, and see 
 Him by pure faith ; the fifth, is to look at 
 Him as in ourselves rather than outside of 
 us, though He is both ; and the sixth, is to 
 gravitate towards Him by an habitual 
 loving-mindfulness of heart, a kind of 
 instinct which is no uncommon growth of 
 prayer, and comes sooner than would be 
 expected when men strive to serve God 
 out of the single motive of holy love. 
 
 For the perfection of our ordinary 
 actions, we should do them in the sight of 
 Jesus, that is, to use the words of the 
 missal, by Christ, with Christ, and in 
 Christ. To do our actions by Christ, is 
 
 to do them in dependence upon Him, as 
 He did everything in dependence on His 
 Father, and by the movement of His 
 spirit. To do our actions with Christ is 
 to practise the same virtues as our Lord, 
 to clothe ourselves with the same dis- 
 positions, and to act from the same 
 intentions, all according to the measure of 
 the lowliness of our possibilities. To do 
 our actions in Christ is to unite ours with 
 His, and to offer them to God along with 
 His, so that for the sake of His, they may 
 
 be accepted on high. 
 
 Father Faber. 
 Growth in Holiness. 
 
 Theological Definition of the Presence of 
 God. 
 
 When one speaks of the presence of 
 God, there are two ways of looking upon 
 it. The first, is that God is present to us, 
 that is to say, that we think of Him, and 
 that, in the eyes of faith, we look upon 
 His Divine Being as intimately present in 
 the place in which we are. The second, is 
 that we are present to God, that is to say, 
 that He sees us, and is always looking 
 upon us, so that nothing escapes His 
 observation, — words, deeds, thoughts, 
 desires, and intentions, — and that wher- 
 ever we may be, we may always have Him 
 for a spectator, witness, and judge of all 
 that we do. That should we act well or ill, 
 such actions are always in His presence 
 and before His eyes. 
 
' chapter viij > 0B \^e. frouidense. of ^od. 
 
 St. Chrysostom, PfeRE Croiset, S. J., and St. Augustine. 
 
 " For all Thy ways are prepared, and in Thy Providence Thou hast placed Thy judgments." 
 
 — Judith ix. 5. 
 
 [ET us place our trust in the 
 Providence of God. Let us 
 cut off all those anxieties which 
 serve only to torture our minds 
 uselessly, since, whether we 
 make ourselves uneasy or not, 
 it is God alone who sends us all these 
 things, and who may increase them until 
 He sees they disturb us less. 
 
 Of what use would all our cares, anx- 
 ijeties, and troubles be to us if they only 
 served to torment us, and made us suffer 
 the pain of having had them ? 
 
 Our cares are only the cares of an 
 individual ; those of God include the whole 
 world. The more we trouble ourselves 
 with our own interests, the less will God 
 interfere. 
 
 He who is invited to a splendid banquet 
 does not trouble himself about what he 
 shall eat, and he who goes to a limpid 
 spring does not make hhnself uneasy, for 
 he knows he will be able to appease his 
 thirst 
 
 26 
 
 Since, then, we have the providence of 
 God, which is richer than the most mag- 
 nificent feast and more inexhaustible than 
 the purest spring, do not be uneasy — do 
 not cherish any misgivings. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Taken from his Homilies on St. Matthew. 
 
 [Le Pere Croiset, S. J., was bom at 
 Marseilles, about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century. His " Exercises of Piety," and his 
 other religious works, are sufficient to prove 
 that he was one of the great masters of the 
 spiritual life.] 
 
 Why fear ? says St. Augustine ; you 
 have a God for a protector and His Provi- 
 dence for a guide. 
 
 What ! says the holy doctor, you fear to 
 perish under the guidance of God, and 
 under the protection of His Providence.'' 
 Times ergo ne pereas f Is it that you 
 know not that not a single hair can fall 
 off without His approval "i Ciijus capillus 
 non peribit. Ah ! if He takes so much 
 care of things that are of little or no 
 
26 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 consequence, how safe ought we not to 
 feel when we know with what care He 
 watches a soul which is so precious to 
 Him? 
 
 I am under the protection of the Lord, 
 says the prophet ; there is nothing He 
 will fail to supply me with. It is true 
 that I am poor and destitute of every- 
 thing, but the Lord takes care of me, and 
 He has undertaken to provide for my 
 wants ; nothing can happen to me — sin 
 excepted — without His concurrence. 
 What have I to fear ? 
 
 What a host of consoling reflections 
 can we not find in the Divine Providence 
 over His creatures ! How sweet to think 
 with what wisdom our Lord disposes of 
 everything for His glory and our salva- 
 tion ! The cunning and malice of an 
 enemy, the ill-will of an envious man, a 
 hundred accidents of this life, all end 
 advantageously to those who love their 
 God. 
 
 It is true that we are but exiles and 
 travellers in this fleeting world, that we 
 therein journey through difficult and 
 dangerous paths, but what does God not 
 do — yes, and daily, too, — to prevent His 
 servants from straying or from perishing } 
 He not only is their guide and protector, 
 but He showers down His graces, and 
 even makes use of His angels to help 
 them. He warns them, by secret inspira- 
 tions, what they should do and what they 
 should not do, so that one would say that 
 God is solely occupied in caring for His 
 creatures. 
 
 The world ignores all these loving 
 contrivances of Divine Providence. The 
 worldlings judge of the different accidents 
 which occur to well-to-do people, in the 
 same way they pass their judgment on 
 the adversities of Joseph, but they did not 
 see the resources of Divine Providence 
 which made everything turn to the 
 advantage of His elect — according to the 
 words of the apostle, Diligentibus Deum, 
 omnia co-operantur in bonum. 
 
 Let all the world rise up in arms 
 against the servants of God ; what have 
 they to fear when under the protection of 
 their Divine Master } The malice of men 
 cannot hurt them. 
 
 Let them employ all possible cunning 
 
 to disquiet them ; let them use every kind 
 
 of cruel torture to destroy their bodies ; 
 
 even let all hell be unloosed against them ; 
 
 what have they to dread, if God is for 
 
 them } 
 
 Le PfeRE Croiset. 
 
 Exercises of Piety, 
 
 He who has given us life will give us 
 wherewith to sustain it. He who feeds 
 the thief, will He not feed the innocent } 
 And if He takes care of His enemies, 
 what will He not do for His friends ? 
 You cannot place yourselves into better 
 hands than He who made you what you 
 are. He who has been so good to you 
 before you were what you are, can He 
 leave you uncared for, now that you are 
 what He would wish you to be "i 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 On Psalms vi. and xxxviii. 
 
Henri Marie Boudon, and Father Faber. 
 'My yoke is sweet, and my burden light." — Matthew xi. 3a 
 
 'ENRI MARIE BOUDON, Arch- 
 deacon of Evreux, was born in 
 1624, and died in the year 1702. 
 This holy servant of God was the 
 author of many pious works. The 
 seventh volume of the Library of 
 Religious Biography, edited by 
 Edward Healy Thompson, contains an excel- 
 lent biography of this distingubhed eccle- 
 siastic. 
 
 What an honor, and how glorious it is, to 
 be in the service of so great, so good a 
 Master ! 
 
 The condition of the least of His ser- 
 vants is incomparably greater than that 
 of the kings of the earth ; for their great- 
 ness and prosperity finish with their lives, 
 but the servants of God finish with their 
 lives the pains and trials they have had to 
 suffer in His service, and after that they 
 find an eternal happiness and immortal 
 crowns awaiting them. 
 
 It is then reasonable what the royal 
 prophet assures us, that one day spent in 
 His house and. in His service is better 
 than a thousand days spent elsewhere. 
 
 It is true that all men esteem and love 
 to be great, but they do not think wherein 
 
 true greatness is. They deem it to be a 
 great honor to be in the service of royalty ; 
 they pay heavy sums to be deemed the 
 head of a firm ; but they take but little 
 pains to be a servant of God, and, what is 
 more grievous, they often blush at the 
 idea of fulfilling the duties of His service. 
 
 The great apostle was elated at a time 
 when the Christians were looked upon as 
 scavengers of the world, Tanquam purga- 
 menta hnjus mundi ; and we often are 
 confused when called upon to practise the 
 duties of His service, and this, too, at the 
 time when the Christian religion is dom- 
 inant, and when many powerful monarchs 
 have willingly professed it. 
 
 Happy are the Christians who feel the 
 honor and acknowledge the grace which 
 God has bestowed upon them when He 
 has received them as His servants ! Oh ! 
 what a good master we have ! how mag- 
 nificent are His promises ! how faithful 
 He is to carry them out 1 how liberal are 
 His rewards ! 
 
 How happy is he who serves Him ! and 
 thrice happy is the choice he has made \ 
 Oh ! if all men knew what it wa* lo be a 
 
28 
 
 HALF-HOUKS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 servant of God, they would have no more 
 ardent wish, or aspire to a higher honor, 
 ihan to be reckoned among the number of 
 His faithful servants. 
 
 O my Lord and my God ! my heart is 
 filled with bitter grief when I call to 
 mind the years of my past life. Alas ! 
 far from having employed them in Thy 
 service, I am one of those unfaithful ser- 
 vants who have had my own self-interest 
 in view. 
 
 However, as You are my Lord and 
 King, I this day take an oath of allegiance, 
 and from henceforth, swear that my wish 
 is to live and die in Thy service. 
 
 BOUDON. 
 
 Le Chritien Inconttit. 
 
 The service of God is not only our most 
 important, but our sole work. This is so 
 obvious that it requires only to be stated. 
 Time and words would alike be wasted in 
 the attempt to prove it. Yet, alas ! even 
 spiritual persons need to be reminded of 
 this elementary truth. Let us subject 
 ourselves to a brief examination upon it. 
 Are we thoroughly convinced it is true .? 
 Has our past life shown proof of it ? Is 
 our present life modelled upon it } Are 
 we taking pains that our future life shall 
 be so ? 
 
 What is the result when we compare 
 our worldly promptitude and industry 
 with our preference of the service of God 
 over all other things ^ Are we in any 
 way on the lookout for His greater glory, 
 or our own greater union with Him } Is 
 it plain at first sight that we have no 
 
 object or pursuit so engrossing and so 
 decidedly paramount as the service of 
 God } 
 
 The spirit in which we serve Him 
 should be entirely without reserve. Need 
 I prove this 1 What is to be reserved ? 
 Can there be reserves with God ,? Can 
 His sovereignty be limited, or our love of 
 Him ever reach the measure of enough } 
 But have we no reserve with Him now ? Is 
 there really no corner of our heart over 
 which He is not absolute Lord 1 Does 
 He ask of us freely what He wills, and do 
 we do our best to give Him all He asks } 
 Have we no implicit condition with Him 
 that He is only so far with us and no 
 further } Is our outward life utterly and 
 unconditionally dependent on Him } 
 And if it is, is the kingdom of our inward 
 intentions reposing peaceably beneath His 
 unquestioned sceptre .'' 
 
 It is of importance not to allow our- 
 selves to rest in any pursuit except the 
 service of God. By resting I mean feel- 
 ing at home, reposing on what we do, 
 forgetting it is a mere means even when 
 we do not err so far as to mistake it for 
 an end, being contented with what we are, 
 not pushing on, nor being conscious that 
 we are fighting a battle and climbing a 
 hill. Nothing can excuse the neglect of 
 the duties of the position in life which God 
 has conferred upon us. All is delusive 
 where these are not attended to and made 
 much of. They are, as it were, private 
 sacraments to each one of us. They are 
 our chief, often our sole, way of becoming 
 saints. 
 
THE SERVICE OF GOD. 
 
 29 
 
 But while we perform them with all the 
 peaceful diligence which the presence of 
 God inspires, we must jealously realize 
 that they are means, not ends, subordinate 
 and subservient to the great work of our 
 souls. No amount of external work, not 
 the unsleeping universal heroism of a St. 
 Vincent de Paul, can make up for the 
 want of attention to our own souls, such 
 as resting in our external work would 
 imply. 
 
 Hence we should be jealous of any great 
 pleasure in our pursuits, even when they 
 
 are works of Christian mercy and love. 
 It is always a pleasure to do good, yet it 
 must be watched, moderated, and kept in 
 check, or it will do us a mischief before 
 we are aware. The thought of eternity is 
 a good help to this. It brings down the 
 pride of external work, and takes the 
 brightness and color out of our successes ; 
 and this is well, for such brightness and 
 color are nothing more than a reflection of 
 ourselves and our own activity. 
 
 Father Faber. 
 Growth in Holiness- 
 
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 7n^ "^1^ "s^ T^ "^ ^W" 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ' - , -— 1 
 
 1 On \k Want of FefVoi' in tje pefVice of (Jod. J 
 
 
 ^^ iM^ ^M^ ^fe 4^ :^^ 
 
 ^^ ■^^ ^S^ ^^ '^ ^Rf 
 
 
 BouRDALOUE, FATHER Croiset, and St. Augustine. 
 
 "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth." 
 
 — Apocalypse iii. i6. 
 
 OURDALOUE, LOUIS. — Louis 
 Bourdaloue was born at Bourges 
 in,j682, and died on the 13th of 
 May, 1704. 
 
 During the reign of Louis XIV. 
 of France many ecclesiastics at- 
 tained celebrity and even an 
 
 European reputation, but Bourdaloue equalled, 
 
 if not excelled, all those who have succeeded 
 
 him. He was styled ** The King of Preachers 
 
 and the Preacher of Kings." 
 
 His sermons and different works were col- 
 lected and published in 17 vols. 8vo., in the 
 
 year 1826. In his magnificent discourses no 
 
 one displayed a deeper insight into the divine 
 
 mysteries. Addressing himself less to world- 
 lings than to Christians, he united the charity 
 
 of St. Paul to the unction and learning of St. 
 
 Augustine, and the use he makes of passages 
 
 from Holy Scripture, and the quotations from 
 
 the writings of the holy fathers, render the 
 
 reading of his sermons profitable, and at the 
 
 same time interesting. 
 
 The eulogy of Bourdaloue from Cardinal 
 
 Maury's Essai sur I'Eloquence is always 
 
 quoted in all French elegant extracts. 
 
 We begin at once to go back in the 
 spiritual life when we become lukewarm or 
 lax in the service of God It is the first 
 
 30 
 
 step that leads to sin and death. To 
 languish, says St. Bernard — not that 
 languor of love like unto that of the 
 spouse of the Canticle, not that languor of 
 dryness which David felt when God with' 
 drew His consolations and seemed to leave 
 him to himself, and which made him say, 
 Languerunt oculi mei prce inopid; but that 
 lukewarmness which is criminal and vol- 
 untary, that languor which is our own 
 doing, and, through cowardice, makes us 
 throw off the yoke of Christian regularity 
 — induces us to neglect the ordinary 
 exercises of piety and prayer, causes us to 
 feel a distaste for penance, so much so that 
 we withdraw from the Sacraments, cease 
 from performing good works — in short, 
 makes us feel that religion is so wearisome 
 that we can no longer serve the Lord our 
 God in spirit and truth. 
 
 This is what St. Bernard means when 
 he depicts spiritual tepidity ; and God 
 wills that we should reflect on our past 
 tepidity and attend to what His saints 
 teach us. 
 
THE WANT OF FERVOR IN THE SERVICE OF GOD. 
 
 The state of lukewarmness is hurtful to 
 every one, inasmuch as it is one of those 
 maladies of the soul to cure which the 
 strongest remedies are often found to be 
 ineffectual. 
 
 Such a state is also in direct opposition 
 to the grace of penance, because, in lieu 
 of that holy fear which it ought to excite 
 within us, it substitutes fruitless fears 
 which result in nothing. 
 
 We must try to check the growth of 
 tepidity by thinking of the holiest Chris- 
 tian duties, and fortify our will by prayer 
 and watchfulness. 
 
 In lesser attacks of lukewarmness which 
 are not actually criminal, far from les- 
 sening our devotions, we should, on the 
 contrary, try to be more fervent, more 
 regular in our exercises of piety. 
 
 To succeed in this it is preferable to 
 practice solid devotion, to encourage the 
 most generous piety, because it often 
 happens that he who serves God with less 
 sensible devotion serves Him with more 
 merit and perfection. 
 
 This lukewarmness does not come upon 
 us suddenly. Like unto the foolish 
 virgins mentioned in the Gospel, it changes 
 from a drowsiness to a deep slumber. 
 Dorniitaverunt ontnes et dormierunt. 
 
 An indifference about our salvation, a 
 contempt for little duties, a falling off 
 from all that is good and hopeful, a com- 
 placency in all that is bad — all these 
 stupify the soul, and reduce it to that 
 state of Jonah, who slept soundly during 
 the violent storm, when all those who 
 were in the ship were sore afraid, and yet 
 
 he remained, as it were, in a lethargic 
 sleep. 
 
 It is in vain for a confessor to advise 
 vain for the preacher to exhort. If luke 
 warraness be accompanied with culpable 
 negligence, the sinner will rarely, if ever, 
 be awakened to a sense of his or her 
 danger. 
 
 This is a true picture of very many who 
 add to their indifference the torpidity of 
 an obstinate negligence ; those who do not 
 wish to fall into open sin, but take no 
 trouble to advance in virtue ; who, although 
 absolved from past sins, still remain in a 
 guilty negligence of their everyday duties ; 
 who do not deny the truths of our holy 
 faith, but, in listening to exhortations, pay 
 no attention or heed them not ; who, 
 under the pretence that they are not so 
 bad as many others, never wish or try to 
 imitate those who are fervent. 
 
 In conclusion, it is to such as these that 
 the Holy Spirit alludes when He pro- 
 nounces the curse on those who do the 
 work of the Lord negligently. Maledictus 
 quifacit opus Dei negligenter. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 Passion. 
 
 The earnestness, the zeal, the love of 
 Mary Magdalen, compelled our Saviour to 
 console her. She knew Him by His voice. 
 O my God ! What were at that moment 
 the transports of love, the tender gratitude 
 of that holy soul ! 
 
 Those who are lukewarm in the service 
 of God cannot realize this, because they 
 love so little, and consequently cannot 
 
32 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 know how much she loved Him. Such as 
 these would wish to be all for Jesus, but 
 they wish it if God will be satisfied with 
 a divided love — if God would accept of a 
 service of their own, and not the one He 
 desires. 
 
 They would like to be perfect, but only 
 in their own imperfect way ; they wish to 
 rely on human prudence, and if anything 
 overtax their strength, they lose courage 
 and are frightened at the least difficulty. 
 
 Vain are the desires, frivolous are thu 
 pretexts, of a heart steeped in tepidity. 
 
 Father Croiset. 
 
 Howsoever long you may have lived, 
 howsoever persevering you have been in 
 doing well, oh ! do not say, " It is enough, 
 I am all right now " ; for this would be as 
 much as to say, " It is sufficient, I will now 
 
 begin to slacken and fall off." 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Oh Psalm Ixix. 
 
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Father Faber and Father Claude de la Colombi^re, S. J. 
 
 ** How great is the mercy of the Lord, and His forgiveness to them that turn to Him.** 
 
 — EcCLES. xvii. 28. 
 
 'ERCY is the tranquillity of 
 God's omnipotence and the 
 sweetness of His omnipres- 
 ence, the fruit of His eternity 
 and the companion of His 
 immensity, the chief satisfac- 
 tion of His justice, the triumph of His 
 wisdom, and the patient perseverance of 
 His love. 
 
 Wherever we go there is mercy, the 
 peaceful, active, endless mercy of our 
 Heavenly Father. If we work by day, 
 we work in mercy's light ; and we sleep 
 at night in the lap of our Father's mercy. 
 The courts of heaven gleam -with its 
 outpoured prolific beauty. Earth is cov- 
 ered with it, as the waters cover the bed 
 of the stormy sea. Purgatory is, as it 
 were, its own separate creation, and is 
 lighted by its gentle moonlight, gleaming 
 there soft and silvery, through night and 
 day. 
 
 His mercy is simply infinite, for mercy 
 is one of His perfections, while His love 
 is the harmony of all. 
 
 33 
 
 Mercy does not tire of us, does not 
 despair of us, does not give over its pur- 
 suit of us, takes no offence, repays evil 
 with good, and is the ubiquitous min- 
 ister of the precious blood of Jesus. But 
 love seems more than this. Love fixes 
 upon each of us, individualizes us, is 
 something personal ; but mercy is some- 
 thing by itself. 
 
 Love is the perfection of the uncreated 
 in Himself. Mercy is the character of 
 the Creator. 
 
 Mercy pities, spares, makes allowances, 
 condescends ; and yet if mercy is not the 
 reason of God's love, where else shall 
 we find it in His infinity ? 
 
 Father Faber. ( Oral. ) 
 Creator and Creature. 
 
 CoLOMBi^RE, Claude de la. — This learned 
 and saintly Jesuit was born in the year 
 1641, and yielded up his soul to God at the 
 early age of forty-one, at Paray le Menial. 
 After a two years' sojourn at the court of 
 James II., God led him to Paray, to the 
 school of the Sacred Heart, that he might 
 discover its treasures and make known their 
 
34 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 value. "It was distinctly told me," writes 
 the blessed Margaret Mary, " that this great 
 servant of God had been partly designed for 
 the execution of this grand design."] 
 
 God so pardons our sins, that He blots 
 out even the remembrance of the greatest 
 outrage. God does not act as men do. 
 He does not grant half a pardon. 
 . When any one has betrayed our trust, 
 or has mortally offended us — howsoever 
 we may wish to become reconciled to the 
 offender, or may cherish an earnest 
 desire to forgive, and strive in our heart 
 to do so — nevertheless, we find it difficult 
 to place the same confidence in him, or to 
 treat him with the same affection as 
 before ; for there remains in the corner of 
 our heart a tinge of bitterness from time 
 to time, or when we call to mind what he 
 has done to us. 
 
 Our merciful Lord is not subject to 
 this weakness. 
 
 Oh ! would that all sinners who sin- 
 cerely repent of their past offences could see 
 in His heart the feelings He has for them ; 
 — no resentment, no bitterness there ! 
 and how thoroughly He forgives them. 
 
 God does not stop there. Not content 
 with forgetting our trespasses, He gives 
 us back the merit of those good deeds 
 which we had lost by losing His grace; 
 He restores to us those merits and that 
 grace with interest, and He places us in a 
 position more advantageous than that in 
 which we were when Are fell away from 
 Him. 
 
 I am not at all astonished that St. Mary 
 Magdalen had not, even after thirty years 
 
 had elapsed, ceased to weep for her kins, 
 although she could not doubt but they had 
 been remitted. I am not surprised that 
 St. Peter should have been inconsolable 
 even unto death for having failed in his 
 fidelity to so good a Master, notwith- 
 standing the certainty he had of being 
 forgiven. 
 
 Can one be mindful that so good a 
 Master has been offended without having 
 one's heart torn with grief, and without 
 feeling a hatred of one's self? Can we, 
 who have so coolly insulted Kim without 
 any reason, having, on the contrary, a 
 thousand reasons to love Him, we, who 
 have for so long a time abused His love, 
 His patience, His blessings, His mercy, 
 can we, I say, recollect this without dying 
 of regret and repentance } 
 
 It is that thought which redoubles my 
 grief at having so cruelly sinned against a 
 God who has so readily forgiven me, who 
 has returned good for evil, and all kinds of 
 blessings in return for every kind of evil. 
 
 Can it be that I shall ever forget the 
 ingratitude which He has so soon for- 
 gotten } that I should forgive my own 
 infidelities, which He not only has par- 
 doned, but has urged me to accept His 
 forgiveness many a time.-* in fine, that I 
 should remain satisfied after having in- 
 sulted His divine goodness so often and 
 for so long a time, — a God who does not 
 love me less to-day, and who loves me even 
 more now than before I had offended 
 Him? 
 
 LE PfeRE DE LA COLOMBltRK. 
 
 Reflections, 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ■'^ ■^' ' " ■^' '^' '' ''iiiltfiiifiiTinTitiiiiiftiiifrfF"''' ' ' 
 
 ON THE MERCY OF GOD 
 
 ^y^riSI AS MANIFESTED IN OUR ILLNESSES. j, 
 
 ^feDlSllllMIIIIIIIMIIIllllllMJIiillillJIJIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIMMinl 
 
 T 
 
 Father Spinola, P^re Nouet, and St. Ambrose. 
 
 " My son, in thy sickness forget not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and He shall heal thee." 
 
 — EccLES. xxxviii. 9. 
 
 .ATHER SPINOLA, saint and 
 martyr, was one of the band of 
 missionaries who suffered martyr- 
 dom in Japan on the 2d of Sep- 
 tember, 1622. Urban VIII. placed 
 these martyrs on the list of saints, 
 and our Holy Mother, the Church, 
 celebrates their triumph on February 5. 
 
 Father Spinola, a noble Genoese, entered 
 the order of the Society of Jesus at Nole at 
 the time when his uncle. Cardinal Spinola, 
 was Bishop of that diocese. So ardent was 
 his desire to shed his blood for the faith of 
 his Divine Master, that he entreated to be 
 allowed to join the band of missionaries who 
 were ready to go to Japan. To his joy, his 
 request was granted, and he, in company with 
 Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans, reached 
 Japan in 1602. 
 
 They, with an indefatigable zeal, worked 
 ior the salvation of souls and converted a 
 large number of heathens. The Japanese 
 authorities sent Father Spinola and others to 
 a miserable dungeon, and it was during his 
 incarceration that Father Spinola managed 
 to send the following letter to one of his 
 relatives in Europe. 
 
 In the year 1622 the saintly Father was 
 condemned to be burned alive. When the 
 cords which attached his poor weak frame to 
 the stake were consumed, he fell on the 
 
 36 
 
 burning embers, and his soul, now free from 
 its prison-house of flesh, flew up to heaven 
 surrounded by the flames of divine love.] 
 
 How sweet to suffer for Jesus Christ ! 
 I cannot find words energetic enough to 
 tell you what I feel, more especially since 
 I have been confined in prison, where we 
 are forced to observe a continual fast. 
 The strength of my body has left me, buJ 
 the joy of my heart increases in proportion 
 to the prospect of a speedy death. 
 
 What a happiness it will be if I am per- 
 mitted to sing next Easter Sunday the 
 I/cec Dies in heaven ! 
 
 Had you tasted the sweet delight which 
 God has poured into our souls, you would 
 indeed despise the good things this world 
 affords. Since I have been in prison for 
 His sake, I feel that I am a disciple of 
 Jesus. I now find myself fully compen- 
 sated for the pangs of hunger, by the con- 
 soling sweetness which filled my soul ; 
 and were I to be immured in prison for 
 years, the time would appear to me to be 
 short, so much do I desire to suffer for 
 
36 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Him who rewards me so liberally for my 
 pains. 
 
 Among other illnesses, I have had a 
 fever raging within me which lasted a 
 hundred days, without the possibility of 
 being relieved. During all this time my 
 joy has been so great, that I find it useless 
 to describe it in words. 
 
 Father Spinola. 
 
 When we are in good health there are 
 two things which usually go far to stifle 
 every sense of the fear of God, and these 
 are the hope of a long life and the forget- 
 fulness of eternity. 
 
 So long as the sinner is strong and well, 
 the thought of death never enters into his 
 mind ; or, if it should, it makes but little 
 impression upon him, because he looks 
 upon it as an event very far off. 
 
 Then comes the judgment (which awaits 
 until that fearful moment), and even the 
 thought of this does not affect, him, for he 
 lives as if he never had to give an account 
 of his misdeeds ; but when he finds him- 
 self stretched on a bed of sickness, weak, 
 languid, exhausted with pain and over- 
 come with grief, it is then that he recollects 
 that he is mortal ; and, seeing himself so 
 near that fearful passage which he had not 
 before thought of, he cannot but be much 
 alarmed at finding that he is compelled to 
 ponder on the danger he is in, and of the 
 necessity of preparing for the salvation of 
 his soul. 
 
 This, then, is the short road by which 
 the Divine Mercy leads worldlings and 
 draws them back to His service. 
 
 That libertine would have gone on care, 
 lessly for ten years more, had not God in 
 His mercy sent him a malignant fever, 
 which has frightened him and made him 
 return to his duty. 
 
 Doctors are accustomed to wound one 
 part of the body in order to cure another 
 part ; they open a vein in a sound arm to 
 relieve a feverish brain ; they make use of 
 the cupping-glass to remove inflammation ; 
 they keep a wound open in order to be 
 able to close another ; and, as St. Jerome 
 says, the secret of their science con- 
 sists in restoring health through pain. 
 Ars medicorum est, per dolor e, reddere 
 sanitatem. 
 
 The Son of God, who is the Physician of 
 souls, follows the same method to cure sin- 
 ners. He smites the flesh to cure the 
 mind, and from illnesses, which are the 
 forerunners of the death of the body. He 
 frames a good provision for the life of the 
 soul. 
 
 All the holy Fathers teach us that ill- 
 ness is the school of Christian wisdom, the 
 dawning of virtue whereby the mind is 
 invigorated, and the grand means of grace, 
 which redoubles its strength, through the 
 weakness of the body. When I am weak, 
 says St. Paul, it is then that I am strong. 
 I am never more vigorous in mind than 
 when my body is exhausted with illness 
 and wearied with weakness. More than 
 this, illness may be said to be victorious 
 over vice, through the triumph of grace 
 over the passions of the soul, and a 
 triumph of the soul over the appetites of 
 the flesh. 
 
THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 37 
 
 It is then that the sensualist thinks 
 more of his health than of his pleasures; 
 it is then that the miser dreams not of his 
 riches, but sighs for the treasure of 
 health ; then that the ambitious man 
 throws aside his vanity and builds no more 
 castles in the air. The gormandizer 
 sobers down at the sight of death, the 
 envious and vindictive proclaim a truce ; 
 for the pains of the body soften the bitter- 
 ness of the mind. 
 
 Is it not, then, a wonderful blessing 
 that Almighty God should allow the infirm- 
 
 ities of the body to arrest the impetuosity 
 
 of our passions ? 
 
 Rev. PfeRE NouET, S. J. 
 
 Meditations. 
 
 That illness has been your salvation. 
 You have suffered, but your life has not 
 been in danger. This is what the Lord 
 has said : " I will strike him, and I will 
 cure him." 
 
 He has struck you, your illness has 
 awakened your faith, and that has been 
 your cure. St. Ambrose. 
 
 From his epistlts. 
 
St. Chrysostom and Bishop Plechier. 
 *• Tribulation worketh patience ; and patience trial, and trial hope." — Romans v. 4. 
 
 'ESUS CHRIST has forewarned 
 us that we should be persecuted 
 in this world. St. Paul, in like 
 manner, says that all they who 
 wish to dwell in Christ will 
 suffer great afflictions, not only 
 through the agency of man, but through 
 the instrumentality of the devil and his 
 angels. 
 
 Job emphatically says that the whole 
 of our life here below is one chain of 
 temptations. 
 
 Why, then, should we be so sensitive of 
 tribulations, if such be the period fixed 
 for all kinds of afflictions ? 
 
 You would indeed have just cause to 
 groan if you had passed through a life of 
 pleasure and sensual delight — a time 
 which our Saviour has allotted for troubles, 
 vexations, and mortifications. 
 
 If you are inactive, or apt to pine, 
 buckle on your armor and fight coura- 
 geously ; if you walk on the broad path 
 when the narrow way is recommended, 
 what will your lot be .'' what fearful 
 thoughts will be in store for you ! 
 
 38 
 
 Quote, I entreat you, a single instance 
 of a person who, after leading a cowardly, 
 indifferent life, has participated in the 
 reward God has promised to His elect. 
 
 We must always keep in mind that our 
 Saviour warns us that the gate of heaven 
 is small, that the road which leads to it 
 is narrow, and that few can find it. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that no one 
 
 need go astray if he but follow the right 
 
 path. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 [Flechier, Esprit, Bishop of Nimes, and 
 Sacred Orator, was born on the ibth of June, 
 1632, at Perues. He enjoyed a considerable 
 share in the patronage which Louis XIV. 
 extended to all men of letters. He died at 
 Montpellier, on February 16, 17 10, aged 78, 
 regretted by all who resided in his diocese. 
 His funeral orations are models of eloquence.] 
 
 To cure the blindness which almost 
 always accompanies prosperity, the surest 
 remedy is to be found as in the case of 
 Tobias' gall of the fish, that is to say, in 
 afflictions and chastisements. 
 
 When a violent fever will, as it were, 
 liqiaefy your bones ; when you lie on yout 
 
THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 39 
 
 bed prostrate and full of grievous pain, 
 you will then see that body for which you 
 have so often risked your soul, which you 
 have clothed with so much luxury, that 
 you have pampered with so many delica- 
 cies, is but~ a fragile vessel which the 
 slightest accident might shatter, and 
 which, of itself, may be broken. 
 
 When a preconcerted calumny or any 
 underhand conspiracy will cause you to 
 fall from a position to which you ambi- 
 tiously aspired, and which position you 
 may have kept up by intrigue, you will at 
 last be convinced of the nothingness and 
 instability of human greatness. 
 
 When age or some unforeseen calamity 
 will efface that beauty which attracted 
 many admirers, and which in your heart 
 you wished to preserve, you would be 
 forced to confess that all is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit. 
 
 When sent adrift by a capricious mas- 
 ter, or betrayed by a cowardly, false friend, 
 you will naturally feel contempt for those 
 from whom you expected protection and 
 assistance, and you will then know that 
 
 one must not trust to human support ; but 
 if you wish never to be deceived, you 
 must place all your confidence in God 
 alone. 
 
 Losses and disgrace may be (and often 
 are, thanks be to God,) the means and 
 cause of our conversion. They excite us 
 to do penance, and make us feel how just 
 is God, and that afflictions are the best 
 victims we can offer to appease Him. 
 They try us when we feel a natural 
 repugnance to them ; they sanctify us if we 
 accept with humble submission both evils 
 and remedies together ; we suffer trout '.es, 
 and acquire merit by our patience ; o ;ca- 
 sions of conflict and victory — suffe. ing 
 and longanimity — knowledge and prac ice, 
 go hand in hand together. They are the 
 merciful means of softening our s' ony 
 hearts, and whoever resists or is insensible 
 to the chastisements which God sends for 
 his instruction and conversion, his mind 
 and will will be enveloped in impenetrable 
 darkness. I tremble, if I dare to say so 
 — I tremble for his salvation. 
 
 Flechiea. 
 
CHAPTKR XIII. 
 
 0n \^a ^reiee of ^od. 
 
 
 St. ^lred, Massillon, and Bourdaloue, 
 "We do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain." — 2 Corinthians vi. i. 
 
 T. ^LRED. — This great saint was 
 born in the year 11 69, in the north 
 of England. Descended from a 
 noble family, and having received 
 an excellent education, he soon 
 obtained a valuable appointment 
 in the court of David I. king of 
 Scotland. The seeds of virtue having been 
 planted within him by a pious mother, he was 
 enabled to battle against the corruptions of 
 the world ; and even before he determined to 
 withdraw himself from the temptations of a 
 courtier's life, he ever preserved that favorite 
 virtue of our Saviour's, namely, humility. In 
 addition to this, he possessed an unalterable 
 meekness, which, according to the gospel, is 
 inseparable from humility. 
 
 In order to detach himself from the world, 
 he quitted Scotland and went to Rieval, in the 
 county of York. Here he entered the Cister- 
 cian order, and placed himself under the guid- 
 ance of William, a disciple of the glorious St. 
 Bernard. 
 
 In II 42 he was elected Abbot of Revesby, 
 in the county of Lincoln. He died in the 
 year 1166, aged 57, having been abbott for 
 the space of twenty-two years. Benedict XIV., 
 in approving of the martyrology of the Cister- 
 cian order, calls attention to the learning, 
 innocence, and humility of St. ^Ired. The 
 same Pope adds, that God crowned the virtues 
 
 of His servant with the gifts of prophecy and 
 miracles. 
 
 St. .^lred describes the state of his 
 soul before he resolved to leave the world, 
 its pomps and vanities. In the Life of the 
 Saint by Godescard, the saint says : — 
 
 Those who looked only at the external 
 grandeur which surrounded me — those 
 who judged of my position in the world — 
 knew not what was passing within me, 
 and yet they cried out, Oh, how envious 
 is the lot of that man ! how happy he 
 must be ! 
 
 But they did not see my dejection of 
 mind ; they did not know of the insupport- 
 able anguish of a heart weighed down by 
 sin. 
 
 It was then, O my God, that I knew of 
 the unutterable joy I felt when I found 
 myself supported by Thy grace, and that I 
 tasted of that peace which is now my 
 inseparable companion. 
 
 The operations of grace in the conver- 
 sion of a sinner are not always the same. 
 
THE GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 41 
 
 At one time it is a sharp and piercing 
 ray, which, darting from the bosom of 
 the Eternal Father, enlightens, strikes, 
 humbles, and overcomes those upon whom 
 it descends ; at another time, it is a more 
 subdued brightness, which has its progres- 
 sion and succession, which seems to battle 
 for victory over the dark clouds which it 
 wishes to disperse, and after a thousand 
 attacks, succeeded by as many repulses, it 
 remains for some time doubtful which 
 shall carry off the palm. 
 
 Now, it is a powerful God who over- 
 throws the cedars of Lebanon ; then it is 
 the God most patient, who wrestles with 
 His servant Jacob, and holds him fast in 
 order to make him enter the right path 
 wherein He invites him. 
 
 It is thus, O my God, that You act as 
 the instructor, the master of all hearts. 
 
 First proof of grace : To conquer a 
 guilty and rebellious soul, which alone 
 would prevent its conversion, God even 
 makes use of its guilty passion. He seeks, 
 to excite it in those very places in which 
 the sinner sought for pleasure and amuse- 
 ment. Saul in his fury runs to Damascus 
 in order to persecute the Church, and on 
 his road he is struck to the ground and 
 becomes an apostle. The centurion rides 
 up to Mount Calvary to complete the bar- 
 barous outrages of the executioners of 
 Jesus Christ, and a ray of light descends 
 upon him, and he confesses that He was 
 truly the Son of God. 
 
 A soul experiences trouble and remorse 
 in the very places wherein it vainly sought 
 for pleasure and satisfaction. 
 
 Grace awaits, so to speak, at the gates 
 of sin and crime ; and disgust, perfidy, 
 bitterness of soul, disgrace, and other 
 frightful consequences, are the punish- 
 ments of the mercy of God, and the sinner 
 often finds treasures of justice in the verj 
 place where he sought for his eternal loss. 
 
 Grace triumphs, when it wishes, over 
 the greatest obstacles, because that 
 heavenly unction changes at will our 
 troubles into consolations, so that by means 
 of this grace, that which was our delight, 
 and which was to us a deadly poison, 
 becomes a hidden manna, which feeds and 
 strengthens us. 
 
 The Holy Spirit of God can, if He will, 
 
 change the weakest of men into one so 
 
 strong and powerful that nought can make 
 
 him swerve from his fidelity, no danger 
 
 can shake his firmness, no seductive 
 
 pleasure can corrupt him ; in one word it is 
 
 this, that grace, far stronger than nature, 
 
 surmounts every obstacle, and attracts all 
 
 hearts gently and sweetly which He 
 
 wishes to convert ., 
 
 Massillon. 
 
 Grace is,/ar excellencey the gift of God, 
 It is this that infinitely surpasses every 
 gift of nature ; it is the only source of our 
 happiness, without which we can do noth- 
 ing, and with which we can do everything. 
 
 It is this gift which comes from on high, 
 and flows direct from the Father of Light ; 
 which converts us and makes us new 
 men ; it is that gift by which we are as we 
 are ; if, however, we are something before 
 God, as the apostle says, " By the grace of 
 God I am what I am." 
 
4« 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Yet, nevertheless (so strange it is), it is 
 the same gift which, through our stubborn 
 ignorance, we know not of, and which, 
 through our unbearable ingratitude, we 
 receive every day in vain. 
 
 Alas ! of what use is it to acknowledge 
 its greatness and merit if we abuse it 
 nearly every moment of our life ? 
 
 It is for that, that our Saviour, speaking 
 to the Samaritan woman, chided her igno- 
 rance by saying, " Ah ! woman, if you had 
 known the nature and excellence of the 
 gift of God." 
 
 Grace triumphant must, so to speak, be 
 subject to us. Be not shocked at this 
 term, for it derogates nothing from the 
 dignity of grace. It must be so subject to 
 
 us as to well-nigh weary the patience of 
 God, who waits for us for years without 
 interfering with our free-will. It selects 
 the place and time ; it seizes the most 
 favorable opportunity to win us ; it is the 
 first to warn us, and, far from taking 
 something away from us by force or 
 violence, it entreats us with prayers and 
 mild remonstrances, it accommodates itself 
 to our weaknesses, adjusts itself to our 
 humor, and if at last it makes us realize 
 the blessings of heaven and the contempt 
 for earthly joys, it is only after having 
 convinced us by innumerable trials of the 
 solidity of the one and the frailty of the 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Oh th* Samaritan Woman. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ••J \*i 
 
 *■*■• 
 
 
 
Copyright. 1889. 
 
 Murpli) & MtCartUy. 
 
 a>itoinc l^opc. 
 
anctifging (jrace of Ijod. 
 
 Cardinal Bellarmin, PfeRE Duneau, and St. Leo. 
 
 " Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. That as sin hath reigned to death, so also grace 
 might reign by justice unto life everlasting." — Romans v. 20. 
 
 ARDINAL BELLARMIN was 
 born at Monte Pulciano in 1542. 
 At the age of eighteen he entered 
 as novice of the Society of Jesus. 
 Clement VI IL raised him to 
 the rank of cardinal in the year 
 1601. 
 
 Paul V. wishing to retain him near him, 
 the cardinal resigned his archbishopric and 
 devoted himself to the Court of Rome until 
 the year 1621. He died the same year at the 
 novitiate of the Jesuits, whither he had re- 
 tired from the commencement of his serious 
 illness. 
 
 This learned cardinal has enriched the 
 Church with several works. 
 
 God, when He created man, gave him a 
 free will, and this in so perfect a way that, 
 without constraint, without impairing his 
 liberty. He rules him by His power, 
 frightens him by His threats, and wins 
 him by His blessings. 
 
 He has an earnest wish for the salvation 
 of all, but He waits for their consent, for 
 their co-operation. It is to gain them that 
 He warns, that He encourages them, that 
 He leads them on in so wonderful a 
 manner, so as to bring them, with His 
 
 4S 
 
 assistance, to that happiness which is their 
 destiny. 
 
 These are the inventions of His wisdom, 
 which the prophet Isaiah says that he will 
 announce to the people {Isaiah xii). 
 
 For those who are reprobates, at one 
 time He warns them with mildness, at 
 another time He encourages them with 
 kindness, and at another He corrects them 
 with a paternal love, according to the 
 disposition in which they are, and accord- 
 ing to their necessities. 
 
 This loving conduct is a visible excess 
 of the charity of our Lord, not only 
 towards the good, but even towards the 
 wicked, in order that they may be con- 
 verted and become good. 
 
 All that contributes to our justification 
 is an effect of His divine grace. It is that 
 which accompanies this great work, which 
 teaches us by exhortation, which encour- 
 ages us by example, which terrifies us by 
 chastisement, which moves us by miracles, 
 which enlightens our mind, which induces 
 us to follow wise counsels, which improves 
 our understanding, and which inspires us 
 
44 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC 
 
 with ' feelings conformable to the faith 
 which we profess. 
 
 Thus our will is subservient to grace, 
 and acts only conjointly with it ; so that 
 all these helps which God gives us require 
 our co-operation, in order that we may 
 begin to carry out the good resolutions 
 which we have received from His divine 
 inspirations. So, if we should fall into 
 some sinful habit, we can only impute our 
 fall to our own pusillanimity ; and if we 
 advance in virtue, we can only attribute 
 our advancement to grace. 
 
 The help of grace is given to all in a 
 
 thousand ways, be they secret or be they 
 
 manifest. If many reject it, it is always 
 
 their own fault ; if some profit by it, it is 
 
 the united effect of divine grace and the 
 
 human will. 
 
 Cardinal Bellarmik. 
 
 OpuscuUs. 
 
 [L'ABBfe Franqois Duneau was born in 
 Rome in April, 1752. His father was a 
 follower of the Pretender. The son at first 
 followed the profession of barrister-at-law ; 
 but afterwards took orders, and was one of 
 the early members of the Acad^mie Catho- 
 lique, established in 1800. 
 
 In 1806 the Grand Duke Ferdinand III. 
 engaged this learned ecclesiastic to educate 
 his son, but he did not long enjoy his deserved 
 promotion, for he died on the 4th of October, 
 181 1, aged fifty-nine. His discourses, called 
 ^' Discorsi Apologetici," consisting of four vol- 
 umes, are well known and appreciated.] 
 
 Some holy Fathers, in speaking of that 
 passage, " And God created man accord- 
 ing to His own image and likeness," say 
 that man has two kinds of resemblance 
 
 to God — the first, signified by the name 
 of image, consists in that man by nature 
 is endowed with an understanding and a 
 will like unto God, capable of knowing 
 Him and of loving Him ; the second, 
 expressed by the name of likeness, con- 
 sists in that man was created in the grace 
 of God, and this gives him a perfect 
 resemblance to His Creator, which he had 
 not in his natural being. 
 
 From thence it follows, that since God 
 is the essential and unbegotten beauty, 
 sanctifying grace is the most perfect, the 
 most noble participator of that beauty; 
 the soul which is endowed and adorned 
 with it is infinitely pleasing in the eyes 
 of God. So much so that a great saint, 
 to whom was revealed the wondrous 
 beauty of a soul in a state of grace, used 
 to say that she no longer was astonished 
 that God had willed to shed the last drop 
 of His precious blood in order to cleanse 
 it, and by His redemption renew every 
 trace of beauty which sin had entirely 
 effaced. 
 
 But if God, who cannot deceive, is 
 charmed with the beauty of a soul in a 
 state of grace, how is it that we are so 
 careless in enriching our souls by the 
 practise of evefy virtue } Is it not lament- 
 able that we should prefer to please a 
 wretched being — uncomely though we 
 be — rather than try to please the Divine 
 Majesty by that true beauty which He 
 is ever willing to give to those who seek 
 Him? 
 
 We daily witness the pains that worldly- 
 minded people take in dressing and 
 
rHE SANCTIFYING GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 45 
 
 decking out their bodies, merely for the 
 sake of pleasing others ; and often do we 
 witness that exterior ornaments are 
 sought after and used to hide their natu- 
 ral defects. 
 
 We are careful to adorn our bodies 
 which soon will be food for worms, and 
 we neglect that most beautiful ornament 
 of the soul which is the grace of God. 
 
 PfeRE DUNEAU. 
 
 Sermon in Advent. 
 
 Acknowledge, O Christian, ,thy dignity, 
 and after having been made participator 
 of the divine nature, do not return to thy 
 first state by leading a life which would 
 tarnish thy nobility. 
 
 Is it not a gift, exceeding all' other 
 gifts, that God should call man His child, 
 and that man should call God his Father ? 
 
 St. Leo. 
 Oh the Nativity- 
 
 
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^n Qoni'idemse. in ^od. 
 
 Father Houdry and Father Claude de la CoLOMBiifcRE. 
 
 " This is the confidence which we have towards God : that whatsoever we shall ask according to 
 His will, He heareth us." — i John v. 14. 
 
 HE Rev. Father Vincent Houdry 
 was born in Tours on the 2?d of 
 January, 1630, on the Feast of St. 
 Vincent of Saragosa, hence his 
 name. 
 
 At an early age he manifested 
 a taste for study and piety, and 
 at the age of thirteen, in 1644, he entered the 
 Society of Jesus. During the thirty years of 
 his ministry P^re Houdry distinguished him- 
 self as an eloquent preacher. His last years 
 were passed in the library in the midst of 
 books. Besides being the author of several 
 learned works, he will be best known as the 
 editor of that stupendous monument of indus- 
 try, "Za BibliotKkque des Pr^dicateurs" and 
 from this work many extracts have been culled 
 and translated. 
 
 He died at the College of Louis le Grand, 
 in Paris, on the 29th of March, 1729, aged 
 ninety-eight years and three months. Although 
 he. was continually reading and writing, he 
 never had occasion to make use of spectacles. 
 His age and example would lead us to 
 believe that longevity of life is in favor of the 
 learned and industrious. 
 
 Full confidence in the goodness of 
 Almighty God is one of the sure marks of 
 predestination. 
 
 The most criminal, corrupt, or wicked 
 man who sincerely wishes to do penance 
 for his past sins, will find that confidence 
 in God is an efficacious and sovereign 
 remedy for all his miseries. 
 
 Let him be penitent, let him persevere 
 in hope, he, eventually, will be saved. God 
 has said it, God has promised it ; is there 
 any reason to doubt the word and promise 
 of Him who is truth itself.? 
 
 It is for this reason that hope has been 
 compared to the anchor of a ship, and this 
 comparison is consecrated by the apostle 
 St. Paul in his epistles. 
 
 Should a vessel lose all its rigging in a 
 tempest, if there still remain an" anchor, 
 there is hope that the crew may yet be 
 saved. 
 
 The same thing might be said of t^e 
 confidence in God ; and it was for want of 
 having recourse to this that Cain and 
 Judas perished in their sins. 
 
 The first had angered God by jealousy 
 and a cruel fratricide; but what put the 
 climax to the curse was Cain saying in 
 
CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 47 
 
 despair, "My crime is too great for any 
 hope of pardon. " 
 
 The second repents of the shameful 
 treachery he had committed against the 
 Son of God ; but, says St. Chrysostom, 
 had he confided in the goodness of his 
 Divine Master, had he returned to implore 
 His mercy, our dear Redeemer, who par- 
 doned St. Peter and who prayed for His 
 executioners, would no doubt have led this 
 traitor back to penance. 
 
 This confidence in God has also another 
 advantage ; it is a mighty help against 
 temptations. This is what the Gospel 
 says so plainly, " In hope you will find 
 yoiir strength " ; and again, " I shall hope, 
 and there will be nothing to weaken me." 
 In fine, what more powerful than having 
 confidence in God ? 
 
 To confide in God, is to lean upon Him. 
 It is to call for His assistance. His 
 goodness, His truth. His power. 
 
 With such arms, what can any one fear 1 
 for what can prevail against God } Par- 
 atum cor ejus sperare in Domino, confor- 
 maium est cor ejus ; non commovebitur. It 
 is in this confidence that one finds such 
 fervent charity. This is easy to see by 
 the difference there is between a pre- 
 suming or a timid love with that which 
 Holy Scripture says will banish fear. 
 
 From that proceeds the saying of the 
 Wise Man : " He who is animated by 
 charity is like unto an eagle who flies 
 with rapidity, and who cleaves the air 
 without hindrance." 
 
 In conclusion, the apostle, did he not 
 say to the early Christians, Serve God 
 
 with love, because to reach perfection, joy 
 and hope are the most efficacious means } 
 
 PfeRE HOUDRY. 
 
 I feel so persuaded, O my God, that 
 You graciously watch over those who 
 hope in Thee, and that no one need 
 require anything so long as they look up 
 to Thee in all things, that I am determined 
 for the future to lay at Your feet all my 
 anxieties and troubles. " In peace, in the 
 self-same I will sleep and rest ; for Thou, 
 
 Lord, singularly hast settled me in 
 hope " {Ps. iv). 
 
 Men may deprive me of property and 
 honor; sickness may take away ray 
 strength, and other means of serving You ; 
 
 1 may even lose Your grace by sin ; but 
 never, never will I lose my hope in Thee. 
 I will cherish it unto that dreadful 
 moment when all hell will be unchained 
 to snatch my soul away. " No one hath 
 hoped in the Lord and hath been con- 
 founded " {Eccles. ii. 1 1). 
 
 I know, alas ! I know too well, that I am 
 weak, headstrong, and changeable ; I know 
 what temptations can do against the firmest 
 resolution ; I have seen some stars from 
 heaven fall ; but all these shall not frighten 
 me so long as I hope in Thee. 
 
 I hold myself in readiness to meet 
 bravely all misfortunes, because my hope 
 is not shaken. I hope, too, that You will 
 help me to overcome every spiritual enemy, 
 that You will defend me against every 
 assault, and You will make me triumph 
 over my fiercest passions. 
 
 Rev. PftRE DE LA COLOMBltRE, S. J. 
 
-•^^-^^^-^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^^rT^'^^'"^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 '.•: •:•> •:•; •:•; •:•; ••:• •:•> •!•; i?> i?; •!•; iii: i*': '.•': 'jf: '.•': i?; •:•; iv 
 
 I 0N ZEAL rOR GOB I 
 
 ••*• i*J %*i i*i i*J A" •!•'• '•!• i^J W .'i Vi %*! 'J*! 'M: ',*i \*i \*! 'Mi 
 
 Fathers Lambert, Croiset, and Nouet. 
 
 " I bear them witness, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." 
 
 — Romans x. 2. 
 
 'ABBfi LAMBERT, atfirst the Vicar- 
 General of the diocese of Meaux, 
 was afterwards appointed Secre- 
 tary to Monseigneur de Juigud, 
 Archbishop of Paris, and with 
 him he travelled through Ger- 
 many, France, and England. In 
 addition to other works, this saintly servant of 
 God published a life of Archbishop Juigu^. 
 
 The good abbd died in Paris, on the nth of 
 June, 1836. 
 
 We read in the annals of ecclesiastical 
 history that the prefect Modestus was 
 sent to St. Basil, at that time Bishop of 
 Caesarea, with a message from the emperor, 
 threatening him with his vengeance if he 
 continued to exercise his zeal for the 
 conversion of his subjects. The prefect 
 made specious proposals, and told the 
 saint that much might be expected from 
 his master's generosity if he would but 
 moderate his zeal. Promises succeeded 
 menaces, for such as these are all that 
 man can do. St. Basil replied that, where 
 God was concerned, there was nothing 
 more important for His servants to do 
 
 48 
 
 than to be firm in the exercise of theif 
 ministry. 
 
 The following portion of his reply is 
 taken from the twentieth oration of St. 
 Gregory of Nazianzen : — 
 
 " When there is any question of our 
 essential duties, we will be as obliging and 
 as humble as our rules prescribe ; we 
 should be sorry to show any arrogance, 
 not only to emperors or kings, but even 
 to the lowest of men. But when the inter- 
 ests of God are concerned, we should recog- 
 nize no human consideration, as we look 
 to God alone. The most frightful torture, 
 far from alarming me, would give me joy. 
 
 " Threaten as you will, put all kinds of 
 outrages into execution, do your worst, go 
 tell your master; for you will gain noth- 
 ing. Were you to reach the height of 
 your cruel threats, you will never be able 
 to force us to subscribe to your impious 
 doctrines." 
 
 The prefect, astonished at his firmness, 
 told him that no one had ever spoken to 
 him in that bold way. 
 
ZEAL FOR GOD. 
 
 49 
 
 "Perhaps," replied the saint, "you have 
 never spoken to a bishop before." 
 
 Father Lambert. 
 Adapted front " Discours Ecclhiastiques." 
 
 It is an error to suppose that priests 
 and missionaries ought alone to be zeal- 
 ous. There is not one who has not a 
 mission to fulfil, without going out of his 
 state in life ; not a single person who 
 ought not to connect his own salvation 
 with that of his brethren. Your own 
 sanctification is, of course, your first and 
 greatest business. Every one should 
 look to this ; but every one is bound to 
 edify his neighbor by giving a good 
 example. This zeal is common to all, 
 and to all conditions of Kfe. 
 
 Are you in office, have you inferiors, 
 have you the cares of a family and 
 servants } Few professed missionaries 
 have so much to answer for, and have to 
 give an account of their salvation as you 
 have. 
 
 Take especial care not to neglect this 
 duty ; do not leave it to others ; watch 
 continually over the conduct of those 
 whom God has confided to your care. 
 Children, servants, inferiors, are all, so to 
 speak, so many trusts of which you are 
 liable to render an account to your Sover- 
 eign Master. Besides the efficacy of a 
 good example, you are called upon to give 
 them education, instruction, and good 
 advice. 
 
 Watch over the manners of your chil- 
 dren and servants ; with regard to morals 
 and religion, pass over nothing ; do not 
 
 suffer any one to give them bad example ; 
 check, warn, and correct with real and 
 mildness. 
 
 In whatever condition of life you may 
 be, remember that you have to fulfil the 
 duties of an apostle. Christian charity 
 obliges you to take to heart the salvation 
 of your brethren, and do not forget to do 
 all you can to obtain this desirable 
 object. 
 
 It is not solely by preaching that the 
 conversion of many is brought about; 
 there are other ways much more effica- 
 cious. A kind word in season, a warning, 
 a charitable advice, a good example, an 
 alms — all these may be used with a zeal 
 truly apostolic. 
 
 There is no father or mother who can 
 fail to do an immensity of good in the 
 home and with the servants. 
 
 What good cannot a superior in a 
 community do, if he is animated with a 
 pure and ardent zeal and an exemplary 
 piety ! What an immense benefit could 
 princes do at the court and in their estates 
 if they had at heart the truths of our holy 
 religion ! Would not honor, honesty, and 
 justice then reign throughout their lands ? 
 
 Croiset. 
 Annie Chrilienne. 
 
 The will of My Father, says His divine 
 Son, and the reason He sent Me, is to 
 save souls, and not to lose one He 
 intrusted to Me. In fact, as God has 
 nothing more dear to Him than the sal- 
 vation of men, so nothing is more pleasing 
 to Him than to see them withdrawn from 
 
50 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS; ETC. 
 
 the abyss and led into the right path. 
 Nihil ita gratum est Deo et ita curce, ut 
 animarum salus, says St. Chrysostom. 
 
 It is the favorite theme of Holy Writ, 
 the omega of . all the mysteries, the centre 
 of His love, the end of all His designs and 
 of His labors ; for which, as says St. 
 Augustine, He created the heavens, 
 extended the seas, and formed the founda- 
 tions of the earth. And what is of greater 
 value ^ for this He sent His only Son. 
 
 This is the reason that St. Gregory the 
 Great gives when he telk us that we 
 cannot offer to the Almighty a more 
 pleasing service than a zeal for souls ; 
 
 and St. Chrysostom assures us that we 
 can do nothing more agreeable to God 
 than to sacrifice our life to the common 
 benefit of all men. 
 
 Meditate awhile on this, you who have 
 so many persons under your charge and 
 direction ; and at least, if you cannot 
 place them in heaven, try not to lose one 
 whom God has given to you to direct and 
 govern, to whose hands He has confided 
 under your care, so that you may be able 
 to say with our Saviour, Quos dedisti 
 Mihi, non perdidi ex eis quentquam. 
 
 PfeRE NOUET. 
 
 Meditations,. 
 
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CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ON THE INCARNATION; 
 
 1^ 
 
 St. Bernaju), St. Athanasius, PAre Louis de Grenada, 
 and St. Jerome. 
 
 " Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." 
 
 — ISAIAS vii. 14. 
 
 T. BERNARD was one of the most 
 influential ecclesiastics of the 
 Middle Ages. He was born at 
 Fontaines, in Burgundy, A. D. 
 logi. In the year 1113, he be- 
 came a monk at Citeaux, and at 
 the early age of twenty-four was 
 elected Abbot of Clairvaux. At that time 
 Clairvaoix was a savage desert, but St. Bernard 
 made it teem with fertility. He wished that 
 his monks, while serving God, should also be 
 useful to man, and he prescribed that each of 
 them in his turn, and according to his capacity, 
 should attend to manual labor and study. 
 
 St. Bernard was called the honeyed teacher, 
 and his writings were styled a stream from 
 Paradise. 
 
 He died in the year 1 153, and was canonized 
 by Alexander HI. a. d. 1174. 
 
 I HAVE often thought of, and meditated 
 on, the holy eagerness of the patriarchs 
 who so sighed for the coming of the 
 Messiah; and I felt confused, and was, 
 moreover, so penetrated with grief, that I 
 could scarcely refrain from weeping, so 
 much was I ashamed to see the tepidity 
 and indifference of these unhappy days. 
 
 SI 
 
 For who amongst us is filled with so 
 much joy in the fulfilment of this mystery, 
 as were the saints of the Old Testament, at 
 the promises which so called forth their 
 longing desires ? 
 
 Many, it is true, may rejoice at the 
 celebration of this feast ; but I am much 
 afraid that it is less on account of the 
 feast, than through vanity. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 Sermon on Canticles. 
 
 [St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 
 was bom in that city about the year 296, and 
 died A. D. 373. Forty-six years of his official 
 life he spent in banishment in defending the 
 Nicene Creed. 
 
 The best edition of his life and writings is 
 that by Montfau9on, 3 vols, folio, Paris, 
 1698.] 
 
 The Son of God has taken upon Him- 
 self our poverty and miseries, in ordef 
 that we may participate in His riches. 
 His sufferings will one day render us 
 
52 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 impassible, and His death will make us 
 immortal. 
 
 We should find our joy in His tears, our 
 resurrection in His tomb, our sanctifica- 
 tion in His baptism, in accordance with 
 what He says in the gospel : " I sanctify 
 myself in order that they also may be 
 sanctified in truth." 
 
 There is not a phase in the life of our 
 Saviour, which does not refer to Calvary. 
 The good Master was born in the stable 
 only to die on the cross ; His life, which I 
 should study continually, would show me 
 all the riches of His love; I should see 
 therein all the profound mysteries of His 
 incarnation and redemption ; I should 
 discover what I have cost ; I should appre- 
 ciate the beauty and goodness of Jesus, 
 and I shall then cry out, " O happy fault 
 which has procured us such a Redeemer !" 
 O felix culpa, quce tantunt ac talent meruit 
 habere salvatoretn. 
 
 St. Athanasius. 
 
 [Louis DE Grenada was born in the year 
 1505, in the city of Grenada, Spain. He took 
 the habit of St. Dominic, and by his writings 
 proved himself to be one of the most illustrious 
 of his order. 
 
 This saintly religious died in the year 1588. 
 His writings have been constantly quoted by 
 SL Charles Borromeo, in his instructions to 
 his flock. St. Francis de Sales was never 
 weary of studying his works, and often recom- 
 mended his books to his penitents.] 
 
 In order that nothing should be want- 
 ing to heighten the glory of this great 
 mystery, before Jesus was born, or rather 
 from the beginning of the world and from 
 
 all ages, He has been promised to the 
 patriarchs. He has been announced by 
 the prophets, foretold by the sybils, rep- 
 resented throughout by ancient cere- 
 monies, sacrifices, and every sacrament 
 of the old law. 
 
 And when He deigned to descend from 
 heaven to earth, by what circumstances, 
 what prodigies, has not His coming been] 
 accompanied, which were but reasonable| 
 for so supreme a Majesty } 
 
 An angel sent by God has brought thai 
 glad tidings : He has been conceived of| 
 the Holy Ghost, He has chosen the 
 most pure and holy of virgins to become 
 incarnate in her womb, and the body He 
 has taken has been united to the Divinity 
 from the very first moment of His birth. 
 
 Pagans imagined that it was unworthy 
 of the majesty of God to clothe Himself 
 with a substance so degrading as our flesh ; 
 but it is easy to show them how this 
 humanity has been glorified, what riches 
 it has possessed, and, far from having been 
 a thing below the dignity of God, it has, 
 on the contrary, considerably added to 
 His glory, by uniting these two natures 
 into one person. 
 
 It is in such, marvels as these that the 
 wisdom of God appears more apparent. 
 It shows, also, that He alone is capable of 
 elevating lowliness, of aggrandizing that 
 which is nothing, of filling with honor and 
 dignity that which was contemptible. 
 For if, by an effect of His goodness, He 
 had wished to humiliate Himself by 
 becoming man, nevertheless, having 
 taken the nature of man, instead of 
 
THE INCARNATION. 
 
 53 
 
 receiving ignominy therefrom, He has, 
 on the contrary, received an infinity of 
 glory, since it was in His power to do 
 what He would have wished, without 
 making use of anything but His will alone. 
 
 But what words can describe the 
 immensity of the various gifts with which 
 the Holy Ghost has endowed this sacred 
 humanity, the first and foremost being 
 His unspeakable union with the Divine 
 Word, which is the greatest of all the 
 wonders which the power of God could 
 make ? 
 
 Through that this sacred humanity has 
 been raised above all that God has created, 
 and beyond anything that His infinite 
 power is capable of creating ; and in order 
 that this supreme dignity may correspond 
 with His grandeur and magnificence, it 
 has been made the fountain of every grace. 
 The grace of being the universal Head 
 
 of all mankind has been given to Him, in 
 order that through it all the treasures of 
 heaven should be communicated to the 
 children of Adam. 
 
 Grenada. 
 Meditations on the Love of God. 
 
 Here is a wonder which in itself is out 
 of the ordinary course of nature, of which 
 experience has not taught us, a marvel 
 which reason ignores, of which the human 
 intellect cannot conceive, which astonishes 
 heaven and earth, which creates admira- 
 tion even among the celestial choir ; and 
 this mystery is, that Gabriel, the archangel, 
 announces to Mary that " the Lord is 
 with thee," and the accomplishment 
 thereof is the work of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 St. Jerome. 
 Sermon on the Assumption, 
 

 
 ^ ^ M ^ ^ M: 
 ■5?|^ "^1^ ^W "^ •^l^ ^1^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 
 
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 Cardinal B^rulle and P^re Dozennes. 
 
 " I adjure thee bj the living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jeso« 
 saith to him, Thou hast said it." — Matthew xxvi. 63, 64. 
 
 |IERRE BfiRULLE, Cardinal of 
 the holy Roman empire, was 
 born in 1575, at the Chateau of 
 Sdrilly, near Troyes, in Cham, 
 pagjne. He early distinguished 
 himself in the famous conference 
 of Fontainebleau. Henry IV. 
 appointed him as his Almoner, and sent 
 him to Spain to bring some Carmelites 
 to Paris. It was principally through his 
 exertions that this glorious order flourished 
 in Paris. Some time after his return to 
 Spain he founded the Congregation of the 
 French Oratory, of which he was the first 
 general. This institution, founded on that 
 of St. Philip's Oratory, is nevertheless so 
 different in its rules, etc., that it was found 
 necessary to make it a separate congregation. 
 The French Oratory was sanctioned by Paul 
 V. in 1613, and it brought into notice many 
 men illustrious for their learning and piety. 
 Disputes raised by a powerful party did much 
 harm, but very many of the congregation 
 remained attached to the church and to the 
 decrees of the holy Roman pontiffs. Urban 
 VIII. rewarded Bdrulle's merits by a cardinal's 
 hat. Henry IV. and Louis XIII. both wished 
 the cardinal to accept the offers of important 
 bishoprics, but nothing could induce him to 
 alter his first plan of life. Simplicity, modesty, 
 poverty, and temperance were ever his 
 favorite virtues. It is said that he never 
 
 M 
 
 passed a day without offering up the Holy 
 Sacrifice of the Mass, and he died of apoplexy 
 at the altar, a little before the consecration, on 
 the I St of October, 1629, aged fifty-five years. 
 Among his friends and admirers of his virtues 
 may be named St. Francis de Sales, Caesar de 
 Bus, and Cardinal Bentivoglio. 
 
 After having meditated on our Lord 
 and Saviour in His eternal generation, 
 should we not then take into consideration 
 His temporal generation ? They are both 
 ineffable. Generationem ejus quis enar- 
 rabtt {Isaias liii. 8). Who shall declare 
 His generation } 
 
 Jesus is equally great in His humilia- 
 tions, because He is always God. Admi- 
 ration is almost our sole portion. In fact, 
 how wonderful it is, that Jesus should have 
 united the privileges of His divinity to the 
 meanness and misery of our human nature, 
 and that, without ceasing to be a God 
 infinite, eternal, immense, immortal, inde- 
 pendent, He should have become a God- 
 man enclosed within the narrow confines 
 of a body, of a stable, and of the swad- 
 dling-clothes that enveloped Him in His 
 infancy ! That Jesus should have per- 
 
THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 55 
 
 sonally united our meanness with His 
 grandeur, our mortality with His immor- 
 tality, His divine nature with our human 
 nature, becoming Son of Man and Son of 
 the Virgin Mary for all eternity, as from 
 all eternity He is Son of God and only 
 Son of the Eternal Father ! We must 
 adore Jesus in this new condition and 
 in this profound mystery, in the unity 
 of His divine person and in the diver- 
 sity of their natures — the one divine and 
 eternal, the other human and temporal. 
 
 It is with this view that, raising our 
 hearts to You, O Jesus, to pay You our 
 homage, we adore You as receiving Your 
 everlasting essence from the Eternal 
 Father, and as giving Your essence and 
 substance to human nature ; that You have 
 united to Yourself forever a union so inti- 
 mate, so mighty, so glorious, and so divine. 
 
 O adorable state ! O ineffable mys- 
 tery ! O happy moment of the Incar- 
 nation, which makes man God and God 
 man, which gives to heaven a King of 
 glory, to earth a Sovereign, to the angels 
 a Redeemer, and to men a Saviour! O 
 God, who has willed that Your only-begot- 
 ten Son, who, being God from all eternity 
 in You, should have been made man in 
 time and eternity for us, grant us the 
 grace of ever honoring that wondrous life 
 and that divine Word, in order that we 
 maybe animated with His Spirit on earth, 
 and that we may rejoice with Him in 
 heaven by constantly meditating on Him 
 who is our life and glory. 
 
 Card, de Bj^rulle. 
 On the Grandeurs of Jesus. 
 
 Extracts from a book entitled " TTie Divinity oj 
 Jesus Christ" by Lb P^re Dozennes. 
 
 To convince the Jews that Jesus Christ 
 was really and truly the Messiah they 
 expected — promised by the law and fore- 
 told by the prophets — miracles were 
 necessary so as to make unbelief inex- 
 cusable, and which ought to have com- 
 pelled them to say with Nicodemus, " We 
 know that Thou art come a teacher from 
 God, for no man can do these signs which 
 Thou dost unless God be with him " {John 
 iii. 2) ; for if the Son of God was not 
 manifested by means of miracles. His 
 divinity would not have been acknowl- 
 edged, inasmuch as the humble life of the 
 Saviour seemed to be incompatible with 
 the Supreme Majesty. 
 
 Jesus Christ himself, has He not said 
 that if He had not performed works which 
 only a God-man could accomplish, the 
 Jews might have had some reasonable 
 excuse for rejecting His testimony, and 
 would not have acknowledged Him as the 
 Messiah } His miracles, then, had author 
 ized His mission and manifested His 
 divinity ; although it may be said that, in 
 fact, there have been false miracles and 
 wicked impostors. 
 
 The miracles of the Saviour are 
 attested by unimpeachable witnesses and 
 by authentic testimonies ; the reputa- 
 tion of His miracles attracted around 
 Him crowds of people who could not 
 all be deceived, and five thousand per- 
 sons witnessed the multiplication of 
 barley loaves, with which they were fully 
 satiated. 
 
56 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 I am aware that the Pharisees and 
 scribes wished to take no heed of facts 
 which they attributed to the illusions of 
 the devil or to the agency of magic ; but 
 what connection can there be between 
 light and darkness ? 
 
 Have there never been professors of the 
 black art who performed prodigies ? Have 
 not magicians professed to cure the blind 
 and raise the dead ? 
 
 Besides, a man so incontcstably holy as 
 Jesus Christ was, was it meet and proper 
 to make use of the power and ministry of 
 the devil ? And the devil, on his part, 
 would he have made use of a man who 
 could have made his idols powerless, his 
 oracles mute ? How, then, could you 
 reconcile with the magic art, works which 
 are only done in confirmation of a doctrine 
 which abhors all diabolical operations ? 
 
 More than this, have not these won- 
 drous performances been examined by the 
 severest censors, submitted to the most 
 rigorous critics, and to the inquiries of 
 judges far from being favorable to Jesus ? 
 
 At the sight of these miracles, how 
 many persons of consequence among the 
 Jews have acknowledged Him to be a 
 Prophet sent from God ? How many 
 others who, believing in their hearts, have 
 not dared to make a public profession of 
 faith for fear of being banished from the 
 synagogue ? And since that time, have 
 not Celsus, Porphyry, Julian the Apostate, 
 Mahomet — the greatest enemies Jesus 
 Christ ever had in the world — have they 
 not honestly confessed that He was a 
 man of miracles, thereby giving testimony 
 
 of His doctrine, His merit, and cons^ 
 quently of His Divinity ? 
 
 The angels have honored the Worl 
 Incarnate on His entry into the world, and 
 have acknowledged how much is the Son 
 of God above His servants : " Being made 
 so much better than the angels, as He 
 hath inherited a more excellent name than 
 they " {Hebrews i. 4). They have served 
 Him during His mortal and suffering life, 
 as also in the sacred position of Hia 
 immortality. This is what the following 
 words intend to convey: "Amen I say to 
 you ; you shall see the heaven opened, 
 and the angels of God ascending and 
 descending upon the Son of Man " {John i. 
 51). They have ministered to Him, I say, 
 during the whole course of His life, and 
 you know the service they gave Him in 
 the desert after the devil had tempted 
 Him ; they consoled Him in His agony, 
 they wept for His death in a manner 
 which angels only can shed tears: "The 
 angels of peace shall weep bitterly " {Isaias 
 xxxiii. 7). They joyfully announced His 
 resurrection to His disciples, they accom- 
 panied Him everywhere whilst He dwelt 
 visibly on earth, they formed the proces- 
 sion and joined in the triumph on His 
 entry into heaven, they will be His escort 
 on the day of the last judgment, they will 
 gather around Him in heaven for ever and 
 ever ; the noblest, the highest in the choir 
 will esteem themselves happy to be 
 beneath His feet, and, angels as they are, 
 they will gladly acknowledge a man as 
 their King on the throne of God itself. 
 
♦ CMAFnrER XIX. ♦ 
 
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 m 0n Relief in // ^tiri^t // am ^ctt[d. 
 
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 Massillon, Bishop FROMENTifeRE, and St. Jerome. 
 
 " Go and teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, smd of 
 the Holy Ghost." — Matthew xxviii. 19. 
 
 'NCREDULOUS mortals are 
 still to be met with, who, after 
 the accomplishment of all that 
 has been foretold — after having 
 seen the consummation of the 
 mysteries of Jesus Christ — 
 the excellence of His gospels — the 
 manifestation of His miracles — the wis- 
 dom of His precepts — the vanity of the 
 pomp of ages — the destruction of idols 
 — the utter confusion of the Caesars — 
 the plots of the whole world against Him ; 
 there are, I say, still to be found men who 
 doubt of the truths of His holy religion, 
 who ask for fresh miracles, and who 
 encourage those who try to confute or to 
 ridicule what the labors of the apostles 
 have effected, what the prudence of so 
 many missionaries have established — what 
 innumerable miracles have confirmed — 
 what the purity of so many virgins have 
 honored — what the austerity of hermits 
 have sealed — what the sacrifice and de- 
 tachment of so many servants of God 
 
 6T 
 
 have authorized, and what the example of 
 so many grand saints have inspired. 
 
 It is that a religion of seventeen 
 centuries, ever the same, ever consistent 
 and universally accepted by the world, 
 seems to have maintained its authority. 
 
 For in the midst of the triumphs of 
 Christianity there have continually risen 
 rebellious children against it, children 
 whom the Almighty has given over to the 
 pride of their self-conceit, to the misguid- 
 ance of their reason, to the corruptions of 
 their mind, who blaspheme what they 
 ignore, who deny what they do not under- 
 stand ; of wicked men who pervert the 
 grace of God, convert light to darkness ; 
 of disobedient men who despise every rule, 
 who reject all authority not their own, who 
 defile all their ways like unto animals with- 
 out reason, and who are waiting to be sum- 
 moned to suffer the punishment for their 
 blasphemy at the judgment seat of God. 
 
 The Church of Jesus Christ has found 
 the whole universe to be docile and sub- 
 
58 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 missive to its precepts ; the Caesars, to 
 whom she forbade luxury ; nations, on 
 whom she enforced obedience, to whom 
 she preached suffering ; to the rich, to 
 whom she recommended poverty ; to the 
 poor, to whom she enjoined resignation ; 
 to all, to whom she preached mortification, 
 penance, and self-deniaL This faith, how- 
 ever, and this religion, preached by twelve 
 poor sinners without science, without 
 talent, without support, without favor, has 
 overcome the world, and has made it 
 acknowledge the truths of its inscrutable 
 mysteries ; and the folly of the cross has 
 proved to be wiser than all the wisdom of 
 ages. 
 
 What more ! My brother, all turn 
 against the Church ; yet that only serves 
 to increase its power. To be loyal and to 
 be a martyr was the same thing, and the 
 more violent were the persecutions the 
 more it acquired strength, and the blood of 
 the martyrs became a fruitful seed of 
 
 Christianity. 
 
 • Massillon. 
 
 [Jean Louis de FromentiI;re, Bishop of 
 Aire, was born in 1652 at St. Denis of Gas- 
 tines. In the year 1672 he was commissioned 
 to preach the Advent sermons before Louis 
 XIV. He died in 1684, universally regretted 
 by his flock.] 
 
 It was not the eloquence of the apostles 
 that confirmed the faith ; their language 
 was simple and plain. It was not the easy 
 belief of their doctrine ; it was a God 
 crucified they preached. It was not the 
 indulgence of their morals ; for they 
 spoke, as their Master did, but of the 
 
 cross, poverty, and patience. And how is 
 it that the whole universe has surrendered 
 to a preaching so novel and so strange ? 
 How could have so many clever men been 
 able to submit their understanding to 
 truths so startling "i How could so many, 
 immersed in sensuality, so resolutely 
 embrace a life of mortifications, if the 
 apostles, the messengers of God, had not 
 been the instruments of His power, and if 
 those divine clouds had not astonished the 
 earth by their brightness before watering 
 it with their rains "i 
 
 Do you not wonder at the boldness 
 which twelve poor sinners displayed when 
 they parcelled out the world among them ? 
 It is said that the successors of Alexander 
 divided it, but it was already a world con- 
 quered ; instead of this, the apostles 
 dispersed to conquer. One had the task 
 of subduing Asia, another Egypt, another 
 Judea and those countries which the 
 conquest of nations had not reached. 
 
 What is more surprising, they all suc- 
 ceeded, and by what means ? And this 
 is more wondrous still, by a doctrine con- 
 trary to sense and reason ( at least in 
 appearance ), by preaching a God crucified. 
 
 Bishop FROMENXifeRE. 
 
 The Master of that religion has been 
 crucified. His servants have been chained 
 down like criminals, and yet, for all that. 
 His religion grows and flourishes every 
 day. 
 
 St. Jerome. 
 Epistle, No. L. 
 
4t 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 t^e ^0ue: ©f Jesi^s for (^an. 
 
 ? 
 
 PfeRE EUSiBE DE NiEREMBERG. 
 
 " As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love." — ^John xv. 9. 
 
 'EAN EUSEBE DE NIEREM- 
 BERG was of German extrac- 
 tion, but was born at Madrid in the 
 year 1590, and died there in 1658 
 at the age of sixty-eight. He 
 belonged to the Society of Jesus, 
 and was a most penitent and 
 mortified priest, and, in addition to this, 
 a hard-working author ; for he wrote many 
 learned treatises in Spanish, German, and 
 Latin. 
 
 The following extract is from a little work 
 written by Le Pfere Eusfebe Nieremberg, 
 entitled **Jesus Amabilis.'" This book was 
 originally written in German; Le P^re Brig- 
 non translated it into Latin, now rendered 
 into English. 
 
 Can we have any conception of a 
 greater love for men than that of our 
 Saviour, since, however wicked or ungrate- 
 ful we may have been, He does not cease 
 to love us .'' He forgives us our trespasses 
 so readily that one would say that He was 
 under an obligation to us. He rewards 
 us for our good works liberally, never 
 revealing how much He has contributed 
 towards their performance. He, as it 
 were, magnifies the little services we pay 
 
 Him, without letting us know the 
 immense assistance He has given us. 
 
 Although, in fact, we have done next to 
 nothing for Him, He does not cease to be 
 grateful, and showers down graces with 
 profusion, just as if we had rendered Him 
 some important service. 
 
 Ah ! Heart of Jesus — Heart truly 
 liberal and full of love — who gives us 
 everything, and to whom we owe all, and 
 who by His own gifts makes Himself 
 our debtor ! After that, who could fail 
 to love Him with all their heart, with all 
 their mind, and all their strength, and offer 
 up repeated acts of thanksgiving for good- 
 ness so bountiful, love so generous } 
 
 If we ought to love our Saviour for the 
 many blessings He has bestowed upon us, 
 we ought no less to love Him for the 
 many misfortunes from which He has 
 delivered us, and from which only He 
 could have freed us. 
 
 It is He who has had compassion on 
 us, and who, being our only resource, has 
 
6o 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 taken upon Himself to pay all our debts, 
 and to expiate, by a cruel and bloody 
 death, all our sins ; it is He, then, who 
 alone has redeemed the human race from 
 misfortune in which He was so willingly 
 engaged ; it is He who has drawn us from 
 hell, who, having broken our chains, has 
 made us free. Alas ! without Thee, where 
 should we be now ? We should have 
 been cast into the darkness of the abyss. 
 It is He who from darkness has revealed 
 to us the light of day, who, from this dark 
 abyss, has shown us the way to heaven, to 
 which we are entitled to aspire. What 
 should we be without Him but a mass of 
 dust and corruption } It is He who has 
 so cleansed us that we are like unto the 
 angels ; in one word, it is He who, making 
 us sharers in His glory, has delivered us 
 from every kind of misery, who has 
 replenished us with blessings without 
 number. 
 
 And after all this, can we possibly be 
 ungrateful .? Can we have but little love for 
 Him .' We ought indeed to look upon 
 Him as our greatest benefactor. 
 
 If the meanest of men had rescued us 
 from perilous danger, although without 
 much exertion, should we not take a liking 
 to him .? What feelings of gratitude 
 ought we not therefore to cherish for One 
 who has rescued us from dangers without 
 number — a Saviour who, to show His 
 love so generously, shed every drop of His 
 precious blood "i 
 
 O my Saviour and my God, how can w* 
 sufficiently repay You for Your infinite 
 goodness — You who have delivered us 
 from the tyranny of the evil one, from 
 the bondage of sin } y| 
 
 For let us try to realize, if we can, what 
 is the extent of the misery from which the 
 Saviour has delivered us ; meditate seri- 
 ously for a while and you will not be 
 surprised. We shall wonder at His bound- 
 less love, and offer up repeated acts of 
 thanksgiving for so many blessings. 
 
 A man who walks in his sleep and, 
 without knowing where he goes, passes 
 over the edge of a precipice, is seized with 
 a shuddering wonder when he awakens 
 and sees the danger he has escaped. 
 
 Let us awaken, and, with the light of 
 faith, look down the precipice from 
 which the Saviour has withdrawn us — 
 look down again, and its depth will 
 astonish us. 
 
 Many there are who tremble with fear 
 when they cast their glances from the 
 extreme point of a very lofty mountainous 
 rock ; how ought we not to tremble at the 
 sight of that abyss into which Adam had 
 thrown us, and from which our Saviour 
 has withdrawn us .? 
 
 Nevertheless, the distance from heaven 
 to hell is not so far removed as was the 
 state of sin in which we were, to the state 
 of grace in which we are, through the 
 merits of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Le PArE EustBE NiEREMBERG. 
 
PfeRE DU Jarry and St. Augustine. 
 
 *' And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him !■ 
 a manger." — St. Lukk ii. 7. 
 
 AURENT JUILLARD -DU 
 JARRY was born in the year 
 1658, at Jarry, a village near to 
 Saintes. 
 
 Soon after he was ordained, he 
 became celebrated as a preacher, 
 and, in addition to this, he was 
 acknowledged to be an excellent poet. 
 
 He died in the year 1730, at the Priory of 
 Notre Dame du Jarry, in the diocese of Saintes. 
 
 My brethren, let us gaze upon the Son 
 of God in the poverty of His birth. 
 What does He not say to us there } Let 
 ns enter in spirit into the stable ; we shall 
 hear a voice issuing therefrom, saying — 
 
 Blush at having beautiful houses like 
 unto palaces, such grand furniture, so 
 much useless apparel, whilst I have only a 
 crib instead of a bed, and two vile animals 
 for company. Blush in those magnificent 
 rooms wherein you try to be sheltered 
 from the least inconveniences of the 
 season, whilst a half-exposed stable leaves 
 Me a prey to all the hardships of a cold 
 seasoa 
 
 SI 
 
 Blush at the aversion you have for every 
 kind of humiliation, at the precautions you 
 take to continue in a condition that flatters 
 your vanity, at the artifices yoii employ to 
 conceal a poverty you ought to be proud 
 of, at the contempt you display to all who 
 are not within the pale of your society. 
 
 Blush to bear, perchance, the insignia of 
 the poverty and humiliations of Jesus 
 Christ in your state of life, and yet fry to 
 aspire to the pomp and luxury of the world 
 shining around. 
 
 Let us contemplate this scene as faith 
 points out ; let us enter this manger in 
 spirit ; let us see this hidden Deity who, 
 in the darkness of night, when all 
 creatures are silent — in want of every 
 necessary, and is made poor to enrich us. 
 
 This Child is born in an empty stable, 
 deserted by every one ; it is the God who 
 created them, and whom they obey ; it is 
 the everlasting Wisdom which assists at 
 all the councils of God, and which it has 
 possessed from the beginning of time. 
 
62 
 
 HALF-HOURS . WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 This divine wisdom, hidden in the limbs 
 of an infant, was begotten in the bright- 
 ness of the saints. 
 
 Ungrateful, deluded man, you who have 
 not wished to know this divine wisdom in 
 the richness of His beauty, see Him now 
 in the poverty of a stable ! Laden as you 
 have been with so many benefits and 
 blessings, you have not recognized the 
 hand which has spread them over you with 
 such profusion ; you have closed your ears 
 to that striking voice which appeals to you 
 with as many mouths as there are 
 creatures : O man, adore thy God ! His 
 ingenious love has suggested another voice 
 to persuade you : He teaches you through 
 the poverty of the crib : " Now, therefore, 
 my children, hear me " {Prov. viii). 
 
 Ah, my brethren ! what does not this 
 divine Child say, that eternal Word which 
 is now so silent ? 
 
 No occasion to seek for rules of piety 
 to lead us on, for we learn all that we need 
 know and practice in this adorable book. 
 All the prophets, all the doctors, all the 
 apostles speak through the mouth of Him 
 who has opened theirs. The stable at 
 Bethlehem is the school where all Chris- 
 tians ought to study the science of 
 salvation. All the ways to heaven, every 
 path of virtue, begin and finish through 
 Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, 
 and being the way, the truth, and the life. 
 He has opened the way to heaven to all. 
 
 Providence of my God, exclaims St. 
 Bernard, how wonderful art thou ! Carnal 
 and animal creatures have no conception 
 of the works of God. Even wisdom itself 
 
 is made flesh to make it intelligible to men 
 of flesh. 
 
 It is no longer through men, full of a holy 
 fear, that God proclaims His oracles ; mys- 
 terious messages in shrouded language no 
 longer issue from the mountain top amidst 
 thunder and lightning ; these are heard no 
 more. It is from the farther end of a 
 grotto, it is from the height of a crib, it is 
 in the silence of night, it is the mouth 
 of a Child wrapped in swaddling-clothes 
 that the . Incarnate Wisdom exclaims, 
 " Behold, to thee wisdom is manifested in 
 the flesh." 
 
 Come, ye profound philosophers, ye 
 refined politicians, ye clever men — enter 
 into the stable ; there is your lyceum, your 
 academy ; deposit your proud learning, your 
 studied lessons, your captious rhetoric at 
 the feet of this adorable Doctor who 
 exposes the vanity, errors, and littleness of 
 everything. 
 
 Let all the fire of eloquence, all the 
 pride of wisdom, all the subtlety of philoso- 
 phy, all the refinements of policy, disappear 
 at the sight of this divine Child : Ecce tibi 
 in came exhibetur sapientia. 
 
 Preachers of the Gospel, happy organs 
 of that eternal Word who sends you ; you 
 who, as well as St. John the Baptist, are 
 only voices to proclaim the glory of God 
 in every temple, kneel before this Child 
 and acknowledge the Master who has 
 loosened the tongues of the prophets and 
 apostles, who has inspired the martyrs and 
 young virgins with words that astonished 
 tyrants and confounded pagan philoso- 
 phers ; and when you shall have adored 
 
THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 
 
 63 
 
 Him silently and humbly, lost in- wonder, 
 speak and consecrate every ornament of 
 eloquence to the praise and glory of Him 
 who has endowed you with gifts. 
 
 Happy the docile listeners who, open- 
 ing their hearts to that invisible Preacher 
 who speaks to them through your mouths, 
 can hear the voice of our Lord in those of 
 men ! 
 
 Teach us, then, O Child divine ! We 
 speak in Your place simply to exhort 
 Christians to hear You instead of hearing 
 
 Uft. 
 
 DU JARRY. 
 
 On Christmas-ticU. 
 
 Would you wish to know who He is, 
 
 who is born in this way ? Learn, then, 
 who He is, and how mighty is He. It is 
 the Word of the Eternal Father, the Cre- 
 ator of the universe, the Peace of the 
 world, the Saviour of men, He who is the 
 joy and hope of the just. 
 
 The glory of this Child was, that a 
 virgin should bring Him forth into the 
 world, and the glory of the Virgin Mother 
 was, that she should have for a Son, a 
 Man who was at the same time God. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Strmo. d* Ttmport. 
 
 
CHAPTKR XXII. 
 
 
 * On the Circuicision of our Lord. « 
 
 
 BouRDALOUE and Father Faber- 
 
 " And after eight days were accomplished that the child should be circumcised, His name WM 
 called Jesus." — Luke ii. 12. 
 
 " I am not come to destroy the law or the prophets." — Matthew v. 17. 
 
 N this the feast of the Circum- 
 cision, our Saviour, the Son of 
 God, teaches us how we should 
 co-operate in the great work 
 of our salvation, and He gives 
 us a means as divine as it is 
 indispensable and necessary, namely, that 
 mysterious but real circumcision of the 
 will and heart — a circumcision for which 
 He frames a law, of which He explains the 
 precept, and of which He facilitates the 
 use. 
 
 He proposes the circumcision of the 
 heart, and He makes it necessary ; for 
 though He does abolish the old circum- 
 cision, or, to speak more correctly, the 
 ancient circumcision finishes with Him 
 only because He established the new, 
 and, as St. Augustine says, He makes use 
 of the shadow and figure only because He 
 brings forward the light and the truth ; 
 Suscepit umbram allaturus lucent, suscipit 
 figuram daturus veritatem. Now this 
 
 64 
 
 light and truth were, that we should all 
 be circumcised of heart, as the Jews were 
 according to the flesh. 
 
