:,■•■■■■■ : u\ \wm v^ I ;*Jj!*4 w KfeosA &mj(STO5S*?'T>is -UM J l uw» ~oj fvory in the House of Anna and Joachim By Marie Josephine. New York: P. O'Shea. A very well printed book of pp. 250, 12mo. We hardly know how to venture a Criticism on this work. It strikes us that Miss Hemmenway's works will be appreci- ated only some years hence, just as Mother Juliana's Revelations are appreciated now far more than in her own day, hundreds of years ago. We have no hesitation in saying that Marie Josephine is the highest gifted Catholic poetess of our times. In point of talent and genius she is far above our fa- vorite, Adelaide Proctor. But she needs practicalness. She must come down to us. Enthusiastic, fervent, honest, earnest, she writes with her mini fixed in the object be- fore her, and forgets entirely the people for whom she writes. Were we allowed to make a bold comparison , we would compare her to the mellifluous St. Bernard as regards the contemplation of the Object before her; but, then, she lacks the. talent of writing for the People, a talent so well displayed in that sweet Doctor's Writings — The History of her Conversion to the Catholic Church, is both wonderful and very natural. Admiration of, and love for, our Blessed Lady, the Vir- gin Mother of Jesus Christ, which feeling works in the heart of many a non-Catholic less honest and resolute than she has proven hersel*. It is impossible for us to give a Literary JVbtice of the Rosa Immaculata. It must be read with a fervent heart, and a mind both pure and scholarly. We hope the editors of the Catholic World will give us" not a " Notice," but an article on Miss Hem- menway's Works. One of the ablest con- tributors to the World said to us in 1865: ** Don't you think the book ('* The Mystical Rose") evinces uncommon talent?" We fall back without modifying our remarks, on the opinion we expressed about Rosa Mystica in 1865. Rosa Immaculata, OR The Tower of Ivory, IN THE J§ou0e of 2lnna anb loarljtm. " IN THAT PAY SHALL THE BUD OF THE LORD BE IN MAGNIFICENCE." ISAIAH. " O MY DOVE ! IN THE CLEFTS OF THE ROCK, IN THE PLACES OF THE WALL, SHOW ME THY FACE." SOLOMON. " DRAW ME AND WE WILL RUN AFTER THEE IN THE ODOR OF THY OINTMENTS." SOLOMON. " Recordare, Virgo Mater , in conspectu Dei, ut loquaris pro nobis bona.'''' — Missale Romanum. " Tota Pulchra es } Maria ! Et macula non est in te." BY 4 .£-, Marie Josephine. NEW YORK: P. O'SHEA, 27 BARCLAY STREET, 1867. TSlRll Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year IS66, BY ABBY MARIA HEMENWAY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Vermont. ftfje Mtav parents OF S) *\ APPEOBATIONS. *->~4^M-* Burlington, Yt., January 4, 18G7. Miss Marie Josephine H. : I have read with much interest your new work in honor of Mary, the Rosa Immaculata. I willingly approve of its publi- cation, and hope it may have a very large circulation. •£« LOUIS, Bishop of Burlington, Yt. Cincinnati, January 11, 1867. We feel honored in adding our name to that of the Rt. Rev. Bishop of Burlington, in recommending to all classes of readers, Rosa Immaculata, a second volume to Rosa Mystica, by the same gifted convert authoress. ■£■ J B. PURCELL, Archbishop of Cincinnati. ®l)e J3ear parents of iltarn. Beyond the Cison's silver wave, And on the sacred Hill, "Where God the sweetest pastures gave, And all was flowery, cool, and still, Once lived the noblest and the tenderest sire That ever blessed the hearth ; Whose charities, whose prayers, whose long desire Was crowned by Mary's birth. And the kind matron of his righteous house The virtues all combined Of her great ancestors, dear spouse ! In her sweet heart enshrined. And if we measure by the fruit the tree, And by its rays the sun, WTiat must the greatness of these great saints be, Whose peaceful life so run 1 To them God gave the centre of His heart on earth, The magnet of His love, The Virgin who His sole Begotten Son gave birth, His one white human dove 1 12s" VOCATION.