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 UNITED STATES OF AJMERICA. 
 
THE 
 
 SACRAMENTALS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, 
 
 OR 
 
 FLOWERS FROM THE GARDEN OF THE LITURGY. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. WILLIAM J. EAR 
 
 *' The many lesser ministrations of grace, which seem to us minute 
 and of very secondary importance, have their value and their efficacy, 
 which now escape our notice, but may, one day, appear as they deserve." 
 — CardixVal Wiseman. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. WALSH, 
 
 170 Sycamore Street. 
 AND SOLD BY ALL CATHOLIC BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1858. 
 

 ,+^ 
 
 v^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
 JOHN P. WALSH, 
 
 in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 Southern District of Ohio. 
 
We approve of the publication of the ''Sacra- 
 mentals," written by Rev. William James Barhy, 
 Professor in Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Cincinnatii 
 and recomTiiend it to the faithful as a work of instruc- 
 tion and piet}". 
 
 Y JOPIN B., Archbishop of Cincinnati. 
 
 Cincinnali^ Feast of St. Charles^ 1857. 
 
TO 
 THE MOST REV. 
 
 JOHN BAPTIST PURCELL, D.D., 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CINCINNATI, 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
 
 INSCRIBED 
 
 BT 
 
 HIS DUTIFUL CHILD IN CHRIST, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This little book does not profess to exhaust 
 the subject of the Sacramentals : to do so would 
 require a detailed exposition of the whole Liturgy 
 of the Church. All the ceremonies of divine wor- 
 ship, all the blessed articles used in ecclesiastical 
 functions, all the prayers of the Missal, the Ritual, 
 the Pontifical and the Breviary are Sacramentals 
 — that is, they participate of the nature of Sacra- 
 ments without being Sacraments. They are signs 
 and channels of actual grace, instituted by ecclesi- 
 astical authority. The Sacraments are signs and 
 channels of sanctifying, or habitual, grace, instituted 
 by divine authority. The present volume is, how- 
 ever, complete in itself Each sacred rite is, of 
 itself, intelligible and teaches its own holy lesson 
 to the Catholic mind and heart. 
 
 I have endeavored to select from the beautiful 
 treasures which the Liturgy offers, in almost inex- 
 haustible variety, to the choice of even a careless 
 explorer, those which fall more frequently under 
 the observation of the faithful and which are, con- 
 sequently, of greater present utility. To explain 
 the historical origin of the Sacramentals on which 
 I have written, their mystical meanings and the 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 practical lessons to be drawQ from them constitutes 
 the triple end kept in view in the composition of 
 this treatise. Whether I have succeeded is a 
 question which I leave to the decision of my 
 readers. 
 
 No statement, historical or rubrical, is advanced 
 which has not been substantiated by the authorities 
 at my disposal. The Treatise on the Festivals by 
 Benedict XIV., Migne's Cursus Theologize et Scrip- 
 turse, the Liturgical Institutions of Fornici, the 
 Authentic Decrees of the Sacred Congregation of 
 Rites, Cardinal Bona's Treatise on the Liturgy, 
 Hierurgia and The Church of our Fathers by Dr. 
 Rock and the large Catechisms of Guillois and 
 Gaume are the books which I have most frequently 
 consulted. 
 
 That the blessing of God may attend this little 
 work, that, through the intercession of the Immacu- 
 late Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, it may in- 
 crease the love of the faithful, be it in ever so small 
 a degree, for the holy things and holy rites of 
 Mother Church is the sincere prayer of the author. 
 
 W. J. B. 
 
 Mount St. Mary's of the West, 
 
 NEAR Cincinnati, 
 
 Feast of St. Gregory III., 
 
 Nov. 28th, 1857. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Gospel presents to us the record of our 
 Saviour's birth and public life, but passes over, in 
 almost total silence, the years of His Egyptian 
 exile and His abode at Nazareth. His childhood's 
 days wherein His little hands assisted His dear 
 Mother in easy household work, or, with the un- 
 skilfulness of His age, used the plane and chisel of 
 St. Joseph — the glorious evenings of the Jewish 
 Summer, when, in early manhood. He went to the 
 brow of the cliff that overhung Nazareth, and gazed 
 wistfully to the South, towards Jerusalem, and wept 
 to think that, whilst all round was so fair, the hearts 
 of His countrymen should be curtained by the 
 shades of sin — the moonlight nights He passed on 
 that same mountain's top in the " prayer of God," 
 — all have been hidden from our view. This mys- 
 tic period is the "sealed fountain''' and the 
 ^^ closed garden " of the Canticles. Many a bright 
 stream of grace that flows over the green fields of 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Church springs from that hidden fount, and 
 many a zephyr, richly laden with the perfume of 
 lowliest yet sweetest flowers, blows from that mys- 
 terious garden. Even in our Lord's public life, 
 much He said in familiar converse with His disci- 
 ples which the multitude never heard. Not that 
 He would conceal His heavenly doctrine, but be- 
 cause of the hardness of the Jews' hearts, and, that 
 having eyes, they saw not, and ears, and heard not, 
 as He Himself declares. The meanest and most 
 sinful among them might have gone, if he had so 
 chosen, to our Lord, in His retirement, as did Nico- 
 demus, to hear from His divine lips the explana- 
 tion of each holy saying and parable, as far as it 
 was for his soul's good. 
 
 The Church is a perfect copy of Jesus. She is 
 the Incarnation continued, and, if Jesus lived a 
 hidden life, and taught in public and in private and 
 suffered, she has imitated and still imitates Him in 
 all. Jesus " spoke to the multitude in parables 
 things hidden from the foundation of the world," 
 and so, in the first ages, the Church explained the 
 great mysteries of the Blessed Eucharist and the 
 Trinity to the children of the household only, 
 whilst to the scoffing Jew and Heathen, she spoke 
 not at all of them, or in guarded and mystic langu- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 age. And why ? — to exclude them forever from 
 the fountains of life-giving grace ? Little would 
 we know of the tenderness of her motherly heart 
 towards the erring children, bought by the Blood 
 of Christ her Spouse if such were our thought. She 
 but obeyed the divine iajunction, '' cast not your 
 pearls before swine ;" she was waiting until, by her 
 holy preaching and holy life, she would soften those 
 hard hearts to receive the impress of love from the 
 Ever Blessed Three and the mystery of Christ's 
 Body and Blood. 
 
 The discipline of the secret is no longer in force? 
 but still, there are many beautiful doctrines and 
 practices of our religion hidden alike from infidel 
 and Catholic, not that the Church conceals them, 
 but because they will not seek them. We may 
 compare the Church to a glorious temple, whose 
 exterior beauty is a type of the interior. We 
 enter, and the font at the door tells us that, by 
 baptism, we are buried with Christ unto death, and 
 rise with Him unto life, members of His mystic 
 Body. The statues of the Apostles and other 
 Saints tell us that the Church is Apostolic and 
 holy. The sacrifice going on at the altar, the Bishop 
 administering Confirmation, the penitent leaving 
 the sacred tribunal, the calm on his countenance 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but a faint image of that ia his heart, the priest 
 proceeding quickly, yet reverently, down the aisle, 
 bearing the Viaticum and the Blessed Oils, the white- 
 robed Levites, like worshiping Angels in the sanc- 
 tuary, the bride and bridegroom kneeling for the 
 nuptial benediction, all tell us that the Church has 
 the Seven Sacraments, the seven streams of Precious 
 Blood that flow from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 
 We admire and love and then go our way. But if 
 we had looked closer we might have noticed many 
 rich draperies along tha walls. Thoy conceal small 
 yet most beauteous chapels wherein we might h^ve 
 seen mnny a rite peformed, full of sweet symbolism, 
 yet which has been excluded from the main edifice, 
 reserved as that is for statelier functions. 
 
 Now let us. apply our comparison. The leading 
 articles of faith, especially the doctrine of the Sa- 
 craments, form the great temple itself, whilst what 
 Cardinal Wiseman has called the " Minor Rites and 
 Offices," under which is included our present sub- 
 ject, the " Sacramentals," are the side chapels. 
 These minor points of teaching and practice are to- 
 day what the discipline of the secret was in the 
 Apostolic times, and the familiar discourse of our 
 Saviour to the little circle of His disciples in the 
 time of His public ministry. The lukewarmness 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 of the faithful has made them so. Unlike the Jews, 
 they receive, with respect and love, Christ's public 
 instruction delivered by His priests, but like them, 
 they do not care to join the company of the disci- 
 ples, and talk with our Lord as a Friend and a 
 Father. They are guests in the household of the 
 faith rather than children. They pay their homage 
 to Jesus in the grand reception room, but they do 
 not accept His invitation to repair to the inner 
 apartment, and, by examining the beautiful trea- 
 sures He keeps concealed therein, to have love's 
 dying embers kindled into a bright flame. 
 
 We shall love our religion in proportion as we 
 study it. Much study will beget charity, and cha- 
 rity, we know, blotteth out many sins. 
 
 Love is a flower pleasing to the eye, 
 
 Sweet to the smell, but Love can droop and die : 
 
 Let streams of prayer and study cease to flow 
 
 The root from which Love springs will cease to grow. 
 
 Our love for Jesus and Holy Mother Church 
 will become warmer and purer if we examine the 
 minor articles of our belief as well as the more im- 
 portant. Let us endeavor, with the assistance of 
 God, and by following approved Catholic authors, 
 to perform this labor of love in regard to the Sa- 
 cramentals of the Church. 
 
WHAT IS A SACRAMENTAL? 
 
 Three things make a Sacrament; the conferring 
 of inward grace, by an outward sign, in virtue of 
 divine institution. Thus in Baptism the pouring 
 of water is the outward sign, and by it habitual, or 
 sanctifying, grace is infused into the soul, because 
 of Christ's institution. Now the Sacramentals, like 
 the Sacraments, have an outward sign or sensible 
 element, but unlike them, they are mostly of ec- 
 clesiastical origin, and do not, of their own power, 
 infuse grace into the soul, but only excite it to 
 desires whereby it may obtain from God's gratuit- 
 ous mercy that grace or its increase. Holy Water 
 is a Sacramental, but, of its own nature, it washes 
 not the soul from sin and pours not grace into it, 
 
 as do the waters of Baptism. If, however, a per- 
 14 
 
THE SACRA MENTALS. 15 
 
 son uses it devoutly, it will, on account of the 
 Church's blessing attached to it, assist his will in 
 forming pious desires. 
 
 The Sacramentals may be arranged under two 
 heads — " The Prayers of the Church " and " The 
 Benedictions of the Church." 
 
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
THE PEAYERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The Sacraments of the Church and Prayer are 
 the ordinary channels of grace. The first pours 
 richer treasures of heaven into the soul ; the second 
 nfiore frequent ones. We cannot receive the Sa- 
 craments, at all times, but we may and ought to 
 pray always. It becomes of great importance then 
 to know how to pray well. Qui 'novit bene or are 
 novit et bene vivere, was the saying of a holy doctor 
 of the Church : he who knows how to pray well 
 knows how to live well. You ask and receive noty 
 because you ask amiss (St. James, iv. 3.) There 
 are different ways of asking amiss. If our prayers 
 are not humble, like the poor publican's, if they 
 are not persevering, if they beg absolutely for the 
 
 goods of this life, then we ask amiss. If we use 
 
 19 
 
20 THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 forms of prayer which the Church has condemned 
 we ask amiss. Forms are not always useless 
 things ; it is not always that they savor of pedan- 
 try and affectation. Hold the form of sound words 
 which thou hast heard from me in faith: this was 
 the instruction which the Holy Ghost gave to St. 
 Timothy, through the inspired epistle of St. Paul 
 (2d Tim'., i. 13.) 
 
 There are many prayers which the Church has 
 neither approved nor condemned : Catholic prayer- 
 books are full of them. But why should we use 
 them to the neglect of so many other beautiful 
 forms of prayer which have received the highest 
 ecclesiastical sanction? They are generally more 
 rhetorical than the prayers of the Liturgy, but, for 
 that very reason, they are colder; there is less of 
 the unction of the Holy Spirit in them. We by no 
 means pretend to say that all of them have the 
 "black mark of St. Peter," but it is certain that 
 many have not his white mark. Why should we 
 prefer them to those that have ? 
 
 A vocal prayer that is of divine or ecclesiastical 
 institution is a sacramental. No other is unless 
 it has become ecclesiastical by the sanction of the 
 legitimate authorities. 
 
 A wide field of Sacramentals at once opens be- 
 
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH. 21 
 
 fore us. All the prayers said by the priest in the 
 Mass, the Psalms sung in the Divine Office, the 
 forms of prayer used in the administration of the 
 Sacraments, the consecration of bishops, the con- 
 ferring of orders, the consecration and blessing of 
 churches, bells, vestments, crosses, rosaries, pic- 
 tures, etc., are Sacramentals. At present we shall 
 dwell upon three forms of prayer: Litanies, the 
 Angelas mid Eymm. 
 
I. 
 
 LITANIES. 
 
 The word Litany is of Greek origin, meaning in 
 that language an entreaty or supplication. 
 
 Ecclesiastical writers make mention of four Lit- 
 anies : that of the Old Testament, of the Saints, of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Holy Name 
 of Jesus. 
 
 The Litany of the Old Testament is the 135th 
 Psalm (in the Hebrew 136th,) Cwijitemini Domino 
 — Praise the Lord, for He is good. Each of the 
 first three verses addresses God by a different 
 title ; Jehova, Elohim and Adonei are the He- 
 brew words. This preface of the Litany shadows 
 forth the mystery of the Trinity, Three Persons in 
 One God, and corresponds to the triple invocation 
 
 with which the Church begins her Litanies : Kyrie 
 22 
 
LITANIES. 23 
 
 eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison : Lord have 
 mercy an us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have 
 TYiercy on us ; and to the other in which the Three 
 Divine Persons are expressly named: Pater de 
 ccelis Deus, miserere nobis ; Fill Redemjptor mundi 
 Deiis, miserere nobis ; Spiritus Sancte Leus, mis- 
 erere nobis: God the Father of Heaven, have 
 mercy on us, etc., etc. The twenty-seven verses 
 of the Psalm recount the wonders which God 
 wrought in favor of His people, and each concludes 
 with the same phrase, /br His mercy etidurethfor 
 ever, corresponding to liave mercy an lis, or jpray 
 for us, with which we reply to the several petitions 
 of our Litanies. 
 
 The Litany of the Saints is so called because by 
 it we beg the intercession of all the blessed inha- 
 bitants of heaven, addressing them sometimes col- 
 lectively, according to their different classes, of 
 Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, etc., f^nd sometimes 
 individually. 
 
 Many have attributed the authorship of this 
 Litany ,to Pope St. Gregory the Great, a.d. 600, 
 but not with sufficient reason, for councils held be- 
 fore the time of that Holy Pontiff mention it. We 
 know from Church history, however, that he had a 
 great devotion to the Litany of the Saints and had 
 
24 LITANIES. 
 
 it sung with much solemnity in the sacred proces- 
 sions that marched through the streets of Rome, 
 during the prevalence of the plague, begging God 
 to withdraw His avenging Hand. The Litany of 
 the Saints was used in the East in the time of St. 
 Basil the Great, who died in 379, more than two 
 hundred years before the pontificate of St. Gregory. 
 Hence Cardinal Baronius says, in his notes on the 
 Roman Martyrology, that it was impossible for him 
 to determine the origin of the Litany, but that it 
 was certainly of the greatest antiquity. This Lit- 
 any is sometimes called the greater^ sometimes the 
 minor Litany. It bears the first appellation on 
 the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, the 25th of 
 April, because the procession of that day, in which 
 it is chanted, is one of the most solemn in the 
 Church. Other reasons for the name are that the 
 procession was instituted by a Pope, and that it 
 du^ected its march towards the Church of St. Mary 
 Major or the Greater. 
 
 The same Litany said on the Rogation days is 
 called the Minor or Less Litany. Towards the 
 close of the 5th century the diocese of Vienne in 
 France was severely afflicted with different calami- 
 ties, fires, earthquakes, and the ravages of wild 
 beasts. The hearts of the people were paralyzed 
 
LITANIES. 25 
 
 with fear. It was then th'^t the holy bishop Mamer- 
 tus betook himself to prayer for his sorrow-stricken 
 flock. A heavenly inspiration came to him, and 
 was at once acted on. He instituted three days 
 of solemn prayer and penance, selecting for that 
 purpose the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday pre- 
 ceding Ascension Thursday. The beneficial results, 
 both spiritual and temporal, which followed proved 
 how acceptable the work was to God. The other 
 Churches of France hastened to adopt the practice, 
 and, in 816, Pope St. Leo III. established it in 
 Rome. Now it is universal in the Church under 
 the name of the Kogation days. The Litany sung 
 on these days is called the Mmor, because it was 
 local and episcopal in its origin, whereas that on 
 the festival of St. Mark was Roman and papal. . 
 
 The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been 
 recited from the earliest ages both in public and in 
 private. Quarti is of opinion that it originated with 
 the Apostles. It is called the Litany of Loretto 
 because it is sung, every Saturday, with great 
 solemnity in the Church of Loretto. This magni- 
 ficent edifice incloses the Holy House of the Blessed 
 Virgin, which was transported, by the ministry of 
 Angels, from Judea to Italy, in the end of the thir- 
 teenth century. 
 
 3 
 
26 LITANIE8. 
 
 The Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus contains 
 the various attributes and praises of the Sacred 
 Name. Every knee in heaven, on earth and in 
 hell must bow at the name of Jesus, because in 
 Him, and in Him only, is salvation and hope of 
 life ; and therefore, with good reason, may we cry 
 out, whenever it is mentioned, have mercy on us ! 
 
 Rubxicians doubt whether this Litany is ap- 
 proved by the Holy See. Pope Clement VI IL, in 
 his Constitution Sanctissim2is, of the 6th of Sep- 
 tember, 1601, says of L'tanies : " As many private 
 individuals daily publish new Litanies, under pre- 
 text of cherishing devotion, to such an extent that 
 almost innumerable forms of Litanies are in vogue, 
 some of which contain puerile sentiments, others 
 dangerous ones, we, out of our pastoral solicitude, 
 wishing to provide for true devotion, and the pro- 
 per invocation of God and His saints, do order and 
 command that whoever wishes to publish, or, if 
 published, to recite, in churches, oratories, or pro- 
 cessions, any other Litanies than those common 
 and most ancient ones contained in Breviaries, 
 Missals, Pontificals, and Rituals, and that of the 
 Blessed Virgin, which is sung in the Holy House 
 of Loretto, shall send such Litanies to the Congre- 
 gation of Sacred Rites for approval, and, if neces- 
 
LITANIES. 27 
 
 sary, for correction. He cannot, without the ap- 
 probation of the aforesaid Congregation, publish 
 them or recite them in public." 
 
 This decree does not include the Litany of the 
 Holy Name amongst those that are approved. 
 Yet Ferraris says that it, and only it, is exempt 
 from the general regulation, because it was ap- 
 proved by Sixtus V., and enriched with three 
 hundred days' indulgence, at the instance of the 
 Barefooted Carmelites. But this is not conclusive, 
 because the decree of Clement YIII. is later than 
 the alleged grant of Sixtus, and it does not at all 
 allude to the Litany of the Holy Name. In a 
 book purporting to be a collection of authentic de- 
 crees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, we find 
 under the word lAtany the following statement : 
 Many princes and bishops of Germany begged the 
 approval of Rome for the Litany of the Holy Name 
 of Jesus on the ground that it was constantly re- 
 cited, in public and in private, by the people under 
 their care. The reply of the Congregation of Rites 
 was : " The aforesaid Litany is to be approved, if 
 his Holiness deems proper." It seems from the 
 tenor of the passage that the petition was sent to 
 the Pope personally, and by him transmitted to the 
 Congregation of Rites for examination. In a note 
 
28 LITANIES. 
 
 to this passage the following query and answer 
 occur : Litanice SS. Nominis Jesu sunt ne ajppro- 
 batae, indulgentiisqite ditatae ^ Besjp: Negative 
 in minibus. Die 7 Sept., 1850 in Buppellen ad 8. 
 Are the Litanies of the Holy Name of Jesus ap- 
 jproved and enriched with indulgences ? Reply : 
 No, in regard to each case. But we are not at 
 liberty to argue that they are disapproved. The 
 practical conclusion to be drawn seems to be, that 
 the Litany in question ought not to be recited in 
 public functions, but that it may be recited in 
 private. The decree of Clement VIIL speaks only 
 oi public recitation : in publicum edere aut publice 
 recitare prossumat. The Constitution Immensa 
 ceterni I)ei of Sixtus V., 22d January, 1857, re- 
 stricts the jurisdiction of the Congregation of Rites 
 to public functions and ceremonies. 
 
 It is plain to Catholic common sense that we 
 ought to prefer an indulgenced formulary of prayer 
 to one not indulgenced. The Litany of the Holy 
 Name is not indulgenced, according to the decree 
 of 1850, and therefore it must yield precedence to 
 that of the Saints and that of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 What we have said of it applies with greater 
 force to the numerous Litanies of individual Saints 
 with which our prayer-books abound. Have they re- 
 
LITANIES. 29 
 
 ceived the approbation of the Congregation of Rites, 
 in compliance with the decree of Clement VIII. ? 
 Ought they to be recited in public without that 
 approbation ? These are questions, which we leave, 
 as in filial reverence bound, to the decision of com- 
 petent eccJesiastical authority. 
 
 In regard to private recitations, we would coun- 
 sel the use of such Litanies as are certainly ap- 
 proved and indulgenced in preference to those 
 whose claims to these privileges are, at best, doubt- 
 ful. 
 
 The faithful should not add, of their own devo- 
 tion, the name of their patron saint, or any other 
 petition to the Litanies of the Saints and of Loretto. 
 Let all us endeavor, even in these minor points of 
 discipline, to conform to the spirit of the Church. 
 
 An liceat titulo specialis devotionis Litaniis 
 Sanctorum vel Lauretanis aliquem versicidum ad- 
 dere, vel novas lAtanias de quarmn approhatione 
 Ordinario nullatenus constet, in Ecclesiis canere 
 vel recitare ? 
 
 Resp : Negative et serventur omnino decreta 
 S. R. C, curentque Ordinarii colligere et vetare 
 formulas quascumgue tam impressas quam manu- 
 scriptas Litaniarum, de quarmn approhatione non 
 constat Die 31 Martii 1821. Decretum geneeale 
 AD 8. (4428.) A see Appendix. 
 
IL 
 
 THE ANGELUS. 
 
 This prayer, so called from the Latin word with 
 which it begins, is one of the most popular in use 
 amongst the faithful and it has moreover received the 
 approbation of several Popes. It is said three times 
 a day, morning, noon and evening, in honor of the In- 
 carnation of our Lord. It is composed of three Hail 
 Maries, preceded by a versicle and response taken 
 from the words which Holy Scripture uses in describ- 
 ing the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed 
 Virgin, announcing to her that she was to become 
 the Mother of God. The Angel of the Lord de- 
 clared unto Mary — and she conceived hy the Holy 
 Ghost. Hail Mary, etc. Behold the handmaid of 
 the Lord — be it done unto me according to thy 
 
 word. Hail Mary, etc. And the Word was 
 30 
 
THE ANGELUS. 31 
 
 made flesh— and dwelt among us. Hail Mary, 
 etc. 
 
 The Incarnation is both the basis and the com- 
 pletion of Christianity. Without that mystery 
 Christ would not be, and therefore His Religion 
 could have no existence. Christ is the name not 
 of the Eternal Word, but of the Eternal Word, 
 the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, made 
 Man. If there had been no Incarnation, human 
 nature would not have been assumed, and there 
 would have been no Christ. What the world would 
 have been without an Incarnate God we do not 
 know, but we do know that it is now in possession 
 of infinite treasures of grace, each of which is the 
 germ of many degrees of heavenly glory, all of 
 which proceed from the merits of Jesus Christ the 
 Man-God. Hence all practical religion can be re- 
 duced to faith in the Incarnation and love of it. 
 He who believes this Adorable Mystery with a liv- 
 ing supernatuTal belief is irresistibly impelled by 
 the religious cravings of his mind and heart to 
 admit an infallible Church and the Mystery of the 
 Blessed Eucharist. God's works of love succeed 
 each other in an increasing ratio ; each seems to 
 surpass its predecessor in its manifestation of divine 
 beauty and condescension. The Law of Moses, 
 
32 THE ANGELUS. 
 
 though one of fear, was a greater revelation of 
 love than the Law of Nature. Christ's Law of 
 Grace is the reality and the substance of which the 
 Mosaic Dispensation was the type and the shadow. 
 There are these three — Nature, Grace and Glory, 
 and of these the greatest is Glory. 
 
 Let us apply this canon of divine action to the 
 Incarnation. Earth was once blessed with the pre- 
 sence of the God-Man. The mountain winds of 
 Judea had heard the breathings of His midnight 
 prayer, the storm-lashed waves of its lakes had 
 obeyed His voice and lulled themselves to rest, His 
 feet had wandered through its fields and villages 
 and towns, His words of peace and hope and love 
 had echoed in the ears and spoken to the hearts of 
 its people. But He stayed not always ; He passed 
 away from earth to His rest in the Bosom of His 
 Father. Was God's usual loving mode of proce- 
 dure to be reversed ? Were the world's future 
 ages to look upon the Incarnation as a past historic 
 fact, just as the Patriarchs and the Prophets had 
 looked fonvard to it as future ? Men once had 
 their Jesus amongst them, were they and their 
 children to lose Him ? Ah no ! our Lord is too 
 good. He would not leave His children orphans. 
 The Incarnation is an abiding fact on earth, in the 
 
THE ANGELUS. 33 
 
 Church and in the Blessed Sacrament. There is a 
 divine and a human element in the Church, just 
 as there is the Divine and the Human Nature in 
 Jesus Christ. Its divine element is its infalli- 
 bility and its sacraments, or, in one word, the 
 Papacy ; its human element, its individual human 
 members. And what is the Blessed Sacrament 
 but Jesus Himself, the Incarnate God, dwelling 
 with His own unto the end ! 
 
 The Angelus is the prayer of the Incarnation ; 
 this suffices to recommend it to the reverence and 
 love of the faithful. The thrice-renewed daily 
 sound of the Angelus bell is, in Catholic countries, 
 the signal for general prayer. From the soaring 
 spire of Gothic Cathedral, from the modest belfry 
 of the village church, from convent, school and 
 hospital, the blessed notes of the Angelical saluta- 
 tion float out on the breezes of heaven. For a 
 moment " labor ceases to knock with her hundred 
 hands at the portals of morn, noon and even." 
 Prince and people, rich and poor fall on their knees 
 and bend their heads in prayer ; they hail the ad- 
 vent of the Word made Flesh. 
 
 This beautiful devotion prevails to a great extent 
 even among us, though so far removed in distance, 
 but not in love, we trust, from the associations and 
 
34 THE ANGELUS. 
 
 traditions of Catholic Europe. The Angelas is 
 regularly rung from our steeples, but still we do 
 not obey the holy invitation to the extent we 
 might. It is not required, of course, that we 
 should expose ourselves and our religion to insult 
 by kneeling down in the streets of a Protestant or 
 infidel city at the sound of the Angelus bell, but 
 does any valid reason exist why we should not 
 say the prayer at home, faithfully and devoutly ? 
 Could we not say it when walking along the streets^ 
 and even take off the hat at the versicle : The 
 Word was made Flesh, without at all attracting 
 observation ? 
 
 Benedict XIIL, by a brief, dated Sept. 14, 1724, 
 granted a plenary indulgence once a month, on th e 
 usual conditions^ to those who say the Angelus 
 three times a day, and a partial indulgence of one 
 hundred days for each recitation. 
 
 Benedict XIV. has decided that the Angelus is 
 to be said standing on Saturday evening and the 
 whole of Sunday, but at all other times kneeling. 
 In Lent, however, it is to be said standing on Sa- 
 turday at noon, because first Vespers have already 
 begun. 
 
 The anthem Regina coeli is to be said, in stand- 
 ing posture, in place of the Angelus, during the 
 
THE ANGELU9. 35 
 
 Paschal time, that is from Vespers of Holy Satur- 
 day to the 1st Vespers of Trinity Sunday. They 
 who do not know the Begina coeli may continue to 
 recite the Angelus and gain the indulgences. Per- 
 sons residing in places where the Angelus-bell is not 
 rung, or who cannot hear it, do not lose the indul- 
 gences, if they are faithful to recite the prayer 
 moroing, noon and evening. 
 
 The Popes suspend indulgences for the living 
 during the Jubilee or Holy Year, which occurs 
 .every twenty-fifth year. This is done in order to 
 make the faithful more eager to gain the indul- 
 gence of the Jubilee. The Angelus, however, is 
 exempted from this general regulation as a mark 
 of the peculiar favor with which it is regarded by 
 the Holy See. 
 
III. 
 HYMNS. 
 
 Amongst the Pagans a hymn meant a song or 
 ode of praise in honor of their gods or heroes. In 
 Christian language it means a poem in praise of 
 God or His saints, or of some mystery of the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 The chanting of hymns has at all times formed 
 a part of divine worship. When the children of 
 Israel saw the hosts of the Egyptians dead on the 
 shore of Red Sea, and the mighty hand that the 
 Lord had used against their enemies, they cele- 
 brated His triumph and expressed their gratitude 
 in a magnificent canticle composed by their in- 
 spired leader, Moses. Let us sing to the Lordyfor 
 He is gloriously inagnijied. All the Psalms of David 
 
 are hymns, as far surpassing in beauty and sublim- 
 36 
 
HYMNS. 37 
 
 ity the poetry of earth as the words of God surpass 
 the words of man. The mournful notes of super- 
 natural sorrow, the exultation of unshaken faith, 
 the breathings of hope, the aspirations of ecstatic 
 love commingle in the odes and lyrics of the Royal 
 Psalmist to form a unity of heavenly music and 
 poetry which masters the Christian soul with the 
 power of Divinity. 
 
 The Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, the 
 Magmjicat of the Blessed Virgin, the hymn said 
 by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, after participat- 
 ing of the Bread of Angels at the Last Supper, are 
 Scriptural proofs of the propriety of sacred song as 
 a mode of religious worship. 
 
 The Council of Braganza, held in 553, forbade 
 any poetical composition to be sung in the churches, 
 (with the exception of the Psalms and other parts 
 of the Old and New Testament,) In the following 
 century, however, the Council of Toledo removed 
 the prohibition in favor of hymns composed by dis- 
 tinguished writers. 
 
 Still it is probable that hymns were not inserted 
 in the Roman Breviary until the thirteenth century, 
 as we find no authentic mention or existing monu- 
 ment of the fact until that period. Urban VIII., 
 who reigned in the seventeenth century, appointed 
 
38 HYMNS. 
 
 three members of the Society of Jesus to revise the 
 hymns of the Breviary. The present forms of these 
 sacred poems are due to their labors. 
 
 The ecclesiastical hymns are not compositions of 
 the same author or of the same period. Some 
 date from the third or fourth century, others from 
 the seventeenth, and perhaps some even from the 
 eighteenth century. St. Ambrose, Prudentius, 
 Venerable Bede, Sedulius, Paulinus,Venantius For- 
 tunatus, Rabanus, Strabo, Fulbertus of Chartres, 
 John the Deacon, St. Bernard and St. Thomas of 
 Aquin, have all contributed their flowers of poetry 
 to the Anthology of the Church. These are un- 
 known names to some of our readers, but those that 
 bore them were true poets and faithful followers of 
 the Cross of Christ, the ever-flowiog fountain of 
 high poetic inspiration. Were their lot cast in our 
 days many a literary star would pale before their 
 brighter splendors. 
 
 Some of our hymns have never been rivaled by 
 ancient or modern uninspired bard. We would 
 instance the Te Deum, the joint composition of St. 
 Augustine and St. Ambrose, on the occasion of the 
 baptism of the former by the latter, in the end of 
 the fourth century ; the Vexilla Begis of Venan- 
 tius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, towards the 
 
HYMNS. 39 
 
 middle of the sixth century ; the Ave Maris Stella 
 and the Stahat Mater of Pope Innocent III., in 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century ; the- Veni 
 Creator Spiritus, which some authors have attri- 
 buted to St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, and 
 others to Charlemagne ; and finally the glorious 
 hymns of the Blessed Sacrament, the Pange Linguay 
 the Verhiim Sitper.num, and the Laucla Sion, the 
 compositions of the angelic doctor, St. Thomas of 
 Aquin. There is a strain of unearthly majesty 
 and triumph breathing through the last-mentioned, 
 that, in our estimation, makes it the most sublime 
 hymn in the Liturgy. It is said that the solemn 
 music t ) which it is set is the same that was chanted 
 in the triumphant processions of Rome's conquer- 
 ing generals. 
 
 In the Deer eta Authentica S. R. C, an abridge- 
 ment of the great ritual work of Gardellini, we find 
 under the word Cantiones the following decrees : 
 
 An conveniat cantare aliqiias cantiones vidgari 
 sermone, non tamen prof anas, in festivitate SS. 
 Sacramenti, etc J 
 
 Resp : JVon convenire Die. 21 Martii 1609 in 
 Abulem (258.) 
 
 Episcopus jpetiit : An sibi liceat proMbere Be- 
 
40 HYMNS. 
 
 gularibus suce dicecesis, ne in ipsorum Ecclesiis 
 canant laudes idiomate vidgari comjpositas ? 
 
 Resp : Episcojmm posse auctoritate Jiujus Con- 
 gregationis dictas laudes proliibere etiam Regular- 
 ibus. Die 7 Aug. 1628 in Novarien (618.) 
 
 An in henedictione populo impertienda cum 
 Augustissimo Eucharistce Sacramento^ permitti 
 possit cantus alicujus versicuU vernacula lingua 
 concepti : vel ante, vel post ipsam benedict ioneni ^ 
 
 Resp : Fennitti posse post henedictioneni. Die 
 3. Aug. 1839 in Bohien ad 2 (4711.) 
 
 These decrees apply, we think, only to public 
 ecclesiastical functions, strictly so-called, and not 
 to Sunday-schools, Sodalities, and Confraternities. 
 If we are correct in our surmise, sacred canticles in 
 the mother tongue may be sung by the members 
 of such associations. The Holy Ghost tells us that 
 praise is not seemly in the mouth of sinners; where 
 then can it be more beautiful and touching than 
 when it echoes from the lips of innocent chi'dren ? 
 We ought, by all means, to encourage a taste for 
 singing amongst our young people. It will enable 
 them to take an active part in divine worship and 
 enhance its solemnity, and it will be a source of 
 holy enjo^Tnent to themselves and others. 
 