 Circumcision of the heart, a cutting off 
 of useless and inordinate desires, uneasy 
 and fantastical wishes, immoderate and 
 ill-regulated longings, carnal and worldly 
 desires, criminal and unlawful wishes — 
 all of which take root in the heart and 
 corrupt it. This is how St. Paul under- 
 stood it ; and because these pernicious 
 desires are excited in us by vain objects 
 which delight us, by false interests which 
 blind us, by dangerous occasions which 
 drag us onward and pervert us, this 
 circumcision of the heart ought to be 
 an entire separation from such objects, 
 a complete renunciation of those false 
 interests, a wise and wholesome with- 
 drawal from those occasions ; for these 
 are what was typified in the Judaic cir- 
 cumcision. This is how God prepared 
 the world, when He compelled Abraham 
 
THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD. 
 
 65 
 
 and all his descendants to be circum- 
 cised. 
 
 Now our Saviour proposes this spiritual 
 circumcision as an indispensable and 
 requisite means to procure our salvation ; 
 for what is more necessary than to tear 
 away, stifle, mortify, and destroy all that is 
 the beginning and cause of damnation ? 
 
 This spiritual circumcision is a circum- 
 cision which is not solely exterior, but 
 which penetrates, so to speak, into the 
 innermost recesses of the soul : Non qua 
 in manifesto est circumcisio ; a circum- 
 cision which is no longer from the hand of 
 man, but which is God's work and sanc- 
 tifies man in the sight of God — a circum- 
 cision which no longer consists in the 
 cutting of the flesh, but in the renounce- 
 ment of the vices and the concupiscence 
 of the flesh — a circumcision, of which 
 the mind and heart are the two principals 
 as well as the two subjects ; the two prin- 
 cipals, because it is carried out through 
 them, and the two subjects, because it is 
 within them — that is to say, it is a cir- 
 cumcision of the heart which is made, not 
 only literally, but in the fervor of the 
 will : Circumcisio cordis in spiritu, non 
 litterA. 
 
 These are the animated expressions of 
 the apostle, who defines what may be 
 called the new circumcision. The man 
 of the world and a religious ought both to 
 be circumcised at heart ; but to compare 
 the wants of the one with the other, this 
 circumcision of the heart is in one sense 
 more indispensably necessary for the man 
 of the world than for the religious, who, by 
 
 the vows of his profession, has renounced 
 everything ; because the man of the world 
 has stronger passions to fight against 
 than a religious, since he has before him 
 more opportunities of exciting them ; 
 because the man of the world is much 
 more exposed to be tempted than a 
 religious, consequently, he ought to 
 watch over himself, and should continu- 
 ally try to deny himself and endeavor to 
 persevere. 
 
 After the first step a religious has 
 taken — after that first sacrifice which 
 has deprived him of everything — it would 
 seem that there was nothing more to be 
 done ; but you in the world, what have 
 you hitherto given to God, or what further 
 sacrifices have you not to make and offer 
 to God ? 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 On the Circumcision, 
 
 The Child Jesus' bloodshedding in the 
 circumcision was another penance of His 
 infancy, which, for many reasons, may be 
 regarded as a pattern for the unnecessary 
 mortifications of the saints, if, indeed, any 
 mortification can be strictly deemed un- 
 necessary even for the most innocent of 
 the sons of men. He needed not the rite. 
 He required no ceremonial covenant with 
 God, who was God Himself. That Flesh 
 needed no consecration which was already 
 united to a divine Person. 
 
 It was a strange, separate, unaccount- 
 able bloodshedding, standing, as it seems, 
 in a peculiar relation to the other blood- 
 , sheddings ; as it was not only no part of 
 
66 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 the redemption of the world, but was 
 utterly detached from the Passion.* 
 
 It did not keep the compact with the 
 Father, which was death, and nothing 
 short of death ; so that the drops that were 
 shed were not shed to the saving of souls. 
 
 Was it the homage of the Infancy to 
 the Passion } Was it, like the bloody 
 sweat upon Mount Olivet, an outburst of 
 the Sacred Heart's impatience for the 
 plenitude of Calvary } 
 
 To Himself truly it was pain, to His 
 mother sorrow, to Joseph a heavenly per- 
 plexity, to the angels a wonder, to the 
 saints a pattern and a mystery. 
 
 Father Faber. (Orat.) 
 Bethlehem. 
 
 Jesus Christ is circumcised as the son 
 of Abraham ; He is called Jesus as the 
 Son of God. 
 
 He whom no one can convict of sin, 
 He who had no necessity to be circum- 
 cised, nevertheless makes use of the cure 
 for sin, and consents to suffer a shameful 
 and painful remedy. 
 
 We, on the contrary, who do not blush 
 at the hideousness of sin, are ashamed 
 of doing penance ; a sign of extreme 
 folly. Thus we are slaves of sin, and 
 we blush at the remedy which is still more 
 criminal. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 Oh the Circumeisi*H. 
 
 * S«e Treatise on the Precious Blood, chaps, i. aad r. 
 
•$ ti'. A 
 
 13 [lame of Je^n^. * 
 
 " You are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 
 
 P^RE NOUET, S. J. 
 
 I Cor. vi. 11. 
 
 Extracts from a book entitled " The Man of Prayer,^* written by that servant of God, 
 
 Le P^re Nouet, S. J. 
 
 HERE is no work, says St. Paul, 
 but that we should begin by 
 invoking this holy Name : 
 " All whatsoever you do in 
 word or in work, all things do 
 ye in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus" {Col. iii. 17). 
 
 Here, then, is the best method we can 
 adopt in our work and in the whole 
 conduct of our life. If, to make our life 
 happy, we ought to bless Jesus, morning, 
 noon, and night, we cannot draw down His 
 blessing more effectually than by invoking 
 His holy Name, which is the price of His 
 blood and of His life. 
 
 It is true, to do this worthily we have 
 need of His help ; but He is too jealous of 
 His glory to refuse even this, and we need 
 not fear but that He will not fail to assist 
 us, since it is He Himself who has 
 inspired us. 
 
 Let us, then, open our hearts to Him, 
 in order that He may engrave thereon His 
 holy Name ; and if you earnestly wish to 
 receive His divine inspirations, make your- 
 self worthy of His promises. 
 
 Let us be thoroughly convinced that 
 the greatest honor we can pay to the 
 Son of God, in His quality of Redeemer, 
 is to embrace courageously every means 
 which He holds out to us to save our 
 souls. Our happiness is so mixed up with 
 His glory, that we cannot be lost without 
 doing Him an injustice, and to snatch 
 from Him that which is most dear to Him, 
 namely, our eternal salvation. 
 
 If we have this holy Name deeply 
 engraven on our hearts, it will not be diffi- 
 cult to imagine but that it should be often 
 on our lips ; that is to say, that we should 
 invoke it often and often, and that we 
 should do our best to impress it upon the 
 hearts of others ; for it is so sweet a per- 
 fume that it seeks only to be spread far 
 and wide; it is a spring so limpid that 
 nothing makes it more plentiful and clearer 
 than when many come to slake their thirst ; 
 it is a light which ought to illuminate the 
 universe. 
 
 Oh ! what a joy to be able to contribute 
 in some degree to the glory of Jesus, and 
 to the veneration of His most holy Name ! 
 
68 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC, 
 
 Oh ! that I could induce all men to pay 
 Him homage, and that I could hear every 
 tongue proclaim His praises ! 
 
 Here is the best and foremost of all my 
 desires, that at the holy Name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow, in heaven, on 
 earth, in hell ; and that every tongue 
 should confess that the Lord Jesus is in 
 the glory of His Father. Omnis lingua 
 confiteatur quia Dominiis Jesus Christus in 
 glorid est Dei Patris {Phil. ii.). 
 
 A true devotion to the holy Name will 
 help to obtain our own sanctification ; for 
 in saving our own souls, we accomplish the 
 greatest desire of our Saviour, and we con- 
 tribute on our part to do that which adds 
 an additional glory to Him, which is our 
 own salvation. 
 
 Our salvation depends, on the one part, 
 on Him ; on the other, on ourselves. On 
 His part He has abundantly supplied us 
 with all that was necessary to complete 
 the work of that grand, important, and sole 
 hope of a happy eternity. He has cured 
 all our infirmities ; He has given us preserv- 
 atives and wholesome remedies against all 
 our vicious habits ; He has delivered us from 
 the power of the devil ; He has reconciled 
 us with His Eternal Father; He has paid 
 all our debts ; He has surmounted every 
 obstacle to our salvation, and, through 
 excess of love, He has shed His Blood, 
 and after suffering excruciating pains He 
 expired on the cross. But, after all, if we 
 do not make a good use of His graces, all 
 that He has done and suffered will be in 
 vain, inasmuch as we deprive Him of the 
 glory of His holy Name. 
 
 In addition to this, the most solid devc 
 tion to the holy Name of Jesus is to love 
 and try zealously to obtain the salvation of 
 our neighbor. Nothing is so dear to the 
 Sacred Heart as the salvation of a soul. 
 His life so full of hardships. His death so 
 cruel, are evident proofs of this. 
 
 How careful ought those to be who have 
 been called to the ministry of God's Word, 
 and to other functions which contribute to 
 the salvation of souls who have been ran- 
 somed by His precious Blood. 
 
 How glorious to be employed in His 
 service — to have the power of dispensing 
 the merits of His sufferings and death ! 
 
 You whose vocation it is to work contin- 
 ually for the salvation of those souls 
 intrusted to your care, think seriously 
 how sad it would be if one soul should per- 
 ish through your negligence. But what 
 would it be if, instead of saving souls, your 
 conduct through life should be a cause of 
 scandal } 
 
 Oh ! let us think of what we are and 
 what we ought to be. We ought to be as 
 so many saviors of men in our intercourse 
 with the world, edifying them by our 
 example, instructing them, succoring 
 them, praying always for them, and by our 
 ardor and zeal doing our best to secure 
 their salvation. 
 
 Listen, thqn, to the voice of the Blood 
 of that Redeemer who beseeches you, by 
 virtue of His Name and the excess of His 
 love, to help Him to make His Name effi- 
 cacious by saving souls, and by making 
 them partakers of the fruit of His precious 
 Blood. 
 
St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, and PfeRE Montmorcl. 
 
 " All they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praises to the 
 Lord." — ISAiAS Ix. 6. 
 
 'T will readily be admitted that 
 the lights and graces which the 
 Magi received were immense 
 and extraordinary, since they 
 were enlightened outwardly as 
 well as inwardly. 
 But, truly, could less have been done to 
 convince the Gentiles, or to draw them to 
 the knowledge of a God-man whom they 
 had not as yet seen command the waves of 
 the sea, or raise the dead, or restore sight 
 to the blind — a God who only visibly 
 showed Himself as an ordinary child, 
 silent, poor, and weak ? 
 
 Nevertheless, if the Magi had had the 
 same indifference which the majority of 
 Christians have for heavenly things, they 
 would have perhaps looked upon the star 
 only as a curiosity, and they would have 
 met, perchance, to seek for natural causes 
 to account for its appearance. They would 
 not have hastened to set out on so long a 
 journey ; and in delaying to obey the 
 secret order which impelled them on- 
 
 wards, they would have lost the greatest of 
 blessings. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 StrfHOH XXXV. De Temport. 
 
 St. Chrysostom assures us that God 
 caused the star to appear in order to con- 
 vince the Jews of their infidelity, and to 
 show them that their ingratitude was inex- 
 cusable. For as Jesus Christ came upon 
 earth to call the whole world to the knowl- 
 edge of His name, and to be acknowledged 
 and adored by all nations. He opens the 
 gate of faith to the Gentiles, and He 
 instructs His chosen people through the 
 medium of foreigners. 
 
 God seeing the indifference with which 
 the Jews listened to all the prophecies 
 which promised the birth of the Saviour, 
 He summoned the wise men from the 
 East to seek for the King of the Jews in 
 the midst of the Jews, and He willed that 
 Persia should teach the former what they 
 
70 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 did not care to learn from the oracles of 
 their prophets ; in order that, if they had 
 amongst them any men of good-will, this 
 visit of the kings might lead them to 
 believe, and if they wished still to be 
 obstinate no excuse would be of any avail. 
 For what could they think or say when 
 they witnessed these Magi, guided only 
 by a star, seeking and adoring Him whom 
 they had rejected ? 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Oh the Second Chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 No obstacle seemed to be too formid- 
 able for the Magi to overcome, no diffi- 
 culty could shake their resolution ; for 
 as soon as they saw the star they felt 
 an inward secret inspiration, and imme- 
 diately they left their kingdoms and car- 
 ried with them the offerings they intended 
 to present to Him whom the Scripture 
 calls "The King of kings and the Lord 
 of lords." 
 
 They generously faced danger or death 
 by asking for the King of the Jews in the 
 capital of Judea. 
 
 Happy Magi ! exclaims one of the 
 Fathers, who, in the presence of a cruel 
 king, boldly proclaimed themselves to be 
 confessors of the faith. 
 
 The same grace which our Lord has 
 given to pagans, it may be truly said that 
 He has given to us many and many a 
 time. 
 
 For example, the edifying examples we 
 see, the sermons we hear, the good books 
 
 we read, the holy inspirations we feel, 
 the pious reflections we make, are as so 
 many stars which shine and guide us oq 
 our way. 
 
 He calls us, says St. Gregory, through 
 the writings of the Fathers, through the 
 voice of pastors, through the illnesses which 
 He sends us, through adversities which 
 well-nigh overwhelm us. See, continues 
 this holy doctor, by how many stars we 
 are invited to go to Jesus Christ ! 
 
 Now, if we wish to imitate our holy 
 kings in the fidelity which they displayed 
 in corresponding to the grace of God, let 
 us unhesitatingly follow the star that is 
 meant to guide us on our way. 
 
 What is this way, if it be not the 
 narrow path which leads to eternal life ^ 
 
 Let us hasten to enter thereon, and 
 when once we are there, let nothing 
 discourage us or tempt us to go back, 
 but let us walk on steadily and persever- 
 ingly, until we have found our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 But, alas ! we do the reverse of this. 
 Far from paying attention to the work- 
 ings of grace, far from having our eyes 
 open to perceive the star, far from having 
 the courage to follow its guidance imme- 
 diately, some shut their eyes on purpose 
 not to see the light, and others put off 
 to another time the carrying out of the 
 good resolutions which it suggests to 
 them. 
 
 PkRE MONTMOREX.- 
 
 Homilies. 
 
-OK THE- 
 
 INFANCY AND HIDDEN LIFE OF ODR SAVIOUR. 
 
 PiRES Croiset and Nouet, S. J. 
 "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them." — Luke ii. 51. 
 
 *T is surprising that the Son of 
 God, having come on earth 
 simply to glorify His Father 
 by redeeming mankind, should 
 have passed nearly all His life 
 in obscurity. 
 During all this time could He not have 
 travelled through the world to teach men 
 by His doctrine, to edify them by His 
 example, to convince them by His miracles, 
 and draw them to the knowledge of the 
 true God ? 
 
 The carpenter's shop, was it a dwelling 
 worthy of a Saviour ? A hidden and 
 unknown life, was this to be the life of a 
 Messiah ? And so long a retreat, was it 
 necessary for a God made man ? 
 
 It must be so, since He who is wisdom 
 itself and does all things with consummate 
 prudence has made the choice. Who is it 
 who had the glory of His Father more at 
 heart than His only-begotten Son ? and 
 who knew better than He did how to pro- 
 mote it ? The salvation of man, was not 
 that the object of His incarnation ? and 
 
 n 
 
 was He ignorant that the conversion o_ 
 the universe ought to have been His work ? 
 
 We must, therefore, come to the conclu- 
 sion that a hidden life up to the age of 
 thirty, was more glorious to God than the 
 most striking miracles, and that the work 
 of our salvation required that silence and 
 obscurity during all that time. 
 
 What more glorious, what more instruc- 
 tive, than the mystery of this hidden life ? 
 The Eternal Father wished to be glorified 
 by the hidden life of His Son ; the Saviour 
 prefers this obscurity to all the marvels of 
 an active life. 
 
 Ah ! great God, when shall we be con- 
 vinced that perfection and merit does not 
 consist in doing or in suffering great 
 things for Your glory, but in wishing and 
 doing all that pleases You ? 
 
 The Saviour glorified His Father quite 
 as much in the poor workshop at Nazareth 
 as He afterwards in Judea did through His 
 preachings and miracles. 
 
 O my God, how foolish are they who 
 feel inclined to show their zeal only in per- 
 
72 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 forming mighty works of charity ! Such 
 as these would say that a hidden life 
 extinguishes fervor. 
 
 The will of God is sought for by those 
 who put their trust in Him ; but how many 
 virtues are included in this one ! The 
 Son of God was strictly obedient to Mary 
 and Joseph ; this is an abridgement of His 
 life, from the age of twelve to thirty years. 
 Would not one say that obedience is above 
 every other virtue ? for one cannot doubt 
 but that during that time, Jesus Christ 
 would have possessed every virtue. 
 
 Scripture seems to include all in saying 
 that He was perfectly obedient ! Ah ! my 
 God, how important is this lesson, but it is 
 not relished ! How consoling, my Lord, 
 is Your example ; but it is not followed ! 
 I have only to obey, and I am sure of 
 pleasing You. 
 
 How short is the path to perfection ! I 
 have only to obey, and from that time I 
 practise every virtue ! A complete victory 
 over the strongest temptations is attached 
 to obedience : we are humble, we are solidly 
 grounded in virtue, when we are obedient. 
 
 As for the other wonders which Jesus 
 worked during that time, He has kept 
 them so hidden that we can but have a 
 confused knowledge of them. The finest 
 paintings are faded when exposed to too 
 much light and air ; but a hidden life is 
 always safe, and it is God alone who can 
 help us to it. 
 
 To be talked of by the world, to be 
 successful, to be praised, is, for those who 
 seek it, the reward for purely exterior 
 good works. If we wish to possess God 
 
 as a reward, let us remember that He alor 
 
 must be our witness. 
 
 Le PfeRE Croiset, S. J. 
 
 Retreats. 
 
 The love of solitude and the love of 
 silence are two virtues, of which the Son 
 of God gives us the example in His 
 hidden life. There are two kinds of 
 solitude ; the first is, that of the heart, 
 which can be practised, even among the 
 talk and hum of a busy world, by a holy, 
 contemplative mind not affected by out- 
 ward observances ; the second is, that of 
 the body, which effectually separates us 
 from the conversation and sight of men ; 
 but this will be of little use to us if 
 separated from the first. 
 
 Our Saviour has so practised both the 
 one and the other that it ought to induce us 
 to follow His example. See Him in Naza- 
 reth, where He leads a hidden life ; He is 
 content with a village, a mean-looking 
 house, a vile employment. What conver- 
 sions could He not effect by the mere effi- 
 cacy of His word ! nevertheless. He lives 
 silently, to teach us to love retreat ; and this 
 we should never shrink from, when the 
 glory of God, or the salvation of our neigh- 
 bor, or any pressing want, is concerned. 
 
 Try to be fond of retirement, so that 
 you may examine your conscience effect- 
 ually. You need not be afraid of losing 
 your time or of burying your talents. 
 
 Jesus did not lose the fruit of the least 
 of His labors when He began His public 
 life, from having been a recluse until He 
 was thirty years of age. p^Rg nouet. 
 From " The Man of Prayer.^ 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 On the Tran^figufation of oui' Lofd. 
 
 I^ 
 
 Father Du Pont, S. J. 
 
 "And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into 
 % high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them." — Matthew xvii. i, 2. , 
 
 fOUIS DU PONT was bom at Val- 
 ladolid on November 11, 1554. 
 He entered the Society of Jesus 
 at the age of twenty-one. In 
 Spain, he is justly considered to 
 be one of the most celebrated 
 masters of the spiritual life, and 
 his Meditations are models of piety and 
 devotion. After a life spent in the perform- 
 ance of good works and mortification, he died 
 in his native city on the i6th of February, 
 1624, aged sixty-one, fifty of which he passed 
 in the Society of Jesus. His life has been 
 written in Spanish by the Jesuit Father 
 Cachupin. His Meditations on the Mysteries, 
 published in 1612 at Cologne, is a book full 
 of unction and instruction. His life of 
 Balthasar Alvarez, one of the saintly directors 
 of the glorious St. Theresa, is intensely 
 interesting. 
 
 The primary intention of the Saviour in 
 showing Himself clothed with glory, and 
 His face shining as the sun, was to man- 
 ifest a ray of that glory which He had 
 concealed under the veil of His human 
 body — a happiness He had prepared in 
 His kingdom for all those who should be 
 faithful in His service. 
 
 He wished also to urge them to carry 
 the cross, and to teach them that God 
 gives to His saints, even in this world, a 
 foretaste of the delights and joys of the 
 
 next. Also, that the life of those who 
 follow Jesus is indeed a cross, but a cross 
 accompanied with heavenly consolations 
 and interior joys so sweet that it corres- 
 ponds with what He himself said, that His 
 yoke is easy and His burden light. After 
 that, should we hesitate to enter into the 
 service of so liberal a Master — we who 
 know that we shall one day partake of His 
 glory, and that perhaps He will give us 
 henceforth a merciful foretaste of the 
 happiness He has prepared for us ? 
 
 Let us consider for a moment how our 
 Lord and Saviour was transfigured. It 
 was by allowing the beauty of His soul, 
 which He had always concealed, to irradi- 
 ate and spread itself over His body. No 
 sooner had it appeared than His face did 
 shine as the sun, and His garments 
 became white as snow. The evangelist 
 would have said more brilliant than the 
 sun, had there been anything more lumi- 
 nous to which he could have compared it. 
 
 But let us offer up a thousand acts of 
 thanksgiving to that Divine Redeemer 
 who, for love of us, has up to now deprived 
 Himself of that glory so justly His due on 
 this day of his transfiguration. He deemecJ 
 it right and just to manifest His glory, 
 
74 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 though only for a short time, in order to 
 be able to finish the work of our salvation. 
 
 Could You, my Saviour, have shown me 
 a greater love by depriving Your sacred 
 body of a glory so just, so grand, so legit- 
 imate, with the sole view of sacrificing it 
 for me upon the cross ? 
 
 Oh ! why could I not give up every 
 earthly joy for the love of You ? for then 
 I should one day be rewarded in Thy 
 abode of glory. 
 
 The holy prophets, Moses and Elias, 
 appeared on Mount Thabor clothed in 
 glory and majesty. It may be that their 
 luminous presence contributed to increase 
 the glory of a Saviour whom they acknowl- 
 edged as their Redeemer, or it may have 
 been to show that the saints should one 
 day share in the happiness of their Mas- 
 ter, inasmuch as they participated in His 
 labors and sufferings on earth. 
 
 Who can describe the joy which filled 
 their hearts when they saw before their 
 eyes Him for whom they sighed for so 
 many ages ; with what humility and defer- 
 ence they adored Him as their God, and 
 what thanksgivings did they not offer to 
 Him as their Redeemer > 
 
 These holy prophets spoke, says the 
 evangelist, of the excess which He was to 
 accomplish in Jerusalem ; that is to say, 
 of the passion which He had to endure on 
 Mount Calvary, the theatre of His suffer- 
 ings. Redeemer of mankind, what are 
 You saying to them on this joyful 
 occasion } What connection can there 
 be between Your passion and Your glory } 
 
 If music in mourning is disagreeable 
 {Eccles. xxii.), are sad discourses bearable 
 in a time of joy .^ 
 
 But I see now what it is. Your sweet 
 music is in reference to Your death, 
 because the love You feel for us impels 
 You to find a pleasure in the greatest 
 suffering, and that you wish to teach us 
 by that, that You have never had a 
 moment of repose without some mixture 
 of pain, and that the joys of this life 
 which You have implanted in the hearts 
 of Your faithful servants, are intended to 
 prepare them for many crosses. Again, 
 as he who ardently loves willingly speaks 
 of the object of his affection, so because 
 You, O Lord, loved nothing so much as 
 crosses, You experienced no greater plea- 
 sure than to converse on that cross whereon 
 You would soon be nailed for love of us. 
 
 The place on which our Saviour was 
 transfigured was a retired spot, suitable for 
 prayer, to show that God does not reveal 
 His glory in public but in a retreat, when 
 we are the better weaned from earthly joys, 
 and are the more likely to reach perfection. 
 Thus Moses and Elias had the happiness 
 of seeing God, not in a crowded city, but 
 on the top of a deserted mountain. 
 
 How true it is that it is most important 
 that we should try to love solitude and 
 retirement, that we should raise up our 
 hearts and say with David, "Who will 
 give me wings like a dove, and I will fly 
 and be at rest .> " {Ps. Iv.) 
 
 Louis du Pont, S. J. 
 Meditations. 
 
--^'^^'^^^'^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^fi^}<^^-^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
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 Rev. PfeRE HouDRY, S.J. 
 
 " Before the festival day of the pasch, Jesus, knowing that his hour- was come, riseth from supper, 
 and laying aside his garments, and having taken a towel, girded himself. After that, he putteth water 
 into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith h« 
 
 was girded." — John xiii. 1,4, 5. 
 
 'ERE is, my brothers, a spectacle 
 worthy of attracting the atten- 
 tion of a Christian, and to 
 which St. Gregory the Great 
 invites heaven and earth to 
 be a witness of the example 
 which a Man-God gives to all. It is not 
 a light capable of surprising us by its 
 grandeur and magnificence ; the pomp 
 and splendor which usually- excite our 
 curiosity and attract our notice have no 
 share here ; but it is the mighty which is 
 abased, it is the Sovereign of the universe 
 who is willing to perform the meanest 
 service to poor sinners, — a Master who 
 bends His knee to His disciples. In a 
 word, it is Jesus at the feet of His apos- 
 tles, in order to wash them with those 
 very hands which had created heaven and 
 earth, and fixed the stars in the firmament 
 above. 
 
 This spectacle deserves our admiration 
 because it shows us something grand, 
 rare, and new, on which we should gaze. 
 
 and reverently meditate on a ceremony 
 which is this day carried out and renewed 
 year after year on this day and in every 
 church. 
 
 Surprising sight, which shows us the 
 Most High Majesty of the world in the 
 lowest of humiliations ! 
 
 Oh ! wondrous charity ! since this Sav- 
 iour finds nothing better calculated to 
 win their hearts than by washing of their 
 feet, knowing that He had to give them 
 His own Body as the most precious 
 pledge of His love ; but still a sight full 
 of mystery and instruction, as the Sav- 
 iour says Himself to the first of His 
 disciples, " What I do, thou knowest not 
 now, but thou shalt know hereafter " 
 (yo/m xiii.). 
 
 In fact, He gave them the knowledge 
 by explaining what He commanded them 
 to do hereafter ; and I dare to say, that 
 it required no less than His example to 
 lead them to the practice of Christian 
 humility, of which they were as yet igno- 
 
76 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 rant of its practice and value : " For I have 
 given you an example, that as I have done 
 to you, so you do, also " {John xiii. 13). 
 
 The Son of God had already given a 
 rule of conduct to His disciples, namely, 
 to take the last place without disputing 
 about precedence or rank ; but in this 
 mystery He gives us an example of a 
 deeper humility, for He lowers Himself so 
 as to wash the feet of those who were not 
 worthy to wash His own ; and it would 
 seem that He took upon Himself, as a 
 rule for His humiliations, the eminence 
 of His dignity and rank which He retains 
 over all His creatures. Ah! I will not 
 hesitate to say that after that this last 
 place which He takes has really become 
 to be the place of honor, since it is that 
 of a God made man ; that a similar humil- 
 iation exalts us, since it makes us like 
 unto a God humiliated ; and that those 
 acts of humility we practise in imitation 
 of Him are really glorious actions, since 
 they attract the attention of God and 
 deserve His praise. 
 
 After that, a Christian who ought to be 
 convinced of this truth, will he be scrupu- 
 lous on a point of honor, and will he 
 believe that it is dishonorable to practise 
 Christian humility ? Will he be able to 
 excuse himself from performing duties so 
 essential to Christianity on the ground 
 or plea of his merit, his position, his 
 character, or his reputation ? Will he 
 blush to serve the poor or visit the sick 
 
 in an hospital ? Will he feel ashamed to 
 perform similar humiliating duties to 
 which his religion calls him, duties which 
 the example of his God obliges him to 
 perform, since He is the model we ought 
 to imitate ? 
 
 What a shame, rather, for a Christian to 
 be always scrupulous on a point of honor ; 
 always ready to wrangle for precedence of 
 rank or honor, resolved to yield to no one, 
 and to hold in contempt those who are 
 beneath him, and thus, at last he will fear 
 to lose his reputation, if he were to follow 
 the example of his Saviour by practising 
 any act of humility. Ah ! unworthy pre- 
 text of a Christian, and most hurtful to 
 Christianity itself, which is grounded on 
 humility and self-abasement. 
 
 PfeRE HOUDRY, S. J. 
 On Christian Morals, 6r*c. 
 
 Moses and Elias, that is to say, the Law 
 and the Prophets, appeared conversing 
 with Jesus, in order that by the presence 
 of these persons should be accomplished 
 what is said in Deuteronomy : " In the 
 mouth of two or three witnesses, every 
 word shall stand " (chap. xix. 15). 
 
 Peter, emboldened by the revelation of 
 so many mysteries, full of contempt for all 
 wordly things, raises up his desires and 
 heart to heaven, and, in a holy transport 
 of joy, exclaims, " It is good, O Lord, to 
 be here." 
 
 St. Leo. 
 On the Transfiguration. 
 

 
 
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 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 
 
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 PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE, S. J., and P*RE NOUET. 
 
 •♦ He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross." 
 
 — Philippians ii. 8. 
 
 N inward grief seized the heart 
 of the Saviour of the world ; 
 He walked in silence to the 
 place called Gethsemane, where, 
 finding that His mortal strength 
 succumbed to the extreme 
 anguish of His soul, He was perforce con- 
 strained to appeal to His apostles, as if to 
 ask them for some relief. " My soul is 
 sorrowful unto death, " said He, and I feel 
 that I must give way to the sadness com- 
 ing over Me. 
 
 But receiving no consolation from them. 
 He again withdrew apart, not so much to 
 hide His trouble and His fear, as to retreat 
 within HimselC 
 
 See Him now in a corner of this garden ; 
 how pale He is ! how He staggers ! how 
 He trembles and falls upon His face ! 
 See His face quite wet with tears ; His 
 very clothes are saturated with a bloody 
 sweat, which flows in streams upon the 
 ground ! 
 
 He lifts up His hands and raises His 
 voice to heaven ; He twice goes back to 
 
 7T 
 
 His disciples to complain how little He is 
 assisted, and twice returns to His retreat ; 
 but no rest, no calm succeeds. 
 
 I know not, my brethren, what is youi 
 idea, but I confess that this mystery aston- 
 ishes me, and is beyond all comprehension. 
 When I look upon a God humiliated, a 
 God sorrowful even unto death, my mind, 
 shallow as it is, has no difficulty in 
 unravelling this enigma ; but a God troubled 
 in His soul, struck with fear, and sad ever 
 unto death, troubles me exceedingly, and I 
 am lost in thought. 
 
 What ! this Messiah which God sent 
 down on earth to be our Master and 
 example, this Saviour who has come into 
 the world to suffer ; this Saviour who has 
 shown so much impatience to shed His 
 blood for love of us, — now that His hour 
 has come, seems to be wanting in reso- 
 lution. See Him extended full length 
 upon the earth, bathed in His blood, 
 suffering for three hours a cruel agony, 
 and unceasingly repeating those words, 
 " Let this chalice pass away." 
 
78 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC, 
 
 O my Saviour and my God, the support 
 of *ihe weak, the strength even of the 
 strong, — mighty soul whose generous 
 feelings are so raised above every infirmity 
 of man, — tell us, I beseech Thee, what 
 may be the cause of so keen, so deep a 
 grief ; for I cannot really believe that fear 
 alone of that death which You have 
 taught us to despise could have caused 
 You so great an agony. 
 
 Le P^RE DE la COLOMBlfeRE, S. J. 
 
 In your mind's eye draw a lively picture 
 of the Passion of Jesus Christ. In this 
 sketch, you can represent the lance which 
 has pierced His heart, the thongs and cords 
 which are so embedded into His flesh that 
 the thorns and nails are steeped in blood. 
 
 Surely, if you think of these sad cir- 
 cumstances of His death, and gaze atten- 
 tively, you must indeed be moved. 
 
 Gratitude would compel you to be so ; 
 for, having endured so many tortures for 
 your sake, the least you can do is to 
 compassionate His sufferings. Justice 
 requires it ; for if you feel compassion for 
 any of your brethren, what do you not 
 owe to the Son of God, who, through 
 excess of love, was made man and took 
 His place as your friend and brother ? 
 Humanity alone would prompt you ; for if 
 you saw the lowest of your fellow-creatures 
 in the condition to which his love for you 
 had reduced him, you surely would have 
 pitied him. 
 
 St. Gregory of Nyssa could never see 
 the painting of the sacrifice of Isaac 
 without shedding tears of compassion and 
 
 tenderness ; for he thought of that inno« 
 cent victim who laid bare his neck and 
 awaited the death-blow from the hands of 
 his own father. If this so moved his 
 pity, is not the sight of Jesus dying on the 
 cross infinitely more pitiable ? O quantum 
 laboravit sustinens ! exclaims St Bernard 
 {Serm. ii.). 
 
 Oh, what sufferings has He not endured ! 
 Who could sufficiently appreciate the 
 excessive goodness and mercy which 
 induced Him to bear such a heavy weight 
 of dolours ? Cast your eye on His many 
 wounds ; see the streams of blood which 
 trickle down; look at His face, so dis- 
 figured with spittle, mud, and blood ; taste 
 the bitterness of the gall they gave Him 
 to drink ; listen to the blows of the heavy 
 hammer as it drives the nail through His 
 tender feet ; listen to those loving com- 
 plaints He sends up to heaven : " My God, 
 my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ? " 
 {Matt, xxvii.) to teach you the excess of 
 those interior griefs which you cannot see 
 or understand ! 
 
 Remember that He is innocent, that He 
 is the Son of a God who is the God of 
 glory ; and if you can gaze on this, His 
 bed of suffering, without weeping for your 
 sins, you must confess that you are 
 unfeeling and hard-hearted. 
 
 However great may be our miseries, 
 however painful may be the misfortunes 
 we may have to endure, whether deserved 
 or not, the remedy we find in the cross 
 and sufferings of our Saviour is infinitely 
 greater and more powerful. 
 
THE AGONY AND PASSION OF OUR LORD. 
 
 79 
 
 One single drop of the blood He shed 
 for us was capable of paying all our debts, 
 sufficient to blot out all our sins, and 
 powerful enough to extinguish all the 
 flames of hell. What would be the value 
 of that deluge of blood which He has 
 poured over us with such profusion ? If 
 each drop can save a million of worlds, 
 the whole mass of that precious blood, 
 will it not be able to save a sinner ? 
 
 You cannot doubt the efficacy of so 
 potent a remedy, since it is of inestimable 
 value, nor of the sufficiency of your ransom, 
 since what He has given is beyond all 
 price. Every river, when it flows into the 
 sea, loses its name, because, when com- 
 pared to the mighty ocean, it is as nothing 
 in comparison ; and so the greatest sins 
 vanish and disappear when they are 
 drowned in the ocean of divine mercy. 
 And if you doubt this still, you are igno- 
 rant of the value of the sufferings and 
 death of the Son of God. 
 
 Do you not know that the apostle says, 
 His blood calls for mercy for every sinner, 
 
 even to those who have been put to death, 
 and it cries out with so loud and powerful 
 a voice that it drowns the noise and 
 clamor of our sins t Do you not know, 
 in fine, that He " gave Himself a redemp- 
 tion for all" {Timothy ii.), and consequently 
 that His blood. His sufferings. His death, 
 and His satisfactions are all yours ? 
 
 Put, then, your trust in Him without 
 troubling yourself about your miseries ; 
 avail yourself of His blood, more powerful 
 than that of Abel's ; make good use of so 
 powerful a voice, and do not fear that His 
 Father will reject you, but only fear that 
 you yourself will refuse. " See that you 
 refuse Him not that speaketh " {Hebrews 
 xii. 25). 
 
 For if those who rejected Him, when 
 He spoke on earth, have not been able to 
 avoid being punished, so we who reject 
 Him, when He speaks to us of heaven, 
 will have a lesser chance of being saved. 
 
 Le PfeRE NOUET. 
 
 Sur la Passion. 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 
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CHAPTKR XXIX. 
 
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 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 " The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men ; and they shall kill him, and the third 
 day he shall rise again." — Matthew xvii. 21, 22. 
 
 " He is risen ; he is not here." — Mark xvi. 6. 
 
 HE resurrection of Jesus Christ 
 fully confirms the fact of His 
 divinity. 
 
 You will say, perhaps, the 
 Saviour of the world, during 
 His mortal life, surely worked 
 a sufficient number of miracles to prove 
 that He was the Son of God. 
 
 Devils cast out, those born blind cured, 
 those, after a death of four days, raised 
 again to life — were not these so many 
 manifest demonstrations, so many palpable 
 proofs, of the divine power which dwelt 
 within Him? What need, then, of the 
 more striking proof in His resurrection to 
 confirm this belief.? 
 
 I say that the divinity of Jesus Christ 
 was especially attached to His resurrec- 
 tion : " Who was predestinated the Son of 
 God by His resurrection from the dead " 
 {Rom. i. 4). Why ? Because the resurrec- 
 tion of the Saviour was the proof which 
 rhis God-man had expressly given to the 
 
 Jews to make them acknowledge His 
 divinity; because this proof was in fact 
 the most natural, the most convincing of 
 His divinity ; because of all the miracles of 
 Jesus Christ worked by virtue of His 
 divinity, there was not one which had been 
 so incontestably evident as that of His 
 resurrection of His body; and because it is 
 that of all which has most contributed to 
 the propagation of the faith and to the 
 establishment of the gospel, the substance 
 and main point of which is to believe 
 in Jesus Christ and to confess His 
 divinity. 
 
 It is not, therefore, without a reason 
 that Jesus Christ especially insisted on 
 this sign, to make it appear that He was 
 God and the Son of God. In fact, it only 
 appertains to a God to say, as He does, 
 " I have power to lay down my life, and 
 I have power to take it up again " {John 
 X. 18). A God alone, I say, would express 
 Himself in this way. 
 
ON JESUS RISEN. 
 
 8i 
 
 Before Christ came into the world, men 
 were seen who had been raised from 
 death to life, but these were recalled to 
 life by other men, Eliseus, by the mere 
 breath of his mouth, reanimated the dead 
 body of the Shunamite's son, and through 
 the fervent prayer of Eliseus, the child 
 of the widow of Sarepta, who died of 
 exhaustion and a decay of nature, was 
 restored to his sorrowing mother full of 
 rigor and health. 
 
 But, as St. Ambrose remarks, they who 
 were restored to life, were so restored 
 through the means of extraordinary 
 virtues ; and those who worked these 
 miracles, performed them solely by virtue 
 of given graces. 
 
 The unheard of miracle was, that the 
 same man should have worked a double 
 miracle, namely, that not only of rising 
 from the dead, but of raising Himself from 
 the tomb ; and this is what had never been 
 seen or heard of. And this was the 
 miracle which God reserved for His Son, 
 in order to proclaim to the world that 
 He was at one and at the same time 
 both God and man ; man, because He 
 
 I had risen from the dead, and God, 
 inasmuch as He had raised Himself 
 from death to life. TJt ostenderet quo- 
 
 \ niam erat in ipso, et resuscitatus homo, et 
 
 \ resuscitans Deus, says that holy doctor, St. 
 
 i Ambrose. 
 
 It is true that we shall rise again from 
 the dead, because Jesus Christ is risen 
 again ; and in order to crown our hopes, 
 I add, that we shall rise like unto Jesus 
 
 and that His resurrection is the model of 
 our own. 
 
 For, asks St. Augustine, why had God 
 willed that the resurrection of His Son 
 should have been so obvious, and why was 
 the Son of God so desirous to make it 
 known and to make it public ^ Ah ! 
 answers the holy doctor, it was in order to 
 show us clearly and evidently, in His own 
 person, the just extent of our pretensions ; 
 it is in order to show us what He is, what 
 we ought to be, or what we can become. 
 I have, then, only to represent to myself 
 whatever is most striking, great, and 
 admirable, in the triumph of my Saviour. 
 I have only to contemplate that glorified 
 humanity, that body, material as it is, 
 invested with every spiritual essence, 
 emitting beams of living light, and 
 crowned with an everlasting splendor. 
 Such, then, is the happy state to which I 
 shall one day be raised, and such is the 
 consolatory promise which faith makes 
 me. 
 
 Now, our bodies are subject to corrup- 
 tion and rottenness ; now, they are bodies 
 subject to suffering and grief ; now, they 
 are weak bodies, and subject to death ; 
 now, it is only a lump of flesh, vile and 
 contemptible. 
 
 But then, by a quick and most marvel- 
 lous change, they will have, if I may 
 venture so to speak, the same incorrupti- 
 bility as a God, the same impassibility, 
 the same immortality, the same subtlety, 
 the same brightness : " Who will reform 
 the body of our lowness, made like to the 
 body of His glory " {Pkil. iiL 21). 
 
82 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 All that, nevertheless, on one condition, 
 and that is, that we should so labor in the 
 present life, to sanctify them by mortifi- 
 cation and Christian penitence. For, if 
 we have indulged these bodies, and 
 afforded them whatever a sensual appetite 
 demanded, and thereby made them bodies 
 
 of sin, they will rise, but how ? As 
 objects of horror, to the confusion and 
 shame of the soul, to share in her 
 torment, after having participated in her 
 crimes. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 On the Resurrection, 
 
JITRE nVE SAGREB VOdNBS BE GfelR LORD 
 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 Cardinal Peter Damien, PfeRE Biroat, and St. Bernard. 
 "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains." — Isaias xii. 3. 
 
 HE Blessed Peter Damien was 
 born at Ravenna in the year 988. 
 From his childhood he mani- 
 fested a great love of prayer, 
 which increased with his age. 
 After some years which he de- 
 voted to teaching, he retired to 
 the monastery of Sainte-Croix d'Avellane, 
 near to Eugubio, and here he was elected 
 prior, and subsequently abbot, of the com- 
 munity. Pope Stephen X., hearing of his 
 saintly reputation, called him to Rome, and 
 created him Cardinal Bishop of Ostia in 1057, 
 and employed him in important offices at the 
 Sacred Colleges. These offices Peter Damien 
 continued to fulfil during the reigns of the 
 three succeeding pontiffs, and on the 23d of 
 February, 1073, he entered a holy life by a 
 holy death, and is now ranked among the 
 blessed in heaven. Besides Letters, Sermons, 
 &c., he has left us Lives of SS. Odilon, 
 Romuald, and Dominic. An edition of his 
 works was published in Paris in 1663. 
 
 It is in the adorable heart of Jesus 
 that we shall find every help for our 
 necessities, every remedy for the cure of 
 our ills, the most powerful assistance 
 against the assaults of our enemies, the 
 sweetest consolation to soothe our suffcr- 
 
 S3 
 
 ings, the purest delight to fill our souls 
 with joy. 
 
 Are you in sorrow ? Do your enemies 
 persecute you ? Does the recollection of 
 your past sins disturb you ? Is your heart 
 troubled or full of fear ? 
 
 Throw yourself, so to speak, in the 
 wounds of Jesus Christ, even into His 
 Sacred Heart, — it is a sanctuary, it is 
 the retreat for holy souls, and a place of 
 refuge wherein your soul is safe. 
 
 It is to Him and through Him that we 
 should ask for all we require ; it is through 
 Him and in Him that we should offer to 
 the Eternal Father all we do, because this 
 Sacred Heart is the treasury of every 
 supernatural gift, the source of every 
 grace. 
 
 It is the channel through which we 
 unite ourselves more intimately to God, 
 and through which God communicates 
 Himself more freely. 
 
 It is, in fine, to this Sacred Heart we 
 should continually strive to unite ours — 
 no longer wishing to have other desires 
 
84 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 or sentiments than those of Jesus — and 
 then we may be sure that His will and 
 His Sacred Heart may, so to speak, 
 merge into our heart, and that the two 
 will be as one. Draw waters at leisure 
 out of the Saviour's fountains : you will 
 never exhaust them. 
 
 Cardinal Peter Damien. 
 
 [Jaques Biroat was born in the city of 
 Bordeaux. He first entered into the Company 
 of the Society of Jesus, but passed from thence 
 to the contemplative order of Cluny. He 
 became Prior of Beussan, and died in the 
 year 1666.] 
 
 St, Bernard calls the wounds of our 
 Saviour fountains of mercy ; not only to 
 tell us that He has received them through 
 an extraordinary display of mercy and 
 goodness, but to show us that they are 
 a fresh motive for His Heart to take 
 compassion on us, and that, since He 
 received them, He is more alive to our 
 misfortunes, when He remembers that He 
 died for us, and that He sees in the scars 
 of His wounds the proof of His love and 
 the price of our salvation. No ! He 
 neither wishes to lose the price of His 
 precious blood nor the objects of His love. 
 
 Consequently, what more powerful and 
 efficacious motive can there be for a 
 sinner, who sincerely wishes to repent, 
 than to think of the wounds of the 
 Saviour } 
 
 The holy Fathers call these wounds our 
 eyes and our tears — our tears, because 
 they impart an abiding sorrow for sin ; 
 our eyes, because we see in these scars, 
 
 either what our Saviour has done for us 
 or what we have done against Him. 
 
 I see a Heart wounded for us and a 
 Heart wounded by us ; I see, O God, 
 the wounds which You have received 
 from the hands of the executioners ; but 
 I also see the wounds I have made by my 
 own hands, since it is certain every sin 
 I commit I re-open Your wounds ; for so 
 Your prophet makes this reproach to 
 sinners : " They have added to the grief 
 of my wounds " {Ps. Ixviii.), as much as to 
 say, I do not complain of My nails or of 
 My thorns ; your sins have added new 
 griefs to My first torments, and have 
 made wounds which renew and widen the 
 first. 
 
 Can we, then, be astonished, if holy 
 penitents have wept bitterly when they 
 looked on the Sacred Wounds of the 
 Saviour } " Whither shall I go from thy 
 Spirit } or whither shall I flee from thy 
 face ? " {Ps. cxxxviii.) This is what the 
 penitent David said : O my God ! whither 
 shall I flee so that I may be sheltered 
 from Thy anger and safe from the terror 
 of my sins "i If I ascend into heaven. 
 Thou art there ; if I descend into hell. 
 Thou art there; even when I enter into 
 Your Heart, I meet the reflection of Your 
 justice in the alarm my conscience con- 
 jures up. 
 
 St. Jerome replies to this question and 
 to this perplexity, that it is only in the 
 wounds of the Saviour that we can find 
 this hope : Ubi tiita firmaqiie pcccatoris 
 permansioy in vulneribus Christi. These 
 are the sanctuaries where so many sinners 
 
THE SACRED HEART, ETC., OF OUR LORD. 
 
 85 
 
 have flown for refuge from the just anger 
 of God, and wherein we ought to shelter 
 ourselves, and that for two reasons : 
 firstly, because we see in the depth of 
 His scars a loving readiness to forgive us 
 and give us comfort ; secondly, because 
 we find in these sacred sources all- 
 powerful testimonies of His mercy and 
 goodness for men, in which we may easily 
 participate if we only diligently try to 
 make ourselves worthy of His promises. 
 
 Le P6re Biroat. 
 From Panegyric on St. Thomas. 
 
 The Sacred Heart of Jesus has been 
 wounded in order- that by means of the 
 visible wound we may see the invisible 
 
 wound of His divine love. Who would 
 not love this Heart so wounded for the 
 love of us "i who would not return love for 
 love to a Saviour who has done so much 
 for us .'' 
 
 Thy side, O Lord, has been pierced in 
 order that we should find an entry into 
 Thy Sacred Heart. Oh ! how sweet and 
 good it is to seek repose in that Heart 
 divine. 
 
 From my Saviour's sacred wounds, I 
 find out His Heart's secret : I now can 
 fathom the depths of God's goodness, for 
 the bowels of mercy which caused Him 
 to come down from heaven to dwell with 
 us are open to me. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 On tht P assign. 
 
»*r 
 
 epy of the Cfo^^. * 
 
 # 
 
 St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine. 
 
 " And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary.' 
 
 — John xix. 17. 
 
 *ET no one, my brethren, blush 
 at those sacred and adorable 
 marksof our redemption. The 
 cross of Jesus Christ is the 
 source of every blessing ; it is 
 through that we live, through 
 that, we are what we are. Let us carry 
 the cross of Jesus, and adorn ourselves 
 with so glorious a crown. It is the zeal 
 and fulfilment of everything which apper- 
 tains to our salvation. 
 
 If we are regenerated in the waters of 
 baptism, the cross is there present ; if we 
 approach the table of the Lord to receive 
 His holy Body, it there appears ; if we 
 receive the imposition of hands to conse- 
 crate us as ministers of God, it is still 
 there ; in fact, we see in everything that 
 adorable sign which is, at once, the cause 
 and emblem of our victory. 
 
 We have it in our houses, we hang it 
 and paint it on our walls, we engrave it on 
 our doors, and we should ever carry it in 
 our hearts ; for the cross is a sacred monu- 
 ment which recalls to memory the work of 
 our salvation, the regaining of our ancient 
 
 freedom, and the infinite mercy of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 When, then, you make the sign of the 
 cross on the forehead, arm yourself with a 
 saintly boldness, and reinstall your soul in 
 its old liberty; for you are not ignorant that 
 the cross is a prize beyond all price. 
 
 Consider what is the price given for 
 your ransom, and you will never more be 
 slave to any man on earth. This reward 
 and ransom is the cross. You should not, 
 then, carelessly make the sign of the fore- 
 head, but you should impress it on your 
 heart with the love of a fervent faith. 
 Nothing impure will dare to molest you on 
 seeing the weapon which overcometh all 
 things. 
 
 Be not, then, ashamed of the cross, in 
 order that Jesus Christ be not ashamed of 
 you, when He will come, clothed in the 
 Majesty of His glory, accompanied by thisi 
 sign of our redemption, which will then] 
 shine more brilliant than the sun.| 
 Engrave it in your heart; lovingly embrace i 
 that which procured the salvation of our| 
 souls ; for it is the cross which has saved 
 
THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS. 
 
 87 
 
 and converted all the world — it is that 
 which has banished heresy and unbelief, 
 which has re-established truth, which has 
 made a heaven on earth, and which has 
 transformed men into angels. It is by 
 means of the cross that the devils have 
 ceased to appear formidable, and are now 
 only to be despised; it is through that, 
 that death is now no longer death, but 
 only a long sleep. In fine, it is through 
 the cross that all our enemies have been 
 conquered. 
 
 If you find, then, any one who says, 
 What ! you worship the cross } answer him 
 with a tone of voice that betokens firm- 
 ness. Yes, I do worship it, and shall never 
 cease to do so. If he laugh at you, pity 
 him, and shed tears for his blindness ; and 
 say boldly, We protest before heaven and 
 earth that our glory is in the cross, that it 
 is the source of all our blessings, our every 
 hope, and that it is that which has crowned 
 
 tvery saint. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 On Sixteenth Chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 All those who belong to Jesus Christ 
 are fastened with Him to the cross. . . 
 A Christian during the whole course of 
 his life should, like unto Jesus, be on the 
 cross. It would be an act of rashness to 
 descend therefrom, since Jesus Christ did 
 not descend, even when the Jews offered 
 to believe in Him. The time for driving 
 out the nails of His cross was only after 
 death ; there is, then, no time to extract the 
 nails whilst we live, — we must wait until 
 our sacrifice is consummated : Non est 
 tempus evellendi clavos {Aug. 205). 
 
 This cross to which the servant of God 
 is attached, is his glory, as the apostle 
 said, " But God forbid that I should glory, 
 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ" {Gal. vi. 14). 
 
 This cross, I say, to which the servant 
 of God should be fastened, not for forty 
 days, but for life ; therefore he who looks, 
 piously upon it should consider it as a 
 treasure, because it teaches him Christ 
 crucified, and he will despise everthing to 
 acquire a knowledge which is only to be 
 learned in the school of the cross. 
 
 Formerly, it was looked upon as an 
 object of horror, but Jesus Christ has 
 made it so worthy of respect and venera- 
 tion, that kings and princes have forbid- 
 den the punishment of crucifixion to be 
 continued, in order to do honor to those 
 faithful servants, who gloried in a 
 punishment which our Lord and Saviour 
 has so ennobled. And this wood to 
 which the Jews had nailed our Lord, 
 accompanied as it was by so many out- 
 rages and insults, has become so worthy 
 of honor, that kings have imprinted it on 
 their foreheads, and in union with the 
 lowest of their subjects they look upon 
 the cross of Jesus Christ as the ship which 
 will guide and carry them safely into 
 harbor. 
 
 So strong sometimes are the storms of 
 life that strength of arm is of no avail, and 
 there is no other means to save us from 
 shipwreck than trusting in the cross of 
 Jesus Christ by which we are consecrated. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 From Sermons Ixxv. and Ixxxviii. 
 

 
 PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE, PfeRE LE VALOIS, and St. BERNARD. 
 
 " And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the 
 right hand of God." — Mark xvi. 19. 
 
 'N STEAD of saying what was 
 uppermost in my mind, why 
 cannot I repeat the discourse 
 which Jesus Christ made to 
 His disciples before His ascen- 
 sion ? It would give you more 
 pleasure, and would doubtless be useful 
 for you to hear. 
 
 Although I leave you, My dear dis- 
 ciples, to go to My Father, it is, never- 
 theless, not without pain that I leave you ; 
 whatever glory may await Me in heaven, 
 if your interests were not allied to My 
 own, I could not so readily resolve to sep- 
 arate Myself from you. I came down 
 upon earth when I thought that My 
 presence was necessary ; if I ascend to 
 heaven, it is because I know that hence- 
 forth I shall be more useful to you when 
 away ; independently of this, the Holy 
 Ghost will soon descend and take my 
 place, and you will not long remain 
 unconsoled. 
 
 Go, My apostles, go and teach all nations 
 the truths I have taught you; go and 
 
 undeceive so many poor unfortunates who 
 are steeped in vice and ignorance ; do this 
 so effectually, that of all the souls I have 
 redeemed there shall not be found one 
 lost one ; fear neither the boasted 
 knowledge of doctors and philosophers, 
 nor the power of the great ones of the 
 world ; I will give you wherewith to 
 confound the pride of both one and the 
 other ; it is true you will have to suffer 
 much, but the helps you will receive from 
 Me will soften and sweeten every pain. 
 Go, then, and merit the rich crowns I am 
 going to prepare for you. 
 
 The apostles and disciples did not long 
 enjoy the pleasure of hearing Him ; for 
 the Saviour, having raised His hand to 
 give them His final blessing. He began 
 to rise, and soon was lost among the 
 clouds. 
 
 If the father of the prodigal son testified 
 so much joy and made so grand a feast 
 for a son who had not only dishonored 
 him but had been the disgrace of all his 
 
ON THE ASCENSION. 
 
 «Q 
 
 kindred, by having squandered his prop- 
 erty in shameful debaucheries, what must 
 have been the welcome which the Eternal 
 Father gave to His only Son, who, to 
 please Him, was worn out with the 
 fatigues of a poor and suffering life ; a 
 Son, who, to increase the glory of His 
 Father, zealously bore the most cruel 
 torments ; an innocent Son, who has saved 
 so many sinners and who, by His death, 
 has opened the way to heaven to all 
 mankind ? 
 
 It was then that this God of Majesty 
 acknowledged Him for His Son, that He 
 announced to all the celestial choir that 
 He was their King, that all should bend to 
 His authority and be submissive to His 
 power, that He should be the Master of 
 the heaven He had opened, of the hell that 
 He had overcome, and of the earth that 
 He had sanctified. 
 
 We can easily believe that all the happy 
 spirits cried out, "The Lamb that was 
 slain is worthy to receive power, and 
 divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and 
 honor, and glory, and benediction " 
 {Apoc. v.). 
 
 The Lamb who has suffered death is 
 worthy to receive divine honors, to rule 
 with strength, with wisdom, with absolute 
 authority ; it is right that we should treat 
 Him with homage and respect, that He 
 should be raised to the highest pinnacle 
 of glory, and that all heaven should ring 
 and re-echo His praises for ever and for 
 ever. 
 
 It was at the sound of this welcome 
 that the Son of Man was introduced into 
 
 heaven where no man had before been 
 seen, and where that numerous band of 
 saints He had delivered from Limbo 
 followed Him, and were received with all 
 the honors that were due to the merits of 
 their Redeemer and to their own merits, 
 too, 
 
 Le PfeRE DE LA C0L0MBI±RE. 
 
 Sermon on the Ascension. 
 
 [Louis LB Valois was born at Melun in 
 1639, He was appointed confessor and 
 director of the grandsons of Louis XIV., and 
 was always esteemed as a true servant of 
 God. He died in Paris, 1700. His Spiritual 
 Works were published in Paris, 1785, in three 
 volumes. His ascetical treatises are full of 
 instruction and devotion.] 
 
 It is not solely for Yourself, Lord, that 
 You re-enter into Your kingdom ; it is 
 for us You ascend, as our Chief, and You 
 go, according to the promise You have 
 made, to prepare for Your elect the man- 
 sions which are destined for them ; You 
 ascend as our Mediator and for us. You 
 present to Your Father the fruits of that 
 superabundant redemption which has 
 reconciled heaven and earth ; You ascend 
 as our Guide, and, in showing us the 
 boundary to which we ought to reach, 
 You trace the road on which we ought to 
 walk. 
 
 Adorable Master of that militant Church 
 which You have established on earth, by 
 the labors of Your mortal life, give us a 
 share in the glory of that Church trium. 
 phant which You begin to collect in 
 heaven, and of which You will be the 
 everlasting happiness. We are Your 
 
90 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 members, and wheresoever the general is 
 to be found, there also should be his 
 soldiers. 
 
 Without You, without the hope and hap- 
 piness of possessing and seeing You, what 
 peace could we enjoy in this valley of tears 
 wherein we dwell? And what can the 
 world offer in comparison with that 
 heavenly beatitude, which reigns in You 
 and with You ? 
 
 Ah ! dear Lord, when will the day come, 
 when I shall bid farewell to this place of 
 banishment? When will You appear to 
 me in all Your glory ? I languish in expec- 
 tation ; the world to me is now as nothing, 
 
 and my heart is already with You in 
 
 heaven. 
 
 Le Pere le Valois. 
 
 Entretien sur P Ascension. 
 
 The Ascension is the glorious terminus 
 of the voyage of the Son of God. 
 
 My brethren, let us follow the Lamb 
 wheresoever He goes ; let us follow Him 
 suffering with patience ; let us follow Him 
 rising; let us follow Him still more 
 eagerly when He ascends to heaven ; and 
 let us raise up our hearts to God the 
 Father, in whom His glory reigns. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 Om tht Assumfium. 
 
Copyright, 1889. 
 
 Murpby & McCarthy. 
 
 2Dej6fcent of tfje Jpolp oBfjo^t, 
 
St Chrysostom and L'Abb^ Flechier. 
 
 " But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all 
 things." — John xiv. 26. 
 
 HE apostles left the supper-room 
 in Jerusalem filled with the 
 Holy Ghost. They had within 
 them a treasury of knowledge 
 — stores of graces and spiritual 
 gifts, which they could distri- 
 bute throughout the land ; and they went 
 to preach to all nations, having become a 
 living faith, and like so many books, ani- 
 mated by the grace of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This is why they announce, with such a 
 marvellous certainty, mysteries of which 
 the old philosophers had no conception, 
 and they publish them not to fifteen or 
 twenty persons, but to cities and to the 
 entire populace, to Greeks, to barbarians, 
 in inhabited towns and in the middle of 
 the deserts. 
 
 But more than this, they announce and 
 preach to men a doctrine far above human 
 intelligence. They speak of nothing ter- 
 restrial, but only of the things of heaven. 
 They preach a state and kingdom of which 
 they never heard before. They disclose 
 other riches and another poverty, another 
 
 91 
 
 liberty and another slavery, another life 
 and another death, a new world and quite 
 a new mode of life — m fact, a complete 
 change and renewal of everything. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 On St. Matthew's Gospel. 
 
 Scarcely had the Saviour opened heaven 
 to take His place at the right hand of His 
 Father than He re-opens it, to give a 
 share to His disciples — if not of His 
 majesty and glory, at least a share of the 
 abundance of His graces. 
 
 Being unable to descend to them, and 
 unwilling that they should ascend to Him, 
 He sends them another Self to console and 
 instruct them, to protect and sanctify 
 them. 
 
 Thus the Church finds itself happily 
 situated between Jesus Christ and the 
 Holy Ghost, drawn by the one, conducted 
 by the other. They divide between them, 
 says St. Bernard, the office and employ- 
 ment of their love for our salvation. 
 Jesus dwells in the abode of His glory. 
 
92 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and acts as our Intercessor and everlasting 
 Mediator near His Father ; the Holy- 
 Ghost dwells in our midst, to be our 
 consoler and ruler. One prepares in 
 heaven the crowns He has destined for 
 the elect ; the other encourages them and 
 gives them strength to fight bravely. 
 
 The one has entered into the depth of 
 the sanctuary, to consummate the functions 
 of His priesthood ; the other fashions 
 here below spiritual and holy victims. 
 The one, high in heaven, carries man to 
 the bosom of God, to give him a certain 
 pledge of his glory and of his blessed 
 immortality ; the other, sent from heaven, 
 brings God down to the bosom of man, in 
 order to cleanse him and fill him with 
 light and grace : this is the mystery which 
 the Church celebrates on this, our Whit- 
 suntide. 
 
 The Holy Ghost is sent to bear testi- 
 mony to the person, divinity, and doctrine 
 of Jesus Christ ; He bears testimony of 
 His birth, for by virtue of His power He 
 formed His admirable body in the womb 
 of a Virgin. 
 
 He bears testimony of His death, by 
 manifesting its efficacy ; of His glory. He 
 is the pledge ; of His charity, He is the 
 dispenser ; of His truth, He is the witness 
 par excellence. "It is the Spirit," says St. 
 John, " which testifieth that Christ is the 
 truth," and that everything, excepting 
 Jesus, is falsehood, adds St. Augustine, 
 
 What is this world which the Gospels 
 so often condemn, but a union of vanity 
 and falsehood 1 Its pleasures are illusions ; 
 its promises are trifling amusements ; its 
 caresses, treasons ; its joys, mere follies ; 
 its sadness, despair ; its maxims, nought 
 but errors ; its laws, unruly ; its good 
 works, hypocrisy. 
 
 Such is the spirit of the world ; but the 
 
 Spirit of Jesus Christ is truth itself. Its 
 
 promises are faithful, its hopes are certain, 
 
 its laws are just, its works are holy, its 
 
 joys are solid ; and all that He is, all that 
 
 He says, all that He does, all that He 
 
 ordains, forms a body immutable, holy, 
 
 and everlastingly true, and of this the 
 
 Holy Spirit testifieth as well as that of 
 
 His doctrine. 
 
 Flechier. 
 
 Sermon on Feast. 
 
 
 = * 
 
 __i^r^ j^!^ 1^1^ ^^ ^^ ^'f'^ ^w ^^ ^<? ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^f^ ^w ' 
 
i CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 
 # 
 
 (3n t^e ({lost ^<^I^ ^rmit^. 
 
 # 
 
 # 
 
 PfcRE HOUDRY and PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfcRE. 
 
 "And there are three who give testimony in heaven — the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. 
 ;*nd these three are one." — i John v. 7. 
 
 LL the passages in the Old Tes- 
 tament where the divinity of 
 the Son of God and of the 
 Holy Ghost is established 
 equally, teach the truth of the 
 mystery of the most Holy 
 Trinity. 
 
 In Isaiah, the Son of God, does He not 
 bear, even after His Incarnation, the name 
 of God strong and powerful, the Father 
 of Eternity ? In the Psalms the Lord 
 has said, " This day have I begotten thee " 
 {Ps. ii.). "The Lord said to my Lord, 
 sit thou at my right hand" (Ps. ex.), 
 words which the Saviour Himself made 
 use of, in order to confound the Jews, and 
 from which He has extracted from them 
 a proof of His divinity. With regard to* 
 the Holy Ghost, is not His divinity also 
 declared in several passages of the Old 
 Testament, where He is called the Spirit 
 of the Lord, the Spirit of God, and which 
 make Him appear at one time as the 
 author of the fertility of all nature : " And 
 
 the Spirit of God moved over the waters'* 
 (Gen. i. ) ; at another time as the author 
 of all the grandeurs and beauty which is 
 seen in the heavens ? 
 
 God, says the holy man Job (/o/f xxvi.), 
 has ornamented the heavens by His Spirit ; 
 and at another time as the author of the 
 sanctification of men, and the source of 
 grace, and their salvation. 
 
 But with all that, it must be confessed 
 that the revelation made of the mystery of 
 the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament, is 
 obscure in comparison with what has been 
 revealed to us in the New, where the 
 Three Divine Persons have been so dis- 
 tinctly traced out, and so clearly proposed 
 to our faith, as being not only the chief 
 end, but the principal object of our ado- 
 ration. 
 
 First of all, what is more clear than the 
 manifestation which was made at the 
 baptism of the Saviour, where the 
 heavens opened to make us notice and 
 distinguish at the same time these Three 
 
94 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC, 
 
 Divine Persons : the Father in this voice : 
 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
 well pleased " {Matt. xvii. ) ; the Son in 
 that Man-God marked and pointed out in 
 that voice ; the Holy Ghost under the 
 form of a dove visibly descends on the 
 Saviour. 
 
 Secondly. Are not the heavens opened 
 for us in giving testimonies, and to make 
 us acknowledge with St. John, that there 
 are Three who give testimony in heaven, 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 and that these Three are One (ijohn vi.) ? 
 The Father, has He not opened the 
 heavens, and has He not made His voice 
 heard both on Mount Thabor and on the 
 River Jordan : Paierna vox audita est ? 
 The Son, has He not opened the heavens, 
 to show Himself at the stoning of St. 
 Stephen 1 and this proto-martyr, has he 
 not had the joy and happiness of seeing 
 Him sitting on the right hand of His 
 Father, and this, too, when he was in 
 bodily suffering.? The Holy Ghost, has 
 He not also opened the heavens to man- 
 ifest Himself to men, when He descended 
 brilliantly and visibly in the form of 
 parted tongues as it were of fire, and sat 
 upon every one of the apostles ; and then 
 to the Gentiles even, and that for several 
 times, and "the apostles began to speak 
 with divers tongues," and accompanying 
 this with the gift of working many 
 miracles } 
 
 Besides these, to be convinced that 
 these witnesses from heaven are only One, 
 we need only read in the New Testa- 
 ment the striking proofs of the divinity of 
 
 the Son and the Holy Ghost, so often, so 
 clearly expounded ; in addition to this, those 
 three words of Jesus in the Gospel include 
 the whole of this doctrine : Ego ct Pater 
 unum sumus {John x.). 
 
 Le P^re Houdry, S. J. 
 
 Does the darkness of this mystery 
 weaken our faith 1 Can we question or 
 doubt what God teaches us, because we 
 cannot understand it ? This is not the 
 opinion of the holy fathers, nor of the 
 doctors, who sustain that there can be no 
 faith without obscurity. 
 
 What would be the merit and Virtue of 
 faith, says St. Leo, if it merely consisted 
 of believing self-evident truths ? Would 
 it be making a great sacrifice to God if, 
 by following His judgment, it would agree 
 with our own ; or if we recognize truths 
 which it would be folly to deny .? Would it 
 not be treating our Lord in the most inso- 
 lent and unworthy manner, even in a 
 worldly point of view, were we to ask Him 
 for a reason for all He said, and rather than 
 wishing to believe His word, we should 
 defy Him, or rather require Him to give 
 palpable proofs of all that He has deigned 
 to reveal } 
 
 What rashness and boldness, to deter- 
 mine to submit to the judgment of reason 
 only, thus wishing to place that weak ray 
 of intelligence, which God has given us, 
 in opposition to that infinite abyss of 
 splendor, which enlightens everything, and 
 which cannot be fathomed. 
 
 O eternal and immutable Truth, You 
 have revealed to your church the adorable 
 
THE MOST HOLY TRINITY. 
 
 95 
 
 mystery of the Trinity, and have com- 
 manded all the faithful to believe what 
 You have revealed ; and a petty mind, 
 whose views are so narrow and confined, 
 ignorant of the commonest things, easily 
 disturbed, daily deceived in the discussion 
 of trifling affairs, ever in want of being 
 led, redressed, and corrected daily — this 
 poor, weak mind, I say, will dare to exam- 
 ine into the decrees of his Creator, and will 
 deliberate if he ought to add faith to his 
 opinions, because he cannot comprehend it! 
 O my God ! I confess that I can under- 
 stand nothing of this gjreat mystery, that 
 
 it far surpasses my intelligence ; but never- 
 theless I firmly believe all that You have 
 said, although my senses are opposed to 
 my belief, although my weak reason seems 
 to fight against it, although I have no other 
 proof than Your word. 
 
 I feel so certain of the truth of this 
 divine mystery that I do not hesitate to 
 found on this belief every hope of my 
 eternal happiness. 
 
 This mystery is incomprehensible, and 
 must be adored with an unreasoning 
 belief. 
 
 LK P&RE DE la COLOMBlkRE, S. J. 
 
CHAPXKR XXXV. 
 
 On Devotion to 00^ Ble^^ed Lad^. 
 
 l^ 
 
 Henri-Marie Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux, and St. Bernard. 
 
 " From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." — Luke i. 48. 
 
 Extracts from the saintly Henri-Marie Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux. See his work on thi 
 
 " Devotion to Our Immaculate Mother.'' 
 
 HERE is no nation, no state or 
 condition, which has not called 
 Mary " Blessed. " Pagans, 
 Greeks, barbarians — the noble, 
 the rich, and the poor — have 
 honored her, have invoked her 
 aid. Angels, men, heaven, and earth have 
 striven to show her their respect and 
 homage. 
 
 Certainly a devotion must be good, 
 when it is so universal a practice among 
 the faithful ; and if St. Augustine makes 
 use of the uniformity and extent of the 
 belief of all Catholic nations as a proof 
 that they must belong to the true Church, 
 it is also an evident proof of the solidity 
 and holiness of devotion to our Blessed 
 Lady to see the universal piety of the 
 faithful. 
 
 There are millions who daily implore 
 her motherly protection ; an innumerable 
 number of zealous voices call upon us to 
 share in their devotion ; the Holy Spirit 
 of God encourages men of every condition 
 of life in every nation. 
 
 96 
 
 We may safely say that heaven resounds 
 with her glory, and the universe re-echoes 
 its praises. All nations who adore God, 
 pay honors to the wonders done to her : 
 Europe, Asia, Africa, America, have all 
 been struck with astonishment at the 
 " great things that He that is mighty hath 
 done to her." 
 
 It must not be supposed that the devo- 
 tion to the Blessed Virgin is merely a 
 devotion practised by simple or ignorant 
 people ; crowned heads have considered it 
 a great honor to be devoted to her, and 
 to acknowledge her as their Lady and 
 their Queen. 
 
 The canticle, which says in a general 
 way, " All generations shall call me 
 blessed," does not seek any blind submis- 
 sion to our faith ; to believe it does not 
 call for any stretch of imagination ; it 
 needs only to be seen. Even at first sight, 
 it is apparent that what the Blessed Virgin 
 foretold has long been accomplished. So 
 many monuments raised to her honor, so 
 many churches consecrated in her name, 
 
DEVOTION TO OUR BLESSED LADY. 
 
 97 
 
 SO many hands busy in writing her 
 praises, so many preachers glad to eulo- 
 gize her virtues — all these form so many 
 authentic testimonies to the truth of her 
 prophecy. 
 
 Here you see the happiness of the ever 
 Blessed Virgin universally acknowledged. 
 
 Oh ! what a consolation it is for me, 
 when I think of the many honors you, my 
 dearest Mother, have received in every 
 part of the world, where the Gospel has 
 been preached, or where your Son is 
 adored ! What a joy it is, when I read of 
 the many sanctuaries that have been 
 consecrated to your honor and glory ! of 
 the many feasts that the Church has set 
 apart for you ! of the many holy fraterni- 
 ties, military orders, and religious commun- 
 ities that honor you with an especial 
 worship and are consecrated to your 
 service ! 
 
 Since we have spoken of monarch s who 
 have done much to spread the devotion 
 to the Blessed Virgin, do not let us forget 
 that glorious St. Louis the Just, who 
 solemnly consecrated himself, his kingdom, 
 and his subjects to this Queen of Heaven, 
 and who, to give a striking proof of his 
 love for her, placed his crown and sceptre 
 on the altar of Notre-Dame in Paris, and 
 left especial directions that an annual 
 commemoration of this event should be 
 made in all the churches of France on the 
 feast of her glorious Assumption. This 
 his successor, Louis the Great, ratified 
 and confirmed by an additional decree, in 
 which he beseeches every prelate of his 
 kingdom to exhort his people to cherish a 
 
 fervent love for, and to practise ar 
 especial devotion to, the holy Mother of 
 God. 
 
 The whole Christian world has, through- 
 out all ages, shown its devotion to the 
 Blessed Virgin ; and this devotion has 
 been authorized by a great number of 
 miracles, which are so many illustrious 
 and striking testimonies which God 
 permits, approves, and draws from it His 
 own glory. Not only the holy fathers and 
 doctors, but the whole Church have 
 exerted themselves to pay her due honor 
 and proclaim aloud her praises, and this 
 the Church has always done ; whilst, on 
 the other hand, the baneful spirit of 
 heresy has ever tried to cloud the glory of 
 Mary. So many grand and glorious 
 treatises have been written on this 
 subject, that it would be difficult to 
 enumerate the books that have been 
 published respecting this devotion. 
 
 The holy fathers, and St, Bernard in 
 particular, reply to those who complain of 
 these multitudes of books, that were all 
 men forced to speak or write of this devo- 
 tion they never could say enough. 
 
 From this we must come to the conclu- 
 sion that devotion to the Blessed Virgin is 
 really the devotion of the Church ; and 
 this is nevertheless certified by the partic- ' 
 ular care it takes to honor her, and by the 
 praises it bestows upon her. In fact, its 
 attention is quite pointed in this respect : 
 it not only does honor to her mysteries, 
 and celebrates her feasts with great 
 solemnity, but, as if all these solemnities 
 were not sufficient to satisfy its devotion. 
 
98 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 it sets apart one day in the week to be 
 consecrated to her memory. 
 
 But above all, the miracles which God 
 has worked and still works daily, in favor 
 of this devotion, evidently proves that 
 Mary should be honored in every age and 
 by all the faithful, God being unable to work 
 miracles to authorize error or impiety. 
 
 Besides, when I speak of miracles, I 
 speak of incontestable miracles, supported 
 by an authority which it would be rash 
 to challenge, such as those which are 
 approved by ecclesiastical powers after a 
 careful and strict examination, or those 
 which we gather from the testimony of 
 authors celebrated for their wonderful 
 learning and rare sanctity. 
 
 Some have been related even in councils, 
 as in the Second Council of Nicsea. This 
 
 sufficiently denotes that it is very useful 
 to speak of them, to write about them, to 
 preach about them, when they are legiti- 
 mately approved of ; and this the Church 
 has done in general councils. 
 
 Henri-Marie Boudon. 
 On the Devotion to the Mother of God. 
 
 If you follow Mary you will not swerve 
 from the right path ; if you pray to her, 
 you will not fall into despair ; if she holds 
 you, you will not fall ; if she protects you, 
 you need not fear ; if she leads you, you 
 will never weary ; and if she befriends 
 you, you will be safe. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 D* Aqua Ductu. 
 
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 IflQflQQeylert^ QQn(Be.f>i\on. 
 
 PfeRES HouDRY and De la CoLOMBifeRE, S. J., and St. Bernard. 
 
 " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the begin- 
 ning." — Proverbs viii. 2. 
 
 'N this mystery it seems to me to 
 be fitting and proper to apply 
 those words of the prophet, 
 "The unspotted mirror of 
 God's majesty " ( Wisdom vii. 
 26), to our Lady's Immaculate 
 Conception. 
 
 These words have been applied to the 
 Uncreated Wisdom, that is to say, to the 
 Word Incarnate, who is the substantial 
 image of His Father and the mirror of 
 His divine perfections, because He is 
 begotten in a splendor more pure and bril- 
 liant than the light. They, however, can 
 be applied in a just proportion to the 
 glorious Virgin, since Mary was conceived 
 without sin, exempt from its original stain, 
 destined to be the Mother of a Son who is 
 as far removed from sin as light is from 
 darkness ; consequently, Mary can be 
 rightly called an unspotted mirror. Her 
 conception also corresponds with the eter- 
 nal and temporal conception of that God- 
 man who is to be her Son, and also 
 represents perfectly the sanctity, purity, 
 
 majesty, and the noblest attributes of God 
 Himself. 
 
 To show that the conception of Mary is 
 this unspotted mirror which the wise man 
 has pictured in the eternal conception of 
 the Divine Word, the following reasoning 
 would suffice : — God was not willing nor 
 would He allow that the body of the 
 Blessed Virgin should be more pure or more 
 exempt from every stain than her soul. Now 
 the purity of her body has been the most 
 perfect that can be imagined ; it equalled, 
 nay, surpassed, those of the angels, and, if 
 we may believe some of the early Fathers, 
 it reached even to the infinite. Then, far 
 from having contracted the least stain of 
 sin, she was truly an unspotted mirror. 
 
 That God should have willed that Mary's 
 body should not be endowed with a more 
 excellent purity than that of her soul, is 
 not what could reasonably be expected of 
 His wisdom, since the soul is the noblest 
 part of man. 
 
 If the body, according to the expression 
 of the apostle, is a beautiful vase, the soul 
 
 99 
 
lOO 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 is the most precious of liquors which 
 ought to fill it ; and consequently the 
 virginal body of Mary, whose purity sur- 
 passed that of angels and near unto God, 
 as St. Bernard says, had to contain a 
 soul still more pure, inasmuch as the 
 purity of the body, without the purity of 
 the soul, can have no value or considera- 
 tion with God. 
 
 O great God, could it have been 
 indeed possible that You, who had taken 
 so much pains to endow a purity of body 
 to her whom You had chosen to be Your 
 Mother, and at the same time allowed her 
 soul to be soiled with a stain as infamous 
 as that of original sin ; that the one should 
 be purer than the light of the stars, and 
 the other more vile than the slime of which 
 the first man was formed ; that the purity 
 of the one should have been capable of 
 bringing You from heaven to earth, and that 
 the defilement of the other would have 
 discouraged You from coming down ; and, 
 in conclusion, that the woman whom You 
 had chosen for Your Mother should have 
 been, even for a moment, a slave of the 
 devil } 
 
 No, I cannot believe it. You have too 
 great a horror of sin, even to tolerate the 
 shadow ; You love innocence and holiness 
 too much to consent to be born of a sinner, 
 and to give an apparent opportunity of 
 accusing You on a subject of which You 
 are so sensitive. 
 
 LE P]fcRE HOUDRY, S. J. 
 
 There is something in Mary which 
 moves and affects me much more than 
 
 this privilege of having been exempt from 
 original sin — something which adds 
 additional lustre to this first prerogative. 
 Mary received this grace from the very 
 first moment of her conception ; it was a 
 wondrous gift ; but what appears to me 
 to be still more wonderful is that she 
 kept this grace until the last moment of 
 her life, as pure, as entire, as when she 
 first received it — no sin, no imperfection, 
 no weakness, no surprise, have ever done 
 her harm. 
 
 It is a wonder to see water springing 
 from the bosom of the earth as clear, as 
 fresh, as if it fell from heaven ; but it is a 
 thing unheard of that this same water 
 from the well, after having bedewed the 
 fields and dirty places, should flow at last 
 into the sea without a taint of smell, as 
 unpolluted as when it issued from the 
 spring. 
 
 This is, however, what our Blessed 
 Lady has done. She lived in this valley 
 of tears for more than sixty years — this, 
 too, in the midst of the same sins and 
 occasions of sins which corrupt daily 
 even innocent souls — without ever losing 
 the purity of her heart. Her humility and 
 patience were put to proofs without a 
 parallel, and she gained fresh lustre from 
 every trial. The Holy Ghost gave her 
 the preference among the many virgins 
 without losing her honor ; she had her joys, 
 but she had her dolours too, and through 
 these she never lost for a single moment 
 the peace and tranquillity of her soul. 
 
 Let us contrast ourselves with this holy 
 and immaculate Mother. She received 
 
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 
 
 lOI 
 
 grace with life, and, what is more glorious 
 still, she kept it intact until she died. 
 
 And we, alas ! have been conceived and 
 brought into the world in sin ; and we 
 have received the grace of the Sacrament 
 of Baptism which made us friends of God. 
 
 But, what is more lamentable, we lose 
 the benefit of this grace almost as soon as 
 we have received it, and then pass the 
 remainder of our days in the dread uncer- 
 tainty of forgiveness. For it must be 
 confessed, to our shame, that we, for the 
 most part, remain in a state of grace so 
 long as we are unacquainted with sin. 
 
 It seems to me that there may be a 
 contradiction between innocence and 
 
 reason, and that they may clash together 
 unless they are kept asunder. 
 
 Le PfeRE DE LA COLOMBltRE, S. J, 
 
 All men are conceived in sin, and we 
 do not read of any one who was sanctified 
 in his mother's womb excepting Jeremias 
 and St. John the Baptist ; although there 
 is no doubt that the Blessed Virgin, 
 enclosed in her mother's womb, should 
 have been purified by a much more 
 sublime degree of sanctification, seeing 
 that she was to be the sanctuary where 
 God the Son was to be made Flesh. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 On Nativity of St. John tht Baptist. 
 
 %TMT^W^ 
 
--'-*^^>^^->^>^;!^ 
 
 %^^^%^:5^s^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
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 S On the [laMvitg of Marg. S 
 
 \*; '.*! •-•-• \*i 
 
 w •>.* w w 
 
 PfeRE VerJUS. 
 
 " And there shall come £orth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of hi* 
 root." — IsAiAS xi. I. 
 
 NTOINE VERJUS descended from 
 a rich and noble family ; he was 
 brother of the Count of Crecy, 
 and was born in Paris in 1652. 
 Despising all the world's honors 
 and dignities, he joined the 
 Society of Jesus, and this zealous 
 missionary died in 1706. He wrote a life of 
 St. Francis Borgia, which, although considered 
 a little diffuse, is nevertheless esteemed. He 
 translated the Catechism of the Blessed 
 Canisius, S. J., and also wrote a life of 
 Nobletz, a Breton missionary. Pfere Verjus 
 had another brother, who was Bishop of 
 Grasse. 
 
 It seems to be just and reasonable that 
 the Church should celebrate a great feast 
 on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin; 
 for one may say, with St. Augustine, that 
 this day is the natal day of the Redemp- 
 tion of mankind. The Church looks upon 
 this Virgin as the powerful and beneficial 
 morning star, which arises for the benefit 
 of the world — like a beautiful orb which 
 begins to shine in the midst of the 
 dreadful turmoil of the universe, which 
 begins to calm the storm, dissipate the ' 
 
 102 
 
 darkness, and promises to guide us safely 
 into port. 
 
 She looks upon her as the blessed 
 Aurora which is to be soon followed by 
 the Sun of justice, to enlighten every 
 nation by the glory of her graces. 
 
 In reality, the birth of Mary is a glorious 
 pledge of the reconciliation of the Creatoi 
 with the creature ; it is a sure sign of 
 God's mercy for us ; it is assuredly a 
 precious omen of our salvation. 
 
 The new-born Virgin is, so to speak, a 
 mysterious rainbow formed by the clouds 
 of nature and the light of grace which 
 God brings forth to assure us that hence- 
 forth it is His will to change the deluge 
 of His wrath into the gentle rain of grace 
 and benediction. 
 
 It is, then, most proper that the Church 
 should rejoice greatly on this her natal 
 day, and she wishes that we should render 
 unto Mary due honors and gratitude. 
 
 It was the birth of the Holy Virgin 
 that the chosen people had expected for 
 
THE NATIVITY OF MARY. 
 
 103 
 
 ages, that the prophets had foretold with 
 joy, for which the saints of the Old 
 Testament had sighed with so much fer- 
 vency. 
 
 We have almost a light to believe that 
 the angels — in token of the joy of heaven 
 — brought down the news to Joachim and 
 St. Anna, since the parents of Isaac, 
 Samson, and St. John the Baptist had 
 received a similar favor. 
 
 It need not be doubted but that the 
 news may have been accompanied by 
 numerous marvels throughout the land, 
 that in a short time there would be a 
 mighty and glorious change. What a 
 motive for joy for the world when it sees 
 that come forth which was to give it its 
 Saviour, Redeemer, and its King ! What 
 a subject for wrath for the devils when 
 they see that beautiful star of Jacob arise, 
 of which one of their prophets had even 
 threatened them. " A star shall rise out 
 of Jacob," says Balaam in the book of 
 Numbers, xxiv. 17. 
 
 They took her for a fatal comet which 
 foretold the ruin of their empire and the 
 end of their tyranny. 
 
 It is true that Mary is still a weak child, 
 to whom nature has but given sobs and 
 tears, in order to bewail the miseries of a 
 life into which she enters, and in this 
 respect she is inferior to the angels who 
 enjoy eternal happiness. 
 
 But she is destined to bear in her 
 bosom He whom the heavens and earth 
 cannot contain ; she is chosen to give 
 birth to that God on whom the Seraphim 
 
 cannot gaze without trembling. It is this 
 that places her infinitely higher than all the 
 choirs of angels, and it can be said of her, 
 as was said of her Son : " Being made so 
 much better than the angels, as he hath 
 inherited a more excellent name than 
 they " {Hebrews i. 4). 
 
 Yes, this sacred quality of Mother of 
 God to which she is destined, raises her 
 above all that is glorious in the nature of 
 all the celestial choir. 
 
 Also, it is from this beauteous title of 
 Mother of God that she derives all the 
 advantages and inherits the grandeur of 
 being above all other creatures, and it is 
 with this view, that God causes her to be 
 born this day. 
 
 Of every outward blessing which the 
 world calls fortune, the Blessed Virgin 
 was almost entirely destitute. She was 
 not born in a fine palace, neither was she 
 clothed in purple ; she did not make her 
 entry into the world under a canopy; 
 around her bed you did not see a crowd 
 of officers and servants. 
 
 She was born lowly and obscure. She 
 begins the lessons which her divine Son 
 would finish in the crib at Bethlehem. 
 She teaches us to despise the vanities 
 of the world, since man in his* cradle 
 is more miserable and prouder than all 
 animals. She plainly tells us that out- 
 ward pomp and fine clothing serve only to 
 feed our pride without decreasing our 
 misery. 
 
 Oh ! how well does poverty sit on 
 the Mother of that God-man, who by His 
 humility will overthrow the pride of the 
 
I04 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 devil; who by His nakedness, weakness, 
 and poverty will shame the vanity of 
 the world, with its luxuries and super- 
 fluities ! 
 
 The riches of our Lady are all in her 
 soul. "All the glory of the King's 
 
 daughter is within" {Psalm xliv. 14). 
 It is within her that God shows His gen- 
 erosity; it is therein He has displayed 
 all the treasures of His grace. 
 
 Vkrjus. 
 Pmnd^riques. 
 
 VN^ 6c)'<K<l9 to c)^s\3) 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIIl. 
 
 K;M. ^Mi^MiM:M£M.^.X M. .M, M. X X ,X X! X X.'JC «3^., X. X X X. X-X X, X;-4 
 
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 " And the virgin's name was Mary." — Luke i. 27." 
 
 PfeRE d'Argentan. 
 
 jHO is it who having loved and 
 honored the holy name of 
 Mary, has not experienced 
 what St. Ephrem has written 
 on it with so much fervor ? 
 That it is really the heav- 
 enly star which shines through the sur- 
 rounding darkness ; how often has it not 
 made us think more of God and our duties ; 
 that it is truly the harbor of refuge, 
 wherein those who are threatened with 
 danger can take shelter therein. How 
 often, when violently tempted by the 
 evil one, have we not been strengthened 
 by invoking the name of Mary ; for is 
 not Mary the Federis Area and our Medi- 
 atrix ? 
 
 Many and many a time has not Mary, 
 through her powerful intercession, made 
 our peace with God, whom we have so 
 often offended by our repeated falls, that 
 she is the help of the afflicted and the 
 consolation of the wretched } 
 
 We could fill volumes, were we to quote 
 instances of all those who, finding them- 
 
 105 
 
 selves well nigh wrecked with sadness and 
 grief, have found a safe port by invoking 
 the name of Mary. Would you see people 
 constantly crowding to places which are 
 consecrated to God under this holy name, 
 if they did not find that those who invoke 
 it are relieved from all human miseries } 
 
 And why should not this holy name be 
 so salutary since it is so nearly allied to 
 the Saviour } Whosoever speaks of Mary 
 speaks of the Mother of the Redeemer, 
 speaks of a priceless treasure which 
 encloses within itself the infinite wealth 
 of the Father of mercies and the remedy 
 for every ill. 
 
 God wishes that these graces should 
 come through Mary, and He has made her 
 Mediatrix Nostra, our Mediatrix. 
 
 Would you, then, know what a host of 
 graces are enclosed in the name of Mary, 
 look what a treasure of heavenly riches 
 God has enclosed in her chaste womb. 
 
 Who amongst us, if he could see the 
 sacred persons of Jesus and His holy 
 
io6 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Mother, would not immediately throw 
 himself at their feet, and, after embracing 
 them, would not pour out his heart to 
 them ? 
 
 It is true that we can have no longer 
 their bodily presence, now that death has 
 deprived us of both one and the other, 
 but have we not a consolation near at 
 hand ? Can we not, in the place of their 
 visible presence, invoke their names, 
 impress them on our memory, engrave 
 them in our hearts, pronounce them often 
 with respect and love ? 
 
 Indeed, we know that the old philoso- 
 phers believed that names were but the 
 representation of things, that they recalled 
 to mind the idea and form, and that men 
 had invented their use in order that we 
 might, in a certain way, place persons 
 before our eyes, discuss with them on 
 matters we know, or have known, not- 
 withstanding the length of distance or the 
 question of time. 
 