* " Virgin OF God, beautiful above all women ! Thou in whom are all the hopes of life and of virtue. Mother of beautiful love and holy hope, hasten and appear. Come, beloved of the Lord. Already the winter has passed, and the flowers appear in the land. Show us thy face, and let our ears hear thy voice. How sweet thy voice ! how brilliant thy face ! Thine eyes are limpid as the dove's, and thy cheeks encrimsoned with beauty! Thy graces and thy virtues are, in the midst of our desert, like the sweet aroma of incense and myrrh, and of all sweet perfumes. Yes. thou art all beautiful. 0. the beloved of God ! Thou art all beautiful and there is no spot in thee. Come, then our only one. the most perfect of creatures. Come. glorious Mary! "We believe that thou hast received all grace, Virgin Mother of Christ ! Sur- round us with thy celestial influences, which, as a paradise of delights, are loaded with the most beautiful flowers and excellent fruits of grace and virtue. TTe beseech thee to be our patroness. .... Keep us ever in thy memory, that we may glorify ourselves in thee, and in the divine canticles celebrate the victory of thy virtues and thine imperishable mysteries. " * St. Methodius, bishup of Tyre. INTRODUCTORY. Rosa Immaculata, or vol. ii. of the Mystical Rose : a book that may appear, at first, should have preceded its predecessor, but may be found a legitimate and catholic successor. We have been desired to write an introduction; but who may read needs not, and who may not read, hath not need, and we will be brief. It will be readily apparent unto the reader, vol. i., or Rosa Mystica, is but an appropriate presentation of the outlines of a series — a sort of laying down at first of a poetical map of the life of the Blessed Virgin ; and that a world-map — of the Blessed Virgin's world — or on a world-map scale. Rosa Immaculata is the first section-map, commencing back at the white beginning, and moving onward, leaving nothing untraced, discovered in this immaculate country, covering the space of the first fifteen years and a little more. The author inclines, we at once recognize, to the older and more ardent traditions. Doubtless to a poet, and one converted to our holy faith by Mary, the most mystical and seraphic-hearted old saints have never written any thing too good, too high, or too wonderful, concerning, or of, their incomparable Queen; and there is nothing too marvellous in hearing the rustle of an angel's wing bringing in supper to the Virgin of the Incarnation, or the soft fall of her immaculate footsteps on the sanctuarv floor of the Holies. The Vlll distrust has never entered into her heart that there can be any thing imagined too beautiful or angel-surrounded for the Mother of God. The style is less labored than Volume I. ; yet we do not know as unappropriately ; it is the country of youth, and such a free, pure, simple, fervent childhood and youth ! Says the author : " Rosa Mystica was written as a labor of mystical love, and we took all the time for it that we wished, and saw not beyond. By the grace of God and the sweet love of Mary, we are a Catholic — the highest and dearest privilege in heaven or earth, and we cannot forbear taking up the dear olden labor that led into the one Sovereign Fold anew, and, as a child now of the faith, 'ancient and ever new' in its consequent developments and more tender detail. "We have anxieties, however, for this so fresh production, written out, from the first twenty or thirty pages, entire within the year, and for the most part during the first months of a sore bereavement, working for the Heavenly Mother to ease our sorrow for the earthly one ; — and it is born more of the heart than of the head, and we have not perhaps pruned it as we would in a stronger day. We may mistake in giving so early publication, and if so, now must lean upon the indulgence of those whose delight it is to serve Mary much and fast. We only regret it is not better — not having tried, and feel somewhat, to quote the words of another, " If we have failed, it is glorious enough to have made the attempt;", and moreover, "there are inexpressible joys in labor done before God and for God, vast horizons whose perspectives give an insight into eternal splendors.'