IV. 
 THE CONFITEOR. 
 
 This, like many other prayers of the Church, 
 receives its name from the Latin word with which 
 it begins, Confiteor, I confess. It is a general 
 avowal of sins, in the presence of God, of the 
 Church Triumphant in heaven and of the Church 
 Militant on earth. The reciter thrice strikes his 
 breast, in acknowledgment of the three kinds of sins 
 of which he has been guilty, — of thought, of word 
 and of deed,; — and concludes by begging the inter- 
 cession of the Blessed Virgin, of the Saints and of 
 his brethren on earth. 
 
 The Cmifiteor is one of the Liturgical prayers, 
 and hence a Sacramental. It is said by the cele- 
 brant and assistant ministers at Mass, in that part 
 of the Divine Office called Comjoline, and some- 
 
 4 
 
42 THE CONFITEOR, 
 
 times, also, at Prime. The learned and pious 
 Cardinal Bona says, in his book de Rebus Litur- 
 giciSy that some writers have attributed the author- 
 ship of this prayer to Pope St. Pontianus, others 
 to Pope St. Damasus. The former Pontiif reigned 
 from 230 to 235 ; the latter from 3G6 to 384. 
 "I am convinced," continues His Eminence, "that 
 some general formula of confession was in use from 
 Apostolic times, but I am unable to decide whether 
 the one we now have originated with Pontianus 
 or Damasus, because ancient writers say nothing 
 of the matter." 
 
 The priests and prophets of the Old Law made a 
 general confession of their sins before praying or 
 offering sacrifice : ^eccavimus, Bomine, injuste 
 egimus, iniquitatem fecimus — we have sinned^ 
 Lordy we have acted unjustly^ we have done 
 iniquity. All the ancient Liturgies contain a Con- 
 fiteor, different in words, but not in sentiments, from 
 the one now in use. An abiding sorrow for sin and 
 confession of it are essential elements of Christian 
 holiness ; no system of worship is sound which does 
 not, at least implicitly, contain them. The prac- 
 tice of striking the breast, in token of repentance, 
 is based on natural reason. Scripture and tradition. 
 The heart, the seat of the passions both good and 
 
THE CONFITEOR. 43 
 
 bad, is in the breast. When the intellect sins by 
 pride or curiosity, it but follows the prompdngs of 
 the heart. It is right then that we should strike 
 the breast rather than any other part of the body. 
 By doing so, we show that we wish to rend our 
 hearts, that our contrition is not of the lip but of 
 the heart The humble publican who went down 
 to his house justified rather than the proud Phari- 
 see struck his breast when he prayed, God he 
 merciful to me a sinner (St. Luke, xviii. 13.) 
 Those who witnessed the prodigies which followed 
 the death of Christ on Calvary returned home, 
 striking their breasts. St. Gregory Nazianzen, a 
 Father of the 4th century, says (Orat. 15): "Let 
 us, clothed with sackcloth, enter the temple, and 
 day and night strike our breasts between the steps 
 and the altar." St. Augustine bears testimony to 
 the existence of the same practice in his time. 
 
THE BENEDICTIONS OF THE CHUECH. 
 
THE 
 
 BENEDICTIONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Holy Mother Church wishes everything her 
 children use to be holy, to be a help to Heaven. 
 Her Ritual contains prayers for invoking blessings 
 on the animate and inanimate objects which serve 
 them in daily life — animals, fields, houses, the first 
 fruits of the harvest and vintage and the various 
 articles of food. The Devil but too frequently em- 
 ploys these creatures to lead us into sin, but the 
 Church, by her benedictions, consecrates them and 
 thus neutralizes his power and shields us from his 
 snares. She stamps them with the seal of Christ, 
 that we may know that all these things belong to 
 Him and are to be used for His glory. 
 
 But besides these material things used for 
 
48 THE BENEDICTIONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the ordinary purposes of life, there are others, 
 which, after they are blessed, the Church considers 
 peculiarly sacred, such as the Agnus Dei, the Sca- 
 pular, Holy Water, Holy Ashes, Palm Branches 
 and Candles. These she would have us use for a 
 directly religious end ; she wishes us to look upon 
 them as symbols and memorials of sacred persons, 
 events and truths. 
 
I. 
 
 BLESSED CANDLES. 
 
 The use of lights in religious worship is no new 
 thing. We read in the 25th and 27th chapters of 
 the Book of Exodus that God commanded Moses 
 to make the seven-branched candlestick, in the 
 lamps of which pure olive oil was to be constantly 
 burned. It was the duty of the priests to enter 
 daily into that part of the Tabernacle called the 
 Holy where this candlestick was, and trim the 
 lights, that they might ever burn bright and beauti- 
 ful before the Lord. 
 
 The voice of Catholic tradition attests the 
 use of lights in the Christian Church from the 
 Apostolic days. Si John describes, in the 1st 
 
 5 
 
50 BLESSED CANDLES. 
 
 chapter of th3 Apocalypse, the vision in which he 
 saw the seven golden candlesticks. Now, the 
 Li!^urgy of the Church Militant is a counterpart of 
 that of the Church Triumphant, for Jesus in the 
 Blessed Sacrament is Jesus who is in heaven ; hence 
 commentators have gathered that in the time of 
 St. John lights were used in the Eacharistic Sacri- 
 fice. Incidental testimony of the early Fathers, 
 which is all tho stronger for being incidental, and 
 the authority of the ancient and venerable Apostolic 
 canons establish the same truth. 
 
 The heretic Vigilantius attacked, in the fourth 
 century, the use of lights in the divine offices, but 
 he was victoriously confuted by St. Jerome. The 
 Saint informs us that " throughout the Churches of 
 the East, whenever the Gospel is to be recited, 
 they bring forth lights, not certainly to drive away 
 darkness, but to manifest some sign of joy, that 
 under the type of corporal light may be indicated 
 thivt light of which we read in the Psalms : Thy 
 word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths." 
 What St. Jerome tells us of the practice of the 
 Eastern Church, St. Paulinus, the amiable poet- 
 bishop of Nola, tells us of the Western. We 
 transcribe a translation of his beautiful Latin lines 
 from Dr, Rock's Hierurgia : 
 
BLESSED CANDLES. 61 
 
 With crowJed lamps are those bright altars crowned, 
 
 And waxen t-ipers, shedding perfume round, 
 
 From fragrant wicks, beam cahu a scented ray 
 
 To gladden night and joy e'en radiant day. 
 
 Meridian splendors thus light up the night, 
 
 And day itself, illumed with Sacred Light, 
 
 Wears a new glory, borrowed from those rays 
 
 That stream from countless lamps in never-ending blaze. 
 
 We shall no longer delay on the dogmatic proofs 
 of the antiquity of lights in the Church, but hasten 
 to more practical points. 
 
 When our Lady went up to Jerusalem, forty 
 days after Christmas, to make the offering pre- 
 scribed by the Mosiac law for mothers after the 
 birth of the first-born son, and the still more pre- 
 cious offering of the Infant Jesus to His Eternal 
 Father, the holy old man Simeon " camo by the 
 Spirit into the temple." He took the sweet Child 
 into his arms and blessed God and said : " Now 
 dost thou disQiiss Thy servant, Lord, according 
 t'j Thy words, in peace, because my eyes have seen 
 Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before 
 the face of all peoples ; a Light to the revelation 
 of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." 
 The Church calls us into the temple, on the Puri- 
 fication, that our eyes too may see this glorious 
 
52 BLESSED CANDLES. 
 
 Light, recognizing it in its symbol, the blessed 
 Candle, that our hands too may hoLi the Infant 
 Saviour, in holding the waxen taper which repre- 
 sents Ilim. 
 
 How full of meaning are all the rites of our holy 
 religion ! Not by chance has the Church chosen 
 the wax candle as a type of her Lord and Master. 
 St. Anselm, of Canterbury, tells us the reason : 
 The wax, product of the virginal bee, represents 
 Christ's most spotless Body ; the wick, enclosed in 
 the wax and forming one with it, images His human 
 Soul, whilst the ruddy flame, crowning and com- 
 pleting the union of wax and wick, typifies the 
 Divine Nature, subsisting inconfused'y with the 
 Human Nature in One Divine Person. 
 
 Let us then make, on receiving our blessed candle, 
 an act of faith in Christ the Light of the world 
 '^ enlightening every man coming into this world." 
 Let us remember that we are the "children of 
 light," and that as such we ought to shed around 
 us the light of good example. Oh ! dear readers, 
 if our lives were as they should be, we would be like 
 so many torches placed along the pathway of truth, 
 to show our poor erring countrymen the way to the 
 glorious city of God, the Holy Roman Catholic 
 Apostolic Church. 
 
BLESSED CANDLES. 53 
 
 We should make, on this festival, an offering of 
 candles for the service of the Altar.* Oh ! what 
 a consoling thought for us when we are at our 
 daily work, to think that perhaps our candles are 
 at that moment burning before the Blessed Sicra- 
 ment, taking the place of our hearts, silently, 
 purely burning in their stead before the Sacred 
 Heart of Jesus. 
 
 Nor should we forget ourselves ; we ought to 
 have, at least, one blessed candle for our own 
 private use, to take to our houses, to burn before 
 the Crucifix or an image of the Blessed Virgin, 
 to remind us that our souls, like it, ought to be 
 consuming the dross of earthly affection, in the 
 pure, heaven-aspiring flame of love. 
 
 We must pnt confidence in these holy candles, 
 for the prayers of the Church have ascended to 
 God, that " He would bless and sanctify them for 
 the service of men and for the good of their bodies 
 and souls in all places." Pious Catholics light 
 them during thunder storms, that God, in consi- 
 deration of Christ, whom they represent, may 
 deign to protect His servants. Let us light them 
 whenever we are threatened with calamity, and if 
 
 * They should be of wax — such is the wish of the Church. 
 
54 BLESSED CANDLES. 
 
 we do so in a spiiifc of faith, we shall experience 
 signal proofs of God's fatherly care of us. But 
 above all let the holy candle burn by the bedside 
 of the sick and the dying, dispelling by its 
 blessed light the shades of trouble and despair 
 which the Prince of darkness strives to cast around 
 the Chrisfcian soul in the hour of its dissolution, 
 and illumining the dark road, through the valley 
 of death to the mountain whose light is God. 
 
 (B see Appendix.) 
 
n. 
 
 HOLY WATER. 
 
 Both the Jews and the Gentiles used lustral 
 water in their religious ceremonies. The former 
 did so by the express command of God ; the latter 
 borrowed the rite from the Jews, or adopted it from 
 the evident symbolism of water, its natural fitness 
 for expressing the cleansing of the soul. We must 
 recollect that the Mosaic Liturgy preceded, by 
 centuries, the culmination of polytheism and hero- 
 worship, in the refined mythologies of Greece and 
 Rome. For ourselves, however, we are inclined to 
 adopt the second explanat'on. The tradition of 
 the Fall and of the necessity of expiation was 
 handed down, in substantial integrity, from gener- 
 ation to generation, and endured in spite of the 
 corrupting influences of the dominant Pagan super- 
 
56 HOLY WATER. 
 
 stition. The offering of bloody sacrifices and Ihe 
 sprinkling of water on things and persons were 
 sensible expressions of man's conviction of his sin- 
 fulness and of bis need of purification. When the 
 Catholic Church uses Holy Water in her benedic- 
 tions, when she bids her children reverence it and 
 apply it to their persons, she is not copying a 
 Jewish or Pagan rite ; she is but expressing a 
 truth, detached from the mists which hung around 
 it for the common run of Hebrew minds, and from 
 the errors with which Gentilism disfigured it — the 
 Fall of Adam and the consequent mystery of 
 Redemption. The religious ceremonies of the 
 ancient world prefigured the Messiah and the graces 
 of the Incarnation ; those of the Church represent 
 Him as present in the Blessed Eucharist and apply 
 His graces. 
 
 We said that God commanded the Jews to use 
 water in the performance of sacred rites. ''Water 
 being j^ut into it, (the brazen laver which stood 
 between the tabernacle and the altar,) Aaron and 
 his sa)is shall wash their hands and feet in it, when 
 they are going into tlie tahernacle of the testimony, 
 and when they are to come to the altar, to offer on 
 it incense to the Lord, lest jjerha^s they die, 
 (Exodus XXX., 18, 19, 20, 21.) The nineteenth 
 
HOLY WATER. 67 
 
 chapter of the Book of Numbers contains the law 
 coccerning the water of expiation. Christ has 
 sanctified water by making it the matter of Baptism 
 and bj the contact of His own Sacred Body in the 
 river Jordan. 
 
 The present rite of blessing water, by prayer and 
 an admixture of salt, is frequently referred to Pope 
 St. Alexander I., who reigned from 109 to 119. 
 Fornici, in his Institutiones Liturgicce, says : 
 " From the words which St. Alexander uses, in his 
 decree, it would appear that the rite is more ancient 
 than the time of that Pontiff: ^ We hless^for the 
 use of the people, water sjprinMed with salt ' . . and 
 we command the same to he done by all priests,'''' 
 He does not say : " We decree that water shall 
 he Messed but we hless, to indicate a ceremony 
 already in use." It is more probably that the rite 
 is of Apostolic origin. 
 
 There are three kinds of holy water : 1st, bap- 
 tismal water; 2d, that which can be blessed only 
 by a bishop; and 3d, common holy water which 
 may be blessed by a priest. 
 
 The first, which, as its name indicates, is used 
 in conferring the Sacrament of Bapt'sm, is publicly 
 blessed on the eves of Easter and Pentecost either 
 by bishop or priest. The Oil of Catechumens and 
 
58 HOLY WATER. 
 
 Chrism are mixed with it. The abridgment of the 
 Roman Ritual, used in the United States, contains 
 a formula, approved by Pope Pius VIII., to be 
 employed in private benediction of baptismal water. 
 
 The water used in consecrating churches and in 
 reconciling consecrated churches which have been 
 profaned is blessed by a bishop. It is called 
 Gregorian water, because Pope Gregory IX. made 
 its use obligatory for the purposes specified. Wine, 
 ashes and salt are mingled with it. 
 
 Common holy water, wljich a priest may bless, 
 contains a small quantity of salt. It is this which 
 is placed at the doors of churches, and which is used 
 in most ecclesiastical benedictions. 
 
 The union of water and salt is not without 
 mystery. The property of the first is to cleanse, 
 of th second to preserve. The Church wishes 
 that this Sacramental should help to wash away 
 sin from her children and to preserve them from a 
 relapse. Water quenches fire and fosters the 
 growth of plants ; thus, in the spiiitual order, holy 
 water serves to quench the fire of the passions and 
 to promote the growth of virtues. 
 
 Salt is the symbol of wisdom ; it typifies the 
 Eternal Wisdom, the Second Person of the Blessed 
 Trinity. Water represents human nature. Hence 
 
HOLY WATER. 59 
 
 the mingling of the two substances is emblematic 
 of the Incarnaton, of the assumption of human 
 nature by the Eternal Word. Water represents 
 repentance for past offences ; salt, from its preserv- 
 ative properties, represents the care which the true 
 penitent takes to avoid future falls. 
 
 There is a remarkable instance in the Fourth 
 Book of Kings (2d chapter) of the sacred efficacy 
 which God attaches to salt. The inhabitants of 
 Jericho complained to the prophet Eliseus that the 
 water of their town was bad and the ground barren. 
 The holy man then said to them : bring me a new 
 vessel and put salt into it. And when they had 
 brought it, he went out to the spring of the waters 
 and cast the salt into it, and said : Thus saith the 
 Lord : I have healed these waters, and there shall 
 be no more in them death or barrenness. 
 
 The water and salt are both exorcised before 
 being blessed, that is, the evil spirit is commanded, 
 in the name of the true and living God, to witl> 
 draw any power he m^y have over these sub- 
 stances. The prayers which the priest then recites 
 over them beautifully express the spiritual effects 
 which the Church wishes them to produce, and 
 which, in virtue of her benediction, they will pro- 
 duce, unless the unworthy dispositions of the Mth- 
 ful prevent The benediction of the salt is as fol- 
 
60 HOLY WATER. 
 
 lows: "Almifijhty and Eternal God! we humbly 
 implore Thy boundless clemency, that Thou wouldst 
 mercifully deign to bless and sanctify this salt, 
 Thy creature, which Thou hast given for the use 
 of mankind, that it may bring solvation of mind 
 and body unto all that take it ; and that whatever 
 is touched or sprinkled with it, may be freed from 
 all uncleanness and from all attacks of spiritual wick- 
 edness." We see from this prayer that the Church 
 begs God to attach a triple efficacy to blessed salt: 
 1st, that it may be a means of salvation to the 
 soul ; 2d, that it may be a preservative against 
 corporal dangers ; 3d, that it may sanctify every 
 thing with which it comes in contact. It does not 
 produce these effects of itself, as a Sacrament does, 
 but it obtains actual graces for the pious user, which 
 will, if co-operated with, obtain them. The same 
 remark applies to the efficacy of the water. 
 
 The prayer for the blessing of this latter sub- 
 stance is this : " Oh God ! Who, for the salvation 
 of mankind, hast wrought many great mysteries 
 and miracles, by means of the substance water, 
 listen propitiously to our invocations, and infuse 
 into this element, prepared by manifold purifica- 
 tions, the power of Thy benediction : in order that 
 Thy creature (water) being used as an instrument 
 
Ht^LY WATER. 61 
 
 of Thy hidden works, may be efficacious in driv- 
 ing away devils and curing diseases ; that what- 
 ever in the houses or in the places of the faithful 
 shall have been sprinkled with this water, may 
 be freed from all uncleanness and delivered from 
 all guile : let no pestilential spirit reside there, 
 no infectious air : let all the snares of the hidden 
 enemy be removed ; and if there should be any 
 thing adverse to the safety or repose of the in- 
 dwellers, may it be put entirely to flight, by the 
 sprinkling of this water, that the welfare which we 
 seek, by the invoc-ition of Thy holy Name, may be 
 defended from all assaults ; through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, etc." This formula of prayer im- 
 plores the following effects for holy water: 1st, to 
 drive away the devils ; 2d, to cure diseases ; 3d, 
 to free houses and tlieir contents from all evil, 
 particularly from a plague-infected atmosphere. 
 After these prayers the priest puts a little salt into 
 the water, saying, " May this commingling of salt 
 and water be made in the Name of the Father and 
 of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Let us consider now the uses of Holy Water. 
 The Church employs it in nearly all her benedic- 
 tions, the longest and most solemn as well as the 
 shortest and last sacred. Her reverence for it 
 
62 HOLY WATER. 
 
 seems to equal that which she p ys to the holy 
 sign of the cross. She prescribes, in the rubrics of 
 the Missalj that one of her ministers shall bless 
 water, on every Sunday, before High Mass, 
 and then proceed to sprinkle it over the clergy, 
 and the faithful.* She thereby admonishes her 
 
 * The rubric of the Missal de ordine adfaciendani aquam 
 henedictam is as follows: Die Dominica f in sacrist ia prat' 
 parato sale et aqua hcMedicenda^ sacerdos celehraturus Mis- 
 sam, vel alius ad id deputafuSj aiha, vel superpelliceo 
 iudutus cum stola circa collumj prima dicit, etc. If the 
 celebrant perlbrms the function, the stole must be of the 
 color of the day; if another priest, the stole ought to bo 
 purple. As a general rule purple is to be used in all bene- 
 dictions in which exorcisms enter. Abbe Guillois, in the 
 fourth volume of his Catechism says: "Liturgists all iigree 
 that holy water is to be blessed every Sunday before High 
 Mass; Singulis diebus dominicis fieri debet benedictio aquae 
 lustralis, atque adeo renovari singulis hebdomadis, projecta in 
 sacrarium alia praecedentis hebdomadae. Quarti — Adeo 
 rigorosum est praeceptum de benedicenda aqua singulis die- 
 bus dominicis, ut nunquara oraitti debeat — BaruffaJdi.'^ 
 The Missal excepts two Sundays from this general regula- 
 tion, Easter and Pentecost, because water has been solemnly 
 blessed on the eves of these festivals, and the Caeremoniale 
 Episcoporum excepts all those on which the bishop celebrates 
 solemnly. The benediction is o^ precept on Sunday, it may 
 however be performed, if the holy water should be exhausted, 
 on any other day. . . . The Sacred Congregation of 
 
HOLY WATER. 
 
 children to purify their hearts by the waters of 
 contrition, in order that they may assist without 
 blame at the venerable mysteries of the Eucharistic 
 Sacrifice. She places vases of holy water in the 
 vestibules of her temples to teach those who enter 
 that they ought to be clean of hand and cleaner 
 of thought and affection if they wish to stand in 
 the midst of the adoring bands of angels who cluster 
 around the altar of the Mass. This custom of put- 
 ting holy water at the entrance of the church dates 
 from the earliest ages. 
 
 Our reverence for holy water should be modeled 
 on that of the Church. We ought to make this 
 Sacramental as ubiquitous as the crucifix or the 
 
 Rites has prescribed the following rules for the aspersion 
 before Mass : 1st, It is to be performed only by the celebrant ; 
 2d, Celebrans aspergens populuni aqua benedicta associari 
 debet a diacono et subdiacono et ministris altaris et recitare 
 psalmuni Miserere, Die 31, Jidii 1665 in Wullius ad 13 ; 
 3d, Ritus aspergendi aqua benedicta populum restringitur ad 
 dies Dominicos tantum, (hence it is not to be done on 
 holidays of obligation occurring during the week) ; 4th, 
 This is prescribed by the Missal : Sacerdos celebraturus 
 facit aspersionera indutus pluviali coloris officii. . . We 
 give one more decree for the benefit of our clerical readers ; 
 In ultimo Majoris Hebdomadae triduo removenda est a vasis 
 ecclesise aqua benedicta. 
 
64 HOLY WATER. 
 
 cross. No Catholic family should be without a 
 vase of holy water, and one too which is kept for 
 use not merely for ornament. Thank God ! our 
 Catholic poor are exemplary in their devotion for 
 the sacred things of the Church. Many a good 
 old dame is richer in her rosary, her cross and her 
 holy water than some of her brethren in the faith 
 are in their learning. Let us love knowledge, not 
 that which puffeth up, but that which edifieth unto 
 charity. Then we shall learn to love the Sacra- 
 mentals of the Church ; we shall become poor in 
 spirit and merit the blessing pronounced by our 
 Divine Lord on those who have learnt from Him 
 to be meek and humble of heart. 
 
 (C. See Appendix.) 
 
m 
 
 HOLY ASHES. 
 
 Ashes have at all times symbolized humiliation 
 and mourning. The Royal Prophet David declared 
 unto God that, in the affliction of his heart, he 
 " did eat bread like ashes " (Ps. ci. 10), and when 
 this good king had been gathered to his fathers, 
 his penitential deed was imitated in part by the 
 Gentile monarch of Nineve, who " rose up out of his 
 throne," on the preaching of Jonas, " and cast away 
 his robe from him a ad was clothed in sackcloth and 
 sat in ashes " (Jonas iii. 6.) The Eastern custom 
 of sprinkling dust, or ashes, on the head, of sitting 
 in ashes or casting them up into the air, is, to this 
 day, a manifestation of true or feigned grief of 
 heart. 
 
 The Saints knew well the holy significancy of 
 
 ashes ; they knew that they are memorials of the 
 
 6 
 
66 HOLY ASHES. 
 
 origin of man's body and its destiny, of Christian 
 lowliness of heart, and hence we read in their lives 
 that they wished to die on a bed of ashes. Their 
 souls, released from their mortal prisons, rose 
 triumphantly to heaven from the ashes of humility, 
 of which the material ashes are the types, bright 
 and glorious, like the fabled Phoenix of olden story. 
 
 " In the midst of the large infirmary of the Ab- 
 bey of Cluny," says De Moleon, in his Liturgical 
 Travels, " there is a hollow place six feet long and 
 about two and a half or three feet wide, in which 
 religious in their last agony were laid, after it 
 had previously been covered with ashes. The 
 present custom, however, is not to put them in it 
 until after death. Some communities of Carthu- 
 sians and Trappists make their dying brethren pass 
 through the same solemn ceremony." What 
 cruelty ! say the votaries of the world — what true 
 charity! say the children of God. These good 
 monks thought more of their souls than of their 
 bodies ; ashes are one of the medicines of the soul, 
 curing it of the vain-glory that the retrospect of a 
 well spent life may occasion, and therefore the 
 monks loved to use them. 
 
 The present rite of the Church of signing the 
 foreheads of her children with blessed ashes, in 
 
HOLY ASHES. 67 
 
 the beginning of the Lenten fast, is a remnant of 
 the ancient penitential discipline. In the good old 
 times, when the faithful were more fervent, when 
 they understood better the malice of sin and had 
 a deeper horror of it, public penance for certain 
 crimes was ordained by the Church, and, for the 
 most part, willingly accepted and faithfully per- 
 formed. The sorrowing sinner looked upon admis- 
 sion to the penitential course as a precious boon, 
 as a hope held out of his reinstatement in the 
 enjoyment of those spiritual goods which he had 
 forfeited by his transgression. 
 
 The course of penance for those who were to 
 be reconciled on Holy Thursday began on Ash- 
 Wednesday. The penitents, having confessed their 
 sins, came to the Church on that day with bare 
 feet and in habits of mourning, and humbly begged 
 from the Bishop canonical punishment. The Pontiff 
 clothed them in sackcloth, scattered ashes on their 
 heads, sprinkled them with holy water and recited 
 the Seven Penitential Psalms over them, whilst the 
 attendant clergy lay proitrate on the ground. 
 The Bishop and his ministers then imposed hands 
 on them to ratify, as it were, their solemn conse- 
 cration to the course of penance. This ceremony 
 -was followed by a pathetic exhortation in which the 
 
68 HOLY ASHES. 
 
 Bishop announced to the weeping sinners before 
 him that as God had driven Adam from Paradise, 
 80 was he obliged to exclude them for a time from 
 the spiritual paradise of the Church. With sorrow- 
 ing hearts and countenances the penitents marched 
 in slow procession to the door of the Church. The 
 Bishop thrust them out with his pastoral staff, and 
 they passed not again the threshold of the house of 
 God until Holy Thursday. During this touching 
 ceremony the clergy chanted the words which God 
 addressed to fallen man when driving him from the 
 earthly paradise : " Thou shalt eat thy bread in 
 the sweat of thy brow : remember that thou art 
 dust and into dust thou shalt return." 
 
 There existed in some dioceses, even as late as 
 the last century, vestiges of the old custom. At 
 Narbonne, public penitents abstained, during all 
 Lent from entering the Church ; they recited 
 prayers in their own houses during the celebration 
 of Mass. In the collegiate church of Avalon, in 
 the diocese of Autun, it was customary to distribute 
 the ashes on the steps of the main entrance, in 
 memory of the exclusion of the penitents from the 
 Church. At Autun, a clergyman in cassock and 
 surplice was the substitute for all the penitents ; he 
 was driven from the church on Ash- Wednesday and 
 
HOLY ASHES. 69 
 
 again admitted on Holy Thursday. In course of 
 time many of the faithful, through a motive of 
 humility, though not obliged to a course of public 
 penance, presented themselves on the first day of- 
 Lent to receive the ashes. This pious custom had 
 spread in the eleventh century throughout the 
 church, as appears from a decree of the Council 
 of Benevento in 1091. 
 
 The mildness of the Church in our regard, in 
 contrast with her holy severity towards those of our 
 forefathers in the faith, who unhappily sinned, yet 
 perhaps far less grievously and less frequently than 
 we, oughb to fill us with sentiments of deep humi- 
 lity and gratitude. The sign of the holy ashes on 
 our heads should remiad us of the desbiny of our 
 earthly bodies — dust a ad worms. If we realize 
 well this solemn truth, we shall undertake readily 
 and joyously our Lenten work of fisting and pray- 
 ing, hoping for a recompense beyond the grave 
 when corruption will be changed into incorruption, 
 when this mortal body will be clothed with immor- 
 tality. 
 
 The congregation of Rites,* by a decree of the 
 
 * The congregatioa of Rites is composed of Cardinals and 
 inferior officials j its object is the regulation of the ceremonies 
 of divine worship. It was established by Pope Sixtus Y. ia 
 1587. 
 
70 HOLV ASHE3. 
 
 23(1 of May 1693, has forbidden the ashes that 
 are to be placed on the heads of the faithful to be 
 moistened with water ; they must be perfectly dry. 
 The rubric of the Roman Missal prescribes that the 
 ashes are to be got by burning the palm-branches 
 blessed on Palm Sunday of the preceding year. 
 In this we discover a holy symbolism. The palm 
 is the emblem of triumph, ashes of humility and 
 death to show that the term of earthly triumph is 
 the tomb, of far-extending sway of earthly potent- 
 ate, the coffin and the grave. But the blessed 
 palm is an emblem of Christ's triumph, and its 
 ashes are, as it were, its seeds, to teach us that we 
 too shall participate in our Lord's triumph if we 
 participate in His sufferings and His death by a 
 true, solid devotion to His cross and by dying to 
 ourselves. 
 
IV. 
 OUR LORD'S CROSS. 
 
 Most of the Sacramentals, though expressly 
 mentioned, or, at least, foreshadowed in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, are, in their present form, of ecclesiastical 
 origin ; some few, however, were instituted by our 
 Lord himself His act of ineffable condescension 
 in washing the Apostles' feet had all the requisites 
 of a Sacrament ; it was a sensible ceremony, per- 
 formed by a Divine Person, and it was accom- 
 panied by the remission of venial sin, and hence, 
 necessarily, by an increase of sanctifying grace ; 
 he that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet, 
 but is clean loholly (St. John xiii. 10.) Yet the 
 Church, enlightened by the teaching of the Holy 
 Ghost, as coatainedin Apostolic tradition, does not 
 count it amongst her Sacraments, It is a Sacra- 
 
72 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 vuntal most instructive ia its mystic meaning, 
 most rich in blessings, most venerable in its divine 
 origin. 
 
 Crosses and Crucifixes are Sacramentals of 
 ecclesiastical institution, blessed by the prayers of 
 the Church, moving the Christian soul, in virtue 
 of Christ's true Cross, which they represent, to 
 many a p'ous thought and many a holy deed. 
 But that true Cross is holier than they inasmuch 
 as the reality surpasses the figure. Not with the 
 blood of goats or oxen, nor the sprinkling of holy 
 water, nor the unction of holy chrism ; not by 
 mortal priest or bishop or pope was it blessed, but 
 with the Precious Blood shed for the world's re- 
 demption, by the Great High Priest forever, 
 accjrding to the order of Melchisedech, Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 The old Romans looked on crucifixion as the most 
 cruel and ignominious of punishments, fit only for 
 slaves or the perpetrators of the most atrocious 
 crimes. "Slaves, robbers, assassins and rebels," 
 says Lamy, in his dissertation on the Cross, " were 
 condemned to be crucified, and they hung on the 
 instrument of their punishment until hunger, thirst 
 or the cruel pains they endured killed them ; and 
 "then their dead bodies were given as food to dogs 
 
OUR lord's cross. 73 
 
 and crows." The celebrated passage in Cicero's 
 oration against Verres shows us plainly in what 
 horror crucifixion was held : " To bind a Roman 
 citizen is unlawfal, to scourge him is an atrocious 
 crime, to slay him is a parricide, but to crucify 
 him! . . . what shall I call it?" Yet did the 
 innocent Jesus vouchsafe to die this ignominious 
 death for us sinners ! 
 
 The two charges brought by the Jews against 
 our Lord were blasphemy and treason. The Jews 
 answered : We have a law, and according to the 
 law He ought to die, because He made Himself 
 the Son of God, (St. John, xix. 7.) We have 
 found this man 'perverting our nation, and forhid-- 
 ding to give tribute to Ccesar, and saying that He 
 is Christ the King (St. Luke, xxiii. 2.) Accord- 
 ing to the law of Moses stoning was the punish- 
 ment of blasphemy and hence it was rather on the 
 false charge of treason that Pilate, in his capacity 
 of Roman Governor, condemned our Saviour to the 
 Cross. 
 
 Crosses are of several kinds : the Latin, the 
 Greek, the transverse, the Egyptian and the Mal- 
 tese. The Latin Cross, the one in use amongst 
 us, consists of two beams cutting each other at 
 right angles at about three quarters the length 
 
 7 
 
74 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 of the longer piece, as in figure (1.) Two equal 
 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 
 
 beams cutting each other in the centre form a 
 Greek cross (2.) The transverse cross is in shape 
 like the letter X ; it is called also St. Andrew's 
 cross, because it was the instrument of that Apos- 
 tle's martyrdom (3.) A cross like the letter T is 
 called the Egyptian, or St. Anthony's cross (4.) 
 The letter T is one of the component initials (th) of 
 the Greek word for God : St. John tells us in the 
 Apocalypse (vii. 3.) that the angel cried out : Hurt 
 not the earthy nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign 
 the servants of our God in their foreheads, which, 
 according to some interpreters, consists in the cor- 
 poral or spuitual impress of the sacred letter T. 
 Painters are wont to depict this letter on the robe 
 of St. Anthony, the Egyptian hermit, or to give 
 the crutch on which he leans this form, as an 
 emblem of the divine life which he and his brethren 
 of the desert led, and hence it has been called St. 
 Anthony's cross. The Maltese cross consists of 
 
OUR lord's cross. -75 
 
 four equilateral triangles the apices of which touch 
 one another (5.) The tradition in the church is 
 that our Lord suffered on the Latin cross. St. Au- 
 gustine beautifully applies to the four extremities of 
 the cross the text of St. Paul : That being rooted 
 and foiinded in charity you may he able to com^pre- 
 hend with all the Saints, what is tJie breadth and 
 length and height and dej^th. (Eph. iii. 17, 18.) 
 " The breadth means the good works of charity ; 
 the length, perseverance in well-doing unto the 
 end; the height, the hope of heavenly rewards; the 
 depth, the inscrutable judgments of God, whence 
 this so great a grace doth come to man : thus I 
 apply the text to the mystery of the cross." 
 
 The material of the Sacred Cross was probably 
 oak, as this wood abounded in Judea, and would 
 be moreover, from its strength, one of the most 
 suitable of trees for bearing up the body of the 
 crucified. There is, I believe, a touching and 
 beautiful legend that seeds from the tree of the 
 knowledge of good and evil, were borne by the 
 waters of the flood, or other cause, to the moun- 
 tain of Cavalry, and that from the offshoots thereof 
 the Holy Cross was made. And if this be so, then 
 would our Lord have nailed to the very tree which 
 caused man's sin the cancelled record of that sin, 
 
76 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 washing out the handwriting that was against us 
 with His own most Precious Blood. 
 
 The Cross was very high. The testimony of 
 Holy Scripture in regard to the punishment of 
 Aman, mentioned in the Book of Esther, and that 
 of profane authors, quoted by Baronius, inform us 
 that high crosses were reserved for criminals of 
 noble birth. Surely He who was thought to be 
 the son of Joseph the carpenter was not deemed 
 of noble extraction by Jew or Roman, though 
 in truth the blood of Juda's royal line flowed 
 through His veins, though heaven and earth and 
 hell owned Him their Lord and King. More- 
 over, we know from the Evangelist St John that 
 the title placed by Pilate on the Cross was read 
 by the Jews, which could scarcely have been done, 
 had ihQ Cross been very high. The letters of 
 the title were not unusually large, as is proved 
 by a fragment preserved in one of the churches 
 of Rome. 
 
