i THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS: COMPRISING THE MOST POPULAR SAINTS AND MARTYRS, •WITH A Prayer to each Saint imploring his or her Intercession with God for his mercy and forgiveness. FROM BUTLER’S “LIVES OF THE SAINTS 1 ’ AND TRANS- LATIONS FROM THE FRENCH. ILLUSTRATED. New York : J. A. McGEE, PUBLISHER, 7 BARCLAY ST. 1877 . »osion college u& t „ CHESTNUT HILL. MASS Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by J. A. McGEE, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. APPROBATIONS OF THEIR EMINENCES PARDINAL pULLEN AND pARDINAL /VIcpLOSKEY. “Nothing can be more conducive to the spiritual welfare of the Faithful than to meditate on the virtues, and to consider the example, of the Saints, the chosen friends and servants of Jesus Christ. Hence, we are happy to learn that the zealous Catholic publisher has undertaken to publish a cheap edition of Lives of Saints, and we beg to recommend this work to the perusal of all faithful Christians. •p PAUL CULLEN, Archbishop, etc.” “ I approve of their publication by Mr McGee. • f • JOHN, Archbishop of New York.” CONTENTS. NO. 1. Blessed Virgin Mary. 2. St. Patrick. 3. “ Bridget. 4. “ Joseph. 5. “ Peter. v- 6. “ Catharine. 7. ‘ * Margaret. 8. “ Rose of Lima. 9. “ Lawrence O’Toole. 10. “ John. 11. “ Agnes. 12. “ Francis. 13. “ Bernard. 14. “ Cecelia. 15. “ George. 16. “ Ann (Mother of the Blessed Virgin). 17. “ Ursula. 18. “ Winifred. 19. “ Mary Magdalene. 20. “ Charles. 21. “ Thomas. 22. “ Julia. 23. “ Michael (the Archangel). 24. “ Elizabeth. 25. “ Jane de Chantal. 26. “ James. S 27. “ Martin. 28. “ Ellen. 29. “ Andrew. 30. ‘ ‘ Genevieve. 31. “ Teresa. 32. “ Stephen. 33. “ Louis. 34. “ Matilda. 35. “ Dympna. 36. “ Henry. 37. “ William. 38. “ Angela. 39. “ Eugene. 40. “ Philip, etc., etc. v i THE LIFE OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. A Redeemer had been promised to fallen man. The Word of God himself was to become man, to redeem us, and it was in a virgin’s womb that this great mystery was to be operated. The time fixed by the prophets for tills work of love had now arrived. Therefore, in the year after the creation of the world, 3985, or thereabouts, and as is generally believed, on the 8th of September, there was bom in Nazareth, a small town of Galilee, this most blessed Virgin, who was destined to give birth to the Redeemer of men, the Messias whom all the ages awaited. Joachim, (3) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. her father, descended from the race of David, and Anne, her mother, sprung from the priestly family of Aaron, had miraculously obtained tliis child after twenty years’ sterility. This most blessed Virgin, the future mother of the Sun of Justice, was adorned with all the attributes of grace, and from the moment of her conception, no stain, even of original sin, ever tarnished her purity. Even the very day of her nativity lias been inscribed amongst the nmnber of the solemnities of the Church, while with the Saints the Church generally commemorates only the day of their death. This child so peculiarly favored by God, received the mysterious name of Mary, which in Hebrew, signifies “Star of the sea.” St. Bernard observes, that the Mother of Christ could not have re- ( 4 ) I LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ceived a name more suited to lier destiny. u Mary,” says he, “ is that brilliant star which shines upon the vast and stormy sea of the world.” Twenty-four days after Mary’s birth, Anne, in obedience to the law of Mose# regarding purification , repaired to the Temple, and there made the usual offer- ing, which consisted of a lamb or, from die poor, two turtle doves. But the gratitude of Anne exceeded this; she offered to the Lord a purer victim ; she devoted to the service of the holy place the infant whom the Most High had given her; and she solemnly promised to bring her child to the Temple, and there to con- secrate her as soon as her young reason could discern good and evil. When the ceremony had terminated, the two spouses retraced their steps homewards ; but three years had scarcely passed when the pious ( 5 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. mother brought her daughter back. In this infant of blessedness, reason had scarcely a dawning; it beamed forth bril- liantly at an age when other children scarcely know their right hand from the left. Beyond doubt, the sacrifice which these parents were about to make, cost them much. She was their only child, the sweet crown of their old age, tlieir consolation and delight; but they were animated by the Spirit from above. Anne and Joachim preferred what was due to God to their own gratification. Mary’s father and mother, therefore, proceeded to J erusalem, and in the midst of the imposing solemnities of the feast of the Dedication, presided over by the high priest, Zachary, deposited within the sa- cred precincts of the Temple the child of grace, the precious treasure that had been given to them by the God of IsraeL ( 6 ) I LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. From that moment Mary was numbered amongst the young virgins attached to the service of the Temple, and who were brought up in the holy place, far from the noise of the world and the gaze of the wicked. An azure-colored robe, a white tunic fastened by a cincture, and a long veil, was the costume of Mary and her companions in the Temple. The virgins rose at break of day, at the hour when the wicked angels are dumb , says a pious author, and when prayers are heard most favorably. They chanted the Psalms night and morning in the sanctuary; during the day their fingers plied the cedar spindles; they worked either at gold or fine wool, and they embroidered or executed designs rivalling the fabrics of Sidon. Mary, superior to all her companions in the various pursuits, excelled them likewise in spinning. The popular traditions, faith- ( 7 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. ful to this remembrance, appropriately term the white tissues of vapors suspended over the fields in the sunset of autumn, “the Virgin’s threads.” Mary had passed nine years near the holy tabernacles, when she lost her aged father, who died blessing his child. A little while afterwards Anne also died. Mary, now an orphan, and bereft of all that she loved on earth, turned her thoughts undivided to the things of God. She chose God for her sole heritage, and she devoted herself to the service of his altar, with the intention of never quitting the holy place. Like the august chief of her race, Mary found that one day spent in the tabernacles of the God of Israel was preferable to a thousand days else- where, and she would rather have been the least in this holy place than the most honored in the tents of Cedar. ( 8 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. It is thus that the Blessed Virgin, who should be a model to all ages and to all the conditions of life, presents to the world, from her tenderest years, an example of that religious life which is not marked by any one distinguishing virtue, because it is an assemblage of all virtues. Above all things, Mary cultivated that virginity which Jesus Christ was to teach to the world ; nay, she vowed herself to it before the Savior of the world had preached its advantages, or enunciated precepts con- cerning it. Before the paths had been traced, or the way opened, Mary’s love served her for a master, and her heart acted as her guide. Excited and animated by grace, she was able to practise virtues till that moment unknown. After the death of her parents, Mary was placed under guardians whose names have not reached us. In all probability they were of the sacerdotal race, since she ( 9 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. belonged to the family of Aaron, by her mother’s side. “If we be permitted to hazard a conjecture,” says the Abbe Orsini, “ we would say, it is likely that the charge of her education was particu- larly confided to the husband of Elizabeth, the high reputation of whose virtue and close kindred would seem to have marked him out for these protecting offices. The intense love that caused the Blessed Vir- gin, two or three years afterwards, to traverse all Judea that she might offer her congratulations to the mother of St. John the Baptist, and her protracted sojourn in the mountains of Hebron, seem to denote relations more than those of simple kindred. The roof that 1 sheltered Mary during such a long visit could not have been, according to the usages rigorously observed by the Jews, less sacred than the paternal home.” Whosoever these guardians were, they ( 10 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. soon determined to give their pupil a spouse worthy of her. Mary was then, according to the common opinion, about fifteen or sixteen years of age. Cardinal Cajetan thinks that she must have been at the least twenty-two years old. This projected marriage alarmed the young virgin. She would have resisted it; but sterility being then looked upon as a disgrace, and her vow of virginity becoming null by the sole will of the fam- ily council, Mary must needs obey. Her suitors presented themselves, and of them all the lot fell upon a poor carpenter of Nazareth, a man advanced in years (aged about fifty years), and who, although of the noble race of David, earned his bread by the sweat of his brow. An ancient tradition, given by St. Jerome, and pre- served in the history of Mount Carmel, relates, that the suitors, after beseeching ( 11 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Him who presides over men’s destinies* deposited in the night time them almond wands in the Temple, and that on the next day the withered and dead wand of Joseph was found verdant and flourishing, like that which, in ages long gone, had secured the priesthood to the family of Aaron. Such was the man chosen by God to be, in the eyes of men, the spouse of Mary, but in the eyes of heaven, the protector and guardian of her virginity. The hum- ble Joseph received Mary in his poor home, and as a profound admirer of the virtues of his spouse, he respected her as the ark of the Lord, nay, as the temple of Jehovah. Mary, bidding adieu to the cedar and gold of the Temple, the con- secrated perfumes, the psaltery of lyres and harps, and to all the brilliant and beauteous occupations of the holy place, clothed herself with indigence as a robe ( 12 ) LIFL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY • of honor, and gave herself without mur- muring to all the fatiguing cares of her poor household. And why should not the pious Mary love Joseph ?-by what count- less cares should she not prove her grati- tude to him, since her virginity, that treas- ure so dear to her heart, found such sure and holy protection beneath the shade of his virtues? About two months had passed over the heads of these chaste spouses in the house of Nazareth, where they led the most holy life that heaven ever beheld, when the hour destined for the world’s salvation came, that hour so often announced by the Pophets of Israel, and so long ex- pected by the nations. Let us hear the evangelical historian : “ And in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name ( 18 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. was Joseph, of the house of David : and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee : Blessed art thou among women. Who having heard was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salu- tation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son ; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father : and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.” — St. Luke, l 26 - 32 . Mary, not being able to comprehend these strange words, manifestly contra- dicting the vow of virginity she had made ( 14 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. in the Temple of the Lord, grew more astonished. She then says to the angel, with simplicity, “ How shall this he done? ” And the angel answering, said to her; “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And there- fore also the Holy which shall he horn of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age ; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren ; because no word shall be impossible with God.’ -St. Luke, i. 35-37. Mary, then annihilated before the divine decrees, replies, with the most sincere humility, “ Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” And the angel disappeared. ‘And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us.” “ Let us go no further into ( 15 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. tliis mystery,” says St. John Chrysostom, “nor let ns ask how the Holy Ghost could operate this miracle in the Virgin. This divine generation is a profound abyss that no curious searching can fathom.” Meanwhile, the Blessed Virgin being in- formed by the angel of the miraculous pregnancy of St. Elizabeth, believed it her duty to go and offer her congratulations. The distance between Nazareth and the town of Hebron, where dwelt the Blessed Virgin’s relative, the spouse of Zachary, was about a hundred and fifteen or twenty miles ; nevertheless she did not hesitate, but traversed the mountains of Judea, and at length arrived in the city of Juda. Being conducted to the house of Zachary, she entered, and saluting Elizabeth, said to her, “Peace be with thee.” At the sound of Mary’s voice, the precursor of the Messias leaped with joy in his mother’s ( 16 ) j LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the spirit of prophecy, exclaimed, “ Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, be- cause those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.” Mary answered her, and pronounced the admirable canticle (Magnificat) — an eter- nal monument of her humility and grati- tude; “A canticle more replete,” says an ancient writer, “ with mysteries than words ; a glorious picture of Providence, which raises up the humble, casts down the proud, and confounds the powerful, in order to protect the weak, and satisfy the indigent : ” My soul doth magnify the Lord. ( 17 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid : for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done great things unto me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation to generation unto them that fear him He hath showed strength with his arm ; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty frpm their seats : and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath upholden his servant Israel : being mindful of his mercy. As he spake unto our fathers : to Abraham and his seed for ever. After staying three months with her ( 18 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. venerable cousin, Mary returned to Naz- areth. At that moment, J oseph, who was a just man full of charity and veneration for the virtues of Mary, felt himself a prey to cruel perplexities. He therefore resolved to dismiss Mary. Whilst this thought occupied him, the angel of the Lord ap- peared to him in his sleep, and said to him, “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their-sins.” On awak- ing from his sleep, Joseph profoundly adored the admirable ways of Providence, and all his doubts were dissipated. And now the solemn moment when the heavens were to rain down the Just One had arrived. Oh, mountain of Sion, leap with joy! A Virgin Mother, a Virgin ( 19 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. excelling all the daughters of men in blessedness, is about to give to the world the Expected of the Nations ! An edict of Augustus Csesar, then master of the world, ordered a general census of the inhabitants of the earth. Every one was obliged to go to the town from which his family sprung, to be enrolled ; wherefore these holy spouses, who descended from David, notwithstanding the inclemency of the soason, and the Blessed Virgin’s tender condition, set out for Nazareth, and after a journey of five days, at length reached Bethlehem. The inns were full ; they sought shel- ter, but they found it not. The fatigue of the young virgin could not inspire compassion. Night fell ; the spouses quitted the inhospitable city, sought refuge in a deserted cavern — a place ( 20 ) ,1 LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART. which was frequented by the shepherds of Bethlehem in the stormy' nights. There they rested, thanking heaven for this comfortless asylum ; and there it was, in the silence of the midnight, that the Virgin brought forth the Christ expected for forty centuries, the Messiah, the Son of God, in all things equal to God, who deigned to come down into our valley of tears to renew the face of the earth, to heal and to restore ; and this King of kings, this Divine Legislator, this Lord of the world, this Pastor promised to the children of Israel, now reposes on humid straw in a miserable manger. “Ah!” ex- claims St. Bernard, “Ah! Mary, carefully conceal the splendor of this new Sun, lay him in the manger, cover him with his scanty clothing ; that poor clothing is our wealth, the rude clothing of my Sav- ior is more precious than purple, and the LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY manger is more glorious than the thrones of kings.” Oh! what must have been Mary’s joy at that moment 1 Let us hear St. Basil: “How shall I call thee?” ex- claims the daughter of the Patriarchs, while she bends over the infant God. A mortal? — but thou hast been conceived by a Divine operation. A God? — but thou hast a human body ! Ought I come to thee with incense, or offer thee my milk? — ought I bestow on thee a mother’s cares, or, with forehead bowed to the dust, serve thee as thy slave? ” “And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night-watches over their flock. And be- hold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. of great joy, that shall he to all the people: For this clay is bom to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the infant wrapped m swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.” — Luke, ii. 8-14. The angels retired, the celestial psalm- ody ceased, and the enraptured shepherds listened, till they heard only the night winds sweeping through the valley. They then took counsel of each other and said — “ Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this word that is come to pass, which the Lori hath showed to us”. And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the ( 23 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. manger. And seeing, they understood ol the word that had been spoken to them concerning this. And all that heard won- dered: and at those tilings that were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glori- fying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” — St. Luke, ii. 15-20. Thus, for his first temple, under heaven, the Man-God had a stable It was there that he was circumcised, the eighth day after his nativity. As he should re- ceive a name then, he was called Jesus, which signifies Savior; for he came to save all men. It was in the stable that our poor God received the adoration of the shepherds of Judea, the first representatives of Israel; it was also in a stable that God, (24 LIFE OF T1IE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. who came to save mankind, received the adoration of the princes of the East, the royal first fruits of converted Heathenism- Forty days after this marvellous nativ- ity of the Savior of mankind, the humle Virgin conceals the splendor of her spot' less purity and the divine privilege of her virginal maternity under the sombre veils a humiliating ceremony prescribed by the law of Moses, and obligatory on every woman who had brought forth a . child. Although always a virgin, the chaste spouse of the Holy Ghost goes, as it were, to cleanse her from a stain which she had never contracted, and to join the other women of Israel in the legal purifica- tion. She presents the infant God in the Temple of Jerusalem, and likewise the two doves that should be offered in sacrifice. Here the future was unveiled to her eyes, ( 25 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. to the eyes of her whom all nations shall call blessed, but whom all nations shall style Queen of Martyrs. Magnificent and brilliant words, it is true, fell from the prophetic lips of the aged Simeon: the child of Mary was to be a light to the nations and the glory of Israel; but he was also to be a mark for the perversity of man, and the soul of his mother was to be transpierced by the sword of sorrow. Mary was saddened by these words, but she gladly accepted everything that came from God. After this ceremony the two spouses returned to Nazareth; but they have scarcely arrived when an angel from heaven orders Joseph to take the child and his motherland fly into Egypt, for Herod sought the child to slay him. The Wise Men who came from the East and sought the child, awakened ( 26 ) »OSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Herod’s alarm. Herod thought that in a little while one far more potent than him- self, would come to deprive him of his throne ; he therefore determined to murder the child in his cradle ; and to be assured of his victim, he massacred all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under. But God will save the in- fant from the sword of the tyrant, and he shall live to offer himself a sacrifice on Calvary. The angel’s words terrified the hearts of J osepli and Mary : they fly by night, and pass inter Egypt over roads unknown to them, and over deserts, in the midst of a thousand privations ; but with them they have Jesus, and this treasure con- soles them in all their sorrows, and for love of J esus they resignedly endure all the afflictions of exile, despised as pooi foreigners, by the haughty* unbelievers 127 ) LIFE OF THE ELESSED VIRGIN MARY. of the land. About seven years after- wards, Herod being dead, Joseph, having received another admonition from the angel, brought back the mother and in- fant out of the land of exile. The humble carpenter applied himself to his trade, the Virgin employed herself with her household duties, and Jesus, though still young, worked with his hands and assisted his poor foster father. This life of labor and meditation, this life which was so toilsome, and at the same time so interior and so perfect, this mysterious existence of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph under the humble roof of Naza- reth, has remained hidden from the eyes of man. All we know of it is, that when the Divine infant had attained his twelfth year, Mary and Joseph, who were strict observers of the Mosaic law, brought him ( 28 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAllY. to Jerusalem for tlie feast of the Pascli Here they lost him, and thinking that li8 was with some of their kindred or acquaintances, they were returning from the holy city, when they discovered their mistake. Extreme was them desolation : they hastened back, they sought him in all the streets of the city, and after length - ened inquiries found him in the Temple, seated in the midst of the doctors, astonishing them by his wisdom and answers. “ Son, why hast thou done so to us?” asked his mother tenderly; “be- hold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” Jesus answered : “ How is is that ye sought me ? did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business ? ” But they did not comprehend what he said. He then accompanied them, and remained at Nazareth subject to them And his mother kept all these ( 29 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY words in her heart, and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace with God and man. In these few words the Sacred Scriptures epitomize many years of our Savior’s life. For a period of about eighteen years the Holy Family remains hidden from our eyes. It is believed that our Lord was twenty- nine years of age when Joseph died : a most enviable death. After embracing his adopted Son, he departed this life, accompanied by the profound regrets of his loving child. The Man-God is now about to commence liis divine mission : he tears himself from the embraces of his holy Mother, quits Nazareth, and retires into the desert to prepare himself, by fasting and prayer, for the grand work of saving the world. After this Jesus dwells ( 30 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARS. a short while with Mary, to calm her anguish and console the troubled heart of that tender mother by his presence. It was then that the marriage of Cana in Galilee was solemnized. The spouses were related to the Blessed Virgin. She was invited to the wedding, together with Jesus and his first disciples. The wine failed at the banquet : the spouses were confounded. Mary was the first to perceive their confusion and embarrass- ment; she turned to Jesus, and full of confidence and faith she said to him : “ They have no wine.” And she waited till the moment when her Son’s inter- position should become necessary. J esus, unable to resist the charitable desires of Iiis mother, works his first miracle at her instance, and changes the water contained in six stone urns into delicious wine. The better to understand some passages ( 31 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. of Scripture in wliicli Jesus seems to have spoken with apparent coldness to his mother, we deem it opportune to make the following few remarks : — None can doubt the extreme and profound tender- ness with which Christ reciprocated the tenderness and affection of Mary. From her he had received existence and the blood that flowed in his veins : the blood that he was to offer in sacrifice on the cross to take away the sins of the world was the gift of Mary, and of Mary alone. All the holy affections which the Lord of life implants in the soul of a child for those from whom it receives life — all those holy affections did our Lord Jesus concentrate in the person of his blessed Mother. As God and Man he loved this tender mother ; of her lie had taken flesh, and as God lie loved her with a love transcending all that is earthly. This ( 32 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. was the only time in which the Divinity, who conferretli all good, found himself called upon to practise towards the creature the virtue of noble hearts, gratitude ; end that of Jesus for Mary augmented in proportion to all the sacrifices, privations, and labors that this holy and noble Virgin underwent for love of him. If, therefore, we occasionally find in the Scriptures, that Christ sometimes spoke to his mother more like her Lord than her Son, it is not because he lacked affection, or that he was in- different to her, but it is simply because he isolated himself from eaithly things, that he might the better glorify his Father, whose interests were his primary consideration — interests of such superla- tive nature as to occupy wholly the soul of the Divine Redeemer. Mary was too deeply impressed with the conviction of ( 33 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIKGIX MARY. the sacred mission of her Son to be troubled at his words, if they sometimes seemed severe she knew that the young Galilean who), she had nourished at liei breast was to ecome the Legislator, and she knew fm well that he would soon cause the miraculous transformation to take place ; in a word, she Tvas intimately persuaded that her divine Son would not fail to perform the miracle in favor of the guests, afid at her request. The Gospel, except on two occasions, does not make further mention of Mary, till the time of our Lord’s passion. The. first is when a woman, enraptured by the discourses of Jesus, exclaimed, “ Blessed are the breasts that gave thef suck.” But Jesus immediately replied, “ Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Jesus wished thus publicly to congratulate Mary less for ( 34 ) 1 LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. being his mother, than for having merited this honor by her submission to (lie will of God. Behold, he seems to say to them, what you should imitate in my mother! The second occasion is, when some one came to Jesus whilst he was instructing the people, and said to him that his Mother w r as there ; Jesus replied, looking round on his disciples, u My mother and my brethren are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” This answer w T hich, under other cir- cumstances, might seem stern, w^as per- fectly mysterious, and at the same time necessary, in relation to those who Tvere listening to him. The Jews, to whom he w^as announcing the kingdom of heaven, regarded him as a mere man, and were accustomed to say, “Is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter? — Is not his mother called Mary? — are not ( 35 ) r — — LIFE OF HIE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. his relatives amongst us ? ” Our Savior, therefore, would have them regard him not as solely the son of Mary, but rather that they should recognize in his person the character of his divinity, which they would not acknowledge, although he clearly manifested it by his words