* We are paid, and only repent our flower is not fairer and more matured — any thing should be so good one gives the Blessed Virgin — the best they can possibly produce — and yet we are so impatient to see it on our Mother's shrine for Christmas, we have forwarded it for Mary, IX beseeching her immaculate charity may so cover deficiency and defect as to accept our little offering of devotion." Thus far from the author. "We are also informed fuller traditional notes were in part prepared, but as the work was already in press before com- pleted, and there being a press for time, they have been, and per- haps as well, much retrenched, as the traditions inwoven or built upon are presumed to be well known among Catholic readers. "We have no more to add, save we are expected to date the book for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Virgin Mother. Burlington, Vt., December 8, 1866. Immaculate! Immaculate! " O Mother ! I could weep for mirth, Joy fills my heart so fast ! My soul to-day is heaven on earth, 0, could the transport last ! " I think of thee and what thou art, Thy majesty, thy state ; And I keep singing in my heart, Immaculate! Immaculate! 11 The angels answer with their songs, Bright choirs in gleaming rows ; And saints flock round thy feet in throng9 And heaven with bliss o'erflows. "Oil would rather, mother dear, Thou shouldst be what thou art, Than sit where thou dost, ! so near Unto the Sacred Heart. "Oil would forfeit all for thee, Rather than thou shouldst miss One jewel from thy majesty, One glory from thy bliss. " Conceived, conceived Immaculate ! 0, what a joy for thee I Conceived, conceived Immaculate ! 0, greater joy for me I "I think of thee and what thou art, Thy majesty, thy state, And I keep singing in my heart, Immaculate ! Immaculate '." — Faber. lurris (Sburnca. A Tower of Ivory in a field I And it is a moon-night. The Tower is fairer than the moon, Has drawn down all her light. And more ; the Tower is as gold Or silver in the sun ; Celestial lights its angles strike, And through its ivories run. A field within, uncrossed, save by The sandal of a God — Nor hand within hath thrust to pluck A lily from the sod. "Turris Ebttrxea," angels not without spot, Abashed around thee wait, Above us loom, white Tower of our Faith, Mary Immaculate I Speculum Justitice. A Mirror on the earth, For brightness as the morn. Or the pure, open heavens beneath, TThose beams drop to adorn, Or 'neath the softly lambent sky, . A-tween the earth and air, And as the angels wandered by They always tarried there. The Purity Above gazed down, 'T was whiter then than snow, The charity of God looked in And set it all a-glow. Admiring seraphs o'er it bent ; It caught the beauty of each face— "Mtrkor of Justice,'' yet did wait, Its clearness sought more grace. It longed to see the unbegotten Brow, To mirror in its breast the "Word, The Sun of Justice could but look within ; It held its pictured Lord. CONTENTS. CHATTER I. Charity . II. First Immaculate Conception Day III. Expectation op Anna . IV. Vigil op Immaculate Nativity V. Immaculate Nativity . VI. Nine Days Old VII. Eighty Days Old VIII. Anna's Purification IX. The Seven Joys op Anna X. Holy Lessons XI. Industry XII. Holy Little Teacher XIII. Continued Joys XIV. By the "Well op Nazareth XV. From Nazareth to Jerusalem XVI. Immaculate Presentation XVII. Mary and her Companions XVIII. Nazareth without Mary XIX. Moriah with Mary XX. Looking in at Nazareth . XXI. Mary and Midnight XXII. Morning and Mary XXIII. Almahhood XXIV. First Visit to Mary XXV. Immaculate Embroiderer XXVI. Admirabilis Spinner XXVII. Other Parental Visits PAGE 1 4 14 16 19 25 32 39 44 66 73 75 79 82 86 91 101 115 118 123 124 128 132 137 139 143 147 XiV CIIAPTEB PAGE XXVIII. Almah Brides ... . 149 XXIX. Last of the Seven 152 XXX. Other Companions . 173 XXXI. Supper of our Mother . 181 XXXII. Last Visits .... 183 XXXIII. Drawing towa.rd Abraham's Bosom 13(3 XXXIV. Last Years .... 195 XXXV. Eleventh Anniversary at Nazareth . 198 XXXVI. Under the "Wings of the Angels . . 199 XXXVII. Immaculate Espousals 209 XXXVIII. Mart and Nazareth Again . 214 XXXIX. Mednight-Noon .... 229 XL. Incarnation-Months . . 236 ftosa Jmmacttlato. -♦♦♦- CHAPTER I. CHARITY. " BEING IKTO MY STOREHOUSE ALL MY TITHES AND PBOVE ME, WHEREWITHAL I WILL POUB THEE OUT A BLESSING TILL THEEE SHALL NOT BE ROOM TO CON- TAIN." Scene — Nazareth, or the "hill of frankincense" whereon stood the holy house of Joachim and Anna, the dear parents of Mary. "Figure to yourself the fine and extensive pasturages that sur- round the abode of St. Joachim and St. Anna . . . Represent to yourself an ancient Jewish abode, in which every thing recalls the pastoral and patriarchal manners of the ancestors of the Mes- siah."