 After our Lord's Body had been taken down 
 from the Cross, the Jews buried the once disgrace- 
 ful but now glorious instrument of death, together 
 with the crosses of the two thieves and other relics 
 of the Passion. They and the heathens were anxi- 
 ous to obliterate all traces of the spot whereon the 
 
OUR lord's cross. 7r 
 
 world's redemption had been consummated, and 
 accordingly they filled the Holy Sepulchre with 
 earth and erected over it a temple and a statue to 
 the impure goddess Venus. For nearly three 
 hundred years the abomination stood in the holy 
 place. But when Constantine the Great became 
 master of the Roman Empire, the death-knell of 
 Paganism sounded and the moment of the Cross's 
 triumph was approaching. The glorious cross, with 
 the consoling inscription; in this thou shalt conquer, 
 which appeared to hhn in 311, when he was march- 
 ing against the tyrant Maxentius, had implanted in 
 the Emperor's breast a profound veneration for the 
 sacred instrument of man's redemption. When his 
 mother, St. Helena, went to Palestine, about the 
 year 326, with the design of rescuing the Holy 
 Places from the neglect into which they had fallen, 
 he seconded her to the full extent of his imperial 
 power. She began her pious work by destroying 
 the temple and the statue of Venus and excavating 
 the ground on which they had stood. The Holy Se- 
 pulchre was thus laid open, and near it were found 
 three crosses and other implements of the Passion. 
 Which cross was our Lord's was now the question. 
 The Empress consulted St. Macarius, Bishop of 
 Jerusalem, and he, by divine inspiration, directed the 
 
78 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 three to be applied to the body of a noble matron 
 who was lying dangerously sick. Two of the crosses 
 produced no effect ; at the touch of the third she 
 that was sick arose cured, thus attesting the power 
 of the true Cross, which, because of Him who died 
 on it, gave life to those for whom He died. 
 
 A gorgeous temple, in honor of our Saviour was 
 built over the sacred spot where the Cross, stood 
 and in it a large portion of the revered relic was 
 left by the good Empress. Another piece was sent 
 to the Church of the Holy Cross in Rome, and a 
 third to Constantinople. 
 
 Near three hundred years again went by, and 
 then the glories of Christ's true Cross were once 
 more eclipsed, but only to beam forth with greater 
 brightness. The Persian King Chosroes overran 
 the Eastern provinces of the Greek empire and took 
 Jerusalem in 624. His sacrilegious hands seized 
 the true Cross and made captive the Patriarch 
 Zachary. The relic and the Bishop were the two 
 most valuable trophies that graced the triumphant 
 return of the barbarian monarch to his own capital. 
 Yet strange to say, Chosroes and his people held 
 the sacred wood in profound veneration ; they 
 never took it from the silver case in which St. 
 Helena had enshrined it. But the King had com- 
 
OUR lord's cross. 79 
 
 mitted sacrilege in carrying off the Cross, and the 
 avenging arm of God smote him for his crime, even 
 in this life. Heraclius, one of the ablest monarchs 
 that ever sat on the throne of Constantinople, was 
 now the Emperor of the East. His army was small, 
 but he trusted in God, and a glorious victory over 
 the Persians arms, in 627, was the reward of his 
 confidence. Chosroes was lying dangerously ill at 
 the time of his defeat, and fearing an approaching 
 death or captivity, he made h s younger son his 
 colleague in the government of Persia. The 
 flames of jealousy and vengeance were lighted up 
 in the bosom of Siroes, the elder son. He seized 
 on his aged father and bound him in chains, and 
 then ordered the young king to be slaughtered be- 
 fore the eyes of his heart-broken parent. Death 
 soon freed Chosroes from the cruel treatment of 
 his guilty son. Siroes hastened to make peace 
 with Heraclius, which he obtained on condition of 
 restoring the Holy Cross and Patriarch Zachaiy 
 and his fellow-Christian captives. 
 
 Great was the joy of the Catholic world on the 
 recovery of the precious relic. Heraclius caused 
 medals, commemorating the event, to be struck a^ 
 Constantinople, and then proceeded to Palestine to 
 attend to the restoration of the Holy Places. On 
 
80 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 his arrival at Jerusalem, he determined to bear the 
 Cross on his own shoulder to the Church on Cal- 
 vary. Clad in his imperial robes, all glittering with 
 gold and jewels, he set out on his pious pilgrimage. 
 But an invisible hand stopped him ; in vain did he 
 endeavor to reach Calvary ; his feet refused to per- 
 form their office. " Seest thou not, Emperor,'* 
 said the Patriarch Zachary, " that thy gaudy ap- 
 parel little beseemeth the poverty and humility of 
 Jesus Christ ? In poor apparel and with bare feet 
 He carried this Cross ; do thou the same." The 
 Emperor obeyed ; he clothed himself in plebeian 
 dress and cast oif his shoes, and then easily finished 
 his route and deposited the Cross in the place from 
 which the Persians had taken it. 
 
 Centuries went by, and the Holy Cross remained 
 undisturbed in Jerusalem, dearly prized by the 
 Christians of Palestine as their most precious relic, a 
 loadstone which drew, with sweet attraction, the ven- 
 eration and love of Catholic hearts in the most dis- 
 tant regions of the West. Then another storm came. 
 The fiery zealots of the Koran poured out in im- 
 petuous torrents from the deserts of Arabia, sweep- 
 ing away, in their disastrous course, civilization and 
 religion. To make sure of saving from profanation 
 
OUR lord's cross. 81 
 
 and destruction a part at least of that piece of the 
 Cross which they possessed, the Christians of Jeru- 
 salem divided it into smaller portions and sent them 
 to different churches, reserving some however for 
 themselves. David, one of the kings of the 
 Georgians, and who lived about the time of the first 
 Crusade, got one of these holy relics. In 1109, 
 ten years after the capture of Jerusalem by the 
 Latin arms, Anseau, a canon of the church of Paris, 
 obtained possession of this portion of the Holy Cross 
 from the widow of the Georgian king. Anseau 
 sent it to Galen, Bishop of Paris, to be presented 
 by him to the chapter of the Cathedral. The Cross 
 was faithfully preserved among the treasures of 
 Notre Dame until the French revolution, when it 
 fell into the hands of a commissary of the Sections. 
 He restored it, with the exception of a small piece 
 that he reserved for himself, and thus our Lord's 
 Cross came back to its old home, our Lady's Church. 
 Jesus and Mary are inseparable ; the Mother was 
 with the Son at Bethlehem and on Calvary and is 
 now in Heaven with Him. 
 
 Paris has other portions of the Sacred Cross; 
 some were sent to St. Louis by Baldwin IL, Em- 
 peror of Constantinople, and one was donated by 
 
82 OUR lord's cross. 
 
 the Princess Anne of Cleves to tlie Abbey of St. 
 Germain-des-Pres.* 
 
 We have already said that the church of the 
 Holy Cross of Jersusalem in the city of Rome is 
 blessed with a large piece of the cross, the gift of 
 St. Helena. Relics of the same sacred wood, of 
 minutely small dimensions, have been distributed 
 throughout the Catholic world, aod if any of us 
 should have the happiness of possessing one let us 
 value it as a dear memorial of our Lord's Passion 
 and Death. 
 
 * The Chureh commemorates the finding of the Holy 
 Cross, on the 3d of May, and its recovery from the Persians, 
 on the 14th of September. 
 
V. 
 
 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 A CROSS with the representation of our Lord's 
 Body attached to it is called a crucifix, one without 
 it is simply a cross. Both claim the Christian's 
 veneration and love because they are memorials of 
 the true Cross and of Christ who died on it. Leon- 
 tius. Bishop of Cyprus, thus explained, in the second 
 of Nice, held in 787, the adoration paid to the cross 
 and the crucifix : " He who receives an official 
 document from the emperor venerates the seal, 
 not because of the paper on which it is impressed, 
 nor of the lead with which it is formed, but because 
 of the emperor whose seal it is : in like manner we 
 Christians, when adoring the figure of the cross, 
 adore not the nature of wood, but the sign and the 
 seal of Christ. Looking at it we salute and adore 
 
84 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 Him who was crucified on it. As children, when 
 they see the staff or the chair or the robe of a be- 
 loved and absent father, kiss it with tears, through 
 desire and veneration for their father ; so we adore 
 the cross as the staff of Christ," 
 
 The Church exposes the crucifix, on Good Friday, 
 to the public and solemn adoration of the faithful. 
 Benedict XIY., influenced by the testimony of St. 
 Paulinus of Nola, in a letter written to Severus, 
 (the 31st in the collection of the Saint's letters,) 
 thinks that this ceremony originated in the rite of 
 the Church of Jerusalem of exposing the true 
 Cross to adoration on Good Friday. Those of 
 the Western Churches which were not so happy 
 as to have a portion of the sacred relic performed 
 the ceremony with a common crucifix. 
 
 As long as the punishment of the cross con- 
 tinued frequent amongst the Pagans, the early 
 Christians were careful not to show in public the 
 image of the God-Man attached to what was still 
 considered an infamous instrument of death ; but 
 they adorned the cross itself with precious stones 
 in order that the sign of malediction might gradu- 
 ally become in the eyes of the new converts a bign 
 of glory and of triumph. What better use could 
 be made of earth's jewels than in beautifying the 
 
THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 85 
 
 sacred emblem of that Cross which was once gem- 
 med with Precious Blood ! Certain busy-bodies 
 complaiaed to St. Francis of Sales that a noble 
 lady, who had placed herself under his spiritual 
 direction, was guilty of great vanity in adorning 
 with diamonds a golden cross that she wore* 
 " What you call vanity," said the mild and prudent 
 saint, ^"edifies me much. Would that all the 
 crosses in the world were adorned with diamonds and 
 other precious stones !" 
 
 The crosses of the first ages had sometimes on 
 their top the figure of a dove, the symbol of the 
 Holy Ghost. A copious stream of water flowed 
 from its beak, typifying the abundant grace dif- 
 fused in our hearts by the Spirit of Love. On the 
 right of the cross was the Blessed Virgin, on the 
 left St. John the Evangelist, and at its foot was 
 a lamb from the breast and feet of which flowed 
 blood, thus symbolizing the True Lamb crucified 
 for our sins. The head of the lamb was surmounted 
 by a cross, and the blood issuing from its breast 
 was received in a chalice. This manner of repre- 
 senting Jesus Christ was preserved until 680, when 
 the third Council of Constantinople, held during the 
 pontificate of Pope St. Agatho, ordered that for 
 
86 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 the future our Lord should be represented attached 
 to the cross under the figure of a man. 
 
 Stags and lambs were sometimes depicted at the 
 foot of the cross, eagerlj drinking of the water 
 which bubbled up on all sides. The stags repre- 
 sent the Gentiles who, by virtue of the cross, 
 have been delivered from the darkness of idolatrj 
 and purified from their sins; the lambs are the 
 faithful who come to draw from the sacred sign of 
 salvation the graces which they need to preserve 
 their purity and innocence. Nor was it rare to 
 paint on the cross twelve doves, emblems of the 
 twelve Apostles whom their Divine Master bid be 
 wise as serpents and simple as doves (St. Matt, x. 
 16.) There w^ere also crosses from the extremities 
 of which crowns were suspended ; hence they were 
 called crowned crosses. These wreaths signify that 
 to be crowned in heaven we must bear the cross on 
 earth. The crown which was on the summit of the 
 cross was upheld by a hand, symbol of the glorious 
 victory which the Hand of the Risen Jesus gained, 
 with the banner of the cross, by snatching the crown 
 of empire from the pallid brow of Death. It was 
 also an allusion to what was practiced amongst the 
 Romans ; another's hand held suspended over the 
 head of the conquering general, as he marched 
 
THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 87 
 
 through Rome in stately triumph, the wreath of 
 victory. 
 
 On most of the ancient crosses, when our Saviour 
 is represented under a human shape, the figure is 
 not in relief, but painted on the cross itself Some- 
 times He is depicted not in an attitude of suffering 
 and death but of triumph. Instances are not 
 wanting in the Western Church of crucifixes which 
 represent our Lord hanging to the cross entirely 
 clothed. 
 
 Our holy ancestors in the faith had great respect 
 and love for the image of Jesus Crucified, and in 
 this they have been imitated by the peasantry of 
 Catholic Europe. On the roadside and in the forest, 
 in the valley and on the mountain, stands the cross 
 of Christ, preaching its silent but eloquent sermon 
 on the Passion, bringing tears from the eyes and 
 prayers from the heart of the Christian traveller. 
 The Yendeans, children of Catholic France's most 
 Catholic province, evinced in their heroic struggle 
 against the God-despising French republic of the 
 last century, a most touching devotion to the sym- 
 bol of man's redemption. When rushing like lions 
 to the charge, if they espied on the road a cross or 
 an image of Mary, the ranks simultaneously halted, 
 as if checked by an invisible power. The peasant 
 
88 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 warriors fell on their knees and begged of Jesus 
 crucified to bless their arms. Nor was their prayer 
 in vain : they arose with a fire in their hearts that 
 no danger could quench, with a strength in their 
 arms that no enemy could resist. " Let them 
 pray," said their gallant leader Lescu re, " they will 
 fight all the better." 
 
 The cross crowns the Catholic steeple, as a sign 
 that Christ by His death on the cross, has joined 
 heaven and earth, the Church Militant and the 
 Church Triumphant. The crucifix must, by posi- 
 tive law of the Church, be on or over the altar 
 during the celebration of the Holy Mass, to show 
 us that that Sacred Rite is the unbloody renewal of 
 Calvary's bloody Sacrifice. The cross or the cru- 
 cifix was, in Catholic States, the brightest gem in 
 the monarch's crown, and it was stamped on the 
 coin of the currency. 
 
 We ought to make this holy sign ubiquitous. 
 It should be in our houses, at our bedsides, around 
 our necks. If we cannot reach the height of 
 Christian perfection of bearing about Christ's Pas- 
 sion m our bodies by practising great austerities, 
 let us, at least, bear it on our bodies by having a 
 crucifix about our persons. Let us put our Lord 
 
THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 89 
 
 ^' as a seal on our hearts," that He may grant us 
 the precious grace of having those hearts like His* 
 Yarious indulgences have been granted by the 
 Popes for good works performed in presence of the 
 cross or crucifix, or when a person has one about 
 him. These indulgences may be gained by being 
 in a state of grace and renewing from time to time 
 one's intention of gaining them. Bouvier in his 
 Treatise on Indulgences, says that crosses of paper 
 card, wood, iron, lead or glass cannot be indulgenced, 
 but only those of gold, silver, brass or other metal. 
 " According to Benedict XIV. and the Elenchus of 
 Pius VII., it is not required that the whole cross 
 be of gold, silver, brass, etc., but it suffices that the 
 image of our Saviour be of some of these metals. 
 An answer from Home decides that indulgences 
 may be attached to ivory images. Another answer 
 of April 11, 1840, decides that the indulgence is 
 attached only to the image of our Saviour ; so that 
 the figure may be transferred only from one cross 
 to another without prejudice to the indulgence." 
 Only he for whom a cross, medal or rosary was 
 blessed, or to whom it was given, can gain the in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 The most common way of showing reverence to 
 the cross is by making its sign on our persons, or 
 
 8 
 
f 
 
 90 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 blessing ourselves. This holy rite is an epitome of 
 the whole Christian religion, because it is a declar- 
 ation of our belief in the three great mysteries of 
 faith, the Trinity, the Incarnation and Redemption. 
 The mention of three Divine Persons, in the for- 
 mula of words which we use, is declaratory of the 
 Trinity, whilst the figure of the cross sets forth our 
 faith in Chiist, the Man-God, dying for us. 
 
 There are two ways among Latin Catholics of 
 making the sign of the cross. The first consists in 
 touching the forehead with all the fingers of the 
 right hand, then drawing the hand in a straight 
 light to the breast, thence to the left, and from it 
 to the right shoulder, pronouncing the words whilst 
 we are performing this ceremony. Do not laugh, 
 dear reader ; we know how to make the Jrign of 
 the cross, but do we always put that Jiow into prac- 
 tice ? We often make a flourish in the air with 
 our fingers, but do we truly and reverently make 
 on our bodies the representation of Christ's cross ? 
 
 By drawing the hand from the forehead to the 
 heart we symbolize the Second Person of the Blessed 
 Trinity descending from heaven and becoming Man 
 in the breast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 
 passage of the hand from the left to the right 
 shoulder shows forth how Christ has brought us 
 
The cross and the crucifix. 91 
 
 from darkness to light, how He has merited for us 
 a place on His right hand, on the judgment day, 
 iostead of leaving as on His left, where by our 
 sins we deserved to be. Let us co-operate with 
 His grace, and that blessed right hand station will 
 be ours ; there all our crosses will end. 
 
 The other way of making the holy sign, in use 
 among us, and which the Church prescribes for her 
 minister when reading the first and last Gospel at 
 Mass, is to make, with the thumb of the right hand, 
 a cross on the forehead, lips and breast. Thereby 
 we profess to believe the truths of the Gospel, to 
 be ready to confess them with our lips, and to love 
 them in our hearts. 
 
 The Greek Christians bless themselves with the 
 thumb and first two fingers of the right hand, and 
 their cross terminates on the left shoulder. This 
 manner was in use down to a very late period, even 
 in the Latin Church. Pope Innocent IIL, in 1191, 
 says : " The sign of the cross is to be made with 
 three fingers, so that it may descend from top to 
 bottom and then pass over from right to left. . . . 
 Some persons however draw the sign of the cross 
 from left to right " (De Mysteriis Missse, lib. IL 
 c. xlv.) 
 
 The Jacobites, heretics who admit only one 
 
92 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 nature in Jesus Christ, make the sign of the cross 
 with but one finger. The Nestorians, who hold 
 that there are two persons in our Lord, whereas 
 Catholic faith teaches that there is but one, use 
 two fingers in signing themselves with the cross, 
 and draw them from the right to the left shoulder 
 to signify the victory of good over evl.i 
 
 The custom of making the sign of cross is most 
 ancient. Tertullian, who lived towards the end of 
 second century, writes thus in his book Be Coroiia 
 Militis. " At every step and movement, when- 
 ever we come in or go out, when we dress and put 
 on our shoes, at bath, at table, when lights are 
 brought in, on lying or sitting down — whatever 
 employment engages our attention, we make the 
 sign of the cross upon our foreheads." 
 
 The first christians used this holy sign to terrify 
 the devils, and to shield themselves from all dan- 
 gers of soul and body. It is related of the impious 
 Emperor Julian, the Apostate, that upon a certain 
 occasion when he went down into a cavern, in com- 
 pany with a f^imous magician, to go through the 
 impure rites of pagan worship, he was dreadfully 
 terrified by unholy voices and apparitions. Apos- 
 tate though he was, he made the sign of the cross, 
 and the demon army fled. But when he and his 
 
THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 93 
 
 companion resumed their unlawful incantations, the 
 devils came again, and again the sign of the cross 
 drove them back to hell. 
 
 If ever there was a Saint against whom the 
 Devil raged in all his fury, it was St. Anthony the 
 Hermit, Phantoms the most hideous and unholy 
 beset the servant of God, but never did the sign of 
 the holy cross fail him in his need ; it was to him 
 a heavenly buckle warding off the fiery darts of the 
 most wicked one. 
 
 With the sign of the cross St. Benedict broke a 
 cup that was presented to him full of a poisoned 
 liquid, and St. Hilarion drove back into its native 
 boundaries a raging sea which an earthquake had 
 precipitated on the land. Under the persecution 
 of Diocletian, St. Tiburtius was brought before the 
 imperial prefect, Fabian. The pagan judge ordered 
 him to offer incense to the gods of Rome or walk 
 on burning coals. The Saint made the holy sign 
 on his forehead and then, in bare feet, passed un- 
 scathed over the glowing embers. 
 
 See what the cross did when used in a spirit of 
 faith and love ! We make its sign often enough, 
 but not with reverence enough, not with faith 
 enough. How many temptations would disappear, 
 how many a sorrow of soul and body would be 
 
94 THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 
 
 soothed, if the heart went travelling for an instant 
 to heaven or to Calvary before the hand made the 
 sign of Christ's cross ! You that have sick rela- 
 tive or friends, remember the power of the cross ; 
 keep it before the eyes of those suffering ones, offer 
 it to the loving impress of their lips, and like the 
 good Samaritan you will thus be pouring into their 
 grieving spirits a balm whose sweetly-soothing 
 power only the sick and the sorrowing can fully feel. 
 There is one devotion to the cross most appro- 
 priate for the holy time of Lent — that of the Way 
 of the Cross, In it we accompany our sorrowing 
 Jesus through all the stages of His Holy Passion, 
 and the Church grants us as many indulgences for 
 this devotion as we would gain by going on a pil- 
 grimage to Palestine. 
 
VL 
 
 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 Veith has a beautiful thought in the beginning 
 of his little book on the Instruments of Christ's 
 Passion : as, in the lovely regions of the East, 
 friends send to one another, as pledges of affection, 
 nosegays in which each flower has its appropriate 
 meaning, so does our Jesus reach out to us from 
 the Holy Land a bouquet, made of the instruments 
 of His Passion, as a token of His everlasting Love. 
 
 The hand of time, acting in obedience to our 
 Lord's will, has scattered the various flowers of the 
 nosegay in different gardens of the Church. Some 
 bloom round the foot of Peter's Chair, some on the 
 banks of the Moselle, some on the sunny Seine. 
 Let us unite them again in spirit and put them in 
 
96 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 our hearts that their sweet fragrance may attract 
 the Heavenly Gardener into our souls. 
 
 The Crown of Thorns, 
 
 The cruel soldiers, after they had scourged our 
 Lord, placed on His Sacred Head a crown of thorns. 
 The Evangelists do not tell us whether Jesus bore 
 His diadem of shame and torture to Calvary, and 
 whether it was on His Head when He hung on the 
 Cross ; but the pious belief of the faithful and the 
 traditions of Christian art agree on both these 
 points. The disciples who took down the Sacred 
 Body from the Cross took possession of the croAvn 
 of thorns. The Christians of the first century kept 
 it with great reverence, and handed it down to the 
 second generation. St. Paulinus of Nola tells us, 
 in 409, that the crown of thorns was then in the 
 possession of the faithful. Like most of the relics 
 of the Passion, it became the property of the im- 
 perial treasury of Constantinople. There it re- 
 mained until the thirteenth century, when the Latin 
 emperors, being in want of money, pawned it and 
 other relics to the Venetians. Baldwin II. relin- 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 97 
 
 quished his claim to these holy articles in favor of 
 St. Louis, King of France. The holy monarch 
 immediately redeemed them, and conveyed them 
 with all honor to the chapel of his royal palace in 
 Paris. The crown of thorns was taken from its re- 
 liquary in 1793, during the first French Revolu- 
 tion, and broken into three pieces, which were taken, 
 with the other relics of the Sacred Chapel, to the 
 Commission of Arts, and thence to the National 
 Library. In 1804, Cardinal de Bellay, Archbishop 
 of Paris, begged that the articles should be restored 
 to the cathedral, and his petition was granted. 
 The crown was identified by those who had seen 
 and examined it before its seizure by the govern- 
 ment. There are now no thorns on it, these hav- 
 ing been given away as relics to different churches. 
 The Church celebrates the Festival of the Crown 
 of Thorns on the Friday after Ash- Wednesday. 
 The office is full of the most beautiful and touching 
 sentiments which could have sprung from no other 
 heart than that of Christ's Mystic Spouse. Thus 
 she addresses the virgins of Jerusalem, in the hymn 
 of Vespers : 
 
 Go ye forth, 1 Sion's daughters I 
 See the thorny coronet 
 
 9 
 
98 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 On the temples of your Saviour 
 By a cruel mother set.* 
 
 Seek in vain for rays of glory 
 
 Streaming from His forehead now : 
 
 Thorns, in needles long and piercing, 
 Bristle round his blood-stained brovr. 
 
 Cruel earth ! of thorns and brambles 
 
 Such a woeful crop to bear — 
 Cruel hand ! to pluck and wreath them 
 
 In the locks of Jesus' hair. 
 
 See, the thorn-bush blooms in roses ! 
 
 Fed by blood-drops of the Lamb ; 
 And the thorn is victory's emblem 
 
 Like the laurel and the palm. 
 
 Than the thorns that wreathed his temples 
 
 Far more cruel is the smart 
 Unto Jesus of the brambles 
 
 That are growing in man's heart. 
 
 * Go forth ^ ye daughters of Sion ; and see King SoJo- 
 mon in the diadem, luherewith his mother croicned him in 
 day of his espousals (Cant, iii., 11.) The text, in its literal 
 meaning, refers to King Solomon crowned by his mother 
 Bethsabee with flowers, on the day of his marriage. Spir- 
 itual writers apply it mystically to our Lord, crowned with 
 thorns, by his cruel mother, the Synagogue. 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 99 
 
 Pluck them, Saviour, from our bosoms, 
 Sin did plant them — they have grown , 
 
 And in place of them, Sweet Jesus, 
 Plant the memory of Thine own. 
 
 The hymn of Lauds enumerates the types of our 
 Saviour's crown contained in the Old Testament : 
 
 In the Law are types and figures 
 
 Of the painful crown of Christ ; 
 First, the thorn -entangled victim 
 
 By the Patriarch sacrificed. 
 
 On the fiery bush of Horeb 
 
 Ponder, Christians ; from it learn 
 
 How amid Christ's thorny circlet 
 Flames of pure love ruddy burn. 
 
 And around the Ark, as emblem, 
 
 Was a crown of purest gold, 
 And around the incense-altar 
 
 Where the clouds of fragrance rolled. 
 
 The Holy Shroud, 
 
 We learn from the Gospel according to St. John 
 that several linen cloths were wrapped around the 
 
100 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 Body of our Lord when It was laid in the tomb. 
 Theij took therefore the Body of Jesus and hound 
 It in linen cloths with the s_pices, as it is the cus- 
 tom loith the Jews to bury. . . . Then cometh 
 Simon Peter, following him, and went into the 
 sepulchre and saw the linen cloths lying (St. John, 
 xix, 40. . . . XX, 6.) Hence, there is no 
 difficulty in reconciling the traditions of different 
 churches, as of Turin, Besancon, etc., that they are 
 in possession of the true shroud of our Lord ; each 
 may have one of the several which touched His 
 Sacred Corpse. That of Turin is the most cele- 
 brated ; it has the marks of the wounds and of the 
 Blood. Nicodemus, who assisted Joseph of Arim- 
 athea in burying our Lord, was the first possessor 
 of this holy shroud. When he was dying he be- 
 queathed it to Gamaliel, the great Doctor of the 
 Pharisees and teacher of St. Paul. Gamaliel 
 transmitted it to St. James the Less, the first 
 Bishop of Jerusalem, and he to his successor, St. 
 Simeon. Thus it passed from hand to hand 
 among the Christians of Jerusalem, until the city 
 was captured, in 1187, by Saladin, when Guy 
 of Lusignan, the dethroned King of Jerusalem, 
 going to Cyprus, which had been ceded to him by 
 Richard of England, took the relic with him. In 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 101 
 
 1450, the Princess Margaret, the widow of the last 
 of the Lusignans, fearing that she might fall into 
 the hands of the Turks, resolved to go to France. 
 She took the holy shroud with her, and when she 
 passed through Chambery, to visit her relative, the 
 Duchess of Savoy, she made her a persent of it. 
 From Chambery, the holy shroud was carried to 
 Annecy, and thence to Turin, the capital of Sar- 
 dinia, where it is now. It was in presence of this 
 precious memorial of the Passion, that the mother 
 of St. Francis of Sales, made an offering of her son, 
 yet unborn, to Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Lance* 
 
 Among the relics which St. Louis redeemed from 
 the Venetians was the point of the lance which 
 pierced our Saviour's side, The handle remained 
 at Constantinople until the end of the fifteenth 
 century, when it was sent by the Sultan Bajazet as 
 a present to Pope Innocent VIII. It is now pre- 
 served with great veneration in the Vatican Basi- 
 lica. 
 
 It is the more common opinion of ecclesiastical 
 antiquarians that it was our Lord's right side that 
 was pierced by the lance. Hence those paintings 
 
102 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 which represent the left side as wounded are not 
 in accordance with the traditions of Christian art. 
 
 The soldier who pierced Jesus is venerated in the 
 Western or Latin Church under the name of St. 
 Longinus. After the Crucifixion he became a 
 Christian, and preached the faith in Cappodocia, a 
 province of Asia, where he was crowned with mar- 
 tyrdom. There is a legend that, having casually 
 applied to his eyes his hands stained with the 
 Blood which trickled down from the sacred wound, 
 he was immediately freed from a weakness of sight, 
 with which he was affected. 
 
 The Nails. 
 
 It is certain that our Lord was fastened to the 
 Cross with nails and not with ropes : thus speaks 
 the Apostle St. Thomas, whose doubt serves to con- 
 firm our faith : Excei^t I sliall see in His hands 
 the ^rint of the nails, and put my finger into the 
 place of the nails, and put my hand into His 
 side, I will not believe (St. John, xx. 25.) The 
 nails are clearly alluded to in the prophecy of our 
 Saviour's Passion, contained in the 21st Psalm : 
 They Imve dug my hands and feet. 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 103 
 
 The Sacred Body was pierced with four nails, 
 each foot having its separate nail. No bone of 
 our Saviour was broken, and this could scarcely 
 have happened, says Benedict XIV., had one nail 
 been made to pass through both feet. 
 
 ^^ According to the opinion more generally 
 adopted," says Abbe Guillois, in his Catechism, 
 ^' the arms of our Lord when attached to the cross 
 were, nearly horizontal, to show that His love was 
 universal, embracing the whole human race. The 
 Jansenists, who hold that Jesus Christ did not die 
 for all men, represent the arms in a position more 
 or less vertical ; crucifixes of this kind have been 
 called Jansenistic crucifixes." 
 
 The nails were found by St. Helena^at the same 
 time that she discovered the Cross. The pious 
 empress attached one to the helmet of Constantine, 
 her son, and another to the bridle of his horse. It 
 is commonly said that she threw a third into the 
 Adriatic Sea in order to appease the tempests 
 which so frequently lashed it into fury. But it is 
 not probable that she would so readily cast away 
 so precious a relic ; may she not have simply dipped 
 it into the waves ? 
 
 A part of one of the nails is in the church of the 
 Holy Cross at Rome. The cathedrals of Paris, 
 
104 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 Treves, and Toul are in possession of others. 
 Filings from the true nails and nails which have 
 touched them are kept in different churches as 
 relics. 
 
 The celebrated Iron Crown of Italy contains a 
 portion of one of the sacred nails 
 
 The Title of the Cross, 
 
 And Pilate wrote a title also and put it upon 
 the cross. And the writing was, " Jesus of Na- 
 zareth, the King of the Jews " .... and 
 it was written in UehreWy in Greek, and in Latin 
 (St. John xix 19, 20.) Hebrew, or, as it was then 
 called, Syro-Chaldaic, was the language of the 
 great multitude of the Jews, yet those who lived 
 dispersed through the provinces of the former 
 Grseco-Macedonian empire were more conversant 
 with Greek, and as there were many of them in 
 Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion, because 
 of the Pasch, the title was written in Greek that 
 they might read it. Latin was the official language 
 of the government. 
 
 St. Ambrose and Rufinus relate that St. Helena 
 found the title, but in a different place from that 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 105 
 
 in which she found the cross. She presented it to 
 the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Rome. Peter 
 Gonsalvo, Cardinal de Mendoza, tells us that when 
 this church was undergoing repairs in 1482, under 
 Pope Innocent VIII., a part of the title of the 
 cross, inscribed with Hebrew, Greek and Latin 
 characters was found in the wall. The last two 
 letters of the word Judmorum were wanting. 
 When the sacred relic was examined again in 1564, 
 1648, and 1828, the ravages of time on the letters 
 were still more visible No more remains of the 
 Hebrew inscription than the terminations of some 
 letters which can no longer be deciphered. Of 
 the Greek inscription the word Isazarenous re- 
 mains. The Latin is a little more complete, con- 
 taining beside the adjective Nazarenus the t^o first 
 letters of the word Bex. These remains show us 
 that the Greek and Latin letters were written, 
 contrary to the usual custom, from right to left. 
 This was done in order make them correspond with 
 the first inscription, which was in Hebrew : this 
 language is always written from right to left. 
 
106 THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 
 
 The Seamless Hobe^ 
 
 The seamless robe which our Lord wore was, 
 according to many writers, the work of the Blessed 
 Virgin. She wove it with her own hands, and 
 clothed her Son with it while He was still a child. 
 The tunic grew with the growth of Jesus Christ, 
 and never wore out ; a miracle the like of which 
 God had already wrought in favor of the Jews in 
 their passage through the desert of Arabia to the 
 Promised Land. During the forty years of their 
 journey their garments wore not out (Deuteronomy 
 xxix, 5.) The Evangelist St. John (xix, 23, 24) 
 thus relates what happened to the seamless robe on 
 Calvary : The soldwrs, when they had crucified 
 Himy took His garments {cmd they made four 
 parts, to every soldier a jpa7%) and also His coat. 
 JVow the coat was without seam, woven fronn the 
 top throughout. Then said they one to another: 
 Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it whose 
 
 * This account of the Seamless Robe is translated from 
 the excellent Catechisme de M. V Ahhe Guillois, to which 
 work and the Treatise of Benedict XIV. JDe Festis D. N. 
 J. C. I am indebted for most of the particulars concerning 
 the Relics ef the Passion. 
 
THE RELICS OF THE PASSION. 107 
 
 it shall 5^. * . . And the soldiers indeed did 
 tliese things. The holy tunic was redeemed by the 
 Christians, and came into possession of St. Helena, 
 when she went to the Holy Land. On her return 
 to Europe she gave it to Agricius, Bishop of Treves, 
 a city on the banks of the Moselle. 
 
 The church of Argenteuil, near Paris, possesses 
 another garment of our Lord, the authenticity of 
 which has been established by many signal favors 
 of heaven. The Lady Superior of Les Dames de 
 St Louis, at Juilly, diocese of Meaux, writing to 
 the curate of Argenteuil, under date of 2d of Jan., 
 1847, testifies that she had been completely cured 
 of a disease in the knee by a no vena in honor of the 
 holy robe of Argenteuil. 
 
 The Bishop of Treves, whose cathedral possesses 
 the seamless robe, obtained, in 1844, the institu- 
 tion of an office in honor of this relic. A prodigious 
 multitude of pilgrims — according to some accounts, 
 two millions in number — flocked during that year 
 to Treves, to reverence this memorial of our Lord 
 and the Blessed Virgin. 
 