and works. It is certain that Mary followed Jesus in all his journeys, and that she ac- companied the holy women of whom the Scripture makes occasional mention, giving us to understand that they at- tached themselves to the person of the Divine Redeemer. How could we doubt this, when we find her following her Son amidst all his ignominies, stand- ing at the foot of the cross, and ming- ling her tears with the blood of her Son ? And, oh ! during the tliree last years of the life of Jesus, how much had ( 36 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. her tender soul to suffer amidst every species of persecution and sorrows that man heaped upon her divine Son. But Mary was always filled with a holy resignation — always inspired with sen- timents of entire subjection to God ; nay, in the midst of all those tribulations, alarms, and insults, she proved herself to be the most perfect as well as the most admirable of mothers. “ Mary,” says a pious waiter, u was not only a holy dove hiding herself in the crevices of the rock — a pure Virgin, chosen to feed with her milk, and cradle in her arms, a heavenly guest : she w-as likewise a valiant w^oman, whom the Lord was pleased to place in all the situations and trials of life, in order that the daughters of Eve might have ar example to follow", and a model to imitate.” In her hours of desolation, in the garden of Gethsemane, in the ( 37 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. judgment hall, and on Calvary, the mother of Jesus must have remembered the words of aged Simeon, and she must have felt the sword of grief piercing' her soul. Oh ! how truly might not that afflicted mother have exclaimed in these moments — “ All ye who pass the way, come and see if there be grief like nine.” 0 God ! at this dread hour what a .sacri- fice didst thou demand from the Mother and Son! At last the grand mystery of man’s salvation approaches its completion : the august victim is on the altar. Jous, overwhelmed with afflictions, has no more blood to shed, and is about to breathe his last gasp ; it is then he addressed the last words to Mary; he bequeaths his mother to the w^ell-belo ved disciple, and the well-beloved disciple to his Mother: “ Woman, behold thy son,” ( 38 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. and tlien, “John, behold thy mother." Such was the last proof of the immense love of Jesus for men. He left them Mary for a mother ; for in the person of Saint John has he not called all mankind her children? and ever since then Mary has not ceased to employ her all-powerful intercession with Jesus Christ in our behalf, and to discharge for us all, just as well as sinners, the duties of the tenderest of mothers. When the adorable body of Jesus was taken down from the cross, his holy Mother received it in her arms, and upon her knees was laid the bleeding and mutilated form of the Man-God. But, oh ! what was her joy, when she beheld her Son and her God triumphing over the grave, and when, a little while afterwards, she assisted at his glorious ascension. Beholding the splendors of ( 39 ) LIFE OF TIIE BLESSED VIRGIN MAR’i heaven revealed to lier eyes — beholding tlie ineffable glories of lier Son, must not Mary have been the happiest of mothers ! The Scripture docs not tell us that Jesus Christ appeared to his mother after his Resurrection : but who could doubt it? She was the last whom he named in the hour of his death ; and surely, it is only reasonable to suppose that she was one of the first to whom he appeared after his Resurrection. After having accompanied him to Jerusalem with the apostles and holy women, she doubtless went with the former into Galilee, and then returned with them to Jerusalem, where, according to St. Luke, she remained from the moment of her Son’s ascension till the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles. When the promised Paraclete de- scended on the apostles, who persevered ( 40 ) LIFE OF 'I HE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. unanimously in prayer, she too was pre- sent, thus becoming, as it were, the luminous column that guided the first steps of the new born Church. The Holy Scriptures say nothing of the late years of Mary. It is thought that she retired for some years from Jerusalem, when the persecution broke out which (about the year 44) compelled the apostles to fly from the deicide city. It would appear that she went with her adopted son, St. John, to the city of Ephesus ; and some authors are of opinion that she died there. The most commonly received opinion is, that she expired in Jerusalem, surrounded by the apostles and disciples of Jesus. Hers was less a death than a tranquil sleep, in which the most perfect and most humble of creatures, the best- beloved daughter of the Heavenly Father, ( 41 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. the chaste spouse of the Holy Ghost, the devout Mother of the Son, quitted her long exile, to go and take her seat on a hrone at the right hand of Jesus, eminently raised above all the elect and angels. It is commonly believed that Mary died on the night of the 15th of August, in the forty- sixth year of our era. Others think that her death occurred in the fifth year of the reign of Claudius, i. e ., in the 798th year of Rome, or forty-fifth of the Christian era. Some say that she lived sixty- one years, others fifty- two, and others sixty- two; whilst some believe that she passed seventy-two years here below. Whilst Jesus Christ was crowning liis blessed Mother in heaven, constituting her queen of heaven and earth, the mourning apostles entombed her virginal body in Gethsemane. ( 42 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAR i\ Three days after her august obsequies, Thomas, who alone was absent at the time of her decease, returned from a distant region. He wished once more to contemplate the features of the Mother of Jesus, to gaze once more on the living ark of the Most High, on the tabernacle of the Word made Flesh. Thereon the sepulchre was opened ; but according to St. John of Damascus, and the greater * number of the Greek and Latin Fathers, the sacred body was not to be found. It had gone to be reunited to its holy soul, and to enjoy never-ending happiness. The most pure and immaculate body of the Virgin was not to be a prey to the corruption of the sepulchre ; and accord- ing to the expression of the hymn sung on the Feast of the Assumption, u Death was not to hold in its chains her who had given to the world the Author of life ” ( 43 ) LIFE OF TIIE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. PRAYER. 0 Virgin, abyss of perfections, im- perishable treasure of graces ! 0 Mary, our all-powerful Mother, thou hope of Christians, queen of angels and of the world ! deign to watch over us on the perilous ways of our sad pilgrimage, and grant, we beseech thee, that we may be made partakers of the blessedness that < thou art now enjoying in heaven. Amen,. THE LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. Anthem. We fly to tliy patronage, 0 holy Mother of God ! despise not our prayers in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, 0 thou ever glorious and blessed Virgin ! Lord, have mercy on us. Clnist, have mercy on us. ( 44 ) LIFE OF TIIE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Lord, liave mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us. God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ, Mother of divine grace, Most pure mother, Most chaste mother, Mother undefiled, Mother inviolate, Most amiable mother, Most admirable mother, Mother of out Creator, ( 45 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Mother of our Redeemer, Most prudent virgin, Most venerable virgin, Most renowned virgin, Most powerful virgin, Most merciful virgin, Most faithful virgin, Mirror of justice, Seat of wisdom, Cause of our joy, Spiritual vessel, Honorable vessel, Vessel of singular devotion, Mystical rose, Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold, Ark of the covenant, Gate of Heaven, Morning star, Health of the weak, (4€> Fray for us. LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians, Queen of angels, Queen of patriarchs, Queen of prophets, Queen of apostles, Queen of martyrs, 09 Queen of confessors, Queen of virgins, Queen of all saints, Holy Mary, conceived without original sin, Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, S 'pare us , 0 Lord! Lamb of God, who takest away the inss of the world, Graciously hear us , 0 Lord! Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, 0 Lord ! Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously ( 17 ) LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. hear us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, ha Ye mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Our Father, &c. V. Pray for us, 0 holy Mother of God! R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Clirist. PRAYER. Pour forth, we beseech thee, 0 Lord ! thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by his passion and cross, be brought to the glory of his resurrection through the same Jesus Christ our Lord Amen. m THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK, APOSTLE OE IRELAND. TN the year of Christ 387, in the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calpurnius and Conchessa had born to them a son, who received the name of Patrick. At this period, the light of the Gospel had not appeared in Ireland, whose inhabi- tants were addicted to the superstitions of the Druids, and worshipped the sun. Human sacrifices to imaginary deities and the adoration of forests and rivers pre- vailed throughout the whole island. The grand work of preaching the tidings of salvation to the Irish people was reserved m THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. by God fo’r the son of Calpuri/ius, the Apostle of the Irish race. When St. Patrick had attained his six- teenth year, Niell of the Nine Hostages, monarch of Ireland, was engaged in a predatory incursion on the shores of Gaul. During one of these marauding expeditions, in 403, the future Apostle of Ireland fell into their hands, and was car- ried off from his native place to the Irish shores as a slave. The youthful Patrick had been carefully brought up in the knowledge and practice of religion by his father, Calpurnius, and his mother, Conchessa, who was niece to St. Martin, Archbishop of Tours. From his tender- est infancy, the grace of God purified and strengthened his soul, and, as he pro- gressed in years, Heaven bestowed on him those grand gifts which he was one day to use in the conversion of an entire nation, rsi THE LIFE OF ST. PATEICK. In Ireland, Patrick was sold to four brothers, one of whom, named Milcbo, struck by his fidelity in the performance of his duties, purchased him from the others. This Milcho possessed an exten- sive territory in Dalaradia, now the couuty of Antrim, and the young cap- tive was employed to tend herds of sheep and swine on the mountains. During the entire period of his servitude, Patrick derived strength and consolation from the early lessons of piety which his pa- rents impressed on his young heart. On the lone hill-tops of Ulster, in the frosts and snows of winter, and in the burning heats of summer, his soul held unbroken communion with his God; nay, his condi- tion as a slave seems to have increased hi3 fervor, and so assiduous did he prove himself that he rose before the sun to pour forth his prayers to God, and even [ 3 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. in the silence of the night he was wont to pray a hundred times to the Lord, “ who,” he tells us, “ had regard to his abject condition, compassionated his youth and ignorance, and watched over him before he knew him.” His memory re- tained the psalms and hymns taught him by his parents, and whithersoever his ser- vile occupation called him, whether to the steep sides of Slieb-mis, or to the wooded vales of Antrim, he passed a considerable portion of the day and night devoutly reciting them. “On the moun- tain and in the forests, I arose before dawn,” says the Saint, “ and I prayed in the snow, the frost, and the rain, and I experienced no trouble, nor was there any slothfulness in me, because the Spirit of God then inflamed me.” After spending six years in the state of captivity, Patrick had a vision which M THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. informed him that the termination of his slavery was approaching. u Behold,” said the vision, “ thou art soon to go to thy own country, and a ship is ready for thee.” This ship was at a distance of two hundred miles from him (probably in some of the southern parts of Ireland), and, guided by the providence of the Almighty, the saint arose, and fled from the bondage of Milcho. Arrived at the place where the ship lay, he applied to the master for a pas- sage ; but the latter grew angry, and said, “ Do not venture to come with us.” “ On hearing this,” says the Saint, U I went to the cabin to pray, and, before I had finish- ed my prayer, I heard one of the men say- ing to me, u Come quickly, come, we re- ceive thee on faith / be our friend just as it may be agreeable to you ! ’ We then set sail, and after three days reached the • [51 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. land.” His companions on the voyago were, it would appear, some French merchants who had been trading in Ire- land, and they landed with him at Tre- guier, in Brittany. He was still twenty- eight days’ journey from his natal place, and he and his companions had well- nigh perished of hunger whilst travelling through a country laid waste by uncivi- lized tribes of Franks and Saxons. The people who travelled with him, finding themselves in the direst extremity, called on him in the name of the God of the Chris- tians to procure them food. The Saint exhorted them to turn with all their hearts and souls to the true God, and told them that they should not want anything. Patrick prayed, and, lo ! a herd of swine appeared in view, and, after killing some of them, the famished travel- lei’s tamed two nights to refresh them- [ 6 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. selves and regain their strength. On the night of that day, St. Patrick tells us that “ Satan fell upon him like a huge stone, rendering him incapable of any motion, and that, when he invoked St. Elias , the splendor of the sun shone down on him, and restored his activity.” St. Patrick reached his native place probably about the year 410, when he had attained his twenty-second year. A few years afterwards, he suffered another captivity, but of a period not exceeding sixty days. Having remained a short while with his friends, St. Patrick proceeded to the great school or college of St. Martin near Tours, and here it is probable that he was initiated in the ecclesiastical state, after he had applied himself for four years to all the studies necessary to quali- fy him for the clerical life. At the expira- tion of these four years, lie returned to [ 7 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. his parents, and employed himself in the discharge of the duties of his calling. Soon afterwards, he tells us that he had a vision of a man named Victorious, who seemed to him to have come from Ireland with many letters, one of which he handed him bearing this inscription : “ The voice of the Irish.’" “ Whilst I read,” says the Saint, “ I heard the voices of people from the wood of Foclut, which is near the Western Sea, crying out with one accord : 4 We implore thee, holy youth, to come and walk still amongst us.’ Ah ! it was the supplication of the idolatrous Irish beseeching their future Apostle to come amongst them to preach the tidings of salvation ; and so sensibly was the heart of Patrick touched by the vision that he l; awoke, and could read no longer.” This vision occurred in 418, when Patrick was thirty years of age. [81 THE 1AEE OF ST. PATRICK. About this period, the Saint placed him- self under the guidance of St. German, the illustrious Bishop of Auxerre, who sent him to one of the islands of the Tuscan Sea, where he spent nine years in retire- ment and study. The learned are of opinion that the place selected for Pat- rick’s retirement was the island of Lerins, which was a seminary of illustrious and holy bishops. Returning to St. German, he passed four years with him, adminis- tering the sacraments and preparing him- self, by the study of the Canons, for the great work so dear to his heart — the con- version of the Irish nation. It was in the island of Lerins that he received the staff called the staff of Jesus, which he after- wards carried with him in his apostolic visitations through Ireland. This hal- lowed relic, covered with gems of gold, was long exhibited to the veneration of W THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. the faithful in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, till a fanatic stripped it of its precious adornments, and cast it into the fire. There can be no doubt that St. Patrick accompanied St. German and Lupus of Troyes on a visitation to Great Britain, and that our Apostle aided them in con- futing the heresy of Pelagius in that island. This was in the year of our Lord 429, and it is likely that Pope Celestine at this period had been made aware of the benighted condition of the Irish peo- ple, and was actually meditating the con- version of the whole island. About the beginning of the year 430, St. German sent Patrick to Rome, the seat and centre of Christianity, with let ters introducing him to his Holiness as one in every way qualified for the conversion of the Irish people. A residence of six ' 10 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATEtCK. years in the country, a perfect knowledge of the language of its inhabitants, and a life remarkable for sanctity, were the tes- timonials which he bore from St. German to the Vicar of Christ. Patrick was accom- panied by Segetius, one of St. German’s priests, on his journey to Rome, and it is likely that Segetius was instructed by his master to urge on Pope Celestine the ex- pediency of selecting Patrick for the glo- rious work. The pope gave favoring ear to the recommendation, and he accord- ingly issued bulls authorizing St. Patrick to be consecrated bishop. At this period, Palladius was in Ireland preaching Chris* tianity ; but whether it was that the work of the conversion of the people had been especially reserved by God for St. Patrick, or that Palladius failed to make deep im- pression on the souls of the Irish, certain it is that his mission met with little suc- [iil T THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. cess. Having received the approbation and apostolical benediction of Pope Celes- tine, Patrick returned to his own country to make the necessary arrangements for his consecration. In the year 432, we find that St* Patrick was still in France, and that he had been visited by some of the companions of Palladius, who had come to inform him of the death of the latter. There was now no time to be lost, and Patrick was immediately consecrated bishop, probably by Amandus, Arch- bishop of Bordeaux, who had been driven from his diocese by an incursion of barbarians. ’Tis likely that the conse- cration took place at Evreux, but most certainly in one of the French cities. The determination of our Saint to leave home and kindred, and all their endearing associations, filled his relatives with alarm, and every stratagem was employed to THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. divert him from his grand purpose. In fact, a person was found to denounce him for some fault he had committed when a boy, in order to prejudice the mind of the consecrating bishop. But all these arti- fices failed, for the Lord had chosen him as a vessel of election to go and preach his name to a race who sat in the darkness of death and idolatry. The mystic vision was ever present to his memory, and the supplication, “ Come, holy youth, and walk amongst us,” now smote his heart more sensibly than ever. Accompanied by two associates who had received clerical orders on the day of his consecration, our Apostle sailed from the shores of France to Britain, and passing rapidly through Wales, disem- barked, it is said, somewhere on the coast of Wicklow. Being repulsed here by a chieftain who had opposed the preaching [ 13 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. of Palladium, he sailed for the little island called Holm-Patrick, near Skerries. Thence he continued his voyage to Ulster, for it was his fondest wish to convert Milcho, to whom he had been so long a menial and a slave. Landing at Lecale in the county Down, he met one Dicho, lord of that territory, whom he baptized, together with all his family, and those were the first-fruits of our Saint’s apostle- ship. Dicho gave his barn to be convert- ed into a chapel, and in this humble temple, called Sabhall Padruic, or Patrick's Barn , the Holy Sacrifice was for the first time offered by him who was sent to erect the cross on the ruins of idolatry and superstition. The Apostle’s visit to Milcho was fruitless, for the lattei was an obstinate heathen, and would not receive the blessing that Heaven had sent him. fU] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. Returning to Lecale, St. Patrick preach- ed the Gospel with wonderful success throughout that district, and one of his chiefest converts, to whom he gave the Holy Scriptures and various sacred uten- sils, subsequently became one of his most energetic coadjutors, and died abbot or bishop of a portion of Antrim, in the year 497. This bishop’s name was Mochoe. These events, which foreshadowed such glorious results to the whole Irish race, occurred towards the end of the year 432. Easter was now approaching, and Patrick resolved on celebrating it on the plain of Breg, near Tara. Having landed at Colp, at the mouth of Boyne, the Apostle and his companions proceeded on foot towards Tara, and were received by a family, all of whom he baptized, after instructing them in the mysteries of Christianity. The son of this family, Benignus, devoted fis] THE LIFE OF ST. PATKICK. himself to the Saint, and followed him whithersoever he went, and finally died Archbishop of Armagh. He was to Patrick w T hat St. John w r as to Jesus Christ — the disciple dearly beloved. On the eve of Easter, Patrick arrived at Slane, and, having pitched a tent, pre- pared to celebrate the Paschal solemnity. At this moment, King Leogaire and all the princes of the Irish were assembled at Tara, for it was the feast of Baal-tein, or sun- worship. The Druidical laws or- dained that no fire should be lighted in the whole country till the great fire flam- ed up from the royal hill of Tara ; but it so happened that St. Patrick’s Paschal light was seen from King Leugaire’s palace. Indignant at what he con- ceived to be a violation of the law, the king and his courtiers set out to punish the offenders, and the Apostle [ 16 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. was then ordered to appear in the loyal presence to give an account of his pro- ceedings. Of the courtiers none rose to welcome the Saint except Here, son of Dego, who received the apostolic bless- ing, and became a believer. Next day, the Apostle was led before the princes assem- bled at Tara, and there he preached Christ to the worshippers of the sun. The Magi 1 or priests of the Druids could not gainsay the blessed tidings he announced, and many of the princes, with their families, despite the obstinacy of Leogaire, em- braced the saving truths of our holy reli- gion. “ The sun which you behold,” said the Saint, “ by God’s decree rises and sets for our benefit, but it shall never reign, nor shall its splendor endure for ever; all who adore it shall perish miserably. But we adore and believe the true Sun, who is Christ.” Dubtach the poet was the first [ 17 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. of the converts of Tara, and he thence- forth consecrated his genius to Christi- anity. The Apostle continued to preach luring the following Mon da } 7 to the mul- titudes who were attending the celebra- tion of the public games, and amongst those whom he converted to the faith of Jesus Christ was Conall, brother of Kino: Leogaire. The work of the nation’s con- version was now happily begun. Chris- tianity was announced, with all its bless- ings, in the high places of the realm. The kindred of royalty, and many of the men of genius, embraced the saving truths with gratitude and delight; and a heathen king, who blindly persevered in his errors, feared to obstruct the Apostle, who was evidently sustained by a power hith- erto unknown to the priests of the Druids. The scene witnessed at Tara brings for- cibly to our minds the teaching of Paul [ 18 *] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. before tlie assembled grandeur and wisv dom of the Areopagus ; for, like Paul, Pat- rick announced: “Ye men, I perceive that in all things you are too supersti- tious; for passing by, and seeing your idols, I found an altar also, on which was written, 1 To the unknown God? What, therefore, you worship without knowing it, that I preach to you ; for in him we live, and move, and are, as some also of your own poets said.” After the celebration of the Paschal solemnities, the Apostle proceeded to many other districts of Meath, in each of which he continued to preach the Chris- tian religion with wonderful success. His fame had preceded him from Tara, and vast multitudes hastened to hear the joy ful tidings of redemption. Whitherso- ever he went, he was gladly received by the people, who erected churches at hia 119 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. bidding ; whilst the chieftains, whom he conciliated by presents, and by taking on him the tutelage of their children, afford- ed every facility for the wide diffusion of the Catholic faith. Many of the converts w r ere ordained to preside over the flocks so recently gathered into the true fold, and were subsequently canonized. Hav- ing erected a church at Drumconrath, the Apostle advanced to the far-famed hill of Usneagh, in Westmeath, and thence into the county of Longford, followed by grateful multitudes, whose example ex- cited their compatriots to arise out of the slough of the old superstition, and put on Jesus Christ. After spending as much time in these districts as was required to ordain pastors for the new churches, the Apostle proceed- ed to the plain of Moy-Slecht, near Fea- nagh, in the county Leitrim, where he [30J THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. overthrew the idols called Crom-cruach, and on their ruins' erected a large church, over which he placed a priest named Bar- ban. These important events occurred about the year 435. Immediately after this period, we find St. Patrick at Croghan, in Connaught, where he baptized Ethna and Fethlimia, daughters of King Leogaire. After receiving these princesses into the church, they implored him to let them see Christ face to face, and, on being told that they could behold him in the Eu- charistic sacrifice, they thus besought the Apostle : u Give us the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, that we may see our Spouse who is in heaven.” Pat rick then offered the holy sacrifice, and administered the Eucharist to the royal converts, who subsequently took the veil at his hands. The Saint remained in the various districts of Connaught for a con- [211 IHE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. siderable period, catechising and baptiz- ing: the vast multitudes that hastened to hear him. His first synod was held in the neighborhood of Elphin, and here he consecrated many prelates for the govern- ment of the new churches. During the Lent of this year (435), he retired to the mountain now called Cruach-Patrick, in the county Mayo, and here he spent forty days, praying, fasting, and beseeching God to prosper the great work which was now filling the island with saints and Christian temples. Coming down from the mountain, the Apostle passed through all the adjacent districts, denouncing heathen practices, and exhorting the people to embrace the Catholic faith. Glorious, indeed, was the success of his mission ; for, on reaching Tirawley at the moment when the seven sons of Amalgaidh were disputing the [ 23 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. succession to the crown of their deceased father, he converted the seven, together with upwards of twelve thousand per- sons, all of whom he baptized in the weU of Enanharc. It was during his sojourn in these regions that some of the Druids conspired to take his life ; but God frus- trated their designs, for Euda, one of the converted chiefs, and Connall protected the Saint against the machinations of his enemies. At this period, our Apostle founded the See of Killala. From Ti- rawley, he proceeded to the river Moy, where he converted Eochad, son of the far-famed King Dathy. Fully seven years were thus spent in the province of Connaught, and the apostolic labors of Patrick were crowned with the great- est