 By this innocent artifice, means have 
 been found of producing everything by 
 means of words and phrases in imitation 
 of the first being, which brought forth 
 His own image, that is to say, His Word. 
 
 We also give to things a new being ; 
 we recall persons who are near or who 
 are far off. The tongue and speech form 
 a picture to the ears of things which we 
 cannot see ; we draw them from the 
 tomb ; we recall them from ages long 
 passed away ; we summon them to life 
 when we will. 
 
 In a word, by the means of names, we 
 have found out the way of immortalizing 
 everything ; we give them a species of 
 being, over which memory or death have 
 no empire. 
 
 Who will, then, prevent you from 
 making use of this holy artifice with 
 regard to two persons whose names ought 
 to be dearer to us than anything else in 
 this world, I mean those of Jesus and 
 Mary > 
 
 Should we not have their blessed names 
 ever on our lips ^ Such would be the case 
 if we had them deeply engraven on our 
 hearts. 
 
 Fill us. Holy Mary, with the love of 
 your holy name ; fill us with the fire 
 of divine love. At the sound of your 
 name my conscience will awaken, my love 
 will be set on fire. 
 
 Mary ! O name so many times 
 attacked, but always victorious, ever glo- 
 rious ! Mary ! O name always beneficial 
 to my soul, which tranquillizes my fears, 
 which helps me in my trouble ! Every 
 day will I pronounce it, and to it I will 
 add the sacred name of Jesus. The Son 
 will remind me of the Mother, and the 
 Mother will remind me of the Son. 
 
 Those sacred names of Jesus and Mary 
 I will engrave upon my heart, and when 
 I breathe my last sigh those names will 
 be ever on my lips, and will be names of 
 blessing and salvation. 
 
 Lb PfeRE d'Argentan (Capuchin). 
 Grandeurs dt la Vierge- 
 

 
 ^^ ^^ ^^ -j^ -^. .^ 
 
 'W-' 'W^ ^^ W^ ^^ "'v^-' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 ' ^ r^-r-'-- 1 
 
 
 On the ppe^eniiatioii of fflaf^ in the Temple. I 
 
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 P^RB HOUDKY, S. J. 
 
 ** Behold, I come to do Thy will, O God." — Hebrews x. 9. 
 
 'F angels and men could have 
 mingled all that was virtuous 
 and holy — if they could have 
 gathered together every grace, 
 merit, and perfection, they 
 could not have given to God a 
 more acceptable offering than was made 
 on the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin 
 to the Temple. 
 
 Yes ! it must be confessed, O Lord, 
 before your divine Son had come into the 
 world and was made a victim for our sins 
 on the Cross, Mary alone was deemed 
 worthy of being an acceptable sacrifice. 
 
 The blood of oxen and sheep, the pour- 
 ing out of liquors, and the perfume of 
 spices, were things too material to please 
 You ; the sacrifices of Abel, Noah, and 
 other patriarchs ; the magnificence of 
 David, and the holy profusion of Solomon, 
 well deserved your favorable notice ; but 
 all these were incapable of fully satisfying 
 You. 
 
 It is true that Abraham and Isaac 
 gained Your affection, the one, willingly 
 to sacrifice his only son, the other sub- 
 
 w 
 
 missively agreeing to be immolated foi 
 Your glory. I know that You graciously 
 accepted the offering which Manuel made 
 to You of Samson, and also that of Anne 
 when she presented her little Samuel to 
 You. 
 
 But however excellent these victims may 
 have been, they nevertheless have slight 
 blemishes, and failed in possessing that 
 perfect purity, without which they could 
 not be worthy of You. 
 
 There was only Mary, in whom You 
 found no stain of sin, or, rather, there was 
 no one but Mary who could have been a 
 victim sufficiently holy and pure to 
 supply for the defects of others, and to fill 
 in what was wanting in them to appease 
 You, namely, the anticipation of the 
 glorious sacrifice of the cross. 
 
 Receive, then, this innocent dove which 
 is to be soon followed by the spotless 
 Lamb. Receive the lamentations of the 
 one, and then You will receive the blood 
 of the other. Receive the vows of the 
 holiest of creatures ; receive the offering 
 of a virgin who is to be the Mother of a 
 
io8 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 God, and then You will receive the 
 sacrifice of God made Man. 
 
 We ought certainly to believe that Mary 
 does not enter into the Temple by com- 
 pulsion, neither should we imagine that 
 she entered therein in obedience to the 
 will of her parents. Charity presses her 
 on more strongly than the obligation she 
 was under to fulfil her vows, and had they 
 not presented her, she would have been 
 drawn thither solely by her immense love. 
 
 She had long sighed for this happiness, 
 and in the transports of her fervor she 
 said repeatedly to herself : When shall I 
 be enclosed in that sacred Temple where 
 God has fixed His dwelling, and where He 
 has fixed mine > Dear Lord ! do not delay 
 to grant me the possession of that hap- 
 piness, the postponement of which causes 
 me such painful longing. " These things 
 I remembered and poured out my soul in 
 me ; for I shall go over to the place of the 
 wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of 
 God " {Psalm xli. 5). 
 
 At length the happy day having arrived, 
 do not ask me if she was transported with 
 joy. Far from waiting for the commands 
 of her parents to prepare herself for the 
 fulfilment of their vows, she was the first 
 to warn them and to urge them onwards. 
 
 It was wonderful, indeed, to see a child 
 of three years endowed with so firm a 
 resolve — to see her leave the comforts of 
 home without a sigh — to forego the 
 caresses of her relations — - to bid adieu to 
 
 her dearest companions — to tear herself 
 away from the arms of a father who loved 
 her more than his eyes, and of a mother 
 for whom she had the tenderest affection ; 
 — all these she resigns with tears of joy. 
 
 Picture to yourself the feelings of Joa- 
 chim and Anna when they approached the 
 High Priest in order to place their 
 daughter in his arms ; how their souls are 
 troubled with a divided love — one a love 
 divine, the other a human love. Joachim, 
 who has for so many years been ignorant 
 of the sweet name of father, and who now 
 would soon be deprived of his darling pet ; 
 Anna, she, too, venerable in age and piety, 
 after a barrenness of years had now become 
 the happiest of mothers — she, too, was on 
 the point of losing all her joy and comfort. 
 Joachim sighed and sobbed, and Anna 
 shed tears of grief. 
 
 But the generous Virgin is unmoved. 
 She sees the tears her parents shed, she 
 hears the sighs without a sign of weakness, 
 their sobs she listens to without shaking 
 her courage. She knows full well that 
 these dear ones are well-nigh heart-broken, 
 but grace is working within her, and a 
 love much stronger is growing now, for 
 God calls the Blessed Virgin to His ser- 
 vice. She thinks not of a father's tender- 
 ness, she heeds not a mother's love ; she 
 knows and looks to God alone, to whom 
 she wishes to sacrifice herself. 
 
 Le P^re Vincent Houdry, S. J. 
 From his MSS. Discourses. 
 
ON THE ANNaNGIAtlON. # 
 
 T 
 
 ? 
 
 c^jft^^^- 
 
 BouRDALOUE and St. Gregory. 
 * Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee." — Luke i. 28. 
 Extract from Bourdaloue' s Two Sermons on the Annunciation. 
 
 N angel presented himself to 
 Mary, and she was troubled. 
 Scarcely had he begun to speak 
 to her than fear seized her, so 
 that she felt within her a host 
 of perplexing thoughts : " She 
 was troubled at his saying, and thought 
 within herself, what manner of salutation 
 this should be" {Luke i. 29). 
 
 If Mary had been one of those worldly 
 persons, who are only virgins in body, but 
 not so in spirit, this visit she received 
 would not have surprised her much, and 
 the praises bestowed upon her, instead of 
 astonishing her, would have agreeably 
 flattered her. But the profession she had 
 made as a virgin was undertaken solely 
 with the view of devoting herself entirely 
 to God ; the rules which had been pre- 
 scribed had been strictly kept, which were 
 to renounce the manners and customs of a 
 profane age ; her exact and severe regu- 
 larity, her attention never to relax in the 
 least duty, the preservation of an irre- 
 proachable conduct which was proof against 
 
 100 
 
 the slightest censure, the modesty and 
 bashfulness which were with her super- 
 natural ; the opinion she had formed that 
 praises bestowed on her sex and favorably 
 received, that praises even tolerated and 
 quietly listened to, were to her a secret 
 and contagious poison ; — all these caused 
 her a trouble which she was not ashamed 
 of showing ; because being troubled in that 
 way, she manifested the true character of 
 a virgin faithful to God. 
 
 On Mary's answer depended the accom- 
 plishment of this glorious mystery. This 
 consent was, in the order of the eternal 
 decrees of God, one of the conditions 
 required for the Incarnation of the Word ; 
 and this is the essential obligation we are 
 under to this Queen of virgins, since it is 
 of faith that it is through her that Jesus 
 Christ has been given to us, and it is to 
 her we are indebted for this Divine Sav- 
 iour. For if the Son, even of God, 
 descends from His glory in heaven, if He 
 enters into the chaste tabernacle of Mary 
 to be made flesh, it is at the moment she 
 
no 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 has said, and because she has said it, 
 " Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be 
 it done to me according to Thy word " 
 (Luke i. 38). 
 
 It is not in consequence of this answer 
 and consent of Mary that the Son of God 
 came down from heaven and became 
 Incarnate. Mary conceived the Word 
 first through the humility of her heart, 
 and secondly through the purity of her 
 body. 
 
 It is humility, says St. Augustine, 
 which, on the part of man, should be the 
 first and most necessary acquirement when 
 conferring with God. If, then, God chose 
 Mary to be His mother, it was that she 
 alone appeared to Him to possess that 
 perfect humility which He required. In 
 fact, as St. Bernard remarks, a God who 
 was on the point of humiliating Himself, 
 even to the excess of clothing Himself 
 with our flesh, ought to have an infinite 
 liking for humility. 
 
 But what is there so peculiar in Mary's 
 humility .-* Why, first of all, it was a 
 humility joined to a fulness of grace ; she 
 was saluted as Gratia plena, full of grace ; 
 and she replies that she is the handmaid 
 of the Lord. Secondly, it was also a 
 humility highly honorable ; an angel 
 comes to tell her that she will be Mother 
 of God, and she gives herself the title 
 only of handmaid of the Lord. 
 
 This is what delighted Heaven ; this it 
 is that determined the Word of God to 
 leave the bosom of His Father, and 
 enclose Himself in the womb of Mary. 
 
 Whilst she humiliates herself before 
 God, the Son of God empties Himself in 
 her. " Emptied Himself, taking the form 
 of a servant " {Philip, ii. 7). 
 
 From all this let us learn to be humble. 
 A mother of God humble, a God emptied ! 
 What a lesson for us ! Without humility 
 there is no Christianity, no religion, since 
 without humility, we should not have had 
 the Incarnation or a God made man. 
 
 Secondly, Mary conceived the Word 
 through the purity of her body and through 
 her virginity. The prophet had foretold 
 that the Messiah should be born of a 
 virgin ; and it was, says St. Bernard, 
 essential that a God, by making Himself 
 man, should have had a virgin for a 
 mother, since any other conception than 
 that would not have suited the dignity 
 of God, and would have dimmed the 
 brightness and glory of His divinity. 
 Also, according to the beautiful idea of 
 St. Bernard, the whole of this mystery 
 passes between God, an angel, and Mary, 
 which traces out for us three different 
 characteristics of the most perfect purity. 
 
 From this, what conclusion can we come 
 to } Why, that God being of Himself the 
 essence of purity, it was necessary that a 
 union so wonderful should be in harmony, 
 and this was accomplished when the Word 
 was made flesh. God, in this mystery, 
 even gives the preference to virginal purity 
 by choosing a virgin-mother, and by deput- 
 ing an angel to be His ambassador. 
 
 Do not be astonished, continues St. 
 Bernard, since the purity of this Virgin was 
 so meritorious that it raised her above the 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 level of angels. The angels are naturally 
 pure, by a privilege of beatitude and glory, 
 but Mary was so by election and virtue, so 
 much so that she was troubled at the sight 
 of an angel ; this was the effect of her 
 watchfulness to preserve the treasure of 
 her purity. She was also ready to renounce 
 the dignity of divine maternity rather than 
 cease to be a virgin, and thus it was that 
 God felt induced to descend into her in 
 order that the Word should be made flesh : 
 Verbum caro factum est. 
 
 You see from this what care we should 
 ever take to preserve our bodies from any 
 stain of impurity. 
 
 Le PfeRE BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Imagine what it is to be a Son of God, 
 and you can have some idea what it is to 
 be His mother; the excellence of the one 
 will make you understand the excellence of 
 the other. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 On First Book of Kings. 
 
ISITATION. 
 
 PfeREs DU Jarry and d'Argentam. 
 " Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me ? " — Luke i. 43. 
 
 , T. AMBROSE says that in this 
 mystery there are two visits to 
 be thought of — that of Jesus 
 to St. John, and that of Mary 
 to St. Elizabeth. St. John was 
 in need of Jesus, and Elizabeth 
 wanted Mary. 
 
 But how could these two children meet, 
 enclosed, as they both were, in their 
 mothers* wombs? How could two preg- 
 nant women, separated as they were from 
 each other by a road almost inaccessible 
 — how could they see each other during 
 a season so rigorous } 
 
 You know it well, my brethren. Jesus 
 secretly instils into the heart of Mary a 
 wish to visit her cousin Elizabeth — the 
 greatness of her new dignity, a long, 
 fatiguing journey delays her not — the 
 precious burden she begins to carry reliev- 
 ing, as says St. Augustine, instead of 
 incommoding her. Supported by this 
 secret movement of grace which helps her 
 on, she surmounts every obstacle, and at 
 length arrives at the house of Zachary. 
 
 The presence of Jesus causes John to 
 leap for joy in his mother's womb, and 
 
 112 
 
 Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost 
 at the sight of Mary. 
 
 Mary's joy, humility, and gratitude shone 
 forth in a manner quite divine, in that 
 wonderful canticle she gave in answer to the 
 blessings of Elizabeth. What mysteries, 
 what instructions, are included in this our 
 Gospel history ! 
 
 St. Ambrose was in ecstasy when he 
 meditated on this celebrated visit, signal- 
 ized as it was by so many mysteries, proph- 
 ecies, and wonders. This holy bishop 
 seems to display all his charming elo- 
 quence in describing what took place at 
 the interview of those illustrious mothers, 
 one of which gave birth to the greatest 
 among the children of men, and the other 
 to a God made man for the salvation of 
 all. Elizabeth, says this Father, is the first 
 to hear the voice of Mary, but John, even 
 before that, is sensible of the grace of 
 Jesus — the one rejoices at the Blessed 
 Virgin's visit, the other leaps for joy at 
 the visit of his Saviour. 
 
 The two mothers proclaim aloud the 
 marvels of divine grace, and the two chil- 
 dren feel or produce the workings of the 
 
THE VISITATION. 
 
 113 
 
 said grace. Jesus Christ fills St. John 
 
 with the grace attached to the ministry of 
 
 the Precursor, and St. John anticipates 
 
 its functions in a wondrous manner ; 
 
 Elizabeth and Mary, interiorly animated by 
 
 the spirit of their children, extract from 
 
 their interview a series of oracles and 
 
 prophecies. 
 
 L'Abb]£ du Jarry. 
 
 On the Visitation. 
 
 \ Ponder on the words which St. Elizabeth 
 utters, and judge from them how the Holy 
 Spirit must have moved her. She seems, 
 as it were, to shout with rapture, Unde hoc 
 mihi, ut veniat mater Domini mei ad me? 
 {Luke i. 43) — Whence is this to me, that 
 the mother of my Lord should come to 
 me "i I am only the mother of the servant 
 and behold, the mother of the Almighty 
 Monarch comes to visit me ! O charity 
 unequalled ! profound humility of the 
 mother and her Son to visit me, their 
 unworthy servant ! Oh ! happy, happy 
 house, which is so filled with such precious 
 favors from heaven, in which the Saviour 
 of mankind pays His first visit on earth, 
 and that, too, through the hands of the 
 Blessed Virgin. Whence is this to me ? 
 O adorable Providence, which has so gra- 
 ciously given me this happiness 1 
 
 I have often remarked that one of her 
 best precautions was to prepare for the 
 reception of this abundance of grace, by 
 making a long retreat of five months, thus 
 hiding herself from the turmoil of the 
 world. The Evangelist would not have 
 mentioned this without a purpose, for we 
 read in the first chapter of St. Luke : 
 " And after those days Elizabeth, his 
 wife, conceived, and hid herself five 
 months." 
 
 If that great saint had been distracted 
 with the cares of the world, if she had not 
 been in her house, when the Son of God, 
 within the pure body of His holy Mother, 
 came to honor her with a visit, she would, 
 perhaps, have been deprived of all His 
 favors ; but she received graces in abund- 
 ance, because God found her praying in 
 solitude. 
 
 Happy is the soul who loves to be in 
 retreat, thus flying from the noise and 
 bustle of the world. 
 
 It is while she is in retreat that God 
 visits her, and that she rejoices in God : 
 " I will allure her and will lead her into 
 the wilderness, and I will speak to her 
 heart " {Osee ii. 14). 
 
 Lk P±re d'Argentan. 
 C^n/^rence. 
 
BoURDALOUE and Father Faber. 
 
 " And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they 
 carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord." — Luke ii. 22. 
 
 'ARY, in obedience to the law 
 of Moses, sacrifices even her 
 own honor, since by the Puri- 
 fication she appears in the same 
 condition as that of other 
 women. Thus the brightness 
 of her virginity was obscured ; of that 
 virginity, of which she was so jealous in 
 the mystery of the Incarnation; of that 
 virginity, whose glory is to shine outwardly 
 and not show the least stain. She con- 
 sents to risk her reputation and her name, 
 and of all the humiliations that one, I dare 
 to say, was the most difficult to bear — to 
 be pure as the sun before God, and to 
 appear impure before the eyes of men. 
 Such is, nevertheless, the sacrifice this 
 most holy of virgins makes. 
 
 Now this law of God, my brethren, does 
 not compel us to do anything so humili- 
 ating. It wishes that we should appear 
 as we are ; that being essentially sub- 
 missive to the supreme control of God, 
 we should not blush at duties which His 
 /aw requires and at services which we are 
 
 114 
 
 bound to perform ; especially, being im- 
 pure sinners, we should not be ashamed to 
 perform practices of penance which are to 
 cleanse, to reconcile us with God, and help 
 us to pay off the debt of His divine justice. 
 
 But what do we do .-* By a strange 
 reversing, we wish to be sinners, and yet 
 appear to be good. Mary gives up all 
 desire of outside show provided she is 
 assured that the treasure of her virginity 
 is preserved, and we, often even in the 
 most trifling things, are but too anxious 
 to keep up appearances. 
 
 Consider the many virtues she practises 
 in this mystery ; she hides her glory, not 
 wishing to appear what she is ; she 
 emblazons her humility, by appearing what 
 she is not. 
 
 She is Mother of God, and she appears 
 only as the mother of a man ; she comes 
 to be purified in company with other 
 mothers, although she is the purest of 
 virgins. Dispensed from this humiliating 
 law, she nevertheless carries it out to the 
 very letter. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 
 
 115 
 
 However dear that adorable Son may 
 be, she offers Him up for us, even unto 
 death, by presenting Him to the Eternal 
 Father, as a propitiatory victim. It costs 
 her much to hear the saddest and most 
 heartrending prediction made on Him, 
 and with what resignation did she not 
 consent ? O Lord, how conformed is the 
 spirit of the Mother with the spirit of the 
 Son, and how both are different from ours. 
 We wish to appear what we are not ; our 
 pride cannot brook the idea of appearing 
 as we are. Luxury, pomp, ambition, and 
 vanity, accompany us even to the foot of 
 the altar. 
 
 We are, however, charmed with the 
 deep humility of the Blessed Virgin. 
 Shall we never be but cold and indifferent 
 admirers of the sublimest virtues } Does 
 our love of purity inspire us with a great 
 delicacy of conscience } What do we do 
 to acquire and cherish so necessary and 
 delicate a virtue.' Only those who are 
 clean of heart shall see God. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 On the Purification. 
 
 Mary had spent twelve years of her 
 sinless life in the courts of the Temple. 
 It was there that she had outwardly dedi- 
 cated her virginity to God, which she had 
 vowed in the first moment of her Immacu- 
 late Conception. It was there she medi- 
 tated over the ancient Scriptures and 
 learned the secrets of the Messias. She 
 was coming back to it again, still virgin, 
 yet, mystery of grace ! a mother with a 
 child. She came to be purified, she who 
 
 was purer than the untrodden snow on 
 Lebanon. She came to present her child 
 to God, and do for the Creator what no 
 creature but herself could do, -^ive Him a 
 gift fully equal to Himself. 
 
 When the second Temple was built, the 
 ancients of the people lifted up their 
 voices and wept because its glory was not 
 equal to the glory of the first. But the 
 first Temple had never seen such a day 
 as that which was now dawning on the 
 Temple of Herod. The glory of the Holy 
 of Holies was but a symbol of the real 
 glory which Mary was now bearing thither- 
 ward in her arms. But she had two offer- 
 ings with her. She bore one and Joseph 
 the other. She bore her child, and he the 
 pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, 
 for her purification. Many saw them pass. 
 But there was nothing singular in them, 
 nothing especially attractive to the eyes 
 of the beholders. So it always is where 
 God is. Now that He is visible. He is, in 
 truth, except to faith and love, just as 
 invisible as He tver was. 
 
 Mary made her offerings and " per- 
 formed all things according to the law of 
 the Lord." For the Spirit of Jesus was 
 a spirit of obedience ; and, although the 
 brightness of angelic innocence was dull 
 beside the whiteness of her purity, she 
 obeyed the law of God in the ceremony 
 of her purification, the more readily as it 
 was a concealment of her graces. But she 
 bore also in her arms her true turtle-dove, 
 to do for Him likewise " according to the 
 custom of the law." 
 
ii6 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINT},, ETC. 
 
 She placed Him in the arms of the aged 
 priest Simeon, as she has done since in 
 vision to so many of the saints, and the 
 full light broke on Simeon's soul. Weak 
 with age, he threw his arms around his 
 God. He bore the whole weight of the 
 Creator and yet stood upright. The sight 
 of that infant face was nothing less than 
 the glory of heaven. The Holy Ghost had 
 kept His promise. Simeon had seen, nay, 
 was at that moment handling, " the Lord's 
 Christ." 
 
 O blessed priest ! worn down with age, 
 tvearied with thy long years of waiting 
 
 for the " Consolation of Israel," kept alive 
 in days which were out of harmony with 
 thy spirit, even as St. John the Evangelist 
 was after thee, surely He who made thee, 
 He who is so soon to judge thee, He 
 whom thou art folding so proudly in thine 
 arms, must have sent the strength of His 
 omnipotence into thy heart, else thou 
 wouldst never have been able to stand the 
 flood of strong gladness which at that 
 moment broke in upon thy spirit. 
 
 Father Faber (Orat) 
 Foot of the Cross. 
 
From an excellent work entitled " Essais de Strmons^'' 
 and Father Faber. 
 
 " And thy own soul a sword shall pierce." — Luke ii. 35. 
 
 'F we sincerely wish to be really 
 and truly the children of Mary, 
 we cannot do better than try 
 to imitate our Mother. Let 
 us ascend to Calvary, let us 
 constantly remain with her at 
 the foot of the cross, let us share with her 
 in the sufferings of Jesus, and let us 
 impress on our hearts the image of the 
 Crucified One. 
 
 If St. John had not ascended Mount 
 Calvary the Saviour would not have given 
 Mary to us in so marked a manner. We 
 cannot hope to be fervent children of Mary 
 if we are not to be found with her on 
 Mount Calvary. It is there that she has 
 adopted us — it is there only that she will 
 acknowledge that we are her children. 
 
 You deceived yourself, O great apostle, 
 when you said on Mount Thabor that you 
 wished to be always there, — Bojium est 
 hie esse {Luke ix. 33) — It is good to be 
 here. You did not know then that the 
 dory of Thabor is reserved for a happy 
 eternity, and that Calvary is the sole 
 inheritance of God's children on earth. 
 
 IIT 
 
 It is at the foot of the cross that Mary 
 can say, " Look, and make it according to 
 the pattern that was shown thee in the 
 mount" {Exodus xxv. 40). If you wish to 
 be my children, imitate the example that I 
 give you. Be firm and constant at the 
 foot of the cross ; and know that if you 
 keep away or stand aloof, you can neither 
 be children of God nor a child of Mary. 
 
 If we simply were compelled to com- 
 passionate our dying Saviour, we should 
 find many a tender-hearted Christian who 
 would be easily led to practices of piety. 
 But it is not merely a question of compas- 
 sion ; we must not endeavor to imitate, we 
 must be crucified with Jesus Christ. If 
 Mary does not see within us the likeness 
 of her dear crucified Son, she will not 
 acknowledge us as her children : " For 
 whom He foreknew, He also predestinated 
 to be made conformable to the image of 
 His Son " {Romans viii. 29). 
 
 If that be true, can we believe that we 
 are children of Mary } Alas ! very far from 
 being on Calvary and at the foot of the cross, 
 we are at the feet of earthly idols to whom 
 
ii8 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 we offer a continual sacrifice ; and, far 
 from being an image of Jesus crucified, we 
 are more like to the evil one. 
 
 Ah, holy Virgin ! since you have suffered 
 so much to be our Mother, obtain for us 
 favors from your Son, so that He may 
 make us worthy to be your children ; and, 
 after having accompanied and imitated you 
 oa Calvary, we may, through your power- 
 ful intercession, be found worthy to reign 
 with you in heaven. 
 
 From the '■'■ Essais de Sermons.''^ 
 Car^me. 
 
 The first thing that strikes us about 
 our Lady's dolours is their immensity, not 
 in its literal meaning, but in the sense 
 which we commonly use with reference to 
 created things. It is to her sorrows that 
 the Church applies those words of 
 Jeremias : " O all ye that pass by the way, 
 attend and see.if there be any sorrow like 
 to my sorrow. To what shall I compare 
 thee, and to what shall I liken thee, O 
 daughter of Jerusalem ? To what shall 
 I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O 
 virgin daughter of Sion } for great as the 
 sea is thy broken-heartedness : who shall 
 heal thee ? " 
 
 Mary's love is spoken of as that which 
 many waters could not quench. In like 
 manner, the saints and doctors of the 
 Church have spoken of the greatness of 
 her sorrows. St. Anselm says, whatever 
 cruelty was exercised upon the bodies of 
 the martyrs was light, or rather it was as 
 nothing, compared to the cruelty of Mary's 
 passion. St. Bernardin of Siena says. 
 
 that so great was the dolour of the 
 Blessed Virgin, that if it was subdivided 
 and parcelled out among all creatures 
 capable of suffering, they would perish 
 instantly. An angel revealed to St. 
 Bridget, that if our Lord had not miracu- 
 lously supported His mother, it would not 
 have been possible for her to live through 
 her martyrdom. 
 
 It would be easy to multiply similar 
 passages, both from the revelations of the 
 saints and the writings of the doctors of 
 the Church. 
 
 Where is Mary to look with her soul's 
 eye, for consolation } Nay, her soul's eye 
 must look where her body's eye is fixad 
 already. It is bent on Jesus, and it is tha^ 
 very sight which is her torture. She sees 
 His Human Nature, and she is the Mother, 
 the Mother beyond all other mothers, 
 loving as never mother loved before, as 
 all mothers together could not love, if they 
 might compact their myriad loves into one 
 intensest nameless act. 
 
 He is her Son, and such a Son, and in 
 so marvellous a way her Son. He is her 
 treasure and her all. What a fund of 
 misery — keen, quick, deadly, unequalled 
 — was there in that sight ! And yet 
 there was far more than that. There was 
 His Divine Nature. 
 
 Yes ! He is God. She saw that, through 
 the darkness of the eclipse. But then the 
 blood, the spittings, the earth stains, the 
 irnseemly scars, the livid, many-colored 
 bruises, what did all that mean on a 
 Person only and eternally divme ? It is 
 
THE SEVEN DOLOURS OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. 
 
 119 
 
 vain to think of giving a name to such 
 misery as then flooded her soul. Jesus, 
 the joy of the martyrs, is the executioner 
 of His Mother. Twice over, to say the 
 least, if not a third time also, did He 
 crucify her, once by His Human Nature, 
 once by His Divine, if indeed body and 
 soul did not make two crucifixions from 
 the Human Nature only. No martyrdom 
 was ever like to this. No given number 
 of martyrdoms approach to a comparison 
 with it. 
 
 It is a sum of sorrow which material 
 units, ever so many added together, ever 
 so often multiplied, do not go to form. It 
 is a question of kind as well as of degree ; 
 and hers was a kind of sorrow which has 
 only certain affinities to any other kinds oi 
 sorrow, and is simply without a name, 
 except the name which the simple children 
 of the Church call it by — the Dolours of 
 Mary. 
 
 Father Faber. (Orat) 
 Foot of the Cross. 
 
 A 
 1 
 
 
 r 
 
 -^^^.■Mf^^ 
 
> CHAPTER XLIV. < 
 
 MW 
 
 On IshB J^^^nmplsion of oup Ble^^ed Ladg. 
 
 # 
 
 # # 
 
 Le PfeRE NOUET. 
 
 " Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun ? " 
 
 — Canticle vi. 9. 
 
 Extracts from P^re Nouet's " Vie de Jesus dans les Saints" 
 
 HE Holy Ghost had enkindled 
 so ardent a flame in the heart 
 of the Blessed Virgin, that it 
 was really a continuous mira- 
 cle that she sustained so 
 impetuous a heavenly fire with- 
 out dying, and this repeatedly burst forth 
 from her breast. For if St. Ephrem cried 
 out in his desert cell, and placed his hands 
 over his heart lest it should burst and 
 split ; if St. Francis of Assisi thought that 
 he would die of joy when he heard an 
 angel sing a strain of the celestial choir ; 
 if St. Francis Xavier, laying bare his 
 bosom to breathe more freely, and looking 
 up to heaven, beseeched his merciful Lord 
 and Master to be sparing of His favors, 
 and to remind Him that a human heart 
 could not endure such a flood of consoling 
 light ; what must our Blessed Lady have 
 felt, she who received more than all the 
 saints put together } How was it that she 
 did not expire at every moment > How 
 was It that she was not consumed with the 
 
 120 
 
 flames of love divine, more especially as 
 the Son of God, who is love itself, had 
 willed and chosen to dwell for nine long 
 months in her virginal womb.? Cannot 
 we say, with St. Bernard, that her chaste 
 interior was laden with love, that she had 
 neither heart nor life, if we be allowed to 
 say so ; but that love was her heart, and to 
 live for God and love Him too, was one 
 and the same thing ? 
 
 The life of the Seraphim consists in see- 
 ing God, in loving Him always, in enjoy- 
 ing an eternity of bliss ; and, as St. Gregory 
 observes, wherever they go, they never go 
 out of God — they fly in the bosom of His 
 immensity, they dwell in His heart, they 
 exercise their divine functions in the sanc- 
 tuary of His divinity. 
 
 This was then veritably the life of the 
 Blessed Virgin ; she shared the rank of the 
 blessed in heaven, far, far above the state 
 of mortals who lived on earth ; her heart 
 was ever near to God, and God was always 
 in her heart ; her sleep was one continual 
 
THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR BLESSED LADY. 
 
 121 
 
 dream of love, and she could say with the 
 spouse in the Canticle : " I sleep and my 
 heart watcheth " {chap. v. 2). 
 
 Doubtless the death of Mary was a 
 greater miracle, for to what can we attrib- 
 ute the cause ? Who can tell the cause of 
 so wonderful a death ? Can we attribute 
 the cause to sin ? Oh, no ; she is inno- 
 cence itself ; her conception is immaculate, 
 her birth was stainless, her life without 
 reproach ; and never having been a slave 
 of sin, she needed not to pay the debt of 
 nature. To sickness ? No ; she was 
 never ill, and her body was exempt from 
 the gradual decay of nature. To agony ? 
 No ; death would appear to be too welcome 
 to be painful. Is it to the shafts of divine 
 love ? But love was the mainstay of her 
 life ; how could it have caused her death ? 
 To her Son's cross ? But if she was to 
 die, why did she not die on Calvary ? 
 
 It is certain that never a mother loved 
 her son so much, because no mother had a 
 son who was hers alone — no mother had a 
 son so loving, so perfect ; there never was 
 a mother who had a heart so inflamed 
 with the fire of divine love. Many a time 
 and oft, many mothers have died either 
 with grief at seeing their children die, or 
 with fear at seeing them on the point of 
 dying. 
 
 How was it, then, that the Blessed 
 Virgin did not die at the death of her 
 Son, she who loved Him so, she who saw 
 Him suffer such a cruel death "i You will 
 tell me, with St. Bernardin, that to live 
 without Hitn was a greater martyrdom 
 
 than dying with Him ; because, in dying 
 with Him, she would have been martyred 
 only once, but in surviving Him every 
 moment of her life was simply a tor- 
 ture. 
 
 What wonder, then, that her life was a 
 species of death, and that death, thus 
 reversing the order of nature, was a 
 renewal of her life "i 
 
 It is impossible for any one to describe 
 the excess of glory and the sublimity of 
 the ever Blessed Virgin's throne. We 
 need not be astonished, as Arnold de 
 Chartres remarks, because her glory 
 exceeds that, of all others. She has a 
 rank of her own ; her pedestal is raised 
 considerably higher than that of the 
 angels ; the glory she possesses is not 
 solely a glory like unto that of the Word 
 Incarnate, it is in a certain way similar : 
 Gloriatn cum mat re, non tarn communetn 
 jiidico quam. eamden. 
 
 O King of glory, it is certain that mag- 
 nificence and grandeur are inherent to 
 Your holy habitation ; You have given 
 striking proofs of this on the feast of the 
 Assumption of Your holy Mother. You 
 have crowned her Queen of all saints ; 
 there is no one but the King who precedes 
 her. She is so glorious that one would 
 say that it is the glory of God itself, or 
 rather that God had her with His own 
 glory. She is so great and powerful near 
 You that she herself cannot fathom the 
 extent of her power. 
 
 Le PiRE NOUET, S.J- 
 
CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 ^^ 0FI t^^ '^^^ Rosary. ^ 
 
 i^ 
 
 Father Faber and P^re Nicholas de Dijon. 
 
 " It is better, therefore, that two should be together than one, for they have the advantage of their 
 society." — Ecclesiastes iv. 9. 
 
 CANNOT conceive a man being 
 spiritual who does not habitu- 
 ally say the Rosary. It may 
 be called the queen of indul- 
 genced devotions. First, con- 
 sider its importance as a 
 specially Catholic devotion, as so pecul- 
 iarly giving us a Catholic turn of mind 
 by keeping Jesus and Mary perpetually 
 before us, and as a singular help to final 
 perseverance, if we continue the recital of 
 it, as various revelations show. 
 
 Next consider its institution, by St. 
 Dominic in 12 14, by revelation, for the 
 purpose of combating heresy, and the 
 success which attended it. Its matter and 
 form are no less striking. Its matter 
 consists of the Pater, the Ave, and the 
 Gloria, whose authors are our Blessed 
 Lord himself, St. Gabriel, St. Elizabeth, 
 the Council of Ephesus, and the whole 
 Church, led in the West by St. Damasus, 
 Its form is a complete abridgement of the 
 Gospel, consisting of fifteen mysteries in 
 decades, expressing the three great phases 
 of the work of redemption, — joy, sorrow, 
 
 12s 
 
 and glory. Its peculiarity is the next 
 attractive feature about it. It unites 
 mental with vocal prayer. It is a devo- 
 tional compendium of theology. It is an 
 efficacious practice of the presence of God. 
 It is one chief channel of the conditions of 
 the Incarnation among the faithful. It 
 shows the true nature of devotion to our 
 Blessed Lady ; and is a means of realizing 
 the communion of saints. 
 
 Its ends are the love of Jesus, repara- 
 tion to the Sacred Humanity for the 
 outrages of heresy, and a continual 
 affectionate thanksgiving to the most 
 Holy Trinity, for the benefit of the Incar- 
 nation. 
 
 It is sanctioned by the Church, by 
 miracles, by indulgences, by the conversion 
 of sinners, and by the usage of the saints. 
 See, also, how much the method of reciting 
 it involves. We should first make a 
 picture ot the mystery, and always put 
 our Blessed Lady into the picture ; for 
 the Rosary is hers. We should couDI^ 
 some duty or virtue with each mysterji, 
 and fix beforehand on some soul in pur- 
 
THE HOLY ROSARY, 
 
 123 
 
 gatory, to whom to apply the vast indul- 
 gences. 
 
 Meanwhile, we must not strain our 
 minds, or be scrupulous ; for to say the 
 Rosary well, is quite a thing which 
 requires learning. Remember always, as 
 the Raccolta teaches, that the fifteenth 
 is the coronation of Mary, and not merely 
 the glory of the saints. 
 
 Father Faber. ( Orat. ) 
 Growth in Holiness. 
 
 The first founders of the Holy Rosary, 
 filled with the grace of the Holy Ghost, 
 and all on fire with divine love, made 
 their appearance as new apostles ready to 
 sacrifice their lives and shed their blood 
 for the love of Jesus Christ, for the honor 
 of the Church, and for the defence of 
 their faith. 
 
 It is a truth which is easy of proof by a 
 fact perhaps the most memorable that 
 may have happened in France since God 
 was therein known. The spirit of heresy, 
 which is inseparable from the spirit of 
 rebellion, had spread far and wide among 
 the Albigenses. These heretics, not 
 being able to defend themselves by argu- 
 ment or by Holy Scripture, resolved to 
 support their errors by fire and sword. 
 The king of Arragon, the Counts of 
 Toulouse and Armagnac, many other 
 sovereigns and great lords increased this 
 party, and, uniting their forces, they suc- 
 ceeded in collecting a force of one hundred 
 thousand men. Terror spreads around, 
 and the storm equally threatens religion 
 
 and the state : success must be decided, 
 on one side or the other. 
 
 Who will dare to oppose this tonent } 
 Who will disperse the tempest.' Fear 
 not ; the God of armies, who formerly 
 sent Simon Machabee to protect the Jews 
 and to save the synagogue, raised up Simon 
 de Montfort, the Machabee of France, for 
 the protection of the Church and the 
 Catholics. 
 
 The ever blessed Virgin, on the other 
 hand, giving the Rosary to St. Dom- 
 inic, repeated these consoling words : 
 "Take this holy sword, a gift from God, 
 wherewith thou shalt overthrow the adver- 
 saries of my people" ( 2 Machahccs xv. 16), 
 
 This promise was not fruitless ; this 
 Rosary was like Gideon's sword, which, 
 under the form of blades of barley, caused 
 such havoc in the camp of the Midianites. 
 In fact, it may be said, that if this immense 
 heretical army was overthrown and cut 
 to pieces, it was owing more to the 
 efficacy of the Rosary than to the power 
 of the crusade. The Count de Montfort's 
 army was strong in numbers, but the 
 piety of his soldiers, and the help they 
 received from above, made them as brave 
 as lions. He did what Judas Machabeus 
 did : " He armed every one of them, not 
 with defence of shield and spear, but with 
 very good speeches and exhortations " 
 (2 Machabees xv. 11). He armed them 
 with the Rosary too, and at once gave 
 the signal to charge. Invoking the name 
 of the Lord, they fearlessly attacked the 
 enemy ; with prayers on their lips, con- 
 fident of victory, and sword in hand, they 
 
124 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS. ETC. 
 
 overthrew the enemy's squadrons one after 
 the other, galloped over the bodies of the 
 slain, and gained one of the most famous 
 of victories — a victory which saved the 
 kingdom, and was the triumph of religion. 
 O Holy Virgin, the Church is indeed in 
 the right to sing your praises : Cunctas 
 Jiareses sola interemisti in universo mundo, 
 — that it is to you alone that we can 
 attribute the defeat of every heresy. 
 
 The Rosary is the most powerful, at the 
 same time the most efHcacious, of daily 
 
 devotions, since all kinds of favors are 
 granted to those who recite it devoutly 
 and regularly. If you wish to know what 
 particular graces we obtain therefrom, the 
 following are those which the Blessed 
 Alain de la Roche learned from the 
 Blessed Virgin herself : Sanctitas vitce, 
 morum honestas, vtundi contetnptus, domo- 
 rum disciplina, — Holiness of life, integ- 
 rity of purpose, contempt of the world, 
 and peace of Christian homes. 
 
 Le PfeRE Nicolas de Dijon. 
 Oh the Rosary. 
 
On onJ LadJ of Mount CaMel. 
 
 Le PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE, S. J. 
 
 " All her domestics are clothed with double garments." — Proverbs xxxi. 21. 
 
 KNOW full well that we have 
 within ourselves certain signs 
 of our predestination, never- 
 theless they are but conjec- 
 tures which tend to strengthen 
 our hope, but do not entirely 
 dissipate the just fears which God wills 
 that we should have when we think of His 
 impenetrable judgments. No one, says 
 St Gregory, so long as he remains on 
 earth, can positively know what is decreed 
 in heaven as to his predestination or as to 
 his eternal loss. This is the sad condition 
 in which we live here below ; we are 
 certain of soon finishing our career in this 
 place of exile, without really knowing if 
 we shall ever see our own true country. 
 We must not lose sight of this tuition 
 if we wish to prevent faults into which we 
 are sure to fall without that. 
 
 Our dear Lady of Mount Carmel has 
 placed no limits to our hope in becoming 
 her children ; the promise she has made of 
 protecting us is not limited by any con- 
 dition ; she has engaged that she will not 
 suffer us to be unhappy for all eternity, 
 that is to say, she gives us every hope of 
 
 126 
 
 our salvation that we can possibly have in 
 this life ; she promises by that, that if we 
 persevere in her service, we shall infallibly 
 persevere in grace. 
 
 But what do you say of so magnificent 
 a promise ? Has the Blessed Virgin 
 explained it to your satisfaction, or do you 
 cherish some scruple ? When, to calm 
 the anxiety which the uncertainty of your 
 salvation causes you, you would have dic- 
 tated to our Blessed Lady the promises 
 she has made, could you have chosen more 
 formal promises ? 
 
 The holy Fathers, when they have 
 spoken in general terms of the power of 
 the Blessed Virgin, have made use of 
 expressions quite as strong and quite as 
 favorable. St. Bonaventura does not give 
 any other limit to the power of Mary than 
 to the almighty power of God. St. 
 Antoninus assures us that God does not 
 make a favor when He listens to her 
 prayers, but He grants them as an indis- 
 pensable duty, and that she would not 
 know what it is to be refused. St. Anselm 
 asserts that a true servant of Mary cannot 
 be lost. 
 
126 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Here you have opinions sufficiently 
 capable of inducing you to place entire 
 confidence in the Mother of Mercy ; but 
 however learned and holy these men may 
 have been who have given us these 
 splendid testimonials, they fall short of the 
 promises our Blessed Lady made to St. 
 Simon Stock, and of these I am about to 
 speak. 
 
 They teach me that I have nothing to 
 fear if the Blessed Virgin takes an interest 
 in me, but that is not sufficient to appease 
 my uneasiness ; I wish to know if she 
 does so really. 
 
 She gives me here manifest and visible 
 proots. It depends upon myself to take 
 it in its right sense. She has attached to 
 this scapular her protection, for she says, 
 " He who is clothed with this habit shall 
 not endure everlasting fire." 
 
 I am not, then, astonished that at the 
 first report of so magnificent a promise. 
 Christians from all parts flocked to the holy 
 community of Mount Carmel, to whom she 
 had intrusted so precious a treasure. 
 
 Noblemen, princes, kings even, who have 
 as much to fear for their salvation as the 
 commonest of men, eagerly desired to 
 participate in the privileges of these holy 
 religious — they whose grandeurs exposed 
 them daily to so many dangers. 
 
 Le PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE. 
 
 This scapular imposes upon all members 
 of the Confraternity of Mount Carmel 
 the obligation of leading a pious and truly 
 Christian life, by renouncing the maxims 
 of the world, as did the early Christians 
 
 when they received the Sacrament of 
 Baptism, and were clothed in a habit 
 appropriate for the ceremony. 
 
 But many never think of this, and to this 
 may be attributed the cause of their not 
 fulfilling the duties of their profession. We 
 must, from time to time, call to mind our 
 engagements, in order to fulfil the prom- 
 ises we made when we received the habit. 
 
 Once upon a time a powerful monarch, 
 when he was urged to perform some action 
 unworthy of his high rank, immediately 
 displayed his regal tunic to those who had 
 solicited him : " Should I be worthy to 
 wear this purple robe," said he, " if I had 
 soiled it by even a single cowardly deed ? 
 Would it not make me blush every day of 
 my life, if I had dishonored it merely for 
 the purpose of avoiding death "i Could I 
 ever look upon it without feeling an 
 inward reproach, that even for one day I 
 was unworthy to wear it } " Then rising 
 up, he wrapped his mantle around him, and 
 said that he would prefer to die gloriously, 
 rather than lower his dignity by perform- 
 ing an unworthy action. 
 
 This, my dear brothers, ought to be our 
 sentiment when we wear so holy a habit ; 
 it ought to distinguish us from men of the 
 world ; it ought to put us on our guard. 
 Does this habit reproach me ? Will it not 
 make me blush at the awful judgment-seat 
 of God } This would be our case if, 
 after the promises we made, we should 
 relax and fall. Let us, then, keep up the 
 holiness of this habit by an exact observ- 
 anc,e of all the duties of our state of life. 
 Sermons on every Subject. 
 
CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
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 On the Holy CatMc and Apostolic Clinrcli. 
 
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 PfeRES Texier and Flechier. 
 
 " Behold I am with you at all times, even to the consummation o£ the world." 
 
 — Matthew xxviii. 20. 
 
 LAUDE TEXIER was one of the 
 many distinguished preachers who 
 lived during the reign of Louis 
 XIV. of France. Born in Poitou 
 during the year 1610, he entered 
 the Society of Jesus at the early 
 age of eighteen. After the com- 
 pletion of his noviceship, and after teaching 
 theology and rhetoric for five years, he pro- 
 nounced his four vows, and devoted himself to 
 the direction of consciences and to the study 
 of preaching. He subsequently was appointed 
 Rector of the Colleges of Limoges, Poitiers, 
 and Bordeaux, and finally became Provincial 
 of Aquitaine. He delivered the Lenten Dis- 
 courses before the court of Louis XIV. 
 in the year 1661. Of the many works he 
 had published in Paris from 1675 to 1678, 
 perhaps none will be more interesting to the 
 general reader than his " Pandgyrique des 
 Saints," 1678. He died at the Jesuit College 
 in Bordeaux on the 24th of April, 1687, aged 
 seventy-seven. 
 
 The Christians of the primitive Church 
 enticed the pagans, not only by their 
 generous and unconquerable patience, but 
 also by the holiness of their lives ; and the 
 heretics, as corrupt in their manners as 
 
 ur 
 
 they were in their belief, were the cause 
 that the name of Jesus Christ was blas- 
 phemed among the Gentiles, and that the 
 light and brightness of the Church was 
 blackened by an infinity of calumnies. 
 
 Read ecclesiastical history and you will 
 not find an age in which hell has not 
 vomited forth some new heresy, and where 
 the devil has not succeeded in seducing 
 some one member of the Church to arm 
 and fight against the body. You will see 
 that there is not a single article of the 
 Creed which has not been assailed, not one 
 article of faith for the destruction of which 
 the devil has not even distorted the words 
 of Holy Scripture and the power of the 
 Word of God. 
 
 As for myself, I confess that nothing 
 demonstrates the goodness and miraculous 
 protection of Almighty God so much as 
 the preservation and augmentation of the 
 Church in the midst of heresies. 
 
 A vast number of heresies have attacked 
 the Church, a thousand storms have raged 
 
128 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 jver it, but in the midst of tempests- this 
 ship, though battered by many rolling bil- 
 lows, has not been shattered or engulfed. 
 Truth remains, errors pass away. All 
 these heresies, aided by the eloquence, 
 doctrine, and subtlety of their authors, 
 supported by the powerful influence of the 
 great and noble, sustained by the armies 
 of emperors, have passed away, or are 
 passing away. All these heresies have 
 made much noise, and by the impetuosity 
 of the infected waters, have carried away 
 all those who were not strongly bound to 
 the Church. They have floated with the 
 stream, as says St. Jerome: Feruntur 
 hcereses prono eloqiientia cursu ; quemcum- 
 qjie obviiim et levem invenerint, secum tra- 
 hunt : sed, tanquam torrentes, velociter 
 transierunt. 
 
 And this is the reason — they are the 
 muddy waters that have for their source 
 the invention of man, and not the pure and 
 limpid stream that comes from God, who 
 is the Fountain and Source of all sanctity. 
 
 If the apostles, and those apostolic men 
 who were eminent for their sanctity, had 
 not been the instruments of Almighty 
 God, but in reality the authors of the 
 Church, the Church would have failed when 
 those apostolic men were no more. 
 
 Besides — for we need not dissemble — 
 how many times has it not been seen that 
 those who held the places of apostles were 
 not inheritors of their virtues, but, on the 
 contrary, lived in a way totally opposed to 
 the lives of saints } 
 
 Their faults, nevertheless, have never 
 introduced error in the doctrine of which 
 
 they were the depositaries and oracles, 
 and the corruption of their manners have 
 never tarnished the faith which had been 
 intrusted to them. 
 
 It is strange, but true, that in all sects 
 the doctrine is congenial to the hearts of 
 those who taught it. It is not thus in 
 the Christian religion. We must, then, 
 acknowledge that its preservation does 
 not depend on men ; but there is a secret 
 and divine virtue which sustains it in 
 sanctity, and which causes it to last, in 
 spite of the continual efforts of those who 
 conspire its destruction, whether it be 
 from within or without. 
 
 Rev. Father Texier. 
 
 What blindness ! that each heretic forms 
 his own idea of religion according to his 
 own private judgment, by refusing to 
 subscribe to the tenets of the Church • 
 that each one becomes the judge and 
 umpire of eternal truths ; that from some 
 particular tenet they frame a form of 
 worship and introduce ceremonies to 
 adore the God Almighty or to appease 
 His justice ; that they undertake to 
 reform, interpret, and reverse the precepts 
 of the law and Christian morals which 
 God has revealed to His Church, and 
 which the inspired writers have left us ! 
 
 Heretics have understood this anomaly, 
 for, after having refused to obey the 
 legitimate successor of St. Peter (for 
 whom Jesus Christ has prayed that his 
 faith might not fail), they have been com- 
 pelled to establish heads of their sects, so 
 that they may see in their congresses and 
 
THE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 129 
 
 synods (which, by the by, they hold with- 
 out any right or without any old estab- 
 lished form) the same power they cannot 
 endure to see in the Catholic Church ; 
 and, after having the Augustinians, the 
 
 Ambrosians, &c., they recognize the rebes 
 and heresiarchs as their masters and 
 interpreters of their religions. 
 
 Flechier. 
 Life of Cardinal Commendon. 
 
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 CHAPTER XIvVIII. I 
 
 
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 Le PiRE TeXIER. 
 
 " A dispensation is committed to me." — i Cor. ix. 1 7. 
 
 'T must be now or never that we 
 must imitate the Apostle, and 
 accomplish by penitential 
 works what is wanting in the 
 passion of our Lord and Sav- 
 iour. 
 
 We must implore of God the remission 
 and indulgence of our sins by offering 
 satisfactions proportionate to the offence, 
 as says St. Cyprian : Deum plenis satis- 
 factionibus deprecamur. 
 
 A jubilee is an indulgence made up of 
 the precious Blood, tears, fasts, prayers, 
 and alms of a penitent sinner ; these 
 exhaust the vengeance of God's justice and 
 extinguish the fire df His anger. Now, 
 there are two ways of satisfying the 
 justice of Almighty God — one is the 
 ordinary way, the other is the extraor- 
 dinary. 
 
 The ordinary way is the path strewn 
 with penances, fasts, prayers, and alms- 
 deeds ; there is nothing too guilty which 
 these will not but prove useful and ser- 
 viceable. But there is an extraordinary 
 way, a path of grace and a mixture of 
 
 130 
 
 mercy and justice. It is extraordinary, 
 because with little it does much, and the 
 justice of God is satisfied with this little. 
 
 From these I calculate that there must 
 be a great distinction between ordinary 
 penance and a jubilee. The first is, that 
 penance works slowly, it takes time ; 
 to-day a fast, to-morrow another, as one 
 who pays his debts by instalments. Now, 
 in the indulgences of a jubilee, we have 
 an abridgment of God's mercy. It makes 
 quick work of His mercies ; it is a way 
 that what would have taken years of 
 penance in the ordinary way we can 
 expiate and satisfy at this acceptable time 
 (the indulgence proclaimed) in a day. 
 
 Some Fathers of the Church, in speak- 
 ing of penance, call it Compendium pee- 
 narum cetertium (a shortening of eternal 
 punishment), because what we owe to the 
 justice of God in eternity, we expiate 
 by means of penance in a few days. But 
 we venture to say that an indulgence is 
 still a further abridgment of penance, 
 because penance costs us more than an 
 indulgence. Another distinction is, that 
 
Cop3rrIgrht, 1889. 
 
 Murphy & McCartliy. 
 
 ^r. 23riD0ct. 
 
THE TREASURES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 131 
 
 it is difficult and harassing to expiate our 
 sins by sharp penances, but it becomes 
 easy of satisfaction through indulgences ; 
 one is as a rigorous baptism, the other a 
 merciful baptism. 
 
 Thus, we can distinguish three kinds of 
 baptism. The baptism by water costs 
 nothing to the recipient, the baptism of 
 penance costs much, and the baptism of 
 an indulgence is between the two ; we 
 therein find a full remission of our sins, 
 but at very little cost. 
 
 It is a mingling of the satisfactions of 
 Jesus Christ and those of the sinner, and 
 the little that the sinner contributes is 
 worth very much. It is not, however, on 
 account of our own satisfactions that 
 jubilees have been established, it is chiefly 
 on those of our Saviour, because He has 
 merited that indulgence for us through 
 His precious Blood, and that He has left 
 us the treasures of His own merits to 
 defray all costs. 
 
 If you ask me why our Lord and 
 Saviour has given the power of applying 
 the merits of His precious Blood by 
 indulgences and jubilees to His vicars, 
 the sovereign pontiffs, I would answer 
 that He wishes to save us the more easily. 
 
 It was not sufficient for Him to have 
 extinguished the eternal flames of hell, 
 but He wishes further, that His Blood 
 should serve to liquidate the debts of 
 temporal punishment, which are owing to 
 the justice of God. 
 
 In the primitive Church, when Chris- 
 tians were full of zeal and fervor, there 
 was not so much occasion for jubilees for 
 
 expiating their past sins ; they cheerfully 
 submitted to the strictest penances, and 
 had no other wish to satisfy divine justice, 
 than by practising rigorous austerities. 
 But because, in the course of time, charity 
 grew cold, jubilees and indulgences were 
 needed, in order we might be able to be 
 reconciled to God, and to satisfy fully His 
 justice. 
 
 As the jubilee was given to Christians 
 through an extraordinary flow of divine 
 mercy, we must remark that, according to 
 Holy Scripture, there is in God a mercy 
 which, on account of its grand result, is 
 called great : Secundum magnam miseri- 
 cordiam tuam — According to Thy great 
 mercy. 
 
 Now this great mercy of our Lord and 
 God is like unto one of those grand and 
 noble rivers which seem to be ever full, 
 but in which, at certain seasons of the 
 year, the tide runs so high that the water 
 overflows the banks, and fertilizes the 
 fields around. 
 
 Thus we may say that it is at the time 
 of a jubilee that the divine mercy inun- 
 dates the Christian people, and over- 
 whelms the faithful with a deluge of 
 graces. This abundant stream of God's 
 merciful goodness does not only wash the 
 roots of those trees growing on its banks, 
 as the Psalmist says, that is to say, it does 
 not communicate itself to the good and 
 fervent alone, but it is intended for the 
 greatest of sinners, those who are the 
 furthest removed from Him. 
 
 Le PfeRH Texier. 
 DominicaU. 
 
••!» 
 
 I- I I I ! ■ I I I I I I I I I I 
 
 0^ of l|od'^ dkPcg. 
 
 I I I I I I I I I I - I I I I 1 n 
 
 !■++++++++ 
 
 , Flechier and St. Jerome. 
 
 " He that heareth you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me." — Luke x. i6. 
 
 JTi^N the first book of Paralipomenon 
 
 ilwM [cJiap. XV. 14), it mentions 
 
 ylkW that the priests and Levites 
 
 were sanctified to carry the 
 
 ark of the Lord, the God of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 If the priests of the Old Testament, 
 who offered up the incense and common 
 bread, were required to be holy, if they 
 were to be sanctified to carry the ark of 
 the Lord God of Israel, ought not the 
 priests of the New Testament to be truly 
 sanctified \ for do they not offer up the 
 Heavenly bread, the bread of Life, the only 
 Son of God, and have they not the honor 
 of carrying daily the Lord of the ark, 
 even the very God of Israel } In another 
 place it is said, " Purify yourselves, you 
 who have charge of the vessels of the 
 sanctuary." 
 
 You do not carry solely the vessels of 
 the Lord, ray brethren ; you carry the 
 Lord Himself, you bear Him in your 
 hands, you carry Him on your tongues, 
 you enclose Him in your hearts. How, 
 then, dare you carry Him with unclean 
 
 132 
 
 hands, on indiscreet tongues, in corrupted 
 hearts.? How can you be so cruel as to 
 carry Him with you in the world, which 
 is His enemy, and wherein sin and abom- 
 ination dwell .'' 
 
 The High Priest said one day : "As I 
 have always lived far apart from the world, 
 I fancied that my brethren lived as I did ; 
 but I have been surprised by persons of 
 the first consideration who have come to 
 find me out, and who have told me that 
 not only the people of Israel, but the 
 priests and Levites, have not separated 
 themselves from the people of the lands and 
 from their abominations " ( i Esdras xv. ). 
 
 " I was so deeply moved by this news," 
 continues this holy man, "that I rent my 
 mantle and my coat, and plucked off the 
 hairs of my head and my beard, and I sat 
 down mourning " ( Edras xv. 3 ). 
 
 Priests should be holy, says God, 
 because I am holy, and that My being holy 
 I wish My ministers to be holy,- and 1 
 cannot endure any but holy men to 
 approach Me or My altars. Sanctity is 
 a necessary appendage for the priest, and 
 
THE MINISTRY OF GOD'S CHURCH. 
 
 133 
 
 the want of holiness is a species of irreg- 
 ularity which is unbearable, and which I 
 cannot suffer. 
 
 Let not those who have not the courage 
 to try to become saints, be rash enough to 
 be priests of My altars : " They shall not 
 come near to me, to do the office of priest 
 to me; neither shall they come near to 
 any of my holy things that are by the 
 holy of holies" {EzechielyXw. 13). This 
 is as much as to say, that priests who are 
 not holy do an injury to God ; they tarnish 
 the glory of His name ; they defile His 
 temple, altar, and sacrifice ; they scandal- 
 ize His religion ; they do violence to His 
 sanctity ; they offend His divine majesty, 
 and this is what the following words sig- 
 nify : Et non polluent nonten ejus. 
 
 • • • •*• • • 
 There is no condition of life more noble, 
 more exalted, than that of being a priest 
 of Jesus Christ ; there is also no state 
 which requires more preparation. They 
 belong to God by a particular consecration ; 
 consequently they ought to be more 
 attached to Him. They are privileged to 
 approach near to God, and they ought to 
 I be of the purest. They beseech and 
 I appease God for all the faithful, so they 
 I ought to be worthy of His propitiation 
 ' for themselves. 
 
 They represent Jesus Christ ; they ought 
 to enter into His spirit ; they dispense and 
 offer up the holy mysteries ; from these 
 they ought to gather its firstfruits. As 
 they should be masters of the spiritual 
 life, it is only right that they should fix it 
 
 show that they iove all that is spiritual. 
 They reprove and correct others, so their 
 conduct should be irreproachable. They 
 have received more graces, they should 
 therefore be more grateful ; their sins 
 attract attention, and therefore they should 
 be more cautious. It is difficult for them 
 to retrieve themselves if they fall, and 
 they ought to preserve their innocence, 
 with fear and trembling. 
 
 Reflections such as these should induce 
 those whom God has called to this holy state 
 to exercise the greatest care imagin- 
 able. 
 
 Idleness and disgust usually follow haste 
 and imprudence, says St. Bernard. He 
 who usurps the office of priesthood will be 
 a useless possessor of such a dignity. 
 Not having consulted God, he will not be 
 the work of God's own hand ; and having 
 closed the entrance of grace, he will be 
 unable to fulfil properly and faithfully those 
 functions which the grace of God can alone 
 enable him to accomplish. 
 
 On the other hand, a genuine vocation 
 engenders zeal, and it is difficult for him 
 who has devoted himself entirely to the 
 service of God not to make it his sole 
 business to serve and honor him. 
 
 The priesthood of Jesus Christ is 
 not a sinecure, but a ministry of toil 
 and trouble, which includes a multi- 
 plicity of essential duties difficult to 
 carry out. 
 
 " Be thou vigilant and labor in all 
 things," says the apostle to Timothy, 
 exhorting him to strengthen himself in his 
 laborious vocation, through the merits of 
 
134 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Jesus Christ, and to "labor as a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ," which will enable 
 him to resist all the powers of darkness, 
 " Do the work of an evangelist," preaching 
 the Word of God, after having impressed it 
 upon his own heart and rendered it mani- 
 fest by his own deeds. " Fulfil thy minis- 
 try," not so much to keep the faith, as to 
 preserve it pure and holy — mysteries of 
 our Lord and Saviour which must be 
 carried out with fear, and secrets of con- 
 science which must be religiously concealed. 
 " Keep that which is committed to thy 
 trust," and be prepared to carry out any 
 amount of duty which truth, justice, and 
 charity may impose upon you. 
 
 L'ABBjfi Flechier. 
 From his Panegyrics. 
 
 The clergy are called by that name, 
 either because they are a portion of the 
 inheritance of the Lord, or because the 
 Lord is their portion. He, therefore, 
 who is thus of the heirdom of the Lord, 
 or he who has God for his portion, 
 should show himself to be worthy of pos- 
 sessing God, and that God should possess 
 him. 
 
 He who engages to serve the Church, as 
 a minister of Christ, knows well at first the 
 meaning of the title, and by understanding 
 the full significance of the name of priest, 
 it enforces the fulfilment of every duty of 
 his office. 
 
 St Jerome: 
 Epist. ad Nepotiatmm. 
 
■•^^-^^^-^^ 
 
 &»%t?<^%t7<^ 
 
 CHAPTER Iv. 
 
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 * * 
 
 m* 
 
 Flechier and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 " How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts 
 .)f the Lord." — Psalm Ixxxiii. 2, 3. 
 
 Extracts from a Sermon preached by Mgr. Flechier on the Dedication of the Church of St. James 
 
 the Major, in Paris. 
 
 'NFORTUNATELY, there are 
 people who go to church with- 
 out humility or prudence ; they 
 assist at the grand services as 
 if they were going to the 
 theatre. Instead of thinking 
 of the feast, or with any idea of being 
 attentive, they ridicule all they see. 
 Loaded as they are with sins, they 
 insolently stride across the threshold of 
 those sacred gates, according to the lan- 
 guage of the prophet ; they affect a grand 
 air, as if they were persons of distinction, 
 and this, too, in those places where all 
 worldly importance should cease to be. 
 
 They hurry on the crowd in order to be 
 a near witness of the ceremonies, rather 
 than having a wish to participate in 
 heavenly graces. They push even to the 
 ^Itar rails, not through an earnest, eager 
 devotion, but through a vain curiosity. 
 They bring in with them a worldly heart ; 
 t*nd when even they are coldly speaking 
 ind praying to Almighty God, they are 
 
 thinking more of themselves and of their 
 vanities. In fact, they have no scruples 
 in going in, and they drag in with them 
 their iniquities without compunction or 
 remorse. 
 
 What shall I say of those impieties 
 which are committed daily in the presence 
 of Jesus in the tabernacle, who, all invisible 
 as He is, is no less to be adored.^ — of 
 those profane remarks, which disturbing 
 the holy and venerable silence of the 
 sacred mysteries, interrupting the medita- 
 tions of the faithful, reaching even to the 
 sanctuary, and distracting the attention of 
 the ministers who are attending on the 
 celebrant "i 
 
 What of those mincing airs and indeco- 
 rous postures which so scandalize the good, 
 which are, according to the words of Jes?is 
 Christ, the desolation of those holy places, 
 where angels assist with fear and trem- 
 bling } What shall I say of tnose affected 
 ways, of seeing and wishing to be seen, 
 which convert the house of God into a 
 
 135 
 
136 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC, 
 
 place of rendezvous for immodest glances 
 and guilty thoughts ? 
 
 We see, with no small amount of indig- 
 nation, some Christians (if I may dare to call 
 them Christians) who scarcely deign to 
 bend a knee when Jesus is exposed for the 
 adoration of the faithful, as if to dispute 
 the homage that is due to Him, as if it 
 pricked their conscience and reminded 
 them of the little feeling of religion which 
 may be left within them. 
 
 Worldly persons, more gaily decked out 
 than the altars even, display proudly their 
 luxurious finery, and often seem proud of 
 their indecent attire, and this, too, before 
 the poor and humble Jesus, hidden in the 
 Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. 
 
 We see sinners entering heart and soul 
 into conversations that only re-enkindle 
 their bad passions, and thus commit fresh 
 sins even in front of those tribunals of 
 penance, wherein they should confess and 
 weep for them. 
 
 It thus happens that the very means of 
 our salvation become the instruments 
 of our loss ; that the church, which is the 
 place wherem we should sanctify our- 
 selves, becomes the theatre of our delin- 
 quencies ; that prayers are turned into 
 sins, that even the sacrifice of our Lord, 
 which is the source of all graces, becomes 
 a subject of condemnation ; and that noth- 
 ing in His judgment can perhaps more add 
 to our guilt, than the having entered into 
 His temple, and the having assisted 
 unworthily at riis mysteries. 
 
 How many mere are who go to church 
 in order to keep up a certain decorous 
 
 reputation, because it is customary, 
 because it would not do to offend the 
 world, bad as it is — a worid wnich 
 piques itself on certain rules of decorum, 
 and a desire to keep up an outward show 
 of religion ! 
 
 How many there are who acknowledge 
 and practise an exterior worship, who 
 glorify God with their lips, whose prayers 
 are heartless, who give up their minds to 
 voluntary distractions, speak without 
 thinking, pray without knowing what they 
 are saying, and expect that God listens 
 to them v.:^hen they do not listen to them- 
 selves ! This is what St. Cyprian says : 
 How many there are who, when they 
 make an act of devotion, fancy they do 
 honor to the church they frequent, who 
 are always in the most conspicuous seats, 
 and who only approach to God merely to 
 be seen by men ! 
 
 How many there are who come to 
 church because they are forced to come, 
 who consider the long service of a great 
 feast a bore, and who grumble because 
 they are under the necessity of hearing 
 a sermon, or of remaining until the grand 
 High Mass is over ! Is not all this an 
 abuse of holy things } 
 
 We should enter God's temple in order 
 to become holy. It seems to me that all 
 therein should conduce to our sanctifi- 
 cation ; that baptismal font which reminds 
 us of the origin of our spiritual regenera- 
 tion, and puts us in mind of the grace and 
 obligations of our baptism ; those altars 
 teach us that we have a heart wherein 
 Jesus wishes to dwell, and wherein we can 
 
ON MATERIAL CHURCHES. 
 
 ^Z7 
 
 offer as many sacrifices as we have tempta- 
 tions. Those confessionals, do they not 
 invite us to sigh for our sins, do they not 
 make us long to be bathed in the precious 
 Blood of Jesus ? That pulpit, does it not 
 preach to us that we should be new men, 
 engendered by the Word of God ? That 
 divine and adorable tabernacle, does it not 
 lovingly entreat us to kneel and pray 
 before Him with great purity of intention, 
 and to ask for the grace to love Him 
 more and more ? 
 
 L'Abb^ Flechier. 
 
 You have the church which is a refuge, 
 and, if I may dare to say so, is a heaven 
 in miniature. You have a sacrifice offered 
 up and consummated ; you have the house 
 wherein the Holy Ghost showers down 
 abundant graces ; you have the tombs and 
 relics of the martyrs and saints, and many 
 other things which should induce you to 
 return from a state of sin and indifference 
 to that of grace and justice. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Homily Ixix. 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 laRelo^g &nd ^oTid&^s* 
 
 ? 
 
 I 
 
 PfeRE MoNTMOREL, and from " Lgs Discours Chr^tiennes." 
 
 " Blessed is the man who observes the Sabbath day, who keeps his hands pure, and who abstain* 
 from any kind of sin." — Isaias Ivi. 2. 
 
 HE Sunday has succeeded to the 
 Sabbath. It is forbidden on 
 that holy day to do any servile 
 work, and all are under the 
 strict obligation of attending 
 the divine office. After having 
 spent six days in the tumult of temporal 
 affairs, is it not just and right to devote 
 one day for the purpose of collecting one's 
 thoughts, p 1 of thinking of spiritual 
 things ? 
 
 You work during six days, says the 
 Lord, and in those six days you do all that 
 you havo to do. But the seventh day is 
 consecrated to the Lord your God. 
 
 To celebrate Sundays and holidays 
 properly, your chief aim should be to 
 avoid all that is evil, and to do good. 
 
 It is true that there can be no time 
 when it is permitted to do wrong, or that 
 we are not always obliged to do good ; 
 still, it is also true that we have particular 
 obligations on fixed days to avoid the one 
 with greater care, and to do the other 
 with greater zeal. 
 
 IM 
 
 Alas ! who could credit it if one did 
 not see it with their own eyes .? Christians, 
 as uncouth as the Jews, think that they 
 satisfy the obligation of keeping the 
 Sunday by merely abstaining from manual 
 labor, as if they acted solely from a wise 
 policy or to give rest to a tired body, not 
 from any wish of strengthening the soul, 
 after it has been weakened by the worry 
 and cares of business. 
 
 It is also true that many, whose pro- 
 fession consists chiefly of head-work, or 
 those who have naught else to do but 
 play and amuse themselves, make no 
 difference on feast-days except the hearing 
 a Mass in a hurried way, their minds 
 thinking of worldly things, their hearts 
 filled with frivolities. We can even affirm 
 that, generally speaking, more harm is 
 done on Sundays and holidays. It is this 
 that caused St. Chrysostom to say that the 
 Sabbath, which had been set apart for 
 cleansing our souls from sins committed 
 during the week, was a day set apart for 
 the commission of greater sins. 
 
ON SUNDA YS AND HOLIDA YS. 
 
 139 
 
 How do most people follow this precept ? 
 Instead of employing the Sunday for the 
 expiation of their faults, we may safely 
 say, especially of those engaged in mer- 
 cenary occupations, that it is a day for 
 adding sin to sins. They spend the day 
 in all kinds of sensuality, and give them- 
 selves up to drunken joy. 
 
 Our Lord could now say, what He said 
 in former times to the Jews through the 
 mouth of His prophet Isaias : " I hate 
 your solemnities of the first day of the 
 month, and all your other feasts ; they 
 have become burthensome, and I am weary 
 of enduring them." Mark these words, 
 "Your solemnities "; as if our Lord had 
 said : You have made My feasts your 
 feasts, and the days that ought to be con- 
 secrated to My glory you devote to the 
 satiety of your passions : Solemnitates 
 vestros odivit anima mea. 
 
 As regards manual labor, it is not bad 
 in itself, and it is not to condemn it that 
 God forbids it on days that are consecrated 
 holy. It is not also that He approves of 
 idleness, which of itself is a great evil ; 
 but it is in order that all work or employ- 
 ment, however good in itself, must yield 
 for a time to one more excellent — a work 
 for which man is created — which is to 
 know God, to adore, honor, and love Him 
 above all. This is the chief end of the 
 law. 
 
 You shall work for six days in the week, 
 and during that time you can do your 
 
 work and provide for your wants ; but the 
 seventh day is the Lord's day, and you 
 must relinquish labor to offer Him your 
 love, adoration, and homage. 
 
 PfeRE MONTMOREL. 
 Sermon on \6th Sunday after Pentecost. 
 
 When God created the world He worked 
 for six days, after which Scripture says 
 that He rested on the seventh. But in 
 what consisted this rest of God ? Here 
 it is : " And God saw all the things that 
 He had made and Ihey were very good." 
 God took a general review of all His 
 works, and found them to be good and 
 perfect. He found His rest in His 
 approval. This is what we should imitate. 
 
 Leave off your servile work and take a 
 survey of your conduct throughout the 
 past week. See if you can say with God 
 that all that you have done during these six 
 days is good. Examine if you have been 
 faithful to God and your neighbor ; if you 
 have fulfilled the duties of your state of 
 life ; if there has been any injustice in 
 your employment or business. 
 
 After this examination, give your 
 approval to that which has been good, 
 rectify that which has been faulty, and 
 consecrate the rest of the day in renewals 
 of love to God, so that He may be pro- 
 pitious to us. Do this, also, in reparation 
 for the many dissipations you have com- 
 placently indulged in. 
 
 Dufpurs Chritiennes. 
 
Le PjfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE. 
 
 " Prayer with fasting is holy and pleasing to God." — Tobias xii. 8. 
 
 HE lesson which the Son of God 
 teaches us in the desert shows 
 us that the best methods of 
 resisting temptations are by 
 fasting and mortification of 
 the body. 
 
 Subdue the flesh and you weaken the 
 devil, for he can do nothing if we deprive 
 him of his weapons. 
 
 Let it not be said that fasting and 
 mortification are intended only for relig- 
 ious bodies ; for, since our Saviour has 
 deigned to make use of this remedy 
 (although he had no need of it), there is 
 no one of whatever rank or condition can 
 be dispensed from this obligation. 
 
 If persons of quality or people in busi- 
 ness were exempt from the temptations 
 and attacks of the evil one, it might be 
 allowable to treat their bodies delicately ; 
 but since the enemy tempts them more 
 than others, they require ever to be on 
 the defensive, and, consequently, fasting 
 is to them the more necessary. 
 
 140 
 
 The chief object of fasting is to mortify 
 the body, to deaden the passions, and to 
 keep the soul in a state of grace. 
 
 To live, then, in pleasures and gaiety 
 during the holy season of Lent, and to 
 continue in sin, is contrary to the spirit 
 of fasting, and to the intentions of our 
 holy mother the Church. 
 
 How miserable are they who poison so 
 efficacious a remedy, and who deliberately 
 refuse to make use of a cure which the 
 Church gives them, for the purpose of over- 
 coming the world, the flesh, and the devil. 
 
 As the first man was condemned for not 
 having abstained from eating, notwith- 
 standing the express command of God, so 
 the Creator has fixed on fasting as a 
 reparation for this first sin. It is the 
 best means of avoiding the consequences 
 of original sin, the best remedy to restore 
 peace of mind, to control the passions, and 
 to bring our flesh under subjection. 
 
 Over-eating and over-drinking have 
 made the devil victorious throughout the 
 
ON FASTINGS AjvD ABSTINENCE. 
 
 141 
 
 world, but fasting drives him away ; for 
 does not St. Matthew say in his Gospel 
 {Chap. xvii. 20) that " this kind is not cast 
 out, but by prayer and fasting " ? 
 
 We read in the annals of ecclesiastical 
 history of an edifying circumstance which 
 occurred in Constantinople under the 
 reign of the Emperor Justinian. It is 
 therein related that this city was visited by 
 a terrible famine, and that the season of 
 Lent having come round before God had 
 withdrawn the frightful scourge, the 
 Emperor caused all the meat markets to be 
 thrown open, and he issued an edict to the 
 effect that he granted leave from absti- 
 nence during Lent for that year only. 
 
 But how do you think so humane and 
 considerate an order was received by the 
 people ? Oh ! happy age ! O my God, 
 is there a spark now left of this ancient 
 fervor } Would you believe it, ye Chris- 
 tians of the nineteenth century, that in this 
 vast city, weakened as it had been by so dire 
 a calamity, there was not to be found a 
 single Christian, I say not one, who wished 
 to take advantage of the favor granted ? 
 And yet this was not all ; for no sooner was 
 the dispensation published, than the whole 
 body of Christians besieged the palace, 
 and implored the Emperor to revoke the 
 edict, and restore the old laws, since they 
 were ready to die rather than break 
 them. 
 
 Not to speak of those who absolutely 
 refuse to obey the precepts of the Church, 
 there are many, alas ! who seek for dis- 
 
 pensation from abstinence, etc., without 
 any reasonable excuse ; and it is nay firm 
 belief that of those who ask for leave with- 
 out necessity, there would not be found 
 one single person who properly fulfilled 
 the Easter obligation. 
 
 What ! ye pleasure seekers, during the 
 forty days you have continued in the same 
 sins, nay, added sin to sin, deliberately and 
 with all the coolness that acts of so long 
 a duration cannot fail to have ; and yet you 
 wish me to believe that all of a sudden, per- 
 haps in a single night, your heart is so 
 changed that it detests the past frightful 
 dissipations, and that the horror of the 
 excess equals the pleasure you had in com- 
 mitting sin. 
 
 Were you on your death-bed I would 
 question the sincerity of your contrition, 
 after committing sins so recently, sd 
 openly, and after showing such a manifest 
 contempt of the precepts of the Church. 
 
 And now that you are in good health, 
 you would wish to persuade me that you 
 are willing to begin afresh, if the fast 
 recommenced, and you wish to persuade 
 me to believe that your repentance is 
 sincere. 
 
 As for myself, I believe it to be false, 
 and I should hesitate to pronounce the 
 absolution for fear of profaning the precious 
 Blood of our Lord, unless indeed I saw 
 that you were ready to fast for forty days 
 after the feast, as a proof of your repent- 
 ance. 
 
 Rev. PtRK DE LA COLOMBli:RE, S. J. 
 
CHAPTKR LIII. 
 
 W w w W 
 
 Gn the SaGrarnent sf Baptisfn. 
 
 St. Chrysostom, P^cre Nepveu, and St. Leo. 
 
 " Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost." — Matthew xxviii. 19. 
 
 *ET us try to preserve the noble 
 birth which we have inherited 
 from our baptism. 
 
 If an earthly potentate had 
 found you poor and begging, 
 and had suddenly adopted you 
 as his son, you would soon forget your 
 past misery, you would no longer think 
 of your lowly hut, however great may 
 have been the difference between these 
 things. 
 
 Think, then, no more of your first state, 
 since the one to which you have been 
 called is comparatively more illustrious 
 than regal dignity; for He who has sum- 
 moned you is the King of angels, and the 
 property He has reserved for you is not 
 only far beyond our comprehension, but 
 even beyond all that words can express. 
 He does not help you to pass from one 
 station of life to one higher, as this Poten- 
 tate could have done; but He raises you 
 from earth to heaven, from a mortal life to 
 an immortal life, a life so glorious and 
 
 143 
 
 inexpressible that it will not be known 
 until we gain possession of it. 
 
 How, then, being partakers of these 
 grand blessings, can we presume to think 
 of the riches of this world, and how can we 
 trifle away our time in frivolous and vain 
 amusements."* What excuses will remain, 
 or rather what punishments ought we not 
 to suffer, if, after having received so won- 
 drous a grace, we should return to that 
 first condition from which we have been 
 so fortunately — ay ! so mercifully — with- 
 drawn ? 
 
 You will not be punished simply as a 
 sinful man, but as a rebellious child of 
 God ; and the lofty eminence of the dignity 
 to which you Were raised will only serve 
 to increase your punishment. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 From Sermon xii. on St. Matthew. 
 
 What is it to be a Christian ? 
 It is a man who has a close affinity with 
 God, and through baptism becomes His 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 143 
 
 son. What more exalted, what more 
 grand ! What Jesus Christ is by nature, 
 the Christian is by adoption. He receives 
 through spiritual regeneration, the like- 
 ness of that which the Word receives 
 through eternal generation. We have 
 received, says St. Paul, the spirit of adop- 
 tion of sons, whereby we dare to call God 
 our Father, and, if sons, heirs also. 
 
 The birth of Jesus Christ in Mary, says 
 St. Augustine, is the model of our second 
 birth, which is made through baptism. 
 They proceed from the same source, which 
 is the Holy Ghost ; one was made in the 
 bosom of Mary, who is virgin and mother, 
 and the other is made in the bosom of the 
 Church, which is pure and fruitful. The 
 end of the first is Christ, that is to say, a 
 Man-God ; the end of the second is a 
 Christian, that is to say, a man-divine. 
 God, says St. John, could He have carried 
 His love and our happiness further than 
 by making us really and truly children of 
 God .-• Could we push our ingratitude and 
 unworthiness further than by disgracing 
 that glorious title by a behavior as crim- 
 inal as it would be shameful } 
 
 A Christian is one who has a close 
 affinity to Jesus Christ, of whom he is, 
 through baptism, made a member. What 
 more glorious } All Christians, says St. 
 Paul, are but one body, of which Jesus is 
 the head. By this sacrament they become 
 members which unites them to Him by a 
 genuine union, since it forms an article of 
 faith ; by a very real union, since the Holy 
 Ghost is its source ; an intimate union, 
 since we are animated by the spirit of 
 
 Jesus Christ, we dwell within Him — a 
 union, in short, sublime, since the 
 Redeemer compares it to the union which 
 He Himself has with His Father : Tu in 
 me, et ego in illis. So that, as says St. 
 Peter, we by that become partakers of the 
 divine nature. 
 
 If Jesus Christ, who obtains for us all 
 these advantages, had not He Himself 
 secured them for us, could we have 
 believed in them ? But if we do believe 
 them, should we not have a more exalted 
 idea of them, and ought not our conduct 
 to be conformable to our belief ? 
 
 Through baptism, a Christian becomes 
 a temple of the Holy Ghost. Do you not 
 know, says the Apostle, that your bodies 
 are temples of the Holy Spirit, who dwells 
 within you ? Thus it is that the same 
 ceremonies are made use of in baptism as 
 in the consecration of churches. Through 
 exorcism, the devil is expelled from the 
 soul of him who is made a Christian ; it is 
 consecrated by the holy chrism, a figure of 
 the anointing of grace by which the Holy 
 Ghost spreads around the heart ; it takes 
 possession of it by that mysterious breath- 
 ing of the priest who baptizes ; it then 
 becomes the source and object of the 
 worship which the faithful pay Him in 
 that temple, through acts of faith, hope, 
 and charity. It is that Holy Ghost who 
 prays in him, by meanings so efficacious ; 
 and it is on account of that, they are so 
 very meritorious, that they are able to 
 impart an undoubted right to the posses- 
 sion of God. Could God honor man more 
 than by making him a child of God, 
 
144 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 brother of a Man-God and a temple of the 
 Holy Ghost ? Also, St. John tells us, that 
 through baptism we enter into fellowship 
 with the Father and the Son, and conse- 
 quently with the Holy Ghost. 
 
 What glorious fellowship ! What exul- 
 tation ! What happiness ! 
 
 Le P^re Nepveu. 
 Reflections on Chrdtiennes. 
 
 Through the Sacrament of Baptism you 
 become the temple of the Holy Ghost. 
 Take care not to drive such a guest 
 away by your sins, and thus become a 
 slave of the devil ; because the price of 
 
 your redemption is the precious Blood of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Acknowledge your dignity, O Christian ; 
 and, having been clothed with a nature 
 quite divine, do not return, I entreat you, 
 to your old vileness, by leading a life 
 which would lower the rank to which you 
 have been raised. 
 
 Remember whose chief and body vou 
 are the member of. Remember that, 
 having been withdrawn from the power of 
 darkness, you have been transferred to the 
 light of the kingdom of God. 
 
 St. Leo, 
 Oh the Nativity. 
 
 \ 
 
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CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 On t^2 ^adiament o^ ^encince. 
 
 i^ 
 
 # 
 
 BouRDALOUE and PfeRE Massom. 
 
 " He that hideth his sins shall not prosper ; but he that shall Confess and forsake them, shall obtaia 
 mercy." — Proverbs xxviii. 13. 
 
 T. CHRYSOSTOM, in his fifth 
 homily on the Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, asks, Whence 
 comes It that we confess our 
 secret sins, and that on this 
 depends our judgment ? The 
 judges of the land do not act thus, for 
 they never pass sentence or deliver their 
 judgment until there is a verdict. 
 
 But, says the saintly doctor, we have 
 rules which earthly judges have not ; for 
 we do not profess to punish as they 
 do, but are content to submit to the 
 Church, who imposes a penance for their 
 crimes. 
 
 The Royal Prophet, wishing to avert the 
 anger and justice of Almighty God, asks 
 for mercy and pardon : " Have mercy on 
 me, O God ! according to the multitude 
 of Thy tender mercies." It is thus he 
 cries out and implores that pardon and 
 mercy, which washes and purges so that 
 no stain or soil may remain : " Wash me 
 yet more from my iniquity." And why ? 
 because he has confessed his sins and 
 
 acknowledges the enormity of his offences; 
 "Because I know my iniquity." Why say 
 "because".^ says St. Chrysostom. Because 
 he acknowledges his fault, he wishes God 
 to forgive him. Is that justice ? Never- 
 theless, it is the Royal Penitent who 
 speaks. It is true, O Lord, that the con- 
 fession of my sins is an easy atonement ; 
 but You are content with this, I do not 
 offer any other, and I have no other way 
 open to be reconciled with You. Pardon 
 my sins, because I acknowledge and 
 confess them. 
 
 Confession is a fountain of grace ; 
 Haurictis aquas in gaudio de fontihus sal 
 vatoris. What does the devil do — he who 
 is the mortal enemy of our salvation .? He 
 sees that confession is a pure fountain, and 
 he seeks to poison its waters by the bad 
 use he tempts us to make of it, or by 
 the hardness of heart he instils into our 
 mind not to go to confess at all, and in 
 this way he acts as did Holofernes in the 
 city of Bethulia, who broke all the conduits 
 and drained the fountains in order that the 
 
J 46 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Israelites should die of thirst. It is thus 
 that the devil tries to dry up the canals of 
 the Sacrament, from whence flows the 
 precious Blood of Jesus Christ. He, too, 
 gives us a disgust of confession and makes 
 us turn away from it ; he whispers that 
 there is great danger of using this Sac- 
 rament badly ; he suggests the disadvan- 
 tage of performing the act badly. He 
 tells us not to approach too often ; he does 
 not tell us to make frequent good con- 
 fessions, but he persuades us that we may 
 sometimes go to keep up appearances, or 
 out of human respect, but he does not say 
 that frequent confession is good, if it be 
 accompanied with a good and pious 
 motive. 
 
 In addition to the grace which is 
 attached to the Sacrament to prevent our 
 falling back, what power has not a prudent 
 confessor on those souls who are resolved 
 to be under his direction ? What will he 
 not do when he knows how to win their 
 confidence, and what pains will he not be 
 compelled to take, to secure the perse- 
 verance and salvation of the souls intrusted 
 to his guidance } What injustices in trade 
 will he not try to rectify, and what foolish 
 engagements will he not break off .■' What 
 zealous care will he not take to root out 
 the most violent passions, what resent- 
 ments will he not stifle, what reconciliations 
 will he not effect, when he sees any 
 family disagreements.? He will be the 
 medium of making souls unselfish ; he 
 will cause many to renounce usury and 
 avarice, and persuade others to make 
 restitution for ill-gotten goods. This is 
 
 what a good director can do, and what a 
 zealous confessor aims to do. 
 
 We must also add that frequent con- 
 fession is a powerful curb on the con- 
 science, and fosters the duty of the holy 
 fear of God ; so that a man has not an 
 idea of returning to sin when he thinks 
 of the pain and shame of confessing it. 
 This thought produces nearly the same 
 effect as the preparation for death ; for it 
 makes us remember that we ought to 
 appear in the tribunal of penance, as if 
 we should be summoned to stand before 
 God to be judged. 
 
 What more can be said .? The sweet 
 use of confession redeems a soul from 
 sins, and so invigorates the will that the 
 most violent temptations are successfully 
 resisted. How different the fate of those 
 who shake off the yoke of confession, or 
 who go to confession but very seldom, or 
 those who abandon themselves to all kinds 
 of disorderly sins. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Sermon on Confession. 
 
 If you love the beauty of your soul, 
 says St. Bernard, cherish confession. 
 It is that which re -ornaments it, and renews 
 all the traces of beauty which had been 
 tarnished by sin. But why } one may say. 
 What does God want with a verbal dec- 
 laration ? Does He not read our hearts .' 
 does He not see all that passes } Ah ! 
 says the saint. He demands this confession 
 — non tit agnoscat sed ut ignoscat — not 
 but that He knows better than we do, for 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE. 
 
 147 
 
 He sees the innermost recesses of our 
 consciences, but that He may be able to 
 forgive us. It is sufficient to lay bare all 
 our wounds that He may cure them ; it is 
 sufficient to accuse ourselves, that we may 
 
 be excused ; it is sufficient that we should 
 condemn ourselves, in order to be absolvad. 
 Can confession offer more advantageous 
 blessings ? 
 
 Le PtRE Masson, 
 
^I^ 
 
 ^n Bel 
 
 h ^ 
 
 Qcnmunion. 
 
 P^REs Castillo, Vaubert, and St. Cyprian. 
 
 * Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 
 
 — John vi. 54. 
 
 I 
 
 'ATTHIEU DE CASTILLO was 
 born in Palermo in the year 1664. 
 He entered the order of St. Dom- 
 inic in 1679, taught theology with 
 great success, and was esteemed 
 as an excellent preacher. This 
 religious died in the year 1720, 
 leaving behind him several works of merit, 
 among which may be named a Funeral Pane- 
 gyric on P^re Ange-Marie, Franciscan monk, 
 and an abridged Life of St. Vincent Ferrier. 
 
 It is the opinion of St. Thomas and of 
 all subsequent theologians that venial sins 
 are remitted by the power of the Sacra- 
 ment of Holy Communion, if received in a 
 state of grace. Pope Innocent goes further 
 than this, for he assures us that a fervent 
 communion will prevent us from falling 
 into mortal sin, inasmuch as it enables us 
 to keep in a state of grace ; because, says 
 the saintly doctor, as corporeal nourish- 
 ment strengthens the system, and renews 
 fresh vigor in the body, so in like manner 
 the constant use of the spiritual food. 
 Holy Communion, imparts a strength of 
 
 will which before was weakened by sen- 
 suality or by venial sins. 
 