VIL 
 
 THE GOLBEN EOSE.* 
 
 The lights of hope and joy, the shadows of 
 despondency and sorrow are ever flitting over- the 
 surface of human life, teaching the heart the solemn 
 lesson of detachment from earth and giving it 
 glimpses of heaven, that city of perpetual brightness 
 whose " light is the Lamb," the uncreated splendor 
 of the Father. We need this succession of light 
 and shade ; continual prosperity would make us love 
 the world, and we would forget that the days of 
 our pilgrimage are few and evil, whilst lasting ad- 
 versity would deaden the elasticity of the heart and 
 drive it to despair. The Church knows the require- 
 
 * For several of the particulars of this article we are in- 
 debted to a manuscript kindly placed at our disposal by a 
 lleverend friend. 
 
THE GOLDEN ROSE. 109 
 
 ments of our nature in this respect and provides 
 for them. The penitential seasons of Advent and 
 Lent are succeeded by the joys of Christmas and 
 the glories of Easter. The sorrows of Holy Week 
 are interrupted by the (xloria of Holy Thursday, 
 and then again the last notes of the Angelic Hymn 
 die away in the wail of the Miserere of Tenebrse 
 and the Imp'operia of Good Friday. Advent has 
 its Gaudete Sunday, when the Church bids her 
 children rejoice in the Lord always, because He is 
 near, because He is soon to be manifested to the 
 world as the Babe of Bethlehem ; so too on the 
 fourth Sunday of Lent a cry of joy resounds through 
 the office. Rejoice 0! Jerusalem! Rejoice thou 
 barren that hearest not The time for the recon- 
 ciliation of the penitents is approaching; the children 
 that were dead in sio will come to life and be restored 
 to the arms of their mother, and in anticipation her 
 heart beats high with gladness. Then her eye turns 
 to Palestine, ranges the dark sky that overhangs 
 the scenes of the Passion and rests on the horizon 
 just reddening with the rst faint streaks of light 
 from the Easter Sun. Sorrow and penance yield 
 for a moment to the exultation of triumphant love 
 and from her lips breaks forth an anthem of glad- 
 ness — Lodare^ Loetare^ Rejoice^ Rejoice* 
 
110 THE GOLDEN ROSE. 
 
 This fourth Sunday of Lent is set apart in Rome 
 for the blessing of the Golden Rose. Gold of the 
 purest quality is fashioned into a rose by the hands 
 of a skilful artist. The Sovereign Pontiff blesses 
 it with appropriate prayer and unctions and then 
 sends it to some princes or princess, church or city, 
 as a pledge of his paternal affection. 
 
 Antiquarians do not agree on the origin of this 
 ceremony, but it seems that, as far back as the 
 twelfth and eleventh century, the Popes used to 
 carry a golden rose when walking in procession on 
 Lsetare Sunday. Alexander III. sent one, towards 
 the end of the twelfth century, to Louis VII. of 
 France in acknowledgment of the services which 
 that King had rendered the Church. The solemn 
 blessing of the Rose appears to be of later date. It 
 was in use at the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, because Pope Julius II. expressly alludes to 
 it, in 1510, when he sent the Golden Rose to Henry 
 VIII. of England. Little did the Pontiff suspect 
 that ere many years the pestilential blasts of schism 
 and heresy would kill the roses of Catholic faith 
 and devotion in that kingdom. If the report of 
 the public journals be true, his present Holiness, 
 Pius IX., has sent three Roses to European prin- 
 cesses ; one to Maria Teresa, Queen of Naples, to 
 
THE GOLDEN ROSE. Ill 
 
 thank her for the kindness and affection with which 
 she and her royal consort Ferdinand received him 
 at Gaeta when he fled from Rome in 1848 ; one 
 to the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III., 
 and one to Elizaheth, Empress of Austria. 
 
 No more fitting present could be made to prince 
 or princess. Gold is the emblem of sovereignty, 
 and for this reason the Magi offered it to- our Infant 
 Lord to own His supreme dominion over heaven 
 and earth. The Rose, on the one hand, is the 
 queen of flowers. The papal gift reminds its royal 
 recipient that the lustre of his virtue ought to be 
 like the glitter of gold among metals and the bril- 
 liancy of the rose among flowers. Balsam, mixed 
 with musk, is poured over the Golden Rose to teach 
 the sovereign that his lofty station requires him to 
 spread abroad the sweet odor of royal virtue, and 
 that, like balm, he ought to heal up the wounds of 
 the State, and, as it does for material bodies, pre- 
 serve the political body from corruption. The 
 Golden Rose is anointed by the hand of Christ's 
 Vicar that the Catholic prince may learn that com- 
 munion with Rome and loving obedience to St. 
 Peter's successor are necessary conditions for the 
 Christian exercise of his high prerogative. Let 
 him break the holy tie that binds him to Peter's 
 
112 THE GOLDEN ROSE. 
 
 chair and that moment he falls, like a rose from its 
 stem, to wither and to die. He sets the example of 
 disobedience, and he will soon find it followed at 
 home. The French revolution was prepared by 
 Louis XIV., when, in his political Jansenism, he 
 would make the French Church independent of 
 Rome. Henry VIII. of England scoffed at Papal 
 authority — his race became extinct, the crown was 
 transferred to the brow of the Stuarts, and the first 
 Charles of that unfortunate race learned on the 
 scaffold how the sins of kings are visited on their 
 successors. 
 
 Whilst the symbolical properties of this holy 
 sacramental are, in an especial manner, applicable 
 to princes, they contain lessons for all Christians. 
 The prayer with which it is blessed is, like all the 
 prayers of the Church, full of meaning and beauty. 
 It represents the Rose as an emblem of Jesus 
 Christ and of that spiritual joy which should fill 
 the heart on Lsetare Sunday. " God ! by whose 
 Word and power all things have been created, by 
 whose will all things are directed. Thou who art the 
 joy and gladness of all the faithful, we humbly be- 
 seech Thy Majesty that Thou wouldst vouchsafe in 
 Thy fatherly love to bless and sanctify this Rose, 
 most delightful in odor and appearance, which we 
 
THE GOLDEN ROSE. 113 
 
 this day carry in sign of spiritual joy 
 
 May Thy Church, as the fruit of good works, give 
 forth the perfume of His ointments who is the 
 Flower sprung from the Root of Jesse, the Flower 
 of the field and the Lily of the valley." 
 
 The Gospel of Sunday relates how our Lord fed 
 five thousand persons with five loaves and two 
 fishes. This miracle foreshadow^ed the Blessed 
 Eucharist in which Jesus Christ gives Himself as 
 the food of the soul. The Golden Rose is allied 
 then to the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lord, in that 
 pledge of His love, is truly a rose waftiog the per- 
 fume of heaven over the deserts of the world, and 
 refreshing in a more special manner those who 
 approach Him closer by visiting Him in the churches 
 
 in which He dwells. 
 
 10 
 
VIII. 
 THE HOLY OILS. 
 
 It was customary among the Jews for guests 
 invited to a banquet to anoint themselves with 
 oil. From this we may understand why the Church 
 consecrates her oils in the last week of Lent. Two 
 spiritual banquets are preparing. Many that were 
 without the pale of truth are to be brought into it 
 by baptism, during the Easter time, and made to 
 sit down with the children of the household at the 
 banquet of Christ's Holy Faith. The Holy Ghost, 
 too, is getting ready a feast of sevenfold gifts and 
 twelve precious fruits of holiness.* For the happy 
 
 * The Gifts of the Holy Ghost are : "Wisdom, Understand- 
 ing, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and the Fear of 
 the Lord. His Fruits are: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, 
 Benignity, Goodness, Longanimity, Mildness, Faith, Mo- 
 desty, Contiaency, and Chastity. 
 
THE HOLY OILS. 115 
 
 guestSj called to these two divine banquets, Mother 
 Church prepares the fragrant oils of gladness where- 
 with they may be anointed. 
 
 The use of oil in consecrating persons and things 
 to God is sanctioned by His own divine Word. 
 The 30th chapter of Exodus relates in detail the 
 manner of preparing the holy oil of unction with 
 which the priests of the Lord, the ark of the cove- 
 nant, the tabernacle, and all the sacred vessels 
 were to be anointed. And thus shalt thou say to 
 the children of Israel : the oil of miction shall be 
 holy unto Me throughout your generations. 
 
 The Catholic Church has derived the sacred rite 
 of anointing from Apostolic practice and teaching : 
 And they (the twelve Apostles) cast out many 
 devils and anointed with oil many that were sick 
 and healed them (St Mark, vi., 13.) Is any man 
 sick among you ? Let him bring in the priests of 
 the Church, and let them joray over him anointing 
 him with oil in the name of the Lord (St. James, 
 v., 14.) 
 
 The civil and religious unctions of the Jews were 
 shadows and types of the sacramentals unctions of 
 the Church of Christ, not the originals from which 
 the latter are copied. Yet even the festal unction 
 alluded to above was approved by our Lord: 
 
116 THE HOLY OILS. 
 
 W/ieu thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy 
 face, that thou apjpear not to men to fast (St. 
 Matt, vL, 17, 18.) 
 
 The Oils used by the Church in the administra- 
 tion of the Sacraments and in other sacred rites are 
 three in number : Chrism, the Oil of Catechumens, 
 and the Oil of the Sick. 
 
 Chrism is a word of Greek origin, meaning both 
 a substance used for anointing and the action of 
 anointing. The epithet Christ, applied to our 
 Lord, is of the same derivation ; it signifies the 
 Anointed One, He was so called because He was 
 Priest, King and Prophet, and therefore worthy 
 of a triple unction, for at all times and amongst most 
 nations those destined to any of these high offices 
 have been consecrated with oil. God I Thy God 
 hath anointed Thee with the Oil of gladness above 
 Thy fellows (Ps. xiiy., 8.) 
 
 Chrism is composed of olive oil mixed with bal- 
 sam. It is the remote matter of the Sacrament of 
 Confirmation, and is also used in one of the cere- 
 monies following the administration of Baptism. 
 The Oil of Catechumens is so called because with 
 it the catechumens'* were anointed before they re- 
 
 * Catechumens was a name given, in the early Church, 
 to those who were preparing for Baptism by receiving '< cate- 
 chetical " or oral instructions in the truths of faith. 
 
THE HOLY OILS. 117 
 
 ceived solemn Baptism. It is still used in one of 
 the preparatory rites of that Sacrament. With 
 this oil the hands of the priest are anointed during 
 the ceremony of his ordination. The Oil of the 
 Sick is, like the preceding, the product of the 
 olive, and constitutes the remote matter of the 
 Sacrament of Extreme Unction. 
 
 The reverence which the Church shows to the 
 Holy Oils is second only to that paid to the Blessed 
 Eucharist. In all her ritual there are few cere- 
 monies more solemn than that whereby they are 
 sanctified. She chooses for it one of the greatest 
 days in her calendar, that on which she commemo- 
 rates the institution of the Most Holy Sacrament, 
 Thursday of Holy Week; and she entrusts its per- 
 formance to Bishops, the Princes of her hierarchy. 
 We find in the works of the Fathers the most 
 magnificent eulogies of the sacredness and efi&cacy 
 of the Oils. St. Cyprian informs us, in one of his 
 letters, that the Chrism was consecrated on the 
 same altar on which the Eucharistic Sacrifice was 
 offered. St. Cyril of Jerusalem compares it to 
 the Blessed Eucharist. "Think not," says this 
 holy Father, "that this perfume is something 
 common. For as, after the invocation of the Holy 
 Ghost, the Eucharistic Bread is no longer common 
 
118 THE HOLY OILS. 
 
 bread, but the Body of Jesus Christ, so the holy 
 perfume is no longer a profane thing, but a gift of 
 Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Among the Christian communities of the East the 
 Chrism was prepared with the greatest care and 
 consecrated with the utmost pomp. The Greek 
 Euchology, or ceremonial book, reckons no less 
 than forty different perfumes which enter into its 
 composition. In fact, some of the Patriarchs 
 thought that so solemn and imposing a rite as the 
 sanctification of the Chrism ought to be performed 
 only by themselves, not by the Bishops under their 
 jurisdiction. Hence for a time the Patriarch of 
 Alexandria used to consecrate the Chrism for all 
 the dioceses of Egypt. One of the Patriarchs of 
 Constantinople, who held that see about the year 
 1200, refused permission to the Primate of Bul- 
 garia and Wallachia to bless the Chrism. When 
 the Bulgarians re-entered the communion of the 
 Mother Church of Borne, Pope Innocent III. de- 
 clared that, according to the rubrics of the Boman 
 Bitual,* not only the Primate, but also the suffragan 
 
 * Rubric is from a Latin word meaning "red.^' The 
 rules prescribing the manner of performing the sacred cere- 
 monies of divine worship are so called because they are writtea 
 in red characters. 
 
THE HOLY OILS. 119 
 
 Bishops, had full authority to consecrate all the oils 
 on Holj Thursday. 
 
 The great reverence in which the Eastern 
 schismatics hold the Sacred Oils may have its 
 origin in a beautiful legend, but one which the 
 Church has not sanctioned. When Mary Magda- 
 len poured her alabaster box of perfumes over our 
 Saviour's head and feet, the Apostles gathered to- 
 gether many drops of the precious oil. They car- 
 ried a portion with them on their missionary travels, 
 and kept it in the churches which they founded. 
 It was mixed with the first oil that was blessed by 
 the prayers of the Church, and thus all subsequent 
 oils have indirectly touched that which was sancti- 
 fied by contact with the Sacred Body of our Lord. 
 
 During the first four centuries no fixed day was 
 set aside for the blessing of the oils, but, in the 
 fifth century, it became customary to perform the 
 ceremony on Holy Thursday. The Council of 
 Meaux, in 845, added to custom the sanction of 
 positive law. 
 
 The weak-minded and uninstructed sometimes 
 carried their false reverence for the Holy Oils to a 
 sinful excess. Against the abuses which arose in 
 consequence the Church ever protested, and she 
 enacted the severest penalties against those of her 
 
120 THE HOLY OILS. 
 
 ministers who should connive at them. There 
 were some who thought that a criminal might en- 
 tirely hide his misdeeds from the scrutiny of justice, 
 if he could succeed in anointing himself with Sacred 
 Chrism or drinking it. The sentence decreed 
 against a priest who should give it to him for this 
 impious purpose was deposition and the loss of his 
 hand: manum amittat. And to prevent the evil- 
 inclined from sacri-legiously stealing the Chrism, 
 the priest was ordered to keep it under lock and 
 key. 
 
 The abuse of a sacred thing does not derogate 
 from its claim to legitimate honor, and this the 
 Church has always shown to the Oils. She desires 
 that only those who have received ecclesiastical 
 ordination should touch or carry the vessels in 
 which they are contained, and that they should be 
 kept with the greatest care and reverence. It is 
 in accordance with the spirit of the Church, mani- 
 fested by her councils and the writings of her most 
 approved rubricians, to keep the Oil of the Sick in 
 an enclosure or tabernacle in the wall on the gospel 
 side of the sanctuary. In many places it would be 
 impossible, or at least, inconvenient, to observe this 
 direction, yet it shows the greatest reverence due 
 to the Oils, 
 
THE H^LY OILS. 121 
 
 The symbolical meanings of the Holy Oils are 
 many and beautiful. Oil naturally tends to spread 
 and diffuse itself, and thus it is emblematic of the 
 manifold graces diffused through the heart by the 
 Holy Spirit. It softens and makes supple that 
 which is hard and stiff; so, too, the unction of 
 Sacred Chrism renders our hearts tender and pliable 
 to the inspirations of grace, destroying in them 
 that obstinacy which resists the Holy Ghost. The 
 athletse of ancient times used to anoint their bodies 
 with oil, that they might combat the better in the 
 games. The Church anoints her children in Bap- 
 tism to prepare them for their life-long wrestling 
 against the powers of darkness, against the spirits 
 of wickedness in the high places, not for a corruptible 
 wreath of laurel, but for a never-fading crown of 
 glory. She anoints them at the moment of death 
 to strengthen them against the laBt decisive charge 
 of the army of hell. 
 
 Oil burns with a pure bright ray: the holy 
 unctions light the fires of divine love in the soul, 
 and their pure flames shed round the child and 
 the soldier of Christ a lustre of virtue which blinds 
 and dazzles the scoffing infidel, but leads the earnest 
 enquirer from the mazes of darkness into the king- 
 dom of Christ's true light. 
 
 11 
 
122 THE HOLY OILS. 
 
 Balsam, one of the iagredients of the Chrism, has 
 also its appropriate symbolism. It represents the 
 spiritual fragrance and sweetness dwelling in a 
 sanctified soul, and which irresistibly tend to diffu- 
 sion. As well might the perfume of the flower re- 
 main hidden in its chalice as the odor of virtue be 
 confined to the heart which is blessed with it. 
 
 Only the olive, of all trees, has the privilege of 
 supplying oil for the sacred rites of religion. It 
 was the silent witness of our Lord's agony in the 
 garden of Gethsemani, and its roots were bedewed 
 with His Precious Blood, It is an evergreen, and 
 it lives for centuries, ! that the souls once 
 signed with the unction of the Spirit in the 
 Holy Sacraments might never wither and dry up, 
 might never lose the life-imparting sap of Christ's 
 grace ! Then like their Lord and Master would 
 they be the green wood, not the dry, rotten branches 
 fit only for eternal fire. 
 
 The olive-branch is the symbol of peace and 
 reconciliation. The dove bore it back to Noah, 
 and it was a sign to the Patriarch that God was 
 about to make a new covenant with man. The 
 olive-branch which Christian painters sometimes 
 put in the hand of the Archangel Gabriel announc- 
 
THE HOLY OILS. 123 
 
 ing the Incarnation to the Blessed Virgin, tells of 
 the advent of the Prince of Peace. Now Peace is 
 one of the fruits of the Holy Ghost. When He 
 sanctifies the seal by the Sacramental unctions, 
 He fills it with ineffable peace. 
 
IX. 
 
 BLESSED PALM. 
 
 Our Lord entered Jerusalem in triumph, on the 
 Sunday before He suffered, attended by a glad 
 multitude shouting Hosanna to the Son of David 
 and strewing His way with branches of palm 
 and olive. It is this solemn entry of our Saviour 
 into the Holy City that the Church commemorates 
 on the Sunday of Holy Week. She blesses green 
 branches of palm, cedar, or box-wood, and distri- 
 butes them to the clergy and faithful. Then a 
 white-robed procession of her ministers, bearing the 
 blessed boughs and chanting a hymn of praise and 
 triumph, winds slowly through the aisles of God's 
 holy house. Thus does the wise Mother indelibly 
 impress one of the greatest events of Christ's life 
 upon the memory of her children. She knows that 
 
BLESSED PALM. 125 
 
 they are not pure intelligences, like the angels, but 
 spirits united to mortal bodies, spirits who hold 
 communion with the outward world through the 
 windows of the senses, and who represent to them- 
 selves even invisible and intangible truths under 
 material forms. Therefore her worship is dramatic 
 and life-like. She speaks to the soul through the 
 eye, and thus prepares the mind for grasping and 
 remembering the various articles of her holy teach- 
 ing. 
 
 The Jewish multitude received our Lord on 
 Palm-Sunday with the same manifestations of joy 
 as were usual during the Feast of the Tabernacles. 
 This solemnity was celebrated in the month of 
 September, for the space of eight days, in memory 
 of the time when the Jews dwelt in tents, or taber- 
 nacles, on their journey through the wilderness to 
 the Promised Land. During the continuance of 
 the festival, the people walked daily in procession 
 around the altar, carrying in their hands branches 
 of palm, olive and willow, and singing Hosanna.* 
 
 The Feast of the Tabernacles served another pur- 
 pose besides that of keeping the Jews in mind of 
 
 * Hosanna means " Save, 1 beseech you." In the East, 
 Palm-Sunday is still called " Hosannna Sunday." 
 
126 BLESSED PALM. 
 
 God's mercy to them in guiding them through the 
 desert : it was one of the many means which kept 
 alive in their breasts the hope of the Messiah who 
 was to give them the mansions of eternal bliss in 
 exchange for the tabernacles of their earthly pil- 
 grimage. In their minds it was always connected 
 with Him, and they gave expression to this con- 
 viction in one of the ceremonies of the festival. 
 They drew water from the fountain of Siloe, and, 
 going in solemn procession to the altar of holo- 
 causts, poured it upon it, singing the while, in a 
 subdued voice, portions from the Sacred Scriptures, 
 among others, according to some writers, a passage 
 from the 12 th chapter of Isaias : You shall draw 
 waters imth joy out of the Saviour^s fountains. 
 From our Lord's own words, in the 7th chapter of 
 the Gospel according to St. John, we may plainly 
 infer that this rite was typical of Him : On the last 
 great day of the festivity (of the tabernacles) Jesus 
 stood and cried out^ saying ; If any man thirst let 
 him come to Me and drink. He that helieveth in 
 Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall 
 flow rivers of living water. 
 
 The Jews, then, by their hosannas and palm- 
 branches, acknowledged Jesus to be the Son of 
 David, the Messiah promised to their fathers, the 
 
BLESSED PALM. 127 
 
 Saviour of Israel. Yet on the next Friday they 
 crucified Him ! Their faith of Sunday had not 
 taken root in the soil of charity, and before the end 
 of the week it had withered and died ! May the 
 like not happen to us ! 
 
 An old Roman calendar, or catalogue of feasts 
 and fasts, and the Sacramentary of Pope Gelasius 
 prove that the rite of blessing palms on the Sunday 
 before Easter is as old as the fifth century. The 
 solemn procession can claim an antiquity of at least 
 twelve hundred years, for it is mentioned by St. 
 Isidore of Seville, who lived in the seventh century. 
 
 All the solitaries of the desert and the cenobites* 
 used to meet together on Palm Sunday to take 
 part in the procession, and then they returned 
 again to their cells to prepare in silence and 
 prayer for the great festival of Easter. In many 
 places the benediction and distribution of the 
 palms took place outside the city at one of the 
 wayside crosses ; thence the procession started 
 towards the city gates, thus representing more 
 vividly our Saviour's entry into Jerusalem from 
 the country. Bouquets of flowers, attached to 
 boughs of trees, were sometimes carried in the pro- 
 
 * Religious living together in communities were called 
 '* cenobites." 
 
128 BLESSED PALM. 
 
 cession, and hence the name of the Under of 
 Floivers given to Palm Sunday. It was called 
 Easter because on that day the time within which 
 the Easter Communion was to be made began.* 
 In some churches the Book of the Gospels, as re- 
 presenting Jesus Christ, was carried with the 
 greatest pomp in the procession of Palm Sunday. 
 It was elevated on a richly decorated altar, sur- 
 rounded by palm branches and lights, the wreath- 
 ing of incense and the waving of banners. Some- 
 times the Blessed Sacrament Itself was carried as 
 is now done in the procession of Corpus Christi. 
 
 When the procession re-enters the church or the 
 sanctuary the cross-bearer knocks with the foot of 
 the cross at the door. This ceremony represents 
 our Lord knocking at the golden gates of heaven 
 on the day of His triumphal ascension, and bidding 
 the wondering angels open for Him and the bright 
 army of happy souls released from Limbo, the first 
 fruits of His Passion, the first human shares of His 
 glory. Lift ujp your gates, ye j^rinces ! and he 
 
 * The Paschal time, properly so called, within which the 
 faithful are bound to receive the Blessed Sacrament accord- 
 ing to the law of the Church, extends only from Palm Sun- 
 day to Low Sunday; in this country, however, by privilege, 
 it extends from the first Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday. 
 
BLESSED PALM. 129 
 
 ye lifted up, eternal gates! and the king of glory 
 shall enter in. (Ps. xxxiii. 7.) 
 
 Like all the other Sacramentals the palm-branch 
 has its holy symbolism. The tree from which it is 
 taken is one of the most useful of trees. The wide 
 spreading leaves that crown its top afford a delight- 
 ful shade from the scorching rays of the summer 
 sun. So the Holy Ghost overshadows us with His 
 grace and screens us from the darts of Satan, and 
 the Eternal Father "overshadows us with His 
 shoulders and under His wings we may trust," and 
 may we not go whenever we please to the sanctuary 
 and repose under the shadow of our Beloved in the 
 Blessed Sacrament ? The palm supplies us with 
 the date, a most delicious fruit, and from its pierced 
 bark it pours a species of wine. Jesus in the most 
 Holy Eucharist gives His Body for our food and 
 His Blood for our wine. 
 
 The Palm has been in all times and places the 
 emblem of victory and its reward. The conqueror 
 in the Olympic games, in the races of the circus, 
 at the tribune or the bar received it as the token of 
 his triumph. Palm trees were wrought in the walls 
 of the temple of Jerusalem to signify the reward 
 which awaited the victors in life's contest in the 
 Heavenly Jerusalem. To St. John it was given to 
 
130 BLESSED PALM. 
 
 behold in mystic vision that blessed city and he 
 saw " a great multitude which no man could num- 
 ber of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, 
 standing before the throne and in sight of the 
 Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their 
 hands." 
 
 When we receive the blessed palm let us look 
 upon it as a pledge given to us by our Lord of the 
 palm that awaits us in Heaven, and let us keep it 
 with reverence as a holy thing, placing it over our 
 beds, or wreathing it round the crucifix. But let 
 us not forget that it is the distinctive mark of 
 triumph by suffering and blood, and therefore it is 
 sculptured on the tombs of the martyrs in the cata- 
 combs. To reign with Christ we must suffer with 
 Him, for the only way to heavenly triumph is the 
 royal road of the cross. 
 
THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 
 
 The blessing of the Paschal Candle is one of the 
 most imposing ceremonies of Holy Saturday. 
 Some have attributed the origin of this rite to Pope 
 St. Zosimus, who reigned from 417 to 418 ; but 
 the words of the Homan Breviary, in the 6th Les- 
 son of this holy Pope's office,'* lead us to infer that 
 it was already in use in the Basilicas or greater 
 churches and that Losimus extended it to the 
 parishes : " he granted permission to the parishes 
 to bless the Paschal Candle." 
 
 This blessed candle is much larger than those 
 that are commonly used in ecclesiastical ceremonies. 
 It was customary in some dioceses to have one 
 weighing thirty-three pounds, to represent the years 
 of our Saviour's mortal life. The wax of which it 
 
 * On the 9th of February. 131 
 
132 THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 
 
 is made is an emblem of the glorified Body of the 
 R-isen Jesus, and therefore the candle is lighted on 
 all the Sundays of the Easter time, but extingu- 
 ished and removed after the gospel of Ascension 
 Day, to indicate that He whom it represents is no 
 longer amongst His children under the outward 
 appearance of humanity, but only under the sacra- 
 mental species of bread and wine. 
 
 There are five incisions in the Paschal Candle, 
 arranged in the form of a cross, into which five 
 grains of incense are put during the blessing. 
 The holes represent the Five Wounds, the marks 
 of which our Lord keeps, and will for ever keep, 
 in His Most Sacred Body. Like five suns, those 
 Wounds are now shedding divine lustre over the 
 blessed Court of Heaven, and are, according to 
 theologians, the mute but most efficacious in- 
 tercession of our Lord Jesus Christ with his Eternal 
 Father for the members of the Church Militant and 
 Church Suffering. The grains of incense repre- 
 sent the spices with which the Holy Corpse was 
 embalmed by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. 
 
 The deacon of the Mass, not the celebrant priest, 
 blesses the Paschal Candle, to show that the two 
 disciples whom we have just mentioned, not the 
 Apostles, had the precious privilege granted to 
 
THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 133 
 
 them of preparing the dead Body for entombment, 
 and that our Lord manifested Himself, on the day 
 of His Resurrection, to Mary Magdalen, and the 
 pious women before He appeared to St. Peter or 
 any other of the Apostles. 
 
 The prose or preface which the deacon chants in 
 the ceremony of the blessing is called the Exultet, 
 from the word with which it begins. It is the com- 
 position of the great Sfc. Augustine, who died in 
 the fifth century, and is one of the most beautiful 
 and touching relics of the ancient Liturgy, which 
 has come down to us. 
 
 A list of the moveable feasts was sometimes 
 attached to the Paschal Candle, or even cut into 
 the wax. This custom existed at Rouen and 
 Cluny until the last century. The present Ro- 
 man Pontifical prescribes that the moveable feasts 
 of the year be proclaimed on the festival of 
 the Epiphany. Flowers were profusely wreathed 
 around the candle. " What more fitting and fes- 
 tive," says an old Ambrosian Missal, "than to 
 adorn the Flower of Jesse with flowers ?" 
 
 In the blessing of the baptismal font the Paschal 
 Candle is plunged three times into the water, the 
 celebrant praying meanwhile that the virtue of the 
 Holy Spirit may descend into the sacred font. The 
 
134 THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 
 
 immersion of the candle is emblematic of Christ's 
 descent into the waters of the Jordan to receive 
 Baptism, and its elevation, of our resurrection, as 
 the ejttect of the Sacrament, from sin to a life of 
 grace. 
 
 Christ has redeemed us, by His Passion, from 
 the bondage of Satan, the world and the flesh : a 
 bondage a thousand times more galling than was 
 that of Egypt to the children of Israel. The Pas- 
 chal Candle represents Him as our Guide through 
 the desert of life to the Promised Land of Heaven. 
 When lighted, it is the pillar of fire that illumined 
 the Hebrew camp by night; when extinguished, it 
 is the cloud that directed their march by day. 
 
 Jesus ! may Thy Easter Candle keep us ever in 
 mind of Thee ! May it teach us to love Thee and 
 to fear Thee, for Thou are set up both for the re- 
 surrection and the ruin of many in Israel. That 
 resurrection is Thy gift ; the ruin, if, unfortunately, 
 it should be ours, will be of our own making: 
 Destruction is thy oion, Israel ; thy hel^ is only 
 in Me (Osee, xiii. 9.) 
 
XI. 
 
 THE AGNUS DEI. 
 
 This holy amulet is a wax-cake, bearing on 
 it the image of a lamb surmounted by a cross. 
 It is blessed by the Pope on the first Low Sunday 
 (First Sunday after Easter) which follows his 
 elevation to the Papacy, and not again until that 
 same day every seventh year. This rite may 
 have originated in the ancient custom of dis- 
 tributing to the faithful on Low Sunday the 
 remains of the Paschal candle blessed on Holy 
 Saturday. Our pious ancestors received these 
 precious relics with great veneration, in consid- 
 eration of Him whom they represented; they 
 used to burn them in their houses, fields, and 
 vineyards, as preservatives against storms, tem- 
 pests and the wiles of the devil. In some 
 dioceses the fragments of the candles blessed 
 
 135 
 
136 THE AGNUS DEI. 
 
 on the festival of the Purification were put to 
 the same holy use. 
 
 The blessing of the Agnus Dei is as ancient, 
 at least, as the ninth century : the great Alcuin, 
 deacon of the church of York in England, and 
 preceptor of Charlemagne of France, and Amal- 
 arius, deacon of Metz, both writers of the ninth 
 century, mention it. They tell us that on Holy 
 Saturday the archdeacon used to pour wax into 
 a clean vessel, mix it with oil, and fashion it 
 into the shape of a lamb. On the Octave of 
 Easter these waxen images w^ere distributed, 
 after Communion, to the people, in order that 
 they might burn them in their houses, and put 
 them in their fields and vineyards. Some 
 authors would ascribe an earlier origin to the 
 Agnus Dei; among them is Cardinal Lamber- 
 tini, who lived in the last century, and became 
 Pope under the title of Benedict XIY. 
 
 "We have called the Agnus Dei an amulet — 
 perhaps our expression may be misunderstood, 
 for the word is frequently taken in a bad sense. 
 Amulet is derived from the Latin amolior, wdiich 
 means I remove. According to this etymology, 
 an amulet is something worn to remove or ward 
 off danger, and when the thing so worn has 
 
THE AGNUS DEI. 137 
 
 not, of its own nature, power to produce this 
 effect to use it, confiding in it alone, would be 
 the sin of superstition. Thus, when the old 
 Pagans hung around their necks certain stones, 
 metals, or bits of parchment, with mysterious 
 signs and figures inscribed on them, and trusted 
 to them for protection against disease and witch- 
 craft, they only proved the stupid folly into 
 which human nature left to itself is sure to run. 
 Their amulets were sinful because there was no 
 natural connection between them and the results 
 expected from them; when these results did 
 follow, they generally came from the devil, 
 whose power over the corrupt heathen world, 
 was greater than we suppose. The christian, 
 too, has his amulets — the Crucifix, the Agnus 
 Dei, the Scapular, Holy Medals, etc., but he 
 does not, like the Pagan, put his trust in them, 
 on account of any inherent virtue which he 
 imagines them to have, nor does he look to the 
 enemy of his soul for assistance. His hope is 
 in the Living God, who, listening to the prayers 
 of His beloved Spouse, the Catholic Church, 
 blesses these material things, and bids His 
 children keep them as memorials of Him, as 
 tokens that His Divine Providence will ever 
 
 shelter them beneath its protecting wing. 
 
 12 
 
138 THE AGNUS DEI. 
 
 The blessings attached to the Agnus Dei 
 are enumerated in the prayers said by the 
 Sovereign Pontiff when consecrating the wax: 
 "0 God! Author of all Sanctity, Lord and 
 Kuler ! whose fatherly love and care we ever 
 experience, deign to bless, sanctify, and conse- 
 crate, by the invocation of thy Holy Name, 
 these waxen cakes, stamped with the image of 
 the most Innocent Lamb, that, by seeing and 
 touching them, the faithful may be invited to 
 praise Thee ; that they may escape the fury of 
 whirlwinds and tempests, and dangers from hail 
 and thunder; that the evil spirits may tremble 
 and fly when they behold the standard of the 
 Sacred Cross impressed on the wax." He pro- 
 ceeds to pray that all who devoutly use the 
 Agnus Dei may be freed from pestilence, ship- 
 wreck, fire, from the dangers of child-birth 
 and from a sudden death. 
 
 Now think you. Catholic reader, that the 
 prayers of the Church, uttered by the heart 
 and lips of her August Chief, the Yicar of our 
 Lord on earth, are worth nothing? If we 
 had faith, if we had but faith, we might see 
 strange things come to pass in our souls and our 
 bodies by a holy use of the Sacramentals ! 
 
THE AGNUS DEI. 139 
 
 Hesychius, an ecclesiastical writer of the 
 seventh century, says: "Not of their own power 
 do priests impart a blessing ; but because they 
 represent the person of Christ, they can, on 
 account of Him who is in them, give the pleni- 
 tude of benediction." But who, among the 
 Church's priests, so immediately represents 
 Jesus, the Great High Priest of our confession, 
 as the Holy Father, successor of St. Peter, to 
 whom, in preference to all the other Apostles, 
 Christ entrusted the care of His flock? K 
 ever "the plenitude of benediction" can be 
 given on earth, surely it must come from him. 
 Hence, he who piously uses the Agnus Dei, or 
 any other Sacramental, associates his prayers 
 and actions to those of the whole Church. 
 