results. During these years, he cross- ed the Shannon three times, and, whither- soever he went, the clouds of ignorance T23] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. and superstition disappeared before the glorious light of the Christian faith. Having diffused the doctrines of the Catholic Church throughout the entire province of Connaught, and erected such churches as the exigencies of the times permitted, the Apostle turned his atten- tion to the province of Ulster, the scene of his bondage, where God decreed that he should perform his grandest works, and lead captivity captive. The Saint proceeded from Connaught into Ulster about the beginning of the year 442. During the apostolic labors of which we have been speaking, Patrick was assisted by Auxilius and Isserninus, who came with him into Ireland, and were subsequently consecrated bishops, and appointed to sees by the Apostle him- self. We now find Patrick preaching in Tyrconnell, where he erected the church [ 24 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. of Rathcunga. Passing thence along the river Fin, he founded the church of Do- noughmore, in the barony of Raphoe, whence he hastened into the country of Innish-Owen, where he converted the prince of that district, and spent some time with him in the royal residence at Ailech. After converting the inhabi- tants of these regions, he continued his triumphant progress along the shores of Lough Foyle, till he crossed the eastern side of the Bann, and journeyed into Dalaradia, where he erected many churches. Throughout the entire of this country he w r as blessed with the most signal success, for he saw the chief- tains of the people, wdth their families, both women and men, eagerly embracing the austere rules of Christian life, and abandoning all things for the kingdom of heaven. From the districts of Mem- [ 25 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. ghan and Cremourne, lie went to Meath, and near Ardbraccan laid the founda- tions of a church, over which he placed one of his disciples named Justin. About this period (443) he founded the church of Dunnach-Sachnall (Dun- shaughlin), and appointed the Bishop Secundinus to govern it. After seeing Christianity flourishing in this region, he proceeded to Naas, then the residence of the King of Leinster, where he bap- tized in a fountain, near the north side of the town, the chieftains Illand and Alild. In this place, the preaching of Patrick was confirmed by miracles. Visiting Kildare, he founded many churches, and appointed Auxilius to govern the church of Killossy, and Isser- ninus that of Kilcullen. Passing into the district of Ossory, he was gladly received by Dubtach, the poet whom he [ 26 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. converted at Tara, and who recoin* mended to him one Fiech as eminently qualified to receive priestly ordination. This Fiech was subsequently chief bishop of the entire province of Leinster. ’Twas probably at this period that St. Patrick visited Dublin, where he erected a parochial church sacred to St. Nicholas, where now stands the cathe- dral under the invocation of the Apostle himself. From Leinster the Saint pro- ceeded to Cashel (a.d. 415), where he was joyfully received by King Naitfrach, whom, with his entire family, he baptized. Nowhere was his mission more abund- antly blessed than in Cashel and the adjacent districts, for Patrick spent seven years amongst the people of Mun- ster, erecting churches, ordaining priests, and consecrating bishops. From Cashel the Apostle proceeded into the county [37J THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. of Limerick, where lie was violently opposed by Olild, tlie chieftain of the now barony of Coonagh ; but the obsti- nacy of Olild was at length overcome, and he and his family were baptized. Multitudes hastened from Clare to see the Saint, and hear the tidings he an- nounced, and they all received baptism at his blessed hands. Whilst at Lu- achra, in West Munster, he foretold that St. Brendan, the patriarch of monks, and star of the Western world, should be born in that region many years after his own death. Setting out thence, he visited the southern part of the county of Waterford, where he erected numer- ous churches, and appointed pastors for the flocks. Followed by grateful multi- tudes, who came to receive his parting benediction, he ascended a hill, and, after invoking the blessing of Heaven on the [ 28 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATEICK. children of regeneration, he retraced his steps. It was during his sojourn in Munster that St Patrick wrote his cele- brated letter to Coroticus, a fierce pirate, who had made a descent on the Irish coast, and murdered many of the recently converted. In this epistle, the Saint supplicated the pirate to release such of his people as he had carried into captivity. On the very day after, the chrism of confirmation was shining on their foreheads, and when they wore the white robe of the neophytes.” Coroti- cus’ would not relent, and he and his abettors were consequently excommuni- cated, and thus estranged from Christ. After visiting many other districts, and preaching the Gospel with great success, particularly in the county now known as the King’s County, the Apostle gladly went back to Lecale, the scene of his [291 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. earliest labors, where stood Sabhall, the first temple in which he offered the holy sacrifice after his arrival in Ireland. On his return, he narrowly escaped being murdered by a freebooter named Maccal- dus, but God manifested his wrath to this profligate, who w T as subsequently converted, and died in the odor of sanctity, Bishop of the Isle of Man. St. Patrick had some notion of fixing his permanent see near where the town of Louth now stands, and, while meditat- ing this design, he was admonished by an angel that the seat and centre of his juiisdiction was to be more to the north, at Macha, since called Armagh. After having remained for some time at the place now called Ard-Patrick in Louth, where he built a church, the Apostle proceeded to Drum-Sailech (the hill of Sallows), where he determined to [301 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. erect his metropolitan see. This region was known also by the name of Ard- macha, or Macha’s Hill, and, according to God’s decrees, it was destined to become the seat of the Irish primacy. We may therefore date the foundation of Armagh about the year 454, a few years after St. Patrick had returned from Munster. On Macha’s Hill he erected a cathedral and many other religious edifices, so that, in progress of time, Armagh grew to be the ecclesiastical mistress and metropolis of Ireland. The whole district, including the adjacent tract called Na Fearta (of the Miracles), was the gift of King Daire, whom he converted in the royal resi- dence of Emmania. Nor should it be forgotten that prior to this period St. Patrick founded and governed the See of Clogher, over which he appointed St* Carthen bishop. [ 31 ] THj X'E OF Sr. PATRICK. Before establishing himself at Armagh, the Apostle may be said to have evangel- ized the greater part of Ireland, either in person or by means of the vast numbers of bishops whom he consecrated and the priests he ordained. The ancient super- stition everywhere faded away before the light of the Gospel, the Druids’ groves and idols were forsaken, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered on thousands of altars sacred to the one true God. A greater triumph than this is not recorded in the annals of Christi- anity. An entire nation cast away from it the prejudices and cherished traditions of ages, and gladly embraced the faith of Christ preached to them by a bishop who had been a miserable captive amongst them — a man sent to them with the plenitude of power by Pope Celes- tine. Net from Palladius, but from Pat- [ 32 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. rick, did the Irish receive Christian* ity. St. Patrick now applied himself to en- acting canons for the government of the Irish Church, and for this purpose he held his first synod at Armagh, about the year 456. From the laws therein en- acted, we have every reason to believe that the Church of Ireland at this period w T as fully provided with bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, and all the requirements of a great ecclesiastical institution. The Book of Armagh asserts that the number of bishops consecrated by the Apostle was upwards of four hundred’, and the same authority sets forth that he ordained n vast multitude of priests. Of all the bishops who shared his missionary labors, none was so dear to him as Beniguus, who was des- tined to be his successor in the See of T331 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK Armagh. Next in celebrity to Benignus was Maccaleus, from whom, at a subse- quent period, St. Brigid of Kildare re- ceived the veil. The Apostle had now the happiness of seeing the faith of Christ diffused throughout the entire island, whose people gave thanks to God for the great blessing bestowed upon them. The faith delivered by Christ to Peter, and by him, through an unbroken series of suc- cessors, to Celestine, was that wdiich Patrick was commissioned to announce to the heathen Irish. Oh ! how should our hearts be filled with joy when we remem- ber that we are indebted to the chair of Peter for all these blessings — when we re- member the benighted condition of our ancestors till Celestine sent Patrick to an- nounce the tidings of salvation to those who were plunged in idolatry and super- stition ! [ 34 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. When the Apostle saw the Church of Christ flourishing in every region of Ire- land, he set about writing the remarkable book known as his Confessions. He was now grown old, and in this work he de- sired to leave a record of his gratitude to God for the mighty work he caused to prosper in his hands. “ This,” says the Saint, “ is my confession before I die ! ” It is very manifest from the Confessions , that God was pleased to perform many miracles by the instrumentality of the Apostle ; for he says, “ I will not conceal the signs and wonders in which I was aided by the Lord.” As he advanced in years, he frequently resorted to the place now called Saul, the scene of his earliest triumph, where he converted Dicho, and erected his first church. Finding that the time of his dissolution was nigh, he resolved to go to Armagh, and there re- [ 35 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. sign liis soul into the hands of God, to whom he was so dear. Bein^ admonish- ed by an angel that he was to die at Saul, the Apostle returned thither, and re- ceived the Viaticum from the hands of the bishop, Tassach. The death of our glorious Apostle occurred March 17, a.d. 465. The whole period of his mission was about thirty-three years, ten of which he spent in the archbishopric of Armagh. The intelligence of the Saint’s departure out of this world caused the bishops and clergy to hasten from all parts of Ireland to Saul, where his obsequies were cele- brated for twelve entire days and nights. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offer- ed by every bishop and priest who came to pray before the relics of their grea Apostle The chanting of the funeral psalms was continued uninterruptedly for twelve days and nights ; and so great T36] THE LIFE OF ST. PATKICK. was the flood of light from the innumera^ ble torches and tapers burning round his blessed body that the twelve days and nights seemed like one long unclouded day in and about the church of Saul. By some it is asserted that St. Patrick lived to be one hundred and twenty years of age, but the more probable opinion is that he died in his seventy-eighth year. A great contention arose about the place in which the remains of the Apostle were to be in- terred ; but it was finally determined that they should be buried in the church of Downpatrick. A portion of his relics, however, was conveyed to Armagh- and enshrined in his cathedral, which, like the church of Down, thenceforth began to be frequented by innumerable pilgrims from every part of Ireland, and from beyond the seas. In the year 1186, St. Malachy, his successor in the primacy, had a re- [ 37 ] 7 ear€b THE LIFE OF ST. PATBICK. relation from lieaven, informing him of the precise spot wherein the Apostle's re^ mains lay, together with those of St. Columb-kille and St. Brigid. The translation of these relics is such an important fact in Irish history that we deem it necessary to record it briefly in this place. The body of St. Columb- kille was translated from Iona to Down in the year 876, and that of St. Brigid was removed to the same place from Kildare a short time previous to the above period. St. Malachy knew that these three great saints were interred somewhere in the church of Down, and he earnestly besought God to enable him to discover the exact site of their graves. Now, one night, while St. Malachy was praying in the cathedral, he saw a light like a sunbeam traversing the building, till at length it rested on a spot which he [ 38 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. concluded must be the place of the saints’ sepulture. He, therefore immediately dug up the earth, and discovered the bones of the three bodies, all of which were placed in distinct coffins, and then consigned once more to their resting-places. Having informed De Courcy, Lord of Down, of what had occurred, they both despatched messengers to Pope Urban III., praying him to sanction the translation of the holy relics to a more honorable place in the cathedral. The pope consented, and sent Cardinal Vivian to preside over this grand solemnity, which was attended by all the ecclesiastics and princes of the country. The remains of the three saints were then deposited in one grave, and it wa3 decreed that the translation should be commemorated on the 9th of June — the feast of St. Columb-kille. The immediate successor of St. Patrick [391 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. in the primacy was Benignus, that dear disciple to whom he gave this name (the Benign) in baptism, because, says the Book of Armagh, “ he gathered the feet of Patrick between his hands and breast, and would not remain with his father and mother, but cried unless he should be permitted to sleep with Patrick.” “ Bap- tize him, and raise him into my chariot,” replied the Apostle, “ for he is the heir of my kingdom.” St. Benignus died, and was buried at Armagh, after most devout- ly receiving i{ the body of the Lord — the pledge and guarantee of eternal life,” from the hands of his successor, St. Jarlath. St. Patrick built more than three hundred churches in Ireland, and laid the founda- tions of those grand schools which, long after he had entered into everlasting blessedness, made Ireland become the resort of scholars and saints from the [ 40 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATKICK. most distant regions. Unlike many other countries, Ireland has always been faith- ful to the teaching and traditions of her great apostle, and the religion which he delivered to our fathers has come down to us pure and undefiled, despite the most unrelenting persecution. Oh ! how zealously should we love that faith which Celestine sent Patrick to preach — that blessed faith for which our predecessors were ruthlessly massacred, robbed, and exiled ! Here we deem it apposite to make a few extracts from the sayings of St. Patrick, before closing this notice of his blessed life. “ I had the fear of God,” says the apostle, “as the guide, of my journey through Gaul, Italy, and the islands which are in the Terrene Sea. God be* thanked, I have been calling upon the churches of the Scots (the Irish) to enter [ 41 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK paradise, in union with the Roman Church , so that they, as Christians, may unite in the same service as the Romans. “It behooves all the church, at all hours of prayer, to use the very praise- worthy sentence, 1 Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison’ ; for all churches should sing, 4 Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Deo gra- tias.’ ” These extracts are taken from the “Book of Armagh,” written in the seventh century, and still extant. Be- sides his Confessions, St. Patrick wrote the celebrated epistle denouncing Coroti- cus, and various canons for the govern- ment of the Irish Church. It is likely that he compiled a monastic rule similar to that which he himself followed at Tours and Lerins before he was sent by Pope Celestine to convert the Irish. The most ancient document extant relating to [ 43 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. our glorious apostle is a hymn in the Anti- phonary of Bangor, which was brought from Down to St. Columbanus’ monas- tery of Bobio in the Apennines. This manuscript is over a thousand years old, and was removed from Bobio to the Ambrosian Library at Milan by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo. The crosier of St. Patrick (called the staff of Jesus) was transferred by De Burgo, Lord Deputy of Ireland, from Armagh to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Dublin, a.d. 1180. Here it was long religiously venerated, together with many other relics, till it was publicly burned by Browne, the apostate Archbishop of Dublin, in 1538. PRAYER. Hear, we beseech thee, O Lord, the prayers which we pour forth on this '431 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. solemnity of St. Patrick, thy confessor and bishop. Grant, we beseech thee, that the intercession of his merits may obtain for us absolution from all our siua through Christ our Lord. Amen. THE LIFE OF t SAINT BRIDGET. THE holy patroness of the Irish churches was born at Faugher, near Dun- dalk, in or about the year of our Lord, 453. Her parents were of the royal race, for her father, Dubtach, was closely allied to Con, sumamed of the Hundred Battles : and her mother, Brocessa, belonged to the illustrious house of O’Connor. It is quite certain that St. Patrick saw and blessed St. Bridget, for she must have been twelve years of age at the time of his death ; and it is more than probable that the sanctity of this holy maiden was THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. known to that glorious Apostle. A fact stated in the Tripartite life of St. Patrick, confirms this. It is there related that St. Bridget % was once present, together with vast multitudes, listening to a sermon preached by the Apostle, and that she fell asleep during the discourse, and while in this state she had a vision, which revealed to her the actual and future vicissitudes of the Irish church. “On awaking,” says the authority quoted, “ St. Patrick com- manded her to tell what she had seen.” At this period she might have been ten or eleven years old. From her ten derest infancy she applied herself to the acquire- ment of sanctity, and devoted every moment of her time to the study and prac- tice of the most austere virtues. Admirably educated in every branch that can dignify a true Christian, she distinguished herself above all her compeers by her singular ( 4 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. modesty and unbounded charity to the poor. One of her earliest historians, Cogitosus (the Thoughtful), takes special pleasure in recording the wonderful charity of St. Bridget, and clearly points out ho w pleasing that charity was to God, and how by means of it this blessed maiden found favour in His eyes. Cogi- tosus, in his record of the simple and patriarchal times in which Bridget lived, tell us that her parents gave her charge of their cows, and sent her into the fields to tend them and assist them servants in making butter. Now it so happened that there were many poor people in the dis- trict of Faugher, and Bridget, commiserat- ing them, was*wont to bestow a portion of the butter and milk on the poor, the representatives of Jesus Christ. On one occasion, says Cogitosus, she gave all the butter she had made to the poor, and then ( 5 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. with a firm confidence in God, besought Him to bear her harmless with her mother. God heard her prayer, and interposed so miracnlosly, that she was enabled to bring home more butter than all her hand maidens, who thenceforth began to regard her as the especial favorite of the Most High. In the exercise of such holy practices Bridget passed her early years, communing incessantly with her God, and thanking* Him for the great blessing of conversion which He had bestowed on Ireland, through the instrumentality of St. Patrick. Her parents now began to think of espousing her to some one suited to her position, and illustrious origin, and therefore communicated their inten- tions to her. Bridget, however, preferred devoting her virginity to Jesus Christ, for she had resolved to consecrate herself to Him. The parents, being ambitious (G) 1 THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. of no tiling so much as the sanctification of their child, would not thwart her holy design, and they therefore allowed her to repair to a disciple of St Patrick, Macca- leus the bishop, who at this period was at the hill of Usny, in AVestmeath. The bishop commending her pious resolution, and, doubtless, being well aware that the postulant who now knelt before him, was destined to shed lustre on the Irish Church, u clothed her with a white cloak, and placed the white veil on her venerable head.” The wooden platform of the altar whereon she knelt, says Cogitosus, “ re- covered its freshness, and continued green to a very late period.” At the time of her consecration, many of her companions imitated her blessed example, and took the veil along with her. St. Maccaleus appointed Bridget to preside over these nuns, and it is likely that they all went (?) LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. to reside in the district near Kilbeggan s at a place known in the ancient records as Tcghbrighide. or Bridget’s house. The sanctity of this consecrated virgin was soon known throughout the length and breadth of Ireland, and multitudes of young women and widows repaired to Bridget, beseeching her to admit them into her institution. The inconvenience of locating as many in one place, and the vast amounts of good that were to be achieved by distributing so many holy women through various regions of Ire- land, assigning to them the districts in which they were bom, influenced the Irish bishops to invite Bridget to visit then dioceses, and to found in each of them establishments like that which had now rendered her so celebrated. St. Mel, bishop of Ardagh, was one of the first to invite Bridget to his diocese ( 8 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. for the purpose we have specified ; and the second in all likelihood, was Ere, bishop of Slane, with whom she went into Munster. This bishop publicly pro- claimed in the synod held in the plain of Femyn, that the Almighty had bestowed on Bridget the power of working miracles. Like our Apostle, Bridget may be said to have visited almost every part of Ireland, and indeed the multiplicity of localities denominated Kill-bride, (Bridget’s church or cell) is an evidence of this. At Knock- any, in the county Limerick, we find her obtaining the freedom of a captive from a chieftain, and after the performance of this act of Christian charity, she appears in south Leinster, whence she went to pay a visit to her parents. Leaving the paternal roof, she proceeded to the plain of Hai, in the county of Roscommon^ where she established many communities m THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. according to tlie rule of her institute. Here it is necessary to state that in the earliest times of Christianity, before monasteries or nunneries were formed, it was usual for the nuns solemnly conse- crated by the bishops, to live with their relatives and friends. They subsequently established great communities, and began to observe strict enclosure, that they might be more free to live according to the holy spirit of their vocation. This fact accounts sufficiently for the journey- ing of St. Bridget and her nuns through the various regions of Ireland. While St. Bridget was founding her cells and monasteries throughout Con- naught, Benignus, the immediate suc- cessor of St. Patrick, died. This was in 468. Benignus was succeeded in the primacy by Jarlath. At this period Ireland began to be celebrated for its ( 10 ) I THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. ecclesiastical seminaries, amongst the most famous of which were those of Armagh, Ardagh, Louth, and that pre- sided over by Asicus, the bishop, at Elphin. There were communities of holy women likewise, prior to the time of St. Bridget, but it does not appear that they amounted to more than two, one in Tyrone, and another near Armagh. It would seem as if God had especially reserved for St. Bridget the grand work of founding monasteries for women in her native land — monasteries that were destined to leave imperishable names in the annals of Irish ecclesiastical history. Lupita, the sister of St. Patrick, was foun- dress of the monastery of Armagh, but Bridget was chosen by God to excel the sister of our apostle by the number and the splendor of her institutions. Although St. Bridget was bom in the (ii) THE LIFE OE ST. BRIDGET. North of Ireland, her family was origi- nally of Leinster, and the inhabitants of this province thought that they had strong claims on her consideration. They, therefore, in the year 490, sent a depu- tation to her praying that she would leave Connaught, and come and establish her- self in the province of Leinster amongst her own kindred. St. Bridget complied with the request, and was joyfully wel- comed at Kildare where a residence was assigned to her and those of her institute who accompanied her. Thus was laid the foundation of that far-famed monas- tery which took its name from a great oak that grew there — Killdara , being in- terpreted, the cell or church of the oak. The piety of chieftains and princes endowed the monastery of Kildare with grants of land for its maintenance, and the holy Abbess was now in a condition (12) THE LIFE OE ST. BRIDGET. to exercise her cherished love of charity to the poor. On one occasion we find her relieving the necessities of the indi- gent, by bestowing on them some valua- ble sacerdotal vestments which used to be worn on the most solemn occasions. Her hospitality to strangers and particu- lary to religious persons, was unlimited, and such was her humility that she was wont to tend the flocks in the fields. From every part of Ireland multitudes now hastened to Kildare to beseech her intercession, for all regarded her as one especially blessed by God. Many of those pilgrims would not return to their homes, but chose rather to live near the Saint, for from her the infirm received healing, the poor copious alms, and the rich those sublime examples of Christian life so necessary for the attainment of the kingdom of heaven. In this' conflux of ( 13 } THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. the rich and poor, the healthy and the ailing, originated the city of Kildare. The number of applicants for admis- sion to the monastery now became so great that St. Bridget was compelled to enlarge her first foundation. Further- more, it became necessary to provide ex- tensively for the spiritual guidance of the inhabitants of the new city, and a bishop was accordingly appointed to preside over the church of Kildare. This was Conlaith, a holy recluse, who dwelt in a cell on the plain of the Liffey. u He came in his chariot to Bridget, and after staying a few days with her, was the first bishop of the city of Kildare.” He was conse- crated about the year 490. Prior to the appointment of Conlaith, Nathfroich, the priest, was the spiritual companion of St. Bridget, and we are told that he used ( 14 } T1IE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. feo read for the nuns while they weie tak* ing their meals in the refectory. Kildare was not exalted to the condi- tion of a see, and the Abbess, Bridget, according to the authority of Cogitosus, was revered by all the other abbesses in Ireland. Maccaleus the bishop, from whom St. Bridget received the veil, died in the year of Conlaitlfs consecration, two years after the demise of St. Mel, who invited the holy abbess to visit his diocese of Ardagh. The church or cathedral of Kildare had a chapter, and the bishop, together with the collegiate body and clerical min- isters, used to approach the altar by a door on the right side, when about to immolate the holy and Lord’s Sacrifice u There was another door on the left side, by which the abbess and her nuns entered when coming to enjoy the banquet of the ( 15 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. body and blood of Jesus Christ. The great aisle had a partition which divided the males from the females, and each division had a door peculiar to itself The