 To this may be added, that as habitual 
 venial sin decreases the fervor of charity, 
 therefore, in order to renew and re-enkindle 
 our devotion, nothing is more beneficial, 
 no cure more certain, than the devout 
 reception of Holy Communion. It is a 
 daily remedy against our daily infirmities, 
 so says St. Ambrose. 
 
 St. Bernard says. If there be any among 
 you who has experienced a change of 
 heart and will ; if you have no innate 
 desire for or delight in the things of this 
 world ; if anger, envy, sensuality, or any 
 other vice should be deadened in you ; if 
 these do not tempt you, or if they do not 
 disturb your mind or conscience, do not be 
 vainglorious in these victories, but return 
 thanks to Jesus in His sacrament of love. 
 " Because the virtue of this sacrament will 
 work within you," continues the saint. It 
 is the strength and power of this adorable 
 sacrament which has metamorphosed 
 
ox HOLY communion: 
 
 149 
 
 many a worldly man to a fervent servant 
 of God. 
 
 To those who, after Holy Communion, 
 fall soon into mortal sin, I implore them 
 to consider with what zeal the holy 
 Fathers have inveighed against such 
 relapses, and in what terms they speak of 
 the awful consequences resulting there- 
 from. 
 
 To return after receiving communion to 
 your former state of sin, is, they say, to 
 profane the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 to dishonor the mystical body of Jesus 
 Christ ; it is to follow the example of 
 Judas, to betray Him and to deliver Him 
 up to Ilis enemies. 
 
 The Body of Christ has been intrusted ' 
 to you, says St. Athanasius. You are His 
 temple, and He dwells within you. What 
 do I say ? You have become a member 
 of His Body ; treat Him with respectful 
 love, and do not betray Him as Judas did. 
 
 In many passages St. Chrysostom has 
 displayed his eloquence, when he strongly 
 recommended purity of life, after the 
 reception of Holy Communion, and when 
 he represents to his flock the enormous 
 sin committed by those who easily 
 return to their former state of tepidity. 
 Le PfeRE Castillo. 
 
 [Luke Vaubert was born at Noyon in 1644, 
 and entered the Society of Jesus on the 21st of 
 September, 1622. After his novitiate he was 
 made professor of the humanities, rhetoric, and 
 philosophy. He was afterwards elected as 
 Rector of the College of Louis-le-Grand in 
 Paris, and therein died on the 15th of April, 
 17 16. Among his spiritual works, the one 
 
 entitled " Devotion to our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist," is the 
 best known, and has often been reprinted.] 
 
 O my divine Saviour ! how sorely 
 grieved am I, when I think how unworthy 
 I am, and how I have hitherto abused Thy 
 excessive goodness. How often have I 
 wandered from Thee, I who have been 
 more debased, more ungrateful than the 
 prodigal son. 
 
 But if I have imitated him in his folly, I, 
 following his example, return to You, over- 
 whelmed with shame, and I hope that You 
 will receive me with the same tenderness 
 as his father received him. I could say, 
 indeed, with more truth, that I do not 
 deserve to be treated as one of Your chil- 
 dren ; but I know Your tender heart, and 
 since You have deigned to will that I 
 should partake of the Bread of Angels, I 
 dare to believe that Thou wilt look on me, 
 and receive me as one of Thy servants. 
 
 L'Ai5b4 Vaubert. 
 
 We ask daily for bread, for fear that 
 being deprived of it, and by not receiving 
 it in Holy Communion, we should be 
 deprived of the mystical Body of Christ. 
 
 He who abstains from receiving Holy 
 Communion, and separates himself from 
 the body of the Lord, has much reason to 
 fear, for he withdraws himself, at the same 
 time, from eternal salvation ; for does not 
 Christ say, " Unless you eat of the Son of 
 man you shall not have life in you " ? 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 Oh the Lord's Prayer. 
 
CHAPTER LVI. 
 
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 •*->^ 
 
 ^^^*. 
 
 ? 
 
 L'ABBfi Flechier. 
 
 " And the altar shall be sanctified by my glory. I will sanctify also the tabernacle of the testi- 
 mony with the altar." — Exodus xxix. 43. 
 
 HE Mass is a sacrifice, that is 
 to say, it is a supreme wor- 
 ship, a real immolation, a 
 public recognition of the sover- 
 eignty of God, and a sincere 
 protestation by some visible 
 ceremonies of the intimate and necessary 
 dependence of our existence on a Superior 
 Being, which can be but God alone. For, 
 my brethren, recollect that we believe 
 that we are rendering to the angels, 
 martyrs, saints — to the Mother of God 
 herself, raised in dignity above the angels, 
 and in merit above the saints — that we 
 are rendering, I say, a homage which has 
 been reserved for them as an inheritance, 
 and as a regal mark of adoration which is 
 due to Him. 
 
 The Mass is a sacrifice instituted by 
 Jesus Christ, says St. Cyril, having an 
 immutable priesthood, consecrated by an 
 everlasting unction from all ages, in 
 erecting the new law has established this 
 sacrifice of His Body and Blood — a 
 
 160 
 
 precious monument of His infinite love 
 for men. 
 
 It was on that fatal night, when He was 
 to be delivered up to His enemies, that 
 He offered Himself to His Father under 
 the species of bread and wine, being both 
 together, says St. Paulinus, both the priest 
 of His victim and the victim of His priest- 
 hood ; then enjoining His apostles, and 
 those priests who legitimately succeeded 
 them, to do the same, even to the con- 
 summation of the world. 
 
 There is, then, in the Church a divine 
 sacrifice, which the Council of Trent has 
 designated as the highest work of God — 
 o/>us Dei ; divine in its beginning, God 
 alone, by His Almighty power being 
 capable of changing the bread and wine 
 into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ ; 
 divine in its midst, God alone becoming 
 man in order to be a victim fit to appease 
 the anger of a sovereign majesty ; divine 
 in its end, God alone being able to be the 
 
THE HOLY EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE. 
 
 151 
 
 object of those everlasting testimonies 
 and of that divine oblation ; divine in its 
 duration, as the prophet Daniel had 
 predicted. 
 
 It is not composed, as formerly, of many 
 victims, but of one only, which is per- 
 petuated on our altars ; which is multi- 
 plied without being divided, which is 
 sacrificed without dying, and eaten with- 
 out being consumed, since it is the 
 immortal --.ni impassible Body of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 It is the same God who speaks through 
 His prophet Malachias. Listen to Him 
 with docility and respect : " For from the 
 rising of the sun even to the going down, 
 my name is great among the Gentiles. I 
 see in every place altars, whereon is 
 offered to my name a clean offering " 
 {Malach. i. ii). 
 
 What, then, is that victim which the 
 Lord even so honors as to attract His 
 attention and complacency, which is so 
 pleasing through its purity and innocence } 
 Is it that of animals, whose impure and 
 coarse blood would render it far from 
 agreeable } Can it be our works, wherein 
 malice is so often mingled, where flesh 
 and blood have a share, where concu- 
 piscence is almost always mixed up with 
 secret vanities or petty interests ? Can 
 it be our prayers, which are but too often 
 accompanied with distractions, disgust, 
 impatience, and self-love ^ No, doubtless. 
 This glorious sacrifice is that of the Mass 
 which is offered up in every quarter of the 
 globe for the propitiation and satisfaction 
 of our sins ; this oblation is of itself so 
 
 pure and holy that neither the unworthi- 
 ness of Him who offers it up nor the 
 irreverence of those who assist at it can 
 in the least deprive it of its holiness. 
 
 We all meet in the church to give a 
 public testimony of our faith and piety, 
 and the visible sacrifice which is offered 
 at the Mass is the sign of the invisible 
 Sacrifice ; so, says St. Augustine, modesty 
 and a devout posture of the body ought to 
 be the sign of our devotion and interior 
 reverence. It is there we go to confess 
 Jesus Christ before men, so that He may 
 acknowledge us before His Heavenly 
 Father. Where is it that we ought to give 
 outward signs of that respectful fear, but 
 in the presence of that divine majesty of 
 God, residing in the tabernacles of His 
 church } Our sole occupation should 
 consist in adoring God, and acquitting 
 ourselves well, in all our religious duties 
 to Him to whom we are so indebted. 
 
 Besides, we are obliged to give edifica- 
 tion to all the faithful ; and if we are at all 
 times, and in all places, expected to show 
 a good example, surely it is at the church, 
 during the celebration of the divine 
 mysteries, that we should do so. 
 
 Nevertheless, how many profanations 
 and irreverences are daily committed 
 during Holy Mass.? How many attend 
 carelessly and thoughtlessly, although God 
 bids us tremble when we place our feet on 
 the threshold of those venerable piles, 
 wherein religion and its mysteries are set 
 apart for worship ? 
 
 Many enter the church thinking only of 
 useless trifles, foolish appointments, or 
 
152 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 frivolous amusements ; they look out for 
 a Mass which they suspect will be a 
 short one, as if they begrudged the 
 short half-hour they give to Jesus every 
 week. 
 
 Many wait to attend the latest Mass, in 
 order that they may be more intimate and 
 friendly with those who are equally unde- 
 
 vout and lazy. They let the priest go 
 away, or, perhaps better to say, they leave 
 Jesus as if they had taken no heed of His 
 sacrifice ; and, far from having any feeling 
 of devotion, they have deprived those who 
 had, by the distractions they have given 
 them. 
 
 Flechier. 
 
 

 ^f^ ^^ ^^ ^^ "^ ^^ 
 "w ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 
 jl On the [lolil Enchai<i^li a^ a ^aci<ameni S 
 
 
 -^ ^^ .^ .^ ^Ufe. ^^ 
 
 ^^ ^^ ■^^ "^^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 
 Father Faber, PfeRE Garnier, and St. Cyprian. 
 Verily, thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour." — Isaias xliv. i8. 
 
 HE Blessed Sacrament is a 
 mystery of daily repetition, of 
 ordinary familiarity. We are 
 coming across our Lord con- 
 tinually. Either we are calling 
 Him from heaven ourselves, if 
 we be priests ; or we are witnessing that 
 unspeakable mystery ; or we are feeding 
 on Him and seeing our fellow-creatures do 
 so also ; or we are gazing at Him in His 
 veils, or receiving His benedictions, or 
 making our devotions at His tabernacle 
 door. 
 
 Yet what is our habitual behavior to 
 Him in this mystery ? We are orthodox 
 in faith, doubtless ; every word of that 
 queen of councils, the blessed and glorious 
 assembly of Trent, is more precious to us 
 than a mine of gold. But have the 
 intensity of our love, the breathlessness of 
 our reverence, the earnestness of our 
 prayers, the overbearing momentum of our 
 faith, the speechlessness of our yearning 
 desires been all they should have been, or 
 half they would have been, if we had but 
 
 183 
 
 corresponded to the grace which He him^ 
 self each time was giving us ? 
 
 There is no sign of lukewarmness more 
 unerring than becoming thoughtless about 
 the Blessed Sacrament, and letting it grow 
 common to us without our feeling it. Even 
 though the disciples on the road to 
 Emmaus did not know Jesus till He 
 vanished from their sight, at least their 
 hearts, they knew not why, burned within 
 them as they walked and talked to Him 
 by the way. Yet how often have we been 
 at the tabernacle door, feeling neither His 
 presence nor our own miseries, more than 
 a beggar sleeping in the sun at a rich 
 man's gate ? 
 
 True it is that the Blessed SaCrament is 
 not a mystery of distance or of terror, but 
 one of most dear familiarity. Yet the 
 only true test of our loving familiarity is 
 the depth of our joyous fear. ** 
 
 Yet, alas ! whenever we read or hear of 
 some of the great things concerning the 
 Blessed Sacrament, does it not often flash 
 
154 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 upon us that our conduct is not in keeping 
 with our creed ? and, looking back on a 
 long, sad line of indifferent communions, 
 distracted masses, and careless visits to 
 the tabernacle, fxo. we not sometimes 
 startled into say^g, Do I really believe 
 all this ? 
 
 How many of us might simplify our 
 spiritual lives, and so make great progress, 
 if we would Only look to the Blessed 
 Sacrament, to our feelings and conduct 
 towards it, ?>i7.d its impression upon us, as 
 the index of our spiritual condition ? 
 We are a'c'/ays trying to awaken our- 
 selves with new things, new books, new 
 prayers, new confraternities, new states of 
 prayer; and our forbearing Lord runs 
 after us and keeps blessing us in our 
 changeableness, and humoring us in our 
 fickle weakness. How much better would 
 it be to keep to our old things, to hold 
 fast by Him, and to warm ourselves only 
 at the tabernacle fire ! 
 
 Father Faber. (Orat.) 
 Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 QoHN Garnier. — This renowned Jesuit 
 professor of theolog}' was born in Paris in 
 1612, and died at Bologna in 168 1, while on 
 his journey to Rome, whither he had been 
 summoned to wait on the Superior General 
 of the Order. He was a true servant of God, 
 full of piety and knowledge. His published 
 works testify to his being a man of superior 
 attainment.] 
 
 Moses, desirous of making the Israelites 
 understand how great was the happiness 
 they possessed in being the chosen people 
 of God, said to them : There never was 
 
 a nation, however illustrious it may have 
 been, who had gods so communicative as is 
 our God, who communicates Himself to us. 
 
 What shall we say to Christians when 
 their loving and all-merciful God, not con- 
 tent with dwelling amongst us in our 
 churches and visiting us in our homes, 
 but has further willed to dwell in the 
 interior of our souls, and to repOse ii. 
 our hearts as in a temple, where we can 
 familiarly confer with Him and expose all 
 our wants "i 
 
 It was an incomparable joy for the 
 Mother of God to have carried Jesus in 
 her bosom ; — has not the Christian the 
 happiness of carrying Him in his } 
 
 St. Elizabeth esteemed herself happy 
 when the Mother of God came to visit 
 her, and the Lord Himself is willing to 
 come and dwell in the interior of our 
 souls ! Mary Magdalen had the advan- 
 tage of kissing His feet, and we have the 
 opportunity of embracing Him and of 
 receiving His caresses ! After that, what 
 heart would not be inflamed with love for 
 a God who so familiarly communicates 
 with men } Ought not this induce us to 
 offer to Him our fervent prayers, our 
 fondest love ? 
 
 . Have we not indeed reason to reproach 
 ourselves with coldness and ingratitude, 
 when we think of the wondrous love which 
 God has shown to men in this adorable 
 sacrament .-* 
 
 As this God of love gives Himself 
 entire to us in the Eucharist, we ou^ht to 
 give ourselves entirely to Him But, 
 alas ! how very far we are from loving 
 
THE HOLY EUCHARIST AS A SACRAMENT. 
 
 155 
 
 Him as He has loved us in this divine 
 mystery. He has loved us to excess, He 
 has loved us without reserve, He has 
 given Himself to us whole and entire, 
 He has spared nothing to show us His 
 love; nevertheless, it is this same God 
 whom we love with so much coldness and 
 with so much reserve. 
 
 We give Him as little of our heart as we 
 possibly can, and often give Him nothing 
 at all ; although that would not be a sin, 
 still it would be indeed an act of a great 
 ingratitude and greater meanness. 
 
 Le PfeRE Garnier. 
 MS. Sermon. 
 
 The soul must be in an utter swoon, if 
 it be not roused and enlivened by the 
 Holy Eucharist. 
 
 We do not expose those whom we 
 encourage to fight against persecution, 
 or leave them devoid of help or even 
 unarmed : but we fortify them with the 
 protection of the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 our Saviour. For is it not true that the 
 Holy Eucharist raises the faithful above 
 themselves, and from its efficacy a worldly 
 man becomes a heavenly man } 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 From his Epistles, 
 
H I M I I I I I I I I I I I I i !■ 
 
 wmml of Matrimonii. 
 
 
 
 Le PfeRE CORDIER. 
 
 ** This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in tlie church." — Ephesians v. 32. 
 
 ,RANCIS CORDIER for some 
 years was a priest of the French 
 Oratory. This congregation he, 
 however, abandoned in the year 
 1680, and died in 1695. He has 
 left behind him " The Manuel 
 Chretien " and a Life of the Car- 
 melite Anne of the Angels. Both printed in 
 Paris A. D. 1694. 
 
 Marriage may be said to be the nursery 
 of mankind. From that are drawn daily 
 new plants, in place of others which have 
 withered and died away through length of 
 time. This is a metempsychosis full of 
 mystery, but is much more honorable and 
 advantageous to mankind than that which 
 some philosophers have imagined, who 
 would revivify men from beasts and beasts 
 from men. 
 
 Marriage shows that men are in some 
 way immortal, for a father dies without 
 dying, for he lives again in his son and 
 in all his descendants. It is a fountain 
 of life which ever flows, and is never 
 exhausted. 
 
 Death is an abyss in which all men are 
 engulfed, as rivers are lost in the ocean ; 
 
 but because that spring may never cease 
 to flow, for one who dies, many are often 
 brought to life. 
 
 Without marriage, death, which spares 
 no one, whole cities would be ruined, 
 whole provinces would be desolate. As 
 nothing could check its violence, a century, 
 and perchance much less, would suffice to 
 hurry all men to the grave ; but God, who 
 does not wish His work to perish before 
 the number of the elect is filled up, has 
 made Himself the Patron and Protector of 
 marriages, as He has been the first founder 
 of them ; the same care He has taken to 
 preserve the world, induced Him to take 
 in hand the marriages contracted therein, 
 and which are the means of maintaining it. 
 
 That is the reason why the world is 
 daily replenished with inhabitants, why 
 new cities and towns become populated, 
 why states and kingdoms flourish. 
 
 Could He, I say, have found a more 
 eflfectual method to maintain and preserve 
 so great a work } 
 
 The strokes of death are continually at 
 work, but do not annihilate, because the 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 157 
 
 fruitfulness of marriage wards off every 
 blow, and the grand design of God to refill 
 heaven with His elect is effected by this 
 means. I call it the grand design of God, 
 because it is the climax of all others, and 
 to which all aspire and tend, as lines do 
 to the centre. 
 
 This grand design could not be carried 
 out in the order which God has willed to 
 establish it without marriage, and this is 
 the reason why He has willed to be its 
 
 I author since the creation of the world. 
 
 I Marriage is the first bond of everyday 
 
 life ; it is the foundation and support of all 
 human intercourse ; it is the beginning of 
 every union. Every one should acknowl- 
 edge it as the rock from which they have 
 sprung. It is an agreement as old as the 
 world itself, and its author is no other 
 than God. 
 
 The Gnostics, who have been the most 
 shameless heretics that hell has ever pro- 
 duced, have rejected it as a bad and detest- 
 able thing ; but when we read in the book 
 of Genesis that God was the author of 
 marriage, and when we read in the New 
 Testament that God the Son honored it by 
 His presence, we should detest those 
 infamous heretics who have disapproved of 
 it. It was not the honor and respect 
 which they bore to the virtue of purity 
 which made them speak, but the license of 
 libertinism, which prompted them to keep 
 as many women as they could seduce. 
 
 The apostle's counsel to live single is 
 not blaming or condemning the marriage 
 state ; for that can only be condemned by 
 
 persons who have not a just appreciation 
 of the works of God ; but to teach us that 
 it is not obligatory, and that we may 
 increase in merit by renouncing one state 
 of life by embracing another still more per- 
 fect. 
 
 The Church, which is ever guided by 
 the Holy Ghost, in all its ceremonies, 
 retains a custom in all marriages which 
 teaches those who receive this sacrament 
 the affection that they should ha'c for 
 each other. It directs the priest to bless 
 a ring, presenting it first to the husband 
 in order that by receiving it, he may encir- 
 cle her in his heart and shut out all other 
 loves. Then he places it on the wife's 
 hand, in order that she may equally have 
 no other affection for any man than the 
 one God has given her for a husband. 
 This ring is a seal which should have a 
 double intent on the hearts of the married 
 couple, the first being to preserve inviolate 
 sworn conjugal love, the second is not to 
 allow an entry for any strange love. 
 
 Confidence is the result of a tried fidelity 
 and a constant esteem. If this be neces- 
 sary for all who are engaged in any kind 
 of commerce whatsoever, what partnership 
 can be more complete than marriage .-' 
 
 Concord, says St. Chrysostom, consti- 
 tutes the maximum of the happiness and 
 blessing of a married life ; and if the hus- 
 band can place his entire confidence in a 
 good and virtuous wife, they will be as one 
 body, one flesh. 
 
 Lk PfeRK CORDIER. 
 
 Stltctions from " La Saintt Families 
 
On tP[E ^oi|19 ctnfl its iDcmgeirs. 
 
 ^^^^^o~ 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 =0^^%-:?=:^* 
 
 St. Augustine, Flechier, and P^re Croiset. 
 " If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him." — John ii. 15. 
 
 jONDROUS thing ! the world 
 is full of trouble and we do 
 not tire of loving it ! What 
 would, it be were it always 
 quiet? You attach yourself to 
 this world, deformed and ugly 
 as it io ; what would it be were it always 
 agreeable ? You draw away your hand 
 from the thorns of this world ; what would 
 it be if you had but to gathtr flowers ? 
 
 Take care, the wind is violent, the 
 tempest is terrible ; each one has his own 
 danger, for each one is tossed about with 
 his own passions. Would you wish to 
 know how to save yourself from this 
 tempestuous sea ? Love God, and you 
 will walk upon its waters ; you will tread 
 under foot the pride of the world, and you 
 will be saved. On the contrary, if you 
 love the world you will be engulfed, for 
 the world knows only how to shipwreck 
 a soul, it knows not how to save it. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Sermons Ixxvi. and cviii. 
 
 Would you know what happened to the 
 great St. Benedict when he was in an 
 
 ecstasy of prayer ? He felt himself raised 
 above himself ; the heavens opened, and 
 from an exterior darkness there came a 
 kind of wondrous light, and the world was 
 mirrored before him, and he, by divine 
 permission, was allowed to view the world, 
 and it showed him at a glance the noth- 
 ingness and deformity of all human 
 things. 
 
 Whether God had narrowed within the 
 ray both heaven and earth, or whether He 
 had enlarged his heart and mind, says St. 
 Gregory, he sees revolutions and vicissi- 
 tudes here below, creatures forced against 
 their will to feed on vanity, and all the 
 universe subjected to the covetousness of 
 men. He sees, under cover of this celes- 
 tial light, those grandeurs which are 
 esteemed so highly gradually decrease ; 
 he sees ambition, which takes so firm a 
 hold on man, sink and fade away ; that 
 universal hypocrisy of the age, which 
 elevates vice and makes virtue look con- 
 temptible, — where counterfeit miseries are 
 cherished, where wretched pleasures are 
 sought after. He sees a crowd of frivo- 
 lous desires, hopes ill-founded, unjust 
 
THE WORLD AND ITS DANGERS. 
 
 15^ 
 
 hatreds, irregulated loves ; he sees the 
 wanton extravagance of our pleasures, the 
 inutility of our occupations, the instability 
 of our fortunes, the emptiness of our 
 wishes, the littleness of our interests. 
 Ah! how mean and contemptible did the 
 world appear to him ! No wonder that he 
 despised it and retired from it for ever- 
 more. 
 
 L'Abb^ Flechier. 
 Panegyric of St. Benedict. 
 
 Pleasure is a feeling of joy which dwells 
 in the soul during the existence of a 
 blessing which is acknowledged as such. 
 
 Now this pleasure is only perfect so 
 long as the blessing which causes it is 
 sustained. An imaginary blessing could 
 not know a real pleasure ; its enchant- 
 ments vanish in time, its illusions are 
 soon dispelled ; when the gratification of 
 a blessing is deadened or exhausted, the 
 mind and heart feel a void, and reason 
 discovers, sooner or later, the depth of its 
 nothingness, and at last bitter is the 
 bitterness where passion anticipates, but 
 does not realize so much pleasure. 
 
 From that proceed those involuntary 
 anxieties and vexations which all the joys 
 of the world, however harmless, cannot 
 drive away. From that arise those adversi- 
 ties, those little crosses, which put the 
 most good-humored out of temper, and 
 which makes them say with truth that 
 worldly happiness is a myth. 
 
 As God alone can fill our heart, it is 
 He who can satisfy our desires. Other 
 objects amuse for a while, but they make 
 our consciences uneasy, and, finally, they 
 weary and disgust. 
 
 God alone can satisfy a soul, calm its 
 anxieties, its suspicions, its fears, and every 
 trouble that stirs within our hearts. 
 Whenever I tried to fill up the aching void 
 in my heart, says St. Augustine, I found 
 that nothing equalled the happiness I felt 
 in trying to do my duty in serving God. 
 
 What are the miseries which worldlings 
 have to endure .-' Alas ! everything seems 
 to conspire to make them groan without 
 being allowed to complain. Continuous 
 and fatiguing cares, inseparable from their 
 state of life ; ambition, jealousy, self-inter* 
 est, inexhaustible anxieties ; the uneasiness 
 of a busy life, the fears of failure, the 
 varied tempers of those in their employ — 
 all of whom must be humored — a hundred 
 vexing accidents they are liable to, and 
 which can rarely be prevented, the bad 
 weather which they cannot avoid, a station 
 of life which must at all risks be kept up, 
 worry of competition, the malice of the 
 envious, a heart ever agitated, an uneasy 
 mind and conscience. 
 
 What ! Does it require all these things 
 to make a man unhappy? All such as 
 these are, nevertheless, to be found united 
 in the men who battle with the world. 
 
 PfeRE Ceoiset, S. J. 
 Reflexions SpirituelUs. 
 
-t^^^y^^-^-^i:!^ 
 
 &"^V?^!^V5r5^v<=-v- 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 i*: '.*: '.*: ■!•; i*': {•'• •!•; iv 'IK' •?• •?•' •?•* *!?•' i*i •!•«* 'I'l* i*: i*': •!•; 
 
 * On the World and its Maxims. * 
 
 '.*: :*: :'»: 
 
 •-•.* •.•; •>-• 
 
 '.": •.•• •.•• •••; w w 
 
 St. Ambrose and Massillian. 
 
 " All that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the 
 pride of life." — John i. i6. 
 
 T. AMBROSE.— This great saint 
 and doctor of the Church was born 
 about the year 340, and died on 
 the eve of Easter-day in 397, aged 
 fifty-seven. After the death of 
 Auxence, Bishop of Milan, 
 Ambrose was unanimously elected 
 to succeed him, and this choice was confirmed 
 by the Emperor Valentinian. At that time 
 Ambrose was a catechumen, but after baptism 
 he was ordained on December 17, 374. 
 
 The writings of this glorious saint have this 
 advantage, that they please and instruct at the 
 same time. They are as majestic and forcible 
 as they are full of divine unction. An edition 
 of his works was published by the Benedictines 
 of the Congregation of St, Maur in the years 
 1686 and 1670. 
 
 The Te Deum laudamus is attributed to him, 
 though some say that it is the united composi- 
 tion of SS. Ambrose and Augustine. The 
 name, however, of Hymnus Ambrosianus seems 
 to be a proof that he alone was the author. 
 
 For particulars of his life see Butler's " Lives 
 of the Saints," Godescard and Giry. 
 
 The world which encompasses us is full 
 of snares. One cannot dwell in it even for 
 a short time without danger. You open 
 your eyes, and the guard you thought you 
 
 160 
 
 had over self is dispelled ; you lend your 
 ear to public discussions, and your attach- 
 ment to party spirit breaks out ; you walk 
 in places strewn with flower-beds and 
 flowers, and your thoughts wander on joys, 
 etc. ; you taste delicacies which are offered 
 to you, and the poison of sensuality is hid 
 therein ; you extend your hand, and it 
 is enough to cause an embrace. 
 
 Ah ! who can walk with a firm, unshaken 
 step in the midst of the passions of the 
 world, amidst its seductive charms ? Let 
 us, then, think and meditate on the words 
 of Job, " The life of man on earth is a 
 
 continual warfare." 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 
 What, then, is this reprobate world 
 which you are obliged to hate from the 
 time that you were regenerated by grace» 
 and which you ought to continue to hate 
 all your life ? For you the bright side is 
 uppermost, and I have simply to say it is 
 that that you love. 
 
 The world, it is that raging sea on 
 which are tossed to and fr« vessels con- 
 
THE WORLD AND ITS MAXIMS. 
 
 l6l 
 
 taining a crowd of sinners, whose cares 
 and projects depend on the fortunes or 
 misfortunes of life ; whose aims seem to 
 be to build palaces on sand, whose hopes 
 are fixed on the fleeting enjoyments of 
 this life, who seek for joys and pleasures 
 which are a thousand times more fatiguing 
 than they are worth. 
 
 The world is a monstrous assemblage of 
 party spirits who revile each other, and 
 tegard each other with contempt, envy, 
 and jealousy, void of honor and fair 
 dealing. The world is a temporal king- 
 dom which knows not Jesus Christ, where 
 He himself declares that He is not, and 
 for which He does not wish to pray. The 
 world is that mass of wicked men and 
 impious libertines who refuse to believe 
 in the truths of the gospel, because they 
 wage war with their vices, because they 
 confute the Saviour's maxims, despise His 
 mysteries, ignore His precepts, and pro- 
 fane His sacraments. In short, the world 
 is the majority who follow its maxims. 
 
 It is this world which you have to hate 
 in your baptism, and which you are 
 taught to confute, condemn, and wage war 
 against. 
 
 This world, then, is the enemy of the 
 cross and of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 and ought, therefore, to be with you an 
 object of horror, and which you ought to 
 sacrifice to the interests of your salvation. 
 
 The first use we make of our free will 
 is the choice of dangerous pleasures ; the 
 first temptation is that of our passions, 
 and our reason believes only on the wreck 
 of our innocence. All the land is infected 
 
 through the wickedness of those who 
 dwell on it. One no longer sees, says a 
 prophet, the existence of truth or charity ; 
 mercy is not there, and the knowledge of 
 God is uncared for ; all have overthrown 
 the obstacles which preserved their inno- 
 cence in their hearts. 
 
 Blasphemy, lying, injustice, adultery, 
 homicide, perfidy, and other horrible 
 crimes have inundated the land, says a 
 prophet ; blood has tasted blood, the 
 father scandalizes his child, the brother 
 lays snares for his brother, and the hus- 
 band seeks for a divorce. 
 
 Among men there are no ties but self- 
 interest, passion, ill-humor, and caprice. 
 Crime is common among the noble and 
 great, virtue is only meant for the simple- 
 minded, piety is the lot of few, hatreds 
 are eternal, and an enemy is never looked 
 upon as a brother. 
 
 Thence arise those resentments one 
 against another ; the purest virtue is not 
 safe from slander ; lawsuits and vexatious 
 actions and the meetings of friends and 
 relations are no longer public censures on 
 public morals. 
 
 Gambling of every kind has become 
 either shameful trafficking in shares, or 
 that blind infatuation which otten ends in 
 the ruin of families, and almost always 
 causes the loss of the immortal soul. 
 
 Those innocent bonds of society, family 
 meetings, are now only attractions for the 
 indulgence of intemperance. Balls, thea- 
 tres, music-halls, have become schools of 
 impurity, and the present age is so refined 
 in luxury that the carrying on shameful 
 
l62 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 intrigues soon soil the soul, and of which 
 our forefathers were not conscious. 
 
 The city, a sinful Ninive, where all 
 follow the bent of their inclinations ; the 
 court is the centre of vice; the whole 
 country a frightful desert, where men, like 
 so many wild beasts, tear and bite each 
 other, and where hatred, envy, and jealousy 
 are paramount. 
 
 What do I say? nothing but disorder 
 and confusion are in the world. 
 
 Massillon. 
 On the Small Number of the Elect. 
 
 The world is more dangerous when it 
 flatters us than when it ill-treats us ; we 
 should be more careful of trusting it when 
 
 it invites us to love it, than when it 
 admonishes us, and compels us to despise it 
 
 The chains that bind us to the world 
 are pleasing to look at, but hard to bear ; 
 the harm they inflict is certain, the 
 pleasure they promise very doubtful. 
 Those who wear them are ever busy, but 
 never exempt from dread. 
 
 They who follow the maxims of the 
 world, experience nothing but misery, and 
 the flattering expectation of happiness is 
 delusive and vain. 
 
 Would you wish not to be an enemy 
 of God .'' Do not be a friend of the 
 world. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Epistles. 
 

 m li^i # 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. ] # * 
 
 
 # 
 
 i|gii# « # # # « . 
 
 
 Gn the World and its Duties, l 
 
 : * 
 : * 
 
 
 
 # # # * « 
 
 
 St. Chrysostom and P^re Texier. 
 " Fear God and keep His commandments ; for this is all man."— Eccles. xii. 13. 
 
 HERE are still even now, 
 through the mercy of God, 
 many persons who live a Chris- 
 tian-like life, who keep God's 
 commandments, and who do 
 not wilfully fail in any one of 
 their duties ; and if you do not know this, 
 I am not astonished at it, since Elias 
 thought that he was left alone when God 
 said to him, " I have left me seven 
 thousand men, that have not bowed their 
 knees to Baal." 
 
 This example ought to convince us that 
 there are s^ill some amongst us who keep 
 themselves unspotted from the world, and 
 who imitate the early Christians. 
 
 As for you, my brothers, if you have 
 not as yet reached to that pitch of per- 
 fection, begin at least with the wish to 
 aspire to perfection, cut off all inclination 
 to do evil, resist the torrent of example, 
 and do not think of doing any good, unless 
 you set to work in a right and lawful 
 way. 
 
 16a 
 
 We see that St. John the Baptist at 
 first recommends the publicans and soldiers 
 to be content with their pay. His zeal 
 would have willingly led him to raise them 
 to a high degree of perfection ; but they 
 not being fit for much, he contented 
 himself with giving them this simple 
 advice, for fear that, by proposing some- 
 thing higher, they would not have been 
 able to attain to a lower degree of per- 
 fection, much less to that height of virtue 
 of which they were not capable. 
 
 It is thus that in the world there are 
 
 different degrees of virtue ; as among 
 
 those who are consecrated to the service 
 
 of God, in the religious state, there are 
 
 novices, others more advanced, and others 
 
 who reach to an eminent degree of 
 
 sanctity. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 Hovtily on the Sixth Chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 You are married ; Moses was married 
 too. What, then, should prevent you 
 from retiring every day, as he did, to 
 
104 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 confer with Almighty God on the impor- 
 tant affair of your salvation, and to pray 
 for His grace? You have children; the 
 mother of the Machabees had seven of 
 them, and that did not prevent her from 
 being holy, and, when called upon, pre- 
 ferred the love of God to that of her 
 offspring. You are noble, and are 
 required to keep up a certain splendor 
 in the world. David, Joshua, and Ezechias 
 were no less noble ; the government 
 of states, and the guidance of underlings, 
 did not hinder them from continually 
 consulting God through prayer ; they 
 kept themselves humble in the midst of 
 their grandeur, and they resided with 
 their court without being infected by its 
 vices. 
 
 You are a judge; that obliges you to 
 practise virtue so much the more. That 
 was just the case with the matchless 
 Samuel. Follow his example, and on 
 your bench you will be reproachless, and 
 your position will afford opportunities of 
 practising the most heroic virtues. You 
 are rich ; Abraham perhaps was richer 
 than you are. Well, like him, be the 
 father of orphans, the entertainer of 
 strangers, the defender and feeder of the 
 needy, and yOur riches will help you to 
 become a great saint. 
 
 You are poor, and your poverty brings 
 on you illnesses and cares. Look at poor 
 Lazarus. His poverty sanctified him, and 
 he is placed on Abraham's bosom. You 
 are a workman, and you are compelled to 
 toil all the day and part of the night to 
 support your family. St. Joseph, the 
 
 glorious husband of Mary, was he not 
 workman } and, in the exercise of his 
 trade, through his incomparable virtues, 
 is now one of the highest saints in heaven. 
 You have joined the army ; call to mind 
 that brave officer of whom the Gospel 
 speaks, who went to war as you do ; and 
 nevertheless you see that he was so full 
 of faith, zeal, and charity, that the Son 
 of God admired him and appeared to be 
 surprised. 
 
 The inference that St. Chrysostom 
 draws from this is to prove that, in what- 
 ever condition we may be, we can always 
 observe the law of God. 
 
 God has given to all states and profes- 
 sions of life a help and steady support 
 when He promulgated His law. Keep 
 this law in your heart, and it will 
 strengthen your steps, however slippery 
 may be the path through which you walk : 
 Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius, et non sup- 
 plantabuntur gressus ejus. Amidst the 
 worry of a family, the cares of business, 
 and even the trouble and danger of war, 
 the inviolate love of that law will keep 
 your heart in peace, and there will be no 
 scandal which can stop you : Pax ntulta 
 diligentibus legem tuam, et non est illis 
 scandalum. Would you live piously in 
 your state of life ? When you see the 
 trickery and deceit that are practised in 
 high places, the corruption so common in 
 law courts, the usual trickeries in trade, 
 exclaim with David : " Withdraw from me 
 all those that work iniquity." 
 
 The Son of God, who is the Supreme 
 Judge, elevates the vilest conditions in 
 
THE WORLD AND ITS DUTIES. 
 
 165 
 
 His own supernatural way, and gives to 
 all a sufficiency of sanctification. Thus, 
 whether you are a gentleman, a judge, 
 soldier, merchant, or workman, you are 
 something more than all these, since you 
 are a Christian, and that is the foremost 
 and noblest of your qualities. 
 
 This is what Tertullian has said : It 
 matters little what you may be or what 
 profession you exercise, since, if you are 
 a Christian, you are no longer of this 
 world. 
 
 Le P^re Texikr. 
 Lenten Discourse. 
 
P^RE DE LA COLOMBI^RE and St. GREGORY. 
 
 " A most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule." — Wisdom vi. 6. 
 
 HE great and noble have to 
 breathe an atmosphere of sen- 
 suality. Born and bred in idle- 
 ness and effeminacy, they 
 nourish within a hidden fire 
 for all kinds of food which only 
 feeds an ever increasing appetite. 
 
 The world does not outwardly exhibit 
 its attractions to the great, it simply offers 
 them to their desires, and delivers them 
 over to their own keeping, so to speak, 
 despoiled of all the difficulties which 
 repulse and frighten others. 
 
 There are few, doubtless, who have not 
 sometimes cherished the passions of avarice, 
 vengeance, or ambition ; these passions 
 blind those who possess them. Now 
 before a person who has no influence or 
 power, with but little money or property, 
 could find the means to gratify his pas- 
 sions, the danger he would have to encoun- 
 ter, the precautions he would have to 
 take, all these in time will open his eyes, 
 and calm the agitated heart. On the other 
 hand, a powerful and rich noble, who, 
 
 166 
 
 having within his reach all that can sat- 
 isfy his wishes, has no sooner conceived a 
 base design, than he puts it into execution^ 
 finding everything in readiness for him. 
 
 But what ! must those who are in high 
 places and have plenty to spare — should 
 they despair of their salvation } Certainly 
 not; but they must work with fear and 
 perseverance ; they must, by fervent and 
 constant prayer, try to draw down from 
 heaven that immense help which they 
 stand so much in need of, in order to avoid 
 the snares which surround them, and, by 
 the frequentation of the sacraments, they 
 may never cease to fortify themselves 
 against the attacks of such formidable 
 enemies. 
 
 Moreover, the noble are necessarily com- 
 pelled, as they often are, to be richly 
 dressed, to live in grand houses, expected 
 to give luxurious dinners, to take part in 
 the vain pleasures of worldlings ; they 
 should, I say, situated as they are, take 
 especial care not to go beyond the mark 
 that necessity and custom require. 
 
THE WORLD, ITS HONORS AND DIGNITIES. 
 
 167 
 
 When you act in this way, you will be 
 able to say, that if you run any risk, that it 
 is the providence of God which has placed 
 you in the position in which you are, and 
 that it is through the goodness of God that 
 you have been able to avoid its dangers. 
 
 Yes, the high and mighty should antici- 
 pate a more rigorous punishment than 
 ordinary mortals. Fortiorihus aiitcm for- 
 tior instat cruciatio, says the Book of Wis- 
 dom (vi. 9), which is, "A greater punish- 
 ment is ready for the more mighty." 
 
 Why "i In the first place, on account of 
 their ingratitude to God, who has loaded 
 them with temporal blessings, which He 
 has kept back from the rest of mankind ; 
 for not having found in them that thanks- 
 giving which such blessings well deserved. 
 Secondly, they will suffer much more than 
 those who have endured misery during 
 this ' life, because those who have so 
 suffered have, by the hardships they have 
 patiently endured, expiated the greater 
 part of their sins ; whilst the rich and 
 noble, who have always lived in luxury and 
 plenty, not having paid any debt of justice 
 to a merciful God, will find themselves 
 accountable and indebted for everything. 
 In the third place, as there is nothing to 
 hinder them from following the bent of. 
 their vicious inclinations, they the more 
 easily and the more readily fall into sin, 
 consequently the quality and quantity of 
 their transgressions will far exceed those 
 committed by persons in the middle class 
 of life. 
 
 In addition to that, they will not only 
 be accountable for their own sins, but they 
 will be answerable for those committed by 
 others, whether it may be from their 
 neglect of those under their care, or 
 whether by their pernicious example they 
 may have introduced, encouraged, or author- 
 ized habits of vanity and vice. 
 
 But consider what thrones and mansions 
 will not God prepare for those who, by the 
 practice of heroic virtues, sustain and even 
 increase their merit in the midst of a 
 corrupt court ! What praises will not He 
 reserve for those who have practised humil- 
 ity in the midst of honors and dignities, a 
 spirit of poverty in places where riches 
 abound, an aversion for pleasure where 
 pleasure is ever sought ft)r, an inviolate 
 purity in an infected atmosphere, in a 
 world which is full of tempting snares, a 
 persecuting world, a world which sneers at 
 virtue, and, in a word, which glories in 
 incontinency. 
 
 Le ^4rB DE la COLOMBltRE, S. J. 
 
 The honors paid to the wicked only 
 hasten their ruin. 
 
 The power of the wicked is likened, in 
 Holy Scripture, to the flowers of the field ; 
 because no sooner does worldly splendor 
 outshine other lights than it fades and 
 perishes ; no sooner has it reached its 
 height than down it falls. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 Moral VII. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 ON 7VIORTKI- SIN. 
 
 l^ 
 
 PfeREs Texier, Berthier, and St. Cyprian. 
 
 " Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent. The teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion, killin|{ 
 the soul of man." — Eccles. ii. 3. 
 
 IN is a monster conceived in the 
 darkness of error, and born 
 amidst the malice of deceit. 
 "Error and darkness are cre- 
 ated with sinners ; and they 
 that glory in evil things grow 
 old in evil " {Eccles. xi. 16). 
 
 God alone has the light to pierce into 
 that gloomy abyss, in order to discover sin 
 as it is ; it is the Uncreated Spirit, says St. 
 Paul, who, immersed in the depths of the 
 Divinity, can penetrate into the mire of 
 the malice of sin ; and as there is but the 
 immense capacity of the knowledge of God, 
 who can comprehend what He is, and the 
 honor which is due to Him, so there is 
 only His perfect intelligence, which can 
 form a true estimate of the enormity of 
 mortal sin. 
 
 We can well say with St. Ignatius, the 
 Martyr, that sin is a cursed child of Satan, 
 who transforms us into so many devils, as 
 the grace of God is a seed of the Divinity 
 which makes us participators of the divine 
 essence. We can say with St. Denis, 
 
 that it is a deprivation of beauty, life, and 
 reason ; with St. Augustine, that it is a 
 universal overthrowing of mankind ; with 
 Tertullian, that it is a detestable prefer- 
 ence of the devil to the sovereign majesty 
 of God ; with St. Anselm, that it is 
 a sacrilegious robbery of the sceptre 
 and crown of God; and finally, with St. 
 Paul, that it is a renewal of the crucifixion 
 of Jesus — Rursunt crucifigentes Filium 
 Dei. 
 
 We say, however, that mortal sin is the 
 entire extermination of grace, the death of 
 the soul, the corruption of human nature, 
 the horror of heaven, and the desolation of 
 the land. But after having said all this, 
 after having compared it to the most 
 detestable and pernicious of earthly things, 
 after having exhausted all the terms that 
 eloquence can command, — we are obliged 
 to confess that we have given but a faint 
 idea of that boundless evil which is the 
 cause of every evil, and whose malice is 
 beyond the comprehension of angels and cf 
 men. 
 
MORTAL SIN. 
 
 169 
 
 I am well aware that Holy Scripture 
 teaches us that the sinner drinks in 
 iniquity like water ; but I learn also from 
 the prophet Ezechiel that he drinks a 
 deadly poison, which tears his very entrails 
 and kills him : Anima qiicB pcccaverit, ipsa 
 morietiir. That the sinner flatters his 
 vices willingly, that he idolizes his guilty 
 passions — these are the serpents which 
 cruelly bite him. "Flee from sins as from 
 the face of a serpent " {Eccles. xxi). Yes, 
 mortal sins are furious lions, whose cruel 
 teeth kill his soul. "The teeth thereof 
 are the teeth of a lion, killing the souls of 
 men " {Eccles. xxi). Yes, that property 
 unjustly acquired, those adulteries, those 
 inordinate pleasures, in a word, all those 
 iniquitous deeds are, at the judgment 
 tribunal of God, nothing else but a double, 
 edged sword with which the distracted 
 sinner kills his soul and body — his soul by 
 the loss of grace, and his body by depriving 
 it of the right of a glorious resurrection, 
 "All iniquity is like a two-edged sword, 
 there is no remedy for the wound thereof " 
 {Eccles. xxi). 
 
 In fact, if we have no faith on this sub- 
 ject, here is an evident proof of it. Every 
 reasonable man fears the death of his 
 body, says St. Augustine, but scarcely any 
 one fears the death of his soul. People 
 work, perspire, and fret themselves to pro- 
 long a life which must soon end ; and they 
 wish to do nothing to avoid sin, that is to 
 say, to lose a life whose nature is immortal. 
 
 What do I say .? not wish to prevent the 
 loss of his soul ! Alas ! the number of 
 these madmen is incalculable, who sharpen 
 
 the sword that gives the death-blow to 
 their souls. Who will give me the feel- 
 ings of the saints, as well as their words ! 
 I hear a St. Cyprian exclaim indignantly. 
 What ! if the news of the death of a parent 
 or dear friend reached you, you would 
 weep and sigh bitterly, you would out- 
 wardly manifest your grief. O hard- 
 hearted sinner, I tell you from God, that 
 that slander, that black calumny, that 
 infamous deed has killed your soul, and 
 you appear to think nothing of it, 
 
 Le PiRE Texier. 
 Lenten Serm«m. 
 
 [William Francis Berthier was born at 
 Issondun, in Berry, on the 7th of April, 1704. 
 In 1722 he joined the Society of Jesus, and 
 distinguished himself as a virtuous and learned 
 ecclesiastic. Towards the end of 1762 he 
 accepted the appointment of Keeper of the 
 Royal Library ; he also assisted in the educa- 
 tion of the unfortunate Louis XVL Two 
 years after this, he withdrew from public life, 
 and devoted the remainder of his days to study 
 and to his religious duties. He died at 
 Bourges on the 15th of December, 1782.] 
 
 If the Almighty had never visibly pun- 
 ished the enemies of the faith, men might 
 have imagined that God was indifferent to 
 what was going on in the world ; and if 
 God should punish every sinner during 
 their lifetime, one might have thought 
 that the effect of divine justice exercised 
 here below would lead to the belief that 
 there was no future state, and all would be 
 annihilated, according as the human race 
 disappears. 
 
 What God has done at different times 
 against the wicked, is the testimony of 
 
I/O 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 what He will do, some day, against all 
 those who have so abused His patience. 
 
 If the sinner wishes to ponder on his 
 condition, let him recall to mind Sen- 
 nacherib, Pharaoh, Antiochus, and many- 
 others who have been struck by God's 
 all-powerful arm. History does not tell us 
 of how many more, perhaps much more 
 guilty, who have finished their career in an 
 awful manner; but divine justice is ever 
 the same, and if it has been delayed during 
 life, it has overtaken them when they have 
 ceased to breathe. 
 
 Reason is here in accordance with 
 religion. The words of the prophet 
 against Sennacherib is a divine oracle, 
 but a revelation of light is sufficient to 
 discover this truth. 
 
 O unjust man ! O thou who sheddest 
 the blood of thy equals ! thou shalt one 
 
 day be crushed with the weight of thine 
 iniquity ; thou layest waste to all the land, 
 and thou in thy turn shalt be laid low ; 
 thou despiseth all laws, and thou in thy 
 turn shalt be covered with confusion. 
 
 Le P^re Berthier. 
 On Isaiah. 
 
 Look at the havoc which hail and storm 
 spread around our gardens and orchards ; 
 look at the rot fast spreading amongst the 
 cattle ; look at the winds and hurricanes 
 which toss the ships at sea. This is only 
 but a feeble image of the ravages of sin 
 in a soul. 
 
 Mortal sin destroys the merits of good 
 works, corrupts every faculty of the mind, 
 and leads the sinner on to certain death. 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 De LapstSf V. 
 
 I 
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Copyright, 1889. 
 
 ^U 9^gnattuif, 
 
 Morphjr & McCarthy. 
 
ON i^ENIKL- SIN. 
 
 PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE and SEGNERI, S. J. 
 
 " He that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater." — Luke xvi. lo. 
 
 HE same God who is offended 
 with mortal sin — a God infi- 
 nitely great and loving, the 
 God to whom we are indebted 
 for everything, and who has so 
 often prevented us from falling 
 into mortal sin — this same God, I say, is 
 offended by venial sin. 
 
 It is true that it may be a trifling fault, 
 but this self-same venial sin becomes in a 
 way infinite, when it is committed against 
 infinite goodness and majesty. 
 
 I know full well that the faults which a 
 subject can commit against his king are 
 not always equally bad, but it is certain 
 that he will not overlook faults however 
 trifling they may be. To make an attempt 
 upon his life would, I grant, be the blackest 
 of crimes, but to injure him purposely, by 
 word or intention, would deserve a severe 
 punishment. 
 
 We should call that child an unnatural 
 monster, who would kill his own father ; 
 but he who has cherished the thought of 
 injuring him, or of raising his hand against 
 
 171 
 
 him, would he not be held in abhorrence 
 by all the world } 
 
 O rqy God ! how blind we are ! These 
 examples make us shudder, but we are not 
 moved when we look into our own con- 
 sciences, and try to persuade ourselves 
 that we are not so bad as they. 
 
 Let me, O Lord, constantly meditate 
 on those parables which represent to us 
 Your blessings and Your Majesty. What is 
 a king, what is the greatest monarch on the 
 earth, in comparison with Thee my God ? 
 
 Every one knows that when one gives 
 way to any bad habit it becomes daily 
 more and more difficult to overcome, and 
 that at last it quite gains the upper hand. 
 
 It is in this way that all of the most 
 wicked men are lost, — not one of them 
 ever commencing with a great crime. It 
 is certain that if they attended to the first 
 twinge of their conscience, they might 
 still have been innocent ; but, when once 
 they have paid no attention to inward 
 warnings, it becomes morally impossible to 
 arrest its downward progress. 
 
1/2 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 This is the way the devil, who would 
 not be satisfied if he did not deprive the 
 sinner of the grace of God, never tempts 
 him to begin by the commission of a 
 grievous offence at first. 
 
 He is content if he can feed the vanity 
 of that young girl by inspiring her with a 
 love of dress, and displaying the last new 
 fashions, because he knows well she will 
 not fail to go further, and, even without 
 his interference, she will at last come to a 
 bad end. 
 
 A person who simply wishes to abstain 
 f 1 om mortal sin has not a very great desire 
 to avoid it. 
 
 It is an idle fancy to suppose tl;at that 
 plan of life, which never fails to attend to 
 great essential things without taking the 
 trouble of taking precaution to avoid 
 lesser evils, can be sufficient to ensure 
 perseverance in the love of God. How- 
 ever venial my sins may appear to me, 
 O Lord, they are attached to Thee — 
 although they do not kill my soul. I am 
 always in want of Thy Precious Blood to 
 avert Thy justice, and they will never be 
 remitted unless a just proportion be kept 
 between the evil and the remedy, the 
 satisfaction and the injury. It is true 
 that a sprinkling of holy water, taken 
 with a feeling of true devotion, is suffi- 
 cient to wash away the stains ; that an 
 alms distributed to the poor can, in the 
 sight of God, discharge many a small 
 debt; that a fervent prayer can obtain a 
 
 cure of my sins, and all that are callt 
 sacramental remedies can help to staunch 
 my wounds ; but, all-sufficient as these 
 remedies may be, they would be ineffica- 
 cious if they are not mingled with the 
 wounds of our Saviour and supported by 
 His merits. 
 
 It is necessary that that drop of holy 
 water should be mingled with the tears 
 He has shed over our miseries ; that that 
 alms should be united to the immense 
 love which led Him to shed His blood for 
 our redemption, as says the Apostle ; that 
 that prayer be in union with those He 
 addressed to His Father in our favor. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE. 
 
 I acknowledge, O my God, that it is 
 only by a constant and wearisome practice 
 of little duties that I can prove, exercise, 
 and fortify my virtue for great occasions. 
 I will henceforth be faithful to Thee in 
 little things. It is only thus that I can 
 store up a treasure of merits for heaven. 
 
 What should I do } What could I suffer 
 for you, O Lord, if I waited for great 
 opportunities .' 
 
 Alas ! fatal experience has taught me 
 but too often that the lightest venial fault 
 diminishes the horror of sin ; that it 
 strengthens in my soul an attachment to 
 evil ; that it is easy to fall when venial 
 sins are disregarded. 
 
 Father Segneri. 
 ifiditations» 
 
g^ 
 
 CHARTKR LXV. 
 
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 mmm m.: ^:M/M.KM.M.M M:jiM^KM:M:MJLM.j^m::K:M^ 
 
 St. Augustine, P^re Biroat, and St. Bernard. 
 " I say unto you, that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin." — John viii. 34. 
 
 ■OU tell me that it is useless for 
 me to try, for my bad habit has 
 too strong a hold upon me ; but 
 I say, Watch over yourself, and 
 you will soon be corrected. 
 The more inveterate the habit 
 is the more it deserves your attention. 
 
 The tongue is a very quick and danger- 
 ous member ; be then more attentive to 
 restrain its volubility. If you try to-day it 
 will be easier to restrain it to-morrow. If 
 your victory is not complete to-morrow, 
 you will find that, by the efforts you made 
 yesterday, your task is less difficult. 
 
 Vice expires in three days. We shall 
 soon reap the fruit, and rejoice at the 
 great advantage we have gained by being 
 delivered from so sad an evil. 
 
 I know full well that it is difficult to 
 break off a sinful habit, for I have myself 
 experienced it, but, through the holy fear 
 of God, I have conquered the habit of 
 swearing. 
 
 When I read and meditated on His law, 
 I was seized with fear ; I fought manfully 
 
 At 
 
 against my bad habit ; I invoked the Lord 
 in whom I trusted, and He gave me the 
 aid I prayed for, and soon nothing appeared 
 to me more easy than to refrain from 
 swearing. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Serm. 307. 
 
 When we begin to offend Almighty God, 
 when the sin has not taken deep root, we 
 can easily tear it out, just as it would 
 happen to newly-planted trees. But when 
 the earth has nourished its roots, little by 
 little they grow, gradually and insensibly 
 they multiply their branches, they spread 
 quickly, and become so deeply rooted that 
 nothing but a tempestuous wind can break 
 the tree or root it up. 
 
 Ah! such is the fiightful state of the sin- 
 ner. At the beginning conversion is easy ; 
 his inclinations for evil, his attachment to 
 sins, are not so strong, nor so numerous, 
 nor so rooted within ; but after years of 
 continuous perseverance, his affection for 
 sin is increased, his longings are multi- 
 
174 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 I 
 
 plied, and his attachments become rooted ; 
 an4 nothing but the mighty stroke of 
 God's all-powerful arm can break his stony 
 heart. 
 
 I could not better explain the difficulty 
 of correcting habitual sin, or rather its 
 moral impossibility, than by quoting the 
 expressions of two Fathers of the Church, 
 who make use of sentences which at first 
 sight appear to be contradictory, but on 
 examination, they will both be found to be 
 true. 
 
 The first is St. Augustine, who says 
 that habitual sin is a second nature, which 
 man has created and fostered within him- 
 self, and that he has added it to the first 
 which he had : Consuetudo quasi secunda 
 et affabricata natura. 
 
 St. Ambrose says, on the contrary, that 
 it IS the habit which changes and excludes 
 nature : An ignoratis quantum vim habeat 
 consuetudo peccandi, ut exacudt naturam. 
 
 Let us see how we can reconcile these 
 two axioms. 
 
 When St. Ambrose says that habitual 
 sin excludes nature, he means that nature 
 which had at first good dispositions, and 
 which was not as yet corrupted by a multi- 
 tude of sins ; and when St. Augustme says 
 that habit is a second nature, he intends to 
 speak of that corrupted nature, that terrible 
 inclmation to do ill, after we have lived 
 for years under the dominion of sin. 
 
 We have here a twofold difficulty — the 
 difficulty of overcoming our first nature, 
 which is so prone to evil, and that of the 
 
 second nature, contracted by perseverance 
 in sin. 
 
 This is what St. Augustine teaches. 
 Ah, glorious saint ! how well you knew, 
 by experience, of those ill-regulated pas- 
 sions. When )uu say of yourself that 
 you groaned in the midst of your bondage, 
 Suspirabam. ligatis non ferro alieno, sed 
 mea ferrea voltmtate, — I sighed in the 
 midst of my passions, not under chains 
 unknown, but in the fetters of those of 
 my own forging. The devil actually kept 
 my will fastened down, he had manufac- 
 tured from my habitual sin a chain to 
 bind me, to retain me in his tyrannic 
 power. From this commenced my misery, 
 my helplessness ; in giving way to my 
 passions I had contracted a bad habit, and 
 this sinful habit passed to a second nature, 
 and has reduced me to a dire necessity of 
 adding sin to sin, and I felt that I had no 
 power to throw off the chain. 
 
 PfeRE BlROAT. 
 
 Lentsn Discourse. 
 
 Habitual sin may be justly called the 
 highest point of sin, since it causes the 
 loss of the fear of God, and begets a 
 contempt for His holy law. A sinful act 
 often reiterated becomes a habit, habit 
 engenders necessity, necessity becomes 
 impossibility, impossibility is the mother 
 of despair, and despair finishes its work, 
 and seals its own damnation. 
 
 lyr., BER.KARD. 
 

 
 
 .^ ^. .^. ^. ^^ ^^ 
 ■^ ■w ^^ ^^ ^F ^P 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 • 
 
 ON 0GGASIONS OF SIN. 
 
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 Massillon and Bossuet. 
 
 *♦ And such of them as shall flee, shall escape." — Ezechiel vii. i6. 
 
 *T is a delusion to fancy that an 
 occasion is necessary when it 
 is purely voluntary. 
 
 What is more usual, in the 
 world, than to make excuses 
 for a pretended necessity, 
 merely because every one considers it to 
 be the right sort of thing to do, and 
 because self-love prompts us to acquiesce 
 in any imaginary engagement ? 
 
 I am, says one, in a position of life, 
 such as rank or station, which renders it 
 impossible for me to avoid seeing or being 
 seen, paying or receiving visits ; how, 
 then, should I occupy my time.^ 
 
 I am, says another, in an office, in a 
 post of great responsibility, and it is 
 really necessary for me to enter into par- 
 ticulars, however hazardous they may be 
 for my salvation, however dangerous they 
 may be for the purity of my conscience. 
 
 I grant all this. You must appear in 
 society, you should have recreations, and 
 ought not to be prevented from mixing in 
 company. But is there not something over 
 and above these amenities and rules } If 
 
 ITS 
 
 your rank, condition, or position in the 
 world should compel you to pay visits, 
 however honorable or decorous they may 
 be, what necessity is there for prolonging 
 such visits } Why receive at your house 
 people of all ages of different sexes ? 
 Why engage in every party of pleasure, 
 promenade, or play ? It is that you wish to 
 shine above others, to show yourself off on 
 every occasion, and thus you make amuse- 
 ment the chief occupation of your life. 
 
 What necessity is there, that if you must 
 belong to a club or society, you should 
 select the one most scandalous and worldly, 
 one which only flatters vanity and engen- 
 ders effeminacy ? Why, of all theatres, you 
 should select those where the most sen- 
 sual exhibitions are given ? What neces- 
 sity is there, that you should always be in 
 the company of those whom you wish to 
 please or who please you ? What necessity 
 is there for encouraging the acquaintance 
 of dissolute libertines, who unfortunately 
 know no better, and are only capable 
 of persuading you to join them in their 
 evil course of life ? 
 
176 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Would you wish to be shown the dan- 
 ger which you are in, and the conse- 
 quent misery which must result from these 
 proximate occasions of sin ? 
 
 They are only vain terrors, say you, 
 which a confessor or director would wish 
 to depict. 
 
 What ! you do not call those clandestine 
 interviews, unknown even to father or 
 mother, a proximate occasion of sin ? 
 Those appointed meetings when the pas- 
 sions are so violent, and virtue is so weak 
 that it yields at last to the tempter ? You 
 do not call those free and easy conversa- 
 tions a proximate occasion of sin, where 
 intrigues are openly discussed, where the 
 heart, more than the mouth, suggests 
 many an expression capable of poisoning 
 every sense of right ? You do not call 
 that an occasion of sin, when you write 
 and receive letters wherein the heart is 
 freely opened ? You do not call that a 
 proximate occasion of sin, that secret inter- 
 course with a creature, and you do not 
 deem it to be a guilty occasion to remain 
 under the same roof with the object of your 
 passionate love ? You are deceived : Exite 
 de medio eofum, et scparamini, dicit 
 Doniinus. Withdraw from them and sepa- 
 rate. 
 
 Separation, divorce ; an entire separation, 
 an immediate divorce ; leave the guilty 
 object, and withdraw from him. 
 
 If you do not do this, you break the 
 commandment of God and complete your 
 condemnation. 
 
 Massillon. 
 From a Sermon on this Subject. 
 
 [Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bishop of 
 Meaux, is one of the greatest pulpit orator* 
 that France has produced. Although many 
 eloquent preachers have succeeded him, none 
 have excelled him. Besides his sermons and 
 magnificent funeral orations, he has written 
 many volumes which will always be read with 
 interest. The best edition of his works is the 
 one published by Lebel, in forty-three volumes 
 8vo, 18 13. Bossuet was born at Dijon in 
 1627. After his first studies, he went to 
 Paris in 1642, at the early age of fifteen, and 
 ten years afterwards was vested with the doc- 
 tor's cap at Sorbonne. Anne of Austria, the 
 then Queen-Regent, gave him the post of 
 chief almoner, and induced him to accept of 
 the bishopric of Meaux in 1681. He died at 
 the palace of his diocese in 1704, aged seventy- 
 seven.] 
 
 You inwardly reproach me, O Lord, for 
 having, like unto St. Peter, rashly exposed 
 myself to danger, notwithstanding Your 
 threats and prohibition, and notwithstand- 
 ing the proper sense I should have had 
 of my own weakness, with which You 
 have often been willing to inspire me. 
 
 Relying on my own strength, I foolishly 
 thought that those interviews, those occa- 
 sions which have so often proved to be 
 fatal, would not have injured me. I con- 
 tinued to associate with companions who 
 were corrupt, slanderous, and impious, and 
 I fancied that I could throw myself into 
 flames without being burned. 
 
 Now, O my Saviour, I will follow the 
 example of St. Peter, and will fly, cost 
 what it may, from the dangerous society of 
 those \yho sought my ruin ; I will avoid 
 every occasion of sin, and will weep bitterly 
 for my poor soul, my tarnished innocence. 
 
 Bossuet, 
 
Frequent Relapses. 
 
 si?' 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 " And the state of that man is made worse than the first" — Matthew xii. 45. 
 
 HE chief misfortune that accom- 
 panies a relapse, is to withdraw 
 God from us and to exhaust, 
 as it were, His mercy, which* 
 although infinite in itself, still 
 cannot be carried beyond 
 bounds with regard to ourselves, and to 
 the distribution of those special graces, as 
 also those extraordinary helps on which 
 our conversion depends. 
 
 " For three crimes of Damascus, and for 
 four, I will not convert it" (Amos i. 3). 
 
 For the three first crimes of Damascus, 
 said the Lord, through one of His 
 prophets. The three first crimes, I have 
 endured them, and have willingly forgotten 
 them, but for the fourth^ I shall not allow 
 My justice and My anger to be passed by 
 — why that ? Because I was withdrawn 
 from those wicked ones, who had angered 
 Me by their infidelities. 
 
 Besides, from the moment that God 
 withdraws His help — it is not to be 
 wondered at that penitence should become 
 difficult, and that this diflficulty should 
 increase in proportion to the length of the 
 withdrawal. Why > Because God alone 
 
 m 
 
 can fill our hearts with the sense of His 
 Divine Presence, and by diffusing the 
 unction of His Holy Spirit, which can 
 alone make our penances easy, and in the 
 end make us love Him. 
 
 Can you find a more beautiful illustration 
 of this, than that of the man so famed in 
 the Old Testament, the invincible Samson ? 
 A guilty passion had blinded him ; but the 
 blindness into which he had fallen was not 
 such as to deprive him of that strength with 
 which God had so singularly and so 
 miraculously endowed him. The stranger 
 to whom he was so attached had frequently 
 attempted, by binding his limbs, to deliver 
 him up to the Philistines ; but he had 
 always found the means to break his bands 
 and recover his liberty. Hence he flat- 
 tered himself that he would always be 
 able to free himself from her treachery, 
 and he said to himself : Egrediar siciit ante 
 — I will go forth, as I did before ( fudges 
 xvi). At last, that perfidious woman so 
 cleverly employs her fascinating ways, 
 that she cuts off that fatal hair, in which^ 
 by a secret mystery, all his strength was 
 centred. The news was soon conveyed 
 
178 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 to the Philistines. They surround him 
 unawares, and fall upon him in great 
 numbers. He wished to be relieved, as he 
 formerly had been, but he knew not that 
 God had withdrawn His help from him ; 
 Nesciens qtcod recessisset ab eo Dominus — 
 Not knowing that the Lord was departed 
 from him {Judges xvi.). 
 
 Here, my dear brethren, you have the 
 picture of a soul in that unhappy and 
 miserable state which usually succeeds to 
 a wilful relapse into sin. 
 
 You will say, on awaking from your deep 
 sleep of indifference, and reflecting on 
 your misery, you will say with Samson : 
 " I will go forth as I did before." I will 
 break my chains. I will make a vigorous 
 effort, and I will free myself from a guilty 
 passion which has so long enchained me. 
 
 But you do not consider that God retires 
 from you, and that in proportion as He 
 retires you are deprived of His aid ; that 
 penance then becomes a heavy burden, 
 an insupportable yoke ; and, whereas here- 
 tofore it was a source of comfort to you, 
 it now creates horror and disgust in your 
 mind ; for your frequent relapses have 
 separated you from God, and have placed 
 an almost insurmountable barrier between 
 you and your God : " Not knowing that the 
 Lord was departed from you." 
 
 In truth, is it credible that a man should 
 have had a firm determination to renounce 
 his sin, and then, soon afterwards, cow- 
 ardly and unresistingly (his sin being 
 always before him) fall again into the 
 same grievous sin .? Ah, said St. Bernard, 
 there is nothing stronger than our free 
 
 will ; everything submits to it, everything 
 obeys it. There is no difficulty which it 
 will not remove, no opposition which it 
 will not surmount, and what appeared 
 otherwise impossible becomes easy when 
 undertaken in earnest. 
 
 Now this is true, in a particular man- 
 ner, with reference to sin ; for, however 
 depraved we may have been after all, we 
 sin only because we have the will to com- 
 mit sin ; and, if we do not will to sin, it 
 is indisputable that we do not commit sin. 
 So that, in this way, our free will pre- 
 serves a kind of sovereignty over itself, 
 and participates in some measure of the 
 divine omnipotence, as, in what regards 
 sin, the will does only what it wishes to 
 do, and that it has simply to consent in 
 order to overcome the power of not doing 
 it. I am, then, inclined to think that, in 
 reality, it has not the wish to resist and 
 renounce sin, when I see plainly that the 
 subsequent wish is to resist but feebly, and 
 in the end fails to renounce sin altogether. 
 
 This is the argument of St. Bernard, 
 who cannot be suspected of Pelagianism, 
 since he always acknowledges the efficacy 
 of the grace of Jesus Christ, and is easily 
 reconciled with what St. Paul said of him- 
 self when he complained " that the evil 
 which he would not, that he did " — Sed 
 quod nolo malum, hoc ego {R.om, vii.), 
 because by that, he understood and meant 
 the involuntary motions of his heart ; 
 whereas St. Bernard speaks of the free 
 consent which is given to sin. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Dominical*. 
 
ON FINA12 inPENlTENGE. 
 
 ? 
 
 "cr 
 
 I 
 
 Massillon, de la CoLOMBifeRE, S. J., and St. Chrysostom. 
 " You shall seek me, and you shall not find me, and you will die in your sins." — John vii, 34. 
 
 \OCAVI et remdstis ; ego autem 
 
 in interitii vestro ribebo, et 
 
 subsannabo vos — I called and 
 
 oF^^^ you rejected Me, I also in my 
 
 ^" turn will laugh you to scorn. 
 
 This is, at the same time, a 
 reproach and a threat which God makes 
 to sinners. 
 
 I have waited, says He to them, until 
 the time you asked Me for; I have per- 
 mitted you to satiate those youthful pas- 
 sions which you alleged as an excuse ; I 
 have allowed the fire of your passions to 
 die out ; I could have left you at the very 
 moment you abandoned Me. 
 
 Nevertheless, I pitied you and took 
 compassion on your weakness. I delayed, 
 and even tolerated your long-continued 
 neglect. I have even followed you to the 
 last great feast, as you requested Me to 
 do. I hoped that you would return to 
 Me, that you would do something for your 
 own salvation ; nevertheless, you have not 
 fulfilled your promises. 
 
 My preachers have spoken with all that 
 zeal which My glory and your salvation 
 
 179 
 
 have inspired them ; the ministers of 
 penance have waited for you in the con- 
 fessional ; the treasures of My grace and 
 those of My Church have been ever 
 opened for sinners. In a word, I have 
 waited for you to work out My justice : 
 Expectavi ut faccret judicium. 
 
 But what has been the result, what the 
 success of my patience "*. Et ecce iniqui- 
 tate — it has been iniquity. 
 
 One day of penance and years of sin ; a 
 confession hurriedly, slovenly made, and a 
 thousand relapses during the rest of your 
 life — some trifling alms after a thousand 
 injustices : Et ecce iniqiiitas. You have 
 despised my grace, my warnings, my 
 threats. " I also in my time will laugh 
 you to scorn." 
 
 That which keeps back the conversion 
 of so many sinners is, that they want to 
 wait for their conversion until they are 
 free from all hindrances, from businesses 
 which occupy their whole time. When I 
 have settled that law-suit, says one ; when 
 I shall be free from all the cares of my 
 
i8o 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 numerous engagements, says another ; 
 when I shall have restored order and peace 
 in my family, when I shall have provided 
 for my children, when I shall have put by 
 suflEicient for the wants and comforts of 
 my old age, then I will think of being good 
 and of doing penance. This is how wordly 
 people act You wish to wait, in order 
 that you may be free from every obstacle, 
 free from all temporal anxieties. 
 
 Ah ! you deceive yourselves, blind sin- 
 ners ; you will never reach to that freedom 
 of mind, to that disengagement from 
 everything ; for you will always be slaves 
 of habits which drag you down, and which 
 will grow stronger in you more and more. 
 
 Well, if you wish to emerge from the 
 darkness in which you are, do not delay 
 one single moment when the voice of God 
 calls you. 
 
 Although you may be still attached to 
 the good things of this world, although 
 you may cling to the corruptions of the 
 age, although you may be slaves of a vice 
 which tyrannizes over you, listen to Jesus 
 Christ, who speaks to you, and when you 
 hear His voice, arise from sin, as did Laza- 
 rus from the grave. Without that, you 
 will perhaps never, never be converted. 
 
 A change from bad to good is not 
 effected in a moment. How great a 
 change, then, must that be from a bad life 
 to a good death ! 
 
 You know that the grace of a deathbed 
 repentance is the most extraordinary of all 
 graces ; and still you think that you have 
 * right to expect it, you who have brought 
 
 yourself to be most unworthy of so great 
 grace ; unworthy by that career of calloi 
 indifference of which you know all the 
 baseness ; unworthy by the knowledge of 
 inspirations from heaven, which you have 
 so many times misused ; unworthy by the 
 neglect of those blessed inward warnings 
 from above ; unworthy by that false and 
 deceitful security which you have cherished, 
 and which is the climax of all your sins. 
 
 I ask you, if there ever was a sinner 
 who ought to expect from God the grace of 
 conversion, would it be a sinner of your 
 grade, and if there is much to fear for one 
 sinner, ought you not to fear that the curse 
 of Heaven would descend upon you, and 
 that you would be rejected as a criminal 
 too guilty to merit forgiveness } 
 
 Massillon. 
 
 A man, when he is at death's door, is 
 like unto a city, besieged and vigorously 
 stormed by the enemy. Every civil func- 
 tion is suspended ; courts of justice, 
 schools, business, fine arts, are all sus- 
 pended during that calamity ; every one 
 runs to the ramparts to share in the com- 
 mon danger. So a person, the citadel of 
 whose heart is besieged with the pains of 
 death, to make use of the prophet's expres- 
 sions, thinks only of his pain ; his soul is 
 entirely at the mercy of those who torture 
 the most; it is then it must strive its 
 utmost to drive away an enemy ready to 
 make itself master of the place. During 
 this temptation, it no longer sees nor 
 hears, it only feels the pain ; in that dread 
 hour one hardly dares to call its attention 
 
FINAL IMPENITENCE. 
 
 i8i 
 
 to many important affairs, nevertheless it 
 is the time reserved expressly for the only 
 great affair, for an affair on which hangs 
 an eternity. 
 
 Woe to me ! if I am so badly advised as 
 to use my soul thus ; woe to me ! if I delay 
 to the last moment of my life that which 
 should have been the occupation of my life, 
 
 De la COLOMBlfeRE, S. J. 
 
 Do not, I implore you, delay your con- 
 version to God, for you know not the day 
 appointed to carry you off. 
 
 You tell me that God has given His 
 grace to be converted to some when they 
 have reached to extreme old age. Does it 
 follow from this that He will grant you the 
 same favor } Perhaps He will grant it to 
 me. Why add perhaps ? Because it has 
 sometimes happened. What ! does the 
 question of your salvation depend on a 
 perhaps ? 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Epis. ad Theod. 
 
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••>'^>^*^'^>45* 
 
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 CHAPTER LXIX, 
 
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 TtRES HouDRY and Croiset. 
 " They much preferred the glory of man to the glory of God." — John xii. 43. 
 
 F the chastisements inflicted by 
 Almighty God on the ambitious 
 man there is no instance more 
 terrible than the fate and pun- 
 ishment of Nabuchodonosor. 
 The king ceased to be a 
 prince, and, at the same time, lost his 
 reason and his crown. 
 
 We read in the book of Daniel : " But 
 when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit 
 hardened with pride, he was put down 
 from the throne of his kingdom, and his 
 glory was taken away." 
 
 He lost his speech and was forced to 
 bellow like the oxen, and did eat grass, 
 and from the highest rank he was reduced 
 to the lowest pitch of misery. He was 
 driven from a palace wherein he formerly 
 was idolized, and therein was a sight never 
 before witnessed in any palace of a king. 
 The magnificent buildings which had been 
 the unfortunate source of his pride could 
 only serve him as a humiliating retreat ; 
 that majesty which all obeyed tremblingly 
 was in the twinkling of an eye deprived of 
 every mark of honor. 
 
 One sought for Nabuchodonosor in 
 vain. His children no longer knew their 
 father, his subjects no longer recognized 
 their king. 
 
 PtRE HOUDRV, S. J. 
 
 Ambition is a passion which prompts 
 men to raise themselves higher than their 
 due. It is ever unjust, and insatiability 
 becomes a part of its character. 
 
 What vice more hurtful to repose ! 
 Disdainful and discontented, it despises 
 all that is lowly and recognizes no equal 
 No vice is more hideous ! Ambition seeks 
 only its aim — no exertion and labor too 
 difficult, provided it accomplishes its 
 object. All roads to advancement appear 
 to the ambitious man to be level. Ambi- 
 tion is his idol, and to this he sacrifices 
 duty, friendship, gratitude, and scorns 
 every law, human and divine. No passion 
 more hard-hearted, more irreligious. What 
 scheme does not the ambitious man resort 
 to, to attain his object .-• Intrigues, 
 quarrels, intercession, base flattery, all are 
 made use of. The ambitious play msLDjf 
 
AMBITION. 
 
 183 
 
 parts — now a friend, now a suppliant, but 
 rarely that of an honest man, and still 
 more seldom, that of a Christian man. 
 
 Conscience is disregarded, religion 
 unheeded, and passion reigns supreme 
 in the ambitious heart. 
 
 From this arise failures, that total dis- 
 regard of morality and all that is sacred. 
 
 Ambition upsets, so to speak, the econ- 
 omy of providence. Opposed as it is to 
 its designs, it follows and pursues its own 
 plans and projects. It selects positions, 
 procures dignities, seizes hold of the fore- 
 most place, seeks to displace others, and 
 yearns to be higher, higher still. 
 
 The life of an ambitious man is spent 
 in sighing after an imaginary fortune, a 
 
 phantom of glory. His present state of 
 life displeases him, if he sees an oppor- 
 tunity of obtaining a higher position, and 
 which he flatters himself he has the ability 
 to fill. To secure this, what measures 
 will he not take, and to what meanness 
 will he not resort "i 
 
 One might say that the majority of 
 mankind seemed to imitate those rash 
 children of Noah, who busied themselves 
 in erecting a tower that would reach to 
 heaven. 
 
 Christian virtue is the only object 
 worthy of ambition. God alone can 
 satisfy our heart, and that heart must be 
 centred in Him alone. 
 
 Croiset, S. J. 
 
 _k.A..Ai:<N.'/~N 
 
 / * / -A 
 

 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 
 # # # # # 
 
 ON •*• KNCER. 
 
 
 * # 
 
 # ♦ 
 
 Saints Basil, Chrysostom, and Ambrose. 
 
 " Whosoever is angry with his brother, shall deserve to be condemned by the judgment." 
 
 — Matthew v. 13. 
 
 T. BASIL — called the Great, to 
 distinguish him from other Patri- 
 archs of the same name — was. 
 born in 329, and in the year 370 
 he was made Bishop of Cassarea 
 in Cappadocia, where he died in 
 
 379- 
 
 Among all the Grecian Patriarchs St. Basil 
 ranks as the most distinguished ecclesiastic. 
 
 The vows of obedience, chastity, and pov- 
 erty framed by St. Basil are to this day the 
 rules of every order of Christendom. His 
 writings were read by all, even by the pagans. 
 They compared him to the celebrated ancient 
 orators, and was unsurpassed by any of the 
 holy Fathers. An excellent life of St. Basil, 
 by Mons. Hermant, was published in France 
 in the year 1674. 
 
 Those persons who are subject to 
 this furious passion are compared in Holy 
 Writ to beasts, because they imitate their 
 malignity ; and that those who are in the 
 habit of committing all kinds of crime 
 are rightly placed in the category of those 
 ferocious and carnivorous animals who 
 bear a natural enmity to man. 
 
 Quickness of temper, ill-natured, in con 
 siderate words, violence, calumnies, 
 reproaches, injuries, blows, and all other 
 disorders, are the result and fruit of anger. 
 It is that vice which sharpens the swords 
 with which men kill each other, that 
 brothers no longer recognize their own 
 flesh and blood, that parents and children 
 stifle the best feelings that nature implants 
 in them. 
 
 A passionate man does not even know 
 himself ; he respects neither age, virtue, 
 nor kindred ; he forgets benefits, and is 
 not moved by aught that is most sacred 
 amongst men. 
 
 Anger is a momentary madness. Those 
 who are most prone to It neglect them- 
 selves for the sake of revenge, and often 
 thereby expose themselves to all sorts of 
 danger. 
 
 The remembrance of wrongs that may 
 have been inflicted on them is like a 
 needle which continually pricks them ; 
 their excited minds know no rest until 
 
ANGER. 
 
 185 
 
 they have caused some great grief or until 
 they have inflicted some injury on those 
 who may have offended them ; when 
 what they wish to do often recoils upon 
 themselves, and this is frequently the 
 case. 
 
 St. Basil. 
 
 Do you not know that when one flies 
 into a passion, trifling things appear 
 insupportable, and what is the least inju- 
 rious becomes magnified and appears to 
 be an insulting outrage. That which 
 we look upon as a little word has 
 often caused murders and ruined entire 
 laities. 
 
 Thus, when we love some one the most 
 disagreeable task appears to be light and 
 easy ; in like manner, when we cherish 
 hate, the lightest things appear to be 
 insupportable. Although the word or 
 words may have been uttered without 
 intention of hurting the feelings, we har- 
 bor the thought that it must proceed from 
 a heart that is poisoned against us. St. 
 Paul says, " Let not the sun go down on 
 your anger." He fears that the night, 
 finding the offended person alone, may 
 fester the wound. During the day the 
 work and bustle of the world causes his 
 anger to slumber, bi;t when the night has 
 come he is alone, and he broods over his 
 fancied injuries, and his troubled soul 
 becomes excited, and passionate anger 
 resumes its sway. 
 
 St. Paul, foreseeing this evil, wishes 
 him to be reconciled before the sun goes 
 down, in order that the devil may not 
 
 have the opportunity of re-enkindling his 
 anger and thus make it turn to hate. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 If a man cannot help feeling angry, in 
 spite of himself, he can at least try to 
 mitigate his wrath. 
 
 Against that unhappy feeling of anger, 
 we should oppose it by that gentlest of all 
 virtues, patience. For, if anger should 
 exceed its proper limit, it opens a wound 
 in the soul which allows itself to be led 
 away, it deadens every proper feeling, 
 thickens the tongue, disturbs the eye, and, 
 in fact, revolutionizes the whole frame. 
 
 Therefore, in dealing with an angry 
 man resist him if you can, and if you 
 cannot, yield to him. 
 
 Would you wish to know how to act 
 when you have received an insult } Do 
 not return evil for evil ; pay no attention 
 to malicious reports, neither be wicked 
 because others are wicked. The pagans 
 have often quoted a remkrk made by one 
 of their philosophers, and which is cer- 
 tainly deserving of praise. His servant 
 having greatly displeased him by an act 
 of gross injustice, he said to him: "Go, 
 wretched man ; how severely would I not 
 punish you were I not in a passion ! " 
 
 David acted in a similar way ; he 
 restrained his anger when he felt tempted 
 to revenge ; but he so thoroughly had 
 mastered his passions that he did not 
 answer a single word to the insults they 
 heaped upon him. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 Opciis. 
 
CHAPITER IvXXI. 
 
 ON T^iZKRICE. 
 
 1^ 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Massillon. 
 " Let your li£e be exempt from avarice ; be content with what you have." — Hebrews xiii, 5. 
 
 HERE is nothing more cruel, 
 nothing more infamous, than 
 the usury so common amongst 
 men. 
 
 The usurer traffics on the 
 misfortunes of others ; he 
 enriches himself on their poverty, and then 
 he demands his compound interest, as if 
 they were under a great obligation to him. 
 He is heartless to his creditor, but is 
 afraid of appearing so ; when he pretends 
 that he has every inclination to oblige, he 
 crushes him the more and reduces him to 
 the last extremity. He offers one hand, 
 and with the other pushes him down the 
 precipice. 
 
 He offers to assist the shipwrecked, and 
 instead of guiding them safely into port 
 he steers them among the reefs and rocks. 
 Where your treasure is, there is your 
 heart, says our Saviour. Perhaps you 
 may have avoided many evils arising from 
 avarice ; but still, if you cherish an attach- 
 ment to this odious vice, it will be of little 
 use, for you will still be a slave, free as you 
 fancy yourself to be ; and you will fall from 
 
 the height of heaven to that spot wherein 
 your gold is hidden, and your thoughts 
 will still complacently dwell on money, 
 gains, usury, and dishonest commerce. 
 
 What is more miserable than such a 
 state ? 
 
 There is not a sadder tyranny than that 
 of a man who is a willing subject to this 
 furious tyrant, destroying all that is good 
 in him, namely, the nobility of the soul. 
 
 So long as you have a heart basely 
 attached to gains and riches, whatsoever 
 truths may be told you, or whatsoever 
 advice may be given to you, to secure 
 your salvation — all will be useless. 
 
 Avarice is an incurable malady, an ever- 
 burning fire, a tyranny which extends far 
 and wide ; for he who in this life is the 
 slave of money, is loaded with heavy 
 chains, and destined to carry far heavier 
 chains in the life to come. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Z>g Avariiia. 
 
 It is that insatiable greed for gold and 
 the goods of this world, which engenders 
 
A VARICE. 
 
 187 
 
 all those crying injustices, — all those 
 (iouble-dealings in trade and companies, 
 those infidelities to promises, that all- 
 devouring rapacity, which, heedless of the 
 widow and orphans, violate the most 
 sacred laws merely to satisfy the cravings 
 of a vast cupidity. 
 
 From avarice arises that desire of 
 establishing the status of your own family, 
 and of building up a name and reputation, 
 at the expense of the holy commandments 
 of God and His Church. 
 
 From that proceed those forced sac- 
 rifices of unloved children to occupations 
 for which they may have a distaste, merely 
 for the sake of aggrandizing those for 
 whom they have a greater love, — that bold 
 usurpation of the poor, by depriving them, 
 so to speak, of the inheritance of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 It is a sin of which a man can very 
 seldom be cured without the help of an 
 especial grace. 
 
 When a vice is not sufficiently strong of 
 itself to be satisfied, it generally calls in 
 the assistance of another vice near at 
 hand ; for instance, vengeance is satiated 
 when blood is spilled. Misfortune cures 
 us of pride and ambition ; sensuality 
 dies out with our strength and health ; 
 but avarice alone increases with our 
 age. 
 
 Ambition feeds avarice, pleasure flatters 
 it, and the old man used up by sensuality 
 becomes eager for money, and hoards 
 
 something daily for the end of a journey, 
 which, alas for him ! is so near at hand. 
 
 One look alone of our Saviour touched 
 the heart -of Peter ; a word converted Paul ; 
 the incredulous Thomas becomes a firm 
 believer as soon as he touched the wounds 
 and side of his Lord and Master ; but 
 neither look, nor word, nor touch, did the 
 avaricious Judas heed. 
 
 Ah ! my brother, if a little limpid streana 
 were near, and that was sufficient to satisfy 
 your thirst, why seek for one as wide as 
 an ocean, which will only make you 
 more thirsty ? If you have sufficient for 
 your wants, why seek for more ? 
 
 A man who is in heart a miser has 
 plenty, and yet has it not. He has enough, 
 because he is already rich and amasses 
 daily. He has it not, for with all his gold 
 he yearns for more ; he lives as if he had 
 nothing, and at last he dies poor. His gold 
 is as nothing, and he dies poorer than the 
 poorest beggar. 
 
 Jesus Christ came down from heaven to 
 cure this dreadful vice. To drive away 
 avarice. He elevates the love of poverty to 
 the highest rank, and to effect this. He 
 who is the Lord and Master of all riches 
 on earth preferred to be born in a stable ; 
 to pass His early days in a carpenter's 
 workshop, and then die naked on a cross, 
 in order to establish a religion, poor and 
 pure, in the midst of a coarse and cruel 
 Judaism. 
 
 Massilloh. 
 
St. Augustine and St. Cypriaw. 
 " I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God." — Isaias xliv. 6. 
 
 'F I asked an atheist how I can 
 be convinced that he is alive 
 (for, indeed, I cannot see the 
 soul that dwells within him), 
 he would answer that he acts, 
 he speaks, and walks, conse- 
 quently that he is a living being. But it 
 is possible to move, walk, and even speak 
 by mechanism, and I see nothing which 
 persuades me that he has within himself a 
 principle which of its nature can control or 
 instil such an animation. At least I may 
 obstinately require proofs from him of that 
 interior source which belies him. 
 
 The intelligence, reflection, and freedom 
 which accompany these exterior signs of 
 life, he replies, leave no doubt that the 
 source from which they spring must be 
 the soul. 
 
 I agree, and am forced to agree, with 
 him. In admitting creation, why, then, 
 does he not adore the Creator ? 
 
 Creatures are ever in motion ; of them- 
 selves, they could not possibly know how 
 to maintain and keep up all that so har- 
 
 18S 
 
 moniously dwells within. He will not say 
 what he thinks. To choose with so much 
 certainty all that is proper and convenient, 
 to make use of things to which they are 
 indifferent, and which, in their hardness 
 of heart, they attribute to chance. 
 
 O fool ! let him acknowledge that 
 Supreme Being whose wisdom and power 
 shine so visibly in the world. 
 
 Holy Scripture makes no distinction 
 between the atheist, and the madman and 
 fool ; they are nevertheless led by a very 
 different way. The fool thinks what he 
 says, and says what he thinks ; the 
 thoughts and words of the atheist do not 
 agree. His opinions give the lie to his 
 words, and his words give the lie to his 
 opinions. In his heart he denies the 
 Divinity. I am wrong ; I should say he 
 would wish to deny it ; he, however, cannot 
 succeed in this ; for he dares not publish 
 his opinion, because he does not under- 
 stand it. Every effort that he takes in 
 order to fly from the fear of God (who is a 
 witness of all his deeds) only ends in a 
 
ATHEISM AND UNBELIEF. 
 
 1:89 
 
 vague, confused idea of a belief which 
 startles him in spite of himself. O mad- 
 man ! to wish to force his reason, to lose 
 his reasoning faculties. 
 
 It must be madness to battle against a 
 truth which has been accepted at all times 
 and in all places. There is a Divinity, 
 and this is what all have agreed upon ; a 
 God has been acknowledged, and Him 
 they have adored. 
 
 This conviction is not the result of 
 education, for education differs in all parts 
 of the globe. It is not the commerce, 
 which has spread from one nation to 
 another ; for all nations have not been 
 able to agree on this point, without the 
 help of a mutual intelligence. Questions 
 of policy have not been able to produce it, 
 for governments so opposed to each other, 
 so different in manners and customs, could 
 not possibly come to terms. Princes and 
 subjects could not have been able to com- 
 bat with the impressions naturally formed 
 in all kinds of intelligences. 
 