* Approach after the harvesting-time ; Behold Joachim and Anna dividing their income, f Joachim. THE first part for the altar : we will make This a full third. His part may not under-run Who giveth all. Heap the sacrifice-third. * Mater Admirabilis. f "Fulbert of Chartres, Serm. II., on the birth of the Virgin, teaches expressly that St. Joachim and St. Anna had an income 1 2 Rosa Immacclata. Ann*a. This for the wayfarer and for the poor — Joachim. Should not lack — want on the Hill of Nazareth Were a shame, dear spouse. The res: you will store. Anna. Our own little third ! Joachim. Enough, prudent housewife, Enough ! we are but two. Axxa. [WwBk a sigh.) But two ! Enough ! And wherewithal we can now and then part To our heirs ? Joachim. And to the childless the poor — Anna. Are twice their heirs. No one around must want This year. or property, which they divided into three parts. If vro mar : the Protevangelion of St Ja^ies. :L:s income was large.'' — Boon Charity. Joachim. For twenty years, good spouse, we have Divided thus. Anna. All but, good Joachim, Your heap grows higher for the sacrifice, Each time. Joachim. Were I less generous in my youth ? Ah, well ! as our locks ripen we should see More and yet more to whom belongeth all ; — ■ How good it is to give most unto God. Anna. Good ! Oh, it is only good to have, to give : And twice-told meet for us. The little cot Where we have dwelt so tranquilly these score Of years will soon stand empty on the hill ; We have no nobler fruit to offer up, Than the poor growth of our flocks and fields, And so we press that measure down, and run It o'er for God ; — for God. Joachim. Amen ! Amen ! Rosa Immacclata. CHAPTER II. FIRST IMMACULATE CONCEPTION* DAT. " Ucgina sine labe original! concepta, ora pro nobis/* PART I. Joachim.* "THEEE SHALL COME FOETH A EOT) OUT OF TTTE EOOT OF JESSE, A?TD A FLO"ffi"EB 6TTAT.L ELSE TP OFT OF HL5 EOOT." — ISAIAH XL 1. Scene — Saint Joachim at prayer upon the mountain. LONG had he knelt in prayer, that man of God j His soul was sorrowful and full. He thought, Had thought before this hour, the hope was dead, And grace with the dead hope had reckoned won And poured upon its grave ; he sure content With what Jehovah, great, withheld, as gave ; But when a neighbor mocked him in the gates This morn, and called him but a barren stalk, A withered root, a fruitless branch in Israel, The old man felt a sudden — Xo, not sring — * Joachim signifies preparation of the L . First Immaculate Conception Day. The scorner could not reach his good heart so ; But what upon the altar of his hope A thousand times had bled, his whole soul moved, And straightway fled unto his prayer-place up — Far up the mountain side — a little cleft Within the hills, from all the hamlet stirs OfF-shut and still. 'A very hermit's shrine ?' Not so ; it shut out all the world beside, But overlooked the cottage, where his Anna In the early morning spun. Dear prayer-place ! Within the cleft an ancient laurel stood ; Beneath the tree a pillar rose, of stone, Where he was wont, still in the summer morns, To climb and pray. But winter winds are out To-day ; it is of storms the month ; cold rains Sift slowly over the deserted hills, His kine are in the manger stalled, the sheep Are in their fold ; but he, poor, scoffed old man, Struggling as one conscious of his struggles not, So greater far the struggle in the soul, Than 'gainst the winds his slippery pathway up, Too late ! too late ! had not yet learned, and knelt Beside the dear old stone, told simply out — As any poor child beaten in the street, Might to his father come — at first his wrongs And sorrows unto God — as almost crushed ; Rosa Immacitlata. Then, as he longer prayed, he could not stay His prayers — Isaiah's visions, Daniel's dreams, Messiah's face, in on his stragglings shone — ( Years and signs ripen fast, and David's sons So few ! But, Lord, my vine ! Oh ! I could wait A thousand years, Messiah, from my loins To look from Abraham's Bo»om down and see ! When I might hope, no human