dwell- ing place or monastery of the nuns stood on one side of the cathedral, and that of the bishop and his chapter on the other.” This pithy description of the church of Kildare written partly by Cogitosus, nephew of St. Bridget, is quite sufficient to shew how admirably the Catholic ritual was observed in the days of our Saint, while at the same time it testifies to the perpetuity of Catholic faith in the holy sacrifice of the altar and the real presence of Christ in the adorable Eucharist Meanwhile Catholicity was flourishing throughout Ireland, and many of the bishops who had seen and conversed with our glorious Apostle had gone away to re- ceive the eternal rewards of their labors. ( 16 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. J arlath of Armagh, Mel of Ardagh, and Asicus of Elphin, had consummated their labors, and left them names inscribed on the calendar of the Irish Saints. During the lifetime of St. Bridget, all the Irish princes with one exception had embraced the saying faith of Christ ; and the sole exception to the converted princes and chieftains was Lugaid, son of the monarch Leogaire, who withstood the preaching of St. Patrick and persevered in heathenism. Heaven, however, punished Lugaid sig- nally, for he was killed by lightning in the year of our Lord 508. The name of Christ was now glorified throughout the whole island ; temples, seminaries, and monasteries of holy men and women were everywhere springing up, and nothing re- mained of the old superstition, which, prior to the coming of Ireland’s Apostle, de- based and enslaved the souls of the Irish, ( 17 ) j THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET This series of grand events brings ua down to the beginning of the sixth cen- tury, when a great multitude of the Irish people crossed the sea and settled amongst the Scots in North Britain, to whom they brought the blessings of Christianity. This immigration took place about the year of our Lord, 503, about three years before the demise of St. Maccarthen, bishop of Clogher. Thus were the Irish made the medium of diffus- ing the inestimable benefits of religion and civilisation amongst the barbarous tribes who at that period knew not the true God. In the year 519, Conlaith, the first bishop of Kildare and the intimate friend of St. Bridget, passed out of this life to receive the eternal reward of his apostolic labors. The institutions of our Saint were now ( 18 ) I THE LIFE OF ST. BKIDGET. to be found in every region of Ireland, and we have reason to believe that she founded a monastery at Armagh. To her we may fairly attribute the origin of the Bridge tine nunnery in that far-famed city. Her life was an uninterrupted series of holy acts, and she seems to have occupied herself entirely in promoting the good of others. God was ever present to assist her by His almighty interposition ; so much so that the historian Cogitosus devotes many pages to record the many miracles which Heaven was pleased to perform through the instrumentality of His chosen handmaid. To that spot where her church is now crumbling to decay, and where the sacri- legious innovators have left more mourn- ful traces of ruin than even the wasting hand of time, came multitudes of the poor, the rich, and the infirm, to receive coun ( 19 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET Bel and solace from the holy patroness of the Irish churches. In seasons ci dearth, she was implored to plead the cause of the starving with Him who giveth ail things, and lie hearkened to her sup- plications. The blind, the dumb, and the lame, obtained healing at her hands, and an entire nation from sea to sea gloried in the living splendor that had uprisen amongst them. The most eminent personages of her period were wont to correspond with her, and consult her on the weightiest matters. St. Ailbe of Emly used to visit her and take counsel with her on matters regard- ing the maintenance and advancement of religion. Gildas who taught at Armagh, and went thence to preach Christianity to his compatriots, the Britons (in 508), sent her a present of a bell cast by him- self. This fact and every other of the (SO) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET same nature, may be taken as a proof of the hallowed antiquity of all Catholic usages. St. Brendan of Clonfert (“ the Valley of Miracles”), whose seven years’ voyages are so famous, visited our saint and conferred with her on religious sub- ject before he sailed from Brandon-bay, in 554. These facts are evidences of the wonderful sanctity and wisdom of St Bridget. Need we say that the attention of our grand patroness was especially given to cultivating and sanctifying the souls of her own sex, for whom she provided schools and shelter in the religious state ? An instance is recorded of her watch- fulness over male youth, which we will insert here. Walking one day with some of her community, she saw a youth named Nennid, running very rapidly and, as she deemed, in an unbecoming manner. This ( 21 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. youth probably belonged to the college, founded in Kildare by the bishop Conlaithi St. Bridget sent after the youth, who, being asked by her whither he was run- ning, replied sportively, u I am running to the kingdom of heaven.” “I wish,” said the saint, “ that I deserved to run along with you to-day to that kingdom ; pray for me that I may arrive there.” Nennid, deeply affected by her words, asked her to pray for him. She did so, and the youth ever afterwards led a most holy penitential life. She then foretold that this Nennid was one day destined to adminster to her the last sacraments of the Church. Hearing this, Nennid resolved never to soil the hand that was to convey the Viaticum and Extreme Unction to the dying saint, and he was ever afterwards known as Nennid, sumamed Lamli-gJilan , or the clean-handed , ( 22 ) THr. LIFE OF ST. BRIDGE'!'. In course of time this Nennid received priest’s orders, and had his name inscribed in the calendar of the Irish Saints. He is said is said to have visited Britain and Borne. At length the time of Bridget’s trans- lation to the kingdom of heaven drew nigh. Finding that her death was instant, Nennid, u the priest of prophecy,” came to administer the last sacraments to her, and she resigned her spotless soul into the hands of her Bedeemer, in the mon- astery of Kildare. The death of this illustrious servant of God occurred on the 1st of February, in or about the year 523, a few years before the birth of St Columb-Kille. St. Bridget lived to be seventy-four years of age. She is said to have written a Buie for the regulation of the monasteries which she saw spread throughout Ireland, and all of which ( 23 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. looked up to her as their patroness and abbess. Her memory was universally revered, not only by the Irish, but hroughout the entire Western Church. Great indeed was the devotion paid to St. Bridget of Kildare, for we learn from Hector Boethius that u she was cele- brated amongst the Scots, Piets, Irish, nay, and even amongst the English. After Mary, the Mother of Christ, the Irish were always wont to invoke St. Bridget, and the numerous churches un- der her invocation in Ireland, are so many proofs of what we have said.” Nennid composed a Latin hymn in honor of St. Bridget, and there is not a single volume of the old ecclesiastical records of Ire- land, that does not celebrate her transcen- dent virtues. Her name is found in all the old litanies of the Irish saints, and the people, for many an age, knew her ( 24 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. by the endearing appellation of the " Second Mary.” The relics of St. Bridget were en- shrined in the church of Kildare, which for ages was frequented by pilgrims from all parts of Ireland and Great Britain. Great were the miracles wrought through the intercession of the saint in behalf of those who devoutly invoked her. In fact, the fame of her sanctity reached Germany, and the people of that country cherished profoundest veneration for her. The life of St. Bridget, written by her nephew and contemporary, Cogitosus, contains the description of her shrine, and we therefore condense it for the information of our readers. “Nor is the miracle that occurred in reparing the church, to be passed over in silence, in which repose the bodies of both, that is, Bishop Conlaith, and this ( 25 ) THE Lil.bE OF ST. BRIDGET. holy virgin, St. Bridget, on the right and left of the decorated altar, deposited in monuments adorned with various embel- lishments of gold and silver , and gems and 'precious stones , with crowns of gold and silver depending from above. The church was adorned with painted pictures , having in them three oratories, large and sepa- rated by partitions wherein one partition was decorated and painted with figures, and covered with linen hangings/ 7 This extract from a work written in the seventh century, gives us a very ade- quate idea of the splendor of an Irish church in this age of faith, and shows clearly, that our forefathers, in accordance with the teachings of the Church, zeal- ously and munificently honored the can- onized remains of their saints. Giraldus Cambrensis, the historian of the conquest of Ireland, gives an elabo- ( 26 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. rate description of the manuscript of the Four Gospels, written in the time of St. Bridge!:, and preserved in Kildare, where Cambrensis himself saw it. “It contains,” say he, “ as many pictures as pages, and the longer I look on it the more I am over- whelmed with admiration ; a work like this required the persevering assiduity of an angelic hand.” What glorious evi- dence of the piety and civilization of the ancient Irish ! even to this day one of the most beautiful of the reliquaries preserved in Ireland is a brass shoe or slipper, which, doubtless, formerly encased a shoe of the saint. The reliquary bears this inscription — “ St. Bridget of Kildare, Virgin and Patroness of Ireland.” It is know as <5t. Bridget’s shoe. The city of Kildare was long regarded as a sanctuary, and consequently was exempted from these direful visitations resulting from the ( 27 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. conflicts of clans and rival septs. Hence that church and city escaped the plunder- ing and burning so frequent in Ireland during the early ages. Need we say that the reverence taught at the mother’s knee and universally cherished for the Pa- troness of Ireland, tended to preserve every thing connected with the memory of our saint ? The shrine containing the relics of St Bridget, was preserved in the monastery of Kildare till about the year of our Lord 850. At this period the Danes or North- men had invaded the shores of Ireland. : and being .tempted by the richness and splendor of the Catholic Churches, laid their sacrilegious hands on the gold and silver with which the piety of the chief- tains and people had adorned the Lord’s sanctuary. The Annals of Innisfallen tell us that Banchor, was devastated ( 23 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. by those^heatliens in 810. “ They carried away with them the shrine of St. Corn- gall.” In the year of our Lord 830, the Danes advanced into Ulster, and “ broke and carried away the shrine of St. Patrick.” There can be no doubt that those fero- cious pagans made an incursion into Kildare, attracted thither by the gold and silver shrines of St. Bridget and St. Conlaith the bishop. “In 835,” say the Annals of Ulster, “ Kildare was plun- dered by the Gentiles, and they burned half the church.” It appears that Ceallach, Bishop of Kildare, took every precaution against those terrible plunderers of the churches* and he accordingly caused the shrine of St. Bridget to be removed to Down- patrick in the year 850. The shrine was there buried near the relics of St. Patrick. ( 29 ) ! THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET SL Columbkille was interred in Iona* but his relics were removed to Down- patrick by Dermod, the Abbot (of Iona), in 851, and this rich shrine was concealed near the remains of St. Bridget and St. Patrick. Thus did our pious fore- fathers venerate the relics of God’s cano- nized saints ; and thus did the three tute- lar saints of Ireland commingle their mortal remains in one grave. More than two centuries passed away before Hea- ven deigned to reveal the exact site of their grave in the Church of Downpatrick ; but that revelation was made to St. Malachy, a. d. 1185. The cathedral of Downpatrick was adorned with exquisite marble statues of the three tutelar saints of Ireland, but in the reign of Henry VIII, a. d. 1538, Grey, the Lord-Deputy, invaded Ulster, plundered and burned the cathedral and ( 30 ) i THE LIFE OF S : I BRIDGET. town of Downpatrick. He and his sac- rilegious soldiers broke and defaced the statues of Saints Patrick, Bridget, and Columbkille. The fury of the Reform- ers, as they styled themselves, against the images and relics of the saints knew no bounds, and we are told by an English historian that this Lord-Deputy, Grey, marched with an army to Trim to destroy a statue of the Blessed Virgin. This war against the relics and images of Christ’s saints was a revival of the iconoclasm, or image-breaking, originated by Constantine Copronimus, the Greek emperor, who was anathematized by the Church at an early period ; and the hatred exhibited by the Reformers to the relics of the saints, was in every respect like that en- tertained towards them by the arch-here- tic Vigilantius, so powerfully denounced by St. Jerome. ( 31 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. Kildare was long celebrated as the domicile of piety and learning, and the venerable ruins of its former glory are evidences of the civilization, sanctity, and enlightenment of our ancestors. The round-tower, the stone crosses so richly sculptured, and the crumbling remains of the cathedral, attest the hallowed respect which the Irish cherished for their great Patroness. Close by the former city of St. Bridget at Kilcullen, was an abbey founded by St. Iseminus. Kilcullen was a bishopric down to the twelfth century, at which period it was annexed to the See of Kildare. Nor should we omit mentioning that the name of our holy Patroness is to be found in the Martyrology of the Venerable Bede, and in all others since the time of her decease. She is com- memorated in the divine office in most of ( 32 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. tlie churches of Germany, and in many of the French churches. One of the Hebrides, or western islands of Scotland, was named Brigidiani, from a renowned monastery erected there in her honor. The head of St. Bridget is said to have been preserved in the Church of the Jesu- its at Lisbon. We are to give no credence, whatso- ever, to the fabulous stories concerning the perpetual fire said to have been pre- served by St. Bridget and her nuns at Kildare. No mention of any such fire occurs in her lives written by her nephew Cogitosus, and others ; and the first allu- sion made to it is to be found in the works of Giraldus Cambrensis, who has invented much, and exaggerated grossly. Many and great were the miracles wrought by our holy patroness, and many things did she prophesy concern- ( 83 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. nig the vicissitudes of the Irish Catholic Church Of the miracles she wrought, we will here record a few taken from her life by Cogitosus. On one occasion a woman brought her daughter, who was dumb, to the saint, that she might, through her intercession, obtain the faculty of speech. As soon as St. Bridget saw the girl, she thus ad- dressed her : u If God gave to thee the power of speaking, wouldst thou conse- crate thyself to his service ? ” On the in- stant, the girl, who was bom dumb, re- plied that she would, and thus was heaven pleased to manifest its almighty power by the instrumentality of the holy patroness of Ireland. On another occasion a blind woman came, praying her to intercede in her behalf, that she might be blessed with vision. The saint prayed, and, lo ! the ( 34 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET. blind woman saw. After a while, she who had received healing, thus addressed the saint : “ Blessed Bridget, shut mine eyes again, for the farther I am removed from worldly objects, the closer and more intimate is my union with my God.” The request was granted, and her eyes were re-closed. It is said that Ninnid, who adminis- tered the last sacraments to our Saint, Was at Borne when the time of her dissolution drew nigh, and that he was admonished by an angel to return home, to attend the dying Saint. In her last moments, she thus addressed the weeping community who surrounded her. “ My children, my dear children, behold the hour I have long sighed for has come My Spouse, Jesus, calls me to Himself. Cherish for ever among you the divine love. Remember that you are the disci- ( 35 ) THE LIFE OF ST. BRIDGET pies and descendants of our great primate and apostle St. Patrick. Imitate his virtues and examples. Your labors are few and short, but their reward is certain and eternal. Heaven bless you, my dear ones. My Jesus, I go to thee” and with this honey in her mouth, she passed into the embrace of her Divine Redeemer. Her obsequies were celebrated by all the bishops and clergy of Ireland.” PEAYER. Oh God, we beseech Thee to grant that we may profit by the glorious examples and merits of Thy holy servant, our ad- mirable Patroness, St. Bridget ! m THE LIFE OF SAINT JOSEPH. O St. John was given the sublime mis- sion of announcing Jesus Christ, and bearing testimony to his divinity before men. To Joseph Jesus Christ was in- trusted that he might rear him up and watch over him from his infancy. John was the Precursor of our Redeemer, and Joseph was his adoptive father, being the spouse of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of our Lord. We know nothing of St. Joseph except what the Holy Ghost has been pleased to communicate to us in the inspired writ- ings. He descended in a right line from the greatest kings of Juda, and the most THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. illustrious of the ancient patriarchs. But he has far grander titles than those con- ferred by birth or lineage — his transcen- dent virtues, and, above all, his faith and his humility. This faith and humility manifested themselves in him from the earliest moment of the union that he had contracted with her who was chosen to be the Mother of our Redeemer. While this immaculate Virgin was still bearing the divine Redeemer in her womb, Joseph was greatly troubled, and had made up his mind to leave her. Suddenly there came an angel of the Lord to the bedside of Joseph, and thus addressed him: “ Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from [ 2 ] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. their sins.” Joseph never doubted, for a single moment, the angel’s word, and proving himself to be as humble and docile as he was full of faith, he did what he was commanded, and took the Blessed Virgin unto him. When Mary was about to give to the world the heaven-sent Child who was to save mankind by delivering us from the servitude of sin, Augustus Caesar pub- lished an edict ordaining a census of the inhabitants of all the countries then sub- ject to the Homan Empire. According to this edict, each person was to be regis- tered in his own town. Joseph, in obedi- ence to the imperial mandate, set out im- mediately from the city of Nazareth ; and, as he was of the house of David, he went to Bethlehem, the city of David, in Juda, to be there enrolled with Mary his spouse. God permitted that they should not m THE LIFE OF 8T. JOSEPH. find a lodging in the inn, then crowded with people who had come to be regis- tered, and they were, consequently, oblig- ed to seek shelter in a sort of cavern that served for a stable. Such was the place in which the world’s Saviour chose to be born. Mary wrapped the divine infant in poor scanty clothing, and laid him in a manger. Soon afterwards, while the angels were singing “ Glory to God in the highest heavejis, and on earth peace to men of good will,” the shepherds of the neighborhood, being admonished by a celestial messenger, repaired to Bethle- hem to witness what had come to pass, and that which the Lord had made knowm to them. They then found Mary and Joseph w T ith the infant, who was laid in the manger ; and having seen him, they were convinced of the truth of all that had been told [ 4 ] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. them concerning this child. All those who heard the shepherds speaking of these marvels were filled with admiration. “Now, Mary,” continues the evangelist, “ kept all these words, pondering them in her heart that is to say, her heart was fall of this great mystery, and she, more than any one else, rejoiced at what the shepherds said. She did not consider these great things cursorily, but kept them locked up in her heart as the object of her meditation, making them the subject of her most pro- found gratitude to him who chose her, humble as she was, to be a vessel over- flowing with divine grace. But what must have been the feelings of St. Joseph ? We should be able to enter into his heart in order to comprehend all that he must have felt then. It would be impossible for us to form [ 5 ] 'THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. an adequate notion of the respect and the Love with which he adored the Saviour who had condescended to be reputed his son. How faithfully did he comply with the designs of the Eternal Father, who com- missioned him to rear up the Word made flesh, and watch over his ever-blessed Mother ! “ He, indeed,” says St. Bernard (speaking of St. Joseph), u was the faith- ful and prudent servant whom our Lord placed over his family to be the support and consolation of liis mother, his adop tive father, and his worthy co-operator in the execution of his merciful designs Oh ! how supremely blest was he who not only saw Jesus Christ, but heard him, fondled him in his arms, carried him about with him, caressed him, fed him, and thus partook of the countless ineffa- ble secrets hidden from the eyes of the [ 6 ] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. world !” “ Oh ! prodigious elevation ; oh ! incomparable dignity,” exclaims the pious Jerome, addressing himself to St. Joseph ; “ the Mother of God, the Queen of heaven, calls Joseph her lord; the Word made flesh calls Joseph his father, and obeys him. O Jesus ! O Mary ! O Joseph ! you form on earth a glorious trinity, in which the august Trinity of Heaven concentrates all its complacencies ! What can we im- agine here below so great, so good, or so excellent ?” Notwithstanding all the extraordinary graces which Heaven rained down on St Joseph, he maintained the profoundest sense of humility ; he lived in obscurity like the meanest of men ; he studiously concealed the ineffable privileges with which he was honored, and spoke not a word of the incomprehensible mysteries which were about to be accomplished; [71 T THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. he sought not to fathom them, but left it to God to manifest himself at the time fixed by his inscrutable decrees. He thought only of corresponding with the views of Providence in his regard, and applied himself solely to that which con- cerned him. Although he descended from the ancient kings of Juda, he was fully sat- isfied with the lowly condition of his life — a condition despised by the rich and the great — and his only ambition was to sup- ply, by the labor of his hands, the com- mon wants of the holy family. Joseph was the instrument employed by God to save the infant Jesus from the fury of Herod. This cruel and jealous prince had re- solved to massacre the innocents, in order more surely to compass the death of Jesus Christ, when an angel appeared to [ 8 ] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. Joseph, and ordered him to arise and carry Jesus into Egypt. There in that strange land was he to remain with the Blessed Mother and the divine Babe till ordered from on high to go back. A flight so sudden and unexpected nowise disconcerted him. He obeyed on the instant, without even stopping to enquire at what time he was to return. We can easily imagine all that he had to suffer when traversing vast deserts with the divine Infant and his Blessed Mother. On this St. Chrysostom remarks that God treated St. Joseph as he is ac- customed to treat his servants : he sends them trials to purify their hearts from the stains of self-love, tempering their bitter- ness with the sweetest consolations. Joseph,” says this holy Father of the Church, “ was disquieted whilst Mary was carrying the divine Infant in her womb, m THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. and an angel of the Lord comes to relieve him from his state of perplexity. He is overwhelmed with joy at the Saviour’s birth ; but this joy is succeeded by har- rowing fears. Herod and all Jerusalem are conspiring against the life of the Infant. Joy returned when the Magi came to adore and make their offerings at the manger where the Infant was laid; but this joy is troubled by a new terror; the holy family must fly into an unknown country.” After the death of Herod, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, command- ing him to return into Judea with the infant and his mother. He obeyed with his ordinary promptitude ; but, having learned on his arrival that Archelaus had succeeded to Herod, he had reason to apprehend that the son had inherited all his father’s cruelty. This apprehension it [ 10 ] THE LITE OF ST. JOSEPH. was that caused him to go into Galilee which was governed by Herod Antipas, brother of Archelaus. He now chose for his residence the city of Nazareth, where the birth of Jesus had made least noise. There he lived peace- ably, working at his trade, which is com- monly believed to have been that of a carpenter. The child Jesus worked along with his reputed father, thus giving us a sanctified lesson of submission and obedience. Like a faithful disciple of Moses, Joseph went every year to celebrate the Passover at Jerusalem; and as soon as Jesus had reached the twelfth year of his age, he made his journey along with his parents. After the festival was over, Joseph and Mary set out from the holy city on their wav to Nazareth, never doubting that Jesus was along with the people of their [ill THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. acquaintance. They were not aware of his absence till they had made nigh a day’s journey. They then returned in deep grief to Jerusalem. After having sought him for three days in Jerusalem, they at length found him in the temple, seated in the midst of the doctors of the law, listening to them, and putting questions to them that filled all the by-standers with admiration. Joseph and Mary could not but be astonished. “My son,” said the mother to him, “ why hast thou acted thus to us ? See how thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” “ Know ye not,” replied Jesus, “ that I must be about the business that concerns my Father.” By these words he gave them to under- stand that he had appeared in public only [ 12 ] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. fco labor for bis Father’s glory, and to pre- pare the princes of the synagogue to receive him, by causing them to see that the oracles of the prophets regarding the Messiah were all about to be fulfilled. Nevertheless, Jesus, who had not com- municated to Joseph and Mary his inten- tion of stopping in the temple to obey his Eternal Father, was perfectly subject to them in all other things. Hence it was that he did not hesitate a single instant to return with them to Nazareth. From that moment the Scripture says nothing more of St. Joseph. It is proba- ble that he died before the time in which our Saviour commenced his public life, and that he expired in the arms of Jesus and Mary. For this reason we should constantly invoke St. Joseph to obtain for us a happy death and the spiritual presence of Jesus and Mary at that dread T13] THE LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH. moment which decides our lot for eter nity. PRAYER. Great Saint, chosen by God to be the spouse of the most Blessed Virgin, and the guardian of the divine Son — O thou who hadst the ineffable blessing of living in closest intimacy with the Word made flesh — O thou who didst carry him in thy arms, and expired in his, obtain for us that we may never be sepa- rated from our God in time or in eternity. « THE LIFE OF SAINT PETEK. ETER, son of Jon a, and brother of St. Andrew, was born at Bethsaida, a town of Galilee, and was called Simon. He was a fisherman, and lived with his wife and his mother-in-law at Caphar- naum, on the western extremity of the Lake of Genezareth. Andrew having heard St. John the Baptist (of whom he was a disciple) declare that Jesus Christ was the Messiah promised by the prophets, wished to see him and hear him. He accordingly