 Is it study which has given it birth } 
 Certainly not ! On this point, the gross- 
 est ignorance does not yield to good 
 breeding or knowledge. In favor of a 
 Divinity, I do not ask, said Tertullian, for 
 the testimony of a soul in established 
 schools, in well-stored libraries, or in first- 
 rate colleges ; I appeal to a simple and 
 savage soul ; I invoke the soul itself, such 
 as it comes from the hands of its Creator. 
 If any person has been the first to discover 
 or make known the existence of that 
 Supreme Being, tell me the land from 
 which he has sprung, and the nation which 
 
 has published it to the whole world. 
 Point out the time and the age which has 
 first heard it. The birth of a truth «o 
 startling, so important, could not have 
 failed to have been noticed. 
 
 Perhaps it may be said, in opposition to 
 this, that idolatry has reigned, that 
 empires and kingdoms have adored differ* 
 ent gods ; I know it, and I only maintain 
 to establish a universal knowledge and 
 recognition of the Divinity. 
 
 If" there be under heaven an atheist, he 
 must acknowledge that idolatry destroys 
 itself, and that his ridicule is only equal 
 to his error. But reason alone cannot 
 compass all the perfections of the Divinity, 
 of which it is struck with wonder, and 
 which it cannot ignore. 
 
 All men yearn after a happiness which 
 they naturally aim at acquiring ; but with- 
 out the assistance of faith, how could they 
 agree as to its quality and essence } To 
 an ordinary intelligent mind, how difficult 
 it would prove to act in opposition to an 
 opinion which is universally recognized ! 
 And yet that very difficulty, would it not 
 be a convincing proof of the truth he would 
 deny } 
 
 One could scarcely imagine a man to be 
 more wicked than he who coolly and 
 deliberately resolves to riot in the com- 
 mission of the most abominable vices. 
 And yet a man who makes it his study 
 and profession, and who piques himself 
 upon it to deny the existence of a Supreme 
 Being, is such a man. It is neither chance, 
 nor delusion, nor reflection, nor knowledge, 
 nor even debaucherv, that have led him 
 
1 
 
 I90 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 into that frightful error ; it is his will 
 only. 
 
 We are born ignorant, weak, inconstant, 
 inclined to evil ; but we come into this 
 world with all the prejudices that wage 
 war against atheism. 
 
 If it is possible to be an atheist, it is 
 because the will to be one is there. It is 
 undoubtedly true that such a wish arises 
 from debauchery, but such will is, in 
 itself, a lewdness of the most detestable 
 kind. One does not plunge one's self by 
 degrees in the lowest depths of vice ; as 
 soon as they affirm that there is no God, 
 they cast themselves suddenly into the 
 abyss. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Oh Psalm Ixxiiu 
 
 God cannot be seen, He is far tl 
 bright for us ; neither can we understa^ 
 Him, He is far beyond our compreh< 
 sion ; He is not sufficiently valued becat 
 He is out of the reach of our sensel 
 this is why we should worthily estima 
 the perfection of His being when we s^ 
 that He is inestimable. 
 
 K I know not myself, if I know neithi 
 the nature nor the essence of my soul,ij 
 I cannot give a reason of what is in 
 how shall I dare to lift up my eyes 
 order to understand God, who is tl 
 beginning and end of all things, and wlj 
 is Himself without beginning and end t 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 De Id*l. VohU 
 
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 Extract from "La Morale Chritienne^'' and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 " A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his 
 fcouse." — EccLES. xxiii. 12. 
 
 LL oaths are forbidden except 
 when absolutely necessary ; 
 and it is breaking the com- 
 mandment which God has 
 made, not only by taking His 
 sacred name in vain, but He is 
 dishonored by blasphemies, impious jests, 
 oaths uttered on trifling occasions, frequent 
 and habitual swearing uttered through 
 wicked malice or through useless, frivolous 
 promises confirmed on oath. 
 
 We acknowledge the holiness of the 
 name of God by faith, and it is by faith 
 we know that perjury dishonors Him. 
 With regard to this precept, every oath, 
 every curse, every kind of swearing is 
 against this precept, and opposed to the 
 respect due to the holy name of God ; for 
 " holy and terrible is His name" : Sanctum 
 et terribile nomen ejus. But where are the 
 men and traders of the world who obey 
 this commandment ^ Alas ! many swear of 
 their own accord, without a thought, with- 
 out reflection, and very many through habit. 
 Let us take care to avoid the use of 
 oaths in our temporal afifairs ; for it is an 
 
 191 
 
 abuse of religion, and is taking a merce- 
 nary view of God. 
 
 The abuse of swearing arises either 
 from a bold defiance of Him who forbids 
 it, or from the malice of those who make 
 use of it, or from thoughtlessness and 
 irreverence. 
 
 Religion, honesty, and honor would 
 remedy all this. 
 
 Nothing would be so contrary to the 
 Spirit of God and to the doctrine of Jesus 
 Christ as the making use of oaths in the 
 Church, because it would be the occasion 
 of perjury, lay snares for the weak and 
 ignorant, and sometimes would place the 
 name and truths of God in the hands of 
 the wicked. 
 
 La Morale Chritienne. 
 
 I beseech you, my brothers, to be ever 
 on your guard against the habit of swear- 
 ing and blaspheming. 
 
 If a slave dare to pronounce the name 
 of his master, he does it but seldom, and 
 then only with respect ; therefore is it 
 not a shocking impiety to speak with 
 
192 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 contempt and irreverence of the name of 
 the Master of angels and seraphim ? 
 People handle the book of the Gospel with 
 a religious fear, and then only with clean 
 hands, and yet your rash tongue would 
 inconsiderately profane the name of the 
 Divine Author of the Gospel. 
 
 Would you wish to know with what 
 respect, fear, and wonder the choirs of 
 the angels pronounce the adorable name ? 
 Listen to the prophet Isaias : "I saw," 
 says Isaias, "the Lord sitting upon a 
 throne high and elevated ; upon it stood 
 the seraphim, who cried one to another 
 and said, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God 
 of hosts, all the earth is full of His glory." 
 
 See with what terror they are seized, 
 even while they praise and glorify Him. 
 As for you, my brethren, you know how 
 cold and indifferent are the prayers you 
 say, and you know how frequently you 
 blaspheme a name so majestic, so sacred, 
 and how you try to make excuses for the 
 bad habit you have contracted. It is easy, 
 yes, I say, it is easy, with a little care, 
 attention, and reflection, to leave off this 
 vicious habit. 
 
 Since we have fallen, my brethren, into 
 this sin of blasphemy, I conjure you, in 
 the name of our Lord, to rebuke openly 
 these blasphemers. When you meet with 
 such who publicly sin in this respect, 
 correct them by word of mouth, and, if 
 necessary, by your strong arm. Let these 
 shameless swearers be covered with con- 
 fusion. You could not employ your hand 
 to a holier work. And if you are given 
 into custody, go boldly before the mag- 
 
 istrate, and say in your defence that you 
 have avenged a blasphemy. 
 
 For if a person is punished for speaking 
 contemptuously of a prince, is it not 
 reasonable to suppose that a person who 
 speaks irreverently of God should be 
 sentenced to a severer punishment .-' It is 
 a public crime, a common injury which all 
 the world ought to condemn. 
 
 Let the Jews and infidels see that our 
 magistrates are Christians, and that they 
 will not allow those to go unpunished who 
 insult and outrage their Master. 
 
 Do you remember that it was a false 
 oath that overturned the houses, temples, 
 and walls of Jerusalem, and from a superb 
 city it became a mass of ruins "i Neither 
 the sacred vessels nor the sanctuary could 
 stay the vengeance of a God justly 
 angered against a violater of His word. 
 
 Sedecias did not receive a more favored 
 treatment than Jerusalem. Flight did not 
 save him from his enemies. This prince» 
 escaping secretly, was pursued and taken 
 by the Assyrians, who led him to their 
 king. The king, after asking him the 
 reason of his perfidy, not only caused his 
 children to be killed, but deprived him of 
 his sight, and sent him back to Babylon, 
 loaded with iron chains. 
 
 Would you know the reason why .? It 
 was that the barbarians and Jews who 
 inhabited the country adjoining Persia 
 should know, by this terrible example, 
 that the breach of an oath is punishable. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Seventh Homily. 
 
^i\ 
 
 On Ocilumny cin5 ^lanflEi|. 
 
 BouRDALOUE and Saints Chrysostom and Bernard. 
 
 •♦ The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity ; it is an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison." 
 
 — James iii. 6, 8. 
 
 CRIPTURE, in giving us a por- 
 trait of a slanderer, represents 
 him as a terrible and formidable 
 man, " A man full of tongue 
 is terrible in his city, and he 
 that is rash in his word shall 
 be hateful " {Eccles. ix. 25). 
 
 In fact, he is formidable in a city, for- 
 midable in a community, formidable in 
 private houses, formidable among the rich, 
 as also among the poor. In a city, 
 because he creates factions and parties ; 
 in a community, because he disturbs its 
 interior peace artd union ; in private 
 dwellings, because he introduces coolness 
 and enmities ; among the rich, because he 
 abuses the confidence they place in him, 
 in order to work the destruction of those 
 whom they may dislike ; among the poor, 
 because he urges them on to quarrel one 
 with another. How many families have 
 been estranged through a petty slander ! 
 how many friendships have been severed 
 
 193 
 
 by a scandalous joke ! how many hearts 
 lacerated by indiscreet reports ! 
 
 What is that that daily occasions so 
 many open and declared ruptures.^ Is it 
 not an offensive expression which was 
 totally uncalled for 1 
 
 What is that that causes duels (now so 
 wisely forbidden by laws human and 
 divine) .'' Is it not often only a stinging 
 remark, which is not credited, but which, 
 according to the false honor of the world, 
 could not go unpunished } 
 
 Although other vices generally increase 
 in virulence with time, still there are 
 certain states and conditions of life which 
 retard or stop their growth ; it may be by 
 the grace of vocation, or by a firm reso- 
 lution to conquer bad habits, or by a 
 withdrawal from occasions of sin, or it 
 may be by a kind of necessity. 
 
 Avarice, for instance, is less liable to be 
 rooted in the heart of a religious ; ambi- 
 tion is rarely to be found among the poor 
 
194 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and lowly. There have been maidens in 
 the Christian world who have immediately 
 overcome all temptations of the flesh, but 
 as for slander, it exercises its sway over 
 every class. 
 
 It is the vice of the adult, of the young, 
 of sovereigns, of the learned and ignorant ; 
 it is the vice of the court, city, of the 
 lawyer, of the soldier, of the young and 
 old. Shall I say it "i and yet I cannot 
 draw the line here. No, my brethren, I 
 must say it with all respect ; it is the vice 
 of priests as well as of laymen, of the 
 religious bodies as well as the seculars, 
 of the devotee as well, perhaps more so, 
 than that of the wicked. Recollect, how- 
 ever, I do not say it is the vice of the 
 truly devout, thank God ! True piety is 
 exempt from every vice, and to attribute 
 a single fault to such a one would be an 
 insult to God, and throw discredit on the 
 worship due to Him. But those who 
 profess devotion have their besetting sins 
 like unto all, and you know if slander 
 and calumny are not amongst the most 
 usual. 
 
 Besides that, it is a sin which tempts 
 the most devout, a sin which nullifies the 
 gifts of grace, a sin which corrupts their 
 minds whilst their bodies remain chaste, 
 a sin which sadly shipwrecks their souls, 
 even after having avoided the most crim- 
 inal perils and the fiercest passions ; in 
 fine, it is a sin which is the cause of the 
 loss of many a pious soul, and which dis- 
 honors devotion. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 DominicaU. 
 
 St. Bernard, in his twenty-fourth sermon 
 on the Canticles, depicts the portrait of a 
 sanctimonious slanderer. 
 
 The saint says : — Look at that clever 
 calumniator ! He begins by fetching a 
 deep sigh, he affects to be humble, and 
 puts on a modest look, and with a voice 
 choking with sobs tries to gloss over the 
 slander which is on the tip of his tongue 
 One would fancy that he expressly assumed 
 a calm and easy demeanor ; for when he 
 speaks against his brother, it is in a tender 
 and compassionate tone. I am really 
 hurt, says he, to find that our brother has 
 fallen into such a sin ; you all know how 
 much I love him, and how often I have 
 tried to correct him. It is not to-day that 
 I have noticed his failing ; for I should 
 always be on my guard to speak of others, 
 but others have spoken of it too. It 
 would be in vain to disguise the fact ; it is 
 only too true, and with tears in my eyes I 
 tell it to you. This poor unfortunate 
 brother has talent, but it must be con- 
 fessed that he is very guilty, and however 
 great may be our friendship for him, it is> 
 impossible to excuse him. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 
 To commit a murder, besides the not 
 having the person in your power, there 
 are many measures and precautions to 
 take. A favorable opportunity must be 
 waited for, and a place must be selected 
 before we can put so damnable a design 
 into execution. More than this, the pis^ 
 tols may miss fire, blows may not be 
 
CALUMNY AND SLANDER. 
 
 195 
 
 sufficient, and all wounds are not mortal. 
 But to deprive a man of his reputation and 
 honor, one word is sufficient. By finding 
 out the most sensitive part of his honor, 
 you may tarnish his reputation by telling 
 k to all who know him, and easily take 
 
 away his character for honor and integrity. 
 To do this, however, no time is required, 
 for scarcely have you complacently cher- 
 ished the wish to calumniate him, than 
 the sin is effected. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 ^V^Api^^"^^^ 
 

 ^!<5)^s)(§^ 
 
 ^,x;;^^CHAPTER IvXXV. 
 
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 PfeRE Lejeune, Homilies Morales, and St. Ambrose. 
 'He that studieth discords, loveth quarrels." — Proverbs xvii. 19. 
 
 ^ERE JOHN LEJEUNE, called the 
 famous preacher, was born at 
 Dole, in the year 1592, where his 
 father was the parliamentary coun- 
 cillor. He refused a canonry of 
 Arbois, in order to enter the grow- 
 ing Congregation of the Oratory. 
 Cardinal de BeruUe, the founder of the French 
 Oratory, had a great affection for Pfere Lejeune, 
 and always looked upon him as one of his 
 ablest followers. 
 
 The French Oratory must not be confounded 
 with the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, the rules 
 and constitutions of each being different from 
 each other. ( See page 64. ) 
 
 Pbre Lejeune, when preaching a course of 
 Lenten sermons at Rouen, entirely lost his 
 eyesight; this occurred when he was but 
 thirty-three years old ; he, however, continued 
 his preaching at various missions, until he 
 reached the age of sixty. La Fayette, the 
 bishop of Limoges, induced him at last to 
 remain in his diocese, and it was at Limoges 
 he died, in the odor of sanctity, on the 19th 
 of August, 1672, aged eighty. 
 
 His sermons, occupying the space of ten 
 volumes octavo, were published in Toulouse 
 and in Paris. The celebrated Massillon 
 acknowledged that he was indebted to Pbre 
 Lejeune for many beautiful passages he intro- 
 duced into his own sermons ; and it was 
 
 196 
 
 through the reading of his sermons that 
 induced the recently canonized Benedict 
 Labrd to devote his whole life to silent prayer 
 and meditation. 
 
 A selection from his sermons was after 
 wards published, and it was called "The 
 Sermons of the! Blind Father." 
 
 Quarrels, enmities, and law proceed- 
 ings do not very often cease among people 
 who are at variance with others : these 
 kinds of disputes are for the most part 
 hereditary in some families ; they continue 
 and pass from generation to generation. 
 They communicate their differences and 
 aversion to their children ; they speak 
 of them in their presence ; they tell them 
 of the injuries they pretend to have 
 received from those with whom they have 
 been at variance. 
 
 Such a one, they say, is a declared 
 enemy of our house ; his sole object is to 
 injure us ; we have always had some dis- 
 agreements together; it is a long time 
 since we went to law, and our suit is not 
 as yet ended. Young children, susceptible 
 as they ever are, listen attentively, soon 
 
DISCORD, LAW SUITS, ETC. 
 
 197 
 
 share in their parents' dislikes ; they enter 
 into the passionate feelings of their fathers ; 
 they suck in with their milk, so to speak, 
 their corrupt inclinations, and scarcely 
 have they arrived to man's estate, than 
 they have imbibed, through those bad dis- 
 courses, dispositions which will lead them 
 to perdition. 
 
 It is thus that enmities multiply and 
 become lasting ; they descend from father 
 to son, from generation to generation, and 
 a wretched, miserable misunderstanding, 
 which, though small at its birth, grows and 
 grows, and descends by degrees to the end 
 of ages. Time even does not finish it, but 
 it continues still in an unhappy eternity. 
 
 Le P*re Lejeune. 
 Sermons, Vol. v. 
 
 As the Son of God censures and con- 
 demns the dissensions and animosities 
 which are permanent among men, so is it 
 His intention to recomm.end peace and 
 concord. This is what the Holy Ghost 
 teaches us through the mouth of the Royal 
 Prophet : htquire pacem et perscquere earn 
 — Seek peace, and do not weary in its pur- 
 suit. The apostle in like manner in his 
 Epistle to the Romans : " If it be possi- 
 ble, my brethren, as much as in you, hav- 
 ing peace with all men." 
 
 St. Chrysostom weighs those words, " If 
 it be possible, " for, says he, it sometimes 
 happens that it is not possible to be at 
 peace with certain persons, and on certain 
 occasions, — for instance, when there is a 
 question of upholding Christian piety and 
 truth, which is sought to be vilified. The 
 
 Apostle says : " Do your duty in the 
 sight of all men, not revenging yourselves, 
 so that you may give no countenance to 
 discord or iniquity " ; but if piety and 
 devotion be attacked, if any one should 
 infringe the rules, leave peace to defend 
 the truth and keep it unto death, so that 
 you may ever maintain charity inviolate 
 towards those with whom you may have 
 been at variance. You will not treat him 
 as an enemy, but you must speak to him 
 in a friendly way, tell him of his fault in a 
 mild and charitable manner, and explain 
 the truth as it is ; for this must be the 
 meaning of those words — " As much as in 
 you, having peace with all men." 
 
 Show him that you are a sincere friend, 
 taking care, however, that you do not dis- 
 guise the truth. 
 
 The glorious St. Gregory de Nanzianzen, 
 seeing that the assembled bishops of the 
 city of Constantinople were Vexed and 
 troubled at his being elected Bishop, which 
 dignity the saint had only accepted 
 through compulsion, he not only, for peace 
 sake, willingly sent in his resignation, but 
 he beseeched and entreated the Emperor 
 Theodosius to allow him to refuse the 
 offered charge. " I ask of you, " said he, 
 " to grant me one favor ; this is to lighten 
 and relieve me from the weight of the 
 work with which I am loaded. You have 
 triumphed over savage enemies, but your 
 glory and the grand trophy of your empire 
 is to establish peace and concord among 
 the bishops. In their councils they are 
 disunited ; the only means of reuniting 
 them is a resignation. The Church's ship 
 
198 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 I 
 
 is disturbed, rocking fearfully ; since it is 
 on my account that this storm has arisen^ 
 throw me overboard, and there soon will 
 be a calm." 
 
 The Emperor and his councillors, know- 
 ing the eminent virtue and the profound 
 learning of this holy prelate, were so sur- 
 prised at this request, so touchingly deliv- 
 ered, that it was with extreme reluctance 
 that they agreed to accept his resignation. 
 Homilies Morales. 
 
 In order to avoid dissensions we should 
 be ever on our guard, more especially with 
 those who drive us to argue with them, 
 with those who vex and irritate us, and 
 who say things likely to excite us to 
 anger. When we find ourselves in com- 
 pany with quarrelsome, eccentric individ- 
 
 uals, people who openly and unblushingly 
 say the most shocking things, difficult to put 
 up with, we should take refuge in silence, 
 and the wisest plan is not to reply to 
 people whose behaviour is so preposterous. 
 Those who insult us and treat us con- 
 tumeliously are anxious for a spiteful, 
 sarcastic reply : the silence we then affect 
 disheartens them, and they cannot avoid 
 showing their vexation ; they do all they 
 can to provoke us and to elicit a reply, 
 but the best way to baffle them is to say 
 nothing, refuse to argue with them, and to 
 leave them to chew the cud of their hasty 
 anger. This method of bringing down 
 their pride disarms them, and shows them 
 plainly that we slight and despise them. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 Offices, Chap. v. 
 
 

 
 4)i ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
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 CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 
 
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 Le PfeRE Haineuve. 
 
 "Many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of 
 the cross of Christ ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their 
 shame." — Philippians iii. i8. 
 
 Extracts from an excellent book entitled " The Broad Way that Leads to Perdition,^* 
 
 by P^.RE Haineuve. 
 
 'T is a very dangerous error to 
 fall into to imagine that, in 
 leading an effeminate and indo- 
 lent life, one does not stray 
 into the broad road which leads 
 to perdition. 
 This is as much as to say that you 
 cannot be positively wicked if you do not 
 give way to excess, and that it is not 
 going to perdition if you go on slowly, or 
 step by step. 
 
 If you examine your conscience, you 
 would soon see that, in leading such a life, 
 you arc not walking on that narrow path 
 on which our Saviour bids you enter. 
 
 As y(»u would not like to confess that 
 you arc in the broad path, you must as 
 readily acknowledge that you are not of 
 the number of those who daily take up 
 their cross and practise austerities which 
 accompany those who walk in the narrow 
 path. 
 
 From this, it follows that we imagine 
 that there must be a third road of which 
 
 Jesus Christ does not make mention, and 
 that it is in this said third path that we 
 can securely walk, without giving our- 
 selves too much trouble, to reach the gates 
 of heaven. 
 
 Perhaps you may have never thought of 
 this third road which we have just men- 
 tioned, but it is the fact that you naturally 
 love an easy and indolent life ; you wish 
 to enjoy all its attractions, to have all your 
 own way, without being troubled with suf- 
 ferings or with contradictions, and in that 
 state of mind, were you compelled to 
 make choice of the two paths, you would 
 say that you would choose neither the one 
 nor the other. 
 
 You have no desire to go by the narrow 
 path, because you have a horror of trouble 
 and constraint, and you do not wish to go 
 by the broad path, for you dread the loss 
 of your soul. 
 
 What would you, then } Which road do 
 you intend to take } How do you propose 
 living } 
 
200 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 I 
 
 If you dare to be candid you would 
 make this sincere avowal : that you seek 
 for liberty to enjoy the pleasures of this 
 life without the fear of losing your soul 
 for all eternity, and you seek for a path 
 which would conduct you to eternal bliss 
 without suffering all the pains and labors 
 which we have to endure before we reach 
 the end of our journey. 
 
 This, then, is what you seek for, and 
 what you lay claim to. But where is this 
 path .-' where shall we find it on this side 
 of the grave } 
 
 Two paths are spoken of in Holy Writ ; 
 one on which we find thorns and crosses — 
 these we flee from ; the other leads to 
 perdition, which we fain would avoid. 
 
 Our Lord ' said {Matt, vii.) : " Strait 
 is the way that leadeth to life." The Son 
 of God does not say, " the way that lead- 
 eth to perfection," but " the way that 
 leadeth to life is strait." 
 
 He does not say that there is a strait 
 way which leads to life, as if there was 
 another; but He says positively, "The 
 way that leads to life eternal is strait " ; 
 to teach us that whosoever wishes to enter 
 heaven must resolve to enter in at the 
 narrow gate. 
 
 In many other chapters of St. Matthew 
 and St. Luke He repeats the same thing : 
 Arcta est via. . . . Angus t a via est cott- 
 tendite intrare per angustam poftam." 
 
 Has He told us, even once, that there 
 was a sweet and easy way to work out our 
 salvation.? If there was one would He 
 have been ignorant of it.? If He had 
 known it would He have concealed it ? 
 
 Had He not known of it. how coul x He 
 be called the true way, and the most 
 excellent of all guides. Ego sum via, 
 Veritas, ct vita, " I am the way, the truth, 
 and the life " > 
 
 If, after He had discovered it. Pie had 
 concealed it from us, would we not have 
 had a right to complain of His silence on 
 so important a subject.? Would we not 
 have had reason to reproach Him for 
 having loaded us with a useless burden by 
 conducting us along a rude and rugged 
 path,, strewn with flinty stones, bristling 
 with thorns, to a terminus, when He 
 might have led us through a smooth and 
 even pathway all covered with flowers .? 
 
 Remark, then, how emphatically He 
 speaks of the difficulties of the road, 
 " How strait and narrow is the way ! " 
 Ah ! once more, how narrow is the way 
 that leadeth to eternal life ! 
 
 If the effeminate and sensual life, which 
 so many Christians lead, could pass 
 through the narrow way, what need would 
 there be for our Saviour to say so emphat- 
 ically, Quant arcta et augusta via est (How 
 strait and narrow is the way) .? 
 
 But note especially that our Saviour 
 speaks of but two ways — one narrow, the 
 other broad. We cannot trace a vestige 
 of the third ; and as all the wicked march 
 on the broad way, it evidently follows 
 that all the elect, without exception, must 
 go by the narrow way. 
 
 After that, what delusion, what blind* 
 ness, to imagine for a moment that we can 
 work out our salvation by leading an 
 effeminate, an indolent life ! 
 
♦ CHAPTER IvXXVII. ♦ 
 
 •»■ + + + •*• + ■♦ + + 
 
 \M 
 
 d) 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 Saints Cyprian, Chrysostom, and Basil. 
 
 " By the envy of the devil death came into the world, and they follow him that are of his side.' * 
 
 — Wisdom ii. 24, 25. 
 
 T. CYPRIAN was born in the year 
 200 at Carthage. In his forty- 
 sixth year he was converted to 
 Christianity, and in 248 he was 
 made Bisliop of Carthage. On 
 the 14th of September, 258, he was 
 beheaded at Carthage, because, in 
 opposition to the orders of the Government, 
 he had preached the Gospel in his own gardens. 
 Lactantius calls him one of the most eloquent 
 of the early Fathers of the Church. St. 
 Jerome compares his style to a spring of the 
 purest water, whose course is mild and peace- 
 able. Others have compared it, perhaps with 
 more reason, to a torrent which draws down 
 with it all that impedes its progress. 
 
 All his writings have been translated into 
 French by Lombert, and published in the year 
 1672 in four volumes. 
 
 Oh ! ye who are envious, let me tell you 
 that however often you may seek for the 
 opportunity of injuring him whpm you 
 hate you will never be able to do him so 
 much harm as you do harm to yourselves. 
 
 He whom you would punish through 
 the malice of your envy, may probably 
 escape, but you will never be able to fly 
 from yourselves. Wherever you may be 
 
 301 
 
 your adversary is with you, your sin rankles 
 within. 
 
 It must be a self-willed evil to persecute 
 a person whom God has taken under the 
 protection of His grace ; it becomes an 
 irrcmedlal sin to hate a man whom God 
 wishes to make happy. 
 
 Envy is as prolific as it is hurtful ; it is 
 the root of all evil, the source of endless 
 disorder and misery, the cause of most 
 sins that are committed. Envy gives birth 
 to hatred and animosity. From it avarice 
 is begotten, for it sees with an evil eye 
 honors and emoluments heaped upon a 
 stranger, and thinks that such honors 
 should have been, by right, bestowed upon 
 himself. From envy comes contempt of 
 God, and of the salutary precepts of our 
 Saviour. 
 
 The envious man is cruel, proud, unfaith- 
 ful, impatient, and quarrelsome ; and, what 
 is strange, when this vice gains the 
 mastery, he is no longer master of himself, 
 and he is unable to correct his many faults. 
 If the bond of peace is broken, if the 
 
202 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 rights of fraternal charity are violated, if 
 truth is altered or disguised, it is often 
 envy that hurries him on to crime. 
 
 What happiness can such a man enjoy 
 in this world? To be envious or jealous 
 of another, because such a one is virtuous 
 and happy, is to hate in him the graces 
 and blessings God has showered down 
 upon him. 
 
 Does he not punish himself when he 
 sees the success and welfare of others ? 
 Does he not draw down upon himself tor- 
 tures from which there is no respite ? 
 Are not his thoughts, his mind, constantly 
 on the rack ? 
 
 He pitilessly punishes himself, and, in 
 his heart, performs the same cruel office 
 which Divine Justice reserves for the 
 chastisement of the greatest criminal. 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 
 De Zelo. 
 
 O envious man, you injure yourself 
 more than he whom you would injure, and 
 the sword with which you wound will 
 recoil and wound yourself. 
 
 What harm did Cain do to Abel "i 
 Contrary to his intention he did him the 
 greatest good, for he caused him to pass to 
 a better and a blessed life, and he himself 
 was plunged into an abyss of woe. In what 
 did Esau injure Jacob } Did not his envy 
 prevent him from being enriched in the 
 place in which he lived ; and, losing the 
 inheritance and the blessing of his father, 
 did he not die a miserable death .? What 
 harm did the brothers of Joseph do to 
 Joseph, whose envy went so far as to wish 
 
 to shed his blood } Were they not driven 
 to the last extremity, and well-nigh perish 
 ing with hunger, whilst their brother 
 reigned all through Egypt ? 
 
 It is ever thus ; the more you envy 
 your brother, the greater good you confer 
 upon him. God, who sees all, takes the 
 cause of the innocent in hand, and, irri- 
 tated by the injury you inflict, deigns to 
 raise up him whom you wish to lower, 
 and will punish you to the full extent of 
 your crime. 
 
 If God usually punishes those who 
 rejoice at the misfortunes of their enemies, 
 how much more will He punish those who, 
 excited by envy, seek to do an injury to 
 those who have never injured them ? 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Sermon 40. 
 
 Envy is a gnawing pain which springs 
 from the success and prosperity of another ; 
 and this is the reason why the envious are 
 never exempt from trouble and vexation. 
 If an abundant harvest fills the granaries 
 of a neighbor, if success crowns his 
 efforts, the envious man is chagrined and 
 sad. If one man can boast of prudence, 
 talent, and eloquence ; if another is rich, 
 and is very liberal to the poor, if good 
 works are praised by all around, the 
 envious man is shocked and grieved. 
 
 The envious, however, dare not speak; 
 although envy makes them counterfeit 
 gladness, their hearts are sore within. If 
 you ask him what vexes him, he dare not 
 tell the reason. It is not really the 
 happiness of his friend that annoys him, 
 
ENVY AND JEALOUSY, 
 
 203 
 
 neither is it his gaiety that makes him sad, 
 nor is he sorry to see his friend prosper ; 
 but it is that he is persuaded that the pros- 
 perity of others is the cause of his misery. 
 This is what the envious would be forced 
 to acknowledge, if they spoke the truth 
 sincerely ; but because they dare not 
 confess so shameful a. gin, they, in secret, 
 
 feed a sore which tortures them and eats 
 away their rest. 
 
 As the shadow ever accompanies the 
 pedestrian when walking in the sun, so 
 envy throws its shadow on those who are 
 successful in the world. 
 
 St. Basil. 
 Dt Invidia. 
 
'.if 
 
 FL-KTTERY. * 
 
 By the Author of " Guerre aux Vices" Saints Basil and Jerome. 
 
 " It Is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived with flattery of fools." 
 
 — ECCLESIASTES vii, 6. 
 
 INS which flatter us are always 
 the most dangerous, because 
 they please our self-love, and 
 they favor the inclination and 
 humor of sinners. It is on 
 this account that there are few 
 who distrust it, and fewer still who guard 
 against it. It is somewhat difficult to 
 look upon a vice as an enemy, that so 
 well knows how to flatter the disorderly 
 passions arid corrupt inclinations of our 
 nature. 
 
 St. Jerome says that flattery is always 
 cunning and insidious ; and indeed flattery 
 is the most accommodating of vices. It is 
 flattery that agreeably harmonizes with 
 the feelings and inclinations of men, 
 whether they are good or bad, just or 
 unjust, solely to humor them, while the 
 poison works within. It does the contrary 
 of what the apostle did ; it is all to all, 
 corrupting and seducing those who put 
 their trust in it ; and not only does it enter 
 into the inclination of sinners, but it 
 advises them ever to follow the disorderly 
 motions of their pernicious passions and 
 
 interests, for their own gratification. It 
 praises with affected applause the vicious 
 and criminal actions of the rich and pow- 
 erful. 
 
 But the malice of such pernicious com- 
 placences goes still further, when it prefers 
 to attack the good and just and censure 
 their virtues, notwithstanding the curse 
 which this draws down. " He that justi- 
 fieth the wicked, and he that condemneth 
 the just, both are abominable before God," 
 says the Book of Proverbs {chap. xvii.). 
 
 If you wish to know the evil effects of 
 flattery, details could easily be given ; but 
 it may be said, in general terms, that 
 through this detestable flattery truth is 
 betrayed, minds are seduced, the most 
 upright hearts and intentions are cor- 
 rupted ; it inspires a contempt for virtue, 
 and a relish for vice ; it prevents sinners 
 from being converted, and confirms them 
 in habitual sin ; and, to complete their 
 ultimate loss, it induces them to take a 
 delight in bad actions, which they hear so 
 praised, Delectat ea facere, qnce videmus 
 laudare, says St. Augustine. 
 
FLATTERY. 
 
 205 
 
 Of all interested men, he who is the 
 most selfish is the flatterer, because 
 although his praises cost nothing, still he 
 does not give his applauses for nothing. It 
 is of little consequence what profit he gains, 
 so he can extract usurious interest there- 
 from. For if he approves of the vices of 
 others, it is that they should not condemn 
 his own. It is indifferent to him, if he 
 flatters that which is good, or that which 
 is bad, so that he sees a prospect of gain- 
 ing something by it. If he employs his 
 artifices to please the rich and noble, he 
 does it with the hope of securing their 
 favors or of obtaining their patronage. If 
 he bestows his praises on all sorts of 
 people, he does it with the idea of receiv- 
 ing something in return, or to obtain 
 something he has in view. And thus it 
 is that flatterers corrupt and seduce us. 
 
 To shield ourselves from one vice, we 
 must take care not to fall into another, 
 and for fear of being taken for a selfish 
 flatterer, we must not in any way be cyni- 
 cal or churlish. Those saints who have 
 respectfully praised one another were not 
 flatterers. They have taught us that we 
 should esteem, praise, and love virtue and 
 virtuous persons : Bonce vita et virtutis et 
 solet et debet esse laudatio, says St Augus- 
 tine. 
 
 The majority of good Catholics, being 
 humble and timid, require to be encour- 
 aged to continue to be good, by a just 
 meed of praise which their virtue deserves, 
 and we should be convinced that there is 
 no less injustice in refusing praises to 
 those who deserve them, than to flatter 
 
 those whose wicked conduct has rendered 
 them unworthy. 
 
 This right medium consists chiefly in 
 three things. The first is, never to praise 
 wicked and vicious persons, nor to approve 
 of their bad conduct, but rather to keep 
 silent. If pressed to give your opinion, 
 declare frankly and without exaggeration 
 in vvhat such and such a deed may be 
 approved of. Secondly, never to praise 
 any one except for things that really 
 deserve praise, and do this with all sin- 
 cerity. The third is, to be sparing of 
 praise of good people in their presence, 
 but to honor and praise them highly when 
 absent, when an opportunity occurs, when 
 we can do so without affectation. 
 
 Thus we should destroy flattery and 
 untruth, and we should, at the same time, 
 perform acts of justice and charity. 
 
 Guerre aux Vices. 
 
 St. Basil remarks that vices and virtues 
 are so alike in color that it is not always 
 easy to discern the difference. Prodigal- 
 ity, for example, has somewhat an air of 
 magnificence ; rashness imitates, by its 
 fits and starts, the generous impulses of 
 valor ; hypocrisy has some outward resem- 
 blance to the exterior signs of devotion. 
 This it is that gives rise to the abuse of 
 this resemblance, and that by two classes 
 of persons, namely, the envious and the 
 flatterers. The flatterer takes vices ior 
 virtues, and the envious, on the contrary, 
 takes virtues for vices. The flatterer, to 
 shield the vices of the great, gives them 
 the color of virtues, and the envious, to 
 
306 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 obscure the lustre of virtues, gives them 
 the color of vices. If you are prodigal, the 
 flatterer will say that you are magnificent ; 
 if you are liberal, the envious will say that 
 you are a prodigal. If you are rash, the 
 flatterer will say that you are generous and 
 brave ; if you are really courageous, the 
 envious will say that you are rash. 
 
 What* does the flatterer mean by such 
 false praises, but to aggrandize himself and 
 buiM up his fortune ? What do the envi- 
 ous mean, but to destroy that of others } 
 
 St. Basil. 
 
 Nothing so corrupts the heart and mind 
 as flattery, for the flatterer's tongue does 
 more harm than the persecutor's sword. 
 We are dragged downward by an evil 
 which is inherent within us ; we feel favor- 
 ably towards those who flatter us, and 
 although in our reply we show, or pretend 
 to show, that we are unworthy of their 
 praise, we nevertheless receive the flatter- 
 ing praise with a secret joy and pleasure. 
 
 St. Jerome. 
 Epistle 121. 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIX. 
 
 ON GK7VV:BLING. 
 
 ? 
 
 '^ 
 
 % 
 
 PiRES GiRousT and Bourdaloue. 
 " The people sat down to eat and drink, and then rose up to play." — Exodus xxxii. 6. 
 
 'AQUES GIROUST, the Jesuit 
 Father, was born at Beaufort, 
 near Anjou, in 1624, and died in 
 Paris in 1689, aged sixty-five. 
 His manner of preaching was 
 simple and void of display, but 
 this very simplicity was accom- 
 panied with such earnest fervor and unction, 
 that it won the hearts of all his audience, and 
 was, through the help of God, the means of 
 many being converted to a new life. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that all immoder- 
 ate amusements are sins ; and I am of 
 opinion that there is not one, from v^^hat- 
 ever way we look at it, where you may not 
 find many irregularities arising therefrom. 
 Why } Well, we shall see. Pleasures 
 and amusements are determined by the 
 result. 
 
 In reference to work, when it is finished 
 they may be looked upon as relaxations ; 
 with regard to any heavy labor we may 
 have to perform, then such recreations 
 may be considered as preparations. They 
 are then allowable, so far as they are nec- 
 essary, either to refresh your mind, or to 
 give you additional strength. 
 
 vn 
 
 Such is the extent All that extends 
 beyond is against God's view of them, and 
 consequently forbidden. 
 
 Now, who does not often see that the 
 gaieties of the world are neither preceded 
 by work, nor followed by hard labor.? 
 They are sought for, for the love of the 
 amusements alone, with no other view 
 than that of tasting their sweetness, or 
 with the idea of leading an easy, agreeable 
 life, thus employing their whole time 
 immoderately, or without stint ; conse- 
 quently it is this excess which makes it so 
 culpable, and which, as it were, reverses 
 the order of Providence. 
 
 I acknowledge that there are certain 
 games which are innocent, provided that 
 they are not carried to excess. Recreation 
 is necessary for the mind as well as for the 
 body ; the one to avoid too great a strain 
 upon the brain, the other, to relieve con- 
 stant fatigues. 
 
 But gambling, playing the whole day, 
 and stealing away the hours of night when 
 repose and sleep are needed, amusements 
 which are the sole occupation when they 
 
208 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 ought to occupy the least portion of our 
 time here on earth — in a word, gaieties 
 which we notice in high life, all such as 
 these, I condemn. And have I not a 
 right to condemn them ? In them I do 
 not find the intentions of God ; they are 
 not even the teachings of nature. I do 
 not ask you if you live as Christians, but 
 as men. 
 
 Amusements so paltry, so evanescent, 
 were not made for the purpose of clouding 
 the intellect of a reasonable man. 
 
 PfeRE GiROUST. 
 
 Advent Sermon. 
 
 You love gambling; it is this that 
 destroys the conscience, this inordinate 
 love of play ; it is a mania which is no 
 longer an amusement, but a business, a 
 profession, a traffic, without stint or 
 measure ; and if I may dare to say so, it is 
 a mania, a madness, which drags you down 
 from one abyss to another deeper still. 
 Abyssus abyssum invocat. From this pas- 
 sion arise those innumerable sins of which 
 they are the consequence. From that 
 mania arise neglect of our duties, misrule 
 of home, pernicious example you give to 
 your children. From that proceed the 
 squandering away of your property, those 
 unworthy meannesses, and, if I may use 
 the term, those trickeries, which proceed 
 from a greediness of gain. From this 
 mania arise quarrels, oaths, swearing, and 
 despair when all is lost. From that pro- 
 ceed those shameful resources, which you 
 fancy that you are forced to have recourse 
 to. Lastly, from this proceeds that dis- 
 
 honesty to seek for any excuse to supply 
 yourself with funds to carry on the sinful 
 game. 
 
 One excess brings on another. Exces* 
 in the time employed in play is attended 
 by excess in the sums played for. To play 
 but seldom, yet when you do play to 
 hazard much, or to hazard a little, but 
 play continually, are two excesses, both of 
 which are forbidden by the law of God. 
 But over and above these two excesses 
 there is a third, which is, to play often^ 
 and every time you play to venture a 
 large sum. Do not, however, mistake my 
 meaning, when I say play in which you 
 hazard a large sum. I speak not only of 
 the great and the rich, but of all i» 
 general, and each in particular, con* 
 formably to their means and station in life. 
 What is nothing for one is much for 
 another. One may easily bear what would 
 hurt another ; and what for the former 
 would be a small loss might have fatal 
 consequences for the latter. 
 
 Nevertheless, men will play ; and it is 
 a rule of life, a rule to which they unalter- 
 ably adhere ; so that no consideration caa 
 draw them from it. Cost what it will, they 
 will go on ; and for what purpose } 
 
 O my brethren, cut off this love of play. 
 It is far more easy to give it up entirely, 
 than try to retrench it, or leave it off by 
 degrees. Quit it once for all, and make a 
 public avowal of it. 
 
 BOURDAIOOE. 
 

 !iiiii!iii;iii ""' '■'r,iiiiniiiiii[r 
 
 
 THE RAISING OF JAIRUS DAUGHTER. 
 
# # # 
 
 errelRess ©f Keort- 
 
 # « 
 
 Bishop Mascaron, PfeRES Nouet and Nepvue. 
 
 ' All the world is in extreme desolation, because there is no one who meditates in his heart." 
 
 — ^Jeremias xii. ii. 
 
 ULES MASCARON, the son ot a 
 celebrated barrister, was born at 
 Marseilles, in 1634. The richest 
 inheritance that his father left him 
 was his own forensic eloquence. 
 Early in life he joined the Con- 
 gregation of the Oratory, and was 
 soon made a professor of literature ; but it 
 was his extraordinary talent for preaching that 
 gained him an immense reputation. 
 
 This young orator, after having visited the 
 principal cities in France, proceeded to Paris. 
 Louis XIV., who was not slow in recognizing 
 •talent, engaged him to occupy the pulpit in 
 the Chapel Royal, and it was at this time that 
 the King presented him with the Bishopric of 
 Tulle. 
 
 His funeral orations are considered to be 
 equal to those of Bossuet and Flechier. In 
 the year 1758, a Collection of Funeral 
 Orations by Bossuet, Flechier, and Mascaron 
 was published, and the volume met with great 
 success. After some years of devoted atten- 
 tion to his diocese, he appeared at the Court 
 for the last time in 1694. Louis XIV. was 
 delighted to hear him again, and said to him, 
 " You have aged, but your eloquence is as 
 young as ever." 
 
 This eminent prelate died on the i6th 
 November, 1705, aged sixty-nine; deeply 
 regretted by all his clergy. 
 
 St. Augustine compares the blindness 
 of a soul to a man who is asleep. When 
 our eyes are shut during sleep we are 
 blind ; nevertheless we see something, for 
 though our eyes are shut our imagination 
 is at work. We dream that we are very 
 rich, we fancy that we are living in the 
 lap of luxury ; in a word, we picture to 
 our mind strange events. This is our 
 case. We do not see things in the right 
 light ; we do not hear the mute language 
 that ought to lead us up to God. No ! 
 our imagination conjures up fantastic 
 phantoms. 
 
 We thought to have found true happi- 
 ness in the wealth and riches of this 
 world, and they have vanished. We 
 sought for earthly joys, and these pleas- 
 ures have become insipid. 
 
 When our soul is preparing to leave the 
 body, then our eyes will be opened, and 
 we shall then feel and know our terrible 
 darkness. 
 
 Mascaron. 
 Bishop of Tulle. 
 
i 
 
 2IO 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 St. Augustine remarks that we are all 
 born blind because we are all born in sin. 
 We are all bom blind, and the dimness 
 of our sight is the universal scar which 
 original sin has imprinted on every heart, 
 stifling the light of heaven in its birth, 
 and surrounding the aurora of life in the 
 darkness of death. 
 
 Sin, which we inherit from our birth, 
 leads us into an obscure night, deprives us 
 of the sight of the Sovereign Good, and 
 fills us with errors and illusions. 
 
 This blindness is so much the more to 
 be deplored because it grows with our 
 growth, and, being an original curse, it 
 becomes free and voluntary in its growth ; 
 so much so that our malice makes a per- 
 sonal crime out of an hereditary punish- 
 ment, and thus it corrupts every stream 
 that flows from so poisonous a source. 
 
 It is the characteristic of sin to over- 
 shadow every action, whether it be the 
 banishment of grace which is the light of 
 the soul, or whether it blinds the under- 
 standing, thus rendering it incapable of 
 receiving the light of the Holy Spirit, 
 who abandons the sinner, and leaves him 
 exposed to all kinds of dangers and mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 Oh ! unhappy darkness, exclaims St. 
 Augustine, in which I have lived. Oh ! 
 frightful blindness, which has hindered 
 me from enjoying the light of heaven. 
 Oh ! deplorable ignorance, which hid the 
 beauty and infinite goodness of God. Oh ! 
 beauty ever ancient, beauty ever new, 
 more brilliant than the light of the sun, 
 
 would that I had known and loved you 
 sooner ! Ah ! why cannot I hide the 
 many days and years in which I lived?' 
 Oh ! that I could blot them out with my 
 tears ! 
 
 P^RE NOUET. 
 Meditations. 
 
 Hardness of heart leads to sad results. 
 Light blinds or dazzles a hardened heart, 
 it does not enlighten it. The just pun- 
 ishments of God, which weigh heavily on 
 it, only make it rebellious and do not 
 subdue it. The scourge which God 
 inflicts on it overwhelms but does not 
 humble it ; miracles astonish but do not 
 cohvert it. 
 
 Would you wish to know the sure marki 
 of hardness of heart ? St. Bernard will 
 give them to us. A hardened heart, he 
 says, is a heart unbroken by remorse, 
 unsoftened by devotion, and unmoved by 
 prayer. It yields to no threats, which only 
 harden it the more ; it is unmindful of all 
 the blessings of God and unfaithful to 
 grace. It blushes not at things most 
 shameful, heeds no danger, has no love 
 for brethren, no fear of God. 
 
 It forgets the past, neglects the present, 
 and cares not for the future. It forgets 
 its duty, and finally forgets itself. 
 
 There is the picture of a hardened heart 
 
 How frightful ! how terrible ! 
 
 Is it your heart "i If you have not all 
 the marks, do you not, on examinatioir, 
 recognize some few like unto them } 
 
 Le PicRE Nepouk. 
 Reflections. 
 
-^^^>^^>^^^^ 
 
 '^^^^^^^f^<r^*-*<^ 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 
 \*i ',': ',": •*': •.?.' ••• 
 
 •.* •-•.• ••-• ••." •-••• •-•." •-•.* •-•." '.»: •-•-• •*; 
 
 : * ON HYPOCRISY. * % 
 
 ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 
 
 •-•.• •>-• •>-• 
 
 iiaMBMViiaimMa 
 
 BouRDALOUE and the '■'■Dictionnaire Morale 
 
 " The hope of the hypocrite shall perish ; he will himself condemn his own folly : that in which h* 
 trusted is but a spider's web." — Job viii. 14. 
 
 HE Pharisees were, as the 
 Gospel represents, of a morti- 
 fied exterior, and piqued them- 
 selves on a strict observance 
 of the laws ; and relying on 
 that were filled with a self- 
 satisfied opinion of their own merit. 
 
 On this principle they looked upon 
 themselves as perfect and irreproachable : 
 In se confidebunt tanquain justi. They 
 took pains to keep themselves aloof from 
 others, and believed themselves to be 
 better than their brethren. 
 
 In their ordinary devotions they fasted 
 only to show that they had fasted, and 
 disfigured their features so as to attract 
 the notice of the unsuspecting multitude. 
 
 Under the pretext of practising auster- 
 ity they assumed a studied appearance of a 
 well governed life. 
 
 Thus, without any other title than a 
 sanctimonious regularity, they thought 
 that they were entitled to occupy the 
 foremost places in all festivals and assem- 
 blies. These are the marks of a false 
 
 devotion and hypocrisy ; and to these our 
 Saviour alluded. 
 
 There are some who are willing to 
 practise Christian virtue, but at the same 
 time they wish to gain the credit. Some 
 who do not like to be unnoticed, but wish 
 to make a show, and to be different from 
 others ; they affect humility, and do not 
 associate with all. 
 
 Whence comes it that singularity is so 
 sought after ? Because it is that which 
 excites admiration, which is the charm of 
 vanity. 
 
 If there is anything out of the way, it is 
 there that they seek for it. And even in 
 their penances they wish to attract notice. 
 
 Unlike St. Augustine, who, when he was 
 meditating his conversion, wished to keep 
 it secret lest the world might think that 
 his former wickedness was only a pretense 
 to show off his present virtue. 
 
 A parade of regularity and mortification 
 induces them to. usurp a certain kind of 
 superiority, which neither God nor man 
 gives them. For, after that, they set 
 
212 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 themselves up as censors of all the world, 
 and they, like to the Pharisees, consider 
 themselves worthy of the highest places 
 in the Church and State. They unscru- 
 pulously meddle with everything ; and, 
 what is more dangerous, they, under the 
 pretence of piety, are not aware of their 
 own failings, and so degenerate into an 
 ambition more criminal than that with 
 which the Son of God reproached the 
 Pharisees. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 If you wish to know the difference 
 there is between a hypocrite and a just 
 man, between showy and solid piety, 
 between human motives and Christian 
 motives, here are some marks. 
 
 Human virtue seeks for witnesses who 
 praise, and its wish is to appear to be, 
 than to be. True piety loves to be hidden, 
 contented with being seen by God, and 
 with the witness of its own conscience. 
 Worldly goodness is full of presumption ; 
 there is no accident which it thinks cannot 
 be repaired, no obstacle which cannot be 
 overcome ; whereas true virtue is ever 
 mistrustful of self; it is never rash, and 
 is always anxious to avoid occasions of sin, 
 or to fly from the presence of objects 
 which may have been the cause of former 
 falls. 
 
 Human virtue is proud, overbearing, 
 and contemptuous ; it knows not what it is 
 to yield, to be humble, or to obey ; it looks 
 down disdainfully on those who have no 
 merit ; it examines with a critical, malig- 
 nant eye those who are reputed to be 
 
 good, and turning to itself, it is flattered 
 at possessing something out of the ordinary 
 way. 
 
 True piety is humble and submissive, 
 glad to be surpassed by others ; and if there 
 be any rigor to exercise, it is against itself; 
 and if there be any indulgence or consider- 
 ation to bestow, it is given to others. 
 
 Human goodness is interested ; self- 
 interest is the main motive of all its 
 actions, so that if there is no fortune to 
 gain, no glory to establish, no reputation 
 to preserve, such goodness remains inac- 
 tive so long as self is not disturbed. 
 
 True virtue makes a man thoroughly 
 disinterested, in his reputation, in his 
 worldly goods, in the contempt which 
 others display, in the praises which are 
 showered down upon him. 
 
 Finally, human virtue is fostered by 
 pride, is constant through obstinacy, 
 liberal through vanity, honest through 
 interest, affable and mild through policy, 
 and even humble through a refinement of 
 self-love. 
 
 All these false and imposing pretensions 
 to virtue, not having God in view, are like 
 those empty titles, which nobles, who 
 having sold their lands, still preserve their 
 title and coats of arms. 
 
 Those people whom the word believed 
 to be so generous, so faithful, so affable, 
 so patient, so honest, so sincere, are like 
 unto handsome mausoleums, on the out- 
 side of which are depicted representations 
 of every virtue, and inside you find a 
 frightful corruption. 
 
 From the " Dictionnaire Moral.'^ 
 
BOURDALOVE. 
 
 " Why stand you here all the day Idle ? " — Matthew xx. 6. 
 
 HERE is, says Holy Writ, a 
 great occupation, imposed not 
 on any one in particular, but 
 on every one, and a heavy 
 yoke, which all the children of 
 Adam are compelled to bear. 
 But where are these children ? Is there 
 no exception to this universal law ? " From 
 him that sitteth on a throne of glory, unto 
 him that is humbled in earth and ashes " 
 {Eccles. xl. 3). 
 
 The children of Adam include every- 
 body, from royalty to the meanest beggar, 
 "from him that wcareth purple and beareth 
 the crown, even to him that is covered 
 with rough linen." 
 
 This sentence excludes no one ; princes 
 and grandees of the world are included 
 with miserable wretches and with slaves. 
 
 In fact, my dear brother, whoever you 
 may be, I ask you what dispenses you 
 from work ? Is it because you are high 
 in the world, as if your grandeur could 
 wipe out the stain of your origin, or exempt 
 you from that universal curse which God 
 has pronounced on the whole human race, 
 
 namely, to eat your bread with the sweat 
 of your brow 1 
 
 But tell me, that high rank, that noble 
 birth, that distinguished position which 
 you make so much of, are they higher 
 than kings and sovereign pontiffs 1 
 
 Listen to the words of St. Bernard 
 when he wrote to the Pope Eugenius : — 
 "I beseech you," said he, "with all tre 
 respect I owe to your Holiness, not to 
 consider that you are raised above all the 
 world, but take care that you are born to 
 work, aye, even more than others ; and if 
 you wish to be exempt you must first of 
 ^ all wipe out the stain of original sin, which 
 the lustre of your purple and your tiara 
 can never hide." 
 
 Consider, then, that a man who is born 
 a slave, clothed in the livery of sin, must 
 only think of work, and endure great 
 fatigue in order that he may better his 
 condition in this world. 
 
 If we come to the difference of sex, we 
 shall see that women are no less compelled 
 to work ; that they must busy themselves 
 in household duties, and, however easy 
 
214 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 these duties may appear, they must still be 
 attended to. Solomon, wise as he was, 
 did not despise them, for, after having 
 sought for a brave woman, and after he 
 had found one, he says, she put her hands 
 to her work, and that she rejoiced in 
 laborious employments : Manum suam 
 mis it ad fortia. 
 
 There is no condition of life among 
 men where idleness may not become a sin, 
 and the higher the position, idleness and 
 sloth are the more guilty. For instance, 
 a young man of high connection who 
 remains idle in youth, without a wish to 
 cultivate his mind by learning and acquire 
 such a knowledge requisite to prepare him 
 for a post, when, through influence, he 
 may be appointed to a responsible posi- 
 tion, how will he acquit himself .'' God 
 will not give him an infused science, for 
 that would be a miracle. What will he do, 
 then } Why, he will be ignorant of the 
 duties of his profession ; and if, for 
 example, he comes to be a judge, he will 
 judge badly. 
 
 . Granted that he has the good intention 
 of administering justice ; from the want 
 of legal knowledge he cannot, and he will 
 be responsible for all the losses and injury 
 that parties may have suffered. In addi- 
 tion to this, it is not just and right that he 
 should learn experience at the expense of 
 
 others ; and, however good his intention 
 may be, a poor man may perchance lose a 
 lawsuit which will deprive him of all his 
 property. On this I cannot say too much, 
 for, if he be judge, he has another kind of 
 idleness to battle with, and that is, he will 
 not take the trouble to examine into mat- 
 ters, for he loves his pleasures more than 
 the careful examination of right and 
 wrong. 
 
 I should never finish if I were to run 
 through every condition of life. I could 
 say that, through idleness and sloth, it has 
 happened that preachers and directors of 
 souls have acquitted themselves so badly 
 that their sloth has produced frightful 
 disorders in the functions of their ministry. 
 
 I could also say much on the negligence 
 of mothers, a negligence which is the cause 
 of the confusion we often notice in house- 
 holds ; for when the mistress of the house 
 is fond of frequenting theatres, balls, &c., 
 what are the servants doing, and what will 
 become of the children } 
 
 Instead of that, if she attended to her 
 home duties all would go well ; her ser- 
 vants would do their duty, her children 
 would be instructed, and would not be 
 brought up, as they often unfortunately 
 are, in idleness and sloth. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 From his Lenten Sermons. 
 
CHAPTKR IvXXXIII. 
 
 # # # 
 
 ON IGNORANCE. 
 
 l^ 
 
 PfeRE La Font. 
 " For some have not the knowledge of God : I speak it to your shame." — i Corinthians xv. 34. 
 
 ,IERRE DE LA FONT, this zealous 
 and charitable servant of God, was 
 born at Avignon. He became 
 Prior of Valabrbgue, and held also 
 a high office in the church of 
 Uzfes. Wishing to found a semi- 
 nary in the episcopal city, he 
 resigned his priorship, in order to give Lis 
 whole time and attention to the college. 
 Being elected the superior, he wrote and pub- 
 lished five volumes, called " Entretiens Ecclesi- 
 astiques'^ for the instruction of his pupils. An 
 extract from this book will be found further 
 on, (See Alphabetical List of Authors.) 
 
 This pious and learned ecclesiastic ended 
 his career of usefulness at the commencement 
 of the eighteenth century. 
 
 If one could not sin through ignorance, 
 it would be wrong, says St. Bernard, to 
 blame the persecutors of the apostles and 
 martyrs, since they did not believe that 
 they committed wrong by so cruelly 
 putting them to death ; but, on the con- 
 trary, they considered that they rendered 
 a great service to their gods by massacring 
 their enemies. 
 
 It would also have been of little use 
 that Jesus, hanging on the cross, should 
 have prayed for His murderers, since, not 
 knowing what they did, they were free from 
 
 215 
 
 sin, and that even, according to St. Paul, 
 had they known the King of Glory, they 
 would not have nailed Him to the cross. 
 
 See, then, concludes this Father, into 
 what a profound ignorance those were 
 plunged, who believed that they could sin 
 through ignorance. From this, we must 
 always understand that a voluntary, cul- 
 pable ignorance arises from a wanton 
 negligence of being instructed. 
 
 According to the teaching of St. 
 Thomas, we have two rules for our conduct 
 and actions, namely, the law of God and 
 our own conscience. 
 
 Now it is not enough, in order to consti- 
 tute a good action, that it should be con- 
 formable to one of these rules ; it suflfices 
 to render it bad if it is opposed to one of 
 these two rules. Thus, one is not exempt 
 from sin, continues this saintly Doctor, 
 when it violates any precept of the law, 
 even if it follows the judgment of a false 
 conscience. 
 
 And in this same sense, St. Augustine 
 says that people take that for good which 
 is in itself bad, and that to persevere in 
 this erroneous belief, they are not free 
 
2l6 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 from sin, since this false persuasion is in 
 itself a sin : Si quis bonum. putaverit esse 
 quod malum est, et fecerit, hoc putando 
 ubique peccat {Epis. cliv.). And if you 
 wish to know why this error and igno- 
 rance is a sin, because one has not been 
 willing, or has neglected to know the law ; 
 for if one is in invincible ignorance, then 
 that ignorance and that error, being 
 involuntary, would no longer be sin. 
 
 One cannot excuse from sin those here- 
 tics who live among Catholics, although 
 they doubt not the truth of their own 
 religion, and although they think that they 
 are in the right path, because they have 
 every means of clearing up their doubts, 
 and opportunities are not wanting to 
 disabuse them, if they really wished to be 
 instructed in the faith. 
 
 But obstinacy joined to prejudice, con- 
 venience, and advantages which they find 
 in the state of life in which they have 
 been reared, or which they may have 
 embraced through debauchery, or through 
 error, they persist in their culpable igno- 
 rance. 
 
 Thus, when such as these, in their fan- 
 cied security, blaspheme against the true 
 religion, which they look upon as false ; 
 when they cry it down ; when they pettily 
 persecute the defenders of it, or revile 
 them by cruel calumny, and inflict on 
 them outrage and insult, they are not 
 exempt from sin, although they may have, 
 through ignorance, been driven to excess, 
 and by this means called to their aid a 
 false zeal, which is so opposed to the law 
 of God This ignorance will never excuse 
 
 them of all these crimes, since it is an 
 inexcusable sin to be a heretic, and not 
 take every means in their power to unde 
 ceive themselves. 
 
 We must, however, remark that the 
 care required by some who plead i^no 
 ranee as an excuse does not apply to, 
 others, who need a more searching inquiry 
 into the truth. 
 
 If it only depended on some trivial 
 point, such as if a certain day was a 
 feast-day or a fast-day, a competent 
 authority can be applied to ; and if there 
 be some mistake, it can be easily or 
 readily explained. But when it refers to 
 a matter of equity, such as if a contract 
 is usurious or not ; or if it be permitted to 
 expose to public view engravings or 
 pictures of scandalous nudities, then we 
 ought not to be content with consulting 
 any one who may be of our own opinion. 
 
 When any one has on hand an impor- 
 tant lawsuit, does he not apply to the 
 ablest lawyer ? Or, when we are seized 
 with a dangerous illness, do we not seek 
 the advice of the most experienced and 
 cleverest physician } 
 
 Can any one, then, look upon the laws 
 of God and the precepts of the Church as 
 simply an invincible ignorance, when they 
 can be so easily explained by simply tak- 
 ing the same pains they employ in tem- 
 poral affairs ? 
 
 To act otherwise is simply to show a 
 manifest indifference for their eternal 
 salvation. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE La Font. 
 Sixth after Pent. 
 
On Immodest Attire, Fashion, etc. 
 
 St. Chrysostom and St. Cyprian. 
 
 " The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of the woman, show what she 
 is." — EccLESiASTicus xix. 29. 
 
 ROM whom do those women 
 attract notice — women who 
 are of the world most worldly 
 — women whose vanity leads 
 them to employ every artifice 
 to attract remark and win 
 esteem ? Is it from the good and pious ? 
 Oh, no ! for they look upon them with 
 horror, seeing that they dishonor Jesus 
 Christ and ruin His religion. Is it from 
 clever people ? No, for they regard them 
 with indignation, seeing that by their vain 
 display they are anxious to astonish and 
 take them by surprise. Is it from rakes 
 and libertines they seek esteem .•* From 
 these, doubtless, they would rather fly 
 than seek. Oh, if they only knew how 
 they speak of them, how coarsely they 
 criticise them, their confusion would be 
 equal to their pride. 
 
 You show yourselves in public, ye 
 worldlings, with all that furniture of 
 vanity. You do not even spare the 
 temple of the living God, whose sanctity 
 should not be violated by your luxuries, 
 
 217 
 
 for the church was not built for the dis- 
 play of all such vanities. We should 
 appear therein richly clothed with grace 
 and virtue, not decked out with gold and 
 jewels. Nevertheless, you attend church 
 dressed out as if you were going to a ball, 
 or like actresses on the stage, so careful 
 are you to be noticed, or rather to be 
 laughed at, by those who see you. 
 
 When divine service is over, and all are 
 returning homewards, your vanities and 
 follies are the theme of their conversation ; 
 they forget the important instructions left 
 us by St. Paul and the prophets, and can 
 only talk of the value of your beautiful 
 dresses and of the lustre of your jewelry. 
 
 Tell us, I entreat, what are the useful 
 advantages to be drawn from these 
 precious stones, and from these costly 
 dresses } You tell me that you are 
 satisfied with yourself, and that you take 
 delight in that magnificence. But alas ! 
 I ask what benefit you derive from your 
 vanities, and they only tell me of the harm 
 they do. 
 
2l8 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 There is nothing more deplorable than 
 to be ever running after frivolous fashions, 
 to take a pleasure in studying them. 
 Shameful and shocking must that slavery 
 be when its golden chains are enjoyed. 
 
 How can a Christian female apply 
 herself as she ought to any exercise of 
 devotion or solid piety ? how can she 
 despise the follies of the age if she 
 encourages a taste for finery? In time 
 she will experience so great a distaste for 
 prayer that she will not like to hear it 
 named. 
 
 You will perhaps reply that you have 
 made yourself admired by all who saw you. 
 But this is an additional misfortune, that 
 these costly trinkets should have gone so 
 far as to feed your growing vanity and 
 pride ! 
 
 Is it not an evil most grievous to be 
 overwhelmed with cares so vain and 
 restless, to neglect the beauty of the soul 
 and the love of one's salvation ; to fill 
 one's self with pride, vanity, and conceit ; 
 to be, as it were, intoxicated with the love 
 of the world ; willingly to give up going to 
 those sacred places where your thoughts 
 should be raised to God ; to have no fear 
 of prostituting the dignity of your soul, 
 and subject that soul to things so base 
 and so unworthy "i 
 
 You will perchance reply, that when 
 you frequent assemblies and promenades 
 every one turns round to look at you. It 
 is for that very reason you should shrink 
 from gaudy attire in order that you should 
 not expose yourself to the gaze of every 
 man, that you should not give any one 
 
 an opportunity for making scandalous 
 remarks. 
 
 Not one of those who gaze upon you 
 will hold you in the esteem you imagine 
 you have secured. You will be the 
 laughing-stock of every one, and people 
 will set you down as a vain, ambitious 
 woman, as one who is wishing to be 
 admired, as one absorbed in the love and 
 vanities of the world. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Passim. 
 
 Do ye not tremble, ye gay and worldly 
 women, at the thought that, when our 
 Lord and Saviour shall come to judge the 
 living and the dead. He will bid you leave 
 His presence forevermore, and that He 
 will thus reproach you ? 
 
 Depart from Me, you are not My work, 
 and I cannot trace the least resemblance 
 to your former self. The paint, powder, 
 false curls, and other vain appliances 
 have so altered and disguised you that I 
 cannot recognize that you once belonged 
 to Me. You will not be able to see Me, 
 disguised as you are by face, eyes, and 
 features so utterly spoiled and disguised 
 by My enemy the devil. You have 
 followed him ; you have selected the 
 brilliant hues of the serpent's skin ; it is 
 from your enemy you have learned and 
 kept those embellishments and fineries ; 
 you will be with him forever and forever. 
 My kingdom is not for such as you, and 
 no part of it can you ever share with Me 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 Dt Habitu Virginum. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 
 ^'"^ -M,. M,.-.M.M,: M,. M,'M-.\M. M',.M. '^, M-. Ml, MM,, ^K W, 'M, X X Mi M M 'M .M M,,M. M % 
 
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 "HI (I I rrnn I nm 1 1 1 rri irrri nrnmTrrrrn" 
 ON I7VIPURITY. 
 
 ■* ■''- .<%. .<^ .<% .<«;o .<^: i^ ^^.: vJSc: ^ ^, .^ .^ftj.. .■ ^. .^. .^> ■>■»,. .<»,. .^*>. ,.<^, 
 
 St. Basil, and P^res Houdry and De la Rue. 
 
 " When concupiscence has conceived it bringeth forth sin : when it is completed, begetteth death." 
 
 — James i. 15. 
 
 ■OU will sometimes meet with old 
 men, whose gravity and age 
 give them an appearance of 
 severity, who are modest in 
 society, and who are much 
 esteemed for their apparent 
 goodness, but who secretly and heartily 
 indulge in every sort of vice, which they 
 carefully conceal from human eye. 
 
 They, in their imagination, picture 
 objects which they delight in ; the idea 
 flatters them, and leads them to indulge 
 in indelicate pleasures, unseen and 
 unnoticed. 
 
 These sins are committed in the heart, 
 and will there remain hidden until the 
 coming of our Lord, who will bring to 
 light every dark mystery, and will expose 
 to the whole world the secrets of the 
 heart. 
 
 We must, then, particularly watch over 
 our thoughts, for deeds which spring from 
 our free-will require time, assistance, and 
 opportunity, but the workings of the brain 
 are active in a moment, without trouble, 
 
 219 
 
 without hindrance, without waiting for 
 opportunity. 
 
 St. Basil. 
 
 Not only is this passion a sin, but it is 
 the epitome of every sin ; it includes sins 
 of the eye, sins of word, sins of thought, 
 sins of desire. 
 
 As for sins of deed, who would dare to 
 paint them .■• I have no wish to place so 
 foul a sight before you. 
 
 Property, riches, talent, heart, will be, 
 and on every possible opportunity are, all 
 employed in its service. 
 
 Desires are fondly cherished, when 
 deeds cannot satisfy. 
 
 A lascivious man is a man of sin, 
 because he disseminates sin wheresoever 
 he may be ; in every place, in public, in 
 private, in intrigues, &c. 
 
 The evils which impurity causes to those 
 who indulge in this vice are numberless ; 
 it spares nothing ; it undermines the health, 
 and youth is soon succeeded by a peevish, 
 dissolute, premature old age. 
 
220 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 There is no trouble they will not under- 
 take, no constitution they will not sacrifice, 
 no amount of money they will not 
 squander away. Have they ruined their 
 prospects in life ? To indulge in luxury, 
 and continue to satisfy their lustful desires, 
 they will seek to find means at any price. 
 
 But this vice is not content with being 
 the cause of ruin of families, but it haunts 
 them in their dreams. 
 
 From this arise jealousies, divorces, and 
 sad estrangements. From this succeed 
 assassination, murder, poison, conspiracy, 
 and all felonious plots to supplant a 
 dangerous rival, or get rid of a jealous 
 accomplice. 
 
 Meditate for a while on the scourges 
 and punishments which God has inflicted 
 on this sin. Holy Scripture is content to 
 threaten other vices, but see how it inveighs 
 against and casts a thunder-bolt on this. 
 
 The Deluge, was it not a punishment } 
 The burning of a whole city, was it not 
 the result of a just vengeance } 
 
 If this sin was the reason why God 
 repented of having created man, and made 
 him resolve to annihilate him, how can you 
 look upon it as a pardonable sin > 
 
 The waters spread over the surface of 
 the earth, flames consume Sodom — do 
 not these teach you that God is the 
 defender of purity, the avenger of 
 incontinence ? 
 
 Is it that such sins should have become 
 less enormous, that God the Son deigned 
 to be born of the Virgin Mary .? 
 
 Ah ! place before you the thought of 
 St. Augustine. " What ! shall I pur- 
 
 chase torments without end for a vain 
 and transient pleasure .-' Pleasures will 
 pass away, but eternity will never pass 
 away ; pleasures vanish, but the penalty 
 remains." 
 
 Rev. Pi;RE V. Houdry. 
 
 [Charles De La Rue was born in Paris 
 in the year 1643. He entered the Jesuit 
 College, and subsequently became Professor 
 of the Humanities and Rhetoric. He early 
 distinguished himself by his talent for poetry. 
 In the year 1667 he wrote a long Latin poem 
 on the conquest of Louis XVI. ; this the great 
 Corneille translated, and presented the Latin 
 original and French versification to the king, 
 who was pleased to express his gracious 
 approval. 
 
 The learned Jesuit petitioned to be sent to 
 the missions in Canada, but was refused, as 
 his superiors deemed it best that he should 
 work out his salvation in France. 
 
 The published works of this illustrious 
 Latin scholar are numerous. 
 
 He died in Paris in the year 1725, aged 
 eighty-two.] 
 
 God, speaking to Noah, told him that 
 His spirit would not dwell in man because 
 he was only flesh. Non pcrmanebit spiri- 
 tus mens in homing quia caro est. Never- 
 theless, I hear that the unchaste allege 
 this as a reason for making this sin 
 excusable — human weakness, which is 
 only flesh ; but I say that for this reason 
 immodesty and impurity will be punished 
 by God. 
 
 It is for that, all should be more cautious 
 and be not without fear. Quia caro est. 
 It is for that, one ought to seek for the 
 help of that grace which God has prom- 
 
IMPURITY. 
 
 221 
 
 ised to all. Quia caro est. It is for that, 
 that man, being so weak and frail, should 
 ever have recourse to prayer, to occa- 
 sional retreats, and to fly from all occasions 
 of sin. Quia caro est. It is for that, you 
 should not rashly expose yourself to 
 
 temptation, or be found frequenting dan- 
 gerous places, where there are immodest 
 eyes upon you. And this for fear of 
 losing the grace of the Holy Ghost, who 
 departs from the impure. Quia caro est. 
 Rev. P^re De La Rue. 
 

 
 
 :^ ;^ ^: ^1^ :^^ 4^ 
 W ^ ^ ^ W W 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 
 
 
 
 •l^ 
 
 ON INGRATITUDE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ■<^ ■^l^ "^Fl^ ■^(^ 'W' ■^W 
 
 
 St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and Bourdaloue. 
 
 " Of the ten lepers cared, there is no one found to return and give glory to God but this stranger." 
 — Luke xvii. i8. . 
 
 *T would be a monstrous ingrati- 
 tude to receive daily many 
 blessings of the Divine good- 
 ness, and not to acknowledge 
 your gratitude, if not in deeds, at 
 any rate, in words and canticles. 
 Besides that, if this gratitude is due to 
 Him, it is no less advantageous to our- 
 selves. God has no need of us, but we 
 have every need of Him. 
 
 The thanksgiving which we offer to 
 Him adds nothing to what He is, but it 
 helps us to love Him more, and to repose 
 a greater confidence in Him. 
 
 For if the remembrance of benefits we 
 have received from men induces us to love 
 them more, there can be no doubt that, 
 meditating on the graces which Almighty 
 God has showered upon us, we should 
 naturally feel more desire to love Him, 
 more prompt to obey Him. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 We ought to imitate the liberality of 
 the soil, which repays, with usurious 
 
 222 
 
 interest, the smallest seed that is sown 
 therein. Holy Scripture compares an 
 ungrateful person to a field or vine, which 
 remains barren if not carefully cultivated ; 
 on the other hand, a grateful man is like 
 a fruitful field, and which increases in 
 value a hundredfold. 
 
 It is thus that we must act towards those 
 from whom we have received benefits, and 
 be like the ungrateful and avaricious land, 
 which retains the seed. 
 
 It is not every one who has the power 
 of doing good, but we can always show 
 our gratitude, for ingratitude is an unpar- 
 donable vice. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 
 St. Bernard, pondering on the many 
 graces which God had bestowed upon 
 him, and of His immense love for us all, 
 cries out : " O Lord, I have nothing to 
 give you in return for so many blessings I 
 have received from Your merciful good- 
 ness. When I look upon my own noth- 
 ingrness I am so confused that I dare not 
 
INGRATITUDE. 
 
 223 
 
 raise my eyes, but when I consider that 
 You are rich in Yourself, that you have 
 no need of me, and that You seek for my 
 heart and not my riches, ah ! I am quite 
 consoled. When I see in the gospel that 
 a poor woman, who drops two little pieces 
 of money in the poor-box, receives from 
 Your lips more praises than do those rich 
 Pharisees, who place therein large sums, 
 I begin to hope. 
 
 " I have only two small pieces, and 
 these are, my heart and my body. You 
 are the master of the latter, take Thou 
 possession of the former. I give it to You ; 
 it is Yours on the principle of justice, 
 love, and gratitude." 
 
 A faithful and truly grateful soul ought 
 to imitate the conduct of that prince 
 mentioned in the Book of Esther, where it 
 is said that he wrote down and kept an 
 account of all the services his brave fol- 
 lowers had done for him during his reign, 
 in order that, by reading of them often, he 
 was forced to acknowledge them. 
 
 This is what a faithful soul should do, 
 in order to remind him of the many graces 
 and favors God has bestowed upon him, 
 during the whole course of his life. Ah ! 
 what would such a soul do .-' Would it 
 not read over the list with care, and pon- 
 <ier on it every day } 
 
 See, here is the time when, by an espe- 
 cial grace, I was called to fulfil duties in 
 the church or in the world. Here are so 
 
 many favors received ; here so many holy 
 inspirations ; here so many good works ; 
 here so many averted dangers ; in a word, 
 here are so many benefits received. Think 
 of them, O my soul, and never forget them, 
 and say with the prophet : " I will bless 
 my God forever and ever, and I will never 
 cease to sing His praise." The last 
 thought when I retire to rest will be to 
 thank God, and the first prayer on awak- 
 ing shall be to bless Him. 
 
 If we closely examine the conduct of the 
 greater portion of sinners, we would be 
 easily convinced that there are gifts and 
 blessings of God which are made use of 
 for the purpose of adding to their sins. 
 If God has given extra beauty to that 
 woman, to what use does she devote it } 
 Alas ! to idolize her body, and to draw 
 around her a crowd of admirers. If God 
 has given health and strength to that 
 man, of what use are they to him } for 
 he destroys them both with debauchery 
 and vice. 
 
 If to another has been given the gift of 
 knowledge and science, does he not use 
 them to disseminate his own erroneous 
 opinions, or to impugn the dogmas of our 
 holy mother the church ? If to another, 
 fortune and riches, are not these squan- 
 dered away in pleasure or ambition .? 
 
 And thus it is with other gifts, which 
 are all received from heaven. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
•I l- l l'++l l- l I M ■! I I r H 
 
 
 INTEMPERANGE; 
 
 I- ++++++++ - r I I I I I I r M I I i I I I I I I I I I I I I I 
 
 P^RES DE LA CoLOMBifeRE and HouDRY, and St. Ambrose. 
 
 ♦* Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evenings 
 to be inflamed with wine." — Isaias v. ir. 
 
 REASONABLE man eats in 
 order to give strength to his 
 body, lest its weakness might 
 have an effect on his mind; 
 but those who are addicted to 
 intemperance eat even to 
 clouding their intellect and ruining their 
 body. They eat merely for the sake of 
 eating. There are some people whose 
 body is of no use to the intellect (unlike 
 the saints, who complained of having a 
 body, which occasioned so much trouble 
 to the mind) ; such as these would like to 
 be deprived of the qualms of conscience, 
 in order to partake of the pleasures of 
 beasts, pleasures they constantly seek and 
 sigh for. 
 
 They do not eat to live, since nothing is 
 so pernicious to health as excess in delica- 
 cies and made dishes, and nothing is so 
 conducive to a healthy and long life as a 
 frugal and well-regulated table. 
 
 Is it that we are slaves of our body, and 
 that everything ought to be sacrifioed to 
 gratify that insatiable animal .? One ought 
 
 224 
 
 to take food as one would take remedies. 
 Necessity ought to rule our inclination, so 
 as to free us from the inconvenience of 
 hunger, and not that concupiscence which ■' 
 lays a snare in the pleasure that follows ; 
 that solace, which we seek for in eating- 
 anddrinking. 
 
 Thus we do, for this single pleasure^ 
 what we ought to do through necessity ; 
 from this follows that we seek to deceive 
 ourselves, persuading ourselves that we 
 owe to our health what we give to the 
 passion of intemperance. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE DE LA COLOMBltRE. 
 
 Christian Reflections. 
 
 All the Doctors of the Church tell us I 
 that that state of intoxication which 
 deprives us of grace and reason at the | 
 same time is a mortal sin. 
 
 It is this that St Augustine calls a great ,,; 
 sin, a monster of crime ; in fact, it is a 
 brutal stupidity and a wanton blindness to | 
 sell (like another Esau) one's right to the 
 inheritance of heaven, the hope of an eter- 
 
INTEMPERA NCE. 
 
 225 
 
 nal happiness, for the sake of some glasses 
 of wine ; rivalling that madman who sold 
 his claim to the paternal estate for a few 
 lentils, to satisfy his inordinate appetite. 
 
 But St. Paul expressly names it, and 
 places the vice of drunkenness on the list 
 of those sins which are excluded from 
 heaven. Nolite errare, do not be deceived, 
 says he ; do not flatter yourself that it is 
 a venial sin : " Drunkards shall not pos- 
 sess the kingdom of heaven " (i Cor. vii.). 
 
 In a former chapter he says that this 
 kingdom and happiness which are destined 
 for us are not intended for those who eat 
 and drink. Those, therefore, who pamper 
 their appetites, those who are slaves of 
 intemperance, have no claim or right. 
 
 Drunkenness is the source of an infinite 
 number of sins, but among those which are 
 its boon companions the most universal is 
 that of impurity. Take heed and avoid 
 drinking to excess, says the Apostle 
 {Ephes. v.), because it infallibly enkindles 
 the shocking vice of impurity. Again, it 
 is St. Jerome who says that he who is 
 always full of wine is easily led to the 
 commission of shameful brutalities, and he 
 confirms this truth by quoting the example 
 of Loth : Qucm Sodoma non vicit vina 
 vicerunt. What more astounding than to 
 see a man who was preserved in innocence 
 in the centre of the city of Sodom ; he 
 drinks a little too much wine, and com- 
 mits a frightful incest. 
 
 A man addicted to wine, says St. Chrys- 
 ostom, is fit for nothing, for of what use 
 is such a man } Would he be able to 
 keep a secret } Two or three glasses of 
 
 wine would make him so talkative that he 
 would reveal everything. How could you 
 confide an affair of importance to him } 
 No ! says the saint, such a man is useless, 
 he is fit for nothing, he is a fool, he must 
 be left to himself, he does not deserve a 
 thought : Ebriosus ad omnia negotia 
 ineptui. This same Father represents the 
 ugliness and infamy of this vice in such 
 animated language that strikes one with 
 horror. How shameful is intoxication, he 
 exclaims ; can any one imagine a man more 
 despicable than he who is habitually tipsy } 
 He lowers himself in the eyes of his ser- 
 vants, it makes him a laughing-stock to 
 his enemies, and even his friends put him 
 down as a fool. All look upon him as an 
 object deserving of the contempt and* 
 hatred of all. 
 
 If there be any here who are addicted to 
 this vice, hear the words which the 
 Prophet Joel addresses to you on the part 
 of God : "Awake, ye that are drunk, and 
 weep and mourn, all ye that take delight in 
 drinking sweet wine " ; arise from your 
 negligence, at the sound of the threats of 
 the anger of God ; weep and send up your 
 sighs to heaven in order to avert His jus- 
 tice, which is ready to deliver the world 
 from a useless burden and a scandal to all 
 men. 
 
 Instead of drowning your intellect in 
 wine, apply it to more serious work ; avoid 
 the impending misery, and henceforth lead 
 a life more worthy of a man and a Chris- 
 tian. Give up a habit which renders you 
 unfit to associate with men. Detest a 
 vice which is as odious as it is wicked ; fly 
 
1 
 
 226 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 from the society of those who encourage 
 and join you in those unworthy debauche- 
 ries, dissipations which will easily lead to 
 the loss of honor, health, the life of your 
 body, the loss of your soul, and event- 
 ually drag you to the gates of eternal 
 perdition. 
 
 "Woe to you that rise early in the morn- 
 ing to follow drunkenness, and to drink till 
 the evening, to be inflamed with wine," 
 says the Prophet Isaiah ; and St. Paul says, 
 that such people have no other god but 
 their belly, which is as much as to say that 
 they are idolaters, for they make a god of 
 their own body for no other purpose than 
 that of satisfying an inordinate appetite, 
 and thus idolizing their stomach. 
 • The misfortune of this kind of men is 
 such that the apostle, with tears in his 
 eyes, can only deplore their blindness and 
 look upon their misery as meriting God's 
 
 vengeance: Nunc autem et Jlens dico^ 
 inimicos cruets Chrisii, quorum finis interu 
 ius, et gloria in eonfusione ipsorum. 
 
 P^RE HOUDRY. 
 
 Excess in eating and drinking has killed 
 many a man, frugality has killed no one ; 
 immoderate use of wine has injured many 
 a constitution, temperance has never done 
 any harm. Many have died in the midst 
 of banquets, and have soiled the very 
 tables with their heated blood. 
 
 You invite your friends to a feast, and 
 you lead them to death ; you ask them to a 
 merry-making, and you conduct them to 
 a tomb ; you promise them the greatest 
 delicacies, and you condemn them to the 
 most exquisite tortures ; you fill them with 
 wines, and lo ! it is their poison. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 Dejejuuia, 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 4-4'-»-»4--»#-4-4-4-4'-»4-4-4-4-4-4-4-^4-<^-»-»4-4--»-»4--»4-4^-»-»4--»4-'» 
 
 ♦•♦••♦•++-i».4.+-i)i.-i>.+-f**-*.4..*"*.-iii- 4. ■i.^■lil.^^^4■^^^+^4,^^J^^^^ 
 
 T 
 
* CHAPTER LXXXVIII. ♦ 
 
 + ■♦•*• + 
 
 N 
 
 ^jfer'-afe::^^ 
 
 ON I2YIN6 A AND // TRIGKERY. 
 
 -^ 
 
 rfl 
 W 
 
 P^REs HouDRY, Heliodore, and St. Augustine. 
 
 " God hateth a deceitful witness that uttereth lies." — Proverbs vi. 19. 
 
 *' Let no man overreach nor circumvent his brother in business." — Thessalonians iv. 6. 
 
 iE have in the New Testament 
 several examples of duplicity 
 and trickery. 
 
 The dissimulation and pre- 
 tended concern Herod the 
 Ascalonite displayed to the 
 Three Kings when he asked them to 
 return to Jerusalem and tell him where 
 the Messiah was born, so that he might 
 go and adore the new-born King. As he 
 fully intended to murder the Infant Jesus, 
 this lying deceiver will cause the name of 
 Herod to be held in horror for all ages. 
 
 The second Herod, called the Tetrarch, 
 was the successor of the first, and was the 
 Governor when Jesus was sent to be tried. 
 He was a man full of deceit, and our Lord 
 gave him the name of the fox to work his 
 cunning and duplicity ; and, far from 
 wishing to perform miracles before him, 
 our Saviour did not deign to answer him 
 a word. 
 
 The most evident punishment that God 
 has ever exercised on those who fail in 
 
 S27 
 
 sincerity and use a lying deceit was that 
 of Ananias and Sapphira, related in the 
 fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles ; 
 they having sold their piece of land, and 
 having, by fraud, kept back part of the 
 price of the land, contrary to the promise 
 they had made to bring the whole. 
 
 Their bad faith cost them their lives. 
 They were masters of the money which 
 they could have kept without injustice ; 
 but because they told untruths, and agreed 
 together to tempt the spirit of the Lord, 
 they were punished for their deceit. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE V. Houdry, S. J. 
 
 One of the strongest reasons that can 
 be urged against lying is the infamous 
 consequences that accrue from such a 
 habit. 
 
 A lie covers its author with confusion, 
 and a man who has acquired the habit of 
 telling falsehoods becomes, in fact, the 
 universal horror of all who know him. 
 Because a lie usually precedes many other 
 
228 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 vices, it makes use of candor and truth 
 only through motives of avarice, pride, 
 jealousy, impurity, impiety, or some other 
 sin ; consequently, these can only proceed 
 from a mass of corruption. 
 
 These are the reasons why we have so 
 bad an opinion of liars, and this is why 
 the Holy Scripture describes the liar as 
 a foul blot and an everlasting shame. 
 
 Now, you who cannot endure to be 
 charged with practising this vice ; you 
 who would expose your life and salvation, 
 and impel you to wipe out the implied 
 reproach with your blood if the law did 
 not put a stop to your blind fury ; you 
 who blush and are ashamed that men 
 should know what you cannot endure to 
 be charged with ; listen to and reflect on 
 the threats and judgments of the God of 
 truth, for He has so great a horror of 
 lying and deceit that He has said : Perdes 
 omncs qui loquuntur mendacium. 
 
 It would take up too much space to give 
 all the reasons which would induce us to 
 give up lying and deceit. It is sufficient 
 to know that the lie increases other 
 greater sins, that it lessens the simplicity 
 of virtue, and it scandalizes truth. 
 Avarice is rendered more criminal, when, 
 in order to secure or purchase another 
 person's property, it makes use of a false 
 oath ; pride is more sinful when it circu- 
 lates false reports in order to gain the 
 approbation of some or to avoid some 
 affront. Hatred is rendered more intense 
 when it forges imaginary crimes in order 
 
 to deprive the innocent of their honor. 
 Heresy is more detestable when it design- 
 edly misinterprets the sense and meaning 
 of Holy Scripture, the Fathers, and the 
 precepts of the Church. Virtue loses its 
 simplicity when deceit is introduced. 
 Humility is not entirely innocent if it 
 induces a man to lie in order to hide his 
 perfection. Mercy becomes sinful, if it 
 excite a man to make use of a falsehood 
 for the purpose of giving relief to the 
 poor or with the intention of checking the 
 vices of his neighbor. Justice partakes 
 of injustice, when, by use of an untruth, 
 it ascertains the truth of an important 
 fact. 
 
 Other virtues cannot possibly preserve 
 their purity, however good the intention 
 may be, if a lie or a deceit be made use of. 
 Father Heliodore of Paris (Capuchin). 
 
 When the tongue says one thing, and 
 the heart means another ; this is deceit, 
 and a lie. 
 
 If through humility you circulate a lie, 
 if you had not committed a sin of lying 
 before, you become, by lying, what you 
 were not before, a sinner. 
 
 The sin of lying is not solely committed 
 by word of mouth, but by deeds designedly 
 carried out for the purpose of deceiving. 
 It is a lie to call yourself a Christian when 
 you do not practise the works of Jesus 
 Christ 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 EnchiridoH. 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX 
 
 On Prosperitj, its Dangers, and Prosperity of the Wicked. 
 
 :|: 
 
 .? 
 
 "vA-jja 
 
 St. Augustine and Massillon. 
 
 " Why then do the wicked live ? Are they advanced and strengthened with riches ? Their houses 
 are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them." — Job xxi. 7-9. 
 
 HE continued prosperity of sin- 
 ners is the greatest of all mis- 
 fortunes for them. The less 
 our Lord disturbs their torpor, 
 the more He punishes them 
 after. It is at that time that 
 vicious habits increase in power day by day; 
 it is then that they indulge themselves the 
 more, that they delude themselves, that 
 they are blinded more and more to the 
 important interests of their salvation. 
 
 But the mad multitude does not reason 
 thus. According to the idea of the major- 
 ity, the world is pleased when the greater 
 part of common people are like princes 
 through good fortune, although they would 
 be poor, and the very reverse of pious ; 
 when theatres are thriving, although relig- 
 ion may be despised ; when luxury attracts 
 the notice of all, although Christian charity 
 would be neglected ; when the dissolute 
 well nigh exhaust the well-filled purse to 
 satisfy their excessive wants, although 
 the poor can find none to relieve their 
 extremest need. 
 
 Nevertheless, if God permits . these 
 disorders to reign in the world, be sure 
 
 229 
 
 that at that time He is the more irritated 
 against us. His most terrible vengeance 
 is to leave for a while crimes unpunished. 
 If, on the contrary. He deprives us of 
 every kind of luxurious pleasure, of good 
 living, of theatres and other amusements, 
 of the extravagance of the age, it is then 
 He manifests to us His mercy. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 From his Fifth Letter to Marcellinus. 
 