 The Agnus Dei, as the name imports, repre- 
 sents Christ, the Lrnnb of Qod, the Lamh slain 
 from the foundation of the world. Frequently 
 does Holy Scripture apply the beautiful word 
 Lamh to our Lord : first, because of His great 
 meekness, ''and I was as a meek lamh that 
 is carried to he a victim^^ (Jeremias, xi, 19;) 
 secondly, because of His innocence, "knowing 
 that you were not redeemed with corruptihle things 
 .... hut with the precious Blood of Christ, as of 
 
140 THE AGNUS DEI. 
 
 a lamh unspotted and undefiled. (St. Peter, 1, 
 i, 18, 19;) thirdly because of His voluntary 
 obedience unto death, "He shall he dumb as a 
 lamh before his shearer T (Isaias, liii, 7.) 
 
 The Paschal Lamb of the Old Law prefigured 
 the true Lamb of the Law of grace. The church 
 calls Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the Lamb 
 of Qod, And truly He is a gentle Lamb in 
 His own dear Sacrament of Love, having no 
 "will of his own, allowing Himself to be taken 
 out of His tabernacle or put back, to be placed 
 in the mouth of a saint or of a sinner, to be 
 carried hither and thither as His priests may 
 please. 
 
 The Agnus Dei, then, represents our Lord, 
 and he who would wear it devoutly must imi- 
 tate Him in His lamb-like virtues, meekness, 
 innocence, and indifference to the world. Meek- 
 ness is that Christian pliableness of character 
 which makes us bend and suit ourselves to every 
 class of persons, as far as duty will allow. It 
 prevents us from standing on our imaginary 
 dignity, it rids us of melancholy, it causes us to 
 be patient with ourselves and others, it makes 
 our piety amiable by shedding over it the heav- 
 enly sunlight of childlike gayety. The meek 
 
THE AGNUS DEI. 141 
 
 Christian, and only he, has caught the true 
 spirit of the devotion of the Agnus Dei. If we 
 have not meekness, let us beg St. Francis of Sales 
 to get it for us. He used to call it one of those 
 lowly virtues which grow close to the foot of 
 the Cross, which are all the more fragrant for 
 being watered with the Blood which trickled 
 down from the Sacred Heart. 
 
 Innocence — ^purity, spotless purity of soul and 
 body, is another virtue of the wearer of the 
 Agnus Dei. Wax and the lamb have ever 
 been the chosen emblems of the angelic virtue. 
 When we touch or look at our holv amulet, let 
 us remember that the breast on which it reposes 
 must be sinless. And if the Angel of Satan is 
 hovering round us, striving to inflict the death- 
 blow on our souls, let us press the Agnus Dei 
 closer to our hearts, that it may be a sign to 
 him that he has no power over us, as was the 
 blood of the paschal lamb on the doors of the 
 Hebrews a sign to the Angel of the Lord. 
 
 The third virtue which springs from a reve- 
 rent use of the Agnus Dei is indifference to the 
 world. The lamb is dumb before his shearer, 
 teaching us silence when shorn of our fair name ; 
 it is shy of a stranger, that we may learn from 
 
142 THE AGNUS DEI. 
 
 it to be distrustful of th6 world and its vanities, 
 that we may journey on, as strangers and 
 pilgrims, till called to the marriage-feast of the 
 Lamb in heaven. 
 
 The Agnus Dei serves to call to our minds 
 the promises of baptism. It represents the 
 whiteness of our souls after being washed in 
 the saving waters of regeneration, In allusion 
 to this symbolism, a sub-deacon brings to the 
 Pope, after that part of the Mass called the 
 Agnus Dei, the wax images just blessed, and 
 chants three times, "Holy Father! these 
 are the young lambs which have announced to 
 you alleluia. Behold, they have just now come 
 to the fountains: they are filled with light, 
 alleluia.' ' 
 
 It would be a strange thing to see a sign 
 on the door of a shop, and nothing inside to 
 correspond to the sign. We wear over our hearts 
 the Agnus Dei, as a sign that the Eucharistic 
 Lamb frequently reposes inside those hearts. 
 Frequent and Holy Communion is, then, a 
 natural concomitant of devotion to the Agnus 
 Dei. Surely the holy emblem he wears round 
 his neck must often reproach him who keeps 
 away from the feast of the Lamb. 
 
THE AGNUS DEI. 143 
 
 The prayer to be said daily by those who 
 wear the Agnus Dei is given in most prayer- 
 books, but perhaps some of our readers who 
 may feel moved to adopt this holy devotion, may 
 be at a loss to find it, and hence we insert it : 
 
 " Oh my Lord Jesus Christ ! the true Lamb 
 that takest away the sins of the world ! by Thy 
 mercy, which is infinite, paidon my iniquities, 
 and by Thy Sacred Passion preserve me from 
 all sin and evil. I carry about me this holy 
 Agnus Dei in thy honor, as a preservative 
 against my own weakness, and as an incentive 
 to the practice of meekness, humility, and in- 
 nocence which Thou hast taught. I offer my- 
 self up to Thee as an entire oblation and in 
 memory of that sacrifice of love which Thou 
 offeredst for me on the cross, and in satisfaction 
 for my sins. Accept, my God ! the oblation 
 which I make, and may it be agreeable to Thee 
 in the odor of sweetness. Amen." 
 
 Pope Gregory XIII. has positively prohib- 
 ited the Agnus Dei to be painted or exposed 
 for sale. The silk covering of the sacred wax 
 may, however, have holy words and images 
 impressed on it. 
 
XII. 
 
 THE ROSARY. 
 
 The word Kosary means a garden of roses. 
 The Paters and Aves composing it are so 
 many flowers twined into a w^reath of prayer, 
 the fragrance of which ascends in an odor 
 of sweetness up to the throne of the Queen 
 of Heaven. There are one hundred and fifty 
 Hail Marys in the devotion, divided off into 
 fifteen decades or tens, before each of which 
 there is one Our FatJier and a Glory he to ilie 
 Father, &c. One third of the Rosary, contain- 
 ing five decades, is called a chaplet, and it is 
 this which pious Catholics say every day. The 
 entire Rosary is called also the Psalter or 
 Psalmody of our Lady, because, as the Psalter 
 of King David contains one hundred and fifty 
 144 
 
THE ROSARY. 145 
 
 psalms, so the Rosary contains one hundred and 
 fifty Angelical salutations. 
 
 The practice of using pebbles or beads for 
 numbering prayers is as old as the third or 
 fourth century. Palladius, an ecclesiastical 
 writer of the 5th age, relates, in his Historia 
 Lausiaca, that Abbot Paul made three hundred 
 prayers daily which he reckoned by means of 
 little stones. A canon of the Council of Cel- 
 chyth, held in England in 816, commands that, 
 on the death of a bishop, seven belts of Our 
 Fathers should be said by the clergy every day, 
 for the space of thirty days, for the repose of 
 his soul ; and William of Malmesbury says that 
 a Saxon Countess, named Godiva, desired, when 
 on the point of death, that a string of gems 
 on which she used to count her prayers, should 
 be suspended round the neck of the statue of 
 the Blessed Virgin, in a Church of Coventry. 
 In fact the very name heads^ which we apply to 
 the Rosary or Chaplet, proves that a similar 
 devotion was in use among the Catholic Anglo- 
 Saxons, for, in their language it signifies not 
 globules or pebbles, but prayers, being from the 
 same root as the present German word het^n. 
 
 But these forms of prayer were not the 
 
 13 
 
146 THE ROSARY. 
 
 Kosary. Some have ascribed the origin of the 
 devotion, as it now exists, to St. Benedict, the 
 Patriarch of the Monastic life in the West, who 
 flourished in the 6th century; others to Peter 
 the Hermit, the originator, under God, of the 
 Crusades, in the end of the 11th century. The 
 claims of these venerable persons cannot, how- 
 ever, be substantiated. Though both were 
 devoted heart and soul to Mary, it did not 
 please God to make use of them as his instru- 
 ments in the establishment or propagation of 
 the Eosary of His Blessed Mother. The time 
 for the devotion had not yet come. It remained 
 hidden in the coffers of heavenly benediction, 
 to be opened at the prayers of Mary, when the 
 urging wants of the Church should call for the 
 special interposition of the Heavenly Mediatrix. 
 That time came at last. The Albigensian 
 heresy,* only another name for the absurd and 
 
 * " The Albigenses owned two Principles or Creators, the one 
 good, the other bad; the former the Creator of the invisible 
 spiritual world, the latter the Creator of bodies, the tutor of 
 the Jewish dispensation, and author of the Old Testament. 
 They admitted two Christs, the one bad, who appeared upon 
 earth, and the other good who never lived in this world ; they 
 denied the resurrection of the flesh, and believed that our souls 
 
THE ROSARY. 147 
 
 impious Maniclieism of the third and fourth 
 centuries, began, about the year 1200, to make 
 dreadful ravages in the South of France. Pil- 
 lage, sacrilege and murder were the instruments 
 which the sectaries used for the propagation of 
 their system, and the enormities which they 
 practised at last forced the secular arm to inter- 
 pose for the defense of the property and lives 
 of the children of the Church. Apostolic men 
 went amongst them to win them back by charity 
 and mildness to the obedience of reason and 
 faith, but their labors were repaid with insult, 
 ill-treatment, and assassination. The heart of 
 the great St. Dominic, a Spaniard by birth, and 
 
 were demons confined to our bodies in punishment of sins com- 
 mitted by tliem in a former state of existence ; they condemned 
 all the sacraments, rejected baptism as useless, abominated the 
 Eucharist, practised neither a confession nor penance, believing 
 marriage unlawful, and ridiculed purgatory, praying for the 
 dead, images, crucifixes, and the ceremonies of the Church. 
 They distinguished themselves into two sorts ; the Perfect, who 
 boasted of living continently, ate neither flesh, nor eggs, nor 
 cheese, abhorred lying and never swore ; and the Believers, who 
 lived and ate as other men did, and were irregular in their 
 manners, but were persuaded that they were saved by the faith 
 of the Perfect, and that none of those who received the impo- 
 sition of their hands were damned." — Butler's Lives of tlie 
 Saints. — Life of St. Dominic, 4:th of August. 
 
148 THE ROSARY. 
 
 founder of the order of Dominicans or Friars 
 Preachers, who was laboring, by permission of 
 Pope Innocent III., on this barren and ungrate- 
 ful mission, bled with anguish at the sad pros- 
 pect of spiritual ruin, which met his gaze. He 
 turned to her to whom no one ever turned in 
 vain. He begged her by the Blood of her 
 Divine Son shed for sinners, and by the sword 
 of sorrow, which pierced her own Immaculate 
 Heart, to intercede for the perishing souls for 
 whom he preached and prayed and suffered. 
 Need it be said that such a petition was heard? 
 Oh! Mother Mary! Refuge of sinners! Con- 
 soler of the afflicted! indeed it would have 
 been a miracle, such as never before occurred, 
 had it been rejected! Dominic prayed, and 
 Mary heard his prayer, and revealed to him 
 the Holy Eosary. What the sword of the stern 
 old soldier, Simon de Montfort,"^ could not do, 
 what even the previous labors of St. Dominic 
 and his saintly co-operators failed to accomplish, 
 Mary's Crown of Roses did. The meditation 
 of the fifteen mysteries of our Lord and Lady's 
 
 * The General of the Crusade against the Albigenses. 
 
THE ROSARY. 149 
 
 life and death, accompanying each decade, in- 
 structed the isrnorant in the articles of faith, 
 whilst the recitation of the Our Fatlier and 
 Hail Mary filled the hearts of sinners with 
 contrition and love, and drew down the bless- 
 ings of Heaven. The work of conversion went 
 bravely on : Dominic reaped a harvest of souls, 
 and our sweet Mother a harvest of glory. 
 
 From that day to this, the devotion of the 
 Rosary has never lost its hold on the affections 
 of the faithful. To recount the wonders that 
 it has wrought and will continue to work until 
 the day of doom in heaven, on earth, and in 
 purgatory, would require an inspired tongue, 
 and the vision of prophecy. The glory that 
 surrounded it at its birth went on increasing, 
 until it culminated with dazzling radiance on 
 the meridian of the Mary-protected Church, 
 towards the close of the 16th age. The battle 
 of Lepanto, gained on the 7th of October, 1571, 
 by the Christian fleet, under the command of 
 Don John of Austria, over the formidable armar 
 ment of the Turks, at the time that the sodality 
 of the Rosary in Rome was walking in solemn 
 procession addressing fervent prayers to the 
 Throne of Mercy, proclaimed to the Catholic 
 
150 THE ROSARY. 
 
 world the power of Mary, and the motherly 
 care that she ever exercises over her servants. 
 The prayers of the Confraternity of the Rosary, 
 as they arose from the Eternal City, on that 
 first Sunday of October, rent on their way to 
 Heaven, the dark thunder-cloud of Turkish 
 invasion, that had hung, for centuries, lowering 
 o*er the eastern horizon of Europe. 
 
 The holy Pope, St. Pius Y., who then occu- 
 pied the chair of St. Peter, was informed, by 
 revelation, from heaven, of the victory at the 
 very moment that it was won. In gratitude to 
 the Divine Mother and her Son, he commanded 
 that a yearly commemoration should be made, 
 on the first Sunday of October, of St. Mary of 
 Victory. Gregory XITI., his successor, estab- 
 lished the Festival of the Rosary, to be cele- 
 brated, on the same day, in all the churches 
 which contained a chapel or an altar dedicated 
 under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin of 
 the Rosary. Clement X., in 1671, at the 
 prayer of the Queen of Spain, extended the 
 feast to all the Spanish dominions. Another 
 victory gained over the Turks, in 1716, under 
 circumstances precisely similar to those of the 
 victory of Lepanto, induced Clement XL to 
 
THE ROSARY. 151 
 
 grant the celebration of the Festival of the 
 Rosary to the Universal Church. 
 
 Such is the history of the origin and progress 
 of this holy devotion; let us now consider 
 briefly the intrinsic claims that it has to our 
 veneration and love. The prayers that com- 
 pose it are most holy in their origin. The Our 
 Father was taught by our Lord Himself, and is 
 a complete synopsis of Christian doctrine and 
 morality. We call God Father, thereby indi- 
 cating His Divine Paternity. Father implies 
 Son, and where these two. exist, there is mutual 
 love between them. The Eternal Father and 
 His Only Begotton Son love one another with 
 an eternal Love, and that Love is a Divine 
 Person, the Holy Ghost. But God is not only 
 Father, but He is Our Father, by creation, pre- 
 servation and the imparting of His grace. 
 Grace implies Jesus, the God- Man, the Source 
 of all the graces of intelligent creatures, and he 
 who mentions that Adorable Name fits the key 
 to the treasury of wisdom and love contained 
 in the mysteries of Incarnation and Redemption. 
 Bow down, Christian soul, in awe and adoration 
 before the throne of the Eternal God! See 
 how in the first words of the prayer that He 
 
152 THE ROSARY. 
 
 has taught us are contained the three great 
 mysteries of our faith ! What should we find 
 if we were to go through it in detail ? Verily, 
 nothing else than these other great truths — the 
 rewards of heaven, the existence of evil spirits, 
 the punishments of hell, the Sacraments of Pen- 
 ance and the Most Holy Eucharist, and the 
 principal moral obligations of our religion, as 
 the duty of filial love for God, conformity to 
 His Divine Will, confidence in His Providence, 
 fraternal charity and the avoiding of the occa- 
 sions of sin. 0, Adorable Lord ! whose words 
 so fruitful in meaning as Thine, whose so full 
 of hidden wisdom, whose so full of love! 
 
 The Hail Mary is composed of three parts. 
 "Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee; 
 blessed art thou among w^omen," were the 
 words of the Archangel Gabriel, when announc- 
 ing to the Blessed Virgin that she was to be- 
 come the Mother of God. The latter part of 
 the same salutation, with an additional clause, 
 was repeated by St. Elizabeth, inspired by the 
 Holy Ghost, when Mary visited her in the hill- 
 country of Judea: "Blessed art thou among 
 women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb." 
 The General Council of Ephesus held, in 431, 
 
THE ROSARY. 153 
 
 against Nestorius, the heretical Archbishop of 
 Constantinople, who impiously asserted that 
 Mary was not the Mother of God, added the 
 third part : " Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray 
 for us sinners, now and at the hour of our 
 death." 
 
 The Hail Mary is both a hymn of praise to 
 the Blessed Virgin for the glory of her Divine 
 Maternity, and a prayer of intercession for her 
 protection during life and at the moment of 
 death. Heaven is filled with jubilee when it is 
 said; the beautiful angels bow down in rev- 
 erent adoration before the throne of their Queen ; 
 the glorified children of men, of whom no one 
 ever reached the country of the Blessed without 
 the assistance of Mary, hymn a new song of 
 gratitude to their Mother and Mediatrix, and 
 a new sea of divine radiance from the Holy 
 Trinity breaks around her throne in a spray of 
 dazzHng splendor. At the words, hlessed is the 
 Fruit of thy woiiib, her Immaculate Heart turns 
 with unutterable love to the Sacred Heart of 
 Jesus, and the flames of those two fiery furnaces 
 of divine charity unite and arise before the 
 Ever Blessed Three, the only offering, with the 
 Adorable Sacrament, worthy of the Majesty 
 
154 THE ROSARY. 
 
 the of Godhead. Child of Mary! will you 
 refuse this increase of accidental glory to your 
 Mother ? One fervent Hail Mary can give it, 
 and the third part of the Rosary will repeat it 
 fifty times. If you say the beads every day 
 during a month, you will work wonders in 
 heaven more than fifteen hundred times. Mary 
 will be your debtor, and never will her grat- 
 itude be satisfied until she welcomes you to 
 heaven. " Love," said St. Augustine, "" and do 
 what you please;" yes, let us all love Mary, 
 and then we can, in all things, do our own will, 
 because, in all things, it will be conformed to 
 hers as hers is to that of Jesus. That love will 
 burn sin and affection for sin out of our hearts, 
 and bring our Lord into them with all His 
 treasures of grace and sweetness. 
 
 The Eosary opens the gates of Purgatory. 
 "We may well believe that God will deign to 
 release daily one soul from that place of exile 
 and punishment for one pair of beads said with 
 devout intention, and the application of the in- 
 dulgences attached to the Rosary. Now think, 
 good reader, what a thing it is to have thirty- 
 one souls in heaven, who would not have been 
 there so soon had it not been for your beads ! 
 
THE ROSARY. 155 
 
 They will be indebted to you, Mary will be in- 
 debted to you, her Divine Son will be indebted 
 to you. And what will be your recompense ? 
 The grace of a happy death, the crowning gift 
 of all God's gifts, that of final perseverence. 
 Mother Mary ! Queen of the Rosary ! we re- 
 solve to say the beads every day ; neither busi- 
 ness, nor pleasure, nor fatigue, nor disgust, 
 shall hinder us from offering thee this tribute 
 of love. Receive our promise, and seal it by 
 obtaining for us from thy Son the grace to 
 keep it. 
 
 The versicle. Glory he to the Father and to 
 the Son and to the Holy Qhost, is said before 
 each decade of the Rosary. It is a salutation 
 of praise to the Blessed Trinity. The name 
 doxology, applied to it, is derived from the Greek, 
 meaning a word of praise or glory. 
 
 The generally received opinion attributes the 
 origin of the doxology to the 1st Council of 
 Nice, held in 325, against the Arian heretics 
 who denied the Divinity of the Eternal Word. 
 But Pope Benedict XIY. {De Festo SS. Trin- 
 itatis) proves that it existed and was used by 
 the faithful before the time of that Council, and 
 that it arose naturally from the formula of bap- 
 
156 THE ROSARY. 
 
 tism given by our Lord to the Apostles — hap- 
 tizing them in the name of tlie Fatlver and of 
 the Son and of the Holy Ghost (St. Matt, xxviii.) 
 The response, as it was in the begmning, etc., was 
 most probably added by the Nicene Synod, to 
 meet the errors of the Arians who asserted 
 that the Son was not born of the Father in the 
 beginning^ that is, from all eternity, but in time. 
 
 The same learned Pontiff combats the opinion 
 that the practice of adding Glory he to the 
 Father, etc., at the end of the Psalms in the 
 Divine Office, was introduced into the West by 
 the order of Pope St. Damasus, in the end of 
 the 4tli century, by the advice of St. Jerome, 
 who had heard it sung by the Oriental monks, 
 though this opinion has in its favor the 6th 
 Lesson in the Office of St. Damasus (December 
 11th :) Statuit, ut, quod pluribus jam locis erat 
 in usu, psalmi,per omnes ecclesias, die noctuque 
 ab alternis canerentur, et in fine cuj usque psalmi 
 diceretur, Gloria Patri, etc. Benedict XIV. 
 thinks that the practice in question arose from 
 a Canon of the Council of Narbonne, in 589, 
 which was, in course of time, adopted through- 
 out the Church. 
 
 There are few devotions to which the Holy 
 
THE ROSARY. 157 
 
 See has granted so many indulgences as to the 
 Rosary ; one hundred days for each Our Father 
 and Hail Mary, and a plenary indulgence once 
 a year, on any day the reciter may choose. To 
 gain the latter the usual conditions of a plen- 
 ary indulgence must be complied with, that is, 
 confession, communion, and prayers for the 
 wants of the Church. It need not be said that 
 a person must be in a state of grace, because 
 an indulgence, being the remission of the tern- 
 'poi^al punishment due to sin, cannot avail until 
 the sin itself, and, consequently, its eternal 
 punishment, are removed. 
 
 To gain the indulgences of the Eosary, the 
 beads must be blessed by a priest having the 
 requisite faculties, and the recitation of the 
 prayers must be accompanied, according to very 
 many who have written on the subject, by 
 meditation on the mysteries of our Lord and 
 Lady, if the person reciting the beads is capa- 
 ble of meditating. 
 
 THE FIVE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES 
 For Sundays^ Wednesdays, and Saturdays. 
 
 1. The Resurrection. 4. The Assumption of the B. 
 
 2. The Ascension. V. M. 
 
 3. The Descent of the Holy 6. The Coronation of the B. 
 
 Ghost. V. M. in Heaven. 
 
158 THE ROSARY. 
 
 THE FIVE JOYFUL MYSTERIES 
 For Mondays and Thursdays. 
 
 1. The Annunciation. 4. The Presentation of our 
 
 2. The Visitation. Lord in the Tempie. 
 
 8. The Birth of our Lord. 5. The Finding of our Lord 
 
 in the Temple. 
 
 THE FIVE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES 
 
 For Tuesdays and Fridays. 
 
 1. The Agony in the Garden. 4. The Carriage of the Cross. 
 
 2. The Scourging at tlie Pillar. 5. The Crucifixion and Death 
 
 3. The Crowning with Thorns. of our Lord. 
 
 Many pious persons make it a point to have 
 their beads always about them during the day, 
 and to place them around their neck or under 
 their pillow at night. Faithful soldiers of Mary, 
 they have their arms always in their hands. 
 Let bad thoughts attack them or dangers me- 
 nace, and at once the faithful fingers are on the 
 beads, the Hail Mary is on their lips, the im- 
 age of their Mother is before them, and the 
 victory is won. Let us adopt this easy and 
 salutary practice ; it will save us from at least 
 one temptation, that of omitting to say our 
 beads because we have them not at hand. 
 
XII. 
 
 THE SCAPULAR 
 
 OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL. 
 
 The church is one in doctrine and in govern- 
 ment, yet the modes in which she manifests the 
 inward life which she receives from the ever- 
 continuing action of Christ, her Divine Head, 
 are countless in their beautiful varieties. She 
 is, at the same time, contemplative and active, 
 abiding in the desert and dwelling in commu- 
 nity, the physician of the bodies as well as of 
 the souls of men, the teacher of the ignorant, 
 the civilizer of barbarians, the defender of the 
 Gospel at home, its missionary abroad. These 
 different and apparently incongruous functions 
 of her sublime life she performs on a large 
 scale by means of her Religious Orders. These 
 
 159 
 
160 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 holy associations are members of Christ's mys- 
 tic body, each having its different office, yet all 
 conspiring, by their harmonious action, to the 
 strength and beauty of the organism to which 
 they belong. They are the various ornaments 
 of the golden robe of splendor which Christ has 
 cast around His Spotless Spouse, the Church. 
 
 Numerous as are the differences in origin, 
 mode of life and aim of the Religious Orders, 
 they all, without exception, agree in cultivating 
 and propagating a most tender devotion to 
 Mary, the Mother of God, and many of the 
 most beautiful and touching practices of piety 
 in her honor, now existing in the Church, have 
 been introduced by them. The Rosary, as we 
 saw in our last number, is a Dominican devo- 
 tion, and an unwavering faith in the Immacu- 
 late Conception, and a burning love for that 
 greatest of Mary's privileges, next to the Divine 
 Maternity, characterized the Seraphic Order of 
 St. Francis, centuries before the mystery was 
 defined to be an article of faith. Devotion to the 
 Sacred Name of Mary found a home in the Cis- 
 tercian Order, a nestling place in the heart of the 
 greatest of its abbots, the illustrious St. Bernard 
 of Clairvaux : respice stellarn^ voca Mariam : look 
 
THE SCAPULAR. 161 
 
 io the star, call on Mary in dangers, in 
 
 troubles and in douhts think of Mary, call an 
 Mary, were the words, sweet as honey, that 
 distilled from his glowing lips which the coal 
 of Mary's love had touched. The Society of 
 Jesus, the bulwark of the Church in modern 
 times, shows its devotion to Mary by establish- 
 ing, in the colleges under its direction, sodalities 
 and confraternities in her honor. The two 
 Scapulars* of which we are now about to treat 
 have been given by God to His Church through 
 the instrumentality of Religious Orders; the 
 Brown Scapular, or that of Our Lady of Mount 
 Carmel, was introduced by the Carmelites; the 
 Red Scapular, by the Lazarists. 
 
 This agreement of all the Orders in devotion 
 to the Blessed Virgin, though differing in so 
 many other devotions, proves that it is not one 
 of several modes of manifesting the vital energy 
 of the Church, but one which is an integral and 
 essential part of the Christian system. Mary 
 is not, as Father Faber shows in his Growth in 
 Holiness, a mere appendage or ornament of true 
 
 * Scapular, from its Latin derivation, means a shoulder gar- 
 ment. 
 
 14 
 
162 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 religion : she is the mystical neck uniting the 
 Church to Jesus, its Head : she is so completely 
 interwoven, like a golden thread, in the web of 
 Christian doctrine, that to separate her from it 
 is to destroy it. The particular manner of 
 honoring her may vary with times and countries 
 and dispositions, but the devotion itself will 
 live on through the ages to be transplanted with 
 the Church Militant, when time has ceased to 
 be, to those ha^ppy courts over which Mary 
 presides as Queen. 
 
 These general remarks have led us away 
 from our immediate subject, the Scapular of 
 Mount Carmel, yet they may be useful in show- 
 ing how all devotions in honor of the Blessed 
 Virgin, and all the Sacramentals which concern 
 her are expressions of one great truth — that 
 Mary is to be reverenced because of her con- 
 nection with Jesus. 
 
 The Carmelites claim to be one of the oldest 
 Orders in the Church, tracing their descent 
 from the immediate disciples of the Prophets 
 Elias and Eliseus, who lived more than eight 
 hundred years before the coming of our Lord. 
 They derive their name from Carmel, a moun- 
 tain of Palestine; on which the first religious 
 
THE SCAPULAR. 163 
 
 of the Order built their cells. Whether they 
 can make good their claims to so venerable an 
 antiquity is not for us to determine; from the 
 end of the twelfth century, however, their his- 
 tory is clear and reliable. Albert, Patriarch of 
 Jerusalem, gave them a rule in 1209, which 
 was afterwards approved by the Holy See. The 
 troubles consequent upon the continual irrup- 
 tions of the Saracens into Palestine induced the 
 good religious to look out for a safer asylum, 
 and one in which they would be able to practise, 
 in its perfection, their rigorous rule. Accord- 
 ingly, they passed into Europe, in the middle 
 of the thirteenth century, and rapidly spread 
 through the different Christian kingdoms, owing 
 to the protection and favor of the Holy See, 
 and the ability and zeal of the Generals of the 
 Order. One of the most illustrious of those 
 Generals was Simon Stock. He was an English- 
 man by birth, and, from his early years, was 
 remarkable for the austerity and stainless inno- 
 cence of his life and his tender devotion to the 
 Blessed Virgin. Mary rewarded his confidence 
 and love, as she did those of his contemporary, 
 St. Dominic. She appeared to him in a vision 
 and delivered to him the Brown Scapular, 
 
164 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 promising special graces to those who should 
 devoutly wear it. The new devotion was 
 eagerly embraced by all ranks of society; the 
 priest^ the king, the noble and the commoner 
 prided themselves on wearing the livery of the 
 Queen of Heaven. The Popes approved it by 
 granting indulgences to it and establishing a 
 festival in its honor. And thus it has continued 
 in the Church until our day, the holy rival of 
 the Rosary in winning souls to the love of Mary 
 and her Divine Son. 
 
 Some may smile at a devotion based on no 
 better foundation than a vision. Yet they can 
 not deny, without rejecting the Bible and the 
 testimony of ecclesiastical and profane history, 
 the occurrence of visions in past times. If 
 supernatural interferences have taken place, 
 they may take place again; and whether such 
 has been the case in any particular instance 
 can be ascertained by the rules of historical 
 criticism. Now, in regard to St. Simon Stocky 
 we have the testimony of his secretary, Suvan- 
 ingron, who, relating the vision, says, hanc ego 
 iimneHtiis^ honiiTW Dei dictante^ scribeham: this 
 accowit I have written^ though unwoi^thy of the 
 lumoTy under the dictation of the man of God, 
 
THE SCAPULAR. 165 
 
 His testimony has been received, after standing 
 the test of an historical and theological sifting, 
 by every unprejudiced mind that has examined 
 the subject. It is confirmed by the high sanc- 
 tity of the parties in the transaction, by the 
 miracles, attested under oath, wrought by 
 means of the Scapular, and by the spiritual 
 blessings conferred on those who devoutly wear 
 it. 
 
 The advantages which the Scapular procures 
 us are threefold : it puts us under the par- 
 ticular protection of Mary; it gives us a par- 
 ticipation in all the good works of the Carmelite 
 Order, and places within our reach numerous 
 indulgences. 
 
 When we put on the blessed Scapular, we 
 clothe ourselves with the uniform of Mary's 
 army, we enroll ourselves under her banner, we 
 choose her for our Mother and our Queen. 
 Like the domestics of the wise woman, whose 
 praise is in the Book of Proverbs, we are 
 clothed with double garments to protect us 
 against the cold winds and storms of spiritual 
 adversity. The Scapular is the pledge of the 
 sacred contract that we have entered into with 
 the Blessed Virgin ; and if we be faithful to it 
 
166 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 on our part, she will reward us with the choicest 
 blessings of her Son. 
 
 It is piously believed, to use the words of the 
 Roman Breviary (in the Lessons of the 16th of 
 July,) that Mary will obtain a speedy release 
 from Purgatory for those who wear the Scap- 
 ular in life and die a Christian death. There 
 is nothing absurd in this. Jesus is the King of 
 Purgatory ; then Mary must be Queen. Is it 
 not natural to suppose that she is the Mediatrix 
 of pardon for the suffering souls, as she is of 
 grace and mercy for us ? And what day more 
 suitable to exercise her intercession for them 
 than Saturday, which the Church has consecra- 
 ted to her honor ? Of course it would be the sin 
 of superstition to believe that a person dying in 
 mortal sin could escape the fires of hell by the 
 fact of wearing Mary's livery. Nor need we 
 suppose that God's justice remits, in favor of the 
 members of the Scapular Confraternity, any of 
 the Purgatorial punishment due to sin. It can 
 crowd into an hour, by increase of intensity, 
 sufferings which otherwise might be protracted 
 through years. 
 
 The devotion of the Scapular beautifully 
 illustrates the Catholic doctrine of the Commu- 
 
THE SCAPULAR. 167 
 
 nion of Saints ; it associates us to all the good 
 works of the Carmelites. Their satisfactions 
 for sin becomes ours, their impetrations for 
 blessings belong to us. The Scapular is the 
 key to the rich treasure of graces which, for 
 centuries, has been accumulating in the Church 
 by the Masses and missionary labors, and 
 studies and toil, and praying and watching and 
 fasting of holy Carmelites all over the world. 
 Our own poor penances for the sins of our past 
 life are little worth, but joined to the super- 
 abundant satisfactions of the Saints, they are in- 
 creased in value a thousand fold. 
 
 The indulgences annexed to the Scapular af- 
 ford another illustration of the Communion of 
 Saints. By gaining them we cancel the debt 
 of temporal punishment due to our transgres- 
 sions ; we offer to God, in place of our own 
 satisfactions, those of Christ, the Blessed Vir- 
 gin and the Saints. Yet various acts are re- 
 quired on our part to appropriate them; we 
 must free our souls from the stain of sin by co- 
 operating with God's holy grace, which urges 
 us to receive the Sacrament of Penance, and 
 we must fulfil the other conditions prescribed 
 by the Sovereign Pontiff in the grant of the in- 
 
168 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 dulgence. The day of admission into the Con- 
 fraternity of the Scapular^ the Feast of Our 
 Lady of Mount Carmel, on the 16 th of July, 
 and the hour of death, have a plenary indulg- 
 ence annexed to them. The numerous partial 
 indulgences may be found in most manuals of 
 devotion. To participate in the benefits of the 
 Confraternity it is necessary to receive the 
 Scapular from a priest who has been empowered 
 to give it, and to wear it constantly. It is also 
 advised that the members should recite daily 
 seven Our Fathers and Hail Marys ^ or the 
 Litany of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 These, then, are the blessings which Mary 
 offers us if we assume her habit ; but in doing 
 so we contract the obligation of serving her as 
 faithful vassals and imitating her virtues, in 
 proportion to our grace. He who professes 
 himself her client, and yet neglects the duties 
 of his state of life, insults her and incurs the 
 anger of her Son. No exterior symbols will 
 profit us if the interior spirit be wanting ; the 
 Scapular will not save us if we lead bad lives, 
 any more than will the livery of his country 
 screen the coward or the deserter from his 
 merited punishment. 
 
THE SCAPULAR. 169 
 
 When the Prophet Elias passed from earth, 
 in a chariot of fire, he dropped his robe to his 
 faithful follower, Eiiseus. The disciple cast 
 the garment about his shoulders, and, at the 
 same moment, the spirit of his departed master 
 was infused into his heart. So it should be 
 with us. Mary's Scapular hangs around the 
 neck to no purpose, unless the soul clothe itself 
 with the virtues that she practised. Let us 
 apply to ourselves what St. Paul wrote to the 
 Galatians : for as many of you as have been 
 baptized in Christ have put on Christ — as many 
 of us as have received the Scapular of Mary, 
 have put on Mary. 
 