went, and brought with him St. Peter, to whom our Lord immediately addressed these words : u Thou art Simon, son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas ” ; that is to say, Peter. A great THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. mystery lay hidden beneath these words, as we shall see hereafter. St. Peter did not attach himself to Jesns Christ at this first interview; but he visited him from time to time, and then returned to his ordinary avocations. It was chiefly owing to a second vocation that he became more particularly a dis- ciple of Jesus Christ. One day while our Lord was walking on the bank of the Lake of Tiberias, he saw two boats, the owners of which were on the strand wash* ing their nets. Being completely sur- rounded by the crowd that followed him, he went into one of the vessels which be- longed to Simon, and then, putting off a short distance from the shore, he sat down and commenced preaching to the multitude. After finishing his discourse, he said to Peter, “ Launch out into the deep water iP] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. and cast thy nets.” Simon Peter obeyed, and instantly the two boats were so filled w ith fish that they were nigh being sunk. Astonished by this miracle, the son of Jona could not repress the transports of his faith and gratitude : “ Lord,” he ex- claimed, casting himself at the feet of Jesus, “I am a sinful man; depart from me.” James and John, the sons of Zebe- dee, his companions, were equally enrap- tured at sight of this miracle. Jesus, who knew their inmost thoughts, then said to them : “Follow me : hitherto you have been fishermen ; but I will make ye fishers of men.” Thenceforth these men of simple and upright heart quitted their nets and followed him. Nor was it long till Peter’s faith met its reward. The Redeemer condescended to visit his house, where he found his mother-in-law lying sick of fever. He T3] THE LIFE OF ST. PETEB. who rules as supreme Lord over all tilings touched the hand of the infirm woman ; and lo ! the fever vanished ! Clement of Alexandria tells us that St. Peter was baptized by the Lord himself, and that he was the only one who receiv- ed this signal favor. He likewise tells us that it was St. Peter who baptized An- drew, James, and John. From the day on which St. Peter was called to the apostolate, he became inti- mately associated with his divine Master, and never left him. He, therefore, wit- nessed all the miracles by which he prov- ed his heavenly mission. But we will cite only those in which the Evangelists mention his presence. Having wrought the great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, and after having dismissed the multitude, who, to attest their gratitude, would have carried 141 THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. him off and proclaimed him their king Jesus ordered his disciples to go into a boat, while he retired alone to a moun- tain to pray. Suddenly a tempest sprang up and the fragile bark with its crew was on the point of being whelmed in the raging waters ; but, lo l at the fourth watch of the night Jesus Christ walks towards them on the waves. The appari- tion appalled them, and, mistaking him for a phantom, they uttered a cry of horror : u Be of good heart,” said Jesus to them, a ’tis I.” And Peter, making an- swer, said : “ Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters.” And he said, “ Come ” ; and Peter, going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus; but seeing the wind strong he was afraid ; and, when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, “ Lord, save me.” And immediately Jesus, stretching T5] THE LIFE OF 5T. PETER. forth his hand, took hold of him, and said, u O thou of little faith, why dost thou doubt ? ” They both then entered the boat, and the tempest ceased. All those who were present, seeing this miracle, approached Jesus, and adored him, saying, u Thou art truly the bon of God.” Peter, certainly, was not the last to confess the divinity of him who commanded the winds and waves ; but a moment was approaching in which he was to confess him still more openly. Jesus Christ had now come to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, the last town of Judea on the north, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, a portion of the chain of Lebanon. Here, in one of those familiar interviews in which he took occasion to instruct his disciples, he put this question to them : 11 Whom do men say that I am?” “ Lord,” they an [61 THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. swered, “some say that thou art John Baptist ; others that thou art Elias ; and others that thou art Jeremias, or some one ->f the prophets.” “ And you,’*’ resumed Jesus, “ whom do you say that I am ? ” “Lord,” replied Peter, speaking in the name of all the disciples, “ thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” “ Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona” — thus spake Jesus to him — “ for ’tis not flesh and blood that hath revealed this to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.” And then, to recom- pense the ardent faith of the prince of the apostles, he added : “ And I tell thee that build ^myjjk nrch, against which- ihe powers of hell shall never prevail.” ~~On this memorable day dn which the primacy of St. Peter was so evidently es- tablished, this was not the only favor bestowed on him by his divine Master. m THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. Having now been constituted the funda- mental stone of the terrestrial church, he was appointed to lead the faithful into the heavenly city, for Jesus Christ be- stowed on him the keys of the kingdom of heaven — in other words, the power of loosing and binding. In a word, he gave to him, as well as to the other apostles, the power of remitting or retaining sins in confession, and this power was to be trans- mitted through them to their successors. Meanwhile the time was nigh at hand in which the Saviour was to consummate, on Calvary, the work of our redemption. Desiring to prepare his apostles for this terrible scene, he began by revealing to them that he must go to Jerusalem, where he was to suffer much at the hands of senators, scribes, and priests; in a word, that he was to be put to death, and that he would arise three days afterwards. THE LIFE OF ST. PETEB. Peter, listening only to Lis love for Lis divine Master, began, according to tLe expression of tLe Evangelist, to u rebuke him,” saying, “ Lord, that shall never happen unto thee.” On hearing this, Jesus blamed him severely, and reproach- ed him for having taste only for the things of earth. Peter’s fault was truly a pardonable one, for it sprang from love. Six days afterwards, says the Evangelist, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and conducted them up to a lygh mountain, which is commonly believed to be Thabor. There he was transfigured before them; his countenance became brilliant as the sun, and his garments as white as snow. At the same time Moses and Elias appeared and conversed with him. On witnessing such a glorious •pectacle, Peter could not contain his ad* [91 THE LIFE OF ST. PETEE. miration and joy. u Lord,” he exclaimed, it is well for us to be here ; let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Whilst Peter was still speaking, a lu- minous cloud enveloped Jesus, Moses, and Elias, and then was heard a loud voice saying, u This is my dearly beloved Son, hear ye him.” At sight of those tran- scendent wonders, the apostles were over- whelmed with a sort of stupor, and they all three fell with faces prostrated on the ground. Jesus then approached them, and touching them with his hand, said, u Arise, fear nothing.” They looked about them ; Moses and Elias had disappeared. The first, the author of the written law ; and the second, representing the prophets, or rather the law and the prophets, in their persons, had come solely to render homage to the superiority of the new law, [ 10 ] TIIE LIFE OF ST. PETEK. Their ministry was accomplished; and now no one was to be heard save the Son of God alone. The Pasch, the greatest of all the Jew- ish festivities, had now arrived. The ob- ject of this festival was to symbolize everything that had reference to the sacrifice of the new’ law and the mystery of the world’s redemption. When night had come, says the sacred text, Jesus sat at table with his twelve disciples to cele- brate the Pasch, the last that was to be celebrated according to the rite instituted by Moses, and the first in which the true Paschal Lamb was to replace that which was merely its figure. Towards the close of the repast, Jesus laid aside his garment, and girded himself with a tow’el; then, having poured water into a basin, he wash- ed the feet of his disciples, and dried them with the towel wherewith he w 7 as girded. [Jij THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. Astounding as was this act of humility, the Evangelist does not say that any of the disciples except St. Peter resisted it. When it came to his turn to have his feet washed, he thus evinced his surprise : <• Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet ! ” “ If I do not wash thy feet,” replied Jesus, “thou shalt not have part with me.” “ Lord,” rejoined St. Peter, with all the ingenuousness of a happy soul, “ on that condition wash not only my feet, but my hands and head likewise.” Jesus Christ had forewarned his dis- ciples that one of them was about to betray him. The very thought of this filled him with sorrow, and he then bade them adieu tenderly, and exhorted them to love each other affectionately, as lie himself had loved them. All the dis- ciples of the Lord wept while listening to these words, and Simon Peter in par- [ 12 ] THE LIEE OF ST. PETES. fcicular was deeply affected by them. “ Lord,” he asked, u whither goest thou ? ” Jesus answered, u I am going where thou canst not follow me now.” “ Why, Lord, may I not follow thee now ? if necessary, I will lay down my life for thee.” u Amen, I say to thee,” was our Lord’s answer, “ before the cock crows twice, thou shalt have three times denied me.” There is in this something calculated to confound us. This man of zeal, this apostle whose faith we have seen manifesting itself so gloriously — this apostle is going to deny his Master. Ah ! beneath this appear- ance of entire devotion to his sacred per son, the eye of Jesus Christ detected some lingering trace of presumption and self-love which must have its chastise- ment. But the repentance and bitter grief that this fall brings to the soul of St. Peter will teach him to cherish com fi?l THE LIFE OF 5T.“ FETEB. ilescension and all necessary charity for his brethren. We find St. Peter in the Garden of Olives. He accompanied Jesus with the two sons of Zebedee, when the Lord re- tired to this place, with soul sickened unto death. When Judas came to a;ive the Redeemer the traitor’s kiss — the pre- concerted signal by which his enemies were to identify him — Peter, in the ardor of his zeal, unsheathed a sword, and cut off the ear of the servant of the high- priest. Doubtless he would have killed him, had not Jesus interposed. At this direful crisis, all the other disciples fled away in terror. Peter, however, clung to his Lord, and followed him to the residence of Caiphas. Here he sat down in the vestibule with the servants of the high-priest, waiting the issue of this great business, and following all its sad [ 14 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. details with painfully anxious interest. During these hours of agony, a servant- woman of the high-priest approached, and said, “You, too, were with Jesus of Gali- lee.” Peter denied this, and answered, “ I know not what you say.” An instant afterwards, another servant, on seeing him, said to those who were about her : u He yonder was also with Jesus of Na- zareth.” Peter denied this still more energetically, and answered, “I swear that I do not know this man.” Just then the cock crew, but Peter heard it not. A little afterwards, one of those who were there, a relative of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off in the Gar- den of Olives, advanced, and said to him, u Of a certainty you were along with them, your language betrays you.” Then, as it were to put the crown on his inex- cusable obstinacy, Peter pronounced hor- [ 15 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. rible imprecations, and .repeated with an oath that he knew not the man. Just . then the cock crew a second time. Then it was that the faithless disciple encoun- tered the divine eyes of Jesus. His glance subjugated the apostle’s heart. On the moment, he beheld the depth of his fall and the magnitude of his crime. His heart was melting in his bosom, and he went out into the courtyard to give free course to his repentant tears. This abandonment on the part of the apostles, and this denial on the part of St. Peter — the bitterest ingredients in the chalice of the Lord’s sufferings — prove to us that the Lord was pleased to choose the weakest instruments for the establishment of the kingdom of tkt Gospel. They pi^ove, moreover, that the establishment of Christianity is its great* est miracle. [ 16 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. Meanwhile, after our Lord had been overwhelmed with injuries and insults, scourged, crowned with thorns, spat upon, buffeted, and nailed to the cross on which he expired, his dead body was laid in a tomb. Nothing was left undone to make him appear an object of scandal to the eyes of his apostles ; and Peter, like the others, although he had frequently heard Jesus speak of his resurrection, could think of nothing but the coming miracle that was to set the seal on all the others which had so gloriously signalized the Becleemer’s life. But the third day after our Lord’s death, certain pious wo- men proceeded early in the morning to the sepulchre with perfumes that they had prepared, and great was their aston- ishment when they found that the stone had been rolled away from its mouth, and that the body was no longer there [ 17 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. In the meantime, two persons utterly un- known to them presented themselves, and recounted to them the wonders that had been operated. They then hastened to relate these things to the other apostles. Hearing this, Peter and John arose and hurried to the sepulchre. There they found nothing but the winding-sheet and some linen, which the Saviour had flung off. St. John, speaking of this, says that he thenceforth believed on the testimony of his own eyes, and he adds also, in speaking of St. Peter: “For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.” On the night of the same day, Peter saw the Jjord himself ; for, while the apostles were assembled together in a chamber whose doors were locked, on account of their fear of the Jews, Jesus appeared and said to them, “Peace be [ 18 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. with you.” He then showed them his pierced hands and opened side ; and, after saying a second time, “Peace be with you,” he added, “ As my Father hath sent me, I also send you.” He then breathed upon them, and said ; “ Peceive the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them ; and whose sins you shall retain, they are re- tained.” Eight days afterwards, the disciples being still assembled in the same place, Jesus appeared while the doors were locked as on the former occasion. Stand- ing in the midst of them, he saluted them with the ordinary salutation, “Peace be with you.” Peter, moreover, with many other dis- ciples, was blessed by another manifesta- tion of the Lord on the borders of the lake of Tiberias. They had gone to fish, [ 19 ] 1 TIIE LIFE OF ST. PETER. for those laborious men had not totally abandoned their toilsome occupations, since they were obliged to support them- selves by the sweat of their brows. They entered a boat, and, after laboring all night, took nothing. Morning having come, Jesus appeared on the bank, with- out being recognized by his disciples, and said to them, “ Children, have you nothing to eat ?” “ No,” replied they. “ Cast your nets on the right of the boat,” said the Lord. They did so, and they could not drag in the net, so heavily was it laden with fishes. John, seeing this, said to Peter, “It is the Lord !” The mention of his name was enough for Peter. He put on his clothes, for he was naked, and cast him- self into the water to go and meet his divine Master, while the other disciples followed in a boat. They all sat down m THE LIFE OF ST. PETER, to eat oh the bank of the lake. After the repast, Jesus said to Peter, “ Simon, lovest thou me more than those ?” “ Lord,” replied the apostle, “ thou knowest I love thee.” — “ Feed my lambs,” said Jesus. Jesus asked him a second time, “ Simon, lovest thou me more than those ?” “ Yes,” answered Peter, “I love thee, and thou knowest it.” — “ Feed my lambs.” A third time did the Redeemer put the same question to Peter. A profound sadness had now seized the apostle, and he answered, “Lord, thou knowest all things — thou knowest that I love thee.” Then Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” By these words he gave him power not only over the mere faithful, but also over the pastors themselves. w Amen, amen, I say to thee, when thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself, and didst walk where thou wouldst; but [ 21 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. when thou shalt be old, tbou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst lot. And this he said, signifying by what death he should glorify God.” Jesus Christ appeared once more, for the last time, to his disciples, before ascending into heaven. It was then that he most signally gave them their apos- tolic mission — “ Go through the whole world . . . preach the Gospel to every creature . . . and believe firm- ly that I will be with you even to the consummation of ages. I am going to send you the gift of my Father that has been promised to you. Remain in the city; do not quit Jerusalem till you are clothed with strength from on high.” Then, having gone with them to the Mount of Olives, he blessed them for the last time, and ascended into heavea [22j THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. The apostles returned to Jerusalem, under the guidance of Peter, to await the com- ing of the Holy Ghost. As soon as the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost, they began to speak in various languages. The incredulous, who scoff at everything, said that they were drunken men. Peter then, to meet their incredulity, showed clearly that this fact was merely the fulfilment of prophecy; and his words converted three thousand persons, who asked baptism at his hands. A short time after this, the preaching of the prince of the apostles converted five thousand persons more. To the power of the words that the Holy Ghost put in their mouths the apos- tles added the evidence of miracles, and they loudly proclaimed that it was in the name of Jesus of Nazareth that they wrought them. Their persecutors knew [ 23 ] T THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. not how to answer them. To deny the miracles was impossible — all Jerusalem beheld them ; they therefore resolved that the fame of them should not be diffused abroad through the world. They conse- quently forbade the apostles to mention the name of Jesus to any one. “ Judge yourselves,” said St. Peter to them, u whether it be just in the eyes of God to obey him rather than you. As for us, it is impossible for us not to speak of the things which we have heard and seen.” Their judges, confounded by this answer, dismissed them, after threatening them with punishment. Once more at liberty, they all assembled together, and they all celebrated the power of the Lord in a hymn of thanksgiving. Nothing could have been more admi- rable than the holy society they had formed. Those who possessed property [241 THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. in Louses or lands sold it, through love of poverty and in the spirit of charity. They then brought the money to the feet of the apostles, who distributed it amongst the faithful according to their wants. One day a man named Ananias, having sold his lands, formed a plan with his wife, named Sapphira, to retain a portion of the price which he had received. He then carried the remainder of the sum to the feet of the apostles, to whom he said that he had not retained anything. It was not to man, but to God himself, that he lied, as St. Peter told him ; and thus his crime could not go unpunished. Pie suddenly fell dead, struck by an invisible hand, and his wife, who came a few hours afterwards to sustain the lie, perished in the same manner. The miracles of the apostles were mul- tiplied day by day, and those of St. Peter T25] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. in particular were so signal that the sick and afflicted were brought out whenever he passed, in order that his shadow might fall on them, and restore them to health Witnessing such indisputable miracles, the enemies of the apostles redoubled their fury, and cast them into prison. Vain efforts ! An ana;el of the Lord came to deliver them. They raged; but they always received this answer : “ It is better to obey God than to obey man.” They were then released, and went about re- joicing that they had been deemed wor- thy to suffer this outrage for the name of their divine Master. These persecutions tended only to in- flame still more the zeal of the apostles, and the number of the faithful increased daily. There was among the new con- verts a certain Simon, who was reputed to be skilled in the pretended arts of magic. [*il I THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. This man, seeing that Peter and John conferred the Holy Ghost by the impo- sition of hands, furnished himself with a sum of money, and went to offer it to them, saying, u Bestow on me the power that you exercise, in order that those on whom I impose bands may also receive the Holy Ghost.” Odious traffic ! As though the gifts of the Holy Ghost were marketable for a sum of gold, like vulgar merchandise. This infamous proposition excited Peter’s indignation : “ Let your money perish with you,” said he, “ since you have believed that the gift of God could be bought with money.” Simon saw his fault, and showed his sorrow ; but it is doubtful if his sorrow was sincere, or at least lasting. His dis- honored name serves even to this day to designate those who traffic in holy things, as does that of Judas to desig- T271 r I THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. cate traitors. The former are termed Simonists Peter undertook various journeys through Judea to visit the faithful, and confirm them in the faith, that is to say, for the purpose of giving them the Sacrament of Confirmation. He found at Lydda, a town of the tribe of Ephraim, a man named Eneas stretched on his bed by paralysis. “ Eneas,” said the apostle to him, “ the Lord Jesus Christ healeth thee, arise and make thy bed ” ; and im- mediately he arose, as strong and healthy as he had before been languid and sick. The fame of this miracle was soon diffus- ed through all the neighboring towns, and the inhabitants of Joppa sent to Peter, beseeching him to come and visit them. When he arrived, they brought him to a chamber where lay the mortal remains of a woman named Tabitha or 128 ] I THE LIFE OF ST. PETER Dorcas, who was illustrious for her vir« tues and good works. They gave the apostle to understand by their tears and groans that the deceased was deserving of Heaven’s mercy. Peter knelt to pray, for he was moved to pity, and as soon as he knew that God had heard him, he said, a TaLitha, arise ! ” and she got up on the instant, to the astonishment of all around her. This miraculous cure and resurrection produced abundant fruits of conversion throughout the whole coun- try. ■ Up to this moment the Jews alone seemed to have been called to the faith ; but the time in which the Gentiles, that is to say> the pagans, were to become participators of it, Lad arrived. At Cesa- rea there was a centurion of Roman origin named Cornelius, who gave copious alms and devoted much time to prayer. T29] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. One day an angel appeared to him, and told him that his alms had ascended in the sight of God, who wished to recom- pense him. “ There is at this moment in Joppa,” said the angel, “ a certain Simon, surnamed Peter, lodging in the house of another Peter, a currier, near the sea. Send to seek him ; it is he who will teach you what you have to do.” Thereon Cornelius immediately sent for St. Peter. Meanwhile, the apostle had had a vision. He beheld the heavens opened, and an immense sheet let down by the four cor- ners descending towards the earth. On this sheet was every sort of animal. At the same time he heard a voice saying, “ Peter, arise, kill and eat.” “ God forbid, Lord,” replied he, “ that I should ever eat anything common or defiled.” And then the voice was heard again saying, “ Peter, call not that defiled which God himself m THE LIEE OF ST. PETES. has purified.” This vision appeared to him thrice, and then the great sheet was taken back into heaven. Peter was still occupied thinking what this vision could mean, when the Spirit of God said to him, “ Behold, three men are seeking thee: arise, make no difficulty about going with them: for it is I who have sent them.” Peter, on meeting the messengers, immediately understood their object. He therefore proceeded to the centurion at Joppa, and besought him to hear the word of God preached to him and his household. While Peter was preaching, the Holy Ghost descended on the Gentiles who were listening to him. The apostle then said, could we refuse the water of baptism to those who have already received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? He then immediately command- ed them to be baptized. [ 31 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. Thus was the line of demarcation be- tween the Gentiles and the people of God effaced, and thus was the faith given to all men. Some Jews there were who re- proached Peter for his conduct in regard of the Gentiles. “ Since God,” replied the apostle, “has accorded them the same grace that he has given to us, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who am I, weak mortal, that I should oppose myself to the designs of God ? ” These words pacified them, and they began to glorify God, saying, “ God, then, hath also to the Gentiles given repentance unto life.” It was about this period that St. Peter went to dwell at Antioch, where the faith- ful were, for the first time, called Chris- tians. Scarcely had he arrived when Herod, the king, caused him to be arrested. Laden with chains, he was cast into a im THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. > dungeon, and the tyrant determined to put him to death. All the Church mourn- ed and prayed for its chief. There was now only one night between Peter and the day of his execution. Nevertheless, the apostle had confidence in God, and he slept tranquilly amongst his guards. Suddenly a heavenly light flooded the prison. It was the liberating angel who came to announce to Peter his enfranchisement. In an in- stant the chains fell from his hands, the doors flew open before him, and he walk ed out to rejoin his brethren. The Gospel was every day making pro gress and spreading over the world rap- idly. But some of those who preached it, having a hankering after Judaism, pre- tended that one could not be saved with out being circumcised according to th< law of Moses. St. Paul and St. Barnabas, who were evangelizing the Gentiles, pro- [- 33 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. nounced energetically against this doc- trine. It was resolved, therefore, that they should meet at Jerusalem, for the deciding of this question. Jerusalem was then the centre of unity , because Peter was there . This was the first council. Peter, who presided, then spoke thus: “ God put no difference between us and them [the Gentiles], purifying their hearts by faith. But by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved, in like manner as they also.” St. Paul, St. Barnabas, and St. James supported this grand and powerful voice of Catholicity; and it w r as concluded that the Gentiles who had come into the Church, should not be disquieted by the question of circum- cision. Never was the supremacy of St. Peter over the other apostles more clearly manifested than in this celebrated council of Jerusalem. r 34] THE LIFE OF ST. PETEK. The apostles now portioned out the nations according to the order in which they were to be evangelized. In this grand division, St. Peter chose to preach the faith to the Jews dispersed over Pon- tus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and throughout the greater part of Asia. Whilst he was at Cesarea, Simon the magician, of whom we have already spoken, proposed to have an interview with him. When they met, Simon com- menced to boast that he could perform every sort of miracle. A few words from Peter were quite sufficient to confound him on this subject : “ He,” said the apos- tle, “who derives his mission from hell works wonders that are useless to every one. Tell us, Simon, what does it avail you to set your statues in motion \ What good do you achieve by flying in the air ? All the miracles of Jesus were for the [ 35 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETEB. benefit of mankind. He gave bearing to the deaf, and sight to the blind. He healed the lame, and caused the dead to arise. Simon, dost thou comprehend the difference ?” And, in sooth, he did comprehend it, for he soon became a lausdiincr-stock to the o o people he had long deceived, so much so that he was obliged to quit Cesarea, to hide the shame of his defeat. All those who had been his disciples now fell at Peter’s feet, and gladly abjured their errors. From Cesarea, St. Peter went to Tripoli, in Phenicia, then to Laodicea, and finally to Antioch. Simon had preceded him to the latter city ; but the defeat sustained at Cesarea caused the people to look on him with a feeling of contempt. Peter, on the other hand, was received most en- thusiastically. He wrought a great many [ 36 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETEE. miraculous cures ; lie excited the people to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, and within seven days more than ten thou- sand persons were baptized. Theophilus, the most distinguished of all the denizens of Antioch, gave up his house to the apos- tle, who converted it into a church, and the people erected the chair from which Peter daily preached to them the word of God. St. Peter was the first bishop of Antioch. But it was the will of the Most High that he should fix his See in Borne. He knew that, as long as the great capital of the pagan world remained unconverted, Christianity must have a very precarious existence. He therefore embarked for Italy, visiting Greece and Sicily, and landed at Naples. He arrived at Borne in the second year of the reign of Clau- dius. He there preached the Gospel with [ 37 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. so much success that those who heard him besought St. Mark, his disciple, to com mit the Apostle’s discourses to writing. In compliance with their wish, Mark wrote the Gospel that bears his name. A short time after his arrival in Home, Peter consecrated two bishops, Linus, who succeeded him, and Cletus or Ana- clete, who succeeded Linus. The assist- ance of these coadjutors permitted him to absent himself from Rome, in order to go into the East. But he one day had a vis- ion, in which he heard Jesus Christ saying, “ The time of thy death approach- es, and thou must return to Rome.” He obeyed this order, and went back to the imperial city, where Simon the magician was now carrying on his impostures. This seducer had deluded the people so far that they were going to raise a statue to him as though he were a god. Nero, Clau- ds] THE LIFE OF ST. PETER, dius’s successor, fancied that the power of this man was destined to eternise the glories and empire of Rome. But Simon’s prosperity was to be short- lived, for Peter, accompanied by Paul, re- cently arrived at Rome, presented him self to Nero, and reproached him for his blind credulity in believing the magician. Nero was astonished at the boldness of the Apostle, and it is likely that his faith in Simon Magus began to be shaken. The magician trembled for his credit and glory; he therefore had recourse to au- dacity, and challenged Peter to meet him as on the former occasion at Cesarea, but he was defeated. Simon undertook to raise a man from the dead : he thought that he had succeeded, for the dead man moved his head, and all the spectators were enraptured. “ If the dead man has really come back to life,” said St. Peter, [ 39 ] I THE LIFE OF ST. PETER. 