 Opportunities and all exterior things 
 contribute to withdraw the prosperous man 
 from the way of salvation, and these are 
 for him so many obstacles, too difficult 
 for a soul accustomed to effeminacy to 
 surmount. Everything concurs to feed 
 and cherish vices in his heart, more espe- 
 cially the most dangerous passions, and a 
 crowd of objects fascinates his every 
 sense. 
 
 Those miserable parasites of the fortune 
 of a great man make a study of his weak- 
 nesses, and neglect nothing which can 
 give him pleasure ; theatres, games, 
 acquaintances, flatteries, intrigues cleverly 
 begun and as cleverly carried out, nothing 
 
2%0 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 is forgotten ; each one seeks to take him 
 by surprise, and each one glories when that 
 success is gained. 
 
 These flatterers who gather round about 
 him, studiously contrive to bring fresh 
 incentives to feed his passions. Thus 
 everything concurs to make even the 
 contented forget that there is a holy and a 
 happy land, to which they ought to aspire 
 to reach. 
 
 It is here, O Lord, that I adore Thy 
 secret judgments ; for, seeing on the earth 
 the good in trouble, and the wicked laden 
 with the blessings of prosperity, the one 
 in misery, the other in plenty, the one in 
 poverty, the other in prosperity, it cannot 
 be wondered at that I should be surprised 
 at a sight which appears to be so contrary 
 to Thy wise and just providence. When 
 I see the splendidly garnished table of the 
 proud rich man, whilst a poor Lazarus 
 begs for the crumbs which fall from his 
 table, and is even cruelly refused ; when I 
 see so many unworthy wretches supera- 
 bundantly supplied with all that contributes 
 to ease and comfort, whilst so many good 
 and honest people are in want of even the 
 necessaries of life, I confess to Thee, says 
 the Prophet, that my feet shake under me, 
 and I am tempted to question Divine 
 Providence for showing too much indul- 
 gence to the wicked, and too much 
 harshness to the good, or that I should go 
 so far as to accuse Thee of injustice. 
 
 For why, I say to myself, should that 
 man who is only nominally a Christian, 
 and a heathen in his manners and actions 
 ■ — why does he enjoy an easy life, a peace 
 
 here on earth, whilst the faithful and 
 pious man groans and sighs under the 
 weight of his miseries } Why should 
 everything smile on the rich unjust .? The 
 princely treasures are only open for him, 
 every luxury shines for him, the hail and 
 storm do not injure his lands, the earth, 
 the sky, the elements, seem to contribute 
 to the joy and pleasure of the sinner^ 
 while the good poor man dwells here on 
 earth, helpless and unassisted ; and whilst 
 the former is well nigh satiated with the 
 best of everything, the good man sees 
 himself alone and abandoned by all, 
 despised by the world, and deprived of 
 help. 
 
 Do npt fall into the fatal error of 
 believing that worldly prosperity may be a 
 favor which God grants to His favored 
 ones. God often in His anger gives 
 riches and honors which are prayed for, 
 and He grants them by punishing, says 
 St. Augustine. He would have destined 
 you to live a retired life in humility and 
 lowliness, in order to lead you by those 
 means to the height of glory ; but you 
 have obstinately rejected His merciful 
 intentions; you have mapped out your own 
 way of life, and, intoxicated with success, 
 you have tried to subject His will to your 
 own ; you have made your own choice, He 
 grants what you ask for, and He hears you 
 in His anger. Riches, honors, dignities» 
 fortune, grandeur, success, and robust, 
 health are yours for a time ; all these, 
 however, are given to you as a punishment 
 
 Massillon. 
 From a Sermon on Prosperity, 
 

 '^ 
 
 ^°1 ^ 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XC. * # 
 
 
 
 i^ ^ 
 
 * # # # # 
 
 
 ON RASH JaDGMENt j 
 
 + 
 
 : ♦ 
 
 : « 
 : * 
 
 
 o)o<<o 
 
 
 * * # * * 
 
 
 Saints Francis de Sales, John of God, and Augustine, 
 and L'Abb^ de la Trappe. 
 
 "Judge not, that you may not be judged: for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. 
 
 MATTHliW Vil. 1. 
 
 UDGE not, and you shall not 
 be judged, says the Saviour 
 of our souls : " Condemn not, 
 and you shall not be con- 
 demned " {St. Luke vi. 37). 
 No, says the holy Apostle 
 (i Cor. iv. 5), "Judge not before the time, 
 until the Lord come, who both will bring 
 to light the hidden things of darkness, 
 and will make manifest the counsels of 
 the heart." 
 
 Oh, how displeasing are rash judgments 
 to God! The judgments of the children 
 of men are rash, because they are not the 
 judges one of another, and therefore usurp 
 to themselves the office of our Lord. 
 They are rash, because the principal malice 
 of sin depends on the intent of the heart, 
 which is an impenetrable secret to us. 
 They are not only rash, but also imperti- 
 nent, because every one has enough to do 
 to judge himself without taking upon him 
 to judge his neighbor. 
 
 In order to our being hereafter judged, 
 it is equally necessary we should refrain 
 
 331 
 
 from judging others as to be careful to 
 judge ourselves. For, as our Lord forbids 
 the one, so the Apostle enjoins the other, 
 saying, that if we judged ourselves we 
 should not be judged. 
 
 But, O good God ! we act quite the 
 contrary ; for, by judging our neighbor on 
 every occasion, we do that which is for- 
 bidden ; and, by not judging ourselves, we 
 neglect to put that which we are strictly 
 commanded into practice. 
 
 We must apply remedies against rash 
 judgments, according to their different 
 causes. There are some hearts naturally 
 so sour, bitter, and harsh, as to make 
 everything bitter and sour \\r.\i they 
 receive, turning judgment, as the Prophet 
 Amos says, into wormwood, by never 
 judging their neighbor but with rigor and 
 harshness. 
 
 Some judge rashly, not through harsh- 
 ness, but through pride ; imagining that, 
 in the same proportion as they depress 
 the honor of other men, they raise their 
 own. "I am not like the rest of men," 
 
232 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 said the foolish Pharisee {Luke xviii. 
 II). 
 
 Others, to excuse themselves to them- 
 selves, and to assuage the remorse of their 
 own consciences, willingly judge others to 
 be guilty of the same kind of vice to which 
 they themselves are addicted, or of some 
 other as great, thinking that the multitude 
 of offenders make the sin the less blamable. 
 
 Others judge through passion and preju- 
 dice, always thinking well of what they 
 love, and ill of what they hate. 
 
 In fine, fear, ambition, and other such 
 weaknesses of the mind, frequently con- 
 tribute towards the breeding of suspicious 
 and rash judgments. 
 
 St. Francis De Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 [St. John of God was born in 1495, in a 
 small town in Portugal called Monte Majorel- 
 Novo. His parents were so poor that he was 
 compelled to work as a servant. A sermon 
 he heard from the blessed John of Avila so 
 moved him that he resolved to consecrate the 
 remainder of his life to God and His poor. 
 The zeal of this saint overcame every obstacle. 
 He began his work in a small house in Gren- 
 ada, and from this poor dwelling arose a 
 magnificent hospital which exists to this day. 
 It was there that St. John laid the first founda- 
 tion of an Order which was approved of by 
 St. Pius V. in 1572. 
 
 The life of this grand saint, by Canon 
 Cianfogni, has been ably translated under the 
 editorship of the Rev. Father John Bowden, 
 and is published by R. Washbourne.] 
 
 How dare we judge others } Circum- 
 stances are so varied that it is almost 
 impossible that we should not make a mis- 
 take. It is the magistrate's duty to judge 
 
 the guilty ; our duty, as regards our neigh 
 bor, is ever to take the defensive side. 
 
 Nothing shows the wisdom and truth of 
 those words from Holy Writ, "Judge not, 
 and you will not be judged " — " Condemn 
 not, and you will not be condemned " — 
 as the injustice and rashness of our judg- 
 ments. 
 
 To judge, we must know the heart of 
 the person accused, and this is a sanc- 
 tuary reserved for God alone. 
 
 Ah ! if we only knew our own short- 
 comings, we should rather accuse and 
 
 judge ourselves. 
 
 St. John of God. 
 
 It is the ordinary custom of those who 
 have not within them the Spirit of God, 
 to be scandalized at the most virtuous and 
 edifying of actions. 
 
 This we see in the gospel of St. Luke : 
 " A sinner, knowing that Jesus sat at 
 meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an 
 alabaster box of ointment, and standing 
 behind at His feet, she began to wash His 
 feet with her tears." This woman out- 
 wardly displayed her love and respect ; she 
 threw herself at the feet of the Son of 
 God, full of grief, incapable of fear, and 
 pierced with a lively sorrow for having 
 offended Him. 
 
 > Such were the feelings with which our 
 Lord had inspired her. 
 
 However, the Pharisee formed a rash 
 judgment; for he said, "This man, if he 
 were a prophet, would know surely who 
 and what manner of woman this is that 
 touched Him, that she is a sinner." 
 
RASH JUDGMENT. 
 
 233 
 
 But the Saviour, who knew her better, 
 judged otherwise ; for she had blotted out 
 her iniquities by the abundance of her 
 tears, by the excess of her love, and by her 
 contrition. Amando veritatem, lavit lacJiry- 
 mis maculas criminis. 
 
 This is an example which ought indeed 
 to be consoling to those who, in actions 
 which they have performed for the honor 
 and glory of God, may have drawn upon 
 . themselves rash and false judgments, 
 censure, and condemnation of others. 
 
 L' Abb^ de la Trappe. 
 Reflections. 
 
 Rash judgment seldom hurts the one 
 upon whom it falls, but the one who 
 judges rashly cannot fail to injure himself. 
 
 There are two things we should guard 
 against in forming rash judgments ; the 
 first is, when it is uncertain from what 
 motive such and such a thing may have 
 been done ; the second is, when we can- 
 not foresee what may, one day, be the 
 state of that man, who now appears to be 
 either good or bad. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 On the Sermon on the Mount. 
 
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 CHAPTKR XCI. 
 
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 BOURDALOUE, St. CYPRIAN, and PiRE HOUDRY. 
 
 " It must needs be that scandals come ; but nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal 
 cometh." — Matthew xviii. 7. 
 
 , CANDAL is a diabolical sin, and 
 the reason which St. Chrysos- 
 tom gives us is conclusive 
 enough. For (according to the 
 Gospel) the particular character- 
 istic of Satan is that he was a 
 murderer from the beginning : Ille homicida 
 erat ah initio ; and he has not only been a 
 homicide, continues this holy Doctor, but 
 because, from the beginning of the world, 
 he has been the cause of souls being lost 
 by seducing them, by drawing them into 
 snares, by making them yield to tempta- 
 tion, by putting every obstacle in the way 
 of their conversion. 
 
 Now, is not this the constant employ- 
 ment of the libertine, the vicious man, the 
 man swayed by the spirit of debauchery, 
 who seeks on all sides (if I may dare to use 
 the expression) for an easy prey for his 
 sensuality ? What doth he besides, and in 
 what is his scandalous life taken up } Is 
 it not in deceiving and damaging souls, in 
 taking advantage of their weakness, in 
 imposing on their simplicity, in making 
 the most of their imprudence, in flattering 
 
 234 
 
 their vanity, in undermining their religion, 
 in triumphing over their modesty, in dissi- 
 pating their just fears, in rendering 
 ineffectual all their good desires ? Is it 
 not in .keeping them from the ways of 
 God, when, touched with His grace, they 
 become conscious of their misery, and 
 sincerely desirous of recovering their 
 innocence ? 
 
 Are not these, O sinner, the deeds of 
 darkness in which your infamous life is 
 spent } Is it not then the employment of 
 the devil in which you have been engaged ? 
 
 You do, then, the office of the evil one, 
 and all the more dangerously, because they 
 whom you scandalize, being accustomed to 
 be led by the senses, are the more exposed 
 to your baneful insinuations, and more 
 impressed by them, since you move amongst 
 them a visible and incarnate demon. The 
 devil was, of himself, a murderer from the 
 beginning, but is a murderer through you. 
 It is you who are his deputy, who furnish 
 him with weapons, you who carry on his 
 work, you who, in his place, have become 
 the tempter, the murderer of souls, by 
 
SCANDAL. 
 
 235 
 
 sacrificing these unfortunate victims to 
 your passions and pleasures • Ille homicida 
 erat ab initio. 
 
 BOUIJJALOUE. 
 
 A dv<n t Sermon. 
 
 St. Cyprian, who lived in the third 
 century, in explaining the reason why God 
 permits that His own should be perse- 
 cuted, gives us a picture of the manners 
 and customs of his time. 
 
 Bellarmin, in his work " On the Sighs 
 
 'of the Dove," quotes the whole passage, 
 
 and says : " Would to God that we had not 
 
 reason to bewail the same scandalous 
 
 practices in our time." 
 
 Each one thinks only of enriching him- 
 ■self; and forgetting what the first Chris- 
 tians had done at the time of the apostles, 
 and what they ought always to do, they 
 cherished so great a longing for riches, 
 that they fancied that they never could 
 accumulate sufficient. There was no 
 devotion in the priests, no faith in the 
 ministers of the Gospel, no regularity in 
 their manners, no charity in their works. 
 
 The women painted their faces, the men 
 knew how to change the color of the hair, 
 ind they quite made an art of dyeing. 
 'You could detect something approaching 
 to lasciviousness in their eyes and looks, 
 and so careful was their studied talk, that 
 they sought to impose on the simple, and 
 tried to deceive each other. 
 
 They swore not only unnecessarily, but 
 falsely. They, with insupportable conceit, 
 despised the orders of their superiors. 
 They had no fear of slandering their 
 
 neighbor, and they in their hearts 
 cherished mortal hatreds. 
 
 Several prelates, who ought to have 
 induced people to be pious by showing a 
 good example, neglected their duty, quitted 
 their dioceses, abandoned their flocks, and 
 went into far-off countries in order to 
 carry on a business that was mean and 
 unworthy of them. They took no heed of 
 the pressing wants of the few that were 
 faithful. Their only endeavor was to amass 
 riches, to deprive others of their lands, and 
 to multiply their wealth by usury. 
 
 St. Cyprian. 
 
 There is nothing that St. Augustine 
 deplores more in his Confessions, than the 
 misery of the bad example he had followed 
 when a youth. He was naturally inclined 
 to be good, he had even received a suffi- 
 ciently good education, and he confesses, 
 without flattery or vanity, in a book in 
 which he seeks his own confusion, that he 
 would have never committed the atrocities 
 of a dissipated, ill-regulated life, had it not 
 been for the bad example that his compan- 
 ions had given him. Here are the words 
 he uses : " O friendship, worse than the 
 most cruel enmity, which seduced my mind, 
 and dragged me on to sin — ' Let us go ' 
 — * Let us do ' — still dinning incessantly 
 in my ears so vividly, that it is shameful 
 to have some shame for acting so ill." 
 
 We have, in the words and experience 
 of this glorious saint, an example and an 
 evident proof of the boldness and impU' 
 dence which ever accompany scandal. 
 
 Le PtRE Vincent Houdry, S. f. 
 
CHAPTER XCII. 
 
 ON SELF-LOME. 
 
 1^ 
 
 PiiREs Louis de Grenada, Camaret, and St. Augustink. 
 
 " He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto lifa 
 eternal." — John xii, 25. 
 
 RIGINAL sin gave birth to the 
 tyrannical empire of love of 
 self, and it so poisons an ill- 
 regulated mind, that it loves 
 naught else but self, and even 
 ignores God. 
 St. Thomas says that this false love is 
 the root of every sin committed from the 
 beginning of the world, and that it is the 
 source and cause of all that is most 
 miserable. 
 
 This is very true, since it is sinful self- 
 love alone that makes us desire all 
 inordinate affections for the enjoyments 
 here below, and makes us forget God and 
 the observance of His commandments. 
 
 Every kind of misery we see in the 
 world springs from the root which ripens 
 on this infectious tree. 
 
 From this arises that anxiety which 
 men manifest for their own affairs, and for 
 that negligence of all that appertains to 
 God. From that comes this delicacy on 
 all points of honor, whilst they think little 
 of God's honor. 
 
 It is this that so interests them in all 
 that is for their worldly advantage, and 
 makes them so indifferent to the service 
 due to God. 
 
 No work is deemed too difficult, if it be 
 for their temporal welfare, while for God 
 they take no pains. The loss of a slight 
 temporal advantage drives them nearly 
 wild ; but they have no thought of losing 
 their immortal souls. The love of 
 pleasure fosters a distaste for all that is 
 good ; in fine, they labor incessantly for 
 success in this life, and never prepare for 
 the life to come. 
 
 Louis de Grenada. 
 Meditations, vi. 
 
 The difference between self-love and 
 charity is shown by the movements and 
 workings of each. 
 
 I. Self-love showeth that he neglects 
 nothing that may reflect on himself, on the 
 good he has done ; he wishes to be secretly 
 admired, and hears of the praises of others 
 with contempt ; whereas charity praiseth 
 
SELF-LOVE. 
 
 237 
 
 and admireth virtue in others, as some- 
 thing out of the common ; and if it be 
 reflected on himself, he looks upon himself 
 as an object worthy of the vengeance of 
 Heaven. 
 
 2. Self-love is violent, impetuous, fan- 
 tasticai, and imperious ; he wishes to com- 
 mand and to be obeyed. In the place of 
 this, charity, according to the apostle, is 
 mild and meek ; it yields easily to others, 
 and awaits with patience for success, 
 which, if not obtained, blesseth those who 
 persecute him, 
 
 3. Self-love is always wrapped up in 
 self. If he go out of the way to do some 
 virtuous action, he does it to draw down 
 praises he may receive, or, at any rate, 
 hopes to receive. 
 
 4. Self-love looks after his own interest, 
 does nothing but what may accrue to his 
 advantage ; instead of that, charity does 
 not seek its own, but looks only to God's 
 interest. 
 
 5. Self love is singular ; it wishes for 
 out-of-the-way things, particular devotions ; 
 loves and seeks for distinction ; whereas 
 charity flies from all kinds of singularity, 
 and wishes for nothing particular. 
 
 6. Self-love in devotion seeks for sweet- 
 ness, and when that fails, feels dis- 
 couraged ; but charity seeks for the will of 
 God alone, and on this will he depends. 
 
 We must watch continually over our- 
 selves, and over every movement of the 
 will, to repress a number of selfish frailties, 
 which, on examination, will be found to be 
 as minute as they are continuous. 
 
 There are so many petty interests vfhich 
 centre in self, even among those who are 
 pious, that it is incumbent upon us to be 
 ever on our guard. 
 
 There are so many little meannesses 
 which overshadow our best actions, which, 
 if encouraged, will diminish merit, and be 
 the cause of attempting much, but advanc- 
 ing very slowly. 
 
 Men, for the most part, flatter them- 
 selves that they seek God alone, but they 
 search for Him through the medium of 
 self ; and they prefer ease and reputation, 
 and thereby encourage secret pride and 
 self-love. 
 
 PfeRE Camaret- 
 
 Two loves, one good, the other bad ; one 
 sweet, the other bitter ; the two cannot 
 agree, or dwell together in a sinner's 
 heart. It is this, therefore, if any one 
 loves aught but Thee, O Lord, Thy love is 
 not in him. 
 
 Doubtless it is a grand and wholesome 
 doctrine how to guard against that self-love 
 which is so capable of being your ruin, and 
 with what hatred you should hate yourself, 
 if you wish to escape from eternal punish- 
 ment. If you love yourself with an inor- 
 dinate love, then you should hate yourself 
 indeed ; if you cherish a proper hatred of 
 yourself, then you have a proper love of 
 yourself. 
 
 Do not then love yourself in this life, 
 lest you lose your soul in the life to come. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 On John i. 4. 
 
FfiNELON, St. Francis de Sales, and Lanctantius. 
 " He that loveth danger shall perish in it." — Eccles. iii. 27. 
 
 ,fiNELON, Archbishop of Cambrai, 
 was born of a rich and noble 
 family at Perigord, on the 6th of 
 August, 165 1. His uncle, the 
 Marquis of Fdnelon, brought him 
 up as his own son, superintended 
 his education, and sent him to the 
 Abbd Trouson, the Superior of Saint Sulpice 
 in Paris. At the age of twenty-four, he took 
 holy orders, and undertook the arduous duties 
 of parish priest of Saint Sulpice. Three years 
 after his ordination, the Archbishop of Paris 
 intrusted him with the direction of the 
 Nouvelles-Catholiques. In 1689, Louis XIV. 
 confided to him the education of his grand- 
 children, tha Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and 
 Berri, and rewarded his services by nominat- 
 ing him to the Archbishopric of Cambrai. 
 
 It would occupy too long a space to enu- 
 merate his many excellent works, to treat of his 
 misunderstanding with Bossuet, to tell of his 
 kumble submission to the Holy See, &c., &c. 
 The "Life of Fe'nelon," by M. De Bausset, 
 published in 18 17, in four vols., is replete 
 with interest. This illustrious prelate died on 
 the 7th of January, 1715, aged sixty-three. 
 No one more deplored his loss than did Pope 
 Clement XL, who intended to send him the 
 Cardinal's cap. 
 
 Fenelon, in his " Christian Instruction 
 for the Education of Young Ladies," 
 
 33S 
 
 quotes the opinions of the early Fathers 
 of the Church on this subject. He says — 
 
 St, Augustine confesses that the affec- 
 tion he had for shows and theatres had 
 been the cause of his continued indul- 
 gence in sensuality, and that he always 
 came away more unchaste than when he 
 entered, because, he says, what one sees 
 or what one hears excites bad thoughts, 
 seduces the mind, and corrupts the heart. 
 
 St. Cyprian afBrms that theatres are a 
 school of impurity, and a place wherein 
 modesty is prostituted. 
 
 Salvian, Bishop of Marseilles, says, that 
 in his time, it was the custom at the 
 Sacrament of Baptism to make an extra- 
 renunciation, namely, a promise to avoid 
 going to theatres. 
 
 St. Chrysostom wishes that all would 
 fly from theatres as from a plague. 
 
 Tertullian, in his book on " Spectacles^' 
 shows and proves that the Christian 
 religion has an extreme aversion for all 
 sorts of public amusements, that it abhors 
 them, and it cannot in any way approve 
 of them. 
 
THEATRES, BALLS, ETC. 
 
 239 
 
 Minutius Felix inveighs against dan- 
 gerous pastimes in an " Apology " he pub- 
 lished in defence of the Christians. 
 
 F^NELON. 
 
 Although balls and dancing be recrea- 
 tions in their own nature indifferent, yet, 
 according to the ordinary manner in which 
 they are conducted, they preponderate 
 very much on the side of evil, and are, in 
 consequence, extremely dangerous. Being 
 generally carried on in the darkness and 
 obscurity of night, it is by no means 
 surprising that several vicious circum- 
 stances should obtain easy admittance, 
 since the subject is of itself so susceptible 
 of evil. The amateurs of these diversions, 
 by sitting up late at night, disable them- 
 selves from discharging their duty to God 
 on the morning of the day following. 
 
 Is it not, then, a kind of madness to 
 exchange the day for the night, light for 
 darkness, and good works for criminal 
 fooleries } Every one strives who shall 
 carry most vanity to the ball ; and vanity 
 is so congenial to evil affections as well as 
 to dangerous familiarities that both are 
 easily engendered by dancing 
 
 Balls, dancing, and other nocturnal 
 meetings ordinarily attract the reigning 
 vices and sins together, namely, quarrels, 
 €nvy, scoffing, and wanton loves ; and as 
 these exercises open the pores of the 
 todies of those that use them, so they rJso 
 open the pores of their hearts, and expose 
 them to the danger of some serpent taking 
 the advantage to breathe loose words or 
 lascivious suggestions into the ear, or of a 
 
 basilisk casting an impure look or wanton 
 glance of love into the heart, which, being 
 thus opened, is easily seized upon and 
 poisoned. 
 
 These idle recreations are ordinarily 
 very dangerous ; they chase away the 
 spirit of devotion, and leave the soul in a 
 languishing condition ; they cool the fer- 
 vor of charity, and excite a thousand evil 
 affections in the soul, and therefore they 
 are not to be used but with the greatest 
 caution. 
 
 But physicians say, that after mush- 
 rooms we must drink good wine ; and I 
 say, that after dancing it is necessary to 
 refresh our souls with good and holy con- 
 siderations, to prevent the baneful effects 
 of these dangerous impressions, which the 
 vain pleasure taken in dancing may have 
 left in our minds. But what consider- 
 ations } 
 
 1. Consider that during the time you 
 were at the ball innumerable souls were 
 burning in the flames of hell, for the sins 
 they had committed in dancing, or were 
 occasioned by their dances. 
 
 2. That many religious and devout 
 persons, of both sexes, were at that very 
 time in the presence of God, singing His 
 praises and contemplating His beauty. 
 Ah ! how much more profitably was their 
 time employed than yours ! 
 
 3. That whilst you were dancing many 
 souls departed out of this world in great 
 anguish, and that thousands of thousands 
 of men and women then suffered great 
 pains in their beds, in hospitals, in the 
 streets, by the gout, the stone, or burning 
 
240 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 fevers. Alas ! they had no rest, and will 
 you have no compassion for them ? And 
 do you not think that you shall one day 
 groan as they did, whilst others shall 
 dance as you did ? 
 
 4. That our Blessed Saviour, His 
 Virgin Mother, the Angels and Saints, 
 beheld you at the ball. Ah ! how greatly 
 did they pity you, seeing your heart 
 pleased with so vain an amusement, and 
 taken up with such childish toys ! 
 
 5. Alas ! whilst you were there, Time 
 was passing away, and Death was 
 approaching nearer : behold how he 
 mocks you, and invites you to his dance, 
 in which the groans of your friends shall 
 serve for the music, and where you shall 
 make but one step from this life to the 
 next. The dance of death is, alas ! the 
 
 true pastime of mortals, since by it wc 
 instantly pass from the vain amusements 
 of this world to the eternal pains or pleas- 
 ures of the next. 
 
 I have set you down these little con- 
 siderations. God will suggest to you 
 many more to the like effect, provided you 
 fear Him. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 I know not where you will find more 
 
 corruption and vice than in a theatre. 
 
 Beautiful language causes sin to appear 
 
 charming, and fine poetry and a pleasing 
 
 delivery seduce the mind, and lead it as 
 
 it wills. 
 
 Lanctantius.* 
 
 *This great orator lived in the third century. 
 
On IC'fiE^t, LarcEny, ^tc. 
 
 PiRE Lejeune de l'Oratoire. 
 " Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own." — Habacuc ii. 6. 
 
 T is seldom indeed that larceny 
 and injustice can be separated 
 from avarice ; at any rate, the 
 wrong inflicted on one's neigh- 
 bor is the same. This is what 
 the prophet Osee insinuates, 
 when he says that theft has spread like 
 the Deluge amongst men. 
 
 No need, my brethren, to confine thieves 
 to the woods and forests ; they are to be 
 found everywhere, and however infamous 
 this vice may be, there are very many in 
 the world, who, although looked upon as 
 honest, respectable men, are quite as guilty. 
 It is very true that when we hear, as we 
 often do, of highwaymen and house- 
 breakers breaking into houses and 
 carrying off all they can, respectable men 
 are not to be found in their company ; but 
 when it has been shown that there are 
 many kinds of larceny which the world 
 does not consider as shameful, nay, even 
 some are looked upon as honorable, you 
 must then be convinced that the prophet 
 is right, when he says, that " Theft is 
 spread amongst men like a deluge." 
 
 241 
 
 If it is absolutely impossible that those 
 who have acquired riches through defraud- 
 ing another of his property can be saved 
 without making restitution, when they 
 have the power to do so ; it is also, on the 
 other hand, almost impossible that they 
 could do so, if they are possessed with a 
 vicious self-interested passion. 
 
 One may say that this kind of impossi' 
 bility is to be found in the moral actions 
 of men, where there are so many difficul- 
 ties which hinder them from putting them 
 into execution, where there are so many 
 obstacles to overcome, and where miracles 
 of graces are needed to induce us to make 
 extraordinary efforts. 
 
 Experience has shown us that the 
 restitution of stolen property should be 
 placed in the rank of impossibilities of 
 this kind, since out of the incalculable 
 number of persons who have been unjust 
 enough to defraud, very few indeed have 
 been found who have been just and 
 honorable enough to restore it. Almost 
 all the restitutions that are made consist 
 of some crowns which a servant may have 
 
242 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC, 
 
 Stolen from his master; but, for those 
 thieves who retain large sums of others' 
 property, those money-lenders, whose 
 riches consist of accumulations of usurious 
 interest, those masters of chicanery, who 
 have cunningly obtained through favor, 
 friends, or court influence, property which 
 was not theirs, — to gentry such as these 
 it would be useless to speak of restitution ; 
 it would be a recommendation to which 
 they would not willingly listen. 
 
 That shows that there is a species of 
 secret impossibility in an act of justice 
 which, in practice, we find so rare. 
 
 It is not, say you, our intention to die 
 holding the property of another person ; 
 it is our intention to return it through our 
 will, but not now. What if you die 
 without making your last will, what will 
 fiappen then } And if your will is not 
 properly drawn up or not properly attested, 
 your heirs may easily upset the will, or 
 fail to carry out your intentions ; what 
 will become of you then .? And even if 
 all this should not occur, do you not see 
 that by deferring to make restitution, 
 which you could now do, you render it 
 most difficult, since you would be com- 
 pelled not only to pay the principal, but 
 it would be incumbent on you to make 
 some satisfaction for the injury caused by 
 your delay. 
 
 You cannot keep for long those ill- 
 gotten goods ; they will be the cause of 
 an unhappiness which will last forever. 
 Notwithstanding you hold it now, you 
 must, when you die, leave that money 
 which you cannot now give up, and you 
 
 will then be compelled to do necessarily 
 and fruitlessly what you could now do 
 willingly and meritoriously. Ah ! would 
 it not be much better to make a willing 
 restitution now, than to make it at the 
 hour of death, when, perchance, you may 
 do it with regret, through constraint, and 
 without reward ? Would it not be better, 
 says St. Bernard, to despise those benefits 
 with honor and with an interior conscien- 
 tious satisfaction, than to lose them and 
 part with them all with a great but useless 
 grief .-• Would it not be far more prudent 
 to give them up willingly for the love of 
 Christ, than to leave them behind you, 
 whether you like it or not .'' 
 
 I tell you now, beseechingly, since it is 
 for the salvation of your soul, Redde quod 
 debes — Return what thou owest. Ah ! 
 have some compassion on yourself; 
 restore to that tradesman, to that work- 
 man, that servant, what you owe them, 
 make some reparation to that poor widow 
 whose pittance you have kept back, repair 
 the injury you have inflicted on that poor 
 family by the sale of worthless shares ; in 
 a word, give up property which does not 
 belong to you. Redde quod debes — Pay 
 what you owe. 
 
 I say this now, beseechingly, but recol- 
 lect that Death will one day sternly say, 
 " Depart, wretched man ; leave a housa 
 which is not legitimately yours ; leave 
 behind thee monies which you cannot 
 carry away with you." 
 
 Le PtRE Lejeune de l'Oratoire. 
 Sur le Larcin. 
 
^^@i)@i^ 
 
 Saints Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Alphonse Rodriguez, S.J. 
 Let us not b€ made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another." — Galatians v. 26. 
 
 HE yearning after glory is a 
 strange passion. It displays 
 itself in a hundred different 
 ways. Some wish to be hon- 
 ored, some wish to be in regal 
 power, some aspire to be rich, 
 and others sigh to be strong and robust. 
 
 This tyrannic passion, passing still fur- 
 ther on, induces some to seek for glory by 
 their alms-deeds, others by their fasts and 
 mortifications, some by their ostentatious 
 prayers, others by their learning and sci- 
 ence ; so various are the forms of this 
 monster vice. 
 
 One need not be astonished that men 
 seek after the emoluments and grandeur 
 of this world, but what is more astonish- 
 ing (and what more blamable), that any 
 one can be found who is proud and vain 
 of his good works, of his fasts, his prayers, 
 and of his alms. I confess that I am 
 pierced to the heart when I see such holy 
 actions tarnished by secret vanity. I feel 
 as much grieved as I should be if I heard 
 of an illustrious princess, of whom much 
 
 243 
 
 was expected, giving herself up to all sorts 
 of debauchery and vice. 
 
 Men soon find that there is no one more 
 importunate than he who, filled with vain- 
 glory, praises himself, gives himself airs, 
 and places on his head a wreath of 
 incense. He is laughed at for his vanity, 
 and the more they notice that he boasts of 
 himself, the more they endeavor to humili- 
 ate him. 
 
 In fact, the more you try to attract the 
 praise of the world by your own vanity 
 and vainglory, the more will people either 
 avoid you or laugh at you. 
 
 Thus it happens that the result is con- 
 trary to our expectations ; we are anxious 
 that the world should praise us, and 
 exclaim, " What a good man ! how char- 
 itable he is ! " But people will say, " What 
 a vain man ! how easy to see that he 
 wishes to please men, rather than please 
 God." 
 
 If, on the other hand, you hide the good 
 you do, it is then that God will praise you ; 
 He even will not allow any holy action to 
 
244 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 remain long concealed. You may try to 
 suppress the performance of good deeds ; 
 He will take care to make them known, 
 aye, better known than you could possi- 
 bly have intended. 
 
 You see, then, that there is nothing 
 more antagonistic to glory and honor, 
 when you seek to do good merely for 
 the purpose of being seen, known, and 
 admired. 
 
 It is the way of doing quite the con- 
 trary to what you intended, since, instead 
 of showing off your goodness, you will 
 only cause your vanity to be known to all 
 men, and punished by Almighty God. 
 
 This vice seems, as it were, to smother 
 all our reasoning faculties, so much so, 
 that one would say that he who is a slave 
 to vainglory had lost his senses. 
 
 You would look upon that man as a 
 madman who, being short of stature, 
 would really believe that he was growing 
 so tall that he would soon be able to look 
 down on the highest mountain. After 
 this extravagance, you would need no 
 further proof of his insanity. 
 
 So, in like manner, when you see a man 
 who considers himself to be above all his 
 fellow-creatures, and would be offended 
 were he compelled to mix with the com- 
 mon herd of men, you would seek for no 
 other proof of his madness. He is even 
 more ridiculous than those who have lost 
 the use of reason, for he voluntarily 
 reduces himself to that pitiable state of 
 extravagant folly. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 Fifty-eight on St. Matthew. 
 
 Public approbation has but little effect 
 on a man who has acted from good and 
 conscientious motives ; such a man mer- 
 its as much again as he seems to have 
 disregarded before. 
 
 Those who seek with too much eager- 
 ness for the esteem and applause of the 
 world, receive during this life the reward 
 of their good works, but merit nothing 
 for eternity. This is a maxim drawn from 
 Holy Scripture. 
 
 I, however, tell you, that all those alms 
 that are given to create a sensation are 
 not meritorious ; that those who, with a 
 flourish of trumpets, proclaim to the world 
 the good they have done, have already 
 received their reward ; and even those 
 who make a parade of their fasts and mor- 
 tifications lose all the merit by vain osten- 
 tation. 
 
 Our Saviour teaches us to do good by 
 stealth. It is God, not men, we ought to 
 study to please. The reward which men 
 can give us is frivolous and transient, but 
 God reserves for us an infinite reward, an 
 eternal recompense. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 
 OfficA. 
 
 All the saints admonish us to be on our 
 guard against vainglory, because, say they, 
 it is a cunning thief, which often steals 
 from us our best actions, and which insin- 
 uates itself so secretly, that it has struck 
 its blow even before we have perceived it. 
 St. Gregory says that vainglory is like a 
 robber, who first craftily insinuates him^ 
 
VAINGLORY. 
 
 245 
 
 self into the company of a traveller, pre- 
 tending to go the same way as he does, 
 and afterwards robs and kills him when he 
 is least upon his guard, and when he thinks 
 himself most secure. " I confess," says 
 the saint, in the last chapter of his Morals, 
 " that when I go about to examine my 
 own intention, even while I am writing 
 this, I think that I have no other will than 
 to please God ; but notwithstanding, while 
 I am not upon my guard, I find that a cer- 
 tain desire of pleasing men intermixes itself, 
 and methinks I feel some vain satisfaction 
 for having performed it well. How it 
 comes to pass I know not, but I perceive 
 that, while I go on, what I do is not so 
 free from dust and chaff as it was in the 
 beginning. For I know that I began it at 
 first with the sole view of pleasing God ; 
 
 but now I perceive other considerations 
 mixing themselves, which render my 
 intention less upright and pure than it 
 was." 
 
 What sufficiently demonstrates the 
 deformity of the vice is that the saints 
 and divines rank it amongst those sins 
 ordinarily called mortal, or which are 
 more properly styled capital sins ; because 
 they are, as it were, the head and source 
 of all others. Some reckon eight of this 
 nature, and say that the first is anger and 
 the second vainglory ; but the common 
 opinion of saints, and that which is 
 received by the Church, is that there are 
 seven capital sins. 
 
 Alphonse Rodriguez, S. J. 
 See next " Half Hour,'' No. 96. 
 
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 CHAPTER 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 
 
 
 •I* 
 
 •l^ 
 
 ON OaR BAB 
 
 PASSIONS. 
 
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 P^RES Rodriguez, Nepvue, and St. Philip Nkri. 
 " For this cause God delivered them up to shameful afflictions." — Romans i. 26. . 
 
 'LPHONSE RODRIGUEZ, the 
 Jesuit Father, was born at Valla- 
 dolid in 1526. For some years 
 he was Professor of Moral The- 
 ology, and was afterwards Rector 
 of Monte Rey, in Galicia. With 
 this office, he united that of 
 Master of Novices, among whom he had the 
 honor of instructing the learned Suarez. He 
 died in the odor of sanctity, at Seville, on the 
 aist of February, 16 16, at the great age of 
 ninety. This pious Jesuit Father is chiefly 
 known as the author of " Practice of Christian 
 Perfection," a work which should be read 
 over and over again by every Catholic. An 
 excellent edition of this work, for the laity, is 
 published in two volumes by Burns, Gates 
 &Co. 
 
 We must not confound this father with the 
 Blessed Alphonse Rodriguez, a lay brother, 
 who died at Majorca, October 31, i6i7», and 
 whose beatification was decreed by Clement 
 XIII. and Leo XII. 
 
 Pagan philosophers all agree that 
 wisdom consists in a tranquillity of the 
 soul, which it enjoys when the sensual 
 appetites are entirely subdued. It is then 
 that, there being no violent passions to 
 trouble the peace of the soul by inordinate 
 
 24S 
 
 desires, or by darkening the understand- 
 ing, which is sure to be the case when 
 they are in agitation ; for the peculiar 
 property of passion is to blind the reason 
 and diminish within us the liberty of our 
 own free will. 
 
 But, when the passions are lulled, the 
 understanding has purer lights to know 
 what is right, and the will has freer liberty 
 to embrace what is correct and good. 
 
 Now, this peace and quietude God 
 wishes to find in our heart, in order that 
 He may dwell therein, and wills to infuse 
 wisdom within us, and to bestow His 
 graces upon us. The mortification of our 
 passions and the control of our appetites 
 are the only means of obtaining that peace 
 and of securing that tranquillity. 
 
 One can obtain peace only by going to 
 war ; if you do not wish to battle with 
 your passions, to curb your inordinate 
 desires, to gain a victory over self, you 
 will never obtain that peace, and you will 
 never be master of yourself if you are not 
 the conqueror. 
 
CHRIST RAISING LAZARUS. 
 
OUR BAD PASSIONS. 
 
 247 
 
 It mu«=t \.p reckoned as a certain truth 
 that the intemperateness of our appetites 
 and the perverse inclinations of our flesh 
 are the greatest obstacles we have, not 
 only to our salvation, but, still more, to 
 our progress in virtue. 
 
 What has often been said is, that the 
 flesh is our greatest enemy, because, in 
 fact, from that spring all our bad passions, 
 all our disorders and our falls. " From 
 whence are wars and contentions among 
 you ? " says the Apostle James : " are they 
 not hence from your concupiscences which 
 war in your members ? " 
 
 Sensuality, concupiscence, and the unruli- 
 ness of self-love are the cause of all our 
 wars in our members, of all the sins, of all 
 the imperfections we commit, and conse- 
 quently are the greatest hindrance we 
 meet with in our way of perfection and 
 salvation. 
 
 From whence it is easy to see that real 
 mortification consists in repairing the dis- 
 order of our passions, that is to say, by 
 overcoming the evil propensities of our 
 passions and the obstinacy of our self- 
 f* love. 
 
 A. Rodriguez, S. J. 
 On Mortification. 
 
 One can safely say that there is no 
 Yirtue more recommended by Jesus Christ 
 than the mortification of our passions, 
 
 A large portion of the Gospel tends to 
 make us understand its necessity, and 
 there is no truth more often repeated, 
 more often expressed. You read therein 
 of the cross, of sufferings, of death, of 
 
 denying yourself, of hatred of self, of the 
 violence we must use, of the narrow way 
 whereon we must necessarily enter. 
 
 At one time our Saviour tells us that he 
 who wishes to come after Me must deny 
 himself, take up his cross and follow Me ; 
 at another time. He assures us that since 
 the preaching of St. John the Baptist, that 
 is to say, since the promulgation of the 
 new law, the kingdom of heaven is only 
 taken by violence, and that only those 
 who use violence can gain it ; at another 
 time He tells us that the road which leads 
 to life is narrow, and there are few who 
 enter on it, and it is on that account He 
 exhorts us to enter thereon. 
 
 Now, what does our Lord wish to infer 
 from this necessity of carrying one's 
 cross, of denying one's self, of entering 
 into the narrow path, of doing violence } 
 He points out the obligation we all have 
 of repressing the bent of our natural incli- 
 nations, which, coming from a corrupt 
 source, are always unruly, and of continu- 
 ally fighting against our passions, espe- 
 cially those which are the most dangerous, 
 because they all usually lead to evil conse- 
 quences. 
 
 If mortification is a remedy for past 
 sins, it is a preservative against evils to 
 come. We have, as children of Adam, 
 received with our inherited original sin a 
 strong repugnance to do good, a violent 
 inclination to do that which is wrong ; we 
 cannot get rid of this inclination. Can 
 we give in to this repugnance without 
 falling into disorder "i Neither can we safely 
 resist without using violence, without 
 
248 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 incessantly battling with our bad passions ; 
 and is not this the chief exercise of Chris- 
 tian mortification ? 
 
 We are all born proud, ambitious, chol- 
 eric, vindictive, self-interested, sensual — 
 this we are naturally- — you see, then, that 
 we must cease to be wicked if we wish to 
 be Christians, if we are anxious to work 
 out our salvation. 
 
 To effect this, must we not always 
 vratch over ourselves, must we not ever be 
 
 engaged in a spiritual combat, and, con 
 sequently, must we not practise continual 
 mortification ? 
 
 Le PfeRE NEPVUE. 
 Esprit du Christianisme. 
 
 To mortify one passion, no matter how 
 small, is a greater help in the spiritual life 
 than many abstinences, fasts, and disd- 
 plines. 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
 W^^W^^j 
 
'% 
 
 
 ALMS-BEEBS. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 PfeRE HouDRY, St. Chrysostom, and Father Faber. 
 
 "According to thy ability, be merciful. If thou have much, give abundantly; if thou have little, 
 take care even so to bestow willingly a little." — Tobias iv. 8. 
 
 F the great advantage to be de- 
 rived from almsgiving, and of 
 the love which we ought to 
 feel in bestowing, with liberal- 
 ity, every kind of help to the 
 ' ' poor, there is nothing more 
 
 impressive than the Gospel of St. Mat- 
 thew, where the Apostle relates what our 
 Saviour will say and do on the last great 
 day — the day of judgment. 
 
 The elect are ranged on the right, and 
 the reprobate on the left. Jesus, fixing 
 His eyes on the wicked on the left, will 
 pronounce those terrible words : "Go! ye 
 accursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
 for the devil and his angels." And to 
 justify this frightful sentence. He will 
 add : " I was hungry, and you gave Me 
 nothing to eat ; I was thirsty, and you 
 gave Me no drink ; I was a stranger, and 
 you had no wish to receive Me; I was 
 naked, and you clothed Me not; I was 
 sick, and you did not pay Me a single 
 visit. Go ! ye accursed, depart from Me." 
 Listen and tremble, you who, far from 
 protecting the widow and orphan, have 
 
 unjustly oppressed them ; you, who are 
 enriched with the spoils of the unfortu- 
 nate ; you, who have heard, without being 
 moved, their complaints and their groans ; 
 you, who have even insulted their pov- 
 erty ; you, who, by taking advantage of a 
 bad season, have rendered the poor more 
 miserable by assisting in keeping up or 
 by raising the price of necessaries, or by 
 usurious interest have drained their little 
 savings ; you, in fine, who have designedly 
 shut up your bowels of compassion, — 
 come and hear the Supreme Judge pro- 
 nounce the sentence of your condem- 
 nation. Discedite, maledicti — Withdraw 
 from me, ye accursed. And where are 
 they to go, Lord .^ Iti ignetn ceternum — 
 Into eternal fire. Why.? 
 
 Because, says the Lord, I was hungry, 
 and you gave Me nothing to eat — Esurivi 
 enint et non dedisti mihi tnaiiducare. I 
 was ill, and in prison, and you have not 
 visited Me — Infirmus et hi carcere, et non 
 visitastis me. I have suffered extreme 
 want, in the persons of My poor, which 
 you ought to have looked upon as My 
 
250 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 members, and you have not seen to this. 
 It is thus that the Lord of Justice, on the 
 day of wrath, in the presence of the whole 
 world, will compel the merciless rich to 
 seal their own condemnation. 
 
 Can one, after that, question the obliga- 
 tion of this precept, since the Supreme 
 Judge seems to forget the other breaches 
 of His laws, to condemn the sinner on 
 this precept alone. ^ 
 
 R. P. Vincent Houdry, S. J. 
 
 St. Chrysostom, in his Homily on this 
 subject, says that God, when He deigned 
 to become Incarnate, was so united to 
 poverty, with such an inexpressible union, 
 that the poor is a tabernacle where God is 
 hidden, in the same way as He is veiled in 
 our ciboriums. So that it is the poor who 
 beg, but it is God who receives the alms ; 
 God is our debtor, and it is the Almighty 
 who wishes to repay us. By this means, 
 although He is invisible. He is still with 
 us in the person of His poor. He receives 
 the alms, and, in return. He loads us with 
 His graces and blessings. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 I cannot bring myself to believe that a 
 professedly pious person, who is very 
 
 guarded in giving alms, has the genuine 
 spirit of inward repentance. Now, in the 
 present day, it is not uncommon to see 
 pious people acting as if they really 
 thought their piety in other respects was 
 almost a dispensation from almsgiving. 
 Others, again, when they give, give in 
 ways which minister to their own humors ; 
 so that, even in almsgiving, self-love shall 
 find its account. 
 
 Moreover, generosity is not almsgiving. 
 The quantity given must have reference 
 to the means of the giver, but more to 
 the amount of sacrifice and self-denial 
 which his alms entail upon him. Expen- 
 siveness is perhaps not a distinct sin in 
 itself, though even that may be ques- 
 tioned ; but it is the mother of many sins, 
 and it is remarkably uncongenial to the 
 spiritual life. Yet pious people are par- 
 ticularly given to be expensive, when they 
 have the means. 
 
 An alms which does not put the giver 
 to inconvenience is rather a kindness than 
 an alms ; and certainly the alms which is 
 to be a satisfactory evidence of inward 
 repentance ought to reach the point of 
 causing some palpable inconvenience, of 
 involving some solid self-denial. 
 
 Father Faber (Orat.). 
 spiritual Conferences, 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 
 '^B^''^^?— - 
 
 K tCeepiRg \9ie. Q©ai{n(SLnd(ne.n{§. 
 
 T 
 
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 ^^^i 
 
 PfeRE Lambert. 
 
 " My son, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live ; and my law as the apple of thy eye." 
 
 — Proverbs vii. i. 
 
 HE word Decalogue signifies a 
 law which comprises ten com- 
 mandments, the purely excel- 
 lent, the most just, and the 
 most comformable to the law 
 of equity that could be given 
 to the world, whether we consider the 
 author, who is God Himself ; whether we 
 look to their end since they have for their 
 aim, not a decaying or perishable benefit, 
 but an eternity of happiness ; whether, in 
 fine, we consider the things they contain, 
 since therein there is no virtue which they 
 do not command, no vice they do not 
 forbid. 
 
 St. Augustine says the Decalogue is 
 an abridgment of every law {Qucsst. 401, 
 sufi. Exodus). St. Augustine also says 
 that in the new law the commandments 
 are less numerous, more easy, and more 
 beneficial. 
 
 The law of God, does it appear to us to 
 be difficult? It is because we have so 
 little love. The law of God, in all that it 
 embraces, is sweet to him whose heart is 
 full of charity. Love, says St. John, 
 
 Ml 
 
 consists in keeping His commandments, 
 and His commandments are not painful. 
 
 They are not painful when love induces 
 us to keep them. If they should appear 
 to be painful or laborious, it is that your 
 heart is full of the love of the world, full 
 of self-love, and destitute of the love of 
 God. St. Augustine makes our Saviour 
 speak, and puts into His mouth the 
 following words and complaints : Avarice 
 commands the hardest tasks ; see what I 
 command, and make the comparison. 
 Avarice induces men to cross the seas, to 
 go into unknown, undiscovered countries, 
 and a thousand perils are eagerly sought. 
 Avarice is obeyed, all My commandments 
 are set at nought. Is it . not shameful 
 that the world should have more authority 
 than God 1 that they should plead difficulty 
 when it is God who speaks, that they 
 should daily surmount the most difficult 
 obstacles, when it is a question of pleasing 
 or getting on in the world 1 
 
 It is a general principle in all that God 
 enjoins, that He asks and seeks first above 
 all — our hearts. Does not God com- 
 
252 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 mand us to give alms ? He wishes, 
 however, that we should do these acts of 
 charity from a pure motive, that is to say, 
 from the heart ; and He Himself says 
 that He loves the cheerful giver. God 
 asks us for good works, exterior homage, 
 proofs of our entire dependence on Him as 
 His creatures. He gives us to understand 
 that if these good works do not proceed 
 from the heart, He will reject such gifts, 
 and class us with those hypocrites who 
 honor Him with their lips, whilst their 
 hearts are far from Him. 
 
 Those, then, are displeasing to God who 
 in their heart disown actions which they 
 consider they are obliged to perform 
 
 through a natural human benevolence, or 
 through a love of display. Those, again, 
 do not obey the commandments as they 
 ought,^ who indulge in murmuring, grum- 
 bling, and in seeking for excuses. 
 
 It was the fault of the Jews that so 
 often caused God to be angry with them, 
 for their mistrusts and murmurs. 
 
 I hear the Lord complain so touchingly, 
 " How long will this impious and ungrate- 
 ful people murmur against me } " {Numbers 
 X.) And you know how this people had 
 been punished, and with what severity 
 God chastised them. 
 
 Lambert. 
 Ecclesiastical Discourses. 
 
 Vv9 (b c)^sV£) to c)^sv9 
 
 

 
 CHAPTER XCIX. 
 
 ^ 
 ^1^ 
 
 ^^il# 
 
 * # 
 # # # # # 
 
 ON CONSCIENCE. 
 
 « 
 
 
 # 
 
 # # # # # 
 
 Bourdaloue; 
 " Our glory is here, the testimony of our conscience." — 2 Corinthians i. 12. 
 
 T the very moment we commit a 
 sin we feel within a remorse 
 of conscience, and this is the 
 reproach for the sin com- 
 mitted. Now I say that this 
 remorse is a grace, for what 
 is a grace ? How many are ignorant of it ? 
 or, rather, how many ignore it, although 
 it is received every day ? Grace, say the 
 theologians, is a help which God gives to 
 man, in order that he may act upon it, and 
 so merit heaven ; and, if he be a sinner, in 
 order that he may work out his salvation 
 by penance. 
 
 Now all this perfectly tallies with that 
 synderesis, that is to say, to that remorse 
 of conscience which grows within us after 
 sin. For it is certain that God is the 
 author of it, that it is solely through love 
 that He excites it in us, and that He uses 
 it as a means of working out our 
 conversion. 
 
 Whence comes the conclusion that this 
 
 remorse has all the qualities of a genuine 
 
 i^ grace.'' for there is nothing more certain 
 
 than that God is the source from whence 
 
 263 
 
 it arises, since the Scripture declares chf 
 same thing to us in a thousand places. 
 Yes, it is I, says the Almighty, speaking 
 to a sinner, it is I who will reproach you 
 for the enormity of your sin. When, after 
 committing it, your conscience disturbs 
 you, attribute your disquiet to Me, and do 
 not seek elsewhere from whence comes 
 this remorse. A hundred times, after 
 having yielded to temptation, you would 
 try to conceal from yourself your cow- 
 ardice ; you would wish to turn away your 
 eyes so as not to see your sin ; and you 
 fancy that I shall do the same and fall in 
 with your notions, but you deceive your- 
 self : "Thou thoughtest unjustly, that I 
 was as thyself" (Ps. xlix.) ; for, being 
 your Lord and your God, I will always be 
 your accuser, and, as often as you shall 
 commit an offence against Me, I will, 
 whether you will or not, lay before you 
 your iniquity and the horror I have of sin. 
 " I will reprove thee, and set them before 
 thy face " (Ps. xh'x.). 
 
 You see, Christians, how that God is 
 the principal author of remorse of con- 
 
254 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 science. But what motive has He for 
 this ? I have said that it is through love, 
 through a miracle of His goodness, an 
 effusion of His mercy. 
 
 Does He not explain Himself to the 
 same purpose to His beloved disciple in 
 the Revelation ? Ego, quod amo, arguo. 
 Those whom I love I rebuke and chastise 
 {Apocalypse xxxv) ; and it is by chastising 
 them that I show my love for them. But 
 what occasion for other testimony than 
 the word of our Saviour when He 
 announced to His apostles the coming of 
 the Holy Ghost : " When He shall come, 
 He will reprove the world of sin " {John 
 xvi.). And by whom will it be reproved ? 
 By the Spirit of truth, which I shall send 
 for that purpose. And what does He 
 mean by the Spirit of truth } The sub- 
 stantial love of the Father and the Son, 
 the Divine Person, who is charity itself. 
 Observe, then, dear brethren, that it is 
 the love of God which reproves when we 
 are sinners : " He will reprove the world 
 of sin." And now is there the least room 
 to doubt that the remorse of our con- 
 science is not a grace } 
 
 It is not an external but an internal 
 grace, as it is in the very bottom of our 
 souls that this gnawing worm of remorse 
 is found. Wherefore the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles tells us that God "hath sent 
 forth the Spirit of His Son into our 
 hearts, crying out " {Galatiatis iv.). This 
 Divine Spirit (as St. Augustine observes) 
 cries out, not after the manner of a 
 preacher who speaks to us and reproaches 
 
 us with the viciousness of our life ; for not 
 all the preachers in the world have it in 
 their power to probe the conscience ; and, 
 however their words may strike the ear, 
 they are far from reaching the human 
 heart. But the Spirit of God, the better 
 to be heard by us, holds, as I may say. 
 His place in the centre of us ; and from 
 thence (says St. Augustine) He inces- 
 santly cries out in opposition to our 
 passions, censures our pleasures, and 
 condemns our sins. Ah ! Christians, can 
 we carry our ingratitude to that pitch, as 
 to think the contradiction of the Holy 
 Spirit an importunate rigor, and not con- 
 fess that it is a gift of His grace, a mercy 
 on the sinner, a help of salvation, and a 
 favorable means of bringing him back to 
 God } Can we be so blind as to suppose 
 the sting which pains us an insupportable 
 pain, and wish to be rid of it ^ 
 
 No, my Lord, we will never entertain 
 such dangerous notions ; and as we are 
 assured that it is Your Spirit, the Divine 
 Comforter, which infuses these salutary 
 remorses within us, we will always receive 
 them as benefactions from Thy hand, and 
 far from complaining, will only think of 
 giving fresh proofs of our love and grati- 
 tude, by our fidelity. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Front his Sermons. 
 
 When God will be your judge. He will 
 
 require no better witness than your own 
 
 conscience. 
 
 St. Augustike. 
 
 Oh Psalm xxxvii 
 
CHAPTER C. 
 
 On 1^2 6onYBi|sion o"^ ^innEi|s. 
 
 i^ 
 
 BouRDALOUE and PiRE Houdry: 
 
 " If you seek the Lord your God you will find him, provided always, you seek with all your heart, 
 and in the bitter tribulation of your soul." — Deuteronomy iv. 29. 
 
 'T is an error to maintain that the 
 tears our Lord shed, dispense 
 us from shedding our own, for 
 tears are indispensably neces- 
 sary, principally those which 
 St. Augustine calls the tears 
 of the heart, since it is by these is com- 
 menced our spiritual conversion. 
 
 The conversion of Magdalen began with 
 tears : C(Bpit rigare pedes ejus. She wept 
 more for herself than she did for her 
 brother Lazarus. 
 
 It was through contrition that David 
 expiated his sins, for he wept night and 
 day, and watered his couch with his tears. 
 It was by that, St. Peter blotted out his 
 crime, for it is written, that he went out 
 and wept bitterly. 
 
 When one begs pardon for a fault, we 
 may fail of convincing others of our sin- 
 cerity, for words are not always the true 
 interpreters of the heart ; but with respect 
 to tears, they have less cunning, and are 
 far more eloquent, because they disclose 
 the soul's deepest sorrow : Lacryma totunt 
 J)rodit affectum. 
 
 266 
 
 It is in this that consists true penance, 
 an index of an abiding sorrow for having 
 offended God, which then prompts us to 
 do our utmost to satisfy His justice. 
 
 For it is of little worth to acknowledge 
 our sins (the wicked, the hypocrite, often 
 see their crimes, but are not sufficiently 
 aware of their enormity), but we must also 
 feel an inward grief, a salutary compunc- 
 tion of heart, and that bitterness of soul 
 which the Apostle calls sadness unto 
 God. From these arise our sighs, our 
 wish to cover our head with ashes, our 
 dejected look, that make one strike the 
 breast, that suggest the discipline and 
 hair-shirt ; that sorrow from which pro- 
 ceed deep regrets for the past, fear for the 
 future, and anguish for the present ; that 
 sadness which complains like the dove, 
 and which make tears supply the place of 
 food, according to the expression of David. 
 
 Infallible are the marks of repentance, 
 when the feelings are so acute that it 
 pierces the wounded conscience ; not only 
 does it rend our hearts within, but 
 outwardly it escapes in sighs and tears. 
 
256 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Thus the royal prophet tells us that he 
 bedewed his bed with his tears ; thus, also, 
 the sinner in the Gospel washed the feet 
 of Jesus, and mingled with the ointment 
 ^he tears of a breaking heart. 
 
 See how efficacious is the remedy of 
 such happy tears, so different from our 
 ordinary worldly weepings. 
 
 In vain you weep when you are over- 
 whelmed with debt, and when you are 
 pressed hard by creditors. In vain you 
 weep when you are lying on a bed of 
 sickness, racked, perchance, with pains. 
 In vain you weep for a dear one dead. 
 Rivers of tears will not blot out such griefs. 
 
 But oh ! marvellous virtue of the 
 tears of penance ! They cancel debt, they 
 cure your sickness, they restore you to 
 life. And provided that you weep from 
 the heart, behold, you will be transformed 
 into new creatures, and you will begin to 
 lead a life of heavenly spirituality. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Scripture speaks of a converted man as 
 a new man, because, in fact, it produces a 
 wonderful renewal in a regenerated 
 creature. He is no longer himself, he is 
 another man, another being, everything is 
 changed. He cannot recognize the past ; 
 on whatever side you look, you find a new 
 man. He has other eyes, eyes so full of 
 renewed faith that they penetrate unto 
 heaven ; they now perceive the celestial 
 light of truth, and the beauty of holiness 
 
 and sanctity, and fathom the unseen and 
 distant future. He has other ears, ears 
 attentive and obedient, that take pleasure 
 in hearing the word of God, and they 
 listen to the oracles of heaven. 
 
 He has another taste, by which he 
 relishes spiritual delights ; he has far 
 better feelings than he had before. He 
 has a horror of sin, and a fear of offending 
 God ; his anger is zeal for the glory of 
 God ; his joy is the peace of his con- 
 science ; his love, a love for God and 
 his neighbor ; his hatred, his former love 
 of self ; his hope, the search for heavenly 
 things ; his occupations are in good 
 works ; his recreation the praises of God ; 
 his life a continual practice of piety. You 
 would say that his nature was totally 
 altered and changed. 
 
 This change of grace is not the work of 
 a single day. When the strong arm of 
 grace takes possession of a heart it 
 progresses with difficulty ; a house built 
 on a rock does not overturn with the first 
 gust of wind ; the devil, in quiet posses- 
 sion of a soul, does not yield to the first 
 effort to drive him away. 
 
 In the same way, grace of conversion 
 is not suddenly established in a heart ; its 
 progress is slow, almost imperceptible ; it 
 is only by degrees that the work is 
 perfected. We must first fight against 
 our dominant passions, the dire enemies of 
 our salvation. 
 
 Rev. Pi:RE Vincent Houdry. 
 
-^'^^>^*>'>^'T^Hr^if?;:5<-^ 
 
 CHAPTER CI. 
 
 'Jfi iv '•?• •?•' i?«* '.*': •ti i?»* •?•' i?V '1?^ i?I* i?i i?V •!•; i*V i*C" i*: {•; 
 
 * On the Employment of Time. S 
 
 .*•*. •,•• •,•• ••• •.•• •;•; •.•• 
 
 ••.• •-•.• •-•.• 'J*! W •-•-• •>.• 
 
 Fathers Segneri and Croiset. 
 
 ** Therefore, whilst we hare time, let us work good to all men." — Ephesians vi. 13. 
 
 OD allows us ample time to do 
 good : " I gave her a time that 
 she might do penance " (A/>oc. 
 ii). But when this time, of 
 which we are now the masters, 
 shall be ended, we can no 
 longer have a single moment at our dis- 
 posal : "Time shall be no longer" {Apoc. 
 X.). It is then that our Lord's time will 
 •have arrived, that time which He has 
 fixed, and then He will ask how we have 
 employed that which He had given. Ah ! 
 what a severe account will He not demand ! 
 Vocavtt adversum me tempus ( Thren. 
 iii.). 
 
 Let us examine ourselves and see how 
 we employ our time. Is it employed in 
 useful things, or is it frittered away in 
 seeking after vain pursuits .■' 
 
 God gives us this time in order that it 
 may assist us in working out our own 
 salvation, and we lose it, or, rather, we make 
 use of it in such a manner as will even- 
 tually lead to eternal loss. Oh ! what a 
 «se to make of a blessing, which ought to 
 
 257 
 
 be fostered with so much care and so 
 much wisdom. 
 
 We shall know the value of time when 
 we shall have allowed it to pass away, and 
 when our Lord's time will have arrived ; 
 and that time is not far off: "Her time is 
 near at hand, and her days shall not be 
 prolonged," says Isaias (xiv.). 
 
 The wise man is not satisfied with 
 comparing the days of our life to those of 
 a traveller, in order to express its short 
 duration ; he says, further on, that this 
 short time passes away so quickly that he 
 can but compare it to a shadow : Velut 
 tcmbra prcEterit. 
 
 How likely we are to lose it, and what 
 dangers do we not incur, if we do not 
 take especial care to make a good use of 
 that which God has given us. 
 
 A traveller pressed for time thinks only 
 of how soon he can complete his labors ; 
 he deprives himself of sleep, of his meals, 
 his relaxations, in fact, all that he can 
 shorten or cut off ; if we do not make a 
 profitable use of the little time that 
 
258 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 remains to work out our salvation, what 1 
 do we not risk ? 
 
 The loss of your time does not produce 
 a less evil than the eternal loss of your 
 soul. 
 
 What, then, is the blindness of world- 
 lings, who pass their days in boasting 
 projects of fame and fortune? A traveller 
 whom the love of his own dear country 
 urges his return, does he amuse himself on 
 the road with trifles ? What are the 
 largest fortunes in the world, or the 
 grandest establishments on earth, in com- 
 parison to a happy eternity, to which every 
 Christian should aspire ? Nothing but 
 trifles and mere playthings. 
 
 My days, alas ! are reckoned up, and 
 the number is but very small. I will 
 husband these my days with care, so that 
 I may reach at last the heavenly home. 
 
 Le PtRE Paul Segneri, S. J. 
 Meditations. 
 
 God gives me this day to work out my 
 salvation. Ought we not to meditate on 
 this, for are we certain of seeing to-mor- 
 row ? To-day well employed may be 
 worth an eternity of happiness and glory. 
 If God had vouchsafed to have given the 
 same grace to those who have finished 
 their career ; if a soul could come out of 
 hell, or purgatory, even for one day, with 
 the power of expiating its sins by penance 
 and prayer, what would it not do } In so 
 short, so precious a time, would a single 
 moment be lost "i Doubtless no ! 
 
 Even those who are in heaven, would 
 they not deem it an inestimable favor, if 
 
 they had another day to merit some new 
 degree of holiness which would unite them 
 more closely to God ? 
 
 Why should we not make use of this 
 short time in a similar way ? 
 
 Let us apply to ourselves what the wise 
 man says in Ecclesiasticus (xiv.) : " De- 
 fraud not thyself of the good day, and let 
 not the part of a good gift overpass thee." 
 Be mindful, and do not let slip any oppor- 
 tunity of doing good : we can then listen 
 to, and follow faithfully, the voice and 
 inspirations of God. 
 
 Let us do our utmost to carry out the 
 advice of the wise man, and in the most 
 excellent and perfect way : " He hath 
 made all things good in their time," 
 
 Let us also follow that other advice of 
 Ecclesiastes, namely, — Do without delay 
 all that is in your power, because in hell 
 (which is full of souls who have made bad 
 use of time) there will be no time to do 
 good, neither will there be knowledge nor 
 wisdom to teach us. 
 
 Our life is made up of a number of 
 years, which quickly succeed each other; 
 they pass away without a hope of our ever 
 seeing another day, or another hour ever 
 return. 
 
 This series of years, of months, of days^ 
 which God has given us for the purpose of 
 saving our souls, are properly the talent 
 which the Almighty has been pleased to 
 entrust to us. This we ought to make 
 much of, as we shall necessarily have to 
 give a strict account. Since we have been 
 in the world, no year has passed but that 
 it has been the last year for very many. 
 
THE EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 
 
 259 
 
 and the year now silently gliding away 
 will terminate the career of many more. 
 
 How sad for those who have lost, per- 
 haps, every day of the year ! 
 
 Have we nothing to reproach ourselves 
 with ? How have we employed each day? 
 We have worked hard for the world, have 
 we gained much for heaven ? For if we 
 have done nothing for eternity, we have 
 lost a year. 
 
 Now, at least, let us usefully make use 
 of the little time that remains. 
 
 Le P^re Croiset. 
 Exercises tU Pieti. 
 
 The three following paragraphs are from 
 the " Maxims and Sayings " of Saint Philip 
 
 Neri : — 
 
 We must not be behind time in doing 
 good, for death will not be behind his time. 
 
 Happy is the youth, because he has time 
 before him to do good. 
 
 In order to begin well, and to finish 
 better, it is quite necessary to hear Mass 
 every day, unless there be some lawful 
 hindrance in the way. 
 
 And St. Bonaventura tells us that there 
 is no greater loss than the loss of time. 
 
ON FKITH. 
 
 Flechier and PfeRE La Fomt. 
 
 "Lord! I believe; help my unbelief." — Mark ix. 13, 
 
 INQUISITIVE speculation de- 
 stroys that simplicity which 
 seeks only to bend to author- 
 ity, and submit the reason and 
 will to the weight of the 
 Divine Word, without wishing 
 to penetrate the depth of the mysteries, 
 and entering into vain and useless argu- 
 ments. 
 
 This simplicity is founded on the respect 
 due to God, and on the deference we ought 
 to pay to His Word. 
 
 The mind ought to be as submissive to 
 all that our Saviour has said, as the will 
 should be amenable to all that He com- 
 mands ; and as it is our duty to curb our 
 natural inclinations, to obey the laws of 
 God, so we must control our feelings and 
 repugnances, to acquiesce in His truths. 
 
 It is not that faith has not reason and 
 prudence, or that it elevates itself above 
 reason, but, as St. Bernard remarks, it is 
 not amenable to reason, inasmuch as it is 
 founded on the truth of the doctrine 
 which it has received. I did not fix my 
 
 900 
 
 faith on the penetration of my own intel 
 lect, but on the authority of God, who can 
 neither deceive nor be deceived. The 
 truth which I do not fathom is enveloped 
 in its origin. 
 
 Far from seeking faith out of God by 
 the puny effects of my reason, I adore it 
 in the bosom of God, where it has exist- 
 ence, invisible though it may be, and 
 hidden from the eyes of men. 
 
 We often hear worldly people say, " Let 
 me witness but one miracle, and I will 
 be converted." They deceive themselves, 
 Their wonder would be excited, but it 
 would leave no impression on their hearts. 
 They would admire the power of the 
 Almighty, but they would not increase in 
 love and charity. They might be con- 
 vinced, but they would not be converted ; 
 and since neither the authority of Holy 
 Writ, nor the interior voice of conscience, 
 nor the preaching of the gospel, nor the 
 inspirations of heaven, induce them lo 
 believe, the light impression of a miracle 
 would be very soon effaced. 
 
FAITH. 
 
 261 
 
 It would require to be renewed in their 
 every action ; and the desire of witnessing 
 one is only a pretext, or an excuse, for 
 their unbelief, and not as a remedy, or an 
 assistance they desire for perfecting their 
 faith. 
 
 Faith is that column of vapor of which 
 Scripture speaks, which obscures the 
 daylight and enlightens the night. It 
 is that holy mixture of darkness and 
 light, of infallible truths and less evident 
 proofs. It is that enigma mentioned by 
 St. Paul, which is seen through a glass 
 darkly. 
 
 It is, in fine, that truth, which, being 
 revealed, causes the joy and happiness of 
 the blessed, and which, even when veiled, 
 is the hope and comfort of the saints on 
 earth. 
 
 It is for this reason that Jesus Christ 
 chided one of His Apostles, "To believe, 
 you have seen and touched Me." You are 
 indebted to your eyes and hands, when 
 you ought to have trusted to My word. 
 You have acquiesced in a visible and pal- 
 pable truth. It is out of curiosity, not 
 devotion. 
 
 Rejoice in the grace which I have been 
 willing to confer upon you; but transfer 
 the reward to those who have believed 
 what they have not seen, and who, paying 
 deference to the power of My word, not- 
 withstanding the contradiction of reason 
 and sense, make a public avowal of a truth 
 which is not certainly unknown, but which 
 is nevertheless incomprehensible. 
 
 Flechier. 
 Panegyrique sur St. Thomas. 
 
 It is far from my intention to quote all 
 the magnificent eulogies which the Fathers 
 of the Church have written on Faith, in 
 order to point out the beauties and force 
 of their language. I do not pause to show 
 you that it is, according to the great 
 apostle, as it were the spiritual foundation 
 of every virtue, and that it is through 
 faith that man begins to draw nearer to 
 
 God. 
 
 I need not tell you, with St. Chrysostom 
 and St. Augustine, that it is a purely 
 gratuitous gift of God, preceded by no 
 merit, but from which proceed all merits, 
 and that it is the source and beginning of 
 the righteousness of men : Origojitstitm, 
 sanctitatis caput, undi oinnis justitia sumit 
 initiuvi. 
 
 I will not tell you, with St. Bernardine of 
 Sienna, that it is the most excellent hom- 
 age that man can render to God, by sub- 
 jecting his reason, which is the most 
 ungovernable and the proudest of all his 
 faculties, by a blind deference to all the 
 truths He has revealed, however incom- 
 prehensible they may be. 
 
 I will not stop to show you that it is to 
 faith that all those good and grand men, 
 of whom St. Paul sings the praises, are 
 indebted for so many victories over tyrants 
 and devils, and by which they have over- 
 come all laws of nature, and subjected 
 entire cities to the empire of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 In fine, I do not wish to delay pointing 
 out to you that faith elevates us to a high 
 and sublime knowledge of the grandeur 
 
I 
 
 262 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and perfection of the Divine Creator, a 
 faith which is impenetrable to the light of 
 reason, which far surpasses the intelligence 
 of angels, and which has this advantage, 
 in common with the light of glory, that 
 it look? upon God as He is, and that it 
 reflects His fulness and magnificence ; 
 
 first in that veiled obscurity which is our 
 comfort here on earth, and which will be 
 revealed to us hereafter in all its pleni- 
 tude and splendor, as it has been revealed 
 to all the saints in heaven. 
 
 P^RE La Font. 
 Entrttiens, 
 
.n^ 
 
 CHAPTER CIII. 
 
 p^ij^'"T2^^ ^? i? ^ "5? ^ ^S^ ^5? ^F ^ ^5 ^5 ^? '■jiS' " ^> .ij>- ^i? '-ij." ^^ '.^y^^Ri^- ^*[S^ '-fj^" '-iW 
 
 
 2'{l 
 
 0y 
 
 !<^ ON FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 '^I M Ml '^'. 
 
 ? 
 
 ilJllJl 
 
 •*-H 
 
 Saints Francis de Sales, Chrysostom, and Jerome. 
 " Blessed is he that findeth a true friend." — Proverbs xxv. 12. 
 
 .RIENDSHIP requires great 
 communication between friends 
 otherwise it can neither grow 
 nor subsist. Wherefore it 
 often happens, that with this 
 communication of friendship 
 divers other communications insensibly 
 glide from one heart to another, by a 
 mutual infusion and reciprocal intercourse 
 of affections, inclinations, and impressions. 
 But this happens especially when we 
 have a high esteem for him whom we 
 love ; for then we open our heart in such 
 a manner to his friendship, that with it 
 his inclinations and impressions enter 
 rapidly in their full stream, be they good 
 or bad. Certainly the bees that gather 
 the honey of Heraclea, seek nothing but 
 honey ; but yet, with the honey they 
 insensibly suck the poisonous qualities of 
 the aconite, from which they gather it. 
 
 Good God, Philothea, on these occasions 
 we must carefully put what the Saviour 
 of our souls was accustomed to say, in 
 practice : Be ye good bankers or changers 
 
 of money ; that is to say, receive not bad 
 money with the good, nor base gold with 
 the fine ; separate that which is precious 
 from that which is vile, for there is 
 scarcely any person that has not some 
 imperfection. For why should we receive 
 promiscuously the spots and imperfections 
 of a friend, together with his friendship ? 
 We must love him, indeed, notwithstand- 
 ing his imperfections, but we must neither 
 love nor receive his imperfections ; for 
 friendship requires a communication of 
 good, not of evil. 
 
 True and living friendship cannot 
 subsist in the midst of sins. As the sala- 
 mander extinguishes the fire in which he 
 lies, so sin destroys the friendship in 
 which it lodges. If it be but a transient 
 sin, friendship will presently put it to flight 
 by correction ; but if it be habitual, and 
 take up its lodging, friendship immediately 
 perishes, for it cannot subsist but on the 
 solid foundation of virtue. We must never, 
 then, commit sin for friendship's sake. 
 
264 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 A friend becomes an enemy when he 
 would lead us to sin, and he deserves to 
 lose his friend when he would destroy his 
 soul. 
 
 It is an infallible mark of false friend- 
 ship to see it exercised towards a vicious 
 person, be his sins of whatsoever kind ; 
 for if he whom we love be vicious, without 
 doubt our friendship is also vicious, since, 
 seeing it cannot regard true virtue, it 
 must needs be grounded on some frivolous 
 virtue or sensual quality. Society, formed 
 for traffic among merchants, is but a 
 shadow of true friendship, since it is not 
 made for the love of the persons, but for 
 the love of gain. Finally, the two follow- 
 ing divine sentences are two main pillars 
 to secure a Christian life. The one is that 
 ■ of the wise man : He that feareth God shall 
 likewise have a true friendship. The other 
 is that of the apostle St. James : The 
 friendship of this world is the enemy of God. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 If we consider the friendships of the 
 ordinary run of mortals nowadays, we 
 should find that nearly all human friend- 
 ships are at a low ebb, and are simply 
 kept up by the prospect of gain in the 
 businesses of this life. If you wish to 
 test this you have only to examine into 
 the different causes which bring on dis- 
 union in families, and which make you 
 
 enemies of each other. The reason is 
 that when friendships are only founded oi 
 worldly and fleeting advantages, they car 
 not be true and lasting friendships ; the] 
 vanish at the least slight, interest, 
 jealousy, because they are not attached t^ 
 the soul by bonds which alone cemenl 
 friendships, and which render them firr 
 and resolute. 
 
 The friendship between persons unitec 
 in and with Jesus Christ is solid, constant 
 and invincible ; it is not shaken of 
 impaired by suspicion, calumny, dangerg 
 or even by death itself. 
 
 He who loves only so long as he i| 
 beloved, ceases to love when he receive 
 some fancied displeasure from his friend. 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Exhortation on chap. viii. of St. Matthew. 
 
 We must take care not only to avoid 
 leading a bad life, but we must not con- 
 tract a friendship with those who live 
 sinfully, for that, according to the 
 prophet, is included among the sins. 
 
 True friendship exists, not in family 
 interests, nor with those persons by whom 
 we are accustomed to be entertained, nor 
 with those who flatter us, and whose 
 company is dangerous ; but with those 
 who cherish the holy fear of God and the 
 study of Holy Scripture. 
 
 St. Jerome. 
 Epistle ad Paulinum. 
 

 
 
 .^^ .^ .^ .^ -^. .^ 
 ^^^ "^^ ■'^ ^^ ^^ •^- 
 
 CHAPTER ' CIV. 
 
 
 
 
 
 •I^ 
 
 ON GOOD EXHTVIPL-E. 
 
 -^1- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11: — 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 j^ ^^ .^ ^^. ■■^. .^ 
 
 ■^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 7^ 
 
 
 Le PfeRE TeXIER. 
 
 " Let your i:ghi shine before men, in order that seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father 
 who is in heaven." — Matthew v. 14. 
 
 O gain knowledge, one need 
 only vvatch and see virtue 
 emanating from a saintly man ; 
 his very silence, joined to his 
 expressive gestures, plainly 
 show all he would wish to say. 
 So says Emodius : I/l/tm vidisse eruditi 
 est ; est enitn in illo loquax tacitumitas et 
 erudite forma silcntii. 
 
 Every nation, however savage the 
 people may be, however diversified in 
 speech, understands the language of good 
 example, and one need not be astonished 
 at what TertuUian says : "The confidence 
 and invincible patience of the early 
 martyrs has proved to be the first com- 
 mentary, and the clearest interpretation 
 of the Gospel." 
 
 It was this mute but eloquent philos- 
 ophy which the primitive Church made 
 use of to enlighten the obscurity of the 
 mysteries of our holy faith. It was that 
 piety which was imprinted on the faces of 
 the first Christians, that calm demeanor 
 wliich they displayed when on their trial, 
 u!id especially that unshaken confidence 
 
 26S 
 
 and trust in God in the midst of cruel 
 tortures ; it was example like unto this 
 that touched the heart of many a 
 pagan. 
 
 Even the modest attire of the early 
 Christians (says TertuUian) was a public 
 censure of all the vices of the idolaters. 
 Let us say, rather, that all the early 
 Christians were eflficacious preachers. 
 
 When the great orators wished to make 
 a deep impression on the judges and their 
 hearers, they often felt at a loss for words, 
 so they betook themselves to action ; they 
 knew by experience that the sight of a 
 body covered with wounds, of a cassock 
 tinged with blood, of a procession of poor 
 little orphans, of a widow bathed in tears, 
 were certainly better adapted to excite 
 compassion than all the tropes and figures 
 of the most pathetic of speeches ; so true 
 it is that illustrative agents that attract 
 the eye are far more successful than words 
 which tickle the ear. Is it not also true 
 that a general who harangues his soldiers 
 before the battle does not excite their 
 enthusiastic courage half so much za 
 
fi66 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 when they see him, sword in hand, lead 
 on the desperate charge, and fight in front 
 covered with dust and blood ? 
 
 When the sinner contemplates the saint 
 (who has been one like unto himself, 
 subject to the selfsame weaknesses and 
 frailties), he thinks of his cowardice in the 
 practices of virtue, which he persuaded 
 himself were too difficult, and he reflects, 
 and ends in condemning his folly and 
 malice. This is what St. Gregory says : 
 Dum peccator jiistum considerat, seipsum 
 arguit atque condemnat. 
 
 When, for example, your fine people, 
 who live in the lap of luxury or are 
 hangers-on at the court of royalty, deem 
 it derogatory to their high dignity to 
 conform to the precepts of the Gospel ; 
 when they see a St. Louis, a St. Edward, 
 a St. Casimir, the Eleazars, and others 
 who were in a higher station of life, and 
 more illustrious and valiant ; when they 
 read of kings living in the strict observ- 
 ance of the commandments, they are com- 
 pelled to confess that they have deceived 
 themselves by fancying that the practice 
 of every virtue is incompatible or incon- 
 sistent with their rank in life ; when that 
 judge, that merchant, that man of busi- 
 ness looks at David, who, though loaded 
 with the cares of a kingdom, managed to 
 find time to pray to God seven times a 
 day, and to employ hours in meditating 
 upon eternity ; when that delicate dame, 
 who cannot endure the smell that exhales 
 from the poor, sees the SS. Elizabeths of 
 Hungary and of Portugal, and many other 
 princesses visiting the hospitals every day, 
 
 joyfully devoting hours to the care of the 
 poor sick, to dressing their sores, to 
 making their beds, to performing every 
 kind of menial office ; in fine, when bad 
 and cowardly Christians contemplate the 
 fervent lives of the saints, they are forced 
 to acknowledge that it is their tepidity, 
 their want of faith, that cramp their feeble 
 efforts, and not the difficulty of sanctity. 
 In truth, says St. Gregory the Great, 
 when God brings before them those irre- 
 proachable witnesses of which Job makes 
 mention, they have no answer, no excuse, 
 but are compelled to acknowledge their 
 guilt. 
 
 I know full well that we all have not 
 the capacity to write books on the defence 
 of the faith that is in us, but we can all be 
 living commentators on the perfection of 
 every virtue. We all have not the author- 
 ity to mount the pulpit and preach against 
 vice, but we can preach, as St. Francis 
 did, by the language of our works, which 
 is far more persuasive than a sermon. 
 We all are not rich enough to give abun- 
 dant alms, but we can, if we wish, practice 
 charity towards our neighbors in a more 
 excellent way, and that is by good exam- 
 ple ; we can gently lead them on to God, 
 who is the giver of all good gifts. This 
 we all can do, if we wish. 
 
 It is related of St. Bernardine, that he 
 had so grave and modest an air that his 
 presence alone inspired recollection in his 
 companions. We read also that many 
 were converted by only looking upon St. 
 Lucian the Martyr. 
 
 Rev. Father Texier. 
 
A\ 'Zr 
 
 * 
 
 SOOB WORKS. 
 
 St. Chrysostom and Father Segneri. 
 
 " In all things, show thyself an example of good works." — Titus ii. 7. 
 
 HE forgetfulness of our good 
 works is, in itself, our surest 
 safeguard. 
 
 If you publicly display gold 
 and precious vestments, you 
 invite thieves to find out the 
 means of robbing you ; but if you keep 
 them hidden in some secret corner of your 
 dwelling, they will be safe. 
 
 As it is with riches, so it is the same 
 with virtues and good works. If we keep 
 them in our memory, and, as it were, 
 expose them for sale, we arm our enemies 
 against ourselves, and invite them to 
 deprive us of the merit. But if they are 
 known only to Him who knows every- 
 thing, we shall possess and keep them in 
 hopeful security. 
 
 Do not, therefore, expose the riches 
 of your good works, for fear of their 
 being taken from you, as was the case 
 with the Pharisee, who, carrying on 
 his lips the treasures of his good works, 
 gave Satan the opportunity of robbing 
 him. He spoke only of giving thanks. 
 
 and displayed his good works to God ; 
 nevertheless, that did not shelter him. 
 for it was not to return thanks to God, 
 but to seek to be praised by many, to 
 insult others, and to raise himself above 
 them all. 
 
 If you return thanks to God, think only 
 of pleasing Him alone ; do not seek to be 
 known by men, and do not judge your 
 neighbor. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 On Matthew Hi. 
 
 When we neglect nothing, and are care- 
 ful to store up the little gains we can make, 
 we shall insensibly increase our riches ; 
 it is nearly the same with spiritual 
 riches. 
 
 Since our Divine Lord and Judge will 
 keep an account of a glas,'/ of water, there 
 is no good action we ou^ht to despise, 
 however small it may ap ijear, and we must 
 not be grieved if we cannot do great 
 things; little things 'j:/aturally are the 
 forerunners of great actions. Neglect the 
 
268 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 former, and you will not be capable to do 
 the latter. 
 
 It was to prevent this misfortune that 
 Jesus Christ has promised to reward us 
 for little things. 
 
 There is nothing more easy than visiting 
 a sick person, nevertheless, God has fixed 
 a great reward for this good work, however 
 easy it may appear. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 opuscules. 
 
 As the prospect of an abundant harvest 
 soothes the labors and cheers the heart of 
 the husbandman — so in like manner the 
 hope and reward ought to support us and 
 relieve our fatigues : Debet in spe qui arat 
 arare. The harvest will be ours, for "In 
 due time we shall reap " {Gal. vi.). We 
 cannot cherish a doubt of this, without 
 questioning the fidelity of the Lord our 
 God. 
 
 The laborer, notwithstanding his wise 
 precautions, his indefatigable care, his 
 well-founded hopes, may, in a single night, 
 find his fields torn and spoiled by a mighty 
 storm, or by some other accident. But 
 the just man has nothing to fear. Let him 
 but persevere in the practice of good 
 works, and nothing in the world can hinder 
 him the fruit : " And in doing good let us 
 not fail ; for in due time we shall reap, 
 not failing " {Gal. vi. 9). 
 
 Some commentators explain those words 
 ot the apostle in another way. It is 
 right, say they, that we should sow 
 without respite, since, in heaven, the 
 harvest will be eternal : " We shall reap, 
 
 not failing." This is the opinion of St, 
 Augustine : — 
 
 Do not relax in your eflforts, says the, 
 holy doctor, and God will not fail to reward^ 
 you. But if you tire of your work or flag 
 in your efforts, the judgments of the Lord, 
 says a prophet, will overwhelm you, like 
 those bitter weeds that grow in the midst ; 
 of the wheat. The words of the apostle 
 signify that we should not cease from 
 preparing for the harvest : " We shaU. 
 reap, not failing." 
 
 The husbandmen do not allow them- 
 selves to be over-fatigued, although thejr 
 reap with joy; but the saints who gather 
 in heaven what they have sown, partake 
 of the purest pleasures in unalterable joy 
 and pleasures ever new. 
 
 Who could have a disrelish in the abode 
 of glory t " What shall come of thee by 
 the pleasure -of the Most High" {Eccles 
 xli.). The fruit of a few years is there, 
 provided the work be persevered in. The 
 choice of seed, the good soil, the beauty 
 of the season, do not produce a good 
 harvest if the seeds are not protected 
 from the birds, who swarm to carry them 
 away. That signifies that we must con- 
 ceal from men the good we do, and not 
 seek for their esteem and praise, for this 
 will deprive you of the merit in the sight 
 of God. If foolish souls, by displaying 
 the good they do, do not lose all the merit, 
 they, at least, lose the greater part. You 
 have sown, but you have reaped but little ; 
 the birds of heaven have eaten what you 
 have sown. That is to say, the thoughts 
 of vanity which are in your heart, and 
 
GOOD WORKS. 
 
 269 
 
 which you have complacently encouraged, 
 will have deprived you of the reward 
 which was prepared for you. Conceal, 
 then, with humility, your good works, 
 when they are not necessary to be 
 witnessed. 
 
 The time will come when you shall 
 receive the reward a hundredfold. 
 
 " For in due time we shall reap, not 
 failing." 
 
 Father Segneri, S. J. 
 Meditations. 
 
PfeRE D'Argentan and St. Ambrose. 
 •Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." — Matthew v. 48. 
 
 ',0, I must no longer say that 
 holiness is too high a state for 
 such a miserable wretch as I 
 am to aspire to. I feel sure 
 that God calls me to it, and 
 that He wishes to conduct me, 
 since He has prepared the way. I am 
 sure that He wills that I should dare to 
 aspire to it, and that I should do my utmost 
 to reach perfection. 
 
 Indeed, what could I wish to be, if I 
 did not wish to be a saint? I must then 
 be a reprobate, for there is no middle 
 course ; either a saint or a reprobate. I 
 must neither say that I am too weak and 
 frail to pretend to become a saint ; I know 
 but too well that I am a poor frail mortal, 
 but I also know that my Redeemer, who 
 has spared no pains to make me a saint, 
 has taken upon Himself my infirmities, in 
 order to clothe me with His strength, and 
 that I can say with St. Paul, I can do all 
 In Him who strengthens me. 
 
 What, then, have I to do to make me 
 really and truly holy, according to the 
 intention of the Son of God, who 
 
 S7» 
 
 calls me to sanctity ? I have only to put 
 on the Lord Jesus as the same apostle 
 says. Is there anything more easy, 
 provided that I have the will ? If it were 
 a question of amassing great riches to be 
 holy, many obstacles would have to be 
 overcome, many legitimate pretexts would 
 have to be decided, for each one would 
 dispute who should have them ; but holi- 
 ness partly consists in despising riches, 
 and in not allowing them to retain a hold 
 of the heart. 
 
 In the same way, if, to be a saint, it was 
 found necessary to be raised to great 
 honors, or noble employments, or to under- 
 take the management of a city or state, 
 holiness would cost so dear that few 
 persons would venture to accept the 
 burden, and it would afford an excuse 
 to many to decline the trial ; but what can 
 hinder us, when we are told that the 
 surest and safest road to sanctification is 
 to cherish a hidden life, to love humility 
 and lowliness ? 
 
 In conclusion, to be virtuous and holy, 
 if it were necessary to enjoy the pleasures 
 
HOLINESS AND PERFECTION. 
 