 It is related of Boleslas lY., King of Poland, 
 "that he always carried about with him the 
 portrait of his father, as the witness and guide 
 of his actions. Whenever he had to pass any 
 decree or engage in any important affair, he 
 looked at the image of his parent and pro- 
 nounced these admirable words: ''0, my father! 
 do not permit me to dishonor the blood that 
 flows in my veins; do not permit that my 
 tongue should utter any word, or my hand 
 perform any action, unworthy of thy name 
 
 and my high r^nk." In like manner, when we 
 
 15 
 
170 THE SCAPULAR. 
 
 look at the Scapular and the image of Mary 
 attached to it, let us cry out with a holy en- 
 thusiasm : " 0, Sweet Mother ! do not suffer us 
 to dishonor thy name or the title of thy chil- 
 dren.'* 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE RED SCAPULAR 
 
 OF THE PASSION AND OF THE SACRED HEARTS OF 
 MARY AND JESUS.* 
 
 On the evening of the 26th of July, 1846, 
 the Octave of the Feast of St. Yincent of Paul, 
 one of the Sisters of Charity, in France, had a 
 vision of our Lord, which she thus relates : " I 
 had gone to the chapel before Benediction, and 
 when there, our Lord appeared to me. He 
 held in His right Hand a scarlet-colored scap- 
 ular, the two parts of which were joined to- 
 gether by worsted strings, of the same color. 
 On one side of the scapular He was represented 
 
 * The account of this Sacramental is translated, in great part, 
 from a French Prayer-book, compiled for the use of the Sisters 
 of Charity. 
 
 171 
 
172 THE RED SCAPULAR. 
 
 as crucified ; the most cruel instruments of His 
 Passion were lying at the foot of the cross — 
 the scourge, the hammer and the robe which 
 had covered His bleeding Body. Around the 
 Crucifix was the inscription. Holy Passion of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ save us. The other ex- 
 tremity of the scapular had depicted on it the 
 Sacred Heart of Jesus and that of His Holy 
 Mother; a cross placed between them seemed 
 to spring up from both hearts, and the encir- 
 cling motto was, Sacred Hearts of Jesiis and 
 Mary protect us. 
 
 About eighteen months ago while meditating, 
 during Holy Mass, upon the Passion of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, I thought I saw Him hang- 
 ing on the cross. The ghastly paleness of His 
 countenance made a deep impression on me, 
 and my whole body became covered with a cold 
 sweat. Our Lord's Head was inclined; I 
 thought it was the long thorns that covered 
 His adorable Brow, which caused it to take this 
 posture. At the same instant our Lord sud- 
 denly raised His head, and the thorns were 
 violently forced into His eyes and temples. . . 
 Never can I forget that moment. There was 
 something terrible in the pain He must have 
 
THE RED SCAPULAR. 173 
 
 experienced in the rude sliock of His sacred 
 Head against the wood of the cross. I was 
 filled with anguish and trembling. And the 
 Blessed Virgin was there. Jesus ! Mary ! 
 what suiFerings. From that moment the 
 Passion of our well-beloved Saviour has been 
 always before my eyes. " Thou must console 
 Me," said our Lord to me, ^'in the sorrows of 
 My Passion ; thou must receive the shreds of 
 My Flesh, torn from My Body by the Pre- 
 torian whips, and My Blood poured out on 
 Calvary." 
 
 The words of Jesus Christ were like so many 
 wounds in my soul. It is almost impossible 
 for me not to dwell on them continually, and to 
 keep alive the terrible, yet sweet impression, 
 they made on me. The sufferings of His 
 sacred Humanity touch me more than the 
 splendors of His glory, and I would feel less 
 desire for the throne which I hope he has pre- 
 pared for me in heaven, if I were not to see 
 there the Holy Wounds of Jesus Christ glittering 
 like so many suns. Ah ! Our Lord knows well 
 that, if it were possible for me to resist His 
 greatness, I must needs yield myself the captive 
 of His sufferings ! I could not understand how 
 
174 THE RED SCAPULAR. 
 
 the thought of the dolors of Jesus Christ fills 
 my soul with such ineffable delight if He Him- 
 self had not told me. *' Thou canst not com- 
 prehend My Love, but by My sufferings ; and 
 the force of this Love will so weaken the feeling 
 of pain that it will be entirely absorbed in 
 Love." I do not know whether I shall be un- 
 derstood, when I say that my heart is so nar- 
 row, so limited, that, through excess of feeling, 
 it becomes at times unablo to feel any more. 
 
 Oh ! how Our Lord wishes that we should 
 think of His sufferings ! how His Holy Mother 
 desires it ! One Sunday evening when I was 
 making the Way of the Cross, it seemed to me, 
 at the thirteenth station, that the Blessed 
 Yirgin put into my arms the Sacred Body of 
 our Adorable Master and said to me : " The 
 world is going to ruin because it does not think 
 of the Passion of Jesus Christ; do all that you 
 can to get it to think of it ; do all that you can 
 for the world's salvation." 
 
 I do not know how all this happened, but at 
 those moments in which I believe I see our 
 Lord, I feel that within me which I cannot ex- 
 press. It is like a total forgetfulness of every- 
 thing that exists, a perfect solitude in which I 
 
THE RED SCAPULAR. 175 
 
 am alone with Him : methinks I really see the 
 object which occupies mj thoughts. For ex- 
 ample, on the occasion I have just mentioned, 
 I felt the icy coldness of our Saviour's corpse, 
 I saw His gaping wounds. 
 
 It is the Passion of Jesus Christ which con- 
 verts sinners and reanimates the faith of the 
 just. Who can resist a God dead for love of 
 men ? As for me, our Lord has always inun- 
 dated my soul with His sweetest favors, at 
 those moments in which He has placed in my 
 heart a more lively remembrance of His sujffer- 
 ings. People think that I am sick, but I am 
 not so; I suffer much and yet I am content. 
 Why hast thou wished my Adorable Saviour, 
 that I should always think of thy Holy Pas- 
 sion ? Why hast Thou wished that I should 
 see Thee so often upon the cross? Ah! hast 
 Thou not said that Thou couldst find no one to 
 help Thee tread the wine press ! Our merciful 
 Saviour earnestly desires that we should wear 
 the Scapular which he has shown me, that we 
 should clothe ourselves with Him and with love 
 of His sufferings. The Holy Cross is so pow- 
 erful for the conversion of infidels and heretics ! 
 What efficacy in a Friday indulgence (which 
 
176 THE RED SCAPULAR. 
 
 those who wear the Red Scapular gain) in re- 
 awakening in all hearts the remembrance of 
 the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ! 
 
 On Trinity Sunday our Divine Saviour 
 showed me, during my meditation, a beautiful 
 and translucent river. Many persons were on 
 its banks; those who plunged in became all 
 resplendent with brilliancy; diamonds and gold 
 seemed to fall from their hands. Those who 
 fled became enveloped in a black smoke which 
 made them most disagreeable to the sight. I 
 asked our Saviour the explanation of the vision. 
 He told me that this beautiful river represented 
 His Mercy, always ready to receive the repent- 
 ance of the sinner and give it a value. my 
 Jesus! how little we think of Thy Mercy and 
 of Thy sufferings which have given us a claim 
 to it." Here ends the recital of the sister. 
 
 The apparition of our Lord, holding in His 
 Hand the Scapular of His Passion, was renewed 
 several times ; it took place on the Feast of the 
 Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14th September, 
 1846, with this particular circumstance, that 
 the sister thought she heard our Lord address- 
 ing her in these consoling words: "All those 
 who wear this Scapular tvill receive on every Fri- 
 
THE RED SCAPULAR. 177 
 
 day a great increase of faitli^ hope and charity. ^^ 
 When the sister was told of the great difficulty 
 there would be in getting this devotion author- 
 ized, she replied : " Our Divine Saviour desires 
 the establishment of the Scapular of His Pas- 
 sion. He will, in a moment known to Himself 
 alone, smooth away all the difficulties which 
 ordinarily arise against new devotions, and 
 make the precious day of His Death a day rich 
 in blessings for the Holy Church. I am happy 
 in knowing that this devotion will constitute 
 one of the treasures of the Congregation of the 
 Mission."* 
 
 The prediction of the holy sister was fulfilled. 
 When the Superior General of the Congrega- 
 tion of the Mission was in Rome, in June 1847, 
 
 * The Congregation of the Priests of the Mission, was founded 
 in France by St. Vincent of Paul, and' was approved by Pope 
 Urban VIII., in 1632. Its members are called also Lazarisis 
 from St. Lazare, the name of their chief house in Paris. The 
 institution of the Daughters of Charity owes its origin to the 
 same Saint, and is under the general supervision of the supe- 
 rior of the Lazarists. There is, we believe, but one branch of 
 the Daughters of CJiarity in the United States, that of St. 
 Joseph's, Emmittsburg. The Sisters of Charity, though they 
 always revere St. Vincent as their Father, are not officially 
 affiliated to his order. 
 
178 THE r'ed scapular. 
 
 he laid all the circumstances of the case before 
 the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Pope Pius IX. He 
 was surprised at the favor with which the new 
 devotion was received. Far from raising any 
 objections, His Holiness expressed his happi- 
 ness in seeing a new means employed for the 
 conversion of sinners, and he authorized, by a 
 rescript of the 25th of June, 1847, all the 
 priests of the Congregation of the Mission to 
 bless and distribute to the faithful the Scapular 
 of the Passion of Jesus Christ. 
 
 On one side of the Eed Scapular is the image 
 of Jesus on the Cross, surrounded by the in- 
 struments of His Passion, to remind us that 
 His sufferings have shut hell and opened heaven 
 for us; on the other side is His Heart burning 
 with love, to indicate that the excess of his suf- 
 ferings was the effect of His excess of tender- 
 ness. The Immaculate Heart of Mary is placed 
 beside that of Jesus. The same love consumes 
 them, and they are immolated in one and the 
 same sacrifice. Hence, they are represented as 
 united, and the cross is placed between them as 
 belonging to both. Jesus has saved the world 
 by His Cross, and Mary has co-operated in its 
 salvation by consenting to His death. The 
 
THE RED SCAPULAR. 179 
 
 Heart of Jesus pierced on the Cross is the ever- 
 flowing fountain of all good — the Immaculate 
 Heart of Mary at the foot of the Cross is the 
 reservoir which receives the waters of that 
 fountain, the canal which communicates them 
 to the souls of men. 
 
 Let us make a trinity of hearts by joining 
 ours to those of Jesus and Mary, and may the 
 Red Scapular of the Passion be the pledge of 
 their eternal union. 
 
 The Indulgences granted by Pope Pius IX. 
 to those who wear the Red Scapular are: 
 
 1. An indulgence of seven years and seven 
 times forty days, on every Friday, on condition 
 of receiving Holy Communion and reciting fivQ 
 times the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory he 
 to the Father, etc., in honor of our Lord's Passion. 
 
 2. An indulgence of three years and three 
 times forty days for meditating, at any time, 
 for the space of half an hour, on the Passion. 
 
 An indulgence of two hundred days for kiss- 
 ing the Scapular with feelings of devotion and 
 saying : We heseech Thee, therefore, heljp Thy 
 servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy 
 Precious Blood. 
 
180 THE RED SCAPULAR. 
 
 4. A plenary indulgence on every Friday for 
 those who, having confessed and communicated, 
 devoutly meditate for a short time upon the 
 Passion of our Lord, and pray for the intentions 
 of the Church. 
 
XV. 
 
 BLESSED FOOD. 
 
 The Kitual contains formulas of benediction 
 for many kinds of food, as of lambs, eggs, new 
 fruits and bread. The latter article, when 
 solemnly blessed at High Mass and distributed 
 to the faithful, is called the Eulogy, which 
 means strictly, from its Greek derivation, any 
 blessing or blessed thing, but which, in eccle- 
 siastical language, is specifically applied to 
 blessed bread. 
 
 It was customary, during the first centuries, 
 to communicate every day; some even thought 
 that they were obliged to receive the Blessed 
 Sacrament as often as they assisted at Mass, so 
 that if the}'- had that happiness several times a 
 day, they ought to participate, at each Mass, 
 
 181 
 
182 BLESSED FOOD. 
 
 of the Bread of Angels The increasing tem- 
 poral prosperity of the faithful, consequent 
 upon the cessation of persecution and the re- 
 cognition of Christianity by the state, tended, 
 by insensible degrees, to wean their minds and 
 hearts from heavenly things, and to cool their 
 burning love for the Mystery of Christ's Body 
 and Blood. The inroads of the barbarian tribes 
 of the North, the breaking up of the Roman 
 Empire, and the changes and convulsions which 
 necessarily followed, produced a more disastrous 
 effect upon the souls of many of the children 
 of the Church than did the persecution of the 
 Koman Emperors. This second storm found 
 them unprepared, engrossed with earth and its 
 riches, and it but increased the evil. Practical 
 religion became rarer amongst the masses, and 
 both as cause and effect, the Blessed Eucharist 
 was neglected. 
 
 The Church wept over this sad state of 
 things, and did all in her power to remedy it; 
 first, by prescribing fixed times, at which it 
 would be obligatory for the faithful to receive 
 Holy Communion ; secondly, by establishing a 
 sacred rite which might supply its place, as far 
 as any earthly thing can supply the place of 
 
BLESSED FOOD. 183 
 
 Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God. The times 
 first fixed were Christmas, Easter and Pente- 
 cost, but this seemed too often to the rough 
 barons of the Middle Ages, and Mother Church, 
 with the spirit of patient condescension which 
 she had inherited from her Lord and Spouse 
 limited the strict ecclesiastial obligation to one 
 day and its accompanying period, Easter. 
 
 The rite which she instituted was that of the 
 Eulogies, They who assisted at Mass but did 
 not communicate, received a portion of blessed 
 bread, to remind them that they ought to hun- 
 ger after the true Bread which comes down 
 from heaven, of which, if any one shall eat, he 
 shall live forever. The rite is meant to typify- 
 also the union of belief and love which should 
 exist among all the faithful, members of the 
 same mystic body, participators of the same 
 Sacred Victim which the Eulogy represents. 
 Cardinal Bona cites authorities for the existence 
 of this custom in the 4th century. 
 
 The Eulogies were applied to many of the 
 uses which had, at earlier periods, been restricted 
 to the Blessed Eucharist. Bishops and par- 
 ticular churches sent them to one another in 
 token of communion, whereas the Holy Sacra- 
 
184 BLESSED FOOD. 
 
 ment Itself had been used, not always without 
 danger of accident, for the same purpose. The 
 sending of wedding cake to absent friends is an 
 analogous custom. Travelers took an Eulogy 
 with them as a heavenly safeguard against the 
 spiritual and bodily dangers of the journey. 
 The Blessed Eucharist used, at times, to be 
 carried in like manner. St. Ambrose relates 
 of his own brother, Satyrus, that being on a 
 voyage and in imminent danger of shipwreck, 
 he implored the Body of Christ from some bap- 
 tized fellow passengers. Satyrus himself had 
 not yet received the Sacrament of regeneration, 
 being only a catechumen. He obtained his 
 request: the Precious Gift was given to him 
 wrapped in a scarf, which he attached to his 
 neck. He plunged boldly into the sea, trusting 
 to Him for protection Who had supported the 
 sinking Peter on the waves of Genesareth. He 
 reached the shore in safety. 
 
 Another view may be taken of the Eulogies; 
 they may be considered remnants of the ancient 
 Agapce or love-feasts. These were banquets in 
 memory of the. Paschal Supper of which our 
 Blessed Lord partook, before instituting the 
 Sacrament of His Body and Blood. They were 
 
BLESSED FOOD. 185 
 
 celebrated in the churches and on the tombs of 
 the Martyrs. All the faithful joined in them 
 and gave one another the kiss of peace. During 
 the first century and a part of the second the 
 Agapae preceded communion. Tertullian in- 
 forms us that, in his time, many of the faithful 
 thought it more reverent to receive the Blessed 
 Eucharist fasting. The third Council of Car- 
 thage, held in 397, made this practice obHga- 
 tory, except on Holy Thursday, on which day, 
 holy communion was received in the evening 
 and after the Agapae. This was done in order 
 to commemorate more vividly the Institution 
 of the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 Abuses soon crept into the celebration of the 
 love-feasts. St. Paul complained of them and 
 severely rebuked the Corinthians (1 Cor. xi.) 
 for the excesses and profanation of which they 
 had been guilty. The disorder had arisen to 
 such a height in the fourth century that the 
 Church was obliged to interfere and denounce 
 the Agapae. They were not surpressed however 
 without great difficulty. 
 
 The blessing and distribution of bread, dur- 
 ing the sacrifice of the Mass, still prevails in 
 
 France and Canada. The families of the parish 
 
 16 
 
186 BLESSED FOOD. 
 
 take turns in furnishing the loaves to be blessed 
 at the High Mass. The bread is taken to the 
 communion rail during the offertory. On great 
 festivals it is profusely adorned with flowers 
 and little banners. The celebrant, attended by 
 two acolythes, blesses the bread, and, in some 
 places, presents a cross to be kissed by the fam- 
 ily furnishing the Eulogy. The loaf is cut in- 
 to small pieces, after it has been blessed, and 
 distributed to the congregation by an attendant 
 of the sanctuary. The recipient of the blessed 
 bread makes the sign of the cross, and is at 
 liberty to eat his piece either in Church or at 
 home. Those who who were not at the High 
 Mass receive a portion from their neighbors 
 who had the happiness of assisting at the 
 sacred function. 
 
 Good old French mothers teach their children 
 to say the following little prayer before eating 
 the Eulogy : 
 
 " Pain b6nit ! je te prend ; 
 
 Si la mort me suprend 
 
 Sers moi de Saint Sacrement." 
 
 "Blessed Bread! I take thee: if death should surprise me, 
 supply the place of the Blessed Sacrament." 
 
BLESSED FOOD. 187 
 
 The family that gives the bread on one Sun- 
 day, reserves a small loaf to send to that family 
 whose turn it is to make the offering on the 
 next week. 
 
 The above interesting details have been fur- 
 nished by a Reverend French friend who has 
 seen and participated in the ceremonies he 
 describes. From a written account which he 
 drew up, at our request, of several customs of 
 his country, we make the following extracts, 
 for which, we are sure, he and our readers will 
 pardon us. 
 
 1st. Little wooden crosses of about six inches 
 in length are blessed on the 3d of May, the 
 Feast of the Invention of the Cross. Each 
 farmer provides himself with as many such 
 crosses as he possesses different pieces of land 
 or different productions. There must be a cross 
 for the vineyard, another for the wheat-field, 
 and for each field in like manner. These crosses 
 are fixed with great devotion in their respective 
 places, and by this act of piety the husbandman 
 hopes to draw down the blessing of heaven on 
 his harvest. 
 
 2nd. Every good Catholic farmer has his seed 
 blessed before committing it to the ground. 
 
188 BLESSED FOOD. 
 
 This benediction takes place on a Sunday in 
 September. 
 
 3d. The fields are blessed on the Rogation 
 days, that is. the three days immediately pre- 
 ceding Ascension Thursday. Several large 
 crosses ornamented with hangings, pictures and 
 flowers are erected at the cross-roads and in 
 different villages. A holy procession, bearing 
 crosses and banners, and headed by the Pastor, 
 starts early in the morning. Every family 
 sends its representative to the procession in 
 order to get a share in the blessing. The 
 Litany of the Saints and the Penitential 
 Psalms are sung during the march. From the 
 way-side crosses the Priest solemnly blesses the 
 fields and dwellings of the neighboring coun- 
 try. 
 
 The custom of blessing lambs at Easter is 
 very ancient. God commanded the Jews to eat 
 a lamb in memory of their deliverance from 
 Egyptian bondage. With greater reason may 
 Christians feast on the Paschal Lamb in com- 
 memoration of their true Pasch, Christ Jesus, 
 and of their passage through the Red Sea of 
 His Precious Blood, from death to life, from sin 
 to grace and hopes of heaven. 
 
BLESSED FOOD. 189 
 
 Eggs too are blessed at the Easter time, be- 
 cause they are emblematic of the Kesurrection. 
 Just as from the egg a little creature issues 
 
 forth to life, so from the silent tomb, the prison 
 house of death, our Saviour sprang to immortal 
 life and glory. 
 
XVL 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 An innate sense of propriety and reverence 
 prompts us to exchange our ordinary dress for 
 one more costly when about to appear in the 
 presence of the great and noble. Custom or 
 written regulations may prescribe the material, 
 the color and the shape of the dress to be worn 
 by those who seek an interview v/ith royal or 
 imperial majesty, but that custom and those 
 regulations are alike based on the dictates of 
 natural good sense, and of reverence for law- 
 fully constituted authority. All power is from 
 God, and therefore he who slights that power 
 by refusing to show it those exterior marks of 
 honor to which nature and the practice of his 
 fellowmen impel him, slights and insults Him 
 from whom that power comes. 
 190 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 191 
 
 The use, in religious functions, of vestments 
 more costly than those of every day life, and 
 differing from them in shape and color, is an 
 application of the same principle. If an earth- 
 ly potentate may justly require that his attend- 
 ants should manifest the respect due to his 
 exalted rank by the cleanliness and richness 
 of their garb, may not God, the King of kings 
 and the Lord of lords, exact the same from the 
 ministers of his sanctuary ? If silk and ermine 
 and costly stuffs of many a precious dye are in 
 place on the person of an earl, or count or duke 
 when waiting on his prince, do they cease to 
 be becoming on the Bishop of the Most High 
 God when celebrating the tremendous Mystery 
 of the Mass? If the ruby, the sapphire, and 
 the diamond may gleam on the coronet of kings, 
 is the mitre of the Lord's anointed less worthy 
 of the honor ? 
 
 The priest of Jupiter and the priest of Jeho- 
 vah were clad in appropriate dress when per- 
 forming the solemn acts of religious worship. 
 The priest of Jesus Christ has also a garb indi- 
 cating his sacred order, symbolizing the virtues 
 which belong to it and befitting the solemnity 
 
192 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 of the functions which he exercises. But it 
 does not therefore follow that the ornaments of 
 the Christian priesthood are mere servile copies 
 of the Jewish, or those in turn of the Pagan 
 priestly dress. The use of sacred vestments, 
 like the offering of sacrifice, is common to all 
 forms of religion, no matter how perverted, and 
 hence must spring from a cause common to all, 
 which can be no other than an intellectual per- 
 ception of the necessity of religion and a religious 
 sentiment in the heart given to every soul at 
 the moment of creation, by its All-wise Maker. 
 That religious instinct impels man to worship 
 his Creator with both parts of his being, soul 
 and body, thus to acknowledge God's sovereign 
 dominion over him. Faith, hope and charity 
 are the worship of the soul, the performing of 
 sacred ceremonies and the use of vestments are 
 the worship of the body, and the reception of 
 the sacraments, vocal prayer and the spiritual 
 and corporal works of mercy combine both kinds 
 of worship. 
 
 There are many and striking analogies be- 
 tween the vestments of the Jewish and Chris- 
 tian priesthood. These are owing to the 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 193 
 
 typical nature of the Old Law. St. Paul tells 
 us (chap. X. Ep. to Hebrews) that the law had 
 only a shadow of the good things to come. 
 Jesus Christ and His grace were the realities 
 which it prefigured, and its ceremonies were 
 ordained only in reference to the ceremonies of 
 the Christian dispensation. The latter were 
 first in the order of the divine decrees; other- 
 wise the shadow would excel the substance — 
 the figure, the reality. Whenever, then, we 
 refer to any Jewish rite or ceremony as illus- 
 trative of the rites of the Catholic Church, we 
 regard it merely as a symbol or type, not as an 
 oriocinal. 
 
 Each of the sacred orders has its ajDpropriate 
 dress. The amice, alb, cincture and maniple 
 are common to all. The tunic belongs to the 
 subdeaconship ; the transverse stole and dal- 
 matic to the deacon ship ; the stole crossed over 
 the breast and the chasuble to the priesthood.* 
 The sandals, stockings, gloves, gremial, pectoral 
 cross, ring, crosier and mitre belong to Bishops, 
 and are therefore called the episcopal ornaiiients. 
 
 * The Bishop also wears the chasuble and stole; the latter, 
 however, he never crosses on his breast, but lets it hang 
 straight. 
 
 17 
 
104 TUE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 The pallium and the processional cross are the 
 insignia of archiepiscopal dignity. 
 
 Tlve Sandals, 
 
 The sandal was originally a wooden sole 
 fastened to the foot with thongs. In course of 
 time the toes were covered with a piece of 
 leather, and then the whole upper part of the 
 foot : thus the sandal became a slipper. Under 
 the Roman emperors, the sandals of the nobil- 
 ity were remarkable for the richness of their 
 material and embroidery. At first, the Church, 
 through reverence for the Sacred Mysteries, 
 commanded all her ministers to wear sandals 
 or slippers when officiating at the altar, but for 
 many centuries their use has been confined to 
 Bishops. 
 
 The sandals of the early Anglo-Saxon Bish- 
 ops were made of leather, beautifully stained, 
 and perforated on the upper part with holes, 
 wrought into various designs, through which 
 the embroidered stocking appeared in fine 
 contrast with the leather of the sandal. Hilde- 
 bert, an ecclesiastical writer of the eleventh 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 195 
 
 century, thus explains the mystical meaning 
 of these apertures or "windows" in the san- 
 dals : " The upper part is perforated, in order 
 that the foot may be partially covered and 
 partially uncovered, to teach the preacher of 
 the Gospel that he must not indiscreetly reveal 
 to all nor conceal from all the mysteries of that 
 Gospel." Some are so weak in faith as to need, 
 like the Corinthians, to be fed with milk, while 
 others can bear the strong, solid food of Chris- 
 tian doctrine* 
 
 In the thirteenth and fourteenth century, 
 the leathern sandal gave place to one of silk, 
 wrought with gold or silver needle-work, and 
 adorned with precious stones. It had no 
 apertures on top. In England the color of 
 the sandal was scarlet ; elsewhere, of black or 
 red. 
 
 The sandals are the emblems of an apostolic 
 missionary, of one who travels from country to 
 country to preach the Gospel of Christ. The 
 Bishop fulfills the duties of a missionary in the 
 visitation of his diocese. When our Lord sent 
 out the twelve Apostles two by two. He com- 
 manded them to he shod tcith sandals (St. Mark 
 vi. 9). The embroidery of the sandal and 
 
196 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 stockings represents the beauty of the Gospel : 
 luyw heautlful are tlie feet of those that preach the 
 gospel of 'peace^ of them that bring good tidings 
 of good things. 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 The StocJdngs ' 
 
 Became part of the episcopal dress at the end 
 of the tenth century. They are of red or 
 white, according to the color of the vestments 
 of the day, and are always worn by the Bishop 
 when he solemnly pontificates, except in Re- 
 quiem Masses. 
 
 The Gloves, 
 
 As part of the sacred dress, seem to have 
 been introduced in the seventh century. At 
 first they were used by both priests and Bishops, 
 but in the ninth century they were restricted 
 to the latter. They were made of very rich 
 material, and were encrusted with gold and 
 precious stones. A cross was wrought on the 
 back of them. Remains of ancient sculpture 
 and painting prove that the episcopal glove 
 gometimes extended above the wrist. 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 197 
 
 When Jacob wished to obtain the benedic- 
 tion of his father Isaac, in place of his brother 
 Esau, he covered his hands with the skin of a 
 kid, in order that they might resemble the 
 hairy hands of Esau, and then went into the 
 presence of his father. The Bishop clothes his 
 hands with the blessed gloves, as with the mer- 
 its of Jesus Christ, and then goes to the sacred 
 altar to impetrate from the Eternal Father a 
 benediction for himself and his people. This 
 mystic signification of the gloves is clearly ex- 
 pressed in the prayer which the consecrating 
 Bishop says when drawing them on the hands 
 of the newly-consecrated prelate: "Clothe, O 
 Lord! the hands of this Thy minister with the 
 cleanliness of the New Man who descended 
 from heaven, that, as Jacob, thy beloved, having 
 his hands clothed with the skins of kids, ob- 
 tained the paternal benediction, by offering food 
 and a most agreeable drink to his father; so 
 may he, by offering with his hands the victim 
 of salvation, obtain the benediction of Thy 
 grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, 
 who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, offered 
 Himself to Thee for us." 
 
198 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 Tlie Gremial 
 
 Is a veil of silk or other precious stuff extended 
 on the lap of the Bishop, when seated during 
 Pontifical High Mass, to prevent the chasuble 
 from being soiled by the moisture of the hands, 
 or by the missal which the acolytes hold before 
 the prelate. The name of this ornament is 
 derived from the Latin word gremium, which 
 signifies the lap. The priest, deacon and sub- 
 deacon used it in former times, but now it 
 is exclusively an episcopal ornament. How- 
 ever, "the Dominican friars," says Dr. Rock, 
 in his book entitled The Church of Our Fathers, 
 " if they do not yet, did, till a very late period, 
 keep up the use of linen lap-cloths for the 
 celebrant and his two ministers at High Mass." 
 
 The Pectoi'al Cross. 
 
 The devout children of the Church, both 
 clergy and laity, wore, from the earliest times, 
 a cross or crucifix as a memorial of Christ's 
 Passion, and of the Christian's obligation of 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 199 
 
 carrying the cross. It was not until the 13th 
 century that a cross of silver or gold worn ou 
 the breast became a mark of the Episcopal 
 character. It reminds the prelate that his 
 sublime and most holy state is one of suffering, 
 and that as he sits on the throne of Christ, he 
 must needs be ready, to drink the chalice of 
 Christ's Passion. The cross may glitter with 
 gold and gems, but still it remains a cross. 
 Relics of the martyrs are sometimes enclosed 
 in its cavity, to show that the Bishop is prepared 
 to bear witness by his blood, his teaching and 
 his virtues to the truths of the Holy Faith. 
 
 Though full of holy mystic meanings, the 
 pectoral cross is not one of those ornaments 
 which are solemnly given in the ceremony of 
 consecration. The Prelate elect takes it him- 
 self when vesting for mass, thus expressing 
 that the only thing he desires is the cross of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Ring. 
 
 Macrobius, a Latin writer of the 5th century, 
 informs us that the ancients used the ring not 
 as an ornament, but as a seal. Several passages 
 
200 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 of scripture illustrate this remark. Jezahel 
 wrote letters in AchaUa name and sealed them with 
 his ring (3 Kings, xxi. 8.) And King Assiierua 
 answered * * * * lorite ye therefoi-e to the Jews, aa 
 it pleaseth you, in the King's name^ and seal the 
 letters with my ring (Esther viii. 8.) They 
 brought Daniel and cast him into the den of the 
 Lions * * * * And a stone teas brought and laid 
 iipo7i the mouth of the den, ichich tlve hing sealed 
 loith his own rhig, and vnth the ring of his nobles, 
 (Daniel vi. 17.) As only the nobles were 
 accustomed to use seals, the ring became an 
 emblem of dignity and authority. And as a 
 seal serves to hide and keep secret what is 
 contained under it, the ring symbolizes also 
 secrecy and fidelity. From this last signification 
 it came to be used as the pledge of tw^o most 
 sacred contracts — of the marriage between 
 husband and wife, and between the bishop and 
 his church. 
 
 The Episcopal ring is blessed, in the cere- 
 mony of the consecration, and placed, by the 
 consecrating Bishop, on the third finger of the 
 right hand of the new prelate, with these 
 words : " Receive the ring, the seal of fidelity ; 
 that being adorned with inviolate fidelity, thou 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 201 
 
 mayst without stain guard the spouse of God, 
 that is, the Holy Church." 
 
 Dr. Kock, speaking of the Episcopal ring of 
 the English Bishops, when England had the 
 happiness of being Catholic, says : " This ring 
 was larger, and in conformity with the style of 
 those times, wrought more heavy than the 
 same kind of ecclesiastical ornament is in our 
 day. Though commonly having for its stone a 
 sapphire, it not unfrequently bore a deep broad 
 emerald, or a ruby ; and, to keep it in its right 
 place, another plain but smaller ring was put 
 upon the finger just above it." 
 
 The Tunic and Dalmatic 
 
 Are, as we have said, the peculiar ornaments 
 of the subdeaconship and deaconship, yet the 
 Bishop wears them, made of satin of the color 
 of the day, under his chasuble, when he pon- 
 tificates. It is fitting that he who has the 
 plenitude of the sacrament of Holy Orders and 
 the power of conferring it should be clothed 
 with all the vestments of each of its sacred 
 grades. 
 
202 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 The Crosier, 
 
 As an ensign of Episcopal authority, has been 
 in use since the 6th or 7th century. St. Isi- 
 dore of Seville, a Spanish Bishop, who died in 
 636, says in his book De Eccl. Officiis, that a 
 staff is given to the newly consecrated prelate 
 as a sign that he is to rule and correct his 
 people, and bear with the infirmities of the 
 weak. 
 
 The form of the Crosier has been different at 
 different epochs. Sometimes it was merely a 
 straight rod surmounted by a transverse piece 
 so as to form a cross ; hence its name. Crosier, 
 ' Some of the Anglo-Saxon Bishops used one 
 capped by a ball. " From those found in the 
 ninth century hanging over the graves of 
 bishops, then long since dead, it would seem 
 that they were bent at the top." 
 
 Wood of the most costly kind was one of the 
 first materials used for the pastoral staff". But 
 soon the gold and the silver mines were laid 
 under contribution, and the Crosier of the 
 Bishop began to vie in value and beauty with 
 the sceptre of the King. In the 12th century 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 203 
 
 the Crosier was composed of different materials. 
 The stem was of wood, surmounted bj a ball, 
 to which an ivory crook was attached. Around 
 the crook was the inscription, "m tJiy anger 
 tliou slialt rememher mercy ;' on the ball was the 
 word man, reminding the pontiff that he was 
 man, and that he ruled not over angels, but 
 frail men. The foot of the Crosier, made of 
 iron, bore the motto spare. 
 
 The Pope does not carry the Crosier. Inno- 
 cent III., who reigned in the beginning of the 
 13th century, says expressly, {De Sacro Altaris 
 Mysteriis, lib. i., cap. 2, xi.,) that the Roman 
 Pontiff does not use the pastoral staff. One 
 account thus explains this fact : St. Peter sent 
 his staff to Eucher, first Bishop of Treves, who 
 kept it with great reverence in his Episcopal 
 city. His successor, Materrus, having been 
 raised from the dead by the miraculous power 
 of the Apostle's crook, the good people of 
 Treves resolved never to give up so precious a 
 relic, and thus blessed Peter was deprived of 
 his pastoral staff. 
 