hope ! Lord ! Lord ! What hath thy servant done ? I cannot live Reproached ! my gray hairs mocked ! last of my race ! By-word unto my tribe ; a house that first For the Messiah looked; Oh, take me " where The wicked cease, the disappointed rest !" ' He laid his head upon the wet stone down, And as he ceased an angel by him stood. ' Thy prayer is heard, and Anna, thy chaste spouse, In full time from this favored day shall bear The Heir of Joy, the Child of Grace, — a sign To thee, go to the vineyard down, thy wife Shall meet thee with this message in the gates. Look down upon thy house !' And he looked down, The storm had paused ; a rainbow arches over — Not far up in the sky, but touching earth On either side — his co:. And as he looked, The angel, he was gone. And Joachim, First Immaculate Conception Day. Wondering much, hasted as a young man down Unto his house ; and ever he drew near, Lo, the sweetly serene matron of his home, Up from her garden coming, to the gates ! And never, in the first fair bloom of youth, Had she appeared so lovely in his eyes. He would have clasped her in his reverent arms, Or bowed at her feet, so much of promise In her softly heaven-lighted face she brought, So much of glory had the angel left With her, but waited as he had been told, The sign ; nor waited, can it hardly yet Be wrote ; for straight her happy hands toward him She held — and told him — What may in our next, A chapter after this be shown ; thus on, As these good saints may help. So for us pray ! PART II. Anna.* "SAINT ANNA, SPOUSE OF JOACHIM, PEAT FOE US." LOW fell the waning rains, I sure could go — did not rain too fast when a new prayer SLC It * Anna signifies grace, or gracious. 8 Rosa Immaculata. Was waiting 'neath the laurel to ascend, Where I am wont to pray.' ' Her laurel tree Had she ?' She had — her trysting-place with heaven, Chosen for spot, perhaps, whereon it grew — A nook the shadiest of her garden-lanes, Or for that silent sympathy in all We sometimes trace, where marriage meets design. Dear, good old, glorious pair, standing within The hallowed morning of a second spring, The very cast of each bland face grown like The smile of mellow richness, one, so same; The gentle cadenced voice, one happy chord ; Two souls but duplicates, showing how fair, Perfect and fair, that sacrament complete. But lo, irradiated Anna's words We lose. She even now hath told, like prayer Like angel, and like revelation poured Into her husband's happy, hearkening ears, And now is telling when from off her knees She rose, she saw she in a rainbow stood ; And happy, hearkening Joachim, he stands As one who hears divining half — and yet, Divining not ; perhaps of Abraham And Isaac thinks. His Sarah stands beside, Esteemed as Sarah precious in his eyes; First Immaculate Conception Day. 9 And yet he would have blushed to have once thought Himself worthy in the future world to stand Beside that father of the patriarchs ; So poor in their own eyes do great saints look. Oh man ! about to be unconscious raised By grace, than glorious old Abraham A thousand heights, magnificent above ; But as it was, he only deeper smiled And said, God's blessed word is always true, — And Anna answered, the day is like spring ! A summer dropped in Chisleau, month of storms ; Said Joachim, great is the Lord; and good/ Anna replied — and Joachim hastes to say, Ever the morning after such promise wane, Make for the priests a banquet, good spouse ; Let us a present to the temple send. [Anna made up the banquet and it was generous.] (Joachim to his servant Eleazer.) Gather to ye ten of the finest lambs* " In the tribes of Israel there was a rich man named Joachim, who on festival days offered to God sacrifices twice as great as tho rest. An angel appearing to him told him he should have issue, and he instantly promised to offer the child to God. When this occurred Joachim was in the wilderness, and descending to his 1* lo Rosa Immaculata. And take with the banquet Anna provides. [And the servant of Joachim did as bade.] PART 111. AFTERNOON. The angel had not left ; It did his angel-heart a good to see The joy out-cropping from their happy looks And ways. The cheerful Anna tried to spin, Losing her threads in mystic wonderings, Drifted