16 let him get up, walk, and speak ; com- mand Simon to withdraw from the corpse, and you shall see if the person be living/’ Simon retired, and the body moved not. St. Peter then knelt to pray, and, lo, the dead man arose and walked ! Withal Simon did not look on himself as vanquished. He promised that he would fly through the air, and ascend to heaven to sit beside Jupiter. On the appointed day, he flew in mid-air from the hill of the Capitol, while Nero extolled his triumph, and insulted the two Apos- tles who were looking on. But Peter prayed aloud to God, and commanded the devils who had borne their champion through the air to abandon him ; on the instant the magician tumbled to the ground, and was killed full in the sight of all the people. The ignominious death of Simon ex- [ 40 ] THE LIFE OF ST. PETEK. asperated Nero’s hatred of the Christians, and particularly of the two Apostles. He caused them to be arrested, condemned to death, and cast into prison. St. Paul was beheaded, and St. Peter was crucified like his Divine Master, of whom he was the representative on earth. Peter was about eighty years of age ; he was bishop of Antioch eleven years, and bishop or pope of Rome for twenty-five years, less six months and nineteen days. The place of St. Peter’s martyrdom was the Janiculum Mount at Rome, where the spot of his crucifixion is still shown. The Prince of the Apostles was crucified with his head downwards, as he did not deem himself worthy to be crucified like his Divine Master. PKAYEE. O God ! who hast glorified thy Church T41J THE LIFE OF ST. PETES. by the martyrdom of thy glorious Apostle Peter, grant that we may, in all things, follow the directions of him by whom was laid the foundation of religion. St. Thomas. St. Mary Maedalene. 'THE LIFE OF SAINT CATHAKINE OF SIENNA VIRGIN. [A. D. 1380.) ST. CATHARINE was bom at Sien- na, in 1347. Her father, James Benin- casa, by trade a dyer, was a virtuous man ; and, though blessed with temporal prosperity, always chiefly solicitous to leave to his children a solid inheritance of virtue, by his example, and by deeply .instilling into them lessons of piety. Her mother, Lapa, had a particular affection for this daughter above her other chil- ( 8 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE dren ; and the accomplishments of mind and body with which she was adorned, made her the darling and delight of all that knew her, and nro cured her the name of Euphrosyna. She was favored by God with extraordinary graces as soon as she was capable of knowing him. She with drew very young to a solitude a little out of town, to imitate the lives of the fathers of the desert. Returning after some time to her father’s house, she con- tinued to be guided by the same spirit. In her childhood she consecrated her virginity to God by a private vow. Iler love of mortification and prayer, and her sentiments of virtue, were such as are not usually found in so tender an age, But God was pleased to put her resolu- tion to a great trial. At twelve years of age, her parents thought of engaging her in the married state. Catharine found ( 4 ) n THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. them deaf to her entreaties that she might live single ; and therefore redoubled her prayers, watching, and austerities, knowing her protection must be from God alone. Hen /parent^ regarding her inclination to solitude as unsuitable to the life for which they designed her, en- deavored to divert her from it, and began to thwa rt her devotions^ depriving her in tills view of the little chamber or cell they had till then allowed her. They loaded her with the most distracting employments, and laid on her all the drudgery of the house, as if she had been a person hired into the family for that purpose. The hardest labor, humiliations, contempt, and the insults of her sisters, were to the Saint a subject of joy; and such was her ardent love of crosses, that she embraced them in all shapes with a holy eagerness, and received all railleries with ( 5 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. an admirable sweetness and heroic patience. If any thing grieved her, it was the loss of her solitude. But the Holy Ghost, that interior faithful master, to whom she listened, taught her to make herself another solitude in her heart ; where, amidst all her occupations, she considered herself always as alone with God ; to whose presence she kept herself no less attentive than if she had no ex- terior employment to distract her. In that admirable Treatise of God’s Provi- dence, which she wrote, she saith: “ That our Lord had taught her to build in her soul a private closet, strongly vaulted with the Divine Providence, and to keep herself always close and retired there ; he assured her that by this means she coidd find peace and perpetual repose in her soul, which no storm or tribulation could disturb or interrupt.” Her sisters ( 6 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. and other friends persuaded her to join with them in the diversions of the world, alleging that virtue is not an enemy to neatness in dress, or to cheerfulness ; under which soft names they endeavored to recommend the dangerous liberties of worldly pastime and vanities. Catharine was according prevailed upon by her sisters to dress in a manner something more genteel ; but she soon repented of the compliance, and wept for it during the remainder of her life, as the greatest infidelity she had ever been guilty of to her Heavenly Spouse. The death of her eldest sister, Bonaventura, soon after confirmed her in those sentiments. JHer father, edified at her patience and virtue, at length approved and seconded her devotion, and all her pious desires. She liberally assisted the poor, served the sick, and comforted the afflicted and (?) I THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. prisoners. Her chief subsistence was boiled herbs, without either sauce or bread, which last she seldom tasted. She wore a very rough haircloth, and a large iron girdle armed with sharp points ; she lay on the ground, and watched much. Humility, obedience, and a denial of her own will, even in her penitential austeri- ties, gave them then’ true value. She began this corn's e of life before she was fifteen years of age. She was moreover visited with many painful distempers, which she underwent with incredible patience ; she had also suffered much from the use of hot baths prescribed her by physicians. Amidst her pains, it was her constant prayer that they might serve for the expiation of her offences, and the purifying of her heart. She long desired, and in 1365, the eighteenth year of her age, (but two years later according to ( 8 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. some writers,) slie received the habit of the third Order of St. Dominic. From that time her cell became her paradise, prayer her element, and her mortifica- tions had no longer any restraint. For three years she never spoke to any one but to God and her confessor. Her days and nights were employed in the delight- ful exercises of contemplation ; the fruits whereof were supernatural lights, a most ardent love of God, and zeal for the con- version of sinners. The old serpent, seeing her angelical life, set all his engines at work to assault her virtue. He first filled her imagination with the most filthy representations, and assailed her heart with the basest and most humbling temptations. Afterwards, he spread in her soul such a cloud and darkness that it was the severest trial imaginable. She saw herself a hundred ( 9 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. times on the brink of the precipice, but was always supported by an invisible hand. Her arms were fervent prayer, humility, resignation, and confidence in God. By these she persevered victo- riously, and was at last delivered from those trials which had only served to purify her heart. Our Savior visiting her after this bitter conflict, she said to him: “Where wast thou, my divine Spouse, whilst I lay in such an aban- doned, frightful condition?” “I was with thee,” he seemed to reply. ‘ 1 What ! ” said she, “ amidst the filthy abominations with which my sold was infested!” He answered : “ They were displeasing and most painful to thee. This conflict there- fore was thy merit, and victory over them was owing to my presence.” Her ghostly enemy also solicited her to pride, omitting neither violence nor stratagem to seduce ( 10 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. her into this vice ; but invincible humility was a buckler to cover her from all his /iery darts. God recompensed her charity to the poor by many miracles, often multiplying provisions in her hands, and enabling her to carry loads of corn, oil, and other necessaries to the poor, which her natural strength could not otherwise have borne. The greatest miracle seemed her patience in bearing the murmurs, and even the reproaches, of these ungrate- ful and importunate people. Catharine dressed and served an old woman named Tocca, infected to that degree with a leprosy, that the magistrates had ordered her to be removed out of the city, and separated from all others. This poor wretch made, nevertheless, no other return to the tender charity of the saint, than continual bitter complaints and re- proaches ; wdiich, instead of w r earying ( 11 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHAKENE. out her constancy, only moved the Saint to show her still greater marks of sweet- ness and humility. Another, whose infec tious cancer the Saint for a long time sucked and dressed, published against her the most infamous calumnies ; in which she was seconded by a sister of the con- vent. Catharine bore in silence the vio- lent persecution they brought upon her, and continued her affectionate services till, by her patience and prayers, she had obtained of God the conversion of both these enemies, which was followed by a retractation of their slanders. The ardent charity of this holy virgin made her indefatigable in laboring for the conversion of sinners, offering for that end continual tears, prayers, fasts, and other austerities, and thinking nothing difficult or above her strength. All her discourses, actions, and her very silence, ( 12 ) THE LIFE -OF ST. CATHARINE. powerfully induced men to the love of virtue, so that no one, according to Pope Pius II, ever approached her wdio went not away better. Nannes, a powerful turbulent citizen, being brought to our Saint to be reclaimed, all she could say to him to bring him to a right sense of his duty was of no effect : upon w hich she made a sudden pause in her discourse, to offer up her prayers for him : they were heard that very instant, and an entire change was wrought in the man, to which his tears and other tokens bore evidence. He accordingly became re- conciled to all his enemies, and embraced a most penitential life. When he after- wards fell into many temporal calamities, the saint rejoiced at his spiritual ad van tage under them, saying : “ God purged his heart frnm the poison with which it was infected by its inveterate attachment to ( 13 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. creatures.” Nannes gave to the Saint a stately house which he possessed within two miles of the city. This, by the pope’s authority, she converted into a nunneiy. We omit the miraculous conversion of James Tholomei and his sisters, of Nicholas Tuldo, and many others ; particularly of two famous assassins going to die with blasphemies in then mouths, and in transports of rage and despair, who were suddenly converted in their last moments, on the Saint’s praying for them, confessed their crimes to a priest with great signs of repentance, and appeared thoroughly resigned to the punishment about to be . inflicted on them. A pestilence laying waste the country, in 1374, Catharine devoted herself to serve the infected, and obtained of God the cure of several ; amongst (H) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. others, of two holy Dominicans, Rf ymund of Capua, and Bartholomew of Sienna. The most hardened sinners could not withstand the force of her exhortations to a chang-e of life. Thousands flocked from places at a distance in the country to hear or only to see her, and were brought over by her words or example to the true dis- positions of sincere repentance. She undertook a journey to Monte Pulciano to consecrate to God two of her nieces, who there took the religious veil of St. Dominic : and another journey to Pisa, by order of her superiors, at the earnest suit of the citizens. She there restored health to many in body, but to a far greater number in soul. Raymund of Capua and two other Dominicans were commis- sioned by Pope Gregory XI, then re- siding at Avignon, to hear the confess- ions at Sienna of those who were induced ( 15 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. by the saint to enter upon a change of life ; these priests were occupied day and night, in hearing the confessions of many who had never confessed before : besides those of others who had acquitted them- selves but superficially of that duty. Whilst she was at Pisa, in 1375, the people of Florence and Perugia, with a great part of Tuscany, and even of the ecclesiastical state, entered into a league against the Holy See. The news of this disturbance was delivered to Catharine by Raymund of Capua, and her heart was pierced with the most bitter sorrow on account of these evils, which she had foretold three years before they came to their height. The two furious factions of the Guelphs and Gibellines, which had so disturbed and divided the state of Flor- ence, then a powerful commonwealth, united at last against the Pope, to strip the ( 16 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. Holy See of tlie lands it possessed in Italy The disturbance was begun in June, 1373, and a numerous army was set on foot ; the word u Liberta,” inscribed on the banner of the league, was the signal. Perugia, Bologna, Viterbo, An- cona and other strongholds, soon de- clared for them. The inhabitants of Arezzo, Lucca, Sienna, and other places, were kept within the bounds of duty by the prayers, letters, and exhortations of St. Catharine, and generously contemned the threats of the Florentines. Pope Gregory XI, residing at Avignon, wrote to the city of Florence, but without success. He therefore sent cardinal Robert of Geneva, his legate, with an army, and laid the diocese of Florence under an interdict. Internal divisions, murders, and all other domestic miseries amongst the Florentines, joined with the ( 17 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. conspiracy of the neighboring states, concurred to open their eyes, and made them sue for pardon. The magistrates sent to Sienna to beg St. Catharine would become their mediatrix. She could not resist their pressing entreaties. Before she arrived at Florence, she was met by the priors or chiefs of the magistrates , and the city left the management of the whole affair to her discretion, with a pro- mise that she should be followed to Avig- non by their ambassadors, w r ho should sign and ratify the conditions of recon- ciliation between the parties at variance, and confirm every tiling she had done. The Saint arrived at Avignon on the 18th of June 1376, and was received by the pope and cardinals with great marks of dis- tinction. His Holiness, after a conference with her, in admiration of her prudence and sanctity, said to her : “ I desire ( 18 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. nothing but peace. I put the affaii entirely into your hands ; only I recom- mend to you the honor of the Church.” But the Florentines sought not peace sincerely, and they continued to cany on secret intrigues to draw all Italy from its obedience to the Holy See. Their am- bassadors arrived very late at Avignon, and spoke with so great insolence, that they showed peace was far from being the subject of their errand. God suffered the conclusion of this work to be deferred in punishment of the sins of the Floren- tines, by which means St. Catharine sanctified herself still more by suffering longer amidst a seditious people. The Saint had another point no less at heart in her journey to Avignon. Pope John XXII, a Frenchman, born at Cahors, bishop, first of Frejus, then of Avignon, lastly of Porto, on being made ( 19 ) J THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. pope in 1314, had fixed his residence at Avignon, where J ohn’s successors, Benedict XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, and Urban V, also resided. Pope Gregory XI, elected in 1370, continued also there. The Romans complained that their bishops had for seventy-four years past forsaken their city, and threat- ened a schism. Gregory XI had made a secret vow to return to Pome ; but not finding this design agreeable to his court, he consulted the holy virgin on this subject, who answered: “ Fulfil what you have promised to God.” The pope, surprised she should know by revelation what he had never discovered to any person on earth, was immediately deter mined to carry his good design into execution. The Saint soon after left Avignon. We have several letters writ- ten by her to him, to press him to hasten ( 20 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. his return ; and he shortly afterwards followed her, leaving Avignon on the 13th of September, in 1376. He over- took the saint at Genoa, where she made a short stay. At Sienna, she continued her former way of life, serving and often curing the sick, converting the most obstinate sinners, and reconciling the most inveterate, enemies*, more still by her prayers than by her words. Such was her knowledge of heavenly things that certain Italian doctors, out of envy, and with the intent to expose her igno- rance, being come to hold a conference with her, departed in confusion and admiration at her interior lights. The same had happened at Avignon some time before, where three prelates, envying her credit with the pope, put to her the most inti icate questions on an interior life, and many other subjects ; but admiring her ( 21 ) T THE LIFE OF ST. CATHAEINE. answers to all tlieir difficulties, confessed to the pope they had never seen a soul so enlightened, and so profoundly humble as Catharine. She had many disciples : amongst others, Stephen, son of Conrad, a senator of Sienna. This nobleman was reduced by enemies to the last extremity. Seeing himself on the brink of ruin, he addressed himself to the saint, who, having first made a thorough convert of him from the world and its vanities, by her prayers, miraculously, on a sudden pacified all his persecutors, and calmed their fury. Stephen, from that time, looked upon as dust all that he had formerly most passionately loved and pursued ; and he testified, of lrm self, that by her presence, and much more by hei zealous discourses, he always found the divine love vehe- mently kindled in his breast, and his con ( 22 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. tempt of all earthly things increased. He became the most fervent amongst her disciples, made a collection of all her words as oracles, would be her secretary to write her letters, and her companion in her journeys to Avignon, Florence, and Rome ; and at length, by her advice pro- fessed himself a Carthusian monk. — He assisted her at her death, and wrote her life at the request of several princes ; , having been witness of her great mira- cles and virtues, and having experienced often in himself her spirit of prophecy, her knowledge of the consciences of others, and her extraordinary light in spiritual things. St. Catharine wrote to Pope Gregory XI, at Rome, strongly exhorting him to contribute by all means possible to the general peace of Italy. His holiness com- missioned her to go to Florence, still ( 23 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. divided and obstinate in its disobedience. She lived some time in that factious place, amidst daily murders and confisca- tions, in frequent danger of her own life in many ways ; in which she always showed herself most undaunted, even when swords were drawn against her. At length she overcame that obstinate people, and brought them to submission, obedience, and peace ; though not under Gregory XI, but his successor, Urban VI, as her contemporary historian informs us. This memorable reconciliation was ef- fected in 1378; after which Catharine hastened to her solitary abode at Sienna, where her occupation, and, we may say, her very nourishment, was holy prayer • in which intercourse with the Almighty, he discovered to her very wonderful mysteries, and bestowed on her a spirit which delivered the truths of salvation in ( 24 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. a manner that astonished her hearers. Some of her discourses were collected, and compose the treatise On Providence, under her name. Her whole life seemed one continued miracle ; but what the servants of God admired most in her was the perpetual strict union of her soul with God. For, though obliged often to con- verse with different persons on so many different affairs, and transact business of the greatest moment, she was always oc- cupied on God, and absorbed in him. For many years she had accustomed herself to so rigorous an abstinence, that the Blessed Eucharist might be said to be almost the only nourishment which supported her. Once she fasted from Asli-Wednes- aay till Ascension-day, receiving only the Blessed Eucharist during that whole time. Many treated her as a hypocrite, and invented all manner of calumnies against. ( 25 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE- her ; but she rejoiced at humiliations, and gloried in the cross of Chi$st, as much as she dreaded and abhorred praise and ap- plause. In a vision, our Savior is said one day to have presented her with two crowns, one of gold and the other of thorns, bidding her choose which of the two she pleased. She answered: “I desire, 0 Lord, to live here always con- formed to thy Passion, and to find pain and suffering my repose and delight.” Then eagerly taking up the crown of thorns, she forcibly pressed it upon her head. The earnest desire and love of humiliations and crosses was nourished in her soul by assiduous meditation on the sufferings of our divine Redeemer What, above all things, pierced her heart was scandal, chiefly that of the unhappy great schism which fol- lowed the death of Gregory XI, ( 26 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. in 1378, when Urban VI was chosen a I Rome, and acknowledged there by ah the cardinals, though his election was in the beginning overawed by the Roman people, who demanded an Italian pope. Urban’s harsh and austere temper alien- ated from him the affections of the cardinals, several of whom withdrew; and having declared the late election null, chose Clement VII, with whom they retired out of Italy, and resided at Avignon. Our saint, not content to spend herself in floods of tears, weeping before God for these evils of his church, wrote the strongest and most pathetic letters to those cardinals who had first acknowledged Urban, and afterwards elected another ; pressing them to return to tliek lawful pastor, and acknowledge Urban’s title. She wrote also to several countries and princes in his favor, and ( 27 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. to Urban himself, exhorting him to bear up cheerfully under the troubles he found himself involved in, and to abate somewhat of a temper that had made him so many enemies, and mollify that rigidness of disposition which had driven the world from him, and still kept a very considerable part of Christendom from acknowledging him. The pope listened to her, sent for her to Rome, followed her directions, and designed to send her with St. Catharine of Sweden to Jane, Queen of Sicily, who had sided with Clement. Our saint grieved to see this occasion of martydom snatched from her, when the journey was laid aside on ac- count of the dangers that were foreseen to attend it. She wrote, however, to queen Jane, likewise two letters full of holy fire to the king of France, also letters to the king of Hungary and others, ( 28 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. to exhort them to renounce the schism. We pass over the ecstacies and other wonderful favors this virgin received from heaven, and the innumerable mira- cles God wrought by her means. She has left us, besides the example of her life, six treatises in form of a dialogue, a discourse on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, and three hundred and sixty-four letters, wdiich show that she had a superior genius, and wrote per- fectly well. Whilst she was laboring to extend the obedience of the true pope, Urban VI, her infirmities and pains increasing, she died at Rome on the 29th of April, in 1380, being thirty- three years old. She was buried in the church of the Minerva, where her body is still kept under an altar. Her skull is in the Dominican church at Sienna, in which city are shown her house, her instruments ( 29 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. of penance, and other relics. She was canonized