 271 
 
 of this life, would it not cost much ? should 
 we not have to go to great expense ? and 
 often, even then, should we not find much 
 that was bitter, where we expected 
 nought but pleasure and sweetness ? But 
 to renounce sensual gratifications, to 
 "be content to suffer all the crosses insepar- 
 able from every condition of life, to prefer 
 a mortified life of austerity and penance, is 
 this what every one can do ? And thus, 
 as there is no one who cannot but be holy 
 and virtuous if he likes, it follows that all 
 excuses must be frivolous, and cannot 
 be allowed for at the judgment seat of 
 •God. 
 
 What ! is it then so diflficult to love the 
 three things which the Saviour of men has 
 so much loved, and which contain every 
 essential of a truly sanctified life, namely, 
 poverty, contempt, and crosses ? 
 
 These three things often accompany a 
 sanctified life, and we have so great a 
 dread of them that we look upon them as 
 mortal enemies. Instead of this we 
 should seek for them and embrace them 
 as the best means of becoming saints, thus 
 becoming as so many sources of merit, 
 and with these we heap up treasures which 
 will enrich us for all eternity. It is true 
 that our lower nature feels a natural repug- 
 nance to, and rebels against, such strong 
 remedies, but the grace of our Saviour, 
 who comes to our aid, gives us additional 
 ^strength. It is this grace which, being 
 the overflowing of His Divine Spirit, 
 infuses into a soul a love of those things 
 which He so much loved ; and He clothes 
 it with a holy strength, in order that, by a 
 
 supernatural virtue, he may embrace that 
 which it fled from through a natural repug 
 nance. 
 
 And how many saints, who west men 
 like ourselves and subject to the same 
 infirmities, have been happier, more con- 
 tented in their poverty, than the rich world- 
 lings with all their treasures "i How 
 many of them have felt a sweeter consola 
 tion in the midst of scorn and contempt, 
 than the most ambitious have felt, even 
 when loaded with honors ? And how 
 many have felt a holier joy, even when 
 carrying a heavy cross, than the sensual- 
 ists in the midst of their pleasures. 
 
 Le P^re D'Argentan. 
 Conference, No. 23. 
 
 How can a truly virtuous man fail in 
 anything "i In what situation will he not 
 be powerful ; in what state of poverty will 
 he not be rich ; in what obscurity will he 
 not be brilliant ; in what inaction will he 
 not be industrious; in what infirmity will 
 he not be vigorous ; in what weakness will 
 he not be strong ; in what solitude will he 
 not be accompanied ? for he will have for 
 company the hope of a happy eternity; 
 for clothing, he will have the grace of the 
 Most High ; for ornament, the promises 
 of a halo of glory ! 
 
 Let us recollect that the saints were not 
 of a more excellent nature than ours, but 
 were more orderly and regular : that they 
 were not exempt from sins, but that they 
 took pains to correct their faults. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 De Joseph. 
 
Massillon and St. Gregory. 
 
 Do I seek to please men ? If I yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ." 
 
 — Galatians i. ID. 
 
 'UMAN respect outrages the 
 dignity of God, for the gran- 
 deur of the Creator requires 
 that it should not be put in 
 comparison with man, whom 
 He has drawn from the slime 
 of the earth, and all other greatnesses can 
 be only regarded as nothing. 
 
 Now, wishing on the one hand to give 
 yourself up to God, and kept back on the 
 other hand by the fear of man, you say to 
 Him : O Lord, I would devote myself to 
 You, and I would serve You in preference 
 to any one else, if, situated as I am, I was 
 allowed to serve You without exposing 
 myself to the criticism of the world ; I 
 should like to be able to break off all con- 
 nection with the world and to consecrate 
 all to You alone, if, in declaring myself 
 openly, I did not attract the notice of a 
 thousand dangerous enemies. I feel a 
 very great affection, it is true ; You have 
 filled my soul with a wholesome inclina- 
 tion for virtue, and I dream of being 
 ■'elieved from my grievous faults, of which 
 I am a very slave ; nevertheless, I have 
 
 272 
 
 not the courage to put into practice my 
 wish, for fear of losing the esteem of the 
 world, 
 
 I feel that I am called upon to lead a 
 life of piety ; however, I drag my chains 
 after me, although with regret, because 
 the world does not wish to love You, and 
 even does not wish me to love You. 
 
 Ah ! if it depended solely on myself to 
 choose the path, I would be all in all for 
 You, O Lord ; You would be the sole 
 master of my heart, and one would see 
 that, from henceforth I would do that 
 which I have not done in times past ; but 
 You well know what a number of bitter 
 reproaches I should have to endure, were 
 I to make known to the world my deter- 
 mination. You know that the world is 
 most unmerciful to those who leave it in 
 order to enter into Your service, and,, 
 since I must say it, I feel that I have not 
 the moral courage to despise the world, 
 and that I have still the weakness of for- 
 getting You, by remaining in its service. 
 
 I know what many would say in answer 
 to this. It is sufficient, they say, to serve 
 
HUMAN RESPECT. 
 
 273 
 
 Almighty God in secret, to give Him our 
 hearts, without making any outward show 
 of our devotion. Is there any need of 
 making a parade of conversion, which 
 can be done secretly, without the world 
 knowing anything about it ? Must we give 
 to the public a sight where vanity and vain- 
 glory might possibly play a greater part 
 than that of true piety ? Can we not give to 
 God a clean heart, and a faith so fervent 
 that He will accept it ? 
 
 A sinner, cannot he do good, serve 
 God, weep for his sins, practise virtue, 
 without its being known to men ? A 
 just and good man, can he not live by 
 faith, without the world being cognizant 
 of it ? 
 
 I know that we must conform to the 
 decorous usages and customs of the world, 
 that we must accommodate ourselves to 
 the times and places, that we must take 
 certain measures with regard to our posi- 
 tion in society, that charity prompts us to 
 conceal much from the eyes of men, that 
 we must be weak with the weak, strong 
 with the strong, all to all, as says the 
 great apostle, and there is even a merit 
 In hiding the good we do. 
 
 But I say that the allegiance we owe 
 to the Almighty is divided between God 
 and a world which we ought to hate, and 
 which world we flatter by concealing our 
 conversion and serving God in secret. 
 
 It is my opinion that it is being only 
 half a Christian to blush at being all for 
 Jesus, after unblushingly and wilfully 
 
 following the pernicious maxims of the 
 world. 
 
 Since a God-made man had become the 
 jest of madmen, since He has been 
 exposed to insults innumerable for love of 
 you, can you wish to conceal your duty to 
 Him, and to suffer something for His sake.' 
 
 O man ! how you ought to blush for 
 being so ungrateful, and not give some 
 tokens of affection to your God, who has 
 loaded you with so many blessings, and 
 especially the crowning gift of conversion, 
 I do not say that your declaring yourself 
 openly for God is unworthy of a generous 
 man; but if you believe in His justice, 
 why dissimulate when you have once 
 embraced His service ? A soul that has 
 been reared in pious society would not 
 know how to counterfeit. If you have 
 been taught to love our Lord, if you have 
 promised to serve Him, why do you wish 
 to conceal your love .-* 
 
 You pique yourself on having strength 
 of mind, on having a moral courage in the 
 business of this world, and in religion you 
 are weaker than the ordinary run of mor- 
 tals. 
 
 Massillon. 
 Discourse on Human Respect. 
 
 There is nothing we ought to dread 
 more than giving the preference to the 
 fear of man, to thaJt of the fear of God. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 Oh the Proverbi, 
 
-:>'^>4^^-^^ 
 
 ^^^^ff:^T^^^^^*^^ 
 
 CHAPTER CVIII. 
 
 •4; ••• •*•• •*•; ••*• :•'• •!•; •!•; ••; ••; ••; 'Jt; ••; ••• •*•*• ••• ••*• •*•; !jt\ 
 
 I ON HU7VIILITY. * 
 
 ••J 'Jt: 'It' *•?• •?•* •?•' *•?• *•?•* *•?•* •?• •?•* *•?•* •?•* "•?• *•?•* i?J 'A* ••; i*J 
 
 St, Francis de Sales and Father Faber. 
 "The prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee." — Judith ix. i6. 
 
 'F for acts of a true and sincere 
 devotion the world shall esteem 
 you mean, abject, or foolish, 
 humility will make you rejoice 
 at this happy reproach, the 
 cause of which is not in you, 
 but in those that reproach you. 
 
 What is it to love your own abjection } 
 In Latin, abjectio signifies humility, and 
 humility signifies abjection ; so that, when 
 our Blessed Lady, in her sacred canticle, 
 says that all generations should call her 
 blessed, because our Lord had regarded 
 the humility of His handmaid, her mean- 
 ing is that our Lord had graciously looked 
 down on her abjection, her meanness and 
 lowliness, to heap His graces and favors 
 upon her. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is a difference 
 between the virtue of humility and abjec- 
 tion ; for our abjection is the lowliness, 
 meanness, and baseness that is in us 
 without our being aware of it, whereas 
 the virtue of humility is a true knowledge 
 and a voluntary acknowledgment of our 
 abjection. Now the main point of this 
 
 274 
 
 humility consists in being willing, not 
 only to acknowledge our abjection, but in 
 loving and delighting in it ; and this, not 
 through want of courage and generosity, 
 but for the greater exaltation of the Divine 
 Majesty, and holding our neighbor in 
 greater estimation than ourselves. 
 
 Praise, honor, and glory are not given to 
 men for every degree of virtue, but for an 
 excellence of virtue ; for, by praise, we 
 endeavor to persuade others to esteem 
 the excellency of those whom we praise ; 
 by honor we testify that we ourselves 
 esteem them ; and glory, in my opinion, 
 is nothing but a certain lustre of reputa- 
 tion that arises from the concurrence of 
 praise and honor ; so that honor and 
 praise are like precious stones from a 
 collection of which glory proceeds like a 
 certain enamelling. Now humility, not 
 enduring that we should have any 
 opinion of our own excellence, or think 
 ourselves worthy to be preferred before 
 others, consequently cannot permit that 
 we should hunt after praise, honor, or 
 glory, which are only due to excellence. 
 
HUMILITY. 
 
 275 
 
 Let us incessantly fix our eyes on Jesus 
 Christ crucified, and march on in His 
 service with confidence anu sincerity, but 
 yet with wisdom and discretion. He will 
 be the protector of our reputation ; and, 
 should He suffer it to be taken from us, it 
 will be either to restore it with advantage, 
 or to make us profit in holy humility, one 
 ounce of which is preferable to ten 
 thousand pounds of honors. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 
 Humility is the perfume of God. It is 
 the fragrance which He leaves behind, 
 who cannot be humbled Himself because 
 He is God. It is the odor, the stain, the 
 token that the Creator leaves upon the 
 creature when He has pressed upon it for 
 a moment. It must be a law of the world 
 of grace, because we find it in Mary, in 
 the saints, and in the faintest, most nearly 
 indistinguishable way in ourselves. Per- 
 haps it is something inseparable from God. 
 We trace the Most High, the Incommuni- 
 cable, by it in the Old Testament, We 
 trace Jesus by it in the New. The glory 
 of humility is in the human nature of our 
 Lord, on which the mysterious pressure of 
 the Divine Nature rested forevermore. 
 It is this inevitable perfume that God 
 leaves behind Him which hinders His 
 altogether hiding His traces from us. It 
 is " the myrrh, and stacte, and cassia from 
 His ivory houses." 
 
 Mary has found Him, and she has laid 
 down in the lowliest, most flowery valley 
 
 of humility, and the fragrance of God has 
 perfumed her garments, her " gilded cloth- 
 ing surrounded with variety." 
 
 Humility grows far more rapidly, and 
 blossoms more abundantly, in the mere 
 thought of the immensity of God's love of 
 us, and the unintelligible prodigality of 
 His fatherly affection for us, where there 
 is no thought of self at all, even in the 
 way of merited self-reproach. This vision, 
 for it is nothing but a beautiful celestial 
 vision, overshadows our souls. The fires 
 of our selfish passions go out in it. The 
 glare of the world seems softened through 
 it. There is nothing to distract us in the 
 absorbing simplicity of this one sight 
 which we are beholding. There is noth- 
 ing to awaken self-love, and to aim it 
 against the nobler or better thoughts of 
 self-forgetfulness. 
 
 Humility is never more intense than 
 when it is thus simply overwhelmed by 
 love ; and never can our souls be more 
 completely overwhelmed by love than 
 when they rest, silent and wonderstricken, 
 beneath the shadow of the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 Nothing teaches us humility so much as 
 the Blessed Sacrament. Our hearts for 
 very love are constrained to imitate Hira 
 in our own feeble way, and to worship 
 Him in His sacramental presence by a 
 continual exercise of interior humility. 
 
 Father Faber. (Orat.) 
 Foot of tk* Cross and the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
CHAPTER CIX. 
 
 # # 
 
 # # 
 
 On the Love of oiff JleigloP. 
 
 " The love of our neighbor is the fulfilment of the law." — Romans xiii. 8. 
 Short Extracts from Divers Saints. 
 
 'N reference to this command- 
 ment, St. Bern dine, of 
 Sienna, remarks that we 
 should love our neighbor with 
 a genuine affection, and not in 
 the same way as we love things 
 necessary or useful, such as bread, a house, 
 and other things which are for our use or 
 for our amusement ; these we do not love 
 as ourselves, but for ourselves. 
 
 St. Chrysostom says that when the Son 
 of God gave us the best of prayers. He did 
 not intend that we should say " My 
 Father," but Our Father ; inasmuch as 
 we have a common Father in heaven we 
 should consider all men as our brethren, 
 and that in this way we should love each 
 other with a mutual love, with a love 
 stronger in grace than in nature, as we 
 have all an equal right to a vocation to a 
 supernatural life, the same hope of a 
 heavenly reward. 
 
 How sweet is this command ! exclaims 
 the saintly Jesuit, P^re de la Colombi^re ; 
 
 27S 
 
 does it not appear to be worthy of the 
 goodness and wisdom of God } Is it not 
 reasonable that men who are endowed with 
 one and the same nature, who have one 
 and the same Father in heaven, who are 
 obliged to live in society, who are all 
 fellow-travellers, and who ought to meet 
 again in heaven, is it not reasonable, says 
 he, that we should love one another here 
 below, and should help one another in the 
 same degree as we would wish to be 
 helped ourselves "i 
 
 The love of our neighbor may be placed 
 in the same category as the love we owe 
 to God. All who say " Lord, Lord " (that 
 is to say, all who say that they love God), 
 shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 
 Good works and proofs of that love are 
 requisite. He alone will enter the king- 
 dom of heaven who does the will of My 
 Father. The same may be said of the 
 love of our neighbor. We must show it 
 by solid proofs. 
 
 As a Christian, you are expressly to 
 love your neighbor ; therefore it is certain , 
 
THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR. 
 
 277 
 
 that you will best show your affection by 
 tendering all the help that it may be in 
 your power to give him. 
 
 The love of our neighbor, says St. Paul, 
 is a debt which is not discharged in the 
 ordinary way ; that is to say, a debt once 
 paid is paid once for all. This is what 
 St. Paul means, we are always beholden 
 in the love we are obliged to have for one 
 another. 
 
 The more you pay in love and charity, 
 the more you will owe, says St. Augustine. 
 
 He who, says St. Fulgentius, does not 
 believe that he has aught to pay to his 
 neighbor, as if he had discharged the debt, 
 but he ought rather to weep for himself 
 as being without charity. 
 
 Do not believe that, when you have for- 
 given your brother, you have cancelled the 
 obligation, and that you have already given 
 sufficient proofs of your love. 
 
 We are ever indebted to our brethren, 
 on occasion of the mutual bond there is 
 between you and them. 
 
 We are members of the same body, and 
 f charity be not in our hearts, we 
 
 renounce this bond ; and being no longer 
 united with our neighbor, we have no 
 claim on the love of Jesus, our Model and 
 Master. 
 
 St. Chrysostom also says, in his Hom- 
 ilies of St. Matthew : One loves because 
 he is loved, another because he is honored, 
 another because he thinks that it will be 
 of service to him ; but, alas ! how seldom 
 it is that you meet with a person who 
 loves his brother as he ought for the sake 
 of Jesus. Nearly all friends are allied by 
 the bonds of an affection which is of the 
 world, worldly. 
 
 St. Bernard says that he who does not 
 love God cannot love his neighbor with a 
 sincere affection ; God, therefore, must be 
 our first love, in order that we may be able 
 to love our neighbor in God and for God. 
 
 St. Philip Neri fells us that in dealing 
 with our neighbor we must assume as 
 much pleasantness of manner as we can, 
 and, by this affability, win him to the way 
 of virtue. 
 
 J 
 1 
 
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 JV^ 
 
CHAPTER ex. 
 
 On t^E LoYE o^ oiii| ^nsmiES. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Archbishop Carranza, Le P^re Joly, and 
 St. Gregory of Nazianzen. 
 
 " But I say to you : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who perse- 
 cute you, and for those who calumniate you, in order that you may be the children of your Father who is 
 in heaven." — Matthew v. 44. 
 
 ARTHOLOMEW DE CAR- 
 RANZA, Archbishop of Toledo, 
 was born at Miranda in Navarre. 
 He joined the Order of St. Domi- 
 nic, and was afterwards Professor 
 of Theology in his Dominican 
 College. In 1545 he was sent to 
 the Council of Trent. In 1554, Philip II., 
 having espoused Queen Mary, brought B. de 
 Carranza to England, where he did his utmost 
 to convert many to the One Faith. On 
 Philip's return to Spain, this king nominated 
 him to the Archbishopric. of Toledo. 
 
 Calumniated by his enemies, he suffered 
 with patience a long imprisonment, and died 
 in the year 1576. 
 
 Gregory XIII. wrote an epitaph for his 
 tomb, in which he spoke of him as a man 
 equally illustrious for his virtues as his learn- 
 ing, — a man modest in prosperity, and patient 
 in adversity. 
 
 Let us reflect seriously on the condition 
 made by our Saviour when He taught us 
 to say to our heavenly Father those words, 
 " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
 those who have trespassed against us." 
 
 How easy it is to obtain pardon, if we 
 do that which mainly depends on our own 
 
 278 
 
 exertions ; for we have a right to ask for 
 pardon from our Lord, if we have forgiven 
 those who may have trespassed against us. 
 One could not realize this, did we not 
 meditate on the wondrous wisdom of the 
 Son of God. 
 
 His design being to establish charity 
 amongst men. He makes use of the want 
 we all experience of having need of His 
 mercy; and since the state of sin is our 
 greatest misery, He is willing to grant to 
 us the remission of sin, on condition that 
 we do unto our neighbors the greatest 
 favor we have it in our power to bestow, 
 namely, the forgiveness of their trespasses 
 against us. 
 
 Let us endeavor to walk in the foot- 
 steps of those patriarchs and early martyrs 
 mentioned in Holy Scripture. Let us 
 imitate a Joseph, who repaid with presents 
 all the outrages he had received from his 
 brothers ; a Moses, who prayed for that 
 rebellious people who were continually 
 waging war against him ; a David, who to 
 Saul returned good for evil ; a St. Stephen, 
 
THE LOVE OF OUR ENEMIES. 
 
 279 
 
 who, when he was being stoned to death, 
 implored pardon from God for his execu- 
 tioners ; a St. Paul, who, after having been 
 cruelly persecuted by the Jews, worked 
 incessantly for their conversion. 
 
 These grand examples, ought they not 
 to teach us to do good to those who are 
 
 our enemies ? 
 
 B. Carranza. 
 
 [Abbe Joly, Dean of Langres Cathedral, 
 President of the Chamber of Deputies of 
 Burgundy, was born at Dijon in 17 15, and 
 died in 1775. He was a priest of consider- 
 able literary attainments, and published 
 several useful works in his native city.] 
 
 I also say to you, Love your enemies. 
 It is I, says Jesus, who speak to you. 
 
 If a mere man had said so, you would 
 point out the gravity of the offence, and 
 the justice of your resentment. If a per- 
 son for whom you have the highest respect 
 were to entreat you to forgive another, you 
 might, perhaps, answer that you could obey 
 him in all things else, but in this case you 
 have been very deeply wronged. If a 
 prince or king were to tell you the like, 
 you would suspend your vengeance and 
 give some mark of an outward reconcilia- 
 tion, but in your heart you would cherish a 
 hatred which would burst forth, sooner or 
 later. 
 
 But it is God who speaks ; it is God who 
 commands you to " love your enemies, and 
 do good to those that hate you " To so 
 precise a command, what have you to 
 answer? Consider, says Tertullian, the 
 
 dignity and infinite majesty of Him who 
 commands. 
 
 Do not speak of passion, human feelings, 
 the pleasure of revenge, the atrocity of 
 the insult, the indignity of the affront. 
 
 It is God who speaks, and He must be 
 obeyed. Do not tell me that this is 
 diflEicult. Was it difficult to David } Was 
 it so to St. Stephen } 
 
 It is difficult, I grant ; but it is God who 
 has made it. It is difficult ; but it is His 
 will that you should surmount the diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 If, in a violent persecution. He were to 
 ask you to lay down your life, as He has 
 done to some martyrs, would you refuse to 
 give it to Him } If He asked for the last 
 drop of your blood, would you not shed it 
 joyfully } 
 
 He commands you to love your enemies 
 and forgive them ; is not this enough } 
 
 Le PlcRE Joly. 
 
 It is more glorious to bear silently an 
 affront, in imitation of Christ, than to 
 retort with a sharp and sarcastic reply. 
 
 If it should happen that the remem- 
 brance of an injury stirs up your soul to 
 anger, call to mind what the Son of God 
 has suffered for us, and how comparatively 
 few have been your sufferings. By this 
 means, you will throw water on the 
 smouldering flames, and you will be the 
 better enabled to smother your resentment 
 
 St. Gregory of Nazianzen. 
 Sentences. 
 
fA 
 
 CHAPTER cxij > On MediMon and MenM ppa^BP. 
 
 Massillon, St. Francis de Sales, and Alphonse Rodriguez, S. J. 
 
 " Before prayer prepare thy soul ; and be not as a man that temptelh God." 
 
 — EccLESiASTicus xvHi. 23. 
 
 HE precious gift of prayer, so 
 essential to religion, so glorious 
 to the creature, so favorable to 
 the sinner, so beneficial for all 
 men, is nowadays either de- 
 spised or neglected. It is to 
 induce us to practise this that the Church 
 proposes as our model the early Christians, 
 who had no better occupation, no more 
 agreeable duty. 
 
 Indeed, O my God ! if we were only to 
 think of its advantage and benefit, what 
 consolations, what sweetness, would we 
 not experience from it .? Forced to live 
 for a time in this land of exile, far from 
 Thee, and far from Thy celestial abode, 
 what should we do without the salutary 
 exercise of prayer } 
 
 What better consolation can we hope 
 for, except by taking advantage by this 
 means of raising up our thoughts to 
 heaven, of placing ourselves in direct 
 communication with Thee, of consulting 
 Thee in all our scruples, of exposing all 
 our wants, of telling Thee of all our 
 
 28* 
 
 troubles, or of offering up all our pains 
 and sufferings } 
 
 What other resource can there be for us, 
 except by this holy exercise, by which we 
 shall find an anointing grace which can 
 soften our griefs, a charitable hand to dry 
 our tears, a secret, sacred ray to enlighten 
 our path, a Father who will listen to our 
 petitions, a Physician who will cure all 
 our infirmities, a Judge who will interest 
 Himself in all our concerns, a Master who 
 is ever instructing us } 
 
 What other consolation will remain if 
 we have neglected to seek for this potent 
 remedy } 
 
 Massillon. 
 
 Prayer places our understanding in the 
 brightness and light of God, and exposes 
 our will to the heat of heavenly love. 
 There is nothing that so effectually purges 
 our understanding from its ignorance, or 
 our will from its depraved affections, as 
 prayer. It is the water of benediction 
 which makes the plants of our good 
 
MEDITA TION AND MENTAL PR A YER. 
 
 281 
 
 desires grow green and flourish. It 
 washes our souls from their imperfections, 
 and quenches the thirst of passion in our 
 hearts. But, above all, I recommend 
 mental and cordial prayer, and particularly 
 that ^yhich has the life and passion of our 
 Lord for its object. By making Him the 
 frequent subject of your meditation, your 
 whole soul will be replenished with Him ; 
 you shall learn His carriage, and frame all 
 your actions according to this model. As 
 He is the light of the world, it is then by 
 Him, in Him, and for Him that we ought 
 to acquire lustre and be enlightened. He 
 is the tree of desire under whose shadow 
 we ought to refresh ourselves. He is the 
 living fountain of Jacob, in which we may 
 wash away all our stains. 
 
 In fine, as little children, by hearing 
 their mother talk, lisp at first, and learn at 
 length to speak their language, so we, by 
 keeping close to our Saviour, by meditation, 
 and observing His words, actions, and affec- 
 tions, shall, by the help of His grace, learn 
 to speak, to act, and to will, like Him. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 
 The first thing we must do in prayer is 
 to represent to ourselves, by the help of 
 our memory, the point or mystery which 
 we may wish to be the subject of our 
 prayer. Then the understanding must 
 examine this point, and consider all the 
 particulars of it. Finally, the will must 
 produce acts, according as the under- 
 standing has digested the matter which 
 had been proposed to it by the memory. 
 But since this discourse of the under- 
 
 standing is the source whence all our acts 
 in prayer flow, and, since we can make no 
 act which does not, necessarily, spring from 
 this our meditation, it follows that we must 
 be particularly careful to make this well. 
 
 The truth is, this proposition is self- 
 evident, for there is no one that has the 
 least tincture of philosophy but knows 
 that the will is a blind power, unable to 
 attach itself to anything unless the under- 
 standing guides it. Hence it is a maxim 
 received by all philosophers, " that nothing 
 can be willed unless it is first known." 
 The will, having of itself no light, must 
 borrow it from the understanding, which 
 goes before it to give it knowledge and to 
 discover what it ought to love or hate. 
 It is this that made St. Augustine say 
 that " we may love the things we never 
 saw, but never those we have not known " ; 
 and St. Gregory says, " No one can love 
 what he is entirely ignorant of." 
 
 The reason of this is, that the object of 
 the will being a known good, we cannot 
 love anything but because we perceive it 
 is good and deserving of love ; just as, on 
 the contrary, we do not hate a thing or fly 
 from it, unless we conceive it to be bad 
 and deserving of hatred. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that the operation 
 of the understanding is the foundation of 
 all our acts in prayer ; whence it follows 
 that meditation is most necessary, and 
 that prayer cannot be perfect unless medi- 
 tation goes before, or accompanies it, as 
 says Hugo of St. Victor. 
 
 A. Rodriguez, S. J. 
 Frojn " Christian Perfection^ 
 
^ 
 
 CHAPTER CXII. 
 
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 St. Ambrose. 
 " Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land." — Matthew v. 4. 
 
 jE must accustom ourselves to 
 perform all our actions with 
 quiet serenity ; force of habit 
 can correct or subdue the 
 most obstinate bad temper. 
 But because some are natur- 
 ally so impetuous and violent that it is 
 difficult to effect an immediate cure, it 
 would be as well to reflect on the motives 
 which engender impatience, in order to 
 induce us to effect a gradual cure. 
 
 When ebullitions of passion come upon 
 us so suddenly that there is no time for 
 reflection, we must at least try to soothe 
 them, if we cannot immediately master 
 them. It is sometimes proper to make a 
 desperate effort ; but we must always try 
 to conquer by degrees, more especially 
 when the first bursts of impatience or 
 anger assail us. It is recommended in 
 Holy writ ; give time for anger to evapo- 
 rate, and then extinguish it entirely. We 
 must not only do what we can to prevent 
 our getting into a passion, but we must 
 use greater efforts to subdue it when it 
 does come on. Those little outbursts of 
 
 petulance, which are more amusing than 
 bitter, are innocent in children ; they fire , 
 up and are appeased in a moment, and all 
 is soon forgotten. Let us not be ashamed 
 to imitate them in this ; for does not our 
 Saviour say, If you do not become as little ' 
 children, you cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven .'' 
 
 Never answer an angry person with a 
 haughty haste ; if /le be ill-tempered, why 
 fall into the same fault ? When two flinty 
 stones are quickly rubbed together, sparks 
 will fly out. 
 
 If you cannot cure anger by those 
 means which a calmer judgment would 
 suggest, you must have recourse to strata- 
 gem. Patience is a great assistant ; for 
 time softens the most violent passion. If 
 we should be exposed to the provocations 
 of a person who is continually having 
 recourse to sharp, impertinent answers, 
 and we feel that we have not sufficient 
 command over our own temper, we can, at 
 least, moderate our tongue by keeping 
 silent. Holy Scripture gives us this 
 advice : " Suffer in silence, and do not 
 
 
Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
 Copyright, 1889, 
 
 ^t. €atl)erine. 
 
MEEKNESS. 
 
 283 
 
 have recourse to sharp retorts " ; you can 
 I then seek reconciliation, and do your best 
 to make it lasting. 
 
 We have a noble example in the conduct 
 of Jacob. His first care was to keep his 
 mind free from any temptation to break 
 the precept of meekness. 
 
 If you have not the strength of mind to 
 do this, at any rate you can bridle your 
 tongue, and allow no bitter reply to escape 
 your lips. When you have taken all such 
 precautions, you will find that more is to 
 be done to secure a mild and even temper. 
 
 Would you wish to know how to act 
 when any injury or affront is imposed on 
 you } Above all, do not return evil for 
 evil ; pay no attention to the malice of 
 another ; there is no occasion to be wicked, 
 because another is wicked. Take care to 
 preserve self-respect, and do nothing which 
 might be a reproach for you afterwards. 
 
 The heathens have often quoted a sen- 
 sible reply of one of their philosophers. 
 One of his attendants had greatly dis- 
 pleased him by an act of gross injustice. 
 Go ! unhappy man, said he, how severely 
 would I punish you, were I not angry ? 
 
 King David acted in a similar way ; at a 
 time when he was tempted to inflict ven- 
 geance, he gained a complete victory over 
 his temper, by not uttering a single word 
 to those who had wronged him. Abigail, 
 by her entreaties, calmed that gentle 
 prince, who was at the head of his soldiers, 
 
 and who was on his road tc avenge the 
 insults of Nabal. 
 
 It is a sure sign of a noble disposition 
 if you listen to sincere petitions, and 
 grant what is demanded of you. Davia 
 always felt rejoiced when he forgave his 
 enemies, and he praised the cleverness of 
 that woman, who so well knew his tender- 
 ness of heart, that she obtained all she 
 sought for. That royal prophet was not 
 insensible to injury, for he cries out, — I 
 am hurt at what evil-disposed persons 
 have said ; had I consulted my evil gen- 
 ius, I should have rejoiced to inflict ven- 
 geance. But this glorious and pacific 
 king, on second thoughts, continues to 
 say — Oh ! who will give me the wings of 
 the dove, that I may seek peace in flight f 
 And notwithstanding all their insults and 
 outrages, he preferred to remain in peace. 
 
 He says in another place: "Be angry, 
 but sin not." This is a moral precept, 
 which teaches us to allay any little asperity 
 which we cannot altogether stifle. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 De Officiit. 
 
 Meekness preserves within us the 
 image of God, but anger blots it out. If 
 any hard or cutting words should inadver- 
 tently escape from your lips, apply the 
 remedy and cure from the same mouth 
 that caused so sensitive a wound. 
 
 St. Avgustinb. 
 
CHAPTER CXIII. 
 
 ^:i\\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ON 7VIODESTY. 
 
 -^il 
 
 Saint Ambrose and Alphonse Rodriguez. 
 "The fruit of modesty is the fear of the Lord, riches, and glory, and life." — Proverbs xxii. 4. 
 
 'ODESTY is a great relief to 
 our words and actions ; it 
 prevents us from committing 
 many faults, and from giving 
 utterance to words likely to 
 shock those who listen to us. 
 Often an inconsiderate word betrays us, 
 and reveals our secret thoughts. Mod- 
 esty should even regulate the sound of our 
 voice, £o that it may soften down any 
 violent outburst, and should never depart 
 from the rules prescribed. 
 
 Silence, the guardian of our hidden 
 virtues, is also very necessary for the pres- 
 ervation of modesty, and is very beneficial 
 when kept under properly, not however 
 disdainfully, or in a contemptuous, haughty 
 way. Modesty should pervade all that is 
 exterior — our walk, our gestures, and our 
 movements. All outside appearances 
 reveal the condition of our mind ; although 
 our passions are hidden, they manifest 
 themselves exteriorly ; one easily knows 
 if a man is fickle, haughty, mischievous, or 
 if he is wise, patient, and reserved; the 
 motion of the body is a species of voice 
 
 2M 
 
 which bespeaks all that is passing in the 
 soul. 
 
 We often see some people walk as if 
 they were on the stage of a theatre, who 
 march as if they were counting their steps, 
 or who move about like dummies. I can 
 well understand that a well-educated per- 
 son should not walk or run hastily, unless 
 necessity or fear compels them to do so ; 
 I fancy that he should be neither too fast 
 nor too slow in his movements, nor that 
 he should be as stiff as a statue. There 
 is a medium in all things. 
 
 A man of good breeding should, even in 
 walking, keep up a certain decorum and 
 gravity, without affectation or pompous 
 display. This gravity should be natural, 
 devoid of artifice or constraint. All that 
 is counterfeit or unnatural will always be 
 unpleasing. 
 
 Modesty is suitable for all ages and for 
 all classes of persons ; for all times and 
 places ; it is especially becoming in youth, 
 and is essentially the dowry of all young 
 people. In whatsoever state or condition 
 of life we may be placed, we should care- 
 
MODESTY. 
 
 285 
 
 fully cherish decorum in all we do, and 
 make this the business of our life. 
 
 An old philosopher remarks that we 
 should even regulate our manners with a 
 certain seasoning, or rather a certain 
 something I know not how to express, 
 which imparts a gracefulness to all we do. 
 We must not, however, let this agreeable- 
 ness appear affected, for nothing unnatural 
 can ever be pleasing. 
 
 The tone of our voice should be firm, 
 and neither mincing nor effeminate. 
 There are some who disguise their words 
 with an affectation of false gravity, savor- 
 ing somewhat of malice or sarcasm. 
 
 We should further examine into what, is 
 appropriate for every one. What would 
 be suitable for one sex, would often be 
 ridiculous for the other. All that we may 
 wish to do, however, we cannot hope to 
 please everybody. 
 
 Let not your manners appear affected 
 or effeminate, but above all, avoid all that 
 is rude, gross, or impolite. Let us follow 
 all that nature inspires us with. If we 
 try to be natural, we shall the more easily 
 keep within the bounds of decorum and 
 «;ood breeding. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 Officii. /., XV Hi., xix. 
 
 It is certain that there is nothing more 
 edifying, more winning, than a wise and 
 modest exterior; because men can only 
 see what is outside, and it is that exterior 
 which moves and preaches more than a 
 torrent of words. Indeed, a humble and 
 mortified exterior has often induced people 
 
 to be devout, and has given them a con- 
 tempt for worldly things ; it has excited 
 sinners to compunction, and has raised i^ 
 their hearts to heavenly things. 
 
 It is a dumb preaching, more efecdwg 
 than the most eloquent of sermons ; and 
 the reason why men so esteem modesty 
 and propriety, and are so edified by them, 
 is that they always draw this inference 
 therefrom, that there must be much thaij 
 is good within. The face, says St. Jerome, 
 is the mirror of the soul, and the eyes> 
 dumb as they are, reveal hidden secrets 5 
 there is no mirror which better refiec-i? 
 exterior objects. 
 
 In the 19th chapter cf Ecclesiasticu-3 
 we read : " A man is known by his look, 
 and a wise man, when thou meetest him, 
 is known by his countenance. The attire 
 of the body, and the laughter of th j teeth, 
 and the gait of the man, show what he is." 
 And the Holy Ghost, speaking through 
 the mouth of the wise man, says : •' An 
 unprofitable man walketh with a perverse 
 mouth ; he winketh with the eyes, presseth 
 with the foot, speaketh with the finger '' 
 {Prov. vi. 12). 
 
 Besides this, as an outward wicked 
 deportment is an index of inward disorder, 
 so exterior modesty is surely a sign of 
 inward composure. It is on account of 
 this that men are usually moved and edi- 
 fied by it. 
 
 St. Gregory of Nazianzen, speaking of 
 Julian the Apostate, says : "A great many 
 knew not Julian till he made himself 
 known by his infamous actions, and by his 
 abuse of sovereignty; but for my part 
 
'286 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 when I first knew him, and lived and 
 conversed with him at Athens, I never 
 could perceive the least sign of goodness 
 in him. He carried his head extremely 
 high ; his shoulders, as well as his eyes, 
 were always in motion ; his behavior was 
 haughty and fierce ; his feet never stood 
 still ; every moment either anger caused 
 his nostrils to swell, or disdain drew them 
 in. He was continually trying to be 
 witty, or would indulge in low and coarse 
 buffoonery, and his laughter was ungra- 
 ciously loud. He would freely grant and 
 deny the same thing in the same breath ; 
 he would speak without rule or judgment ; 
 he would ask silly questions, and give 
 impertinent answers. 
 
 " By such exterior marks as these I 
 knew him beforehand, long before I was 
 made acquainted with his impiety, and 
 
 this news only confirmed my former judg 
 ment of him. 
 
 "Those that lived with us then at 
 Athens, were they here present, would 
 testify that, having observed his manners, 
 I exclaimed, Oh ! city of Rome, what a 
 monster art thou feeding ! This I then 
 said, and at the same time I heartily 
 wished I might be mistaken ; and without 
 doubt it had been much better that I had 
 been so, since we then should not have 
 seen those evils which have almost ren- 
 dered the world desolate." 
 
 Thus you see that an irregular exterior 
 is a mark of a disordered interior ; as an 
 exterior modesty is a mark of a composed 
 interior, which is the reason why men are 
 ordinarily so much moved and edified by it. 
 
 Alphonse Rodriguez. 
 On Christian Perfection, x. 
 
 
 
 ♦■♦■» 
 
 
 
 .•• .•• 
 
 ••-• •-•. 
 
 '.* •'•? %•• w 
 
MORTlFIGAriON. 
 
 Fathers Segneri, Croiset, and St. Bernard. 
 
 " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and foUovi 
 me." — Luke ix. 23. 
 
 HEY that are Christ's have 
 crucified their flesh with the 
 vices and concupiscences, said 
 St Paul {Ephes. i. 24). 
 
 Remark that he does not say, 
 only those that are Christ's 
 have crucified their vices, but they that 
 have crucified their flesh with their vices. 
 That is, in order to effect a cure we 
 must go to the source, and the flesh is the 
 root of the evils of our soul. But, in order 
 to effect a perfect cure, we must chastise 
 the body and bring it under subjection, 
 and this the great apostle said of himself : 
 " I chastise my body." 
 
 How do you act in this particular ? 
 What harsh treatment of your body do 
 you practise } Do you fast .'' What are 
 the austerities you practise } 
 
 If, instead of mortifying your flesh and 
 bringing it under subjection, you think 
 only of feeding it and procuring for it 
 every comfort, you are not Christ's, 
 Why 1 Because " they that are Christ's 
 have crucified their flesh with the vices 
 and concupiscences." 
 
 S8T 
 
 It is not enough merely to crucify the 
 flesh, but we must crucify the vices. That 
 is to say, we must add interior mortifica- 
 tion to exterior mortification. In fact, the 
 one should not be practised without the 
 other; for it would be of little use to 
 chastise the body and bring it under sub- 
 jection if our hearts and affections slav- 
 ishly cherish inordinate desires. 
 
 St. Paul points out two things which we 
 ought to destroy, through the practice of 
 interior mortification, namely, our bad 
 habits and our vices. Cum vitiis et con- 
 cupiscentiis. I say, our bad habits, for 
 however careful we may be to mortify our 
 selves, we always fall into some actual sin , 
 but as for habitual sins, if we fight them 
 with courage and perseverance, we shall in 
 the end totally destroy them. With 
 regard to our vices, we do not entirely 
 destroy them, but we can at least weaken 
 the power they have over us, and if we 
 cannot exterminate them on the cross, we 
 can at least attach them thereto, and this 
 we ought to try to do, if we wish to be 
 Christ's ; for " They that are Christ's b^ive 
 
288 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 crucified their flesh, and the vices and 
 concupiscences." 
 
 The apostle does not tell you, If you 
 live according to the Spirit, but he says, 
 " If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of 
 the flesh, you shall live" {Rom. viii. 13). 
 One can easily live according to the flesh, 
 and that happens but too often ; but no 
 man on earth can always live according 
 to the Spirit ; that pure spiritual life is 
 to be found only in heaven, where the 
 flesh, then fully under the control of the 
 Spirit, does not feel the least inclination of 
 rebellion. 
 
 Thus what St, Paul recommends us is, 
 to resist the assaults of the flesh by curb- 
 ing our desires, by checking our ardor, by 
 a continual opposition to the wicked sug- 
 gestions of our will ; in a word, by bridling 
 our passions, by these means, and thus 
 overcoming every temptation. Neverthe- 
 less, the apostle does not require that 
 kind of mortification which consists in 
 austerities, scourgings, &c., although these 
 are useful for humbling ourselves, and 
 bringing us under the dominion of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 But the ordinary mortification, so indis- 
 pensable to every Christian, is that we 
 have just explained, " If by the Spirit you 
 mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall 
 live." 
 
 Rev. PfeRE Segneri. 
 Meditations. 
 
 The exercise of interior mortification is 
 a kind of penance which no one has a right 
 to be dispensed from. It has been the 
 
 invariable custom of all the saints, and 
 known to those who have ever had a wish 
 to be perfect. One has only to be atten- 
 tive to the Spirit of God. The love of 
 Jesus is so ingenious on this point, that He 
 inspires the simplest and most unpolished 
 minds with skilful methods of self-morti- 
 fication that far surpass the comprehension 
 of the worldly wise, and might pass off 
 as so many small miracles. 
 
 There is nothing happens that may not 
 give us an opportunity of thwarting our 
 inclinations ; there is no time or place that 
 may not be chosen for practising interior 
 mortification, without in the least inter- 
 fering with the rules of common sense. 
 
 For example, we can be silent when we 
 have a desire to talk, we can close our eyes 
 when we wish to see. The longing to 
 hear the news, or to know what is going 
 on, what is done, what is said, the wish to 
 see a person, to relate an anecdote, to 
 learn the success of a business which 
 interests us ; in a word, all over-eagerness 
 is a subject of mortification, that would 
 prove to be of more than usual merit, 
 and of which God alone would be the 
 witness. 
 
 Nothing is more plentiful than the 
 opportunities of interior mortification. 
 Mention of a few will be wonderfullW 
 instructive. A word said apropos, 
 harmless joke, just to enliven the conver- 
 sation — these refrained from, might be 
 the matter of a beautiful sacrifice. Ther^ 
 is scarcely an hour in the day which doeii 
 not afford us an opportunity of mortifies 
 tion. 
 
MORTIFICA TION. 
 
 289 
 
 Sitting or standing, one can never fail 
 pf finding an inconvenient seat or posture 
 without being noticed. 
 
 A person may be often interrupted 
 when particularly engaged, and as often 
 can reply with as much mildness and 
 civility as if he had not been very busy. 
 The ill-humor of a person at home, the 
 annoyances of a servant, the ingratitude 
 of a man who is indebted to you for past 
 kindnesses, — all these may exercise the 
 patience of a good and pious man. 
 
 In conclusion, the inconveniences 
 depending on place, weather or persons, 
 which are endured unnoticed or unheeded, 
 are petty opportunities of mortifying one's 
 self, it is true ; but the mortification in 
 these trifling matters is not little ; it is 
 very meritorious, and it may be said that 
 
 the greatest graces are the fruit of these 
 petty mortifications. 
 
 PfeRE Croiset. 
 Exercises de Pieti. 
 
 A man must learn to treat his body as 
 if it were diseased, that is to say, he 
 must abstain from the food he longs for, 
 but which would be hurtful to his body, 
 and submit to take that which would do it 
 good, notwithstanding the repugnance he 
 may naturally feel. 
 
 Thus much for bodily mortification, but 
 spiritual mortification is a kind of mar- 
 tyrdom ; it has not the visible torture of 
 the iron chain, but it has something far 
 more troublesome, and that is, its duration. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 Epistle to his Brothers. 
 
'->^>^^->^^^i^ 
 
 ^^^^ip^9^f^' 
 
 CHAPTBR CXV. 
 
 'Jis *!?• 'Ji! iv 'Jt! "Iv 
 
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 ••• •.•; ••• •;•• ly. 
 
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 Saints Francis de Sales, Gregory, and P^re Lambert. 
 
 " Let every soal be subject to higher powers ; for there is no power but from God." 
 
 — Romans xiii, i. 
 
 HERE are two sorts of obe- 
 dience, the one necessary, the 
 other voluntary. By that 
 which is necessary, you must 
 obey your ecclesiastical supe- 
 riors, as the Pope, the bishop, 
 the parish priest, and such as are com- 
 missioned by them ; as also your civil 
 superiors, such as your Queen and the 
 magistrates she has established for admin- 
 istering justice ; and, finally, your domes- 
 tic superiors, namely, your father and 
 mother, master and mistress. 
 
 Now this obedience is called necessary, 
 because no man can exempt himself from 
 the duty of obeying his superiors, God 
 having placed them in authority to com- 
 mand and govern, each in the department 
 that is assigned to him. You must then 
 of necessity obey their commands ; but, 
 to be perfect, follow their counsels also, 
 nay, even their desires and inclinations, so 
 far as charity and discretion will permit. 
 Obey them when they order that which is 
 agreeable, such as to eat, or to take recre- 
 ation ; for though there .seems no great 
 
 290 
 
 virtue to obey on such occasions, yet it 
 would be a great sin to disobey. Obey 
 them in matters indifferent, as to wear 
 this or that dress, to go one way or another, 
 to sing or to be silent, and this wiH be a 
 very commendable obedience. Obey 
 them in things hard, troublesome, or dis- 
 agreeable, and this will be a perfect obe- 
 dience. Obey, in fine, meekly, without 
 reply ; readily, without delay ; cheerfully, 
 without repining ; and above all, lovingly, 
 for the love of Him who, through His 
 love for us, made Himself obedient unto 
 death, even to the death of the cross, and 
 who, as St. Bernard says, rather chose to 
 part with His life than His obedience. 
 
 We call that obedience voluntary, to 
 which we oblige ourselves by our own 
 choice, and which is not imposed upon us 
 by another. We do not commonly choose 
 our prince, our bishop, our father and 
 mother, nor do even wives, many times^ 
 choose their husbands, but we choose our 
 confessor and director ; if, then, in choosing, 
 we make a vow to obey, as the holy St. 
 Teresa did, who, besides her obedience 
 
OBEDIENCE. 
 
 291 
 
 solemnly vowed to the superior of her 
 order, bound herself by a simple vow to 
 obey Father Gratian. 
 
 We must obey every one of our 
 superiors, according to the charge he has 
 over us. In political matters, we must 
 obey our Queen ; in ecclesiastical matters, 
 our prelates ; in our domestic circle, 
 father, master, or husband ; and in what 
 regards the private conduct of the soul, 
 our ghostly father or director. 
 
 .St. Francis de Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 What would become of the world 
 without obedience } What more necessary 
 than this virtue to maintain order and 
 discipline 1 Experience has proved this. 
 Where obedience is not observed, there 
 can be nothing but trouble ; disorder 
 glides in, and peace is banished. 
 
 A disunited whole is threatened with 
 destruction, and ruin is unavoidable. But, 
 on the contrary, where obedience is kept, 
 all will be edified. In noticing this 
 perfect unanimity one would sec that these 
 contented minds are perfectly united. If 
 there can be anything lasting on the earth, 
 it is when it is united, and when everything 
 is in perfect order, and this can never be 
 the case where obedience is not strictly 
 observed. 
 
 The Apostle St. Peter, in recommending 
 obedience, takes every precaution. Had 
 there been any way of dispensing with 
 obedience, it would no doubt be feasible 
 with those who abuse their authority. Is 
 this a legitimate excuse for non-obedience .■' 
 
 Can we throw off the yoke and absolutely 
 refuse to obey ? If you did, you are 
 condemned by St. Peter, for he says (chap, 
 iii. 1 8), " Be subject to your masters with all 
 fear, not only to the good and gentle, but 
 to the froward," How mad is the world ! 
 the foundation of their joy is, that they 
 are free from all control, and are masters of 
 their conduct. How many there are to 
 whom every kind of restraint is insupport- 
 able, and who ever sigh to be free ! They 
 are like so many prodigal sons, who cannot 
 endure their father's government ; they 
 are enemies of their own happiness ; they 
 wish to be their own masters, and soon 
 find that they have been wofully deceived. 
 
 Unhappy is that man who, following his 
 own perverse will, wishes to be his own 
 master. When God is angry with men, 
 and wills to punish them, one of His 
 severest chastisements is to leave them to 
 themselves, and let them go according to 
 their hearts: " So I let them go according 
 to the desires of their heart : they shall walk 
 in their own inventions " {Ps. Ixxx. 13). 
 
 How has God punished infidel nations 
 when, following blindly the inordinate 
 desires of bestial passion, they excited 
 His wrath by committing the most 
 abominable crimes .? " Wherefore, God 
 gave them up to the desires of their heart, 
 He delivered them up to shameful affec- 
 tions" {Rom. i.). 
 
 But he who willingly obeys need not 
 fear to be punished in this way. As he 
 is resolved not to follow his own will, he 
 need not expect that God would punish 
 him, or leave him to the desires of his heart. 
 
t92 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 What, then, can be more advantageous 
 than to obey, since obedience is a sure 
 protection from that rigorous punishment 
 which is so frightful, and which is so much 
 to be dreaded ? 
 
 Taking into consideration the good 
 results of obedience, we can only help 
 saying that it is by far more beneficial to 
 obey than to command. There is nothing, 
 in fact, more to be dreaded than the being 
 raised to a high post of authority. Wise 
 men have shrunk from its heavy weight of 
 responsibility. And wherefore .-' because 
 they know how dangerous it is to com- 
 mand. 
 
 To seek for power, and to strive for a 
 high post, is to wish to be your own 
 enemy. Have we not enough to answer 
 for ourselves without the responsibility of 
 having to answer for others } Do you 
 doubt that all those who command are 
 responsible to Almighty God for those 
 under their authority ? 
 
 See how St. James in his epistle (iil i) 
 warns his brothers ; does he not say, " Be 
 ye not many masters, my brethren, 
 knowing that you receive the greater 
 judgment".? 
 
 Those who are under the yoke of obe- 
 dience are safer than others, and conse- 
 quently happier. 
 
 Lambert. 
 Discourses on Ecclesiastical Life. 
 
 Obedience is better than sacrifice : it is 
 both right and reasonable that it should 
 be preferred ; for, in sacrifices, we immo- 
 late another's flesh, but in obedience we 
 sacrifice our own will. Consequently, the 
 number of our sacrifices is in proportion 
 to the number of our acts of obedience, 
 because, in bending to the authority of a 
 man for the love of God, we overcome the 
 pride which is so natural to us. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 On Fourth Book of Kings. 
 
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 CHARTER CXVI 
 
 ■^8^»g'==::5;ri: 
 
 R ^rder .ohk^ Regalarit^. 
 
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 Le PfeRE Haineuve and St. Augustine. 
 " Let all things be done decently, and according to order." — i Corinthians xiv. 4a 
 
 •F we knew how to spend our 
 time in observing the order 
 and regularity which is pre- 
 scribed for all the actions of 
 our life, how rich we should be 
 in a short time ! What a mass 
 of merits should we not accumulate ! 
 What a crown of glory should we not 
 obtain ! In a word, what treasures for 
 heaven } 
 
 Not one of our actions would be void of 
 virtue ; there would be neither word nor 
 thought but which would deserve a reward, 
 not a moment that would not be of value 
 for all eternity ; there would not be a 
 sigh from the heart but which would be 
 received by God as an act of love. Ah ! 
 how precious would be such a life passed 
 thus holily ! 
 
 Every moment would be worth a year, 
 and every day would be worth an age. It 
 is a short but certain way of acquiring the 
 merit of the most honorable age, since, as 
 the wise man says, it is not the number of 
 years, but the number of good deeds which 
 do honor to that respectable old age, and 
 
 393 
 
 that a man who knows how to regulate 
 his time properly finds that he has done 
 more in a few days than he who has lived 
 a whole life of irregularity and disorder. 
 
 Alas ! Christians, what a waste of time ! 
 What a number of days ought to be blotted 
 out from our lives ! What a number of 
 years are counted as nothing ! 
 
 One who is to-day sixty or eighty 
 years of age, is still only a child, if his 
 merits are reckoned by his years ; one 
 who is a child aged one hundred years 
 (who, full of wrinkles and infirmities, must 
 render an account of his life to that just 
 Judge, who looks only at his actions), will 
 then see, that although he has dwelt a long 
 time on earth, yet he has lived but a short 
 time. 
 
 If a profane historian had written the 
 history of Saul, he would have argued that 
 this prince must have reigned forty years 
 over Judea, because the sun had run its 
 course as many times ; but Holy Scrip- 
 ture, which does not heed the calculations 
 of astronomers, but rather measures the 
 years by merits than by months, says tha*^ 
 
294 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 he reigned only two years ; because, during 
 that time he had lived a holy life, following 
 strictly the commandments of God. 
 
 I do not fear to assert, that the best way 
 of knowing the interior of a person is to 
 see and watch her exterior behavior, that 
 is to say, how she regulates her time, her 
 actions, her employments, and all that 
 appears outwardly. It is only fair to pre- 
 sume that a Christian so orderly in her 
 exterior actions, has a still greater care for 
 all that is more essential and important, 
 which would be to keep her conscience in 
 order to regulate her desires, her affec- 
 tions, and all the emotions of her soul. 
 
 This presumption is also so well 
 founded, that as one cannot better judge 
 of a cause than from its effect, so in like 
 manner one cannot have a surer sign that 
 that man is really virtuous who, in all his 
 actions, is orderly and regular, and does 
 everything with the intention of pleasing 
 God. 
 
 In reference to this, you will find that 
 the Holy Scriptures (and this has been 
 noticed by some commentators ) have 
 recommended that we should watch 
 twenty-four times, and this is to teach us 
 that we must not allow any hour of a day 
 to pass without taking pains to do what we 
 ought to do, and that, too, in the very best 
 way. 
 
 This is not meant that we should 
 abridge the necessary hours for sleep ; but 
 it is, as St. Paul says, whether we sleep or 
 whether we are awake, we should do all 
 
 things regularly, in order that all may leac 
 to our sanctification, and thus refer all that 
 we do to the honor and glory of tl 
 Sovereign Master, whom we should alwa} 
 honor and obey. 
 
 This is the surest proof that we ai 
 serving God faithfully and truly. 
 
 And what a consolation it will be at th| 
 hour of death, to be able to feel that 
 have endeavored to perform all for the 
 love of God, and that if, through frailty, 
 we have not been able to do all things 
 well, we have at least tried to be just and 
 holy. 
 
 If a single well-employed day is worthy 
 of a reward, what a weight of glory will be 
 in store for us, if our life has been one con- 
 tinued round of order and regularity. 
 
 Le PiRE Haineuve. 
 De Vordre : Discours, x. 
 
 It is God who regulates everything ; 
 and of all that He has done, there is noth- 
 ing that can be found to be out of order ; 
 we are often ignorant of the reason why 
 He has done one thing, in preference to 
 another. 
 
 There is a rule and order which is. neces' 
 sary in this life, a regularity which leads 
 us to God, if we keep it faithfully ; if we 
 fail in this, we swerve from the path which 
 conducts us to His heavenly kingdom ; for 
 all is beautiful where there is order, and 
 the apostle says all order is from God. ^ 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 D* Ordine. 
 
BOURDALOUE. 
 
 " I chastise nty body and bring it into subjection : lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, 
 I myself should become a castaway." — i Corinthians ix. 27. 
 
 *T is an excellent axiom, on which 
 we do not sufficiently reflect, 
 and which, nevertheless, ought 
 to be the chief subject of our 
 gratitude to God, that the same 
 things which have perverted us 
 are (if we wish) those which should sanc- 
 tify us, and that by a wonderful effect of 
 grace and love, we, without going out 
 of our way, find a remedy for our ills in 
 the very instruments which have con- 
 tributed to bring them on. 
 
 It is this idea that St. Paul conceived, 
 when reasoning on this principle he 
 explains to the Romans what is the 
 essence of Christian penance, saying : 
 " Neither yield ye your members as 
 instruments of iniquity unto sin ; but pre- 
 sent yourself to God as those that are 
 alive from the dead, and your members 
 as instruments of justice unto God " 
 {Ro7n. vi. 13). 
 
 As you have yielded your members to 
 commit sins of iniquity, you must make 
 use of them as instruments of justice in 
 
 29S 
 
 order to lead a holy life ; for it is by doing 
 so that your conversion will appear to be 
 sincere. If what was in you as an instru- 
 ment of sin becomes a means of penance, 
 if what you have defiled when you were a 
 slave to the world, you consecrate it to 
 the service of Almighty God, and make of 
 your members a victim and holocaust 
 worthy of His justice. 
 
 This is the way by which you can dis- 
 cern the difference between true and false 
 penance. 
 
 As it is effeminacy and sensuality which 
 have withdrawn you from God, you must, 
 if you wish to make friends with Him, 
 counteract these by a severe penance. 
 And to effect thisj your penance must be 
 persevering as well as severe. Why } 
 Because God leaves it to yourselves ; your 
 penance must therefore annihilate your 
 self-love, and that can only be done by 
 the zeal of a holy and rigorous punishment. 
 If it were a question of condemning others, 
 and of judging of their shortcomings, what 
 a severe penance would you award them ; 
 
296 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and when it applies to your own bodies, 
 of which you are so fond, and for which you 
 have nought but delicate tenderness, what 
 severity ought you not to exercise ; and if 
 you do not do so, what injustice will you 
 not commit ? 
 
 Have we not very often fancied that 
 faults, which appear to us so small when 
 we ourselves commit them, are magnified 
 in our own eyes when committed by 
 others, and that which we took for an atom 
 becomes a monstrous sin in our neighbor ? 
 What is the cause of this ? Why, nothing 
 but self-love. Oh ! how should we fight 
 against this ? Only by severe penance. 
 
 We even love our vices, we make a 
 virtue of them, and what is insupportable 
 in others is sweet and agreeable to our- 
 selves. However, penance must destroy 
 all this. However selfish we may be, we 
 must not be corrupt judges; and in order 
 not to be so we must judge ourselves and 
 punish ourselves severely. 
 
 It is a delusion, at all times fostered and 
 encouraged by an effeminate world, to 
 imagine that penance should be a virtue 
 solely interior, and that it should reign 
 only over the spiritual powers of the soul ; 
 that the heart should be simply changed, 
 that a careful watch should be kept over 
 our passions, and that all these could be 
 solidly practiced without our flesh feeling 
 the effects, or without inflicting pain on 
 that exterior and worldly man, which forms 
 part of ourselves. 
 
 If that were the case, says St. Chrysos- 
 tom, we must curtail entire chapters of 
 Holy Scripture, in which the Holy Ghost 
 
 upsets carnal prudence by testimonies, 
 as contrary to our self-love as truth is 
 exposed to error. 
 
 It might be said that St. Paul did not 
 take that worldly view, or that he thought 
 lightly of Christian penance, when heJ 
 taught that we should make living hos-'] 
 tages of our bodies — Exhibeatis corpora 
 vestra hostiam viventem — when he wished -i 
 that this virtue should extend to the chas- 
 tising of the flesh, when he commanded 
 the faithful, or, rather, when he made a 
 law for them, to bear really on their 
 bodies the mortification of Jesus Christ; 
 and finally, to give them an example, he 
 himself chastised his body, and bringing 
 it under subjection, fearing, added he, 
 lest perhaps when he preached penance ' 
 to others, and not practising it, he him-' 
 self should become a castaway. 
 
 "But I chastise my body and bring it 
 under subjection; lest perhaps, when I^ 
 have preached to others, I myself should 
 become a castaway " (i Corintkians \x. 27). 
 
 Sin must be punished either in the 
 present world or in the world to come, 
 either by the justice of God or by thej 
 penitence of man; let us not therefore 
 wait till God Himself shall inflict due 
 punishment. Let us take care to prevent: 
 the rigor of His justice by the rigor of] 
 our penance. Inflamed with zeal, let 
 us side with the Almighty against our- 
 selves, and avenge His cause at our; 
 own expense. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Sermon on St. MagdaUn. 
 
^ 
 
 ^1^ 
 
 80^ 
 
 CHAPTER CXVIII. 
 
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 eN PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^w^ 
 
 
 
 PfeRES Antoine de la Porte, Croiset, and St. Philip Nerl 
 " He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved." — Matthew x. 22. 
 
 HERE are two grand motives 
 for perseverance. 
 
 The first is, that we cannot 
 begin too soon to serve God, 
 and as that beginning is never 
 too late, we ought never to 
 relax in our duty to Him, so long as we 
 live. 
 
 We ought, indeed, to love God from 
 the first moment of our coming to the use 
 of reason ; we ought to love Him as soon 
 as we have known Him, and this is per- 
 haps the reason that the best part of our 
 life slips by without beginning to do good, 
 and without engaging to serve Him, and 
 this, too, after the Sacrament of Baptism, 
 which is, as you know, a solemn promise 
 to serve and love Him, our Divine Master. 
 We, by rights, ought never to have 
 relaxed, but ought to have kept faithfully 
 to the promise made in the sight of heaven 
 and earth ; but by a desertion as shame- 
 ful as it is criminal, we soon find that we 
 have been more guilty than reasonable, 
 from the very first moment of our exist- 
 
 297 
 
 ence. Is it not just, then, to make up 
 for lost time, or at least to make reparation 
 for time so uselessly employed, that we 
 should consecrate the rest of our lives in 
 paying off debt which is owing to Him, 
 our Creator ? 
 
 We ought, at least, to enter into the 
 feelings of the great St. Augustine, who 
 exclaims, " Too late have I known Thee, O 
 ancient Truth ! too late have I loved Thee, 
 O ancient Beauty ! Ah ! had I waited for a 
 year, a month, a week, or a day, would it not 
 have been too late for me to begin ? 
 
 " What can I then now do, but to devote 
 the remainder of my life to Thy service ? 
 You have loved me, dear Lord, from all 
 eternity ; you will love me for all eternity, 
 if I am fortunate enough to deserve the 
 eternal happiness which Thou hast destined 
 for me ; at least, if that short interval 
 which hangs between these two eternities 
 be perseveringly and constantly employed 
 in loving and serving Thee." 
 
 The other motive is, that we should 
 never be weary of serving God, or quit 
 
298 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 His holy service too soon. For, tell me, 
 what has moved that soul when, with 
 Christian generosity, it has resolved to 
 leave off sinning, and has determined to 
 be virtuous and good ? It is either the 
 fear of God's judgments, or the wish to be 
 saved, or perhaps a higher motive has 
 been excited, and conversion has lasted 
 for some time. 
 
 But this desirable change ceases, tears 
 are dried up, and the course of penitential 
 prayers are stopped. 
 
 The goodness, justice, and mercy of God 
 had brought forth our holy resolutions. 
 Have these been the cause of this change } 
 No ! God is now just as loving, just as 
 merciful as He ever was. He has not 
 ceased to be mindful of you; why, then, 
 did you not remain longer in His service "i 
 
 If, then, the fervent zeal which we should 
 always feel in the service of His Divine 
 Majesty should cease for a day, or even a 
 moment, it would be too late, because 
 there is not a single day or hour which 
 should not be devoted to the adoration 
 and service of Almighty God. We should 
 not, therefore, place any limit to our 
 perseverance ; for the very moment we 
 cease to be zealous and good, all our past 
 services are reckoned as nothing, and we 
 lose the merit of them, 
 
 Le PicRE Antoine de St. Martin 
 DE LA Porte. 
 From his book on Grace. 
 • •••••• 
 
 Having considered the motives that 
 ought to induce us to persevere, let us 
 
 see the sad effects that would inevitably 
 result from the want of perseverance. 
 
 Consider well, that as perseverance in 
 the life of grace is purely a gift of God, 
 so the want of perseverance is simply our 
 own fault. That life of grace which 
 penance renews in us is of its nature as 
 immortal and as incorruptible as is our 
 soul. If, therefore, against the design of 
 God, we lose this grace, it is to ourselves, 
 and not to grace, that we can attribute this 
 loss, and in that consists our irregularity. 
 
 Instructed, as we have been, of the 
 necessity of final perseverance, why should 
 we not always try to merit it .? Ought we 
 not daily resolve to obtain this precious 
 treasure } 
 
 Final perseverance, ought it not to be 
 the constant object of our desires, the 
 aim of all our endeavors, and the motive, 
 so to speak, of all our prayers ? Let us 
 store up all our merits; let us multiply 
 our graces ; for if we have the misfortune 
 of not persevering to the end, if we have 
 the unhappiness of dying in mortal sin, 
 notwithstanding our former innocence 
 and fervor of penance, if we have the 
 misfortune of losing that grace at that 
 moment preceding the last, all these 
 treasures will be lost for all eternity ; God, 
 in this case, does not reckon up our past 
 good deeds. We are justly condemned. 
 Oh ! how blind, how mad must we be not 
 to ask of Almighty God for the gift of 
 perseverance, and for the means of 
 obtaining this grace ! 
 
 It is in reality this gift which gives such 
 a value to our good works. Without 
 
PERSE VERA NCE. 
 
 299 
 
 perseverance, the most perfect innocence, 
 the most heroic virtue, the most austere 
 penance, go for nothing. 
 
 Saul had been chosen by God by a singu- 
 lar favor ; Solomon had been the admira- 
 tion of the world for his piety and wisdom ; 
 Judas was one of our Saviour's apostles,' 
 and had even worked miracles ; Origen 
 was once ready to shed his blood for 
 Christ's sake ; Tertullian had been one of 
 the Fathers of the Church for a longtime ; 
 all these men had begun well, all these 
 glorious lights had illuminated the Church 
 for several years ; they had, even for some 
 time, persevered in innocence, fervor, and 
 in all the duties of a Christian life. They 
 reflected honor on religion so long as they 
 persevered in grace. But having at last 
 
 been seduced from the exact regularity of 
 their duties, having allowed themselves to 
 be led captive by their bad passions, having 
 too easily followed the bad example of 
 others — what has been their sad end, and 
 what is their eternal destiny ? 
 
 Le PfeRE Croiset, S. J. 
 
 Exercises of Piety. 
 
 The greatest help to perseverance in the 
 spiritual life is the habit of prayer, 
 especially under the direction of our con- 
 fessor. , 
 
 Men should often renew their good reso- 
 lutions, and not lose heart because they 
 are tempted against them. 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
 ^9 G^^bd e/^^ 
 
♦ CHAPTER CXIX. « 
 
 0N PIEtY 
 
 w^mTM^m^immmmrmimm 
 
 BEYOTION. 
 
 P^RE Croiset and St. Bernard. 
 "God is a Spirit, and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth." — John iv. 24. 
 
 S soon as one takes the firm 
 resolution of serving God, or, 
 what is the same thing, as soon 
 as one begins to practise devo- 
 tion, that one is mild, tractable, 
 humble, upright, obliging, and 
 tries to fulfil every obligation of his state 
 •f life. 
 
 There can be no stability in friendship, 
 no good faith in business, no candor in 
 courtesy, if it be not well-grounded in 
 goodness and piety. Piety gives us com- 
 mon sense, candor, earnestness, and 
 uprightness. 
 
 True devotion consists in fulfilling the 
 minutest duties of that state of life to 
 which God has called us. There are so 
 many obligations in business, society, and 
 divers employments of life ! Nothing 
 more praiseworthy than trying to do every- 
 thing in a satisfactory manner, and what 
 more satisfactory than the constant prac- 
 tice of devotion ! Take a survey of the 
 various states of life. 
 
 Who is a good father, a good judge, a 
 kind relation, a sincere friend, a loyal sub- 
 
 300 
 
 ject ? What woman more domesticated, 
 what servant more industrious, what work*i 
 man more hard-working, what priest more 
 exemplary and watchful, than he who is 
 •religious observer of God's command- 
 ments "i 
 
 All these virtues are the fruit of Chris- 
 tian piety and devotion. 
 
 Neither God nor the Gospel disapprove 
 of the duties of politeness nor the amen- 
 ities of life. God regulates them. He 
 does not command Christians to live sol- 
 itary lives in a desert, but He expects 
 them to conduct themselves as good 
 Christians. Thus, far from making people 
 savage and morose, nothing is more likely 
 to civilize and polish them than piety 
 and devotion. We see examples of this 
 daily. 
 
 If a man be debauched and sensual, he 
 is irritable, unbearable, peevish, rough, 
 passionate, and vindictive, in fact, only fit 
 to try the patience of others. Let a 
 woman be without piety, she is vain, capri- 
 cious, cruel, and hard to her children and 
 servants, and a heavy cross to her husband. 
 
PIETY AND DEVOTION. 
 
 301 
 
 But when such as these put on the armor of 
 piety and devotion, they become reason- 
 able, courteous, gracious to all, diligent in 
 work, respectable in society, and worthy of 
 the esteem and veneration of the world. 
 
 How sad it is, O Lord, to hear of devout 
 people, that is to say, those who live 
 according to the precepts of the Gospel, 
 how sad to hear that they are peevish, 
 uncivil, troublesome, and that they think 
 that they are good for nothing ! What ! 
 cannot one be good for something in this 
 world, without giving up devotion ? 
 
 True piety and devotion do not pre- 
 vent our mixing in society, neither do they 
 forbid amusements, provided they be 
 innocent. 
 
 More than that, does the Gospel forbid 
 us from keeping a careful watch over our 
 own property, or even to work hard, so as 
 to increase it by lawful means ? Does 
 the Church condemn the care of providing 
 for your family, of taking an interest in 
 the temporal welfare of your children, 
 of cultivating your own land, or of keep- 
 ing up your dignity and honor ? Does it 
 forbid you to perform the ordinary usages 
 of polite society ? Does it even consider 
 harmless recreation a crime, or an attire 
 suitable for your rank or station ? Cer- 
 tainly not ! it only condemns excess, cov- 
 etousness, or a too great eagerness. 
 
 PfeRE CROISET, S. J. 
 
 Reflections Chrdtiennes. 
 
 Would you wish to know if you are 
 really devout ? Then take heed of what 
 
 you love, what you fear, wherefore you 
 rejoice, or why you sorrow. Love God 
 alone, or if you love, love the object for 
 His sake. Fear only to displease God, 
 or if you have any dread of anything, 
 refer all to Him. Rejoice only in God, 
 or if you rejoice in any other object, look 
 upon it only as an attraction which draws 
 you closer to Him. Let the loss of God 
 be your only sorrow, whether your sorrow 
 is occasioned by past sins or by those of 
 your brethren ; or if any other loss wor- 
 ries you, look upon it as a proof that He 
 intends to chasten you, in order to make 
 you more united to Him. 
 
 The grace of true devotion is an unction, 
 which instructs us in all our duties ; he 
 alone knows it who has proved it by expe- 
 rience, and he who is wilfully ignorant of 
 this cannot possibly know it, because no 
 one can feel it but he who has received it 
 as a precious gift from heaven. 
 
 Devotion is the grace that influences 
 the heart, and that alone. After one has 
 tasted the joys of the Spirit, those of the 
 world and the flesh seem to be distasteful. 
 He who yearns for the blessings of heaven 
 cannot relish earthly pleasures, and he who 
 sighs after eternal things will only feel a 
 contempt for fleeting things. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 De Verbis A postal. 
 
 It is well to choose some one good 
 devotion, and to stick to it, and never to 
 abandon it. 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
/ 
 
 « 
 
 CHAPXKR CXX. ^ ^k 
 
 ^ ^ ^ &=£^r^ 
 
 7^ ■'71^ "^i^ i^ V*^ * 
 
 i 
 
 On poVEiitJ and Ihe pooii in Spirit 
 
 ^s 
 
 # # # # 
 
 1^ 
 
 Fathers Sarrazin, Faber, and St. Bernard. 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew v. 3. 
 
 'T is the grandest miracle of grace 
 to see a man poor in the midst 
 of riches. We could not under- 
 stand this miracle if we did not 
 know that Holy Scripture does 
 not condemn riches, or the rich, 
 but only those who love riches, and those 
 who wish to possess wealth. 
 
 The apostle teaches us this truth, when 
 he says that it is not the rich, but only 
 those who yearn to become rich, who fall 
 into the snares of the devil. 
 
 St. Hilary well explains this by saying 
 that it is not a sin to possess property, but 
 it is a sin if it be not used in moderation. 
 Thus, when the Gospel curses the rich, and 
 closes the gates of heaven upon them, it 
 does not curse those who possess riches, 
 but those who wish to be rich, and those 
 who are eager to amass wealth. 
 
 This is the meaning of the apostle's 
 words, and it is indisputable, that the love 
 of those blessings we call riches is bad ; it 
 fallows, then, that the poverty which the 
 Gospel commends is not the absence of 
 riches, but the wish to acquire riches, or 
 the desire to love them when possessed. 
 
 The wise man depicts admirably thii 
 effect of grace by these words : " One is! 
 as it were, rich when he hath nothingj 
 and another is, as it were, poor when H 
 hath great riches" {Prov. xiii. 7). Hom^ 
 can we understand, and could we possiblj 
 have any idea of a rich man having 
 nothing, or of a poor man being rich, if 
 we did not know that by the grace of Jesus 
 Christ the poor man lives as if he was rich, 
 and the rich man lives as if he was poor. 
 
 Behold, then, the miracle of the Gospel 
 and its grace ; that the rich may be as poor 
 as was our Saviour in His riches, since He 
 was the Master of the universe, but was 
 clothed in poverty. 
 
 A Christian should die poor, either in 
 reality or in spirit, because poverty can 
 only enter into heaven, and if the rich 
 enter therein, it must be through the gate 
 of poverty. Thus, the greatest misfortune 
 is to die rich, that is to say, with a love 
 and an attachment to riches. This is 
 necessary to repeat often to the rich, in 
 order that they may not deceive them- 
 selves or be deceived ; and they must be 
 warned that poverty is the sole inheritance 
 
POVERTY AND THE POOR IN SPIRIT. 
 
 303 
 
 to gain heaven, and that the rich can only 
 be saved through poverty. 
 
 This truth ought to make the rich and 
 the powerful tremble and fear ; not because 
 they can open the gates of heaven by mak- 
 ing themselves poor, but on account of the 
 difficulty there is of being poor in spirit in 
 the midst of riches, of cheerfully resigning 
 something from the superfluity of wealth, 
 of loving poverty when they are rich. 
 
 This miracle is not impossible to grace ; 
 but it will never be accomplished except 
 through a contempt for riches, looking 
 upon its acquisition in its true light, 
 valuing it as it should be, that is, its being 
 little or no good. 
 
 Father Sarrazin. 
 Advent Sermon. 
 
 Poverty has been called by some the 
 sister of Christ, by others. His bride. It 
 would seem as if the circumstances of His 
 infancy had been providentially contrived 
 with a view to bringing us as many of 
 the incidents of poverty as were possible, 
 without seeming to be unnatural. From 
 Nazareth to Bethlehem, from Bethlehem 
 over the wilderness to Egypt, from Egypt 
 to Nazareth again, and from Nazareth to 
 Jerusalem, for the three days He begged 
 His bread ; the biography of His childhood 
 spreads itself like an ample net, to entan- 
 gle in its folds more and more of the varie- 
 ties and pressures of His beloved poverty. 
 
 If He was born of a royal maiden, it 
 was of one who was poor and reduced in 
 circumstances. He would not be born at 
 home, but took the occasion of the Roman 
 census to be, as it were, a child of exile, 
 and a waif upon His own earth. 
 
 He would be rejected from the doors of 
 Bethlehem, as the least worthy of all the 
 mixed multitude that had crowded thither ; 
 He would be born in a cave, a stable, 
 amidst the domestic animals of man's 
 husbandry. 
 
 When age grew on Joseph and his 
 infirmities multiplied, the yoke of poverty 
 became yet more galling to the shoulders 
 of his tender foster-son. 
 
 The poverty that pressed on Mary 
 pressed tenfold more heavily on Him, 
 from the very fact of its having first 
 pressed on her. 
 
 Never was there a childhood of hardier 
 poverty than our Blessed Lord's. It was 
 His inseparable companion, and if He 
 loved its austerities with so singular a 
 love, it was only because they were so 
 singular a cross. 
 
 Father Faber. (Oiat.) 
 Bethlehem. 
 
 Poverty in itself is not a virtue ; but the 
 love of poverty is so. Jesus Christ has 
 said, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," not 
 those who possess nothing. 
 
 St. Bekkarix 
 
 h 
 
ON PRKYBR. 
 
 Saints Francis de Sales, Augustine, Philip Neri, and F^nelon. 
 
 " Let us go with confidence to the throne of grace : that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in 
 seasonable aid." — Hebrews iv. i6. 
 
 |RAYER places our understand- 
 ing in the brightness and light 
 of God, and exposes our will 
 to the heat of heavenly love. 
 There is nothing that so effec- 
 tually purges our understand- 
 ing from its ignorance, or our will from its 
 depraved affections, as prayer. It is the 
 water of benediction,- which makes the 
 plants of our good desires grow green and 
 flourish. It washes our souls from their 
 imperfections, and quenches the thirst of 
 passion in our hearts. 
 
 But, above all, I recommend to you 
 mental and cordial prayer, and particularly 
 that which has the life and passion of our 
 Lord for its object. By making Him the 
 aubject of your meditation, your whole 
 soul will be replenished with Him ; you 
 shall learn His carriage, and frame all your 
 actions to the model of His. 
 
 As He is the light of the world, it is 
 then in Him, by Him, and for Him, that 
 we ought to acquire lustre and be 
 enlightened. He is the tree of desire, 
 
 804 
 
 under whose shadow we ought to refresh 
 ourselves. He is the living fountain of 
 Jacob, in which we may wash away all our 
 stains. In fine, as little children, by 
 hearing their mothers talk, lisp at first and 
 learn at length to speak their language, so 
 we, by keeping close to our Saviour, by 
 meditation, and observing His words, 
 actions, and affections, shall, by the help 
 of His grace, learn to speak, to act, and 
 to will like Him. 
 
 Here we must stop, as we cannot find 
 access to God the Father but through this 
 gate ; for as the looking-glass could never 
 terminate our sight, if its back were not 
 tinned or leaded, so we could never con- 
 template the Divinity in this world had we 
 not been united to the sacred humanity of 
 our Saviour whose life and death is the 
 most fit, delightful, sweet, and profitable 
 object we can choose for our ordinary medi- 
 tation. 
 
 It is not without reason that our Saviour 
 called Himself the bread that came down 
 from heaven ; for as bread ought to be 
 
PRA YER. 
 
 305 
 
 eaten with all sorts of meat, so our Saviour 
 ought to be the subject of our meditation, 
 consideration, and imitation in all our 
 prayers and actions. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 Devout Lift. 
 
 God listens, says St. Cyprian, to the 
 voice of the heart, in preference to the 
 voice of the mouth ; we must, adds he, 
 watch and give up our mind to prayer ; we 
 must drive away all worldly and profane 
 thoughts from our heart, in order that our 
 mind and soul may be engrossed with our 
 petitions. 
 
 To whom, continues the saint, should 
 we speak attentively, if not to God "i Can 
 He ask for less than that you should think 
 of what you are saying } How dare you 
 expect that He will deign to hear you, if 
 you think only of yourselves. You fancy 
 that God will hear you when you pray ; 
 you who are so wilfully distracted in 
 prayer. Far from pleasing Him, you 
 offend His divine Majesty by your negli- 
 gence, in an action which is the only way 
 of gaining favors from heaven. 
 
 We must ask in faith, nothing wavering, 
 says St. James, and this faith ought to be 
 so firm that we should never hesitate, for 
 he who hesitates or wavers is like unto the 
 waves of the sea, ever moved and carried 
 about by the wind. He who, then, con- 
 tinues he, prays without this confidence, 
 must not expect to be heard. And what 
 more capable of moving the heart of our 
 Lord in our regard, than a firm confidence 
 in His mercy } Can He refuse those who 
 
 have placed all their treasure in Him, 
 those who have trusted in His good- 
 ness "i 
 
 When we pray with confidence, says St. 
 Cyprian, it is God Himself who implants 
 in our hearts that spirit of prayer. The 
 Eternal Father must, then, acknowledge 
 the words of His only-begotten Son when 
 we pronounce them, and He who dwells in 
 the bottom of our hearts will regulate and 
 fashion all our prayers. 
 
 We must not, says St, Bernard, mingle 
 in our prayers foolish things with the true, 
 temporal with the eternal, low interests 
 with those of our salvation. 
 
 To pray well, says St. Augustine, you 
 must seek God alone ; to ask, through 
 Him, for other blessings, is praying badly. 
 Do not seek to make God the protector of 
 your self-love, or of your ambition, but the 
 executor of your good desires. You have 
 recourse to God, to curb your passions, 
 and often He sends you crosses, of which 
 He knows you stand in need. When He 
 loves you, continues the holy Doctor, He 
 refuses what your self-love asks for, and in 
 His anger He gives you that which is 
 dangerous for you to obtain. Do not 
 carry to the sanctuary of the altar indis- 
 creet vows, ill-regulated desires, and 
 slovenly prayers. Ask for nothing but 
 what is worthy of Him to whom you pray. 
 Keep strictly from sighing after vain and 
 hurtful benefits ; ask for the dew from 
 heaven, and not for the fat of the land. 
 Open your heart before the Lord, in order 
 that His Holy Spirit may dwell in you, 
 and ask, through sighs and moans, for the 
 
3o6 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 true blessings which He wishes that you 
 should ask for. 
 
 Let us pray, my brethren, but let us 
 ever pray, keeping a watchful eye over our 
 various duties. Do not let us offer up 
 exalted or abstract prayers, or those which 
 have no reference to the practice of every 
 virtue. Let us pray, not to become more 
 enlightened and more spiritual in words, 
 but to become more humble, more docile, 
 more patient, more modest, more char- 
 itable, more pure, and more unselfish in 
 every detail of our conduct. Without 
 that, our assiduity in prayer, far from 
 being efficacious and fruitful, will be a 
 delusion and a scandal for our neighbor. 
 
 Full of delusion ! how many examples 
 have we not had ? How many have we 
 seen whose prayers tend to swell their 
 pride and lead their thoughts astray. Of 
 scandal to our neighbor; for is there any- 
 
 thing more scandalous than to see a 
 person who prays without first correcting 
 himself ; who, at the end of his devo- 
 tions, is not less frivolous, less vain, less 
 restless, less passionate, less selfish than 
 before .? 
 
 F:£nelon. 
 Select Sermons. 
 
 When you ask for temporal favors, how- 
 ever trifling they may appear, ask with 
 fear. Pray that God may grant or reject 
 them, as He thinks fit. The doctor and 
 not the patient is best able to judge what 
 is best. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 De Verb : Domini. 
 
 A man without prayer is an animal 
 without the use of reason. 
 
 St. Philip Nerl 
 
 %MW^Wi 
 
CHAPTER CXXII 
 
 :^ 
 
 rrriTiTrrnTTrnTTTrmiTnTiiiiiiiiiiiii^ 
 
 * 0ia Prec^Gsti^^sttioia. 
 
 ""/'i^* *''^'J4i!MJ-U-' I U I-IU I LI I IJ IlL UUIIIIIIIIII II IIIIIM LUJlil llii'l^ ,.^ 
 
 PfeRES HouDRY and Croiset. 
 
 ? 
 
 <* 
 
 "And whom he predestinated, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified ; and 
 whom he justified, them he also glorified." — Romans viii. 33. 
 
 ,REDESTINATION, properly 
 speaking, is that particular 
 arrangement and conduct which 
 God makes use of to guide 
 gently and freely to their end, 
 those whom he has chosen 
 from all eternity to enjoy everlasting hap- 
 piness. Or, as St. Thomas expresses it 
 in fewer words, it is an arrangement pre-, 
 pared in the mind of God respecting the 
 leading of the reasonable creature to 
 eternal life. This is tantamount to the 
 definition given by St. Augustine : Prce- 
 scientia etpreparatio beneficioriim Dei, quibus 
 certissinie liberaiitiir quiciitnque liberantur ; 
 it is the foreknowledge and the preparation 
 of the blessings and favors of God, which 
 do not fail to lead the elect to everlasting 
 happiness. 
 
 It follows from this definition that pre- 
 destination is a part of the Providence of 
 God, and that the office of predestination, 
 as also that of Providence, is to direct the 
 means to the end, or even to choose and 
 prepare the means proper for the end. 
 
 307 
 
 But, as it is certain, a.ccording to the 
 articles of faith, that man has been created 
 to obtain supernatural beatitude, he must 
 have the means proportionate as well as 
 supernatural ; and, as these means are in 
 God, who has the will to give them, it 
 follows that there is in God a predesti- 
 nation. It follows, in the second place, 
 that the predestination in God is an act 
 of His judgment, by which He foresees 
 the force of the infallible means which 
 lead to the end to which He destined the 
 elect : PrcBscientia et preparaiio. 
 
 It is, moreover, an act of His will by 
 which He resolves to give to each such 
 and such of those infallible means. As 
 predestination is an act of the Divine 
 understanding, it must necessarily follow 
 that it should be an act of prudence and 
 infinite wisdom, which we should prefer 
 above every human consideration. 
 
 Besides, as predestination may be said 
 to be a selection which is an act of the 
 will, we must conclude from thence that it 
 is infinitely just, and that it is accompanied 
 
3o8 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 by a Divine Holiness and a very ardent 
 love for the creature. 
 
 Finally, it follows that predestination 
 is eternal, since it is an act of the judg- 
 ment and will of God, which cannot 
 change, and consequently is from all 
 eternity; so that what is done at the 
 time happens only because God has deter- 
 mined it before time was ; thus the grace 
 is given in time, but the preparation was 
 made from all eternity. 
 
 We must, moreover, conclude from this 
 definition, acknowledged by all the Doc- 
 tors of the Church, that predestination is 
 certain and infallible; which certainly 
 proceeds from the strength of Divine 
 knowledge, which cannot be deceived, and 
 which extends to every free event which 
 ought to happen, and not by the strength 
 of the assistance which it gives us ; for of 
 themselves they are not infallible, since 
 they can be prevented by man's free will, 
 so that he could not concur in it. If this 
 infallibility proceeded from the means, 
 assistance, and graces, the creature would 
 not co-operate freely, but necessarily, and 
 consequently, predestination being certain 
 and infallible, would have deprived us of 
 our free will. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE V. HouDRY, S. J. 
 
 "Many are called, but few are chosen." 
 Even had faith not taught us this awful 
 truth, taking into consideration certain 
 maxims of Holy Scripture in which all I 
 Christians agree, reason alone would suffice I 
 
 to convince us that the number of the 
 elect must be small. 
 
 Instructed in the truths of our holy 
 religion, knowing the duties of a Christian, 
 convinced of our natural inclination to 
 evil, seeing the licentiousness of the pres- 
 ent age, can one come to the conclusion 
 that there will be very many saved.-* 
 
 To be saved, we must necessarily live 
 according to the maxims of the Gospel ; 
 and the number of those who nowadays 
 do so live, can the number be called great } 
 
 To be saved, we must openly declare 
 that we are disciples of our Saviour. 
 Alas ! how many are there now who would 
 be ashamed to own it. We must renounce 
 all we possess, if not in reality, at least in 
 desire ; we must carry our cross daily. 
 What unchangeable purity ! what delicacy 
 of conscience! what humility! what hon- 
 esty ! what charity ! With such outward 
 signs as these, would you recognize many 
 disciples of Jesus Christ 1 They are, 
 however, the surest signs we can have of 
 our predestination. 
 
 The world is the implacable enemy of 
 Jesus our Saviour. It is not possible to 
 serve two masters. Judge for yourself 
 which of the two the greater part obey 
 and follow, and by that you will be able to 
 know how few, how very few, will be of 
 the number of the elect. 
 
 Le PfeRE Croiset. 
 
 The fear of God is a sign of predes- 
 tination. 
 
 St. Augustike. 
 

 
 
 S^ ^^ ^1^ ^^ ^1 -^ 
 '■^^ ^^^ ^^^ "^^ 'T^ ^tIF 
 
 CHAPTER CXXIII. 
 
 
 
 
 
 •i^ 
 
 ON PRUDENCE. 
 
 41- 
 
 
 ..■iiaiianai.diiiiaiia 
 
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 "•"•"•"•"•"■"• 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ ^^ .^ ^^^ ^^ ^jfc, 
 
 ^W 'W '^ ''^ '^ 'T^ 
 
 
 St. Basil and PfeRE Giroust. 
 
 "The knowledge of the holy is prudence." — Proverbs ix. lo. 
 
 N referring to Holy Scripture 
 you will find many examples 
 of the folly of those who 
 trusted in worldly and political 
 prudence. 
 
 Pharaoh had cleverly con- 
 trived to destroy the people of Israel, but 
 he had not foreseen the obstacle which 
 upset all his plans. An exposed child he 
 intended to put to death was secretly 
 nourished, and brought up in his own 
 palace, and this same child destroyed all the 
 power of the Egyptians and saved Israel. 
 
 Abimelech caused seventy of his 
 brethren to be slain, in order to ascend 
 the throne ; but he himself could not 
 avoid meeting with a violent death, for he 
 was killed by a portion of a millstone 
 thrown by a woman. 
 
 The Jews conspired against our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and after long 
 consultations, they said to themselves : 
 "What do we, for this man doth many 
 miracles ? If we let Him alone so, all 
 will believe in Him, and the Romans will 
 come and take away our place and nation " 
 
 309 
 
 {John xi. 48). It was by reasoning thus, 
 they resolved to put Jesus to death, in 
 order to save their place and nation ; but 
 this counsel, fatal as it was, ended in their 
 entire destruction ; they have fallen into a 
 miserable slavery, for they have neither 
 law, nor religion, nor ceremonial. 
 
 St, Basil. 
 Extract from his Sermons. 
 
 As Christians, what better rules can we 
 take for deciding prudently, than the 
 eternal truths } Those precepts and 
 maxims we ought to follow, in order that 
 we may not swerve from the duly ot con- 
 sidering the end for which we were 
 created, and which shouid be continually 
 before our eyes. 
 