into a happy year from now ; And other angels came by her to stand — By Joachim who toiled, scarce can be told, So cheerily he beat the barley for the mill ; Had then the curtain, shutting off that world That touches us unseen on every side, house, he sent to the temple teu sheep for a sacrifice, and a ban- quet for the priests, ancients and people. Eustachius Hexamerojt, published by Leo Atlatius, by an author called James — Father Joseph Ignatius Vallejo's note to Binet's Life of St. Joachim and St. Anne. Henschenus and Papebroke (March 20, 11 Num. 207), with no better grounds than a simple conjecture, as they admit, suppose St. Joachim to have had no goods but a few sheep of which he was himself the shepherd." — Yallejo. First Immaculate Conception Day. u Been drawn, a house of angels might been seen Bearing a waiting grace in each bright palm. PART IV. EVENING. "SAINT ANNA, QUEEN OF ANGELS, PEAT FOE US." The sweet changed winter day Had died — died like a summer afternoon, And yet the lingering angels do not go. Oh, they shall never go. It is a house Of angels evermore, who stoop to see In these poor walls such choice predestinate They cannot go ! I wonder if they know His cradle too shall rock upon these floors ; That most of all His humble days with man, He too, shall sojourn here ? I wonder, What halos from these lowly rafters seem To hang ready for superhuman brows Not born, these angels see, so cannot go ? O house of angels evermore ! for lo, When He hath gone cross-laden up the Mount, Who hastens now to come, and she, th* being pure This night conceived, hath by Him stood and shared His cup — and retributive wrath shall sweep 12 Rosa Immaculata. This land of vineyards and of groves, alarmed For this dear house when infidelic hordes Would wreak their desecrating ruth, arise Ye may in holy fear, yet in majesty Of th? angelic might, to bear it in your zeal Where bland Italia's radiantly reverent skies In constant beauty glow, and nestled last, Where fair Loretto's purpled roses woo, It shall remain a shrine of power and prayer, Where fainting pilgrims rapt shall kneel to find The blessing of the Virgin and her Son. PART V. HOLY IMMACULATE CONCEPTION MIDNIGHT. The storm, as wont with winter, came not back. Soft stars peered through the upper blue, Within the rocks a dove was heard to coo, A nightingale in vesper trill, Amid the groves of Nazareth hill, And sweeter than the dove, or bird, The angel murmur softly heard, " Blessings of the breast, blessings of the womb," The Rose of Jesse soon shall bloom ; No wintry wind shall brush this cot, Forever blessed be this spot ! First Immaculate Conception Day. 13 A child conceived that knows no stain, This darkened world shall light again : And floating from that chosen hill, A blessing seems the earth to fill ; Across the calm-waved, hallowed sea, — The tranquil bed of Galilee, — Through neighboring plains of Jericho The mystic peace seems first to flow ; Along the swollen Jordan's shore The lions ceased their wonted roar, The jackall slacked its nightly cry, The bandit could not brook so sweet a sky, As floating from that chosen hill A blessing seemed the earth to fill, A child conceived that knows no stain, This darkened world shall light again. " Blessings of the breast, blessings of the womb," The Rose of Jesse soon shall bloom. " Saint Anna, rod of Jesse-, pray for us." " Saint Anna, fruitful tree, pray for us." "Saint Anna, fruit-bearing vine, pray for us" — Litany of St. Anna 14 Rosa Immaculata. Immaculate? " TUBEIS EBOIXEA OKA, PEO KOBIS I" 1 Would He who fair Eve formed as pure as snow His chosen Mother make less purely glow ? How could the Mother of the Infinite Walk in a robe than Adam's bride less white ? It might not, could not be, and so all Heaven poured Its graces on the destined mother of its Lord ; And God, to fit her to her royal state, His Mother moulds immaculate. " Tower of Ivory, pray for us /" CHAPTER III. EXPECTATION OF ANNA. " CATS S. L.ETJE. OEA PBO NOBI5. M OEVER since that other morning blest, The flower-footed months, following each, Have come as nine princesses bearing gifts. At first the meadow-grasses made a show Expectation of Anna. i Of spires two for one, the old rhohendron In Joachim's field, a century-tree