by Pope Pius II, in 1461. Urban VIII transferred her festival to the 30th of April. When we read the lives of the saints, and consider the wonderful graces with which God enriched them, w r e admire them happiness in being so highly favored by Him, and say to ourselves that their labors and sufferings bore no propor- tion to the sweetness of heavenly peace and love with which their souls were replenished, and the spiritual joys and consolations which were a present super- abundant recompense and support. But it was in the victory over their passions, in the fervor of their charity, and in l he perfection of their humility, patience and meekness, that their virtue and their happiness chiefly consisted. Nor are we to imagine that God raised them to ( 30 ) THE LIFE OF ST. CATHARINE. these sublime graces without their assiduous application to the practice both of exterior and interior mortification, especially of the latter. Self-denial prepared them for this state of perfect virtue, and supported them in it. What a pity is it to hear persons talk of sub- lime virtue, and to see them pretend to aspire after it, without having studied in earnest to die to themselves. Without tins condition, all their fine discourses are mere speculation, and their endeavors fruitless. PRAYER Hear us, oh God, appealing to thee through the intercession of thy blessed servant Catharine, and grant that wc may be enabled to imitate the virtues which render her so pleasing to thea (SI) I THE LIFE OF ST MARGARET THE LIFE OF SAINT MARGARET, Queen of Scotland. MARGARET was the granddaught.ei of Edmond Ironside, and grand nieee o i Saint Edward the Confessor, whose festi- val the Church celebrates on the fifth of January. In order that we may clearly under- stand her life, let us glance at the state of affairs in England at the time of her birth. Edmond had been assassinated in 1017, when Canute, king of Denmark, took ad- ( 3 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. vantage of this circumstance, and found means to have himself proclaimed mon- archy of all England. He likewise con- tituted himself guardian of the two sons of Edmond till they should be of age to ^succeed them father in the kingdom of the Western Saxons. He sent to Sweden secretly the two princes, who were named Edward and Edmond. The Swedish mon- arch notwithstanding the instructions he had privately received to take away the lives of the two princes, refused to im- brue his hands in innocent blood, and this conduct was rendered still more honorable and noble, by the fact of his having reason to dread the cruelty and power cf Canute. The king of Sweden therefore sent Edward and Edmond to the court of Hungary, where they were received with great honors, and the king of that nation ( 4 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. undertook to educate them both in a manner conformable to their birth. Edmond, the eldest of the princes, died without posterity Edward, his brother, married Agatha, sister of the queen of Hungary. She was a most virtuous princess, and gifted with every good quality of head and heart. She became the mother of Edgar, of Chris- tina, who took the religious habit, and of Margaret concerning whom we are going to write. Canute died after a reign brilliant in the eyes of the world, but stained by injustice and ambition. He was succeeded by Harold and Hardi- canute, who after a very short reign transmitted the English crown to St. Edward, the kinsman of our Saint. As soon as this prince was seated on the throne, he invited Edward, the last son of Edmond, to come from Hungary THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. to England with his children. He re* ceived them in London, a. d.. 1054. with every possible mark of honor and affec- tion. Both the king and the prince whom ho had recalled from Hungary having died, Edgar naturally succeeded to the throne of St. Edward ; but as he was as yet very young, and having been born in a foreign country, these circumstances were made an occasion to exclude him from the crown, and place it on the head of Harold. The latter pretended that Edward had appointed him to be his successor. Wil- liam, Duke of Normandy, set up a similar pretension. In consequence of this, he crossed the sea, conquered England, and killed Harold in the celebrated battle which was fought near Hastings, October 14th, 1066. Many of the English people ( 6 ) ~1 THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. declared for Edgar, but all to no pur- pose. This prince was too weak to sup- port himself by force of arms, and he and all his nobility were obliged to re- ceive their vanquisher at London. At last being constrained to fly from the tyranny of William the Conqueror, he embarked with his sister, Margaret, on board a ship which was cast by a storm on flie coast of Scotland. Malcolm, king of that country, gave a warm reception to them both. He was the more anxious to act thus, as he himself had been once in a situation resembling theirs. William sent to Malcolm, demanding the surrender of the fugitives into his hands, but the generous prince refused to be a party to such black treason. His refusal kindled the fires of war, but the Scotch defied William’s troops, and the latter was obliged to sign a treaty of ( 7 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. peace, one of the conditions of which was, that William should act towards Edgar as though he were his friend. In the midst of all those heart-break- ing vicissitudes, Margaret displayed the greatest patience and resignation, and we are now going to narrate some of the countless virtues which won for her the veneration of all Scotland. Hating worldly vanities and appre- ciating all its pomps and glories accord- ing to then* just value, her whole ambition was to render herself agreeable to the King of Heaven, who, while here on earth would not reign over the people, except from the cross of Calvary bedewed with His blood. Mortification, medita- tion, and prayer, constituted her chief delights. Living for Jesus Christ alone, it was her joy and consolation to com- mune with Him in the silence of the ( 8 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. * tabernacles. Outside tlie holy temples, slie belield Him in his representatives, the poor, and seized every occasion of ministering to their wants, and assuaging their sorrows. Malcolm was deeply affected by the contemplation of so much virtue, and be- gan to conceive the greatest esteem for Margaret. He proposed to unite himself to her by the bonds of marriage. Margaret acquiesced, and was crowned queen of Scotland, a.d. 1070. She was then twenty-four years of age. Her gentleness, her respectful bearing, her condescension, and other virtues, soon gave her undivided control over her husband’s heart. She employed this con- trol, to make religion and justice flourish throughout the whole kingdom. Her examples and conversations caused the king to love and venerate the maxims of • ( 9 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. the Gospel, and in the school of Margaret, Malcolm became one of the most virtuous of the kings of Scotland. Charmed by the wisdom of his consort, he committed to her the administration of all his domes- tic affairs, and consulted her in all public matters regarding the common weal. In the midst of all these occupations, Queen Margaret preserved her recollected ness of soul, and armed herself against all danger of dissipation. Extreme exactitude in the performa nee of all her duties, as though the eye of God was upon her alone ; the continual exercise of prayer, and the constant habit of mortifying herself, were the principal means that she employed to maintain herself in such a, perfect state. In Scotland, and far away in foreign lands, her prudence was a theme on which all men loved to expatiate. Every one ( 10 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. admired her management of public and private affairs, and there was no one who did not laud her anxiety to make her subjects happy. In a word, nothing could have excelled her wisdom in the discharge of the duties attached to the royal authority. God did not fail to bless a union that had been sanctified by so many virtues. She had a numerous family, all of whom reflected honor on those from w T hom they sprang. The queen became the mother of six princes, Edward, Edmond, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, David, and of two princesses, Matilda and Maria The former married Henry I, of England, and the second was the wife of Eustace, count of Boulogne. Edward, Alexander, and David, successively ascended the throne of Scotland. Their respective reigns were signally marked by wisdom, (ii) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. piety, and valor. David, however, was far more distinguished than his two broth- ers and of him it has been justly said, that he was the brightest ornament of the Scottish throne. Under the guidance of so pious a mother, the young princes learned at an early moment, that true nobility and the chief happiness of man are to be found in a virtuous life. Margaret took great heed to guard them, while still mere striplings, against those dangerous shoals, whereon those who are born in courts are too often wrecked. While deeply impressing on their minds the vanity and nothing- ness of all sublunary tilings, she depicted virtue to their eves in all its charms, inspiring them with a holy horror of sin, love of God, and salutary dread of His judgments. Knowing well that the first impres* (la) I THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. fiions made on the souls of the young are hardly ever effaced, and that these impressions are made by those to whom their education is entrusted, she would not allow any to approach them save those whose piety was well established, Thus the preceptors of her children were men influenced by the holiest feelings of religion. As soon as the princesses, her daugh- ters, were of an age to profit by her ex- amples, she associated them with herself in her spiritual exercises and holy works. She made them the mediums for distri- buting her alms, and it was with them that she was wont to pour out the incense of her prayers at the foot of God’s throne None but the virtuous were admitted to her court, and virtue was the only recom- mendation agreeable to her. Want of piety was enough to exclude all persona ( 13 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. from places of trust, for she concluded wisely, that religion was the sole guar- antee for the exact performance of duty. All Scotland had undergone a happy change ; holiness and holy men were flourishing every where throughout the realm ; the Sundays, the festivals, and the laws of the Church, were faithfully ob- served ; usury, injustice, and dissipation disappeared from every homestead ; and peace, morality, and temporal wealth, everywhere abounded. Does not religion bring every choicest blessing in its train ? Margaret protected learning and en- couraged the fine arts, and created various establishments, which wonder- fully contributed to the prosperity of the kingdom. This queen, so majestic, so venerated, and so powerful, was pleased to surrmnd (H) THE LIFE OF C5T. MARGARET. herself with orphans, old people, poor men and desolate widows. She called them her children ; and, easy of access to them all, she was unremitting in her attentions to each of them. She not only loved the poor, with whom she filled her palace, for in them she beheld the representatives of her Divine Master, Jesus Christ; but she also venerated them, kneeling washed their feet, and fed them with the same meat that was brought to her own royal table. She took especial delight in visiting the hospitals, and wherever she went the sick and the poor were filled with ad- miration of her humility and excessive tenderness to them. Even strangers were made the objects of Queen Marga- ret’s bounty and charity. The English who fell into the hands of her husband, were often indebted to her for their de- ( 15 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. liverance from prison. Malcolm, pro- foundly grateful to God for having given him such a consort, gladly aided her in carrying out all her pious intentions. Let us now hear Thierry, a monk of Durham, and Queen Margaret’s confessor, speaking of her holy life. u The pious queen had hours marked out for all her daily actions. Sleeping little, she always had ample time for her exercises of devotion. Nothing could have exceeded the meagreness of her diet ; she ate only to keep herself from dying, and she studiously avoided every thing that could flatter sensuality. Her works were more astonisliing than her miracles : for she had also received the gift of miracles. Oh, how I loved the spirit of compunction which God gave lf3r ! She possessed it in an eminent degree ; when she dis- coursed with me on the ineffable blessings ' (1G) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. of eternal life her words were accompanied with wonderful grace. So great was her fervor on those occasions, that she could not restrain the flood of tears that rushed from her eyes. Such was the tenderness of her devotion, that in wit- nessing it, I felt myself penetrated by the liveliest compunction. Never was one more recollected in the holy temple.” The same author speaking of Malcolm, states this of him : “He learned from Mar- garet frequently to spend the night in exercises of piety. It was truly aston- ishing to see the fervor of this prince while at prayer ; he possessed the spirit of compunction, and the gift of .tears in a degree far above the condition of a man living in the world.” The queen, says an Slier author, excited the king to works of justice and mercy, and also to the practice of the otliei ( 17 ) THE LIFE OF ST MARGARET. virtues. In all this she succeeded mar- vellously by an effect of the grace of God. The king was always ready to second her pious intentions. Seeing that Jesus Christ dwelt in the heart of Margaret, he never failed to follow her counsels. Margaret’s instructions had fully con- vinced Malcolm, that a king, being the father of his people, ought to avoid war as the most terrible of scourges ; that the most renowned conquerors were born for the misfortune of the world, and above all for that of the states which they governed ; and that their exploits considered with eyes of faith, were nothing but a series of murders and •obberies. Nevertheless, the prince knew that his duty as a king, obliged him to be acquainted with the art of war, in order that he might always be prepared ( 18 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MAJRGAEET. to take up arms for the protection of liis people, against the attacks of their enemies William Rufus, who had ascended the throne of England in 1087, compelled him to give proofs of his valor. This prince surprised the castle of Alnwick, in Northumberland, and ordered the garri- son to be put to the sword. Malcolm demanded that this place should be restored to him, and when this was denied, he laid siege to it. The English garrison finding itself pressed on all sides, and reduced to the last ex- tremity, feigned a surrender, and pro- posed that the king himself in person should come to receive the keys of the town ; but the soldier who presented them on the point of his lance, seized the moment in which Malcolm was stretching out his hand, and basely dealt ( 19 ) THE J.IFE OF ST. MARGARET him a stroke in the eyes, of which he died, Ea ward, his son, being exasperated, continued the siege, but his valor carried him too far, and he was killed in an assault. -Malcolm’s death took place in 1093, and his reign had lasted thirty-three years. Margaret had need of great resignation to sustain her amid all the misfortunes of which we have to speak ; but her virtue did not fail her, and like holy Job she exclaimed: u Lord, thou gavest them to me, and thou hast taken them away from me ; may thy name be blessed ! ” Margaret was lying sick in her bed, when this intelligence reached her. We will now let the monk, Thierry, relate all that occurred during her last illness. “ On the day the king was killed* ( 20 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. Margaret appeared to be sad and pen- sive. It was then she thus addressed those by whom she was surrounded : 1 It is probable, that' on this day Scot- land may have sustained a loss such as never before fell to its lot.’ “ Some days afterwards, Edgar, her son, returned from the army. She asked him how were Edward and Malcolm. Edgar, not wishing to augment her sufferings, replied that they were very well. 1 1 know how it is,’ observed Marga- ret. Then raising her eyes to heaven she addressed this prayer to God — ‘ Almighty God, I thank thee for having sent me this overwhelming affliction in the latest moment of my life. I trust that, with thy mercy, it may serve to puri- fy me from my sins.’ Margaret had had a revelation, inform- ing her of the time of her death long ( 21 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. before that moment arrived. Having desired to speak to me in private,” con- tinues Thierry, “she made a general confession of her whole life. Torrents of tears gushed from her eyes at every word she uttered. So lively was her compunction, that I myself was forced to weep. From time to time, sobs and tears so choked our utterance that neither of us could pronounce a word without great difficulty. She concluded by saying to me what follows : — “ ‘ Farewell, for I shall very soon dis- appear from the earth. You must soon follow me. I have two favors to ask of you : the first is, that you will remember my poor soul in your prayers and in the Holy Sacrifice, as long as God leaves you here below : the second is, that you will look to my children, and teach them to fear and love God. Promise to grant ( 22 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. Die what I ask in the presence of the Lord, who is the only witness of our con- versation/ ” Feeling that she was about to expire, she redoubled her fervor, and over and over again repeated these words : “ Lord Jesus, who by thy death hast given life to the world, deliver me from evil ! ” At length her soul was liberated from the bonds of the body, November 16, 1093, in the forty-seventh year of her age. She was canonized in 1251, by Pope Innocent IV, and in 1693 Innocent XII fixed her festival on the 1 0th of J une. The Saint was buried, as she had de- sired, in the Church of the Holy Trinity, at Dunfermline, near Edinburgh. The pious princess herself was the foundress of the church of this monastery. At the time of the Reformation, the ( 28 ) THE LIFE vOF ST. MARGARET. Catholics secretly carried off her relics and those of her husband. The greater portion of them was translated to Spain in the reign of Philip the Second, who caused a chapel to be built for their re- ception in the Escurial palace. They are there to the present day, and on the shrine we read this inscription, “ St. Mal- colm, king, and St. Margaret, queen.” The head of the Saint was sent to Scotland to queen Mary Stuart ; but this princess being obliged to fly to England, a Benedictine friar got possession of the holy relic, and translated it to Antwerp, in 1597. He afterwards gave it to the Scotch Jesuits of Douai, in whose church it was preserved up to the time of the destruction of the religious communities in France. God is wont to reward the piety of mothers with children who live according ( 24 ) THE LIFE OF ST. MARGARET. to the holy example shown to them. Those of Margaret were a blessing to all Scotland, and nearly all of them are honored as Saints by the Church. Matilda or Maud, daughter of Mar- garet, and wife of Henry I of England, built Christ’s Church Hospital, and that of St. Giles in London. Margaret’s son, Alexander, erected various churches and monasteries — one in the island of Emona, sacred to St. Colm, which, like that of St. Andrew, he endowed largely. King David who succeeded him, founded four bishoprics, Ross, Brecin, Dunkelden and Dunblane, together with fourteen abbeys, six of which were of the Cistercian order. PRAYER. Saint Margaret ! obtain for us grace to imitate your virtues, and inspire us with that lively piety and detachment THE L1EE OF ST. MARGARET. from the things of earth that rendered you pleasing to God ; obtain for us that we may think only of our eternal in- terests, and thus enjoy here below a fore- taste of that heaven where you are now enjoying the beatific vision. m THE LIFE OF SAINT ROSE, OF LIMA. ST. ROSE OF LIMA, the subject of our present narrative, was born, as her name implies, at Lima, in Peru. She came into the world on the 20th day of April, in the year 1586. Her father was Gaspar Florez, and her mother Mary Olivia, both persons of high rank, but of inconsidera- ble fortune. The very circumstances of the birth of our blessed Rose were miracu- lous. Her mother had been frequently in danger of death at her former confine- ments ; but not only did she suffer nothing (3) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. with Rose, but the child herself was bom enwrapped in a double cuticle, like a goodly rosebud peeping from its cover- ing of bright green leaves. She was baptized Isabel, which might perhaps have continued henceforth her name, had it not pleased God about three months after her birth, to cause her mother to perceive on the face of her in- fant daughter sleeping in her cradle, the figure of a lovely rose. Thus admonished, she called her by the name of that flower. Although the Archbishop of Lima gave her this same name at her con- firmation, yet our Saint had some scruple in the use of it : since it was not the name she had received at her baptism, and she feared also lest this might minister to her vanity; until the Blessed Virgin Mary had indicated to her the will of God con- cerning it. She one day went to the church ( 4 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. of the Friar Preachers, threw herself at the feet of her Holy Mother in the chapel of the Rosary, and poured out to her the perplexity she felt. Mary condescended to her request, conseled her, and bid her be of good cheer : the name of Rose, she said, was pleasing to her Son Jesus Christ, and that as a proof of the love she bore her, she should be called hencefor- ward Rose of St. Mary. Her childhood was singularly patient and docile, and bore a marked resem- blance to that of St. Catharine of Sienna. It is recorded of her that when she was yet an infant, she already gave proof of that heroic patience under suffering which was soon to be the rule of her life. Some one had carelessly pinched her thumb by hastily shutting of a box ; in- stead of breaking out into loud and plaintive cries, as other children would, ( 5 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA she took the utmost pains to conceal the suffering she endured. When by her silence the hurt had grown worse, and she hod lost part of her nail, the surgeon was obliged to use pincers to extract so much of it as still remained in her flesh. The torture of this operation she bore with such singular sweetness that the operator remarked that never once did she utter a scream, or even change countenance, which would have been accounted miraculous even in a person of riper years. It was the same in other instances of a similar kind. At the age of four years, she was troubled with a sort of disorder in her head which ren dered it necessary for her mother to dress it with powder so corrosive and burning, that it caused her to shudder from head to foot, and produced a number of ulcers on the skin, which gave her ( 6 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. excessive pain. Yet she never complained, and wlien the surgeon who attended bei every day for six weeks, cut off a small portion of flesh that new might grow in its place, even this she suffered in imita- tion of her Lord, with incredible firmness and constancy. Her little brother was the instrument under God to teach her to despise the vain things of this transient world. One day playing near her, he accidentally threw a quantity of mud on her hair. Being neat and orderly in her attire, she was naturally vexed at this, and was on the point of going away in a sullen mood, when he said to hei with unexpected gravity, as though the voice had come from God : “ My dear sister, do not be angry at this accident ; for the curled ringlets of girls are hellish cords, which enchain the hearts of men and miserably drag them into everlasting (?) 1 — THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. flames.” Rose hearkened to these words as if they had been pronounced by a holy preacher of God, or as an oracle from Heaven. She communed with herself— renounced this world for ever, gave her- self up with entire devotion to God, and conceived the greatest horror of the least approach to sin. From this moment she received the gift of prayer. Day and night did she devote herself to this holy converse with God, and not even did sleep interrupt her prayers ; for during her repose, her imagination painted so many lively images of her Lord and Savior, with which her mind entertained itself, that she might be said never to have ceased to pray. It was here that she received a call from God to follow in the footsteps of St. Catharine of Sienna. It was here that she was moved by the Holy Ghost to consecrate, by an irrevoca- (8) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. ble vow, at the age of five years, her virginal purity to Almighty God, and solemnly to promise never to have any other Spouse but Him alone. We are taught in the fourth commandment that we should honor and obey our parents in all tilings lawful ; and no saint has set us a brighter example of exact obedience to this law than St. Rose of Lima. She managed so well, and herein she is espec- ially worth of our imitation, that she ex- ecuted with perfect obedience whatever her father and mother commanded her, without omitting the least part of her duty towards God. There are some things which we cannot do even to please our parents ; and St. Rose has taught us the way to act in such perplexity, when it would seem clear that while God com- mands one thing, our parents command another. Let us see what she did. Her ( 9 ) TIIE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. mother, like many other mothers, who value too highly the fleeting things of this world, often begged her to take care of her beauty, and even desired her to use washes and paint to preserve its freshness ; but Rose, rightly deeming this to be con- trary to the modesty and simplicity which became a Christian maiden, entreated her so earnestly not to oblige her to do this, and not to imitate those mothers who sacrifice the salvation of their children to their own ambition, that she by degrees persuaded her to think differently. — Another time her mother made her wear a band of flowers on her head. She obeyed ; bnt she sanctified her obedience by the painful mortification which she added to it. She thought of the cruel thorns which had once lacerated the head of her Redeemer, and in humble imitation of His sufferings, she took the ( 10 ) TIIE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. wreath, and fixed it on her head with a large pin, which pierced so deep into her flesh, that it could not be drawn out with- out the aid of a surgeon, and even then with much difficulty. That she might not join in those vain assemblies and visits, of which the world is so fond, she was in tire habit of rubbing her eyes with pimento, a kind of burning Indian pepper, which rendered her eyes as red as fire and so painful, that she could not bear the light. To her mother, who remon- strated with her, she replied: “ It would be much better for me, my dear mother, to be blind all the rest of my life, than to be obliged to see the vanities and follies of the world.” The uncommon beauty of St. Rose, joined to her agreeable manners and conversation, led many to desire her hand, and captivated admirers from all (il) THE LIFE OF ST. EOSE OF LIMA. quarters. In order to extinguish the flames of passion which burned in the hearts of others, she used many artifices to disfigure herself. She made her face pale and livid with fasting, she washed her hands in hot lime to take the skin off them. She re- moved to Canta, a little village near one of the most celebrated mines in Peru, and remained there four entire years without leaving the house. It was about this time that she was asked in marriage by the only son of one of the most distinguished ladies of the city. The proposal was very agreeable to her mother, who, having eleven children to provide for, was happy at the prospect of an alliance so ad- vantageous to her daughter. But Rose had given her virginity to God ; and hav- ing a perfect abhorrence of the very thought of marriage, openly declared that she would never consent. Threats and ( 12 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. caresses were alike vain. Blows and injuries were Leaped upon lier by her