 A wand or rod has always been considered 
 the emblem of power and jurisdiction ; in the 
 hand of a monarch, it is called a sceptre, in 
 
204 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 that of a bishop, a crosier. The Lord will send 
 forth thy power out of Slon (Ps. cix.) Thou 
 shall rule them with a rod of iron (Ps. ii.) The 
 sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprighbiess 
 (Ps. xliv.) 
 
 The Bishop's sceptre is bent like the shep- 
 herd's crooky to indicate that his rule is one of 
 mildness and love. Feed my sheep, feed my 
 lambs, was our Lord's charge to St. Peter, a 
 charge in which all the Bishops of the Church 
 participate, in subordination to the Chief Pas- 
 tor, the Sovereign Pontiff; and for this reason 
 they receive the crosier, in the ceremony of 
 their consecration, as an emblem of the pastoral 
 charge. "Receive," says the consecrating pre- 
 late, "the staff of the pastoral office, that thou 
 mayest be piously severe in the correction of 
 vice, exercising judgment without wrath, wooing 
 the affections of those who hear thee to cherish 
 virtue, not abandoning a just severity in mild- 
 ness." 
 
 The mystic meanings of the crosier are con- 
 tained in the following Latin verses : 
 
 In baculi forma, praesul, datur haec tibi norma: 
 Attrahe per prinmm, medio rege, punge per imum. 
 Attrahe peccantes, age justos, punge vagantes ; 
 Attrahe, sustenta, stimula, vaga, morbida, lenta. 
 
THE EPISCOPAL OENAMENTS. 205 
 
 The form of thy staff, holy prelate, is replete 
 with mystical meaning. The middle is sign of 
 thy rule, the foot of holy correction. With 
 the crook on the top, thou sweetly drawest 
 souls unto virtue. Attract all poor sinners, 
 strike the vagrant, urge on the just to perfec- 
 tion. Lure the wanderer, be a prop to the 
 weak and a spear to the slow-paced. 
 
 The Mitre, 
 
 The 28th chapter of Exodus enumerates the 
 mitre among the ornaments which God com- 
 manded to be prepared for Aaron and his sons, 
 and which were to be used by all their succes- 
 sors in the Jewish priesthood. It is hard to 
 determine the precise period of the introduction 
 of the mitre, in the Christian Church, as one 
 of the insignia of episcopal or abbatial rank. 
 Some have asserted that the Bishops of the 
 first centuries wore no head dress at all, during 
 the celebration of the sacred mysteries ; or, if 
 they did, that it was one common to them with 
 the rest of the clergy. The 4 th Council of 
 Toledo, held in the 7th century, when mention- 
 ing the Episcopal ornaments, says nothing of 
 
206 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 the mitre. Nor is any trace found of it in the 
 ancient rituals or the works of those who wrote 
 on the rites and ceremonies of the church. 
 
 The account which Dr. Rock gives of the 
 origin and variation in shape and color of the 
 mitre, in his valuable work on ecclesiastical 
 antiquities, to which we have frequently re- 
 ferred, is connected and detailed and substanti- 
 ated by copious quotations from ancient writers, 
 and therefore we shall take it as our guide in 
 our remarks on the mitre. 
 ^ A circlet or crown of gold and silver was the 
 first ornament which adorned the head of the 
 Bishop. This gave way to a white kerchief of 
 fine linen, fitting close around the temples, and 
 tied by a ribbon, the ends of which fell loose 
 about the shoulders. In the eleventh century 
 this head dress assumed a horned or peaked ap- 
 pearance just above the ears of the prelate; in 
 shape, however, it continued to be for some 
 time broad and low. The present elevation of 
 the mitre, terminating in two peaks, began to 
 prevail from the thirteenth century. 
 
 The ribbon that had been used to tie the 
 linen kerchief became a mere ornament, giving 
 rise to the flaps or pendants of the mitre. As 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 207 
 
 around the hem of the Jewish High Priest's 
 tunic there were seventy-two golden bells, in 
 like manner several little bells of precious metal 
 sometimes hung from the pendants of the mitre. 
 They reminded the Pontiff that as their sweet 
 chiming was music in the ears, so the harmony 
 of his virtues ought to be music in the hearts 
 of his people. 
 
 The mitre seems to have been at first made 
 of linen- Afterwards the richest silks were 
 used, and sometimes it was entirely composed 
 of thin plates of gold or silver. The following 
 beautiful paragraph from The Church of Our 
 Fathers shows us what was the splendor of the 
 mitre in the days of Catholic England's glory : 
 " Every art was bid to come and lend its beauty 
 to this sacred diadem : the embroideress was its 
 willing handmaid and her needle storied it with 
 saints ; the enameller, after his craft, strewed 
 it over with everlasting flowers and devices, 
 and wreathed it about with bands of beautiful 
 design in living and unfading colors ; the jew- 
 eller sprinkled it with light from every precious 
 stone — with the soft green rays of the emerald — 
 with the fire of the burning ruby — the blue 
 beams of the sky-lit sapphire and the golden 
 
208 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 twinklings of the yellow topaz. Nor was the 
 worker in the costly metals behind the rest with 
 the cunning of his elegant mystery : when he 
 was asked to fashion a rich mitre out of gold or 
 silver, he wrought these two thin, though solid, 
 sheets of which it was to be made up, out of 
 the precious metal in such a way, that they not 
 only opened and shut with the utmost readiness 
 by means of gimmels or hinges, light, though 
 strong, in their frame and nicely adjusted at the 
 sides, but so bent themselves upon the weai^er's 
 venerable brow, as to sit with ease upon it : two 
 other gimmels held loosely, though securely, 
 the lappets as they swung behind, and all up 
 the edges of the mitre, this master of his art 
 taught to creep a purfling of crockets in silver, 
 the thin, leaf-like, veined appearance of vfhich, 
 cut as they w^ere, and tooled to look most light 
 and sharp and crispy, would be gazed on now 
 as a marvel — a very miracle of handicraft." 
 
 As the crosier is the Bishop's sceptre, so the 
 mitre is his crown. It is the helmet of salvation 
 mentioned by St. Paul (Eph. vi.,) and therefore 
 the consecrating Bishop and his assistants say, 
 in the ceremony of its conferring : " We place, 
 Lord ! upon the head of this Thy prelate and 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 209 
 
 combatant the helmet of protection and salva- 
 tion." The two horns or peaks of the mitre 
 are emblems of the rays of glory which flashed 
 from the countenance of Moses when he de- 
 scended from Sinai, after his forty days' con- 
 verse with God. They are also typical of the 
 two Testaments, those treasures of sacred 
 science which are contained in the mind, on 
 the lips and in the heart of the Lord's anointed. 
 
 The Bishop has several mitres, more or less 
 ornate, which he uses according to the greater 
 or less solemnity of the functions which he per- 
 forms. The Oriental Bishops do not wear the 
 mitre. 
 
 The ornaments which we have just described 
 are sometimes worn by those who are inferior 
 to a Bishop in ecclesiastical dignity. Mitred 
 Abbots* when solemnly officiating are arrayed 
 in full pontifical dress. They cannot, however, 
 
 * Abbot; is a Syriac word, meaning fatlier. Canon Law dis- 
 tinguishes different kinds of Abbots. The name is ordinarily 
 applied to the ruler of a Religious Order or Monastery. There 
 are two mitred Abbots in the United States, the Right Rev. 
 Father Eutropioas of the Trappist Monastery of Gethseraani, 
 Ky., and Right Rev. Boniface Wimmer of the Benedictine 
 Monastery of St. Vincent, Latrobe, Pa. 
 
 18 
 
210 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 use the precious or glorious mitre, unless by 
 express privilege of the Holy See, and a white 
 veil ought to be attached to their joastoral staff. 
 As the veil on the head of the woman is a sign 
 of modesty and of her subjection to man, so this 
 veil denotes the inferiority of the office of an 
 Abbot to that of a Bishop. And as a cloth or 
 kerchief is used to remove perspiration from 
 the countenance, so, appended to the Abbot's 
 crozier, it signifies that his task is one of labor 
 and fatigue. Abbots exempt from episcopal 
 jurisdiction may lay aside this veil. When 
 celebrating Mass privately they are in no way 
 distinguished from a simple priest.* 
 
 According to the learned Mabillon, Egelsinus, 
 Abbot of the Monastery of St. Augustine, near 
 Canterbury, England, was the first mitred Ab- 
 bot of whom we have an authentic record. 
 The mitre was granted to him by Pope Alex- 
 ander 11. , who reigned from 1061 to 1073. 
 
 * According to the 8th section of a decree of the Congrega- 
 tion of Rites, approved by Alexander VII., in 1659, Abbots can 
 not use the pastoral staff, or other pontifical insignia, outside of 
 the church or churches subject to their jurisdiction, even with 
 the permission of the Bishop of the place. — Bibliotheca FeV' 
 raris. 
 
THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 211 
 
 The Cardinals of the Roman Church, al- 
 though not BishopSj wore the mitre from the 
 time of St. Leo IX. (1049-1055) until the first 
 general Council of Lyons in 1244, when Pope In- 
 nocent ly. gave them the red hat, to remind 
 them that they should be ready to suffer mar- 
 tyrdom for the Church. 
 
 In some places it was customary for the cele- 
 brant and the two assisting sacred ministers to 
 wear mitres. We have found one author as- 
 serting that consecrated virgins wore the mitre 
 in the fourth century. 
 
 Nor is the use of the ring confined to the 
 episcopal dignity. It is one of the insignia of 
 the doctorate, and it is also placed on one of the 
 fingers of the nun when she solemnly takes the 
 veil. 
 
 We cannot more fittingly conclude this ac- 
 count of the episcopal ornaments than with the 
 prayer of the Roman Pontifical : " And there- 
 fore we beseech Thee, Lord! to bestow upon 
 this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for 
 the ministry of the High Priesthood this grace 
 — that whatsoever the vestments of the Old 
 Law signified, in the shining of gold, the spark- 
 ling of gems and in the variety of diversified 
 
212 THE EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. 
 
 works, may beam forth in his Hfe and actions. 
 Fill up in Thy Priest the plenitude of Thy 
 ministry, and with the dew of Thy heavenly 
 ointment sanctify him, clad with the ornaments 
 of perfect glory." 
 
XV 
 
 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 The Pallium is a sacred band of white wool, 
 adorned with crosses, and worn over the shoulders, 
 so as to hang down a little in front and behind. 
 The extremities consist of thin sheets of lead cased 
 in black silk. 
 
 There is a diversity of opinion amongst ecclesi- 
 astical antiqurians concerning the origin of the 
 Pallium. Some have held that it was an ornament 
 of imperial dignity, but that the Christian emperors 
 granted to the princes of the ecclesiastical hierarchy 
 the privilege of wearing it. Others deduce it from 
 the Ephod or the Rational of the Jewish high 
 priest, and a third party would ascribe its origin to 
 a design of the church to give to her chief pastors 
 a sacred vestment which would, by its mystic or 
 
214 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 symbolic meanings, perpetually remind tliem of their 
 duties. The learned Vespasiani, late professor of 
 ecclesiastical history in the college of the Propa- 
 ganda, Rome, and at present bishop of one of the 
 sees of Italy, published an essay, last year, in 
 support of the following proposition : " The true 
 signification of the Apostolical Pallium, seems to 
 be the representation of the Pallium or outer 
 garment of Sb. Peter. The Romm Pontiffs wear 
 it as a mark that they hold the place of Peter. 
 It is granted to other prelates as a sign that their 
 authority emanates from the Pope, the representa- 
 tive of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles." 
 
 The arguments of the learned professor are 
 numerous and solid, and invest his opinion with 
 the highest degree of probability, that, perhaps, 
 can ever be attained on the subject. We present 
 a brief analysis of them to our readers. 
 
 The Pallium or liimation was to the Greeks and 
 Orientals what the toga was to the Romans. It 
 was a square piece of cloth worn over the shoulders, 
 flowing down behind, and covering the breast and 
 arms of the wearer more or less, at his pleasure. 
 
 The Jews also used the Pallium. "Speak to 
 the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them, to 
 make to themselves fringes in the corners of their 
 
THE PALLIUM. 215 
 
 garments, putting in them ribbons of blue : that 
 when they shall see them, they may remember all 
 the commandments of the Lord, and not follow 
 their own thoughts and eyes going astray after 
 divers things." (Num., xv. 38.) 
 
 The word garments in this passage is ixdliorum 
 in Latin, and hiniation in Greek. St. Luke tells 
 us of the woman having the issue of blood, " that 
 she touched the hem of Christ's garment and was 
 cured." Again the Greek text has hiniation for 
 garment. 
 
 The ancient christians had no peculiar form of 
 dress, but adopted that which was worn at the 
 time ; hence they, too, used the Pallium. More- 
 over it is considered highly probable by Liturgists 
 that their sacred vestments were not different in 
 form, but only in greater neatness, from their ordi- 
 nary dress. Who, for instance, doubts that the 
 subdiaconal tunic and the diaconal dalmatic origi- 
 nated from garments of that name worn as articles 
 of civil dress in the times of the Roman emperors ? 
 In this way the Pallium became an article of eccle- 
 siastical attire, in fact, the chief one because it held 
 the most important ^nd dignified place among the 
 articles of civil dress. Nor was it devoid of sacred 
 significations. It was a memorial of the command- 
 
216 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 ments of God and continence from worldly de- 
 sires : this is a natural consequence of the text of 
 Deuteronomy already quoted. Christ and the 
 Apostles wore the Pallium and thereby sanctified 
 it. 
 
 The present form of the Pallium is, of course 
 much different from what it was anciently. Times 
 and places have changed it just as they have 
 changed the form of the other sacred vestments. 
 
 Sacred Scripture and Church History clearly 
 prove the fact that the Pallium, or outer garment, 
 of saintly personages was reverently preserved and 
 sometimes worn by others. To assume the Pallium 
 of another was to imbibe his spirit and profess to 
 be his disciple. Hence among the Romans the 
 phrase ex toga ad^palUum transire meant to devote 
 oneself to the study of Greek philosophy ; for the 
 Pallium was one of the distinctive articles of dress 
 of the learned men of Greece. "And the Lord 
 said to him (Elias) : " Eliseus the son of Japhat, 
 of Abelmeula, thou shalt anoint to be prophet in 
 thy room. . . . And Elias departing from 
 thence found Eliseus, and when Elias came up to 
 him, he cast his mantle upon him." (III. Kings, 
 xix. 16, 19.) The corresponding word for mantle 
 in the Latin Vulgate is ^pallium. When Elias was 
 
THE PALLIUM. 217 
 
 taken up in a chariot of fire, he dropped his Pal- 
 lium, as a legacy to his faithful disciple, and im- 
 mediately Eliseus used it as the instrument of his 
 miraculous powers. He struck the waters of the 
 Jordan with the sacred garment, and they were 
 divided, and the prophet passed over dry shod. 
 
 St. Jerome relates, in his life of St. Paul the 
 Egyptian Hermit, that the venerable man begged 
 from St. Anthony the mantle or Pallium which St. 
 Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, had 
 given him ; St. Paul did it in order that it might 
 serve as a winding sheet for his burial. Thus he 
 professed that he hold the same faith as Athana- 
 sius, the intrepid champion of the Divinity of the 
 Eternal Word against the impious Arians. 
 
 Nicetes the Paphlagonian says that St. Igna- 
 tius of Constantinople was clothed by his domestics 
 with the sacred vestments of the patriarchal dignity; 
 then, with the greatest reverence, they placed on 
 his shoulders the humeral veil of St. James the 
 brother of our Lord. The same author relates that 
 the garment in question had been sent from Jeru- 
 salem, and that the Patriarch Ignatius regarded it 
 with as much veneration as if he had seen it on the 
 shoulders of the Apostle James. He ordered that 
 
 it should be buried with him. 
 
 19 
 
218 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 The testimony of the Deacon Liberatus,* in his 
 history of the Nestorians and Eutychians, is still 
 more striking; speaking of the consecration of 
 Theodosius as Patriarch of Alexandria, after the 
 death of Timothy, he says : " It is customary at 
 Alexandria that he who succeeds a deceased bishop 
 should keep watch over the corpse, and having 
 applied the right hand of the dead prelate to his 
 own head, should proceed to bury the body, having 
 taken from it and placed round his own neck the 
 Pallium of the Blessed Mark. Then he may legi- 
 timately occupy the episcopal throne." St. Mark, 
 the Evangelist was the founder of the Church of 
 Alexandria and its first bishop. His successors 
 wore his Pallium to testify that they represented 
 him, and had their succession of orders and juris- 
 diction from him. 
 
 Two passages, of similar import with the preced- 
 ing, the one taken from a sermon on the Epiphany 
 ascribed to Eusebius of Csesarea, the other from a 
 sermon on the sacredotal vestments which bears 
 the name of St. Maximus, make Vespasiani's argu- 
 ment still stronger. 
 
 Eusebius writes thus : " Nothing is more ancient 
 
 * Liberatus was a Latin writer of the 6th century. 
 
THE PALLIUM. 219 
 
 than that priestly garment of our chief Pontiff 
 which has succeeded the Ephod of the Old Testa- 
 ment. Linus was first clad with it, in token of 
 plenary power, and he it was who, according to 
 ancient writers, gave it the name of Pallium and 
 attached to it a typical meaning." 
 
 St. Linus was the immediate successor of St. 
 Peter. He was first clad with it, because he was 
 the first that wore the Pallium of the Prince of the 
 Apostles. That the vestment in question refers to 
 Peter seems evident from the phrase in token of 
 'plenary jpower, and he attached to it a typical 
 meaning : in sigum plenissimoe jpotestatis — cui et 
 typmn dedit. Linus possessed plenary power be- 
 cause he was the successor of St. Peter. He at- 
 tached a typical meaning to the Pallium, because 
 on St. Peter it was an article of every day dress, on 
 Linus it was a sacred vestment, typical of his apos- 
 tolic succession. 
 
 St. Maximus says : " Our Patriarchs are of 
 opinion that the Pallium was instituted by Linus, 
 the second Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter ; 
 and it is given to our prelates, filled with the spirit 
 of God, as a peculiar mark of power." 
 
 The sacred rites connected with the Pallium 
 afford new proofs of its origin from the Pallium of 
 
220 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 St. Peter. The phrase generally used by Arch- 
 bishops in petitioning for this holy ornament, and 
 by the Apostolic See in granting it, is Pallium de 
 corj>ore Sancti Petri — the Pallium from the body 
 of St. Peter. 
 
 It is blessed on the tomb of the Prince of the 
 Apostles, by the Sovereign Pontiffj after Vespers 
 on the Feast of St. Peter's martyrdom (29th June), 
 the happy day on which the Saint laid aside his 
 earthly Pallium to receive a royal robe of glory in 
 the kingdom of heaven. The hallowed Pallia are 
 then put in a casket and left on the sacred tomb, 
 to be taken thence, as the wants of the Patriarchs 
 and Archbishops of the Church may require. 
 
 It has been customary, from ancient times, for 
 the Bishop of Ostia to consecrate the Pope (in case 
 he should not have been a bishop before his eleva- 
 tion to the Papacy) at the tomb of St. Peter in 
 the Vatican Basilica. The new Pontiff takes his 
 Pallium from the same holy shrine, thus represent- 
 ing to the life what Liberatus relates of the Patri- 
 archs of Alexandria, taking the Pallium of St. Mark 
 from the body of their deceased predecessor. The 
 Papacy never dies ; it is ever issuing forth phoenix- 
 like, from the ashes of dead Pontiffs, going through 
 a series of resurrections, the legitimate consequ- 
 
THE PALLIUM. 221 
 
 ences and perpetual representations of Christ's 
 Resurrection from the tomb. 
 
 The learned author whom we have taken as our 
 guide in what concerns the Pallium has numerous 
 other arguments, drawn from ancient and modern 
 rites connected with the sacred ornament, confirm- 
 atory of his proposition. These we pass over, to 
 come to points of more immediate interest. 
 
 On the 21st of January, the Feast of the Virgin 
 Saint Agnes, the religious inhabiting the convent 
 bearing the Saint's name, in Rome, offer two spot- 
 less white lambs, at the Agnus Dei of the Solemn 
 Mass, celebrated in the Church of St. Agnes. 
 After the Ite, Missa est, the little animals are 
 placed on the altar, one at the side of the Gospel, 
 the other at that of the Epistle, on cushions of 
 white damask fringed with gold. The celebrant 
 blesses them, and then a master of ceremonies of 
 St. John Lateran, accompanied by a suite of officers, 
 proceeds to the Vatican, and lays the lambs at the 
 feet of the Pope, who gives them a second bene- 
 diction. They are then confided to the care of the 
 Nuns of the Blessed Sacrament, and at the proper 
 season they are shorn and the wool is woven, by 
 the religious, into Pallia. These insignia are placed 
 on the tomb of St. Peter on the Vigil of his feast, 
 
222 THE PALLIUM. 
 
 and are blessed the next day, as we have already 
 described. 
 
 The white wool is emblematic of the purity and 
 innocence of life of the Prelates of the Church, the 
 anointed wearers of the Pallium. The lambs, 
 from the fleece of which it is made, remind them 
 that they have charge over the lambs and sheep of 
 Christ, the souls of men. They wear the Pallium 
 over the shoulders that they may remember to 
 imitate the Good Shepherd; that they may be faith- 
 ful to go out into the deserts and thickets of the 
 world in search of the strayed and thorn-entangled 
 sheep, and bring them back on their shoulders to 
 to the sheep fold. The Pallium is marked with six 
 black crosses, to show that the chief pastorship is a 
 weighty burden, a heavy cross : imposuisti homines 
 super capita nostra. These crosses were originally 
 red, but in the middle of the thirteenth century, 
 the present color, black, was substituted. 
 
 The Pope, because he is successor of St. Peter, 
 and has universal jurisdiction over the whole 
 Church, wear§ the Pallium at all times and in all 
 places, over his other sacred vestments. Patri- 
 archs, Primates and Archbishops have, too, the 
 right of wearing the Pallium, but only in the limits 
 of their province and on certain days, a list of 
 
THE PALLIUM. 223 
 
 which is given in the Roman Pontifical. Some 
 Bishops have the privilege of the Pallium, either 
 because it has been granted to the See, which they 
 occupy, or to themselves personally, as a mark 
 of the peculiar favor and honor in which they are 
 held by the Apostolic See. The dioceses of Ostia, 
 in Italy, of Autun and Puy, in France, are exam- 
 ples of privileged bishoprics. Amongst the acts of 
 the Secret Consistory held by Pope Pius JX., in the 
 palace of St. Michael-in-Bosco, Bologna, on the 3d 
 of August, 1857, was a request for the Sacred 
 Pallium for the Cathedral Church of Vul terra in 
 Tuscany, thus privileged by a Bull of His Holiness, 
 under date of the 1st of August, 1856. The 
 occupant of that See, appointed in the same Con- 
 sistory, is Monsignore Joseph Targioni. 
 
 An Archbishop elect cannot take that title be- 
 fore the reception of his Pallium ; and although 
 already a Bishop, Canon Law suspends the exer- 
 cise of many of his episcopal functions. He may, 
 however, in that case, licitly request his suffragans 
 to act for him. 
 
 The privilege of wearing the Pallium is a per- 
 sonal one, yet restricted, in its exercise, to a certain 
 place. Pallium datur ^ersonce, sed contemjplatione 
 loci. This axiom of the Glossa on Canon Law 
 
224 THB PALLIUM. 
 
 explains the following disciplinary regulations re- 
 garding the Pallium : 
 
 An Archbishop cannot allow another prelate to 
 use his Pallium. 
 
 When he dies the Pallium must be buried with 
 him. 
 
 An Archbishop, translated to another Archi- 
 episcopal See must get a second Pallium, because 
 the first was granted for his first metropolitan 
 church, contemplatione p^imce ecclesice. Yet he 
 ought to keep his first Pallium. When he dies the 
 second Pallium is put round his shoulders, and 
 the other is laid under his head. 
 
 An Archbishop who resigns his See, and is after- 
 wards re-appointed to it, must apply for a new 
 Pallium. 
 
 If an Archbishop should, by any chance, lose 
 his Pallium, he may exercise pontifical functions 
 without it, but he must apply for another. 
 
 A Pallium which has been granted but never 
 given to a prelate, cannot be given to another. 
 It is to be burned and the ashes thrown into the 
 Sacrarium.* 
 
 * The Sacrarium is a conduit from some part of the 
 church, generally the Sacristry or Vestry, to the blessed 
 ground on which tho church is built. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
A. 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 When the article on Litanies appeared in the 
 Catholic Telegraph; the position taken by the wri- 
 ter was attacked on several different points by dif- 
 ferent correspondents. It would be uninteresting 
 to the general reader to insert the whole contro- 
 versy, but truth requires that he should be inform- 
 ed that such a controversy took place, and that 
 some of the arguments urged by our adversaries 
 were strong and pointed. The following remarks 
 on the Roman Congregations and the binding 
 power of their decisions, may not, in the present 
 state of the case, be devoid of interest, and may 
 help the reader to understand the point in contro- 
 versy. 
 
 The practical conclusion drawn in the article on 
 Litanies was that no Litanies, except those of the 
 Saints and of the Blessed Virgin, ought to be reci- 
 ted in pubhc functions, but that others may be 
 recited by the faithful in their private devotions. 
 At the same time the author counseled, even in 
 the latter case, the use of Litanies certainly ap- 
 proved and indulgenced in preference to those not 
 thus privileged. The conclusion to which one of 
 the Telegraph's correspondents came is that other 
 Litanies than the two mentioned may iwi be recited 
 
n APPENDIX. 
 
 by the faithful, even in private. He agrees with 
 the writer of the Sacramentals that their use in 
 puhlic fundiom is forbidden by the Sacred Con- 
 gregation of Rites, and then says that the writer 
 in question has overlooked the fact that their pri- 
 vate recitation is forbidden by the Congregation of 
 the Index. 
 
 The subject naturally resolves itself into two 
 questions : 1st, have the Congregations issued the 
 prohibitions? 2d, what authority have these Con- 
 gregations, or, in other words, are their decisions 
 binding ? 
 
 Before proceeding to a discussion of these points 
 our readers will naturally expect an explanation of 
 what is meant by the Congregation of Rites and 
 that of the Index; 
 
 The Sacred Congregations of Rome are commit- 
 tees of Cardinals, assisted by inferior officials, to 
 whom the Sovereign Pontifl' intrusts the examina- 
 tion, management and decision of certain classes 
 of affairs. We may compare the CoUege of Car- 
 dinals to a legislative body in our own country. 
 The Congregations into which it is divided are like 
 the various Committees of Congress or any State 
 Legislature. Just as there are Committees of 
 Ways and Means, of Military Aflairs, of Public 
 Roads, etc:, so there are Congregations of Sacred 
 Rites, of the Index, of Bishops and Regulars, of 
 the Propagation of the Faith, etc. 
 
 It is the duty of the Congregation of Rites to 
 
APPENDIX. m 
 
 regulate liturgical matters, that is, things pertain- 
 ing to the public ceremonies of divine worship, and 
 to solve difficulties that may arise concerning 
 them. 
 
 Rubricians define sacred rites to be the laws 
 prescribed by the Church for the proper regulation 
 of exterior religious worship. Are we to under- 
 stand this of public or private exterior worship ? 
 Three reasons make us believe that it refers only 
 to public worship. 1st. Sacred rites are the objects 
 of that part of ecclesiostical science which treats 
 of the Liturgy. Now Liturgy, as its name, derived 
 from the Greek, indicates, is a public function. 2d. 
 Fornici, whose book, Institutiones Liturgicae^ has 
 received the praise and official approbation of the 
 Roman authorities, calls sacred rites laws, St. 
 Thomas defines a law to be a "rational prescrip- 
 tion formed for the common good and promulgated 
 bj him who has charge of the community." 
 Therefore, a law differs fi:om a precept in that it 
 affects men not as individuals, but as members of 
 society. Hence sacred rites regard social or pub- 
 lic ecclesiastical worship, not private devotions. 
 3d. Sixtus v., in his Constitution for the erection 
 of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declares that 
 its duty is to attend to the ceremonies, rites, etc., 
 in all the churches of the city of Rome and of the 
 world, that is, to public functions. 
 
 The duty of the Congregation of the Index is to 
 designate and prohibit books that are prejudicial 
 
IV APPfiNDIX. 
 
 to faith or morals, to the well-being of Christian 
 or civil society. The regulation of the private 
 devotions of the faithful belongs to it only indi- 
 rectly, or j)eT accide7is, as theologians say. If any 
 formula of prayer were heretical or immoral, it 
 would, by that fact, fall under the cognizance of 
 the Congregation of the Index. The main busi- 
 ness of that Congregation is with dangerous books 
 which might instill false principles of belief or 
 practice into the minds of the faithful, not with 
 the prayers that they are to say in private. The 
 puerile or dangerous expressions with which, as 
 Clement YIII. says, some Litanies abound, subject 
 them to the prohibition of the Index ; but we can 
 not see why those that are orthodox in sentiment 
 and phraseology should share the same fate. 
 
 We come now to the first question : have the 
 Congregation of Rites and that of the Index for- 
 bidden aU Litanies but those of the Saints and of 
 the Blessed Virgin ? 1. The Congregation of 
 Rites has done so, as may be verified by referring 
 to the decrees quoted in the article on Litanies in 
 the body of the book, and to others given in the 
 Deer eta Aidhentica, abridged from Gardellini. 2. 
 They are besides on the Index, inasmuch as they 
 are sacred rites. We have found the decree to 
 which the Telegraph's correspondent refers, but 
 we think that he is mistaken in his interpretation 
 of it. The third number of the fourth division of 
 this decree forbids other Litanies than the two 
 
APPENDIX. V 
 
 mentioned to be used in sacred rites. But we trust 
 we have satisfactorily proved that a sacred rite is 
 a public rite. Therefore only the piihlic recitation 
 of the Litanies in question is forbidden by the rules 
 of the Index. Their use in private devotions re- 
 mains optional, provided always the Litany said 
 be not heretical or erroneous in any of its petitions, 
 because then it would be forbidden by the natural 
 law. 
 
 The second question is, what authority have the 
 Roman Congregations ? The answer is simple 
 enough: Just as much as the Supreme Pontiff 
 gives them. He is the primary source on earth 
 of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, dogmatic, moral, 
 and liturgical. He may, if he wishes, delegate to 
 the Congregations the plenitude of his own author- 
 ity, and make their decisions binding as his own, 
 or he may impart to them a limited jurisdiction, 
 making their decisions bind only in particular 
 cases. Which of the two has he done in regard to 
 the Congregation of Sacred Rites and that of the 
 Index? The teachings of approved theologians 
 will help us to solve the question. 
 
 Scavini, one of the latest Italian theologians, one 
 who has systematized the doctrine of St. Alphon- 
 sus Liguori, and whose book has been favorably 
 received by his present Holiness, Pius IX., puts 
 this question in his treatise De Legihiis : " Are the 
 declarations of the Sacred Congregations bind- 
 ing ?" He thus answers : 
 
Yl APPENDIX. 
 
 " There is question either of the particular case 
 for which the declarations were issued ; or of a dif- 
 ferent, but similar case. K the first, then the de- 
 cisions bind, as is evident from the contribution 
 Immensa of Sixtus V. If the second, many hold 
 the probable opinion that they still bind, on account 
 of the similarity of the case. Others, with equal 
 probability, maintain that they are not binding, 
 unless issued by the command of the Pope, and 
 published for the whole Church." 
 
 There is an axiom in theology which says, lex 
 dubia non potest par ere cert am oUigationem. This 
 answer may require explanation for those of our 
 readers who are not acquainted with theological 
 technicalities. Many of the decisions of the Con- 
 gregations are given in answer to particular ques- 
 tions or doubts proposed by individuals or by local 
 churches. For that particular case the decisions 
 bind. Suppose now that a similar question arise 
 in another place ; does the first decision bind in the 
 second case on account of the similarity ? It is 
 probable, according to the teaching of theologians, 
 that it does not, and therefore we can not conclude 
 that sin would be committed by its non-observance. 
 Of course it ought to be adopted, if the cases are, 
 in all respects, precisely similar, but we are not at 
 liberty to say that it must be adopted. Theolo- 
 gians always sharply distinguish between what is 
 of strict precept, binding under pain of sin, and 
 what is of counsel. 
 
APPENDIX. VII 
 
 St. Liguori agrees with Scavini in his decision 
 of the question (Lib. I. Tract 2, De Legibus, Cap 
 I, Dubium 2. N. 106. Mechlin Edition, 1828.) 
 Nulli duhium, quod pro casihus particular ihus, pro 
 quihus Jiunt, ohllgant ut leges, prout est commune. 
 Dubium est an ohUgent pro casihus similihus. Du- 
 plex est sententiaj utraque prohabilis. 
 
 Let us apply this teaching of theology to our 
 subj ect-ma tter. The prohibitions of Litanies by t he 
 Congregation of Rites are, as far as we have found, 
 issued, with one exception, in answer to particidar 
 questions asked by individuals or by local churches. 
 That one exception is a general decree, quoted in 
 the article on Litanies, curent Ordinarii colligere et 
 vetare formulas quascumque, tarn impressas quam 
 manuscriptas Litaniarum, de quarum approhatione 
 non constat Die 31 Martii 1821. Deceetum 
 GENERALE AD 8 (4428.) The case to which this 
 decree applies is a general one, and therefore it 
 binds generally. Decreta generalia Sacrce Con- 
 gregationis Rltuum vim legis universalis et conscien- 
 tiam ohligantis hahent (Bouix De Jure Liturgico. 
 Pars secunda, Lect. II. Cap. VI. Prop. 2.) How 
 far this decision is to be modified by contrary cus- 
 tom, sanctioned by the tacit consent of the Holy 
 See, we do not know, nor have we any right to 
 say. Our learned prelates are for us the represen- 
 tatives of the Pope, and when we obey them, we 
 obey him, we obey Jesus Christ. 
 
 In regard to the binding force of the decrees of 
 
Vm APPENDIX. 
 
 the Index, we shall content ourselves with quoting 
 an authority which " A Constant Reader " and 
 every American Catholic will respect — ^the Most 
 Rev. Archbishop Kenrick, of Baltimore. In the 
 second volume of his Moral Theology (Tract XIII, 
 De Virtutibuf TheoL, Pars la. C. V. de librorum 
 prohibitione N. 56 et 57,) the distinguished pre- 
 late says : " The Popes, particularly Clement YIII, 
 commanded the rules of the Index to be promul- 
 gated everywhere, and. the Sacred Congregation 
 has declared that its decrees bmd all Christians ; 
 yet the mildness and tolerance of the Sovereign 
 Pontiffs allow the rigor of these rules to be relaxed 
 in most places, in which Catholics hve amidst he- 
 retical society. Although the intention of the 
 Church is to forbid the reading of bad books, yet 
 if the rules of the Bullae Coense and of the Index 
 are not received amongst us (and it seems evident 
 that they are not), I do not know by what univer- 
 sal law the reading of the books in question is pro- 
 hibited." If the work or wiiting be intrinsically 
 bad, it is forbidden by the natural and positive 
 divine law, and all that would follow, in the case, 
 from the non-binding power of the Index in this 
 country, w^ould be that persons reading bad books 
 would not incur ecclesiastical penalties, although 
 they would sin. Even granting, then, for the mo- 
 ment, that the Litanies in question are forbidden 
 in private devotions by the rules of the Index, the 
 prohibition would not apply to this country. The 
 
APPENDIX. IX 
 
 faithful may say them then, unless they be hereti- 
 cal or otherwise erroneous. 
 