decayed, That had not bloomed some summers past, had flowers. Even the children of the hamlet were Not late, to in the hedges find the nests, Than other summers twice as filled. Blest spot ! And every bird, with twice as bright a wing As other summer-bird, sang twice as sweet : His sheaves, the clusterage of the vine, the figs Upon the branch, as drew the harvest on, The doting peasant counted o'er, and said Within his thought, no wonder such a year, The barren sings that God hath visited ; — Poor human understanding ! how alway like We find, to credit nature and not God ! Only the pious Anna and her spouse, Wandered into the twice-blessed fields, perceived The very trees rejoiced with them ; and thus The mother bearing babe immaculate, Never so happy in her life, waited her time. 16 Rosa Immaculata. CHAPTER IV. VIGIL OF IMMACULATE NATIVITY. "Stella fHatutina, ora pro nobis." Behold Anna sitting in the doorway of the little house at Naza- reth, and Joachim walking in the fields a little distant, praying out under the stars like Isaac — " And he was gone forth to meditate in the fields, the day being now well spent." ANNA is meditating on the threshold ; And it is something that brings the picture Of her sweet youth back — one dear word, One hallowed word that she seems turning over And over, caressingly within her heart, Calls such a tender light into her eyes, We leave good Joachim to his precious prayers, — And he is praying for the mother and the child, We think — to come and sit at Anna's feet. Anna. The name my father called my gentle mother by !* * " Nathan by his wife Mary had three daughters, the first o f whom was called Mary, like her mother, the second Sobe, and the third Anne, the glorious mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary." — De fide orthodoxa, lib. iv. chap. xv. Binet. Vigil of Immaculate Nativity. 17 OURSELF. I wonder if she has named the precious babe ? I think that mothers mostly name their babes Before they're born. How can they wait ? Anna. He called my gentle mother by ! I had But five sweet years with her : yet, as a star Hangs over some still lake, the memory Of my fair mother's face smiles o'er my heart. She was so pious ! Peace to her valiant soul ! How calm she went forth from the holy gates When she had kissed and left her favorite child.* I saw my precious mother never more, And so that picture I have kept. — I came, — Dear Bethlehem, where I was born, — to find A grave ; but Joachim with me returned. O, God had given me so good a spouse ! And I grew comforted in Nazareth. O Mary, and O Bethlehem, two names That link within my heart so sweet, I love To keep them bright. * "St. Anne had been brought up in the temple." — Tradition. 18 Rosa Immaculata. Ourself. And there she paused, saying, Taking it but a moment after up, Dreamily, sweetly, "Mary?" Anna had A beautiful way of saying Mary ! Nor more she said, only — Anna. Nine months to-night, I never thought : nine months to-morrow knew, — Yes, yes, how good God is to those who wait. [And Anna sat in silence and Joachim walked in silence.] The expectant eve shone twice as bright, The harvest moon shed twice her light ; What marvel brighter beamed the moon, When even summer came more soon ? 'Twere marvel more if moon could hold In her full horn th' floodings of her gold, Nor pour it as one regal shower Of brightness o'er such blissful hour. The eye of night shone twice as bright, The harvest moon shed twice her light, Immaculate Nativity. 19 And sweet instead of spot, a star* Glowed on her silver disc afar ; — What marvel, bright, a virgin gem New-pearled the moon's sweet diadem ? It were a marvel greater far Could moon wear spot instead of star, When a new Eve is born below Should not her sky some token show? And star and moon and night twice glows To usher in the Virgin Rose. CHAPTER V. immaculate nativity. " WHO IS SHE THAT COMETH FOBTH AS THE MOllNING KISING ?" — CANTICLES vi. 9. "Saint 2lnna, fHotljer of tt)e i)irgin fllarg, pran for n0." S the Christ-years are the first gems in the cycles grand of time, There are fifteen ere the days are diamonds that as pearl- years shine : * " The night preceding, the moon appeared without her usual spot, a bright star sparkling on her disk, and in