 Oh ! if we had always acted on this 
 principle, if we had followed no other 
 guide, if we had had them ever before our 
 eyes, if we had weighed in this balance all 
 our resolutions and designs (which we can 
 now only trace to ourselves), our con- 
 clusions and decisions would have been 
 correct and right. We should not have 
 
3IO 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 been subject to so many false proceedings, 
 to so many falls, and we should not have 
 been cast among so many rocks. God 
 would have diffused His light to illuminate 
 our path ; He would have united His will 
 to ours ; faith would have given us a true 
 esteem of things ; He would have made 
 us find out the true worth of His Word ; 
 He would have inspired us with a wisdom 
 all divine, often even requisite in the 
 management and administration of worldly 
 business. 
 
 But what do we do .'' whom do we 
 consult } We consult, alas ! neither our 
 Lord, nor His Gospel, nor our faith. It is 
 a false and carnal prudence, a blind reason- 
 ing, which thinks that it can see 
 everything, and can see nothing. We 
 judge for ourselves ; we wish to believe 
 only in self, and on certain occasions, 
 everything appears to favor our plans, and, 
 full of confident success, we begin, we 
 decide, and trust to chance. 
 
 Whom do we consult } It is the world 
 — the world and its ideas ; unhappy 
 source of many delusions, of many specious 
 delights, which lead us into error. 
 
 Whom do we consult? It is passion; 
 it is an insatiable avarice which devours 
 us, and which biasses us ever in the favor 
 of self-aggrandizement ; it is an inordinate 
 ambition, which goads us onward and drags 
 us on to fortune ; it is a bitter resentment 
 which animates us, and ever leans to the 
 side of vengeance ; it is a guilty attach- 
 ment which binds us, and which makes us 
 slaves to pleasure. These are our coun- 
 sellors ; these are our masters. 
 
 I know, says the Lord, how I can 
 frustrate all your false and worldly plans ; 
 these will not only not succeed, but will 
 lead to your ruin. I will confound the 
 prudence of the age, and will leave them 
 to their own guidance ; I will let them 
 walk in their darkness, and let them fall 
 into abysses from which they cannot 
 extricate themselves. 
 
 We see and experience this daily. We 
 undertake important affairs in which self 
 is concerned ; God, on His part, attaches 
 thereto even a temporal punishment, for 
 He upsets and destroys them all. 
 
 A thousand times wiser and happier is 
 that Christian who examines everything 
 as a Christian should do, who has recourse 
 to God, and stores up resolutions to do 
 all that God may be willing to dictate to 
 him ; taking care that all the precepts and 
 maxims of the Gospel may be the rule of 
 his life ; applying these to everything ; 
 making a just discernment of what is 
 allowed and what is forbidden ; of what 
 may be done and what is to be avoided ; 
 seeking for advice from those learned in 
 the law ; making use of the command- 
 ments of God as a sure way of finding out 
 all that His will may propose, and then by 
 putting it into practice. 
 
 For the beauty of our faith and religion 
 is to have rules applicable to every state 
 and condition of life in which we may be 
 found, and there is not a single occasion 
 or juncture which may not require us to 
 act with a Christian prudence. 
 
 Le PfeRE GiROUST. 
 
 Advent Discourse. 
 
Saints Ast^re and Ambrose. 
 " The value of all gold is as nothing compared to a soul truly chaste."— Ecclesiasticus xxvi. 20. 
 
 STERIUS or ASTERE. Of this 
 saint but little is known, except 
 for the fact that before he entered, 
 into the ecclesiastical state he was 
 a distinguished orator at the bar. 
 He was raised to the See of 
 Amassde, and his Episcopal duties 
 were dccompanied with the practice of every 
 virtue. He died at an advanced age, about 
 the year 400. The homilies that have been 
 preserved and handed down to us, as written 
 by him, are models of eloquence and piety. 
 
 Purity is a virtue which puts us on an 
 equality with the angels. The purity of 
 angels is more blessed, ours more gen- 
 erous. They have no temptations of the 
 flesh to fight against as we have. 
 
 We cannot preserve our chastity, sur- 
 rounded as we are by so many enemies, 
 without great exertion, and there are but 
 few who are victorious. 
 
 Virginity brings us nearer to God. It 
 seeks for a model in God Himself, says 
 St. Ambrose, for the eternal Father is 
 virgin and Father. God, also wishing to 
 become Incarnate, willed that He should 
 be born of a virgin. God has also an 
 
 311 
 
 extraordinary love and tenderness foi 
 pure souls ; it is to these, in particular, 
 that He confers or reveals His secrets, or 
 on whom He deigns to bestow His favors. 
 Jesus Christ bestowed many graces on 
 Peter on account of his zeal ; but it was 
 the virgin St. John who was permitted to 
 lean on the breast and heart of Jesus ; it 
 was he who had the privilege of entering 
 His divine sanctuary, and it was he from 
 whom He hid none of His most important 
 secrets. 
 
 Confessors, martyrs, and apostles have 
 great privileges ; but it appears that to 
 virgins only He has entrusted the privi- 
 le-ge of following the Lamb. They are 
 His spouses, and thus this illustrious 
 quality gives them right of entry every- 
 where. 
 
 Virginity is that precious treasure to 
 guard which so many generous souls have 
 sacrificed their lives. The preservation of 
 this treasure is difficult, but the loss of it is 
 irreparable ; one may recover grace when 
 lost by sin, but virginity once lost can 
 never be restored. 
 
312 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 Nevertheless, nothing is more easy to 
 lose, and we so readily expose ourselves to 
 lose this treasure, nay, it seems to me that 
 we seek to lose it, and we even make a 
 merit of losing that which ought to be a 
 subject of the most poignant grief. 
 
 The demon of impurity, wishing to gain 
 a victory over a person who is modest, and 
 has the fear of God before her eyes, uses 
 nearly the same tactics as a skilful general 
 would use ; for he, despairing of capturing 
 a city by storm, employs secret emissaries 
 or spies. Thus, the devil makes use of 
 certain propensities which appear innocent 
 enough, or at least but little suspected of 
 having any secret connection with him. 
 Making sure of the interest these evil pro- 
 pensities excite, the devil will enter secretly 
 into their hearts, undermine, and event- 
 ually make himself master of the citadel. 
 
 These propensities (so nearly allied to 
 passions) are vanity, curiosity, and pre- 
 sumption ; seemingly these three have but 
 little connection with impurity. But these 
 are the weapons which the devil makes use 
 of in the world, and they will soon conquer 
 chastity. 
 
 The passion which does not appear to 
 be allied to the sin of impurity, but which, 
 nevertheless, enters deep into the heart, is 
 that curiosity which prompts the reading 
 of bad or dangerous books. Nothing more 
 dreadful, nothing more injurious to the 
 purity of young persons than those novels 
 and books of gallantry, which, under the 
 
 pretext of elegance of diction or beauty of 
 language, corrupt the educated mind. 
 
 If such reading forms the mind, it spoils 
 the soul ; if it gives us a knowledge of the 
 world, it destroys Christianity ; and thus, 
 by the loss of devotion, by the loss of the 
 holy fear of God, and purity of conscience, 
 such reading leads insensibly to the loss of 
 chastity. 
 
 St. AsTfeRE. 
 
 Hofnily. 
 
 Show me the man who is able to explain 
 or understand the value and excellence of 
 purity, a virtue beyond all the common 
 laws of nature. It is on earth a perfect 
 type, and a lively picture of the virginal 
 purity which reigns in heaven. 
 
 It is that which has passed through air, 
 clouds, and stars, and which, soaring above 
 the angels, has found the Divine Word in 
 the bosom of His Father, and has drawn 
 Him to earth to be united to it in an inex- 
 pressible manner. 
 
 Now, after having been so fortunate as 
 to find a pearl of so great a price, on what 
 plea can we allow it to be lost } Never- 
 theless, it is not I, but the Son of God 
 Himself, who assures us that the pure and 
 chaste will be like unto the angels in 
 heaven ; and at this we need not be 
 astonished if such souls are placed in the 
 rank of angels, souls who have for their 
 spouse the King and Lord of angels. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 
:-=5*^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER CXXV. 
 
 ■=^8^='=^::^=: 
 
 On I^eligion and the I^eligiou^ ^tete. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 BOURDALOUE, FtRK DE LA COLOMBlfeRE and St. BERNARD. 
 
 " Walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing ia 
 the knowled'je of God." — Colossians i. lo. 
 
 HERE is no one who ought to 
 be vainglorious for having bid 
 adieu to the world ; he ought 
 rather to return thanks to 
 Almighty God. St. Athana- 
 sius said as much to his disci- 
 ples : Nemo qui reliquerit mundum, 
 glorietur. 
 
 I would have here the right to use the 
 same phrase. Do not let us feel proud at 
 what we have done for God when we 
 entered into the religious state, but let us 
 praise and bless Him a thousand times for 
 having done so much for us. 
 
 In consecrating ourselves to the Lord, 
 we have parted with blessings, but they are 
 benefits which, when possessed, are a 
 heavy burden : so says our Lord. For 
 Holy Writ, does it not mention that it is 
 a sin to be attached to the goods of this 
 world, or to be grieved at their loss .-• 
 
 We resign benefits which cannot be 
 retained without being overwhelmed with 
 their burthen ; blessings which cannot be 
 loved without our being soiled with ava- 
 rice ; benefits which we cannot lose or fear 
 
 to lose without being anxious about their 
 probable future loss. St. Bernard expresses 
 this in the following short sentence : Bona 
 qiice posscssa oneriint, amata inqumant, 
 amissa cruciant. 
 
 Thus it is a grace and a blessing, which 
 God has inspired us with the will to deny 
 and conquer ourselves ; and when I ponder 
 on all the truths which faith teaches, what 
 conclusion can I come to, but that I am 
 forced to be astonished at the sight of that 
 wondrous grace which God has bestowed 
 upon me, when He called me to the 
 religious life. 
 
 A state of life which spares me so much 
 trouble, which protects me from so many 
 dangers, which compels me to offer unlim- 
 ited thanks for that singular mercy of my 
 Lord, who has induced me to embrace a 
 vocation which is not only the most per- 
 fect, the safest, but also the most easy and 
 the most favorable to the work of my own 
 sanctification. 
 
 For, do not let ourselves be deceived ; it 
 is more easy to be deprived of worldly 
 wealth, as we are, than to possess riches, 
 
 k 
 
314 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and not become attached to them. It is 
 more easy to give up the pleasures of the 
 world, than to use them as if we used them 
 not — than to be in the midst of honors 
 and distinctions, and not be elated with 
 them. 
 
 It is much more easy to submit to the 
 will of another, than to keep our own 
 liberty and free-will within bounds. To 
 make use of the world as if we used it not 
 is what every Christian is obliged to do ; 
 but who are those who do this ? 
 
 To possess temporal goods as if they 
 possessed them not, is a condition attached 
 to all who wish to be saved ; but tell me, 
 where can we find people in the world who 
 are of this opinion "i 
 
 " What shall I render to the Lord for all 
 the things that He hath rendered to me ?" 
 (Ps. cxvi.) Ah ! Lord, ought we not say, 
 You have broken my bonds with the 
 world } — Dirupisti vincula mea ; and it is 
 for that I will sacrifice to you the sacrifice 
 of praise ; and I will call upon the Name 
 of the Lord, and incessantly invoke Your 
 holy Name. It is for that, that prostrate 
 at the foot of Your altar I am resolved to 
 begin to make a sacrifice of liiyself. 
 What can I not do from henceforth, with- 
 out delay .? Have I not the strength to 
 deprive myself of that fatal liberty, which 
 can only lead me to some other object 
 besides Thee "i 
 
 But You wish me to go further than this; 
 that I should unite myself to You by 
 indissoluble bonds, after having put myself 
 to the test. Give me the consolation of 
 being able to do, with a hearty good-will, 
 
 all that is permissive, and to say with 
 heartfelt gladness, " I will pay my vows 
 to the Lord in the sight of all His 
 people." 
 
 For thus I can return love for love, 
 sacrifice for sacrifice. I shall have the 
 advantage of being able to spare nothing 
 for You, who have spared nothing for me ; 
 in fine, to be His victim, as He has been 
 mine. 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Sermon for a Profession. 
 
 But, my dear brethren, while so many 
 holy daughters of the Church are about 
 to resign all earthly ties, whilst they, by 
 day and night, will try to please their 
 Creator, what shall we do for our salvation .■* 
 Shall we continue to live in that frightful 
 negligence and ingratitude to God — in 
 our forgetfulness of death and eternity ? 
 
 Who would believe it! To see on one 
 side their fear and vigilance, and on the 
 other side, our carelessness and idleness. 
 
 That young girl, buried, as it were, in a 
 cloister, thinks herself fortunate if she 
 can, after a seclusion of several years, 
 prepare for herself a happy death ; whilst 
 that other worldly girl is busying herself 
 with the pleasures of this life, and, 
 perhaps, has never thought seriously of 
 death or eternity. 
 
 That young man deprives himself of 
 everything, as if he had only a moment to 
 live, whilst that one only thinks of hoard- 
 ing up and multiplying riches, as if he 
 could live for ever. The one passes his 
 life in mortification, the other in pleasure. 
 
RELIGION AND THE RELIGIOUS STATE'. 
 
 315 
 
 What can one say to this ? Are there 
 two paths to heaven, one broad, the other 
 narrow ? Is it that paradise is given to 
 some for doing nothing, and is only- 
 reached by others at the sacrifice of their 
 blood ? 
 
 You will tell me, we are not all religious, 
 all monks, or nuns. This is true, and it 
 is that very thing which astonishes me 
 most. For what obligation has this person 
 to bid adieu to the world } What has led 
 her to renounce the pomps and vanities 
 of the world, if not to lead you, and others, 
 to do likewise "i 
 
 PfeRE DE LA COLOMBlfeRE, S. J. 
 
 Oh, how safe is a holy religious ! The 
 man lives there in innocence and purity, 
 
 he seldom falls, he often is the recipient 
 of heavenly blessings, he tastes a sweet 
 tranquillity, and when he dies, he breathes 
 out his last sigh full of hope and full of 
 love for his Redeemer. His purgatory is 
 over sooner, and his reward is plentiful. 
 What he leaves behind are but worldly 
 possessions, transitory and of very little 
 value, and those he aspires to are infinite. 
 
 I say more than this, and what I say is 
 true ; he exchanges darkness for light ; 
 from a stormy sea, he anchors in a safe 
 harbor ; freed from a wretched slavery, he 
 sighs after a happy freedom ; and finally, 
 he passes from death to a life of everlast^ 
 ing bliss. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 
 Epistlt XHK 
 
 V 
 
■*^^^!^^->^>^;^ 
 
 &*%^;:7<^%t5<^- 
 
 CHAPTER CXXVI. 
 
 ',*': '.*': 'J*': •!•; '.*: ••!• iv %?•* it': i?.* iv 'Jfi i?; •?•* *•?•' •?• 'Jt: i*: i*': 
 
 Jon retrekts. I 
 
 '•'• W i*J W W '•*• %*J W W W %*': 'Mi 'J*': 'Mi 'J*': 'J*! iv 'Mt {•/ 
 
 St. Ephrem, Pi!RE Le Valois, and St. Gregory. 
 
 **I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness : and I will speak to her heart." 
 
 — OsEE ii. 14. 
 
 T. EPHREM was the son of a 
 husbandman of Nisibe, and, in 
 early youth, indulged in the prac- 
 tice of all the shameful vices of a 
 barbarous age. Through the 
 mercy of God, he reflected on the 
 sad state of his soul, and withdrew 
 to the desert, there to weep for his sins. 
 Here he practised every austerity, and mor- 
 tified his body with fastings and watchings. 
 Ephrem did not, however, always remain in 
 solitude, tor we read of his going to Edessa, 
 and there he was raised to the rank of 
 Deacon. His ordination so inflamed his zeal 
 that it is related that afterwards he preached 
 with as much ease as eloquence. Like the 
 apostles, he now taught that of which he was 
 before so ignorant. The poor looked upon 
 him as their father, and the monks came to 
 him for direction. After a time of famine, 
 when he did all he could do to comfort the 
 stricken, he retired to his solitary cell, and 
 therein died, about the year 379. St. Ephrem 
 wrote several works in Syriac; these were 
 afterwards translated into Latin and Greek, 
 and published in Rome in 1746, under the 
 superintendence of Cardinal Quirini. 
 
 O Solitude ! ladder of heaven, mother 
 of contrition, mirror wherein we see our 
 sins reflected, source of sweetness, com- 
 
 316 
 
 panion of humility and of the fear of God, 
 light of the soul ! O solitude, which 
 teaches us to know our thoughts, to dis- 
 cern the promptings of our heart, which 
 is the foundation of salvation, the curb of 
 intemperance, the school of prayer, the 
 peace of mind, the agreeable yoke, the 
 light burden ! O solitude, effectual 
 remedy against temptation, the enemy of 
 imprudence, the joy of the soul, the guar- 
 dian of the eyes, ears, tongue, and the 
 co-operatrix of every virtue. The friend 
 of poverty, the fertile field of all good 
 fruits, the wall and rampart of all those 
 who wish to fight for the kingdom of 
 
 heaven. 
 
 St. Ephrem. 
 
 Withdraw from the crowd and the noise ; 
 come and seek for God in solitude. 
 
 It is God who calls those who wish to 
 speak to Him, it is an appointment He 
 Himself has made. Go into retreat, and 
 He will find you out ; there He will speak 
 to your mind and heart, and He will con- 
 descendingly be glad to confer with yotf 
 
RETREATS. 
 
 317 
 
 every time you hopefully trust in Him. 
 He will speak a language which, per- 
 chance, you never heard before, and you 
 will listen for the first time, and you will 
 hear Him henceforth with consolation and 
 with joy. You will learn truths without 
 number, which you will be surprised you 
 never heard before. You will become 
 indifferent to things which before inter- 
 ested you, and you will take as much care 
 in fulfilling the duties of a Christian as you 
 formerly did in not thinking of duty at all. 
 
 I do not now urge you to quit the world 
 and spend the remainder of your life in 
 solitude ; this is devoutly to be wished for, 
 and would be the surest way to secure 
 your salvation ; but your state of life does 
 not allow of this, and, if I were to ask as 
 much, I fear that you would not acquiesce 
 in my request. On the other hand, a 
 retreat of one hour or even a day is not 
 sufficient ; you must give to God the time 
 to speak to you, you must give yourself 
 the time to listen to what He says, to 
 understand what He will reveal to you ; 
 to implore Him to sanctify your will and 
 intellect, so that you may be able to resist 
 temptations which have not hitherto been 
 resisted. And for this, you are asked to 
 devote a week. I dare to say, and I 
 prophesy, that you will find in this retreat, 
 as did the Israelites in the desert, a column 
 of fire to enlighten your darkness, and a 
 column of cloud to defend you from the 
 false glitter of the world and to hinder you 
 from being dazzled. 
 
 God will be your guide as He was theirs, 
 He will conduct you, as He conducted 
 
 them. He will nourish you, as He did 
 them, with the bread of angels, and as He 
 led them up to the mountain of His sanc- 
 tification, so He will lead you, if only you 
 have the courage to follow Him, and will 
 make you saints. 
 
 Perhaps, however, you will tell me that 
 a retreat, of which I have been speaking, 
 is a recent invention, a new practice, of 
 which you have never heard me speak. 
 You have always had an affection for antiq- 
 uity in all things, but more especially, in 
 matters relating to religion and devotion ; 
 you have always avoided show and singu- 
 larity ; but I fancy that I hear you say, 
 that it would be absurd to alter our usual 
 behavior at our time of life ; it is too late 
 to begin to despise the world altogether ; 
 we can save our souls without going into 
 retreat, and we must try to do so. 
 
 What ! my brethren, is it a recent inven- 
 tion to do what the Son of God and His 
 apostles have practised — of which they 
 have given us so many examples .-' Read 
 the history of the Church, and you will 
 see that retreats have always been the 
 practice of the saints. 
 
 St. Gregory of Nazianzen went into 
 retreat immediately after he was conse- 
 crated, and he made so long a retreat, that, 
 on his return, he publicly apologized to 
 his flock. You know the long retreat that 
 St. Jerome made ; and that St. Augustine 
 entered into retreat more than once, and 
 the earnest entreaties which he made to 
 Valerius, his bishop, to allow him to make 
 one about every two months. Then, com- 
 ing to our last centuries, we find that the 
 
3i8 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 glorious Archbishop of Milan, St. Charles 
 Borromeo, recommended all the clergy 
 of his diocese to make four retreats 
 before he ordained them priests ; and no 
 year passed without his going into retreat, 
 and very often he made two retreats in 
 the year. I need not speak to you of St. 
 Philip Neri, St. Francis of Sales, St. 
 Francis Borgia, and a number of others, 
 who were sanctified by these means. 
 
 Is it not written, "You shall be holy, 
 for I am holy " ( i Peter i. i6 ), and again 
 " Be you therefore perfect, as also your 
 heavenly Father is perfect" {Matt. v. 48). 
 
 But do you believe it to be possible to 
 reach perfection, without making a retreat .'' 
 Have you ever seen or heard of persons 
 being made holy by frequenting balls, 
 assemblies, or by mixing with the noise, 
 bustle, and intrigues of the world } Is it 
 in such places as these that God has been 
 
 accustomed to shower down His special 
 graces > Ah ! if we wish to receive His 
 sanctifying grace, we must be in a position 
 to profit by it. 
 
 Le P^re Le Valois. 
 Extracts from a dozeii Letters on the necessity 
 of making occasional Retreats. 
 
 It is necessary to seek occasionally for 
 a spot where you can be free from the 
 worry and bustle of temporal affairs ; a 
 place wherein God is alone with you, and 
 you alone with God. 
 
 " Enter, you and your family, into the 
 ark " {Gen. vii.). It is as if the Lord had 
 said to the just man, Enter into thyself 
 and meditate, thou wilt there find sal- 
 vation ; a deluge is to be dreaded outside 
 the ark, for there is danger around. 
 
 St. Gregory. 
 On Book of Kings. 
 

 
 CHAPTER CXXVII. 
 
 
 rp-^ii 
 
 * # 
 
 <<* ON RICH ES. ^ 
 
 
 St, Chrysostow, Massillon, and St. Basil. 
 " Riches are good to him that hath no sin in his conscience." — Ecclesiasticus xiii. 30. 
 
 HE love of riches is far more 
 pernicious and more powerful 
 than the devil himself, and 
 many obey this love more 
 blindly than the pagans, who 
 put their faith in idols. For 
 there have been many pagans who did not 
 obey their devilish idols at all times ; but 
 people who hanker after riches unre- 
 servedly respect everything that tends to 
 feed their covetousness ; as if covetous- 
 ness said to them : " Be revenged on 
 society, forget the feelings of nature, 
 •despise God." They obey this to the letter. 
 To the idols were sacrificed animals ; 
 but covetousness seeks to force their 
 worshippers to sacrifice their own souls, 
 and they sacrifice these without remorse. 
 If you despise worldly blessings, you will 
 te more worthy to possess heavenly 
 blessings. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 From Homily No. 64 on St. John. 
 
 Poverty is not of itself holy, neither 
 are riches criminal, says St. Ambrose. 
 
 sit 
 
 You may occasionally have seen poor 
 people, overwhelmed by the weight of 
 their misery, grumble and rebel against 
 the dispensations of Divine Providence ; 
 but you may also have seen some rich 
 who are not dazzled with their gold, who 
 possess property as if they possessed it 
 not. 
 
 If riches are a sword in the hands of 
 the foolish, "the crown of the wise is 
 their riches " {Prov. xix.). 
 
 If riches in the hands of prodigals and 
 misers cause them to heap iniquity on 
 iniquity, they are, in the hands of the just 
 and prudent, a source of merit. But alas ! 
 where shall we find that just and prudent 
 man, or, rather, where is he who has not 
 bent his knee before the idol of the world 
 and fortune .-* 
 
 Let us seek among all the rich for one 
 who has not made a god of his gold, who 
 has not believed that riches are all his 
 strength, and who, charmed with his 
 treasures, has not said to the precious 
 metal. You are my confiding hope, and 
 you are the tender object of my lov«»; 
 
320 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 you are my crowning desire and the end 
 of my labors. 
 
 It must be confessed that a poor man is 
 more likely to be honest and virtuous than 
 a rich man. It is a rare thing to see a 
 rich and virtuous individual combined. It 
 is very difficult to be good and pious in 
 the midst of riches, and more difficult to 
 be saved in the midst of wealth and 
 plenty : " For they that will become rich 
 fall into temptation, and into the snares 
 of the devil," says the great Apostle {Tim. 
 vi. 9). 
 
 Temptation follows those who wish to 
 acquire riches, because to gain their end 
 they do not hesitate to employ fraud, 
 injustice, theft, perjury, and homicide; in 
 fact, they make use of every vice to satisfy 
 their cravings. 
 
 One sees that in every condition of life 
 crime is the willing attendant on those 
 who inordinately desire to be rich : the 
 shop of the merchant is full of snares to 
 tempt and deceive the purchaser; the 
 judge is tempted to deprive the widow of 
 her field, and the magistrate eagerly gives 
 his warrant when there is a question of 
 money accruing to him ; the poor child, 
 tired of being the son of poor parents, 
 employs every artifice, just or unjust, to 
 accumulate a fortune ; and the rich child, 
 tired of being the son of a rich father, 
 becomes a cruel parricide in order to 
 inherit and possess all his property. 
 
 The lover of wealth, says the wise man, 
 despises every commandment : " There is 
 not a more wicked thing than to love 
 money" {Eccles. x. lo). 
 
 Show me the wisest woman ; if once the 
 love of gold and silver enters into her 
 heart — ah! she will soon be corrupted,, 
 and Solomon will be right in saying that 
 he could not find a strong woman, because 
 no woman can resist this temptation. 
 
 It is very, very difficult to have much 
 property and much religion at one and the 
 same time. One cannot add to fortune 
 what one steals from Christianity; one 
 cannot dream of possessing the treasures 
 of heaven when we hoard a superfluity of 
 wealth on earth. In a word, religion 
 demands an undivided affection ; but the 
 possession of temporal blessings stands 
 sadly in the way. For if the rich man 
 gives a portion of his wealth to religion, 
 does he not reserve the greater part to 
 feed his love of riches ? and when he 
 prostrates himself before the altar of the 
 Lord it often happens that in his heart he 
 is adoring his gold. 
 
 This is what St. Paul says, that he who 
 gives his heart to riches is not less 
 excluded from the kingdom of God than 
 he who burns his incense to idols. Oh ! 
 monstrous effect of riches, thus to stifle 
 every sentiment of religion ! 
 
 Massillon. 
 
 You possess many acres of land ; some 
 are planted with trees ; some fields are 
 well tilled. Besides these you have vine- 
 yards, undulating hills, beautiful prospects, 
 woods, rivulets, and pleasant promenades. 
 Of what use are all these blessings to you I 
 Six feet of earth await you at the end. 
 
 St. Basil. 
 
mm 
 
 Ej^cellencB of tje poul. 
 
 PfeRES HouDRY, Nepvue, Bretteville, and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 " What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole 
 exchange shall a man give ? " — Matthew x. 28. 
 
 'CCORDING to St. Paul, we 
 have two natures, one exterior, 
 the other interior, and these 
 are the body and the soul. 
 Thus, as we have two sorts of 
 lives, we are subject to two 
 kinds of deaths. 
 
 We have the corporal life, which we 
 share with all created animals, and we 
 have the life of the soul, which renders 
 us like to the angels. 
 
 This latter is the spiritual life, pure, 
 holy, and detached from all that is earthly. 
 The source of the life of the body is the 
 soul ; the source of the life of the soul is 
 God, who, dwelling in the soul by grace, 
 maintains life in a supernatural and divine 
 way, just as the soul supports the body in 
 the natural way. And in the same way 
 the soul separates from the body when 
 dead, so in like manner the soul dies as 
 soon as God abandons it, and is separated 
 from Him. 
 
 Again, as the soul is incomparably 
 greater in value than the body, and as 
 God is infinitely above the soul, so when 
 
 221 
 
 world, and suffer the loss of his own soul ? or what 
 
 God abandons it, this death of the soul, 
 caused by the withdrawal of God, is more 
 dreadful, more frightful than the death of 
 the body when the soul departs from it. 
 If there is anything which ought to make 
 us detest sin as being the greatest of all 
 evils, it is that it kills the soul by depriv- 
 ing it of the life of grace and causing the 
 loss of God, who is the Sovereign good and 
 who alone can make us eternally happy. 
 
 It follows, then, that mortal sin deprives 
 us of all the merits we may have acquired 
 during our life, in the same way as death 
 deprives men of all the goods and riches 
 they leave behind them. 
 
 Rev. PfeRE Houdry, S. J. 
 
 Let us reflect for a moment on what 
 God has done for us ; we shall find suffi- 
 cient matter to enlighten us on the love 
 He has shown to our souls. " Come and 
 see, " says the prophet, " and I will relate 
 the wonders God has done for my soul " 
 {Ps. ix.). 
 
 If the Eternal Word came down from 
 heaven and became Incarnate, it is for th« 
 
322 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 sake of my soul ; if He was willing to be 
 born in a stable, surrounded by vile ani- 
 mals, it was the immense love He had for 
 my soul, and this it was that compelled 
 Him to lower all His greatness. In com- 
 ing amongst us. His first thought was, to 
 save my soul. 
 
 Doubtless, all love the object to which 
 they give their first thought ; confess it, 
 ye who pollute your hearts for the sake of 
 the love of a miserable creature. 
 
 But the first and uppermost thought 
 that God the Son had, was the salvation of 
 our soul ; this was, is, and ever will be, the 
 wish of His sacred heart. With this love 
 in view, let me address you in the words of 
 the apostle: "Let this mind be in you, 
 which was also in Christ Jesus" {Philip ii. 
 5 ). Let all your actions tend to the salva- 
 tion of your souls, and let your first thoughts 
 dwell on this only important object. 
 
 Has it been your conduct throughout 
 life } Has the safety of your soul been 
 the first thought of your heart } 
 
 Le Pi:RE Nepvue. 
 
 O adorable Saviour! do not let us fall 
 into so deplorable a blindness as to prefer 
 the good things of this world to our soul. 
 Ah ! what have You not done to save our 
 soul, that soul which cost You so much, 
 and for the salvation of which You have 
 shed the whole of Your precious blood. 
 
 What a misfortune, or rather, how mad 
 shall we be, if we lose it for a mere trifle \ 
 What is there in the whole world that can 
 be compared to the soul, or what can we 
 offer in exchange for it .'' " Quam dabit 
 homo commutaiionem, pro anima sua .^" 
 says the Son of God Himself. 
 
 Consequently, let us value it more than 
 anything else ; let us forsake everything,^ 
 rather than run the risk of losing our soul,^ 
 and then we shall inherit an eternal hap- 
 piness. To this, St. Chrysostom calls our 
 attention, for in his Homily on the Gospel 
 of St. Matthew, he says : " He who has 
 lost his house, money, servants, and all his 
 property, may one day find them replaced 
 and recovered ; but if he should happen to 
 lose his own soul, he cannot replace it by 
 another." 
 
 Bretteville. 
 
 Would you know what is the value of 
 your soul } The only-begotten Son of 
 God, wishing to redeem this soul of yours, 
 has given, not a whole universe, not the 
 earth or sea with all its treasures, but His 
 own most Precious Blood, and from this 
 you can judge of the greatness of the price. 
 When, therefore, you come to lose your 
 soul, after it has cost so much, at what 
 price could you redeem it } 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
 Oh Psalm xliHii, 
 
Father Segneri and Saints Edmund of Canterbury, 
 and Augustine. 
 
 " Peace I leave with yoa, my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth do I give unto you." 
 
 — John xiv. 27. 
 
 RUE peace is a certain mark of 
 predestination. All those who 
 possess this peace being chil- 
 dren of God, it is clear that the 
 heavenly inheritance belongs 
 to them : " Whosoever are led 
 by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of 
 God " {Rom. viii. 14). 
 
 It is this that our Saviour means when 
 He says : " Happy are those who have a 
 peaceful mind, for they shall be called the 
 children of God." He gives to the elect 
 the glorious title of sons of God, because 
 they act, not as slaves, but as true children 
 of God. Slaves are submissive to their 
 master, through fear of suffering punish- 
 ment ; children, on the contrary, are sub- 
 missive to their father, through respect 
 and love, and they obey him with joy. 
 
 Such is the conduct of the saints of 
 those glorious just of the first class, to 
 whom we here allude. They, with their 
 whole heart, were so resigned to the will 
 of God that they unreservedly placed 
 themselves at His disposal, and thus they 
 showed that they were worthy to be 
 
 323 
 
 children of God, since those "led by the 
 Spirit of God, they are sons of God " 
 {Rom. viii). 
 
 But why does our Saviour say that those 
 who are led by the Spirit of God will be 
 called the children of God ^ Because 
 these extraordinary saints are not merely 
 sons by adoption, like the ordinary just, 
 but that they are acknowledged and rever- 
 enced by the world. 
 
 It was also said of our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, they shall call Him the "Son of the 
 Most High," because His holiness, His 
 humility. His patience, wisdom, and meek- 
 ness ought to prove (except to those who 
 wilfully close their eyes to the true light) 
 that He was the only Son of the Almighty. 
 You are perhaps a child of God because 
 you are pious ; but do you live in such a 
 way that you could feel within that you are 
 a child of God .-* The surest sign you 
 could possibly show would be to place all 
 you have and all you want at the disposal 
 of your Heavenly Father. But how can 
 you lay claim to this title, you whom the 
 slightest opposition disturbs and provokes ? 
 
324 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 However, peace is like unto those rivers 
 whose course flows on in one continuous 
 stream. Why are you not mindful of My 
 precepts ? says the Lord ; your peace would 
 be like a river (Jsaias). 
 
 He who, by dint of perseverance, has at 
 last conquered himself, passes his days in 
 peace : Sedcbit in pulchritudme pads 
 {Isaias xxxii). He is at peace with all 
 men, because he is without ambition, with- 
 out envy, without attachment to the good 
 things of this world. He is in peace with 
 himself, because his moral courage con- 
 trols all sensual inclinations. He is in 
 peace with God, because he obeys Him 
 in all things, and as he always seeks to do 
 His most holy will, his conscience never 
 reproaches him. 
 
 How beautiful is this peace, says the 
 prophet: Pax multa diligentibjis _ legem 
 tuarn. How this peace surpasses human 
 understanding ! It is full of sweetness 
 and charity : Se debit populus nieus in pul- 
 chritudine pads (Isaias). 
 
 St. Augustine's definition is, that peace 
 is a tranquillity which is born of order. 
 The order which is seen in a well-guarded 
 city, but frequently disturbed by civil wars, 
 is not sufficient to prove that peace is 
 therein enjoyed, because its order is with- 
 out tranquillity. The tranquillity which 
 may be found in a peaceful city, badly 
 regulated for want of subordination, does 
 not suffice to prove that peace would be 
 lasting, because tranquillity would there 
 be without order. To enjoy true peace, 
 tranquillity and order must be firmly 
 united. 
 
 Let us now see who are those of whom 
 our Saviour speaks — those who are 
 peacemakers {Matt. v.). This cannot be 
 said of the wicked, who, however tranquil 
 they may sometimes be in their condition 
 of life, are, nevertheless, continually tor- 
 tured in mind and conscience. It is 
 therefore true to say that "there is no 
 peace for the wicked." They are not even 
 the good, who have only ordinary virtue 
 and do not enjoy tranquillity ; for, although 
 they may be on the right way, they nev- 
 ertheless yield to temptations against the 
 Spirit, and this troubles them incessantly. 
 " They have looked for peace, and behold 
 trouble " {Jer. xiv. 19). 
 
 Thus the only ones who can lay claim 
 to the title of " peacemakers " are those 
 perfect Christians who are dead to them- 
 selves, in whom the flesh is brought under 
 the subjection of the Spirit ; those who 
 are entirely submissive to God's holy will, 
 obeying Him like children, and allowing 
 themselves to be guided in all things by 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Rev. Father Segneri, S. J. 
 Meditations. 
 
 [St. Edmund was born at Abingdon in 
 Berkshire. His parents were pious and fe»- 
 vent Catholics. His father, when age was 
 creeping on, retired to a monastery to prepare 
 himself for a happy death, but his mother 
 lived in the world and led a holy life, con- 
 verting many by the mere force of her exem- 
 plary piety. Edmund was sent to Paris, and 
 was soon so far advanced in learning that he 
 was made Professor of Mathematics and 
 Philosophy. Pope Innocent III., hearing of 
 his worth, commissioned him to preach the 
 
THE PEACE OF THE SOUL. 
 
 325 
 
 Crusades, and Pope Gregory IX., wishing to 
 recompense him for the zeal he displayed, 
 appoiiited him to fill up the See of Canterbury 
 which had long been vacant ; but it was with 
 great difficulty that he could be induced to 
 accept the archbishopric, but, through obedi- 
 ence, he undertook the heavy responsibility. 
 The zeal he displayed in the reform of his 
 clergy drew down the wrath of even some of 
 his chapter ; and, seeing that he could no 
 longer countenance abuses he tried to reform, 
 he secretly wended his way to France, and 
 died at Poissy on the i6th of November, 1242, 
 after having been Archbishop of Canterbury 
 during the space of eight years. Pope Inno- 
 cent IV. canonized this holy bishop in the 
 year 1247.] 
 
 Letter from. St. Edtmmd, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, about the year 1235, written 
 
 and sent to the elergy of his diocese. 
 
 We enjoin and entreat you to live in 
 
 peace with all ^pen as much as it may 
 
 depend on you. Exhort your parishioners 
 
 and flock to be of one mind in the body of 
 
 Jesus Christ, by unity of faith and the 
 bond of peace ; to settle amicably all 
 disputes that may arise in your parishes, 
 to put an end to dissensions and quarrels 
 as much as lies in your power. 
 
 It is a duty for you, my brethren, to 
 love peace, since God is the author of 
 peace. He has recommended it to us. 
 His wish is that peace shall reign on earth 
 as well as in heaven, and from this peace 
 all that is eternal depends. " My dearly 
 beloved," says the beloved disciple, " if 
 God has so loved us, let us love one 
 another." 
 
 Peace is the serenity of the soul, the 
 tranquillity of the mind, the simplicity of 
 the heart, the bond of love, and the union 
 of charity. 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 Dt VerbiDom. 
 
ON SKL-MKTION. 
 
 Saints Ephrem and Chrysostom, and PiRE Nepvue, 
 " With fear and trembling, work out your salvation." — Philippians ii. 12. 
 
 HE wisdom of the pagan philos- 
 ophers, and the eloquence of 
 their orators, were confounded 
 at the extraordinary sight of 
 the death and triumphs of the 
 early martyrs. The tyrants 
 and judges were seized with astonishment 
 when they witnessed the faith, courage, 
 and even the gaiety of these holy cham- 
 pions of the faith. What will be our 
 excuse at the tribunal of Jesus Christ if, 
 after having been saved from persecution 
 and torture, we have nevertheless neglected 
 to love God, or even attempted to work 
 out our salvation ? 
 
 What a contrast ! on one side the 
 martyrs, ever attached to God in the midst 
 of the severest trials ; and on the other, 
 the greater part of Christians who, in the 
 bosom of a quiet peace, refuse to give to 
 , God a heart which He certainly has a right 
 to demand. 
 
 Once more, what could we do on that 
 dreadful day, on which our eternity 
 depends ? Whilst the martyrs, full of a 
 
 326 
 
 holy confidence, would show to Jesus the 
 scars of their wounds, what should we 
 have to show Him ? Can we offer Him a 
 lively faith, a sincere charity, a disinterested 
 detachment from earthly things, successful 
 victories over our passions, souls fond of 
 silence and solitude, hearts pure and 
 chaste, alms given to the poor, prayers, 
 watchings, and tears .-* Happy the man 
 who is the bearer of these good works, for 
 he will appear with confidence before 
 Jesus Christ and His angels. 
 
 Holy martyrs, who have merited by 
 your triumphs to be intimately united to 
 God in heaven, deign to intercede on our 
 behalf. We are but miserable sinners; 
 but if you will give us the help of your 
 prayers, the grace of Jesus Christ will 
 enlighten our souls, and our hearts will 
 be inflamed with the fire of divine love. 
 
 St. Ephrem. 
 Homily on Holy Martyrs. 
 
 If a man were to give immense treasures 
 to the poor, that good deed would not be 
 
SALVATION. 
 
 327 
 
 equal in merit to that of a man who con- 
 tributes to the salvation of one soul. This 
 alms deed is to be preferred to the dis- 
 tribution of ten thousand pounds ; it is 
 worth more than the whole world, how- 
 ever large it may appear in our own eyes ; 
 for a man's soul is more precious than 
 the whole universe. God has nothing 
 so much at heart, nothing gives Him 
 so much pleasure, as the salvation of 
 souls. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 On Genesis. 
 
 The work of our salvation is, properly 
 speaking, our own individual work, because 
 all the profit that accrues therefrom is 
 for ourselves. In other affairs, he who 
 works is not he who has the profit. A 
 husbandman sows and reaps, but, more 
 than often, it is not for himself ; a father 
 works hard to increase his business or 
 income, but it is to enrich his children, 
 and they often turn out to be ungrateful ; 
 a judge is careful in his summing up, and 
 becomes, as it were, a victim of the public. 
 What does it come to? Simply a vain 
 honor. 
 
 He who sows, says the Lord, is not 
 often he who reaps : " that it is one man 
 that soweth, and it is another that reapeth" 
 (John iv. 37). But in the work of our 
 salvation, he who works is he who alone 
 has all the profit; no one can share it with 
 him. " If you sow," says St. Paul, " you 
 
 shall reap a harvest, in proportion to the 
 seed you shall have thrown in." 
 
 If you pray, if you fast, if you bestow 
 alms, if you mortify your senses, if you 
 crucify your flesh, all the profit will not 
 only be your gain, but it will increase a 
 hundredfold in this life, and will last 
 forever in the next. 
 
 Salvation is our own work, because, if it 
 meet with ill success, the loss will be our 
 own ; no one can share it with us. 
 
 In profitable but hazardous large busi- 
 nesses, people form themselves into a 
 company, and seek for others to insure 
 them from loss ; they prefer a smaller 
 profit provided they lessen their risk, and 
 thus share with others the profit, provided 
 they share the loss. 
 
 But in the affair of salvation, there can 
 be no company formed, no insurance from- 
 loss ; we must alone take the chance ; all 
 the profit or all the loss will be our own^ 
 and in this work, each works on his own 
 account. 
 
 That zealous, good man, who has mani- 
 fested so much anxiety for your salvation,, 
 who has taken so much pains, who has 
 made your business, as it were, his own,, 
 will have a share in the profit if he suc- 
 ceed, but he will not share in the loss if he 
 does not. That which will be your loss 
 and your condemnation, will be his profit 
 and his merit. 
 
 LE PfeRE Nepvue. 
 Reflexions Chritiennes^ 
 
CHAPTER CXXXI. 
 
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 T 
 
 
 ? 
 
 Saints Chrysostom, Francis de Sales, Augustine, 
 and Alphonse Rodriguez. 
 
 "Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation." — Matthew xxvi. 41. 
 
 'F God does not stop those temp- 
 tations with which you are 
 assailed, He does it for reasons 
 that are sure to result to your 
 advantage. First of all, He 
 wishes you to know and feel 
 from experience, that you have become 
 stronger, more powerful than your enemy. 
 He wishes also that this temptation may 
 keep you, as it were, in a balance, and that 
 the dangers which threaten you prevent 
 you from being exalted, on account of the 
 graces you have received. 
 
 God wills also that you should be 
 tempted, in order that the devil, who is in 
 doubt if you have renounced him, at length 
 knows, by your patience, that you are still 
 true to your Lord and Saviour ; more than 
 this, God's intention is, that your soul 
 should be fortified through temptation, 
 and it thus remains stronger than ever. 
 
 In fine, God permits the enemy to attack 
 you, in order that you may realize by that, 
 how great and precious is the treasure He 
 has intrusted to you. For Satan would not 
 
 tat 
 
 have attacked you so violently, had he not 
 seen you elevated to a condition more 
 glorious than that in which you were 
 before. It was that which irritated him so 
 much when he saw Adam living in so 
 glorious a garden ; it was that, also, that 
 made him so vexed against Job, when he 
 saw that God even bestowed on him so 
 many praises. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 Cotntnentary on St. Matthew. 
 
 You must be courageous amidst temp- 
 tations, and never think yourself overcome 
 so long as they displease you, observing 
 well this difference . between feeling and 
 consenting, namely, we may feel tempta- 
 tions, though they displease us ; but we 
 can never consent to them, unless they 
 please us, since the being pleased with 
 them ordinarily serves as a step towards 
 our consent. 
 
 Let, then, the enemies of our salvation 
 lay as many baits and allurements in our 
 way as they please, let them stay always 
 
TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 329 
 
 at the door of our heart, in order to get 
 admittance, let them make as many pro- 
 posals as they can ; still, so long as we 
 remain steadfast in our resolution to take 
 no pleasure in the temptation, it is utterly 
 impossible that we should offend God. 
 
 With respect to the delectation which 
 may follow the temptation, it may be 
 observed that, as there are parts in the 
 soul, the inferior and the superior, and 
 that the inferior does not always follow 
 the superior, but acts for itself apart, it 
 frequently happens that the inferior part 
 takes delight in the temptation without 
 the consent, nay, against the will of the 
 superior. 
 
 This is that warfare which the apostle 
 describes {Gal. v. 17), when he says that 
 the flesh lusts against the spirit, and that 
 there is a law of the members and a law 
 of the spirit. 
 
 St. Francis de Sales. 
 Devout Life. 
 
 To encourage us in temptations, it will 
 be a great help if we consider the weak- 
 ness of our enemy, and how little he is 
 able to do against us, seeing that he can- 
 not make us fall into any sin against our 
 own will. "Behold, my brethren," says 
 St. Bernard, " how weak our enemy is ; 
 he cannot overcome but him who has a 
 mind to be overcome." If a man who is 
 going to fight were sure to overcome if 
 he would, how joyful would he be } Would 
 not he think himself sure of a victory 
 which depended only upon his own will ? 
 With the same confidence we should fight 
 
 against the evil one. For we know very 
 well that the devil cannot conquer, if we 
 ourselves will it not. 
 
 St. Jerome remarks the same upon the 
 words which the evil spirit said to our 
 Saviour, when, having carried Him up to 
 the pinnacle of the temple, he counselled 
 our Lord to throw Himself down head- 
 long. " Cast Thyself down," said the 
 tempter {Matt. iv. 6) ; and this, adds the 
 saint, is the true language of the devil, 
 who desires nothing so much as the fall 
 of all men. He can, indeed, persuade 
 them to throw themselves down, but he 
 cannot throw them down himself. The 
 voice of the devil says, " Throw yourself 
 down into hell." Answer him, "Do so 
 yourself ; you know the way ; as for me, I 
 will not " ; for he cannot have the power 
 to make you, if you have not the will to 
 do it. 
 
 It is related in ecclesiastical history, 
 that the Abbot Isidore was attacked for 
 forty years by a violent temptation, and 
 yet never yielded to it. We see also 
 a great many examples of the holy fathers 
 in the desert who, all their lives, were 
 attacked with violent temptations, which 
 they always sustained with a steady and 
 equal confidence. " These were those 
 giants," according to the prophet, " who 
 were expert in war " {Barucli iii. 26). We 
 ought to imitate them in this ; and St. 
 Cyprian, desiring to inspire us with the 
 same confidence, makes use of the words of 
 God in the prophet Isaias : " Fear not, for 
 I have redeemed thee, and called thee 
 
33^ 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 by thy name ; thou art Mine. When 
 thou shalt pass through the waters, I 
 will be with thee, and the rivers shall not 
 cover thee ; when thou shalt walk in the 
 fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames 
 shall not burn thee ; for I am the Lord 
 thy God, the holy one of Israel " {Isaias 
 xliii. 1-3). 
 
 Those words also of the same prophet 
 ^re well fitted to strengthen us in the same 
 holy confidence : " As one whom the 
 mother caresseth, so will I comfort you " 
 {Isaias Ixvi. 13). Imagine with what 
 marks of love a mother receives her 
 infant, when, being frightened at anything, 
 it casts itself into her arms ; how she 
 embraces it, how she presses it to her 
 breast, how she kisses and tenderly 
 caresses it ; but the tenderness of God for 
 
 those who have recourse to Him in temp- 
 tations and dangers is, without compari- 
 son, far greater. 
 
 Alphonse Rodriguez. 
 On Temptations. 
 
 During life's pilgrimage on earth we 
 cannot be without temptations ; we profit 
 and advance only through temptations ; we 
 should not acquire self-knowledge unless 
 we were tried. No crown without a vic- 
 tory, no victory without a struggle, and no 
 fight without temptations and enemies. 
 
 If we were never tempted, we should 
 never be tried ; is it not, therefore, better 
 to be tempted, than to be censured without 
 being tempted .■• 
 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 On Psalm Ixix. 
 
 1 
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 CHAPTER CXXXII. 
 
 
 
 
 On Yocaticn to a ^tate u\ Life. 
 
 
 
 
 M^ ^ ^ ^ m M^ 
 
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 PfeRE Nepvue, Massillon, and St. Philip Neri. 
 " Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called."— i Corinthians vii. 20. 
 
 HERE is nothing more impor- 
 tant, nothing better, than to 
 enter into a state of life to 
 which God has called us, and 
 to make choice of a vocation 
 which His providence has des- 
 tined for us. The whole universe is, so to 
 speak, the house of God ; all mankind are 
 His family, both as His subjects and His 
 children. It is the master who assigns to 
 each his oflEice. God is a Father and an 
 infinitely wise Master, and He knows what 
 each one is fitted for. But He is as good 
 as He is wise, and thus it is that He will 
 not fail to resign to each of us a proper 
 post, if only we leave everything to His 
 Divine management. 
 
 This is not what the majority do ; it is 
 mere chance, caprice, a spirit of interested 
 ambition, or a blind love, which leads them 
 onwards ; it is through such irregular 
 motives which lead them to adopt a partic- 
 ular state of life. Can they fail to go 
 astray if they put their trust in such bad 
 hands ? But, alas ! they not only go astray, 
 but they fall into the precipice. If noth- 
 
 S31 
 
 ing is so easy as to fall, so nothing is so 
 difficult as to retrieve one's self. 
 
 The consequences of this failure are 
 terrible ; since when once we have gone 
 astray it is difficult to limit its extent. 
 From this it follows, that if we are not in 
 that state of life to which God has called 
 us, if we are not in that position which 
 Providence has marked out for us, nothing 
 can succeed. 
 
 God had given us the qualifications and 
 talents suitable for the state of life to 
 which He had called us ; if we had accep- 
 ted this we could not have failed, with 
 these dispositions, to have done well. We 
 have taken, or rather chosen, another path ; 
 we are engaged in another employment 
 which God had not destined for us, 
 because we were not fit for it ; can we 
 then be astonished if we manage affairs 
 badly, or if nothing succeeds with us .■' 
 
 And again, does not the success of our 
 enterprises and the happiness of our life 
 depend on God and on His blessing ? 
 People only wonder that a man who is so 
 clever, a man with so much talent, merit, 
 
332 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 and understanding, should meet with so 
 little success, that all his efforts seem to be 
 unavailing, and his business seems to 
 diminish daily. It seemed to them that 
 he could scarcely fail of success. Nothing 
 was wanting but the blessing of God, and 
 that alone was the cause of his failure. 
 But how was it that God had not blessed 
 his endeavors } It was that he had 
 entered into that state of life, into that 
 employment without consulting God, with- 
 out a vocation. 
 
 A bone which is out of its place is very 
 painful, and causes the whole frame to 
 suffer; so also, a man who is not in the 
 proper place which Divine Providence 
 marked out for him, is full of grief and 
 vexation ; he suffers much and is the cause 
 of suffering to others. 
 
 Is not this the reason why you see so 
 few people content with their employment ; 
 is not this, perhaps, the source of all their 
 troubles ? 
 
 Le PfeRE NePVUE. 
 
 Reflexions Chrdtiennes. 
 
 He who alone knows our strength, who 
 sounds the depth of our hearts ; He who 
 has fixed from the beginning the way 
 which He wishes us to take — He alone 
 should be the first to be consulted in the 
 choice of a state of life we are about to 
 select. 
 
 As it is God who in His eternal coun- 
 cil has prepared proper and necessary 
 means to effect our good, so it is He who 
 should be consulted in the first steps we 
 take to arrive at a desirable determination ; 
 
 for all those motives of interest, of rank^ 
 of birth, of talent, which have usually the 
 uppermost voice in our choice of a state of 
 life, are but deceitful guides, and almost 
 always induce us to make a change. 
 
 He who does not follow the will of God 
 in his choice of a state of life is always in 
 danger, and, on the other hand, he who 
 follows the path which our Lord has 
 marked out for him, is always safe. 
 
 God wished that you should walk one 
 way, you have followed another ; He had 
 prepared sufficient grace to help you in 
 the state of life He marked out for you, 
 and He withholds it when you have chosen 
 for yourself. 
 
 By His way He wished to lead you to 
 salvation, and you have thwarted His will. 
 He had given you an inclination to be 
 pious and good, a heart devoid of deceit 
 and vainglory ; all that showed He des- 
 tined you for the altar, and that solitude 
 was your place. 
 
 However, you have selected a busy 
 employment in the world : what obstacles 
 do you not meet with in your wish to be 
 saved .? What dangers do you not 
 encounter "i 
 
 Massillon. 
 Lenten Sermons. 
 
 When seculars have once chosen their 
 secular state, let them persevere in it, and 
 in the devout exercises which they have 
 begun, and in their works of charity, and 
 they shall have contentment at their 
 death. 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
± 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXIII. 
 
 ■'^^*'==:::::;^ 
 
 ON DEKTH. 
 
 :f 
 
 ? 
 
 c^§^^5;-;;2=:: 
 
 Fathers Segneri and Faber. 
 
 "Thou art dust, and unto dust thou shall return." — Genesis iii. 19. 
 
 HE time of our death is abso- 
 lutely unknown to us : Nescit 
 homo finem suum. There is 
 nothing that can make us 
 certain of a single moment of 
 our life ; on the contrary, how 
 many chances there are of our being 
 deprived of life in an instant ! 
 
 Death can carry us off in a thousand 
 ways ; it may seize us boldly, it may take 
 us by surprise. Perhaps, alas ! death may 
 be near ; perhaps it may be within you, 
 without your knowing it. 
 
 Picture to yourself a fish in a net ; it is 
 caught, and it does not perceive it; it 
 plays, it darts about with other fish who 
 are without fear. Nevertheless, its career 
 is ended ; and who knows how soon your 
 end may be near ">. Perhaps the net is 
 cast, and it may be drawn up without your 
 being aware of it. Jeremiah the prophet 
 says : " I have caused thee to fall into a 
 snare, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and 
 thou wast not aware of it ; thou art found 
 and caught, because thou hast provoked 
 the Lord " {Jer. 1. 24). 
 
 S33 
 
 Why do you not then open youi feye&» 
 and see the danger in which you are ? 
 Hold yourself in readiness, be on your 
 guard, prepare quickly, and make as good 
 a confession as you would wish to make 
 on your death-bed ; for you know not when 
 the time will come. The hour of your 
 death, is it still far ofT .? You can wish it, 
 you can hope that it is so, but you do not 
 know it : Nescitis. It is the Son of God 
 even who says that you do not know it, 
 for He tells it to all : Omnibus dico. Can 
 He deceive us .-* Is not His testimony — 
 His word — sufficient } 
 
 Do not rely on your youth, on your 
 health, on your good looks, on your 
 strength of mind ; possessing all these 
 blessings, you know not if you will be 
 alive to-morrow ? 
 
 Our Saviour says it to every one — 
 whoever you are, young, old, in sickness, 
 in health — watch and pray, for you know 
 not when the time will come. Look at 
 that man of the world, he fancies that he 
 is happy, and yet he is the most wretched 
 of men. He at least anticipates approach- 
 
334 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 ing happiness ; he, nevertheless, is only 
 pursuing a phantom. How could he be 
 happy ? He knows neither true happiness, 
 nor the way to procure it. He is as one 
 asleep, and dreams of castles in the air ; 
 he mistakes appearances for the reality, 
 and at last he wakes at the moment of his 
 death, and finds himself denuded of 
 everything. 
 
 How awful is this slumber ! for the 
 worldling wakes and finds that there is no 
 time for repentance, no time to seek for 
 the true happiness he has so oft despised, 
 and the pleasures which seduced him have 
 exhausted all his strength. 
 
 Do not allow me, O my God, to fall 
 into a sleep so frightful. And if I have 
 ■fallen into sin, do not wake me at the 
 moment of my death, like that madman to 
 whom You said, "This night thy soul 
 shall be required of thee." 
 
 Father Segneri. 
 Meditations. 
 
 The act of dying is very simple and 
 very short. Yet all men fear it, and some 
 fear it so much that it casts a shadow 
 over their whole lives. It is the separation 
 of body and soul, the end of that com- 
 panionship between them, which is a 
 mystery we have never been able to fathom, 
 and which we should have imagined, if we 
 had not been otherwise taught, involved 
 our very existence, our personality. 
 
 The act of dying is, moreover, a pun- 
 ishment, and the most ancient of all 
 punishments. It is the Creator's first 
 
 punishment of the sinning creature, 
 invented by the Creator Himself, the first 
 promulgated invention of His vindictive 
 justice. It can, therefore, under any cir- 
 cumstances, hardly be a light one, whether 
 we consider the Being who thus punishes, 
 or the thing punished, which is sin. 
 Indeed, it is a penalty which nothing 
 could render tolerable to the creature, 
 except the Creator Himself suffering it 
 and diffusing the balm of His own death 
 over the universal deaths of men. It is 
 true that men have desired to die, and 
 they have sinned by the desire because it 
 was the fruit of an unsanctified impatience. 
 Others have desired to die, but then they 
 were men who had also in them the grace 
 to desire to suffer. Some have desired to 
 die because they pined for God, and the 
 pains of death were a small price to pay 
 for so huge a good. 
 
 Some deaths have been so beautiful 
 that they can hardly be recognized as 
 punishments. Such was the death of St. 
 Joseph, with his head pillowed on the lap 
 of Jesus. Yet the twilight bosom of 
 Abraham was but a dull place compared 
 with the house of Nazareth which the 
 eyes of Jesus lighted. Such was Mary's 
 death, the penalty of which was rather in 
 its delay. It was a soft extinction, through 
 the noiseless flooding of her heart with 
 divine love. 
 
 All who die well are safe with God. As 
 the life is so shall the end be. 
 
 Father Faber, (Orat,^ 
 Sermons. 
 
Copyright, 
 
 Murphy & McCarthy. 
 
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 ^k^:fy<f^^ff^7<f^*^ 
 
 CHAPTER CXXXIV. 
 
 '.•': '.•': {•': •!•> {•} .;•> •!•• •!•*• •;•> •;•> •;•> •;•> {•> {•; .;•;. .;ij tir. .;»;. .•;% 
 
 * ON DEP[TH. t 
 
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 (A Good and Bad Death.) 
 
 Saints Bernard, Philip Neri, and P^res Giroust and Houdry. 
 
 " The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and the torments of death shall not touch them.' 
 ■^- Wisdom iii. i. 
 
 " Zambri died in his sins which he had sinned, doing evil before the Lord." — 3 Kings xvi. 19. 
 
 OW consoling it is to see a just 
 man die ! His death is good, 
 because it ends his miseries ; 
 it is better still, because he 
 begins a new life ; it is excel- 
 lent, because it places him in 
 sweet security. From this bed of mourn- 
 ing, whereon he leaves a precious load of 
 virtues, he goes to take possession of the 
 true land of the living. 
 
 Jesus acknowledges him as His brother 
 and as His friend, for he has died to the 
 world before closing his eyes from its 
 dazzling light. Such is the death of the 
 saints, a death very precious in the sight 
 of God. 
 
 But, on the other hand, see how shock- 
 ing is the death of the wicked. The least 
 €vil is the loss of all the good things of 
 this world ; the separation of body and 
 soul is more dreadful still, but the worst 
 of all is the devouring flame, the gnawing 
 worm that never dies. 
 
 St. Bernard. 
 
 When that frail frame, that body, of 
 which he was far from being indulgent, 
 begins to succumb under human infirmity, 
 to sink under the laws of nature, what 
 keeps it back } What delays its final 
 extinction } The fruit is ripe ; it begins 
 to loosen from the pending stalks ; a 
 gentle shake will make it fall upon the 
 ground. 
 
 How consoling to hear the good man 
 say to himself : I am dying, I have soon to 
 bid adieu to the world ; that is to say, I 
 am about to resign worldly blessings, 
 which I have hitherto despised, and which, 
 in fact, are of little value to a Christian 
 soul. Whilst I was master of my body, I 
 could not trust it, and I was not allowed to 
 pamper it with delicacies. What use, 
 then, will it be to wish to preserve that 
 which I am told not to love } 
 
 I die ! — that is to say, I shall sigh no 
 more in this land of exile ; I shall no 
 longer be exposed to dangerous enemies. 
 
 338 
 
;>36 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 to uneasiness, to vexatious troubles, 
 inseparable from a life which is always full 
 of trouble. I die ! — that is to say, I shall 
 not, O Lord, offend Thee any more. I 
 shall have no more temptations to struggle 
 against, no sins of thought, word, or deed, 
 no more dangerous battles to fight. 
 
 If this detachment is not always so 
 perfect as here described, it is always with 
 a resignation that belies every sentiment 
 • opposed to the divine commands ; it calls 
 to mind the holy thoughts that have been 
 fixed on his memory from early youth ; it 
 makes a virtue of that which God thinks 
 necessary, and making use of death in 
 order to fortify himself against death 
 itself, he gives up blessings, for the very 
 reason that they were given to him as 
 transitory benefits. 
 
 Thus far, this good man looks upon 
 himself as a victim which God sacrifices to 
 His glory. No other altar than the bed 
 on which he lies, where he is humbled 
 under the hand which strikes him. It is 
 there that the victim is prepared and sac- 
 rificed, there glory penetrates his bosom, 
 there the fire of divine love consumes him, 
 and there the holocaust is perfected. 
 
 Thy will, O Lord, be done ; this sacrifice 
 is due to You, and I am well repaid if Thou 
 Jeignest to accept it. At one time he 
 looks upon himself as a culprit whom God 
 punishes, and mercy ends by purifying and 
 chastening him. For when we say a just 
 man, we ought not to understand by that, 
 that he is a saint of the first order, one 
 free from the slightest imperfection, one 
 whose merits exceed what God in justice 
 
 asks from His creatures. The sick peni- 
 tent condemns himself, and blesses the 
 judge who punishes him in order to forgive 
 him, and who does not spare himself in 
 order that he might the better be spared. 
 At another time, in submissive humility, 
 he adores the Almighty power of the 
 Creator, who made him, and who disposes 
 of His work as He pleases. God so wills 
 it ; God ordains it ; may His holy will be 
 done. At last, at the sight of Jesus on 
 the Cross, he feels encouraged, and at the 
 same time confounded. You have suffered, 
 O Lord, before for me, and how incom- 
 parably greater have Your sufferings been. 
 Like unto You, I die on the cross ; happy 
 shall I be if I may reign with You in 
 heaven. 
 
 Le Pi:RE GiROUST. 
 
 At the hour of death nothing is more 
 frightful to the wicked than the recollec- 
 tion of their sins. At that hour God will 
 repay them with all the fears and remorse 
 which may have lain dormant during life. 
 His judgments then will be much more 
 just, and much more holy. 
 
 St. Chrysostom sums this up in few 
 words, for he says : Pondus etpondiis, men- 
 sura et mensura. There is a weight and a 
 weight, a measure and a measure ; a 
 weight during life, a weight at the hour of 
 death. 
 
 During the life of that libertine, impurity 
 passed off as gallantry ; at death it is an 
 unbearable fire within, equal to the flames 
 of hell : Pondus et pondus. A cruel usury 
 is looked upon as a clever stroke of busi- 
 
DBA TH. 
 
 337 
 
 ness ; at death, it is theft and robbery : 
 Mensura et mensura. An alms coldly 
 refused during life, is allowed : at the hour 
 of death it is cruelty and homicide : Pon- 
 dus et pondus. A calumny is enjoyable, 
 an allowable revenge during life ; at death 
 it is harsh injustice : Mensura et mensura. 
 In fact, there is a difference in looking at 
 a sin clothed in the garb of alluring pleas- 
 ure, and a sin exposed to view in all its 
 ugly nakedness ; and it is at the hour of 
 death that the wicked will ^ee their sins in 
 the latter form or shape. Thus it was said 
 formerly by the Prophet : " The sorrows of 
 death surrounded me, and the torrents of 
 iniquity troubled me." 
 
 In vain will an able confessor try to 
 drive away the vision from his mind, in 
 order to prevent the man from falling into 
 despair. Everything, even the sacraments 
 of Jesus Christ, will remind him of his 
 sins, 
 
 Le PfeRE V. HOUDRT, S. J. 
 
 We must accept our own death, and 
 that of our relations, when God shall 
 send it to us, and not desire it at any 
 other time ; for it is sometimes necessary 
 that it should happen at that particular 
 moment, for the good of our own and their 
 souls. 
 
 St. Philip Neri. 
 
 it. 
 
 
 •^ 
 
CHAPTER CXXXV. 
 
 -4- On Ik pai'ticulai' Judpeni -4- 
 
 PfeREs Du Pont and Croiset. 
 It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." — Hebrews ix. 27. 
 
 HE time appointed for this par- 
 ticular judgment is the pre- 
 cise moment of death. For 
 although God, by a particular 
 arrangement of His justice, 
 might have been willing to 
 condemn some sinners before their death, 
 in order to keep men in fear by an 
 exemplary punishment, nevertheless, it 
 is His will to judge in an invisible 
 manner, when the soul leaves the body ; 
 and at this very moment, all will be 
 tried, settled, and finished. The Judge 
 hears the accusers, pronounces the sen- 
 tence, and puts it into execution without 
 -delay. 
 
 It is, then, this dreadful moment I 
 ought to have ever before my eyes, since 
 it will be the beginning of either my hap- 
 piness or of my eternal condemnation. 
 
 O fatal moment which leads to eternity ! 
 The soul which is summoned to appear, 
 will at this moment be alone, deprived of 
 its body, separated from all visible crea- 
 tures, accompanied only by its deeds. 
 For, before its separation from the body, 
 
 parents, relations, friends, priests, may be 
 found around the bed ; there is not a single 
 soul can follow it, not one who can pro- 
 tect it in the other world. 
 
 The soul of a king is of no more value 
 than that of a peasant ; the soul of a rich 
 man may be poorer than that of the mean- 
 est beggar ; the most clever may be out- 
 rivalled by the most ignorant ; dignities 
 and riches are only fleeting advantages, 
 and talents are of no consideration in that 
 other life, where good works are only 
 rewarded. 
 
 Meditate, my brethren, on this last 
 moment, and employ well every mement 
 of your life ; for on this last one depends a 
 life which will never end. 
 
 Father Du Pont. 
 
 Meditations. 
 
 Conceive, if it is possible, what must be 
 the horrible dread of a soul which feel* 
 that it hangs to its body, as it were, by a 
 thread, and that in two or three minutes 
 it will have to appear before the awful tri- 
 bunal of God. 
 
THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 
 
 339 
 
 At that time, its conscience will be its 
 worst enemy ; it is the conscience which 
 will, even before the last sigh, make mani- 
 fest every thought and word, and, so to 
 speak, will foreshadow the judgment and 
 sentence. It feels that time will soon be 
 no more, and it begins to see the horizon 
 of an awful eternity ; the uncertainty of its 
 fate, the fear of eternal punishment, the 
 reasons why it should fear it — aii, all 
 reduce the soul to a state which may be 
 called an anticipated Hell. 
 
 This poor soul, on the point of appear- 
 ing before God (that supreme Judge, 
 whom it well knows it has so often 
 insulted), finds itself laden with debts, and 
 there is now no time to pay them, no 
 means of cancelling them. It would cer- 
 tainly have been able to find enough in the 
 merits of the precious Blood to satisfy the 
 Divine justice ; but is it in a state to say 
 that it is worthy of the promises of Christ ? 
 
 Troubled and frightened as it is, has it 
 the presence of mind and tranquillity suffi- 
 cient for that ? 
 
 But this person expires, and at the very 
 moment the trial has commenced, the 
 judgment is pronounced, the sentence is 
 executed ; at that very moment that per- 
 son's soul enters into an awful eternity ; at 
 that instant, if it be damned, it feels the 
 extent of the torments it will ever have to 
 suffer. No regard will be paid to age, 
 
 employments, or quality ; of all the titles- 
 the only one which will remain, the only 
 one which will be taken into consideration 
 after death, is that of Christian, and on 
 that title we shall all be judged. 
 
 The promises made in baptism, the 
 strict obligations which have been con- 
 tracted, the precepts of the Christian law, 
 and the maxims of the Church, will be 
 examined into at this judgment. If this 
 soul should be in a state of mortal sin, 
 even if it be a guilty desire, or a sin of 
 thought, it is at that moment condemned 
 to everlasting flames. Howsoever hard 
 may be this judgment, howsoever frightful 
 may be the sentence, the soul itself feels 
 the justice of its sentence. 
 
 There, excuses are useless ; no need of 
 alleging weakness, surprise, bad example, 
 or violence of temptation ; it sees, it feels 
 all its error, all those vain pretexts, all 
 those frivoJous reasons which served 
 during life as excuses or palliations ; these 
 will then serve to increase our regret, and 
 will enkindle within us nought but anger 
 and indignation. 
 
 All is lost ; time, all means of salvation, 
 the infinite price of the blood and death 
 of the Redeemer ; all is lost for me, 
 and all is lost forever, since I lose God 
 Himself. 
 
 Rev. Pfe«E Croiset. 
 
 Retreats. 
 
te# 
 
 ^I?i-' 
 
 •S^! ' 
 
 .«• 
 
 •M-+- m I- 1 I I I I r 
 
 On tti 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 •*• 
 
 licist Juflgment. 
 
 ^4« 
 
 I I ■! l-t f ^ f ^ l-t-H-)-- I I I I I I I I I t M H 
 
 BouRDALOUE and Father Segmeri. 
 
 " The day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day and full of indignation, and of wrath and fury, to by 
 the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it." — Isaias xiii. 9. 
 
 HIS last judgment will not only 
 be favorable and honorable to, 
 but anxiously longed for by, 
 the just and the elect. 
 
 For their glory, says St. 
 Chrysostom, will shine in the 
 light of day, and their happiness, and even 
 the crowning of their desires, will be that 
 not only their sincerity of purpose, but 
 their purity of intention, will be at last 
 displayed ; their glory will be that they 
 are thoroughly known, since not to have 
 been known was the original cause of all 
 their disgrace. 
 
 This, ye faithful souls, who, notwith- 
 standing the corruptions and vices of the 
 age, have served your God in spirit and in 
 truth, this is what must, amidst the hard- 
 ships of life, have strengthened your 
 resolution, and filled you with consolation, 
 At that dreadful moment when the 
 book of conscience will be open, your 
 hope, enlivened by the sight of the 
 Sovereign Judge, and on the point of 
 being fulfilled, will support you and well 
 repay you for the unjust persecutions of 
 the world. 
 
 Whilst the reprobate, confounded, 
 troubled, and astonished, shall advance 
 with downcast eyes, you, because that will 
 be the hour of your justification, will 
 appear with confidence. 
 
 Now, envy and calumny cast at you 
 their poisoned darts ; but then, envy will 
 be forced to be silent, or, if it should 
 speak, it will be in your favor ; calumny 
 will be refuted, and truth will shine forth 
 in all its lustre. Nevertheless, you will 
 rejoice in the secret witness of your own 
 heart, which is preferable to all the praises 
 of the world. 
 
 Say with St. Paul, It is of little conse- 
 quence what men think of me, since it is 
 my God who will one day be my judge. 
 " For he that judgeth me is the Lord " 
 (i Cor. vii.). Or say with the prophet 
 Jeremias, "It is Thou, O Lord, who 
 judgest justly, and triest the reins and 
 the hearts ; let me see Thy revenge on 
 them : for to Thee have I revealed my 
 cause" {/er. xi. 20). 
 
 The Son of God will come to glorify 
 humility in the persons of the humble. 
 It is a justice he will pay to His elect. 
 
THE LA St JUDGMENT. 
 
 341 
 
 That humility, that simplicity, that patience 
 in suffering without a thought of revenge, 
 which worldlings will have looked upon as 
 weakness of mind, or meanness of spirit, 
 God will come to crown these, and will 
 convince the world that therein consisted 
 true fortitude, true grandeur of soul, true 
 wisdom. 
 
 It is " then," says the Book of Wisdom 
 (chap, v.), " shall the just stand with great 
 constancy against those that have afHicted 
 them and taken away their labors." It is 
 then that the wise ones of the world, 
 freethinking unbelievers, will not only be 
 surprised, but disconcerted to see those 
 very persons, whom they looked down upon 
 as the refuse of the world, placed upon 
 thrones of glory. It is then that many, 
 amazed and almost beside themselves, will 
 cry out, These are they whom we have 
 often laughed to scorn. Fools that we 
 were ! their life appeared to us to be 
 ridiculous, and their way of life as folly. 
 Nevertheless, now behold them, raised to 
 the rank of children of God, and their 
 inheritance is with the saints. 
 
 It is then that the pride of the world 
 will, perforce, bear witness, although by 
 compulsion, to the humility of the elect of 
 God ; and the whole effect of our Lord's 
 promise will be perceived clearly,, and in a 
 particular manner : " Every one that hum- 
 bleth himself shall be exalted " {Luke xiv.). 
 
 BOURDALOUE. 
 
 Advent Sermon. 
 
 I am always sure, O my God, of having 
 deserved Your anger ; when even I tried 
 to do penance, I was uncertain whether 
 my heart was not deceived, or that I had 
 found favor in Your eye. The day of 
 Your vengeance being near, I have noth- 
 ing to expect but a judgment without 
 mercy. Have I not reason to fear } but 
 I knew that the fear of Your judgment 
 would be of service to me. 
 
 It is that holy fear which has peopled 
 and will people deserts. It would make 
 me fly from the seductions of the world, 
 it would make me wish to go into retreat, 
 and through that would be to me a haven 
 of safety. Create in my heart, O my 
 God, this wholesome fear which has 
 made the security of the just banish from 
 it that fatal indifference which is the 
 greatest danger of a Christian. 
 
 We should, indeed, be mad and very 
 blind not to think of this last judgment, 
 or to think lightly of it. 
 
 This was not the case with St. Bruno ; 
 he was in the constant habit of selecting 
 the last day as his meditation ; it was ever 
 present in his mind, and he never lost 
 sight of the severe account we shall have 
 one day to render to the Sovereign Judge. 
 
 If we try to follow the example of this 
 
 glorious saint, how changed will be our 
 
 lives ! How soon we shall become new 
 
 men ! 
 
 Ret. Fathex Segnerk 
 
4 
 
 CHAPTKR CXXXVII. ^ ^^k 
 
 # # # ^/^'^^^ 
 
 m 
 
 ON PURCKTORY. 
 
 ^ll 
 
 ^ # # # 
 
 l^ 
 
 "There shall not enter into heaven anything defiled." — Apocalypse xxi. 27. 
 
 "Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing." 
 
 — Matthew r. 26. 
 
 fVAaf the Saints and Fathers of the Church have written on Purgatory. 
 
 'N the second book of Machabees, 
 chap, xii., we read that Judas 
 Machabeus, having made a 
 gathering, sent twelve thou- 
 sand drachms of silver to 
 Jerusalem to be offered for 
 the sins of the dead, thinking well and 
 religiously concerning the resurrection. 
 
 Not only does Holy Scripture approve 
 of this, but it praises it by saying that it 
 is a holy and wholesome thought. 
 
 Luther and other heretics boldly deny 
 that the two books of the Machabees are 
 not of the number of sacred books ; but, 
 in addition to the fact that these books 
 had for more than three centuries been 
 acknowledged as canonical, we have an 
 express decree of the third Council of 
 Carthage, at which St. Augustine assisted, 
 and who subscribed his name thereto 
 along with the other Fathers. 
 
 Before this Council there were many 
 authors who doubted of their authenticity, 
 but, since the decree of this said Council, 
 
 S42 
 
 the whole Christian world have received 
 them as canonical books. 
 
 St. Chrysostom teaches us what has 
 been the practice of the Apostles, for, in 
 his 49th Homily to the people of Antioch» 
 we read : " It is true that the Apostles 
 had decreed that when celebrating the 
 Divine mysteries a commemoration for the 
 dead should be made, for they well knew 
 that the dead would profit by it." It is 
 thus that the saintly Doctor speaks, and 
 he affirms that it was by order of the 
 apostles that prayers should be said foi 
 the faithful departed. 
 
 But if we wish for a witness of thr 
 apostolical tradition, can we desire for one 
 more satisfactory than that of one of the 
 disciples of Jesus and His apostles .'' 
 
 It is St. Denis, the Areopagite, who 
 distinctly explains, in the book of the 
 Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, wher&in he tells 
 of many things instituted by God in favor 
 of those who have departed from this life 
 in a Christian-like way. He says that the 
 
PURGATORY. 
 
 343 
 
 priest should offer up a devout prayer for 
 the dead ; he adds that this prayer is to 
 implore the Divine mercy to pardon all the 
 faults of the deceased which he may have 
 committed through human frailty. 
 
 We cannot question this truth after the 
 decision of the third Council of Carthage, 
 attested by St. Augustine, and since con- 
 firmed by the Sixth Synod. This Council 
 not only declares that the two books of 
 the Machabees are canonical, but it forbids 
 the celebrant of the Divine mysteries from 
 offering up the Holy Sacrifice unless he is 
 fasting. This is why, says he, if, after din- 
 ner, you are obliged to pray to God for the 
 repose of the souls of the faithful departed, 
 you should make use of simple prayers. 
 Moreover, the Council of Nice speaks in 
 somewhat a similar strain. When a bishop 
 dies, notices must be sent to all the churches 
 and monasteries in his diocese, in order 
 that prayers, masses, etc., may be offered 
 up for his soul. 
 
 Who can teach us the holy customs of 
 the early church better than so many pre- 
 lates and doctors, no less illustrious for 
 their piety than for their learning, who 
 have been ocular witnesses of what they 
 have written about } 
 
 This is what St. Augustine says : " We 
 read in the books of Machabees that sacri- 
 fices were offered up for the deceased, but 
 one can find nothing like unto this in the 
 ancient Scriptures. The authority of the 
 Church which approves of so holy a prac- 
 tice, ought, however, to be of great 
 weight." Again, among the several 
 prayers that are recited at the altar, there 
 
 are some offered to God for the faithful 
 departed {De atra pro mart). We must 
 therefore conclude, from the words of this 
 great saint, that when we might be mis- 
 taken as to what he says of Purgatory, as 
 Calvin wished (which is very erroneous), 
 we must confess that what he has said 
 about the custom of praying for the dead 
 (a custom acknowledged by the whole 
 Church) must be incontestably true ; how 
 could so learned a doctor not know of a 
 custom which was in use throughout the 
 whole Church, a custom he was a daily 
 witness of .? 
 
 We have other testimonies quite as 
 genuine, such as those of St. Athanasius. 
 St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, St 
 Cyril, St. Chrysostom, Tertullian, St. 
 Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome. 
 All these are quoted by Bellarmin in his 
 "Treatise on Purgatory." 
 
 If the general feeling of all nations and 
 tribes who acknowledge that there is a 
 Supreme Being is an invincible argument 
 against the atheists, who do not acknowl- 
 edge one, it is an argument no less con- 
 vincing against those heretics who reject 
 the doctrine of Purgatory, for this belief is 
 common to Pagans, Turks, Jews, and to 
 the majority of civilized persons who pray 
 to the dead. 
 
 The light of reason will tell us that 
 there are three classes of persons in the 
 world. The first are those who are so 
 virtuous and holy that they merit an 
 eternal reward ; the second are the wicked, 
 and those who die in the state of mortal 
 sin, and these are justly condemned to 
 
344 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 everlasting fire ; the third class retain 
 the middle state ; they have, in truth, 
 performed many good deeds worthy of 
 reward, but at the same time they have 
 committed venial sins, which deserve a 
 temporal punishment at least ; thus these 
 
 said sins may not have been punished 
 or atoned for in this world, consequently 
 we must come to the conclusion that they 
 will be expiated in the other. This is 
 the argument of St. Augustine {Enckirid. 
 109). 
 
 A ! ife Hitl ^ i^ ^ i^ i^^^^^M^^^ 
 * ; "W^ •^Ir^ ■^tI^ ^^W ^1^ ^^1^ "^ "W^ ^^ ^^ "W- ■W^ ^1^ ^^ ^^ 
 
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 '^fv^' ''W^' "^f^ 
 
ON H ELL. 
 
 PfeRE BiROAT, and Father Faber. 
 
 " Go, ye cursed, into «verlasting fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels." 
 
 — Matthew xxv. 41. 
 
 HERE is, alas ! a difference 
 between the sufferings of this 
 world and the torments of 
 hell. The sufferings of this 
 world are limited, and do not 
 affect the whole man ; the 
 mind suffers only in proportion to its 
 union with the body, and one member 
 alone endures pain in proportion to its 
 sympathy with the brain ; but the torment- 
 ing fires of hell enter into every power of 
 the soul and every member of the body. 
 
 The pains we suffer on earth are, so 
 to speak, but momentary, and death puts 
 an end to them ; but in hell they have no 
 end ; death has no power there, and their 
 immortal bodies partake of the immortality 
 of the soul. 
 
 Again, in this world we always find some 
 little consolation, or some temporary relief 
 from pain, but in that place of torture 
 every pain will be extreme, and without 
 intermission; our friends, from whom we 
 might have expected some consolation, 
 will then be our enemies ; for if they are 
 
 345 
 
 saved, they will have no sympathy with 
 our sufferings ; and if they are lost, as we 
 are lost, they will only increase and 
 aggravate our pains. 
 
 The fires of hell will perform two fright- 
 ful functions with regard to the damned ; 
 one will serve as a chain to bind them to 
 the place, the other will be a horrible 
 mirror reflecting their sins and their 
 frightful consequences, the sight of which 
 will increase their torments. 
 
 Although they say that hell is a region 
 of darkness, that the action of light will 
 be merged in the power of burning, it 
 can, however, be said that there will be a 
 certain dark and opaque light which will 
 reflect all that is detestable and hateful, 
 and that this fire, which surrounds them, 
 will be like a blazing theatre, which will 
 show them a thousand horrid phantoms. 
 But the most terrible image that this 
 mirror will reflect, will be that of the jus- 
 tice of Almighty God, eternally incensed ; 
 and it is the opinion of some theolo- 
 gians that the greatest punishment of 
 
346 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 this fire consists in being the sign of the 
 anger of God, which will continually show 
 them, and that, too, by an inevitable neces- 
 sity, a God always angry with them, and 
 always ready to damn them. 
 
 Father Biroat. 
 Third Friday of Lent. 
 
 It is fearful to think upon the union 
 of God's power, wisdom, and justice, in 
 producing this world of punishment, this 
 wonderful, mysterious, and terrific part of 
 creation which is, in its desolate mysteries, 
 as much beyond our conception as the 
 joys of heaven are in their resplendency. 
 Nevertheless, we will leave the great 
 evil, the loss of God, out of view, and all 
 the horrible details of the cruelties of 
 physical torture. Bating all these things, 
 what sort of a life will the life in hell be, 
 after the resurrection } 
 
 It will be a life where every act is the 
 most hateful and abominable wickedness. 
 We shall understand sin better then, and 
 be able more truly to fathom the abysses 
 of its malice. Yet every thought we 
 think, every word we speak, every action 
 we perform, we shall be committing sin, 
 and committing it with a guilty shame 
 and terror, which will be insupportable. 
 
 To this we must add the mental agonies 
 of hell. Envy, despair, spite, rage, gloom, 
 sadness, vexation, wounded sensitiveness, 
 weariness, loathing, oppression, grief, 
 dejection, wildness, bitterness, — all these 
 
 are there, in all their kinds, and in 
 unspeakable intensity. Think of a violent 
 access of sorrow now, think of the rawness 
 of lacerated feeling, think of a day's leaden 
 load of oppression. Now, without pause, 
 without alleviation, without even vicissi- 
 tude of suffering, here is a blank, huge, 
 superincumbent eternity of these things, 
 with an undistracting multiplicity of 
 wretchednesses, far beyond the worst 
 degrees they could ever reach on earth. 
 
 The life in hell is a life from which 
 there is a total absence of sympathy and 
 love. This is an easy thing to say ; but it 
 is not so easy to penetrate into its signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 The life in hell is also a life of terror, 
 and a life, too, without pauses, diminu- 
 tions, or vicissitudes. No angel ever 
 wings his way thither on an errand of 
 consolation. All the united eloquence of 
 hell could not bring one drop of water from 
 earth's thousand fountains, to cool the 
 torture for one lightning's flash of time. 
 All is unintermitting. 
 
 Yet this is the bright side of hell ! How 
 bitter the words sound ; yet it is not 
 bitterness which prompts them, but the 
 intense fear which pierces through me 
 like splinters of ice at this moment. This 
 is hell, with the hell left out, the crowning 
 woe, the loss of God. 
 
 Father Faber. (Orat) 
 Spiritual Conferences. 
 
,^-^,^ .. J_iLliiLi LUJ_] IlLill 1 1 1 1 1 1 l Ull MliiUil I IILI lli IJ LI LM i LI n ,,. . ^c^ 
 
 ? 
 
 PfeRES Crasset and Nepvue, S. J., and St. Chrysostom. 
 
 " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes : and death shall be no more, nor mournino^, nor 
 crying, for the former things are passed away." — Apocalypse xxi. 4. 
 
 'EAN CRASSET was born in 
 Dieppe, on the 3d of January, 
 1618, and died in 1692. This 
 true servant of God formed one 
 of the band of the followers of St. 
 Ignatius, and will always be 
 esteemed as one of the many 
 learned members of the Society of Jesus. In 
 che year 1685 he published a work, which has 
 often been reprinted; it is called "Christian 
 Reflections for Every Day in the Year." He 
 also has left us a History of Japan, and his 
 detailed account of the Acts of the Martyrs is 
 more interesting than in the work written by 
 Pbre Charlevoig. His devotional works have 
 been much admired, and may still be read with 
 profit. 
 
 I BELIEVE, my God, that if I serve 
 You faithfully in this life, I shall be eter- 
 nally happy after my death, and that You 
 will bid me enter into the palace of Your 
 glory, where there will be all that I can 
 wish for, and where there will be nothing 
 to fear ; where there will be good without 
 evil, pleasure without pain, glory without 
 confusion, peace without war, joy without 
 sadness, repose without trouble, and life 
 everlasting. I hope that in heaven I shall 
 
 »4T 
 
 see You, that I shall love You, that I shall 
 possess You, that I shall rejoice with You; 
 that I shall see You the first cause, that I 
 shall love essential beauty, that I shall 
 possess sovereign goodness, that I shall 
 enjoy a happy eternity. I believe that in 
 You, O God, I shall see all that is beauti- 
 ful, that I shall love all that is good, that I 
 shall possess all that is rich, that I shall 
 taste all that is sweet, and shall hear all 
 that is melodious. 
 
 Alas ! that we should give ourselves so 
 much trouble in amassing riches and 
 property ; that we should torment our 
 mind and body in the success or non- 
 success of our plans ; that we should pass 
 anxious days and sleepless nights in trying 
 to escape from a possible or probable 
 anticipated misfortune ! Why such useless 
 troubles and fears .■* 
 
 Had you worked to gain heaven, every 
 moment of pain would produce an 
 additional lustre to your crown of glory. 
 But because you work for this world, you 
 labor incessantly and gain nothing; you 
 
348 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH THE SAINTS, ETC. 
 
 sow in the wind, and reap only the 
 tempest. All that you have done, all that 
 you have suffered, will be of no avail ; all 
 your ridiculous projects will end in smoke, 
 all your works are dead, and with them, 
 you will die. 
 
 PfeRE Crasset. 
 La Foi. 
 
 Paradise ! what is it ? 
 
 It is the most wonderful invention of 
 the wisdom of God, the masterpiece of 
 His mighty power, the boundary of His 
 liberality and magnificence, the worthy 
 cost of the precious blood of a God ; a 
 boon so grand that God, all-powerful as He 
 is, could give us nothing better than Him- 
 self : Quid enini poterat dare seipso melius, 
 velipse? says St. Bernard. For it is He 
 Himself who is given to the Blessed in 
 heaven, and can He give anything better 
 than Himself? 
 
 To obtain this happiness, He only asks 
 us for a little restraint on our passions, a 
 sigh or tear from a contrite and humble 
 heart, a drop of water given for His sake. 
 Is this too much ? If we refuse so small 
 a tribute, do we not deserve to be deprived 
 of the reward forevermore ? 
 
 Paradise is an immense boon, since it 
 is the final touch of the magnificence of a 
 ^od. God manifests His riches. His 
 liberality, in all other gifts, but it is only 
 in heaven, says the prophet, where He 
 appears to be magnificent. The earth, 
 the sea, the sky, the- stars, and all the 
 wondrous and visible works of the Lord, 
 
 manifest His power and majesty ; but in 
 Paradise alone His wondrous magnificence 
 is to be seen. Every blessing that Goc 
 bestows upon His creatures here below 
 are but as globules dropping from that 
 torrent of joy which will inundate the 
 souls of His elect. Sometimes God, in 
 His mercy, allows His servants to feel a 
 foretaste of delight, and He does it to 
 make them understand that if so much 
 sweetness be granted to them while here 
 on earth, what an ocean of joy is prepared 
 for them in Paradise. 
 
 Woe to us, if we prefer this our exile to 
 our own true home. We shall indeed 
 deserve to be ever unhappy, if we are so 
 blind as to love the world. 
 
 Nepvue. 
 Reflections Chrdtiennes. 
 
 We take a pleasure in listening to old 
 experienced travellers, who can tell us of 
 the exact distance, situation, extent, and 
 peculiarities of cities they have visited, 
 but to the traveller who is on his road to 
 heaven, we do not go out of our way to 
 inquire how far we are removed from our 
 eternal home. 
 
 If we wilfully neglect to seek the road 
 that leads to God, we shall find that we are 
 as far off as earth is to heaven. But if 
 we sincerely try to reach that blessed city, 
 we shall soon find ourselves at its gate. 
 That swerving from the right path does 
 not depend upon the distance, but on the 
 length of our life's journey. 
 
 St. Chrysostom. 
 
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