 We conclude, 1st, it is the earnest wish of the 
 Church that no other Litanies than those of the 
 Saints and of the Blessed Virgin should be recited 
 in public functions. 2. It is not certain whether 
 that wish has the force of a law, in this country. 
 3. Private devotions which conform to the public 
 ones of the Church are, caeteris paribus, to be pre- 
 ferred to those which do not. 
 
B. 
 
 HOLY WATER, 
 
 VINDICATED AGAINST THE SNEERS OF THE IGNORANT AND 
 THE UNGODLY. 
 
 BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF HALIFAX. 
 
 "Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, hav- 
 ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
 washed with clean water." — Hebrews x. 2?. 
 
 More than enough has been said upon this part 
 of our case, because, as we have seen before, it is 
 not at all necessary to recur to Paganism for the 
 primitive idea of Holy Water. Not only the idea, 
 but the name of Holy Water, and its association 
 with religious rites, is to be found in Holy Writ. 
 " And he [the priest] shall take Holy Water in an 
 earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of 
 the pavement of the tabernacle into it," etc. 
 [Numbers v. 17.] That lustral Water was pre- 
 served for purification, seems evident from the 
 same authority, [viii. 5, 6, 7,] " And the Lord 
 spoke to Moses, saying : Take the Levites out of 
 the midst of the Children of Israel, and thou 
 shalt purify them according to this rite: Let 
 them be sprinkled with the water of purification, 
 etc." 
 
 The principle connected with this rite of the 
 Catholic Church being thus sufficiently vindicated, 
 
APPENDIX. XI 
 
 we must now enquire at what time, and by whom, 
 was Holy Water first introduced. By the admis- 
 sion of our opponents, we are enabled to go back 
 for more than seventeen hundred years ; a very 
 respectable antiquity, as all must allow. In a list 
 of what were called " the gradual apostacies of the 
 Church of Rome " we find the following : 
 ^aioly Water first used, A. D., 120." (*) 
 Indeed, all Protestant controvertists are forced 
 to admit that it is ancient as this, that is, 1736 
 years old ! As they are so very considerate and 
 obliging, they might have gone back a few years 
 farther. After such a tremendous jump of seven- 
 teen centuries and a half, a very slight additional 
 effort would have brought them up to the very 
 age of the Apostles. Perhaps we may coax them 
 on a little further hereafter. But, in any case, an 
 institution so old as this in the Christian Church — 
 one which they admit was established by Pope 
 St. Alexander I., who was the Sixth Bishop of 
 Rome after St. Peter, — who was elected between 
 the years 108 and 119 of the Christian era, (some 
 say in the year 109,) does not deserve the mock- 
 ery and scorn with which it is treated by the 
 
 (*) We can not understand how the Church of England, in 
 particular, can object to the use of Holy Water, or term it "an 
 apostacy," when she admits that the Faith of Rome was pure 
 for a long period after this. It is singular, too, that if Holy 
 Water was so wicked an institution, or could not have been 
 traced to the times of the Apostles, none of the four first General 
 Councils should have condemned it. They were well aware of 
 its existence. 
 
Xn APPENDIX. 
 
 irreverent scoffers of our day. Supposing Pope 
 Alexander to have been thirty years of age at 
 his election, St. John the Evangelist was living for 
 many years after his birth. St. Alexander i.* said 
 to have studied under Pliny the younger, and 
 Plutarch, and was raised to the highest dignity in 
 the Church at a comparatively early age, on 
 account of his extraordinary piety and learning. 
 He must have seen and conversed with many who 
 were acquainted with St. Peter and St. Paul, for 
 he was born in Rome. Is it not most natural to 
 suppose that he was well acquainted with the 
 customs and rites of the Christians in the days of 
 those Apostles ? 
 
 Now, Cardinal Baronius, in his annals (ad 
 annum 57,) shows, on the authority of Latin and 
 Greek writers, that in the ancient Christian tem- 
 ples, both amongst the Greeks and Latins, there 
 was at the entrance, or porch, a font, cistern, or 
 shell, in w^hich the people were wont to wa?h their 
 faces and hands before they entered the house of 
 prayer. (^) The same venerable authority 
 [ad ann. 134] shows that the custom of blessing 
 salt and water, and sprinkling the faithful there- 
 with had descended from the Apostles themselves. 
 But why do the profound Protestant critics of 
 modern times assign the introduction of Holy 
 Water to Pope Alexander ? Because in the 
 ancient Liber Pontificalis attributed to Anastatius 
 
 (*) (See 1 Tim. ii.) 
 
APPENDIX. Xra 
 
 the Librarian, and confirmed by innumerable evi- 
 dences of antiquity, the name of this holy Pope 
 is connected with the blessing of salt and water. 
 Let us see, however, in what manner. "Hie con- 
 stituit aquam aspersionis cum sale benedici in 
 habitaculis hominum." " He prescribed that the 
 water of aspersion with salt should be blessed in 
 the dwellings of men " — that is, he extended the 
 use of an Apostolic custom, and permitted Holy 
 Water to be blessed, and used in private houses, 
 as well as in the church. 
 
 We may here state, that the opinion which 
 declares Holy Water to be useful, not only to 
 excite good thoughts and pious affections in the 
 mind, and to banish evil spirits, but that it also 
 serves for the remission of venial sin, [as St. 
 Thomas asserts in his Summa,] is confirmed by 
 the following words ascribed to this holy Pope : 
 
 "We bless, for the people, water mingled with 
 salt, that all, being sprinkled therewith, may be 
 sanctified and purified. This we likewise com- 
 mand all priests to observe. For, if the ashes of 
 a heifer, sprinkled with blood, sanctified and 
 cleansed the people, how much more does not 
 water, when mixed with salt, and hallowed by the 
 divine prayers, make the people holy and clean ? 
 And if the barrenness of water was healed when 
 salt was sprinkled upon it by the Prophet Eiiseus, 
 how much more, when salt is sanctified by the 
 divine prayers, does it not take away human 
 
XIV APPENDIX. 
 
 sterility, and sanctify, cleanse, and purify, those 
 that are defiled, and multiply other blessings, and 
 avert the snakes of the devil and defend mankind 
 from the craftiness of evil spirits ? " (*) 
 
 St. Clement, the Roman, [who was converted 
 by St. Peter or St. Paul, and died in the year 
 100,] declares that the custom of blessing Holy 
 Water was established by St. Matthew, and gives 
 the form of the benediction which was prescribed 
 by that Evangelist. [Constitut. Apost. viii. 35.] 
 
 Baronius relates, on the authority of St. Epi- 
 phanius, that some magical incantations of the 
 Jews were confoudsen ety one Josephus, a conver- 
 ted Jew, through bhd prinkling of Holy Water, 
 anno 327. 
 
 Theodoret, [v. 22,] and Baronius, ann. 389, 
 state that St. Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea, 
 banished, by means of Holy Water, the Devil, 
 who was preventing the destruction of the temple 
 of Jupiter there, and that the temple was accord- 
 ingly demolished. 
 
 (*) Aquam sale conspersam populis benedicimus, uteacuncte 
 aspersi sanctificentur et purificentur; quod et omnibus sacerdo- 
 tibus faciendum esse mandamus. Nam si cinis vitulae sanguine 
 aspersns populum sanctificabat atqne mnndabat; multo magis 
 aqua sale aspersa, divinisque precibus sacrata populum sanctiJS- 
 cat atque mundat? Et si sale asperso per Ileliseum Prophetam 
 sterilitas aquae sanata est quanto magis divinis precibus sacra- 
 tus sal sterilitatem rerum autem huraanarum, et coinquinatos 
 sanctificat, atque mundat, et purgat, et cetera bona muUiplicat, 
 et insidias Diaboli avertit, et a phantasraarum versutiis homines 
 defendit? S. Alexan. 1. Epist. 1. ad omnes Orthodoxos. This 
 epistle, though not reckoned amongst the Authentic Canons, is 
 very ancient, as well as the tradition which connects Tloly Water 
 with St. Alexander. 
 
APPENDIX. XV 
 
 We read in the ancient life of St. Chrysostom 
 that he cured a sick child, by blessing water and 
 sprinkling him with it, and restored him to his 
 mother free from all disease. The same Greek 
 Father, [liom. 18, in 1 Cor.,] alluding to the well 
 known custom of taking Holy Water, to be 
 cleansed from spiritual as well as bodily defile- 
 ment, says : " Why do you, after the commission 
 of sin, run to the bath ? Is it not because you 
 deem yourself more dirty than any filth ? " And 
 again, [Hom. and Pop. Antioch,] he says : " Thou 
 wouldst not attempt to touch the Sacred Victim 
 with unwashed hands, although stained by great 
 necessity. Do not, therefore, approach with an 
 unclean soul." St. Paulinus of Nola testifies that 
 the ancient Latin Churches, and especially the 
 old Vatican, had fonts at their entrance ; [in Epist 
 ad Alethium] and in his 32 d Epist. to Sulpicius 
 Severus, he writes that the Basin or Fountain 
 which he calls Cantharus, C^) furnishes water in 
 the court before the Church, to wash the hands of 
 the faithM who enter : — 
 
 Sancta nitens famulis interfluit atria lymphis 
 Cantharus, intrantumqwe manus lavat amne ministro. 
 
 St. Leo, the great, erected a similar fountain 
 
 (*) The Cantharus, from his descriptioh, seems to have been 
 a fountain, in which the water was made to jut forth from curi- 
 ous statuary, with a small dome or cupola over it, covered with 
 brass, to protect it from the weather. "Ubi Cantharum ministra 
 manibus et oribus nostris fluenta ructantem fastigiatus solido 
 sede thronus ornat et inumbrat : non sine mystica specie quatuor 
 columnis salientes aquas ambiens." 
 
XVI APPENDIX. 
 
 before the Church ot St. Paul, at Rome, on which 
 it is said the following verses were inscribed : 
 
 Unda lavat carnis maculas, sed crimina purgat, 
 Purificatque animas mundior amne fides. 
 Quisque suis meritis veneranda sacraria Pauli 
 Ingrederis supplex, ablue fonte manua 
 Perdiderat laticum longaeva incuria cursus. 
 Quos tibi nunc pleno Cantharus ore vomit. 
 Provida Pastoris per totum cura Leonis 
 Haec ovibus Christi larga fluenta dedit. 
 
 '^ Water washes the stains of the flesh ; but 
 faith, purer than water, cleanses from crime, and 
 purifies souls. Whoever thou art that enterest in 
 suppliant spirit this sacred temple, which is ven- 
 erable for the merits of him [St. Paul] whose 
 name it bears, wash thy hands in this fountain. — 
 Through long neglect, had been lost, the water- 
 course which this ornamental fountain now pours 
 forth for thee in abundant streams. The provi- 
 dent and comprehensive care of Leo, the shepherd, 
 .has supplied the flock of Christ with these copious 
 waters." 
 
 In the life of Pope Symmachus, by Anaitasius 
 the Librarian, we are informed that this holy 
 Pontiff also erected a fountain at the church 
 doors. "Ante fores Basilicse gradus fecit in atrio 
 et Cantharum." 
 
 The same custom prevailed amongst the Greeks. 
 In the 4th Chap. 10 Book of his Ecclesiastical 
 History, Eusebius tells us that at the beauteous 
 Temple which Paulinus had built at Tyre, he 
 placed fountains to wash the hands of those who 
 
APPENDIX. XVII 
 
 entered as symbols of sacred expiations : '' liunc 
 sacrarum expiationum signa posiiisse^ fontes scili- 
 cet ex adverse Ecclesise structos, qui interius 
 sacrarium ingressuris copiosos latices ad abluen- 
 dum ministrarent." [Loc. citat.] Paul the Silent, 
 in his description of the celebrated Sancta Sophia, 
 mentions a fountain of this description in connec- 
 tion with that temple. We have before quoted 
 St. Chrysostom, who, in different parts of his 
 works, alludes to this common usage in the Greek 
 Church. To the text already cited we might add 
 a passage from his lii. Homily on S. Mattheiv, from 
 his iii. Homily on the Epist. to the Ephesians, and 
 from his Ixxii. on S. John, where, reproaching the 
 faithful for not practically realizing, in the purifi- 
 cation of their souls, that cleansing of which they 
 were symbolically admonished by the waters at 
 the church door, he says : " When we enter the 
 Temple, we wash the hands, but not the heart." 
 
 Hence, down to the present day, the Greeks 
 observe the rite of blessing and sprinkling Holy 
 Water, as well as the Latins. The benediction of 
 the water is confined, amongst them, to the first 
 Sunday of the month, and after the blessing, the 
 Rubric directs the priest to sprinlde the water 
 upon the church and congregation. [Gear. Euchol. 
 Gracor, 441, 448, 451.] 
 
 But on the day of the Epiphany, which is cele- 
 brated as the day of Christ's Baptism, {^) nearly 
 
 (*) The three Epiphanies, or manifestations of Christ, are al- 
 
XVIII APPENDIX. 
 
 all the Oriental Christians, as well as the Greek 
 Churchj perform a very solemn blessing of Holy 
 Water. They carry some of this water home, 
 sprinlding their houses with it, and keep the 
 remainder, with much reverence, until the next 
 recurrence of the Epiphany. [Goar.^Seq.] In 
 his Ixxiv. Homily^ preached on this Festival, St. 
 Chrysostom distinctly mentions this custom. Of 
 course we are not surprised to learn from the 
 accounts of travelers, that the same rite is 
 observed with much solemnity by the Russian 
 Church. 
 
 If we return to the Latin Church, and follow 
 the chain of proofs in reference to the use of Holy 
 Water which extends from the early ages to the 
 present the testimonies are so abundant, that we 
 should never hsLve done, if we were to recount 
 them all. 
 
 St. Gregory, of Tours, in his life of St. Quintin, 
 [anno. 506,] relates that that holy Bishop cured, 
 of a violent fever, the family of the Senator Hor- 
 tensius, by sending them some Holy Water. 
 
 St. Gregory, the Great, gives an account of a 
 
 luded to in the Antiphon at Magnificat on this day, in the Roman 
 Breviary: "Tribus miraculis ornatum diem sanctum colimus. 
 Hodie Stella duxit ad praesepium. Hodie vinum ex aqua factum 
 est ad nuptias. Hodie in Jordane a Jobanne Christus baptizari 
 voluit ut salvaret nos. Alleluia." The baptism of Christ is 
 also alluded to in the hymn, (from Sedulius, anno 412,) on this 
 day: 
 
 Lavacra puri gurgitis 
 
 Coelestis Agnus attigit, etc. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
APPENDIX. XIX 
 
 certain Goth who had his thigh bone broken in 
 two, and who w^as perfectly cured by some Holy 
 Water, which St. Fortunatus sent to him by one 
 of his Deacons. It will be seen in the extract 
 which we give from this holy Pope, the Apostle 
 of the English, that the words Holy Water are 
 used three times, "Cui [Diacono] leneddam 
 aqiiam venerabihs Fortunatus statim dedit dicens ; 
 vade citius, et eam super jacentis corpus projice. 
 Perrexit itsque diaconus atque ad Gothum intro- 
 gressus, hcnedidam aqiiam super membra illius 
 aspersit. Res mira et vehementer stupenda ! mose 
 ut aqua lenedida Gothi coxam contigit, ita omnis 
 fractura solidata est, et saluti pristinse coxa resti- 
 tuta, ut hora eadem de lecto surgeret, etc." S. 
 Greg. M. Dial, gs. i. 10. 
 
 St. Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa, a disciple of 
 the renowned St. Isidore, of Seville, wrote, 
 amongst other works, a Life of St. (Emilianus, a 
 holy Priest, who died upwards of a hundred years 
 old, in the year 564. In the list of miracles 
 wrought by him, St. Braulio, chap, xvii., describes 
 his casting out a devil from the house of a Senator 
 through the agency of Holy Water and fasting. 
 •'Tertio die expleto veto indicti jejunii, salem 
 exorcizat et aquae commiscet more Uecclisiastico ac 
 donum ipsam aspergere coepit. Tunc ex intestino 
 domus prorupit invidus," etc. " The vow of the 
 appointed fast having been accomphshed on the 
 third day, he exorcises salt, and mixes it with water* 
 
XX APPENDIX. 
 
 accordwg to the msiom of the Chiirchj and began 
 to sprinkle the house itself," etc. 
 
 If we go from Spain to England, we find Vene- 
 rable Bede frequently alluding to the same well 
 known custom of the Church. Besides the pas- 
 sage already given from his Ecclesiastical History 
 of the English Nation, there are many others 
 equally pertinent ; such as, " Tunc henedixi aquam, 
 et astulam robois prsefati immittens obtuli segro 
 potandum. Nee mora : mehus habere coepit," etc 
 Lib. iii. c. 13. 
 
 About the same period [anno 700] the celebra- 
 ted St. Willibrord delivered a house from the 
 infestation of evil spirits by means of Holy Water. 
 Alhinus Flaccus in vita S. Willibrord. 
 
 His contemporary, St. Hubert, Bishop and 
 Patron of Liege, clearly described the efficacy of 
 water mixed with salt, and blessed by the Priest, 
 by the authority of the Apostles, as a protection 
 against the assaults of our spiritual enemy. His 
 words are quoted by Sarius [in vita 3 Novemb.,] 
 and will be found in the margin. (*) 
 
 Passing over a long series of similar authorities 
 in Ecclesiastical writers. Missals, Liturgical Books, 
 etc., we now come to an Wsh Saint and Bishop, 
 
 (*) Vide aquam quae sacerdotali consecratione sale admixto 
 benedicta, et ad effugandam inimici nequitiam orationis virtute 
 impregnata est liquorque olim itidem Apostolica auctoritate 
 benedictus hue inferatur, quorum aspergine atque litura mox ita 
 effugabuntur hinc inimici virulenta phantasma, ut amplius nou 
 audeat sua iuferre machiuameuta. 
 
APPENDIX. XXI 
 
 the illustrious Malachy, one of the great successors 
 of St. Patrick in the Archiepiscopal see of Armagh 
 and Primate of Ireland. His intimacy with St. 
 Bernard is well known, and the eloquent anchorite 
 of Clairvaux, in the life of St. Malachy, which he 
 composed, and in the sermon which he delivered 
 on his death, has left to future ages the most un- 
 doubted proofs of his profound veneration for the 
 sanctity and virtues of the Irish Prelate, whom he 
 loved with all the warmth and fervor of true Chris- 
 tian friendship. Describing the wonders which 
 were wrought by this holy man, St. Bernard men- 
 tions several in which Holy Water was employed. 
 Thus, in returning from Rome, whither he had 
 gone to receive the Pallium, he remained for a 
 short time with St. Bernard and his holy commu- 
 nity at Clairvaux. From thence on his way home, 
 he safely arrived in Scotland, and found Henry, 
 the son ofEang David, at the point of death. The 
 monarch " humbly entreated him to heal his son. 
 He sprinkled the youth with water which he hlessed- 
 and, looking upon him, said — " Have confidence, 
 my child, you will not die this time." On the fol, 
 lowing day his health was restored, to the great 
 dehght of his father, and amidst the joyous shouts 
 of his family." So writes St. Bernard. [Lih. de 
 vita S. Malachiae cap xvu.~\ " Malachias perfectus 
 a nobis, prospere pervenit in Scotiam. Et invenit 
 David regem qui adhuc hodie superest, in quodam 
 castello suo ; cujus fihus infirmabatur ad mortem. 
 
XXn APPENDIX. 
 
 Ad quern ingress us honorifice a Rege susceptus, 
 et humiliter exoratusut sanaret filium suum; aqua 
 cui benedixit, aspersit Juvenem, et intueiis in eum, 
 sit ; Confide^ fili; non morieiis hac vice. Dixit 
 hoc, et die sequenti. . . . secuta est sanitas, 
 sanitatem Isetitia patris, clamor et strepitus totius, 
 exultantis familise." St. Bernard declares that 
 when he wrote, both father and son were still liv- 
 ing, and that they loved St. Malachy as long as 
 he survived. We may also state, in passing, that 
 he praises the young Scottish Prince very warmly, 
 describing him as "a brave and prudent soldier, 
 and a zealous lover of justice." 
 
 St. Bernard relates another miraculous cure ef- 
 fected by St. Malachy, in Leinster, on an insane 
 woman, who was tied down with ropes, whom he 
 ordered to be unloosod, and sprinkled, or rather 
 washed [with Holy Water. " In regione eadem 
 [Laginia] ligatam funibus phreneticam solvi jussit 
 et in aqua, quam henedixit lavari Lota est, et 
 sanata est." [Ibid. cap. xx.] 
 
 In like manner, with Holy Water, he cured Count 
 Durmod, a wicked man and a glutton, who had been 
 long confined to his bed. St. Malachy severely 
 rebuked him for his sinful life, and, sprinkling him 
 with Holy Water, made him rise without delay, so 
 that he was able to mount his horse at once, to the 
 great amazement of his friends. "Diarmitium 
 Comitem, midto jam temjoore dceamleeptem ledo, 
 duriter quidem increpans, quod malus homo esseti 
 
APPENDIH. XXm 
 
 immoderatius serviens ventri et guise lenedicta as- 
 persiim aqua surgere, fecit sine mora, ita valentem, 
 ut equum ascenderet, illico, etc." [chap, xxiii.] 
 During his last journey towards K-ome, he died at 
 his beloved Clairvaux on the way. St. Bernard 
 hkewise mentions that he cured a woman of a 
 dreadful cancer, by sprinkling Holi/ Water upon 
 it. This occurred in the North of England, at a 
 place which St. Bernard calls Gisiburne. " Ibi 
 adducta est ad earn, mulier patiens morbum, quern 
 cancrum vulgo appellant, ipso horrendum visu ; et 
 sanavit eam. Nam ubi aqua cui benedixit, asper- 
 sa sunt ulcerum loca dolorem non sensit. Die 
 vero sequenu vix ulcera apparebant. [Id. c. xxx.] 
 This miracle occurred in the year 1148, the very 
 year of the Saint's death, who expired at Clair- 
 vaux on the 2d of November. It was the same 
 year that the celebrated battle of the Standard, so 
 disastrous to the Scotch, was fought between King 
 David, who w^as the uncle of Matilda and Stephen 
 the Norman, who had so craftily usurped the Eng- 
 Hsh throne soon after the death of Henry I. 
 
 But we have been led farther than we intended 
 both in time and place. Heturning to France, and 
 going back two centuries earher, we have an im- 
 portant testimony respecting the custom of bless- 
 ing water, and sprinkling the people with it, which 
 now prevails throughout the Catholic Church. In 
 the Capitulary of Hincmar, Bishop of Bheims, 
 anno 852. he gives the following direction in the 
 
XXIV AdPENDIX. 
 
 5th chapter : " On every Sunday, let each priest 
 in his own church, before the solemnities of Mass, 
 in a clean vessel, bless the Holy Water, with whi( h 
 the people entering into the church are to be 
 sprinkled, and let those who will, take some of it, 
 in clean vessels, and sprinkle it through then* houses 
 and fields, as well as on their food and their drink." 
 " Omni die Dominico quisque Presbyter in sua 
 Ecelesia ante Missarum solemnia aquam henedic- 
 tarn faded in vase nitido, de qua populus in trans 
 ecclesiam aspergatur, et qui voluerint in vasculis 
 nitidis ex ilia accipiant, et per mansiones et agros, 
 necnon super cibos et potum sunm conspergant" 
 
o. 
 HARD TO PLEASE. 
 
 A New Miracle for the Romanists. — A curious 
 anecdote is related of Captain Kellet's ship, the 
 Resolute. When the last expedition in search of 
 Franklin was going out, Captain Kellet dined with 
 a distinguished friend, and the lady of the house 
 made him a present. The lady was no Papist, any 
 more than the Captain, but the present was neither 
 more nor less than a huge wax candle, six feet 
 long, which had been duly blessed, and had been 
 the gift of a Monsignore. The fair donor of course 
 remarked that the candle would bring the vessel 
 out of all her perils, and accordingly it was swung 
 in the captain's cabin. Alas for the Palladium ! 
 the Resolute was abandoned in the Arctic Seas. 
 When anything went wrong, there is reason to be- 
 lieve that the sailors muttered, " It's all owing to 
 that Papist candle;" and when the ship was aban- 
 doned, of course, it was quite easy to understand 
 the cause. The Resolute, after all, is saved, and 
 a grand reception is to be given to the American 
 officers who are bringing her home. But what has 
 saved the Resolute, if it is not the candle ? Is it 
 not as good a miracle as any emblazoned in the 
 records of the Roman Church? — Corr^ of London 
 Spectator. 
 
XXVI APPENDIX. 
 
 This is the first intimation of the incident above 
 recorded, that we have met with. We suppose it 
 to be a fact, as it rests on the testimony of an 
 enemy ; and we would not withhold from our read- 
 ers whatever of just edification they may find in 
 the narrative, distorted and disfigured though it 
 be by such unfriendly comments. 
 
 Catholics, whatever this ill-natured critic may 
 say or think to the contrary, possess in their his- 
 tory too many and too well-authenticated miracles 
 to require the aid of false or doubtful ones. And 
 had it never pleased God to dispense, even in one 
 solitary instance, with the laws of physical nature 
 in favor of His Church, yet she might triumphantly 
 point to a miracle — the like of which mankind 
 never beheld' — her own preservation in the midst 
 of a hostile world — a miracle that, extending over 
 eighteen centuries, is solely Hers, Her brightest 
 glory, Her firmest testimony. That hell's gates 
 have not prevailed against Her long, long ago, is 
 proof more than sufficient of the Omnipotence 
 which God has exerted in redeeming the promise 
 once made to Her in the person of Her Visible 
 Founder. But She does not lack many other, more 
 or less palpable, signs of divine protection, tokens 
 of His perpetual presence, workings of that All- 
 powerful Hand which is ever stretched over Her, 
 not only to shield Her from destruction, but to give 
 effect to Her prayers, crown Her with blessings, lift 
 up and cheer the drooping hearts of Her children, 
 
APPENDIX. xxyn 
 
 and exalt Her to the shame and dismay of Her en- 
 emies. Of these, some are public and manifest to 
 the eyes of all ; others are private, and have no 
 witness hut the recipient of such favor, or a few 
 chosen souls. Some are of a character so positive 
 and direct, that no rational man can call in ques- 
 tion the agency to which they are due ; others, 
 again, are of such tranquil, unostentatious nature, 
 that the world passes them by without a thought, 
 and the finger of God is recognized therein by 
 pious souls, whose eye of faith is purified, because 
 they habitually live beyond this atmosphere of 
 sense. 
 
 That a blessed candle should be the means of 
 preserving the Resolute from total destruction, even 
 after her being abandoned by captain and crew, is 
 what no Catholic is called on to beheve in virtue 
 of his religion. Yet even those who recognize no 
 efficacy in blessed candles, or other things held 
 sacred by the Catholic Church, must feel surpiised 
 by the mere coincidence of these two facts- — ^the 
 presence of the blessed candle, and the saving of 
 the abandoned ship under the most unfavorable 
 circumstances. But that Divine Providence should 
 manifest itself in this seeming trifle — ^though no 
 matter of certainty, much less of faith — ^fornishes 
 no ground of surprise or astonishment to the mind 
 of any pious, intelligent Catholic. He knows that 
 God has been pleased to work wonders, not only 
 through the Hving voice of His beloved Son, and 
 
XXVin APPENDIX, 
 
 His Saints in every age, but even through mute, 
 inanimate objects, that could boast of nothing more 
 than an indirect quahty of being mere memorials 
 of their presence in this world. The mouldering 
 bones of a dead prophet ; the shadow of an Apos- 
 tle as he passed along the highway ; the oil of a 
 lamp that burned before a martyr's shrine ; the 
 sight alone of sainted relics, as they were borne 
 along in festive procession — all these, if we believe 
 the Scriptures and the most venerable Fathers of 
 the Church, have been made the means of miracu- 
 lous interposition between God and His creatures. 
 And what wonder then is it, that a simple candle, 
 which has been blessed by the prayers of His earthly 
 Spouse, which has been privileged so far as to do 
 homage to Him, by the offering to Him of its life 
 and substance, by burning (though it were even 
 for a few minutes) in the presence of the Holy of 
 Holies, should be thereby made a depositor}^ of 
 His power, an instrument of His clemency, to shield 
 His creatures from peril and harm ? 
 
 The Catholic Church seems to be the only one 
 to understand the mystery of God's omnipotence, 
 whenever it pleases Him to interfere with the es- 
 tablished laws of nature. Be the action great or 
 small, trifling or marvelous the circumstances^ 
 under which His intervention takes place, She 
 always looks up to Him with the same affectionate 
 reverence, the same worshipful wonder, with which 
 she uniformly regards the Author of good in all 
 
APPENDIX. XXIX 
 
 His works. She knows that His arm is all-power- 
 ful, and can wield in its service, with the same ease, 
 the aid of any creature, great or small. Hence it 
 is that in the angry deluge or in the placid rain- 
 bow. She recognizes one and the same hand. In 
 the quiet dove that bears tidings of peace to the 
 Ark, or in the fiery rain that consumes godless 
 cities ; in the silent raven that bears daily food to 
 a saintly hermit, or in the fierce lions that dig his 
 grave; in the world-renowned miracles of the 
 Pauls, Xaviers, and other illustrious Apostles, or 
 in the silent wonders of her Philumenas and other 
 saints, unknown to man — she sees only the work- 
 ing of one and the same Divine Power. No spe- 
 cious appearance, much less any supposed inherent 
 virtue, of the instruments used by that Power can, 
 attract Her attention or excite Her admiration. If 
 She regard them at all, it is solely with a view to 
 praise and exalt the Wisdom that deigns to use 
 such "weak and scanty elements " to carry out Its 
 great designs and lofty purposes. 
 
 The lady who gave the candle, seems to have 
 had no behef in its efficacy. But even in the jo- 
 cose, flippant strain in which it was offered in gift, 
 not a few Catholic readers may recognize a taunt 
 or challenge to that Divine Power which pervades, 
 blesses and renders fruitful every prayer and action 
 of the Church ; and in the event they will not fail 
 to recognize a vindication of the claims of that 
 same Divine Power. They will say that her words 
 
XXX APPEFDIX. 
 
 were tlioiiglitlessly uttered ; but that God veriiied, 
 if He did not inspire, them. And if they are at all 
 versed in the history of God's Church, they will 
 recall to mind the days of Boniface and Aglae, and 
 will remember how a few jesting words uttered be- 
 tv/een the dissolute Roman and his fan- paramour, 
 were changed, by God's grace, into a prophecy, 
 the fulfillment of which resulted in the conversion 
 of the one and the martyrdom of the other. And 
 all sacred history is rife with hke instances. 
 
 Sectarian critics are indeed hard to please. Do 
 what we will, or happen what may, we are sure to 
 be condemned. Had the Resolute been lost, the 
 failure of the blessed candle to save it would have 
 been unsparingly ridiculed ; the boat is saved evi- 
 dently by a remarkable agency of Providence, and 
 nevertheless, the blessed candle still furnishes a 
 theme for anti-Cathohc jesting. The same deter- 
 mination to put us always in the wTong is seen in 
 a thousand other things. An American Bishop 
 issues a regulation regarding funerals, in order to 
 enforce Christian propriety amongst his Cathohc 
 flock on such occasions; and sectarian journals, 
 after styhng it " the most sensible edict ever issued 
 by a Bomish bishop," and lamenting that Protes- 
 tants have no means of preventing like excesses 
 among themselves, passes on with most Unreason- 
 able and perverse spirit, to denounce the abject, 
 degrading slavery in which Catholic prelates hold 
 their spuitual subjects. An Austrian bishop, full 
 
APPENDIX. XXXI 
 
 of zeal for God's law, denounces the censure of the 
 church against all military officers, who shall here- 
 after desecrate the Sunday by hunting and other 
 profane diversions ; and our fanatical Sabbatarians, 
 instead of applauding this zeal for strict observ- 
 ance of the Lord's Day, only chuckle with ill-sup- 
 pressed delight over the real or imagined disaffec- 
 tion toward the church, which this measure is said 
 to have caused in the Austrian army. And so on 
 in a thousand other cases, which we need not de- 
 tail. It is a settled conclusion with them, ^^ no 
 good can come out of Nazareth." The church is 
 evidently, after the example of her Divine Master, 
 " signum contradictionis," a mark set up for con- 
 tradiction, not only in the sense that She, like Him, 
 is to be gainsay ed and combatted every where, but 
 also in this other, that She is to be assailed by con- 
 tradictions, that is, by charges not only void of 
 truth, but so far apart, so diametrically opposed to 
 each other, that they mutually destroy one ano- 
 ther by their very contradictioUc 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, ----- 9 
 
 What is a Sacramental ? - - - 14 
 
 Pkayers of the Church : 
 
 The Prayers of the Church, - - 19 
 
 I. Litanies, - - - - 22 
 
 II The Angehjs, - . - . 30 
 
 III Hymns, - . > . 36 
 
 lY. Th3 ConBteor, - - . - 41 
 
 Benedictions g? the Church : 
 
 The Benedictions of the Church, 47 
 
 I. Blessed Candles, - - - 49 
 
 II. Holy Water, - - . 55 
 
 III. Holy Ash^s, - . ^ . 65 
 
 IV. Our Lord's Cross, - - - 71 
 V. The Cross and the Crucifix, - 83 
 
 VI. The Relics of the Passion, - 95 
 
 VIL The Golden Rose, - . . 108 
 
 VIII The Holy Oils, - - >- 114 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX. Blessed Palm, - - - - 124 
 
 X. The Paschal Candle, - - 131 
 
 XL The Agnus Dei, - - - 135 
 
 XII. The Rosaiy, - . - 144 
 
 XIII. The Scapular of Oar Lady of Mount 
 
 Carmel, - - - - 159 
 
 XIV. The Red Scapular of the Passion, 171 
 XV. Blessed Food, - - - 181 
 
 XVI. The Episcopal Ornaments, - - 190 
 XVII. The Pallium, ... 213 
 
 Appendix : 
 
 A. The Sacramentals. 
 
 B. Holy Water. 
 
 C. Hard to Please. 
 
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