the morning the sun shone with twofold splendor." — Note to G-entiluccl 20 Rosa Immaculata. Two conceptions, one immaculate, one divine, one from an earth-sod Uprising white to wait that other coming down with God. These years are as a chain of pearls between : — Thus a silver dawn, Scarcely less than sunrise, touched the Nazareth hill, touched the happy lawn Where the cot of Joachim, blessed patriarch ! in its blind- ness stood Serene, touched the olden vintage and the little olive wood, Touched the cottage, cottage dear before ! dearer still this dearest morn : Hasten up, O sun, to see in Anna's cot what babe is born ; — Rapt in smile, tender, supernatural, on the breast of Anna, Blissful, tender Anna, and the wing of Gabriel as a banner Drapes and arches bed and breast and babe ; — over in the air, as crown To our picture, hovering are the cherubs, whether they came down With the angels first to Anna, or alighted fresh from Heaven This morn, I have not been told ; but the cherubs they are seven. O, our group of beauty ! Joachim kneeling, offering up to Gcd By the couch-side of his Anna, the lily offspring of their blood. Immaculate Nativity. 21 O happiest parent-pair ! O holy couch where such an heir was born ! O long, sad, tear-drenched earth, look up ! thou hast another Eden morn ! O gracious Anna, more than all of Judah's mothers blest, The one white flower of human birth is cradled on thy breast : Little White Rose of Heaven ! its face is like an angel's face ! The heavenly hair ! our lady-babe's sweet eyes, O cherub child of grace ! Her breath is as the incense ! her lips a flower-flake ! My harp is beauty-burdened now, I cannot sing without a break ! — sweet Babe-Mother of my Lord, 1 fear to touch the sounding chord; — Ah, I have ever sighed in vain To wake for thee one equal strain, And lingering worship still the precious feet Where I but take more than I give that's sweet • Ah, one might paint the purple of the sunset hues, Or gather up the pureness of the morning dews, Or picture the vermilion of the flower That sprang but from an earthly bower, Yet it were more, and higher than an angel-art To limn the fairness of that face or heart ; 22 Rosa Immaculata. I trace, and wonder not th' admiring while, The gentle glories of that smile, — From unbeginning ages flows The light that suns the Nazareth Rose. There's another Babe in the Bosom of the Father lies, The Unbegotten Heir, the magnet of the skies, A Picture of God, as "unreckoned ages roll," A likeness of the Father-face and soul, — The brightness of the Father exprest, — Pictured in His own pellucid breast. Faber,* poet-priest, tells you, sweetest, how — The Image, or the Shadow of that brow Unbeginning ages crown To His own breast looking down. — And the Babe looks up, as the Father breathes above, And the fruitage, is the " Many-gifted Dove;" And the fruitage of the Three — Of the triple Unity. — Creation, and a race, Lost and ruined, raised by grace, And lifted up through fire and blood, Till humanity inbosoms God. Ever-satisfied Trinity, See the link from their eternity: — * Faber's Blessed Sacrament. Immaculate Nativity. 23 From unbeginning ages, flows The light that suns the Nazareth Rose. Hasten up, O sun, bring the softest of thy gold, lower thy crown and haste this morn ; The Flower of the Patriarchs, the Virgin Mother of a God, is born. Now the generous sun is coming, very flooding, and yet veiling all the burning in his light. Doth he see purity more shining than his beaming, — purity more bright ? And the lark mistakes this casement for the Heavenly gate: He saw and could not pass the Rose Immaculate. And the brown bee at the lattice, on the blossoms of the balm, drops his flower, drops his hum ; Taking in honey faster from the breath of Anna's Rose, or the fragrancies that come From her act of love, — offering of completeness, first sweets of her life-bloom, Perfect perfume, as it goes out up to God, embalming ever- more that room. And the patriarchs in limbus catch a fragrant thrill As it floats in swiftness far above the Nazareth hill. 24 Rosa Immaculata. And that other Babe, in the bosom of the Father, leaps for love, And the Father rains His smile down on His daughter, dear- est daughter ! and the Dove, That