parents ; but with no other effect than to make her more constant in her resolu- tion. She bore them all as her model St Catharine had done before her. In order to defeat the machinations of the enemies of her purity, she resolved to put on the habit of the third order of St. Dominic. This determination vas con- firmed by two miracles. She doubted of her vocation and had some intention of enter- ing the monastery of the Incarnation, where the nuns were anxiously expecting her ; but before setting, out, she went to bid farewell to our Blessed Lady in the Chapel of the Rosary, belonging to the Convent of St. Dominic. She remained on her knees at prayer for a considerable time at the foot of the altar ; and when she had finished her prayer, she tried to ( 13 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. rise, but could not succeed. She called her brother to aid her, who pulled her violently by the hand, without being able to stir her from the spot. She immediately understood this to be an intimation from Heaven, that she was not to leave St. Dominic ; and no sooner had she come to a resolution not to prosecute her design, and to return home, than she was able to rise and leave the Chapel without difficulty. In the vast plains of Lima, amidst the countless butterflies that flit to and fro in the sunshine of that lovely climate, there is one prettily marked with black and white, the colors of the habit of St. Dominic. One of these insects came and fluttered continually around her ; and as she was then looking about for indications of the will of God, she took this to be a second intimation from Him, that she ( 14 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. should again follow the steps of St Catharine, and become a religious of the third order of St. Dominic. She received the habit solemnly at the age of twenty, from the hands of the Rev. Father Alphonso Velasquez, on the 10th day of August, 1606. Here however, her hu- mility met with a sore trial. She had hoped to live secluded from the world as an humble religious ; but she found that her new state showed her forth as a light in the house of God ; that she was the theme of every conversation ; was pointed out in the streets and praised by every one. She would fain have quitted the order for one of stricter observance, had not her Blessed Mother, to whom she always imparted her sorrows, shown her that the will of Almighty God was, that she should continue in the state which she had chosen. ( 15 ) THE LIFE OF ST. FOSE OF LIMA. There are two virtues which, it may be, beyond all others, especially distinguish the saints : and these are humility and purity. These virtues q^e so intimately linked together in a holy bond, as it were, that they cannot be separated. Holy writers in the Catholic Church are wont to say, that the foul vice of im purity is almost always the punishment of pride, and that lie who would overcome this abominable sin, must first learn to be humble. St. Rose was both humble and chaste to a pre-eminent degree. Humble, for she always chose for herself the meanest occupations of the house, and considered herself infinitely below a ser- vant, she would frequently cast herself at the feet of a poor country girl named Mariana, who worked in the house, and entreat her earnestly to beat her, to spit upon her, to trample her under her feet, ( 16 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA and treat lier as tlie most contemptible creature in the world. When she received blows and harsh words on account of the life she led, she suffered them with perfect humility and patience, and firmly be- lieved, that by her own fault she had brought upon herself this injurious treat- ment. She thought herself a burden, use- less to the world, and odious to nature : and if any misfortune befell the family, she said it was her own sins that had drawn it down as a chastisement from Heaven. One day when Michael Garrez, Canon of the Cathedral of Lima, was heard to praise her in the course of conversation, and extol the favors she had received from Almighty God, she retired to her chamber, where she began to strike her breast, and to weep and groan in the presence of God: and to punish herself for giving, as she thought, ( 17 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. a false opinion of herself to men, she gave herself several violent blows on the head, to force in more deeply the iron points of the crown which she always wore concealed under her veil, and of which we shall presently speak. Pure she was to such a degree of per- fection, that eleven learned religious, six of the order of Friar Preachers and five of the Society of Jesus, who several times heard her general confessions, have de- posed upon oath, that she attained to a purity of heart similar to that of the angels in Heaven, and that, diming the whole course of her life, which lasted thirty-one years, she never was guilty of any venial sin of impurity ; and, what is something miraculous, she was never assailed with impure thoughts, from which even the most cherished and favored saints of God have not been exempt. ( 18 ) THF LIFE OF ST. FOSE OF LIMA. Her fasts and austerities were truly astonishing, and such as only the grace of God can enable the greatest of saints to impose upon themselves. At six years of age, she began to fast three times a week on bread and water. At fifteen she made a vow never to eat meat, unless compelled by those who had authority over her, and whom she thought she could not disobey without sin. Her mother, seeing her face pale and emaciated with long fasting, used to blame her conduct, and even wished to persuade her that she committed a mortal sin, by denying her- self the necessary nourishment for the preservation of life. She obliged her to sit at table with the rest of the family, and fare as the others did. But St. Rose would beg the servant to offer her only a sort ol dish made without salt, composed of a crust of coarse bread and a handful of (19) THF LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. veiy bitter herbs. It was thus that she found a voluntary mortification at the same table where others sought to gratify their appetite. She was accustomed to gather wild herbs in the forest, and to cultivate them carefully in her own garden, that she might have the materials for self-denial always ready at hand. One of her favorite repasts, which seemed to her the most delicious, as it was the bitterest, was to eat the leaves of the granadilla or passion flower ; the flowers of which represent so exactly the crown of thorns, the nails, the pillar, and the other instruments of the Passion of the Son of God. Her fast in general was so strict and rigorous, that in twenty- four hours she took nothing but a piece of bread and a little water. She observed exactly the seven months’ fast of her order, from the festival of the Exaltation ( 20 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. of the Holy Cross till Easter. From the beginning of Lent she left off bread, contenting herself with a few orange pips every day of the forty that are consecrated to penance ; on Fridays she took only five, during the rest of the year she ate so little, that in eight days she would scarcely take sufficient nourishment for twenty-four hours. She was known to make a moderate sized loaf and a pitcher of water last fifty days. Another time she remained seven weeks without drinking a drop of w^ater or any other liquor ; and towards the end of her life she sometimes passed several successive days without eating or drinking. Her supernatural abstinence was w r ell known to all the inhabitants of Lima: it was generally believed that she passed weeks without eating or drink- ing, and that when necessity compelled ( 21 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. her to assuage the burning heat which consumed her, she would drink it warm, in order to mortify the pleasure which she would have enjoyed from drinking cold water. Nor was she content to emaciate her delicate body by fasting alone. She daily drew from her flesh streams of blood with her iron chains, and other instruments of penance. After she be- came a nun, she was not content with a common sort of discipline : she made one for herself of two iron chains, with which she gave herself such frightful blows every night, that her blood sprinkled the wall, and made a stream in the middle of the room. She disciplined herself seven times ; first, for her own sins ; secondly for souls engaged in sin ; thirdly, for the urgent needs of the Church ; fourthly, when Peru or Lima was threatened with some ( 22 ) THE LIFE OF ST. EOSE OF LIMA. great misfortune ; fifthly, for the souls in Purgatory; sixthly, for those in their agony ; seventhly, in reparation for the outrages offered to God. When her confessor, alarmed at the ex- cess of her disciplines, had ordered her to discontinue to discipline herself with her iron chain, she made it into three rows, and wore it round her body, and after passing the ends through the ring of a pad- lock she threw the key into a corner where it could not be found. This chain very soon worked its way through the skin, and cut the flesh so deeply, that it buried itself, and was no longer visible. One night she felt so sharp an agony from it that she fainted, and was at the point of death. The servant, awakened by the cry she uttered, ran speedily to her assistance. Rose, being now obliged to confess the truth, begged her to help ( 23 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA her to take off the chain, before her mother should come into the room. Mariana was unable to break the padlock, and ran into the garden to fetch a stone for that purpose. While she was gone, Rose fearing her mother would surprise them, had recourse to prayer. She was heard : and Mariana entering with her stone, saw the padlock open of itself and separate from the links of the chain ! Thus they succeeded in taking it off, though not without great pain and great loss of blood. No sooner were her wounds healed than she put the chain on again : but as soon as it had entered her flesh, her confessor ordered her to send it to him, and in obeying him she suffered the Bame pain and loss of blood as before. After her death, Mary of Usategui kept Borne links of this bloody chain, w hich ( 24 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. exhaled so sweet an odor that every one confessed it to be supernatural. Besides this chain, she wore a most severe hair shirt, mixed with the points of needles : and rubbed herself with nettles and thorns, making her body one entire wound and blister. Being still insatiable in her desire of pain, she determined yet more exactly to copy her Lord and Savior, who had worn a crown of thorns for her and our sake. When very young, she made herself a crown of pewter, studded with little sharp-pointed nails, which she wore several years of her innocent life. In after years she con- structed a circlet of a plate of silver, three fingers broad, in which she fixed three rows of sharp points in honor of the thirty-three years which the Son of God lived on Earth. Cutting off her hair, that the points might enter more ( 25 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. freely, she wore this crown beneath her veil, in such a way that the least agita- tion or motion of her body caused these iron thorns to tear her flesh and pierce her head in ninety-nine places. Every Friday she tied this circlet more tightly, and made it come down upon her fore- head, till it pierced the cartilage of her ears in many places. From her infancy she invented many means of making her bed hard, till her mother made her sleep with her. Even then, she continued to mortify herself in her obedience. As soon as her mother was asleep, she drew on one side the feather bed on which she had been lying, laid herself on the bedstead, and placed a stone under her head for a pillow. At length, her mother in displeasure bid her sleep as she liked. She then made her- self a bed in the form of a chest, and filled ( 26 ) THE LIFE LF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. it with rough stones of different sizes. The bed still seeming too soft, she added three pieces of twisted knotted wood, and filled up the space with three hundred pieces of broken tiles, placed so as to wound and tear the body. Upon this terrible cross she never placed herself without trembling and shuddering, while the blood seemed to freeze in her veins. On these occasions, J esus Christ often appeared to her to console her, saying with a sweet and gracious countenance : “ Remember, my child, that the bed of the cross on which I died for the love of thee, was harder, narrower, and more painful than that on which thou best. Think of the gall which I drank for thy sake, and call to mind the nails which pierced My hands and feet ; thou wilt then feel comfort in the terrible pains thou eufferest on thy bed.” 127 ) THE LIFE OF ST. EOSE OF LIMA. In order to live quite separate from men, she built herself a little hermitage in her father’s garden, where she was favored with many signal visions and miracles ; and amongst the rest, Jesus Christ Himself once appeared to her and took her for His spouse in the presence of the Blessed Virgin, saying to her : u Rose of My heart, I take thee for My spouse.” By means of mental prayer, in which she exercised herself with the most ardent love of God, she attained to the closest and most intimate union with Him, and was never out of His holy presence. The very birds felt the influence of her holiness, and joined, as it were, in Her devotions. One day when she was ill, a little bird came and perched near the win- dow of her room, and began to sing; whereupon our saint applied herself so ( 28 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. earnestly to consider tlie goodness of God, wlio had given this bird so sweet a note to sing His praises, that she was ravished into an ecstacy, in which she continued from nine in the morning till evening. The year of her death, another bird, whose melody was most charming, perched himself opposite her room diming the whole of Lent ; as soon as the sun began to set, the blessed Rose ordered him to employ his notes in praising God ; he obeyed, and raising his voice, sung with all his might, till this handmaid of Christ, unwilling to be outdone by a bird in offering to God canticles of praise and benediction, began very sweetly to sing hymns to His glory : when she had finished, this little chorister began again, and thus together they composed a choir in which they sang alternately for an hour the praises of God. At six o’clock, ( 29 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. she dismissed liim till the next day, and he never failed to appear at the time fixed. Our saint loved Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, and St. Catharine of Sienna and her guardian angel, with so fervent a love, that they, to reward her, often visited her, and con- versed with her in a familiar manner, and taught her how to gain victories over the devils who appeared to her and tempt- ed her to sin, and favored her with many special revelations. She had in this way learned that she should die on St. Bartholomew’s day. Having attained her thirty-first year, she not only knew that her hour was come, hut also that in her passage from life to death she must endure incredible torments. On the first of August, she went to her room at night in perfect health ; but at midnight she was ( 30 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. heard crying and groaning piteously, and the wife of Don Gronzalez, to whose house she had removed before her illness, found her extended half dead on the floor, cold, without pulse, motionless, and scarcely breathing. The physicians came to visit her in that state, and with them her con- fessor, who, fearing that her humility would prevent her from making known the nature and extent of her sufferings, commanded her, in virtue of her obedience, to declare them to her physicians, as best she was able, “ It seems,” said she, “ as if a ball of fire wxre forced into my temples, that it descended to my feet, and passed across from my left side to my right with an insupportable heat — as if my heart were lacerated by a burning dagger : and the invisible hand which guides it pierces me sometimes from held to foci, and then crossing from side to ( 31 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. side, engraves tlie figure of a cross on my body with this instrument, which bums me with all the violence of the hot- test fire. I feel as if my bowels were being* torn out with burning pincers, and my head burns as if heated coals, just taken from a flaming furnace, were placed upon it. In fact, I believe that when I die, my bones will be found reduced to ashes, and the marrow dried up, from the effects of the burning heat which I endure.” All present allowed these sufferings to be miraculous, and Rose told them that they were right in so understanding them ; since they came from God alone, and were sent as a special favor to her, that she might be conformed more entirely to her Lord and Master. Though she suffered so much, she besought her Divine Spouse not to diminish her pains ; on the contrary, she begged Him with all the affection of ( 32 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. her heart to increase them, in order to pun- ish her rigorously for the crimes of which she believed herself guilty in the sight of Ilis di vine majesty. God had compassion on His servant; He was moved by her tears and groans, and He preserved miracu- lously her mind sound and entire till her last breath, amidst the vapors which the burning heat of her interior organs sent to her brain, and which must have caused delirium, if He not preserved her from it by His mercy. By a further favor He granted her the use of her tongue, to make known her thoughts till she died. She was often seen during this last illness, without any use of her outward senses, or in rap toes in which her soul seemed to leave her body, to unite itself more closely with God. Though she suffered extreme thirst, she did not taste a drop of water to assuage it : after the example ( 33 ) THF LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. of lier Spouse, she asked only for gall and vinegar to increase the suffering. During her illness she usually confessed her sins every day ; and to dispose her- self better for death, she made a general confession of her whole life, with such marks of deep contrition, that her sighs and groans were heard in the room ad- joining. On the third day she received the holy Viaticum and Extreme Unc- tion, with interior dispositions suited to the excellence of these two sacraments. When the Blessed Sacrament was brought to her, she changed color ; her face be- came shining and inflamed, and amidst the transports of joy which filled her, she fell into an ecstacy ; and after receiving this bread of angels, she remained motion- less and totally absorbed in God. Al- mighty God had revealed to her that her soul, on leaving the body, would ( 34 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. pass immediately to Heaven and would not have to suffer the pains of Purgatory. She often declared in an audible voice that she was a Christian and desired to die in the faith of the Church, and that she was a daughter of the great St Domi- nic. In proof of this she kissed her scapular reverently, and would have it always laid upon her in her sickness. Finally, to imitate the charity of the Son of God, she prayed with all her heart for those who had offended her in word or deed, begging Him to load them with his graces, and to show them the same mercy which she hoped to experience from his goodness ; and holding a little crucifix in her hand, she could not satisfy herself without kissing it, and repeating tenderly ; “ Father, forgive them.” She begged pardon of all the servants of the house with tears in her eyes ; she told Don ( 35 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. Gonzalez that he would soon he freed from this miserable sinner, who had given so much uneasiness and trouble to Ins whole family. All melted into tears at the deep humility of this spouse of J esus Christ. On the midnight of her death she heard a mysterious noise, which an- nounced to her the coming of her Lord ; she received it with joy ; and requested her brother to remove the bolster from beneath her head, and to place pieces of wood instead. As if she had only waited for these pieces of wood to die upon a soil; of cross, she said twice ; “ Jesus be with me ; Jesus be witli me : ” and immediately afterwards her pure soul quitted her mortal oody, and took its flight into the bosom of God, to take possession of that Heavenly inherit' ance, prepared for it from all eternity ( 30 ) THE LIFE OF ST. HOSE OF LIMA. Slie passed away on the 24th August, the feast of St. Bartholomew, in the year 1617. at the age of tliirty-one years and five months According to the custom of the relig- ious of the third order of St. Dominic, and by her own request, she was buried in the church of St. Dominic. She was followed to her resting place by a great concourse of all the people of Lima. The very highest classes — all united to do honor to their great saint, who had been such a blessing and glory to their city. Everywhere the people were heard cry- ing out, that Bose was a saint in Heaven. They strove to obtain any, the smallest portion of her relics, and if the soldiers had not prevented them, they would even have cut off all her clothes and two or three of her fingers. When the body reached the church ( 37 ) TIJE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. door, signs of joy were observed to illuminate her face, and the statue of our Blessed Lady which was in the chapel of the Rosary, sent forth rays of light, which seemed to be a miraculous indica- tion of the pleasure she felt at again beholding her daughter, who had during life honored her with so much love and tenderness. The confusion arising from the devotion of the people to St. Rose, was so great that they were obliged to postpone the ceremony of her interment, and, for greater security, to carry the body into the chapel of the Novitiate, as the most suitable place and the most re- tired part of the convent, to which secu- lars have no access. Next day the Bishop of Guatimala, who celebrated Mass, descended from his throne to approach the coffin and proceed with the funeral : but such was the devo- ( 38 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. tion of the people, and such then' sorrow at parting from the saint whom they so much revered, that they were again ob- liged to promise to defer the interment till the next day. The religious did not think it necessary to keep this promise, which had been extorted from them by the vio- lence and importunity of the people ; and accordingly, when the crowd had dis- persed, they closed the doors of the church, placed the body in a coffin of cedar wood, and buried it in the chapter- house of the Order. By the earnest desire of the whole population of Lima, who were anxious to possess that treasure with which it had pleased God to enrich their town, the Archbishop and Dominican Clergy con- sented that the body should be trans- ported from the cloister of the religious into their church. This august ceremony ( 39 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. was performed on the 27th day of February, in the year 1619, in presence of all the orders of the town, the clergy, the nobility, and the people. On open- ing the grave, an agreeable odor issued from it, and the holy body was to be seen as entire and the complexion as fresh, as when it was put into the coffin. She was carried to a little vault on the right side of the high altar ; but, as the crowd continually hastened thither, as to a second ark, to implore assistance, and persons of ail ages and ranks were seen praying there, and offering presents, and leaving their sticks and crutches as glori- ous trophies of their gratitude for having been cured by her intercession, they were obliged, out of reverence to the Adorable Sacrament, to remove lier precious relics to the chapel of St. Catharine of Sienna, where the people could satisfy their ( 40 ) THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. devotion more conveniently and without fear of irreverence. In the year 1630, on the 17th May, the Sacred Congregation of Rites, by an apostolic brief, directed the Father Inquisi- tors to examine canonically into the life, actions, and miracles, of the servant of God, Sister Rose of St. Mary, religious of the third order of St. Dominic. Two years were employed in the inquiry, and at the conclusion of them they w ent to her tomb, and having opened it fifteen years after her death, they found the bones entire, covered with dry flesh, which exhaled a sweet odor like that of roses. They then proceeded to the chapter where she had first been buried, and though the people took earth from the grave every day to cure fever and other diseases, they found- it quite full with the exception of about five pounds weight of soil ; and ( 41 , i CHE LIFE OF ST. KOSE OF LIMA. yet many liad been carried away. The brief of Clement IX, for the beatification of St. Rose, is dated the 12th February, 1GG8 ; and she was canonized three years later, 1G71, by Clement X, who appointed the 30th of August for her feast. Many signal miracles followed by her intercession after her death. Our limited space allows us merely to name a very few out of the many which were wrought by this great saint, so wonderful in her life. Magdalen de Torrens was miraculously raised to life, on her mother placing on the mouth of her dead daughter a piece of a garment which had belonged to the Saint, in October, 1627. In the year 1631, Anthony Bran, a servant of Madame Jane Barette, died cl a stomach complaint, very common in America. His pious mistress placed on (. 42 ) 1 THE LIFE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. bis body a picture of St. Eose and be- sought her help. While she was praying, Anthony came to life, and went the same day to her tomb to thank her . Many cripples, manned and disabled, received the perfect use of their limbs ; many others recovered from fever and other diseases, by the help of the Saint, and one person who had been poisoned by his cruel wife, perfectly recovered on promising a novena to St. Eose. Pictures of St. Eose, applied to persons afflicted with leprosy, quinsy, gout, headache, and other maladies, have been the means of restoring them to health. Truly God is wonderful in His Saints ! THE PRAYER. 0 Almighty God, giver of all good things, who didst ordain tlie blessed Eose, fortified with the dev/ of Thy heavenly ( 43 ) THE LIFE OF ST ROSE OF LIMA. grace, to be the flower oi patience and vir- ginity in the New World; grant to us Thy servants, that running in the odor of her sweetness, we may become a sweet savor to Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God world wdthout end. Amen. THE LIFE OP SAINT LAURENCE O’TOOLE, ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN - . OT. LAUKENCE was born a.d. 1105. ^ His father was Maurice, lord or chieftain of Hy-Murray, and his mother was a daughter of the princely house of O’Byrne, which for centuries ruled su- preme over a considerable portion of the county Wicklow, then called Kill-Man- tain. St. Laurence’s father was the chief prince of the district now called Omurthi, whicli comprises about half of the present county Kildare, i.e. the baronies of Kil- THE LIFE OF ST. LAURENCE O’TOOLE. kea, Moone, Narragh, Rheban, and part of the barony of Connell. After tbe Saint’s death, the family of O’Toole was lispossessed of their ancient principality by Meyler Fitz Henry and Walter de Riddlesford, two of the early English invaders, and driven into the fastnesses of Wicklow, where they superseded anothei aboriginal tribe, and established them- selves chieftains oT princes of Imail. De Riddlesford’s stronghold at Castledermot now lies in ruins; the memory of its rapa- cious lord is forgotten, but that of the holy man whose progenitors he despoiled shall be in everlasting remembrance. St. Laurence was the fourth and youngest son of Maurice O’Toole, Prince of Hy- Murray. Messingham’s “ Garland of Irish Saints ’ tells us that his parents wished to have him baptized Constantine, but that the [33 THE LIFE OF ST. LAUREKCE O’TOOLE. sponsors were met on tbeir way to the Church of St. Brigid of Kildare by a man having the reputation of a prophet, who insisted that this child of promise should be called Laurence, thus, as it were, anticipating that eternal laurel wherewith he was to be crowned for all those eminent virtues which were to dis- tinguish the future illustrious prelate. St. Laurence was taken from the bap- tismal font at a moment when his country was about to be visited by one of those direful calamities with which Providence is often pleased to punish the crimes of peoples and princes. Dermod MacMurrough was then Kin